Stock Movers: ConocoPhilips, AMD, Meta
On this episode of Stock Movers: - ConocoPhilips (COP) shares fall after the Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Iran has signaled it wanted to de-escalate hostilities with Israel. Meanwhile Reuters is reporting Iran is seeking for President Trump to press Israel for an immediate ceasefire and is offering flexibility in nuclear talks. - AMD (AMD) shares rise after Piper Sandler raised the price target to $140 from $125. It's a 21% increase from the current price. Analysts said products unveiled last week were positive and expects a 'snapback' for the graphics processing unit business in the fourth quarter. - Meta (META) shares gain after news that Whatsapp will show ads in the Updates tab, which gets 1.5 billion visitors per day, according to Meta. WhatsApp will also let Channel operators sell subscriptions, meaning they can create special messages just for a group of paying customers.
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CNBC
18 minutes ago
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Eaton makes a move outside of the data center — plus, what's new with Abbott Labs
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On Monday, the electrical equipment company announced a $1.55 billion acquisition of aerospace and defense firm Ultra Precision Control Systems, expanding Eaton's presence in two fast-growing end markets amid rising global defense spending driven by geopolitical uncertainty and conflict overseas. Ultra PCS makes products like ejection systems that help drop missiles, along with noise and vibration control for aircraft interiors. The deal is expected to be accretive to Eaton, given Ultra PCS's "strong growth position on high-margin business," according to the Monday announcement. Ultra PCS is projected to generate sales of roughly $240 million in 2025, which would be equal to nearly 6% of Eaton's expected aerospace revenues of $4.08 billion. In the company's first quarter, aerospace was about 15% of sales. The acquisition, while small, speaks to a key concern Jim Cramer now has with Eaton's stock: its close linkages to the AI data center trade. With the way our own stock portfolio has evolved, Jim worries that shares of Eaton are too closely tied with the spending patterns of hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft. Even if the "data center and distributed IT" end market is only expected to contribute 17% of Eaton's total sales this year, it can sometimes feel like that's the only thing that moves the stock. And now that we have other AI industrial names like Dover and GE Vernova in the portfolio, Jim has even speculated if the Club should exit Eaton all together. "I am concerned and think that we might have to take one of these off out of that concern," he said of Eaton and Dover during the May Monthly Meeting . "I like the data center [story] but I do not want to be the data center fund." Therefore, adding Ultra PCS to the fold at Eaton should help boost its budding aerospace business and, hopefully, broaden the way Wall Street views the stock. Jim has described the aerospace division as "a very solid business that is really coming on." Shares of Eaton are up more than 4%, outperforming the rebounding market. A few other stocks in the AI data center trade such as Vertiv also are having a strong day. Abbott roundup: There are a few headlines involving Club name Abbott Laboratories on our radar Monday, including an initiation over at Leerink Partners. Analysts began coverage of the medical devices company with a hold-equivalent rating and target price of $143, implying less than 6% upside from where the stock closed Friday. While noting Abbott's strong position in the industry, Leerink analysts said they believe "potential upside growth drivers and strong execution" is largely baked into the company's "stock at current peak valuation levels," without any compelling near-term catalysts. We do have a hold-equivalent 2 rating on the name, as well, so it's difficult to push back on claims of a full valuation. Better news for Abbott came out of Canada, where the company got government approval of a rapid blood test to help clinicians assess suspected concussions. While we're not sure this is a major needle-mover right now, it is an interesting product with use cases that include sporting events. For example, the motorcycle road racing series MotoAmerica will have the test on hand at all of its races this year . Lastly, we came across a story in The New York Times from late last week that took a closer look at claims around baby formula. Earlier this month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the Food and Drug Administration to review infant formula ingredients, the first such review in decades. Abbott, the maker of Similac baby formulas, has faced lawsuits related to its specialized formula business, though the company defends the safety of its product. Separately, Abbott also had issues with a manufacturing plant in 2022 . Shares of Abbott Labs have been one of the best-performing stocks in our portfolio this year, though the stock hasn't done much since early March. Up next: Homebuilder Lennar is set to report earnings after the closing bell Monday, and we'll be listening to commentary on the conference call around overall housing market activity, which carries implications for Club name Home Depot. Before Tuesday's opening bell, we'll hear from Jabil, which makes electronic components and is a supplier to Club holding Apple . Also out Tuesday morning is a handful of notable economic reports. We'll get retail sales for May; the latest import/export prices index; and the Federal Reserve's industrial production and capacity utilization report. Combined, all three releases will shed light on the health of the U.S. economy ahead of the Fed's interest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Yahoo
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Meta and Oakley tease a smart glasses announcement for June 20
Reports emerged earlier this year that Meta was working with Oakley on smart glasses and it seems we're about to see the fruits of those labors. A new Instagram account called @oakleymeta has popped up and its first post teased an announcement for this Friday (June 20). Instagram's own official account and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the clip on their stories, as did Oakley on its social channels, so this is legit. The end of the video shows the Oakley and Meta logos side by side in a very similar fashion to the branding for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Meta's web store has a banner with the same text used in the teaser — "The next evolution arrives June 20" — and an option to sign up for updates on products, news and innovations. So, unless this is a bait and switch, we'll probably see Oakley Meta glasses this week. Of course, Oakley and Ray-Ban share a parent company in EssilorLuxottica. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that a set of smart glasses based on Oakley's Sphaera glasses was on the way. The camera in the Ray-Ban Meta glasses is set in one of the sides of the frame, but it's expected to be in the centre of the Oakley Meta glasses. These new smart glasses are said to be aimed at cyclists and other athletes, perhaps to try and challenge GoPro in the action sports market.
Fast Company
26 minutes ago
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Meta is bringing ads to WhatsApp. Privacy experts are sounding the alarm
Eleven years after purchasing WhatsApp, Meta is going full throttle with its plans to monetize the communication platform. And while officials at the social media giant say users' privacy will still be protected, some experts are urging caution. The social media giant announced on Monday it will over the next few months bring advertisements to WhatsApp, a radical shift for an app whose founders deliberately chose not to include advertising (or games or anything else that was popular amongst app makers at the time).The ads will appear just in one segment of the app, called Updates. That's used by about 1.5 billion people per day, roughly half of the app's total monthly users. Ads will not be a part of WhatsApp's chat feature with friends. Meta said it will collect some data from users to help with targeting the ads. This includes location and language. The company said it will not collect any information from messages or calls. 'Like everything else on WhatsApp, we've built these features in the most privacy-oriented way possible,' the company wrote in the Monday blog post. 'Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one can see or hear them. That includes Meta.' But the revamped ad policy raises some red flags, especially given Meta's spotty historical record when it comes to privacy. 'The fact that Meta has promised that it's adding ads to WhatsApp with privacy in mind does not make me trust this new feature,' says Lena Cohen, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). 'Ads that are targeted based on your personal data are a privacy nightmare, no matter what app they're on.' Concerns about WhatsApp's privacy practices aren't new. Just over a year ago, Elon Musk criticized the platform, writing on X that it 'exports your user data every night.' (Meta's Will Cathcart, who runs WhatsApp, denied that in a reply, writing: 'Many have said this already, but worth repeating: this is not correct. We take security seriously and that's why we end-to-end encrypt your messages. They don't get sent to us every night or exported to us.') Meanwhile, Meta continues to face broader scrutiny over its handling of personal information, including a pending lawsuit stemming from the 2016 Cambridge Analytica scandal and a recent $1.4 billion settlement over its unauthorized collection of biometric information. WhatsApp's co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton have never been shy to express their distaste for the advertising industry. That caused strife after WhatsApp was bought by Meta and in 2018, the two founders left the company, using an escape hatch in their contracts after a reported series of clashes with executives. (Doing so cost Acton $900 million and Koum $400 million, as they departed before they were eligible for stock rewards.) Acton, at the time, expressed regrets for selling the app, saying 'At the end of the day, I sold my company. I sold my users' privacy to a larger benefit. I made a choice and a compromise. I live with that every day.' Meta, though, has pledged not to put ads within WhatsApp chats. In November 2023, Cathcart said Meta ' won't put ads in your inbox,' a vow he has been able to keep, in large part because of the popularity of the Updates tab. Perhaps anticipating the concerns Monday's announcement might stir up, Meta launched an ad campaign three weeks ago that reinforced the privacy of personal messages. While there are no estimates about how much Meta will be able to grow its ad revenue with WhatsApp advertisements, it's a number that's likely to increase in coming years. (In 2024, for perspective, Meta's ad revenue reached $162.4 billion company wide.) Despite that, the EFF's Cohen says users who are concerned about the privacy implications of this move are right to be on their guard. While she said the promises the company made in announcing the addition of ads were encouraging, they weren't sufficient to completely ensure user data would remain confidential. Cohen warns that even though Meta claims it won't use personally identifiable data, the information it does collect can still be used to re-identify users—especially when combined from other data combed from the web. 'I would definitely recommend that people do not add WhatsApp to their Meta account center,' she says. 'That will allow Meta to broadcast even more of your personal information to potential advertisers. And that data wouldn't just include info that meta gets from you on its own platforms; it would include information it gets from tracking you across the web.'
