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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Opendoor stock pops 10% as company says CEO will step down
Opendoor Technologies (OPEN) shares spiked as 8% in early trading Friday after the company announced that CEO Carrie Wheeler will step down, effective immediately. The company's board appointed Opendoor's chief technology and product officer Shrisha Radhakrishna as president and interim leader of the company. Opendoor, which uses iBuyer real estate technology to flip homes, said it was searching for a new CEO. Since going public through a SPAC transaction in 2020, Opendoor has yet to post a profitable quarter. The company received a warning in May that it faced potential delisting from the Nasdaq after trading under $1 for more than 30 days. Shares have surged more than 200% in the past month, powered in part by Carvana (CVNA) turnaround spotter EMJ Capital and speculative investors on Reddit's wallstreetbets, a haven for meme stocks. EMJ Capital founder and president Eric Jackson said in an X post on July 14 that his firm was taking a long position in Opendoor, which was then trading under $1 per share. "The communication on the earnings call from the CEO and the CFO was really awful," Jackson told Yahoo Finance last week. Jackson has been critical of Opendoor's top leadership, most recently following the company's latest quarterly results in early August, when the stock sank 20% following disappointing earnings forecast. Year-to-date Opendoor shares are up 100%. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
C.H. Robinson gets an upgrade at S&P Global, reduced headcount a key reason
C.H. Robinson is back to its long-time debt rating of BBB+ from S&P Global Ratings, after about 15 months at a level one notch below that. The ratings agency on Wednesday increased the rating of the giant 3PL by one notch to BBB+. It had cut that rating to BBB in May 2024, after the company had held a BBB+ since at least 2018. But the May reduction came right about the same time that C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) was beginning its turnaround, at least as far as its earnings demonstrated. A strong first quarter 2024 report sent the company's stock price soaring, and that has been followed by continuing solid financial reports and a rise in its stock price of about 73% since the end of April 2024. The stock is up almost 24% just in the last month. The S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) rating is considered one notch above the Moody's (NYSE: MCO) rating of Baa2 for C.H. Robinson. Moody's affirmed that rating in late June. Both ratings are in investment-grade territory. Headcount cuts came faster than expected Geoffrey Wilson, the San Francisco-based S&P Global analyst who conducted the analysis leading to the C.H. Robinson upgrade, said the relatively quick turnaround in C.H. Robinson's fortunes owed to several developments. But one stood out. 'One is that they significantly and very quickly rightsized their head count,' Wilson said in an interview with FreightWaves. Wilson said many 3PLs, during the post-pandemic freight boom of 2022, were facing 'rising rates that made for some good times.' 'And what we saw were a lot of companies that wanted to take advantage of the good times and maybe take a disproportionate piece of market share that was growing there,' Wilson said. That push came with adding headcount. But the problem these companies encountered when the good times slowed is that they were dealing with a new capital structure that was now facing low freight rates and rising interest rates. 'The capital structure was completely different from how they foresaw the next two years,' Wilson added. Wilson alluded to last year's S&P Global downgrade of C.H. Robinson and its proximity to the evidence of a turnaround. 'When we ultimately downgraded them, it was early days of the head count restructuring but we just didn't see how it could be done quick enough to give them the sources of liquidity needed,' he said. At C.H. Robinson, Wilson said, executives were saying on earnings calls as early as the fourth quarter of 2022 that cutbacks were likely. 'What we've seen since then is a very quick headcount restructuring that to this day is still going on,' Wilson said. The S&P Global report notes that personnel expenses at C.H. Robinson have dropped 19% since a fourth quarter 2022 peak. Average headcount is down 27% since then. Ultimately, ratings agencies rely on numbers in deciding whether to upgrade, downgrade or hold steady a company's debt rating. In its release announcing the change, S&P Global said the metric of funds from operations to debt at C.H. Robinson has been above 45% since the fourth quarter of 2024, a key metric. The ratings agency said it expects C.H. Robinson to sustain that coverage at 'well over' 45%,'which comfortably exceeds our previous upside threshold for our rating.' That metric was another key number that led to the upgrade, S&P Global said. Debt load is reduced Another development cited by S&P Global was debt redemption by C.H. Robinson. The ratings agency said the 3PL has fully repaid a $141 million balance on its revolving credit facility and reduced its borrowing under an accounts receivable lending facility by $70 million. Other metrics cited by S&P Global are efficiency-driven. For example, the agency said, shipments per person per day 'have grown at a double digit percentage for over two years, supported by automation and digital capabilities.' The upgrade came with an outlook of stable. A stable outlook means conditions are such that an upgrade or downgrade in the short to medium term is not likely; C.H. Robinson had a negative outlook prior to its 2024 downgrade. 'The stable outlook reflects our view that operational efficiencies gained over the past few years can offset potential industry headwinds arising from trade policy uncertainty,' the report said. It added that S&P Global expects the FFO to debt metric to be in the mid 50% range for this year. In a prepared statement, C.H. Robinson said the upgrade 'reflects the meaningful progress we've made in strengthening our financial profile, driven by disciplined capital allocation, sustained market outgrowth, margin expansion and productivity improvements, and a resilient operating model. Despite persistent freight market headwinds, our strong business performance and focus on operational improvement initiatives have enabled us to maintain healthy leverage ratios and consistent cash flow, which S&P recognized as key contributors to our improved credit standing.' The increase in C.H. Robinson's debt rating is particularly notable given what has happened to the debt ratings of the small group of other 3PLs that have publicly-traded debt. RXO (NYSE: RXO) was cut by S&P Global to BB, a non-investment grade rating, in May 2024. Echo Global Logistics has been at B- since October 2023. Odyssey Logistics' move to a B- rating took place in early June. More articles by John Kingston TQL takes its loss in a broker liability case to the Supreme Court 'Impossible position' cited by truck manufacturers in lawsuit against California In brief comments, Trimble CEO introduces new product for matching capacity with shippers The post C.H. Robinson gets an upgrade at S&P Global, reduced headcount a key reason appeared first on FreightWaves. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
18 minutes ago
- CNBC
Morgan Stanley says it's turning more bullish on Apple. Here's why
Morgan Stanley is getting more optimistic on Apple stock. "We think the Apple story could be turning the corner," analyst Erik Woodring wrote in a Thursday note. To back this up, Woodring pointed to potentially stronger-than-expected iPhone builds in China and the possibility for estimates to be revised higher, which will allow the stock's multiple to expand and drive shares up. Morgan Stanley's China team recently raised its iPhone builds estimate for September by 8%, saying iPhone sales were stronger than expected in the June quarter, which means supply will need to be replenished. "These positive revisions are a result of better than expected iPhone sell-through in the June quarter, which reduced iPhone channel inventory below normalized levels, and thus created a larger channel fill opportunity in the September quarter, as the positive build revision is entirely iPhone 16 (2M units) and Pro Max (2M units) models," he said. Woodring said this more upbeat forecast is baked into its estimates already, but it could imply more upside ahead in the December quarter, which is typically more volatile than the September period. "Relative to our current 78M December quarter iPhone shipment forecast, this could imply modest iPhone shipment upside, though we'll be able to narrow this range next month when the iPhone 17 is officially launched," he said. Apple has yet to fully roll out Apple Intelligence, its full suite of artificial intelligence integration. Functions like an updated Siri with AI integration has been delayed several times since it was first announced last year. Apple is expected to announce the details of its new iPhone next month. "We are turning more bullish – forward iPhone unit/revenue growth expectations are still relatively muted, many of the same factors that got us bullish last July remain (elongated replacement cycles/pent up iPhone demand, new form factors in the pipeline, structural gross margin tailwinds, etc.), we're past peak tariff risk (Section 232 is a non-event), regulation is not as significant of a near-term headwind as feared (though remains a long-term risk), pricing is an underappreciated lever that Apple can pull for both Product and Services (Apple hasn't raise Services prices in 2 years), and relative to the S & P, Apple is trading in-line with the trailing 5 year average," the analyst said. Apple shares have pulled back more than 7% in 2025. The analyst said most institutions are actually underweight Apple compared with its peer megacap technology stocks. "In our view, Apple is one potential AI partnership away from breaking out," the analyst said.
