Latest news with #Applovin
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Warner Bros. Discovery, TopGolf Callaway, EchoStar, Apple & more
Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped 7% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD's streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Universal Health Services — The hospital operator fell more than 6% after CFO Steve Filton said at a conference that procedural volumes "have been slower to recover back to historical levels than we might have imagined." He also raised concerns over how President Donald Trump's spending bill could evolve as it goes through the Senate, and what that would mean for the hospital industry, according to a FactSet transcript. Topgolf Callaway Brands — The golf equipment stock rallied 8% following director Adebayo Ogunlesi's disclosure on Friday that he had bought 383,700 shares. Following the transaction, Ogunlesi owns 512,600 shares. Quaker Chemical – The metal processing fluid company, which does business as Quaker Houghton, jumped 10%. On Monday, Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy from hold, seeing more than 33% upside on the back of improving steel demand conditions and increasing infrastructure spending. EchoStar – Shares tumbled 6% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, reported the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Apple — Shares of the iPhone maker are up slightly ahead of the company's closely watched Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California . Investors are eager to hear more about Apple's progress on Apple Intelligence, its response to generative AI models, at the meeting, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET. Apple shares have lagged the market, with an 18% decline year to date. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin fell 5% and 4%, respectively, after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday. Both companies were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. Intuitive Surgical — The surgical product maker slid 7% on the heels of Deutsche Bank's downgrade to sell from hold. Deutsche said the company's competitive moat is at risk. IonQ – The quantum computing stock climbed 2% after the company announced that it's agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. Circle — Shares of the stablecoin issuer jumped 10%, continuing its post IPO surge . Circle's stock is now nearly 300% above its $31 per share IPO price. McDonald's – The fast-food chain's stock slipped nearly 2% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn't been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. — Shares were more than 1% lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he's expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. Aon — Shares of the professional services company slipped 4% after Aon reaffirmed its full-year guidance during its investor day Monday. — CNBC's Sean Conlon, Lisa Han, Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Christina Cheddar Berk and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Warner Bros. Discovery, Tesla, Robinhood, IonQ and more
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped nearly 9% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD's streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle maker dropped about 2% after Baird downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The firm said that CEO Elon Musk's comments on robotaxi plans are "a bit too optimistic" and that Musk's relationship to President Donald Trump adds "considerable uncertainty." EchoStar – Shares tumbled 11% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, said the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin each fell about 4% after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday, as both names were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. IonQ – The quantum computing stock gained more than 7% after the company announced that it's agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. McDonald's – The fast-food chain's stock slipped nearly 1% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn't been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. – Shares were marginally lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he's expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. — CNBC's Alex Harring, Fred Imbert and Sarah Min contributed reporting.
Wall Street Journal
09-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
After Fed Rate Decision, Powell Speech, Here's What to Watch the Rest of This Week
This week's biggest planned event for investors was the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates today. President Trump has pressured the Fed and its chair, Jerome Powell, to lower rates, something the central bank has been reluctant to do so far. Here's what else to watch out for during the rest of this week: Today Earnings (PM): DoorDash, Applovin, Carvana.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Applovin Plunged in March
Shares of digital advertising up-and-comer Applovin (NASDAQ: APP) plunged 18.2% in March, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Applovin already had a rough February, when it was hit by two short-seller reports. And while the entire technology sector had a rough March as well, Applovin had another especially bad month, as it was hit by -- you guessed it -- a third short-seller report. On March 27, a short-selling hedge fund manager under the name Muddy Waters published a short report against Applovin. According to Muddy Waters, Applovin's new digital advertising engine engages in a number of irreputable tactics in order to make its digital advertising revenue look better than it otherwise would be. Muddy Waters concluded Applovin's software essentially scraped user IDs and data from other social media platforms in order to find high-value targets, which Muddy Waters claims is a violation of app store rules. The hedge fund then went on to accuse Applovin of using "retargeting" methods that boost ad sales relative to actual demand. All in all, Muddy Waters thinks that Applovin's new e-commerce advertisers are only seeing 25% to 35% "incremental" demand to their existing social media advertising, whereas Applovin's management claimed that the incrementality of spending on its mobile games platform was more like 100%. Muddy Waters' claims mirror those of short-seller firms Fuzzy Panda and Culper Research, which collaborated in a short report against the company in February. And like those short-sellers, Muddy Waters believes Applovin's software should be "deplatformed" from the major app stores, given that these accusations would amount to a violation of the app stores' privacy policy. In addition, markets were roiled by fears over the tariff policies coming out of the White House. Those fears turned out to be correct, with the Trump administrations' tariff policies unveiled April 2 being significantly worse than was contemplated, even by market skeptics. During the month, the entire technology sector plunged, especially digital advertisers. So, the incremental short-seller report only added to the downbeat mood for Applovin. It should be noted that short-sellers have an obvious incentive to "muddy the water" so to speak, to reap fear, uncertainty, and doubt in their target companies. Moreover, stocks that have gone up a lot in a short amount of time may also be especially good targets. Applovin certainly fits that description, as it had rallied nearly 60% to begin the year. In addition, management came out after the first short report, stridently refuting its claims. After the Muddy Waters report, Applovin CEO Adam Foroughi wrote another blog post once again refuting the report, saying, "It's easy to discredit a short report like this in minutes." Foroughi even pasted a Grok AI query in the blog post regarding Applovin's pixel ad engine, and how it compares with other industry-standard targeting methods. Applovin also retained law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to thoroughly investigate the short-seller claims, likely with the objective of putting the claims to rest once and for all. In addition, in more recent days, Applovin has put itself out there as a potential bidder for Tik Tok U.S., which Chinese parent Bytedance may be forced to divest. So, either management is highly confident its AI-powered ad software doesn't "cheat" or run afoul of app store rules, or the executives have an awful lot of lot of chutzpah. Amid the short-seller claims and the absolute wrecking of the tech sector recently, it may be time for investors to take another look at Applovin. Before you buy stock in AppLovin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and AppLovin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $461,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $578,035!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 730% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 147% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AppLovin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Applovin Plunged in March was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Schwab's SCHD ETF is a No-Brainer for Risk Conscious Investors
It has been a volatile start to 2025 for growth and technology stocks. While many have raced out to juicy gains, we've also seen previous investor favorites like Applovin and Palantir nosedive 25%, illustrating the true extent of sentiment volatility pervading the market. Investors are concerned about inflation, the effects of potential tariffs, and elevated valuations ripening for a fall. This backdrop makes it as good a time as any to return to basics and consider investing in some tried-and-true value-oriented dividend stocks. Whether you're looking to avoid market volatility or add a more defensive holding to your portfolio to complement high-flying but volatile growth stocks, the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) is worth consideration. See what stocks are receiving Strong Buy ratings from top-rated analysts. Filter, analyze, and streamline your search for investment opportunities with TipRanks' Stock Screener. I'm bullish on SCHD based on its diversified and inexpensively valued portfolio, attractive 3.5% dividend yield, and cost-effective expense ratio. Additionally, sell-side analysts collectively rate it as Moderate Buy and view it as having a double-digit percentage upside over the next 12 months. SCHD ETF has appreciated 13% over the past year, 21% over the past three years, and 95% over five years. Over ten years, the fund's return stands at 189%. When it comes to consistent performance and reliable returns, this is it. SCHD tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and is one of the most popular ETFs out there today, with assets under management (AUM) of nearly $70 billion. According to Charles Schwab, SHCD is 'focused on the quality and sustainability of dividends' and 'invests in stocks selected for fundamental strength relative to their peers, based on financial ratios.' SCHD holds 100 stocks, and its top 10 holdings account for 42.8% of its assets, so this is a reasonably diversified fund. You can check out an overview of SCHD's top 10 holdings below, using TipRanks' holdings tool. SCHD invests primarily in blue-chip U.S. dividend stocks spanning an array of industries and sectors. Its top 10 holdings include consumer staples giants like Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP), big-name healthcare and pharma stocks like Abbvie (ABBV), Amgen (AMGN), Pfizer (PFE), and Bristol-Myers Squib (BMY), and dividend-paying tech stocks like Cisco (CSCO) and Texas Instruments (TXN). In addition to paying dividends, an advantage to owning these stocks is that they are quite a bit cheaper than the broader market. The S&P 500 trades at nearly 26x trailing 12-month earnings, while SCHD's portfolio trades for just 17 times earnings (as of the end of the most recent month), meaning that SCHD is about one-third cheaper than the S&P 500. The inexpensive valuation of SCHD's holdings and its strong dividend yield give SCHD a strong defense against market volatility and pullbacks. Unlike some giant tech firms, you're unlikely to see double-digit daily declines for defensive ETFs like SCHD, making it a neat fit for conservative and more risk-averse investors. As the name implies, SCHD is a strong choice for dividend seekers. The fund currently yields an appealing 3.5% per year which is significantly higher than the S&P 500's 1.3%. Additionally, the fund demonstrates consistent dividend growth after increasing its dividend payout for 13 consecutive years. Moreover, the fund features a remarkably favorable expense ratio of just 0.06%. An 0.06% expense ratio means that an investor putting $10,000 into SCHD will pay just $6 in fees on the investment annually. The savings from investing in a cost-effective ETF like SCHD tend to add up over time. Assuming that SCHD maintains this expense ratio and returns 5% per year going forward, the same investor putting $10,000 into SCHD will pay just a mere $34 in fees over the next five years. SCHD has put up a solid performance over time. As of January 31, the fund has generated a strong five-year annualized return of 11.9%. Over the past 10 years, the fund has posted a strong 10-year annualized return of 11.6%. How does this stack up compared to the S&P 500? Using the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) as a benchmark, VOO has turned in an annualized five-year return of 15.11% and an annualized 10-year return of 13.7%. While SCHD has underperformed the broader market, it's hard to quibble with double-digit annualized performance over five- and 10-year time spans. If we enter a more challenging market environment, SCHD may perform better than the broad-market ETF based on its lower valuation and superior dividend. On Wall Street, SCHD earns a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 55 Buys, 43 Holds, and two Sell ratings assigned in the past three months. The average analyst SCHD price target of $31.38 implies an 11.38% upside potential from current levels. Notably, the stocks held by SCHD with the highest upside potential include Guess (GES), Leggett & Platt (LEG), and Apa Corp (APA). In contrast, the stocks with the highest downside potential are The Hershey Company (HSY), Bank of Hawaii (BOH), Paychex (PAYX), and Altria (MO). Putting it all together, SCHD is a solid choice for long-term investors who want to mitigate market volatility and invest in a diversified group of inexpensive, blue-chip dividend stocks. The added bonus is that SCHD's stock picks are executed in accordance with strong fundamentals, seeking to maximize returns while minimizing risk. If seeking to profit from the ongoing tech renaissance, it may be a good idea to hedge and diversify as much as reasonably possible. I'm bullish on SCHD based on its inexpensive holdings, attractive dividend yield history of dividend growth, and cost-effective expense ratio while maintaining exposure to the hottest sector in the stock market. Disclosure Sign in to access your portfolio
