Latest news with #Fishbein
Business Insider
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
‘Microsoft Stock Deserves a Street-High Target,' Joel Fishbein Says Following Earnings
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has reclaimed the crown as the world's most valuable company. While it has often swapped places with Apple, the tech giant had recently fallen behind – until now. Its latest quarterly results have reignited investor enthusiasm, propelling Microsoft back to the No. 1 spot. Protect Your Portfolio Against Market Uncertainty Discover companies with rock-solid fundamentals in TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter. Receive undervalued stocks, resilient to market uncertainty, delivered straight to your inbox. The March-quarter (F3Q25) results didn't just exceed expectations, they put to rest fears the company will suffer against the current uncertain macro backdrop. Microsoft Cloud delivered once again, accompanied by a forecast that underscores the growing demand for AI. Microsoft Cloud generated $42.4 billion in revenue, up 20% y/y and above the $42.22 billion estimate. Revenue from the Intelligent Cloud segment reached $26.8 billion, outpacing the forecast of $25.99 billion. Azure and other cloud services – key indicators watched closely by investors and analysts – grew 33% (35% cc), beating the 31% estimate. Total revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $70.1 billion, outperforming the $68.44 billion expected on Wall Street. That came off the back of a 12% y/y increase in the previous quarter. EPS reached $3.46, exceeding the consensus estimate of $3.22. Looking ahead to FQ4, fueled by robust demand across its range of services, Intelligent Cloud revenue is expected to land between $28.75 billion and $29.05 billion, with Azure revenue growth expected at 34% to 35% in cc. Overall, total revenue is expected to range from $73.15 billion to $74.25 billion, above consensus at $72.26 billion. In the wake of these results, recession fears and tariff talk took a back seat – at least temporarily – as analysts rushed to praise Microsoft's performance. Truist's Joel Fishbein, who ranks amongst the top 3% of Wall Street stock experts, is no expectation. 'Microsoft delivered impressive results in their 3Q25 earnings report,' the 5-star analyst said. 'Azure growth beat the high end of guidance, as the company saw a rebound in performance across non- AI workloads. AI performance continued its momentum as well, driven by some capacity coming online earlier than expected, contributing 16 percentage points to Azure growth. We believe that the positive traction in AI could lead to a sustained Azure reacceleration as new resources come online in FY26.' Bottom line, Fishbein backs MSFT with a Buy rating and a Street-high $600 price target, implying the stock could climb another 38% from current levels. (To watch Fishbein's track record, click here) Elsewhere on the Street, MSFT claims an additional 28 Buys and 5 Holds, all coalescing to a Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are expected to post 12-month growth of 16%, considering the average price target stands at $506.31. (See MSFT stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks' Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks' equity insights.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ServiceNow Upgraded to "Buy" Rating After Strong Q1, Target Raised to $1,200
May 2 - Truist Financial upgraded ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) to "Buy" from Hold following the software firm's stronger-than-expected first-quarter results. Top-ranked analyst Joel Fishbein raised his price target to $1,200 from $950, suggesting upside of over 25%. He described the enterprise workflow platform as a rare compounder with durable growth potential across core and emerging verticals, including customer relationship management and agentic AI. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with NOW. ServiceNow shares jumped more than 15% on April 24 after reporting an 18.5% year-over-year increase in revenue and better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share. The company also issued a bullish outlook for the second quarter, despite macroeconomic uncertainty. Fishbein said ServiceNow is well-positioned to consolidate the enterprise IT stack and benefit from demand for pre-built AI tools, citing strong industry feedback. He also praised the firm's go-to-market execution as the gold standard among peers. Despite the recent rally, the stock is still down about 10% in 2025. The analyst views the pullback as a buying opportunity. Based on the one year price targets offered by 40 analysts, the average target price for ServiceNow Inc is $1048.24 with a high estimate of $1300.00 and a low estimate of $724.00. The average target implies a upside of +9.43% from the current price of $957.95. Based on GuruFocus estimates, the estimated GF Value for ServiceNow Inc in one year is $1053.85, suggesting a upside of +10.01% from the current price of $957.95. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guns: CT House approves bill to make lawsuits easier to file and gun permits harder to get
State legislators clashed Wednesday before approving a controversial bill that would make it easier to file civil lawsuits against gun manufacturers and make it harder for some residents to obtain a pistol permit. After more than two hours of debate over the Second Amendment and liability in the state House of Representatives, the measure passed by 100 to 46 with five Republicans in favor and five moderate Democrats against. House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said the bill has multiple flaws in allowing more lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, marketers, distributors and retailers. 'Generally, the concern is that this is probably a trial lawyer's dream,' Candelora told reporters outside the historic Hall of the House. 'I don't think it does anything to make Connecticut residents safer from gun violence. It certainly will make lawyers a lot richer.' Candelora added, 'This would be like making the car manufacturers liable for the accidents on our roads.' The debate started at 12:37 p.m. and was completed by 3 p.m. Wednesday. Moderate Democrats Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill, Jill Barry of Glastonbury, Patrick Boyd of Pomfret, Chris Poulos of Southington and Michael DiGiovancarlo of Waterbury voted against the bill. Five Republicans: Devin Carney of Old Saybrook, Tina Courpas of Greenwich, Tracy Marra of Darien, Chris Aniskovich of Clinton, and Tom Delnicki of South Windsor voted with the Democratic majority in favor. State Rep. Craig Fishbein, the ranking House Republican on the legislature's judiciary committee, described the measure as 'groundbreaking legislation' in how the gun industry was being treated. 'There's never been a bill up here treating the alcohol industry in the same fashion,' said Fishbein, who voted against the measure. 'We don't have liability for the purveyor of that beer' in a fatal drunken-driving accident. 'I understand that there are people in this building who just don't like guns. I used to be one of them,' Fishbein said. 'It's already difficult to do business in this state. … Also, firearms can be dangerous. I got it.' Rep. Steven Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat who co-chairs the legislature's judiciary committee, said House Bill 7042 allows the state attorney general, as well as private citizens and cities and towns, to file civil lawsuits against those 'who fail to implement so-called reasonable controls in preventing the sale of firearms to straw purchasers, firearm traffickers, and individuals who are prevented from purchasing firearms under our laws.' Stafstrom added that the bill is necessary because the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, known as PLCAA, was passed by Congress in 2005 that 'provided special immunity protections just to gun manufacturers that are not available to almost any other product manufacturer out there.' So far, nine other states have passed similar legislation to expand the possibility of gun-related lawsuits, including New York, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Illinois, Colorado and others. 'We didn't single out anyone. Congress did,' Stafstrom said. 'Connecticut will be the 10th state.' The measure focuses on gun manufacturers and 'firearms industry members,' meaning that private sales between individuals would not be subject to the provisions of the bill, Stafstrom said. Liability, he said, is important. 'We're not creating a new body of law here. This is product liability law 101,' Stafstrom said, adding that the Connecticut law is needed because the gun industry was 'singled out for immunity by Congress.' At the committee level, the bill was debated in March during a six-hour hearing by the judiciary committee that brought out proponents and opponents. The multi-pronged bill also makes it harder for some residents to obtain a gun permit if they committed crimes in other states. Currently, Connecticut residents who commit felonies and 11 'disqualifier misdemeanors' are not permitted to obtain a pistol or revolver permit. But residents who commit essentially the same misdemeanors in other states, and then move to Connecticut, are still able to obtain a permit. The bill would cover anyone convicted of those misdemeanors in another state during the past eight years; they would now be blocked from getting a pistol or revolver permit, lawmakers said. Under Connecticut's 'clean slate' law, convictions for certain misdemeanors are erased. But Connecticut's clean slate law does not apply to out-of-state convictions. 'Under current law, frankly we're treating our own residents more harshly than those who just moved into the state,' Stafstrom told reporters. The misdemeanors in question concern 'violence against another person, extreme indifference to human life, inciting a riot, or possession of certain controlled substances,' Stafstrom said. In a longtime oversight, police and attorneys somehow overlooked the provision in the law and never noticed that out-of-state convictions were handled differently, officials said. When told about the different treatment depending on whether a person committed the crime out of state or in Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said, 'It doesn't make much sense to me.' On the House floor, Stafstrom said anyone who was engaged in the manufacturing of guns would be subject to the provisions of the bill. Separately, attorneys for the families of victims of the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in 2012 filed a civil lawsuit under a different provision of the law concerning unfair trade practices. The provisions in the bill would be in addition to the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, known as CUTPA. A non-partisan legislative analysis provided comprehensive details on who would be covered. 'Under the bill, a 'firearm industry member' is a person, entity, or association (e.g., corporation or trade association) engaged in the manufacture, distribution, importation, marketing, or sale – wholesale or retail – of firearm industry products,' the analysis says. 'These products are firearms, ammunition or firearm magazines, unfinished frames or lower receivers – generally used to make 'ghost guns' – or rates of firearm enhancement (e.g., 'bump stocks') that are or were sold, made, or distributed in the state or possessed in the state and it was reasonably foreseeable that this would occur.' State Rep. Doug Dubitsky, a Republican attorney who supports the Second Amendment, said some gun manufacturers have already left the state. 'Ruger used to manufacture almost all of their firearms in Connecticut, and now they do not,' Dubitsky said. Dubitsky asked a series of questions on exactly who is determined to be a gun manufacturer and whether they would be covered by the bill. 'Yes, we are splitting hairs because this determines who will get sued,' he said. 'These people do this for a living. … You want to know who is going to be named.' Guns, he said, are a different product under the Second Amendment. 'There is no constitutional right to buy a washing machine,' Dubitsky said on the House floor. 'There is no constitutional right to buy a car. … You can't buy a firearm if all of the gun manufacturers have been shut down.' Rep. Greg Howard, a Republican who also serves as a longtime police officer in Stonington, said that liability is being deflected to other parties and away from the person who actually pulled the trigger in a gun crime. He said he has carried a gun every day for the past 23 years. 'When are we going to pin the tail on the donkey?' Howard asked on the House floor. 'When are we going to blame the criminals?' Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Families, officials fault UPMC for conceding to Trump order on gender-affirming care for youth
Lavier Pounds, a volunteer with TransYOUniting, of the North Side, rallies the crowd in the rain outside UPMC's Downtown headquarters as they call for UPMC to reinstate gender-affirming care for people under 19, on Thursday, April 3, 2025. 'It's okay to be ourselves," said Pounds. "I'm here to help us uprise." (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource) T his article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. About 200 people turned out in rainy weather to rally outside UPMC headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh Thursday evening. Standing under rainbow umbrellas and waving trans pride flags, they rebuked the health care giant for rolling back young people's access to gender-affirming care. Advocacy groups including TransYOUniting, the Pennsylvania Youth Congress and others organized the action after learning that UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh had stopped providing gender-affirming health services to LGBTQ+ kids. They viewed the move as a capitulation to the Trump administration's plan to exclude trans people from public life. Several children were in attendance, including Oliver, 10, of Lawrenceville who waved a 'Protect Trans Kids' sign while chanting slogans with the crowd. 'I'm mad because I'm transgender,' they said. PublicSource is withholding Oliver's last name at the request of their parent, K.T. Fishbein, an echocardiographer at Children's Hospital. Like most trans and nonbinary children, Oliver isn't seeking gender-affirming care yet. But Fishbein 'was pretty upset' by their employer's decision to deny care to the children who need it, and worries that Oliver and others may not have access in the future. 'I love what I do at Children's. I love my community there,' Fishbein said. 'But this makes you feel really let down.' During the rally, organizers attempted to deliver a letter signed by Mayor Ed Gainey and 14 other state and local officials to UPMC leadership. It wasn't accepted, but it called on the executives to: Immediately restore access to gender-affirming care at Children's Hospital Establish an advisory committee that includes trans youth to oversee administration of care Fund alternative providers if a court order bars it from providing gender-affirming care, among other demands. '… You are choosing to send a devastating message to the entire trans community that their health and futures are negotiable under political pressure,' they wrote to UPMC executives. 'Continuing to provide comparable medical care to cisgender young people but not transgender youth is discrimination.' In a speech, Gainey told rallygoers to 'stand up and force UPMC to do the right thing.' Asked if the city has the leverage to pressure UPMC to restore access to gender-affirming care, he wrote, 'the City of Pittsburgh has laws on the books to ensure people have equal access to health care regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.' 'My administration's law department is examining legal avenues to enforce our city's non-discrimination policies, and we expect health systems that operate here to follow the law,' he said in a statement to PublicSource after the rally. Rallies were also held today in Erie, Altoona, Lancaster, and Lewisburg — all cities where UPMC operates. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that threatens to pull federal funding from hospitals, medical schools and other institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors, which it defines as those under age 19. The order's language specifically mentions puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — all of which are medically necessary for those who suffer from gender dysphoria, according to a consensus among major medical associations. A federal judge in Maryland extended a nationwide injunction last month that blocks enforcement of the order. The White House didn't immediately respond to a question about its compliance with the court, though it said in February that the order is 'already having its intended effect.' The statement listed six hospitals, including one in Philadelphia, that were pausing or reviewing gender-affirming services for minors. Some large health systems quickly bent to the pressure and began turning young LGBTQ+ patients away just days after Trump signed the executive order. UPMC may have waited longer before quietly changing its policies around gender-affirming care for minors. Patients and their families told reporters last month that its providers had stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormones. And it canceled an 18-year-old's top surgery, which was scheduled for March 24. A spokesperson wrote that UPMC is monitoring federal directives that affect its ability to provide 'specific types of care' to patients under 19. 'We continue to offer necessary behavioral health and other support within the bounds of the law. We empathize with the patients and families who are directly affected by these ongoing changes.' The spokesperson didn't answer detailed questions about UPMC's rationale for denying young patients who need gender-affirming care, the role federal funding may have played in that decision, and the specific services it chose to eliminate. Advocates characterized UPMC's actions as a shocking and premature indulgence of the administration's anti-trans agenda. They pointed to lawsuits arguing the executive order is unconstitutional, the nationwide injunction blocking its enforcement and the City of Pittsburgh's sanctuary laws shielding providers from criminalization. 'What UPMC is doing is preemptive and there's no basis for it,' said Dena Stanley, a lead organizer of the rally and the executive director of TransYOUniting. The nonprofit serves LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive people, and helps run the QMNTY Center, a safe haven for the community on the North Side. 'We all understand what Trump is trying to do, but they also have power,' she said, noting that UPMC has the legal resources to 'stand up and fight back.' Stanley pointed out that UPMC is a major provider of gender-affirming surgeries in Western Pennsylvania. Its domination of the regional market leaves young people who need top surgeries with few alternatives unless they can afford to travel. 'These children are just devastated,' she said. 'And their families are devastated.' Allegheny Health Network, the region's other big health system, offers gender-affirming care at its Center for Inclusion Health, a low-barrier clinic on the North Side. Its Transgender Health Program provides primary care and surgical services including facial feminization and chest reconstruction. 'AHN remains committed to supporting the comprehensive needs of these patients, including primary care, surgical care and mental health support, while complying with all applicable laws,' a spokesperson wrote in response to detailed questions. Some independently owned clinics are opening their doors to the young trans and queer patients who were denied care by UPMC. About two weeks ago, providers from Children's Hospital started referring these patients to Allegheny Reproductive Health Center— an East Liberty clinic offering a range of gender-affirming services, according to Sheila Ramgopal, the center's chief executive and an obstetrician and gynecologist. Ramgopal said the providers were distraught while they spoke with the center's staff, explaining they had been pulled into 'a closed-door meeting' with UPMC executives. The executives reportedly told them they could no longer provide gender-affirming services to LGBTQ+ children, including hormone therapy and surgical services. 'We're getting emails and messages from these providers who are desperately trying to find their clients care … My hats off to them for really trying to find places where people can go and still be safe, and hopefully they don't get in trouble for doing that.' If UPMC continues this policy in the long-term, Ramgopal predicted that some gender-affirming care providers will leave its system to treat young patients elsewhere. But non-compete agreements may bar them from working for other employers in the county, which means the region would lose their medical expertise unless UPMC agrees to not to enforce those agreements, they said. Ramgopal said there's precedent: UPMC allows abortion providers to leave its system for jobs at Allegheny Reproductive Health Center, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and other independent facilities in the county. But they're still barred from joining the AHN system. 'My hope is this would be a negotiable issue with UPMC,' they said. 'There's a lot of providers who live and work in Pittsburgh who want to continue to do this work here.' A spokesperson didn't answer a question about UPMC's flexibility around non-compete agreements. Venuri Siriwardane is PublicSource's health and mental health reporter. She can be reached at venuri@ or on Bluesky @ Stephanie Strasburg is a photojournalist with PublicSource who can be reached at stephanie@ on Instagram @stephaniestrasburg. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation has contributed funding to PublicSource's health care reporting.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why ServiceNow Stock Lagged the Market on Monday
Not for the first time in the past few trading days, ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) stock received a price target cut from an analyst tracking the company. Investors clearly took the move to heart, sending the shares to a slight (0.1%) loss in price on Monday. They were more positive on other stocks, as the bellwether S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) ticked up by 0.6%. The day's reduction came from Joel Fishbein of Truist Securities, who knocked $150 per share off his ServiceNow fair value assessment. It now stands at $950 per share. Meanwhile, the pundit maintained his hold recommendation on the stock. Fishbein's cut was part of a broader analysis on the infrastructure and security software segments of the tech industry. According to reports, the analyst wrote that companies in these sector niches are trading lower due to uncertainty over policy decisions being made by the Trump administration. As government clients are important in both segments, that uncertainty is weighing on them and leading to cuts in estimates, Fishbein added. That was the second price target chop in the past week. Last Wednesday, Fishbein's peer Rob Oliver of Baird made a comparable move, reducing his level to $1,010 per share from $1,200. Although he retained his existing outperform (buy, in other words) recommendation on ServiceNow, the cut didn't exactly boost sentiment on the company. Personally, I lean more toward Oliver's bullish view than Fishbein's neutral stance. I think ServiceNow can absorb potential blows to its business from that top-down uncertainty, and believe it has a smart business that provides a firm foundation for potential growth. Before you buy stock in ServiceNow, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and ServiceNow wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $672,177!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 815% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% 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 March 24, 2025 Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ServiceNow and Truist Financial. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why ServiceNow Stock Lagged the Market on Monday was originally published by The Motley Fool
