Rachit Vats, Author at Elite Stock Chat

BA – Boeing Said To Have Lost Its Top Lobbyist In Washington

Written by Rachit Vats on June 22, 2021. Posted in BA, Stock Report.

Boeing Co’s (NYSE: BA) longtime top lobbyist and political strategist Tim Keating has left the company, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a company memo.

What Happened: Boeing confirmed Keating’s exit and that the planemaker is hunting for a replacement without providing any details on the abrupt exit, the report noted.

Marc Allen, Boeing’s chief strategy officer, would serve as the interim head of government relations while the company looks for a permanent replacement.

Keating helped the U.S. planemaker navigate through its worst-ever crisis after two back-to-back fatal 737 MAX crashes.

The planemaker has taken down Keating’s biography from the Boeing website on Monday evening, the report said.

Why It Matters: Keating joined Boeing in 2008 and was known to be a close aide of former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, as per Defense One, which first reported the news.

Price Action: Boeing shares closed 3.34% higher at $245.28 on Monday.

Photo by Etienne Jong on Unsplash

TSLA – Elon Musk Says Tesla AI Day Planned For July; Recruiting On Agenda

Written by Rachit Vats on June 22, 2021. Posted in Stock Report, TSLA.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on Monday reiterated plans to hold an AI Day in about a month aimed to provide a boost to its recruiting plans.

What Happened: The AI day this year will go over the progress with “Tesla software & hardware” for training and inference with the purpose of recruiting, Musk tweeted.

In general, anyone interested in working on physical-word AI problems, should consider joining Tesla. Fastest path to deploying your ideas irl.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2021

The electric vehicle maker holds themed events from time to time that reveal details on its progress and plans for the future.

Why It Matters: Musk has been teasing the AI day on Twitter. In January, replying to a tweet seeking information about Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer, a computer expected to help train Tesla’s self-driving software, Musk had hinted plans to reveal more later in the year.

In April, he gave a more firm timeline of “July” for AI Day. Artificial Intelligence is key to Musk’s full self-driving goals and the company has been vocal about hiring in the area of hardware, neural networks, autonomy algorithms, coding and evaluation.

The Palo Alto, California-based company had a total of 70,757 employees as of 2020-end.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 0.40% lower at $620/83 on Monday.

Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news.

F – Ford CEO Says Chip Shortage Has Changed 'Normal' Forever, Automaker To Keep Inventories Low Post-Crisis

Written by Rachit Vats on June 18, 2021. Posted in F, Stock Report.

Ford Motor Co’s (NYSE: F) CEO Jim Farley said on Wednesday he expects the ongoing semiconductor shortage situation to get better sometime in 2022, without specifying a sharper timeline.

What Happened: The No. 2 U.S. automaker by volume is relying on tight inventory amid strong demand to tide over the ongoing chip shortage and sees visibility getting better in the second half of the year.

“The issue is that the demand is so high right now globally for Ford, we are going to run our inventories historically lower. Our normal has changed,” Farley told investors at the Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto Industry Conference held virtually.

“In 2019, we were up to 100 days supply with the F-Series. We’re not going to do that again,” Farley said.

U.S. automakers including Ford are seeing a strong demand and record low inventories at dealerships due to the ongoing chip shortages.

The total U.S. new vehicle inventory fell to 1.78 million units at the end of May, down from 2.24 million in April, as per Cox Automotive analysis. Inventory near the end of May was running 43% behind levels for the same period in 2020 and 54% below the same timeframe in 2019, as per Cox Automative.

Why It Matters: Automakers have looked to minimize the impact of tight inventories on sales by prioritizing building their most profitable models first.

“Supply was much lower in May than in April, but it is hard to say sales have been negatively impacted yet,” said Charlie Chesbrough, Cox Automotive senior economist.

Ford plans to keep inventories low even after the chip crisis is over and believes the shortage is a huge opportunity for the industry to learn how to manage the supply chain “differently” and “effectively.”

Earlier in the day, Ford announced a strong second quarter guidance and said it is seeing robust demand and pre-orders for all four recent launches: a full-size Bronco SUV, a battery-electric F-150 Lightning pickup, a Maverick compact truck and all-electric E-Transit commercial van.

Price Action: Ford shares closed 1.7% lower at $14.77 on Thursday after rising initially following the strong forecast.

GLEO – Cathie Wood Sells Another $6.8M In 3D Printing Marketplace Shapeways' SPAC

Written by Rachit Vats on June 18, 2021. Posted in GLEO, Stock Report.

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Thursday sold 679,335 shares, estimated to be worth about $6.8 million, in blank-check firm Galileo Acquisition Corp (NYSE:GLEO).

Shares of the company closed 0.1% higher at $10.01 on Thursday.

Galileo Acquisition Corp is a special purpose acquisition vehicle company, or SPAC, that will take 3D-printing technology provider Shapeways Inc public via a merger.

The popular investment firm sold the shares of the SPAC via the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (BATS:ARKQ). No other ETF holds the shares of the company.

ARKQ holds 736,082 shares, worth $7.36 million, in GLEO.

The investment firm has been heavily shedding shares in Galileo and piling up shares of Jaws Spitfire Acquisition Corp (NYSE:SPFR), the blank-check firm that is set to take 3D printing company Velo3D public instead. Ark Invest has a bullish stance on the 3D printing sector.

Ark’s 3D Printing ETF (BATS:PRNT) is dedicated to the 3D printing industry. PRNT has grown over 20% so far this year and counts 3D Systems Corp (NYSE: DDD) as its top holdings among a total of 56 stocks.

Ark’s other key sells on Thursday included Takeda Pharmaceutical Co (NYSE:TAK) and buys included Blade Air Mobility Inc (NASDAQ:BLDE).

Photo by Fred Hsu on Wikimedia

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RBLX – Cathie Wood Adds $11M In Roblox On The Dip

Written by Rachit Vats on June 17, 2021. Posted in RBLX, Stock Report.

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Wednesday snapped up 134,250 shares, estimated to be worth about $11.09 million, in Roblox Corp (NYSE: RBLX) on the dip.

Shares of the company closed 8.03% lower at $82.59 on Wednesday after the company reported a decline in users and their spending on the online entertainment platform.

The company announced Tuesday after-hours that daily active users were 43 million in May, up 28% from the same month last year and down 1% from 43.3 million in April.

The New York-based investment firm bought the shares of the company via the Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE: ARKW). No other ETF holds the shares of the company.

ARKW holds a total of 617,418 shares, worth about $55.44 million in the San Mateo, California-based company.

Roblox’s online entertainment platform offers a wide range of games for kids, teens and adults. The popular platform allows users to interact with each other.

Some of the other key sells on Wednesday included Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (NYSE: TAK) and buys include Blade Air Mobility (NASDAQ: BLDE).

Photo: Courtesy of Roblox

DKNG – Cathie Wood Loads Up $42M In DraftKings As Shares Drop On Short-Seller Report

Written by Rachit Vats on June 16, 2021. Posted in DKNG, Stock Report.

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Tuesday snapped up 870,299 shares, estimated to be worth about $42.2 million, in DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ: DKNG) on the day shares of the sports betting company fell after it became the latest target of short seller Hindenburg Research.

Shares of the Boston, Massachusetts-based company closed 4.17% lower at $48.51 on Tuesday after the publication of a Hindenburg report named “A $21 billion SPAC betting it can hide its black market operations,” claiming the company’s fully-owned unit SBTech to be a red flag within the DraftKings business.

The New York-based investment firm deployed the Ark Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK) and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE: ARKW) to buy DKNG shares. The investment firm also holds shares of the company via Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKF).

On a consolidated basis, Ark now holds 11.3 million shares, worth $572.2 million, in DraftKings.

The short-seller report based on interviews with former employees and SEC filing reviews said that SBTech, which will soon power DraftKings’ back-end infrastructure, has a record of operations in the black market.

According to Hindenburg, SBTech attempted to hide some of the illegal operations prior to the merger by spinning off a unit into a newly formed company called BTi/CoreTech.

At the time of the SPAC merger, SBTech represented 25% of the company’s revenue and was the only positive contributor to positive operating income.

Some of the other key sells for Ark on Tuesday included Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (NYSE: TAK) and Airbus SE (OTC: EADSY) and buys include UiPath Inc (NYSE: PATH).

GM – GM Raises 5-Year EV Investment Target To $35B, Following In Ford's Footsteps

Written by Rachit Vats on June 16, 2021. Posted in GM, Stock Report.

General Motors Co (NYSE: GM) will boost spending on electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025, a 30% jump over its previous forecast under a new plan, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing sources.

What Happened: The No.1 U.S. automaker by volume will build two additional U.S. battery plants and move ahead the timeline on some of its EV investments, as per the report.

The U.S. automaker had in November last year revealed aggressive timelines for ramping up electric vehicle shift, including launching 30 all-electric models globally by 2025. It also said 40% of the company’s U.S. entries will be battery electric vehicles by the end of 2025.

The company had back then raised its electric and autonomous vehicle spending plan to $27 billion through 2025, up from the $20 billion planned before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why It Matters: GM’s spending boost follows a similar move from legacy rival Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F), which late last month said it plans to boost spending on electric vehicle development to $30 billion by 2025 under a new turnaround plan and expects 40% car sales by 2030 to be EVs.

Automakers across the world, including Volkswagen Ag (OTC: VWAGY), are setting tighter deadlines and setting aside billions of dollars for a fast switchover to a fully electric vehicle lineup, a disruption brought in and accelerated by Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA).

Price Action: GM shares closed 0.35 higher at $60.81 on Tuesday.

Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news.

Photo by Kala4i4ek on Wikimedia

TMUS – T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) Management Presents at Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Communications Conference (Transcript)

Written by Rachit Vats on June 16, 2021. Posted in Stock Report, TMUS.

GM – GM Joint Venture's Budget EV Remains Top-Selling NEV In China Ahead Of Tesla Model Y, Model 3

Written by Rachit Vats on June 10, 2021. Posted in GM, Stock Report.

A $4,500 budget electric car built under a joint venture with General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) continues to top the New Energy Vehicle sales charts in China and is outselling nearest-rival Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y and Model 3 sales in the country, according to a cnEVPost report.

What Happened: The Hongguang Mini EV built by Wuling — a partnership between China’s state-owned SAIC Motor and GM — sold 29,706 vehicles in May, far more than Tesla’s mid-size electric SUV Model Y’s 12,728 units and its mid-size sedan Model 3’s 9,208 units, which were the second and third best-selling NEVs in China in May, respectively.

The Hongguang Mini EV has sold 128,796 units in the first five months of 2021, the report said — citing China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). In comparison, Model 3 came in second, selling 68,330 units and the Model Y ranked third with 34,557 units.

On a consolidated basis, which also includes Tesla’s other models, the electric vehicle maker sold 33,463 electric cars in May, up 29% from April’s 25,845 units, data showed.

The basic Hongguang Mini starts at $4,500 and goes up to $6,000 for its most premium variant named Macaron. In comparison, Tesla’s cheapest offering, the Model 3, starts at over $39,000.

See Also: Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Records 126% YoY Jump In May EV Sales; Outdoes Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto Sales Combined
Why It Matters: China now accounts for 47% of global new energy passenger car sales, as per cnEVpost. In comparison, China’s contribution to world sales of new energy passenger cars was only 8% in 2011 and climbed to 55% in 2018-19. The contribution slid in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

China’s new energy passenger vehicle sales are now estimated to reach 2.4 million units this year, compared with 2 million earlier, helped by strength across segments, as per the report citing CPCA.

GM has several other partnerships in China and doesn’t always individually break down revenue and profit numbers in its financial results. The automaker has however set ambitious targets to switch to electric and autonomous driving under CEO Mary Barra.

Price Action: GM shares closed 1.80% lower at $62.77 on Wednesday.

Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news.

Photo by JustAnotherCarDesigner on Wikimedia

F – Ford Teases Possibility Of An All-Electric Version Of Newly-Launched Maverick

Written by Rachit Vats on June 9, 2021. Posted in F, Stock Report.

Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F) on Tuesday hinted at the possibility of rolling out a smaller electric pickup truck below the F-150 Lightning that it unveiled last month and is scheduled to go into production next year.

What Happened: Ford’s product communications director Michael Levine tweeted to say there’s a “possibility of another all-electric pickup down the road.”

Levine’s tweet was a follow-up explanation to his earlier post, a response to a discussion on the possibility of an all-electric version of the newly launched small pickup Maverick on Tuesday, with the screenshot of a silhouette indicating another compact electric pickup could be in the works.

Just the possibility of another all-electric pickup down the road.

— Mike Levine (@mrlevine) June 8, 2021

Why It Matters: Ford had last month announced plans to boost spending on electric vehicle development to $30 billion by 2025 under a new turnaround plan and expects 40% car sales by 2030 to be EVs.

The No.2 U.S. automaker, in terms of vehicle deliveries, had then in a presentation shown a silhouette that looked like a small pickup, and resembled its small hybrid pick-up truck Maverick that it launched on Tuesday. Maverick, which can be bought for as little as $20,000, is Ford’s way back into the small-pickup truck category after a decade-long gap when most automakers started making bigger trucks.

Ford is betting customers will see value in Maverick, for its fuel-efficient utility, which it estimates will travel 500 miles with a hybrid powertrain. Battery range and pricing will play a key role in customers migrating to electric trucks, and smaller pickups could help adoption faster.

Price Action: Ford shares closed 1.57% lower at $15.63 on Tuesday.

Photo Courtesy: Ford

Author: Rachit Vats