http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/1224570118610608129

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Previously on Guess the Company
Hi fellow kids, I'm back again today with yet another DD where I reveal the ticker at the end rather than the beginning.
Let's see how many clues it takes for you to correctly guess today's company:
-This company's Q2 2020 revenues dropped 98% compared to a year ago, and its quarterly EPS plunged from $1.24 in Q2 2019 to a loss of ($1.07) in Q2 2020.
-Despite these revenue numbers, shareholders were barely fazed and the stock continued to trade sideways between $40-$50 from June to November 2020
-If you bought $10000 of this stock at its all time low in March 2009, you would be receiving about twice that much in annual dividends up until it was suspended in Q2 2020 due to the pandemic
-As part of the terms of a $1.5 billion credit facility, this company is not permitted to pay dividend until Q4 2021 unless it can maintain a $1 billion+ liquidity after paying the dividend.
-During the height of the financial crisis in 09, this company was reportedly losing $1000 per *second*
-When this company was about to go bankrupt, its owner dug into his own pockets and loaned the company $1 billion
-Before his company's stocks took a nosedive in 2008, the owner of this company was briefly the 3rd richest person in the USA behind only Bill Gates and Warren Buffet
-Although this company is based in Paradise, NV, the majority of its revenues comes from China. More specifically, Macau, China.
-In 2010 this company built a $6.88 billion resort in Singapore, billed the world's "most expensive standalone casino property"
-With annual revenues of $14 billion, this company is the largest casino operator in the world by market capitalization
Have you made your guess yet?
If your guess was LVS , you are correct!
Outlook for LVS: There are speculations that LVS might sell its Las Vegas Strip properties to a REIT and then lease them back, a move that would raise about $6 billion and allow it to further focus its efforts in Asia where most of its revenues come from. Although my outlook for LVS is bullish, I expect this stock to trade mostly sideways until later this year or early 2022 when it resumes paying dividends to shareholders. OPTAP: $75

I have seen many posts across the Cardano community about how ETH’s DeFi rush will give ETH the first movers advantage in a winner take all DeFi ecosystem.
First, I know how anxious many of you feel. We see another project with a fervor of activity while IOG is still working behind semi-closed doors on Goguen. We all want Cardano to live up to its potential and its scary when it looks like another platform is racing ahead.
However, let us take some time to think of this from first principles and ask, “Why is DeFi a winner take all situation?” If you look at the tech ecosystem, platforms that are labeled “Winner take all” platforms are closed systems. Not every business that calls itself a platform, online or not, is not in a winner take all market. That said, winner take all really is a misnomer, even the strongest closed network tech companies with the strongest of feedback loops have competition.

1. Facebook has TikTok and Snapchat
2. Amazon has Wayfair while Target and Walmart online are catching up extremely fast
3. Netflix has Hulu/Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video and CrunchyRoll
4. Spotify has Apple Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Youtube Music, Amazon Music, Google Music

In the finance space things generally are not winner take all because the system is interoperable (imagine what would happen to Bank of America tomorrow if it announced that it is no longer accepting deposits from other banks?). As an example, I can ACH money from Citibank to UBS, buy stock there, then transfer it with ACATS to Interactive Brokers.
Looking at the financial markets, there are so many different institutions, many of them extremely large.

1. Banks: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Bank of New York Mellon are all massive institutions; and those are just the large bulge brackets, there are a ton more regional banks and smaller institutions),
2. Brokerage houses: Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Robinhood, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade
3. Asset Managers: BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, PIMCO, Wellington Asset Management and JP Morgan Asset Management, all have more than $1 Trillion dollars in AUM
4. Insurance Companies: MetLife, State Farm, Berkshire Hathaway, Progressive, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Travelers, Chubb, USAA all write $10s of billions of dollars of premium a year
5. Hedge Funds: Bridgewater, Citadel, AQR, Renaissance Technologies, DE Shaw, Elliot Management, Bracebridge, Panagora Asset Management all have $10s or $100+ of billions under management, and again those are just the big guys)

Seriously, just go look up how large these companies are. Those are the guys we are going for, not some fly-by-night DeFi script kiddy who lost $200mm dollars because they forgot to call the correct method in their smart contract.
Oh, and that list I included, those are only the large firms. I did not even touch upon the myriad of boutique and regional firms. I also haven't even gotten to any international firms yet, or mentioned other entities like the DTCC, prop-trading firms, family offices, private banks or sovereign wealth funds like GIC/Temasek and CIC with over a trillion dollars under management.
Also keep in mind that while DeFi might feel full of vitality and growth, what are people in the market really doing? What real world activity are people borrowing do to on crypto platforms? People are not borrowing on DeFi to start businesses, build homes or pay for school. They are borrowing to fund margin loans so they can leverage and maximize their yield. It is just a moderately sized casino*** with a cardboard sign duct-taped over that reads "Bank." The current total value locked in De-Fi is $9bn at most which is tiny. I have been at large asset management firms with single accounts with more money than that. Even if De-FI on ETH miraculously grows by 700x without any blowups, it will still be smaller than the AUM of the largest asset management firm by over $100bn.
Lastly, I think people underestimate the issues ETH has ahead of it. Read this medium post and this academic paper about priority gas auctions, DeX front running and transaction ordering dependence vulnerabilities [0, 1] and how this not only impacts users but affects the security properties of the consensus layer. Additionally, ETH 2.0 does little to fix the fee issue, for that they are working on EIP-1559 which is still contentious and will be hard to ship without on chain governance, which also isn't included in ETH 2.0 either. Even further still, ETH will need to do a difficult hard fork to implement these changes, while Cardano has HFC events which are operationally less complex and easier to execute. There are still so many kinks to work out. ETH isn’t the iPhone moment, ETH is pretty much the 10lb Motorola voice only cellphone (more like a blunt weapon) that costs the same as a pedigreed show dog.
TLDR; The market is still in its absolute infancy. The space we all can disrupt is massive. Fighting over the current market is like fighting over a parking space when you have the entire continental United States to explore. While the project can’t stagnate or rest on its laurels (which I don’t think is happening), it can take its time to be methodical to ensure that when the world financial markets are onboarded onto the blockchain that Cardano has the research, codebase, infrastructure and community to step up to the challenge and excel.
*** Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts each made more money in the last 12 months--even with COVID--than the TVL of DeFi assets on ETH. Yet, the icing on the cake is that the Macau gambling market is 4x the size of Vegas so even the gambling industry is much bigger than DeFi right now.
[0] https://medium.com/@danrobinson/ethereum-is-a-dark-forest-ecc5f0505dff
[1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.05234.pdf (its long but all you need is the first 3-ish pages)

With the closure of almost half of Atlantic City's casinos, Newark set to vote on gambling and casinos or racinos in almost every state, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City are in serious jeopardy.
Israel Joffe
Atlantic City, once a major vacation spot during the roaring 20s and 1930s, as seen on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, collapsed when cheap air fare became the norm and people had no reason to head to the many beach town resorts on the East Coast. Within a few decades, the city, known for being an ‘oasis of sin’ during the prohibition era, fell into serious decline and dilapidation.
New Jersey officials felt the only way to bring Atlantic City back from the brink of disaster would be to legalize gambling. Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts, first opened its doors in 1978. People stood shoulder to shoulder, packed into the hotel as gambling officially made its way to the East Coast. Folks in the East Coast didn't have to make a special trip all the way to Vegas in order to enjoy some craps, slots, roulette and more.
As time wore on, Atlantic City became the premier gambling spots in the country.
While detractors felt that the area still remained poor and dilapidated, officials were quick to point out that the casinos didn't bring the mass gentrification to Atlantic City as much as they hoped but the billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for the surrounding communities was well worth it.
Atlantic City developed a reputation as more of a short-stay ‘day-cation’ type of place, yet managed to stand firm against the 'adult playground' and 'entertainment capital of the world' Las Vegas.
Through-out the 1980s, Atlantic City would become an integral part of American pop culture as a place for east coast residents to gamble, watch boxing, wrestling, concerts and other sporting events.
However in the late 1980s, a landmark ruling considered Native-American reservations to be sovereign entities not bound by state law. It was the first potential threat to the iron grip Atlantic City and Vegas had on the gambling and entertainment industry.
Huge 'mega casinos' were built on reservations that rivaled Atlantic City and Vegas. In turn, Vegas built even more impressive casinos.
Atlantic City, in an attempt to make the city more appealing to the ‘big whale’ millionaire and billionaire gamblers, and in effort to move away from its ‘seedy’ reputation, built the luxurious Borgata casino in 2003. Harrah’s created a billion dollar extension and other casinos in the area went through serious renovations and re-branded themselves.
It seemed as if the bite that the Native American casinos took out of AC and Vegas’ profits was negligible and that the dominance of those two cities in the world of gambling would remain unchallenged.
Then Macau, formally a colony of Portugal, was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. The gambling industry there had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly was ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market.
Under the one country, two systems policy, the territory remained virtually unchanged aside from mega casinos popping up everywhere. All the rich ‘whales’ from the far east had no reason anymore to go to the United States to spend their money.
Then came the biggest threat.
As revenue from dog and horse racing tracks around the United States dried up, government officials needed a way to bring back jobs and revitalize the surrounding communities. Slot machines in race tracks started in Iowa in 1994 but took off in 2004 when Pennsylvania introduced ‘Racinos’ in an effort to reduce property taxes for the state and to help depressed areas bounce back.
As of 2013, racinos were legal in ten states: Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia with more expected in 2015.
Tracks like Delaware Park and West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, once considered places where local degenerates bet on broken-down nags in claiming races, are now among the wealthiest tracks around, with the best races.
The famous Aqueduct race track in Queens, NY, once facing an uncertain future, now possesses the most profitable casino in the United States.
From June 2012 to June 2013, Aqueduct matched a quarter of Atlantic City's total gaming revenue from its dozen casinos: $729.2 million compared with A.C.'s $2.9 billion. It has taken an estimated 15 percent hit on New Jersey casino revenue and climbing.
And it isn't just Aqueduct that's taking business away from them. Atlantic City's closest major city, Philadelphia, only 35-40 minutes away, and one of the largest cities in America, now has a casino that has contributed heavily to the decline in gamers visiting the area.
New Jersey is the third state in the U.S. to have authorized internet gambling. However, these online casinos are owned and controlled by Atlantic City casinos in an effort to boost profits in the face of fierce competition.
California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas are hoping to join Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands in offering online gambling to their residents.
With this in mind, it seems the very niche that Atlantic City once offered as a gambling and entertainment hub for east coast residents is heading toward the dustbin of history.
Time will tell if this city will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industry to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing , it all makes Atlantic City’s fate seem eerily similar.

Good luck today guys, hope everyone makes some tendies

Edit 8:30PM Thanks for the love and awards guys, hope everyone ended the week off positive, enjoy your weekend.

Of note for Airlines (LUV, DAL, AAL, UAL), the Airlines for Americas trade association says the industry needs “immediate financial assistance” to protect the 11mln jobs it represents.
Of note for Banks (JPM, C, MS, BAC, GS), the Fed is encouraged by a notable increase in discount window borrowing as banks show a willingness to use the window as a funding source to support the flow of credit to households and businesses.
Of note for Car Rental Services (HTZ, CAR), both Hertz and Avis Budget Corp have requested aid from the US government.

Dow Jones

Apple Inc. (AAPL) supply chain is reportedly still facing supply disruptions even as China recovers due to factory closures of suppliers in Malaysia. Elsewhere, it has limited the number of purchases on its iPhones to two per customer in the US and China, according to Canalys.
Boeing Company (BA) is reportedly leaning towards a temporary halt of operations at its twin-aisle jetliner factories due to the spread of the coronavirus, according to people familiar with the matter, in a similar move to Airbus (AIR FP).
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Global Supply Chain Officer Wengel announced its supply chain is currently holding steady and meeting patient needs.
Walmart (WMT) announced it is planning to give special cash bonuses for hourly associates for their work during the current conditions with full-time associates receiving USD 300 and part-time associates receiving USD 150, which will equate to USD 365mln. WMT is to also accelerate its next bonus for store, club and supply chain associates which will equate to USD 180mln, overall it will equate to USD 550mln, the co. says. WMT is to also hire over 150k hourly employees as the number of shoppers increases.

Nasdaq 100

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)– Some sellers state its decision to stop receiving non-essential inventory in response to the coronavirus pandemic could limit sales they need to make payments on its loans from Amazon.
Tesla (TSLA) announced it decided to temporarily suspend production at its Fremont, California factory and NY Factory after March 23rd. Elsewhere, CEO Musk announced his factories are working on ventilators to address a potential shortage.
United Continental Holdings (UAL) – Apollo Global Management (APO) has reportedly purchased part of the airlines USD 2bln loan from a group of banks, according to people familiar with the matter.

S&P 500

Accenture plc (ACN) had its PT cut at a number of brokers, however, they were positive on its ability to continue through the coronavirus crisis.
AFLAC Inc (AFL) American Family Life Assurance of Columbus and New York agreed to acquire Zurich North America's US corporate Life and Pensions. AFL expects the acquisition to be dilutive to 2020 adj. EPS by USD 0.02 to 0.03.
Altria Group Inc (MO) announced it is temporarily suspending operations at its Richmond manufacturing center.
Anthem Inc. (ANTM) announced it is offering up to 80 hours of paid emergency leave for qualifying needs, including if associates are experiencing coronavirus symptoms or for caring for young children whose school has been closed.
AT&T Inc. (T) announced it has cancelled is accelerates share repurchase programme of USD 4bln worth of stock, noting the impact of the coronavirus could be material although it cannot currently estimate the impact onto its financial or operational results.
Bank of America Corp (BAC) announced it is offering additional support for its consumer and small business clients in response to the coronavirus, where clients can request funds including overdraft fees, non-sufficient funds fees, and monthly maintenance fees through deposit accounts. Many customers can also request to defer any payments.
Carnival Corp. (CCL) preliminary Q1 20 (USD): EPS 0.22 (exp. 0.27), revenue 4.8bln (exp. 4.66bln); coronavirus resulted in a net loss of 0.23/shr.
Cintas Corporation (CTAS) Q3 20 (USD): Adj. EPS 2.16 (exp. 2.02), revenue 1.81bln (exp. 1.8bln), gross margin 45.5% (exp. 45.7%, prev. 44.9% Y/Y); announced it is not providing guidance for Q4 20 and it is suspending FY20 guidance due to uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.
Coty, Inc (COTY) provided an update on the current situation: Expects Q3 20 revenue to fall approximately 20% like for like, with a meaningful impact on profit, it has also withdrawn FY20 guidance. It is recommending to the board that shareholders be given the option to receive up to 100% of their quarterly dividend in kind for the coming two quarters. Its largest shareholder JAB decided to fully repay the loan it used to finance the tender offer in 2019. It is taking initiatives to manufacture hand sanitizer. Notes activations on Amazon have seen US sales nearly double in recent weeks, as well as launching the Kylie skin-care Europe in upcoming weeks; it is also preparing for increased demand post coronavirus.
Danaher Corp. (DHR) announced the US FTC is on board with the acquisition of General Electric’s (GE) Life Sciences Biopharma Business. The closing of the deal is still subject to customary closing conditions as announced in the agreement, but DHR expects the deal to close on March 31st, 2020.
Ford Motor (F) announced it has plans to suspend production in Argentina and Brazil starting next week due to the coronavirus.
Kohl's Corp. (KSS) announced it is to close its stores nationwide through to at least April 1st, although customers will still be able to shop on its App. It also withdrew guidance for Q1 and FY20.
Mylan N.V. (MYL) announced it is increasing production of its malaria drug for potential use to combat the coronavirus.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is reportedly planning on naming its former CEO Stephen Chazen as its new chairman as it tries to improve amid weak demand and activism from Carl Icahn, according to WSJ citing people familiar with the matter.
Sysco Corp. (SYY) announced it will donate 2.5mln meals over the next four weeks as part of its response strategy to help against COVID-19. Elsewhere, it has withdrawn its three-year plan guidance due to the impact from the coronavirus.
Tiffany & Co. (TIF) Q4 19 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.80 (exp. 1.77), revenue 1.4bln (exp. 1.36bln); SSS +3%, SSS Ex-Hong Kong +5%, Gross Margin 63.3% (Prev. Y/Y 63.8%). Announced it will not be issuing FY20 guidance due to the pending merger with LVMH

Other

Crowdstrike (CRWD) Q4 19 (USD): Adj. EPS -0.02 (exp. -0.08), Revenue 152mln (exp. 137mln); FY21 Adj. EPS view -0.14 to -0.10 (exp. -0.18), revenue view 723-733mln (exp. 685mln)
Samsung (SSNLF) has reportedly been hit hard by Vietnam’s travel restrictions from South Korea, fueling concerns its Galaxy Note smartphones will fall behind schedule in its largest manufacturing hub outside South Korea
Teva (TEVA) announced it will be donating over 6mln doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets across the US to meet the urgent demand for the medicine as an investigational target to treat the coronavirus.

Additional US Equity Stories

Of note for casino names (MGM, CZR, WYNN, MLCO); Macau has halved its 2020 gaming revenue forecast due to the coronavirus and predicts a 56% fall from previous year to USD 16bln.
US Steel (X) Q1 20 (USD): Adj. EPS view -0.80 (exp. -0.84), EBITDA 30mln.
Coca Cola (KO) does not expect to meet its FY20 guidance, although does not foresee any near-term interruptions to its concentrate or beverage-based production. Meanwhile, it had its PT lowered at Deutsche Bank to USD 53/shr from USD 64/shr, although the desk reiterated its long-term buy rating.
Ross Stores (ROST) announced it is to temporarilty close all of its stores throughout the US due to the coronavirus.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) announced it is hiring 25,000 associates (both full and part time) to help across its stores in the US.
Synaptics Inc. (SYNA) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan
Colgate Palmolive (CL) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA
Accenture (CAN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at MoffettNathansonMonster Beverage

Investing News Morning Roundup – October 27, 2020
Virus cases are surging, setting records in the US as stimulus talks seem to come and go. The market is in the thick of earnings season and this week will see about one third of the S&P 500 companies (186) reporting earnings.
Advanced Micro Devices acquiring Xilinx in $35 billion deal
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is acquiring Xilinx (XLNX) in a $35 billion deal in a very complimentary deal for AMD. AMD is paying about $143 per share, a 25% premium to its closing price, in an all stock deal. Xilinx sells more profitable products and upon closing the deal will immediately be accretive to AMD and give AMD a much broader array of product offerings. Xilinx is the leading provider of adaptive computing solutions and its products will help AMD in its battle against leader Intel (INTC). Intel’s recent problems make the acquisition that much more important for AMD. “This is truly a compelling combination that will create significant value for all stakeholders, including AMD and Xililnx shareholders who will benefit from future growth and upside potential of the combined company,” AMD’s CEO Lisa Su. Very good news for AMD’s stock.
Facebook says “game on!” to cloud-streaming games on its platform
Facebook (FB) sees lots of its users playing video games online and wants a piece of the action. Facebook Gaming is launching cloud-streamed games on the Facebook app and on browser versions on the platform. The move by Facebook will expand its content library to more complex, multi-player games. Facebook’s model will be free to play, contrasting with Google’s (GOOG) Stadia and Amazon's (AMZN) Luna, both of which are subscription services. In a blog post, Facebook said, "Our first set of games available this week include Asphalt 9: Legends by Gameloft; Mobile Legends: Adventure by Moonton; PGA TOUR Golf Shootout by Concrete Software, Inc.; Solitaire: Arthur’s Tale by Qublix Games; and WWE SuperCard by 2K." Analysts have cautioned it will take some time for Facebook to reach critical mass and Amazon’s disastrous rollout of Luna gives reason for caution. Nevertheless, the news is positive over the long term for Facebook’s stock.
Tencent wins in court, US govt cannot prohibit WeChat in US
The US government lost its bid in court to prohibit Tencent’s (TCEHY) WeChat from being used in the US. The government lost its bid for a stay on a lower court ruling barring the government’s restrictions. The US is seeking to bar the app from the Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) app stores claiming national security concerns. The claim from the government is that Tencent is close the Chinese Communist Party and the app can be used to disseminate propaganda to US citizens. The court has agreed with Tencent that the restrictions would violate the free speech rights of millions of Chinese Americans. Great news for Tencent’s stock.
Get me some Ant! Ant Group closing IPO books early due to soaring demand
Ant Group’s IPO has attracted unbelievable demand from investors, with its plan to raise $34.5 billion in the biggest IPO ever. With such strong demand, the company will be closing the deal books one day earlier than planned. Once the deal is closed, Ant Group, one-third owned by Alibaba (BABA), will have a market cap of $315 billion, greater than that of JP Morgan (JPM).
Las Vegas Sands looking to sell properties, saying “see ya!” to Vegas
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is exploring the sale of its casinos in Las Vegas as the world’s largest casino operator looks at a change of focus. Such a move would see Sands focusing on its Macau operations which have been in focus lately. Sands generates most of its revenue in Macau and Singapore. Press reports say the company is seeking about $6 billion for the Las Vegas properties, though negotiations are in an early stage. Any confirmation of a sale could be very positive for Sands’ stock.

Expect lots of temperature checks and one-way routes. ‘As we experienced in China, this will be a journey.’
Wearable social-distancing buzzers. Masked blackjack dealers. Drive-thru electronics purchases. From cubicles to factory floors, cafes to clothing boutiques, businesses around the world are dreaming up creative ways to reopen, attempting to start revenue flowing again while minimizing the risk to customers and employees.
The global economy is riding on their ability to pull off that delicate balance. A new flareup of Covid-19 cases could shutter offices, stores, restaurants and manufacturing plants once again, further choking off the flow of goods and services and threatening more jobs. Some governments, such as China, are providing rigorous oversight of the process. Others, including President Donald Trump’s administration, have offered looser guidance and are entrusting businesses to monitor their facilities. Scientists are still studying how the virus is spread, and whether keeping people six feet apart is enough, adding to the risks.
The companies’ plans rely on a steady supply of masks, gloves, thermometers and tests that is likely to strain budgets and manufacturers’ ability to keep up. Social distancing will be built in, with people divided by barriers and kept apart from colleagues and customers, a U-turn after years of movement toward open floor plans. Some companies will monitor employees more closely than ever before, while others will let workers choose how much protection they need. The way we work, shop, travel and eat in 2020 – and probably beyond – is being plotted out in boardrooms around the world.
Here are the changes companies are contemplating for their workplaces in the coming weeks.

The Office

Seats on the shuttle bus to Unilever’s Shanghai offices can be reserved using a chat group. Employees must be masked to board, and they sit on alternating sides, one person to each four-seat row. Upon arrival, each worker scans a QR code and fills out a health status report to get a daily pass to enter. Then comes the temperature check and the hand sanitizer.
Inside the office, movement is tightly regulated. Employees keep their masks on and are encouraged to use the stairs instead of the elevator, with spritzes of hand sanitizer before and after touching the regularly disinfected handrail. In the canteen, a single person is allowed at each four-seat table.
Such measures might seem predictable in a centrally controlled society like China, but some version of them is starting to appear in the West. At Britain’s former state phone monopoly, BT Group Plc, call center workers sit two meters apart, and walkways are designated as one-way to keep people from brushing past each other. Temperature checks are becoming routine at Sistema, the Russian conglomerate, which also says it’s developed its own two-hour test for Covid-19. Employees who come to the office have been tested in the past couple of weeks, though as many as half of the call center workers at MTS, the mobile network controlled by Sistema, are operating out of their homes.

More Room

Flexible space operator Knotel, which runs offices for corporations including Uber and Netflix, says workplace design has to change. Offices will likely be less densely populated, and altered to make them “antiviral,” according to Amol Sarva, Knotel’s chief executive officer.
“Things like ventilation, UV light, density screening, video monitoring, and temperature monitoring, cleaning protocols — those are all going to have to change,” he said. “Certainly there’ll be more space.”
In China, Cushman & Wakefield has helped move nearly a million workers back into 800 million square feet (74 million square meters) of office space. The company is creating a Recovery Readiness manual for landlords and tenants, based in part on its experience in China, that includes colored carpets to create visual boundaries around desks, plexiglass shields between desks that face each other and signs that direct walking traffic in a single direction.

Fewer Meetings

Even when people do come back to the office, meetings will be limited, and large gatherings are out of the question. This week, Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg canceled all physical events of 50 or more people through June 2021. The vast majority of employees are required to work from home through May, and those who need to carry on doing so will be able to work at home through the summer.
The road to normalcy may be much longer than that. At Abcam Plc, a British protein research company, 40 out of 300 China-based employees started returning to work in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hong Kong on Feb. 14. Two months later, the company is running split shifts to maintain distancing for the roughly 50% of employees based in manufacturing, logistics and essential lab work.

The Factory

On Feb. 10, Winly Automotive (Wuhan) Ltd. was assigned a checklist from the government. To reopen, the company would be required to have a one-month stash of masks and sanitizer, take a photo of the supplies, and send it to officials before submitting to a detailed inspection. “The policy has been constantly changing,” said Wang Xuepan, one of the plant’s managers. “It’s very difficult for us to handle.”
In the Seattle area, Boeing Co. has worked with the Washington state labor department on a plan to reopen its factories. It will be doling out cloth masks to most workers, saving the gold-standard N95 masks for a select few in more hazardous conditions.
Unlike office drones, factory workers have to show up in person to get the job done. Figuring out what basic protections they’ll need is part of the challenge. At Boeing, industrial engineers are analyzing the sequence of work on its assembly lines to find ways to spread apart workers.

Taking the Temperature

Airbus SE has divided employees at its plants into red and blue teams, who don’t see each other because they use different routes to enter and exit buildings. Volkswagen AG is allotting more time between shifts and reducing expectations for production because it takes longer for people to move around each other at a safe distance. Ford Motor Co. is experimenting with wearable devices that would buzz workers if they get too close together.
While the virus can be transmitted by people with no symptoms, many manufacturers are doing temperature checks, whether with thermometers, thermal imaging cameras or — in the case of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV in the U.S. — reusable forehead strips.
Fiat Chrysler, whose CEO Mike Manley is one of the executives talking with Trump about reopening the economy, is requiring workers to fill out a health questionnaire two hours before reporting to work each day. They must bring either a hard copy, or scan a QR code with their phone, to prove they aren’t displaying signs of illness or exposure to the virus, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg. Workers can’t enter the plant without it.
Some companies are closing cafeterias in favor of vending machines. Dongfeng PSA in Wuhan is handing out prepared lunchboxes to employees, who must eat at least 1.5 meters apart with their backs to each other.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. said Chairman Li Shufu wrote a song to keep workers motivated through such dreariness. “A world full of expectations/Turned to dust of yesterday,” the lyrics go. “Their sorrow flowing into the sea/But the flower of love is quietly blooming.”

The Airplane

When air travel resumes in earnest, it’s likely that hand sanitizers, face masks and thermometers will become standard at most major airports, said David Powell, medical adviser for the International Air Transport Association, a trade group. All three have shortcomings, but can also reassure passengers, he said.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets global flying standards, wants to establish a “public health corridor concept.” Under such a plan, major airlines, airports, public authorities and other parties would adopt common protocols for screening, boarding, in-flight procedures, arrivals, customs and baggage.
“We cannot all just stop flying,” Ansa Jordaan, the group’s chief of aviation medicine, said during an April 15 webcast.
Emirates Airline said this week it was the first to conduct rapid Covid-19 blood tests, with results available in 10 minutes for passengers flying Wednesday from Dubai to Tunisia. It plans to extend the procedure to other flights, according to Chief Operating Officer Adel Al Redha.
Other carriers are attempting less invasive measures. Etihad Airways, another major airline in the United Arab Emirates, plans to deploy touchless self-service devices at its hub airport in Abu Dhabi to identify travelers with medical conditions, including the early stages of coronavirus.
In the U.S., American Airlines Group Inc. plans to continue spacing customers apart during boarding and flights, conducting extensive cleanings of aircraft and reducing food and beverage service to limit contact, CEO Doug Parker said in an April 15 video message.
“When you do fly, aircraft cleanliness and social distancing matter greatly,” he said.

The Store

In China, it’s become standard to have your temperature taken any time you want to go shopping. Visitors to the Wuhan International Plaza luxury mall are checked for a fever at the door, before they queue up to be served one at a time at Louis Vuitton.
Levi Strauss & Co. disinfects its Chinese stores three times a day and requires temperature checks for customers, who are expected to wear masks before entering the store. Fitting rooms and products that have been tried on are disinfected each time they’re used.
It’s unclear whether practices implemented in China will make their way to other parts of the world, though several companies said they’ll learn from their experience in Asia.

Drive-Thru Shopping

Another technique is to keep shoppers out of the store altogether. Dixons Carphone Plc, the electronics retailer, is considering plans for contact-free “drive-thru” style stores to limit the risk of coronavirus for staff and customers. Shoppers would park outside, call the store to select items to buy, use a contactless system to pay and then open their trunks so staff could deliver the products.
Salespeople at luxury retailers in China were already using social media to engage with customers before the outbreak, but they’ve stepped up the effort since, adding clients on WeChat and sending them information about the latest trends. Louis Vuitton tried showcasing its summer product line in a livestream show on March 26 featuring a social-media star, but was ridiculed for the quality of the video. Sometimes there’s no substitute for personal contact.

The Restaurant

Buffets and salad bars will be re-thought, and self-serve drink stations may be “a thing of the past,” said Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel, who added that other changes are afoot at the 387-store chain. Taco John’s popular salsa bar — around for the past 15 years — may be removed.
“We hope we don’t have to take them out — that we’ll be able to figure out a way to make them still work — but I’m afraid the fear factor our there will force us to go to a pre-packaged option.”
A test of self-ordering kiosks may also get pulled back. “It was a good idea three months ago, but not so good today,” Creel said.

Phone Pay

In China, restaurants and even bars have opened back up in Shanghai, with varying limits on seating arrangements – some allow six to a table, others only one. In Beijing, restaurants are doing temperature checks. In Wuhan, most places are still delivery-only.
“In the short run, as dining rooms open back up again, you’ll probably see many restaurants space their tables a little bit further apart,” said Jack Li, CEO of menu researcher Datassential. “You’ll see more restaurants try to adopt phone pay. So not having to hand your money or card to anyone. You’re certainly going to see more places continue to do things like contactless delivery.”
Starbucks Corp. is taking a store-by-store approach to resuming business activities in the U.S., with services limited to drive-thru, delivery and takeout via mobile orders and contactless pickup.
“As we experienced in China, this will be a journey,” CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a memo to staff on Thursday.

The Menu

Chains are cutting back menus, focusing on products that sell best and are easy to make. Romano’s Macaroni Grill has pared down its menu to 70% of what it used to be, saying goodbye to pizzas and calzones recently. McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu is gone.
Fazoli’s Italian restaurant chain is trying to secure Purell sanitizing stations – four for each store — along with “millions” of alcohol-based wipes for re-opening the dining rooms of its 216 locations. The company is also re-thinking bathrooms and looking into touch-less soap dispensers. It’s an investment, but a worthwhile one, says CEO Carl Howard.
“I want to let the consumer know I’m doing everything I can to keep them as safe as possible,” Howard said in an interview.

The Arena

Large public gatherings aren’t top of mind yet in China, but Trump and the people who run the U.S.’s biggest sports leagues appear aligned in their thinking that live games, at least in some form, are a critical part of helping the country recover.
“The progression needs to be open outdoor sports first, golf, tennis, swimming so that we can start to test the waters — that I’m fine with,” said billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
One obstacle may be local politicians. When UFC floated plans to host an event this weekend on tribal land in California without spectators, it was pressure from politicians, including Governor Gavin Newsom, that led to its cancellation. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has reportedly discussed the possibility of prohibiting large gatherings like concerts and sporting events in the city for another year.

The Movies

That said, there’s billions on the line for sports leagues, sponsors and media networks if the games don’t resume soon. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, has said that that the only way to do that this summer is to close venues to fans and keep all the players, coaches and referees isolated from society.
Cinema owners are also waiting to see when health officials give them clearance to open up. Cinemark Holdings Inc., the third-largest U.S. movie chain, has been in discussions with major film studios about when to release blockbusters again. The chain’s management thinks they could begin bringing back staff starting in late June, then build up a marketing campaign for a broader re-opening on July 1.
The experience won’t be like it was before coronavirus hit. The chain will either have to limit the available tickets for each showing, leaving about half its seats open. Or it may eliminate reserved seating, so customers can voluntarily spread themselves out when they arrive. Cleaning will have to be ramped up, and opening hours may be limited to accommodate the changes.
“How long that will take? We’re not completely certain,” said Mark Zoradi, Cinemark’s CEO, on a call with analysts and investors on Wednesday. “But we’re planning on anywhere from one to three months to light up that engine again and then to begin with higher profile, new product.”

The Casino

Las Vegas casino executives have discussed opening with as little as one-third of their rooms available, with limited entrances where guests’ temperatures could be checked. Casino employees would wear masks and gloves, and gamblers would sit at least a chair apart at blackjack tables.
The moves are similar to what is already occurring in Macau, the world’s largest gambling market, where casinos closed for 15 days in February and reopened under tight restrictions.
The companies are also discussing enhanced cleaning techniques, something unions have requested.

Fun Parks

The $19.3 billion U.S. theme park industry is also making plans, though no one knows when gates will reopen.
When they do, employees may be wearing masks and temperatures may be checked not only at the entrances but inside as well, said Dennis Speigel, a theme park consultant in Cincinnati. Operators may also institute virtual queues, where guests snag a place in line through an app and come to ride when it’s their turn.
“The theme park of the future is going to have to take a much different turn, from distancing to wanding to cleaning,” Speigel said. “I’ve never heard the fear in the voices that I’ve heard. Nobody knows what they’re going to be doing.”
Bloomberg News - With assistance from Thomas Buckley, Thomas Seal, Dana Hull, Natalie Wong, Julie Johnsson, Charlotte Ryan, Christoph Rauwald, Kyunghee Park, Gabrielle Coppola, Shiho Takezawa, Tian Ying, Chunying Zhang, Keith Naughton, Mary Schlangenstein, Justin Bachman, Layan Odeh, Jordyn Holman, Deirdre Hipwell, Robert Williams, Kim Bhasin, Jinshan Hong, Claire Che, Leslie Patton, Kelly Gilblom and Christopher Palmeri.

18th December 2019
Good morning fellow traders, good luck today, stay warm.

DOW

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) received regulatory approval from China to set up a majority owned securities venture in the country, which will include a brokerage, investment advisory, underwriting and sponsorship.
Merck & Co. (MRK) announced the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-4 in favour of recommending Keytruda, for the treatment of patients with high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

NASDAQ 100

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) announced it is putting the release of its Warcraft III: Reforged, to January 28th 2020, despite aiming to release the game prior to year-end as they feel little more time is needed to maintain its high quality standards.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has paid some of its suppliers up to 25% more for the goods it resells to offset US President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, according to Business Insider. Elsewhere, it announced a free return on millions of items, for items such as electronics, household items, pet supplies kitchen appliances and more.
Illumina Inc (ILMN) has had its USD 1.2bln deal to acquire Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB) challenged by the FTC, alleging ILMN is aiming to unlawfully maintain a monopoly in the US. Market for next-gen DNA sequencing systems, by eliminating PACB as a threat.
Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) has partnered with Tencent (700 HK) to launch a cloud gaming service in China.
Tesla (TSLA) are reportedly considering reducing prices of its Model 3 sedans in China by 20% or more in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.

S & P 500

Altria Group Inc (MO) – A study released suggests that the nicotine formula used by JUUL Labs is almost identical to the flavour and addictive profile of the tobacco company’s Marlboro cigarette.
Boston Properties (BXP) increased its quarterly dividend to USD 0.98/share from USD 0.95/share.
CIGNA Corp. (CI) is to sell one of its units that sells non-medical insurance products to employers for USD 6.3bln to New York Life Insurance Co. Cigna also announced a USD 4bln share repurchase programme.
Cintas Corp (CTAS) Q2 (USD): EPS 2.27 (exp. 2.03), Revenue 1.84bln (exp. 1.82bln); raised its FY20 EPS forecast to 8.65-8.97 (exp. 8.61, prev. 8.47-8.57).
Devon Energy (DVN) announced a new USD 1bln share repurchase programme.
Dish Network (DISH) co-founder Ergen appealed to testify in support of the T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) deal, stating he has letters from three banks prepared to offer USD 10bln to fund the company’s new wireless network.
E-Trade (ETFC) has announced an online-trade clearance automation, an industry first which allows administrators to enter, view and edit trade clearance instructions online for their participants, which includes trade windows, number and type of shares, time frame, and other grant specific information.
FedEx Corporation (FDX) Q4 19 (USD): Adj. EPS 2.51 (exp. 2.84), Revenue 17.3bln (exp. 17.69bln), FY20 EPS view cut to 9.10-10.35 (adj. now seen between 10.25-11.50). Says quarterly results declined due to weak global economic conditions, higher ground costs, loss of business from a large customer. Later timing of Thanksgiving resulted in shifting of cyber week into December, which negatively impacted the results. Sees FDX ground operating margins to rebound. Morgan Stanley note the poor FedEx earnings holds a negative read to its competitor, United Parcel Service (UPS)
General Electric (GE) healthcare unit has issued a recall for its Giraffe Incubator, OmniBed, and Care stations at the request of the FDA, who state the bedside panels can be upright and look closed but not be securely latched.
General Mills (GIS) Q4 19 (USD): EPS 0.95 (exp. 0.88), Revenue 4.42bln (exp. 4.43bln). Pet food sales +16% at its Blue Buffalo unit (exp. 15%), backs FY20 Adj. EPS forecast of 3-5% growth and revenue growth of 1-2%.
Leidos (LDOS) announced it is to acquire Dynetics, a privately owned company who is an industry-leading applied research and national security solutions company, for a cash value of USD 1.65bln.
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) announced the launch of its long term, real-world evidence study of Emgality, labelled TRIUMPH, to evaluate the drug in comparison to other migraine treatments.
Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) had its PT cut by Citibank to USD 36 from USD 45 over concerns on the near-term revenue outlook, adding ongoing issued with its promotion for the mobile app could hit the company’s revenues.
ViacomCBS (VIAC) CBS unit is being sued by a Female 60-minutes producer for discrimination, as she claims she was side-lined after reporting her boss texted her an inappropriate photo. (NY Times)
Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN) has extended its CEO contract for Matt Maddox through to 2022.

OTHER

Allegheny Tech (ATI) announced Don P. Newman will join the co. as Senior VP and CFO, succeeding Pat DeCourcy, who will remain as SVP and Special Advisor to CEO until March 31st. Newman has more than 30 years of corporate finance and accounting leadership experience at high-growth businesses in a variety of industries, including metals and materials, energy, software, and drilling services. (Street Insider)
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) has signed a binding merger agreement with Peugeot (UG FP) owner PSA for a 50/50 deal, which creates the 4th largest automaker by volume and 3rd largest in revenue, valued at USD 50bln. FCAU agrees to distribute a special dividend of EUR 5.5bln to its shareholders. The CEO of FCAU, Mike Manley, will remain as part of the group, although it is unclear in what position.
Lionsgate (LGF.A) announced a strategic alliance with Bharti Airtel and Starzplay to provide premium content from Lionsgate Play to customers in India.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG) submitted a comprehensive, multi-party settlement agreement to the California Public Utilities Commission, aka CPUC, in relation to the wildfires in 2017-18 striking a USD 1.78bln settlement, although it bans recovering money from customers and was accepted by a US bankruptcy judge.
Voya Financial (VOYA) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its Individual Life and other legacy non-retirement annuities businesses to Resolution Life Group Holdings. Voya forecasts a normalised adj. operating EPS to reach 1.80-1.90 quarterly by the end of 2021 and estimates it will provide roughly USD 1.7bln of deployable capital
Of note for Casino/gaming names (LVS, MGM, MLCO, WYNN), PBoC announced it will raise the remittance limit on individuals transfer of money from Macau to mainland Chinese accounts to CNY 80,000 per day from CNY 50,000.

27th January 2020
US equity futures are falling ahead of the cash open given the continued coronavirus contagion which saw the global cases reach 2700 and the deaths toll topped 80 over the weekend. Travel focussed stocks, such as United Airlines (UAL), American Airlines (AAL) and Southwestern Airlines (LUV) are trading in the red, with some holding losses of over 4% on travel disruption concerns, as is Trip.com (TCOM). Casino names like Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Melco (MLCO) are facing even further pressure as the confirmed cases in Macau increased to five. Copper miner Freeport McMoran (FCX) is lower as copper prices fall to 8-week lows on global growth concerns, while gold miners (GOLD, NEM) are benefitting as the precious metal rises in a safe haven bid. China listed ADR’s (BABA, JD, BIDU) also hit as the death toll increases.
This week’s Barron’s articles highlight that the Super Bowl will be a huge opportunity for sports betting names, as it focuses on expansion in mobile sports betting, highlighting that the street has been enthusiastic in the rising stock price in Diamond Eagle Acquisition (DEAC). Further on the Super Bowl, Barron’s says that advertisers like Omnicom (OMC) and Interpublic Group (IPG) hold less appeal, amid a further inflow of larger tech names partaking in the advertising space. Elsewhere the journalists highlight that largest tech companies such as Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are competing for a larger share in esports. Finally, Barron’s notes investors in HP (HPQ) are likely to benefit as it has made it clear it would prefer to lever up and buy back large amounts of shares, instead of submitting an offer to Xerox (XRX).

DOW

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Ahead of its earnings on Tuesday, Credit Suisse analyst Matthew Cabral is looking for continued improvements in iPhone revenue trends due to a strong start for the iPhone 11. However, he believes the focus is shifting to the upcoming 5G iPhone in H2 20, which should help it drive revenue growth. Elsewhere, RBC Capital analyst Muller maintains an outperform rating on the tech giant with a USD 330 PT (last closing price 318.31). The analyst states his data checks suggest its estimates for Q1 are reasonable, whilst highlighting a slight beat on consensus figures could be seen due to strength in iPhone and wearable sales.
Boeing Company (BA) A Boeing jet reportedly crashed in Ghazni, Afghanistan, which was operated by Ariana Afghan. The number of casualties is currently unclear, however, separate reports state the airline denied the crash. Elsewhere, Boeing successfully staged its first flight of its 777X jet.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) raised its Guyana offshore estimate to above 8ln BoE as it continues to develop the Guyana oil block.
Intel Corp. (INTC) has been downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland, with a USD 70 PT (last closing price: 68.47). Analyst Gus Richard notes that while he forecasts several both positive and negative catalysts, he is unclear what will come first. The analyst expects Intel to fix or jettison underperforming product lines, although sees headwinds which could impact the stock, perhaps as soon as Q2 2020. Gus Richard highlights structural issues, including its design flow and manufacturing.

NASDAQ 100

Alphabet Inc Class A (GOOGL) US State Attorney Generals are to meet with the DoJ to collaborate information on a probe which relates to the co.’s monopolistic behaviour for online advertising which could harm consumers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Kraft Heinz Co (KHC) CEO is pushing for growth, noting its aim is for fewer and bolder bets to increase its sales, according to WSJ.
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and Yum China Holdings (YUMC) have closed all its shops and suspended delivery service in the Hubei province due to the coronavirus.
T-Mobile (TMUS)/Sprint (S) are reportedly facing a potential hurdle from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the only remaining state utilities board to not approve the deal, according to WSJ, who note the CPUC is continuing its review which threatens to further delay or even derail the USD 26bln merger.

S&P 500

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) announced that China is testing an HIV drug as a treatment for the coronavirus. Elsewhere, AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) / Allergan, Plc (AGN) agreed to divest its Brazikumab and Zenpep drugs, where Nestle (NESN SW) will take ownership of Zenpep, and AstraZeneca (AZN) will acquire Brazikumab. The approval of the deals is dependent upon FTC and EC approval.
Arconic Inc. (ARNC) Q4 19 (USD) Adj. EPS 0.53 (exp. 0.54), revenue 3.4bln (exp. 3.48bln). Forecasts FY20 Adj. EPS between 2.22-2.42 (exp. 2.37), revenue expected between 13.9bln – 14.2bln (exp. 14.16bln). Q1 20 Adj. EPS forecast 0.47 – 0.53 (exp. 0.53)
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) has been upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS, raising the PT to USD 900 from USD 690 (Last closing price USD 869.71). Where analyst Dennis Geiger is more confident in the sustainability of the company’s strong sales and earnings growth, highlighting recent performance has significantly exceeded his expectations.
D. R. Horton (DHI) Q1 20 (USD): EPS 1.16 (exp. 0.92), Revenue 4.02bln (exp. 3.77bln), homes closed +13% to 12,959. CEO believes they will continue to see good demand across their markets. FY20 revenue forecast at 18.5bln to 19bln (exp. 18.82bln, prev. 18.5bln – 19.1bln) FY20 home closes expected to be between 60,000 and 61,500 (prev. 60,000 to 61,000). Expects Q2 revenue at USD 4.25 - 4.4bln (exp. 4.25bln) and Q2 home sales between 13,800 and 14,300 homes.
Lilly (Eli) & Co. (LLY) and Incyte (INCY) announced its BREEZE-AD4 trial, evaluating Baricitinib in combination with Topical Corticosteroids for treatment of adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis met its primary endpoint.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC) increased its quarterly dividend to USD 0.58, a 9.4% increase.
Simon Property Group Inc (SPG) is reportedly considering teaming with Authentic Brands to look at an acquisition of Forever 21, the bankrupt teen retailer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sprint (S) Q3 19 (USD): EPS -0.03 (exp. -0.05), Revenue 8.08bln (exp. 8.22bln); wireless post-paid net additions 494,000 (prev. 309,000); wireless post-paid ARPU 42.04 (exp. 42.30). Sprint is optimistic about the necessary regulatory steps to complete merger with T-Mobile (TMUS, DTE GY) Sees Q4 EBITDA to remain flat sequentially. Capex seen around USD 1bln in Q4.
Yum! Brands Inc (YUM) increased its quarterly dividend to USD 0.47 from USD 0.42/shr.

OTHER

Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP) had a stake cut to 6.2% from 7.3% by Bayer Global Investments.
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from General Motors (GM) which accused the automaker of racketeering and bribing UAW officials to put General Motors (GM) at a multibillion-dollar labour cost disadvantage.
General Motors (GM) announced a USD 2.2bln investment at its Detroit facility to produce a variety of EV trucks and SUV's, noting its first electric truck is expected to begin production in late 2021.
D.R Horton (DHI) expects modest price increases this year.
Starbucks (SBUX) - Guggenheim analyst Matthe DiFrisco states Starbucks has the highest exposure to China out of the restaurant stocks he covers, followed by McDonald's (MCD) and Domino's Pizza (DPZ).
Adobe (ADBE) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Cleveland Research

Good morning traders and investors of the wallstreetbets sub! Welcome to a new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, June 3rd, 2019

• It's a new month for Wall Street, but so far it appears it will begin the same way the old one ended — with losses. The Dow has now fallen for six consecutive weeks for the first time in eight years, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have posted four straight weekly declines, as ongoing tariff tensions with China and now Mexico as well as U.S. economic uncertainty loom. (CNBC)
• Market drop in May felt serious, but it is normal for stocks (CNBC)
• The Dow's Friday close was its lowest since Jan. 29, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at their lowest since March 8. And although the Nasdaq is still up more than 12% for the year, it is moving closer to correction with a nearly 9% decline from its May 3 record closing high. (CNBC)
• Goldman Sachs (GS) sees increased risks of escalations of U.S. trade disputeswith China and Mexico. There is now a 60% chance of the U.S. placing a new 10% tariff on the final $300 billion of Chinese imports. There is now a 70% chance of Trump imposing 5% duties on Mexican goods and a 50% chance that goes to 10%. (CNBC)
• US-China trade deal isn't likely at the G-20 summit this month, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley say (CNBC)
• Morgan Stanley sees global recession 'in three quarters' if Trump escalates trade war (CNBC)
• Top officials from the U.S. and Mexico are set to begin talks today over tariffs and border safety. "Mexico is sending a big delegation to talk about the Border," the president tweeted. "Problem is, they've been 'talking' for 25 years. We want action, not talk." (AP)
• On the economic calendar, at 10 a.m. ET, both the May ISM manufacturing index and April construction spending are out. Some of the nation's automakers issue May sales today, although Ford (F) and GM (GM) only report on a quarterly basis. There are no major earnings this morning. Box (BOX) releases its quarterly number after today's closing bell.
• President Donald Trump arrived for his first state visit to Britain today. Cracks are starting to appear in the transatlantic relationship, with political analysts concerned that his "off-the-cuff" and "impulsive" leadership style could make matters worse over the coming days. (CNBC)
• Trump calls London Mayor Sadiq Khan a 'stone cold loser' (CNBC)
• Everything you need to know about Trump's state visit (CNBC)
• Trump tweeted that White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett will "shortly" leave his post, but did not provide a reason. It's unclear who's set to takeover, in a time of drama between the U.S., China and Mexico. (Reuters)
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the White House's Mideast peace plan is possibly "unexecutable" and might not "gain traction," according to an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by The Washington Post.
• Trump administration says it will negotiate with Iran with 'no preconditions'(NY Times)
• More than 300 Boeing (BA) 737 jets, including the Max, may have faulty wing parts that don't meet strength and durability standards, the FAA said, following a joint investigation with the aircraft manufacturer. The agency plans to order airlines to remove and replace the parts if their aircraft are affected. (CNBC)
• Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probeby the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google's search and other businesses. (CNBC)
• Apple (AAPL) is expected to launch the latest version of iOS, its software for the iPhone and iPad, today at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.The company has launched a new version of its iPhone software at WWDC every year since 2009, and analysts and reports don't expect this year to be any different. (CNBC)
• Facebook (FB) has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.
• SoftBank's bid to raise a $100 billion fund is off to a rocky start, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some of the world's biggest money managers plan to make limited or no contributions to the Japanese technology giant.
• Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is buying Capital Vision Services, manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices, from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund for $2.7 billion, including debt, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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$CRM $GES $CLDR $SFIX $BOX $MDB $TIF $CIEN $COUP $FIVE $CBRL $AEO $DOCU $CPB $SMAR $GME $APPS $CTK $ZM $NAV $AMBA$DOMO $DCI $UNFI $GWRE $SJM $CAL $SAIC $PVTL $SIG $CSWC $HOME $OESX $GIII $VRA $CMD $ESTC $BYND $KIRK $OLLI $HQY)

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THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• GNCA
• GOOGL
• CY
• LK
• T
• BA
• EE
• VZ
• TEVA

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

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Apple – Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday and is reportedly set to announce the end of its iTunes store. Bloomberg reports that iTunes functions will be divided among three newly developed applications.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

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Alphabet – Alphabet’s Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probe by the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google’s search and other businesses.

STOCK SYMBOL: GOOGL

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Cypress Semiconductor – The chipmaker will be bought by Germany’s Infineon for $23.85 per share in cash, a 34 percent premium over Friday’s close. The deal is valued at $10.1 billion including assumed debt.

STOCK SYMBOL: CY

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FedEx – China is launching a probe of FedEx following accusations that packages intended for telecom giant Huawei were diverted.

STOCK SYMBOL: FDX

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Humana – In an SEC filing, Humana said it did not intend to make a proposal to combine with health insurer Centene as an alternative to Centene’s planned acquisition of WellCare Health Plans. Humana said this statement was a one-time exception to its policy of not commenting on market rumors.

STOCK SYMBOL: HUM

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Goldman Sachs – Goldman is buying Capital Vision Services – manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices – from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund. Goldman did not reveal financial details but the Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is worth $2.7 billion.

STOCK SYMBOL: GS

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Blackstone Group – Blackstone is buying industrial warehouse assets from Singapore logistics provider GLP For $18.7 billion, in what Blackstone said is the largest-ever private real estate transaction.

STOCK SYMBOL: BX

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Boeing - Some of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets may have faulty parts, according to the FAA. Boeing said it has identified 20 jets that most likely to have faulty parts and plans to check another 159 for the same parts.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

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Facebook – Facebook has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.

STOCK SYMBOL: FB

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Fiat Chrysler – Fiat Chrysler is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.

STOCK SYMBOL: FCAU

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Merck, AstraZeneca – The drug makers reported upbeat study results involving their Lynparza drug. The treatment successfully stalled the advance of pancreatic cancer in certain patients.

STOCK SYMBOL: MRK

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Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands – These and other casino operators in Macau may see their stocks benefit after gaming revenue in Macau hit a five month high in May.

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

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Waste Management – Waste Management was upgraded to “outperform” from “sector perform” at RBC Capital, which cited the company’s unique positioning within its sector.

STOCK SYMBOL: WM

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Salesforce.com – J.P. Morgan Securities removed the stock from its “Analyst Focus List”, based on current valuation following a 2½ year gain of 121 percent.

STOCK SYMBOL: CRM

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DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at wallstreetbets?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, June 3rd, 2019! :)

Good morning traders and investors of the stocks sub! Welcome to a new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, June 3rd, 2019

• It's a new month for Wall Street, but so far it appears it will begin the same way the old one ended — with losses. The Dow has now fallen for six consecutive weeks for the first time in eight years, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have posted four straight weekly declines, as ongoing tariff tensions with China and now Mexico as well as U.S. economic uncertainty loom. (CNBC)
• Market drop in May felt serious, but it is normal for stocks (CNBC)
• The Dow's Friday close was its lowest since Jan. 29, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at their lowest since March 8. And although the Nasdaq is still up more than 12% for the year, it is moving closer to correction with a nearly 9% decline from its May 3 record closing high. (CNBC)
• Goldman Sachs (GS) sees increased risks of escalations of U.S. trade disputeswith China and Mexico. There is now a 60% chance of the U.S. placing a new 10% tariff on the final $300 billion of Chinese imports. There is now a 70% chance of Trump imposing 5% duties on Mexican goods and a 50% chance that goes to 10%. (CNBC)
• US-China trade deal isn't likely at the G-20 summit this month, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley say (CNBC)
• Morgan Stanley sees global recession 'in three quarters' if Trump escalates trade war (CNBC)
• Top officials from the U.S. and Mexico are set to begin talks today over tariffs and border safety. "Mexico is sending a big delegation to talk about the Border," the president tweeted. "Problem is, they've been 'talking' for 25 years. We want action, not talk." (AP)
• On the economic calendar, at 10 a.m. ET, both the May ISM manufacturing index and April construction spending are out. Some of the nation's automakers issue May sales today, although Ford (F) and GM (GM) only report on a quarterly basis. There are no major earnings this morning. Box (BOX) releases its quarterly number after today's closing bell.
• President Donald Trump arrived for his first state visit to Britain today. Cracks are starting to appear in the transatlantic relationship, with political analysts concerned that his "off-the-cuff" and "impulsive" leadership style could make matters worse over the coming days. (CNBC)
• Trump calls London Mayor Sadiq Khan a 'stone cold loser' (CNBC)
• Everything you need to know about Trump's state visit (CNBC)
• Trump tweeted that White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett will "shortly" leave his post, but did not provide a reason. It's unclear who's set to takeover, in a time of drama between the U.S., China and Mexico. (Reuters)
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the White House's Mideast peace plan is possibly "unexecutable" and might not "gain traction," according to an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by The Washington Post.
• Trump administration says it will negotiate with Iran with 'no preconditions'(NY Times)
• More than 300 Boeing (BA) 737 jets, including the Max, may have faulty wing parts that don't meet strength and durability standards, the FAA said, following a joint investigation with the aircraft manufacturer. The agency plans to order airlines to remove and replace the parts if their aircraft are affected. (CNBC)
• Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probeby the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google's search and other businesses. (CNBC)
• Apple (AAPL) is expected to launch the latest version of iOS, its software for the iPhone and iPad, today at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.The company has launched a new version of its iPhone software at WWDC every year since 2009, and analysts and reports don't expect this year to be any different. (CNBC)
• Facebook (FB) has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.
• SoftBank's bid to raise a $100 billion fund is off to a rocky start, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some of the world's biggest money managers plan to make limited or no contributions to the Japanese technology giant.
• Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is buying Capital Vision Services, manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices, from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund for $2.7 billion, including debt, according to the Wall Street Journal.

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

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LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

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TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

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TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

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THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

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THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

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THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

$CRM $GES $CLDR $SFIX $BOX $MDB $TIF $CIEN $COUP $FIVE $CBRL $AEO $DOCU $CPB $SMAR $GME $APPS $CTK $ZM $NAV $AMBA$DOMO $DCI $UNFI $GWRE $SJM $CAL $SAIC $PVTL $SIG $CSWC $HOME $OESX $GIII $VRA $CMD $ESTC $BYND $KIRK $OLLI $HQY)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

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THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

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T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

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EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

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FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

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FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

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TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

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(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR LINK #2!)

THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• GNCA
• GOOGL
• CY
• LK
• T
• BA
• EE
• VZ
• TEVA

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Apple – Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday and is reportedly set to announce the end of its iTunes store. Bloomberg reports that iTunes functions will be divided among three newly developed applications.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Alphabet – Alphabet’s Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probe by the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google’s search and other businesses.

STOCK SYMBOL: GOOGL

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(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Cypress Semiconductor – The chipmaker will be bought by Germany’s Infineon for $23.85 per share in cash, a 34 percent premium over Friday’s close. The deal is valued at $10.1 billion including assumed debt.

STOCK SYMBOL: CY

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FedEx – China is launching a probe of FedEx following accusations that packages intended for telecom giant Huawei were diverted.

STOCK SYMBOL: FDX

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(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Humana – In an SEC filing, Humana said it did not intend to make a proposal to combine with health insurer Centene as an alternative to Centene’s planned acquisition of WellCare Health Plans. Humana said this statement was a one-time exception to its policy of not commenting on market rumors.

STOCK SYMBOL: HUM

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Goldman Sachs – Goldman is buying Capital Vision Services – manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices – from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund. Goldman did not reveal financial details but the Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is worth $2.7 billion.

STOCK SYMBOL: GS

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Blackstone Group – Blackstone is buying industrial warehouse assets from Singapore logistics provider GLP For $18.7 billion, in what Blackstone said is the largest-ever private real estate transaction.

STOCK SYMBOL: BX

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Boeing - Some of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets may have faulty parts, according to the FAA. Boeing said it has identified 20 jets that most likely to have faulty parts and plans to check another 159 for the same parts.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

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Facebook – Facebook has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.

STOCK SYMBOL: FB

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Fiat Chrysler – Fiat Chrysler is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.

STOCK SYMBOL: FCAU

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Merck, AstraZeneca – The drug makers reported upbeat study results involving their Lynparza drug. The treatment successfully stalled the advance of pancreatic cancer in certain patients.

STOCK SYMBOL: MRK

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands – These and other casino operators in Macau may see their stocks benefit after gaming revenue in Macau hit a five month high in May.

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

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Waste Management – Waste Management was upgraded to “outperform” from “sector perform” at RBC Capital, which cited the company’s unique positioning within its sector.

STOCK SYMBOL: WM

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Salesforce.com – J.P. Morgan Securities removed the stock from its “Analyst Focus List”, based on current valuation following a 2½ year gain of 121 percent.

STOCK SYMBOL: CRM

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DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at stocks?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, June 3rd, 2019! :)

Good morning traders and investors of the StockMarket sub! Welcome to a new trading month and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-

(CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SOURCE!)

Today's Top Headlines for Monday, June 3rd, 2019

• It's a new month for Wall Street, but so far it appears it will begin the same way the old one ended — with losses. The Dow has now fallen for six consecutive weeks for the first time in eight years, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have posted four straight weekly declines, as ongoing tariff tensions with China and now Mexico as well as U.S. economic uncertainty loom. (CNBC)
• Market drop in May felt serious, but it is normal for stocks (CNBC)
• The Dow's Friday close was its lowest since Jan. 29, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at their lowest since March 8. And although the Nasdaq is still up more than 12% for the year, it is moving closer to correction with a nearly 9% decline from its May 3 record closing high. (CNBC)
• Goldman Sachs (GS) sees increased risks of escalations of U.S. trade disputeswith China and Mexico. There is now a 60% chance of the U.S. placing a new 10% tariff on the final $300 billion of Chinese imports. There is now a 70% chance of Trump imposing 5% duties on Mexican goods and a 50% chance that goes to 10%. (CNBC)
• US-China trade deal isn't likely at the G-20 summit this month, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley say (CNBC)
• Morgan Stanley sees global recession 'in three quarters' if Trump escalates trade war (CNBC)
• Top officials from the U.S. and Mexico are set to begin talks today over tariffs and border safety. "Mexico is sending a big delegation to talk about the Border," the president tweeted. "Problem is, they've been 'talking' for 25 years. We want action, not talk." (AP)
• On the economic calendar, at 10 a.m. ET, both the May ISM manufacturing index and April construction spending are out. Some of the nation's automakers issue May sales today, although Ford (F) and GM (GM) only report on a quarterly basis. There are no major earnings this morning. Box (BOX) releases its quarterly number after today's closing bell.
• President Donald Trump arrived for his first state visit to Britain today. Cracks are starting to appear in the transatlantic relationship, with political analysts concerned that his "off-the-cuff" and "impulsive" leadership style could make matters worse over the coming days. (CNBC)
• Trump calls London Mayor Sadiq Khan a 'stone cold loser' (CNBC)
• Everything you need to know about Trump's state visit (CNBC)
• Trump tweeted that White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett will "shortly" leave his post, but did not provide a reason. It's unclear who's set to takeover, in a time of drama between the U.S., China and Mexico. (Reuters)
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the White House's Mideast peace plan is possibly "unexecutable" and might not "gain traction," according to an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by The Washington Post.
• Trump administration says it will negotiate with Iran with 'no preconditions'(NY Times)
• More than 300 Boeing (BA) 737 jets, including the Max, may have faulty wing parts that don't meet strength and durability standards, the FAA said, following a joint investigation with the aircraft manufacturer. The agency plans to order airlines to remove and replace the parts if their aircraft are affected. (CNBC)
• Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probeby the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google's search and other businesses. (CNBC)
• Apple (AAPL) is expected to launch the latest version of iOS, its software for the iPhone and iPad, today at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.The company has launched a new version of its iPhone software at WWDC every year since 2009, and analysts and reports don't expect this year to be any different. (CNBC)
• Facebook (FB) has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.
• SoftBank's bid to raise a $100 billion fund is off to a rocky start, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some of the world's biggest money managers plan to make limited or no contributions to the Japanese technology giant.
• Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) is buying Capital Vision Services, manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices, from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund for $2.7 billion, including debt, according to the Wall Street Journal.

STOCK FUTURES CURRENTLY:

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LAST WEEK'S MARKET MAP:

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TODAY'S MARKET MAP:

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LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR LAST WEEK'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S S&P SECTORS:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S S&P SECTORS CHART!)

TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S ECONOMIC CALENDAR!)

THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S UPCOMING IPO'S!)

THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR:

$CRM $GES $CLDR $SFIX $BOX $MDB $TIF $CIEN $COUP $FIVE $CBRL $AEO $DOCU $CPB $SMAR $GME $APPS $CTK $ZM $NAV $AMBA$DOMO $DCI $UNFI $GWRE $SJM $CAL $SAIC $PVTL $SIG $CSWC $HOME $OESX $GIII $VRA $CMD $ESTC $BYND $KIRK $OLLI $HQY)

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!)

THIS MORNING'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

([CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!]())

N/A.

THIS AFTERNOON'S POST-MARKET EARNINGS CALENDAR:

()

([CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS CALENDAR!]())

T.B.A.

EARNINGS RELEASES BEFORE THE OPEN TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS MORNING'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

EARNINGS RELEASES AFTER THE CLOSE TODAY:

(CLICK HERE FOR THIS AFTERNOON'S EARNINGS RELEASES!)

FRIDAY'S ANALYST UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S UPGRADES/DOWNGRADES LINK #2!)

FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S INSIDER TRADING FILINGS!)

TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR:

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S DIVIDEND CALENDAR LINK #2!)

THIS MORNING'S MOST ACTIVE TRENDING TICKERS:

• GNCA
• GOOGL
• ETC.X
• CY
• LK
• T
• BA
• EE
• VZ
• TEVA

THIS MORNING'S STOCK NEWS MOVERS:

(source: cnbc.com)

Apple – Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference Monday and is reportedly set to announce the end of its iTunes store. Bloomberg reports that iTunes functions will be divided among three newly developed applications.

STOCK SYMBOL: AAPL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Alphabet – Alphabet’s Google unit is the subject of an upcoming antitrust probe by the Justice Department, according to multiple reports. The probe will focus on Google’s search and other businesses.

STOCK SYMBOL: GOOGL

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Cypress Semiconductor – The chipmaker will be bought by Germany’s Infineon for $23.85 per share in cash, a 34 percent premium over Friday’s close. The deal is valued at $10.1 billion including assumed debt.

STOCK SYMBOL: CY

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

FedEx – China is launching a probe of FedEx following accusations that packages intended for telecom giant Huawei were diverted.

STOCK SYMBOL: FDX

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Humana – In an SEC filing, Humana said it did not intend to make a proposal to combine with health insurer Centene as an alternative to Centene’s planned acquisition of WellCare Health Plans. Humana said this statement was a one-time exception to its policy of not commenting on market rumors.

STOCK SYMBOL: HUM

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Goldman Sachs – Goldman is buying Capital Vision Services – manager of the MyEyeDr optometry practices – from a private equity firm and a Canadian pension fund. Goldman did not reveal financial details but the Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is worth $2.7 billion.

STOCK SYMBOL: GS

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Blackstone Group – Blackstone is buying industrial warehouse assets from Singapore logistics provider GLP For $18.7 billion, in what Blackstone said is the largest-ever private real estate transaction.

STOCK SYMBOL: BX

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Boeing - Some of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets may have faulty parts, according to the FAA. Boeing said it has identified 20 jets that most likely to have faulty parts and plans to check another 159 for the same parts.

STOCK SYMBOL: BA

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Facebook – Facebook has been in contact with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission about rolling out a digital currency, according to the Financial Times.

STOCK SYMBOL: FB

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Fiat Chrysler – Fiat Chrysler is discussing an improved bid for French carmaker Renault, according to Reuters, in order to win backing from the French government for a deal.

STOCK SYMBOL: FCAU

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Merck, AstraZeneca – The drug makers reported upbeat study results involving their Lynparza drug. The treatment successfully stalled the advance of pancreatic cancer in certain patients.

STOCK SYMBOL: MRK

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands – These and other casino operators in Macau may see their stocks benefit after gaming revenue in Macau hit a five month high in May.

STOCK SYMBOL: WYNN

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Waste Management – Waste Management was upgraded to “outperform” from “sector perform” at RBC Capital, which cited the company’s unique positioning within its sector.

STOCK SYMBOL: WM

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

Salesforce.com – J.P. Morgan Securities removed the stock from its “Analyst Focus List”, based on current valuation following a 2½ year gain of 121 percent.

STOCK SYMBOL: CRM

• CLICK HERE FOR CHART!

(CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STOCK QUOTE!)

FULL DISCLOSURE:

bigbear0083 has no positions in any stocks mentioned. Reddit, moderators, and the author do not advise making investment decisions based on discussion in these posts. Analysis is not subject to validation and users take action at their own risk. bigbear0083 is an admin at the financial forums Stockaholics.net where this content was originally posted.

DISCUSS!

What is on everyone's radar for today's trading day ahead here at StockMarket?

I hope you all have an excellent trading day ahead today on this Monday, June 3rd, 2019! :)

Macau since 1949:

Since the end of the Chinese Civil War, Macau has grown tremendously in regional significance, shifting from a valuable entrepôt to one of the largest hubs in the Far East. The vast majority of refugees who fled to the territory have been allowed to stay, with 150,000 having already secured territorial residency (the closest thing to citizenship for non-ethnic Portuguese in the overseas territories at present), bringing the total resident population up to 350,000 (the remaining 150,000 have ten-year work permits). Of the 300,000 residents who have arrived since 1939, approximately 100,000 have settled on the Macau Peninsula, 50,000 on Colaone Island, and 150,000 on the previously under-populated Taipa Island (see map as attached). This has left much of the territory covered in slums, although a central government-supported programme to provide interest-free mortgages to refugees and new residents has led to the establishment of medium-quality, high-density housing across much of Taipa Island and the Peninsula. Small scale industry and locally-owned businesses have also taken off across the territory, as migrants attempt to start a new life in the bustling city.
The Macau of 1957, therefore, finds itself with an affluent centre of business on the Peninsula, flanked by emerging neighbourhoods and slums in the south and east, a highly-populated emerging cityscape on Taipa Island, with a central nucleus of emerging neighbourhoods (predominately featuring high-density, apartment-style housing) surrounded on all sides by slums and small scale factories, and a still under-populated Coloane Island, which presently boasts some slums, farms, factories and traditional villages.
The vast majority of small scale industry in Macau consists of textiles manufacturing in factories set up by the migrants. That said, larger-scale industry has also emerged, including a major bicycle factory near the border with China and a rifle manufactory on the southern tip of the Peninsula. This is emblematic of the territory’s economic ascendance, as is the arrival of new waves of ethnic Portuguese, who have brought the European population of the territory up to 13,000 since 1949.

Commercial opportunities:

The signing of the Sino-Portuguese Free Trade Agreement (SPFTA) in 1956 has dramatically improved the economic prospects of Macau. Indeed, the near-complete removal of Chinese import tariffs on Portuguese luxury goods has resulted in the establishment of a number of luxury goods production facilities on the Peninsula, as well as the proliferation of dozens of prestigious vendors in the affluent portions of the isthmus. In addition to the basic textile manufactories set up by the migrants, a number of fashion outlets have also been established for upper-class visitors, and for deliveries to customers in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia. Jewellers, shoemakers, watchmakers, tailors, cordwainers and bag markers have all set themselves up in the territory, where they create their products, sell them to visitors and also export them abroad. Distilleries have also become popular, with the territory developing a positive reputation for its fine, locally-distilled whiskey, rum, gin and baijiu. An emerging brand of dark rum, known as ”Ventos Orientais”, has grown particularly popular. The rum is recognised for its distinctive flavour, being the only major rum brand to use Timorese sugar. Tobacco companies have also established high-end stores on the Peninsula, where they sell a number of recognisable international cigarette and cigar brands.
Otherwise, with the significant reduction of Chinese tariffs on precision-made products, a number of manufactories have popped up on Coloane Island, producing measuring equipment, precision medical supplies and levelling tools.
The Banco de Macau, meanwhile, has left a permanent mark on the territory by becoming the first enterprise to construct a ‘skyscraper’ (as they’re being called) in Macau, building its new corporate headquarters on the western side of the Peninsula. It has been joined by the Macau-Beijing Investment Bank and the Banco Afro-Eurásia, which have also begun construction on smaller, albeit impressive skyscrapers. Regrettably for the Banco Português do Continente e Ilhas and Montepio Geral Bank, who do not have enough capital for a skyscraper, three-storey office buildings have had to suffice.
In many cases, these banks have been instrumental in financing the recent expansion of the Macanese economy. The Banco de Macau and the Banco Afro-Eurásia, however, have sought to increase their regional presence even further by expanding into Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia. The Banco de Macau, in particular, is expected to make major investments in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia in the coming years.

Tourism and entertainment opportunities:

The recent introduction of Western gambling to Macau, along with the Banco de Macau’s heavy investment in new casinos, has led to a proliferation of the gambling industry across the territory. Dozens of small to medium, high-end, Western casinos now dot the Peninsula, while a number of traditional casinos have emerged on Taipa Island. Along with the emergence of a luxury shopping culture, the new casinos have proven extremely popular with affluent visitors from China, Hong Kong, Japan, the West and Southeast Asia. Many new hotels are being founded on the Peninsula to meet this demand, as well as a new, game-changing casino known as Casino Lisboa, which shall open its doors in 1960. Quite expectedly, the proliferation of gambling across the territory has only poured fuel on the metaphorical fire that is the gambling syndicate rivalry. New syndicates are now competing for an increased market share as outside factions interfere with the rivalry (see: the banks and Triads) and older syndicates desperately battle to preserve their local hegemony. Already, this rivalry has been given a morbid monicker, becoming known as the ”Bloody Game (残忍赛)”. This name is quite deserved, given that syndicates of all sizes have gained a reputation for sabotage, death threats, murder and murky alliances with the Triads as their deadly rivalry spirals out of control.
Beyond the casinos, new bars, restaurants and nightclubs have been established across the territory, catering almost exclusively to high-end visitors and the Macanese elite. The combination of modern, dimly-lit bars, domestically-made liquor, prestigious fashion brands, international visitors and high-stakes games of poker have given Macau a distinct flavour, with the city increasingly being known as the ”City of Jazz (爵士城)”. Regular ferry trips between Hong Kong and Macau, coupled with daily/weekly flights to Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Manila, Shanghai and Bangkok are only improving this reputation.

Future infrastructure:

MAP
The huge population increase on the Taipa and Coloane islands have put immense strain on the intra-Macau ferry service. Hoping to alleviate this strain, the Macanese territorial government has announced a new project to connect Taipa Island to the Peninsula with a new bridge. Inspired by the Ponte de Liberdade in Lisbon, and designed by the same engineers, the bridge is expected to be completed by 1965 (marked in red on the map). The bridge is to be named in honour of the territory’s outgoing Governor, Joaquim Marques Esparteiro, being called the Ponte da Esparteiro.
Otherwise, recognising the strain which Macau’s rapidly-increasing population has had on the geography of the territory, a major land reclamation project is to be undertaken on both the Peninsula and Taipa Island. Zoning will take place ahead of time for the planned land, allowing preemptive property sales to help fund the project. Dutch engineers will be brought on for the project as a result of their vast land reclamation experience. Additionally, the Portuguese Navy is to assist with the project by providing auxiliary vessels where relevant. The new Peninsula-Taipa bridge will only extend across the stretch of water between the reclaimed land, with the connecting road that passes over the reclaimed land simply being raised several metres above the ground. (Land reclamation areas are marked in blue on the map, along with their planned year of completion).
Finally, in order to prevent a potential bottleneck of manufactured goods produced on Taipa Island from blocking Macau harbour and the Ponte da Esparteiro, a new industrial dock is to be constructed on the island, to be completed by 1964 (marked in orange on the map).

Vice and crime:

As previously noted, the expansion of the gambling industry has also spawned an intense rivalry between the syndicates. Indeed, the increased prevalence of vice across Macau has created an opportunity for the Triads, who already enjoyed a strong Macanese presence before the territory’s expansion, particularly on Taipa Island, the Peninsula casinos and in the slums/emerging neighbourhoods in the north. As the "Four Major Gangs (四大黑幫)” of Shui Fong, Wo Shing Yee, 14K and the Big Circle Gang have grown in importance, they have gained large footholds in the new neighbourhoods, where they run extortion rackets and loan shark operations, targetting small businesses, nightclubs and traditional gambling dens. Human trafficking has also emerged as a dangerous front, as the Triads seek to smuggle in illegal workers and, in the case of the nightclub sector, “waitresses”. Finally, the counterfeiting of patacas (Macau’s currency) has increased prolifically, as the Triads seek to use fake currency to make large bets in the casinos.
Though Indonesia’s provision of detailed intelligence on Triad drug smuggling operations in Macau has resulted in a massive crackdown on that particular area of organised crime activity, the Triads appear to be gaining ground on almost every other front, creating a complex interplay between Macanese businesses, rival gambling syndicates, law enforcement, local politicians and the Four Major Gangs. Hoping to assist the struggling territorial police in eradicating bribery, human trafficking, extortion, loan sharking, murder and counterfeiting, the SIS (basically the Portuguese FBI/secret police) and the Customs and Finance Intelligence Service (CFIS) have created a joint task force known as Operation Varrer Profundo (Deep Sweep). This operation will see the two agencies create large, permanent offices across the territory, cracking down on the Triads and illegal gambling syndicate activity by sending in hundreds of agents. Thus begins what many expect to be a years-long cat and mouse game between Portuguese authorities, the Triads, the gambling syndicates, corrupt politicians and the business sector