| US benchmarks posted losses on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% on the day, and the Nasdaq sold off for a 1.3% loss. The Dow gave up 0.5%, and the small-cap Russell 2K had a rough day with a 1.6% decline. This morning, futures are edging higher in anticipation of new corporate earnings and economic data in today's session. S&P 500 and Dow futures are up 0.1%. The #1 Way To Power Up Your Retirement Buying Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Bitcoin, or any other anything else – right now – is a DEVASTATING financial mistake. One of America’s #1 trading millionaires has joined the ranks of the top 1% of wealthy by IGNORING 99% of the entire stock market. You could beat the market by a wide margin and generate steady returns by trading just ONE high quality stock, Get the Details on This Ground-Breaking Trade Here Bed Bath & Beyond [BBBY] is selling off after major shareholder Ryan Cohen filed to sell his entire stake in the home goods retailer. Australia could demand some of its exporter redirect natural gas to domestic customers, but the policy could put further pressure on international energy supplies. Cisco Systems [CSCO] - Last Close: $46.66 Cisco Systems is rallying after an upbeat earnings release.
The IT networking and infrastructure stock reported its fiscal Q4 results on Wednesday evening, and the results are giving the stock a boost. Cisco reported non-GAAP diluted earnings of $0.83 per share in its fiscal Q4 report and beat the Street's $0.82 EPS target. Revenues came in at $13.1 billion, roughly even to the year-earlier quarter's totals, but enough to top analysts' $12.78 billion estimate. Cisco's forward-looking guidance was in line with analyst forecasts, and the company said it still has $15.2 billion earmarked for share buybacks with no termination date. CSCO is leading the S&P 500 with a 4.9% gain on active trading volume.
My Take: Cisco isn't the most cutting-edge tech stock, but it looks like a good value. Its chart shows a steady uptrend since the stock bottomed out in early July, and it's trading with w PE ratio of just 16.4. This could be a good spot for a swing trade. Wolfspeed [WOLF] - Last Close: $85.65 Better-than-expected earnings are lifting shares of Wolfspeed. The semiconductor stock reported its fiscal Q4 results late Wednesday, and the numbers topped Wall Street's expectations. Wolf reported a non-GAAP loss of just $0.02 per share for the quarter, marking a significant improvement from a $0.20 per share loss a year ago and beating the Street's -($0.10) EPS target. Revenues grew 56% from last year to come in at $228.5 million for the quarter and beat analysts' $207.6 million target by a wide margin. Wolfspeed's Q1 revenue forecast called for sales ranging from $232.5 million to $247.5 million in the quarter, which was also higher than the Street's expectation of $224.5 million. WOLF is up 21.0% on the strong numbers. My Take: Wolfspeed's strong quarter could be a sign of good things to come for the company. We're seeing a turnaround on the chart, and the government is making a big push to shore up domestic semiconductor supplies. This one could be worth watching. Plus Therapeutics [PSTV] - Last Close: $0.551 🚀 Plus Therapeutics is skyrocketing after notching a major victory. The clinical-stage pharma stock is up big on news it has received a $17.6 million grant to develop its investigational radiotherapeutic, Rhenium-186 NanoLiposome. The grant came from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and it will substantially reduce Plus's capital requirements for advancing the specialized cancer treatment. The US Food & Drug Administration has already awarded a fast-track designation to Rhenium-186 for the treatment of leptomeningeal metastases. Plus also announced that it completed enrollment for cohort 1 of a Phase 1/2a dose-escalation trial, and it is approved to move ahead with cohort 2. PSTV skyrocketed to a 110.5% gain on this report, and it's today's most active premarket stock. My Take: It seems like Plus's Rehnium-186 has a clear path towards an approval, as long as there aren't any ugly surprises in clinical trials. Today's rally seems a little overdone, but there could still be long-term upside in this micro-cap. Bluebird Bio [BLUE] - Last Close: $6.78 A key drug approval is boosting shares of Bluebird Bio in today's premarket. The biotech firm announced the US Food & Drug Administration has approved Zynteglo, a one-time gene therapy custom-designed for beta-thalassemia. The approval covers adult and pediatric patients requiring regular red blood cell transfusions, and the treatment will only be available at Qualified Treatment Centers that will be trained to administer Zynteglo. The thumbs up from the FDA followed a unanimous vote in June, with outside experts pointing to extraordinary efficacy, with 89% of subjects with transfusion-dependent thalassemia who received beti-cel having achieved transfusion independence. BLUE is trading actively with a 9.9% gain on the news. My Take: Bluebird has a high short ratio of 19.9%, but it's been steadily gaining since seemingly bottoming out in early August. This could be the beginning of a turnaround for the biotech. |
