My top 10 things to watch Friday, August 4:
1. [Club name] Amazon’s (AMZN) second-quarter results on Thursday gave investors exactly what they wanted. The ecommerce giant dramatically brought down costs, while growth at cloud unit [HTML] Amazon Web Services [/HTML] stabilized at 12%. The stock surged in afterhours trading by more than 9%.
2. [Club holding] Apple’s (AAPL) fiscal third-quarter results were all about the power of services and how we will soon be looking at a $100 billion business, with very high gross margins. The idea that this is a weaker sales quarter misjudges the fact that Apple is making each buyer a lifetime customer of huge, and yet to be determined, worth.
3. Biopharmaceuticals firm [HTML] Amgen [/HTML] (AMGN) delivered a terrific second quarter, with biologics jumping to the fore. The company is beginning to see traction with [HTML] Repatha [/HTML], which could be one of the biggest drugs of all time because it takes cholesterol down to unheard-of levels. Amgen said it expects to close its planned acquisition of [HTML] Horizon Therapeutics [/HTML] (HZNP), which has been held up by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, by mid-December.
4. [HTML] Shopify [/HTML] (SHOP) is now solidifying its hold on the back end of all fulfillment that is not Amazon, and may be better than Amazon for small businesses. The stock is up by more than 65% year-to-date, but I think it has further to go. [HTML] JMP Securities [/HTML] raises its price target on Shopify stock to $72 a share, from $70, while maintaining an outperform rating on the shares.
5. Cybersecurity firm [HTML] Fortinet [/HTML] (FTNT) reported a mixed second quarter on Thursday, noting that large institutions had overspent on cyber for several years and now the lesser spend has hit the company, along with macroeconomic headwinds. That sent the stock tumbling by 17%, with knock-on effects for Club cyber name [HTML] Palo Alto Networks [/HTML] (PANW), which is down more than 5% in premarket trading. But I’m wondering if this isn’t PANW crushing Fortinet and PANW is a buy here.
6. After spending a lot of time with [HTML] Alphabet [/HTML] (GOOGL), I am getting comfortable with the idea that the tech giant will prevail in court over the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case. Its pattern of reeling in new business is not as monopolistic as I thought, and I want to hold on to the stock.
7. [HTML] Evercore ISI [/HTML] downgrades [HTML] PayPal [/HTML] (PYPL) to the equivalent of neutral, from the equivalent of a buy. The firm also lowers its price target to $65 a share, down from $85. Hard to believe, but the downfall of Paypal really did start with its abandonment by eBay (EBAY) for Ayden in 2018. I am beginning to believe that this company is just a commodity.
8. Classic industrial [HTML] Parker-Hannifin [/HTML] (PH), whose products include aerospace systems and industrial motors, is seeing multiple price-target increases Friday after a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat. But we prefer Club names [HTML] Emerson Electric [/HTML] (EMR) — which delivered a beat and raise this week — and [HTML] Honeywell [/HTML] (HON), as well as power management company [HTML] Eaton [/HTML] (ETN) and chemicals firm [HTML] DuPont de Nemours [/HTML] (DD).
9. [HTML] TD Cowen [/HTML] downgrades [HTML] Moderna [/HTML] (MRNA) to market perform, or neutral, from outperform. The firm also lowered its price target on the biopharmaceuticals firm to $125 a share, down from $145, citing “light” near-term catalysts post-Covid and the need to produce more products.
10. Shares of furniture retailer [HTML] Wayfair [/HTML] (W) soared by more than 20% after the company on Thursday reported a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter, with costs coming down and orders growing. The news prompted aggressive price-target increases Friday, including from [HTML] Barclays [/HTML] — to $85 a share, from $40.
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