Author Archives: Scalper1

Baidu Stock Tumbles As China Launches Probe Over Student’s Death

China’s Internet regulator said it will team up with the national health commission and another agency to probe Baidu ( BIDU ) over the death of a university student who had used the Chinese search engine to look for treatment for his cancer. The 21-year-old university student, Wei Zexi, died last month of a rare form of cancer, Reuters reported . Wei had posted criticism online accusing Baidu of promoting false medical information, as well as the hospital for misleading advertising in claiming a high success rate for the experimental treatment, state radio said. Baidu said it would fully cooperate. In 2010, China’s state-run television accused Baidu of promoting counterfeit drugs through its search engine. U.S. shares of Baidu fell 7.9% in the stock market today , to 178.91. Shares fell through their 50-day moving average, but found support just above the 200-day line. Baidu stock broke out of a cup-with-handle base with a 197.60 buy point on Friday, hitting a four-month intraday high of 201. But the stock has now undercut that entry area.

Sony PlayStation 4 Chipmaker Monolithic Power Systems Tops Q1 Views

Sony ( SNE ) PlayStation 4 chip supplier Monolithic Power Systems ( MPWR ) topped Wall Street’s Q1 expectations after the close Monday and issued current-quarter sales guidance that beat the consensus at the midpoint. Monolithic Power stock rose 1.75% in Monday’s regular session to 63.51, and was flat in after-hours trading. Shares are even for the year, but have recovered from an 8% dip through mid-February. Monolithic stock broke out of a cup-with-handle based last month at 65.36, so it’s down nearly 3% from the buy point. For Q1, Monolithic Power reported $84.5 million in sales and 45 cents earnings per share minus items, up 15% and 22%, respectively, vs. the year-earlier quarter. IBD Take: Monolithic Power gets great ratings of late, as you can see from IBD Stock Checkup. Both measures topped the consensus of eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $83 million and 44 cents per share, and the midpoint of Monolithic Power’s earlier sales view for $81 million to $85 million. Current-quarter sales guidance for $91 million to $95 million would be up 12%-17% and beat analysts’ model for $91.5 million at the midpoint. Monolithic Power stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 97, out of a best-possible 99, trailing Nvidia ( NVDA ), Silicon Motion Tech ( SIMO ) and Maxlinear ( MXL ). Its chips are used in Sony’s PlayStation 4, Microsoft ( MSFT ) Xbox One and Blu-ray/DVD players. It competes against tech majors like Intel ( INTC ), Texas Instruments ( TXN ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM ), all Apple ( AAPL ) suppliers.

Sprint Expected To Post Wider Loss; Could Add Postpaid Subscribers

Sprint ( S ) is expected to report a wider loss and lower revenue early Tuesday, though its postpaid wireless subscriber additions might increase. Sprint, which is majority owned by Japan-based SoftBank ( SFTBY ), will also likely provide fiscal 2016 guidance, analysts said. Sprint is expected to report a fiscal Q4 loss of 12 cents per share, widening from a 6-cent per-share loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue in the March quarter is expected to have fallen 3% to $8.05 billion, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate. Sprint is the last of the four national wireless carriers to report March-quarter results.  T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) added 877,000 postpaid phone lines in Q1, while  Verizon Communications ( VZ ) reported a loss of 8,000.  AT&T ( T ) last week said that it lost 363,000 postpaid phone customers in Q1. Postpaid refers to customers who are billed monthly, a group that tends to spend more than prepaid customers who buy minutes as needed. AT&T has lost postpaid phone subscribers for six consecutive quarters. “We expect Sprint results will reflect a balanced focus to subscriber growth and profitability,” UBS analyst John Hodulik said in a research report. “We believe churn (customer disconnections) will tick up in Q1, and a lesser focus on volumes will drive slower, albeit positive, postpaid handset growth. This should drive some stability in service revenue declines. “We expect ongoing cost-cutting initiatives and savings from leasing uptake to provide upside to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). We expect management to provide fiscal 2016 guidance, including a path to total revenue stability and positive free-cash flow as the company exits the year.”