Tag Archives: oud

Solar Shines at Dominion Resources, Inc. This Quarter

While the milder weather over the past year continues to plague utilities, its impact wasn’t quite as noticeable on Dominion Resources ‘ first quarter results. Although below what the company earned in

Ludicrous Speed: Elon Musk Sees Tesla Making 1 Million Cars In 2020

Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk predicted Wednesday that the automaker will make one million electric vehicles by 2020, double Tesla’s prior forecast. Musk said on a post earnings call with analysts that 1 million cars that year was his “best guess.” He said Tesla could hit that target using its lone Fremont, Calif., plant and its under-construction Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, but added that such a strategy might not be optimal. Tesla moved up its prior target of 500,000 vehicles by two years to 2018. Musk said some 100,000-150,000 might be Model S or Model X, with the rest the yet-to-be released Model 3. For perspective, Tesla hopes to produce 80,000-90,000 vehicles this year, after delivering just 14,820 in the first quarter. Some analysts are skeptical that Tesla can ramp up to 500,000 in the next few years, let alone one million, especially at a high level of quality. Tesla faces complaints about errors — bad paint, doors not closing correctly, etc. — but there are few hard numbers about Tesla’s quality and reliability. Tesla touted that it just had its first error-free Model X production last Friday. But deliveries began in September. Before the market close, Tesla confirmed that two production chiefs were leaving the company. Musk was a little less confident on self-driving cars. He said that regulators will need “billions of miles” of mapping data to be convinced that autonomous vehicles are safe. Alphabet, Mobileye Join Crowded Autonomous Road Alphabet ( GOOGL ) this week reached a deal with Fiat Chrysler on self-driving cars. Alphabet’s self-driving unit will develop autonomous versions of Fiat Chrysler minivans. Mobileye ( MBLY ), which provides advanced camera-based driver assistance software to Tesla and several other automakers, reports earnings Thursday morning. Nvidia ( NVDA ), which makes chips for Tesla and other automakers, reports next week. Tesla stock rose about 3% in late trading Wednesday, but that’s after closing down 4.2% on the stock market today , undercutting its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Mobileye closed down 2.6%, just above its 200-day. Nvidia slid 2.3%, ending just above its 50-day line. Both rose fractionally late.

GoPro Investors Swim With The Sharks Ahead Of Q1 Earnings

GoPro ( GPRO ) investors are bracing for the worst as the maker of wearable action cameras prepares to report first-quarter results after the market close Thursday. GoPro stock fell 2.2% to 11.40 on the stock market today . A year ago, the stock traded near 50. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the San Mateo, Calif.-based company to lose 60 cents a share in Q1, compared with earnings per share of 24 cents in the year-earlier period. Sales are forecast to decline 53% to $169.1 million. For the current quarter, Wall Street is modeling for GoPro to lose 43 cents a share, compared with year-ago earnings of 35 cents a share, on sales of $245.6 million, down 42%. GoPro is facing concerns about market saturation and pricing pressure from competitors, including Garmin ( GRMN ), Sony ( SNE ) and others. Possible catalysts for the company include an upcoming flying-camera drone — a quadcopter called Karma — and devices for recording 360-degree videos for virtual reality headsets like Facebook ’s ( FB ) Oculus Rift. Karma is expected to debut this quarter. “We applaud GoPro’s recent moves to build a deeper technical bench and listen closely to customer and partner demands.” Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz said in a research report Tuesday. “However, we remain sidelined as upcoming product releases (drone, flagship camera, and possibly a 360-degree camera) can introduce much volatility.” Uerkwitz rates GoPro stock as perform, or hold. “We believe the March quarter results and June quarter guidance could be a bit rough as the company is in full-on transition mode,” Uerkwitz said. “We may see inventory issues (the March quarter is typically slow) for older cameras in the channels.” Dougherty analyst Charles Anderson reiterated his neutral rating on GoPro stock in a report Wednesday. “GoPro is currently suffering from a stale product portfolio and delayed efforts to improve editing software and general usability,” Anderson said. “This is harming demand and leading to declining sales. “The response has been a large increase in both R&D and sales and marketing spend, which is going to lead to near-term losses. We believe the company needs new, and differentiated, products to pull it out of the hole.” RELATED: GoPro Finds Woe In High Action-Camera Inventories