Tag Archives: request

‘Record Breaking’ Model 3 Order Frenzy Sends Tesla To 6-Month High

Loading the player… Tesla Motors ( TLSA ) stock hit its highest level since October at the start of trade Friday, after its Model 3 reveal Thursday night proved to be a hit. The electric car maker has already received 180,000 orders for the $35,000 car in the first 24 hours, far more than Wall Street expected. That has prompted analysts to raise their order projections, with Global Equities Research seeing over 300,000 pre-orders through the first weekend. The analyst said that $10 billion worth of reservations would set a world record for pre-orders for a consumer tech company. The mass-market car has some of the same features as its luxury counterparts, including supercharging and autopilot. The Model 3 also comes with a 215-mile battery charge, and can go from zero to 60 in less than six seconds. And with customers lining up to make their reservations as if they were in line for the latest Apple ( AAPL ) iPhone, analysts expect this car to dominate its price category. Shares gapped up nearly 8% in heavy volume Friday morning to hit their highest level in six months, close to 250, before paring their gains to a 2.4% rise in the early afternoon. Tesla has been finding support at the 200-day line over the last few sessions, and the stock is now trading about 18% below its high reached last July. Tesla CEO Elon Musk indicated Thursday night that he expects Model 3 deliveries to begin on time, before the end of next year. That’s about a year after GM ’s ( GM ) Chevy Bolt is expected to enter production. But Global Equities Research said that the “Model 3 has been designed for the iPhone generation consumer,” and “there is no way BMW, Porsche, GM, Toyota ( TM ), Honda ( HMC ) or any other existing auto manufacturer can even come close to competing with Tesla Model 3.” But what if Apple decides to make its own car? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out. Apple rose fractionally Friday, while GM and Toyota lost nearly 3%, and Honda dropped about 4%, as most automakers reported weaker-than-expected March U.S. auto sales.

Yahoo Reportedly Plans To Amend Bylaws; Proxy Battle Looms

Yahoo ( YHOO ) is implementing “proxy access” — an increasingly used strategy making it easier for longtime shareholders to nominate a board member — as the company girds for what’s being called an epic proxy battle. Yahoo said  that it had amended its bylaws to allow a stockholder or group of as many as 20 investors that hold at least 3% of its shares continuously for three years to nominate directors, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The move goes into effect after Yahoo’s 2016 annual meeting, which is expected in June or July. Activist hedge fund investor Starboard Value has nominated its full slate of directors under Yahoo’s existing bylaws. The newly announced proxy-access change wouldn’t have affected Starboard’s ability to replace the directors even if proxy access had been in place for the upcoming meeting, Patrick McGurn, special counsel for proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, told the WSJ. About 21% of S&P 500 companies have adopted proxy access, up from about 1% in 2014, according to ISS. Apple ( AAPL ) amended its company bylaws in December to make it easier for shareholders to make board nominations.  General Electric ( GE ) and AT&T ( T ) are among other companies that have instituted proxy access, said the WSJ, with 117 U.S. companies embracing the change last year. At the annual meeting, Yahoo shareholders will vote on whether to replace all nine board members with a slate nominated by Starboard, which wants to see change. Starboard  said last week that since Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and others in the company’s leadership “have repeatedly failed shareholders,” the hedge fund wants to sweep out all of the ailing Web company’s directors and replace them with its own slate. Yahoo advisors have contacted potential buyers, including Verizon Communications ( VZ ), IAC/InterActivecorp ( IAC ) and Time ( TIME ), as well as private-equity firms TPG and KKR ( KKR ). Yahoo stock rose a fraction Thursday but was down a fraction in midday trading in the stock market today , near 36.

Low-Cost iPhone SE Could Dent Apple’s Profit Margins

Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) new iPhone SE probably has a gross profit margin of about 35% for the entry-level model, which is well below the mid-40% margins enjoyed by the rest of the iPhone family, RBC Capital Markets said in a research report Thursday. But the new phone, which starts at $399, will still give a lift to revenue and profit, RBC analyst Amit Daryanani said in the report. The iPhone SE could provide $6.8 billion in revenue and 23 cents in earnings per share this calendar year, assuming Apple sells an incremental 15 million units, Daryanani said. He reiterated his outperform rating on Apple stock, with a price target of 130. Apple was down a fraction, below 109, in morning trading on the stock market today . Based on teardown reports, the 16-gigabyte model iPhone SE has a bill of materials cost of about $260, Daryanani said. The 4-inch iPhone uses many of the same components found in the larger-screen, higher-priced iPhone 6 and 6S series phones. The iPhone SE likely benefited from cheaper components that were the result of Apple suppliers left with excess inventory after the iPhone 6S underperformed, he said. Chipmakers Qualcomm ( QCOM ) and Qorvo ( QRVO ) topped content in the iPhone SE, but Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) and Texas Instruments ( TXN ) gained new chips in the refreshed 4-inch smartphone, a Chipworks teardown found . The iPhone SE went on sale Thursday. It was a low-key product launch for Apple, with few stores seeing lines forming outside, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a report Thursday. Also, a check of 100 Apple stores in the U.S. found 90% availability for the iPhone SE, he said. “We view both the lack of lines and the high level of product availability as in line with expectations, reinforcing our view that the SE will be largely incremental to the model in replacing the low-end iPhone 5S,” Munster said. RELATED: Middle-Aged Apple Might Get A Sports Car, New Girlfriend .