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Tesla Motors Counts Down To Late-March Model 3 Reveal

Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) is planning a March 31 reveal of its mass-market Model 3 electric vehicle, to be sold at half the entry sticker price of its current luxury EVs. When Tesla finally makes the Model 3, around late 2017 by the most optimistic estimates, its $35,000 price tag will require battery cost reductions achieved through the battery Gigafactory that Tesla is building in Nevada. With that as the backdrop, Tesla stock slipped 1.3% on the stock market today along with other automakers and the broader stock market. While IBD doesn’t rate the company highly at the moment, Tesla shares — like those of some other automakers — have made significant strides up from February lows. Tesla is now 44% above its February low, but 29% off its 52-week high set in July 2015. Short-seller Citron Research, which expects supply and demand problems as Tesla tries to scale up production, recently targeted Tesla stock. The website InsideEVs’ Monthly Plug-In Sales Scorecard shows an estimated 2,400 Tesla Model S sedans sold this year through February, more than any other maker’s U.S. sales of plug-in electrics or plug-in hybrids. The  General Motors ( GM ) Chevrolet Volt was next with 2,122, then the Nissan ( NSANY ) Leaf at 1,685 and the Ford ( F ) Fusion Energi at 1,513. Tesla Model S 100D In The Skunkworks? Tesla’s Model 3 is expected to have a 200-mile driving range between charges, notes Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry. The Model 3 sedan has over 270 miles of range. Is Tesla also building a Model S 100D that could go more than 300 miles per charge? A self-described “white hat” hacker took a look at some code in the operating system of a Model S and on Twitter ( TWTR ) tweeted to Tesla CEO Elon Musk code-speak meaning that he’d found reference to the “P100D” name — and that could indicate a 100 kWh battery pack. @elonmusk @teslamotors #tesla I know your secret. SHA256 of best part: 5fc38436ec295b0049f186651ebba5fd55e8d7b81eb61cbd00d3f1bf18dd9c81 — Jason Hughes (@wk057) March 4, 2016 Regarding the “accuracy of a 100kWh battery pack rumor for Tesla Model S,” Global Equities’ Chowdhry said in a research note Monday that his firm “thinks that this rumor is accurate.” A 100kWh battery pack would be a higher-output pack than Tesla has now. “Our best guess is that Tesla Model S 100D (not the performance version but the Dual Motor version) could achieve a range greater than 300 miles per charge,” Chowdhry wrote. Wingmen @gims_live #GenevaMotorShow pic.twitter.com/SPMcXz1Qyo — Tesla Motors (@TeslaMotors) March 3, 2016 Besides the Model S and upcoming Model 3, Tesla has the Model X crossover, which it  took to the Geneva International Motor Show ; the show runs March 3-13.

Sucampo Q4 Beats Estimates, Affirms Guidance, Driving Up Stock

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals ( SCMP ) popped to a two-month high Tuesday after its Q4 earnings beat estimates. Sucampo said it made 43 cents a share in the quarter, excluding one-time items, up 108% from the year-earlier quarter. That beat analysts’ consensus of 19 cents, according to Thomson Reuters. On a GAAP basis, Sucampo made 23 cents a share. Sales climbed 47% to $55.4 million, about $13 million above consensus. For the full year, Sucampo made 95 cents a share, up 136% from 2014, while revenue rose 33% to $153.2 million. For the current year, the company affirmed its previous guidance of 97 cents to $1.07 in EPS on sales of $195 million to $205 million. Sucampo stock jumped almost 15% in early trading to 16, its highest point since Jan. 5, but closed up just 4.3% at 14.54. The company’s lead drug Amitiza provided most of the revenue, with prescriptions growing 10% over Q4 2014 to 390,228. Sucampo’s income derives from royalties paid by its partners, Takeda in the U.S. and Mylan ( MYL ) in Japan; Sucampo also took a $5 million milestone payment from Mylan in the quarter as part of their partnership. The Q4 results included the acquisition of R-Tech Ueno in December, which gave Sucampo a greater share in Amitiza’s global economics as well as some pipeline products. “The key revenue driver, Amitiza, is doing better than we expected outside the U.S., and even in the U.S. sales remained strong as the end-market sales reported by Takeda for royalty calculation were $102.3 million vs. our estimate of $98.2 million,” wrote UBS analyst Ami Fadia in a research note. “4Q 2015 was the first reported quarter that included the R-Tech deal and we are starting to see the improvement in earnings we were expecting from this deal.” Guggenheim analyst Louise Chen lowered her 2016 earnings estimate slightly due to the guidance, but said several factors could provide upside this year: M&A, data readouts on some pipeline products this year, and new formulations and indications for Amitiza, which is currently used for constipation. She estimated that Sucampo has the financial capacity to make a buyout in the $400 million to $500 million range.  

Google Chromecast Tops Apple TV In Streamer Market

Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google Chromecast widened its lead in the digital media streamer market last year over devices from Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Roku. Google’s low-cost HDMI dongle for streaming Internet video to television sets grabbed 35% of the market in 2015, up from 28% in 2014, Strategy Analytics reported Tuesday. Apple TV ranked second with a 20% market share, down from 22% in 2014. Amazon Fire TV and Roku tied for third, each with a 15% market share. “Google’s puck-sized Chromecast dongle continues to have broad appeal with consumers who favor its mobile-centric approach to content access and control,” Strategy Analytics analyst David Watkins said in a statement . “The device’s portability and low price at just $35 has made it an impulse purchase for many and household ownership of multiple Chromecasts is not uncommon.” Based on cumulative shipments of digital media streamers, Apple leads the market with nearly 37 million Apple TV units sold since its launch in 2007. Chromecast is catching up fast with 27 million units sold in just 2.5-years. Roku’s Box and Streaming Stick products are third with 20 million units, followed by Amazon Fire TV with less than 10 million. Amazon, Apple, Google and Roku accounted for 85% of the 42 million digital streaming devices sold last year. But dedicated streaming media boxes and dongles accounted for 19% of the overall connected TV device market in 2015. All told, 220 million connected TV devices shipped last year, including smart TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, game consoles and streaming boxes, Strategy Analytics said. Smart TVs accounted for 54% of connected TV device shipments in 2015, reaching 120 million units, the research firm said. Samsung, LG and Sony ( SNE ) have a combined 50% share of the smart-TV market. “Our research shows that U.S. broadband homes own an average of 2.3 such devices giving them multiple means by which to stream video and audio content to the TV,” Strategy Analytics analyst Chirag Upadhyay said. “While some consumers will have a favored method, we find that most households are switching between different devices depending on the user and type of content being consumed.” Consumers increasingly are choosing to watch Internet TV services such as Netflix ( NFLX ), Hulu and YouTube.