Tag Archives: technology

AT&T Expands Cricket Store Reach In Prepaid Battle Vs. T-Mobile

AT&T ( T ) has again expanded the retail reach of it Cricket brand, with distribution deals at Best Buy ( BBY ) and Aaron’s ( AAN ), as it battles T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) in the prepaid wireless market. AT&T acquired Leap Wireless and its Cricket brand for $1.2 billion in 2014. Since then, AT&T has stepped up Cricket advertising while opening more retail stores. T-Mobile acquired prepaid specialist MetroPCS in 2013. AT&T says it will add 1,000 Best Buy locations and 2,000 stores through Aaron’s, a nationwide lease-to-own retailer, to its Cricket distribution network. AT&T earlier signed deals with Target, Wal-Mart, and GameStop ( GME ). AT&T has nearly 4,000 Cricket-owned stores. Cricket wireless services now will be sold at 12,000 outlets across the U.S., including AT&T’s Cricket stores and distribution at Target ( TGT ), Wal-Mart ( WMT ), GameStop, Best Buy, Aaron’s and other locations. About one-fifth of U.S. mobile phone users buy prepaid wireless services. Prepaid customers buy calling minutes and data as needed. Many prepaid plans renew automatically every month, blurring the line with postpaid subscribers that have service contracts. Prepaid customers typically buy less-pricey phones upfront, and spend less on data services. T-Mobile and AT&T both added 469,000 prepaid subscribers in Q4, while Verizon Communications ( VZ ) shed 157,000 and Sprint ( S ) lost 491,000. Some of Sprint’s prepaid subscribers upgraded to postpaid plans. AT&T stock was up a fraction in midday trading in the stock market today , above 39. Shares are more than 7% extended from a 36.55 buy point first touched on Feb. 3. T-Mobile stock also was up a fraction midday Monday.

Edwards Lifesciences Soars To New High As Heart Valve Aces Trial

Leading medical-device maker Edwards Lifesciences ( EW ) jumped in early trading Monday, a day after its artificial heart valve passed a hurdle that could greatly expand its market. Edwards conducted a large clinical trial comparing its transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), Sapien 3, to traditional open-heart surgical valve replacement in patients with aortic stenosis, or shrinking of the aortic valve of the heart, who were characterized as “intermediate risk” for open-heart surgery. The study followed up on patients 30 days after surgery and again a year later, and it found that deaths and strokes were both significantly lower in the Sapien group. Sapien 3, which is delivered via catheter through a small incision in the patient’s thigh, was approved in June 2015 for patients who were at high risk if they had open-heart surgery. Adding the intermediate-risk population to the patient pool led several analysts to hike their sales estimates for the product. “We estimate the patient population could increase 50% to 150,000 to 200,000, including intermediate-risk patients,” wrote Canaccord Genuity analyst Jason Mills in a research note, as he raised his price target on Edwards Lifesciences stock to 113 from 95. “We increase our Edwards 2016 sales estimate to $2.796 billion from $2.779 billion and pro forma EPS forecast to $2.72 from $2.68. For 2017, our top-line projection increases to $3.1 billion from $3.06 billion and pro forma EPS to $3.21 from $3.09.” Edwards stock was up 18% in morning trading on the stock market today , hitting a new lifetime high of 106.10. The stock was already doing well, ranking at No. 23 on the IBD 50 and also rating a spot on IBD’s Leaderboard . It’s 27% over an 83.53 buy point, and thus in the profit-taking zone. The news also led analysts to lift their estimates for the entire TAVR market, which is currently split between Edwards’ Sapien and Medtronic ‘s ( MDT ) CoreValve. Leerink’s Danielle Antalffy raised her estimate for the global market in 2021 to $4.8 billion from $4.4 billion. “With Edwards’ Sapien 3 likely the only valve available in the intermediate-risk patient population for at least the next 12 months, we assume the majority of the incremental market opportunity benefit falls to Edwards,” Antalffy wrote in her research note, in which she raised her price target on the stock to 115 from 93. BTIG analyst Sean Lavin upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, with a price target of 115. Medtronic stock was up more than 1% in morning trading, near 76.

Tesla Stock Gains Monday As Model 3 Reservations Pass 276,000

Loading the player… Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) stock climbed 4% in premarket trading Monday, compounding Friday’s gain as reservations for its new Model 3 electric car soared far beyond views. CEO Elon Musk tallied 276,000 reservations by the beginning of Sunday and said he’d give another update Wednesday. The pre-order period opened Thursday ahead of a Thursday-night reveal event. Musk said in Twitter posts that he’s definitely going to have to rethink production planning. Tesla had expected only one quarter to one half of the 115,000 reservations that came in before anyone even got to see what the car looked like. The refundable reservations are $1,000 each and worth $11.6 billion dollars in revenue if everybody were to go through with a purchase. “While there was clearly a lot of excitement and optimism around both the car and the company, roughly one-third of the respondents we talked to sounded undecided on whether they would actually purchase when the option came up in two years,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brad Erickson said in a research note written Friday and distributed late Sunday. The focus now is on how all the numbers — and Tesla stock — will play out. The company has just effectively crowdfunded more than a quarter billion dollars from reservations. That’s more than it raised in its IPO. The 276,000 reservations worldwide also tops the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold around the U.S. in the last two years by the entire auto industry. And it’s more than the 245,000 BMW passenger cars sold in the U.S. last year. Tesla delivered almost 51,000 electric vehicles — its Model S sedan and Model X crossover — last year worldwide. Tesla Stock Analysis Going into Monday, Tesla stock was just below where it started 2016. It closed Friday at 237.59 after hitting its highest point since early October. The stock isn’t highly rated by IBD now, factoring in its history of losses and earnings, stock performance and other factors. The Model 3 is the electric car meant for the entry-level luxury mass market, priced at $35,000 for the base model before any tax credits. Musk expects the average purchase price with add-ons to be $42,000. The car is seen as a challenger to BMW’s 3 Series and similarly priced models from Daimler ’s ( DDAIF ) Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen ’s ( VLKAY ) Audi and Toyota ’s ( TM ) Lexus, as well as electrics like General Motors ’ ( GM ) Chevrolet Bolt EV. Among the many things analysts and investors will be deconstructing is how much content from Tesla’s tech partners Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Mobileye ( MBLY ) go into the Model 3. Nvidia chips power the entertainment console in Tesla’s current vehicles. Mobileye is a maker of camera-based advanced driver assistance systems, and its technology is used by Tesla in conjunction with Autopilot self-driving car features. RELATED: Tesla Model 3 Reservations Hit 276,000 By Sunday