It might surprise some of you but I'm not always looking at the technologies of tomorrow. Like any good investor, I enjoy betting on good companies that have found themselves in troubled waters. And with Carnival (NYSE:CCL), that description is quite literal. But while CCL stock tempts me, I've got to stick with my guns and focus on the fundamentals.Source: Ruth Peterkin / Shutterstock.com Simply, the basic narrative isn't at all favorable. Perhaps one day, shares will distinctly become a bargain value play. Prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic, CCL enjoyed the backdrop of a robust economy and the strongest bull market on record. Eventually, we'll return to those days. For now, though, this crisis weighs heavily on Carnival stock.First, the cruise liner industry suffered a huge PR setback. Early in the pandemic, the stricken Diamond Princess became the very public face of the coronavirus. Thousands of people, including many Americans,...
No pain, no gain goes the well-worn axiom. A stock market themed inverse can read: no gain, shareholder pain. You can currently apply the latter to Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT). The small-cap biotech was hoping to gain the FDA’s nod of approval for its liver disease therapy, but there was only pain to endure, as the NDA was rejected. As a result, shares were sent tumbling by 40% on Monday June 29. So, what happened exactly? ICPT received a CRL from the FDA regarding its obeticholic acid (OCA) treatment in advanced-stage non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), due to a lack of evidence showing that the benefits of the treatment outweigh the potential risks. The FDA recommended that data from the ongoing Phase 3 REGENERATE study be further analyzed. NASH is a fatty liver disease, closely related to obesity, for which there are currently no specific drugs available. Due to the rising obesity rates, the...
Farewell 2Q20 - the best quarter for stocks since 1998. While everyone has been trying to make sense of the almost absurd market gains, the facts cannot be denied. One of which is that between the market meltdown in March and the beginning of Q3, many stocks notched all-time highs. Fintech company Square (SQ) stands among these highflyers. Shares doubled during 2Q, and at the end of Tuesday June 30’s session, the financial disruptor was looking down on Wall Street from the vantage point of a record $104.94 per share. After this impressive rally, can Square keep on surging? That was the issue on Kenneth Hill’s mind as the Rosenblatt Securities analyst sat down to downgrade Square’s rating, believing its “EPS estimates remain as pessimistic as ever.” However, Hill was confronted with information which required a change of direction. “The disconnect between near-term EPS expectations and price performance initially set us...
