In the five days following the June 3 closure of its merger with VectoIQ -- an event that put Nikola (NKLA) on the Nasdaq under its own name -- shares of the electric truck company skyrocketed an incredible 135%. This happened without a single word of support for the company from Wall Street.Eight more days of ups and downs later, Nikola stock is still trading 90% higher, and at long last, Wall Street has taken notice.Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne became the first Wall Street investment bank to endorse Nikola, initiating coverage with an "outperform" rating and a $79 price target that promises at least another 21% upside to new investors today.Now, Osborne began its research note with an admission: "Nikola is likely to be a controversial stock in the eyes of many investors and onlookers given it is pre-production." Put plainly, this is a company without any products actively on the...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil exploration shrank for a 14th straight week in U.S. fields amid weak crude prices and skepticism about a recovery in energy demand.Drillers idled 10 oil rigs in onshore U.S. fields this week, bringing the total to 189, according to data released Friday by Baker Hughes Co. Despite this week’s rise in crude prices to a three-month high around $40 a barrel, they still are more than 35% below the January high.In the Permian Basin, the oil deposit in West Texas and New Mexico that largely drove the past decade’s surge in U.S. crude output, drillers shut off five rigs, bringing the total to 132, the lowest since April 2016.The rig tally, a widely watched data point that signals future production trends, dropped below 200 last week for the first time in more than a decade. Rather than drill new wells, some companies such as Continental Resources Inc. plan...
(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard’s lenders are demanding more clarity from the company in return for the extension of almost $2 billion in financing after it breached terms on the loan, people familiar with the matter said.At least 15 commercial banks who have lent to Wirecard, including Commerzbank AG and ABN Amro, are in hectic negotiations about the steps to take after the German payments company said on Thursday it’s unable to release its annual report because it can’t locate 1.9 billion euros in cash ($2.1 billion), the peple said.Wirecard could make an announcement accepting outside monitoring and higher transparency as early as next week and in return the banks may not exercise their right to call the loan, one the people said.The lenders are also considering hiring outside help as they seek to navigate the risk of a potentially massive default, the person said asking not to be identified discussing the private...
Large companies in your portfolio can provide risk diversification through low beta and stable cash flows. On the other hand, though, small-cap stocks generally have high beta, and can be potential portfolio game-changers.As the world crawls back to normalcy after the novel coronavirus triggered lockdown, equities have surged higher. That said, this is possibly one of the best times to consider small-cap stocks for your portfolio, as renewed global growth can trigger upside in quality names. * 10 Robotics Stocks on the Technological Cutting Edge Below I will discuss four small-cap stocks that can outperform the index in the coming years. They are:InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * QEP Resources (NYSE:QEP) * Flex LNG (NYSE:FLNG) * Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) * Costamare (NYSE:CMRE)With all of that in mind, let's dive in. Small-Cap Stocks to Buy: QEP Resources (QEP)Source: Shutterstock The coronavirus-driven recession has triggered a sharp downside...
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell after Arizona and Florida reported their biggest increases in new Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began and Apple said it would close some stores in those states. Oil turned positive after briefly dropping into the red.Stocks had rallied at the start of U.S. trading amid reports that China plans to accelerate purchases of American farm goods to comply with the phase one trade deal boosted risk appetite. Still, with uncertainty over how quickly economies can emerge from lockdowns, and a welter of options set to expire in a quarterly event know as quadruple witching, investors are being whipsawed by bouts of volatility.“That’s a worrisome sign for markets,”said Matt Forester, chief investment officer of BNY Mellon’s Lockwood Advisors. “This is a continuation of the first wave, this is not a second wave.”In Europe, investors focused on negotiations over the EU’s proposed 750 billion-euro ($840 billion) program to...
