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SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of EHang Holdings Limited - EH

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 20, 2021 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of EHang Holdings Limited ("EHang" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:EH). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether EHang and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On February 16, 2021, Wolfpack Research issued a research report entitled "EHang: A Stock Promotion Destined to Crash and Burn," concluding "that EH's relationship with its primary purported customer is a sham." According to the report, "[g]overnment records and credit reports show that EH's major customer is Shanghai Kunxiang Intelligent Technology Co." However, Wolfpack Research alleged that "Kunxiang signed sham sales contracts to benefit its investment stock price in EH," citing "extensive evidence including behind-the-scenes photographs, recorded phone calls, and videos of on-site visits to EH's various facilities, as well as Kunxiang's offices."

On this news, EHang's American depositary share ("ADS") price fell $77.79 per ADS, or 62.69%, to close at $46.30 per ADS on February 16, 2021.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP



View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/630884/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-Pomerantz-Law-Firm-Investigates-Claims-On-Behalf-of-Investors-of-EHang-Holdings-Limited--EH

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For this year, estimates are 69 cents a share. Full year estimates for 2022 are 77 cents. In 2023, that’s expected to grow to 95 cents a share. Yamana Gold (AUY) Chart by TradingView Yamana Gold is a gold and silver miner and producer. It has land positions throughout the Americas. It has holdings in Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. As you can see on the chart above, AUY stock dropped back below the $5 level last month. That puts it back into penny stock territory. For fiscal 2020, the company reported earnings of 24 cents a share. The company is expected to grow over the coming years. Annual estimates for this year are 38 cents a share and 36 cents per share for fiscal 2022. 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of Five Wall Street firms follow Yamana and they all believe that the shares are undervalued. All five have buy ratings on AUY, with an average target price of $7.25, more than 50% higher than where it currently trades. Ambev (ABEV) Chart by TradingView Ambev S.A. produces and sells beer and carbonated soft drinks throughout the Americas. Even in the worst times, people still buy alcoholic beverages and this has benefited Ambev, which has been able to remain profitable over the past four quarters. In the fiscal quarter ended December 2019 it reported earnings of 7 cents a share. In the March 2020 quarter, that was 2 cents. The next two quarters were the ones that ended in June and September 2020. The company earned 1 and then 3 cents, respectively. For the full year 2020, analysts predict Ambev will earn 10 cents a share. This year that will increase to 13 cents. 14 research firms follow the company. The average rating is a hold. However, the average target price is about $3.50, more than 20% higher than where shares are currently trading. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) Chart by TradingView Catalyst Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company. It focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare neuromuscular and neurological diseases. Its customers are based in the United States. In the quarter that ended in September 2020, the company reported earnings of 11 cents a share. In the June 2020 quarter it was 9 cents a share. Estimates for full year 2020 earnings are around 39 cents a share for Catalyst. This year, it is estimated that the company will earn about the same amount, around 39 cents. But in 2022, that’s expected to grow to 46 cents a share. 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of The Wall Street firms that follow Catalyst and provide research think the stock is undervalued. All five of the firms have it rated “strong buy” with an average target price of $7.25, 75% higher than where it is currently trading. W&T Offshore (WTI) Chart by TradingView W&T Offshore is an independent oil and natural gas producer. It acquires, explores and develops oil and natural gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico. Last year, many companies in this industry lost money. WTI too, reported a loss of 26 cents a share. This was because oil prices had fallen significantly from the prior years levels around $67 a barrel. But now the oil markets are soaring. The price of a barrel of oil was $36 in early November. Since then it has gained more than 65%. It is currently trading around $60 a barrel. Wall Street thinks that these higher prices will return the company to profitability. WTI is expected to be about breakeven this year. Estimates are for one cent in earnings per share. But at the end of 2022, analysts predict it will report 25 cents a share in annual earnings. At the time of this publication, Mark Putrino did not have any positions (either directly or indirectly) in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden's Presidency The post 7 Penny Stock Companies That Actually Make Money appeared first on InvestorPlace.

  • Michael Burry's Top 5 Holdings: Pfizer, CitiGroup, Kraft Heinz, More

    On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the SEC released filings from many high-profile investors such as Warren Buffett, Cathie Wood and Michael Burry. Burry, of "The Big Short" fame, had GameStop as his biggest holding in June when the stock was at only $4. He reportedly sold his shares before the stock skyrocketed all the way up to more than $300 per share. Here are Burry’s top five holdings by dollar amount according to the most recent filing. No. 5: DistributionNOW, $10,770,000 In Common Stock NOW Inc (NYSE: DNOW) is an energy company located in Houston, Texas. Demand for energy in Texas will certainly be a catalyst, so this move should be interesting to watch. No. 4: Lumen Technologies, $11,213,000 In Common Stock Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE: LUMN), parent company of CenturyLink, offers communication technology such as WiFi and cloud services. Burry is betting here that COVID-19 restrictions will keep people working from home. No. 3: Kraft Heinz Co., $20,439,000 In Call Options (Notional Value) Burry bought $204,390 in call options on Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ: KHC) that could be worth more than $20 million if executed. Kraft Heinz Company is of course a staple consumer goods company in the United States, producing hundreds of household products. The call options indicate that Burry is very bullish in the short term. No. 2: Pfizer $31,079,000 in Call Options (Notional Value) Burry purchased more than $300,000 in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) call options. Burry is hoping that the Pfizer vaccine proves to be the most effective out of the bunch. If he’s right, this move could really pay off. No. 1, Michael Burry’s Biggest Position: CitiGroup, $33,272,000 in Call Options (Notional Value) In what might be a surprise to some investors, Burry’s biggest position in the most recent filing was Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C). Burry bought more than $330,000 in call options on the investment firm. CitiGroup’s stock hasn’t moved much throughout the last six months, but Burry is betting it will with these $33 million in call options. Photo by Norbert Nagel via Wikimedia. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaKubient Is Using Advanced Cloud Technology To Innovate Digital Advertising by Eliminating FraudTexas Hit By Freezing Cold, Enacts Rolling Blackouts© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Bitcoin and ethereum prices 'seem high,' says Musk

    The chief executive of Tesla Inc, whose recent tweets have fueled the digital-currency rally, made the remark on Twitter while replying to a user who said that gold was better than both bitcoin and conventional cash. Musk, who earlier in the week remarked that he found the prospect of holding bitcoin adventurous for an S&P 500 company, said in a tweet: "Money is just data that allows us to avoid the inconvenience of barter ..." Bitcoin, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, hit a fresh high in Asian trading on Saturday, extending a two-month rally a day after the digital currency's market capitalization exceeded $1 trillion.

  • Palantir Replaces GameStop As WallStreetBets' Top Interest

    Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE: PLTR) is emerging as the new darling of the Reddit investor forum r/WallStreetBets. What Happened: The comment volume on the Peter Thiel co-founded company stood at 2,535 as against 1,465 on GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME), according to SwaggyStocks, a website that monitors WallStreetBets trends. The data analytics firm’s shares fell to their lowest level since late January after it reported disappointing fourth-quarter results with earnings per share of 6 cents per share. On average, analysts estimated a profit of 2 cents per share. See also: How‌ ‌to‌ ‌Buy‌ ‌GameStop‌ ‌(GME)‌ ‌Stock‌ On Thursday, the company’s shares extended losses for the sixth straight trading day as a stock lock-up period expired, freeing up 80% or 1.8 billion shares for sale. Since declaring results, Palantir stock has fallen over 16%. Why It Matters: The selloff has attracted the attention of the online crowd who are further enthused by the loose association with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk — who was a former business partner of Thiel, the Wall Street Journal reported. Previously, WallStreetBets targeted heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC). Unlike GameStop or AMC, Palantir is not in the crosshairs of short-sellers. The GameStop short squeeze drama has now moved to Congress where on Thursday the House Financial Services Committee held a special hearing on the matter. See Also: GameStop Fame's Roaring Kitty To Congress: 'In Short, I Like The Stock' Price Action: Palantir shares closed nearly 7% lower at $25.17 on Thursday and rose 4.85% to $26.39 in the after-hours session. Photo by Tech.Co on Flickr See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaMusk's Dogecoin Army Recruit Gene Simmons Turns Cardano Adherent — Here's WhyDelay Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine's 2nd Inoculation To Boost Supply? Here's What Research Is Saying© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • These Are The Best Robinhood Stocks To Buy Or Watch Now

    Buying a stock is easy, but purchasing the right stock without a proven strategy is incredibly hard. Here are the best Robinhood stocks to buy now.

  • 10 Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Payouts

    There are two types of dividend stocks: those that increase their annual dividend payments year after year, often referred to as Dividend Aristocrats, and those that grow their annual dividends by double-digit percentages every year. In early January, Rob Carrick, one of Canada’s best personal finance columnists, wrote an article about dividend stocks that doubled their payouts over the past 10 years. With an assist from Tom Connolly of DividendGrowth.ca, they’ve put together a list of stocks that have delivered 10-year annualized dividend growth of 7.2%. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Why 7.2%? That’s the amount of growth you’d need based on the Rule of 72 — 72 divided by 7.2% equals 10– the number of years growth required to double a company’s dividend payout. Now the names on the list, while excellent businesses, are mostly traded exclusively on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Thus, some of them are only available over-the-counter, through a broker that has access to the TSX, or not at all. Of the 15, eight trade on a U.S. exchange. I’d check them out. Masco (NYSE:MAS) Rollins (NYSE:ROL) Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC) Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) Victory Capital (NASDAQ:VCTR) GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Open Text (NASDAQ:OTEX) FirstService (NASDAQ:FSV) 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of In the meantime, here are 10 dividend stocks that are likely to do the same. Dividend Stocks to Buy: Masco (MAS) Source: Africa Studio / Shutterstock.com Business has been good for the global leader in home improvement and building products whose brands include Behr Paint, Delta faucets, and Endless Pools. On Feb. 9, the Michigan-based company announced that it was increasing its annual dividend by 68% from 56 cents to 94 cents, starting with the Q2 2021 payment. Also, the company announced a new $2 billion share repurchase program effective immediately. “The anticipated dividend increase we’ve announced today, along with the new $2B share repurchase authorization, underscores our strong financial position and the Board’s confidence in our future,” stated Chief Executive Officer Keith Allman. In recent years, Masco has ridden the home improvement boom to deliver a five-year annualized total return of 17.3% through Feb. 12. With a trailing 12-month (TTM) free cash flow (FCF) of $840 million, it has an FCF yield of 5.3% based on an enterprise value of $15.8 billion. Rollins (ROL) Source: Shutterstock I’ve always liked Rollins, one of the world’s largest providers of pest control services. In May 2016, I included ROL in a group of 10 top stocks that ought to be in every retirement portfolio. It’s up 224% since then, and that doesn’t even include the dividends. “Over the long haul, it hasn’t disappointed delivering 18 consecutive years of earnings growth and 14 consecutive years of dividend increases averaging 12%,” I wrote on May 18, 2016. In fiscal 2020, Rollins increased sales and earnings by 7.2% and 13.3%, respectively. Accounting for the 3-for-2 split on Dec. 10, 2020, Rollins’ board announced on Jan. 26 that it would increase its quarterly dividend by 50% over Q4 2020 to 8 cents starting with its February 2021 payment. The company paid out $161 million in dividends in 2020, up from $154 million in 2019. The company repurchases very little of its stock. Between 2017 and 2019, it repurchased just $28 million of its shares, opting to use most of its free cash for dividends and acquisitions. Rollins has a trailing 12-month free cash flow (FCF) of $380 million. That works out to an FCF yield of 2% based on an enterprise value of $18.8 billion. It’s not cheap at current prices, but it will deliver an above-average total return [dividend income plus capital appreciation] over time. 7 Blue-Chip Stocks That Aren’t a Gamble Definitely buy this one on the dips. Moelis & Company (MC) Source: PopTika/ShutterStock.com Moelis & Company is an independent investment bank based in New York City that went public in April 2014 at $25 a share. If you bought some of its initial public offering (IPO) and still hold it today, you’re sitting on a 119% return. There is no question the investment bank has had its ups and downs. In June 2018, it flirted with $70 before falling gradually to its 52-week low of $22.11 during the March 2020 correction. On Feb. 10, 2021, the company reported record Q4 2020 revenues of $422 million, up 89% from a year earlier. On the bottom line, its adjusted net income was $146 million, up considerably from $26 million in Q4 2019. In 2020, the company paid out dividends and executed share repurchases totaling almost $275 million. It included a $2 a share special dividend paid out in December while also increasing the regular quarterly dividend by 44% from the previous quarter and 8% from pre-Covid-19 levels. Tractor Supply (TSCO) Source: James R. Martin/Shutterstock.com Tractor Supply is one of my all-time favorite companies, retail or otherwise. Its business model servicing the rural lifestyle makes abundant sense. In 2001, Tractor Supply made a transformative acquisition, acquiring bankrupt Michigan-based Quality Stores, a competitor with 85 stores at the time. It had 323 stores. Today, it has almost 2,000. It hasn’t been as lucky with another acquisition it made. In 2016, it acquired Petsense, a retailer of pet supplies, for $116 million. Petsense had 136 stores at the time. In Q4 2020, the company had non-cash pre-tax impairment charges of $74.1 million related to its Petsense operations. As a result of the charge, Tractor Supply’s operating income in the fourth quarter was $184.5 million, 3.1% lower than a year earlier. On the plus side, fourth-quarter sales were 31.3% higher over Q4 2019. The board announced on Jan. 28 that it would increase its quarterly dividend by 30% to 52 cents a share. 7 Stocks That Are Ready for a Retail Rebound Tractor Supply is an outstanding retail stock to own for the long haul. Victory Capital (VCTR) Source: kan_chana/ShutterStock.com I thought Victory Capital was the only firm on my list of 10 dividend stocks that I’m unfamiliar with. Then it dawned on me that it’s the company behind VictoryShares and ETFs such as the VictoryShares Nasdaq Next 50 ETF (NASDAQ:QQQN). However, if the San Antonio-based asset management firm keeps delivering quarterly results as it did in Q4 2020, I’ll have to get a lot more acquainted with it in a real hurry. The company finished fiscal 2020 with $136.4 billion in assets under management (AUM), 33% higher than a year earlier. A part of the increase was due to its 2019 acquisition of USAA Asset Management. On the bottom line, Victory generated record adjusted net income of $285.5 million in 2020, 48% higher than a year earlier. As part of the Feb. 10 press release of its fourth-quarter earnings, Victory Capital’s board announced a 29% increase in its quarterly dividend to 9 cents a share. It is the company’s third increase in a year. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Source: Willy Barton / Shutterstock.com Anyone who suffers from back or joint pain is likely familiar with Voltaren, one of GlaxoSmithKline’s many products made by its consumer healthcare products division, merged with Pfizer’s (NYSE:PFE) consumer healthcare business in August 2019. It plans to separate the joint-venture into its own separate company. In addition to Voltaren, it makes Polident, Otrivin, Advil, Tums, and Centrum, and many others. Once GSK separates its consumer healthcare products business, it will focus on pharmaceuticals and vaccines. On Feb. 3, GSK reported its full-year results. They included a 3% sales increase year-over-year of 34.1 billion euros ($41.3 billion) and an FCF of 5.4 billion euros ($6.6 billion), 7% higher than in 2019. As for the dividend, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Although the company increased its quarterly payment by 15% from $0.1746 a share to $0.2008 starting with the December 2020 payment, it also said that it wouldn’t increase the total dividend payments in 2021 from what it paid out in 2020. These 7 Semiconductor Stocks Are Actually Winning From the Chip Shortage I’ve put it on the list of dividend stocks because it should provide investors with a much better entry point to buy its stock. It’s a definite value play at this point. T. Rowe Price (TROW) Source: Pavel Kapysh / Shutterstock.com One of the four financial services companies on my list of dividend stocks, the Baltimore-based company announced on Feb. 10 that it was raising its quarterly dividend by 20% to $1.08 per share, the 35th consecutive year it has done so. That makes it a Dividend Aristocrat. The $4.32 annual payout yields a reasonable 2.7%. On Jan. 28, T. Rowe Price reported Q4 2020 revenues of $1.73 billion, 18% higher than a year earlier, while adjusted earnings per share were 42% up over a year earlier. It was a good year for the investment manager in terms of asset gathering. In 2020, it had net client inflows of $5.6 billion, finishing the year with $1.47 trillion in assets under management. Its average assets under management in 2020 increased by 12.5%. The company finished 2020 debt-free with $6.2 billion in cash and investments in T.Rowe Price products. That’s up from $5.6 billion a year earlier. As long-term investments go, income investors ought to like T. Rowe Price. S&P Global (SPGI) Source: Shutterstock This isn’t the first time I’ve picked S&P Global as a stock to buy because of its increasing dividend. In April 2020, I picked SPGI stock along with nine other S&P 500 dividend stocks. Since then, it’s up 26%, a respectable, if not spectacular, return over 10 months. On Jan. 27, it announced that it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 15% to 77 cents from 67 cents. S&P Global has paid a dividend each year since 1937 and increased its annual dividend for 48 consecutive years. In 2020, SPGI returned $1.8 billion to shareholders, including $645 million for dividends and $1.16 billion in share repurchases, no mean feat during a pandemic. “Increasing the dividend demonstrates our confidence and optimism in the continued strength of our cash flow generation and financial position,” said Douglas L. Peterson, CEO of S&P Global. “Returning cash to shareholders remains a cornerstone of our shareholder value proposition.” 8 Electric Vehicle Stocks That Are More Than Just a Fad It has a very attractive FCF yield of 4.2% based on TTM FCF of $3.49 billion and an $82.34 billion enterprise value. Open Text (OTEX) Source: Shutterstock One of two Canadian companies that I’ve chosen for this article, Open Text is a cloud-based software company whose products and solutions help manage and utilize their information. The last year has not been kind to shareholders. Open Text stock’s generated a 52-week total return of just 2.5%, well below its software application peers, who gained 55.8% over the past year. However, its latest earnings report delivered hope. Excluding currency, the company reported recurring revenue of $674 million in Q2 2021, 19.5% higher than a year earlier. At the same time, its free cash flow was 46.5% higher to $275 million. Its free cash flow on a TTM basis is $1.07 billion for an FCF yield of 6.9% based on an enterprise value of $15.5 billion. That FCF yield’s approaching value territory. On Feb. 4, Open Text announced its March 2021 dividend would be $0.2008 a share, 15% higher than a year earlier. FirstService (FSV) Source: Shutterstock FirstService is the second of my Canadian picks of dividend stocks. The provider of residential property management and property services has been on my favorites list for some time. In December, I put FSV on my list of Canadian stocks to own that make money from America. On Feb. 4, FirstService announced it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 10% from $0.15 to $0.165. The annual payment of 66 cents yields a meager 0.4%. However, you won’t be sorry for owning its stock. It’s got a five-year annualized total return of 32.8%, almost three times the return of the U.S. markets as a whole. The dividend increase is FirstService’s fifth consecutive year upping it by 10% or more. Highlights of fiscal 2020 include a 15% increase in revenues to $2.77 billion, while its adjusted earnings per share were up 15% year-over-year to $3.46. “We capped off the year with a very strong fourth quarter, largely driven by organic growth,” said CEO Scott Patterson. “We are proud of our performance throughout 2020, demonstrating strength and stability in the face of the pandemic, and we look forward to capitalizing on our growth opportunities as the environment improves.” This could be the best fly-under-the-radar dividend stock available. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden's Presidency The post 10 Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Payouts appeared first on InvestorPlace.

  • Churchill Capital IV: A Sweetheart Deal in the Making?

    Churchill Capital IV (NYSE:CCIV), an electric vehicle SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) is reportedly (according to CNBC) very close to inking a deal with private luxury sedan electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Motors. CCIV stock has now spiked to $60 (as of Feb. 19), up over 218% in the past month. Source: Shutterstock The problem now for investors is whether the PIPE (private investment in public equity) investors will get the standard $10 entry point for their investments in the SPAC. This would make no sense for shareholders of CCIV to allow this, since many of them don’t get this opportunity. PIPE Investors’ Sweetheart Deal For example, let’s assume that the PIPE offering is for a guaranteed amount of $300 million at $10 per share. This is typical of most SPAC deals. This complements the total amount of money, including that from the CCIV SPAC.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips However, as the merger closes, the PIPE investors have an automatic gain of 5.5 times their money. At the close, they purchase shares at $10 per share that are immediately worth $55. This, in effect, turns out to be a sweetheart deal for the PIPE investors. 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of SPAC investors in Churchill Capital IV are likely to balk at approving this boldfaced transfer of wealth from them to the PIPE investors. A more sane approach would be to force the PIPE investors to pay a price at a specified discount to the current market price. For example, this could be a 10% or 20% discount. Another approach would be to eliminate the PIPE portion completely and announce a secondary offering once the deal is closed. This would give SPAC investors a larger stake in the final Lucid Motors deal. The dilution from the secondary offering would be much lower, since the offering would be done at a market price. This is exactly what happened with the recent Tilman Fertita SPAC deal (Landcadia Holdings II) with Golden Nugget Online Gaming (NASDAQ:GNOG). The deal closed on Dec. 30 without any PIPE deal. As a result, the SPAC investors ended up with a 46% stake in the combined company. This is much higher than the typical 20% to 25% stake SPAC investors get with PIPE deals. The company is now free to do a secondary offering if it wants at a much higher price than the typical $10 SPAC PIPE deal. What to Do With CCIV Stock There is simply no doubt that this is the single most speculative SPAC stock ever. It has no definitive deal to merge. It does not even have a letter of intent (LOI) that is non-binding, at least as far as the market knows. As one author put it, “the rumor better be true.” However, on Feb. 16, Reuters came out with a story that a deal is likely nearing completion, as the SPAC sponsor Churchill Capital is now seeking financing. The market value was said to be at $12 billion. However, if that is based on a $10 price, then the real valuation will be 5.5 times that amount today. The deal was said to have a $1 billion PIPE deal offering. However, this could increase to as much as $1.5 billion. I suspect, however, that if the PIPE deal comes out at a pricing of $10 per share, many SPAC investors in CCIV might object. The reason is that many, if not most, of the investors in CCIV stock do not have a $10 entry price. Therefore, even though the Churchill Capital SPAC will likely contribute its shares in the reverse merger at an effective price of $10 per share, most of the SPAC owners do not have that cost structure. This is what might make the PIPE deal at $10 seem unfair to them. If enough CCIV stock owners balk at approving the deal, we could see the deal terms change. In fact, the PIPE financing terms become more competitive and less dilutive for both Lucid Motors owners and the SPAC owners. On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake does not hold a long or short position in any stock or security mentioned in this article. Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden's Presidency The post Churchill Capital IV: A Sweetheart Deal in the Making? appeared first on InvestorPlace.

  • Dow Jones Futures: Soaring Margin Debt Raises Concern For Market Rally; The Bear Case For Tesla Stock

    The stock market rally held up well last week but margin debt is a growing concern. Tesla, Microsoft and Bitcoin are in focus.

  • Tilray Will Be the Largest Cannabis Company Once It Merges With Aphria

    Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) just reported its Q4 and full-year 2020 earnings on Feb. 17. The most important news was that the company finally was able to achieve EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,and amortization) profitability. This news, along with the upcoming merger with Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA), could push TLRY stock up over the next year. Source: Jarretera / Shutterstock.com Tilray reported that it achieved its stated goal of becoming breakeven or positive EBITDA. It made $2.2 million in adjusted EBITDA during Q2. This is compared to negative $35.3 million in adjusted EBITDA last year. The company did this by both raising revenue by 26% over last year and by cutting costs by $57 million over that period. Tilray said it now operates with a “more focused, efficient and competitive cost structure.”InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips It did not produce a cash flow statement in its press release. That will come out with the 10-Q in several days. However, I suspect that it shows that the company still is burning cash. This is because EBITDA does not include things like capex spending, working capital changes, debt and tax payments. Merger With Aphria Tilray’s merger with Aphria, announced in December and set to close in Q2, will create the largest cannabis company. The company says that the “new Tilray” will have synergies of over 100 million CAD in cost savings from both companies. This will bring significant value to the combined company. 7 Overvalued Stocks Investors Just Don’t Get Tired Of If those synergies work out within the next year, that could potentially mean roughly $80 million in adjusted EBITDA. Assuming half of that leads to free cash flow (FCF), along with 20% growth, the FCF of the combined company could be as high as $50 million. Therefore, assuming the merger results in a new market capitalization of approximately $13 billion, the FCF yield of the new company would be 0.38%. That is a fairly high valuation. But the market will likely realize that once the company is FCF positive then it is likely to grow over time. In several years, if the combined company’s FCF were to triple to, say, $150 million, the market value of the two would have a 1.15% FCF yield. This means that at today’s price the company is probably fairly valued. However, the market is going to want to see more of this. For TLRY stock to move higher after the merger, the combined companies would have to be much more profitable than today. What to Do With TLRY Stock Short interest in TLRY stock is now at 20% of the public float, according to Yahoo! Finance. That is a very high level, although it is down from 36.6% over a week ago. This is because short-sellers think the combined merger will likely lead to further losses. Or, even worse, that the merger may not even occur at all. Although I doubt the latter, it is true that Tilray and Aphria are going to have to show how profitable they can become after the merger. Others think the merger will benefit from President Joe Biden’s administration loosening up restrictions on the purchase and sale of cannabis. So far nothing has happened along these lines, but it is still early. Cantor Fitzgerald has a $30.25 price target on Tilray but said in their note that the volatility in the sector may keep investors away from TLRY stock. Other analysts are not as sanguine on the stock. For example, Yahoo! Finance, which uses data from Refinitiv, has a much lower average price target. Their data from 11 analysts show that the average price target is just $18.25, or 36% below today’s price of $28.61. TipRanks.com says that the average price target of 10 analysts is $19.39, or 32% below today’s price. MarketBeat reports that 15 analysts have an average target price of $18.40, implying a 36% drop in TLRY stock. In essence, no one is positive on the stock. The company has a lot to prove to analysts and investors. Most investors will probably wait until they can see evidence of sustained profitability, not just on an EBITDA basis, but also with cash burn. On the date of publication, Mark R. Hake does not hold a long or short position in any stock or security mentioned in this article. Mark Hake writes about personal finance on mrhake.medium.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. #1 Play to Profit from Biden's Presidency The post Tilray Will Be the Largest Cannabis Company Once It Merges With Aphria appeared first on InvestorPlace.

  • A Giant Flaw in Texas Blackouts: It Cut Power to Gas Supplies

    (Bloomberg) -- When the Texas power grid was on the brink of collapse and its operator plunged thousands into darkness, it didn’t make an exception for the oil and gas field.Power was, unsurprisingly, diverted to hospitals and nursing homes. Ercot, as the grid manager is known, was staving off utter catastrophe, its chief executive later said.But leaving shale fields like the Permian Basin dark had an unintended consequence. Producers who depend on electricity to power their operations were left with no way to pump natural gas. And that gas was needed more than ever to generate electricity.As one executive described: It was like a death spiral.The result was a vicious cycle that serves as a painful lesson to any power grid operator and utility company dealing with rolling outages during extreme weather. Several energy companies say that, while frozen infrastructure and equipment malfunctions caused gas volumes to plummet, a lack of power also had a profound impact on supply. It’s a phenomenon that highlights just how interconnected -- and interdependent -- Texas’s energy network is.In the Permian, most drillers target more valuable crude, with gas typically considered an unwanted byproduct. That wasn’t the case over days of forced power outages as nearly every source of fuel faltered in the unprecedented cold that slammed Texas.Even with its explorers focusing on crude, the state is the country’s biggest gas producer, and the fuel makes up just over half of the sources of its power generation mix.A crucial part of the natural gas system was knocked out by the power outages: compressor stations that help keep gas flowing through pipelines.As Ercot started asking utilities to prompt big customers to reduce consumption Sunday evening, those stations went down and the pressure across multiple gas pipelines started to drop, ultimately tripping some utilities off line because of lack of fuel.That, in turn, led some areas of the Eagle Ford shale and the Permian to simply turn off gas production completely.The situation got much worse in the early hours of Monday as demand continued to climb. Ercot simply didn’t have the power, and millions of homes fell into darkness.Ercot executives have said the utilities ultimately determine which circuits to turn off during a rotating outage. The grid operator didn’t have information on power being cut to gas compressor stations, a spokeswoman said in an email.At its peak, nearly 40% of U.S. oil output was shuttered due to the extreme cold and associated blackouts. Three-quarters of the U.S. frack fleet was lost this week, leaving 41 crews working to blast water, sand and chemicals underground to release trapped oil and gas, Matt Johnson, chief executive officer at Primary Vision Inc., said Friday.Already, companies including Marathon Oil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. have begun using restored power from local grids or generators to restart output, according to people familiar with the matter.It’s not yet clear how long it will take to restore all the lost oil and gas supply, but oil traders and executives have said they hope most of the production lost will return within days as temperatures rise and power becomes available.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Here's why gas prices are rising — and how high they're likely to go

    Prices are already the highest since the pre-pandemic days — and they're likely to spike.