Microsoft is vowing to defend its Dreamer employees in court if the government tries to deport them.
Brad Smith, the company president, said in a blog post Tuesday that President Trump’s decision to end the program known as DACA is “a big step back for our entire country.” The company said it knows of 39 employees covered by the protection.
“If the government seeks to deport any one of them, we will provide and pay for their legal counsel,” he wrote.
Smith said the company will also explore whether it can intervene directly in any such case.
“In short, if Dreamers who are our employees are in court, we will be by their side,” Smith said.
DACA allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children to live, work and study in the country without fear of deportation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave Congress six months to act before anyone loses the ability to live in the United States.
Microsoft’s (MSFT, Tech30) Smith said Congress should pass legislation that protects DACA, even before it tackles tax reform.
good stocks to purchase: Tetra Technologies, Inc.(TTI)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Energy sector was the top gainer in the US market on Wednesday. Top gainers in the sector included TETRA Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TTI), CARBO Ceramics Inc. (NYSE: CRR), and Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE: ATW).
- [By Lisa Levin]
Wednesday afternoon, the energy sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from TETRA Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TTI) and Abraxas Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ: AXAS).
good stocks to purchase: CyberArk Software Ltd.(CYBR)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:
Wall Street expects Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) to report quarterly earnings at $1.26 per share on revenue of $17.71 billion before the opening bell. Citigroup shares rose 0.30 percent to $67.22 in after-hours trading.
Analysts are expecting JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) to have earned $1.65 per share on revenue of $25.61 billion in the latest quarter. JPMorgan will release earnings before the markets open. JPMorgan shares gained 0.48 percent to $93.55 in after-hours trading.
Cyberark Software Ltd (NASDAQ: CYBR) lowered its guidance for the second quarter. The company now expects total revenue of $57.0 million to $57.5 million, versus earlier guidance of $61.0 million to $62.0 million. Cyberark shares dipped 17.65 percent to $42.00 in the after-hours trading session.
Before the opening bell, First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.1 per share on revenue of $675.70 million. First Republic Bank shares dropped 0.80 percent to close at $101.35 on Thursday.
Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.
- [By Joe Tenebruso]
CyberArk Software (NASDAQ:CYBR) reported fourth-quarter financial results on Feb. 9. The Israeli cybersecurity specialist continues to win new business for its “privileged account” security solutions, which help to protect against cyberattacks that use insider privileges to penetrate network perimeters and assault the most sensitive areas of an enterprise’s IT infrastructure.
good stocks to purchase: Carnival Corporation(CCL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
How about individual stories? Tuesday I was pleasantly surprised by the commentary on both the Darden (DRI) and Carnival (CCL) calls. Weekend dining and lunch were very strong for Darden, parent of Olive Garden, even though CEO Gene Lee acknowledged that it’s competing against “new necessities today, whether smartphones, whether it’s your cable bill, your Netflix bill. I mean, they have increased significantly over the years.” Hmm, is there any wonder why takeout pizza is so strong? Makes me want to buy both Darden and Domino’s (DPZ) .
- [By Diane Alter]
At $28.66, SNE shares were up 0.28% in morning trading.
CES Companies to Watch, No. 3: Carnival (NYSE: CCL)
Carnival Cruise Line (NYSE: CCL) announced Wednesday at CES 2017 that it will give passengers on board its ships high-tech wearable wristbands – which can also be worn as a pendant or necklace. The device can be used to unlock their room, purchase food, and to pay toplay games such as blackjack.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
That’s not to say the consumer never leaves the house, but when they do, they shop for their homes at Home Depot (HD) and Home Goods, the TJX Stores (TJX) chain that’s knocking it out of the park. The consumer is also visiting theme parks like Six Flags (SIX) and Walt Disney (DIS) and they’re also going on Carnival Cruises (CCL) .
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE:CCL) (NYSE:CUK)shareholders have to be feeling pretty good these days. The stock hit yet another new high on Friday, and the stock is trading 13% higher so far in 2017.It’s been smooth sailing so far this year, but the first big test comes on Tuesday morning when the world’s largest cruise line operator reports financial results for its fiscal first quarter.
good stocks to purchase: New York Community Bancorp, Inc.(NYCB)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
New York Community Bank Inc. (NYSE: NYCB) dropped 5% Wednesday to post a new low of $13.05 after closing at $13.74 Tuesday night. The stock’s 52-week high is $17.68. Volume was about 80% above the daily average of around 4.8 million shares. The bank reported disappointing results this morning.
good stocks to purchase: Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Chris Lange]
Occidental Petroleum Corp.s (NYSE: OXY) short interest increased to 16.11 million shares from the previous reading of 15.70 million. Shares were recently at $62.83, in a 52-week range of $61.01 to $78.48.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
We have seen several dividend cuts in the recent past, including Anadarko Petroleum cutting its dividend by 81%…and we expect more companies to follow suit. Chesapeake Energy (CHK), ConocoPhillips (COP), Encana,Marathon Oil and Noble Energy (NBL) are among energy companies that have also cut dividends in the past 12 months, but dividend requirements even after several cuts will consume ~26% of 2016 estimated cash flow at current dividend rates (15% excluding Occidental Petroleum (OXY)) for the large cap E&Ps we cover. We believe most of the companies with a dividend yield of more than 1.5% should consider cutting the dividend and find the following companies more likely than not to reduce dividends:Apache (2.5% yield),Devon Energy (4%),Encana (1.5%) andMarathon Oil (2.5%). We believe Canadian Natural Resource (CNQ) (3.0%) is likely to maintain its dividend while Occidental (4.5%) has the financial strength to maintain or even increase the dividend…
- [By Chris Lange]
Occidental Petroleum Corp.s (NYSE: OXY) short interest increased to 17.60 million shares from the previous reading of 15.53 million. Shares closed most recently at $66.90, in a 52-week range of $58.24 to $78.48.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) dropped about 1.6% Friday, to post a new 52-week low of $64.19 after closing at $65.25 on Thursday. The stock’s 52-week high is $78.48. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 4.7 million shares. The company had no specific news.
- [By Michael Flannelly]
Early on Monday, analysts at Deutsche Bank lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) to reflect a lower-than-expected valuation of an asset that the oil and gas exploration company is trying to sell.
Though the analysts lowered OXY’s price target from $114 to $109, they still maintain a “Buy” rating on the stock. The new price target suggests a 22% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $89.49.
Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey said, “Bloomberg Finance LP reports that Oxy is seeking sale of 40% of Mideast operations for around $8bn, which would imply $20bn total value for the unit. However reportedly some suitors are valuing the asset at around $15bn. This is a relatively negative valuation against our previous view that Oxy would be seeking $25+bn for its MENA business. We are cutting our price target to $109/share to reflect this lower implied valuation.”
Occidental Petroleum shares were up 96 cents, or 1.07%, during pre-market trading on Monday. The stock is up 16.81% year-to-date.
good stocks to purchase: Mallinckrodt plc(MNK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Mallinckrodt (MNK) tumbled to the bottom of the S&P 500 today as weakness that began last month even before its fourth-quarter earnings continued into year end.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Mallinckrodtdropped 2.7% to $51.77 today, while the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 2,268.88.
Mallinckrodt was the biggest loser in the S&P 500 for two consecutive days in mid-November, and again after reporting its earnings.
Mallinckrodt’s market capitalization fell to $5.5 billion today from $5.6 billion yesterday. It reported net income of $489 million on sales of $3.38 billion in fiscal 2016.
Mallinckrodt has dropped 31% so far this year.
- [By Johanna Bennett]
Sell-side analysts continue to defend drug maker Mallinckrodts (MNK) shares on the heel of Citron Researchs report on the company released last week.
Earlier today, UBS analyst Marc Goodman and his team weighed into the fray, proclaiming that a misunderstood situation creates opportunity.
Goodman, who rates Mallinckrodt at a buy with a $92 price target, argues that Mallinckrodt is a different breed from other specialty drug makers, with high-quality earnings, sales growth fueled by volume not price hikes and an emerging pipeline we think is not just underappreciated but really not even part of the conversation with most investors.
Also, he argues that Mallinckrodt continues to be misunderstood by investors.
Goodman goes into goes into more detail:
we were surprised this past week by the debate around Acthar’s Medicare exposure (~30% or ~40%), which in our view has little relevance to the overall MNK story. The key debate since the Questcor deal has been Acthar payer coverage and concerns for more barriers andor coverage blocks by the payers. There was reason for concern just 2 years ago, in our view, as several important payers increased barriers. But mgt’s aggressive focus on enhancing clinical and health-economics data to help support better coverage seems to be working and has resulted in improved coverage, which we believe is still not well appreciated.
Mallinckrodt shares continue to climb today, rising 4.8% to a recent $57.20.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK) dropped 39% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $19.01 after closing at $31.18 on Monday. The 52-week high is $68.12. Volume was around 32 million, about 16 times the daily average of about 2 million. The generic drug maker missed analysts revenue estimate.
- [By Keith Speights]
Although 2016 wasn’t exactly the greatest year for healthcare stocks in general, there really aren’t very many true bargains to be found in the industry. However, three healthcare stocks do appear to be priced well below what they’re worth. Here’s why Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Lantheus Holdings (NASDAQ:LNTH), and Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) look to be ridiculously cheap right now.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Mallinckrodt (MNK) tumbled to the bottom of the S&P 500 today after Citron Research accused the company of fraud.
Getty Images
Mallinckrodt tumbled 12% to $59.60 today, while the S&P 500 declined 0.2% to 2,176.94.
Leerink’s Jason Gerberry and Etzer Darout explain the allegations:
Mallinckrodtshares are down -7-8% based on a short report citing CMS dashboard data which call into question Acthar Gel sales derived from government sources (CMS; Medicaid & Medicare). The report appears to overstate Acthar CMS sales as a percent of total product sales, as the methodology utilized by CMS drug spending dashboard for Medicare spend is based on gross sales, not net., although it’s unclear to what extent Acthar CMS sales are overstated.
The report suggestsMallinckrodt mgmt understated combined Medicaid/Medicare sales on an investor call, saying it was about a little bit higher than a quarter of the business vs. gross sales on CMS dashboard implying sales were 61% of total Acthar net revenue (an apples to oranges comparison). We dont know the exact net sales of Acthar to Medicare/Medicaid, but we believe it is safe to assume Medicaid, after CPI price penalties had high discounts/rebates and assuming an 80% gross-to-net ratio on the Medicare book ($504m gross) suggests Acthar net sales would be closer to 38-45% range vs. the 61% figure cited in the short-report. Why this may matter Acthar Gel is an old product lacking good randomized, controlled data consistent with most products approved in the modern era. The report appears to be an attempt to call into question whether the government should be paying Acthars average $80-100k net price/patient/year by calling to this to the attention of government figures who have been targeting excessive drug pricing issues. This type of issue became a major headache for Mylan (MYL) investors recently with EpiPen.Mallinckrodt is presenting at a compe
