Bitcoin goldâs developer team announced Friday night that it foiled a 51 percent attack that it had known was coming for over a week.
UPDATE (July 11, 2020, 04:23 UTC): This article has been updated with additional information.
Related StoriesThe airline industry has been hit hard by COVID-19. Border closures and shelter in place measures brought the industry to a standstill during the virus’ initial wave, as air traffic was grounded across the globe.
Whether the pandemic has peaked or not, United Airlines (UAL) upcoming flight schedule acknowledges normality is still a way off. Air travel volume remains weak and currently United’s cash burn rate amounts to roughly $40 million a week. As a result, United has issued warnings that almost half of its workforce might be furloughed in the fall.
Further keeping air travel rates down are recent measures by New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut which require any travelers from states with COVID-19 test rates above 10% to self-quarantine for two weeks. The measures have resulted in a slew of discount offers from United.
However, recent United data shows the promise of low prices is not enough to entice the public while the risk of quarantine still looms.
As a result, United’s August schedule is expected to drop by 65% compared to last year’s capacity. This is lower than the expected 60% drop United were anticipating only a week ago.
Still, the latest figures are an improvement on June and July’s numbers, which were down year-over-year by 88% and 75%, respectively. United have said the rest of 2020’s schedule will probably resemble that of August’s.
What this means to Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg, is that more uncertainty lies ahead.
The 5-star analyst said, “The bottom line is that, although we believe the industry is exhibiting signs of a nascent recovery, investors should be prepared for an unpredictable (and at times erratic) rate of improvement until either the federal government coordinates interstate quarantines and/or an effective therapeutic/vaccine becomes widely available.”
Nevertheless, Linenberg keeps a Buy rating on UAL, along with a $54 price target. The implication for investors? Potential upside of a hefty 65%. (To watch Linenberg’s track record, click here)
Overall, Wall Street almost evenly split between the bulls and those choosing to play it safe. Based on 13 analysts tracked in the last 3 months, 6 rate UAL a Buy, 6 say Hold, while only 1 recommends Sell. Notably, the 12-month average price target stands at $42.82, marking a nearly 31% in return potential for the stock. In other words, even the analysts that are hedging their bets have some healthy optimism reflected in expectations.(See UAL stock-price forecast on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Not all biotechs are highflyers in 2020. Despite some pharma companies’ elevated coronavirus driven valuations, some have had to settle for more pedestrian performances.
Take for instance biotech Biogen (BIIB). The large cap has had a middling 2020 so far, with shares down by 6% since the turn of the year.
Might that be about to change in the second half of the year, following a recent encouraging development?
On Wednesday, Biogen disclosed it had submitted a BLA (biologics license application) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its potential Alzheimer treatment, aducanumab.
Focus now turns to the FDA’s reaction. The agency has 60 days to approve the filing, following which (if approved), the application will be reviewed. Biogen hopes the drug will be granted priority status due to the disease’s unmet medical need. This means the review could be completed within 6 months instead of the 10 months it normally takes.
J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov is not entirely convinced the treatment will make it through the whole regulatory process. The approval prospects for aducanumab, he notes, are “little better than a coin flip,” and he estimates the possibility of success at 55%.
After conducting a poll among 30 US Alzheimer’s physicians, Kasimov argues aducanumab remains a controversial subject among industry professionals.
“In short,” said the 5-star analyst, ”The results suggest that the majority of docs don’t believe that aducanumab should be approved… but plan to prescribe the drug to a substantial number of early Alzheimer’s patients if it reaches the market. With safety not being a major sticking point for most of these respondents, we suspect the regulatory debate is likely to come down to whether perceived tolerability + the unmet need win out over a questionable efficacy data + trial conduct/analysis.”
All in all, Kasimov reiterated a Hold rating on BIIB shares along with a $293 price target, which implies a modest 5% upside. (To watch Kasimov’s track record, click here)
Overall, based on Biogen’s Hold consensus rating, the rest of the Street agrees. The breakdown consists of 8 Buys, 13 Holds and 4 Sells, and is accompanied by a $312.16 price target. There’s upside of 11%, should the figure be met over the following months. (See Biogen stock analysis on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
July is turning out to be a good month for investors of social media platform Twitter (TWTR), with shares rising nearly 19%.
The latest uptick came on the back of speculation Twitter is about to launch a new subscription-based service. In a jobs listing, Twitter said it was looking to hire a full-stack engineer to build “a subscription management platform” called Gryphon. It appears investors liked the idea of an additional source of revenue for the ad reliant platform.
Like other social media players, most of Twitter’s revenue is derived from advertising. With the possibility the current ad boycott on Facebook might extend to other platforms, along with the coronavirus’ impact on ad budgets, diversification of Twitter’s business model has fueled investors’ imagination.
That said, Rosenblatt analyst Mark Zgutowicz doesn't believe the new venture will be used to change Twitter’s current model.
“We would caution it is highly unlikely the company would be considering paid subscription tiers for Twitter usage, but rather for data and analytics that its power users may consider, or a TweetDeck on steroids, per se,” the 5-star analyst said.
An extension to TweetDeck – Twitter’s service to helps users manage multiple accounts and to better parse data – appears to have been in the cards for a while now. User surveys from 2017 suggested it was considering a service with deeper data and analysis tools for power users to better gauge followers’ engagement and actions.
Zgutowick believes such an offering might have commercial potential.
“We suspect there is a paid market for this service for a select number of Twitter’s power users. If we assume 5% of its 1Q20 reported 166M mDAUs, one could assume perhaps a sub 10M initial user TAM. Of course, this remains purely in speculation mode at the moment, and we await any clarification from the company,” he said.
All in all, there’s no change to Zgutowicz’ rating, which remains a Hold. The analyst’s $27 price target suggests shares will decline by 24% in the months ahead. (To watch Zgutowicz’s track record, click here)
A similar sentiment is expressed across the Street. Based on 5 Buys, 19 Holds and 3 Sells, the analyst consensus rates Twitter a Hold. At $31.36, the average price target is more upbeat than Zgutowicz’, yet still suggests the next 12 months will see shares drop by 11%. (See Twitter price targets and analyst ratings on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.