Supermicro plummets on reports of federal accounting investigation
2 minutes ago
Shares of Supermicro Computer (SMCI) plummeted on Thursday after reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the server maker for possible accounting and other violations.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the investigation comes after well-known short-seller Hindenburg Research claimed last month to have found “new evidence of accounting manipulation, sibling self-dealing and sanctions evasion” at Supermicro.
Hindenburg said in its report that it uncovered “clear accounting red flags, evidence of undisclosed related-party transactions, sanctions and export control deficiencies and customer issues.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that a former Supermicro employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company and its CEO, Charles Liang, in April, alleging accounting fraud, and that authorities are apparently investigating the matter.
Supermicrocomputer CEO Charles Liang speaks at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan on June 5, 2024.
Supermicro announced last month that it would delay the release of its annual report because management needed additional time “to complete its evaluation of the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of June 30, 2024.”
Supermicro’s shares hit an all-time high in March, having quadrupled in value that year at that point, thanks to the AI boom. But while the stock has fallen since then, it’s still on track to rise about 40% by 2024.
The stock is down about 11% in recent trading.
-Bill McCall
Nvidia shares continue volatile month
34 minutes ago
Nvidia (NVDA) shares continued their volatile month on Thursday, surging at the start of trading before falling into negative territory by the afternoon.
Shares of the chipmaker, the second-best performing member of the S&P 500 this year, rose more than 3% in the first minutes of trading on Thursday to trade near $127, well above the roughly $119 it closed at in August and a recovery from September’s lows of around $101.
But in recent trading, shares were down about 0.2% near the $123 mark, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index also retreated from earlier highs.
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Thursday’s early moves came after semiconductor stocks rallied across the board after Nvidia partner Micron (MU) reported better-than-expected profits. Micron issued an upbeat earnings outlook and pointed to “robust AI demand.”
Bank of America analysts said in a Thursday note that Micron’s results should be “positive” for Nvidia and other semiconductor stocks.
Wall Street analysts remain largely bullish on Nvidia shares. Nearly all of the analysts currently tracking the stock rate it a Buy, according to data from Visible Alpha, and their average price target of $152.52 represents a premium of more than 20% to Wednesday’s closing price.
-David Marino Nachison
Accenture sees boost in sales as demand for AI services grows
1 hour 45 minutes ago
Shares of Accenture (ACN) soared on Thursday after the management consultancy reported better-than-expected earnings and gave a solid outlook, citing rising demand for its generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) services. The company also increased its dividend and share-buyback program.
The Dublin-based company reported fourth-quarter sales of $16.41 billion, up 2.6% from the same period last year and beating analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha’s expectations. Earnings per share (EPS) were $2.66 and adjusted EPS was $2.79, in line with expectations.
New bookings increased 21% to $20.1 billion. New AI bookings reached $1 billion, bringing the total for the fiscal year to $3 billion.
Accenture raised its quarterly dividend by 15 percent to $1.48, payable Nov. 15 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 10. The board also authorized an additional $4 billion in share repurchases, bringing the total amount outstanding to $6.7 billion.
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Accenture shares were up about 5% in afternoon trading, putting the company back in positive territory heading into 2024.
-Bill McCall
US-listed Chinese companies soar again
2 hours 3 minutes ago
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks surged on Thursday on reports that the Chinese government is planning further aid measures and will inject about $140 billion into the country’s largest state-owned financial institution to shore up its struggling economy.
According to Bloomberg, the Chinese government is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) into the country’s largest state-owned banks to boost their ability to support the economy, the first such measure since the 2008 global financial crisis.
China had announced plans to inject funds into state-run financial institutions when it unveiled a massive monetary stimulus package to stimulate the economy on Tuesday, but gave few details.
Meanwhile, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that top leaders had pledged to support fiscal spending and stabilise the country’s struggling real estate sector.
Appaloosa Management founder David Tepper said on CNBC on Thursday that he plans to buy “everything” in China in response to the country’s stimulus package. “ETFs, futures, I’m going to buy everything. Everything,” the well-known hedge fund manager said.
The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC), an index of 64 Chinese companies traded in the U.S., was up nearly 11% in early afternoon trading. China-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also rose: the iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) rose 8%, and the iShares China Large Cap ETF (FXI) rose 7%.
-Nisha Gopalan
Micron’s share price rise after earnings announcement drives semiconductor stocks
4 hours 43 minutes ago
Shares of memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU) soared on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and outlook, leading gains for Nvidia (NVDA) and other semiconductor stocks.
Micron shares were up more than 16% at the start of trading, while partner Nvidia’s shares rose nearly 3%. Shares of other chipmakers including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) were all strong in the first 30 minutes of trading on Thursday.
Revenues and stock prices of Nvidia, Micron and other semiconductor companies are rising as demand for infrastructure to support artificial intelligence (AI) soars.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Wednesday that the company’s fourth-quarter sales nearly doubled from the same period a year ago to $7.75 billion, citing “robust demand for AI.” Mehrotra also said he expects the company’s sales to continue to grow, projecting current-quarter revenue to reach $8.9 billion, up from a record $8.5 billion.
-Aaron McDaid
Meta price levels to watch as stocks hit all-time highs
5 hours 54 minutes ago
Meta Platforms (META) shares hit an all-time high and rose in premarket trading Wednesday as the company kicked off its annual Connect conference, where it unveiled the lower-priced Quest 3S headset, Orion augmented reality glasses, new artificial intelligence (AI) features and other tech gadgets.
The company’s shares broke out of a five-month-old ascending triangle pattern on above-average volume earlier this month and continued to rise leading up to the company’s press conference.
Source: TradingView.com.
Measurement Principles predicts a price target for the stock at $700, while Bar Pattern predicts an upside target of around $790.
Investors should also keep an eye on the $535 level, where previous resistance near the upper trendline of the ascending triangle on the chart could potentially become future support.
Read the full technical analysis here.
-Timothy Smith
Futures signal rise for major stock indexes
6 hours 30 minutes ago
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.
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S&P 500 futures rose 0.8%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.5%.
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