Straight from the Desk

Syz the moment

Live feeds, charts, breaking stories, all day long.

30 Aug 2024

Yen's strength pressures earnings

Source: Bloomberg

21 Aug 2024

EBITDA is NOT Free Cash Flow

Source: Brian Feroldi

13 Aug 2024

Is the US regional bank crisis worsening?

Summit State Bank's Q2 Earnings Plummet. Q2 2024 Net Income: $928,000 Drops -67% from Q2 2023 Net Income $2,985,000. Earnings Decline: 69%. Stock Drop: -15%. $SSBI. Source: The Coastal Journal

6 Aug 2024

A solid rise in ISM Service dampens growth scare in markets a bit and is another sign that we are currently facing a technical

positioning driven correction instead of one led by hard landing fears. The main ISM services index and orders recorded solid bounce. Meanwhile, the Employment Index is up to highest level for the year. Note that the ISM has been quite volatile and should this not be overemphasized. Nevertheless, it seems premature to call a recession at this stage. Consider that earnings are up 12% YOY vs consensus of 9%. That doesn't happen at a Recession turning point. Source: Rishi Mishra, Ram Ahluwalia

5 Aug 2024

This is the biggest 2-day drop for the Nikkei in history, surpassing Black Monday

Source: www.zerohedge.com, Bloomberg

5 Aug 2024

US earnings: The beat rate is the smallest since 4th quarter of 2022 377 S&P 500 companies (80% of index EPS) have reported, beating consensus by 2%, the smallest since 4Q22.

71%/55%/45% beat on EPS/sales/both Source: BofA, Mike Z.

5 Aug 2024

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile swelled to a record $276.9 billion last quarter as Warren Buffett sold big chunks in stock holdings including Apple

The Omaha-based conglomerate’s cash hoard jumped significantly higher from the previous record of $189 billion, set in the first quarter of 2024. The increase came after the Oracle of Omaha sold nearly half of his stake in Tim Cook-led tech giant in the second quarter. Berkshire has been a seller of stocks for seven quarters straight, but that selling accelerated in the last period with Buffett shedding more than $75 billion in equities in the second quarter. That brings the total of stocks sold in the first half of 2024 to more than $90 billion. The selling by Buffett has continued in the third quarter in some areas with Berkshire trimming its second biggest stake, Bank of America, for 12 consecutive days, filing this week showed. For the second quarter, Berkshire’s operating earnings, which encompass profits from the conglomerate’s fully-owned businesses, enjoyed a jump thanks to the strength in auto insurer Geico. Operating earnings totaled $11.6 billion in the second quarter, up about 15% from $10 billion a year prior. $BRK Berkshire Hathaway Q2 FY24. • Stock repurchase $0.3B. • $AAPL stake cut by nearly half. • Segment margin 14% (+2pp Y/Y). • Cash and short-term securities $277B. Source: App Economy Insights, CNBC

2 Aug 2024

Amazon reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the second quarter on Thursday and issued a disappointing forecast for the current period.

The shares slid as much as 6% in extended trading. Here's how $AMZN Amazon did in Q2 FY24: • Revenue +10% Y/Y to $148B ($0.8B miss). • Operating margin 10% (+4pp Y/Y). • FCF $53B TTM. ☁️ AWS: • Revenue +19% Y/Y to $26.3B. • Operating margin 36% (+11pp Y/Y). Q3 FY24 Guidance: • Revenue ~$154-$158.5B ($158.3B expected).

Thinking out loud

Sign up for our weekly email highlighting the most popular posts.

Follow us

Thinking out loud

Investing with intelligence

Our latest research, commentary and market outlooks