The Buzz
Sad song: Pandora can't hold onto early gains
May 24, 2013: 4:01 PM ET
Pandora's sales are up big despite a lot of competition in streaming music. But many investors are still skeptical.
Streaming radio service Pandora may face a lot of competition. But the company is still attracting subscribers ... and advertisers.
Pandora (P) reported a quarterly loss Thursday after the bell. But sales topped forecasts thanks to an increase of 700,000 new listeners from a year ago. The stock rose as much as 13% in early trading Friday and hit a new 52-week high in the process. Although things didn't end too well for Pandora ... more about that later.
Still, on a day where there was a surprising (for a pre-holiday weekend Friday) amount of interesting corporate news -- Procter & Gamble's (PG) Ackman-inspired CEO shuffle, Abercrombie & Fitch's (ANF) huge sales miss, more turmoil at Sears (SHLD) and a cloudy outlook from Salesforce.com (CRM) to name a few -- Pandora was one of the top trending tickers on StockTwits for most of the day.
a_jackson
$P Revenues finally outgrew content acquisition costs >> Pricing structure is improving. Do we have ourselves a real business? Bullish
Pandora is growing up. But the company will still need to show consistent profitability before the many skeptics are willing to declare that Pandora does have a legitimate future.
Some felt that the main reason for Pandora's pop wasn't really a reflection of true excitement about the fundamentals. It was simply a short squeeze. But of course, you can still profit when the shorts are covering. So some traders were not complaining.
TannorrP
$P this has a bag of shorts, don't under estimate the momo
upsidetrader
I still like Grooveshark, but $P going to 20+, (late adopter) folks are short http://stks.co/eVbM Bullish
Good point. I like Grooveshark too. And Spotify. And Songza. It is impressive that Pandora continues to grow considering that Google (GOOG) and Twitter are also now in the streaming music business. And there are still rumors that Apple (AAPL) may eventually launch some sort of radio service.
But not everyone is so optimistic. The stock actually fell as the day wore on and wound up finishing down more than 4%.
CandyCoated
$P Hope this hits $20+ tomorrow. Then I'll short this fat pig.
It got close (but no cigar) to $20. The new 52-week high is $19.37. So I guess some shorts figured it was still worth targeting again at $19.
One trader pointed out that Pandora may not be able to survive as a standalone business.
MicroFundy
$P - unless folded into a larger co' $AMZN/$GOOG/$MSFT etc - & unless they work out a deal (via congress) w label co's is unsustainable.
Good point. There have been many takeover rumors regarding Pandora for the past year or so. But it looks like the company wants to remain independent ... even though it may in fact need help from lawmakers in order to lower royalties it pays to the big music companies.
Still, one trader joked that he wished he owned Pandora, as well as other companies he uses all the time ... the old Peter Lynch model of buying what you know.
sspencer_smb
if only i were long the stuff i use on a daily basis-- $NFLX $GOOG $P $SODA $GMCR $TSLA (kidding)
Ha. If you were long the first five stocks, you could easily afford to shell out $87,400 for Tesla's (TSLA) top of the line Model S Performance.
Anyway, one of those six stocks that Mr. Spencer mentioned, Google, is starting to pull back from its all-time highs. That led me to wonder aloud on Twitter if Google might be following the unfortunate lead of Apple, which is still way off last year's all-time high.
One follower said he may have an answer for me. And that won him the coveted (humor me) Reader Comment of the Week award!
@LaMonicaBuzz Great question, let me ask my google glass.—
Justin Muckenthaler (@JMucken) May 24, 2013
Ha. While you're at it, ask Siri about where Apple's stock will finish the year. Although you might want to also ask Glass if it's possible for you (or anyone for that matter) to not look like a complete dork wearing it!
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Time to hit pause button on stock rally
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
Maybe it's time to change that Wall Street phrase about stocks in the summertime to "Sell on the 23rd of May and go away?"
Stocks around the world took a hit Thursday on the heels of MORE
Paul R. La Monica - May 23, 2013 12:47 PM ET -
HP rallies 14%, trouncing broader sell-off
As markets around the globe remain steeped in red, one stock is bucking the trend: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).
HP is riding the wave of Meg Whitman's turnaround plan. The CEO said she's "encouraged" by the results so far, but cautioned it will take some time.
The company reported earnings late Wednesday that topped notoriously low forecasts and issued an improved profit outlook. So, even though sales are still not quite up to par, MORE
Catherine Tymkiw - May 23, 2013 11:26 AM ETPosted in: Android, Apple, cnnmoney, earnings, Google, Hewlett-Packard, HP, Meg Whitman, stock, StockTwits -
Lowe's struggles against Home Depot
As the housing market heats up, so is competition among home improvement retailers.
A day after Home Depot (HD) delivered earnings and revenue that were much better than forecasts and raised its guidance, Lowe's (LOW) reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit for the first-quarter on declining sales.
Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock blamed "cooler than normal temperatures and greater precipitation" for the soft sales figures. In contrast, Home Depot CEO Frank Blake said his company continued to MORE
Hibah Yousuf - May 22, 2013 1:14 PM ETPosted in: banks, earnings, hedge funds, home, home builder, Home Depot, housing, Lowe's, prices, rain, sales, Toll Brothers, weather -
Apple's Tim Cook is Wall Street hero for a day
While lawmakers took turns bashing Apple (AAPL) for its creative tax policies, investors were cheering on CEO Tim Cook as he defended the company and pushed Congress to overhaul the tax code.
The general consensus among traders on StockTwits was that Cook looked like a capable leader compared with the elected officials doing the questioning.
Catwoman2011
Long Tim Cook. Short John McCain. $AAPLRobertinGatos
Ben Rooney - May 21, 2013 2:29 PM ET
$AAPL Tim Cook did great MORE -
The market doesn't lie: Housing recovery is real
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
If the housing market is really on the mend, that is undeniably a good sign for the broader economy and the stock market.
Guess what? It's increasingly looking like the housing rebound is, to pull a MORE
Paul R. La Monica - May 21, 2013 1:06 PM ET -
Elon Musk's SolarCity jumps 16%
Investors can't seem to get enough of Elon Musk.
Just take a look at SolarCity (SCTY).
Shares of the Musk-backed solar energy company rallied 16% Monday.
Shares took a hit last week after the company reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss. But the stock quickly bounced back after SolarCity reached a deal with Goldman Sachs (GS) to finance $500 million of solar projects.
Investors on StockTwits were quick to jump on the Musk bandwagon.
jleonard711
May 20, 2013 2:25 PM ET
Very MORE -
Tesla may be a bubble ... but nobody cares
Tesla shares did something on Friday that they don't often do. They fell.
The stock was down nearly 3% in late morning trading even though Tesla (TSLA) announced that it was boosting the size of its secondary offering. Earlier this week, the electric car maker said that proceeds from this stock sale would be used to pay back the terms of a loan from the Department of Energy.
Still, it's understandable why MORE
Paul R. La Monica - May 17, 2013 11:28 AM ET -
The U.S. looks like Japan: Investors rejoice
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
The U.S. economy is still not close to being fully recovered from the Great Recession, but investors could give a mouse's posterior about this sad fact.
That point was hammered home Thursday. Stocks, which many believe MORE
Paul R. La Monica - May 16, 2013 12:11 PM ET -
Cisco soars but doesn't lift whole market
Cisco's CEO John Chambers no longer dictates the moves in the broader stock market. Or even just the Nasdaq. Stocks were relatively flat Thursday.
But he still must be smiling. Cisco's (CSCO) stock rallied more than 10% following a blowout quarter.
Chambers told investors that he's encouraged by the "good signs" he sees in the economies of the United States and the rest of the world. Several traders on StockTwits shared MORE
Maureen Farrell - May 16, 2013 12:10 PM ET
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