UPDATE: There are reports circulating that China might move to ban Bitcoin exchanges.
The cryptocurrency craze has provided the semiconductor industry with much appreciated demand for high powered chips and graphic cards. However, according to DigiTimes, the recent ban of ICOs in China might hinder sales.
China authorities have recently issued a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) on grounds that it is a form of unapproved fundraising, requesting all the China ICO platforms immediately cease their illegal financing operations and return funds to investors. The move has significantly dampened the fever for mining virtual currencies among people in the country, which, in turn, is expected to affect the shipments of graphic cards to the China market in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to industry sources.
Prior to this, the values of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, had galloped since April this year amid global investment craze and the sprouting of ICO platforms, with the crytocurrency mining fever drastically pushing up demand for graphic cards through mid-Agust.
This helped to reverse the traditionally flat shipment performance of graphics card suppliers in the second quarter this year. Gigabyte Technology, for instance, saw its graphics card shipment volume hit a new quarterly high of one million units in the April-June period, with revenues surging 4.8% sequentially and 16.2% on year to reach NT$13.96 billion (US$464.7 million) for the quarter. Micro-Star International (MSI) also scored record shipments and profits for graphics cards in the quarter.
Most suppliers of graphic cards witnessed their shipments hit new monthly highs in July before declining gradually in August and September due to China’s crackdown on ICOs. Nevertheless, they are still expected to maintain robust shipment records for the third quarter. Gigabyte Technology, for instance, shipped 550,000 graphics cards in July and 500,000 units in August, with shipments estimated at 450,000 units in September. Accordingly, combined shipments of graphics cards for the first three quarters this year would reach the same level as registered for the entire year in 2016. This is also the case with MSI.
For graphics card suppliers, the largest factor affecting their shipment performance is not the memory supply shortage or rising memory cost, but the difficulty in predicting the movement trend of virtual currencies. As the mining fever has started to ease since mid-August, the high quotes for graphics cards have also gradually declined to normal levels. Accordingly, industry insiders expect graphics card shipments for the fourth quarter to fall to the same quarterly levels as seen in the past years.
The most pronounced weakness in the semis can be seen in AMD (-3%), SWKS (-1.45%) and NVDA (-1%).
The stock is down ~15% in pre-market trade, after fucking up and simply giving away HALF of America’s social security numbers or 143 million tax paying citizens.
Criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files. Based on the company’s investigation, the unauthorized access occurred from mid-May through July 2017. The company has found no evidence of unauthorized activity on Equifax’s core consumer or commercial credit reporting databases. The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers.
In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed. As part of its investigation of this application vulnerability, Equifax also identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents. Equifax will work with UK and Canadian regulators to determine appropriate next steps. The company has found no evidence that personal information of consumers in any other country has been impacted.
Also, might I add, 3 executives at the company made large sales of the stock, outside any pre-planned 10b5-1 program — which has raised some suspicions. In other words, they might’ve known about the data breach, failed to disclose them, and then sold stock to avoid losing money. If true, they deserve asshat awards. Stock prices can come back, jobs and careers do not.
Chief Financial Officer John Gamble banked $946,374 on the sale, U.S. Information Solutions President Joseph Loughran made $584,099 and Consumer Information Solutions President Rodolfo Ploder earned $250,458.
As you can see, prior to this debacle, EFX had been doing quite well.
I once vacationed in Turks and Caicos for a week. It was the most delightful beach vacation I’ve ever had. I even got to smuggle in some Cuban cigars through it’s makeshift airport.
Now all of that is about to end, as nature descends upon the British commonwealth, laying waste to a once glorious locale for America’s one percenters. Hurricane Irma is entering Grand Turks now a category 5 hurricane, sustaining winds of 165mph.
My heart goes out to the Turks and Caicos ?? as they are taking the eyewall of #Irma with 175 mph winds and up to a 20 foot storm surge! pic.twitter.com/D5UHS38ert
Coke has a large position in MNST and have been mulling over buying the company for half a decade. Trading at 10x sales, no one I know believes MNST is grossly overvalued. Instead, they praise the power of the Monster brand as something that has intrinsic value and will be bought out by KO in due time.
The same must ring true with FIZZ (I AM LONG).
If PEP doesn’t man up and acquire FIZZ, a company crushing it in the grocery aisle selling faggotry sparkling water, they’d be doing their shareholders a grave disservice.
Valuing FIZZ is simple: 10-12x sales, just like MNST.
How, why? Their growth is greater and their ramp is young, unlike the mature energy soda racket.
A Pepsi buyout for FIZZ should range between $200-$250 per share. The longer they wait, the more expensive it will become — leaving them sorry, shaking their heads, stuck selling fucking garbage inside of trashcans dubbed as ‘soda’.
As an aside, people in Florida must be awfully parched now, trying to escape the nuclear hurricane. Perhaps they should stockpile on some apricot sparkling water. Pepsi has no choice but to buy all of these cans out
Enough is enough. I’ve seen this brand of cowardice before, many times, over my meaningless career as a stock junkie. Each and every time the consensus leans one way, due to a hurricane or some other sort of horrible event, the exact opposite occurs.
Granted, I might’ve been a tad early with my UVE purchase, especially in light of today’s revelation that Irma is armed with nuclear bombs. However, seeing the drop in life insurance stocks, those domiciled in land locked areas in the midwest, is a bit too much for me to bear.
I stepped in and bought ALE — because MUH hurricanes won’t kill people in Iowa.
Other life insurance stocks getting hit include LNC, CIA, FFG, MET.
You should all own a bit of FAZ, in the event the damages to Miami are anywhere near $300 billion. There is palpable damage being applied to the finnies today.
Imagine yourself hosting a party and a hurricane filed with nuclear bombs showed up and blew away your little condo, like the big bad wolf did to that little piggy straw house. According to the Miami Beach Mayor, that’s exactly what Hurricane Irma is going to do when it lands in Florida this weekend. He’s warning residents to ‘get out’ because Hurricane Irma is a ‘nuclear hurricane.’
Florida: Where and when Irma makes its right-hand turn will largely determine its track with respect to the Florida peninsula. Based on recent ensemble models (in which a large number of parallel runs are carried out to simulate uncertainty in the atmosphere), it is still possible that Irma could take a south-to-north inland track across the Florida peninsula, or a track that stays just east of Florida’s East Coast. However, it appears most likely that Irma will hug the state’s East Coast from south to north, potentially moving inland over some sections. This type of track is far different from those of Hurricane Andrew (1992) and Katrina (2005), which moved from east to west across the Miami metro area. A south-to-north track would affect a much larger part of this elongated metroplex. In an interview published in Capital Weather Gang in August, Bryan Norcross touches on the many issues that a hurricane like Irma could bring to South Florida, which has not experienced a storm this strong in 25 years.
Depending on Irma’s track, hurricane conditions could extend well inland, as well as northward along the length of the peninsula. The entire Florida peninsula is within the five-day cone of uncertainty in the official NHC forecast, and all residents of these areas should pay close attention to the progress of Irma, especially along Florida’s East Coast. NHC may issue Hurricane Watches for parts of South Florida and the Keys on Thursday.
Irma’s intensity will likely undergo fluctuations over the next couple of days, but intensity models show only gradual weakening, and NHC maintains Irma as a Cat 5 storm through Friday. Wind shear is predicted to remain low to moderate along Irma’s path until Saturday, and Irma will be passing over waters that are as warm or slightly warmer than its current environment (see discussion in our Tuesday PM post). Land interaction with Cuba could weaken Irma somewhat, but we must assume that Irma will be at least a Category 4 as it nears South Florida on Sunday, as predicted by NHC.
—Irma is likely to be at least a Category 4 when it nears Southeast Florida on Sunday. There is nothing in the atmosphere on the large scale that would be expected to produce significant weakening before at least Saturday. As Irma moves just north of Hispaniola on Thursday, and offshore or just over the north coast of Cuba on Friday into Saturday, the interaction with land may disrupt Irma somewhat, as noted above. On the other hand, water temperatures will remain steady or slightly increase along Irma’s path, which is favorable for maintaining Irma’s strength. Irma may experience moderate wind shear by Sunday (around 15 knots), but it is safest to assume that Irma will maintain at least Category 4 intensity on its final approach to Florida, as reflected in NHC’s 11 am Thursday forecast. More significant weakening is expected from Sunday into Monday, because of increasing wind shear and land interaction. Irma is still predicted to approach the Southeast coast of GA/SC as a Category 3 hurricane.
—Regardless of its strength at final landfall, Irma has the potential to generate a catastrophic storm surge across the Southeast coast from northern Florida to South Carolina. Under almost all track scenarios for Irma, the vast amount of water being pushed northwest by the storm is expected to slam into the Southeast coast and produce a devastating storm surge. Even if Irma’s winds decrease as expected by Monday, this water will already be in motion, packed with tremendous momentum. From our Wednesday PM post on the storm surge potential: “Even areas up to a hundred miles to the north of where the center makes landfall could potentially see record storm surges. The area of most concern is the northern coast of Florida, the coast of Georgia, and the southern coast of South Carolina, due to the concave shape of the coast, which will act to funnel and concentrate the storm surge to ridiculous heights.” See our Wednesday post for more details.
Within the storm surge warning area along the Southeast Florida coast, water levels above ground (inundation) could reach 5 to 10 feet, according to official NHC storm surge guidance as of 11 am EDT Thursday. Storm surge expert Dr. Hal Needham has launched a storm surge website for Miami with details on the city’s surge history and surge potential.?
—Large parts of the Florida peninsula would experience damaging winds on any of the most likely tracks for Irma. Irma’s hurricane-force winds now extend up to 50 miles from its center, and that radius will increase over time. Even after Irma’s top winds weaken, the wind field will gradually expand over time. Tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 160 miles from Irma’s center, which would be enough to straddle the entire Florida peninsula. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma crossed the state at Category 2/3 strength from Cape Romano to Jupiter. Even though Wilma’s center was 60 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, the city’s downtown experienced significant damage, with many glass facades sheared off by high wind. Floridians should be prepared for massive loss of windows and glass facades with Irma, especially if it tracks near or over Florida’s East Coast. It’s worth noting that Broward County—population 1.9 million—has not experienced a direct hit from a major hurricane since 1947. At that point, the county’s population was about 85,000.
Additionally, both Jose and Katia are rapidly developing. Should all three storms make landfall this weekend, it would be the first time 3 storms hit simultaneously dating back to 1851.
So, the stock is up by ~40% today after crushing earnings and guiding higher. That’s the cover story. The real story is Gary Friedman (CEO) has been planning for this moment, like Dracula in a fucking Transylvanian castle (cue thunder), for quite some time.
In fact, he presided over an unbelievable share repurchase, the likes I have never seen before. The company bought back 49.5% of its outstanding shares!
We have reinvested the $282 million of free cash flow generated in the first half, and the $263 million of cash and investments on our balance sheet at the beginning of the year towards the repurchase of our stock, which we believe is an excellent allocation of capital for the long-term benefit of our shareholders. We have repurchased 20.2 million shares to date in 2017, or 49.5% of the shares outstanding at the beginning of the year. Outside of the convertible notes that are due in June 2019 and June 2020, we had aggregate debt of approximately $504 million at the end of the second quarter, including a $100 million second lien bridge loan that we expect to repay in full by year end.
How did this crazy fucker do it? The company borrowed $460 million and used practically every penny to execute a vendetta to decapitate short sellers.
Courtesy: Zerohedge
With 57% of the shares sold short and the stock up 150% for the year, I think it’s fair to say Friedman is winning.
Capitalists are out in force today. When walking around my neighborhood, I saw men in top hats and canes directing their runners to buy shares in companies who will profit from all of the death and destruction to come.
After I heard this, I ran back home and opened up my time machine to see what was going on. Alas, I was surprised to see furniture stocks ripping tits to the upside. I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Just the other day, an Emmy award winning storm chaser said Irma would cause for rooftops to be ripped off and put ‘furniture in the streets.’
RH is higher by 45%, but that’s financial engineering. I’ll get to that in another post.
Here are some winners:
CAB +14% – they sold a fucking bank. They had a bank and the Fed approved the sale. Not kidding.
FIT +14% — the real news is they teamed up with a company to do glucose monitoring. However, I like to believe people in Miami are buying them en masse in anticipation of vacating the city. Gonna get their steps on.
GPRO +13% — people are buying cameras and placing it on their heads to film themselves drowning. And they upped guidance.
CONN +12% — people will need new teevees after Irma wipes them out. Guidance upped too.
SNAP +6% — The stock is benefitting from an increase in FUCKERY.
GNC +6% — along with the FIT play, people have become quite healthy whilst evacuating from their homes. Perhaps they’re picking up some extra whey before heading out?
CROX +6% — water resistant shoes, FTW.
On the downside are all of these insurance fuckers: UVE, HCI, HRTG, AHL, BCRH, UIHC, FNHC, VR, RE.
Well, not literally — but emotionally I am scarred. Just yesterday I ventured out into the market to buy a Floridian property insurance stock, thinking Irma might veer left and “barrel up the Gulf sideways” to lay waste to some other part of the world, only to be quickly dispatched in a manner that is mean spirited and completely devoid of honor.
There I am, right at the top of the pack — UVE.
A normal person would see this and be frightened, report back to his wife the loss and move on to the next FUCKING DICK GUILLOTINE. But I am not an ordinary man, am I?
I intend to see this through, all the way down to zero. I’ve never seen an insurance stock get hammered like this in anticipation of a little thunder storm. Hurricane Irma is going to be the very worst natural disaster to ever strike Florida. It will make people rue the day they migrated down to that marsh, like birds, in the hopes for a better life.
Moving on, fuck the banks, truly. My FAZ is kicking ass and I am really hoping something dreadful happens to them. My hurricane resistant windows play, PGTI, is chugging along higher too, in addition to TLT, GLD and all of the other shit that I own. But let’s face it, this all PALES IN COMPARISON to the crematoria treatment I am receiving in UVE. This shit is a rollercoaster into a fucking oven and I am in the front row enjoying the view.
Today’s back to school day, which means that my duties have been exponentially increased from mere provider and idler in chief to breakfast chef and chauffeur. My clients expect the best, so paninis were served alongside a gigantic sized serving of apple pie this morning.
Because it was the first day, their spirits were high and brave enough to walk 3 blocks to the school bus stop — which left me and my drivers cap sitting in the living room, idling again, posting analyst moves on Twitter.
Here’s what I accomplished so far.
One of my best friends used to be an executive at Enterprise Rental cars. I can tell you with confidence, they are gouging people like motherfuckers down in Florida now. I like the Goldman call, upgrading HTZ and CAR.
