In today’s top stories, Elon Musk’s Twitter deal is making headlines again. This time because his late filing could save him $143m. In other filing news, Instacart filed to go public. Meanwhile, Roblox sees sales of its virtual currency rebound, Disney signals streaming market struggles and Goldman posts its circular economy stock picks.
SEC probes Musk’s Twitter stake
The US regulator is investigating Elon Musk’s (pictured) late disclosure of his stake in Twitter [TWTR], which enabled the Tesla [TSLA] CEO to increase his stake in the social media platform without shareholders being alerted. According to TheWall Street Journal, Musk may have saved over $143m by not filing the form required by investors when they purchase more than 5% of a company’s stock within 10 days of doing so.
Biotech stocks
In the face of economic uncertainty and falling demand for Covid-19 vaccines, some biotech stocks have taken a hit this year. As companies such as Vertex [VERX], Moderna [MRNA] and AstraZeneca [ANZ.L] pursue opportunities for innovation in the healthcare space, their share prices could see a much-needed boost.
Instacart IPO
Online grocery delivery platform Instacart announced on Wednesday that it had filed a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publicly list its shares. The company was worth $39bn in March 2021 but it has cut this valuation by 40% to $24bn amid the tech selloff. Despite continued market uncertainty, Instacart is optimistic about its business model and future expansion.
BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce
On 9 May, it was reported that the UK government had handed contracts worth over £2bn to BAE Systems [BA.L] and Rolls-Royce [RR.L] in order to forge ahead with the building of next generation nuclear submarines. These are the first contracts that are part of a planned near-£10bn investment. The news has led both companies’ stock to rise, though Rolls-Royce is also dealing with concerns in the civil aviation market.
Circular economy stock picks
In a research note published at the start of May, Goldman Sachs analysts highlighted “underappreciated” stocks set to benefit from the circular economy. Goldman said the model could help unlock $25trn in additional economic output by 2050. The line-up included ride sharing firms Uber [UBER] and Lyft [LYFT], clothing brands Nike [NKE] and Adidas [ADS.X] and waste management companies Veolia Environment [VIE.E] and Waste Management [WM].
Streaming struggles for Disney
Streaming numbers were in the spotlight when Disney [DIS] reported fiscal Q2 results this week. While the company added more subscriptions than expected, investor sentiment was shaken by the warning from CFO Christine McCarthy that subscriber growth in the second half of the year may not be as sharp as its strong performance in H1. She cited rising costs and the impact of geopolitical factors on its planned launch in eastern European markets. Disney shares were down 3% in after hours trading on Wednesday.
Recovery for Roblox
Despite the company posting a 3% drop in bookings in Q1, Roblox’s [RBLX] CEO David Baszucki told CNBC that sales of its virtual currency ‘robux’ started to pick up again in April. The company is also taking steps to develop alternative revenue sources and attract new users, Baszucki said, including brand partnerships, new search features and user-generated content. He even teased at the idea of Roblox being used in a workplace setting for remote workers to stay connected.
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