Today we are watching…
1. Roku (#roku)
Investors in this streaming contender are facing a hailstorm of competition, which on Friday, shattered the company’s image as the “gold standard pure-play” in the space. A new Comcast device and a new Facebook Portal device threaten to compress Roku’s hardware margins and lay to waste a stock previously bookmarked for growth. In the grand scheme of things, a 27% loss is still a major dent to the hundreds of percent the stock has already gained this year. On Wednesday, however, Amazon is expected to make an ominous streaming announcement of its own. Many Roku shareholders stand ready to dump the stock again, creating a possible opening to bet against it and short the stock. Opportunity knocks?
2. Tesla (#tesla)
Elon Musk is livin’ the life, changing the world and making a boatload at the same time! His pay is tied directly to Tesla’s stock price, so when the stock does well, he does well. Of course, Tesla is such a shiny portfolio piece for investors that Musk is already set to scoop up billions from this arrangement. However, once in a generation leader or not, a formidable Delaware judge doesn’t think that pay is fair. Tesla will be forced to stand trial over the issue and explain how Elon “actually earned $0” in 2018, and how he’d need to double Tesla’s share price to “unlock” anything at all. Is this all market noise, or is this a disturbing rumbling from an electric car company still dicing with unprofitability?