Alibaba Surges Thanks to Reddit

Today is Friday, October 8, 2021.

Alibaba Surges Thanks to Reddit and Others

Shares of Chinese technology giant Alibaba (NYSE: Alibaba) surged 8.26% Thursday thanks in part to social media platform Reddit and other factors.

Meme Status: Alibaba was the most mentioned ticker on the subreddit WallStreetBets Thursday, according to Seeking Alpha. Many retail investors were bullish on the stock.

Daily Dose: The Daily Journal (Nasdaq: DJCO), which has Charlie Munger as the chairman, disclosed in a filing this week that it is nearly doubling its stake in Alibaba.

Foreign Relations: Alibaba and other Chinese stocks benefited from news that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi will soon have a virtual summit. Investors hope that improved relations between the countries will help Chinese stocks.

Final Thoughts: With a low price-to-earnings ratio, Alibaba is certainly a value stock. However, there are still economic concerns with Chinese companies. The stock price is down 48% this year.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Byrna Technologies (Nasdaq: BYRN).

Notable IPOs Today: Pono Capital Corp Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: PONO), Arbe Robotics Ltd. Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: ARBE), Augmedix, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: AUGX), Cognition Therapeutics, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: CGTX), AEON Biopharma, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: AEON), IsoPlexis Corp (Nasdaq: ISO), Pyxis Oncology, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: PYXS).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: GenBio (TruCrowd), Pulse Protocol (StartEngine), Unicore (Mr. Crowd), Valkyrie Ax Throwing (MainVest), Twin Pikes Roastery (MainVest), Navisyo (Wefunder), American Vanity (TruCrowd).

Notable Economic Events Today: Unemployment Rate (8:30 a.m. ET), Non-Farm Payrolls (8:30 a.m. ET).

Competitors Take on Netflix

Shares of Netflix are up 17% this year and recently reached an all-time high. However, if you are bearish on Netflix, here are some competitors in the streaming space.

Magical: Disney (NYSE: DIS) has emerged as a Netflix competitor with its Disney+ service. However, subscriber growth has slowed recently for the platform and the stock is down slightly this year.

A Paramount Choice: On the one hand, CBS (Nasdaq: VIAC) is up 9% this year, but it is down nearly 7% in the past six months. The good news is that the company has two streaming services: the subscriber-based Paramount+ and the advertising-supported platform Pluto.

Colorful Bird: NBC, and its parent company Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), has invested heavily in its streaming platform, Peacock. Thanks to the Olympics, subscriber growth is up. But can the growth continue?

Final Thoughts: Netflix is still the streaming king, but there are competitors to keep an eye on.

Equity Crowdfunding Platform Expands to Music NFTs

Private investment platform Republic, which is known for offering equity crowdfunding opportunities to invest in startups, announced Wednesday that it will now offer opportunities to invest in music royalties via non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Details: Called Republic Music, users can invest as little as $100 to share in the rights to royalties. The first two artists available on the platform will be rapper Lil Pump and DJ/producer KSHMR.

Sign of the Times: Investors are looking for new types of alternative investments. NFT sale volumes surged to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021 (up from $13 million during the same period last year). It is also a record year for equity crowdfunding, which allows investors to buy shares in early-stage startups.

Hear the Music: This is not the first time that the music industry has embraced NFTs, with some bands releasing albums as NFTs.

Final Thoughts: It’s fine to have alternative investments, but they should be a small part of the portfolio.

Trends to Watch

Everything is Bigger in Texas: Tesla to Move Headquarters From California to Texas, Elon Musk Says (The Wall Street Journal)

Thank you for reading! Please share with a friend.