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Tesla Selling $2 Billion In Stock To Fund Production Ramp-Up

Electric automaker Tesla ( TSLA ) said late Wednesday that it will make a $2 billion secondary stock offering to fund its ambitious production schedule, sending its stock down in after-hours trading. “Because of the overwhelming demand that it has received for Model 3, Tesla intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to accelerate the ramp of Model 3,” said Tesla’s press release. “As noted in the company’s first-quarter shareholder letter , Tesla intends to start volume production and deliveries of Model 3 in late 2017 and to accelerate its 500,000 unit build plan from 2020 to 2018.” The company said $1.4 billion worth of stock will be sold by Tesla for this purpose. The remaining $600 million will be raised by CEO Elon Musk, who is exercising his option to acquire 5.5 million Tesla shares and will use the sale to cover his tax bill, the company said. He’s also donating 1.2 million shares to charity. Tesla stock was down more than 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday. In the regular session in the stock market today , Tesla rose 3.2% to close at 211.17, boosted by Goldman Sachs’ upgrade earlier in the day. Goldman upgraded the stock despite expressing deep skepticism about the 2018 production target, but the investment bank said the stock is attractively priced after falling 23% from early April through Tuesday.

Cisco Earnings, Guidance Beat Wall Street Estimates, Stock Up Late

Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings after the market close Wednesday that beat on both the top and bottom lines, and did its earnings guidance. Revenue rose 3% from the year-earlier period, to $12 billion, just beating the consensus estimate of $11.97 billion, as polled by Thomson Reuters. For the quarter ended April 30, Cisco said earnings per share minus items rose 5.6% to 57 cents, edging the consensus of 55 cents. The No. 1 maker of switches and other networking gear projected Q4 EPS ex items of 59 cents to 61 cents, vs. 59 cents in the year-ago quarter and topping consensus of 58 cents. Cisco stock was up 5% in after-hours trading, after the earnings release. Cisco stock rose a fraction in Wednesday’s regular session, to 26.72, which is up 19% from the two-year low of 22.46 touched on Feb. 10. “We delivered a strong Q3, executing well despite the challenging environment,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said in the earnings release. Analysts had lowered expectations ahead of Cisco earnings due to the growing number of companies outsourcing computing workloads to cloud computing service providers such as Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and its Amazon Web Services business. The move to cloud computing has lowered demand for Cisco’s networking gear. The lowered expectations also reflected lower spending on information technology overall. Well aware of the trends, Cisco is diversifying beyond its core switch and router business into newer, higher-growth segments such as software, data centers, security, wireless and the Internet of Things market.

Small Permian Producers’ Charts, EPS Forecasts Outpace Industry Recovery

Domestic oil production stocks have staged a remarkable rebound, alongside the 14-week rally in oil prices. Despite a number of the stock rising more than 100% during the run-up, nearly all still remain far below their 52-week highs. There are a few exceptions. Stocks including Callon Petroleum ( CPE ), Diamondback Energy ( FANG ) and Parsley Energy ( PE ) are poised to retake highs established in 2014. While their EPS are projected to continue declining through this year, all are forecast to see a sharp profit rebound in 2017. Callon is a good example of why the three are outperforming many of their oil patch brethren. It cleared a cup-with-handle base April 20, is now 20% above the base’s 9.68 buy point and 4% below a high set in July 2014. Like many stocks in the industry, Callon peaked in June 2008, as oil prices stabbed to highs near $150 a barrel. Callon is puny by oil business standards: $138 million in 2015 revenue. It teetered on the brink of collapse in 2007-08, as the failure of an offshore project caused earnings to collapse and revenue to retreat, despite spiking oil prices. The company responded by getting out of offshore work and placing its emphasis on gathering acreage in the Permian Basin. Located in West Texas and southeast New Mexico, the Permian has gained new life as horizontal drilling techniques have opened its multilayered formations to exploitation. While larger players are more diversified, Callon’s Permian focus has allowed it to claim a 41% initial rate of return at $41 per-barrel oil prices, putting it well ahead of most of domestic producers. That makes it an early mover in an industry where many larger companies won’t see a profit until oil reaches $50 a barrel or higher. The price of West Texas Intermediate oil has remained largely above $41 since mid-April. It has not touched $50 since October. Callon has also managed to recover thanks to a conservative debt load, well within the bounds of group peers. Analysts’ consensus projects earnings will contract sharply for a second straight year in 2016, then rebound 300% in 2016. Revenue, which declined in three of the past four years, is forecast to surge 36% this year and 44% next. Callon’s chart position — poised just below a 2014 high — is important due to a factor called overhead supply. This comes into play when existing shareholders who bought near previous peaks have held on waiting to offload shares at or near the price where they purchased. As Callon has advanced, it has overcome just about all of its overhead supply. Moreover, areas of overhead supply are not much of an obstacle after a couple of years have passed since they were formed. Oil producers Parsley Energy, RSP Permian ( RSPP ) and Diamondback Energy are Permian producers, all carry relatively modest debt and all are tinkering with new highs. Most the oil industry’s major industry think tanks have projected a rebalancing of oil supplies in the second half of this year or entering 2017.  Supply data has progressively appeared to support those views. That combination gives good cause for optimism, and is largely responsible for helping to fuel the speculative lift oil prices. But economic data does little to suggest any kind of significant, pending rebound in demand. And oil producers around the world — a group with a poor track record of balancing production with the market’s needs — remain ready to push production higher as soon as prices reach each company’s predetermined target levels.