Stocks Surge as Market Rebounds From Sell-Off; Palantir, AMD Shares Jump Ahead of Earnings Reports

Tesla Approves Musk Stock Award Worth $29B

11 minutes ago

The world’s richest man just got a lot richer.

In a regulatory filing, Tesla (TSLA) reported that CEO Elon Musk would receive 96 million shares of restricted stock as part of an “Interim Award” under the electric vehicle maker’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan. At Friday’s closing price of $302.63, that would value the agreement at about $29 billion.

The company noted the decision came after the board earlier this year “established a special committee … to consider certain compensation matters involving Elon Musk.” That committee, consisting of disinterested directors Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, made the recommendation, which was approved by the board yesterday.

Tesla noted the stock will vest two years from now, providing Musk remains CEO or holds another key executive position, and he will have to pay $23.34 per share for them. However, he will forfeit all the award if the courts eventually decide he can receive the estimated $56 billion pay package from 2018 that was approved by shareholders. A Delaware judge struck down that deal, agreeing with plaintiffs who argued that it was excessive. 

Tesla shares were up nearly 2% in midday trading Monday, but they’ve lost nearly a quarter of their value year-to-date.

–Bill McColl

What Analysts Think of Palantir Stock Ahead of Earnings

1 hr 28 min ago

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) is scheduled to report second-quarter results after the closing bell Monday, with analysts divided on one of 2025’s hottest stocks.

Shares of Palantir have more than doubled in price this year, leading the best-performing S&P 500 companies, as the company’s AI software has become a mainstay, particularly within U.S. government agencies.

However, Wall Street largely has been wary of the meteoric rise. The consensus price target among analysts tracked by Visible Alpha is just over $107—roughly 30% lower than Palantir’s Friday close above $154.

Just two out of 12 analysts have a “buy” or equivalent rating for Palantir stock, alongside seven “hold” ratings and three “sell” recommendations, according to Visible Alpha data. One such bull is Wedbush Securities, which last month lifted its Palantir price target to $160. To hear Wedbush analyst Dan Ives tell it, the Street has it wrong.

“We believe the Street is underestimating the $1 billion+ revenue stream that [Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform] US commercial business can evolve into over the next few years and the technology competitive moat that [CEO Alex] Karp & Co. have built,” Wedbush said.

For the second quarter, analysts expect Palantir to report revenue of $939.6 million, up 39% year-over-year, and adjusted earnings per share of 14 cents, rising from 9 cents a year earlier.

Palantir shares were up about 3% in recent trading.

–Andrew Kessel

Amazon Levels to Watch After Post-Earnings Slide

2 hr 34 min ago

Amazon (AMZN) shares are in focus to start the week after plunging Friday as quarterly results from the e-commerce and cloud provider failed to impress investors.

While the company posted growth in its Amazon Web Services business, investors may have expected more after rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) recently reported strong results in their cloud units. The company’s AWS revenue grew 17.5% in its latest quarter, well below Microsoft’s Azure growth of 39% and trailing the 32% sales increase in Google Cloud Platform.2 Following the results, analysts at Jefferies said that AWS growth was “disappointing given big momentum at Azure and GPC.” 

Amazon shares fell 8% to just close Friday’s session at just below $215, pushing the stock into negative territory for the year. Some analysts raised their price targets on Amazon following the earnings report, with those at JPMorgan analysts saying they “would buy the pullback.”

Since setting their early-April low, Amazon shares had trended higher within a rising wedge, a move that coincided with the 50-day moving average (MA) recently crossing above the 200-day MA to form a bullish golden cross.

However, the stock’s upward momentum ended abruptly Friday, with the price closing below the rising wedge pattern’s lower trendline, potentially laying the groundwork for further selling.

Investors should watch key support levels on Amazon’s chart around $199, $190 and $175, while also monitoring a major overhead area near $233.

The stock was up slightly at around $215.50 in recent trading.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

–Timothy Smith

Stock Index Futures Point to Higher Open

4 hr 14 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.5%.

S&P 500 futures also gained 0.5%.

Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%.