A Knightscope in Shining Armor
Despite being a public company for only two days, Knightscope (KSCP) has already taken investors on an absolutely wild ride. Shares of the autonomous security robot maker fell by 28% last Thursday after its IPO, only to rocket higher on Friday by more than 175%. The silicon valley company has built a real life R2D2 that uses self-driving technology to patrol areas in order to observe, report, and deter suspicious activity.
- After the disappointing debut, the company reported that security company Securitas will purchase a K5 unit to patrol the parking garage of a large financial firm to deter car theft and loitering. K9 would've been cooler but I digress.
- Knightscope took a non-traditional IPO path, allowing investors to purchase shares for $10 via the company website, selling 2.23M of the 4M allotted shares. Sounds like season ticket sales for the Cleveland Ind.. err, Guardians.
- The company was founded in 2013, shipped its first robot in 2015, and has used crowdfunding to raise several rounds of equity.
The thought of security guard droids that detect weapons, read license plates, and call the cops is both intriguing and terrifying. Let's just hope somebody uploads the footage to YouTube the first time one of these things is sent on patrol in Philadelphia... I give it an hour before the snitch-bot is captured, stripped and sold for scrap metal. If the first two days of public life are an indication, volatility oriented traders may want to keep KSCP on their radar.
There's Just No Pleasing You
People
And by you people I mean Wall Street analysts of course. Chevron (CVX) reported results on Friday and the highlights included $15.6B in net income for the year 2021, a 6% dividend increase, and a $6B reduction in debt. Naturally, shares were down 3.5% because Q4 results missed analysts' estimates. These analysts definitely harp on their kids for a missed free throw instead of focusing on 20 points and 10 rebounds in a youth basketball game.
- Chevron reported Q4 earnings of $5.1B, or $2.65 per share, which was lower than the $3.12 estimate.
- Oil and gas production fell by 5% to 3.12M barrels per day driven by loss of licenses in Thailand and Indonesia. An interesting nugget from management was that they expect oil prices to fall back to "mid-cycle levels" and would manage the business for lower prices.
- Outside of Friday's drop, CVX shares hit an all time high earlier in the week.
Chevron was the first of the big integrated oil companies to report for the period, so results could be a harbinger of things to come. Exxon (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP) report this week, while Phillips 66 (PSX) already reported a beat on Friday. Suck it CVX. Analysts were expecting bigger positive impacts from higher oil and gas prices, so if shares continue to fall there could be some opportunity for long term investors. Some of us would just like to see prices of 87 octane not start with a 4.
The best of the West invests in the
East
High-resolution footage of what Blackstone's doing to Asia
Blackstone, the world's biggest supervillain alternative asset manager, raised $11B of capital in its latest fundraising round with an intention to buy more businesses in Asia. That's nearly triple what the firm raised for its first Asia fund in 2018, and since then Blackstone's poured $20B into Asian investments, half of which were raised in 2021 alone. Jeez, Blackstone, don't spend it all on one continent...
- On the one hand, it's a risky time to go all-in on global investments. Geopolitical tensions are rising (looking at you Putin), supply chains might snap this year, and inflation is running high all over the place. Blackstone's own CEO has warned of a coming slowdown thanks to tech's recent nosedive.
- That matters because Blackstone's MO is redirecting companies' focus towards cutting edge tech, like helping auto companies expand into the EV sphere or linking outsourcing companies to the cloud.
- But on the other hand, Blackstone's absolutely crushing it. Its net income nearly doubled in Q4 2021 when the firm brought in $155B, with distributable earnings growing by over half to $2.3B. Okay, guess I'll shut up, then. Nearly all of Blackstone's investors pitched in for this most recent round of funding, emboldened by the asset manager's competence and ESG aims.
There's no way to know for sure how complex issues like supply chains and international relations will affect the global economy (and thus Blackstone's investments). But it's clear that people believe in Blackstone, and the firm's recent performance is obvious evidence for why. That, in addition to Blackstone's tendency to invest on the right side of history, makes it look like a strong buy. $BX gained 4.45% Friday.
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