Weekly Bot Brief 8-6-02021

"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."       

- Victor Hugo

Bots in The News:

There was little movement in either the Bot Index or the S & P 500 last week. Both were slightly in the positive column however there was not much to bring smiles to the investment community. The bots gained forty basis points while the broad market rose ninety four basis points. Gainers in the Bot Index led losers by a near two thirds margin, however, several significant losers led to the mild underperformance.

The most notable decliner in the bot composite was Oceaneering International who fell over 5 1/2%. Despite reporting good earnings last quarter, the guidance by management has led some investors to become concerned over the potential for the company. Somewhat tied to the price of oil, some speculate that OII will be damaged by the resurgence of covid variants’ impact on world economies. Joining Oceaneering International in the losing column are Accuray Inc. and Brooks Automation. Accuray’s 3+% decline was attributed to a Zachs article entitled, “Accuray (ARAY) May Report Negative Earnings: Know the Trend Ahead of Next Week's Release”. Despite reporting $.79 eps versus $.36 year over year earnings and exceeding the Street’s $.70 expectation for the quarter, Brooks Automation slid 4 ½% last week. Clearly, investors felt the stock was ahead of itself and discounted the positive earnings report.

On the positive side, the bots were led by Hiwin Technologies. Hiwin recovered 8.13% from last week’s heavy decline of 16.12% on significantly higher volume. NVIDIA Corp. rose 4.4% following and Investor’s Business Daily report that the company had raked in over $100 million from top mutual funds. Other significant gainers included Textron who rose 5.22%, Intuitive Surgical gained almost 4% and AeroVironment who continued its recent surge by jumping 3.85% on top of the prior week’s 4.8%.

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The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective views of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of material presented.