The Bot Brief

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

- Victor Hugo

Bots In the News:

The falling fortunes of Tesla contributed to the underperformance of the Bot Index relative to the broader indices. The Bot Index rose a mere sixty-six basis points while the S & P 500 gained 1.06%. The publicity wave regarding the problems of EV’s to hold charges in cold weather presented a plethora of negative comments from Tesla owners. The company was forced to recall 200,000 vehicles and the fourth quarter earnings fell 40% to 71 cents per share while revenue totaled $25.17 billion, up only 3.5% from the year-ago period. Wall Street expected earnings of seventy-three cents a share on revenue of $25.62 billion. For the whole of 2023, Tesla earnings fell 23% to $3.12 a share while revenue increased 19% to $96.77 billion vs. estimates of $3.05 on sales of $97.5 billion. Furthermore, profit margins were well below year over year numbers and Elon Musk was forced to project a weaker 2024. Consequently, the stock led the bot losers with a negative 13.64% weekly result.

With political dissention regarding U.S. financial support for the Ukraine and pressure to renege on defensive aid to Israel, the bot holdings of Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman each fell in excess of 6%.

Despite a reasonably good earnings report, shares of Teledyne declined 3.83%. The company reported earnings up 12% and profit margins of 16% which would normally promote favorable responses from investors. However, buyers were expecting more from this scientific and technical instruments manufacturer.

Unlike Teledyne, a good earnings report by Textron boosted its stock by 7.67%. Earnings per share jumped 30% and backlogs increased by $782 million. Management indicated it projected earnings in 2024 of $6.20-$6.40 versus the $5.59 of 2024.

Oceaneering International gained 6.43% following a report by Zacks Investments entitled, ‘Why Investors Need to Take Advantage of These Two Energy-Oil Stocks Now.’

Immersion Corp. rose 3.24% after a Wall Street research house included the company in its top seventeen companies involved in augmented reality.

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 view 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 the material presented.