Weekly Bot Brief Newsletter on Robotics 8/28/2020

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

Bots in The News:

The Bot Index recorded a great week by experiencing an almost 3 ½ % gain producing an new all-time record. The robotics’ return exceeded the S & P 500 by a quarter percent as both indexes produced additive returns to investors. Within the Bot Index there were five companies that gained in excess of 6%. 

The Bots were led by the extraordinary 31% jump by the Chinese electric car company NIO. NIO and Tesla have been moving somewhat in tandem recently and Tesla’s split and addition to the S & P 500 have carried NIO. NIO, however, was subject to a Zacks’ report entitled, “Here’s Why NIO is a Great Momentum Stock to Buy If You Are Looking For A Fresh Pick Make Sure to Keep NIO On You’re Short List” which certainly aided the stock. The Friday announcement, however, of a 75 million share offering pushed the stock down 4% in late trading and is likely to serve as a drain on the stock in the coming week. 

Tesla gained almost 8% after a report it is working on a million-mile battery and Yahoo Finance projected a $7000 stock price by 2024 (the current post split price is $2,213).

Oceaneering International shares rose 8% following its Space Systems business was contracted by Dynetics, Inc. (Dynetics), a wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, to develop mission-critical components for Dynetics' submission to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Human Landing Systems (HLS) for the Artemis Program.

Oceaneering's scope of work involves crew systems engineering to support the internal layout of the Dynetics HLS crew module, including the integration of NASA's new space suit, the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), and associated xEMU support systems.

Other gainers included Immersion Corp. who gained 10.13% and Textron that rose 6.3%.

On the weaker front, the shares of iRobot and AeroVironment declined 2.29% and 2.04% respectively.

Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association, Member IEEE.

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 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.