Connect with us

Published

on

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Among the big winners in Elon Musk’s agreement to follow through with his deal to buy Twitter is an activist hedge fund based in a coastal Florida city that was just wrecked by Hurricane Ian.

Pentwater Capital, a 15-year-old firm with close to $5 billion in assets, bought a 2.4% stake in Twitter during the second quarter. The purchase of 18.1 million shares cost Pentwater roughly $725 million.

At $54.20, the price Musk has agreed to pay for Twitter, Pentwater’s stake would be worth about $980 million. The stock closed up 22% on Tuesday at $52, which is still below the acquisition price, signaling that Wall Street isn’t entirely convinced the deal will close.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on Tuesday that he’d sent Twitter a letter informing the company of his intent to stick to the terms of the April agreement after previously trying to back out. The two sides were scheduled in court in two weeks, and part of Musk’s latest proposal involved putting an end to the litigation. Twitter has said it received the letter and intends to close the transaction at $54.20, but did not comment on the litigation.

When Pentwater jumped into Twitter, the social media company was in a holding pattern. The stock was languishing as Musk was putting out critical tweets about the company’s bot and spam problem, hinting at a sense of buyer’s remorse. The stock dropped as low as $32.55 on July 11, just after Musk officially tried to terminate the deal.

Pentwater was taking advantage of what the firm saw as a clear arbitrage opportunity. There was a signed contract on the table and a bunch of money to be made as long as the deal reached its logical conclusion.

“In my 23-year career doing this, I’ve never seen an acquirer walk away without any reason,” said Matthew Halbower, Pentwater’s founder, in an interview on Tuesday after Musk’s filing landed with the SEC. “The probability of him being able to walk away was very low.”

Halbower said the only two reasons that Musk would have to tear up the deal would be if there was fraud in Twitter’s financial statements or if there was a material event that changed the value of the company. Neither of those issues were at play, Halbower said.

Twitter hasn't done anything wrong in failed deal with Elon Musk, says major shareholder

Greenlight Capital also jumped in during the second quarter, paying an average of $37.24 for the stock. In an investor letter, Greenlight’s David Einhorn said there’s was $17 per share in upside rewards if the deal closed and an equal amount in losses if it collapsed.

“So we are getting 50-50 odds on something that should happen 95%+ of the time,” he wrote.

While Pentwater instantly made Twitter one of its top holdings when it purchased shares in the second quarter, the firm hedged its bet with a hefty investment in puts in case the stock dropped in value. So a portion of the gains from its equity investment will pay for the puts.

Pentwater has made other bets in and around the social media space. The firm is one of the top investors in Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that’s been trying to take former President Donald Trump’s media company public, though the deal is being investigated by the SEC and the company recently missed a key deadline to hold onto $1 billion in funding. Trump’s app, Truth Social, was created after the ex-president was booted from Twitter following the events of Jan. 6.

Halbower said Pentwater has 44 employees, with just seven or so in its office in Naples, Florida. The firm also has locations near Chicago and in New York, Minneapolis and London.

The Naples office had its power restored on Sunday, four days after Hurricane Ian slammed into the west coast of Florida as a Category 4 storm. The office reopened on Monday, Halbower said.

Across the state, roughly 380,000 homes and businesses were without power as of Tuesday afternoon, down from a peak of 2.6 million on Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us. Collier County, which includes Naples, remains one of the counties with the most outages.

Pentwater isn’t the only investor that’s set for a big payday should the Musk deal close.

Longtime shareholder Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns 39.95 million shares, worth $2.17 billion at the acquisition price. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO, owns 18.04 million shares, valued at close to $1 billion. Among institutions, the only investors with a bigger stake than Pentwater are Vanguard, BlackRock, SSgA and Fidelity.

WATCH: What is Elon’s real game here?

What is Elon's real game here? The whole thing feels like a trap, says the Platformer's Casey Newton

Continue Reading

Technology

Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

Published

on

By

Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

The Hers app arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. 

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell 9% in extended trading on Monday after the telehealth company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for revenue.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: 17 cents adjusted vs. 15 cents
  • Revenue: $544.8 million vs. $552 million

Revenue at Hims & Hers increased 73% in the second quarter from $315.6 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Hims & Hers reported a net income of $42.5 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.3 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

For its third quarter, Hims & Hers said it expected to report revenue between $570 million to $590 million, while analysts were expecting $583 million. The company said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter will be between the range of $60 million to $70 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $77.1 million.

Read more CNBC tech news

Hims & Hers has faced controversy in recent months over its continued sale of compounded GLP-1s, which are cheaper, unapproved versions of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. Compounded drugs can be mass produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that ongoing supply issues had been resolved.

Some telehealth companies, including Hims & Hers, have continued to offer the compounded medications. It’s legal for patients to access personalized doses of the knockoffs in unique cases, like if they are allergic to an ingredient in a branded product, for instance. Hims & Hers has said consumers may still be able to access personalized doses through its site if clinically applicable. 

In June, Hims & Hers shares tumbled more than 30% after a short-lived collaboration with Novo Nordisk fell apart. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization.

Hims & Hers reported adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for its second quarter, up from $39.3 million last year and above the $73 million expected by StreetAccount.

Hims & Hers will host its quarterly call with investors at 5 p.m. ET.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

YTD chart of Hims & Hers Health.

–CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report

Continue Reading

Technology

Palantir tops $1 billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

Published

on

By

Palantir tops  billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

Palantir reports $1 billion in revenue for the first time

Palantir topped Wall Street’s estimates Monday, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and hiking its full-year guidance.

Shares rallied more than 5%.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 16 cents adj. vs. 14 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.00 billion vs. $940 million expected

The artificial intelligence software provider’s revenues grew 48% during the period. Analysts hadn’t expected the $1 billion revenue benchmark from the Denver-based company until the fourth quarter of this year.

“The growth rate of our business has accelerated radically, after years of investment on our part and derision by some,” wrote CEO Alex Karp in a letter to shareholders. “The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission.”

The software analytics company also boosted its full-year outlook guidance. For the full year, Palantir now expects revenues to range between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from prior guidance of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion.

Read more CNBC tech news

For the third quarter, Palantir forecast revenues between $1.083 billion and $1.087 billion, beating an analyst estimate of $983 million. Palantir also lifted its operating income and full-year free cash flow guidance.

Palantir’s U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million, while U.S. commercial revenues nearly doubled from a year ago to $306 million.

The software analytics company has seen a boost from President Donald Trump‘s government efficiency campaign, which included layoffs and contract cuts. Palantir’s U.S. government revenues jumped 53% from the year-ago period to $426 million.

“It has been a steep and upward climb — an ascent that is a reflection of the remarkable confluence of the arrival of language models, the chips necessary to power them, and our software infrastructure,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.

During the quarter, Palantir said it closed 66 deals of at least $5 million and 42 deals totaling at least $10 million. Total value of its contracts grew 140% from last year to $2.27 billion.

Net income rose 144% to about $326.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from about $134.1 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.

Palantir shares have more than doubled this year as investors bet on the company’s AI tools and contract agreements with governments.

Its market value has accelerated past $379 billion and into the list of top 20 most valuable U.S companies, surpassing SalesforceIBM and Cisco to join the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Shares hit a new high Monday.

At its size, buying the stock requires investors to pay hefty multiples.

Shares currently trade 276 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. Tesla is the only other top 20 with a triple-digit ratio at 177.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

Palantir one-day stock chart.

Continue Reading

Technology

Firefly Aerospace lifts IPO range that would value company at more than $6 billion

Published

on

By

Firefly Aerospace lifts IPO range that would value company at more than  billion

Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim sits for an interview at the Firefly Aerospace mission operations center in Leander, Texas, on July 9, 2025.

Sergio Flores | Reuters

Firefly Aerospace has lifted the share price range for its upcoming initial public offering in a move that would value the space technology company at more than $6 billion.

The lunar lander and rocket maker said in a filing Monday that it expects to price shares in its upcoming IPO between $41 and $43 apiece.

Firefly’s new target range would raise nearly $697 million at the top end of the range. That’s up from the previously expected $35 to $39 price per share that Firefly announced in a filing last week, which targeted a $5.5 billion valuation.

Firefly announced plans to go public last month as interest in space technology gains steam, and billionaire-led companies such as Elon Musk‘s SpaceX rake in more funding.

Read more CNBC tech news

The industry has also begun testing the public markets after a long hiatus in IPO deal activity, with space tech firm Voyager debuting in June.

Firefly makes rockets, space tugs and lunar landers, and is widely known for its satellite launching rockets known as Alpha.

The company has partnered with major defense players such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris and NASA, and received a $50 million investment from defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

Firefly’s revenues jumped from $8.3 million a year ago to $55.9 million at the end of March, the company said. Its net loss grew to $60.1 million, from $52.8 million a year ago.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Firefly's ambitious plan to become the next SpaceX

Continue Reading

Trending