The S & P 500 will wrap up the fourth quarter this week and is on track to gain about 5.5% over the three-month period from October through December, as of the close on Wednesday, Dec. 28. The positive performance represents the only quarter of gains in 2022, breaking what had been the longest losing streak since 2008. What made the fourth quarter stand out from the first three of the year? First off, equities finally found some reprieve from the strong U.S. dollar , which peaked on Sept. 27, right before the end of the third quarter. The strong dollar has been a headwind to multinationals all year because it makes revenues generated outside the U.S. smaller when converted from foreign currencies. Also helping equity valuations was the peak in Treasury yields on Oct. 24. After yet another volatile quarter in the books, we’ve reviewed how our portfolio fared in the 3 months ended Dec. 31, using the close on Dec. 28 as our reference point. Here’s a snapshot of the best and worst performers in the Investing Club’s 33-stock portfolio for the fourth quarter, starting with our top 4 performers. (Note: We’re excluding our most recent initiation, Emerson Electric (EMR), from the rankings since the stock was purchased in mid-December. Shares of this industrial automation company have gained about 30.1% in the fourth quarter.) Top performers Taking the crown was Halliburton ( HAL), with a huge gain of around 54.7% for the quarter. What a difference a quarter can make. Shares of this oil-services company were the biggest laggard in the portfolio during the third quarter . The turnaround in performance shows that Halliburton was briefly a broken stock, not a broken company. Earnings also did the trick. In late October, Halliburton delivered strong third-quarter results , including improved operating margins thanks to healthy demand for its equipment and services. The gains were even more impressive when considering that the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed a volatile quarter roughly at the same price it traded at the start of October. Second place was a tie. Wynn Resorts (WYNN) gained 27.1% in the quarter. This was the second quarter in a row that Wynn made our top 4 list. Shares of this Macao-centric casino operator gained 10.6% in the third quarter. Wynn’s strong stock performance can be attributed to China’s pivot away from its strict zero-Covid policy . Wynn shares appreciated because investors finally gained some visibility into when the world’s second-largest economy will recover. It also helped that Wynn’s properties in Las Vegas and Boston continued to perform at a high level. Honeywell (HON) also climbed 27.1% in the quarter. Usually cyclicals are the ones that get hit when recession risks are fresh on investors’ minds. But, it was actually the industrials that were among the strongest performers in the quarter. In late October, Honeywell delivered a solid earnings beat for the third quarter and management raised the low end of its full-year outlook by about 15 cents a share. With Honeywell’s strong exposure to aerospace, oil-and-gas and non-residential construction, the company isn’t tied to the industrial end-markets that are currently facing declines. Fourth place was TJX Companies (TJX), which gained about 26.7% in the quarter. This was the second quarter in a row that TJX made our top 4 list. This off-price retailer was the portfolio’s top performer in the third quarter, gaining about 11.4%. The stock briefly broke above $80 a share and hit new all-time highs in reaction to a strong third-quarter earnings report . In addition to the positive results, management had been upbeat about the buying environment and merchandise opportunities heading into the holiday season. As an off-price retailer, TJX takes advantage of inventory gluts across the retail sector by purchasing quality brands at liquidation prices. The stocks that fared the best quarter-to-quarter changed frequently throughout the year. This highlights the difficulty of predicting what sector or group of stocks will outperform from one period to the next. It’s why we always strive to stay diversified and invest in high-quality companies across different industries. Worst performers Turning to what didn’t work in the fourth quarter, the worst performer for the club was Amazon (AMZN), which fell 27.6% in the quarter. Poor earnings and a disappointing fourth-quarter outlook were the major catalysts behind this decline. From online retail to its cloud unit, the weakening macroeconomic picture and high inflation negatively impacted nearly every part of Amazon’s business. It also didn’t help that Amazon stock was richly priced during a time in which valuations across the stock market have been adjusted due to higher interest rates. It has the highest price-to-earnings (PE) multiple of mega cap tech stock. Since Amazon has a premium PE multiple, it essentially has more room to fall. Second was Meta Platforms (META), which saw its share price come down by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Meta went through a whole host of issues this quarter, mainly centering around its third-quarter earnings report . Revenues declined year-over-year for the second quarter in a row, but that was mostly anticipated by the market. What shocked the market the most was how management completely lost control over its expenses, with many billions of dollars earmarked for the Metaverse, an expensive endeavor with no real business case yet. Fortunately, Meta started to listen to the gripes of its shareholder base a few weeks later. The company announced it would lay off 13% of its workforce and tweaked lower its 2023 total expenses outlook. The news marked a step in the right direction, but Meta must do more to protect its earnings amid a slowdown in advertising spending. Bausch Health Companies (BHC) was the third worst-performing stock for the Club in the fourth quarter, with shares of this specialty pharmaceutials company dropping 11.6% in the quarter. There wasn’t much news impacting BHC this quarter, but its investment case remains a challenged one. Investors remain concerned about Bausch’s high debt load and lack of clarity around when a key drug, Xifaxan, will lose patent protection. This is a market that wants profitable companies with strong balance sheets, along with cash returns to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Bausch may be profitable, but its bad balance sheet in a slowing economy will keep shareholders away. On the bright side, Bausch could move to spin off Bausch + Lomb (BLCO) in 2023, an event that would unlock value for BHC shareholders. The fourth worst performer was Walt Disney (DIS), which fell 10.8% in the quarter It all unraveled for Disney after it reported a much weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter in November. Margins at the theme park division contracted and the losses from its streaming services swelled well beyond expectations. We made clear that a shakeup in leadership was necessary after that disaster of a quarter, and we got it. Bob Iger is back as CEO , having replaced Bob Chapek. He’s the steady hand Disney needs to course correct and provide more thoughtful navigation of cord-cutting at the company’s media division, while positioning the streaming business toward profitable growth. The common denominator this quarter was weakness in technology stocks. This group was once lauded for its secular growth characteristics, but as we have learned the hard way this year, many have closer ties to the economic cycle than previously thought. And if you aren’t profitable, then forget about it. An additional problem facing tech is that so many companies saw their businesses boom during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing them to overinvest, overspend and, some cases, increase inventories to keep up with the rapid uptick in demand. Now, many have become overstaffed, with bloated cost structures. What may be needed for these companies to sustainably rally again is to realign expense growth with the new reality of slowing revenue. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Workers walk towards Halliburton Co. “sand castles” at an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. hydraulic fracturing (fracking) site north of Dacono, Colorado, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.
Jamie Schwaberow | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The S&P 500 will wrap up the fourth quarter this week and is on track to gain about 5.5% over the three-month period from October through December, as of the close on Wednesday, Dec. 28. The positive performance represents the only quarter of gains in 2022, breaking what had been the longest losing streak since 2008.
Tesla and Rivian have been embroiled in a lawsuit in which the former accused the latter of having stolen battery technology by poaching Tesla employees.
It sounds like the two automakers are finally about to settle the lawsuit, which has been going on for 4 years.
When Tesla filed the lawsuit, it wasn’t clear what trade secrets Tesla was claiming Rivian had stolen. However, we noted that the employees listed in the lawsuits were two recruiters, an EHS manager, and a manager of Tesla’s charging networks.
The automaker claimed that these employees brought “documents consisting of highly sensitive trade secret, confidential, and proprietary engineering information” when they went to work for Rivian.
Over a year later, we now learn that Tesla had notified the court that it expects to file to get the lawsuit dismissed after reaching a conditional agreement with Rivian. The company didn’t disclose the details of the settlement (via Bloomberg):
Tesla didn’t disclose specifics about the agreement in a court filing, but told a California state judge that it expects to seek dismissal of the case by Dec. 24 upon satisfactory completion of the terms.
Neither Tesla nor Rivian have commented on the reported settlement.
While Tesla has claimed that it somewhat open-sourced its patents, we have previously noted that it’s not exactly the case. Tesla claims to let other companies use its patented technology as long as they themselves don’t sue them over patent rights.
And in this specific case, Tesla alleges that Rivian has specifically hired employees to steal technologies. Again, Rivian has denied the allegation.
Electrek’s Take
The terms are unknown, but in similar cases, it often involves things like some level of access to make sure that no proprietary technology is being used or has been used.
The lawsuit is not exactly clear, but based on the timeline and the allegations of “next-gen batteries”, Tesla could have been talking about its 4680 battery cells, although those are cells. It could also be the structural battery pack.
French infrastructure specialists Proviridis have partnered with EVSE manufacturer Kempower to deliver a novel, underground charging solution for electric semi trucks designed to easily integrate into existing truck depots.
By installing its high-powered charging cabinets underground and integrating the charging cables into a solid metal pipe, Kempower and Proviridis have been able to make room for high-powered charging points in an existing truck depot that didn’t have enough space to install either conventional EVSE or overhead “drop lines.”
For the pilot, the metal pipe is painted in a striking yellow color to make it easier to see while maneuvering the lot, and keeping the dispensers themselves more protected than conventional concrete bollards. The 600 kW power cabinet is positioned a few yards away – a typical space-saving Kempower solution – and connected to the charge points by underground cable.
Proviridis believes their solution provides enough of a competitive advantage that fleet buyers looking to electrify will be eager to give it a try.
“The product is durable across a wide spectrum of temperatures and conditions, requires minimal ventilation, and can cater for a wide range of customer needs,” explains Olivier Verdu, Technical Director at Proviridis. “These are features which perfectly place the Kempower solution for this type of charging configuration in a logistics environment.”
In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, eBike specialist Buzz Bicycles is offering an exclusive discount for Electrek readers on its Centris Class 2 Folding Bike.
Table of contents
Buzz Bicycles is back with an exclusive new deal
Buzz Bicycles has been a mainstay on Electrek for a few years now, as we have covered several of its electric bikes, which suit riders of all skill levels and help them “Buzz through life.” Buzz is an omnichannel eBike brand that prioritizes direct-to-consumerism and has found success in its mission to deliver ultimate transportation solutions at an excellent value for its growing base of eBike enthusiasts.
The company strives to deliver riders a “Wow moment,” which is usually brought on as they feel the pedal assist function kick in. This feature delivers all you need to conquer hills and longer rides while enjoying new adventures with friends.
The Buzz team has utilized decades of industry experience into its portfolio of eBikes, all conceived and designed in Dayton, Ohio. The company, which operates under the United Wheels umbrella alongside brands like Huffy Bicycles, Niner Bikes, and Batch Bicycles, has adopted an ethos that the freedom of riding should be fun and accessible for everyone, no matter what adventure lies ahead.
By leveraging the global presence of its parent company, Buzz Bicycles can make good on its promise to deliver affordable eBikes that are comfortable, powerful, and safe, much like the Centris Folding eBike, which is as versatile and compact as it is fun. The exclusive deal Buzz Bicycles is offering on the Centris makes it even more fun. You can take advantage of it below.
But first, you’ll want to learn about the capabilities of this foldable eBike to truly understand its value, as well as what accessories are available to level up your purchase.
The Buzz Centris is an easy to ride foldable eBike for all
The Buzz Centris is a Class 2 Folding eBike built for comfort and convenience no matter where you take it. At full size, the Centris’ step-through frame offers a low step-over height of just 16 inches, perfect for riders of all sizes, enabling easy transitions from ground to saddle for its riders.
When you’re not riding, the Centris from Buzz Bicycles folds neatly to 34 inches in length and 22 inches in height, making it easy to store at home or to carry in a vehicle on the way to your next ride. Furthermore, the assembled bike only weighs 68 pounds, making it easy to transport.
You can easily navigate tougher terrain on the Centris thanks to the eBike’s 20″ x 4″ knobby tires and front suspension. The bike is powered by a 48V, 500-watt-hour (Wh) battery pack that can propel it to a top speed of 20 mph for an all-electric range of up to 40 miles on a single charge.
Additionally, this folding model from Buzz Bicycles comes equipped with both a front and rear rack, offering versatile cargo-carrying options so you can customize your ride with a variety of Buzz accessories.
Like all Buzz eBikes, the Centris is tested and deemed compliant with the UL2849 standard. This standard covers the entire electric bicycle system, including the motor, battery, controller, and charger, offering the highest safety standards for added peace of mind.
The Centris Class 2 folding bike from Buzz is available in two colors: Gloss White or Matte Black. This $1,199 eBike is currently reduced to $899 – and you can score an additional $200 off with this exclusive promo, but only for a limited time.
With the purchase of any Buzz eBike, including the Centris, you are guaranteed the following:
10-year limited warranty (lightweight aluminum frame protected for full 10 years)
2-year limited warranty (electrical components covered by 2-year warranty for peace of mind)
6-month limited warranty (additional bike components protected by a 6-month warranty)
Are you interested in the Centris from Buzz Bicycles? You’ve come to the right place. Starting today, while supplies last, you can take advantage of an additional $200 off the sale price by using promo code “ELECTREK200.“ That’s a $500 discount in total!
We highly recommend perusing Buzz’s entire lineup of products. They are designed for commuters and casual riders, with technology and features that help you quickly feel comfortable riding. If you are new to the world of E-transportation, Buzz Bicycles is the brand for you.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.