Oil-field-services firm Halliburton (HAL) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results Tuesday, bolstering the Club’s long-term investment case in the energy stock. Total revenue climbed by 30.5% year-over-year, to $5.58 billion, largely in line with analysts’ forecasts. Earnings-per-share (EPS) doubled on an annual basis, to 72 cents a share, ahead of expectations for EPS of 67 cents a share. Bottom line Halliburton served up another strong quarter, with a headline earnings beat , strong margin expansion, solid cash flows and a robust outlook. Even better, the management team doesn’t expect investments in new oil-and-gas projects to wane any time soon. The board authorized management to link a portion of future dividends and buybacks to the company’s free-cash-flow generation. Nonetheless, shares of Halliburton tumbled Tuesday, trading down roughly 2.4%, at $39.59 a share. We don’t view today’s move lower as anything more than profit taking following a very strong year. Given years of material underinvestment in oil-and-gas production in the U.S. and an undersupplied global oil market, management expects demand to sustain the company beyond 2023. The Club, therefore, would see any further weakness in the stock as a potential buying opportunity. Our investment case continues to factor in a relatively strong crude oil market. West Texas Intermediate crude — the U.S. oil benchmark — has climbed by more than 4% since the start of the year, to around $80 a barrel. We are raising our price target on Halliburton to $48 a share, up from $44, while maintaining our two rating on the stock — meaning we would wait for a pullback before buying . Outlook Halliburton’s management said Tuesday that business on the ground “points towards continued oil-and–gas tightness.” This has resulted in a nearly 50% increase in supply side spending in the U.S., with activity growth of almost 30%, ultimately amounting to a roughly 5% increase in production. Management expects “activity to remain strong and service intensity to increase through 2023.” The team noted similarly tight dynamics in international markets, saying several members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) failed to meet their production quotas in in 2022. Meanwhile, the team expects demand to remain resilient in 2023, boosted by China’s economic reopening. Longer term, “only multiple years of increased investment in both stemming declines and reserve additions will solve [the] short supply” of oil and gas globally. In management’s view, the investments needed to bring supply and demand into balance “will drive demand for oil-field services [for] the next several years.” Capital return initiatives Management on Tuesday announced a 33% increase to the stock’s quarterly-dividend payout, to 16 cents per share, while saying the company would resume stock buybacks under the existing board authorization of roughly $5 billion. The team repurchased $250 million worth of shares in the fourth quarter. Moreover, the board approved a capital return framework that will allow management the ability to return at least 50% of annual free cash flow via dividends and buybacks going forward, similar to what we’ve seen at the Club’s other energy holdings. Management attributed the overall improvement in operating margin year-on-year to increased global activity, higher pricing and year-end product-and-software sales. The completion-and-production unit delivered its strongest operating margin performance since 2012, expanding to 20.7%, “due to improved pricing, service efficiency and activity mix in North America land, as well as increased activity in international markets.” The drilling-and-evaluation segment reported a margin improvement of 210-basis points on an annual basis. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long HAL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.
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Oil-field-services firm Halliburton (HAL) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results Tuesday, bolstering the Club’s long-term investment case in the energy stock.
A fully electric Isuzu pickup truck? That’s right. The D-MAX EV is Isuzu’s first electric pickup, and it will be rolling in the next few months. After kicking off mass production, Isuzu said the new EV pickup will “match the performance of existing diesel models,” boasting high towing capacity and payload.
Isuzu’s first electric pickup is launching in 2025
Isuzu announced on Tuesday that the D-MAX EV has officially entered mass production. The company has started building left-hand drive models, which will be shipped to Europe in the third quarter of 2025.
By the end of the year, production of right-hand drive models will begin for the UK, with sales expected to start in 2026.
The electric pickup is nearly identical to Isuzu’s popular gas-powered D-MAX, but swaps the diesel powertrain for a pair of electric motors. The D-MAX EV features new e-Axles, one on the front and the other at the rear, for a full-time 4WD system.
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The dual-motor powertrain enables it to match the performance of existing diesel models, with a combined 188 hp (140 kW) and a maximum torque of 240 lb-ft (325 Nm).
It can also tow over 7,700 lbs (3,500 kg) with a maximum payload of over 2,200 lbs (1,010 kg). That’s about the same as the D-MAX diesel, which has a 3,500 kg towing capacity and a payload capacity of up to 1,200 kg.
Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s first electric pickup boasts a driving range of up to 263 km (162 miles) on the WLTP. In the city, it can have a driving range of up to 224 miles (361 km).
Isuzu D-Max EV specs
Drive System
Full-time 4×4
Battery Type
Lithium-ion
Battery Capacity
66.9 kWh
Max Output
130 kW (174 hp)
Max Torque
325 Nm
Max Speed
Over 130 km/h (+80 mph)
Max Payload
1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs)
Max Towing Capacity
3.5t (+7,700 lbs)
Isuzu D-Max EV electric pickup specs
Built for on and off-road performance, the rugged electric pickup features over 8″ (210 mm) of ground clearance with a wading depth of nearly 24″ (600 mm).
Although prices have not been announced, the D-MAX EV is expected to start slightly higher than the diesel model, which has a base price of around € 36,500 ($41,600).
Isuzu’s popular D-MAX is sold in over 100 countries, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. The electric version will arrive in Europe in the next few months, followed by the UK and other regions in 2026.
The electric D-MAX will compete with the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and other electric pickups, such as Geely’s Radar R6, BYD’s Shark, and Ford’s F-150 Lightning.
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For the first time in five years, a Tesla insider required to report Tesla stock transactions bought stocks rather than selling them.
But the transaction is so small that it makes the whole situation hilarious.
Insiders in public companies are top executives and board members who are required to report to the SEC any transaction related to the company’s stock.
For Tesla, it has become a running joke that insiders only sell, never buy the stock.
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This has been true without exception for years.
We don’t know as much about executives as Tesla has a very short top executive bench who are required to file transactions. However, when it comes to its board members, they have been selling at an impressive rate.
However, we now have confirmation that a Tesla board member is buying, rather than selling.
Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder who joined Tesla’s board in 2022, confirmed that he bought 4,000 shares in Tesla last week worth about $1 million:
Electrek’s Take
Gebbia is estimated to be worth over $7 billion. Therefore, his purchase of $1 million worth of Tesla stock would be equivalent to my buying a fractional share in Tesla.
Furthermore, the disclosure confirmed that despite being on the board for the last 3 years, Gebbia owned only 111 shares in Tesla before the transaction.
That’s quite the show of confidence in Tesla.
Thie whole situation with the board is disappointing. Tesla’s core business is melting. The company reported its worst quarter in years last week, and the stock surged 20%.
None of it makes any sense.
The board is sitting on its hands while the most powerful force accelerating the advent of electric transport is being destroyed in favor of nonsensical predictions about the potential of solving self-driving and humanoid robots.
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Venmo, long a centerpiece of PayPal‘s growth story but often criticized for its lack of monetization, is becoming a bigger contributor to the business.
PayPal said Tuesday in its first-quarter earnings release that revenue at Venmo increased 20% year-over-year in the first quarter, though the company didn’t provide a dollar figure. PayPal acquired Venmo in 2013 through the acquisition of parent company Braintree.
While it’s long been a popular consumer service for sending money to friends, Venmo’s ability to drive meaningful revenue has been a major question mark for investors, especially as competition from rivals like Zelle and Square Cash has intensified.
Venmo’s total payment volume rose 10% from a year earlier, but revenue grew twice as fast, reflecting the business opportunity. Venmo only gets revenue from specific products like Pay with Venmo at online checkout, Venmo debit cards, and instant transfers, but not from peer-to-peer payments.
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Ahead of the earnings report, Jefferies analysts noted that Venmo revenue growth appeared to be “accelerating sharply” and flagged its rising contribution to branded checkout as a key area to watch. Compass Point analysts similarly said that while competition from Zelle and Square Cash remains fierce, Venmo’s traction with debit cards and online checkout could “open up new monetization avenues” if adoption trends continue.
The company added nearly 2 million first-time PayPal and Venmo debit card users during the quarter, and total debit card payment volume across PayPal and Venmo climbed more than 60%. Meanwhile, Pay with Venmo transaction volume surged 50% year over year, and Venmo debit card monthly active users grew about 40%.
PayPal reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter but missed on revenue. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.