It was a relatively quiet session in the stock market today, at least when it comes to the overall indices. However, one bit of interesting news making the rounds was the new potential leader of WeWork.
When WeWork was trying to come public, we addressed it in the Stock Market Today column. The company was bloated and overhyped in almost every way possible. The fact that the underwriters looked this one over and decided it should be passed on to the public at a $40-plus billion market capitalization is pathetic.
But that point aside, the company has been trying to get back on the right footing. SoftBank (OTCMKTS:SFTBY) put together a rescue package, severely marking down the value of WeWork. It also succeeded in moving on from CEO Adam Neumann.
Now, WeWork is looking for a new leader.
Shares of T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) fell more than 3% at one point in a knee-jerk reaction to reports that CEO John Legere would take over as WeWork’s CEO. Sprint (NYSE:S) shares fell too, as it nears its merger with T-Mobile.
The reaction to both stocks is understandable, although some of those losses have been erased. Early reports said that Legere and WeWork were in talks to make it happen. However, updated reports said WeWork is only looking for a new CEO and Legere is simply a candidate in that search.
While WeWork is a bit of a mess right now, Legere would admittedly be a solid pick to turn things around.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) shares jumped about 5.1% on Monday as rumors and reports continue to swirl. We knew last week that WBA was in talks about a possible go-private deal. Given its size, it would make it the largest of its kind.
On Monday, it was reported that KKR (NYSE:KKR) made a formal offer to the company, although details are relatively scant at this point. Shares were high by about 8% in pre-market trading, but have since pared those gains by several percent. Still, WBA commands a market cap in excess of $50 billion.
Alibaba’s (NYSE:BABA) Singles Day resulted in another explosive 24 hours of Chinese e-commerce sales. The company coined the sales event ten years ago in 2009 and it’s grown impressively since. Singles Day is now the world’s largest online sales event. Others — like JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) — have jumped on board as well.
Total sales from the event rang past $1.4 billion in the first 90 seconds and topped $12 billion in the first hour. The latter was up 22% year-over-year. By the afternoon, sales had topped the $30.5 billion the holiday hit in 2018.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) shares popped on Monday, climbing 4.6% after the company said it may have 737 MAX deliveries resume in December. While there are worries about the 737 NG, the MAX jet has been grounded for most of this year and has been a huge overhang on the stock. The next step will be getting Federal Aviation Administration approval for the jet to resume service, which could come in January.
Boeing and JD.com were two selections in the Top Stock Trades column on Monday.
Heard on the Street
HP (NYSE:HPQ) shares were upgraded to “outperform” at Evercore ISI. The analysts assigned a $24 price target, which is a bit above the discussed purchase price by Xerox (NYSE:XRX) in its takeover attempt.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) was cut to “hold” at Piper Jaffray. However, their $51 price target still implies about 5% upside.
Micron (NASDAQ:MU) shares caught a price-target boost on Monday. Mizuho analysts maintained their “buy” rating but upped their target from $50 to $53, which implies about 15% upside from current levels.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.