Monday was a return to the black for U.S. stocks, with financials leading the charge at 1.2% gains. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite improved by 1% Monday.
As we head into Tuesday’s trading, the spotlight is now shining on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) and Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE:KMI).
Here’s what you should be watching as the day unfolds:
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)
AMZN made some noise in Monday’s trade with a 2.5% rally, then afterwards made a little more ruckus as the e-tailer announced some expansion details surrounding its brick-and-mortar stores.
Specifically, they’ll be light on humans.
Amazon disclosed the details of its new Amazon Go small-format grocery store, one of three formats the company will be testing. Customers will engage the Amazon app upon entering the store. Picking up an item will cause it to be charged to the customer’s account.
No registers. No lines. Also, no unveil to the public until 2017, as it’s still undergoing testing.
Amazon also will be testing out drive-through concepts over the next few weeks.
AMZN shares were up less than 1% in premarket trade.
Pandora Media Inc
P shares had a little giddyup and go in them heading into Tuesday’s action, thanks in part to an upgrade, as well as additional M&A chatter.
Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein upgraded Pandora stock to a “buy” on Tuesday with an $18 price target — roughly 35% higher than Monday’s closing price. Aegis Capital also initiated Pandora stock at a “buy” and gave the stock a $16 price target, or about 20% higher.
Meanwhile, optimism over a potential tie-up with Siriux XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is still bubbling over.
A few days ago, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Sirius Chairman Greg Maffei had approached Pandora about a buyout. CNBC also reported that Pandora was open to a bid. Details past that were scarce.
Nonetheless, P stock is up another 4% this morning, pushing shares up to roughly 25% gains in the past week’s worth of action. The move catapulted Pandora over all of its meaningful moving averages. However, Pandora also is in overbought territory, as measured by the Relative Strength Index (RSI).
Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI)
Sorry, KMI investors. No bigger payouts next year, either.
Kinder Morgan said it will maintain its reduced dividend payment for 2017. The pipeline operator cut its dividend by 75% this year, and 2017 will look similar, with the company now targeting 2018 for a potential increase.
Kinder Morgan shareholders will receive 12.5 cents per share per quarter, down from the 51 cents per share issued until the fourth quarter of 2015.
Looking forward, the company revealed a preliminary capital-spending budget of $3.2 billion for the coming year. Kinder Morgan’s cash flow is expected to be strong in 2017, helping to fund its expansion projects.
KMI shares were flat in response.
