3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: BlackRock, Inc. (BLK), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Tesla Inc (TSLA)

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BLK - 3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: BlackRock, Inc. (BLK), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Tesla Inc (TSLA)

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We’re now heading into the meat of the earnings season, and there’s plenty to be excited about. At least so says FactSet senior analyst John Butters, who is projecting earnings-per-share growth of 6.5% in the April-June quarter, and a pie-in-the-sky prediction of up to 9%.

3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: BlackRock, Inc. (BLK), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Tesla Inc (TSLA)The heaviest reporting will get underway Tuesday. Heading into Monday’s trade, though, iShares parent BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has hit the earnings confessional, and a few tech companies — including Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) — are making some headlines of their own.

Here’s what you should know heading into the fresh week:

BlackRock, Inc. (BLK)

BLK shares are listing lower on Monday morning following misses on both the top and bottom lines, though the damage looks limited early on.

BlackRock reported second-quarter earnings of $5.24 per share, much lower than the $5.40 expected by Wall Street analysts. Meanwhile, revenues of $2.965 billion also missed the mark, with the pros expecting $3.019 billion. That latter number came on the back with in-line investment advisory, administration fees and securities lending sales of $2.675 billion.

There was a little good news in that assets under management came to $5.689 trillion, up 16% year-over-year, to beat the analyst consensus. That was helped out by growth in its iShares line of ETFs, which now hold $1.5 trillion in assets.

BLK stock is down fractionally in early Monday trade, though still beating the market with 15% year-to-date gains.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Microsoft appears to no longer support Windows 10 updates to certain PCs.

A ZDNet report suggests that a whole slate of computers that are three or four years old will no longer have access to security fixes as the company turns its focus toward newer generations of PCs only.

The computers that sparked this are 2-in-1 PCs that were announced in 2012 and sold throughout 2014. Microsoft offered free Windows 10 upgrades to owners of these computers in 2015, plus the Summer 2016 Anniversary Update.

However, attempts to install the most recent Creators Update (version 1703) resulted in the following message:

Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC

Uninstall this app now because it isn’t compatible with Windows 10.

The PC hardware in those computers is not compatible with the latest software.

Projecting out, ZDNet’s report says that “If Microsoft sticks to its announced support deadlines, any device running Windows 10 version 1607 will stop receiving updates in early 2018. In some cases, this cutoff date will be only three years after those devices were placed in service.”

Microsoft reports earnings Thursday after the bell. MSFT stock is up 12% year-to-date.

Tesla Inc (TSLA)

Tesla announced that it is launching another of its new large-format Supercharger stations, this time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

TSLA is building a new 40-stall Supercharger station in Baker, California, to help alleviate overcrowding at the company’s smaller stalls along the route, including an 18-stall station in Barstow. Electrek reports that these stations “are often completely occupied, especially during holidays when lines of several Tesla vehicles can often form at the location.”

The permit application shows that this station will certainly have the vehicle capacity of the newer Supercharger locations that feature a lounge and solar canopies, though the application only indicates that the Baker location will have solar canopies.

Tesla’s Supercharger network now spans 6,000 stalls across 900 locations, and should reach 10,000 installed stalls by year’s end.

The electric car maker also indicated over the weekend that it probably won’t offer solar panels on Model 3 vehicles as an option; an idea it previously suggested.

CEO Elon Musk had said that the concept would consist of a “deployable solar shield like a retractable hard top.” However, creating a vehicle with solar panels that generates enough power is not a very feasible idea as of yet.

TSLA stock is up 53% so far in 2017.

As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/07/3-stocks-to-watch-on-monday-blackrock-inc-blk-microsoft-corporation-msft-and-tesla-inc-tsla/.

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