Helios and Matheson Analytics (NASDAQ:HMNY) (The Motley Fool)
What happened: Shares of Helios and Matheson Analytics (NASDAQ:HMNY), best known recently as the majority owner of the MoviePass service that exploded in popularity late last year, have plunged today. The stock is down 11% as of 12 p.m. EST after the company announced it was issuing $60 million in convertible notes. Separately, MoviePass said it was partnering with iHeartMedia. So what: The iHeartMedia announcement is mostly a marketing campaign and isn’t contributing to the drop. Rather, the convertible note announcement is the likely culprit. The offering is not being sold to the public, but instead is a private placement with an institutional investor. As such, the offering is not being registered with the SEC. The bonds will be convertible at the option of the investor at a fixed conversion price of $11.44.
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) (Reuters)
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) rose about 2 percent after reporting upbeat quarterly profit as well as forecast, helped by higher business fares in a busy holiday season. That helped the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines index .DJUSAR up 2.25 percent. “You see this continued rotation into stocks that will accelerate with the economy,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee. “Energy is in a good space with crude above 64 bucks and you have industrials being driven by airlines stocks.”
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Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) (Zacks)
Shares of Activision Blizzard (ATVI – Free Report) surged to a new all-time high on Thursday after the video gaming powerhouse debuted its new “Overwatch” esports league to much fanfare on Amazon’s (AMZN – Free Report) live-streaming site Twitch on Wednesday night. The inaugural matches of the regular season of the 12-team Overwatch league kicked off yesterday. Fans were able to take in the three-match slate on Twitch, Major League Gaming platforms, as well as OverwatchLeague.com and its new app.
Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) (Benzinga)
Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) 45.13% shares rose 44 percent to $7.24. ChinaNet Online named Mr. Zhongyi Liu as Chief Strategy Officer for blockchain and business development.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) (Reuters)
Wal-Mart (WMT.N) edged up 0.34 percent after the world’s largest retailer decided to raise entry-level wages for hourly employees to $11 an hour in February as a result of corporate tax cuts.
Cheetah Mobile Inc (ADR) (NYSE:CMCM) (The Motley Fool)
What happened: Shares of mobile app developer Cheetah Mobile Inc (ADR) (NYSE:CMCM) jumped on Thursday following a report from a Chinese-language website stating the company is planning a blockchain-related initiative. The report cited an interview with the CEO of Cheetah Mobile. The stock was up about 15% at 11:30 a.m. EST. So what: Cheetah Mobile will reportedly focus on helping users protect their digital assets, but won’t participate in cryptocurrency trading. Of course, nothing will protect those digital assets when the cryptocurrency bubble eventually bursts.
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:KODK) (Barron’s)
Shares of Eastman Kodak (KODK) are finally cooling after their blockchain-inspired run since Tuesday, falling $1.40, or 13%, at $9.30. The stock more than doubled on Tuesday when the company announced it would introduce a new crypto-currency, “Kodak Coins,” to support a platform for photo rights management using blockchain technology. The shares had soared another 57% yesterday, despite Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke telling me in an interview that the price increase was not justified by the new initiative.
Lipocine Inc (NASDAQ:LPCN) (Benzinga)
Lipocine Inc LPCN 45.18% dipped 46.8 percent to $1.84 after the company reported the outcome of the FDA Advisory Committee meeting for TLANDO. The company confirmed that the FDA AdCom Panel voted 6 in favor and 13 against the benefit/risk profile of TLANDO.
Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) (Madison)
What happened: Shares of Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH), which operates 127 hospitals in 20 states, jumped 19.7% as of 11:17 a.m. EST on Thursday. Investors can thank the company’s largest shareholder for the bump. So what: An SEC filing revealed that Shanda Group — a China-based investment firm and Community Health Systems’ largest shareholder — increased its position in the company on Jan. 8. The filing shows that Shanda Group now owns 27.5 million shares of CYH, about 24% of the total.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) (TheStreet)
When TheStreet’s Jim Cramer recently binge-watched a few shows on Netflix, Inc. (NFLX – Get Report) , little did he realize his small part in a gigantic revolution. The video streaming revolution is leading to massive disruptions across all spectrums of entertainment. Subscriber losses plague big-name networks like ESPN (part of Disney (DIS – Get Report) ), while content providers scramble to stymie the impact that Netflix, Roku (ROKU) , Amazon (AMZN – Get Report) and others are benefitting from. This shift is one reason why Barclays’ analyst Kannan Venkateshwar initiated Netflix stock with an overweight rating and $245 price target. Netflix could “become one of the most successful media companies” if it’s able to grow its subscribers faster than its content costs, he argues.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) (Investors.com)
Apple climbed 0.5% as it continues to find support along the 50-day moving average. It had cleared a 176.34 flat-base buy point Dec. 18 before pulling back. The iPhone maker will report quarterly results Feb. 1 after the close.
Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) (New York Post)
Shares of MoneyGram International jumped 10.5 percent on Thursday, after the money-transfer company said it partnered with blockchain firm and bitcoin rival Ripple. As part of the arrangement, MoneyGram will test the use of Ripple’s cryptocurrency, XRP, to move funds in a faster and cheaper way. Ripple, created by the founder of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has risen 31,000 percent over the past year, overshadowing bitcoin’s 1,200 percent increase.
