First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (NASDAQ: FICS)

First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF (NASDAQ:FICS), Trade Ideas

First Trust International Developed Capital Strength ETF

Wells Fargo analyst Elyse Greenspan maintains WR Berkley (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/WRB#NYSE">WRB</a>) with a Overweight and lowers the price target from $99 to $94.

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Wells Fargo Maintains Overweight on WR Berkley, Lowers Price Target to $94

This was an exciting week for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: <a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/quote/btc/usd">BTC</a>) holders and hodlers as the fourth-ever halving took place on Friday. The American consumer got back to work spending ever more on goods and services. Some of that was inflation and some was more consumption. That same consumer is a bit overstretched and some have started paying fees to use buy now, pay later services on rent. While consumers are using more credit, small businesses are finding that more difficult to source. Continuing our series on problems in commercial real estate, tech companies have continued to reduce leasing office space. Finally, DKI Intern, Andrew Brown, provides his view on where young people are having financial difficulties and offers excellent suggestions to begin addressing the problem. Let me know if you&rsquo;d replace Janet Yellen with Andrew as Secretary of the Treasury.
This week, we&rsquo;ll address the following topics:
<ul>
<li>
The Bitcoin halving is here! <a href="https://youtu.be/-7aIf1YnbbU?si=0FxlpzgvxQGPV4Ak&amp;t=10">The Bitcoin halving is here</a>!
</li>
<li>
Good or bad economy, the American consumer continues to spend.
</li>
<li>
Buy now, pay later&hellip;for rent?! What could go wrong?
</li>
<li>
Consumers are using more credit. What about corporations?
</li>
<li>
Tech companies reducing office footprint &ndash; the next problem in commercial real estate.
</li>
<li>
Think the economy is in good shape? Think young people are just soft and entitled? Let&rsquo;s hear from one of them and consider whether his opinion has merit.
</li>
</ul>
Ready for a new week of twice as much information? Let&rsquo;s dive in:
<ul>
<li>
The Bitcoin Halving is Here:
</li>
</ul>
There will be a total of 21MM Bitcoins mined from inception through the middle of the next century. However, those coins won&rsquo;t be mined on a consistent schedule. Just 17 years into Bitcoin&rsquo;s existence, about 19.7MM have been mined. That&rsquo;s almost 94% of the total supply. Approximately every four years, the reward for miners gets cut in half. That means that by the time you read this, daily creation of new Bitcoin will fall from about 900 per day to 450. This is happening at a time when concerns about the debasement of the dollar and other fiat currencies is increasing and when ETFs are allowing a new class of investors to start to buy Bitcoin.
<img alt="bitcoin_halving_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/bitcoin_halving_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:291px; width:624px" />
A lot of people think Bitcoin will rally post-halving. What do you think?
<img alt="supply_growth_rate_bitcoin_vs_gold_-_april_19th_2024.jpeg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/supply_growth_rate_bitcoin_vs_gold_-_april_19th_2024.jpeg" style="height:388px; width:624px" />
Now harder than gold. Chart from <a href="https://financialunderground.com/articles/a-unique-moment-in-monetary-history-is-days-away-and-most-have-no-idea/">Financial Underground</a>.
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp;One reason the dollar price of gold keeps rising and is now at an all-time high is because the supply of gold only increases approximately 2% a year. In contrast, Congress and the US Treasury think nothing of overspending by trillions of dollars each year and just adding to the debt as if the US will never need to pay what it owes. By the time you read this, Bitcoin will have become &ldquo;harder&rdquo; than gold. That means the creation of new units compared to the total supply available is even lower for Bitcoin than gold. As for the &ldquo;hardness&rdquo; of the US dollar, that&rsquo;s a disaster which we&rsquo;re all experiencing as inflation. DKI owns both Bitcoin and gold.
<ul>
<li>
Americans Continue to Spend &ndash; A Lot:
</li>
</ul>
Retail sales were up 0.7% this month. That was well above expectations of 0.3% and annualizes to 8.7%. Most of that increase was higher prices as the CPI was up 0.4% from the prior month, and DKI thinks the CPI is understated. Higher gas prices also have an impact even as Americans commute less than they did a few years ago.
<img alt="retail_sales_change_mm_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/retail_sales_change_mm_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:311px; width:624px" />
It was another month of big spending following four months of weaker results.
<img alt="retail_sales_mm_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/retail_sales_mm_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:313px; width:624px" />
Americans aren&rsquo;t thrilled with &ldquo;disinflation&rdquo; because prices keep rising off of a higher base.
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp; While I think it&rsquo;s unwise to live beyond your means, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why consumers keep spending. The government exercises no spending restraint and refuses to acknowledge tradeoffs between program benefits and costs. Bank bailouts in 2008 are still fresh in the memories of many, and now, people who never went to college are about to get the bill for the degrees of others. Neither the banks, nor the universities, nor the people who financed the student loans will suffer those losses. In this environment, who&rsquo;s left to credibly preach financial restraint?
<ul>
<li>
Buy Now, Pay Later for Rent. What Could Go Wrong?:
</li>
</ul>
DKI has previously reported on the expanded use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) including when people started using it at fast food restaurants. (A McDonalds happy meal on layaway?) Companies like Flex are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WasatchPropertyManagement/videos/2835179679930279">advertising</a> that using BNPL to pay your rent is about &ldquo;taking control&rdquo; of your finances. Flex charges people who want the liberation of not having to pay their rent on time a $14.99 monthly fee plus <a href="https://help.getflex.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059672453-How-Rent-Is-Paid">just 1% of the payment amount</a>. So, what could go wrong?
<img alt="b_-_credit_card_debt_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/b_-_credit_card_debt_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:369px; width:624px" />
The perfect time to launch new credit products
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp;Terms marketed as &ldquo;freedom&rdquo; to &ldquo;take control&rdquo; of your rent payments really mean pay later for a financing fee. In general, people who want to pay late do so because they&rsquo;re falling behind; a trend that&rsquo;s likely to continue. At that point, Flex starts charging up to a 36% APR on outstanding balances. Unsurprisingly, that part is in the fine print that&rsquo;s harder to find than the cartoon videos advertising the &ldquo;benefits&rdquo;. These products are great to help people who need an occasional delay to avoid bouncing a check or being late with the rent. When it&rsquo;s something people rely on, it&rsquo;s easy for this to become a trap.
<ul>
<li>
Is Bank Credit a Mark of Economic Strength?:
</li>
</ul>
Consumers are spending more and financing more, but for corporations, the situation is different. After increasing credit usage during the Covid years, commercial bank credit has been on a plateau for the past year. Historically, the use of credit by businesses to expand has been correlated with a strong economy and private sector growth. Recession fears combined with banks reducing liquidity has caused credit use by corporations to stall.
<img alt="commerical_bank_credit_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/commerical_bank_credit_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:359px; width:624px" />
This is not a sign of a growing economy.
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp; Many economists predicted a recession in 2024. DKI disagreed and said that massive governmental stimulus would skew the numbers and keep us out of an official recession. Government spending is becoming a larger part of GDP and is masking weakness in the private economy. Banks have slowed lending, businesses have been reducing growth and investing plans, and inflation has started to increase again. The mainstream press continues to run articles admonishing Americans for not appreciating our great economy. All new jobs are part-time and almost all of them are either in government or in sectors of the economy financed by government. There&rsquo;s a reason people in the productive private economy are dissatisfied.
<ul>
<li>
Tech Companies Reducing Office Footprint:
</li>
</ul>
We&rsquo;ve been reporting on problems in the commercial real estate sector for the past few editions of The Five Things. More people moving away from big cities combined with employees&rsquo; insistence on working from home/anywhere are putting pressure on the commercial office space market. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported on technology companies reducing the amount of office space they use. Due to the nature of their work, tech employees are well-equipped to be effective outside the office. Making the situation worse, tech companies defensively grabbing more office space than they needed contributed to huge growth in the rental markets in hubs like Seattle and San Francisco. That&rsquo;s being reversed. The WSJ now <a href="https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/big-tech-is-downsizing-work-space-in-another-blow-to-office-real-estate-67b4685c?st=gdwvwl3aytmxsg3&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">reports</a> that &ldquo;San Francisco&rsquo;s office-vacancy rate hit a record 36.7% in 1Q&rdquo;. That&rsquo;s up from 3.6% in 2019.
<img alt="us_tech_industry_office_leasing_activity_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/us_tech_industry_office_leasing_activity_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:520px; width:624px" />
Employers still having trouble getting people back in the office. Chart by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/big-tech-is-downsizing-work-space-in-another-blow-to-office-real-estate-67b4685c?st=gdwvwl3aytmxsg3&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">Wall Street Journal</a>.
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp;Every week, we&rsquo;re relaying more problems in the commercial real estate market, and the fear is that this will become the 2024 version of the housing market in 2008. On the positive side, there&rsquo;s probably less leverage in the commercial side now than in the housing market then. On the negative side, housing demand didn&rsquo;t disappear, but demand for office and retail space is vaporizing. We&rsquo;ve heard rumors that Washington DC already has a plan to bail out overleveraged property owners and the banks that lend to them. DKI hopes that doesn&rsquo;t happen. Until people suffer the consequences of making bad decisions, we&rsquo;re going to keep getting more bad decisions, and will have intensifying boom and bust cycles.
<ul>
<li>
The Economy from the Point of View of Someone Who&rsquo;s 20:
</li>
</ul>
Written by DKI Intern, Andrew Brown:&nbsp;American have been struggling financially in many ways, but especially the younger generations. Inflation has made it more difficult for my generation to buy a home, or even to afford food at the grocery store. A core driver of the struggle is government spending and incompetency which is a bipartisan problem. As DKI has written, government involvement in education funding has incentivized universities to raise tuition to levels that don&rsquo;t match the job prospects of their graduates. Excessive government spending has locked us into $3.8 trillion of annual obligations that can only be adjusted with changes to benefit programs, something that politicians and voters reject. Unless Washington addresses this issue, continued overspending means my generation will be the ones to pay the price.
<img alt="2023_federal_budget_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" src="https://www.benzinga.com/files/images/2024/April/24/2023_federal_budget_-_april_19th_2024.jpg" style="height:388px; width:624px" />
DKI notes that this graph shows interest expense of $659B. By next year, that will be at least $1 trillion short. <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727">Graph from the CBO</a>.
DKI Takeaway:&nbsp;The government likes to preach that people should gain financial literacy and save, but it doesn&rsquo;t live by those guidelines. The government is unable to manage a budget or evaluate tradeoffs. They are in charge of education, but spend no time and effort teaching finance and budgeting to students. The schools do not prepare students for the workplace. Teaching students to save and invest could reduce the Social Security burden that will fall on me and my peers. Starting to prepare for that now would reduce our future reliance on these bankrupt programs and could reduce government spending. Long-term, that would reduce government deficits and result in lower inflation; something many of you in older generations might appreciate. (Gary here &ndash; Andrew is DKI&rsquo;s 8th intern and they all understand this issue. The problem existed before they were old enough to vote. Spend some time with these young people, and you&rsquo;ll quickly realize many of them are smart, worldly, hard-working, and lack any sense of entitlement. Well done, Andrew!)
Information contained in this report, and in each of its reports, is believed by Deep Knowledge Investing (&ldquo;DKI&rdquo;) to be accurate and/or derived from sources which it believes to be reliable; however, such information is presented without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied.&nbsp; DKI makes no representation as to the completeness, timeliness, accuracy or soundness of the information and opinions contained therein or regarding any results that may be obtained from their use.&nbsp;The information and opinions contained in this report and in each of our reports and all other DKI Services shall not obligate DKI to provide updated or similar information in the future, except to the extent it is required by law to do so.&nbsp;
The information we provide in this and in each of our reports, is publicly available. This report and each of our reports are neither an offer nor a solicitation to buy or sell securities. All expressions of opinion in this and in each of our reports are precisely that. Our opinions are subject to change, which DKI may not convey. DKI, affiliates of DKI or its principal or others associated with DKI may have, taken or sold, or may in the future take or sell positions in securities of companies about which we write, without disclosing any such transactions.
None of the information we provide or the opinions we express, including those in this report, or in any of our reports, are advice of any kind, including, without limitation, advice that investment in a company&rsquo;s securities is prudent or suitable for any investor. In making any investment decision, each investor should consult with and rely on his or its own investigation, due diligence and the recommendations of investment professionals whom the investor has engaged for that purpose.&nbsp;
In no event shall DKI be liable, based on this or any of its reports, or on any information or opinions DKI expresses or provides for any losses or damages of any kind or nature including, without limitation, costs, liabilities, trading losses, expenses (including, without limitation, attorneys&rsquo; fees), direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages.

Coverage of Bitcoin, Etherum, Ripple and all the latest digital currencies.

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$BTC

5 Things To Know In Investing This Week: The Halving Issue

Wells Fargo analyst Donald Fandetti maintains American Express (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/AXP#NYSE">AXP</a>) with a Overweight and raises the price target from $250 to $265.

Wells Fargo Maintains Overweight on American Express, Raises Price Target to $265

Boeing CFO Says Timeline On Anti-Icing Unchanged; Plan To Return 787 Production To 5 Per Month Later This Year

Keefe, Bruyette &amp; Woods analyst Christopher Mcgratty maintains East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/EWBC#NASDAQ">EWBC</a>) with a Outperform and raises the price target from $82 to $85.

EWBC

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Maintains Outperform on East West Bancorp, Raises Price Target to $85

WIIM

MSCI

MSCI shares are trading higher after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to Buy.

Legal

Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Says Boeing Meeting 90-Day FAA Quality Plan Is Key To Getting Approval To Boost 737 Max Production

Wednesday,&nbsp;Immutep Limited&nbsp;(NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/IMMP#NASDAQ">IMMP</a>)&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.immutep.com/detail/immutep-announces-positive-preliminary-topline-results-from-tacti-003-cohort-b.html" rel="noreferrer noopener">released</a>&nbsp;preliminary topline results from Cohort B of the TACTI-003 (KEYNOTE-PNC-34) Phase IIb trial evaluating&nbsp;eftilagimod&nbsp;alpha (efti) in combination with&nbsp;Merck &amp; Co Inc&#8217;s&nbsp;(NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/MRK#NYSE">MRK</a>) Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as first-line treatment of recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients (1L HNSCC) with negative PD-L1 expression.
The investigational immuno-oncology combination demonstrates an overall response rate (ORR) of 26.9% and disease control rate (DCR) of 57.7% in 26 patients whose tumors do not express PD-L1, which compares favorably to historical controls.
Martin Forster, TACTI-003 Investigator, stated, &#8220;These preliminary topline results in the first-line setting for patients with head and neck squamous cell cancers that do not express PD-L1 are encouraging.&nbsp;
A total of 33 patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC have&nbsp;been enrolled&nbsp;in Cohort B.&nbsp;
The 26 patients reported today represent those currently available with sufficiently long enough follow-up time as per protocol and where the data cleaning has sufficiently progressed at the time of data cut-off in February.&nbsp;
The final number of evaluable patients in Cohort B&nbsp;is expected&nbsp;to be higher, and additional data, including complete response rate, will be released together with Cohort A data.
Concerning the randomized Cohort A of the TACTI-003 trial&nbsp;evaluating&nbsp;the safety and efficacy of efti in combination with Keytruda as compared to Keytruda monotherapy, 138 patients with PD-L1 positive tumors have been enrolled at over 30 centers globally.&nbsp;
Data collection, cleaning, and analysis continue for TACTI-003, and the company expects to report the primary endpoint (overall response rate from Cohorts A &amp; B in H1 CY2024.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer by incidence worldwide, with 890,000 new cases and 450,000 deaths reported in 2018.
Efti has received FDA Fast Track designation in 1L HNSCC regardless of PD-L1 expression.
Last month,&nbsp;Immutep&nbsp;announced safety and initial efficacy data from the first-ever 90mg dosing of&nbsp;eftilagimod&nbsp;alpha (efti) in combination with weekly paclitaxel in patients from the safety lead-in (N=6) of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/24/03/37493118/cancer-focused-immuteps-stock-soars-on-tuesday-heres-why" rel="noreferrer noopener">AIPAC-003 Phase 2/3 trial</a>.
Price Action: IMMP shares are up 14.90% at $2.89 at the last check Wednesday.
Photo via Shutterstock

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IMMP

Why Australian Cancer Biotech Firm Immutep Stock Is Soaring On Wednesday?

Wells Fargo analyst Timur Braziler maintains Popular (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/BPOP#NASDAQ">BPOP</a>) with a Overweight and raises the price target from $105 to $115.

BPOP

Wells Fargo Maintains Overweight on Popular, Raises Price Target to $115

OTIS

Otis Worldwide shares are trading lower following mixed Q1 financial results.

Last month, The Bezos Earth Fund <a href="https://www.bezosearthfund.org/news-and-insights/lauren-sanchez-announces-60-million-establish-bezos-centers-for-sustainable-protein">announced a $60 million commitment</a> to establish the Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein, which will focus on the creation of alternative proteins, supporting its mission of supporting farmers and expanding food production in a sustainable way.
"We need to feed 10 billion people with healthy, sustainable food throughout this century while protecting our planet. We can do it, and it will require a ton of innovation," Bezos Earth Fund Vice Chair&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bezosearthfund.org/who-we-are/our-people/lauren-sanchez">Lauren Sánchez</a> said in a statement. "Our world is poised for transformation, for a future not constrained by compromise. Solutions to our greatest challenges often come from the quiet persistence of those willing to question, reimagine, and innovate."
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Don't Miss:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Investing in real estate just got a whole lot simpler. This <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/go/bezos-landlord">Jeff Bezos-backed startup will allow you to become a landlord</a> in just 10 minutes, and you only need $100.</li>
</ul>
The announcement went on to note that &#8220;food is the second largest cause of climate change, and agriculture is the primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss,&#8221; and that alternative proteins are needed to support the population in the future, as food consumption is expected to rise by 50% by 2050, all while emissions from food will need to decrease.
The move by the Bezos Earth Fund comes nearly a year after a <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/23/07/33100241/bill-gates-backed-lab-grown-meat-company-receives-usda-approval-heres-when-you-can-expect-to-taste-t">Bill Gates-backed lab-grown meat</a> company received USDA approval to start commercial production and sales of its cultivated chicken.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Invest like Jeff Bezos Today</h2>
You can also invest like <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/go/dara-backed-startup">Jeff Bezos and Dara Khosrowshahi</a> by investing in single-family homes using the Arrived Homes platform. Real estate crowdfunding platforms like Arrived Homes allow you to connect with other investors and pool your money to purchase property for passive real estate income, and you can get started with as little as $100.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Read Next:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Want To Grow Your Wealth Passively? Unlock Real Wealth with <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/cityfunds-yield">Cityfunds&#8217; Exclusive 8% Yield Fund</a>.</li>
</ul>
Image Credit: Shutterstock<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/marcus-millichap-backed-platform-makes-it-easy-to-invest-in-real-estate"></a>

Jeff Bezos Joins Bill Gates in Backing Lab-Grown Meat

Benchmark analyst Subash Chandra reiterates Range Resources (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/RRC#NYSE">RRC</a>) with a Hold.

Reiteration

Benchmark Reiterates Hold on Range Resources

Guidance

Boeing CFO Says April Deliveries Will Be In Line With Feb Levels

Keefe, Bruyette &amp; Woods analyst Damon Delmonte maintains Enterprise Finl Servs (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/EFSC#NASDAQ">EFSC</a>) with a Outperform and lowers the price target from $51 to $49.

EFSC

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Maintains Outperform on Enterprise Finl Servs, Lowers Price Target to $49

BGNE

BeiGene shares are trading higher after the European Commission on Tuesday approved Tislelizumab for non-small cell lung cancer across three indications, including first- and second-line use.

Wells Fargo analyst Praneeth Satish maintains Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/ENPH#NASDAQ">ENPH</a>) with a Overweight and lowers the price target from $141 to $130.

ENPH

Wells Fargo Maintains Overweight on Enphase Energy, Lowers Price Target to $130

Boeing Says By The End Of This Year, We Expect To Have Largely Delivered Our 737 And 787 Inventory

Boeing Says The Visibility In Wichita Will Help The Spirit Team Prevent Nonconformances From Being Created In The First Place; We Are Already Beginning To See Signs Of More Predictable And Reduced Cycle Times In Our Factory, As A Result Of These Enhanced Quality Control Standards. We Expect This Will Continue To Improve

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/TSLA#NASDAQ">TSLA</a>) <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/24/04/38405212/tesla-stock-is-ripping-higher-wednesday-whats-going-on">shares skyrocketed on Wednesday </a>despite a double miss, and CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer did not take kindly to the fact. 
What Happened: &#8220;Tesla and Boeing Co. (NYSE:<a class="ticker" href="https://www.benzinga.com/stock/BA#NYSE">BA</a>) horrendous cash flow figures and people love them,&#8221; Cramer said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. 
&#8220;Everything that is happening this morning smacks of fiction not fact and no one cares!!!!!!&#8221; he added.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"> 
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Tesla and Boeing horrendous cash flow figures and people love them. Everything that is happening this morning smacks of fiction not fact and no one cares!!!!!!
&mdash; Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1783121673207566347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tesla&#8217;s free cash flow &#8211; a metric that refers to the cash a company is left with after meeting operating and capital expenditures fell sharply from $441 million in the first quarter of 2023 to a negative $2.28 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Sequentially, free cash flow was down from $2.06 billion in the fourth quarter.</figcaption></figure>
Boeing, which reported ahead of the market open, said its free cash flow for the quarter was a negative $3.93 million, sharply lower than the negative $786 million in the year-ago quarter. Incidentally, Boeing shares climbed moderately, as traders focused on the company clearing the lowered bar on main metrics.
Boeing&#8217;s fundamentals have also suffered recently amid safety concerns surrounding its airplanes and difficult production ramp-up.
See Also: <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/money/best-consumer-discretionary-stocks">Best Consumer Discretionary Stocks</a>
Why It&#8217;s Important: Both Boeing and Tesla are operating in capital-intensive industries that require heavy investment. Positive cash flow indicates that a business has enough money in its coffers to plow back into the business for running its day-to-day operations and investing in future growth. A negative free cash flow, on the other hand, is a red flag for a business as it could stymie its ability to compete efficiently.
For Tesla, the problems run deeper than the free cash flow issue. EV adoption has slowed amid a fluid economic environment, and against the backdrop, a lack of low-end models is hurting the company. The strong post-earnings stock reaction is based on the optimism that the <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/24/04/38398667/tesla-bulls-praise-musks-q1-earnings-call-see-ev-giant-on-collision-course-with-ube">company would launch a low-end model sooner than expected.</a>
Meanwhile, during the Q1 earnings call, Elon Musk emphasized that the company should be <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/24/04/38405187/elon-musk-echoes-cathie-wood-wants-tesla-to-be-seen-as-an-ai-or-robotics-company-if-you-value-te" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recognized as an AI or robotics company</a> rather than just an auto company. &#8220;If you value Tesla as just an auto company, you&#8217;re fundamentally using the wrong framework and that will become evident,&#8221; he said.
Price Action: Tesla rose 14.42% to $165.54 at last check and Boeing added 1.06% to $170.98, according to <a href="https://benzinga.grsm.io/lxquj26b2sag">Benzinga Pro data.</a>
Read Next:<a href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/24/04/38402061/jim-cramer-says-this-energy-stock-is-terrific-calls-caseys-general-stores-a-winner"> Jim Cramer Says This Energy Stock Is &#8216;Terrific,&#8217; Calls Casey&#8217;s General Stores A &#8216;Winner&#8217;</a>
This image was generated using AI on MidJourney

Earnings

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On Wednesday,&nbsp;Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.&nbsp;(NYSE:&nbsp;TMO) posted a first-quarter revenue of $10.34 billion, down 3% year over year, beating the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/calendars/earnings" rel="noreferrer noopener">consensus of $10.17 billion</a>.
Organic revenue was 4% lower, and core organic revenue&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/24/04/b38398240/thermo-fisher-scientific-reports-first-quarter-2024-results" rel="noreferrer noopener">growth declined by 3%</a>.
Revenue from the Life Sciences Solutions Segment declined by 12.5% to&nbsp;$2.29 billion. Analytical Instruments Segment sales were down 2.1% to $1.69 billion.&nbsp;
Specialty Diagnostics Segment revenues were almost flat at $1.1 billion, and Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment sales were down 0.7% to $5.72 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $5.11 beat the consensus of $4.71 and grew from $5.03 a year ago.&nbsp;
Adjusted operating margin improved from 21.8% to 22%.
&#8220;We had a great start to the year, driven by our proven growth strategy and the impact of our PPI Business System. Our team continues to enable the success of our customers while demonstrating&nbsp;incredibly strong&nbsp;commercial execution and operational discipline. This positions us to deliver differentiated performance in 2024 as we continue to create value for all of our stakeholders and build an even brighter future for our company,&#8221; said Marc Casper, chairman, president, and CEO.
Guidance:&nbsp;Thermo Fisher&nbsp;raises&nbsp;its 2024 sales guidance to $42.3 billion—$43.3 billion, compared to its&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/24/01/36867922/medical-equipment-maker-thermo-fisher-scientific-clocks-7-decline-in-q4-organic-sales-issues-subdue" rel="noreferrer noopener">previous guidance of</a>&nbsp;$42.1 billion—$43.3 billion and consensus of $42.83 billion.
The company is raising its adjusted EPS guidance to $21.14-$22.02 versus its previous guidance of $20.95-$22.00 and consensus of $21.53.
Price Action: TMO shares are down 0.96% at $569.09 at the last check Wednesday.
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