TLV Strategist: November 20
This past week’s big movers include ALLT, INCR
Analysts weighed in on CMTK, ICL, MNDY, ZIM
We’re waiting for Global-E Online to deliver
Plus, war bonds, BOI governor and Israel’s AI stock research
Big Movers
Followed stocks that appreciated or dropped more than 15% in a day during the course of last week and, if we know, why.
Allot (ALLT) fell 16% on Nov. 16 after the Hod-Hasharon tech maker reported it had a Q3 loss of 32 cents per share. The telecommunications software company plans layoffs and other streamlining to reduce costs by more than $15 million it said. The dual-trading ALLT shares were a long-time 2%-plus holding in ETF IZRL before Cathie Wood’s fund sold them off this past June.
InterCure (INCR) surged 15.5% on Nov. 15 as trading reached more than 4x average daily volume, before falling back 9.4% two days later. Shares of the Herzlyia-based medical cannabis firm have seen similar sharp moves in September and October.
Analyst Actions
Camtek (CAMT) got a price target boost, to $70 from $51, at B. Riley after topping Q3 forecasts; The brokerage maintained the Neutral rating on the shares (Followed ETF holdings: ITEQ 2.01%, EIS 1.01%, ISRA 0.9%)
ICL Group (ICL) got a Barclays rating upgrade, to Overweight from Equalweight, while the analysts knocked 50 cents off the target price, to $6.50 a share. (Followed ETF holdings: EIS 2.54%)
Monday.Com (MNDY) saw price target boosts from UBS, to $185 from $175, KeyBanc, to $185 from $180, and Goldman Sachs, to $270 from $250. (Followed ETF holdings: ITEQ 3.94%, EIS 1.91%)
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) saw a price target cut from Jefferies, to $8 a share from $11. JPMorgan downgrade the shares to Neutral from Overweight. (Followed ETF holdings: ISRA 0.56%, EIS 0.5%
War Bonds
The Finance Ministry has raised more than $6 billion in recent weeks, turning to private placements with international investors. The Financial Times reported on Friday that the sales included $5.1 billion in three new bond issues and six top-ups of existing dollar and euro-denominated bonds, plus more than $1 billion sold via an undisclosed U.S. firm.
The dollar bond deal were arranged by Goldman Sachs (four-year at 6.25%) and Bank of America (eight-year at 6.5%). Those rates, the FT noted, were “much higher than benchmark U.S. Treasury yields, which ranged between 4.5% and 4.7% when the bonds were issued.”
Meanwhile, showing that Israel Bonds are just for bar mitzvah boys anymore, the FINRA-registered Development Corporation for Israel has sold $1 billion to US state and local governments since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Nasdaq Picks Israel AI Stock Picker
Bridgewise, a Ramat Gan financial research technology startup, has inked a deal with Nasdaq for its AI-driven stock research. According to the announcement, the newest “next new thing” in fundamental equity research will be integrated into Nasdaq’s Market Intelligence Desk. Bridgewise claims it covers 44,000 companies with its large language model engine.
Speaking of stocks and large language models, Factset’s Yuri Malitsky weighed in last week on ChatGPT stock pickers, raising three red flags “to avoid the snake oil.”
While acknowledging that LLMs will one day be “extremely useful in making strategic decisions such as helping to manage a portfolio,” the AI is not there yet, so investors should “stay focused on the time-tested principles of building portfolios and avoid scams promising market-beating returns from the supernatural stock-selection ‘abilities’ of LLMs.”
Not Changing Horses
For a long list of reasons, TLV Strategist has zero respect for the country’s Finance Minister but we are obligated to acknowledge a smart move when we see it. In this case, the minister’s support for extending Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron’s appointment for a second five-year term.
The central banker has earned the support of the local business community. And following Stanley Fischer and Karnit Flug, he had some mighty big shoes to fill.
Waiting for Global-e Online to Deliver
With half of its workforce located in Israel, Global-e Online (GLBE) stock has lost 24% since the onset of the Hamas war, but investors could be overreacting and missing the e-commerce player's true global nature.
The Nasdaq-traded shares got thrashed last Wednesday, falling more than 24% after cutting its full-year revenue forecasts alongside of its third-quarter financials.
The e-commerce platform fell short of analysts’ Q3 revenue forecast as Europe and luxury brands showed slower growth
While still in the early stages, a collaboration with Shopify could be a game changer
Analysts trimmed their targets, but no one is changing their ratings, with most telling clients to overweight GLBE stock.
The cross-border e-commerce firm reported a Q3 net loss of 20 cents per diluted share, narrowing from a loss of 41 cents in the year-earlier period and against a consensus 23 cents a share loss.
Analysts continue to believe the shares are worth accumulating. Benchmark cut its 12-18 month price target to $40 a share from $50 but kept its Buy rating. They previously had the highest target and made the sharpest cut…
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On the date of publication, Robert Lakin did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. None of the above should be construed as investment or financial advice.