Discussion and 2 replies
You may have seen how financial news outlets provide real-time financial market reporting. They often produce stock-market news feeds for traders; these news feeds include a stock chart. The stock chart may include different filters that allow you to see how the stock is performing today or has performed over one or more years.
There are many factors that will influence pricing that can’t be controlled or predicted accurately. The approaches used to value stocks (determine what the stock is truly worth) are usually theoretical. You should consider what drives stock prices and why.
For this discussion, first go to Mergent Online. Find the pricing chart under the “Company Details” tab, then click on Pricing Summary for your selected company. This is the company you have selected for your Project Two assignment. Filter the time period to one year.
In your initial post, address the following:
- Discuss how the stock for your company is trending. Explain why the stock is in either an uptrend or downtrend.
- Discuss some of the factors, including environmental, sustainable, and governance (ESG) factors, that you believe have impacted the stock performance and why.
- Convince your peers to either invest in your chosen company or to not invest in the company. Explain your reasoning.
In your response posts to at least two peers, discuss the following:
- Do you agree with your peer’s argument to either invest or not invest in their company? Explain why or why not, making sure to also include information not previously shared by your peer
Post by Joshue Brown
Discuss how the stock for your company is trending. Explain why the stock is in either an uptrend or downtrend.
Tesla’s stock has a positive trend over the past year. The stock has ranged from a low of $187.06 a year ago to a high of $883.09 on January 26, 2021 (Yahoo, 2021a). Tesla’s shares have skyrocketed more than 20,000% since it went public in 2010, with its price rising more than 700% over the last year (Levin, 2021). This growth has made Tesla the most valuable car company in the world. There are many reasons for this epic growth. After years of not turning a profit for years, Tesla has finally shown a profit for the last 6 quarters. Tesla also beat estimates by producing more than 500,000 vehicles and selling its fifth vehicle, Modle Y, ahead of schedule (Levin, 2021). In addition, Tesla was added to the S&P 500 on November 16th, 2020, which helped the share price spike. These are the main drivers of the success of Teslas stock over the past 12 months. Another positive trend that has factored into the growth of Tesla’s stock is the growing demand for EV stocks in general. Tightening emission regulations and the government’s continued push towards renewable energy have also help Tesla’s shares rise.
Discuss some of the factors, including environmental, sustainable, and governance (ESG) factors, that you believe have impacted the stock performance and why.
Since taxpayers subsidize most of Tesla’s business, their ESG rating, such as environmental, sustainable, and governance, is important. Tesla’s total ESG rating is 31, which is high and places them in the 62nd percentile. Their environmental risk score is 3, the social risk score is 17.3, and the governance risk score is 11 (Yahoo, 2021). While Tesla is an environmentally friendly company, the production of its products harms the environment. The production of their cars is C02-intensive, and the production of their batteries takes many raw materials to make, such as nickel, cobalt, aluminum, and graphite which are prone to cause deforestation and water contamination (Tesla Valuation, n,d.). Overall the reduction in CO2 emissions of their cars generates 50% fewer emissions as a car with an internal combustion engine. Therefore the overall impact on the environment is positive (Tesla Valuation, n,d.). Tesla also scored low on water conversation (Tesla Environmental, n.d.).
Tesla does not rate well in the governance portion of the ESG. The “bailout: of Elon Musk’s cousin’s company. Soar City caused shareholders to sue. Second, musk was forced to step down as chairman of the board in 2018 when he had to settle fraud charges with the SEC regarding a tweet about taking Tesla private. Third, several of Tesla’s board members have ties with other Musk companies, which creates a conflict of interest. Finally, Musk’s compensation package had caused scrutiny when the board of directors approved a compensation package that made Musk the highest-paid CEO in US corporate history (Is Tesla Sustainable, 2020).
Convince your peers to either invest in your chosen company or to not invest in the company. Explain your reasoning
With all of Elon Musk’s controversies with his involvement in cryptocurrency, the SpaceX program, his solar endeavors, and his erratic behavior, I would not recommend investing in Tesla. The stock is already near its all-time high, and competition in the EV field will reduce its market share. In addition, the history of Musk’s behavior, such as smoking marijuana during a live podcast, tweeting about taking Tesla private, and comments on Saturday Night Live regarding cryptocurrency he is involved with, have had an immediate negative effect on Tesla’s stock price.
Is Tesla Sustainable? How Does Tesla Perform On ESG Ratings? Your Green Wealth. (2020, December 10).
Levin, T. (2021, February 7). Tesla’s stock price has left Wall Street analysts scratching their heads. Here’s what’s fueling the searing rally. Business Insider.
Tesla Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Profile. censible.co. (n.d.).
Tesla Valuation based on ESG factors. GRIN. (n.d.).
Yahoo! (2021, June 9a). Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Interactive Stock Chart. Yahoo! Finance.
Yahoo! (2021, June 9b). Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Ratings. Yahoo! Finance.
Post by Bonnie
Class,
The company I have chosen for the projects within this course is Disney. Upon reviewing the pricing summary for Disney through Mergent, the one-year period stock prices have ranged between $201.91 and $109.10. As of Monday June 7, 2021, the closing price was $176.99. The trend has been slowly moving upward from the low a year ago of $109.10 although it is 6.37% below the high of $201.91 during the past 100 days. This does pose a risk of further decline. (Mergent 2021).
In March 2020 Disney suspended its cruise operations and closed theme parks in California and Florida due to the spread of coronavirus and the Covid-19 pandemic. (Sloan 2020). Due to the pandemic Covid-19, Disney had an increase in their streaming division since people were staying home and theaters were closed. The theme parks are slowly expanding their daily capacity limits as the more people are being vaccinated and the CDC guidelines are less restrictive.
I believe that Covid-19 played a significant part in the stock prices for Disney. Due to lack of operations in their travel section, and theme parks stocks would decrease. The upswing in the streaming division during the pandemic helped to prevent a massive fall in stock. Though the overall stock did go down without the increase in the streaming, I feel the stocks would have plummeted further.
Even though Disney had to shut down their cruise lines, theme parks and many of their resorts they have plenty of cash to manage these disruptions. Disney has seen phenomenal growth in their streaming platform and has managed to keep generating cash flow. (Ballard 2020). For reasons such as this, buying stock in Disney is a great long-term investment.
Best,
Bonnie B.
References
Ballard, J. (2020). 3 Reasons Disney is a Safe Stock to Buy Right Now. Retrieved from:
Mergent. (n.d.). Disney (Walt) Co. Retrieved June 8, 2021, from:
Sloan,
G. (2020). Disney Cruise Line to Suspend Operations Due to Coronavirus. Retrieved from: https://thepointsguy.com/news/disney-cruise-line-suspends-operations-due-to-coronavirus
