Hottest Stocks in CW 32/24

With a price increase of around 6 %, PayPal's stock was able to completely buck the negative trend on the markets last week. The main reason for this was the surprisingly good performance of the financial services provider, which has been under considerable pressure in recent years. In the past quarter, the digital payments specialist recorded an increase in sales of 8.2 % and earnings per share of 20.2 %. Both were well above market expectations. Consequently, the Management Board also increased its profit forecast for the current year. CEO Alex Chriss made reference to significant progress on the path to long-term, sustainable and profitable growth. This was well received by the stock market. Meanwhile, analysts are still divided, mainly due to the increasing competition from Apple Pay and Co.

In recent months, Stefan Waldhauser (stwBoerse) has built up a "sizeable position" of PayPal stocks in his very popular wikifolio High-Tech Stock Picking. In his opinion, it will "only be a matter of time before the share price emerges from the valley of tears". He provides the reasons for this in a very detailed analysis entitled "The sleeping giant awakens". Among other things, he is enthusiastic about the development of the free cash flow, praises the company's current management team and emphasises that PayPal stock has "never been as cheap as it is today" in terms of valuation ratios such as the P/E ratio or the ratio of enterprise value vs revenue. He is therefore in favour of giving the new management team time to confirm the positive fundamental trend. The stock is currently one of the top 5 positions in his portfolio consisting of 15 different shares.

There is always some sort of buzz around the electric car pioneer Tesla. There was plenty of news again last week. This included the announcement that the number of electric vehicles sold in China in July had risen by 15.3% compared to the previous month. Then came the news that CEO Elon Musk's company was recalling over 1.8 million vehicles in the United States due to the risk of a software error in recognising an unlocked bonnet. The lawsuit filed by the family of the motorcyclist killed in an Autopilot accident is also likely to be less favourable for Tesla. According to them, the Autopilot sensors should have recognised the danger posed by the victim's motorbike. Such cases automatically lead to discussions about the quality of the fully self-driving functionality of Tesla vehicles.

If anyone wants to be kept in the loop about what's happening with Tesla, they can follow wikifolio trader Ramon Bauerfeind (BaRaInvest). In his comments, he provides links to numerous articles relating to the stocks in his wikifolio Zukunftsinvestment. Tesla's stock has been listed there for a very long time, which is why the position currently shows a whopping return of 462 %.

Overall, the fall in Tesla's share price over the past seven days has clearly led to a predominance of buying, as the current trading sentiment for the stock shows:

Trading-Sentiment:

The financial reporting period in the US has been mixed so far. Although the vast majority of companies have beaten analysts' forecasts, this is almost always the case. The reason: forecasts are regularly revised downwards in the run-up to the publication of the annual results, meaning that favourable outcomes are commonplace. The true state of the respective company is usually reflected in the outlook. Indeed, there have been some major disappointments in this respect. Not just among tech companies. Ketchup manufacturer Kraft Heinz, for example, also had to lower its sales forecast for the current financial year last week. The Executive Board now expects organic sales to be on a par with the previous year or even to fall by up to 2%. Previously, the forecast ranged from static to 2% growth. The Group is trying to offset the increased costs with higher prices for its snacks and ready meals, which is increasingly impacting on consumer demand.

Trading-Sentiment:

While analysts have adjusted their turnover projections in line with this, the forecasts for earnings per share have actually risen slightly. The Group's assumed profit margin has also increased accordingly. Investors have responded favourably to this. The stock rose by almost 8% over the course of the week, continuing its recovery which began in mid-July. During this period, the share price has risen by as much as 14 %, showing considerable strength in comparison with the general weak market conditions.

However, some wikifolio traders took advantage of this to sell the stock. Arnd-Rüdiger Schwarz (ARMEGAS), for example, speculated on short-term price hikes in Kraft Heinz at the end of July and after the stock soared in his wikifolio Trading-Ideen Long und Short, he proceeded to actively take single-digit profits.

Most federal states are currently on summer holiday. Many people take advantage of this to take a break and escape their everyday lives for a few days or weeks and travel abroad. Companies such as the online travel agency Booking Holdings benefit from this. In the past quarter, the company significantly exceeded all consensus estimates for turnover (+7 %) and earnings per share (+27 %). However, the company warned of slower growth in the number of overnight stays booked in the third quarter. After an increase of 14.9 % in the previous year, the Executive Board is only expecting an increase of between 3% and 5% this time. The reason for this forecast is the recently shortened booking window, which is considered a key indicator in the travel industry and allows statements to be made about booking behaviour.

However, none of this comes as a great surprise to analysts. In any case, the projections for the financial year as a whole have only been lowered slightly so far. And the share price targets also point to continued optimism. After the stock suffered double-digit losses last week and came under pressure again at the start of the new week, the average target price is now 23 % higher than the current price at around USD 4,100. However, some wikifolio traders preferred to play it safe in view of the falling share prices and have been reducing their holdings in the past week.

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