Amazon, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Nvidia are in the headlines. Here’s our take on the news
Dustin Moskovitz
Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Wells Fargo (WFC) as well as Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) are in the news Wednesday. Here are the headlines and the implications for the Club’s investment thesis. Amazon completes health deal AMZN YTD mountain Amazon’s year-to-date stock performance. The news: Amazon completed its acquisition of primary-care provider One Medical, the companies announced Wednesday, officially deepening th e e-commerce giant’s health-care presence . The transaction — announced in July and valued at $3.9 billion — is Amazon’s largest health-care acquisition yet. In buying tech-focused One Medical, Amazon has said the companies together can make visiting the doctor an easier and more convenient experience. San Francisco-based One Medical ended fiscal 2022 with 836,000 members, operating 221 medical offices across 27 markets in the U.S. One Medical recorded $1.05 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022 and a net loss of $397.8 million. While the Amazon-One Medical deal had faced an investigation from the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. regulator did not challenge the acquisition within the initial review window. It is possible the tie-up could face additional scrutiny, Reuters reported , citing an FTC official who indicated the agency will monitor potential harms to competition and consumer data uses. The Club’s take: Amazon’s main foray into health care had been through prescription drug delivery, a natural place for the logistics powerhouse to target. With One Medical, the Amazon flag is now planted in the world of brick-and-mortar doctors’ offices. Health care is not core to our investment thesis in Amazon, and we’ve lately been focused on Amazon’s cost discipline at a time of tougher topline revenue growth. However, health care is a huge market, and Amazon has a strong track record of innovation in online retail as well as in computing through Amazon Web Services. While some past Amazon medical efforts haven’t exactly panned out , One Medical gives the tech giant another opportunity to improve the customer experience in health care. Wells Fargo’s record-keeping WFC YTD mountain Wells Fargo’s year-to-date stock performance. The news: A pair of banking regulators are investigating record-keeping failures at Wells Fargo, according to the company’s annual filing. Specifically, Wells Fargo said the probes from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are focused on “business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels.” The Club’s take: This is new disclosure from Wells Fargo is not cause for concern. Yes, Wells Fargo’s efforts to move past a series of scandals is a large part of our investment case in the bank. However, this particular matter seems to be similar to recent investigations at JPMorgan ( JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and other Wall Street firms. Those inquiries, focused on the use of personal devices , came amid a boom in remote working for bank employees during the Covid pandemic. In other words, this doesn’t appear to be a Wells Fargo-specific issue unlike past troubles that CEO Charlie Scharf has been cleaning up. Multiple banks have already paid fines in connection with those investigations, which ranged between $200 million and $225 million, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients Wednesday. If Wells Fargo ended up paying a $200-million penalty related to this SEC and CFTC matter, the analysts said that would equal a 5-cent-per-share hit — or roughly 1% — to their full-year earnings-per-share (EPS) estimate of $5.56. The analysts also noted that Wells Fargo likely already set aside money to cover a potential fine as part of the $1.4 billion legal reserves it disclosed during its fourth-quarter earnings call, in January. Microsoft, Nvidia cloud gaming MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft’s year-to-date stock performance. The news: Microsoft made Xbox PC games available on Nvidia’s cloud gaming service— and now, Nvidia supports Microsoft’s blockbuster deal to buy video-game publisher Activision Blizzard (ATVI). The chipmaker, whose graphics processors are popular among gamers, had reportedly expressed concern about Microsoft’s controversial acquisition, which is drawing scrutiny from antitrust regulators around the world. Microsoft and Nvidia announced their 10-year partnership Tuesday. Microsoft also said that Activision’s PC games such as “Call of Duty,” will be available on Nvidia’s gaming service, called GeForce NOW, if the acquisition goes through. GeForce NOW has more than 25 million members globally, according to the company. There’s a limited free version, along with two premium tiers at $9.99 per month and $19.99 per month. Microsoft has its own cloud gaming service called Game Pass, which usually costs $9.99 a month. The Club’s take: The agreement between Microsoft and Nvidia appears to be an attempt to address government agencies’ competition concerns with the Activision deal. However, it remains to be seen how, if at all, the pact sways the thinking of regulators in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. In recent weeks, it began to seem like there was a high chance the deal wouldn’t go through. But the Club’s thesis on Microsoft is not centered on the tech giant acquiring Activision. It’s more about the growth of cloud-computing arm Azure, in general. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AMZN, NVDA, MSFT, WFC. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. 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The regulator was concerned with Amazon’s dual role as both a marketplace and a competitor to merchants selling on its platform.
Nathan Stirk | Getty Images
Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Wells Fargo (WFC) as well as Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) are in the news Wednesday. Here are the headlines and the implications for the Club’s investment thesis.
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