新闻和分析

Delta Air Lines stock rose markedly by low double digits in the first ten days of the new year. The U.S. carrier has served more than 200 million customers in 2024, when it was also recognized by J.D. Power, a leading American data analytics and consumer intelligence company, for being No. 1 in First/Business and Premium Economy Passenger Satisfaction. Travelers became more willing to spend extra money for swanky seats when meeting a high level of service. Delta is just positioning itself as the nation's premium airline. And what's more important, its Christmas quarter's earnings reportedly surpassed average analyst pool projections. Driven by stronger travel demand, smart financial management and capacity discipline, Delta business provided last three-months' profit of $1.85 per share vs $1.28 at the same period one year ago, compared to $1.75 in consensus estimates. On January 10, the airline industry leader put its future profit levels within a range between $0.70 and $1 per share in the current quarter through the end of March, while analyst expectations were focused on $0.77 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. The starting months of each year always perform worse. It is clear that all carriers made losses in the Covid years of 2020-2022, but Delta profits only recovered into a range from $0.25 to $0.45 in the first quarter of 2023 and 2024, respectively, but Q1 profit numbers varied from $0.75 to $0.96 even in the three blessed years before the pandemic. Delta added that it is forecasting annual earnings in excess of $7.35 a share, which would be the highest in its 100-year history, based on its planned revenue growth of 7% to 9% in the March quarter from a year ago. The announcement could be compared to an adjusted profit of $6.16 a share in 2024. The company happily breaks through ticket prices' rising effects, almost undisturbed by a reduction in airline seats in the domestic market, which was peculiar for most carriers. Thus, new expectations created a fertile ground for setting new price records, even though price movements on Delta charts look most convincing among its other American rivals.

By the way, Citigroup analysts freshly updated their outlook on Delta Air Lines shares to raise their price target to $80 from the previous $77, vs the actual range around $65 per share where the stock just came after a reasonable market correction from last week's and all-time highs. Citigroup said it has included factors like higher revenue per available seat mile, projections of slightly lower fuel prices, increased taxation, a minor rise in share count, and the incorporation of fourth-quarter 2024 results into their financial model, which has projected Delta's profit at $7.49 per share in 2024 and $8.72 in 2025. Delta shares are Buy-rated at Citi, and we agree with their positive estimates in general, while keeping in mind even better price goals somewhere between $82.5 and $85.

Loopring (LRC) is up 4.4% this week, trading at $0.1910, though it lags behind the broader cryptocurrency market, where Bitcoin (BTC) has risen by 5.2% to $99,300. Most of LRC's gains occurred on Wednesday following the release of December inflation data in the United States. Core inflation came in unexpectedly lower than both forecasts and the November reading, sparking optimism in the market.

The softer inflation data boosted market sentiment, increasing bets on a quarter-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in March to 27.0%. This encouraged investors to increase their exposure to risky assets, including cryptocurrencies like LRC.

Despite recent gains, LRC remains under pressure, having fallen below the key support level at $0.2000 earlier in the month, with prices briefly heading toward $0.1000. The recovery to near $0.2000 suggests improving momentum, and further upside may be possible if Bitcoin maintains its upward trajectory.

Dogecoin (DOGE) is up 6.3% this week, trading at $0.3560, significantly outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market, where Bitcoin (BTC) is up 2.9% to $96,990. DOGE has emerged as the best-performing cryptocurrency among the top 10 by market capitalisation.

The rally in DOGE is driven by an improving macroeconomic outlook in the United States, bolstered by speculations that the new U.S. administration will adopt a gradual approach to tariff increases. Adding to the excitement, Dogecoin’s high-profile ambassador, Elon Musk, is reportedly gaining access to U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration, further fuelling optimism around the memecoin.

Speculations that Dogecoin may become the currency for the X platform (formerly Twitter) payment system have also supported the rally. Investors have purchased approximately $570 million worth of DOGE over the last six days, reflecting heightened interest in the token.

From a technical perspective, DOGE needs to break above the $0.4000 resistance level to sustain its upward momentum. A successful move above this level could set the stage for a rally towards $0.5000, solidifying its position as a top-performing cryptocurrency.

Going to take a chance on eBay. Last week, the global marketplace having a value around $31.5 billion suddenly spiked by nearly 13% upward. An announced partnership with Meta Platforms (META) allowed eBay listings to be featured on Facebook. The news created a bullish gap from $63.17 to $67.90 on eBay charts on January 8, with prices sporadically touching even above $71.50 levels for a little while. Now the dust settled, and a price correction found the stock at nearly $66 per share, providing just a perfect discount to enter the flow of more reasonable and smart buyers at what I call the right timing. eBay gives another chance for still thirsty investors. We had already discussed great changes on Facebook and Instagram content moderation policy that helped Meta Platform stock itself to rise. And now a supposed rise in popularity of Meta would also support further growth of its collaborating partner. Tests are starting for German, French and, of course, American consumers as they get an option to browse eBay's offerings on Facebook, easily proceeding to eBay for finalizing purchases. I feel here is not so important that the management of Meta decided to do this soon after the European Commission recently imposed a big $840 million fine on Meta for practices allegedly favouring its very own Facebook marketplace. Meta has reportedly appealed the EC decision, but it also took this step to integrate with eBay in order to address the concerns raised. First, this may commercially support additional sales to eBay, but also deliver more of eBay sellers to access a larger Facebook audience. The visibility of eBay listings would clearly be higher, as well as users' engagement, and so I hopefully add some of eBay shares to my already vast Meta stake.

Beside a 63% stock return on eBay over the past year, signing of a definitive agreement for eBay to acquire Caramel, which is a provider of an end-to-end online car sales platform, just happened in the shortest possible time. This acquisition deal was announced to be fully finished before the end of Q1 2025. Actually, the motors division on eBay is now a hub for auto parts and accessories enthusiasts but Caramel's advanced technology solves many complex problems during vehicle sales in a better way, including all automatized paperwork, ownership transfer, financial matters, and thus each and every detail up to transportation. Comfortably streamlining the whole process of buying and selling vehicles on a safe and always crowded platform is yet an additional solid argument for eBay stock growth.