Hammerstone Markets Inc.

Shares of Leslie's Inc. ($LESL) are down -2.46% as the direct-to-consumer pool & spa brand is to exit the S&P 600 after the bell today. -Leslie's has lost 93% since its 2020 IPO.

Berkshire Hathaway Hits Record High as Quarterly Profit Soars Berkshire Hathaway ($BRK/A, $BRK/B) shares climbed to an all-time high on Monday after the Warren Buffett-led conglomerate reported its best-ever quarterly profit, fueled by strong performance in its insurance operations. Small investor-friendly Class B shares of Berkshire surged as much as 5% to $501.87, according to NYSE data, surpassing the previous peak by $10 notched in November. The rally lifted the market value of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company to approximately $1.08T. On Saturday, Berkshire announced that fourth-quarter profit from its 189 operating businesses jumped 71% to $14.53 billion. Excluding currency gains, profit reached $13.38 billion, beating analyst expectations. The conglomerate also set a full-year record with operating profit rising 27% to $47.44 billion, aided by higher income from its $334.2 billion in cash and equivalents, primarily invested in U.S. Treasury bills. Shares of Howard Hughes Holdings ($HHH), the company that investment Bill Ackman said he will turn into the next Berkshire Hathaway, are lower by 1.6% since his announcement at 3pm on February 18. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway's B Class are +4% over the same time frame. Sometimes it best to stick with the original versus the multiple of investors over the years who have been lauded as or called themselves "the next Warren Buffett."

China's Alibaba Group Announces Massive AI investment Plans Alibaba ($BABA) shares are lower by 5%% in pre-mkt trading despite an update to Overweight from Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley due to AI news overnight from the company: - Alibaba Group announced plans to invest over $53B in AI over the next 3 years, which exceeds what $BABA had invested in AI over the past 10 years per @Reuters - CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, in last week's conference call, said that $BABA would make significant investments in AI and cloud computing infrastructure over the next three years, but he did not mention the amount of investment until yesterday. - Morgan Stanley raised their price target to $180 from $100 om Alibaba.

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Getting the Band Back Together: New Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential Discovered in China - Covid Vaccine Names Pop & Markets Move Lower At half past noon today, The Daily Mail published a presentation-type story which told of the new HKU5-CoV-2 is a coronavirus belonging to the merbecovirus family of pathogens. Merbecoviruses have been detected in minks and pangolins - the animal believed to be the intermediary for Covid between bats and humans. This, the scientists wrote, 'suggests frequent cross-species transmission of these viruses between bats and other animal species.' Traders soon disseminated the article which lifted the Covid-19 era vaccine makers: Pfizer ($PFE), Moderna ($MRNA), and Biontech ($BNTX). Conversely, the basket of cruise stocks all turned south: Carnival ($CCL), Royal Caribbean ($RCL), Norwegian Cruise ($NCLH) and Viking ($VIK).

This morning's Early Look, originally distributed to Hammerstone subscribers at 7am. You can get it at 7am , too! Sign up to get on the free distribution list here: https://lnkd.in/d9qvZqz

Justice Department Probes UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare Billing Practices Shares of UnitedHealth Group ($UNH) are lower by over 10% in heavy pre-market trading following breaking news from The Wall Street Journal. The Justice Department has opened a civil fraud investigation into UnitedHealth Group’s ($UNH) Medicare billing practices, focusing on how the company records diagnoses that increase payments to its Medicare Advantage plans, according to sources familiar with the matter per The Wall Street Journal. The probe includes practices at physician groups owned by UnitedHealth and follows a Wall Street Journal investigation last year that revealed billions of dollars in questionable Medicare payments to the company. Justice Department lawyers questioned medical providers named in the articles as recently as January 31. In the Medicare Advantage system, insurers receive lump-sum payments from the federal government to manage enrollees’ Medicare benefits. These payments increase when patients are diagnosed with certain conditions, creating a potential incentive to diagnose more illnesses. The new investigation intensifies scrutiny on UnitedHealth, a $400 billion company that not only operates the largest U.S. health insurer but also manages a broad array of healthcare assets, including doctor practices, a major pharmacy-benefit manager, and data and technology operations.

AppLovin Corp ($APP) shares are lower by -11.50% on the day due to several reasons: - Potential revenue headwind from Unity Software's ($U) Unity Grow product, especially after Unity's blowout 4Q ($U shares +26% today!) earnings were reported this morning. - Hanging over AppLovin for a week: The EU is prepared to order a break-up of Google's advertising technology business, which could involve separating parts of its ad tech operations into separate entities.[AppLovin has integrated Google's bidding services into its MAX mediation platform] - Short report subscription service The BearCave published a negative report on $APP this morning questioning AppLovin's ad network business, stating it "is fueled by low-quality revenue growth from ads that are deceptive, predatory, and at times unreadable or unclickable." - $APP shares had lost over $44 or 9% 40 minutes prior to the Bearcave piece, the loss grew to -13% by 2:30pm as the combination of issues plus a risk-off market day pressured the shares.

Possible Bidders For Dollar Tree's Family Dollar Private equity firms Apollo Global Management ($APO), Sycamore Partners and Brigade Capital are among the bidders who are competing to buy Family Dollar, the discount retail brand operated by Dollar Tree ($DLTR) according to people familiar with the matter per Reuters. -Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5B at the urging of investor Carl Icahn who held a 9.4% stake in Family Dollar. Hopefully, in the 10 years since the sale, Mr. Icahn's heartfelt concerns about the management, strategy and stewardship of Family Dollar have been met under Dollar Tree's ownership.

Amazon MGM Studios Takes Creative Control of James Bond Franchise from Broccoli Family -Amazon MGM Studios has secured creative control of the James Bond franchise, ending decades of exclusive oversight by the Broccoli family. -Under a new joint venture between Amazon and the Broccoli family, Amazon will now manage the franchise’s intellectual property rights, including casting decisions, scriptwriting, and production timelines for the next 007 film per The Wall Street Journal.