Noting that Amazon (AMZN) has recently begun to procure and manage freight transportation internally, causing investors to become concerned that the company is looking to supplant UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX), RBC Capital says it does not think the e-commerce giant is currently capable of building a "full-scale pickup and delivery business." However, the firm does believe that Amazon is looking to "create a limited pickup and delivery operation" that will incentivize UPS and FedEx to keep their prices low and service levels high. RBC also thinks that Amazon is looking to reduce its costs by building a global supply chain. RBC believes that FedEx and UPS could be threatened by Amazon's move over the longer term ,but it says that the shipping companies will have time to react to Amazon's initiatives before they present a major threat.

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Snap (SNAP) is expected to report results of its first quarter on Thursday, October 25, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm EDT. What to watch... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Amazon (AMZN), Rogers Communications (RCI), and the National Hockey League announced a "milestone two-year agreement" in Canada to bring hockey fans Monday night NHL hockey exclusively on Prime Video. "Prime Monday Night Hockey will stream all national regular season Monday night NHL games in English for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 NHL seasons. The deal is the NHL's first exclusive national broadcast package with a digital-only streaming service in Canada. The Prime Monday Night Hockey package, produced by Prime Video, will feature a new broadcast team offering in-depth analysis and play-by-play coverage, and stream live exclusively to Prime members in Canada," the companies stated.

UBS analyst Stephen Ju raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $215 from $198 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the Q1 results on April 30. Expectations for revenue seems to be at the high-end of the guidance range of $143.5B, operating income between $13B-$13.5B, and AWS growth is at 15%-16%, the analyst tells investors in a research note. In addition, 2024 will be the first year in some time in which most if not all of the overhangs on Amazon shares should lift to clear the way for the stock to continue to outperform, UBS adds.

Meta (META), Google (GOOGL), Snap (SNAP), and Amazon (AMZN) all benefit from the U.S.' ban of TikTok, The Washington Post's Will Oremus reports. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized TikTok's Chinese roots in 2019, part of Meta's broader campaign, Oremus writes. Reference Link

HSBC upgraded UPS to Buy from Hold with a price target of $170, up from $150. The company's Q1 results beat on tapering volume decline and an improving costs base, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm expects UPS's volumes and margins to turnaround from Q2, with a potential 2024 guidance upgrade to reflect the accretive USPS contract. This could restore confidence in the company's 2026 guidance, contends HSBC. It believes the company's volumes and margins have likely troughed.

HSBC analyst Parash Jain upgraded UPS to Buy from Hold with a $170 price target.

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Microsoft (MSFT) is scheduled to report results of the third quarter of its fiscal year 2024 after the market close on Thursday, April 25, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm ET. What to watch... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

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Tuesday's total option volume of 40.6 million contracts resulted in net open interest growth of 5.36 million calls and 4.67 million puts. Tesla (TSLA), AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC), Amazon (AMZN) and Ford (F) saw the greatest growth. Top five new positions opened include 40k Wal-Mart (WMT) May-24 59 calls, 37k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 8 puts, 36k AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) Sep-24 7 puts, 28k Ford (F) 4/26 weekly 13 calls and 26k Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) May-24 20 calls.

Loop Capital raised the firm's price target on UPS to $161 from $158 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares after its "not as bad as feared" Q1 earnings. Year One of the new Teamsters contract in conjunction with the very weak freight economy has left UPS with a big profitability and earnings hole to climb out of, though labor cost inflation should "dramatically decelerate" in the August quarter while macro conditions hopefully create a path for normalizing freight demand, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $225 from $220 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares ahead of quarterly results. The firm thinks Amazon is well positioned this year with multiple drivers of sustainable margin expansion in place. The company has reported operating income ahead of Street estimates for five consecutive quarters, and Wedbush estimates Q1 operating income of $11.6B, approximately 5% above consensus. Heading into results, the firm is looking for sustained advertising momentum given positive feedback from advertisers in its Q1 Digital Advertising Survey and from digital advertising agencies, accelerating AWS growth and incremental commentary on AI-related demand, and ongoing improvements in both North America and International retail margins.

Citi analyst Ronald Josey raised the firm's price target on Amazon.com to $235 from $215 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst "materially" raised operating income projections on Amazon following an analysis of the company's Advertising and Retail businesses. Citi now projects operating income to reach 10% margins in 2025 on continued advertising strength and improving retail efficiencies. Given faster shipping speeds, the firm believes conversion rates are improving as Amazon's retail business benefits from its regionalization approach with shorter transport distances as the overall cost to serve comes down. Amazon remains one of its top picks across the internet sector.