Midday Stock Picks: Energy stocks Buzz & $10 Market Leaders

The S&P 500 is steady this Friday but remains on track for its first weekly loss in four weeks, following a challenging session on Wall Street.

As of 11:58 AM ET, the Dow was down -9.09 points, or -0.0207%, at $43905.04. The Nasdaq Composite added 93.79 points, or 0.4339%, at $21709.0681. The S&P 500 declined -8.62 points, or -0.14%, at $6042.63. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 7 showed negative movement, with Utilities leading the way with a 0.96% decrease.

On Thursday, the Dow dropped 234 points (0.5%), marking its sixth straight losing day—the longest streak since April. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 0.7%, slipping below the 20,000 level as tech stocks like Nvidia stumbled, while the S&P 500 declined by about 0.5%.

For the week, the Dow is heading for a 1.6% decline, with the S&P 500 set to slide 0.7%, potentially snapping its three-week winning streak. The Nasdaq is narrowly poised for a 0.03% loss.

Top Movers: Under $10

WISeKey International Holding Ltd ADR (WKEY) is up 79.88% today to trade at the current level of $5.90. This comes after the company announced the confirmation of its subsidiary WISeSat.Space’s upcoming satellite launch in partnership with SpaceX.

Amplitech Group Inc (AMPG) zoomed 18.64% in today’s trade to $2.61 after announcing the successful delivery of prototype high-frequency Ultra Low Noise Amplifiers (ULNAs) to a Fortune 50 satellite systems provider.

In current trading, Loop Industries, Inc. (LOOP) stock is at $9.13 following news that it has secured €10 million through a convertible preferred security financing with Reed Societe Generale Group, a European investment firm majority-owned by the bank Societe Generale.

VCI Global Ltd (VCIG) rose 14.91% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $1.85 after reporting that it is setting a target to develop and acquire up to 100 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects across Southeast Asia (SEA) and Europe within the next five years.

In the current trading session, AYRO Inc (AYRO) jumped 17.17% to $0.76 over a previous close of $0.65 after announcing that it has been named a tier one supplier for General Motors (GM) through its partnership with GLV Ventures (GLV).

Ex-Dividends Stocks

Meta Platforms Inc (META) is about to trade ex-dividend Monday, meaning that investors who buy the stock after tomorrow will not be eligible for the next dividend payment. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.5 per share. It has fixed December 16 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on December 27. Last year, the company distributed a total of $1.50 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, META has a trailing yield of 0.24% on the current stock price of $619.20.

Shares of Franklin Universal Trust (FT) will be the talk of the stock market on Monday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.04 per share, and in the last 12 months, it paid a total of $0.51 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that FT has a trailing yield of 6.80% on the current share price of $7.50.

Tomorrow, Hess Corporation (HES) is also set to go ex-dividend on Monday. The next dividend payment from HES will amount to $0.5 per share. December 16 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for December 31. In the previous year, HES distributed a total of $1.81 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for HES stands at 1.29% based on the current stock price of $140.59.

Merck & Co Inc (MRK) will be paying out a dividend of $0.81 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of December 16. Over the past 12 months, MRK has paid out a total of $3.08 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, MRK boasts an impressive trailing yield of 3.03% on the current share price of $101.80.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Riot Platforms bought approximately $510 million worth of Bitcoin between Dec. 10-12, raising its total BTC holdings to nearly $1.7 billion.

• ZKsync has set ambitious goals to process over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) and reduce transaction fees to as low as $0.0001 by 2025.

• The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has requested businesses to disclose their current and future exposure to crypto by March 2025 to aid in monitoring stability and policy development.

• Binance has recorded over $24 billion in inflows from user deposits so far in 2024, according to DefiLlama data.

• A Texas lawmaker has proposed legislation to establish a Bitcoin reserve as part of the state's treasury.

Most Shorted Stocks

Kohl's Corp (KSS) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 37.93% short interest. The days to cover ratio, a measure of how long it would take for all the short positions to be covered based on average trading volume, is 4.9. This represents a change of 3500000 shares, which corresponds to a +9.20% increase in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $584.61 million. The average daily volume stands at 8.64M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $1.57B.

For the stock Opko Health Inc (OPK), the current short interest is at 31.02%. This represents a significant short interest change of 2930000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage increase of +3.06%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 25.2. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $159.68 million.

With the symbol IBRX, the stock currently has a short interest of 31.19%. The short interest change is -2270000 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of -4.36%. It would take approximately 9.8 days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $283.88 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 5.68M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $2.01B.

The stock LAZR has a current short interest of 30.19%. The short interest percentage has experienced an increase of +15.70% while there was a change of 1050000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 3.1. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $328.05 million. Trading activity averages at 2.54M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $219.34M.

Energy stocks to Watch

According to our ST Score evaluation, Epsilon Energy Ltd (EPSN) emerges as a high-quality stock in the Energy industry, attaining an impressive score of 62. The stock's performance, financial strength, and Piotroski Score are strong. However, its growth is weak. Additionally, it is neutral in terms of profitability, stock sentiment, and forecast.

Our ST Score also classifies Natural Gas Services Group, Inc (NGS) as a high-quality Energy stock today, presenting a Score of 58. The stock has strong fundamentals in terms of profitability, performance, and Piotroski Score. However, it has weak financial strength. The growth, stock sentiment, and forecast are neutral.

Another stock in the category, Bristow Group Inc (VTOL) has the ST Score of 56, which means that the stock carries the potential for higher returns. The stock is strong in Piotroski Score but weak in financial strength. Profitability, performance, growth, stock sentiment, and forecast suggest a neutral outlook.

Precision Drilling Corp (PDS) stock has the ST Score of 55 which implies that the Energy company has a high probability of beating the market. The stock's strengths lie in its profitability, performance, and Piotroski Score, but its weaknesses are in its growth. However, it shows a neutral outlook in financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast.

Stabilis Solutions Inc (SLNG) currently has the ST Score of 55, which signifies a huge upward potential. The Energy stock's strong points are its performance, and Piotroski Score, while its weak points are its profitability. The stock's growth, financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast indicate a neutral outlook.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Good luck out there!

Best Regards,

Stocks Telegraph Team

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