AMZN - Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Amazon Partners With Hyundai To Sell Cars Online

2023-11-17 06:39:10 ET

Summary

• Amazon partners with Hyundai to enter the auto retail sector, allowing customers to buy Hyundai vehicles on Amazon's website.
• ChargePoint's Q3 preliminary revenue falls short of expectations, leading to a 30% drop in stock price. The company also announces a new CEO.
• Applied Materials is reportedly under review by the Department of Justice for potentially evading export control rules.

Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Auto retail disruption: Amazon ( AMZN ) partners with Hyundai ( HYMTF ) to sell cars online . (00:29) ChargePoint ( CHPT ) plummets on CEO replacement, preliminary Q3 results. (01:31) Applied Materials ( AMAT ) under criminal investigation for evading export controls: report. (02:45)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show that it is breaking into the auto retail sector through a partnership with Hyundai Motor Company ( OTCPK:HYMTF ).

Online vehicle sales will begin in the U.S. in 2024. Auto buyers will have the option to buy their Hyundai ( OTCPK:HYMTF ) vehicle on Amazon's website and then pick it up from their local dealer.

As part of the collaboration between the companies, Hyundai ( OTCPK:HYMTF ) named AWS as its preferred cloud provider to help facilitate digital transformation, and noted that the Alexa Built-in experience is coming to Hyundai's next-generation vehicles.

Hyundai ( OTCPK:HYMTF ) will be the first brand available for customers to purchase. Amazon ( AMZN ) did not disclose when other automakers might be added to the program.

The partnership adds incremental competition for auto retailers such as CarMax ( KMX ) -5.56%, Vroom ( VRM ) -6.15% and Carvana ( CVNA ) -5.27%, among others.

ChargePoint (NYSE: CHPT ) is down 30% in premarket trading after the EV charging network operator said that third quarter revenue will fall short of expectations

The company provided preliminary third quarter revenue of $108 to $113 million, compared to $150 to $165 million previously expected.

ChargePoint also has a new President and CEO, Rick Wilmer.

Wilmer said, “Overall macroeconomic conditions, along with fleet and commercial vehicle delivery delays impacted anticipated deployments with government, auto dealership and workplace customers.”

As of October 31, 2023, the company said its cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash was approximately $397 million.

The company expects non-GAAP operating expenses of $80 million to $82 million, as compared to $81 million to $84 million as previously expected.

ChargePoint also announced on Thursday that its Chief Financial Officer has departed the company and an interim CFO has been appointed.

CHPT will report its full third quarter results on December 6.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT ) is reportedly under criminal investigation in the U.S.

According to Reuters citing three people familiar with the matter, the company potentially evaded export curb control rules and allegedly sent equipment to a Chinese chipmaker.

The report said that Applied Materials, which also reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday, is under review by the Department of Justice for sending "hundreds of millions" of dollars of equipment to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and not having export licenses.

The company reportedly produced equipment in Massachusetts and then sent the equipment to a subsidiary in South Korea, which then shipped the equipment to China's SMIC.

Premarket Applied Materials ( AMAT ) is down 7.3% on the back of the report.

In October 2022, the Biden Administration restricted semiconductor and semiconductor equipment sales to China on fears of national security.

Applied Materials ( AMAT ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

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Wall Street's major averages on Thursday ended mixed.

The Dow ( DJI ) fell 0.13%. The Nasdaq ( COMP.IND ) and the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) managed to eke out gains. The former added 0.07% while the latter gained 0.12%.

Of the 11 S&P sectors, seven closed in positive territory, led by Utilities. Energy fell ~2% and was the top loser as WTI crude oil futures ( CL1:COM ) declined almost 5% amid swelling inventories.

Treasury yields were lower on Thursday. The 10-year yield ( US10Y ) was down 9 basis points to 4.45%. The 2-year yield ( US2Y ) was down 7 basis points to 4.85%.

Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. The Dow is up 0.2%, the S&P 500 is up 0.2% and the Nasdaq is up a small fraction. Crude oil is up 1.1% at more than $73 per barrel.

In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.9% and the DAX is up 0.9%.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: The Gap (NYSE: GPS ) is up 17% after Q3 financial results exceeded expectations. Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST ) is up 7% after beating consensus estimates in its Q3 earnings report .

On today’s economic calendar:

• 8:45 am the Fed’s Michael Barr will speak at the Clearing House Annual Conference on the topic of Payments.

• 8:45 am the Fed’s Susan Collins will speak at an economic conference on “Rethinking Full Employment”

• 9:45 am the Fed’s Austan Goolsbee will speak about the economy at the annual Community Bankers Symposium

For further details see: