馬斯克投顧再度開張？一個 hashtag 讓比特幣報價盤中大飆一成

馬斯克投顧再度開張？一個 hashtag 讓比特幣報價盤中大飆一成

特斯拉（Tesla）執行長馬斯克（Elon Musk）的號召力顯然可以讓他再成立一家公司：馬斯克投顧。繼貼出一則狗狗圖像讓狗狗幣報價一夕之間爆噴 500% 後，馬斯克在 Twitter 又有新動作，他在帳戶簡介加入「#bitcoin」（比特幣），光這個舉動，就讓比特幣盤中直線拉升，飆漲一成。

▲ 馬斯克在 Twitter 個人介紹加了 #bitcoin。

▲ 比特幣 29 日因馬斯克推文爆漲。（Source：Yahoo!Finance）

馬斯克投顧近日頻頻開張，在助攻比特幣之前，馬斯克才剛對動作角色扮演遊戲《電馭叛客 2077》（Cyberpunk 2077）表示讚賞，帶動波蘭遊戲開發商 CD Projekt 股價聞訊大漲，成為受惠馬斯克推文的新一檔個股。

With Cyberpunk, even the hotfixes literally have hotfixes, but … great game — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021

而在《電馭叛客 2077》的這則推文前 1 小時，馬斯克也才剛參與因 Reddit 軍團飆股交易遭到限制，散戶轉戰加密貨幣的狗狗幣大戰。當時散戶在 Twitter 懇求馬斯克幫忙，結果馬斯克真的在 28 日晚間發文貼出《Vogue》風格的狗狗圖像，立刻讓狗狗幣飆升。

在此之前，馬斯克投顧的傑作還包括助長 GameStop 軋空行情及 Etsy 股價的劇烈波動。其中，馬斯克分別只用了一個字「Gamestonk!!」及一句話「I kinda love Etsy」，就讓這兩檔股票股價暴衝與大幅震盪，讓人不得不佩服他「喊水會結凍」的實力。

Bought a hand knit wool Marvin the Martian helm for my dog — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021

從頻繁推文來看，馬斯克無疑是 Twitter 愛好者，除了抒發心情，Twitter 也幾乎成為他與大眾互動的主要工具。加上光靠 Twitter 一句話、一行字或甚至一個單字就能對市場有這麼大的影響力，也難怪先前傳出馬斯克解散特斯拉公關團隊後，正準備招募新血管理馬斯克本人的 Twitter 帳號。

（首圖來源：Flickr/Daniel Oberhaus CC BY 2.0）

霍華馬克斯坦承對比特幣思慮不周，感謝兒子為家族買進

比特幣近來狂飆，成為年輕世代喜愛的投資標的。之前曾預見金融海嘯和達康泡沫、備受尊崇的橡樹資本（Oaktree Capital）共同創辦人霍華馬克斯（Howard Marks）直指，他先前一度對虛擬貨幣抱持懷疑態度，如今他感謝（thankfully）自己兒子對比特幣等虛幣持正面看法，並為家族買進了相當數量（owns a meaningful amount for our family）。

馬克斯 11 日新發表的備忘錄表示，他過去對金融創新、市場投機行為的看法，以及向來保守的心態，導致他對虛擬貨幣抱持懷疑態度。這種思考模式雖協助橡樹資本和他自己多次躲過麻煩，卻無法讓他以創新的角度來思考。

因此，在他兒子安德魯（Andrew Marks）的幫助下，馬克斯認為，他尚未取得足夠資訊、不可對虛擬貨幣妄下定論。他會以開放的態度努力學習。

馬克斯並非唯一最近對比特幣態度軟化的知名投資專家。達里歐 2020 年 11 月 17 日也曾透過 Twitter 指出，「關於比特幣，我也許錯過了什麼訊息，我樂於修正。」

投資平台 eToro 虛幣資產分析師 Simon Peters 曾指出，比特幣之所以創造出來，有部分是因為人們擔憂財政刺激方案愈來愈多，將促貶全球貨幣。當各國央行宣布要延長貨幣寬鬆政策時，許多虛幣投資人隨即將之視為重大的比特幣買進訊號。

Grayscale 比特幣信託基金（Grayscale Bitcoin Trust，GBTC）已成為華爾街機構投資者（例如避險基金、退休基金、捐贈基金等）在不持有比特幣的情況下，增加虛擬貨幣曝險度的公開交易方式。

CNBC 1 月 14 日報導，Grayscale 是總部位於紐約的投資機構，去年初管理的資產規模為 20 億美元，年底大增至超過 202 億美元，一口氣膨脹 900%。其中，GBTC 的資產規模也從 18 億美元成長至 175 億美元。

Grayscale 指出，2020 年吸納的資金，有 87% 來自機構投資者。這些投資者平均投入的金額，幾個月內就激增 1 倍。2020 年第 3 季期間，投資人平均投入約 300 萬美元，到了年底，平均投資額已拉高至 680 億美元。

（本文由 MoneyDJ新聞 授權轉載；首圖來源：Flickr/kellywritershouse CC BY 2.0）

Bitcoin Back Above $40K as Institutions Lead the Way

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According to Finviz.com, there are 230 stocks under $20 that trade on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of over $2 billion. On the Nasdaq, there are 83. Care to guess how many stocks over $100 trade on the NYSE and Nasdaq with a market cap over $2 billion? 303 on the NYSE and 262 on Nasdaq indicate that tech stocks tend to trade above $100. There are 208 on the NYSE and 82 on Nasdaq that trade between $5 and $20. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips This means of the 313 stocks $20 or under on both exchanges, almost 93% trade between $5 and $20, providing investors with a much larger selection than if you were focused exclusively on penny stocks under $5. Further, my screening suggests the possibilities are greater on the NYSE than on Nasdaq. However, for my seven stocks under $20, I’ve found more to my liking amongst Nasdaq stocks than on the NYSE. To make things interesting, I’ll make sure I’ve got seven stocks under $20 from seven different sectors. Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) Qurate Retail (NASDAQ:QRTEA) Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA) Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) Outfront Media (NYSE:OUT) 7 ‘Love or Hate’ Cult Stocks with Powerful Followings Happy investing! Stocks Under $20 to Buy Now: Zynga (ZNGA) Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com I’ll admit that some of the names on my list of stocks under $20 aren’t the usual names I might consider for a gallery of stocks. That said, they’ve all got something going for them that makes their stocks decent value plays in the year ahead. In the case of Zynga, the last time I wrote about the maker of free-to-play mobile video games was a pros/cons story in November 2013. At the time, I recommended that investors should consider its stock only as a speculative bet. Alternatively, they should buy the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ:SKYY) because your investment would have been protected by 38 other stocks. Today, Zynga is no longer part of SKYY. If you bought SKYY on my suggestion, you would have done really well. As for Zynga, a number of my InvestorPlace colleagues have gotten quite enthusiastic about its chances. Josh Enomoto suggested that ZNGA stock is “an intriguing pick among stocks selling at a discount in the gaming arena.” At the moment, Zynga is trading at 5.7 times sales. By comparison, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) has a price-to-sales ratio of 7.6. Now, I’m not suggesting that Zynga’s in the same league as EA, but the company’s third-quarter saw it report the highest quarterly sales in its history with operating cash flow of $113 million, the best Q3 result in its history and 65% higher than Q3 2019. Consumer Cyclical: Qurate Retail (QRTEA) Source: Pavel Kapysh / Shutterstock.com The name might not ring any bells, but Qurate’s seven retail brands probably do. It has QVC, HSN, Zulily, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, and Grandin Rose. QVC and HSN are the world’s largest video commerce platforms. The latest 12 months (LTM) through Sept. 30, 2020, generated $11.3 billion from 15.4 million customers. Zulily and its other four businesses pale in comparison generating $2.6 billion from 7.7 million customers in the latest 12 months. Over the past year, it’s had a bit of a renaissance. QRTEA stock delivered a total return of 83.6%, considerably higher than most of its internet retail peers. As it said in its November 2020 presentation, its ability to consistently generate free cash flow (FCF) will enable it to continue to return capital to shareholders. Between 2017 and 2019, it returned more than 70% of its FCF to shareholders through share repurchases. It plans to continue paying out a majority of its FCF in 2021 and beyond. In the past three years, Qurate’s FCF grew from $718 million in 2018 to $1.77 billion through the end of September. Based on an enterprise value of $11.1 billion, it’s got an FCF yield of 15.9%. I consider anything above 8% to be value territory. The integration process of merging QVC and HSN after its 2018 combination is primarily completed. It’s managed to find more than $200 million in annual savings with plans to increase that to $400 million by the end of 2022. 7 Equity Crowdfunding Offerings to Buy This Week That should only help increase its cash flow generation prowess. Energy: Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) Source: Shutterstock Although I don’t know a lot about the company, you say the words “clean energy,” and my ears perk up. The company got its start in 1988 when T. Boone Pickens jumped on natural gas to save commercial trucks money while providing a cleaner fuel at the same time. Fast forward to today and it has more than 530 natural gas fueling stations in 43 states and Canada. Interestingly, Clean Energy Fuels is the only fueling provider to offer the trifecta of natural gas: compressed natural gas (CNG), liquified natural gas (LNG), and renewable natural gas (RNG). If you’ve followed the work Hyliion Holdings (NYSE:HYLN) is doing to develop commercial transportation that’s net-carbon-negative, you know that the startup’s Hypertruck ERX utilizes a fully electric drivetrain whose generator is fueled by natural gas that can deliver more than 1,300 miles per fueling. As Hyliion’s investor site states, “renewable natural gas offers commercial fleets with an attractive option to achieve carbon negative status.” 25%-owned by Total (NYSE:TOT), Clean Energy Fuels can be a part of the solution to move beyond traditional fossil fuels. More profitable than it’s ever been, the company’s Redeem renewable natural gas continues to gain ground with commercial fleets. Redeem gasoline gallon equivalents delivered grew from 78.5 million in 2017 to 143.3 million in 2019. That’s good news for shareholders and the world. Financial: Ares Capital (ARCC) Source: Pavel Kapysh / Shutterstock.com To look at Ares Capital’s long-term chart, investors might be tempted to walk away. After all, its share price since its October 2004 initial public offering (IPO) has primarily traded in a narrow range between $15 and $20. Only twice has it traded below $10: March 2009 and March 2020. Just because you missed the 2020 correction doesn’t mean you should ignore the income opportunity while you wait for the next correction to buy more. Ares Capital is what’s known as a business development company (BDC). It provides debt and non-control equity to middle-market businesses with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between $10 million and $250 million. Because BDCs are regulated investment companies (RICs), they must payout at least 90% of their profits to shareholders. They do not pay taxes on their profits. Shareholders pay taxes based on ordinary income tax rates. This is why Ares Capital currently yields 9%. And if you hold ARCC in a Roth IRA until you’re 59.5, you can grow that 9% tax-free for as long as you want and remove as much as you want also tax-free. Ares Capital’s portfolio is $14.4 billion, with the largest investment accounting for just 3% of the portfolio providing shareholders with excellent diversification. 8 Ways Reddit Will Change Trading I recommend that you closely examine the company’s presentations and materials before jumping to ARCC. While it’s performed nicely over the years, it is a different beast from your typical financial sector investment. Healthcare: Aphria (APHA) Source: Shutterstock One of Canada’s biggest players in cannabis has gotten off to a hot start in 2021. Up 80.6% year-to-date through Feb. 1, the company delivered strong Q2 2021 results in mid-January that included a 33% increase in sales to 160.5 million CAD ($125.5 million) and a 563% increase in EBITDA to 12.6 million CAD ($9.9 million). It was the company’s seventh consecutive quarter of higher sales, a quarter in which the average sale price was 4.29 CAD ($3.35) per gram, up 3.4% from the previous quarter. Three things make Aphria an interesting investment: 1) Aphria is merging with Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) to make it a formidable force not just in the Canadian cannabis market but also worldwide. 2) The company’s acquisition of Sweetwater Brewing in November 2020 gave it access to the U.S. market through the craft brewer’s existing infrastructure. It also makes it more attractive for possible strategic investments by consumer-packaged goods companies. 3) Chief Executive Officer Irwin Simon never seems to be at a loss for words when discussing Aphria’s future. His experience getting brands on shelves is a given. Once the merger between itself and Tilray is complete, Aphria will own 20% of the Canadian market, 700 basis points higher than Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC). I like its chances in 2021 and beyond. Utilities: Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN) Source: zhao jiankang / Shutterstock.com The second Canadian-based company on my list of stocks under $20, Algonquin, is one of the better run utilities in North America. As Forbes contributor Roger Conrad said in December, Algonquin is a future NextEra (NYSE:NEE) at a better price. “The company’s largest purchase to date closed in 2017, with the former Empire District Electric adding 218,000 electricity and natural gas utility customers in four states,” Conrad stated on Dec. 17. “The most recent utilities to join the fold are Ascendant Group in Bermuda and Chilean water utility Essal, the company’s 26th and 27th regulated acquisitions, respectively. And the most significant deal pending is for American Water Works’ (NYSE: AWK) New York water utility, with regulatory approval expected in early 2021.” 9 Stocks to Buy for the Cashless Revolution Trading near its 52-week high, you’ll want to be patient with Algonquin. Paying a 3% dividend, you’ll be rewarded for your patience until it resumes its climb into the $20s. Real Estate: Outfront Media (OUT) Source: Shutterstock.com Outfront is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that makes money by renting out its billboards to advertisers who pay it rental income for the right to advertise on those billboards, digital signs, and transit shelters. They typically lease the ground upon which its billboard structures are located for anywhere from a few months to several years. Several years ago, I got to know one of the senior people at Outfront Media’s Canadian operations in my capacity as a business columnist for the neighborhood paper where I lived in Toronto. I can’t remember his name for the life of me, but he was a very reasonable person having a bit of a tussle with some people running the local arena. Outfront was looking to put up a digital sign in the same spot where one of its billboards was erected in the arena parking lot. As part of the deal, it would share revenue with the arena. It seemed like a no-brainer for an organization in need of money. Well, the deal finally got done, and nobody’s life has been shattered because there’s a digital sign in place of a static billboard. As the tussle demonstrates, it’s not always easy for Outfront to get acceptance from communities where it’s looking to generate revenue from its billboard structures. This means it sometimes has to spend a lot of time negotiating with the city government, community leaders, etc. It’s not easy work. In the past year, Outfront’s stock has fallen by almost 37%. That’s put a dent in its long-term returns. Outfront went public in March 2014 at $28. As I write this, it’s trading down 33% from its IPO price. Covid-19 has been brutal on its revenues and operating profits, which is why its share price is well below its 52-week high of $31.20. When life gets back to normal, Outfront’s share price will return to $30 in no time, especially if it resumes paying its dividend. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential Winner It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post 7 Stocks Under $20 to Buy Now appeared first on InvestorPlace.