Pipavav port to invest ₹700 crore in expansion

Move to help boost container capacity

The board of APM Terminals Pipavav (Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd.) has approved a ₹700 crore expansion plan to upgrade the port’s existing facility to handle bigger ships as well as to expand the container capacity to 1.6 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

“The supply chain and the inland logistics are expected to significantly improve the reliability and reduce transit time going forward with the implementation of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC),” the company said.

This will improve overall cargo volume for imports and exports. About 40% of the total investments in the entire 1,535 km of the DFC is likely to be in Gujarat.

“With this investment, we aim to strengthen our network and continue to provide best in-class services to all our stakeholders,” Jakob Friis Sorenson, MD, APM Terminals Pipavav, said.

“The container yard capacity will be expanded once the cargo growth is visible post commissioning of DFC. We expectnormalcy in business to be restored by the second quarter of 2021,” he said.

Stock Alert: GSX Techedu Tumbles 11% On SEC Probe

Shares of GSX Techedu Inc. (GSX) are falling more than 11 percent or $10.70 in Wednesday’s morning trade at $83.99 after the China-based online tutoring service provider disclosed an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wednesday, GSX Techedu said that following several short-seller reports about the company between February and July 2020, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement requested the company to produce certain financial and operating records dating from January 1, 2017.

GSX Techedu reported increase in its second-quarter earnings by 13.4 percent to RMB18.6 million from RMB16.3 million in the prior-year quarter. Net income per ADS was RMB0.07 for the quarter, up from RMB0.04 last year. Adjusted net income per ADS was RMB0.29.

Net revenues surged 366.6 percent to RMB1.65 billion from RMB353.7 million last year. GSX Techedu has traded in a range of $11.72 to $141.78 in the past 52 weeks.

Crowdstrike could be the next cloud stock to soar on earnings, say options traders

After Zoom Video's monstrous earnings beat, options traders are betting that Crowdstrike could be the next big winner in this week's deluge of cloud stock earnings. 

The cybersecurity stock has had a wild year thus far, surging more than 175% as companies shift more and more of their workflow into the cloud. Options traders are betting that shift will manifest in big gains when Crowdstrike reports after the bell on Wednesday, even after a 14% rally in Tuesday's session.

"Crowdstrike traded two times the average daily option volume by midmorning, more than seven times by the end of the day. The most active [Sep. 4] weekly options were the 150-strike calls. Those were trading for just over $6," Optimize Advisors CIO Michael Khouw said Tuesday on CNBC's "Fast Money."

The options market is implying a post-earnings move of about 14% in either direction for Crowdstrike, and after Tuesday's close, the stock would need to move only about 9% higher for buyers of those contracts to break even. However, the stock has pulled back after yesterday's big rally, to the point where these traders will need Crowdstrike to hit that implied move on the nose to make their money back. 

Crowdstrike was trading about 5% lower in Wednesday's session.

Disclaimer

FDA Approves Abbott’s $5 COVID-19 Antigen Portable Rapid Test

Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday that it has received an Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a COVID-19 portable antigen test that will deliver results within 15 minutes. It will be priced at $5.

The company’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card is about the size of a credit card and requires no additional equipment to operate. It uses lateral flow technology with demonstrated sensitivity of 97.1% and specificity of 98.5% in clinical study.

The device will be an important tool to manage risk by quickly identifying infectious people so they don’t spread the disease to others, the company said in a statement.

The company said it will ship tens of millions of tests in September, ramping to 50 million tests a month at the beginning of October.

Abbott also said it will offer a mobile app at no charge that will allow people to display their results obtained through a healthcare provider when entering facilities requiring proof of testing. The app is supported by Apple and Android digital wallets and will be available from public app stores in the U.S.

If test results are negative, the app will display a digital health pass via a QR code, similar to an airline boarding pass. If test results are positive, people will receive a message to quarantine and talk to their doctor, the company said.

The company noted that the digital health pass is stored in the app temporarily and expires after the time period specified by organizations that accept the app.

Biden Calls for Charges Against Officer Who Shot Jacob Blake

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Wednesday he wants the Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake to be criminally charged.

The officer should “at a minimum” be charged, and then the judicial system should work on the case, Biden said in his first extended question-and-answer session with reporters in more than a month.

He was responding to a question about his running mate Kamala Harris’s suggestion that the officer be charged. He added that the officers who were involved in the killing of Kentucky woman Breonna Taylor in her home also be charged.

Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a White police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Biden plans to travel to Kenosha on Thursday. Asked about concerns that politicians visiting is a distraction, Biden said, “there’s been overwhelming requests that I do come because we’ve got to heal, bring things together,” he said.

President Donald Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday.