Top Stock Market News For Today December 17

Stock Market Futures Extend Losses As Central Bank Tightens Monetary Policies

Stock market futures appear to be dipping further after yesterday’s sell-off of growth names. The current activity is likely a continuation of investors’ reaction to the Fed’s policy announcement this week. In brief, the Federal Reserve is pulling back on its pandemic-era easy-money policies. This involves tapering its bond purchasing program and a possible interest rate hike down the line. As a result, investors appear to be rotating out of high-growth names. Among the main sectors affected by this would be tech stocks. This is evident as the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down by as much as 2.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} during intraday trading yesterday.

Weighing in on all of this is FS Investments chief market strategist Troy Gayeski. He said, “The thing investors have to understand is, we’re going through a major transition in monetary policy”. Gayeski went on to elaborate, “The Fed has been running emergency policies arguably far longer than they should have been, and as that money supply growth slows down as they ease off the balance sheet expansion and ultimately hike next year, one would at least expect more volatility in markets. And that’s really what we’ve been seeing the last month.

If all that wasn’t enough, investors have no shortage of exciting stock market news to consider today as well. As of 7:38 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, 0.47{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, and 0.94{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} respectively.

Rivian Shares Fall On Wide Earnings Miss

Among the companies turning heads at the tail-end of this earnings season is electric vehicle (EV) industry newcomer Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN). This would be the case given the company’s explosive initial public offering (IPO) back in early November. However, the company’s first quarterly earnings since going public fell short on several fronts.

RIVN stock

Namely, Rivian posted a loss per share of $12.21 on revenue of about $1 million from its first customer deliveries of 11 R1T EVs. On one hand, the company missed consensus earnings estimates by $5.53 and revenue projections by $0.03 million. As a result, the company’s shares are sliding by over 9{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} in pre-market trading, placing RIVN stock below the $100 mark.

By and large, the numbers may not seem all that inviting at face value. However, a loss is expected given the company’s current focus on expanding its operations. After all, it is looking to compete with major names in the industry that already have substantial head-starts. In fact, Rivian also revealed plans to build its second U.S. production plant. The company is looking to begin construction by the summer of 2022. By Rivian’s estimates, it will have an annual production capacity of about 400,000 units. On top of that, the company also notes that it currently has over 71 thousand pre-orders for its EVs. Regardless of where you stand on Rivian’s prospects, RIVN stock will likely be in focus in the stock market today.

[Read More] Best Lithium Battery Stocks To Buy Now? 4 To Know

FedEx Back On Track To Deliver On Original Fiscal Year 2022 Profit Goals

In other earnings-related news, FedEx (NYSE: FDX) posted solid figures in its latest quarterly earnings release after yesterday’s closing bell. In detail, the company reported an earnings per share of $4.83 on revenue of $23.5 billion for the quarter. For comparison, this is versus estimates of $4.28 and $22.4 billion respectively.

FDX stock

Providing an overview of the quarter is executive VP and CFO Michael Lenz. Lenz said, “FedEx operating income grew in our second quarter, driven by strong revenue growth and effective management of our cost and expected labor availability challenges.” While the company’s earnings per share were unchanged year-over-year, he also notes that FedEx paid “significantly higher” taxes this year.

Notably, a key highlight of the company’s earnings call would be the update to its fiscal 2022 profit outlook. Thanks to the current momentum in its business, FedEx is reinstating its initial estimates after lowering them in September. For the fiscal year, the company is now expecting an annual earnings per share between $20.50 to $21.50. At the same time, FedEx also announced a $5 billion share repurchase program as well. With FedEx seemingly kicking into high gear across the board, I could see investors watching FDX stock now.

[Read More] Best Copper Mining Stocks To Buy In 2021? 4 To Watch This Week

Goldman Sachs Sees ‘Solid Demand’ For Apple’s iPhones In China

Elsewhere, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) received a positive update from analysts over at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). In essence, the firm recently highlighted Apple’s improving iPhone supply in general. According to analyst Rod Hall, this is evident from better lead times for iPhones across “all major geographies”. He added that 13 weeks since launching, lead times for the iPhone 13 Pro models are down by 6 to 7 days in the U.K. In China, lead times also improved by 8 days. Not to mention, Hall also highlights that there is “solid demand” in China while Europe is seeing “slightly weaker” demand.

best tech stocks (AAPL stock)

That’s not all, the analyst also pointed out that there is a notable increase in Macbook orders in China, the U.S., and part of Europe. Hall argued that this could be “suggesting supply is not keeping up with the demand”.

Across the board, it seems that Apple’s vast array of cutting-edge tech remains in demand this holiday season. With consumers looking to spend their saved-up discretionary funds, this comes as no surprise. As such, AAPL stock could be a top stock to watch for some investors now, even as it trades around record levels.

Churchill SPAC Looking To Bring India’s Byju Via $48 Billion Deal

Churchill Capital VII (NYSE: CVII), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is making waves in the stock market as well. Accordingly, this would be thanks to news about its plans to take Indian online education company Byju public. According to Bloomberg, should things go as planned, the company would have a valuation of about $48 billion. Given the sheer scale of the deal, it is no wonder that some consider Byju among India’s most valuable startups.

Overall, the report suggests that among all the SPAC partners Byju has talked to, Churchill Capital has “made the most progress” yet. In terms of the timeline, a deal could potentially be set as soon as next month. For the uninitiated, Churchill Capital brought EV firm Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) public earlier this year. Given the generally positive reception to LCID stock, investors could be keeping CVII stock in view now.


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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Opinion: This surprising investing strategy crushes the stock market without examining a single financial metric

I am not a professional stock picker, but over the past decade my portfolio has beaten the stock market by a factor of three to one.

Unlike Peter Lynch, who advocated investing in the makers of products you love and who, in my estimation, stands out as one of the greatest of all stock pickers, I did not examine a single financial metric to build my portfolio. Instead, I simply ranked competitors in each industry based on customer love and then bet on the winner.

My portfolio has performed so well because the market undervalues the economic power of customer love. When customers feel loved, they come back for more and refer their friends. This is the economic flywheel that drives sustainable prosperity, and companies built on it generate surprising levels of profitable growth.

To measure customer love, I used the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that I created 20 years ago. It captures how likely a customer is to recommend a product or service to a friend or colleague. I relied on the market to incorporate all financial insights into the current stock price.

My buy-and-hold investing portfolio started with the 11 public NPS leaders profiled in my 2010 book, “The Ultimate Question 2.0“: Amazon
AMZN,
Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook)
FB,
Apple
AAPL,
Costco Wholesale
COST,
Google parent Alphabet
GOOG

GOOGL,
Southwest Airlines
LUV,
American Express
AXP,
JetBlue Airways
JBLU,
Verizon Communications
VZ,
T-Mobile US
TMUS,
NortonLifeLock
NLOK
and Metro PCS Communications (which merged with T-Mobile in 2013).

In hindsight some of those stocks look like no-brainers, but back when the book was written they were anything but. Amazon had a market cap below eBay’s. T-Mobile was considered by many to be the weakest player in mobile telephony.

In the years since, however, this group’s extraordinary customer focus has paid off. From Jan. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2020 these stocks outperformed Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index exchange-traded fund
VTI
by a factor of 2.8 to 1. (This performance is market-cap weighted and rebalanced quarterly akin to VTI’s rebalancing).


Fred Reichheld

Since then, Bain & Co., where I have worked since 1977, has applied NPS to a long list of industries, and created NPS Prism, a data benchmarking service that ranks competitor NPS on an apples-to-apples basis. As we X-ray more industries, we continue to uncover new NPS leaders, among them Texas Roadhouse
TXRH,
Discover Financial
DFS,
Tesla
TSLA,
Chewy
CHWY
and FirstService
FSV.
 

I serve on the board of directors at FirstService, a real-estate services company whose social media handle #FirstServeOthers provides a hint about its corporate philosophy. Over the 25 years since the IPO, its annual total shareholder return has been just under 22{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, a better record than all but seven of the 2,800 firms with revenues of at least $100 million at the time of their NASDAQ listing. 

For a long time, like many great customer-focused organizations, it remained below investors’ radar screens. One reason: GAAP accounting is woefully lacking at measuring customer centricity. It doesn’t even require organizations to report the number of customers they serve, let alone how many are returning, increasing purchases, or referring friends and family. 

This makes it hard to find comparable data. I first discovered online pet supply retailer Chewy when its self-reported NPS appeared in its IPO documents. Chewy does a tremendous job tapping into the special emotional tie between owner and pet, with things like the hand-painted pet portraits the company mails as surprise thank-yous to customers, who, delighted, then post them, along with glowing testimonials, across social media.

By our calculations Chewy’s NPS beats Amazon’s by 24 points in its category — an extraordinary performance. Chewy’s own numbers are slightly different from ours, however, and the inconsistency of self-reported numbers is one reason we developed a new metric called earned growth rate. It measures the revenue growth generated by returning customers and their referrals by combining net revenue retention (NRR), the back-for-more battle-tested statistic used in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry among others, with earned new customers (ENC), measuring how much new customer spending is earned through referrals rather than bought through promotional channels.

NPS exemplar First Republic Bank
FRC
has in the past earned 82{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of its deposit growth, with 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} coming from existing customers and another 32{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from referrals. Warby Parker
WRBY,
the direct-to-consumer pioneer in prescription eyeglasses, earns almost 90{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of its new customers through referrals.

You can use this calculator to estimate your company’s earned growth rate.


Abingdon Press

In addition to these metrics, it’s also possible to spot NPS leaders by their common features.  

  1. They apply the Golden Rule – love thy neighbor as thyself. This often means eschewing bad profits. Discover Card, for example, never sells receivables to collection agencies.

  2. They empower their front-line employees to serve customers in creative ways. Companies like Chewy that give employees the freedom to serve customers with empathy and creativity engender trust in and loyalty to their companies.

  3. They integrate in-store and online customer feedback. Technology-rich companies like Warby Parker augment direct feedback with digital signals from customers and front-line employees to guide decision-making—crucial in helping companies respond to holiday shopping trends this season.

  4. They make customers their primary purpose. By going the extra mile to provide a customer with an experience that’s not just good, but remarkable, companies can play a part in enriching their lives beyond the product they offer.

I have spent most of my 44-year career focused on understanding the role that loyalty plays in building great organizations and helping leaders inspire their teams to embrace a mission of purposeful service enriching the lives of customers and colleagues. That is the right way—and the best way—to win in business and the stock market. 

Fred Reichheld is the creator of the Net Promoter system of management and the author of “Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers” (together with Darci Darnell and Maureen Burns), among other books.

Dow Jones Rallies On Pfizer Vaccine News; Tesla Stock Rises After China Sales

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 100 points early Wednesday, as Pfizer provided an update on the effectiveness of its vaccine vs. the omicron Covid-19 variant. Apple hit new highs, while Tesla stock dropped after reports of strong electric-vehicle sales in China.




X



Among the Dow Jones leaders, Apple (AAPL) gained 0.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday, while Microsoft (MSFT) fell 0.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} in today’s stock market. Nike (NKE) also ticked 0.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} lower, still below a buy point despite Tuesday’s strong gain.

EV leader Tesla (TSLA) shed early gains and dropped 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday. EV peer Rivian (RIVN) was down 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, while Lucid Group (LCID) moved down around 4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. Chinese EV leaders Li Auto (LI) and Xpeng Motors (XPEV) were mixed after Wednesday’s open.

Among the top stocks to buy and watch, Endeavor Group (EDR), Louisiana-Pacific (LPX), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) and Zim Integrated Shipping (ZIM) are in or near new buy zones. Despite the recent stock market strength, investors should still be developing watchlists, and avoid making new purchases until the market’s current rally attempt stages a follow-through day.

Microsoft and Tesla are IBD Leaderboard stocks. Louisiana-Pacific was Tuesday’s IBD 50 Stocks To Watch pick. NXP was spotlighted in this week’s Stocks Near A Buy Zone story. Endeavor was featured in last week’s IPO Leaders story. Zim is an IBD SwingTrader stock.

Dow Jones Today: Pfizer Vaccine News

After the stock market open Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average pared gains to 0.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, as Honeywell International (HON) dragged on the index following a Bank of America downgrade. The S&P 500 rose 0.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite reversed higher after early losses.

Among exchange traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) rose 0.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) gained 0.2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

Elsewhere, the 10-year Treasury yield traded down to around 1.46{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday morning, following its close at 1.48{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Tuesday after two straight days of strong gains. Crude oil prices were lower, with West Texas Intermediate down about 0.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} and on pace to snap a two-day advance.

Early Wednesday, Pfizer (PFE) and vaccine partner BioNTech (BNTX) said a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine neutralized the omicron variant in lab tests. They also reported that the two-dose regimen was significantly less effective vs. the new variant than prior strains of the virus. Pfizer shares and BNTX shares both traded higher after the open.


Stock Market ETF Strategy And How To Invest


Stock Market Rally Attempt

The stock market posted strong gains Tuesday, as the major stock indexes continued their rebounds from last week’s weakness. Tuesday marked Day 2 of a new rally attempt on the Nasdaq. That is a positive sign, but means the market correction isn’t over yet — one or two days doesn’t make a trend. Starting at Day 4, you are looking for the index to rise sharply in higher volume than the prior day. That would indicate a follow-through day, and signal the start of a potential uptrend.

Now, while the market is still correcting, is a good time to search for stocks that could become the next uptrend’s leaders. One tool helpful in such a search is the relative strength line. The RS line measures a stock’s price performance vs. the S&P 500. If the stock is outperforming the broader market, then the RS line angles upward. If a stock is performing worse than the broad market, then the line will point lower.

After Tuesday’s session, The Big Picture commented: “With two solid gains this week, much of the stock market’s damage from the previous couple of weeks is patched up. The Nasdaq sank almost 8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from its Nov. 22 peak and is now 3.2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from new highs.”

The stock market outlook was downgraded on Friday, so it’s an important time to read IBD’s The Big Picture.


Five Best Dow Jones Stocks To Watch Now


Dow Jones Stocks To Watch: Apple, Nike

Apple shares hit new highs Tuesday, rallying more than 3.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. The stock is getting further extended past a 153.27 buy point out of a cup-with-handle base, according to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis. The 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} buy zone topped out at 160.93. Apple shares moved up 0.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday, setting another all-time high.

Retail leader Nike remains about 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} below a cup base’s 174.48 buy point after Tuesday’s 1.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} gain. Shares fell 0.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.

Stock Market Earnings: Toll Brothers

Photronics (PLAB), Thor Industries (THO) and Lovesac (LOVE) were all making strong morning moves after reporting earnings early Wednesday.

Toll Brothers (TOL) reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales late Tuesday. Shares dropped more than 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday. TOL stock closed Tuesday in buy range past a 68.98 buy point, but is already extended above a 67.43 handle entry. That 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} buy area topped out at 70.80.

Elsewhere, Stitch Fix (SFIX) dived 27{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday after cutting its revenue outlook for the fiscal year due to ongoing supply chain pressures. Shares closed Tuesday about 78{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} off their 52-week high.

Stocks To Buy And Watch: Endeavor, Louisiana-Pacific, NXP, Zim

IPO Leader and Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Endeavor Group is trying to break out past a cup-with-handle base with a 31.80 buy point, according to IBD MarketSmith chart analysis. Shares are about 3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} below the new entry after Tuesday’s breakout attempt. The stock was down about 4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.

The stock’s relative strength line is making strong upward progress and is at its highest level since early October. The RS line measures a stock’s price performance vs. the broad market. A strengthening RS line during periods of market weakness indicates leadership potential.

Louisiana-Pacific — Tuesday’s IBD Stocks To Watch pick — is breaking out past a 73.76 buy point in a cup with handle amid Tuesday’s 3.9{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} rise. Shares are in the 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} buy range that tops out at 77.45. LPX stock moved up 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.

Chip leader NXP Semiconductors is testing a 227.60 buy point in a cup-with-handle base following Tuesday’s 6.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} advance. The buy area goes up to 238.98. Shares were down over 6{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday after UBS started coverage with a sell rating and a 170 price target.

IBD SwingTrader stock Zim Integrated Shipping is rapidly approaching a cup with handle’s 60.19 buy point following Tuesday’s 4.9{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} climb. Shares rallied 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.


Join IBD experts as they analyze leading stocks in the current stock market correction on IBD Live


EV Stocks: Li Auto, Xpeng, Lucid Motors, Rivian

Li Auto triggered the 7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}-8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} loss-cutting sell rule below a cup-with-handle base’s 34.93 buy point after Friday’s sharp loss. Shares are fighting to regain their 50-day line after finding support around the long-term 200-day moving average. Shares tacked on 0.7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.

Xpeng Motors triggered the round-trip sell signal from a 48.08 buy point during last week’s decline. Investors should sell the growth stock if it falls back near the buy point after it has made a gain of more than 10{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. Try to sell before all gains are wiped away. XPEV shares ended Tuesday above their 50-day support level. Wait for the stock to form a new base, which would offer a new entry. The stock moved up 0.7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday.

Lucid Motors shares threatened to extend a five-day losing streak Wednesday, falling 4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. LCID stock remains extended past a 28.49 buy point in a cup-with-handle base, but huge gains have dwindled.

Hot initial public offering Rivian extended Tuesday’s 0.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} fall, dropping nearly 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} early Wednesday.

RIVN shares closed Tuesday about 35{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} off their post-IPO highs. The decline is a potential positive for investors remaining disciplined and waiting for an IPO base to form before considering a purchase. The recent weakness is the start of Rivian’s first base formation, and Monday’s strong gain was a step in the right direction.

Tesla Stock

Tesla stock turned down 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday, after Tuesday’s 4.2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} gain as it rebounds from a key support level. Early Wednesday, the China Passenger Car Association reported that Tesla Shanghai sold 52,859 made-in-China Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossover SUVs in November, including 21,127 that were exported.

Shares traded as high as 1,243.49 on Nov. 4, but the stock ended Tuesday about 15{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} off its 52-week high.

TSLA shares remain sharply above a 764.55 buy point in a cup with handle, as well as earlier entries at 700.10 and 730. The chart also showed an alternate entry at 900.50. Tesla shares are likely forming a new base, but there is no new buy point yet.

Dow Jones Leaders: Microsoft

Among Dow Jones stocks, software giant Microsoft moved down 0.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} Wednesday, as it fights to continue its rebound from the 50-day line.

On Oct. 18, Microsoft stock broke out past a flat base’s 305.94 buy point. The 5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} buy zone topped out at 321.24, so the stock is extended.

Be sure to follow Scott Lehtonen on Twitter at @IBD_SLehtonen for more on growth stocks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

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Why Tesla Stock Got Clobbered Today

What happened

Shares of Tesla ( TSLA -0.59{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} ) ran into a ditch Monday morning, sliding 4.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} as of 10 a.m. EDT on twin negative news items from Reuters and The New York Times.

So what

Let’s cover the more topical news from Reuters first. Remember how last week, Tesla stock got a brief pop, and investors had a chuckle, over news that Tesla was selling a limited edition “Cyberwhistle” shaped like its long-awaited (and still not here) Cybertruck? Well, today we learned what that inside joke was all about.

Turns out, a whistleblower within Tesla’s solar systems division (the artist formerly known as SolarCity) is alleging to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company “failed to properly notify its shareholders and the public of fire risks associated with solar panel system defects over several years,” reports Reuters. The SEC is taking the allegations seriously and has opened an investigation. Although both the SEC and Tesla declined to comment, Reuters reports that the scale of the scandal could be significant, affecting “more than 60,000 residential customers in the U.S. and 500 government and commercial accounts.”  

Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting that Tesla “may have undermined safety in designing its Autopilot driver-assistance system” for electric cars. This second report focuses on Elon Musk’s desire to have Autopilot rely exclusively on camera data to interpret its environment, rather than supplementing cameras with radar and lidar sensors as other car companies are trying to do. According to NYT, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now investigating whether this decision might have contributed to “at least 12 accidents in which Teslas using Autopilot drove into parked fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles.”  

NHTSA is also considering whether Musk may have misled car buyers into thinking that Autopilot’s “full self driving” (FSD) capability was what its name suggests — a fully autonomous system — when its actual capabilities were, in Musk’s own words, “not great.”

Lady looks askance at a red stock arrow going down

Image source: Getty Images.

Now what

How big a risk do these twin investigations pose to Tesla’s business? The SEC investigation, I suspect, will produce at most a fine from the agency and some reputational damage to Tesla’s relatively tiny energy generation and storage business, which, honestly, doesn’t produce a whole lot of profit for Tesla in any case. Of the two news items, I’d say it’s the less significant.

There’s greater risk of fines, recall costs, and reputational damage in the NHTSA investigation. But even there, well, with Tesla continuing to produce data showing that Tesla cars using Autopilot are crashing at a rate of only one accident per 4.41 million miles driven (versus a crash every 484,000 miles for ordinary drivers in ordinary cars), the data sure seems to suggest that — headlines notwithstanding — Autopilot increases driver safety by a factor of nine, rather than subtracting from it at all.  

With the stock down only a few percentage points, investors — while a bit nervous today — by and large seem to think that Tesla will come out of both of these investigations looking just fine.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis – even one of our own – helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

Top Stock Market News For Today November 22, 2021

Stock Market Futures Ticked Higher Ahead Of The Holiday-Shortened Week

U.S. stock futures edged higher on early morning Monday, pointing to a positive start for the stock market this week. Adding optimism to the bull market is the possible easing measures by China’s central bank to support the slowing economy. With the holiday season at our door, do note that the U.S. market will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. Against the backdrop, the biggest market moving event is likely going to be President Joe Biden’s nomination for the next Federal Reserve chief.

I do think in the shortened week, that is probably going to be the biggest driver of market action,” said Jeff Schulze, ClearBridge Investments investment strategist. “If Brainard is nominated as Fed chair, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me to see some near-term volatility. Usually, the market tests a Fed chair.

Meanwhile, cloud-based telecom company Vonage (NASDAQ: VG) stock soared in pre-market trading after agreeing on a $6.2 billion deal to be bought by Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC). As of 7:08 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are rising by 0.30{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, 0.32{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, and 0.98{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} respectively

Monster Beverage (MNST) Exploring Merger Deal With Constellation Brands (STZ)

Energy drinks maker Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST) is exploring a merger deal with Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), according to a report from Bloomberg news. The exact structure of the potential merger is yet to be available to the general public. Of course, a deal between these two beverage giants could be interesting. But, investors shouldn’t speculate on such rumors as it is still unclear if the deal would eventually materialize. 

Despite the supply chain challenges, Monster Beverage reported record third-quarter sales earlier this month. The energy drinks maker, which has Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) as its major shareholder, will need to assess if such a merger could bring any positive synergy. Right now, it’s unclear if such a deal could jeopardize Monster’s exclusive distribution agreement with Coca-Cola. And if it does, it could affect Monster’s international growth ambitions. 

I see little synergy between these two companies, as regulators would not welcome drinks that combine caffeine and alcohol. The products produced would have to leverage their respective brands but be mindful of the limitations with product formulations”- Kenneth Shea, Senior Analyst for beverage and tobacco companies at Bloomberg Intelligence.

[Read More] 5 Metaverse Stocks To Watch In November 2021

Ford (F), Rivian (RIVN) Cancel Plans To Jointly Develop An EV

Ford (NYSE: F) and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) no longer plan to co-develop an electric vehicle, the companies confirmed Friday evening. The two companies initially announced development of a joint vehicle when Ford invested in the EV start up in 2019. With the plan scrapped, some electric vehicle stock investors are wondering what the impact of the decision is. 

According to Ford CEO Jim Farley, part of the breakup was due to the complexities of marrying their hardware and software together. In light of this, the company also reiterated that such a decision has not affected their relationship. Ford continues to believe in the company’s future, retaining a 12{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} stake in the EV start-up. The legendary automaker aims to produce 600,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2023. What’s more, Ford has several interesting products including the Mustang Mach-E SUV and the F-150 Lightning pickup truck. If anything, the old dog seems to be learning new tricks quickly. 

The decision to cancel the joint development was mutual, according to Rivian. “As Ford has scaled its own EV strategy and demand for Rivian vehicles has grown, we’ve mutually decided to focus on our own projects and deliveries. Our relationship with Ford is an important part of our journey, and Ford remains an investor and ally on our shared path to an electrified future,” the company said in an email statement.

[Read More] Top Stocks To Buy Now? 4 Renewable Energy Stocks For Your Watchlist

Zoom (ZM) Reports Earnings After The Closing Bell 

Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) will report its earnings after the stock market closes today. There’s no question that ZM stock has been under pressure heading into that announcement. Investors are less enthusiastic about the company’s short-term growth as more people return to the office. In addition to that, the increased competition from other players in the video conferencing space may unnerve some investors. In light of all this, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that ZM stock remains under considerable selling pressure.

From its second quarter, sales came in 54{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} higher year-over-year to $1.02 billion. Now, Wall Street is expecting the same revenue level when it reports today, with non-GAAP earnings of $1.07 to $1.08 per share. It’s also worth keeping an eye on how quickly customers are taking up new offerings like Zoom Phone, the company’s cloud-based telephony business. In addition to that, investors will also focus on the company’s operating margin. The profitability metric came in at 25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of sales in the second quarter. And investors are hoping to see a modest boost later today. 

Admittedly, the pandemic acted as a huge catalyst for the company in 2020. But it’s normal for investors to be concerned about its ability to maintain its impressive growth rate. The company, however, is reportedly looking to diversify its revenue stream by entering the contact center market. Nevertheless, for ZM stock to rebound to its previous high, Zoom will have to issue a strong outlook for its business. That includes the new initiatives, which are critical to growing and maintaining its ecosystem. 

[Read More] 5 Biotech Stocks To Check Out In The Stock Market Now

Earnings To Watch In The Stock Market Today

If investors have been worried that inflation, supply chain and labor shortages would dampen corporate profits, they’ve been wrong so far. And bullish investors continue to gain from the strong corporate earnings thus far. As the market enters the holiday-shortened week, there’s no shortage of companies reporting their earnings. In the pre-market hours, we have Cerence (NASDAQ: CRNC), Niu Technologies (NASDAQ: NIU), Avaya (NYSE: AVYA), and Zhihu (NYSE: ZH), just to name a few.

Alternatively, for those anticipating the earnings after the closing bell, there are notable tech names reporting as well. Amongst them are Zoom Video Communications, Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS) and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARWR). Whether it is following corporate news, keeping up with earnings, or speculating who the next Fed chair is, there is enough to keep you occupied as we kick start the holiday-shortened week.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Today’s Business and Stock Market News: Live Updates

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Erin Griffith

Another subsequent Theranos test shows levels more in line with expectations. Note from the doctor says “clearly some form of lab error occurred.”

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Erin Griffith

The test results show a “very significant rise” in PSA levels. The doctor wrote a note on it that it should be rechecked and might be a “lab error.”

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Erin Griffith

Mr. Burnes had a patient who got a PSA test — detects prostate cancer — through Theranos. The doctor is testifying in a clear mask and I have to say it just conveys Bain vibes to me. Also hard to hear.

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Erin Griffith

That’s it for Tompkins. The U.S. has called Dr. Mark Burnes.

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Erin Griffith

Theranos test results told this woman she had HIV antibodies. Defense is trying to argue she didn’t understand the test results.

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Erin Griffith

Trefz pulls up an HIV testing algorithm to show the patient. She asks the patient to break down the arrows pointing to terms like HIV-1/2 antigen/antibody combination immunoassay. … “You don’t know the meaning of these particular steps, correct?”

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Erin Griffith

Tompkins is back on the stand being cross-examined by Holmes lawyer Katie Trefz. She says she attempted to get information about the testing from Theranos but was not provided any.

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Erin Griffith

🩸 U.S. v. Holmes continues. 🩸 Today we’ll hear from Erin Tompkins, a patient, as well as Roger Parloff, a journalist. But first, for every one hour of testimony there are roughly three hours of lawyer bickering over the scope of the testimony and today is no different!

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Erin Griffith

Trefz argues for expert testimony on the accuracy of the tests since they’ve been run on different methods. “If a patient is going to testify about their allegedly inaccurate tests, we should get to explore the depths of that patient’s knowledge as to what the test results mean.”

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Erin Griffith

Bostic notes that he’s not certain whether the doctor will testify because they’re trying to “streamline” their case and the witness list because of time concerns.

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Erin Griffith

Trefz is arguing that the confusion comes from the way the results were presented, not the actual results themselves. Bostic says her doctor’s concern about the accuracy of the results was “inadmissible hearsay.”

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Erin Griffith

Sounds like Tompkins’s doctor is also going to testify. The judge has also made a not very pleased reference to the case’s “untoward delays.”

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Erin Griffith

Bostic argues that he believes the doctor was in disbelief and had skepticism over the accuracy of the results. It wasn’t him saying that the results were accurate yet she wasn’t positive.

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Erin Griffith

The jury and Tompkins have left. Trefz is arguing that the patient was told at the time by her doctor that this was not an indication of a positive test result.

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Erin Griffith

We also see test results from August of this year that says she is negative. In cross-exam, Holmes lawyer Katie Trefz asks how much her Theranos test cost. Tompkins doesn’t remember but says she got a refund about two years later.

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Erin Griffith

We see a copy of her Theranos blood test results stating that Ms. Tompkins had HIV antibodies. She testifies that she has never had HIV or AIDS, and a different test a few months later said negative. She tried to call Theranos to get more information but spoke to no one.

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Erin Griffith

She chose Theranos for a blood test her doctor ordered because it was cheap and she didn’t have insurance. “Is there any benefit to you with blood test results that were not accurate or reliable?” Tompkins: “I can’t imagine, no.”

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Erin Griffith

She testifies first saw an article about Theranos in Forbes, she said she also heard about it on Facebook — a rec from a friend who was trying to find affordable health care options for people without insurance.

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The U.S. has called Erin Tompkins, a Theranos patient.

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Leach: “Did you think one of the risks here was that the founder and C.E.O. was not being truthful to you?” Grossman: “We did not think that was one of the risks.” And that’s it for Grossman. Wowsy!

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Erin Griffith

A major theme seems to be EXECUTION RISK. Was Theranos past the point of “proof of concept”? Should investors have anticipated the risk of the technology not working?

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Erin Griffith

Talking about Moore’s law. The jury is getting such an education in business terminology. A PGM email discusses how Theranos plans to drive down costs of making its devices. That wouldn’t apply to third-party devices, Grossman said.

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Erin Griffith

Leach pulls up the “bear case” projections (Wade had used the bull case projections) and asks: Have you ever seen a company miss its revenue projections by over $1 billion? BG: “It’s unusual.” Was that a risk you thought you were taking with this investment? BG: “Not in 2014, no.”

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Erin Griffith

This is related to Wade’s argument that PFM’s revenue projections for Theranos were overly rosy. (Grossman has testified that they were based largely on Theranos’s own projections.)

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Erin Griffith

Prosecutor Leach is back up for redirect. Leach asks: Who was in a better position to judge Theranos’s projected revenue for 2014 and 2015, you or the company? Grossman: The company.

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Wade: Was part of investing in Theranos a part of your desire to get information for your investment in Walgreens? Grossman: No. Wade: Is it true that after you invested in Theranos you started trading Walgreens stock? Prosecution objects and is sustained. And that’s it, finally!

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Erin Griffith

Wade is showing Grossman a slide deck presented by Theranos and is pointing out that many of the claims were “aspirational.”

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Erin Griffith

OK, just before the break my laptop died, but Judge Davila expressed the most frustration I’ve ever seen over how long Wade’s cross-exam is lasting (6+ hours).

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Erin Griffith

Wade points out that the presentation doesn’t include the accuracy risks or highlight the “limited operating experience” Theranos had.

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Erin Griffith

So Grossman delivered a presentation to some other investors summarizing PFM’s own research about Theranos. It has Theranos’s logo on the front of it and Wade asks “did you get Theranos’s permission to use their logo?”

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Erin Griffith

Grossman quotes from lower in the email that his firm’s expert continued to believe these risks were acceptable for investing. There’s also a cryptic email from Grossman to his teammates that simply says “real world.”

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Erin Griffith

There’s another email where someone at the firm says Blue Cross Blue Shield did diligence on Theranos and said it doesn’t work. And another one where someone is saying again that there’s a chance it won’t pass FDA review.

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Erin Griffith

Another email from Grossman’s internal expert outlining more risks on the tech. Says he doesn’t think Theranos has enough data to get FDA approval. The takeaway from these hours of cross-exam from Grossman seems to (still) be: You knew about all these risks and still invested.

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Erin Griffith

We get another “if that’s your question, then yes.” Grossman is patiently describing in great, great detail all of the analysis PFM did on its financial models on Theranos. The room is getting restless. Not even sure Wade is enjoying this level of detail.

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Erin Griffith

Wade tries to make the point that PFM’s revenue projections for Theranos were unrealistically high. Grossman says no and gives the example of Moderna. “They tend to be really important, open-ended technology, very disruptive, that have a big impact on society.”

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Erin Griffith

A few more comps added to the analysis: Salesforce, Tesla and a few others I didn’t hear. Grossman repeats his line about “open-ended, disruptive technology platform companies”

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Erin Griffith

(The third comp Grossman suggested is Illumina.)

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Erin Griffith

Describing comps, Grossman testifies they were trying to find “open-ended, best-in-breed disruptive companies.” Wade then tries to call FB and GOOG “unicorns.” I feel personally trolled.

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Erin Griffith

To justify the valuation they suggest using Google and Facebook as comps to Theranos!?!? To use a Grossman term… Wowzers

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Erin Griffith

We see an email between Grossman and his partner James — no mention of bevies — where Grossman says the valuation and terms “are obviously tough to swallow.” But his call with Channing Robertson was “mind-blowing” and gave him a lot of confidence.

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Erin Griffith

Post break, Wade is asking Grossman about his conversations with Channing Robertson. Grossman’s father-in-law, David Brady, knew Robertson, was a politics professor at Stanford and was involved with Hoover Institution. Brady also invested in Theranos.

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Erin Griffith

We have spent … a lot of time going through every painstaking detail of Grossman’s diligence. It is a lot, and I’m not 100 percent sure what effect this is meant to have on the jury.

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Erin Griffith

We see an email that shows PFM confirms that any device outside a CLIA lab needs to FDA clearance. Theranos often said they didn’t need FDA approval for their machines in stores because the “analysis” would be done in the cloud / in its CLIA lab.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman has not been asked about why PFM ultimately decided to invest despite all of his very diligent diligence and the doubts raised inside the firm.

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Erin Griffith

The email also notes that Theranos’s projections are “a bit aggressive” but “with excellent execution are doable and can be exceeded.” Point to show that Grossman knew the risks of backing Theranos.

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Erin Griffith

More internal PFM emails! This one is about a health care conference where PFM’s tech expert planned to vet Theranos’s tech with others in the industry without violating NDA. Also says he thinks Theranos’s technology is “very good” and has IP and competition concerns.

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Erin Griffith

To get around this Grossman answers a lot of Wade’s questions with “If the question is X [narrator: it is not], then the answer is Y.”

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Erin Griffith

Lance Wade is questioning Grossman about a certain document that is not in evidence and Grossman is refusing to acknowledge that it “refreshes his recollection” because he believes Wade’s questions are misleading.

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Erin Griffith

🩸 It’s U.S. v. Holmes again. 🩸 Brian Grossman, managing director at PFM Health Sciences, which backed Theranos, will continue cross-examination today.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman and jury are dismissed for the day and its time for our usual lawyer chat. Downey wants to talk about an issue in camera and the judge is lightly ribbing Wade for how long his cross-exam is going. Back tomorrow!

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Erin Griffith

Wade continues to press this point which is a question I have too — Grossman did all the right stuff regarding diligence, and yet he still invested.

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Erin Griffith

Wade hits Grossman over the fact that he invested in Theranos even after the refused to let him talk to Walgreens or United in diligence. Grossman says that forced his firm to rely on information from Theranos.

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Erin Griffith

We now see a PFM email summarizing the Theranos discussion during a Walgreens earnings call. Point being that PFM took other information into account beyond what Holmes said to decide on the investment.

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Erin Griffith

We got a brief glimpse of an email from Grossman re WAG and Theranos: “Wowzer. That’s quite an endorsement.”

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Erin Griffith

We see some emails between Grossman and some of his analysts about Walgreens and Theranos. They are discussing Cowen’s take on the Theranos / WAG partnership. Wade suggests Cowen analyst reports are a respected source of information. Grossman says that’s “debatable.”

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Erin Griffith

Elsewhere on this email thread Grossman asks his partner, “What time u picking us up? U want us to brink bevies for the drive?”

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Erin Griffith

Wade is now taking Grossman through the team of people at PFM who worked on the deal, explaining their expertise. He mentions Philippe Laffont of Coatue, who introduced PFM to Theranos. We see an email from Laffont to Chris James, an investor at PFM, saying Theranos is “one of the most impressive boards I’ve ever seen.” James forwards the email to Grossman with one word: “Wowsy”

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Erin Griffith

Wade appears to be doing his bore-em-to-death thing going into tedious detail about the mechanics of private market investments.

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Erin Griffith

Wade asks Grossman to define a hedge fund and he runs down all the various attributes ending with “and obviously, a hedge fund can hedge.” Somewhere Carol Loomis is smiling.

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Erin Griffith

Lance Wade is up for cross-exam. Unlike with past investors, who Wade attempted to discredit by criticizing their lack of diligence, the strategy here seems to be building up how much diligence Grossman’s firm did.

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Erin Griffith

At the very end we saw that Grossman’s firm invested $96 million across several funds.

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Erin Griffith

We see internal Theranos emails discussing Grossman’s results. He is a “VIP” and they push to get his results out quickly. The results appear to be run on a third party machine, which Balwani never told him about.

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Erin Griffith

Balwani blamed a rare test and a lab failure. Thanked him for “highlighting this issue.”

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Erin Griffith

I believe Grossman is the only investor we’ve heard from who went to a Walgreens to get his blood tested on his own. Afterward he asked Balwani why he had to have a venous draw (no fingerstick) and why it took more than 4 hours.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman spoke to Channing Robertson (Theranos board member, former Stanford professor) twice. Robertson said Theranos had no technical risk and that its technology inside the MiniLab was sound.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman also wanted to talk to United Healthcare, which (apparently) had a contract with Theranos. Similar to Walgreens, Balwani said no. “It will look badly on us, if investors are asking to speak to someone at the company.”

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Erin Griffith

Grossman asked to talk to Walgreens and Sunny Balwani told him he was “very uncomfortable” with that. He told Grossman it “would be a strange conversation, they have a great relationship, it wouldn’t look good.” “He had a series of responses along those lines.”

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Erin Griffith

So we have walked through the same slideshow that Theranos presented to most of its investors including being “comprehensively validated by pharma companies.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman: “They were emphatic that this was not another point of care testing company. This was the entire laboratory shrunk down into a box.”

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Erin Griffith

Grossman said he saw various different versions of the Theranos blood testing machines at their manufacturing facility in Newark, at their CLIA lab in Palo Alto and in the lobby of their California St. office.

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Erin Griffith

Or at least attempted diligence. Holmes and Balwani answered the questions in meetings. It appears we are going to go through their spoken answers on every one of these questions (there are many…).

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Erin Griffith

Grossman had three analysts working on the deal and says “there’s a lot of analytic labor” that goes into his firm’s modeling. This appears to be the most diligence that any Theranos investor has done so far…

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Erin Griffith

We see an email from Grossman to Holmes and Balwani containing due diligence questions. There are seven areas of question (technology, IP + barriers to entry, Regulatory, Financial Model/Projections, etc.) with lonnnnnng lists of detailed questions for each.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman testifies: “Ms. Holmes was actually very clear that they could match every test on the Labcorp and Quest menu of tests.”

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Erin Griffith

Grossman goes into a very long and detailed tale of the claims Holmes made to him about Theranos’s technology and business. She told him the usual: Theranos was more reliable than Labcorp/Quest and they worked with pharma companies and on medevacs on the battlefield.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman met with Balwani and Theranos at its lab in December 2013. He testifies that the security to enter the building, including its NDAs, was unusually strict.

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Erin Griffith

Grossman offers up a little lesson on limited partners. PFM’s include pension funds. Hey jury, it’s not just rich people who were burned by Theranos!

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Erin Griffith

Yam is excused. The U.S. has called Brian Grossman, a managing partner at PFM Health Sciences, a San Francisco firm that runs a hedge fund and growth equity fund.

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Erin Griffith

Lance Wade is questioning Yam on whether the wire transfers discussed in the email actually happened. Can’t we just … verify that somewhere?

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Erin Griffith

$1.1 million to be precise, wired to Horizon Media, the marketing firm. This is one of the wire fraud counts outlined in the indictment.

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Erin Griffith

We see a late 2015 email regarding expenses for an ad campaign (TV, print, etc.) in the millions of dollars in Arizona.

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Erin Griffith

The prosecution has called Danise Yam, a.k.a. So Han Spivey, likely to reintroduce a certain email.

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And Alan Eisenman has left town. So we will be getting a new witness this morning.

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Judge Davila says he sees nothing to disturb the court’s previous ruling on this issue. Glad we just spent an hour debating it!!

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Erin Griffith

Bostic further argues that Holmes had “better sources of information” about Theranos results … from her own lab. And “if positive information is admissible just because Holmes saw it, then negative information that Holmes saw should also be admissible,” i.e., the 2015 WSJ article.

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Erin Griffith

Judge further notes that there are lots of comments from phlebotomists, who were employees of Theranos. John Bostic argues that the patient reviews aren’t relevant. The reports were only sent to Holmes in 2015, and the majority of the investments in the case happened before that.

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Erin Griffith

Judge Davila is skeptical. He said the majority of the customer comments talk about pricing because they had no health insurance. Or they were given $100 gift cards by doctors. Not about the accuracy of the tests.

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Erin Griffith

Now Holmes lawyer Richard Cleary is arguing the defense should be able to include testimony of positive reviews / surveys of Theranos tests.

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Erin Griffith

🩸U.S. v. Holmes again. 🩸 The lawyers are fighting about whether to discuss the lost database of Theranos tests.

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Erin Griffith

Ok that’s it for today — short day. Buckling in for four more days of testimony!

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Erin Griffith

We’re not done with Eisenman as there is still a matter to debate about his notes. The defense wants a color copy so they can examine all the various inks used. 🎨

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Erin Griffith

In cross-exam Downey had discussed how much Eisenman’s stock in Theranos was worth. In redirect, Bostic asks: What is your understanding that your stock in Theranos is worth today? Eisenman: “It’s not an understanding, it’s a conclusion. It’s worth zero.”

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Erin Griffith

In redirect Eisenman speaks about the contrast between the Theranos hype — all their progress and demand in the market — and the legal disclaimers that come with investing (this is a high risk growth company, you could lose all your money, etc., etc.). The power of hype is strong!

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Erin Griffith

Downey says that Eisenman has asked government agents to look into a different investment where he lost money. Judge sustains objection and that is the end of cross-exam of Eisenman.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman says, “It’s a little misleading — we are on the same page because I feel that I was lied to and cheated from the company.”

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Erin Griffith

Downey asked Eisenman about his relationship with the prosecution. He gives squirrely answers and we eventually see an email from 2018 where Eisenman says “You know that I am a faithful part of your team and will do all that I can to help your case.”

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Erin Griffith

We are back to the legal boilerplate fight. Eisenman refuses to answer yes/no questions about it. And remember: legal disclaimers are there for a reason! They will be used against you in court!

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Erin Griffith

Defense counsel Downey: “As I suspected there are some indications in the notes that the notes are not what Mr. Eisenman described in his direct examination. … At some point additional info has been inserted in a different color ink.”

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Erin Griffith

During our break (is it too early for lunch?), the lawyers from both sides are going to review the notes that defense filed a subpoena for in a side room.

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Erin Griffith

Another scathing email from Balwani. Eisenman emailed about a news article that says Theranos could become obsolete. Balwani: “I think these emails are beyond ridiculous.”

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Erin Griffith

Downey makes the point that Eisenman chose to invest more into Theranos, despite the fact that Balwani had “ignored or intimidated” him.

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Erin Griffith

Lots of cross-talk chaos between Eisenman, Downey, the court reporter and Judge Davila, who jumps in: “Let’s reset. It goes by question and answer. The lawyers get to ask the questions and it’s your privilege to answer them.”

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Erin Griffith

It is not great to have examples of government agents telling Eisenman “do not contact us” juxtaposed with emails from Holmes telling him “do not contact us.”

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Erin Griffith

Over the weekend defense subpoenaed Eisenman for his notes about the Theranos investment and Downey demands he gives them to the court admin. Eisenman wants more info on the process.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman: “I’m a smart guy.” Downey: “Did the government agree with that smart judgment?” (prosecution objects)

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Erin Griffith

Agent Hernandez called Eisenman and said to not communicate with the government about the substance of the trial. Eisenman then apparently sent another email to the government the next morning and the government called *again* with Mr. Bostic, saying not to communicate with them.

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Erin Griffith

We were going to see the email he sent to Agent Hernandez on the prosecution’s team offering “some reflections” on his testimony, but prosecution objected to admitting evidence that was 90{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} redacted.

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Erin Griffith

Downey: “How long did it take you to violate that directive? Was it less than about 15 hours?” Eisenman: “I don’t recall.” 😬

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Erin Griffith

Uh ohhh, Downey points out that Eisenman flew back to Houston after his initial testimony Wednesday evening and immediately violated his directive to not discuss the trial with anyone.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman also reached out to Bill Frist through his father-in-law, Joel Gordon, a wealthy political donor in Tennessee. Downey asks why he wanted that outreach to be secret. Eisenman says that comment is “misleading.”

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Erin Griffith

We see an email from Holmes to Eisenman from 2012, after he reached out to Don Lucas: “No, Alan it has been about that long since you decided to start harassing our chairman.” Eisenman says that is a “total mischaracterization.”

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Erin Griffith

The email about Larry Ellison was meant to show that Theranos was providing general information to all investors. Eisenman pushes back there, too. “There was no communication to investors generally, either” and “I don’t think they communicated that to their investor base.”

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Erin Griffith

Downey is trying to make the point that Eisenman was demanding special information. He asked whether Eisenman knows that Theranos had no legal obligation to update him with “specific” and “individual” information he was requesting.

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Erin Griffith

In 2020 Eisenman emailed Holmes asking why Larry Ellison was no longer on the board. Holmes responded: “There is no new information to be shared with our investor base.”

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman testifies that he believes Holmes was hiding information from him. Downey tries to strike that, too, and the judge says no — “that was his understanding of his opinion.”

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Erin Griffith

The same dynamic is happening today. Downey asks about general rules around sharing information with investors and he pushes back about NDAs and the specific situation at Theranos. Downey strikes several attempted answers.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman’s direct testimony also brought up some pretty wild emails between him and Holmes+Balwani. They basically treated him like a stalker for asking for more info and threatened legal action. And then, incredibly, he still invested more $$ after that!

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman was a difficult witness for the defense lawyers. He refused to go along with some of Kevin Downey’s yes/no questions and it got testy.

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Erin Griffith

🩸 “Our Holmes Matter” continues. 🩸 Full week of testimony in U.S. v. Holmes after last week’s announcement that the prosecution is likely to rest soon. Alan Eisenman, a Theranos investor, returns to the stand for cross-exam.

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Erin Griffith

Wrapping up. That’s all the blood for the week. Next week we’re going all five days! 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸

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Erin Griffith

This is why boilerplate exists! It can (and will) be used as a weapon in court.

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Erin Griffith

Twice in a row, Eisenman goes on a rant that “this is what they call a boilerplate as you know” and Judge Davila cuts him off, telling him to answer the question asked. “I’m trying,” Eisenman says.

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Erin Griffith

Downey pulls up Eisenman’s investment agreement with Theranos which contains a legal disclaimer saying the company made “no assurances” it would ever go public. Eisenman pushes back that Holmes told him Theranos was talking to Morgan Stanley about an IPO in the next year.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman: “Can I ask you what a ‘service frame agreement’ is? I don’t know what that means” Downey: “You cannot.”

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Erin Griffith

Kevin Downey, Holmes’s lawyer, is cross-examining Eisenman. Raising his voice a bit asking about his investment experience and about his conversations with Holmes. Pointing out that Eisenman only had one short call with Holmes before investing.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman emails again asking for more info about potentially selling his shares. Balwani’s response: “Your emails are insulting full of inaccurate statements and wasteful of our time. Our next response to this email and all your future emails will come from our counsel.”

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Erin Griffith

Guy was told an IPO was coming almost a decade earlier and now can’t get a call back. He is now sending emails with PLEASE RESPOND!!! in the subject lines. And Balwani responds with “I already responded to you”

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman responds asking for more info and Balwani responds with this: Alan. I have no intention of responding to this email and explaining the tech and processes. Please stop sending me with emails everyday. thanks.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman emails Holmes and Balwani a negative UBS report about Theranos. Balwani responds that it “sounds like an uninformed consultant”

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Erin Griffith

And despite all that, Eisenman STILL invested $99,990 into Theranos in 2013. Why? “This is called a seat at the table.”

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Erin Griffith

Before it was fundraising, Eisenman testifies that Sunny Balwani was “not only nonresponsive but aggressive with me.” “To say minimally, he was hostile for an extended period of time.”

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Erin Griffith

Then Theranos was raising money again and it sounds like *despite all of this drama* Eisenman was willing to invest more money!

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Erin Griffith

He responded: “It has been over 2 years since you have communicated with your investors. … Does this mean that you can’t or won’t communicate with me or the other investors?

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Erin Griffith

From there things got spicy. Eisenman reached out Don Lucas asking for information. Lucas forwarded it to Holmes and she responded: “Alan, we have communicated about this multiple times before yet you choose to continue going down this path. Elizabeth”

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Erin Griffith

In a May 2010 email, Eisenman asks Holmes whether the company hit the $200m revenue it predicted for 2009. In a later email, he testifies, Holmes said that goal was “stretched another year.”

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Erin Griffith

His push for more information about Theranos’s performance frustrated Holmes. “I was more proactive than most. … Management didn’t like the fact that I was trying to communicate and get information.” To solve that problem, Holmes offered to buy him out at a 5x return.

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Erin Griffith

Over time Eisenman asked Holmes to keep her quarterly updates coming and was denied. “There was no information coming from the company. To me that’s a sign of trouble.”

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Erin Griffith

Theranos told investors it would become cash flow positive by the end of ’08. Now we’re going on a break.

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Erin Griffith

In ’09 Theranos was telling Eisenman about huge demand for its cartridges. “These are numbers that are pretty astounding and create a pretty significant value for this company,” he said.

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Erin Griffith

Altogether Eisenman’s family invested just under $1.2m into Theranos. ($900k for him and his wife, $90k for each of three kids) His testimony follows a pattern that is very familiar by now: What he understood about what Theranos’s technology could do and how he learned it.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman had many one-on-one calls with Holmes and she was the main source of info on the company. In 2006 Holmes was already saying she was talking to bankers about an IPO in the next 12-18 months and claiming $50m-60m in revenue in ’07 and $200m in ’08.

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Erin Griffith

Eisenman testifies that, around 2006, he was told that Larry Ellison was on Theranos’s board and was taking $20 million of an upcoming $30 million fundraise. “My understanding was these international pharma companies had adopted this tech in some of their clinical trails.”

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Erin Griffith

Alan Eisenman, a Theranos investor, is now on the stand. He was introduced to the company by the Holmes family’s financial adviser in Houston.

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Erin Griffith

Das testimony ends with a very awkward exchange where Wade prompted him to recall a quote from the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. “Everything will be alright in the end and if it’s not alright, it’s not yet the end.” Why was that relevant? I dunno.

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Erin Griffith

Defense has spent time in testimony painting Holmes as an inexperienced person who could never have understood the details of how a lab works. Prosecution pointed out that she was CEO of the company and touted the patents she claimed to have written.

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Erin Griffith

We also heard more about the Holmes excuse for the lab problems — she blamed it on quality control issues, not the machines. Apparently that excuse was given to CMS in a letter that Das signed, even though he disagreed with that part.

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Erin Griffith

Dr. Das was asked in cross-exam about whether his decision to void the tests was “conservative.” In redirect, he was asked about it again and he said, “I was just following the data.”

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Erin Griffith

Back to cross-exam. We see an email in April 2016 from Dr. Das to Holmes titled “some good news, for once” — data from two valuations looked “excellent” he wrote, even though he was not “a fan of the studies themselves.”

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Erin Griffith

Now they’re doing a sidebar about scheduling, which I really wish would be a main bar so the press could have any sense whatsoever of what to expect and plan around…

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Erin Griffith

One issue: Eisenman, who invested in Theranos, apparently said something about punishment of Holmes in the hallway and defense is concerned about that. And secondly, they’re redacting a line from an email that says he had most of his net worth (‼️) tied up in Theranos

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Erin Griffith

During a break the lawyers are fighting over the upcoming testimony of Alan Eisenman.

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Erin Griffith

Wade makes it seem like Theranos was heroic for voiding the tests, given media scrutiny and stakes: It was a big decision to make to void all of the assays for their analyzers? It wasn’t necessarily something anyone wanted to do? The preference would be not to have to do that?

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Erin Griffith

Now Wade attempts to blame former lab director Adam Rosendorff (without mentioning that he resigned in frustration and leaked to WSJ). You recall the laboratory was not well-run when you joined? And that was why you were working to improve it?

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Erin Griffith

Now Wade blames Das: You’re familiar with Holmes’s background and training? She wouldn’t be qualified to serve as a lab director in a high complexity lab? But you were qualified? Ultimately the judgments were yours? You were responsible for the people working under you?

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Erin Griffith

We talk about all the people working on addressing the problems. Wade: “All these people were working hard and in good faith as they were undertaking these efforts, is that fair?” Das says yes (obviously).

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Erin Griffith

Wade is deflecting blame to Sunny Balwani, who was in charge of the lab. Before Dr. Das, lab directors reported to Balwani. When Das joined, he reported directly to Holmes, and Wade elicits testimony that this was a change designed to address the issues.

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Erin Griffith

Before Dr. Das joined Theranos, CMS inspected Theranos’s labs and issued a damning report about lab deficiencies, which we saw yesterday.

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Erin Griffith

🩸 “Our Holmes Matter” continues in San Jose. 🩸Holmes lawyer Lance Wade is questioning Dr. Das, Theranos’s final lab director. Yesterday he testified that he decided to void as many as 60k Theranos tests.