The News

Tottenham Hotspur took on QPR on Saturday afternoon at Loftus Road in a pre-season friendly and here are our first half player ratings.

Ange Postecoglou switched up his team slightly from midweek with Pape Matar Sarr back from injury, while Timo Werner came into the first half side as did Lucas Bergvall with Dejan Kulusevski, Manor Solomon, and James Maddison on the bench for the second half. Archie Gray and Oliver Skipp continued as makeshift centre-backs against QPR, who finished 18th in the Championship last season under Marti Cifuentes.

Lacking quality in his final ball but defended solidly enough as the only player in his natural position in the backline. 6

Archie Gray

Another solid and composed display from the 18-year-old and he had plenty more to deal with this time. 7

Oliver Skipp

Made some important early interceptions and battled away throughout the first half with Jamie Donley

A bright start before a misplaced pass was cut out on the edge of Spurs' box and he was fortunate Porro bailed him out. Made another loose pass 19 minutes. Made a couple of tackles after that to regain his confidence. 6

Pape Matar Sarr

Back from injury and he made one early run that ended with a blocked shot. He was a busy present in the middle of the pitch. 7

Yves Bissouma

Looked strong and dominant on the ball. Curled an effort over the bar 16 minutes in but made no mistake with a fantastic goal, playing a one-two with Kulusevski before rounding the keeper to score. 9

Lucas Bergvall

A confident start, using the ball well, with his team-mates happy to give him it in tight spots. However, he went down in the 24th minute with an injury and was taken off, looking gutted. Hopefully it was just precautionary. 8

Brennan Johnson

Some wasteful early play before powering down the right past his man and teeing up Son for a big chance. 5

Son Heung-min

Playing in the centre of attack again he worked hard and had a big opportunity to open the scoring midway through the hall but shot at the keeper. 6

Timo Werner

Struggled to make an impact and had a late chance when he ran through but the keeper saved.

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 ScotRail has announced cuts to some train services as the rail operator issued a warning ahead of a weekend of sporting events.

The closing stages of the Open Championship in Troon take place on Saturday and Sunday, while Rangers square off with Manchester United at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Saturday.

ScotRail said due to an ongoing ASLEF pay dispute and a temporary timetable put in place over driver shortages, services have been altered on the network.

The warning comes after weeks of disruption on Scotland’s railways, with services expected to be “busier than normal.”

ScotRail said 50,000 Open spectators travelled on Wednesday and Thursday with nearly 58,000 fans expected to attend the Rangers match at Murrayfield at 4pm on Saturday.

Customers not attending the football are being encouraged to consider travelling at quieter times.

Mark Ilderton, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “With a temporary timetable currently in operation and two major sporting events taking place this weekend, it is important we advise our customers of what to expect, and to plan ahead for their journey.

“Additional services will be available for The Open Championship in Troon, and we anticipate services for Edinburgh to be busier than usual before and after the football at Murrayfield.

“Customers should allow extra time for travel and check their journey on our mobile app the day before travel.

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this may cause to customers who have their journey impacted by service alterations.

“We know how frustrating this can be and thank them for their patience.”

Full list of changes to ScotRail timetable

On Saturday, July 20 customers are advised of the following changes to services:

• The Glasgow to Alloa service will be reduced from half-hourly to hourly, and trains will depart from Alloa at 45 minutes past the hour and from Glasgow at 49 minutes past the hour.
• Most services between Edinburgh and North Berwick will be withdrawn, with a bus replacement in operation for most of the day. Trains will operate at 6.39am, 7.16am, 7.53am, and 8.33am from North Berwick to Edinburgh and the 9.40pm and 11.14pm Edinburgh to North Berwick services will also run.
• The Glasgow to Newton service will be reduced from half-hourly to hourly with departures from Glasgow at 45 minutes past the hour and from Newton at 19 minutes past the hour.

On Sunday, July 21, changes to services are as follows:

• Edinburgh to Tweedbank will operate every three hours rather than hourly. Departures from Tweedbank to Edinburgh will be at 9.47am, 12.48pm, 3.47pm and 6.48pm and from Edinburgh to Tweedbank at 11.13am, 2.11pm, 5.12pm, 8.11pm and 10.10pm.
• Edinburgh to North Berwick services will operate every two hours rather than hourly and the first service from Edinburgh will be at 9.37am and the first service from North Berwick will be at 10.24am.
• Edinburgh to Dunblane will operate with two services every three hours, rather than hourly, with the first service from Edinburgh at 9.35am and the first service from Dunblane at 9.45am.
• Glasgow to Cumbernauld will be withdrawn and bus replacement is “not possible”.
• Glasgow to Lanark will operate every two hours rather than hourly with the first service from Glasgow Central at 10.20am and the first service from Lanark at 11.21am.
• Wemyss Bay to Whinhill will be served by a replacement bus to allow onward connections on the Gourock to Glasgow service.
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A faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online. Crowdstrike said a fix has been deployed, but experts say the recovery from this outage could take some time, as Crowdstrike’s solution needs to be applied manually on a per-machine basis.

Earlier today, an errant update shipped by Crowdstrike began causing Windows machines running the software to display the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death,” rendering those systems temporarily unusable. Like most security software, Crowdstrike requires deep hooks into the Windows operating system to fend off digital intruders, and in that environment a tiny coding error can quickly lead to catastrophic outcomes.

In a post on Twitter/X, Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz said an update to correct the coding mistake has been shipped, and that Mac and Linux systems are not affected.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Kurtz said on Twitter, echoing a written statement by Crowdstrike. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

Posting to Twitter/X, the director of Crowdstrike’s threat hunting operations said the fix involves booting Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), deleting the file “C-00000291*.sys” and then restarting the machine.

The software snafu may have been compounded by a recent series of outages involving Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, The New York Times reports, although it remains unclear whether those Azure problems are at all related to the bad Crowdstrike update. Update, 4:03 p.m. ET: Microsoft reports the Azure problems today were unrelated to the bad Crowdstrike update.

A reader shared this photo taken earlier today at Denver International Airport. Credit: Twitter.com/jterryy07

Matt Burgess at Wired writes that within health care and emergency services, various medical providers around the world have reported issues with their Windows-linked systems, sharing news on social media or their own websites.

“The US Emergency Alert System, which issues hurricane warnings, said that there had been various 911 outages in a number of states,” Burgess wrote. “Germany’s University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein said it was canceling some nonurgent surgeries at two locations. In Israel, more than a dozen hospitals have been impacted, as well as pharmacies, with reports saying ambulances have been rerouted to nonimpacted medical organizations.”

In the United Kingdom, NHS England has confirmed that appointment and patient record systems have been impacted by the outages.

“One hospital has declared a ‘critical’ incident after a third-party IT system it used was impacted,” Wired reports. “Also in the country, train operators have said there are delays across the network, with multiple companies being impacted.”

Reactions to today’s outage were swift and brutal on social media, which was flooded with images of people at airports surrounded by computer screens displaying the Microsoft blue screen error. Many Twitter/X users chided the Crowdstrike CEO for failing to apologize for the massively disruptive event, while others noted that doing so could expose the company to lawsuits.

Meanwhile, the international Windows outage quickly became the most talked-about subject on Twitter/X, whose artificial intelligence bots collated a series of parody posts from cybersecurity professionals pretending to be on their first week of work at Crowdstrike. Incredibly,Twitter/X’s AI summarized these sarcastic posts into a sunny, can-do story about Crowdstrike that was promoted as the top discussion on Twitter this morning.

“Several individuals have recently started working at the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and have expressed their excitement and pride in their new roles,” the AI summary read. “They have shared their experiences of pushing code to production on their first day and are looking forward to positive outcomes in their work.”

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 Two people have died in a listeria outbreak across 12 states in the U.S. that is likely linked to sliced deli meats, according to the CDC.

In total, 28 people have been infected and hospitalized with the disease as of Friday in an outbreak that began in May, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The listeria infections have been reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.

The two deaths were reported in Illinois and New Jersey, according to the CDC. The agency also noted that one pregnant woman got sick with listeria and remained pregnant after she recovered.

People who got sick reported to state and local officials that they ate "a variety of meats sliced at deli counters" in the month before they got sick. Officials interviewed 18 people, 16 of whom said they ate meats sliced at a deli, and found they most commonly ate turkey, liverwurst and ham. The sliced meats from deli counters came from a variety of supermarket and grocery story delis, according to the CDC.

The CDC said it is comparing foods people who were infected ate in this outbreak to foods people ate who got sick with listeria but were not part of an outbreak, and found that the people in this outbreak were "more likely to eat deli-sliced turkey and liverwurst."

"This information suggests that meats sliced at the deli are a likely source of this outbreak," the CDC said. "However, at this time CDC doesn’t have enough information to say which deli meats are the source of this outbreak.

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 Specifically, Director David W. Dorman sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. 

The shares were sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total value of $10,144,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 114,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,462,517.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director David W. Dorman sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.26, for a total transaction of $10,144,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 114,317 shares in the company, valued at $15,462,517.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael S. Dell sold 2,837,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.75, for a total transaction of $379,559,628.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,412,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,730,137,233.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,032,750 shares of company stock valued at $959,881,905. Company insiders own 46.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Dell Technologies from $125.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on Dell Technologies from $125.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Dell Technologies from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Dell Technologies from $113.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Dell Technologies from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.81.

Dell Technologies Stock Down 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $98.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $142.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.37.

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The technology company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Dell Technologies had a negative return on equity of 173.72% and a net margin of 4.00%. The company had revenue of $22.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.70 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Dell Technologies Inc. will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Dell Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 23rd. Dell Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 36.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dell Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Dell Technologies by 58.2% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Dell Technologies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in Dell Technologies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in Dell Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position in Dell Technologies by 748.7% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 331 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. 38.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dell Technologies Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Dell Technologies Inc designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and supports various comprehensive and integrated solutions, products, and services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) and Client Solutions Group (CSG).

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Dance Moms" star Christi Lukasiak is facing a DUI charge after a violent car crash .

Christi's daughter Chloe was a standout student on "Dance Moms," up until Season 4, when she and Christi butted heads with Abby Lee Miller -- accusing her of bullying Chloe, before pulling out of Abby's school. 

SOURCE 

 A secondary dam has failed in Nashville, Illinois, and evacuations are in place for residents in the city.

The secondary dam failure comes around 10 a.m., more than an hour after the Nashville dam failed, according to the Washington County Emergency Management Agency (EMA).

The Washington County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) first announced to the public the Nashville Dam has failed due to all the rainfall at 8:24 a.m.

More than five inches of rain has fallen in areas around the city.

 Wall Street analysts are too bullish on second quarter earnings expectations for most S&P 500 companies. The percentage of S&P 500 companies whose Street EPS exceeds Core EPS equals 75% through 1Q24. Street Earnings refer to Zacks Earnings, which are reported to remove non-recurring items using standardized assumptions from the sell-side.

This report shows:

• the frequency and magnitude of overstated Street Earnings in the S&P 500; and
• five S&P 500 companies likely to miss 2Q24 earnings.

Street EPS Are Higher Than Core EPS for 373 S&P 500 Companies

For 373 companies in the S&P 500, or 75%, Street Earnings are higher than Core Earnings in the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended 1Q24. In the TTM ended 4Q23, Street Earnings were overstated for 370 companies.

The more interesting trend, however, is in the percentage of the S&P 500 where Street Earnings overstate Core Earnings by more than 10%. That number equals 42% (212 companies), which is up from 41% (205 companies) in the TTM ended 4Q23.

Those 212 companies make up 26% of the market cap of the S&P 500 as of 7/8/24, which is up from 25% of the market cap in 4Q23, measured with TTM data in each quarter. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Overstated Street Earnings by >10% as % of Market Cap: 2012 through 7/8/24

The 373 companies with overstated (by any amount) Street Earnings make up 70% of the market cap of the S&P 500 as of 7/8/24, which is up from 69% in 4Q23, measured with TTM data in each quarter.

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Figure 2: Overstated Street Earnings as % of Market Cap: 2012 through 7/8/24

Note that this analysis is based on my firm’s team analyzing the financial statements and footnotes for ~3,000 10-Ks and 10-Qs filed with the SEC for 1Q24 results.

When Street Earnings are higher than Core Earnings, they are overstated by an average of 19%, per Figure 3.

Figure 3: Street Earnings Overstated by 19% on Average in TTM Through 1Q24

Five S&P 500 Companies Likely to Miss 2Q24 Earnings

Figure 4 shows five S&P 500 companies likely to miss calendar 2Q24 earnings because their Street EPS estimates are overstated. Because investors and analysts tend to anchor their earnings projections to historical results, errors in historical Street EPS lead to errors in Street EPS estimates.

Figure 4: Five S&P 500 Companies Likely to Miss 2Q24 EPS Estimates

*Assumes Street Distortion as a percent of Core EPS is the same for 2Q24 EPS as for TTM ended 1Q24.

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