QuantumScape is a US-based battery developer that is backed by car manufacturer Volkswagen. The company has announced that it has agreed to a reverse merger financing deal with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company as well as a $500m private investment placement.

The QuantumScape reverse merger will result in a new company that will list on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation of approximately $3.3bn after the transaction is completed. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2020 and the new company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol QS.

QuantumScape was founded in 2010 to develop solid-state lithium batteries that are used mainly in electric vehicles. Unlike current lithium-ion batteries, that use liquid or gel to create a charge, solid-state batteries use a solid material instead. The design replaces the traditional graphite/silicon anode with a lithium-metal anode which is said to improve recharge time providing up to 80% capacity in under15 minutes. In addition, the new battery has a much higher energy density that exceeds 400 watt-hours per kilogram compared to the 250 watt-hours per kilogram that the best current lithium-ion batteries can deliver. While this new battery technology offers a potentially higher energy density and some safety advantages they have faced challenges in reaching the market, particularly with regard to their high cost and questions about their durability.

The company is expected to use the proceeds from the reverse merger to continue product development of their battery technology and to undertake validation of the technology through a production phase in which the batteries will be included in Volkswagen's range of electric vehicles. Volkswagen had previously formed a joint venture with QuantumScape to mass produce their batteries and they have been in collaboration since 2012. Volkswagen has also committed to investing an additional $200m in the company which adds to its 2018 investment of over $100m.

Corsair Gaming, a company that sells gaming peripherals and hardware, has filed papers for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that is aiming to raise $100 million in capital.

Corsair started out in 1994 selling cache modules to original equipment manufacturers, then branched out into providing memory to the server market and ended up in the personal computer market in 2002 with memory kits designed for overclocking CPUs. Today the company sells a wide range of products in the gaming market including gaming headsets, memory, keyboards, mice, power supplies, water cooling units for CPUs, gaming chairs and fully setup gaming PCs. It also recently acquired Elgato Gaming that provides video capture cards for the video streaming market.

Corsair Growth

The company has grown dramatically since its inception and has reported sales of over $1.3 billion in 2020. The IPO filing states that it has sold over 190 million gaming and video streaming related products since 1998 - with 85 million of those sales clocked up in the last five years. The company has a presence in 75 countries both online and in physical stores (such as Best Buy). The products that it sells through its own website, however, are the smallest portion of its sales.

The Corsair IPO

The Corsair IPO filing includes some risk factors that may affect its future performance. Its reliance on Amazon being one of them (which accounted for almost 27% of its sales) as well as its reliance on its top 10 customers (that accounted for just over 50% of its total sales). Some of the more interesting risk factors mentioned were mobile gaming, cloud gaming and the potential for augmented and virtual reality games in the future. They warn that cloud computing, in particular, could seriously impact the business. The trend towards games that are provided from the cloud, where software runs on the cloud provider's servers and users access games online, means that a user's PC is effectively only a 'dumb terminal' that no longer requires high performance components. If cloud-delivered gaming has a large enough uptake, they point out, it could result in less demand for fast memory, custom gaming PCs and related custom gaming components and this could hurt the company's sales significantly.

The company is presently owned by majority shareholder EagleTree Capital (which paid $525 million for its stake in 2017) and other minority shareholders. Corsair stated in its IPO filing that it has over 18% of the gaming peripherals market and 42% of the gaming PC component market in the US but doesn't provide world-wide sales figures.

What are reverse mergers? A reverse merger also referred to as a reverse IPO, is where a private company merges with a publicly traded company with the end result of the private company becoming a public company. This saves the private company the very complicated and lengthy process of becoming a public company.

Vroom Reverse Merger

Reverse mergers have been on the rise recently during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most recent mergers is of Vroom Inc whose share price has since gone up. This can be attributed to the shift to online used car buying as opposed to the traditional way of buying used vehicles. The current rise in online shopping accelerated by the pandemic could serve as a big boost, not only to Vroom Inc but also other companies such as Velodyne Lidar and Shift Technologies.

Velodyne Lidar Reverse Merger

Velodyne Lidar Inc, a company that specializes in the manufacture of sensors for autonomous cars is set to complete a reverse merger with Graf Industrial Corp. This will in effect place Velodyne Lidar Inc on the New York Stock Exchange giving the company a big opportunity for growth in the autonomous vehicle industry. Besides the strategic backing by investors such as Nikon, Baidu and Ford Motor Co, the company's valuation combined with Graf Industrial Corp will not only create huge opportunities for its investors but also its employees.

Shift Technologies and Insurance Acquisition Corp

Shift Technologies, a market leader in used cars online selling is also set to join the New York Stock Exchange through a reverse merger with Insurance Acquisition Corp. Online car buying is set to be on the rise with the pandemic keeping potential buyers from physical car dealerships. Buying a used car will basically shift from the traditional handshake deals to having it delivered at home. This trend whose main contributor is the ongoing pandemic crisis could rise in the near future.

The used car market is a billion dollar industry, which is headed for a major disruption by players such as Shift Technologies who also have huge investment backing from Lithia Motors and Goldman Sachs. Going public will bring about a huge capital infusion which will in turn fund the company's growth strategies and increase its range of product offerings.

PAYPAL CRYPTO BUYING

PayPal and Venmo are finally here with a terrific deal. They are beginning to provide buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. PayPal plays an impeccable role to connect buyers and sellers. It's known for its quirky services in the entire globe.

PayPal and Venmo, are among the World's most secure currency exchange agents. The giants are moving from analogue to digital coins. Being a digital asset, cryptocurrency is becoming a top-notch medium of exchange.

AVAILABLE PAYMENT OPTION

There is a wide range of options, for purchasing and selling cryptocurrency.

ONLINE WALLETS

You can buy or sell your crypto at the comfort of your house. It is a dazzling option which saves you scuffle. No wasting time on lunatic traffic jam. It's just a click away. Log in to your favorite online wallet and save time.

CASH PAYMENT

You can buy your cryptocurrency in cash. In case you don't have a bank account, worry not. It is one of the simplest methods of buying crypto. It is faster and confidential. To buy cash, you must have an online wallet. Most exchanges take that as a mandatory requirement.

CREDIT/DEBIT CARD

You can buy your crypto using credit or debit card. This method was believed to be hard. But several exchange companies have made it easy. These include but not limited, Coinmama and Coinbase. You must have a bitcoin wallet.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS FOR COINBASE?

Customers are in a position to join coin base account to PayPal. Based on your locality, you may purchase or sell the digital assets using either of the accounts.

The only foreseeable challenge is the way PayPal operates. PayPal principle is that if you can't prove you supplied goods to the buyer, they send the money back. In this instant, there is no visible evidence that one has received crypto. Thus, other companies see it as a threat to dealing with PayPal.

PROCEDURE FOR USING EXCHANGE BETWEEN PAYPAL AND COINBASE

• Complete personal details authentication, indicating the right country.

• Go to setting and then click on the joined accounts.

• Select PayPal by clicking on the new account.

• Log in to PayPal.

After completing these steps successfully, trade the digital stock via PayPal.

WHEN WILL THE SERVICE BE AVAILABLE?

PayPal is expected to launch this service soon. Most likely in three months. PayPal refused to divulge their schedule. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman disclosed his intention for this year. The CEO intends to liquidate Venmo which has an estimated close to 52 million accounts. PayPal is said to be combining effort with other exchange companies to source for liquidity.

By the start of this year, PayPal advertised several open positions. Both for a research team and engineering. That's a clear indication they are well furnished to create a digital payment podium.

BREAKING: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency About to ERUPT | PayPal to Let Users Buy Cryptocurrency in US!

Moderna Vaccine Might Be Coming Soon

Moderna can possibly develop a vaccine in a record amount of time using the latest technologies. This company uses AI on Amazon AWS (Web Services) to do massive calculations that allow them to find the right combination of chemicals to create a vaccine. Think of Doctor Strange in the movie Avengers Infinity War going through millions of endings to find the one that has a positive outcome. This is a game changer. Gilead has remdesivir which helps patients get out of the hospital faster but nothing compared to a vaccine.

Jim Cramer feels that this could be one of the shortest recessions in history. And also it could be the sharpest recession ever.

Covid 19 Blast Radius Stocks

The stocks that rebounded on Monday are in the Covid 19 blast radius industries, Oil, Travel, Homes, Autos, and Banks. Some travel stocks that shot up included UAL +21%, NCLH +18%, MAR +17%, and RCL +17%. Cramer suggests booking a cruise now and cancelling in a year if the vaccine does not happen as the prices are really cheap and there’s no penalty.

Fed Chairman Powell had some good things to say which also gave the market some support after Warren Buffett over the weekend said he had dumped on his Goldman Sachs stock.

If what’s being sold is an indication of what’s important in the market today, then Bed Bath & Beyond can help us with recent trend development. In the past two weeks sales of bread making machines, vacuum cleaners, and coffee grounds are what the new trends are about. At Bed Bath & Beyond, bread machines are up 400%, vacuums are up 100% and enough coffee grounds in pods and beans have been sold to make 10 million cups of coffee. Guess that means that while the fresh bread is baking in the oven, folks are sipping on their coffee and vacuuming their carpet. Sales have not been bad when you consider other companies are struggling to have anything in sales at all since their shops are closed.

Bed Bath & Beyond Tough Decisions

Bed Bath & Beyond did have to do some major juggling to keep afloat when the shutdown that impacted the nation first happened following the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic. Among the crucial decisions they needed to make was the move to furlough some of its employees and close some of their stores when the pandemic first started. Bed Bath and Beyond said at first that the furlough would need to last until May 2.

However, as of late April, Bed Bath & Beyond has already had to call back hundreds of their employees to staff 25% of the stores that were converted to fulfillment stores to meet the order demands from online customers purchases. Many of the stores also have pick up locations for easy contactless curbside pick-up service.

The furlough, for those still remaining on it, has been extended until May 16. Bed Bath & Beyond is paying 100% of healthcare premiums for employees enrolled in such programs until further notice. There is also a temporary continuance of pay cuts of 30% to executives.

Sales Rise on Price Slashing

Decisions at the corporate level to allow for some price slashing is keeping customers coming in droves (up to 85% increase in online sales). Many items available on the Bed Bath & Beyond website are 50 to 75% off and when you log on you are offered a 20% coupon for signing in.

New Players, Plans and Growth

The team at the top is relatively new, but experienced. Mark J. Tritton, Chief Executive Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond was previously with Target, Nordstrom and Nike. Stock market prices rose 11% after he was brought on board in October of 2019. He is handpicking his team and is looking for new leaders that will bring fresh perspectives and that are new innovators for change.

John Hartmann is the new Chief Operating Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond. He was previously with True Value and has also been with Home Depot, Cardinal Health, and the FBI.

They are making tough decisions to keep the company in a favorable and fluid position to outlast the coronavirus situation. Stocks rose 32% as of mid-April. Comparisons to any time before that is like comparing watermelons to cherries. We are in unprecedented times and any progress is worthy of note.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s decision to proceed with the online sales market has proven to be successful, as has the decision to convert some of their stores to fulfillment centers. The decision to turn stores into fulfillment stores doubles the retailers digital order capacity, making it more competitive in the online market.

Cramer previews earnings reports for the trading week of April 27

When Roku's streaming services first came out, twelve years ago, they were very few competitors in the streaming industry. Nowadays, thanks to diverse advancements in technology and the internet, the whole industry has grown forcing Roku to up its game to stay on top of competition. Today, the streaming devices offers TV watching without a cable connection. In this article, the valuation of Roku and it's annual growth will be discussed. Furthermore, we will update you on the streaming device's current situation with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Roku Valuation and annual growth

In the beginning of 2020, Roku Inc, was valued at just under 15 billion dollars. Over the years, Roku has had a steady annual growth with just a few downfalls. From 2016 to 2018, the company has seen increases in earnings by 86% from 400 million dollars to 743 million dollars. From 2018 to 2020, Roku's earnings have more than doubled with an 111% increase in revenue. As shown, Roku's financial situation has only been improving and it's projected revenue is even higher than now, Since Roku is in a blooming industry, we can safely state that they are going nowhere in the next years. The internet and television market has been growing excessively and Anthony Wood's company is blooming day by day.

Current situation

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, Roku has seen a sharp spike in the number of users because the population are isolating in their homes. There have been three million new viewers added to the streaming service's database in the first months of 2020. In a public announcement disclosed by Roku, they affirmed that they started to see the effects of the population isolating. For the company, this has resulted in a drastic amount of new accounts and the streaming hours have more than tripled. Following their announcement, their stock increased by almost 5% and they are obviously adapting to the current situation. Even if their situation does seem fortunate, in reality it isn't because of the stock market. The stock market's unpredictability has affected Roku's stock. Now, Roku's stock has been aggressive, meaning that it has climbed and fell drastically for the past few weeks. Even if we can't really say what it will look like, we can observe the small increase it has had in the last month. If we have to predict what Roku will look like in the next quarter, we would say that their would be a decrease in value of Roku's stock.

Roku Stock Analysis - 2020 Price Forecast

With the virus pandemic of the coronavirus significantly impacting the country, a considerable strain is being placed on the United States healthcare system. Hospitals are starting to realize that they were severely under-prepared for a massive virus outbreak like the coronavirus. To help stop the growing shortage of medical supplies, major brands of all industries are mass producing these products in their facilities.

One of the most heavily impacted cities is New York City. As the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus have risen, a growing number of hospitals can not keep up with the demand for the ventilator systems. Without ventilators, a respiratory virus like the coronavirus could lead to extreme trouble breathing or even death. On March 22nd, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stated: "if we don't get more ventilators in the next 10-days, people will die who don't have to die."

GM, Ford, and Tesla Made Ventilators

To meet the demand of the needed ventilators, large automotive manufacturers are stepping up to the plate to increase production speeds. To help lessen the shortage of ventilator systems, major automotive manufacturers GM, Ford, and Tesla are partnering with medical device manufacturers to mass-produce ventilators to help supply the hospitals in need. More urgently, New York City is getting the bulk of these produced ventilators by the automotive manufacturers. Currently, New York City has around 6,000 ventilators on hand; New York City is projected to need nearly 30,000 to meet the demand of the pandemic.

Tesla

Tesla founder Elon Musk has become proactive in the fight against the coronavirus by recently supplying Los Angeles with 1,200+ ventilators to use for their struggling hospitals with a ventilator shortage. Elon Musk is also converting his Tesla Gigafactory in New York City into a ventilator production facility after pairing up with a medical device manufacturer to increase production speeds. Elon Musk has stated that the factory will start production "as fast as humanly possible." With the coronavirus quickly growing in confirmed cases, this is an urgent need for the impacted communities across the United States.

Trump Encourages Tesla, GM & Ford To Make Ventilators

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson, can you imagine being a fly on a wall at a boardroom discussion between these three titans of industry? What would you overhear as they whizzed between topics like a pinball in a pinball machine? Certainly, it would feature an animated dialogue about their shared desire to commercialize space travel.

At present, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is the only one of the big three companies participating in the commercial space race to be publicly traded, and therefore available for Joe and Jane Public to purchase via their Virgin Galactic Stock (SPCE). However, just because you can buy a slice of the company doesn’t mean you’ll be able to afford a seat on the bus. According to Virgin Galactic’s corporate website (virgingalatic.com) the sticker price for this gravity defying experience is $250K, although there are no tickets for sale at the moment.

Virgin Galactic Stock performance

SPCE deputed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 28th, 2019, and much like the soaring and sometimes crashing history of its tech, the stock has experienced substantial volatility since then. While it’s up more than 200% for the last three-month period (as of mid-February 2020), it was trading as low as $6.90 per share on November 25th, 2019.

Why the highs and lows? 

The factors underpinning the stock’s volatility range from technological setbacks to personnel additions (such as filling a newly created COO position in January 2020 with seasoned professional Enrico Palermo) to third-party institutional investment and the relative newness of the stock itself. While the company is not actively conducting space flights and collecting revenue today, it did recently sell a significant chunk of shares to Park West Asset Management, a California-based hedge fund, perhaps a sign of things to come.

The future of SPCE

Virgin Galactic and its leadership team have lofty goals philosophically, not just literally. Their published mission includes “using space for good” and “democratizing space.” Can they do it? And will they be able to turn a profit along the way? There are simply too many variables to predict. From technology refinement to regulation to good old-fashioned supply and demand, there are a number of hurdles that will have to be clarified and cleared before stakeholders can reasonably consider money poured into the stock anything more than speculative.

Why Virgin Galactic's stock is soaring

StocksToTrade is an online investment suite designed for serious stock traders. It is a modern data integration program that combines real-time data, online brokers, AI-powered screeners, and educational tools into a powerful and robust program designed to streamline and maximize potential profits. Founded in 2009, StocksToTrade boasts that it was made for day traders by day traders. Their algorithms and customizable watch-lists will make sure that anyone can make the perfect trade when the market is just right. In addition to that, Tim Bohen, a successful day trainer, now curates personalized educational material for the site and is ready to guide traders of all backgrounds to a more successful future in trading. On the surface, it seems that StocksToTrade really is giving the user everything they could want.

StocksToTrade Features

Some of the best features include seamless broker integration. On other stock tracking sites, traders have to take the information and then go to their broker and apply the information to make trades. This adds extra steps in a business where seconds can mean anything. With StockToTrades integration you can buy and sell straight from your data stream and make trades on the fly and in real-time. Another amazing feature is the amount of real-time information provided. Not only does StocksToTrade provide instant data on stock price and market movement they also link to social media feeds, press releases and other relevant information as it happens so it is impossible to miss a beat while trading. If you are reading it in the news, usually it is too late to capitalize on any potential movement. This provides a potent combination of tools that allows traders to buy and sell based on hot information as close to instantaneously as possible.

StocksToTrade Pricing

While there is a lot packed into StocksToTrade these great features also come with a hefty price tag. StocksToTrade's basic plan runs $179.95/month with a yearly plan available for $1899.50. This price might scare some people away but this suite is tailored for serious traders and not for the casual trader. If someone is simply dabbling in day trading then this product really is not meant for them. Then there is a StocksToTrade PRO membership that does not have a price listed but invites you to apply to discover the next steps. This is the personalized training offered by Tim Bohen and you can expect that to come in even higher than the basic price. If you are feeling hesitant StocksToTrade also offers a cheap trial period where you can get access to the program for two weeks for a mere $7. For that price you can easily jump in, play around with and make a more educated decision before shelling out any real cash.

StocksToTrade Requirements

Another potential downside is the software requirements. While they are not super high for a newer computer you will need to have a pretty good setup to handle that much data. High-speed internet is required and they recommend that you have 8GB of RAM and an i9 processor. A lot of trading is done on people's mobile devices nowadays but this is definitely designed to be used on a desktop or powerful laptop further reinforcing their focus on the serious day trader.

What Is StocksToTrade And StocksToTrade PRO?