Fly Intel: Top Five Weekend Stock Stories - Sunday, April 21

Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly:

1. E-commerce is transforming the grocery business, forcing cash-strapped companies to overhaul their operations and invest heavily in technology and talent to keep customers from straying to Amazon (AMZN), while having to keep food prices low, The Wall Street Journal's Heather Haddon reported. The transition has proven rough for Kroger (KR), which stayed focused on store sales long after mass-merchant competitors were investing in online-ordering technology and delivery services, the publication noted. Further, sales at Kroger have grown more slowly than at Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), which have more robust online operations, Haddon said, adding that Kroger has now turned to acquisitions to boost its digital reach.

2. As Tesla (TSLA) faces questions about whether demand for the Model 3 compact car is slowing, CEO Elon Musk wants investors to focus on vehicles driving themselves in a robot-taxi fleet, The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins reported. Musk is gathering investors Monday to reveal the electric car maker's latest efforts to develop self-driving car technology and his strategy for deploying it, just two days before Tesla reports quarterly financial results, which are expected to show a loss on slumping vehicle sales, the publication added.

3. Investing in health insurers today amounts to a bet against the Medicare for All proposal championed by Senator Bernie Sanders and other Democrats running for president, Andrew Bary wrote in this week's edition of Barron's. While the stocks have been battered, given the long odds of an industry-killing plan becoming law, shares of the leading insurers - UnitedHealth (UNH), Anthem (ANTM), Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM) and CVS (CVS) - look appealing, Bary contended. The stocks trade for an average of just 12 times projected 2019 earnings and UnitedHealth, Anthem, and Humana already are generating double-digit growth in earnings per share, he added.

4. AT&T (T) subsidiary Warner Bros' "The Curse of La Llorona" opened ahead of expectations with $26.5M to easily win the weekend. This was, however, the worst Easter at the domestic box office in 14 years as Hollywood studios held back releasing bigger event pics. Overseas, "The Curse of La Llorona" took in $30M from 71 markets for a global bow of $56.4M. The movie sports a B- CinemaScore and a 32% Rotten Tomatoes score.
5. Spotify (SPOT), Boston Beer (SAM) and Pinterest (PINS) were mentioned cautiously in this week's edition of Barron's.
 

Disclaimer: TheFly's news is intended for informational purposes only and does not claim to be actionable for investment decisions. Read more at  more

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