Aurora Innovation $AUR stock leaped 15% on September 2, 2022, after the CEO said that an Apple or Microsoft takeover was appealing.
In your dreams!
The stock trades with a current market cap of $3 billion. The company did just $145 million in salesThe income statement provides a summary of a company's revenue and expenses over a specified period of time, typically a year or a quarter. It shows the company's total revenue, th... last year. Who in their right mind thinks that the stock’s current market cap is justified? I can tell you two companies that likely don’t: Microsoft and Apple.
Microsoft and Apple didn’t get to where they are today by overpaying for the companies they gobble up. I’ve long tracked buyouts and takeovers, and the common theme with 80% of the buyouts is that a stock is trading at a sweet P/S ratio of below 1, not 20! The stock would have to trade around $0.50 a share, at the current share float of 315.46 million, to be an attractive buyout target, IMO.
I know. The speculative call buyers in the stock on September 2, 2022, will flame me on StockTwits now, but when has that ever stopped me 🤣.
Bullish Option Flow in Aurora Innovation $AUR Stock
Guerilla Stock Trading detected a very slight bullish option flow in $AUR stock on September 2, 2022.
Open interest in the December 16, 2022, $5 call option contract has been trending higher over the last couple of weeks.
Make sure to review this lesson on option flow so that you understand the image above.
Aurora Innovation CEO floated the idea of a sale to Apple and Microsoft, Bloomberg says
On September 2, 2022, Aurora Innovation’s (AUR) CEO Chris Urmson inadvertently sent a memo to staff in which he laid out a range of options for the self-driving company to respond to worsening market conditions, in which he floated the idea of a possible sale to Apple (AAPL) or Microsoft (MSFT) as appealing, according to a document seen by Bloomberg’s David Welch. Urmson also outlined cost cuts and talked about the possibility of taking the company private, spinning off or selling assets, and pursuing a small capital raise in a memo labeled “board discussion pre-read” dated August 3 that he asked staff on August 9 not to open, according to the report.
Aurora and Schneider to Autonomously Haul Freight in Texas
On August 1, 2022, Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR), a leading autonomous vehicle company, and Schneider National, Inc. (NYSE: SNDR), a premier multimodal provider of transportation services, announced a multiphase commercial pilot to haul freight for Schneider’s customers with the Aurora Driver, Aurora’s autonomous technology. This pilot reflects an essential step for Schneider toward understanding how to incorporate autonomous trucks into its fleet to improve efficiencies and address the growing demand to move goods.
“Understanding more about an autonomous future is the logical next step to build a network that continues to deliver the best service for our customers,” said Rob Reich, Executive Vice President, and Chief Administrative Officer at Schneider.
Schneider hauls freight on over 9.3 million miles daily for America’s biggest companies, creating an attractive value proposition for autonomous trucks that can haul freight 24/7/365. The Aurora Driver will begin weekly autonomous hauls between Dallas and Houston with Aurora vehicle operators on board. Load frequency is expected to increase as Schneider expands its relationship with Aurora.
Working with Schneider will be instrumental as Aurora progresses toward delivering Aurora Horizon, its subscription-based autonomous trucking product. The pilot will strengthen and prepare Aurora Horizon in three critical areas ahead of its launch:
- Autonomy at scale – The Aurora Driver learns from every load it hauls autonomously. As the scale of these pilots increases, so does the Aurora Driver’s experience.
- Vehicle readiness – Weekly hauls allow Aurora to test the durability of its next-generation trucks, based on PACCAR’s Peterbilt 579M, for commercial operation and deployment.
- Aurora’s fourth commercial pilot, Premium service, enables one of the industry’s largest carriers to play a crucial role in testing and validating Aurora’s product and service.
“Schneider has a reputation for delivering consistent and reliable service, evidenced by the sheer number of Fortune 500 customers. Preparing Aurora Horizon for prime-time with Schneider spring loads our ability to deploy our product at scale in the coming years,” said Sterling Anderson, Aurora’s Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer.
📺 Aurora Innovation $AUR and Schneider Partner to Haul Freight Autonomously in Texas
📉 Aurora Innovation $AUR Chart Technical Analysis
Aurora Innovation $AUR stock is in a technical downtrend. Long-term indicators suggest a continuation of the trend, but short-term indicators suggest that $AUR stock is approaching oversold territory and that a trend reversal is possible. However, I think the CEO’s actions resulted in the upward manipulation of the stock price on September 2, 2022. So I would suggest extreme caution following short-term indicators at this time.
