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By Avi Asher -Schapiro and David Sherfinski
LOS ANGELES, Sept 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The rights of millions of independent workers in the United States may hinge on the presidential election, with supporters of the candidates pushing widely divergent views of how federal policy should regulate the gig economy.
In the United States, workers who find jobs via apps are mostly treated as independent contractors and have far fewer legal protections than traditional employees.
Estimates of how many people earn money this way vary widely. The U.S. government has said it could be between 5 million and 30 million workers.
Industry group Flex said that 4.3% of American workers make money from an on-demand app. A study by the University of Chicago showed the number of people who collected income from one of these platforms tripled between 2017 and 2021.
The Democratic and Republican parties have staked out different positions on how this work should be regulated, although presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have not made it clear how they would approach the sector.
"Republicans are aligned on this issue completely: They're 100% great with no rights for gig workers. Democrats are actually mixed on this," explained Laura Padin, a lawyer with the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a pro-labor group.
NELP and other groups have argued that by classifying app-based freelance workers as independent contractors, no matter how many hours or how regularly they work for a specific app, the companies are denying workers a raft of benefits, from unemployment support, insurance for injuries on the job, paid leave and minimum-wage protections.
Project 2025, a policy document for a prospective Trump administration drawn up by a think tank close to the former president, lauded the independent contractor model and the ride-hailing app Uber in particular. The Trump campaign has recently distanced itself from Project 2025.
"The value of flexibility extends beyond ride-sharing," reads the chapter on the Department of Labor, which argues that companies should be given wide leeway to treat workers as contractors.
For her part, Harris backed a California law that would have extended employee rights to many freelance workers. But her campaign has brought in at least several gig industry insiders as advisors. Her brother-in-law Tony West has taken temporary leave from a top legal position at Uber to work as a volunteer on Harris' campaign.
The Trump campaign did not provide details about its plans for the gig economy, but Republican National Committee spokesperson Anna Kelly said that Trump is "the most pro-worker president in history."
The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for details about its plans. Flex, which represents a wide variety of gig firms, did not respond to requests for an interview.
Some Republican senators and trade groups have proposed creating a "portable benefits" system that would allow some gig workers to access safety-net programs. Labor groups have generally opposed such proposals as insufficient.
UBER AND LYFT CHANGE THE GAME
Though independent contracting has long been a fixture of the U.S. economy, the advent of Uber and rideshare rival Lyft a little over a decade ago popularized a new labor relationship: workers who make their own schedule, but who are tightly controlled and managed by an app.
This labor model has spread beyond ride-hailing to logistics, hospitality and even healthcare, explained Veena Dubal, a professor at University of California Irvine law school who studies the sector.
"It's a David vs. Goliath situation," she said. "On the one side, you have corporations with extraordinary wealth, and on the other side, you have some of the (most) precarious and vulnerable workers in the country."
In recent years, gig platforms have taken advantage of advances in artificial intelligence to more fully automate the management of workers, set prices and streamline tasks like hiring and firing drivers, a development that workers’ rights groups say is a cause for concern.
Under President Joe Biden, the Federal Trade Commission launched a 2022 initiative to crack down on labor abuse in the gig economy, levying small fines against three companies for deceptive business practices.
Earlier this year, the Department of Labor rolled out new rules for classifying workers as independent contractors, essentially making it harder for companies to claim a gig worker does not have employee rights.
STOP THE BLEEDING
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, said the organized labor movement is trying to "stop the bleeding" when it comes to the freelance economy.
"We don’t want to go to a society without any social safety net for workers," she said.
Gonzalez is a former member of the California assembly who authored a bill in California which would have extended employee rights to independent workers.
On-demand platforms spent more than $200 million to promote a voter initiative that ended up rolling back the law, saving major companies nearly $400 million in payroll taxes and workers' compensation costs alone, according to a Reuters tally.
"We will continue advocating for models that combine that independence and flexibility with benefits and protections, such as what we've seen in states like California, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington," an Uber spokesperson said.
The spokesperson cited surveys that showed drivers and couriers want "the independence and flexibility that enables them to decide when, where, and how they work."
Despite several attempts, labor groups have struggled to organize freelance workers into traditional unions, although a number of workers groups and associations have emerged.
One group, the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, worked with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz - Harris’ running mate - to pass a minimum wage law in that state.
"We are working really hard to build a union—and that would be really hard to do if Trump wins," said Nicole Moore, a rideshare driver in Los Angeles and an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United.
Some experts and union officials expect Harris to continue with the policies of the Biden administration.
"Harris is a staunch supporter of unions," Gonzalez said. "And we have no indication she will go backwards."
Trump tried to reduce the National Labor Relations Board’s budget and appointed officials who were associated with business interests. His running mate, J.D. Vance, has voiced support for "sectoral bargaining," where labor deals are struck by entire industries.
Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he expected Trump would likely return to a regulatory scheme to make it easier to characterize gig workers as independent contractors.
"We’re seeing new work arrangements emerge in the current economy through things like ridesharing and that type of stuff – and we need to be encouraging of that," he said.
(Reporting by Avi Asher-Schapiro; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://context.news/)
(( Avi.Asher-Schapiro@thomsonreuters.com ; Reuters Messaging: Avi.Asher-Schapiro@thomsonreuters.com ))
Keywords: USA/ELECTION-WORKERS (FEATURE)
Reporter Name | Zimmer John Patrick |
Relationship | Director |
Type | Sell |
Amount | $27,439 |
SEC Filing | Form 4 |
Lyft Director, John Patrick Zimmer, sold 2,424 shares of Class A Common Stock on September 16, 2024, at a price of $11.32 per share, totaling $27,439. Following this transaction, Zimmer directly owns 929,638 shares of Lyft. The sale was executed under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on May 31, 2024.
SEC Filing: Lyft, Inc. [ LYFT ] - Form 4 - Sep. 18, 2024
Lower interest rates can do wonders for financial technology companies (Fintech) which strive to improve and automate financial services.
In an ever-evolving technological landscape and business environment, several popular fintech stocks are standing out and should benefit as the Fed decided to cut the central bank's benchmark rate by 50 basis points today.
PayPal’s Resurgence: Payment Solutions Leader
Sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), PayPal’s PYPL steady growth trajectory has become more believable thanks to the company’s relevancy as one the largest transaction facilitators for customers and merchants.
Posting a sharp rebound this year, PYPL is up nearly +20% in 2024. Analysts have become more bullish on PayPal’s expanding partnerships and innovation with a few collaborations listed below.
1. Fiserv FI partnership- Aimed at streamlining checkout experiences for merchant clients in the U.S.
2. Uber UBER partnership- Multi-year collaboration to capitalize on the ride-sharing giant’s global expansion and scale PayPal into worldwide markets.
3. PayPal has also expanded its partnership with Apple AAPL, creating an integrated payment ecosystem with Apple Pay and its subsidiary Venmo VMEO. Notably, PayPal has enhanced its features for Venmo in regard to services for small business owners.
IBKR & HOOD Stock: Investment Bank Growth
Expanding as electronic market brokers, International Brokers IBKR and Robinhood Markets' HOOD stock both sport a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Increasing in popularity since going public in 2021, Robinhood is expected to post its first profit this year with EPS now expected at $0.76 versus an adjusted loss of -$0.61 a share in 2023. The Fed’s decision to cut rates is perfect timing for Robinhood as the renowned cryptocurrency trading company is expected to be profitable in fiscal 2025 as well.
Pivoting to Interactive Brokers, its bottom line expansion is very enticing with EPS projected to pop 18% in FY24 to $6.81 compared to earnings of $5.75 per share last year. Plus, FY25 EPS is projected to rise another 2%.
More intriguing is that IBKR and HOOD have soared over +50% year to date but still trade at fairly reasonable forward P/E multiples of 19.3X and 29.7X respectively.
Bottom Line
Suggesting more upside in these top fintech stocks is that earnings estimate revisions have remained higher. This trend should continue with the Fed’s much-anticipated decision to cut rates finally upon us.
Zacks Investment Research
Technology and innovation are the backbone of the global economy and the U.S. stock market. While there are times when commodity stocks, old economy companies, and value-oriented stocks can outperform, history teaches us that the most robust gains come from disruptive companies within the technology sector. For example, Meta Platforms (META) unique social media platforms caught fire in the 2000s and led to breathtaking profits for investors. Though Alphabet (GOOGL) was not first in the search engine arena, the company mastered search and later video with its YouTube platform. Jeff Bezos proved that e-commerce could be scaled through Amazon (AMZN).
It would take years for me to list even a portion of America’s success stories. The good news for investors who missed these moves is that the wheels of America’s top tech innovators are constantly turning. As investors, our job is to identify megatrends, uncover the top innovators, and ride the trends as long as possible. Below are my top two megatrends to watch over the next decade:
Space Stocks
Technological advancements (such as rocket reusability), efficiency gains, and the evolution of public-private partnerships are rapidly transforming the space industry from pipedream to reality. Though getting to this level has been a long and frustrating road, the “final frontier” promises fruitful rewards for successful space companies. McKinsey estimates that “the global space economy will be worth $1.8 trillion by 2035, up from $630 billion in 2023.”
Space Industry: Satellites and Defense
While accessibility to space has increased dramatically, profitability is still mainly prevalent in two areas: satellites and defense.
· Satellites: Intuitive Machines (LUNR) rocketed more than 50% today after NASA awarded the company a deal valued up to $4.82 billion to provide satellites to NASA’s Artemis program. Meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), a company building a space-based cellular broadband network, is up nearly 500% year-to-date.
· Defense: U.S. defense spending jumped from $320 billion in 2000 to over $800 billion in 2024.The trend of higher defense spending is highly unlikely to subside, especially as the world’s superpowers jockey for dominance in space. As a result, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin (LMT) should continue to benefit.
AI Stocks
Artificial intelligence has been discussed by technologists for decades. However, like the space industry, until recently, the AI industry was a pipedream. However, monumental breakthroughs in the semiconductor industry, mainly from Nvidia (NVDA), have led to new possibilities and a burgeoning mega trend. Below are three AI areas to watch:
· Chatbots: OpenAI made headlines recently as news fundraising talks could value the ChatGPT operator at a mind-boggling $150 billion. Though OpenAI and its largest investor Microsoft (MSFT), have to make strides in profitability, investors should not ignore the area industry that brought industry that brought AI to the public conscience.
· Data Center & Utilities: Large, energy-sucking data centers are required to build AI models that run large language models (LLMs). Names like Vertiv (VRT), which is a leader in AI infrastructure, and utilities likeVistra (VST) are “picks and shovels” to the upcoming AI gold rush.
· Robotaxis and Robots: Autonomous driving has already proven safer than today’s distracted human drivers. Tesla (TSLA) and other autonomous vehicle makers will make the roads safer and generate revenue by cutting out the need for human drivers in ridesharing services like Uber (UBER). Meanwhile, Tesla’s visionary CEO Elon Musk promises to unveil the Tesla Bot” robot in the coming years (the robot is already completing tasks for Tesla). With labor costs increasing, robots could be a way for companies to cut costs.
Bottom Line
Technological advances are at the heart of the most significant stock market advances. As the wheels of innovation continue to turn, investors should focus their research on burgeoning megatrends in AI and space over the next decade.
Zacks Investment Research
With a YTD gain of just over 12%, Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) is one of the worst-performing constituents of the “Magnificent 7” pack, and is also underperforming the S&P 500 Index ($SPX). The Google parent’s outlook has been clouded by a court ruling that argues it holds a monopoly in the online search market. As a result, calls to break up the tech behemoth are rising, making markets fearful about the stock. Is it time to get greedy instead and buy Alphabet shares for Q4? We’ll discuss in this article.
GOOG Stock Forecast
While GOOG still has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” from sell-side analysts, and its mean target price of $202.09 is about 27.1% higher than Monday’s closing prices, some analysts have grown cautious about the stock.
Alphabet currently has a “Strong Buy” or “Moderate Buy” rating from 82% of the analysts in coverage, while the corresponding number three months back was 86%.
Rosenblatt, Bernstein, and Loop Capital have all recently downgraded GOOG from a “buy” to “neutral” equivalent rating, while Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to “buy” over the last three months. More recently, Evercore ISI lowered Alphabet's target price from $225 to $200 to start the week, while reiterating its “overweight" rating.
Key Risks That Alphabet Faces
To be sure, Alphabet stock is underperforming markets for a reason, as the company is facing several headwinds.
First, the regulatory risk is currently running quite high, and Bernstein estimates that Google could face litigations worth $100 billion from advertisers it overcharged for ads. The brokerage also believes that given the regulatory heat, Google might be a lot less aggressive for now.
“The reality of an internet company is progress never stops. And if you’re going to be hampered, where maybe you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back, it becomes a very difficult prospect to move as quickly as you’d like, and maybe as you need to,” explained Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik.
There is also a risk that regulators might seek to break up Alphabet in a bid to curtail its apparent monopoly.
Apart from the regulatory risk, Google’s core advertising business is facing significant challenges from competitors like Amazon . With companies like Uber , Disney , and Netflix also betting big on the advertisement business, the market might see even more competition for ad dollars.
Finally, artificial intelligence (AI) could shake up the online search market - and while Google has so far maintained its lead, the game is Alphabet's to lose, given its dominant position. While the company has ramped up its AI efforts after the initial hiccups, the race is still wide open.
Is It Time to Get Greedy and Buy Alphabet Stock?
While GOOG faces some very potent risks, they should be seen in perspective. Alphabet stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 20.4x, which is the lowest among all Magnificent 7 stocks, and is a discount to the average S&P 500 Index member stock, too.
While broader market valuations – especially for tech names – are generally running above their historical averages, GOOG is one of those rare stocks that's currently trading at a discount to its historical valuations.
Also, I believe there are several underappreciated assets in Alphabet’s portfolio – YouTube, for instance. YouTube has been consistently the most watched streaming platform on U.S. TV screens, according to data from Nielsen, and the company has still a lot of legroom to monetize YouTube users - including by pushing paid subscriptions.
It also has the Waymo self-driving unit, which recently partnered with Uber to offer driverless ride-hailing in Atlanta and Austin. Cloud could be another growth driver for Alphabet; that segment posted quarterly revenues of $10 billion in Q2, and an operating profit of $1 billion for the first time.
While the regulatory risk is real, I believe these risks look factored into GOOG’s stock price, and getting greedy about this underperforming tech stock might pay off for investors in the medium to long term - even though in the short term, the noise over its regulatory issues will continue to impact the price action.
On the date of publication, Mohit Oberoi had a position in: GOOG , AMZN , DIS . All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
The Nasdaq 100 closed lower by around 0.5% during Monday's session. Investors, meanwhile, focused on some notable insider trades.
When insiders sell shares, it could be a preplanned sale, or could indicate their concern in the company's prospects or that they view the stock as being overpriced. Insider sales should not be taken as the only indicator for making an investment or trading decision. At best, it can lend conviction to a selling decision.
Below is a look at a few recent notable insider sales. For more, check out Benzinga’s insider transactions platform.
Marvell Technology
Northern Trust
Lyft
Nasdaq
Check This Out:
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Reporter Name | Llewellyn Lindsay Catherine |
Relationship | CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER, SECRETARY |
Type | Sell |
Amount | $50,916 |
SEC Filing | Form 4 |
Llewellyn Lindsay Catherine, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary at Lyft, sold 4,243 shares of Class A Common Stock on September 12, 2024, at a price of $12.0 per share, totaling $50,916. Following the transaction, Catherine directly owns 760,089 shares of Lyft. The sale was executed under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on February 28, 2024. A portion of Catherine's ownership includes shares held in a living trust and restricted stock units (RSUs) with specific vesting conditions.
SEC Filing: Lyft, Inc. [ LYFT ] - Form 4 - Sep. 16, 2024
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