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Microsoft bets on GM’s Cruise while Amazon and others back Rivian amid electric vehicle boom

It’s another big day in the EV (electric vehicle) and AV (autonomous vehicle) space. 

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Suspected Russian Hackers Targeted Cyber Firm Malwarebytes

(Bloomberg) -- Suspected Russian hackers targeted the cybersecurity company Malwarebytes Inc. in the course of a sprawling cyber-attack that breached U.S. government agencies and companies.The attacker abused “applications with privileged access to Microsoft Office 365 and Azure environments,” according to a Tuesday blog post by Chief Executive Officer Marcin Kleczynski. He said the attack was part of the same hacking campaign that has utilized infected software from SolarWinds Corp. to target other organizations.“After an extensive investigation, we determined the attacker only gained access to a limited subset of internal company emails. We found no evidence of unauthorized access or compromise in any of our internal on-premises and production environments,” Kleczynski wrote.U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI have said the recent hacking campaign -- which was found and disclosed by the cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc. in December -- was likely undertaken by Russia. In many instances, attackers broke into systems through a compromised version of widely used software from Texas-based SolarWinds Corp.However, analysts have said that SolarWinds’s software wasn’t the only method the suspected Russian hackers used to breach networks. On Tuesday, the firm Symantec discovered a new form of malware used in the attack that wasn’t delivered through SolarWinds, suggesting the hack could be broader than previously understood. The firm CrowdStrike Inc. said the hackers had attempted to break into their networks by compromising a third-party vendor that resells Microsoft services. If a reseller is breached and has access to a client’s credentials, the attacker could then hack into the client’s networks.On Dec. 15, Microsoft alerted Malwarebytes about “suspicious activity from a third-party application” that was consistent with the behaviors of the hackers that had exploited SolarWinds. Upon investigation, Malwarebytes found “no evidence of unauthorized access or compromise in any of our internal on-premises and production environments,” he wrote.Jeff Jones, a Microsoft representative, said in a statement, “Our ongoing investigation of recent attacks has found this advanced and sophisticated threat actor had several techniques in their toolkit. We have not identified any vulnerabilities in our products or cloud services.”Malwarebytes’s disclosure is the latest example of the attackers targeting security companies in the course of the hacking campaign. They stole tools from FireEye and attempted to breach CrowdStrike, the companies said last month.“These attackers were clearly sophisticated and primarily targeted federal agencies and security companies, as far as I’m aware,” Kleczynski said in an email to Bloomberg News.FireEye’s investigation into its own breach last month revealed that the hackers had installed malicious code into SolarWinds’s Orion software, which is used by government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. The malicious code, which customers received by updating the software, provided a launching pad of sorts for further attacks by the hackers into computer networks.According to SolarWinds, as many as 18,000 of its customers may have received infected updates, though the hackers are believed to have conducted further intrusions in far fewer of them. Malwarebytes isn’t a SolarWinds customer.(Updates with Microsoft statement in seventh paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Watch Out AMD, Intel Is Waking From Its Slumber

Over the last half decade or so, hardly any stocks have outperformed the market to the extent Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has. The huge market gains have been a reflection of the company’s real-world performance, which has seen the chipmaker considerably close the gap on its traditionally much bigger rival Intel (INTC). Apart from offering superior products, AMD has made the most of Intel’s production delays to eat away at its CPU dominance. However, 2021 is shaping up to be a different year to recent ones. Intel has been taking meaningful steps to turn its business around, and only recently appointed a new CEO, and one with proper pedigree at that. Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore notes how the new figure at the rival’s helm, could impact AMD’s forward charge. “While we expect AMD to continue to execute on its new product ramps, and any changes to INTC’s manufacturing strategy will not impact competitive intensity for at least 2-3 years, we do expect this topic to increasingly weigh on the LT AMD thesis,” the 5-star analyst noted. “Consequently, despite increasing our revenue estimates in the near term (higher semi-custom + PC CPU revenue, with EPS slightly falling due to a higher tax rate in 2021), we expect the increased uncertainty around competitive intensity to weigh on AMD’s already premium valuation.” While Seymore tempers expectations of future performance, he expects AMD to beat the estimates when the company reports 4Q20 earnings early next month (Feb 2.). Seymore expects AMD to deliver revenue of $3.06 billion, a 9% quarter-over-quarter uptick, near the high end of AMD’s guidance and above the $3.02 billion consensus estimate. While on the bottom line, Seymore anticipates EPS of $0.48, above his previous forecast of $0.47. Looking further ahead, while Seymore says AMD might be at risk of losing market share to Intel over the long term, “given positive data points in the gaming ecosystem,” the analyst raised his 1Q21 revenue estimate from $2.76 billion to $2.84 billion (Street expects to $2.70 billion). That said, for now, Seymore expects AMD shares to stay range bound. The analyst rates the stock a Hold, along with a $90 price target. (To watch Seymore’s track record, click here) Where does the rest of the Street side on this chip player? AMD maintains a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus, based on 23 recent ratings. These include 15 Buys, 6 Holds, and 2 Sells. Shares are trading at $89.45, and the $96.55 average price target suggests room for about 8% upside. (See AMD stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for chip stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.