Cisco Stock Jumps on Solid Earnings. It’s Raising Its Dividend by a Penny.

Cisco Systems second-quarter earnings and revenue came in higher than Wall Street expected. The networking company reported earnings of 94 cents a share on revenue of $14 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting earnings of 91 cents a share from revenue of $13.9 billion. Cisco’s earnings rose from last year’s 87 cents a share, while revenue increased from $12.8 billion. “Cisco’s strong quarterly results were driven by accelerating customer demand for our technology,” Chief Executive Chuck Robbins said in a news release. “As AI becomes more pervasive, we are well positioned to help our customers scale their network infrastructure, increase their data capacity requirements, and adopt best-in-class AI security.” The gain in revenue came from the data platform Splunk, which Cisco acquired last year. Excluding the contribution from Splunk, total revenue was down 1% from last year. Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren told Barron’s that because of supply constraints […]

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Tesla Stock Snapped Its Losing Streak. Now the Bulls Make a Case for Musk and AI Gains.

Tesla stock snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday. Giving investors a chance to think about rewards instead of just the risks. Shares of the electric vehicle maker were up 1.32% in after-hours trading on Thursday at $340.95, after rising 2.4% on Wednesday. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.1% trading flat, respectively. “Tesla’s stock has been under heavy pressure for a myriad of reasons in 2025 after a historic run post President [Trump’s] win in November,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a Wednesday evening report. “Myriad” includes CEO Elon Musk’s political activities at DOGE, his OpenAI bid, self-driving competition from BYD, weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, and even h0tter-than-expected monthly inflation data. Higher inflation makes it less likely interest rates are coming down, and higher rates make buying a new Tesla, or any new car, more costly when buyers finance part of the purchase. Ives still

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Adobe Needs AI to Pay Off. Video Creation Could Be the Key.

Adobe’s latest announcement could be just what investors eager to see companies start to make money from artificial intelligence have been waiting for. The software company said on Wednesday that its Firefly Video Model will now be available in public beta. Subscribers can use it to create videos straight from text entries, turn existing photos into videos, and change the camera angles of those clips using a variety of prompts. The video creation tool will be available at prices within two tiers: Firefly Standard and Firefly Pro. Firefly Standard starts at $9.99 a month while Pro starts at $29.99. “As we introduce Firefly capabilities, especially with the introduction of video, it gives us an opportunity to provide these new tiers that are additive that are going to bring a lot of value to our customers,” David Wadhwani, president of Adobe’s digital media business, said in an interview with Barron’s. Adobe

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Adobe Launching New AI Products to Create Videos, Images

Adobe (ADBE) said Wednesday that it has launched its new Firefly app, which allows clients to generate videos and images using artificial intelligence technology. The company said it has introduced two offerings: the Firefly Standard plan, which starts at $9.99 and provides users with 2,000 video/audio credits per month and up to 20 five-second 1080p video generations, and the Firefly Pro plan, which begins at $29.99 and provides users with 7,000 video/audio credits per month, up to 70 five-second 1080p video generations. The company said a new Firefly Premium plan will be available soon for high-volume clients.

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Three Reasons Nvidia’s Stock Is Still Compelling, and Why It Could Rise 30% in the Next Year

A screen of the S&P 500 still has Nvidia standing out, despite this year’s DeepSeek disruption for the stock. A year ago, a screen of the S&P 500 placed Nvidia Corp. at the top of the list of companies that were expected to show the most rapid increases in revenue from 2023 through 2025. Now it is time to run the screen again, using estimates through 2026. We ran that screen on Feb. 15 last year, using data as of the market close the previous day. Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock has returned 80% from Feb. 14, 2024, through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has returned 23%. All investment returns in this article included reinvested dividends. Nvidia’s stock has declined 1.1% this year, while the S&P 500 has returned 3.3%, through Tuesday. So one might conclude that the disruption on Jan. 27, when Nvidia’s stock sank 17.5% on the news that

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S&P Global Positioned for ‘Positive Revisions’ Amid Conservative 2025 Outlook, Morgan Stanley Says

S&P Global (SPGI) is positioned for “positive revisions” given its strong Q4 results and conservative 2025 outlook, Morgan Stanley said in a Wednesday note. The company reported Q4 adjusted earnings Tuesday of $3.77 per diluted share and $3.59 billion in revenue. S&P Global said it expects 2025 adjusted earnings of $17.00 to $17.25 per diluted share and 5% to 7% in revenue growth. Morgan Stanley highlighted the robust performance of S&P Global’s Ratings and Index businesses, as well as 5.6% organic growth in the Market Intelligence unit. The firm noted that the 2025 margin guide for Market Intelligence was solid at 33% to 34%, and sees potential upside in Ratings and Index, setting the stage for positive earnings revisions. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on S&P Global’s stock to $600 from $595 and reiterated its overweight rating.

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Micron Stock Falls as News on Outlook Disappoints

Micron Technology stock tumbled on Wednesday after the company’s chief financial officer said there would be “no change or update” to the company’ second-quarter outlook and signaled a deterioration in margins for the third quarter. Speaking at the Wolfe Research Auto, Auto Tech and Semiconductor Conference, CFO Mark Murphy said there would be no adjustments to the guidance issued on Dec. 18. For the second quarter, Micron forecast adjusted earnings in the range of $1.33 to $1.53 a share. The latest consensus call among analysts surveyed by FactSet is for $1.44 a share. Management now expects third-quarter gross margins to be lower “by a few hundred basis points sequentially,” Murphy added, citing changes in both Micron’s mix of customers and industry conditions. The company told investors to expect second-quarter gross margins between 37.5% and 39.5%. Shares of the computer memory manufacturer were down 3.3% to $90.87, on pace for the

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JPMorgan Chase Begins Layoffs, With More Planned, After Record Profits

Managers at JPMorgan Chase started to notify employees of job cuts last week, people familiar with the matter said, as part of a series of layoffs the bank plans to make throughout 2025. Some employees in the U.S. were notified of layoffs on Feb. 5, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. At least several of those layoffs were in the Houston offices. JPMorgan plans to announce additional cuts in mid-March, May, June, August, and September, the people said. Not every line of business will be impacted in each round of those layoffs. In February, fewer than 1,000 employees are going to be laid off, and was it unclear how many employees the firm plans to cut this year. The firm had some 317,000 employees as of December. A spokesperson for JPMorgan said on Wednesday that the cuts are “part of our regular management of the

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Micron expects margins to decline in the next quarter, and its stock price fell sharply after the open

Micron CFO mentions various factors that could weigh on margins for next quarter but also says that period should mark the low point Micron Technology Inc. sees a few factors that could weigh on margins next quarter, and that’s pressuring the stock on Wednesday. The maker of memory chips already forecast a 38.5% gross margin at the midpoint for its February quarter, which would be down from the 39.5% level seen in the last quarter. But speaking at a Wolfe Research conference on Wednesday, Chief Financial Officer Mark Murphy said while that outlook is still intact, the company now expects “a few hundred basis points” of sequential margin decline in the May quarter. Micron’s stock (MU) is off 2.6% in Wednesday morning action, having pared losses after being down as much as 7.1% earlier in the session. It’s currently the worst performer in the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX on the

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Tesla Stock Is on a Terrible Run. It’s About Much More Than Musk and OpenAI

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ stock is mired in a terrible losing streak, and there is no shortage of suspects to blame for the decline. So Barron’s gathered a police lineup and asked people to identify the culprit. We also asked market technicians what’s next for the stock. Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock dropped for five consecutive trading days, losing about 16% in the process. Shares were down about 23% since the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration and about 32% from a record closing high of almost $480 in mid-December. Tesla stock was down 0.5% in after-hours trading at $326.75, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both falling 0.1%. Why the drop? Investors might blame Elon Musk’s role in the newly created Department of Government Efficiency or his unsolicited $97 billion bid to control OpenAI. It could be the competitive threat from China’s BYD or just market randomness. Barron’s put

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Nvidia Stock Gains. Why Stargate and Meta Are in Focus for Investors.

Nvidia stock was edging up early Wednesday. The future of the Stargate Project infrastructure plan and the potential expansion of Meta Platforms’ in-house chip efforts are in focus for investors. Nvidia shares were rising 0.2% to $133.05 in premarket trading. The stock fell 0.6% on Tuesday. In the build up to the chip maker’s earnings report on Feb 26., the focus is on big spending commitments for AI infrastructure. Japan’s SoftBank Group said Wednesday that the Stargate Project — which aims to spend as much as $500 billion on AI infrastructure in the U.S. — won’t rely on SoftBank’s equity for funding after it booked a $2.42 billion loss for the last quarter of 2024. That could relieve concerns over the Japanese group’s volatile earnings posing an obstacle to Stargate. Nvidia is a technology partner for the project, which aims to build new AI data centers in the U.S. SoftBank

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Apple Collaborates With Alibaba for AI Features on IPhones in China

Apple teamed up with Alibaba (HKG:9988) to bring artificial intelligence features to iPhone users in China, South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the deal. The US tech firm is eyeing to use Alibaba’s Qwen AI model and its “cutting edge” capabilities to make up for the absence of Apple Intelligence in iPhones in China, the report said. South China Morning Post is owned by Alibaba.

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