Did Berkshire Hathaway Sell More Apple Stock? We Should Know More Today.

/ / Financials /

Ever since Berkshire Hathaway began selling stock in Apple and Bank of America during 2024, investors have wondered when it would stop. CEO Warren Buffett’s followers should get a fresh read on Berkshire’s holdings in Apple, Bank of America, and other stocks in its $300 billion equity portfolio late Friday. Berkshire, along with most other institutional investors, will disclose its equity holdings for U.S-listed companies in a 13-F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The deadline is Friday, and Berkshire’s report likely will be released after the close of trading. The filing will also show any new stock purchases by Berkshire in the period, although investors looking for a big new holding could be disappointed. Buffett’s company did little buying and a lot of selling of stocks in the first three quarters of 2024. It bought just $5.8 billion of stocks while selling $133 billion, according to its third […]

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Alphabet’s AI Models ‘More Efficient’ Than DeepSeek, Google DeepMind CEO Says

/ / Technology /

Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google DeepMind Chief Executive Demis Hassabis told employees that the company’s artificial intelligence models are more efficient than those of China’s DeepSeek, CNBC reported Friday, citing audio from an all-hands meeting in Paris. Hassabis said DeepSeek’s reported AI training costs were “exaggerated” and that it may have used more hardware and relied on Western AI models, according to the report. “We actually have more efficient, more performant models than DeepSeek,” Hassabis reportedly said. “So we’re very calm and confident in our strategy and we have all the ingredients to maintain our leadership into this year.” The meeting, attended by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives, included answering employee questions about AI and DeepSeek, CNBC reported.

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Applied Materials Beat Quarterly Estimates. Why the Stock Is Lower.

/ / Technology /

Shares of Applied Materials were falling Friday after the chip equipment maker issued mixed financial guidance. Applied Materials stock fell 5% to $175 in premarket trading. Chip maker stocks were also in the red, with Lam Research down 1.3%, while KLA Corp. was 0.7% lower. Late Thursday, the company reported adjusted earnings of $2.38 per share for its first fiscal quarter ended Jan. 26, beating Wall Street’s call for $2.28, according to FactSet. Net revenue of $7.17 billion was above the consensus estimate of $7.15 billion. “We delivered strong financial performance in the first fiscal quarter, with record revenue, gross margin expansion and robust shareholder distributions,” said Chief Financial Officer Brice Hill in the earnings release. One of those metrics was highlighted by William Blair analysts Jed Dorsheimer and Mark Shooter, who rate Applied Materials at Market Perform. “Gross margin reached 48.9%, a level not seen in 25 years, from

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Nvidia Stock Rises. This Is When the Next Big AI Sales Boost Will Come.

/ / Technology /

Nvidia stock was rising early Friday. The chip maker could face some obstacles in shipping new artificial-intelligence hardware in the first half of the year but there’s reason to be patient. Nvidia shares were up 0.6% at $136.10 in premarket trading. The stock rose 3.2% on Thursday. Nvidia’s multimillion-dollar GB200 NV liquid-cooled rack systems are expected to be in high demand this year as the most advanced AI infrastructure. However, it could take some time before that turns up on the company’s top line. “Not unexpectedly, Nvidia GPU AI servers with GB200 drive a complex connectivity/power upgrade and, near-term, we estimate some growing pains. Our checks indicate that while JanQ DC [January-quarter data-center revenue] is expected in-line, AprQ could be more flattish as near-term ramps remain modest,” wrote Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh in a research note. Rakesh now expects Nvidia to report $36.7 billion in data-center revenue for the April

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Walmart Is Retail King Again. Can It Keep the Crown?

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Walmart, a 62-year-old retailer, looks sharper than it has in a long time. How long can it keep the spark going? After years of lagging behind the retail stars Costco Wholesale and Amazon.com, Walmart is catching up quickly. Its shares rose 72% in 2024, and are up another 16% so far this year. Walmart has become an e-commerce heavyweight, and it is gaining share with both low- and high-income shoppers. For some time, America’s largest retailer — for better or worse — was best known for its corporate motto: Every Day Low Prices. Target and Costco were the places where higher-earning consumers went for exciting products and a fun store experience, while Amazon was light years ahead on e-commerce. Over the past few years, though, Walmart has started encroaching on those competitors’ territory. To begin with, more of the well-to-do are shopping at Walmart. In February, 89% of households surveyed

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Moderna’s Results Reaffirm a Grim Picture for Vaccine Maker

/ / Health Care /

The vaccine maker Moderna had no Valentine’s Day chocolates for investors when its fourth-quarter financial results came out on Friday morning. The company had prereported its annual results and previewed its 2025 guidance in mid-January, so there were few surprises left. There wasn’t much to leaven an increasingly troubled outlook. Moderna reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1 billion, compared with the consensus estimate of $943 million among analysts tracked by FactSet. The company lost $2.91 per share in the quarter, while the consensus call was for a loss of $2.68 a share. Full-year revenue was $3.2 billion in 2024, and full-year product sales were $3.1 billion, in line with what the company had said in January. Moderna said it continues to expect 2025 revenue of between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion. When Moderna first rolled out these numbers, investors panicked. The stock fell 17% in a single day as investors worried

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Uber CEO Hints At Potential Tesla Partnership For Robotaxis: ‘No One Wants To Compete Against Tesla Or Elon’

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed optimism for a possible partnership between the ride-hailing company and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) where the latter would deploy its autonomous vehicles on Uber’s platform. What Happened: “Ultimately, we’re hoping that my charm and the economic argument gets Tesla to work with us as well. If they want a direct channel, no problem,” Khosrowshahi said while adding that he does not wish to compete against Tesla if he can help it. The CEO was speaking in an interview with Ben Thompson published on Thursday. “No one wants to compete against Tesla or Elon, if you can help it. Their capabilities are pretty extraordinary, but I think the same economic laws apply to them” The Uber CEO is hopeful that the EV giant will deploy its autonomous vehicles, which are currently under development, on the Uber app in addition to its own in favor of higher revenue. “So it all comes back to

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Southwest Airlines Stock Has Lagged Competitors. Time for a Catch-Up Trade.

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

Southwest Airlines stock hasn’t arrived at the same destination its peers have. Management is taking steps that should enable shares to make the journey. Forget turbulence. Airline stocks have been among the market’s top performers over the past 12 months. The U.S. Global Jets exchange-traded fund has gained 30% in the past year, led by gains in United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Alaska Air Group. The industry has benefited from better-than-expected earnings, as travel demand continues to grow long after the pandemic. Southwest stock, however, has taken a very different journey. The company has missed analyst’s earnings forecasts four times in the past 10 quarters and missed sales expectations half the time. As a result, profit projections keep dropping, pulling shares down with them. The stock has dropped about 13% in the past year, to a recent $29.93. The good news is that Southwest is taking steps to execute

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

/ / Telecommunications /

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.

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

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.

/ / Technology /

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

/ / Technology /

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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