Spencer Platt/Getty Images News Tesla ( TSLA ) is strengthening its footprint in Japan, doubling its number of service centers in a push to gain additional market share in the world’s third-largest automotive market. The company has been pivoting towards more physical showrooms and increasing staff to improve its competitive position among rivals like Toyota ( TM ), Honda ( HMC ), and Nissan ( NSA...
Spencer Platt/Getty Images News Tesla ( TSLA ) is strengthening its footprint in Japan, doubling its number of service centers in a push to gain additional market share in the world’s third-largest automotive market. The company has been pivoting towards more physical showrooms and increasing staff to improve its competitive position among rivals like Toyota ( TM ), Honda ( HMC ), and Nissan ( NSANY ) ( NSANF ) and cater to the car shopping preferences of Japanese consumers. Last year, Tesla ( TSLA ) sold ~10,600 vehicles in Japan, driven by demand for the Model 3 and Model Y, a surge of 90% year-over-year thanks to an effort to increase the number of showrooms in the nation’s high-traffic shopping malls. However, the dearth of service centers remains an issue. The company currently has only 14 service centers, most of which are located in Japan’s largest cities. The company plans to address this gap by more than doubling this number to 30+ with many service centers located next to Tesla showrooms. Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the earlier Nikkei Asia reports surrounding the goal for Japan in a post on X.com. “Tesla is making a big investment in Japan with service & superchargers. Many of the parts in Teslas are made in Japan,” adding that the move complements its relationship with Panasonic, Tesla’s ( TSLA ) biggest strategic supplier over the past 2 decades. More on Tesla Tesla: The Market Will Eventually Ignore The Carefully Crafted Disruption Narrative Tesla: The Implosion Isn't Done Yet Tesla: Promises Of Robots And Space Data Centers Do Not Justify This Valuation Is merging with SpaceX the new 'master plan' at Tesla? Tesla is expected to post a soft Q1 deliveries report next week
Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it’s us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it’s contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting. If you like chatting ...
Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it’s us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developments in markets, finance and the economy. And sometimes it’s contributions from our network of expert guests and sources. Whatever it is, we promise it will always be interesting. If you like chatting with us, check out the Odd Lots Discord , where you can hang out and talk with us and with other listeners 24/7. Here’s what Tracy’s thinking about... One of the weirdnesses of our current commodities market is that there seems to be a real disconnect between the financial world and the physical. Take urea coming out of the Middle East, for instance. Bloomberg Green Markets reports that prices appear to currently be at about $800 per metric ton, compared to $300-$305 per metric ton a year ago. That’s more than a doubling of the price in 12 months, which is clearly bad, but perhaps not as bad when viewed through the long lens of history. Back in 2022, spot prices for Middle Eastern urea hit $1,000 per metric ton following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But my use of the word “appear” is important here, because getting Middle Eastern urea at any of these quoted prices is basically a theoretical exercise right now. Here’s Green Markets’ Daniel Cole: “The week closed with reports of urea prices climbing into the $800s/mt FOB. While some late reports indicated a possible $800-$825/mt FOB range under discussion, traders were unsure if $825/mt FOB had actually been breached . Prices were focused on $760-$780/mt FOB for most of the week, representing a jump of about $30/mt from the previous report. The firmer prices would make sense after MOPCO/Egypt closed the week with a sale at $800/mt FOB. The real issue on pricing, noted one trader, is that while sellers and buyers can quote almost any price, nothing is getting out of the Gulf. That reality makes most discussion academic rather...
iPhone and Android users might be able to make interoperable video calls through their messaging apps - eventually. Last week, the GSM Association (GSMA) announced that the finalized RCS Universal Profile 4.0 standard will let users turn 1-to-1 or group RCS chats into video calls thanks to a feature called Messaging‑Initiated Video Calls (MIVC). "MIVC will ensure the continuity of the conversation...
iPhone and Android users might be able to make interoperable video calls through their messaging apps - eventually. Last week, the GSM Association (GSMA) announced that the finalized RCS Universal Profile 4.0 standard will let users turn 1-to-1 or group RCS chats into video calls thanks to a feature called Messaging‑Initiated Video Calls (MIVC). "MIVC will ensure the continuity of the conversation by allowing group members to join an ongoing video call that they could not accept when it started, as well as synchronise MIVC logs within the chat timeline," the GSMA says . "When implemented, MIVC paves the way for the first natively supported v … Read the full story at The Verge.
Alex Cristi Anthropic's ( ANTHRO ) Claude Mythos leak demonstrated that frontier models continue to expand in capability, including cybersecurity, but Jefferies analysts contend that security vendors focused on identity, network, and endpoint security remain mostly insulated from potential AI disruption. "We acknowledge that LLM advancements are not without any risk of cyber encroachment," said Je...
Alex Cristi Anthropic's ( ANTHRO ) Claude Mythos leak demonstrated that frontier models continue to expand in capability, including cybersecurity, but Jefferies analysts contend that security vendors focused on identity, network, and endpoint security remain mostly insulated from potential AI disruption. "We acknowledge that LLM advancements are not without any risk of cyber encroachment," said Jefferies analysts, led by Joseph Gallo, in an investor note. "That said, we see this as a likely advancement in capabilities into already perceived at-risk pockets of cyber (Threat Intel/Code Scanning/VM/SOAR/SOC) rather than expansion into other areas such as Identity, Network, and Endpoint (which we feel are more insulated, making the broad sell-off surprising). We continue to see the most impactful risks/debates as the potential for LLMs to detract incremental cyber budget spend from incumbents, although our prior survey work suggests that the budget reallocation risk is much more muted for cyber." Some of the major endpoint, network, and identity protection providers include CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ), Fortinet ( FTNT ), and SentinelOne ( S ). Jefferies also pointed out that AI labs, such as Anthropic, are releasing some of their models early to security companies, indicating more of a partnership than a competitor. "Anthropic's documents note the model is a precursor to a 'wave of models that can exploit vulnerabilities in ways that far outpace efforts of defenders,' and Anthropic appears to be pre-releasing to cyber vendors (to improve the robustness of their codebases), which we view as a sign of partnership rather than competition and positive for overall cyber demand," Gallo noted. Several cybersecurity stocks were making gains during Monday market action. CrowdStrike was up 4.5%, SentinelOne had increased 2.7%, Palo Alto had jumped about 7%, and Fortinet had edged up 3%. "While we understand the amplified uncertainty created by these headline...
Scheme for accusers of store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed to close before end of retailer’s internal investigation Harrods has been accused of being “neither fair nor just” over its decision to close a compensation scheme for survivors of alleged sexual abuse by the luxury department store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Kingsley Hayes, partner at KP Law, which is representing nearly 280 survi...
Scheme for accusers of store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed to close before end of retailer’s internal investigation Harrods has been accused of being “neither fair nor just” over its decision to close a compensation scheme for survivors of alleged sexual abuse by the luxury department store’s former owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Kingsley Hayes, partner at KP Law, which is representing nearly 280 survivors, questioned why the scheme was being closed on Tuesday 31 March, before Harrods had completed an internal investigation into what happened and who knew about it. Continue reading...
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images News Aerospace and defense companies are heading into first-quarter earnings with geopolitical tensions firmly in focus, but early signals suggest limited near-term disruption to commercial demand, analyst Matthew Akers of BNP Paribas said in a March 30 note to clients. Recent conflict involving Iran has yet to meaningfully alter customer behavior for major manufac...
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images News Aerospace and defense companies are heading into first-quarter earnings with geopolitical tensions firmly in focus, but early signals suggest limited near-term disruption to commercial demand, analyst Matthew Akers of BNP Paribas said in a March 30 note to clients. Recent conflict involving Iran has yet to meaningfully alter customer behavior for major manufacturers, including Boeing ( BA ) and GE Aerospace ( GE ), he said. For Boeing ( BA ), exposure to the Middle East accounts for only a low-to-mid teens percentage of its commercial aircraft backlog, with many deliveries scheduled for the next decade. Recent production concerns, including a wiring issue affecting roughly two dozen aircraft, appear contained. The issue is expected to shift some 737 Max deliveries from the first quarter into the second without affecting full-year guidance. On the defense side, however, heightened tensions could provide a tailwind. Boeing’s ( BA ) defense unit supplies munitions such as JDAM kits, Small Diameter Bombs and bunker busters, as well as components for missile defense systems, positioning it to benefit from increased demand. GE Aerospace ( GE ) is seeing a similarly muted near-term impact. The company’s exposure to Middle Eastern fleets is less than 10%, and any slowdown in services revenue would likely take about a year to materialize. First-quarter cash flow is expected to decline year over year, while deliveries of its GE9X engines are anticipated to be more evenly distributed across the year. Fuel price uncertainty After meeting roughly 70 investors across Europe, Akers said the dominant sentiment is one of cautious stability. While rising fuel costs tied to geopolitical tensions remain a risk, airlines have yet to make significant changes to fleet plans, and reductions in flying activity appear manageable. As a result, many investors are maintaining positions in aerospace stocks, viewing the sector as supported by long-term struct...
I was actually about to prepare an article where I wanted to analyze the surprising surge in earnings that happened to one of the shippers I review - Hapag-Lloyd ( HPGLY ). The article was about 30% done, and the research with it, when the company promptly dropped - and continued dropping to this day. Today, the day of writing this article, the company is down more than 11% for the ADR HPGLY as I ...
I was actually about to prepare an article where I wanted to analyze the surprising surge in earnings that happened to one of the shippers I review - Hapag-Lloyd ( HPGLY ). The article was about 30% done, and the research with it, when the company promptly dropped - and continued dropping to this day. Today, the day of writing this article, the company is down more than 11% for the ADR HPGLY as I am writing the piece. That means that my original thesis, which I am now updating and have actually been holding for more than a year at this point, is still correct. Seeking Alpha Hapag-Lloyd RoR Of course, there might be the savvy ones of you that decided to buy when it was cheap and were clear-minded enough to sell directly at the peak - in which case there's little to do but to congratulate you. However, for the other, perhaps more "mortal" ones of us, I'd say it's time to look at the company's full-year results and determine when this company could be considered attractive given the results. It is suggestive that the company's share price dropped over 10% following earnings, which suggests what's going on in the underlying sector. As I detailed on other shipping companies, the current geopolitical situation isn't necessarily bad for shipping rates, but depending on what sort of shipping they do and where they do it, the current situation may also be bad. The current movements in Hapag-Lloyd suggest there is certainly a very significant ongoing volatility here - and one to keep a very close eye on, in my view. In this article, I mean to update my thesis on Hapag-Lloyd, provide a bit of context as to these violent movements, and detail where I see the company trading fairly at right now. After all, I don't think it's incorrect to suggest or show that the company has mostly been trading as I suspected and forecasted. Hapag-Lloyd Is Going Into 2026 With Volatility on Both Sides But before we go into 2026, let's look at the 2025 results, which are part of what seems to be d...