Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB) has earned a repeat ‘Buy’ rating from Bank of America following the unexpected early launch of the company’s newest large language model, Muse Spark. Bank of America also kept its price target on Meta unchanged at $885, with shares up 3.4%...
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB) has earned a repeat ‘Buy’ rating from Bank of America following the unexpected early launch of the company’s newest large language model, Muse Spark. Bank of America also kept its price target on Meta unchanged at $885, with shares up 3.4%...
Among the requirements of Volkswagen's Dieselgate settlement with the Department of Justice back in 2016 was to start building electric vehicles locally at the company's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That was a reality by 2021, when we drove our first US-made VW ID.4 . Five years later, VW is moving on. After mid-April, no more ID.4s will roll down Chattanooga's assembly line, which instead w...
Among the requirements of Volkswagen's Dieselgate settlement with the Department of Justice back in 2016 was to start building electric vehicles locally at the company's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That was a reality by 2021, when we drove our first US-made VW ID.4 . Five years later, VW is moving on. After mid-April, no more ID.4s will roll down Chattanooga's assembly line, which instead will be reconfigured for the brand's newly revealed gasoline-powered Atlas SUV. The ID.4 was well-received when it debuted in 2021, and the model had a mostly strong 2025, selling 31 percent more than the year before. But sales of the electric VW collapsed after the Trump administration abolished the clean vehicle tax credit at the end of Q3 2025; the next three months saw ID.4 sales fall by 62 percent year over year. VW is gambling that Americans will instead want more gas-powered SUVs—probably a decision made before Trump started a war in the Middle East that has increased the price of gasoline by more than a dollar per gallon in the last few weeks. Snark aside, the Atlas is VW's second-best seller here, and VW wants the second-gen Atlas in dealerships by this fall. Read full article Comments
Investment Management Corp. of Ontario earned 7.4% last year thanks to strong equity gains and a roughly C$1 billion ($723 million) return from trimming its position in artificial intelligence cloud provider CoreWeave Inc. The pension manager’s stock holdings gained 19.1% in 2025, while private equity rose 6.5%, according to a statement Thursday. Its real estate portfolio lost 0.5%. CoreWeave adde...
Investment Management Corp. of Ontario earned 7.4% last year thanks to strong equity gains and a roughly C$1 billion ($723 million) return from trimming its position in artificial intelligence cloud provider CoreWeave Inc. The pension manager’s stock holdings gained 19.1% in 2025, while private equity rose 6.5%, according to a statement Thursday. Its real estate portfolio lost 0.5%. CoreWeave added 77 basis points to IMCO’s total net return, contributing more than any other single holding, Chief Investment Officer Rossitsa Stoyanova said in an interview. IMCO invested C$150 million in CoreWeave in 2023. The company’s valuation soared as big technology companies demanded its cloud services to power new AI models, and it went public in March 2025. “The investment thesis was realized a lot faster than what we expected,” Stoyanova said, noting that IMCO doesn’t usually take big, concentrated positions. “It was a good surprise, but at the same time, we had to trim the position significantly.” Read More: CoreWeave, Meta Strike Latest $21 Billion Deal for AI Computing IMCO declined to disclose the size of its current stake in CoreWeave, which Stoyanova referred to as “right sized.” It also has AI-related bets in other data center providers and fiber networks. “Regardless of who will be the AI winner, companies that provide services will succeed,” she said. Last year, the money manager’s assets climbed to C$90.7 billion ($66 billion) at year-end. The US accounted for 53% of that total, Canada 29% and Europe 12%, largely in line with its 2024 allocation . IMCO plans to maintain that level of exposure to Canada while boosting its overall assets, the firm said in the statement. In addition to trimming its CoreWeave stake, IMCO also decreased its US dollar exposure, according to Stoyanova. The US dollar weakened by close to 5% against the loonie last year, reducing total returns by about 1.5%. In a January report , the Toronto-based pension cited the Swiss franc, Japanese yen a...
Canadian grocers could be facing tougher times, according to analysts at Scotiabank, who have dimmed their outlook for the sector in light of increasing competition. Analysts led by John Zamparo downgraded Empire Co. , Loblaw Cos. and Metro Inc. to sector perform from outperform, citing lower expected earnings growth for this year. Recent earnings also missed the mark on key metrics, potentially s...
Canadian grocers could be facing tougher times, according to analysts at Scotiabank, who have dimmed their outlook for the sector in light of increasing competition. Analysts led by John Zamparo downgraded Empire Co. , Loblaw Cos. and Metro Inc. to sector perform from outperform, citing lower expected earnings growth for this year. Recent earnings also missed the mark on key metrics, potentially signaling that competition in the sector is squeezing results, they said. “That each of the grocers has missed key consensus numbers in greater frequency the last two quarters points to a more competitive market, in our view,” Zamparo wrote in a note on Thursday. He noted that American giants Walmart Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. are also expected to expand their presence in the Canadian market. All three of the Canadian grocers advanced in 2025, benefiting from a push for Canadians to buy local products and support domestic businesses in response to US President Donald Trump ’s threats to turn Canada into the 51st state. Shares in Metro fell as much as 3.4% in Toronto Thursday, its biggest decline since Jan. 27. Shares of Sobeys-owner Empire fell as much 3.1%, and Loblaw, which operates Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart, dropped as much as 1,8%. Zamparo maintained his price targets on the stocks. The wider S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 0.2% . Metro will issue first-quarter earnings on April 22, the first of the grocers to report. Zamparo expects the company’s results will give investors their first view of wider operating environment for Canadian grocers. “Under this backdrop, we believe strong food same-store sales and material gross margin expansion have become harder to deliver, and the current sell-side consensus makes outperformance challenging,” Zamparo said. Pharmacy ownership could be key to offsetting competitive conditions, Zamparo said, highlighting Loblaw and Metro who both own large Canadian drug store chains. Pharmacy ownership allows the two companies to ben...
Richard Drury The AI trade could be about to broaden beyond mega-cap tech ( MAGS ), according to a new note from Wells Fargo Equity Research that points to small caps ( IJR ) as potential beneficiaries of the next phase of artificial intelligence ( AIEQ ) adoption. In light of this, below is a list of the top 10 small-cap stocks with A+ EPS revision grades, ranked according to their Seeking Alpha ...
Richard Drury The AI trade could be about to broaden beyond mega-cap tech ( MAGS ), according to a new note from Wells Fargo Equity Research that points to small caps ( IJR ) as potential beneficiaries of the next phase of artificial intelligence ( AIEQ ) adoption. In light of this, below is a list of the top 10 small-cap stocks with A+ EPS revision grades, ranked according to their Seeking Alpha Quant Ratings. Each of these stocks has earned a Strong Buy rating from the Quant system, signaling favorable quantitative profiles across key performance metrics. Alto Ingredients ( ALTO ) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals ( IRWD ) lead the pack with near-perfect Quant Ratings of 4.99 and 4.97, respectively. Oil States International ( OIS ) and GigaCloud Technology ( GCT ) follow closely behind, rounding out the top four positions. Other notable entries include Heritage Insurance Holdings ( HRTG ), Postal Realty Trust ( PSTL ), and Herbalife ( HLF ). All top ten stocks in this group maintain Strong Buy quantitative profiles with scores above 4.75, reflecting positive momentum across valuation, growth, and profitability measures. Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating system grades stocks on their relative performance across critical quantitative measures, including valuation, growth, stock momentum, and profitability. Ratings are given on a scale from 1 to 5, with any rating of 3.5 or above considered bullish and any rating of 2.5 or below considered bearish. Here is the list: Alto Ingredients, Inc. ( ALTO ), Quant Rating: 4.99 Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ( IRWD ), Quant Rating: 4.97 Oil States International, Inc. ( OIS ), Quant Rating: 4.92 GigaCloud Technology Inc. ( GCT ), Quant Rating: 4.85 Heritage Insurance Holdings, Inc. ( HRTG ), Quant Rating: 4.84 Postal Realty Trust, Inc. ( PSTL ), Quant Rating: 4.83 Herbalife Ltd. ( HLF ), Quant Rating: 4.81 Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. ( PINE ), Quant Rating: 4.80 Movado Group, Inc. ( MOV ), Quant Rating: 4.79 Mitek Systems, Inc. ( M...