The Philippine call centre industry is a juggernaut, employing over a million and generating billions in revenue. Its workers’ voices are a familiar sound for callers from around the world, the nation’s deep pool of English speakers underpinning the country’s rise into a global hub for customer service outsourcing. Artificial intelligence is shaping up to be a huge disruptive force but another, mo...
The Philippine call centre industry is a juggernaut, employing over a million and generating billions in revenue. Its workers’ voices are a familiar sound for callers from around the world, the nation’s deep pool of English speakers underpinning the country’s rise into a global hub for customer service outsourcing. Artificial intelligence is shaping up to be a huge disruptive force but another, more insidious problem is emerging – an education system that is producing graduates who were never...
Crovik Media/iStock via Getty Images Charter Communications ( CHTR ) is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States, serving over 32 million customers across 41 states. For decades, the company enjoyed a near monopoly for their extensive network of cable, fiber optic lines, and wireless infrastructure. However, over the past several years, the company has been squeezed on ...
Crovik Media/iStock via Getty Images Charter Communications ( CHTR ) is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States, serving over 32 million customers across 41 states. For decades, the company enjoyed a near monopoly for their extensive network of cable, fiber optic lines, and wireless infrastructure. However, over the past several years, the company has been squeezed on 2 fronts: 5G fixed wireless internet and growing fiber networks. Verizon ( VZ ), AT&T ( T ), and T-Mobile ( TMUS ) have doubled down on 5G fixed wireless, which essentially is an inexpensive way to deliver basic home internet through 5G cellular technology. It requires no physical cable/fiber to the home and is simple to install. While 5G fixed wireless has slower speeds and is often far less reliable than cable/fiber, it serves a growing niche of customers who opt for the convenience and low price. Squeezing the chart from the other end is the rapid build out of fiber by Verizon, AT&T, and Google ( GOOGL ). In many markets, Charter enjoyed years of little to no competition. This is no longer the case, with many customers being enticed away through promises of better performance and reliability through fiber offerings. Market Punishment Data by YCharts Charter's slow bleed of internet customers has resulted in the market punishing the stock, which is down over 60% over the past 5 years. Some of this is warranted, as Charter has been forced to invest heavily to defend its market share against stout competition. Increased capital expenses and declining revenue are a sign of a company in trouble. But by and large, Charter has already been punished by the market, which has brought the stock to dirt-cheap levels. The stock currently sports a P/E value around 6, which is well below its historical valuation. While this has been a bit of a nightmare for previous investors of the stock, prospective investors may want to kick the tires to see if the company has potential upside. Data...
Emerging-market assets gained after a ceasefire deal between the US and Iran caused oil prices to plunge and revived risk appetite. The MSCI EM stock gauge rose as much as 3.7% on Wednesday, while its currency counterpart added 0.8%. Brent crude oil fell 16% to $91.70 a barrel at one point. The stronger demand for emerging-economy assets is part of a global rally spurred by the two-week ceasefire ...
Emerging-market assets gained after a ceasefire deal between the US and Iran caused oil prices to plunge and revived risk appetite. The MSCI EM stock gauge rose as much as 3.7% on Wednesday, while its currency counterpart added 0.8%. Brent crude oil fell 16% to $91.70 a barrel at one point. The stronger demand for emerging-economy assets is part of a global rally spurred by the two-week ceasefire agreement that’s expected to result in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The slump in oil prices also has rekindled hopes for the Federal Reserve to resume cutting interest rates later this year. “High beta names that have been beaten up a little bit lately can benefit from this,” including South Africa, Chile and most of the oil importers in emerging Asia —especially Indonesia and South Korea, said Brendan McKenna , an emerging market economist and strategist at Wells Fargo. “This is net positive for EM now but if we don’t make progress a geopolitical risk premium will get embedded back into EM asset prices soon enough,” he added. In Asia, currencies of net oil importers such as the won, baht and the Philippine peso led gains against the dollar. The South African rand rallied as much as 2.4% against the greenback, while the Mexican peso gained 1.2% at one point. “The real test will be where oil prices settle as negotiations continue,” said Kerry Craig , a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “Oil prices are not high enough to destroy demand, but are likely to maintain a risk premium and remain much higher than where they started the year.”
gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images After AbbVie Inc.'s ( ABBV ) most recent earnings back in early February, I provided an update for the stock . As you can see below, I reiterated my buy rating. While I found resilient growth, solid guidance, and a quite attractive valuation, AbbVie has seen some notable declines since then. Their next earnings report isn't due until later this month, but I have...
gorodenkoff/iStock via Getty Images After AbbVie Inc.'s ( ABBV ) most recent earnings back in early February, I provided an update for the stock . As you can see below, I reiterated my buy rating. While I found resilient growth, solid guidance, and a quite attractive valuation, AbbVie has seen some notable declines since then. Their next earnings report isn't due until later this month, but I have decided to provide an update now as there have recently been some notable developments on many fronts. That includes guidance revisions and study results. Seeking Alpha In the below analysis, it is shown that the lowering of EPS guidance for both Q1 and the full year is unconcerning, as acquired IPR&D and milestone expenses are a normal part of AbbVie's business. Furthermore, despite a mix of good and bad news recently, the valuation seems too low for how strong their pipeline is right now. Therefore, I have decided to reiterate my buy rating for the stock ahead of their Q1 earnings report later this month. A Refresher For 2025 Q4 Data by YCharts Before we get into the developments after their 2025 Q4, I would like to provide a very brief refresher on where things are at for the company in terms of their financial results. For the fourth quarter, you can see above that they saw top-line growth of 10.04% YoY, and that represented the strongest increase we have seen in years. This shows that business activity has remained strong for AbbVie despite headwinds originating from the Trump Administration's policies on the pharmaceutical industry. In my previous article, I also highlighted that their key immunology segment saw overall solid results, and since their focus is primarily on this space, this was an encouraging sign. Seeking Alpha On the profitability side of things, AbbVie also showed off robust results. A key measure of core profitability is, of course, operating margin, and for Q4, they reported an adjusted figure of 38.3%. As mentioned in my February update, there we...