baileystock/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Through sheer ambition and relentless drive, Elon Musk and his firm Tesla, Inc. ( TSLA ) have pioneered the EV market. The initial goal of Tesla was to design and produce vehicles that would be less reliant on the burning of fossil fuel, which would in the long term sustain the transportation industry while also alleviating climate ch...
baileystock/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Through sheer ambition and relentless drive, Elon Musk and his firm Tesla, Inc. ( TSLA ) have pioneered the EV market. The initial goal of Tesla was to design and produce vehicles that would be less reliant on the burning of fossil fuel, which would in the long term sustain the transportation industry while also alleviating climate change. This mission was loved by people who were pro clean energy technology, as it promised a future that would both preserve nature and innovation. ESG became a major investment category during the 2010s-2018s as governments were setting up policies that would foster more innovation in the clean energy space. Part of the policies that were set up was the tax credit, which made the purchase of EVs more affordable. Tesla was the first company to show that it's possible to produce EVs at a massive scale; bolstering investors' optimism was the introduction of tax credits that made it possible for more consumers to purchase these cars. This created a strong bull case for the stock, and in recent years, it was one of the most outperforming names within the S&P 500, making the list as one of the stocks in the Magnificent 7 bucket. This magnitude of success has of course led to more competitors entering the space to take the share piece of the pie. One of the competitors is BYD ( BYDDF ), a Chinese EV manufacturer that recently surpassed Tesla in EV sales. Instead of Tesla putting more effort into maintaining its strong dominance in this space, the firm is investing dollars in markets that are saturated, well-funded, and have no viable business model. As management remains distracted by these shiny objects (namely, humanoid robots and AI chips), they are losing market share and are failing to deliver on their mission to make all vehicles electric-powered. I'm rating Tesla a strong sell. EVs still make up less than 25% of total car sales, and the need for energy independence (due t...
Amprius Technologies ( AMPX ) announced on Wednesday it has secured a purchase order totaling $21M for its SiCore cylindrical cells from a new premier electric mobility customer in China . Amprius cells were chosen for the company’s suite of light electric vehicles, including scooters, three-wheelers, and motorcycles. Amprius’ SiCore cells deliver high-energy density and long cycle life for electr...
Amprius Technologies ( AMPX ) announced on Wednesday it has secured a purchase order totaling $21M for its SiCore cylindrical cells from a new premier electric mobility customer in China . Amprius cells were chosen for the company’s suite of light electric vehicles, including scooters, three-wheelers, and motorcycles. Amprius’ SiCore cells deliver high-energy density and long cycle life for electric mobility applications. The 30 Ah-capacity cells increase energy density by up to 100% compared to conventional graphite-anode cells. Cycle life is rated at more than 2,000 cycles, the company said. AMPX +2.53% premarket to $18.21. Source: Press Release More on Amprius Technologies Amprius Has A Two-Year Window To Become The Incumbent NDAA-Compliant Drone Battery Maker Amprius targets $125M revenue in 2026 while expanding NDAA-compliant battery supply chain Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Amprius Technologies
My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, March 25 1. We're looking at a stronger open on Wall Street this morning, as oil prices are sliding on hopes of a truce between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. benchmark WTI crude is back below $90 a barrel. That's the whole ballgame right now. Even as Iran denies interest in a ceasefire , if oil prices are falling, then it's hard to be negative about stocks. 2. Arm is...
My top 10 things to watch Wednesday, March 25 1. We're looking at a stronger open on Wall Street this morning, as oil prices are sliding on hopes of a truce between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. benchmark WTI crude is back below $90 a barrel. That's the whole ballgame right now. Even as Iran denies interest in a ceasefire , if oil prices are falling, then it's hard to be negative about stocks. 2. Arm is seeing incredible demand for its first in-house chip, known as the AGI CPU. Billed as a chip for AI agents. Arm is now designing the processor itself, not just licensing its instruction sets to other customers. Raymond James upgraded the stock to buy from hold. Citi analysts said its forecast of $15 billion in revenue by 2031 exceeds all expectations. Shares are up 12% this morning. In sync with Nvidia's GPUs. 3. OpenAI has raised an additional $10 billion from investors, bringing its total haul in this record fundraising round to north of $120 billion, CFO Sarah Friar told me on "Mad Money" last night. The ChatGPT creator secured institutional money from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, D.E. Shaw Ventures, MGX. Notably, longtime partner Microsoft is also part of this $10 billion tranche. 4. Friar didn't offer a clear timeline when I asked her about plans for a potential IPO, but she acknowledged OpenAI is "starting to build that outcome." She said her goal is making sure the startup is ready for public markets. Shutting down video generator Sora may be part of that. Sticking with blockbuster IPOs: Elon Musk's SpaceX may file its prospectus with the SEC later this week or next, The Information reported . 5. UBS cut Microsoft's price target to $510 from $600, citing investor concerns around its software business. Yesterday, we got two pieces of bullish research on Microsoft (from Bank of America and Citi) and yet the frustrating stock failed to rally, falling 2.7%. Too many worries about Copilot. I worry that OpenAI is a huge part of Microsoft's Azure numbers and that the ...
Anna Moneymaker Meta Platforms ( META ) is launching "Meta Small Business," a new company-wide priority to support entrepreneurship and drive AI adoption, according to a report by Axios on Wednesday. The report said chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has asked product managers, designers, engineers, and other employees to reach out if they want to work on the initiative. "In the AI era, it should be ...
Anna Moneymaker Meta Platforms ( META ) is launching "Meta Small Business," a new company-wide priority to support entrepreneurship and drive AI adoption, according to a report by Axios on Wednesday. The report said chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has asked product managers, designers, engineers, and other employees to reach out if they want to work on the initiative. "In the AI era, it should be easier than ever for people to build new businesses," Zuckerberg reportedly said in an internal post that was seen by Axios . "We want to build the services that enable this. This is important for ensuring that people broadly share in the prosperity created by superintelligence." Meta Small Business will be led by three of the company's most senior executives, including Meta President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick and head of product Naomi Gleit, the report said. More on Meta Meta Platforms: The AI Spending Spree Is Out Of Control Meta Platforms: 16x Adjusted FY2026 P/E Is A Solid Buy Delays, Compute Deals, And Sky-High CapEx: Why I'm Still Bullish On Meta Meta promises hefty payout to top brass if market cap hits $9T by 2031 China restricts Manus co-founders from leaving amid review of Meta Platforms deal, FT reports
Next Technology ( NXTT ) will issue 71.38M common shares at $1.10 each and pre-funded warrants for another 71.38M shares at $1.099. The combined offering is expected to raise ~$157M in gross proceeds. The deal involves participation from twenty investors under a registered direct offering structure. The transaction is expected to close around March 26, 2026. NXTT shares up 14% premarket. More on N...
Next Technology ( NXTT ) will issue 71.38M common shares at $1.10 each and pre-funded warrants for another 71.38M shares at $1.099. The combined offering is expected to raise ~$157M in gross proceeds. The deal involves participation from twenty investors under a registered direct offering structure. The transaction is expected to close around March 26, 2026. NXTT shares up 14% premarket. More on Next Technology Holding Financial information for Next Technology Holding
With the 10-year Treasury yield sitting at 4.34%, income investors face a genuine choice between risk-free government bonds and dividend-paying equities. For those willing to look beyond U.S. borders, international dividend ETFs have quietly delivered competitive returns over the past year while offering geographic diversification that purely domestic funds cannot. The four funds below cover ... 4...
With the 10-year Treasury yield sitting at 4.34%, income investors face a genuine choice between risk-free government bonds and dividend-paying equities. For those willing to look beyond U.S. borders, international dividend ETFs have quietly delivered competitive returns over the past year while offering geographic diversification that purely domestic funds cannot. The four funds below cover ... 4 High-Yield International ETFs Beating the S&P 500 Over the Past Year
BalkansCat Diageo ( DEO ) is in line for a cash windfall from the sale of the Indian Premier League Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team, which was sold to Aditya Birla Group, Blackstone ( BX ), The Times of India Group, and Bolt Ventures for just under $1.8B. Notably, Diageo ( DEO ) holds a controlling stake of 55.9% in team owner United Spirits Limited. The spirits company's ownership of Roy...
BalkansCat Diageo ( DEO ) is in line for a cash windfall from the sale of the Indian Premier League Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team, which was sold to Aditya Birla Group, Blackstone ( BX ), The Times of India Group, and Bolt Ventures for just under $1.8B. Notably, Diageo ( DEO ) holds a controlling stake of 55.9% in team owner United Spirits Limited. The spirits company's ownership of Royal Challengers Bengaluru traces back to Vijay Mallya’s original purchase of the franchise in the IPL’s inaugural 2008 auction, when the team was bought through the United Breweries group. Diageo ( DEO ) later gained control of the franchise indirectly by acquiring a controlling stake in United Spirits in 2013, then assuming full operational and management control after Mallya stepped down from United Spirits in 2016. Shares of Diageo ( DEO ) were up 1.7% in premarket trading as investors digested the cricket news. More on Diageo Diageo plc 2026 Q2 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Diageo: Fundamentally Resilient But Limited Growth Prospects To Justify Upside Diageo: Sooner-Than-Expected Dividend Cut Fast-Tracks This Premium Leader's Recovery Constellation Brands holds top Quant rating among distillers ahead of St. Patrick’s Day Most sold large, mega-cap consumer staples amid U.S.-Iran tensions
Hong Kong’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster swung to a profit of HK$59 million (US$7.5 million) in 2025 from a loss of HK$491 a year earlier, as threefold growth in revenue from the Greater Bay Area helped shake off a streak of annual losses that began in 2018. Television Broadcasts (TVB) said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday that 2025 revenue fell 2 per cent from a year earlier to HK$3.19 ...
Hong Kong’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster swung to a profit of HK$59 million (US$7.5 million) in 2025 from a loss of HK$491 a year earlier, as threefold growth in revenue from the Greater Bay Area helped shake off a streak of annual losses that began in 2018. Television Broadcasts (TVB) said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday that 2025 revenue fell 2 per cent from a year earlier to HK$3.19 billion, while it trimmed total costs, excluding depreciation and amortisation, by 4.9 per...
Welcome back to Bloomberg’s Real Estate Monitor , a weekly breakdown of emerging trends, strategic challenges and blockbuster deals shaping the industry. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. This week, find out how AI companies have bolstered the fortunes of New York City’s office market. You’ll also read about a massive financing for an ultra-luxury project in Beverly Hills , higher ins...
Welcome back to Bloomberg’s Real Estate Monitor , a weekly breakdown of emerging trends, strategic challenges and blockbuster deals shaping the industry. Sign up now if you’re not already on the list. This week, find out how AI companies have bolstered the fortunes of New York City’s office market. You’ll also read about a massive financing for an ultra-luxury project in Beverly Hills , higher insurance bills for US homeowners and how posh retailers are courting increasingly picky shoppers . Let’s dig in. — Christine Maurus Market Snapshot Vornado Realty Trust $26.12 +0.4% Simon Property Group Inc $178.27 -1.8% DR Horton Inc $138.33 -0.4% Blackstone Inc $107.98 -1.3% Market data as of 08:51 AM ET. Data is subject to provider delays. The big story Turns out AI-driven tech companies don’t just need data centers. They also need office space for their growing numbers of human employees, and they’re grabbing blocks of it in New York City . Artificial intelligence firms scooped up about 1 million square feet of offices in Manhattan alone in 2025, and they’re on the hunt for more. Their deals, together with a leasing surge by legacy tech companies, helped give New York’s office market its best year in more then a decade. It was a shot in the arm after a long post-Covid struggle that reaffirms the city’s status as a global business center. And while California’s Bay Area remains the biggest hub for AI and tech firms, New York is a solid runner up, Bloomberg’s Natalie Wong and Edison Wu reported. Its population of AI workers right now is ahead of those in Seattle, Boston and Los Angeles. “Every industry and company is thinking about how to implement AI technology, and New York is ground zero for that conversation,” said Julie Samuels, CEO of the trade group Tech:NYC. “Every company is here.” What’s more is that a bunch of those companies are insisting that their people show up in person five days a week, a shift from recent years when work-from-anywhere was the industry stan...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Back when I last covered Pfizer ( PFE ), I highlighted the company's peer-leading drug pipeline, strong cash flow and attractive valuation despite the medium-term patent cliff and broader macro headwinds. With the valuation still reflecting a careful approach in the face of their patent cliff and significant macro uncertainty, I reiterate PF...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Back when I last covered Pfizer ( PFE ), I highlighted the company's peer-leading drug pipeline, strong cash flow and attractive valuation despite the medium-term patent cliff and broader macro headwinds. With the valuation still reflecting a careful approach in the face of their patent cliff and significant macro uncertainty, I reiterate PFE's Buy rating, backed by solid fundamentals and high long-term potential to replace the ongoing lease expirations. Solid Fundamentals, Bracing For The LOE Cliff Pfizer IR PFE reported a strong Q4 and 2025 overall, beating the market's top- and bottom-line estimates and reiterating their 2026 guidance despite a 3% drop in Q4 revenue compared to 2024 due to a decline in COVID-19 product revenue, with the free cash flow reaching a solid $9.08 billion, below 2024's ~$9.84 billion. Pfizer IR For 2026, PFE expects a decline in revenue due to the patent cliffs I'll mention below, with the revenue expected to reach between $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion compared to $62.6 billion in 2025 (down 2% vs. 2024), for an Adjusted Diluted EPS between $2.80 to $3.00 compared to $3.22 in 2025 (up 4% YoY). Note that these also include the negative effects of policies like the Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing and TrumpRx, while also advancing significantly in high-growth and high-potential segments such as weight loss, planning to start about 20 key pivotal trials in 2026, half of them being related to obesity, acquired recently from Metsera. Pfizer IR Financially, based on PFE's latest report , we continue to see a good position, with the current assets covering their current liabilities and more than enough assets to offset their debt, even though most of them are in goodwill and intangibles thanks to their acquisitions. This can potentially allow them to spin off or divest a branch if they absolutely need it, which wouldn't be impossible to see if they want to trim the portfolio following s...
Images By Tang Ming Tung/DigitalVision via Getty Images On his company's fourth quarter conference call last month, Astronics ( ATRO ) chief executive office Peter Gundermann opened with an incredibly positive summary of the fourth quarter results. Revenue in the quarter was a new record, and in fact nearly 13% higher than the previous peak. Operating and EBITDA margins both reached post-pandemic ...
Images By Tang Ming Tung/DigitalVision via Getty Images On his company's fourth quarter conference call last month, Astronics ( ATRO ) chief executive office Peter Gundermann opened with an incredibly positive summary of the fourth quarter results. Revenue in the quarter was a new record, and in fact nearly 13% higher than the previous peak. Operating and EBITDA margins both reached post-pandemic highs. Backlog at the end of 2025 too was at a record level. Favorable sentiment remained through the call, which felt like the culmination of several years of post-pandemic normalization. As Gundermann noted, Astronics's revenue growth did slow last year (though the company expects a return to double-digit increases in 2026), but margins continued to improve. Catch-up pricing after the bout of inflation a couple of years back has been a key driver (unusually favorable mix in Q4 helped as well). And with commercial aircraft demand growing for years (decades?) to come, there very much a sense that Astronics was closer to the beginning of its growth than the end. On the whole, coming out of February, Astronics seemed to be in an incredibly strong position. And the equity market had responded in kind (five-year chart through February 27, 2026): Data by YCharts But March has been a different story. Even with a 3.6% bounce on Monday, ATRO stock is down 18% so far this month. The obvious culprit is the strikes in Iran by the United States and Israel, which have led aerospace plays down. Other sector plays like Howmet Aerospace ( HWM ) and Heico ( HEI ) too have dipped since the strikes began (though ATRO has in that context underperformed). The sudden geopolitical risk colors what looks like an absolutely fantastic story. I wrote in January there remained significant room for upside in shares, and coming out of Q4 that still seemed to be the case. The new unexpected (and unwelcome) developments in the Middle East do color the story a bit. For now, I still expect investors to take...
Ildo Frazao/iStock via Getty Images The debate about BDC headwinds has shifted from interest rate risk to credit risk being as the main source for potential value destruction. Starting from about mid-2025 almost everyone expected mounting BDC dividend cuts due to falling base rates. To some extent it has already materialized as many players have recently synchronized their dividend payouts with th...
Ildo Frazao/iStock via Getty Images The debate about BDC headwinds has shifted from interest rate risk to credit risk being as the main source for potential value destruction. Starting from about mid-2025 almost everyone expected mounting BDC dividend cuts due to falling base rates. To some extent it has already materialized as many players have recently synchronized their dividend payouts with the new interest rate reality. Yet, because of the oil price shock, incremental base rate cuts seem unrealistic this year. In fact, currently, we can see that the market has started to chat about potential rate hikes . While this should, theoretically, provide a relief to BDCs (in the context of their dividend coverage), what we see is the complete opposite. Namely, the market has sent the BDC world ( BIZD ) into a heavy (almost distressed-like) zone. And it makes perfect sense if the assumption is that there will be huge manifestation of credit risk. The credit risk is more important and with more tangible consequences than the interest rate risk, which what really does is simply aligns BDC dividend yields to the lower-yield environment (while, actually, boosting the credit risk protection layer as the underlying companies can enjoy cheaper debt service). Now, in my humble opinion, what does not make sense is the level of discount that has been currently assigned by the market. The BDC median P/NAV is 0.73x - i.e., a discount of 27%. How I see it is that the market has once again overreacted to a situation in which the direction of travel moves from positive to negative. Sure, in the prevailing market situation, it would be only reasonable to expect higher default rates and thus some discounts to account for potential NAV declines. Yet, the question is whether we should really expect "more than 3 standard deviation move from the mean". I don't think so. I don't see evidence of that, nor do I see similar precedents in the past, which include such periods as GFC, 2015/2016 cru...
NiseriN/iStock via Getty Images Looking for high-yield debt exposure? Certain closed-end funds, "CEFs", such as the BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund ( DSU ), specialize in that corner of the market, pooling together multiple debt instruments of various types. Fund Profile DSU's "primary investment objective is to provide current income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of US companie...
NiseriN/iStock via Getty Images Looking for high-yield debt exposure? Certain closed-end funds, "CEFs", such as the BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund ( DSU ), specialize in that corner of the market, pooling together multiple debt instruments of various types. Fund Profile DSU's "primary investment objective is to provide current income by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of US companies’ debt instruments, including corporate loans, which are rated in the lower rating categories of the established rating services (BBB or lower by S&P’s or Baa or lower by Moody’s) or unrated debt instruments, which are, in the judgment of the investment adviser, of equivalent quality. The Fund’s secondary objective is to provide capital appreciation. Corporate loans include senior and subordinated corporate loans, both secured and unsecured." (DSU site) DSU was incepted in March 1998 and is just shy of being in the 50 biggest debt CEFs, as measured by market cap. As of 2/27/26, it had 1301 holdings, with 303K in average daily volume. Management uses leverage, which was at 15.73%, so the 1.69% expense ratio includes ~1% in interest expense. Hidden Dividend Stocks Plus Holdings As of 2/27/26, Term Loans were by far the biggest exposure, comprising 73.67% of the portfolio, followed by Industrial High Yield Bonds, at 15.5%, Equities, at 6.2%, High Yield Bonds-Financials, at 3.13%; and Investment Grade Bonds, at 2.08%. DSU also held less than 1% each in Utilities High Yield Bonds, Convertibles, and Preferred Equity. DSU DSU's top 3 sector/industry exposures were Capital Goods, at 16.11%, Consumer Cyclicals, at 15.71%, and Tech, at 15.43%. It also had exposures to several other sectors, running from ~10% for Consumer Cyclicals, down to 2.82% for Energy: DSU Maturities are mainly intermediate terms, with 2-3 years at 12.56%, 3-5 years at ~40%, and 5-7 years at 42.27%. There's also ~5% in 0-1 year and 1-2 year maturities. DSU DSU's holdings are mostly non-investment grade - BB and...