Jacob Wackerhausen Baron Opportunity Fund declined in the first quarter but outperformed its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Growth Index. In the first quarter, the fund initiated a position in Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), Forgent Power Solutions ( FPS ), ASML Holding N.V. ( ASML ), Lam Research Corporation ( LRCX ), and Rubrik ( RBRK ). Additionally, it exited investments in Microsoft ( MSFT ), Arcel...
Jacob Wackerhausen Baron Opportunity Fund declined in the first quarter but outperformed its benchmark, the Russell 3000 Growth Index. In the first quarter, the fund initiated a position in Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), Forgent Power Solutions ( FPS ), ASML Holding N.V. ( ASML ), Lam Research Corporation ( LRCX ), and Rubrik ( RBRK ). Additionally, it exited investments in Microsoft ( MSFT ), Arcellx (ACLX), and Nova ( NVMI ). It also sold its position in Atlassian ( TEAM ) to help fund the upgrade of its software portfolio, and sold LPL Financial Holdings ( LPLA ) to redeploy the proceeds into The Charles Schwab Corporation ( SCHW ). More on Baron Opportunity Fund;Retail, Lam Research, etc. Microsoft: Stellar Fundamentals Tied To Discounted Valuation Microsoft: Not Cheap, But Shares Can Still Move Higher ASML: Why Europe's AI Giant Is Not The Best Chip Buy Tesla Robotaxi fleet in Texas is less than one-tenth of Waymo's Nikon to price chip equipment lower than ASML: report
Investing in the aviation space can mean two very different things: betting on the cyclical travel demand of commercial airlines or the contract-driven stability of defense firms. While both the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA +2.21%) and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS +0.21%) occupy the industrial sector, their risk profiles and underlying economic drivers diverge significantly for inve...
Investing in the aviation space can mean two very different things: betting on the cyclical travel demand of commercial airlines or the contract-driven stability of defense firms. While both the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA +2.21%) and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS +0.21%) occupy the industrial sector, their risk profiles and underlying economic drivers diverge significantly for investors interested in the skies. Snapshot (cost & size) Metric JETS ITA Issuer US Global iShares Expense ratio 0.6% 0.38% 1-yr return (as of 5/27/26) 28.7% 32.2% Dividend yield 0.8% 0.5% Beta 1.18 1.02 AUM $865.2 million $14.3 billion The iShares fund is the more affordable choice with a 0.38% expense ratio compared to 0.6% for JETS. While JETS offers a slightly higher distribution yield of 0.8%, the iShares fund has paid out more cash on a per-share basis over the trailing 12 months. Performance & risk comparison Metric JETS ITA Max drawdown (5 yr) (55.6%) (21.7%) Growth of $1,000 over 5 years (total return) $1,099 $2,172 What's inside The iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF focuses on domestic aerospace and defense companies, with 100% of the portfolio in the industrial sector. Its largest positions include GE Aerospace at 20%, RTX Corp. at 14.3%, and Boeing at 9.5%. The fund holds 44 securities, was launched in 2006, and has paid $1.07 per share over the trailing 12 months. Expand NYSEMKT : ITA iShares Trust - iShares U.s. Aerospace & Defense ETF Today's Change ( 2.21 %) $ 5.09 Current Price $ 235.57 Key Data Points Day's Range $ 230.74 - $ 236.14 52wk Range $ 174.74 - $ 250.65 Volume 4.5K The U.S. Global Jets ETF concentrates on the global airline industry, with approximately 89% in industrials and 9% in consumer cyclicals. Top holdings include Delta Air Lines at 12%, United Airlines at 11.05%, and American Airlines at 10.6%. It manages 49 holdings, was launched in 2015, and has a trailing-12-month dividend of $0.23 per share. Expand NYSEMKT : JETS ETF Series Solutions -...
Asia defense summit opens amid doubts over U.S. priorities toggle caption Achmad Ibrahim/AP SINGAPORE — China's rapid military modernization and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and growing concerns over American priorities are top issues on the table at Asia's premier defense summit drawing leaders, top diplomats and security officials from around the world. The Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by th...
Asia defense summit opens amid doubts over U.S. priorities toggle caption Achmad Ibrahim/AP SINGAPORE — China's rapid military modernization and assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and growing concerns over American priorities are top issues on the table at Asia's premier defense summit drawing leaders, top diplomats and security officials from around the world. The Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, also comes as the Middle East is increasingly on edge as new attacks have threatened the tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war. Russia, meanwhile, has intensified its war on Ukraine. Vietnamese leader To Lam opens the conference Friday with a keynote address, while U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth starts Saturday's session with remarks focused on the Trump administration's Indo-Pacific strategy. Sponsor Message Vietnam navigates a delicate superpower balance Lam has consolidated his power in Vietnam this year, becoming both Communist Party general secretary and president of the strategically important Southeast Asian nation, departing from its tradition of shared leadership. Like several other countries in the region, Vietnam has competing maritime claims with Beijing that have led to confrontations, but at the same time is heavily tied economically to China, its biggest two-way trade partner. The U.S., meantime, is Vietnam's largest export destination and has been seeking to make diplomatic inroads and expand defense contracts to try and pull some of that market away from Hanoi's traditional partner, Russia. Recently leaked documents showed, however, that even after elevating relations with Washington to the highest diplomatic level, Vietnam's military remained skeptical of American intentions and had taken steps to defend against a possible American "war of aggression." With Hanoi performing a delicate balancing act with both Washington and Beijing, Lam was expected to keep his address focused on using consensus to manage di...
Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) has crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold for the first time, driven by surging investor demand tied to the AI infrastructure buildout. Shares climbed as much as 6.7% on Wednesday after jumping 19% the previous session, extending a rally of more than 186% from the March 30 trough. The memory-chip maker doubled its market capitalization from $500 bil...
Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) has crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold for the first time, driven by surging investor demand tied to the AI infrastructure buildout. Shares climbed as much as 6.7% on Wednesday after jumping 19% the previous session, extending a rally of more than 186% from the March 30 trough. The memory-chip maker doubled its market capitalization from $500 billion to $1 trillion in just 48 trading days, the fastest such move on record. That pace beat Samsung Electronics’ recent 82-day run and Tesla’s 230-day move from 2021, underscoring just how aggressive the buying in Micron has been. SK Hynix also crossed the $1 trillion level in South Korea on Wednesday, reaching that milestone 61 days after hitting $500 billion in February. Companies pledging hundreds of billions of dollars toward AI capital expenditures have placed memory components in high demand, potentially weakening the sector’s long-running pattern of cyclical profits. Micron’s shares have gained nearly 850% over the past 12 months, trailing only SK Hynix, which has risen more than 1,000% over the same period. By comparison, the Nasdaq 100 Index (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up approximately 40%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has climbed 161% over the same stretch. The rally is also being underpinned by strengthening fundamentals, with Micron’s earnings growth accelerating in recent quarters as the AI trade continues to favor memory-related semiconductors. Analysts are expecting approximately $105 in adjusted earnings per share for Micron by the end of fiscal 2027, representing more than 1,200% above the $8.07 reported for fiscal 2025.
matejmo Bank of America’s closely watched Bull & Bear Indicator climbed deeper into contrarian sell territory, signaling increasingly stretched investor sentiment as global equities continued rallying. The indicator rose to 8.5 from 8.0, according to BofA’s latest Flow Show report published Thursday. Readings above 8 historically trigger a contrarian sell signal under the bank’s framework. BofA sa...
matejmo Bank of America’s closely watched Bull & Bear Indicator climbed deeper into contrarian sell territory, signaling increasingly stretched investor sentiment as global equities continued rallying. The indicator rose to 8.5 from 8.0, according to BofA’s latest Flow Show report published Thursday. Readings above 8 historically trigger a contrarian sell signal under the bank’s framework. BofA said the move higher was driven by inflows into higher-risk assets, including high-yield bonds and emerging-market debt, alongside improving global market breadth. The bank noted that 57% of global stock indices were trading above both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The report said the Bull & Bear Indicator has generated 17 sell signals since 2002. Historically, global stocks posted average losses of 2% to 3% over the following two to three months after those signals, with maximum drawdowns reaching 15% to 20%, according to BofA. A separate chart in the report showed the indicator approaching some of its highest readings of the past two decades. More on markets Hope Springs Eternal The Great Debt Debacle Has Arrived Tech Looking For Back-To-Back 10%+ Monthly Gains Active managers turn aggressively bullish on U.S. equities, NAAIM data show AM Markets Need to Know: Blue Origin rocket explodes, oil prices may go up, and more
JHVEPhoto Micron Technology ( MU ) and Sandisk ( SNDK ) were in focus on Friday as Susquehanna upped its price targets on the pair, citing continued strength in memory and storage. The firm raised its price on Micron to $1,750 from $600 and its price target on Sandisk moved to $3,250 from $2,000. “DRAM strength is being driven by commodity pricing as a greater share of DRAM bits are allocated to H...
JHVEPhoto Micron Technology ( MU ) and Sandisk ( SNDK ) were in focus on Friday as Susquehanna upped its price targets on the pair, citing continued strength in memory and storage. The firm raised its price on Micron to $1,750 from $600 and its price target on Sandisk moved to $3,250 from $2,000. “DRAM strength is being driven by commodity pricing as a greater share of DRAM bits are allocated to HBM and server applications,” analyst Mehdi Hosseini wrote in a note to clients. “On the NAND side, incremental demand from AI inferencing is driving stronger bit demand and supporting further ASP upside into 2H26. Notably, enterprise SSD (eSSD) demand is expected to accelerate from 2Q into 3Q, led by CSPs, whose large-scale purchases are driving incremental bit consumption. In contrast, the channel (e.g., Taiwan-based module houses) appears to be carrying over a quarter of inventory. • At the same time, tight memory supply is beginning to constrain system builds, with OEMs potentially facing lower 2H shipments due to insufficient memory availability—raising the likelihood of server and storage system shipments being pushed into 1H27.” More on Micron Technology and Sandisk Micron: Beware Of Trillion-Dollar Trap, HBM4E Cannibalization, And Depreciation Cliff (Rating Downgrade) Micron: The Market Is Very Wrong Micron's AI Bottleneck Trade Just Started Micron, Sandisk, others see price target hikes at Mizuho amid agentic AI tailwinds Sandisk develops high-bandwidth flash for AI inference amid memory demand surge: CTO
JHVEPhoto Micron Technology ( MU ) and Sandisk ( SNDK ) were in focus on Friday as Susquehanna upped its price targets on the pair, citing continued strength in memory and storage. The firm raised its price on Micron to $1,750 from $600 and its price target on Sandisk moved to $3,250 from $2,000. “DRAM strength is being driven by commodity pricing as a greater share of DRAM bits are allocated to H...
JHVEPhoto Micron Technology ( MU ) and Sandisk ( SNDK ) were in focus on Friday as Susquehanna upped its price targets on the pair, citing continued strength in memory and storage. The firm raised its price on Micron to $1,750 from $600 and its price target on Sandisk moved to $3,250 from $2,000. “DRAM strength is being driven by commodity pricing as a greater share of DRAM bits are allocated to HBM and server applications,” analyst Mehdi Hosseini wrote in a note to clients. “On the NAND side, incremental demand from AI inferencing is driving stronger bit demand and supporting further ASP upside into 2H26. Notably, enterprise SSD (eSSD) demand is expected to accelerate from 2Q into 3Q, led by CSPs, whose large-scale purchases are driving incremental bit consumption. In contrast, the channel (e.g., Taiwan-based module houses) appears to be carrying over a quarter of inventory. • At the same time, tight memory supply is beginning to constrain system builds, with OEMs potentially facing lower 2H shipments due to insufficient memory availability—raising the likelihood of server and storage system shipments being pushed into 1H27.” More on Micron Technology and Sandisk Micron: Beware Of Trillion-Dollar Trap, HBM4E Cannibalization, And Depreciation Cliff (Rating Downgrade) Micron: The Market Is Very Wrong Micron's AI Bottleneck Trade Just Started Micron, Sandisk, others see price target hikes at Mizuho amid agentic AI tailwinds Sandisk develops high-bandwidth flash for AI inference amid memory demand surge: CTO
Nebius Group N.V NBIS is doubling down on AI infrastructure and has now set an ambitious $20-$25 billion capital expenditure plan for 2026, up from its earlier guidance of $16-$20 billion. The key question for investors is whether this sharp spike in spending reflects disciplined growth aligned with demand or an overextension in a fast-evolving market. Management noted that the capacity deployment...
Nebius Group N.V NBIS is doubling down on AI infrastructure and has now set an ambitious $20-$25 billion capital expenditure plan for 2026, up from its earlier guidance of $16-$20 billion. The key question for investors is whether this sharp spike in spending reflects disciplined growth aligned with demand or an overextension in a fast-evolving market. Management noted that the capacity deployment is tied to visibility into future demand, particularly for 2027, for which it already has customer commitments in place. The company also noted that it is already selling out the available capacity, with demand consistently exceeding supply, implying that spending is less speculative and more about meeting anticipated workloads. Importantly, management highlighted that component cost increases account for a low single-digits percentage of total spend. Nebius Group N.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Nebius Group N.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Nebius Group N.V. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nebius Group N.V. Quote Nebius added that it will use various funding sources to fund capacity expansion. The company is raising capital through asset-backed financing buoyed by its contracts with Meta and Microsoft MSFT. Other financing options include corporate-level debt and an at-the-market program. At the end of the first quarter, Nebius had $9.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents, supported by a strong operating cash flow of $2.3 billion and capital raises, including $4.3 billion in convertible notes and a $2 billion NVIDIA investment. With demand surging, Nebius’ accelerated investment may be essential to achieve its ambitious ARR targets for 2026. But the payoff hinges on execution, continued AI demand and the ability to scale profitably amid increasing competition from the likes of CoreWeave CRWV and tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon. Capex Plans for Other Players in the AI Infra Space CoreWeave, another hypergrowth company (revenues surged 112% in the fi...
It is fast becoming a story we are well versed with. For the third consecutive season, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors square off in a major final, with an historic first meeting in the Challenge Cup decider on Saturday afternoon at Wembley the latest chapter in a generational rivalry. The record is one win each, with Wigan triumphing in the 2024 Super League Grand Final and Rovers exacting revenge las...
It is fast becoming a story we are well versed with. For the third consecutive season, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors square off in a major final, with an historic first meeting in the Challenge Cup decider on Saturday afternoon at Wembley the latest chapter in a generational rivalry. The record is one win each, with Wigan triumphing in the 2024 Super League Grand Final and Rovers exacting revenge last year at Old Trafford. They are the two most recent champions not just of Super League but the world, having both beaten NRL opposition in the World Club Challenge. This final marks a moment in time for one of them to solidify a position as one of the modern era’s truly great teams. For once, it is Wigan who are arguably the underdogs. Hull KR’s rise to the pinnacle of rugby league for the first time since the 1980s culminated in their historic treble last year. In order to go back-to-back at Wembley, they must deny the Warriors a record-extending 22nd Challenge Cup final victory; Rovers, by comparison, have won it twice. Wigan, as they have always done, will give youth a chance on Saturday, a theme that has been a talking point leading into the game. Yes, the usual superstars such as Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis and Wigan’s Jai Field will be on show at Wembley. The Warriors’ talismanic half-back, Bevan French, may also be there after he was a surprise inclusion in their 21-man squad a month ahead of schedule after a hamstring tear. But the story bubbling underneath is that of two of Wigan’s next big stars. There could be as many as 10 academy products in Wigan’s 17, including the 20-year-olds Noah Hodkinson and Jack Farrimond; the former will make just his eighth senior appearance for the club. But Super League’s salary cap rules mean the pair could dominate the sport’s biggest game while earning, in relative terms, a pittance. The rules dictate that any player under 21 earning £30,000 or under does not count on the £2.1m limit. In effect it means that in order to spend the cap ...
The initiative is backed by nonprofit investor Elemental Impact and also includes the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Salesforce and a philanthropic office founded by a Walmart heir.
The initiative is backed by nonprofit investor Elemental Impact and also includes the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Salesforce and a philanthropic office founded by a Walmart heir.
Funtap/iStock via Getty Images Equity Residential ( EQR ) was downgraded at Piper Sandler, citing that synergies will take time. The multi-family residential REIT agreed to combine with AvalonBay Communities ( AVB ) in an all-stock merger of equals, creating a major U.S. rental housing company with about $52B in equity market value, $69B in enterprise value, and more than 180,000 apartment units. ...
Funtap/iStock via Getty Images Equity Residential ( EQR ) was downgraded at Piper Sandler, citing that synergies will take time. The multi-family residential REIT agreed to combine with AvalonBay Communities ( AVB ) in an all-stock merger of equals, creating a major U.S. rental housing company with about $52B in equity market value, $69B in enterprise value, and more than 180,000 apartment units. "While the combined company laid out $125M of net synergies, ~$50M is offset in the first year from the contractual termination package of EQR's retiring CEO," said analyst Alexander Goldfarb. "Aggregate severance will be bigger, as the corporate and regional teams are streamlined, which mitigates the initial cost savings. We see property operation synergies achieved primarily through normal course attrition (estimate ~30% annually), while third-party contracts depend on time remaining," said Goldfarb. "Thus, investors are likely to wait until year two to see the synergies play out with any accelerated earnings beyond that; hence, our downgrade of EQR to Neutral from OW (Overweight), which aligns with our Neutral rating on AVB," said the research note. Piper Sandler cut its price target on the stock to $72.00 from $78.00. The investment bank's rating aligns with the average Seeking Alpha authors and Quant rating of Hold. The Wall Street analysts grade EQR as Buy. More on Equity Residential Pass On The Equity Residential And Avalon Bay Merger Equity Residential / AvalonBay Merger Is Not A Game Changer Equity Residential (EQR) M&A Call Transcript Key deals this week: Parker Hannifin, Dominion Energy, LiveRamp and more Digging into AvalonBay and Equity Residential's merger of equals