Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO at Starwood Capital Group, discusses the company's business strategy and investing in AI and data centers. He speaks with Romaine Bostick from the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. (Source: Bloomberg)
Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO at Starwood Capital Group, discusses the company's business strategy and investing in AI and data centers. He speaks with Romaine Bostick from the sidelines of the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. (Source: Bloomberg)
Intel（英特尔）美国加州当地时间4日宣布高层人士变动：前Qualcomm（高通）高管Alex Katouzian将出任英特尔执行副总裁兼客户端计算和物理 AI 事业部总经理。 IT之家注意到，此次任命也意味着英特尔组织架构的一次大调整：此前的CCG与物理AI业务合并为一个事业部，后者领域包括 机器人 、自主机器和其它 AI 智能设备。 英特尔首席执行官陈立武表示，AI正在 边缘计算 领域创造前...
Intel（英特尔）美国加州当地时间4日宣布高层人士变动：前Qualcomm（高通）高管Alex Katouzian将出任英特尔执行副总裁兼客户端计算和物理 AI 事业部总经理。 IT之家注意到，此次任命也意味着英特尔组织架构的一次大调整：此前的CCG与物理AI业务合并为一个事业部，后者领域包括 机器人 、自主机器和其它 AI 智能设备。 英特尔首席执行官陈立武表示，AI正在 边缘计算 领域创造前所未有的机遇，推动客户端计算和物理 AI 系统发生翻天覆地的变化。Alex拥有深厚的技术专长、卓越的运营能力以及数十年来构建和扩展全球计算平台的经验。他是带领我们超越传统PC，重新构想客户端计算，并使之与物理 AI 的下一波增长浪潮相契合的理想人选。 Alex Katouzian 本人则称，英特尔正在为AI驱动的转型奠定基础，从引领 AI PC 领域，到扩展边缘AI推理能力，再到加速物理AI系统的未来发展。我很高兴在这个关键时刻加入陈立武和英特尔团队，助力扩大创新规模，并带来下一代计算体验。 英特尔此次还正式任命此前临时代任首席技术官的CEO幕僚长Pushkar Ranade为企业CTO。Pushkar Ranade将推进公司的技术战略，领导专项技术项目，并推动包括量子计算、神经形态计算、光子学和新型材料在内的关键新兴领域的发展。 Alex Katouzian和Pushkar Ranade都将直接向陈立武汇报工作。
MicroStockHub/iStock via Getty Images The Madison Small Cap Fund (class I) was virtually flat, up 0.10% in the first quarter versus the Russell 2000 Index (up 0.89%) and Russell 2500 Index (up 2.04%). While we slightly underperformed our benchmark, we saw encouraging signs for the Fund, with solid performance from our core positions and IT investments outperforming in a weak tech tape. New positio...
MicroStockHub/iStock via Getty Images The Madison Small Cap Fund (class I) was virtually flat, up 0.10% in the first quarter versus the Russell 2000 Index (up 0.89%) and Russell 2500 Index (up 2.04%). While we slightly underperformed our benchmark, we saw encouraging signs for the Fund, with solid performance from our core positions and IT investments outperforming in a weak tech tape. New positions also contributed to relative performance in the quarter. Stylistically, value outperformed growth within small caps, with the Russell 2000 Value Index up ~4.5% and the Russell 2000 Growth Index down almost 3% in the first quarter. The growth index pullback was mostly driven by weakness in speculative names. This is encouraging for our style as we prefer quality, profitable franchises over speculative stocks. However, volatility continues to define market, with AI disruption fears and the ripple effects from the Iran war impacting energy markets, interest rates, and sentiment daily. We don't believe either of these concerns are likely to recede promptly. We further believe market volatility will provide opportunities for patient investors. From an attribution perspective, our Technology investments were the strongest outperformers in the quarter, driven by solid performance in our semiconductor names, despite poor performance from our software investments, mostly due to AI disruption speculation. Viavi was our strongest stock, driven by the recent acquisition of Spirent and accelerating demand from semiconductor and memory companies. We view Viavi as a key player in the AI data center ecosystem, especially since NVIDIA ( NVDA ) specifically calls for Viavi Test gear in its AI reference architecture. We think the company's long-term opportunity is expanding. Entegris ( ENTG ), FormFactor ( FORM ), and Power Integrations ( POWI ) also had strong absolute returns in Q1. How hated was software in Q1? The iShares expanded software ETF (ticker: IGV) was down 25% in the quarter....
Trump's "Project Vault" Plans To Initially Buy Rare Earths From China As we reported in February, the US Export-Import Bank’s proposed rare earth stockpiling initiative would initially source critical minerals from anywhere in the world - including China, an official involved in the project revealed to Bloomberg. The $12 billion Project Vault would later shift to a replenishment model that priorit...
Trump's "Project Vault" Plans To Initially Buy Rare Earths From China As we reported in February, the US Export-Import Bank’s proposed rare earth stockpiling initiative would initially source critical minerals from anywhere in the world - including China, an official involved in the project revealed to Bloomberg. The $12 billion Project Vault would later shift to a replenishment model that prioritizes domestic production first, followed by allied nations and other sources as a last resort, executives including Ex-Im Chief Banking Officer Brian Greeley said lastt week, unveiling some of the first details publicly announced on the project. Greeley spoke alongside representatives of Glencore Plc. and Hartree Partners LP, which will be among trading houses procuring materials for Vault. The project aims to build an immediate buffer against critical mineral supply shocks while using future purchases to send a stronger demand signal to US and friendly-nation producers. Vault — which combines about $2 billion in private capital with a $10 billion Ex-Im loan — is President Trump’s latest effort to build an alternative supply chain for the materials, which are key for the production of electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and other low-carbon technologies. China is the dominant supplier of critical minerals worldwide. The recent panel was the most robust public discussion of Vault since Ex-Im revealed the program in February. For nearly three months, metals investors, traders and consumers have sought details as the government worked behind the scenes to flesh out the project, according to Bloomberg. Attendees packed a conference room at a hotel in Washington, DC, to get details on Vault’s sourcing hierarchy and payment structure. After brief introductory remarks, the panel unexpectedly opened up the floor to an almost hour-long question-and-answer session. The program’s so-called waterfall would give preference to domestic suppliers even when their material comes at a p...
CoreWeave (NasdaqGS:CRWV) has expanded its long term AI infrastructure agreement with Meta Platforms, extending contracted visibility through 2032. The deal includes deployments of NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform and multi year cloud capacity commitments focused on large scale AI inference. This agreement increases CoreWeave’s revenue backlog and deepens its concentration in AI hyperscaler customers....
CoreWeave (NasdaqGS:CRWV) has expanded its long term AI infrastructure agreement with Meta Platforms, extending contracted visibility through 2032. The deal includes deployments of NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform and multi year cloud capacity commitments focused on large scale AI inference. This agreement increases CoreWeave’s revenue backlog and deepens its concentration in AI hyperscaler customers. For investors, the key context is how quickly CoreWeave has moved into the center of large...
Income investors hunting for above-average yield often gravitate toward consumer brands and telecom stocks, and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) fit the bill -- especially since both have raised their dividends every year for around two decades (19 years for Verizon and 24 for Nike). And both yields are well above the broader market. But yield alone doesn't decide which is th...
Income investors hunting for above-average yield often gravitate toward consumer brands and telecom stocks, and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) fit the bill -- especially since both have raised their dividends every year for around two decades (19 years for Verizon and 24 for Nike). And both yields are well above the broader market. But yield alone doesn't decide which is the better buy. The real question is which payout looks more durable -- and which underlying business is moving in the right direction. So which stock comes out on top? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Copper fell after the US and Iran exchanged fire in the Persian Gulf on Monday, casting doubt over the fate of a ceasefire and raising concerns about further escalation in the conflict that’s upended global markets. The metal dropped as much as 1.7% on the London Metal Exchange after closing higher for the first time in seven sessions on Friday. The LME was shut Monday for a UK public holiday. The...
Copper fell after the US and Iran exchanged fire in the Persian Gulf on Monday, casting doubt over the fate of a ceasefire and raising concerns about further escalation in the conflict that’s upended global markets. The metal dropped as much as 1.7% on the London Metal Exchange after closing higher for the first time in seven sessions on Friday. The LME was shut Monday for a UK public holiday. The American military fought off Iranian attacks as it facilitated the passage of two US-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, while a drone strike hit Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates. The risk for metals is a prolonged closure of the strait, which would magnify the energy shock and could force central bankers into a more hawkish stance, hitting manufacturing and crimping demand for industrial commodities. On the supply side, copper stockpiles in LME-tracked warehouses remained near the highest level since 2013, adding to bearish sentiment. Copper was 1% lower at $12,863 a ton on the LME as of 10:02 a.m. Shanghai time. Aluminum fell 0.9% and zinc dropped 1.1%. Iron ore futures were little changed at $108.40 a ton on the Singapore Exchange, with trading activity subdued due to a China holiday. Chinese markets will reopen Wednesday.
V2X (NYSE:VVX) executives highlighted double-digit growth, record bookings, and a higher full-year outlook during the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call, pointing to continued demand across its portfolio of mission support, aerospace, and training capabilities. First-quarter results show re
V2X (NYSE:VVX) executives highlighted double-digit growth, record bookings, and a higher full-year outlook during the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call, pointing to continued demand across its portfolio of mission support, aerospace, and training capabilities. First-quarter results show re
Scukrov/iStock via Getty Images The Undercovered Dozen is a weekly Seeking Alpha editor-curated series highlighting 12 articles on lesser-covered stocks from the previous seven days. We hope this provides ideas and inspires discussion among the community. Today, we're looking at articles published between April 24 and April 30. Take a look at what these less-covered stocks might hold for you. And ...
Scukrov/iStock via Getty Images The Undercovered Dozen is a weekly Seeking Alpha editor-curated series highlighting 12 articles on lesser-covered stocks from the previous seven days. We hope this provides ideas and inspires discussion among the community. Today, we're looking at articles published between April 24 and April 30. Take a look at what these less-covered stocks might hold for you. And please join the conversation below to share what you think: Are any of these worth following up on? And are there other undercovered ideas that you like? Western Digital: This Bull Run May Just Be Starting Blake Winiecki | Buy Western Digital Corporation ( WDC ) creates and sells data storage devices and solutions based on hard disk drive technology. The firm is set to report FY 26 Q3 earnings with expectations of massive YoY expansion on earnings and sales. The stock is up nearly 9x in the last year alone, and investors that have not gotten in on the gains yet are left wondering if it's too late. Their products are used in everything from laptops to large cloud data centers. Almost 90% of their revenue now comes from sales in the cloud space to specific cloud providers and enterprise data centers. A tight supply and rising demand environment have led to capped-out capacity for WDC, a good and bad thing. The industry is seeing explosive growth, and longer-term contracts are giving suppliers like WDC more pricing power than in the past. Valuation is raised, but not horribly. Because of these industry headwinds and their ability to create greater margins on more efficient exabyte shipments, I have WDC as a buy. Read more here. SAP: Finally, It's Time To Buy This Entrenched Software Giant Gary Alexander | Buy We're entering into the Q1 earnings season at a time of unprecedented volatility for software stocks. On the one hand, a handful of stocks like ServiceNow ( NOW ) are getting a harsh re-rating in valuation multiples as growth slows down and investors assess the impacts of...
Shaad D’Souza explains how bands such as Geese have faced a backlash since a marketing company revealed its tricks for pushing them into the limelight, and Eamonn Forde discusses what it takes to succeed in the music industry today. Discovering new music you love can feel like unearthing treasure. So when fans flocked to Geese in the last year and made their frontman, Cameron Winter, the most talk...
Shaad D’Souza explains how bands such as Geese have faced a backlash since a marketing company revealed its tricks for pushing them into the limelight, and Eamonn Forde discusses what it takes to succeed in the music industry today. Discovering new music you love can feel like unearthing treasure. So when fans flocked to Geese in the last year and made their frontman, Cameron Winter, the most talked-about indie star of the moment, it felt like a genuine rush of emotion and connection. They ruled the end-of-year lists. Their tours sold out. A big deal for a group whose members were barely born the last time New York bands were cool. But when fans heard a podcast interview with two marketing executives talking about how they created a buzz around the bands they worked with, a backlash ensued. The culture journalist Shaad D’Souza explains why music lovers felt so angry, and the music business and technology reporter Eamonn Forde tells Nosheen Iqbal why bands’ publicity machines feel they need to take such extreme tactics to break through. Continue reading...
Getty Images At the end of March, I concluded that I was attracted to the soft part of Microsoft's ( MSFT ) performance in an article posted in my investing group, Value In Corporate Events . This followed a 35% retreat in the share price from its peak, driven by fears about AI disruption and elevated capital expenditures. This all made that peak earnings multiple around 40 times compressed to the...
Getty Images At the end of March, I concluded that I was attracted to the soft part of Microsoft's ( MSFT ) performance in an article posted in my investing group, Value In Corporate Events . This followed a 35% retreat in the share price from its peak, driven by fears about AI disruption and elevated capital expenditures. This all made that peak earnings multiple around 40 times compressed to the low 20s, and while some worries were clearly warranted, I believed that attractive entry levels were seen. That observation coincides with a tough time for markets, as shares have recovered from levels around the $360 mark to $415 here, even as the third-quarter results were not well received by the market. This performance is impressive in about a month's time but actually marks relative underperformance, as that indicates the continued fears of investors here. This comes as many peers are spending hundreds of billions in the AI rat race as well, in which Microsoft might not be the obvious winner. About the Results Towards the end of April, Microsoft reported an 18% increase in third-quarter sales to $82.9 billion, with constant currency sales growth reported at 15%. Revenues are classified across three major segments. The largest of these is the productivity and business process segment, posting constant currency growth at 13%, with revenues reported at $35.0 billion. Intelligence cloud revenue was up 28% on the same basis to $34.7 billion, supported by a 40% increase in Azure and cloud revenues. This is offset by a 3% fall in personal computing sales to $13.2 billion. GAAP operating profits rose by 20% to $38.4 billion, for margins equal to 46% of sales! These margin gains allowed the company to report a 23% increase in earnings per share, amidst a minimal decline in the share count, with GAAP earnings reported at $4.27 per share, trending around $17 per share. The headline results show continued growth, as CEO Satya Nadella furthermore reported that the AI business rea...