Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Seagate ( STX ) is a case that gives me mixed feelings. The company certainly managed to reinvent itself and is surfing a very interesting momentum and knows how to create shareholder value. But at the same time, it is a technology that is not so “appealing,” I don't just mean within its storage niche, but also when we compare it to other tech stocks like NVIDIA (...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Seagate ( STX ) is a case that gives me mixed feelings. The company certainly managed to reinvent itself and is surfing a very interesting momentum and knows how to create shareholder value. But at the same time, it is a technology that is not so “appealing,” I don't just mean within its storage niche, but also when we compare it to other tech stocks like NVIDIA ( NVDA ). And still, even with this somewhat more mature profile, the valuation returned to high levels, precisely because at this point, the market has already priced Seagate's growth into the stock. And this valuation being anchored in high expectations for the coming years gives me a bit of concern. I mean, if something happens and Seagate fails to beat estimates or at least deliver something close, a drawdown could occur. Seagate Changed (For the Better) Seeing Seagate stock rise so much lately surprised me. It wasn't exactly a bad company, but it certainly wasn't a “hot” thesis like it is now. A few years ago, we saw revenue declining, but with better margins, i.e., there was even shareholder value creation, but I saw—actually, I believe the market in general saw—Seagate as a company in a more mature stage and close to the “decline stage.” This is because Seagate's core is the Hard Drive, a technology that had been losing a lot of ground to the SSD (Solid State Drive). Note how the CAGRs (Compound Annual Growth Rates) of the financials behaved over the last 10 years: revenue fell practically 2% every year, while EBITDA rose 5%, showing that although the company was no longer in its growth prime, it was still managing to be more efficient and extract value. Seeking Alpha Taking a step back to explain the reason for this good momentum, hyperscalers (which Seagate calls CSPs (Cloud Service Providers)) like Amazon ( AMZN ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) ( GOOG ), and Microsoft ( MSFT ) started buying HDDs (Hard Drives) for data centers again. The reason is quite straightforward: SSDs ...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: Trump says the US will leave Iran “within two to three weeks.” Iran ’s president says his country is “ready to end the war” but needs guarantees. US stocks had their best day since Trump pulled back from China tariffs last May. Brent crude rose to $118.35 per barrel, but WTI fell to $102.11 In early As...
To get John Authers’ newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here . Today’s Points: Trump says the US will leave Iran “within two to three weeks.” Iran ’s president says his country is “ready to end the war” but needs guarantees. US stocks had their best day since Trump pulled back from China tariffs last May. Brent crude rose to $118.35 per barrel, but WTI fell to $102.11 In early Asian trading , the Nikkei 225 rises 4%, and Brent gaps down 10%. AND: Some more concluding sports plays . Four Questions for Passover Much of the world is about to pause to ponder its faith. Ahead of Good Friday, Jews embark on Passover, the holiday that Jesus was celebrating at the Last Supper. An elaborate ritual to commemorate the Hebrew slaves’ flight from Egypt, it involve a stylized meal, or seder , designed to evoke the Exodus. It starts with the youngest person asking four questions about why things are being done differently than on all other nights. I’ve long found this a useful exercise for looking at markets; what’s different from usual, and can we explain it? In that spirit, on a day which markets seem to believe was an inflection point in the Iran war, here are 2026’s four financial questions for Passover, all of which centered on another crisis in the Middle East. Why are stock markets still only 8% below their highs at the beginning of this war, when all the headlines speak of escalation and disaster? Even before Tuesday’s rally (which we’ll come to), this has been an oddly underdone reaction to a profound geopolitical shock. FTSE’s index of all world stocks (including emerging and developed markets) peaked before the bombardment started, but is down only 8%. That’s not the 10% many demand for a correction, and only the fifth-biggest selloff in this decade: While volatility, as measured for stocks by the CBOE VIX and for bonds by the MOVE index, has risen in the last month, it’s still at unremarkable levels — particularly for bonds: So why the calm? Geopoliti...
OSL Group CFO Ivan Wong says the company’s long‑term goal is to build next‑generation financial infrastructure for stablecoins. Speaking on Bloomberg's "The China Show,” Wong says sentiment in the digital asset sector remains strong, pointing to robust trading momentum in the first quarter. (Source: Bloomberg)
OSL Group CFO Ivan Wong says the company’s long‑term goal is to build next‑generation financial infrastructure for stablecoins. Speaking on Bloomberg's "The China Show,” Wong says sentiment in the digital asset sector remains strong, pointing to robust trading momentum in the first quarter. (Source: Bloomberg)
Assessing Oracle after recent share price moves Oracle (ORCL) has seen mixed share price performance recently, with the stock roughly flat over the past week, modestly higher over the month, but showing a double digit decline over the past 3 months. See our latest analysis for Oracle. Looking beyond the latest move to a share price of $147.11, Oracle’s momentum has cooled, with a 90 day share pric...
Assessing Oracle after recent share price moves Oracle (ORCL) has seen mixed share price performance recently, with the stock roughly flat over the past week, modestly higher over the month, but showing a double digit decline over the past 3 months. See our latest analysis for Oracle. Looking beyond the latest move to a share price of $147.11, Oracle’s momentum has cooled, with a 90 day share price return showing a 24.52% decline. At the same time, the 3 year total shareholder return stands...