Marina113/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Jeanswear and apparel company, Levi Strauss ( LEVI ), will be releasing its Q1 print next Tuesday, April 7. Though shares are in the red on a YTD basis, the stock has performed fairly well over the past year. Shares are up almost 20% over this period, and the stock is currently sitting around the midpoint of its 52-week range at a forward multiple that I...
Marina113/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Jeanswear and apparel company, Levi Strauss ( LEVI ), will be releasing its Q1 print next Tuesday, April 7. Though shares are in the red on a YTD basis, the stock has performed fairly well over the past year. Shares are up almost 20% over this period, and the stock is currently sitting around the midpoint of its 52-week range at a forward multiple that I find reasonable for the current trading environment. Seeking Alpha - 1-YR Share Price Returns Of LEVI Stock In its last quarterly print, there were signs that LEVI’s turnaround plan to expand beyond jeans was gaining momentum. In analyzing LEVI’s first fiscal quarter, I’ll be watching closely to see if this momentum carried into the new fiscal year. Though I see the overall outlook as positive , I currently believe shares are fairly valued at current pricing. LEVI Stock Key Metrics At about 12x forward earnings , I don’t find shares in LEVI to be pricey. But nor do I see the pricing as a compelling discount. The multiple, after all, sits right around both LEVI’s historical averages and its sector peers. Even when considered from other metrics, such as its enterprise value to forward EBITDA, LEVI appears rightly priced to nearby benchmarks. Seeking Alpha - Valuation Metrics Of LEVI Stock The Seeking Alpha (“SA”) quants currently assess LEVI’s valuation as a “C” score, but I don’t necessarily agree with this, primarily because of what I view as its neutral value relative to both peers and historical averages. The analyst community is more bullish, with both SA authorship and those on Wall Street seeing shares as a "Buy." Among the latter, bullishness seems rampant, with over 85% of those covering the stock in the last 90 days seeing shares as either a "Buy" or " S trong Buy." Seeking Alpha - Wall Street Ratings Summary Of LEVI Stock Furthermore, this has been accompanied by an average price target near $30/share. In my view, that’s somewhat ambitious in today’s market enviro...
hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Artificial intelligence-related stocks ( AIEQ ) are dominating the list of S&P 500 ( SP500 ) ( SPY ) ( VOO ) names seeing the biggest increase in fund ownership breadth over the past year, according to a new Bank of America Research screen. Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) experienced the most dramatic jump, with fund ownership climbing to 32% from just 8% ...
hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Artificial intelligence-related stocks ( AIEQ ) are dominating the list of S&P 500 ( SP500 ) ( SPY ) ( VOO ) names seeing the biggest increase in fund ownership breadth over the past year, according to a new Bank of America Research screen. Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) experienced the most dramatic jump, with fund ownership climbing to 32% from just 8% a year ago. The data intelligence company has emerged as a clear favorite among institutional investors expanding their AI exposure. The screen also highlighted GE Vernova ( GEV ), Amphenol ( APH ), Western Digital ( WDC ), Broadcom ( AVGO ), AMD ( AMD ) and Arista Networks ( ANET ) alongside Meta ( META ) as names attracting broader fund participation. Notably, more managers are adding these stocks to their portfolios rather than simply increasing existing position sizes. Gilead Sciences ( GLD ) and McKesson ( MCK ) were also in the mix. The composition of the list reveals how the AI investment thesis has evolved beyond semiconductor demand. Fund managers are now targeting companies across power equipment, data infrastructure, connectivity and enterprise software as direct beneficiaries of the technology shift. This expanding roster of AI-adjacent plays helps explain why the trade has maintained momentum even as valuations in some corners of the technology sector have grown difficult to justify. For institutional investors, the opportunity set continues to widen as AI applications reach deeper into the economy. Bank of America Research More on Palantir, GE Vernova, etc. Broadcom: The Bear Case Nobody Wants To Hear Palantir Is Now U.S. Military's Critical System Real Yields, Oil, Conflict Scenarios Seagate, Sandisk, WDC provide entry points after TurboQuant prompts plunge: Bernstein Meta unveils prescription-friendly Ray-Ban wearables, new features for glasses
Google, part of Alphabet (NasdaqGS:GOOGL), has issued a warning that emerging quantum computing capabilities could threaten the security of Ethereum, Bitcoin and other major blockchains, highlighting the need for faster adoption of quantum resistant protections. Regulators in Australia and the UK are reviewing YouTube’s handling of new under 16 restrictions and child safety rules, putting its poli...
Google, part of Alphabet (NasdaqGS:GOOGL), has issued a warning that emerging quantum computing capabilities could threaten the security of Ethereum, Bitcoin and other major blockchains, highlighting the need for faster adoption of quantum resistant protections. Regulators in Australia and the UK are reviewing YouTube’s handling of new under 16 restrictions and child safety rules, putting its policies for young users under closer global scrutiny. A U.S. jury has found YouTube and Meta...
Warren Buffett said he’s still open to making donations to the Gates Foundation even after the government’s release of the Jeffrey Epstein files reignited scrutiny of Bill Gates ’ ties to the late financier and sex criminal. Buffett, the billionaire philanthropist and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , said he hasn’t yet decided whether to amend his donations to the Gates Foundation, and that h...
Warren Buffett said he’s still open to making donations to the Gates Foundation even after the government’s release of the Jeffrey Epstein files reignited scrutiny of Bill Gates ’ ties to the late financier and sex criminal. Buffett, the billionaire philanthropist and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , said he hasn’t yet decided whether to amend his donations to the Gates Foundation, and that he hasn’t asked Bill Gates about his ties to Epstein since the Department of Justice released a trove of records and emails as part of its investigation into him. Buffett began donating to the Microsoft Corp. founder’s personal foundation in 2006 and has given tens of billions of dollars to the organization over the years. The two men and Gates’s then-wife Melinda French Gates launched the Giving Pledge in 2010, which calls for billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth. Representatives for the Gates Foundation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. “I’ll wait and see what unfolds,” the 95-year-old billionaire said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday. “I don’t have to make that decision today.” The Epstein files have revealed an enduring friendship between the sex offender and Gates’ key scientific adviser, Boris Nikolic, Bloomberg previously reported. The New York Times has previously reported that Gates met with Epstein several times starting in 2011 and once stayed late at his New York townhouse. The former Microsoft chief has said they discussed a philanthropy project but that their meetings stopped after the likelihood of getting funding diminished. “As Gates has said consistently, he regrets meeting with Epstein. The files show just how extensively Epstein worked to insert himself into Gates’s life — both directly and through others in Gates’s orbit,” a spokesperson for Gates said in response to Bloomberg’s reporting this week about Nikolic. “Gates was not aware of the correspondence between Nikolic and Epstein. The claims and characterizations mad...
SHAREHOLDER ALERT Bernstein Liebhard LLP Announces A Securities Fraud Class Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against Oracle Corporation (ORCL) newsfilecorp.com
SHAREHOLDER ALERT Bernstein Liebhard LLP Announces A Securities Fraud Class Action Lawsuit Has Been Filed Against Oracle Corporation (ORCL) newsfilecorp.com
Oracle launched NetSuite Restaurant Operations, an AI powered business system aimed at global restaurant operators. The company introduced new federal offerings, including Oracle Cloud Federal Financials on the U.S. Treasury FM QSMO Marketplace, an AI Data Platform for federal agencies, and the Defense Industrial Base Isolated Cloud Environment. These moves expand Oracle's presence in both industr...
Oracle launched NetSuite Restaurant Operations, an AI powered business system aimed at global restaurant operators. The company introduced new federal offerings, including Oracle Cloud Federal Financials on the U.S. Treasury FM QSMO Marketplace, an AI Data Platform for federal agencies, and the Defense Industrial Base Isolated Cloud Environment. These moves expand Oracle's presence in both industry specific cloud solutions and U.S. public sector AI workloads. Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) is adding...
yentafern/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I think the market has gotten the story wrong on Astera Labs, Inc. ( ALAB ), but not in a way most people would think. Since my last coverage, ALAB is down 23%, but I don't see the sell-off as irrational but as a necessary correction. Right now the market is getting the correction in valuation wrong, and Astera Labs is not a broken story but a st...
yentafern/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I think the market has gotten the story wrong on Astera Labs, Inc. ( ALAB ), but not in a way most people would think. Since my last coverage, ALAB is down 23%, but I don't see the sell-off as irrational but as a necessary correction. Right now the market is getting the correction in valuation wrong, and Astera Labs is not a broken story but a story of a company moving from a clean, high-margin business to a huge, complex opportunity, and I see strategically this messiness of a story may, in fact, be where the next level of upside in this story is found. This is a company at the center of a fundamental shift in AI infrastructure, where compute is no longer the only problem but connectivity, memory, and orchestration will be just as big of a deal, and Astera Labs is a company that has exposure to all three of those areas. Data by YCharts From Clean Margins To Platform Scale The company has a strong financial story, growing revenue by 115% to $852.5 million, and a growing story into 2026. Astera has benefited from a relatively clean mix of retimers, which are silicon-based products and have high margins, but as they move into switching, cables, and systems solutions such as Scorpio and Taurus, yes, they will have a growing revenue story, but they will also have a complex margin story. Therefore, a non-GAAP gross margin falling into the mid-70s and an operating margin falling into 40% is not a problem; it is a mix problem. Data by YCharts The numbers become harder to analyze, and the story becomes less simple. I see this as a change that needs to happen, as if Astera were a one-product company. I think one could argue that the TAM could be somewhat limited. However, by entering the switching and memory connectivity space, I think the near-term margin potential is limited, but the long-term revenue potential is greatly expanded. I see this as a trade-off between purity and scale. Further, the company’s cash flow situat...
yentafern/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I think the market has gotten the story wrong on Astera Labs, Inc. ( ALAB ), but not in a way most people would think. Since my last coverage, ALAB is down 23%, but I don't see the sell-off as irrational but as a necessary correction. Right now the market is getting the correction in valuation wrong, and Astera Labs is not a broken story but a st...
yentafern/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I think the market has gotten the story wrong on Astera Labs, Inc. ( ALAB ), but not in a way most people would think. Since my last coverage, ALAB is down 23%, but I don't see the sell-off as irrational but as a necessary correction. Right now the market is getting the correction in valuation wrong, and Astera Labs is not a broken story but a story of a company moving from a clean, high-margin business to a huge, complex opportunity, and I see strategically this messiness of a story may, in fact, be where the next level of upside in this story is found. This is a company at the center of a fundamental shift in AI infrastructure, where compute is no longer the only problem but connectivity, memory, and orchestration will be just as big of a deal, and Astera Labs is a company that has exposure to all three of those areas. Data by YCharts From Clean Margins To Platform Scale The company has a strong financial story, growing revenue by 115% to $852.5 million, and a growing story into 2026. Astera has benefited from a relatively clean mix of retimers, which are silicon-based products and have high margins, but as they move into switching, cables, and systems solutions such as Scorpio and Taurus, yes, they will have a growing revenue story, but they will also have a complex margin story. Therefore, a non-GAAP gross margin falling into the mid-70s and an operating margin falling into 40% is not a problem; it is a mix problem. Data by YCharts The numbers become harder to analyze, and the story becomes less simple. I see this as a change that needs to happen, as if Astera were a one-product company. I think one could argue that the TAM could be somewhat limited. However, by entering the switching and memory connectivity space, I think the near-term margin potential is limited, but the long-term revenue potential is greatly expanded. I see this as a trade-off between purity and scale. Further, the company’s cash flow situat...
Brent oil, the global benchmark price, has soared past $100 a barrel this year. It's at its highest level since 2022. Crude prices could rise further if Iran continues to target energy in response to military strikes by the U.S. and Israel. Higher oil prices should benefit most energy stocks. However, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is in one of the strongest positions to cash in on higher crude prices this y...
Brent oil, the global benchmark price, has soared past $100 a barrel this year. It's at its highest level since 2022. Crude prices could rise further if Iran continues to target energy in response to military strikes by the U.S. and Israel. Higher oil prices should benefit most energy stocks. However, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is in one of the strongest positions to cash in on higher crude prices this year. That makes it the best energy stock to buy with $1,000 right now. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
France, Italy Are Latest NATO Allies To Break Ranks, Block US Military Flights For Iran War First Spain, now France and Italy... France has blocked the United States from using its airspace to transport American weapons to be used in the war against Iran , a Western diplomat and two additional sources told Reuters Tuesday. "The sources said the refusal, which happened at the weekend, was the first...
France, Italy Are Latest NATO Allies To Break Ranks, Block US Military Flights For Iran War First Spain, now France and Italy... France has blocked the United States from using its airspace to transport American weapons to be used in the war against Iran , a Western diplomat and two additional sources told Reuters Tuesday. "The sources said the refusal, which happened at the weekend, was the first time France had done this since the start of the conflict in Iran," Reuters has underscored. USAF image On the same day reports are emerging that Italy has denied the US military use of an airbase in Sicily - another rare first, though the Italian government is saying it's primarily a matter of the Pentagon not following through on required authorization protocol. A statement from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sought to calm the situation with Washington, denying that "critical issues or frictions" with international partners were unfolding, and saying that relations with the US remain "solid and based on full and loyal cooperation" . Still, France and Spain are feeling Trump's wrath , who issued the following in a Tuesday morning Truth Social post: Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has confirmed that "some US bombers" were denied landing at Sigonella – one of seven US navy bases in Italy. The complaint is that the US didn't follow required permission protocol, and requested landing only while in the air and already en route to Sicily. The statement from Meloni’s office had also alluded to matters of procedure, stating that Italy is "acting in full compliance with existing international agreements" - while underscoring that each request must be "carefully examined on a case-by-case basis , as has always been the case in the past." But the truth also is that American hegemonic action in the Middle East, and the Iran conflict in particular, is deeply unpopular among the Italian population, which has long had a strongly anti-war bent especially among the youth. The Guar...