Semiconductor stocks ripped higher in April, with several names posting one-month gains that would outperform one-year returns for most portfolios. On CNBC’s Halftime Report episode “Can the Market Move Higher in May?” (5/1/26), the panel openly split on a single question: Do you keep buying after a move this large, or sell on the risk ... Chip Stocks Soared 70%+ in April. Have They Gone Too Far?
Semiconductor stocks ripped higher in April, with several names posting one-month gains that would outperform one-year returns for most portfolios. On CNBC’s Halftime Report episode “Can the Market Move Higher in May?” (5/1/26), the panel openly split on a single question: Do you keep buying after a move this large, or sell on the risk ... Chip Stocks Soared 70%+ in April. Have They Gone Too Far?
April marked a sharp reversal from the prior month’s risk‑off environment with U.S. equity markets staging a powerful rebound despite an increasingly complex geopolitical and macro backdrop.
April marked a sharp reversal from the prior month’s risk‑off environment with U.S. equity markets staging a powerful rebound despite an increasingly complex geopolitical and macro backdrop.
Fritz Jorgensen/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my first article on Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ), I pointed out how CapEx leads to even higher ROIC, and investors shouldn’t be concerned. In my last coverage , I illustrated evidence of how META leverages AI to offer higher advertising efficiency and benefits from pricing power, while I also mentioned the Click‑to‑Message ads...
Fritz Jorgensen/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my first article on Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ), I pointed out how CapEx leads to even higher ROIC, and investors shouldn’t be concerned. In my last coverage , I illustrated evidence of how META leverages AI to offer higher advertising efficiency and benefits from pricing power, while I also mentioned the Click‑to‑Message ads business as a promising growth catalyst, especially in emerging markets. Our story continues with more evidence of AI‑driven advertising efficiency and an examination of the company’s outlook to create AI agents for everyone, and how this factor could change its overall business model. AI Efficiency of Ads Continues to Expand and Leads Growth META continues to accelerate its revenue growth, given that it achieved 33% YoY growth in Q1’26 - mainly coming from advertising – the Family of Apps (FoA) segment- while maintaining a 41% operating margin despite the headcount drop of 1% compared to Q4. This means that the company, by using AI, becomes more efficient internally and reduces operating costs. Notably, the Other business line, which includes products such as WhatsApp paid messaging and Meta Verification, increased by 74% YoY and represents the company’s fastest-growing business. Q1’26 Investors Presentation Ads revenue continues to be META’s flagship revenue stream, with 33% YoY growth despite a slight decline in family daily active people -or users - due to: “Internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia” As mentioned by the company, it reached 3.56B users in Q1’26, compared to 3.58B in the last quarter. Deep diving into the advertising business, the total number of ad impressions increased by 19% YoY - compared to an increase of 5% in Q1’25 - while the global average price per ad increased by 12% YoY - compared with an increase of 10% in Q1’25. This means that META continues to sell more ads at higher prices. The increase in ave...
Fritz Jorgensen/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my first article on Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ), I pointed out how CapEx leads to even higher ROIC, and investors shouldn’t be concerned. In my last coverage , I illustrated evidence of how META leverages AI to offer higher advertising efficiency and benefits from pricing power, while I also mentioned the Click‑to‑Message ads...
Fritz Jorgensen/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my first article on Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ), I pointed out how CapEx leads to even higher ROIC, and investors shouldn’t be concerned. In my last coverage , I illustrated evidence of how META leverages AI to offer higher advertising efficiency and benefits from pricing power, while I also mentioned the Click‑to‑Message ads business as a promising growth catalyst, especially in emerging markets. Our story continues with more evidence of AI‑driven advertising efficiency and an examination of the company’s outlook to create AI agents for everyone, and how this factor could change its overall business model. AI Efficiency of Ads Continues to Expand and Leads Growth META continues to accelerate its revenue growth, given that it achieved 33% YoY growth in Q1’26 - mainly coming from advertising – the Family of Apps (FoA) segment- while maintaining a 41% operating margin despite the headcount drop of 1% compared to Q4. This means that the company, by using AI, becomes more efficient internally and reduces operating costs. Notably, the Other business line, which includes products such as WhatsApp paid messaging and Meta Verification, increased by 74% YoY and represents the company’s fastest-growing business. Q1’26 Investors Presentation Ads revenue continues to be META’s flagship revenue stream, with 33% YoY growth despite a slight decline in family daily active people -or users - due to: “Internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia” As mentioned by the company, it reached 3.56B users in Q1’26, compared to 3.58B in the last quarter. Deep diving into the advertising business, the total number of ad impressions increased by 19% YoY - compared to an increase of 5% in Q1’25 - while the global average price per ad increased by 12% YoY - compared with an increase of 10% in Q1’25. This means that META continues to sell more ads at higher prices. The increase in ave...
Earnings Call Insights: ADC Therapeutics (ADCT) Q1 2026 Management View "We continue to make good progress in the first quarter of 2026 as we advance towards multiple important milestones for ZYNLONTA over the remainder of the year, beginning with the expected LOTIS-5 top line readout in the second quarter" (CEO & Director Ameet Mallik). "First quarter net product revenues were $20.0 million as co...
Earnings Call Insights: ADC Therapeutics (ADCT) Q1 2026 Management View "We continue to make good progress in the first quarter of 2026 as we advance towards multiple important milestones for ZYNLONTA over the remainder of the year, beginning with the expected LOTIS-5 top line readout in the second quarter" (CEO & Director Ameet Mallik). "First quarter net product revenues were $20.0 million as compared to the prior year's first quarter net product revenues of $17.4 million" (CEO & Director Mallik), adding that "the increase was driven primarily by normal quarter-to-quarter variability in customer ordering with underlying demand broadly stable" (CEO & Director Mallik). "We expect to share top line data before the end of June" for LOTIS-5, while noting, "we are currently still blinded to the data" (CEO & Director Mallik). "We continue to pay close attention in the quarter to managing our cost base and optimizing our balance sheet" (CEO & Director Mallik), and "we ended the first quarter of 2026 with a healthy cash balance of $231 million" (CEO & Director Mallik). "We are confident that ZYNLONTA has the potential to reach peak annual revenues of $600 million to $1 billion in the U.S., assuming both compendia listing and regulatory approval" (CEO & Director Mallik), and "we expect to accelerate our revenue growth trajectory starting in 2027" (CEO & Director Mallik). "On a GAAP basis, we reported a net loss of $33 million for the first quarter of 2026 or $0.21 per basic and diluted share" (Chief Financial Officer Jose Carmona), and "at the end of the first quarter, we had cash and cash equivalents of $231 million" (Chief Financial Officer Carmona). Outlook "We expect to share the top line data for LOTIS-5 before the end of June" (Chief Financial Officer Jose Carmona), and "assuming the results are positive, we plan to submit a supplemental biologics license application to the FDA by year-end" (Chief Financial Officer Carmona). "With potential publication and compendia i...
This morning a "Potential Dividend Run Alert" went out for Special Opportunities Fund Inc (NYSE: SPE), at our DividendChannel.com Dividend Alerts service (a free email alerts feature). Let's look at the situation in greater detail, shall we? First of all, what is a "Dividend Ru
This morning a "Potential Dividend Run Alert" went out for Special Opportunities Fund Inc (NYSE: SPE), at our DividendChannel.com Dividend Alerts service (a free email alerts feature). Let's look at the situation in greater detail, shall we? First of all, what is a "Dividend Ru
damedeeso/iStock via Getty Images I last covered the Capital Group Growth ETF ( CGGR ) back in November , when I called it an alternative to the Invesco QQQ Trust ( QQQ ). While Capital Group benchmarks CGGR against the S&P 500 ( SP500 ), I think its beta exposure makes the Nasdaq 100 ( NDX ) a more natural comparison. Both carry a higher-than-market beta, and up until recently, CGGR has carried t...
damedeeso/iStock via Getty Images I last covered the Capital Group Growth ETF ( CGGR ) back in November , when I called it an alternative to the Invesco QQQ Trust ( QQQ ). While Capital Group benchmarks CGGR against the S&P 500 ( SP500 ), I think its beta exposure makes the Nasdaq 100 ( NDX ) a more natural comparison. Both carry a higher-than-market beta, and up until recently, CGGR has carried the higher figure, indicating that it tends to be more deeply influenced by market risk overall, even if QQQ is taking the lead now. Data by YCharts Correlations are high across the board, since all three are mostly composed of U.S. large-cap equities. Although, from their returns, it should be clear that the major differences are still relatively small in the grand scheme. The two funds were neck-and-neck until recently, when QQQ broke away. Again, to note that the fund compares itself to the S&P 500, to be fair to Capital Group with these comparisons. Since its inception, it has beaten its benchmark. Data by YCharts CGGR vs. QQQ Overview The two funds are unique in their minutiae, even if their results are similar, and that warrants further investigation. Right off the bat, the clear answer to “What's different under the hood?” is that CGGR is actively managed while QQQ is a passive index. Most folks have their own opinions about active management, but the core point is this: one has to be willing to take on the risk of Capital Group making poor choices for CGGR's holdings. That risk comes with the potential reward that they make great choices, but critics will be quick to point out that the failure rate of active managers beating their benchmarks consistently over long periods of time is fairly low. Finding the top decile of managers who do beat the index is very difficult. Some investors—and history has proven them right so far regarding performance against the S&P 500—believe that Capital Group is part of that top decile that will outperform in the long run. This point ...
European finance ministers are pressing Anthropic PBC to let local companies see the new Mythos AI model so they aren’t exposed to digital attacks and fall behind US peers. “We need to have a response from Europe,” Carlos Cuerpo , Spain’s economy minister, told reporters Monday before a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels. The bloc, he said, must determine how “we can defend ourselv...
European finance ministers are pressing Anthropic PBC to let local companies see the new Mythos AI model so they aren’t exposed to digital attacks and fall behind US peers. “We need to have a response from Europe,” Carlos Cuerpo , Spain’s economy minister, told reporters Monday before a meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels. The bloc, he said, must determine how “we can defend ourselves, ensure our companies have access to these models, and can protect themselves against what may come.” Ministers will discuss the subject Monday, as concerns mount over unprecedented digital attacks should the artificial intelligence-model fall into the wrong hands. But so far, European companies have not been granted access to Mythos, leaving them unable to judge the unreleased tool’s potential impact. Cuerpo warned that Mythos and other new models may be able “to find vulnerabilities or backdoors in virtually all our institutions — not only in the financial sector and companies, but across all sectors.” In response, he pushed for Europe to consider “regulatory and legislative instruments such as the AI Act” — the bloc’s legal framework for AI development. Read more: Mythos AI Sparks Fear and Confusion Among Global Finance Elite Speaking before the European Parliament’s economic committee, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos emphasized the need to preemptively shield the continent’s payment systems from any digital vulnerabilities that Mythos may expose. These technologies “should be focused on identifying the flaws of your operating systems,” he said. But if bad actors gain access to these weaknesses, he added, it “can give rise to a lot of problems.” Mythos was also a prominent topic of conversation at the recent International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington. The White House opposes plans to make the tool available for more companies and organizations, Bloomberg previously reported. “AI poses a significant opportunity, productivity wise, ec...
Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn/iStock via Getty Images FYC strategy First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund ETF ( FYC ) was launched on 4/19/2011 and tracks the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Small Cap Growth™ Index. FYC has 264 holdings and an expense ratio of 0.70%. As described by First Trust , eligible stocks are constituents of the Nasdaq US 700 Small Cap™ Index that meet some criteria. They are ranked with a gro...
Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn/iStock via Getty Images FYC strategy First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund ETF ( FYC ) was launched on 4/19/2011 and tracks the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Small Cap Growth™ Index. FYC has 264 holdings and an expense ratio of 0.70%. As described by First Trust , eligible stocks are constituents of the Nasdaq US 700 Small Cap™ Index that meet some criteria. They are ranked with a growth score and a value score. The growth score is based on momentum metrics, sales-to-price, and sales growth. Each stock gets either its growth score or its value score as a selection score, depending on its classification by Nasdaq in the growth style or the value style. The top 262 stocks based on the growth score are included in the underlying index. Then: The selected stocks are divided into quintiles based on their rankings, and the top-ranked quintiles receive a higher weight within the index. The stocks are equally weighted within each quintile. The underlying index is reconstituted quarterly, and the fund’s turnover rate in the most recent fiscal year was 137%. This article will use the S&P SmallCap 600 Index as a benchmark, represented by iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF ( IJR ). FYC portfolio The portfolio is almost exclusively invested in U.S. companies (about 98% of asset value), with significant exposure in healthcare (25.2%) and industrials (21.2%). Other sectors are below 14%. Compared to IJR, FYC greatly overweights healthcare and mostly downplays financials. FYC sector breakdown in % of assets (Chart: author; data: First Trust, iShares) The portfolio is very diversified, and company-specific risk is low. The top 10 holdings, listed in the next table, represent only 9.7% of asset value, and the heaviest position weighs about 2%. Ticker Name Sector Weight MXL MaxLinear, Inc. Information Technology 1.96% AAOI Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. Information Technology 1.20% ANAB AnaptysBio, Inc. Healthcare 0.87% CTOS Custom Truck One Source, Inc. Industrials 0.85% INBX...
The United Arab Emirates signaled its currency swap talks with the US were about joining a small club with access to Federal Reserve liquidity lines rather than a need for external financing. “It’s under discussion,” Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi said at an event in Abu Dhabi on Monday, when asked about a swap facility with the US. “It is an elite matter. It is not about bailing out.”...
The United Arab Emirates signaled its currency swap talks with the US were about joining a small club with access to Federal Reserve liquidity lines rather than a need for external financing. “It’s under discussion,” Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi said at an event in Abu Dhabi on Monday, when asked about a swap facility with the US. “It is an elite matter. It is not about bailing out.” While he didn’t mention the Fed or say which officials the UAE is speaking to, he listed the European Central Bank and the monetary authorities of the UK, Japan, Canada and Switzerland. They alone have permanent dollar liquidity swap lines with the Fed , allowing them to tap the US currency for financial institutions in their jurisdictions during times of stress. “They are only having it with five countries,” Al Zeyoudi said. Being part of that group would mean that transactions, trade and investments between both nations had reached a significant level, he said. Trump Says Currency Swap With UAE Is Under Consideration MIDEAST INSIGHT: UAE Wants a Fed Badge, Not a Lifeline UAE Bristled at Saudis for Years Before Iran War Tipped Scales The Fed declined to comment to Bloomberg. Reports of the UAE discussing a currency swap with the US emerged last month, with President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirming them. Still, officials from the UAE — one of the world’s richest nations, with trillions of dollars of sovereign wealth fund assets — were quick to say the country wasn’t in need of external financing, even taking into account the shock of the Iran war and Tehran’s attacks. Yousef Al Otaiba , the UAE’s ambassador to Washington, suggested the talks were more a sign of his nation’s deepening economic ties to the US. Abu Dhabi has pledged to invest $1.4 trillion in America over the next decade, including in energy infrastructure and artificial intelligence data centers. A liquidity swap line with the Fed would differ from one provided by the US Treasury...
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images After a strong 2025, emerging markets equities were broadly flat during the quarter. Following a promising start to the year, markets pulled back sharply in March amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Performance at the country level was led by strength in Brazil and South Korea. Brazilian equities benefited from stronger commodity prices and improved d...
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images After a strong 2025, emerging markets equities were broadly flat during the quarter. Following a promising start to the year, markets pulled back sharply in March amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Performance at the country level was led by strength in Brazil and South Korea. Brazilian equities benefited from stronger commodity prices and improved domestic policy visibility, supporting companies tied to energy and financials. South Korea advanced on the back of a recovery in technology-related exports, particularly in memory semiconductors. In contrast, India and China were weaker, as investor concerns around growth and company-specific issues weighed on returns. During the quarter, our Emerging Markets Focused Value portfolio outperformed both the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and MSCI Emerging Markets Value Index. Consumer staples, energy, and information technology were the largest contributing sectors. Korean semiconductor manufacturer Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) was the largest contributor, supported by a strengthening memory cycle driving improved pricing and margins across its core businesses. Brazilian oil producer Petrobras ( PBR ) also performed well, benefiting from higher oil prices driven by geopolitical tensions, alongside a more established domestic fuel pricing framework that helped alleviate investor concerns around policy intervention. Chinese engine manufacturer Weichai Power ( WEICF ) contributed on the back of strong demand for power solutions tied to data center and infrastructure buildout. Consumer discretionary and communication services were the largest detracting sectors. Indian lender HDFC Bank ( HDB ) declined following leadership changes that raised governance concerns and introduced uncertainty around execution, despite otherwise stable underlying fundamentals. UPL, an Indian agricultural chemicals company, was weak after announcing a restructuring that raised questions around capital all...