Artificial intelligence company Anthropic says it is now valued at $380 billion, cementing its position alongside rival OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in a trio of the world’s most valuable startups that investors will be watching closely this year to see if they will become publicly traded on Wall Street. “These are the three biggest names that could go public this year,” said Angelo Bochanis, an ...
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic says it is now valued at $380 billion, cementing its position alongside rival OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in a trio of the world’s most valuable startups that investors will be watching closely this year to see if they will become publicly traded on Wall Street. “These are the three biggest names that could go public this year,” said Angelo Bochanis, an associate at Renaissance Capital, which researches the potential for initial public offerings. Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude, said Thursday its valuation grew after it raised $30 billion in its latest round of funding, led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and the U.S.-based investment firm Coatue, along with dozens of other major investors.
Earnings Call Insights: Avient Corporation (AVNT) Q4 2025 Management View Ashish Khandpur, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, highlighted "strong execution by our teams with favorable mix and management's tight cost control led to 80 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion and a strong 14% adjusted EPS growth for the fourth quarter." He noted that adjusted EBITDA margins expanded yea...
Earnings Call Insights: Avient Corporation (AVNT) Q4 2025 Management View Ashish Khandpur, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, highlighted "strong execution by our teams with favorable mix and management's tight cost control led to 80 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion and a strong 14% adjusted EPS growth for the fourth quarter." He noted that adjusted EBITDA margins expanded year-over-year in each quarter of 2025, and organic sales in Q4 were down 0.8% but grew 1.9% as reported due to favorable foreign exchange impact. Khandpur pointed to double-digit business growth in defense, health care, and telecom, with packaging demand "improved modestly, growing sales low single digits in the fourth quarter compared to being down low single digits in the third quarter." He said, "adjusted EBITDA finished at $545 million for 2025 with 3.5% year-over-year growth as reported. Adjusted EPS grew 6%, helped by lower interest expense and favorable foreign currencies." Khandpur emphasized innovation as a strategic driver, citing new non-PFAS products for catheters and packaging, along with process innovation in Dyneema fiber, designed to unlock new capacity to meet anticipated defense growth. "We plan to deploy incremental capital over the next 2 years to further expand capacity and support the growth we foresee from our Dyneema-based businesses." Khandpur reflected on the company's evolved strategy since 2024, prioritizing organic growth, targeted M&A, profitability, and elimination of structural complexity. "Over the last 2 years, we have grown adjusted earnings per share by about 20% and expanded adjusted EBITDA margins by 70 basis points." He stated, "Our strong free cash flow generation and disciplined capital deployment also allowed us to reduce debt, bringing net leverage down from 3.1x in 2023 to 2.6x in 2025." Jamie Beggs, Senior VP & CFO, explained, "Continued strength in health care and improving packaging demand was not enough to offset demand conditio...
Few things upset Hong Kong commuters more than a major train service disruption. The latest incident that left thousands stranded on Wednesday morning has renewed questions over system reliability. The MTR Corporation must critically review its operation and maintenance protocols, contingency response and communication with the public. The rail operator has rightly apologised after items from a ma...
Few things upset Hong Kong commuters more than a major train service disruption. The latest incident that left thousands stranded on Wednesday morning has renewed questions over system reliability. The MTR Corporation must critically review its operation and maintenance protocols, contingency response and communication with the public. The rail operator has rightly apologised after items from a maintenance vehicle and damage to track equipment caused a 1½-hour partial suspension of the Island...
monsitj/iStock via Getty Images Gold and silver futures plummeted Thursday as strong U.S. labor data dimmed hopes of near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts, with algorithmic traders apparently exacerbating the sudden drop . The plunge in precious metals came as the stock market fell sharply, as investors worried the artificial intelligence buildout might disrupt the business models of whole industrie...
monsitj/iStock via Getty Images Gold and silver futures plummeted Thursday as strong U.S. labor data dimmed hopes of near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts, with algorithmic traders apparently exacerbating the sudden drop . The plunge in precious metals came as the stock market fell sharply, as investors worried the artificial intelligence buildout might disrupt the business models of whole industries and hurt some companies' future earnings, triggering a rout across risk assets. The swift drop in the metals - which did not have an obvious catalyst - likely was intensified by selling from commodity trading advisors using computer models to bet on price moves, Bloomberg strategist Michael Ball said. "Metals are overall getting hit hard in a sudden air-pocket kind of move lower that feels more like systematic strategy selling, the kind of momentum-driven de-risking you often see from the CTA community when levels give way," Ball wrote. Stop-selling was blamed by Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com. "Due to previous heightened volatility, a lot of people would have placed their stops either below $5,000 or above the $5,100 level just to preserve their stop positions," Razaqzada said in a note. "Because of the downward move, those stops have been triggered below the $5,000 level, and that caused a cascading-like effect, causing prices to slump in a short period of time." "The market has now cleared out a large pocket of downside liquidity, and the next move will depend on how price behaves around key technical levels," Razaqzada added. Gold and silver prices fell initially after strong U.S. jobs data tempered near-term expectations for fresh interest rate cuts, as non-farm payrolls rose by 130K jobs in January following a downwardly revised 48K increase in December, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%, and initial jobless claims fell to 227K in the week ended February 7. Investors will watch U.S. inflation data due on Friday for more cues on th...
Chorus Aviation press release ( CHRRF ): Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of C$0.57. Operating revenue of C$320.19M (-9.3% Y/Y). More on Chorus Aviation Chorus Aviation announces agreement to acquire Kadex Aero Supply Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Chorus Aviation Historical earnings data for Chorus Aviation Dividend scorecard for Chorus Aviation Financial information for Chorus Aviation
Chorus Aviation press release ( CHRRF ): Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of C$0.57. Operating revenue of C$320.19M (-9.3% Y/Y). More on Chorus Aviation Chorus Aviation announces agreement to acquire Kadex Aero Supply Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Chorus Aviation Historical earnings data for Chorus Aviation Dividend scorecard for Chorus Aviation Financial information for Chorus Aviation
Leirao/iStock via Getty Images Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN ) guided ~$200b in 2026 capex, with a majority of the spending going to AWS for AI - one of the largest single-year investments in corporate history. This thesis looks at the impact of this spend on the stock and finds the initial correction in share prices to be in line with what has been historically observed through large buildout phases - ...
Leirao/iStock via Getty Images Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN ) guided ~$200b in 2026 capex, with a majority of the spending going to AWS for AI - one of the largest single-year investments in corporate history. This thesis looks at the impact of this spend on the stock and finds the initial correction in share prices to be in line with what has been historically observed through large buildout phases - that is, a period of capped upside for the next few quarters. Capex spending has not always been punished across the tech leadership in the current AI race, but Amazon's case faces pressure due to cash conversion cycle delays and the extent of FCF impact. That should keep Amazon on Hold, despite Q4 numbers otherwise showing encouraging trends. The long-term Buy thesis remains intact, and Amazon will bounce back strongly once utilization ramps up, but it may go through a prolonged consolidation in the near term. I retain my Hold rating , expecting better time-adjusted and absolute entry points in the future. FCF Impact A Concern Amazon has been through a build phase in the past around 2016-17, 2021-22, and now this phase that stretches from 2024. These periods of rising capex have meant pressure on the FCF. The stock (and valuation) has often stayed under pressure too, doing most of the running in the harvesting periods between these cycles. Data by YCharts The magnitude of capex involved in the current cycle is far higher. Capex has been surging from ~$50b in 2023 to ~$80b in 2024 and ~$125b for 2025 ( collated through earnings call transcripts data and guidance). And the relentless uptick continues, even bigger, in 2026. These are unprecedented levels of capex and potentially the most prolonged - of course, in response to a once-in-a-generation AI opportunity. Through this capex cycle, Amazon has been going through an expected FCF decline, with the most recent TTM FCF reported as ~$11.2b. The operating cash flow reported in 2025 is ~$139b. Most of the conversion from opera...
Concentrix ( CNXC ) on Thursday said it has priced a public offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 6.500% Senior Notes due 2029. The company expects to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with other available funds, as necessary, to redeem or otherwise repay at or prior to maturity all or a portion of its 6.650% Senior Notes due August 2, 2026, of which $800 million ag...
Concentrix ( CNXC ) on Thursday said it has priced a public offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 6.500% Senior Notes due 2029. The company expects to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with other available funds, as necessary, to redeem or otherwise repay at or prior to maturity all or a portion of its 6.650% Senior Notes due August 2, 2026, of which $800 million aggregate principal amount is outstanding as of the date hereof, and pay related fees and expenses. The offering is expected to close on February 24, 2026. Source: Press Release More on Concentrix Concentrix: Deeply Undervalued With Improving Profitability Concentrix - Webhelp Write Off Sinks 2025, Where To Now? Concentrix Corporation (CNXC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Concentrix outlines 2026 revenue target up to $10.18B with 3% growth focus amid AI expansion and margin improvement Concentrix Non-GAAP EPS of $2.95 beats by $0.04, revenue of $2.55B beats by $10M
Australia’s main opposition party voted to appoint former defense spokesman Angus Taylor as its new leader, dumping Sussan Ley just nine months after the Liberal party’s electoral rout and following further sharp declines in opinion polls. Liberal Party lawmakers in Canberra elected Taylor as their new leader on Friday by a vote of 34-17, according to Aaron Violi, the chief whip. The Liberal Party...
Australia’s main opposition party voted to appoint former defense spokesman Angus Taylor as its new leader, dumping Sussan Ley just nine months after the Liberal party’s electoral rout and following further sharp declines in opinion polls. Liberal Party lawmakers in Canberra elected Taylor as their new leader on Friday by a vote of 34-17, according to Aaron Violi, the chief whip. The Liberal Party is the senior partner in the center-right coalition, making its leader the head of the opposition. The other member is the rural-based National party. Since the ruling Labor party’s sweeping re-election victory last May, the center-right opposition has been dogged by internal dissent, with the coalition collapsing and reforming twice and its support falling below that of the insurgent, hard-right One Nation Party. “We are sitting at a crossroads, and we can’t sit idly by while we see our support erode,” Senator Jane Hume , who was elected deputy leader of the Liberals, said ahead of the ballot. “This government is not doing a good job. It’s support isn’t increasing.” She said Australians are feeling “rightly aggrieved, but they’re not seeing an alternative from a Liberal opposition. We need to be able to hold the government to account, but we also need to be able to provide a credible alternative to voters at the next election.” Hume was elected deputy leader after she defeated Ted O’Brien, who served as Ley’s No. 2. Taylor, 59, is a former consultant at McKinsey & Co. and a Rhodes scholar with degrees in economics and law — although economics was his preferred pursuit. He is generally viewed as supporting conventional center-right economic policies of smaller government and lower taxes. Still, he has also been subject to ridicule in the past. In 2019, Taylor was the talk of social media after he replied to his own Facebook post about his efforts to increase car parks at a train station in his electorate. “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus,” he wrote from his MP Faceb...
PTC Therapeutics ( PTCT ) is down ~5% in after-hours trading Thursday after announcing it has withdrawn its NDA resubmission of Translarna (ataluren) for nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The company made the decision based on US FDA feedback on its application review. CEO Matthew Klein said that the data included in the application is "unlikely to meet the Agency's threshold of subst...
PTC Therapeutics ( PTCT ) is down ~5% in after-hours trading Thursday after announcing it has withdrawn its NDA resubmission of Translarna (ataluren) for nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The company made the decision based on US FDA feedback on its application review. CEO Matthew Klein said that the data included in the application is "unlikely to meet the Agency's threshold of substantial evidence of effectiveness to support approval." The drug is approved in the European Union. More on PTC Therapeutics PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) Presents at 44th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Transcript PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) Presents at Citi Annual Global Healthcare Conference 2025 Transcript PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (PTCT) Discusses Progress in Small Molecule Splicing and Ferroptosis Platforms Transcript PTC Therapeutics projects FY26 product revenue between $700M to $800M PTC Therapeutics downgraded at RBC as Sephience sales priced in
Asian stocks were set to fall Friday after a new wave of AI-linked bearishness hit Wall Street, weakening US tech and Bitcoin , and sending investors to the safety of Treasuries . The S&P 500 fell 1.6% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 2% Thursday with megacaps slumping. The downdraft spread to areas including logistics and commercial real estate , in a sign investors are worried about the i...
Asian stocks were set to fall Friday after a new wave of AI-linked bearishness hit Wall Street, weakening US tech and Bitcoin , and sending investors to the safety of Treasuries . The S&P 500 fell 1.6% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 2% Thursday with megacaps slumping. The downdraft spread to areas including logistics and commercial real estate , in a sign investors are worried about the impact of AI. Cisco Systems Inc. plunged 12% as a tepid margin outlook signaled higher memory-chip prices are taking a toll, while an exchange-traded fund tracking software companies dropped 2.7%. Treasuries rallied across the curve, pushing the US two-year yield five basis points lower and the 10-year down seven basis points to 4.1%. Gold and silver fell, alongside Bitcoin which traded back down around $65,700. The worries weighed on contracts for equity index futures in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. A gauge of US-listed Chinese companies dropped 3% in Thursday trading. Sharp swings in US trading reflected the rising stakes tied to the AI boom and the unpredictable ripple effects across sectors, regions and asset classes. The moves highlighted how quickly shifts in sentiment around artificial intelligence can reverberate far beyond the technology sector. “Software stocks are now trading like banks in 2008,” said Nick Ferres , chief investment officer of Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore. “Asia has performed well so far this year, but I am concerned about correlation to global markets and a tactical unwind,” he said. Later Friday, January US inflation data is due, with the median forecast predicting a year-over-year increase of 2.5% for the core consumer price index, which strips out food and energy. Traders continued to assign little chance that Federal Reserve officials lower rates when they meet next in March, with a July cut fully priced in. Markets are complacent on the outlook for US inflation , making trades that pay out if price pressures climb look attra...
China's Central Bank Keeps Buying Gold... And Dumping US Debt Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times, China’s ferocious appetite for gold is influencing the global metals market, and that demand is what will keep driving up metal prices, according to Michael Howell, founder of CrossBorder Capital. The People’s Bank of China’s gold holdings totaled 74.19 million fine troy ounces by the end of...
China's Central Bank Keeps Buying Gold... And Dumping US Debt Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times, China’s ferocious appetite for gold is influencing the global metals market, and that demand is what will keep driving up metal prices, according to Michael Howell, founder of CrossBorder Capital. The People’s Bank of China’s gold holdings totaled 74.19 million fine troy ounces by the end of January, up from 74.15 million in the previous month, according to recent central bank data. Beijing’s value of gold reserves also surged to $369.58 billion, from $319.45 billion in December 2025. Gold accounts for almost 9 percent of China’s total reserves, the World Gold Council estimates. The metals market has been on a roller coaster ride over the past few months. Gold prices are currently trading at about $5,000 per ounce—up by 17 percent this year—on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is hovering at about $80 per ounce. The white metal has fallen sharply since reaching an all-time high of $121. The commodities boom will continue, with a focus on oil and gold, Howell said in a recent interview with Siyamak Khorrami, host of EpochTV’s “California Insider.” Global financial markets are experiencing a commodities boom, particularly in industrials, which coincides with the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure. At the same time, Howell said, energy is also witnessing a dramatic increase. “Stronger economic activity worldwide will elevate oil prices from their current subdued levels,” he said. “Gold has had a tremendous rally over the last 18 months. It’s defied most predictions, but it continues to go up.” China is playing an outsized role in its meteoric ascent. Although retail traders are fueling sizable inflows into gold investments, China has been on a gold-buying spree for years as part of the country’s de-dollarization efforts. For more than a decade, Beijing has been diversifying its foreign ex...
IGM Financial press release ( IGIFF ): Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of $1.27 beats by $0.39 . Record high fourth quarter net earnings of $301.4 million increased by 20.6% from $250.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Net inflows were $2.2B compared to net inflows of $244M in the fourth quarter of 2024. More on IGM Financial IGM Financial wins regulatory approval to renew NCIB on TSX Seeking Alpha’s Quant ...
IGM Financial press release ( IGIFF ): Q4 Non-GAAP EPS of $1.27 beats by $0.39 . Record high fourth quarter net earnings of $301.4 million increased by 20.6% from $250.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Net inflows were $2.2B compared to net inflows of $244M in the fourth quarter of 2024. More on IGM Financial IGM Financial wins regulatory approval to renew NCIB on TSX Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on IGM Financial Historical earnings data for IGM Financial Dividend scorecard for IGM Financial Financial information for IGM Financial
Age 62 is the earliest you can claim Social Security. And so if you file at that point, you'll be looking at a pretty notable reduction to your monthly benefits. If you were born in 1960 or later and claim Social Security at 67, which is your full retirement age , you'll get your monthly benefits in full. File at 62, and those benefits will shrink by about 30%. Image source: Getty Images. Continue...
Age 62 is the earliest you can claim Social Security. And so if you file at that point, you'll be looking at a pretty notable reduction to your monthly benefits. If you were born in 1960 or later and claim Social Security at 67, which is your full retirement age , you'll get your monthly benefits in full. File at 62, and those benefits will shrink by about 30%. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
panaya chittaratlert/iStock via Getty Images The last time I spoke about Novocure ( NVCR ), it was with respect to a Seeking Alpha article entitled " Novocure Moves Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Forward With A "First" Using TTFields ." With respect to this article, I mentioned that the company was able to obtain a positive outcome from its phase 3 PANOVA-3 trial using TTFields concomitantly [at the ...
panaya chittaratlert/iStock via Getty Images The last time I spoke about Novocure ( NVCR ), it was with respect to a Seeking Alpha article entitled " Novocure Moves Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Forward With A "First" Using TTFields ." With respect to this article, I mentioned that the company was able to obtain a positive outcome from its phase 3 PANOVA-3 trial using TTFields concomitantly [at the same time] with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel [gem/nap-pac] to treat 1st-line locally advanced pancreatic cancer patients. The reason why I want to provide an update on this company is because just the other day it was able to achieve FDA approval of Optune Pax for the treatment of 1st-line locally advanced pancreatic [LAP] cancer patients. This is a huge win because it has been three decades since a drug had been approved to treat these specific pancreatic cancer patients. This FDA approval is ideal and a huge win for the company, but it is in good shape because it already has an expansion opportunity in place. What I'm talking about is the ongoing phase 2 PANOVA-4 trial, which is using TTFields in combination with TECENTRIQ [atezolizumab] + nab-pac + gemcitabine to treat 1st-line metastatic pancreatic cancer patients. Why do I believe it is important to bring up this program? It is simply because data from this mid-stage PANOVA-4 trial is expected to be released in Q1 of 2026. I will be going over this program in detail below. What investors should also be on the lookout for in the near term would be the release of data from another late-stage study. I'm talking about the release of topline data from the phase 3 TRIDENT study using TTFields concomitantly with radiation therapy [RT] + Temozolomide [TMZ] to treat patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme [ndGBM]. Such data is expected in Q2 of 2026, and this is another potential catalyst for investors to expect. I rated this stock as a "Strong Buy" the last time around, and I believe I'm going to maintain this ...