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Bips of market wisdom: TickerTakes delivers quick, engaging stories from the world of finance.
EARNINGS $POTLIGHT
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Finance Talks Words
Waymo-re Opportunity: What Tesla's Robotaxi Ambitions Mean for Alphabet's Autonomous Vanguard
May 21, 2025
Elon Musk's audacious predictions for Tesla's robotaxi business with aspirations of hundreds of thousands of self-driving Teslas on the road by late 2026 and potential for multi-trillion dollar market domination paint a picture of an autonomous future rapidly approaching. If these predictions hold even partial truth, what does this burgeoning market signify for Waymo, Alphabet's pioneering self-driving division, especially when considering its current operational scale and long-term revenue potential within the Alphabet empire?
Deep Take$: Alphabet's Waymo Opportunity
The Tesla Paradox: More Than Just an Automaker?
Tesla's value vs the world auto (approx). If we trade present value of future earnings, does Tesla's valuation - which has been at times greater than combined auto industry - imply 1 in every 2 cars sold in the future will be a TSLA. Is there more to Tesla's composition?
Recent, dramatic declines in sales worldwide and in domestic US has raised investor alarms and put even more scrutiny on its energy storage and other businesses.
Apr 22, 2025
MARKET$
Absurdity
ABSURDITY
Moon Walkers
Intel's stock recently experienced a notable surge, with increases reaching as high as 16% in a single day.
A significant driver of recent upward movement has been news surrounding Intel's executive leadership. Changes in leadership, particularly at the CEO level, often trigger investor reactions.
Potential Company Restructuring:Reports that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) are considering bids for parts of Intel sparked significant investor interest. This possibility of a strategic split fueled market optimism.
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16%
Thinning The Herd: Tesla's Tariff Reality
Elon's initial response to the tariffs—coming on the heels of Tesla’s record post-election rally—was somewhat dismissive. He believed Tesla’s superior production margins would allow it to weather the impact far better than its competitors, who were already struggling under the weight of EV-related costs. In his view, the tariffs would only accelerate a "thinning of the herd," ultimately expanding Tesla’s share of the electric vehicle market.
Ironically, during its April 22nd earnings call, Tesla expressed concerns over the very same tariffs - this time lamenting their impact on its other business lines—including robotics and energy products—where the margins aren’t nearly as robust. The confidence it seems doesn’t always travel well across divisions. Tsk, tsk…
Apr 23, 2025
The Takeaway
Mar 10-16
Volatile:
The market experienced significant volatility, with a notable sell-off followed by a strong rally on Friday.
There has been a trend of negative weeks, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq experiencing their fourth consecutive week of losses.
Trade War Concerns:
Escalating trade war tensions, particularly related to tariffs, are a major source of uncertainty and market disruption.
Economic Uncertainty:
Concerns about potential economic slowdown and the effects of government spending cuts are weighing on investor sentiment.
Market Trends:
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There's a shift towards defensive sectors, with healthcare and consumer staples performing relatively well.
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There are also shifts of investment from US equities, to international equities.
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Consumer sentiment is down.
Interest Rates:
Fluctuations in Treasury yields and speculation about future Fed rate cuts are contributing to market volatility.
Company Earnings and Forecasts:
Individual company earnings reports and forecasts are driving specific stock movements, with reactions to results from companies such as Ulta Beauty, and Nvidia being noted.
"Magnificent Seven" Stocks:
The "Magnificent Seven" stocks have been under pressure, with some entering or nearing bear market territory, after critics said they were over valued.
Friday's Rally:
Friday saw a significant market rebound, with major indexes posting strong gains. This rally provided some relief after a period of sustained losses.
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EARNINGS RESULTS
Nvidia Earnings
May 26, 2025
FUN FACTS
Founded in a Denny's: The idea for Nvidia was reportedly hatched by its three co-founders – Jensen Huang (current CEO), Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem – over coffee at a Denny's in San Jose, California in 1993.
The GPU Pioneer: Nvidia coined the term "Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)" in 1999 with the release of its GeForce 256. This marked a significant shift in how graphics cards were designed and paved the way for modern computer graphics.
Near Bankruptcy to Trillion-Dollar Company: Nvidia's first chip, the NV1 released in 1995 was a $10 million failure and led to the company laying off half its employees. However, they persevered and achieved their first major success with the RIVA 128 a couple of years later selling a million chips in four months. Fast forward to 2023-2024 and Nvidia became the first semiconductor company to hit a $1 trillion market capitalization and its value has since soared past $3 trillion.
CEO's Tattoo: Jensen Huang got a tattoo of the company's logo when the stock first hit $100 per share.
Dominant Market Share: As of 2023, Nvidia holds approximately 80% of the global market share in discrete desktop GPU semiconductor chips.
CUDA Platform: Nvidia's Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), released in 2006, opened up the parallel processing capabilities of GPUs to scientists and researchers, significantly contributing to breakthroughs in AI and scientific computing.
Family Ties in the Chip World: Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD (one of Nvidia's main competitors), is his first cousin.
