(Kenny Holston/Getty Images) |
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Hey Snackers, If you chant "ceramic mugs" three times, new Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol might appear. The big boss three-peated the words in the company's earnings call this week, after the java giant reintroduced reusable cups to give customers a cozy "mug hug" experience. Stocks ticked down yesterday after the Fed ended its rate-cut hot streak, holding rates steady (as expected). After the bell, Tesla spiked despite reporting disappointing #s, while Microsoft slid after beating expectations. Today, Apple and Intel are up to report. 👀 Learning more about our audience helps us keep this newsletter free to read for everyone. |
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Coming in bot… Big Tech earnings. Microsoft's AI-boosted cloud biz failed to make it rain last quarter. The tech titan managed to beat sales and profit growth expectations, but investors were unimpressed by its Azure cloud segment, which grew slower than expected. The stock tumbled after hours. Meantime, Meta shares spiked 5% after it crushed quarterly sales and profit expectations, with revenue up 21% year over year — to a record $48B — and profit up 50%. |
- All eyes on AI: Microsoft boss Satya Nadella said the company's AI biz now does ~$13B in annualized revenue. Microsoft expects higher capital expenditures as it pours billions into AI (it committed $80B this year to AI data centers).
- Meta said it expects to spend at least $114B this year in total, mostly on infrastructure (see: its plan for a city-sized AI data center). AI-powered recommendation algos have boosted its ad revenue, helping keep its 3.3B+ users hooked on its apps.
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A deep sinking feeling… Since many see AI as the next big growth driver, investments in the tech have exploded. Between January and August of last year, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon shoveled a combined $125B into building out and running AI data centers, and they're planning to spend a whole lot more (see: Stargate's $500B plan). |
- But investors are starting to question the value of these massive investments after the roll-out of China's DeepSeek model, which is said to match the performance of OpenAI's most advanced GPT offering using many fewer and cheaper chips.
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New standards require new strategies… DeepSeek pushed the boundaries with its success-for-less strategy, and it's not the only one: yesterday Chinese tech powerhouse Alibaba touted a new AI model that it says outperforms both Meta's Llama and DeepSeek's V3. Now, Silicon Valley will have to rethink its strategy to justify its massive investments. Cue: chipmaker AMD published a blog post on how to run DeepSeek on AMD processors. |
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Final Hours to Invest in This Startup's Data-Shrinking Tech |
Kevin O'Leary is a paid spokesperson for StartEngine. See his 17(b) disclosure, https://www.startengine.com/17b. This Reg A+ offering is made available by StartEngine. |
⚠️The AI boom is overwhelming data centers. Networks are maxed out, costs are spiraling, and hardware upgrades can't keep pace. It's a big problem in a potential $200B market — but Atombeam has a solution. 🌐Up to 4x Faster Data, 75% Smaller: No costly hardware upgrades. ✅ Proven Tech: Atombeam is trusted by the U.S. Space Force and Air Force, with $2.4M in defense contracts secured in 2023. 💡With over $18M raised in this offering alone, and billions in private funding directed toward US data center advancements, the demand for Atombeam's innovative solution is more relevant than ever. ⏳ This Round Closes Today!
Invest before midnight on 1/30 to claim your stake in this game-changing AI upgrade and unlock up to 35% bonus shares.1 👉 Invest now!2 |
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Final Hours to Invest in This Startup's Data-Shrinking Tech |
Kevin O'Leary is a paid spokesperson for StartEngine. See his 17(b) disclosure, https://www.startengine.com/17b. This Reg A+ offering is made available by StartEngine. |
⚠️The AI boom is overwhelming data centers. Networks are maxed out, costs are spiraling, and hardware upgrades can't keep pace. It's a big problem in a potential $200B market — but Atombeam has a solution. 🌐Up to 4x Faster Data, 75% Smaller: No costly hardware upgrades. ✅ Proven Tech: Atombeam is trusted by the U.S. Space Force and Air Force, with $2.4M in defense contracts secured in 2023. 💡With over $18M raised in this offering alone, and billions in private funding directed toward US data center advancements, the demand for Atombeam's innovative solution is more relevant than ever. ⏳ This Round Closes Today!
Invest before midnight on 1/30 to claim your stake in this game-changing AI upgrade and unlock up to 35% bonus shares.1 👉 Invest now!2 |
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If at first you don't succeed… try again in three years for $800M less. Yesterday, ultra-budget airline Frontier said it made an offer to buy no-frills rival Spirit for ~$2.1B. It's the second time Frontier's officially attempted the takeover (which would create the US's fifth-largest airline). In 2022, Spirit accepted Frontier's $2.9B buyout offer before dumping it for a bigger offer from JetBlue. Biden's DOJ sued to block that deal, though, and early last year the airlines called it off. |
- Round 2: Spirit said it rebuffed Frontier's latest acquisition offer for being too low, but that it's open to further negotiations. Shares of both carriers climbed yesterday.
- Decline: Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy in November, has lost $2.5B+ since 2020. The airline said it's on track to climb out of bankruptcy this quarter thanks to steep cost cuts.
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Budget isn't doing well… Spirit is bankrupt, Frontier hasn't reported an annual profit since before the pandemic, and JetBlue posted a gloomy outlook that tanked its stock this week. With budget airlines on the rocks, bare-bones carriers are looking to premium for profits. Frontier is debuting a first class, Spirit launched a perk-filled tier, and Southwest is shifting to assigned seating and extra legroom (FYI: it reports today). 85% of the seats Delta plans to add this year will be premium, too (think: business, comfort). |
M&A's in new airspace… Goldman expects mergers to spike 20% this year under friendlier antitrust departments and lower corporate taxes. US antitrust set a record for merger challenges during the Biden admin thanks partly to Lina Khan's FTC. Now, more corporate-friendly air could lead others to reboot mergers that fizzled under the previous admin. |
There's a cloud of suspicion hanging over the type and number of Nvidia GPUs DeepSeek used to train its R1 models. Read more. |
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💌 Dear readers… We know you ask the big questions. If you're in the mood to answer some too, please take our survey. Help us get to know you better so we can keep sending out stories you love. |
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💌 Dear readers… We know you ask the big questions. If you're in the mood to answer some too, please take our survey. Help us get to know you better so we can keep sending out stories you love. |
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Shares of Dutch chip supplier ASML climbed 4% after it said demand for AI chips was booming, but Nvidia slumped 4% in the wake of DeepSeek's AI-market bombshell. Dogwifhat's price climbed 23% from Tuesday after rumors that the meme coin's logo (a dog wearing a beanie) would be projected onto the Las Vegas Sphere. T-Mobile stock popped as much as 9% — the most in nearly three years — after the mobile biz raised the bar with Q4 sales and profit. |
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- Despite record Q4 deliveries, Tesla's quarterly profit plunged 71% from a year ago on falling sale prices and higher expenses.
- OpenAI said it has evidence that data from its models was used by DeepSeek to train the Chinese startup's rival AI model.
- Levi's sales rose 12% last quarter on a comeback of its wholesale biz, but the jeans icon expects gains to wash out for the year.
- Fox sold out ads for next Sunday's Super Bowl, and it's said to have nabbed a record $8M apiece for 10+ commercials.
- As the Trump admin looks to cut spending, it's offering to pay millions of federal workers' wages through September if they resign by next Thursday.
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- Weekly jobless claims
- Earnings expected from UPS, Mastercard, Blackstone, Southwest Airlines, Caterpillar, Comcast, Cigna, Northrop Grumman, Sherwin-Williams, Valero Energy, Sanofi, Apple, Intel, and Visa
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, AMD, Apple, Delta, Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesla, and Nvidia |
Advertiser's disclosures:
1 The up to 35% bonus requires a minimum investment of $5000 and either a membership in the StartEngine Venture Club or meeting an additional bonus requirement listed on their StartEngine Atombeam website. 2 This is a paid advertisement for Atombeam's Regulation A+ Offering. This Reg. A+ offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Please read the Offering Circular and related risks at Atombeam's webpage on StartEngine before investing. This was a paid for ad. Sherwood Media has been compensated for this ad by the Atombeam Reg A+ Campaign hosted on StartEngine. In addition, as described in the Offering Circular, the Company retains the right to continue the offering beyond the Termination Date, in its sole discretion. Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities. |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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