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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
(EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Chipping away

Broadcom’s gain is Nvidia’s pain

A supply-constrained AI boom is looking for answers, and not all of those might come from the $3 trillion juggernaut.

Luke Kawa

Chip company Broadcom’s 20% gain and entrance into the trillion-dollar-market-cap club is propelling the VanEck Semiconductor ETF up about 2% on Friday.

But that rising tide isn’t lifting the boat of industry titan Nvidia, which was down over 2% as of 2:20 p.m. ET on Friday.

Right now, the AI boom still looks supply-constrained. Microsoft can’t scale up its capabilities fast enough because of a lack of data centers — even as the US has more of these than most other countries combined. And Nvidia’s saying demand for its new chip will exceed supply for the foreseeable future. 

Companies are feverishly working to muscle in on Nvidia’s turf — in addition to Broadcom, the likes of Amazon and Apple are at it (the latter with help from Broadcom!) — and the more success they have, the more that AI demand might be satisfied by Nvidia’s competitors.

Zooming out... Nvidia is still far and away the best-performing chip stock this year. And with those great gains come greater expectations, which become increasingly difficult to meet.

We warned that the magnitude of Nvidia’s hot run into its latest earnings report raised the risk that gains were being pulled forward, and an underperformance versus its peers could be looming thereafter.

And... yeah that’s pretty much what’s happened:

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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