Cross-Country Skiing - Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics: Day 15

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Team Norway celebrates winning gold (Getty Images)

Deutsche Bank upgrades software stocks, sees no evidence of negative impacts from AI on sales this year

“Also, after asking various experts, generalists, Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, we have still not come across a single Software company that expects a negative revenue effect from AI in 2026,” the strategists wrote.

Luke Kawa

Deutsche Bank is betting that the nascent turnaround in software stocks is just getting started.

Strategists Maximilian Uleer, Carolin Raab, and Francesca Mazzali wrote:

“Up until the Iran conflict, ‘AI disruption’ caused the European Software sector to fall by 23% and US Software to fall by 19% over the past 6 months. Software companies are trading at historically low premiums versus the market. Current valuations imply that consensus believes that Software companies will no longer outgrow the broader index.

Facts are telling a different story. US Software companies’ earnings were up 29% in Q4 and expectations for 2026 earnings have been revised up. Also, after asking various experts, generalists, Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, we have still not come across a single Software company that expects a negative revenue effect from AI in 2026.

The narrative has focused on the negative effects on Software while ignoring the positive effects of lower programming costs and potential product improvements due to AI. We think AI disruption worries have peaked. We upgrade Tech from Underweight to Neutral and turn overweight Software within Tech.”

To review:

Yes, software stocks had a solid earnings season. More than 70% of the index that serves as the basis for the iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF reported better-than-expected sales, and nearly 80% beat on the bottom line.

But the idea that no chatbot or expert could come up with an example of a software company whose top line might already be feeling some pressure from AI is ludicrous. (And that might be a bit of a straw man to begin with, as a decent chunk of the bear case is centered on “eventual” rather than “imminent” disruption).

I didn’t even need Gemini to remind me about Workday, which offered soft revenue guidance a couple of weeks ago.

“Workday’s sales growth is constrained by the lack of a meaningful increase in users,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anurag Rana and Andrew Girard wrote. And what’s constraining that “meaningful increase”? A preference to invest in AI tools rather than adding headcount.

There’s a little reading between the lines needed here, but if you expect management teams to bluntly state that it’s barely past breakfast and their lunch is already getting nibbled on, well you might be waiting forev— oh wait, there’s Chegg!

“The new realities of AI and reduced traffic from Google to content publishers have led to a significant decline in Chegg’s traffic and revenue,” per a press release in October that announced Chegg’s restructuring plan.

But from a shorter-term perspective, Deutsche’s analysts have some technicals to help support their fundamental case. The share of software stocks trading above their 50-day moving average has begun to pick up, as has the share no longer trading in oversold territory.

Max Knoblauch1h

Boeing faces Q1 delivery slowdown after discovering 737 wiring issues

Boeing shares dropped on Tuesday following the company’s announcement that it will delay some 737 Max deliveries this month after discovering scratches on wiring within the planes.

According to the plane maker, fixing the issues could take a matter of days for each plane. This could impact March and Q1 delivery figures, but Boeing doesn’t expect yearly totals to be affected.

Boeing is still producing an average of 42 737 Max planes per month, The Seattle Times reported. The FAA raised Boeing’s 737 production cap late last year.

Boeing delivered 51 commercial planes in February, its highest total for the month since 2018. The figure far exceeded the 35 deliveries for Airbus, the company’s European rival.

Boeing reworking 737 MAXs after newly disclosed issue stalls deliveries

Boeing is still producing an average of 42 737 Max planes per month, The Seattle Times reported. The FAA raised Boeing’s 737 production cap late last year.

Boeing delivered 51 commercial planes in February, its highest total for the month since 2018. The figure far exceeded the 35 deliveries for Airbus, the company’s European rival.

Tehran’s Shahran oil depot burns after US and Israeli attacks. (Photo by Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

What analysts say they’re looking for next in the oil markets

“It has the makings of a once-in-a-generation market dislocation.”

Matt Phillips2h

Max Knoblauch3h

Hims continues to rise on analyst upgrades following its Novo Nordisk partnership

Shares of telehealth company Hims & Hers climbed Tuesday as analysts upgraded the stock following the Monday announcement of its landmark deal with Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk.

Shares were recently up 12%.

Citi upgraded Hims to “neutral/high risk” from “sell/high risk” in a Monday afternoon note, writing that the deal “significantly de-risks Hims.” Citi analyst Daniel Grosslight wrote:

“Valuation remains tricky for Hims as much hinges on (1) how much compounded GLP-1 revenue/adj. EBITDA remains post-partnership and (2) how much of the hole HIMS can fill with its branded offering.”

Hims also received an upgrade to “neutral” from “underperform” from Bank of America:

“By partnering with Novo Nordisk and transitioning patients to Novo’s branded product, Hims is likely to experience some attrition, but is also likely to gain new members that are looking for a branded drug.”

The deal will see Novo’s Wegovy offered on Hims in its injection and pill forms later this month, priced at the level Novo charges for self-pay. Hims will also offer Ozempic to treat diabetes. Hims won’t advertise compounded GLP-1s, according to Novo Nordisk. A previous deal between the companies last year fell apart in 55 days after Novo accused Hims of “illegal mass compounding and deceptive marketing.”

Max Knoblauch & Claire Yubin Oh5h

Nio just reported its first-ever quarterly profit in its Q4 results

Chinese EV maker Nio jumped in premarket trading on Tuesday after it reported solid top- and bottom-line results, booking its first-ever quarter of positive (non-GAAP) operating profits, some 1,251 million yuan ($179 million), on a quarterly basis.

Nio reported adjusted net earnings of $0.04 per share in Q4, beating the $0.02 loss per share expected by Wall Street analysts (compiled by FactSet).

The company booked $4.95 billion in revenue, also topping the $4.86 billion consensus estimate, and deliveries came in at 124,807, up more than 70% year on year.

Looking ahead, the company says that it expects deliveries of vehicles “to be between 80,000 and 83,000 vehicles” in Q1 — an acceleration in growth, with those figures implying annual rises of 90% and 97% from the same quarter of 2025. However, Bloomberg estimates suggest this figure might marginally disappoint — with analysts currently penciling in 88,700 deliveries for Q1 2026.

Celebrating its first quarter of profits, CFO Stanley Yu Qu cited the company’s “strong delivery and revenue growth, an optimized product mix, and cost reduction and efficiency enhancement initiatives” in its press release.

CEO William Bin Li also added, “Looking ahead to 2026, we will continue to invest decisively in our twelve full-stack core technologies, launch new models, enhance the commercial and operational capabilities of our battery swapping and charging network, and continue upgrading our sales and service network.” Nio shares climbed in late February after it announced that it had reached 1 million battery swaps — its alternative to fast charging — in less than a week amid the Lunar New Year holiday. This month, Nio’s Chinese rival BYD unveiled a fast-charging battery seen as a direct challenge to the EV maker’s swap station network.

Hyunsoo Rim6h

Oil slides and stocks tepidly rise after Trump says US-Iran war is nearing its end

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday morning, with front-month crude futures down more than 6%, as traders digested President Trump’s comments late Monday suggesting the US-Iran conflict may soon end — easing fears that have rattled global energy and stock markets over the past 10 days.

On Monday, Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang in a phone interview that the war is “very complete, pretty much.” He later tempered that somewhat at a separate press conference held at Trump National Doral in Miami, saying the conflict would end “very soon,” though not this week.

Since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, markets have been experiencing relentless volatility: Brent crude surged to nearly $120 per barrel during Monday’s trading session, the highest intraday price since the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. Gas prices, which largely track crude, even breached the $3.50-per-gallon mark, with analysts and prediction markets eyeing the $4 mark as a real possibility if the conflict drags on.

Despite Tuesday’s pullback following Trump’s remarks, oil prices remain elevated, up roughly 50% since the start of the year as disruptions continue around the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flows.

After turning a deeply red day into a green one yesterday, equity traders continued to breathe a tentative sigh of relief. After the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 closed higher Monday, wiping out steep intraday losses, S&P 500 futures were modestly in the green early on Tuesday, while Europe’s STOXX 600 rallied ~2%.

As of 9:07 a.m. ET, however, S&P 500 futures have dipped 0.22% and oil has pared some of its earlier losses, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s warning that today would be the “most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”

Go Deeper: Why extreme oil price volatility sets off alarm bells for markets and the economy