Markets
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Luke Kawa

Retail traders are bailing on Nvidia, selling the most in a decade

Retail traders who bought the dip by plowing money into their favorite stocks are now taking profits in some of those flagship holdings.

Amid Nvidia’s double-digit rally over the past two weeks, retail traders have been stepping away from the $3 trillion chip designer, per JPMorgan, as well as cutting Tesla exposure. Those were stocks they eagerly doubled and tripled down on during the tumble in momentum stocks that fueled the first leg of the S&P 500’s decline from all-time highs, and stocks they were also buying heavily at the end of April, too.

“Looking at large-cap single-stock flows, after three months of weekly buying flows, retail took profit (-$4.9 billion vs. +$1.2 billion prev week),” wrote analysts led by Kamal Tamboli. “Outflows from NVDA and TSLA continued, totaling -$8 billion. We have observed net selling in NVDA for the past two weeks making it the longest selling streak since March 2022 and the largest selling flow since 2015.”

NVDA retail flow

“Relative retail positioning suggests a preference for Health Care and Materials over Tech,” they added, which helps quantify the recent interest we’ve seen in UnitedHealth from the online crowd. That was the hottest stock in the options market (or “the most bought delta,” if you prefer) over the past week, according to JPMorgan.

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Matt Phillips

Oklo, nuke stocks battered amid speculative stock and momentum unwind

Amid a broader unwind of momentum trades, stocks tied to the nuclear-powered AI trade — Oklo, Nano Nuclear, and Centrus Energy among them — are taking a particularly hard beating.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain estimates that retail traders have dumped $24 million in Oklo shares through 11 a.m. ET.

This tumble comes alongside a tough-minded story from the Financial Times examining the prospects of this zero-revenue company, which as of yesterday had a market value of $20.6 billion. (It’s below $18 billion after today’s drop.)

Of Oklo’s plans to build smaller nuclear reactors using liquid sodium as a coolant rather than water, the salmon-toned periodical wrote:

“Some experts point to the failure of sodium-cooled reactors built in the US between 1950 and 1976.

Critics also note proliferation risks because Oklo’s plans would see plutonium move into private industry hands, where it could be at risk of diversion or theft by those who seek to build an atomic bomb. A decision by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a previous Oklo application to build a sodium-cooled reactor in 2022 has also raised questions.

‘That NRC deemed Oklo beyond help should be a red flag,’ said Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair at the regulator now at the University of British Columbia.

‘Liquid sodium is highly corrosive, flammable and explosive on contact with air and water,’ she said. ‘Many countries have tried to build these reactors before but they haven’t managed to prove they are commercially viable at scale.’”

“Some experts point to the failure of sodium-cooled reactors built in the US between 1950 and 1976.

Critics also note proliferation risks because Oklo’s plans would see plutonium move into private industry hands, where it could be at risk of diversion or theft by those who seek to build an atomic bomb. A decision by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a previous Oklo application to build a sodium-cooled reactor in 2022 has also raised questions.

‘That NRC deemed Oklo beyond help should be a red flag,’ said Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair at the regulator now at the University of British Columbia.

‘Liquid sodium is highly corrosive, flammable and explosive on contact with air and water,’ she said. ‘Many countries have tried to build these reactors before but they haven’t managed to prove they are commercially viable at scale.’”

markets
Luke Kawa

Retail traders hit the sell button on quantum computing stocks

In a parallel universe, retail traders are doubling down on the long-term potential of quantum computing companies. But in this one, they’re very much heading for the exits after these companies, which are in the early stages of commercialization, have enjoyed a monster run that’s beginning to sour.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain estimates that retail traders are net sellers of single stocks today to the tune of $336 million, as of 11 a.m. ET. And quantum stocks Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum are among the names seeing the biggest outflows, with $26 million and $20 million in net sales, respectively.

markets
Nia Warfield

Intuitive Surgical soars as Q3 earnings beat sparks a wave of analyst upgrades

Intuitive Surgical shares leapt nearly 17% Wednesday morning after the company topped Q3 estimates after the bell on Tuesday.

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.40, beating the Street’s estimate of $1.99. Revenue reached $2.51 billion, easily above the forecast of $2.41 billion.

The results were largely powered by strong demand for its da Vinci and Ion robotic surgical systems. Worldwide procedures for both da Vinci and Ion systems grew approximately 20% compared with the same quarter a year ago. Analysts were quick to take action on the strong results:

  • Piper Sandler maintained its “buy” rating on the stock and raised its price target to $610 from $595.

  • Wells Fargo reiterated a “buy” rating and lifted its target to $600 from $599.

  • BTIG kept a “buy” rating and increased its target to $589 from $529.

  • Evercore ISI maintained an “in-line” rating but raised its target to $540 from $450.

  • Baird reiterated a “buy” rating and hiked its price target to $655 from $536.

markets
Matt Phillips

Vertiv reports strong earnings as AI data center boom rolls on

AI infrastructure company Vertiv Holdings is up early after reporting much better-than-expected Q3 earnings thanks to the AI boom.

Adjusted earnings per share of $1.24 were better than the $0.98 FactSet consensus expectation. Sales of $2.68 billion were better than the $2.58 billion Wall Street had penciled in.

“We delivered strong sales growth of 29% and built significant backlog, reflecting both accelerating market demand and our increasingly strong competitive position and unique capabilities to enable our customers’ most advanced infrastructure needs at scale,” Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi said.

Vertiv Posts Strong Earnings in ‘AI-Driven Market.’ The Stock Rises.

Vertiv Posts Strong Earnings in ‘AI-Driven Market.’ The Stock Rises.

“We delivered strong sales growth of 29% and built significant backlog, reflecting both accelerating market demand and our increasingly strong competitive position and unique capabilities to enable our customers’ most advanced infrastructure needs at scale,” Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi said.

markets
Luke Kawa

Google rises on report of deal with Anthropic for AI compute “valued in the high tens of billions”

Alphabet is rebounding from Tuesday’s OpenAI-induced drubbing thanks to a Bloomberg report published after yesterday’s close that it’s in talks to provide AI compute to Anthropic in a deal “valued in the high tens of billions of dollars.”

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports discussions are said to be in early stages and would see Google providing cloud computing services to the developer of Claude, including the use of its AI chips for machine learning purposes.

This is yet another one for the “circular deals” AI file: the tech giant reportedly holds a 14% stake in Anthropic.

Also of note: Amazon, which is also an Anthropic investor and supplier, took a dip on this report.

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