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J. Edward Moreno2/20/25

Shake Shack expects competitors to ditch eggs for chicken and beef

High egg prices may lead to breakfast menus with less egg and more beef or chicken, Shake Shack’s CEO told analysts on Thursday.

The executive, Rob Lynch, made the comment in response to a question about the impacts of tariffs and inflation. He noted that Shake Shack sources most of its ingredients domestically and doesn’t use very many eggs, but if other restaurants start consuming more chicken and beef, that might have a ripple effect on Shake Shack:

“We don’t have a breakfast business, a big breakfast business. So we don’t have the exposure to eggs. But other restaurant companies that have exposure to eggs may be moving away from eggs in the time being, which means they’re going to offer more beef products or chicken products to complement or to substitute for that high-cost item. And when that consumption demand changes, it has the potential to change even some domestic pricing.”

It wouldn’t be the first time companies have made such adjustments. As prices for beef surpassed chicken, food companies started offering more chicken products. McDonald’s, for one, now sells more chicken than beef.

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Department of Commerce will soon allow exports of Nvidia’s H200 chip to China: report

The US Department of Commerce will give the go-ahead to export the the powerful H200 chip produced by Nvidia to China, which has been a core priority of the chip juggernaut, according a source with “knowledge of the plan,” Semafor reports. The chipmaker’s stock surged on the news.

The Chinese government has blocked the import of less powerful chips such as the H20, while China hawks in Washington DC have been hesitant to allow the export the defining technology of the AI era to a rival emerging superpower.

Nevertheless, China’s tech industry has managed to produce models from DeepSeek and Alibaba that compete globally.

Exclusive: Commerce to open up exports of NVIDIA H200 Chips to China

The Chinese government has blocked the import of less powerful chips such as the H20, while China hawks in Washington DC have been hesitant to allow the export the defining technology of the AI era to a rival emerging superpower.

Nevertheless, China’s tech industry has managed to produce models from DeepSeek and Alibaba that compete globally.

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Matt Phillips2h

SpaceX valuation chatter lifts satellite stocks

Satellite stocks rose early Monday, riding a wave of excitement about recent reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s satellite startup, SpaceX, is shooting for an $800 billion valuation as it launches a secondary share sale.

EchoStar and Rocket Lab rose, partly in response to the report.

William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote that the valuation news has positive implications for owners of satellite spectrum rights.

If the reported valuation is ultimately achieved, it would be a mark-to-market moment suggesting that traditional satellite spectrum rights are worth more than the market had previously assumed.

That likely explains some of EchoStar’s outperformance on the day. As a legacy provider of satellite-based television services — such as Dish Network — it is a large owner of that spectrum, and has recently been an opportunistic seller of those assets, including to AT&T and SpaceX.

But the market doesn’t seem to like the implications for AST SpaceMobile, which has been trying to build up its portfolio of spectrum rights to compete as a seller of space-based services directly to consumers.

Higher spectrum right prices mean AST will have to cough up more cash as it competes with a Musk-controlled, $800 billion satellite gorilla.

SpaceX to Offer Insider Shares at Record-Setting $800 Billion Valuation

William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote that the valuation news has positive implications for owners of satellite spectrum rights.

If the reported valuation is ultimately achieved, it would be a mark-to-market moment suggesting that traditional satellite spectrum rights are worth more than the market had previously assumed.

That likely explains some of EchoStar’s outperformance on the day. As a legacy provider of satellite-based television services — such as Dish Network — it is a large owner of that spectrum, and has recently been an opportunistic seller of those assets, including to AT&T and SpaceX.

But the market doesn’t seem to like the implications for AST SpaceMobile, which has been trying to build up its portfolio of spectrum rights to compete as a seller of space-based services directly to consumers.

Higher spectrum right prices mean AST will have to cough up more cash as it competes with a Musk-controlled, $800 billion satellite gorilla.

markets

Marvell sinks after Benchmark cuts company, saying that it lost its Amazon custom chip design business

Over the past two trading days, Marvell Technology has faced vexing questions about its relationship with its top two custom chip hyperscaler customers.

Shares are tumbling, down 9% as of 10:21 a.m. ET.

Late last week, The Information reported that Microsoft, its second-biggest custom chip buyer, was in talks to shift that business from Marvell to Broadcom.

Now, Benchmark analyst Cody Acree thinks that Marvell’s largest custom chip customer, Amazon, has done the same, writing that “we now have a high degree of conviction that the company has lost both Amazon’s Trainium3 and 4 designs to its Taiwanese competitor, Alchip.”

Acree downgraded Marvell to “hold” from “buy,” recommending that investors take profit after its post-earnings bounce.

(Harlan Sur at JPMorgan, for what it’s worth, does not believe this is the case, pointing to Marvell’s acquisition of Celestial AI as providing key technology that aligns the company with Amazon’s future chip design needs.)

During the conference call that followed earnings, Sur asked Marvell CEO Matt Murphy about its role with Amazon chips going forward.

“What I would say, which is incorporated into our numbers, is that our product transition from where we are today with our lead XPU customer to the next one is baked into all the numbers I gave you. And yes, I got the backlog, and I got the orders, and we got great visibility there,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s answer was not quite definitive, according to Acree, who thinks that Marvell’s revenue forecast is being “driven by expected continued Trainium2 volumes and a Kuiper low-earth orbit engagement and not the successful transition to Trainium3 designs that many on the sell-side have concluded.”

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J. Edward Moreno3h

Structure Therapeutics posts mid-stage weight-loss pill data in line with Eli Lilly rival

Structure Therapeutics soared in early trading after it reported mid-stage results for its weight-loss pill that were roughly in line with Eli Lilly’s competing product.

The San Francisco-based biotech reported that patients lost roughly 11.3% of their body weight on a lower dose of the pill, aleniglipron, in a mid-stage study. That puts it roughly in line with Lilly’s competing pill, orforglipron, and slightly below Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy.

Both Lilly and Novo’s pills are awaiting regulatory approval and are expected to go to market next year. While the weight-loss numbers were encouraging, Structure’s pill did report higher rates of side effects like nausea and vomiting.

Investors have been closely watching drugmakers’ once-daily pills, which could replace the weekly injections currently on the market. While pills tend to be less effective than shots, they are less expensive to manufacture than prefilled injection pens and are more inviting to squeamish patients.

Warner Brothers To Put Itself Up For Sale

Paramount launches hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery at $30 per share, trying to upend Netflix deal

Paramount is taking its Warner Bros. Discovery purchase effort straight to shareholders.

Max Knoblauch4h

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