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Shares of Affirm tank as Walmart drops the “buy now, pay later” giant for Swedish rival Klarna

Affirim has been Walmart’s exclusive buy now, pay later provider since 2019.

Nia Warfield

Affirm shares tumbled nearly 13% Monday morning after the buy now, pay later giant lost its deal with the world’s largest retailer.

Since 2019, Affirm has been Walmart’s exclusive buy now, pay later provider, starting with big-ticket purchases and later expanding to smaller baskets at self-checkout kiosks. Now, under the new deal, Swedish BNPL giant Klarna will take its place, underwriting loans for shoppers both in-store and online through Walmart’s fintech startup, OnePay. 

Customers can borrow for as little as three months and up to three years, with annual interest rates from 10% up to 36%. The rollout will reportedly kick off in coming weeks, with plans to hit Walmart stores by the holiday season. Klarna has 93 million active customers and has stacked up partnerships with a number of popular retailers, including Target, Amazon, Home Depot, and Macy’s.

On Friday, Klarna publicly filed for its long-awaited IPO, with sources saying the company hopes to raise at least $1 billion and is targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion. Despite the sell-off, Affirm shares are still up nearly 27% over the past year.

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In the past month, the S&P Biotech ETF surpassed March 2020 levels.

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Micron jumps after rare double upgrade by BNP Paribas Exane, which lifts price target to Street high of $270

Micron, the best-performing member of the VanEck Semiconductor ETF this year, is jumping on Monday thanks to converting its biggest doubter on Wall Street into its biggest fan.

BNP Paribas Exane analyst Karl Ackerman went through with a rare double upgrade of the memory chip specialist to “outperform” from “underperform.” In the process, he more than doubled his price target on the stock to $270 — the highest among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg — from $100, which had previously been the lowest price target on the Street.

“We now fully embrace high-bandwidth memory (HBM) as a sustainable, separate growth vector, and we beleive we are in the early innings of a memory supercycle,” he wrote.

Separately, analysts at Evercore ISI also boosted their price target on Micron to $137 from $100.

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IonQ soars after announcing “significant advancement in quantum chemistry simulations”

IonQ is ripping higher in early trading after the quantum computing company announced “a significant advancement in quantum chemistry simulations.”

In particular, this demonstration, performed in collaboration with a major automotive manufacturer, was more accurate than classical computing in calculating “nuclear forces at critical points where big changes occur.”

Knowing how different compounds behave and respond to force has potentially very useful commercial applications because it helps us discern how those materials can best be designed and utilized for different purposes.

“This research demonstrates a clear path for quantum computing to enhance chemical simulations that are foundational to decarbonization technologies,” said Niccolo de Masi, chairman and CEO. “Our work goes beyond academic benchmarks. It demonstrates a practical capability that can be integrated into molecular dynamics workflows used across pharmaceuticals, battery, and chemical industries.”

IonQ is the most commercially advanced pure-play quantum computing company, generating over $52 million in revenues over the past 12 months, well more than D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Quantum Computing combined.

Now, is this the reason why IonQ (and its peers) are on a tear today? Maybe. There’s a big rebound in most speculative pockets of the market after Friday’s tariff threat induced a tumble.

At the very least, this is a useful excuse. Traders have been exceedingly happy to bid up shares of quantum computing companies on their long-term potential, often (ironically) through short-term call options.

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Rocket Lab may be “alternative to SpaceX in the making,” says Morgan Stanley

Rocket Lab surged early Monday after Morgan Stanley analysts lifted their price target on the stock to $68 from $20, making them the high bidder among analysts covering the popular, but still money-losing, commercial space launch company.

The $68 target — right around where the shares are currently trading — is the highest among the 17 analysts tracked by FactSet.

And while Morgan Stanley analysts couldn’t bring themselves to upgrade the stock to a “buy,” leaving their rating at “equal weight,” they gave the stock a pretty bullish review, writing:

“We see a potential alternative to SpaceX in the making. The company is mirroring SpaceX’s footsteps in a number of respects, including scaling up rocket lift capacity, embracing booster reusability, and ultimately moving out on a constellation of its own (ala Starlink). Meanwhile, successive Electron launches and a growing manifest reinforce the company’s already-impressive track record. The market, in our view, is now taking valuation cues for RKLB from SpaceX’s implied valuation, which has grown from a reported ~$100bn at the end of 2021 to ~$400bn today.”

Rocket Lab shares have emerged as a favorite of retail traders this year, thanks to their gain of more than 150%. The stock is up roughly 600% over the last 12 months.

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