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Matt Phillips

Taser maker Axon leads S&P surge

Taser maker Axon continued to bask in earnings afterglow Thursday.

The stock was on track for a nearly 15% gain in the final hour of the session while collecting a rave review from equity analysts at Morgan Stanley. They upped their price target on the shares to $695 from $635, maintained their “overweight” rating, and called Axon’s nosebleed valuations warranted, given company’s track record of generating growth.

They wrote:

“Our overweight thesis on Axon reflects our view that the 25-30% growth rate the company has been putting up is becoming more durable as software continues to grow as a portion of the model.”

The company’s better-than-expected results yesterday were driven, in part, by its software and services division, which sells software for digital evidence management, police recordkeeping, and officer dispatch. That unit saw sales rise 39% to $263 million in Q1.

Morgan Stanley analysts noted it was the company’s fifth straight quarter of 30% growth or more in overall revenues.

“While we do remain mindful of valuation,” they said of Axon’s 100x price-to-earnings multiple, “we also believe this premium is warranted given the magnitude (and durability) of growth we are seeing across numerous vectors in the business.”

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Matt Phillips

Oil settles Friday at highest level since start of war

US oil prices moved higher in afternoon trading Friday, sapping strength from the stock market as they posted their highest close since the start of the Iran war.

After another day where the Strait of Hormuz was essentially closed to global tanker traffic, US futures for West Texas Intermediate settled up 3.1% at $98.71 a barrel for an 8.6% weekly gain, per Dow Jones data.

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

Oil Posts Weekly Gains As Middle East Conflict Drags On

Oil Posts Weekly Gains As Middle East Conflict Drags On

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

Tasha Matsumoto
15h
Stocks post third straight week of losses as Brent crude surges above $100

Stocks wiped out early gains to close lower amid the ongoing war in Iran.

Roaring bear
markets
Matt Phillips

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

Luke Kawa
19h
The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.

Illustration - Endometriosis
Luke Kawa
21h
These two charts show how the Iran war is causing markets to price in a longer oil supply crunch

The rise of third-month Brent futures relative to front-month this week is unprecedented since at least 1989.

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