Tech analyst on tariffs: “Worse than the worst case scenario”

Shares of streamer FuboTV are surging on Wednesday, after Disney announced it completed its majority stake acquisition of the company.

Fubo will be merged with Hulu Live TV, creating a juggernaut virtual pay-TV company rivaling YouTube. With about 6 million subscribers, the program will also become the sixth-largest pay-TV operator in the US. According to the companies, Fubo and Hulu Live will also continue to be available as separate services, “each offering consumers multiple plan options from skinny to robust at compelling price points.”

Disney now owns 70% of the joint venture. As part of the deal, which was first announced in January, Fubo dropped its lawsuit against Disney, which sought to block its planned joint sports streaming venture, Venu Sports. Venu was dissolved within a week after the deal. Fubo shares closed up more than 250% on the day the deal was first announced.

As part of the transaction, Fubo will have access to a $145 million term loan from Disney next year.

Caterpillar jumped Wednesday morning after the construction equipment giant delivered strong third-quarter results and an upbeat full-year outlook.

Adjusted earnings per share reached $4.95, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $4.53. Meanwhile, revenue rose 10% to a record $17.6 billion, coming in well ahead of expectations around $16.8 billion.

Caterpillar’s Energy & Transportation unit was a standout, with sales up 17% as demand for power generation equipment used in data centers helped push the company’s backlog to a record $39.8 billion.

On the call, management said the results position Caterpillar “for sustained momentum and long-term profitable growth,” citing stronger demand tied to cloud computing and AI-driven infrastructure. Caterpillar now expects “modestly higher” sales for the full year, including a strong fourth quarter, after analysts had previously forecast a decline. 

The stock is now up more than 63% year to date.

Applied Digital is up in early trading as Needham & Co. analyst John Todaro bangs the table on the Nvidia-backed data center upstart’s ability to secure energy to expand its operations.

In a note to clients, the analyst reiterated his “buy” rating while “calling attention to the possibility of more near-term catalysts than the market expects.”

The company recently announced a $5 billion, 15-year AI factory lease from a “US based investment grade hyperscaler” at its Polaris Forge 2 campus, which came on the heels of comments from its earnings call earlier this month about negotiations with two additional hyperscalers for two new locations.

The AI boom is resource-constrained in a variety of ways, including power. But after a recent conversation with Applied Digital’s management, Todaro thinks “there is a real pathway to source more power than previously thought,” writing, “APLD has received numerous calls from operators over the last few weeks offering stranded power; APLD is fairly confident it can continuously source power over the next five years.”

The Trump administration is reportedly pushing for a speedier approval process for data centers to connect to the power grid.

Todaro thinks the company’s goal of net operating income of $1 billion over the next five years “could prove conservative given the ongoing demand and ability to source available power.”

Wall Street is universally bullish on Applied Digital, with all 10 analysts who cover the stock having a “buy” (or equivalent) rating.