Lyft is second horse in a one-horse town 10 Feb 2023 Mounting losses and a 35% plunge in the ride-sharing firm’s stock price are signals of how far Lyft is falling behind main rival Uber. The two are locked in a race where winning depends on cheaper fares or better-paid drivers. No wonder investors think two is a crowd.
Fear of complacency costs Alphabet $150 billion 9 Feb 2023 The search giant unveiled how it will use AI features on Wednesday, and investors punished the $1.2 trln tech company’s stock. It seems an overreaction. But Microsoft’s experience with perceptions of being a coasting incumbent suggest the problem can be hard to dislodge.
Robinhood’s Wall Street bets aren’t yet working 9 Feb 2023 As retail stock trading and crypto have withered, so have the online brokerage’s main sources of income. So it has slashed costs, and staff, and is aggressively launching new products. But for now, it’s rising interest rates – not happy customers – that are holding Robinhood up.
How Ant fell into fintech’s middle-income trap 9 Feb 2023 The Chinese payments-to-credit superapp once boasted a valuation surpassing banks like ICBC. New rules and capital requirements have cut it down to size. But there's still room for Ant to thrive as a mid-sized lender, provided it weathers its first economic stress test.
Payments darling wisely resists tech layoff trend 8 Feb 2023 Shares in $40 bln Adyen fell 12% after a hiring spree crimped its earnings. Adding more staff is conspicuous at a time when rivals like Stripe are doing the opposite. But boss Pieter van der Does has still-chunky margins, and needs to boost his small in-store payments business.
Meme investors go to bed, take a bath 7 Feb 2023 Near-bankrupt U.S. retailer Bed Bath & Beyond will gain slightly less cash than it burned last quarter by issuing shares after an irrational stock rally. The structure – $225 mln now and up to $800 mln later – isn’t that clean. And delaying the inevitable has an opportunity cost.
Capital Calls: SoftBank, BP 7 Feb 2023 Concise views on global finance: Masayoshi Son’s $69 bln technology investor is out of ammunition when it needs it most; the $108 bln British oil group’s pledge to pump more of the fossil fuel may not boost its lowly valuation.
Paytm is stuck in dealmaking catch-22 6 Feb 2023 A banking licence would help the $4 bln Indian fintech generate earnings and boost its flailing share price. Regulators might only grant it once Ant and Alibaba offload their combined 28% stake. Yet the Chinese firms are unlikely to sell entirely until the stock improves.
China ban would slow, not halt, Western solar push 3 Feb 2023 Reacting to the chip war, Beijing may ban the export of technology for making solar panels, a $235 bln sector it currently dominates. Yet the West already has green energy know-how. Creating a rival industry without Chinese expertise may be slower and costlier but not impossible.
Alphabet’s acorns could use more water 2 Feb 2023 The Google owner’s revenue inched up 1% because of a slowdown in advertising. Marketers have alternatives like TikTok, and regulators have Google’s ad business under the microscope. Now might be a good time for CEO Sundar Pichai to start spending more on leftfield bets.
Apple tries to be both desirable and predictable 2 Feb 2023 The $2.4 trillion iPhone maker’s growth increasingly comes from services – and its valuation has risen as a result. But investors prize some kinds of service more highly than others. They seem to be betting that Apple has zoomed in on the more stable, less cyclical kind.
Crypto’s big unwind is far from over 2 Feb 2023 Investors piled into digital assets last month for the first time since the summer, and prices have recovered from FTX’s collapse. But issues – regulation, fraud, volatility – still threaten popular currencies, like bitcoin. Another big event will wipe out newfound confidence.
Goldman’s Marcus is a lesson in self-made failure 2 Feb 2023 The Wall Street firm’s blueprint for a digital bank was a good idea, until it buckled under an ambitious, top-down culture. CEO David Solomon is taking the blame, partly because almost everyone else who backed Marcus has quit. He can recoup the losses, but not the wasted time.
Investors are ignoring Meta’s hardware reality 1 Feb 2023 The $400 bln social media firm’s shares surged on a strong sales outlook and more stock buybacks. But a better 2023 after revenue fell last year is a long shot. Plus Meta’s big problem is its hardware pivot. Other tech companies that similarly transitioned did not have much luck.
Meta exposes danger of trustbusting virtual risks 1 Feb 2023 Facebook’s owner won in court over U.S. efforts to block its acquisition of fitness-app developer Within. It trips up regulators trying to avoid missing another Instagram, with judges unpersuaded by future competition worries – a bad omen for the FTC’s case against Microsoft.
Intel points cost-cutting laser in wrong direction 1 Feb 2023 Turning around the embattled $117 bln chipmaker requires capital and an inspired workforce. Slashing managerial pay by 5%-15% will save money, but risks demoralizing staff and losing the best of them. Suspending a $6 bln dividend would conserve cash in a more effective way.
Capital Calls: McDonald’s, Spotify 31 Jan 2023 Concise views on global finance: The burger chain’s comparable sales growth despite rising prices proves there’s pricing power at the bottom of the market; shares in the $21 bln music-streaming service leapt after founder Daniel Ek unveiled rapid subscriber growth.
Intel is becoming accidental ad for friendshoring 27 Jan 2023 With plunging fourth-quarter sales and profitability, the U.S. firm may fall further behind Taiwanese rival TSMC in technology and manufacturing prowess. Intel has strategic value to a White House keen to promote U.S. chipmaking, but there are other ways to achieve that goal.
Meme stocks give bankruptcy new excitement 26 Jan 2023 When a company like Bed, Bath & Beyond lurches towards failure, investors try to reckon what it would be worth after a cleanup. That’s harder when retail traders push its stock to unexpected highs, as happened to car rental firm Hertz. What was once a science has become a game.
High-flying airlines still face stiff headwinds 25 Jan 2023 EasyJet shares surged on improved expectations, as rising numbers of holiday-goers look set to push the sector back into the black. But recent meltdowns show air travel has an increasing problem with tech glitches. It’s premature for investors to settle back in their seats.