Latest news with #Alphabet-owned
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon's Zoox, Alphabet's Waymo in NYC, Oracle stock pops
Yahoo Finance's John Hyland examines some of the top stories of the trading day as part of today's Market Minute. Amazon's (AMZN) autonomous driving subsidiary, Zoox, is opening a robotaxi production facility in California. In other autonomous vehicle news, Alphabet-owned (GOOG, GOOGL) Waymo has applied for permits to test its robotaxis in New York City starting next month. Oracle (ORCL) stock pops after Guggenheim analysts lifted their price target to $250 and maintained their Buy rating on the stock. Stay up to date on the latest market action, minute-by-minute, with Yahoo Finance's Market Minute. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Better Artificial Intelligence Stock: CoreWeave vs. C3.ai
CoreWeave and are showing resilience amid macroeconomic uncertainty. CoreWeave's revenues rose 420% in Q1 as a wave of hyperscalers sought more AI computing power. enterprise AI software is proving popular; its sales jumped 25% in its fiscal 2025. 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave › Amid this year's chaotic macroeconomic environment, many businesses face uncertain sales outlooks. Yet one sector that's showing resilience is artificial intelligence (AI). Two examples of this are CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) and (NYSE: AI). Insatiable customer demand for AI has driven strong year-over-year sales growth at both companies. This is despite the ongoing saga of President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade wars. Both might appeal to some investors, but if you had to choose just one to add to your portfolio now, would CoreWeave or be the better AI stock to buy? CoreWeave sells computing power to businesses that are developing AI systems. It operates more than 30 cloud computing data centers that house the types of hardware needed to train and power sophisticated AI models. Demand for that sort of computing power has gotten so hot that ChatGPT creator OpenAI changed its exclusive deal with Microsoft this year so it can lease more from others, including CoreWeave, and even Alphabet-owned Google Cloud. The OpenAI example illustrates the kind of AI demand CoreWeave benefits from. Its customers include a who's who of AI hyperscalers, including Microsoft, IBM, and Facebook parent Meta Platforms. With so many top hyperscalers flocking to CoreWeave, its first-quarter revenue surged by 420% year over year to $981.6 million. And in Q2, management is guiding for it to hit $1.1 billion in sales, up from $395 million in the prior-year period. However, CoreWeave is not profitable, and it has accrued substantial debt in the course of building out its AI data centers. In Q1, its operating expenses were $1.01 billion, which resulted in an operating loss of $27.5 million. CoreWeave's debts loom over its balance sheet. Its total assets of $21.9 billion as of the end of Q1 were not much of a cushion against its total liabilities of $18.8 billion, including $8.7 billion in debt. The company will have to continue investing in its infrastructure to keep pace with its customers' needs, so that debt load could grow over time. While CoreWeave's business revolves around artificial intelligence hardware, focuses on AI software for enterprise customers. It went public in 2020 and has built up a substantial business in the intervening years. For instance, revenue totaled $156.7 million in its fiscal 2020 (which ended April 30, 2020). By its fiscal 2025, its sales had grown to $389.1 million, which was a healthy 25% increase from its fiscal 2024 result. And despite the current macroeconomic turmoil, management is forecasting that its sales will continue growing in the new fiscal year. The company expects fiscal 2026 revenue to land in the $447.5 million to $484.5 million range. artificial intelligence capabilities apply to a wide range of use cases, from proactively monitoring aircraft maintenance needs for the U.S. Air Force to automatically transcribing and indexing archival content for the University of Southern California. Its customers include the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, ExxonMobil, Boston Scientific, and Rolls-Royce. The need for AI enterprise software is so great that enlisted a network of partners to help capture this demand. Its partnerships encompass Amazon Web Services, energy giant Baker Hughes, and Microsoft Azure, which "acknowledge that the C3 enterprise AI applications are their preferred AI solutions," according to CEO Tom Siebel. But like CoreWeave, is not profitable. In its fiscal 2025, it booked a net loss of $288.7 million. While neither CoreWeave nor are profitable, it's common for high-growth tech companies to spend years prioritizing business expansion and the pursuit of top-line growth over near-term profits. Amazon, for example, famously ran at a loss for many years. Both of these companies expect their sales to continue increasing, so their lack of profitability should not be an overriding concern at this point. But given that, which factors should investors focus on in their effort to determine which would be a better AI investment today? One natural stock valuation metric to weigh heavily is the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio, which measures how much investors are paying for every dollar of a company's revenue. CoreWeave's valuation has surged to a lofty level this year while P/S multiple has remained far more reasonable. In fact, shares look undervalued, especially considering that the P/S ratios of AI leaders Nvidia and Microsoft were hovering around 24 and 13, respectively, as of the end of last week. Given the combination of CoreWeave's debt and its high valuation, it would be prudent for investors to wait and see how the company's financials evolve over the next few quarters before making a decision about the stock. After all, CoreWeave's Q1 earnings report was its first one since it went public in March. Meanwhile, finances are solid. At the end of its fiscal Q4, its balance sheet sported total assets of $1 billion compared to total liabilities of $187.6 million. This, its growing business, and its attractive valuation make the better AI investment for the long term. Before you buy stock in CoreWeave, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and CoreWeave wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $658,297!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $883,386!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 995% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Robert Izquierdo has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, International Business Machines, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, International Business Machines, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends and Rolls-Royce Plc and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Better Artificial Intelligence Stock: CoreWeave vs. was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Tencent bets its China WeChat and gaming expertise will help it win cloud business in Europe
Tencent has spent years evolving into a gaming and social media giant in China and in the process, has built up its cloud computing capabilities. The technology firm is now looking to bring that expertise to Europe as it ramps up expansion of its cloud business overseas, Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent's cloud group told CNBC. "We have strengths and competence in very specific technology areas, as well as industry verticals," Tong said in an interview last week. "These are are very unique technology capabilities that have been developed over many years [and] started from our products in China." "So we intend to bring a lot of this technology expertise to Europe. We're talking to a lot of interested potential customers." Tencent's European push will pitch it against U.S. hyperscalers Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet-owned Google, which collectively make up 70% share of Europe's cloud market. But the Chinese firm is hoping to focus on specific areas where it has built up capabilities to differentiate from rivals. Tong said these include cloud technologies for areas like optimizing video streaming, ensuring a smooth gaming experience, and developing and hosting so-called "super apps" like WeChat — China's biggest messaging service. WeChat is often seen as the pioneer of super apps, a term that refers to an application with multiple functions, such as messaging and payments. Tong gave an example of Tencent's cloud computing work with French telecommunications firm Orange in supporting the company's Max it app in Africa. In the area of gaming, Tencent's cloud technology can improve "latency," which is a technical term for the lag between a player's actions and what happens on screen, Tong said. The Chinese company is also betting on European companies opting for multiple cloud providers for services, instead of relying on one or two of the big players. "I would say that's actually a ... deliberate strategy of ours to make the customers feel more comfortable using our technology, especially in a multi-cloud environment," he said, adding that customers want to be able to interoperate. Cloud computing companies have put an increased focus on selling artificial intelligence tools as a way to boost revenue and differentiate their offerings from rivals. Tencent has built up its own artificial intelligence foundational model in China called Hunyuan. But it also uses some models created by Chinese firm DeepSeek in its products. Tong said Tencent would take a similar approach in Europe when it comes to AI, potentially offering products built on European models. "Our focus would be providing tools that would work with different foundation models and ultimately, it's the customer's decision which model works best for them," Tong told CNBC. "So I think at the end of the day, we would always go to our customers, find the problems they wanted addressed, provide them tools so that they can accomplish what they need, and realise the cost efficiency that we can offer."
Miami Herald
10-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Walmart analysts reboot stock price targets on credit card deal
Look up, look down, Walmart (WMT) is all around. First, we'll go high. The world's largest retailer, which has a store within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. popuation, recently said it would expand its drone delivery service through Alphabet-owned (GOOGL) Wing. The expansion will reach customers from 100 stores in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa within the coming year. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter With the expansion, Walmart's drone deliveries will be available in five states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. "As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail," Greg Cathey, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Transformation and Innovation, said in a statement. Meanwhile, the "Tonight Show"'s Jimmy Fallon hosted Walmart's annual meeting, which also included such musical acts as the Killers, Noah Kahan, Camila Cabello and Post Malone. Walton Goggins, who is appearing in Walmart's new ad campaign, and Chris Paul, guard for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, also showed up. "Walmart is No. 1, so shove it, Target," Fallon sang, digging at one of the company's key rivals. "There is no place I would rather be on Friday at 8 a.m." Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon told the audience that the company wanted "to be a lab of opportunity," the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. Bloomberg/Getty Images "The real magic happens with the combination of our people and technology," he said. ""We love people and we embrace change." More Retail Stocks: Halloween retailer sounds warning consumers need to hearTarget expands same-day delivery to 100s of retailersWalmart makes surprise cuts as it looks at tariff price hikes And then there was the news that Synchrony Financial (SYF) and OnePay, a fintech majority-owned by Walmart, would launch a new credit card program. That's scheduled to go live in the fall. OnePay, which Walmart created in 2021 with the venture firm Ribbit Capital, will handle the customer experience for the card program through its mobile app. In 2023, Walmart sued Capital One to end their credit card partnership early, alleging that McLean, Va., financial services company was not fulfilling its contractual obligations. A federal judge ruled in Walmart's favor, but Capital One was evaluating its right to appeal. The companies settled last year and the lawsuit was dismissed. The Walmart card program had 10 million customers and roughly $8.5 billion in loans outstanding last year, when the partnership with Capital One ended, according to Fitch Ratings. TD Cowen noted that Synchrony would not purchase the existing Walmart card portfolio from Capital One (COF) , so this new program will have to be built from scratch, according to The Fly. Similar to any new portfolio, TD Cowen said, it will likely be dilutive to holders at first, as Synchrony will need to build reserves, the analyst tells investors. However, while the investment firm said it would need more details from the Bentonville, Ark., retailer, the fact that Walmart, via OnePay, decided to come back to Synchrony indicates "favorable negotiating position/economics" for Synchrony in this deal. It views the plan as a positive for the financial services group. TD Cowen has a buy rating and $68 price target on Synchrony shares. Related: Walmart quietly launches new same-day delivery option in 5 more US cities Walmart shares are up 7% this year and up nearly 45% from this time in 2024. RBC Capital raised its price target on Walmart to $103 from $102 and affirmed an outperform rating on the shares. Having attended the company's Annual Associates & Shareholders Week meeting, the investment firm said management's tone and messaging were consistent with the Q1 earnings call in mid-May. Management said it was working on an artificial-intelligence-enabled offering that will reorder core grocery items when they're running low. The company is working to leverage AI to pair consumer-purchases data and smart-fridge technology, the firm said. KeyBanc raised its price target on Walmart to $110 from $105 and maintained an overweight rating after the annual meeting. The firm came away incrementally positive on Walmart's ability to drive share gains in 2025 and beyond; growth of e-commerce and advertising; and Walmart's ability to grow operating profit faster than sales over a multiyear horizon. Importantly, KeyBanc said that it continues to believe Walmart's digital business is exhibiting flywheel characteristics, where growth should drive additional growth. While it still sees potential risks to consumer spending as the Trump administration's tariffs start to flow through to store-shelf prices, the firm says Walmart is among the best positioned in retail. Related: Fund-management veteran skips emotion in investment strategy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Miami Herald
10-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Walmart quietly launches new same-day delivery option in 5 more US cities
Have you ever ordered something from Amazon or Walmart - maybe a pack of Mighty Patches, a meat thermometer, or a pack of T-shirts - and found it rattling around in a mostly empty box? And then thought about all the resources it took to get that (perhaps) nonessential item into your hands? If the pandemic made one thing better, we can now count on fast, reliable delivery for everything from beauty products and kitchen essentials to wardrobe staples. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Although Covid lockdown restrictions may have been lifted years ago, our expectations around fast shipping have persisted. But that convenience comes at a cost. Retail giants like Walmart, Amazon, and Target responded to our demands by rapidly building out their e-commerce infrastructure. While Amazon is still the main game in town for next-day or two-day delivery, Walmart is becoming a legitimate rival, partly because of its nationwide network of stores. According to World Trade Scanner, 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store. This makes it easy for the retailer to accommodate same-day curbside pickup, but Walmart's delivery service is outpacing that growth. Image source:Now, Walmart is aiming to speed same-day delivery even more by using drones. The move may also help the retailer cut down on emissions, since its electric drones will reduce the carbon footprint of local deliveries. Drone delivery is moving from the testing phase to actual implementation, and Walmart is betting that the next leap in same-day delivery isn't on the ground - it's in the air. What once seemed futuristic is quickly becoming a reality, and if Walmart has its way, you may soon get your paper towels, pain relievers, or pasta delivered by drone less than 30 minutes after ordering. Walmart recently shared it's expanding drone delivery service through a partnership with Wing. The rollout covers major areas in Dallas and Frisco, Texas, where more than 75% of residents will now have access to drone deliveries for select items. It's also turning 100 of its stores into launch pads in five new cities: Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston; and Orlando and Tampa, Florida. Walmart already provides drone delivery in its headquarters city of Bentonville, Arkansas. Related: USPS makes change to rival Amazon consumer will appreciate The drones made by Alphabet-owned Wing are fast, light, and autonomous and can carry packages up to three pounds. They fly at around 65 mph, and lower deliveries on a tether straight into your driveway or yard - no landing required. The drones offer fast, contactless delivery that fits the modern shopping habits shaped by the pandemic. The expansion builds on Walmart's growing experience in this space. It has already partnered with other drone companies and completed hundreds of thousands of test deliveries in recent years. Wing says the service is perfect when customers need everyday essentials quickly but don't want to run to the store. Walmart's experimentation with drones is not a gimmick. Rather, it's an attempt to solve what logistics companies call the "last mile problem," referring to the most expensive and time-consuming part of any delivery. Walmart's drone delivery isn't just about speed - it's about transforming how supply chains work. Walmart is able to use its massive network of stores as fulfillment hubs, allowing the company to shorten delivery times and reduce reliance on traditional warehouses. That's a major advantage over Amazon, which still relies heavily on centralized logistics. Related: FedEx layoffs signal a concerning business trend The pandemic accelerated the shift to e-commerce, but it also changed what customers expect. People don't just want online ordering - they want instant gratification. Drone delivery gets closer to that goal. It also offers sustainability benefits. Of course, there are still hurdles to clear. Regulatory approvals, weather constraints, and payload limits all remain challenges. And broader concerns - like safety, privacy, and noise - will need to be addressed as drones become more common. Still, Walmart's investment in this space signals something bigger: a retail landscape that's continuing to evolve long after Covid. For shoppers, it means even more ways to get what they need, when they want it. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
