Wall St Engine
$META just scored a $168M win against NSO Group over Pegasus spyware abuse—its first major courtroom blow to the shadowy surveillance industry. The case sets a precedent: using U.S. servers gives American courts jurisdiction. It won’t kill spyware, but it makes the stakes a lot higher.
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$META just scored a $168M win against NSO Group over Pegasus spyware abuse—its first major courtroom blow to the shadowy surveillance industry. The case sets a precedent: using U.S. servers gives American courts jurisdiction. It won’t kill spyware, but it makes the stakes a lot higher.
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INDIA'S RUPEE WEAKENS OVER 1% ON ESCALATING GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS https://t.co/eWIvInCPBK
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INDIA'S RUPEE WEAKENS OVER 1% ON ESCALATING GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS https://t.co/eWIvInCPBK
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Wall St Engine
Citi on $GOOGL (Buy; PT $200):
"Earlier [Yday], Apple’s SVP of Services, Eddy Cue, indicated that Google Search volumes on Safari declined in April for the first time, attributed to growing adoption of ChatGPT (500M+ weekly active users and 20M paying subscribers), Perplexity AI, Anthropic, and others. Cue also suggested Apple may offer these AI providers as options—though likely not as the default—in Safari’s AI Search results, and noted that OpenAI is powering Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.
While competition in the search landscape is arguably at an all-time high, and with cost-per-click growth decelerating to +2% year-over-year in 1Q, we remain focused on Alphabet’s progress in generative AI. Newer products like Gemini (350M+ users), AI Overviews, and the beta launch of AI Mode suggest Alphabet is gaining GenAI share. We look to Google I/O on May 20–21 for more detail on the company’s strategy and maintain our Buy rating."
Analyst: Ronald Josey
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Citi on $GOOGL (Buy; PT $200):
"Earlier [Yday], Apple’s SVP of Services, Eddy Cue, indicated that Google Search volumes on Safari declined in April for the first time, attributed to growing adoption of ChatGPT (500M+ weekly active users and 20M paying subscribers), Perplexity AI, Anthropic, and others. Cue also suggested Apple may offer these AI providers as options—though likely not as the default—in Safari’s AI Search results, and noted that OpenAI is powering Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.
While competition in the search landscape is arguably at an all-time high, and with cost-per-click growth decelerating to +2% year-over-year in 1Q, we remain focused on Alphabet’s progress in generative AI. Newer products like Gemini (350M+ users), AI Overviews, and the beta launch of AI Mode suggest Alphabet is gaining GenAI share. We look to Google I/O on May 20–21 for more detail on the company’s strategy and maintain our Buy rating."
Analyst: Ronald Josey
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BYD AIMS TO SELL HALF OF ITS VEHICLES OUTSIDE CHINA BY 2030 - Reuters https://t.co/5Y0NrG9APO
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BYD AIMS TO SELL HALF OF ITS VEHICLES OUTSIDE CHINA BY 2030 - Reuters https://t.co/5Y0NrG9APO
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Wall St Engine
Wedbush Downgrades $UBER to Neutral from Outperform, PT $85; Moves to Sidelines Citing 'near-term will limit upside'
Analyst comments: "Uber delivered mixed 1Q results and healthy 2Q guidance. Gross bookings of $32.8 billion (+13.7% year-over-year) were at the midpoint of management’s guidance but 1% below Street estimates. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion (16.2% margin) came in 1% above initial expectations but slightly below the midpoint of company guidance. Mobility gross bookings growth of +13.5% year-over-year was relatively modest compared to estimates.
For 2Q, Uber expects gross bookings growth of +14.5% to +18.3% year-over-year, ahead of the +14.3% consensus, and adjusted EBITDA between $2.02 billion and $2.12 billion versus Street estimates of $2.04 billion. Despite solid execution and a strong post-pandemic recovery, Uber’s share price has appreciated significantly, and recent quarters have shown reduced upside versus expectations as performance has normalized.
We downgrade Uber to Neutral from Outperform and raise our price target to $85 from $80. In our view, the lack of clear near-term catalysts will limit further upside and constrain multiple expansion in the current environment."
Analyst: Scott Devitt
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Wedbush Downgrades $UBER to Neutral from Outperform, PT $85; Moves to Sidelines Citing 'near-term will limit upside'
Analyst comments: "Uber delivered mixed 1Q results and healthy 2Q guidance. Gross bookings of $32.8 billion (+13.7% year-over-year) were at the midpoint of management’s guidance but 1% below Street estimates. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion (16.2% margin) came in 1% above initial expectations but slightly below the midpoint of company guidance. Mobility gross bookings growth of +13.5% year-over-year was relatively modest compared to estimates.
For 2Q, Uber expects gross bookings growth of +14.5% to +18.3% year-over-year, ahead of the +14.3% consensus, and adjusted EBITDA between $2.02 billion and $2.12 billion versus Street estimates of $2.04 billion. Despite solid execution and a strong post-pandemic recovery, Uber’s share price has appreciated significantly, and recent quarters have shown reduced upside versus expectations as performance has normalized.
We downgrade Uber to Neutral from Outperform and raise our price target to $85 from $80. In our view, the lack of clear near-term catalysts will limit further upside and constrain multiple expansion in the current environment."
Analyst: Scott Devitt
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Wall St Engine
BARCLAYS ON $RUN (EW; PT $15): 'MORE POSITIVES THAN NEGATIVES
Analyst comments: "Bit of a noisy quarter with change in disclosures, but we view the quarter and update as positive: Despite some impact from tariffs that will hit later in the year, the company was able to maintain the $200-$500mm off cash generation guide, which we expected (see preview) although some of the assumptions underpinning the guide changed. The company now expects stronger demand with growth anticipated in the mid-single digits (vs. prior flat expectation), as some of the weakness seen in the affiliate channel is reversing, offsetting the tariff headwinds, which are slated to increase creation costs by 3-8% (or $1-$3K per customer) this year. Cash generation for the quarter came in at $56mm, above our $12mm estimate, and was used to pay down $27mm of parent debt. The company reported $1.2 bn of aggregate subscriber value (in line with our $1.2 bn sub value), $164mm of contracted net value creation (better than our $125mm) and $2.6 bn contracted net earning assets (in-line with our $2.6 bn). New metrics are more conservative, transparent and better reconcile with GAAP statements: Starting this quarter, the company has started to calculate their metrics a bit differently. From a unit economic perspective, there were 2 things to note: 1) discount rate is floating to more appropriately align with the project-level capital costs each period vs. the fixed 6% it used before and 2) creation costs are more fully burdened with corporate spending that wasn't previously included and can be calculated from line items in the income statement and cash flow statement (vs. the prior convoluted calculations that mostly didn't tie to the financial statements). The company now also provides the upfront net value creation by subtracting this creation cost number from the upfront proceeds it expects to receive from tax equity, non recourse debt and prepayments/upfront incentive for just the contracted portion (no renewal value or any other non-contracted upside). This gives us a rough proxy on how much cash the company should generate from installing these projects during the quarter and while there are some nuances due to timing and working capital, it should better correlate with actual cash generation over time."
Analyst: Christine Cho
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BARCLAYS ON $RUN (EW; PT $15): 'MORE POSITIVES THAN NEGATIVES
Analyst comments: "Bit of a noisy quarter with change in disclosures, but we view the quarter and update as positive: Despite some impact from tariffs that will hit later in the year, the company was able to maintain the $200-$500mm off cash generation guide, which we expected (see preview) although some of the assumptions underpinning the guide changed. The company now expects stronger demand with growth anticipated in the mid-single digits (vs. prior flat expectation), as some of the weakness seen in the affiliate channel is reversing, offsetting the tariff headwinds, which are slated to increase creation costs by 3-8% (or $1-$3K per customer) this year. Cash generation for the quarter came in at $56mm, above our $12mm estimate, and was used to pay down $27mm of parent debt. The company reported $1.2 bn of aggregate subscriber value (in line with our $1.2 bn sub value), $164mm of contracted net value creation (better than our $125mm) and $2.6 bn contracted net earning assets (in-line with our $2.6 bn). New metrics are more conservative, transparent and better reconcile with GAAP statements: Starting this quarter, the company has started to calculate their metrics a bit differently. From a unit economic perspective, there were 2 things to note: 1) discount rate is floating to more appropriately align with the project-level capital costs each period vs. the fixed 6% it used before and 2) creation costs are more fully burdened with corporate spending that wasn't previously included and can be calculated from line items in the income statement and cash flow statement (vs. the prior convoluted calculations that mostly didn't tie to the financial statements). The company now also provides the upfront net value creation by subtracting this creation cost number from the upfront proceeds it expects to receive from tax equity, non recourse debt and prepayments/upfront incentive for just the contracted portion (no renewal value or any other non-contracted upside). This gives us a rough proxy on how much cash the company should generate from installing these projects during the quarter and while there are some nuances due to timing and working capital, it should better correlate with actual cash generation over time."
Analyst: Christine Cho
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Tesla’s $TSLA push to trademark “Robotaxi” has hit a snag, per Tech Crunch. The USPTO just refused the trademark for vehicles, calling it too generic. Tesla has 3 months to respond. Meanwhile, “Cybercab” and ride-hailing-related “Robotaxi” marks are still under review. https://t.co/oL2vGmm5u1
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Tesla’s $TSLA push to trademark “Robotaxi” has hit a snag, per Tech Crunch. The USPTO just refused the trademark for vehicles, calling it too generic. Tesla has 3 months to respond. Meanwhile, “Cybercab” and ride-hailing-related “Robotaxi” marks are still under review. https://t.co/oL2vGmm5u1
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Wall St Engine
Nintendo expects demand for the new Switch 2, launching June 5, to lift profit this year despite a sharp drop in FY24 earnings. The company sees FY25 net income rising 7.6% to ¥300B on 15M Switch 2 unit sales. Tariffs remain a key risk, with execs warning they’ve already cost tens of billions of yen.
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Nintendo expects demand for the new Switch 2, launching June 5, to lift profit this year despite a sharp drop in FY24 earnings. The company sees FY25 net income rising 7.6% to ¥300B on 15M Switch 2 unit sales. Tariffs remain a key risk, with execs warning they’ve already cost tens of billions of yen.
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Trump: "Too Late” Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! https://t.co/rcnk8FQvwi
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Trump: "Too Late” Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! https://t.co/rcnk8FQvwi
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