Tariff talks begin between U.S. and Chinese officials in Geneva as the world looks for signs of hope
Switzerland's Economy Minister Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, left, shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, right, next to Switzerland's President Karin Keller-Sutter, center, during a bilateral meeting between Switzerland and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, Pool)
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Globe and Mail
6 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Is CoreWeave Stock a Buy Now?
Investing in today's stock market can be tricky given the volatile macroeconomic climate, fueled by the Trump administration's ever-shifting tariff policies. But the artificial intelligence sector remains a robust investment opportunity as organizations around the world race to build artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Consequently, AI stocks provide the potential for great gains. One example is CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV). The company went public in March at $40 per share. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Since then, CoreWeave stock soared to a 52-week high of $166.63 in June. This hot stock remains more than triple its IPO price at the time of this writing. Can it go higher? Evaluating whether now is the time to grab CoreWeave shares requires digging into the company and unpacking its potential as a good investment for the long haul. Reasons to consider CoreWeave stock CoreWeave delivers cloud computing infrastructure to businesses hungry for more computing capacity for their AI systems. The company operates over 30 data centers housing servers and other hardware used by customers to train their AI and develop inference, which is an AI's ability to apply what it learned in training to real-world situations. AI juggernauts such as Microsoft, IBM, and OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, are among its roster of customers. The insatiable appetite for AI computing power propelled CoreWeave's business. The company's first-quarter revenue rose a whopping 420% year over year to $981.6 million. Sales growth shows no sign of slowing down. CoreWeave expects Q2 revenue to reach about $1.1 billion. That would represent a strong year-over-year increase of nearly 170% from the prior year's $395 million. The company signs long-term, committed contracts, and as a result, it has visibility into its future revenue potential. At the end of Q1, CoreWeave had amassed a revenue backlog of $25.9 billion, up 63% year over year thanks to a deal with OpenAI. The company forecasts 2025 full-year revenue to come in between $4.9 billion and $5.1 billion, a substantial jump up from 2024's $1.9 billion. CoreWeave's concerning downsides Although CoreWeave has enjoyed massive sales success, there are some potential pitfalls with the company. For starters, it isn't profitable. Its Q1 operating expenses totaled $1 billion compared to revenue of $981.6 million, resulting in an operating loss of $27.5 million. Even worse, its costs are accelerating faster than sales, which means the company is moving further away from reaching profitability. CoreWeave's $1 billion in operating expenses represented a 487% increase over the prior year, eclipsing its 420% year-over-year revenue growth. Another area of concern is the company's significant debt load. CoreWeave exited Q1 with $18.8 billion in total liabilities on its balance sheet, and $8.7 billion of that was debt. To keep up with customer demand for computing power, CoreWeave has to spend on expanding and upgrading AI-optimized hardware, and that's not cheap. As it adds customers, the company must expand its data centers to keep pace. Debt is one way it's funding these capital expenditures. Among the risks of buying its stock, CoreWeave admitted, "Our substantial indebtedness could materially adversely affect our financial condition" and that the company "may still incur substantially more indebtedness in the future." In fact, its Q1 debt total of $8.7 billion was a 10% increase from the prior quarter's $7.9 billion in debt. To buy or not to buy CoreWeave stock Seeing an increase in both expenses and debt is a concern, but because CoreWeave is a newly public company, there's not much history to know how well it can manage its finances over the long term. Q1 is the only quarter of financial results it's released since its initial public offering. If subsequent quarters reveal a trend toward getting costs and debt under control while continuing to show strong sales growth, CoreWeave stock may prove to be a worthwhile investment over the long run. But for now, only investors with a high risk tolerance should consider buying shares. Even then, another consideration is CoreWeave's stock valuation. This can be assessed by comparing its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio to other AI companies, such as its customer and fellow cloud provider Microsoft and AI leader Nvidia. Data by YCharts. CoreWeave's share price surged over recent weeks, causing its P/S multiple to skyrocket past that of Nvidia and Microsoft. The valuation suggests CoreWeave stock is overpriced at this time. Although CoreWeave's sales are strong, given its pricey stock and shaky financials, the ideal approach is to put CoreWeave on your watch list. See how it performs over the next few quarters, and wait for its high valuation to drop before considering an investment. Should you invest $1,000 in CoreWeave right now? Before you buy stock in CoreWeave, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks 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 $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Robert Izquierdo has positions in International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool 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.
Globe and Mail
12 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Amid the Turmoil, Is Now a Good Time to Buy Tesla Stock?
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) might be the most discussed stock in the history of stocks. You might think there's nothing new to be said -- and that investors should just buy it and hold on. But as someone who has been watching Tesla stock since its IPO in 2010, I think the forces moving the stock have changed a great deal in the last several years -- and I think the bull case for Tesla has some big problems. For starters, Tesla's sales aren't going in the right direction. But there's a deeper reason to think twice about Tesla stock as well. Tesla's car business is going in the wrong direction Not too long ago, it was still possible to believe that huge growth was inevitable for Tesla. The developed world was moving quickly toward a zero-emissions future, and Tesla had the best electric vehicles one could buy -- and it was scaling up to build millions more every year. What could go wrong? A lot, it turned out. Between CEO Elon Musk's foray into right-wing politics, Tesla's aging product line, and the growing number of excellent EVs from other automakers, Tesla's sales have been hit hard. Global sales were down 13% in the first quarter of 2025 from a year earlier. In Europe and China -- arguably the two most critical global markets for EVs right now -- they're down even further so far in the second quarter, while overall sales of EVs continue to rise. Musk's answer has been to make -- or at least talk up -- an aggressive pivot to robotaxis. Tesla has claimed that its service's costs will be far below market leader Waymo's, in large part because Tesla doesn't bother with the expensive lidar sensors that Waymo considers critical to safety. While an optimist might say that cost advantage will lead to market domination, a more realistic view is that Tesla is taking a huge safety risk by sticking with its camera-only system -- a risk that the robotaxi business could end abruptly in a single news cycle if something goes badly wrong. Of course, with Tesla's valuation currently hovering around $1 trillion (a mere 169 times its revenue over the last year), it's reasonable to think that total robotaxi market domination is already built into the company's share price. That's a problem if the robotaxi push goes awry. But the real problem with Tesla stock is that none of that matters much anymore. Tesla's stock price isn't really about its business now Tesla's valuation these days is mostly a reflection of how the popularity and success of Elon Musk is viewed in any given moment. It's very similar to the dynamics behind meme coins, cryptocurrencies that generally lack any purpose (or put another way, any fundamental value) beyond the cultural value they hold and the communities that surround them. As my colleague Anders Bylund recently wrote: Meme coins spotlight the power of community and sentiment in the digital age. Their value is largely driven by social media, celebrity endorsements, and the broader meme culture that thrives on the internet. Tesla does have some fundamental value, of course -- the car and energy-storage businesses, the (maybe) robotaxi business, and the (someday, maybe, perhaps) humanoid-robot business. But the car business, the part that has generated most of Tesla's revenue to date, is trending in the wrong direction. That's a situation that would drive the stocks of most other automakers down to just a few times earnings. It hasn't hit Tesla stock that way -- at least, not yet -- because of Musk's outsized public presence and huge promises. But take a step back: If your hope is to buy Tesla stock now and make a fortune, be aware that ship may have long since sailed. The only reason to buy Tesla now On the other hand, there's certainly a strong community around Tesla -- and a smaller, but still strong, community of those who remain very bullish on the stock and love to discuss its twists and turns. If joining that latter community appeals to you, a very small position in Tesla might still be worthwhile. But as a long-term investment, here in 2025 I think you owe it to yourself to find something sturdier than Tesla stock. Don't miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $367,516!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $38,712!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $669,517!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon. See the 3 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025
CTV News
15 hours ago
- CTV News
Bank of Canada head Tiff Macklem says mandate should evolve in a ‘shock-prone' world
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem takes part in an interview at the Bank of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA — Tiff Macklem is wearing an Edmonton Oilers pin as he reflects on coming very close to beating big odds. It's a significant day for the governor of the Bank of Canada: he's just laid out his reasons to the entire country and a global audience for keeping the central bank's benchmark interest rate steady for a second straight time. That night is also Game 1 of the NHL's Stanley Cup finals; Macklem ends his press conference with a hearty 'Go Oilers!' It's a rematch from last year's heartbreak, when the Oilers came oh-so-close to mounting a seemingly impossible four-game comeback against the Florida Panthers, only to fall short by a single goal in Game 7. Macklem, too, was almost safe to declare victory last year. He had just about secured a coveted 'soft landing' for Canada's economy — a rare feat that sees restrictive monetary policy bring down surging levels of inflation without tipping the economy into a prolonged downturn. 'We got inflation down. We didn't cause a recession,' Macklem said in an interview with The Canadian Press after the rate announcement Wednesday. 'And, to be frank, until President (Donald) Trump started threatening the economy with new tariffs, we were actually seeing growth pick up.' Fresh out of one crisis, the central bank now must contend with another in U.S. tariffs. Five years into his tenure as head of the Bank of Canada, Macklem said he sees the central bank's role in stickhandling the economy — as well as Canada's role on the world stage — evolving. Many Canadians have become more familiar with the Bank of Canada in recent years. After the COVID-19 pandemic recovery ignited inflation, the central bank's rapid tightening cycle and subsequent rate cuts were top-line news for anxious Canadians stressed about rising prices and borrowing costs. That was all in pursuit of meeting the central bank's inflation target of two per cent, part of a mandate from the federal government that's up for review next year. Macklem said the past few years have led the Bank of Canada to scrutinize some of its metrics, like core inflation and how it responds to supply shocks in the economy. But he defends keeping the bank's inflation target, particularly at a time of global upheaval. 'Our flexible inflation targeting framework has just been through the biggest test it's ever had in the 30 years since we announced the inflation target,' he said. 'I'm not going to pretend it's been an easy few years for anybody. But I think the framework has performed well.' Macklem said, however, that he sees room to build out the mandate to address other areas of concern from Canadians, such as housing affordability. Whether it's the high cost of rent or a mortgage, or surging prices for groceries and vehicles, Macklem said the past few years have been eye-opening to Canadians who weren't around the last time inflation hit double digits in the 1980s. 'Unfortunately, a whole new generation of Canadians now know what inflation feels like, and they didn't like it one bit,' he said. Monetary policy itself can't make homes more affordable, he noted — in a nutshell, high interest rates make mortgages more expensive while low rates can push up the price of housing itself because they stoke demand. But Macklem said one of the things he's reflecting on is that inflation can get worse when the economy isn't operating at its potential or when it's facing great disruption. 'There is a role for monetary policy to smooth out some of that adjustment — support the economy while ensuring that inflation is well-controlled.' He didn't offer suggestions on how the mandate might expand to address housing affordability specifically, but said 'the work is ongoing' and will be settled in meetings with the federal government next year. Right now, he's trying to make sure that the economic impacts from Canada's tariff dispute with the United States don't result in prolonged inflation. The Bank of Canada is not alone in debating how monetary policy ought to respond in what Macklem called a more 'shock-prone' world. The G7 Finance Ministers' Summit in Kananaskis, Alta., last month also featured roundtables with the bloc's central bankers. Conversations at the summit were 'candid,' Macklem said, and though the nations issued a joint statement at the close of the event, that doesn't mean they agreed on everything. 'International co-operation, to be honest, has never been easy. It is particularly difficult right now, but that doesn't make it less important. That makes it more important,' he said. 'I do think Canada, as the chair of the G7, has a leadership role to play.' The Bank of Canada is also changing the way it has conversations with Canadians and the kind of data it considers. A day after the June interest rate decision, deputy governor Sharon Kozicki told a Toronto business crowd how the central bank is using data more nimbly, relying heavily on surveys and more granular information to make monetary policy decisions in an uncertain time. These sources offer a faster way to see what's happening on the ground in the economy than traditional statistical models allow. Macklem said the central bank would previously have dismissed most supply shocks as transitory — likely to pass without the need for central bank adjustments, such as rising and falling oil prices. But he said the Bank of Canada needs to be running a more 'nuanced playbook' now to respond to some increasingly common shocks: supply chain disruptions, trade conflicts and extreme weather to name a few. An overheating economy running up against a supply disruption is the kind of inflationary fire Macklem is trying to avoid in this latest crisis. 'The economy does not work well when inflation is high,' he said. 'And the primary role of the Bank of Canada is to ensure that Canadians maintain confidence in price stability. That's all we can do for the Canadian economy. That's what we can do for Canadians. And that's what we're focused on.' Later in the day on Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers took Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Canadian team was down but roared back to win 4-3 in overtime. It's still early in the Bank of Canada's response to the latest global shock. But with any luck, Macklem's team might also get a leg up with lessons learned the last time they faced big odds. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
