Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co.'s Brian White: Here's why tech earnings will be a mixed bag
Brian White, Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. analyst, joins CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss expectations for tech earnings, outlooks on Apple, and more.
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CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
Trade tensions aren't stopping Chinese companies from pushing into the U.S.
BEIJING — Chinese companies are so intent on global expansion that even the biggest stock offering to date on Shanghai's tech-heavy STAR board counts the U.S. as one of its biggest markets, on par with China. Shenzhen-based camera company Insta360, a rival to GoPro, raised 1.938 billion yuan ($270 million) in a Shanghai listing Wednesday under the name Arashi Vision. Shares soared by 274%, giving the company a market value of 71 billion yuan ($9.88 billion). The United States, Europe and mainland China each accounted for just over 23% of revenue last year, according to Insta360, whose 360-degree cameras officially started Apple Store sales in 2018. The company sells a variety of cameras — priced at several hundred dollars — coupled with video-editing software. Co-founder Max Richter said in an interview Tuesday that he expects U.S. demand to remain strong and dismissed concerns about geopolitical risks. "We are staying ahead just by investing into user-centric research and development, and monitoring market trends that ultimately meet the consumer['s] needs," he told CNBC ahead of the STAR board listing. China launched the Shanghai STAR Market in July 2019 just months after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced plans for the board. The Nasdaq-style tech board was established to support high-growth tech companies while raising requirements for the investor base to limit speculative activity. In 2019, only 12% of companies on the STAR board said at least half of their revenue came from outside China, according to CNBC analysis of data accessed via Wind Information. In 2024, with hundreds more companies listed, that share had climbed to more than 14%, the data showed. "We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. More and more capable Chinese firms are going global," said King Leung, global head of financial services, fintech and sustainability at InvestHK. Leung pointed to the growing global business of Chinese companies such as battery giant CATL, which listed in Hong Kong last month. "There are a lot of more tier-two and tier-three companies that are equally capable," he said. InvestHK is a Hong Kong government department that promotes investment in the region. It has organized trips to help connect mainland Chinese businesses with overseas opportunities, including one to the Middle East last month. Roborock, a robotic vacuum cleaner company also listed on the STAR board, announced this month it plans to list in Hong Kong. More than half of the company's revenue last year came from overseas markets. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, Roborock showed off a vacuum with a robotic arm for automatically removing obstacles while cleaning floors. The device was subsequently launched in the U.S. for $2,600. Other consumer-focused Chinese companies also remain unfazed by heighted tensions between China and the U.S. In November, Chinese home appliance company Hisense said it aimed to become the top seller of television sets in the U.S. in two years. And last month, China-based Bc Babycare announced its official expansion into the U.S. and touted its global supply chain as a way to offset tariff risks. Chinese companies have been pushing overseas in the last several years, partly because growth at home has slowed. Consumer demand has remained lackluster since the Covid-19 pandemic. But the expansion trend is now evolving into a third stage in which the businesses look to build international brands on their own with offices in different regions hiring local employees, said Charlie Chen, managing director and head of Asia research at China Renaissance Securities. He said that's a change from the earliest years when Chinese companies primarily manufactured products for foreign brands to sell, and a subsequent phase in which Chinese companies had joint ventures with foreign companies. Insta360 primarily manufactures out of Shenzhen, but has offices in Berlin, Tokyo and Los Angeles, Richter said. He said the Los Angeles office focuses on services and marketing — the company held its first big offline product launch in New York's Grand Central Terminal in April. Chen also expects the next phase of Chinese companies going global will sell different kinds of products. He pointed out that those that had gone global primarily sold home appliances and electronics, but are now likely to expand significantly into toys. Already, Beijing-based Pop Mart has become a global toy player, with its Labubu figurine series gaining popularity worldwide. Pop Mart's total sales, primarily domestic, were 4.49 billion yuan in 2021. In 2024, overseas sales alone surpassed that to hit 5.1 billion yuan, up 373% from a year ago, while mainland China sales climbed to 7.97 billion yuan. "It established another Pop Mart versus domestic sales in 2021," said Chris Gao, head of China discretionary consumer at CLSA. The Hong Kong-listed retailer doesn't publicly share much about its global store expansion plans or existing locations, but an independent blogger compiled a list of at least 17 U.S. store locations as of mid-May, most of which opened in the last two years. The toy company has been "very good" at developing or acquiring the rights to characters, Gao said. She expects its global growth to continue as Pop Mart plans to open more stores worldwide, and as consumers turn more to such character-driven products during times of stress and macroeconomic uncertainty.
CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
European stocks to open lower as global market optimism over U.S.-China trade progress fades
England, London, Docklands, River Thames and Canary Wharf Skyline at Dawn. Dukas | Universal Images Group | Getty Images Welcome to CNBC's live blog covering European financial market action and the latest regional and global business news, data and earnings. Futures data from IG suggests London's FTSE will open 33 points lower at 8,838, Germany's DAX down 189 points at 23,783, France's CAC 40 down 44 points at 7,732 and Italy's FTSE MIB 282 points lower at 39,858. — Holly Ellyatt Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on June 11, 2025. Brendan McDermid | Reuters CNBC's coverage of the VivaTech summit in Paris continues on Thursday. We'll be reporting from Goldman Sachs' annual European Financials Conference in Berlin too. Shoppers queue to pay for their shopping in the Tesco Extra superstore on April 20, 2009 in New Malden, Surrey, England. Oli Scarff | Getty Images News | Getty Images On the data front, the U.K.'s monthly gross domestic product print is due Thursday morning, and earnings are set to come from retail giant Tesco . — Holly Ellyatt
Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Galaxy Z Fold 7 expectations: Samsung is setting a high bar for its next foldable with all this pre-launch hype
Samsung really wants you to know its working on some new foldable phones. And it's also hoping that will get you excited about the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, even if the rumors about those devices haven't yet gotten your heart racing. It started a week ago when Samsung posted a teaser that promised "cutting-edge performance and seamless AI integration optimized for the foldable format." "It's what users have come to expect from Galaxy Ultra," Samsung said of its upcoming foldabe, raising the specter of a second, higher-end Galaxy Z Fold model. (That's likely not the case, though, as we'll get to in a bit.) Then, while Apple was wrapping up its WWDC keynote a few days ago, Samsung decided to remind us once more that new foldables were on the way. And this version was going to be even more slender than previous models. "The newest Galaxy Z series is the thinnest, lightest and most advanced foldable yet — meticulously crafted and built to last," Samsung's latest teaser claimed. "The Ultra experience is ready to unfold." Two consecutive weeks of foldable-touting posts sets the stage for a big announcement, which rumors claim will be happening in July. All that's required now is for Samsung to produce new foldable phones that live up to this hype. Unfortunately, if you go by the rumors that have emerged around either the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Galaxy Z Flip 7, that's going to be tough for Samsung to do. There's always the possibility for surprises, of course, but the chatter around the next round of foldable phones from Samsung covers a lot of the improvements you'd expect — new chipset, larger displays and other enhancements here and there — but nothing that seems to herald a new era for foldable devices. In fact, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 sounds like a pretty run-of-the-mill upgrade. It's set to feature a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, though models released outside of the U.S. may turn to Exynos chips instead. Both the main screen and cover display are tipped to be bigger, and Samsung could use a bigger battery in this year's model. But the camera setup on this foldable flip phone isn't likely to change. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 sounds a bit more promising, in that it's expected to adopt the 200MP main camera already found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Edge. That upgrade will go along with larger screens plus the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, according to rumors. But based on its teasers, Samsung seems to want us to focus on the thinness of its phones, the Galaxy Z Fold model in particular. The current Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 5.6mm thin when unfolded — just a little bit more slender than the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge. But rumors suggest the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could shrink further, with a reported thinness between 3.9mm and 4.5mm. A phone that thin would certainly impress. But I'm not sure it moves the needle for people who've yet to consider a foldable device over a phone with a more conventional design. If you've been holding out on giving foldable phones a try, does it really matter to you that Samsung is shaving a millimeter-and-a-half off the thickness of its flagship device? I'm guessing the answer is no. Rather, I think the thing that will convince more people that foldable phones are the wave of the future will be when they offer capabilities that take advantage of that flexible design. Multitasking that makes the most of that enlarged interior display — reportedly 8 inches on the Galaxy Z Fold 7! — seems like a prime area for Samsung to make its mark. To be fair, current Samsung foldables do offer some multitasking features, even if more apps could be optimized for foldable displays. And in its June 4 Galaxy Z Fold teaser, Samsung mentions "seamless AI integration optimized for the foldable format," which would seem to imply that Galaxy AI features geared toward its foldable phones could be in the works. If so, then that would certainly lend some muscle to that "Ultra experience" the phone maker keeps touting. But it's also noteworthy that amid all of Samsung's talking points about its foldables — They're thin! They're light! They're versatile! — the affordability of the Z Fold and Z Flip aren't being mentioned at all. And in light of price hikes last year that upped the cost of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 by $100, that's a little worrisome. I understand that foldables are going to cost more than conventional phones. And though the Z Fold 6 is very expensive at $1,899, the best foldable phones from OnePlus and Google aren't exactly inexpensive in their own right, either. But at some point, Samsung's going to have to shift its focus away from making everything thinner and lighter to making a foldable phone that more people can afford. There had been talk of that happening with an FE edition of the Galaxy Z Flip, which would be a smart move on Samsung's part, given that two of the three Motorola Razr (2025) models cost less than the $1,099 Z Flip 6. But the rumor mill has been quiet on the prospect of a cheaper Z Flip model lately, making me wonder if it's going to be a part of the next Galaxy Unpacked event that brings us new foldables. I keep circling back to Samsung's use of the word "Ultra" in its recent foldable teasers and wondering whether the upcoming models will live up to that branding. Certainly, a 200MP main camera on the Z Fold 7 would put camera capabilities on a par with the Ultra and a thinner design would be nothing to sneeze at. But I think it's going to take more than the standard upgrades you'd expect to see to live up to the hype Samsung's looking to generate. That could be anything from record-setting battery life — remember, most foldables struggle to last long on a charge — or features that are unique to the Fold and Flip. If they're Galaxy AI exclusives, all the better. Deliver something like that, and I'll tip my hat to Samsung at the next Unpacked. Roll out the same-old same old — and at the same price — and I won't be the only one wondering what all the pre-launch fuss was about.
