RBA Shocks Markets With Surprise Rate Hold
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Morning, Rich Henderson from Bloomberg's Melbourne Bureau. Here are the latest headlines:
Today's must-reads:
• RBA shocks with a rate hold
• Super funds load up on private equity
• Albanese heads to China
The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold in a shock to markets that sent the local dollar spiking and bonds tumbling.
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Atlassian Corporation (TEAM): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on Atlassian Corporation on Compounding Your Wealth's Substack by Sergey. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on TEAM. Atlassian Corporation's share was trading at $168.06 as of August 8th. TEAM's forward P/E was 39.53 according to Yahoo Finance. christina-wocintechchat-com-FVgECvTjlBQ-unsplash Atlassian delivered a strong Q2 2025 performance, reporting $1.38 billion in revenue, up 22.3% year-over-year and beating estimates by 2.2%. Subscription revenue surged 22.8% to $1.31 billion, driven largely by cloud growth, which reached $928 million, a 25.7% increase. The company sustained robust profitability with gross margins expanding 1.9 points to 85.3% and operating margins rising 4.6 points to 24.3%. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.98 surpassed expectations by 16.7%. Net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) soared 1,695.5% year-over-year to $159 million, supported by strong premium and enterprise edition upgrades, which grew 40%. Atlassian's AI features saw rapid adoption, with monthly active users climbing 50% quarter-over-quarter and token usage increasing fivefold, reinforcing AI as a key engagement driver embedded across its platform. The launch of Teamwork Collection, a bundled cloud suite, exceeded expectations with significant deployments at major automotive, semiconductor, and gaming firms. Enterprise sales gained momentum with a record number of $1 million+ ACV deals, more than doubling year-over-year, highlighting deepening penetration in large accounts. However, free cash flow (FCF) margin declined 10.5 points to 26%, and Q4 FCF fell 13% due to timing shifts in billing and collections, reflecting the transition to annual billing and multiyear deal linearity. Guidance for Q3 2025 revenue slightly missed estimates, reflecting caution around macro uncertainties and migration complexities in large enterprises. Despite these near-term headwinds, Atlassian reaffirmed its long-term targets of 20% CAGR revenue growth and 25%+ operating margins by FY2027, underpinned by continued investments in AI, cloud migration, and sales execution. Overall, Atlassian's results showcase durable growth, strong customer expansion, and a well-positioned product portfolio driving secular cloud adoption trends. Previously, we covered a on Atlassian Corporation by Deep Value Returns in May 2025, highlighting strong free cash flow and long-term growth targets. Since then, the stock has depreciated about 19% amid modest near-term growth. Sergey shares a similar view but emphasizes Q2 2025 results, AI adoption, and cloud growth, while noting some near-term cash flow challenges. Atlassian Corporation is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 82 hedge fund portfolios held TEAM at the end of the first quarter which was 75 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of TEAM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None.
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Inside BYD's plan to rule the waves
Elon Musk had a problem. As Tesla struggled to ramp up sales in October 2022, it faced a critical shortage of ships to deliver its EVs. "There weren't enough boats, there weren't enough trains, there weren't enough car carriers," Musk told investors, after Tesla announced it had delivered tens of thousands of cars fewer than it made over the previous quarter. As Tesla struggled, its biggest Chinese rival devised a novel solution. BYD, which is on course to surpass Tesla this year as the world's top seller of EVs, decided in 2022 to build a fleet of seven giant ships, each capable of carrying thousands of cars. Unlike most of its Western rivals, which typically buy space on car carriers operated by shipping companies, BYD has cut out the intermediary as it doubles down on ambitious plans to sell half its cars outside China by 2030. Six of BYD's giant ships, which are emblazoned with the company's livery and a striking red and white color scheme, have entered service in the past year. Data obtained by Business Insider from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic shows how the Chinese carmaker is using this fleet to drive an unprecedented international expansion, flooding ports in Europe, Brazil, and Mexico as it takes the fight to Tesla and overtakes legacy automakers. EVs on the high seas BYD's first ship set sail in January 2024, when the BYD Explorer No.1 — a 200-meter-long, 13-deck, roll-on roll-off behemoth — went into service. In July, the Zhengzhou, which can carry up to 7,000 vehicles, became the seventh vessel to join the fleet. The largest ship in BYD's armada, the Shenzhen, has a capacity of over 9,000 vehicles, making it one of the world's largest car-carrying vessels. The massive ships have been busy. After launching, Explorer No.1 immediately began a 41-day voyage to Europe, the first of three separate trips there in 2024. Explorer No.1 has also made three voyages to Brazil since May 2024. In May this year, it docked in the Brazilian port of Portocel in its second visit in four months, with two other BYD ships, the Hefei and the Shenzhen, also arriving in Brazil in April and May. All three arrived fully laden and left empty as BYD raced to deliver its vehicles to Brazil ahead of a planned EV tariff rise in July. The voyages to Europe and Brazil coincide with BYD's sales surging in both markets. BYD, which did not respond to a request for comment for this story, sold just 2,500 vehicles in Brazil in the first half of 2023. It's sold over 56,000 vehicles there so far this year, per data from Brazil's National Federation of Automotive Vehicle Distribution. That's more than Nissan, Renault, and Ford, and it has seen BYD take a dominant position in one of the world's fastest-growing EV markets. In Europe, BYD's sales in the first half of the year were more than 300% higher than over the same period in 2024. The Chinese carmaker sold more pure battery-electric vehicles than Musk's automaker in Europe for the first time in April, and its global EV sales have outpaced Tesla's for the past three quarters. Stian Omli, a senior vice president at logistics intelligence firm Esgian, told Business Insider that BYD was essentially operating a "shuttle service" between its production hubs in China and key ports in Europe and Brazil. BYD's strategy is shaking up the car shipping industry, which has been dominated historically by a handful of established shipping companies that usually plan and invest on cycles of a decade or longer. Companies like Norwegian logistics giant Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Japanese firm NYK Line sell space aboard their ships to multiple companies, then try to stop at as many ports as possible and pick up cargo for the return voyages. But Omli said BYD's strategy was to go direct, dump a massive number of EVs at one or two destination ports, and often return to China empty. "Just like they have changed the competitive landscape when it comes to cars, the Chinese are also changing the competitive landscape when it comes to the car carriers," Omli said. China's brutal EV market forces BYD to go global Stephen Dyer, managing director at auto consultancy AlixPartners, told Business Insider that the Chinese EV industry's drive to expand overseas is driven by a "never-ending" price war at home, as over 100 EV brands fight it out in the world's most brutally competitive car market. "If you can succeed outside China, you gain credibility with your core market consumers in China," said Dyer. BYD could do with a boost. In July, the automaker's sales fell for the first time this year, putting its target of selling 5.5 million cars in 2025 at risk. BYD's decision to operate its own ships had its roots in a post-COVID supply crunch between 2021 and 2023, when high demand combined with a shortage of specialised car carriers. This crunch sent the price of one car carrier for a yearlong charter soaring as high as $125,000 per day, far above the typical pre-COVID high of around $25,000, Omli said. This is what made Musk rage and prompted BYD to embark on its radical strategy just as it was beginning to enter international markets in earnest. BYD's setup allows the company to avoid being caught out if prices soar again, Omli said, and also gives it more flexibility to send its cars where and when it wants. Control over its supply chain is a key part of BYD's formula for building EVs quicker and cheaper than its rivals. The company manufactures almost all of its own parts. Executive vice president Stella Li previously said that the tires and windows of BYD's Dolphin hatchback were the only parts not made in-house. "Developing your own component suppliers gives BYD not only some cost leverage over other suppliers, but also the flexibility to do things much faster," Dyer said. "When you have your own fleet, it's the same idea. It allows you to do things quickly and flexibly. You can divert them to anywhere that you want to go, even part of the way on the voyage. You're assured of supply," he added. A costly gambit BYD is not the only Chinese EV company to dabble in deep-sea shipping. Rivals such as SAIC Motors have built even larger fleets, and Omli estimated the share of the global deep-sea car carrier fleet controlled by Chinese companies will rise from 10-15% to as much as 25% in the next few years. It's a hefty investment. Omli estimated that building the first four ships in its fleet cost BYD around $500 million, with such ships typically costing between $100 and $130 million each to build. BYD's fleet shows no signs of slowing down. The automaker's monthly vehicle exports in July were nearly three times higher than a year ago, per company figures, and its vessels have made six voyages to Europe so far this year. Recently, BYD's fleet has deployed its "shuttle service" strategy in Mexico. The 200-meter-long Changzhou became the first BYD vessel to arrive in the country in June, before criss-crossing the Pacific and returning with another load a month later. The Explorer No.1 has just made the same journey, docking at the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas on 14 August. BYD recently abandoned plans to build a factory in Mexico, but the company's EVs are still in high demand there. Executives say they expect sales to double this year. Data from Esgian shows that the four BYD vessels it tracks — The Explorer No.1, Shenzhen, Hefei, and Changzhou — have visited the Mexican ports of Mazatlan and Lararo Cardenas, along with Portocel, more than any other ports outside Asia this year. No risk, no reward While BYD's shipbuilding surge has given the company the flexibility to export its EVs at unprecedented volume, the strategy has risks. The company and its Chinese rivals have shipped so many vehicles to Europe over the past two years that it has put shipping infrastructure under pressure and turned some ports into giant parking lots. Germany-based auto analyst Matthias Schmidt told Business Insider that most of BYD's sales in Europe were to companies and dealerships, rather than consumers. Schmidt said he believed BYD's strategy was to flood the market through corporate channels and build enough momentum to become a recognisable brand for European consumers. The shipping supply crunch that pushed BYD to build its fleet has now mostly abated. A wave of car-carrying ships has been launched in the past two years, easing the shortage and bringing prices down to around $50,000 per day for one car carrier on a one-year charter, with Omli estimating they will probably fall to around $30,000. With shipping via external carriers a more affordable option, Schmidt said BYD now has to justify the massive costs of running its own fleet by exporting more vehicles. "That's probably partly behind the high number of vehicles coming to Europe right now. They need to ship those vessels relatively full to maximise utilisation," Schmidt added. Alexander Brown, a senior analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, said that "a lot has changed" since BYD went all in on its own ships three years ago. Since then, Western economies have raised trade barriers to protect their own auto industries from Chinese carmakers, and the Trump administration has set about reordering global trade with tariffs. With this protectionism in mind, BYD has another big investment: factories. It recently began production at its new factory in Brazil, on the site of a plant Ford closed in 2021 after years of poor sales and big losses, ending a century of Ford production in the country. The Detroit automaker also shut down multiple plants in Europe, and Chinese automakers are now filling that gap. BYD is building production sites for the European market in Hungary and Turkey. Brown added that, if BYD had known how much tariffs would rise after going all in on cargo ships, "they may have done things a little bit differently." Graphics by Jinpeng Li. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Aussie man's amazing op shop discovery which made '$500 in 30 minutes'
Sifting through charity shops to uncover hidden gems is a popular Australian pastime. And while many shoppers have recently decried the rising cost of items sold at op shops across the country, those who have the patience to meticulously dig up treasure have even managed to turn the practice into a lucrative business endeavour. One such person is professional thrifter Mat, who recently revealed the incredible "niche" find that made him $500 in just 30 minutes after listing the item for sale online. Mat Carpenter, who runs Flip Weekly, a newsletter and podcast teaching Aussies how to flip undervalued products found in op shops, told Yahoo News that he was wandering around a Savers thrift store when he came across a unique-looking mug priced at $7.49. Mat had heard that pottery mugs made by Australia's oldest rum distillery, Beenleigh Rum, in the 1950s are now highly sought after and went "on the lookout for anything that combines alcohol and pottery." What's the story behind the $500 mug? The brown ceramic jug depicts the caricatured face of "Bosun Bill". According to Beenliegh Artisan Distillers, the character comes from the legend of 'The Bosun', who operated a floating sugar mill along the Albert and Logan Rivers. "He soon found a productive use for the excess molasses he produced- making Rum on the sly," the distillery's website states. When the floating sugar mill, the SS Walrus, washed ashore in 1984 onto the land of the distillery, all that was found was the Bosun's Copper Pot, inspiring its creation. The mugs were created as memorabilia for the rum brand, and now the collectible items sell for top dollar online. "I couldn't tell you the detailed history of Bosun Bill or Beenleigh Rum, all I know is that collectors pay a ridiculous amount of money for their items," said Mat. "Fancy paying $500 for a rum jug that doesn't contain any rum," he joked. 🛍️ Mum's sad op shop theory highlights surging Gen Z trend 😢 Local unleashes over 'disgraceful' act on Aussie street 💎 Woman's 'rare' $2 find at Vinnies op-shop worth $1,000 Flipper's advice for making lucrative discoveries in op shops While Mat admits that the find is incredibly niche, he advised that Aussies looking to make cash by flipping items from charity shops can easily replicate his efforts. First, they "need to know what they're looking for," he said. The Sydneysider previously shared with Yahoo Finance that he is earning $4,000 a month by turning one man's trash into another's treasure. He has since now flipped hundreds of items, including books, toys, DVDs and CDs, and collectable clothes, and shares advice in his weekly newsletter. "My background is finding unusual ways to make money," he said. "There's nothing more unusual than picking up a mug in a thrift store for $7.50 and selling it 30 minutes later for $500." Mat is able to identify exactly what is valuable, but also what's not. Last month, he called out Vinnies for selling relatively common books for as much as $1,000, advertising them behind the counter as rare and hard to find. The books — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince — were listed for $500 and $1,000, respectively. The books were labelled as rare first editions, but Mat argued they actually "far from it". After Yahoo News approached St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies), the charity shop confirmed the two items were pulled from the shelves, admitting that the advertised pricing was made in error. Fellow Aussies cashing in on charity shop finds And Matt isn't the only Aussie who's found incredible treasure on the shelves of his local op shops. One thrifter last year stumbled upon her "best ever find" in a Queensland Vinnies store when she realised a $2 pair of opal earrings could be worth up to $1,000. Another man, Tom purchased a Seiko watch for "less than the cost of a meal". It turned out that a small detail on the dial — the words "Australian Bureau of Statistics" — made it an incredibly valuable find. The government agency previously recognised long-standing staff by gifting them a watch. After receiving "a lot of offers to buy it" he decided to list it on eBay, where on Tuesday he sold it for over $500. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
