Latest news with #ArsheeyaBajwa
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Palantir defies tech gloom as Trump momentum powers stellar share gains
By Arsheeya Bajwa (Reuters) -Palantir Technologies has succeeded where most tech stocks have struggled this year: staying hot in a cooling market. The company's military-grade AI tools along with its deep defense ties and high-level government connections at a time when the U.S. is boosting spending on defense software have helped investors raise the bets on the stock. It has surged more than 70% this year and is the S&P 500's second-best performer - a standout in an otherwise sluggish tech market roiled by investor worries over U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty. Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was an early backer of President Donald Trump and has close ties with key Washington lawmakers, including Vice President JD Vance, whom he supported in a 2022 U.S. Senate race. "The relationships that Palantir's with senior members of the Trump administration are helpful for business," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. Palantir in April won a $30 million contract from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop an operating system that identifies undocumented immigrants and tracks self-deportations, its largest single award from the agency among 46 federal contract actions since 2011. "They probably benefit a little bit more with Trump because of the impetus on security, border and immigration," said Francisco Bido, senior portfolio manager at Palantir investor F/m Investments. "They're going to get a lot of work out of that." Palantir, however, downplayed the impact of political goodwill. "The politics around it change, so it gets increased visibility but we've been working with ICE since 2010," the company's communications head, Lisa Gordon, told Reuters. Founded in 2003 and listed in 2020, Palantir, which was initially backed by the CIA, has drawn investor interest in its growing AI platform that allows companies to simulate AI-related scenarios, debug code and test large language models. "No other large software company can currently combine that level of growth with high profitability and unique offering," Luria said. But its growth has largely been driven by U.S. government contracts which made up for more than 42% of its revenue in the March quarter. Sales to U.S. businesses accounted for 29%, while commercial sales outside the U.S. were down 5% from a year ago - a slide that some analysts point to Palantir's polarizing political profile and America-first stance. The rally in its stock builds on a 12-fold surge over the past two years that outpaced gains in red-hot companies such as Nvidia and brings with it a valuation premium. Palantir trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 200.47, compared with Nvidia's 27.96. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Palantir defies tech gloom as Trump momentum powers stellar share gains
By Arsheeya Bajwa (Reuters) -Palantir Technologies has succeeded where most tech stocks have struggled this year: staying hot in a cooling market. The company's military-grade AI tools along with its deep defense ties and high-level government connections at a time when the U.S. is boosting spending on defense software have helped investors raise the bets on the stock. It has surged more than 70% this year and is the S&P 500's second-best performer - a standout in an otherwise sluggish tech market roiled by investor worries over U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty. Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was an early backer of President Donald Trump and has close ties with key Washington lawmakers, including Vice President JD Vance, whom he supported in a 2022 U.S. Senate race. "The relationships that Palantir's with senior members of the Trump administration are helpful for business," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. Palantir in April won a $30 million contract from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop an operating system that identifies undocumented immigrants and tracks self-deportations, its largest single award from the agency among 46 federal contract actions since 2011. "They probably benefit a little bit more with Trump because of the impetus on security, border and immigration," said Francisco Bido, senior portfolio manager at Palantir investor F/m Investments. "They're going to get a lot of work out of that." Palantir, however, downplayed the impact of political goodwill. "The politics around it change, so it gets increased visibility but we've been working with ICE since 2010," the company's communications head, Lisa Gordon, told Reuters. Founded in 2003 and listed in 2020, Palantir, which was initially backed by the CIA, has drawn investor interest in its growing AI platform that allows companies to simulate AI-related scenarios, debug code and test large language models. "No other large software company can currently combine that level of growth with high profitability and unique offering," Luria said. But its growth has largely been driven by U.S. government contracts which made up for more than 42% of its revenue in the March quarter. Sales to U.S. businesses accounted for 29%, while commercial sales outside the U.S. were down 5% from a year ago - a slide that some analysts point to Palantir's polarizing political profile and America-first stance. The rally in its stock builds on a 12-fold surge over the past two years that outpaced gains in red-hot companies such as Nvidia and brings with it a valuation premium. Palantir trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 200.47, compared with Nvidia's 27.96. 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
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Nvidia expects $8 billion hit from US chip rules; forecast misses estimates
By Arsheeya Bajwa, Stephen Nellis Nvidia beat sales expectations during its fiscal first quarter but forecast second-quarter revenue below market estimates on Wednesday, expecting an $8 billion hit to sales from tighter U.S. curbs on exports of its AI chips to key semiconductor market China. Shares of the world's most valuable semiconductor firm still rose 4% in extended trading. The stock is relatively flat so far this year, compared with 2024 when the shares nearly tripled in value. Nvidia now faces trade restrictions on what it can sell, and the AI data center market is also maturing. Washington's years-long efforts to thwart Beijing's access to top-of-the-line U.S. technology have resulted in stricter restrictions on the export of Nvidia's AI chips - stifling the company's access to one of the largest markets for semiconductors. But Nvidia earlier this month signed a spate of new deals in the Middle East, including the first phases of a 10-square-mile data center site in the United Arab Emirates that could eventually use 5 gigawatts' worth of AI infrastructure. The company has also announced similar deals in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. "We have a line of sight to projects requiring tens of gigawatts of Nvidia AI infrastructure in the not-too-distant future," Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told analysts on a conference call. But in the shorter term, Nvidia faces restrictions in China, where Kress said its data center revenue declined. New U.S. restrictions on the sale of Nvidia's H20 chips to China, the only AI processors it could legally export to the country, prompted Nvidia to disclose in April that it expected a $5.5 billion charge, while CEO Jensen Huang had in May pegged the revenue impact related to the restrictions at about $15 billion. On Wednesday, Nvidia said the actual first-quarter charge due to the H20 restrictions was $1 billion less than expected because it was able to reuse some materials. It said it lost $2.5 billion in H20 sales in the first quarter and expected to miss $8 billion in the second quarter. However, Nvidia also said the H20 brought in $4.6 billion in sales in the first quarter and that China accounted for 12.5% of overall revenue in the first quarter. Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson, said the overall impact of the H20 restrictions was less than feared. "There was a removal of some China revenue from the July quarter guides, but there was also China revenue that was pulled into the first quarter. Chinese buyers were stocking up on H20 ahead of the restrictions, which is what propped up the April quarter," Luria said. Though major cloud companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet have stood their ground on the billions they have earmarked this year for spending on expanding infrastructure for AI data centers, worries about such spending persist amid rapidly changing global trade policies. On an adjusted basis, Nvidia earned 81 cents per share in the first quarter. Analyst estimates varied widely as Wall Street tried to assess the impact of restrictions on some of Nvidia's chip sales to China. Excluding the charges, first-quarter adjusted earnings per share would have been 96 cents. According to data compiled by LSEG, the estimate for the company's adjusted quarterly earnings was 93 cents per share, with 17 analysts providing estimates after April 15 when Nvidia said H20 shipments would require additional licenses. The artificial intelligence market bellwether expects revenue of $45 billion, plus or minus 2%, in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $45.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The forecast includes a loss in H20 revenue of about $8 billion due to the recent export limitations. "The broader concern is that trade tensions and potential tariff impacts on data center expansion could create headwinds for AI chip demand in upcoming quarters," said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne. "This doesn't signal an end to Nvidia's dominance, but highlights that sustaining it will require navigating an increasingly complex landscape of geopolitical, competitive, and economic challenges."
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia shares rise as sales hit from China export curbs not as bad as feared
By Arsheeya Bajwa, Stephen Nellis (Reuters) -Nvidia beat quarterly sales expectations as customers stockpiled its AI chips before fresh U.S. curbs on China exports took effect, but the same restrictions will slice off $8 billion in sales from the company's current quarter, forcing the company to offer a forecast below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday. Shares of the world's most valuable semiconductor firm still rose 5% in extended trading as investors digested news that the hit in the current fiscal second quarter was not as bad as feared, and Nvidia talked up demand for its new Blackwell chips from customers including Microsoft. The stock is relatively flat so far this year, compared with 2024 when the shares nearly tripled in value. Nvidia now faces trade restrictions on what it can sell, and the AI data center market is also maturing. Washington's years-long efforts to thwart Beijing's access to top-of-the-line U.S. technology have resulted in stricter restrictions on the export of Nvidia's AI chips - stifling the company's access to one of the largest markets for semiconductors. Midway through a conference call with analysts, CEO Jensen Huang made impassioned remarks about U.S.-China policy, saying that Nvidia was at risk of being cut off from China's massive AI developer base and arguing that China's chip industry was sophisticated and closing in on the United States' dominance. But he praised U.S. President Donald Trump's recent move to rescind a so-called AI diffusion rule that would have regulated global flows of U.S. AI chips. "President Trump wants America to win. And he also realizes that we're not the only country in the race," Huang said. Huang told analysts that Nvidia's Hopper chips could no longer be modified for the Chinese market but did not comment on its Blackwell chips. Reuters has reported that Nvidia is preparing a Blackwell variant for the Chinese market. Though unlikely to make up for the loss in Chinese revenue, a spate of new deals that Nvidia signed earlier this month in the Middle East could offer fresh avenues of growth - including the first phases of a 10-square-mile data center site in the United Arab Emirates that could eventually use 5 gigawatts' worth of AI infrastructure. The company has also announced similar deals in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. "We have a line of sight to projects requiring tens of gigawatts of Nvidia AI infrastructure in the not-too-distant future," Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said on the conference call. But in the shorter term, restrictions on China exports will hurt. Kress said data center revenue in that country declined. U.S. restrictions on the sale of Nvidia's H20 chips to China, the only AI processors it could legally export to the country, prompted Nvidia to disclose in April that it expected a $5.5 billion charge, while Huang had in May pegged the revenue impact related to the restrictions at about $15 billion. On Wednesday, Nvidia said the actual first-quarter charge due to the H20 restrictions was $1 billion less than expected because it was able to reuse some materials. It said it lost $2.5 billion in H20 sales in the first quarter and expected to miss $8 billion in the second quarter. However, Nvidia also said the H20 brought in $4.6 billion in sales in the first quarter and that China accounted for 12.5% of overall revenue in the first quarter. Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson, said the overall impact of the H20 restrictions was less than feared. "There was a removal of some China revenue from the July quarter guides, but there was also China revenue that was pulled into the first quarter. Chinese buyers were stocking up on H20 ahead of the restrictions, which is what propped up the April quarter," Luria said. Though major cloud companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet have stood their ground on the billions they have earmarked this year for spending on expanding infrastructure for AI data centers, worries about such spending persist amid rapidly changing global trade policies. On an adjusted basis, Nvidia earned 81 cents per share in the first quarter. Analyst estimates varied widely as Wall Street tried to assess the impact of restrictions on some of Nvidia's chip sales to China. Excluding the charges, first-quarter adjusted earnings per share would have been 96 cents. According to data compiled by LSEG, the estimate for the company's adjusted quarterly earnings was 93 cents per share, with 17 analysts providing estimates after April 15 when Nvidia said H20 shipments would require additional licenses. Nvidia's data center segment revenue was $39.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with analyst estimates of $39.3 billion, according to LSEG data. The company said it has $29.8 billion in commitments to have its products manufactured, an increase from the year before but down quarter-over-quarter. Nvidia, a bellwether of the artificial-intelligence market, expects revenue of $45 billion, plus or minus 2%, in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $45.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The forecast includes a loss in H20 revenue of about $8 billion due to the recent export limitations. "The broader concern is that trade tensions and potential tariff impacts on data center expansion could create headwinds for AI chip demand in upcoming quarters," said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne. "This doesn't signal an end to Nvidia's dominance, but highlights that sustaining it will require navigating an increasingly complex landscape of geopolitical, competitive, and economic challenges." 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
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia expects $8 billion hit from US chip rules; forecast misses estimates
By Arsheeya Bajwa, Stephen Nellis (Reuters) -Nvidia beat sales expectations during its fiscal first quarter but forecast second-quarter revenue below market estimates on Wednesday, expecting an $8 billion hit to sales from tighter U.S. curbs on exports of its AI chips to key semiconductor market China. Shares of the world's most valuable semiconductor firm still rose 4% in extended trading. The stock is relatively flat so far this year, compared with 2024 when the shares nearly tripled in value. Nvidia now faces trade restrictions on what it can sell, and the AI data center market is also maturing. Washington's years-long efforts to thwart Beijing's access to top-of-the-line U.S. technology have resulted in stricter restrictions on the export of Nvidia's AI chips - stifling the company's access to one of the largest markets for semiconductors. But Nvidia earlier this month signed a spate of new deals in the Middle East, including the first phases of a 10-square-mile data center site in the United Arab Emirates that could eventually use 5 gigawatts' worth of AI infrastructure. The company has also announced similar deals in Saudi Arabia and Taiwan. "We have a line of sight to projects requiring tens of gigawatts of Nvidia AI infrastructure in the not-too-distant future," Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told analysts on a conference call. But in the shorter term, Nvidia faces restrictions in China, where Kress said its data center revenue declined. New U.S. restrictions on the sale of Nvidia's H20 chips to China, the only AI processors it could legally export to the country, prompted Nvidia to disclose in April that it expected a $5.5 billion charge, while CEO Jensen Huang had in May pegged the revenue impact related to the restrictions at about $15 billion. On Wednesday, Nvidia said the actual first-quarter charge due to the H20 restrictions was $1 billion less than expected because it was able to reuse some materials. It said it lost $2.5 billion in H20 sales in the first quarter and expected to miss $8 billion in the second quarter. However, Nvidia also said the H20 brought in $4.6 billion in sales in the first quarter and that China accounted for 12.5% of overall revenue in the first quarter. Gil Luria, an analyst with D.A. Davidson, said the overall impact of the H20 restrictions was less than feared. "There was a removal of some China revenue from the July quarter guides, but there was also China revenue that was pulled into the first quarter. Chinese buyers were stocking up on H20 ahead of the restrictions, which is what propped up the April quarter," Luria said. Though major cloud companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet have stood their ground on the billions they have earmarked this year for spending on expanding infrastructure for AI data centers, worries about such spending persist amid rapidly changing global trade policies. On an adjusted basis, Nvidia earned 81 cents per share in the first quarter. Analyst estimates varied widely as Wall Street tried to assess the impact of restrictions on some of Nvidia's chip sales to China. Excluding the charges, first-quarter adjusted earnings per share would have been 96 cents. According to data compiled by LSEG, the estimate for the company's adjusted quarterly earnings was 93 cents per share, with 17 analysts providing estimates after April 15 when Nvidia said H20 shipments would require additional licenses. The artificial intelligence market bellwether expects revenue of $45 billion, plus or minus 2%, in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $45.90 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The forecast includes a loss in H20 revenue of about $8 billion due to the recent export limitations. "The broader concern is that trade tensions and potential tariff impacts on data center expansion could create headwinds for AI chip demand in upcoming quarters," said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne. "This doesn't signal an end to Nvidia's dominance, but highlights that sustaining it will require navigating an increasingly complex landscape of geopolitical, competitive, and economic challenges."
