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Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alphabet stock still looking cheap: Opening Bid top takeaway
Sorry, trade deal tracker fans, you'll have to take a back seat this morning for earnings analysis. Tesla (TSLA) is the top trending ticker on Yahoo Finance as the EV maker delivered a weak quarter that everyone on the Street expected. What they didn't expect was a subdued Elon Musk on the earnings call. A little less sizzle on the mic this go around for the prickly gazillionaire! Then we have Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), which dropped the mic in its own right on Wednesday afternoon — but for the right reasons: bullish earnings call commentary on cloud demand and how it's monetizing AI in its core search business. The company also lifted its capital expenditure for 2025 to $85 billion, a $10 billion jump from its previous forecast. "What we see here is that AI spend is going absolutely nowhere but up," Gradient Investments analyst Lisa Schreiber said on Opening Bid. "So, it's still very strong, which is a very perfect backdrop for the rest of the hyperscalers, as [their earnings] are coming in over the next couple of weeks, that benefits even more parts of the industries." There are also peripheral reports in focus, such as IBM (IBM) and Chipotle (CMG). IBM had a good quarter. CFO Jim Kavanaugh tells me the company is finding more expense savings and is seeing sizable AI software demand. But the stock is getting hit. Chipotle had an unsavory quarter, as sales surprisingly slowed. That stock is getting shredded. "Markets digested a high-impact slate of earnings marked by extreme single-stock volatility, investors rewarding clean beats paired with credible guidance, punishing any signs of softness," Evercore ISI strategist Julian Emanuel said. For me, the main stock story on Opening Bid today was Alphabet. The numbers were so strong that one has to wonder why the stock didn't gain more — especially considering shares trade at a discounted forward PE ratio relative to the S&P 500 (^GSPC). Zoom in: Alphabet's big quarter Alphabet is trading at only 19.3 times forward earnings on a PE basis (S&P 500 is at 24 times), and the stock goes up just 2% on Thursday morning? Did anyone listen to the earnings call? I did: The company said revenue growth accelerated throughout the business. Cloud business is rocking. The company said it's not losing key AI talent to the giant wallet of Meta (META). The discussion around AI and search seems very bullish. YouTube is crushing it. "AI (beast) mode — it's time to close the valuation gap," KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson said. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives added, "We continue see a favorable risk/reward for Alphabet and think there is a case for multiple expansion in the coming quarters as investors gain more comfort around the current macro environment, regulatory risk, and the impact of generative AI on the business." Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blackstone's No. 2 says dealmaking pause now 'behind us'
Blackstone (BX) President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray on Thursday became the latest high-ranking Wall Street executive to declare that a dealmaking freeze triggered by President Trump's tariffs is now firmly in the past. "We believe the dealmaking pause is behind us,' Gray, Blackstone's No. 2 executive behind CEO Stephen Schwarzman, told analysts Thursday, citing "the largest forward IPO pipeline since 2021." Schwarzman reinforced that sentiment, saying to the same analysts that "we are preparing a number of other companies for public offerings over the coming quarters." Blackstone's stock rose more than 4% Thursday. It is up a 4% so far this year, under performing major stock indexes that notched records Wednesday. The statements from top executives at Blackstone echo what the leaders of the nation's biggest Wall Street banks said last week. They repeatedly made it clear that their corporate clients are becoming used to the uncertainty surrounding trade and are moving ahead with plans to merge with other companies, raise debt, or go public anyway. "Boardrooms appear more accepting of ongoing uncertainty broadly," Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO Ted Pick said on July 16. Volatility "is going to, I suspect, be a feature, not a bug of the new world order and we will benefit from that," Citigroup (C) CEO Jane Fraser said on July 15. Three months ago, a sense of gloom hovered over Wall Street's first-quarter earnings season as bankers and private equity executives grappled with a halt in dealmaking and the market chaos that followed Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement. That gloom has been replaced by optimism as Wall Street digests some red-hot IPOs and sizable mergers along with a deregulatory push in Washington, D.C. The latest reminder that the M&A market is heating up came Thursday when Union Pacific (UNP) confirmed advanced talks with Norfolk Southern (NSC) about a potential combination that would make the rail industry's largest deal ever. 'The environment we see emerging — lower short term interest rates, less uncertainty and continued economic growth, combined with a pent up desire to transact — is the right recipe to reignite M&A and IPO activity,' Blackstone's Gray added Thursday. New negotiations and trade pacts with certain countries are also helping Wall Street get more comfortable with the uncertainty. 'It remains to be seen how individual negotiations will play out, but the direction of travel is toward more resolutions," Schwarzman, a billionaire GOP donor who was one of Trump's biggest backers on Wall Street during the 2024 campaign, told analysts. "As the policy environment settles we expect transaction activity to benefit, including realizations greater clarity will lead to greater confidence for companies, financial sponsors and market participants," Scwharzman added. Blackstone's second-quarter earnings surpassed analyst expectations with its assets under management surging 13% to a record $1.21 trillion. Overall profits rose 72% to $764 million compared to the second quarter of last year. Of the firm's four asset management divisions, its credit and insurance group, which houses the firm's private credit unit, brought in half of the quarter's $52 billion of inflows. David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. His email is Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Touch Records; Rail Merger Talks; West Pharma in Focus
Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Touch Records; Rail Merger Talks; West Pharma in Focus originally appeared on TheStreet. Morning Market: S&P and Nasdaq Touch Records The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite touched all-time highs, thanks to a strong showing from Alphabet. They're up 0.16% and 0.07% respectively at last check. West's Pharma's Very Green Day Keeping with the theme of health-care outperformance this week, West Pharmaceutical () is sitting atop the S&P 500 this morning. It's up 23%, thanks to its earnings report. The medical equipment maker raised its annual forecast, crediting GLP-1 demand. GLP-1 meds are used to treat diabetes and obesity. Competitors Labcorp () and Charles River () were the index's second and third-best performers, up 9.1% and 8.1% respectively. All Aboard the Strugglebus At the same time, auto-parts builder LKQ () is down 21%, touching a 52-week low, after missing analyst estimates of its earnings. It cut its full-year guidance, too, citing weak demand for auto services and parts. Guidance Up Short at American Air In April American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that domestic travel declined "considerably" after President Trump took office. At the time, travel brands were pulling their guidance, citing economic uncertainty. And while some brands have paled back their concerns in recent weeks, American Air still faces some issues. It beat Wall Street estimates with $14.39 billion of Q2 revenue (vs. $14.3 billion expected) and earnings per share of 95 cents (vs. 78 cents expected), the airline issued guidance that was lighter than analysts were hoping for. The shares are down 7% in early trading. Rise and Shine: Morning Reports Earlier this a.m. we noted a few other big reports to keep an eye on. Those reports are now out, too. Here's how those companies are faring: Alternative-investments giant Blackstone () is up 2.9% after a healthy Q2 beat, with profit rising 25% year-over-year. Industrial and technology group Honeywell is down 4.3% after margins narrowed in its latest report. The Paris oil-and-gas player TotalEnergies is down 2.8% after lower oil and gas prices weighed on its business. Union Pacific Confirms Merger Talks with Norfolk Southern Going into its earnings report today, Union Pacific () was already the talk of Wall Street, due to murmurs that the railroad giant was considering a merger with competitor Norfolk Southern () . Well, aside from the strong revenue and earnings beat that America's largest railroad booked in its latest quarter, it confirmed the speculation as well. However, Union Pacific warns investors: There are no guarantees about whether such a deal could come about. If the two companies connect, they'll be far away the largest rail owner in the country, making a major change to an industry that already has concentrated down to a few companies. Meantime, at last check the Dow 30 are 0.6% lower and the S&P 500 is flat. Nasdaq Composite futures are 0.23% in the green. Treasury Yields Higher After Jobless Claims Data U.S. Treasury yields rose after jobless claims declined last week by 4,000 to 217,000. That was about 10,000 less than analysts expected. In addition, as was widely expected, the European Central Bank chose to leave its deposit facility rate at 2%. This comes after the bank made the decision to cut in recent meetings. 💸💰Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰💸 Taken together, investors have pushed up the yield on the 10-year by about 4.5 basis points (+1.03%) this morning. It's now sitting at 4.427%. Stocks are little moved in the premarket, with the S&P about 0.11% higher. Per Nasdaq, we're looking for 186 reports today; today's four most-valuable reports all are due out in short order. Industrial heavyweight Honeywell () , energy company TotalEnergies () , railroad giant Union Pacific () and investment firm Blackstone () will report results this morning. Later this afternoon, we'll be looking for results from beleaguered chipmaker Intel () , gold mining firm Newmont () , and data center REIT Digital Realty Trust () , among others. Megacaps Trading Places When Tesla () and Google parent Alphabet () reported yesterday, it was the automaker that registered a small gain despite its worst revenue decline in years — not the advertising-and-search-and-cloud business, which handed investors a healthy double beat against analyst estimates. This morning, they've flip-flopped. The key here is where that green box has trended (to orange). Alphabet is up nearly 4% in premarket trading, putting it at about $197.56 at last glance. And Tesla is now sitting more than 5% below where it ended trading yesterday, at about $313.65 at the moment. Could be worse, though. International Business Machines () has been getting hammered despite strong earnings. A miss on software revenue was to blame. It's down 6.1% this morning. Tariff Talks, Gold Jitters Notably, gold was even lower this morning after yesterday's tariff rumors. The safe haven metal gyrated yesterday on reports that the U.S. was close to a trade deal with the European Union. At last check it was down $28.90 (-0.85%) to $3,368.60. Here's how it's looking so far this year: Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Touch Records; Rail Merger Talks; West Pharma in Focus first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 24, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The 3 Things That Matter for Eli Lilly Now
Key Points Eli Lilly's biggest growth driver, tirzepatide, will continue facing scrutiny from investors and analysts. The company's oral GLP-1 candidate will soon report key phase 3 results in weight management. The drugmaker's shares look expensive, but the premium is justified given Lilly's prospects. 10 stocks we like better than Eli Lilly › Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has been one of the best-performing pharmaceutical leaders in the past five years. Thanks to strong clinical and regulatory progress, as well as robust financial results, the drugmaker has routinely impressed Wall Street. Lilly has experienced a slowdown this year, and its shares have underperformed broader equities. Still, the company could turn things around and return to its market-beating ways, especially if it can execute effectively on several fronts. Let's discuss three critical areas of its business to pay close attention to right now. 1. Tirzepatide's progress It has now been more than three years since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved tirzepatide, the medicine Eli Lilly markets as Mounjaro for treating diabetes and as Zepbound for weight management. The two brands have been generating mouthwatering sales. Each racked up billions of dollars in revenue last quarter. Mounjaro and Zepbound will continue to be crucial to Eli Lilly's progress. Here are two key things to watch. First, how quickly are their sales continuing to grow? Analysts will be closely monitoring these numbers for the foreseeable future. Image source: Getty Images. Second, will they earn label expansions? Tirzepatide has already aced other phase 3 studies, such as in cutting the risk of diabetes in patients who were overweight (or obese) and prediabetic. Regulatory authorities are now reviewing it in helping prevent heart failure in obese patients. Tirzepatide is being investigated in late-stage trials as a potential treatment for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in combination with other medicines. It's also being tested in mid-stage studies in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). So the therapy could earn many more label expansions, which will help boost its already fast-growing sales. It's a good idea to monitor Lilly's developments related to this drug. 2. Orforglipron's weight management results In April, Eli Lilly posted strong phase 3 results for its next-gen GLP-1 medicine, orforglipron, in diabetes patients. Orforglipron is a particularly important pipeline candidate to follow, because it could be one of the first oral GLP-1 therapies to hit the market. Some patients don't like needles and would vastly prefer a daily oral option over the current subcutaneously administered options. And while Lilly's recent phase 3 win for orforglipron in diabetes was significant, investors will be especially interested in the medicine's performance in weight management.
CTV News
an hour ago
- Business
- CTV News
Tesla tumbles and Alphabet rallies to keep Wall Street near its records
NEW YORK — Wall Street is hanging near its records on Thursday, but the calm surface of the U.S. stock market is hiding some roiling moves underneath. Alphabet is rallying, and Tesla is sinking sharply following a jumble of profit reports from big U.S. companies. The S&P 500 was 0.1 per cent higher in early trading after setting an all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 265 points, or 0.6 per cent, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3 per cent higher. Alphabet climbed 3.1 per cent after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It's leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it's increasing its budget to spend on AI chips and other investments this year by US$10 billion to $85 billion. That helped drive up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 1.4 per cent gain for chip company Broadcom. But a 9.2 per cent drop for Tesla helped keep the market in check. Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts' expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla's moves into AI and robotaxis. The focus, though, remains on how Musk's foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as 'we're in this weird transition period where we'll lose a lot of incentives in the U.S.' Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. The record-setting gains have been so strong that criticism is rising about how expensive stock prices have become. That in turn puts pressure on companies to deliver solid profit growth in order to justify their big gains. Besides Tesla, airlines also helped weigh on the market following their profit reports. American Airlines lost 9.3 per cent despite reporting a stronger profit than expected, thanks in part to premium bookings on long-haul flights abroad. The company said it expects to report a loss for the summer quarter. It also gave a forecast for results for the full year that had a wide range: between a loss of 20 cents per share and a profit of 80 cents per share, depending on how the economy performs. Southwest Airlines lost 8.9 per cent after delivering weaker results than expected. But it also said that it's seeing early signs of stronger demand coming off a 'depressed second quarter.' Reactions in the stock market have generally been stronger than usual when companies beat or miss their profit targets by a wide margin, according to Julian Emanuel at Evercore. Other extreme moves have also been happening underneath the market's surface, including huge swings for 'meme stocks.' Those are stocks where traders are looking to jump in with others driven by online cheerleading and get out before the momentum stops. Such swings, though, haven't been showing up in overall market indexes, which have been gliding recently. The S&P 500 hasn't had a day where it swung by at least one per cent in a month. In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields rose following the latest signal that the U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK despite all the pressures on it from tariffs and elsewhere. A report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of easing layoffs. That helped nearly cement expectations on Wall Street that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting next week, even though Trump has been agitating angrily for cuts. The European Central Bank. which had been cutting its rates, also held steady on Thursday as it waits to see how Trump's tariffs will affect the economy. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 4.43 per cent from 4.40 per cent late Wednesday. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Asia and Europe. Tokyo's jump of 1.6 per cent and London's rise of 0.8 per cent were two of the bigger gains. ___ AP writer Teresa Cerojano contributed. By Stan Choe
