Alpha Coverage #130
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Berlin, Germany! And that’s a wrap on this year’s summer travel.
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Weekly newsletter bringing you a summary of unbiased, critical, thesis changing stock market news with long term impact. We cover news articles, opinion pieces and all forms of media to help you stay ahead of the curve.
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This Week’s Alpha Coverage: YouTube Playlist or Weekly Compilation.
Editor’s Pick:
[News] Rocket Lab and Synspective strike another launch deal
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) said on Monday that it has secured a second multi-launch contract with Synspective, a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite data and analytics company from Japan.
The new contract for a further 10 dedicated Electron launches brings the total number of upcoming Synspective missions to 21—marking the largest order of dedicated Electron missions with a single customer to date.
Rocket Lab has been Synspective’s sole launch provider to-date, successfully deploying six StriX satellites across six dedicated launches from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
[News] Firefly Aerospace sinks after Alpha rocket booster destroyed during ground test
Firefly Aerospace (NASDAQ:FLY) -11.5% post-market Monday after the booster stage for an Alpha rocket that was expected to launch in the coming weeks exploded during a pre-flight trial in Texas.
Firefly (NASDAQ:FLY) had suffered a failure during its most recent launch in April, when Alpha’s first-stage booster broke apart shortly after separating from the upper stage, and the company traced the problem to heat buildup in the first stage caused by “plume-induced flow separation.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration accepted the results of the company’s investigation and its mitigation plan last month, clearing Alpha to launch.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
[News] BWX Technologies wins $1.6B DoE contract to produce high purity depleted uranium
Under the contract, BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) said it will initiate requirements to build and operate a high purity depleted uranium manufacturing plant, which includes plant design, applying for necessary licenses, procuring long-lead equipment, preparing the physical site, and demonstrating manufacturing readiness.
The company said it expects to produce as much as 300 metric tons/year of high purity depleted uranium at its site in Jonesborough, Tennessee; once completed, BWXT’s (BWXT) Jonesborough facility will be the only active site capable of performing this critical process for the U.S. government.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
[News] Lithium Americas rises as DoE restructures deal, secures Thacker Pass equity stake
Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) +19.7% in early trading Wednesday after confirming the U.S. Department of Energy agreed to restructure its $2.26 billion loan deal, reaching an agreement in principle to advance the first draw of $435 million on the federal loan and defer $182 million of debt service over the first five years of the loan.
The DoE will take a 5% equity stake in the company and a separate 5% stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mining project - the largest lithium deposit in the U.S. - which is being developed in a joint venture with General Motors (GM).
Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) also said GM (GM) agreed to amend its offtake agreement under the JV to allow other parties to buy lithium that the automaker does not take from the mine.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
[News] USA Rare Earth stock jumps 10% after CEO says in talks with Trump admin - report
USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) stock closed over 14% to $25.96 on Friday after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC that the company was “in close communication” with President Trump’s administration.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 03, 2025
[News] Critical Metals soars as Trump administration weighs taking stake - Reuters
Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML) +75.2% post-market Friday following a Reuters report that Trump administration officials have discussed taking a stake in the company whose flagship project, the Tanbreez mine in Greenland, is one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits.
Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML), which agreed to buy the Tanbreez deposit last year for $5 million in cash and $211 million in stock, applied in June for a $50 million grant through the Defense Production Act, but the Trump administration has begun discussions with the company about converting the grant into an equity stake, according to the report.
If the deal goes through, a $50 million conversion would mean a ~8% stake in the company, although negotiations are not final and the deal could collapse.
The equity stake reportedly would be separate from a $120 million loan under consideration by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to help the company develop Tanbreez, which is expected to cost $290 million to bring into commercial production.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 03, 2025
[YouTube/The Compound] How Peter Lynch Became The Greatest Fund Manager Of All Time | TCAF 211
The G.O.A.T. and my investing idol. I have never read any of Peter’s books but over the years I have found that all the investing strategies I came up with, very closely resemble his style.
In this conversation, Peter Lynch talks about some of his most classic takes over the years. An instant classic, an absolute must watch.
Link to Full Video (57:35 Mins) - Oct. 03, 2025
News, Facts, Analyst & Market Commentary - Short Reads:
BMNR 0.00%↑ ORBS 0.00%↑ #ETH #BTC
BitMine’s crypto and cash holdings total $11.6B
BitMine Immersion Technologies (NYSE:BMNR) said its ETH holdings now exceed 2.65 million tokens, bringing its total crypto and cash holdings to $11.6 billion.
As of September 28, BitMine’s crypto holdings were comprised of 2,650,900 ETH at $4,141 per ETH (Bloomberg), 192 Bitcoin (BTC), $157 million stake in Eightco Holdings (ORBS) (”moonshots”), and unencumbered cash of $436 million.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
Oklo, Sweden’s Blykalla to partner on advanced nuclear technology
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) +5.7% in early trading Monday after unveiling a partnership with advanced small modular reactor developer Blykalla to enhance advanced nuclear technology, including a ~$5 million investment in the Swedish company.
The companies said they will share insights on materials, components, non-nuclear supply chain sourcing, fuel fabrication, and licensing best practices across the U.S. and Sweden, aiming to reduce costs and schedule risks, and that the deal is one of the first U.S.-European collaborations in the advanced nuclear reactor sector.
Blykalla is working on a lead-cooled reactor and has invested in a test unit through a venture with Germany’s Uniper at a site in Sweden.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
AppLovin jumps as it prepares to launch self-serve tool, analysts raise estimates
AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) jumped 6% during market action on Monday as the company prepares to launch its self-serve tool for non-gaming advertisers on October 1.
Axon Ads Manager will allow e-commerce and other non-gaming clients to join the platform without the need for a manual onboarding process.
Morgan Stanley believes the launch will serve as a key catalyst for the mobile app advertising company. The investment bank dramatically increased its price target to $750 from $480 and reiterated its Overweight rating on the stock.
Meanwhile, Phillip Securities initiated coverage on AppLovin, assigning the software company a $725 price target and an Accumulate rating.
AppLovin recently sold off its mobile gaming division as it transitions to focus on artificial intelligence-powered advertising.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
META 0.00%↑ GOOGL 0.00%↑ #OpenAI
OpenAI plans to launch social app for AI videos to challenge TikTok: report
OpenAI is planning to launch a social media app for artificial intelligence-generated videos, which could challenge ByteDance’s (BDNCE) TikTok and similar offerings from Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Google (GOOG)(GOOGL), according to Wired.
The Sora 2 app, which will feature a vertical video feed and a recommendation algorithm, will be similar to TikTok. However, unlike TikTok, all videos will be AI-generated clips up to 10 seconds in length, the report said. Rather than relying on photo or video uploads, a user’s identity and likeness are verified and can then be used in the AI-generated videos. Users will also receive notifications when their likeness is being used by others.
Last week, Meta rolled out Vibes, which is a feed of AI-generated videos in the Meta AI app. Users can create or share these on Facebook and Instagram.
Similarly, Google recently announced it plans to integrate Veo 3, its AI-generated video creator, into YouTube.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 29, 2025
Quantumscape, Corning in deal for ceramic separator development
QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) and Corning (NYSE:GLW) have entered an agreement to jointly develop ceramic separator manufacturing capabilities for QuantumScape’s solid-state lithium-metal batteries.
The partnership aims to scale high-volume production for commercial use, leveraging QuantumScape’s battery expertise and Corning’s strengths in materials science and manufacturing.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Serve Robotics expands to the Midwest with an autonomous delivery rollout in Chicago
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Cars.com named automotive content partner for Uber’s JourneyTV
Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) JourneyTV is an in-car tablet network for ride-sharing to provide content and personalized information, including driver information, location updates, and advertising from partners with interactive links.
Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) has been tapped to be the first automotive content partner for Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) in-ride entertainment experience.
JourneyTV will provide Uber (NYSE:UBER) riders with curated content during a ride, including relevant car shopping content from the Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) inventory.
Along with content from Cars.com (CARS), JourneyTV also includes content from Time Out, Minute Media, The Weather Channel, and Matador Network.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Oklo says NRC accepts principal design criteria topical report for review with accelerated timeline
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) +2.1% pre-market Tuesday after saying the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review its Principal Design Criteria topical report under an accelerated timeline.
The PDC topical report establishes a regulatory framework that defines the fundamental safety, reliability, and performance requirements to guide future reactor licensing and design activities and ensure a clear regulatory foundation.
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) said it submitted its PDC topical report to the NRC and received notice of acceptance in 15 days, compared to the typical 30-60 days following submission, and said the NRC told the company that the PDC draft evaluation is expected to be issued in early 2026, less than half the traditional review timeline.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Brazil’s Nubank applies for U.S. bank charter with OCC
If approved, Nubank will have the ability to eventually offer deposit accounts, credit card, lending and digital asset custody in the U.S. market.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
U.S. to take stake in Lithium Americas, Energy Secretary tells Bloomberg
Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) +35.3% post-market Tuesday after Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told Bloomberg the U.S. government has agreed to acquire a stake in the company, confirming reports last week that sent the stock price skyrocketing.
Separately, Reuters reported the DoE will take a 5% stake in Lithium Americas (LAC) and a separate 5% stake in the Thacker Pass JV with General Motors.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Energy Department names Oklo, three others for nuclear fuel line projects
The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday it selected Oklo (NYSE:OKLO), Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X and Valar Atomics for its new pilot program to build advanced nuclear fuel lines.
Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) was chosen to build and operate three fuel fabrication facilities to support the company’s Aurora and Pluto reactors, and possibly other fast reactors.
Each company will be responsible for all costs associated with the construction, operation, and decommissioning of their fuel fabrication facilities, and must manage the sourcing of nuclear material feedstock, but companies may apply to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium from the DoE, and development of the pilot projects could drive private sector investment and create a fast-track approach to commercial licensing.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Sep. 30, 2025
Tesla sales improve in France and Denmark but remain pressured in Sweden
Sales were up 20.5% in September in Denmark with the Model Y the top-selling EV in the country. In Norway sales were up 14.7%, led by demand for the Model Y and Model 3, while in Spain, registrations were up 3.4% thanks to a 60% boost in Model Y registrations.
After struggling for most of the year, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) registrations picked up by 2.74% in France, but remained pressured in Sweden where Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) registrations in the country were down for the ninth consecutive month.
Despite the improved sales outlook, Tesla (TSLA) shares are losing ground as the EV tax credit comes to an end and last traded at a loss of 0.4%, threatening a three-day winning streak.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
PLUG 0.00%↑ #GLPEY
Plug Power delivers first electrolyzer for 100 MW green hydrogen project
Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) +3.4% pre-market Wednesday after saying it delivered its first 10 MW GenEco electrolyzer array to Galp’s (OTCPK:GLPEF) (OTCPK:GLPEY) Sines Refinery, site of the largest proton exchange membrane hydrogen electrolyzer project underway in Europe and Plug’s largest worldwide project.
Plug (NASDAQ:PLUG) said the module is the first of 10 similar arrays with hydrogen processing units to be deployed at the Sines Refinery for a total electrolyzer capacity of 100 MW upon completion in next year’s H1.
The project is expected to produce up to 15,000 tons/year of renewable hydrogen, replacing 20% of the grey hydrogen currently used at Sines and allowing for the reduction of the refinery’s greenhouse gas emissions by ~110,000 tons/year.
“Plug is building the next generation of industrial energy solutions, and our collaboration with Galp shows that large-scale hydrogen is ready today,” CEO Andy Marsh said.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
Microsoft promotes Althoff to Commercial CEO as Nadella focuses on AI technical work
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has rearranged some of its executive leadership so CEO Satya Nadella can focus more on working with his engineering team to develop data centers, systems architecture, AI science and product innovation.
Judson Althoff, the leader of Microsoft’s global sales organization and the architect behind Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions, has been promoted to CEO of the tech giant’s commercial business. Takeshi Numoto and his marketing team will join this new organization, reporting directly to Judson as chief marketing officer, while also continuing to report to Nadella on business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications.
Judson will also run a new commercial leadership team that brings together leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and finance to drive product strategy and governance, GTM readiness, and sales motions.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
MongoDB in focus as Wells Fargo initiates with Overweight rating
MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB) was in focus on Tuesday as Wells Fargo initiated coverage on the enterprise software company with an Overweight rating and $430 price target.
“AI native companies and enterprises are already building AI products utilizing Mongo’s relational database architecture,” Wells Fargo analyst Ryan MacWilliams wrote in a note to clients. “This is a good sign as we believe agentic coding is now accelerating AI agent building and total software development. We believe MDB is a more immediate beneficiary from the elevated agentic coding efficiency gains, as larger customers build more projects. Faster modernization and enterprises/startups building AI underscores multi-year growth for MDB.”
Delving deeper, MacWilliams said he has seen “promising” early traction from MongoDB winning AI use cases and customers, including those who want MongoDB as their operational database of choice.
“Management notes thousands of AI apps already running on the platform, and Langchain downloads (+400% Y/Y) point towards MDB as a leading database for building AI agents,” MacWilliams added. “Early traction is hard to appreciate as most AI apps have yet to hit scale, but an encouraging early sign is MDB PyPI package downloads improving since the rise of agentic coding.”
The analyst also said that generative AI is bringing MongoDB’s app modernization opportunity closer to reality, and any concerns that the company dealt with in its go-to-market strategy are now in the rearview mirror.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
Apple tables Vision Pro sequel to pursue smart glasses: Bloomberg
The Cupertino company has moved staff from working on its new, lighter and cheaper Vision Pro to focus on its smart glasses, which would be similar to those offered by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), the report said, citing people close to the issue. Apple engineers are working on at least two types of the smart glasses. One is being crafted to be paired with an iPhone and will lack its own display. This could be revealed as soon as 2026. The other version will contain a display similar to the recently released Meta Ray-Ban Display.
Apple’s smart glasses are expected to utilize voice interaction and AI capabilities, the report said. It would also rely on an upgraded Siri, which is projected for a March release at the earliest.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 01, 2025
White House halts ~$26B in funding for infrastructure, climate projects
The Trump administration has moved to freeze or cancel about $26B in funding for several infrastructure and climate-related projects across U.S. states amid the federal government shutdown.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, announced on X that roughly $18B in New York City infrastructure projects were put on hold.
Vought also announced that nearly $8B in funding for climate-related projects would be canceled in 16 states, including California and New York.
The Department of Energy said 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects would be terminated.
At the same time electricity prices throughout the country continue to rip higher on increased electrification and data center needs put pressure on an aging infrastructure.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 02, 2025
Tesla Q3 deliveries beat estimates, sets quarterly record
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) delivered 497.1K vehicles in the third quarter, a quarterly record for the company, and surpassing consensus estimates for 448K deliveries as buyers rushed to capitalize on the end of the $7,500 government tax credit.
For comparison, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported 336,681 vehicle deliveries for Q1 of 2025, 384,122 vehicles in Q2 of 2025, and 462,890 deliveries for Q3 of 2024.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 02, 2025
TTD 0.00%↑ AMZN 0.00%↑ GOOGL 0.00%↑
Google, Amazon, and Trade Desk caught in ad tech price war for media dollars - report
Google is feeling the squeeze from Amazon, which has applied its retail-style pricing power to the DSP market and has offered low fees to grow the footprint of its DSP. As a result, the internet search giant is relaxing DSP fees, especially on programmatic guaranteed deals, according to ad agency leaders, who spoke with Ad Age on condition of anonymity.
Programmatic guaranteed deals are prearranged between the buyer and publisher—often in connected TV upfronts—where the DSP functions more like an ad server, simply facilitating the order.
The Trade Desk has been in a tough position relative to Google and Amazon, partly because it doesn’t have a sprawling media ecosystem like they do.
Trade Desk wants to avoid programmatic ‘race to the bottom,’ the report said. The company is responding to the fee wars by pointing advertisers to the success of campaigns run through the platform.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 02, 2025
NVDA 0.00%↑ #OpenAI
Nvidia’s latest deal with OpenAI solidifies its crucial position in AI infrastructure: Cantor
Nvidia remains Cantor’s top semiconductor pick and is on track to eventually hit a $10T market cap. Other top semi stocks include Broadcom (AVGO), Micron Technology (MU), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
“Yes, these AI infrastructure numbers were impossible to comprehend just 12mos ago, but we have entered a new paradigm with test-time scaling and vision to multimodal functionality driving MASSIVE growth in token demand (and virtuous cycle between training and inference),” Muse said.
Cantor said the pressure for cloud service providers and sovereigns to build out AI infrastructure remains in place and is stronger than ever.
“Buildouts require new project financing structures, not just for capital but for partnership in gov’t approvals, land, infrastructure, power, equipment, etc.,” Muse added. “And NVDA’s work to enable Tier 2 CSPs has new emerging players entering the market at scale – potentially lighting a fire under traditional hyperscalers to innovate and drive down costs (leading to Jevons Paradox).”
Cantor rates Nvidia at Overweight with a $240 price target.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 03, 2025
Bezos on AI bubble, space datacenters
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Chairman Jeff Bezos also said we could see solar-powered datacenters built in space within the next two decades.
“One of the things that’s going to happen in the next – it’s hard to know exactly when, it’s 10 plus years, and I bet it’s not more than 20 years – we’re going to start building these giant gigawatt data centres in space,” Bezos said during a fireside chat at Italian Tech Week, according to Reuters.
“These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” Bezos added. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades.”
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Oct. 03, 2025
YouTube:
[The Real Eisman Playbook/The Weekly Wrap] U.S. Consumers Are Collapsing: Cars, Credit, & the Chaos Ahead
In this episode of The Weekly Wrap, Steve Eisman interviews Lakshmi Ganapathi from Unicus Research. They discuss why U.S. consumers are struggling. From rising auto loan delinquencies to ballooning credit card debt, consumers everywhere are feeling the pressure. They also discuss Opendoor, meme stocks, and the impact of AI.
Link to Full Video (35:18 Mins) - Oct. 03, 2025
Disclosure: We own positions in some/all of the tickers mentioned in this article.
The Steve Eisman video with Lakshmi Ganapathi discussing OPEN is a must watch. Eisman's perspective on meme stocks and consumer collaps is always insightful, and the fact that they specifically discuss Opendoor in the context of rising auto loan delinquencies and credit card debt makes total sense. OPEN is directly exposed to consumer financial health since home buying is such a huge financial decision. Really apreciate you including the YouTube content alongside the market news, it adds so much context. The 35 minute runtime is perfect for a deep dive. I've been following OPEN closely and seeing it discussed in this macro consumer health framework is really valueable. This whole edition is packed with great content, from the rare earth / critical minerals coverage to the AI infrastructure developments. Thanks for putting these together every week.