Alpha Coverage #91
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This Week’s Alpha Coverage: YouTube Playlist.
Editor’s Pick:
$VWDRY
[News] Vestas rises after reporting a flurry of late-2024 wind turbine order intake
Vestas (OTCPK:VWDRY) said it was contracted to supply its hardware for five U.S. wind projects with a combined capacity of 925 MW, with the biggest order for 270 MW to power an undisclosed project, consisting of 60 V163-4.5 MW turbines, the company's newest high-capacity factor turbine; deliveries are expected to begin in Q1 2026.
Two other orders from unspecified customers in the U.S. of 203 MW each called for Vestas (OTCPK:VWDRY) to supply its V163-4.5 MW turbines, Clearway Energy ordered 38 of Vestas' V117-4.3 MW machines for an unspecified project, and an order for V163-4.5 MW machines with a combined capacity of 86 MW will be delivered to Brookfield Renewable for its Mulqueeney wind project.
The company also unveiled several supply orders in Europe in the second half of December that added up to more than 1.2 GW of combined capacity, as well as 697 MW of turbine orders in the Asia Pacific region, including a 315 MW offshore deal in Japan.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 02, 2025
PLUG 0.00%↑ BE 0.00%↑ BLDP 0.00%↑
[News] Biden eases rules for hydrogen tax credits in bid to boost sector ahead of Trump
The tax credit created by the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden's 2022 climate law, now provide pathways for hydrogen made from natural gas with carbon capture systems, methane and renewable natural gas to receive the tax credit, helping lift shares of Plug Power (PLUG) and FuelCell Energy (FCEL).
The credit, which provides as much as $3 per kilogram for production, is meant to spur a domestic industry for the clean-burning fuel, which advocates say is critical for lowering carbon dioxide emissions in the production of steel, cement and heavy transportation.
It is unclear how the incoming Trump administration will approach hydrogen production.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 03, 2025
Link to Bloomberg News Article - Jan. 03, 2025
[News] Tesla China sales hit record high level in December
Though Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) global deliveries slipped in 2024, sales in China mustered up despite ongoing price wars and stiff competition from homegrown brands like BYD Company (OTCPK:BYDDF), NIO (NIO), and others.
Tesla (TSLA) car sales in China were up 12.8% month-over-month in December to a record high of 83,000 units, Reuters reported, citing Tesla China.
Overall in 2024, Tesla (TSLA) sold 657,000 units in China, up 8% year-over-year, and by contrast, its global deliveries in 2024 were down 1.1% from 2023.
Tesla (TSLA) reported deliveries of 495,570 in the final quarter of 2024.
The EV maker delivered 36.7% of its cars in the year 2024 to customers in China, its second-largest market, based on the sales figures.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 03, 2025
[YouTube] A Simple Formula For Financial Freedom - Scott Galloway
I love this video, it’s like I am talking, not Scott.
You don’t become rich by how much you make, but by how much you spend
The Retirement Math - I like to use 4% because that is an average risk free rate of return but I sometimes switch to 8%, when considering historic stock market returns.
Things you have to do, Things you want to do, Things you should do. - Financial Freedom allows you to delete the “should” bucket. I agree with Scott, I no longer do things I should do.
Find something you are good at, that you love to do. For me that is Financial Markets.
Be a Stoic - Understand Internal and External Locus of control.
Compound Interest
Diversification - Scott has a 3% limit, I have a 5% limit, with the exception of $RKLB which I have allowed to climb to over 10% of my net worth
Link to Full Video (15:04 Mins) - Jun 11, 2024
News, Facts, Analyst & Market Commentary - Short Reads:
[Newsletter Exclusive] Here are Morgan Stanley’s key oncology catalysts for 2025
Last year, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) made headlines with its individualized mRNA cancer vaccine mRNA-4157 (V940), developed with Merck (NYSE:MRK). MS analyst Terence Flynn pointed out that the COVID shot maker is awaiting a key Phase 2 interim readout for the melanoma treatment in 4Q25/1H26.
Its German rival BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) looks to post interim data from a Phase 2 trial in late 2025/2026 for its cancer vaccine BNT122 in an adjuvant setting for colorectal cancer. Another mid-stage readout for BNT122’s effect on patients’ progression-free survival in metastatic melanoma is also expected, potentially next year.
Meanwhile, BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) is expected to post mid-stage data for its PD(L)1xVEGF bispecific BNT327 in small-cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer in 2025.
BioNTech (BNTX) is expected to post a Phase 3 update for its anti-CTLA-4 antibody candidate BNT316 in NSCLC.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 28, 2024
META 0.00%↑ GOOG 0.00%↑ #TikTok
Trump asks Supreme Court to pause TikTok ban
President-elect Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the implementation of a law that would ban TikTok or force its sale to allow for a "political resolution" once he is sworn into office next month.
In an amicus brief filed to the court, Trump said he "alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform."
The U.S. Congress voted in April to ban TikTok unless Chinese parent ByteDance (BDNCE) divests the popular social media app by January 19, a day before Trump is set to take office.
TikTok, which has over 170 million users in the U.S. has argued that the bill violates the First Amendment. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case on January 10.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 28, 2024
GOOG 0.00%↑ MSFT 0.00%↑ META 0.00%↑ AMZN 0.00%↑ AAPL 0.00%↑
Trump backs Elon Musk on debate over H-1B visas for foreign workers
"I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them," Trump told the New York Post, referring to the program that allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
Tech giants like Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B program.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 28, 2024
NVDA 0.00%↑ MSFT 0.00%↑ PLTR 0.00%↑ CRM 0.00%↑ TSLA 0.00%↑ MDB 0.00%↑ SNOW 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Nvidia, Microsoft lead Wedbush's top 10 tech winners for AI revolution in 2025
The analysts believe tech stocks will be robust in 2025 on the shoulders of the AI Revolution and over $2T of incremental AI capital expenditure over the next three years.
While there will be some tense instances in 2025 along the way on the heels of Fed worries, China tariff poker game, and stretched valuation moments, this would create the opportunities to own the tech theme and key names, the analysts added.
Wedbush's top 10 tech winners for the AI revolution in 2025 are — Nvidia, Microsoft (MSFT), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA), Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) unit Google, Apple (AAPL), MongoDB (MDB), Pegasystems (PEGA), Snowflake (SNOW) and Salesforce (CRM).
The analysts believe the two best software plays on the AI Revolution in 2025 remain Palantir and Salesforce, with many well-positioned software vendors joining the AI Party.
Ives and his team noted that Nvidia and cloud stalwarts remain the AI driving force.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Dec. 31, 2024
ORCL 0.00%↑ SNOW 0.00%↑ PLTR 0.00%↑ CRM 0.00%↑ MDB 0.00%↑
[Newsletter Exclusive] Oracle, Snowflake next up among top AI software plays in 2025: Wedbush
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) rank as top artificial intelligence software names for the year ahead, according to the analysts at Wedbush.
The financial services firm has also listed Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) as other top plays among this group. MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB) and Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) were placed in this tier as well.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 02, 2025
[Newsletter Exclusive] Constellation wins $1B federal government clean energy contract; shares rise
Constellation (NASDAQ:CEG) said on Thursday that it has been awarded more than $1 billion in combined contracts by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to supply power to more than 13 government agencies and perform energy savings and conservation measures at five GSA-owned facilities in the National Capital Region.
The work implemented under the contract will include LED lighting, weatherization, window inserts and replacements and new and upgraded HVAC and building control equipment to improve energy efficiency.
In addition, the four buildings located in Washington, DC, will be converted from steam power to electricity through the installation of electric boilers and heat pumps to meet the buildings' heating requirements.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 02, 2025
Adobe in focus as UBS notes creative AI market is 'fiercely competitive'
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was in focus on Friday after investment firm UBS reiterated that the creative artificial intelligence market has become "fiercely competitive," as evidenced by two recent commercials.
Coca-Cola's (KO) holiday commercial and a recent commercial from Toys “R” Us were both produced with AI, though neither company used Adobe's AI tools to create the content, UBS analyst Karl Keirstead wrote in a note to clients. Instead, they used tools from OpenAI — which is backed by Microsoft (MSFT) — Runway and Leonardo, which is owned by Canva. (Adobe previously tried to acquire Canva competitor Figma and failed.)
Keirstead, who lowered his price target on Adobe to $475 from $525, added that Adobe is not yet at "feature parity" with the aforementioned competitors.
And while Coca-Cola and Toys “R” Us used Adobe's tool for final editing and post-production work, there was no incremental spend. Keirstead has a Neutral rating on Adobe.
The larger issue at hand is that the Coca-Cola commercial could be the proverbial tipping point for more AI-generated content, Keirstead posited, as he pointed to the fact the Coke ad cost one-tenth of a traditional production and took just four weeks to create, with only six people involved.
Link to Seeking Alpha News Article - Jan. 03, 2025
Disclosure: We own positions in some/all of the tickers mentioned in this article.
