AnalytixInsight

After another busy earnings week, Nasdaq was up ~0.1%, as it re-approaches its 2023 highs, Dow Jones was down 1.2% and S&P fell 0.8%. SoftBank’s chip maker Arm Ltd has filed with regulators confidentially for a U.S. stock market listing, Arm said last Saturday, setting the stage for this year’s largest initial public offering. Alibaba’s global online commerce arm weighs a US IPO. Chegg shares plunge 38% after ChatGPT warning. Shares of AMD dropped more than 5% after the chip maker reported a 9% revenue decline in the first quarter. Apple’s revenue fell 3% despite iPhone sales growth. Samsung surpasses Apple in smartphone shipments by 1% amid a persisting market decline. Qualcomm gives a light forecast, phone chip sales fall 17%. Uber revenues rise 29% as ride-hailing business expands. Coinbase revenue drops 34%, and the Company cuts back on costs. OpenAI reportedly lost US$540 million developing ChatGPT in 2022, as the business is expected to be very capex intensive — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman may be aiming to raise up to US$100 billion in the next few years to develop artificial intelligence so smart it can improve itself. Google DeepMind boss predicts AI as powerful as the human brain could arrive within the next few years. IBM to pause hiring for jobs that AI could do. Viasat’s recent satellite launch adds power and flexibility in satellite broadband competition — Potential positive for Sophic Client Clear Blue contract wins. In Canada, venture capital investment in Q1 2023 dropped by 82 percent compared to last year. Sophic Client Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC) forecasts 2023 revenue to be in the $66 – $78 million range and adjusted EBITDA in the $12-$17 million range. The mid-point guidance range ($72 million in revenue and $14.5 million in EBITDA) implies revenue growth of 76% over 2022 and adjusted EBITDA growth of 275%. Shopify soared 28% on strong earnings and the sale of its logistics unit, the Company plans to slash headcount. BlackBerry is considering breaking up its businesses as it reviews its portfolio.

After a rough Tuesday, and a week full of earnings releases, the markets closed the week up. Dow Jones rose 0.9%, so did S&P 500, Nasdaq was up 1.3%. Meta’s Q1 revenue increased 3% as ad business slowly recovers, sending the stock surging after hours. Roku reported flat Q1 revenue, and expects the weak ad market to persist. Intel reported a 36% sales decline, and expects a second half rebound. Sales at Amazon’s cloud computing business grew 16% in the first quarter, the lowest year-over-year growth rate since it started breaking out that segment. Microsoft’s US$68.7 billion Activision takeover has been blocked by UK competition regulator. Apple won its appeal in the App Store legal battle with Epic Games: In one of the most significant battery breakthroughs in recent years, the world’s largest battery manufacturer CATL has announced a new “condensed” battery with 500 Wh/kg which it says will go into mass production this year. Sophic Clients, Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC), OneSoft Solutions Inc . (OSS-TSXV, OSSIF-OTC), and UGE International (UGE-TSXV, UGEIF-OTC) presented at the Planet MicroCap Showcase in Las Vegas this past week, their presentations are available to rewatch in this post. UGE International achieved a notice to proceed milestone for 2.7MW community solar project in Oakland, Maryland. UGE has reached NTP on 12.7MW of projects and commercial operation on 1.4MW of projects so far this year. Sophic Client Clear Blue Technologies announced 2022 financial results. The Company does not need to raise capital, expects to be EBITDA positive by FYE2023, and significant order intake year to date of $3.5M, of which $3.2M to be realized in 2023. Sophic Client LuckBox (LUCK-TSXV, LUKEF-OTC) filed 2022 results. 2022 set the foundation for 2023 player and global betting handle growth, both of which were up significantly following Q4 2022. University of Toronto, and Université de Montréal got a combined $325 million as part of $1.4 billion federal investment into university innovation. Smart display company E2ip Technologies raised $120 million. Ontario Teachers fund to steer clear of crypto after US$95 million FTX loss.

The sideways chop in the markets continued last week, Dow Jones lost 0.2%, S&P 500 fell 0.1%, Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%. Market breadth remains poor, and most investors we speak with remain on the sidelines as they expect that in the near term, either breadth will increase, or indexes will pull back and remain range bound. Event ticketing company SeatGeek filed confidentially to go public. Silver Lake will acquire Germany’s Software AG for €30 a share (50% premium to Friday’s close). Lululemon is exploring a sale of Mirror fitness unit it bought in 2020. Meta begins its next round of layoffs. Lyft is planning a round of layoffs. AI is coming soon to Google Search with ‘Magi’ as Samsung considers making Bing the default search engine on its devices. Google’s big AI push will combine Brain and DeepMind into one team. Elon Musk is planning an artificial intelligence start-up to rival OpenAI. SpaceX’s 400-foot Starship rocket exploded during its inaugural launch. Apple launches high-interest savings accounts with Goldman. Kroger is now rolling out Apple Pay support to stores across the United States. TSMC seeks up to US$15 billion from U.S. for chip plants but objects to conditions. The US Energy department commits US$3 billion to expand rooftop solar access. Under the deal, Sunnova will devote a portion of the lending to homeowners with below-average credit scores and to Puerto Rico. In Canada, last week saw some interesting VC funding announcements. Miovision purchased fellow traffic management company Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) in a deal valued at US$107 million. The acquisition is backed by a recent $260 million investment from various investors. Sophic Client Kraken Robotics, announced orders totaling $7 million. Sixteen projects under Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) will see $52 million in funding flow towards them, including Kraken Robotics. Sophic Client Legend Power’s next generation SmartGATE more than doubled the product’s previous generation’s financial benefit across initial 30 installations.

The stock market was mixed last week, Dow Jones rose 0.6%, S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and Nasdaq fell 1.1%, even as the 10-year US Treasury yield tumbled 22 basis points to 3.28%, a seven-month low. Global startups raised US$76 billion in the first quarter—a figure that includes US$10 billion raised by OpenAI and US$6.5 billion raised by Stripe—a steep decline from the same period last year. Instacart boosted its valuation 18%, mirroring stock market bounce. Marketing software company Klaviyo has hired bankers and is targeting a public debut as early as this fal. C3.ai plunged 26% after a short-seller said the buzzy AI company has ‘serious accounting and disclosure issues’. The world’s largest AI fund, the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF to a stronger start in 2023 than even the red-hot Nasdaq 100. Google’s CEO said Chatbot feature is coming to search. Ahead of Apple’s US$3k headset, only 4% of teens who own a VR device actually use it. Walmart is building a nationwide electric vehicle fast charging network. Tesla’s cut prices in the US yet again, this time by as much as US$5,000. In Canada, Vancouver-based Web3 startup LayerZero Labs is now valued at $3 billion after closing a $120 million Series B funding round. WonderFi, Coinsquare, and CoinSmart will merge as Canada’s crypto industry consolidates. Sophic Client, Jasper Commerce closed a second and final tranche of a Convertible Debenture unit financing, raising a total of $900,000 from insiders and a new institutional investor. Sophic Client UGE reported fiscal year 2022 financial results, and on the earnings call, highlighted positive expected balance sheet milestones. Sophic Client LuckBox announced strong March KPIs & record Q1, as March Global Betting Handle was $5.0 million, up from February’s record $2.8 million, and the registered player base reached 387,000. Sophic Client Swarmio Media, introduced a new payment solution, to drive accretive revenue growth. The company and etisalat by e& (largest telecom operator in the MENA region) also launched a promotional campaign for gamers in the Arena esports platform.