Weekly Investment News and Analysis

Last week, Dow Jones and S&P fell 1.9%, NASDAQ lost 2.3%. Both S&P and NASDAQ are down nearly 1% so far in 2025, as a hot jobs report spiked treasury yields. Anthropic in is talks to raise funding at a US$60 billion valuation — more than 3x the company’s valuation from around a year ago. Bluesky, an alternative to Elon Musk’s X, is in talks to raise money at a US$700 million valuation in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures. SoftBank’s chip designer Arm is reportedly considering acquiring Ampere computing. CrowdStrike, the cyber security company behind the botched update that took down millions of Windows PCs and servers in July, has more than recovered the US$30 billion in market value it shed in the wake of the crisis. At CES, Nvidia announced a US$3,000 personal AI supercomputer called Digits. Quantum computing stocks dropped Wednesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared that useful quantum computers are many years away — Rigetti Computing fell 40%, IonQ shed 37%, D-Wave Quantum fell more than 30%. Microsoft is planning company-wide performance based layoffs, and investing US$3 billion in AI and cloud services in India. Online spending grew 3% to a record US$1.2 trillion over the holiday period, according to Salesforce. Disney is selling its streaming cable business Hulu + Live TV to smaller rival Fubo TV, in exchange for a 70% stake in Fubo. In Canada, conversational AI startup Cohere unveiled a preview of North, a new product that marries its large language models and search models to help corporate users work faster. Toronto-based e-commerce software aggregator Carbon6 Technologies will be acquired by SPS Commerce for US$210 million. Shopify acquired the Shop.ca domain from Emerge Commerce. Sophic Client, Xcyte Digital announced a new CFO.

Friday was the last day of the Santa Claus rally — Dow Jones was down 0.4%, S&P lost 0.5%, Nasdaq fell 0.7% during that period this time around. While this could presage larger declines during the year, 2023 and 2024 had weak Santa Claus rallies as well, and despite major indices ending the week down – Friday saw strong rebounds. Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang’s CES 2025 keynote address could provide readthroughs for investors. Amazon struck a warrant deal with electronics manufacturer Jabil. Amazon has a record of equity-for-spending deals with its suppliers. Shares of Carvana fell 2% after Hindenburg Research, published a short report. Tesla said it sold fewer electric vehicles in 2024 than the prior year for the first time since 2010, as China’s electric-vehicle leader BYD posts record sales in 2024. Microsoft is on track to spend US$80 billion on datacenters for running AI software in the twelve months ending in June. In Canada, two more tech companies were taken out last week. Quisitive will be acquired by H.I.G. Capital. For $0.57/sh in cash, a 57.1% premium to the 20-day VWAP. Tech services firm WWT will acquire Softchoice (SFTC-TSX) in all-cash deal, for $24.50/sh – a premium of ~ 32% on the closing price September 23, 2024, (day prior to commencement of the review process). Sophic Client Legend Power Systems announced upsizing of its Non-Brokered Private Placement and closing of first tranche at a price of $0.18/ Unit, distributing 4,233,167 Units for gross proceeds of $761,970. Sophic Client, NowVertical further enhanced core leadership alignment through debt-to-equity conversions. An aggregate entitlement of US$815,000, and US$151,200 will be settled via stock at 33c (11% discount to the last closing price), certain additional cash payments will be spread out over time. These agreements, combined with the previously announced LATAM market unit debt-to-equity conversion, deliver total cash outflow savings of approximately US$1.6 million, significantly supporting NowVertical’s organic growth strategy.

Even as markets rallied for most of last week, and closed up, Friday could have given some investors pause. Last week, Dow Jones gained 0.35%, S&P 500 rose 0.7%, Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8%. Palantir and Anduril, are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium that will jointly bid for US government work in an effort to disrupt the country’s oligopoly of “prime” contractors. The consortium is planning to announce as early as January that it has reached agreements with a number of tech groups. Companies in talks to join include SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI. xAI, which develops conversational artificial intelligence in competition with OpenAI, said Monday it raised a US$6 billion in equity financing round from a slew of investors, including new ones from the Middle East. xAI is also testing a standalone iOS app for its Grok chatbot. OpenAI on Friday revealed more details about its plan to get its for-profit arm out from under its nonprofit’s control. Microsoft is reportedly eyeing alternatives to OpenAI in its Copilot product. Big Tech’s spending frenzy on artificial intelligence will continue until the end of the decade, according to the head of Broadcom. Senior Spotify executives and board members have sold US$1.25 billion worth of the company’s stock in 2024 — including US$900 million in payouts for its two co-founders. In Canda, Payfare will be acquired by Fiserv, for $4.00/sh in cash, for total consideration of ~$201.5 million. The Purchase Price represents a premium of ~90% to the closing price on December 20, the last trading day prior to the announcement, and a premium of ~92% to the 60-day VWAP. Sophic Client, NowVertical Group’s LATAM leadership invests in the Company’s future growth through a debt-to-equity conversion. An aggregate of US$1.25 million will be settled via the issuance of 5,432,954 shares at a price of $0.33/sh per share, resulting in cash savings of US$770K in 2025. Bench, a Vancouver based bookkeeping startup that had raised more than US$100 million from well-known venture capital firms, has cut off its service to customers, effectively immediately.

Last week, Dow Jones lost 2.25%, S&P 500 fell 2% and Nasdaq was down 1.8%. That said, markets ended the week on a better note after the Fed’s less dovish outlook Wednesday. As we enter the seasonal Santa Claus period – it remains to be seen whether Friday’s gains are built upon. Regardless, risks are on the horizon in January – including, potential profit taking on 2024 gains for tax planning purposes and any US tariff related noise, which for now has been largely shrugged off by investors. Fintech Chime filed confidential paperwork for an IPO. Databricks raised US$8.6 billion in funding at a US$62 billion valuation, with plans to raise US$10 billion total. Micron’s shares tumbled on weak demand expectations for consumer chips. Accenture beat quarterly revenue estimates on strong demand for genAI services. Google released new AI reasoning models and prepped chatbots in search. OpenAI announced the new reasoning model, ‘o3’ and made ChatGPT available through phone, text. Chinese shopping app Temu was once again the most downloaded free app in the U.S. In Canada, VitalHub announced a $30 million bought deal. Sophic Client, Legend Power Systems announced a Non-Brokered Private Placement for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $1.5 million. The Company also reported Q4 (Sept) F2024 financial results. Revenue was $705 thousand versus $159 thousand in Q4 F2023. Sophic Client, NowVertical Group announced the release of a New AI financial agent, updating its NowHub-finance solution. Sophic Client, Cybeats provided an update, highlighting the Company’s progress since commercializing its products. BlackBerry will sell Cylance for $160 million, a fraction of the $1.4 billion it paid in 2018. Clio’s record-breaking funding round provided some interesting insight into Canadian companies’ preference to stay private for longer.

Markets ended the week mixed. NASDAQ was up 0.3% after hitting a record high Friday morning. Alphabet, and Broadcom rose on news, Tesla hit a record high. Dow Jones fell 1.8%, S&P 500 lost 0.6%. 10-year Treasury yield rose 25 basis points in its biggest weekly gain since October 2023 to 4.4%. ServiceTitan, ended its first day of trading as a public company with a 42% lift in its stock price to US$101, compared with its IPO price of US$71. The holding company of Coincheck debuted on the Nasdaq, making it the first Japanese cryptocurrency exchange to be listed in the US. Databricks nears a record US$9.5 billion VC raise, and is eyeing an extra US$4.5 billion debt deal — a deal that could become one of the largest venture capital funding rounds in history. Shares of Adobe and Oracle fell after their quarterly reports. Google announced new Quantum chip, leading to the stock breaking out. The Company also announced the second generation of its Gemini AI models, and unveiled a new operating system for augmented and virtual reality devices, along with a new headset. Microsoft shareholders rejected a proposal for the tech giant to possibly invest in bitcoin. D-Wave completed a US$175 million stock sale. Ackroo signed a definitive arrangement agreement to be acquired at $0.15/sh, a 25% premium over the last trading day’s closing price. Sophic Client American Aires provides record holiday shopping season sales performance, including 116% YoY order volume growth, 62% Gross Margin. In Q4 through Dec 3rd, the Company produced record order volumes of $6.72 million (+116% y/y). Gross Margin improved to 62% (from 60%). The Company also signed hockey star Max Domi teams as a Brand Partner as part of its expanding partner ecosystem. Sophic Client Plurilock secured a US$1.1 million order from a Fortune 50 U.S. conglomerate. Sophic Client Cybeats won a contract with another top 10 global medical technology provider.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.6% after hitting a fresh all-time high Wednesday. S&P 500 was up around 1%, Nasdaq composite rose 3.3% — both indices set records on Friday. The Nasdaq could be looking extended here, as investors seem to have begun bidding up software names. Some investors are of the view that early January could see some selling pressure for tax related reasons. SpaceX is in talks to sell insider shares in a transaction valuing the company at about US$350 billion, a significant premium to a previously mulled valuation of US$255 billion reported by Bloomberg. Stock and crypto trading app eToro has hired Goldman Sachs as it plans a 2025 IPO. Fidelity marked up its equity stake in X by 32% in October. Salesforce stock jumped 6% after hours after reporting quarterly results, even as revenue growth stayed flat. Super Micro, on Monday said an independent investigation into its accounting practices found “no evidence of misconduct” shares surged 29% to US$42. As Bitcoin hit $100,000, Hedge funds made Microstrategy Wall Street’s hottest trade — effectively monetizing volatility in order to provide Microstrategy cash to buy Bitcoin. Google’s CEO Pichai said Wednesday that gains in conversational AI would be harder to come by in the coming years. Amazon unveiled new AI models, chips, and a supercomputer for Anthropic. OpenAI and Anduril will jointly develop AI for U.S. anti-drone systems to improve their ability to detect and respond to aerial threats. Sophic Client, Legend Power Systems Inc. provided a corporate update. Sophic Client Cybeats appointed cybersecurity industry leaders to its Advisory Board. Sophic Client Plurilock secured a $2.5 million order from the Department of National Defense. Sophic Client American Aires – Price is Right – in our report, we compared American Aires’ valuation to MedTech and Direct to Consumer companies. Canadian-founded, US -based AI company Tenstorrent secured more than US$693 million in a Series D funding from a slew of big-name investors.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 1.4%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 1.1% — Dow Jones and S&P 500 hit record highs. In November, Dow Jones gained 7.5%, S&P 500 5.7% (for their best monthly gains in a year), and Nasdaq rose 6.2%. OpenAI is conducting a share sale for employees to sell about US$1.5 billion worth of shares to SoftBank. CrowdStrike stock fell after issuing a disappointing earnings outlook. Shares of Zoom dropped more than 4% after reporting Q3 results. China’s Huawei Technologies unveiled its latest flagship smartphone featuring a homegrown operating system designed to compete with Google’s Android and Apple. Meta plans to build a US$10 billion subsea cable spanning the world. Meta’s text app, Threads, gained 35 million new signups since Nov. 1, Meta provided the update amid a flurry of news reports about the growth of rival text app Bluesky. Australia passed a law banning social media for under 16s. The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into whether Microsoft has violated antitrust law in multiple segments of its wide-ranging business. In Canada, Sophic Client Ionik reported Q3 results and provided a corporate update. Revenue of US$44.0 million, grew 29% y/y, Adjusted EBITDA of US$5.6 million grew 49% y/y. Sophic Client Plurilock, reported Q3 results — 2024 revenue is on track to exceed 2023 revenue. As of October, year-to-date revenue and Gross Margin already exceeds 2023. The company also announced a US$1.2 million critical services contract with a NASDAQ listed semiconductor manufacturer. Sophic Client, Boardwalktech, reported Q2 Fiscal 2025 results. Annual recurring revenue (“ARR”), at September 30, 2024 was US$4.6 million. The company continues to see growth and expansion from existing customers and expects to see both new direct sales and channel sales contracts. Sophic Client, NowVertical announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft and the launch of a global center of excellence.

Last week, Dow Jones gained almost 2%, and set a record close Friday, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite were up around 1.7%.ServiceTitan, which sells software to help tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians and landscapers run their businesses, filed paperwork for its IPO. Klarna’s planned IPO is fueling hopes that a long drought of fintech listings may be coming to an end. AI cloud platform CoreWeave, is aiming for a valuation of over US$35 billion in its expected 2025 IPO. Anthropic raises another US$4 billion from Amazon, and makes AWS its ‘primary’ training partner. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he doesn’t expect the rate of improvement of large language models to slow down, despite recent reports that upcoming LLMs from his company as well as from Google and OpenAI didn’t show as many performance gains compared to earlier models. OpenAI has discussed powering AI in Samsung devices, similar to Apple. Elon Musk’s xAI startup was valued at US$50 billion in a new funding round. Nvidia forecasts 70% quarterly growth as the AI boom continues. Shares of database provider Snowflake jumped more than 19% after it reported that sales grew 28%. Trump’s social media group is reportedly in talks to buy crypto platform Bakkt. Nasdaq poised to list spot-Bitcoin ETF options as crypto assets rally. In Canada, Sophic Client Ionik acquired Rise4 for a total aggregate purchase price of almost US$20 million, in cash, debt and stock, and an earn-out consideration. Sophic Client Kraken Robotics reported Q3 2024 results. Revenue declined 4% y/y to $19.5 million, owing to lower KATFISH and Remote Mine Disposal System (RMDS) revenue. The Companyh’s 2024 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance remains unchanged (revenue of $90.0 million to $100.0 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $18.0 million to $24.0 million), implying strong q/q growth in Q4. Sophic Client Intermap was awarded an initial U.S. Department of Defense subcontract. Sophic Client American Aires showcased its technology at the UFC Performance Institute. The first Neuralink clinical trials outside the US will take place in Canada.

Last week, Dow Jones lost 1.2%, S&P 500 was down 2.1%, Nasdaq composite lost 3.15%, and fell below the lows of the post election gap up. The 10-year jumped 12 basis points to 4.43%. Fed chief Jerome Powell on Thursday signaled that the Fed is in “no hurry,”. CoreWeave closed a US$650 million secondary share sale at US$23 billion valuation, a 3x increase in valuation over the past year. Trump’s win has stoked defense tech bulls, despite talk of a bubble — at US$14 billion, investors have valued Anduril between 18 and 19x this year’s expected sales, traditional defense contractors, which are profitable but grow much more slowly, are valued at ~1-2x sales. Shares of electric vehicle companies including Tesla fell Thursday after a report that the incoming Trump administration hopes to end US$7,500 consumer tax credits on the purchase of EVs. Tesla shares fell almost 6% after the Reuters report. Amazon is developing smart glasses for delivery workers, Reuters reported Monday. Apple is developing surveillance camera amid smart home push. OpenAI discussed plans for an AI data center that could cost US$100 billion. OpenAI is preparing to launch a new AI agent that can use a computer to take actions on a person’s behalf, such as writing code or booking travel, according to two people familiar with the matter. In Canada, Shopify stock was up more than 20% on revenue, margin growth. Sophic Client Intermap announced Q3 revenue grew 241% year-over-year, the stock closed the week up nearly 20%. Sophic Client, NowVertical Group reported Q3 results, which put the company on a path to achieving annual EBITDA of US$10 million, by achieving annual revenue of US$50 million and a best-in-class 20% EBITDA margin, the stock closed the week up around 150%. Sophic Client, ADM Endeavors reported Q3 results, revenue grew 12% y/y, the company is pursuing new school uniform opportunities and has hidden asset value in its new facility. Sophic Client, Plurilock announced a $5.4 million order with a law enforcement agency, and provided a corporate update.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 4.6%, S&P 500 gained 4.7%, and Nasdaq composite leaped 5.7% — all hitting record highs. Palantir climbed 13% on accelerating growth, and a higher revenue projection on Monday, as the company raised its full-year 2024 guidance for the third time this year. The retail favorite stock is now trading at ~35-40x sales. Palantir will also provide Anthropic’s Claude to the U.S. military. Amazon is discussing making another multi billion-dollar investment in Anthropic. VC’s are in talks about an investment in Perplexity, at a US$9 billion valuation, triple the valuation from a round earlier this year. Cryptocurrencies and related equities, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Microstrategy broadly rallied on Wednesday, after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election and Republicans took control of the Senate. Bitcoin hit an all time high, jumping more than 8% to US$75,450. Arm Holdings’ revenue growth slowed to just 5% in Q3, from 39% in Q2, the stock fell 4% in after-hours trading. SuperMicro showed disappointing earnings but “no evidence of fraud”, according to media reports. Airbnb’s growth slowed further in Q3, down eight points from Q1. Pinterest’s revenue growth slowed to 18% in Q3, the stock fell ~15% after the company projected even slower growth in Q4. Apple is reportedly exploring smart glasses in order to challenge Meta, and Snap. According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple is ‘seriously considering’ developing a cheaper Apple Vision device that offloads all of the computing power to your iPhone, essentially developing a headset with primarily displays and a battery. Meta is opening a pop-up retail store for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Baidu will reportedly announce AI-powered smart glasses in China next week. Sophic Client, Kraken Robotics demonstrated a new KATFISH autonomous launch and recovery system to Navy customers. Sophic Client, Plurilock achieved CMMC Level 1 compliance for the United States Department of Defense.

After mixed Q3 results from big tech, going into the US election, with 10 year yields at their highest in four months — Dow Jones ended the week down 0.15%, S&P 500 lost 1.4%, and Nasdaq was down 1.5% after hitting a record high Thursday morning. Investors valued Waymo at US$45 billion, a surprisingly low number, according to reports. Some 75% of OpenAI’s revenue comes from consumers. Apple grew revenue 6% to US$94.9 billion in the September quarter, its strongest growth in two years, while Warren Buffett/Berkshire sold more stock in the quarter. Microsoft’s revenue rose 16% in the September, but cloud server rental growth slowed. Alphabet said its revenue grew 15% y/y in Q3. More than a quarter of new code at Google is now generated by AI. OpenAI’s ChatGPT added search features. OpenAI will start using AMD chips and could make its own AI hardware in 2026. Nvidia stock is undervalued because AI companies need to spend another US$9 trillion to achieve superintelligence, according to Softbank’s CEO. Super Micro shares plunged 33% as the company’s auditor resigned. In Canada, Sophic Client OneSoft Solutions announced the completion of its acquisition by Irth Solutions LLC, a Blackstone Portfolio company. The all cash consideration represents a premium of 42% to the closing price on last trading day before the deal was announced. Sophic Client American Aires generated record quarterly order volume and sales in Q3/2024, and the seasonally strong Q4 appears to be off to a very strong start. Sophic Client ADM Endeavors provided a corporate and industry update, highlighting growth opportunities and robust asset value, which provides additional support to shareholder equity. Sophic Client Boardwalktech and Scadea Software Solutions announced a partnership to sell and deploy Boardwalk Unity Central and Velocity Platform applications. Sophic Client NowVertical Group launched a data risk mitigation solution with client guarantees for enhanced data security.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 2.7%, S&P 500 was down ~ 1%, Nasdaq rose 0.2%, and hit a record high Friday, 10-year Treasury yield rose 16 bps to 4.23%. In the near term, aside from the US Presidential election, investors will get a first read on Q3 GDP, October jobs, a Fed meeting, and mega cap earnings from Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Amazon. Wiz hopes to hit US$1 billion in ARR in 2025 before an IPO. WeRide raised US$440.5 million through its US IPO and private placement. Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI has begun fundraising talks in which it is looking to more than double its valuation to US$8 billion – a couple mega cap companies were also interested in acquiring the Company last year, at 1/40 of its current valuation per media reports. Tesla surprised Wall Street with strong profit margins and a projection that it would sell a record number of electric vehicles this year. Shares rose 12% in after-hours trading. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday a design flaw with its latest Blackwell AI chips which impacted production has been fixed with the help of longtime Taiwanese manufacturing partner TSMC. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are the best-seller in 60% of the Ray-Ban stores in Europe. Anthropic says its latest AI model can control users’ computers. Netflix has pulled back on its gaming expansion. TSMC achieved early production yields at its first plant in Arizona that surpassed similar factories back home, a significant breakthrough for its US expansion project. Arm cancelled Qualcomm’s license to design chips based on ARM technology. In Canada, Sophic Client Kraken Robotics, completed its $51.75 million Bought Deal public offering. Shareholders of Sophic Client OneSoft Solutions approved the Company’s take-out. Firan Technology will acquire FLYHT Aerospace Solutions in a cash and stock deal at a ~40% premium.