■ Amazon (AMZN)
Saks Global Conflict: Amazon has filed a court request to reject Saks Global’s bankruptcy financing plan. Amazon claims Saks squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in less than a year and failed to fulfill agreed-upon terms.
Investment Loss: In December 2024, Saks acquired Neiman Marcus for $2.7 billion, with Amazon investing $475 million. The deal was contingent on Saks selling products on Amazon and utilizing Amazon’s logistics. However, Amazon now views its equity stake as virtually worthless due to Saks' persistent budget failures and unpaid vendor bills.
■ Intel (INTC) & Micron (MU): Citi Analysis
■ Intel: Upgraded from Sell to Neutral (Target $50). Citi believes Intel could benefit from the current shortage of advanced packaging supply at TSMC. Backed by U.S. government support, Intel has a window to attract foundry customers, first in back-end AI ASIC demand (like TPUs) and later in front-end foundry as 18A/14A yields improve.
■ Micron: Maintained Buy, raised target from $330 to $385. While removed from the "U.S. Focus List" due to slowing DRAM momentum in Q2 vs Q1, Citi expects a long-term supply-demand balance through 2027 due to limited fab space and strong AI demand.
■ TSMC (TSM) Follow-up
AI Sector Boost: TSMC’s Q4 net income jumped 35% YoY, crushing consensus. High-Performance Computing (HPC), including AI and 5G, dominated revenue.
IB Reactions: * Wells Fargo: Maintained Outperform, noting that the shift from AI training to inference is driving the entire sector.
JP Morgan: Highlighted TSMC’s massive Capex as a sign of confidence in long-term AI computing demand.
Bernstein: Emphasized that TSMC's $52B–$56B Capex (70-80% focused on advanced logic) is a major boon for ASML.
■ Cathie Wood (ARK Invest)
Portfolio Shift: ARK has been selling Tesla (TSLA) and aggressively buying Broadcom (AVGO).
The Numbers: The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) bought 111,781 shares of Broadcom as a new position while selling 86,139 shares of Tesla. Tesla remains ARK's largest holding (approx. 10% of ARKK), but the move signals a strategic rebalancing toward networking infrastructure.
■ IT Spending: Bernstein CIO Survey
Budgets Rising: A survey of corporate CIOs shows that AI projects are actually increasing IT budgets rather than replacing them.
Leaders: Microsoft (MSFT) remains the top beneficiary (78% of respondents), followed by Amazon AWS (42%).
Laggards: Salesforce (CRM), Oracle (ORCL), and Snowflake (SNOW) saw lower spending intent in the current cycle.
■ Software Sector: William Blair Perspective
Overblown Fears: Fears that AI agents (like Anthropic’s "Cowork") will cannibalize enterprise software are described as "groundless."
Core Value: While tools like ChatGPT improve productivity, they are unlikely to replace deeply integrated enterprise systems like ServiceNow (NOW) or Adobe (ADBE) in the near term.
■ SanDisk (SNDK)
Target Hike: Raised target from $220 to $385 (Maintain Market Weight).
Supply Restraint: The investment theme remains intact as long as suppliers do not announce new capacity expansion. The stock is expected to consolidate near the $400 level.
■ Novo Nordisk (NVO)
Dose Approval: The UK’s MHRA approved a maximum weekly dose of 7.2mg for Wegovy (three 2.4mg injections) for adult obesity management.
Prescription Data: Oral Wegovy recorded 3,071 prescriptions in its first four days in the U.S. (retail only). Barclays noted that actual demand is likely higher when including online channels like NovoCare.
■ ASML (ASML)
Top Pick: Morgan Stanley maintained Overweight and raised the target from €1,000 to €1,400. Analysts project record performance in 2027 with revenue hitting €46.8B, driven by global fab expansion.
■ Coupang (CPNG)
Upgrade to Buy: Deutsche Bank upgraded Coupang to Buy (Target $25). Despite the $1.1B compensation plan for a recent data breach, analysts view the 32.5% price drop as a buying opportunity, believing regulatory risks will slow rather than stop growth.
■ Other Notable News
■ Walt Disney (DIS): Lucasfilm promoted Dave Filoni to President, succeeding Kathleen Kennedy. This is a critical move for the Star Wars franchise's future in theaters and theme parks.
■ ImmunityBio (IBRX): Shares surged on expectations that Anktiva (bladder cancer treatment) annual sales will grow by 700%.
■ PNC Financial (PNC): Beat Q4 estimates with an EPS of $4.88 (vs. $4.22 est) and projected 11% revenue growth through 2026.
