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S&P 500
7,610
(+0.13%)
Nasdaq
27,094
(+0.03%)
Dow
51,308
(+0.45%)
Bitcoin
66,912
(-6.4%)
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1. Microsoft Breaks Into AI “Vibe Coding”
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) – expanding beyond providing AI cloud infrastructure and services – unveiled its new AI coding tool at its Build conference in San Francisco Tuesday. Using a process known as vibe coding, MAI-Code-1-Flash allows non-technical users to produce software source code through text-based interaction. The company also announced a new MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning model, “built for high efficiency and performance, but importantly, at a low token cost.”
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“What you just saw is a pretty significant shift”: In his address, CEO Satya Nadella added, “We believe the time has come for every company to just move from consuming a frontier model to fully participating … in the frontier ecosystem.” The stock closed the day down 4.2%.
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Commercially useful quantum machines targeted for 2029: Competing with IBM (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft set an ambitious schedule as it introduced its new Majorana 2 quantum processor. The new chip can reportedly keep qubits stable for 20 seconds – around 1,000 times longer than the earlier Majorana 1.
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2. After-Hours Earnings Roundup: Palo Alto and Ulta Beauty |
Palo Alto (NASDAQ:PANW) fell over 5% in early trade, even after CEO Nikesh Arora said “our Q3 performance was exceptional” during yesterday’s earnings call from the Rule Breakers recommendation. Annual recurring revenue from the company’s Next Generation Security platform surged 60% year over year (YoY), to hit $8.13 billion – though management warned of “rising component costs, particularly in memory and storage.”
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“This is our most significant quarterly outperformance to date and surpassed our guidance”: Arora added, “Over the past quarter, Frontier AI development reached a critical inflection point,” as the company raised Q4 revenue guidance to between $11.415 billion and $11.425 billion.
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Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) reported an 11.1% YoY increase in Q1 revenue on Tuesday. CEO Kecia Steelman told investors, “Performance continues to be fueled by the strength of our core U.S. business,” adding “We gained share in prestige beauty, and we were roughly flat in mass beauty.” The stock, recommended by both Team RB and HG, rose around 1% in pre-market trading.
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3. What Foolish Investors Ought to Watch on Wednesday
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Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) reported its highest annual revenue growth to date, of 8.4%, this morning – as Q4 beat the Dividend Investor rec’s 9% YoY revenue rise in Q3, with 9.9% this time. Cardiac Ablation Solutions revenue increased 78% globally over Q4 last year, and 124% in the U.S. The company announced its 49th consecutive year of dividend rises, with the stock nudging up a little over 1% in response.
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Macy's (NYSE:M) reported its “strongest first quarter in four years,” as total comparable sales rose 3% in Q1 – with Bloomingdale’s sales up 10.2%. CEO Tony Spring spoke of “exceeding expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter.” The company returned $50 million in cash to shareholders in the quarter. The stock rose around 2% in response.
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Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) – recommended by Team Rule Breakers – will reveal first quarter results for fiscal 2026 after the market closes. As highlighted in Monday’s Breakfast News, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), and Veeva (NYSE:VEEV) will also report this afternoon.
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4. Report: SpaceX Decides IPO Pricing
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SpaceX is aiming for a $135 share price, Reuters reported, with over 555 million shares potentially up for sale – to raise around $75 billion in what would be an all-time record IPO. The terms of the offering could be revealed as soon as today, said Bloomberg, with formal marketing starting tomorrow.
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“It may be a stretch to achieve the valuation they want even with very generous multiples”: Not everyone is bullish about the prospects, as Vey-Sern Ling at Union Bancaire Privee sounded a caution, though he added, “The market has always given Elon Musk the benefit of the doubt.”
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“My guess is following this stock and its potential growth will require much more than reading the financial statements. Why? The innovation story will foreshadow the financial story”: Fool analyst Tim Beyers recently noted, “At root, SpaceX will either be a triumph or failure of extra-terrestrial engineering. Understand that, and we’ll have a better chance of properly valuing a business that casts itself as invaluable.”
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5. May Review: Software and Solar Soared
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As the market has reached new highs, market valuations have also neared levels not seen since the peak of the dot-com bubble. If you're an experienced investor with a high risk tolerance and a long timeline until you need to turn your stocks into cash, then this may be just noise … But for those near or in retirement, this might be a good time to reevaluate how much of your portfolio should be protected in safer cash and bonds -- while still keeping a significant portion of your portfolio invested in stocks.
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Are there any themes or sectors you're reconsidering at the start of this new month?
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