HAPPY MONDAY TO THE STREET
Sam Altman: 1. Elon Musk: 0. AI users: -1,000.
A jury sided with Sam Altman and OpenAI against Elon Musk on Monday, ruling Musk's charity-trust claims were filed too late.
But the real losers were us, who spent the past three weeks watching the men shaping the future of AI, fighting like kids at recess.
🟨 | US stocks were mixed today, but the Nasdaq Composite posted its second straight loss, weighed down by a semiconductor sell-off.
— Brooks & Cas
MARKET SNAPSHOT
S&P 500 Heatmap. Credit: Unusual Whales
WILL HOME DEPOT DELIVER A BEAT TOMORROW?
Home Depot (HD) reports Q1 results Tuesday morning, and analysts have spent weeks slashing their targets. Yet foot traffic ticked positive in Q1 for the first time in years, hinting locked-in homeowners are renovating instead of moving.
Will customer transactions clear 392M? The bettors lean yes, but it's tighter than the bolts on a fresh deck.
Market Movers
DELTA, REGENERON, SERVICENOW
📈 | Delta Air Lines (DAL) rose after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) disclosed a $2.6 billion stake, six years after Buffett dumped all airlines.
📉 | Regeneron (REGN) sank after its skin cancer treatment missed in a late-stage trial.
📈 | Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO) jumped on a report that Elliott Investment Management built a sizable activist stake.
Tomorrow's Trade Idea, Today
WATT TO MAKE OF FORD’S ENERGY PIVOT
Stock Spotlight
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Plugging In
Ford Motor just landed its first customer — for its week-old energy storage business, that is.
The five-year deal will supply EDF Power Solutions with up to 20 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity. Morgan Stanley's Andrew Percoco said it was likely the first of several big announcements this year.
The Stretch Case
Percoco sees a path for shares to rally toward $21 if the BESS narrative gains real traction.
The pitch: AI and data centers need power, batteries store power, and Ford boasts a US-based supply chain plus a partnership with Chinese battery giant CATL that rivals will struggle to replicate.
UBS (UBS) echoed the sentiment, citing tailwinds from regulations restricting foreign-sourced battery materials.
Meme to Mettle
Ford shares surged across two sessions last week before pulling back.
Of the 24 analysts covering the stock, 17 rate it a Hold and just five rate it Buy or Strong Buy.
The energy story has substance. Whether it's worth a re-rating is, like the second EV adoption wave, still being charged up.
Do you own any shares of Ford Motor (F)?
OVERHEARD ON THE STREET
🕊️ | President Trump postponed a planned strike on Iran after the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE asked him to hold off pending negotiations.
📉 | Meta (META) begins a roughly 8,000-person layoff round this week, with more cuts reportedly slated for August and the fall.
⚖️ | Trump dropped his $10B IRS lawsuit in exchange for a $1.8B DOJ-administered "Anti-Weaponization Fund" for lawfare claimants.
💊 | The Supreme Court rejected pharma firms' appeals against Medicare drug price negotiations, leaving the program intact.
🧐 | Warren Buffett's "tiny purchase" teased in March may have been the $55M Macy's (M) stake Berkshire just disclosed.
FRIDAY’S POLL RESULTS
Do you own any shares of Texas Roadhouse (TXRH)?
▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐂 Yup, I’m holding
▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐻 Nope, not interested
▇▇▇▇▇▇ 👀 No, but I’m interested
And, in response, you said:
🐻 Nope, not interested — “Too many downside exposures for food businesses.”
👀 No, but I’m interested — “Wish I had purchased it back during the COVID scare — takeout was the only game, and they were as good at it then, as they are now at producing really great food and the dining experience.”
