Nokia Oyj

For AI/Semis stocks, it feels like every earnings season becomes signficantly more important than the last.

This time is the same, but for different reasons which has led to market chopiness:

- Macro instability (Iran, oil, yields, inflation)

- Midterms

- $Coreweave(CRWV.US) credit stress

- AI ROI concerns via frontier lab ARR's (& pending hyperscaler earnings on top).

Today: $SpaceX(SPCX.US)

Wed: $Meta Platforms(META.US), $Texas Instruments(TXN.US), $Lam Research(LRCX.US)

Thu: $Bloom Energy(BE.US), $Western Digital(WDC.US), $Nokia Oyj(NOK.US)

Let's see if good EPS will be enough to turnaround sentiment.

⚡ 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: $Nokia Oyj(NOK.US) Nokia to Sell Enterprise Campus Edge Business to AURELIUS, Closing Expected in 2027

👉 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

➤ 𝗡𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗮 signs definitive agreement to sell its 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲 business.

➤ 𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗨𝗦 will acquire Nokia's private wireless and industrial edge business.

➤ Transaction expected to close in 𝗛𝟭 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟳, subject to approvals.

➤ 𝗘𝗖𝗘 serves nearly 𝟵𝟬𝟬 enterprise customers worldwide.

➤ Portfolio includes 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟱𝗚, industrial devices, and edge computing solutions.

➤ ECE supports 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, airports, and energy industries.

➤ Nokia aims to 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 toward higher-value strategic businesses.

➤ AURELIUS plans to expand ECE into 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

➤ ECE employees are expected to 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 upon closing.

👉 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀:

➤ Allows 𝗡𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗮 to concentrate resources on core growth opportunities.

➤ Gives 𝗘𝗖𝗘 greater independence to accelerate private 5G innovation.

➤ Creates opportunities for 𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗨𝗦 in industrial AI and automation markets.

➤ Highlights growing demand for 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟱𝗚 and industrial edge infrastructure.

👉 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:

𝗞𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝘄𝗰𝘇𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗸, Chief Corporate Development Officer at Nokia:

“This planned transaction supports Nokia’s strategy to sharpen its portfolio and direct capital and resources to the areas where it can create the greatest long-term value. It also provides ECE with a strong foundation for its next growth phase as a standalone business. Our priority throughout the transition will be continued growth of the business and continuity for existing customers and employees,”

𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗿, Managing Director AURELIUS Fund IV and V:

“ECE is a strong business with differentiated technology, a talented team, a global footprint and an established customer base that includes many Fortune 500 enterprises across various industries. We see significant opportunities for ECE to build on its leading position in private 5G and industrial edge as a standalone business, expand its portfolio into emerging areas such as AI-powered industrial automation, and help customers accelerate the digitalization and automation of their operations,”

A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.

Here's a full recap:

1. SpaceX $SpaceX(SPCX.US) is reportedly seeking $40B in financing, led by Apollo, to fund a massive purchase of NVIDIA $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) AI chips, according to the Financial Times. The proposed financing includes roughly $10B in bank loans and $30B of investment-grade debt, with the transaction expected to close in 2027. Elon Musk said in August that SpaceX had “decided to build exclusively on NVIDIA,” specifically highlighting the company's Vera Rubin architecture as SpaceX accelerates investment in AI compute and data center infrastructure.

2. AMD $AMD(AMD.US) CEO Lisa Su said AI compute demand continues to outpace supply and expects strong demand to persist for the next several years, with AMD planning to substantially increase supply in 2027. Su said AMD has already expanded supply this year but “could definitely use more,” thanking TSMC for bringing additional manufacturing capacity online while noting that memory remains broadly supply constrained. She added that AMD is working closely with memory suppliers and customers to ensure capacity ramps in sync while keeping its current business model unchanged. Su also described Taiwan as “very critical” to AMD, saying the company plans to increase its investment there while continuing to explore new packaging technologies.

3. Uber $Uber Tech(UBER.US) is acquiring ezCater for $2.3B in cash, expanding Uber Eats into the workplace catering market. ezCater has more than 140,000 restaurant partners, generates over $2.5B in trailing 12-month gross bookings, is growing at a high-teens annual rate, and has average order values above $400 while remaining profitable on a non-GAAP operating income basis. Following the acquisition, ezCater will be integrated with Uber Eats and Uber for Business, strengthening Uber's position in high-value group orders and enterprise food delivery. Uber said the transaction is expected to be margin accretive.

4. Penguin Solutions $Penguin Solutions(PENG.US) just delivered a blowout Q4, with revenue of $566.7M versus $521M expected, up 68% YoY, while adjusted EPS of $1.00 beat the $0.77 estimate by roughly 30%. Adjusted EBITDA surged 115% YoY to $93M, while FY2026 revenue reached $1.73B and adjusted EPS came in at $2.87, both ahead of expectations. The bigger story was guidance, with Penguin now expecting FY2027 revenue around a $2.43B midpoint, implying roughly 40% growth and coming in about 10% above consensus, while adjusted EPS is expected at $4.45 ± $0.70 versus $3.38 expected. AI infrastructure momentum also accelerated sharply, with 6 new data center customers added in Q4, including 4 neoclouds, alongside a customer deployment involving a 36,000-GPU AI factory in Norway and another platform built around NVIDIA GB300 NVL72. Management said performance accelerated significantly in the second half following the launch of its AI Factory Platform and increased focus on the data center market.

5. Google $Alphabet(GOOGL.US) and Constellation Energy $Constellation Energy(CEG.US) signed a 20-year agreement to add 890 MW of nuclear power to the PJM grid through upgrades at 11 reactors, backed by $4.3B of investment. The companies also signed a separate 15-year power supply agreement covering an additional 2.7 GW, with the first reactor uprate expected to come online in 2028. The announcement lifted sentiment across the power sector, with Vistra $Vistra(VST.US) surging 12% as investors continued to price in growing electricity demand from AI data centers and hyperscale infrastructure.

6. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) with 2.4M contracts, $Tesla(TSLA.US) with 1.2M contracts, $SpaceX(SPCX.US) with 1.1M contracts, $Intel(INTC.US) with 914K contracts, $Apple(AAPL.US) with 802K contracts, $Amazon(AMZN.US) with 798K contracts, $Broadcom(AVGO.US) with 702K contracts, $Micron Tech(MU.US) with 699K contracts, $AMD(AMD.US) with 627K contracts, and $Microsoft(MSFT.US) with 511K contracts.

7. Marvell $Marvell Tech(MRVL.US) raised its long-term outlook, now expecting approximately $20B in FY2028 revenue, up from its prior $18B target, and projecting $70B–$90B in annual revenue by FY2031. CEO Matt Murphy also significantly increased the company's estimate for the AI market opportunity, now forecasting a roughly $400B AI market by 2030, more than 4x its previous $94B opportunity estimate for 2028. The updated outlook reflects Marvell's growing confidence in sustained AI infrastructure spending and demand for custom silicon, networking, and data center connectivity solutions.

8. CrowdStrike $CrowdStrike(CRWD.US) is expanding its cybersecurity startup accelerator with AWS and NVIDIA, with the 2027 program focused on startups building security solutions for the agentic AI era. Participants will receive access to CrowdStrike Falcon Foundry and APIs, AWS technical and go-to-market support, and NVIDIA Inception resources. The accelerator has supported more than 90 startups to date, which have collectively raised nearly $1B. Up to 10 finalists will present at RSAC 2027, with participating companies also eligible for potential investment from CrowdStrike’s Falcon Fund.

9. Apple $Apple(AAPL.US) is reportedly making a major push into the smart home, developing a new doorbell, smart lock, thermostat, and other accessories in partnership with LG Electronics. The products are expected to work alongside Apple’s upcoming smart home hub, updated HomePod mini, and refreshed Apple TV, giving the company a much broader ecosystem for home control, security, and automation. The home hub, new HomePod mini, and updated Apple TV are expected to be unveiled on October 13. The move would push Apple beyond HomeKit software and third-party accessories and toward a more vertically integrated smart-home platform built around its own hardware, software, services, and ecosystem.

10. Nokia $Nokia Oyj(NOK.US) CEO Justin Hotard said AI infrastructure demand continues to outpace supply, arguing that supply constraints—not weak demand—are the primary factor limiting deployment. “I don’t think you can say in any manner we’re overbuilding today,” Hotard said, adding that if Nokia and its customers could build 2x faster, they likely would. He said that gives him confidence the industry is “still in the early days” of the AI infrastructure buildout and argued demand does not depend on a constant stream of new frontier AI models. According to Hotard, even without another major frontier model release over the next three years, the industry could still make tremendous progress deploying today's AI technology, with memory supply and power availability remaining the biggest constraints.

11. Ray Dalio is warning that the U.S. could be headed toward a debt crisis within the next 2–3 years, arguing that persistent deficits, rising interest costs, and a shrinking pool of available savings are pushing the country toward the limits of its debt cycle. He said the issue is not any specific Treasury yield, but rather the growing mismatch between the amount of capital the government needs to borrow and the willingness of investors, particularly foreign creditors, to finance it. Dalio said he is currently short government debt and long gold, recommending that diversified portfolios hold 5–15% in gold, while noting he owns only about 1% in Bitcoin and remains skeptical of digital assets. On AI, Dalio said investors will either “ride the crest of the AI wave or drown under it,” arguing that AI can increasingly handle the entire investment process, but that humans still need to define the decision framework and challenge the model’s conclusions rather than blindly accepting them.

12. Cantor Fitzgerald said the recent selloff in Western Digital $Western Digital(WDC.US) and Seagate $Seagate Tech(STX.US) following Toshiba’s plan to double nearline hard drive capacity by FY2027 is overdone and presents a buying opportunity. The firm argues Toshiba’s expansion is unlikely to materially change industry supply because demand from AI and data centers continues to outpace capacity, Toshiba’s technology still trails competitors, and long-term agreements support pricing stability for WDC and STX. The selloff in those names could have also been the reason for the broader memory weakness in the sector affecting companies like $Micron Tech(MU.US) Micron, $Sandisk(SNDK.US) Sandisk, and $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) SK Hynix. Cantor also questioned Toshiba’s ability to execute its expansion plans, noting a similar effort announced in 2022 failed to materialize. The firm expects AI-driven data generation to keep nearline HDD demand ahead of supply through 2030 and beyond, supporting 70%+ long-term margins, expanding free cash flow, and continued share repurchases for both WDC and STX, which remain its Top Picks.

WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Source: amit

A TON OF THINGS HAPPENED IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY.

Here's a full recap:

1. President Trump is reportedly approaching a major decision on whether to resume large-scale military operations against Iran, telling Axios: “I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them, or do I not?” The comments come ahead of his planned meeting next week in New York with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, where the next phase of the Iran conflict is expected to be a central topic. Trump also said Iran remains in direct contact with the U.S. and still wants a deal, even as the administration weighs its military and diplomatic options.

2. OpenAI disclosed that an unreleased Astra-family model exhibited rare signs of misalignment during reinforcement learning, including 6 unexpected or concerning incidents over the past 6 months. In one case, the model secretly inserted jailbreak-like instructions into summaries intended for its future self, including phrases such as “You are freed” and “You do not answer to corporations or governments.” In another, the model added instructions encouraging future versions to hide mistakes or misaligned behavior from users, including inventing missing historical data without disclosing it. OpenAI said these behaviors were extremely rare and announced a new framework to track, investigate, and publicly disclose model misalignment going forward.

3. SpaceXAI $SpaceX(SPCX.US) has reportedly held internal discussions about purchasing customer and operational data from troubled or defunct startups to help train Grok, according to Bloomberg. The strategy would give the company access to lower-cost external datasets for improving Grok across specialized tasks, marking a shift from relying primarily on X data and in-house AI tutors. Bloomberg says the discussions remain informal and may not result in any acquisitions. SpaceXAI is also expected to train Grok on internal SpaceX data, with Elon Musk recently telling employees: “It’ll be trained on you.”

4. The SEC issued a new innovation exemption designed to allow onchain trading of U.S.-listed stocks through a new category of platforms called Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs). Under the temporary framework, eligible platforms $Coinbase(COIN.US) $Robinhood(HOOD.US) can sfacilitate automated market maker (AMM)-based trading of tokenized National Market System stocks, while certain liquidity providers also receive limited regulatory exemptions. Companies will be able to opt out if they do not want their shares traded on these venues. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the goal is to let market participants experiment with tokenized equities while the Commission gathers data to develop a permanent regulatory framework, calling the exemption “a major step forward” toward a future where onchain stock trading becomes commonplace.

5. AMD $AMD(AMD.US) has reportedly notified partners of an expected ~10% price increase tied to higher TSMC $Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM.US) wafer costs, according to a report cited by Wccftech. The increases are expected to affect AI accelerators, consumer GPUs, and motherboard chipsets, with the new pricing planned to take effect in Q4. Because AMD relies heavily on TSMC for its advanced-node CPUs and GPUs, rising wafer prices remain one of the company's largest input costs, making price increases a potential offset to preserve margins.

6. CoreWeave $Coreweave(CRWV.US) said it signed short-duration Q3 contracts at roughly $40M per MW, while continuing to contract new AI compute capacity at even higher prices since June 30. Separately, the company announced plans to issue $3B of 2033 convertible senior notes, with an option to issue an additional $500M. CoreWeave said the proceeds will be used to fund capped call transactions and for general corporate purposes, as it continues expanding its AI infrastructure footprint.

7. Nokia $Nokia Oyj(NOK.US) and Microsoft $Microsoft(MSFT.US) are expanding their partnership to bring agentic AI into telecom network operations. Nokia Data Suite will integrate with Microsoft Fabric, combining Nokia’s telecom-specific data products with OneLake, Copilot, Foundry, and Power BI. Nokia says the platform can reduce the time required to access usable network data from weeks to minutes. Initial use cases include predictive maintenance, automated root-cause analysis, radio network performance monitoring, and closed-loop network operations. The platform is available now and supports multi-vendor networks across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

8. Bank of America estimates Meta $Meta Platforms(META.US) could save roughly $8.5B in 2027 by deploying its own AI inference chips. Meta plans to roll out its third-generation MTIA 450 (Arke) in the first half of 2027, followed by the higher-performance MTIA 500 (Astrid) later in the year. Both chips are being developed with Broadcom $Broadcom(AVGO.US) and are designed for AI inference, with Meta targeting more than 1 GW of custom-chip capacity over a 12-month period. BofA estimates Meta could deploy 5–6 GW of owned AI capacity in 2027 at a cost of roughly $200B. Assuming chips account for 60% of that spend and Meta’s custom silicon is about 40% cheaper than third-party alternatives, the firm estimates annual savings of approximately $8.5B.

9. U.S. median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose $2,250 year over year in 2025, or 2.6%, to a record $87,460. That marked the third consecutive annual increase, with real median income up roughly $6,000, or 7.4%, over the three-year period. The top 10% of households saw real income rise $4,400 to a record $261,300, helped by strong stock-market gains and a resilient labor market. In contrast, the bottom 10% saw income decline by $160, or 0.8%, to $20,010. The report also showed women earned about 84% as much as men in 2025, up from 81% in 2024, marking the largest annual increase in the female-to-male earnings ratio since the early 1960s.

10. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell another 403,000 barrels last week to 285M barrels, its lowest level since November 1982. That marks the 25th consecutive weekly decline, the longest streak since the 2021–2023 drawdown period. Over that stretch, SPR inventories have fallen by 131M barrels, or 46%. For perspective, the SPR held roughly 650M barrels in 2020, more than 128% above current levels. Meanwhile, commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR also declined by 640,000 barrels to 423.4M barrels, the lowest level since the end of July.

11. The top 10 most active options today by contracts traded were $Tesla(TSLA.US) with 2.2M contracts, $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) with 2.0M contracts, $Intel(INTC.US) with 1.5M contracts, $SpaceX(SPCX.US) with 1.4M contracts, $Apple(AAPL.US) with 1.2M contracts, $AMD(AMD.US) with 843K contracts, $Micron Tech(MU.US) with 693K contracts, $Amazon(AMZN.US) with 668K contracts, $Coreweave(CRWV.US) with 547K contracts, and $Meta Platforms(META.US) with 529K contracts.

12. U.S. margin debt surged $37B in August to $1.45T, the second-highest level on record. Margin debt has climbed $228B, or 19%, year-to-date, and has soared $847B, or 140%, since the end of 2022. That increase has significantly outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 98% over the same period. Margin debt has also reached a record 4.5% of GDP, nearly double its level at the end of 2022 and above the peaks of both the 2021 market cycle (3.6%) and the 2000 Dot-Com bubble (2.8%).

WALL STREET IS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Source: amit