Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Days before the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference is to begin in Shanghai, Amazon’s Shanghai-based AI research institute — once a centerpiece of the event’s inaugural launch — is facing its imminent closure, marking the end of Amazon Web Services Inc.’s last overseas AI lab.

• Wang Minjie, an applied scientist at AWS AI Shanghai Lablet, shared on Chinese social media platform WeChat on Tuesday that the lab will be dissolved due to “strategic adjustments between China and the United States.”

• Amazon did not deny the closure. In a statement to Caixin, the company said, “Following a comprehensive evaluation of our organizational structure, growth priorities and future strategic direction, we have made the difficult decision to streamline certain teams within AWS China. We are committed to supporting affected employees through this transition.”

• Some of the US Stocks we cover have already reported their earnings: Tesla (TSLA US) and Alphabet (GOOG US) .
• Others will report next week: Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) ,  Meta (META US) , Apple (AAPL US), while NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) will report on August 28th.
• We dive into each stock potential for upside or downside at this junction, based on tactical analysis of our quantitative trend forecast models.

• Exchanges like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange serve the crucial function of bringing buyers and sellers together, ensuring transactions are completed smoothly and efficiently.
• Clearinghouses, coordinated by exchanges, play a vital role in finalizing transactions and mitigating risks, acting as a safety net to guarantee trades will settle even if one party defaults.
• CME Group specializes in futures contracts, offering a wide range of products and deep liquidity pools for global benchmark products, making it a leading marketplace for derivatives globally.

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• WTI crude prices are pressured by oversupply and weak sentiment, but received support late-week by a strong inventory draw and improved outlook for U.S.-EU trade talks. 
• U.S. natural gas prices dipped early due to high output and mild weather but recovered slightly on heat-driven demand, with ample storage limiting further upside.
• Oil and gas corporate updates showed mixed earnings and strategy shifts, with Halliburton guiding lower, BP appointing a new chairman, and SLB falling despite beating expectations.

Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM’s) Q225 financial results are scheduled for release on Thursday 7 August, after the market close in Toronto. Ahead of the release, we have updated our forecasts to reflect, in particular, an increase in production from Salobo from 58,500oz to 70,787oz in line with the volume of copper produced in Q2 (as per Vale’s production and sales report). On the basis of the difference between Vale’s Brazilian copper sales and its production (as a proxy for Salobo’s performance) we have also assumed only a small inventory build at Wheaton in Q2 relative to Q1. Including an upward adjustment to prices, these changes have resulted in a 21.7% increase to our Q225 adjusted EPS estimate and a 9.1% increase to our FY25 estimate. Note that our FY26 adjusted EPS estimate (below) is based on very conservative gold and silver prices of US$2,105/oz and US$24.33/oz, respectively. At prevailing metals prices, it rises to US$2.87/share, while its corresponding P/E ratio falls to 33.3x.

Wheaton Precious Metals’ (WPM’s) Q225 financial results are scheduled for release on Thursday 7 August, after the market close in Toronto. Ahead of the release, we have updated our forecasts to reflect, in particular, an increase in production from Salobo from 58,500oz to 70,787oz in line with the volume of copper produced in Q2 (as per Vale’s production and sales report). On the basis of the difference between Vale’s Brazilian copper sales and its production (as a proxy for Salobo’s performance) we have also assumed only a small inventory build at Wheaton in Q2 relative to Q1. Including an upward adjustment to prices, these changes have resulted in a 21.7% increase to our Q225 adjusted EPS estimate and a 9.1% increase to our FY25 estimate. Note that our FY26 adjusted EPS estimate (below) is based on very conservative gold and silver prices of US$2,105/oz and US$24.33/oz, respectively. At prevailing metals prices, it rises to US$2.87/share, while its corresponding P/E ratio falls to 33.3x.

• We are reiterating our Buy rating and $40 price target, and conservatively leaving our 2025 and 2026 EPS projections untouched after JAKKS Pacific registered EPS upside, but a revenue miss, for 2Q25, as the company’s operations were materially impacted by the imposition of China tariffs, which served to disrupt shipments utilizing the Freight On Board (“FOB”) method.
• While a 40% increase in international revenue YoY demonstrated what could have been, domestic sales declines of over 30% in the United States showed the lost potential of the quarter.
• That said, management did a solid job controlling the levers in their control to still register a small profit.

• We believe the expected increased need in North America for critical materials, including anode, is a key factor behind the non-dilutive funding the company has been able to obtain from the DOE, Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program and other sources, as NVX moves forward with the construction of a 2nd Tennessee plant.
• Production capacity of its existing Riverside plant has been pre-sold via multiple offtake agreements and NVX plans to construct a 2nd facility in the state, recently obtaining approval and expected tax credits toward this project.
• NVX has secured additional liquidity, recently entering into a funding agreement for up to US$100m convertible debentures with Yorkville Advisors Global.

• OPTT hosted a FY25 briefing for analysts and investors today. OPTT is a provider of intelligent solutions for gathering information and delivering payloads in marine environments.
• The company’s offerings include several product lines supporting go- to-market strategies, featuring autonomous vehicles and persistent buoys capable of generating their own power.
• These assets are deployed at sea to collect data for a range of customers, with a strong focus on the defense and security sector, as well as offshore energy producers and the research and scientific communities.