In today’s briefing:
- Tech Hit on Financing Worries, but Micron Guidance Smashes Estimates
- SemiFive IPO Bookbuilding Results Analysis
- Palo Alto Networks: A Full-Stack Push Into Observability, Cloud Visibility, & Cost Efficiency!
- Workday: The Game-Changing AI Deals That Are Rewriting Its Product Roadmap!
- Zscaler: An Insight Into Its Emerging Areas Momentum
- HP Inc.: Strengthening Commercial Share With Workstations
- Global Markets: US Rates, Korean Alpha, and the AI Diversification Thesis
- Qualcomm – Alphawave: Closing the Loop on a Clean Trade
- Intuit: Inside Credit Karma + TurboTax—How This Integration Is Quietly Winning Market Share!
- Analog Devices: How AI Data Centers Are Turning Into a Massive Power & Connectivity Landgrab Inside ADI’s Playbook!
Tech Hit on Financing Worries, but Micron Guidance Smashes Estimates
- Tape will be weak to start, but may find dip buying given the bullish read from Micron which is helping send futs higher
- Chinese ex-ASML engineers have reversed engineered a EUV lithography machine. Not awesome news for Lasertec and Jeol either.
- China cooling on Japan has led to a big drop in tourist arrival growth rates. Expected – but still negative for duty free, hotels and rails etc.
SemiFive IPO Bookbuilding Results Analysis
- SemiFive confirmed its IPO price at 24,000 won, which was at the high end of the IPO price range.
- A 43.9% of the total IPO shares are under various lock-up periods lasting from 15 days to 6 months. This is also a bullish sign.
- Our base case valuation of SemiFive is implied market cap of 1.4 trillion won or target price of 42,349 won per share, which is 76% higher than the IPO price.
Palo Alto Networks: A Full-Stack Push Into Observability, Cloud Visibility, & Cost Efficiency!
- Palo Alto Networks recently shared its financial outcomes for the first fiscal quarter of 2026, exhibiting robust performance across various metrics.
- Total revenue for the quarter increased by 16% year-over-year to $2.47 billion, significantly surpassing expectations.
- The company’s focus on platformization and Next-Generation Security (NGS) offerings continue to guide its strategic direction, contributing to the company’s robust earnings.
Workday: The Game-Changing AI Deals That Are Rewriting Its Product Roadmap!
- Workday Inc. reported its Q3 fiscal 2026 results with a solid performance, underscored by a 15% increase in subscription revenue, reaching $2.244 billion, and a notable non-GAAP operating margin of 28.5%.
- The company’s comprehensive strategy to unify HR and finance platforms is resonating across industries, despite ongoing global economic uncertainty.
- This alignment is reflected in strong customer adoption and expansion, particularly in the areas of AI and platform innovations.
Zscaler: An Insight Into Its Emerging Areas Momentum
- Zscaler, a prominent player in the cybersecurity solutions sector, demonstrated significant financial progress in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2026.
- The company reported robust performance metrics, notably advancing in its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $3.2 billion, marking a 26% year-over-year growth.
- Revenue for the quarter reached $788 million, up 26% compared to the previous year, showcasing consistent momentum in customer acquisition and retention, particularly within its key growth pillars: AI Security, Zero Trust Everywhere, and Data Security Everywhere.
HP Inc.: Strengthening Commercial Share With Workstations
- HP Inc.’s fourth-quarter results for fiscal year 2025 demonstrated both strengths and challenges in its business operations.
- The company reported revenue growth, driven primarily by the Personal Systems division, which saw an 8% year-over-year increase, attributed to gains in both Commercial and Consumer categories.
- This positive performance was bolstered by robust demand for AI PCs, which represented more than 30% of HP’s shipments in the quarter, indicating significant market uptake in this segment.
Global Markets: US Rates, Korean Alpha, and the AI Diversification Thesis
- The bullish outlook for global equities is driven by the macro strength of Developed Markets, including US upside and Eurozone resilience, plus corporate governance reforms.
- Central bank divergence, FX risks 2026+ may warrant a look at VIX and gold portfolio hedges.
- KOSPI 200 led 2025 gains among our selection of indices, highlighting AI alpha from memory chips as another dimension to the global GPU rally.
Qualcomm – Alphawave: Closing the Loop on a Clean Trade
- Scheme sanctioned, settlement imminent: Alphawave’s acquisition by Qualcomm has cleared all regulatory and legal hurdles. With court approval now secured, shares will delist on 19 December.
- Spread fully closed: At a 17 Dec close of 184.6p and FX-implied offer value of ~185.07p, the deal trades at a negligible +0.26% gross spread, eliminating upside for new entrants.
- Attractive return for early entrants: Arbitrageurs positioned around 177–179p captured ~3–4% gross return, annualizing to ~8%. Clean execution, founder alignment, and low regulatory friction supported a high-certainty event-driven trade.
Intuit: Inside Credit Karma + TurboTax—How This Integration Is Quietly Winning Market Share!
- Intuit, a key player in financial software, has delivered strong results in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
- The company reported an 18% increase in revenue, which highlights the momentum and robust growth strategy that Intuit is executing.
- This growth can be attributed to its AI-driven platform, which has further enhanced customer experiences across consumer and business segments.
Analog Devices: How AI Data Centers Are Turning Into a Massive Power & Connectivity Landgrab Inside ADI’s Playbook!
- Analog Devices (ADI) delivered a robust performance in its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, showcasing resilience and growth across all its end markets amidst challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions.
- The reported revenue for the quarter reached $3.08 billion, representing a sequential growth of 7% and a significant year-over-year increase of 26%.
- ADI’s full fiscal year revenue surpassed $11 billion, up 17% from the previous year, driven by double-digit growth across its industrial, automotive, communications, and consumer segments.
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