Nvidia (NVDA)
Chipmaker Nvidia closed at a record high on Monday, up more than 4% to hit $143.71.
This latest advance in share price comes as Wall Street analysts held firm on their bullish outlook on the company.
Bank of America (BAC) raised its price target on Nvidia from $165 to $190 per share, citing strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI).
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Investment research firm CFRA also raised its price target for Nvidia last week from $139 to $160. Overall, analysts see shares rising to $148.37 over the next 12 months, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Hopes are high that the market leader in AI hardware will shine in next month’s third quarter report shrugging off weakness seen in other areas of the semiconductor world.”
Nvidia is set to report its third-quarter results on 20 November.
The rise in Nvidia shares have given it a market capitalisation of $3.53tn (£2.72tn), keeping it behind Apple (AAPL) as the world’s second most valuable company.
Tech giant Apple also ended Monday’s session at a fresh record high, rising 1.5% to close at $236.48.
Shares are up nearly 23% year-to-date, giving the company a market valuation of $3.59tn.
Apple hit an intraday last week, also on the back of Wall Street analysts issuing bullish outlooks on the stock. Analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS), Bernstein, and Evercore ISI have reiterated their buy ratings on Apple.
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Meanwhile, positive preliminary iPhone shipment data posted by International Data Corporation (IDC) showed strong demand for Apple’s previous smartphone models. Sales were also helped by Apple’s rollout of the latest iPhone 16 model.
That came following concerns over weak demand for the iPhone 16, which had slightly dampened investor enthusiasm around the stock more recently.
Apple is set to report earnings on 31 October and Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg expect earnings to rise 9% from last year to $1.59 per share.
Shares in German software firm SAP were up nearly 4% in pre-market trading on Tuesday morning, after the company raised its full-year outlook following strong third-quarter results.
SAP reported a 9% rise in total revenue for the third quarter to €8.5bn (£7.1bn) and cloud revenue up by a quarter to €4.4bn.
The software giant also posted a 29% rise in operating profit to €2.2bn, with earnings per share up 15% to €1.25.
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As a result, SAP CEO Christian Klein said the company “confidently” raising its outlook for 2024.
He said: “Cloud revenue growth developed remarkably well in the quarter, especially for our cloud ERP suite. Even more importantly, we are making strong progress on business AI with groundbreaking innovations such as SAP Knowledge Graph. A significant part of our cloud deals in Q3 included AI use cases.”
SAP said it now expected cloud and software revenue of between €29.5bn and €29.8bn, up from a previous range of €29bn to €29.5bn. The company also lifted its operating profit guidance to between €7.8bn and €8bn, up from €7.6bn to €7.9bn.
New HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery, unveiled an overhaul of the bank’s structure on Tuesday, dividing the bank into four businesses.
HSBC will operate through four businesses from 1 January: Hong Kong, UK, corporate and institutional banking, as well as international wealth and premier banking.
In an announcement outlining the changes, HSBC said this was aimed at reducing the “duplication of processes and decision making” in the business.
Elhedery said: “The new structure will result in a simpler, more dynamic, and agile organisation as we focus on executing against our strategic priorities, which remain unchanged.”
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Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Elhedery’s “actions are akin to getting the house in order, clearing away clutter and putting things in the right place, before embarking on a new paint job and then thinking about expanding sideways or upwards”.
“It feels as if Elhedery is focusing on what the bank does best,” he said. “By combining the commercial and institutional banking operation, HSBC can bring together teams and strengthen the focus on a key target market.”
In addition, HSBC announced that it appointed Pam Kaur as group chief financial officer (CFO). Kaur, who joined HSBC in 2013 and is currently group chief risk and compliance officer, is the first woman to hold the role of CFO in the bank’s 159-year history.
HSBC shares were flat following the release of these updates on Tuesday morning.
Mulberry Group (MUL.L)
Luxury handbag maker Mulberry rejected the increased takeover offer of £111m from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, calling it “untenable” in an update on Tuesday.
Mulberry said its board of directors had considered the revised offer from Fraser Group, as well as the “clear position” of its majority shareholder Challice Limited, in which it stated it would sell its stake to Frasers or support the offer.
Instead, Mulberry said that the board believed the company “should focus its attention on driving the commercial performance of the business”.
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However, the board said that it acknowledged that Frasers, “through its participation in the company’s recent fundraising, has shown itself to be supportive of maintaining the value of the Mulberry brand. The board appreciates this and looks forward to further interactions with Frasers in the future.”
Mould said: “Frasers was never going to win the takeover battle for Mulberry with a bigger shareholder blocking its way.
“The debate now shifts to whether Frasers will keep its stake in the business or whether it will push for Challice to buy it out and take the business private,” he said. “There seems little point in Mulberry remaining a listed company if Frasers loses interest after the bid.”
Mulberry shares were trading more than 3% in the red following the news on Tuesday morning.
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