TheChek News Flow

>>> US After Hours Summary: CVNA +31.7%, ASPN +29.4%, ENVX +22.7%, QCOM +3.9% hi

After Hours Summary: CVNA +31.7%, ASPN +29.4%, ENVX +22.7%, QCOM +3.9% higher on earnings; FSLY -30.3%, FRSH -23.9%, DASH -14.9%, ETSY -13%, QRVO -11.5%, NTGR -9.6%, PAYC -7.6% lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: CVNA +31.7%, ASPN +29.4%, ENVX +22.7% (also reaches development agreement with top 5 smartphone OEM), MAX +13.9%, RSI +13.1%, CORT +11.8%, CHRW +11%, BHE +8.1%, GRBK +7.1%, SRPT +6.2%, FORM +6.1%, HLF +6%, CAR +5.6%, AEIS +5%, ENSG +5%, RHP +5%, CTSH +4.8%, SKWD +4.4%, MPWR +4.2%, SFM +4.2%, MGM +3.9%, PTEN +3.9%, QCOM +3.9%, CWAN +3.8%, UPWK +3.3%, MCW +2.9%, HPP +2.7%, SBOW +2.7%, RDN +2.4%, AIG +2.1% (also increases dividend; announces increases buyback auth by $10 bln), CMPR +2.1%, NSA +2%, INFA +1.9%, ALL +1.8%, BZH +1.8%, PRDO +1.4%, NOVA +1.3%, GNW +1.3%, CF +1.2%, VICI +1.2% (also will provide capital to The Venetian Resort Las Vegas for extensive reinvestment projects), NFG +0.9%, MKL +0.7%, TSLX +0.5%, MOS +0.4%, SUM +0.3%, GIL +0.2%, CODI +0.1%, FCPT +0.1%, GKOS +0.1%, JBT +0.1%, MTRN +0.1%, SRI +0.1%, THG +0.1%, FNV +0.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: EBS +35.2% (announces next phase of new operational plan, which consolidates operations, closes several facilities, and restructures its enterprise workforce), INN +8% (increases dividend, also reports earnings), IAC +6.8% (to join S&P SmallCap 600), TTWO +3.6% (to shutter two studios in connection with mass layoff across its divisions, according to Bloomberg), BBAI +2.9% (partners with Spinnaker SCA to elevate offering in supply chain consulting), AMKR +2.2% (files mixed shelf securities offering), BLZE +1.9% (files $200 mln mixed shelf securities offering), CAG +1% (Darren Serrao, Co-COO, to depart; co also will reorganize its reporting structure), BRK.B +0.4% (DVA enters into share repurchase agreement with BRK.B), BCO +0.3% (increases dividend), POOL +0.2% (increases share buyback auth by $600 mln and increases dividend), AEM +0.2% (receives approval to renew its normal course issuer bid), GFI +0.1% (CFO to retire)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: FSLY -30.3%, FRSH -23.9% (also names new CEO), SCI -23%, DASH -14.9%, RELY -14.7%, ETSY -13%, QRVO -11.5%, NTGR -9.6%, PAYC -7.6% (also expand its product offerings and geographic reach into Ireland), SDGR -7.4%, AVNW -7.3%, ZG -6.3%, PCOR -6.2%, ATRC -5.9%, ACLS -5.8%, KAR -5.4%, UGI -5.4% (also concludes strategic review, to retain ownership of AmeriGas Propane; to focus on a restructuring), CCRN -5%, PTC -4.7%, FSLR -4.3%, HCC -4.3%, KLIC -4.2% (also receives sizeable order for 1,000 advanced ball bonding), PPC -4.2%, NVST -3.8%, ALKT -3.7%, EBAY -3.3%, MYRG -3.1%, EVTC -3%, MUSA -3%, WOLF -3%, BALY -2.8%, ANSS -2.6%, JAZZ -2.2%, DGII -2.1%, EPR -1.9%, AWK -1.8%, EQC -1.8%, LBTYA -1.7%, APA -1.6%, EXPI -1.5%, CRK -0.7%, MRO -0.7%, ALB -0.5%, CDE -0.5%, NMFC -0.5%, DVN -0.4%, MET -0.2% (also authorizes new $3 bln share repurchase program), BV -0.1%, DLX -0.1%, ELME -0.1%, RLJ -0.1%, RYN -0.1%, TENB -0.1%, VMI -0.1%, VAL -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: DVA -2.2% (DVA enters into share repurchase agreement with BRK.B), U -1.4% (names new CEO), DBX -1.2% (discloses cybersecurity incident), APA -1.1% (files mixed shelf securities offering), BA -0.3% (awarded $458 mln US Navy contract), INMB -0.1% (files $250 mln mixed shelf securities offering)

WWD : Cartier, Omega, Breitling, Audemars Piguet, and Hublot Watches Lost Value

Cartier, Omega, Breitling, Audemars Piguet, and Hublot Watches Lost Value in Secondary Market, Said Chrono24

Timepieces from Jaeger-LeCoultre experienced the greatest increase in value, up 3.97 percent, in the first quarter of 2024.

From left: Tag Heuer’s Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver 45mm and Rolex’s Datejust 41mm, Oystersteel and white gold.

LONDON — Timepieces from Jaeger-LeCoultre experienced the greatest increase in value, up 3.97 percent, in the first quarter of 2024 in the secondary market, said timepiece online marketplace Chrono24 in a recent report, after analyzing sales data drawn from more than 600,000 transactions in the period.

According to the ChronoPulse watch index report, which was first introduced in 2019, luxury watch prices nearly stagnated in the quarter, falling 0.49 percent, and may have bottomed out.

Balazs Ferenczi, head of brand engagement at Chrono24, said it remains to be seen whether there will be an upward trend in the coming weeks.

“There are already a few positive signs in this regard, as prices for more than 40 percent of popular models rose in the first quarter of this year. The watch market could also get a further boost if central banks in Europe and the U.S. cut key interest rates,” he added.

Economic observers believe that may be unlikely for the near future, however, as inflation rates in the two regions remain stubbornly high.

Ferenczi noted the platform has recently seen increased demand for luxury watches and prices for watches from four of the 14 brands analyzed by Chrono24 rose in the period.

“We even set a new record for transactions on our marketplace in Q1 2024. This could also be a sign that watch enthusiasts are speculating that prices will rise again, and thus are getting their dream watch at a potentially lower price,” said Ferenczi.

Trailing Jaeger-LeCoultre, watches from Patek Philippe, Tag Heuer and Rolex also showed positive performance across the first quarter of 2024.

The greatest loss in value, meanwhile, was seen by Breitling, down 4.49 percent. Watches from Cartier, Omega, Audemars Piguet and Hublot also decreased in value by more than 2 percent in the period.

In terms of top-performing models, there are two, both from Cartier. The Cartier Panthère saw a 19.51 percent jump in value, while prices for the Cartier Santos rose by 18.25 percent in the period.

Six other models that saw their value increase by more than 15 percent include the Breitling Navitimer, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grande Taille, Tag Heuer Monaco Gulf, Panerai Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days, Hublot Big Bang, and Grand Seiko Heritage Collection.

Based in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chrono24 was founded in 2003 as a peer-to-peer marketplace and has gained scale as it has evolved. The marketplace carries about 530,000 watches from more than 35,000 professional and private sellers, attracting more than 9 million unique visitors a month.

A 2021 series C round raised more than 100 million euros, or $118 million, scoring a $1 billion valuation for Chrono24. Led by private equity firm General Atlantic, the fundraising saw the arrival of investors including LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton titan Bernard Arnault’s Aglaé Ventures, Insight Partners and Sprints Capital. It also counts Cristiano Ronaldo among investors.

TechCrunch : Anthropic launches new iPhone app, premium plan for businesses

Anthropic launches new iPhone app, premium plan for businesses

Anthropic, one of the world’s best-funded generative AI startups with $7.6 billion in the bank, is launching a new paid plan aimed at enterprises, including those in highly regulated industries like healthcare, finance and legal, as well as a new iOS app.

Team, the enterprise plan, gives customers higher-priority access to Anthropic’s Claude 3 family of generative AI models plus additional admin and user management controls.

“Anthropic introduced the Team plan now in response to growing demand from enterprise customers who want to deploy Claude’s advanced AI capabilities across their organizations,” Scott White, product lead at Anthropic, told TechCrunch. “The Team plan is designed for businesses of all sizes and industries that want to give their employees access to Claude’s language understanding and generation capabilities in a controlled and trusted environment.”

The Team plan — which joins Anthropic’s individual premium plan, Pro — delivers “greater usage per user” compared to Pro, enabling users to “significantly increase” the number of chats that they can have with Claude. (We’ve asked Anthropic for figures.) Team customers get a 200,000-token (~150,000-word) context window as well as all the advantages of Pro, like early access to new features.

Context window, or context, refers to input data (e.g. text) that a model considers before generating output (e.g. more text). Models with small context windows tend to forget the content of even very recent conversations, while models with larger contexts avoid this pitfall — and, as an added benefit, better grasp the flow of data they take in.

Team also brings with it new toggles to control billing and user management. And in the coming weeks, it’ll gain collaboration features including citations to verify AI-generated claims (models including Anthropic’s tend to hallucinate), integrations with data repos like codebases and customer relationship management platforms (e.g. Salesforce) and — perhaps most intriguing to this writer — a canvas to work with team members on AI-generated docs and projects, Anthropic says.

In the nearer term, Team customers will be able to leverage tool use capabilities for Claude 3, which recently entered open beta. This allows users to equip Claude 3 with custom tools to perform a wider range of tasks, like getting a firm’s current stock price or the local weather report, similar to OpenAI’s GPTs.

“By enabling businesses to deeply integrate Claude into their collaborative workflows, the Team plan positions Anthropic to capture significant enterprise market share as more companies move from AI experimentation to full-scale deployment in pursuit of transformative business outcomes,” White said. “In 2023, customers rapidly experimented with AI, and now in 2024, the focus has shifted to identifying and scaling applications that deliver concrete business value.”

Anthropic talks a big game, but it still might take a substantial effort on its part to get businesses on board.

According to a recent Gartner survey, 49% of companies said that it’s difficult to estimate and demonstrate the value of AI projects, making them a tough sell internally. A separate poll from McKinsey found that 66% of executives believe that generative AI is years away from generating substantive business results.

Anthropic Team

Image Credits: Anthropic

Yet corporate spending on generative AI is forecasted to be enormous. IDC expects that it’ll reach $15.1 billion in 2027, growing nearly eightfold from its total in 2023.

That’s probably generative AI vendors, most notably OpenAI, are ramping up their enterprise-focused efforts.

OpenAI recently said that it had more than 600,000 users signed up for the enterprise tier of its generative AI platform ChatGPT, ChatGPT Enterprise. And it’s introduced a slew of tools aimed at satisfying corporate compliance and governance requirements, like a new user interface to compare model performance and quality.

Anthropic is competitively pricing its Team plan: $30 per user per month billed monthly, with a minimum of five seats. OpenAI doesn’t publish the price of ChatGPT Enterprise, but users on Reddit report being quoted anywhere from $30 per user per month for 120 users to $60 per user per month for 250 users.

“Anthropic’s Team plan is competitive and affordable considering the value it offers organizations,” White said. “The per-user model is straightforward, allowing businesses to start small and expand gradually. This structure supports Anthropic’s growth and stability while enabling enterprises to strategically leverage AI.”

It undoubtedly helps that Anthropic’s launching Team from a position of strength.

Amazon in March completed its $4 billion investment in Anthropic (following a $2 billion Google investment), and the company is reportedly on track to generate more than $850 million in annualized revenue by the end of 2024 — a 70% increase from an earlier projection. Anthropic may see Team as its logical next path to expansion. But at least right now it seems Anthropic can afford to let Team grow organically as it attempts to convince holdout businesses its generative AI is better than the rest.

An Anthropic iOS app

Anthropic’s other piece of news Wednesday is that it’s launching an iOS app. Given that the company’s conspicuously been hiring iOS engineers over the past few months, this comes as no great surprise.

The iOS app provides access to Claude 3, including free access as well as upgraded Pro and Team access. It syncs with Anthropic’s client on the web, and it taps Claude 3’s vision capabilities to offer real-time analysis for uploaded and saved images. For example, users can upload a screenshot of charts from a presentation and ask Claude to summarize them.

“By offering the same functionality as the web version, including chat history syncing and photo upload capabilities, the iOS app aims to make Claude a convenient and integrated part of users’ daily lives, both for personal and professional use,” White said. “It complements the web interface and API offerings, providing another avenue for users to engage with the AI assistant. As we continue to develop and refine our technologies, we’ll continue to explore new ways to deliver value to users across various platforms and use cases, including mobile app development and functionality.”

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FT : Embraer explores options for aircraft to rival Airbus and Boeing

Embraer explores options for aircraft to rival Airbus and Boeing

Brazilian aerospace group studies plans for narrow-body passenger plane or long-range business jet

Embraer, the Brazilian aerospace and defence group, is studying options for a new passenger aircraft that could put it in direct competition with the industry’s heavyweights, Airbus and Boeing.

The project, which is in its early stages, could either become plans for a narrow-body aircraft or a long-range business jet, people familiar with the situation confirmed.

The business case for the initiative should be ready by the end of next year, when it will then be taken to the board of directors, these people said. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Embraer was looking at the possibility of a narrow-body aircraft.

The world’s third-largest civil aircraft manufacturer is the leading producer of regional jets, which typically have up to 120 seats and are smaller than the narrow-body planes that Boeing and Airbus make. Its latest and largest model, the E195-E2, can carry up to 146 passengers.

In executive jets, Embraer sells entry-level, light, midsized and super midsized aircraft. The long-range segment is dominated by Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault Aviation.

Any decision to enter the single-aisle market would see Embraer compete directly with Airbus’s best-selling A320 family of jets and Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft. It would be a decision fraught with risk; launching a model costs tens of billions of dollars and success is not guaranteed.

Embraer has in the past regularly played down any interest in entering the competitive market for single-aisle aircraft. Attention over the possibility has intensified, however, amid the turmoil at Boeing after the mid-air blowout of a section of one of its 737 Max aircraft in January.

The US plane maker has since been forced to slow production of the Max as it focuses on improving its manufacturing and quality processes. It burnt through almost $4bn in cash in the first three months of this year and is revamping its top management. The crisis has frustrated Boeing’s airline customers, many of which have had to trim their busy summer flying schedules.

Embraer said that while it “certainly has the capability to develop a new narrow-body aircraft”, the company has a “young and very successful portfolio of products developed in recent years, and we are really focused on selling those products”.

It added: “We don’t have any plan for a sizeable cycle of capex at this time.”

Embraer, which has previously said it was interested in partnerships to open new markets for its current products, is separately talking to several countries. It will consider local production, depending on the volumes of aircraft acquired.

The company has emerged strongly from the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to a profit of $164mn in 2023 as it ramped up deliveries of new aircraft. Its order backlog is at the highest level in seven years, according to Citi analysts.

Shares in the São Paulo-listed group have risen by more than half in 2024, giving Embraer a market capitalisation of $4.8bn on Wednesday.

Taking on Boeing head-on would be a remarkable turn of events for Embraer, which is considered the crown jewel of Brazilian engineering.

It is waiting for a decision from an arbitration it filed at the International Chamber of Commerce after Boeing abandoned a deal to take a majority stake in its civil aerospace division in 2020.

Industry analysts, however, believe that Embraer will be cautious about taking on the two giants of aviation.

Bombardier, Canada’s former industrial champion, was almost bankrupted attempting to do just that with its C series, a small, single-aisle offering. Bombardier ended up partnering with Airbus on the model in 2017 before selling out to the European giant and quitting the commercial sector in 2020 to focus on private jets.

Embraer also operates a defence division that supplies military equipment, such as light attack planes and transport aircraft.

FT : Embraer explores options for aircraft to rival Airbus and Boeing

Embraer explores options for aircraft to rival Airbus and Boeing

Brazilian aerospace group studies plans for narrow-body passenger plane or long-range business jet

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