Markets
markets
Luke Kawa
5/15/25

Cisco surges on strong earnings, CEO says customers will spend on AI until “they just absolutely have to stop”

Cisco is the top-performing Nasdaq 100 stock in early trading after the networking products company posted a solid earnings report for its fiscal third quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines. In addition, its fourth-quarter guidance was above what the Street had penciled in.

Reports of the death of AI demand have been greatly exaggerated, and Cisco is one of the many beneficiaries of the ongoing spending: management said that AI infrastructure orders surpassed their $1 billion target for the year with one quarter to spare.

“AI orders from enterprise customers continue to show momentum as this large, nascent market opportunity starts to unlock,” CEO Chuck Robbins said, adding that tariffs and macro uncertainty hadn’t really sparked any “meaningful change” in customers’ purchasing behavior.

“They’re still committed to the technology transition,” he said. “I think the AI transition is just so important that they’re going to continue to spend until they just absolutely have to stop. And I think that as of right now, they’re still comfortable.”

Call it a tale of two Chucks, because that last remark reminds me of an infamous comment from Citi CEO Chuck Prince in July 2007: “When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”

I am certainly not suggesting that a financial crisis lurks around the corner. However, it is meant as a reminder of how deeply corporate decision-making and incentive structures are molded by booms.

When your share price becomes a function of how dedicated the market perceives you to be with a mania in progress (and to a certain degree, how much your operating results can back up your claims about that), the biggest perceived risk, above all else, is not being involved enough.

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
18h
S&P 500 goes nowhere, Nasdaq 100 hits another record, small-caps tumble

Warner Bros. Discovery led gains for the second day in a row, and only three S&P 500 sector ETFs finished in the green.

Horse Ranch In Zhangye
markets
Matt Phillips
19h

Rocket lab soars to new record close amid rally for retail faves

Rocket Lab ripped by roughly 10% Friday to close at a new all-time high, riding an upturn of retail enthusiasm for a coterie of tech-themed favorites, even as the broader market was more or less flat on the day.

Goldman Sachs’ basket of “retail favorites” — its heaviest weights are Reddit, AppLovin, and Tempus AI — was the second-biggest gainer among the company’s flagship US equity baskets on Friday, rising about 1.6%. The S&P was almost dead flat.

It’s not Rocket Lab’s first retail rodeo, as the money-losing company has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 700% over the last 12 months.

Oracle Wall Street Revisions

Analysts revise up anything and everything they thought about Oracle

After the company’s bombshell earnings this week, Wall Street thinks Oracle’s trajectory has changed.

Matt Phillips20h
markets
Nia Warfield
22h

Six Flags pops after reiterating its guidance as theme park attendance rebounds

Six Flags shares rose more than 7% today after the company reported a rebound in attendance and early season pass sales heading into the fall. The nine-week period ended August 31 saw 17.8 million guests, up about 2% from the same stretch last year, with stronger momentum in the final four weeks. 

More importantly, Six Flags reaffirmed its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $860 million to $910 million, showing confidence that its cost and operations strategy can stay strong for the duration of the year. Riding that wave, Six Flags also said early 2026 season pass unit sales are pacing ahead of last year, and average season pass prices are up about 3%.

The good vibes come despite a drop in in-park per-capita spending, especially from admissions, where promotions and changes to attendance mix (which parks or days guests visit) have weighed. Earlier this week, the amusement giant signed a new agreement that extended its position as the exclusive amusement park partner for Peanuts™ in North America through 2030.

Despite the rally, Six Flags shares are down about 52% year to date.

markets
Max Knoblauch
23h

Rivian turns red on the year, squeezed by a recall and the looming end of the EV tax credit

Shares of EV maker Rivian are down more than 5% on Friday following the company’s recall of 24,214 vehicles due to a software issue. The stock move erases Rivian’s year-to-date gain and turns the company negative on the year.

Rivian’s 2025 model year R1S and R1T are affected by the defect, which was identified after a vehicle’s hands-free highway assist software failed to identify another vehicle on the road, causing a low-speed collision. Rivian said it’s released an over-the-air update to fix the issue.

The recall marks Rivian’s fifth this year, affecting nearly 70,000 of its vehicles.

Rivian’s shares are down more than 20% from their 2025 high, which came prior to the passage of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Through the legislation, the $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire at the end of the month.

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