Markets
markets
Claire Yubin Oh

Snap rises on surprise profit beat, despite falling global daily active users

Snap shares are up 7% in premarket trading on Thursday after the owner of the popular social media app reported better-than-expected sales and earnings in its Q4 results, released Wednesday evening.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, the company reported:

  • Revenue of $1.72 billion, marginally above analyst estimates of $1.702 billion (consensus compiled by Bloomberg).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.183, topping expectations of $0.153 by 20%.

“Our Q4 results began to reflect the impact of our strategic pivot toward profitable growth, translating into revenue diversification and meaningful margin expansion,” CEO Evan Spiegel said in a press release.

Investors seem to be pleased about the increased focus on the bottom line, with top-line guidance actually coming in a little softer: Snap expects Q1 revenue to be between $1.5 billion and $1.53 billion, marginally below consensus forecasts for $1.526 billion at its midpoint.

However, the company also noted that the guidance excludes potential revenue from any deal with Perplexity AI’s answer engine in its app — a tie-up that would offer Snap $400 million a year in cash and equity — as the two parties are “yet to mutually agree on a path to a broader roll out.”

The bad news was that the company’s user base shrunk, with global daily active users, long a key metric for the social media company, dropping to 474 million from 477 million last quarter, lower than the previous quarter and analysts’ projections. In a letter to investors, the company addressed the slowdown as the result of a broader strategy change announced last year to focus on “profitable growth” that included plans to “substantially reduce our community growth marketing investments.” Snap also detailed its plans to invest in higher-margin ad products, like Sponsored Snaps, and double down on its subscription business to boost its bottom line.

Snap has also been expanding into wearables and augmented reality in recent years, including creating a stand-alone subsidiary dedicated for its Specs AR glasses in January.

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markets
Matt Phillips

AI “bottleneck” stocks are the big winners halfway through a tumultuous week

Memory stocks and chip machinery companies are bouncing Wednesday, following a strong Oracle earnings report that bolstered confidence in the durability of the AI data center build-out.

In fact, Sandisk is the top performer of the S&P 500 so far this week, rising more than 21% from Friday’s close, as of shortly after 2 p.m. ET. Memory chip maker Micron is second in line, up more than 13% in weekly gains, and hard disk drive maker Western Digital is also getting a lift.

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron as well as semicap shares like KLA have been part of the “buy the bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Papa John’s spikes following report of a $47-per-share take-private offer from Qatari investment fund Irth Capital

A few weeks after announcing it would close 300 stores by the end of next year, Papa John’s is drawing fresh take-private interest from Irth Capital, an investment fund backed by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Papa John’s shares were up 19% on Wednesday afternoon, on pace for their best day since February 2025.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

According to The Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, per the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June of last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap 9x greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

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How Oracle is de-risking its AI boom

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