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A specialist trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, October 17, 2022.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Let’s see if this holds

Stocks jumped again Tuesday, cementing a strong start to the week, although futures didn’t look too bright Wednesday morning. The tech-heavy Nasdaq looked set to be buoyed by Netflix and its strong earnings report (more on that below). Overall, even though its early in earnings season, companies’ reports have been pretty solid so far, even though fears of a Fed-driven recession linger. Investors will have more earnings to chew on Wednesday, with Procter & Gamble reporting before the bell and IBM and Tesla set for after the close. Read live market updates here.

2. Netflix changes things up

The Netflix logo is seen on a TV remote controller, in this illustration taken January 20, 2022.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Netflix came through with a strong earnings report Tuesday, easily beating expectations on its top and bottom lines. But its strongest metric was the number of subscribers it added in the third quarter. The stock surged in off-hours trading, as it appeared that Netflix had managed to turn things around after losing subscribers for consecutive quarters. There was a plot twist, though: Netflix said it would no longer provide quarterly forecasts for subscriber additions. Instead, as the company moves toward selling a new ad-supported tier, and its competitors bulk up, Netflix wants to put more emphasis on profit and revenue. “Focusing on subscribers in our early days was helpful, but now that we have such a wide range of price points and different partnerships all over the world, the economic impact of any given subscriber can be quite different,” Netflix executive Spencer Wang said during the company’s earnings call.

3. Turning back the clock

Seinfeld

Carin Baer | NBCU

You want to feel old? The last time mortgage demand was this low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, was 1997. “Seinfeld” was the top TV show, and Jewel dominated the music charts with “You Were Meant for Me.” Also that year, mortgage rates were consistently above 7%. This time, depending on which organization is keeping track, rates are now hovering near or above 7%. Affordability in the housing market was a concern even before rates started surging this year, but builders and sellers remained bullish since demand was so robust. Now sellers are getting a little warier, and homebuilder sentiment is well into negative territory, as buyers are in no rush to lock in a high mortgage age rate.

4. Flying high again

A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California.

Louis Nastro | Reuters

United Airlines is bullish on fourth quarter air travel, as people shake off two years of Covid restrictions and head out for the holidays. Even with inflation at four-decade highs and Wall Street warning of a recession. “Looking forward through the end of the year, the airline expects the strong Covid recovery trends to continue to overcome the recessionary pressures in the macroeconomic environment,” the company said in its earnings release Tuesday. United’s outlook follows a similar rosy report from rival Delta Air Lines, which projected a profit during the fourth quarter. American Airlines is set to report before the bell Thursday.

5. P&G’s forex warning

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Procter & Gamble, the consumer goods giant known for producing Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste, said it expects foreign exchange to weigh on its results during the fiscal year. The U.S. dollar has strengthened considerably against other nations’ currency in recent months as the Federal Reserve has jacked up interest rates to fight surging inflation. The company’s earnings and revenue, by the way, topped expectations in the most recent quarter, as price increases offset a decline in sales volumes.

– CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Whitten, Alex Sherman, Diana Olick, Leslie Josephs and Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

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World’s largest chipmaker TSMC says it has discovered potential trade secret leaks

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World's largest chipmaker TSMC says it has discovered potential trade secret leaks

TSMC workers walk down a hallway in a chipmaking fab in Taiwan. The company is building three such plants in Arizona.

TSMC

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said on Tuesday that it had detected “unauthorized activities” that lead to the discovery of potential trade secret leaks.

The world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer told CNBC that it has taken “strict” disciplinary action against the personnel involved and that it has also launched legal proceedings.

“TSMC maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward any actions that compromise the protection of trade secrets or harm the company’s interests,” the company said.

“Such violations are dealt with strictly and pursued to the fullest extent of the law. We remain committed to safeguarding our core competitiveness and the shared interests of all our employees.”

Semiconductors have grown in strategic importance in recent years as they have become the key pillar in the boom in artificial intelligence models and applications. Rising geopolitical tensions has put the spotlight on the competitive technological advantages of major firms in the chip supply chain like TSMC and other leaders across the board.

TSMC, headquartered in Taiwan, dominates the market for the manufacturing of the world’s most advanced chips and counts major tech giants including Apple and Nvidia as clients.

As the case is now under judicial review, TSMC is unable to provide further information, the firm said.

TSMC identified the issue early due to its “comprehensive and robust monitoring mechanisms,” the company said, adding that it carried out swift internal investigations.

Nikkei Asia, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, reported on Tuesday that several former employees of TSMC are suspected of attempting to obtain critical proprietary information on 2-nanometer chip development and production while they were still working at the company.

Production of the 2-nanometer chip is among the leading edge manufacturing processes in the semiconductor industry currently. TSMC said it did not have any additional information to share when asked by CNBC about the Nikkei report.

As the world’s leading chipmaker, TSMC has a treasure trove of intellectual property. By its own account, the company has previously said it has more than 200,000 trade secrets recorded in its internal system.

It is not the first time that TSMC has been the target for potential theft. In 2018, a Taiwanese court indicted a former employee for copying trade secretes related to the 28-nanometer fabrication process, with intent to transfer them to a semiconductor company in mainland China.

In 2023, ASML, which makes machines that are required to manufacture the most advanced chips, said that it discovered that a former employee in China had misappropriated data related to its proprietary technology.

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

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Hims & Hers stock falls 10% on revenue miss

The Hers app arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. 

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Hims & Hers Health fell 9% in extended trading on Monday after the telehealth company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for revenue.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: 17 cents adjusted vs. 15 cents
  • Revenue: $544.8 million vs. $552 million

Revenue at Hims & Hers increased 73% in the second quarter from $315.6 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Hims & Hers reported a net income of $42.5 million, or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.3 million, or 6 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

For its third quarter, Hims & Hers said it expected to report revenue between $570 million to $590 million, while analysts were expecting $583 million. The company said its adjusted EBITDA for the quarter will be between the range of $60 million to $70 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting $77.1 million.

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Hims & Hers has faced controversy in recent months over its continued sale of compounded GLP-1s, which are cheaper, unapproved versions of the blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. Compounded drugs can be mass produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in February that ongoing supply issues had been resolved.

Some telehealth companies, including Hims & Hers, have continued to offer the compounded medications. It’s legal for patients to access personalized doses of the knockoffs in unique cases, like if they are allergic to an ingredient in a branded product, for instance. Hims & Hers has said consumers may still be able to access personalized doses through its site if clinically applicable. 

In June, Hims & Hers shares tumbled more than 30% after a short-lived collaboration with Novo Nordisk fell apart. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization.

Hims & Hers reported adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for its second quarter, up from $39.3 million last year and above the $73 million expected by StreetAccount.

Hims & Hers will host its quarterly call with investors at 5 p.m. ET.

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YTD chart of Hims & Hers Health.

–CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report

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Palantir tops $1 billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

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Palantir tops  billion in revenue for the first time, boosts guidance

Palantir reports $1 billion in revenue for the first time

Palantir topped Wall Street’s estimates Monday, surpassing $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time, and hiking its full-year guidance.

Shares rallied more than 5%.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 16 cents adj. vs. 14 cents expected
  • Revenue: $1.00 billion vs. $940 million expected

The artificial intelligence software provider’s revenues grew 48% during the period. Analysts hadn’t expected the $1 billion revenue benchmark from the Denver-based company until the fourth quarter of this year.

“The growth rate of our business has accelerated radically, after years of investment on our part and derision by some,” wrote CEO Alex Karp in a letter to shareholders. “The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission.”

The software analytics company also boosted its full-year outlook guidance. For the full year, Palantir now expects revenues to range between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion, up from prior guidance of $3.89 billion to $3.90 billion.

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For the third quarter, Palantir forecast revenues between $1.083 billion and $1.087 billion, beating an analyst estimate of $983 million. Palantir also lifted its operating income and full-year free cash flow guidance.

Palantir’s U.S. revenues jumped 68% from a year ago to $733 million, while U.S. commercial revenues nearly doubled from a year ago to $306 million.

The software analytics company has seen a boost from President Donald Trump‘s government efficiency campaign, which included layoffs and contract cuts. Palantir’s U.S. government revenues jumped 53% from the year-ago period to $426 million.

“It has been a steep and upward climb — an ascent that is a reflection of the remarkable confluence of the arrival of language models, the chips necessary to power them, and our software infrastructure,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.

During the quarter, Palantir said it closed 66 deals of at least $5 million and 42 deals totaling at least $10 million. Total value of its contracts grew 140% from last year to $2.27 billion.

Net income rose 144% to about $326.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from about $134.1 million, or 6 cents per share a year ago.

Palantir shares have more than doubled this year as investors bet on the company’s AI tools and contract agreements with governments.

Its market value has accelerated past $379 billion and into the list of top 20 most valuable U.S companies, surpassing SalesforceIBM and Cisco to join the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Shares hit a new high Monday.

At its size, buying the stock requires investors to pay hefty multiples.

Shares currently trade 276 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. Tesla is the only other top 20 with a triple-digit ratio at 177.

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Palantir one-day stock chart.

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