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Most Wall Street investors believe the best way to take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom is to buy Big Tech stocks, according to the new CNBC Delivering Alpha investor survey. Forty-seven percent of respondents said big-cap tech companies are the best way to invest in AI, while 37% believe there's too much hype around the space. The chipmaker has been at the center of an AI craze on Wall Street. Investors piled into the AI enabler after the company recently made a shockingly strong forecast of future demand. Alphabet's AI capabilities and ambition attracted buying from big investors recently, including Stanley Druckenmiller 's Duquesne Family Office, Dan Loeb's Third Point and Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management.

Persons: Buzzy chatbot ChatGPT, Stanley Druckenmiller, Dan Loeb's, Bill Ackman's Organizations: Big Tech, CNBC Delivering Alpha, CNBC, Nasdaq, Microsoft, Google, Duquesne Family Office, Bill Ackman's Pershing, Capital Management

☆ Empty offices, abandoned malls, concerns over crime: Why San Francisco, the Golden City, is losing its luster
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Days later, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and coowner Brookfield gave the San Francisco City Centre back to their lenders after the exit of retailers left the mall just over half occupied. Whatever is going on in San Francisco, we are not interested in being part of that any longer." Fear of crime taints the cityCrime, or the fear of it, often creeps into conversations about San Francisco, too. "I ask, what's the driver" of the San Francisco office vacancies, Scavone told Insider. He continued: "Is it because downtown San Francisco is somewhat of a difficult commute from suburbs in Marin County or the East Bay?"

Persons: Manus Clancy, Trepp, —, Brookfield, Clancy, Salesforce, Jeff Burg, he's, Burg, we're, Thomas Baltimore, hasn't, Elon Musk, Bob Lee, Frank Scavone, Scavone Organizations: Service, San Francisco, California, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Parc, San Francisco City Centre, San, Krea, Union, Census, LinkedIn, Park Hotels, Resorts, Westfield, ABC, San Francisco Travel Association, Elon, Foods, The New York Times, McKinsey & Co, downtown Locations: San Francisco, San, San Francisco Chronicle, Westfield, Real, Francisco, New York, cubicles, Boston , Chicago, Houston, Miami, San Francisco's Hayes Valley, Manhattan, Tenderloin, —, downtown San Francisco, Marin County

☆ Third Point Real Estate's managing partner said it's 'a foolish debate' to say the office market will fail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Frank Scavone, managing partner of Third Point Real Estate Strategies, said offices aren't dead. Frank Scavone, the managing partner of Third Point Real Estate Strategies, told Insider he's up for the challenge. But are there opportunities now for investors like Third Point Real Estate Strategies? What's going to happen with all the commercial real estate debt coming due in this higher interest rate environment? And let's not forget about the more than $300 billion in dry powder aimed at North American commercial real estate investment.

Persons: Frank Scavone, Scavone, Daniel Loeb's, —, Trepp, CBRE, That's, San Francisco — Organizations: Service, Third Point, Hedge, CBRE, downtown, Employers, North Locations: San Francisco, downtown San Francisco, Marin County, York, multifamily, New York City

☆ Toshiba gives shareholder management masterclass
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Its limited visibility on the value of the memory-chip specialist was one reason it cited for its earlier restraint. Follow @ugalani on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSToshiba said on June 8 that its board has decided to recommend shareholders accept a tender offer from a group led by Japan Industrial Partners. The tender offer is expected to be launched some time from late July. Among other factors, it cited limited visibility into the value of chipmaker Kioxia, of which Toshiba owns around 40%. In recommending the offer, Toshiba noted the book value of Kioxia’s shares had fallen since its March announcement.

Persons: Paul Singer’s Elliott, Daniel Loeb’s, Jerry Black, Antony Currie, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, Toshiba, Japan Industrial Partners, Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, Farallon Capital, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Kioxia, Japan

☆ A.I. excitement leads to a winning week for Nvidia and other tech stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Artificial intelligence plays led the stock market higher this week, as excitement over Nvidia's blowout earnings beat lifted other tech names. As of Friday morning, the AI darling is up nearly 22% week to date and still has 11% upside to the average analyst price target, per FactSet. However, it has about 3.5% downside to the average analyst price target. Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices gained nearly 18% week to date but has 15% downside to the average analyst price target. Lastly, Arista Networks has added nearly 15% so far this week and has another 4% upside to the average analyst price target.

☆ These are the next stocks to get an A.I. boost like Nvidia, according to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But while the chipmaker remains the undisputed leader in the AI arms race, it's far from the only company benefiting from the frenzy overtaking Wall Street. NVDA 1D mountain Nvidia shares pop While Nvidia's results seem to reiterate its clear chip dominance, other names are gaining buzz on Wall Street and could see big gains as AI booms. Advanced Micro Devices Similar to Nvidia, Wall Street forecasts opportunities for Advanced Micro Devices in the near future. Needham also believes Taiwan Semiconductor's capabilities offer a "shortcut" for companies big and small looking to get into the competitive AI chip market. Its new delivery systems to help reduce power delivery network losses should also benefit shares in the long run.

Persons: Dan Loeb's, Raymond James, Brad Lin, Lin, Needham, Vivek Arya, CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Nvidia, Wall, Devices, AMD, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Bank of America, Systems, Marvell Technology, Broadcom, Apple Locations: Taiwan

☆ Here are big Wall Street investors' favorite A.I. bets, other than Nvidia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But it's not just Nvidia the smart money is betting on to power AI growth. Dan Loeb's Third Point also purchased Alphabet in the first quarter, making it the fund's fifth-biggest holding. Shares of Alphabet have rallied almost 40% this year as investors grew optimistic about the company's AI capabilities. AI software Druckenmiller revealed recently his Microsoft stake was also a bet on AI. Another AI software maker, Palantir, lately attracted buying from Ark Invest's Cathie Wood.

Persons: it's, Stanley Druckenmiller, Dan Loeb's, Bill Ackman's, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue, Stephen Mandel’s, Druckenmiller, David Tepper, Daniel Sundheim, Meta, Laffont’s Coatue, —, Samantha Subin Organizations: Nvidia, Wall Street's, Billionaire, Duquesne, Office, Google, Bill Ackman's Pershing, Capital Management, Taiwan Semiconductor, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management, Devices, Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Microsoft, Meta Locations: Wall

☆ Hedge funds piled into these A.I. stocks during the first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Securities filings released this week signaled that many hedge funds also appear to be catching the AI bug. Betting on AI heavyweights Alphabet popped up as one of the most common AI plays among big investors in the first quarter. Microsoft bet billions on AI capabilities, funneling another multibillion-dollar investment in January into ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Beyond Alphabet and Microsoft Outside heavyweight giants Alphabet and Microsoft, many hedge funds beefed up other AI-related holdings in the first quarter. His Nvidia bet equaled roughly $1.4 billion at the end of March.

☆ 'He lied to us about what he was doing and who he was': Anthony Scaramucci reflects on the top 3 lessons he wants all investors to learn from his experience with Sam Bankman-Fried.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Anthony Scaramucci's investment firm SkyBridge Capital had a rough run in 2022 after being burned by the collapse of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. Scaramucci told Insider that the amount of leverage in the system and the tax-loss selling in December depressed their overall performance. Still, there are spillover effects — and lessons — from last year's debacle with FTX that Scaramucci and SkyBridge are working through. Lessons learned from the FTX debacleLast year, Sam Bankman-Fried through FTX, the crypto exchange he founded, bought 30% of SkyBridge for $45 million. And finally, as the majority shareholder of the firm, Scaramucci holds the right of refusal to reject any transfer of the shares.

☆ Bath & Body Works beats quarterly profit estimates on higher prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI.N) beat first-quarter profit expectations on Thursday, as higher product prices outweighed cost pressures and a slowdown in demand, sending its shares up over 9% in premarket trading. Specialty retailers such as Bath & Body Works have selectively raised prices to shield profit margins from spiraling costs associated with transportation, raw materials, labor and supply chain. Ohio-based Bath & Body Works saw net sales fall about 4% to $1.40 billion in the quarter ended April 29, but were in line with analysts' average estimate, according to Refinitiv data. Excluding items, the home fragrance and personal care products maker earned 33 cents per share, topping analysts' expectations of 26 cents. Separately, Bath & Body Works in April had said its finance chief would step down in July or earlier after the company faced a potential challenge from billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point.

☆ S&P 500, Dow fall, dragged by Home Depot outlook, US retail sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Chuck Mikolajczak | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Home Depot (HD.N) shed 1.73%, the biggest drag on the Dow Industrials and among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 after the home improvement retailer cut its annual sales forecast and projected a steeper-than-expected decline in profit. The Commerce Department reported retail sales rose 0.4% in April, short of the estimate for an increase of 0.8%. That slowing along with recent negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling has focused attention on when the central bank will pause hiking, or cut interest rates. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she does not think the central bank can hold interest rates steady yet. The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 42 new highs and 163 new lows.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Horizon Therapeutics, Capital One, RH, Home Depot and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Western Alliance Bancorp — Western Alliance shares jumped 3.6% after Bank of America reinstated coverage on the stock with a buy rating. Home Depot , Lowe's — Shares of home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lowe's lost 1.4% and 1% in midday trading Tuesday. On Monday, Daniel Welch, a director at Seagen, disclosed the sale of 1,864 shares, a stake worth more than $370,000. GE HealthCare — The medtech company's shares gained nearly 3% after Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an outperform rating on Monday. GE HealthCare separated from parent company General Electric earlier in 2023 and began publicly trading on the Nasdaq Jan. 4.

☆ How Wall Street pros traded 7 of our Club stocks, including Salesforce, in the first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Lots of Club holdings, including Nvidia (NVDA) and Alphabet (GOOGL), were among the stocks traded by some of Wall Street's biggest investors and money managers in the first quarter. That firm, Jeffrey Ubben's Inclusive Capital, had owned 1.63 million Salesforce shares at the end of December, worth nearly $217 million at the time. Jeff Smith's Starboard Value also sold some Salesforce shares in Q1, leaving the firm with 2.5 million shares at the end of March. Mason Morfit's ValueAct Capital amplified its Salesforce stake in the first quarter, ending with 3.5 million shares, up from just 560,221 shares at the end of 2022. Loeb's Third Point amassed 4.75 million shares of Alphabet, worth $492.7 million at the end of the first quarter.

☆ Dan Loeb's Third Point takes a stake in Alphabet, making it one of his biggest bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Dan Loeb's Third Point built a sizable stake in Google parent Alphabet in the first quarter, according to a new regulatory filing. The hedge fund added a position in Alphabet worth nearly $500 million at the end of March, making it the fund's fifth biggest holding, the SEC filing showed. Shares of Alphabet rallied almost 12% this month alone, pushing its 2023 gain near 36%. Third Point kept its biggest holdings — PG & E , Colgate-Palmolive , Danaher and Bath & Body Works — relatively unchanged last quarter. In other bets, Loeb added a new stake in Salesforce , worth $160 million at the end of March.

☆ Short investor Hindenburg erases fifth of Icahn empire’s value
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In a report published on Tuesday, Hindenburg accused IEP of overvaluing its holdings and relying on a “Ponzi-like” structure to pay dividends. The subsequent plunge in IEP shares wiped $2.9 billion off Icahn’s net worth, leaving him with an estimated $14.7 billion, according to Forbes. NAV is a key gauge of a fund’s performance, measuring the market value of securities held by the fund. Driving the frothiness in IEP’s stock, Hindenburg argued, is its dividend yield of 15.8%, the highest of any US large cap company by far. Hindenburg also offered examples it said showed IEP itself was valuing its holdings way above their market value.

In a report published on Tuesday, Hindenburg accused IEP of overvaluing its holdings and relying on a "Ponzi-like" structure to pay dividends. The subsequent plunge in IEP shares wiped $2.9 billion off Icahn's net worth, leaving him with an estimated $14.7 billion, according to Forbes. NAV is a key gauge of a fund's performance, measuring the market value of securities held by the fund. Driving the frothiness in IEP's stock, Hindenburg argued, is its dividend yield of 15.8%, the highest of any U.S. large cap company by far. Hindenburg also offered examples it said showed IEP itself was valuing its holdings way above their market value.

☆ Legendary Female Artists on the Younger Women Who Inspire Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

The Artist’s Mind What it feels like for female artists to wrestle with ambition, ego, ambivalence and inheritance. That isolation has, historically, been especially true for women artists, some of the most celebrated of whom have seen “writer” or “painter” or “filmmaker” treated as a secondary part of their identity. For this issue, we asked legendary female artists to tell us about a younger woman whose work excites them and gives them hope. But for the current generation of women artists, who have come of age with models who more closely resemble them, identity seems more like a source of community than a trap. Women artists, born into a Babylon of exclusion and possibility, reveal that creative inheritance is as promiscuous as legal inheritance is strict.

As Wall Street gears up for another earnings season, analysts see some stocks better positioned than others for gains. Against this backdrop, CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for stocks that Wall Street analysts think have the largest potential upside heading into a new earnings season. And more than half of analysts covering Booking Holdings still rate it a strong buy or buy, according to Refinitiv data. BKNG YTD mountain Shares of Booking Holdings Another stock expected to outperform during earnings season is Paccar . Salesforce's earnings per share are estimated to climb by 24% over the next six months.

☆ The dollar's dominance on the world stage isn't going away. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The move makes sense, given Russia's growing status as a pariah state, but it also highlights a push to unseat the dollar as a dominant force in global trade. But to strategists at the Carson Group, a scenario where the dollar isn't the world's primary reserve currency simply isn't in the cards in the near future. Are you convinced that the dollar won't lose its status as a dominant global reserve currency? Some companies in this batch of oil stocks have upsides of up to 180%, according to strategists at Bank of America. An expert from the World Gold Council pointed out that history says gold performs well in a recession.

☆ Salesforce says Elliott will not nominate directors to board
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 27 (Reuters) - Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) said on Monday activist investor Elliott Management Corp has decided to not proceed with director nominations to the board of the cloud-based software provider, due to its strong earnings and 2024 transformation initiatives. "Salesforce and Elliott have committed to continue the productive working relationship they have developed together," a joint statement from the companies said. Earlier this month, Reuters reported Elliott nominated a slate of directors to Salesforce's board. Elliott unveiled its multi-billion dollar stake in Salesforce January. Other hedge funds with stakes include Jeff Ubben's Inclusive Capital Partners, Jeff Smith's Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital and Third Point.

☆ The long-running crisis at Japan's Toshiba
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Faced with more than $6 billion in liabilities linked to Westinghouse, Toshiba decides to put prized chip unit Toshiba Memory up for sale. Nov. 2021 - Toshiba says it will split into three companies, one for energy, one for infrastructure and the third to manage its Kioxia stake. Feb. 2022 - Toshiba announces a new plan to split into two, spinning off only its devices unit. April 2022 - Toshiba sets up a special committee to resume a strategic review that could see it taken private. Under pressure from shareholders, Toshiba announces a special dividend of some $545 million.

One hedge fund manager described trades in the financial sector as being "all over the map", with nobody agreeing on anything. Some breathed a sigh of relief that a competitor stepped in with a rescue offer for Credit Suisse. Others worried that the $3.2 billion UBS will pay is far less than the $9.5 billion Credit Suisse was valued at on Friday, and one investor said the market may not consider this to be a positive. loadingLater, short seller Jim Chanos tweeted his shock that $17 billion of Credit Suisse bonds would be wiped out, asking "What are the Swiss doing here…?!" There was also little agreement on how investors would be positioning themselves in smaller U.S. banks, including First Republic.

☆ Marc Benioff praises Elon Musk's vision, bemoans not buying Twitter, and rings the recession alarm in a new interview. Here are the Salesforce CEO's 9 best quotes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marc Benioff praised Elon Musk, hailed AI's potential, and warned of an impending US recession. The Salesforce CEO said he regretted not buying Twitter years ago, and has always loved the company. Benioff hinted Bob Iger and Howard Schultz felt obligated to return as CEOs of Disney and Starbucks. Benioff spoke during the Upfront Summit this month, in an interview aired during a recent episode of the "On With Kara Swisher" podcast. (Benioff was discussing the recent return of Bob Iger and Howard Schultz as CEOs of Disney and Starbucks respectively.)

☆ Third Point Pulls Plan for Proxy Fight With Bath & Body Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bath & Body Works has been criticized by Third Point for its financial performance. Dan Loeb ’s Third Point LLC no longer plans to nominate candidates to the board of Bath & Body Works Inc. after the retailer added a director endorsed by the hedge fund. The appointment will stave off a proxy battle by Third Point, which has criticized the retailer for what it called excessive executive pay and lagging financial performance.

☆ Bath & Body Works adds director, Third Point backs off proxy fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Shoppers wait in line outside a Bath and Body Works retail store in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoNEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI.N) on Monday named veteran financial executive and board member Thomas Kuhn as a new director, ending a potential challenge from billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point. "Tom’s 35 year history as a respected financial and legal advisor, including working with consumer companies, will bring an important perspective to Bath & Body Works as it focuses on its key strategic initiatives to maximize shareholder value," Bath & Body Works board chair Sarah Nash said in a statement. Bath & Body Works, which is valued at roughly $10 billion, has been operating as a standalone company since 2021. At Bath & Body Works the company was advised by law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, financial services company J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, proxy solicitor Innisfree M&A Inc and public relations firm Joele Frank.

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