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Shares of eponymous quantum computing company Quantum Computing (QUBT 21.20%) are soaring for a fourth straight day Friday, up 22.2% through 9:55 a.m. ET and on course to end the week up closer to 32%.

You can thank the friendly analysts at Lake Street Capital Markets for that.

Image source: Getty Images.

What Lake Street says about Quantum Computing

In a note released yesterday — which may not have gotten all the attention it deserved, seeing that Quantum Computing stock gained only 3.6% yesterday — Lake Street analyst Maxwell Michaelis initiated coverage with a buy rating and a price target of $24, reports StreetInsider.com.

Although admitting that “quantum computing is still in its early stages,” Michaelis calls Quantum Computing stock “a compelling way to participate in the rapidly growing market,” and argues Quantum Computing Inc. has a “first-mover advantage” and “a long runway for growth.”

Is Quantum Computing stock a buy?

It shouldn’t take too long to figure out if Michaelis is right about that. The analyst hinges his buy recommendation on a prediction that Quantum Computing’s revenue will rise dramatically in 2026 and 2027, and any such surge in revenue should be very easy to spot.

Because so far, Quantum Computing has almost no revenue at all. In all of last year, the company collected just $373,000 in revenue (yes, thousand). It’s collected only $100,000 so far this year, too, so revenue right now looks set to fall by half in 2025. To me, this makes Quantum Computing stock look more like a sell than a buy, and I worry its recent stock gains are driven more by traders chasing momentum than by long-term investors.

But tune in again 12 months from now, and we’ll see who was right.

For every winning stock or sector in 2025, you can also find some disappointments. The major indexes are doing well so far, with the Nasdaq Composite up 26%, the S&P 500 rising 11% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average moving 11% higher.

But there are plenty of big names that are struggling, and some are currently sitting near their 52-week lows. These could be tempting contrarian buys for investors looking to profit from what they believe will turn out to be temporary weaknesses for the companies in question. 

When contrarian investors pick well, it can be a winning strategy. Choose poorly, and you’ll be stuck with a value trap, or even worse, a situation where you’ve tried to “catch a falling knife.”

Here are two well-known companies that are in weakened positions right now that could be ripe for small investments.

Image source: Getty Images.

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Down 31% in the last year

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG -0.73%) stock seems to ride the highest highs and suffer the lowest lows. The company experienced a series of foodborne illness outbreaks in its restaurants from 2015 to 2018 that led to a $25 million fine from the Justice Department — the largest-ever regulatory fine in a food safety case. Those outbreaks drove away customers, sapped its profits, and clobbered the stock. But Chipotle addressed its issues, sales recovered, and the stock soared so high that in 2024, the company executed a 50-for-1 stock split to make the stock more accessible to employees and retail investors.

This year, however, that roller coaster has been heading down again. Chipotle currently trades just 4% above its 52-week low — and about 42% off its peak.

However, what makes Chipotle promising is its loyal customer base. Chipotle revolutionized the fast-food niche by offering something different than burgers, chicken, or sandwiches. Its ingredients use no preservatives, and its kitchens don’t have freezers because everything is prepared fresh. That helps make Chipotle appealing to health-conscious customers.

The company’s revenue in the second quarter was $3.1 billion, up 3% from a year before, although comparable restaurant sales fell by 4%. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.33 per share, down by $0.01 per share from the same quarter a year ago.

The company is dealing with higher prices for its ingredients, particularly steak and chicken, as well as modestly higher labor costs, all of which are cutting into the company’s margins. Management believes that full-year sales will be flat, but plans to open between 315 and 345 additional locations this year.

Target: Down 41% in the last year

Not so long ago, Target (TGT -0.82%) was a high-flying retailer viewed as a true challenger to Walmart. However, the last few years have not been kind. Revenue has declined since 2023, and the company’s stock is struggling. Currently, it’s down by about 50% from its peak, and trades less than 3% above its 52-week low.

The company is trying to turn things around by promoting Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke to CEO — he’ll take over in February. Fiddelke has been central to Target’s efforts to be more flexible, use technology, and make the company more agile to position it for growth. He was credited for the success of Target’s omnichannel efforts, and also helped the company develop its private-label brands, which it can sell at lower prices while still earning better margins than it does on national brand products.

Sales in the second quarter were $25.2 billion, down nearly 1% from the prior-year period. The company’s operating income margin of 5.2%, down from 6.4% a year earlier. Gross margin was 29%, down from 30%.

Regardless of who is in the CEO’s office, Target will face a challenging environment, with supply chain issues, tariffs, and labor costs providing headwinds. Those who invest now should only do so if they have a long time horizon in mind. But considering that Target’s price-to-earnings ratios are still far cheaper than Walmart’s right now, it’s an intriguing bet on a retailer that at one point showed some real power on Wall Street.

TGT PE Ratio data by YCharts.

The bottom line

There are compelling cases for bargain-hunting investors to consider Chipotle and Target. Chipotle has a dominant brand, a loyal customer base, and it stands apart from other fast-casual restaurants. It has proven that it can face adversity, recover, and prosper. Target, meanwhile, has omnichannel strength, a growing base of private-label products, and new leadership waiting to take the helm. Both companies are turning profits — they’re just not making the margins that investors had hoped to see.

These are long-term contrarian plays right now that could profit shareholders handsomely as the companies rebound. But if you’re going to invest in either of them now, the position should only be a small piece of a balanced and diversified portfolio, and one that you plan to hold for at least three to five years.

The stock market is on a roll. As of this writing, the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones Industrial Average are all at — or approaching — all-time highs. That said, there are still some stocks that have lagged the benchmark indexes.

Today, let’s take a look at one such name and why it may be lagging: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -0.82%). And is this an opportunity now for investors?

Image source: Getty Images.

How Advanced Micro Devices’ stock has performed

First, let’s recap AMD’s recent performance. The stock has been on a roller coaster for much of the last three years. As you can see in the chart below, AMD stock soared from a low of around $56 to a high of $211 during a roughly 18-month run that began in late 2022.

Then, the stock gave back nearly all of those gains before regaining momentum about four months ago. However, after an impressive performance, AMD’s stock has seemingly run out of steam once again. All told, the stock is still up 31% year to date, although it remains about 25% off its all-time high.

AMD data by YCharts

What’s next for AMD

So AMD’s stock has been volatile. That much is clear. Yet, the company is one of the major players in perhaps the hottest sector of the economy: semiconductors. Granted, AMD isn’t in a position to dethrone Nvidia anytime soon — Nvidia’s artificial intelligence (AI) chips remain the preferred option for many AI developers.

However, AMD is gaining converts to its products. Just a few days ago, none other than Elon Musk praised AMD’s chips and noted that, “AMD is now working pretty well for small to medium sized models.”

That’s great news for AMD, which already has MI325 AI chips in production now, with plans to roll out more advanced MI350 chips in late 2025 and its most advanced MI400 slated for delivery in 2026. With these planned rollouts, AMD is aiming to directly compete with Nvidia and take meaningful market share of the red-hot AI chips market.

In response, Wall Street analysts are starting to raise their sales estimates. According to YCharts data, consensus estimates for AMD’s 2026 revenue have increased by nearly 8% over the last three months. Moreover, according to data compiled by Yahoo! Finance, analysts now expect AMD to generate $40 billion in revenue in 2026, up 22% on a year-over-year basis.

While AMD’s revenue still trails Nvidia by a mile (Nvidia will likely generate over $200 billion in annual revenue for the 12 months ending on Jan. 26, 2026), AMD is showing progress.

Suppose the company can continue to chip away at Nvidia’s lead. In that case, it can make meaningful progress toward establishing itself as Nvidia’s chief rival in the fast-growing market for advanced semiconductor design.

Is AMD a buy now?

Here’s the dilemma when considering AMD stock. Yes, the company is making an impressive push into the AI chips market, which could pay off handsomely in the next few years as its new MI350 and MI400 chips go into full production.

However, the company has lots of ground to make up. Nvidia’s projected sales of $200 billion for fiscal year 2026 demonstrate how far ahead it is in the race to control the AI chips market. Nevertheless, with the overall AI market growing by leaps and bounds, AMD’s stock is likely to advance steadily in the coming years.

In summary, investors should remain cautiously bullish on AMD stock. It is increasingly becoming an AI chip stock to watch, but Nvidia, for now, remains the king of the hill.

$8,000.

That’s what the typical American has in the bank, according to the Federal Reserve. Most people need to use the money in their bank accounts to cover everyday expenses. However, some people, particularly those with more than $8,000 in the bank, may be able to invest a portion of their savings as a way to grow their money.

Let’s examine two stocks that investors on a budget may want to consider.

Image source: Getty Images.

AT&T

First, there’s AT&T (T -1.12%).

The telecommunications giant fits the bill as a bargain stock for several reasons. Let’s start with the most obvious: Its stock recently cost less than $30 — meaning most investors can afford to own a decent number of AT&T shares.

However, it’s not just AT&T’s low stock price that makes it appealing for investors looking for a bargain. There’s also the fact that AT&T’s valuation is affordable. AT&T’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which compares its stock price to its earnings per share, is around 17x.

In comparison, the S&P 500 market index has a P/E ratio of about 30x. Moreover, many high-flying tech stocks sport P/E ratios north of 100x. Media-streaming veteran Spotify, for example, has a P/E ratio of 164x, as of this writing.

Finally, AT&T is a bargain buy for another reason: Its business model is solid, if not all that exciting. The company has refocused its efforts on delivering wireless and fiber service. It divested its media assets, spun off its WarnerMedia holdings, and sold its stake in DirecTV.

As a result, the company is better positioned to pay down debt — it still has more than $141 billion in net debt on its balance sheet — and return value to shareholders through dividend payments. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.2775, which works out to an annual dividend amount of $1.11 per share, resulting in a dividend yield of 3.75%.

AT&T offers a solid value, making it a name that investors on a budget should consider.

Alphabet

Next, there’s Alphabet (GOOG 1.04%) (GOOGL 1.06%).

At first blush, Alphabet might seem like a strange stock for bargain-seeking investors to consider. After all, shares of Alphabet recently were trading at around $249 each.

However, bargains aren’t only found in low-priced stocks. Indeed, with the widespread availability of fractional share trading, the market price of a stock no longer matters the way it did in the past.

What makes Alphabet a stock for bargain-seeking investors is its wonderful mix of business segments. Alphabet is no one-trick pony.

Let’s start with its most profitable and best-known operation: Google Search. The company’s search business is its crown jewel. It generates more than $200 billion in annual revenue. What’s more, this online behemoth is still growing like a weed. Search revenue increased 12% year over year in the recent second-quarter report, despite concerns that ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots would eat away at Google’s search engine dominance.

In addition to its powerful search segment, Alphabet has other powerful divisions. Its Google Cloud segment, the third-largest player in the red-hot field of cloud services, racked up $13.6 billion in revenue last quarter (the three months ended June 30, 2025). That’s a year-over-year growth rate of 32%. The company also recorded more than $17 billion in quarterly ad revenue from its YouTube division and its Google network (Gmail, etc.).

All in all, Alphabet’s mix of business segments and solid growth make it a stock that investors on a budget should strongly consider.

Nvidia (NVDA 3.52%) is the most valuable company in the world, with a valuation of $4.1 trillion. Its performance in recent years has been remarkable, with Nvidia still generating over 50% revenue growth in recent quarters — and that’s considered a slowdown for the tech giant.

But when a stock’s valuation reaches such significant proportions, that also means expectations are high. If the company falls short of them, the stock could be vulnerable to a serious correction, especially as investors who are up big may be looking for any signs that it may be approaching a peak, as that could be an opportunity to cash out and lock in as large of a gain as possible.

The problem with Nvidia’s stock is that if there are any notable headwinds or slowdowns in the tech sector, then it could be among the first to endure a big drop in value. And that’s because its revenue isn’t all that diversified.

Image source: Getty Images.

The vast majority of Nvidia’s revenue comes from just six customers

Nvidia has multiple segments that it generates revenue from, including automotive, gaming, professional visualization, and data centers. But its main income source right now is its data center business, which accounted for 88% of the $46.7 billion in revenue it posted in its most recent period, which ended on July 27.

What’s most concerning, however, is the customer concentration risk in that segment. Nvidia’s AI chips aren’t cheap, and it’s primarily the big tech companies that can afford to spend significantly on them. Companies disclose when customers account for a big slice of revenue, and Nvidia says that its two largest customers, which it refers to as just Customer A and Customer B, represented 23% and 16% of revenue for the past quarter, respectively.

But that’s not all. It also noted that there were four direct customers that each made up 10% or more of its quarterly sales. In total, approximately 85% of its revenue was attributable to just six customers. While specific names weren’t mentioned, my guess is that its key customers are big hyperscalers, with the majority of them potentially among the “Magnificent Seven.”

The problem is clear: if there’s a slowdown in AI-related spending, Nvidia’s growth rate could quickly unravel given its exposure to just six customers.

Nvidia’s valuation has come down, but it remains high

Currently, Nvidia’s stock trades at a price-to-earnings multiple of more than 50. Although that premium has come down over the past year and it’s below its five-year average, that’s still a high price to be paying for the AI stock.

Data by YCharts.

Both Nvidia’s sales and profits were up over 50% last quarter, but that hasn’t been enough to give the stock much of a boost. Over the past month, the stock has declined in value by nearly 6% (as of Sept. 17). There could be some resistance from investors to price the stock much higher than where it is right now, given the risks related to the overall economy, its fragility, and the potential for a slowdown in AI spending in the future.

Is Nvidia stock still a good buy?

In just five years, Nvidia has generated life-changing returns of nearly 1,300% for investors. But now with its market cap up around $4.3 trillion, the inevitable questions come up of how much higher it can possibly go. It’s no longer chasing any other stock — it has already become the most valuable company in the world.

I think Nvidia has a fantastic business, and it commands impressive margins, and there’s potentially much more growth out there in the long run due to AI. If you’re looking at holding onto the stock for at least the next five years, then Nvidia can still be a good investment, but I would suggest bracing for the possibility of at least a modest pullback in the near future.

Nvidia (NVDA 3.52%) has built an artificial intelligence (AI) empire thanks to the dominance of its AI chips and its expansion into a wide variety of other related offerings. But the company isn’t isolating itself, and instead, has looked to work with others — even much smaller players — in this AI boom. One company in particular has become a key Nvidia ally, and that’s CoreWeave (CRWV 0.39%).

CoreWeave launched an initial public offering in March, and the stock has since surged about 195%, buoyed by the company’s soaring sales — and its relationship with Nvidia. The AI chip giant held a 7% stake in CoreWeave as of the end of the second quarter, and CoreWeave makes up 91% of Nvidia’s investment portfolio. And CoreWeave’s business relies heavily on Nvidia as the company’s specialty is the following: It rents out Nvidia’s high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) to customers through its cloud platform.

Now, Nvidia’s latest move — a $6.3 billion deal with CoreWeave — signals something big for shareholders of both companies. Let’s take a closer look.

Image source: Getty Images.

A 1,300% gain

First, though, a quick summary of the businesses of Nvidia and CoreWeave. As mentioned, Nvidia is the AI chip leader, with its GPUs and related products delivering record revenue and earnings over the past few years. Nvidia’s chips offer the highest performance on the market, so tech giants, prioritizing AI success, have rushed to get in on these essential tools. All of this has helped Nvidia stock climb 1,300% over the past five years — and pushed market value past $4 trillion to make Nvidia the world’s biggest company.

CoreWeave, as mentioned, offers customers access to Nvidia compute through its cloud platform. Customers may rent GPUs by the hour or for the long term, and this offers them great flexibility. CoreWeave holds about 250,000 GPUs across 32 data centers and has been the first to make Nvidia’s latest innovations generally available. All of this has translated into outsized revenue growth, with sales tripling in the latest quarter. CoreWeave clearly depends on Nvidia’s success as demand for Nvidia GPUs power its revenue higher — if demand were to decline, not only would Nvidia suffer, but so would CoreWeave.

And this brings me to the latest deal between the two companies. Nvidia signed a $6.3 billion order with CoreWeave, ensuring that the chip leader will buy any cloud capacity that CoreWeave is unable to sell to customers. The deal, extending a 2023 agreement, covers the period through April 13, 2032.

Eliminating a risk

This order signals something different — but significant — for both companies and their shareholders. For CoreWeave, this removes the big risk of the company being stuck with excess capacity. Though the future of AI spending looks bright, any dip in spending, even over a short period, could be costly for the company. So, Nvidia’s agreement to potentially step in means that if any drop in demand happens, it won’t hurt CoreWeave’s sales. As a result, shareholders may breathe a sigh of relief, and cautious investors who have worried about this risk may consider getting in on CoreWeave.

As for Nvidia, this move suggests the company truly is confident about the demand for AI capacity over the next several years. It’s unlikely the tech giant would agree to such a deal if it saw a major slowdown on the horizon. This reinforces Nvidia’s prediction a few weeks ago that AI infrastructure spending may reach $4 trillion by the end of the decade. Nvidia has said in the past that its customers offer it visibility about their upcoming needs — so the chip designer has a good idea of how the demand situation will evolve.

All of this means this latest deal between Nvidia and CoreWeave is fantastic news for shareholders of both companies — for CoreWeave, the agreement lowers risk, and for Nvidia, the agreement confirms that demand for AI is going strong.

Considering this, both of these companies make great AI stocks to buy and hold onto as this AI growth story develops.

Nvidia (NVDA 3.52%) enjoys great relationships with some of the biggest tech companies on the planet. Its customer base includes the three largest cloud service providers: Amazon (AMZN -0.16%), Microsoft (MSFT -0.30%), and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 1.04%) (GOOGL 1.06%).

However, Nvidia’s reach isn’t limited to the biggest of the big. It also works closely with many rising stars. CoreWeave (CRWV 0.39%) is arguably the most prominent example, especially considering that Nvidia has a multibillion-dollar stake in the AI-focused hyperscaler.

It stands to reason that Nvidia wants all these partners to succeed. But did the GPU giant just help Amazon, Microsoft, and Google at CoreWeave’s expense?

Image source: Getty Images.

Nvidia’s retreat

Nvidia launched DGX Cloud in 2023. The company billed the new platform as a way for enterprises to get immediate access to Nvidia’s AI supercomputers so they could train generative AI and other advanced AI models.

But Nvidia appears to be retreating from this market. The Information, a website that focuses on technology industry news, recently reported that Nvidia is primarily using DGX Cloud for internal use now instead of marketing the platform to customers.

Is there other evidence that supports the view that Nvidia is shifting its strategy? Maybe. In the past, Nvidia highlighted its DGX Cloud services when discussing cloud spending commitments in its quarterly 10-Q filings. In the company’s update for the second quarter of 2025, though, DGX Cloud wasn’t mentioned in this context.

Instead of marketing the DGX Cloud platform to customers, Nvidia appears to be focusing now on its Lepton GPU rental marketplace. CEO Jensen Huang explained in the May 2025 announcement of Lepton that the new service “connects our network of global GPU cloud providers with AI developers.”

Helping the “big three,” hurting CoreWeave?

Some industry observers saw DGX Cloud as a move for Nvidia to compete against the major cloud service providers. But Nvidia rented GPUs from CoreWeave to use with DGX Cloud. Could the company’s reported move to back away from marketing DGX Cloud help Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud while hurting CoreWeave? The short answer is “no.”

For one thing, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud host DGX Cloud. Although AWS didn’t, there’s no solid proof that Nvidia’s cloud platform hurt its business.

A retreat from DGX Cloud wouldn’t hurt CoreWeave, either. CoreWeave recently disclosed that Nvidia will purchase $6.3 billion of its unused cloud computing capacity through April 13, 2032.

Perhaps most importantly, though, Nvidia might not be retreating from DGX Cloud as reported by The Information after all. According to Data Center Dynamics, Alexis Bjorlin, who is Nvidia’s vice president and general manager for DGX Cloud, said, “DGX Cloud is fully utilized and oversubscribed, and we are expanding its scale.”

Winners all around

Whatever Nvidia’s strategy with DGX Cloud is, I don’t think CoreWeave has anything to worry about. My view is that all of these stocks — Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and CoreWeave — are poised to be big winners over the long run.

The AI boom doesn’t appear to be slowing down. That’s great news for Nvidia because more of its GPUs will be needed. It’s great news for Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and CoreWeave because their cloud platforms will continue to enjoy tremendous demand.

It’s possible that the momentum could even accelerate. I think Nvidia’s technological advances will play a key role, if so. For example, the company plans to launch Rubin CPX, a new class of GPUs built for massive-context inference, in late 2026. This new technology could pave the way for an explosion in the use of AI in software development and long-form video creation.

As the smallest of the group, CoreWeave might have the most room to run. However, I expect all five of these top AI stocks will deliver tremendous gains over the next 10 years and beyond.

A healthy rise in its core cryptocurrency and several positive new analyst notes were the key factors sending Cipher Mining (CIFR -4.28%) stock higher in recent days. The Bitcoin miner was up by more than 9% week to date as of Thursday evening, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

A boost from Bitcoin

After something of a slump in August, Bitcoin has generally been on the rise in the current month. The Federal Reserve’s rate cut on Wednesday was only the latest catalyst pushing the No. 1 cryptocurrency higher.

Image source: Getty Images.

Prior to that, on Monday, analyst Michael Donovan of Compass Point assumed coverage of Cipher Mining, flagging it as a buy at a price target of $8 per share. The following day, Canaccord Genuity’s Joseph Vafi changed his take on the company by raising his price target substantially. He reset it to $13 per share from $9, maintaining his existing buy recommendation.

Vafi values Cipher Mining using a sum-of-the-parts method. One of its more valuable assets, in his opinion, is the Barber Lake facility. The analyst believes this mining operation is one of the most profitable in the cryptoverse, as it is extremely efficient and has relatively low power costs. The pundit also pointed to the 1,063 Bitcoin held by the company and its Black Pearl site as high-value holdings.

A happy surprise

It’s possible Cipher Mining is continuing to bask in the warmth of its second-quarter earnings, the results of which were published near the start of August. The company posted a surprise net profit (of $0.08 per share), which seemed to mitigate its significant revenue miss ($43.6 million reality versus the consensus analyst estimate of $50.6 million.

The traffic light was bright green for EVgo (EVGO 3.79%) stock over the past few days on the market. An analyst reiterated his buy case on the electric charging station stock, and investors took this to heart. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, EVgo’s shares were motoring 13% higher week to date as of Thursday night.

Joint venture supplies juice

The latest prognosticator to weigh in with a positive take on EVgo was Cantor Fitzgerald’s Andres Sheppard. Before the start of the trading week, early Monday morning, he reiterated his overweight (i.e., buy) recommendation on the company’s stock and his price target of $7 per share. That level anticipates robust upside of nearly 51% on the company’s most recent closing price.

Image source: Getty Images.

According to reports, Sheppard’s continued optimism rests on EVgo’s recent news that the joint-venture charging business operated by it, General Motors, and Pilot has reached a notable stage in its build-out. It reported that the company has more than 200 Pilot and Flying J charging facilities.

These are spread far and wide through the country, with around 40 states and a total of roughly 850 stalls for electric vehicles to juice up. The analyst pointed out that the joint venture is aiming to build its sites in major interstate travel corridors, in addition to underserved rural areas.

On the road to 500

Sheppard also expressed optimism that the three companies would reach their goal to hit 500 locations by the end of this year. Volume is important for charging companies like EVgo, and it seems the company is well on its way to achieving meaningful scale.

Shares of Intel (INTC 22.81%) are flying this week, up 27% as of market close on Thursday. The jump comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 gained 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.

The chipmaker’s stock exploded this week after Nvidia announced a $5 billion investment and “multigeneration” partnership agreement with Intel.

Nvidia bets on Intel

On Thursday, Nvidia said it is investing $5 billion into the struggling company at a purchase price of $23.28 a share. Under the partnership terms, Intel will make custom CPUs that Nvidia will use in its AI data center platforms. Intel will also make use of Nvidia’s technology to enhance its PC offerings.

Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, said the move will help the company in its turnaround efforts, allowing it to “go to market to win.” A key question remains on what the deal will mean for Intel’s foundry business. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang told investors that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will remain its primary fabricator. However, it’s possible that Nvidia could still make use of Intel’s manufacturing capabilities for certain products.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nvidia’s stake could make the difference for Intel

This is a critical time for Intel. The dominant U.S. chipmaker for years, the company fell behind in the age of generative AI. Its top and bottom lines have taken a severe beating, and the company has gone through significant restructuring and major layoffs in an attempt to stabilize its balance sheet.

While this investment is certainly encouraging, there are still some questions, especially around Intel’s manufacturing. This could be a major step in Intel’s revival, or it could be an early step in Intel being stripped for parts. One Wall Street manager said the company could become “a shadow of its former self” with a fate similar to that of Xerox.

I’m cautiously optimistic. For investors comfortable with risk, Intel is a good pick.

Thanks to an earth-shaking event in the chip industry it serves so faithfully, semiconductor equipment specialist Lam Research (LRCX 3.59%) experienced a pleasant share price rise on Thursday. Bullish investors bid the company’s stock up by almost 4% in price, effortlessly beating the 0.5% gain of the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.48%) that trading session.

A memorable day for chip companies and their suppliers

Lam Research didn’t have any news of its own to report, but we sure can’t say that about two of its chipmaking customers, Nvidia and Intel.

Image source: Getty Images.

That morning, Nvidia announced it is ponying up $5 billion to invest in a meaningful chunk of Intel’s common stock. It’s doing so, in its words, so the two high-profile tech companies can “jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products that accelerate applications and workloads across hyperscale, enterprise, and consumer markets.”

This is hardly the first big-money investment finding its way into Intel recently. No less an entity than the U.S. government announced near the end of August that it’s taking a stake worth just under $10 billion in the company, and this was preceded shortly beforehand by a similar, $2 billion move made by SoftBank.

Increased business for equipment makers

With that amount of capital gushing into Intel, the tech hardware company is sure to significantly ramp up its manufacturing efforts. This, of course, means more business for specialty manufacturing equipment companies like Lam Research. At this point, it’s hard to make meaningful estimates on this effect on the company’s fundamentals, but there’s little doubt it’ll be positive.

The bullish investor reaction to the news, then, was entirely understandable and rather justifiable.

Clinical-stage biotech Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR 15.06%) had some encouraging news to report from the lab about one of its investigational medicines on Thursday. As often happens in such circumstances, investors flocked to the stock, and it closed the trading session a bit more than 15% higher. With that rise, it crushed the 0.5% advance of the bellwether S&P 500 index.

Skin in the game

That morning, Nektar published new data from a phase 2b study of rezpegaldesleukin, which targets moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, a skin disorder.

Image source: Getty Images.

The healthcare company said that a high dose of the drug achieved statistical significance on its primary endpoint, improvement in the eczema area and severity index versus a placebo over the course of 16 weeks of treatment. It also performed well in key secondary endpoints measuring a reduction of the disorder.

More encouragingly, Nektar found that participants who kept taking the treatment experienced even more profound effects. The biotech added that rezpegaldesleukin was generally well tolerated by the study’s participants.

In addition to atopic dermatitis, the drug is currently being developed by Nektar for the treatment of severe alopecia areata, a disease that can result in hair loss. The next readout from clincal testing for that indication is expected in December by the company.

A new kind of treatment

In its press release on the atopic dermatitis trial’s results, Nektar quoted its chief research and development officer Jonathan Zalevsky as saying that those results “demonstrate the potential of this new biology and the promise of Tregs [regulatory T-cells] as a therapeutic modality to treat inflammatory skin disorders.”

Given how KLA (KLAC 5.74%) stock performed on the market Thursday, the company probably doesn’t want the trading week to end. Its shares zoomed nearly 6% higher in price, thanks largely to a promising new deal in the chip industry. That rise was notably steeper than the S&P 500 index’s 0.7% increase.

A very big deal in the sector

Even by the standards of the microchip business, the deal announced between Nvidia and Intel is significant. The former is investing a cool $5 billion in the latter, and the two will collaborate on a series of products and projects.

Image source: Getty Images.

That payout will breathe more life into the struggling Intel. Last month, the Trump administration announced that the federal government would invest $8.9 billion into the company for a nearly 10% equity stake. A key goal of that move was to bolster the domestic chipmaking sector.

Just before that, news hit the headlines of another investment, this one from SoftBank. The busy Asian tech conglomerate said it was plowing $2 billion into Intel.

This fairly sudden infusion of capital into one of America’s major processor powerhouses is a tide that promises to lift many boats — hence the investor enthusiasm Thursday for all manner of chip stocks. KLA is a fine candidate, as it’s a pick-and-shovel company that manufactures the equipment used to produce chips.

Knock-on effect

I should note here that KLA was not directly involved in any of the above transactions. Further, there’s no guarantee that its business will jump due to Intel’s influx of capital. As an important link in the chip production chain, however, if any company’s going to benefit from a knock-on effect with these deals, it’s KLA.

A flood of wealth is anticipated to sweep from baby boomers to younger generations over the next couple of decades. Cerulli Associates estimates $106 trillion will pass to younger generations. Of that, a large chunk is destined to be passed on to the companies that manage their finances.

Robinhood (HOOD 1.90%) and Lemonade (LMND 2.67%) are two fintechs laser-focused on providing financial services to Great Wealth Transfer winners. Robinhood offers the next generation of investing, banking, and credit products. Lemonade does the same for insurance.

Here’s a look at each.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Robinhood

Robinhood is widely seen as the face of fintech by young, tech-savvy investors. It pioneered zero-commission stock trading, a win that continues to pay reputational dividends. It continues to attract interest by beefing up its premium Gold subscription. Perks include 3% IRA match, a credit card with 3% rewards, and $1,000 of interest-free margin trading. The subscription is cheap, at $5 a month as of this writing.

Robinhood has promising user base demographics. In a May 2025 Investor Day presentation, the company discloses the median age for Robinhood customers is 35. Robinhood is popular with millennials and Gen X, the two generations primed to inherit the most over the next 10 years. But what really sets it apart from competitors is how it’s sprinting to meet these users where they’ll be not next year, but a decade from now.

The company has diversified from trading into wealth management and banking, a huge profit driver. The recent unveiling of Banking and Strategies products is evidence of a company executing on an ambitious long-term vision. Both product lines are key to convincing young and maturing customers that Robinhood is a “serious” wealth manager.

The stock is far from undervalued. As of this writing, it trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of over 50x, a valuation typically attributed to tech stocks — much higher than the 29x S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.48%) average. There might be better-valued opportunities among competitors like Block.

Strong fundamentals justify its high multiples. The company is profitable and has been so for over a year. It’s grown total platform assets at a staggering 99% in a single year, and it has over $4 billion on the balance sheet — plenty to invest in growth, or lean upon during tough times.

Robinhood’s young user base, ambitious vision, and strong fundamentals position it perfectly to win the Great Wealth Transfer. Its quickly growing suite of products is proof the company is moving to meet the next generation where it’s at: online, via an award-winning interface that does investing, banking, and wealth management.

2. Lemonade

Lemonade is very well positioned to serve as a major insurer of young and maturing users. It offers insurance via the Lemonade app, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered interface that can pay out claims in as little as 3 seconds. It typically attracts customers with the promise of cheap rental insurance. As customers mature, they purchase higher-margin insurance from Lemonade, like Car and Pet.

Powerful machine learning models put Lemonade in a league of its own. From Car to Life, these models gobble up data that the company uses to improve predictions. Combined with AI models that manage customers and employees, it can scale premiums from $609 million to $1,083 million while shrinking operating expenses, excluding growth spend.

To scale quickly, Lemonade is leaning into the expansion of its car insurance product. Car insurance is a huge unlock for users who want to stick with a single insurer across all products, snagging discounts. Lemonade knows this. In the Q1 2025 Shareholder letter, the company reveals it sees a 60% boost to conversion rates in states where it offers car insurance.

Lemonade has yet to prove it’s a sustainable business. The company is unprofitable, a red flag in a volatile market that places a premium on stability.

Critics point to the Car product in particular. Car insurance is a loss leader, with an 82% loss ratio, well above the 40% to 60% industry ideal. That needs to improve. An ideal gross loss ratio is typically between 40% to 60%, according to data by Relativity6.

All signs point to Lemonade reaching profitability on a reasonable timeline. Gross loss ratios, a key insurance metric, are trending in the right direction: down. Loss ratios dropped from 79% in Q2 2024 to 69% in Q2 2025. Lemonade expects to reach adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) profitability in 2026, meaning the core business generates more profits than it spends. Investors would love to see it.

Great Wealth Transfer winners to buy and hold

Robinhood and Lemonade may be the real winners of the Great Wealth Transfer. Both are innovative fintech companies with strong and improving fundamentals. I plan on holding both in my portfolio for five years or more.

Shares of IonQ (IONQ 1.67%) were soaring again this week as the quantum computing stock made multiple announcements, showing its technology is continuing to gain traction and is finding new customers. It also received a number of price target hikes from Wall Street analysts.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, IonQ stock was up 24.6% as of Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Image source: Getty Images.

A banner week for IonQ

IonQ has delivered solid gains every day this week on a drumbeat of good news. On Monday, two Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock and reiterated buy-equivalent ratings. B. Riley said IonQ is “far better positioned” than the stock indicates.

The following day, IonQ said it would acquire Vector Atomic, a quantum technology company.

Finally, on Wednesday, IonQ was named a new partner, along with Honeywell, for the Quantum-in-Space collaboration spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE), which will advance quantum technologies used in space. IonQ also signed a memorandum of understanding with the DOE.

The rapid-fire news items added to the bullish narrative building around the stock.

What’s next for IonQ

IonQ has made a number of acquisitions in quantum computing and signed on new customers in recent months. Although the business is still small, with the company aiming for up to $100 million in revenue this year, IonQ looks poised to be a leader in the quantum computing revolution, as it’s the most valuable among the four major quantum stocks.

If interest in the sector continues to build, expect IonQ to continue to move higher, especially if it forges new deals and acquisitions.

Financial services giant American Express (AXP 1.47%) is dipping its toes into digital waters. I mean next-generation digital stuff, adding blockchain tokens and Web3 features to its new app for high-end travel experiences.

But the company isn’t leaning into that detail. The marketing around the just-released AmEx Travel App is all about convenience and simplicity. The specific feature that relies on the Ethereum (ETH) is called AmEx Passport, designed to preserve memories for easy access after the trip. Most travelers miss getting stamps in their physical passport books these days, according to the press materials — so here are some digital stamps from AmEx instead.

And you’ll barely notice if you skim through the press release. The presence of blockchain tokens is easy to miss entirely when you use the app.

Is American Express approaching the newfangled blockchain and Web3 stuff in exactly the right way? I think so, and here’s why.

Inside the digital stamp

To find out exactly what’s happening in those digital Amex Passport stamps, I had to look at other sources. Crypto news site CoinDesk got some more detail directly from American Express.

Amex Digital Labs VP Colin Marlowe explained that the stamps are technically non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. They don’t hold any value and can’t be traded or transferred. They add some keepsake details every time you use your Amex card while traveling, creating an everlasting memory collection on the public blockchain. That’s all. But again, American Express isn’t pushing the crypto connection in your face.

“We wanted to speak to it in a way that was natural for the travel experience itself, and so we talk about these things as stamps, and they’re represented as tokens,” Marlowe told CoinDesk. “We weren’t trying to sell these or sort of generate any like short term revenue. The angle is to make a travel experience with Amex feel really rich, really different, and kind of set it apart.”

How Amex keeps travelers happy (and still pays the bills)

That tracks. I’ve been an American Express cardholder since 2000 (yeah, I’m old) and the company always bends over backward to keep traveling cardholders happy. The company makes plenty of money. It charges above-average transaction fees from retailers, which is why some shops refuse to support these cards in favor of lower-cost Visa (V -1.22%) or Mastercard (MA -1.28%) options. High-end cards like The Platinum Card and Blue Cash Preferred come with beefy annual fees, too. But the customer can still come out ahead by taking advantage of generous American Express features like the rewards program, airport lounges, and included rental car insurance.

I’m not trying to sell American Express cards here. This is just how the company tends to work. Using American Express isn’t supposed to feel cheap or complicated. It’s meant to be a rewarding premium experience. The blockchain-based memory-making tools fit snugly in that broader approach to the credit card business.

Base, ERC‑721, and the nerdy bits you can skip

And it’s also a perfect fit for early Web3 apps.

The AmEx Travel App hides its crypto-ness under a warm blanket, easy to miss or ignore. As long as the memory-keeping features work, nobody really cares where the digital passport stamps and personal notes are stored. It’s a valueless ERC-721 NFT, but you shouldn’t really care about that geekery.

The trick is that the tokens really work for this purpose. Diving one more layer into the nerdy depths, Ethereum tokens can hold all sorts of data, making that stuff available worldwide, for as long as Ethereum exists.

Access and ownership are managed by Ethereum itself, by way of the Base network. Sorry for bringing in another technical quirk that won’t matter to most app users or Amex investors, but there’s a point to this connection. Working with Base makes an Amex partner out of its creator, crypto giant Coinbase Global (COIN 8.85%), while speeding up the Amex app’s Ethereum access.

All in all, that’s a professional crypto package — not too shabby for an early swing by an old-school financial giant.

Image source: Getty Images.

The quiet way to test Web3 at scale

I don’t know about you, but I think American Express is checking all the right boxes on the Web3 checklist.

The new app meshes nicely with the card issuer’s brand, offers simple data storage functions to its users, and lets you forget how the whole thing works. I can talk until I’m blue in the face about Web3 ideals like personalization, decentralized networks, and direct money flows from consumers to creators — but Amex can get your attention without saying a word.

It’s showing how Web3 should work, in a very simple format. The Passport could evolve into a customer loyalty program later on, but it’s a bare-bones memory helper for now.

Great job, American Express. Years from now, I just might remember this app as the start of mass-market Web3 launches.

Micron (MU 6.38%) stock jumped this morning on some positive comments from Wall Street analysts. Wolfe Research and Susquehanna raised price targets on Micron stock yesterday. Today, Wedbush made it three in a row with a hike to $200.

Micron stock is up 5.4% through 11 a.m. ET.

Image source: Getty Images.

What Wall Street likes about Micron stock

Micron makes semiconductors for computer memory — DRAM and NAND flash memory — and has become popular with the AI crowd for its high-bandwidth memory, or HBM. Yesterday, Wolfe cited “resilient” pricing for DRAM, and noted NAND flash memory demand is growing due to insufficient hard disk drive supply — supporting its thesis that Micron stock could hit $180 a share within a year.

Susquehanna added positive words about HBM prices holding up through 2026 — and posited a $200 price target.

Today, it’s Wedbush’s turn. In addition to agreeing with Susquehanna’s price target, Wedbush agrees that HBM will help profits in 2026. Wedbush explains its price target values Micron at 10x “peak” earnings next year, and argues this estimate could be conservative and based on Micron earning lower gross profit margins that it earned at the last cyclical peak in 2018, according to a note on The Fly. 

Translation: Gross margins this time could be better — and Micron’s profits could be, too.

Is Micron stock a buy?

Analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence generally agree that Micron’s earnings this year will be 10x what the company earned in 2024, and could double by their peak in 2027, to $13.70 per share.

If “10x forward earnings” is the right price for Micron though, then at today’s price of $168 and change, the stock is arguably already overpriced. With Micron stock up 79% over the last year, it may be time to sell.