In This Article:
Catalysts host Madison Mills and Citizens JMP Securities CEO Mark Lehmann discuss some of the day's top trending stories.
Meta (META) is reportedly planning a multibillion-dollar investment in artificial intelligence (AI) startup Scale AI to expand its tech edge, according to Bloomberg.
Robinhood (HOOD) and AppLovin (APP) are falling after not being added to the S&P 500 (^GSPC) during the index's quarterly rebalance.
Circle Internet Group's (CRCL) continues to climb since its initial public offering (IPO).
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here.
It's now time for some of today's trending tickers. We are watching meta, Robin Hood and App Lovin and Circle. First up meta and talks to make a multi-billion dollar investment into artificial intelligence startup scale AI. This according to a report from Bloomberg. Now the financing could exceed $10 billion, which would make it one of the largest private company funding events of all time. Mark is still here with me to discuss. Mark, what do you make of this deal from meta? Why does it make sense for them?
Well, it's AI all the time. Uh, and I think like meta has certainly become one of the beneficiaries of that, of the publicly traded companies who have taken advantage of what they have in their core base and their uniqueness of their data. And I think we've my analyst Andrew Boon has been saying that for a very long time. We've had to stick with the winners theme at citizen for a while, and I think meta is certainly a winner there, and they want to promote, um, and accelerate what they're already doing. I think it's a great idea for them and frankly, it's a modest investment for them. It's really modest when you think about that at a big scale potential.
Yeah, I think that context is really important too because it might be a big deal when it comes to the private company side, but for meta, it's not necessarily a ton of cash. All right, well, next up, let's talk about Robin Hood and App Lovin failing to gain inclusion into the S&P 500. S&P Dow Jones Indices is making no changes to the S&P 500 and it's quarterly rebalancing. Before the rebalancing, a number of analysts had named Robin Hood and App Lovin as contenders to join the index, both stocks getting hit off the back of that news, Robin Hood down nearly 7%, App Lovin down almost 6%. Were you surprised by this at all, Mark?
You know, playing the add subtract game is a hard one. It's been going on for my 30 years on Wall Street. Uh, I was a little surprised. I think it's an eventuality, frankly, with Robin Hood. Uh, and Devin Ryan, who you know well, our analyst thinks the same. Uh, we also think Robin Hood, um, is really one of the prime beneficiaries of the next decade about what they're creating, something scalable, something not really replicable and unique and a great brand. So we are very bullish on Robin Hood. Playing the add game is tough. Uh, sometimes it works really wonderfully and today it's not so much, but I think it's an eventuality.
It's just a reminder too to folks about the importance of these rebalancing decisions and the degree to which they weigh on the S&P.
It really is, and it's a big testament to the right companies that they want to add. They take this very seriously as they should. And I think it's really important. Um, you look at the adds and subtracts over time and not only the indexes, look at what they do with the Dow over time. Think about what was in the Dow 10, 15, 20 years ago, um, and, you know, adding Salesforce when they did, a 25 year old, they added it. I think it's five, six years ago. But when they added that, think about what that was a testament to what Mark Benioff has built, and it's a 25-year-old company. So I think those kind of statements are quite important. S&P is obviously a much bigger index, and they they take this real seriously as they should.
As they should, absolutely. Well, finally, here, let's talk about circle continuing to climb after its strong Nasdaq debut. The stable coin issuer soaring 168% on Thursday, raising more than $1 billion in its IPO. And you can see those climbing shares continuing here up nearly another 16%. Is this just going to keep happening every day with Circle?
Probably not. Um, I've seen this movie before in 2000. Uh, I by no means I'm saying this is analogous to 2000 with some of the internet stocks that took this kind of move higher. Um, there's a scarcity value. There are very few IPOs. We just talked about that. There'll be more. Um, we launched on eToro today with when public about a month ago, that's similarly doing well, not quite as well as that, but, um, there's scarcity value and people want to play this market, and there's very few ways to play that. And I think they're benefiting from that. There's not a lot of float.
Right.
That's what happens.
Right. Exactly. Yeah, great overview, Mark. Thank you.