| Written by Sam Quirke 
As we head into the final week of June, Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) continues to test investors’ patience. Even with a fundamentally solid earnings report in April and a tidy 25% gains since then, the tech giant is failing to ignite the kind of sustained uptrend seen in bigger peers like NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) or Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO). Shares have been drifting downwards for nearly two weeks, though Monday’s 1% gain showed some welcome strength. The uptrend that began in April is technically still intact, but only just. This lack of momentum has been especially frustrating given Qualcomm’s healthy diversification across handsets, automotive, and the Internet of Things (IoT), not to mention its recent M&A activity. And yet, analyst coverage has been sparse in comparison to other major chipmakers. That’s why last week’s update from Bank of America can't be ignored. Bank of America Sees at Least 30% Upside Bank of America’s research team, led by Tal Liani, reiterated its Buy rating on Qualcomm, though it trimmed its price target from $245 to $200. It’s a noteworthy move, while they’ve tempered expectations, they still see roughly 30% upside from where the stock closed on Monday. Their reasoning was clear. As we mentioned above, Qualcomm’s Q2 earnings were solid, with the numbers coming in ahead of analyst expectations pretty much across the board. Its QCT segment, which includes the company’s core chip business, and its Handsets did especially well, while Automotive and IOT were both impressive too. Potential Headwinds for Qualcomm The problem, though, according to Bank of America, is that some of its sales trends are showing signs of stagnation. As Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), one of Qualcomm’s key customers, continues to bring more and more of its manufacturing in-house, Bank of America now expects its contribution to headset sales to fall sharply and potentially disappear altogether. That’s a huge headwind for a company still heavily dependent on smartphone cycles. Still, they believe Qualcomm’s AI PCs and data center growth can offset some of the drag, though the company is lacking any near-term catalysts that could spark renewed bullishness. All that being said, however, their updated $200 target reflects a 15x multiple on their 2026 earnings estimate, which keeps Qualcomm looking extremely cheap relative to the sector. The stock’s current forward P/E sits below 14, in stark contrast to NVIDIA’s 46. These risks aren't new, but taken together, they help explain why the stock has struggled to build lasting momentum. The Bank of America team could easily have downgraded the stock to a Hold, but they didn’t, and investors should take confidence from that. And with the stock trading at a highly unusual discount to its peers from a valuation standpoint, you can’t help but feel there’s a bargain to be had here - you might just have to wait a little longer than is ideal for the payoff. Watch the Chart From a technical standpoint, Qualcomm is approaching an inflection point. Last week’s update would have helped spur some bullish interest, but the stock has been effectively trending down for the past fortnight. Crucially, the MACD just completed a bearish crossover, and momentum could turn negative if shares don’t start rallying north soon. Given the S&P 500 index is on the verge of an all-time record close, bulls will want to see Qualcomm move back towards $160 this week, which would mean it avoids setting a lower low and risking a breakdown of the uptrend. For investors willing to stomach some near-term volatility, Qualcomm offers an intriguing mix of value, optionality, and a long-term AI tailwind. The latest analyst commentary should serve as a reminder that while the potential mightn’t be as bright as some others out there, it’s far from lost. But unless shares can shake off the lethargy and recapture momentum soon, it may take another upside surprise to get the stock firing again.  Read This Story Online |  Plastic waste isn't just an environmental issue - it's becoming a public health emergency.
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| Written by Leo Miller 
After the tech company made several interesting announcements, a handful of Wall Street analysts released big-time price target increases on shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). Since June 12, MarketBeat has tracked several analysts who updated their price targets on the stock. On average, these analysts increased their price targets by nearly 12%. The most recent update comes from analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm increased its price target from $676 to $807. This is a huge 19% boost that now makes Cantor one of the most bullish analysts on Meta. Overall, Cantor sees the stock rising nearly 16% from its June 23 closing price. In conjunction with this, the firm is also predicting that Meta will blow past its all-time high closing price of around $736. So, what other information can investors draw from these recent analyst upgrades? And most importantly, what were the key announcements that Meta made that could help propel the stock to new highs? All-Time Highs Are in Play Based on Wall Street Updates The MarketBeat tracked consensus price target on Meta shares is $710, implying less than 2% upside compared to the stock’s June 23 closing price. However, focusing on those price target updates since June 12 evokes a much more bullish outlook. Outside of Cantor, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC), Oppenheimer, and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) also issued new price targets. The average targets among these four updates come in at just under $753. That target implies almost 8% upside. Additionally, the large 12% average increase among their price targets indicates that Meta’s recent announcements significantly strengthened these analysts' outlooks. So, what were some of these announcements that contributed to the improved sentiment? Zuckerberg’s Hand-Picked Superintelligence Team Can Drive Innovation Meta has been making significant moves to build one of the world’s best artificial intelligence teams. This group of 50 experts is being dubbed the company’s “superintelligence team." Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly personally assembling this team to rival other tech giants. One of the biggest hires so far is Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI. Meta is buying a 49% stake in Scale AI for over $14 billion. Meta’s main motivation for doing so was hiring Wang to lead the superintelligence team. Paying such an enormous sum, largely just to hire one person, illustrates the bold swings Meta is willing to take. Meta has also reportedly hired Ilya Sutskever, an OpenAI co-founder, and Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub. Meta’s daring strategy to hire the best of the best is resonating with analysts as the AI talent battles in big tech heat up. The Next Phase of WhatsApp Monetization Is Here Another very important development around Meta is the fact that the company is now taking steps to significantly increase the monetization of its WhatsApp platform. On WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab, businesses will soon be able to purchase ads on the platform. This is a distinct part of the app, separate from where users see personal messages. This is key, as showing ads in that part of the platform would likely turn many users away. No one wants to see an ad simply to message their friends or family, and users would likely feel that their privacy is being invaded. WhatsApp has 3 billion monthly active users, but it remains by far Meta’s least monetized social media platform. Meta says that 1.5 billion people use the Updates tab per day. This means the company can further monetize a large portion of WhatsApp’s user base without hurting engagement among the rest. The company will also monetize the platform by allowing users to subscribe to updates from a certain business or content creator for a small monthly fee. Meta will slowly roll out these features over the next few months. Many investors have wanted to see further WhatsApp monetization for years. The fact that this is happening now is another reason analysts have grown increasingly bullish on Meta. The company is also making a smart decision by doing this in a way that won’t disrupt the experience of users who don’t want to engage with these new features. Overall, Meta’s recent moves are inspiring confidence among analysts. The success of Meta’s superintelligence team could unlock and create big new revenue streams for Meta down the road. Additionally, WhatsApp monetization can unlock value in a platform that Meta has spent years building. These factors are just two of many that could send Meta shares to new highs. Read This Story Online |  With the geopolitical tensions with Ukraine, the US, and Europe, the AI wars happening all over the place, and President Trump's new best friend Elon…
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| Written by Gabriel Osorio-Mazilli  When investors spot an unusual amount of buying for a given stock, this typically creates the sort of curiosity that can lead to some of the most profitable rabbit holes. However, as this information is now readily available to all retail investors, the “smart money” in the market has figured out a way to still shift massive amounts of capital in a much quieter manner.
Through stock options, these large investors figured they could take advantage of the inherent leverage in these contracts in order to express a view on a stock without many finding out. However, there are no benefits without offsetting costs, and the cost of options is that they have an expiration date, which raises the stakes on these leveraged bets. Most retail investors in the market may have missed an unusual number of call options for buying shares of Reddit Inc. (NYSE: RDDT), as is probably intended by the large traders taking on this positioning. Now that the footprint has been identified, investors need to justify this decision quickly to capture a share of the upside potential before these options expire and the stock takes off. Why Reddit Matters in This Market Most market participants are aware (and likely involved) in the technology sector and its pursuit of the best and most powerful artificial intelligence models; however, not all realize that Reddit is just as significant a player in this space as other companies. In fact, companies like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have collaborated with Reddit to access its user-generated text content. This is because, unlike LinkedIn or Twitter (now X), Reddit enforces relatively strict restrictions on the kind of content users can post. One of these restrictions is that sales content and most marketing materials are unlikely to be allowed on Reddit, which leads to more organic and social-focused language on the platform. This type of data is crucial for training large language models (LLMs), providing a significant advantage for companies like Alphabet and its search engine, Google. By now, most investors realize that this business model is not only stable and self-sustainable but also immune to most of the geopolitical and economic conflicts happening in the world today, so Reddit is now a safe haven for those looking for one. The Upside in Reddit Is Intact This might be the foundation behind the 87,739 call options purchased for Reddit stock as of mid-June 2025. Considering the leverage of these contracts, investors can assume this is a multi-million-dollar bet that Reddit stock will rise soon. While the safer aspect of this business makes sense so far, investors still need to come up with a more justifiable factor if they are to understand why such an interest has been taken in the company with such a tight deadline. Here, more fundamental aspects come into play. Because Reddit is a relatively smaller name compared to its technology peers, with a market capitalization of only $24.7 billion, it may have received less attention from the market during the recent bull runs the sector has experienced. More than that, the stock now trades at only 58% of its 52-week high, creating an even larger “catch-up” gap to be filled. So as far as the charts are concerned, there is a solid reason to believe that Reddit stock can go much higher or at least retest its previous highs. By examining some of the fundamental factors, investors can look at where Wall Street analysts expect earnings per share (EPS) to go for the upcoming quarters. With a forecast of up to $0.54 in EPS for the fourth quarter of 2025, these analysts anticipate that Reddit can deliver just over 300% in EPS growth by this time. As most in the market know where EPS goes, so does the stock price. Staring down the potential of triple-digit percentage upside may have been enough to motivate these options traders, but there’s more. Over the past month, as much as 8.1% of Reddit’s short interest declined, indicating a sign of bearish capitulation as short sellers realized that the upside far outweighs the potential downside at these prices, forcing them to exit their positions early. The cherry on top was Alan Gould’s, an analyst from Loop Capital, reiteration of a Buy rating for Reddit stock, this time coupled with a $200 per share valuation to call for 50% upside from where the stock has fallen today, creating another bullish pillar for prospective buyers to lean on moving forward. Read This Story Online |  ONE MAN who managed money for a $1.7 Trillion firm says Gamma Pockets are the only strategy that really works for this…
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