The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
0725 GMT - The aerospace and defense, luxury goods and chemicals sectors are among those with the highest exposure to the Middle East in Europe, equity strategists at Citi say in a research note. Around 3% of revenue at companies included in the MSCI Europe index comes from the Middle East, in line with the U.S. and slightly above Asia's exposure, Citi says, citing FactSet data. Nevertheless, there are sectors and companies that have a significantly higher exposure to the region, the strategists say. Citi cites Italy's Saipem, Asseco Poland, France's Technip Energies, Germany's Delivery Hero and London-listed Hikma Pharmaceuticals among the companies with a major revenue exposure to the Middle East. (adria.calatayud@wsj.com)
0657 GMT - SoftBank Group Corp. is likely to fund a material portion of its additional OpenAI investment through asset sales and equity-backed financing, say CreditSights analysts in a note. The Japanese technology investor made a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI, raising its stake to around 13%.This deal is likely to raise its loan to value ratio to around 25.3% from 20.6%, above SoftBank's cap "in normal times," the analysts say. SoftBank might consider raising new equity and could tap on both dollar and euro bond markets in coming months, CreditSights adds. While SoftBank's reduced diversification after the deal could be a key credit risk, the robust valuations of its key assets likely helps to compensate for such concerns, they add. News Corp, owner of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.(megan.cheah@wsj.com)
0532 GMT - Info-Tech Systems' growth trajectory stands to benefit from Singapore Budget 2026, OCBC Group Research's Ada Lim says in a research report. Singapore's expansion of the Productivity Solutions Grant to support companies in accessing artificial-intelligence tools to work smarter and compete more effectively will probably support adoption of Info-Tech Systems' product offerings. Also, Singaporeans who undergo selected training courses will get six months of free access to premium AI tools, where the company's course offerings have a good chance of qualifying. OCBC raises the fair value estimate of the cloud-based human resources, payroll and accounting software provider's stock to S$1.30 from S$1.00, with an unchanged buy rating. Shares are 2.8% higher at S$1.11. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
0527 GMT - Xiaomi's February sales missing expectations may not reflect a softening in demand but supply factors, Deutsche Bank analyst Bin Wang says in a research note. The company's February electric-vehicle deliveries missed expectations with a nearly 50% on-month drop. Wang says this is likely due to seasonal headwinds stemming from the Lunar New Year holiday, as well as production reallocation as the company prepares for the mass production of a new model. Deutsche Bank keeps a buy rating on the stock, but trims the target price to HK$68.50 from HK$71.00. Shares are 3.2% lower at HK$31.96. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)
0258 GMT - UMS Integration's medium-term growth trajectory is likely supported by stronger demand from customers, says DBS Group Research's Lee Keng Ling in commentary. Its key global customers expect demand growth over 2026-2027, the analysts note. The semiconductor-component maker's operating profit is likely to benefit from stronger operating leverage, which supports earnings growth through higher volumes, improved product mix and better manufacturing efficiencies. UMS's integrated systems segment is poised to benefit from the ongoing semiconductor upcycle, she adds. DBS raises its 2026-2027 earnings forecasts by 3%-7% and lifts its target price to S$1.83 from S$1.48. The bank maintains a buy rating on UMS Integration, which is up 4.7% at S$1.57. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)
2302 GMT - Life360's bull at Citi thinks that the tracking-app provider's annual guidance should be positively received, especially given its track record of upgrading its outlook through the year. Analyst Siraj Ahmed tells clients in a note that the midpoint of the company's $640 million-$680 million guidance is only about 1% ahead of consensus forecasts, but observes that investors had been worried about the 2026 outlook ahead of the result. Lower-than-expected hardware revenue guidance drives a 4% miss relative to Ahmed's forecast, but he acknowledges that the outlook for advertising looks strong. Citi has a last-published buy rating and $82.25 target price on Life360's U.S.-listed stock, which closed at $53.79. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
2248 GMT - Life360's bull at RBC Capital Markets thinks that the tracking-app provider's stronger-than-expected 2026 guidance should provide its beaten-down stock with some much-needed relief. Analyst Wei-Weng Chen tells clients in a note that Life360's guidance for annual revenue of between $640 million and $680 million implies upside to consensus Ebitda forecasts. He sees the fact that hardware revenue guidance is weaker than analysts had anticipated as a positive, explaining that this suggests revenue from the new advertising venture is higher than expected. RBC has a last-published outperform rating and A$51.00 target price on Life360's Australia-listed stock, which is at A$24.72 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)
1820 GMT - The Amazon-OpenAI deal will see Amazon implement OpenAI's technology into some of its customer-facing applications. Notably, however, it doesn't appear to include OpenAI integrating Amazon into its agentic shopping platform. Morgan Stanley analysts say in a report that this indicates Amazon is being patient about its move into agentic shopping, given its advantages in inventory, infrastructure, and innovation. "We believe AMZN management has been signaling it is open to partnering with horizontal agent platforms, but we expect AMZN to be highly focused on the quality of the product, economic terms...and remain patient, as their 3 I's above give them negotiating leverage," the analysts say.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1814 GMT - OpenAI's commitment to an additional $100 billion in Amazon Web Services spending as part of Amazon's deal to invest about $50 billion in the AI company builds confidence in the growth outlook for AWS, according to Morgan Stanley in a note. The analysts assume OpenAI ramps its spending slowly this year before accelerating in 2027, which would ramp AWS's revenue recognition from $5 billion a quarter in 1Q 2027 to $8 billion in 4Q. As a result, they now expect 29% AWS growth this year and 32% in 2027, up from estimates of 26% and 25% growth respectively. Still, AWS' growth is contingent on the company's ability to continue bringing data-center capacity online, as the company remains capacity constrained.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1744 GMT - Hostilities in the Middle East could drive increased focus toward some areas of cybersecurity, Stifel analysts say, pointing to operational technology and critical infrastructure environments. The trend would benefit vendors like Fortinet and Tenable Holdings, as well as privately-held companies like Claroty, Dragos and Nozomi, as well as Armis, which is in the process of being acquired by ServiceNow, the analysts say. Conflicts don't necessarily drive a near-term spike in cybersecurity spend overall, but high-profile events like Israel's cyberattack on Iran tend to keep cybersecurity as a top IT priority, they say. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1739 GMT - Investors may be underestimating the long-term durability of demand for Nvidia's chips, Morgan Stanley analysts write in a note, once again naming the company as their top pick. Some investors lack conviction for Nvidia beyond 2027, worried that the lack of cash generation from hyperscalers might slow spending on processors. But signs of continued compute shortages and hyperscalers placing prepaid, multi-year orders on memory suppliers suggest that spending will continue past 2026. "There is simply no indication that the current investment cycle has run its course, and there is plenty of evidence that the spenders intend to keep spending for at least a couple more years," the analysts write. Nvidia is up 2.8%. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1736 GMT - The outlook for Apple's iPhone sales is becoming increasingly cloudy, UBS analysts say. Sell-through of iPhones increased in January but decelerated in the U.S. and China despite promotional activity. The elevated sales iPhone saw in the first months following the iPhone 17 launch coincide with the anniversary of the strong launch of the iPhone 13 in 2021, a sign that the strong demand could be from customers replacing their older phones. "Therefore, we see incremental risk that demand slows into the launch of the 18-series particularly if consumers increasingly pre-buy devices ahead of potential memory driven price increases," the analysts say. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 03, 2026 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)
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