ReportWire

Tag: Earnings

  • Klarna’s First Public Earnings Report: Strong US Growth, ‘Neobanking’ and A.I.

    [ad_1]

    CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski says Klarna is evolving from BNPL to a full “neobank.” Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    Today (Nov. 18), Klarna reported its first quarterly earnings as a public company. The fintech giant, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in September, is growing quickly as it leans into A.I. and looks to expand beyond its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service into more traditional banking offerings.

    Klarna beat Wall Street expectations with $903 million in revenue for the July–September period, a 26 percent increase from a year earlier. In its largest market, the U.S., sales rose 51 percent from a year ago.

    The company also posted gains in gross merchandise volume (GMV), an e-commerce metric measuring the value of goods sold. GMW jumped 23 percent year-over-year to $32.7 billion for the quarter. One gloomy spot was net income, which swung to a $95 million loss compared to a $12 million profit during the same period in 2024. Klarna attributed the decline partially to a change in accounting principles.

    Demand also increased for Klarna’s “Fair Financing” option, which lets customers spread payments for larger purchases over longer periods. U.S. GMV for the offering jumped 244 percent during the quarter, while global GMV rose 139 percent. Fair Financing is now available at 151,000 merchants, or 18 percent of Klarna’s total merchant base.

    Klarna is still best known for its BNPL services, but the company aims to shift “from payments to full neobank,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said during his company’s earnings call. A neobank refers to a fintech firm that offers banking services without a physical branches, such as Chime or Revolut.

    In July, Klarna launched the “Klarna Card,” a payment card that combines BNPL features with a traditional debit card. The product has already gained more than 4 million signups, according to Siemiatkowski, and accounted for 15 percent of Klarna’s global transactions as of October.

    Klarna slows hiring amid A.I. push

    Klarna is also turning to A.I. to move into new areas. As an early adopter, the company has embraced the technology across personal shopping, internal productivity tools and even an A.I. avatar of Siemiatkowski capable of presenting earnings.

    A.I. has transformed customer service as well: an A.I. assistant Klarna introduced last year now performs the work of more than 850 full-time employees and has saved the company $60 million, Siemiatkowski said. In part because of these efficiency gains, Klarna does not “believe that hiring is the right approach at this point in time,” he added.

    That doesn’t mean the CEO is unconcerned about A.I.’s impact on workers. While blue-collar jobs are typically vulnerable during economic downturns, Siemiatkowski warned that A.I. could more heavily affect “high-income households and white-collar jobs.” He said he is closely monitoring unemployment trends to understand how the technology might affect consumers who rely on Klarna.

    Klarna’s First Public Earnings Report: Strong US Growth, ‘Neobanking’ and A.I.

    [ad_2]

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

    Source link

  • Apple is ramping up succession plans for CEO Tim Cook and may tap this hardware exec to take over, report says | Fortune

    [ad_1]

    Apple’s board of directors and senior executives have been accelerating succession plans for Tim Cook, sources told the Financial Times.

    After serving as CEO for 14 years, Cook may step down as early as next year, the report said.

    Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, 50-year-old John Ternus, is widely seen as the most likely successor, but no final decisions have been made yet, sources told the FT.

    The engineer joined Apple’s product design team in 2001 and has overseen hardware engineering for most major products the tech company has launched ever since, according to Ternus’ LinkedIn profile.

    He has also played a prominent role during Apple’s most recent keynotes, introducing products like the new iPhone Air. Ternus had been rumored to be Cook’s potential successor, according to previous reports. 

    The company is unlikely to name a new CEO before its next earnings report in late January, and an early-year announcement would allow a new leadership team time to settle in before its annual events, the FT said. 

    The succession preparations have been long-planned and are not related to the company’s current performance, which is expecting strong end-of-year sales, people close to Apple told the FT.

    Apple did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment and declined to provide a comment to the FT.

    The $4 trillion company is expecting year-on-year revenue growth of 10% to 12% for its holiday quarter ending in December, fueled by the release of the iPhone 17 model in September.

    Ternus would take the helm of the tech giant at an important time in its evolution. Although Apple has seen sales success with iPhones and new products like Airpods over the past couple of decades, it has struggled to break into AI and keep up with rivals.

    Instead, Apple has even spending significantly less in AI investments compared to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft. 

    Apple has been criticized by analysts this year for not having a clear AI strategy. And despite approving a multibillion-dollar budget to run its own models via the cloud in 2026, it was reported in June that Apple is even considering using models from OpenAI and Anthropic to power its updated version of Siri, rather than using technology the company has built in-house. 

    Its AI-enabled Siri, originally slated for 2025, will be delayed until 2026 or later due to a series of technical challenges, the company announced earlier this year.

    Apple has also lost a number of senior AI team members since January, many of whom have joined Meta’s AI and Superintelligence Labs during talent poaching wars this year. The exodus of Apple’s AI execs included Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple’s foundation models and core generative AI team, who joined Meta with a compensation package reportedly worth $200 million.

    The company is also dealing with increased competition from one of its most influential former employees.

    In May, Sam Altman’s OpenAI acquired startup io for about $6.5 billion, bringing in former Apple chief designer Jony Ive to build AI devices. The 58-year-old designer was instrumental in creating the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. 

    Cook, Apple’s former operations chief, turned 65 this month. He has grown the company’s market capitalization to $4 trillion from $350 billion in 2011, when he took over the CEO role from company co-founder Steve Jobs.

    Under Cook, Apple became the first publicly traded company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization in 2018—then it became the first company to reach $3 trillion in market cap in 2022.

    But more recently, its stock price has been lagging behind Big Tech rivals Alphabet, Nvidia, and Microsoft, though Apple is trading close to an all-time high after strong earnings were reported in October.

    Apple has also dealt with tariff complications as U.S.-China trade tensions have disrupted its supply chain.

    Cook has previously said he’d prefer an internal candidate to replace him, adding that the company has “very detailed succession plans.”

    “I really want the person to come from within Apple,” Cook told singer Dua Lipa last year on her podcast At Your Service.

    [ad_2]

    Nino Paoli

    Source link

  • China Registers Worst Investment Decline in Years as Slowdown Continues

    [ad_1]

    SHANGHAI—Signs of weakness in China’s economy stretched into October, with one measure of investment notching the sharpest slowdown in years.

    The numbers

    Momentum in retail sales and industrial production slowed, while investment and the property market continued to struggle, according to data released Friday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Hannah Miao

    Source link

  • Stock news for investors: Barrick leads earnings gains as major Canadian companies report mixed Q3 results – MoneySense

    [ad_1]

    Revenue totalled US$4.15 billion, up from US$3.37 billion. On an adjusted basis, Barrick says it earned 58 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 30 cents per share a year ago.

    Gold production in the quarter totalled 829,000 ounces, down from 943,000 ounces a year ago, while the company’s realized gold price rose to US$3,457 per ounce, up from US$2,494 per ounce a year ago. Copper production amounted to 55,000 tonnes, up from 48,000 tonnes a year ago, while Barrick’s realized copper price for the quarter was US$4.39 per pound, up from US$4.27 per pound in the same quarter last year.

    Barrick increased its quarterly base dividend to 12.5 cents US per share from 10 cents US and declared an additional performance dividend for the quarter of five cents US per share for a total payment of 17.5 cents US per share.

    In September, Barrick appointed Mark Hill to become interim president and CEO following the sudden departure of Mark Bristow from the top job. The company says it is working with an executive search firm to find a permanent president and CEO.

    Source Google

    MEG Energy reports $159M in Q3 profit, down from last year

    MEG Energy Corp. (TSX:MEG)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $159 million (down from $167 million a year ago)
    • Revenue: $1.18 billion (down from $1.27 billion)

    Oilsands producer MEG Energy Corp. says its profits fell during the third quarter. Net earnings for the period ended Sept. 30 amounted to $159 million, down from $167 million during the same period a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were flat year-over-year at 62 cents. 

    Revenue came in at $1.18 billion during the quarter, down from $1.27 billion during the same period last year. Production for the quarter reached a record of 108,166 barrels per day compared with 103,298 during the prior-year quarter. 

    Last week, shareholders in MEG Energy voted in favour of an $8.6-billion takeover by Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE) in a deal that is expected to close this month after a final court approval and other customary conditions.

    Source Google

    Grocery and drugstore retailer Loblaw reports Q3 profit and revenue up from year ago

    Loblaw Cos. Ltd. (TSX:L)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $794 million (up from $777 million a year ago)
    • Revenue: $19.40 billion (up from $18.54 billion)

    Grocery and drugstore retailer Loblaw Cos. Ltd. reported its third-quarter profit and revenue rose compared with a year ago. The company behind Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart says it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $794 million or 66 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 4. The result compared with a profit of $777 million or 63 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

    Article Continues Below Advertisement


    Revenue for the 16-week period totalled $19.40 billion, up from $18.54 billion a year earlier. 

    The company’s hard discount and Real Canadian Superstore banners outperformed its conventional stores as consumers continue to hunt for value, Loblaw said in a release. Food retail same-store sales were up two per cent, while drug retail same-store sales rose four per cent with pharmacy and health-care same-store sales growth of 5.9 per cent and a gain of 1.9 per cent for front store same-store sales.

    RBC analyst Irene Nattel said in a note to clients it was “another solid quarter” for the company, however, same-store food sales and revenue was “a string bean shy of forecast.”

    On an adjusted basis, Loblaw says its earned 69 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 62 cents per diluted share a year ago.

    Source Google

    Manulife reports $1.8 billion in Q3 earnings, down slightly year-over-year

    Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $1.8 billion (down from $1.84 billion a year ago)

    Manulife Financial Corp. reported $1.8 billion in net income attributed to shareholders during the third quarter, down slightly from $1.84 billion during the same period a year earlier. The insurer says adjusted earnings, or what it calls core earnings, came in at $2 billion compared with $1.83 billion during the prior year quarter.  

    Manulife CEO Phil Witherington says the company’s core earnings in Asia and Canada reached record levels. Core earnings for Manulife’s Asia segment came in at US$550 million, while core earnings for its Canada segment came in at $428 million. 

    Manulife’s earnings came as the company launched a new platform with the stated goal of helping people live longer and more financially secure lives, called the Longevity Institute. The company says it is committing $350 million to the platform through 2030.

    Source Google

     

    [ad_2]

    The Canadian Press

    Source link

  • Opinion | Escape From Zohran Mamdani’s New York

    [ad_1]

    Arnold Toynbee’s “Cities on the Move” (1970) documents the history of big cities around the world becoming impoverished and insolvent—some never to recover. Many of the patterns he describes apply to New York now.

    Real estate contributed roughly $35 billion of the $80 billion in city tax receipts in fiscal 2025, and personal taxes another $18 billion. The financial sector, real estate, construction, tourism and retail trade sectors are the major contributors to these revenues.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Reuven Brenner

    Source link

  • The Gaza War Has Been Big Business for U.S. Companies

    [ad_1]

    Two years on, Israel’s war in Gaza might be finally drawing to a close. The conflict built an unprecedented arms pipeline from the U.S. to Israel that continues to flow, generating substantial business for big U.S. companies—including Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar.

    Sales of U.S. weapons to Israel have surged since October 2023, with Washington approving more than $32 billion in armaments, ammunition and other equipment to the Israeli military over that time, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of State Department disclosures.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Benoit Faucon

    Source link

  • S&P 500 Nuclear Leader Misses On Earnings. The Stock Reversed Higher.

    [ad_1]

    S&P 500 nuclear component Constellation Energy (CEG) on Friday reported worse-than-expected third-quarter profit and narrowed its full-year earnings guidance. CEG stock fell solidly early before advancing in Friday’s market. Constellation Energy reported Q3 earnings growing nearly 11% to $3.04 per share while revenue totaled $6.57 billion, running basically flat vs. a year earlier. Prior to the release, analysts expected Q3…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Stock news for investors: Air Canada Q3 profit plunges to as strike weighs on results – MoneySense

    [ad_1]

    The Montreal-based airline says operating revenues during the quarter came in at $5.77 billion, falling around 5% from $6.1 billion during the third quarter last year.   

    Results for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 include the three-day work stoppage by more than 10,000 flight attendants in August that shut down operations and caused more than 3,000 flight cancellations.

    Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau says the latest results met the company’s revised estimate that was lowered to adjust for the labour disruption that occurred during the peak of the summer season. In September, Air Canada lowered its full-year guidance while estimating the cost of the strike at $375 million.

    Source Google

    Fortis reports $409-million third-quarter profit, raises dividend

    Fortis Inc. (TSX:FTS)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $409 million (down from $420 million a year ago)
    • Revenue: $2.94 billion (up from $2.77 billion)

    Fortis Inc. raised its dividend as it reported a third-quarter profit of $409 million. The power utility says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 64 cents per share, up from 61.5 cents per share. 

    The increased payment to shareholders came as Fortis says its third-quarter profit amounted to 81 cents per share, down from $420 million or 85 cents per share in the same quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, the company says it earned 87 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from 85 cents per share a year ago.

    Revenue for the quarter totalled $2.94 billion, up from $2.77 billion in the same quarter last year.

    In its outlook, Fortis announced a new five-year capital plan for 2026-2030 that totals $28.8 billion, an increase of $2.8 billion compared with its previous five-year plan.

    Source Google

    Thomson Reuters reports third-quarter profit and revenue up from year ago

    Thomson Reuters Corp. (TSX:TRI)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $423 million (up from $301 million a year ago)
    • Revenue: $1.78 billion (up from $1.72 billion)

    Thomson Reuters Corp. reported a profit of US$423 million in its latest quarter, up from US$301 million in the same period a year earlier, as its revenue rose 3%. The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the profit amounted to 94 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 67 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

    Article Continues Below Advertisement


    Revenue totalled US$1.78 billion, up from US$1.72 billion a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 85 cents US per share, up from an adjusted profit of 80 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.

    In September, the company acquired Additive AI Inc., a U.S.-based specialist in AI-powered tax document processing for tax and accounting professionals. The company also sold its remaining minority interest in the Elite business, a provider of financial practice management solutions to law firms.

    Source Google

    Suncor reports decline in third-quarter profits, record production

    Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Profit: $1.62 billion (down from $2.02 billion a year ago)
    • Revenue: $6.17 billion (down from $6.32 billion)

    Oilsands giant Suncor Energy Inc. has reported a decline in third-quarter profits amid weak oil prices, while production and refinery throughput hit new records. Net earnings were $1.62 billion during the three months ended Sept. 30, down from $2.02 billion a year earlier. The profit amounted to $1.34 per share compared to $1.59 per share. 

    Operating revenues net of royalties were $6.17 billion, down from $6.32 billion during the same 2024 quarter. 

    Total upstream production in the quarter was 870,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 828,600 boe/d. Suncor’s refineries processed 491,700 barrels per day, an increase from 487,600 barrels in the year-ago quarter. 

    “Our people continue to deliver shareholder value with a culture that every barrel and every dollar matters,” CEO Rich Kruger said in a news release Tuesday. “Underpinned by our integrated business model, we are elevating overall performance and generating higher, more reliable and more ratable free cash flow with less volatility and dependence on the external business environment.”

    Also Tuesday, Suncor announced it will raise its quarterly dividend by 5% to 60 cents per share.

    Source Google

    Uranium miner Cameco raises annual dividend, reports small Q3 loss

    Cameco (TSX:CCO)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025:

    • Loss: $158,000 (down from profit of $7.4 million a year ago)
    • Revenue: $614.6 million (down from $720.6 million)

    Cameco raised its dividend and reported a small net loss in its most recent quarter. The uranium miner says it will pay an annual dividend of 24 cents per share, up from 16 cents. The increased payment to shareholders came as Cameco posted a net loss of $158,000 or zero cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $7.4 million or two cents per diluted share a year earlier.

    [ad_2]

    The Canadian Press

    Source link

  • AI aiding FIS in client retention, growth

    [ad_1]

    FIS is continuing its investment in AI as it sees higher client retention rates and improving risk management. 

    “We anticipated that AI would transform financial services, but the pace and depth of adoption have exceeded our expectations,” Chief Executive Stephanie Ferris said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 5. “Our clients are leaning in and asking us to help shape their AI journeys, viewing us as a strategic partner.”

    fis
    (Photo/Bank Automation News)

    The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is deploying new AI-driven tools for their clients, which boosts client retention, Ferris said, adding that an increase in the bank’s tech spend will be a tailwind for its growing business. 

    “We’re achieving [revenue growth] through our investments in AI, which are fundamentally transforming how we operate and improve everything from client support to risk management to product development, modernizing our solutions to help our clients run, grow and protect their businesses more effectively,” she said. 

    FIS reported banking solution revenue of $1.8 billion for the quarter, up 6.5% year over year, partly driven by high demand for AI solutions, while its recurring revenue also increased 6% YoY, according to the Q3 earnings report. 

    Working with the industry 

    While FIS develops some AI solutions in-house, it also forms partnerships with other fintechs and explores acquisitions that aid its long-term strategy, Ferris said. 

    FIS teamed with AI-driven chatbot service provider Glia to provide its financial services clients with improved chatbot capabilities, according to an FIS release published Oct. 9. 

    Digital is rapidly becoming the default experience for retail banking customers and they expect personalized interactions, Shane McWilliams, head of retail banking for Digital One at FIS, told FinAi News. 

    “That is difficult to do at scale, and the more cutting-edge AI-driven chat bots are helping to bridge that gap,” McWilliams said. “Both internal and external chat bots are gaining traction, but the demand is far more for external given the demand for more personalized customer service.” 

    FIS’ third-party partnership strategy is to offer the core capabilities that banks want and partner with providers for them, McWilliams said. 

    Glia is an omnichannel provider and will be “integrated into many of the central functions at FIS to create a higher level of integration for our digital banking customers,” he said.  

    FIS also announced the acquisition of AI-driven onboarding and lending service provider Amount for an undisclosed price, according to FIS’s Sept 25 release. 

    The Amount “acquisition is a perfect example of how we are using AI to help clients grow their business,” Ferris said. “Amount’s platform fundamentally changes how banks acquire and onboard customers while helping to grow revenue and reduce friction and risk.” 

    The acquisition is expected to contribute around 20 basis points of additional growth in the coming quarters, Ferris said. 

    Register here for early-bird pricing for the inaugural FinAi Banking Summit 2026, taking place March 2-3 in Denver. View the full event agenda here. 

    [ad_2]

    Vaidik Trivedi

    Source link

  • Eurozone Retail Sales Edge Lower Despite Improving Sentiment

    [ad_1]

    Retail sales in the eurozone unexpectedly inched lower in September, contrasting with some of the rosier sentiment among consumers in recent months.

    Volumes fell back 0.1%, the same rate as in August, statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had instead expected a 0.2% increase.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Ed Frankl

    Source link

  • Exclusive | Trump Officials Torpedoed Nvidia’s Push to Export AI Chips to China

    [ad_1]

    Shortly before President Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, an urgent issue emerged. Trump wanted to discuss a request by Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang to allow sales of a new generation of artificial-intelligence chips to China, current and former administration officials said.

    Greenlighting the export of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips would be a seismic policy shift potentially giving China, the U.S.’s biggest geopolitical competitor, a technological accelerant. Huang—who speaks to Trump often—has lobbied relentlessly to maintain access to the Chinese market.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Lingling Wei

    Source link

  • Why investors are no longer rewarding earnings beats, according to Goldman Sachs

    [ad_1]

    Why investors are no longer rewarding earnings beats, according to Goldman Sachs

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • China Manufacturing Gauge Signals Weaker Growth Momentum

    [ad_1]

    A private gauge of China’s manufacturing activity showed Chinese factories continued to expand production in October, albeit at a slower pace, signaling weaker growth momentum heading into the fourth quarter of the year.

    The RatingDog China General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, declined to 50.6 last month from 51.2 in September, according to a statement released Monday.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Berkshire Hathaway’s profits rise 17% as Buffett prepares to step down

    [ad_1]

    OMAHA, Neb. — The profits of Warren Buffett’s company improved 17% thanks to a relatively mild hurricane season and more paper investment gains this year as Berkshire Hathaway continues to prepare for the legendary 95-year-old investor to relinquish the CEO title in January.

    But last month’s $9.7 billion investment in OxyChem won’t do much to diminish the $381.7 billion cash pile that Berkshire was sitting on at the end of September even though it is the biggest deal the company has made in years.

    The biggest thing on most investors’ minds right now is that Buffett Vice Chair Greg Abel is set to succeed him as CEO in January, although Buffett will remain chairman at Berkshire. The Class A stock is well off its peak of $812,855, set just before Buffett surprised shareholders at the annual meeting in May by announcing he will step back. It closed Friday at $715,740, but Berkshire still didn’t buy back any of its own stock in the quarter, which suggests Buffett thinks it is still overvalued.

    CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert said she expects investors will clamor for more details from Berkshire after Abel takes over, and that calls for the company to finally pay a dividend if it can’t find better uses for all that cash will also grow louder. But with Buffett remaining chairman there may not be any immediate changes.

    “The lack of discussion and disclosure — I think has a lot of the investment community frustrated,” Seifert said. Berkshire has never had public or investor relations departments, and the company skips the quarterly investor calls that nearly every public company holds. Buffett has long said he prefers to share results with every investor at the same time, on Saturdays, and give them the weekend to digest the results before the markets reopen.

    Berkshire said Saturday that it earned $30.796 billion, or $21,413 per Class A share, in the quarter. That’s up from last year’s $26.251 billion, or $18,272 per A share.

    But those bottom-line figures are always distorted by the current value of Berkshire’s massive investment portfolio and any stock sales, which this year added $17.3 billion to the company’s profits.

    That’s why Buffett has long recommended that investors pay more attention to Berkshire’s operating earnings to get a sense of how its many operating companies are performing, including well-known insurers like Geico, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies.

    On that measure, Berkshire’s operating profit jumped to $13.485 billion, or $9376.15 per Class A share, thanks to a strong rebound in its insurance companies. A year ago, Berkshire reported operating earnings of $10.09 billion, or $7,023.01 per Class A share.

    The four analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted Berkshire would report operating earnings of $8,573.50 per Class A share.

    Berkshire said fewer catastrophic losses from hurricanes this year compared to when Hurricane Helene ravaged the southeast a year ago helped its insurance underwriting profit jump $1.6 billion to $2.369 billion. The bottom line was also helped by $331 million in gains on debt held in foreign currencies this year, compared to a $1.1 billion loss on those holdings a year ago.

    Most of Berkshire’s other companies performed well in the quarter although profits did decline nearly 9% at its utilities to $1.489 billion.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Cloudflare shares rise to record after beating sales outlook

    [ad_1]

    Cloudflare Inc. shares surged to a record after posting better-than-expected sales figures that topped quarterly and annual estimates, following a reorganization and the addition of more large enterprise customers. The cybersecurity firm projected sales of $589 million in the fourth quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $580.9 million on average. Cloudflare’s revenue totaled $562 million last […]

    [ad_2]

    Bloomberg News

    Source link

  • Reddit’s Human-Centered A.I. Strategy Is Fueling Its Success

    [ad_1]

    Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says Reddit’s next chapter is about making the platform “a true search destination” built on authentic human conversation. Getty Images

    Reddit is thriving in the A.I. era, even as fast, synthetic content floods nearly every corner of the internet. The community-driven discussion site is the third most visited website in the U.S., behind Google and YouTube (and ahead of Amazon and Facebook), the company said yesterday (Oct. 30) on its third-quarter earnings call, citing Semrush’s October 2025 data. Reddit’s leaders said they’re doubling down on the platform’s identity as “for humans, by humans,” even as they use A.I. to help spark more authentic conversations.

    Between July and September, Reddit brought in $585 million in revenue, up 68 percent from the same period last year. Net income surged more than fivefold year-over-year to $163 million. The site had 116 million daily active users at the end of September.

    “As Google and other search engines grapple with issues of trust and authenticity, Reddit possesses what most A.I. companies are after: authenticated, nuanced, community-driven content,” Baruch Labunski, CEO at digital marketing company Rank Secure, told Observer.

    Co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman told analysts yesterday Reddit is doubling down on making the platform “a true search destination.”

    To that end, the company announced it’s “redesigning the Reddit experience,” focusing on a modern interface with advanced search capabilities. It will continue to roll out its generative A.I. tool, Reddit Answers, and new A.I. features will help users interpret rules unique to each subreddit and bring post insights to the top.

    Reddit said 75 million users utilized Reddit’s search functionalities each week in the third quarter, with that number expected to grow. “Reddit Answers provides users with curated, community-powered insights that are often more helpful than traditional web results,” Huffman said. “Our aim is to have a single, great search experience.”

    “Smart move toward a more ‘search-forward’ experience, but it’s still a tightrope walk,” Labunski said. “The winning strategy is to enable Reddit’s self-discovery and IP moderation with A.I., while leaving the chaotic human interactions intact.”

    Reddit continues to incorporate more A.I., specifically in moderation, translation, video and interactive features. Reddit has launched A.I.-supported moderator tools in more than 3,000 communities, with a broader rollout on the horizon. For example, moderators can use A.I. to view a summary of a user’s profile. “We’re using A.I. to make it easier for those user-written rules or moderator-written rules to be enforced automatically to make moderation more fun and efficient,” Huffman added.

    Meanwhile, Reddit’s A.I. translation now handles 30 languages, and the company is planning to expand this to drive more international growth.

    The platform recently hosted its first video AMA (ask me anything) with NASA and plans to continue expanding video in its more than 100,000 subreddit communities. Video comment replies are also expanding.

    Reddit’s advertising platform continues to see updates, and the team is currently developing interactive ads. Huffman said ads remain their “core business” and they’re continuing to roll out their machine-learning-enabled dynamic product ads, which use user intent data to inform who to show ads to.

    Reddit’s hyper-focus on search and A.I. proves the company has moved well beyond a forum site. This is “Reddit telling the market it wants to be the place where human context gets found and not just the place LLMs crawl,” Martin Jeffrey, founder of digital marketing agency Harton Works, told Observer.

    Reddit’s Human-Centered A.I. Strategy Is Fueling Its Success

    [ad_2]

    Rachel Curry

    Source link

  • Stock news for investors: RBI earnings rise as Tim Hortons and international growth boost results – MoneySense

    [ad_1]

    The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its net income attributable to common shareholders amounted to US$315 million or 96 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$252 million or 79 cents US in the same quarter last year.

    Revenue for the quarter totalled US$2.45 billion, up from US$2.29 billion a year ago.

    On an adjusted basis, RBI says it earned US$1.03 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from 93 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

    In addition to Tim Hortons, RBI is the company behind the Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs brands.

    Parkland reports Q3 profit up from year ago as it prepares to close Sunoco deal

    Parkland Corp. (TSX:PKI)

    Numbers for its third quarter of 2025.

    • Profit: $129 million (up from $91 million a year ago)
    • Sales: $7.35 billion (up from $7.13 billion)

    Parkland Corp. reported a third-quarter profit of $129 million, up from $91 million a year ago, as it prepared to complete its deal to be acquired by U.S. company Sunoco. The Calgary-based company says its profit amounted to 73 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 52 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

    On an adjusted basis, Parkland says it earned $1.02 per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 60 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

    Sales and operating revenue totalled $7.35 billion, up from $7.13 billion a year earlier.

    Parkland owns the Ultramar, Chevron and Pioneer gas station chains as well as several other brands in 26 countries. It also runs a refinery in Burnaby, B.C., which supplies nearly one-third of the region’s domestically supplied gasoline and jet fuel.

    Article Continues Below Advertisement


    The company says it expects to close its deal with Sunoco on Friday, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions.

    Source Google

    Wealthsimple announces its raising up to $750M in new capital to accelerate growth

    Wealthsimple Inc. says it is raising up to $750 million in capital in an effort to accelerate its growth. The equity raise will bring its valuation to $10 billion upon completion.     

    The equity round includes a $550 million primary offering and secondary offering of up to $200 million and is co-led by U.S.-based Dragoneer Investment Group and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

    Wealthsimple says the round will also include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a new investor, along with existing investors Power Corporation of Canada, IGM Financial Inc. and others. Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen says in a press release that it was intentional in choosing partners committed to its long-term future. 

    Last week, Wealthsimple announced its assets under administration reached $100 billion, roughly doubling from a year ago.

    Cameco shares soar after company and Brookfield sign nuclear reactor deal with U.S.

    Shares of Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO) rose more than 20 per cent after the company and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (TSX:BAM) announced a partnership agreement with the U.S. government to help build nuclear reactors in the United States.

    Under the deal, the U.S. government will arrange financing and facilitate the permitting and approvals for at least US$80 billion worth of new Westinghouse nuclear reactors in the U.S. Brookfield and Cameco acquired Westinghouse in November 2023.

    “We expect that the new build commitments from the U.S. will bolster broader confidence in the durable growth profile for nuclear power, and support increased demand for Westinghouse’s and Cameco’s products, services and technologies,” Cameco chief executive Tim Gitzel said in a statement. “This new partnership highlights the role that Westinghouse’s reactor technologies, based on fully designed, licensed and operating reactors, are expected to play in the planned expansion of nuclear capacity and diversification of global nuclear supply chains.”

    [ad_2]

    The Canadian Press

    Source link

  • Meta, Google, and Microsoft Triple Down on AI Spending

    [ad_1]

    While Microsoft didn’t offer a specific forecast for its AI capital expenditures for the next quarter or coming year, the company’s chief financial officer, Amy Hood, said that the company’s total spend will “increase sequentially, and we now expect the fiscal year 2026 growth rate to be higher than fiscal year 2025.”

    Tech companies are making these ambitious plans for more capital spending under the assumption that demand for AI will only continue to grow. But some analysts are raising concerns that the AI market is a bubble and will eventually burst.

    Those worries are being fueled by announcements about enormously expensive, multi-year data center projects and staggered investments. Last month, Nvidia said it would invest “up to $100 billion” in OpenAI, provided that the ChatGPT maker builds and deploys at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers using Nvidia’s chips. OpenAI, meanwhile, said just yesterday that it was planning to develop 30 gigawatts of computing resources worth $1.4 trillion.

    Microsoft has committed to putting a total of $13 billion in OpenAI, and it continues to use the company’s frontier AI models, but took a $3.1 billion hit in net income this quarter due to losses from that investment. Microsoft said that the ongoing nature of its partnership with OpenAI will result in increased volatility. Going forward, Hood said, the company will exclude any impacts from its OpenAI investment in its financial outlooks.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts there are two “critical” things to consider about how the company views its capital expenditures. The first is that it is finding ways to make its fleet of data centers “fungible,” or interchangeable, meaning they can be easily modified to meet changing customer demands in the future. The second is that the company is expecting to continually modernize its infrastructure.

    “It’s not like we buy one version of Nvidia and load up for all the gigawatts we have. Each year, you buy, you ride Moore’s Law, you continually modernize and depreciate it, and you use software to grow efficiency,” Nadella said.

    Mark Moerdler, a senior research analyst covering global software at Bernstein, says that Microsoft is “building capacity in tranches over time and can shift resources, which gives them a lot of protection.” But, he added, “Is there an overall AI bubble? [It’s] possible, and that they did not answer.”

    [ad_2]

    Lauren Goode, Will Knight

    Source link

  • Google’s corporate parent posts first-ever quarter with $100B in revenue in latest show of its power

    [ad_1]

    SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s corporate parent on Wednesday announced its first-ever quarter with more than $100 billion in revenue, a milestone that illustrates the unwavering power of its internet empire amid legal and competitive threats.

    The news of Alphabet Inc.’s accelerating growth in revenue and profit comes on the heels of a court ruling in the U.S. Justice Department’s landmark monopoly case against Google’s dominant search engine that was widely seen as a mild rebuke that wouldn’t hobble the company.

    Alphabet performed like a powerhouse during the July-September period, delivering a profit of nearly $35 billion, or $2.87 per share, a 33% increase from the same time last year. Revenue rose 16% from last year to $102.3 billion. Both figures easily exceeded the analysts’ projections that steer the stock market.

    Investors celebrated the third-quarter numbers by driving up Alphabet’s stock price nearly 5% in Wednesday’s extended trading.

    That’s on top of a 30% surge in Alphabet’s shares that has created nearly $770 billion in stockholder wealth since early September. That’s when U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a Justice Department proposal to break up Google to curb the abuses of a search engine that was declared an illegal monopoly last year.

    Mehta’s cautious handling of Google’s search monopoly largely reflected his belief that rapid advances in artificial intelligence technology have already been spawning conversational “answer engines” from rising tech stars such as ChatGPT and Perplexity that are giving consumers more options.

    ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI and Perplexity have released AI-powered web browsers to compete against Google’s industry-leading Chrome browser that the Justice Department had unsuccessfully tried to persuade Mehta to order to be sold.

    But Google has been implanting more AI features into both its search engine and Chrome, as well as its other products, as part of its effort to protect its turf while also expanding into new technological frontiers. In a sign of the inroads those efforts are making, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai disclosed Wednesday that Google’s AI-powered Gemini app now has 650 million monthly users.

    Like other major tech companies, Google has been bankrolling its AI ambitions with a spending spree that has raised worries about a potential bubble that will eventually burst. Alphabet now expects to budget $91 billion to $93 billion for capital expenditures this year, up from $85 billion in its previous quarterly report issued in July, with most of the money earmarked for the massive data centers needed to power AI.

    Alphabet has the luxury of drawing upon a lucrative ad network that Google has spent a quarter century building. Google’s ad sales totaled $74.2 billion in the third quarter, a 13% increase from last year.

    The AI craze has been a boon for Google’s Cloud division that oversees data centers for other companies, an endeavor that has turned into the fastest growing part of Alphabet. Google Cloud posted revenue of $15.2 billion in the past quarter, up 34% from last year.

    Although Google appears to have fared relatively well in the legal attack on its search engine, it still faces a potentially damaging blow in another case brought by the Justice Department against the technology underlying its ad network.

    After condemning parts of Google’s ad technology as an illegal monopoly earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is considering ways to handcuff the company in the future. The Justice Department is seeking a court order to force Google to sell pieces of its ad network — an issue that Brinkema isn’t expected to rule on until early next year.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Visa earnings top estimates as consumers spend on cards

    [ad_1]

    Visa Inc. reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that topped estimates as consumers continued to swipe, tap and insert their credit cards to transact globally. Adjusted net income totaled $5.8 billion, or $2.98 a share, up 7% from a year earlier. That slightly exceeded analysts’ estimates of $2.97 a share. Visa said in July that it expected earnings per […]

    [ad_2]

    Bloomberg News

    Source link