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Trade Wars
Key Earnings Reports
GE Vernova reported adjusted earnings per share of $4.81, beating the analyst estimate of $4.00 by $0.81. Revenue reached $12.64 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate of $12 billion and representing a 27% increase, or 18% organically. Net income for the quarter was $1.3 billion, with a net income margin of 10.2%. Adjusted EBITDA reached $1.9 billion with a margin of 15.4%, up 690 basis points organically. For fiscal year 2026, GE Vernova raised its revenue guidance to a range of $46.5 billion to $47.5 billion. The company also now expects adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.5% to 14.5%, up from 12% to 14%, and free cash flow of $16 to $17 billion, up from $11.5 to $12.5 billion. Yahoo Finance
Microsoft’s cloud business continued to post accelerating growth in the company’s most recent quarter, contributing to a higher profit and easing jitters over potential returns from the artificial-intelligence infrastructure build-out. The 48% growth in the Azure cloud business propelled Microsoft’s revenue to $92.28 billion, up 19%, for its fiscal first quarter. Microsoft logged a profit of $36.63 billion, or $4.92 a share, up from $27.75 billion, or $3.72 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $4.89 a share, ahead of the $4.71 analysts were expecting. - WSJ
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. reported third-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates. The medical technology company reported adjusted earnings of $1.34 per share, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.20. Revenue increased 5.7% year over year to $5.513 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. Total orders were up 4.0% organically, with a book-to-bill of 1.03 times and a backlog of $23.7 billion, driven by healthy demand. GE HealthCare raised its fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings guidance from $4.80-$5.00 per share to $4.95-$5.05 per share compared to the consensus of $4.92. - Benzinga
Google parent Alphabet on Wednesday missed Wall Street profit and revenue expectations. Capital expenditures, driven by AI, will increase significantly in 2027, said Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi, adding that this year's capex forecast was unchanged. She said she also expected near-term margin pressure from the use of third-party cloud capacity. The tech giant reported negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion, compared with analyst expectations that it would come close to breaking even. The results reflect the huge costs of the AI buildout. The quarterly cash burn is an increase from $5.9 billion in the prior quarter, which was the first time the company went into the negative in its 22-year history as a public company. - Reuters
Boston Scientific lowered its outlook, as it expects to end a difficult year with a fourth-quarter sales decline. The medical company said it now expects annual sales to increase about 4.25%, down from its previous guidance range of 5.5%-to-6.5% growth. It also cut its adjusted earnings-per-share projection to $3.16 to $3.18, from the prior $3.28 to $3.32. Boston Scientific said it expects sales to decline in the current fourth quarter by 1% to 3%, with adjusted earnings per share seen at 77 cents to 79 cents. In August, the company suffered a cyberattack that disrupted its manufacturing and shipping operations within its medical-device division. - WSJ
South Korean based SK Hynix reported a 328% jump in quarterly revenue to roughly $78.7 billion, while operating profit surged 632% to about $62.7 billion, delivering an 80% operating margin. Revenue and operating profit increased by 32% and 38%, respectively, from the previous quarter. Growth was driven by surging AI data center demand, higher memory prices, and early shipments of HBM4, which SK Hynix expects to replace HBM3E as its mainstream product. SK Hynix said more than 50% of its 2027–2028 capacity is already committed under long-term agreements. It reiterated that the AI memory shortage will persist through 2030 as adoption expands beyond cloud providers to enterprises and physical AI applications, including robotics and autonomous driving. Yahoo Finance
Ford reported third quarter earnings that topped estimates and upped the lower end of its profit guidance. The company still sees EV losses piling up by the end of the year. For the quarter, Ford reported automotive revenue of $46.1 billion vs. $46.2 billion, per Bloomberg consensus, with adjusted EPS of $0.49 vs. $0.41, and adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of $2.66 billion vs. $2.38 billion. Ford tightened the low end of its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to between $10.5 billion and $11 billion (from $10 billion to $11 billion seen prior); analysts projected full-year adjusted EBIT of $10.52 billion. Ford's adjusted free cash flow guidance remained at $6 billion to $7 billion. -Yahoo Finance
GE Vernova to Buy High-Voltage Grid Equipment Manufacturer for $9 Billion
GE Vernova agreed to acquire a high-voltage grid equipment manufacturer for $9 billion, a deal the company said will help meet increasing demand for grid-modernization and energy-security technologies. The company said the deal for Trench Group, which it is buying from investment-firm Triton Partners, will further enable it to serve fast-growing demand for grid equipment.
“Trench’s differentiated high-voltage grid technology, strong execution, and deep customer relationships are key enablers of the modernized, resilient grid required to keep pace with the electricity supercycle,” GE Vernova Chief Executive Scott Strazik said. GE Vernova’s deal for Trench is expected to be funded equally between cash and debt. The acquisition is expected to close in late 2027, subject to the completion of customary regulatory approvals. Trench’s products are found in the majority of high-voltage direct current lines built globally, according to GE Vernova. The company serves more than 800 global utilities and hyperscalers, with a manufacturing footprint that spans 11 sites across Europe, North America and Asia.
Read more at Yahoo Finance
GM Investing $750 Million To Build Hybrid Crossovers At Michigan Plant
General Motors plans to introduce hybrid versions of its popular three-row SUVs, people familiar with the matter said, in a strategic shift after heavily investing in electric vehicles. The US automaker plans to build hybrid models of the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia at a factory in Lansing, Michigan, the people told Reuters. The mechanically similar models are among GM's strongest sellers in the US. GM said in a statement after Reuters reported the plans on Tuesday that it plans to invest in its Lansing Delta Township assembly plant to prepare for hybrid-vehicle production.
US hybrid sales have taken off as car shoppers seek relief from higher gas prices. GM, which only sells a hybrid version of the Chevy Corvette in the US, has lost market share this year, while strong hybrid players like Toyota have gained. GM executives have in the past said hybrids add too much cost and complexity, and that they preferred to invest in EVs. Hybrids also didn't help GM meet stringent emissions standards that Trump's administration has upended. GM's US market share dropped to 16.6% in the first nine months of the year, from 17.4% a year before, while hybrid leaders Toyota and Honda gained.
Read more at Reuters
Tesla Begins Humanoid Production In California
Tesla has started “early production” of its Optimus humanoid at Fremont, California, with plans to begin customer shipments next year, co-founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a third quarter earnings call last week. The electric vehicle manufacturer has installed the “vast majority” of a robotics production line at Fremont that is capable of making 1 million units per year, Musk said. He added that it would probably take “a year, maybe longer” to reach that rate as Tesla works through different production design configurations.
Early customers would use Optimus for industrial applications, such as dangerous, repetitive tasks, Musk said, but eventually people could purchase the robots for home use as Tesla scales production. Tesla is ramping production as competitors Toyota, Hyundai and others begin piloting humanoids on their factory floors. They are also positioning to be mobility companies that make their own robots, rather than just car manufacturers.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
Nvidia Forges Supplier Agreements To Expand Capacity For AI
Nvidia unveiled agreements with a half-dozen suppliers to increase capacity to meet high demand for artificial intelligence systems powered by the company’s chips, according to an Oct. 21 press release. Nvidia inked agreements with Ibiden, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Unimicron Technology Corp. to increase manufacturing capacity 2.5 times in aggregate over three years. The chipmaker also unveiled capacity agreements with partners Amkor Technology, King Yuan Electronics Co. and Siliconware Precision Industries to support production of systems that train and run AI models.
During Nvidia’s August earnings call, Huang told investors that supply constraints are weighing down Nvidia’s financial outlook for the next fiscal year. The shortages spanned the infrastructure provider’s supply chain because of the global build-out of data centers powering AI. “We are in the midst of the largest infrastructure buildout in human history,” Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s founder and CEO, said in the release. “Demand is extraordinary. Capacity is the constraint.”
Read more at Supply Chain Dive
Ford’s $30,000 Fathom EV Aims To Simplify Bidirectional Charging
The upcoming Fathom electric truck will be the first EV from a U.S. automaker with an MSRP below $30,000 that doesn’t need a separate inverter in order to supply its projected 10 kW of AC power to the home, according to a Ford blog post released Tuesday. To achieve that, Ford reconceived some onboard hardware on the Fathom to allow inverter capability to be integrated within the vehicle. The feat helps the automaker cut hardware costs for consumers while enabling the bidirectional charging capabilities already found in other EVs.
Hardware will cost much less than what was offered with the F-150 Lightning. Ford says that its Home Power Station will cost about half of the Lightning’s required $1,310 Charge Station Pro, while the Fathom’s Home Backup Power Panel will cost about 60% less than the previous $5,205 Home Integration System — not including installation costs. Ford underscores that home backup functionality for the Fathom will be able to work two ways: as a grid-connected device that can help provide smart charging and power the home when electricity is expensive, or, with the help of the Home Backup Power Panel, as a true power source for the home when the power goes out.
Read more at Ward’s Auto
Strike Vote by 250 Watchmen Puts Nation’s Busiest Port Complex at Risk
Port employers in Southern California are warning of a possible strike at the nation’s busiest container-port complex as soon as Nov. 1. The Pacific Maritime Association said Tuesday that a union local that represents 250 watchmen across the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach voted to authorize a strike. The walkout could begin at 5 p.m. PT Sunday if a deal isn’t reached. Employers say full-time unionized watchmen, on average, earn more than $170,000 a year, plus benefits.
The employer group says that although the local represents just 2% of the ports’ International Longshore and Warehouse Union workforce, the watchmen’s work covers facilities that handle more than half of the complex’s cargo. Employers say other ILWU workers aren’t expected to cross picket lines, which would then halt vessel, yard and gate operations at six of the ports’ 13 container terminals. A spokesman for the ILWU didn’t immediately provide comment.
Read more at WSJ
Westinghouse To Build First Nuclear Fuel Plant In 50 Years To Boost US Reactor Output
Westinghouse Electric Company is spending roughly $1 billion to build a new nuclear fuel manufacturing plant in South Carolina. The project is underway at the existing Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Hopkins, with operations scheduled to start in 2030. It represents the first fleet-scale nuclear fuel plant built in the United States in more than 50 years. The site will mass-produce a specialized grade of fuel known as Low Enriched Uranium Plus, or LEU+. Standard commercial fuel operates below these levels, but LEU+ increases uranium enrichment to between 5% and 8%.
This higher concentration changes the economics of running a commercial reactor. Because the core carries more energy, power plants can stretch the intervals between mandatory refueling shutdowns. Longer operating runs lower day-to-day costs for operators while providing steady baseload electricity to the grid. The manufacturing push supports the United States’ UPRISE initiative. Under that program, utilities aim to raise the total electrical output of existing reactors through what the industry calls plant uprates. The higher-energy LEU+ fuel will provide the thermal margin needed to expand power generation across the country without building new reactor vessels.
Read more at Interesting Engineering
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