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.

0758 GMT - Kuaishou Technology's outlook looks positive in 2Q with steady core businesses and encouraging AI progress, according to Deutsche Bank Research analyst Leo Chiang in commentary. Kling AI, a tool for creating imaginative images and videos, continued to gain traction, generating 150 million yuan in revenue in the first quarter, Chiang says. This progress is likely to continue, he adds. The analyst expects its core ads and e-commerce businesses to maintain steady growth in 2Q as it continues to enhance its video-content ecosystem and monetization capabilities. DB keeps a buy rating, with a target price of HK$75.00. Shares were last traded at HK$53.00. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0400 GMT - AI could continue to drive long-term equity performance despite near-term volatility, UBS global wealth management chief investment office says in a research note. UBS expects global AI spending to reach $360 billion in 2025, up 60%, and further grow to $480 billion in 2026. Recent results from the four leading global cloud platforms showed a solid 24% on-year growth in combined revenue, they note, adding that robust cloud growth should narrow the gap between AI spending and monetization, which is also supported by rising AI adoption rates across industries and company sizes. Despite being bullish on the long-term trend, UBS favors a more balanced exposure between semiconductor and software names in the near term to navigate volatility. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0351 GMT - Superloop retains its status as Morgans analysts' pick of Australian telecom stocks, helped by an ungeared balance sheet that supports a range of options. Morgans analysts tell clients in a note that the stock is close to fair value based on current earnings, but say they see potential upside from strong sales momentum and the balance-sheet options. They note that telecom companies typically can handle net debt of one or two times Ebitda, which indicates Superloop could return capital to shareholders or undertake acquisitions, in which they see the latter as more likely. Morgans raises its target price by 15% to A$3.00 and keeps an add rating on the stock, which is down 1.1% at A$2.67. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

1815 GMT - ATS' backlog is at a record high and should support revenue growth and some margin growth in fiscal 2026. TD Cowen's Cherilyn Radbourne says in a report that ATS has a backlog of C$2 billion, up 19% year over year. She notes that the backlog in the highly regulated life sciences market declined marginally quarter-on-quarter, but is up 38% year-over-year and remains by far the largest backlog contributor at 56%. ATS set new backlog records in consumer products, food & beverage, and nuclear, which reduced EVs to 10% from 12% in F3Q. Meanwhile, tariffs shouldn't be an issue either. ATS is monitoring tariff-related economic uncertainty, but hasn't seen material impact on bookings to-date, she adds. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1702 GMT - Mortgage rates rose to 6.89% this week, posing significant challenges for homebuyers and keeping the "lock-in effect" in place, says Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel. According to Freddie Mac the 30-year mortgage rate rose 3 basis points to its highest level since Feb. 6. "With rates threatening to cross 7% for the first time since January," Krimmel says, "the 'lock-in effect'--where current homeowners are reluctant to sell and give up their lower mortgage rates--shows no signs of easing up." According to a recent Realtor.com survey, just 2% of respondents said they would be willing to buy with rates above 6%. But new listings and total homes for sale continued to rise last month, and homes are staying on the market for longer. Buyers may be regaining some bargaining power despite rising interest rates. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1451 GMT - Millennials are the only generation with a greater interest in buying a home in the next six months compared to last September, according to Realtor.com. Millennials' buying intention grew to 23% this year compared to last September's 15%, although most Americans--69%--aren't planning to engage in a real estate transaction in the next six months. High mortgage rates continue to impact the market. Younger generations are particularly affected, with over half of Millennials and Gen Z stating they've postponed their purchase. Gen Z appears to be the most cautious and wary of high mortgage rates, showing an increased inclination toward renting. A majority--57%--across all generations have used personal savings to finance their home purchase, while 15% have accessed personal investments or retirement accounts. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

1441 GMT - Nvidia demonstrated in 1Q that it could continue to grow even with restrictions on chip sales to China, but Benchmark analyst Cody Acree believes the technology giant will still have to find a way to serve that enormous market. "The China market is too large and strategically important for the industry's leading solution supplier to be absent for long," Acree says. Acree expects Nvidia will offer a Chinese-tailored design variant, as he believes Chief Executive Jensen Huang will do whatever it takes to reclaim the lost opportunity. Although Acree notes that Huang "was noticeably coy" about Nvidia's limited options during the call. Nvidia is up 4%. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1429 GMT - Nvidia's 1Q earnings helped quell concerns about how much the technology giant would suffer from the Trump administration's ban on chip sales to China, UBS analysts say. While 1Q results were generally in line with expectations, management's commentary on gross margins were better than investors were expecting, they say. Nvidia's results indicate 2Q revenue would have been $5 billion to $6 billion ahead of Wall Street expectations if it weren't for the limit on China sales, demonstrating strengthening underlying fundamentals, the analysts say. The rapid spread of AI across the world, and the sheer size of AI projects globally make the analysts confident Nvidia can still post strong growth despite the China ban. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1420 GMT - Salesforce's 1Q earnings weren't game changing, but they offered relief for investors that demand is still stable, Bank of America analysts Brad Sills and Carly Liu say. Strength in Salesforce's AI business drove higher-than-anticipated cRPO, or current remaining performance obligations, a key metric for how much revenue it expects to recognize from contracts. The fact that Salesforce reiterated its full-year outlook for subscription growth indicates demand is staying stable, despite concerns that weaker channel tone would prompt a guide down, the analysts say. Salesforce also upped its revenue guidance after a 1Q beat, and Sills and Liu believe AI's growth will continue to help sales outperform. Salesforce sinks 7%. (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)

1005 GMT - Distilled artificial intelligence models could lead to a new era of portable AI servers, Citi analysts say in a research note. Recent AI distillation technology, pioneered by DeepSeek, has enabled a significant reduction in AI models' sizes, they say. This is likely to support portable AI servers, accelerate on-device AI demand and AI semiconductor content growth, they say. Citi expects AI servers to be "extremely efficient and so compact that one day people will carry them in their hands," in forms of smartphones, laptops, smart glasses and robots. Unlike AI servers used in data centers, portable AI servers would likely require low power consumption and better thermal efficiency, they add. Citi names SK Hynix, Samsung, TSMC and others to be the top beneficiaries of this trend. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0924 GMT - Nvidia's sales projections for the current quarter bode well for European semiconductor companies with exposure to artificial intelligence like ASML Holding, ASM International, Infineon Technologies and Arm Holdings, Citi analysts say. Nvidia is forecasting revenue of $45 billion, plus or minus 2%, this quarter even as it expects to lose about $8 billion in sales of H20 chips to China after the Trump administration imposed restrictions. "We think increased conviction around future AI demand is supportive for European semiconductor names too," the analysts write in a note to clients. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

0858 GMT - Nvidia keeps growing at an impressive rate despite all the challenges the trade war throws its way, Swissquote Bank's Ipek Ozkardeskaya writes in a note to clients. "We don't know how it does it, but it does it. Nvidia continues to defy gravity," Ozkardeskaya says. Revenue for Nvidia's fiscal first quarter that closed April 27 jumped 69% on year to $44.06 billion, above a FactSet estimate of about $43.10 billion. Ozkardeskaya notes the company logged that growth rate even after taking a $4.5 billion charge linked with excess inventory and purchase obligations for H20 chips that Nvidia couldn't sell to China because of U.S. restrictions. Nvidia shares are up 5.5% premarket at $142.26. (mauro.orru@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 30, 2025 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)

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