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Meta intends to help brands create ad concepts with AI tools it’s developing. (0:15) Campbell’s says home cooking at highest level since pandemic. (1:52) Betting stocks jolted by Illinois tax. (2:43)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:
Our top story so far, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) plans to let brands create and target ads fully through AI by the end of next year.
The Wall Street Journal says Meta’s ad platform already offers some AI tools that can generate variations of existing ads and make small changes to them before targeting the ads to users on Facebook and Instagram. But now, the company intends to help brands create advertising concepts.
Using the ad tools Meta is developing, a brand could present an image of a product it plans to promote with a budgetary goal, and AI would make the entire ad, including images, video and text. The system would then decide which Instagram and Facebook users to target and offer suggestions on budget.
In addition, Meta intends to let advertisers personalize ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors like location
But the report added that some large brands are concerned of providing Meta even more control over their advertising efforts, due to the company’s presence in the business and worry that AI-generated ads would not have the same look and feel as human-made ads.
Also in the AI, two players are looking to raise cash.
Nebius (NBIS) entered into an agreement for the private placement of senior unsecured convertible notes, totaling $1 billion.
The offering has two tranches: a $500 million 2% offering due 2029 and a $500 million 3% offering due 2031. Nebius expects to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, the company said in a filing.
And BigBear.ai (BBAI) disclosed that it has entered into an agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald to sell up to $150 million in an at-the-money stock offering.
The stock is down 6.5% year to date. Over the past 12 months, shares have jumped 171%.
Among other active stocks, Campbell's Company (CPB) topped expectations for its fiscal third quarter. The company reaffirmed its full-year fiscal 2025 guidance provided on March 5 for sales growth of +6% to +8%. Full-year adjusted EPS is seen falling on the low end of the range of $2.95 to $3.05 vs. $2.98 consensus.
CEO Mick Beekhuizen: "We are seeing improved consumption across all consumer income groups. Consumers are cooking at home at the highest levels since early 2020 and turning to our brands for value, quality, and convenience."
Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating on Cisco Systems (CSCO) with a $67 price target.
Analyst Meta Marshall said that Campus switching is Cisco's largest product segment, where a nearly $60 billion installed base should begin an upgrade in fiscal year 2026, about eight years after the last cycle.
And the sports betting sector was rocked by a late addition to the Illinois budget signed over the weekend by Governor J.B. Pritzker. The budget included a new tax that will apply to every online sports wager placed in the state, on top of the progressive tax system already in place.
Truist analyst Barry Jonas noted that the impact would again be skewed to DraftKings (DKNG) and Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) due to their high volume of betting action in Illinois.
And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Morgan Stanley’s cross-asset strategy team is still bullish on U.S. exceptionalism.
They recommended an Equal Weight in global equities and an Overweight in the U.S.
"Substantial monetary easing lies ahead, along with the benefits of deregulation, making our outlook for markets relatively constructive," they said.
U.S. strategists also see de-escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions lowering recession probabilities as constructive, removing the most extreme downside scenarios.
"In other words, we think that stocks won't revisit the lows of April in the near term, especially since the large drawdowns experienced year to date have mainly been reactions to tariff shock-and-awe," they said.
Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
