NetSol Technologies stock rises after naming new CFO

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NETSOL Technologies Inc.

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Investing.com -- NetSol Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTWK) stock gained 2.1% Monday after the company announced the appointment of...

Investing.com -- NetSol Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTWK) stock gained 2.1% Monday after the company announced the appointment of Sardar Abubakr as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective January 20, 2026.

Abubakr, who will be based in Dubai, brings over 20 years of international leadership experience across Europe and Asia. He most recently served as Vice President of New Business Ventures and M&A at Jazz, a VEON Group subsidiary, where he led venture creation, strategic transactions, and restructuring initiatives.

The current CFO, Roger K. Almond, will remain with the company as Chief Accounting Officer, maintaining responsibility for global accounting operations and SEC filings. This transition aims to provide continuity while the company pursues its growth strategy.

"We are excited to welcome Mr. Abubakr to NETSOL at a pivotal moment in our growth," said Naeem Ghauri, President and Co-Founder of NETSOL Technologies. "Sardar brings deep international leadership experience across finance, strategy and transformation, with a proven track record operating in complex, multi-entity environments at large, publicly traded organizations."

Abubakr’s experience includes senior leadership roles in telecommunications, fintech, and digital organizations. His contributions to digital acceleration have been recognized with a Global Innovation Award from the ITU (United Nations). He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA).

NetSol Technologies provides AI-enabled solutions for OEMs, dealerships, and financial institutions to sell, finance, and lease assets.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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Arbe Robotics stock tumbles after pricing $16.1 million share offering

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Advanced Micro Devices

Investing.com -- Arbe Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ:ARBE) stock plunged 17.4% Monday after the perception radar solutions company announced it has priced an underwritten offering of 11.5 million ordinary shares at $1.40 per share.

The Israel-based company expects to raise approximately $16.1 million in gross proceeds from the offering before deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and other expenses. Arbe has also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.725 million ordinary shares at the same price.

The significant share dilution appears to be driving the stock’s decline as the offering price of $1.40 represents a substantial discount to recent trading levels. The company stated it intends to use the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Canaccord Genuity is serving as the sole bookrunner for the offering, while Roth Capital Partners and WestPark Capital are acting as co-managers. The offering is expected to close around January 27, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.

Arbe Robotics, which trades on both NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:ARBE), specializes in perception radar solutions for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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Cogent Biosciences stock rises after FDA grants breakthrough therapy status

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Investing.com -- Cogent Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:COGT) stock rose 3.4% Monday after the company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for its bezuclastinib treatment in combination with sunitinib for patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors who have received prior treatment with imatinib.

The designation, which is intended to expedite the review process for medicines that show potential for substantial improvement over available therapies, was based on results from the company’s PEAK trial. The study demonstrated that the bezuclastinib combination reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50% compared to the current standard of care.

"We are excited to announce this Breakthrough Therapy Designation which recognizes the potential for the bezuclastinib combination to substantially improve upon the currently available treatment options for patients with imatinib-resistant GIST," said Andrew Robbins, Cogent’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

The FDA previously agreed to accept Cogent’s New Drug Application (NDA) under the Real-Time Oncology Review program, which allows for pre-submission of components to expedite the review process. The company remains on track to complete its NDA submission in April 2026.

Median progression-free survival in the PEAK trial was 16.5 months for the bezuclastinib combination versus 9.2 months for sunitinib monotherapy. The company plans to present full results from the trial at a major medical meeting during the first half of 2026.

Cogent also expects to initiate a Phase 2 trial in mid-2026 investigating the treatment combination for first-line GIST patients with exon 9 mutations.

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Ascent Solar stock plunges after $10 million private placement deal

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Advanced Micro Devices

Investing.com -- Ascent Solar Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:ASTI) stock tumbled 20.4% on Monday after the company announced a private placement offering expected to raise approximately $10 million.

The thin-film solar panel manufacturer entered into definitive agreements to sell 1,818,182 shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrants) along with accompanying warrants at $5.50 per share. The offering, priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules, includes series A warrants and short-term series B warrants that could potentially bring in an additional $15 million if fully exercised.

H.C. Wainwright & Co. is serving as the exclusive placement agent for the offering, which is expected to close around January 26, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Ascent Solar indicated it plans to use the net proceeds for general working capital needs. The securities being offered have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and cannot be sold in the United States without effective registration or an applicable exemption.

As part of the agreement, the company has committed to filing registration statements with the SEC covering the resale of the shares and has agreed to certain restrictions on issuing additional shares for 30 days after the registration statement becomes effective, with limited exceptions.

Ascent Solar Technologies specializes in flexible thin-film solar panels designed for space, military, defense, and other applications where mass, performance, reliability, and resilience are critical factors.

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SMBC Aviation CEO urges Airbus to resolve supply chain issues

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Apple

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Advanced Micro Devices

Investing.com -- The CEO of aircraft leasing giant SMBC Aviation has publicly called on Airbus (EPA:AIR) and other manufacturers to resolve persistent supply chain problems and meet delivery deadlines.

Speaking at the Airline Economics conference on Monday, Peter Barrett emphasized the need for predictability in aircraft deliveries after six years of disruptions.

"I think delivery: I’ve said this to him privately and I’m happy to say it publicly," Barrett told Reuters, referring to the new head of Airbus’ jet division who made his debut appearance at the conference. "We all understand the challenges that COVID brought, but ultimately people need a degree of predictability and certainty."

Barrett acknowledged that both Airbus and Boeing are making progress but stated they are "not where they need to be." He extended this assessment to engine manufacturers as well.

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Noble stock rises after securing $1.3 billion in new contracts

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Apple

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Advanced Micro Devices

Investing.com -- Noble Corporation (NYSE:NE) stock rose 4.7% Monday after the offshore drilling contractor announced new contract awards for nine rigs totaling approximately $1.3 billion in backlog.

The company secured a three-year contract for its Noble GreatWhite harsh environment semisubmersible rig with Aker BP for operations offshore Norway, representing approximately $473 million in contract value. This marks Noble’s expansion into Norway’s harsh environment floater market.

The new contracts have significantly improved fleet utilization, with 92% of Noble’s 24 marketed floaters now contracted compared to 75% previously. Other notable awards include a two-year drilling contract for the Noble Gerry de Souza with an ExxonMobil affiliate in Nigeria worth an estimated $292 million, and additional rig years under the Commercial Enabling Agreement in Guyana.

"These important backlog additions indicate a strong and broad-based demand for deepwater drilling on a multi-year basis," said Robert W. Eifler, President and CEO of Noble.

The company noted that while these programs will require incremental one-time capital expenditures in 2026, including approximately $160 million for the Noble GreatWhite’s reactivation and contract preparation, they are expected to drive increased fleet EBITDA and free cash flow in future years.

Additional contracts include awards for the Noble BlackRhino, Noble Endeavor, and Noble Developer in various regions including the U.S. Gulf, South America, and Trinidad, with dayrates ranging from $300,000 to $375,000.

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With Tesla earnings on deck, investors reveal their most pressing questions for Elon Musk

MarketWatch

Tesla

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By William Gavin

Retail investors get to submit questions to be answered by the Tesla CEO. Their votes show shareholders are most interested in how they'll be prioritized if SpaceX goes public.

Tesla's artificial-intelligence and robotics plans, including the Optimus humanoid robot, are front and center of investors' questions for the company.

Tesla might end up playing second fiddle to another Elon Musk company on its own earnings call.

The electric-vehicle maker lets investors submit and vote on questions to be raised on Tesla's (TSLA) quarterly earnings call. And with earnings due out Wednesday, this quarter's top question for CEO Elon Musk concerns SpaceX, another company he leads.

"You once said: Loyalty deserves loyalty. Will long-term Tesla shareholders still be prioritized if SpaceX does an IPO?" reads the top-ranked question asked by a retail investor on Say.com, a platform Tesla uses to solicit inquiries to be answered on its earnings calls.

The interest in that question comes from investors who collectively own about 1.4 million shares of Tesla and who are increasingly curious about how they'll stack up as SpaceX approaches a potential initial public offering this year. SpaceX is targeting a valuation of as much as $1.5 trillion, compared to its current value of $800 billion. If the company is successful in meeting that mark, it would become worth roughly as much as Tesla is today.

Read: Why Elon Musk now says it would be a 'distraction' for SpaceX to go to Mars this year

How SpaceX would go about prioritizing Tesla shareholders is unclear, although Musk has repeatedly said he would like to do so. One potential method could be a directed share program, which companies use to set aside shares for a specific group of people that have a relationship with them, according to experts.

Shareholders are also focused on Tesla's plans for artificial intelligence and robotics, which is core to Musk and the company's vision. Executives said last week that Tesla had begun using a handful of autonomous vehicles without safety monitors in its robotaxi ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, a milestone for the company.

Investors on Say.com asked for Tesla to elaborate on the bottlenecks currently limiting the company's ability to boost its deployment of robotaxis. They also want to know about the economics of Tesla's initial robotaxi efforts, with service so far available only in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tesla collects an immense amount of data, which is one advantage analysts think it has in the robotaxi race. They're also upbeat about the company's ability to scale. In April, Tesla plans to begin production of the Cybercab, a vehicle that lacks pedals and a steering wheel.

"I think self-driving cars [are] essentially a solved problem at this point," Musk said last week, predicting that Tesla's robotaxi service will be "very widespread" by the end of the year.

Shareholders are also seeking clarity on Tesla's plans for its Full Self-Driving software, and when the company thinks it could unveil a more sophisticated version that has been labeled "unsupervised." The current advanced driver-assistance system is called "supervised" FSD and requires drivers to pay attention to the road.

Read: Tesla's stock pops on a robotaxi milestone. Here's what comes next.

Next month, Tesla plans to scrap the option for customers to buy FSD through a one-time payment, which would leave interested consumers locked in to a subscription plan that currently costs $99 per month. But Musk has said that price will rise as the system improves, with a "massive value jump" after unsupervised FSD is made public.

"The setup is less about whether Tesla beats or misses auto numbers and more about whether the company can keep the autonomy timeline feeling real rather than perpetually deferred," Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, told MarketWatch in emailed comments.

Another major topic investors want more information about is Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot. Musk last week said Optimus could be available to buy by the end of 2027, and that it has been used for "simple work" in Tesla factories but could be promoted to handling other tasks later this year.

Tesla is expected to host a demonstration for the next generation of Optimus in the current quarter, before launching volume production toward the end of the year. However, it's unclear if the company has managed to work out issues around designing and scaling the robots.

"So with cars, you've got an existing supply chain," Musk said on a prior earnings call. "With a humanoid robot, there is no supply chain."

And while many investors have their eyes set on an autonomous future, there's still some focus on EV sales, which account for most of Tesla's revenue and declined in 2025. An institutional investor with at least 3 million shares asked about whether Tesla will launch new models to address different vehicle segments, as well as how the rise of robotaxis will impact the car industry.

Investors have long been interested in seeing Tesla sell more affordable vehicles, and they somewhat got their wish last October when the company introduced cheaper trims of the Model Y and Model 3. But those models still start at nearly $40,000 and $37,000, respectively.

For customers unable to afford that price, the company is looking to come out with the Cybercab, which Musk has said could be sold for $25,000. That would make the Cybercab one of just a handful of EVs sold in the U.S. for less than $35,000.

See more: Tesla EV sales fall short of Wall Street's low expectations

However, Musk's vision involves selling the vehicle without steering wheels and pedals, which could be tricky. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm told Bloomberg News last year that the model would be sold with both components if necessary to appease regulators.

Tesla's last vehicle launch was in 2023 with the Cybertruck, which has underwhelmed relative to Musk's massive expectations. Just 20,237 units were sold in 2025, a 48% drop from 38,965 deliveries a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive data.

-William Gavin

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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