Rosenblatt bullish on quantum companies Rigetti and QCi

Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley has removed PDD Holdings from its list of top investment ideas for 2026, citing rising regulatory pressure and a challenging consumer backdrop. 

Analyst Eddy Wang said the bank has updated its risk-reward view on the company following new developments affecting China’s Internet sector.

The shift comes after regulators intensified scrutiny. Morgan Stanley notes that “the investigation into food delivery platforms launched by The General Office of Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Commission last week” has increased uncertainty for the sector. 

The firm also points to “the anti-monopoly investigation on TCOM announced by SAMR yesterday,” which it says underscores broader regulatory risks facing large digital platforms, including PDD.

Beyond regulation, Morgan Stanley highlights macro and competitive pressures. The analysts warn that “slow consumption recovery and intense competition could lead to more uncertainties for China’s E-Commerce platforms (including PDD) in 2026.” 

Against this backdrop, the firm says it is taking a more cautious stance. Morgan Stanley writes: “As such, we remove PDD from ‘Top Pick’.” 

The bank did not alter its Overweight rating or $148 per share price target for the stock.

Investing.com -- Cantor Equity Partners II (NASDAQ:CEPT) stock rose 5% on Thursday after receiving a bullish mention from Citron Research, which expressed strong conviction in the company’s tokenization platform.

Citron Research announced it is "long and pounding the table" on Securitize, the tokenization platform that merged with CEPT through a SPAC deal last year. The research firm highlighted the company’s strategic backing from BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and positioned it as the infrastructure leader in the emerging asset tokenization space.

"Every stock. Every bond. Every fund. Every real-world asset can — and will — be tokenized. The rails of the next financial system are being built right now," Citron stated in its social media post. The firm also noted that various AI platforms consistently identify Securitize as the clear leader in tokenizing real-world assets.

Securitize announced plans to became a publicly traded company through its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald. At the time of the merger announcement in October, the company positioned itself to participate in what it described as a $19 trillion total addressable market for tokenization of real-world assets.

Citron indicated it would publish a more detailed analysis on its website later today, characterizing the opportunity as a "$4+ TRILLION opportunity at the intersection of traditional finance and the future of markets."

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

Investing.com – Morocco stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Banking and Mining sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Casablanca, the Moroccan All Shares declined 0.58%.

The best performers of the session on the Moroccan All Shares were SMI (CSE:SMI), which rose 5.49% or 312.00 points to trade at 6,000.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Miniere Touissit (CSE:CMT) added 5.31% or 111.00 points to end at 2,200.00 and Sanlam Maroc SA (CSE:SAH) was up 2.59% or 59.00 points to 2,339.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Societe Equipement Domestique et Menager SA (CSE:EQD), which fell 6.22% or 87.00 points to trade at 1,311.00 at the close. Lesieur Cristal (CSE:LES) declined 4.88% or 18.00 points to end at 351.00 and Ste de Travaux de Realisation d’Ouvrages et de Constuction Industielle SA (CSE:STR) was down 4.62% or 12.10 points to 249.90.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Casablanca Stock Exchange by 41 to 16 and 3 ended unchanged.

Shares in SMI (CSE:SMI) rose to all time highs; up 5.49% or 312.00 to 6,000.00. Shares in Sanlam Maroc SA (CSE:SAH) rose to all time highs; up 2.59% or 59.00 to 2,339.00.

Crude oil for February delivery was down 4.42% or 2.74 to $59.28 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 4.22% or 2.81 to hit $63.71 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract fell 0.49% or 22.85 to trade at $4,612.85 a troy ounce.

EUR/MAD was down 0.08% to 10.72, while USD/MAD rose 0.30% to 9.24.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 99.19.

Investing.com -- Morgan Stanley upgraded KLA Corp to overweight, saying the company is positioned to outperform as investor focus shifts toward foundry logic spending alongside memory.

The bank said memory remains a key bottleneck for AI, but foundry capacity is emerging as a parallel constraint.

That shift should drive higher foundry capital spending, supporting near-term estimate upgrades for logic equipment that could be as strong as those seen in memory.

Morgan Stanley said it expects KLA to benefit from rising process control intensity at leading-edge foundries.

It models KLA’s share of TSMC capital spending rising by 30 basis points in 2026 and a further 40 basis points in 2027, driven by greater inspection and metrology needs. It also assumes Intel contributes to growth in 2027.

The bank raised its 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates by 7% and 14%, respectively, and now forecasts revenue growth of 16% in 2026 and 19% in 2027, versus Street expectations of 10% and 9%.

It said KLA is set for two years of EPS acceleration, with growth of 17% in 2026 and 24% in 2027. Morgan Stanley’s 2027 EPS estimate is now 16% above consensus.

Most of the upward revisions are tied to foundry logic, where the bank lifted its 2026 and 2027 estimates by 10% and 18%. By contrast, memory estimates rose 4% and 10%.

Morgan Stanley also said KLA’s memory exposure remains underappreciated. It expects KLA’s memory share to rise to 7.2% in 2025–27 from an average of 6.8% in 2022–24, supported by higher process control intensity across DRAM and NAND.

The bank raised its valuation multiple to 33x from 27x, citing structural growth in process control, and set a $1,697 price target, implying 18% upside.

Investing.com -- Verizon is giving customers a $20 account credit following a service disruption that affected its network on Wednesday.

In a statement, the telecommunications company acknowledged it "did not meet the standard of excellence" customers expect. The credit, which Verizon says covers multiple days of service on average, can be redeemed through the myVerizon app.

Business customers will be contacted separately regarding their credits, according to the company.

Verizon admitted the credit "isn’t meant to make up for what happened," adding that "no credit really can." The company described the offer as a way to acknowledge customers’ time and show the matter is important to them.

For users still experiencing connectivity issues, Verizon recommended restarting devices by powering down and back on, calling this "the fastest way to reconnect your phone to the network."

The company apologized for the service problems and pledged to "continue to work hard day and night" to provide the network quality and service customers expect.

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