AI Smart Glasses: Can Baidu Challenge Meta?

AI Smart Glasses: Can Baidu Challenge Meta?

At an event in Shanghai on Tuesday, Chinese tech giant Baidu [BIDU] unveiled its artificial intelligence-enabled (AI) smart glasses, the Financial Times reported. Described as a “private assistant” and powered by Baidu’s Ernie large language model, the glasses allow users to monitor calorie intake, play music, ask questions and record videos. Elsewhere, US companies like Meta [META] and Snap [SNAP] are pushing their own smart glasses internationally, but they are not on sale in China.

Morningstar: Tesla is Still ‘Overvalued’

Tesla [TSLA] surged about 28% last week, driven by Donald Trump’s election win, a major implication of which, as far as electric vehicle (EV) stocks are concerned, is a possible change in the subsidies of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk could serve as an advisor for Trump, Morningstarmaintains its $210 fair value estimate and narrow-moat rating, viewing the stock as ‘overvalued’. Tesla, already profitable, is better equipped than rivals to withstand potential subsidy cuts. Moreover, Trump’s tariff stance may curb Chinese EV competition.

SoftBank’s Best Quarter in Two Years

SoftBank Group [SFTBY] posted its largest quarterly profit in two years, driven by successful Indian IPOs and a strategic focus on AI. In the September quarter, SoftBank reported net income of ¥1.18trn, reversing a ¥931bn loss from the previous year and surpassing analysts’ estimates. Its Vision Fund earned ¥373bn, boosted by holdings in companies such as DiDi Global [DIDIY] and Coupang [CPNG]. SoftBank also invested $500m in OpenAI’s latest funding round, valuing the AI startup at $157bn.

Palantir Goes from Strength to Strength

Salesforce [CRM] and Palantir [PLTR] led a rally among enterprise software stocks on Monday, closing 6% and 3% higher, respectively, by the time markets closed. This came a week after Palantir’s Q3 earnings report. Palantir’s US government revenue surged 40% year-over-year, while its US commercial revenue climbed 54%, fueling the stock’s 45% gain over the past week and nearly 250% year-to-date increase. In September, OPTO mapped a possible medium-term trajectory for PLTR stock, as more industries look to integrate AI capabilities into their operations.

Strong Singles’ Day in China

China’s e-commerce giants reported strong growth for Singles’ Day, signaling resilience in consumer spending despite broader economic challenges. Alibaba [BABA] highlighted a 50% increase in paid 88VIP members who made purchases, while JD.com [JD] noted a 20% rise in customer numbers. Xiaomi [XIACF] saw record sales, with a four-week total of RMB31.9bn. This annual shopping event, surpassing Cyber Monday and Black Friday in scale, is read as a key indicator for domestic consumption trends.

Analysts Defend Monolithic Power Systems 

Monolithic Power Systems [MPWR] rebounded from an earlier 20% drop after analysts defended the stock, after a report from Edgewater Research said it may have lost share in Nvidia’s [NVDA] Blackwell GPUs to Renesas [RNECF] and Infineon [IFNNY]. For example, according to Seeking Alpha, Oppenheimer’s Rick Schafer, maintaining an ‘outperform’ rating and a $900 price target, said he had seen no design or performance issues with Monolithic’s AI power solutions: “In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we expect MPS to retain dominant AI accelerator power share … in 2025”, he wrote.

BABA Stock vs. JD Stock: Earnings Preview

China’s e-commerce titans Alibaba and JD.com have seen their share prices slide this year amid concerns about China’s sluggish economy. While the two companies have been coming under pressure from younger rivals offering cost-conscious consumers cheaper products, economic woes have also opened up avenues for collaboration between the two rivals. As the two companies prepare to report earnings this week, OPTO dives into the fundamentals of BABA and JD to examine their growth prospects.