We all know Super Micro Computer, a key player in the AI boom. Lately though, it’s made headlines for less flattering reasons, with reports its co-founder may have skirted export controls to smuggle chips to China. Not exactly the kind of “global expansion” investors love to hear about.

But the company looked to reset the narrative today: Super Micro beat on profits, issued solid guidance, and expanded gross margins from 6.3% to 9.9%. Revenue jumped 123% year over year but still came in below expectations, as some customers weren’t ready to take deliveries or deploy systems—pushing those sales into future quarters. Supply constraints also added pressure, with higher memory costs and shortages of GPUs and Intel processors weighing on results.

Underneath it all, Super Micro is moving beyond traditional server hardware toward full data center solutions. Its Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS) segment is expected to drive over 25% of total profit in the coming years, up from just 4% in the December quarter.

The stock had been lagging, down about 5% on the year as of yesterday’s close—but surged 24.51% today, pushing it back into positive territory, up 18.38% YTD.

AMD joins the party

In another corner of the AI trade, AMD is putting up strong numbers of its own. The chipmaker beat on both the top and bottom lines, with revenue rising 38% year over year and data center sales jumping 57%.

Looking ahead, AMD expects about $11.2 billion in second-quarter revenue, topping forecasts. CEO Lisa Su significantly raised the company’s long-term outlook, now projecting server CPU market growth to exceed 35% annually, up from its prior 18% estimate.

That optimism reflects a subtle but important shift in AI demand. While GPUs (dominated by Nvidia) power model training, the rise of “agentic” and inference-heavy AI workloads is driving more demand toward CPUs—where AMD and Intel compete. Su now sees the server CPU market topping $120 billion by 2030, and plans to launch AMD’s first rack-scale AI system, Helios, later this year, with customers like OpenAI and Meta Platforms already lined up.

Investors liked what they heard: AMD jumped 18.64% today.

The rally isn’t over

Both stocks popped nicely today, and some analysts think there’s more room to run.

Seaport’s Jay Goldberg says AMD has locked in more capacity at TSMC, giving it a clear edge in a supply-constrained market. Meanwhile, Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon models more than $14 in adjusted EPS by 2027 and nearly $20 by 2028, well above current consensus forecasts.

Meanwhile, KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel reiterated a Standard Weight rating on Super Micro, noting the company has seen no changes to its GPU allocations from Nvidia, and, based on current guidance, shows no clear financial impact from the recent smuggling allegations.

At the end of the day, the AI supply chain is starting to broaden: While Super Micro is pushing into full data center solutions, AMD is scaling its CPU business—both emerging as more serious competitors across the stack.—SY

🟢 What’s up

• Nvidia and Corning rose 5.68% and 12.01%, respectively, as the two partnered to build three new US facilities focused on optical technologies for AI infrastructure.
• Compass rose 27.27% after posting a surprise profit, with cost savings from its Anywhere acquisition boosting the realtor’s results.
• CVS Health jumped 7.65% as it beat earnings and revenue expectations and raised full-year guidance on improving insurance performance.
• Disney climbed 7.54% after revenue topped expectations, driven by strength in streaming and theme parks.
• Uber advanced 8.53% as stronger-than-expected bookings guidance outweighed a slight revenue miss.
• Arm Holdings rose 13.63% ahead of earnings, with expectations for solid growth in sales and profit.

What’s down

• ExxonMobil and Chevron declined 4% and 3.88%, respectively, as oil prices slid on hopes of a peace deal with Iran.
• Solstice Advanced Materials fell 1.85% as weaker construction demand offset an earnings and sales beat.
• Arista Networks dropped 13.61% as supply constraints and margin pressure concerns overshadowed strong results for the nuclear power plant builder.
• SolarEdge Technologies slid 9.03% after reporting a wider-than-expected loss.
• Maplebear, aka Instacart, fell 8.08% despite solid earnings and a 14% jump in revenue, as concerns about competition from Amazon and Walmart weighed on sentiment.
• Information technology company CDW dropped 20.32% as disappointing operating income weighed on sentiment despite reaffirmed guidance.

Stocks have shrugged off oil shocks, AI bubble fears, and a slowing economy. But investors may be overlooking another oncoming challenge: climate change.

“Even sophisticated investors and companies are still figuring out how to integrate physical climate risk into broader risk frameworks and profiling,” explained Dr. Jeremy Porter, the chief economist at First Street, a climate-risk data and analytics startup that works with clients including Blackstone and Norges Bank.

Physical climate risks are just that: the direct damage caused by climate-related events like floods, wildfires, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, and severe storms, all of which have become more frequent over the last few years.

We spoke to Dr. Porter about First Street’s research report, which details how the Dow 30 is facing billions of dollars in climate losses, why investors are underestimating climate exposure, and how investors measure companies’ exposure to climate risks.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You describe climate risk as “the new cost of doing business.” What has changed that makes this moment different from five, or even 10 years ago?

When people start to think about much they should take physical climate risk into account, really what they’re focused on is: How much does it impact revenue? How much does it impact OpEx, capex, the core financials?

When we looked back through 10-K filings, we found that mentions of physical climate risk as a concern for revenue disruptions have doubled since 2000. It went from about 32% of 10-Ks mentioning it in 2000 to about 65% in 2024.

We’ve also seen an increase in actual warning reports tied to climate risk. These are reports companies issue after events, warning about revenue disruptions. Between 2000 and 2005, there was a slight increase. From 2005 to 2017, it felt like there was a new but stable baseline of climate risk. But we’ve seen a tremendous uptick since 2017, along with more severe, more frequent climate disasters, which are materially causing risk, which are showing up in those 8-K and 10-K trends.

Click here to keep reading about how companies don’t recover from wild weather as quickly as you’d think, and which stocks are best positioned to endure a changing climate.

America’s appetite for GLP-1 weight loss drugs is a bottomless pit.

Novo Nordisk raised its annual guidance after the Danish company’s Wegovy pill sold even better than expected, racking up 1.3 million prescriptions in the first three months of the year, totaling 2.26 billion kroner in sales (about $243 million). That’s a fraction of Novo’s total sales…for now. Sales of the oral option are anticipated to grow significantly once pending regulatory approvals open up markets outside the US in the second half of 2026.

Meanwhile, sales for Wegovy’s injectable treatment also jumped 12% year over year, disproving worries that a pill could cannibalize the pen. Overall, Novo’s Q1 sales soared 32% on a constant currency basis, while operating profits ballooned by 65%.

Shareholders applauded, boosting the company’s stock 1.96% today.

Meanwhile, rival Eli Lilly’s own obesity pill, Foundayo, which launched in April, sold 6,000 prescriptions in its first three weeks on the market. But it has some catching up to do: The Wegovy brand currently commands 65% of all new prescriptions in the US.

Still, both pills stand to bring in buyers who’d never go near a needle, expanding an already enormous market. Currently, around 1 in 8 Americans have taken GLP-1 drugs, and JPMorgan forecasts that this will balloon from 10 million users in 2025 to 25 million by 2030.

Food, fashion, and…hair loss

GLP-1s were designed to slim waistlines, but they’re also reshaping entire industries. Given weight loss drug users consume 21% fewer calories and spend 31% less on groceries, JPMorgan predicts that these drugs will take a $30 billion to $55 billion bite out of food and beverage businesses between 2030 and 2034.

To fatten their margins, both Nestlé and Healthy Choice maker Conagra are now serving up frozen meals labeled as “GLP-1 friendly,” which means they not only come in smaller portions, but are designed to alleviate some of the drug’s unsavory side effects, with plenty of protein (to curb muscle loss) and fiber (to combat constipation).

Speaking of side effects, GLP-1s are also thinning something else: hairlines. Although temporary, this problem has spawned a budding industry of hair treatments. L’Oréal’s Redken rolled out an entire line of shampoos and serums called the Acidic Grow Full System, designed and tested on GLP-1 users with positive results.

And of course, clothing stores are expected to enjoy a $13 billion annual boost this year as GLP-1 users shed their old wardrobes, according to equity research firm Bernstein. But not all clothing stores will come out ahead. Since budgets are tight and what fits fine today might be loose all too soon, shoppers are expected to gravitate toward budget-friendly retailers like TJ Maxx and Target, athleisure wear by Nike or Lululemon for clothes that can better fit changing bodies, and apparel rental services like Rent the Runway.

Weight loss drugs are creating a massive domino effect across industries. With 25 million GLP-1 users expected by 2030, this could be just a taste of what’s to come.—JD

• Anthropic struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to use the company’s computing capacity—despite Musk’s open vitriol towards the company.
• South Korea’s stock market remains the best in the world, helping Samsung hit a $1 trillion market cap.
• JP Morgan just got one step closer to putting the US Treasury market on the blockchain.
• While you’re squeezing yourself into seat 27C, remember to bring your Ziploc bag of carrots: Delta is ending food and beverage service on shorter flights. 
• Starbucks touted a new bonus program giving employees up to an additional $1,200 per year. But workers say meeting the required metrics is impossible.
• Want to sell pot? Just open a grocery store.
• Take a look at new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro’s plans to lead the historic media giant.

Economic reports: The day is full of updates, including weekly initial jobless claims, a look at Q1 US productivity, the March consumer credit report, and both the February (delayed) and March construction spending reports. Plus, we’ll hear from New York Fed President John Williams.

Earnings announcements: Keep an eye on McDonald’s, Vistra, Celsius Holdings, Shell, Coinbase, CoreWeave, Rocket Lab, and Airbnb, among many others.

The Onion Futures Act of 1958 banned futures trading in onions, but a 2010 amendment added motion picture box office receipts to the list of non-tradeable products. It might sound random, but as this fascinating blog post explains, objections against box office futures were oddly prescient given the many headlines these days about prediction-market manipulation.