Zoom Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) Stock Surges Over 11%, Potential Profit from Anthropic Investment Exceeds $2 Billion
Zoom Communications has become a focal point in the market due to its 2023 investment in AI model developer Anthropic, with the book value of this early-stage investment potentially rising to $2 billion to $4 billion.
Zoom’s stock price surged 11.28% to $95.46 on Monday, marking its highest closing price since August 22, 2022. Baird analyst William V. Power highlighted in a report that while the market primarily focuses on Zoom’s revenue growth and AI business opportunities, the potential profit from its $51 million investment in Anthropic should not be overlooked. The valuation of Anthropic has skyrocketed. According to a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month, Anthropic, the developer of the ClaudeAI model, plans to raise $10 billion in a new funding round at a $350 billion valuation. At this valuation, Zoom’s stake could be worth $2 billion to $4 billion.
Beyond financial returns, the investment in Anthropic provides Zoom with a strategic advantage in its AI product development. Zoom is continuously building and commercializing AI tools to assist customers with tasks such as meeting notes and summaries. “Zoom has a powerful R&D engine and has been exploring AI for years,” Power noted, emphasizing the company’s partnership with Anthropic. “We see future potential for Zoom’s platform to add more AI capabilities.” This collaboration gives Zoom a differentiated edge in the highly competitive enterprise communications market, directly benefiting from Anthropic’s breakthroughs in generative AI.
Morgan Stanley Forecasts ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) Q4 2025 Revenue Growth of 4%, Stock Hits Record High
Morgan Stanley predicts that ASML will report Q4 2025 revenue of €9.68 billion, a 4% increase year-over-year, and at the high end of its guidance range of €9.2 billion to €9.8 billion. According to an earnings preview report released on January 23, the Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer expects its full-year revenue to grow 15% year-over-year to €32.6 billion.
Morgan Stanley anticipates that ASML will report a double-digit revenue growth in fiscal year 2026 (12% year-over-year growth), with a forecasted revenue of approximately €36.5 billion. The company expects DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) sales to remain stable, while EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) demand remains robust. The firm believes that ASML’s management will continue to note the decline in sales to China, but with a less conservative outlook, suggesting the decrease will be smaller than the previously expected 15-20% year-over-year decline.
ASML will report its earnings on January 28, and analysts expect the company to achieve €9.584 billion in revenue for Q4 2025, a 3.47% year-over-year increase, with earnings per share forecasted to reach €7.577, a 10.78% increase. These figures are based on US-GAAP accounting standards, and the stock has been rated overweight ahead of the company’s earnings release.
Novartis (NYSE: NVS) Strategizes U.S. Expansion to Counter Rising Tariffs, Stock Hits Record High
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan stated that the Swiss pharmaceutical company’s expanding U.S. manufacturing base and its agreement with the U.S. government in December are likely to shield the company from potential tariffs threatened by the Trump administration. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Narasimhan emphasized the strategic importance of Novartis’s $23 billion U.S. investment announced last year, which will enable the company to primarily supply the U.S. market from domestic facilities. He also added that existing inventories will further buffer the company’s ability to cope with recent trade disruptions.
Trump’s proposed tariffs on imports from several European countries, starting February 1, would initially impose a 10% tax, increasing to 25% by June. CNBC reported that the European pharmaceutical industry is particularly vulnerable to these tariffs, with U.S. shipments in the first three quarters of 2025 totaling €84.4 billion ($98.1 billion). Under the agreement with Washington, Novartis supports the government’s drug pricing goals and has pledged to launch new medicines in high-income countries at comparable prices.
Narasimhan stated that these initiatives, along with expanded U.S. production, effectively “prevent” the risks posed by trade tensions and prepare the company for other possible outcomes should tariff exemptions not materialize. By ensuring additional supply and planning for new U.S. production capacity, Novartis is working to weather tariff pressures in the short term while strengthening the long-term resilience of its U.S. business. Novartis raised its growth expectations for several key drugs and outlined a pipeline strategy that it believes will drive momentum over the next decade. The company forecasts a compound annual sales growth rate of 5% to 6% from 2025 to 2030, based on constant exchange rates.
Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) CEO Projects $3 Billion Data Center Orders by 2027, Stock Up Over 4%
Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli stated on Monday that the company expects to secure approximately $3 billion in data center-related orders between 2025 and 2027. Speaking on a Q4 earnings call, he said, “Resilient power supply has become a critical bottleneck, creating significant opportunities for Baker Hughes, as the expansion of data centers increases demand for back-end power solutions that offer speed, reliability, and scalability,” according to meeting records provided by FactSet.
The company also expects to surpass its 2024-2026 liquefied natural gas (LNG) final investment decision outlook, with an annual production target of 100 million tons. By 2030, Baker Hughes aims to achieve an installed capacity of 800 million tons, reaching 950 million tons by 2035.
Baker Hughes secured $2.3 billion in LNG equipment orders in 2025 and expects similar orders in 2026, including projects outside the U.S. Simonelli also mentioned that the company has reserved 1 gigawatt of NovaLT turbines for data center applications in Q4, anticipating to convert them into firm orders by 2026. Baker Hughes targets $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion in new energy orders by 2026.