#valuation

#valuation

Block ( NYSE: XYZ) has delivered strong momentum in 2025, with shares climbing steadily as the company demonstrates improving profitability and operational leverage. The fintech platform operator behind Square and Cash App has transformed from losses just two years ago to consistent quarterly profits, with Q3 2025 earnings surging 64% year over year. With Wall Street's consensus target at $84, investors are asking whether Block can push to $100 in 2026.

Okta's quarter showed operational maturity. Revenue climbed 12% year over year, but operating cash flow surged 37% to $218 million. Free cash flow reached $211 million. The company turned a $16 million loss into $23 million in operating income. CEO Todd McKinnon highlighted "continued strength with large customers" and adoption of Okta Identity Governance and Auth0 for AI Agents. Large enterprise deals carry higher margins and stickier retention.

Analysts remain bullish on Reddit's prospects, with a consensus price target of $242. That implies modest 2% upside from current levels around $238, but the Street's optimism is grounded in explosive growth. Wall Street expects revenue to continue accelerating, driven by the platform's 116 million daily active users across 100,000+ communities. As CEO Steve Huffman noted in the recent earnings call, "Reddit provides something rare on the Internet. 444 million people come here each week for authentic conversations they can't find anywhere else."

"What's driving all of this is the awareness from CEOs and executives that this is the time to invest in AI," Jain said in an exclusive interview before the conference. "Everybody has been looking for a safe, secure, more appropriate version of ChatGPT for their employees. And we bring the capabilities that ChatGPT brings to consumers to business users, and in the context of their company."

The current dynamics playing out in the stock market are really hard to describe right now. On the one hand, there are pockets of the economy that are red-hot, with hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into high-powered growth trends like AI that are clearly propping up valuations across the board. On the other hand, the vast majority of stocks in the overall market may already be in bear market territory. That's representative of a weakening consumer, and the view that valuations may have gotten a bit too distorted in the post-pandemic era.

Revolut has overtaken Barclays in valuation after securing a $75 billion price tag in a major secondary share sale backed by Nvidia, cementing its position as Europe's most valuable private tech company and the standout success story of Britain's fintech sector. The deal - largely involving staff selling portions of their holdings - marks a dramatic jump from Revolut's $45 billion valuation last year. It now exceeds the market capitalisation of Barclays (£55.7bn / $73bn), as well as other UK banking giants including Lloyds and NatWest.

Kalshi, a prediction market that allows people to bet on future events, has raised a massive $1 billion round at a $11 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the deal. The round comes less than two months after the seven-year-old startup announced its previous fundraise of $300 million at a $5 billion valuation. The latest round is led by the company's returning investors Sequoia and CapitalG, the person said. Other investors in Kalshi include Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Anthos Capital, and Neo.

As to whether Advanced Micro Devices will be able to clock in 35% in annualized revenue growth over the next five years (on the high end) remains the big question mark. If the next generation of MI300 accelerators sells well and corporate adoption of AI accelerates further, I think there's still a chance that sales will surprise to the upside.

YouTuber MrBeast said in a deposition last November that he owned "a little over half" of his company, which was valued at roughly $5 billion in its most recent funding round. By that math, the value of his ownership stake would have topped $2.5 billion. Beast Industries sought to raise up to an additional $200 million this year, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider, as an extension to its $300 million Series C round referenced in the deposition.

Snap SNAP reported third-quarter revenue of $1.507 billion, up 10% year over year, due to strength in international markets. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 12%, up 200 basis points from a year ago, due to cost efficiencies and a greater mix of high-margin products like Sponsored Snaps and Spotlight. Why it matters: Despite persisting weakness in North American markets, advertising revenue from international markets continues to grow, driven by improved direct advertising monetization and increased demand from small and mid-sized businesses.

The Q3 earnings report caused CMG stock to plunge by over 20%. The company has cut its full-year 2025 comparable sales forecast for the third consecutive time, now projecting sales to decline in the low single-digit range, rather than remaining flat. Q3 revenue of $3 billion met expectations, but comparable same-store sales grew just 0.3%. Analysts expected 1.36%. CEO Scott Boatwright said that the company is seeing a "significant pullback" from customers aged 25 to 34.

Revenue climbed 27% year-over-year to $3.45B, clearing the $3.36B consensus estimate by roughly $90M. That growth rate outpaced rival Uber's 18% quarterly expansion, signaling stronger order momentum in the core delivery business. The problem? Earnings per share came in at $0.55, missing the $0.68 estimate by 19%. GAAP net income of $244M also declined sequentially from $285M in Q2, a red flag that profitability may be plateauing after months of steady improvement.

Armis, a nine-year-old cybersecurity startup based out of San Francisco, intends to follow in these companies' footsteps. The company said on Wednesday that it has raised a $435 million pre-IPO round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. CapitalG made a significant investment in the round, and new investor Evolution Equity Partners also participated. The round values Armis at $6.1 billion, a meaningful jump from the $4.5 billion tender offer valuation the startup announced in August.

Vertex (NASDAQ: VERX) delivered a split result this morning that left investors parsing mixed signals. The tax technology provider beat on earnings per share but missed revenue expectations, landing at $0.17 versus $0.16 estimated and $192.1M versus $195.5M expected. The stock traded near $22.90 at the filing, down sharply from its 52-week high of $60.71 as the market continues to reassess the company's valuation after a brutal 61% decline year-to-date.