📊 Most Valuable Defense Companies

In partnership with

Happy Sunday!

May inflation came in right on target this week, with annual CPI rising 2.4%.

• Prices increased just 0.1% for the month, showing signs of cooling.

• Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, also rose 0.1% for the month, below expectations for 0.3%.

Despite fears, Trump’s tariffs don’t appear to be pushing prices higher, at least not yet.

• In fact, categories most exposed to tariffs, like furniture, clothing, and cars, all saw prices fall in May, as per The New York Times.

The outlier? Bananas.

• Prices jumped 3.3% last month, bringing the average cost to $0.66 per pound.

But while grocery aisles stay mostly calm, one risk to inflation is growing louder.

• Tensions between Iran and Israel have flared, with Israel striking Iran’s nuclear program and Iran retaliating.

• As a result, oil prices have surged 7% to $72 a barrel, and Wall Street warns they could hit $90 if the conflict widens.

Some key data bites from this week that you should know:

• Congress made more than 700 stock trades during Liberation Week.

• Two Australians became billionaires from a penny stock’s 54,000% rise.

• Meta will pay $15B for 49% stake in Scale AI.

• OpenAI has reached $10B in annualized revenue.

• Oracle shares jumped 24% this week, best performance in 24 years.

• Amazon will spend $20B on data centers in Pennsylvania.

• Blackstone plans to invest $500B in Europe over next 10 years.

• Lisa Su expects AI Chip Market to be worth $500B in 2028.

• TSMC saw May revenue jump 40% on AI demand.

• 12 banks made $500M in revenue from precious metals in Q1.

• Micron will invest $200B in US manufacturing and R&D.

• Apollo and Irth Capital are looking to take Papa John’s private for $2B.

• BlackRock plans to raise $400B across private market funds by 2030.

• Adobe raised full year guidance and saw revenue increase 11% in Q2.

• Qualcomm will buy Alphawave IP Group for $2.4B.

• GM to invest $4B in US plants over next 2 years.

In today’s newsletter:

• 🪖 Most Valuable Defense Companies

• 💰 Revenue Per Employee

• 🐝 Google’s Stock Portfolio

• ✈️ Boeing Keeps Losing Money

• 💵 $1B From Dividends

Let’s jump right in.

📣 Together With Wallstreet Prep

Go beyond prompt-writing.

Apply AI at work with step-by-step guidance from Columbia Business School faculty.

Learn to:

• Predict outcomes

• Streamline tasks

• Optimize decisions

No technical background required.

Enroll today in the AI for Business & Finance Certificate Program from Columbia Business School Exec and Wall Street Prep.

P.S. Save $300 with code SAVE300

Save Your Seat

Defense stocks are soaring as global tensions escalate.

In Europe, the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, now entering its third year, continues to drive instability.

• On Monday, Russia launched nearly 500 drones at Ukraine in the largest overnight assault of the war.

• The attack followed a surprise Ukrainian strike that destroyed close to a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet.

With no ceasefire in sight, the conflict shows little sign of slowing.

In response, European defense firms are having a breakout year.

• Rheinmetall is up 233% YTD, while Thales has climbed 105%.

The world’s ten most valuable defense companies now span the US, France, Germany, and the UK, demonstrating rising global demand for military capabilities.

Tech companies are generating more with fewer people.

Earnings season recently came to a close, with many firms growing revenue while cutting headcount and leaning into AI to boost productivity.

• Nvidia leads the pack, bringing in $4M per employee, the highest among Big Tech.

• Netflix follows at just under $3M, an impressive figure in its own right.

Apple and Meta also have strong numbers, each generating close to $2.5M per employee.

• But when compared to Nvidia, the gap is clearly striking.

As efficiency becomes a key growth lever, revenue per employee is a crucial metric to track.

News publishers are facing doomsday.

Google’s new AI Overviews and other AI-driven features are reshaping how users interact with search, at the expense of traditional media.

• These tools summarize results in a chatbot-style format, offering fewer outbound links and significantly cutting off referral traffic.

• Sites like Business Insider, The Atlantic, and Huffington Post have all seen sharp declines in traffic from Google.

As it pivots to compete with platforms like ChatGPT, Google is also tightening operations.

• The company recently offered buyouts to employees as it looks to reduce headcount.

At the same time, it continues to invest heavily in the future.

• Google’s public equity portfolio holds about $1.6B in US-listed stocks, with bets on next-gen players like Freshworks, ARM, and AST SpaceMobile.

Boeing’s problems only seem to be getting worse.

On Thursday, an Air India Boeing 787 crashed, killing 241 of the 242 people onboard.

• This was its first fatal incident involving the 787 Dreamliner.

• Boeing has been plagued with safety and production issues, and this tragedy only adds to the list.

Financially, the company has been bleeding for years.

• Last year, it reported a $12B loss, comparable to its deep losses in 2020.

• In its most recent quarter, Boeing posted a $31M loss, though executives expect the company to turn cash flow positive by year-end.

Recently, Boeing reached a $1.1B settlement with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution over the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Steve Ballmer is earning billions in dividends.

• The former Microsoft CEO’s last disclosed stake came in the company’s 2014 proxy, showing 333M shares.

• According to Bloomberg, he sold around 14M shares to buy the LA Clippers for $2B in 2014, leaving him with roughly 319M shares.

Microsoft paid out its latest quarterly dividend last Thursday, at $0.83 per share.

• At an annual rate of $3.32, that earns Ballmer nearly $1.1B in dividends each year.

Last December, the Wall Street Journal reported that over 80% of his portfolio remains in Microsoft stock, with the rest in index funds.

📣 Presented By Wallstreet Prep

Bring Real AI Skills to the Table

The AI for Business & Finance Certificate Program from Wall Street Prep + Columbia Business School Exec Ed offers hands-on training to:

📊 Build models
⚙️ Automate tasks
🔎 Analyze data

…all guided by Columbia Business School faculty.

You’ll also hear from guest speakers at BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and OpenAI.

P.S. Save $300 with code SAVE300

Save Your Seat

Notable Companies Reporting Earnings Week of June 15th, 2025:

Here’s what I will be watching this week:

• Monday: Lennar $LEN

• Friday: Accenture $ACN, Kroger $KR

EarningsHub helps me stay on top of earnings, forecasts, and AI-powered call recaps.

It’s free, and perfect if you want to track every major company reporting.

Buys

• Ro Khanna (D)

  • Company: UBS Group ($UBS)

    • Amount Purchased: $265K - $650K

  • Company: BNP Paribas ($BNPQY)

    • Amount Purchased: $116K - $315K

• Michael McCaul (R)

  • Company: Stanley Black & Decker ($SWK)

    • Amount Purchased: $100K - $250K

  • Company: Nucor ($NUE)

    • Amount Purchased: $100K - $250K

Sells

• Markwayne Mullin (R)

  • Company: SPDR S&P 500 ETF ($SPY)

    • Amount Sold: $500K - $1M

• Michael McCaul (R)

  • Company: Global Payments ($GPN)

    • Amount Sold: $100K - $250K

  • Company: Kraft Heinz ($KHC)

    • Amount Sold: $100K - $250K

Buys

• Bausch Health Companies ($BHC)

  • Insider: John Paulson (Director)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 2,788,608

    • $ Amount: $14,700,258

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Appfolio ($APPF)

  • Insider: Timothy Bliss (Director)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 7,000

    • $ Amount: $1,525,623

    • SEC Forms: [1]

Sells

• Nvidia ($NVDA)

  • Insider: Tench Coxe (Director)

    • # of Shares Sold: 1,000,000

    • $ Amount: $142,804,600

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Oracle ($ORCL)

  • Insider: Jeffrey Henley (Vice Chairman)

    • # of Shares Sold: 400,000

    • $ Amount: $76,169,016

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Palantir ($PLTR)

  • Insider: Shyam Sankar (CTO)

    • # of Shares Sold: 405,000

    • $ Amount: $53,490,923

    • SEC Forms: [1]

📣 A Message From Boxable

The Father-Son Duo Rethinking Homebuilding

Home construction has been slow, costly, and inefficient for centuries. So in 2017, Paolo and Galiano Tiramani founded BOXABL to change that.

Where traditional homes take 7+ months to build, new homes can roll off BOXABL’s assembly line nearly every 4 hours. Equipped with plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, they’re ready to be delivered and lived in.

They have already built more than 700. That gained the attention of one of America’s top homebuilders, who also became investors.

Now, the Tiramanis are preparing for Phase 2, where modules can be configured into larger townhomes, single-family homes, and apartments.

And until 6/24, you can join as an investor for just $0.80/share.

Invest in BOXABL Today

_{*This is a paid advertisement for Boxabl’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.boxabl.com/#circular}

🤝 Review of the Week