Centific, the Market-Leading Enabler of Advanced AI, Closes Transformative $60M Series A Round
Granite Asia invests in Centific's $60M Series A, led by Midas List investor Jenny Lee, to fuel the company's expansion as the independent AI data backbone for the next wave of global agentic AI systems.
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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
The Best Tech ETF to Invest $2,000 In Right Now
Investors have become drawn to all things related to artificial intelligence (AI). Some think this revolutionary technology can fundamentally change our society and economy, boosting productivity and providing a bump to GDP. Time will tell. For those investors who want exposure to these types of companies, which only look like they'll be more important contributors to our economy in the future, perhaps an exchange-traded fund (ETF) is the solution. In fact, there's one AI ETF that I believe is a smart choice for a $2,000 investment right now. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » It has been a huge winner in the past. And it could continue this streak in the years ahead. Here's what investors need to know. Owning the most dominant enterprises One benefit of owning an ETF is that investors can skip picking individual stocks. You don't have to spend hours reading SEC filings, listening to earnings calls, or creating complex financial models. Plus, there isn't any ongoing research requirement. It's a laid-back approach, which is advantageous. The other obvious perk is that investors get broad diversification. And with the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ), there is lots of exposure to the AI boom. Just look at the top holdings in this monster ETF. Eight of the top 10 positions are heavily involved in some way, shape, or form to AI. This group includes Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Broadcom, Meta Platforms, Tesla, and Alphabet. At a high level, these companies provide cloud computing platforms, graphics-processing units, software, advertising tools, and other high-value products and services that all directly tie into AI. And given their vast financial resources, they are in powerful positions to invest ridiculous amounts of capital to stay ahead of the curve. For instance, Microsoft's capital expenditures are projected to total $80 billion this year, mainly for AI-related infrastructure. In total, the Invesco QQQ Trust contains 100 of the largest nonfinancial stocks that trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange. But not all of them have to do with AI. Costco, the ninth-biggest holding, is a perfect example. However, the top 10 holdings represent half of the assets, so AI is the driving force. Tremendous returns at a cheap price In the past decade, the Invesco QQQ Trust has generated a total return of 418%. This gain trounces the rise of the more widely followed S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC). A $2,000 investment in the QQQ in late June 2015 would be worth almost $10,400 today. The success of those previously mentioned enterprises, with their growth opportunities, innovative and disruptive cultures, rising profits, and economic moats, helped to support investment gains. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the fees are high for this ETF. The Invesco QQQ Trust charges an expense ratio of just 0.2%. On a $2,000 investment, only $4 is directed to paying the asset manager to handle its various expenses. That's a favorable setup. Investors should set realistic expectations It can be easy to extrapolate past returns into the future. But that's not a guarantee. While it's possible that the Invesco QQQ Trust generates another 418% total return in the next decade, investors should be prepared for lower gains. If the global economy operates with higher interest rates than it had for most of the past decade, this could pressure GDP growth. At the same time, that could get in the way of higher stock market returns. This is something to keep in mind. However, by adding the QQQ to your portfolio, you're ensuring adequate exposure to what might be one of the most important technological trends in history. Should you invest $1,000 in Invesco QQQ Trust right now? Before you buy stock in Invesco QQQ Trust, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Invesco QQQ Trust wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Neil Patel has positions in Invesco QQQ Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Costco Wholesale, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Nvidia Will Be Wall Street's First $6 Trillion Company, According to One Highly Optimistic Analyst
Roughly three decades ago, the advent and proliferation of the internet began changing corporate America forever. Although it took many years before businesses figured out how to optimize their internet usage to maximize their margins and profits, it became a game-changing technology that helped companies reach new customers. For 30 years, Wall Street and investors have been waiting for the next technological leap that could catapult corporate growth. After a long wait, artificial intelligence (AI) looks to be the answer. With AI, software and systems are given the capacity to make split-second decisions without human assistance. It's a broad-reaching technology that the analysts at PwC believe can increase global gross domestic product by a whopping 26% come 2030. While a laundry list of businesses has benefited from the AI revolution, none has reaped the rewards of this technological leap forward more than semiconductor titan Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Since the end of 2022, Nvidia's market cap has catapulted from $360 billion to an all-time closing high of $3.76 trillion, as of June 25. But according to one highly optimistic Wall Street analyst, the stock market's AI darling is just warming up and on its way to a greater than $6 trillion valuation. Nvidia has a new highwater price target To be fair, buy ratings are a dime a dozen when it comes to Nvidia. As of June, 66 Wall Street analysts had issued a rating on Nvidia, with a combined 58 listing it as the equivalent of a strong buy or buy. That compares with just one sell rating. However, the June 25 update from Loop Capital analyst John Donovan stands out from the crowd for one particular reason: His and his firm's price target is head and shoulders above everyone else's. Donovan lifted Loop Capital's price target for Nvidia from $175 per share to $250. If Nvidia's share count stays static, we're talking about a $6.1 trillion market cap if Donovan's issued price target is achieved. Nvidia is already the undisputed leader in graphics processing units (GPUs) deployed in AI-accelerated data centers. The company's Hopper (H100) and successor Blackwell GPUs have consistently been backlogged due to overwhelming demand. With demand for AI-GPUs handily outpacing their supply, Nvidia has been able to charge a premium for its hardware, which in turn has sent its gross margin to north of 70%. But Donovan only sees this dominance building. In his note to investors that explained Loop Capital's Street-high price target, Donovan pointed to Nvidia shipping an estimated 6.5 million GPUs this year and 7.5 million next year, with average selling prices for these GPUs topping $40,000. For context, Nvidia has enjoyed a 100% to 300% pricing premium over its AI-GPU direct rivals. More specifically, in speaking with various cloud-service providers, Donovan anticipates that an uptick in data center spending from governments, midsize cloud providers, and startup companies can lead to the next wave of supercharged growth for Nvidia. For instance, CoreWeave 's purchase of 250,000 Hopper chips is the perfect example of startups angling to capitalize on the presumed insatiable demand for compute capacity. The other factor working in Nvidia's favor is that it's been able to grow into its valuation over the last year. Given the company's torrid sales and profit growth, Nvidia is trading at a forward-year earnings multiple of only 27 for fiscal 2027, which will end in January 2027. If Loop Capital's dart throw proves accurate, Nvidia can tip the scales as Wall Street's first $4 trillion, $5 trillion, and $6 trillion business. Loop Capital's optimism overlooks some very tangible headwinds While there's no disputing Nvidia's monopoly-like market share of GPUs being deployed in AI-accelerated data centers, there are a couple of tangible headwinds Donovan appears to be overlooking that can send Nvidia stock in the opposite direction. Arguably the biggest issue for Nvidia is that every game-changing technology and innovation needs ample time to mature, and we're not at that point yet with artificial intelligence. Including the advent of the internet in the mid-1990s, there hasn't been a next-big-thing trend in three decades that's escaped a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. The fact that most businesses aren't generating a positive return on their AI investments, nor have they optimized their existing AI solutions, suggests that investors have grossly overestimated the early-innings adoption rate and utility of this technology. This bodes poorly for Nvidia stock over the short run. It's also impossible to overlook growing competitive pressure. Don't get me wrong, CEO Jensen Huang's aggressive innovation timeline, which will bring a new advanced GPU to market annually, should have no trouble keeping Nvidia in the lead when it comes to compute potential. But there's more to data center infrastructure than just speed. It can be argued that Nvidia's biggest competitive edge has been the persistent scarcity of AI-GPUs. But with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ramping up its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate capacity and Advanced Micro Devices upping its production of Instinct series AI-accelerating chips, direct competition is growing. Growing competition is expected to weigh on Nvidia's gross margin. NVDA Gross Profit Margin (Quarterly) data by YCharts. What's more, many of Nvidia's top customers by net sales are internally developing GPUs to use in their data centers. Even though this internally developed hardware trails Nvidia's Hopper and Blackwell in terms of compute potential, it's notably cheaper and more readily accessible (i.e., not backlogged). Internally developed chips could easily take up valuable data-center real estate, delay future upgrade cycles, and pressure Nvidia's gross margin. Lastly, Donovan's research overlooks the sustained priciness of Nvidia stock relative to its trailing-12-month (TTM) sales. Over the past three decades, megacap companies on the leading edge a next-big-thing trend have historically topped out at TTM price-to-sales (P/S) ratios of roughly 30 to 43. Even Nvidia topped out at a TTM P/S multiple of just over 42 last summer. Although the company's rapidly expanding sales has brought this multiple down, it's still tipping the scales at a P/S ratio of almost 26. That's well over double other market-leading "Magnificent Seven" stocks, and history strongly suggests it's not sustainable. Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025
Globe and Mail
6 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Imagen Network Taps Solana to Roll Out AI-Powered Social Features for Decentralized Growth
Fast, scalable AI social modules launch on Solana to expand creator-led communities and multichain identity tools. Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2025) - Imagen Network, the decentralized AI-powered social platform, has announced the launch of its first AI-driven social modules on the Solana blockchain. This expansion brings fast, scalable engagement tools to the network—enabling communities to build smarter, more personalized social spaces that operate across chains. Expanding decentralized social tools through Solana-powered AI modules. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: With Solana's high-speed infrastructure, Imagen is deploying tools like real-time AI moderation, sentiment-based feed customization, and automated content assistants to help users and creators shape their communities. These tools are lightweight, modular, and seamlessly integrate with Imagen's node-based social architecture. The launch also introduces multichain identity syncing and governance tokens tailored for Solana-native communities. Users can now maintain consistent reputations, personalized feeds, and profile continuity across Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana—reinforcing Imagen's commitment to accessible, borderless, user-owned social networking. This rollout follows a wave of major development milestones, including Imagen's MEXC listing, cross-chain moderation layers, and substantial investment backing. With Solana integration now live, Imagen continues its mission to deliver intelligent, decentralized social infrastructure at global scale. About Imagen Network Imagen Network is a decentralized social platform that blends AI content generation with blockchain infrastructure to give users creative control and data ownership. Through tools like adaptive filters and tokenized engagement, Imagen fosters a new paradigm of secure, expressive, and community-driven networking. Media Contact Dorothy Marley KaJ Labs +1 707-622-6168 media@ Social Media Twitter Instagram
