Amazon boasts futuristic robots have 'a sense of touch.' Teradyne is key supplier behind this new innovation.
On Thursday, shares of Teradyne (TER), the company supplying one of the robot's key features — its limbs — surged after a report revealed its involvement in Amazon's futuristic "robot with a sense of touch."
Hunterbrook, a hedge fund and newsroom, along with thematic equity investor Citrini Research, published a report showing that the Vulcan robot's limbs are produced by robotics manufacturing firm Universal Robots, which Teradyne acquired in 2015 in an all-cash deal worth $285 million.
Teradyne stock rose 6.3% on Thursday following the report.
Hunterbrook — up roughly 13% net of fees year to date as of the end of Q2, according to an investor note reviewed by Yahoo Finance — labeled Teradyne a "pick-and-shovel" play in the AI and robotics sectors. The firm disclosed it was long on the stock when its story was published Thursday morning.
Teradyne, which manufactures testing equipment for chips used in various electronics, saw its stock price surge during the pandemic amid a chip boom and a furious rally across risk assets, peaking at north of $160 in 2021. The stock has been volatile in the years since, falling as much as 50% from its peak and nearly reclaiming its record high a year ago. Shares settled at $97.05 on Friday, paring some of Thursday's gains.
CEO Greg Smith noted on the company's first quarter earnings call that Teradyne's robotics division was working to withstand a "very challenging macro backdrop" but had just received the largest order in its history from a global automotive manufacturer.
Smith also noted that the company was seeing customers push order delivery from the second quarter out into future quarters due to uncertainty around the Trump administration's tariff regime.
In its report, Hunterbrook flagged that UBS analysts previously wrote in a note on Teradyne that conversations with the company "confirmed that Vulcan could represent the first tangible outcome of [Teradyne's] strategy to engage more directly with large OEMs," which has "already sparked interest from additional customers, potentially marking a turning point for [Teradyne's] industrial automation (IA) business."
Thursday's report from Hunterbrook is the first to explicitly link Amazon to the firm. Teradyne declined to comment. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
Amazon has touted its Vulcan robot as a major step forward in developing robots with a "sense of touch," the company said in its announcement about the technology.
Picking and stowing items in Amazon's fulfillment sites has long been challenging for less dexterous robots, but Vulcan represents a significant leap forward, the company said.
Smith told analysts and investors during Teradyne's Q1 earnings call that one of the company's biggest growth areas is poised to be advanced robotics.
"We would want to significantly outgrow traditional industrial automation peers in this space, mainly because we're addressing an underpenetrated market, the advanced robotics segment," Smith said, "and especially the segment of robotics where people are trying to automate processes that need to be in the presence of people or interoperating with people."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Delta's Clever Fix for Jet Shortages and Tariffs
Delta (NYSE:DAL) is getting creative to dodge Europe's tariffs and tackle a jet-engine crunch by yanking engines off grounded A321neos in Europe and fitting them into older Airbus planes back home. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with DAL. Since the new A321neos are stuck overseas awaiting seat approvals, Delta's been shipping their Pratt & Whitney engines back to the U.S. to swap into aging jets that need turbine work. Once Washington and Brussels hammer out a trade deal, Delta can sail those fresh Airbus jets into the U.S. tariff-free, avoiding extra costs on each delivery. With planes grounded and tariffs looming, this engine shuffle tackles two headaches at once: keeping older aircraft flying and sidestepping potentially steep import duties. CEO Ed Bastian says they'll keep moving engines around as needed, making sure Delta doesn't pay a cent more in tariffs while keeping its fleet humming. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
This Teen Built a Game on Roblox -- Then Sold It for Millions
Teen developers are striking gold on Roblox (NYSE:RBLX), and investors are quietly pouring in behind the scenes. A 19-year-old who built Blue Lock: Rivalsan anime-inspired soccer gamesold it for over $3 million just months after launch. At its peak, the title hit more than 1 million concurrent players and was generating roughly $5 million per month for Roblox. The buyer? Do Big Studios, a firm that's been actively snapping up hit titles across the platform, including Grow a Garden, which broke records in June with 21 million simultaneous playerssurpassing Fortnite. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with RBLX. What's fueling this surge in deals is a structural shift in Roblox's ecosystem. A December platform update quietly made it easier for developers to transfer ownership of their gamessomething that used to violate Roblox's terms. That's opened the floodgates. Voldex, another acquisitive player, bought Brookhaven RP in February in a deal CEO Alex Singer described as bigger than Embracer Group's acquisition of Welcome to Bloxburg, which had been reported at around $100 million. Most of these deals are brokered on Discord. Many sellers remain anonymous. But behind the avatars, there's real moneyand increasing interest from capital providers like Raine Group and Shamrock Capital. Roblox's creator economy is now attracting serious financial attention. The platform is on track to pay out over $1 billion to developers this year, with the top ten creators earning $36 million each over the last 12 months. Valuations for games typically range from 112 months of revenue, depending on how stable the player base looks. Voldex has even inked partnerships with the NFL to rebrand games like Ultimate Football, extending their shelf life. Roblox isn't actively participating in these secondary market transactions, but the trajectory is clear: this could be the early innings of a new asset class where digital gamesespecially those born in teenage bedroomscommand multi-million-dollar exits. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Announces 30% Duties on EU, Mexico
President Donald Trump revealed he isn't taking the weekend off as he released two open letters to prominent American trading partners informing them of steep new duty rates. On Saturday, the Commander in Chief took to Truth Social to post his missives to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, telling both that the countries they represent will face 30-percent duties on goods across the board beginning Aug. 1. More from Sourcing Journal US Apparel Imports From China Fell to a 22-Year Low in May Amid Trade War Escalation US-Brazil Trade Battle Puts Shoe Firms in Crossfire Trump Hits Canada With 35% Tariffs In his letter to Sheinbaum, Trump reinvigorated earlier claims that Mexico has aided in the 'pouring' of drugs like fentanyl into the U.S. market and failed to control the activities of criminal cartels. 'Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,' he wrote. The colloquial style of the communication underscored Trump's familiar relationship with Sheinbaum, with whom he has been negotiating for months. As in previous letters, Trump stated that the new duty rate excludes already established sectoral tariffs, and he wrote that transshipment or retaliatory duties will result in stacked taxes to Mexican imports. The letter did not mention whether U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement-covered (USMCA) products would be exempt from the new tariffs, though a White House spokesperson told Politico Friday that Canada's USMCA-compliant products would remain duty-free under the trade agreement, which is due to be revisited in July 2026. The tenor of Trump's letter to von der Leyen was different, belying a frustration that the 27-member European trade bloc and the U.S. have not been able to reach a consensus about the future of their trade relationship. 'We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,' the president wrote. He struck a more threatening tone as he addressed the European leader, declaring, 'The European Union will allow complete, open Market Access to the United States, with no Tariff being charged to us, in an attempt to reduce the large Trade Deficit.' As in previous communications with world leaders, Trump emphasized that if the trade bloc retaliates with its own duties, its tariff rate only stands to grow. The 30-percent tariff comes as a surprise given that American officials, like U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, have been negotiating ceaselessly in recent weeks with members of the European Commission. A principle agreement presented to Trump last week involved the levying of 10-percent duties, which the trade bloc said would cause major pain to exporters. Reportedly, von der Leyen was informed of the contents of the president's letter in advance of its social media debut. 'A 30% tariff on EU exports would hurt businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic,' she wrote on Twitter shortly after the announcement. 'We will continue working towards an agreement by August 1. At the same time, we are ready to safeguard EU interests on the basis of proportionate countermeasures.' Sign in to access your portfolio
