Steel Deal Struck:
U.S. Steel (X) has finally struck the deal.
After rejecting Cleveland-Cliff (CLF)’s takeover bid in August, the company that J.P. Morgan himself formed in 1901 is being bought out for $14.9 billion, including debt, or $55 a share by Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel.
The latter is in a better position than ever to benefit from the growing demand for high-grade and automotive and electrical steel.
Materials will be huge in 2024 as the prospect of a soft landing is here. Look to Alcoa (AA) to be bought out next, but steel companies in general should benefit from this.
$215 Billion Might Not Be Enough:
The retailer based in Denver, VF Corp. (VFC), is down a few percentage points this morning because of an announced cybersecurity breach that’s expected to impact its business.
The stock itself… doesn’t matter. But the story does.
With the onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past year and the continued development of it, businesses are going to need to step their cybersecurity games up. It’s why corporate spending on cyber is expected to jump 14% in 2024, to 2024.
Expect cybersecurity companies to do well into the next year – and beyond.
Top 10 for the First Time:
Broadcom (AVGO) flew past Visa (V) on Friday and has officially become the tenth largest company in the U.S. with a market cap of $529 billion.
It’s showing how far chips have shined in 2023… but I don’t think it’ll last long.
Their acquisition of VMWare closed in November, and it’ll take a while for us to feel the effects. Broadcom is also part of the AI hype cycle, which we’ve seen smothered in the past couple months.
While capital expenditures for AI into back-end, high-speed connections will increase a couple years from now, I think the stock will come back down to reality by the end of the first quarter next year.