 Tesla may still dominate the autonomous headlines, but Qualcomm's partnership with BMW make it an interesting alternative for investors to... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ |
| | Written by Sam Quirke 
Shares of Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) closed around $160 on Monday, once again running into resistance at a level they have struggled to clear since June. It is the fourth time in as many months the stock has tested this level, and, compared to many of its peers, the chart is not a flattering one. And for many investors, Qualcomm has been a frustrating name to watch, let alone own. On paper, it has all the ingredients that should make it a winner. The fundamentals are solid, the company consistently outperforms earnings expectations, and the semiconductor sector it belongs to has rarely been hotter.
Yet compared to the likes of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD), Qualcomm’s shares have long underwhelmed, to say the least. However, that dynamic may now be starting to change. A fresh partnership with BMW is injecting new energy into Qualcomm’s roadmap and has investors wondering: could Qualcomm be Tesla’s next rival in autonomous driving? Tesla’s Lead and Its Limits Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has long been synonymous with hands-free driving. Its Autopilot and Full Self Driving systems, along with Elon Musk’s promises of a fully scaled Robotaxi fleet, have kept the company at the center of the autonomy debate. Over the summer, Tesla shares surged in line with those lofty expectations, but as we head into the fall, there are cracks showing. The stock is still in an uptrend but, like Qualcomm, is struggling to break through a critical ceiling. Resistance around $360 has proven stubborn, with Tesla shares having been turned back there several times this year. That is a dangerous place to be for a company still valued at nearly 200x earnings. For investors looking to get some exposure to the autonomous driving space but who don’t like to pay that kind of premium, Qualcomm looks far more attractive at just 15x earnings. Qualcomm’s Auto Ambitions in Full View The catalyst here is Qualcomm’s deepening push into automotive technology, highlighted by last week’s news of a partnership with BMW. Together, the two companies introduced the Snapdragon Ride Pilot system, a Level 2+ driver-assistance platform designed to deliver hands-free highway driving, automated lane changes, and AI-supported parking. Unlike Tesla, which integrates its system into its own cars, Qualcomm is positioning itself as the arms dealer of autonomy. By supplying the chips, software, and platform to legacy automakers, it is enabling Tesla’s rivals to bring Tesla-like capabilities to market. The system has already been validated across dozens of countries, with plans to scale further in the coming years. For investors, the significance is twofold. First, it shows that Qualcomm can leverage its chip expertise into high-value automotive applications, building a recurring revenue base well beyond smartphones. Second, it demonstrates the company’s ability to move past the overhang created by Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) decision to drop Qualcomm as a key supplier in favor of its own in-house modem tech. QCOM: Analyst Conviction Building The street is beginning to notice. In the past two weeks, the team at Arete Research upgraded its rating on Qualcomm from Neutral to Buy, attaching a fresh $200 price target. From current levels, that implies a targeted upside of around 25%. The move reflects growing confidence that Qualcomm’s diversification strategy is likely to result in significant revenue tailwinds. That sentiment is critical for a stock whose rallies have always struggled for oxygen. Investors and analysts alike have long respected Qualcomm’s technology, but that hasn’t stopped its shares from developing a reputation for stagnation. The bulls will be looking at this move into autonomous driving as a new chapter in Qualcomm’s story, and if it can gather some momentum, then it may suddenly become interesting to Tesla die-hards, too. Remaining Patient It would be a stretch to say that they’ll be competing head-to-head, but there’s undoubtedly going to be some overlap. While one is still an end-to-end automaker that uses its own technology, and the other is a simple supplier, in the battle for investor attention around hands-free driving, Qualcomm has just raised its hand.  Read This Story Online |  I'm a Futurist: Here are 3 stocks better than Nvidia
Nvidia's own customers could soon become fierce competitors, dethroning the AI Chip King. But there's a critical component that AI data centers need just as badly as chips. The demand is so massive that a single data center uses enough of it to stretch around the earth eight times. While the media hypes up AI chips, the smart money has found the next big thing. Discover Futurist Eric Fry's "Nvidia-killer" stock ideas. Click here for complete analysis. |
| Written by Chris Markoch 
Investing in biotechnology stocks is typically reserved for speculative investors. For starters, many of these companies are clinical or pre-clinical stage companies. They’re not yet profitable, and many are even pre-revenue, meaning the long-term payoff will likely be years away. However, many of these stocks fall into the penny stock category (i.e., stocks that trade for less than $5 per share), which is appealing to speculative traders chasing technical signals for quick profits. For investors with patience and conviction, small-cap biotech stocks may offer the opportunity to scale into positions with the potential for outsized long‑term returns. That's the case with these three under-the-radar biotech stocks, which trade for less than $5 but offer patient investors the potential for significant long-term upside. Hoth: Pre-Clinical Cancer Research with Big Market Potential Hoth Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTH) is the strongest performer on this list. HOTH stock is up 98% in 2025. However, at around $1.50 per share, the stock is 35% down from the 12-month high it made in January. With multiple pre-clinical assets, including an obesity drug candidate, HOTH offers speculative investors exposure to two high-demand markets: oncology and weight-loss treatments. Investor enthusiasm is focused on the company’s pre-clinical oncology candidate, HT-KIT, which uses mRNA technology to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), systemic mastocytosis, and certain leukemias. In laboratory settings (i.e. in vitro), HT-KIT recently achieved over 80% knockdown of KIT expression, which is the oncogenic driver in multiple aggressive cancers. With only two out of its six candidates in active clinical trials, Hoth Therapeutics is still in the pre-revenue stage. But investors are piling in because one of the company’s pre-clinical candidates, HT-VA, is for obesity, a growing addressable market. The treatment is based on technology that Hoth has exclusively licensed from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In fact, analysts are projecting a consensus price target of $4, which is a 150% upside from its already lofty levels. Silo Pharma: Psychedelics, Obesity Treatment, and a Crypto Twist The growing obesity market is a nice lead-in to Silo Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: SILO). SILO stock is down 29% in 2025 but is up more than 7% in the last three months, largely due to a non-binding letter of intent to form a 50/50 joint venture with Hoth Therapeutics to develop Hoth’s HT-VA obesity drug candidate. If successful, this partnership would give Silo exposure to the rapidly growing obesity treatment market, expected to reach over $100 billion globally. That’s a little different from Silo’s primary focus to develop “novel formulations of traditional and psychedelic therapeutics.” To that end, the company has four candidates in the pre-clinical stage, including SP-26 for fibromyalgia and SPU-16 for multiple sclerosis. Another reason that may appeal to speculative investors is Silo’s recent launch of a cryptocurrency treasury strategy. The company is targeting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana investments and will utilize staking to generate yield while focusing on capital preservation. Anixa: Micro-Cap Cancer Play with Major Partnerships Anixa Biosciences (NASDAQ: ANIX) focuses on oncology and is slightly further along in its development path. Two of the company's five drugs are in Phase 1 clinical trials. One of those uses CAR-T immunotherapy to treat ovarian cancer by activating a patient’s immune cells (T cells) to kill sick or damaged cells. The other uses vaccine technology to generate tumor-specific antigens. Adding to the bull case, each of the company’s candidates is being developed via partnerships with either the Moffitt Cancer Center, the Cleveland Clinic, or the U.S. Department of Defense. Anixa is not heavily covered by analysts, but three analysts gave the stock a consensus price target of $10, a 197% upside for the stock. Read This Story Online |  |
| Written by Jeffrey Neal Johnson 
For innovative technology-driven companies, there comes a moment when the narrative must shift from dazzling prototypes to a credible blueprint for profitability. For Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), that moment is fast approaching. On Sept. 17, 2025, the company will host its Capital Markets Day in New York, an event where it is expected to provide a detailed update on its comprehensive, long-term financial strategy. This comes at a pivotal time for investors in the company’s stock. After a summer rally driven by breakthrough operational news, the stock has since pulled back from its 50-day high of nearly $7.00. This consolidation presents a potential opportunity for investors as the company prepares to outline the hard numbers and business models that will define its path from a pre-revenue innovator to a commercial enterprise. More Than Promises: A Track Record of Execution The financial projections and strategic plans set to be unveiled at the event are expected to be positive because they are built upon the foundation of significant, tangible progress that has been achieved so far in 2025. This progress in Vertical Aerospace’s strategic roadmap has established management’s credibility and de-risked key aspects of the business. This track record is crucial, as it gives weight and believability to the company's forward-looking statements. In just the past few months, Vertical has systematically addressed major investor concerns. The historic piloted airport-to-airport flight in July proved the VX4 aircraft’s real-world capability. The landmark partnership with Tier 1 supplier Aciturri to build the entire airframe effectively solved a core manufacturing question and validated the company's capital-efficient, asset-light strategy. Most recently, Vertical made another foundation-solidifying strategic move by appointing Patrick Ky, the former Executive Director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), to its Board of Directors. This embeds an unparalleled level of regulatory DNA directly into the company’s governance, providing invaluable insight and dramatically strengthening the credibility of its 2028 certification timeline. The Market's Billion-Dollar Questions The Sept. 17 event is expected to provide investors with the first detailed look at the hard numbers that will underpin the company's long-term business case. Based on guidance from Vertical Aerospace’s last earnings call, the disclosures are anticipated to address four critical areas. - The Cost to Certification: Investors expect the first detailed breakdown of the total capital required to get the VX4 fully certified. This is arguably the single most important metric for Vertical Aerospace’s analyst community, as it defines future funding needs and allows for more accurate long-term valuation modeling.
- The Manufacturing Roadmap: Building on the Aciturri partnership, the company will likely provide more detail on its production strategy. For investors, this means understanding the economics of its asset-light model, which leverages partners' infrastructure to avoid the massive upfront capital expenditure required to build proprietary factories, a crucial element for achieving profitability more quickly.
- The Razorblade Model Economics: Investors anticipate a deeper dive into the proprietary battery business. Management has projected that recurring battery replacements could account for a 50/50 revenue split with initial aircraft sales in the long term, at a target gross margin of over 40%. Clarifying the economics of this high-margin, recurring revenue stream is key to understanding the company's full, long-term profit potential.
- The Differentiated OEM Model: The event will likely provide a clear explanation of how Vertical's focus on being an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (selling aircraft to established operators) is a more capital-efficient model. This contrasts sharply with Vertical Aerospace’s competitors in the aerospace sector that plan to build and operate their own capital-intensive air taxi services, which involve significantly higher operating costs and a longer path to breaking even.
Vertical Aerospace’s Path to a Re-Rating With a market capitalization of approximately $440 million, there appears to be a significant disconnect between Vertical Aerospace's current stock price and the future value suggested by its progress. Wall Street sees this potential, with the consensus 12-month analyst price target sitting at $10.43, implying substantial upside for investors who enter at the current levels. The upcoming investor day is designed to provide the financial data to bridge that gap. However, the market sentiment shows a classic tug-of-war. While the stock has consolidated, the most recent data from mid-August showed an increase in short interest to 2.32 million shares. This indicates that some traders remain skeptical, making the upcoming disclosures even more critical as a potential catalyst to shift sentiment. By providing clear, data-driven answers on certification costs, manufacturing economics, and its long-term revenue model, Vertical aims to replace speculation with a credible financial plan. For investors, the event represents a crucial opportunity to gain detailed insight into the company's strategy and assess its value proposition before the broader market has a chance to fully digest and potentially re-rate the stock based on this new information. Read This Story Online |  While many are busy chasing the usual AI trends, a bigger opportunity is quietly brewing—and most are missing it. Imagine a major shift in how and where AI is built, opening up incredible wealth opportunities for those in the know.
I've found 9 AI companies primed to lead this change. These aren't the tired "AI hype" stocks; they're companies with real US operations, proven revenue growth, and deep AI integration. I've put all the details in a FREE report: "Top 9 AI Stocks For This Month." |
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