The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1425 ET - Shopify may come out unscathed from a tariff situation, says RWM Commerce Consulting CEO Rick Watson. "I am not sure it significantly changes the game for Shopify or its merchants. They have not been overly advantaged or disadvantaged," he says. The company has come out in support of free trade, since 15% of its business is cross-border, they benefit more from fewer walls in place. "It's a similar statement to what you might have seen someone like eBay say in years past," he says. Watson notes that chaos in general is not good for any business, so it could create some corporate indecision in the short-term, but this should settle down at some point." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1341 ET - Expedia surged 17% on Friday after beating on 4Q top and bottom lines and reinstating its quarterly dividend, but D.A. Davidson says 1Q initial guidance was mixed. As a result, analysts Tom White and Wyatt Swanson say they're trimming forecasts on incremental foreign exchange headwinds, but bumping up targets on an improved underlying growth profile. The analysts say their neutral rating takes into account "the company's solid category position in an overall healthy/resilient leisure travel market," and its leading position in an expanding B2B market. But, they question the pace of recovery in Expedia's Vrbo and Hotels.com brands as well as and the company's ability "to meaningfully close its overall profitability/margin gap vs. peers." Expedia is up 0.3% to $202.81.(sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

1049 ET - Corporate bonds issued by companies within U.S. tech, auto and basic materials sectors have a higher exposure to foreign revenue and are more vulnerable to tariffs implemented by President Trump, BNP Paribas credit strategists say in a note. Issuers within services sectors, however, such as healthcare and cruise companies, have lower foreign sales and are better placed to avoid the negative impacts of tariffs, the strategists say. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0751 ET - Dutch telecommunications company KPN is marketing a new euro-denominated 10-year bond. The deal offers investors a generous valuation, with an initial price talk of mid-swap rate plus 150 basis points, CreditSights analysts say in a note. The initial price talk implies around 45 basis points new issue concession compared with other similar KPN bonds, the analysts say. "We expect the initial price talk to be tightened up, and we would be buyers north of mid-swap rate plus 120 basis points (around 3.5% yield)," CreditSights says. KPN credit is likely to perform in line with other credit from similar companies in the same sector, says CreditSights, which has a market perform rating on the company's debt. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0543 ET - Nokia's appointment of Intel's head of data-center and artificial-intelligence as its new CEO reflects the company's shift in strategic focus, Inderes analyst Atte Riikola writes. Riikola says Nokia is increasingly focusing on network infrastructure, where data centers and AI investments are creating new growth opportunities. "We see this as a justified direction, as Nokia's longer-term growth prospects for mobile networks clearly look more modest than for network infrastructure." The analyst says the appointment of Justin Hotard once again raises the question of whether there could be structural changes in the core mobile networks business. "On paper, this would be an interesting option, but in practice it would be very challenging to implement." Shares trade 2.2% higher at 4.76 euros. (dominic.chopping@wsj.com)

0439 ET - Asia's strong economic momentum creates the potential for robust earnings growth for companies in key markets and sectors, including artificial intelligence-related technology in Taiwan and Korea, as well as banking in India, according to analysts at PineBridge Investments. Between Taiwan's and Korea's technology sectors, the analysts "tend to favor" Taiwanese companies, which they view as "more nimble and able to provide AI solutions to their customers", they say. The analysts add that they are "cautiously optimistic and see selective opportunities and continued competitive valuations in China." (tracy.qu@wsj.com)

0423 ET - The market is overly concerned about the impact of DeepSeek on AI server demand, at least for this year, Bernstein analysts write in a note. While DeepSeek may be new to investors, its achievement is not a total surprise to companies in the AI industry, they add. The declining training and inference costs in the generative AI sector are crucial for the mass adoption of this technology among consumers and enterprises, as well as for achieving AGI, they say. The recent sentiment correction in the AI supply chain occurred sooner than analysts had expected for 2H25, presenting a buying opportunity for some stocks, Bernstein says. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)

0409 ET - Talabat Holding's upcoming fourth-quarter results will likely be good, ING analyst Marc Hesselink says. The Dutch bank expects Delivery Hero's Middle East subsidiary to deliver revenue and Ebitda slightly above consensus. "The key point is to see if the strong growth and profitability trends of nine month of 2024 continued into the fourth quarter," Hesselink adds. Additionally, the company will probably reiterate its 2025 guidance, which includes continued high growth and margin improvement, he says. Shares are up 0.7% at 1.42 United Arab Emirates dirham. (najat.kantouar@wsj.com)

0327 ET - Chinese automakers may take the lead in incorporating AI innovations and democratizing these technologies in mass-market cars, said Paul Gong, UBS head of China autos research. "After the DeepSeek surprise during the Chinese New Year, intelligence initiatives could remain a key theme among auto stocks," he says. Traditional carmakers will likely announce more collaborations with AI companies in the coming months ride the momentum, he adds. Gong believes that the technological edge in the auto sector will likely shift from electrification to intelligence with rising awareness and adoption of AI. He notes that smart cockpits powered by AI algorithms could provide a sustainable competitive edge, helping automakers gain market share. Meanwhile, AI could gradually lead to higher manufacturing productivity, boosting carmakers' margins in the long term, he adds. (sherry.qin@wsj.com)

0312 ET - DeepSeek's success could boost demand for Nvidia's products despite the chip maker's stock being among the hardest hit initially, Tiger Brokers market strategist James Ooi writes in a note. DeepSeek is viewed as AI's Sputnik moment, as the Chinese AI startup appears to have shaken U.S. AI dominance by achieving comparable performance at a fraction of the costs incurred by its American counterparts, he says. AI software stocks should benefit from DeepSeek's success as lower computing costs would open up new opportunities, Ooi says. It could also create higher demand for Nvidia's GPUs despite initial fears that lower-cost AI models may reduce the need for high-end chips, he adds. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)

0038 ET - Advanced Info Service's earnings outlook may be strong, Maybank Securities (Thailand)'s Wasu Mattanapotchanart says in a research report. The Thai mobile phone operator's 2025 revenue should grow 4%, supported by 2%, 8%, and 15% increases in mobile, fixed broadband, and enterprise revenues, respectively, the analyst estimates. Its core profit growth should outperform Ebitda growth this year, thanks to flat depreciation and amortization expenses and a 9% decline in interest expenses, the analyst says. The brokerage raises its 2025 and 2026 core profit forecasts for the company by 2% and 1%, respectively. It upgrades the stock's rating to buy from hold and raises the target price to THB307.00 from THB301.00. Shares are 1.8% higher at THB285.00. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)

0001 ET - A dividend surprise may be on the cards for Bharti Airtel, given its robust free cash flow, continued deleveraging and early payment to the government to clear 2016 spectrum dues, Citi Research says. A push by the Indian telecom company's controlling shareholder, which recently raised its stake by issuing debt, could also drive a higher dividend payout, analyst Saurabh Handa writes in a note. Meanwhile, Airtel delivered another solid performance in 3Q, with sequential growth of nearly 6% in revenue and 9% in Ebitda for its India mobile-services segment, he says. Citi maintains a buy rating on the stock with a target price of INR1,900. Shares are 0.7% higher at INR1,690. (farah.elias@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2025 16:50 ET (21:50 GMT)

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