Trending tickers: Nvidia, Constellation, Dell and NatWest

Nvidia is now the most valuable company in the world by market cap (Reuters / Reuters)

Nvidia (NVDA.NE)

Nvidia is leading the pre-market trading as the artificial intelligence darling and chipmaker surpassed Microsoft (MSFT) to become the most valuable company in the world.

Curiously, it was the Canadian-hedged stock of Nvidia which was leading gains, up 3.4%.

NVDA.NE also owns other financial instruments, aside from just NVDA stock, to counteract the effect of the Canadian dollar rising or falling against the US dollar, meaning some investors are betting the CAD is going to rise against the American currency.

Nvidia stock has climbed 174% in 2024, as the AI boom continues to boost equities. Over the past five years, it has surged by an impressive 3,450%.

The company is suffering from success as employees who joined before the boom are now millionaires given their stock options. This has led many Nvidia executives to reportedly be operating in "semi-retirement" mode.

In response, Huang advised all workers to act as the CEO of their own time and be responsible for determining their work ethic.

Constellation Energy (CEG)

Constellation Energy, a producer of nuclear power, is another trending ticker in pre-market hours as investors realise that the AI boom needs power to run its data centres.

Much of the excitement lies in Wall Street’s expectation that Constellation will inevitably craft a "collocation" deal with one or more Big Tech players, enabling those companies to build data centres needed for AI use right next to Constellation's nuclear plants for access to carbon-free power.

Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said at a recent media roundtable that the company is "fairly deep in discussions with a number of companies that are interested in doing that."

The Baltimore-based company's stock is up more than 85% year to date.

The upcoming earnings release of Constellation Energy Corporation will be of interest to investors. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.88 (£1.48), signifying a 26.56% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.62 per share and a revenue of $23.77bn, representing changes of +52.1% and -4.62%, respectively, from the prior year.

Dell (DELL)

Shares in Dell Technologies were higher after it CEO Michael Dell announced a partnership with Nvidia (NVDA) to construct an AI Factory designed to boost the capabilities of Grok, an AI model developed by Elon Musk's company, xAI.

Musk has told investors that his artificial intelligence startup xAI is planning to build a supercomputer to power the next version of its AI chatbot Grok, according to a report by the Information in May.

We’re building a Dell AI factory with @nvidia to power @grok for @xai @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/2aTYLtCBup

— Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) June 19, 2024

The stock also got a boost this week after Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating on the computer company, emphasising its status as a top pick for 2024 by the firm.

NatWest (NWG.L)

Sainsbury’s has struck a deal to sell its banking business to lender NatWest.

The supermarket has agreed to pay the state-owned lender £125m to take on the assets, which include about one million customer accounts.

The deal will see NatWest take on about one million customer accounts, as well as £1.4bn of unsecured personal loans, £1.1bn of credit card balances and about £2.6bn of customer deposits.

Sainsbury's said customers would "not need to take any action" and said there would be no immediate changes to their terms and conditions. The deal is expected to complete in the first half of next year.

Watch: Nvidia's rapid stock rise might see a pause

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