What you Need to Know for June 12th

Welcome back

It’s finally SpaceX day. Given the insane levels of retail demand we’ve been seeing, our inclination is we’ll see a strong open. We do not want to give any financial advice ever, so please be extremely careful with SpaceX. Anecdotes like the one below are not things you see in a normal environment. There are a large amount of institutions who have racked up large paper gains on SpaceX who probably want liquidity the second they can get it.

Given how massive this IPO is, it looks like we’re set for an extremely entertaining day.

Today’s newsletter is in partnership with 9fin AI. Let’s get into it.

Earnings Corner 💸 

• Oracle $ORCL ( ▲ 0.02% ) revenue beat at $19.2B vs. $19.1B and EPS beat at $2.03 vs. $1.96. Results were driven by continued strength in Oracle’s cloud business, with cloud revenue up 47% and cloud infrastructure revenue surging 93% as the company signed large AI related contracts and expanded capacity for customers like OpenAI. Remaining performance obligations jumped 363% to $638B, signaling future demand. Oracle maintained its FY27 revenue target of $90B and raised its profit outlook, management disclosed plans to raise another $40B through debt and equity to fund its AI infrastructure buildout, raising concerns about cash burn and future dilution. Additionally, Oracle was hit the rumors that OpenAI is reportedly considering making drastic compute price cuts to better compete against Anthropic.

• Chewy $CHWY ( ▲ 2.88% ) Revenue beat at $3.36B vs. $3.35B, while EPS was in line at $0.43. Results were driven by Autoship strength, with subscription sales up 10.5% and representing 84% of total sales as customers continued to lean on recurring pet care purchases. Higher spending per customer also supported growth. Margins improved, but the stock was hit after cutting its FY26 guide from $13.6-$13.75B to $13.4B-$13.55B.

• Adobe $ADBE ( ▼ 6.76% ) revenue beat rising 13% y/y coming in at a record $6.62B vs. $6.45B, while EPS beat at $5.96 vs. $5.81. Management raised FY26 revenue guidance to $26.5B-$26.6B and increased its EPS outlook. Despite the strong results, shares fell after a strategic plan to focus more on the freemium model, and CFO Dan Durn announced his departure to Marvell, raising concerns around leadership turnover following CEO Shantanu Narayen's planned exit.

• Lennar $LEN ( ▼ 4.9% ) Revenue missed at $7.94B vs. $8.00B, while EPS narrowly missed at $1.24 vs. $1.25. Results were pressured by high mortgage rates, affordability constraints, and cautious consumer demand, forcing the company to rely on incentives and lower pricing to maintain sales volume. Home deliveries rose 2% y/y, but the average selling price fell 5% to $371K, pressuring margins as gross margin declined to 15.6% from 17.8% due to lower pricing and higher land costs. Management moderated its full year delivery outlook to 82K-83K homes amid continued housing market headwinds.

On The Move 📈 📉

• Space stocks $FLY ( ▼ 19.05% ) , $MNTS ( ▼ 26.69% ) , and $RDW ( ▼ 11.53% ) rallied ahead of SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO, as broader investor enthusiasm for commercial space lifted the entire sector.

• Robinhood $HOOD ( ▲ 1.04% ) jumped after winning regulatory approval to act as an IPO underwriter, with strong May operating data and PT hikes from Cantor and Goldman adding fuel.

• Memory stocks $SNDK ( ▲ 5.24% ) , $WDC ( ▲ 6.36% ) , and $MU ( ▼ 1.43% ) rebounded after SK Hynix announced plans to roughly double wafer capacity within five years and triple it by 2034 to meet AI driven memory demand. The KOSPI is also rallying.

• Intel $INTC ( ▲ 6.51% ) popped after BofA upgraded the chipmaker to Buy with a $135 PT, pointing to Intel’s positioning in agentic CPUs and leading edge wafers.

• Super Micro Computer $SMCI ( ▼ 4.72% ) rebounded after investors saw the $7B financing as fuel for converting $39B in AI server orders into revenue rather than pure dilution.

IPO Roundup 📍 

• SpaceX priced the largest IPO in history at $135 per share for a $75B raise, with trading set to begin Friday under SPCX. The deal drew demand for more than four times the available shares, with BlackRock placing an order to buy $5B alone and retail investors submitting over $100B in orders that far exceeded the 20% reserved for them. The pricing delivers record VC returns with Founders Fund’s ~3% stake now worth $50B+ on $600M invested over nearly 20 years, Valor Equity Partners’ ~4% position valued at ~$70B, Sequoia’s 1.5 stake at $20B+, and Andreessen Horowitz securing its largest return ever at over $10B. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA, Citigroup, and JPMorgan are leading the deal alongside 18 other banks.

• Kardigan Inc. is targeting up to $373.3M in its IPO, pricing 23.3M shares at $14-$16 for up to a $1.4B valuation. The heart drug developer is advancing three late stage drugs for cardiovascular diseases after raising $254M in an October Series B. JPMorgan, Jefferies, Leerink Partners, and Toronto-Dominion Bank are leading the offering.

• Parabilis Medicines jumped 58% in its Nasdaq debut Wednesday, closing at $31.60 versus its $20 IPO price for a $3.8B valuation. The cancer drug developer raised about $745M in an upsized offering, with demand reaching roughly 10 times the available shares. Leerink Partners, BofA, Evercore, Guggenheim Securities and LifeSci Capital led the offering.

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Today’s Headlines 📖🍿 

• The Iran latest: After two days of strikes between the US and Iran, strikes that were planned last night have been postponed due to Trump’s claims of peace talk progress. It now sounds like a peace deal is closer, but Trump had previously stated that the U.S. at some point would seize total control of Kharg Island, which handles 90% of Iran’s crude exports.

• Nasdaq-100 adds CoreWeave, Astera Labs, and three others in June rebalance: $ALAB ( ▼ 0.09% ) , $CRWV ( ▲ 5.02% ) , $RKLB ( ▼ 10.8% ) , $NBIS ( ▲ 4.55% ) , and $TER ( ▲ 5.72% ) join the index effective June 22, replacing $CHTR ( ▲ 4.8% ) , $CTSH ( ▲ 1.93% ) , $INSM ( ▲ 1.17% ) , $VRSK ( ▲ 0.99% ) , and $ZS ( ▲ 2.7% ) , skewing the index heavily toward AI infrastructure and space.

• Oaktree positions for distressed cycle as maturity wall closes in: Over $200B in high-yield and leveraged loan debt is trading below 90 cents and above 15% yield-to-maturity. Software-heavy private credit vintages from 2021-2022 are most at risk, with a third of tech issues maturing in 2028 yet to demonstrate capital markets access.

• High-yield debt bifurcation hits multi-year extremes amid stagflation fears: CCC-rated bond spreads are now 640bps over BB-rated bonds, the widest premium in 14 months. Pimco, Federated Hermes, and Glendon Capital all flagged rising stress in leveraged loans and private credit.

• CoreWeave taps European high-yield bond market: The GPU cloud company priced €2B and $1.25B in high-yield bonds at 8.5% and 9.625% respectively, drawing €7B+ in orders as European investors hunt for AI exposure. The deal marks the first euro-denominated high-yield bond offering by a US AI infrastructure firm.

• Liquidity cracks emerge in retail-facing private credit funds: Blackstone and Partners Group capped withdrawals last week after a surge in redemption requests, exposing a mismatch between illiquid underlying assets and retail investor expectations. Man Group’s CIO sees the chaos as “growing pains,” arguing that higher-for-longer rates are a tailwind for disciplined floating-rate middle-market lenders.

• KKR takes $3B majority stake in Crowe: The Chicago-based accounting firm, long resistant to outside ownership, joins the long list of top-100 US accounting firms that have taken PE capital since 2021. Crowe cites AI adoption and M&A power as the strategic rationale.

• Apollo flags software as PE’s biggest risk: With $4T in unsold assets and hold times doubling to 8 years, Apollo’s Antoine Munfakh warned that a pickup in exits will expose GPs who marked software portfolios too aggressively, calling the sector’s rise of to 40% of buyout volumes a “systemic failure of risk management.” Apollo has pivoted to HALO assets as a hedge.

• Mubadala hunts deals as private equity exits dry up: The $385B Abu Dhabi fund’s private equity arm closed 16 deals in the past three months, with typical equity commitments of $500M to $1B and individual checks as large as $2B. Co-CEOs Camilla Languille and Luca Molinari are pushing the platform into direct underwriting, minority recapitalizations, and other complex deals as buyout firms struggle to offload assets.

• Yum! Brands nears Pizza Hut sale to Long Range Capital: The Louisville-based parent of KFC and Taco Bell is reportedly in talks with the Connecticut-based PE firm to offload Pizza Hut, with a deal potentially finalized in the coming weeks. The talks follow Yum’s November strategic review of Pizza Hut as the chain faces rising competition.

• Bezos’s Prometheus raises $12B Series B at $41B valuation: The AI startup is building tools to accelerate engineering and manufacturing of physical products, with Bezos saying it is creating an “artificial general engineer.” Prometheus launched in November with $6.2B in funding, co-led by Bezos and former Verily co-founder Vik Bajaj.

M&A Transactions💭 

Masimo, a medical technology company, was acquired for $10.459B by Danaher (NYS: DHR). EV/EBITDA was 30.63x and EV/Revenue was 6.71x. Centerview Partners and Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

Magnetic Resources (ASX: MAUCA), a mineral exploration company, was acquired for AUD 639.0M by Genesis Minerals (ASX: GMB). EV/Cash Flow was 32.3x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Kiavi, operator of a technology-enabled lending platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $717.0M by Figure Technology Solutions (NAS: FIGR). EV/EBIDTA was 7.17x. and EV/Revenue was 2.87x. Jefferies advised on the sale.

Interplex, manufacturer of interconnect and medical products, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $900.0M by BizLink Group (TAI: 3665). The transaction comprises of a contingent payout of $50.0M.

Flowa Technology, provider of engineered water infrastructure services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for SEK 6.5B by Nordic Capital.

Fabric8Labs, developer of non-thermal metal three-dimensional printing technology, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $400.0M by TDK (TKS: 6762).

Enivest, provider of electronic communication services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for NOK 2.5B by Telenor Group (OSL: TEL). EV/EBITDA was 21.53x and EV/Revenue was 9.65x.

Emalex Biosciences, developer of biopharmaceutical drugs, was acquired for $700.0M by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TAE: TEVA). Centerview Partners and PHCP. advised on the sale.

AMES North America, manufacturer of home and building products and a subsidiary of AMES Companies, was acquired for $261.0M by Ingersoll Tillage Group.

SSG.COM, operator of an e-commerce platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for KRW 1.27T by E-Mart (KRX: 139480). EV/Revenue was 0.89x.

KalVista, a pharmaceutical company, was acquired for $1.6B by Chiesi Farmaceutici. Centerview Partners and Jefferies advised on the sale.

Private Placement Transactions💭 

TensorWave, developer of AI compute infrastructure, raised $350.0M of Series B venture funding led by AMD Ventures and Magnetar Capital at a pre-money valuation of $1.2B.

SonoThera, developer of a nonviral gene therapy platform, raised $125.0M of Series B venture funding led by Vida Ventures.

Neura Robotics, manufacturer of robotic assistants, raised EUR 1.5B of Series C venture funding from Tether, Amazon.com, and Qualcomm Ventures at a pre-money valuation of EUR 5.5B.

Nesto, developer of a mortgage platform, raised $302.0M of venture funding from Fidelity, Fonds de solidarite FTQ, and Diagram Ventures.

Ethyreal Bio, developer of biotechnology research platform, raised $101.0M through a combination of Series A and Series B venture funding led by Atlas Ventures, Medicxi, and Avoro Capital.

Cyera, developer of a holistic data storage and security platform, raised $600.0M of Series G venture funding led by Evolution Equity Partners at a pre-money valuation of $11.7B.

Compound Creative Holdings, operator of a creative platform, was formed as a JV between Creative Artists Agency and Integrated Media Company for $250.0M.

Cadena, developer of digital commerce technologies, raised $275.0M of Series C venture funding led by Al Dawlia Capital Network and other investors.

Beren Therapeutics, developer of therapeutic medicines, raised $300.0M in venture funding through a combination of debt and equity from Stern Stewart Ventures, Eisai, and Hercules Capital BDC.

Digital Asset, developer of a distributed ledger technology, raised $355.0M of venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Odds of the Day 🍒 

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 17% chance of Spain winning the World Cup.

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