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The Bot Brief
POSTED 11/11/2024
"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."
- Victor Hugo
Bots in the News:
Concurrent with the explosive market following the U.S. Presidential election, the Bot Index experienced one of its best weeks in its near nine-year history. The bots gained 5.61%, considerably better than the 4.66% return from the Standard and Poor’s 500. Three double digit gainers assisted the Bot Index in its outperformance and almost a third of the components of the Index jumped over 5%.
Faro Corp. jumped an astounding 51.99% based upon mixed earning report. While profit margins gained, revenue was down year over year. The crowning impetus was management’s optimistic forecast for the final quarter of the year.
Tesla rose 29.01% as the company’s star power was only enhanced by the role played in the Trump victory by CEO Elon Musk.,
Other significant gainers include Oceaneering International (+14.16%), NVIDIA (+9.03%), Azenta (+8.64%), Textron (+7.49%), Teledyne (+7.48%), and Cognex Corp. (+6.19%).
The major loser for the week was iRobot Corp. whose fortunes fell 27%. Despite the recent earnings report which showed some progress in improvement, Losses continued, and revenues came in 11% below analysts’ expectations. Shareholder fatigue, following the failed merger into Amazon, continues to dog the corporation’s comeback efforts.
Are Drones the Answer?
With several open conflicts currently exacting a toll on worldwide peace and incremental levels of tension in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States, military establishments are increasingly turning to drones to augment their armaments. Forces in the Ukraine have successfully utilized killer drones to help offset the manpower and armed vehicle superiority of Russia, Israel has utilized drone strikes to ‘take out’ specific personnel targets and the U.S. has employed observatory and strike drones in Syria and Africa.
The IEEE Spectrum featured a couple of articles regarding the utilization of drones concerning the protection of Taiwan. In ‘Defending Taiwan With Chips and Drones’ the authors introduced Taiwan’s Silicon Shield, the country is counting on its chip superiority to provide protection. The U.S. has committed to the independence of the island nation and the commander of the Indo-Pacific Fleet has publicly stated, “I want to turn the Taiwan Strait into an unmanned hellscape using a number of classified capabilities.”
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Brian Clark at the Hudson Institute noted, “U.S. attack drones positioned on the likely routes could disrupt or possibly even halt a Chinese invasion, much as Ukrainian sea drones have denied Russia access to the western Black Sea”. With its navy destroyed, the Security Service of Ukraine launched a maritime drone program to counter the expansion of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. The Ukrainian drone program was launched in 2022 and, with coordination with Starlink satellites, commercial aero imagery and drone aircraft, the program’s success can be counted by having destroyed or disabled one third of the Russian fleet, including the flagship MOSKVA.
With knowledge of the success of Ukraine’s marine defenses using the combination of aerial and naval drones, China may restrain its forceful takeover intensions. With U.S. aid and a solid Silicon Shield strategy, the independence of Taiwan has been bolstered.
Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association (now A3 Automation), Member IEEE.
The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective view of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of the material presented.