The Bot Brief

"There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."     

- Victor Hugo

Bots in the News:

What a difference a week makes in today’s equity markets. Last week the Bot Index held only one stock that rose, and the Index fell over 5%. This week, however, the bots recovered 3% and beat the S & P 500’s return of 1.68%.

President-elect Trump’s comments regarding fast-tracking of self-driving vehicles led investors to accelerate their interest in two of the Bot Index’s holding. Consequently, Tesla led the Index with a 10% gain and NIO Inc. increased 8.02%.

Azenta Corp. rose 8.60% as it was announced that it would join the S & P 500 Small Cap Index. The move would stimulate incremental investment demand as ETF’s and index-based mutual funds would be required to add Azenta to their portfolios.

Another Trump’s initiatives of ‘drill baby drill’ served shareholders of Oceaneering International well. The company, known for its autonomous mobile robotic technology servicing the energy industry, gained 7.70%.

Drones Rock!

The Bot Brief has spent considerable ink on drone companies in the past few months. The interest in drone capabilities has exploded with news items frequently appearing in underwater applications, warfare surveillance and ordinance delivery, agriculture and even archaeology. Just this week was a feature that credited drones as archaeologist discovered ancient fish trap canals that date back 40th00 years used by the predecessors of the Mayan culture.

With the Ukrainian army utilizing 10,000 drones a month with huge success, the U.S. Army has become concerned that they are falling behind in the conversion to non-traditional combat equipment. Hence, the Defense Department ordered 5,880 backpack sized drones designed primarily for surveillance from a company called Red Cat (not in the Bot Index). With the Ukrainian success with smaller and cheaper drones, the Army purchase perhaps signifies a shift in strategy away from the expensive Predator and Reaper drones and into more flexible and less expensive ‘pocket’ drones.

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.

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