The Bot Brief

- Victor Hugo

 

In a one percentage point swing, the Bot Index bested the broader S & P 500 this week. While the bots rose 73 basis points, the S & P fell 64 basis points. The Japanese holdings were a drag on performance of the Bot Index all of which were down, there were four strong performers that allowed the index to outperform. The best performer, the 3-D printing company, 3D Systems jumped 36.9% during the week. The company announced it had sold its Geomagic software to a company called Hexagon. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025 and bring $123 million to the coffers of the printer. The company announced it would use the proceeds to bolster its traditional 3D printing software.

Tesla continued its surge in the equity marketplace with a 12.8% increase. The removal of rival to its robo-taxi business – GM, will allow Tesla to dominate not only that business but perhaps the entire EV future.

Google rose 8.44% following its announced quantum computing chip that even Elon Musk publicly gave homage to. 

Immersion Corp., a haptics company jumped nearly 6 percent after a report from PPinvest quoted, “A transformative move in 2024 saw Immersion acquire 42% of Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), gaining control via board appointments. This $55 million investment has already doubled in market value to $115 million, reflecting the rapid turnaround potential of BNED. Consolidating BNED into Immersion's financials has significantly bolstered its results, with quarterly revenues surging from $7 million to $99.4 million and profits climbing from $7 million to $28.8 million. Strategic customer agreements with industry giants like Meta, Samsung, and Nintendo have further driven growth.”

The stock trades in the mid to low single digits and investors view the company as an inexpensive play on gaming and technology.

AeroVironment was again one of the poorest stocks for the week. Its earnings release was a disappointment to investors for the high-flying (pun intended) drone company, coming in 51% below expectations at $0.27 per share.

Oceaneering International fell 4.50%, giving up the near 40% return over the past year. Nevertheless, the company has provided shareholders with 36.37% since mid-December of 2023.

Mr. Roboto:

The engineering magazine IEEE Spectrum produced an interesting piece on the evolution of humanoid robots. In a feature entitled Where’s My Robot Butler, the magazine chronicles the beginnings of the personal robotic concept by R2D2, C-3PO and the Jetson’s Rosie to the development of a comprehensive humanoid assistant to conduct the affairs of the household. With Goldman Sachs projecting a $38 billion market by 2035, the race is on to accomplish the long-envisioned creation of a workable ‘servant’ without the fears created by the Terminator movies. 

The cutesy article follows the dead-end flows of various strategies to come to a favorable robotic conclusion. The major obstacles include software (which the authors conclude is the largest conundrum as “robot learning algorithms have hit a wall. They can’t adapt to uncertainty well enough to be reliable and useful in real-world applications” and robot hardware where actuators fail to produce the necessary measured movements. The authors leave us with the hope that AI will provide the breakthroughs that can allow us to have our own household ‘Rosie’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.