Clear market notes built around the JSE, the rand, and what matters locally.

2026-08-05 06:05 • The Motley Fool Positive Axe Cap view: Selective

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest has accumulated an $870.6 million Tesla position, adding $14.3 million in shares after Tesla's recent 20% decline this year. Wood maintains a bullish 2029 price target of $2,600 per share (700% upside potential), betting primarily on Tesla's autonomous vehicle and robotaxi technology rather than its Optimus robot initiative. Tesla has made progress on full self-driving software and robotaxi operations in select U.S. cities.

Axe note: Ark Invest backs Tesla's future on self-driving and robotaxis despite recent share price weakness.

2026-08-05 02:04 • The Motley Fool Positive Axe Cap view: Selective

Backblaze stock surged 26.94% after beating Q2 earnings expectations with 18% revenue growth to $42.7M and 34% B2 Cloud Storage revenue growth. The company raised full-year guidance and announced a $335M partnership with CoreWeave for AI storage solutions, demonstrating strong demand for scalable storage in AI workloads.

Axe note: Backblaze's earnings beat and AI partnership boost highlight the growing demand for cloud storage, with limited direct South African exposure but rand sentiment worth watching.

2026-08-05 00:30 • The Motley Fool Negative Axe Cap view: Selective

ASML stock fell 18% in July due to a broader AI sector sell-off following reports of Anthropic developing its own AI chip, and concerns about Chinese competition in ultraviolet lithography machines. Despite beating Q2 earnings expectations and raising full-year guidance, these headwinds outweighed positive results.

Axe note: ASML’s stock fell sharply despite strong earnings, spotlighting risks in the global tech chain that ripple to South Africa via the rand and select sectors.