Before the bell: Step right up — yes, markets can go down

A coordinated effort to push stocks lower? Kinepolis grows in the US and overtakes the French.

Despite very strong results, investors sent Palantir 8% lower yesterday. That pretty much sums up the story of the Nasdaq, which fell 2%. The amount of commentary about the decline is almost comical — as if a pullback were some rare natural disaster. In reality, it simply shows how unusually long we have gone without a correction. People are uncomfortable because they’ve forgotten what normal looks like. A bit of weight loss never hurt anyone, and the same goes for markets. Palantir was absurdly expensive — now a slice of that excess has been shaved off. Just as this happened, notorious short seller Michael Burry disclosed put options betting on declines in Palantir and Nvidia. At the same time, the CEOs of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs warned about bubbles. It almost feels coordinated. Even Spotify beat expectations, yet still fell 2.3%. The same for Uber: revenue up 20%, profit jumping from 2.6 billion to 6.6 billion dollar — stock down 5%. After the bell, AMD also reported. Nvidia, the long-standing tech market leader, dropped 4%. There were positive reactions too, mainly in Europe: Philips gained 3.5% on better-than-expected earnings.

In Tokyo the Topix falls 1.2% this morning, while Chinese markets are flat to slightly lower. Today brings a flood of earnings, including Barry Callebaut, BMW, Ahold Delhaize, Novo Nordisk, Pandora and Vestas Wind. In Brussels, bpost, Galapagos and Jensen report before the bell, while Melexis hosts an investor day. Yesterday, large shareholders placed a block of Tubize shares at a 7.3% discount to the previous close — that may weigh today. Care Property Invest saw earnings per share rise 10%. In the US, we await results from ARM Holdings, McDonald’s, Robinhood and Cameco.

Logistics real estate, as steady as ever

Far away from Wall Street’s theatrics, Belgian logistics property specialist Montea delivered its usual message: everything is on track, both for short-term and multi-year targets. Earnings rose 22% over the first nine months, although that translates into 8% per share due to the capital increase. Occupancy stands at 99.8%, and the debt ratio increased from 33.7% to 38.8%. No less than 78% of the 1.5 billion euro investment programme through 2027 is already secured. CEO Jo De Wolf maintains guidance for 8% earnings growth this year, to 4.9 euro per share. Noteworthy: De Wolf points to rising demand and better prospects for the development pipeline. The webcast for the 9M 2025 results takes place today at 11 a.m: 9M 2025 results webcast.

Kinepolis expands in America

Analysts reacted positively to the US acquisition of 14 cinemas by Kinepolis (+3%) for 105 million dollar. Investors appreciate that the group is already active in the northeastern US, which offers operational advantages and shows confidence that Americans enjoy the Belgian cinema model. Spaarvarkens readers know Pascal is not a fan of the stock, while Stefan is — but what does Jan think? I don’t believe streaming will kill cinema. Going to the movies is going out. Young people don’t want to stay home forever. Kinepolis has been proving for years that it is superior at running and acquiring cinemas profitably — even in a no-growth sector. Of course, it must avoid pushing ticket prices past the pain threshold. The high debt raises risk, and that comes with the territory. In normal times, Kinepolis is a cash-machine with a return of more than 10%. The key condition: the past few years were exceptionally weak, and the drought in film releases must finally be over.

Did you know…

that thanks to its US acquisition, Kinepolis now operates 1,320 screens — just enough to overtake France’s Pathé Cinémas (1,318) and become the largest cinema chain in Europe?