Super Micro Computer 's stock soared more than 30% on Nov. 19 after it appointed a new independent auditor and submitted a compliance plan to Nasdaq to avoid a potential delisting. Those announcements addressed its two pressing issues: the departure of its auditor Ernst & Young in October, and a delayed filing for its 10-K report, which could cause its stock to be delisted. But even after that rally, Supermicro's stock remains 76% below its all-time high from this March. The server maker's shares are still being weighed down by concerns about its sliding gross margins, competition from bigger server makers like Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise , and troubling allegations of inflated revenues from a prolific short seller. Its delayed annual report and loss of Ernst & Young seemed to support that bearish thesis, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly getting ready to probe Supermicro's business. Supermicro's stock looks dirt cheap at 8 times forward earnings , but it will likely trade at that discount until it fully resolves its accounting and regulatory issues. So instead of betting on Supermicro's long-shot turnaround, investors would probably be better off sticking with these two millionaire-maker blue chip AI stocks instead: Microsoft ( MSFT 1.00% ) and Broadcom ( AVGO 0.18% ) . The AI software leader: Microsoft Microsoft generated a total return of more than 900% over the past decade. That rally, which was mainly driven by the explosive growth of its cloud business, would have turned a $100,000 investment into more than $1 million. Microsoft turned into a growth stock again after Satya Nadella, who became its CEO in 2014, drove the company to transform its desktop-based software into cloud-based services and mobile apps. It also turned Azure into the world's second-largest cloud infrastructure platform and expanded its hardware and gaming businesses. Over the past five years, Microsoft ramped up its investments in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and integrated the start-up's generative AI tools into its own search and cloud services. Thanks to that foresight, it tethered more businesses and consumers to its cloud ecosystem, and it gained a first-mover's advantage against Alphabet 's Google and other tech giants in the nascent generative AI market. In fiscal 2024 (which ended this June), Microsoft's AI-driven transformation boosted its total cloud revenues by 23% to $135 billion -- which represented 55% of its top line. From fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2027, analysts expect its revenue and earnings per share (EPS) to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% and 15%, respectively. Its stock still looks reasonably valued at 28 times next year's earnings, and it will likely remain a top play on the AI market for years to come. The AI chipmaking play: Broadcom Broadcom, which was known as Avago before it took over the original Broadcom in 2016, has generated a total return of 2,300% over the past 10 years. That rally would have turned a $50,000 investment into $1.2 million. Broadcom's semiconductor business sells a broad range of chips for the mobile, wireless, networking, data storage, and industrial markets. But over the past few years, it built a massive infrastructure software business by acquiring CA Technologies, Symantec's enterprise security division, and the cloud software giant VMware. Broadcom's chipmaking and software businesses are both growing. But over the past two years, its sales of networking and optical chips for the AI-oriented data center market skyrocketed as more companies upgraded their infrastructure. For fiscal 2024 (which ended in October), it expects its sales of AI-oriented chips to roughly triple to $12 billion, or nearly a quarter of its projected sales for the full year. That rapid growth should offset its slower sales of non-AI chips and infrastructure software, which are both more sensitive to macro headwinds. From fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2026, analysts expect Broadcom's revenue to grow at a CAGR of 15% as its EPS increases at a CAGR of 124%. That earnings growth should be driven by brisk sales of AI chips and the expansion of its higher-margin software business. Its stock might seem a bit pricey at 42 times forward earnings, but its track record of smart acquisitions, high exposure to the AI market, and robust growth could justify that higher valuation.NoneFlyers can't hold 3-0 lead, fall to Golden Knights in shootout
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Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreamsThe top are reliable investments for starting a worry-free passive-income stream. For instance, leading utility companies in Canada, such as and , have been known for consistently paying and increasing their distributions for more than 50 consecutive years. Meanwhile, energy giants like and have been consistently increasing their dividends for multiple decades. While these are a no-brainer for income investors, they offer quarterly payouts. Here, I’ll focus on a stock that pays a monthly dividend. In addition, it offers an attractive yield, making it a solid stock for earning $124 in monthly passive income with a $20,000 investment. The TSX has several stocks that offer monthly distributions. Among the leading companies, ( ) stands out for its solid dividend payment history, dependable payouts, and high yield. It’s worth noting that this owns and operates a diverse portfolio of 195 mixed-use properties, including retail shopping centres. A key feature of its portfolio is the significant presence of grocery-anchored shopping centres. These properties add stability to its operations, as grocery stores remain resilient even during challenging economic times. Thanks to its resilient portfolio, SmartCentres generates solid net operating income (NOI) and witnesses a high demand for its real estate in all market conditions. Currently, SmartCentres pays a monthly dividend of $0.154 per share, equating to a compelling yield of about 7.5% based on its recent closing price of $24.69 (as of December 23, 2024). SmartCentres REIT is a compelling investment for investors seeking consistent and reliable income. The solid performance of its core retail business, backed by a high occupancy rate and ongoing contributions from its mixed-use development projects, lays a strong foundation for growing its net operating income. This growth is expected to drive its monthly dividend payouts. The REIT’s portfolio of high-quality, high-traffic, value-oriented centres continues to see strong demand. An increasing number of new tenants, combined with a solid mix of existing tenants, enhances cash flow and drives even higher occupancy rates. Notably, SmartCentres’s occupancy rate reached an impressive 98.5% by the end of the third quarter (Q3) of 2024. In addition, rental growth and robust cash collections further bolster its financial performance. The momentum in SmartCentres’s leasing activity reflects the strength of its tenant mix and market positioning. New tenant demand and favourable renewal rates suggest that the company’s NOI will continue to grow in the coming quarters, reinforcing its ability to deliver stable and attractive dividends. Beyond its retail portfolio, SmartCentres is actively diversifying its revenue streams through its mixed-use development strategy. By integrating residential, self-storage, and industrial formats, the company is broadening its income base while enhancing long-term growth prospects. SmartCentres also benefits from several strategic advantages, including long-term contracts with retail tenants, a high retention rate, and a vast land bank, which provides significant opportunities for future growth and will likely drive its payouts. SmartCentres’s resilient real estate portfolio, continued demand, strong renewal trends, solid cash collection, and high occupancy rate position it well to enhance its shareholders’ value through regular monthly payouts. The table below illustrates how a $20,000 investment can help you buy 810 SmartCentres stock to generate a reliable income stream of over $124 per month.New turtle moms hit the beach in Greece, and the school buses making electricity
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Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreamsThree of these images are fake. Can you spot the real image? Some images generated by artificial intelligence have become so convincingly real that there is no surefire way to spot the fakes. But experts say there are still things we can try to detect fakes. "Media literacy is super awesome," said Matt Groh, assistant professor at Northwestern University. "But it needs to extend to AI literacy. Like the classic kind of things that you want to teach in media literacy, we still need to teach those same things. We just need to add the AI portion to it now." RELATED STORY | Nobel Prize in physics awarded to 2 scientists for discoveries that enabled artificial intelligence Groh's team at Northwestern released a guide on how to spot AI generated images. The full preprint paper was released in June. "So what we've done is we've articulated 5 different categories of artifacts, implausibilities," Groh said. "Ways to tell AI-generated image apart from a real photograph." The academic preprint guide offers detailed tips, tricks and examples on spotting AI-generated images. It also teaches important questions to consider when consuming media. Anatomical implausibilities The first and easiest telltale signs: anatomical implausibilities. Ask yourself: Are the fingers, eyes, and bodies off? Are there extra limbs or do they bend strangely? Are there too many teeth? Stylistic implausibilities Ask yourself: Do images seem plastic, glossy, shiny or cartoonish? Are there overly dramatic or cinematic? Functional implausibilities Ask yourself: Is text garbled? Is clothing strange? Are objects not physically correct, like how this backpack strap merges into clothing? Violation of physics Ask yourself: Are light and shadows off? Are there impossible reflections? Sociocultural implausibilities Ask yourself: Are there images that are just too unbelievable or historically inaccurate? RELATED STORY | AI voice cloning: How programs are learning to pick up on pitch and tone "What we're trying to do is give you a snapshot of what it looks like in 2024 and how we can help people move their attention as effectively as possible," Groh said. "Education is really the biggest thing. There's education on the tools," said Cole Whitecotton, senior professional research associate at the National Center for Media Forensics. Whitecotton encourages the public to educate themselves and try AI tools to know their capabilities and limits. "I think everybody should go out and use it. And look at how these things do what they do and understand a bit of it," he said. "Everyone should interact with ChatGPT. In some way. Everyone should interact with Midjourney. And look at how these things do what they do and understand a bit of it." Whitecotton suggests being inquisitive and curious when scrolling through social media. "If you interacted with every piece of content in that way, then there you would be a lot less likely to be duped and to be sort of sucked into that sort of stuff, right?" he said. "How do you interact with Facebook and with Twitter and all these things? How do you consume the media?" Whitecotton added. RELATED STORY | Biden's AI advisor speaks on AI policy, deepfakes, and the use of AI in war While AI-generated images and videos continue to evolve, Groh and his team offer a realistic approach to a changing technological landscape where tips and tricks may become outdated quickly. "I think a real, good, useful thing is we build this. We update this every year. Okay, some of these things work. Some of these things don't. And I think once we have a base, we're able to update it," Groh said. "I think one of the problems is we didn't have a base. And so one of the things we're really excited about is even sharing our framework, because I think our framework is going to help people just navigate that conversation." So were you able to guess which image is real? If you guessed the image of the girl in the bottom left corner, you are correct! "It sucks that there's this misinformation in the world. But it's also possible to navigate this new problem," Groh said. If you want to test yourself even more, the Northwestern University research team has released this site that gives you a series of real and AI-generated images to differentiate.