Freenet earns less + Bitcoin with a new ATH + AT&T continues to expand its fiber optic business + Alphabet strong due to praise for AI statements + Infineon and Nvidia cooperate

Freenet $FNTN (+1,41%)earns less

• Despite somewhat weaker business in the first quarter, mobile communications and TV provider Freenet believes it is on course to achieve its targets for the year.
• Thanks to additional subscribers, sales rose by just under two percent year-on-year to a good 604 million euros according to adjusted figures, as the MDax-listed company announced in Büdelsdorf on Wednesday evening.
• Profits actually fell - due to a tax credit in the previous year, but also due to higher advertising expenditure for the company's own mobile brands.
• As a result, the bottom line for Freenet shareholders was a profit of a good 57 million euros this time, compared to almost 70 million euros a year earlier according to adjusted figures.
• Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) fell by just under 1 percent to a good 126 million euros.
• Analysts had expected higher sales and operating earnings.
• However, the Freenet Management Board is confident for the current year.
• Adjusted operating profit is expected to rise to between 520 and 540 million euros as planned.
• The news was initially rather poorly received on the financial market.
• In after-hours trading on the Tradegate platform in the evening, the Freenet share lost almost two percent compared to the Xetra closing price.

Bitcoin $BTC (+1,32%)with a new ATH

• Bitcoin reached almost USD 112,000 in early trading on Bitstamp as hopes for an easing of crypto regulation in the US increased.
• Since the election of Donald Trump as US president, Bitcoin has gained around 60 percent and currently has a total valuation of 2.2 trillion dollars.

AT&T $T (+0,83%)continues to expand its fiber optic business

• AT&T has reached an agreement to acquire the consumer fiber optics business of Lumen Technologies for USD 5.75 billion in cash, the companies announced on Wednesday.
• The deal further expands the wireless carrier's national fiber infrastructure.
• By purchasing the business, AT&T gains 1 million fiber customers and significantly expands its fiber network in Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle, according to an AT&T statement.
• The sale of the consumer fiber assets, first reported by Reuters, will allow Lumen to focus on growing the company's enterprise fiber business, Chris Stansbury, Lumen's chief financial officer, told Reuters in an interview.
• The cash proceeds from the sale will help Lumen reduce its debt by $4.8 billion and improve cash flow by reducing interest expense by more than $300 million a year, according to Stansbury.

Alphabet $GOOGL (-1,87%)strong, due to praise for AI claims

• At Alphabet, a positive interpretation of the company's latest statements on artificial intelligence (AI) prevailed in the middle of the week.
• This was matched by a series of favorable analyst comments.
• On the second and final day of the company's annual developer conference, shares in Google's parent company rose by almost four percent to around 170 US dollars on Wednesday.
• The stock market heavyweight thus led the list of winners in the Nasdaq 100.
• At times, the shares reached their highest level in two and a half months at 173.14 dollars.
• The day before, the company's initial statements on the AI mega-trend had met with a negative response.
• Since the beginning of the year, however, the share price has still fallen by ten percent, placing it in the lower midfield of the technology-heavy selection index.
• The latter has risen by one percent in the same period.
• Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai had already announced on Tuesday that the company would bring its own products to market more quickly in order to keep pace with the new competition in the age of AI.
• After decades of dominance, the tech giant's important search engine business is coming under increasing pressure.
• However, it still maintains a market share of around 90 percent here - and is upgrading its search engine with AI functions.
• This should help the Group to strengthen its continued leading role in the search engine market, commented analyst Ingo Wermann from DZ Bank.
• His colleague Doug Anmuth from the US bank JPMorgan added that the developer conference had confirmed his assessment that Google is taking a leading role in many AI areas with its xxx Gemini.
• Jefferies expert Brent Thill titled his commentary on the developer conference "Year of Gemini".
• According to Justin Post from Bank of America, the topic of AI is not yet adequately priced in at Alphabet.

Infineon $IFX (+1,66%)and Nvidia $NVDA (-0,33%)cooperate

• Infineon and Nvidia are working together to develop the next generation of power supply systems for AI data centers.
• These systems are based on a new architecture with centralized power generation using 800V high-voltage DC, according to Infineon.
• The new high-voltage DC distribution ensures a safe and even more efficient power supply.
• According to Infineon, the company has set itself the goal of creating new standards in power supply for AI data centers.

Thursday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

• ex-dividend of individual stocks
• Porsche AG € 2.31
• Puma SE € 0.61
• CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA € 1.66
• Takkt AG € 0.60
• ZEAL Network SE € 2.40
• Imperial Brands PLC £ 0.40

• Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
• 05:00 Lenovo annual results
• 15:00 Home Depot AGM
• 19:00 DuPont AGM
• Untimed: Autodesk quarterly figures

• Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
• 07:30 CTS Eventim | Assicurazioni Generali quarterly figures
• 08:00 Easyjet | BT Group quarterly figures
• 11:00 Amadeus Fire | SFC Energy AGM
• 13:45 Evonik Industries Capital Markets Day

• Economic data

08:45 FR: Business Climate Index May PROGNOSE: 99 previous: 99

09:15 FR: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI non-manufacturing | 09:15 FR: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI manufacturing (1st release) May FORECAST: 48.9 PREVIOUS: 48.7

09:30 DE: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI non-manufacturing (1st release) May PROGNOSE: 49.2 previous: 49.0 Total Purchasing Managers' Index (1st release) FORECAST: 50.3 previous: 50.1

09:30 DE: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI manufacturing (1st release) May FORECAST: 48.8 PREVIOUS: 48.4

10:00 DE: Ifo Business Climate Index May PROGNOSE: 87.5 PREVIOUS: 86.9 Situation assessment PROGNOSE: 86.9 PREVIOUS: 86.4 Business expectations PROGNOSE: 87.9 PREVIOUS: 87.4

10:00 EU: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI non-manufacturing | Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI manufacturing Eurozone (1st release) May FORECAST: 49.3 PREVIOUS: 49.0 Total Purchasing Managers' Index (1st release) FORECAST: 50.8 PREVIOUS: 50.4

10:30 UK: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI non-manufacturing (1st release) May PROGNOSE: 50.7 previous: 49, | Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI Manufacturing (1st release) May PROGNOSE: 46.7 previous: 45.4

14:30 US: Initial Jobless Claims (week) Forecast: 230,000 Previous: 229,000

15:00 BE: Business Climate Index May FORECAST: n/a previous: -14.7

15:45 US: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI Services (1st release) May FORECAST: 50.6 PREV: 50.8

15:45 US: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI Manufacturing (1st release) May FORECAST: 49.8 PREVIOUS: 50.2

16:00 US: NAR, Existing Home Sales April FORECAST: +2.7% yoy previous: -5.9% yoy

Telecommunications providers raise prices due to Trump tariffsThe major smartphone providers Verizon $VZ (+0,74%), AT&T $T (+0,83%) and T-Mobile $XOM (-3,22%) are facing a possible price increase in connection with the tariffs imposed by President Trump. Initially, the smartphone industry seemed to be spared from these tariffs, but the current exemption could soon end. Experts are analyzing that the price of the iPhone 15 could rise from the current 699 euros to 839 euros. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg made it clear that these high tariffs cannot be borne by the companies and will ultimately burden consumers. AT&T CEO John Stankey also emphasized that the costs must be passed on to end customers. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert added that the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs is having a major impact on providers' pricing and that an adjustment may be necessary in order to overcome the economic challenges.

Elon Musk reduces role at Doge after Tesla issuesElon Musk has announced that he is stepping down from his role in the Trump administration team Doge. This decision comes at a time when Tesla is facing $TSLA (+7,13%) is struggling with a drastic 71% drop in profits. President Trump confirmed that Musk's withdrawal was planned and assured that Tesla will continue to receive support after his departure. While Musk has not revealed full details about his retirement, the length of time he has been a "special government employee" (SGE) could play a role. In light of the protests against Tesla and the associated financial challenges, Musk plans to spend less time at Doge in order to return his focus to the problems at Tesla. Despite the challenges and uncertainties, Tesla's share price still rose after Musk's announcement, showing that investors are hoping he will return to his roots.

Sources:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizon-att-and-t-mobile-prepare-to-raise-prices-on-consumers-because-of-trumps-trade-war-122549340.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dr6k6rvl7o

Boston Scientific grows strongly in the first quarter of 2025

Boston Scientific Corporation $B1SX34 presented impressive figures in the first quarter of 2025. With sales of 4.663 billion euros, the company achieved growth of 20.9% compared to the previous year. Earnings per share (EPS) also showed a positive development, climbing to EUR 0.45 compared to EUR 0.33 in the previous year. Particularly noteworthy is the adjusted EPS of EUR 0.75, which represents a significant improvement compared to EUR 0.56 in the previous year. CEO Mike Mahoney emphasized the company's impressive product portfolio and innovative strength. All business areas recorded growth, with the Cardiovascular segment standing out in particular at 26.2 %. An increase of 11.7 % was also achieved in the MedSurg segment. In the USA, sales even grew by 31.1 %. With new clinical studies, the company aims to further advance its innovation strategy and evaluate the safety and efficacy of its products.

AT&T impresses with solid quarterly figures

In the USA, AT&T Inc. $T (+0,83%) also presented strong results in the first quarter of 2025. Revenue rose to 30.6 billion euros, an increase of 2% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.61, compared to EUR 0.47 in the previous year. The adjusted EPS of 0.51 euros shows a slight improvement compared to the previous year. Particularly pleasing is the announcement of 324,000 new postpaid telephone customers that the company was able to acquire in this quarter. Revenue from mobility services amounted to EUR 16.7 billion, which corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 4.1%. AT&T is optimistic for the full year 2025 and expects consolidated services to grow in the low single digits. The company is also planning capital investments of around EUR 22 billion and is considering share buybacks in the second quarter. Another focus is on the planned sale of its 70% stake in DIRECTV, which is scheduled for mid-2025.

Sources:

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/boston-scientific-announces-results-for-first-quarter-2025-14412628

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/at-t-delivers-strong-first-quarter-financial-performance-14412625

The second month of 2025 is already over. Time is flying by again at breakneck speed and one event or statement follows the next this year. It's crazy what's going on at the moment and at the same time the market is somehow saying "I don't care".

Up down, up down, the markets are becoming more volatile and yet, or precisely because of this, my February was almost at +/-0.

But one thing at a time.

In February I achieved a plus of 0.8%. With my portfolio size, this corresponds to a value of almost €900. Not particularly good compared to the Dax (+3.77%), but still very respectable compared to the HSBC MSCI World (-2.49%).

Unfortunately, things do not look any better over the year (YTD).

The Dax is running away with 13.3%, while the MSCI World is bobbing along at 1.6%. Here, too, I was at least able to beat the World, but I still lag miles behind the DAX.

Overall, however, I am still very satisfied. As I don't have a lot of tech in my portfolio and my stocks are (mostly) rather stable, there is often no outperformance of the stocks and if there is, it is only marginal.

My high and low performers in February were (top 3):

$HSY (+0,46%) Hershey +15.63%

$T (+0,83%) AT&T +14.07%

$NESN (+0,21%) Nestle +13.10%

$ADM (-2,12%) Archer Daniels -8.57%

$UNH (-1,14%) United Health -13.16%

$TSLA (+7,13%) Tesla -27.59%

Dividends:

In February, I received a net €123.62 from a total of 10 distributions.

Compared to February 2024 (€99.26), this was an increase of 24.54%

Investments:

Due to the construction work on the house last year, the focus continues to be on building up the nest egg and saving up a "leisure account" again, as everything was really used up completely last year and only the custody account remained.

The savings plans will of course continue unabated, but individual investments are probably not possible for the time being.

Purchases and sales:

I have parted with Mercedes ( $MBG (+0,23%) ) and Medical Properties ( $MPW (-1,3%) ).

I then added to Lockheed Martin ( $LMT (-0,34%) ), Hershey ( $HSY (+0,46%) ) and Petroleo Brasileiro ( $PETR4 (-4,06%) ).

My savings plans remain unchanged, but it is quite possible that I will stop them for the time being in order to build up investment cash again.

Savings plans (350€ in total):

• Realty ($O (+1,47%) )
• STAG Industrial ($STAG (+0,54%) )
• Gladstone Invest ($GAIN (-0,58%) )
• Hercules Capital ($HTGC (-1,59%) )
• Cintas ($CTAS (+0,49%) )
• LVMH ($MC (-0,24%) )
• Monster Beverage ($MNST (-1,37%) )
• Microsoft ($MSFT (+1,19%) )

Goals 2025:

My goal is to have €130,000 in my portfolio at the end of the year. The goal is to be achieved by reinvesting the dividend, making payments and, of course, increasing the share price. The share price increase is of course impossible to predict in any way, so the motto is: if the share price falls or does not rise enough, more cash is needed.

This comes from selling useless stuff on eBay, additional income from e.g. "neighborhood help" etc. The worse the share price, the more additional cash has to be raised.

Target achievement at the end of February 2025: 37.41%

So I'm on the right track (so far). I'm curious to see what else will happen in 2025 and hope that the crash, which seems to be getting closer and closer, will take a little longer (so that I can continue to accumulate cash).

How was your February? Are you happy so far? I think that, due to the volatility, the portfolios in February are far more spread out than they were in January or even at the end of last year.

The current hype surrounding AI is reminiscent of the dotcom bubble, but above all the era of the Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) in the late 1990s. CLECs were new telecommunications providers that emerged after the deregulation of the US market in order to compete with established providers such as $T (+0,83%) competition. They expanded aggressively, raising billions in investor money and shaping the dotcom bubble, but later failed spectacularly due to over-indebtedness and lack of profitability.

Today, the AI sector is attracting similar attention: high valuations, a race to expand infrastructure and euphoric growth forecasts dominate the news. But despite superficial parallels, there are crucial differences in profitability, demand dynamics and financial stability.

What do AI & CLECs have in common?

• As was the case with CLECs back then, we are now seeing extreme valuations for AIs. $NVDA (-0,33%) For example, AI is trading at a P/E of over 70, similar to the 200x sales valuation of Level 3 Communications in 1999.
• The AI sector is currently attracting billions, comparable to the USD 30 billion raised by CLECs up to 2000. Goldman Sachs forecasts 200 Mrd. USD globale KI-Investitionen bis 2025.
• AI companies are under pressure to massively expand infrastructure, while prices for cloud services are falling. This is reminiscent of the CLECs that inflated infrastructure despite falling phone rates.

Why AI is different

In the current valuation, the AI industry is fundamentally different from CLECs.

While $MSFT (+1,19%) or$GOOG (-1,89%) are profitable with stable operating margins of over 40%, CLECs operated at a loss at the time, i.e. their business model was largely limited to the costly reselling of standardized telecom services without added value. The AI sector is also much more financially disciplined. Big tech companies have debt ratios below 15% and have high cash reserves, whereas CLECs were up to 70% in debt and ultimately went under in the wave of mass bankruptcies around 2001.

A decisive difference also lies in the demand dynamics. AI tech is now used across industries, from precise drug development in the pharmaceutical industry to route optimization in logistics. This real, scalable demand contrasts with the CLECs, which built infrastructure for speculative customer groups that never materialized.

Then there is the innovative edge. Proprietary chips (such as Googles TPUs or Nvidias GPUs) and other software solutions create technological competitive advantages. CLECs, on the other hand, only offered standardized telecom services that hardly differentiated themselves.

There is also a paradigm shift in risk management. Companies like Meta are investing specifically in projects with a clear ROI focus instead of using debt for oversized and ultimately useless infrastructure projects like CLECs. This strategic agility underlines the maturity of today's tech industry compared to the dotcom era.

No dotcom 2.0

In my view, the AI boom is is not a bubblebut a structural change. The combination of real demand, financial stability and technological added value makes AI fundamentally different from CLECs.