TOP STORY
🍎 Apple Soars 12% After Trump Meeting, It's Best Week Since 2020

📈 After the dip last week, driven by poor job numbers, the markets were back on the rebound, with:

• The S&P climbing +1.9%

• The Canada TSX index up +2.2%

• and the Nasdaq-100 soared +2.7% posting a record closing high

🤖 The main reasons for the rally? Continued AI optimism coming off Big Tech earnings last week (with 82% of companies beating earnings estimates) and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September.

😰 This is all despite Trump’s tariff finally kicking in on Thursday, settling at an average rate of 18.6%, the highest tariff level since 1933.

⭐️ And while this will likely slow economic growth and lift inflation, the tariffs had already been mostly priced into the stock market, so they had little negative impact this week.

💬 In the words of Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, Global Head of Equities at UBS

😮 And speaking of tariffs, one company stood out this week as the biggest winner amid the tariff chaos: 🍎 Apple ($AAPL), soaring 12% after Trump announced that it would be exempt from future tariffs.

🔍 So, before an earnings breakdown of some of the big names that reported this week (including Palantir, Eli Lilly, Shopify, and HIMS), let’s dive into what’s going on with Apple and what this massive development means for the 3rd Most Held stock on Blossom…

🤝 Apple Gets On Trump’s Good Side With a 24-Karat Gold Plaque

😰 Apple has been struggling in the stock market lately, falling over -5% last week despite strong earnings and -16% year to date (before this week’s jump) as investors question whether it’s falling behind in the Big Tech AI race.

💸 And to make matters worse, Apple was also getting hit hard by tariffs, with tariffs costing them $800M in the most recent quarter.

🇺🇸 And while $800M is a fairly small hit compared to Apple’s net profit of $23B, things were expected to get much worse with Trump’s calls for a ‘US-made iPhone’ and hints of a 25% tariff on iPhones made outside the US.

💰 Apple’s Commitments to Trump

😳 As we’ve covered before, a US-made iPhone doesn’t really make sense economically, with Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimating that it would cost $3,500.

⚱️ But it seems Tim Cook was able to successfully appease Trump without going all the way, meeting him at the White House to present a 24-Karat Gold Plaque and announcing a string of commitments to keep Trump happy:

🗞️ The headline was Apple’s plans to spend $600B over the next 4 years in the US and a new American Manufacturing Program, designed to incentivize other companies to make computer parts in the US.

🤝 Most of this spending will go towards expanding relationships with its US suppliers, many of which saw their own stocks jump this week as well:

• Coherent ($COHR), a Texas-based supplier of Apple’s facial recognition software, jumped 11% this week

• Corning ($GLW), a Kentucky-based supplier of the glass for Apple’s iPhones and watches, jumped 5%

• Amkor ($AMKR), an Arizona-based facility that packages and tests chips, jumped 5%

🤔 Will This Hurt Apple’s Profits?

😬 But while the $600B committment sounds like a big, scary number (especially if it means Apple redirecting spend to more expensive US suppliers), many analysts beleive most of this spend is really just repackaging and highlighting what Apple is already doing, including

• payments to U.S. suppliers

• direct employment

• data centers for Apple Intelligence

• spending on Apple TV+ productions

🤑 So, it’s a bit hard to know how much of the $600B is net new spending, or whether it will have any impact on Apple’s cost of goods sold, with analysts like Nancy Tengler saying she doesn’t think the newly announced spending will be material to Apple’s profitability.

🚦 The Green Light from Trump

🤞 But luckily for Apple, the announcements were enough to appease Trump, with the president saying, “I love that you’re doing this,” and announcing plans for a new 100% tariff on semiconductors that Apple will be exempt from.

🙏 And while many politics-focused news outlets accused Tim Cook of ‘grovelling’, the investing-focused outlets mostly said Cook did what needed to be done without too much cost to Apple, with one commentator saying:

🥳 And across the board, analysts and investors rejoiced, impressed with Cook’s handling of the situation:

📈 And of course, this ‘masterclass’ was reflected in the stock price, with Apple soaring +12% this week - the stock’s best week since July 2020.

✨ So while Apple is certainly not in the clear yet for the AI worries (outlined last week when we broke down Apple’s earnings), at least for now, its tariff headache looks to be mostly in the rear-view mirror.

😎 Apple wasn’t the only stock making headlines this week, with a ton of big players like Shopify, HIMs, and Palantir reporting earnings. But before we dive in, a quick word from today’s sponsor, Guardian Capital!

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EARNINGS RECAP
📊 Palantir Soars 18%, HIMs crashes 19%, Shopify Soars 26% and more…

🤯 Palantir Jumps 18% After Crossing $1B in Revenue

• Palantir ($PLTR) delivered Q2 revenue of $1 B, a 48% year-over-year gain and well above analyst projections of $939 million, sending the stock soaring +18% this week.

• U.S. commercial revenue nearly doubled, up 93% year-over-year to $306M, and the company raised its full-year revenue guidance to ~$4.15B.

• Adjusted free cash flow came in at $569M with a 57% margin, fueling CEO Alex Karp’s vision of a “crazy efficient revolution”, aiming to grow revenue while reducing headcount.

• Palantir now trades at a staggering 294x forward earnings, making it the most ‘expensive’ stock in the S&P 500 (7x higher than Nvidia) with many analysts saying it’s a ‘great company’ but overvalued with one analyst estimating the company would need to generate $60 billion over the next 12 months to trade at a comparable valuation to its peers.

💊 HIMs Falls 19% After Missing Revenue Expectations

• Hims & Hers Health ($HIMS) posted Q2 revenue of $544.8 million, up 73% year-over-year but slightly below the $552 million analysts expected.

• As a result, shares plunged -19% as investors reacted to the revenue miss despite strong margins and full-year guidance of $2.3–$2.4 billion in revenue.

• Despite the drop, the stock is still up +106% year-to-date but has been quite volatile over the year, with swings up 100% in one month and down -60% the next

• Subscriber count hit 2.4 million, growing 31%, as demand for weight-loss drugs like GLP-1s continued to drive new sign-ups.

• CEO Andrew Dudum said supply constraints for GLP-1 medications have “largely eased,” but warned that competition in telehealth for weight management is intensifying.

🚀 Shopify Soars 26%, Surpassing RBC as the Most Valuable Company in Canada

• Shopify ($SHOP) delivered a standout Q2 with ~31% year-over-year revenue growth to US$2.68B and gross profit of US$1.3B, beating expectations

• The news sent Shopify stock soaring +26%, pushing Shopify’s market cap to roughly C$270B, passing Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to become Canada’s most valuable publicly traded company.

• The rally lifted the S&P/TSX Composite Index to a record high, with the index climbing about +2.2% this week, partially in response to Shopify’s performance.

• Mike Archibald of AGF Investments called the results “astonishing, an absolute blowout quarter,” while analysts noted Shopify’s optimistic mid- to high-20s percent revenue growth outlook into Q3.

📉 Eli Lilly Falls 18% After Disappointing Trial Results for its GLP-1 Pill

• On Wednesday Eli Lilly ($LLY) announced its experimental oral GLP‑1 pill, orforglipron, produced an average weight loss of 12.4% over 72 weeks, below Wall Street expectations of ~13–15% and less than injectables like Wegovy.

• As a result, shares plunged -14% in one day and -18% over the week, marking the steepest one-day fall in 25 years.

• Despite this Q2 earnings were strong, with revenue climbing ~38% to ~$15.6 billion, driven by blockbuster sales of Zepbound and Mounjaro, with adjusted EPS at $6.31. Lilly also raised its full-year 2025 guidance.

• Analysts sharply cut sales forecasts for orforglipron from $42 billion to $25 billion, and some downgraded the stock, citing rising competition and the weak drug results.

• Despite the setback, Lilly says that the oral format offers broader access and still plans regulatory submission by year-end. Analyst reactions remain mixed, with some seeing the sell‑off as overblown.

UPCOMING EVENTS
🌎 Meet Fellow Investors IRL at the Blossom Investor Tour and the MoneyShow!

As much as I love connecting with you all on Blossom, nothing beats the IRL meet-up, and our first in-person events are coming up in 2 weeks!

Many of the events are almost sold out (only 5 / 150 tickets left for Calgary), so make sure to grab a ticket ASAP if you plan to come! Here are the links:

• 🤠 Calgary Blossom Investor Tour (Aug 27)

• 🏔️ Vancouver Blossom Investor Tour (Aug 29)

• 🍁 Toronto Blossom Investor Tour (Sep 21)

• 🥯 Montreal Blossom Investor Tour (Sep 24)

+ Toronto folks get a bonus event - the Toronto MoneyShow on Sep 12-13 (one week before the Blossom event!)

😎 Can’t wait to meet you all!

FROM THE BLOSSOM COMMUNITY
⭐️ Featured Discussions this Week

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