TOP STORY
🤖 OpenAI Announces AI “Agents,” App Store, and more at DevDay

This week, OpenAI, hosted its first developer conference, “DevDay,” announcing a major new feature to ChatGPT: the ability to create your own custom “GPT” and share them with others.

Here are some highlights from DevDay 2023:

• 🎉 ChatGPT Surpasses 100 Million Weekly Active Users
  
  In a remarkable achievement, ChatGPT crossed the 100 million weekly active users mark less than a year after its initial release on November 30, 2022.

  
  Open AI previously became the fastest-growing consumer app in history after hitting 100 million monthly active users just two months after its launch.

  
  The company also highlighted that its API is now used by over 2 million developers worldwide.
   

• 🤖 No-Code Custom GPTs for All
  
  OpenAI announced tooling for anyone to create, configure, and share custom versions of ChatGPT via prompts, no coding expertise needed.

  Additionally, businesses will have the option to develop GPTs for internal use, leveraging OpenAI’s extensive database.
  
   

  

  Create a custom GPT

   

• 🤑 The GPT Store
  

  With the ability to configure custom GPTs, OpenAI also announced the launch of the “GPT Store”, a platform for users to publish their AI bots.
   

  Sam, the CEO of OpenAI, calls it ‘the AI app store’, and aims to foster a community of verified builders with plans to compensate popular GPT creators.

   

  

  The GPT Store

• 🛡️ Copyright Shield

  
  In a bold move to address copyright concerns around ChatGPT, OpenAI announced a Copyright Shield program, committing to cover legal costs for copyright infringement claims for its enterprise and API users.
  
  The announcement comes against the backdrop of lawsuits from renowned authors over the use of copyrighted material in ChatGPT's training data.

On the same day as the OpenAI announcements, Elon Musk introduced Grok, an AI chatbot poised to rival ChatGPT.

According to Musk, Grok aims to bring a fresh perspective to AI with its unique blend of humor and candidness.

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, only to leave in 2018 due to potential conflicts with Tesla's AI advancements, disagreements on OpenAI's direction, and a reported “failed takeover”.

Musk has previously expressed concerns about AI risks and the need for open research, as OpenAI shifted from a non-profit model to a capped-profit model, diverging from Musk's original intent.

Following the launch of Grok, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, took to X to poke fun at Musk:

BLOSSOM UPDATE
📊 You Can Now Filter Your Portfolio by TFSA, RRSP, and more with PRO!

🤩 Very excited to release one of the most highly requested updates - the ability to filter your portfolio by brokerage and account type (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, etc.) as part of Blossom PRO!

A huge thank you to the nearly 2,000 folks who’ve already signed up for PRO, you all rock 🥹

🇨🇦 We’re still a small team out of Vancouver, BC, so each PRO member makes a huge difference in helping us continue to improve and grow Blossom!

✨ If you’re not on PRO already, it’s jam-packed with helpful features including:

• 📊 Portfolio management and analysis tools like sector breakdowns, geographical exposure, and now, the ability to filter your portfolio by brokerage and account types!

• 💵 Dividend tracking and forecasting tools to see which holdings contribute most to your dividend income, track your monthly payouts, and more

• 📚 Unlimited lesson access to an extensive library of investing courses led by Brandon Beavis and the Humbled Trader

Plus you can try it all out for free for one week!!! 🙂 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES
🔋 EV Stocks Rivian, Polestar, and Lucid Down Big After Earnings

This week three major electric vehicle (EV) companies saw their stocks fall over 15% after releasing earnings reports. Let’s explore why… 👀

Rivian ($RIVN)

First up Rivian. Rivian actually beat analyst expectations with a smaller-than-anticipated loss and a higher production forecast, signaling a brighter outlook amidst a challenging time for the EV industry.

• ✅ Revenue: $1.34 billion (vs. $1.31 billion expected)

• ✅ Earnings: -$1.19 per share (vs. -$1.32 expected)

Rivian increased its full-year production guidance from 52,000 to 54,000 units after advancements in production efficiency.

This comes after a record production of 16,304 units in Q3, marking a significant year-over-year increase.

🤔 So why did the stock fall? Well for one, investors may be souring on the EV market overall, with Tesla also falling 17% this month. Rivian investors also might be concerned by the decrease in revenue per vehicle from $89,000 to $86,000, signaling increased competitiveness in the EV market.

Lucid ($LCID)

Unlike Rivian, Lucid’s latest earnings report showed significant cuts in its production forecast and an over 20% miss on sales. These earnings show Lucid is navigating turbulent waters as demand for its expensive models slows down.

• ❌ Revenue: $137.8 million (vs. $177 million expected)

• ✅ Earnings: -$0.28 per share (vs. -$0.36 expected)

Lucid lowered its 2024 production expectations from over 10,000 down to only 8,000-8,500 after producing only ~1,550 vehicles in Q3, bringing the total forecasted production for 2023 down to ~6,000, roughly half of the 12,000 expected.

In an attempt to re-ignite demand, Lucid slashed prices across its lineup, reducing the price of its premium Air sedan by up to $10,000.

The Air model does not benefit from federal EV tax credits, placing it at a competitive disadvantage in a price-sensitive market.

Polestar ($PSNY)

Finally, Polestar, an electric vehicle maker from Sweden. Polestar slashed its 2025 long-term delivery target, now expecting to deliver 155,000-165,000 vehicles, nearly half of the 290,000 goal it set last year.

• ❌ Revenue: $613.20 million (vs. $738.35 million expected)

• 🟰 Earnings: -$0.15 per share (vs. -$0.15 expected)

Despite cost-cutting measures, Polestar acknowledges the need for external funding, estimating an additional $1.3 billion is needed to achieve a break-even cash flow by 2025.

🚨 These earnings are important reminders that the EV space is still highly speculative. All three of these players still have a long path ahead, and will likely need to spend billions more to grow production and hit profitability.

AMBASSADOR SHOUT-OUT
🚨 Joyee Yang Has Launched a YouTube Channel!

📣 One of Blossom’s favourite ambassadors has officially launched her own YouTube channel!

It feels like just yesterday that Brandon signed Joyee on as a Blossom ambassador, back when she had just started her TikTok and only had 5,000 followers. Now Joyee has grown to nearly 200,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram, all by making finance content that “her 19-year-old self would understand”.

Joyee has inspired thousands of Canadians to get started investing via TikTok and Instagram, and now she joins the ‘big screen’ with the launch of her YouTube! Show her some love and go subscribe to her channel! 💞

🧑‍⚕️HEALTHCARE
💊 Amazon Integrates Primary Care into Prime Membership for $9/Month

This week, Amazon expanded its Prime membership perks, with a new benefit that could transform how its users approach healthcare.

For an additional $9 per month, Prime members can now access primary care services, harnessing the established infrastructure of One Medical, a company Amazon acquired for $3.9B in February.

Here’s a breakdown of this new announcement:

• 🤑 Affordable Access: Prime members can now access One Medical's 24/7 virtual care and expedited services for common concerns at a fraction of the standard cost—$99 annually, a steep discount from the usual $199.
   

• 🧑‍⚕️ Primary Care Shortage: This move comes amidst a looming primary care physician shortage projected to hit as soon as 2033, with Amazon stepping in to bridge potential gaps in access.
   

• 💊 Amazon's Healthcare Ecosystem: With Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon Clinic, the company is constructing a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem, aiming to offer an end-to-end patient care experience.
  

• 🛍️ Enhanced Prime Value: This addition to Amazon Prime's benefits underscores the company's commitment to adding value to its subscription service, which already includes a plethora of entertainment and shopping perks.

OTHER NOTABLE EARNINGS

❌ ✅ 📈 Disney ($DIS): Missed on revenue, beat on earnings-per-share, shares up 3.76% this week.

✅ ✅ 📉 Realty Income ($O): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares down 1.15% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Nintendo ($NTDOY): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares up 5.51% this week.

🟰 ❌ 📉 Warner Bros. Discovery ($WBD): Matched on revenue, missed on earnings-per-share, shares down 13.93% this week.

✅ ✅ 📉 AMC Entertainment ($AMC): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares down 25.28% this week.

 FROM THE BLOSSOM COMMUNITY

🎙 Top Discussions This Week

🗞️ What else you might’ve missed:

• Canadian Tire ($CTC-A) plans to lay off 3% of its workforce and eliminate most vacant positions.

• Citadel Securities ($CDFT) is aggressively expanding its credit-trading operations.

• Canadian Solar ($CSIQ) is planning to open a manufacturing plant in Thailand.

• Bell ($BCE), Canada’s largest telecom operator is reducing its network investment by $1 billion CAD.