Huawei, Tencent, Microsoft lead tech roundup as analyst notes

Rogers Communications buys MLSE stake for C$4.35 billion

The Wall Street Journal’s Tuesday Market Talks roundup of global technology, media and telecommunications led with analyst assessments of Huawei’s international smartphone plans, Tencent’s artificial intelligence push, Microsoft’s workforce reorganization, and Rogers Communications’ sports-entertainment acquisition.

Huawei Technologies is set to introduce the Pura 90 series in Malaysia next week, its first 5G-equivalent smartphone available in overseas markets since global chip supply was cut off by U.S. sanctions, said Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. Lam said the move shows Huawei has overcome some technical hurdles posed by the restrictions. If successful, Huawei could plot a path to a full international return to the smartphone market, though Lam expects the company’s primary focus to remain on growing its domestic user base over the next two years.

Tencent’s latest Hy3 model launch is a step in the right direction, Bernstein analysts said in a research note. While Hy3 is not frontier-level, it has the capabilities Tencent needs to build agentic services across its ecosystem, they said. The improvements confirm the direction of Tencent’s new AI team after a recent overhaul, the analysts noted. Bernstein expects Tencent’s agentic AI rollout to happen gradually, with monetization coming from merchants subscribing to the new services to get more traffic. Tencent shares were last 2.7% higher at 464.20 Hong Kong dollars.

Microsoft’s job cuts in its Xbox videogames division did not ease investors’ concerns about the tech giant’s spending on artificial intelligence, said Danni Hewson of AJ Bell in a note. Microsoft is set to cut more than 3,000 jobs as part of a turnaround plan for the struggling unit. “Markets are waiting to see solid financial evidence that all that capex is paying off and that the faith in AI as a growth supercharger has been warranted,” Hewson wrote. Microsoft’s share price fall reflects either concerns about AI spending or that the job cuts had already been priced into the stock, she added. Shares were down 1.5% at $384.74.

Rogers Communications’ acquisition of Kilmer Sports’ stake in Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment valued the sports-and-entertainment entity at C$17.4 billion, said National Bank of Canada analyst Adam Shine. That figure exceeds other assessments: Forbes aggregated to C$15 billion, and Sportico estimated C$14.5 billion. The price marks a 39% increase from the C$12.5 billion implied when Rogers bought BCE’s 37.5% MLSE stake less than two years ago, Shine said. The higher price could have been used to expedite the deal with Kilmer Sports, or could be related to recent Canadian-dollar depreciation, though the reason remains unclear, he added.

TD Cowen analyst Vince Valentini said Rogers bought out Tanenbaum’s stake sooner than expected, with the C$4.35 billion price representing a premium likely “in return for Rogers getting a deal done quickly.” Valentini said any delay could have delayed the important deleveraging event of selling a minority interest in sports and media to new private investors. Rogers is next expected to formalize negotiations with potential private investors for a 25–30% stake in the full sports-and-media entity, estimated at about C$6.5 billion in proceeds, which would result in net debt reduction of about C$2.1 billion.

In Australia, Goldman Sachs reinstated BlueScope Steel with a buy rating and a target price of A$37.70 per share, saying comments from Steel Dynamics on a recent earnings call and a share buyback from SGH suggest the pair are no longer actively pursuing a takeover. Goldman said BlueScope should benefit from positive tailwinds on near-term steel prices, and that the company has a strong balance sheet and improving free cash flow. BlueScope trades at roughly 6 times Ebitda versus global peers at 7 times. Shares rose 0.6% to A$31.66.

WiseTech Global’s replacement of Richard White as board chair with independent director Raelene Murphy is a positive step but only addresses alleged governance concerns incrementally, RBC analyst Jackson Lee said. The market is likely to want ongoing evidence that the board, CEO Rubin Appoo, and White — who remains executive director and chief innovation officer — are operating independently, Lee said. RBC maintained its outperform rating and target price of A$70.00. Shares rose 9.8% to A$38.83.

CelcomDigi is expected to deliver stronger operating expense savings after completing an IT platform upgrade in the first quarter of next year, RHB IB analyst Jeffrey Tan said. He forecasts earnings growth of 18.4% in 2027, after a 2.20% decline this year, supported by lower operating costs and greater migration of mobile traffic to the 5G network. Tan cut CelcomDigi’s target price to 3.50 ringgit from 3.60 ringgit while maintaining a buy rating. Shares were 0.3% lower at 2.86 ringgit.