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  • 📈 Netskope's IPO Signals Market Revival

📈 Netskope's IPO Signals Market Revival

The cybersecurity firm's 33% revenue growth might just restore your faith that markets can reward fundamentals over fantasy.

Author

Evelio Silvera
September 18, 2025

Good Morning…

The IPO market just woke up from its three-year hibernation, and Netskope's $7.3 billion debut at the top of its pricing range suggests investors have finally remembered that quality companies can actually be worth owning.

🔎 Market Trends → Wall St ends mixed, trade choppy after Fed's rate cut

And now…

⏱️ Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, September 18, 2025:

MARKET BRIEF
Before the Open

As of market close 09/17/2025.

Pre-Market

  • New Fortress Energy (NFE) with a +31.7% gain, the strongest performer on the S&P 500.

  • Uber Technologies (UBER) with a −5.0% drop, the weakest performer on the S&P 500.

Fear & Greed

 

Markets in Review

Dow Flexes as Fed Blinks — Rate Cuts on the Table, But Tech Wobbles

The Dow jumped 260 points to close at 46,018.32, hitting an intraday all-time high. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.3% as profit-taking hit tech names.

The Big Picture:

The Federal Reserve delivered the rate cut markets expected, trimming its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.00%–4.25%. But Chair Jerome Powell poured a touch of cold water on dovish hopes, calling it a "risk management cut"—a move made not out of necessity, but caution.

Still, the Fed signaled two more cuts likely this year, and that’s enough for rate-sensitive sectors and small caps to party. The Russell 2000 rose 0.18% and is within 1% of its record close, with lower rates providing tailwinds for smaller firms dependent on short-term financing.

On the commodities front, gold continued its march, hitting a new high of $3,702.95, with Deutsche Bank hiking its 2026 forecast to $4,000/oz, citing strong central bank demand and a supportive FX/rates backdrop. Oil held steady as markets await further signals on global demand.

Market Movers:

  • American Express (AXP) jumped 2.7% as easing rate pressure improves the lending backdrop.

  • Walmart (WMT) hit all-time highs after a bullish AI-driven outlook from Bank of America.

  • Nvidia (NVDA) fell 2.6% amid reports of a China chip ban.

  • Oracle (ORCL) and Broadcom (AVGO) also slipped as investors booked profits.

What They’re Saying:

“The S&P 500 should be higher as monetary policy becomes more accommodative.”
— Josh Brown, Ritholtz Wealth Management.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Events

  • Today: Department of Labor - Unemployment Claims - 8:30am

    Why You Should Care: Although it's generally viewed as a lagging indicator, the number of unemployed people is an important signal of overall economic health because consumer spending is highly correlated with labor-market conditions. Unemployment is also a major consideration for those steering the country's monetary policy.

Earnings Reports

  • Today: FedEx, Lennar Homes, Olive Garden / Darden Restaurants, Scholastic

  • Tomorrow: JinkoSolar

MARKET INSIGHTS
Leading News 

Netskope's $7.3B Debut Signals IPO Spring Thaw

Photo Credit: Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Why it matters:

The cybersecurity firm's top-of-range pricing suggests institutional appetite for quality tech offerings has returned, potentially opening floodgates for other private unicorns waiting in the wings.

Zoom Out:

Netskope (NTSK) priced shares at $19—the high end of its revised range—for a $7.3 billion valuation ahead of Thursday's Nasdaq debut. The $908 million raise represents a textbook IPO execution: solid fundamentals meeting renewed market optimism.

This isn't your typical post-pandemic SPAC fever dream. The Santa Clara-based security specialist serves 4,317 customers across 90 countries, with annual recurring revenue growing 33% to $707 million. That's the kind of sticky subscription growth that makes CFOs sleep better at night.

The timing couldn't be more strategic. While Google's $32 billion Wiz acquisition and Palo Alto's $25 billion CyberArk buyout grabbed headlines, smart money recognizes cybersecurity as this decade's pick-and-shovel play for the AI gold rush.

Key Insights:

  • Revenue multiple reality check: At roughly 10x ARR, Netskope's valuation sits comfortably below frothy SaaS peaks, suggesting disciplined pricing

  • Competitive moat: Competing against Cisco (CSCO), Broadcom (AVGO), and Zscaler (ZS) in zero-trust networking—a $50+ billion addressable market expanding with remote work permanence

  • Profitability path: $170 million loss on $328 million revenue suggests typical high-growth SaaS burn rates, but improving unit economics

Market Pulse:

Recent IPO performance tells a nuanced story—CoreWeave's flat debut in March preceded a 200%+ rally, while Klarna jumped 15% on day one, suggesting selective investor appetite rather than broad euphoria.

Bull’s Take:

Quality tech IPOs are back, and cybersecurity remains the ultimate defensive growth play. Smart investors should watch for post-debut weakness as an entry point.

Market Stories of Note

Meta's Smart Glasses Finally Look Promising:

Meta's $799 neural-controlled glasses represent the first plausible bridge between today's clunky VR headsets and tomorrow's AR future, giving the stock a tangible hardware story beyond the metaverse moonshots. The real breakthrough isn't the display—it's the neural wristband that lets you control the glasses with hand gestures, transforming what was once science fiction into a $799 consumer product that might actually find an audience. While Zuckerberg's demo glitches remind us that even tech billionaires can't escape Murphy's Law, the three-tier pricing strategy ($379-$799) suggests Meta finally understands that consumers want choice, not just vision.

China's Chip Challenge Enters Overdrive:

Huawei's million-chip Atlas superclusters represent Beijing's boldest bet yet to break America's semiconductor stranglehold, potentially reshaping the global AI arms race while giving semiconductor investors a front-row seat to geopolitical disruption turned profit opportunity. The real story isn't the impressive 500,000-chip clusters launching next year, but Huawei's claim to have cracked proprietary high-bandwidth memory production—a technology bottleneck that previously relied entirely on South Korean and U.S. suppliers. While Huawei's technical boasts should be taken with the usual grain of skeptical salt, the timing couldn't be more strategic as China extends its antitrust probe into Nvidia and orders local tech giants to halt testing of American chips.

SPONSORED
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Keep this stock on your watchlist

 

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CRYPTO
Fear & Greed 

 

Headlines

  • Bitcoin Briefly Shoots Past $116K After Fed Cuts Rates (link)

  • SEC approves new exchange listing standards fast-tracking crypto ETF listings (link)

  • Wormhole launches reserve tying protocol revenue to token (link)