Category: 3. Business

monday.com (MNDY) just released its third quarter earnings, showing a switch from a loss to a profit and stronger sales compared to last year. The company also shared upbeat revenue guidance for the rest of 2025.

See our latest analysis for monday.com.

Despite monday.com’s leap to profitability and strong revenue guidance, its share price momentum has faded this year, with a year-to-date share price return of -30.51%. However, long-term holders have still seen a three-year total shareholder return of nearly 66%, reflecting its persistent growth story even through recent volatility.

If recent earnings surprises have you rethinking where the next breakout could come from, now is the perfect moment to discover fast growing stocks with high insider ownership

With shares pulling back this year despite impressive earnings and bullish guidance, the key question is whether monday.com is now undervalued or if the market has already priced in its future growth potential.

Most Popular Narrative: 39.7% Undervalued

Compared to monday.com’s last close price, the most popular narrative sets a fair value much higher, pointing to significant upside potential. This perspective hinges on powerful growth levers and platform innovations that could reshape future earnings.

“Ongoing global shift toward digital transformation, remote/hybrid work, and rising SaaS adoption continues fueling strong demand for cloud-based productivity and collaboration platforms like monday.com, supporting high double-digit revenue growth and future ARR expansion. Rapid integration of generative AI and low-code/no-code capabilities (e.g., Monday Magic, Vibe, Sidekick) enable broader automation and workflow customization. This strengthens platform differentiation and stickiness, which may improve customer retention, ARPU, and net margins as monetization scales.”

Read the complete narrative.

Want to know what powers monday.com’s premium narrative? The story weaves together bold revenue expansion and margin moves that could surprise even savvy investors. The path to this valuation is paved with a mix of disruptive tech launches and strong recurring revenue signals. Which assumptions really tip the scales? See what else drives this ambitious price target.

Result: Fair Value of $266.33 (UNDERVALUED)

Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

However, there are still risks to watch, such as slowing new customer growth and increased competition. These factors could temper even the most optimistic projections.

Find out about the key risks to this monday.com narrative.

Another View: Market-Based Multiples Tell a Different Story

Looking through the lens of price-to-earnings, monday.com trades at a hefty 127.2x, far above the US Software industry average of 31.2x and the peer average of 37.5x. The fair ratio sits at 47.1x. This suggests the market has high expectations priced in. Does this signal risk, or could strong future growth close the gap?

See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

Build Your Own monday.com Narrative

If you see things differently or want to dive deeper into the numbers, you can craft your own story in just a few minutes. Do it your way.

A good starting point is our analysis highlighting 4 key rewards investors are optimistic about regarding monday.com.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Here are the best woollen kurta sets that make winter dressing effortless, elegant, and oh-so-comfortable.

Woollen kurta sets to stay snug and stylish:

A go-to for anyone who loves traditional silhouettes with a soft touch of luxury. The wool-blend fabric feels plush against the skin, while the embroidery adds a subtle festive flair. The matching palazzo balances the look beautifully, making it ideal for family gatherings or temple visits in the colder months.

This variation of the Rosary set brings together fine embroidery with practical comfort. Designed for warmth without bulk, it’s great for office wear, lunches, or festive get-togethers. The breathable wool ensures you stay comfortable indoors and outdoors alike.

A classic reimagined for modern wardrobes, this embroidered set strikes the perfect balance between understated and elegant. The kurta’s detailed threadwork adds texture, while the flowy palazzo gives it a relaxed yet polished vibe. Pair with juttis and statement earrings for an instant winter-ready ethnic look.

For those who prefer prints over embroidery, this INDAISY set delivers just the right amount of style and comfort. The printed woollen fabric feels warm yet lightweight, making it perfect for casual outings, travel, or daily wear. The bright patterns add a cheerful twist to dull winter days.

Simple, sleek, and versatile, this wool blend kurta set works beautifully for both work and weekends. The tailored pants and soft woollen kurti create a clean silhouette that flatters all body types. Add a shawl or stole, and you’re set for a cosy, elegant winter ensemble.

Warmth meets grace in this timeless set. With delicate embroidery and a snug woollen texture, this kurta-palazzo duo is perfect for light winter celebrations. It’s stylish enough to wear at a mehendi or festive dinner but comfortable enough for everyday wear.

If you’re looking for a statement piece that doesn’t scream for attention, this one’s a winner. The embroidery adds richness without overdoing it, while the woollen fabric keeps you comfortably warm. A great pick for semi-formal occasions or when you want to dress up with minimal effort.

The ultimate winter ethnic upgrade, this 3-piece set comes with a kurta, palazzo, and stole. The Karachi wool fabric feels plush yet breathable, while the mandarin collar and full sleeves give it a refined, structured look. Perfect for winter weddings, festive poojas, or even office events where you want to look traditional but feel cosy.

These woollen kurta sets solve the classic winter fashion struggle, choosing between warmth and elegance. They’re cosy enough to skip layering, yet stylish enough for any occasion.

Similar stories for you:

Fast drape, full glam: Ready-to-wear sarees that make dressing up effortless

Easy, breezy, and beautiful: Kurtis for women who want comfort with style

Kurta sets for women: Your festive dressing shortcut for the wedding season

Disclaimer: At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, concerning the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority.

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Wall Street has reined in bets on a third straight interest rate cut as the US Federal Reserve’s hawks voice concerns that inflation remains too high to justify lower borrowing costs.

The probability of another quarter point cut, implied by market prices, has fallen from nearly 70 per cent to 40 per cent over the past week after several members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee made plain their lack of support for action at the next meeting on December 10.

The shift — in which investors have also pared back expectations for more cuts in 2026 — contributed to a sell-off in equities and an uptick in two-year Treasury yields this week, amid investor jitters over valuations in AI stocks.

“It is impossible to know which way this goes,” said Krishna Guha, vice-chair at Evercore ISI, on the December Fed vote.

The Fed has lowered borrowing costs by a quarter point at each of its previous two policy meetings on the back of signs that the US labour market is weakening and President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having less impact on inflation than many feared.

But the October vote saw a rare three-way split, with Fed governor and Trump ally Stephen Miran supporting the US president’s calls for lower rates by backing a 50 basis point cut, while Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid wanted rates held.

Fed chair Jay Powell warned after the vote that a December cut was not a “foregone conclusion”, while several regional Fed officials without a vote said later that they disagreed with last month’s decision.

“To our ear, the [December] meeting outcome is shaping up to be just as contentious as Powell portrayed in October’s press conference,” said Jonathan Millar, economist at Barclays.

Schmid signalled on Friday that he would continue to support keeping the US central bank’s benchmark rate in a 3.75-4 per cent range, saying neither market nor economic conditions suggested rates were too high.

Susan Collins, the Boston Fed head who is seen as closer to the centre of the FOMC, said earlier in the week that ​​it would “likely be appropriate to keep policy rates at the current level for some time”.

Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari, who — unlike Collins and Schmid — does not currently have a vote on Fed policy, on Thursday pivoted from supporting another cut, saying he would also probably argue in favour of a December hold.

Diane Swonk, chief US economist at KPMG, said there had been “a lot of wishful hoping” among investors that the release of downbeat economic data would force the Fed to cut.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the September jobs report next Thursday but it remains unclear whether figures on inflation and the labour market for October will be published at all.

“What we’ve really seen is that there is a lot of reticence to cutting aggressively given all of the unknowns out there,” said Swonk. “There is also some inflation coming from the services sector that has just not been eradicated.”

While September’s rise in the consumer price index was weaker than anticipated at 3 per cent year-on-year, price growth remains in excess of the Fed’s 2 per cent inflation goal.

Minutes of the October vote, set for release on Wednesday, could reveal more about divisions within the FOMC.

Whether or not the US central bank opts to end the year with a cut, some analysts say the Fed chair will face a tricky balancing act to minimise the number of dissents.

Doves on the Fed’s board — Chris Waller, Michelle Bowman and Miran, all of whom were appointed by Trump — would probably vote against a decision to hold, raising the prospect of three governors dissenting for the first time since 1988.

“Absent miraculous clarification from limited data, Powell is in a rough spot,” said Guha.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) ranks among the best financial stocks to buy according to billionaire Ken Fisher. Following an investor meeting with the bank’s Chief Data & Analytics Officer, UBS reaffirmed its Buy rating and $357 price target for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) on November 12. The firm emphasized JPMorgan’s long-term lead in the practical use of AI, pointing out that the bank recently switched to generative AI for new applications.

Supannee Hickman / Shutterstock.com

According to the meeting, JPMorgan’s use of AI is boosting revenue rather than saving costs. Speaking on its conviction regarding artificial intelligence, JPMorgan management stated that AI capabilities will someday become “table stakes” for financial organizations, similar to basic technology requirements like personal computers or internet access.

The LLM Suite, a proprietary platform driven by top third-party large language models (LLMs), is at the center of the bank’s AI revolution. The platform has automated several procedures and provided employees direct access to AI tools.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is a multinational financial services company that offers investment banking in addition to consumer and small business financial services. It also offers commercial banking, asset management, and financial transaction processing.

While we acknowledge the potential of JPM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 10 Best Magic Formula Stocks for 2025 and 10 Best Retirement Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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Foreign purchases of Chinese equities have hit their highest level in four years, in a sign global investors are reassessing a market that until recently was considered “uninvestable”.

Offshore inflows into China stocks from January to October this year totalled $50.6bn, up from $11.4bn in 2024, according to data from the Institute of International Finance, a trade body for the global banking industry.

Chinese stocks listed on the mainland and in Hong Kong have risen strongly this year, driven by enthusiasm for artificial intelligence following the release of DeepSeek’s groundbreaking model and a strong run of listings in Asia’s financial hub.

The gains follow years of dismal returns, as foreigners sold down their positions in response to mounting concerns over slowing economic growth and rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

“China still trades at a record discount to the rest of the world and yet they have some of the best companies in the tech space,” Jonathan Pines, head of Asia ex-Japan equity at Federated Hermes. “They’re the only realistic competitor to the US in some spaces.”

This year’s foreign buying remains below the record full-year figure of $73.6bn reached in 2021, when China’s CSI 300 rebounded strongly from the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic to hit an all-time high. However, it still marks a reversal after several years of falling investment from foreigners.

“Two years ago China was uninvestable for a lot of people,” said Yan Wang, chief emerging markets and China strategist at Alpine Macro.

Beijing stopped releasing daily data tracking investment in equities in mainland China via Hong Kong last year, making it harder to gauge levels of foreign flows. The IIF tracks changes in external portfolio liabilities and excludes Chinese companies listed in the US.

There has been more buying of Chinese equities since the US unleashed its “liberation day” tariffs in April, according to Citi, with roughly 55 per cent buying versus 45 per cent selling across different client types.

This year, foreign active managers have been net sellers of Chinese equities but that has been more than offset by inflows into passive funds, according to EPFR Global data tracking flows into exchange traded funds and mutual funds.

The strong performance of Chinese stocks this year has primarily been driven by a rush of domestic money from retail investors, said Stuart Rumble, head of investment directing for the Asia Pacific at Fidelity International.

Mainland China investors have poured HK$1.3tn (US$168.7bn) into Hong Kong’s stock market this year, a record high, and now account for about 20 per cent of turnover on the exchange.

Foreigners’ caution on Chinese equities followed a property downturn, a crackdown on private business and an escalating US-China trade war, which together helped push the stock market down by nearly a half from its peak.

“There was a point where people just didn’t want to talk about [China],” said Daniel Morris, chief market strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management. “Now we do talk quite a bit.”

Beijing’s crackdown on private business, exemplified by Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s fall from grace, is widely seen to have damaged confidence in the country. Regulators have since pushed a string of reforms designed to revive markets.

“It was clear they wanted their capital markets to go up,” said Pines.

This year’s uptick in equity inflows from foreign investors comes as many state pension funds in the US such as Texas and Indiana have divested from Chinese companies as a result of volatile US-China relations.

Some investors are keen to gain exposure to innovative Chinese technology companies, in part as a way to diversify out of US markets trading near record highs. Stocks such as Alibaba remain off their peak valuations and trade at discounts to US counterparts.

“You don’t want to put 100 per cent of your portfolio in Nasdaq,” said Morris.

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The head of Swiss chemicals producer Clariant said the company would expand capacity in China and warned of “more production shifting away from Europe” because of the continent’s higher energy and labour costs.

Chief executive Conrad Keijzer said Clariant was targeting 14 per cent of its sales coming from China by 2027, up from 10 per cent at present, and that the country would account for more than half of global growth for chemicals over the next five years.

The company has expanded two Chinese plants, which Keijzer said would allow Clariant to produce 70 per cent of the chemicals it sells in the country locally, up from about half.

“Most of the growth by and large is coming from China,” Keijzer told the Financial Times this month after opening a SFr180mn ($226mn) expansion to two factories in Huizhou, southern China.

“If we are static on it, then we’re long-term losing out,” he said. “It automatically means more production shifting away from Europe.”

European companies have struggled to compete against Chinese rivals in a range of commodity chemicals, leading to plant closures across the continent. The industry has also been rattled by surging gas prices after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a slowdown in European manufacturing.

Keijzer said Clariant’s China expansion was prompted by higher energy prices in Europe and rapid growth in Chinese demand for chemicals. While barriers to entry such as intellectual property rights have insulated the company’s speciality chemicals business, the move was also driven by rising competition from Chinese producers, he said.

Labour costs were another factor, Keijzer said, citing an annual outlay of €100,000, including tax and other expenses, for an operator at a German plant versus €10,000 in some parts of China.

The Muttenz-based company, which was spun off from Sandoz in the 1990s, produces speciality chemicals for industries ranging from cosmetics to agriculture in 68 plants around the world, nine of them in China. The company previously said it planned to cease production at its final Swiss site in Muttenz next year.

The price of natural gas, the primary fuel source for boilers and crackers used in plants, remains elevated compared with levels before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Keijzer said.

But he also blamed the EU’s carbon tax, “which was a great idea 10, 15 years ago when we thought the rest of the world would follow” but now made it difficult for producers to compete with global peers.

“The reality of it is that Europe has lost a part of its chemical industry because of the structurally higher gas prices,” Keijzer said.

Europe also exports a significantly larger portion of its chemicals than the US or China, but competing against Chinese companies, which have increased their own production, has become “much more difficult”, he said.

The consultancy Roland Berger in September said China’s “unimaginable” chemicals output could fully meet western demand in certain sectors with surplus.

UK chemicals producer Ineos this week said it was filing 10 anti-dumping cases against cheap imports into the EU, warning that “time is running out” to rescue the European sector.

Ivy Sun, who leads China chemicals research at Roland Berger, said European companies could only compete by localising production or innovating on specialist products, but many had been slow to do so.

“It’s a historical trend that is difficult to [turn back],” she said of the market shifting to China. “I can’t even name one European or US chemicals player who is performing very well on the market.”

Keijzer said any further retreat of chemicals production would have a knock-on effect in other sectors.

“If you have to import all your steel, if you have to import all your plastics, it will be very difficult to make a competitive electric vehicle in Europe,” he said. “This is not always understood by the European Commission.”

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Vinted is discussing a share sale that could value the European second-hand fashion start-up at roughly €8bn in a deal that would underscore the platform’s expansion while allowing some early investors to cash out.

The fast-growing company is in preliminary discussions about selling existing shares in a transaction that could be worth several hundred million euros, according to people familiar with the matter.

Any process would be likely to kick off early next year, they added, while cautioning that talks were still at an early stage and no valuation or size had yet been set.

Lithuania-based Vinted last brought in new investors about a year ago at a €5bn valuation in a deal led by US investment group TPG that also included asset manager Baillie Gifford.

Chief executive Thomas Plantenga said on Friday that revenues were set to rise about 40 per cent to more than €1bn this year, from €813mn in 2024, off sales of items on its platform with a gross merchandise value of €10bn. Net profits roughly quadrupled last year to €76.7mn.

Founded in 2008 as a way for locals to swap clothes, Vinted in 2019 became Lithuania’s first $1bn technology start-up. Its previous backers include Accel, Insight Partners, EQT, Lightspeed and Sprints.

The company is now pushing beyond clothing into categories such as electronics, books, toys and video games as it seeks to capture more of the booming market for used goods. Vinted is also focusing on efficient shipping and payments.

“In the end, our vision is to make second-hand first choice . . . globally, and [for] any type of product you can imagine,” Plantenga told the Financial Times last year. “In the long term, we would try to go to other categories.”

At the time, he also hinted that the group could soon look at expanding into the US after having established itself in most European countries.

The company said on Friday it had started its first test to crack the US market by establishing a connection between London and New York that allows buyers and sellers in each location to trade with each other.

“The US market is very immature,” Plantenga told Bloomberg TV. “All the players that are there are struggling and the penetration levels of second-hand are very low. So for us, that’s a huge opportunity.”

Vinted could eventually pursue an initial public offering, Plantenga has said previously, although it does not have a set timetable.

Vinted declined to comment.

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Renault and Nissan are discussing reigniting their 26-year alliance as recent leadership changes at both companies and a financial crisis at the Japanese group have triggered a fresh review of their often tumultuous partnership.

Former Renault CEO Luca de Meo had favoured selling down the French group’s stake in Nissan after the relationship soured following the arrest of the Japanese group’s former chair Carlos Ghosn in 2018, according to people familiar with the discussions. But de Meo’s departure has led to talks over reviving the alliance agreement, the people said.

The talks are the latest chapter in a volatile partnership following a restructuring of the alliance in 2023 under which Renault agreed to gradually reduce its holding in Nissan, once as high as 43 per cent, to 10 per cent.

De Meo had wanted to reinvest Renault’s proceeds from its Nissan stake sale to drive the French carmaker’s own growth, said the people. The French group holds almost 36 per cent in Nissan, including an 18.7 per cent stake in a French trust it wants to offload. Its voting rights are limited to 15 per cent.

The sale had been complicated by Nissan’s sinking share price and the strong premium sought by De Meo to sell the shares. Renault was forced to write off €9.5bn of its stake in Nissan earlier this year. 

Nissan’s share price has plummeted 25 per cent over the past year as it undergoes drastic restructuring involving multiple plant shutdowns and 20,000 job cuts.

De Meo’s exit to run French luxury group Kering has changed the calculus, opening the door for new CEO François Provost to re-evaluate the alliance and its benefits, people familiar with the company said. 

At an event in Paris this month, Provost said that partnerships were a key remedy to Renault’s small scale compared with other European carmakers such as Peugeot and Fiat owner Stellantis or Mercedes-Benz.

“Twenty years with Nissan have taught us . . . that we have the ability not only to negotiate partnerships but above all to execute them to Renault’s advantage. That’s how we address the topic of scale,” he said.

A Renault spokesperson said that Provost and Nissan’s new chief executive Ivan Espinosa were in regular discussions about how each company could support each other, saying this was a “good sign” for the future of the relationship.

In his previous role, Provost was in charge of Renault’s partnerships with other groups and the company this month announced an expansion of its co-operation with Chinese carmaker Geely in Brazil.

“De Meo’s departure opened up a new possibility for the alliance . . . The new CEO is much more in favour of doing something with the alliance,” said one person with knowledge of the matter. “He is a partnership man”, added another person.

Earlier this year, Renault announced plans to acquire full control of its joint venture in India with Nissan which helped its Japanese partner raise capital while strengthening the French group’s foothold in a key market. Nissan will continue to produce at the plant.

Meanwhile, the Japanese group is building its own version of Renault’s all-electric Twingo using the French company’s platform at its Douai plant in northern France. The two groups also have an alliance with smaller rival Mitsubishi Motors.

Another person with knowledge of the discussions said more projects between Nissan and Renault will be announced. With Nissan’s performance under pressure, the company is also looking for more opportunities to jointly manufacture its vehicles with various partners. 

“The alliance is a key pillar of our business,” Nissan said, adding that the two groups were working on “several high-value strategic projects”. 

Renault also changed its representatives on the Nissan board, with the French group’s chair Jean-Dominique Senard departing in April, while putting in place board members charged with supporting Nissan’s financial turnaround. 

The same people said it was too early to discuss specific projects the two could undertake, but that Renault could benefit from Nissan’s geographical reach in countries such as the US, where the French group does not have a presence. In an interview with the Nikkei newspaper, Espinosa said he was also discussing the joint development of products with Honda in the US despite the collapse of merger talks earlier this year.

The French group had rejected a merger proposal between Honda and Nissan earlier in the year in part because “it did not include any premium”.

“We are not talking about building back up capital stakes but . . . there are many ways in which we could collaborate further”, said one senior Nissan insider.

At approximately 3.50pm on Monday at a building atop the City outpost of London’s Elizabeth line, investors in Deutsche Bank will witness a changing of the guard.

Germany’s largest listed lender will set out a new strategy aimed at lifting profitability after years of radical restructuring and costly legal battles, part of a “deep dive” for investors and analysts it is hosting at its UK headquarters.

Analysts, encouraged by record third-quarter results, believe the lender is finally on track to meet its midterm target of a 10 per cent return on tangible equity by the end of 2025. Its shares, which have almost tripled in value over the past two years, are within touching distance of returning to book value.

The key question is how ambitious the next phase under chief executive Christian Sewing, who has led the bank since 2018, will be.

The new strategy will bear the fingerprints of James von Moltke, the outgoing chief financial officer who has been in post since 2017. But it will fall to his successor, Raja Akram, to execute it.

At 1.10pm von Moltke will lay out the bank’s “path to 2025 delivery”. It will fall to Akram, at 3.50pm, to present the “forward-looking financials”. Sewing will bridge the two.

Akram joined Deutsche in October from Morgan Stanley, where he spent five years as deputy chief financial officer following 14 years at Citigroup.

But despite his role at Monday’s event alongside the bank’s top executives, he will not take his seat on Deutsche’s management board until January. He is expected to assume the finance role later still, ahead of the expiry of von Moltke’s contract in mid-2026.

Former colleagues say his experience at the two Wall Street groups makes him well suited to a bank still trying to shake off a legacy of regulatory and reputational crises.

“Citi went through an enormous amount of challenges and was a few years ahead of Deutsche in really addressing the issues,” said John Gerspach, Citigroup’s former chief financial officer.

Citi faced a string of crises in the wake of the 2008 financial crash: from huge losses on toxic mortgage securities and a $45bn US government bailout to years of regulatory sanctions, fines and restructuring.

It spent much of the following decade deleveraging its balance sheet, selling non-core assets and rebuilding risk and control systems — a process Deutsche has been attempting to emulate under von Moltke, who joined from Citi in 2017.

Von Moltke and Sewing launched the German lender’s most sweeping overhaul in decades in 2019, creating a capital release unit — in effect a bad bank — to wind down €288bn of unwanted assets.

The programme initially envisaged cutting one in five jobs and sharply reducing reliance on investment banking.

Deutsche has since softened both goals. Cost cuts took longer than expected, and investment-banking income had to offset restructuring charges and billions in settlements over mortgage-backed securities, money-laundering lapses, and rate-rigging investigations.

In a sign of its turnaround, last month the bank escaped enhanced scrutiny from a regulator-appointed monitor for the first time in seven years.

Akram, who is in his early 50s, last year described himself as “a person with above-average risk tolerance” in a profile published by the foundation of his alma mater, Texas A&M University.

While that description might once have suited many of Deutsche Bank’s executives, people close to Akram said it referred to his willingness to change course in his career — and to his hobby of riding motorbikes — rather than to taking business risks.

In a sign of commitment to his new job, the designated finance chief has relocated from New York to Frankfurt and is studying for a German motorcycle licence, with plans to buy a BMW bike.

Akram joined Citigroup from Fitch Ratings shortly before the global financial crisis. Ambitious and direct, Akram told Gerspach early on that he wanted to become Citi’s CFO. Gerspach advised him to gain hands-on business experience, prompting a move to Brazil as country controller and later CFO.

“Within a few months he was speaking the language and had really got to grips with the business,” Gerspach said. One of Akram’s tasks there was to help decide the fate of Citi’s struggling consumer business, which the bank ultimately exited in 2016.

At Deutsche, Akram will confront familiar questions over how best to allocate capital and whether to pull back from certain businesses — with Sewing having declared earlier this year that “nothing is off limits.” 

During the investor day, analysts expect the bank to set a new profitability target of 12 to 13 per cent return on tangible equity by 2028, up from this year’s 10 per cent, and to cut its cost-income ratio target from 65 per cent to below 60 per cent.

Such targets remain relatively modest compared with some European peers such as BBVA or UniCredit, which are aiming for return on tangible equity of 20 per cent or more.

But to succeed, analysts say the bank must make further progress on cutting staff and branches, while expanding its wealth management business in the traditionally low-margin retail arm, which has also been hampered by IT integration problems.

It also has legal challenges to overcome. The bank has been hit by lawsuits from a group of former employees seeking hundreds of millions of pounds in damages over a scandal that dates back more than a decade.

One top 20 investor said that the outlook for the bank had improved, but they remained cautious.

“The flow of scandals has eased off, but you can never be completely sure with Deutsche Bank,” they said. “I’ve been burned before.”

Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division will have a helping hand from Berlin’s debt-fuelled investment push, with opportunities for advisory work on sovereign bond issuance and corporate restructurings, however.

Germany’s infrastructure drive is also expected to boost demand for loans from companies.

While Akram was at Morgan Stanley, it went from post-crisis stability to one of the best performing banks on Wall Street. People familiar with Akram’s thinking say he sees Deutsche as entering a similar phase now.

• Curious whether MP Materials stock is actually a bargain right now? You are not alone. With so much buzz around this company, it pays to dig deeper before making any moves.

• MP Materials’ share price is up an eye-catching 257.8% so far this year and an impressive 220.8% over the last 12 months, even after a sharp 27.4% pullback in the past month.

• Big headlines recently have focused on MP Materials’ strategic role in the global rare earth supply chain. Government initiatives and trade discussions have put a spotlight on American rare earth production, fueling both investor excitement and debate about future risks.

• When we run MP Materials through our quick valuation checks, it scores just 1 out of 6 for being undervalued. Next, we will look at what these different valuation methods reveal, but hang around until the end for a smarter way to interpret the numbers.

MP Materials scores just 1/6 on our valuation checks. See what other red flags we found in the full valuation breakdown.

A Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model estimates what a company is worth today by projecting the business’s future cash flows and discounting those amounts back to their present value. This method aims to find the intrinsic value using cash flow projections and analysts’ outlook.

Looking at MP Materials, its latest reported Free Cash Flow is negative, at approximately $-294.5 million. Analysts project a notable turnaround ahead, forecasting Free Cash Flow to climb to about $53.3 million by 2027. For the following years, projections continue to surge, eventually reaching over $599 million in 2035, with most of these longer-term figures derived from Simply Wall St’s extrapolations beyond analyst coverage.

After crunching the numbers using this two-stage DCF approach, MP Materials’ intrinsic value comes out to $41.31 per share. However, when compared to its current share price, the DCF indicates the stock is around 41.9% overvalued.

This suggests that investor enthusiasm may be well ahead of the modeled financial reality.

Result: OVERVALUED

Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests MP Materials may be overvalued by 41.9%. Discover 885 undervalued stocks or create your own screener to find better value opportunities.

Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for MP Materials.

For companies that are not yet consistently profitable, Price-to-Sales (P/S) is often the go-to valuation multiple. It helps investors assess how the market values each dollar of revenue. This is a sensible approach for growth-stage firms with limited or negative earnings.

However, a “fair” P/S multiple is not the same for every business. Companies with higher growth potential and lower risk generally deserve a higher P/S, while more mature or riskier firms tend to see lower valuations. That is why it is critical to benchmark any number against both industry norms and factors unique to the company.

Currently, MP Materials trades at a lofty 44.65x P/S, vastly exceeding the Metals and Mining industry average of just 2.59x and its peer average of 0.70x. Superficially, this suggests that MP is priced far above its sector, possibly implying stretched expectations or unique business qualities.

This is where the Simply Wall St “Fair Ratio” comes in. The Fair Ratio for MP Materials is 2.54x, reflecting a proprietary model that weighs factors like future growth, profit margin, industry dynamics, company size, and risk. By adjusting for these elements, the Fair Ratio provides a more tailored benchmark than relying solely on peer or industry figures.

With MP Materials’ actual P/S of 44.65x towering over its Fair Ratio of 2.54x, the stock appears richly valued even after considering all its growth prospects and risks.

Result: OVERVALUED

PS ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1411 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.

Earlier, we mentioned an even better way to interpret valuations. Let us introduce you to Narratives, a smarter tool designed to help you make sense of a company’s story and numbers together.

A Narrative is simply your perspective: it is the story you believe about a company’s future, tied directly to your own forecasts of revenue, earnings, and margins, and ultimately to what you think is a fair value for the stock.

Narratives transform abstract financial models into easy-to-understand scenarios by connecting the dots between what is happening in the real world and what that means for a company’s growth prospects and share price potential.

This means you do not need to be a professional analyst. On Simply Wall St’s Community page, you can create, compare, and update Narratives using tools already trusted by millions of investors.

Narratives evolve as new information is released, like news or earnings, keeping your view as up-to-date as the market itself.

For MP Materials, one investor’s Narrative might focus on optimistic government contracts and forecast a fair value as high as $85, while another might stress risks from customer concentration or regulation and set their fair value closer to $65. This shows how your own story, not just the numbers, can drive investing decisions.

Do you think there’s more to the story for MP Materials? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include MP.

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