Core Insights - Morgan Stanley has identified a select group of stocks that are well-positioned for growth heading into 2026, focusing on strong fundamentals and favorable industry trends [1] Group 1: Artificial Intelligence - Nvidia is viewed as a core play on the artificial intelligence theme, with accelerating revenue growth and sustained demand exceeding supply [2] - Nvidia has outperformed its guidance, adding billions in sequential revenue, supported by a long runway for AI infrastructure spending [2] Group 2: Digital Media - Spotify is recognized for its growth and improved profitability, with its use of AI seen as a competitive advantage [3] - The company is expected to offset higher content costs in 2026 through pricing power and rising average revenue per user, supporting margin expansion [4] - Spotify shares have increased by approximately 30% in 2025, indicating growing confidence in its business model [4] Group 3: Cybersecurity - Palo Alto Networks is positioned as a leading beneficiary of platformization and AI adoption in cybersecurity, with an optimistic outlook due to attractive valuation levels and solid growth prospects [6] - The pending acquisition of CyberArk is expected to strengthen Palo Alto's product offering and long-term earnings power, despite a modest 2025 gain of about 3.6% [7] Group 4: Data Storage - Western Digital is highlighted as a top pick linked to cloud capital expenditure growth, with improving demand in the hard disk drive market and strong exposure to public cloud spending [9] - The company has seen its shares rise over 300% in 2025, with fundamentals justifying a bullish outlook going into next year [10]

Core Viewpoint - Spotify Technology S.A. is scheduled to release its fourth quarter 2025 results on February 10, 2025, before the market opens [1] Group 1 - The company will hold a question and answer session at 8:00 am Eastern Time to discuss the fourth quarter 2025 results [1] - Management will address questions submitted via Slido, with the event code SpotifyEarningsQ425 [1] - A live webcast of the earnings call will be available [1]

Core Insights - TCW Concentrated Large Cap Growth Fund reported a return of +4.11% in Q3 2025, underperforming the Russell 1000 Growth Index which returned +10.51% [1] - The fund highlighted Spotify Technology S.A. as a key holding, noting its significant market position and growth potential [2][3] Group 1: Fund Performance - The equity markets experienced a rally in Q3 2025, driven by optimism around AI investments and positive corporate earnings [1] - The fund's performance lagged behind the benchmark index, indicating potential challenges in stock selection or market conditions [1] Group 2: Spotify Technology S.A. - Spotify Technology S.A. is a leading audio streaming service with approximately 700 million monthly active users and over 275 million paying subscribers, controlling about one-third of the global music streaming market [3] - The company operates in two segments: premium (approximately 90% of revenues) and ad-supported (approximately 10% of revenues) [3] - Spotify has recently begun to raise prices after a decade of stability, with limited impact on customer churn, indicating a strategic shift to enhance revenue [3] - The company is viewed as having multiple growth levers, including user acquisition, conversion of ad-supported users to premium, and further price increases [3] - As of December 24, 2025, Spotify's stock closed at $586.57, with a market capitalization of $120.771 billion [2]

Core Insights - Janus Henderson Investors reported strong global equity performance in Q3 2025, driven by loose monetary policy and AI growth momentum, with the Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund returning 2.95% compared to a 7.27% return for the MSCI World Index [1] Group 1: Janus Henderson Global Sustainable Equity Fund - The fund's performance was impacted by Spotify Technology S.A., which was one of the biggest relative detractors due to weak results and a muted outlook, despite the fund maintaining its investment thesis on Spotify's growth opportunities [3] - Spotify's introduction of new product features and its leadership in the audio streaming market were highlighted as positive factors that could enhance its business economics [3] Group 2: Spotify Technology S.A. - Spotify's one-month return was -1.04%, but it gained 25.51% over the last 52 weeks, closing at $579.39 per share with a market capitalization of $119.293 billion on December 23, 2025 [2] - Spotify is ranked 25th among the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds, with 116 hedge fund portfolios holding its shares at the end of Q3, an increase from 111 in the previous quarter [4]

Group 1 - Spotify has faced a significant data security crisis due to an intrusion by the shadow library organization "Anna's Archive," which has nearly completely captured content from the platform [1][3] - The organization reportedly downloaded approximately 300TB of music files and obtained a vast amount of data, including 256 million song metadata entries and 86 million audio files [3] - Spotify has confirmed that unauthorized access was detected, with third parties scraping public metadata and using illegal methods to bypass Digital Rights Management (DRM) to access some audio files [3] Group 2 - As of December 21, only the metadata has been leaked, while the music files have not yet been disclosed [3] - Spotify has taken initial measures to identify and disable malicious user accounts involved in the illegal data scraping and is actively investigating the situation to mitigate losses and impacts [3]

Core Insights - Spotify Technology S.A. is set to introduce music videos for premium subscribers in the US and Canada by the end of December, aiming to compete with YouTube for market share [1][3] - The addition of video content is expected to enhance user engagement and attract more advertisers, following a beta launch in nearly 100 markets in 2024 [2] - The initial video catalog will include content from popular artists, and data shows that users are significantly more likely to engage with songs that have music videos [3] Company Developments - Spotify's Wrapped feature engaged over 200 million users within 24 hours, marking a 19% year-over-year increase in user engagement [3] - The company plans to increase subscription prices in the US in the first quarter of 2026, following a price hike for premium plans in over 150 markets [3] - Spotify is recognized as a leading audio streaming subscription service, providing access to songs, podcasts, and audiobooks [4]

Core Viewpoint - Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) is positioned as a strong investment opportunity for the next five years, with analysts highlighting its pricing power and dominance in the audio streaming market [1][2]. Group 1: Analyst Ratings and Price Targets - Citizens analyst Matthew Condon initiated coverage of Spotify with an Outperform rating and a price target of $800, citing the company's evolution into a multi-format audio platform [1]. - Jefferies analyst David Chiaverini maintained a Buy rating on Spotify, also with a price target of $800 [2]. Group 2: Product Expansion and User Engagement - Spotify announced the expansion of its music video beta to Premium subscribers in the US and Canada, allowing users to access a curated catalog of official music videos within the app [3]. - Engagement data indicates that users who discover a track via music video are 34% more likely to stream it again and 24% more likely to save or share it the following week, with super listeners increasing their streaming of that artist by an average of 85% in the month following video engagement [4]. Group 3: Company Overview - Spotify provides audio streaming subscription services worldwide, operating through two segments: Premium and Ad-Supported [5].

Core Insights - Sirius XM and Spotify reported Q3 2025 earnings within days of each other, showcasing contrasting trajectories in the audio entertainment sector [1] Company Performance - Sirius XM's performance indicates a positive trend, while Spotify's results reflect challenges [1]

​Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) is one of the Best Stocks to Buy and Hold for 2026. On December 18, Benjamin Swinburne from Morgan Stanley reiterated a Buy rating on Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) but lowered the price target from $800 to $775. A day earlier, on December 17, Matthew Condon from Citizen JPM initiated the stock with a Buy rating and a $800 price target. ​Swinburne of Morgan Stanley sees the Media and Entertainment entering 2026 strongly, with solid fundamentals boosting momentum ...

Core Insights - Netflix is expanding into the podcasting space by signing exclusive video rights deals with iHeartMedia, Barstool Sports, and Spotify, with potential talks with SiriusXM, aiming to compete with YouTube [1][2][17] - The podcasting industry is experiencing a shift towards video content, with YouTube reporting over 700 million hours of podcast viewership on living room devices in 2025, up from 400 million in the previous year [2] - There is skepticism among podcasters regarding the long-term value of video podcasts, with concerns about a potential podcast bubble similar to what occurred after Spotify's aggressive acquisitions [4][13] Industry Dynamics - The move by Netflix is seen as a strategic attempt to dominate content creation and distribution, particularly targeting YouTube as a competitor [5][17] - Podcasters express ambivalence towards video formats, with many preferring audio content, indicating a disconnect between audience preferences and corporate strategies [8][9] - The podcasting landscape is marked by a tension between independent creators and large tech companies, with concerns about consolidation leading to fewer resources for smaller creators [14][15] Future Outlook - Analysts predict that Netflix may eventually pursue high-profile podcast creators with significant deals, potentially reshaping the podcasting landscape [17] - The cultural shift towards consuming podcasts as background content is seen as an opportunity for Netflix to capture a new audience segment [18] - The competitive landscape is evolving, with both Netflix and Spotify making aggressive moves to test new value propositions in the podcasting space [16]