Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) stock has seen more than average volatility recently, and the movement has captured investor attention. The eVTOL company’s shares have fallen almost 9% in the last five trading days and have generally traded near their 50-day low for a while now.
This negative stock performance follows news of CEO Joeben Bevirt’s recent share sale, which was perceived as large by market participants. Additionally, broader uncertainty in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) sector, possibly worsened by negative news about competitors, may be impacting investor sentiment.
Recent price drops in Joby’s stock price raise a critical question for investors: do company-specific fundamental weaknesses drive these declines, or are they primarily a result of broader market concerns and insider activity, thus presenting a potential investment opportunity?
Understanding Joby’s Recent CEO Share Sale
Joby Aviation CEO Joeben Bevirt’s sale of 101,652 shares on May 14 at an average of $6.66, generating roughly $677,000, has garnered investor attention. While insider sales by CEOs can cause concern, this transaction involved only 0.17% of Bevirt’s total Joby Aviation holdings.
He still retains over 60.5 million shares, valued at around $403 million at the time of the sale, indicating a substantial ongoing financial stake in the company’s long-term success.
Executive compensation in growth-focused technology and aerospace firms often heavily relies on equity. In 2023, stock awards represented about 85% of Bevirt’s total compensation.
Consequently, periodic stock sales by executives usually reflect personal financial management needs, such as covering tax obligations from vested stock or options, diversifying their portfolios, or accessing liquidity for personal investments.
Considering the small proportion of shares sold and typical compensation structures for founder-CEOs in this industry, Bevirt’s recent transaction likely reflects routine financial planning rather than a negative view of Joby Aviation’s future.
The Archer Effect? Assessing Joby’s Resilience
The urban air mobility sector is vulnerable to sentiment shifts driven by news from key players. Negative attention on Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) due to a short-seller report alleging milestone misrepresentation could create a contagion effect, causing investors to apply concerns to the entire eVTOL industry broadly.
For Joby Aviation investors, it’s important to distinguish between this sector-wide sentiment and Joby’s specific progress and fundamentals. The allegations against Archer are company-specific, with no similar indications for Joby.
Another negative dragging Joby’s stock price down is the Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) downgrade in April, citing broader aerospace concerns like tariffs and supply chain issues, which contributed to sector-wide caution. While Morgan Stanley’s analyst had valid long-term concerns, the immediate impact on Joby, in its pre-mass-production stage, is likely less significant than for established aerospace manufacturers.
Consequently, while increased sector scrutiny is expected, discerning investors should focus on Joby’s individual performance and unique strengths.
Is Joby’s Current Price a Buying Opportunity?
Despite the recent dip in Joby Aviation’s stock price, a strong long-term investment case can be made. This decline could be a strategic entry point or accumulation point for investors. The market’s negative sentiment seems to be overreacting to CEO share sales and competitor problems that don’t necessarily reflect issues within Joby itself.
Joby continues to make substantial, verifiable progress in the execution of its development strategy, and most Wall Street analysts remain optimistic, predicting significant price appreciation. While pre-revenue eVTOL sector risks like profitability timelines and regulation exist, Joby’s progress and strategy are solid.
For investors who can distinguish between market fluctuations, sector-wide concerns, and Joby’s execution, the stock’s recent drop to near technical support levels presents an attractive opportunity to invest in a potential urban air mobility leader. Upcoming milestones, such as FAA TIA progress and Dubai aircraft delivery and operations, could improve market sentiment and reward entering investors for their investment bravery.
Seeing Joby Aviation Through the Noise
While the stock chart for Joby Aviation may reflect recent turbulence, a deeper look reveals a company consistently achieving critical operational and technical milestones on its path to commercializing urban air mobility.
When viewed against substantial remaining holdings and common executive financial practices, the context surrounding recent CEO share sales appears less alarming than initial headlines might suggest.
Similarly, sector-wide sentiment shifts stemming from competitor issues should be carefully distinguished from Joby’s demonstrable progress and strong partner validations.
With a majority of analysts maintaining a positive outlook and significant price target upside, and with tangible progress towards key commercialization goals, Joby Aviation’s current stock price warrants careful consideration by investors focused on the long-term transformative potential of the UAM sector.
While technological innovation often dominates market attention, a growing number of investors are seeking growth opportunities in less crowded sectors. The global leisure travel industry, currently in a strong recovery, offers such an alternative, with the cruise segment demonstrating significant strength.
Reports suggest passenger numbers are recovering and projected to surpass pre-pandemic levels, indicating continued consumer demand for cruise vacations through 2025.
Its recent performance and reported strategic direction present a strong argument for its consideration as a significant non-tech growth investment.
Carnival Posts Record Q1 2025 Results, Raises Full-Year Outlook
Carnival’s recent financial reports demonstrate strong growth driven by exceptional consumer demand. In the first fiscal quarter of 2025 (ending Feb. 29, 2025), the company achieved record revenues of $5.8 billion, a $400 million increase year-over-year. Net yields rose by an impressive 7.3%, exceeding expectations. This surge in demand significantly boosted profitability, with operating income nearly doubling to $543 million.
Adjusted net income reached $174 million ($0.13 per diluted share), a substantial improvement from the previous year’s loss, and adjusted EBITDA hit a record first-quarter high of $1.2 billion, a 38% increase. Future demand also appears healthy, with customer deposits reaching a record $7.3 billion.
Management noted the extended booking curve at historically high prices, revealing that by the end of Q1 2025, the booked position for the remainder of the year matched the previous record but at better price points, and bookings for 2026 and beyond reached a new high.
Consequently, Carnival has raised its full-year 2025 guidance, projecting adjusted net income of around $2.49 billion ($1.83 per share) and adjusted EBITDA of nearly $6.7 billion, with net yield growth of about 4.7%.
Carnival Accelerates Growth Strategy
Carnival’s rebound strategy involves implementing initiatives designed to drive sustainable, long-term growth and enhance profitability. A cornerstone of this strategy is the “SEA Change” program, which is focused on achieving specific financial targets.
The company now expects to meet its 2026 adjusted return on invested capital (ROIC) and adjusted EBITDA per available lower berth (ALBD)—a key financial metric in the cruise industry—a year ahead of schedule, in 2025, with a projected adjusted ROIC of about 12% for that year.
Achieving such targets ahead of schedule underscores accelerated operational efficiency and profitability improvements.
Innovation in guest experiences and new revenue streams is also pivotal. The highly anticipated exclusive destination, Celebration Key in Grand Bahama, is on track for its July 2025 opening. It is expected to be a significant draw, potentially boosting ticket revenue and onboard spending.
Alongside this flagship project, Carnival continues to invest in enhancing its other private destinations, such as RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay, and in modernizing its existing fleet through programs like AIDA Evolution, which involves upgrades to dining venues, suites, and fuel efficiency technologies.
Fleet and capacity management are being handled with a disciplined approach. While introducing new, more efficient ships like the Star Princess (scheduled for delivery in 2025), Carnival is also strategically retiring older, less efficient vessels.
This results in a modest and strategic overall capacity growth, projected at 0.8% for fiscal year 2025.
In a high-demand environment, such controlled expansion is designed to support strong pricing power and optimize per-passenger revenue, directly contributing to the growth narrative.
Carnival Stock Shows Undervalued Growth Potential
Carnival’s current stock valuation presents an interesting case for investors seeking growth outside the often-volatile tech sector. As of May 21, 2025, Carnival’s shares traded around $22.25, with a market capitalization of approximately $25.9 billion.
The stock’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) stood at about 16.01. More indicative of a company on a growth trajectory, its forward P/E ratio, based on anticipated earnings for the next fiscal year, was approximately 12.93.
A particularly relevant metric for growth stocks is the price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio, approximately 0.54 for Carnival. Investors often interpret a PEG ratio below 1.0 as a potential sign that a stock may be undervalued relative to its expected earnings growth rate.
With earnings per share projected to grow substantially (around 18.08% for the next year), this PEG ratio suggests that the market may not have fully priced in Carnival’s growth potential.
Carnival Emerges as a Leading Non-Tech Growth Play
Carnival Corporation’s narrative is increasingly one of growth and strategic financial improvement. The potent combination of a vigorous rebound in cruising consumer demand and Carnival’s record-setting operational execution provides a strong foundation.
Strategic initiatives to boost long-term profitability and capital returns, new revenue drivers, and a disciplined approach to fleet modernization and capacity growth are set to fuel this expansion further. While the leisure travel industry’s inherent risks remain pertinent, Carnival’s current trajectory presents a compelling argument.
For investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with a company demonstrating clear expansionary momentum outside the often-crowded technology space, Carnival Corporation warrants serious consideration as a leading non-tech growth candidate.
Written by Gabriel Osorio-MazilliWithin the technology sector, a list of names has become hot and popular over the past two years, for good and bad reasons. When it comes to shares of Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), investors have been whipsawed by waves of repeated uncertainty and volatility for different reasons, though it looks like this company’s future path (and its stock price) might be cleared for new highs coming up.
Most investors will still feel the aftereffects of the legal allegations made against Super Micro Computer stock, when the main bearish case was centered around the belief that the company was sort of “cooking” the books, and misguiding investors as to how much money the business was making.
Things went as far as the stock selling off due to financial filing delays and a change in the auditing and accounting team.
While management took the right step, the bears weren’t that willing to give up on their belief that Super Micro Computer might be in danger after all.
The price action that followed (a decent-sized rally) was a warning for what was to come next for these bears, though the final blow ended up coming in mid-May 2025 after President Trump had a visit with the Saudi government.
A Major Catalyst Just Hit Super Micro Computer
After this visit and talks on trade and new Saudi government investment in United States companies, one major headline broke out to push Super Micro Computer’s name back to the table and consider the optimistic future this stock could deliver in the coming months.
The release concerns a new collaboration between Super Micro Computer and the Saudi government to develop hyperscale artificial intelligence campuses across the region. Specifically, Super Micro Computer has partnered with DataVolt to support the development of the needed infrastructure through data centers.
Understanding the amount of secular growth that the Saudi region can (and probably will) experience in the coming years, being one of the first names to hit the ground running in this new cycle will prove to be a bullish catalyst for stock valuations during this time.
More than that, this Saudi decision might put some of these bearish views to rest once and for all. With this new partnership in place, investors can safely assume that Super Micro Computer’s equipment and services are actually in a leading position in the industry and are being accepted or adopted by more notable customers.
What the Market Thought of the Deal
On an initial view, investors can consider the price action for Super Micro Computer and what this new announcement means for the future. Over the past month, the stock rallied by 41.1% to outperform the broader S&P 500 index and the rest of the technology sector.
Considering this reaction, investors can think of this new announcement as a significant catalyst that is now pricing in future earnings growth and therefore higher ceilings for the stock price. Price action is nothing but a mechanism of consensus, and this consensus is usually focused on the next three to six months of financial outcomes, showing the bull case for the company.
Now, this is where the landscape in Super Micro Computer gets interesting for investors today. All of these financial scenarios for future growth have likely not yet been modeled and recognized by Wall Street analysts, which creates the potential for a new catalyst to occur in two ways.
The first is earnings per share (EPS) forecasts made by these analysts, which currently sit at $0.94 per share for the fourth quarter of 2025, though that might eventually get pushed higher once the outcome of this new partnership is accounted for. The second way investors could see a new catalyst down the road is in price targets.
While today’s consensus price target is only $45.6 per share, implying that Super Micro Computer could rally by an additional 9.5% from where it trades today, investors must remember that these valuations were set before the new Saudi partnership.
Once these benefits are incorporated into financial statements and valuation models, investors will likely see some analysts come in with more realistic (and probably higher) price targets, initiating a new wave of buyers as well. However, it seems that some of these buyers have already jumped the gun.
Those from UBS Asset Management decided to boost their Super Micro Computer stock holdings by 2.7% just days after the company made the Saudi partnership announcement, bringing their stake to $99 million today and giving investors another sign of confidence to lean on.
The Night Owl is a financial newsletter that provides in-depth market analysis on stocks of interest to individual investors. Published by MarketBeat and Early Bird Publishing, The Night Owl is delivered around 9:00 PM Eastern Sunday through Thursday. If you give a hoot about the market, The Night Owl is the newsletter for you.
MarketBeat Media, LLC
345 N Reid Place, Suite 620, Sioux Falls, SD 57103. contact@marketbeat.com