Closing Bell Closing Bell: Make-or-Break Earnings Moment 2/25/26
Feb 25, 2026
Bryn Talkington, investor focused on large-cap tech valuations. Malcolm Ethridge, portfolio manager weighing when to trim or add to software positions. Christina Partsinevelos, markets reporter tracking movers into the close. They debate Nvidia, Salesforce and Snowflake earnings, AI competition and chip demand, software valuation and sentiment, private credit jitters, and major movers as the market heads into the close.
AI Snips
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Episode notes
Margins Depend On Procurement And Performance Gains
- Gross margin sustainability is a major risk as memory and component costs rise, and Nvidia's procurement advantage and performance improvements are crucial to hold mid-70s margins.
- Stacey Rasgon highlights early supplier deals and performance gains (e.g., Rubin) that support pricing power versus rising costs.
Productivity Gains Could Undermine Chip Demand
- Stronger chip productivity could paradoxically reduce demand if performance per chip rises enough to cut required units, creating a good-news-is-bad-news scenario.
- Malcolm Ethridge warns a 10x productivity jump could shorten backlog realization and hurt orders.
Market Size Matters More Than Single Vendor Wins
- Competition from AMD and hyperscaler TPUs matters less than whether the overall AI opportunity is large enough for many players to thrive.
- Stacey Rasgon argues the question is total market size, not point leadership, and Nvidia currently 'has the game to lose.'