The Dow led the major indices as investors shifted into defensive sectors like healthcare and consumer staples. Tech, AI, and crypto names continued to retreat on valuation concerns, though healthy pullbacks are setting up opportunities in high-quality names. Gold and silver saw a brief safe-haven bid before ending flat, while, the 10-year Treasury yield held firm above 4.1%, signaling that a December rate cut is becoming far less certain.

The spotlight next week will be on Nvidia’s quarterly results after the close on Wednesday, which will influence direction in the overall market, and sentiment around companies involved in the AI play.
Additionally, with the government shutdown now resolved, markets will finally see the return of postponed economic data, giving investors a clearer read on the health of the economy, inflation trends, and what the Fed may do next.

This week’s pick is a buy-the-dip opportunity on a Mega-Cap tech giant and cash-generating machine. Meta Platforms dominates social media with its family of apps - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, with over 3.5B daily active users. The company’s core business is its highly effective and profitable digital advertising engine.

Meta is one of the strongest financial performers in big tech. Its Q3 2025 revenue grew 26% YoY to $51.2B, with an operating margin of 40% (albeit 3% lower than 2024), and $44B in free cash flow. However, a one-time tax charge of $15.9B led to it reporting a significant EPS miss, leading to a sell-off. Additionally, investors are concerned about its increased capex guide of $70-72B in 2025, with further increases planned in 2026, which has weighed on the stock in recent weeks. How Meta converts its significant AI investments into future revenue and earnings growth will be closely watched in 2026 and beyond.

Meta is down nearly ~25% from its highs and sold-off sharply after its earnings report. It is now oversold on both its daily and weekly timeframe, and closed the week just above a key support level of $600. For both long-term holders and first-time buyers, this is a good opportunity to pick up shares, with potential adds in the $540-600 range if weakness continues. Although there’s a strong likelyhood we could see a bounce next week, patience over the medium to long term is key.

Klaviyo is cloud B2C CRM specifically built for e-commerce and retail brands. It provides a unified platform with AI-powered marketing automation, analytics, and customer service that allows businesses to listen to their customers' behavior, process that data instantly, and deliver highly personalized experiences across channels like email, SMS, and in-app notifications.

Klaviyo's primary strength is its specialized focus on B2C e-commerce, supported by a proprietary data architecture. Its deep, real-time integrations with platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce create high switching costs. This is being extended by a significant foray into agentic AI, which enables the platform to autonomously plan and execute entire marketing strategies, creating a moat against generalized CRM competitors like Salesforce and HubSpot.

Klaviyo just delivered outstanding Q3 25 results, with revenue growing 32% YoY to $311M and management raising its FY 25 guidance to over $1.21B. The company is nearing sustainable profitability and is maintaining a robust 76% gross margin. Its balance sheet is strong, holding ~980M in cash, and minimal debt. However, its valuation is elevated meaning execution will need to stay excellent to support expectations.

Klaviyo’s valuation currently prices in a significant amount of future growth. It has high concentration risk due to its deep reliance on the Shopify ecosystem. Additionally, its customer base has a large portion of small-to-midsize e-commerce brands that are highly sensitive to macroeconomic headwinds. In terms of competition, entrenched marketing-automation players like HubSpot and Salesforce sharpening their focus on the B2C segment would hurt Kalviyo’s growth prospects.

Ali is a full-time equity trader and investor based in Dubai, and the founder of First Mile Investing. He left his corporate career in 2024 to pursue his passion for the markets. He founded First Mile Investing to help beginners take their first confident steps into investing, with the goal of making the process less intimidating, more accessible, and empowering for everyone.