The market did its best to climb Monday after a wild conflict-filled weekend. The U.S. and Israel started a new bombing campaign in Iran on Saturday, successfully killing 'supreme' leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian media confirmed on Saturday.

He was a despot, presiding over one of the longest reigns of power in modern memory in the Middle East. His elite military guard as recently as the day before his assassination was continuing to shoot and round up what may now total 30,000 anti-government protestors to hold public executions.

That is not to say the world welcomes violence of any form in the middle east. The U.S. coalition hit thousands of targets across Iran, President Trump and the Department of War reported four U.S. service members have died, Iranian Red Cross adjacent reported 500+ deaths in the bombing so far. The word from the Iranian military attempting to blockade oil shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is the ballistic back and fourth does not have an end in sight. The last thing the U.S. needs is a third forever war in the middle east since Y2k.

Operation Epic Fury decapitated Iranian leadership, but each night brings more violence, Iran targeting oil and natural gas infrastructure across the Gulf. The energy sector rebounded Monday though, as Oil Futures climbed about 6.4%.

ISM manufacturing data showed great month-over-month growth on Monday, if anyone cared. Nvidia announced an investment in data center laser companies, and Apple released a new line up of affordable phones. Operation Epic Fury continues into its fourth day tomorrow.

Plug Power Reaches Margin Milestone: Hydrogen leader $PLUG reported a pivotal fourth quarter, achieving its first-ever positive quarterly gross margin. The stock climbed 9% after cost-cutting measures under "Project Quantum Leap" finally offset heavy infrastructure spend.

$0.06 adjusted loss per share vs. $0.10 loss estimate. $225.2M revenue vs. $217.4M consensus, up 17.6% year-over-year. 🔋

AST SpaceMobile Becomes Revenue Generating: Satellite-to-phone pioneer $ASTS transitioned into a ‘commercial business’ in 2025, reporting $70.9M in annual revenue. The stock went from +9% to an unsure holding pattern after the bell. The firm said they successfully deployed BlueBird 6 and are preparing a launch cadence set to reach up to 60 satellites by 2027.

$70.9M full-year 2025 revenue vs. $0 in the prior year. $1.2B in total contracted revenue commitments secured. 🛰️

BigBear.ai Misses on Revenue Guide: Shares of $BBAI fell in after-hours trading after the security AI firm posted a revenue miss and soft forward guidance for 2026. While the acquisition of Ask Sage and a massive reduction in debt have strengthened the balance sheet, the 38% year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue highlights ongoing headwinds in the timing of major Army program contracts. $27.3M revenue vs. $34.5M consensus. 🤖

Imagine a future where we could mass produce homes like cars — one every minute. That’s the vision of BOXABL Inc. (“BOXABL”), a company with the goal of leading a homebuilding revolution with high quality, cost effective, factory-made, foldable houses that ship anywhere and unpack in one hour.

BOXABL announced plans for a potential SPAC merger with FG Merger II Corp. (“FGMC”) (NASDAQ: FGMC). After crowdfunding $230M from over 60,000 investors since 2020.

Currently trading on Nasdaq, FGMC will be the surviving entity following the proposed merger's closing. The combined company will then be renamed BOXABL Inc., with the anticipated ticker $BXBL.

Investors holding $FGMC shares will automatically convert to $BXBL upon closing.

Click here to find important information related to the proposed merger: ir.boxabl.com
1 BOXABL and FGMC have extended their merger deadline to March 31, 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, see SEC Exhibit 99 for further details here
2 Investing in a SPAC can introduce unique risks, including but not limited to regulatory and compliance risks, liquidity risks, structure and complexity
Review the latest filings here

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

Semiconductor giant $NVDA announced a massive $4B strategic investment into photonics leaders Lumentum Holdings and Coherent Corp. on Monday, aiming to secure the lasers required for high-bandwidth networking. Nvidia is shelling out billions to directly finance the capacity expansion of indium phosphide lasers, a primary hardware bottleneck for scaling massive GPU clusters.

By locking in the only two major U.S. producers of high-performance optics, the company said it’s de-risking its own roadmap. 💎

Ondas Defends the Skies: Shares of Ondas spiked as the small drone defense contractor capitalized on very recent surging global demand for counter-drone technology. the company recently secured a $10M strategic investment in World View, but the stock move was tied to the ongoing war in the middle east.🛡️

It wasn’t the only defense stock to jump. $PLTR ( ▼ 0.06% ) climbed despite fears from last week that its pal Anthropic is getting cut from the Pentagon. $LMT ( ▼ 1.88% ) and $NOC ( ▼ 0.73% ) soared. Airline stocks fell $DAL ( ▼ 1.01% ) as missiles arched in the sky.

$PANW ( ▲ 3.64% ), $NET ( ▼ 1.54% ) and Crowdstrike $CRWD ( ▲ 0.66% ) gained on the possibility of cyber attack retaliations yet to come.

Regional Energy Micro-Caps Ride Middle East Contagion: Speculative energy plays $INDO ( ▼ 19.73% ) , $BATL ( ▲ 119.32% ) , and $TPET ( ▲ 64.29% ) saw massive volume on Monday as Iran retaliated against U.S.-Israeli strikes by targeting oil and gas infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz and a direct hit on a Qatari plant responsible for 20% of global LNG sent energy futures into a tailspin.

While these micro-cap explorers often trade on momentum rather than fundamentals, the physical reality of a closed Strait of Hormuz is forcing a violent repricing of the "fear premium." With Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery shuttered as a precaution, traders expect these names to remain highly volatile. 🛢️

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Macro: FACTORY ORDERS (10:00 AM ET), JOLTS (10:00 AM ET). 📊
Pre-Market Earnings: $PSFE, $NLST, $EVGO, $BBY, $ONON, $AZO, $THO, $ICCM, $SRRK, $CVEO, $AMLX. ☀️
After-Market Earnings: $SPCE, $CRWD, $SAVA, $LAZR, $GTE, $HYMC, $AXON, $CYN, $BOX, $OMER, $QSI, $GTLB, $FTEK, $QNCX, $BEAM, $ARCT, $ACRS, $LPSN, $QUIK, $EOLS, $CPIX, $BGS, $SSTI, $SND. 🌙
P.S. You can listen to all of these earnings calls on Stocktwits.

3 F-15s shot down by Kuwait in friendly fire incident, pilots safe, US says

Trump Says He Would Deploy Ground Troops to Iran “If Necessary”

😨 Trump says Iran strikes were "last best chance" to take out missiles, nuclear threat

🏠 Anthropic vs. White House puts $60 billion at risk

💰 JPMorgan to Start Debt Deal for $55 Billion EA Buyout Next Week

📺 Apple debuts $599 iPhone 17e, more powerful iPad Airs

👀 Gas prices likely to rise 'very quickly' as oil surges amid Iran war

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