Vodafone (VOD) Stock Surges on Goldman Sachs Double

Vodafone Egypt and Cassava Technologies launched Egypt's first AI factory, investing EGP 20B ($300M) this fiscal year. The facility offers AI services using NVIDIA hardware, with data hosted locally. Egypt is courting multiple global partners, including Konecta, Deloitte, and NVIDIA, to diversify its AI infrastructure. Cassava, backed by NVIDIA and Google, is expanding into North Africa with this project.

Vodafone, Cassava Technologies (founded by Strive Masiyiwa), and Cairo-listed Elsewedy Electric agreed to build Egypt's first AI data centre, expecting $1B in FDI. The project, with initial $200M investment, will create jobs and use Nvidia GPUs. Cassava is Nvidia's African cloud partner, and Google, Nvidia have invested in it. Elsewedy Electric, controlled by the El Sewedy family, provides power and infrastructure.

Dell (DELL) rose 1.5% to a 52-week high after being added to the S&P 100. Vodafone (VOD) gained 2% following a Goldman Sachs upgrade. Zeta Global (ZETA) hit a 52-week high intraday but closed down 4% after earnings and product updates.

Vodafone's stock rose 2.0% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to Buy from Sell, raising its price target to 155 pence. Morgan Stanley also increased its price target to 125 pence. The upgrades follow VodafoneThree's new TV platform launch, driving the stock to a 52-week high of 125.15p.

Vodafone Group announced Societe Generale will acquire a 50% stake in OXG, its German fiber joint venture, subject to approvals. The deal secures funding for OXG's network expansion while maintaining Vodafone's strategic flexibility.

Vega, a company linked to the Niel family, has entered into equity derivative transactions to potentially acquire up to 4.57 billion Vodafone (VOD) shares. The deals, subject to regulatory approvals, may result in physical or cash settlements, with Vega's ownership capped at 9.9% of outstanding shares. The first transaction could settle by February 2027, while the second may extend to January 2028.