Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

With the Relative Strength Index (RSI) now hovering in the mid‑30s, Palantir stock sits at an interesting crossroads for traders trying to balance cyclical fear against still‑lofty expectations.

PLTR stock is moving. See the chart and price action here. SaaSpocalypse HitThe SaaSpocalypse triggered repricing for richly valued software and AI stocks as investors assessed how durable their growth really is in a world of rapidly commoditizing models. 

Palantir rode the first AI wave hard on excitement around its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), stacking up 70% to 80% revenue growth prints and becoming one of the highest‑multiple names in large‑cap software. 

As rates stayed higher for longer and cheaper agentic AI tools emerged, the market started questioning whether a "high‑touch," systems‑integration‑heavy model deserves a triple‑digit earnings multiple. 

The macro and sector reset has taken PLTR from riding the peak of performance to trading at new 52-week lows on Tuesday. 

AI Disruption FearsA big piece of Palantir’s drawdown is classic disruption anxiety. New "managed agent" platforms and autonomous AI stacks are being framed as direct challengers to Palantir’s AIP, raising the likelihood that enterprises could opt for lighter, cheaper tools over Palantir’s more involved deployments. 

At the same time, Palantir’s government business has become a political talking point: reviews of major U.K. contracts and blocked law‑enforcement deals stoked concern that some of its highest‑margin work may face headline and renewal risk. 

Those execution questions hit harder precisely because the stock entered 2026 priced for near‑flawless delivery.

Almost Oversold and What It Actually MeansTechnically, an RSI reading in the mid‑30s signals that downside momentum has grown intense but has not yet reached the classic sub‑30 capitulation level many technicians look for. 

Palantir’s RSI sits at 34.41, per Benzinga Pro data, making the stock decidedly out of favor but not yet in full-blown capitulation territory. 

PLTR Stock Price Activity: Palantir stock was down 0.34% at $119.09 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Over the past month, PLTR has declined about 12.5% versus a 1.8% decline in the S&P 500 and is down roughly 34% year-to-date compared to the index’s 7.5% gain. The stock hit a new 52-week low of $118.00 on Tuesday.

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Palantir Technologies (PLTR, Financials) is moving deeper into marketing through a new partnership with Zeta Global.

The companies said Zeta will rebuild its Data Cloud on Palantir's Foundry platform. Zeta's AI tool, Athena, will then use that data to help companies plan campaigns, understand customers and measure results.

The idea is to give large businesses one place to manage customer data and turn it into marketing decisions. Palantir brings the data infrastructure. Zeta brings the marketing engine.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp said the partnership is meant to help companies use AI while keeping stronger control over their data. Zeta shares rose 4.4% in premarket trading after the announcement.

For Palantir, the deal adds another commercial use case beyond defense and operations. For Zeta, it could open the door to more enterprise customers already using Foundry. The next thing to watch is whether the partnership turns into named customer wins.

Zeta Global (ZETA +5.63%) and Palantir (PLTR 2.16%) announced a massive new deal this morning that could fuel Zeta's growth and drive margin expansion long-term. The 7-year partnership is intended to allow the two companies to offer a more complete solution to customers and improve the speed of the Zeta platform. In this video, I break down how this can drive growth to Zeta on multiple vectors.

*Stock prices used were end-of-day prices of June 23, 2026. The video was published on June 23, 2026.

Travis Hoium has positions in Zeta Global and has the following options: long December 2027 $50 puts on Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Travis Hoium is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through their link they will earn some extra money that supports their channel. Their opinions remain their own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.

Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) has entered into a partnership with Zeta Global aimed at developing a unified data and artificial intelligence infrastructure for marketing applications, a move Wedbush analysts described as another validation point for enterprise AI adoption.

The partnership combines Palantir's Foundry platform with Zeta's Data Cloud and Athena intelligence layer to support data-driven marketing decisions and operational execution.

Under the agreement, Zeta's Data Cloud will be rearchitected on Foundry, allowing enterprise customers to connect governed data with real-time decision-making capabilities.

According to Wedbush, the collaboration seeks to establish a new framework for "agentic marketing," where AI systems can automate and optimize business decisions while maintaining security, governance and compliance standards.

The analysts highlighted Palantir's Ontology technology as a key component of the partnership. Ontology creates a digital representation of an organization's operations by integrating business data and processes, enabling AI applications and workflows to operate within a governed environment.

Wedbush noted that Ontology serves as an intelligence layer that translates raw enterprise data into practical AI use cases and supports the deployment of AI agents and automated decision-making systems.

The firm wrote that marketing has become an important focus area for companies investing in AI technologies as businesses seek tools capable of processing trusted data in real time to improve customer acquisition, retention and engagement.

Zeta operates an AI-powered marketing cloud used by enterprises globally and leverages large volumes of consumer data signals to support marketing activities. Wedbush noted that the partnership is expected to generate more than $100 million in revenue for Zeta over several years.

The analysts believe that  the agreement reinforces Palantir's position within the enterprise AI market and demonstrates growing demand for platforms that connect operational and customer intelligence.

Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating on Palantir shares and reiterated its $230 price target, which implies significant upside from current levels of about $116.

Palantir Technologies Today

PLTR

Palantir Technologies

$116.70 -2.80 (-2.34%)

As of 06/23/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

52-Week Range$116.18▼

$207.52P/E Ratio131.13

Price Target$192.76

Some might say Palantir Technologies NASDAQ: PLTR is becoming boring. PLTR stock is down nearly 28% in 2026, but most of that decline came in January and February, which continued the broader tech sell-off that started in November 2025.

Since then, the bulls and bears have been debating valuation, missing a bigger story.

Get Palantir Technologies alerts:

Palantir is posting its fastest revenue growth since going public. 

In the process of growing its revenue, the company has been building a distribution machine that should be priced into any future conversations about valuation.

Palantir's Growth Metrics Continue to Defy SkepticsThe bears will say the fundamentals don’t justify the stock price. But it depends on what they’re looking at. Here were some highlights from its first-quarter earnings report:

Revenue grew 85% year-over-year, marking its highest-ever growth rate to $1.63 billion.

In the United States, revenue doubled, growing 104% to $1.28 billion.

Commercial revenue surged 133% to $595 million.

GAAP net income reached $871 million, a 53% net margin.

Adjusted free cash flow hit $925 million on a 57% margin.

U.S. government revenue climbed 84% to $687 million, accelerating from 66% growth in the prior quarter.

Palantir's Rule of 40 score reached 145%.

Those are the numbers of a company that’s not resting on the laurels of a prior quarter, or teasing investors to a quarter down the road. The numbers reflect the company’s current growth.

However, management was confident enough in the momentum to raise full-year revenue guidance. Palantir now expects full-year 2026 revenue of $7.65 to $7.66 billion, implying 71% growth. That's 10 percentage points above the guidance given just one quarter earlier.

Adding to the bull case, U.S. commercial revenue guided to at least 120% growth for the full year. And Palantir recently made an announcement that adds substance to that sensational forecast.

The Google Cloud Partnership Expands Palantir's ReachThe headline out of AIPCon 10 on June 4 was Palantir's partnership with Google Cloud. The multi-tiered partnership makes Palantir available on Google Cloud Marketplace and establishes two-way data federation between BigQuery and Foundry, as well as deeper connectivity between Gemini and Palantir AIP.

However, the real significance is what it completes. Palantir Foundry is now available on AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. That's a full sweep of the major hyperscalers.

That means the platform fits inside whatever infrastructure a company already runs and can be purchased through existing cloud commitments. That's a meaningful reduction in the friction of adoption. But organizations already running on Google Cloud infrastructure can tap into Palantir's analytics stack without ripping out what they've already built.

That was the highlight of AIPCon 10, but not the only announcement. Palantir also announced:

Its first publicly disclosed commercial customer in Mexico through insurer GNP.

An enterprise AI platform with law firm Kirkland & Ellis for private equity use cases.

Expanded construction AI work with McCarthy Building Companies.

The picture that emerges is a company simultaneously deepening its platform and widening its reach across verticals and geographies.

PLTR Is Building a Base as Investors Debate ValuationThe technical picture on PLTR is one that rewards patience over impulse. The stock peaked near $215 in late November 2025 and has since pulled back roughly 40% to the current range around $130.

Overall MarketRank™92nd Percentile

Analyst RatingModerate Buy

Upside/Downside65.2% Upside

Short Interest LevelHealthy

Dividend StrengthN/A

News Sentiment0.92 Insider TradingSelling Shares

Proj. Earnings Growth42.37%

See Full Analysis

That decline has brought PLTR well below its 200-day simple moving average, which sits at $160.05 and is now sloping downward. That's a classically bearish setup for momentum-focused traders, and the primary reason the stock continues to face technical resistance on any rally attempt.

The more immediate picture shows a consolidation pattern forming in the $120–$145 range since March, with the stock repeatedly finding buyers in the low $120s and sellers materializing in the mid-$140s. That range has held through April and into June, which is meaningful; despite negative macro sentiment and elevated valuation concerns, the stock has stopped making new lows.

The Chaikin Money Flow oscillator at the bottom of the chart reinforces this read. After reaching deeply negative readings in February, coinciding with the stock's trough, the oscillator has recovered to a mildly positive 7.7M. That's not a strong accumulation signal, but it does suggest institutional selling pressure has eased, and that quiet buying has been absorbing the supply.

The key level to watch is $160. That marks the 200-day SMA and the lower boundary of the stock's prior range before the November-to-February breakdown. A sustained move above that level would represent a meaningful technical shift. Until then, the chart is in a wait-and-see mode: the downtrend is intact from the highs, but the base is building.

Why the Long-Term Bull Case Remains IntactThe PLTR bull case isn't built on ignoring valuation. It's built on the argument that the growth rate justifies a premium, and that premium is compressing as the business scales.

A company growing revenue 85% annually with a 53% net margin and $925 million in quarterly free cash flow has earned the right to trade at a multiple that reflects that quality. The Google Cloud deal adds distribution optionality that could structurally expand the customer funnel without proportional increases in sales cost. And the AIPCon customer roster—government agencies, law firms, insurers, construction companies—makes the point that AIP is not a niche product.

For retail investors willing to look past the noise and the chart's current technical setup, PLTR offers a rare combination: a platform business with genuine enterprise adoption, accelerating growth, and a distribution strategy that just got meaningfully stronger. The market has been slow to give it credit. That gap tends not to last.

Should You Invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies Right Now?Before you consider Palantir Technologies, you'll want to hear this.

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Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $27.14, demonstrating a -1.24% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.37%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 1.33%.

Shares of the company witnessed a gain of 7.47% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its gain of 4.52%, and the S&P 500's gain of 2.02%.

The upcoming earnings release of Unity Software Inc. will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.24, reflecting a 192.31% increase from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $511.01 million, indicating a 15.89% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.03 per share and revenue of $2.11 billion, indicating changes of +19.77% and +13.88%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Unity Software Inc. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Unity Software Inc. is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Unity Software Inc. is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 26.78. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 18.33.

Also, we should mention that U has a PEG ratio of 1.12. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. Internet - Software stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.99 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, positioning it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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Lyft's Flexdrive is hiring ride-hailing drivers to maintain self-driving Waymos at its Nashville depot. Chad Ziemendorf/Lyft Lyft is hiring ride-hailing drivers to do everything but get behind the wheel.

Flexdrive, Lyft's car rental arm, plans to open a depot in Nashville to service Waymo self-driving cars later this year. Waymo started offering rides in the city in April.

Some of the 70 people Flexdrive plans to employ there are car mechanics, and others with technical skills. About half, however, are current or former Lyft drivers stepping into new roles as car cleaners and depot management, said John Parks, CEO of Flexdrive.

Ride-hailing services like Lyft traditionally outsourced many of the costs and obligations of vehicle maintenance to the gig-worker drivers who own the cars. Now, as companies like Waymo put more driverless cars on the road, they are having to figure out who will take on those responsibilities.

Many of the duties can't be automated — yet. "It actually takes a lot of people," Parks said. "They don't clean themselves."

A chance to 'get skilled up'Flexdrive's 80,000-square-foot facility will be a 20-minute drive from downtown Nashville in an ex-Post Office warehouse near the city's airport.

Once open, it will house Waymo vehicles when they are not needed or when the EVs need to be charged, cleaned, or repaired.

Flexdrive, which rents cars to both consumers and Lyft ride-hailing drivers, already employs former gig drivers for about 35% of its workforce, Parks said.

Hiring Lyft drivers for full-time jobs at Flexdrive, including the company's forthcoming Nashville AV depot, makes sense, he added. Ex-drivers usually bring their experience, including knowledge of peak ride demand in specific cities, to their new jobs.

"They understand a bit more about the business than anyone coming off the street," he said. "They often have this consumer-centric mindset."

Flexdrive's Nashville depot is one of a few partnerships that Waymo has struck to maintain its fleet of self-driving cars. The company also works with Uber to store and maintain its vehicles in Atlanta and Austin and has an agreement with car-rental company Avis Budget Group.

Many drivers say that they are watching to see whether self-driving cars end up displacing them on ride-hailing apps. Uber and Lyft have said they expect to have fleets that use both self-driving and human-driven cars in the near future.

Landing a job at facilities like Flexdrive's in Nashville represents an alternative career path for ride-hailing drivers looking to make a change, Parks said.

"If you want to get skilled up while you're working at one of our depots and then go work somewhere else, great," he said.

Do you have a story to share about Lyft or ride-hailing? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

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Alex Bitter You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.

Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501.

Lyft ride-hailing self-driving cars More Transportation

Durable Responses And T-Cell Activity Highlight Potential BenefitTwo of the three patients maintained complete responses for at least eight months, with one ongoing complete response at >13 months.

In addition, all three patients demonstrated persistent mKRAS-specific T cell responses.

These results are particularly noteworthy as they suggest potential efficacy in a patient population that typically shows limited response to existing therapies.

Company Plans Combination Study In Metastatic KRAS Pancreatic CancerSubject to funding, Elicio plans to initiate a Phase 1 study evaluating ELI-002 7P in combination with standard gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy and an anti-PD-1 inhibitor in treatment-naïve metastatic mKRAS pancreatic cancer.

The planned study is designed to prospectively evaluate the hypothesis generated by these observations and assess whether ELI-002 7P may enhance anti-tumor immunity and improve responsiveness to checkpoint inhibition.

Data May Guide Future Development StrategyThe news comes after the company released disappointing results from its Phase 2 AMPLIFY-7P study of ELI-002 7P in patients with mutant KRAS-driven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) following standard locoregional treatment.

While the trial did not achieve its pre-specified primary endpoint of disease-free survival (DFS) in the intent-to-treat population, the company pointed to early treatment benefits and subgroup findings that are shaping its planned Phase 3 program.

Elicio on Wednesday said it plans to use the study findings to evaluate checkpoint inhibitor combinations further and help inform future development strategies in metastatic PDAC and the adjuvant PDAC Phase 3 trial.

Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions:ELTX stock carries a Buy rating with an average price target of $21.75. Recent analyst moves include:

Jones Trading: Downgraded to Hold (June 16) HC Wainwright & Co.: Buy (Raises Target to $23.00) (June 15) B. Riley Securities: Initiated with Buy (Target $27.00) (June 10) ELTX Price Action: Elicio Therapeutics shares were up 28.80% at $3.55 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo via Shutterstock

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PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) will announce results for the second quarter of 2026 on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Company executives will review financial results with the investment community during a conference call beginning at 8:15 a.m. ET.

Investors and the general public are invited to listen to a live audio webcast of the call at http://investor.bms.com. Materials related to the call will be available on the company’s Investor Relations website prior to the start of the conference call.

A replay of the webcast will be available here approximately three hours after the conference call concludes.

About Bristol Myers Squibb: Transforming Patients’ Lives Through Science
At Bristol Myers Squibb, our mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. We are pursuing bold science to define what’s possible for the future of medicine and the patients we serve. For more information, visit us at BMS.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

corporatefinancial-news

In the latest close session, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY - Free Report) was up +1.52% at $55.53. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.44%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.09%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.22%.

The biopharmaceutical company's shares have seen a decrease of 8.01% over the last month, not keeping up with the Medical sector's gain of 0.57% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.08%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Bristol Myers Squibb in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on July 30, 2026. In that report, analysts expect Bristol Myers Squibb to post earnings of $1.61 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 10.27%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $11.67 billion, indicating a 4.89% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $6.32 per share and a revenue of $47.39 billion, demonstrating changes of +2.76% and -1.66%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Bristol Myers Squibb. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.06% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Bristol Myers Squibb currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Bristol Myers Squibb has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.65 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 21.4.

Investors should also note that BMY has a PEG ratio of 0.16 right now. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.47.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, finds itself in the bottom 37% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 23, 2026) - Spartan Metals Corp. (TSXV: W) (OTCQB: SPRMF) (FSE: J03) ("Spartan" or the "Company") announces the confirmation of two tungsten skarn zones at its Tungstonia Claims within its 100% owned Eagle Tungsten-Silver-Rubidium Project, Nevada.

Highlights:

Skarn mineralization confirmed at past-producing Yellow Jacket Mine where historic production grades were approximately 1.12% tungsten trioxide ("WO3")1 (Figure 1) with two samples substantially above at 1.87% WO3 and 1.67% WO3Rock sampling from within mine entrance and dumps delivered tungsten assays of 0.99% 1.87%, 0.89%, and 1.67% WO3 and highlights 3.3% Zn and 1,320 ppm beryllium ("Be"), which has not been previously reported at the Eagle ProjectBackpack core drilling returned 0.3 meters (m) 0.21% WO3 and 0.33% zinc ("Zn")New tungsten-skarn discovery within the tungsten soil anomaly in southeast of project (SE Tungsten Anomaly) reported in December 2025 (Figure 1)Rock chip sampling returned 0.34% WO3 and 1.9 g/t Ag and 144 ppm BeBackpack core drilling encountered previously unobserved molybdenum ("Mo") mineralization (Figure 2) ranging between 0.01%-0.08% Mo along with significant rubidium ("Rb") ranging between 1,122 – 2,122 ppm Rb and silver ("Ag") ranging between 1.2-3.1 g/t AgMolybdenum and beryllium mineralization along with significant tungsten and silver grades encountered over a length and width of approximately 2 kilometers (km), suggests multiple pulses of mineralization.Brett Marsh, Spartan's President and CEO stated, "The identification of a new tungsten-skarn occurrence within a previously defined tungsten soil anomaly marks an important exploration milestone at our Tungstonia claims and further validates our systematic targeting approach across the property. Particularly encouraging is the discovery molybdenum and beryllium mineralization associated with the tungsten skarn zones. The presence of these critical metals alongside tungsten not only highlights the evolving potential of the Eagle Project but also suggests a larger and more complex mineralizing system than was previously recognized.

"The occurrence of multiple critical metals across these newly identified skarn zones supports our interpretation that Eagle may host a large-scale mineralizing system with the potential to extend across multiple target areas within the district. These results continue to strengthen our confidence in the broader exploration potential of the project and provide compelling targets for future drilling."

Mr. Marsh continued, "Equally significant is the confirmation of skarn-hosted mineralization at the past-producing Yellow Jacket Mine, including tungsten grades of up to 1.87% WO₃ in hand sample. These results provide additional support for the geological model underpinning the district and demonstrate the presence of meaningful tungsten mineralization beyond the known vein systems. Together, the new skarn discovery and the confirmation of high-grade mineralization at Yellow Jacket reinforce the prospectivity of Spartan's Tungstonia claims and highlight the opportunity to further evaluate both the established tungsten-silver-rubidium vein systems and these emerging skarn-style targets that have similarities to Carbonate Replacement Deposit districts worldwide. As we continue our exploration efforts, our focus will remain on advancing our understanding of the scale, continuity, and controls of mineralization across the Eagle Project."

The discoveries, part of the exploration program announced on May 21, 2026, were confirmed utilizing a portable backpack diamond core drill with a 36.4-millimeter (mm) diameter core and rock chip/channel sampling. The backpack drill is intended to rapidly evaluate potential drill locations prior to mobilization of larger diamond core drills. Figure 1 shows the location of three backpack drillholes STS-26-007 and STS-26-002 and STS-26-003 and five rock chip/channel samples.

The vertical holes were collared in altered Guilmette Formation – a geological unit that hosts many deposits across Nevada – close to where it contacts the Tungstonia Pluton with STS-26-007 near the past-producing Yellow Jacket Mine and STS-26-002 and STS-26-003 within the SE Tungsten Anomaly. True thicknesses/widths of mineralization are unknown as further definition is required to define the mineralization orientations.

The Yellow Jacket Mine is located in the Guilmette Formation that has a north-south strike and dips moderately toward the northwest, within the Tungstonia Claim block (Figure 1). Tungsten-skarn mineralization is present as scheelite in two zones that total approximately 435m in strike length. Figures 2 and 3 show examples of typical scheelite mineralization from Yellow Jacket under ultraviolet (UV) light.

The SE Tungsten Anomaly is also located within the Guilmette Formation, however, at this location the Guilmette presents an east-southeast strike and near vertical dip where in contact with the Tungstonia Granite. This steeply dipping section with tungsten skarn mineralization has the potential to reach up to 400 m in thickness (Figure 4) at the SE Tungsten Anomaly. Spartan's ongoing geophysics program will help to confirm this potential.

Next Steps

Spartan will continue to execute its 2026 exploration program as discussed in the May 21, 2026, announcement including:

Continued surface sampling of soils and rocks – including continued backpack drilling – over claims acquired in November 2025 to potentially extend previously identified tungsten, silver, and rubidium soil anomalies.

In Process: Ground geophysics surveys to inform depths of existing 2+ km tungsten-silver veins and potential tungsten skarn mineralization that is coincident with tungsten-silver-rubidium soil anomalies and at Yellow Jacket.

Early to mid-August: Approximately 3,000 meters (m) diamond core drilling at high priority targets identified through surface sampling and geophysics surveys.

Table 1 Backpack drill core results from Tungstonia Tungsten Skarn Zones (holes drilled vertically).

Hole IDLocationFrom (m)To (m)Interval (m)WO3 (%)Ag (g/t)Rb (ppm)Mo (%)Zn (%)STS-26-007Yellow Jacket0.91.20.30.21---0.33   

STS-26-002SE Tungsten Anomaly00.970.970.07
1,1220.01-STS-26-003SE Tungsten Anomaly00.30.3-1.61,1600.07-0.30.60.3-3.11,5400.04-0.60.90.3-1.22,1220.08-Table 2 Rock chip sample results from Tungsten Skarn Zones

Sample IDLocationWO3%Ag (g/t)Zn (%)Be (ppm)YJ-2026-001Yellow Jacket0.991.31.092YJ-2026-003Yellow Jacket1.870.92.3229YJ-2026-004Yellow Jacket0.891.93.31,320YJ-2026-005Yellow Jacket1.671.62.6106 

AG-RK-GA-068SE Tungsten Anomaly0.341.9-144

Figure 1 Eastern portion of the Tungstonia claims showing the past-producing Tungstonia and Yellow Jacket Mines with rock chip and selected backpack core drill results confirming skarn mineralization at Yellow Jacket and SE Tungsten Anomaly. Section line A-A' shown for Figure 4 alignment.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/12484/302423_c93e348f94d209bc_001full.jpg

Figure 2 Hole STS-26-003 showing molybdenum-bearing mineralization not previously documented at the Eagle Project. Lower image shown under UV light.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/12484/302423_c93e348f94d209bc_002full.jpg

Figure 3 Rock samples Yellow Jacket Mine shown under ultraviolet (UV) light with scheelite (CaWO4) mineralization fluorescing light blue to white. Samples YJ-2026-001 and YJ-2026-003 collected from mine dump and samples YJ-2026-004 and YJ-2026-005 from within the mine entrance. Prevalence of scheelite mineralization in altered Guilmette Formation supports skarn interpretation.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/12484/302423_c93e348f94d209bc_003full.jpg

Figure 4 Geologic cross section A-A' showing relationship of Yellow Jacket Mine and SE Tungsten Anomaly - both within Guilmette formation. Note the potential thickness of Guilmette under SE Tungsten Anomaly could reach up to ~400m. The in process geophysics program will help to identify lateral and vertical extent of potential mineralization at both locations.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/12484/302423_c93e348f94d209bc_004full.jpg

QA/QC Procedures

Samples were submitted to American Assay Lab (AAL) of Sparks, Nevada, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of the Company. Samples are prepared using industry standard-prep methods and analyzed using method IO-4AB51 (51 element suite: 0.5g 4-acid plus boric acid hot block, ICP-OES plus IM-4ABEx ICP-MS for Rb). AAL undertakes its own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. Spartan's QAQC includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks with a stringent review of results completed by the Company's Qualified Person, Brett R. Marsh, President and CEO of Spartan Metals.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information contained in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of, and approved by Brett R. Marsh, CPG. Mr. Marsh is President and CEO of Spartan Metals Corp. and a "qualified person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

References

1 Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1988, Bulletin 105 p213-217

2 Hobbs S.W., 1944 War Minerals Report #224, Wartime Studies by the US Bureau of Mines

About The Eagle Project

The Eagle Project presents a unique opportunity to delineate one of the largest and highest-grade Tungsten ("W") and Rubidium ("Rb") districts in the United States. The Project consists of the past-producing (1) high-grade Tungstonia, Yellow Jacket, and Rees/Antelope tungsten (W-Cu-Ag) mines. Operations at these mines were from 1915 to 1942 with intermittent small-scale production occurring until 1956. Tungsten production from these mines totaled 8,379 units at grades between 0.6%-0.9% WO3

The Project is ~36.5 km² in size and located approximately 120 kilometers northeast of the town of Ely, in the Kern Mountains of White Pine County, Nevada. The Project covers 9,033 acres consisting of 445 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unpatented lode mining claims.

Three deposit types are present at Eagle; Porphyry, Skarn, and Carbonate Replacement (CRD) that contain significant or anomalous grades of Tungsten (W), Silver (Ag), and Rubidium (Rb) plus Cu-Sb±Au-Pb-Zn-Bi-As across three project focus areas that also includes the potential to recover W-Rb-Ag from the legacy Tungstonia Mill Tailings.

About Spartan Metals Corp.

Spartan Metals is focused on developing critical minerals projects in well-established and stable mining jurisdictions in the Western United States, with an emphasis on building a portfolio of diverse strategic defense minerals such as Tungsten, Rubidium, Antimony, Bismuth, and Arsenic.

Spartan's high quality project portfolio includes an option to earn 100% of the Victorio Tungsten-Molybdenum Project in New Mexico and the 100% owned Eagle Tungsten-Silver-Rubidium Project in Nevada. Victorio hosts the largest tungsten resource in the United States and contains significant concentrations of beryllium and fluorspar, while the Eagle Project consists of the highest-grade historic tungsten resource in the USA which includes significant under-defined resources consisting of: high-grade silver; rubidium; antimony; bismuth; indium; as well as precious and base metals, and more information about Spartan Metals can be found at www.SpartanMetals.com

On behalf of the Board of Spartan
"Brett Marsh"
President, CEO & Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Spartan has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that: the current objectives concerning the Company's projects can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner.

Although the Company believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by their nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.

Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; future legislative and regulatory developments; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; the ability of the Company to obtain and retain all applicable regulatory and other approvals and other assumptions, risks and uncertainties.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/302423

Source: Spartan Metals Corp.

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In the latest close session, Albemarle (ALB - Free Report) was down 2.28% at $156.69. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.37%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.29%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.33%.

Coming into today, shares of the specialty chemicals company had lost 6.55% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 3.31%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.02%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Albemarle in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $3.08, indicating a 2700% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.48 billion, up 11.36% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.39 per share and revenue of $5.99 billion, which would represent changes of +1668.35% and +16.45%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Albemarle. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 7.74% higher. Albemarle is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

With respect to valuation, Albemarle is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.94. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.51, so one might conclude that Albemarle is trading at a discount comparatively.

It's also important to note that ALB currently trades at a PEG ratio of 0.81. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Chemical - Diversified was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.15 at yesterday's closing price.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 73, placing it within the top 30% of over 250 industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR (PDD - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.

Over the past month, shares of this company have returned -17.4%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.1% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Commerce industry, which PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR falls in, has lost 11.9%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Revisions to Earnings EstimatesHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR is expected to post earnings of $2.86 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -7.1%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -4.6%.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $10.61 points to a change of +2.4% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed -9.7%.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $12.39 indicates a change of +16.7% from what PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -7%.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR.

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Projected Revenue GrowthWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

In the case of PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR, the consensus sales estimate of $17.13 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +18%. The $70.74 billion and $78.89 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +16.7% and +11.5%, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryPDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR reported revenues of $15.4 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +16.8%. EPS of $1.38 for the same period compares with $1.56 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.94 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of -3.4%. The EPS surprise was -38.12%.

Over the last four quarters, PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates just once over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.

The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR is graded A on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about PDD Holdings Inc. Sponsored ADR. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

Fiverr International (FVRR - Free Report) closed at $9.62 in the latest trading session, marking a -2.63% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.22%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.98%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 1.35%.

Heading into today, shares of the online marketplace for freelance services had lost 6.97% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 2.86% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.56%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Fiverr International in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Fiverr International to post earnings of $0.52 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 24.64%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $100.42 million, indicating a 7.58% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.14 per share and revenue of $403.06 million, which would represent changes of -27.46% and -6.46%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Fiverr International. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Fiverr International is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Looking at valuation, Fiverr International is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.63. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 16.83 of its industry.

The Internet - Commerce industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 106, finds itself in the top 44% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

Pinterest on Wednesday announced a new experimental app called “Ask Pinterest” that will allow the company to explore a more conversational approach to shopping and product discovery that could eventually find its way to the main Pinterest app. It also introduced other AI initiatives, including Pinterest Model Context Protocol (MCP), designed for advertisers running campaigns on Pinterest’s platform, and other AI ad tools.

The news comes just ahead of the adtech industry’s annual gathering at Cannes Lions, which this year is mainly focused on how AI can serve the needs of advertisers and marketers.

The “Ask Pinterest” online application gives the company another way to utilize its “Taste Graph” — its internal data mapping people to their interests and aesthetics. It will initially be available in limited access, the company said.

The AI-powered experience is designed to expand the visual discovery experience Pinterest is known for beyond the main app to a conversational, chatbot-like interface where consumers can ask questions using natural language to get more personalized recommendations and inspiration.

It also arrives as AI chatbots are increasingly competing with traditional search engines for consumers’ attention. Google has already put AI to work to help online shoppers find what they need, track prices, and check out. ChatGPT also experimented with agentic shopping, as have Meta, Shopify, and others.

Rather than turning itself into a source of product recommendations that other AI services could leverage through licensing deals, Pinterest has largely focused on using its own data to train AI models and power its AI products.

Image Credits:Pinterest Plus, by making Ask Pinterest a stand-alone app, the company has a way to experiment with the technology without disrupting the main Pinterest experience.

The company explains that Ask Pinterest could work for more complex or multistep queries that wouldn’t fit a traditional Pinterest search. For instance, you could use the app to ask for help planning a dinner party or furnishing a room over time. The idea, says Pinterest, is to test and explore how AI could better support people’s shopping experiences while retaining the user’s context across sessions.

Ask Pinterest can also leverage users’ own saved Pins and Boards to personalize its answers when users sign in.

In time, these results will help Pinterest when building more AI-powered experiences for the company’s flagship app, the company believes.

Image Credits:Pinterest Pinterest’s new app was announced alongside the updates aimed at marketers, including the introduction of an AI assistant, still in beta, in its Ads Manager in the U.S.

A new AI model within Performance+ was also introduced globally to help advertisers pick between different ad creatives to find the one that’s likely to perform best each time the ad is shown. And the MCP infrastructure layer that Pinterest announced will allow advertisers to manage and monitor their campaigns using other third-party agentic tools in a standardized way.

In an announcement sharing the news, Pinterest’s chief business officer, Lee Brown, gestured toward the changing nature of web search, remarking that “the future of discovery won’t be driven by keywords alone. It will be shaped by context, taste, and trusted recommendations” — an area where Pinterest feels it has a “unique advantage,” Brown said.

Ask Pinterest is currently available to a limited number of people via the web, both mobile and desktop, the company says.

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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.

You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal.

When deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock, investors often rely on analyst recommendations. Media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts often influence a stock's price, but are they really important?

Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Pinterest (PINS - Free Report) .

Pinterest currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 2.00, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 36 brokerage firms. An ABR of 2.00 indicates Buy.

Of the 36 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 18 are Strong Buy, representing 50% of all recommendations.

Brokerage Recommendation Trends for PINS

Check price target & stock forecast for Pinterest here>>>

While the ABR calls for buying Pinterest, it may not be wise to make an investment decision solely based on this information. Several studies have shown limited to no success of brokerage recommendations in guiding investors to pick stocks with the best price increase potential.

Are you wondering why? The vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover often results in a strong positive bias of their analysts in rating it. Our research shows that for every "Strong Sell" recommendation, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations.

In other words, their interests aren't always aligned with retail investors, rarely indicating where the price of a stock could actually be heading. Therefore, the best use of this information could be validating your own research or an indicator that has proven to be highly successful in predicting a stock's price movement.

Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.

Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRAlthough both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1--5, they are different measures altogether.

The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.

It has been and continues to be the case that analysts employed by brokerage firms are overly optimistic with their recommendations. Because of their employers' vested interests, these analysts issue more favorable ratings than their research would support, misguiding investors far more often than helping them.

In contrast, the Zacks Rank is driven by earnings estimate revisions. And near-term stock price movements are strongly correlated with trends in earnings estimate revisions, according to empirical research.

Furthermore, the different grades of the Zacks Rank are applied proportionately across all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide earnings estimates for the current year. In other words, at all times, this tool maintains a balance among the five ranks it assigns.

There is also a key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank when it comes to freshness. When you look at the ABR, it may not be up-to-date. Nonetheless, since brokerage analysts constantly revise their earnings estimates to reflect changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in predicting future stock prices.

Is PINS a Good Investment?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Pinterest, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has declined 5.3% over the past month to $1.91.

Analysts' growing pessimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates lower, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to plunge in the near term.

The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for Pinterest. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Therefore, it could be wise to take the Buy-equivalent ABR for Pinterest with a grain of salt.

In the latest trading session, Pinterest (PINS - Free Report) closed at $19.50, marking a -3.8% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.37%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.33%.

The digital pinboard and shopping tool company's shares have seen an increase of 5.08% over the last month, surpassing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.52% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.02%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Pinterest in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, Pinterest is projected to report earnings of $0.36 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.09%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.15 billion, up 15.34% from the prior-year quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $1.91 per share and a revenue of $4.86 billion, signifying shifts of +19.38% and +15.03%, respectively, from the last year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Pinterest. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 5.27% lower. Pinterest presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Digging into valuation, Pinterest currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.6. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 18.33.

Investors should also note that PINS has a PEG ratio of 0.39 right now. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The Internet - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.99 at yesterday's closing price.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, placing it within the top 35% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow PINS in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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Camille Kermarrec for BI Pinterest is a search engine — and its CEO wants advertisers to know it.

Bill Ready, who joined the company as CEO in 2022 from Google, told Business Insider's editor in chief, Jamie Heller, that Pinterest sees more than 80 billion searches a month.

"Those searches are primarily visual," Ready said, adding that "more than half of those are commercial."

The interview took place at Business Insider's annual CMO Insider Breakfast, with support from founding sponsor BCG, supporting sponsor PayPal, and contributing sponsor LinkedIn.

Pinterest has become a digital mall of sorts, with products and brands placed strategically in the feed. While not every user comes to Pinterest to shop — and may have opened the app or website to passively scroll — it's become a de facto experience. If you arrive at Pinterest, you're going to end up window shopping, at the very least.

Since taking over as Pinterest's CEO, Ready has been laser-focused on "building it out as a shopping platform," he said.

AI is proving to be a key part of that plan.

Pinterest has doubled down on AI-powered visual search tools that guide users through its results, serving up recommended content based on their tastes. Ready said that Pinterest trains open source AI models on the platform's proprietary data, which helps surface those recommendations to its users.

It's also leveraging AI to improve its advertising product.

In 2024, it launched "Pinterest Performance+" to help advertisers better target using visual signals from content. It also offers tools to turn products into more stylized images for platform advertisements using generative AI.

Bill Ready was interviewed onstage by Business Insider's editor in chief, Jamie Heller, at Cannes Lions.  Camille Kermarrec for BI Ready gave an example onstage at Cannes: Imagine someone wants to buy a $5,000 coffee maker.

"They're probably thinking about how that's going to look in their kitchen," Ready said. "When you can personalize down to a level of not just showing them a great coffee maker, but showing them a great coffee maker that is sitting in a kitchen like their kitchen, you're going to have better conversion rates on that, and it's going to be brand-enhancing."

Search and AI innovations have helped strengthen Pinterest's ad business. However, Pinterest's overall ad performance has been uneven, and its stock sits well below its 2021 peak.

"What's holding the company back on monetization?" Heller asked Ready.

"I wouldn't say there's something holding us back," he answered.

"We quadrupled the growth rate of the revenue," Ready said. "But of course you want to get the user engagement first, and the revenue falls in behind that."

While AI is a crucial part of Pinterest's search and advertising business, the platform is still figuring out how its over 630 million users — more than half of whom are Gen Z — feel about AI content in their feeds.

"I'm an entrepreneur by background, an engineer, a technologist, and there's so many great uses of AI, but there's also a bit of a counter movement to that with consumers," Ready said.

Pinterest, like nearly every social media platform, has been scrutinized by some users for too much AI slop.

Last year, it introduced tools that let users limit the amount of AI-generated content they see on their Pinterest feeds.

"We're in this transition period where users are still trying to figure out their own tastes and preferences," Ready said.

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Sydney Bradley has been covering media and tech for Business Insider since 2020. She breaks news and writes extensively about Instagram and Facebook, as well as new platforms and startups shaping social media, dating apps, the creator economy, venture capital, and tech culture.Sydney's reporting on Instagram was nominated as a finalist for the 2021 Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards.She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in American Studies. You can follow Sydney's work on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram at @sydneykbradley.Have a tip? You can also contact her via encrypted messaging app Signal (@sydneykbradley.123), encrypted email ([email protected]), or standard email ([email protected]). Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.Selected stories:

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It's been a wild week for Roku (ROKU 0.11%) investors. Shares of the smart TV operating system pioneer that soared 20% last Friday on reports of a potential buyout have fallen this week, despite an announced acquisition by Fox (FOXA 1.22%) on Monday.

Fox and Roku claimed that the definitive agreement values Roku at $160 per share, or approximately $22 billion in enterprise value. If you're wondering why Roku stock is trading below $140 right now -- a steep discount for a buyout expected to close in the first half of next year -- it's because the deal is now worth considerably less than the initial price tag. In fact, even before Monday morning's announcement, the deal was already worth slightly less than $160 per share. Let's break things down.

Image source: Getty Images.

Terms of endearment The floor has never been $160. Even the initial ceiling wasn't that high. This is a cash-and-stock deal. Fox is paying $96 a share in cash -- technically, the floor -- as well as 0.9693 shares of Fox Class A common stock. The origin story of the initial $160 in per-share value was obsolete long before it was even announced. It was based on a volume-weighted average over a 10-day period that ended on Wednesday of last week.

Based on that math, Fox stock had a reference price of $66.03. A 0.9693 slice of that stock would work out to $64, combined with $96 in cash, for a total of $160. However, by Friday's close -- the last trading day before this week's announcement -- Fox stock had dipped to $65.85. This $160 deal was already marked down to $159.83 before it even left the gate. It was a slight dip, but the value would continue to erode as Fox stock slipped in the first three days since the trade was announced.

CloseFox Class ADeal Value6/12/26$65.85$159.836/15/26$54.76$149.086/16/26$52.34$146.736/17/26$51.32$145.75 Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Through Wednesday's close, the deal has cratered 9%, almost entirely due to Fox shares plunging 22% in the first three trading days since the acquisition was announced. The market obviously doesn't like the deal, but now Roku investors are feeling the pain, too.

Roku shares closing at $137.29 on Wednesday makes sense in that context. It's currently a 6% discount to a deal that isn't expected to close for another seven to 13 months. Given the volatile value of the stock component in the transaction, it's almost surprising that the gap isn't larger.

Today's Change

(

-0.11

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-0.14

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$

135.06

Knock on Wood Rounding up potential rival bidders is a fruitless exercise, for now. Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood is all in on this deal. He has accepted an ongoing role at Fox and a board seat once the acquisition closes. More importantly, he controls roughly 55% of Roku's total voting power. The only way Roku backs out is if Wood doesn't want that to happen.

It can happen, but many new factors would have to come into play. Would a rival bid be high enough to cover a premium to the current value of the Fox deal, as well as the deal termination fee? Is that theoretical offer more or less likely to face antitrust regulatory hurdles? Will that deal take even longer to close?

Roku deserves better than to be tethered to a media laggard with a sinking share price, but it signed off on this not-so-happily-ever-after ending to its story as a publicly traded, independent business. Despite roaring into the market fancy over the past year -- and putting out its best quarter in years -- it chose this path to closing credits without negotiating for a sequel.

If you're waiting to get bought out at $160 per share as Monday's press release pitched -- or even the initial wave of analysts pushing price targets even higher after the deal was announced -- you're in for a rude awakening. Not every stock story gets a Hollywood ending. Prices change. Regrets linger.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest increased its exposure to Tesla TSLA and Snowflake (SNOW) while reducing a sizable stake in Roku ROKU during June 18 trading activity.

The investment firm purchased about 149,700 shares of Snowflake valued at roughly $34.8 million and acquired approximately 44,000 Tesla shares worth about $17.6 million. ARK Invest also added to its healthcare holdings, buying nearly 2,400 shares of Eli Lilly LLY with an estimated value of $2.7 million.

On the selling side, ARK Invest disposed of around 561,800 Roku shares valued at approximately $77.6 million. The move reduced the firm's exposure to the streaming platform company as portfolio adjustments continued across technology and growth-oriented investments.

The transactions came shortly after Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk disclosed the exercise of stock options in a regulatory filing. The filing showed Musk acquired about 304 million shares at an exercise price of $23.34 per share and surrendered roughly 17.5 million shares to satisfy tax obligations tied to the transaction.

Following the exercise, Musk held nearly 700 million Tesla shares, representing about a 19.9% voting stake in the electric-vehicle maker.

On June 15, Roku announced that it had accepted an offer to be acquired by Fox. The deal, using a combination of cash and stock, values Roku at $160 per share. Based on Fox's 10-day volume-weighted average share price as of June 10, this was a $22 billion transaction, expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Walt Disney (DIS +1.16%) has a front-row seat to the drastic changes happening in an industry it has long led. Here's what this acquisition could mean for the House of Mouse and its shareholder base.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The Fox and Roku tie-up creates a media and entertainment powerhouse For Disney, this isn't the best news. By joining forces, Fox and Roku introduce another media and entertainment powerhouse to the industry. Fox brings premium live content. Roku brings a rapidly growing smart-TV platform that consumers use to aggregate all of their content in one place.

The new Fox will now have access to 100 million households that use Roku as their TV home screen. That's a massive distribution edge that will transform Roku from being a neutral party, playing ball with all content providers, to now possibly favoring the live news and sports content that Fox specializes in.

Disney's shows and movies could receive less visibility, as a critical avenue it relies on in Roku is now controlled by a top rival. The new Fox will also become even stronger in the free ad-supported tier, as it now has Tubi and The Roku Channel under its belt. Consequently, if Disney wants the ad-based options of its Disney+ and Hulu services to have better placement, it could be forced to give up a bigger share of the advertising economics.

Another thing to think about is the data Fox and Roku have access to. They each already generate significant advertising revenue. Combined, they'll be able to better target audiences and measure viewership data that ad partners will find valuable.

Today's Change

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Disney's moat comes from something no rival can replicate The media and entertainment landscape continues to evolve. Old-world legacy businesses, like Fox, are trying to keep up with the times. The management team thinks paying a hefty premium for Roku, especially as streaming continues its ascent, is worth it.

No company wants to see its industry welcome a larger competitor, one with its own unique advantages and greater financial resources. However, Disney should be able to maintain its momentum. And investors shouldn't worry just yet.

Disney's wide economic moat is built on its invaluable intellectual property. The company's famous characters, stories, and franchises are unique one cannot be replicated. It will be critical for the business to keep leaning on its content, which is the true differentiator.

2026 has been rough for Netflix (NFLX +0.07%). Shares of the streamer are down 17.5% year to date.

That's not surprising. In February, Netflix lost a bidding war to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount Skydance Corporation. Last week, its shares fell about 3.5% on reports that it had been interested in buying streaming platform and device maker Roku (ROKU 0.11%) but lost that bid to Fox Corp. (FOX 0.85%).

The company's shares sank further after a company spokesperson reportedly denied rumors that Netflix was pursuing Lionsgate (LION 1.38%). Here's why the market didn't like that news, and what it means for the company (and its shareholders) moving forward.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why Warner Bros. Discovery?  All of the Netflix mergers and acquisitions (M&A) chatter stems from its 2025 bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns film and TV studio assets and a massive content library.

Warner seemed like a perfect target for Netflix. Netflix's original business model -- the one that made it a member of the powerhouse "FAANG" stocks of the 2010s -- was to stream other companies' existing content libraries on the cheap while simultaneously creating original content available only on Netflix. That worked because those other companies lacked streaming services of their own.

This perfect world for Netflix was shattered when Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019, prompting a wave of consolidation and new streaming service rollouts. Netflix suddenly became the lone major streaming service with no affiliated legacy movie or TV library:

Company

Streaming Services

Affiliated Movie Studio

Affiliated TV Studio

Disney

Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+

Disney Studios, 21st Century Fox, Pixar

ABC, The Disney Channel, etc.

Amazon (AMZN +0.69%)

Amazon Prime Video

MGM Studios

None

Comcast (CMCSA +2.15%)

Peacock

Universal Studios

NBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, etc.

Paramount Skydance

Paramount+

Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros.

CBS, MTV, Showtime, HGTV, Food Network, etc.

Netflix

Netflix

None

None

Data as of October 2025; chart by author.

So when AT&T spun off its media assets -- which included the Warner Bros. movie studio, HBO, CNN, DC comics properties, and cable channels like Food Network and HGTV -- as Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022, why wouldn't Netflix try to pick it up?

Deals or no deals On April's earnings call, Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos seemed to indicate he was interested in pursuing future deals, saying, "We really built our M&A muscle [by pursuing Warner Bros.]. ... M&A for us remains a tool to help us achieve our goals. And as you can see with the WB deal, we'll remain very disciplined in how we approach it."

Since then, rumors have been swirling that Netflix has its sights set on the one remaining major unaffiliated film studio, Lionsgate. Lionsgate separated its film and TV studio from its Starz cable and streaming business in 2025, presumably to make it more attractive as an acquisition target. With the studio releasing 30-40 films per year and ownership of a film and TV library of more than 20,000 titles, including the Saw, John Wick, and Hunger Games franchises, Lionsgate seems like an attractive acquisition target for Netflix.

Roku, on the other hand, looks like less of a natural fit, and there are conflicting reports on whether Netflix was in fact aggressively pursuing Roku or whether it didn't even bother to bid. Even if it had tried to beat Fox's offer for the device maker, regulatory scrutiny would have been intense, since Roku's hardware is a major platform for Netflix's streaming rivals.

But why is the market so desperate for Netflix to do a deal anyway?

Image source: Netflix.

The one that got away Netflix was on the cusp of a massive acquisition in Warner Bros., so it's natural for the market to assume that it wants to make a large acquisition. And with all of its major streaming rivals having scooped up legacy studios of their own in recent years, naturally, there's a belief that Netflix needs to do the same to remain competitive.

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However, Netflix's business model has quietly shifted from its roots as the one-stop shop for streaming. It's now prioritizing original movies and series, and those are seeing the largest number of views. But this lack of content volume doesn't seem to be driving away subscribers. Instead, Netflix's post-pandemic revenue is up 47% over the last three years, while its net income has soared by 215%. Meanwhile, its estimated global subscriber count has risen by over 35%.

When I scrolled through my Netflix feed just now, I was surprised by how few non-Netflix options were on the list, but more surprised that I hadn't noticed this quiet content exodus until now. It's a testament both to Netflix's in-house studio strength and its ability to use subscriber data to identify the best content to pursue. The market -- which doesn't have access to that trove of data -- seems to be substituting guesswork for trust in a winning formula.

John Bromels has positions in Amazon, Netflix, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Netflix, Roku, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Legacy media faces a structural crisis that cannot be solved by simply greenlighting better television shows. Owning premium content means very little if a network does not control how that content physically reaches viewers. Fox Corporation NASDAQ: FOX just acknowledged this harsh reality with a $22 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire Roku Inc. NASDAQ: ROKU.

FOX Today

$44.55 -0.38 (-0.85%)

As of 06/23/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

52-Week Range$44.17▼

$68.18Dividend Yield1.26%

P/E Ratio11.75

Price Target$75.00

The headline numbers are aggressive, and the immediate market reaction reflects anxiety over the immense financial leverage required to close this deal. Look past the initial shock, though, and a clear survival strategy emerges. By taking ownership of the dominant connected-TV operating system, Fox Corporation transforms from a vulnerable content supplier into a powerful toll-collecting gatekeeper.

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Traditional broadcasters have spent the last decade suffering from margin compression as cable subscriptions have dwindled and affiliate fees have dried up. Transitioning to streaming was supposed to be a life raft, but networks quickly found themselves paying massive distribution cuts to third-party hardware providers just to access viewers. This acquisition signals capitulation to a new industry rule. Content alone cannot survive without distribution control.

Swallowing the Debt to Secure the FutureThe financial architecture of this acquisition requires Fox Corporation to stretch its balance sheet to the absolute limit. The company is executing the buyout at $160 per share, using a 60/40 cash-and-stock split, with $96 in cash and 0.9693 shares of Fox Class A NASDAQ: FOXA common stock per Roku share. To fund the enterprise value, Fox Corporation is securing up to $12 billion in bridge financing and absorbing $8.3 billion in new debt.

When Fox, with a $23 billion market capitalization, purchases a target valued at $22 billion, FOX shareholders are forced to absorb significant equity dilution. The market reaction was swift and punishing. Fox Corporation shares collapsed 17% on heavy volume following the announcement. Institutional investors immediately repriced Fox to account for a post-deal net leverage ratio of 2.8x trailing 12-month EBITDA.

Fox Corporation (FOX) Price Chart for Wednesday, June, 24, 2026

Valuation friction also plays a major role in the sell-off. Fox trades as a mature value play with a price-to-earnings ratio of 14, while Roku trades purely on growth metrics with a towering price-to-earnings ratio of 105. Fusing a legacy cash-flow generator with a high-multiple growth asset creates a complex valuation model that institutional bases often reject in the short term.

Corporate insiders at Roku clearly anticipated this valuation ceiling. Key executives executed a concentrated wave of share liquidations just before the merger announcement. CEO Anthony Wood sold 18,000 shares on June 12, 2026, followed by significant sales from Director Mai Fyfield on June 13, 2026. The strategic timing indicates Roku executives aggressively locked in peak valuations before the cash-and-stock conversion was finalized.

Despite the near-term pain for Fox Corporation shareholders, the debt load is a highly calculated capital expenditure. Management projects $400 million in run-rate cost savings and models the transaction to be accretive to free cash flow per share by the second full year following the anticipated 2027 close. Paying a premium to secure a 100-million-household hardware ecosystem is the cost of permanently escaping the decay of linear television.

Forging the Ultimate Streaming MonopolyFox Corporation already controls Tubi, a rapidly expanding platform in the free ad-supported streaming television sector. Integrating Tubi with The Roku Channel creates an unprecedented digital advertising inventory pool. Management plans to keep the two platforms operating as separate consumer-facing applications, a smart operational move that exploits a minimal 33% audience overlap.

The true economic value is unlocked behind the screen. By merging datasets and ad-tech infrastructure, Fox Corporation captures a dominant share of the free streaming market across global endpoints. Owning the hardware layer allows Fox to weaponize the user interface. When a viewer powers on a Roku television, Fox can dictate the visual real estate. The operating system can be programmed to natively push Fox Sports, Fox News, and Tubi content before competing applications load.

This prioritization guarantees viewership for internal Fox Corporation properties and drastically reduces the customer acquisition costs that plague standalone streaming services. A unified data ecosystem also allows Fox Corporation to track consumer behavior from the moment a television turns on to the second a viewer powers down, creating a highly targeted advertising profile that commands premium ad rates.

Forcing Advertisers to Pay the TollRoku built an empire by operating as a neutral territory. Roku acted as an agnostic aggregator, routing viewers to various streaming apps while taking a standard cut of ad inventory. That neutrality ends the moment the acquisition closes.

Transitioning the living room operating system into a walled garden designed to amplify Fox Corporation's inventory completely disrupts the ad-supported streaming ecosystem. Advertisers and media agencies rely on unbiased auction environments to deploy capital efficiently. If Roku backend ad-bidding logic shifts to favor Fox Corporation network properties, ad buyers will naturally look for alternative platforms to ensure fair market pricing.

This structural shift creates massive tailwinds for independent programmatic operators. Companies operating as independent demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms offer a neutral ground for ad buying and selling. Operators like The Trade Desk NASDAQ: TTD and Magnite NASDAQ: MGNI are structurally insulated from these emerging content conflicts. As the newly consolidated Fox Corporation ecosystem raises the toll for living room access, programmatic advertising budgets will systematically migrate toward the remaining agnostic infrastructure.

The Hunt for Neutral Ad-Tech WinnersThe combined Fox Corporation and Roku entity instantly becomes the third-largest player in U.S. television by viewing share. This consolidation removes the last major independent hardware operator from the board, leaving the sector entirely controlled by legacy media and mega-cap tech conglomerates.

Wall Street analysts are rapidly updating models to reflect this reality. Several firms downgraded Roku to market perform ratings, citing capped upside at the $160 buyout price. Conversely, a select few analysts raised their price targets slightly, pricing in the remote possibility of a competing bid from a tech giant willing to absorb the termination fee to prevent Fox Corporation from controlling the living room gateway.

Holding legacy linear broadcasters that lack a dedicated distribution arm now carries immense structural risk. Successful navigation of this market requires identifying which ad-tech firms and streaming platforms can thrive when independent hardware no longer exists. Investors looking to capitalize on shifting advertising budgets may want to add independent programmatic ad-tech operators to watchlists as the connected-TV ecosystem adjusts to the newest gatekeeper.

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Micron Technology MU heads into earnings Wednesday with investors looking for more than just another beat. The memory giant's results are expected to offer one of the clearest reads yet on AI spending, semiconductor demand and whether the industry's momentum can continue into 2027 and beyond.

Wall Street expects Micron to report Q3 revenue of $35.25 billion and EPS of $20.28, representing growth of roughly 279% from a year ago. The company has beaten both revenue and earnings estimates in each of the last 8 quarters, raising expectations yet again heading into the report.

Micron shares have surged about 270% this year as demand for AI memory chips continues to outstrip supply. Analysts remain broadly bullish, pointing to strong DRAM pricing, tight industry capacity and robust AI demand. Over the past 3 months, analysts have issued 19 upward EPS revisions and 20 upward revenue revisions, with virtually no downward changes.

Beyond the headline numbers, investors will be listening closely for updates on DRAM and NAND pricing, capacity commitments for 2027 and whether customers are already locking in supply for 2028.

The memory stock rally skidded to a halt on Tuesday as yesterday's tech sell-off expanded to new industries and countries.