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Highlights

Nike’s earnings results suggest brands are rethinking how they measure D2C success.

The next phase of D2C centers on loyalty, payments and customer relationships that extend across every shopping channel.

As consumers become more selective, retailers are prioritizing reach and convenience alongside first-party data.

The shorthand of direct-to-consumer (D2C) might boil down to selling through a brand’s own website or brick-and-mortar location. But writ large, the model is about controlling the customer relationship.

Consumer brands poured resources into owned channels, betting that higher margins, richer customer data and stronger loyalty would outweigh the costs of acquiring customers themselves.

Recent events across retail suggest that calculation is changing. Several of the companies that helped define the D2C era have spent the past few years abandoning the idea that growth depends on steering every customer into owned channels.

By way of example, mattress seller Casper ultimately agreed to go private after years of struggling to produce sustainable returns as a public company.

SmileDirectClub entered bankruptcy.

Most recently, Allbirds agreed to sell assets and focus on artificial intelligence.

While each company faced its own challenges, together they illustrate a broader lesson. Building a recognizable brand and building an efficient distribution model are not necessarily the same exercise.

Nike’s fourth-quarter earnings results released Tuesday (June 30) provided the latest and perhaps clearest indication that even the industry’s largest brands are recalibrating the balance between owned channels and wholesale distribution. During the quarter, Nike Direct revenue fell 9%, including a 12% decline in Nike Digital, while wholesale revenue increased 1%. In North America, wholesale revenue climbed 10% as the company continued rebuilding relationships with retail partners.

“The integrated marketplace is one of our most important areas of transformation,” Nike President and CEO Elliott Hill said during a Tuesday earnings call. “We’ve been rebuilding our wholesale relationships, expanding our outreach and improving how we show up across channels.”

Hill outlined a strategy in which owned stores, digital channels and wholesale partners each contribute to the customer relationship. He also said Nike is “discounting less on Nike Digital” while continuing to invest in stores that fit its long-term strategy.

The broader read-across extends beyond Nike. As digital advertising costs have increased and consumers have become more willing to compare prices across retailers, marketplaces and brand sites, the economics of insisting that every purchase occur through an owned channel have become less compelling.

Brands still want first-party data. They still want loyalty. They still want recurring engagement. However, they arguably appear less concerned about whether the transaction itself occurs on a proprietary website.

Relationships Matter More Than Channels PYMNTS Intelligence’s latest “Global Digital Shopping Index,” commissioned by Visa Acceptance Solutions, found that merchants’ own mobile apps remain their strongest individual growth channel, with 57% reporting higher sales over the past year. At the same time, websites, physical stores, third-party marketplaces and delivery platforms all generated growth for roughly half of merchants surveyed.

The message is that consumers are buying wherever it is most convenient, and merchants are adapting by investing across all of them.

Merchants’ mobile apps generally offer a better shopping experience. Merchants are more likely to provide biometric authentication, digital wallet autofill, stored credentials, one-click checkout and QR code payments inside their apps than on their websites. Those capabilities reduce friction, shorten checkout and make repeat purchases easier. Ensuring that loyalty accounts, payment credentials and personalized offers recognize the customer are critical wherever that customer chooses to shop.

Consumers are growing more deliberate about spending. PYMNTS Intelligence’s latest research on household spending found that roughly two-thirds of consumers are trimming purchases or actively looking for ways to reduce everyday expenses. Under these conditions, shoppers are less inclined to remain loyal to a single retailer or website. They compare prices, search across multiple merchants, and expect checkout to be fast and familiar regardless of where they complete the purchase.

Brands face changing D2C economics. Customer acquisition costs have risen, and forcing every shopper into an owned channel risks sacrificing reach at a time when consumers are moving fluidly among retailer websites, marketplaces, social commerce and physical stores. The objective becomes preserving first-party relationships even when distribution broadens.

After years of lagging broader equities, Teladoc Health (TDOC +1.10%) is finally bouncing back. The company's shares are up by 28% to date, while the S&P 500 has climbed just 9%. The telemedicine specialist still has plenty of work to do, but could it finally be on the road to full recovery? Let's see whether Teladoc can maintain the momentum it has had this year.

Why Teladoc is bouncing back At first glance, Teladoc doesn't seem to be doing that much better. In the first quarter, the company's revenue declined 2% year over year to $613.8 million. Sales from its BetterHelp virtual therapy division fell 9% year over year to $218.4 million, while the number of paying users on BetterHelp also fell 9%. Further, Teladoc remains unprofitable. It posted a net loss per share of $0.36, which, in fairness, was much better than the $0.53 loss per share it recorded in the year-ago period.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Still, overall, Teladoc's financial results look mediocre. Why is the stock performing well? Part of the answer is that the market is paying attention to several developments that could help fix some of the company's issues. Consider BetterHelp, which was once Teladoc's biggest growth driver. For years, the company tried to get health insurance coverage for this unit. It has finally done so in many U.S. states thanks to an acquisition. Teladoc is seeing clear evidence that this is helping.

As the company reported, virtual therapy users who benefit from insurance coverage averaged about 20% more sessions than cash-paying patients in their first 90 days. Teladoc also expects to end 2026 with an annual run rate of at least $125 million for the company's BetterHelp insurance-covered sessions -- a meaningful improvement over the $75 million it had as of the end of the first quarter. Teladoc is also making progress elsewhere.

Notably, the company's international expansion is still going well. In the first quarter, Teladoc's international revenue grew by 17% year over year to $122.3 million. Meanwhile, Teladoc is implementing various artificial intelligence (AI)-powered initiatives across its business that could have a meaningful impact over the long run. For instance, the company has reduced the administrative work that BetterHelp's therapists do through AI-assisted documentation, allowing them to spend more time focusing on patients.

This is good for everyone involved. Teladoc could continue to see much-improved financial results and stock price performance if it can keep launching initiatives like these.

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Although Teladoc has addressed some of the issues it has encountered in recent years, it isn't out of the woods just yet. Here are several things that could go wrong for the telemedicine company. First, although it is making some progress with BetterHelp, thanks to third-party coverage, the virtual therapy space is very competitive. That's one reason why Teladoc faced -- in the company's own words -- "mounting pressure" within its direct-to-patient cash-paying virtual therapy business.

Insurance coverage is helpful, but even with that, BetterHelp's upside might be limited by the increasingly competitive nature of this industry. Second, although Teladoc's international revenue has been growing faster than the rest of the business, the company's global ambitions may eventually backfire. Managing legal and regulatory requirements, insurance rules and regulations, prescriptions, and many other matters that Teladoc engages in across different countries could turn into a nightmare.

We might see Teladoc's expenses rise significantly as the company continues its expansion plans abroad. As a result, it may be difficult for the company to turn profitable. Lastly, although Teladoc's AI-related work looks promising, it is unlikely to give it a significant advantage over most of its competitors, many of whom are also likely implementing similar strategies. The bottom line is that Teladoc has yet to demonstrate it can perform consistently, while it still faces significant headwinds. So, even with the progress it has made, its shares look fairly risky. Investors should keep that in mind before initiating a position. And only those comfortable with volatility should consider doing so.

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CENTER VALLEY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shift4 Payments, Inc. (“Shift4” or the “Company”) (NYSE: FOUR), announced today, in connection with the 10,000,000 shares of 6% Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock issued on May 5, 2025, consistent with the terms laid out in the offering, the Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $1.50 per share to be paid in cash on August 3, 2026 to holders of record as of the close of business on July 15, 2026.

Subject to the terms of the Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, and as described further in the prospectus supplement filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 2, 2025, the declaration and payment of future quarterly dividends, if any, will be at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors based on its consideration of various factors, including the company’s operating results, financial condition and anticipated capital requirements.

Additional information regarding the Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock can be found within the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 5, 2025, which can be accessed via the Company’s website investors.shift4.com.

About Shift4

Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) powers the experience economy, enabling businesses to deliver the moments that matter. Transforming how people shop, dine, stay, and play, Shift4’s commerce technology allows for a seamless experience at any scale. From your neighborhood restaurant to the world’s largest event venues, Shift4 handles billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world. For more information, visit shift4.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Shift4 intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Shift4’s expectations associated with the declared dividends and future dividend payments. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to the substantial and increasingly intense competition worldwide in the financial services, payments and payment technology industries; our ability to continue to expand our share of the existing payment processing markets or expand into new markets; additional risks associated with our expansion into international operations, including compliance with and changes in foreign governmental policies, as well as exposure to foreign exchange rates; and our respective ability to integrate and interoperate each of our services and products with a variety of operating systems, software, devices, and web browsers, and the other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A in Shift4’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, as updated by our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 and our other filings with the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s expectations as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Shift4 disclaims any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wears the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, as he delivers a speech presenting the new line of smart glasses, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O), opens new tab Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an internal ‌town hall on Thursday that AI agent development over the last four months had not "accelerated in the way we expected," according to a recording heard ​by Reuters.

Zuckerberg added that a company reorganization that included major job ​cuts was not as "clean" as it could have been ⁠and that the company's bets on the new structure "haven't come to ​fruition yet."

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Meta is projected to spend as much as $145 billion on ​AI infrastructure this year, a significant portion of Big Tech's more than $700 billion outlay on the technology.

Zuckerberg said he expects that the social media giant ​will begin to experience more significant benefits from its AI investments ​within the next three to six months.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on ‌Thursday.

In ⁠the same town hall, Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said a review of a recent data security incident with the company's controversial mouse-tracking software indicated that no employee data was included in AI training.

Last ​month, Meta paused the ​program, which ⁠tracks employee mouse movements and digital activity for AI training, while investigating the exposure of sensitive data.

If ​the company turns the program back on once ​the review ⁠is completed, it will be on an "opt-in" basis, he said.

When Meta first installed the program on U.S. employees' computers in April, Bosworth told ⁠them ​there was no way to opt ​out.

Reporting by Katie Paul in New York and Courtney Rozen in Washington; Additional reporting by ​Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Courtney Rozen reports on the world's largest technology companies from Washington, D.C., focusing on the relationship between the tech industry and the U.S. government. She reported on DOGE and the federal workforce during the first year of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term. Prior to joining Reuters, she was a White House correspondent at Bloomberg Government. She graduated from American University with a master's degree in journalism.

Like all of the large banks that underwent the Federal Reserve's bank stress test, Bank of America (BAC +0.46%) passed. However, after passing, many of the other big banks announced sizable dividend increases. For example, Goldman Sachs (GS +0.14%) hiked its dividend by 11%, while Citigroup (C 0.17%) increased its dividend by 12%. Bank of America, by contrast, didn't increase its dividend. But investors shouldn't worry, a dividend hike is likely on the way.

Bank of America: It's just a timing issue Over the last few years, Bank of America has increased its dividend in the third quarter. The dividend increase is announced alongside second-quarter earnings. Bank of America will report second-quarter earnings in a couple of weeks. Basically, management is simply waiting until the normal time it makes dividend announcements, given how close the results of the Fed stress tests were announced relative to earnings season.

Image source: Getty Images.

In other words, Bank of America's choosing not to announce a dividend increase is probably not a sign that something is wrong with the company. The real question here is how large the increase will be. Obviously, that's entirely up to the board of directors. That said, the last two annual dividend increases were 8% and 7%. Both are sizable compared to the historical inflation rate, which is closer to 3%. It is reasonable to expect the next hike to be larger, though probably not dramatically so, since the last two increases were fairly generous.

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A discounted price could be a buying opportunity What's interesting is that Bank of America's price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios are lower than those of JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.11%) and Goldman Sachs, suggesting it's a value play in the banking sector. Meanwhile, Bank of America's P/E is lower than Citigroup's, even though Citigroup's P/B ratio is lower. So, it could still be viewed as the value option, given that Citigroup's stock has risen 60% over the past year, compared with Bank of America's 20%.

A dividend increase from Bank of America is unlikely to close the valuation gap in one fell swoop. But it will still be a nice reward for investors and provide a reason to stick around for the long term, allowing the market more time to close the valuation gap. Given that Bank of America's roughly 2% dividend yield is currently higher than its peers', income-focused investors should probably take a close look at the stock before it reports second-quarter earnings (and a likely dividend increase).

Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Moderna Inc. MRNA shares rose 9.2% on Thursday, making the biotechnology company one of the top performers in the S&P 500.

Investors responded positively to new pipeline updates, encouraging influenza vaccine data, and favorable analyst commentary.

The stock extended its recent rally after climbing to a new annual high on Wednesday.

At one point, shares gained nearly 12% as investors welcomed the company's latest Science Day presentation and progress across its mRNA development programs.

Investor sentiment also received a boost after an FDA advisory panel unanimously supported Moderna's mRNA-1010/mFLUSIVA influenza vaccine for adults aged 50 to 64 and those 65 and older.

The recommendation comes ahead of a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) decision expected on Aug. 5, 2026, as well as planned global regulatory filings.

During its recent Science Day presentation, Moderna outlined plans to expand its mRNA platform beyond infectious disease vaccines into oncology, autoimmune diseases and other therapeutic areas.

The company showcased programs targeting multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer and in vivo CAR-T therapies, while emphasizing increased use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and robotics to accelerate research and development.

Plans to begin the in vivo CAR-T program mRNA-6007 in 2027 also contributed to investor optimism.

Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said the company's strategy extends across multiple areas of development.

Working across three strategic horizons, we are applying our mRNA platform expertise to validate, scale and expand our modalities, with new modalities in the clinic, including T-cell engagers, and new modalities soon to be in the clinic, like in vivo CAR-T. At the same time, we are driving innovation by using data, AI and machine learning, and robotics to accelerate discovery and continuously improve how we execute for near-term growth while fuelling the next generation of mRNA medicines for patients around the world.

Analysts remained constructive on Moderna's long-term prospects despite differing views on the pace of commercialization.

Jefferies maintained a Hold rating and a $45 price target, stating that while eventual approval of the influenza vaccine appears likely, meaningful flu-related revenue is not expected until 2027.

Piper Sandler took a more optimistic stance, raising its price target to $77 from $69 while reiterating an Overweight rating following the recent rally.

The positive analyst commentary added to growing optimism surrounding Moderna's expanding pipeline beyond COVID-19 vaccines.

Financial position remains supported by cash reservesDespite renewed enthusiasm surrounding its research programs, Moderna continues to operate at a loss as it invests heavily in product development.

The company generated approximately $389 million in quarterly revenue and about $1.94 billion in trailing 12-month revenue.

However, it reported a net loss of roughly $1.34 billion in the latest quarter and an EBITDA loss of approximately $1.28 billion. Free cash flow stood at negative $692 million.

Moderna has approximately $5.21 billion in cash and short-term investments, a current ratio of 2.4 and long-term debt of about $1.25 billion, providing financial flexibility as it continues investing in its pipeline.

CNBC's Jim Cramer also expressed optimism about the company's direction.

“For the first time in a long time, the company seems like it has something to get excited about", Cramer said on Wednesday.

He added that Moderna's “plethora of thoughtful, new products” is presenting a clear roadmap to profitability for the first time in a long while.

However, Cramer also urged patience, saying, “I recommend waiting for a pullback before you buy. Take your time. I think Moderna’s got a bright future though, but it’ll take years to get there.”

Making tremendous strides in sales growth over the past decade, Plug Power (PLUG +0.00%) has proven adept at selling customers on its fuel cell and hydrogen offerings. But the company's prowess at proving that these alternative energy endeavors could be profitable? Well, that's another story. Since its founding in 1997, Plug Power has consistently failed to turn a profit.

But management has a plan to reverse that trend. Let's take a closer look at Plug stock and what could derail the company as management strives to achieve profitability.

Image source: Getty Images.

This isn't the first time Plug's management has prognosticated profits Investors often get excited when management teams suggest that profitability is on the horizon for their businesses -- especially ones that have been unprofitable for nearly 30 years, like Plug. So when Plug's management projects the company will generate positive operating income as 2027 winds down and achieve "overall profitability exiting 2028," it's understandable why investors get a little giddy.

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But those with long memories will recall Plug's past profitability projections -- and how they never came to fruition.

The company has a long history of failing to deliver on management's profit forecasts. In December 2013, for example, Plug CEO Andy Marsh forecast the company would achieve breakeven on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) basis in 2014. Instead, it ended the year with EBITDA of negative $33.6 million.

Similarly, the company projected in January 2016 that it would achieve EBITDA break-even in the fourth quarter of that year. Again, it failed. Instead, Plug reported EBITDA of negative $9.4 million in Q4 2016.

Since its founding in 1997, Plug has reported neither operating income nor positive EBITDA.

PLUG Operating Margin (Annual) data by YCharts.

Plug plans to pull a lot of levers to post profits In an April 2026 investor presentation, management outlined a range of steps the company will take to achieve profitability. From raising prices throughout its material handling business to improving its service costs to consolidating its operating sites, the company sees a variety of opportunities to reduce expenses.

The problem, however, is that these numerous opportunities are far from guaranteed to succeed. While some of the steps the company is taking may yield benefits, there's no certainty they will be sufficient to result in overall profitability.

And while the company is continually incurring losses, it still needs to service its $1 billion in debt -- something it must do from its dwindling cash position of $223 million at the end of March 2026. Moreover, while it's servicing its debt, it still requires cash to maintain its operations. As a result, the company will likely raise capital by issuing equity, subjecting investors to shareholder dilution, as it has done many times before.

Take the forecast with a heaping tablespoon of salt Rather than buying this hydrogen stock on the belief that the company is on the precipice of posting profits, investors would be better served by looking for Plug to meet near-term targets, such as achieving positive EBITDA by the end of 2026. Should it succeed, the company could start to rebuild trust with investors, making its 2028 forecast seem more credible.

Key Takeaways McKesson posted 35% oncology revenue growth and 53% operating profit growth in fiscal Q4 2026.MCK's pharma segment profit rose 11% as specialty drug demand and GLP-1 distribution stayed strong.RxTS revenues grew 12%, though IRA pricing pressure and acquisition risks may challenge future growth. McKesson’s (MCK - Free Report) prospects are being driven by robust growth in specialty distribution, oncology services and biopharma solutions. Earnings are also improving on the back of ongoing operational efficiency and capital discipline despite persistent margin pressures and volatility across certain segments.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 6.4% so far this year compared with the industry's 2.7% decline. The S&P 500 has increased 9.7% in the said time frame.

MCK is one of the leading pharmaceutical distributors in North America, with a market capitalization of $88.46 billion. It forecasts 13.7% earnings growth over the next five fiscal years. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 3.09%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Factors Favoring MCK StockOncology and Multispecialty Platform Drives Long-Term Growth: McKesson's oncology and multispecialty segment is increasingly emerging as one of its most durable long-term growth drivers.This segment delivered 35% revenue growth and 53% operating profit growth in fourth quarter of fiscal 2026.

Even after adjusting for acquisition benefits from PRISM Vision and Core Ventures, organic operating profit expanded 13%, indicating strong underlying demand. The U.S. Oncology Network added more than 570 providers in fiscal 2026, marking the largest annual provider addition since 2010.

Beyond distribution, McKesson is increasingly embedding technology solutions such as Ambient Scribe AI and Ontada analytics to improve physician productivity and deepen relationships with providers. The expanding community-care ecosystem supports recurring specialty revenue growth while positioning the company to benefit from shift of specialty care from hospital settings towards community settings over the long term.

Strong Specialty Pharmaceutical Momentum: McKesson’s North American Pharmaceutical segment remains highly resilient despite pricing pressure from branded drug deflation. Segment operating profit increased 11% to $980 million, supported by continued specialty drug demand, health-system growth and operating efficiency gains. Particularly notable was continued momentum in GLP-1 therapies, where quarterly distribution revenues reached $14 billion, growing 22% year over year.

Management highlighted that lower branded drug prices and softer sequential GLP-1 volumes had zero impact on operating profit, underscoring the strength of McKesson’s fee-based distribution economics.

With specialty pharmaceuticals remaining the fastest-growing healthcare category and biosimilars adoption increasing steadily, McKesson appears well positioned to sustain above-market earnings growth while leveraging its massive pharmaceutical distribution network.

Prescription Technology Solutions Support Margins: McKesson’s Prescription Technology Solutions (RxTS) business is becoming an increasingly valuable earnings contributor as healthcare reimbursement complexity rises. In the fiscal fourth quarter, segment revenues grew 12%, while operating profit increased 13%, supported by strong demand for access, affordability and prior authorization services.

During the annual verification season, McKesson supported a record 3.4 million patients, while technology investments improved productivity, allowing each employee to serve 120 additional patients versus last year.

Management also introduced an integrated specialty access platform that combines benefits verification, prior authorization and affordability support into a single workflow. As specialty therapies, GLP-1 adoption and high-cost drugs continue to see rising demand, McKesson’s technology-enabled service ecosystem creates a competitive moat with structurally stronger margins than traditional pharmaceutical distribution businesses.

Factors That May Offset the Gains for MCKIRA-Driven Drug Pricing Pressure Creates Top-Line Headwinds: One of McKesson’s biggest structural challenges remains pricing pressure created by pharmaceutical policy changes, particularly the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Management disclosed that price reductions by branded manufacturer lowered North American Pharmaceutical revenue growth by approximately 3 percentage points during the fiscal fourth quarter. The company continues to expect similar pricing headwinds throughout fiscal 2027.

While McKesson’s fee-based contracts largely protect profitability, lower drug prices directly suppress reported revenue growth and may weaken investor perception of underlying business momentum. This issue becomes increasingly important because specialty pharmaceuticals account for a growing portion of McKesson’s business. Continued government intervention in drug pricing could create a structural environment where strong demand and prescription growth fail to translate proportionally into top-line expansion, potentially compressing valuation multiples over time.

Technology Solutions Growth Remains Uncertain: Although RxTS remains a high-margin growth business, management explicitly warned that future revenues and operating profit growth will be increasingly non-linear and unpredictable.

Approximately 55% of segment revenues comes from the 3PL business, which depends heavily on factors such as new drug launch timing, program launches, payer utilization trends, product maturity cycles, formulary changes and supply dynamics. Management guided fiscal 2027 revenue growth of only 2.5-6.5%, significantly slower than historical performance despite continued strong demand for access services.

As pharmaceutical manufacturers continuously adjust commercialization strategies, program support requirements may fluctuate materially, resulting in an uncertain quarterly performance. This is likely to reduce earnings visibility in one of McKesson’s most attractive technology-driven segments.

Acquisition-Led Growth Strategy Increases Integration Risk: McKesson’s accelerating expansion strategy depends on acquisitions and inorganic growth initiatives. In fiscal 2026, acquisitions including PRISM Vision and Core Ventures accounted for approximately 34% of operating profit growth in the oncology segment. This highlights growing dependence on purchased growth rather than purely organic expansion.

Management also indicated an active pipeline of additional oncology provider acquisitions, suggesting M&A will remain a central part of the growth algorithm. While integration has progressed smoothly so far, acquisition-heavy growth strategies introduce valuation risk, execution complexity and integration uncertainty.

McKesson is simultaneously funding acquisitions, executing large share repurchases and managing the Medical-Surgical separation, creating capital allocation complexity. If acquired assets underperform or future deals become expensive, sustaining double-digit EPS growth may become increasingly challenging.

Estimate Trends for MCKMcKesson is witnessing a positive estimate revision trend for 2026. In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings per share has improved 1 cent to $44.28.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenues and earnings per share is pegged at $104.39 billion and $9.63, respectively. The estimate for revenues indicates a 6.7% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s reported number, while that for earnings implies a 16.6% gain.

MCK’s Zacks Rank & Key PicksCurrently, McKesson has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are BrightSpring Health (BTSG - Free Report) , Globus Medical (GMED - Free Report) and West Pharmaceutical (WST - Free Report) .

BrightSpring Health, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 39 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 34.5%. Revenues of $3.61 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.35%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

BrightSpring Health has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 46.5%. BTSG’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 14.6%.

Globus Medical, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported a first-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $1.12, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 22.1%. Revenues of $759.9 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.0%.

GMED has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 10.2%. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 26.3%.

West Pharmaceutical, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, reported first-quarter 2026 EPS of $2.13, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 26.8%. Revenues of $844.9 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.5%.

West Pharmaceutical has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 13.9%. WST’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 19.4%.

Key Takeaways Alcon's new platforms and lenses are gaining adoption, while dry eye momentum supports future growth. Unity VCS, Unity CS and PanOptix Pro are driving equipment and implantables momentum for Alcon. ALC faces macro pressure, $33M in tariffs and intense competition across both operating segments. Alcon’s (ALC - Free Report) new platforms and lenses are gaining adoption. Dry eye momentum is likely to support growth in the upcoming quarters. However, adverse macroeconomic conditions and intense competition may harm the company’s operations.

In the past year, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has dipped 25.1% compared with the industry’s 10.4% decline. The S&P 500 composite has risen 23.9% in the same time frame.

The renowned pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturer has a market capitalization of $32.77 billion. ALC’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 3.7%.

Let’s delve deeper.

Upsides for ALCBusiness Development Activities: Strategic asset additions have enabled Alcon to broaden its technology portfolio across both franchises, reinforcing a multi-year innovation pipeline that complements its internal R&D programs. In March 2026, Alcon and LENSAR agreed to terminate the previously announced merger agreement, which removes a near-term integration item and keeps capital available for other bolt-on opportunities.

In 2025, the company acquired a majority interest in Aurion Biotech to advance AURN001, a corneal cell therapy candidate that targets a large transplant market constrained by donor availability. Alcon also completed the acquisition of LumiThera and its Valeda photobiomodulation device for early and intermediate dry AMD. 

New Products to Drive Growth: Unity VCS and Unity CS are at the center of the current equipment cycle, with management highlighting continued momentum in the first quarter of 2026 as installations expand and surgeon feedback emphasizes workflow integration. In implantables, PanOptix Pro is being rolled out internationally following U.S. adoption. 

Alcon reported share gains in U.S. AT-IOLs and is preparing to launch an upgraded Vivity lens in early 2027. TruPlus adds a monofocal plus option with toric availability at launch, supporting broader coverage of astigmatism correction. Alcon also continues to scale Tryptyr and Systane in dry eye and broaden its contact lens lineup with TOTAL30 and PRECISION7, including a multifocal toric extension of TOTAL30 introduced in early 2026. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Downsides for ALCPersistent Macroeconomic Pressure: Alcon remains exposed to geopolitical and trade volatility that can disrupt supply chains and raise input costs, particularly as tariffs continue to evolve. In the first quarter of 2026, incremental tariffs in the United States and China totaled $33 million, and management cited a 120 basis points drag on core gross margin. 

Tough Competitive Landscape: Competition remains intense across both segments and is showing up most clearly where Alcon is defending share outside the United States and managing mix transitions. The category also remains competitive as newer entrants target value tiers and the market continues shifting toward daily lenses and advanced materials. These dynamics increase reliance on newer platforms to sustain growth, requiring continued investment in commercialization and physician education to maintain pricing power and market positioning over time.

ALC Stock Estimate Trend The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share has remained unchanged at $3.48 in the past 30 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenues is pegged at $11.06 billion, suggesting a 7.2% rise from the year-ago reported number.

Key PicksSome better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Globus Medical (GMED - Free Report) , Integra LifeSciences (IART - Free Report) and Phibro Animal Health (PAHC - Free Report) . 

Globus Medical has an earnings yield of 5.5%, well ahead of the industry’s negative 3% yield. Its earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 26.3%. The company’s shares have rallied 43.8% against the industry’s 4.8% decline over the past year.

GMED carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Integra LifeSciences, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, has an earnings yield of 16% against the industry’s negative 3% yield. Shares of the company have gained 22.8% compared with the industry’s 4.8% growth. IART’s earnings topped estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 16.8%.

Phibro Animal Health, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, has an earnings yield of 9.2% compared with the industry’s 2.8% yield. Shares of the company have climbed 43.1% against the industry’s 27.9% decline. PAHC’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 16.3%.

Move over, guys.

Iconic apparel brands that have historically been more popular with men are turning to women to help drive a new leg of growth.

The CEOs of Timberland owner VF Corp., Levi's, and Columbia Sportswear have all recently highlighted women as a key focus as they look to boost revenues and broaden their customer bases.

The opportunity is sizable. Needham analyst Tom Nikic estimates the U.S. women's apparel market is roughly 70% larger than the men's apparel market. In other words, women spend substantially more on clothing than men.

"If you're skewing very heavily towards men, then you're essentially leaving behind half the population," Nikic told CNBC.

The efforts at VF Corp., Levi's, and Columbia reflect a broader trend across the apparel industry as brands search for growth in an increasingly competitive market, according to analysts. While these companies have sold women's clothes and shoes for decades, executives are increasingly treating female consumers as a strategic priority rather than simply another customer segment.

For investors, the appeal is straightforward. Winning over more female shoppers allows brands to expand their addressable market without having to embark on a radical pivot.

"There was no good structural reason why some of these brands should skew as heavily male as they did," Nikic said. "If they can successfully grow with women while maintaining strength with men, that's a significant opportunity."

VF Corp. CEO Bracken Darrell, who took over three years ago to reinvigorate the company after a period of declining sales, described women as a major "unlock" for several of its brands, including Vans, The North Face, Timberland, and shoe maker Altra Running.

Darrell said the opportunity stems from both women's growing purchasing power and their influence on broader consumer trends.

"Women have influenced men's choices in a bigger way than a lot of us who ran predominantly men's brands gave credit for," Darrell said in an interview. "We always had opportunities across all our brands that were bigger for us if we tried to get in with women."

VF is incorporating that focus into more product development across its portfolio. Vans, a hallmark of skateboard culture, has introduced more women's apparel, pearlized footwear and shoe jewelry. Known for its iconic yellow boot, Timberland has expanded its lineup with products such as its Stone Street platform boots and other women's-focused silhouettes, leaning into elevated designs as it looks to broaden its appeal among female shoppers.

At The North Face, the company has collaborated with Kim Kardashian's Skims and other fashion brands, while also expanding its offerings for female outdoor enthusiasts. Its Advanced Mountain Kit line, one of the brand's premium performance collections, now includes a full women's assortment.

The North Face is the company's "single biggest opportunity with women," Darrell said. It's also the company's largest brand by revenue, accounting for roughly 42% of its $9.6 billion in fiscal 2026 sales.

"We believe North Face can double from $4 billion to $8 billion over some time frame," he said, estimating that women could account for more than $2 billion of that potential growth.

The focus on women could also play a role in helping Vans return to sustainable growth, according to Jefferies analyst Blake Anderson. He said younger women can act as "strong brand advocates and trendsetters," helping drive awareness through social media and online shopping channels.

Vans brand has struggled for years, predating Darrell's arrival. But revenue trends are improving. Sales on a constant-currency basis fell 11% in VF's fiscal year ended in March, compared with 15% and 27% in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. For 2027, the company projects a mid-single decline.

In fiscal 2026, VF broke a streak of three consecutive years of declining companywide sales, with The North Face and Timberland both growing 5% on a constant-currency basis. It's guided for another year of growth in fiscal 2027.

So far in Darrell's tenure, shares of VF are down roughly 7%, when including dividends. That trails State Street's popular retail ETF known as the XRT, which is up 38% in that timeframe. Over the past year, though, the stock has trounced the XRT, returning almost 36% versus roughly 10%.

Levi's has emerged as one of the clearest examples of how expanding into women's apparel can translate into growth.

Former Kohl's CEO Michelle Gass became Levi's chief executive in January 2024 after a year as president. She was tasked with accelerating growth and advancing the company's transition to a direct-to-consumer-first business.

As part of that strategy, Gass made attracting female shoppers a key priority through the company's "Win With Her" initiative, which first launched in Europe and has since expanded more broadly throughout the business. On CNBC's "Mad Money" earlier this year, Gass told Jim Cramer that women's apparel now accounts for 38% of Levi's business, up from roughly a third in 2022. She is targeting a 50-50 revenue split between men and women.

"Women's was up 11% for [2025], and we have a long way to go between 38% and 50%, and that's incremental business for us," Gass said.

On the company's 2026 first-quarter earnings call, Gass said women's apparel grew 13% in the quarter, compared with 7% growth in men's. In its 2025 annual report, Levi's described the category as a "powerful growth engine," and noted that it carries higher gross margins while remaining underpenetrated.

The company has expanded beyond denim into dresses, skirts, tops and lifestyle apparel. It's also increased its marketing efforts, including its high-profile partnership with Beyoncé in 2024.

Levi's has also changed how it merchandises its stores. Women's apparel is now featured prominently at the front of many U.S. locations, supported by mannequins and lifestyle displays designed to showcase complete outfits.

Nikic, the Needham analyst, said Levi's demonstrates how brands can grow their women's businesses without sacrificing momentum among male shoppers.

"The women's business is performing even better, but men's product has continued to sell well," he said. "When you can get balanced growth across both men and women, it obviously does wonders for your P&L and for your stock price."

Shares of Levi's have returned 66%, including dividends, since Gass became CEO in January 2024. In that stretch, the stock has significantly outperformed the XRT's 28% return. It's also narrowly topped the S&P 500's total return of 58%.

Levi's reports its next set of quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

Columbia Sportswear is pursuing a similar strategy.

At a recent investor conference, CEO Tim Boyle pointed to the success of Columbia's Amaze Puff Jacket, a stylish winter coat, as an example of how the company is broadening its appeal beyond clothes and shoes popular for hiking, fishing and more.

"It's highly fashionable," said Boyle, who's been CEO since 1988. "It brought a lot of new people into the brand."

The jacket generated significant social media attention and helped introduce Columbia to consumers who may not have traditionally considered the company a fashion brand, Boyle said.

The company has continued to build on that momentum. During an appearance on CNBC's "Mad Money" in May, Boyle highlighted women's outerwear as a major area of focus, and said Columbia plans to expand the Amaze collection into additional seasons.

Columbia expects sales to grow between 1% to 3% this year, after falling 3% last year on a constant-currency basis. Over the past year, the stock has returned about 1%, trailing the XRT's 10% advance.

The stock performance across the group has been mixed, but their pursuits are aligned.

"Your average woman spends almost twice as much on their closet annually as the average man in the U.S.," Nikic said.

Darrell said that's an opportunity the company can no longer afford to overlook.

"You can't look away from the fact that more than 50% of the population is women, so that's always been a big opportunity for these brands," he said. "Investors should be excited to know that we're not ignoring them, we're going after them."

SanDisk Corporation SNDK shares plunged 14% in afternoon trading on Thursday, hitting a session low of $1707.58 as investors rotated out of artificial intelligence chip and memory hardware stocks and shifted capital into AI software companies.

The decline followed an extraordinary first half of 2026, during which SanDisk shares surged roughly 858%, leaving the stock vulnerable to profit-taking as market sentiment shifted.

The selloff came despite recent analyst upgrades that pointed to improving fundamentals.

SanDisk had gained nearly 5% on Tuesday after Bernstein raised its price target on the stock, but the broader weakness across semiconductor and memory names outweighed the positive outlook.

SanDisk was not alone in Thursday's decline. Memory storage companies including Micron Technology and Western Digital also posted sharp losses as the sector entered what market participants described as a technical correction.

The combination of profit-taking following SanDisk's substantial rally from its 52-week low of $40.10, weakness across the semiconductor sector, and pressure on technology shares contributed to the stock's outsized decline.

Despite the pullback, SanDisk continues to trade well above its 52-week low, while analysts maintain price targets significantly above current trading levels.

Analysts remain positive on long-term outlookWall Street analysts continued to express confidence in SanDisk's longer-term prospects despite the sharp decline.

On June 30, Bernstein analyst Mark Newman raised his price target to $3,000 from $1,700 while maintaining an Outperform rating.

The firm cited new long-term supply agreements featuring fixed or range-bound pricing and upfront financial commitments, which it believes reduce earnings volatility.

Separately, Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating on Wednesday and increased his price target to $2,500 from $2,100.

"We expect supply/demand imbalance in the NAND market to remain through 2027," Mohan wrote in a client note, adding that pricing should hold up through mid-2027.

Mohan projected June-quarter revenue of $9.1 billion and earnings per share of $37.01, exceeding both consensus estimates and the company's guidance range of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion in revenue.

China supply risks and technical picture remain in focusEven with the constructive outlook, analysts continue to monitor supply risks from China.

Mohan identified Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) as a key long-term risk, noting that additional supply could pressure NAND pricing sooner than expected.

His base-case outlook assumes the company will primarily serve domestic Chinese customers.

Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also commented on the memory market over the weekend, stating that the "memory supply-demand gap will keep widening through 2027." Kuo also said Apple Inc. is lobbying the US administration regarding ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to secure additional DRAM supply sources.

From a technical perspective, SanDisk continues to trade above its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages, while the moving-average structure remains in a bullish alignment.

SNDK Technicals The stock's relative strength index stood at 46.62, indicating more balanced momentum following the recent pullback.

The latest decline reflects broad-based profit-taking in AI hardware stocks rather than company-specific developments, as investors rotated into AI software names despite continued bullish forecasts from Wall Street analysts.

Apple drew a bullish view from Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan, who maintained a Buy rating and a $380 price forecast while pointing to services growth, capital returns, and future AI opportunities.

BofA Highlights App Store And Services GrowthMohan said Apple’s App Store revenue rose 3.2% year over year to $8.8 billion in the full fiscal third quarter of 2026, while total iPhone and iPad downloads increased 1.3% to 8.7 billion.

He also noted that App Store dollars per download rose 1.9% year over year to $1.01.

BofA models 14% year-over-year growth for Apple’s total services revenue in the fiscal third quarter of 2026.

Mohan kept his $380 price forecast, based on the 37 times calendar 2027 estimated EPS of $10.27.

Analyst Sees AI And New Products As Upside DriversMohan said BofA remains positive on Apple because of strong capital returns, its potential to become a winner in edge AI, and optionality from new products and markets.

He said the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Apple’s appeal in the Epic Games case is a constructive development as Apple continues to defend its App Store economics.

Mohan also viewed Apple’s new Siri AI architecture, combined with Apple silicon, as an important unlock for future hardware-driven and AI-enabled monetization opportunities.

Technical Picture Remains ConstructiveApple continues to trade in an established uptrend. The stock was trading at $306.64, about 4.3% above its 20-day simple moving average of $294.76 and 13.6% above its 200-day moving average of $270.69. The 20-day average also remains above the 50-day moving average, reinforcing the positive trend.

Momentum indicators also remain supportive. The moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator is above its signal line, suggesting buying momentum continues to outweigh selling pressure.

The next technical resistance sits near $317.50, close to the stock’s 52-week high of $317.40. Initial support is around $287.50, near the cluster of the 20-day and 50-day moving averages.

Earnings Remain the Next Major CatalystApple is expected to report quarterly results on July 30. Wall Street expects earnings of $1.89 per share, up from $1.57 a year earlier, on revenue of $108.86 billion compared with $94.04 billion in the year-ago period.

The stock trades at about 35.6 times earnings, reflecting a premium valuation.

Analysts remain broadly positive. Evercore ISI maintained an Outperform rating with a $365 price forecast on June 25. KGI Securities downgraded the stock to Hold with a $315 price forecast on June 22. Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and a $380 price forecast on June 18.

Apple Price ActionAAPL Stock Price Activity: Apple shares were up 4.16% at $306.64 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Key Takeaways Google Cloud's expanded Jack Henry deal targets enterprise AI and cybersecurity in financial services.Alphabet said Cloud revenues jumped 63% to over $20B, with backlog exceeding $460B on AI demand.Google Cloud now makes up roughly 18% of Alphabet's revenues, up from about 14% a year ago. Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google Cloud business is rapidly becoming one of the most important drivers of unlocking future growth, profitability and shareholder value. The recently announced expanded partnership with Jack Henry (JKHY - Free Report) strengthens Google Cloud’s position in the fast-growing financial services AI market by expanding adoption of its enterprise AI and cybersecurity offerings among community banks and credit unions. The collaboration builds on the companies’ 2022 relationship and allows Jack Henry to use Google Cloud’s Agentic Defense portfolio, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform and Mandiant Consulting to develop a proprietary AI-powered security platform tailored for highly regulated financial institutions.

The deal aligns with Alphabet’s broader cloud strategy outlined in its latest earnings. Management highlighted that enterprise AI solutions have become Google Cloud’s primary growth driver, with Cloud revenues surging 63% year over year to more than $20 billion and backlog exceeding $460 billion. Alphabet has emphasized that the newly launched Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform enables customers to build, orchestrate and govern AI agents securely, while its Agentic Defense offerings are seeing strong demand as enterprises seek protection against AI-driven cyber threats. The Jack Henry partnership validates this strategy by showcasing a real-world deployment that combines AI infrastructure, enterprise AI software and cybersecurity into a single industry-specific solution.

Jack Henry plans to deploy Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform to improve customer support, automate administrative tasks, enhance analytics and reporting, and streamline operations, with early users reporting productivity gains of up to 70%. This expands Google Cloud’s AI consumption across multiple workflows rather than a single application, creating opportunities for higher cloud usage and deeper customer relationships. As financial institutions accelerate AI adoption while demanding secure, compliant deployments, the partnership reinforces Alphabet’s competitive position in enterprise AI and supports continued momentum for Google Cloud's rapidly growing AI business.

Google Cloud is benefiting from Alphabet’s years of investments in AI infrastructure, custom silicon and enterprise software that are beginning to translate into substantial financial returns. Importantly, cloud growth significantly outpaced Alphabet's overall revenue growth of 22%, highlighting Cloud's increasing importance within the company's portfolio. Google Cloud now accounts for roughly 18% of Alphabet's total revenues, up from about 14% a year ago. Alphabet disclosed that the strong backlog has been driven by strong demand for enterprise AI offerings and new Tensor Processing Units (TPU)-related agreements. More than half of this backlog is expected to convert into revenues over the next 24 months. This provides investors with significant visibility into future growth and suggests that demand continues to exceed available capacity.

GOOGL Faces Tough Competition in Cloud DomainAlphabet is facing stiff competition from the likes of Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) . According to Synergy Research Group’s first-quarter 2026 data, Amazon maintained a strong lead in the market, though Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google continued to achieve substantially higher growth rates. Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet’s market share were roughly 28%, 21% and 14%, respectively.

Amazon generates substantial profits from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where first-quarter 2026 sales increased 28% year over year to $37.6 billion and operating income rose to $14.2 billion from $11.5 billion. AWS now has an annualized revenue run rate of $150 billion, adding $2 billion sequentially, the largest fourth-quarter to first-quarter increase in AWS history.

Microsoft capitalizes on AI business momentum and Copilot adoption alongside accelerating Azure cloud infrastructure expansion. Strong Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud demand has been propelling Productivity and Business Processes revenue growth. Azure growth guidance projects fourth quarter fiscal 2026 growth of 39-40% at constant currency, suggesting demand saturation, with customer demand exceeding available capacity.

GOOGL’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAlphabet shares have climbed 15.4% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s rise of 18.2%.

GOOGL Stock Lags Sector
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The GOOGL stock is trading at a premium, with a forward 12-month price/sales of 9.38X compared with the broader sector’s 6.62X. Alphabet has a Value Score of D.

GOOGL ValuationThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $14.30 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days, suggesting 32.3% growth from 2025’s reported figure.
 

Alphabet currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Amazon (AMZN +0.59%) and Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX +0.71%) are both trying to become more important to consumers' digital lives.

Amazon already affects how people shop, watch shows, subscribe to services, use smart-home devices, and interact with cloud-powered technology. SpaceX is using Starlink satellite broadband and direct-to-cell service to bring internet access to consumers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon generated $716.9 billion in net sales in 2025, while SpaceX generated just $18.7 billion in revenue. While that size gap does not automatically make Amazon a better stock, it shows the different risk profiles investors are dealing with. 

Amazon is already monetizing consumer behavior at scale Amazon's biggest advantage is that it is already embedded in consumers' daily behavior. In 2025, the company generated $269.3 billion in sales from online stores, $172.2 billion from third-party seller services, $68.6 billion from advertising, $49.6 billion from subscriptions, and $128.7 billion from its AWS cloud computing business. Hence, Amazon earns money at several points in the consumer journey, from product discovery and advertising to subscriptions, transactions, seller services, and cloud infrastructure.

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Its advertising business is also gaining momentum, with revenues rising 24% year over year to $17.2 billion in the first quarter. Many Amazon advertisements appear when shoppers are already comparing products or getting ready to buy. The company's advertising business is proving to be a competitive edge because Amazon is monetizing purchase intent, not just screen time.

Amazon's relationship with consumers also extends well beyond shopping. Prime, Prime Video, Kindle, Fire TV, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero give the company multiple ways to connect to customers across entertainment, reading, smart-home devices, home security, subscriptions, and Wi-Fi.

Beyond all of that, though, AWS continues to be a key growth engine. In the first quarter, AWS revenue rose 28% year over year to $37.6 billion, while AWS operating income reached $14.2 billion, up from $11.5 billion in the prior-year period. The company's large and highly profitable cloud computing business will play a pivotal role in Amazon's artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions.

Amazon possesses the consumer data and cloud infrastructure to support more personalized shopping tools, smarter ads, better digital assistants, and cloud services for companies building their own AI products. The company recently launched Alexa for Shopping, a new AI shopping assistant built from Rufus and Alexa+. Rufus helps shoppers compare products and answer shopping questions, while Alexa+ adds a more conversational and personalized experience across Amazon's app, website, and devices.

The AWS AI infrastructure is also supported by large customer commitments. OpenAI has committed to lease approximately 2 gigawatts of computing capacity powered by Amazon's custom Trainium chips. Anthropic has also committed to securing up to 5 gigawatts of Trainium capacity. Meta Platforms has signed an agreement to deploy tens of millions of Amazon's custom Graviton server chips to support AI workloads.

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is the company's low Earth orbit satellite internet network. As of mid-June, the constellation had grown to 367 satellites, and the company has secured more than 100 rocket launches to deploy additional satellites. It's becoming a formidable player in the satellite broadband market.

Additionally, Amazon's agreement to acquire Globalstar could help Amazon Leo connect directly to phones for voice, data, and messaging services beginning in 2028. The company has also entered into a multiyear agreement with Delta Air Lines to install Amazon's Leo satellite technology on its aircraft, with an initial installation on 500 planes starting in 2028.

However, the main risk for Amazon is its elevated spending. Amazon's trailing-12-month free cash flow fell sharply in the first quarter as its AI-related infrastructure spending rose. The company also faces regulatory pressure and heavy competition.

Yet, Amazon is funding these bets from a much stronger profit base than SpaceX.

SpaceX is trying to move closer to consumers through Starlink The biggest way SpaceX could move closer to consumers is through Starlink mobile.

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SpaceX already offers direct-to-cell satellite technology with T-Mobile US in the U.S, allowing compatible phones to connect through Starlink when they are in locations where regular tower coverage is weak or unavailable. According to Reuters, SpaceX also plans to launch a Starlink mobile service via a consumer mobile plan or a mobile connectivity product for U.S. consumers, which could put it in direct competition with Verizon Communications, AT&T, and T-Mobile US. This could position SpaceX as a prominent consumer telecommunications player.

With nearly 10.3 million subscribers, Starlink is already a meaningful consumer internet business. If it expands into mobile service, Starlink could become more useful for travel, emergency coverage, and areas with weak cellular networks.

SpaceX is also expanding its satellite capacity for a larger Starlink business. In January, the Federal Communications Commission approved the company's request for permission to deploy an additional 7,500 Gen2 Starlink satellites, which would bring SpaceX's authorized network to 15,000. More satellites will help Starlink improve coverage, support direct-to-cell service, and eventually offer faster mobile applications. SpaceX's recent purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar is also significant because spectrum is essential for expanding wireless connectivity.

However, investors should not view Starlink mobile as a full replacement for regular wireless networks or 5G service yet. And the bigger issue for investors is valuation and execution risk. SpaceX still trades at about 82 times trailing-12-month sales even after its post-IPO pullback. That type of ambitious valuation is particularly difficult to justify for a company that is still relying heavily on Starlink's profits while pouring funds into rockets, AI infrastructure, spectrum expansion, and mobile ambitions. The Starship rocket, which has yet to carry a commercial payload, is especially important because it could help SpaceX launch larger satellites and expand Starlink capacity more efficiently, but delays would weaken a major part of the company's growth story.

SpaceX can prove a more disruptive connectivity story if Starlink mobile becomes a widely used consumer wireless platform. But Amazon looks like the stronger risk-adjusted winner in the race to own a piece of consumers' digital lives.

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Nike is expecting an “unplanned benefit” in the form of a nearly $1 billion tariff refund.

The sneaker giant revealed the refund when announcing full-year and quarterly earnings this week, even as CEO Elliott Hill warned that tariffs remain a “dynamic cost headwind.”

The earnings showed full-year revenues of $46.4 billion, flat on a reported basis and a 2% decline on a currency-neutral basis.

Fourth-quarter revenues came to $11 billion, down 1% on a reported basis and falling 4% on a currency-neutral basis, with Nike facing what Hill called a “more challenging” operating environment as the spring wound on.

“After a stronger start in March, especially in North America, by mid-April, we began to see a deceleration in retail sales trends,” he said during an earnings call. “Our consumer is under pressure around the world, and we can particularly see it having a larger impact on sportswear, which declined double digits in the quarter with a similar decline in retail sales.”

In addition to tariffs, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend pointed to ongoing disruption in the Middle East, fuel prices and other factors that could affect operating costs, consumer behavior and weakness in store traffic and sales.

“These assumptions reflect the macro environment as it stands today, and we are not expecting the environment to improve meaningfully over the next six months,” he said.

Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that while financial pressures continue to guide household decisions, the desire to make purchases has not faded.

“That distinction offers an encouraging signal for banks, merchants and payment providers looking beyond today’s economic headlines,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this week.

Nike customers sued the company in May to recover tariff-related refunds, accusing Nike of not refunding the costs it passed onto them in the form of higher prices.

The suit was one of many filed in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling declaring President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs illegal.

“Nike has made no legally binding commitment to return tariff-related overcharges to the consumers who actually paid them,” the plaintiffs said in their complaint. “Unless restrained by this court, Nike stands to recover the same tariff payments twice — once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds.”

Nike chose not to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by PYMNTS at the time.

Intel shares INTC fell around 5% on Thursday as semiconductor stocks extended their pullback, even as analysts at HSBC raised their price target on the chipmaker.

The decline came amid a broader selloff across the semiconductor sector.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF dropped 3%, with chip-equipment makers Teradyne and KLA each falling about 8%.

Nvidia shares declined 1.2%, while Micron Technology lost 3.4%.

The weakness follows a remarkable first half for semiconductor stocks.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF gained more than 70% during the first six months of 2026, marking the strongest first-half performance since the fund's launch in 2000.

Following that historic rally, investors have increasingly been taking profits across the sector, leading to a pullback in many of the industry's biggest winners.

Despite Thursday's decline, Intel remains one of the standout performers in the semiconductor space this year.

The stock is still up more than 200% year to date, reflecting growing investor optimism around the company's role in the next phase of artificial intelligence infrastructure spending.

HSBC raised its price target on the stock to $200 from $100 while maintaining a Buy rating.

The new target represents the highest price objective currently on Wall Street for the shares.

HSBC analyst Frank Lee said the firm sees increasing upside from Intel's server processor business as demand for data-center infrastructure continues to grow.

“Intel is well positioned to deliver upside to 2026/27 server CPU shipments, driven by internal foundry capacity reallocation,” Lee wrote in a note to clients.

The analyst said HSBC raised its estimate for 2026 server CPU shipment growth to 25% year over year from 20%, resulting in a projected $24.1 billion in data center and AI revenue, roughly 4% above consensus estimates.

Lee added that Wall Street may still be underestimating Intel's longer-term growth potential despite recent upward revisions to forecasts.

For 2027, HSBC increased its server CPU shipment growth estimate to 30% from 20%, citing expanding manufacturing capacity and the continued rollout of Intel's 18A process technology.

The firm now forecasts Intel's 2027 data center and AI revenue at $33 billion, approximately 20% above consensus expectations.

HSBC also pointed to improving prospects for Intel Foundry, which it now includes in its valuation model.

According to Lee, capacity constraints across the semiconductor industry are encouraging customers to explore alternatives to existing suppliers.

“With TSMC’s additional 3nm capacity coming online only in 2H27, customers are exploring new foundry partners,” Lee wrote.

The analyst said Intel has emerged as a potential beneficiary, citing customer wins with Terafab and Apple and ongoing engagement with Google and Nvidia.

Lee also highlighted Intel's Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge, or EMIB, packaging technology as a potential competitive advantage.

According to HSBC, packaging capacity remains a bottleneck across the industry, and Intel's EMIB solution offers greater scalability than some competing technologies.

The firm expects increasing external customer commitments beginning in the second half of 2026 as foundry demand expands.

HomeEarnings AnalysisHealthcare 

SummaryUnitedHealth Group is reiterated as a buy, with a raised price target near $460, reflecting improved earnings guidance and operational turnaround.Q1 results beat expectations, with non-GAAP EPS of $7.23 and revenue of $111.7B, prompting an FY 2026 EPS outlook above $18.25 and a $2B buyback.UNH benefits from strong free cash flow, a 2.18% yield, positive EPS revisions, and strategic investments in modernization and AI.Technical momentum is robust, but near-term resistance exists below $440; support is at $380, with a measured-move upside target near $480. JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) have been on a roller coaster ride in the past year-plus. At one point in 2026, the Health Care sector giant was down more than 20% YTD. Jump ahead more than three

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Jim Cramer opened his Mad Dash Thursday morning with a striking call. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR | PLTR Price Prediction) is now the cheapest he has ever seen it. That is a striking sentence about a company still trading at a trailing P/E of 146x.

Cramer’s exact framing, after watching CEO Alex Karp’s recent interview, was “I will say this is the cheapest I’ve seen in the stock. I do like the stock. I think the company does a great job when you bring them in.” He added that “you got to bring in Palantir if you want to try to figure out outside the box what to do with your organization.”

Cramer’s Palantir call Palantir just posted Q1 2026 revenue of $1.632 billion, up 84.7% year over year, with U.S. commercial revenue up 133% to $595 million. Management raised full-year guidance to $7.65 billion to $7.66 billion, roughly 71% growth. Karp told investors in the Q1 press release that the company’s Rule of 40 score hit 145%, a level matched only by NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Micron (NASDAQ:MU), and SK hynix.

Meanwhile the stock has gone the other way. PLTR is down 22% year to date and off 14% in the last month alone, touching a 52-week low of $106.37 before bouncing. Accelerating earnings, decelerating stock. That is what Cramer means by cheap.

The enterprise software catch Cramer flagged ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) as the other names worth watching in the enterprise-AI complex. ServiceNow was up big the prior day amid a broader enterprise-software uptrend, with the IG index working on a possible fifth straight up day.

On ServiceNow, Cramer said “I believe that their AI is substantial, particularly ServiceNow. And I don’t think I think clients do like them.” The fundamentals back him up. NOW posted Q4 2025 subscription revenue of $3.466 billion, up 21% year over year, with Now Assist net new ACV more than doubling. FY26 guidance sits at $15.53 billion to $15.57 billion in subscription revenue. Still, the stock is down 47.72% over the last year on a split-adjusted basis, so the market is digesting something.

Salesforce looks cheap the traditional way. Trading around $166 with a P/E of 19x and a forward P/E of 12x, CRM shows Q1 FY27 EPS of $3.88 beat estimates by 24%, and Agentforce ARR crossed $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Salesforce didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Marc Benioff, on the May 27, 2026 report, called it “an outstanding quarter for Salesforce, record revenue, record deals, and cash flow.” The stock is still down 34% year to date.

Why contracts are getting shorter Cramer’s hesitation on ServiceNow was “My issue is, is that I keep hearing that they’re not getting the long contracts. They’re getting a shorter contract.”

The instinctive read is that AI is not delivering. Cramer explicitly rejected that. “It’s not because AI is doing something right now. It’s that, you know what? We can’t take a four year. It’s just too dicey for us.”

CIOs are still buying, still deploying, still writing checks. They just do not know what the enterprise stack looks like in 2029, so they refuse to lock in four-year terms. Shorter duration compresses cRPO growth and rattles anyone modeling software companies on backlog. Buyers respect the pace of change enough to keep optionality, even as demand stays firm.

That is the frame for all three names. Palantir is expensive on earnings and cheap on trajectory. ServiceNow is dominant on product and messy on contract length. Salesforce is the traditional value name growing Agentforce ARR faster than either. If Cramer is right that Karp’s team gets called in when boards do not know what to do next, and if ServiceNow really is the rails every AI initiative runs on, the shorter-contract complaint may end up looking like a footnote. Watch the July guidance cycle for confirmation.

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Key Takeaways ADP's AI tools saved payroll time, cut HR action clicks, and lowered call volumes and labor in India.ADP expects a 70-80 bps adjusted EBIT margin expansion in fiscal 2026, with EPS growth of 10-11%.ADP has strong liquidity, regular dividends and no current debt, but PEO margins and volume remain pressured. Shares of ADP (ADP - Free Report) have gained 16.4% over the past three months, beating the industry’s 6.8% rally and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's 14.7% rise.

3-Month Share Price Performance                                                               Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenue is $21.9 billion, suggesting 6.6% year-over-year growth. For 2027, the same is expected to increase 5.9%. For EPS, the consensus estimate is set at $11.08, indicating a 10.7% rally from that reported in the preceding year. The same is expected to move up 10% year over year in 2027.

Factors That Augur Well for ADP’s SuccessAI Unlocks Operational Prowess: ADP Assist Payroll, which is an AI-powered HR and payroll assistant, saved 30 minutes per payroll. Smart Actions search led to a reduction in clicks and time expenditure by nearly 80% for common HR actions. The company witnessed a dip in cost to serve and an improvement in clients’ experience from productivity gains facilitated by AI incorporated in service tools and product innovation.

For instance, ADP’s RUN platform and AI-powered tools deployed to benefit more than 900,000 small business clients resulted in an 8% year-over-year decline in client contracts during the third quarter of fiscal 2026, the busiest quarter. First-time deployment of AI in India allowed ADP to reduce call volumes and labor by 35%.

Pricing Power Drives Margins: In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, ADP stated an expected 70-80 basis point (bps) expansion in its adjusted EBIT margin for fiscal 2026. It is bolstered by a 130-bps expansion in Employer Services (ES) margins reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2026.

With margins gaining momentum, ADP’s earnings moved up to $3.38 per share from the year-ago quarter’s $3.06. Capitalizing on this enhancement, management expects adjusted diluted EPS growth to be 10-11% for fiscal 2026. These metrics paint an attractive profile highlighting its ability to scale profitability.

Ideal for Income-Seeking Investors: ADP pays out dividends regularly, with $1.9 billion, $2.2 billion and $2.4 billion paid out to its shareholders in fiscal 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. Furthermore, the company raised its quarterly payout to $1.7 per share at the end of 2025 and kept it consistent for the first, second and third quarters of fiscal 2026.

This is a shareholder-friendly move, capitalizing on steady income growth and cash flow over the past years. Betting on this bullish trajectory, we expect the company to pay out stable dividends, which is a green flag for dividend-seeking investors.

Solid Balance Sheet Drives Liquidity: ADP ended the third quarter of fiscal 2026 with a cash chest of $3.2 billion against no current debt. A current ratio of 1.04 solidifies ADP’s ability to pay off short-term obligations, signaling a strong liquidity position. While the company holds nearly $4 billion in long-term debt, a 13.5X times interest earned multiple flaunts robust debt coverage ability, fueling investor optimism.

Risks Faced by ADPPEO Segment’s Margin Setback: The PEO segment gained 6.5% year over year in revenues during the third quarter of fiscal 2026, representing 32% of the top line. Despite this improvement, segmental margins declined by 120 basis points from the year-ago quarter. While the primary factor affecting margins was increasing selling expenses, the drag was furthered by higher state unemployment insurance costs and lower positive reserve releases in workers’ compensation reserves for indemnity.

Softening Volume: Low baseline volume growth is demonstrated by the rally in ES pays per control stalling at 1%. This weak expansion is affected by softening of PEO pays per control, which strips away high-margin revenue streams, affecting PEO margins. It hints at a structural shift in ADP’s growth story, which unveils that the expansion is no longer accelerated by additions of organic headcount or raw workforce volume.

High Competition Faced Across Segments: ADP operates in a fiercely competitive environment in each of its product lines. Both its Employer Services and PEO Services segments compete with other independent business outsourcing companies in most of their operating regions. ADP has observed negative impacts on its retention rate due to the rising competition and migration from the legacy business.

ADP’s Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderThe company has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present.

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector are BILL Holdings (BILL - Free Report) and Datadog (DDOG - Free Report) , currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

BILL Holdings has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 30%. BILL delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21.7%, on average.

Datadog has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 15.3%. DDOG delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 15.4%, on average.

Key Takeaways CNC's integrated healthcare model supports earnings through coordinated care, pharmacy and clinical services.CNC raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance after Q1 adjusted EPS rose 16.2% YoY and revenues increased 5.1%.Centene is expanding AI, analytics and value-based care to improve costs, pricing and care quality. Centene Corporation's (CNC - Free Report) integrated healthcare model is supporting its earnings potential by combining government-sponsored health plans with coordinated clinical services, pharmacy benefits and community-based care. This approach helps the company to manage medical costs more effectively while improving health outcomes across Medicaid, Medicare and Commercial members. As of March 31, 2026, Centene served 26.3 million members, giving the company significant scale to spread administrative costs and support operating leverage.

Centene is also sharpening its operational capabilities through technology and data-driven initiatives. It expanded the use of advanced analytics and selective AI-enabled tools across medical economics, forecasting, fraud detection and payment integrity. These initiatives are helping identify emerging healthcare trends earlier, strengthen claims oversight and improve pricing decisions. In Medicare, the company continues to simplify provider contracts and expand value-based care models targeting high-cost specialties, supporting better quality and lower total cost of care.

In the first quarter of 2026, adjusted earnings per share increased 16.2% year over year to $3.37, while premium and service revenues rose 5.1%. Medicaid's health benefits ratio improved 50 bps year over year to 93.1%, reflecting the impact of better reimbursement, disciplined medical cost management and ongoing operational improvements. Encouraged by the strong start, Centene raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to more than $3.40.

However, regulatory changes and medical cost trends remain key challenges. CNC's integrated approach is creating a stronger operating foundation. Continued investments in technology, clinical programs and provider partnerships should support margin recovery and position the company for sustainable earnings growth over the long term.

How Are Competitors Faring?Some of CNC’s major competitors in the value-based care space are UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) and Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV - Free Report) .

UnitedHealth continues to strengthen its integrated healthcare platform by combining UnitedHealthcare's insurance operations with Optum's pharmacy, care delivery and health services businesses. This connected model enhances care coordination, improves operational efficiency and supports UNH’s long-term earnings growth through diversified revenue streams.

Elevance Health is expanding its integrated care strategy through Carelon, which combines pharmacy, behavioral health and care management services. ELV is leveraging these capabilities to improve clinical outcomes, manage medical costs more effectively and support sustainable earnings growth across its government-sponsored and commercial businesses.

Centene’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of CNC have rallied 66.1% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s rise of 36.5%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, Centene trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, below the industry average of 19.69. CNC carries a Value Score of A.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Centene’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $3.46 per share, implying 66.4% growth from the year-ago period.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

CNC stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways International Flavors launched SENSORA, a patent-pending pro-fragrance technology for lasting scents.IFF said that SENSORA extends fragrance up to 20 days post-activation across multiple applications.International Flavors introduced Floral Fusion for detergents with evolving floral notes on dry fabrics. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF - Free Report) announced the launch of its advanced patent-pending pro-fragrance technology, SENSORA. This development is in sync with the rising demand for a longer-lasting scent.

Details of IFF’s SENSORAInternational Flavors is combining its deep expertise in fragrance design with pro-fragrance science to create SENSORA that will revolutionize the use of scent across home, fabric and personal care applications. The technology is designed to prolong fragrance well beyond wash, unveiling complex scent profiles over time and extending the scent for up to 20 days post-activation.

The company announced the launch of Floral Fusion, which is a light-activated pro-fragrance under the SENSORA portfolio. This is designed specifically for liquid detergents that provide a long-lasting, evolving scent experience by releasing refined floral notes on dry fabrics. This elevates the product's base fragrance profile.

International Flavors’ Q1 PerformanceIFF reported adjusted earnings of $1.25 per share in first-quarter 2026, up 4.2% year over year. The results beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08 by 15.7%.

International Flavors’ quarterly net sales were $2.741 billion, down 3.6% from the year-ago period but beating the consensus mark of $2.65 billion by 3.4%. On a comparable currency-neutral basis, sales increased 3%, supported by volume gains across all four segments.

The Scent segment’s sales were $651 million, up 6% year over year. On a comparable basis, currency-neutral sales inched up 1% as growth in Consumer Fragrances and Fine Fragrances was partially offset by a decline in Fragrance Ingredients. The adjusted operating EBITDA increased 5% year over year to $148 million.

IFF Stock’s Price PerformanceIn the past year, the company’s shares have gained 8.4% compared with the industry’s growth of 5.3%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

International Flavors’ Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for Dow's current-year earnings is pegged at $2.61 per share, indicating a 377% year-over-year surge. DOW shares have gained 13.6% in a year.

Albemarle has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 74.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $12.45 per share, indicating year-over-year growth from a loss of 79 cents. ALB shares have skyrocketed 124% so far this year. 

Avino Silver has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 125%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Avino Silver’s 2026 earnings is pegged at 39 cents per share, indicating 34.5% year-over-year growth. Its shares have surged 62.7% in a year.

Somewhere in Nairobi, someone just paid for a cab ride with Bitcoin. Not in the “sold BTC on an exchange, withdrew to a bank account, then transferred funds” kind of way. The actual, tap-your-phone-and-go kind of way. And the driver received Kenyan shillings instantly without ever touching a crypto wallet.

That’s the promise of Tando, a Kenyan payments app founded by Jason and Sabina Waithira that has quietly built a bridge between Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and M-Pesa, Kenya’s dominant mobile money system.

How Tando actually works A customer pays in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network. Tando converts it to Kenyan shillings instantly. The merchant receives KES directly into their M-Pesa account. No crypto wallet required on the merchant’s end, no volatility risk, no waiting around for block confirmations.

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The app launched in July 2024 and was already processing over 100 transactions daily by mid-2025. Users pay no additional transaction fees, which removes one of the biggest friction points that has historically plagued crypto payments.

In May 2026, Tando hit a milestone that explains why this story matters beyond Kenya’s borders. The app enabled approximately 40 million Kenyans to receive Bitcoin payments by converting their M-Pesa phone numbers directly into Lightning addresses. Forty million people, roughly the entire adult population of Kenya, can now be on the receiving end of a Lightning payment without downloading anything new or understanding what a satoshi is.

Why Kenya is the perfect testing ground To understand why this works in Kenya specifically, you need to understand M-Pesa. Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, M-Pesa essentially turned every phone number into a bank account long before the rest of the world started talking about “financial inclusion.”

Real-world use cases have already been demonstrated publicly. During the 2024 African Bitcoin Conference, attendees used Tando to pay for transportation fares and restaurant bills. By the time the Bitcoin Nairobi Conference rolled around in June 2026, the app’s new capability of converting M-Pesa numbers into Lightning addresses was a major talking point.

The founders champion a “spend, not sell” approach to Bitcoin. Rather than treating BTC as a speculative asset you eventually cash out, the idea is to use it as actual money.

What this means for investors and the broader market Tando has demonstrated that you can plug Bitcoin into an existing, trusted, widely adopted financial system without asking merchants to change anything about how they operate. The merchant doesn’t need a wallet. They don’t need to understand Lightning channels. They just get shillings.

The risk, of course, is regulatory. Kenya’s approach to crypto regulation has been evolving, and any sudden policy shift could disrupt Tando’s operations. There’s also the question of sustainability: processing payments with zero fees is a great user acquisition strategy, but it’s not an obvious business model.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Circle just published the official USDC method specification for the Machine Payments Protocol, and Stacks’ USDCx is the first stablecoin built under that framework. The move positions Bitcoin’s leading layer 2 as a hub for standardized machine-to-machine payments, the kind of infrastructure that makes AI agents capable of settling transactions on their own.

What USDCx actually is and how it works USDCx is a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to USDC, fully backed by reserves held in Circle’s xReserve infrastructure. It launched on Stacks mainnet on December 17-18, 2025, with a specific contract ID (SP120SBRBQJ00MCWS7TM5R8WJNTTKD5K0HFRC2CNE.usdcx) that anyone can verify on-chain.

USDCx doesn’t rely on third-party bridges to function. It connects directly with Circle Gateway and CCTP (Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol), which means moving value between chains doesn’t require trusting some random bridge operator with your funds.

The stablecoin maintains its peg near $1 and is actively traded on platforms tracked by CoinGecko. Ethereum bridging was already supported at launch, with plans to expand CCTP network support that kicked off in Q1 2026.

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The machine payments angle The MPP spec is where things get genuinely interesting. The Machine Payments Protocol establishes a standardized way for machines, think AI agents, automated services, and IoT devices, to send and receive payments without human intervention. The MPP spec was published by Circle on June 23, 2026.

USDCx being the first USDC-backed stablecoin under this spec means Stacks is effectively positioning itself as the settlement layer for AI commerce on Bitcoin. Cross-chain machine-to-machine payments on Bitcoin through Stacks are now technically possible.

Ecosystem adoption and DeFi implications Major wallets including Asigna, Fordefi, Leather, and Xverse all adopted USDCx shortly after launch. On the DeFi side, protocols like Zest and Granite integrated the stablecoin, enabling lending, borrowing, and trading with dollar liquidity on Stacks.

For Bitcoin holders specifically, USDCx creates an option that didn’t cleanly exist before: accessing stablecoin functionality without leaving the Bitcoin economy entirely. You can collateralize Bitcoin-backed assets, borrow against them in a dollar-denominated stablecoin, and do it all within an ecosystem that settles on Bitcoin through Stacks’ Proof of Transfer consensus mechanism.

Stacks uses PoX to anchor its security to Bitcoin’s blockchain, and runs Clarity smart contracts, a language designed to be decidable, meaning you can mathematically verify what a contract will do before executing it.

What this means for investors Institutional players care about two things above all else: compliance and security in cross-chain interactions. Circle’s direct involvement through xReserve and CCTP addresses both concerns in ways that third-party wrapped tokens simply cannot. The 1:1 USDC backing, verified through Circle’s own infrastructure rather than an independent bridge, reduces counterparty risk substantially.

Trading volumes and user growth across Stacks DeFi protocols will be the metrics to watch. If USDCx drives meaningful increases in total value locked and daily active users on platforms like Zest and Granite, it validates the thesis that Bitcoin users want native stablecoin liquidity.

The risk worth monitoring is concentration. USDCx’s entire value proposition depends on Circle’s continued support and the stability of the xReserve infrastructure. Any disruption to Circle’s operations, whether regulatory or technical, would cascade directly into USDCx’s functionality.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Ripple spent $1.25 billion to buy a prime broker that clears trillions of dollars a year, then wired it into the XRP Ledger and RLUSD. Here is what a prime broker actually does, what Ripple Prime offers, and whether any of it reaches XRP.

Summary

Ripple Prime is Ripple’s institutional prime brokerage arm, built from its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, offering clearing, financing, and trading across digital assets, foreign exchange, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. A prime broker is the plumbing behind professional trading: it gives hedge funds and trading firms one account for execution, clearing, settlement, financing, and custody, with cross-margining that improves capital efficiency. The acquisition made Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker, and the business has grown roughly threefold since the deal was announced. Ripple has wired its own products into the platform: RLUSD is used as collateral, some derivatives clients hold balances in it, and Ripple plans to move post-trade activity onto the XRP Ledger. For XRP the token, the benefit is indirect and unproven, because Ripple Prime is institutional infrastructure, not a retail venue, and the token has not tracked the platform’s growth. Table of Contents

First, what is a prime broker?From Hidden Road to Ripple Prime: the $1.25 billion dealWhat Ripple Prime actually doesRLUSD as collateral: the cross-margining hookThe XRP Ledger connectionWhy Ripple Prime matters for cryptoDoes Ripple Prime actually help XRP?The risks and open questions for Ripple PrimeFrequently Asked Questions Ripple Prime is Ripple’s institutional prime brokerage platform, a one-stop service that lets large trading firms clear, finance, and trade across both traditional and digital assets through a single account. It exists because in 2025 Ripple paid $1.25 billion to acquire Hidden Road, one of the largest non-bank prime brokers in the world, and rebranded it. That deal turned Ripple from a payments and stablecoin company into an operator of the kind of core market infrastructure that hedge funds and banks have relied on for decades. This explainer covers what a prime broker is, how Ripple Prime works, how Ripple has connected it to RLUSD and the XRP Ledger, and the honest answer to the question every XRP holder asks: does it help the token?

First, what is a prime broker? Before Ripple Prime makes sense, the underlying concept has to. A prime broker is a firm that sits behind professional trading operations and bundles together the services those operations need to function. In traditional finance, a hedge fund does not open a separate relationship with every exchange, lender, and custodian it uses. Instead it routes much of that activity through a prime broker, which provides trade execution and access to markets, clearing and settlement of those trades, financing and securities lending so the fund can use leverage, and custody of the assets. The prime broker becomes the single hub through which capital and positions flow.

The reason this matters is capital efficiency. A prime broker can look at all of a client’s positions together and net them, so the client posts collateral against the combined risk of the book instead of against each trade in isolation. This is called cross-margining, and it frees up capital that would otherwise sit idle backing individual positions. A fund running many strategies at once can therefore do more with the same balance sheet. Prime brokers also extend credit, letting clients borrow to amplify positions, and manage the risk of that credit in real time.

In short, prime brokers are the professional-grade infrastructure that makes large-scale, multi-strategy trading possible. They bring credibility, credit, and operational scale, the things institutions expect from legacy finance. For years, crypto largely lacked a prime broker of this caliber, which was one reason big institutions hesitated to trade digital assets at scale. Filling that gap is exactly what Ripple set out to do.

Ripple did not build a prime broker from scratch. It bought one. In April 2025, at Paris Blockchain Week, Ripple announced an agreement to acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, one of the largest deals the digital-asset industry had seen. Hidden Road was a fast-growing non-bank prime broker that cleared roughly $3 trillion a year across markets and served more than 300 institutional clients, including hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, and major liquidity providers. Ripple had been an investor in Hidden Road and a customer of its platform, so it knew the business from the inside before buying it.

The acquisition closed in October 2025, and Hidden Road was immediately rebranded as Ripple Prime. The move made Ripple the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker, giving it a financing and clearing engine of a type that had previously belonged only to traditional financial firms. Ripple committed to inject significant capital into the business to expand its capacity, and by its own account the platform grew roughly threefold in activity between the announcement and the close. Hidden Road founder Marc Asch stayed on to work alongside Ripple leadership through the integration.

The strategic logic was that core infrastructure is what unlocks the next phase of institutional crypto adoption. Payments and custody move value and store it, but a prime broker is where institutions actually trade and finance positions at scale. By owning one, Ripple positioned itself to sit at the center of institutional digital-asset activity instead of at the edges, and to bring its own assets, XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin, into that flow.

What Ripple Prime actually does Ripple Prime offers the full prime-brokerage stack across an unusually broad range of markets. Its services span clearing, prime brokerage, and financing across foreign exchange, digital assets, precious metals, exchange-traded derivatives, over-the-counter swaps, and fixed income repo. Clients can access markets through over-the-counter desks, sponsored access, and direct market access, with real-time risk management, cross-margining across their positions, and risk-based margin financing. That breadth is the point: an institution can manage exposures across traditional and digital assets from one platform instead of stitching together many providers.

In November 2025, shortly after the deal closed, Ripple launched digital-asset spot prime brokerage for the United States market under the Ripple Prime brand. This let US-based institutional clients execute over-the-counter spot transactions across dozens of major digital assets, including XRP and RLUSD, and cross-margin those spot positions alongside swaps and exchange-listed futures and options. It combined Ripple’s regulatory licenses with Hidden Road’s prime-brokerage infrastructure into a single US offering, complementing the derivatives services the platform already ran.

The platform has kept adding connectivity. Ripple Prime enabled support for Hyperliquid, a high-performance decentralized derivatives protocol, letting institutional clients reach on-chain derivatives liquidity while cross-margining their decentralized-finance exposure against all other asset classes on the platform. That combination, a regulated institutional prime broker reaching directly into on-chain markets, is a concrete example of the bridge between traditional finance and decentralized finance that Ripple describes as its goal.

RLUSD as collateral: the cross-margining hook One of the most important features of Ripple Prime is how it uses RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin. RLUSD is being used as collateral across a range of prime-brokerage products, and Ripple has positioned it as the first stablecoin to enable efficient cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. In practice, an institution can post RLUSD as margin and have it recognized across both its crypto and its traditional exposures, which is exactly the kind of capital efficiency prime brokers exist to provide.

Adoption of this feature has been concrete instead of theoretical. Some derivatives customers have chosen to hold their balances in RLUSD, and Ripple expects that to grow. RLUSD has been approved as margin collateral on the OKX exchange across more than 280 trading pairs, and Ripple Prime clients can trade Bitcoin options on the Bullish exchange using RLUSD as collateral. To support the stablecoin’s institutional credibility, Bank of New York Mellon serves as the primary reserve custodian of RLUSD, a signal aimed squarely at the compliance expectations of large institutions.

The reason this matters is that it gives RLUSD a real institutional job to do. Many stablecoins circulate mostly among crypto traders; RLUSD, through Ripple Prime, is being embedded into the margin and settlement plumbing that professional firms use. That is a more durable form of demand than speculative trading, because it ties the stablecoin to the operational needs of institutions rather than to market sentiment. It is also the clearest way that Ripple Prime strengthens one of Ripple’s own products, as distinct from the broader industry.

The XRP Ledger connection Ripple has also linked Ripple Prime to the XRP Ledger, the blockchain whose native asset is XRP. The plan Ripple has described is to migrate parts of Hidden Road’s post-trade activity, the clearing and settlement that happens after a trade is agreed, onto the XRP Ledger. The goal is to streamline settlement and lower operational costs, while showcasing the ledger as institutional-grade infrastructure for decentralized finance. If that migration proceeds at scale, real institutional settlement volume would run across the XRP Ledger.

That connection took a further step through traditional clearing infrastructure. Ripple Prime, still listed under the Hidden Road name in the relevant notice, was integrated into the participant directory of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s National Securities Clearing Corporation, the backbone of US securities clearing. Ripple’s chief technology officer at the time flagged the development as significant, because it connects a crypto-owned prime broker to the same clearing rails that settle Wall Street’s equity trades. Ripple Prime also received an investment-grade rating from Kroll in April 2026, a distinction Ripple says no other crypto-affiliated prime broker holds, which opens the door to conservative institutions such as pension funds, banks, and insurers.

Taken together, these moves position the XRP Ledger and RLUSD as pieces of institutional market infrastructure instead of purely retail crypto assets. The migration of post-trade activity, the DTCC connection, and the investment-grade rating are all steps toward embedding Ripple’s technology into the machinery of regulated finance. Whether that machinery ends up generating meaningful demand for XRP the token is a separate question, and an important one.

Why Ripple Prime matters for crypto Zooming out, Ripple Prime matters because it imports a missing layer of financial infrastructure into digital assets. Crypto has never lacked exchanges or wallets, but it has lacked a large, credible, multi-asset prime broker of the kind institutions take for granted in traditional markets. By acquiring one that already cleared trillions of dollars a year and serving 300-plus institutional clients, Ripple gave the industry a bridge between the way hedge funds and banks already operate and the way digital assets trade and settle.

For Ripple itself, the deal marked a transformation. The company had been known primarily for cross-border payments and, more recently, for its RLUSD stablecoin and custody services. Ripple Prime added institutional trading and financing to that stack, so Ripple now spans payments, custody, a stablecoin, and a prime broker. That makes it one of the more vertically integrated firms in crypto, able to offer institutions a connected suite instead of a single product. It also gives Ripple multiple ways to weave XRP and RLUSD into institutional workflows.

The broader significance is about legitimacy. Institutional adoption of digital assets has been held back partly by the absence of familiar, trusted infrastructure. A prime broker with an investment-grade rating, a connection to DTCC clearing, and bank-grade custody speaks the language institutions understand. If Ripple Prime succeeds, it lowers a real barrier to large-scale institutional participation in crypto, which is a meaningful development regardless of what happens to any single token’s price.

Does Ripple Prime actually help XRP? Here is the question that matters most to XRP holders, and it deserves a straight answer instead of a hopeful one. The connection between Ripple Prime and XRP is infrastructure-driven, not retail-facing. Ripple Prime is a service for institutions; it does not change how ordinary users buy or trade XRP, which still happens on exchanges. The potential benefit to XRP is indirect: if institutional settlement volume grows on the XRP Ledger through Ripple Prime, that could raise network usage, and XRP, as the ledger’s native asset used for transaction fees and liquidity, might see more demand over time.

The trouble is that this benefit has not shown up in the token’s price. Over the year following the acquisition, Ripple Prime delivered on its roadmap, earning an investment-grade rating, launching US spot prime brokerage, and integrating RLUSD as collateral, while XRP fell rather than rose. The token dropped sharply even as the platform executed, which underlines a recurring pattern with Ripple news: the company’s commercial progress and the token’s price are only loosely connected. Much of the value Ripple Prime creates accrues to Ripple the company, to RLUSD, and to the institutions using the platform, not automatically to XRP.

That does not mean Ripple Prime is irrelevant to XRP. The post-trade migration to the XRP Ledger, if it reaches scale, is a genuine potential channel of demand, and a maturing institutional ecosystem around the ledger could matter over a long horizon. But the honest framing is that Ripple Prime is a strong development for Ripple and its institutional ambitions, an indirect and unproven one for XRP, and no substitute for the broad demand that actually moves the token. As with most Ripple news, the wise approach is to separate the company’s execution from the token’s price and to watch for real ledger usage rather than announcements.

The risks and open questions for Ripple Prime For all its promise, Ripple Prime is not a finished story, and a balanced view has to weigh what could go wrong or fail to materialize. The first question is integration. Merging a large prime broker into a crypto company is complex, and the value of the deal depends on combining Hidden Road’s infrastructure and client relationships with Ripple’s licenses, custody, and stablecoin without friction. Integrations of this size take time, and the benefits Ripple describes assume the two businesses knit together smoothly.

Prime brokerage itself carries inherent risks that Ripple now owns. A prime broker extends credit and holds client assets, which means it takes on counterparty and credit risk: if a large client fails or a market move is violent enough, the broker can be exposed. Managing that risk in real time is the core discipline of the business, and it is why prime brokers live or die on their risk engines and capital buffers. The business is also cyclical, tied to trading volumes and market conditions that rise and fall, so revenue is not guaranteed to grow in a straight line.

Competition is intensifying as well. Other crypto-native firms and incumbent traditional players are building or expanding their own institutional prime services, so Ripple Prime has to win and keep clients in a crowded field. Its differentiators, an investment-grade rating, a connection to traditional clearing, and the integration of RLUSD, are meaningful, but competitors will not stand still, and institutions can multi-home across several prime brokers.

The largest open question for XRP holders specifically is execution on the XRP Ledger. Ripple has said it plans to migrate post-trade activity onto the ledger, but plans and delivery are different things. The scale, timing, and real economic impact of that migration remain to be seen, and much of the token-level thesis rests on it actually happening at volume. Until the ledger is carrying meaningful institutional settlement, the connection between Ripple Prime’s growth and XRP demand stays more potential than proven. None of this makes Ripple Prime a weak business; it makes it a young one whose full impact, on Ripple and on XRP, will be judged over years, not announcements.

Frequently Asked Questions What is Ripple Prime in simple terms? Ripple Prime is Ripple’s institutional prime brokerage platform. It gives large trading firms and institutions a single service for clearing, financing, and trading across digital assets, foreign exchange, derivatives, swaps, and fixed income. It was created when Ripple acquired the prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in 2025 and rebranded it. It is built for professional institutions, not retail traders.

What is a prime broker? A prime broker is a firm that bundles the services professional traders need into one relationship: trade execution and market access, clearing and settlement, financing and lending for leverage, and custody. Its key advantage is cross-margining, which lets a client post collateral against the combined risk of all their positions instead of each trade separately, freeing up capital and improving efficiency.

How much did Ripple pay for Hidden Road? Ripple agreed to acquire Hidden Road for $1.25 billion, announced in April 2025 and closed in October 2025. Hidden Road was a non-bank prime broker that cleared roughly $3 trillion a year across markets and served more than 300 institutional clients. After closing, Ripple rebranded it as Ripple Prime, becoming the first crypto company to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker.

How does Ripple Prime use RLUSD? RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, is used as collateral across Ripple Prime’s products, positioned as the first stablecoin to enable cross-margining between digital assets and traditional markets. Some derivatives clients hold balances in RLUSD, it is approved as margin collateral on OKX across 280-plus pairs, and Ripple Prime clients can trade Bitcoin options on Bullish using RLUSD. Bank of New York Mellon is its primary reserve custodian.

Does Ripple Prime run on the XRP Ledger? Not entirely, but Ripple plans to migrate parts of the platform’s post-trade activity, its clearing and settlement, onto the XRP Ledger to lower costs and showcase the ledger for institutional use. Ripple Prime has also been integrated into the DTCC’s securities clearing directory and received an investment-grade rating from Kroll, steps that position the ledger and RLUSD within regulated financial infrastructure.

Is Ripple Prime good for the XRP price? The benefit to XRP is indirect and, so far, unproven. Ripple Prime is institutional infrastructure, not a retail venue, so it does not change how people trade XRP. If settlement volume grows on the XRP Ledger through the platform, XRP demand could rise over time. But XRP fell during the year Ripple Prime executed its roadmap, showing how loosely Ripple’s progress and the token’s price are connected.

How is Ripple Prime different from a crypto exchange? An exchange is a venue where users, including retail traders, buy and sell assets directly. A prime broker sits behind professional institutions, providing credit, clearing, settlement, custody, and cross-margining across many venues and asset classes. Ripple Prime serves hedge funds, trading firms, and other institutions with portfolio-level financing and risk management, not everyday retail trading. The two operate at different layers of the market.

Why does Ripple Prime matter for crypto? It imports a missing layer of financial infrastructure into digital assets. Institutions rely on prime brokers in traditional markets, and crypto had lacked a large, credible one. By acquiring Hidden Road, Ripple gave the industry an investment-grade prime broker connected to traditional clearing rails and bank-grade custody, lowering a real barrier to institutional participation and transforming Ripple into a firm spanning payments, custody, a stablecoin, and prime brokerage.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Details of Ripple Prime’s services and integrations may change over time. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Always do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions. Information is accurate as of July 2, 2026, and may change.

The XRP community has been warned of a fake OUSD stablecoin scam on the XRP Ledger. This comes as on the XRPL, a suspicious wallet claiming to be the new stablecoin Open USD (OUSD) has emerged. It is a cause for concern among validators, who suspect it is a scam.

XRP Ledger Validators Flag OUSD Scam On The Network GrimmReaper, who is a validator operator on the XRP Ledger, posted a screenshot of his transaction-monitoring tool on Bithomp. The snapshot shows a page name that he detected was a new issuer using the “Open Standard” name and this triggered the alert.

Moreover, they have a website linked to their account: joinopenstandard.netlify.app. They also have an XRP Ledger address that has been recently activated.

There are also several red flags on the Bithomp screenshot that typically accompany crypto scams. The ads above the account promote “Earn 12% on XRP” and “Play Slots and win 70,000 XRP” and are typical of those that attract unwary players to bogus schemes.

Sharing the image on X, GrimmReaper wrote, “We might have our answer about OUSD being on the xrpl if this is legit. What do you guys think, Krippenreiter and Vet?” He added that he runs a tool monitoring transactions received by his validator.

He explained, “I have an app that [watches] my transactions coming into my validator and [makes] it very able to watch for any issuer for a token name so this came up today.”

We might have our answer about OUSD being on the xrpl if this is legit. What do you guys think @krippenreiter and @Vet_X0 ? I have an app that watched my transactions coming into my validator and made it very able to watch for any issuer for a token name so this came up today. pic.twitter.com/tdxgl6KHsq

— GrimmReaper (@jgrimm5) July 2, 2026

However, XRPL dUNL validator Vet responded by urging the community not to trust the issuer.

“[It’s] a scam and always is a scam by default until you get people to confirm from Open USD that this is their issuer,” Vet responded. The XRP Ledger validator also said that he is a valid issuer and they should have verifiable confirmation from both parties, but here they don’t. Vet added, “We always need a 2 way pointer. Issuer address points to Project and Project points to Issuer address. This is not the case here.”

Already, the XRPL v3.2.0 upgrade is registering complaints of several bugs. Hence, such potential scams seem to be exacerbating the situation.

About The OUSD Stablecoin Launch The XRP Ledger validators’ warning comes on the heels of OUSD Stablecoin launch on June 30 by the Open Standard consortium. It boasts backing from over 140 companies, including Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, BNY, Standard Chartered, BlackRock, Google, Shopify, Coinbase and Solana.

The consortium claims that OUSD will allow businesses to mint and redeem the stablecoin without any fees or set volume limits. It also will return money generated from reserves to partners participating in the consortium with a small management fee. Moreover, it will have governance shared by each partner in the consortium.

The announcement has garnered attention in the XRP ecosystem, as Ripple is among the founding participants. This could have made OUSD a potential target for bad actors to take advantage of by using fake issuer accounts on the XRP Ledger.