Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

At a London keynote, the trading platform opened its Arbitrum-based Layer 2 to the public, rolled out new stock tokens and a Morpho-powered lending product, and confirmed launches in Canada and Singapore alongside plans for crypto trading in the UK.

Robinhood put its blockchain ambitions into production on July 1, launching the public mainnet of Robinhood Chain and pairing it with a wave of trading and lending products built to run on top of it.

The announcements came during a keynote called "Robinhood Presents: The World is Flat," streamed live from the Old Royal Naval College in London and hosted by CEO Vlad Tenev and Johann Kerbrat, SVP and General Manager of Crypto and International.

"Decentralized finance unlocks possibilities beyond what traditional finance can offer, but historically, it has required technical expertise to navigate," Kerbrat said in the announcement. "We're bringing the best of traditional finance and DeFi together, and in doing so, expanding financial ownership to every corner of the globe."

Robinhood Chain Moves From Testnet to MainnetRobinhood Chain first went live as a public testnet in February, when the company launched the Arbitrum-based Layer 2 at Consensus Hong Kong. The network is now live in production, with Robinhood describing it as an institutional-grade, permissionless chain built for tokenized real-world assets and DeFi primitives like onchain lending and borrowing.

Uniswap is deploying a dedicated automated market maker on the chain to act as a public liquidity venue, and a firm called Pleiades is deploying its own AMM as a proprietary trading venue, according to Robinhood. The company also named Alchemy, BitGo, and Chainlink as infrastructure partners providing custody, oracle, and data services.

Stock Tokens Go Live in the Robinhood WalletRobinhood is rolling out a new version of its tokenized-equity product, called Stock Tokens, inside the Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries, though availability depends on jurisdiction. Under the new structure, eligible users can trade around the clock on Robinhood Chain and use the tokens as collateral or deposit them into lending pools across DeFi. Trading will route through decentralized exchanges including Uniswap, Rialto, Lighter, Arcus, and 1inch.

Per Robinhood's disclosures, Stock Tokens are tokenized debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited that track the price of the underlying stock but do not confer any legal or beneficial ownership in the security itself — a distinction that drew scrutiny when Robinhood first launched tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX in the EU last year and OpenAI publicly said it had not endorsed or partnered on the product. The original version of the product, now called Classic Stock Tokens, remains available as a derivative contract through the Robinhood Europe app.

Stock Tokens are not available to US persons and are restricted in a number of other jurisdictions, including Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the UAE, according to Robinhood.

Onchain Lending Robinhood is also rolling out Robinhood Earn to eligible US users, a self-custody lending product that lets people lend USDG for an estimated 7% APY. Robinhood said the lending runs on Morpho, the lending protocol that currently holds roughly $6.6 billion in total value locked across chains, according to DefiLlama.

Robinhood named Steakhouse, Ethena, Spark, and Maple as partners on the product and said losses from cyber or smart-contract exploits are covered by insurance procured through Lloyd's of London and RELM.

Perpetuals Expand in the Wallet and in EuropeRobinhood updated its self-custody Wallet app to integrate more directly with Robinhood Chain, and eligible users in select jurisdictions can now trade perpetual futures on Lighter, a decentralized derivatives exchange, from within the Wallet.

Lighter said it has committed $11 million worth of its LIT token to Robinhood users, who can earn points toward that allocation at a 2x rate when trading through the Wallet versus 1x on Lighter's own app. LIT was trading around $1.65 on CoinGecko at time of publication, with the token's most recent moves tied to momentum around the CLARITY Act, US market-structure legislation, rather than the Robinhood integration.

Separately, Robinhood is expanding perpetual futures in Europe beyond crypto for the first time. Eligible EU users can now trade perpetuals on commodities, ETFs, and FX pairs — including gold, silver, QQQ, EUR/USD, WTI and Brent crude, and EWY — with up to 10x leverage, rolling out in waves. Crypto perpetuals became one of Robinhood's fastest-growing products in Europe after the company expanded its regulated platform to 30 EU and EEA countries last year.

In the US, Robinhood is introducing maker order types for crypto traders, with fees as low as 0% based on volume for professional and advanced traders providing liquidity.

Global FootprintRobinhood said it now serves nearly 28 million customers across 38 countries on three continents, and it paired the keynote with several regional updates.

Robinhood said it plans to launch crypto trading in the UK "soon," a step that would add crypto to the equities, options, and futures products already offered through Robinhood UK Ltd, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

In Canada, Robinhood said its app is now officially available to Canadian residents, following the close of its acquisition of WonderFi, the parent company of crypto platforms Bitbuy and Coinsquare. Crypto services in Canada are offered through Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd., and Robinhood said Canadian customers will pay zero trading commissions through September 30.

Robinhood Singapore said it has received a capital markets services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which the company described as a significant step toward offering brokerage services in the country. MAS had granted Robinhood in-principle approval for the licence in April, according to earlier reporting, meaning Wednesday's announcement marks the conversion of that preliminary approval into a full licence.

Agentic Trading Extends to CryptoRobinhood is preparing to expand Agentic Trading to crypto for eligible US users. The company introduced Agentic Trading and the Agentic Credit Card in late May, letting customers connect third-party AI agents to a dedicated account through Robinhood's Trading MCP server; that initial beta supported equities, with options and other asset classes described as coming later.

Robinhood said the crypto version will let eligible traders connect an AI model of choice to Robinhood's data and execute strategies automatically, while giving users control over capital allocation and safety guardrails. The company said Agentic Trading for crypto will roll out at no additional cost.

Robinhood's own disclosures caution that agentic trading carries the risk that AI agents can misinterpret instructions, act on outdated information, or behave unexpectedly, and that the company does not guarantee the accuracy of any agent-generated trade.

Robinhood shares (NASDAQ: HOOD) were trading around $108, up more than 7% on the day, according to StockAnalysis.com — a move that predates the keynote and tracks with strong preliminary June trading volumes and a string of Wall Street price-target increases in the days before the event, rather than a reaction to Wednesday's announcements.

For the second time this year, one of Bloom Energy’s (BE 2.11%) strategic partners has significantly expanded its partnership less than a year after forming the initial collaboration. This time, it’s Brookfield Asset Management (BAM +1.34%). The global alternative asset manager is expanding its AI infrastructure partnership to $25 billion, a five-fold increase since forming the initial partnership last October. That follows Oracle’s (ORCL 1.62%) decision to significantly expand its strategic partnership after Bloom Energy delivered a fully operational fuel system to the cloud giant more than a month ahead of the anticipated deployment schedule.

Here’s what investors need to know about this expanded partnership.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Quintupling its investmentBrookfield sees a massive opportunity to invest in AI infrastructure. The global alternative investment firm estimates that total spending on AI-related infrastructure will exceed $1 trillion this decade and $7 trillion over the next 10 years. The company wants to capitalize on this once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the digital infrastructure backbone of the future. That led it to launch the inaugural Brookfield AI Infrastructure Fund late last year, which aims to acquire up to $100 billion of AI infrastructure assets.

One of Brookfield’s first seed investments in that fund was its initial $5 billion partnership with Bloom Energy. As part of that partnership, Brookfield would deploy up to 1 GW of Bloom Energy’s advanced fuel cells to power data centers and AI factories (specialized AI data centers). The two companies are also collaborating on the design and delivery of AI factories.

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Brookfield is now boosting its investment commitment to $25 billion due to strong, sustained demand from hyperscalers and AI infrastructure developers for fast, reliable, and community-friendly power. The expanded partnership brings together Brookfield’s leadership in developing AI infrastructure, access to capital, and operating scale with Bloom’s rapidly deployable on-site power solution. The companies believe this partnership will help them advance a new model for AI factory development that integrates power, compute, data center infrastructure, and capital.

The standard for on-site powerBloom Energy founder and CEO KR Sridhar believes the company is “ushering in the era of digital power for the digital age” as it’s “rapidly becoming the standard and 'go-to choice' for on-site power.” The expanded partnerships with Brookfield and Oracle show the truth behind that bold statement.

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Oracle selected Bloom Energy to deploy its fuel cell technology at selects data centers last year because these fast-to-deploy power solutions could meet the high demands of AI workloads. Bloom delivered its first system in 55 days, well ahead of the 90-day target. That convinced Oracle to expand its agreement to acquire up to 2.8 GW of Bloom’s fuel cell systems, including the 1.2 GW it has already contracted. Brookfield and its clients are also seeing the benefits of deploying Bloom’s fuel cells to power data centers. The rapid deployment is huge, as securing and building power infrastructure has proven to be a major bottleneck in slowing AI data center development.

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The growing popularity of Bloom’s fuel cell systems is powering rapid growth for the hydrogen company. Bloom’s revenue rocketed 130% in the first quarter to $750 million, while its operating income surged $91.3 million to $72.2 million. Bloom currently expects to book between $3.4 billion and $3.8 billion of revenue this year, up 80% from last year (an acceleration from the 60% growth it initially expected). With Brookfield now following Oracle in significantly expanding its order, Bloom’s revenue should continue surging.

Bloom might not be as expensive as it looksBloom’s accelerating revenue and expanding strategic partnerships have sent its stock soaring by more than 1,100% over the past year. As a result, the fuel cell company trades at over 30 times sales and more than 135 times forward earnings. While Bloom is growing exceptionally fast, that’s a hefty premium. However, the expanded Brookfield deal alone is now worth nearly a third of Bloom’s entire market cap (recently $83 billion). With the potential for more large-scale partnerships in the future, Bloom might not be as expensive as it seems. It's becoming the go-to stock to play the AI power boom.

Matt DiLallo has positions in Brookfield Asset Management and has the following options: short August 2026 $150 puts on Bloom Energy. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy, Brookfield Asset Management, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Takeaways OKLO acquired CEI to bring critical sodium engineering expertise in-house for Aurora commercialization.CEI's team adds sodium handling, testing, manufacturing and fabrication capabilities to OKLO.CEI will keep serving commercial nuclear customers, preserving revenue alongside its role at OKLO. Oklo Inc.’s (OKLO - Free Report) acquisition of Creative Engineers, Inc. (“CEI”) is more than a routine bolt-on deal. It reflects the nuclear operator’s strategy of bringing highly specialized engineering capabilities in-house to support the commercialization of its Aurora sodium-cooled fast reactors. CEI has decades of expertise in sodium, sodium-potassium alloy (NaK) and other alkali-metal systems, along with experience in liquid-metal component development, fabrication, manufacturing and applied research.

Since liquid sodium is the coolant used in Aurora reactors, these capabilities directly address one of the most technically demanding parts of reactor development. The two companies have already collaborated for several years on sodium loops, pumps, flow meters and safety training, making the acquisition a natural extension of an existing working relationship.

The acquisition also strengthens OKLO’s execution model by reducing its dependence on outside contractors for critical engineering work. Bringing CEI’s approximately 20 engineers, fabricators and welders into the organization gives OKLO greater control over sodium handling, testing, equipment manufacturing and research activities that are essential for reactor deployment. The company expects this closer integration to accelerate design improvements, shorten development timelines and lower execution risks associated with specialized equipment and fabrication. Instead of coordinating these capabilities externally, OKLO can now manage them internally, creating tighter feedback loops between engineering, manufacturing and deployment.

The transaction also aligns with OKLO’s broader strategy of building a vertically integrated nuclear platform. CEI has generated positive free cash flow for more than five years, allowing OKLO to add specialized expertise while acquiring an operating business with an established financial track record. Importantly, CEI will continue serving its existing commercial nuclear customers, preserving an additional revenue stream alongside its expanded role within OKLO.

Following the recent ARMEC acquisition, the CEI deal further demonstrates that OKLO is prioritizing ownership of critical engineering and manufacturing capabilities to improve execution speed and strengthen its path toward Aurora commercialization.

OKLO is not the only nuclear company using acquisitions to address execution and supply-chain bottlenecks. Across the sector, companies are buying targeted technology, logistics and manufacturing assets to improve control over critical capabilities and prepare for rising nuclear demand.

Nuclear Players Turn to Deals for Execution ControlNANO Nuclear Energy (NNE - Free Report) is using acquisitions to broaden its nuclear platform and support commercialization. NANO Nuclear acquired USNC patents tied to its ZEUS, ODIN, KRONOS MMR and LOKI Micro Modular Reactor programs. NANO Nuclear also bought Secured Transportation Services, adding in-house nuclear fuel logistics and transport expertise. These moves help NANO Nuclear protect key technology, strengthen deployment planning and reduce reliance on outside partners.

Meanwhile, BWX Technologies (BWXT - Free Report) is expanding its U.S. nuclear manufacturing base through acquisitions. BWX Technologies agreed to acquire Precision Components Group, including Precision Custom Components and DC Fabricators. The deal adds heavy-manufacturing space, skilled labor and capabilities in pressure vessels, heat exchangers, machining, welding and fabrication. For BWX Technologies, this improves speed, capacity and control as commercial nuclear demand grows.

The Zacks Rundown on OKLOFrom a valuation standpoint, OKLO trades at a price-to-book ratio of 3.45, below the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

OKLO currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 24 brokerage firms. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

See how the Zacks Consensus Estimate for OKLO’s earnings has been revised over the past 90 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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

The MiCA deadline is here, which means the European market is now closed to unlicensed crypto exchanges and platforms targeting EU clients. MiCA is the biggest regulatory overhaul in digital asset history. The new framework has seen many giant exchanges like Binance exit the €10 billion market. However, some exchanges, like Gate, have successfully achieved this regulatory milestone. 

So, what is the secret behind the MiCA success? The case of Gate, a crypto exchange with over 54 million global users, can provide some insight. 

The MiCA Maze: A Challenge Worth Facing? MiCA has replaced Europe’s fragmented national crypto rules with a common framework for issuers and crypto-asset service providers. The regime puts authorisation, governance, client protection, operational controls, and market integrity at the centre of crypto activity in the EU. 

Gate Europe enters this period with two important approvals in place. The company obtained a MiCA CASP license and a Payment Institution license at an early stage, giving its European business a regulated base for digital asset services, payment activity, and long-term regional expansion.

Platforms serving EU users now need stronger internal controls, compliance teams, reporting systems, and governance processes. Users and institutions are also placing greater focus on regulatory oversight when choosing where to trade, hold assets, or build partnerships.

The grace period closes on July 1, 2026. This period allowed crypto-asset service providers already active in the EU before MiCA’s main CASP rules applied on December 30, 2024, to continue operating temporarily while seeking authorization from their national regulator. After July 1, platforms without approval must complete their exit from the European market.

Individual users now have more information for evaluating platforms. A licensed provider operates under defined rules covering client assets, complaints, conflicts of interest, and business conduct. These standards give users a stronger basis for comparing platforms beyond fees, token coverage, and app design.

Institutional clients face an even higher bar. Banks, asset managers, fintech firms, and professional trading desks need crypto counterparties capable of passing compliance reviews, vendor checks, and legal assessments. MiCA gives these clients a common European benchmark for assessing regulated crypto service providers.

Gate’s Licensing Journey Was Eight Years in the Making Gate Europe’s compliance path began in 2018, years before MiCA became the central EU framework for crypto-asset service providers. The company describes its European regulatory work as a multi-year process built through early registrations, internal compliance development, and engagement with regional authorities.

Securing a MiCA license requires an application plus governance, risk controls, reporting procedures, operational oversight, and compliance systems capable of meeting financial supervision standards. These elements require investment across legal, product, security, finance, and management teams.

Gate Europe’s early preparation gave the company more time to build those capabilities before the final MiCA grace window. By the time authorization became central to EU market access, Gate Europe had already developed a regional compliance base designed for a supervised market.

The company’s MiCA license now supports regulated crypto-asset services across Europe, while its Payment Institution license strengthens the link between digital asset activity and payment services. Together, these approvals give Gate Europe a more complete regulatory foundation in the region.

“Europe is setting a high standard for digital asset regulation, and we view compliance as the foundation for sustainable growth in the region,” said Dr. Giovanni Cunti, CEO of Gate Europe. “We remain focused on building a secure and trusted platform for our users.”

The Licence is Only the Start Gate now faces the harder part of MiCA: maintaining the standard after approval. Authorisation gives the company market access, but supervision will test how well its controls work in practice.

That means keeping client assets properly protected, managing conflicts of interest, maintaining reliable reporting, strengthening complaint handling, and ensuring that governance decisions match regulatory expectations. It also means proving that growth across Europe does not weaken internal controls.

It’s 8-years of preparation and a head-start does give the exchange a competitive advantage that others have failed to achieve or sustain in this market. 

Key Takeaways Apple is using AI across Creator Studio, services and hardware to support revenue growth.Apple's Services revenues rose 14% to $30.98B in fiscal Q2, making up 27.9% of sales.AAPL shares are up 6.4% YTD, trailing the sector's 15.7%, while trading at a premium valuation. Apple (AAPL - Free Report) is increasingly leveraging AI as a core driver of revenue growth across its services and hardware businesses. Management is positioning Apple Intelligence as deeply integrated into the company’s ecosystem rather than as a standalone AI product. The company recently introduced major updates to Apple Creator Studio, expanding AI-powered capabilities across its creative applications for Mac, iPad and iPhone. The enhancements strengthen integration between apps, allowing users to seamlessly edit images across Keynote, Pages, Numbers, Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro, while Logic Pro gains new music creation tools.

Final Cut Pro now features AI-powered Generate Captions, Edit Detection and Auto Mask, enabling automatic subtitle creation, clip reconstruction and precise subject selection for faster video editing. Additional improvements include enhanced Match Color, Advanced Trimming and new Creator Themes. Motion, Compressor and Final Cut Camera also receive updates that improve animation workflows, immersive video support and professional video capture.

Pixelmator Pro now integrates more deeply with Apple’s productivity apps, enabling direct image editing, AI-powered image generation, vector shape creation and access to a curated Content Hub. Keynote, Pages, Numbers and Freeform also gain new productivity features. Meanwhile, Logic Pro introduces a more accurate Chord ID, a new Producer Project, enhanced Alchemy synthesis capabilities and expanded Beat Breaker tools, offering musicians more powerful and intelligent music production workflows.

Last month, Apple launched new features for services users, including improved Flyover views and Local Lists in Apple Maps, flexible sharing options in Find My, the ability to use Visual Intelligence to split bills with Apple Cash, video podcast support across Mac and tvOS, revamped Shared Albums in iCloud, and a new program for Apple Fitness+. These, along with major updates to Apple Creator Studio, are expected to drive the Services business. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Services revenues grew 14% year over year to $30.98 billion and accounted for 27.9% of sales. For the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Apple expects revenues to grow 14% to 17% year over year, with Services expected to rise at a similar pace after adjusting for foreign exchange.

Apple Faces Stiff CompetitionAAPL is facing stiff competition from the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) and Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) in AI. Alphabet and Microsoft are demonstrating significantly stronger near-term AI monetization and infrastructure execution than Apple. This has spooked investors as concerns continue to grow that Apple risks falling behind in the generative AI race despite its large ecosystem and hardware advantages.

Both Alphabet and Microsoft are already translating AI adoption into accelerating revenue growth across core businesses. In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Microsoft reported that its AI business surpassed a $37 billion annual revenue run rate, growing 123% year over year. AI is driving Alphabet’s Search & Other revenues, which grew 19% year over year in the first quarter of 2026. Gemini Enterprise’s paid monthly active users grew 40% sequentially, while revenues from products built on Google’s generative AI models increased nearly 800% year over year. Alphabet’s total paid subscriptions reached 350 million, driven in part by Gemini app adoption and premium AI plans.

AAPL’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesApple shares have returned 6.4% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s return of 15.7%.

Apple Stock’s Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The AAPL stock is trading at a premium, with a forward 12-month price/earnings of 30.9X compared with the broader sector’s 23.65X. AAPL has a Value Score of D.

AAPL Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $8.74 per share, unchanged over the past 30 days, suggesting 17.2% year-over-year growth.
 

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) both dropped Q1 2026 results in late April. Google leaned on a high-margin ad engine and a suddenly explosive Cloud unit. Amazon leaned on faster AWS growth, a bigger chip business, and a retail machine that still eats capital for breakfast.

Search Ads Generate Cash. Retail Logistics Burns It. Google delivered $109.90B in revenue, up 21.8% YoY, with operating margin at 36.1%. Search & Other advertising alone hit $60.4 billion, up 19%, and Google Services ran at a 45.3% operating margin.

Amazon posted $181.52B in revenue but converted it into a 13.1% operating margin. AWS grew 28%, its fastest pace in 15 quarters, on a $150 billion run rate. Retail dragged the blended margin lower, the structural tax Alphabet avoids.

Driver Alphabet Amazon Main engine Search ads + Cloud AWS + Stores Op margin 36.1% 13.1% Cloud growth 63% 28% Two AI Bets, Two Very Different Bills Sundar Pichai framed the quarter around vertical integration. Cloud backlog nearly doubled sequentially to “the fact that we own frontier models and own the silicon really helps us stay ahead of the curve.”, and Cloud margin jumped to 32.9% from 17.8% a year earlier.

Andy Jassy is playing heavier. Amazon’s custom chip business runs at $20 billion with Trainium commitments over $225 billion and Anthropic locking in another $100 billion. Capex hit $44.20B in the quarter and free cash flow collapsed 95% on a trailing basis. Alphabet’s FCF fell too, down 46.6%, but from a cleaner starting point.

The Next Test Is Whether Capex Pays Back Prediction markets price Amazon 2026 capex above $200B at 0.77 probability. Alphabet raised full-year capex guidance to $180-190 billion, yet Pichai says core AI response costs already dropped more than 30% after the Gemini 3 upgrade. Efficiency compounds on one side. Fulfillment costs grow on the other.

Watch whether Google Cloud expands margin while shipping the next Gemini Pro, which Polymarket traders give an 85.9% probability of arriving by July 31. For Amazon, monitor Q2 operating income guidance of $20-24B and whether AWS holds its 28% pace.

Why Alphabet Screens Cleaner on This Quarter On this quarter’s numbers, Alphabet screens cleaner. A P/E of 16 against Amazon’s 33.01, a 45% Services margin, and a Cloud backlog that dwarfs peers is a rare combination. Amazon’s case rests on a longer runway: satellite ambitions, robotics, and a chip franchise that could rival NVIDIA. The near-term contrast is an ad machine already printing cash to fund its own AI buildout versus a retail-plus-AWS model still absorbing heavy capex.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Key Takeaways Nokia's AI & Cloud revenues rose 49% in Q1 2026, with 1 billion euro in orders highlighting strong demand.NOK is expanding AI networking through Google Cloud, AWS and U.S. manufacturing investments.Nokia faces telecom weakness, higher AI spending, intense competition and geopolitical risks. Nokia Corporation (NOK - Free Report) shares have gained 105.2% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 27.8%. The stock has outperformed the Zacks Computer & Technology sector and the S&P 500 during the same time frame.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The company has outperformed its peers like Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET - Free Report) and Ericsson (ERIC - Free Report) . Shares of Ericsson have jumped 15.5%, and shares of Arista have gained 29.6%.

NOK Rides on Strength in Multiple DomainsThe AI and Cloud networking business is becoming a major growth engine for Nokia. AI data centers require massive optical interconnects, IP routing and cloud networking infrastructure. The market is expected to grow at a substantial rate in the upcoming quarters. Recognizing this trend, Nokia is positioning itself as a major player in the AI data center domain and moving beyond merely a telecom equipment vendor.

During the first quarter of 2026, AI & Cloud revenue surged 49% year over year. The company secured €1 billion of AI & Cloud orders during the quarter, highlighting robust customer demand. The company expects the addressable AI & Cloud market to grow at a 27% CAGR between 2025 and 2028, up from its previous estimate of 16%.

Optical Networks remains Nokia's fastest-growing infrastructure segment. Growing AI cluster buildout by hyperscalers is driving demand for high-capacity optical transport networks. Nokia won several AI-related design wins for optical pluggables and line systems. A book-to-bill ratio well above one indicates strong order intake.

The company recently expanded its partnership with Google Cloud by embedding Gemini-powered AI agents into the Nokia Assurance Center. The AI agents automate network troubleshooting, anomaly detection, root cause analysis and network optimization. Such features significantly reduce network operators' maintenance costs and downtime and improve efficiency. It has also expanded its partnership with AWS. This brings capabilities such as AI-powered orchestration, digital twin simulations, intent-based networking and agentic AI operations. Unlike hardware, network automation software generates higher margins and recurring revenue. Expansion of the software mix can improve profitability over time.

Nokia is expanding its U.S. semiconductor advanced test and packaging operations. AI infrastructure demand is outpacing supply. The expansion initiative is a part of a broader $4 billion U.S. investment in AI-ready networking. This will allow NOK to meet increasing customer demand and boost its competitive edge against other major AI networking rivals such as Arista and HPE.

Major Challenges for NOKDespite growth in its AI and cloud business, Nokia still derives the majority of its revenues from the legacy telecom business. High debt levels and slow subscriber additions are making telecom operators cautious regarding their spending decisions. NOK’s North America business continued to experience weakness due to the loss of a major contract in late 2023.

To capture AI demand, Nokia is increasing capital spending. These investments increase near-term costs. Moreover, Nokia faces strong competition from other major players, such as ANET and HPE, in this vertical. It is to be seen how Nokia can navigate this growing competition in the AI networking space and generate sustained returns on investments. In its traditional mobile infrastructure business, it faces competition from Ericsson.

Nokia remains exposed to the cyclical nature of telecommunications infrastructure spending. Periods of elevated network investment are frequently followed by slower spending environments, creating variability in revenue growth. It generates substantial revenues across international markets and remains exposed to economic slowdowns, political uncertainty, regulatory changes and geopolitical disruptions. These factors can affect customer spending decisions, supply chains and project timing.

Estimate Revision TrendEarnings estimates for the company for 2026 have remained unchanged, while for 2027, they have improved over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Key Valuation Metric of NOKFrom a valuation standpoint, NOK is currently trading at a discount compared to the industry. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 29.85 forward earnings, lower than 32.19 for the industry but above its mean of 16.85.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

End NoteNokia is benefiting from strong traction in the optical networking vertical. Collaboration with industry leaders such as Google and AWS will propel innovation. Manufacturing capacity expansion to support growing customer demand in the AI networking space is a positive factor. However, the company faces stiff competition in the mobile infrastructure and AI networking markets. Growing geopolitical volatility and macro headwinds remain a concern. With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), Nokia appears to be treading in the middle of the road, and new investors could be better off if they trade with caution. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Medicare has officially started covering obesity drugs for the first time through a temporary government program – and companies like Walmart and CVS Health are playing an important role for patients. 

The huge shift in Medicare policy is going to open up access to millions of older Americans who previously couldn't afford blockbuster GLP-1s from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to treat obesity. But many seniors may not know about this new coverage or how to navigate its complexities, such as eligibility requirements and how it differs from traditional Medicare insurance for drugs, CNBC previously reported. 

A staggering 82% of all older Americans said they were unaware that Medicare was about to begin covering obesity drugs, according to a survey released in early June by the Obesity Care Advocacy Network.

Healthcare providers are always a reliable resource for patients, but many Medicare beneficiaries face long waits for appointments with doctors. So, Walmart and CVS Health are trying to step in to fill the gap.

Walmart and Sam's Club last week launched a nationwide effort to help Medicare patients better understand the new coverage, by offering more educational materials, more pharmacy support at almost 5,000 locations and assistance in navigating healthcare resources. 

Walmart's website will curate several resources directed at Medicare beneficiaries, including a learning page that will help seniors interested in gaining coverage along with options for weight management support. The company will also provide other digital tools: For example, seniors who are regular Walmart shoppers can join what's called Everyday Health Signals, which can help review their grocery purchases and recommend healthier alternatives. 

Those resources are still going to be broadly available for the patients that don't qualify for coverage under the government program, called Bridge, Kevin Host, senior vice president of Walmart Health & Wellness, said in an interview. Walmart is training its pharmacists and technicians, who will be providing one-on-one consultations to help patients understand what their next steps are and can help them manage side effects once they start therapy, Host said. 

Pharmacists are "easily the most accessible healthcare professionals," he added. Walmart has 15,000 pharmacists, roughly half of whom have been with the company for more than a decade, Host said. 

"You think about the relationships that they're able to establish – we got a pretty significant presence in rural spots, and many are medically underserved communities," he said. 

CVS is also ramping up its GLP-1 support across 9,000 pharmacy locations and MinuteClinic, a division that provides retail clinic services, as the new coverage rolls out. The effort includes expanded pharmacy support designed to help patients access the treatments and manage common side effects so they can stay on them, according to a CVS release. 

It also includes a new $49 MinuteClinic virtual visit that connects eligible patients with licensed clinicians who can evaluate and prescribe a GLP-1 treatment if appropriate. 

"From helping patients manage side effects to identifying ways to lower costs, our pharmacists are there every step of the way," said Sid Tenneti, CVS's interim president of pharmacy and consumer wellness, in the release. 

Walmart's Host said amid huge coverage changes, patients are looking for simplicity and experiences that are easier to navigate. 

"We think we have the unique ability to help, and we're looking to help with accessibility and affordability," he said. "We're leveraging our trusted healthcare professionals, those pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and just bringing in everyday convenience at a national scale that very few organizations can match."

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at a new email: [email protected].

ExxonMobil (XOM 0.11%) has raised its dividend for 43 consecutive years. That puts it on track to join the elite club of Dividend Kings, which have raised their payouts annually for at least half a century. It currently pays a forward yield of 3%.

ExxonMobil maintained that streak even as the U.S. endured four major recessions over the past four decades. Including reinvested dividends, its stock has generated a total return of 4,450% over the past 40 years. Let's see why it's so resilient, and why I'd still buy it today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why is ExxonMobil a resilient company? ExxonMobil's upstream business extracts oil and natural gas, its midstream business owns more than 16,000 miles of pipelines across North America, and its downstream business produces petroleum products. That diversification insulates it from volatile oil prices.

Higher oil prices usually generate tailwinds for its upstream business, as its revenue growth outpaces its expenses, but they can hurt its downstream business with higher input costs. But when oil prices decline, its downstream business can grow faster than its upstream business. Its midstream business, which simply charges "tolls" for pipeline use, flourishes in both markets.

Today's Change

(

-0.11

%) $

-0.15

Current Price

$

136.57

ExxonMobil has a presence in over 56 countries, but it gets more of its oil and gas from the United States. It still gets about a fifth of its resources from the volatile Middle East, but it usually offsets that pressure with its stable production in other markets.

To further reduce its dependence on the Middle East, it's expanding its largest oil fields in the Permian Basin, building more offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, importing oil sands from Canada, and ramping up production in Guyana (one of the world's fastest-growing oil regions) and other high-growth markets across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. It's also exporting more liquefied natural gas (LNG) and expanding its carbon capture and storage business.

How sustainable is ExxonMobil's dividend? ExxonMobil's EPS growth has been volatile over the past five years. Its profits surged in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices soaring, but normalized over the following three years. However, its fluctuating EPS still easily covered its annual dividend hikes.

Metric

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Diluted EPS

$5.39

$13.26

$8.89

$7.84

$6.70

Dividend per Share

$3.49

$3.55

$3.68

$3.84

$4.00

Payout Ratio

64.7%

26.8%

41.4%

49%

59.7%

Data source: ExxonMobil.

This year, the price of WTI crude oil surged again after the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, hitting a four-year high of $112.25 per barrel in mid-May. It's since pulled back to under $70 per barrel, but analysts still expect that spike to boost ExxonMobil's EPS by 75% to $11.71 this year and comfortably cover its forward dividend rate of $4.12 per share.

Over the past 12 months, ExxonMobil spent 92% of its free cash flow (FCF) on its dividends. That cash dividend payout ratio should also decline this year as its profits soar.

Why is ExxonMobil a safe investment right now? ExxonMobil's upstream business benefited from soaring oil prices, and it should keep thriving as long as the price of WTI crude oil stays far above its breakeven level of about $30 per barrel. Even if crude oil prices finally pull back, its midstream and downstream businesses can pick up the slack and generate plenty of cash to cover its dividends.

At $136 per share, ExxonMobil still looks like a bargain at 12 times this year's earnings. It's not as tightly tethered to oil prices as companies like Occidental Petroleum, which generates most of its revenue from its upstream business, but it's still a rock-solid investment.

Key Takeaways FedEx is cutting flight frequencies, parking aircraft and reducing its workforce to counter weak demand. FedEx has reported better-than-expected results in Q4 driven by cost-cut initiatives.FedEx is reshaping costs through DRIVE, which delivered $4B in recurring savings across fiscal 2024-2025. FedEx (FDX - Free Report) is reshaping its cost structure through the company-wide DRIVE initiative to better align operations with post-pandemic market conditions. The program delivered $1.8 billion in recurring savings in fiscal 2024 and another $2.2 billion in fiscal 2025.

In addition, FedEx is improving efficiency through network transformation initiatives such as Network 2.0, Tricolor and its European optimization efforts. These initiatives have enabled the company to surpass its fiscal 2026 transformation-related savings target of $1 billion. At the same time, investments in data and technology are helping FedEx enhance customer experience, secure new business and unlock additional value.

However, geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation continue to pressure consumer sentiment and economic growth, resulting in softer shipping demand. To counter these headwinds, FedEx has stepped up cost-reduction efforts by cutting flight frequencies, parking aircraft and reducing its workforce. These initiatives contributed to better-than-expected earnings and revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026.

Rival United Parcel Service (UPS - Free Report) is also pursuing aggressive cost-cutting measures to navigate the weak demand environment. The company has eliminated multiple operational positions and closed several facilities as it restructures the network and focuses on higher-margin business opportunities.

A key part of UPS' strategy is reducing its dependence on Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) . In 2025, UPS reached an agreement in principle with Amazon to reduce shipment volumes by more than 50% by June 2026. CEO Carol Tomé noted that Amazon was not UPS' most profitable customer and the planned volume reduction is allowing it to right-size the network while prioritizing more profitable business.

FDX’s Price Performance, Valuation & Earnings Surprise HistoryShares of FDX have gained in single digits (% wise) in the past six months, outperforming its industry.

6-Month Price PerformanceImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, FDX trades at a 12-month forward price-to-sales ratio of 0.77X, making it cheap compared with industrial levels. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The company has an impressive earnings surprise history, as shown below.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

FDX’s Zacks RankFDX 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 PLTR's U.S. commercial revenues surged 133% as AI platform adoption accelerated across enterprises.Palantir expanded its adjusted operating margin to 60% and lifted its Rule of 40 score to 145%.PLTR surpassed 1,000 customers while larger contracts strengthened future revenue visibility. Palantir Technologies (PLTR - Free Report) shares have declined 14% over the past year compared with the industry’s 22% fall. While the stock has faced valuation concerns and broader volatility across the artificial intelligence sector, the company's operating performance continues to strengthen. From accelerating commercial adoption to expanding profitability and industry-leading software metrics, Palantir is demonstrating that its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) is becoming a powerful long-term growth engine.

                                                              Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

AIP Continues Driving Commercial ExpansionPalantir's AIP is delivering exceptional momentum across its U.S. commercial business. The clearest evidence is reflected in revenue growth, with U.S. commercial revenues surging 133% year over year and 18% sequentially. The performance suggests that enterprises are moving beyond AI experimentation and increasingly deploying Palantir's AI-powered software in mission-critical production environments.

Customer expansion remains equally encouraging. U.S. commercial customer count increased 42% year over year and 8% sequentially, highlighting the company's ability to win new clients while deepening relationships with existing customers. A growing installed base not only expands recurring revenue opportunities but also creates favorable conditions for higher-value platform adoption over time.

Compared with many enterprise software providers, including ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) and C3.ai (AI - Free Report) , Palantir appears to be translating AI demand into measurable commercial execution, supported by growing customer adoption and larger enterprise deployments.

Larger Deals Reinforce Future Revenue VisibilityDemand strength is also evident in Palantir's expanding deal pipeline. The number of U.S. commercial contracts valued at $1 million or more increased 1.6 times from the prior year. Deals worth at least $5 million also grew at the same pace, indicating that customers are committing to increasingly larger AI deployments as confidence in the platform continues to rise.

Meanwhile, remaining deal value climbed 112% year over year, while total contract value reached $1.18 billion, representing a 45% increase from the prior-year period. These metrics provide stronger visibility into future revenue opportunities and reinforce the durability of Palantir's commercial momentum.

While ServiceNow continues benefiting from enterprise workflow automation demand and C3.ai remains focused on enterprise AI applications, Palantir's growing contract values highlight its ability to secure large-scale, long-duration AI engagements across multiple industries.

Profitability Continues Reaching New HeightsPalantir's first-quarter 2026 results also showcased remarkable operational discipline. Adjusted operating income climbed to $984 million, representing an impressive 60% operating margin. Over the past year, adjusted operating income has increased dramatically from $391 million in the first quarter of 2025 to nearly $1 billion. Operating margins have expanded consistently, improving from 44% in the first quarter of 2025 to 46% in the second quarter, 51% in the third quarter, 57% in the fourth quarter, and ultimately 60% in the first quarter of 2026.

These results demonstrate meaningful operating leverage, with revenue growth increasingly flowing through to profits instead of being offset by higher operating expenses. Unlike many AI software companies that sacrifice profitability to sustain growth, Palantir continues to strengthen both simultaneously.

Rule of 40 Highlights Elite Software QualityOne metric particularly underscores Palantir's execution: the Rule of 40, widely regarded as one of the software industry's most important measures of business quality. While a score above 40% is generally considered strong, PLTR has moved into an entirely different league.

Its Rule of 40 improved from 64% in the second quarter of 2024 to an extraordinary 145% by the first quarter of 2026. During the same period, revenue growth accelerated from 27% to 85%, while adjusted operating margins expanded from 37% to 60%.

This rare combination of accelerating growth and expanding profitability distinguishes Palantir from many software peers. Even as C3.ai continues investing aggressively to expand its AI offerings and ServiceNow scales its enterprise software platform, Palantir's balanced execution demonstrates exceptional operational efficiency.

Customer Growth Supports Long-Term OpportunityPalantir continues expanding its customer ecosystem at an impressive pace. Total customers have now surpassed the 1,000-customer milestone, while commercial customer growth remains strong across both U.S. and international markets.

Importantly, customer expansion often serves as an early indicator of long-term revenue durability, as larger installed bases create additional opportunities for upselling, platform expansion and increased customer spending. The continued rise in commercial customers also reflects growing enterprise confidence in deploying AI-powered operational systems across mission-critical business functions.

Although valuation concerns and broader AI-sector volatility remain risks, Palantir's expanding customer ecosystem, accelerating commercial momentum, rising profitability and exceptional Rule of 40 performance reinforce the company's long-term investment narrative. As enterprises continue to accelerate AI adoption, Palantir appears well-positioned to capitalize on expanding demand, larger contracts, and durable recurring revenue growth.

Analyst Sentiment Remains Highly FavorableConsensus estimates continue to support Palantir’s growth trajectory. Earnings are projected to increase 84.5% in 2026 and 40% in 2027, while revenue growth expectations remain robust at 72% in 2026 and 42% in 2027, as commercial AI adoption accelerates.

                                                                     Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Analyst sentiment has also improved considerably. Over the past 60 days, analysts issued 11 upward earnings estimate revisions for 2026, with no downward revisions. Forecasts for 2027 also moved higher with 10 upward revisions against none downward, reflecting growing confidence in Palantir’s execution capabilities and expanding AI opportunity.

                                                              Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

PLTR Stock Looks Like a Compelling BuyPalantir continues to distinguish itself through rapid commercial adoption, expanding customer relationships, improving profitability and disciplined execution. The company's Artificial Intelligence Platform is gaining traction across enterprises, while larger contracts and a growing customer base provide visibility into sustained long-term growth. At the same time, exceptional operating efficiency demonstrates that Palantir is scaling its business without compromising profitability. With analyst sentiment becoming increasingly optimistic and enterprise AI adoption still in its early stages, the recent share-price weakness appears to present a compelling opportunity for long-term investors. Despite near-term valuation concerns, Palantir's strengthening fundamentals support a Buy recommendation for investors seeking exposure to one of the software industry's leading AI growth stories.

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

Honda this week began production of batteries destined for energy storage systems, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. The milestone makes Honda the latest car company to dive into the red-hot energy market.

The automaker’s shift toward energy storage comes three months after Honda canceled its EV programs in the U.S. Batteries for the EVs were slated to be made at a factory in Ohio, which Honda operates under a joint venture with LG Energy Solution. Now, those cells are headed to data centers instead of driveways. 

Honda’s pivot comes as demand for EVs in the U.S. remains soft following the GOP’s cancellation of tax credits, which were intended to spur EV and battery production in the U.S. Sales of new EVs remain down year-over-year, in part because consumers pulled forward their purchases to take advantage of the tax credits, which disappeared last September.

That uncertainty led Honda to dramatically shift gears, canceling three EVs that were destined for the U.S. market. The automaker wrote down $15.7 billion last fiscal year, in part to restructure its EV strategy. Its weakening China business, where EVs have soared, also contributed to the write-down.

But despite the restructuring, Honda didn’t dissolve its joint venture with LG Energy. And like seemingly every other automaker, including Tesla, Ford, and GM, Honda decided that batteries are a big business on their own.

The market for stationary storage has been booming, growing 32% year-over-year, according to a report from SEIA and Benchmark Minerals. In the first quarter of this year, 9.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage systems were installed. That’s enough batteries to build roughly 120,000 EVs. 

The breakneck growth is expected to continue. By the end of the decade, the report estimates that 110 gigawatt-hours of energy storage will be installed every year, nearly tripling the size of the market. 

It’s been a profitable market, too. Tesla, which has claimed the majority of sales so far, rakes in 30% gross profits on its Megapacks and Powerwalls, about twice its margin on vehicles. 

Many stationary batteries have been installed at data centers, but a large chunk of them end up connected to the grid. As battery prices have fallen, they’ve carved out a sizable niche stabilizing the grid while also augmenting wind and solar installations, making them more predictable generating sources. 

Honda may not be sure how to approach the EV market in the U.S., but it’s clear it wants in on the energy transition in one form or another.

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Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.

De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.

You can contact or verify outreach from Tim by emailing [email protected].

-

Enforcing continuous in-session protection across any browser on managed and unmanaged devices establishes Falcon Secure Access as the new standard for browser security

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) today announced it has been named Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 Global Enabling Technology Leader in Zero Trust Browser Security.

The browser has become the operating environment for modern work, where employees access email, SaaS applications, collaboration tools, customer data, and AI services. All this activity makes the browser a high-value target for attackers – sitting between users, identities, applications, and sensitive enterprise data. Existing security models either force users into ‘walled garden’ enterprise browsers or rely on high-latency network routing.

Powered by technology from CrowdStrike's acquisition of Seraphic, Falcon Secure Access defines a new model for secure access, enforcing protection directly within any browser runtime. This allows users to work in their browser of choice while eliminating the latency of network routing – turning any browser into a secure enterprise browser without forcing change or slowing productivity.

“This disruptive model redefines browser security, and positions CrowdStrike as a catalyst for change in the global Zero Trust Browser Security market,” the report stated.

"Forcing users into a dedicated browser or routing traffic through a proxy is not a security strategy; it's a tax on productivity," said Elia Zaitsev, chief technology officer, CrowdStrike. "By enforcing protection directly within any browser runtime, Falcon Secure Access delivers the flexibility the workforce demands and the security the business requires. This is browser security built for the modern enterprise."

Combined with technology from CrowdStrike's acquisition of SGNL, Falcon Secure Access advances CrowdStrike's Next-Gen Identity Security strategy, creating a seamless security fabric that protects every interaction from the endpoint, through the browser session, and into the cloud.

Key report findings include:

Making Any Browser a Secure Enterprise Browser

“CrowdStrike delivers unparalleled visibility and control across all browser types, including Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, and emerging AI browsers.”

A New Model for Security and Productivity

“The cybersecurity industry has long grappled with the challenge of securing browser-based activity without degrading performance or user experience. Falcon Secure Access addresses this challenge through a groundbreaking innovation: a JavaScript runtime security module injected at the engine level, rather than relying on traditional browser extensions.”

Securing Enterprise AI

CrowdStrike secures how GenAI applications and agents are accessed through the browser, preventing shadow AI from scraping or exfiltrating sensitive data. Frost noted how the “ability to secure AI browsers and Electron apps (e.g., VS Code GPT integration) at the engine level addresses blind spots in traditional SASE/CASB models.”

Security Wherever the Workforce Works

CrowdStrike provides protection for contractors and third parties, and everywhere employees work: “Falcon Secure Access secures both managed and unmanaged devices, and supports mobile and desktop environments.”

Unified Architecture

CrowdStrike closes the gaps fragmented security stacks create: “Falcon Secure Access and the Falcon platform deliver on the company’s vision of stopping breaches by integrating with its Zero Trust Score, malware scanning, SaaS Security (SSPM), identity security, and SIEM telemetry.”

To learn more about CrowdStrike’s recognition as Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 Global Enabling Technology Leader in Zero Trust Browser Security, visit here.

About CrowdStrike

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), a global cybersecurity leader, has redefined modern security with the world’s most advanced cloud-native platform for protecting critical areas of enterprise risk – endpoints and cloud workloads, identity and data.

Powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud and world-class AI, the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform leverages real-time indicators of attack, threat intelligence, evolving adversary tradecraft, and enriched telemetry from across the enterprise to deliver hyper-accurate detections, automated protection and remediation, elite threat hunting, and prioritized observability of vulnerabilities.

Purpose-built in the cloud with a single lightweight-agent architecture, the Falcon platform delivers rapid and scalable deployment, superior protection and performance, reduced complexity, and immediate time-to-value.

CrowdStrike: We stop breaches.

Learn more: https://www.crowdstrike.com/

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© 2026 CrowdStrike, Inc. All rights reserved. CrowdStrike and CrowdStrike Falcon are marks owned by CrowdStrike, Inc. and are registered in the United States and other countries. CrowdStrike owns other trademarks and service marks and may use the brands of third parties to identify their products and services.

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Cloudflare has just issued the AI industry a new deadline to separate the web crawlers used for traditional search purposes, like Google Search, from those used for AI agents and training. Starting on September 15, 2026, Cloudflare’s default settings will block “mixed-use” crawlers from any pages that host ads, the company announced on Wednesday.

That means that the crawlers that blend search, agent use, and training will be blocked from crawling these sites by default, unless the site owner adjusts the settings otherwise. These changes to the defaults will apply to new Cloudflare customers, new sites set up by existing customers, and all existing free customers, the company says.

The move could impact how AI model providers are able to access web content for training purposes and to help power their agentic services.

Cloudflare points out that most website owners want their content to be discoverable via search and often through AI services as well, but they want protections against having their intellectual property given away for free.

Cloudflare specifically calls out the “world’s largest search engine” (clearly a Google reference!) as having access to about “2x more information” than other AI companies because the search giant makes it difficult for customers to remain discoverable without being used for AI.

Google has pushed back against this generalization in the past, noting that it provides a bot called Google Extended that lets site owners opt out of having their content used for training and AI products and services like Gemini Apps and Vertex API. Its use doesn’t impact a site’s inclusion in Google Search. However, the tech giant’s flagship Googlebot crawls for Search, including AI features like AI Overviews and AI Mode.

“Now that the majority of traffic on the Internet is non-human, we must go further and act faster so that a sustainable ecosystem can emerge,” said Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince in his announcement of the news, referring to the recent milestone where bots surpassed human traffic online for the first time. That shift was not expected to occur until next year.

“Cloudflare’s new tools and partnerships give website owners increased visibility and commercial opportunities and benefit AI companies that have bots with clear and transparent intent. We hope that our proposed default changes encourage mixed-use crawlers to separate out search from agent use and training,” Prince said.

While Cloudflare offers a number of products to help users launch their own AI systems, the company has also released a range of tools to give publishers more control over their content in the AI era. In recent years, Cloudflare launched tools to combat AI bots, including a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping, dubbed Pay Per Crawl.

The latter is now also evolving into “Pay Per Use,” the company said, which will allow publishers to charge AI companies when their content creates value, not just when it’s fetched.

The change could also help conserve publishers’ bandwidth and compute resources for AI model providers, as Cloudflare’s data suggested that over 50% of crawl traffic from AI crawlers is spent re-fetching unchanged pages.

To put this into action, Cloudflare is initially working with two partners, Ceramic.ai and You.com. When a publisher opts in, they’re paid when their content appears in Ceramic’s AI search results or when You.com accesses a piece of their premium content.

Other AI companies can customize this model for how they work, Cloudflare says.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

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

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

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Weyerhaeuser (WY) is priced at an extreme discount at roughly 66% of net asset value (NAV). This is likely due to the market correctly seeing the challenging conditions in both timber and lumber. However, the market could be underestimating natural market forces that restore equilibrium. As the vertical adjusts, WY’s position as the market share and margin leader should result in substantial EBITDA growth which will make WY’s free cash flow oversized relative to the market price. As earnings improve, I think WY will trade up toward NAV for about 50% upside.

Specifically, this article will examine:

Factors making timber and lumber businesses challenging. Mechanisms of equilibrium restoration – curtailments, utilization, consolidation. Margin and market share gains Incremental sources of EBITDA Valuation by assets and earnings Fair value Challenged industry conditions

The margin difficulties of the lumber vertical are not immediately apparent looking at lumber prices.

tradingeconomics

$631 is low compared to the extreme lumber prices of 2021 and 2022, but still reasonably fine compared to pre-pandemic levels. Adjusting for inflation, lumber prices are fairly normal presently.

So why are mills struggling right now?

The low profitability of the wood products vertical in recent years has come from a mismatch of supply and demand. Supply had ramped up to meet the demand spike of 2021- 2022.

Building of single family homes was the largest driver as these are primarily wooden structures, but there was also outsized building of apartments and all kinds of CRE. Thus, the image below of the decline in housing starts only captures a portion of the demand drop off.

FRED

As of 1Q26, housing starts are low by historical standards, but not that low. Perhaps somewhere around the 40th percentile. The bigger damage, in my opinion, is in other CRE.

Office construction is nearly zero. Most large offices are big boxes of metal and glass so they are not often considered drivers of lumber, but the interiors use a variety of wood products.

Apartment construction dropped off substantially since 2024. Apartments use more wood than office, but less than single family homes.

Repair and remodel demand for wood products is stimulated by housing turnover. Owners will fix up their homes before selling in an attempt to get a better price. Sales of existing homes have been sluggish since 2023.

tradingeconomics

So while lumber pricing is decent, sales volume is weakened by low CRE construction, low existing home sales and the somewhat low homebuilding activity.

This shows up in the receipts.

FRED

Adjusted for inflation, net sales receipts of wood products are dismal.

In addition to weak quantity demanded, the supply situation has not been helpful. Production capacity ramped up to try to meet the demand of 2021-2022 and it has taken a while to come back down.

Equilibrium restoring mechanisms.

Milling capacity operates with a lag. It takes as much as a few years to open new mills or shut down existing mills. Note how capacity continued to climb in 2023 and 2024.

University of Georgia

This is clearly lagged capacity intending to capitalize on the extreme demand of 2022. The demand did not last as long as industry participants expected, so this extra capacity came online at a time when profitability was already low and supply was already too high.

There are essentially 2 levers through which overall capacity changes:

Utilization of existing mills Construction and curtailment of mills Marginal cost curves suggest there is a sweet spot for utilization. If utilization goes too high, marginal cost of production rises because crews have to work overnight shifts or overtime pay. At too low utilization, marginal cost per unit is high because the overhead of the capital expense of the mill is divided over too few units.

It was worth it for mills to pay overtime in 2022 because lumber prices were so high. Thus a certain portion of the extra supply was related to high mill utilization. Since then, mill utilization has dropped.

According to a University of Georgia field report,

“U.S. softwood lumber mill utilization rates declined from 81% in Q2 2021 to 78% in Q2 2025”

I was unable to locate utilization data for 2026, but all indications are that it has continued to drop. Utilization has dropped to a point where it becomes very inefficient to lower it further. Marginal costs have already increased due to low utilization and it gets worse if they produce less.

Utilization declines have moved to or near their limit. It was not enough, so lower profitability mills have been forced to close.

In a 2025 Weyerhaeuser article we compiled a list of mill closures/curtailments

2MC

More closures have followed. Forisk tabulates the 2026 closures below.

Forisk

Notably, many of these are in Canada. Canada’s lumber production is far too large for domestic use with these producers largely relying on exports, especially to the U.S.

Thus, the combination of duties and tariffs is materially hurting profit margins of Canadian mills resulting in substantial curtailments.

With less lumber imported into the U.S., our sawmills get to service a higher portion of demand. However, that is a longer term tailwind while low demand in the immediate term has forced many lower margin mills to shut down or reduce production.

As more and more mills close, supply and demand equilibrium will be restored. Closure will continue until such a point that sawmills can generate a normal economic profit. Therefore, one of the following must happen:

Demand will pick back up Mills will continue to close That is just how economic equilibrium works and with the substantial curtailments already in place, I believe we are in the 8th inning of equilibrium restoration.

In the bouncing around of supply and demand 3 significant changes have occurred:

Consolidation within the vertical Market share is shifting to larger producers Market share is shifting to lower cost producers To see the consolidation, one can simply look at the public markets. Today’s Rayonier (RYN) is a consolidation of 4 public companies:

Potlatch Deltic Catchmark Rayonier (the persisting name and ticker) Weyerhaeuser previously bought Plum Creek.

What were 6 good-sized companies have become 2 enormous companies.

Attrition of the weak

2023 through 2026 has been an extended period of minimal and sometimes negative margins for wood products companies. The weak have died off while the strong captured market share.

Weyerhaeuser, in my opinion, is the biggest beneficiary. WY has the highest operating margin in the space.

WY

For reference the companies they are comparing themselves to are Canfor, Interfor, Louisiana Pacific, Boise Cascade and West Fraser.

The higher margins come from a few sources:

Vertical integration with their timberlands feeding their sawmills A continuous focus on operating efficiency Scale Market access – WY is a major supplier of logs to Japan from their Pacific northwest timberland and mills, and one of few to ship out of the Gulf due to proximity to key ports. As equilibrium returns WY will have a healthy profit margin on a substantially higher market share.

Timing of full equilibrium restoration

If demand picks back up in some combination of housing starts, repair and remodel, and CRE construction, higher margins could happen very quickly.

If the restoration is more through supply curtailments it will take a bit longer. Either way, the forward trajectory is positive. While waiting for the industry headwinds to cycle into tailwinds, WY is not sitting idly. At REITweek, WY announced a plan to increase annual EBITDA by $1B even at flat lumber and wood products pricing.

1B incremental EBITDA plan

The slide below breaks down the intended components of EBITDA growth.

WY

To put this into perspective, $1B is $1.38 per share which is quite a bit of growth for a stock trading at $24.79.

Lets examine some of these buckets to get a sense for how likely this growth is to manifest.

Strategic land solutions Owning millions of acres of land comes with benefits in that certain subsets of that land become valuable, often in unanticipated ways. I am not referring to the regular HBU land sales that have been a part of the timber REIT business for decades. Rather there are some bulkier opportunities.

WY is actively exploring sale of land to data centers, or power companies that would use the land to build power infrastructure for data centers. Such sales would be at lucrative premiums to the value of the land as timberland.

Additionally, WY’s 100 million dollar CCS contract with Occidental is getting closer to completion.

I think it is likely we will see growth in this bucket by 2030, but the magnitude will vary.

Timberland and wood products One of the struggles of timberland lately has been that the demand for pulp seems to be permanently impaired due to digital replacing a large portion of paper use. Indeed the demand for pulp has declined markedly in recent years.

University of Georgia

A potential substitute demand for pulp is biocarbon. Traditional wood pellets have been around for a while but their limitation is that they primarily work in facilities designed to buy biocarbon. WY is working with Aymium on a denser wood pellet that can substitute for metallurgical coal. This would expand the use to coal plants and manufacturing facilities.

My hunch is that coal is cheaper than this proprietary wood product where coal is legal, but in areas such as Europe where carbon is heavily taxed/regulated the carbon neutral wood pellet could serve as a great replacement to keep the factories running where they would otherwise have to close. At REITweek WY’s CEO, Devin Stockfish guided to 7 million tons:

“It's part of our 2030 growth program to build out up to 7 million tons of production or 7 million tons of fiber usage, which would convert into 1.5 million tons of biocarbon to sell to steel, silicon manufacturers. There's a lot going on globally, particularly in Europe and Japan, where they're putting new taxes on carbon-intensive industries.”

Such alternative uses are great strategically as pulp would otherwise be very low value due to dwindling pulp prices down almost 50% from 10 years ago.

TimberMart-South

Arguably the largest single source of incremental EBITDA will be TimberStrand which is a high quality wood product made from lower quality sawlogs. The economics on it look strong with an anticipated 20% EBITDA yield.

Devin Stockfish discussed the TimberStrand manufacturing facility economics at REITweek:

“It's a $500 million investment. When that mill comes online, we expect that to generate over $100 million annually of EBITDA.”

Overall, I think the $1B EBITDA growth plan is ambitious, but possible. Some of the buckets are more certain than others. I think $500 million is easily achievable with the rest requiring certain things to play out the right way.

The Value Proposition

I think WY is demonstrably undervalued from both an earnings perspective and an asset value perspective.

WY has averaged $2.15B annual EBITDA over the past 7 years. It was lumpy due to the cyclicality described earlier.

S&P Global Market Intelligence

With an Enterprise value of $23B, WY is trading at about 10.69X cycle adjusted EBITDA.

That is a cheap multiple.

I think the market is not using a cycle adjusted multiple and instead assuming the challenging timber/lumber macro environment is a permanent condition. Thus, the market might be looking at 2026 EBITDA estimates of $1.14B. That would mean they are trading at 20X EBITDA.

If WY can achieve its $1B incremental EBITDA growth that brings the base EBITDA north of $2B, even if the difficult environment remains. $2B base EBITDA with upside from either lumber price increase or volume increase would make WY far too cheap at $23B enterprise value.

A 10X-12 EBITDA multiple might be normal for some business categories, but it is wildly cheap for an asset class like timberland where a substantial portion of return comes from land value appreciation.

As land appreciates, that gain does not show up in the earnings or EBITDA. It is a real gain of value, but often remains unrealized. As a result, appreciation based asset classes usually trade at far higher EBITDA multiples.

The anomaly at the moment is that timberland currently trades at far higher multiples. Private timberland values have been rising steadily with average value per acre up to $2,300 at the end of 2025.

Forisk

These are actual transactions.

You can even observe it in WY’s asset sales.

S&P Global Market Intelligence

3 dispositions total $598 million for 222,000 acres. That equates to $2,693 per acre.

This was not HBU or some special event. These were sold to private timberland investors. Further, this was among WY’s lower quality land.

Devin Stockfish at REITweek:

“It's not just about the number of acres, it's about the quality of those acres, and we've really been focused over the last several years on selling off the lower-performing assets and redeploying that capital into higher-performing assets.”

His comments check out in the numbers. These acres were lower productivity and margin.

WY has 9.740 million owned acres in the U.S.

If we multiply that by the sale price per acre of their non-core land that would be timberland value of $26.229 billion.

That already is more than WY’s EV of $23.129B.

The land alone justifies the entirety of WY’s EV, but they also have billions of dollars of other assets:

Sawmills 0.649 million controlled acres (not included in owned acres) EWP, OSB, TimberStrand, and other manufacturing facilities These things are hard to value, but the cost basis is enormous. The single TimberStrand facility cost $500 million. Sawmills can be around that range too.

Adding up all the assets, net asset value is clearly much higher than EV.

The current Wall Street consensus estimate for NAV is$37.22 implying that WY trades at 66% of NAV.

S&P Global Market Intelligence

Either the private equity buying timberland is consistently wrong to be buying it well north of $2k per acre or WY is deeply undervalued.

The valuation dislocation will eventually close. It is just a matter of direction. The private timberland investors might suffer if the doomsayers are right that the lumber industry is permanently impaired. However, if you are like me and believe that free market economics has a tendency to return to equilibrium, then WY is deeply undervalued.

It is not often that a long tenured, well managed, investment grade, large cap company trades at 66% of asset value. The market is extrapolating the downside of a cyclical business while I think a business that has always been cyclical will continue to be cyclical.

We are long WY and buying more while it trades at such an extreme discount.

Key Takeaways POST said cereal volume declines moderated, with April showing improving category trends.POST expects second-half cereal volumes to benefit as the Oreo O's licensing impact rolls off.POST maintained a flat dollar market share while balancing branded and private-label offerings. Post Holdings, Inc. (POST - Free Report) highlighted continued improvement in cereal category trends compared with the prior year. Category volume declined 3% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, while the decline moderated to 2.5% in April, indicating that demand is gradually recovering. Although category performance remains below pre-pandemic levels, management stated that category trends have continued to improve compared with a year ago.

Post Holdings expects year-over-year cereal volume performance to improve in the second half of the year as the impact of the Oreo O’s licensing agreement rolls off. In addition, the company noted that the U.K. cereal category has returned to a relatively flat trend, which management views as a historically normal demand environment and a more supportive backdrop for future volume performance.

POST also expressed confidence in the strength of its portfolio despite continuing assortment changes in the second quarter, particularly within the food channel. The company remained focused on optimizing promotional spending, resulting in slightly lower promotional activity compared with the prior year. Despite this disciplined approach, Post Holdings was the only large player to maintain a flat dollar market share year over year, reflecting continued stability in its portfolio.

Furthermore, Post Holdings continues to benefit from a balanced portfolio of branded and private label products, with private label representing approximately 20% of the Post Consumer Brands’ business. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company also maintains a strong position in key categories, including cereal, granola and peanut butter. Overall, as cereal category trends continue to improve, Post Holdings appears positioned to benefit from its balanced portfolio, stable market share and disciplined promotional strategy.

The Zacks Rundown for POSTThe company’s shares have lost 11.4% in the past six months compared with the industry’s 0.4% decline.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, POST trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, lower than the industry’s average of 14.42.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for POST’s current and next fiscal year earnings implies a year-over-year increase of 4.7% and 11.8%, respectively.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked stocks have been discussed below:

B&G Foods, Inc. (BGS - Free Report) manufactures, sells and distributes a portfolio of shelf-stable and frozen foods and household products. BGS currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for B&G Foods’ current fiscal-year earnings implies growth of 11.8% from the year-ago actuals. BGS delivered a trailing four-quarter negative earnings surprise of 1.7%, on average.

Armanino Foods of Distinction, Inc. (AMNF - Free Report) produces and markets frozen food products in the United States. AMNF currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Armanino Foods' current fiscal-year sales and earnings indicates growth of 7.1% and 1.7%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. AMNF delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 23.1%, on average.

Mama’s Creations, Inc. (MAMA - Free Report) , together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets fresh deli-prepared foods in the United States. MAMA currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MAMA's current fiscal-year sales & earnings implies growth of 30% and 73.3%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. MAMA delivered a trailing four-quarter negative earnings surprise of 129.2%, on average.

Key Takeaways Jabil has climbed 78.4% in a year, though it trails Flex and Celestica's stronger industry gains.Jabil's optical transceiver modules use Intel silicon photonics to support faster AI data transmission.Jabil's fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates rose, signaling bullish growth sentiment. Jabil, Inc. (JBL - Free Report) has soared 78.4% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 104.2%. It has underperformed peers like Flex Ltd. (FLEX - Free Report) and Celestica Inc. (CLS - Free Report) over this period. While Celestica has gained 145%, Flex surged 234.3%. 

One-Year JBL Stock Price Performance

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

JBL Rides on AI StrengthJabil's extensive manufacturing footprint and expertise position it as an ideal partner in the burgeoning AI/ML ecosystem. The company's commitment to providing unparalleled value to customers underscores its strategic importance in the optical module space. The company’s photonics-based optical transceiver modules are designed to fuel the AI/ML revolution, promise unparalleled performance and scalability, thanks to the collaborative efforts of industry giants.

The breakthrough technology leverages Intel Corporation's (INTC - Free Report) cutting-edge silicon photonics platform, renowned for its manufacturing efficiency and reliability. The collaboration sets a new standard for speed, efficiency and reliability in data transmission. Intel's volume-proven silicon photonics platform, with on-chip laser sources fabricated, tested and burned-in at wafer scale, ensures unparalleled reliability and simplicity in module integration. With a focus on reliability, scalability and performance, its optical transceiver modules are poised to drive significant advancements in data-intensive applications with considerable improvement in the bandwidth capacity of data center racks without requiring modifications to existing infrastructure.

Diversified Bouquet Lends SupportWith a presence across 100 locations in 30 countries, Jabil is likely to gain from secular growth drivers with strong margins and cash flow dynamics. Moreover, its unmatched end-market experience, technical and design capabilities, manufacturing know-how, supply chain insights and global product management expertise have put it in good stead. Its extensive global footprint is further strengthened by a centralized procurement process, which, coupled with a single Enterprise Resource Planning system, aids customers with end-to-end supply chain visibility.

Jabil’s focus on end-market and product diversification is a key catalyst. The company’s target that “no product or product family should be greater than 5% operating income or cash flows in any fiscal year” is commendable. The diversification increases the reliability of the company’s earnings and revenues, thereby driving long-term returns for investors.

The company is likely to gain from the rapid adoption of 5G wireless and cloud computing in the long run. It is benefiting from solid demand in key end markets, diligent execution of operational plans and skillful management of supply chain dynamics. A large-scale portfolio of business sectors offers Jabil a high degree of resilience during macroeconomic and geopolitical disruptions.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Estimate Revision TrendThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jabil’s fiscal 2026 earnings has surged 14.9% to $12.74 per share over the past year, while the same for fiscal 2027 has increased 25.1% to $16.59. The positive estimate revision depicts bullish sentiments about the stock’s growth potential.
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

End NoteJabil is bullish on its long-term prospects. The company is well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in areas such as AI data center hardware, power and energy infrastructure, software-defined electric and hybrid vehicles, and healthcare. Strong margins and robust free cash flow are likely to enable continued investment in profitable growth and capital returns to shareholders.

The uptrend in estimate revisions further portrays positive sentiments about the stock’s growth potential. JBL has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 28.5% and delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 5.9%. It has a VGM Score of A. Jabil carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

With a solid Zacks Rank and healthy fundamentals, Jabil appears primed for further price appreciation. Consequently, investors are likely to profit if they bet on this high-flying stock now.

Key Takeaways ArcBest is benefiting from tighter truckload capacity and a more supportive pricing environment. ARCB's renewals rose in the March quarter and Asset-Based tonnage per day also increased in the period. AI route optimization delivered $15 million in annualized savings and better asset utilization. ArcBest Corporation (ARCB - Free Report) is benefiting from a freight market that is becoming more constructive after a prolonged downturn.

The company’s setup combines tightening truckload capacity, disciplined pricing, technology-led productivity and an integrated logistics model that can support margins if freight demand continues to normalize.

ARCB Benefits From a Tighter Freight CycleTruckload capacity is tightening as carriers exit the industry, while manufacturing indicators have moved into expansion. That backdrop is helping create a more supportive pricing environment for ArcBest.

The company’s first-quarter 2026 contract renewals and deferred pricing agreements averaged a 6.3% increase. Asset-Based shipments per day rose 1.8%, while tonnage per day increased 6.5%, giving ARCB a better base for operating leverage as demand improves.

ArcBest Uses AI to Improve Route DensityTechnology is central to the margin story. ArcBest’s continuous improvement training has reached roughly 75% of its network and generated $32 million in annualized cost savings.

Its AI-enabled city route optimization program has delivered $15 million in annualized savings. The system supports optimized pickup and delivery routes, daily demand projections and better asset utilization, helping the company improve service and lower cost without relying only on aggressive capital spending.

ARCB Cross-Sell Model Supports Better PricingArcBest is not just a traditional trucking name. It combines ABF Freight’s asset-based less-than-truckload network with Asset-Light logistics offerings, including brokerage, managed transportation and expedited services.

About 70% of Asset-Light customers also use Asset-Based services, and cross-sold accounts generate more than three times the revenue and profit per account. This integrated positioning differs from pure less-than-truckload peers such as Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL - Free Report) , one of North America’s largest less-than-truckload carriers, and asset-light logistics players such as C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW - Free Report) , which focuses on global logistics, freight brokerage and supply-chain technology.

ArcBest View adds another layer to that model by letting customers quote, book and track shipments across logistics solutions through one interface. The expanding dynamic quote pool also helps ARCB selectively fill capacity and optimize yield.

ArcBest Faces Inflation and Mix PressuresThe recovery is not without friction. In the first quarter, Asset-Based operating ratio worsened to 97.3% from 95.9% a year earlier as labor, fuel and equipment depreciation costs rose.

Mix also remains a drag. Asset-Based billed revenue per shipment increased 0.6%, but billed revenue per hundredweight fell 3.9% as the freight profile shifted toward heavier shipments.

Asset-Light margins remain sensitive to purchased transportation costs. Purchased transportation expense was 86.2% of Asset-Light revenues in the first quarter, leaving profitability exposed to carrier-cost swings as capacity conditions change.

ARCB Style Scores Fit a Trend-Driven SetupThe bottom line: ARCB’s investment case is tied to whether pricing discipline, freight-cycle improvement and productivity initiatives can translate into durable margin expansion.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ArcBest’s June-quarter, September-quarter and current-year sales implies a year-over-year improvement of 15.3%, 13.3% and 11.4%, respectively. ARCB’s EPS indicates upward revisions over the past 60 days for the June-quarter, September-quarter and current-year, reflecting optimism.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), along with a VGM Score of B. It also has a Momentum Score of B, which fits a trend-driven setup supported by improving pricing conditions and positive estimate revisions. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.  

ARCB’s Value Score of C and Growth Score of C are more balanced signals. They suggest the story is not simply about a cheap valuation or a clean growth profile, but about execution through a freight-cycle recovery. 

ISTANBUL, July 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş., a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: FRHC), an international diversified financial services group operating in more than 20 countries, today announced that Türkiye’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) and Competition Authority of Türkiye has approved its planned acquisition of 99.32% of the share capital of Turkish Bank A.Ş.

BRSA approval is an important step toward completing the transaction and supports Freedom Holding Corp.’s strategy to build integrated financial services platforms in selected growth markets. Upon closing, Turkish Bank A.Ş., a Turkish banking institution with a history dating back to 1982, will become part of the Group’s regional platform in Türkiye, alongside its brokerage, investment and capital markets businesses.

“Türkiye is a strategic market for Freedom, and we are entering it with a clear understanding of what we want to build. In Kazakhstan, we have already proven that a digital ecosystem can become part of people’s everyday lives. In less than two years since its launch, Freedom SuperApp has reached 5.67 million users and has become one of the country’s fastest-growing digital services. We have brought financial services and advanced digital products together on a single platform, allowing them to complement and strengthen one another,” said Timur Turlov, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Holding Corp.“This is the experience we intend to bring to the Turkish market, where the potential client base could be four to five times larger than in Kazakhstan. The acquisition of a bank creates the foundation for scaling a model that has already proven its effectiveness, and BRSA approval is an important step toward launching it in Türkiye,” Turlov added.

Following completion of the acquisition, Turkish Bank will continue to operate under Turkish regulatory supervision and will gain access to Freedom’s expertise in digital financial services, technology-driven distribution and client-focused product development.

BRSA approval also comes as Freedom Holding is in the final stage of establishing its brokerage business in Türkiye. Final authorization from the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye would allow the Group to expand its financial products and services for retail, affluent and high-net-worth clients, as well as small and medium-sized businesses and corporate clients.

The Bank is expected to support Freedom’s regional strategy by enabling deeper integration of banking services, capital markets, insurance and cross-border financial solutions. Over time, the model may be expanded through non-financial services, including e-commerce, telecommunications and lifestyle offerings.

“BRSA approval is an important step toward implementing our strategy in Türkiye,” said H. Cenk Eynehan, Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş. “Following completion of the transaction, we will have the opportunity to combine the heritage and market position of an established Turkish banking institution with Freedom’s technology, entrepreneurial culture and international expertise. Our priority will be to create additional value for clients through innovation, accessibility and an expanded range of financial products and services.”

Freedom plans to implement a modernization and growth program focused on digital transformation, client channels, product expansion and operational efficiency. Integration will focus on technology infrastructure, client experience, product development and cooperation among Freedom’s Turkish business lines.

The transaction is expected to expand Freedom Holding Corp.’s presence across Eurasia, the Middle East and Central Asia and support the Group’s long-term investment strategy in selected growth markets.

The Freedom Holding Corp.'s banking business is already present in Tajikistan. In November last year, The Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market granted the holding company approval to establish a bank in Georgia. In early June, Freedom Holding Corp. submitted an application to the French regulator for a banking license. Timur Turlov noted that the company plans to invest approximately €500 million in developing its digital ecosystem in France.

About Freedom Holding Corp.

Freedom Holding Corp. provides financial services in 22 countries, including Kazakhstan, the United States, Cyprus, Poland, Spain, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. The Company’s principal executive office is located in New York City. In Kazakhstan, Freedom is actively developing its financial and digital ecosystem, which includes Freedom Bank, Freedom Broker, the insurance companies Freedom Life and Freedom insurance, as well as a lifestyle segment that features Arbuz.kz, Freedom Ticketon, and Aviata. Freedom Holding Corp. shares are traded on the U.S. technology exchange NASDAQ, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), and the Astana International Exchange (AIX) under the ticker symbol FRHC. Freedom Holding Corp. is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the common stock is included in Russell 3000 Index.

Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş., a wholly owned subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., was established in 2022 to support the Group’s expansion in Türkiye’s financial services sector. The company focuses on financial consulting and investments across banking, insurance, capital markets, payment systems and other financial services, including supporting the capitalization and development of portfolio companies.

In 2025, the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye granted the company an establishment license. Freedom Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş. was subsequently established and is working toward obtaining an operating brokerage license upon meeting the regulator’s requirements.

Turkish Bank A.Ş. is a commercial bank operating in Türkiye and a member of TurkishBank Group. The bank provides a range of financial services, including corporate, commercial and retail banking solutions.

TurkishBank Group, established in 1901, is a privately owned financial services group operating across Türkiye, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the United Kingdom. The Group provides banking, financial and wealth management solutions through an international network.

Contact

Head of Public Relations
Natalia Kharlashina
Freedom Holding Corp.
[email protected]

+77013641454

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6db975c8-cd09-47b5-85de-8c3e5db261ec

Key Takeaways VIAV is gaining from AI infrastructure demand, product innovation and the Spirent business acquisition.VIAV expanded margins as revenues rose 42.8% and non-GAAP operating margin reached 21% in fiscal Q3 2026.Viavi expects AI networking, data centers, 5G, fiber, aerospace and defense demand to support growth. Viavi, Solutions, Inc. (VIAV - Free Report) shares have skyrocketed 167.9% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 150.2%. The stock has outperformed the Zacks Computer & Technology sector and the S&P 500 during the same time frame.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The company has outperformed its peers like Keysight Technologies, Inc. (KEYS - Free Report) , and Ciena Corporation (CIEN - Free Report) . Shares of Keysight have jumped 72.3% and shares of Ciena have risen 109.7%.

VIAV Rides on Strength in AI Infrastructure VerticalViavi is witnessing solid traction in its Network and Service Enablement, backed by ongoing AI infrastructure buildout. Growing demand from the data center ecosystem, including hyperscalers and semiconductor-driven infrastructure, is driving revenues in the NSE segment.

The company recently launched the industry's first Ultra Ethernet Transport validation solution for AI fabrics. The platform enables hyperscalers, cloud providers and network equipment vendors to verify AI networks with costly GPU infrastructure. The innovation boost Viavi’s prospects across multiple use cases, such as validation of large language model traffic, congestion control and AI workload emulation and several others.

Viavi recently introduced AI Experts, an AI-driven software layer integrated into its testing platforms. Its capabilities include automated configuration, diagnostics assistance, workflow automation, real-time troubleshooting and faster wireless validation. This shows that VIAV is moving towards intelligent software-enabled testing instead of simply selling hardware. This can improve customers’ brand loyalty and boost software revenues over time. The company also recently secured PCIe 6.0 Certification. The certification enhances VIAVI's credibility as a trusted provider of compliance and validation solutions for advanced computing technologies.

One of the largest contributors to growth is the acquisition of Spirent's high-speed Ethernet, network security and channel emulation businesses. Following the buyout, the company benefited from a broader customer base, an Ethernet testing portfolio expansion, stronger AI networking capabilities and increased cross-selling opportunities. A diverse portfolio, innovation initiatives are boosting its competitive edge against its peers such as Keysight, Ciena and Teradyne.

Strong Operating Margin Growth is a PositiveStrong margin expansion shows improving operating leverage. Revenue grew 42.8% year over year, while non-GAAP operating income grew 79.2% during the same time period. Non-GAAP operating margin improved to 21% in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, up from 16.7% in the year-ago quarter. This reflects higher volumes and a favorable product mix within Network and Service Enablement. Segment profitability benefited from acquisition synergies and stronger demand across data center and aerospace markets. Fourth quarter fiscal 2026 outlook indicates additional operating margin expansion, signaling continued operating leverage as revenues scale and a greater portion of sales comes from differentiated testing and software-oriented offerings.

Estimate Revision TrendThe company’s earnings estimates for 2026 has remained unchanged and for 2027 it has improved over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Key Valuation Metric of VIAVFrom a valuation standpoint, VIAV is currently trading at a discount compared to the industry. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 51.16 forward 12-month earnings, lower than 58.46 for the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

End NoteViavi is positioning itself as a critical supplier to AI networking infrastructure. Strong demand from data centers, continued 5G and fiber network upgrades, and steady aerospace and defense demand are expected to be major growth drivers for the upcoming quarters. Portfolio expansion through strategic acquisition and a strong focus on innovation is a positive factor. Hence, with a Zacks rank #2 (Buy), Viavi appears to be a good investment option at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways AXON's Software & Services revenues rose 35% in Q1 2026, driven by growth in network users.Software growth is fueled by digital evidence management, software adoption and premium add-on demand.Dedrone platform revenues grew about 300% as Axon launched the upgraded Dedrone C2 platform. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON - Free Report) is benefiting from persistent strength in its Software & Services segment.  In the first quarter of 2026, the segment’s revenues increased 35% year over year, driven by an increase in the aggregate number of users to the Axon network.

Growing popularity for the company’s digital evidence management and higher adoption of its latest software offerings are driving the segment’s growth. Also, strong demand for premium add-on features is aiding the segment. Existing customers are consistently returning to purchase additional services, reflecting strong customer satisfaction and engagement. This ongoing expansion supports a growing base of annual recurring revenues (ARR).

Given the rising global demand for Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CUAS), Axon is also witnessing strong momentum in its Dedrone platform. Revenues from the Dedrone platform saw robust growth of about 300% year over year in first-quarter 2026. The company also recently launched Dedrone C2, an upgraded version of the platform. This C2 version comes with enhanced sensor fusion technology, offering stronger detection capabilities.

Strong customer alignment, increased adoption across sectors and continuous product innovation led Axon to issue bullish guidance for 2026. The company currently expects revenues to increase approximately 30-32% year over year compared with 27-30% guided earlier.

Segment Performance of AXON's PeersAmong its major peers, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS - Free Report) Government Solutions segment’s first-quarter 2026 revenues increased 20.4% year over year to $288.4 million. Higher sales of Kratos’ Defense and Rocket Support, Turbine Technologies and Microwave Products units aided the results. Kratos Defense derived 77.7% of its total revenues from this segment during the quarter.

Its another peer, Woodward, Inc.’s (WWD - Free Report) Industrial business segment reported net sales of $387 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up 20% year over year. Woodward generated 35% of its total sales from this segment in the quarter. The revenue growth for Woodward’s Industrial business segment was driven by higher demand for power generation equipment and services, along with favorable conditions in marine transportation and steady investment in parts of oil and gas.

AXON’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Axon have gained 14.4% in the past month against the industry’s decline of 0.2%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, AXON is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 60.72X, above the industry’s average of 48.00X. Axon carries a Value Score of F.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXON’s 2026 earnings has increased 15.6% over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call July 1, 2026 9:00 AM EDT

Company Participants

Kevin Toomey - Head of Investor Relations
Sanoke Viswanathan - CEO & Director
Joshua Warren - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division
Alex Kramm - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
Kelsey Zhu - Autonomous Research US LP
Manav Patnaik - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Shlomo Rosenbaum - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division
Surinder Thind - Jefferies LLC, Research Division
Yehuda Silverman - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Andrew Nicholas - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division
Keen Fai Tong - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Jason Haas - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
Curtis Nagle - BofA Securities, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the FactSet Third Quarter Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Kevin Toomey, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kevin Toomey
Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to FactSet's Third Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. Before we begin, the slides we reference during this presentation can be found through the webcast on the Investor Relations section of our website at factset.com. A replay of today's call will be available on our website. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions.

The call is scheduled to last for 1 hour. To be fair to everyone, please limit yourself to one question. You may reenter the queue for additional follow-up questions, which we will take if time permits.

Before we discuss our results, I encourage all listeners to review the legal notice on Slide 2. Discussions on

Key Takeaways NBIS pipeline generation grew 3.5 times quarter over quarter to a record level amid strong demand.Nebius raised 2026 capital spending to $20B-$25B to expand capacity with customer commitments secured.NBIS reaffirmed 2026 revenue guidance as utilization, pricing and added capacity support growth. Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS - Free Report) is seeing strong momentum in customer demand, supported by a rapidly expanding sales pipeline and increasing adoption of its AI cloud platform. During the first quarter, the company reported that pipeline generation grew 3.5 times from the previous quarter, marking a record level. Management stated that the growing pipeline, together with strong customer demand, is driving continued investments in infrastructure, platform capabilities and capacity expansion. The company noted that several customers are typically competing for every GPU it brings online, while contract durations, average contract values and customer prepayments continue to increase.

Alongside growing demand, Nebius continues to expand its AI infrastructure and full-stack cloud platform. The company increased its contracted power capacity to more than 3.5 gigawatts and now targets at least 4 gigawatts by the end of 2026. It also announced a new Pennsylvania site capable of supporting 1.2 gigawatts of power. To strengthen its platform, Nebius acquired Tavily, Eigen AI and Clarifai, adding engineering talent and enhancing its inference optimization, agentic search and Token Factory capabilities.

The company highlighted its pipeline excludes strategic hyperscaler agreements such as Meta Platforms, Inc. (META - Free Report) and consists of qualified opportunities across its AI cloud and Token Factory offerings, serving AI-native companies, software vendors and enterprises. Nebius maintained strong win rates while shortening sales cycles, increasing average selling prices and securing customer wins across healthcare, life sciences, physical AI, automation and fintech.

For 2026, Nebius raised capital expenditure guidance to $20 billion-$25 billion from the previous $16 billion-$20 billion range. The increase reflects investments for 2027 capacity, with customer commitments already secured, including Meta. Management expects these investments to begin contributing to revenue during the first half of 2027.

Nebius reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance for annualized run-rate revenue of $7 billion-$9 billion, group revenue of $3 billion-$3.4 billion and a group adjusted EBITDA margin of around 40%. The company said utilization and pricing remain strong, while additional capacity will remain the key factor supporting growth throughout the year.

Taking a Look at NBIS’ CompetitorsMicrosoft (MSFT - Free Report) 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. ARPU is increasing through E5 and M365 Copilot uptake across key segments. Strategic execution through expanding scale and enterprise customer growth is driving non-AI services. Azure growth for the fourth quarter is projected to be 39-40% at cc, suggesting demand saturation, with customer demand exceeding available capacity. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Microsoft expects total company revenues between $86.7 billion and $87.8 billion, suggesting growth of 13% to 15%, with accelerating commercial growth partially offset by the consumer business.

CoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) is seeing strong demand for inference-ready compute across GPU generations, which management expects to support long-term margin and earnings growth. The company also expects its storage business to grow rapidly, while software, CPU and networking offerings are each projected to exceed $100 million in ARR by 2026. AI adoption is expanding its customer base and platform opportunities as clients scale deployments across training, inference and agentic AI workloads. CoreWeave has surpassed 3.5 GW of contracted power capacity, secured more than $20 billion in financing and grown its backlog to nearly $100 billion, supporting growth through 2026 and 2027.

NBIS Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Nebius have gained 4.4% in the past month against the Internet – Software and Services industry’s decline of 0.3%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

On a price-to-book basis, NBIS’ shares are trading at 9.65X, above the Internet Software Services industry’s 4.21X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NBIS’ earnings for 2026 has been revised significantly upward over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

DALLAS, July 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD), a designer, builder, and operator of high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads, today announced it has achieved Ready for Service for Phase 1 of Building 2 at Polaris Forge 1, delivering 75 MW of operational AI capacity to its customer on schedule and bringing total live capacity at the campus to 175 MW.

The delivery marks the next major milestone in the continued buildout of Polaris Forge 1, Applied Digital’s fully leased AI Factory Campus designed to support high-density artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads. At full build out, Polaris Forge 1 is contracted to deliver 400 MW of critical IT load under long-term lease agreements.

“Delivering this phase on time underscores the strength of our execution model,” said Wes Cummins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Digital. “Polaris Forge 1 continues to demonstrate the depth of our team and the discipline it takes to bring critical AI infrastructure capacity online for our customers. Achieving this milestone required intense coordination across the field, construction, engineering, operations, procurement, development, and corporate teams, and I’m proud of the entire Applied Digital organization for delivering as planned. With 175 MW now live at the campus, Polaris Forge 1 demonstrates the repeatable model we are scaling across our AI Factory footprint.”

This latest achievement follows Applied Digital’s on-time completion of the first 100 MW building at Polaris Forge 1 and further demonstrates the Company’s ability to bring critical IT capacity online in alignment with customer deployment timelines. With 175 MW now live, Polaris Forge 1 continues to demonstrate Applied Digital’s ability to execute across multiple phases of a large-scale AI infrastructure deployment.

Applied Digital’s execution approach is built around what the Company refers to as its AI Factory franchise model: a repeatable framework that replicates a core team of design, construction, and operations professionals across each campus, supported by centralized expertise and dedicated site-level execution teams.

“Polaris Forge 1 continues to validate the repeatable model we are building across our AI Factory platform,” Cummins continued. “We are not just securing power; we are turning it into live, operational AI capacity. That is the hard part, and it is where Applied Digital continues to differentiate itself.”

As demand for large-scale AI infrastructure continues to grow, customers are placing increasing importance on execution certainty and speed to market. Applied Digital’s on-time delivery of another major phase at Polaris Forge 1 reinforces the Company’s ability to bring complex infrastructure online in alignment with customer timelines.

Polaris Forge 1 is located in Ellendale, North Dakota, where Applied Digital has operated since 2021 and built long-standing relationships with local leaders, partners, and community stakeholders. As the campus continues to expand, the Company remains focused on responsible development, local partnership, and creating long-term value in the communities where it builds.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD), named Best Data Center in the Americas 2025 by Datacloud — designs, builds, and operates high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, and founded in 2021, the company combines hyperscale expertise, closed-loop cooling, and rapid deployment capabilities to deliver secure, scalable compute at industry-leading speed and efficiency, while creating economic opportunities in underserved communities through its AI Factory franchise model.

Learn more at applieddigital.com or follow @APLDdigital on X and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, future operating and financial performance, product development, market position, business strategy and objectives, and future financing plans. These statements use words, and variations of words, such as “will,” “continue,” “build,” “future,” “increase,” “drive,” “believe,” “look,” “ahead,” “confident,” “proven,” “deliver,” “outlook,” “expect,” “project” and “predict.” Other examples of forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, (i) statements that reflect perspectives and expectations regarding lease agreements and any current or prospective data center campus development; (ii) statements about the high-performance computing (HPC) industry; (iii) statements of company plans and objectives, including the company’s evolving business model, or estimates or predictions of actions by suppliers; (iv) statements of future economic performance; (v) statements of assumptions underlying other statements and statements about the company or its business; and (vi) the company’s plans to obtain future project financing. You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events and thus are inherently subject to uncertainty. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the company’s expectations and projections. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: whether or not our customers exercise the renewal options under their leases with us (if not, we will not recognize further revenue from such customer under its respective lease); our ability to complete construction of our data center campuses as planned; the lead time of customer acquisition and leasing decisions and related internal approval processes; changes to artificial intelligence and HPC infrastructure needs and their impact on future plans; costs related to the HPC operations and strategy; our ability to timely deliver any services required in connection with completion of installation under lease agreements; our ability to raise additional capital to fund the ongoing datacenter construction and operations; our ability to obtain financing of datacenter leases and more broadly for our development and general corporate activities; our dependence on principal customers, including our ability to execute and perform our obligations under our leases with key customers; our ability to timely and successfully build new hosting facilities with the appropriate contractual margins and efficiencies; power or other supply disruptions and equipment failures; the inability to comply with regulations, developments and changes in regulations; cash flow and access to capital; availability of financing to continue to grow our business; decline in demand for our products and services; maintenance of third party relationships; and conditions in the debt and equity capital markets. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties, and other factors can be found in the company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections captioned “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors,” and in the company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, on the company’s website (www.applieddigital.com) under “Investors,” or on request from the company. Information in this press release is as of the dates and time periods indicated herein, and the company does not undertake to update any of the information contained in these materials, except as required by law.

Key Takeaways WCN shares gained 11.8% in the past month, outpacing the industry's 9.7% rally.WCN expects revenues to rise 5.7% in 2026 and 6.1% in 2027, with earnings also growing.WCN's landfill tons rose 4%, aided by municipal solid waste and special waste volume gains. Shares of Waste Connections (WCN - Free Report) have gained 11.8% in the past month, outpacing the industry’s 9.7% rally.

WCN’s revenues in 2026 and 2027 are expected to increase 5.7% and 6.1% year over year, respectively. Earnings are anticipated to rise 6.8% in 2026 and 12.4% in 2027.

Factors That Augur Well for WCN’s SuccessMarket Expansion Support Top-Line Growth: Waste Connections is well-positioned to capitalize on the global waste management market's expansion. According to Grand View Research, the market is expected to see a 6% CAGR through 2033, reaching $2.4 trillion. The company accounts for an estimated 35% of total industry revenues, making it a major player with a significant market share.

Landfill Volume Drivers: Despite disruptions faced during winter, WCN witnessed a 4% increase in landfill tons, hinting at robust demand for volume moving into facilities. This growth can be attributed to a 5% rise in Municipal Solid Waste and an 8% hike in special waste tons. The first quarter of 2026 marks the sixth consecutive quarter of high special waste activity. This momentum hints at a construction demand that can benefit the company’s broader volumes in the future.

AI-Backed Tech Optimizes Operations: WCN’s AI-fueled pricing tool supported a nearly 20% year-over-year enhancement in customer retention and pricing efficiency while ensuring strong core pricing. This tool allows the company to incorporate price hikes efficiently, retaining customers for the long term and lowering returns. Management anticipates the complete deployment of AI initiatives to boost margins by 100 basis points heading into 2028.

Shareholder-Friendly Actions: Waste Connections consistently rewards its shareholders despite fluctuations in its cash position, underscoring its dedication to creating long-term value for investors. In 2023, 2024 and 2025, Waste Connections paid out $271 million, $302 million and $334 million in dividends, respectively. Consistent dividends demonstrate the company’s commitment to returning value to shareholders and support share prices.

Risks Faced by Waste ConnectionsHigh Competition: The regulated waste collection and disposal business is characterized by very low barriers to entry, allowing competitors to raise prices rapidly to gain market share. This capital-intensive industry includes larger and better-capitalized companies, which affects its ability to invest in substantial labor and capital resources.

Weak Liquidity: At the end of the first quarter of 2026, WCN’s current ratio was pegged at 0.69, lower than the industry average of 1.08. The 1.4% dip in the current ratio from the year-ago quarter due to a rise in accounts payable and a current ratio of less than 1 indicates that the company may have problems paying off its short-term obligations.

                                                           Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Seasonality Hurts Revenues, Operating Risks High: WCN’s top-line is highly seasonal, with first-quarter revenues being the lowest. While revenues climb in the second and third quarters, fourth-quarter revenues are lower than the prior two quarters. The anticipated fluctuation between the highest and lowest quarters due to seasonality is around 10%. This is mainly due to the lower volume of solid waste generated during winter and early spring, owing to comparatively lesser construction and demolition activities, as well as reduced E&P activity. 

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

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Ralliant Corporation (RAL - Free Report) and Pentair (PNR - 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.

Ralliant has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8.4%. RAL delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8%, on average.

Pentair has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 11%. PNR delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 3.7%, on average.