Eastman Chemical (NYSE: EMN | EMN Price Prediction) is a Kingsport, Tennessee specialty materials company whose molecular recycling (methanolysis) facility is reshaping its cash flow profile. Trading at $72.49 with a 4.56% yield, the question for income investors is straightforward: can the company keep funding the payout through a cyclical chemicals trough?
Dividend Snapshot Metric Value Annual Dividend $3.34 Dividend Yield 4.56% Consecutive Years of Increases 16 years Most Recent Quarterly Rate $0.84 (ex-date June 15, 2026) Dividend Aristocrat Status No (needs 25 years) The Cash Flow Math Works, Even in a Down Year Eastman paid $381 million in dividends in 2025 against $424 million in free cash flow (operating cash flow of $970 million minus capex of $546 million). FY2025 adjusted EPS came in at $5.42, while the dividend run rate is roughly $3.32 per share.
Metric Value Assessment Earnings Payout (Adj.) ~61% Healthy FCF Payout ~90% Elevated OCF Coverage 2.5x Strong The FCF cushion narrowed in 2025 versus $688 million in 2024, but 2026 capex guidance of about $400 million should restore breathing room.
Leverage Is the Real Watch Item Metric Value Net Debt $4.59B EBITDA (TTM) $1.37B Net Debt / EBITDA ~3.4x Cash on Hand (Q1 2026) $665M Leverage above 3x EBITDA is elevated for a cyclical, but the $665 million cash balance and targeted $125 to $150 million in 2026 cost reductions provide insulation.
16 Straight Raises, Including Through 2020 Year Annual Dividend Paid 2025 $381M 2024 $379M 2023 $376M 2022 $381M 2021 $375M The quarterly rate has climbed from $0.46 in 2016 to $0.84 today, and management held the line through the pandemic.
Management Calls Out the Catalyst CEO Mark Costa said on the FY2025 call: “We continued to prioritize stockholder returns and raised the dividend for the 16th consecutive year. In total, we returned approximately $500 million through dividends and share repurchases.” He added: “In 2025, we generated operating cash flow approaching $1 billion, a clear validation of our disciplined approach to cost and working capital management.” The Kingsport methanolysis facility, contributing about $60 million of incremental earnings in 2025 with $30 million more targeted in 2026, is the secular growth engine.
Verdict: Safe, With Leverage as the Asterisk Dividend Safety Rating: Safe. The adjusted-earnings payout near 61% is comfortable, OCF covered the dividend 2.5x, and the recycling ramp adds structural cash flow. EMN screens favorably for income if the methanolysis economics and 11x forward P/E mark a cyclical trough. The risk case builds if olefin pricing weakens further and net debt drifts above $4.59 billion, which would pressure capital allocation. For now, the payout is well covered.
ANDOVER, Mass., June 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MKS Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI), a global provider of enabling technologies that transform our world, today announced the expansion of its Atotech equipment manufacturing site in Guangzhou, China.
With an investment of USD 25 million, the expansion will add approximately 323,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations space and is expected to double the site’s production capacity upon completion, which is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027.
This investment reinforces MKS’ ongoing commitment to customers across Asia, where localized manufacturing, speed, and responsiveness are increasingly critical. The expansion is driven by sustained growth in AI-related markets — particularly in semiconductor, advanced packaging, and advanced PCB applications — where customers demand greater scale, faster turnaround, and closer technical collaboration.
The new facility expansion is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing operations, enhancing capabilities across production, final assembly, logistics, and testing and validation. Beyond increased manufacturing capacity, the site will continue to support R&D activities, while strengthening global technology collaboration with customers and original equipment manufacturers.
To support more sustainable operations, the facility will incorporate a photovoltaic power system designed to supply a significant portion of its daytime electricity demand, contributing to improved energy efficiency and long-term sustainable growth.
“Expanding our operations in Asia strengthens our ability to support customers in one of the world’s most dynamic electronics manufacturing hubs,” said Dave Henry, Executive Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing and General Manager, Materials Solutions Division. “By increasing capacity, enhancing operational efficiency, and advancing innovation, we are improving responsiveness to customer demand while building a strong foundation to support the next wave of AI-driven growth globally.”
“This expansion reinforces Guangzhou’s strategic role within our global manufacturing network,” said Tassilo Thuene, Vice President and General Manager, Equipment Business, Materials Solutions Division. “With added capacity, enhanced testing and validation capabilities, and greater operational flexibility, we are well positioned to meet evolving customer requirements and enable the next wave of innovation in advanced electronics and AI-related applications.”
The expanded facility is designed to streamline production flows, reduce complexity, shorten lead times, and improve delivery reliability. Once fully ramped, the site is expected to generate significant additional annual output, further strengthening MKS’ position in high-growth electronics markets.
About MKS Inc.
MKS Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI) enables technologies that transform our world. We deliver foundational technology solutions to leading edge semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and packaging, and specialty industrial applications. We apply our broad science and engineering capabilities to create instruments, subsystems, systems, process control solutions and specialty chemicals technology that improve process performance, optimize productivity and enable unique innovations for many of the world’s leading technology and industrial companies. Our solutions are critical to addressing the challenges of miniaturization and complexity in advanced device manufacturing by enabling increased power, speed, feature enhancement, and optimized connectivity. Our solutions are also critical to addressing ever-increasing performance requirements across a wide array of specialty industrial applications. Additional information can be found at www.mks.com.
About the Atotech Brand
Atotech, a brand within the Materials Solutions Division of MKS, develops leading process and manufacturing technologies for advanced surface modification, electroless and electrolytic plating, and surface finishing. Applying a comprehensive systems-and-solutions approach, the Atotech portfolio includes chemistry, equipment, software, and services for innovative and high-technology applications. These solutions are used in a wide variety of end-markets, including datacenter, consumer electronics and communications infrastructure, as well as in numerous industrial and consumer applications such as automotive, heavy machinery, and household appliances.
With its well-established innovative strength and industry-leading global TechCenter network, MKS delivers pioneering solutions through its Atotech brand – combined with unparalleled on-site support for customers worldwide. For more information, please visit us at atotech.com.
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regarding MKS’ manufacturing and operations expansion plans, expected production capacity and output, ability to support customer needs, and anticipated demand and growth opportunities in high-growth electronics markets. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact should be considered to be forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements set forth herein, including as a result of the factors described in MKS’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. MKS is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this press release.
OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Werner Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: WERN), a premier transportation and logistics provider, will release its second quarter earnings on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, after market close. Werner will also hold a conference call to discuss the second quarter 2026 results and 2026 outlook on the same day, beginning at 4:00 p.m. CT. The news release, live webcast of the earnings conference call, and accompanying slide presentation will be available at werner.com in the “Investo.
Craig Donohue, Cboe Global Markets CEO, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the importance of the Cboe, the derivatives portion of equity markets and much more.
Arm (NASDAQ:ARM | ARM Price Prediction) has been one of the wildest rides in semiconductors this year, and the question on every shareholder’s mind is whether the current run still has gas in the tank. After a vertical move off the spring lows, ARM trades at $347.57, and our proprietary model still sees room to push higher over the next 12 months.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Arm is $382.24, implying 9.98% upside from here. Our recommendation is buy, and our confidence in the call is high at 90%.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $347.57 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $382.24 Upside 9.98% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% A Vertical Year Meets a Sharp Reset Arm is up 228.5% year to date and 129.58% over the past year, but the last week tells a different story, with shares down 14.28% after testing $418.88. ARM now sits 39% below its 52-week high of $452.70.
The fundamental backdrop, however, is improving. Q4 FY2026 revenue hit $1.49 billion, up 20.06% YoY, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.60 beating consensus by 3.57%. Full year FY2026 revenue reached $4.92 billion, with free cash flow exploding 395.51% to $882 million.
Why Bulls See $463 In Play Bulls argue Arm is the picks-and-shovels play of the AI build out. CEO Rene Haas noted “demand for Arm AGI CPU, Arm’s first data center chip, has exceeded expectations, reinforcing Arm as the compute platform for the AI era.” Customer demand for AGI CPU exceeds $2 billion across FY2027 to FY2028, with the data center CPU opportunity sized at over $100 billion by 2030.
Hyperscaler wins read like a who’s who: NVIDIA Vera, Microsoft Cobalt, Google Axion, AWS Graviton (a $20 billion business growing triple digits), plus Meta as a multi-generation AGI CPU lead partner. Our bull case 12-month scenario reaches $463.25, or 33.28% upside, with a peak of $479.11.
The Risks Worth Watching The bear case starts with valuation. ARM trades at a 474 trailing P/E and 185 forward P/E. The Wall Street consensus analyst target of $278.29 sits well below current levels. Operating margin compressed from 52.8% to 49.1% as R&D spending jumped 43% to $1.911 billion.
Bulls would counter that this margin compression reflects engineering ramp tied directly to the AGI CPU roadmap, not lost pricing power. Still, the Qualcomm/Nuvia trial expected Q4 calendar 2026, U.S.-China export controls, and SoftBank overhang are real. Our bear case 12-month price is $294.57, a 15.25% drawdown.
The 24/7 Wall St. Take, With Caveats The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $382.24 backs a buy rating at 90% confidence. The factor that tips the scale is royalty acceleration: data center royalty revenue more than doubled YoY in Q4, and that mix shift is what justifies a premium multiple.
The thesis strengthens if Q1 FY2027 lands at the high end of $1.26 billion guidance, and weakens if forward EPS estimates roll lower into the Qualcomm verdict.
Looking further ahead, here is where our model projects Arm could trade, assuming current trajectories hold.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $382 2027 $415 2028 $443 2029 $468 2030 $494 These projections assume Arm continues converting AGI CPU demand into royalty revenue. Significant upside or downside could come from hyperscaler capex shifts or an adverse Qualcomm ruling.
Private credit was supposed to be the safe, sleepy corner of finance where pension money quietly clipped coupons. That story is fraying. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS | MS Price Prediction) just capped investor withdrawals at 5% from its $7 billion private credit fund, and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) is again limiting redemptions from its largest non-traded retail private credit fund.
Withdrawal requests across the $1.8 trillion private credit market have spiked this quarter, and on Bloomberg Businessweek, Len Tannenbaum, the founder of Tannenbaum Capital Group who built Fifth Street Capital to roughly $5 billion before selling it to Oaktree in 2017, says the redemption gates are just the beginning.
Why Tannenbaum thinks the stress is structural Tannenbaum’s argument is that the cracks showing up at Morgan Stanley and Apollo are the predictable result of how the asset class scaled. A wave of direct loans was originated in the 2021 and 2022 zero-rate era, underwritten without accounting for the rate hikes that followed. Those borrowers now have to refinance into a very different curve. As of June 24, 2026, the five-year Treasury yields 4.15% and the 10-year sits at 4.38%, with the 30-year at 4.85%. Layer a private credit spread on top of that, and a software company that borrowed at maybe 7% all-in now faces a refinancing closer to double digits.
What happens when the math no longer works? According to Tannenbaum, the loan gets quietly restructured. Troubled software loans are being converted into PIK securities, meaning the borrower pays interest with more debt rather than cash.
Non-accruals are creeping up. The headline NAV barely budges because the manager remarks the loan at a small discount and keeps moving. The redemption queue at the retail vehicles is what forces the issue out into daylight.
The marks problem Tannenbaum is blunt about the marks. BDC and non-traded fund managers are carrying private loans at marks between 70 and 90 cents on the dollar, and he doubts those marks would survive a real bid. He borrowed a line from Goldman Sachs to make the point. “If you really want to find a price, sell 10% and I’ll tell you what the price is.” The scale of the disclosure gap is visible in BDC quarterly filings such as Apollo’s 10-Q filings with the SEC, where Level 3 fair-value inputs dominate the loan book.
The industry’s own outlooks tiptoe around the same anxiety. Goldman frames recent blowups at First Brands, Tricolor, and Cantor Group as “isolated, idiosyncratic occurrences, not indicators of rising systemic credit risk”, while still flagging that US banks carry roughly $360 billion of private equity and private credit loans, about 11% of their total loans.
JPMorgan’s 2026 view echoes that the September defaults “appear to be isolated to issuer-specific concerns and the auto sector rather than signaling broader systemic risks” while quietly conceding that “pockets of risk may exist” as spreads have compressed. Tannenbaum’s read is that the pockets are bigger than the brochures suggest, and a canary in the coal mine is coming.
The contrarian trade he’s actually making The warning has a twist. Tannenbaum is leaning further in. He is launching a new BDC focused on lower-middle-market deals with $5 to $25 million of EBITDA, the slice of the market the mega-funds find too small to bother with. His pitch is that the next two years are “a great vintage” precisely because the legacy book is impaired. Spreads widen when capital gets scared. Covenants tighten when borrowers run out of lenders. New money written today, on tougher terms, against companies that have already survived the rate reset, looks structurally different from a 2021 unitranche.
That is the trade hidden inside the warning. The same conditions choking off redemptions at Morgan Stanley and Apollo, the refinancing wall, the suspect marks, the PIK creep, are what make new capital powerful. The Goldman 2026 outlook makes a similar point in softer language, calling for “rigorous underwriting and surveillance in private credit” as the price of staying in the game. For investors watching the gated funds and wondering what to do, the question is whether you trust the marks on what you already own. Tannenbaum’s answer, expensive as it sounds, is to find out by trying to sell some.
Meme stock traders have found a new company to “save”: The Wendy’s Company.
The fast food chain saw its shares (Nasdaq: WEN) rise over 19% in premarket trading on Thursday morning as pockets of the internet—primarily Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets—rallied for the company’s success.
The overnight jump follows a Wednesday close that was up more than 25%.
One of the earliest Reddit posts came yesterday with a picture showing Wendy’s stock price down more than 72% over the last five years. It read: “We need to save Wendy’s.”
Subscribe to the Daily newsletter.Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day
Like many retail businesses, restaurant chains have suffered in the face of reduced foot traffic and expendable incomes. Wendy’s has been executing a turnaround plan that includes closing hundreds of stores.
Since the recent rally began, Reddit users have shared a number of Wendy’s-focused memes, such as one of Matthew McConaughey’s Wolf of Wall Street character with Wendy’s signature red hair saying, “You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers.” The actual post read, “When you only buy one meals worth of wendys stocks.”
Pointing to the bandwagon nature of the meme stock rallies, a moderator commented: “You submitted three very similar Wendy’s memes in rapid succession. I’ll approve this one since it has the most traction, but please be considerate of the rest of the feed and the other stocks not named Wendy’s.”
Trump Media Stock Hits All-Time Low—Down Almost 50% In 2026 Pequeño is a breaking news reporter who covers tech and more.
Jun 25, 2026, 03:54pm EDT
ToplineTrump Media & Technology Group shares fell over 6% on Thursday, reaching an all-time low as the company records substantial net losses and low revenue.
Trump owns a roughly 52% stake in TMTG.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Key FactsTrump Media’s stock dropped 6.1% to $7.05 about 20 minutes before market close Thursday, marking its sharpest drop of the week so far.
Shares of the Truth Social parent company have fallen over 46% since the start of the year, when they traded around the $13.77 mark.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Lime, the electric scooter and e-bike rental company formally known as Neutron Holdings, is heading for the public markets with a Nasdaq listing under the ticker LIME. The company filed its S-1 registration with the SEC on May 8 and kicked off its roadshow on June 22, with pricing expected during the week of June 29.
The offering includes 6.96 million shares priced between $24 and $26 each, targeting approximately $174 million in proceeds. That would put Lime’s post-IPO valuation somewhere between $1.66 billion and $1.8 billion.
Advertisement
Uber’s bet and the revenue question Uber plans to purchase up to $20 million in shares, accounting for roughly 11.5% of the total offering. Uber also accounted for about 14% of Lime’s revenue in 2025, meaning the ride-hailing company is simultaneously Lime’s biggest distribution partner and now one of its most visible public market backers.
Lime operates as the largest global provider of shared micromobility services, offering short-term rentals of electric scooters and e-bikes across hundreds of cities.
The balance sheet tells a different story Lime reported a net loss of $59.3 million in 2025. As of March 31, 2026, Lime held roughly $261 million in cash against current liabilities of approximately $1 billion.
The $174 million IPO raise, if fully subscribed at the top of the range, would bring total cash closer to $435 million. That still leaves a significant gap against those looming liabilities.
What this means for investors The $1.66 billion to $1.8 billion valuation range positions Lime as a mid-cap transportation play. Investors watching this IPO should pay close attention to the final pricing and first-day trading dynamics. Strong demand above the $26 top of range would suggest institutional appetite for micromobility exposure at scale. Pricing at or below the $24 floor would indicate that even with Uber’s endorsement, the market wants a discount for the financial risk.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
While most of the crypto market sold off on June 25, Sei Network's native token $SEI moved in the opposite direction, trading near $0.058 and up roughly 9% on the day as Bitcoin slipped under $60,000 and most major altcoins stayed firmly in the red.
The move was backed by real volume. CoinGecko data shows 24-hour trading volume for $SEI surged around 190% to approximately $72 million, confirming the price action was not a low-liquidity drift. @SeiNetwork was among the day's clear standouts in an otherwise weak market.
Short squeeze and Giga hype fuel the rally Two catalysts appear to be driving the outperformance. The first is a short squeeze that built around the $0.06 level, forcing leveraged bears to cover their positions and amplifying the upside move. The second is growing anticipation around the network's upcoming Giga upgrade.
Sei Labs published the Giga roadmap in late May 2026, targeting over 200,000 transactions per second and sub-400 millisecond finality. At the core of the performance leap is a protocol called Autobahn, a multi-proposer consensus mechanism. Traditional blockchains rely on a single block proposer at a time, creating a bottleneck. Autobahn lets multiple validators propose blocks simultaneously, which is how throughput scales from thousands to hundreds of thousands of TPS.
For context, Sei's prior throughput benchmarks sat in the range of 5,000 to 12,500 TPS. The Giga upgrade represents roughly a 40 to 50-fold increase in raw capacity. Beyond consensus, the upgrade also introduces asynchronous execution, allowing the network to process transactions in parallel and decouple execution from the consensus layer itself.
Phased rollout, not a single launch The upgrade is not a single event. Sei Labs is rolling it out progressively throughout 2026, with no single definitive launch date, and has set up a public milestone tracker at giga.seilabs.io.
Alongside the Giga upgrade, Sei Network committed in 2026 to becoming an EVM-only chain, deprecating its original CosmWasm smart contracts and native Cosmos transaction types through community-approved proposal SIP-3. Binance confirmed support for the full transition to EVM compatibility starting June 1.
The day's price action suggests the market is beginning to price in that technical roadmap, at least in the short term. Whether the rally holds will depend on whether the Giga milestones continue to arrive on schedule and whether broader crypto sentiment improves.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Sei Giga Upgrade Roadmap, Targets 200,000 TPS and 400ms Finality
CoinGecko: Sei (SEI) Live Price and Market Data
Partnership Includes Ridge Riders' First Bull Riding Scholarship Program and Rider Clinics for Arizona Youth, the first of which will be held Saturday Morning hosted by actor Mo Brings Plenty
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Arizona Ridge Riders are set to kick off their training camp this weekend in Buckeye, Arizona ahead of the 2026 PBR Teams season with a new team sponsor. On Saturday, June 27, Arizona's bull riding team will officially announce a new multi-year partnership with Energy Transfer, one of the nation's largest energy infrastructure companies behind the planned Desert Southwest Pipeline project that will bring natural gas into the Phoenix to meet increasing demand.
AZ Ridge Riders Energy Transfer will become an Official Partner of the Arizona Ridge Riders and Presenting Sponsor of Ridge Rider Days, the team's annual training camp and fan experience. The partnership will be on full display this weekend as riders, coaches, fans, and the local community come together to open the 2026 season, which begins July 11 at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins, CO.
A key component of the relationship is youth development. During training camp, Energy Transfer will serve as Presenting Sponsor of the Ridge Riders' inaugural Youth Rider Clinic, bringing together approximately two dozen young Arizona riders for a day of instruction, mentorship, and access to professional athletes and coaches. The company will further invest in the next generation of Western sports athletes through the Ridge Riders' new Youth Bull Riding Scholarship Program.
Energy Transfer will also receive prominent branding on the back yoke of team jerseys throughout the PBR Teams season.
"Success in this sport starts long before the chute opens," said Casey Lane, General Manager of the Arizona Ridge Riders. "It begins with investing in young athletes, supporting local communities, and creating opportunities for people to experience Western sports firsthand. Energy Transfer has a genuine interest in the success of the communities where they do business, and that's what makes them such a great fit for the Arizona Ridge Riders and Ridge Rider Days."
The agreement also includes a season-long social media content series and ambassador programming featuring actor, producer, and Western advocate Mo Brings Plenty, bringing fans closer to the team, its athletes, and the Western lifestyle throughout the season.
"We are thrilled to launch this partnership with the Arizona Ridge Riders, our first in the exciting world of professional bull riding," said Vicki Anderson Granado, Vice President of Energy Transfer. "We are especially proud of the new initiatives the team will launch to support young Arizona athletes interested in this sport. Energy Transfer has been operating a natural gas pipeline in Arizona for decades, but as the company behind the planned Desert Southwest Pipeline project, which will bring much-needed natural gas to state, we felt this partnership with Arizona's hometown PBR team would allow us to step forward in a more impactful way to make a difference in local communities throughout Phoenix."
Owned by Teton Ridge, the leading force in Western sports, media, and entertainment, the Arizona Ridge Riders are one of the premier franchises in the PBR Teams league. Together, the organizations share a commitment to strengthening communities, creating opportunities for young athletes, and growing the future of Western sports.
About PBR Teams
PBR Teams is an elite league featuring the world's top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During the 2026 season, each of the league's 10 teams – Arizona Ridge Riders, Austin Gamblers, Carolina Cowboys, Florida Freedom, Kansas City Outlaws, Missouri Thunder, Nashville Stampede, New York Mavericks, Oklahoma Wildcatters and Texas Rattlers – will host a three-day homestand event while competing for the league championship.
PBR Teams, launched in 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. During events, teams compete head-to-head with the team posting the highest aggregate score declared the winner.
PBR is part of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a global sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com.
For more information, visit arizonaridgeriders.com.
Few stocks have fallen as far, as fast, as Figma (NYSE:FIG). After a blockbuster debut, the design software platform has retraced almost everything. The question now is whether the selloff has gone too far. Our model says yes.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Figma is $36.78 over the next 12 months, implying meaningful upside from current levels. The recommendation is buy, with medium confidence. The setup combines a battered share price, 46.1% revenue growth, and a sentiment composite that has turned constructive despite rough headlines.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $17.63 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $36.78 Upside 108.68% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 62% From $143 IPO Pop to $18: How We Got Here Figma is down 50.12% year to date and 83.86% from its post-IPO peak, with the stock sliding another 17.92% over the past month. Shares sit near the $16.60 52-week low and roughly $142.92 below the high. A June 14 Benzinga piece framed the move as driven by AI disruption fears.
Q1 told a different story: revenue grew 46% year over year to $303.78 million, paid subscribers expanded, and management guided positively. A $226.56 million GAAP net loss from stock-based compensation kept bears engaged.
Insider selling from CEO Dylan Field, the CFO, and the CTO totaling roughly $14.5 million were disclosed under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, softening the signal while leaving sentiment intact.
The Case for $50+ Bulls have a real argument. Figma owns a category. Designers, product managers, and engineers collaborate on it daily, and the platform has emerged as core infrastructure inside enterprises.
JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada, and Piper Sandler have flagged a significant rebound driven by Figma’s essential role in design, a strong cash position, and the potential to convert AI from threat to tailwind via generative design tooling. Analysts expect Figma to achieve profitability in 2026. If revenue compounds north of 40% and operating leverage shows up, the stock revisits the $50 to $60 zone within our 12-month window.
The Risks Worth Watching The bear case starts with AI. If foundation-model providers commoditize design generation, Figma’s pricing power erodes. The TTM operating margin of -41.2% and EPS of -4.07 leave little room for a multiple rerating if growth slows. Stifel and Piper Sandler have trimmed targets, citing AI uncertainty and valuation concerns, and Findell Capital Management has pushed for governance changes.
RBC’s Rishi Jaluria holds a Hold rating with a $28 target, a reasonable downside scenario if growth decelerates toward 30%. Bulls counter that Figma’s losses reflect deliberate reinvestment with intact unit economics, and gross margins remain best-in-class.
Figma Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target is $36.78, the recommendation is buy, and confidence is medium. The factor tipping the scale is the gap between a fundamentally healthy growth business and a stock price that already discounts severe AI disruption.
I’d be a buyer if Q2 delivers another 40%+ revenue quarter with progress toward GAAP profitability. I’d stay on the sidelines if growth slips below 30% or insider selling broadens beyond pre-arranged plans.
Here is where our model projects Figma could trade in the coming years, assuming current growth trajectories and market conditions hold.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $36.78 2027 $44 2028 $52 2029 $60 2030 $68 These projections assume Figma continues executing on its current strategy and converts AI into a product tailwind rather than a competitive threat. Significant upside or downside could result from a faster path to profitability or accelerated commoditization of design software.
Collaborative design firm Figma unveiled a platform overhaul for the AI era at its annual Config conference in San Francisco, transforming its workspace into what it calls an "intelligent canvas" for full-stack digital creation. Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech.
Few small-cap semiconductor names have ridden the AI optical interconnect wave as wildly as Poet Technologies (NASDAQ:POET). After a triple-digit rally and a sharp June pullback, investors want to know whether the next move is up or down. Here is where our model lands.
The 24/7 Wall St. Price Target for POET Poet Technologies trades at $10.23 as of June 25, 2026. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Poet Technologies is $22.23 over the next 12 months, implying 117.41% upside. Our recommendation is buy, with moderate confidence (0.5 on a 0 to 1 scale). The signal is constructive, but Poet is volatile and news-driven.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $10.23 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $22.23 Upside 117.41% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 50% A Wild Year: From $4 to $20 and Back Poet is up 147.33% over the past year and 68.4% year to date, but the last month has been brutal, with shares down 26.94%. The 52-week range runs from $3.87 to $20.81.
The April 27 cancellation of all Celestial AI purchase orders following an alleged NDA breach triggered class-action filings, with a June 29 lead plaintiff deadline. That overhang was partly offset by the Lumilens partnership and $50 million initial order announced June 12 and a $400 million registered direct offering that closed June 15.
Q1 2026 revenue came in at $503,389, beating estimates by 44.66%, while EPS of -$0.08 missed the -$0.04 estimate on stock-based compensation and warrant accounting.
Why Bulls See a Breakout to $22.89 and Beyond The bull case rests on Poet’s positioning at the intersection of AI networking and silicon photonics. The Lumilens agreement scales to $500M+ over five years, and Poet has guided to shipping over 30,000 optical engines in 2026, with 800G production ramping in Q3 2026 from Malaysia. Joint development programs with LITEON, Lessengers, and Quantum Computing Inc. target 1.6T and 3.2Tbps modules for frontier AI infrastructure.
CEO Suresh Venkatesan called the Lumilens deal “an important commercial milestone… supporting frontier AI infrastructure.” With roughly $430M in cash post-raise and Jane Street disclosing a 6.8% stake, the balance sheet supports execution. Our bull case scenario points to $22.89 within 12 months.
The Risks Worth Watching Multiple class-action suits over alleged PFIC misstatements and the Celestial AI NDA breach create legal overhang. Cash burn was $8.8M in Q1 2026 operating outflow, the accumulated deficit sits at $291M, and 2025 raises totaled roughly $375M, diluting holders.
Bulls counter that much of the Q4 2025 $42.67M net loss reflected a $30.69M non-cash derivative warrant liability rather than core operating deterioration, and the planned U.S. redomicile should resolve PFIC risk. Our bear case scenario lands at $16.61, still above today’s price.
Poet Technologies Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Poet is $22.23, with a buy recommendation at moderate confidence. The tipping factor is execution leverage: even our bear scenario implies 62.4% upside.
Catalysts to watch include the June 26 redomicile vote and the pace of Lumilens order ramp. Risks to the thesis include class-action discovery surfacing material disclosure failures or 800G production slipping past Q3 2026.
Looking ahead, here is where our model projects Poet could trade, assuming AI optical interconnect demand continues compounding and execution holds.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $14.92 2027 $22.23 2028 $36.00 2029 $56.00 2030 $72.00 These projections assume Poet executes on its 800G and 1.6T roadmap and the broader 800G transceiver market reaches its projected $9.8B by 2032. Significant upside could come from a hyperscaler design win, while downside risk emerges if class-action liability or manufacturing delays in Malaysia disrupt the ramp.
MEXC, a pioneer in 0-fee digital asset trading, will list five Ondo tokenized stock spot trading pairs spanning AI, semiconductor, and energy sectors on June 25, 2026, at 12:00 UTC, giving global users onchain exposure to U.S. stocks without a traditional brokerage account or market-hours restrictions.
Ondo Global Markets is a tokenization platform that provides onchain exposure to thousands of U.S. publicly traded securities, including stocks and ETFs, for investors outside the United States. Each token is supported by specific assets held through regulated custodial brokers and tracks the total return of the underlying security, including dividend reinvestment. Non-US retail and institutional users can mint and redeem tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs instantly, 24 hours a day, five days a week.
As part of its deepening collaboration with Ondo Finance, MEXC is adding five new tokenized stock tradingpairs on spot markets — CCJON/USDT, TTMION/USDT, RMBSON/USDT, SYMON/USDT, and KEELON/USDT — covering Cameco (uranium energy), TTM Technologies (PCB manufacturing), Rambus (semiconductor & silicon intellectual property), Symbotic (AI automation), and Keel Infrastructure (data center & energy infrastructure). This further solidifies MEXC and Ondo’s shared commitment to expanding real-world assets trading opportunities for investors worldwide. Full details are available on the MEXC announcement page.
MEXC and Ondo Finance remain committed to expanding the tokenized real-world assets ecosystem, with plans to continue listing new assets and deepening users’ access to traditional financial markets worldwide. Beyond tokenized assets, MEXC has also officially launched “RealStocks“, an innovative equity product that provides eligible users with real share ownership and dividends. This opens an additional channel for users to access U.S. stock markets within a single platform.
About MEXC MEXC is the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchange, trusted by more than 40 million users across 170+ markets. Built on a user-first philosophy, MEXC offers industry-leading 0-fee trading and access to over 3,000 digital assets. As the Gateway to Infinite Opportunities, MEXC provides a single platform where users can easily trade cryptocurrencies alongside tokenized assets, including stocks, ETFs, commodities, and precious metals.
MEXC Official Website｜X ｜Telegram ｜How to Sign Up on MEXC
This content does not constitute investment advice. Given the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors are encouraged to carefully assess market fluctuations, project fundamentals, and potential financial risks before making any trading decisions.
Source
Disclaimer: TheNewsCrypto does not endorse any content on this page. The content depicted in this Press Release does not represent any investment advice. TheNewsCrypto recommends our readers to make decisions based on their own research. TheNewsCrypto is not accountable for any damage or loss related to content, products, or services stated in this Press Release.
ONDO price came under renewed selling pressure on Tuesday as millions of tokens moved onto major crypto exchanges. These large-scale transfers raised concerns over ONDO’s short-term outlook and triggered an intraday drop of nearly 10%.
Significant inflows to exchanges intensified sellingAccording to data shared by Nazoku, which tracks on-chain activity, the wallet labeled as a custodian vault (address 0xBf6) sent 3.637 million ONDO—worth around $1.14 million—to Coinbase via an intermediary wallet. About an hour earlier, another wallet (0x1c0) transferred 4.013 million ONDO to Coinbase as well.
Some of the transferred tokens were broken into smaller amounts and deposited on Binance and Bybit. The transaction volume notably exceeded the available liquidity at the time. With more than 7.6 million ONDO tokens flowing into exchanges while the price was already weakening, the market reacted suddenly, dragging the token even lower.
Large ONDO transfers to exchanges, coupled with an already fragile market structure, added downward pressure on the token’s price.
Nazoku, a platform specializing in on-chain analytics, highlighted that intermediary wallets were used to distribute the tokens in smaller chunks to different exchanges, rather than executing a single large transfer.
$0.30 stands out as critical short-term supportMarket data indicate that ONDO recently lost the $0.36 threshold, a level viewed as pivotal for both buyers and sellers. Rejection from this area deepened the negative sentiment and shifted focus to the next major support at $0.30. Earlier this year, ONDO surged as high as $0.45, but since then, it has recorded lower highs and lower lows, underscoring persistent weakness.
As long as ONDO maintains levels above $0.30, the price may continue sideways or attempt a rebound towards $0.36. A sustained move below $0.30 could bring $0.243 into play as the next potential target.
Inability to reclaim $0.36 has fueled further sell pressure. The report notes that the token last traded at around $0.29, highlighting how the $0.30 mark has become a key inflection point in the short term.
IndicatorLevelIntraday declineApprox. 10%Lost support$0.36Critical support$0.30Downside target$0.243Reported trading priceApprox. $0.29Futures trading sees volume surge despite price dropDespite ONDO’s price weakness, trading activity in the perpetual futures market saw a strong uptick. As reported by Niels, ONDO’s perpetual futures volume climbed to $1.122 billion, up sharply compared to the $133 million recorded on May 31.
This surge in trading volume indicates that short-term traders remained highly active even as the spot market faced intense selling. The simultaneous increase in derivatives activity alongside the spot market decline highlights the heightened volatility currently surrounding ONDO.
The sharp inflow of ONDO tokens to major exchanges set off a wave of selling, which quickly drove the price down to $0.29. Observers continue to watch whether support at $0.30 will hold or if further declines toward $0.243 are likely.
For now, with the token’s price still under pressure and futures interest climbing, ONDO appears poised for continued volatility in the near term. The interplay between exchange inflows and market reactions will remain a key area of focus for traders and analysts.
In summary, the latest token movements and sharp trading shifts have placed ONDO’s crucial support levels and short-term trajectory in the spotlight as the market weighs its next move.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Traditional stock markets close at 4 p.m. Eastern, take weekends off, and observe a generous holiday calendar. Ondo Finance just decided that’s an outdated concept.
The platform has launched 24/7 instant minting and redemption for tokenized US stocks and ETFs through its Ondo Global Markets platform. Previously, minting and redemption on the platform operated on a 24/5 schedule tied to US market hours. Now, qualified purchasers can create or redeem tokens at any hour, on any day, including weekends and holidays.
What Ondo actually built Ondo’s platform now offers access to over 200 tokenized stocks and ETFs. That roster includes heavyweight tickers like NVDA and AAPL, wrapped as blockchain-native tokens backed by real securities held at broker-dealers.
The minimum investment starts at $1, and minting and redemption fees have been waived entirely. In English: someone outside the US can get fractional exposure to Apple stock for a dollar, at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, without paying a fee to do so.
Advertisement
The infrastructure powering this is Ondo’s Nexus system, which handles on-demand asset creation and redemption linked directly to the underlying securities.
The offering is targeted at non-US qualified investors. This isn’t a product available to US retail traders.
Building on a strong foundation Ondo’s OUSG tokenized Treasuries product already supports 24/7/365 minting and redemption, with approximately $1.03 billion in total value locked.
In March 2026, the platform tokenized Franklin Templeton ETFs. A month later, in April 2026, Ondo established a partnership with Broadridge for onchain voting, addressing one of the persistent governance gaps in tokenized securities. If you hold a token representing a share, can you actually vote at a shareholder meeting? The Broadridge integration is Ondo’s answer to that question.
The platform now tracks over 430 assets across its ecosystem.
Why this matters beyond Ondo The NYSE has signaled ambitions in tokenized equity trading, indicating that traditional finance isn’t dismissing tokenization — it’s racing to figure out how to participate.
By enabling round-the-clock minting and redemption, Ondo is reducing one of the friction points that has historically made tokenized securities less attractive than their traditional counterparts. These products are backed by real securities at broker-dealers, meaning counterparty risk doesn’t disappear just because the wrapper is a token. And while Ondo has navigated the regulatory landscape carefully by restricting access to non-US qualified purchasers, any shifts in regulatory posture across jurisdictions could reshape the playing field quickly.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Information in Investor’s Business Daily is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, recommendation, solicitation, or rating to buy or sell securities. The information has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but we make no guarantee as to its accuracy, timeliness, or suitability, including with respect to information that appears in closed captioning. Historical investment performances are no indication or guarantee of future success or performance. Authors/presenters may own the stocks they discuss. We make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in any particular securities or utilizing any specific investment strategies. Information is subject to change without notice. For information on use of our services, please see our Terms of Use.
*Real-time prices by Nasdaq Last Sale. Real-time quote and/or trade prices are not sourced from all markets. Ownership data provided by LSEG and Estimate data provided by FactSet.
IBD, IBD Digital, IBD Live, IBD Weekly, Investor's Business Daily, Leaderboard, MarketDiem, MarketSurge and other marks are trademarks owned by Investor's Business Daily, LLC.
After a splashy public offering immediately followed by impressive gains, shares of Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 1.25%) -- or SpaceX -- are already tumbling. Good. While it's a miserable outcome for anyone who bought in after shares began publicly trading on a stock exchange, the pullback says people aren't simply buying into the hype. They're giving some thought to the ticker's current and future value.
To this end, what's going to be the biggest driver of this stock's future price? Probably not the business you think.
Image source: Getty Images.
The future is likely to look different than the present You know it best as a maker of rockets that power its orbital launch arm. Heck, it's in the name.
That's not SpaceX's biggest business, though. It's not even its second-biggest business. SpaceX's top breadwinner right now is satellite-based internet service provider (ISP) Starlink, which drove $11.4 billion of last year's companywide revenue of $14 billion, turning $4.4 billion of that into net income. Space launch was a distant second with its 2025 top-line figure of only $4.1 billion, while its artificial intelligence (AI) arm wasn't too far behind that at $3.2 billion in sales. AI and launch services also remain in the red for the time being.
Today's Change
(
-1.25
%) $
-1.93
Current Price
$
152.61
These aren't necessarily the proportions SpaceX expects from these arms in the future. Indeed, the company believes its namesake orbital launch service will eventually be one of its least important profit centers.
It's true! Within the company's pre-IPO prospectus, SpaceX laid out its expectations for the future of each core market it serves. Although without any specific time frame attached, the company believes the space and launch industry will eventually be worth $370 billion per year, while the connectivity market that Starlink serves will eventually be worth a total of $1.6 trillion.
The proverbial big kahuna, however, is enterprise-level artificial intelligence applications. SpaceX expects this global business to be worth $26.5 trillion per year at some point in the foreseeable future.
Yes, that's trillion, with a "T."
Not everyone is as optimistic As outrageous as this projection seems to be on the surface, it's not necessarily miles beyond the pale. For perspective, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates the planet's annual GDP currently stands at more than $120 trillion. If AI ends up integrating its way into as many slivers of the world as some have suggested (ranging from medicine to logistics to energy management to banking, and more), it's conceivable that the AI business could grow to a massive proportion even compared to its size today.
Do take this optimistic outlook with a huge grain of salt, however. SpaceX hasn't exactly explained how the entire AI industry is going to reach that mark. The United Nations' trade & development outlook suggests the global AI business will only be worth $4.8 trillion by 2033, and that's a relatively bold outlook. Most projections are even smaller, like Polaris Market Research's belief that the worldwide AI market will only reach the $3.6 trillion mark by that point in time.
Connect the dots. Something's got to give unless there's something SpaceX's management has in mind that the rest of the world just doesn't see coming. Never say never.
This lack of clarity is, of course, a big reason this initially red-hot ticker is suddenly selling off.
Just stay level-headed ... and patient There's the rub. Investors should care the most about SpaceX's AI ambitions. The bulk of the stock's steep valuation is rooted in the company's jaw-dropping expectations for just how big the market is going to get even if SpaceX doesn't end up winning the majority of the industry's future growth. At $26.5 trillion, there's still plenty of revenue to go around for everyone in the business.
In reality, however, it's conceivable that Starlink's connectivity could quietly end up as this company's actual breadwinner. Estimates from Precedence Research put the current size of the worldwide telecom market at just over $2 trillion, en route to $3.4 trillion by 2035.
Obviously, Starlink isn't the only name in the business; AST SpaceMobile is another American satellite-based broadband contender. However, Starlink does bring a competitive distinction to the table; it's got a solid head start on everyone else vying to penetrate this market, with over 10,000 satellites already in orbit serving over 12 million paying customers. It's aiming for 25 million subscribers by the end of this year, and eventually, more than 40,000 satellites.
Of course, there's nothing to prevent these two distinct businesses from being equally important to investors.
Just don't focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time. The echoes of SpaceX's well-ballyhooed IPO are still ringing, wreaking havoc on the stock. There's likely to be plenty more post-IPO volatility to wring out before the market actually starts pricing in the value of its underlying businesses. You can certainly leave SPCX on your watchlist in the meantime, though.
The SpaceX Starship, the most powerful and advanced rocket and capsule ever designed on this planet, could spark an explosion in space tourism and supercharge Space Race II. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
While SpaceX sketched out only scant details of its masterplan to expand spaceflight for independent astronauts in its IPO prospectus, a world-leading space scholar says its Starship super-capsule holds the potential to generate a pool of “tens of millions” of space tourists at the right price point.
Across the IPO presentation, SpaceX’s leaders outlined blueprints for fantastical flights of the future, stretching from rocket-powered “point-to-point” Starship jaunts between New York and Paris, or L.A. and Tokyo, in under 40 minutes, to chartered missions circling the planet.
Many of these intercontinental city-to-city flights might also be considered space treks, because the Starship is likely to fly above the internationally recognized boundary of space at 100 kilometers above the Earth, says Brian Hurley, founder of the globally influential think tank New Space Economy.
“If the flight crossed the 100-kilometer Kármán line,” Hurley told me in an interview, all of its passengers and pilots would be recognized worldwide as astronauts.
SpaceX commander-in-chief Elon Musk says flying on the Starship on intercontinental flights will be like riding on "an ICBM traveling at Mach 25 that lands.” Shown here is the first American ICBM surreally exhibited at the Coney Island amusement park in New York City during the dawn of the first Space Race and Cold War I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Getty Images
These suborbital flights, echoing the trajectory of the first star American astronaut to fly into space during the dawn of the superpower Space Race I, would similarly transform these modern-day voyagers into new constellations of spacefarers joining the egalitarian Space Race II.
MORE FOR YOU
“Starship point-to-point is ultra-fast suborbital transport, on long routes it may cross 100 kilometers,” speeding across the final frontier into space, says Hurley, who chronicles the rising independent space powers worldwide and their technological breakthroughs.
So far, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell have only issued amorphous hints on projected fares for these transnational Starship treks, predicting they could ultimately cost less than first-class tickets for jet flights between the same two cities.
That would be just a fraction of the rates charged by the current twin titans of suborbital spaceflights, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which price each ticket aboard their spacecraft at hundreds of thousands of dollars, Hurley says.
Test flight of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which has sped independent spacefarers above the 100-kilometer "border" of space. (Photo by Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic/Getty Images)
Getty Images
In a fascinating chronicle on the suborbital space tourism sector, and its alternative futures, that his think tank published, scholar Hurley says: “The price of a suborbital ticket is the single most discussed barrier to market expansion.”
“At current prices of $200,000 to $600,000 or more, the addressable market is limited to ultra-high-net-worth individuals.”
“As of mid-2025,” he adds, “there are approximately 510,810 ultra-high-net-worth individuals globally, defined as those with a net worth exceeding $30 million.”
But if a new upstart contender, like SpaceX, were to introduce fantastically slashed prices for suborbital sojourns, he predicts, that could lead to the rapid and radical democratization of spaceflight.
"A 90% reduction to the $40,000-$60,000 range would place a suborbital flight in the same cost category as a luxury cruise, a business-class international trip, or a high-end bucket-list vacation.”
“The addressable population [of prospective flyers],” Hurley says, “expands enormously, potentially to tens of millions of affluent consumers globally.”
“SpaceX’s Starship, with its potential for carrying many more passengers per flight, could theoretically approach this range.”
SpaceX’s commanders state in their share offering manifesto: “We plan to develop ultra-fast long-haul point-to-point Earth transport using Starship, enabling passengers and cargo to travel between major cities in a fraction of current transit times, revolutionizing global logistics and passenger travel with unprecedented speed and efficiency.”
SpaceX aims for its Starship to speed adventurers across the continents on rocket-powered treks lasting less than one hour. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
“With meaningful advances in space technology,” they add, “we expect increasing interest in human space travel as it becomes easier and more common to access space.”
“In addition to the markets we serve today, we believe we are poised to catalyze transformative breakthroughs and create entirely new markets.”
“Over time each of these markets could eventually represent multi-trillion-dollar economic opportunities.”
While Starship could initially be deployed for city-to-city excursions and planet-circling space expeditions, the longer-range target is for routine “passenger and cargo transportation to the Moon and Mars.”
In a preview of Starship flights set to crisscross the continents, Elon Musk said in a post on the messaging platform Twitter (now X): “Most flights would only be 15 to 20 mins. It’s basically an ICBM traveling at Mach 25 that lands.”
These flights, with their remarkable G-force of acceleration on take-off, he added, would resemble “Disney’s Space Mountain roller coaster.”
“Would feel similar to Space Mountain in a lot of ways, but you’d exit on another continent.”
SpaceX is already counting down to collaborating with NASA to convert some of its colossal Starship capsules, which are designed to host 100 spacefarers each, into space stations that would ring the globe and provide alternative spaceflight destinations when the International Space Station is decommissioned in the 2030s.
Starship orbital stations could provide alternative destinations for Allied and independent astronauts when the International Space Station is decommissioned in the 2030s. (Photo by NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Along with a half-dozen other leading-edge American space outfits including Blue Origin, Axiom Space and Starlab Space, SpaceX has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to develop orbital outposts that could host NASA and Allied astronauts through the next decades.
Under this agreement, NASA envisions SpaceX deploying “Starship as a transportation and in-space low Earth orbit destination."
Even as it test-flies its twin-stage Starship, the most powerful and advanced rocket and human-rated capsule ever designed on this planet, SpaceX has built a Titan-size Starfactory set to produce and perfect 1000 Starships every year, partly to launch the 10,000 ships that Musk has proclaimed will be deployed to speed one million inter-world nomads to Mars by the mid-century.
Brian Hurley predicts, meanwhile, that as more independent astronauts from around the world begin occupying the orbital rings closest to Earth, SpaceX could move to connect up small flotillas of Starships into larger interlinked clusters.
“Docking Starships together could eventually create something that resembles an orbital village,” he told me.
The next stage in the space race redux might focus on opening the lunar frontier to independent space trekkers, with a Starship space station orbiting the black and silver sphere as an astronaut observatory on the meteor-strike-created craters below.
NASA has already commissioned SpaceX, with twin contracts worth $4 billion-plus, to shuttle its astronauts from lunar orbit down to the Moon’s South Pole region, with a precursor robotically piloted demo mission slated for 2028.
With its 1000 cubic meters of pressurized living space, massive bands of observation windows, and interspersed suites and galleries, the first demo Starship to land on the lunar surface could be rechristened as Hotel MoonX. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
With its 1000 cubic meters of pressurized living space - more than double that of the International Space Station - massive bands of observation windows wrapped across the upper decks, solar storm shelters and interspersed suites and galleries, this first demo Starship could be permanently stationed near the Pole, rechristened as the silver globe’s first Hotel MoonX.
Radiating as humanity’s first super-lighthouse on the Moon, this SpaceX beacon will likely attract a United Nations-like mix of adventurers spearheading the next stage of the new-millennium revolution in space exploration.
Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 1.62%), better known as SpaceX, has officially hit the market, and now that at least some of the hype has settled, many investors are wondering what it might mean for their index funds and ETFs.
While SpaceX is not yet included in the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.14%) for now, that could change. For those investing in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO 0.11%), here's what that might mean for your investment.
Image source: Getty Images.
When is SpaceX coming to the S&P 500? Whether a particular ETF includes SpaceX depends on its underlying index. The stock recently joined the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, for example, which tracks the CRSP U.S. Total Stock Market Index and allows new stocks to enter after just five trading days.
SpaceX is also expected to soon join Invesco QQQ after the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.69%) changed its rules to allow fast entry into the Nasdaq-100 after 15 trading days.
Today's Change
(
-1.62
%) $
-2.50
Current Price
$
152.04
The S&P 500 is a little different, though, and has more rigorous entry requirements. Stocks must have been trading for at least 12 months before they become eligible to join, at which point they'll also need to pass a profitability screen. The absolute earliest SpaceX can enter the index is mid-2027, but that assumes the company is consistently profitable by then.
SpaceX incurred $4.94 billion in net losses in 2025, according to its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and its AI segment is particularly unprofitable. A rumored merger with Tesla could complicate matters further, so at this point, it's anyone's guess where SpaceX might be financially in a year or two.
Is it still safe to invest in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF? The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is generally still a safe investment, but whether you want to continue investing going forward will depend on your personal preferences.
The S&P 500 itself has become much more tech-heavy in recent years. Technology and communication services stocks make up nearly 50% of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and the "Magnificent Seven" stocks account for more than one-third of the S&P 500's overall value as of June 2026.
Today's Change
(
-0.11
%) $
-0.73
Current Price
$
674.96
If tech stocks still have plenty of growth potential ahead, the S&P 500 could benefit from this tilt toward tech. But many investors choose the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF for its stability, and tech stocks are notoriously volatile. With more mega-cap IPOs like OpenAI and Anthropic potentially joining the index in the coming years, it could lead to even more intense price swings.
There are still plenty of unknowns around SpaceX, but it will likely pop up in more ETFs over time. By determining your risk tolerance now, it will be easier to decide whether the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF remains a good fit for you if or when SpaceX eventually joins.
SummaryCompaniesSpaceX plans to start building 8-mile pipeline next monthProject would fuel more launches of Starship moon rocketPipeline is part of sprawling SpaceX gas plans in TexasWASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab plans to begin next month building an eight‑mile (13-km) natural gas pipeline called "Starpipe" to its Texas launch facilities, according to county filings, as Elon Musk’s company seeks to ramp up launches of its next‑generation Starship rocket.
Starpipe, which will end at SpaceX’s Texas company town of Starbase, is expected to be in service by January 26, according to a document filed last month with the Texas Railroad Commission by SpaceX affiliate Lone Star Mineral Development and reviewed by Reuters.
The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here.
The pipeline plan, previously reported by Rio Grande Valley Business Journal, signals Musk's intent to accelerate Starship's development and lay the groundwork for a faster flight rate. The 40‑story rocket is central to SpaceX’s push to expand its Starlink broadband network, deploy orbital AI data center satellites, and eventually carry astronauts to the moon and Mars.
Designed to be fully reusable, Starship uses about 630,000 gallons (2.4 million liters) of liquid methane per launch, currently delivered by hundreds of tanker trucks in an hours-long process incompatible with Musk's expansion plans. Starship has completed 12 test launches since 2023, but Musk aims to ramp up to dozens, hundreds and eventually thousands of launches a year.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
SPACEX'S BIG GAS PLANSThough it is unusual for a space company to build its own natural gas pipeline for launchpad fuel, Starpipe might only be an initial step in a longer-term plan for SpaceX, which has spent years exploring its own drilling operations near Starbase and throughout Texas, according to a Reuters review of Cameron County land records.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC on June 12, when the company went public, that the company planned to build pipelines and process its own propellant, and was looking into drilling its own natural gas.
Extracting natural gas would be a challenging pursuit for a company with no oil and gas experience, said Stan Lindsey, an oil and gas consultant in Texas.
“I’m not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility … it’s possible they got a really nice prospect," Lindsey said. But if those drilling plans fall short, he added, “they’ve got a fallback position” with Starpipe.
SpaceX has signed over 100 paid-up oil and gas leases with Texas property owners since 2023, the land records show.
Starpipe would begin on an 83-acre (34-hectare) piece of land at the Port of Brownsville that SpaceX is in talks to lease from the city for 50 years, a port official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private.
Engineering plans SpaceX filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, included in a public notice issued last August, show SpaceX wants to build a liquefaction facility at Starbase to process the piped-in natural gas into liquid methane.
"Certainly that would make the most efficient sense," said William Farrar, a longtime oil and gas lawyer in Texas and geoscientist.
The company could tap into Enbridge's Valley Crossing Pipeline expansion project that would run close to Starpipe's start point, Lindsey said.
Enbridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SPACEX WANTS TO OWN SUPPLY CHAINSpaceX's move into gas infrastructure, typically the domain of energy and pipeline firms, underscores its longstanding strategy of controlling as much of its supply chain as possible, a capital‑intensive approach that has helped the company outpace rivals in rocket and spacecraft development.
The effort positions SpaceX to manage an unusually broad chain of resources, stretching from natural gas deep beneath Earth's surface to the moon, where Musk wants to use lunar material for AI‑focused satellite production, an ambitious and untested goal.
The pipeline’s 16‑inch (406-mm) diameter suggests fuel demand exceeding what Starship would require for 25 launches, the annual cadence currently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
SpaceX ultimately aims to deploy thousands of solar‑powered, AI‑focused satellites whose combined energy output could approach one-fifth of the U.S. power grid, according to its initial public offering prospectus.
Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Joe Brock and Rod Nickel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Joey Roulette is a space reporter for Reuters covering the business and politics of the global space industry, often focusing on space power competition and how commercial interests intersect with international relations. He was part of a team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for Reuters' coverage of Elon Musk's business empire. On the space beat for roughly a decade, Joey previously worked for the New York Times, the Verge, and various publications in Florida.
HomeIndustriesAerospace/DefenseInvestors seem to be having second thoughts about the lofty valuations in the sector, an analyst saysPublished: June 25, 2026 at 3:28 p.m. ET
Stocks in the space sector are deepening their declines on Thursday as the SpaceX halo fades further.
At least four space stocks — the space-exploration firm Virgin Galactic SPCE, satellite firm Redwire RDW, space-infrastructure firm Intuitive Machines LUNR and the in-space transit company Momentus MNTS — have recorded 50% drops so far in June, based on FactSet data. Several others, including Planet Labs PL and Firefly Aerospace FLY, are down 40% or more for the month as of Thursday afternoon.
Apple raised prices of Macs, iPads, home devices, and the Vision Pro to offset cost hikes caused by a shortage of memory chips and storage. Bloomberg's consumer tech lead Mark Gurman joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech.
The prices of iPads and MacBooks are rising by 15% to 25%. Companies that make storage products are focused on lucrative data center contracts rather than consumer products.
ToplineApple’s stock plunged on Thursday after the tech giant announced price hikes for laptops and tablets, following a warning from CEO Tim Cook that the increases were “unavoidable” as an AI surge fueled higher memory and storage costs.
Customers try out Apple's MacBook Neo laptops.
VCG via Getty Images
Key FactsShares of Apple dropped by 5.3% to around $277 as of Thursday afternoon, paring back earlier losses of up to 6%, lowering its market value by roughly $275 billion to just over $4 trillion.
The slide moves Apple below Alphabet ($4.1 trillion) as the third-largest company in the world by market capitalization, with the Google parent ranked behind Nvidia ($4.7 trillion).
The price changes spiked the starting cost of the MacBook Pro 1T, the cheapest MacBook Pro, to $1,999 from $1,699—the largest increase of any single product.
The MacBook Neo—the company's cheapest laptop—went up in price from $599 to $699 and the cheapest MacBook Air, the 512GB, went from $1099 to $1,299.
The cost of some iPads also spiked significantly—the iPad Air 128GB now starts at $749 (up from $599) and the iPad Pro Wifi 256GB increased from $999 to $1,199.
Cook earlier this month warned that soaring costs of memory and storage chips would be passed along to the consumer and, on Thursday, the company called the surge in demand unprecedented: "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
WHAT TO WATCH FORHow much the next iPhone costs. Apple’s next run of phones—the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and the rumored foldable iPhone Fold/Ultra—are expected to be unveiled in September. Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC he estimates the higher chip costs will mean price increases for iPhones of about $150 to $200 per phone, and the company on Thursday left the door open for more hikes when it said the chip crisis has “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.”
TANGENTApple isn't the only company raising its tech prices. Nintendo told customers its flagship console will cost $50 more come September, and Sony and Microsoft also recently hiked the cost of their PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Lenovo has upped its PC and server pricing, and Dell and HP have also raised their laptop prices.
Key backgroundThe surge in demand for memory chips for AI data centers has put a strain on the supply left for consumer products. Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, a semiconductor company, told CNBC much of the world’s memory chip supply is “going directly to AI infrastructure, but many other products need memory,” which has left other industries “starved.” Memory contract prices surged 80% to 90% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to Counterpoint Research, after shooting up 50% in the last quarter of 2025. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predict the undersupply of chips will persist and keep memory prices heavily inflated through at least 2027.
ForbesHow AI Is Driving Up The Costs Of Phones, Games And ComputersBy Conor MurrayForbesAI’s Hidden Cost: The Global Memory Shortage Threat To Affordable TechBy Tim Bajarin
ForbesThe World’s Largest Tech Companies: Memory Chips Skyrocket Amid AI Data Center BuildoutBy Rashi Shrivastava
Investors are certainly familiar with just how profitable Apple (AAPL 5.56%) is. Its reported net income margin in the fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended March 28) was a fantastic 26.6%. Pricing power and brand loyalty help drive bottom-line performance.
This kind of financial strength has allowed the business to take care of its shareholders. To be more specific, there are 850 billion reasons (and counting) why investors love Apple stock.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Apple started its capital returns program in 2012. Since then, the business has repurchased $851 billion worth of shares, a truly massive figure that exceeds the current market capitalizations of all but 18 publicly traded companies.
On April 30, Apple added $100 billion in capacity for additional stock buybacks. This adds to the $64 billion remaining on its prior authorization. In total, this means it won't be long until Apple eclipses $1 trillion in cumulative share repurchases.
Today's Change
(
-5.56
%) $
-16.29
Current Price
$
276.79
All else equal, buybacks introduce a tailwind to earnings per share (EPS) because they reduce the number of shares outstanding. In the past decade, Apple's diluted EPS has risen at a compound annual rate of 15.5%. During that time, the diluted outstanding share count shrank by about 33%.
Apple's stock price has soared 1,140% in the last 10 years (as of June 23). Investors should credit some of this performance to the leadership team's capital allocation policy.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
HomeEconomy & PoliticsEconomic OutlookEconomic OutlookOil prices aren’t the only contributor to high inflationPublished: June 25, 2026 at 3:10 p.m. ET
Apple is raising prices in another sign of persistent inflation. Photo: Getty ImagesGas is getting cheaper, but Apple is raising prices. Which one tell us more about the persistence of inflation?
Probably the higher cost of buying an iPhone or Macbook.
Key Takeaways Meta Platforms posted 33% year-over-year revenue growth to $56.3 billion, aided by AI engagement. META saw Reels watch time rise 10%, while AI-translated videos reach 500M weekly viewers. Meta Platforms expects Q2 2026 revenues of $58B-$61B as it expands AI infrastructure. Meta Platform (META - Free Report) is benefiting from its accelerating growth into artificial intelligence (AI), which is driving significant top-line growth and positioning the company for further upside.
META’s release of the Muse family of models and the upgraded Meta AI assistant has positioned the company as a leader in personal superintelligence, with billions of users now accessing these AI-powered features. This surge in AI-driven engagement is translating directly into top-line growth, as evidenced by a 33% year-over-year increase in total revenues to $56.3 billion for the first quarter of 2026.
The company’s focus on integrating AI into its platforms, which includes Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads, is driving user as well as advertising engagements. AI is heavily dependent on data, of which META has a trove, driven by its more than 3.56 billion daily users. Meta Platforms continues to see strong engagement trends with Instagram Reels, where watch time increased by 10% and Facebook video time increased by 8% globally in the first quarter of 2026. AI-translated videos are now watched weekly by more than 500 million users on Facebook and Instagram. Threads continue to grow with more than 500 million monthly active users.
Meta Platforms’ generative AI advertising tools are gaining strong traction, with more than 8 million advertisers using at least one GenAI ad creative tool in the first quarter of 2026. Video generation tools improved conversion rates by more than 3% while adoption among small and medium businesses has been particularly strong.
Meta Platforms is spending heavily on expanding AI infrastructure, which is expected to benefit the company’s top-line growth. For the second quarter of 2026, the company expects total revenues between $58 billion and $61 billion.
META Faces Stiff CompetitionMeta Platforms is facing stiff competition from competitors like Snap (SNAP - Free Report) and Reddit (RDDT - Free Report) . Both Snap and Reddit are expanding their portfolio in the AI space.
Reddit’s investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools remain noteworthy. The launch and adoption of Reddit Max, an automated, AI-powered campaign tool, enabled advertisers to achieve a 17% reduction in cost per action and a 25% increase in conversion rate in the first quarter of 2026. About 50% of Max campaign advertisers now use AI-powered creative features, and brands like Cozy have reported a 35% higher ROAS and a 28% lower cost per acquisition with these tools.
Snap has reached 956 million monthly active users and 483 million daily active users in the first quarter of 2026, driven by the continued adoption of Augmented Reality Lenses, Spotlight and AI-powered features. Key growth drivers include its AI-powered automation solutions, AI Sponsored Snaps, Sponsored Snaps, Promoted Places, Dynamic Product Ads and subscription offerings, including Snapchat+, Memories Storage and Lens+.
META’s Share Price Performance, Valuation, and EstimatesMETA’s shares have lost 15.6% in the year-to-date period, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s return of 14.9%.
META Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
META shares are overvalued, with a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 5.09X compared with the Internet - Software’s 3.54X. META has a Value Score of C.
META Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $33.01 per share, which has increased by a penny over the past 30 days. This suggests 40.53% year-over-year growth.
Meta Platforms currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) has been one of 2026’s most-debated stocks, swinging between SpaceX-merger fever and valuation skepticism. After running the numbers, our 24/7 Wall St. price target lands almost exactly where shares trade today, with a modest single-digit upside that earns a buy rating but stops well short of a table-pounding call.
Tesla closed at $375.53 on June 24, 2026. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Tesla is $404.94, implying 7.83% upside over the next 12 months. We rate the stock a buy with high confidence, but call this a fair-value setup rather than a deep discount.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $375.53 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $404.94 Upside 7.83% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% A Rough Six Months Sets the Stage Tesla has cooled meaningfully in 2026. Shares are down 16.5% year to date, off 11.85% over the past month, and sit roughly 16% below the $498.83 52-week high (low of $288.77).
Yet fundamentals are improving. Q1 2026 delivered $22.39 billion in revenue, up 15.8% YoY, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.41 beating consensus by 17.78%. Automotive gross margin expanded to 21.1% from 16.2%, FCF climbed 117.47% to $1.44 billion, and active FSD subscriptions hit 1.28 million, up 51% YoY.
The Case for $475 and Beyond Bulls have a real story. Management committed to over $25 billion in 2026 CapEx to fund Cybercab, Tesla Semi, Megapack 3, the Optimus ramp, AI5 silicon, and the new semiconductor research fab in Austin. CFO Vaibhav Taneja called it the “right strategy to position the company for the next era.” Barclays has an equal weight rating on the shares with a $360 price target.
Elon Musk argued Optimus could be “the biggest product ever” and guided unsupervised FSD for customer cars by Q4 2026. Wall Street’s average analyst target sits at $421.16, with 23 Buy ratings against 7 Sells. Our bull-case scenario gets shares to $475.30, a 26.57% return, if Cybercab, Robotaxi expansion, and Optimus convert the AI narrative into revenue.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case starts with valuation. Tesla trades at a 344 trailing P/E and 192 forward P/E, with a PEG of 5.45. Energy revenue fell 12% YoY, opex jumped 37%, and management openly guided for negative free cash flow the rest of 2026. Insider direction is net selling on 49 recent transactions.
Counterfactually, the opex spike reflects AI5 chip development and the CEO award SBC, both arguably investments in long-duration optionality rather than operating decay. Still, our bear scenario maps to $354.33, a 5.65% drawdown.
The Bottom Line: A Fair-Value BUY My 24/7 Wall St. price target of $404.94 reflects a stock priced almost exactly where the fundamentals justify, with our 247Factor providing the tiebreaker. The bull thesis depends on Cybercab volume production and FSD revenue inflecting in late 2026 as guided.
The bear case hinges on the $25 billion CapEx cycle pressuring margins faster than AI revenue can offset. With 90% confidence, this is a modest buy, not a conviction call.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $404.94 2027 $430.45 2028 $457.55 2029 $483.20 2030 $509.74 These projections assume Tesla executes the Cybercab, Optimus, and FSD roadmap on management’s timeline. Significant upside or downside could come from China FSD approval, the SpaceX equity relationship, or a sharper-than-expected demand softness in the core auto business.
Key Takeaways Uber added Kiehl's, FedEx Office, Blick, Academy Sports Outdoors and Choice Pet to Uber Eats.Uber Eats is expanding beyond food delivery into retail categories covering everyday consumer needs.Uber One members get no Delivery Fee on eligible retail orders and other ongoing benefits. In line with the efforts to expand its food delivery business, Uber Technologies (UBER - Free Report) announced the inclusion of multiple new retailers to the Uber Eats marketplace, aimed at expanding its retail selection availability for on-demand delivery. The new retailers include Kiehl’s, FedEx Office, Blick Art Materials, Academy Sports + Outdoors and Choice Pet, all of which can be accessed through the Uber Eats, Uber and Postmates apps.
Uber Eats, the online food ordering and delivery platform of Uber, is expanding beyond its patent food delivery business and offering a vast marketplace which covers everyday needs such as skincare, shipping supplies, art materials, sporting goods and pet supplies. This will allow consumers to browse and order from thousands of participating stores nationwide, with delivery available on demand or as scheduled.
Uber One members are entitled to enjoy no Delivery Fee on eligible retail orders and other ongoing benefits.
Uber has already added various retail locations across the United States, strengthening its position as a multi-category delivery platform.
Last year, Uber inked a deal with retailer Best Buy (BBY - Free Report) for on-demand delivery. The deal brought consumer electronics from more than 800 stores to the Uber Eats platform. Uber Eats is the online food ordering and delivery platform of the company. Following the tie-up, Best Buy customers throughout the United States are eligible to order a wide range of electronics, appliances and tech essentials on Uber Eats for delivery to their doorsteps.
Apart from the deal with Best Buy, Uber’s agreements with discount retailers Dollar General (DG - Free Report) and Dollar Tree (DLTR - Free Report) were also on the same customer-friendly lines. The tie-up with Dollar General ensured that its more than 14,000 locations arrived on the Uber Eats platform. Following the association with Dollar General, customers are using the Uber Eats app to order food, beverages and other essentials.
The deal with Dollar Tree has also enhanced UBER’s retail delivery capabilities by adding nearly 9,000 stores to the Uber Eats platform. The partnership with Dollar Tree ensures that customers across states can easily access affordable items of everyday use, ranging from party supplies to cosmetics and home essentials for on-demand delivery.
UBER’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of UBER have gained in single digits over the past three months. Despite the upbeat performance, UBER’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Internet-Services industry over the same time frame.
3- Month Price Comparison Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, UBER trades at a 12-month forward price-to-sales of 2.42X. UBER is inexpensive compared with its industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for full-year 2026 earnings has declined in the past 60 days while the same for full-year 2027 has gained in the same time frame.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
UBER's Zacks RankUBER currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL 0.62%) (GOOG 1.15%) took a hit to start the week after it was revealed that the company had recently lost some high-profile employees. Last week, the co-lead on its Gemini models, Noam Shazeer, announced he was leaving to join OpenAI. And then DeepMind's vice president and Nobel Prize winner, John Jumper, said he was heading to Anthropic.
The loss of AI talent to rivals isn't a positive, but it doesn't remove the advantages that Alphabet has created. That is why the price dip could be a great investing opportunity.
The AI model and chip advantage Alphabet's biggest edge is that it is the most complete AI company with world-class models and AI accelerator chips. By having its own models, the company can capture more AI revenue streams within its Google Cloud segment, and it is using Gemini to help add features and fuel growth with its consumer businesses, including Google Search.
The company's Gemini models are very good, but on the consumer side, the company doesn't even necessarily need the best model, especially in certain areas like coding. Its distribution -- through the ownership of Chrome, Android, and a revenue-sharing deal on search with Apple -- give it a big edge, while its ad network lets it monetize consumer AI better than anyone else.
Today's Change
(
-0.62
%) $
-2.13
Current Price
$
343.16
That said, Alphabet's biggest edge isn't its models, which are very good, but its chips. Management smartly developed its proprietary tensor processing units (TPUs) more than a decade ago and optimized its entire hardware and software stack around them.
This lets it train its models and run inference at a much lower cost than rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. Employees moving to those rivals after being involved with its AI models doesn't lessen that advantage.
This is also Alphabet's biggest growth driver. Its cloud computing business is booming, and by being able to offer its TPU infrastructure services to its customers, it captures higher margins. It is also set to sell some of its chips outside of Google Cloud to Anthropic, which opens up another high-margin revenue stream for the company.
Image source: The Motley Fool
Time to buy the stock Being a leader in both AI models and chips should position Alphabet to be one of the dominant AI players over the next decade. The loss of a few highly talented employees isn't going to change that. This makes this recent sell-off a great buying opportunity, with the stock trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just above 24 times.
That's a bargain for what looks set to be a top AI stock over the long term.
Two leading AI researchers at Google are planning to leave for rival Anthropic, according to sources, adding to a series of high-profile departures that risk undercutting the search giant's position in AI. Bloomberg's Julia Love joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech.
Five researchers out of Google’s core AI team in seven days, and the market noticed. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) shares fell 5.09% over the past week to $345.29, and dropped another 1.14% Thursday morning to $341.34. The catalyst is talent, the subtext is product, and the spread between the two is where investors are getting nervous.
What Maggie Germain told CNBC On CNBC’s Closing Bell Overtime Wednesday, reporter Maggie Germain laid out why the exits look like a pattern rather than coincidence. When the host pressed whether pre-IPO equity alone explained the moves, Germain pointed at a hole in Google’s product lineup. “Google at this point doesn’t have something that competes with Codex and Claude Code, and that’s where researchers are really gravitating,” she said. Coding assistants are the wedge product for enterprise AI sales right now, and the labs building the best ones are hoovering up Google’s bench.
The standouts are real names. Noam Shazeer, a Gemini co-lead and one of the original authors of the Transformer paper, is heading to OpenAI. John Jumper, the Nobel laureate behind AlphaFold, is going to Anthropic. Two more DeepMind researchers are reportedly headed to Anthropic as well, and DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis acknowledged “the most ferociously competitive talent market the tech industry has ever seen.” The newer departures sit below Shazeer or Jumper in seniority, yet the cadence is the story.
Why pre-IPO equity changes the math Both Anthropic and OpenAI have confidentially filed S-1s, which converts a researcher’s grant from “maybe valuable someday” into “valuable on a defined timeline.” Polymarket traders are pricing the competitive gap quite directly. As of Thursday, the market gives Anthropic a 98.2% implied probability of holding the top model on Chatbot Arena by June 30, with Google at just 0.3%. Over one month, Anthropic’s odds rose 22.2 points while Google’s fell 17.7.
Compounding the mood, Gemini 3.5 Pro was reportedly pushed from a June release to July. Talent churn alongside a product slip compounds the credibility problem with enterprise buyers.
The numbers that complicate the panic Strip out the last week and the underlying business is still firing. Q1 FY26, reported April 29, delivered EPS of $5.11 against a $2.63 estimate on revenue of $109.90 billion, up 21.8% year over year. Google Cloud grew 63% to $20.03 billion, with backlog nearly doubling sequentially to over $460 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai told investors that Gemini’s API processed more than 16 billion tokens per minute, up 60% from the prior quarter, per Alphabet’s Q1 FY26 8-K.
So why the selloff. Capex hit $35.67 billion in Q1, more than doubling year over year, with FY26 guidance of $175 billion to $185 billion. Investors are being asked to fund a hyperscale build while watching the people who would justify that spend walk to competition. GOOGL’s composite sentiment score has fallen 19.16 points in seven days and 24.88 over thirty. Year to date, the stock is still up 10.46%, and over one year, up 107.64%. The selloff reflects positioning rather than a break in the business.
How the rivals are trading If you assumed talent flowing into the OpenAI and Anthropic camps was juicing their cloud backers, the price action disagrees. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is down 3.55% on the week and 24.10% year to date to $355.23, weighed by the same AI capex anxiety dragging Alphabet. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which backs Anthropic and committed roughly 5 gigawatts of Trainium capacity to it, is down 1.36% on the week to $230.05, up just 1.49% year to date.
What to keep an eye on The July Gemini release is the readable catalyst. If 3.5 Pro lands and clears the 1500 Chatbot Arena threshold the market currently prices at 25%, the talent narrative softens. If it slips again or debuts middling, the question stops being about five researchers and starts being about whether enterprise customers stay parked in Vertex AI when Codex and Claude Code keep shipping. Polymarket is currently pricing an 80% chance GOOGL closes lower on June 25, which tells you where the very short-term crowd has placed its chips.
Investors.com will undergo scheduled maintenance from 10:00 PM ET to 2:00 AM ET and some features may be unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Store
SubscribeSign In
My Subscriptions
Founder's ClubSwingTraderLeaderboardMarketSurgeeIBDIBD DigitalIBD LiveCustomer Center
My Stock Lists
Email Preferences
Help & Support
Sign Out
Search stocks or keywords
Sections
My IBD
MARKET TREND
STOCK LISTS
STOCK RESEARCH
NEWSECONOMY
VIDEOS & PODCASTS
HOW TO INVESTEDUCATIONAL RESOURCESStoreMy Products
Founder's ClubSwingTraderLeaderboardMarketSurgeeIBDIBD DigitalIBD Live
Recently Searched
Biotech Medical Test Leader Hits Record High, Joins 15 Others New To Best Stock Lists
Is Your Stock Strategy Really Getting You To Your Destination?
Stock Market Ends Mixed As Techs Struggle Again, But Micron Spreads Good Cheer Late Amazon (AMZN) stock slipped below a closely-watched technical level in Thursday trading, on a day when hyperscale cloud giants Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META) slumped as well. On the stock market today, Amazon stock dropped more than 2% to 228.11 in midday trades. Shares fell below Amazon's 200-day moving average for the first time since April. While…
Microsoft MSFT shares inched lower and printed a fresh 52-week low this morning after a senior Stifel analyst, Brad Reback, lowered his price target on the tech behemoth to $400.
As sentiment shifts from blind AI enthusiasm to cold financial scrutiny, MSFT’s relative strength index (RSI) has crashed into the late 20s, indicating “oversold” conditions that often trigger a near-term reversal.
Still, Reback recommends some caution in playing Microsoft stock that’s already down more than 25% year-to-date.
In his research note, Reback argued the current consensus estimates for Microsoft are “somewhat” ignoring the potential for severe margin compression ahead.
“Severe costs associated with running and scaling Azure’s rapid growth will create unprecedented friction,” he told clients.
According to the Stifel analyst, MSFT’s gross margins (2027) could shrink by 450 basis points on a year-over-year basis to about 63%, significantly below Street’s optimistic consensus of 66.5%.
This dramatic contraction is almost entirely structural – driven by explosive capex and subsequent heavy depreciation costs of building, cooling, and maintaining specialized AI data centers.
Note that MSFT shares are currently trading decisively below their major moving averages (MAs), reinforcing that bears remain firmly in control.
Stifel trimmed its price objective on Microsoft shares also because it believes the consensus EPS estimates for FY27 are inflated by a full dollar.
Wall Street currently expects the titan’s full-year per-share earnings to come in at $19.45, a number analyst Brad Reback sees as highly unrealistic given its surging finance lease obligations and upper single-digit operating expense growth.
This structural expenditure leaves very little room for traditional enterprise cost-cutting measures to balance the scales.
Plus, he also highlighted a continuous decline in organic free cash flow as a major corporate red flag.
If FCF fails to rebound in FY27, Microsoft’s historical flexibility to “aggressively” fund growing shareholder dividends and execute massive share buyback plans will face restrictive boundaries – the analyst added.
All in all, Stifel’s research report perfectly encapsulates a broader, sector-wide realignment hitting the entire technology architecture space.
The market is aggressively transitionary; investors are no longer content with magnificent top-line annualized AI run rates (such as Microsoft's recent $37 billion metric) if it requires tracking toward an astronomical $190 billion in annual capital spending to secure it.
As capex intensity across the enterprise software sector balloons, Wall Street is enforcing a stricter valuation discipline, punishing firms whose near-term cash return profiles are being swallowed by multi-year infrastructure cycles.
For MSFT stock, breaking out of this bearish cycle will require proving to a newly skeptical market that its heavily funded Copilot and Azure AI products can efficiently convert into highly profitable, high-margin software recurring revenue rather than remaining capital-guzzling utilities.
Hours after Apple announced price increases for MacBooks and iPads, Microsoft said consumers can also expect to pay more for Xbox game consoles, reflecting rising component costs.
Starting Aug. 1, Xbox Series S consoles containing 512GB of storage will go up by $100 to about $500, Microsoft said Thursday, while models with 1TB will increase by $150 more. The entry-level Xbox Series X will now start at about $750.
"Last October, we increased XBOX console price by $20-$70 in the U.S.," the company said in a blog post. "We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options."
Microsoft said "console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027."
Memory manufacturers such as Micron and SK Hynix have a limited capacity, and they are prioritizing high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence infrastructure, such as Nvidia's graphics processing units. Manufacturers are raising prices to reflect higher demand, resulting in wider profit margins.
That puts a strain on consumers looking to buy devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers. Apple's announcement on Thursday came after CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that price increases had become inevitable.
"The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles," the Xbox unit said in the post. "Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make."
Microsoft said the 2 TB Xbox Series X, introduced in 2024, will no longer be available.
Microsoft shares sank almost 4% on Thursday. Apple's stock dropped 5%.
By You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Microsoft announced price hikes for its Xbox Series X on Thursday, effective August 1. Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images Shoppers got a double whammy of bad news on Thursday as Microsoft announced yet another round of Xbox price hikes hours after Apple boosted prices.
Taken together, the price increases — which both companies say are due to spiking memory and storage costs — are set to make holiday shopping significantly more expensive. For gamers, it makes gaming increasingly feel like a luxury hobby.
Microsoft's popular Xbox game consoles are set to increase by $100-$150 on August 1. The 512 GB models will go up by $100, and the 1 TB versions will increase by $150. The Xbox with the highest available storage configuration of 2 TB will be discontinued entirely.
"Last October, we increased XBOX console price by $20-$70 in the U.S. We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options," Microsoft said in a blog post. "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027."
The new price hikes will apply worldwide.
This is the third time Microsoft has raised prices on its latest Xbox generation, following increases in May and October 2025. The Xbox Series X is now $250 to $300 more expensive than it was when it launched in 2020.
The memory shortage has impacted a broad range of consumer electronics companies, many of which have raised prices in the last 8 months.
Microsoft's chief rivals in the gaming wars, PlayStation and Nintendo, have both previously announced price increases for the PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, respectively.
Computers, which also rely on memory and storage chips, have also become more costly to produce, and Apple followed many of its peers in boosting MacBook and iMac prices, along with the iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and Vision Pro, on Thursday — by as much as $300.
"The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles," Microsoft said. "Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make."
In its blog post announcing the coming price hikes, Microsoft shared details on programs it said "make XBOX consoles more accessible," such as buy-now-pay-later and interest-free financing services, along with efforts to make previously used game consoles available via retailers to purchase.
Read next
Steven Tweedie You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Steven Tweedie is a Deputy Executive Editor at Business Insider. He launched the Business News desk in early 2020 and helped grow it into the Trending and Tech News desk, a fast-paced reporting powerhouse that tackles the biggest business and tech stories of the day in an approachable way. He now oversees the Business News desk, Corporate team, and Weekend desk. He works out of the New York newsroom and helps train fellows and new hires at all experience levels in addition to his daily editing duties.He began his career covering app startups and gadgets on the Technology desk at BI. His past reporting and scoops have been cited or syndicated by publications including the WSJ, Associated Press, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and Forbes. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied economics and writing, and now lives in Brooklyn.While passionate about editing and helping lead the newsroom's daily business coverage, he also puts on his reporting hat every now and then to chase down a scoop — so don't hesitate to reach out!Have a news tip? Email Steven from a non-work email at [email protected] him on X and Threads for the latest.Featured work:▲Leaked memo: Wayfair CEO tells employees to expect long hours 'blending work and life' (scoop) ▲ Magic Leap's CFO is stepping down after it was 'mutually decided' it was time for someone new (scoop)▲ 48 hours after raising $500 million, Magic Leap called the cops to say an employee had stolen $1 million (scoop)▲ A conversation with the father of virtual reality about the changing culture of Silicon Valley▲ The future of virtual reality is here▲ The first details on the executive shakeup planned for Yahoo once its deal with Verizon closes (scoop)▲ What it's like to log in to computers in North Korea, which run look-alike Mac software called 'Red Star 3.0'
Microsoft (MSFT 3.48%) stock slipped 2.5% through 2:25 p.m. ET Thursday after Stifel analyst Brad Reback lowered his price target on the tech stock this morning, and maintained only a "hold" rating.
Reback thinks Microsoft stock is worth $400 a share -- and it costs less than $357 as of this writing -- but that's still not cheap enough to convince Reback to rate it a "buy."
Image source: Microsoft.
Why not buy Microsoft stock? Why not buy Microsoft at a 12% discount to its real value? Primarily, because Microsoft may disappoint a lot of investors when it reports earnings next month.
Earnings are due out on July 29, and the consensus is that Microsoft will earn a healthy $4.24 per share this quarter -- up 16% year over year. That sure sounds good, but be warned, says Reback. Microsoft's Azure computing business is growing four times as fast as the rest of the business and represents an ever-larger percentage of the company's total business. Again, this sounds good, but gross margins at Azure are compressing as Microsoft spends heavily in the artificial intelligence race.
Reback forecasts that "thanks" to Azure, Microsoft's fiscal 2027 gross margins will decline 4.5 percentage points from last year, to 63%, and miss consensus targets by at least 300 basis points.
Today's Change
(
-3.48
%) $
-12.70
Current Price
$
352.76
What it means for Microsoft stock More and more revenue coming from a division that's suffering increasingly worse-than-average profit margins? That most certainly does not sound like good news for Microsoft stock.
When viewed in conjunction with what's happening on the cash flow statement, where heavy capital spending on AI has left Microsoft with essentially no free cash flow growth at all for the past two years, and it's hard to make the argument that Microsoft stock is still worth buying.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SAN DIEGO, June 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robbins LLP informs stockholders that a class action was filed on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) securities between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026. Microsoft is one of the largest technology conglomerates in the world.
For more information, submit a form, email attorney Aaron Dumas, Jr., or give us a call at (800) 350-6003.
The Allegations: Robbins LLP is Investigating Allegations that Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Misled Investors Regarding Copilot User Adoption and AI-Driven Growth Prospects
According to the complaint, during the class period, defendants touted the success of Microsoft’s AI initiatives, repeatedly representing that Copilot was experiencing strong adoption, increasing user engagement, growing seat purchases, and widespread enterprise acceptance, while emphasizing Azure’s AI-driven growth and Microsoft’s competitive position in artificial intelligence. Defendants allegedly portrayed Copilot as a significant growth driver while failing to disclose that the product suffered from substantial adoption, user experience, interoperability, and capacity-related problems, that Microsoft’s AI models lagged competitors on key benchmarks, and that the Company was diverting significant Azure computing resources and increasing AI-related spending to address those issues. As a result, Microsoft allegedly failed to convert a significant percentage of Microsoft 365 users into paid Copilot subscribers and lost market share to competing AI products.
Plaintiff alleges that the truth began to emerge on January 28, 2026, when Microsoft reported fiscal second-quarter 2026 results and disclosed slower-than-expected Azure growth, increased AI-related capital expenditures, and that Microsoft 365 Copilot seats totaled only 15 million, materially below analyst estimates. According to the complaint, Microsoft further revealed that Azure growth was impacted by capacity constraints resulting from resources being redirected to Copilot applications and AI-related research and development. On this news, Microsoft’s stock price fell from $481.63 per share on January 28, 2026, to $433.50 per share on January 29, 2026.
What Now: You may be eligible to participate in the class action against Microsoft Corporation. Shareholders who wish to serve as lead plaintiff for the class should contact Robbins LLP. The lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. You do not have to participate in the case to be eligible for a recovery. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. For more information, click here.
All representation is on a contingency fee basis. Shareholders pay no fees or expenses.
About Robbins LLP: A recognized leader in shareholder rights litigation, the attorneys and staff of Robbins LLP have been dedicated to helping shareholders recover losses, improve corporate governance structures, and hold company executives accountable for their wrongdoing since 2002.
To be notified if a class action against Microsoft Corporation settles or to receive free alerts when corporate executives engage in wrongdoing, sign up for Stock Watch today.
Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
A coalition of publishers of nearly 400 local and regional newspapers has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement.
The lawsuit alleges that the companies stole the newspapers’ copyrighted news articles, used that content to build and train commercial AI products, including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, and reproduced or repurposed the content without permission or compensation, Platkin LLP, the law firm that filed the suit, said in a Wednesday (June 24) post on LinkedIn.
Platkin LLP was founded this year by former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and a team of litigators from the attorney general’s office, according to the firm’s LinkedIn profile.
Matthew Platkin said in the post that the lawsuit “seeks to ensure these local publications creating original content will have meaningful protections in the AI era.”
“AI systems do not critically evaluate city council and community meetings,” Platkin said. “They don’t investigate local crimes and corruption, publish obituaries, or cover the new restaurant opening downtown. Local reporters do. This lawsuit is not about stopping AI innovation, but ensuring that innovation happens fairly and within the bounds of the law.”
Neither Microsoft nor OpenAI immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023, alleging copyright infringement. The newspaper claimed the tech companies used its content without permission to develop their AI products.
Reached by PYMNTS at the time, an OpenAI spokesperson said the firm respects the right of content creators and owners and is “committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from AI technology and new revenue models.”
In December, a federal judge directed OpenAI to provide millions of anonymized ChatGPT logs in a copyright case brought by The New York Times and other media organizations. The publishers contended that the logs were necessary to determine whether the AI system reproduced protected articles.
OpenAI and Microsoft also face a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a group of authors who accuse the companies of misusing the authors’ books to train AI software, while OpenAI faces a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster, who allege the company scraped their articles to train its AI.
Nike's (NKE 2.42%) turnaround plan is like a retired athlete returning for one last hurrah. It sounds good in theory, and everyone's cheering for a successful comeback, but the execution in practice is much more difficult.
Nike's "Win Now" strategy, led by company veteran and CEO Elliott Hill, is all about making the apparel company a lean athletic machine once again. When earnings are released on June 30, investors will get a glimpse into whether "Win Now" is actually winning now.
Today's Change
(
-2.42
%) $
-1.01
Current Price
$
40.81
The challenges Nike is facing are substantial. Tariffs and lagging sales in China are a real drag for the iconic athletic brand. As of the third quarter of its fiscal 2026, Nike's sales in China were down 10% year over year. It'll likely take a few years for those macroeconomic issues to fully work themselves out.
Competition is stiff for Nike as consumers become less and less loyal to one brand. In the running category, up-and-coming companies such as On Holding and Hoka, a subsidiary of Deckers Outdoor, are eating into market share once dominated by Nike.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nike's stock is down more than 40% from its 52-week high.
I think the "Win Now" strategy is going to work, but it's going to look more like "Win Eventually." The turnaround strategy is so massive that years, not just quarters, will be needed. Rebuilding wholesale channels, streamlining operations and inventory, and upgrading technology aren't projects a company of Nike's size can complete quickly.
For investors, taking a wait-and-see approach to June 30 is likely best. The stock is priced low enough that, if the fundamentals improve, there will still be time to buy in afterward. However, if the turnaround is further delayed or fails to materialize, Nike will need much more time, and investors should wait on the sidelines.
Catie Hogan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Deckers Outdoor, Nike, and On Holding. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In the artificial intelligence (AI) investing sector, several stocks look like great buys right now. There is still massive demand for AI computing power, and companies are racing to build infrastructure and take market share in hopes of creating viable, long-term revenue streams.
Despite many companies offering nearly the same product, there can be large pricing disparities within the same industry, meaning you can find major deals. I think I've discovered three of them, and if you've got $3,000 to deploy, you should consider buying this trio.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Microsoft Microsoft (MSFT 3.48%) may be one of the most mispriced stocks in the entire stock market right now. It has a strong AI business, integrating Copilot into its business productivity software, and a dominant cloud computing business in Azure. Both of these two are growing rapidly, with their AI business growing at a 123% year over year pace and cloud computing rising at a 40% clip. As more businesses integrate AI and more computing capacity becomes available, these numbers will continue to rise, leading to solid, sustainable revenue streams for Microsoft.
Today's Change
(
-3.48
%) $
-12.70
Current Price
$
352.76
Despite these strengths, the stock is down around 30% from its all-time high, and it looks like an absolute bargain. Microsoft's fiscal year (FY) ends in June, so it's best to use FY 2027 projections to value the stock. From this perspective, Microsoft trades for 19 times forward earnings -- far less than the S&P 500 at 22 times forward earnings.
Microsoft is a dominant and rapidly growing company for its size, and this pricing mismatch doesn't make a ton of sense. As a result, Microsoft is a solid stock to buy now.
2. Nvidia Nvidia (NVDA 2.55%) may seem like an odd recommendation because it's the world's largest company, but the reality is it has a ton of growth left in the tank. The AI hyperscalers' data center expenditures are expected to reach a record $650 billion in 2026, but Nvidia projects they will reach $1 trillion in 2027. If that's true, then Nvidia has major upside ahead.
Right now, the stock trades for just 23 times forward earnings, barely more expensive than the S&P 500 at 22. However, if you use next year's earnings projections, the stock really starts to look cheap.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts
At 16 times next year's earnings, it's clear that none of next year's growth has been priced into the stock. It won't stay that way forever, and by buying the stock now, you can get in on those gains before everyone else, making Nvidia an excellent stock to buy now.
Today's Change
(
-2.55
%) $
-5.08
Current Price
$
193.92
3. Nebius If you're looking for outright growth, then Nebius (NBIS 2.12%) is your stock. It's a neocloud company and offers a cloud computing platform specifically catered to AI. Nebius also has a deal with Nvidia to get cutting-edge hardware first, making it an incredibly popular platform for running AI workflows. Nebius has huge expansion plans and believes it can grow its annual recurring revenue from $1.25 billion at the end of 2025 to $7 billion to $9 billion by the end of 2026.
Early results confirm this trajectory, as Nebius's revenue rose 684% in Q1. Wall Street is equally bullish on Nebius's stock, expecting 550% revenue growth this year and 225% next year. So, despite the stock more than tripling already this year, if the stock price follows revenue growth, Nebius still has far more upside ahead.
Today's Change
(
-2.12
%) $
-5.51
Current Price
$
254.15
I think Nebius is a great stock to sprinkle in with solid, established companies like Microsoft and Nvidia. It's far riskier, but it could yield far greater returns if Nebius can build an AI computing empire over the next few years.
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) both posted earnings confirming AI infrastructure dominates semis. NVIDIA reported a $75.246 billion Data Center quarter. AMD reported $5.775 billion. The scale gap is one part of the picture. The software lock-in is the more durable factor.
CUDA Carries NVIDIA. MI450 Carries AMD’s Hopes. NVIDIA’s Q1 FY2027 revenue hit $81.615 billion, up 85.2% year over year, with non-GAAP EPS of $1.87. Networking alone grew 199% to $14.8 billion, because customers buying Blackwell also buy NVLink, Spectrum-X, and InfiniBand. That bundling is the moat. Jensen Huang framed it bluntly, calling NVIDIA “the only platform that runs in every cloud, powers every frontier and open source model, and scales everywhere AI is produced”.
AMD’s quarter was strong on its own terms. Revenue rose 37.9% to $10.253 billion, with Data Center up 57% and free cash flow surging 252.96%. Lisa Su pointed to “a growing pipeline of large-scale deployments” for MI450 and Helios, anchored by Meta’s 6 gigawatts commitment. They still arrive at roughly a fourteenth of NVIDIA’s Data Center scale.
Closed Stack vs. Open Stack NVIDIA sells a closed, vertically integrated stack where CUDA-X, Dynamo, and Omniverse keep developers tethered long after hardware ships. AMD counters with ROCm, an open-source alternative, plus a wider product surface across EPYC, Ryzen, Radeon, and Xilinx. That diversification is real, but AMD competes on multiple fronts without owning any of them.
Lens NVIDIA AMD Core moat CUDA software ecosystem Open ROCm, broad portfolio Gross margin 75.0% 55% Key vulnerability China export restrictions Catching CUDA before MI450 ramps NVIDIA’s $4.84 trillion market cap trades at a forward P/E near 23. AMD trades at a richer multiple after a 275.45% one-year run, while NVIDIA shares are up 34.73% over the same window. The market is paying up for AMD’s catch-up story rather than its current cash flow.
The Next Test Is Developer Mindshare I will be watching whether MI450 Helios deployments pull engineering teams off CUDA, or whether they sit alongside it as a hedge. NVIDIA’s $119.0 billion in supply commitments and $91.0 billion Q2 guide suggest hyperscalers are not slowing orders. The SpaceX-Reflection compute deal circulating on Reddit hints at alternatives, but rewriting a decade of CUDA-native code is the real friction AMD has to overcome.
Why I Lean NVIDIA for the Moat, AMD for the Trade For investors prioritizing durable, predictable cash flow priced reasonably against earnings power, NVIDIA screens better. The CUDA lock-in produces 63% profit margins that hardware cycles alone cannot explain. For investors seeking higher-variance upside who believe ROCm gains traction in 2027, AMD offers a cleaner expression of that thesis, though Lisa Su’s sustained selling of over 200,000 shares across May and June gives me pause. The toll-road economics of CUDA contrast with AMD’s position as a challenger building a parallel highway.
Nvidia (NVDA 2.55%) and AMD (AMD +0.78%) are the two largest producers of discrete GPUs. They both produce data center GPUs for the booming AI market.
However, Nvidia often attracts more attention than AMD because it controls more than 90% of the discrete GPU market. AMD, which tries to compete against Nvidia with its cheaper chips, only holds a single-digit share. Nvidia also generates most of its revenue from its data center GPUs, but AMD still sells x86 CPUs for the slower-growth PC market.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia's stock has rallied more than 930% over the past five years, while AMD's stock has risen nearly 520%. Yet Nvidia still trades at just 21 times its projected EPS for fiscal 2027 (which started in January 2026), while AMD trades at 97 times its projected EPS for 2026.
Therefore, it certainly seems like Nvidia, with a market cap of $4.71 trillion, is still fundamentally cheaper than AMD, which is only worth $854 billion. So are analysts setting the bar too high for AMD, and too low for Nvidia? Let's dig deeper to find out.
Wall Street has consistently underestimated Nvidia From fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2026, Nvidia's revenue and net income grew at CAGRs of 69% and 94%, respectively. That explosive growth, driven by surging sales of data center GPUs to hyperscalers and AI companies, repeatedly crushed Wall Street's estimates.
Today's Change
(
-2.55
%) $
-5.08
Current Price
$
193.92
Even after the AI boom lit a blazing fire under Nvidia's business, its analysts still underestimated its growth potential. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, its revenue surged 85% year over year to $81.6 billion, beating analysts' expectations by a whopping $2.5 billion.
From fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2029, analysts expect Nvidia's revenue and EPS to each grow at CAGRs of 46%. That growth should be driven by its new Vera Rubin platform, which merges its Vera CPUs and next-gen Rubin GPUs; the growth of the agentic AI market, increased government spending on AI solutions, and the expansion of its sticky software ecosystem. The auto sector will also likely install more of its chips in autonomous vehicles.
But if you expect Nvidia to consistently beat analysts' estimates over the next three years as those catalysts kick in, then it's likely even cheaper than 21 times this year's earnings.
AMD has also stayed ahead of Wall Street's expectations From 2020 to 2025, AMD's revenue and net income rose at CAGRs of 29% and 12%, respectively. Its sales of Instinct data center GPUs accelerated during that period, but those cheaper chips didn't gain much ground against Nvidia's industry-standard GPUs.
Its sales of Epyc CPUs for data centers also rose, but they still control a tiny sliver of the market compared to Intel's (INTC 0.89%) market-leading Xeon CPUs. In other words, AMD is growing -- but it remains an underdog in the GPU and CPU markets.
Today's Change
(
0.78
%) $
4.07
Current Price
$
523.81
From 2025 to 2028, analysts expect AMD's revenue and EPS to grow at CAGRs of 44% and 82%, respectively. That acceleration should be driven by its new Instinct MI400 and MI500 AI chips, which could pull more cost-conscious hyperscalers away from Nvidia. Its upcoming Zen 6 server chips could also boost its share of the data center market, and it will expand its ROCm software ecosystem to challenge Nvidia's proprietary CUDA software.
However, AMD has only stayed slightly ahead of Wall Street's expectations. In the first quarter of 2026, its revenue rose 38% year over year to $10.25 billion, beating the consensus forecast by $336 million but falling short of Nvidia's explosive growth.
At 97 times forward earnings, a lot of AMD's future growth is already baked into its stock. But those projections are pinned to the expectations that it will gain more momentum against Nvidia and Intel -- and that might not be as simple as Wall Street's estimates suggest.
What's Wall Street wrong about? I believe analysts are still underestimating Nvidia while overestimating AMD's growth potential. Both stocks could still be great long-term AI plays, but Wall Street's poor track record with Nvidia suggests its stock is even cheaper than its forward multiple indicates.
Key Takeaways 3M's Safety & Industrial segment posted 3.2% adjusted organic sales growth in Q1 2026.MMM's segment margin rose 100 bps on volumes, productivity and capital discipline.3M expects about 3% organic sales growth and EPS of $8.50-$8.70 in 2026. 3M Company (MMM - Free Report) continues to gain from the strong momentum in its Safety & Industrial segment, a key contributor to its growth. An increase in demand across personal safety, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical has been aiding the segment’s momentum. Sales in the personal safety, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical markets collectively increased in the mid-single-digit range in the first three months of 2026.
A rise in demand for electrical infrastructure products like medium voltage cable accessories and insulation tapes also supported performance. The segment’s adjusted organic sales grew 3.2% year over year in the first quarter. Its adjusted operating margin also improved 100 basis points year over year, supported by higher sales volumes, productivity initiatives and disciplined capital allocation. However, continued investments aimed at business expansion and tariffs partially offset the results. Weakness in the roofing granules business is also concerning for 3M.
Backed by strong operational execution, 3M has provided a positive outlook for 2026. The company expects adjusted organic sales growth of about 3% year over year and projects adjusted earnings in the range of $8.50-$8.70 per share, indicating continued earnings growth from 2025 levels.
Segmental Snapshot of MMM’s PeersAmong 3M’s major peers, Honeywell International Inc. (HON - Free Report) is witnessing solid momentum in its Building Automation segment, driven by ongoing strength in both the building solutions and building products businesses. In the first quarter of 2026, Honeywell’s segment’s revenues increased 11% year over year. It contributed approximately 20.6% to Honeywell’s total revenues during the quarter.
MMM’s another peer, Carlisle Companies Incorporated’s (CSL - Free Report) Carlisle Construction Materials segment decreased 5.1% year over year in the first quarter of 2026. Carlisle’s segment’s revenues were offset by the weakness in the new construction market. It contributed approximately 72.2% of Carlisle’s total revenues during the quarter.
The Zacks Rundown for MMMShares of 3M have gained 10% in the past year against the industry’s decrease of 4%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, 3M is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40X, above the industry average of 15.78X. MMM carries a Value Score of D.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MMM’s earnings for 2026 has increased a penny in the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MMM stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Once upon a time, Netflix (NFLX +0.23%) was a component in that era's "Magnificent Seven" club. I'm reminiscing about the FANG or FAANG groups, of course.
Netflix was the "N" in both of these market-moving stock lists. The original 2013 handful also included Facebook, Amazon (AMZN 2.83%), and Google. Apple (AAPL 5.56%) added another "A" four years later. But the FANG/FAANG lists are so old that Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms (META 2.09%), and Google is now known as Alphabet (GOOG 0.98%) (GOOGL 0.36%).
Over the years, Netflix fell out of favor while the Magnificent Seven became market darlings. More recently, investors got excited when Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 1.25%), better known as SpaceX, entered the market.
Last summer, Netflix's stock peaked at a record price of $134 per share and a market cap of $567 billion. Instead of marching on to earn a seat in the trillion-dollar club, the stock was hamstrung by a couple of canceled buyout ideas. As of June 25, Netflix's stock is down 46% from its 2025 high.
The next ultra-elite stock grouping will probably include SpaceX and most of the Magnificent Seven, but not Netflix. Does that make Netflix an undervalued buy today or just another fallen giant with limited prospects?
Today's Change
(
0.23
%) $
0.17
Current Price
$
72.00
Netflix shares are on sale right now Let me cut to the chase. In my eyes, Netflix is the kind of durable winner that deserves a look even at scary share prices. These days, you get all of the upside at a very reasonable stock price. Netflix trades at 23 times trailing earnings and 25 times free cash flow, well below the average S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.09%) stock at 30x and 28x, respectively.
So Netflix is one of my top picks in this market. I'm not saying it's a perfect setup, and the true bottom may still be ahead, but that's all right. Market timing is an impossible game, after all. I would still hit the buy button on Netflix before any of the Magnificent Seven stocks or SpaceX right now.
The company lost a few bidding wars, not its mojo Netflix is having one of those years. The company tried to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, got outbid, shrugged, and moved on. Then it eyed Roku until Fox swooped in like a rival, showing up with a bigger buyout budget. As recently as this week, rumor has it that the company also considered bidding for Lionsgate, though Netflix's management denies it.
Backing away from the Warner Bros. bidding sent Netflix's stock higher, but share prices have been sliding back through the spring and early summer.
Here's the thing, though: Netflix didn't get rejected because something's broken. Management simply refused to overpay. That's not desperation; that's fiscal discipline.
Meanwhile, the company still commands less than 10% of U.S. TV viewing time, according to Nielsen, leaving substantial runway to capture share from linear television's 40%-plus hold on American eyeballs. Beyond that, it's a big world out there, and Netflix isn't even the top streaming service in many countries. You say "po-tah-to," I say "opportunity."
Image source: Netflix.
Netflix has more tricks up its sleeve than Wall Street thinks The Magnificent Seven get all the attention because AI is the shiniest object in the room. Fair enough. Netflix lacks that narrative right now. But narratives shift, and Netflix has many potential growth drivers in its pocket, from video games and international expansion to Netflix House entertainment venues and a booming advertising platform.
I'd much rather buy more of that innovative entertainment veteran's stock at a reasonable price than pay through the nose for SpaceX, Nvidia (NVDA 2.55%), and Tesla (TSLA 0.59%).
Netflix isn't broken. It's just unfashionable. And unfashionable stocks often come at tempting prices.
Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, Nvidia, and Roku. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Nvidia, Roku, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
