Market Signal Briefing

Kristine Liwag, Morgan Stanley senior aerospace and defense equity analyst, joins 'Squawk Box' to break down Boeing's quarterly earnings results.

October 29, 2025 09:07 ET

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Red Cat Holdings, Inc.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Oct. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RCAT) (“Red Cat” or the “Company”), a U.S.-based provider of advanced all-domain drone and robotic solutions for defense and national security, today announced that Stan Nowak, Vice President of Marketing, will present at the ThinkEquity Conference at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York, NY.

A webcast of Red Cat's presentation will be available here and on the Company's Investor Relations website at ir.redcatholdings.com. Investors interested in scheduling meetings with Red Cat should contact their conference representative or the Red Cat investor relations team.

More information about the ThinkEquity Conference, including registration information, can be found here.

About Red Cat Holdings, Inc.
Red Cat (Nasdaq: RCAT) is a U.S.-based provider of advanced all-domain drone and robotic solutions for defense and national security. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Teal Drones and FlightWave Aerospace, Red Cat develops American-made hardware and software that support military, government, and public safety operations across air, land, and sea. Its Family of Systems, led by Black Widow™, delivers unmatched tactical capabilities in small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS). Expanding into the maritime domain through Blue Ops, Inc., Red Cat is also innovating in uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), delivering integrated platforms designed to enhance safety and multi-domain mission effectiveness. Learn more at www.redcat.red.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "seek," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "target," "aim," "should," "will" "would," or the negative of these words or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our intended use of proceeds from the offering, annual revenue guidance, future manufacturing capacities and future market demand. Forward-looking statements are based on Red Cat Holdings, Inc.'s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Form 10-KT filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2025. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Red Cat Holdings, Inc. undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Media Contact:
Peter Moran
Indicate Media
[email protected]
(347) 880-2895

Investor Contact:
Ankit Hira
Solebury Strategic Communications for Red Cat Holdings, Inc.
[email protected]

CANADA - 2025/09/06: In this photo illustration, the Broadcom logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Over the past decade, Broadcom stock (NASDAQ: AVGO) has delivered a significant $51 billion back to its shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks. This extraordinary cash generation stems from Broadcom's position as a dominant supplier of mission-critical semiconductor chips and infrastructure software, where the company operates in markets with exceptionally high barriers to entry and generates industry-leading margins that convert revenue into pure cash flow.

Broadcom’s cash machine operates on two highly profitable pillars: its semiconductor solutions business that generates $34 billion (LTM) with products so essential to data center, networking, and mobile infrastructure, and its infrastructure software division producing $26 billion through mission-critical enterprise software, including VMware's virtualization platform that customers rely on for their core operations.

The company’s business model is particularly cash-generative because it focuses on high-margin, recurring revenue streams, allowing Broadcom to convert approximately $24+ billion annually into free cash flow from its $51.6 billion revenue base.

Let's examine some statistics and see how this cash return capability compares to the largest capital-return companies in the market.

Interestingly, AVGO stock ranks as the 53rd highest for total returns to shareholders in history.

AVGO Stock Shareholder Returns

Trefis

Why should this matter to you? Because dividends and stock buybacks provide direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also indicate management’s confidence in the company’s fiscal health and capability to generate sustainable cash inflows. Additionally, there are numerous other stocks like this. Here’s a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases.

Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder ReturnTop 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return

Trefis

For comprehensive rankings, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking

What do you observe here? The total amount of capital returned to shareholders as a percentage of the current market capitalization seems inversely related to growth expectations for reinvestment opportunities. Companies like Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are experiencing significantly faster growth, more predictably when compared to their counterparts, but have returned a much smaller proportion of their market cap to shareholders.

This represents the downside of high capital returns. Certainly, they are appealing, but you need to ask yourself: Am I compromising on growth and solid fundamentals? Keeping this in mind, let’s review some data for AVGO. (Refer to Buy or Sell Broadcom Stock for more insight)

Broadcom’s FundamentalsRevenue Growth: 28.0% LTM and 24.0% last 3-year average.Cash Generation: Approximately 41.6% free cash flow margin and 39.0% operating margin LTM.Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimal annual revenue growth over the last 3 years for AVGO was 11.9%.Valuation: Broadcom stock is traded at a P/E ratio of 92.9Opportunity vs S&P: In comparison to S&P, it offers a higher valuation, greater revenue growth, and improved margins.That being said, if you seek an upside with less volatility than holding an individual stock, consider the High Quality Portfolio. It has comfortably outperformed its benchmark—a combination of the S&P 500, Russell, and S&P MidCap indexes—and has achieved returns exceeding 105% since its inception. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.

AVGO Historical RiskThat said, AVGO is not immune to significant downturns. It experienced a nearly 48% drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, around 35% during the 2021 inflation shock, and approximately 27% during the 2018 correction. See – How Low Can Broadcom Stock Go – for more details. Even with robust fundamentals, it is evident that the stock can undergo substantial declines when market conditions change. Quality companies still suffer when market sentiment shifts abruptly.

However, the risk isn't confined to major market crashes. Stocks can decline even in favorable market conditions — consider circumstances like earnings reports, business announcements, and changes in forecasts. Check AVGO Dip Buyer Analyses to explore how the stock has rebounded from sharp declines historically.

Remember, investing in a single stock without comprehensive analysis can be risky. Consider the Trefis Reinforced Value (RV) Portfolio, which has outperformed its all-cap stocks benchmark (combination of the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 benchmark indices) to produce strong returns for investors. Why is that? The quarterly rebalanced mix of large-, mid-, and small-cap RV Portfolio stocks provided a responsive way to make the most of upbeat market conditions while limiting losses when markets head south, as detailed in RV Portfolio performance metrics.

Visa Inc (NYSE:V, ETR:3V64) late Tuesday reported better than expected financial results for its fourth quarter 2025, as the global payments giant’s payment volume growth accelerated quarter over quarter.  

The company’s revenue for the period rose 12% year over year to $10.7 billion, surpassing the $10.6 billion analyst consensus estimate provided by FactSet.  

Visa also posted adjusted earnings per share for the quarter of $2.98, beating the Wall Street forecast by $0.01. 

The company saw 9% growth in payment volume for Q4, an improvement from the 8% growth realized in the previous quarter.  

As well, Visa recorded 12% year-over-year growth in cross-border volume, which includes international travel and e-commerce transactions between buyers and sellers based in different countries. 

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney noted the company’s results were driven by “continued healthy consumer spending.”  

Looking ahead, Visa said it expects a low-single-digit revenue growth rate for fiscal 2026.  

Analysts, though, were anticipating $44.2 billion in annual revenue, implying 10.5% growth.

Garmin (GRMN - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.99 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.98 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.99 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +0.51%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of personal navigation devices would post earnings of $1.96 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.17, delivering a surprise of +10.71%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Garmin, which belongs to the Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry, posted revenues of $1.77 billion for the quarter ended September 2025, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.05%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.59 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Garmin shares have added about 20.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.2%.

What's Next for Garmin?While Garmin has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Garmin was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $2.29 on $2.02 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $8.09 on $7.15 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Electronics - Miscellaneous Products is currently in the top 20% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

One other stock from the same industry, Mistras (MG - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2025. The results are expected to be released on November 4.

This engineering services company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +30%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Mistras' revenues are expected to be $185.69 million, up 1.6% from the year-ago quarter.

Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.22 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.43 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +4.92%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this trucking company would post earnings of $1.29 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.27, delivering a surprise of -1.55%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Old Dominion, which belongs to the Zacks Transportation - Truck industry, posted revenues of $1.41 billion for the quarter ended September 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.70%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.47 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Old Dominion shares have lost about 22.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.2%.

What's Next for Old Dominion?While Old Dominion has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Old Dominion was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.09 on $1.35 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.79 on $5.54 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Transportation - Truck is currently in the bottom 3% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, Saia (SAIA - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2025. The results are expected to be released on October 30.

This trucking company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.54 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -26.6%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 9.6% lower over the last 30 days to the current level.

Saia's revenues are expected to be $833.38 million, down 1% from the year-ago quarter.

Key Takeaways Five9 gains from rising AI adoption in contact centers and new integrations with Google Cloud.TaskUs expands agentic AI consulting through new partnerships, driving double-digit growth rates.
Workday, GitLab and BILL Holdings show earnings estimate upgrades, signaling continued AI-driven momentum.
The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven astonishing bull run of 2023 and 2024 has continued in 2025 too. With just two months to close this year, the AI infrastructure developers are set to witness another fabulous year buoyed by the enormous growth of this space. 

Despite these positives, several AI stocks provided negative returns this year. Here, we have identified five AI stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank that have significantly lagged in 2025. However, these stocks have room to grow in the near future. 

These stocks are: Five9 Inc. (FIVN - Free Report) , TaskUs Inc. (TASK - Free Report) , Workday Inc. (WDAY - Free Report) , GitLab Inc. (GTLB - Free Report) and BILL Holdings Inc. (BILL - Free Report) . Each of our picks currently carries either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Five9 Inc.Zacks Rank #1 Contact center software solutions provider Five9 has been benefiting from FIVN’s strong performance driven by a rise in subscription revenues supported by traction in Enterprise AI revenues. FIVN provides intelligent cloud software for contact centers in the United States, India and internationally.

FIVN offers a virtual contact center cloud platform that delivers a suite of applications, enabling a broad range of contact center-related customer service, sales, and marketing functions. 

FIVN’s platform comprises interactive virtual agents, agent assistance, workflow automation, workforce engagement management, AI insights, and AI summaries. It allows the management and optimization of customer interactions across voice, chat, email, web, social media, and mobile channels directly or through its application programming interfaces.

FIVN has been benefiting from the growing adoption of AI tools in its call center services, with personalized AI agents emerging as a major growth driver. Five9 introduced its Intelligent CX Platform powered by Five9 Genius AI on the Google Cloud space. FIVN also released new Five9 AI agents tailor-made for Google Cloud.  

Ties with big names like Salesforce Inc. (CRM), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), ServiceNow Inc. (NOW), Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) helped the company build more tailored AI tools and improve its integration across platforms. This is anticipated to have helped FIVN win new clients and hold on to the existing ones.

Five9 has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 10.6% and 16.6%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.3% over the last 90 days.

FIVN has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 9.6% each and 8.5%, respectively, for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year earnings has improved 1.3% over the last 90 days.

TaskUs Inc.Zacks Rank #1 TaskUs is a provider of outsourced digital services. TASK serves social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and ridesharing, HiTech, FinTech and HealthTech sectors. TASK operates principally in the United States, the Philippines, India, Mexico, Taiwan, Greece, Ireland and Colombia.

TaskUs Accelerates Agentic AI Services. In May 2025, TASK announced a strategic partnership with AI-driven customer support companies Decagon and Regal. The partnerships augment TASK’s agentic AI consulting practice, a set of business services and expertise that help companies seamlessly integrate advanced AI technologies into their customer experience operations.

To that point, agentic AI can accomplish complex tasks autonomously with minimal human interaction, unlike traditional AI models, as it builds on the rapid progress of generative AI by exhibiting goal-driven behavior, adaptability, and reasoning to solve problems dynamically.

TaskUs has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 17.8% and 16.3%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has improved 4.2% over the last 60 days.

TASK has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 12.9% and 10%, respectively, for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year 2025 earnings has improved 3.1% over the last 60 days.

Workday Inc.Zacks Rank #2 Workday’s diversified product portfolio continues to yield a steady flow of customers. WDAY’s cloud-based business model and expanding product portfolio have been the primary growth drivers. The company is also gaining traction in the international market. WDAY has a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity. This allows the company to invest in portfolio expansion and strategic acquisitions. 

Significant investment from Elliott Investment Management will likely drive innovation. Management is putting a strong focus on integrating advanced AI and ML capabilities. This will drive long-term benefits.  WDAY’s solid customer wins in education, healthcare, financial Services, retail and hospitality verticals are driving the top line.  

Workday has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 12.7% and 21.1%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.3% over the last 60 days. 

WDAY has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 12.2% and 16.8%, respectively, for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year 2025 earnings has improved 2.2% over the last 60 days.

GitLab Inc.Zacks Rank #1 GitLab offers a DevOps platform, which is a single application that leads to faster cycle time and allows visibility throughout and control over various stages of the DevOps lifecycle. 

GTLB’s expanding portfolio has been a major growth driver. The general availability of GitLab 18, featuring major innovations across core DevOps workflows, security and compliance, and AI capabilities natively integrated into the platform has been noteworthy. 

GitLab Duo Workflow, a secure agentic AI, which is in beta is expected to improve GTLB’s footprint across SDLC. GTLB has a rich partner base with cloud hyperscalers, including Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. 

GitLab has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 23.8% and 12.2%, respectively, for the current year (ending January 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 10.7% over the last 60 days. 

GTLB has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 19.9% and 16.7%, respectively, for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year 2025 earnings has improved 2.1% over the last 30 days.

BILL Holdings Inc.Zacks Rank #2 BILL Holdings primarily caters to small and medium businesses (SMB) with its AI-enabled financial software platform that connects customers with their suppliers and clients. BILL is benefiting from an expanding clientele, and a diversified business model. 

BILL is also gaining from the strong adoption of its AI-powered financial operations platform to enhance customer experience by offering easier-to-use, more automated and predictive solutions. BILL’s partnerships with top accounting firms and leading financial institutions strengthen its market position.

BILL’s leadership in automating financial operations for SMBs has been a major growth driver. Its expanding product portfolio has been a key catalyst, while its strong balance sheet and free cash flow-generating ability remain noteworthy.

BILL Holdings has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 10.5% and -3.2%, respectively, for the current year (ending June 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.5% over the last 30 days. 

BILL has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 14% and 16%, respectively, for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year earnings has improved 0.8% over the last 30 days. 

Vidrala, S.A. (OTCPK:VDRFF) Q3 2025 Earnings Call October 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT

Company Participants

Unai Garaizabal - Investor Relations
Iñigo de la Rica - Corporate Finance Director
Rául Merino - Chief Executive Officer

Conference Call Participants

Francisco Ruiz - BNP Paribas Exane, Research Division
Enrique Yáguez Avilés - Bestinver Sociedad De Valores, S.A., Research Division
Fraser Donlon - Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division
Íñigo Egusquiza - Kepler Cheuvreux, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

[Foreign Language] Good morning, and welcome to the conference call organized by Vidrala to present its 2025 third quarter results. Vidrala will be represented in this meeting by Raul Gomez, CEO; Inigo Mendieta, Corporate Finance Director; and Unai Alvarez, Investor Relations.

The presentation will be held in English. [Operator Instructions] In the company website, www.vidrala.com, you will find a presentation that will be used as a supporting material to cover this call as well as a link to access the webcast.

Mr. Alvarez, you now have the floor.

Unai Garaizabal
Investor Relations

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Earlier this morning, Vidrala published its results for the third quarter of 2025. Alongside these results, have made available a presentation that will serve as a reference throughout this call.

We will begin by walking through the main figures released today and then we will move on to the Q&A session, where we will address your questions. With that, I will now hand over to Inigo, who will take you through the key financial highlights.

Iñigo de la Rica
Corporate Finance Director

Thank you, Unai. Let's start with a brief overview of the key financial figures. During the first 9 months of 2025, we recorded revenues of EUR 1,124 million, an EBITDA of almost EUR 329 million and a net income equivalent to earnings per share of EUR 4.93.

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Cover image via www.freepik.com

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

The crypto market begins Wednesday under clear pressure from macro catalysts as traders position around today’s FOMC decision and Jerome Powell’s press conference. Total capitalization is near $3.82 trillion, with Bitcoin at $112,900 and Ethereum testing nerves around $4,000. 

Liquidity remains thin as U.S. yields stabilize into the Fed event, while a $15 trillion earnings cluster from Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Boeing and Caterpillar later today will dictate risk appetite, extending into Nasdaq futures and crypto correlations.

TL;DRXRP could repeat HBAR’s 25.7% ETF rally and shoot past $4.Ethereum finalizes Fusaka testnet ahead of Dec. 3 hard fork.Sequans moves $111 million in Bitcoiin to Coinbase before FOMC decision.Big Tech earnings and Powell press conference to dictate evening volatility.XRP: ETF math points to $4.20XRP trades near $2.65, up a bit overnight, but the real conversation comes from Hedera’s (HBAR) shock ETF approval rally as HBAR coin surged 25.7% in 24 hours, after Canary Capital’s spot ETF launch on the NYSE, moving from $0.1775 to $0.2052 on 182% volume growth.

HOT Stories

Should XRP mirror the same 25.7% ETF lift, its price would jump from $2.62 toward $3.29, clearing the psychological $3 barrier and setting targets in the $3.50-$4.20 corridor. With filings from Grayscale, Bitwise and 21Shares awaiting SEC review, traders see HBAR’s approval as a dry run for how institutional flows could distort XRP’s chart.

Source: TradingViewThe $2.60 support band is intact, and indicators hint at potential retests of $2.80-$3, so the technical outlook aligns with XRP ETF speculations fueling fundamentals.

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Still, a break under $2.58 would neutralize the bullish setup, but the asymmetric risk remains tilted upward given HBAR's precedent.

Ethereum: Fusaka hard fork nearsEthereum holds just below $4,000 after two brutal intraday reversals, waiting for a catalyst beyond Fed rhetoric, and there is one, as the key driver now is the Fusaka hard fork, scheduled for mainnet activation around Dec. 3.

The Hoodi testnet has just completed its final trial run, following earlier deployments on Holesky and Sepolia. Fusaka introduces several upgrades central to Ethereum’s scaling roadmap:

EIP-7594 (PeerDAS): Partial data validation, cutting validator load by allowing blob-shard processing.EIP-7825 / EIP-7935: Gas-limit increases and core efficiency boosts.Blob-package expansion, node security upgrades and infrastructure prep for L2 throughput.This hard fork cements Ethereum’s positioning as the foundational L2 settlement layer. With DeFi TVL grinding higher and daily gas usage back to mid-2024 levels, developers see Fusaka as the necessary update to handle the next scaling cycle without bottlenecks.

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Short term, ETH needs to hold $3,950 or risk unwinding toward $3,850, but the fork narrative limits downside into year's end.

Bitcoin: $111 million treasury sale raises red flagAfter dipping under $112,000 in Asian trading, Bitcoin sits near $112,900, with the spotlight on Sequans Communications that just moved 970 BTC, worth about $111 million, to Coinbase. 

This is its first major outbound transaction since the company started building its 3,234 BTC treasury, currently valued at $255 million.

Source: ArkhamSequans ranks 29th on the global list of public Bitcoin treasury holders, far behind giants like Strategy (640,808 BTC) and Tesla (11,509 BTC), but its timing is worrying. In light of upcoming FOMC, some interpret the sale as pre-emptive risk management, others as balance-sheet optimization.

Either way, corporate flows of this magnitude add pressure to an already fragile BTC spot book.

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Immediate resistance for the Bitcoin price stands at $113,500, with stronger supply stacked near $115,000. The critical downside trigger is $112,000, and losing that zone reopens $110,800 as the next crucial support. 

Evening outlookThe evening is a collision of macro and micro. An FOMC statement, Powell’s press conference and results from Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Boeing and Caterpillar will hit risk assets within hours of each other.

Bitcoin: Hold $112,000 or risk deeper slide, reclaim $113,500 for relief.Ethereum: Defend $3,950, breakout of $4,050 leads to $4,200 setup.XRP: ETF narrative keeps $2.80-$3.00 open, HBAR precedent lights path to $4.By the time Wall Street closes, traders will know if Powell crushed risk appetite or if ETF hopes and corporate earnings gave crypto the green light. This is the most binary day of the week, and the market is sitting right at the fault line.

Alternative for Germany or AfD, the second-largest party in the government, has introduced a motion to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve following a similar move by France.

Summary

Germany’s AfD party has proposed creating a national Bitcoin reserve to protect against inflation and currency volatility, positioning itself as pro-crypto political party and urging the government to recognize BTC as a strategic, tax-favored asset.
The motion reignited debate over Germany’s 2024 sale of nearly 50,000 seized BTC, with critics noting missed profits as prices doubled, while supporters see AfD’s move as a potential turning point toward recognizing BTC as a legitimate reserve and financial safeguard.

On Oct. 29, the Alternative for Germany party, the second-largest opposition in the Bundestag, introduced a motion to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve to hedge against inflation and currency volatility. If the motion moves forward, it could mark a turning point for BTC adoption, considering Germany is the largest economy in Europe.

Users were quick to celebrate the news after it went viral, claiming that Germany was getting closer to acknowledging BTC (BTC)’s potential as a valuable asset in the global financial system.

However, many have also pointed out how the government made a mistake in selling their BTC holdings back when the crypto asset was still valued at $54,000.

“When politicians start talking about Bitcoin reserves, you know we’ve officially left the “magic internet money” phase,” said one X user.

“They sold 50k BTC just at $54k, since then it has been doubled, they missed profit of over $3.5B,” said another user.

In the past, the right-wing populist party AfD has been more vocal about their pro-crypto stance compared to other mainstream parties.

Earlier this week, a recent AfD parliamentary motion titled “Strategisches Potenzial von Bitcoin erkennen – Freiheit bewahren durch Zurückhaltung in der Besteuerung und Regulierung” urging the government to recognize Bitcoin’s potential. It also posited the idea of BTC becoming a “reserve asset.”

The party argued that BTC should be treated differently to other crypto‐assets, suggesting that holders of the asset should be granted tax‐free status after 12 months. Mainly, the party has voiced its concerns about the EU over‐regulating BTC wallets and services.

However, the AfD has also said that it views BTC as a “stateless money” and opposed the creation of a European digital euro.

In June 2024, Germany reportedly sold nearly 50,000 BTC that was seized by law enforcement from past criminal cases. Back then, the price of Bitcoin was still valued at around $57,900 per Bitcoin. If the government had held onto the seized BTC, it would have been worth $5.6 billion at current market prices.

Will Germany join the strategic Bitcoin reserve race?
The motion put forth by Alternative for Germany comes only a day after the UDR party led by Éric Ciotti in the French Parliament reportedly introduced a bill to establish a strategic BTC reserve. The proposed bill consists of a plan to accumulate 2% of the total BTC supply, which is equal to around 420,000 BTC within the next 7-8 years.

In addition, it would raise funds for the reserve through public mining, asset seizure and a savings plan fund allocation. Similar to AfD, the proposal also opposed the creation of the EU’s digital euro and instead proposed a tax exemption for a daily payment limited at 200 euros.

However, analysts were skeptical that the bill could receive support, considering UDR only holds 16 out of 577 seats in the French Parliament.

Most recently, Switzerland parliament member Samuel Kullmann claimed that he was currently working towards getting Bitcoin into the Switzerland constitution. In a campaign that he has been running since early this year, Kullmann aims to get the central bank to start holding BTC on its balance sheet.

According to data from Bitcoin Treasuries, the only European states to hold BTC are United Kingdom and Finland. BTC holdings for Germany and Bulgaria are currently listed as zero.

Previously, developers had to rely on cumbersome methods like getBlock or looping calls to getSignaturesForAddress and getTransaction to reconstruct transaction histories. These approaches were slow, expensive, and prone to errors, especially when handling large datasets.

What to Know:

$XRP is holding $2.65 with critical support at $2.62 and resistance at $2.75.
Experts predict a potential run to $3 if the key resistance level is broken.
XRP ETF approval hopes and Fed rate cut fueling market optimism.
Smart money is flowing into utility-focused presales ahead of altcoin season.

$XRP is once again ignoring the broader market while Bitcoin and Ethereum decline red.

Currently hovering above $2.65 with a cheeky 1.5% gain, $XRP didn’t get the memo that everyone else is having a bad time.

According to crypto expert CRYPTOWZRD, $XRP needs to stay above the $2.62 support level, as breaking through the $2.75 resistance could lead to a surge toward $3.

Source: CRYPTOWZRD on X
$XRP whales are accumulating at levels we haven’t seen before. While retail investors are doom-scrolling through red candles, smart money is quietly loading its position.

Add in the potential XRP ETF approval and the Fed’s expected 25 basis point rate cut, and you’ve created a perfect storm brewing.

If you’re not positioning yourself in the best altcoins to buy now, you might be late to the party. Again.

While everyone’s watching $XRP test support levels with the focus of a hawk, let’s discuss three presale altcoins that could surge during this altcoin season.

1. Best Wallet Token ($BEST) – The Infrastructure Play Whales Are Quietly Loading
Prioritize hardware support, swaps/bridges, EVM + non-EVM, and strong security (audits, phishing alerts, biometrics, social recovery/MPC). Skip custodial risk and outdated add-ons, choose speed, safety, and full control.

Best Wallet is more than a wallet; it’s a comprehensive DeFi and NFT hub with a presale launchpad on the horizon. It speaks multi-chain fluently, which matters when altcoin season arrives and every chain comes to life.

Remember juggling seven wallets last cycle? Yeah—Best Wallet turns that chaos into one clean, connected stack.

Best Wallet token ($BEST) holders get exclusive access to early presale opportunities, reduced trading fees, and governance rights over which projects get featured on the platform. It’s a VIP pass to the hottest club filled with degens, and the bouncer is a smart contract.

Source: Best Wallet token presale official website
Currently in presale at $0.025865, the token has already raised over $16.7M from investors who clearly understand that infrastructure plays win in bull markets, including a $33K buy in just 10 hours ago.

Early Best Wallet Token price predictions suggest significant upside as the platform scales and trading volume increases.

When $XRP finally rips past $2.75 and sparks the altcoin feeding frenzy, you’ll want a wallet built for chaos. Best Wallet is that stack, multi-chain, fast, and battle-ready. Get in early, and you’re positioned if volumes explode at launch.

Join Best Wallet token ($BEST) presale now.

2. Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) – The Layer 2 That Finally Makes Bitcoin Usable
Bitcoin is painfully slow with just 3-7 transactions per second. We’ve all been there, waiting 30 minutes for a transaction to confirm while watching the crypto market move without you, like you’re stuck in traffic while everyone else is already at the party.

Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) decided that wasn’t good enough and built a Layer 2 rollup for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Hyper fuses Solana’s SVM with Bitcoin’s battle-tested security. Think Bitcoin’s trust with Solana-level speed: near-instant finality, tiny fees, and the same hard security that made BTC the OG.

The $HYPER token is currently in presale at $0.013185, and the project has already raised over $25.1M. Whale buys of $379.9K and $274K show that smart money is recognizing that Bitcoin needs scaling solutions and Bitcoin Hyper is actually delivering.

Analysts are already eyeing Bitcoin Hyper price predictions that suggest significant upside post-launch.

The tokenomics are refreshing, with 30% allocated to development, as it appears they genuinely want to build something. Novel concept in crypto, I know.

The presale is structured in stages with price increases as it progresses, so early birds genuinely do get better entry points. Learn how to buy Bitcoin Hyper before the next price increase.

Staking is available from day one, and with Bitcoin’s dominance likely to remain strong, regardless of what happens in the altcoin market, $HYPER offers a solid hedge that still provides sweet presale upside potential.

Join Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) presale now.

3. DeepSnitch AI ($DSNT) – The Intelligence Edge That Separates Winners from Exit Liquidity
Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the whales are doing before everyone else does? That’s exactly what DeepSnitch AI is building, and it’s about time someone did this properly.

DeepSnitch combines artificial intelligence with blockchain surveillance tools to provide regular traders with the same insights that whales and institutions have been using for years.

Five AI-powered tools analyze wallet movements, identify accumulation patterns, detect suspicious activity, and provide a heads-up when smart money is making moves.

Source: DeepSnitch AI presale official website
The DeepSnitch AI token ($DSNT) is currently in Stage 2 presale at just $0.02032, having raised over $476K. That’s dirt cheap for a project with actual utility that solves a real problem.

When $XRP finally breaks through $2.75 and altcoin season goes nuclear, having DeepSnitch AI in your toolkit means you’ll see the next wave coming before most people realize there’s a wave at all.

Read more about DeepSnitch AI ($DSNT).

$XRP is testing support while whales stack sats and experts call for a potential run to $3. Whether you’re betting on $XRP to break through or hedging your bets with high-potential presales, position now or cry later.

Best Wallet token gives you the infrastructure, Bitcoin Hyper gives you the Bitcoin upside with actual functionality, and DeepSnitch gives you the intelligence edge.

If there was ever a time to position yourself for the next leg up, it’s probably now.

Authored by Elena Bistreanu, NewsBTC — https://www.newsbtc.com/news/best-altcoins-buy-xrp-support-2-62

BNB/USDT monthly price chart. Source: CryptoPatel/TradingView
BNB’s structure mirrors its 2020 setup, when a similar pattern triggered a 250% rally, lifting the price from roughly $40 to nearly $700 during the last bull cycle.

This time, the same projection from the breakout zone implies an intermediate target near $2,500, marking the “current bull run target,” as technical analyst Patel describes it.

The token’s long-term trendline, stretching back to 2018, continues to act as firm support, cushioning every major correction and keeping BNB within its ascending structure.

A sustained move above $2,500 could open the door to a steeper climb—potentially toward the $10,000 region—if bullish momentum from the broader market persists.

However, the monthly relative strength index (RSI) has entered overbought territory above 80, historically a zone that precedes cooling periods.

Western Union just dropped some pretty big news: they're creating their own dollar-backed stablecoin called USDPT and launching it on Solana early next year.

Bitcoin is hovered around $113,000 on Wednesday morning, as Polymarket traders assign a 98% probability of a 25-basis points rate cut at today's Federal Reserve meeting.

Over the past 24 hours, total crypto liquidations reached $514.22 million, affecting more than 140,000 traders.

Despite market caution, Bitcoin ETFs drew $202.5 million in net inflows and Ethereum ETFs added $246 million on Tuesday.

Is Bitcoin Undervalued?

Crypto chart analyst Ali Martinez noted that the TD Sequential indicator, which accurately called Bitcoin's major swings in recent months, is now flashing a new sell signal.

It correctly called July's 7% correction, August's 13% drop, September's 10% and 15% rebounds and October's 19% correction.

Michael van de Poppe observed that Bitcoin has retested lower levels and found buying support, warning traders to avoid leverage during FOMC volatility.

He maintains that Bitcoin remains undervalued compared to other assets, making the $112,000 region an attractive accumulation zone.

For Ethereum, trader Jelle highlighted that the asset continues to hold previous highs after a bullish megaphone breakout, with the potential for a "hated rally" once momentum returns.

On Solana, Martinez reported that 24.5 million SOL were accumulated near $189, forming a major support base.

XRP's TD Sequential has again flashed a sell signal, after accurately identifying trend reversals over the past three months, stated Martinez.

CryptocurrencyTickerPriceBitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC)$113,050.74Ethereum(CRYPTO: ETH)$4,002.93Solana(CRYPTO: SOL)$196.82XRP(CRYPTO: XRP)$2.65The meme coin market cap fell 2% in the past 24 hours to $63.6 billion, mirroring the broader crypto pullback. PolitFi meme coins continue to reflect strength for the second day with a 10.2% surge, while Solana-based meme coins held ground with only a 0.4% drop.

Trader Tardigrade noted a bullish setup for Dogecoin on the 4-hour chart, citing a hidden bullish divergence on the RSI and a bullish cross on the Stochastic RSI at the oversold zone.

CryptocurrencyTickerPriceDogecoin(CRYPTO: DOGE)$0.1945Shiba Inu(CRYPTO: SHIB)$0.00001023Read Next:

Bitcoin Dominance Nears ‘Explosive Phase’—Here’s What It Means For You
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Institutions are tokenizing hundreds of millions of capital on the Avalanche blockchain, which is turning government and TradFi integrations “into onchain reality,” according to Nansen.

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Avalanche is gaining ground as a preferred blockchain for governments and institutional investors, even as its native token continues to lag far below its all-time high.

During the past quarter, Wyoming’s Stable Token Commission issued the first government-backed stablecoin, the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), on Avalanche and six other public blockchains, signaling a growing adoption of blockchain networks by governments. 

FRNT launched as a fully collateralized stablecoin backed by US dollars and short-duration US treasury bills with a mandated 102% reserve requirement, Cointelegraph reported in August.

Avalanche has also attracted traditional finance players. SkyBridge Capital, the investment firm led by Anthony Scaramucci, pledged to tokenize $300 million worth of hedge fund capital on the network.
Crypto analytics firm Nansen described the trend as “quietly turning TradFi and gov tech into onchain reality,” adding, “DeFi just got institutional.”

Source: NansenAt the end of the third quarter of the year, Avalanche has become the third-largest blockchain by the value of tokenized US Treasurys onchain, with $638 million, following BNB Chain and Ethereum, according to data from RWA.xyz.

Tokenized treasuries are minted on the blockchain to increase investor accessibility and trading opportunities. They are part of the growing real-world asset tokenization sector.

Top blockchains by tokenized US Treasurys. Source: RWA.xyzAVAX token down 86% from all-time high, despite growing network adoptionAvalanche’s onchain data points to significant user activity, averaging over one million daily transactions, with a peak of 51.6 million daily transactions during the past quarter, according to Nansen.

Source: NansenHowever, the growing network usage has not attracted significant upside for Avalanche’s native utility token (AVAX), which is down 86% from its previous all-time high of $146 breached four years ago, on Nov. 21, 2021.

Avalanche was trading at $19.66 at press time, down 33% during the past month, as the broader crypto market was hit by a record $19 billion liquidation event at the beginning of October, following US President Donald Trump’s 100% import tariff threats on Chinese goods.

Magazine: Altcoin season 2025 is almost here… but the rules have changed

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has sparked a fresh debate around central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and how they could reshape financial freedom.

It started when Schwartz shared his article “The War on Cash” on X. The post quickly drew attention, especially after a user asked what poses a bigger threat to freedom – the war on cash or CBDCs.

Here’s what he had to say.

“It Depends on How They’re Used”Schwartz replied with an interesting perspective.

“If a CBDC creates more options for people who want to use it, that’s good. If it becomes an excuse to hamper other options more consistent with individual freedom, that’s bad.”

He added that CBDCs could actually support freedom in some cases, such as giving people access to a government-run banking option when private institutions block them. 

But he also admitted the market has largely moved on, noting it’s harder for governments to discriminate secretly than for financial institutions to do so quietly.

In short, Schwartz believes the technology isn’t the problem, but how it’s used.

Also Read: Binance’s CZ Declares CBDCs ‘Outdated’ as Stablecoins Rise 

Ripple’s Growing Role in the CBDC PushRipple has already worked with Palau, Bhutan, Montenegro, Georgia, and the U.K. on early digital currency pilots. These efforts helped improve the XRP Ledger (XRPL) so it could handle not just CBDCs, but also stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

That evolution led to RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed token launched on both XRPL and Ethereum. RLUSD’s market cap is now close to $790 million, supported by partnerships with DBS Bank and Franklin Templeton.

The War on Cash: Why Is Schwartz Concerned?In his essay, Schwartz argued that the “war on cash” has quietly eroded people’s financial independence. Current regulations, he said, push individuals to rely on banks that can terminate accounts without clear reasons.

He compared it to being forced to eat only at approved restaurants – constantly monitored, with no choice to cook at home. 

“That is, effectively, what banks are forced to do today,” he wrote.

Public Pushback on CBDCsWhile global regulators champion CBDCs, not everyone is convinced. 

On Reddit, there are repeated heated discussions that reflect growing public distrust. One user wrote that CBDCs could become “a financial disaster,” citing failed experiments in Finland, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Users voiced fears about privacy loss, government surveillance, and banks losing relevance as the central bank takes control. Others warned about the risk of hacking, economic instability, and job losses in traditional banking.

Will CBDCs bring efficiency and inclusion, or usher in an era of state-controlled finance where every transaction can be tracked and restricted? This is a trend to monitor.

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Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade has entered its final testing stage on the Hoodi testnet. This event is bringing the network one step closer to a faster and more efficient system. 

Developers and users are watching closely as the upgrade prepares for a December 3 mainnet release.

What the Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade DoesThe Fusaka upgrade is designed to make Ethereum transactions quicker, cheaper and safer. 

It comes after a series of successful test runs on the Holesky and Sepolia networks, which have helped developers fine-tune the new system before the official rollout.

The Ethereum Fusaka upgrade has gone live | source: X

The Ethereum Fusaka upgrade focuses on making the network more efficient rather than adding flashy new features. It improves how data moves across the blockchain, reducing the load on validators and lowering transaction costs.

One of Fusaka’s main features is Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS). This technology allows validators to check only parts of the network’s data instead of downloading everything. 

It cuts down bandwidth use and helps the network process more transactions in less time.

Fusaka also increases the size of “blobs,” which are data packets used by layer-2 solutions such as rollups. These layer-2 systems handle large batches of transactions off-chain before settling them on Ethereum.

The larger blob size means more data can fit into each block, helping the network scale for higher traffic without slowing down.

How Fusaka Affects Developers and UsersFor developers, the Ethereum Fusaka upgrade means updating their software and testing applications to make sure that they are compatible. 

The new PeerDAS system and larger blob sizes may require changes to how layer-2 solutions and validators manage data.

Regular users, however, will notice improvements without needing to take any action. Transactions will confirm faster and fees will drop thanks to the more efficient data handling. 

Because Fusaka is backward compatible, users won’t need to move their funds or change their wallets. All existing smart contracts will continue working as before.

Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade and the Future of ScalingEthereum’s development roadmap has long focused on scaling the network to handle more users and larger applications. Fusaka represents another step toward that goal.

After Fusaka, Ethereum is planning more updates that will further expand blob capacity and introduce new proposals to improve efficiency. 

The following hard fork, known as Glamsterdam, is already under discussion among core developers. This next stage is expected to include features that separate block proposers from builders and improve fairness while reducing congestion.

Each upgrade builds on the one before it. This makes sure that Ethereum can support its entire ecosystem of Dapps without compromising security or stability.

What the Fusaka Upgrade Means for Ethereum’s GrowthThe Fusaka upgrade shows Ethereum’s steady progress toward becoming a fully scalable blockchain. The combination of PeerDAS and larger blob capacity gives developers more room to build Dapps.

For users, the update promises faster transactions and lower costs. The network’s stability will also improve, which is important for institutional use and large-scale applications.

Ethereum’s ongoing development pace therefore improves trust among its global community. Each upgrade, including Fusaka brings it closer to handling the heavy demands of the growing Web3 ecosystem.

Fedi, the Bitcoin company building on top of the open source Fedimint protocol — a privacy-centric bitcoin payments method using Chaumian e-cash — is emerging from a period of quiet development to announce a new groundbreaking feature. Set for release today, this new capability within the Fedi app aims to make the creation of multi-signature e-cash mints easy, private, and secure for communities worldwide with just a few clicks, aligning with cypherpunk principles of decentralization and user sovereignty.

Built into their increasingly popular Android and iOS apps, the new release allows users to easily create a new Fedimint federation with the help of G-bot, a friendly chatbot interface. Mint founders need to pay a basic service fee, add some basic information in minutes for the mint, and wait a few hours. 

The G-bot then finds trusted anonymous Guardians to help form the user’s mint federation. This process decentralizes the custody of the mint’s bitcoin reserves — needed to operate an e-cash mint. It also helps prevent collusion as mint operators are anonymous from each other and would need to reveal themselves publicly to be able to find other key holders to collude. 

This Fedimint protocol is fundamentally built on privacy, a cornerstone of Bitcoin and the cypherpunk movement. “The first line of the Cypherpunk Manifesto is that privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. It’s not nice to have. It’s not convenient. It’s necessary.” Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedi, told Bitcoin Magazine in an exclusive interview. He added a cautionary warning about the future, which the world would be wise to avoid: “Bitcoin without privacy is our worst nightmare. It’s 1984 coin, it’s the panopticoin.” 

Founded in 2022, Fedi has been quietly working to deliver the promises of private digital cash to the world, based on one of the most promising technologies designed for that purpose, David Chaum’s 1982 Chaumian e-cash. This form of digital money almost made it into every copy of Windows 1995, proof of its scalability and efficiency, but ironically failed due to its centralization, as Chaum and Gates reportedly could not reach a final agreement on the deal. 

Fast forward 30 years, and the Bitcoin community has taken on the challenge of bringing private digital cash to the world, leveraging new possibilities unlocked by the Bitcoin network, which may solve the fundamental trade-off of Chaumian e-cash, the need to trust a single counterparty mint that issues and redeems the e-cash bills for the underlying currency. 

It is interesting to note that Bitcoin was designed as a solution to the fundamental trade-offs of e-cash. While e-cash relies on a trusted server to approve transactions that are properly funded, it can do so without knowing any personal user information, since the system is fundamentally built on cryptography and not identity. It nevertheless requires a trusted server, which can in theory emit more e-cash bills than it has reserves for, a form of the ‘double spending problem’ Satoshi Nakamoto sought to address in his Bitcoin white paper. 

Centralized e-cash mints can also be more easily harassed by hostile governments, as the pre-Bitcoin history of digital cash shows. Bitcoin decentralized the mint by distributing the accounting process the mint does with the invention of the Bitcoin node, anyone that runs a node has a copy of all bitcoin transactions and can independently verify the accounting integrity of the system, thus solving the ‘double spending problem’. 

The downside of Bitcoin’s approach is that it leaves a public record of all transactions, which is not great for privacy, and has hard theoretical limits in terms of how many transactions it can process per second — it is not very scalable — two limits which the e-cash systems do not have. 

The downsides of centralized cryptocurrency platforms are something that Nwosu has deep professional experience with; he was the founder and CEO of Coinfloor, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014. The exchange was the “First ‘Publicly Auditable’ Bitcoin Exchange” according to a 2014 Coindesk, through an innovative auditing process called proof of reserves. Recalling back on his experience with the matter, Nwosu said, “Being solvent is a very big thing for me as well as being able to prove that cryptographically, if possible”. That experience and his concern over a future without private digital cash are clear motivations for why he co-founded Fedi. 

Creating scalable, decentralized, private digital cash, however, is not easy, neither technically nor politically. To solve this fundamental problem of finance and computer science, many in the Bitcoin community have been looking for ways to combine the benefits of Bitcoin and Chaumian e-cash in order to solve — or at least mitigate — the downsides of both systems. The Fedimint protocol’s most important innovation in this field is the development of federated e-cash mints, leveraging the security of Bitcoin’s native smart contract capabilities, especially multi-signature transactions. 

Bitcoin’s multi-signature script enables something new in finance, a transaction that can only be executed if more than one party agrees to sign. Banks may have shared accounts across multiple parties, but those are rules enforced by lawyers, who need to comply with local laws, ultimately giving final say to the local government. Bitcoin, by contrast, defends the integrity of a multi-signature with the full weight of its international proof of work network, making these agreements as good as gold and unlocking a new kind of federated financial institution. The Liquid Network, as well as Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, exists only thanks to this multi-signature technology.

Fedimint takes multi-signature to the next level, making the members unknown to each other through the G-bot, protecting users of that mint from the collusion of the guardians while also adding redundancy to the custody of mint bitcoin reserves, which makes hacks more difficult. Fedimint also protects Guardians from accidental loss of keys, as a threshold of Guardians can restore the stability of a federation, say 3 out of 4 signers, in case one loses their keys or gets compromised, on the topic Nwosu said “the bigger risk isn’t collusion but users forgetting passwords, which federations mitigate since the system continues if one guardian fails.”

Ultimately, Nwosu expects there to be “tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of federations, each with a different set of users using it.” These mints connect to each other using the Bitcoin standard and its various payment rails such as onchain Bitcoin and the Lightning Network “offering cryptographic privacy within each federation. Even when sending between federations via Lightning, privacy remains high because users are interchangeable within pools. No single point of trust or failure.” 

One common critique of e-cash systems, even post Bitcoin, is regarding self-custody. Critics argue that e-cash, even in a federated network, is nevertheless a custodial trusted system of money, and on this topic, Nwosu had a particularly powerful insight: “If you have self-custody and no privacy, you don’t have self-sovereignty because someone knows exactly what you’re doing and can confiscate your money at any point.” Because e-cash does not leave an on-chain footprint, it can be fundamentally more private than any blockchain. 

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Helius says it has re-engineered how Solana’s historical data is stored and retrieved, introducing a new archival backend and an RPC method that collapses today’s multi-call workflows into a single request.

CEO Mert Mumtaz framed the change in sweeping terms: “today, Solana changes forever… we’ve solved the biggest data/RPC problem that exists,” he wrote, arguing that the status quo—historical queries hitting Google Bigtable—has been “slow,” “expensive,” and “inflexible.”

What This Means For Solana
Mumtaz highlighted the practical pain point every Solana indexer or wallet developer knows: getting the “first tx for a Solana address without looping back endlessly” and pulling the “most recent 100 txs for an address” both require chaining calls and traversals that can balloon into “thousands of RPC calls.” “Not anymore,” Mumtaz said.

At the heart of the release is a Helius-exclusive RPC method, getTransactionsForAddress, backed by a distributed archival storage layer that the company claims is “1,000x faster, more flexible, and more scalable.” Functionally, the method merges today’s common two-step pattern—getSignaturesForAddress to enumerate signatures, then getTransaction to hydrate details—into one call that can return fully decoded transactions, with bidirectional time ordering and range filters by slot or timestamp.

Helius’ documentation spells out that it enables reverse search without back-traversal and supports pagination tuned for large, active accounts. The company also emphasizes that this is not a core Solana RPC addition; it’s a proprietary extension available on Helius nodes, priced at 100 credits per request on Developer plans and above.

Performance claims span both the new method and legacy endpoints, with Helius saying getBlock, getTransaction, and getSignaturesForAddress are now “10x faster,” while the archival system under the hood delivers the headline throughput improvements for historical queries.

The framing is squarely aimed at eliminating Bigtable-bound latency spikes and reducing call counts by “100x” alongside “10x lower latency” and “1000x less code.” Those assertions track with common developer complaints documented across Solana forums about slow historical hydration on busy addresses, but the hard numbers here are Helius’ own benchmarks.

The strategic context matters. Solana’s on-chain activity continues to skew toward high-throughput consumer and payments use cases, which punish inefficient data access patterns.

The launch landed the same day the first US spot Solana ETF went live on the NYSE—Bitwise’s BSOL. According to Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, BSOL recorded a volume of $56 million on day one. “BSOL’s $56m is the MOST of any launch this year.. More than XRPR, SSK, Ives and $MNU. And what’s amazing is it seeded with $220m. It could have invested seed on Day One, which would have resulted in $280m-ish, would be even more than ETHA’s debut. Strong start either way,” Balchunas wrote.

Another macro backdrop piece: Western Union announced plans to introduce a dollar-backed stablecoin, USDPT, on Solana, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, with availability targeted for the first half of 2026.

At press time, SOL traded at $195.

Solana price remains below the 0.786 Fib, 1-week chart | Source: SOLUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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HBAR and LTC ETFs launched alongside BSOL, but with far smaller day-one volumes, $8M and $1M, respectively.

The new Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) shocked the markets on Tuesday, recording $56 million in trading volume on its first day.

This milestone makes it the best ETF launch of 2025, not just in crypto but among more than 850 U.S. ETFs launched this year.

A Record-Breaking Debut
According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, BSOL’s $56 million in first-day volume was the highest in 2025, beating the launches of about 850 other new funds, including the REX-Osprey XRP ETF (XRPR).

For comparison, on its first day, September 18, XRPR raised $37.7 million, with $24 million coming within its first hour and a half. Additionally, within five weeks, it had more than $100 million in assets under management. BSOL’s final figure outpaced XRPR’s debut returns by more than $18 million, and strong investor confidence was anticipated even before trading began. Balchunas had predicted it would hit $52 million on its opening day, which was only $4 million shy of the eventual amount.

Bitwise Asset Management launched BSOL on Nasdaq under the Securities Act of 1933. This gave investors direct access to SOL with staking rewards of about 7% and no management fees for a limited time.

The launch was part of a group of three new crypto funds. The other two were ETFs for Hedera (HBAR) and Litecoin (LTC), which saw first-day volumes of $8 million and $1 million, respectively.

These new funds reached the market thanks to an automatic legal provision that allowed their registrations to proceed without manual sign-off from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which was especially helpful because parts of the U.S. government are currently shut down.

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First Spot ETFs for Solana, Litecoin, and HBAR Set to Debut Amid SEC Clarity

Vitalik Buterin and Anatoly Yakovenko Clash Over Ethereum’s Layer-2 Security

Crypto ETF Boom: 155 Filings Across 35 Assets, Analyst Backs Index Funds

Meanwhile, Grayscale confirmed that its Solana Trust (GSOL) would convert into an ETF on October 29, further expanding investor options around the Solana ecosystem.

SOL Price Action and Market Outlook
Following BSOL’s debut, Solana’s market performance was mixed. As of this writing, the asset is trading at about $195, down 2.3% over the last 24 hours. However, it has risen 5.1% over the last week, suggesting that while the ETF news didn’t cause an immediate price jump, it may have contributed to positive mid-term sentiment toward the asset.

Some analysts say the strong ETF debut could spark interest from more institutional investors, helping keep prices stable in the short term. SOL has dropped 7.1% in the last 30 days, but it is up a modest 7.6% over the past year. Still, its daily trading volume of $7.7 billion and a market cap of $107 billion make it one of the more liquid and actively traded cryptocurrencies in the market.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) today reported:

The Board of Directors of Stepan Company has approved an increase of $0.01 per share, or 2.6%, on the quarterly cash dividend on the Company's common stock. The dividend of $0.395 per share is payable on December 15, 2025, to common stockholders of record on November 28, 2025. The increase marks the 58th consecutive year in which the quarterly dividend on the Company's common stock has increased.

Corporate Profile
Stepan Company is a major manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in a broad range of industries. Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products and in agricultural and oilfield solutions. The Company is also a leading supplier of polyurethane polyols used in the expanding thermal insulation market, and CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) industries.

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, Stepan utilizes a network of modern production facilities located in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

The Company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol SCL. For more information about Stepan Company please visit the Company online at www.stepan.com.

More information about Stepan's sustainability program can be found on the Sustainability page at www.stepan.com.

Certain information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include statements about Stepan Company's plans, objectives, strategies, financial performance and outlook, trends, the amount and timing of future cash distributions, prospects or future events and involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict. As a result, Stepan Company's actual financial results, performance, achievements or prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "guidance," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would," "should," "illustrative" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Stepan Company and its management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, are inherently uncertain. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and stockholders should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond Stepan Company's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors include, among other factors, the risks, uncertainties and factors described in Stepan Company's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) risks and uncertainties related to accidents, unplanned production shutdowns or disruptions in manufacturing facilities; reduced demand due to customer product reformulations or new technologies; our inability to successfully develop or introduce new products; compliance with laws; our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates and successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; global competition; volatility of raw material and energy costs and supply; disruptions in transportation or significant changes in transportation costs; downturns in certain industries and general economic downturns; international business risks, including currency exchange rate fluctuations, legal restrictions and taxes; unfavorable resolution of litigation against us; maintaining and protecting intellectual property rights; our ability to access capital markets; global political, military, security or other instability; costs related to expansion or other capital projects; interruption or breaches of information technology systems; our ability to retain executive management and key personnel; and our debt covenants.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Stepan Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Stepan Company

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, /PRNewswire/ -- OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE: OGE), the parent company of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company ("OG&E"), today reported earnings of $1.14 per diluted share during the three months that ended September 30, 2025, compared to $1.09 per diluted share in the third quarter 2024.

OG&E, a regulated electric company, contributed earnings of $1.20 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $1.12 per diluted share in the third quarter 2024.
Other operations, which includes the holding company, contributed a loss of $0.06 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $0.03 per diluted share in the third quarter 2024.

"Our third quarter results demonstrate the strength of our business and commitment of the team," stated Sean Trauschke, Chairman, President, and CEO of OGE Energy Corp. "With approximately 550 MW of new natural gas turbines under construction and more planned, we are proactively addressing the region's growing energy needs as we maintain some of the lowest rates in the nation for our customers."

Third Quarter 2025 results

OG&E  contributed net income of $242.9 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, in the third quarter compared to $225.0 million, or $1.12 per diluted share, in the same period 2024. The increase in net income was primarily due to increased recovery of capital investments, partially offset by higher operation and maintenance expense, income tax expense, and milder weather.

Other Operations  resulted in a loss of $11.6 million, or $0.06 per share, in the third quarter compared to a loss of $6.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, in the same period 2024. The increase in net loss was primarily due to higher interest expense, partially offset by higher income tax benefit.

OGE Energy's net income was $231.3 million or $1.14 per diluted share in the third quarter, compared to earnings of $218.7 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, in the same period 2024.

2025 Outlook 
OGE Energy's 2025 consolidated earnings guidance remains projected to be in the top half of its original 2025 earnings guidance range of $2.21 to $2.33 per average diluted share. This guidance assumes, among other things, normal weather for the remainder of the year. OG&E has significant seasonality in its earnings due to weather on a year-over-year basis. See OGE Energy's 2024 Form 10-K for other key factors and assumptions underlying its 2025 guidance.

Conference Call Webcast
OGE Energy Corp. will host an earnings and business update conference call on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at 8 a.m. CDT. The conference will be available through the Investor Center at www.oge.com.

Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential," "project," "target" and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions, including the availability of credit, access to existing lines of credit, access to the commercial paper markets, actions of rating agencies and inflation rates, and their impact on capital expenditures; the ability of the Company to access the capital markets and obtain financing on favorable terms, as well as inflation rates and monetary fluctuations; the ability to obtain timely and sufficient rate relief to allow for recovery of items such as capital expenditures, fuel and purchased power costs, operating costs, transmission costs and deferred expenditures; prices and availability of electricity, coal and natural gas; competitive factors, including the extent and timing of the entry of additional competition in the markets served by the Company, potentially through deregulation; the impact on demand for the Company's services resulting from cost-competitive advances in technology, such as distributed electricity generation and customer energy efficiency programs; technological developments, changing markets and other factors that result in competitive disadvantages and create the potential for impairment of existing assets; factors affecting utility operations such as unusual weather conditions; catastrophic weather-related damage; unscheduled generation outages; unusual maintenance or repairs; unanticipated changes to fossil fuel, natural gas or coal supply costs or availability due to higher demand, shortages, transportation problems or other developments; environmental incidents; or electric transmission or gas pipeline system constraints; availability and prices of raw materials and equipment for current and future construction projects; the effect of retroactive pricing of transactions in the SPP markets, adjustments in market pricing mechanisms by the SPP or allocation of transmission upgrade costs; federal or state legislation and regulatory decisions and initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an impact on rate structures or affect the speed and degree to which competition enters the Company's markets; environmental laws, safety laws or other regulations that may impact the cost of operations, restrict or change the way the Company's facilities are operated or result in stranded assets; the ability of the Company to meet future capacity requirements mandated by the SPP, which could be impacted by future load growth, environmental regulations, and the availability of resources; changes in accounting standards, rules or guidelines; the discontinuance of accounting principles for certain types of rate-regulated activities; the cost of protecting assets against, or damage due to, terrorism or cyberattacks, including the Company losing control of their assets and potential ransoms, and other catastrophic events; the availability, cost, coverage and terms of insurance; changes in the use, perception or regulation of generative artificial intelligence technologies, which could limit the Company's ability to utilize such technology, create risk of enhanced regulatory scrutiny, generate uncertainty around intellectual property ownership, licensing or use, or which could otherwise result in risk of damage to the Company's business, reputation or financial results; creditworthiness of suppliers, customers and other contractual parties, including large, new customers from emerging industries such as cryptocurrency; social attitudes regarding the electric utility and power industries; identification of suitable investment opportunities to enhance shareholder returns and achieve long-term financial objectives through business acquisitions and divestitures; increased pension and healthcare costs; national and global events that could adversely affect and/or exacerbate macroeconomic conditions, including inflationary pressures, interest rate fluctuations, supply chain disruptions, economic recessions, pandemic health events, tariffs and uncertainty surrounding continued hostilities or sustained military campaigns, and their collateral consequences; costs and other effects of legal and administrative proceedings, settlements, investigations, claims and matters, including, but not limited to those described in the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2025; and other risk factors listed in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those listed within the Company's most recent Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Note: Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income for OGE Energy Corp., Condensed Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company, and Financial and Statistical Data for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company attached.

OGE ENERGY CORP.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended

September 30,

September 30,

(In millions, except per share data)

2025

2024

2025

2024

OPERATING REVENUES

Revenues from contracts with customers 

$                 1,028.4

$                    945.2

$                 2,489.2

$                 2,171.9

Other revenues 

16.6

20.2

45.1

52.9

Operating revenues 

1,045.0

965.4

2,534.3

2,224.8

FUEL, PURCHASED POWER AND DIRECT TRANSMISSION EXPENSE 

388.5

350.1

973.6

776.2

OPERATING EXPENSES

Other operation and maintenance 

143.3

131.4

392.2

394.2

Depreciation and amortization 

146.7

144.0

424.7

408.7

Taxes other than income 

25.2

26.7

82.6

82.6

Operating expenses 

315.2

302.1

899.5

885.5

OPERATING INCOME 

341.3

313.2

661.2

563.1

OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)

Allowance for equity funds used during construction 

6.3

6.9

19.3

18.2

Other net periodic benefit income (expense)

(2.7)

1.7

(8.2)

5.0

Other income 

6.1

6.8

30.3

20.2

Other expense 

(4.6)

(4.7)

(14.3)

(15.8)

Net other income

5.1

10.7

27.1

27.6

INTEREST EXPENSE

Interest on long-term debt 

66.4

59.6

194.4

166.5

Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction 

(3.7)

(3.9)

(11.9)

(10.7)

Interest on short-term debt and other interest charges 

6.9

8.5

26.6

33.5

Interest expense 

69.6

64.2

209.1

189.3

INCOME BEFORE TAXES 

276.8

259.7

479.2

401.4

INCOME TAX EXPENSE 

45.5

41.0

77.7

61.8

NET INCOME 

$                    231.3

$                    218.7

$                    401.5

$                    339.6

BASIC AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING 

201.5

200.9

201.3

200.7

DILUTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING 

202.1

201.5

202.0

201.2

BASIC EARNINGS PER AVERAGE COMMON SHARE 

$                      1.15

$                      1.09

$                1.99

$                      1.69

DILUTED EARNINGS PER AVERAGE COMMON SHARE 

$                      1.14

$                      1.09

$                1.99

$                      1.69

OKLAHOMA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY

CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(Unaudited)

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended

September 30,

September 30,

(In millions)

2025

2024

2025

2024

OPERATING REVENUES

Revenues from contracts with customers 

$                 1,028.4

$                    945.2

$                 2,489.2

$                 2,171.9

Other revenues 

16.6

20.2

45.1

52.9

Operating revenues 

1,045.0

965.4

2,534.3

2,224.8

FUEL, PURCHASED POWER AND DIRECT TRANSMISSION EXPENSE 

388.5

350.1

973.6

776.2

OPERATING EXPENSES

Other operation and maintenance 

143.5

131.4

391.6

394.0

Depreciation and amortization 

146.7

144.0

424.7

408.7

Taxes other than income 

25.2

26.7

82.6

82.6

Operating expenses 

315.4

302.1

898.9

885.3

OPERATING INCOME 

341.1

313.2

661.8

563.3

OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE)

Allowance for equity funds used during construction 

6.3

6.9

19.3

18.2

Other net periodic benefit income (expense)

(2.7)

1.9

(7.8)

5.5

Other income 

4.2

3.4

13.6

8.6

Other expense 

(0.5)

(0.6)

(1.9)

(3.9)

Net other income 

7.3

11.6

23.2

28.4

INTEREST EXPENSE

Interest on long-term debt 

60.6

53.6

177.0

156.0

Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction 

(3.7)

(3.9)

(11.9)

(10.7)

Interest on short-term debt and other interest charges 

(2.7)

4.4

9.3

15.1

Interest expense 

54.2

54.1

174.4

160.4

INCOME BEFORE TAXES 

294.2

270.7

510.6

431.3

INCOME TAX EXPENSE 

51.3

45.7

89.0

71.8

NET INCOME 

$                    242.9

$                    225.0

$                    421.6

$                    359.5

Other comprehensive income, net of tax 

—

—

—

—

COMPREHENSIVE INCOME 

$                    242.9

$                    225.0

$                    421.6

$                    359.5

OKLAHOMA GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY

FINANCIAL AND STATISTICAL DATA

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended

September 30,

September 30,

(Dollars in millions)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Operating revenues by classification:

Residential 

$                    408.0

$                    422.8

$                    956.3

$                    898.1

Commercial 

319.1

288.8

753.8

626.1

Industrial 

81.6

79.0

204.0

190.0

Oilfield 

73.1

68.1

185.5

166.4

Public authorities and street light 

87.7

86.8

213.0

198.6

System sales revenues 

969.5

945.5

2,312.6

2,079.2

Provision for rate refund 

—

(43.5)

3.0

(43.5)

Integrated market 

23.6

19.2

71.2

51.3

Transmission 

38.8

36.6

120.7

114.7

Other 

13.1

7.6

26.8

23.1

Total operating revenues 

$                 1,045.0

$                    965.4

$                 2,534.3

$                 2,224.8

MWh sales by classification (In millions)

Residential 

3.1

3.2

7.7

7.8

Commercial 

3.5

3.2

9.3

7.8

Industrial 

1.1

1.1

3.1

3.2

Oilfield 

1.1

1.1

3.2

3.3

Public authorities and street light 

0.9

0.9

2.3

2.4

System sales 

9.7

9.5

25.6

24.5

Integrated market 

0.2

0.2

0.6

0.6

Total sales 

9.9

9.7

26.2

25.1

Number of customers 

910,464

904,900

910,464

904,900

Weighted-average cost of energy per kilowatt-hour (In cents)

Natural gas

3.190

2.142

3.704

2.453

Coal 

2.765

2.976

2.759

3.064

Total fuel

2.965

2.277

3.243

2.487

Total fuel and purchased power

3.732

3.448

3.549

2.953

Degree days (A)

Heating - Actual

—

—

2,056

1,812

Heating - Normal

19

19

2,158

2,155

Cooling - Actual

1,288

1,387

1,886

2,139

Cooling - Normal

1,265

1,268

1,828

1,831

(A) Degree days are calculated as follows: The high and low degrees of a particular day are added together and then averaged. If the calculated average is above 65 degrees, then the
difference between the calculated average and 65 is expressed as cooling degree days, with each degree of difference equaling one cooling degree day. If the calculated average is below 65
degrees, then the difference between the calculated average and 65 is expressed as heating degree days, with each degree of difference equaling one heating degree day. The daily
calculations are then totaled for the particular reporting period. The calculation of heating and cooling degree normal days is based on a 30-year average and weighted on a jurisdictional split.

SOURCE OGE Energy Corp.

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Third quarter 2025 earnings per share of $1.65, up 6% year-over-year
Inland marine third quarter impacted by lower utility, averaging in the mid-80% range for the quarter with improvement into the 85-90% range expected and already seen in the fourth quarterSteady market conditions in coastal marine with operating margins improving to around 20%Power generation revenue increased 24% sequentially and 56% year-over-year, helping to drive distribution and services margins to 11%Kirby repurchased 1,314,009 shares at an average price of $91.30 for $120.0 million in the third quarter and an additional 428,955 shares at an average price of $84.13 for $36 million so far in the fourth quarter
HOUSTON, Oct. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kirby Corporation (“Kirby”) (NYSE: KEX) today announced net earnings attributable to Kirby for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, of $92.5 million or $1.65 per share, compared with earnings of $90.0 million, or $1.55 per share for the 2024 third quarter. Consolidated revenues for the 2025 third quarter were $871.2 million compared with $831.1 million reported for the 2024 third quarter.

David Grzebinski, Kirby’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Kirby’s third quarter performance reflects our ability to adapt and deliver results, with continued strength in coastal marine and power generation, and focused execution in the face of softer inland market conditions.”

“In inland marine, market conditions experienced near-term softness during the third quarter, primarily due to seasonally favorable weather, improved navigational conditions, a lighter feedstock mix for our refinery and chemical customers, and fewer barges undergoing maintenance across the industry. At the same time, general petrochemical customer activity remained muted with ongoing softness in the chemical industry. These factors contributed to our barge utilization averaging in the mid-80% range. On the pricing front, we observed temporary weakness in the spot market. Spot market rates declined in the low-to-mid single digits both sequentially and year-over-year while term contract renewals were flat when compared to the prior year. In the fourth quarter, we are already seeing market conditions improve and expect this trend to continue. We also continue to see constraints in long-term barge construction keeping new supply in check.”

“In coastal marine, market fundamentals remained strong during the third quarter. Barge utilization levels were in the mid to high-90% range, supported by consistent customer demand and tight industry supply. Pricing continued to meaningfully improve, with term contract renewals up in the mid-teens range year-over-year. The combination of strong demand and limited vessel availability contributed to operating margins reaching around 20% for the quarter.”

“In distribution and services, our teams performed well and delivered year-over-year growth in both revenue and operating income, with solid contributions across most of our end markets. In power generation, revenues increased 56% year-over-year as demand from data centers and prime power customers continued to show strength. As inbound orders accelerated, our backlog grew, and we secured more opportunities in backup and behind-the-meter power applications. In the commercial and industrial market, revenues increased 4% year-over-year, supported by consistent marine repair activity and continued improvement in on-highway service. In oil and gas, while revenues declined year-over-year due to softness in conventional activity, we achieved a 5% increase in operating income driven by strong execution, strategic cost management, and sustained execution in e-frac equipment. Overall, the segment continued to perform well, reflecting strength in power generation and our agility in responding to changing demand patterns, with total segment operating income advancing 40% year-over-year.”

Segment Results – Marine Transportation
Marine transportation revenues for the 2025 third quarter were $484.9 million compared with $486.1 million for the 2024 third quarter. Operating income for the 2025 third quarter was $88.6 million compared with $99.5 million for the 2024 third quarter. Segment operating margin for the 2025 third quarter was 18.3% compared with 20.5% for the 2024 third quarter.

In the inland market, 2025 third quarter average barge utilization was in the mid-80% range, down from 2024 third quarter. During the quarter, average spot market rates were down in the low-to-mid single digits sequentially and compared to the 2024 third quarter. Term contracts that renewed in the third quarter were flat on average compared to a year ago. The inland market represented approximately 80% of segment revenues in the third quarter of 2025. Inland’s operating margin was in the high teens range for the quarter.

In coastal, market conditions were strong during the quarter, with Kirby’s barge utilization in the mid to high-90% range. Term contracts that renewed in the third quarter increased in the mid-teens range on average compared to a year ago. Coastal revenues increased 13% year-over-year driven by increased pricing. Coastal represented approximately 20% of marine transportation segment revenues during the third quarter and had an operating margin around 20%.

Segment Results – Distribution and Services
Distribution and services revenues for the 2025 third quarter were $386.2 million compared with $345.1 million for the 2024 third quarter. Operating income for the 2025 third quarter was $42.7 million compared with $30.4 million for the 2024 third quarter. Operating margin was 11.0% for the 2025 third quarter compared with 8.8% for the 2024 third quarter.

In the power generation market, revenues increased 56% and operating income increased 96% compared to the 2024 third quarter driven by strong execution on backlog. Orders continued to grow as the need for behind-the-meter power and back up capabilities remains critical. Overall, power generation revenues represented approximately 45% of segment revenues. Power generation operating margins were in the low double digits.

In the commercial and industrial market, revenues increased 4% and operating income increased 12% compared to the 2024 third quarter, fueled by steady marine repair work and gradual gains in on-highway repair services. Overall, commercial and industrial revenues represented approximately 44% of segment revenues. Commercial and industrial operating margins were in the high single digits.

In the oil and gas market, revenues declined 38% while operating income increased 5% compared to the 2024 third quarter driven by lower levels of conventional oilfield activity which resulted in decreased demand for new transmissions and parts partially offset by deliveries of e-frac equipment. Overall, oil and gas revenues represented approximately 11% of segment revenues. Oil and gas operating margins were in the low double digits.

Cash Generation
For the 2025 third quarter, EBITDA was $201.4 million compared with $190.5 million for the 2024 third quarter. During the quarter, net cash provided by operating activities was $227.5 million, and capital expenditures were $67.2 million. During the quarter, the Company had net proceeds from asset sales totaling $16.8 million. Kirby also used $120.0 million to repurchase stock at an average price of $91.30. As of September 30, 2025, the Company had $47.0 million of cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet and $380.2 million of liquidity available. Total debt was $1,048.9 million and the debt-to-capitalization ratio was 23.8%.

2025 Outlook
Commenting on the outlook for the fourth quarter of 2025, Mr. Grzebinski said, “As we enter the fourth quarter, we remain focused on execution and disciplined capital allocation, while navigating evolving market conditions across our businesses. Despite near-term challenges in the inland market, we remain confident the inland barge cycle still has years to go given supply constraints. Our structural advantages in marine and growing backlog in power generation provide meaningful upside potential. With our strong balance sheet and robust free cash flow, we are well positioned to pursue strategic investments whether through targeted capital projects, selective acquisitions, or returning capital to shareholders. This financial strength provides us with the flexibility to manage near-term uncertainty while remaining focused on creating long-term value.”

In inland marine, market conditions are expected to remain stable, with some early signs of improvement evident. Seasonal weather factors could work to further reduce barge availability across the industry, which should support higher barge utilization for the full quarter. While term contract rates are expected to continue improving over the long term, driven by the slow pace of newbuild activity and tight vessel availability, spot market pricing could continue to face modest pressure in the near term if demand softness re-emerges. However, thus far in the fourth quarter we have seen a meaningful improvement in demand. Overall, inland revenues and margins are expected to improve modestly from the third quarter levels, assuming tighter barge availability holds in the fourth quarter.

In coastal marine, market fundamentals remain very favorable, with steady customer demand and barge utilization expected to hold in the mid to high-90% range. Pricing continues to benefit from limited availability of large capacity vessels and limited newbuilds, helping to offset inflationary and regulatory headwinds. Kirby expects to conclude the year with coastal revenues and operating margins comparable to the third quarter of 2025.

In distribution and services, the outlook reflects strength in growing markets with continued discipline in challenged areas. Power generation continues to be a strong contributor, with sustained demand from data centers and industrial customers driving order growth. OEM lead times and delivery schedules, now a consistent feature of the operating environment, remain a factor in project timing. In commercial and industrial, marine repair activity is strong, and the on-highway market continues to improve. Oil and gas growth remains limited by current market dynamics and customer capital discipline; however, we continue to demonstrate solid performance in e-frac and maintain strong cost control. For the segment, we now expect full-year revenues to be up in the mid-single digits, with operating margins in the high-single digits.

Kirby expects to generate net cash provided from operating activities of $620 million to $720 million in 2025 and capital spending is expected to range between $260 million to $290 million. Approximately $180 million to $210 million is associated with marine maintenance capital and improvements to existing inland and coastal marine equipment, and facility improvements. Up to approximately $80 million is associated with growth capital spending in both our businesses.

Conference Call
A conference call is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Central Daylight Time today, Wednesday, October 29, 2025, to discuss the 2025 third quarter performance as well as the outlook for 2025. To listen to the webcast, please visit the Investor Relations section of Kirby’s website at www.kirbycorp.com. For listeners who wish to participate in the question and answer session via telephone, please pre-register at Kirby Earnings Call Registration. All registrants will receive dial-in information and a PIN allowing them to access the live call. A slide presentation for this conference call will be posted on Kirby’s website approximately 15 minutes before the start of the webcast. A replay of the webcast will be available for a period of one year by visiting the News & Events page in the Investor Relations section of Kirby’s website.

GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The financial and other information to be discussed in the conference call is available in this press release and in a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release and the Form 8-K includes a non-GAAP financial measure, EBITDA, which Kirby defines as net earnings attributable to Kirby before interest expense, taxes on income, and depreciation and amortization. A reconciliation of EBITDA with GAAP net earnings attributable to Kirby is included in this press release. This press release also includes non-GAAP financial measures which exclude certain one-time items, including earnings before taxes on income (excluding one-time items), net earnings attributable to Kirby (excluding one-time items), and diluted earnings per share (excluding one-time items). A reconciliation of these measures with GAAP is included in this press release. Management believes the exclusion of certain one-time items from these financial measures enables it and investors to assess and understand operating performance, especially when comparing those results with previous and subsequent periods or forecasting performance for future periods, primarily because management views the excluded items to be outside of Kirby’s normal operating results. This press release additionally includes a non-GAAP financial measure, free cash flow, which Kirby defines as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. A reconciliation of free cash flow with GAAP is included in this press release. Kirby uses free cash flow to assess and forecast cash flow and to provide additional disclosures on the Company’s liquidity. Free cash flow does not imply the amount of residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures as it excludes mandatory debt service requirements and other non-discretionary expenditures. This press release also includes marine transportation performance measures, consisting of ton miles, revenue per ton mile, towboats operated and delay days. Comparable marine transportation performance measures for the 2024 year and quarters are available in the Investor Relations section of Kirby’s website, www.kirbycorp.com, under Financials.

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release with respect to the future are forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s reasonable judgment with respect to future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated as a result of various factors, including adverse economic conditions, industry competition and other competitive factors, adverse weather conditions such as high water, low water, tropical storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, fog and ice, tornados, marine accidents, lock delays, fuel costs, interest rates, construction of new equipment by competitors, government and environmental laws and regulations, and the timing, magnitude and number of acquisitions made by the Company. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and Kirby assumes no obligation to update any such statements. A list of additional risk factors can be found in Kirby’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.

About Kirby Corporation
Kirby Corporation, based in Houston, Texas, is the nation’s largest domestic tank barge operator transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and coastwise along all three United States coasts. Kirby transports petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals by tank barge. In addition, Kirby participates in the transportation of dry-bulk commodities in United States coastwise trade. Through the distribution and services segment, Kirby provides after-market services and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, specialized electrical distribution and control systems, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications. Kirby also rents equipment including generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, construction equipment, and refrigeration trailers for use in a variety of industrial markets. Kirby also manufactures and remanufactures specialized equipment, including pressure pumping units, electric power generation equipment, and specialized electrical distribution and control equipment for oilfield service, railroad and other industrial customers.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands, except per share amounts) Revenues:            Marine transportation $484,941  $486,054  $1,453,652  $1,446,274 Distribution and services  386,220   345,095   1,058,623   1,017,287 Total revenues  871,161   831,149   2,512,275   2,463,561              Costs and expenses:            Costs of sales and operating expenses  580,491   552,091   1,656,065   1,657,004 Selling, general and administrative  87,812   84,119   268,945   254,708 Taxes, other than on income  9,768   8,973   29,140   27,327 Depreciation and amortization  66,873   60,653   196,273   177,777 Gain on disposition of assets  (3,002)  (1,617)  (4,759)  (2,206)Total costs and expenses  741,942   704,219   2,145,664   2,114,610 Operating income  129,219   126,930   366,611   348,951 Other income  5,557   2,949   15,703   9,306 Interest expense  (11,838)  (12,498)  (35,105)  (38,468)Earnings before taxes on income  122,938   117,381   347,209   319,789 Provision for taxes on income  (30,200)  (27,350)  (83,823)  (75,861)Net earnings  92,738   90,031   263,386   243,928 Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests  (242)  (63)  (627)  (38)Net earnings attributable to Kirby $92,496  $89,968  $262,759  $243,890 Net earnings per share attributable to Kirby common stockholders:            Basic $1.66  $1.56  $4.67  $4.20 Diluted $1.65  $1.55  $4.64  $4.17 Common stock outstanding (in thousands):            Basic  55,626   57,753   56,212   58,129 Diluted  55,970   58,186   56,560   58,526  CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands) EBITDA:(1)            Net earnings attributable to Kirby $92,496  $89,968  $262,759  $243,890 Interest expense  11,838   12,498   35,105   38,468 Provision for taxes on income  30,200   27,350   83,823   75,861 Depreciation and amortization  66,873   60,653   196,273   177,777   $201,407  $190,469  $577,960  $535,996              Capital expenditures $67,280  $76,383  $217,440  $245,990 Acquisitions of businesses and marine equipment $9,200  $—  $106,450  $65,232    September 30,
2025  December 31,
2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands) Cash and cash equivalents $47,025  $74,444 Long-term debt, including current portion $1,048,915  $874,948 Total equity $3,363,241  $3,353,248 Debt to capitalization ratio  23.8%  20.7% MARINE TRANSPORTATION STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands) Marine transportation revenues $484,941  $486,054  $1,453,652  $1,446,274              Costs and expenses:            Costs of sales and operating expenses  300,021   296,114   889,797   897,351 Selling, general and administrative  34,985   34,064   108,854   103,712 Taxes, other than on income  7,266   6,524   21,842   21,104 Depreciation and amortization  54,100   49,876   158,954   146,772 Total costs and expenses  396,372   386,578   1,179,447   1,168,939              Operating income $88,569  $99,476  $274,205  $277,335 Operating margin  18.3%  20.5%  18.9%  19.2% DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICES STATEMENTS OF EARNINGS
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands) Distribution and services revenues $386,220  $345,095  $1,058,623  $1,017,287              Costs and expenses:            Costs of sales and operating expenses  280,049   255,835   766,608   758,980 Selling, general and administrative  50,081   47,547   152,154   144,987 Taxes, other than on income  2,472   2,414   7,216   6,142 Depreciation and amortization  10,949   8,921   31,950   25,350 Total costs and expenses  343,551   314,717   957,928   935,459              Operating income $42,669  $30,378  $100,695  $81,828 Operating margin  11.0%  8.8%  9.5%  8.0% OTHER COSTS AND EXPENSES
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024   (unaudited, $ in thousands) General corporate expenses $5,021  $4,541  $13,048  $12,418              Gain on disposition of assets $(3,002) $(1,617) $(4,759) $(2,206) RECONCILIATION OF FREE CASH FLOW
The following is a reconciliation of GAAP net cash provided by operating activities to non-GAAP free cash flow(2):
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024(3)  2025  2024(3)   (unaudited, $ in millions) Net cash provided by operating activities $227.5  $206.5  $358.0  $509.1 Less: Capital expenditures  (67.2)  (76.4)  (217.4)  (246.0)Free cash flow(2) $160.3  $130.1  $140.6  $263.1  MARINE TRANSPORTATION PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS
         Third Quarter  Nine Months   2025  2024  2025  2024 Inland Performance Measurements:            Ton Miles (in millions)(4)  3,497   3,135   10,485   9,769 Revenue/Ton Mile (cents/tm)(5)  10.8   12.5   11.1   12.0 Towboats operated (average)(6)  270   287   283   286 Delay Days(7)  1,442   2,061   8,791   8,902 Average cost per gallon of fuel consumed $2.46  $2.65  $2.46  $2.77              Barges (active):            Inland tank barges        1,105   1,095 Coastal tank barges        28   28 Offshore dry-cargo barges        2   4 Barrel capacities (in millions):            Inland tank barges        24.5   24.2 Coastal tank barges        2.9   2.9  (1)Kirby has historically evaluated its operating performance using numerous measures, one of which is EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure. Kirby defines EBITDA as net earnings attributable to Kirby before interest expense, taxes on income, and depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is presented because of its wide acceptance as a financial indicator. EBITDA is one of the performance measures used in calculating performance compensation pursuant to Kirby’s annual incentive plan. EBITDA is also used by rating agencies in determining Kirby’s credit rating and by analysts publishing research reports on Kirby, as well as by investors and investment bankers generally in valuing companies. EBITDA is not a calculation based on generally accepted accounting principles and should not be considered as an alternative to, but should only be considered in conjunction with, Kirby’s GAAP financial information.(2)Kirby uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to review performance excluding certain one-time items including: earnings before taxes on income, excluding one-time items; net earnings attributable to Kirby, excluding one-time items; and diluted earnings per share, excluding one-time items. Management believes the exclusion of certain one-time items from these financial measures enables it and investors to assess and understand operating performance, especially when comparing those results with previous and subsequent periods or forecasting performance for future periods, primarily because management views the excluded items to be outside of the company's normal operating results. Kirby also uses free cash flow, which is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, to assess and forecast cash flow and to provide additional disclosures on the Company’s liquidity. Free cash flow does not imply the amount of residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures as it excludes mandatory debt service requirements and other non-discretionary expenditures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not calculations based on generally accepted accounting principles and should not be considered as an alternative to but should only be considered in conjunction with Kirby’s GAAP financial information.(3)See Kirby’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 for amounts provided by (used in) investing and financing activities.(4)Ton miles indicate fleet productivity by measuring the distance (in miles) a loaded tank barge is moved. Example: A typical 30,000 barrel tank barge loaded with 3,300 tons of liquid cargo is moved 100 miles, thus generating 330,000 ton miles.(5)Inland marine transportation revenues divided by ton miles. Example: Third quarter 2025 inland marine transportation revenues of $379.3 million divided by 3,497 million inland marine transportation ton miles = 10.8 cents.(6)Towboats operated are the average number of owned and chartered towboats operated during the period.(7)Delay days measures the lost time incurred by a tow (towboat and one or more tank barges) during transit. The measure includes transit delays caused by weather, lock congestion and other navigational factors. Contact:Kurt Niemietz 713-435-1077

, /PRNewswire/ -- Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) today reported:

Third Quarter 2025 Highlights

Reported net income was $10.8 million, down 54% versus the prior year. Adjusted net income(1) was $10.9 million, down 54% versus the prior year, largely due to a higher effective tax rate and higher interest expense.
EBITDA(2) was $56.1 million and Adjusted EBITDA(2) was $56.2 million, both up 6% respectively, year-over-year.
Global sales volume was up 1% year-over-year.
Cash from Operations was $69.8 million during the quarter. Free cash flow(3) for the quarter was $40.2 million, driven by a reduction in working capital.
Year-over-year pre-tax earnings were negatively impacted by $8.6 million due to higher costs associated with the start-up our new alkoxylation site in Pasadena, Texas and lower capitalized interest income recognition due to the Pasadena start-up.

YTD 2025 Highlights

Reported net income was $41.9 million, down 11% versus the prior year. Adjusted net income(1) was $42.2 million, down 12% versus the prior year.
EBITDA(2)  was $164.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA(2) was $165.1 million, both up 9% respectively, year-over-year.
Global sales volume was up 2% year-over-year.

"Third quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 6% and free cash flow improved to $40.2 million dollars for the quarter.  Year-to-date adjusted EBITDA is up 9% with volumes up 2%.  We achieved these positive results despite higher start-up expenses at our Pasadena site and a significant run up in oleochemical raw material costs," said Luis E. Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "Third quarter Adjusted Net Income was negatively impacted by a higher effective tax rate, higher depreciation and higher interest net versus prior year, none of which had a cash impact.  From a segment perspective, Polymer volume was up 8% as our Rigid, Specialty Polyols and Phthalic Anhydride businesses all delivered volume growth.  Within Surfactants, we experienced double digit volume growth within the Agricultural and Industrial Cleaning end markets and mid-single digit growth within the Oilfield end markets.  This growth was offset by lower demand in the global commodity Consumer Products end markets. Specialty Products delivered earnings growth during the quarter due to order timing differences. We are encouraged by volume growth across several key strategic end markets, and we remain focused on gradually restoring margins while maintaining a healthy balance between volume and margins."

Financial Summary

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands, except per share data)

2025

2024

%
Change

2025

2024

%
Change

Net Sales

$

590,284

$

546,842

8

%

$

1,778,228

$

1,654,665

7

%

Operating Income

$

21,794

$

23,949

(9)

%

$

68,047

$

62,785

8

%

Net Income

$

10,839

$

23,606

(54)

%

$

41,891

$

47,020

(11)

%

Earnings per Diluted Share

$

0.47

$

1.03

(54)

%

$

1.83

$

2.05

(11)

%

Adjusted Net Income *

$

10,948

$

23,661

(54)

%

$

42,211

$

47,713

(12)

%

Adjusted Earnings per
   Diluted Share *

$

0.48

$

1.03

(53)

%

$

1.84

$

2.08

(12)

%

* See Table II for reconciliations of non-GAAP adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per diluted share.

Percentage Change in Net Sales

Net sales in the third quarter of 2025 increased 8% year-over-year.  This increase was primarily driven by higher selling prices that were mainly attributable to the pass-through of higher raw material costs and more favorable product mix.   

Three Months Ended
September 30, 2025

Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2025

Volume

1

%

2

%

Selling Price & Mix

6

%

6

%

Foreign Translation

1

%

(1)

%

Total

8

%

7

%

Segment Results

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands)

2025

2024

%
Change

2025

2024

%
Change

Net Sales

Surfactants

$

422,358

$

382,724

10

%

$

1,264,151

$

1,153,339

10

%

Polymers

$

143,928

$

149,796

(4)

%

$

452,795

$

455,061

0

%

Specialty Products

$

23,998

$

14,322

68

%

$

61,282

$

46,265

32

%

Total Net Sales

$

590,284

$

546,842

8

%

$

1,778,228

$

1,654,665

7

%

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands, all amounts pre-tax)

2025

2024

%
Change

2025

2024

%
Change

Operating Income

Surfactants

$

15,718

$

26,303

(40)

%

$

58,015

$

69,445

(16)

%

Polymers

$

14,104

$

15,248

(8)

%

$

39,281

$

37,227

6

%

Specialty Products

$

9,634

$

3,727

158

%

$

20,400

$

15,314

33

%

Total Segment
   Operating Income

$

39,456

$

45,278

(13)

%

$

117,696

$

121,986

(4)

%

Corporate Expenses

$

(17,662)

$

(21,329)

(17)

%

$

(49,649)

$

(59,201)

(16)

%

Consolidated
   Operating Income

$

21,794

$

23,949

(9)

%

$

68,047

$

62,785

8

%

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in millions)

2025

2024

%
Change

2025

2024

%
Change

EBITDA

$

56.1

$

53.0

6

%

$

164.7

$

151.0

9

%

Adjusted EBITDA

   Surfactants

$

38.0

$

44.2

(14)

%

$

120.9

$

122.9

(2)

%

   Polymers

$

22.4

$

23.4

(4)

%

$

64.0

$

61.6

4

%

   Specialty Products

$

11.1

$

5.2

113

%

$

24.8

$

19.8

25

%

   Unallocated Corporate

$

(15.3)

$

(19.7)

(22)

%

$

(44.6)

$

(52.4)

(15)

%

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA

$

56.2

$

53.1

6

%

$

165.1

$

151.9

9

%

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA(2) increased $3.1 million, or 6%, in the quarter.  This increase was primarily driven by strong Specialty Products results and the non-recurrence of expenses associated with the external criminal social engineering fraud event in 2024.  Surfactant adjusted EBITDA declined due to a 2% decline in sales volume, lower unit margins and higher costs associated with the start-up of our new alkoxylation site in Pasadena, Texas.

Surfactant net sales were $422.4 million for the quarter, a 10% increase versus the prior year. Selling prices were up 11% primarily due to improved product and customer mix and the pass through of higher raw material costs. Sales volume declined 2% year-over-year primarily due to lower demand within the commodity Laundry and Cleaning end markets that was largely offset by double digit growth within the Agricultural and Industrial Cleaning end markets. Foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 1%. Surfactant adjusted EBITDA(2) for the quarter decreased $6.2 million, or 14%, versus the prior year. This decrease was primarily due to higher expenses associated with the start-up of our new alkoxylation facility in Pasadena, Texas, a 2% decrease in sales volume and higher oleochemicals raw material costs.
Polymer net sales were $143.9 million for the quarter, a 4% decrease versus the prior year. Selling prices decreased 14%, primarily due to the pass-through of lower raw material costs and competitive pressures. Sales volume increased 8% in the quarter. North American Rigid and commodity Phthalic Anhydride sales volume was up double digits year-over-year. Foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 2% during the quarter. Polymer adjusted EBITDA(2) decreased $1.0 million, or 4%, versus the prior year primarily due to lower unit margins.
Specialty Product net sales were $24.0 million for the quarter, a 68% increase versus the prior year, primarily due to higher sales volume and product mix. Specialty Product adjusted EBITDA(2) increased $5.9 million, or 113%. The increase in adjusted EBITDA(2) was primarily due to order timing fluctuations within the pharmaceutical business.

Income Taxes

The Company's effective tax rate was 23.8% in the first nine months of 2025 versus 18.9% in the first nine months of 2024.  This increase was primarily attributable to the recently enacted U.S. Tax Act (H.R.1), lower anticipated R&D tax credits and the expected tax impact of certain cash repatriations to the United States.

Outlook

"Looking forward, we remain focused on accelerating our business strategies through enhanced operational excellence, improved product and customer mix and accelerated free cash flow generation.  We believe our Surfactant business will experience continued growth in our key strategic end markets and that Polymer demand will continue improving as we get more market certainty and we execute our innovation and growth plans," said Luis E. Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "We remain on track to close our asset sale in the Philippines during the fourth quarter. In parallel, we are analyzing opportunities to optimize our footprint and asset base.  Despite the ongoing market and tariff uncertainties, we remain optimistic about delivering full-year Adjusted EBITDA growth and generating positive free cash flow in 2025."

Notes

(1) Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share are non-GAAP measures which exclude deferred compensation income/expense, certain environmental remediation-related costs as well as other significant and infrequent/non-recurring items. See Table II for reconciliations of non-GAAP adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per diluted share.

(2) EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures.  See Table VI for calculations and GAAP reconciliations of EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA.

(3) Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure and reflects cash generated from operations minus capital expenditures.  Cash generated from operations was $69.8 million during the third quarter of 2025 and capital expenditures were $29.6 million. 

Conference Call

Stepan Company will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter results at 9:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. CT) on October 29, 2025. The call can be accessed by phone and webcast. To access the call by phone, please click on this Registration Link, complete the form and you will be provided with dial in details and a PIN.  To avoid delays, we encourage participants to dial into the conference call ten minutes ahead of the scheduled start time.  The webcast can be accessed through the Investors/Conference Calls page at www.stepan.com. A webcast replay of the conference call will be available at the same location shortly after the call.

Supporting Slides

Slides supporting this press release will be made available at www.stepan.com through the Investors/Presentations page at approximately the same time as this press release is issued.

Corporate Profile

Stepan Company is a major manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in a broad range of industries. Stepan is a leading merchant producer of surfactants, which are the key ingredients in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection compounds and in agricultural and oilfield solutions. The Company is also a leading supplier of polyurethane polyols used in the expanding thermal insulation market, and CASE (Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants, and Elastomers) industries.

Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, Stepan utilizes a network of modern production facilities located in North and South America, Europe and Asia. 

The Company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol SCL. For more information about Stepan Company please visit the Company online at www.stepan.com

More information about Stepan's sustainability program can be found on the Sustainability page at www.stepan.com 

Certain information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include statements about Stepan Company's plans, objectives, strategies, financial performance and outlook, trends, the amount and timing of future cash distributions, prospects or future events and involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict. As a result, Stepan Company's actual financial results, performance, achievements or prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "guidance," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would," "should," "illustrative" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Stepan Company and its management based on their knowledge and understanding of the business and industry, are inherently uncertain. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and stockholders should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

There are a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors, many of which are beyond Stepan Company's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors include, among other factors, the risks, uncertainties and factors described in Stepan Company's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) risks and uncertainties related to  accidents, unplanned production shutdowns or disruptions in manufacturing facilities; reduced demand due to customer product reformulations or new technologies; our inability to successfully develop or introduce new products; compliance with laws; our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates and successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; global competition; volatility of raw material and energy costs and supply; disruptions in transportation or significant changes in transportation costs; downturns in certain industries and general economic downturns; international business risks, including currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in global trade policies, including tariffs; legal restrictions and taxes; unfavorable resolution of litigation against us; maintaining and protecting intellectual property rights; our ability to access capital markets; global political, military, security or other instability; costs related to expansion or other capital projects; interruption or breaches of information technology systems; our ability to retain executive management and key personnel; and our debt covenants.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Stepan Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

* * * * *

Tables follow

Table I

STEPAN COMPANY

For the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2025 and 2024

(Unaudited – in 000's, except per share data)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

2025

2024

2025

2024

Net Sales

$

590,284

$

546,842

$

1,778,228

$

1,654,665

Cost of Sales

519,261

471,157

1,559,857

1,439,147

Gross Profit

71,023

75,685

218,371

215,518

Operating Expenses:

Selling

11,299

11,394

38,064

34,610

Administrative

22,864

26,254

67,079

73,513

Research, Development and Technical Services

14,225

13,532

43,575

41,881

Deferred Compensation Expense

841

556

1,606

2,729

49,229

51,736

150,324

152,733

Operating Income

21,794

23,949

68,047

62,785

Other Income (Expense):

Interest, Net

(6,815)

(3,621)

(16,426)

(9,353)

Other, Net

1,536

989

3,344

4,551

(5,279)

(2,632)

(13,082)

(4,802)

Income Before Provision for Income Taxes

16,515

21,317

54,965

57,983

Provision for Income Taxes

5,676

(2,289)

13,074

10,963

Net Income

10,839

23,606

41,891

47,020

Net Income Per Common Share

Basic

$

0.47

$

1.03

$

1.83

$

2.06

Diluted

$

0.47

$

1.03

$

1.83

$

2.05

Shares Used to Compute Net Income Per
   Common Share

Basic

22,875

22,836

22,869

22,829

Diluted

22,893

22,923

22,888

22,936

Table II

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Net Income and Earnings per Diluted Share* 

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands, except per share amounts)

2025

EPS

2024

EPS

2025

EPS

2024

EPS

Net Income Reported

$

10,839

$

0.47

$

23,606

$

1.03

$

41,891

$

1.83

$

47,020

$

2.05

Deferred Compensation (Income)

$

(149)

$

-

$

(350)

$

(0.02)

$

(549)

$

(0.02)

$

(1,043)

$

(0.05)

Environmental Remediation
    Expense

$

258

$

0.01

$

405

$

0.02

$

869

$

0.03

$

1,736

$

0.08

Adjusted Net Income

$

10,948

$

0.48

$

23,661

$

1.03

$

42,211

$

1.84

$

47,713

$

2.08

* All amounts in this table are presented after-tax

The Company believes that certain non-GAAP measures, in conjunction with comparable GAAP measures, are useful for evaluating the Company's operating performance and financial condition.  The Company uses this non-GAAP information as an indicator of business performance and evaluates management's effectiveness with specific reference to these indicators.  Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information because they exclude non-operational items that affect comparability between years.  These measures should be considered in addition to, not as substitutes for or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP and may differ from similarly titled measures presented by other companies.  The Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 contains additional information regarding the use of non-GAAP financial measures.

Summary of Third Quarter 2025 Adjusted Net Income Items

Adjusted net income excludes non-operational deferred compensation income/expense, certain environmental remediation costs and other significant and infrequent or non-recurring items.

Deferred Compensation: The third quarter of 2025 reported net income includes $0.1 million of after-tax income versus $0.4 million of after-tax income in the prior year.
Environmental Remediation: The third quarter of 2025 reported net income includes $0.3 million of after-tax expense versus $0.4 million of after-tax expense in the prior year.

Table III

Reconciliation of Pre-Tax to After-Tax Adjustments

Management uses the non-GAAP adjusted net income metric to evaluate the Company's operating performance.  Management excludes the items listed in the table below because they are non-operational items.  The cumulative tax effect was calculated using the statutory tax rates for the jurisdictions in which the transactions occurred.

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands, except per share amounts)

2025

EPS

2024

EPS

2025

EPS

2024

EPS

Pre-Tax Adjustments

Deferred Compensation (Income)

$

(198)

$

(466)

$

(732)

$

(1,390)

Environmental Remediation Expense

$

344

$

541

$

1,158

$

2,315

   Total Pre-Tax Adjustments

$

146

$

75

$

426

$

925

Cumulative Tax Effect on Adjustments

$

(37)

$

(20)

$

(106)

$

(232)

After-Tax Adjustments

$

109

$

0.01

$

55

$

-

$

320

$

0.01

$

693

$

0.03

Table IV

Deferred Compensation Plans

The full effect of the deferred compensation plans on quarterly pre-tax income was $0.2 million of income versus $0.5 million of income in the prior year.  The quarter-end market prices of Company stock and the impact of deferred compensation on specific income statement line items is summarized below:

2025

2024

9/30

6/30

3/31

12/31

9/30

6/30

3/31

Stepan Company

$

47.70

$

54.58

$

55.04

$

64.70

$

77.25

$

83.96

$

90.04

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Deferred Compensation

Operating Income (Expense)

$

(841)

$

(556)

$

(1,606)

$

(2,729)

Other, net – Mutual Fund Gain (Loss)

1,039

1,022

2,338

4,119

Total Pre-Tax

$

198

$

466

$

732

$

1,390

Total After-Tax

$

149

$

350

$

549

$

1,043

Effects of Foreign Currency Translation

The Company's foreign subsidiaries transact business and report financial results in their respective local currencies. These results are translated into U.S. dollars at average foreign exchange rates appropriate for the reporting period.  The table below presents the impact that foreign currency translation had on select income statement line items. 

($ in millions)

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Change

Change
Due to
Foreign
Currency
Translation

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

Change

Change
Due to
Foreign
Currency
Translation

2025

2024

2025

2024

Net Sales

$

590.3

$

546.8

$

43.5

$

8.6

$

1,778.2

$

1,654.7

$

123.5

$

(11.6)

Gross Profit

71.0

75.7

$

(4.7)

1.0

218.4

215.5

$

2.9

(1.9)

Operating Income

21.8

23.9

$

(2.1)

0.5

68.0

62.8

$

5.2

(1.5)

Pretax Income

16.5

21.3

$

(4.8)

0.5

55.0

58.0

$

(3.0)

(1.6)

Corporate Expenses

Three Months Ended
September 30,

Nine Months Ended
September 30,

($ in thousands)

2025

2024

%
Change

2025

2024

%
Change

Total Corporate Expenses

$

17,662

$

21,329

(17)

%

$

49,649

$

59,201

(16)

%

Less:

   Deferred Compensation Expense

$

841

$

556

51

%

$

1,606

$

2,729

(41)

%

   Environmental Remediation
      Expense

$

344

$

541

(36)

%

$

1,158

$

2,315

(50)

%

Adjusted Corporate Expenses

$

16,477

$

20,232

(19)

%

$

46,885

$

54,157

(13)

%

Adjusted Corporate expenses decreased $3.8 million, or 19% for the quarter.  This decrease was primarily due to the non-recurrence of expenses associated with a criminal social engineering scheme in 2024.

Table V

Stepan Company

Consolidated Balance Sheets

September 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024

September 30,
2025

December 31,
2024

ASSETS

Current Assets

$

920,604

$

810,429

Property, Plant & Equipment, Net

1,213,862

1,198,454

Other Assets

297,818

295,765

Total Assets

$

2,432,284

$

2,304,648

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current Liabilities

$

713,923

$

669,034

Deferred Income Taxes

10,294

9,612

Long-term Debt

357,107

332,632

Other Non-current Liabilities

104,188

123,436

Total Stepan Company Stockholders' Equity

1,246,772

1,169,934

Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

$

2,432,284

$

2,304,648

Selected Balance Sheet Information 

The Company's total debt decreased by $2.5 million and cash increased by $29.6 million versus June 30, 2025.  The Company's net debt level decreased $32.1 million versus June 30, 2025 and the net debt ratio was 30% versus 31% in the prior quarter (Net Debt and Net Debt Ratio are non-GAAP measures, reconciliations of which are shown in the table below).  Management uses the non-GAAP net debt metric to show a more complete picture of the Company's overall liquidity, financial flexibility and leverage level. 

($ in millions)

September 30,
2025

June 30,
2025

March 31,
2025

December 31,
2024

Net Debt

Total Debt

$

655.5

$

658.0

$

659.3

$

625.4

Cash

118.5

88.9

107.5

99.7

Net Debt

$

537.0

$

569.1

$

551.8

$

525.7

Equity

1,246.8

1,241.7

1,200.5

1,169.9

Net Debt + Equity

$

1,783.8

$

1,810.8

$

1,752.3

$

1,695.6

Net Debt / (Net Debt + Equity)

30

%

31

%

31

%

31

%

The major working capital components were:

($ in millions)

September 30,
2025

June 30,
2025

March 31,
2025

December 31,
2024

Net Receivables

$

436.1

$

442.2

$

436.5

$

388.0

Inventories

324.3

329.5

309.3

288.7

Accounts Payable

(289.4)

(281.8)

(298.1)

(258.8)

$

471.0

$

489.9

$

447.7

$

417.9

Table VI

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

Management uses the non-GAAP EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA metrics to evaluate the Company's operating performance.  Management excludes the items listed in the table below because they are non-operational items.  Refer to the Income Statement on Table I for a bridge between Operating Income and Net Income.

Three Months Ended
September 30, 2025

($ in millions)

Surfactants

Polymers

Specialty
Products

Unallocated
Corporate

Consolidated

Operating Income

$

15.7

$

14.1

$

9.6

$

(17.7)

$

21.8

   Depreciation and Amortization

$

22.3

$

8.3

$

1.5

$

0.7

$

32.8

   Other, Net Income

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

1.5

$

1.5

EBITDA

$

56.1

   Deferred Compensation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

(0.2)

$

(0.2)

   Environmental Remediation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

0.3

$

0.3

Adjusted EBITDA

$

38.0

$

22.4

$

11.1

$

(15.3)

$

56.2

Three Months Ended
September 30, 2024

($ in millions)

Surfactants

Polymers

Specialty
Products

Unallocated
Corporate

Consolidated

Operating Income

$

26.3

$

15.2

$

3.7

$

(21.3)

$

23.9

   Depreciation and Amortization

$

17.9

$

8.2

$

1.5

$

0.5

$

28.1

   Other, Net Income

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

1.0

$

1.0

EBITDA

$

53.0

   Deferred Compensation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

(0.4)

$

(0.4)

   Environmental Remediation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

0.5

$

0.5

Adjusted EBITDA

$

44.2

$

23.4

$

5.2

$

(19.7)

$

53.1

Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2025

($ in millions)

Surfactants

Polymers

Specialty
Products

Unallocated
Corporate

Consolidated

Operating Income

$

58.0

$

39.3

$

20.4

$

(49.6)

$

68.1

   Depreciation and Amortization

$

62.9

$

24.7

$

4.4

$

1.3

$

93.3

   Other, Net Income

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

3.3

$

3.3

EBITDA

$

164.7

   Deferred Compensation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

(0.7)

$

(0.7)

   Environmental Remediation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

1.1

$

1.1

Adjusted EBITDA

$

120.9

$

64.0

$

24.8

$

(44.6)

$

165.1

Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2024

($ in millions)

Surfactants

Polymers

Specialty
Products

Unallocated
Corporate

Consolidated

Operating Income

$

69.4

$

37.2

$

15.3

$

(59.2)

$

62.7

   Depreciation and Amortization

$

53.5

$

24.4

$

4.5

$

1.3

$

83.7

   Other, Net Income

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

4.6

$

4.6

EBITDA

$

151.0

   Deferred Compensation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

(1.4)

$

(1.4)

   Environmental Remediation

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

2.3

$

2.3

Adjusted EBITDA

$

122.9

$

61.6

$

19.8

$

(52.4)

$

151.9

SOURCE Stepan Company

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