A key reason why earnings reports mean so much is their ability to turn anecdotes into evidence. When a company performs well, it’s usually a sign that it's growing and retaining its customer base. The opposite is true when a company underperforms. But the point is, earnings reports matter because they translate customer behavior into hard numbers—and it's those customers who show investors what's really going on.
That brings us to Palantir Technologies Inc. NASDAQ: PLTR. The company held its 10th AIPCon event in early June. The event was highlighted by several of Palantir's customers testifying about how the company's AIP platform is helping their businesses. It’s a kind of free advertising that companies love to get, and it explains why the strong earnings reports from Palantir are not a mirage.
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AIPCon Brought Plenty of WinsAIPCon delivered customer testimonies that support Palantir’s long-term growth story.
Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world's top law firms, launched an AI-powered platform for private equity fundraising built on AIP—freeing attorneys from administrative work and redirecting their focus toward high-value judgment calls.
McCarthy Building is using AIP to encode more than a century of construction expertise into real-time decision support for project managers in the field.
GNP Seguros, Mexico's largest insurer, has gone enterprise-wide, reporting the ability to act on data at a scale and speed that simply wasn't possible before.
Beyond the customer stage, Palantir is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace with full integration across Google's platforms. That distribution broadens the company’s commercial reach significantly. And for investors who are concerned about the lack of international growth, Palantir landed a £9 million (approx. $12 million) 10-year contract to replace England and Wales's entire firearms licensing database, covering all 43 police forces.
Why Is PLTR Stock Down?Skeptics (of which there are many) will point out that, despite the bullish tone of AIPCon, PLTR is trading lower. That’s not a particularly new story. PLTR is down about 25% in 2026 and approximately 35% down from the all-time high it made in November 2025.
Of course, the common reason cited will be valuation. But that’s becoming like a hammer looking for a nail. Investors waiting for Palantir to grow into its valuation before investing are likely to miss the strongest gains. In any event, it’s not clear how relevant traditional valuation metrics apply to enterprise software companies whose value is embedded in platform stickiness rather than hard assets.
Before dismissing that as a “this time it’s different” argument, consider that Palantir is a company with no debt, which does not have the CapEx overhang that other technology stocks are facing.
The more likely reason for PLTR to be down so sharply is two-fold. First, many investors are looking to raise capital for the SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX IPO. That means they’re looking to trim profits on winners, which is a direct line to Palantir.
A secondary reason is that investors' dollars inside the tech space are moving back to chip stocks. That’s a fair point, as semiconductor refresh cycles are getting shorter and shorter.
A Messy Chart Could Be an OpportunityPLTR is approaching the $120–$125 support zone, a place where it’s been three times in 2026— in early February, late April, and late May — without breaking down, forming what looks like a triple bottom. That's a constructive pattern, and each successive test holding above support adds credibility to the thesis that a floor is forming.
That said, the technicals are still messy. The current price sits well below both the 50-day SMA ($140.42) and the 200-day SMA ($160.84), meaning any meaningful recovery has significant overhead to clear.
The 50-day crossing below the 200-day earlier this spring confirmed a bearish structure that a potential triple bottom alone won't reverse. Investors should want to see a clean reclaim of $140 on volume before reading too much into the pattern. Until then, expect the stock to chop through the summer, with earnings in August as the next real directional catalyst.
The Long-Term Outlook Is Still SupportiveIf investors are looking for reasons to sell PLTR, they don’t have to look far. The immediate gratification part of this story is over, for now. But viewed with a wider lens, the outlook for Palantir continues to be bullish.
Current Price$128.10High Forecast$255.00Average Forecast$192.76Low Forecast$90.00Palantir Technologies Stock Forecast Details
For example, on June 5, Rosenblatt Securities and Wedbush reiterated their bullish ratings on PLTR with price targets of $225 and $230 respectively. Keep in mind, both price targets are about 20% higher than the consensus price target of $192.76, which itself is 50% above recent prices.
That’s important to consider at a time when many technology stocks are under pressure. It’s also a reminder to investors that for every seller, there will be buyers. Most likely, those buyers are coming from institutions that want to catch every bit of upside as they can from a stock that many missed on its initial run higher. AIPCon was a reminder that for all its skeptics, Palantir’s customers are bullish—and the customer is always right.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies Right Now?Before you consider Palantir Technologies, you'll want to hear this.
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Shares of Palantir (PLTR 2.36%) slid about 7% over the past five trading days as of this writing, adding to what has become a painful stretch for the artificial intelligence (AI) data and analytics platform specialist. The stock now trades more than 35% below its 52-week high of $207.52 and is down about 26% year to date.
The decline stands in sharp contrast to the business itself, which is growing faster than it ever has as a public company. And that contrast raises a question some investors have likely been waiting years to ask: After such a steep fall, is this finally a good time for long-term AI investors to buy one of the market's most debated growth stocks?
Even after the pullback, however, the valuation numbers investors must grapple with are still big. Palantir commands a market capitalization of about $306 billion -- against trailing-12-month revenue of just $5.2 billion.
Here's a closer look at the company's momentum and whether the growth stock is a buy, sell, or hold.
Image source: Getty Images.
Growth that keeps accelerating Palantir's first-quarter revenue rose 85% year over year to $1.63 billion -- the company's highest growth rate since it went public in 2020. U.S. revenue, which now accounts for 79% of the total, more than doubled, rising 104%. And U.S. commercial revenue soared 133% to $595 million, helped by new deals with Airbus, Bain, GE Aerospace, and Stellantis during the quarter.
"Our revenue growth rate accelerated for the eleventh consecutive quarter, highlighting the durability of the growth of our business at scale," said chief financial officer David Glazer in the company's first-quarter earnings call.
And profitability looks exceptional. First-quarter net income more than quadrupled year over year to $871 million. And adjusted free cash flow for the period came in at $925 million.
"Our free cash flow this quarter is larger than our revenue a year ago in the same quarter. Think about that," said CEO Alex Karp later in the call.
Looking ahead, management expects the momentum to continue. Alongside the report in early May, Palantir raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $7.65 billion to $7.662 billion, implying 71% growth this year.
But the price is another story So, why not buy the dip? The answer comes down to valuation -- and Palantir's remains extreme, even after the drop.
The stock's price-to-earnings ratio is more than 140 as of this writing. Additionally, Palantir's market capitalization is about 40 times the revenue management expects the company to generate in 2026, and about 70 times the midpoint of its adjusted free cash flow guidance for the year.
A valuation like this leaves little margin for disappointment.
And there are ways Palantir could disappoint. Growth is increasingly concentrated in the U.S., with international commercial revenue rising just 26% year over year in Q1. Further, parts of the company's international government business face uncertainty. The U.K. government, for instance, said this week it's reviewing whether to extend or end Palantir's $441 million contract with the country's National Health Service when the deal's initial term expires in early 2027.
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There's also simple math to consider. Maintaining anything close to 71% growth becomes more difficult each year as the revenue base expands. And if growth merely decelerates, a stock priced for years of extraordinary expansion could get rerated lower -- something shareholders have already experienced this year, with shares falling even as the business accelerated.
To be clear, the business arguably deserves its reputation. Excessive demand seems to be Palantir's most significant problem at the moment (if we can even call that a problem). Karp told listeners on the earnings call that the company's biggest problem in the U.S. is that it "just cannot meet demand."
But price matters. Even with the stock down more than 35% from its high, Palantir shares arguably still look overvalued. This may be a meaningful pullback, but I don't think it's big enough to make shares attractive.
YieldMax PLTR Option Income Strategy ETF offers high-income potential but carries significant risk, especially during PLTR downturns. PLTY's synthetic option writing strategy exposes investors to full downside risk while capping upside, making it suitable only for income-focused portfolios. The fund's estimated distribution rate is approximately 67.5%, with weekly payouts, but capital erosion risk is high during market pullbacks.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp said that AI leaders were too future-forward. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Alex Karp thinks Silicon Valley's AI companies and their leaders are lacking one key trait: self-awareness.
The CEO of Palantir has an interesting position in the AI boom. Labs like OpenAI and Anthropic are both partners and competitors. In an interview with CNBC, Karp took some jabs at the those companies and their San Francisco-based work culture.
"They don't understand how unlikeable they are," Karp said. "I told them this. I probably shouldn't have."
The AI-pilled are also too future-forward, said Karp, who has criticized the San Francisco tech scene before. The AI labs believe that they "don't have to solve your problem today," because it will be solved tomorrow, he said. "It's largely religious."
Karp also criticized the AI companies' products. He said that they "don't actually work the way" customers expect, and that they're "very expensive."
Sentiment about AI might differ outside San Francisco, he added.
Several tech companies have been embracing the forward-deployed model for AI, including OpenAI and Google. That's a model that Palantir popularized — and Karp said the AI giants have so far done a bad job of it.
"Most of them are chillaxing over their latte, reading a report about something that they don't understand the technical capacity about," he said.
Karp specifically called out the OpenAI Deployment Company, calling it a "complete farce" and an attempt to "replicate Palantir." OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
'We need heaven on earth' Karp's comments follow growing backlash from some against AI and its figureheads. Tech leaders' AI comments have been booed during commencement speeches, something that Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a Wednesday blog post should serve as "a powerful wake-up call for the tech sector."
While Karp said the AI leaders don't realize that they are unlikable, he clarified that doesn't mean he personally feels that way. He shouted out Sam Altman and Dario Amodei as providing "some of the best and most interesting conversations I've had in business."
He narrowed in on Anthropic's Amodei. "He's a very, very important person," Karp said, and "he believes what he's saying."
That doesn't mean they don't still butt heads.
"I believe that we need heaven on earth, not heaven in 20 years," he said. "We disagree on these things."
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Palantir Technologies (PLTR, Financials) CEO Alex Karp is drawing a distinction between building powerful AI models and helping businesses actually use them.
Speaking with CNBC, Karp said many enterprise customers are growing frustrated with leading AI developers, arguing that some providers are too focused on driving usage rather than solving real business problems.
According to Karp, the next phase of artificial intelligence will be less about who has the biggest model and more about who can successfully integrate AI into day-to-day operations. He believes that is where the industry's real value will be created over the coming years.
His comments arrive at an interesting time for the AI sector. OpenAI has reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO, while Anthropic is also exploring a potential public offering, bringing increased attention to how AI companies plan to turn rapid growth into sustainable business models.
Karp also acknowledged the importance of large language models and highlighted Palantir's ongoing work with AI-focused organizations, including projects involving Anthropic technology.
For investors, the remarks highlight a growing debate across the AI industry: whether future winners will be defined by building the most advanced models or by helping customers generate measurable business results from them.
Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR | PLTR Price Prediction) is the ticker every retail trader keeps tweeting about, riding an AI government-software narrative into one of the richest valuations in large-cap software. But here’s what you should actually be watching: the unloved data platform that just printed its strongest sequential growth quarter in company history while the headline name was busy cracking.
Start with the math nobody on wallstreetbets wants to do. Palantir trades at a trailing P/E of 150 and a price-to-sales ratio of 61, with a forward multiple still near 90. Free cash flow yield sits at 0.70%. Those are lottery-ticket numbers, and the lottery is already cashing out. The stock is down 26.75% year to date and 8.43% in the past week alone, trading at $130.21 against a 52-week high of $207.52.
The narrative is cracking in public. Reddit’s r/stocks lit up on June 3 around Michael Burry’s “A Sand Castle Supported Only By AI Applications Narrative” critique, and bearish posts have outnumbered bullish ones 18 to 8 over the past 30 days. Next-big-thing bubbles deflate when capital costs stay higher for longer, and this is what that deflation looks like in real time.
The Redirect: A Database Monopoly On Sale Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) is the boring infrastructure play under the AI froth, and it just delivered the kind of quarter that retirement-focused capital should care about. Three points settle the argument.
1. The valuation gap is absurd. Snowflake trades at roughly 74x price-to-free-cash-flow against Palantir’s 142x. Free cash flow yield runs at 1.35%, nearly double Palantir’s. The market cap sits near $83 billion, less than a third of Palantir’s $299 billion, despite operating the layer of the stack every AI agent ultimately queries.
2. Fundamentals are accelerating. Q1 FY2027, reported May 27, 2026, delivered product revenue of $1.33 billion, up 34% year over year, the strongest sequential dollar growth in company history. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.39 beat estimates by 21.95%, the fourth straight beat. Remaining performance obligations reached $9.21 billion, up 38% year over year, providing the kind of multi-year revenue visibility Palantir’s consumption model cannot match. Net revenue retention held at 126%. Full-year product revenue guidance was raised to $5.84 billion, and operating margin guidance moved up to 13.5%.
3. The moat is widening while the crowd looks elsewhere. Snowflake just signed a $6 billion multi-year agreement with AWS, deepened its OpenAI co-innovation, brought SAP integration to general availability, and acquired Natoma for Model Context Protocol agents. CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy framed it plainly: “Q1 marks a clear inflection point… positioning Snowflake to lead in this new era.” Over 13,600 accounts are already on Snowflake AI.
Reddit activity on Snowflake remains a fraction of Palantir’s, which is exactly the point. The stock is up 58.35% in the past month from $151.50 to $239.90, and the crowd is still busy arguing about a sand castle.
For a retirement-focused investor, Snowflake looks worth researching while the sticker is still on.
PLTR weekly chart shows consolidation near resistance of the 50-week moving average Pivotal Support Zone As a result, PLTR is now in a pivotal area, as a sustained bullish reversal from current levels may establish a second right shoulder within a larger, more complex inverse head and shoulders pattern. Such a development will provide an early sign of renewed strength if support continues to hold.
Conversely, a decisive decline below the left shoulder would signal a possible continuation of the current downtrend and raise the risk of a test of support near the head of the pattern at $122.68. The current decline has found at least temporary support near the 88.6% Fibonacci retracement of the prior advance.
Recovery Signals to Watch Signs of strength would suggest that support may hold and lead to a recovery. Tuesday’s high of $130.67 is near-term resistance and a move above that level would trigger a one-day bullish reversal signal. In addition, Wednesday formed an inside day with a high of $133.19. A breakout above $133.19 would provide another indication that bullish momentum is improving. An initial upside target would be the 200-day moving average, now at $160.57 and falling.
Before that objective can be challenged, however, PLTR would need to reclaim a resistance zone beginning near the 20-day moving average at $138.94 and the 50-day moving average at $139.97. Successfully regaining those levels would strengthen the case that the current support zone is holding and that the failed breakout discussed at the beginning of this analysis may be evolving into a larger bullish continuation pattern.
The Pain Of Selling Too EarlySpeaking on a recent episode of the All-In Podcast, the Third Point CEO opened up about the agonizing decisions surrounding when to hold high-growth technology companies.
When the conversation shifted to managing the transition from private to public markets, Loeb was remarkably candid about his regrets regarding the data analytics giant Palantir.
“It’s one of the most vexing questions,” Loeb confessed. “We were private investors in Palantir, and I think we sold all our stock in the 20s. Huge mistake.”
He noted the massive opportunity cost of the premature exit. “Gosh, I missed a 10x after going public,” he lamented, adding that the stock went “up 8x or something.”
The Liquidity TrapLoeb's reflections on Palantir bled into a broader discussion about the constraints of public market liquidity.
He highlighted his firm’s investment in Upstart—where Third Point led the Series B round—as a cautionary tale about how corporate governance restricts trading agility.
“That was one I think we learned not to go on boards anymore because it restricts your ability to be liquid,” Loeb explained.
Unprecedented Tech ValuationsThe Third Point founder also touched on how the ceiling for tech valuations has shifted, making it harder to predict when a stock has peaked.
Reflecting on earlier venture investments, he referenced Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), noting how a $50 billion IPO valuation once seemed like the absolute limit for any company.
Today, with multi-trillion-dollar market caps becoming the new normal for tech behemoths, Loeb admits navigating distributions remains a formidable challenge. “I am not claiming to have any great expertise in knowing how to best distribute,” he concluded.
How Has PLTR Performed In 2026?Shares of PLTR have fallen by 26.26% year-to-date. It closed 0.67% higher at $131.08 per share on Thursday, and was 0.62% higher in overnight trading.
Over the last month, PLTR stock was down 4.24%, and it fell 30.11% over the last six months; the stock 3.89% lower over the year. Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that PLTR maintains a weak price trend in the long, medium and short terms, with a poor value score.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Michael Vi via Shutterstock
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Key Takeaways PLTR generated $984 million in adjusted operating income with a 60% operating margin in Q1 2026.Palantir's adjusted operating income rose from $391 million in Q1 2025 to nearly $1 billion.PLTR expanded operating margins from 44% in Q1 2025 to 60% in Q1 2026. Palantir Technologies (PLTR - Free Report) continues demonstrating why investors remain enthusiastic about its long-term artificial intelligence opportunity. The company’s first-quarter 2026 results highlighted a powerful combination of rapid growth and expanding profitability, showing that Palantir is successfully scaling its business while continuing to invest aggressively in both its Artificial Intelligence Platform and U.S. operations.
One of the most impressive metrics from the quarter was adjusted operating income, which climbed to $984 million, representing a remarkable 60% operating margin. The company has delivered a steady and powerful rise in profitability over the past year, with adjusted operating income advancing from $391 million in the first quarter of 2025 to nearly $1 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
Equally notable is the steady improvement in operating margins. Margins expanded from 44% in the first quarter of 2025 to 46% in the second quarter, 51% in the third quarter, 57% in the fourth quarter, and ultimately 60% in the first quarter of 2026. This trend demonstrates significant operating leverage, meaning revenue growth is increasingly translating into profits rather than being absorbed by expenses.
What makes these results particularly encouraging is that Palantir achieved this profitability while continuing to invest heavily in AI innovation and market expansion. Many software companies face a tradeoff between growth and margins, but Palantir appears to be strengthening both simultaneously.
The company’s ability to generate higher profits at a faster rate than revenue growth suggests its platform is benefiting from scale advantages and growing customer adoption. As demand for enterprise and government AI solutions continues to expand, Palantir’s rising margins and disciplined execution reinforce its position as one of the most profitable and operationally efficient companies in the software industry.
Peer LensTwo closely watched peers are Snowflake (SNOW - Free Report) and MongoDB (MDB - Free Report) . Snowflake continues expanding its AI data cloud ecosystem and remains a major player in helping enterprises manage large-scale AI-ready datasets. As enterprise AI adoption accelerates, Snowflake could benefit from the rising demand for cloud-native data infrastructure.
Meanwhile, MongoDB is strengthening its role in AI-era application development. MDB enables enterprises to build scalable, flexible applications capable of handling increasingly complex AI workloads. MongoDB also remains well-positioned as organizations modernize their software architecture to support operational AI deployments.
PLTR’s Price Performance & EstimatesThe stock has declined 13% over the past three months compared with the industry’s consolidation.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, PLTR trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 34.52X, well above the industry’s 3.65X. It carries a Value Score of F.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PLTR’s 2026 earnings rose over the past 60 days.
PLTR stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.23 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.24 per share. This compares to a loss of $0.19 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -2.13%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this company would post earnings of $0.2 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.24, delivering a surprise of +20%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.
Unity Software, which belongs to the Zacks Internet - Software industry, posted revenues of $508.24 million for the quarter ended March 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.53%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $435 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four 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.
Unity Software shares have lost about 38.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 7.6%.
What's Next for Unity Software?While Unity Software 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 Unity Software was mixed. 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 #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with 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 $0.22 on $506.68 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.99 on $2.09 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, Internet - Software is currently in the top 38% 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, Monday.com (MNDY - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended March 2026. The results are expected to be released on May 11.
This project management software developer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.96 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -12.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
Monday.com's revenues are expected to be $338.9 million, up 20.1% from the year-ago quarter.
Shares of Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW | SNOW Price Prediction) are climbing in early Thursday trading, jumping roughly 9% intraday to around $152. The data cloud platform is leading enterprise software higher and outpacing peer ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW), which is also green but rising at a slower clip.
ServiceNow stock is trading 5% higher to around $94, a respectable bounce in its own right. On a percentage basis, however, Snowflake is clearly out in front today, and the gap matters given how often these two names trade together.
Both stocks are widely watched bellwethers for enterprise software sentiment. Snowflake’s market cap sits at roughly $53.09 billion, while ServiceNow’s is closer to $97.63 billion as of mid-morning Thursday.
The contrast deserves attention because both names have been hammered in 2026. Snowflake stock entered Thursday down 36% year to date, while ServiceNow shares were sitting down 42% year to date through Wednesday’s close. Today’s tape hints at a partial sentiment thaw across the cloud software group.
Snowflake Pulls Ahead in a Brutal Cloud Tape The pop has no single confirmed catalyst, but the backdrop has been building for weeks. Bargain-hunting in heavily sold-down cloud names, AI workload migration narratives favoring data platforms, and a broader rotation back toward software are all in the mix. Snowflake’s pitch as the data layer for enterprise AI keeps attracting buyers whenever sentiment thaws.
The fundamentals have held up. In Q4 FY2026, reported February 25, Snowflake posted product revenue of $1.23 billion, up 30% year over year, and remaining performance obligations of $9.77 billion, up 42%. The company added a record 740 net new customers, and free cash flow surged to $765 million at a 60% margin.
CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy has leaned hard into AI positioning, with over 9,100 accounts using Snowflake AI features and Cortex adoption climbing. Snowflake Intelligence reached approximately 2,500 accounts within three months of launch. For investors hunting a recovery candidate inside a sold-off group, that growth profile remains the fastest among major data platforms.
ServiceNow Climbs Too, but at a Slower Clip ServiceNow’s gain looks more like a sympathy move than a standalone breakout. The workflow automation leader reported Q4 FY2025 revenue of $3.57 billion, up about 21% year over year, with cRPO of $12.85 billion, up 25%. Yet the stock dropped sharply after that earnings report as investors fretted about SaaS demand displacement from AI agents.
Sentiment has slowly recovered. Bernstein recently lifted its ServiceNow price target to $236 with a mixed read coming out of the company’s Analyst Day. You can find more in our ServiceNow analyst day coverage, which captures why the bulls and bears are still split on the name.
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott has framed the company as “the AI control tower for business reinvention.” Today’s tape suggests fast money is rotating into faster-growing data platforms first. Over the past month, NOW shares are still down 6.5% versus a 2% gain for SNOW stock, reinforcing the relative-strength story.
Meanwhile, sector-adjacent stocks Unity Software (NYSE:U) and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) are both up 3% today.
What to Watch Next One green session doesn’t reverse a brutal year for cloud software. The bear case is straightforward: multiples can keep compressing if AI capex pressures customer software budgets, and both names remain deeply negative on the year.
The bull case is that washed-out positioning, durable RPO growth, and AI-linked product cycles are finally pulling in real capital. Snowflake’s FY2027 product revenue guide of $5.66 billion and ServiceNow’s FY2026 subscription guide of $15.53 billion to $15.57 billion both imply growth in the 20% range. That floor on top-line momentum is what the bulls keep pointing to.
So yes, Snowflake is outperforming ServiceNow today and on a year-to-date basis, even with both stocks in the red. Watch for whether SNOW shares hold their intraday gains into the close and whether NOW stock can string together consecutive up days. Prudent investors should size positions carefully given how violently this group has traded in 2026.
Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U) beat Q1 revenue estimates and posted a sharp jump in adjusted earnings but took a $279 million impairment charge related to shutting down its ironSource ad network and selling off its Supersonic game publishing unit.
The San Francisco-based company posted revenue of $508 million for the quarter ended March 31, up 17% from a year earlier and slightly above the $506 million analysts had forecast.
Adjusted EBITDA surged 65% year-over-year to $138 million, though gross margin of 82% came in below the 82.8% consensus estimate. Earnings per share of $0.23 matched expectations but fell 4% from the prior-year period.
Unity's Grow Solutions segment, which houses its advertising and monetization tools, led the quarter with revenue of $352 million, up 24% year-over-year. Create Solutions, which includes the company's core development engine, generated $157 million, a more modest 4% gain.
The company officially shuttered its ironSource Ad Network at the end of April and said it intends to divest the Supersonic game publishing business. The $279 million in impairment charges recorded in the quarter reflect the financial impact of both decisions.
For the second quarter, Unity guided for revenue of $505 million to $515 million, bracketing the $512 million analyst consensus, representing year-over-year growth of 15% to 17%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected in the range of $130 million to $135 million, implying growth of 44% to 49% from a year ago.
The company also provided a breakdown of its "Strategic Revenue" category for Q2, projecting $455 million to $465 million, with Strategic Grow Revenue, its key growth engine, seen rising 50% to 52% year-over-year to $302 million to $306 million.
Unity said it expects to reach GAAP profitability by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Shares of Unity initially jumped more than 7% in premarket trading following the results but reversed course during the morning session, last trading down more than 2%.
AI-powered Unity Vector has driven a +49% YoY surge in Grow revenues through improved ROAS, allowing them to sustain U's strong ad-tech growth prospects through new capabilities. Unity AI, an agentic AI game development capability has also been launched, allowing them incrementally cross sell to existing/new game developer base. U's renewed gaming/ad-tech growth prospects, fueled by AI integration and the outsized FQ1'26 performance metrics, have lent credibility to the promising FQ2'26 guidance.
Key Takeaways Unity reported Q1 revenues of $508.2M, up 17% YoY, beating guidance despite a slight EPS miss.U saw 35% Strategic Revenue growth, driven by Unity Ad Network and Vector momentum.U booked $279M impairment charges tied to ironSource sunset and Supersonic divestiture plans. Unity Software (U - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of 23 cents compared with 24 cents in the year-ago quarter. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.17%.
On a GAAP basis, the company posted a net loss per share of 80 cents compared with a loss of 19 cents in the year-ago quarter, weighed down by $279 million of impairment charges related to the sunset of the ironSource Ads Network and the planned divestiture of the Supersonic publishing business.
Net revenues of $508.24 million rose 17% year over year and comfortably exceeded the company's guided range of $480-$490 million. The figure beat the consensus mark by 1.53%.
Total Strategic Revenue, which excludes the ironSource Ads Network and Supersonic, grew 35% year over year to $432 million. The revenue growth was driven by the Unity Ad Network, propelled by Unity Vector, with additional contribution from higher subscription revenues in Create.
Q1 Details of Unity SoftwareUnity Software reported Create Solutions revenues of $157 million, up 4% year over year. The increase was driven by higher subscription revenues, partially offset by declines in cloud and hosting services revenues tied to the company's portfolio reset in 2025. Strategic Create Revenue (which excludes non-strategic items) was $153.7 million, up 15% year over year.
Grow Solutions revenues were $352 million, up 24% year over year. The growth was driven by Unity Vector within the Unity Ad Network, partially offset by declines in the IronSource Ad Network. Strategic Grow Revenue was $278.7 million, up 49% year over year, almost twice the rate of total Grow growth — reflecting Vector's continuing momentum. Per the March 26, 2026, preliminary release, Unity Vector increased 15% sequentially in the first quarter, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of mid-teens sequential growth.
Non-Strategic Revenue, consisting primarily of the ironSource Ads Network and Supersonic, was $75.8 million, down 34% year over year.
Operating Details of UnityIn the first quarter, non-GAAP gross profit increased 16.7% year over year to $419.1 million. Unity's adjusted gross margin of 82% was flat year over year.
Research & development expenses on an adjusted basis grew 8.7% year over year to $152.1 million. Adjusted R&D, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 200 basis points to 30%.
Sales and marketing expenses on an adjusted basis declined 2.3% year over year to $90.9 million. Adjusted S&M, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 300 basis points to 18%.
General & administrative expenses on an adjusted basis decreased 10.3% year over year to $37.9 million. Adjusted G&A, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 300 basis points to 7%.
Unity Software reported adjusted EBITDA of $138 million, up 64.7% year over year and well above the prior guidance of $105-$110 million. The company's adjusted EBITDA margin of 27% improved 800 basis points compared with the prior year, driven by higher revenues and continued cost control.
On a GAAP basis, the net loss for the quarter was $347 million, including the $279 million of impairment charges related to the ironSource Ads Network sunset and the planned Supersonic divestiture, compared with a net loss of $78 million in the year-ago quarter.
Unity Software's Balance Sheet & Cash FlowAs of March 31, 2026, Unity had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $2.15 billion compared with $2.06 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by operations.
Operating cash flow was $71 million in the reported quarter, up from $13 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Free cash flow during the quarter was $66 million compared with $7 million in the prior-year quarter. The current portion of convertible notes was $556.8 million as of March 31, 2026.
Significant Q1 DevelopmentsAlongside its first-quarter results, Unity Software announced the sunset of the ironSource Ads Network, effective April 30, 2026, and disclosed that it had engaged a financial advisor to assist with the divestiture of its Supersonic game publishing business. Management stated that, once completed, these actions are expected to drive faster revenue growth and higher adjusted EBITDA margins. The company also reiterated its expectation to become GAAP profitable by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Unity Software's Guidance for Q2 2026For the second quarter of 2026, Unity Software anticipates total revenues between $505 million and $515 million. Strategic Revenue is expected in the range of $455-$465 million, implying a rise of 29-32% year over year. Within that, Strategic Grow Revenue is expected between $302 million and $306 million, suggesting an increase of 50-52% year over year, and Strategic Create Revenue is guided in the range of $154-$158 million, indicating a rise of 11-14% year over year (excluding the impact of a $12 million one-time revenue item in the second quarter of 2025).
Adjusted EBITDA is expected in the range of $130-$135 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 44-49%.
Unity’s Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderUnity currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector include Analog Devices (ADI - Free Report) , Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) and Audioeye (AEYE - Free Report) , each currently carrying a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of Analog Devices have gained 53.3% in the year-to-date period. Analog Devices is set to report the second quarter of fiscal 2026 results on May 20.
Applied Materials shares have gained 66.8% in the year-to-date period. Applied Materials is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2026 results on May 14.
Audioeye shares have lost 23.3% in the year-to-date period. Audioeye is set to report its first-quarter 2026 results on May 13.
Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?
Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.
Unity Software currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.79, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 24 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.79 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 24 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 14 are Strong Buy and one is Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 58.3% and 4.2% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for U
Check price target & stock forecast for Unity Software here>>>
While the ABR calls for buying Unity Software, it may not be wise to make an investment decision solely based on this information. Several studies have shown limited to no success of brokerage recommendations in guiding investors to pick stocks with the best price increase potential.
Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.
This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, which classifies stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), is a reliable indicator of a stock's near-term price performance. So, validating the Zacks Rank with ABR could go a long way in making a profitable investment decision.
Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRIn spite of the fact that Zacks Rank and ABR both appear on a scale from 1 to 5, they are two completely different measures.
Broker recommendations are the sole basis for calculating the ABR, which is typically displayed in decimals (such as 1.28). The Zacks Rank, on the other hand, is a quantitative model designed to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
Analysts employed by brokerage firms have been and continue to be overly optimistic with their recommendations. Since the ratings issued by these analysts are more favorable than their research would support because of the vested interest of their employers, they mislead investors far more often than they guide.
On the other hand, earnings estimate revisions are at the core of the Zacks Rank. And empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.
Another key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank is freshness. The ABR is not necessarily up-to-date when you look at it. But, since brokerage analysts keep revising their earnings estimates to account for a company's changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in indicating future price movements.
Should You Invest in U?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Unity Software, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.99.
Analysts' steady views regarding the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by an unchanged consensus estimate, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Unity Software. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
It may therefore be prudent to be a little cautious with the Buy-equivalent ABR for Unity Software.
Key Takeaways RBLX says January global age checks for chat access slowed DAU growth after prior surges.RBLX cut 2026 guidance to 20-25% revenue growth and 8-12% bookings as chat use fell.RBLX had 51% of DAUs age-checked; aims more than 90%, and will add global chat and preset messages. Roblox Corporation (RBLX - Free Report) is navigating a key investor concern as its safety-first platform changes create near-term friction in user growth, communication activity and bookings expectations. Management said DAU growth slowed from the roughly 70% rates seen in the prior two quarters, with user acquisition and engagement affected by the January rollout of global age checks for chat access.
The concern centers on how closely communication is tied to Roblox’s engagement model. Following the age-check rollout, users who had not completed verification lost access to chat, reducing the share of users communicating on the platform. Roblox also limited adult communication with users under 16, further weighing on communication density. Management noted that the impact extended beyond unverified users, as age-checked users also had fewer people available to interact with.
That friction is now reflected in the company’s revised outlook. Roblox stated that reduced communication activity, along with discovery algorithms that had leaned more toward monetization, likely hurt app store ratings and organic sign-ups. The company lowered its full-year guidance to revenue growth of 20-25% and bookings growth of 8-12%. It also expects DAUs to decline sequentially from the first quarter to the second quarter before returning to sequential growth in the third quarter.
Roblox is responding with product changes aimed at rebuilding communication density while keeping a safer platform framework intact. Management said 51% of global DAUs had completed age checks by quarter-end, with a long-term ambition to move that figure above 90%. Planned initiatives include global chat, in-game party chat integration and preset messages to support gameplay coordination. These updates are intended to restore social interaction without reversing the company’s safety objectives.
How Are Roblox’s Competitors Faring?Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) is benefiting from a different industry dynamic. Unity Software said 90% of game developers are already using AI in workflows, while newly published Made with Unity games increased 12% sequentially and new Unity sign-ups rose 20% quarter over quarter. Unity Software’s investor focus is therefore more tied to creator-tool adoption and monetization infrastructure, while Roblox is working through a safety-led reset in social engagement.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO - Free Report) remains more franchise-led, with growth supported by owned titles and recurrent consumer spending. Take-Two reported third-quarter net bookings of $1.76 billion and raised its fiscal-year net bookings outlook to $6.65-$6.7 billion, supported by NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto and mobile titles. Compared with Roblox, Take-Two has less direct exposure to platform-level communication friction because its growth is driven more by premium franchises and live-service spending.
For Roblox, the key issue is whether safety enhancements can coexist with stronger organic user acquisition. A return to sequential DAU growth in the third quarter, along with improved communication density, would be important evidence that the safety reset is becoming a long-term platform advantage rather than a sustained drag on bookings.
RBLX’s Stock Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesRoblox shares have declined 28.8% over the past three months compared with the industry’s fall of 2.5%.
RBLX Three-Month Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, RBLX trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 3.72, well above the industry average of 2.13.
RBLX’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RBLX’s 2026 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of 5.8%. Estimates for 2026 loss per share have narrowed in the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
EPS Trend of RBLX StockRoblox has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.
Over the past month, shares of this company have returned +1.6%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +4.6% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Software industry, which Unity Software falls in, has lost 4.8%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
Unity Software is expected to post earnings of $0.22 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +184.6%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged.
The consensus earnings estimate of $0.99 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +15.1%. This estimate has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $1.22 indicates a change of +23.4% from what Unity Software is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +1.1%.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Unity Software.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Revenue Growth ForecastEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
For Unity Software, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $510.93 million indicates a year-over-year change of +15.9%. For the current and next fiscal years, $2.12 billion and $2.39 billion estimates indicate +14.6% and +12.8% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryUnity Software reported revenues of $508.24 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +16.8%. EPS of $0.23 for the same period compares with -$0.19 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $500.57 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +1.53%. The EPS surprise was -4.17%.
Over the last four quarters, Unity Software surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Unity Software is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Unity Software. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
VICTORIA, Seychelles, May 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has announced the addition of United Stables (U) for spot trading in the Stablecoin zone. Trading for the U/USDT pair opens on May 25, 2026, 08:00 (UTC), with withdrawals available from May 26, 2026, 09:00 (UTC).
United Stables is a decentralized stablecoin protocol on the BNB Chain designed to issue $U, a censorship-resistant, verifiable, and yield-bearing digital asset that bridges the gap between decentralized transparency and institutional stability. The platform addresses the structural fragmentation of the stablecoin market, specifically the trade-offs between centralized custodial risks and decentralized liquidity constraints, by utilizing a hybrid collateralization framework backed by a diversified basket of liquid cryptocurrencies and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). This dual-reserve architecture mitigates systemic market volatility, while real-time, on-chain Proof of Reserves (PoR) oracles continuously verify collateralization levels to guarantee a transparent, secure 1:1 fiat peg.
The protocol transforms idle digital cash into productive capital without requiring manual staking or incurring additional gas expenditures by integrating automated, native yield distribution directly within the token mechanics. The ecosystem maximizes asset efficiency through programmable auto-compounding, generating sustainable returns sourced from short-term treasury bills and liquid staking derivatives. Consequently, the utility of $U extends beyond a standard medium of exchange into high-efficiency DeFi collateral, low-cost cross-border remittances, and stable base-trading pairs. Ultimately, United Stables establishes a highly resilient monetary infrastructure that enhances capital efficiency, lowers barriers to yield generation, and strengthens liquidity across the broader Web3 ecosystem.
Bitget’s Universal Exchange (UEX) combines exchange grade infrastructure with OnChain access, giving users a single account to discover and trade millions of tokens across leading networks. While this open gateway enables broad market access without traditional listing bottlenecks, Bitget’s listing highlights a different tier of assets—projects with real backing, clear utility, strong community and partner support. Together, UEX offers both breadth and quality: universal discovery at scale, and curated opportunities for users who prefer to explore crypto's vastness. The addition of United Stables (U) further enhances these opportunities, reinforcing Bitget’s role in bridging the gap between the transparency of decentralized finance and the stability of institutional-grade, yield-bearing digital assets.
For more details on United Stables (U), visit here.
About Bitget
Bitget is the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 100+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships with LALIGA and MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently leads in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry's lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.
For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord
Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2fa87f38-ceff-4757-afdd-f28067df17db
Key Takeaways Unity enters 2H26 with balanced growth as ad execution, margins, and liquidity improve.U's Vector platform drives 49% Grow revenue growth, boosting targeting and advertiser spending.Margin expansion, $66M free cash flow, and $2.14B cash support ongoing investments. Unity Software (U - Free Report) is entering the second-half of 2026 with a more balanced investment profile as improving advertising execution, expanding margins, and healthy liquidity support its long-term outlook. The company continues benefiting from stronger monetization within its Grow business, particularly through its Vector advertising platform, while ongoing restructuring efforts are helping stabilize profitability.
The stock has gained investor attention after Unity delivered stronger operating performance during recent quarters. However, valuation concerns and transition-related risks continue limiting the potential for a fully bullish investment thesis. Against this backdrop, Unity increasingly looks like a balanced growth story rather than an aggressive momentum play.
U Stock Outlook Anchored in Balanced Growth ProfileUnity’s long-term outlook remains neutral, with expectations that the stock will perform broadly in line with the market instead of significantly outperforming. The company’s improving fundamentals support stability, but restructuring noise and valuation concerns continue preventing a more directional bullish stance.
The investment case reflects strong Growth and Momentum characteristics offset by a weaker Value profile. Growth-oriented investors continue focusing on Unity’s improving ad monetization trends, while momentum indicators have strengthened alongside better profitability and free cash flow generation.
However, the stock does not appear deeply discounted relative to its operational and execution risks. That creates a setup where Unity looks suitable for investors seeking selective upside exposure instead of a high-conviction growth opportunity.
Unity Software Growth Powered by Vector Ad MomentumUnity’s Grow segment remains the company’s most important growth engine heading into 2026. The primary catalyst has been Vector, Unity’s machine-learning advertising platform, which continues improving targeting, prediction accuracy, and advertiser engagement.
Strategic Grow revenue increased 49% year over year during the first quarter of 2026, driven largely by continued strength within the Unity Ad Network. Management attributed the acceleration to product upgrades and improving campaign optimization tied to Vector.
A major operational improvement involved the rollout of Day-28 return-on-ad-spend optimization. Advertisers are seeing better long-term campaign visibility compared with earlier Day-7 optimization methods, resulting in stronger advertiser confidence and higher spending levels.
Management also guided for Strategic Grow revenue growth of 50-52% year over year during the second quarter of 2026, reinforcing expectations that momentum will remain healthy.
Longer term, Unity expects runtime behavioral data integration to strengthen advertising performance further by incorporating richer user signals into live production models.
The emphasis on advanced advertising intelligence mirrors broader monetization initiatives at Roblox, where engagement-driven advertising opportunities are becoming increasingly important.
U Financial Trends Show Margin Expansion and Cash StrengthUnity’s first-quarter 2026 results reflected meaningful profitability improvement. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $138 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 27%, improving significantly from the prior-year period.
The company also demonstrated improving cost discipline across key expense categories. Research and development spending declined as a percentage of revenue, while sales and marketing expenses improved alongside lower general and administrative costs.
Liquidity remains another important strength. Unity generated $66 million in free cash flow during the quarter and ended the period with approximately $2.14 billion in cash and equivalents.
The strong balance sheet provides flexibility to continue funding artificial intelligence initiatives, platform improvements, and future debt obligations.
Liquidity strength remains particularly important compared with Digital Turbine, which has experienced greater pressure from advertising volatility and platform uncertainty.
Unity Software Risks From Transition and Ad VolatilityUnity still faces several risks that could create near-term volatility. The company continues navigating revenue noise tied to the ironSource Ad Network shutdown and the planned Supersonic divestiture.
Approximately 80% of Grow revenue now comes from the Unity Ad Network, increasing exposure to advertiser spending shifts and mobile gaming demand trends.
Execution risk also remains elevated as Unity integrates runtime behavioral data into live production models.
Investors are also comparing Unity’s monetization strategy with peers such as AppLovin (APP - Free Report) , Roblox (RBLX - Free Report) and Digital Turbine (APPS - Free Report) as competition intensifies across gaming and mobile advertising markets.
U Valuation Reflects Fair Pricing Relative to Growth OutlookUnity currently trades near 22.18x forward earnings, below its historical median valuation of 412.02x. The valuation appears reasonable relative to sector benchmarks and aligns with Unity’s balanced outlook.
Comparisons with Roblox and Digital Turbine also highlight how investor sentiment across digital advertising and gaming companies remains highly sensitive to monetization consistency and execution.
ConclusionOverall, Unity appears positioned as a hold-type stock with selective upside tied to continued Vector momentum, expanding margins, and improving cash generation. Unity currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Takeaways Unity Software is integrating AI across Create and Grow to unify development and monetization workflows.U's Vector platform and runtime data aim to improve ad targeting, measurement and long-term ROI.Unity Software faces execution risks as it rolls out AI models and exits nonstrategic ad units. Unity Software (U - Free Report) is strengthening its position at the intersection of artificial intelligence and advertising technology as it expands the connection between its creation tools and monetization engines. The company’s broader strategy reflects a platform approach that combines interactive 3D development, live services and ad optimization into one ecosystem. Rather than functioning solely as a gaming engine provider, Unity is increasingly positioning itself as an end-to-end platform supporting developers across creation, deployment and monetization.
Unity Software AI Integration Expands Across Create and GrowThe company’s Create and Grow segments are becoming more interconnected through artificial intelligence initiatives. On the Create side, Unity AI entered public beta in early May 2026 as an integrated agent tuned for Unity workflows. The tool is intended to automate repetitive coding tasks, improve asset generation efficiency and accelerate production timelines for studios building games and immersive experiences. By embedding AI directly into development workflows, Unity aims to improve productivity while strengthening developer engagement with its broader ecosystem.
AI is also becoming increasingly important across Unity’s monetization business. Runtime behavioral data is expected to play a larger role in campaign optimization and engagement measurement over time. On the Grow side, Unity expects runtime behavioral data to begin influencing live models later in the second quarter of 2026.
Management believes richer behavioral signals can improve advertiser targeting and increase the long-term efficiency of monetization tools across mobile and immersive environments.
U Ad Tech Innovation Driven by Vector and Data SignalsUnity’s advertising technology push is increasingly centered around Vector, the company’s machine-learning platform focused on targeting, prediction and measurement improvements. Vector has supported stronger campaign optimization capabilities while helping advertisers evaluate user quality over longer periods. The transition from Day-7 to Day-28 return-on-ad-spend optimization reflects a broader industry shift toward measuring lifetime user value instead of near-term activity. Unity believes the addition of runtime behavioral signals into production systems can further stabilize growth and improve advertising consistency as adoption expands.
Unity Software Industry Trends Support Long-Term DemandSeveral industry trends continue supporting long-term demand for Unity’s platform. Growth across gaming, extended reality and immersive digital experiences is increasing the need for scalable real-time 3D infrastructure. Unity is also benefiting from partnership expansion within the virtual reality ecosystem through deeper collaboration with Meta Platforms. The partnership supports developers building VR applications while broadening Unity’s exposure to next-generation immersive content opportunities.
Competition across interactive software and advertising technology remains intense. AppLovin (APP - Free Report) continues expanding its AI-driven advertising business, creating pressure on Unity’s Grow segment as advertisers increasingly prioritize measurable returns. Roblox Corporation (RBLX - Free Report) benefits from strong creator engagement and monetization trends, reinforcing investor interest in interactive digital platforms. Although Roblox Corporation operates a more consumer-facing ecosystem, Unity’s broader platform strategy provides exposure across developers, enterprises and gaming studios. Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO - Free Report) reflects broader demand for premium gaming experiences requiring advanced development pipelines and monetization support. Importantly, Take-Two Interactive Software highlights how content growth across console, PC and mobile platforms can indirectly support Unity’s long-term ecosystem expansion.
U Execution Will Determine AI Monetization SuccessUnity’s near-term transition includes a multi-step rollout of runtime data into production models, rather than a single launch event. That pacing can reduce the odds of abrupt upside and increases the cost of missteps in data integration, model tuning and measurement as advertisers scale spend.
Unity is also managing noise from exiting nonstrategic lines, including the ironSource Ad Network sunset effective April 30, 2026, alongside a planned Supersonic divestiture. That runoff can create quarter-to-quarter variability even when the strategic engines are improving.
The longer-term upside rests on sustained developer engagement with Unity AI, web workflows and commerce capabilities, while Grow continues to advance measurement and targeting through Vector and richer signals. Strong liquidity supports that investment stance, including management’s intent to address a $558 million convertible maturity due in November 2026 while keeping product work intact.
Unity currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) have gained 0.9% over the past four weeks to close the last trading session at $26.77, but there could still be a solid upside left in the stock if short-term price targets of Wall Street analysts are any indication. Going by the price targets, the mean estimate of $36.84 indicates a potential upside of 37.6%.
The mean estimate comprises 20 short-term price targets with a standard deviation of $6.27. While the lowest estimate of $28.00 indicates a 4.6% increase from the current price level, the most optimistic analyst expects the stock to surge 101.7% to reach $54.00. It's very important to note the standard deviation here, as it helps understand the variability of the estimates. The smaller the standard deviation, the greater the agreement among analysts.
While the consensus price target is highly sought after by investors, the ability and unbiasedness of analysts in setting price targets have long been questionable. And investors making investment decisions solely based on this tool would arguably do themselves a disservice.
However, an impressive consensus price target is not the only factor that indicates a potential upside in U. This view is strengthened by the agreement among analysts that the company will report better earnings than what they estimated earlier. Though a positive trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't give any idea as to how much the stock could surge, it has proven effective in predicting an upside.
Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Here's What You Should Know About Analysts' Price TargetsAccording to researchers at several universities across the globe, a price target is one of many pieces of information about a stock that misleads investors far more often than it guides. In fact, empirical research shows that price targets set by several analysts, irrespective of the extent of agreement, rarely indicate where the price of a stock could actually be heading.
While Wall Street analysts have deep knowledge of a company's fundamentals and the sensitivity of its business to economic and industry issues, many of them tend to set overly optimistic price targets. Are you wondering why?
They usually do that to drum up interest in shares of companies that their firms either have existing business relationships with or are looking to be associated with. In other words, business incentives of firms covering a stock often result in inflated price targets set by analysts.
However, a tight clustering of price targets, which is represented by a low standard deviation, indicates that analysts have a high degree of agreement about the direction and magnitude of a stock's price movement. While that doesn't necessarily mean the stock will hit the average price target, it could be a good starting point for further research aimed at identifying the potential fundamental driving forces.
That said, while investors should not entirely ignore price targets, making an investment decision solely based on them could lead to disappointing ROI. So, price targets should always be treated with a high degree of skepticism.
Why U Could Witness a Solid UpsideThere has been increasing optimism among analysts lately about the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher. And that could be a legitimate reason to expect an upside in the stock. After all, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
For the current year, three estimates have moved higher over the last 30 days while two have gone lower. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased 144.4%.
Moreover, U currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than 4,000 stocks that we rank based on four factors related to earnings estimates. Given an impressive externally-audited track record, this is a more conclusive indication of the stock's potential upside in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
Therefore, while the consensus price target may not be a reliable indicator of how much U could gain, the direction of price movement it implies does appear to be a good guide.
AI-focused Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U) is trading 1.9% higher at $27.26 this afternoon, headed for its third-straight daily win. U is down 39% since the start of the year, and another pullback could be on the horizon as a U nears a historically bearish trendline on the charts.
According to Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, shares are within 0.75 of the 100-day moving average's 100-day average true range (ATR), after remaining below it 80% of the time in the past two weeks and in 80% of the last 42 trading sessions.
This signal has occurred four times in the last 10 years, after which U was lower one month later 67% of the time, averaging a 10.1% loss. From its current perch, a pullback of this weight would put the tech stock back below $25.
Currently, 15 of the 23 brokerages in coverage sport a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation. This leaves ample room for more bears to move in, should this bullish attention begin to unwind.
Options look like an attractive route when weighing on the stock's next moves, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 70% that sits higher than just 16% of all other readings from the past year. In other words, near-term option traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations.
Unity Software stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) comes in at 86 out of 100. In other words, the security has consistently realized higher volatility than its options have priced in over the past 12 months.
Investors might want to bet on Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) , as earnings estimates for this company have been showing solid improvement lately. The stock has already gained solid short-term price momentum, and this trend might continue with its still improving earnings outlook.
The rising trend in estimate revisions, which is a result of growing analyst optimism on the earnings prospects of this company, should get reflected in its stock price. After all, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements. Our stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- has this insight at its core.
The five-grade Zacks Rank system, which ranges from a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record of outperformance, with Zacks #1 Ranked stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 2008.
For Unity Software Inc., strong agreement among the covering analysts in revising earnings estimates upward has resulted in meaningful improvement in consensus estimates for the next quarter and full year.
The chart below shows the evolution of forward 12-month Zacks Consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Current-Quarter Estimate RevisionsFor the current quarter, the company is expected to earn $0.24 per share, which is a change of +192.3% from the year-ago reported number.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Unity Software has increased 640% over the last 30 days, as three estimates have gone higher while two have gone lower.
Current-Year Estimate RevisionsFor the full year, the earnings estimate of $1.03 per share represents a change of +19.8% from the year-ago number.
In terms of estimate revisions, the trend for the current year also appears quite encouraging for Unity Software. Over the past month, three estimates have moved higher compared to two negative revisions, helping the consensus estimate increase 144.4%.
Favorable Zacks RankThe promising estimate revisions have helped Unity Software earn a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The Zacks Rank is a tried-and-tested rating tool that helps investors effectively harness the power of earnings estimate revisions and make the right investment decision.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Our research shows that stocks with Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) significantly outperform the S&P 500.
Bottom LineInvestors have been betting on Unity Software because of its solid estimate revisions, as evident from the stock's 6.3% gain over the past four weeks. As its earnings growth prospects might push the stock higher, you may consider adding it to your portfolio right away.
Taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for new and old investors, and Zacks Premium offers many different ways to do both.
The popular research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor, giving you access to daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens.
Zacks Premium includes access to the Zacks Style Scores as well.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? Developed alongside the Zacks Rank, the Zacks Style Scores are a group of complementary indicators that help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum traders and investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." This investing style is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Employing factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, the Momentum Style Score can indicate favorable times to build a position in high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank A proprietary stock-rating model, the Zacks Rank utilizes the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings outlook, to help investors create a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.7% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
You want to make sure you're buying stocks with the highest likelihood of success, and to do that, you'll need to pick stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you like a stock that only has a #3 (Hold) rank, it should also have Scores of A or B to guarantee as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
A stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, for instance, even one with Scores of A and B, will still have a declining earnings forecast, and a greater chance its share price will fall too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) Unity Software Inc. provides a platform to develop, deploy and grow games and interactive 3D experiences across mobile, PC, console and extended reality. Its software supports creators through the full content lifecycle, including prototyping, real-time rendering, live operations, user acquisition and monetization. San Francisco, CA-based Unity markets solutions globally through direct and indirect channels with field sales in North America, China, France, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan and South Korea.
U is a #2 (Buy) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
Momentum investors should take note of this Computer and Technology stock. U has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 13.3% over the past four weeks.
Three analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.07 to $1.03 per share. U also boasts an average earnings surprise of +7.4%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, U should be on investors' short list.
The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings often affect a stock's price. Do they really matter, though?
Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) .
Unity Software currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.79, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 24 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.79 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 24 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 14 are Strong Buy and one is Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 58.3% and 4.2% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for U
Check price target & stock forecast for Unity Software here>>>
The ABR suggests buying Unity Software, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.
Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.
In other words, their interests aren't always aligned with retail investors, rarely indicating where the price of a stock could actually be heading. Therefore, the best use of this information could be validating your own research or an indicator that has proven to be highly successful in predicting a stock's price movement.
Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.
ABR Should Not Be Confused With Zacks RankIn spite of the fact that Zacks Rank and ABR both appear on a scale from 1 to 5, they are two completely different measures.
Broker recommendations are the sole basis for calculating the ABR, which is typically displayed in decimals (such as 1.28). The Zacks Rank, on the other hand, is a quantitative model designed to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
Analysts employed by brokerage firms have been and continue to be overly optimistic with their recommendations. Since the ratings issued by these analysts are more favorable than their research would support because of the vested interest of their employers, they mislead investors far more often than they guide.
In contrast, the Zacks Rank is driven by earnings estimate revisions. And near-term stock price movements are strongly correlated with trends in earnings estimate revisions, according to empirical research.
In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.
There is also a key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank when it comes to freshness. When you look at the ABR, it may not be up-to-date. Nonetheless, since brokerage analysts constantly revise their earnings estimates to reflect changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in predicting future stock prices.
Is U Worth Investing In?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Unity Software, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has increased 144.4% over the past month to $1.03.
Analysts' growing optimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to soar in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Unity Software. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Therefore, the Buy-equivalent ABR for Unity Software may serve as a useful guide for investors.
Unity Software delivered excellent Q1 results, and Q2 guidance was similarly upbeat. U's strategic focus on indie and small studio developers, combined with a leaner cost structure, positions it to benefit as the industry shifts away from blockbuster triple-A titles. Vector AI-driven advertising is a key growth driver, with Vector revenues up 80% YoY and the Grow division guiding for ~50% growth in Q2.
AstraZeneca PLC (LON: AZN - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts
AstraZeneca PLC (LON: AZN - Get Free Report) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of £134.71 and traded as high as £140.80. AstraZeneca shares last traded at £140.76, with a volume of 214,151,109 shares traded. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts have
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) shares rose 3% to 14,230p, placing the drugmaker at the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard on a subdued Friday session, after its experimental COPD treatment tozorakimab succeeded in two late-stage clinical trials.
The results mark the first positive phase III readout from a programme of more than 20 major data releases AstraZeneca expects to deliver in 2026, each adding weight to the company's ambition to reach $80 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
Tozorakimab met its primary endpoint in both the OBERON and TITANIA trials, reducing the rate of moderate-to-severe exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the progressive lung condition that is the third leading cause of death worldwide, affecting nearly 400 million people.
The drug works by blocking interleukin-33 (IL-33), a protein the body releases in response to damage or irritation in the airways.
When IL-33 is activated, it triggers inflammation and contributes to the build-up of excess mucus that makes breathing progressively harder for COPD patients, setting off a damaging cycle of worsening that can lead to hospitalisation or death.
By intercepting IL-33 at source and neutralising both its active and oxidised forms, tozorakimab aims to break that cycle simultaneously at two points: cooling the inflammatory response and clearing the mucus dysfunction that standard inhaled therapies cannot adequately address.
The trials enrolled patients who were still experiencing exacerbations despite being on standard inhaled treatments, a population with significant unmet medical need.
Tozorakimab, administered as a 300mg injection every four weeks on top of existing therapy, reduced exacerbation rates in both former smokers, the primary study population, and in the broader group, including current smokers and patients across all levels of a blood marker called eosinophils, a type of white blood cell often used to categorise COPD patients for treatment.
The drug was described as generally well-tolerated with a favourable safety profile.
Frank Sciurba, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and chief investigator of the trial programme, said the results suggested meaningful clinical benefit across a broad COPD population, regardless of smoking status or eosinophil levels.
Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca's executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development, described the outcome as a major scientific advancement, noting that tozorakimab is the first IL-33-targeting biologic to demonstrate statistically significant reductions in COPD exacerbations across two replicate phase III trials.
Two further last-stage clinical evaluations of tozorakimab in COPD, PROSPERO and MIRANDA, are ongoing, alongside separate studies in severe viral lower respiratory tract disease and asthma.
Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd (TSX-V:GMG, OTCQX:GMGMF) announced that it has been certified as a Verified Graphene Producer by the Advanced Carbons Council.
The certification is part of the council’s Verified Graphene Producer program, which involves third-party validation of both the graphene material and its production process.
The process includes on-site inspections of manufacturing facilities and testing through independent laboratories to confirm the material’s origin and characteristics. The program follows established international standards for graphene classification and measurement.
In addition to the certification, the company reported that it has passed a recent ISO 9001:2015 quality audit covering its manufacturing, distribution, and technical support operations. The ISO 9001 standard is widely used to assess quality management systems across industries.
Craig Nicol, GMG’s CEO, said the verification places the company among a limited number of globally recognized graphene producers.
“Verification by the Advanced Carbon Council as one of five currently verified global graphene producers is another proof of the high quality of our graphene and why our graphene products function at such a world leading standard,” Nicol said.
He added that the successful quality system audit demonstrates the company’s ability to translate its materials into commercially viable products.
Jack Perkowski, chairman and non-executive director, described the third-party validation as an important milestone for the company’s operations in advanced materials.
“Congratulations to the team on getting this third-party verification on the graphene and quality management system — a real table stake when it comes to producing carbon nano material products,” Perkowski said.
The certification was also welcomed by the council. Terrance Barkan, executive director of the Advanced Carbons Council, said the program provides independent assurance to stakeholders evaluating graphene suppliers.
“We are proud to count Graphene Manufacturing Group as the newest member of a select group of graphene companies to have passed a rigorous in-person inspection of their facilities and a thorough examination of their graphene material,” Barkan said.
He noted that third-party validation can be a valuable tool for customers and investors when assessing producers.
Tiziana Life Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:TLSA) unveiled new preclinical data suggesting that its investigational therapy, intranasal foralumab, may offer a novel approach to addressing neuroinflammation associated with aging.
The company highlighted that neuro inflammation is widely recognized as a contributing factor to cognitive decline in age-related neurological conditions.
The study found that nasal delivery of anti-CD3 therapy was able to reverse several key features of brain aging and improve cognitive performance in preclinical models.
Among the primary findings, the therapy appeared to reduce activation of microglia—immune cells in the brain that, when overactive, can drive chronic inflammation. This reduction in neuroinflammation is considered significant, as persistent inflammatory processes have been strongly linked to age-related cognitive decline.
The study also reported increased neurogenesis in the hippocampus, a region of the brain essential for memory and learning. In addition, the treatment was associated with reduced cellular senescence, achieved through the downregulation of inflammatory markers and genes linked to aging.
Howard Weiner, chairman of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board and co-director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said the findings add to a growing body of evidence supporting the therapy’s mechanism.
“By targeting T cells to influence microglial behavior and promote brain repair mechanisms like neurogenesis, nasal anti-CD3 offers a differentiated, non-invasive approach with potential applications in age related cognitive impairment,” Weiner said.
Tiziana CEO Ivor Elrifi added that the that the results reinforce the proposed mechanism of intranasal foralumab, which involves stimulating regulatory T cells to reduce neuroinflammation.
Tiziana is currently evaluating intranasal foralumab in clinical trials for several neurological conditions, including non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, multiple system atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. The company is also expanding its preclinical research into additional applications related to aging.
Shares of Tiziana added 6.8% on Wednesday morning.
New Era Energy & Digital (NASDAQ:NUAI) announced that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to form a joint venture aimed at developing and financing its Texas Critical Data Centers (TCDC) campus in West Texas.
The proposed partnership would bring together New Era, data center developer Stream Data Centers, and an unnamed institutional investor that would provide equity capital and help arrange project financing.
The collaboration is intended to support the construction of a large-scale data center campus designed for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.
Under the terms outlined in the letter of intent, New Era is expected to contribute control of the project site and local relationships, while Stream Data Centers would take on responsibilities related to development, leasing, and operations.
The institutional investor would lead financing efforts, which are expected to include a significant portion of debt funding.
New Era said that it plans to remain an active stakeholder in the project by co-investing equity alongside the institutional partner, rather than acting solely as a land provider.
The company said this structure could allow it to generate ongoing revenue through distributions tied to operating cash flow once initial phases of the project become operational.
The project is expected to be structured through a newly formed limited liability company. Governance provisions are anticipated to include protections and rights for New Era as a partner in the venture.
“The fact that Stream and a premier provider of infrastructure capital have chosen to partner with New Era validates both the strategic value of the TCDC campus and the strength of our development strategy and platform,” New Era CEO E. Will Gray II said in a statement.
“This LOI represents an important step in advancing TCDC toward delivery, and we remain focused on progressing toward a definitive agreement with Stream.”
The TCDC campus is planned for a 438-acre site near Odessa, Texas. It is designed as a multi-phase development, with projected capacity exceeding 1 gigawatt over time.
Shares of New Era were up 6.7% on Wednesday morning.
A positive phase three trial result in a hard-to-treat cancer adds fresh momentum to one of AstraZeneca's most important growth drivers.
Liver cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat, and for patients whose tumours cannot be surgically removed, options have historically been limited.
That is what makes AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) latest clinical trial result significant.
The FTSE 100 drugmaker has shown that its immunotherapy Imfinzi, used in combination with three other treatments, can meaningfully delay disease progression in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer, compared with the standard treatment alone.
Immunotherapies work by helping the body's own immune system recognise and attack cancer cells, rather than using chemotherapy to kill them directly.
The result, from a large-scale phase three trial called EMERALD-3, is the kind of rigorous clinical evidence that regulators require before approving a new treatment, meaning a formal application to bring the combination to market is now a realistic near-term prospect.
For AstraZeneca, the commercial implications are considerable.
Citi, which rates the company a buy, already forecasts Imfinzi will generate peak annual sales of $11 billion by 2030, a figure roughly 20% above what most City analysts currently expect, and this trial result helps support that case.
That puts the product in the super-blockbuster category, which is any drug with annual revenues above $10 billion.
Imfinzi is already approved in lung, bladder and bile duct cancers, and further trial readouts in bladder and oesophageal cancers are expected later this year.
Each successful indication adds another layer of revenue to what is rapidly becoming one of the most versatile drugs in AstraZeneca's portfolio, and a central pillar of its growth story.
UBS and Citi both maintain 'buy' ratings on the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker ahead of its first-quarter results, with a rich pipeline of clinical catalysts adding to the investment case.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) reports first-quarter 2026 results on 29 April, with UBS flagging several moving parts that investors will watch closely when the numbers land.
In a preview note, UBS highlights continued strong momentum expected from key cancer drugs Imfinzi, Tagrisso and Calquence, while cautioning that Farxiga, a treatment for type 2 diabetes and heart failure, is likely to show some impact from wholesaler destocking in the US ahead of its loss of exclusivity (LOE), the point at which generic competitors can enter the market.
UBS also flags that three AZ drugs faced volume-based procurement (VBP) in China during the quarter, a government-mandated pricing process under which the company chose not to offer price concessions and, as a result, was excluded from the programme, leaving Forxiga, Lynparza and roxadustat facing mandatory price cuts of 20%, 30% and 30%, respectively.
On the cost side, UBS anticipates higher selling and administrative expenses in the first quarter as AstraZeneca prepares for launches of camizestrant and baxdrostat, two drugs in late-stage development targeting breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, respectively.
UBS maintains its 'buy' rating and 12-month price target of 17,600p, implying upside of around 15% from the current price of 15,274p.
Citi is more bullish, raising its price target to £180 from £170 after updating its model for first-quarter developments, with the bank's earnings per share compound annual growth rate forecast for 2027 to 2030 rising to 15% from 13%.
Citi's upgrade reflects increased confidence in camizestrant following a rival drug's clinical failure, which Citi says expands the addressable market, and a significantly higher probability of success assigned to tozorakimab, a drug targeting lung disease, following positive headline trial data.
AstraZeneca PLC's (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) Ultomiris has met its primary endpoint in a phase III trial targeting immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a rare inflammatory kidney disease that can progress to kidney failure.
The results showed a statistically significant reduction in proteinuria, the presence of excess protein in urine that indicates kidney damage.
The interim results from the I CAN trial showed Ultomiris, known generically as ravulizumab, reduced proteinuria based on a 24-hour urine protein creatinine ratio (UPCR) at week 34, with reductions observed as early as week 10.
IgAN affects more than 560,000 people across the US, EU and Japan and occurs when abnormal proteins trigger immune complexes that deposit in the kidneys, activating the body's complement system, a branch of the immune response, and driving inflammation that progressively damages kidney tissue.
Ultomiris works by blocking the C5 protein in the terminal complement cascade, the final stage of this immune response, preventing the body from attacking its own kidney cells.
Jonathan Barratt, professor of renal medicine at the University of Leicester and a trial investigator, said many patients with IgAN continue to progress to kidney failure despite advances in care, and described the results as promising.
Marc Dunoyer, chief executive of Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, said the company intends to file the data with regulatory authorities in key markets and will seek accelerated approval.
The safety profile was consistent with Ultomiris's established record, with no new concerns identified.
The trial's second primary endpoint, measuring the rate of kidney filtration at week 106, will be assessed at the final analysis when the full study completes.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN), the FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant, faces no material risk from its Japanese partner Daiichi Sankyo's decision to delay its full-year 2025 results, according to Citi, which maintains a 'buy' rating on the stock.
Daiichi Sankyo, which partners with AstraZeneca on cancer treatments Enhertu and Datroway, has pushed its results publication back from 27 April to 11 May to allow additional time to estimate loss provisions linked to contract manufacturers, citing a review of supply plans across its oncology portfolio in light of rapidly changing business conditions.
Citi notes that Daiichi has previously flagged manufacturing difficulties, including minor Enhertu inventory write-downs of around $30 million in the second quarter of its 2025 financial year due to unqualified production lots, a problem since identified and resolved with no expected impact on supply.
The Japanese drugmaker also recorded around $110 million in compensation fees and inventory write-downs relating to contract manufacturers for Datroway and HER3-DXD, the latter developed in partnership with Merck, in the year to December 2025.
Citi's analysts believe the delay reflects Daiichi working through issues within its own manufacturing network rather than any fundamental problem with the Enhertu or Datroway franchises, which are forecast to contribute 6.5% and 11% of AstraZeneca's revenues in 2026 and 2030 respectively.
The bank sees little or no impact on sales of either drug and retains its positive stance on AstraZeneca's shares.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) shares fell 1.9% to 13,688p after the US regulator's advisory panel declined to back its camizestrant treatment in a key breast cancer setting.
The FTSE 100 drugmaker said the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted three to six against the benefit-risk profile of camizestrant in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor for first-line treatment of advanced hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
AstraZeneca noted the FDA is not bound by the panel’s recommendation but will take it into account as it reviews the application.
The decision comes despite positive data from the Phase III SERENA-6 trial, which showed a 56% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared with standard care.
Median progression-free survival was 16.0 months for patients on the camizestrant combination versus 9.2 months for those on existing treatments.
Susan Galbraith, executive vice president of oncology R&D, said the company was “disappointed with the mixed outcome” but remained confident in the drug’s clinical benefit.
Regulatory reviews are ongoing in other regions including the EU and Japan.
Also on Friday, AstraZeneca saw more positive news elsewhere, with a separate FDA advisory panel voting seven to one in favour of its Truqap combination for a form of prostate cancer.
The treatment showed a 19% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death in late-stage trials, supporting its potential as a targeted option in an area of high unmet need.
88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTCQB:EEENF, FRA:POQ) told investors that it has lifted the scale of its South Prudhoe project in Alaska, upgrading total gross unrisked 2U prospective resources by around 35% to 768.9 million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids.
The company said the estimate equates to 640.7 million barrels net to 88E and confirms a multi-reservoir opportunity immediately south of the Prudhoe Bay Unit and Kuparuk River Unit on Alaska’s North Slope.
The update follows further geophysical analysis of Schrader Bluff 3D seismic velocity data. It includes a maiden Brookian prospective resource for the North-West Hub and an upgraded Ivishak estimate, particularly for the priority Augusta prospect.
The North-West Hub now carries 301.3 million barrels of gross unrisked 2U resources, while the South-East Hub contains 467.6 million barrels. Within the North-West Hub, the maiden Brookian estimate totals 181.5 million barrels gross 2U, including 61.2 million barrels at West Sak and 120.3 million barrels at Upper Schrader Bluff.
The Ivishak estimate for the North-West Hub increased around 44% to 69.9 million barrels gross 2U.
The planned Augusta-1 exploration well is now designed to test up to 133.7 million barrels gross unrisked 2U, or 111.4 million barrels net to 88E, across the Ivishak, Kuparuk and Brookian reservoir intervals.
88 Energy said Nordic Rig-3 has been secured for Augusta-1, with well planning, permitting and long-lead procurement advancing ahead of a planned drilling campaign during the CY2027 Alaskan winter season.
Sintana Energy Inc (TSX-V:SEI, OTCQB:SEUSF, FRA:3ZX1, AIM:SEI) has conditionally raised US$11.5 million to back a busy exploration programme, including drilling on the Chevron-operated Nabba-1 well in Namibia’s PEL 90.
The fundraise was priced at 22.5p per new common share on AIM and C$0.41 on the TSX-V, with the company set to issue 38.0 million new shares. The AIM price represents a 13.5% discount to Sintana’s 26p closing mid-market price on 14 May.
The raise comprises a US$10.8 million placing of 35.6 million shares and a US$0.7 million subscription for 2.37 million shares by directors and qualified investors from Canada and Australia. Chief executive Robert Bose and president Eytan Uliel each subscribed for 826,105 shares, investing US$250,000 apiece.
Bose said the oversubscribed fundraise, together with existing cash and proceeds from the Exxon settlement in Colombia, gives Sintana additional capital for Nabba-1 and the cash portion of acquisitions covering interests in PEL 37 in Namibia’s Walvis Basin and KON-16 in Angola’s Kwanza Basin.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) has secured US approval for Baxfendy, the first in a new class of blood pressure medication to reach the market in more than two decades.
The drug works by blocking production of aldosterone, a hormone that can raise blood pressure to dangerous levels and increase the risk of heart and kidney damage.
Roughly half of all patients in the US who take multiple blood pressure medications still cannot get their condition under control, making hypertension the leading modifiable risk factor for heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and dementia.
In clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Baxfendy at its higher dose lowered the top blood pressure reading by nearly 16 points, with close to 10 points of that reduction attributable to the drug rather than placebo effect.
That level of improvement is considered clinically meaningful because evidence suggests every 10-point drop in the top reading is associated with a roughly 20% lower risk of serious cardiovascular events.
Ruud Dobber, executive vice president of AstraZeneca's biopharmaceuticals unit, said the drug "offers a much-needed, first-in-class innovation for people living with persistently uncontrolled hypertension who have not responded to or tolerated existing medicines".
Separately, US regulators have approved two new uses for AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo's breast cancer drug Enhertu, allowing it to be used for the first time in earlier-stage disease where the goal is to cure rather than manage the cancer.
Enhertu has been approved for use both before and after surgery in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease driven by excess levels of a growth-promoting protein.
In the post-surgery trial, Enhertu cut the risk of the cancer returning or death by 53% compared with an existing treatment, with more than nine in ten patients alive and disease-free after three years.
The approvals trigger $155 million in milestone payments from AstraZeneca to its Japanese partner Daiichi Sankyo.
Enhertu is already approved in more than 95 countries for advanced breast cancer and now covers both early and late-stage disease in the US.
Citi sees the risk-reward balance as favourable for AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN) ahead of headline results from a pivotal trial of its heart drug Wainua, expected in the third quarter of 2026.
Wainua is a TTR-silencer, a drug that suppresses production of a protein called transthyretin (TTR) which can misfold and accumulate in the heart and nerves, causing a progressive condition known as ATTR-cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM).
The CARDIO-TTRansform trial is a phase three study examining Wainua's efficacy specifically in ATTR-CM patients, a larger and more commercially significant population than the nerve disease indication for which the drug is already approved.
Citi believes there is a relatively high probability that the trial hits its primary endpoint, which would push its peak Wainua sales estimate for ATTR-CM to $6 billion, or $7 billion including the existing nerve disease approval.
This is well above the risk-adjusted consensus of around $3 billion and represents a 2% uplift to the bank's discounted cash flow valuation.
If a secondary endpoint showing benefit in patients already treated with stabiliser drugs is also met, Citi sees peak ATTR-CM sales reaching $8 billion and total Wainua sales of $9 billion, equivalent to a 4% DCF uplift.
Trial failure would represent a 3% DCF downside, but Citi notes that even in this scenario, its valuation remains more than 20% above the current share price, suggesting investors should treat any weakness as a buying opportunity.
Deutsche Bank has kept its sell rating and 11,500p price target on AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN), the FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant, with the shares at 13,064p.
The bank's analyst judged the company's investor event at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference in Chicago as broadly incremental, acknowledging AZ's formidable oncology track record while pointing to unresolved questions that temper enthusiasm.
The most closely watched data at ASCO was the phase III EMERALD-3 trial, which showed AstraZeneca's immunotherapy combination of Imfinzi (durvalumab) and Imjudo (tremelimumab), paired with lenvatinib and transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), cut the risk of disease progression or death by 30% versus TACE alone in patients with unresectable liver cancer eligible for embolisation.
Despite the positive readout, Deutsche flagged uncertainty over whether EMERALD-3 will secure regulatory approval, a question it sees as unresolved alongside similar concerns about SERENA-6, AstraZeneca's breast cancer study of camizestrant, a next-generation oestrogen receptor degrader.
The bank also noted that ASCO 2026 marks the first conference since 2018 at which AstraZeneca has not featured in the prestigious plenary session, ending a remarkable eight-year run.
A second Deutsche Bank note, arising from a call with AstraZeneca's head of cardiovascular and renal research and development, flagged 2027 as a potentially significant year for pipeline catalysts, with phase III readouts expected for oral PCSK9 inhibitor laroprovstat, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist balcinrenone and endothelin receptor antagonist zibotentan.
More immediately, the bank expressed caution over the early commercial trajectory of Baxfendy, a first-in-class hypertension treatment that recently received FDA approval, describing a third-party prescriber poll on the launch as mixed.
AstraZeneca's Wainua RNA-interference therapy for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis is also expected to deliver a pivotal trial result in 2026, adding to a busy near-term catalyst schedule.
Lyft CEO David Risher told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday that consumers are "rewards-maxxing." "That's the sort of thing that I think a lot of people are being really smart about, and saying how can I make my dollar go faster?
The rivalry between Uber Technologies and Lyft has traditionally revolved around the same core questions: Who could grow faster, subsidize rides longer and survive the brutal economics of ridesharing?
But as the most recent quarterly earnings from both mobility platforms reveal, the competitive frame has shifted. The market today is a mature one where profitability matters, and the next frontier is no longer simply moving people from point A to point B. It is about building the operating system for urban mobility, commerce and eventually autonomous transportation.
Both companies are growing. Both are profitable, although Uber posted quarterly results on Wednesday (May 6) that were better received by investors than Lyft’s Thursday (May 7) financials. Both firms, however, are leaning heavily into artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles. But their visions of what comes next and how they plan to win could hardly be more different.
See also: Uber Makes Billion-Dollar Bet on Rivian Robotaxis
Uber Wants to Become Everyday Life Infrastructure Layer The contrast emerging from the companies’ latest earnings calls is striking. Uber increasingly resembles a sprawling mobility and logistics infrastructure platform, while Lyft is positioning itself as a more focused transportation company built around customer experience, premium services and strategic partnerships.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described the company’s strategy as expanding “everyday utility” across travel, delivery, commerce and mobility. Uber reported 21% year-over-year gross bookings growth, accelerated mobility growth and a delivery business increasingly powered by grocery and retail.
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The company’s leadership also emphasized ecosystem metrics: 50 million Uber One members, 10 million drivers and couriers and rising cross-platform usage among consumers.
Uber no longer wants to own a single transportation moment; it wants to orchestrate the entire journey around it. That includes airport rides, hotel reservations, restaurant delivery, retail shopping and eventually autonomous fleets. The company says three-quarters of Uber rides already involve AI predicting where a customer wants to go before the destination is entered.
Uber also appears increasingly confident about autonomous vehicles. Not as a threat, but as a massive expansion opportunity. Khosrowshahi repeatedly framed autonomous vehicles (Avs) as a “$1 trillion TAM (total addressable market)” and described Uber’s role in this marketplace as the connective tissue between autonomous technology providers and real-world operations.
The launch of “Uber Autonomous Solutions” reflects a belief that the long-term value may not reside solely in the autonomous software itself, but in the surrounding infrastructure: fleet management, charging depots, financing, insurance, and rider demand.
Read also: Lyft Draws Big Spenders With Rewards and Partnerships
Lyft Counters With Rideshare Focus, Partnerships Lyft’s outlook was narrower but disciplined. CEO David Risher has spent the last several quarters emphasizing “customer obsession,” operational consistency and profitable growth.
Unlike Uber, Lyft is not trying to become a super app. It has no delivery business, no grocery ambitions, and no commerce marketplace layered atop transportation. Instead, Lyft is doubling down on mobility itself, and reported double-digit growth in riders, bookings, and EBITDA, while maintaining gains in U.S. rideshare market share.
One pillar of its strategy is partnerships. Lyft increasingly sees external ecosystems and not internal diversification as the path to customer acquisition and engagement. Partnerships with DoorDash, United Airlines, Hilton, Alaska Airlines and others are driving a growing percentage of ride demand. Partnership-tagged ride requests now account for roughly 27% of Lyft rides.
The company’s acquisitions of FREENOW and Gett also signal an international expansion model rooted in taxis, regulated markets and enterprise mobility rather than broad-based global rideshare competition. At the same time, executives repeatedly emphasized higher-value ride modes like Lyft Black, XXL vehicles, chauffeured services and airport-focused demand.
In many ways, Lyft is beginning to resemble a premium mobility network rather than a pure mass-market rideshare platform.
See also: Nvidia’s Automotive Business Emerges With 32% Growth in Q3
The Autonomous Future Could Reshape Competitive Balance The biggest strategic wildcard remains autonomous vehicles. Both companies insist AVs will expand the overall market rather than cannibalize existing rideshare demand. Both also claim early evidence that AV deployment is growing total rideshare usage rather than hurting their businesses.
Uber’s strategy is diversified and infrastructure heavy. It wants to integrate every major AV provider into its marketplace while monetizing the operational ecosystem surrounding them.
Lyft, meanwhile, appears more dependent on a smaller number of strategic AV relationships, particularly Waymo. But Lyft argues its operational intensity and utilization rates could make it an attractive long-term AV operator.
The clearest takeaway from this earnings season is that Uber and Lyft are no longer converging businesses. They are diverging.
Uber believes the future belongs to integrated ecosystems powered by AI, logistics, and cross-platform engagement. Lyft believes there is still substantial value in building a highly trusted, mobility-centric transportation brand.
The next decade will determine which vision proves more durable.
CoreWeave (CRWV) reported first quarter results on Thursday and missed Wall Street's guidance expectations. EMJ Capital founder and president Eric Jackson and Yahoo Finance Senior Business Reporter Ines Ferré chat with Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi about the earnings results and the outlook for Nvidia (NVDA) and artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
Lyft stock is showing downward pressure. What’s the outlook for LYFT shares? Lyft’s Mixed Q1 Results: Revenue Beats While EPS Lags Analyst EstimatesAfter Thursday's close, Lyft reported first-quarter EPS of 4 cents versus a 6 cents consensus estimate, while revenue came in at $1.65 billion versus $1.63 billion expected. Management also pointed to Gross Bookings of $4.9 billion (up 19%) and Active Riders of 28.3 million (up 17%), alongside CEO David Risher's comments on continued U.S. share gains and a Flexdrive AV operation in Nashville.
“Our customer-obsessed comeback continues,” said Risher, noting that Lyft met all financial goals and expanded U.S. market share. With double-digit growth in riders and bookings, CFO Erin Brewer highlighted a strong foundation and $1 billion in trailing twelve-month cash flow, setting the stage for accelerated growth in the second-quarter.
Critical Levels To Watch For LYFT StockAt $14.20, Lyft is trading 1.3% below its 20-day SMA ($14.25) but 2.4% above its 50-day SMA ($13.73), which fits a short-term stabilization attempt after the March swing low and the April rebound. The bigger-picture trend is still a headwind, with the stock trading 10.1% below its 100-day SMA ($15.64) and 19.2% below its 200-day SMA ($17.41), and the February death cross (50-day below 200-day) still in place.
Momentum is best read through RSI, which sits at 51.78—neutral and consistent with a stock that's trying to base rather than break out. In plain terms, RSI helps gauge whether buying or selling has become "stretched," and this reading suggests neither side has clear control right now.
Key Resistance: $14.00 — a nearby round-number/pivot area that can cap rebounds, especially with the 20-day SMA sitting just above current price Key Support: $13.00 — a nearby round-number level that lines up with where buyers have tended to step in as the stock holds above the 52-week low zone ($12.30) Is LYFT A Buy, Sell Or Hold? Wall Street Weighs InAnalyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Hold rating with an average price target of $18.17. Recent analyst moves include:
JP Morgan: Neutral (Raises Target to $18.00) (May 8) Truist Securities: Hold (Raises Target to $16.00) (May 8) RBC Capital: Outperform (Lowers Target to $18.00) (May 8) LYFT Stock Price Movement TodayLYFT Stock Price Activity: Lyft shares were flat at $14.09 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Insider Selling: MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells 100 Shares of StockMarketBeat
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX - Get Free Report) General Counsel Scott Pintoff sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.03, for a total transaction of $11,603.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,367,529.58. The trade was a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.
NASDAQ:MKTX
Read Insider Selling: MarketAxess (NASDAQ:MKTX) General Counsel Sells 100 Shares of Stock
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Lyft remains a compelling value play, trading at just 4.2x trailing and 3.6x forward free cash flow. Strategic partnerships with DoorDash, United Airlines, and others are driving record levels of partner-linked rides and supporting market share gains. Q1 results showed 14% revenue growth and 19% gross bookings growth, with adjusted EBITDA up 25% to $133 million.
