Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Key Takeaways Humana is sponsoring 1,000 Home Health Aide scholarships to strengthen Indiana's home-care workforce.HealthStream tools aim to help providers recruit and retain caregivers in rural and underserved areas.Trained aides are more than twice as likely to remain employed after three months. Humana Inc.’s (HUM - Free Report) Medicaid managed care plan, Humana Healthy Horizons, is teaming up with HealthStream in Indiana to strengthen the state’s home-care workforce. Under the initiative, Humana is sponsoring 1,000 Home Health Aide scholarships, helping remove financial barriers for people entering the caregiving field.

The program uses HealthStream’s Career Network to reach rural and underserved communities, where worker shortages can restrict access to home-based care. Humana is also deploying HealthStream’s CoachUp Care platform, predictive analytics and training tools to help providers recruit and retain caregivers. The initiative builds on a workforce-stability program launched in 2024.

The collaboration targets a persistent challenge in home healthcare: high caregiver turnover. Home-care providers have an average annual turnover rate of 77%, which can disrupt continuity of care. Training appears to make a meaningful difference. HUM says that trained home-care aides are more than twice as likely to remain employed after three months and 64% more likely to stay after six months than workers without comparable training. Early results are also encouraging, with 81% of participating providers achieving above-average caregiver retention. Providers that improved retention reported an average 43% increase.

Better caregiver retention can improve continuity of care and help expand access to home-based services. That could support Humana’s ability to manage care more effectively over time. While the scholarships and technology require upfront spending, stronger workforce stability could help reduce disruptions and improve operational efficiency for participating providers. Overall, this is a long-term care-quality and network-strengthening initiative.

How Are Peers Positioned?Peers like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) and Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV - Free Report) are also trying to solve the direct-care/home-care workforce problem. UnitedHealthcare's Community Plan includes training for members, families and professional/paraprofessional caregivers, along with employer training for consumer-directed services and skills updates needed to safely maintain members at home. UNH’s approach appears more centered on training and supporting the existing caregiver ecosystem.

Elevance has emphasized employee development, training and retention internally, including instructor-led and virtual training, on-demand learning and technology/AI-related skills development. Last year, ELV averaged about 26 hours of training and development per associate.

Humana’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesHUM shares have gained 51.8% over the year-to-date period, whereas the industry has risen 23%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, Humana trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, up from the industry average of 16.40. Yet, HUM carries a Value Score of B.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Humana’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $9.08 per share, implying a 47% plunge from the year-ago period.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

OSI Systems (OSIS - Free Report) is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on August 20. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis airport security and full-body scanner manufacturer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $3.76 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +16.1%.

Revenues are expected to be $528.34 million, up 4.6% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for OSI?For OSI, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +1.86%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #2.

So, this combination indicates that OSI will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that OSI would post earnings of $2.53 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.60, delivering a surprise of +2.77%.

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

Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

OSI appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Expected Results of an Industry PlayerAnother stock from the Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Components industry, Fabrinet (FN - Free Report) , is soon expected to post earnings of $3.85 per share for the quarter ended June 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +45.3%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $1.28 billion, up 40.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for Fabrinet has been revised 0.4% down to the current level. Nevertheless, the company now has an Earnings ESP of +1.39%, reflecting a higher Most Accurate Estimate.

When combined with a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Fabrinet will beat the consensus EPS estimate. The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

For nearly all businesses, more scale means wider profit margins and, therefore, profit growth that outpaces revenue growth. Credit the fact that at least some parts of any company's operating costs eventually plateau. And in some cases, even variable costs directly linked to manufacturing a product or providing a service eventually start flattening out.

It's a premise that's increasingly important to current and prospective shareholders of Remitly Global (RELY +4.38%). The cross-border payments middleman continues to grow its customer count. But it's growing its total revenue at an even faster pace, resulting in now-explosive growth of its bottom line.

Here's what you need to know.

Image source: Getty Images.

Remitly's tech disrupts an industry that's ripe for disruption
Remitly helps consumers and companies send money to and from one country to another. It's obviously not impossible to do it another way. It is, however, surprisingly complicated and expensive. Remitly's app makes it easier and more affordable. That's why the company's customer base grew 20% year over year to 9.6 million in Q1 2026, then grew another 20% in Q2.

It's not just adding active customers, though. It's adding bigger customers, as well as more active ones. Although the total amount of money it handled in Q2 only grew 27% following Q1's growth pace of 37%, that's still huge, profit-widening progress for this company that's now at the proverbial tipping point. Following Q1's EBITDA growth of 74%, Q2's EBITDA improved at a faster clip of 79% year over year, when pretax net income improved from nearly nothing to $64.6 million on a little less than $500 million in revenue.

RELY Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts

This is still just the beginning, however. An outlook from Straits Research suggests the worldwide cross-border remittance business is poised to grow at an average annual pace of 15.6% through 2034, with most of that growth materializing in the latter half of this time frame. For Remitly's part of this tailwind, Monness Crespi Hardt's senior equity research analyst, Gus Galá, noted just last month, "We view Remitly as a structural market winner poised to capture 10% to 15%+ of consumer transactions by 2030, driven by a product superiority vs. legacy incumbents and a business model built around digital scale."

Following its second-quarter report, the argument that this company offers a superior app that facilitates cost-effective scale isn't in question. This digital scalability means even more for Remitly's bottom line than it does its top line. That's a big reason why the company has now topped analysts' earnings estimates for 10 consecutive quarters.

Today's Change

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25.29

Lots of long-term potential for the volatility-tolerant
The market finally appears to be catching on. After a forgettable 2025 following a similarly forgettable prior three years, the stock's up more than 60% year-to-date, in step with revenue growth, which is driving even more dramatic profit growth.

Yet, there's still a fair amount of near-term upside left to tap. The analyst community's 12-month consensus target of $32.05 is nearly 40% above this stock's present price.

Just know that -- given its total growth potential as well as the likelihood that it will remain volatile -- most interested investors will want to treat RELY as a longer-term growth holding meant to be held through its inevitable ups and downs in the meantime.

In brief Ether.fi is adding tokenized assets and loans backed by multiple holdings. Fiat accounts will support more than 30 currencies and payment methods. Tokenized stocks and metals will not be available to U.S. users. Ether.fi, a decentralized finance platform known for Ethereum staking, is adding tokenized asset trading, portfolio-backed loans, and fiat accounts to its self-custodial app.

Announced on Thursday, Ether.fi said users can now trade tokenized stocks, metals, and crypto assets through its app. An integrated market using decentralized lending protocol Aave on Optimism, an Ethereum scaling network, also lets users lend assets, borrow against their portfolios without selling their holdings, and send or spend the proceeds. New fiat accounts support deposits and withdrawals worldwide.

Myriad: Ethereum next price move? Click the image to make your prediction.“Initially we're supporting existing assets and select tokenized stocks and gold,” Ether.fi founder and CEO Mike Silagadze told Decrypt. Those existing assets include Ethereum, Bitcoin, Hyperliqud, and ETHFI, Ether.fi's native governance token, said Silagadze. “Quickly we'll start adding additional assets as collateral.”

According to Ether.fi, fiat accounts will be available to users who have completed the identity checks required for its payment card. Deposit and withdrawal speeds will vary.

Ether.fi is also introducing automated buybacks of ETHFI and offering 3% cash back on card purchases. The company says it has more than 500,000 members and a $2 billion annual transaction run rate.

Silagadze said portfolio-backed loans and tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, could attract people who do not already use decentralized finance.

“I think being able to borrow against the whole portfolio, and being able to loop RWAs is going to be popular,” he said. “Also getting cashback on trades and borrows is going to create some buzz, I think.”

The new features are available to new and existing Ether.fi users, although tokenized stock and metals trading is unavailable in the United States and certain other markets.

Silagadze said the expanded platform is intended to serve as an alternative to traditional banks.

“With ether.fi, we’re bridging the gap between decentralized finance and everyday financial needs,” Silagadze said. “Our goal is to replace the traditional bank for most users and give them tools and benefits that were previously available only to institutions and high-net-worth individuals. That is the power of DeFi and self-custody.”

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Key Takeaways Teradyne's Robotics revenues rose 33% year over year to $100 million in Q2 2026.
Electronics and semiconductor robotics revenues surged 50% sequentially, led by AI data center demand.
Teradyne combines semiconductor testing and robotics, while investing in optical and networking products.

Teradyne (TER - Free Report) is benefiting from a surge in AI-driven demand, which is fueling robust growth across its robotics and semiconductor testing businesses. In the second quarter of 2026, Robotics revenues reached $100 million, marking a 33% year-over-year increase and a 9% rise sequentially. More than 60% of Teradyne’s revenues are now AI-driven, underscoring the effectiveness of its 'wafer to AI data center' strategy.

The fastest-growing segment within robotics is electronics manufacturing and semiconductors, which includes AI data centers. Electronics manufacturing and semiconductor revenues within Robotics surged 50% from the first quarter, making it the largest end market segment in this group. This growth is closely tied to the ongoing build-out of AI data centers and the broader trend toward automation in manufacturing and assembly processes. U.S. sales rose to 32% of Robotics revenues, and a U.S. manufacturing center remains on schedule to open later in 2026.

Compared to competitors like KLA Corporation (KLAC - Free Report) and Cohu (COHU - Free Report) , Teradyne’s integrated strategy stands out. While KLAC excels in process control and inspection, and COHU is strong in test handlers and automation, Teradyne’s ability to address both semiconductor testing and robotics for assembly and test automation gives it a unique edge. The company is also investing in next-generation products and strategic acquisitions, such as Quantifi Photonics and the Multilane Test Products JV, to address emerging needs in optical, networking and board test for AI applications.

Management expects Robotics to grow in the second half as data center construction drives more rack shipments and automation demand at contract manufacturers and original design manufacturers. Over time, robot-assisted test, assembly, and data center operations can widen the addressable market beyond traditional factory automation.

How Competitors Fare Against TERTeradyne is facing stiff competition from companies such as KLA and Cohu. Both KLA and Cohu are expanding their footprint in the AI space.

KLA is benefiting from the growing demand for AI through its leadership in process control and its ability to address growth markets in wafer fab equipment, including high-bandwidth memory and advanced packaging.

In May 2026, Cohu received approximately $5 million in multiple orders for its Diamond X platform from a leading semiconductor manufacturer. The systems will support testing of next-generation GaN power devices for AI data centers, strengthening Cohu’s position in AI infrastructure and high-efficiency power semiconductor testing.

TER’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesTeradyne shares have surged 108% in the year-to-date period, outperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s growth of 16.8% and the Zacks Electronics - Miscellaneous Products increase of 50.2%.

TER Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TER stock is trading at a premium with a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 11.13X compared with the Computer & Technology sector’s 6.48X. TER has a Value Score of F.

TER Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $9.10 per share, which has increased 26.38% over the past 30 days. This suggests 129.80% year-over-year growth.

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

Key Takeaways Sterling's shares have surged 79.2% YTD as record Q2 results and mission-critical demand fuel growth.Sterling's signed backlog hit $4.3B, while visibility into potential work exceeded $7B.STRL raised 2026 guidance as data centers, semiconductors and CEC support E-Infrastructure growth. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL - Free Report) has been one of the standout construction stocks in 2026, with shares rallying 79.2% year to date. The gain easily tops the Zacks Engineering - R&D Services industry's 28.3% rise, the Zacks Construction sector's 11.4% increase and the S&P 500 Index's 12.5% advance.

STRL Price Performance (YTD)

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The rally has been backed by record results, rapidly expanding mission-critical demand and a much larger backlog. However, the stock is now trading below its 50-day moving average, while remaining above its 200-day average, suggesting some near-term cooling after the sharp run. Investors therefore need to assess whether Sterling's growth outlook is strong enough to support further gains.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Record Q2 Results Strengthen STRL's Growth StorySterling's second-quarter results gave investors plenty of support for the rally. Revenues jumped 90% year over year to $1.17 billion, including organic growth of roughly 50%. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) climbed 116% to a record $5.80, while adjusted EBITDA increased 104% to $256.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded more than 150 basis points to 22%.

E-Infrastructure remains the main engine. Segment revenues surged 192%, while adjusted operating income rose 148%. The legacy site development operation delivered 111% revenue growth, while CEC revenues increased 140% from its pre-acquisition second-quarter level. Mission-critical projects, including data centers, manufacturing and semiconductor facilities, accounted for 92% of E-Infrastructure's signed backlog.

That mix is important because Sterling is increasingly directing resources toward higher-margin opportunities rather than simply pursuing volume.

Massive Backlog Provides Multi-Year Growth VisibilitySterling's backlog offers one of the strongest arguments that its growth can continue beyond 2026. Signed backlog reached $4.3 billion at June-end, up 116% year over year, while combined backlog climbed 150% to $5.6 billion. Organic growth was also strong, with signed and combined backlog rising 50% and 36%, respectively.

High-probability future-phase opportunities exceeded $1.4 billion. When combined with signed backlog and unsigned awards, Sterling has visibility into more than $7 billion of potential work, up more than $2.5 billion since 2025-end.

Data centers remain particularly promising. Management said projects are getting larger, lasting longer and expanding into additional markets, while some incremental opportunities are not yet included in backlog or future-phase figures.

CEC, Semiconductors and Expansion Add More Growth DriversCEC is giving Sterling greater exposure to mission-critical electrical work and creating opportunities to combine site development and electrical services on the same projects. Its prefabrication operations are also being expanded to improve field productivity and lower costs. Stone Ridge, meanwhile, strengthens Sterling's position ahead of expected activity in the Pacific Northwest.

Semiconductors provide another avenue. Sterling's large Northeast project is running ahead of schedule, with significant revenues expected in the third quarter. The company also secured initial work on an electric-vehicle plant in Atlanta and sees additional manufacturing opportunities. Management now expects E-Infrastructure revenues to grow more than 100% in 2026, with legacy site development approaching 70% growth or better.

These trends led Sterling to raise its 2026 outlook. Revenues are now projected to be $4-$4.15 billion, adjusted EPS to be $19.70-$20.30 and adjusted EBITDA to be $891-$916 million.

Earnings Estimates Point to Momentum Beyond 2026Wall Street's estimates reinforce the growth case. Over the past seven days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 EPS has risen to $20.03 from $19.21. The current estimate implies 84.1% earnings growth, while revenues are expected to rise 64.5% in 2026.

Growth is expected to moderate but remain healthy in 2027, with the consensus estimate calling for EPS and revenues to increase 29% and 20.5%, respectively.

STRL Estimate Revision
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Broker sentiment is also favorable. STRL has an Average Brokerage Recommendation of 1.25, with seven of eight brokerage recommendations at Strong Buy. The average Wall Street price target of $847.57 implies substantial upside from the latest closing price.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Transportation and Housing Remain Key ChallengesNot every part of Sterling is growing. Transportation Solutions revenues fell 20% in the second quarter as resources were shifted toward higher-margin E-Infrastructure projects. Sterling expects Transportation revenues to decline 7-10% in 2026. The trade-off is better profitability, with management forecasting 150-200 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion.

Building Solutions is another weak spot. Second-quarter revenues declined 1%, while adjusted operating income fell 11%. Housing affordability continues to pressure homebuilder activity, and Sterling expects the segment's revenues to decline modestly for 2026.

Investors should also expect some backlog volatility. Management cautioned that strong third-quarter revenue burn and the timing of new awards could produce a sequential backlog decline in the third quarter, even though it views this as a timing issue rather than weakening demand.

How Sterling Compares With Key Infrastructure RivalsSterling competes with Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR - Free Report) , MasTec, Inc. (MTZ - Free Report) and Granite Construction Incorporated (GVA - Free Report) across parts of its infrastructure portfolio. Quanta Services and MasTec are particularly relevant as Sterling expands in mission-critical, electrical and data-center infrastructure, while Granite Construction provides a closer comparison in site development, transportation and heavy civil work.

Sterling's 79.2% YTD gain leads Quanta Services' 61.6%, MasTec's 29.3% and Granite Construction's 9.4% advances. That stronger performance has not made Sterling the most expensive of the group. STRL trades at 23.24X forward 12-month earnings compared with 38.6X for Quanta Services and 24.73X for MasTec, although it carries a premium to Granite Construction's 15.86X. Quanta Services commands the richest multiple, while MasTec trades closer to Sterling. Granite Construction offers the lowest valuation, but Sterling's faster earnings growth and mission-critical exposure help explain its premium to Granite Construction.

Valuation Is Reasonable, but No Longer CheapSterling trades at 23.24X forward 12-month earnings, below its industry's 27.02X multiple. However, the stock stands well above its five-year median of 17.28X. Investors are therefore paying more than Sterling's historical norm for its stronger growth profile.

STRL Valuation vs Industry - P/E (F12M)

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Analyst sentiment remains favorable. Sterling's average brokerage recommendation is 1.25, with seven of eight recommendations at Strong Buy. The average Wall Street price target of $879.71 implies 65.1% upside from the latest closing price. Still, the stock's move below its 50-day moving average suggests that near-term momentum has moderated after the strong rally.

Should Investors Chase STRL After the Rally?Sterling's record second-quarter results, rapidly expanding mission-critical backlog, rising earnings estimates and raised 2026 outlook provide solid reasons to believe the underlying growth story remains intact. Data centers, semiconductor projects, CEC integration and geographic expansion could support strong growth well beyond 2026.

Yet, a 79.2% YTD rally has raised expectations considerably. Transportation and residential construction remain soft, backlog could decline sequentially in the third quarter because of award timing, and STRL trades at a clear premium to its historical median.

With a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), existing investors may consider staying invested to participate in Sterling's long-term E-Infrastructure growth. For new investors, the combination of strong fundamentals and a higher valuation supports a more measured approach rather than chasing the stock following its sharp run. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Geoff Kendrick says UNI burns funded by Robinhood Chain trading have run at an annualized $90 million since Jul. 27. DefiLlama data puts Uniswap's protocol revenue at 2.4 times its prior level, with Robinhood Chain supplying about 60% of it.

Standard Chartered's global head of digital assets research said on Thursday that the $100 end-2030 price target he set for UNI in June may be too low, citing the rate at which Uniswap is now burning tokens with fees earned on Robinhood Chain.

The burn rate Geoff Kendrick is extrapolating from is 17 days old, and most of it comes from a chain that launched on Jul. 1. Uniswap's fee income has become concentrated in a single venue faster than any of the bank's 2030 assumptions about tokenized assets moving on-chain have been tested.

Two-Point-Four TimesUniswap protocol revenue averaged $244,222 a day between Jul. 27 and Aug. 12, up from $99,770 a day over the preceding 17 days, according to DefiLlama. All of it is used to buy and burn UNI under UNIfication, the December 2025 upgrade that routed protocol fees into programmatic burns. Annualized, the post-Jul. 27 run rate is $89.1 million, against the $90 million Kendrick cited.

At UNI's current $3.53, that pays for about 25 million tokens a year, or 4% of the 624.2 million in circulation.

"A 4% burn is clearly unsustainable," Kendrick wrote. "Even if the UNI token price were at my year-end 2026 target (USD6.50) the burn rate would be 2.2% annualised. Even that is likely not sustainable long-term. And that's before we get more partnerships like the Robinhood one." He closed the note: "I fear my 2030 UNI target of USD100 is too low!"

Sixty Percent From RobinhoodUniswap's v3 deployment on Robinhood Chain generated $925,054 of the protocol's $1.55 million in total protocol revenue over the past seven days, per DefiLlama — 60% of the burn from one chain. Uniswap accounts for $439.3 million of the chain's $511.1 million in 24-hour DEX volume, or 86%.

Uniswap Labs deployed v2, v3, v4 and UniswapX on Robinhood Chain on Jul. 2, describing itself as "the primary public AMM." Two Uniswap governance proposals executed on Jul. 17: Protocol Fee Expansion: Robinhood Chain and Activate v4 Protocol Fees (Part 1/2). Both took effect in the same window as the revenue jump, so the increase is not attributable to Robinhood Chain alone.

Where The Numbers DivergeKendrick put Robinhood Chain's total value locked "just shy of USD1bn," citing Entropy Advisors, and called it the fastest-growing chain of all time on that measure. DefiLlama has the chain at $506.97 million, with $1.55 billion bridged. The Defiant reported in July that the chain's early metrics were driven by memecoin trading rather than the tokenized stocks it was built for.

UNI is down 6.7% over 24 hours and 13.4% over the week at $3.53, per CoinGecko, with a $2.2 billion market capitalization. Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Jun. 15, calling for a 40x gain from the $2.50 level cited in that note.

Key Takeaways ELF raised fiscal 2027 sales guidance to $1.938-$1.968B after first-quarter sales jumped 36%.Rhode contributed $160M in quarterly sales and is set to expand into Sephora across 19 European countries.ELF's organic sales excluding Rhode fell at a high-single-digit rate, while its valuation remains elevated. e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (ELF - Free Report) shares advanced 18.8% in one week, putting the durability of the recent rally in focus. First-quarter fiscal 2027 results and a raised full-year outlook give investors fresh fundamentals to weigh against that move.

Rhode’s contribution, international expansion and portfolio growth support the bullish case. Still, weakness in the core e.l.f. business and a premium valuation leave less room for execution missteps.

Rhode Gives ELF a Powerful Growth EngineRhode contributed about $160 million of first-quarter fiscal 2027 net sales, exceeding management’s expectations. Its latest summer launch generated $27 million of direct-to-consumer sales in one day and attracted 90,000 new consumers.

More than 70% of that launch-day sales came from existing consumers, pointing to repeat demand. Rhode is also set to enter Sephora across 19 European countries in September, expanding a brand that remains in less than 20% of Sephora’s global store base.

ELF's Raised Outlook Supports the MomentumManagement raised fiscal 2027 net sales guidance to $1.938-$1.968 billion, implying 18%-20% growth. The prior outlook called for $1.835-$1.865 billion and 12%-14% growth.

Adjusted earnings guidance also increased to $3.50-$3.55 per share from $3.27-$3.32. The higher outlook follows first-quarter net sales growth of 36% to $479.4 million and adjusted earnings of $1.75 per share.

International Growth Broadens ELF's RunwayInternational net sales increased 61% in the first quarter, well ahead of 29% growth in the United States. Planned expansion includes e.l.f. with Sephora in Brazil, Rhode across Europe and Naturium with Sephora in Canada and Mexico.

The broader beauty market also shows continued demand across channels. Ulta Beauty, Inc. (ULTA - Free Report) reported an 11.1% first-quarter fiscal 2026 net sales increase, while its comparable sales rose 5.3%, underscoring ongoing activity in specialty beauty retail.

Core ELF Weakness Tests the RallyOrganic net sales excluding Rhode declined at a high-single-digit rate in the first quarter, while companywide unit volumes reduced growth by about three percentage points. That softness shows the flagship business has not yet matched the pace of the acquired portfolio.

Management expects improving e.l.f. trends and raised fiscal 2027 organic net sales growth guidance to 6%-7%. The recovery still depends on innovation, value actions and demand holding up as consumers remain concerned about the economy.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

ELF's Valuation Raises the BarELF trades at 26.8X forward 12-month earnings, above 20.7X for the Zacks cosmetics sub-industry, 16.8X for the Consumer Staples sector and 20.7X for the S&P 500. That premium raises the importance of delivering on the new outlook.

Competitive context is mixed. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL - Free Report) raised its fiscal 2026 organic sales outlook to about 3% in May, but its makeup net sales were virtually flat in the fiscal third quarter, illustrating uneven demand even among large beauty companies.

ELF's Growth Signal Stays StrongThe one-week rally is backed by faster reported growth, a stronger fiscal 2027 outlook and meaningful Rhode expansion. The counterweight is clear: core-brand softness and a premium earnings multiple make continued execution important.

ELF currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Growth Score of A, a combination that supports the near-term growth case. The Zacks Style Scores are designed to complement the Zacks Rank by evaluating characteristics tied to different investing styles. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Its Value Score of F and Momentum Score of D are less favorable, while the VGM Score of C reflects a mixed overall profile. Those readings temper the growth signal and suggest investors should weigh the company’s operating momentum against valuation and price-related characteristics.

@SolCex_Exchange has added Pi Network ($PI), Canton Network's $CC, and Ethereum Classic ($ETC) to its platform, with the listings going live as of August 12, expanding the exchange's tradeable asset base well beyond its native Solana ecosystem.

Pi Network's Expanding Exchange FootprintPi Network's Open Mainnet launched on February 20, 2025, with trading beginning at 08:00 UTC across participating exchanges, including Bitget, KuCoin, Gate.io, and MEXC. Despite that broad initial rollout, $PI currently trades around $0.090, with upcoming token unlocks of roughly 775 million PI adding to concerns over selling pressure. The SolCex listing gives @PiCoreTeam's token another venue as it works to recover ground lost during a July slump.

Canton Network and Ethereum Classic Round Out the ListingsThe addition of $CC from @CantonNetwork and $ETC broadens SolCex's reach further. Ethereum Classic, the original Ethereum chain maintained after the 2016 DAO fork, represents the proof-of-work legacy side of the market. Canton Network is a privacy-enabled blockchain designed primarily for institutional use cases. Listing both alongside $PI signals that @SolCex_Exchange is actively pushing to compete with larger centralized platforms.

SolCex describes itself as the first centralized cryptocurrency exchange built on @Solana, using the network's high throughput and low fees to offer fast execution and cross-chain compatibility across Solana, Ethereum, and other blockchains. Whether broader listings translate into meaningful trading volume remains to be seen, but the move adds three distinct asset classes to a platform still establishing its position in a crowded market.

Sources
CryptoPotato: Pi Network News and PI Token Price Update, August 13
GlobeNewswire: SolCex Positioned as Primary Centralized Exchange for Solana
CryptoRank: Pi Network Listing Status

Solana’s flourishing RWA sector is growing even more tangible, with Dominion bringing physical redeemable silver onchain in today’s $SILV launch.

Sunrise DeFi, the Wormhole-powered asset gateway, has been shoulder-tapped to support the launch, facilitating deep liquidity and integration across Solana DeFi.

Dominion’s launch comes at a critical time for Solana’s onchain commodities landscape, which has yet to witness the same adoption as its flourishing tokenized equities scene.

Tokenized, Physical Silver Hits Solana
Dominion has launched $SILV, a tokenized, redeemable asset backed 1:1 by physical silver. Where most of Solana’s existing onchain silver products are based on paper derivatives and adjacent ETFs, Dominion’s $SILV offers a more tangible, physical exposure to the world’s 2nd largest metal market.

"Silver has been money for thousands of years, but on-chain it barely exists. Dominion fixes that. Every SILV token is one ounce of real, audited silver you can trade, lend, and borrow against on Solana from day one. We are bringing the oldest hard asset into the most active on-chain economy." -  Mark Tormey, Dominion founder

According to Dominion’s Transparency page, the issuer holds 150,000 ounces of physical silver bars, currently valued at roughly $9.7M. Dominion claims its silver holdings are stored by institutional vault storage professionals, and are routinely subject to third-party audits, the most recent of which was conducted by Bureau Veritas in June 2026.

Minting $SILV comes with a 1.5% fee, while redemptions of physical silver are expected to be operational within 3-6 months of launch. 

"Silver has been traded for thousands of years, but buying a single ounce still means finding a dealer, paying to ship it, and paying someone else to store it. Sunrise enables issuers to bring assets like physical silver onchain without this friction, while enabling liquidity from day one of trading." - Saeed Badreg, CEO, Wormhole Labs

Traders and investors can alternatively purchase $SILV through Solana DeFi applications, with Sunrise spearheading liquidity services to facilitate better onchain execution.

Total Volume on Sunrise Assets Crosses $5.5B
Since its day one Monad ($MON) listing back in November 2025, Sunrise has consistently brought the wider market’s most tradable assets to Solana DeFi. Branching out of foreign Layer-1 coins like $MON and $HYPE, Sunrise’s expansion into a broader range of assets, including Backpack Securities, has accelerated volumes across listings.

According to Dune Analytics data, Sunrise-listed assets have witnessed over $5.5B in total trading volume, with more than 294,700 unique wallets trading foreign assets and tokenized securities onchain.

While the listing of traditional financial instruments, like tokenized equities, arguably represents a bigger opportunity, onchain markets are flowing the vast majority of trading volume through $HYPE. This is most likely due to the arbitrage opportunity available to traders moving $HYPE between Solana and the Hyperliquid L1.

While similar opportunities exist between Backpack’s tokenized stocks and their 1:1 counterparts, Backpack’s KYC requirement erects a potential barrier that could be discouraging to some arbitrageurs.

However, volume patterns suggest that some stocks are finding the onchain economy to be a far more liquid and high-volume venue than its TradFi rivals. In mid July, RoboStrategy’s $BOT witnessed higher trading volumes in Solana DeFi than on the NASDAQ, suggesting stronger appetite for certain assets among DeFi players than typical market participants.

Solana Trails on Tokenized Commodities Adoption
Despite an explosion of trading activity throughout Solana’s tokenized equity sector, the chain’s traders are yet to embrace commodities. RWA.xyz data suggests that the total value of Solana’s tokenized commodity market is only $23.6M, commanding a mere 0.48% of market share and falling well behind rival chains like Ethereum and BNB.

While Dominion’s $SILV launch is unlikely to cause an immediate shift in tokenized commodity rankings throughout the industry, it demonstrates the ecosystem’s desire to compete in one of global finance’s most competitive markets.

Read More on SolanaFloor
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Key Takeaways SOUN posted record Q2 revenues of $61.9M, up 45%, while margins and adjusted EBITDA loss improved.OASYS drove strong Q2 results, with one eight-figure commitment signed less than 90 days after its demo.SOUN raised its 2026 revenue outlook to $230-$260M as growth broadened across multiple markets. SoundHound AI, Inc. (SOUN - Free Report) has given Wall Street fresh reasons to become more positive after a record second quarter, highlighted by faster revenue growth, improving margins and strong adoption of its OASYS platform. The better-than-expected performance has led to upward estimate revisions, strengthening the investment case even as the stock remains sharply down in 2026. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SoundHound’s 2026 loss has narrowed to 14 cents per share from 15 cents, while the estimated 2027 loss has narrowed to 15 cents from 17 cents. The consensus estimate calls for 2026 revenues to rise 41% from the 2025 level, followed by another 14.6% increase in 2027. However, the expected 2026 loss remains wider than the loss of 13 cents per share reported in the previous year.

SOUN Estimate Revision

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The bullish brokerage view is also notable. Of the eight recommendations making up the current Average Brokerage Recommendation, five are Strong Buy, accounting for 62.5% of the total. The average Wall Street price target implies 62.2% upside from the latest closing price.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Record Q2 Gives Analysts More ConfidenceSoundHound delivered second-quarter revenues of $61.9 million, up 45% year over year and 40% sequentially. The quarter marked the company's highest revenue to date. Non-GAAP loss was 2 cents per share compared with 3 cents a year earlier. GAAP gross margin expanded to 45.1% from 39%, while adjusted EBITDA loss improved 33% to $9.6 million from $14.3 million.

The quarter's strength was broad-based rather than dependent on one market. Management said growth came from healthcare, financial services, technology and automotive, while enterprise AI remained the largest contributor to revenues. SoundHound also continued to expand its automotive presence in Asia.

Strong second-quarter execution prompted management to raise its 2026 revenue outlook to $230-$260 million. The guidance does not yet incorporate the planned LivePerson acquisition, and SoundHound intends to update its outlook when that transaction closes.

OASYS Emerges as a Major Growth CatalystOASYS is becoming central to SoundHound's growth story. Management attributed a significant part of the second quarter's stronger-than-expected performance to the self-learning agentic AI platform, which was launched in May. The company said it is seeing strong results across demos, RFPs, pilots and production deployments. One eight-figure commitment moved from initial demonstration to contract signing in less than 90 days, highlighting the potential for OASYS to shorten sales cycles.

The platform also gives SoundHound a way to expand within existing customers. OASYS allows businesses to deploy AI agents across phones, vehicles, restaurants, retail locations and other channels rather than building separate solutions for each channel. A top-20 healthcare provider quadrupled its spending with SoundHound during the second quarter, while the company expanded or renewed relationships with several other healthcare and financial-services customers.

SoundHound's proprietary technology could support margins over time as well. The company is investing in its Polaris speech foundation model, specialized LLMs and speech synthesis. Its smaller-business customers are already operating entirely on SoundHound's own stack, and management believes greater use of proprietary models can reduce costs while improving accuracy, latency and control.

Expanding Markets Add to SOUN's TailwindsSoundHound is increasingly diversified beyond its traditional automotive business. During the second quarter, it added and expanded customers across healthcare, financial services, restaurants, automotive and consumer devices. Restaurant adoption was particularly encouraging, with technology expanding across Five Guys, IHOP and Jersey Mike's, while a major pizza brand had SoundHound deployed in more than 75% of its locations. The company also signed an initial eight-figure multiyear partnership covering more than 20 countries in Latin America.

Voice Commerce offers another potential growth channel. SoundHound plans to pilot direct in-vehicle transactions and is working to bring agentic transactions to connected devices. If these initiatives scale, the company could move beyond software fees and participate more directly in transaction-based opportunities.

The planned LivePerson acquisition could further expand SoundHound's enterprise footprint. Management expects the transaction to add relationships with 25 Fortune 100 companies and believes OASYS can provide a common platform for integrating acquired technologies.

Losses, Cash Burn and Valuation Remain Key RisksDespite the operating progress, SoundHound has not yet reached profitability. Second-quarter GAAP net loss was $42.8 million, while the non-GAAP net loss totaled $9 million. For the first six months of 2026, operating activities used nearly $60 million of cash, up from $43.7 million in the year-ago period. The company nevertheless ended June with about $203 million in cash and no debt, providing financial flexibility while it continues investing in growth.

The acquisition strategy adds another layer of execution risk. Integrating LivePerson while continuing to migrate customers from previously acquired businesses onto OASYS will require careful execution. Management acknowledged that legacy customers will move to OASYS at different speeds rather than through a rapid forced migration.

Valuation also leaves little room for major execution setbacks. SOUN trades at 12.34X forward 12-month sales, slightly above the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry's 12.23X. Investors are therefore paying a premium for growth despite continued losses and cash use.

SOUN’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

SOUN Still Trails the Market Despite Q2 MomentumSoundHound shares are down 25.6% year to date, underperforming the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry's 14.3% decline. The gap is much wider against the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, which has gained 16.9%, and the S&P 500's 12.5% advance.

SOUN’s YTD Price Performance

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The weak share-price performance suggests that investors remain cautious about profitability, valuation and execution. However, the combination of stronger second-quarter results, raised revenue guidance and improving earnings estimates gives the stock a stronger fundamental base than its year-to-date performance implies.

How SoundHound Measures Up Against Key AI RivalsSoundHound faces different competitors across its expanding AI markets. Cerence (CRNC - Free Report) competes directly in automotive voice AI, conversational assistants and in-car AI solutions, while Five9 (FIVN - Free Report) competes in cloud contact centers, voice bots and customer engagement automation. NICE (NICE - Free Report) also competes in enterprise conversational AI, contact center automation and AI-powered customer service.

SoundHound's 25.6% year-to-date (YTD) plunge trails Cerence's 19.1% dip and NICE's 12.8% decline, while Five9 has surged 55.6%. Valuation makes the difference even sharper. SoundHound's 12.34X forward sales multiple is far above Cerence at 1.26X, Five9 at 1.78X and NICE at 1.71X.

That premium means SoundHound must deliver much faster growth to justify its valuation. Cerence remains an important automotive benchmark, while Five9 and NICE bring established enterprise customer bases. SoundHound's advantage rests on OASYS, its proprietary voice technology and its ability to connect enterprise, automotive and physical AI experiences on one platform.

Is SOUN Stock a Buy Now?SoundHound's investment case has strengthened following the second quarter. Record revenues, accelerating OASYS adoption, improving margins, a higher 2026 revenue outlook and favorable estimate revisions all point toward better operating momentum. The expansion across healthcare, financial services, restaurants, automotive and Voice Commerce also reduces reliance on any single end market.

Risks remain meaningful. SoundHound is still losing money and burning cash, the LivePerson deal introduces integration risk, and its valuation carries a sizable premium to Cerence, Five9 and NICE. The stock's 25.6% YTD decline shows that investors continue to demand proof that rapid revenue growth can eventually translate into sustainable profits.

Still, upward estimate revisions following a strong second quarter improve the risk-reward setup. With SoundHound currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), investors willing to accept higher volatility and execution risk can consider the stock for its long-term exposure to conversational and agentic AI growth. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) is trading at $107.73, well below the $178 price target Cantor Fitzgerald just reiterated on the AI cloud specialist. That gap works out to roughly 65% of implied upside from current levels.

CoreWeave rents NVIDIA GPU capacity to AI labs, hyperscalers, and enterprises building large models. Since its March 2025 Nasdaq listing, the stock has become a proxy for AI infrastructure buildout. Q2 2026 revenue reached $2.58 billion, up 112.3% year over year, and revenue backlog swelled to roughly $104 billion.

Analysts, led by Cantor’s Brett Knoblauch, are using the latest results to push numbers higher. The market has moved, but not enough to close the dislocation.

A Post-IPO Drawdown the Earnings Spike Only Partially Fixed CoreWeave’s slide began with a Q1 2026 report in early May. Revenue beat consensus, but GAAP EPS of -$1.40 missed by 16.26%, and shares that had traded at $136.80 at filing began declining. Over the trailing year the stock has fallen 27.58%, badly lagging the S&P 500.

Headwinds included a Q4 2025 securities fraud class action alleging concealed data center construction delays, interest expense of $640 million last quarter versus $267 million a year ago, free cash flow of -$5.74 billion, and widening GAAP net loss of $626 million.

Q2 2026 landed on August 11. Shares spiked from $87.64 to $107.73, a 22.9% one-day gain. Even after that jump, the stock is still down 3.22% over the trailing three months.

Why Cantor’s $178 Target Hasn’t Budged Lower Knoblauch raised his target to $178 from $167 while reiterating Overweight. His thesis rests on four pillars.

On capacity, CoreWeave energized roughly 450 MW in a single quarter, more than double the total capacity of its next closest specialist competitor, and management lifted its year-end capacity target by another 150 MW. On revenue and margins, quarterly growth around 130% year over year with adjusted operating income up more than 80%. Adjusted EBITDA doubled to $1.51 billion at a 59% margin, and management guided full-year revenue to $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion with Q4 margins reaching the low teens.

Backlog visibility is the third pillar. Cantor estimates CoreWeave has locked in roughly 90% of its $30 billion ARR target for 2027, aided by more than $25 billion of net new customer commitments added in early Q3 2026. Fourth, demand is broadening beyond hyperscaler anchors, with shorter-duration, higher-margin GPU instances gaining traction. The $178 target reflects an 8.5x 2027 EV/EBITDA multiple, slightly lower than the prior 9.1x, offset by higher operating estimates.

Across the analyst pool, 36 analysts cover the name: 5 Strong Buy, 21 Buy, 9 Hold, 1 Sell, and 1 Strong Sell. Recent revisions have skewed higher.

How Nebius, IREN, and Applied Digital Stack Up The AI cloud peer group has diverged. Nebius has ripped higher, IREN has been steady, and Applied Digital sits with the widest analyst-implied gap.

Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS | NBIS Price Prediction) trades at $259.20 after a 244.09% one-year run. The average target of $250.75 now sits slightly below the stock, implying about -3% from here. Ratings tilt bullish at 1 Strong Buy, 10 Buy, 5 Hold, and 1 Strong Sell, but price has caught up to consensus.

IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) trades at $43.67, up 144.92% over the past year, backed by a $3.4 billion five-year NVIDIA AI Cloud contract. The 15-analyst average target of $81.73 implies about 87% upside, with a Buy-heavy skew.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) trades at $31.09 and has doubled over the past year. Its $74.23 average target across 11 analysts (2 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 1 Hold) points to roughly 139% upside, the widest gap in the group.

Applied Digital has the largest analyst-implied upside, but CoreWeave’s Cantor case combines a similarly bullish target with larger scale, backlog, and current revenue.

Where the Numbers Point CoreWeave trades at $107.73 against Cantor’s $178 target and a broader analyst average of $138.37, implying roughly 65% upside to the Cantor bull case and about 28% to consensus. The stock has climbed 50.44% year to date, well ahead of the S&P 500’s 13.28%, yet remains 27.58% below where it traded a year ago.

Valuation carries real risk. The company is unprofitable, with a net margin of -22.74%, debt-to-equity of 8.94, and net debt to EBITDA of 10.75. Reddit chatter around the earnings call skewed bearish, with sentiment scores between 22 and 45.

My Take: A Setup for Believers in the Backlog The bull case works if the $104 billion backlog converts as scheduled and margins keep inflecting into Q4. That path to Cantor’s $178 target: capacity comes online, higher-priced Vera Rubin SKUs ramp, managed inference ARR scales from $100 million toward $250 million by year-end, and free cash flow turns positive as CapEx normalizes past 2026.

The bear case takes over if capital markets tighten. With CapEx guided to $35 billion to $39 billion for the year and interest expense already north of $600 million a quarter, any disruption to debt access or delay in customer power delivery could turn the leverage story into a trap. Securities fraud litigation sits in the background as a reminder that execution slippage has consequences.

On balance, I lean cautiously constructive. The Cantor bull case still carries execution risk, yet contracted backlog, energized capacity, and Q2 operating leverage make the 65% gap look more like a real setup than a value trap.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK | SNDK Price Prediction) stock is surging 15% to $1,545.35 on Thursday as investors digest the memory maker’s new long-term financial model and growth strategy. Sandisk’s 2026 Investor Day laid out an ambitious framework for fiscal 2028 through fiscal 2030, including mid-to-high teens revenue growth, approximately 80% non-GAAP gross margins and approximately 50% adjusted free cash flow margins.

The enthusiasm isn’t limited to Sandisk stock. SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) stock is up 8% to $166.26, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) stock is climbing 6% to $963.28 and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) stock is rising 8% to $490.10. The Roundhill Memory ETF (CBOE:DRAM) is also advancing 5% to $57.33, suggesting investors are viewing Sandisk’s outlook as another positive signal for the broader memory industry.

Sandisk Sets An Aggressive Long-Term Financial Model Sandisk expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high teens rate from FY2028 through FY2030, supported by continued bit growth and rising demand for storage tied to artificial intelligence. Sandisk also expects non-GAAP gross margins to remain near 80% and non-GAAP operating margins to reach approximately 75%, with operating expenses representing roughly 5% of revenue.

The free cash flow outlook is equally striking. Sandisk expects an adjusted free cash flow margin of approximately 50% after taxes, capital expenditures and working capital investments, while Sandisk also expects to return 100% of excess cash to shareholders after funding the business.

AI Storage Demand Could Support Memory Stocks Sandisk’s bullish case rests partly on the increasingly storage-intensive nature of AI inference workloads. Sandisk expects the total available market for enterprise data-center flash to reach 1.2 zettabytes by 2030 as growing token use and key-value cache requirements reshape data-center memory hierarchies.

Sandisk is also advancing its NAND technology roadmap, including BiCS9 QLC and BiCS10 QLC products. Sandisk says BiCS10 QLC delivers a 60% increase in bit density compared with BiCS8, potentially helping Sandisk address demand for greater storage density, performance and power efficiency.

New Business Model Reduces Industry Volatility Sandisk’s new business model could provide another reason for investors to take the outlook seriously. Sandisk has signed New Business Model agreements with eight customers, representing approximately 50% of bits in FY2027 and approximately two-thirds of bits in FY2028, giving Sandisk greater visibility into customer demand and capacity planning.

The agreements could also make Sandisk’s earnings less exposed to traditional memory-industry volatility. Yet, the broader memory cycle remains a risk for SK Hynix and Micron as well, since elevated expectations could leave memory stocks vulnerable if demand or pricing eventually falls short.

Memory Stocks Have Plenty Of Expectations To Meet The immediate market reaction shows how much investors like Sandisk’s new framework. Sandisk stock is surging 15%, while other memory/storage names like SK Hynix, Western Digital, and of course Micron Technology are climbing rapidly, giving the broader memory/storage stock basket a powerful lift.

Still, the optimism creates a higher bar for execution through 2030. Sandisk’s projected margins are unusually strong, while memory stocks can remain cyclical despite structural AI demand, so investors may want to keep their positions modest rather than assume today’s enthusiasm will persist indefinitely.

Sandisk’s long-term model provides a credible bullish argument for continued strength in memory stocks, particularly if AI-driven storage demand develops as expected. However, Sandisk stock has already made a substantial move, and investors should consider keeping their share-position sizes moderate if they choose to participate while watching for whether Sandisk can translate its new agreements and technology roadmap into sustained cash generation.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Most tokenized real-world assets today are U.S. Treasuries and money-market funds. XDC Network is an exception.

Its largest tokenized asset is a USD 143 million debenture for a highway operator, part of roughly USD 860 million in real-world credit on the network: corporate debentures, agribusiness receivables, and loans to operating businesses.

It is a quieter, more granular kind of real-world asset than the headline Treasury products, and a precise picture of what XDC Network was built to carry. CertiK now helps secure that chain as one of its validators.

Real-World Credit, From Two Issuers XDC Network's tokenized value stands at about USD 1.1 billion, roughly four-fifths of its real-world assets.

Almost all of that comes from two issuers: Liqi, a tokenization platform, and Vert Capital, a securitization firm.

Liqi accounts for around USD 471 million across more than 1,800 instruments, led by a highway-operator debenture, Via Araucária, and credit tied to names like the retailer Casas Bahia.

Vert Capital adds another USD 390 million in seven structured issuances, led by agribusiness receivables certificates and a single USD 234 million issuance.

This is not the synthetic yield of early DeFi, nor the tokenized Treasuries that dominate the RWA headlines. It is ordinary real-world credit: receivables, debentures, and loans to operating businesses, issued at institutional size and settled on XDC Network.

The Real-Economy End of Tokenization These are among the harder assets to bring on-chain.

They lived in private paper and local markets, with credit tied to specific operating businesses rather than a government or a fund—the kind of exposure that is normally slow to price and hard to trade.

That is a different starting point from the standardized, already-liquid instruments that make up most tokenized real-world assets.

It reaches the part of finance that has been hardest to digitize, and it is the part XDC Network was built for.

The Rails Were in Place Before the Assets That kind of credit needs somewhere built to hold it.

XDC Network has run its mainnet since 2019, oriented from the start around trade finance and regulated settlement rather than retail speculation.

It aligns with ISO 20022, the messaging standard banks already use to move money, so a tokenized receivable settles in a format institutions recognize.

The custody and validation around it are institutional in the same way. XDC Network integrates with BitGo, Anchorage, Fireblocks, and Safe for regulated custody, and its validator set has drawn names like SBI, Deutsche Telekom, Animoca, and Republic.

For an issuer deciding where to tokenize a few hundred million dollars of receivables, that infrastructure already being there is the reason to pick one chain over another.

The ordering is the point. XDC Network assembled the trust stack first and drew the assets second, which is the reverse of a chain bolting institutional features onto retail traffic after the fact.

On-Chain, the Open Question Shifts Credit to operating businesses is one of the more opaque corners of finance.

A loan to a mid-size company does not trade on a public exchange, and its value depends on the borrower, the issuer's underwriting, and terms that are usually private.

Putting it on-chain changes part of that.

Each of Vert Capital's receivables certificates and Liqi's instruments becomes individually visible, with its issuance, size, and lifecycle trackable in real time.

For an asset class that historically settled in PDFs and spreadsheets, that is a real gain in transparency.

What on-chain settlement does not resolve on its own is the layer underneath:

Whether a token is backed by the receivable it claims Whether the issuer's process holds Whether the contract behaves as the document says The visible question moves from where an instrument is to whether it can be trusted—a different question from what a tokenized Treasury or a reserve-backed stablecoin has to answer.

CertiK Goes From Assessing the Chain to Helping Run It That is where CertiK comes in, and its role has deepened in steps.

In May, CertiK Co-Founder and CEO Ronghui Gu and XDC Foundation held a fireside discussion on real-time verification of tokenized assets and what institutional adoption requires.

CertiK had already audited the chain and keeps it under an ongoing Skynet assessment, currently in the AA tier.

The most recent step goes further. CertiK has become a validator on XDC Network, running a node that helps secure the chain those assets settle on.

For real-world credit rather than reserve-backed tokens, that shift from independent assessment to direct participation is the kind of verification the asset class actually needs.

XDC Network has put real-world credit on-chain and built the rails to settle it. Tokenizing the asset is the first half of the problem. Keeping it verifiable is the second, and CertiK now does that from inside the network, as one of its validators.

Over the last year, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -3.31%) -- more commonly known as SpaceX -- has quietly made itself into a critical supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The company has channeled enormous sums into capital expenditures, building out data center capacity rapidly.

During the second quarter alone, SpaceX allocated $15.8 billion of capex toward AI compute. The company's aggressive investments have already delivered 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of nameplate capacity online, and it has ambitions to reach 10 GW by the end of next year.

The scale of this expansion raises the question of which companies might help underwrite SpaceX's data center expansion plans. According to a new report from research firm SemiAnalysis, Microsoft (MSFT +0.55%) emerges as a potential partner. Here's why it's a logical candidate to be SpaceX's next AI data center customer.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

SpaceX has already teamed up with AI's largest developers SpaceX has secured a few landmark agreements that underscore the viability of its AI infrastructure ambitions. A couple of months ago, Anthropic committed to pay $1.25 billion per month for access to over 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity at SpaceX's Colossus facility. The multiyear agreement is valued at more than $40 billion through 2029.

Google Cloud swiftly followed with a deal valued at $920 million per month. That partnership is scheduled to begin later this year, with Google Cloud accessing 110,000 Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) and supporting hardware. The contract represents more than $30 billion in spend over its full term.

Lastly, an Nvidia-backed start-up called Reflection AI has contracted with SpaceX to pay $150 million per month for compute in a deal that has a total value of $6.3 billion through 2029.

These deals are central to the SpaceX investment thesis because they prove that the company can convert its underutilized data center capacity into high-margin recurring revenue -- validating secular demand from both frontier model developers and cloud hyperscalers. By locking in large-scale offtake, SpaceX puts itself in a better position to fund further compute build-outs while commanding attractive data center economics.

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What are SpaceX's AI infrastructure ambitions? During SpaceX's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk outlined a detailed infrastructure roadmap that goes beyond incremental growth. He explained that SpaceX expects to finish 2026 with more than 2 GW of compute online and that cumulative capacity by the end of next year may be "closer to 10 GW of compute than 5 GW." Musk stressed that the company is really aiming for much higher capacity at the power and cooling level, targeting a series of projects that collectively reach 20 GW.

SpaceX intends to achieve this infrastructure expansion by focusing exclusively on Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture. The company's goal is not merely internal training for its AI model, Grok, but shifting toward renting additional capacity for external training and inference applications.

Why Microsoft makes a logical partner for SpaceX Analysts at SemiAnalysis suggest that Microsoft could be SpaceX's next major hyperscaler customer. Of note, Microsoft has already contracted for 10 GW of capacity elsewhere for a cumulative total of $300 billion. The subtle detail here is that the compute capacity to fulfill those agreements won't be fully online until late 2027 or possibly early 2028. With that in mind, there's an obvious question: How will Microsoft bridge the gap and meet its needs in the meantime?

SpaceX could be an ideal fit for two reasons. First, the company includes a 90-day cancellation policy in its capacity agreements. That provides its customers with financial flexibility at little risk to its balance sheet. Moreover, SpaceX has already proven that it can bring massive compute clusters online within a matter of months. This would allow Microsoft to secure large capacity blocks almost immediately.

Admittedly, for SpaceX to multiply capacity from 1.4 GW to 10 GW within a year and a half is quite an ambitious goal. That said, it's hard to ignore the company's demonstrated successes in execution. On-site natural gas power generation, modular power systems, and access to secondary turbine markets have already enabled SpaceX's data center facilities to come online in mere months rather than several years.

Ultimately, I agree that Microsoft is a logical candidate for a SpaceX partner, given that its operational needs may exceed those of frontier AI labs, while its scale and the urgency of its compute needs align with SpaceX's delivery speed.

The combination of proven hyperscaler demand, engineering advantages, and complementary business needs makes SpaceX's visionary infrastructure expansion both strategically coherent and commercially plausible. Against this backdrop, investors may want to consider buying the dip in SpaceX stock as its AI business looks poised for a potential breakout that few seem to be anticipating.

Key Takeaways Boeing sees fighter jet opportunities from higher defense spending and global fleet modernization.A $109M U.S. Navy order for 76 F/A-18 outer wing panels supports Boeing's long-term visibility.F-15EX, T-7, E-7 Wedgetail and MQ-25A could benefit Boeing as defense spending rises. The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) is seeing encouraging opportunities in its fighter jet business, supported by rising defense spending and growing demand for advanced military aircraft. Governments worldwide are strengthening their air capabilities and replacing aging fighter fleet, creating a favorable environment for defense aircraft manufacturers. Boeing’s portfolio of fighter and trainer aircraft positions it to benefit from this trend.

Boeing’s fighter jet business is supported by programs such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15EX Eagle II and T-7A Red Hawk. The company also benefits from demand for upgrades and sustainment of existing aircraft, providing additional revenue opportunities.

Looking ahead, Boeing should benefit from fleet modernization and higher defense budgets. The company recently secured a $109 million delivery order from the U.S. Navy for 76 outer wing panels for F/A-18 aircraft. The work is expected to be completed by October 2031, providing long-term visibility and underscoring continued demand to maintain the Navy’s F/A-18 fleet.

Boeing is also seeing opportunities from its F-15EX program, while the T-7A Red Hawk progresses toward production. Management has highlighted F-15EX, T-7, E-7 Wedgetail and MQ-25A as programs that could benefit from higher defense spending.

Overall, strong military aircraft demand, fleet modernization and Boeing’s broad fighter portfolio should support its defense growth prospects.

Industry Peers Benefiting From Fighter Jet DemandOther industry peers benefiting from rising fighter jet demand and higher defense spending are discussed below:

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT - Free Report) : It is the producer of some of the most advanced military jets in the world. Its key jet programs include the F-35 Lightning II, F-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Falcon and C-130 Hercules.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC - Free Report) : It is a leading provider of proven manned and unmanned air systems. It builds some of the world’s most advanced aircraft like the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, A-10 Thunderbolt II and B-21 Raider.

The Zacks Rundown for BAShares of Boeing have risen 6.5% in the past month compared with the Zacks aerospace-defense industry’s growth of 8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, BA is currently trading at a forward 12-month sales multiple of 1.71X, a discount when stacked up with the industry average of 2.66X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BA’s 2026 and 2027 earnings has moved south over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

Nvidia announced this week that Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR were willing to commit up to $500 billion to build AI data centers. That eye-popping figure got a lot of the attention, but the bigger story is Nvidia’s effort to create a secondary market for aging GPUs.

To convince those big-name financial companies, Nvidia has agreed to guarantee, with its own money, that its chips used as collateral in these deals will retain their value.

Many have now commented on how unusual, smart, and dangerous this plan is. It is all of those things. The bond markets got so spooked that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took to X and business TV to better explain how Nvidia’s risk would be limited.

But underneath the financial maneuvering to fund AI data centers (and keep revenue for Nvidia flowing), is something, perhaps, far more interesting for startups and enterprises: Huang wants to ensure an ecosystem of used AI hardware flourishes, helping sustain demand for Nvidia hardware as it ages.

Specifically, Nvidia is promising that if GPUs used as collateral don’t retain their value as expected, the company will cover up to 25% of the difference. So, if a data center owner defaults on a loan and the lender must liquidate, but the chips can’t command the price the books say they should, Nvidia will chip in.

The dangerous part for Nvidia is that this creates something financiers call “wrong way” risk. That is, Nvidia’s obligations will grow as demand weakens. Should that happen, its revenues will likely be squeezed as well.

Still, the scheme is deliberately unlike the comparison to Lucent Technologies that some have been making. Lucent was the telecommunications equipment provider that rose and crashed with the dotcom bubble after lending its customers money to buy its wares.

The Lucent comparison is a shadow over Nvidia, Huang knows. And not an unfair one. Nvidia definitely has committed billions toward those who buy its chips, including frontier AI labs OpenAI and Anthropic, neoclouds like CoreWeave (the originator of using Nvidia chips as collateral), as well as Nebius, Firmus, and Lambda. And it has been working on another $750 billion worth of circular deals this summer, Bloomberg has calculated.

“Is this circular financing?” Huang wrote on X about the new scheme. “This initiative is designed to address that concern. We are bringing independent, long-term institutional capital into the AI infrastructure market.”

That’s true. Unlike Lucent, Nvidia is getting others to shoulder the bulk of the capital and risk, merely by agreeing to protect a portion of its chips’ value in the future.

Should this plan work, Nvidia will have found new sources of money for AI data center builds, after many of the traditional methods have begun to wear thin. For instance, some of the hyperscalers have already taken on a lot of debt (like Oracle), issued new tranches of equity (Google), and burned much cash (Meta).

The situation has become so dicey that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently recommended the book “1873” during his latest earnings call. It’s about the railroad-era financial engineering that crashed the nation’s economy.

The risk is that today’s AI boom, where demand far outstrips capacity, doesn’t continue for much longer. Rather than being in the early innings, what if enterprises and consumers temper AI usage? Or new technologies come along to make existing infrastructure more effective and/or all of today’s AI infrastructure obsolete?

Then, like so many buggy whips in the face of automobiles (to paraphrase Danny Devito’s Lawrence Garfield), demand dries up and everything crashes.

Yet, Huang is arguing that won’t happen by selling a vision of AI as a long-term “investable infrastructure,” as he describes it. That makes his AI servers, which he calls “AI factories” akin to railroads or airlines rather than quickly depreciating assets like PCs.

“When needs change, the factory can be used by another customer, another cloud or another operator. This broad ecosystem gives NVIDIA compute a deep market of potential users and offtakers, helping protect residual value,” he promised.

In that future, Nvidia cares as much about aging architecture as it does the new chips. And perhaps startups, enterprises, and even researchers will tap into a broader variety of hardware, each tuned to different AI needs, just like they are beginning to pick affordable open-weight models alongside the frontier choices.

As the king of AI, Nvidia has the power, and the window of opportunity, to make that happen.

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The AI boom is changing an old rule of technology investing: hardware is supposed to get cheaper, less useful, and eventually worthless. That assumption helped investors model data center equipment as a wasting asset with a five- or six-year life. 

However, the market for Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) GPUs is starting to look different. Rental prices remain elevated, older chips are finding long-term customers, and Wall Street is building financing markets around their residual value. That creates a powerful re-rating opportunity for companies built around Nvidia hardware. It also creates a new risk: if alternative AI chips break Nvidia’s scarcity advantage, the entire asset-class thesis could unwind faster than investors expect.

GPUs Are Starting To Behave Like Assets
Silicon Data tracks GPU rental pricing across the AI-compute market and publishes daily benchmarks for A100, H100, B200, and Advanced Micro Devices‘ (NASDAQ:AMD) MI300X. Its data show that the traditional depreciation curve for Nvidia hardware has become less predictable, while newer generations have maintained pricing strength.

That matters because the neocloud business was built around depreciation. Buy a GPU, rent it out for several years, depreciate it toward zero, and replace it with something faster.

But an A100 launched in May 2020 is still generating meaningful rental economics in 2026. CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) reported $104.2 billion in backlog in its second-quarter results, followed by more than $25 billion of additional customer commitments — putting contracted demand above $129 billion.

If old Nvidia GPUs can keep producing revenue deep into their supposed retirement years, the accounting assumption and the economic reality start pulling apart.

Silicon is no longer a wasting asset—it's the new financial plumbing. Discover how Nvidia is turning 'old' hardware into a $500 billion cash-flow machine.

Nvidia Is Helping Wall Street Finance The Bet
Nvidia is not merely selling chips into this market. It is helping create the financial plumbing around them.

The company announced partnerships with major financial firms to mobilize more than $500 billion of third-party capital for AI infrastructure. The structure can include Nvidia guarantees covering up to 25% of certain projects’ residual value.

Then comes another important development. CME Group and Silicon Data plan to launch compute futures, pending regulatory approval. The contracts are designed to let AI builders and cloud providers hedge compute-price risk.

That is more important than it sounds. Once a cash flow can be hedged, lenders can underwrite it with greater confidence. Once lenders become comfortable, capital gets cheaper, and cheaper capital can push the value of the underlying assets higher.

The Nvidia Monopoly Is The Weak Link
Granted, today’s rental economics are reflecting a supply squeeze. More GPUs eventually mean more competition and potentially lower rental prices. But the bigger threat is not necessarily more Nvidia GPUs — it is fewer Nvidia GPUs being required.

AMD’s MI300X already has measurable rental activity in Silicon Data’s benchmarks, while Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is moving its Trainium strategy toward a broader market. CEO Andy Jassy said in June Amazon’s chips business had surpassed a $20 billion annual revenue run rate and estimated it could approach $50 billion if operated as a standalone business selling to AWS and outside customers. He also said Amazon could eventually sell Trainium racks to third parties.

That gives AI customers another way to satisfy training and inference demand without renting Nvidia GPUs.

And that is the illusion Wall Street should worry about. Nvidia GPUs may be becoming durable, financeable cash-flow assets — but the evidence is still overwhelmingly Nvidia-specific.

Key Takeaway
The asset-class thesis is real enough to matter, and CoreWeave may be one of the companies that gets re-rated as investors recognize that GPU depreciation no longer tells the whole economic story.

But investors should not confuse Nvidia’s current dominance with permanent scarcity. AMD’s expanding footprint, Amazon’s potential Trainium sales, and other custom accelerators such as Google’s TPUs create a release valve. If alternative silicon absorbs enough AI workloads, Nvidia’s residual values and rental rates could fall together.

For now, the evidence favors Nvidia and Nvidia-heavy infrastructure providers. But the biggest risk to the thesis is becoming clear: GPUs can behave like forever cash-flow machines only if customers keep wanting Nvidia’s GPUs.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) is one of the fastest-growing infrastructure businesses in the public market. Revenue has more than doubled year-over-year for four straight quarters, the backlog sits at roughly $104 billion, and management added more than $25 billion in fresh commitments in early Q3.

Yet the stock trades 35.38% below where it was a year ago. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for CoreWeave is $159.96, implying meaningful upside.

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $90.32 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $159.96 Upside 77.1% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 50% (moderate) Confidence sits at moderate because the growth story is exceptional, but capital intensity, leverage, and valuation multiples argue for caution. CoreWeave is a high-conviction long with real tail risk.

A Rough Year, a Turning Quarter Shares are up 26.13% year-to-date but down 1.72% over the past week and about 10% below the 52-week high of $153.20.

Q2 2026 revenue landed at $2.575 billion, up 112.32% year-over-year, edging the $2.556 billion consensus. GAAP EPS of -$1.14 beat the -$1.447 estimate by 21.22%. Adjusted EBITDA doubled to $1.51 billion at a 59% margin, and operating cash flow swung to positive $679 million.

CEO Michael Intrator called this a turning point as scale translated into operating leverage. Nasdaq-100 inclusion adds a passive-bid tailwind.

Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead The bull case starts with backlog. Contracted revenue of $104 billion, plus $25 billion in fresh Q3 commitments, gives multi-year visibility few peers match. Active power expanded to 1.5 GW, with 3.7 GW contracted and a path to more than 8 GW by 2030. CoreWeave was first to bring NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 and set MLPerf inference records.

New logos including Caterpillar, Grammarly, Isomorphic Labs, and Bentley Systems broaden the customer base beyond hyperscalers. Our bull-case scenario points to $165.98, and analyst consensus of $138.37 validates significant upside.

The Risks Worth Watching Free cash flow was -$5.743 billion in Q2 on $6.422 billion of capex. Interest expense hit $640 million, more than double the $267 million of a year ago, and debt-to-equity sits at 8.94. A securities fraud class action alleging concealed data center construction delays remains an overhang.

Bulls counter that negative FCF reflects capex tied to signed contracts, not speculative spend, and that adjusted EBITDA margin of 59% shows unit economics work. Our bear scenario at $128.32 reflects the risk that capital markets tighten before the model self-funds.

How CoreWeave Compares to Nebius and Oracle The clearest pure-play peer is Nebius Group (NASDAQ: NBIS | NBIS Price Prediction). Nebius grew Q2 revenue 279.6% to $399 million with an AI cloud segment up 841%, but its $33.6 billion remaining performance obligations are a fraction of CoreWeave’s. Nebius carries a market cap of roughly $42.6 billion on far less revenue, framing CoreWeave’s $40.4 billion market cap as reasonable given its scale advantage.

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) provides hyperscaler context. Oracle’s IaaS grew 93% to $5.79 billion, and RPO ballooned 363% to $638 billion. Oracle proves a giant AI backlog can support a premium multiple despite negative free cash flow. Together, the peers validate our 24/7 Wall St. price target as reasonable rather than aggressive.

CoreWeave Price Prediction 2026-2030 Our 24/7 Wall St. price target of $159.96 supports a buy with moderate confidence. The setup favors investors who can stomach the leverage and volatility, because the backlog gives multi-year visibility few growth stocks offer.

Caution is warranted if a broader AI capex pause looks likely or credit spreads widen, since CoreWeave’s model depends on continued capital access. The scale advantage tips the scale.

Here is where our model projects CoreWeave could trade, assuming current growth trajectories and market conditions hold.

Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $159.96 2030 $428.20 These projections assume CoreWeave executes on its 8 GW power roadmap and translates backlog into recognized revenue. Meaningful upside or downside could result from AI capex cycles, capital market conditions, or shifts in the NVIDIA supply relationship.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

By PYMNTS  |  August 13, 2026

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American Express is expanding the availability of virtual cards for businesses, as more companies use digital payments to manage expenses and reduce fraud.

The company said in a Thursday (Aug. 13) press release that U.S. corporate customers can now create, manage and use American Express Virtual Cards through its @ Work platform, which businesses use to manage their Corporate Card programs. The cards can be configured with spending limits, usage timeframes and certain country and merchant restrictions, and can be managed without moving between systems.

“Businesses want to simplify how they pay for things while maintaining control and visibility into spending across employee expenses, supplier payments and business travel,” said Eva Reda, executive vice president of global commercial services products at American Express. “Virtual cards can help solve many of these challenges.”

The expansion also reaches business travel. American Express is expanding its relationship with Conferma, a virtual payments technology provider, to let eligible Business Travel Account customers create and manage Amex Virtual Cards through Conferma’s mobile app. Travelers can use the cards for eligible purchases such as meals, retail purchases, car rentals and rideshares, complementing the Business Travel Account’s centralized billing for airfare and hotels.

The virtual cards let finance teams set rules around spending before a transaction occurs. Businesses can issue cards to employees, contractors, interns, guests and other authorized users who may not have a traditional corporate card. They can also use approval workflows, transaction data, digital receipts and reporting to reduce manual reconciliation.

The move comes as virtual cards become a control layer for corporate payments. Earlier this month, Amex shared that its commercial services spending grew 5% in the second quarter, while the company has argued that its closed-loop network gives it advantages in fraud protection and transaction data. The financial services company has been embedding spending rules, supplier verification and invoice data into B2B payments. Amex’s recent partnership with Bottomline similarly aims to improve supplier onboarding, payment visibility and invoice matching. The latest move extends that approach to corporate and travel spending, giving businesses a way to apply policy and collect transaction data at the point of payment.

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Key Takeaways Caterpillar ended Q2 with a record $72 billion backlog, up 92% year over year.About 59% of Caterpillar's backlog is expected to be delivered over the next 12 months.Caterpillar raised its 2026 sales outlook to mid-to-high teens growth from low-double-digit growth.
Caterpillar Inc.’s (CAT - Free Report) second-quarter 2026 results highlighted record revenue and earnings growth, but its record order backlog may be the most important signal for investors. Backlog provides insight into future demand and revenue visibility, offering a clearer view of business momentum over the coming quarters.

Caterpillar ended the second quarter of 2026 with a record backlog of $72 billion, 92% higher than last year. Backlog increased across all three segments, reflecting broad-based demand strength throughout the company’s portfolio. 

Around 59% of this sizeable backlog is expected to be delivered over the next 12 months. This percentage has remained relatively stable over the past three quarters, highlighting the strength and consistency of demand.

The strong order book also supports management’s improved 2026 outlook. Caterpillar now expects mid-to-high teens growth in sales and revenues from 2025, compared with its previous expectation of low-double-digit growth.

In Construction Industries, North American demand continues to benefit from elevated infrastructure spending under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Investments in critical infrastructure and data center construction are also supporting activity. During the second quarter, CAT delivered its first units to Major Projects, a specialized, CAT dealer-owned rental joint venture serving multibillion-dollar projects across North America. The venture is expected to expand Caterpillar’s presence in the rental market.

The Resource Industries segment should benefit from favorable commodity prices and replacement demand for aging mining fleet. Mining customers are also increasingly adopting autonomous technologies to improve productivity, lower costs and enhance safety. Caterpillar acquired RPMGlobal in February 2026 and recently acquired Skycatch, strengthening its mining technology, data analytics and software capabilities.

In the Power & Energy segment, growth is being driven by sales of both reciprocating engines and turbines and turbine-related services, driven by increasing energy demand to support data center build-out related to cloud computing and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). CAT is seeing demand for prime power solutions trend higher as data center customers look for alternative power solutions to keep pace with their growth.

To capitalize on rising power-generation and oil-and-gas demand, CAT will restart production of its 10-megawatt gas engine platform. It plans to bring about 1.5 gigawatts of capacity back online, with shipments to begin in the fourth quarter. It is also expanding turbine capacity and has repurposed a 250,000-square-foot facility in Wamego, KS. It is currently shipping PGM130 from the facility, a product that is popular for data center power generation.  

Caterpillar Peers Also See Improving Order MomentumTerex Corporation (TEX - Free Report) ended the second quarter with a backlog of $6.9 billion, up 3.9% year over year, driven by increased bookings in each segment. Bookings of $2 billion increased 25.2% year over year and reflect a book-to-bill of 90%. Supported by its healthy order book and favorable end-market conditions, Terex raised its 2026 sales outlook to $7.9-$8.2 billion from the previous $7.5-$8.1 billion.

Astec Industries (ASTE - Free Report) ended the second quarter with a backlog of $601 million, reflecting a 58% year-over-year increase led by strong demand for aggregate processing equipment. Materials Solutions backlog surged 150.6% to $312.5 million, while Infrastructure Solutions segment’s backlog increased 12.7% to $288.6 million. Overall implied orders reached roughly $460 million in the quarter, up 6.7% sequentially, while the consolidated book-to-bill ratio was 113%. 

Although considerably smaller than Caterpillar, both Terex and Astec reported expanding backlogs. This suggests customers in the industry continue to commit capital to construction and infrastructure projects despite economic uncertainty. 

CAT’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesCAT shares have gained 10.5% over the past six months compared with the industry’s 5.4% growth. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Caterpillar is currently trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings (P/E) ratio of 28.68X compared with the industry average of 26.65X. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAT’s 2026 earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 39.4%. The consensus mark for revenues implies an increase of 15.5% for the year. The earnings estimate for 2027 indicates 21.7% growth, with revenues rising 21.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Earnings estimates for Caterpillar for both 2026 and 2027 have moved up over the past 60 days, as shown in the chart below.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

Key Takeaways Chord's Q2 2026 earnings increased 259.8% as revenue rose 57.2% and oil production increased 5.6%. Chord generated $413M in adjusted free cash flow and returned $220M to shareholders in Q2. Chord faces commodity exposure as 2027 hedges cover only about 18% of oil volumes. Chord Energy Corporation (CHRD - Free Report) shares have climbed 14.1% in the past month, putting the stock’s recent momentum in focus. The key question is whether better operating performance and cash generation can keep supporting the move.

The latest quarter provided meaningful fundamental backing, but commodity exposure, higher operating costs and still-developing long-lateral economics leave reasons for caution.

CHRD’s Q2 Results Add Fundamental SupportChord reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $6.44 per share, up 259.8% from $1.79 a year earlier. Revenues increased 57.2% to roughly $1.5 billion from $950.3 million.

The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.2%, while earnings missed the consensus mark by 3.6%. That combination points to a substantially improved year-over-year earnings picture, though not an across-the-board beat.

Chord’s Oil Production Keeps Moving HigherOil production reached 165.4 thousand barrels per day, up 5.6% from the prior-year quarter, while total production was 286.4 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. Oil also represented 57.8% of total production.

Realizations added support. Chord’s average oil sales price excluding realized derivatives increased 52.5% to $93.99 per barrel, while the average NGL sales price rose 59.5% to $9.25 per barrel. Those improvements may have helped investor sentiment, but they do not establish the direct cause of the recent share-price gain.

CHRD’s Williston Scale Drives Operating EfficiencyChord is leveraging its scale in the Williston Basin to lift production while operating with fewer rigs and completion crews. The company expects fiscal 2026 oil production of 161 MBopd, up 14% from the pro-forma fiscal 2022 level of 141.5 MBopd, even as drilling rigs decline about 25% and completion crews fall roughly 21%. Chord also continues to expand its long-lateral development strategy, with about 80% of its year-end 2025 inventory supporting 3-mile or 4-mile laterals. Management believes these longer laterals can lower breakevens and improve capital efficiency, providing another potential support for free cash flow. Still, the benefits depend on sustained execution as the 4-mile program becomes a larger part of the development mix.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Chord’s Free Cash Flow Strengthens the Bull CaseAdjusted free cash flow rose to about $413 million from roughly $141 million a year earlier, while net cash provided by operating activities reached $1.12 billion. Chord returned $220 million to shareholders in the quarter through its base dividend and share repurchases.

Liquidity also provides flexibility. Chord ended June with $611.6 million of cash and no revolver borrowings, while its revolving credit facility had $2 billion of elected commitments. Management expects to return at least 75% of adjusted free cash flow beginning in the third quarter, subject to its leverage framework.

CHRD Still Faces Commodity and Cost RisksThe biggest counterweight is commodity sensitivity. About 38% of second-half 2026 oil volumes were hedged, while only about 18% of 2027 volumes had protection, leaving much of future production exposed to oil-price swings.

Costs and execution deserve attention as well. Chord raised its 2026 lease operating expense midpoint to $10.30 per barrel of oil equivalent as production-enhancement activity and workover costs increased. Early 4-mile well performance is in line with expectations, but mature production history is still insufficient to fully validate the economics of the fourth mile.

For sector context, Diamondback Energy (FANG - Free Report) , a Permian-focused producer, averaged 525 thousand barrels of oil per day in the second quarter of 2026. Devon Energy Corporation (DVN - Free Report) offers a more diversified multi-basin portfolio, giving investors another operating model against which to consider Chord’s Williston concentration.

Chord’s Earnings Outlook Shows Near-Term StrengthThe Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for CHRD to post earnings of $3.76 per share in the current quarter, implying 60% growth. For the December quarter, the consensus mark is pegged at $3.63 per share, representing an estimated 183.6% increase from the year-ago period. Current-year earnings are projected at $18.03 per share, up 89.2% from $9.53 a year earlier. However, the outlook weakens for 2027, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11.61 per share implying a 35.6% decline. That expected pullback could temper enthusiasm around CHRD’s recent share-price momentum.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

CHRD’s Signals Temper the Recent MomentumThe recent rally has stronger operating and cash-flow support than it did before the quarter, but commodity exposure, rising costs and execution uncertainty keep the setup from being one-sided. Those risks matter more as the stock extends its short-term gains.

CHRD currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), which signals near-term caution.

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

At the same time, it has a Value Score of A, Growth Score of A, Momentum Score of A and a VGM Score of A. The Style Scores highlight favorable characteristics across those investment styles, but they are designed to complement the Zacks Rank rather than override it. That contrast argues for keeping the recent momentum in perspective.

Key Takeaways UPS Q2 adjusted EPS rose 13.5% as revenue increased 7.6% to $22.83 billion despite weaker volumes.
UPS expects about $3 billion in 2026 network savings after generating $1.2 billion in first-half benefits.
UPS raised 2026 revenue guidance to $91.2 billion and expects adjusted operating profit of $8.65 billion.

United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS - Free Report) emerged from the second quarter with better-than-expected earnings, higher full-year guidance and further evidence that its network overhaul is lowering costs. The key question is whether those savings can continue to support margins while package volumes remain under pressure.

UPS Q2 Beat Shows the Mix Shift Is WorkingUPS reported adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share, up 13.5% year over year and 6.7% above the consensus estimate. Revenues increased 7.6% to $22.83 billion. The second-quarter earnings beat was the fourth successive one by UPS. The average earnings beat is 12.4%.

The results indicate that pricing and mix are helping offset weaker shipment activity. U.S. Domestic revenue per piece increased 9.3% even as average daily package volume declined. That combination is important for margins because UPS is generating more revenue from each package while reducing costs across its network.

Continued improvement will depend partly on whether revenue per piece can remain firm without further pressure on volumes.

UPS Network Savings Could Reach $3 BillionUPS generated about $1.2 billion of benefits from its network reconfiguration and Efficiency Reimagined initiatives during the first half of 2026. Management expects the benefits to reach approximately $3 billion for the full year.

Workforce reductions, facility actions and capacity adjustments are central to those savings. The gap between first-half benefits and the full-year target also means a sizable portion of the expected efficiencies is still ahead.

If UPS delivers those savings while maintaining service levels, the restructuring could provide additional support to operating margins even in a lower-volume environment. Execution risk remains, however, as deeper network changes can bring transition costs and operational complexity. UPS’ rival FedEx (FDX - Free Report) is also aiming at cost-cuts to combat the weak demand scenario.

UPS Raises 2026 Revenue and Profit OutlookManagement raised its 2026 consolidated revenue outlook to about $91.2 billion from $89.7 billion and expects adjusted operating profit of roughly $8.65 billion. Adjusted earnings are projected at approximately $7.22 per share.

The higher outlook gives investors a measurable test for the restructuring program. Cost reductions alone will not determine whether margins keep improving. UPS also needs its pricing, package mix and network productivity to offset softer shipment demand. During the second quarter, UPS completed a plan to deliver fewer packages ‌for Amazon.com (AMZN - Free Report) .

Reaching the revised operating-profit target would provide further evidence that the company can translate restructuring benefits into earnings rather than simply use the savings to absorb volume weakness.

UPS Cash Flow Adds Flexibility During RestructuringCash generation also improved in the first half. Free cash flow more than doubled to $1.57 billion from $742 million as operating cash flow increased and capital expenditures declined.

That gives UPS greater flexibility while it reshapes its network. The company can continue funding investments and meeting financial obligations while absorbing restructuring expenses. Higher free cash flow also reduces the pressure on operating improvements to immediately translate into available cash.

UPS Signals Temper the Post-Earnings OptimismUPS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The company also has a VGM Score of A, with a Value Score of B, Growth Score of B and Momentum Score of B. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Those Style Scores support the operational picture, but they do not override the Zacks Rank. The Style Scores are designed to complement the Rank, with the Rank remaining the primary measure tied to earnings-estimate revisions.

UPS has made measurable progress on costs, pricing and cash generation. Still, lower package volumes and the need to deliver the remaining network savings leave execution as the main issue to watch. If the company reaches its roughly $3 billion savings target without weakening service or pricing, further margin improvement looks achievable. For now, the Zacks Rank #3 appropriately balances that potential against the risks still facing the transformation.

Key Takeaways Micron's fiscal Q3 2026 revenues surged 346% year over year to $41.46 billion amid strong AI demand.Micron has generated more than $1 billion in HBM4 revenues, with its 12-high ramp twice as fast as HBM3E.SK Hynix holds a 58% HBM share vs. Micron's 21%, while SNDK and MU each have a 13% share in the NAND market.
Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) is sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence (AI) memory as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM and data-center storage accelerates. The strategy is producing strong financial results, but Micron still faces tough competition from SK Hynix Inc. (SKHY - Free Report) in HBM and Sandisk Corporation (SNDK - Free Report) in NAND.

Micron's third-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues surged 346% year over year to $41.46 billion, while non-GAAP earnings reached $25.11 per share compared with $1.91 a year earlier. Data-center demand was particularly strong, with revenues exceeding $25 billion during the quarter.

HBM is central to Micron's AI strategy. The company has already generated more than $1 billion in HBM4 revenues, while its 12-high HBM4 ramp is progressing twice as fast as its HBM3E 12-high ramp. HBM4 is already shipping in high volumes to a lead customer, with additional customers receiving qualification samples.

However, SK Hynix remains a formidable HBM competitor, with a reported 58% HBM market share, according to a Counterpoint report. Micron competes with Sandisk mainly in the NAND memory market. Sandisk holds a 13% share in the global NAND memory market, according to a Counterpoint report. Micron has a 21% share in the global HBM market and 13% in the global NAND memory market.

Micron's advantage is its broad exposure to both memory and storage, along with rapidly improving HBM4 execution. If it maintains this pace while expanding advanced packaging capacity, AI could help Micron narrow SK Hynix's HBM lead and outperform Sandisk's storage-focused growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2026 and 2027 revenues indicates a year-over-year increase of 247% and 91%, respectively.

How Do SK Hynix and SanDisk Fare Against Micron?SK Hynix is Micron’s strongest competitor in HBM, where AI accelerator demand is driving rapid growth. Its early HBM leadership gives it an important advantage. The rapid buildout of AI data centers has triggered a global shortage of memory products, driving demand across industries ranging from cloud computing to consumer electronics.

As a key supplier of AI memory chips to NVIDIA, SK Hynix is well-positioned to capitalize on the AI boom. Leveraging its relationship with NVIDIA, the company is expanding its manufacturing capacity to keep pace with rising demand fueled by the ongoing global AI investment cycle. In the recently reported results for the second quarter of 2026, SK Hynix’s revenues surged 257% year over year, while net income jumped 1,242%.

Sandisk is a more direct competitor in NAND and enterprise SSDs, rather than HBM. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Sandisk’s revenues soared 372% year over year to $8.97 billion, while non-GAAP net income jumped to $6.16 billion from $42 million in the year-ago quarter. Sandisk is benefiting from AI-led demand that is lifting enterprise SSD adoption and supporting pricing across NAND end markets. Its data-center revenues jumped 437% year over year to $5.15 billion in fiscal 2026.

SanDisk also has signed long-term supply agreements, adding some demand visibility. During its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call, SanDisk revealed that it holds eight long-term contracts with six customers worth $93.9 billion. The average length of contracts is four years. SanDisk expects half of its bit production to be covered by these deals in fiscal 2027 and two-thirds in fiscal 2028.

Micron’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Micron have surged around 220.3% year to date compared with the Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s return of 16.8%.

Micron Technology YTD Price Return Performance
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From a valuation standpoint, MU trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 5.93, significantly lower than the sector’s average of 21.33.

Micron Technology 12-Month Forward P/E Ratio
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Micron’s fiscal 2026 and 2027 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of 791% and 114%, respectively. Bottom-line estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have been revised upward in the past 30 days.

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

Key Takeaways Abbott's EPD sales rose 8.7% comparably in Q2 2026, led by 10.7% growth in Key Emerging Markets. Healthcare access, aging populations and treatment needs are supporting demand for established therapies.Abbott is expanding its biosimilar pipeline to broaden EPD's portfolio and create growth opportunities. Abbott Laboratories’ (ABT - Free Report) Established Pharmaceuticals Division (“EPD”) continues to be a solid growth contributor, supported by its broad portfolio of branded generic medicines and strong commercial presence across emerging markets. 

In the second quarter of 2026, EPD sales increased 8.4% on a reported basis and 8.7% on a comparable basis. Key Emerging Markets delivered 10.7% comparable sales growth, driven by double-digit growth in several countries across Latin America and Asia Pacific. The strong performance highlights the benefits of EPD’s diversified geographic footprint and its ability to capitalize on growing healthcare demand across emerging markets.

The EPD business continues to benefit from favorable structural trends, including expanding access to healthcare, aging populations and increasing treatment needs for both acute and chronic conditions. These trends are expanding the addressable patient population and supporting sustained demand for established pharmaceutical therapies.

Meanwhile, Abbott is expanding its biosimilar pipeline, which should broaden EPD’s product portfolio and create additional growth opportunities across key markets. The combination of a broad product portfolio, expanding pipeline, strong brand equity and disciplined commercial execution positions EPD to sustain high-single-digit sales growth over the long term.

Peer UpdateBoston Scientific’s (BSX - Free Report) international operations continue to support its growth profile, benefiting from a broad geographic presence across developed and emerging markets. In the second quarter of 2026, operational sales increased 4.2% in EMEA, 11.2% in APAC and 16.2% in Latin America and Canada. 

Growth in APAC was particularly strong, with double-digit gains across Japan, China and Korea, supported by momentum in Interventional Cardiology, Electrophysiology and WATCHMAN. Looking ahead, continued expansion of the FARAPULSE ecosystem, OPAL mapping platform and WATCHMAN FLX Pro should strengthen the company’s presence and support further penetration across key international markets. 

Medtronic (MDT - Free Report) also maintains a significant international presence, supported by broad-based demand for its medical technologies across multiple therapeutic areas. In fiscal 2026, international revenues totaled $18.26 billion and increased 6.2% organically, outpacing the 5.4% organic growth recorded in the United States. 

International revenues maintained 6.2% organic growth in the fourth quarter, with Cardiovascular increasing 7.1%, Neuroscience growing 5.8% and Diabetes up 12.2%. Structural Heart also delivered stronger performance outside the United States, while Diabetes continued to benefit from product innovation and geographic expansion, including Simplera Sync and the EMEA launch of MiniMed Go Smart MDI with Simplera. 

ABT Price PerformanceIn the past year, Abbott shares have plunged 14.3% compared with the industry’s 22.7% decline. 

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ABT's ValuationABT currently trades at a forward 12-month Price-to-Sales (P/S) of 3.63X compared with the industry median of 2.81X.

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ABT Stock Estimate TrendIn the past 30 days, ABT’s EPS estimate for 2026 has moved north 0.2%.

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