Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

McDonald's is handing income investors bigger checks each year while Domino's holds its payout flat, and the reason behind that gap reveals which pizza-and-burger giant faces a trickier road ahead.

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Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ | DPZ Price Prediction) and McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) reported second-quarter results this summer. Their dividends now move at different speeds. McDonald’s raised its payout again. Domino’s has held its payout flat since its February increase. Income investors are inspecting the yields.

Pizza Orders Climbed While Burger Traffic Slipped Domino’s U.S. same-store sales grew just 0.1%, compared with 3.4% a year ago. Order counts rose in both delivery and carryout, but the lower average check caused the slowdown. CFO Sandeep Reddy blamed a Premium Series that underperformed and promised, “We had a one-quarter blip on ticket. We’re not going to have another blip.”

McDonald’s grew global comparable sales 1.3%. Every segment posted positive comps, but U.S. restaurant traffic fell and sales declined in China and France. CEO Chris Kempczinski named Skye Anderson president of McDonald’s USA to “bring focus and urgency” to its biggest market.

Dividend Lens Domino’s McDonald’s Quarterly Payout $1.99, flat $1.93, up from $1.86 Forward Yield About 2.67% About 3.12% 2025 Free Cash Flow $671.5M $7.186B Cash Engine Supply chain plus royalties Rent plus royalties Domino’s Flat Year Matches Its Usual Pattern Domino’s raised its quarterly dividend from $0.20 in 2013 to $1.99 in 2026, raising once yearly then holding flat. On the balance sheet, stockholders’ equity is at negative $3.98B due to debt and buybacks, and cash fell 39.6% to $164.8M. Supply chain revenue of $731.7M provides regular cash as franchisees buy dough weekly.

McDonald’s makes rent as a landlord, a recurring income stream. It paid about $1.3B in dividends in the second quarter alone, while it also funds $3.7 to $3.9B in capital spending. One risk: management expects interest expense to rise 4% to 6% this year.

February Will Show Whether Domino’s Is Pausing or Stalling Domino’s announced its last increase in February 2026. A skipped increase next February combined with lower average checks and cash-draining buybacks would signal a real problem. Management cut its U.S. store-opening outlook to about 175 as franchisees make less. At McDonald’s, watch whether U.S. traffic recovers under its new president.

Regular Rent Versus Faster Dividend Growth McDonald’s offers regular, more predictable income. Its yield is higher, raises come yearly, and rent supports them. The tradeoff is slower dividend growth.

Domino’s offers faster dividend growth alongside more debt. Its payout rose from $0.20 in 2013 to $1.99 in 2026. A ticket recovery would strengthen the case. Another lower quarter followed by a skipped increase would change the outlook.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Shares of Adobe (ADBE -1.49%) have had a tough 2026. The stock ended last year at about $350 and trades near $240 as I write, down about 31%.

The software company has kept buying its own shares on the way down. In April, its board approved a new $25 billion stock buyback authorization, meant partly to "reduce share count over time." It runs through April 30, 2030.

And as Adobe's fiscal third quarter of 2026 ended Aug. 28, $24.55 billion of it was still unused.

Compared with Adobe's market value, the amount is large. With about 389.2 million shares outstanding in mid-September, Adobe is worth about $93 billion at today's stock price. The remaining authorization could buy back about 26% of it -- about 102 million shares.

Sure, an authorization isn't a promise. Adobe has around three and a half years to use it, and nothing forces the company to spend it all. But I think the company's pace this year shows it plans to put plenty of it to work.

Image source: Getty Images.

A steady, cash-funded paceIn the fiscal year's first three quarters, Adobe's buybacks averaged around $2.3 billion a quarter. That came to $6.82 billion, for 26.1 million shares, all bought on the open market.

And as the stock dropped, the same money bought more shares. The 9.5 million shares Adobe repurchased in fiscal Q3 cost an average of around $235 each, versus about $261 over all three quarters.

Notably, the company paid for it with cash from its operations. Adobe generated $7.65 billion of cash from operations during the same stretch, up around 11% year over year, and buybacks used close to 90% of it. Its balance sheet had $5.64 billion of cash and short-term investments at quarter-end, versus around $6.4 billion of debt.

This pace leaves room to spare. Spreading the unspent $24.55 billion evenly through April 2030 comes out to around $7 billion a year, about what Adobe spent in just those three quarters. If the company keeps buying at its recent rate instead, it could use up the authorization sometime in 2029.

Buybacks are doing about half the workAdobe's diluted share count (the number used to calculate earnings per share) was around 395 million in the fiscal third quarter. That compares to 402 million in the fiscal second quarter and 424 million in the year-ago quarter.

Management's fourth-quarter targets assume around 389 million. In other words, the count's dropping about 2% a quarter, and steadily.

Not every repurchased share sticks, though. Shares outstanding dropped by around 22 million in the nine months, fewer than the 26.1 million Adobe bought, because employee stock awards added some back.

Showing what the shrinking count means for shareholders, Adobe's non-GAAP (adjusted) net income rose around 8% year over year in fiscal Q3 to $2.42 billion. Adjusted earnings per share climbed 15% to $6.13.

On a GAAP basis, net income grew just 3%, but earnings per share climbed 11% to $4.62. In short, fewer shares drove about half of the quarter's adjusted per-share growth.

If Adobe spent all $24.55 billion at roughly $240 a share and its earnings stayed flat, retiring about 26% of its shares would raise earnings per share by over a third.

That won't happen all at once, and the price Adobe pays will move. A lower stock price would stretch the cash further, and a higher one would shrink it.

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Is the buyback a reason to buy?At roughly $240, Adobe shares cost about 13 times earnings. Using the midpoint of management's fiscal 2026 target for adjusted earnings per share ($24.45 to $24.50), the price is about 10 times adjusted earnings. When shares reached their 52-week high of $363.70, that same target worked out to almost 15 times adjusted earnings.

I'd say buying back stock at about 10 times adjusted earnings is one of the better uses of Adobe's cash right now.

True, a buyback can't fix slowing growth. Adobe's total annualized recurring revenue (ARR), its gauge of the subscription business on a yearly basis, rose 11.2% year over year in fiscal Q3, and management's full-year target is 10.2%. And the market's discount probably reflects worries that artificial intelligence tools might hurt Adobe's pricing power. But as long as the subscription business keeps growing, a falling share count should help earnings per share outpace the business itself.

All in all, I think the buyback makes a cheap stock more interesting. Adobe stock looks worth considering at this price, but I'd want the subscription business to keep growing at roughly its current pace.

Customers at Robinhood Markets (HOOD +1.43%) can buy and sell many of the most popular stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from Sunday at 8 p.m. ET until Friday at 8 p.m. ET on the broker's 24 Hour Market. That adds up to 120 hours a week, and it leaves the weekend as the only time when stocks are off-limits.

At its HOOD Summit in Houston on Sept. 29, the firm said it plans to fill the gap by letting customers trade a curated list of U.S. stocks and ETFs around the clock, weekends included. Robinhood expects to launch it early next year, pending regulatory review.

Adding weekends would bring the 24 Hour Market to all 168 hours in a week, or about 40% more time to trade. But I don't think 40% more hours means anywhere near 40% more revenue.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Stock trading is a smaller business than it looksRobinhood's equities revenue comes mainly from payment for order flow (fees that trading firms pay the broker to handle its customers' stock orders).

Showing how fast this line is rising, equities revenue almost doubled year over year to $129 million in the second quarter, according to Robinhood's quarterly filing. That was up from $82 million in the first quarter, too. So equities made up around 17% of transaction-based revenue, compared with about 13% three months earlier and 12% a year before. Average stock-trading volume per trader grew 56%, and the number of customers making stock trades climbed 13%.

But against total revenue of $1.31 billion (up 32% year over year), equities supplied just 10%.

And Robinhood's take is small. Customers traded a record $956 billion in stock in the quarter, up 85% from a year earlier, so the company earned around $1.35 of equities revenue per $10,000 traded.

This growth has slowed a little since then. In August, customers traded 68% more stock by dollar value than a year earlier, according to Robinhood's monthly operating data.

How much might weekends add?Robinhood doesn't say in its quarterly reports how much of its stock volume already trades in the 24 Hour Market, so any estimate here is rough.

At the second quarter's pace, equities revenue comes to around $516 million a year. If weekend hours boosted that by the full 40% the extra time represents, the rise would be about $206 million, or about 4% of Robinhood's yearly revenue pace of $5.2 billion.

I'd say the company probably won't get near that ceiling. Weekend trading will start with a limited list of stocks and ETFs. And some Saturday trades could just be trades a customer would've made on Monday morning anyway, which shifts revenue around instead of adding to it.

A 5% to 10% boost to equities revenue would add about $26 million to $52 million a year -- 1% of sales at most.

Sure, weekend hours could also keep active traders on the app on days when stocks have been off-limits, and so could the artificial intelligence (AI) agents Robinhood introduced at the summit to trade for customers. Any payoff there is tougher to measure.

Cheap to startThe summit's other launches tie into bigger revenue lines. But the tech company is pricing them to win customers first.

Perpetual futures, which are leveraged crypto contracts that never expire, are starting to roll out to eligible U.S. customers, with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin and Ether and 3x on six other coins. Robinhood plans to charge just 0.01% a trade on them through the end of the year. Over time, they might help a shrinking crypto business, whose second-quarter revenue dropped 38% from a year earlier, to $100 million.

Earnings contracts, exchange-listed binary options linked to company-specific performance metrics, are expected to launch in October, pending regulatory approval. Robinhood won't charge contract fees for them through year-end, either.

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Also starting in October, Robinhood is adding 35% more options trading hours for its most popular symbols. The same caution about hours applies. But options are Robinhood's largest transaction line, at $342 million last quarter, so the move is arguably the bigger opportunity.

Ultimately, weekend trading looks more like a convenience for Robinhood's most active customers than a big new source of revenue.

At about $112 as of this writing, Robinhood's shares cost around 38 times earnings, using analysts' forecasts for 2027.

For a growth stock with revenue climbing so fast, some premium makes sense. But the price already assumes Robinhood keeps adding new ways to make money for years to come, and weekend trading is probably one of the smaller ones.

Nu Holdings stock has pulled back sharply in recent months, falling from a high of $18.95 in January to around $13.43 today. Despite the decline, the long-term growth story remains intact, supported by the company’s expanding customer base, strong presence in Brazil, and continued push into other Latin American markets such as Mexico and Colombia.

Goldman Sachs analysts also remain optimistic about Nu’s outlook, believing the stock has further upside potential in the near term. Their bullish view suggests that the recent pullback may be more of a valuation reset than a deterioration in the company’s underlying fundamentals.

In a recent note, analysts at Goldman Sachs maintained its bullish outlook for the stock. In a note last week, they noted that the company’s entry into the United States may work out in the long term. The note argued that the company was doing so using a low-cost approach, coupled with a good customer care experience, which will help gain some market share in the country. The report added:

“We think NU’s ultra-low-cost digital approach with a strong consumer experience could allow it to successfully enter the market.”

Other analysts are largely bullish on Nu Holdings. For example, Rothschilds and Needham’s analysts set a target of $19, higher than the current $13. Wolfe Research has a target of $17, while UBS and JPMorgan Chase have targets of $18.20 and 20, respectively. 

The most recent results showed that Nu Holdings’ business continued doing well, with its number of users and customers continuing to rise. It added nearly 4 million customers in the second quarter of the year and now has 139 million globally. 

Most of these users are in Brazil, where it has close to 118 million users, a notable figure since Brazil has a population of 213 million people. Nu Holdings has also become a big neobank in Mexico, where it has 15.8 million customers. Its Colombia business has attracted over 5 million users. 

The company is now planning to launch its business in the UK, where it was said to be considering making a bid for Monzo, one of the country’s biggest neobank. It decided to walk away after Monzo insisted on a £10 billion valuation.

Nu Holdings shares chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that Nu Holdings shares have dropped by 30% from the all-time high even as its revenue and user growth accelerated. Most recently, the stock formed a down-gap after reports of its Monzo buyout emerged and then filled it after it denied the rumors.

Even so, it remains below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a sign that bears have prevailed. It also sits below the Strong, Pivot, Reverse level of the Murrey Math Lines tool.

Therefore, the stock will likely continue rising as bulls target the important resistance level of $15. This view will be confirmed when it jumps above the Strong Pivot Reverse level of the Murrey Math Lines at $14.

Jensen Huang, one of the co-founders of Nvidia (NVDA +1.34%), is no stranger to making bold predictions. One that he has been floating for a few years is that data center capital expenditures will reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030. That's a massive increase from today's levels, and he just commented that he believes that projection is still accurate.

While that projection may sound outlandish, I think there's some truth to it, because Huang is privy to conversations that the regular investor is not.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Image source: Nvidia Corporation.

Nvidia is poised to head higher with this guidance While investors should view most CEO comments through a cautionary lens, this is one situation where I think investors should be a bit more trusting. The data center build-out is in full swing, and many companies cannot access enough computing units to meet their needs. This is causing them to plan out their growth over several years. Part of this means sharing their build-out projections with suppliers like Nvidia, which can then tell their suppliers how much capacity to prepare for. This can happen years in advance of when the chips are actually needed, so with the start of 2030 being just over three years away, it's not outlandish to think that there are plans this far out.

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So, I think investors can take most of what Huang says at face value.

And if he ends up being right, there could be monstrous upside.

In 2026, Nvidia expects the big five artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers to spend nearly $800 billion on capital expenditures. This year, Wall Street analysts estimate Nvidia's revenue will reach $411 billion. There are other companies spending big on AI outside the big five, so the actual total for this year may reach as high as $1 trillion. That would give Nvidia about a 40% share of all spending.

If it can maintain that share, Nvidia's revenue could top $1 trillion by 2030. That would easily lead to the stock doubling over that time frame, and anytime you can find a stock that has the potential to double in under five years, it's a fantastic investment opportunity.

Nvidia is still one of the top ways to invest in the AI build-out; with Huang reaffirming the strength of the AI arms race, I think it's a great buying signal for investors.

Elon Musk told SpaceX employees in August that AI revenue would overtake every other part of the business by September. The deadline has passed, and the numbers that will confirm or contradict him are weeks away from filing.

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Elon Musk set a date. He released a 30-minute all-hands video on X on August 11, 2026, which Johnny Rice of The Motley Fool reported on. In it, the SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) chief told employees: “Probably our AI revenue, not probably, definitely, our AI revenue will exceed all other SpaceX revenue probably in September, like next month.”

Musk opened with “probably,” switched to “definitely,” then returned to “probably in September.” He stated the crossover with confidence but hedged timing. September has ended, so investors can check this forecast against reported numbers.

What the Crossover Required Johnny Rice cited SpaceX’s second-quarter report: total revenue was $7.81 billion, up 92%. Per Rice, AI contributed $2.56 billion, while Connectivity and Space brought in $5.25 billion combined. AI needed to more than double, assuming the rest of SpaceX stopped growing.

The rest of SpaceX kept growing. The Q2 earnings release filed with the SEC shows Connectivity revenue of $4.291 billion, up 66%. Starlink’s enterprise and government line rose 108%. AI revenue rose 247%, but its $367 million advertising line fell year over year.

On the August 4 earnings call, a SpaceX executive said the company had “contracted an additional $6.7 billion of cloud services revenue over a six-month period that begins ramping starting in October of this year.” That revenue starts after Musk’s deadline.

Musk’s Bigger Number Dwarfs Wall Street’s In the same video, Musk set a target of 10 gigawatts of AI computing capacity by the end of next year. He valued that capacity at roughly $30 to $50 per watt. From those two figures, he derived annual AI revenue of $300 billion to $500 billion by 2028. On the earnings call, he described the per-watt figure this way: “This is just a guess.”

Musk also said Grok will be trained on SpaceX’s internal information, including employees’ own work: “So in a way, it’ll be trained on you.”

Rice cited a much smaller outside estimate. After SpaceX signed its computing deals with Anthropic and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) projected $15.6 billion in AI revenue for all of 2026, according to The Motley Fool.

Three Obstacles Between the Forecast and the Filings Power. SpaceX faces public backlash over methane-burning gas turbines powering Colossus 1 and 2 (The Motley Fool). Capital. Rice noted SpaceX spent over $25 billion on AI last quarter. The filing shows $15.83 billion of the quarter’s $18.37 billion capex went to AI compute. Capacity stood at 1.4 gigawatts at Q2 end. Rice expects a funding shortfall despite $93.52 billion in cash. Musk said SpaceX expects only “a very small percentage” of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs next year. Contracts. Either party can exit the Anthropic and Google contracts with a 90-day notice, according to The Motley Fool. If a customer leaves, SpaceX misses the revenue it built capacity for. How to Settle the September Question SpaceX has filed nothing since the August 4 8-K. The third-quarter report, expected in late October or early November, should answer the question. Check SpaceX’s investor relations site for:

Q3 AI division revenue versus Connectivity plus Space. Look for monthly or exit-rate disclosure if quarterly totals don’t break out September. Progress toward the $100 billion annualized run rate targeted for December, which Musk called “not a question mark”. Whether any customer has used its exit clause. The stock has already moved on the AI story. Shares closed at $158.96 on October 2, up 7.35% on the day and 12.97% over the past month. On October 1, SpaceX launched Google AI chips into orbit as part of its space-based data center push (CNBC). If Q3 numbers show AI still trailing Starlink, the stock will be trading on Musk’s forecast ahead of reported results.

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Intel's (INTC -0.56%) comeback has been quite a sight to behold. As of this writing, shares of the chipmaker have exploded by more than 220% in 2026 in part due to surging demand for the company's CPUs, but also due to increased optimism about the outlook for its foundry business. And even with that incredible run-up behind it, patient investors may still want to consider buying Intel's stock.

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Intel's turnaround is gaining momentum Intel's second quarter was one of its best in several years. Revenue jumped by 25% year over year to more than $16 billion. Intel's gross margin also improved tremendously, rising to 40.4% from 27.5%.

The bigger story here is Intel's foundry division and the turnaround happening within it. Intel Foundry's revenue was nearly $6 billion in the quarter, and its output paced 25% above the target. While the segment posted a $2.1 billion loss, the gap is narrowing. Foundry revenue from external customers was just $293 million, which means that if its turnaround is to gain steam, Intel really needs to win more business from outside clients.

The company's GAAP loss was $2.16 per share, but it's important to note that this was largely due to an escrow arrangement related to funds it was awarded through the CHIPS Act. On the books, that showed up in the form of a non-cash charge of $12.53 billion. So the quarter's loss was not reflective of operational issues.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

14A is make or break Much of Intel Foundry's future success hangs on the successful launch of Intel 14A. This is a next-generation semiconductor fabrication process node that will produce chips with even greater transistor density than 2-nanometer chips. The development of its 14A foundry is nearing completion, with risk production planned for 2027 and a high-volume mass-production target of 2028. Management's hope is that its 14A manufacturing services will position it to pose a serious challenge to Taiwan Semiconductor's dominance in cutting-edge chip manufacturing.

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In a bullish sign, Intel CFO David Zinsner implied on the Q2 earnings call that the development is going very well and that conversations with potential customers have shifted from evaluating 14A to inquiring about how much capacity they can secure.

It's been reported that a slew of megacaps, including most of the "Magnificent Seven," are among Intel's prospective foundry clients. However, Intel will need to secure one of these large-scale customers sooner rather than later.

In June, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya gave Intel stock an unusual double-upgrade from underperform to buy, citing an optimistic outlook for its foundry business and strong demand. Intel did have to engage in a $23 billion secondary stock sale in August to help fund its foundry build-out.

Intel is firing on all cylinders Intel is due to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 22. The company's guidance suggests revenue could be as high as $16.8 billion. One concern is that Intel's valuation is sky-high right now. The company for years maintained a forward P/E ratio in the low teens. Now that metric stands at more than 60.

Furthermore, the consensus price target among analysts is just above $116 per share, and the stock is trading above that as of this writing. There isn't much room for error with Intel's stock.

However, given the company's main revenue sources and an ever-improving foundry operation, I'm quite bullish on Intel's future -- as long as its 14A process node proves as promising as advertised. For interested investors, it may be prudent to build a position in Intel slowly rather than all at once, given the milestones the company still needs to hit over the next couple of years.

It's been a banner year for Dell Technologies (DELL +3.84%), with its stock up nearly 325% at the time of this writing.

Like many other large tech stocks, it has found its place in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain, specifically with its AI servers, which have been in high demand this year as graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters and data centers scale.

As such, Dell has been able to distribute more capital back to shareholders, noticeably raising its quarterly dividend by 20% earlier this year. Dell only initiated its dividend program in 2023.

Can investors trust the stock for passive income?

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Why Dell's stock has exploded this year While GPUs and other chips have been at the center of the AI trade, they need to interact with other components in a data center to obtain the capabilities needed to respond to queries from, say, a large language model.

Dell's AI-optimized servers integrate the chips, memory, and other necessary components that power them, including liquid cooling and data storage, into a full server and rack.

The company also performs quality control and then ships them to customers such as neoclouds and other large customers, including hyperscalers that operate their own data centers.

While Dell isn't the only company building and selling full-scale AI racks, it's been all hands on deck amid massive AI demand, resulting in shortages across the supply chain.

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In its second quarter of fiscal year 2027, the company posted $47 billion in revenue, up 58% year over year, while diluted earnings per share of $6.34 surged 273%.

Management also lifted its full-year guidance from $167 billion to $192 billion, implying 69% annual growth.

"Demand is broadening across neoclouds, sovereigns, and enterprise customers, and our customer count has surpassed 6,500," Dell's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said on the company's most recent earnings call. "The scale and complexity of these deployments reinforce why customers choose us."

Can Dell's dividend be trusted? It's pretty easy to see why Dell was able to raise its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.63 per common share.

The much-improved financials have also contributed to a 224% increase in adjusted free cash flow in the second quarter. More free cash flow means more money for dividends. Dell's trailing-12-month free cash flow yield of 2.37% far exceeds its trailing dividend yield of 0.43%.

The payout ratio is also not high, with $2.52 in annualized dividends per share easily covered by this quarter's profits alone. The company is also repurchasing stock, with nearly $3.8 billion of share repurchases in the most recent quarter, which dwarfs the $405 million of dividend payments.

Now, obviously, the big question or future concern for Dell's dividend is what happens if AI demand dries up.

While there's certainly no evidence of this happening right now, the hyperscalers continue to raise their future guidance for AI-related capital expenditures, which could very well top $1 trillion next year. But it's hard to imagine this level of spending continuing like this forever.

When evaluating stocks for dividends, it's key for investors to consider what a company's earnings and free cash flow could be over the long term to estimate what a sustainable dividend looks like and how much it can be raised each year.

The good news is that Dell's $2.62 projected annualized dividend is still well below the $8.68 in diluted earnings per share the company generated in fiscal year 2026, or even the $6.38 it earned in fiscal year 2025.

This tells me that even if earnings were to slow considerably, Dell's dividend would still be covered, so I see no reason why the dividend can't be increased annually moving forward.

That said, Dell's 0.43% annual yield is not particularly attractive, so if you're purely focused on passive income, there are likely more attractive dividend stocks out there. But higher-yielding dividend stocks may not be able to tap into the AI trade like Dell can, for better or worse.

If someone who doesn't really follow the market or investing asked me to describe the investing strategy of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA +0.41%) (BRKB +0.43%), the massively successful insurance and holding company built by Warren Buffett, I'd tell them just two things to remember.

First, Berkshire aims to be a long-term investor. Buffett famously said that "our favorite holding period is forever." And second, it prefers to buy companies it believes are temporarily undervalued by the rest of the investing universe. "Be greedy when others are fearful," Buffett also likes to say.

Image source: Getty Images.

And if I wanted to present an example of this strategy, Berkshire management -- now headed by new CEO Greg Abel -- just provided a perfect one: It boosted its position in homebuilder Lennar (LEN -2.80%).

Consider that the U.S. housing market is in rough shape. It has been struggling for years. A new report out from White House economists says the country has 10 million fewer houses than it needs, and there remain many obstacles to building more at a fast enough pace to remedy to problem. And recently, soaring mortgage rates have put new home purchases even further out of reach for a growing swath of Americans. The average 30-year mortgage rate has climbed to almost 7.3%, more than 1 percentage point higher than at the beginning of 2026 and well more than double what it was five years ago.

Homebuilder stocks are having a terrible year All of this helps explain why homebuilder stocks are in the dumps this year -- including Lennar, which is down 20% so far in 2026 and off by 36% over the past 52 weeks. Clearly, most investors don't find this stock attractive. Analysts don't, either. Analysts' average 12-month price target for Lennar is $80, more than $2 below the current price. And of the 19 analysts who follow the stock (as tracked by Yahoo! Finance), 17 rate it a hold, underperform, or sell. Just two rate it a buy.

So, Lennar is a beaten-down stock in a highly troubled industry. Yet in late September, Berkshire Hathaway sank another $53.9 million into Lennar shares, bringing its stake to $2.2 billion, or 11% of the homebuilder. That's just behind the 11.2% stake held by investment giant Vanguard. That's on top of Berkshire's recent $6.8 billion acquisition of homebuilder Taylor Morrison, a deal it closed in July.

Clearly, Berkshire sees Lennar as undervalued by the market and took advantage of a lower share price to boost its stake in the company. It also appears that Berkshire is betting on the housing industry while conditions in it remain fraught. And it makes sense. The unaffordability of housing for average Americans is a huge problem, one that politicians and policymakers are eager to address. (This summer, Congress passed a bipartisan bill that aims to make it easier to build and finance housing.)

It may take a while, but I believe the housing industry will eventually rebound. Some investors don't have the resources or patience to wait for that rebound, but Berkshire does. I think ordinary retail investors should give this challenged industry a second look, too.

Caterpillar (CAT +2.31%) is a leading maker of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives.

On Oct. 1, the industrial stock was trading at around $822 per share and was up more than 43% so far this year, though it's down notably from the 52-week high of $1,073.46 it reached on June 30.

In that context, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility that Caterpillar could be trading above $1,000 within the next three years, and here are three reasons why I think it will be. 

Image source: Getty Images

Data center AI infrastructure and off-grid power needs The explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) and data center construction has created an acute power bottleneck. Hyperscalers cannot rely solely on local electrical grid interconnections to get access to the many megawatts their data centers need. In many places, there are multiyear interconnect queues for large electricity customers.

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845.42

Caterpillar's energy and transportation division has become a core supplier of primary and backup power for AI facilities --  specifically its reciprocating industrial engines and solar turbines. The company said it is tripling its production capacity of large reciprocating engines relative to its 2024 baseline. As hyperscalers sign multi-gigawatt power contracts, Caterpillar will be able to secure long-duration, high-margin equipment backlogs.

In the second quarter, the company reported record revenue of $20.5 billion, up 24% year over year. Its operating profit margin grew from 17.3% in the prior-year quarter to 20.9%, and earnings per share rose 68% to $7.77.

It is seeing more high-margin growth Traditionally, the market has valued Caterpillar as a cyclical manufacturing company, recognizing that its business would be subject to both uplifting booms and sharp declines based on macroeconomic factors. However, Caterpillar has been systematically lifting its valuation multiple by scaling up the share of revenue it books from predictable services businesses.

The company is on track toward its goal of $30 billion in annualized high-margin services revenue by 2030, up from $24 billion. Gas turbines and continuous-power generators running 24/7 generate up to 40 times as much lifecycle servicing and parts demand as standby diesel units. This shift in its revenue structure is smoothing out the cyclicality of its earnings, which is why the market is granting Caterpillar a higher structural price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple. It is trading at about 35 times earnings, well above its average over the past five years.

In the second quarter, the company reported cash flow of $6.14 billion, up from $5.72 billion in the prior-year period. That growth is enabling the company to invest more in new projects and reward shareholders. It increased its dividend by 8% this year, the 32nd consecutive year it has boosted its dividend.

Megaproject and infrastructure reshoring tailwinds Demand for heavy construction and mining equipment remains well supported by long-term government and private sector infrastructure commitments. Federal infrastructure spending, energy transition initiatives, semiconductor foundry projects, and manufacturing reshoring continue to drive domestic demand for earth-moving equipment.

In addition, high global demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, and rare-earth metals is driving mining operators to increase their capital expenditures. Caterpillar's proprietary autonomous haulage fleet technology gives it a competitive moat, locking in large mine site fleet refresh cycles.

Caterpillar has entered a new era The stock has often been praised for its steady, if unspectacular growth. That paradigm has shifted as the company's turbines and engines have come into greater demand as power sources for data centers.

Over the past five years, Caterpillar's quarterly revenue has increased by 54%, while in the five prior years, it grew by less than 25%. It is certainly reasonable that the stock could reach $1,000 a share by 2028, if not sooner.

SummaryLumentum's Q4 revenue surged 109% to $1.006 billion, while gross margin reached 50.4%, far earlier than management’s historical model implied.OCS revenue should exceed $100 million quarterly as Lumentum expands deeper into higher-value AI networking and systems infrastructure.Laser demand continues exceeding capacity, while 1.6T, CPO and external laser sources provide overlapping growth drivers through 2027 and 2028.LITE trades at 48 times FY1 earnings, but 156% forward EPS growth helps justify its premium valuation versus Coherent. IURII KRASILNIKOV/iStock via Getty Images

Introduction At this point in time, the case for Lumentum Holdings (LITE) business transformation is clear, but so is the valuation risk following the 500%+ stock rally in the past year. The Q4 revenues grew by

1.03K Followers

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of LITE either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Every major AI chip runs through one company's fabs, and its stock still trades cheaper than the customers that depend on it. Here is why analysts keep raising their targets despite a geopolitical sword hanging over the business.

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The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM | TSM Price Prediction) is $531.86 over the next 12 months. This points to 16.53% upside from the current $456.41. Our model rates TSMC a buy with high confidence.

Metric Value Current Price $456.41 Price Target from 24/7 Wall St. $531.86 Upside/Downside 16.53% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% TSMC makes the chips inside nearly every major AI accelerator, and its results show it. High-performance computing rose 20% quarter over quarter to 66% of Q2 revenue.

Management now expects 2026 revenue growth slightly above 40% in USD terms, up from close to 30% in January. Net income grew 77.4%, yet the stock trades at just 22x forward earnings.

Shares Up 51% in 2026 as 2nm Production Begins TSM has gained 2.19% over the past week, 10.17% over the past month and 51.32% year to date. Shares sit about 4.5% below the 52-week high of $477.71 and roughly 73% above the low of $264.34.

Q2 EPS of $4.31 beat the $3.87 consensus. TSMC has topped estimates in every quarter going back to early 2023. Revenue rose 36% to $40.20 billion, and 2nm launched at 3% of wafer revenue. August sales climbed 53.3% year over year. TSMC also raised its planned Arizona investment to $265 billion, and Barron’s reports it could spend even more.

Why Bulls See a Path to $620 The bull case hits $620.74, a 36.01% gain. The 2nm ramp drives this, with A14 entering production in 2027 offering 10% to 15% speed improvement over N2. Advanced packaging remains tight, supporting pricing power.

Management said “our conviction in the multi-year AI megatrend remains very high.” Wall Street agrees: 6 strong buy and 12 buy ratings against one hold, with a consensus target of $552.26.

Margin Dilution and Taiwan Risk Could Stall Gains The downside case is $443.67, or -2.79%. The 2nm ramp reduces gross margin by 3 to 4 percentage points, with overseas fabs adding more. The 2026 capital budget is $60 billion to $64 billion. Taiwan-China tensions and US export controls present risks.

Even the low end of Q3 gross margin guidance, 65%, is well above the long-term 56%+ target. Much margin pressure comes from capacity customers are asking for.

TSMC Trades Cheaper Than Its Biggest Customer Company Forward P/E Quarterly Revenue Growth (YoY) TSMC 22x 36.0% NVIDIA 25x 105.9% Intel 63x 25.4% ASML 29x 21.3% NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) is TSMC’s biggest advanced-node customer and trades at a higher multiple, but its growth flows into TSMC’s wafer orders.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) trades at 63x forward earnings despite trailing EPS of -$2.09.

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) supplies the EUV tools TSMC needs yet trades at a higher multiple despite slower growth. At our target, TSMC would trade near 26x forward EPS, below ASML. The target looks reasonable against peers.

TSMC’s Valuation Edge Supports the Upside Case Our $531.86 target earns a buy rating and 90% confidence. TSMC’s lower valuation versus dependent companies weighs in its favor. Key signals to monitor include whether 2nm yields keep Q3 gross margin within guidance, along with any rise in cross-strait tensions or cuts to hyperscaler AI spending.

The same expansion feeding TSMC’s order book is also raised the power, cooling, and networking suppliers we profiled in a free report on seven AI infrastructure stocks that aren’t chipmakers. On balance, upside outweighs risks.

TSMC Price Prediction 2026-2030 Our model projects where TSMC could trade if current trends hold:

Year Price Target from 24/7 Wall St. 2026 $476.98 2027 $533.34 2028 $591.67 2029 $663.10 2030 $715.75 Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

SummaryDigitalBridge Group, Inc. is being acquired by a SoftBank affiliate, triggering the delisting of its preferred stocks, DBRG.PR.H, DBRG.PR.I, and DBRG.PR.J.Investors will have a limited window to act once the delisting is officially announced, impacting liquidity and exit options for these preferreds.DBRG manages approximately $121 billion, focusing on digital infrastructure assets across data centers, towers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure.The company's global scale, sector specialization, and institutional capital access underpin its differentiated position in resilient, high-growth digital infrastructure markets.Since each investor has their own thoughts on delisted preferreds, I rated each as a Hold.Looking for more investing ideas like this one? Get them exclusively at iREIT®+HOYA Capital. Learn More » Parradee Kietsirikul/iStock via Getty Images

Introduction DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (DBRG) has been acquired by an affiliate of SoftBank Group Corp. (SFTBY) and has stated they will delist the following preferred stocks:

DigitalBridge Group, Inc., 7.125% Series H Cumulative Redeemable Perp Prfd Stock ( 9.44K Followers

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Jackson Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report) by 92.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,419 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 187,864 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.6% of Jackson Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Jackson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,950,297,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $36,986,090,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,443,242,000. Nuveen LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 75,000,920 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $20,389,750,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Apple by 23.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 73,082,616 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $18,547,637,000 after buying an additional 13,780,080 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

Positive Sentiment: Apple is launching new safeguards designed to protect its devices from probing AI agents. The move may strengthen user trust and help preserve Apple’s security-focused ecosystem as agentic AI becomes more prominent. Apple Launches New Safeguards Against AI Agents Positive Sentiment: The fall product cycle remains a near-term tailwind. Morgan Stanley modestly raised its revenue forecast after Apple’s launches, while Counterpoint reportedly expects about 6 million sales of the $1,999 foldable iPhone Duo this year. New Apple Watch health features and potential smart-home products could also broaden the company’s ecosystem. Apple’s Fall Product Cycle Could Support Revenue Growth Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained an Overweight rating but lowered its price target to $355 from $360. Higher memory and component costs, along with possible iPhone pricing pressure, are offsetting much of the expected product-revenue benefit. Morgan Stanley Adjusts Price Target on Apple Negative Sentiment: A jury’s $5.7 billion patent verdict against Apple has raised concerns about potential ongoing royalties and pressure on hardware margins. Apple’s $5.7 Billion Patent Verdict Raises a Bigger Royalty Question Negative Sentiment: Investors remain worried that AI agents from rivals such as Meta could bypass the App Store and weaken Apple’s high-margin services business. Analysts also see limited upside after Apple’s strong run and its relatively rich valuation. Negative Sentiment: Senior Vice President Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares valued at approximately $806,496, reducing her direct holdings by 5.4%. The transaction is small relative to her remaining stake but adds modest insider-selling pressure. Apple Insider Transaction Filing Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. China Renaissance lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $329.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. KGI Securities lowered shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $303.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $340.02. Get Our Latest Research Report on Apple

Apple Stock Up 1.0% AAPL opened at $333.69 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.42 and a twelve month high of $345.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $322.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $300.01. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.27, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. Apple had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 135.46%. The company had revenue of $109.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. Apple’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 12.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets In other Apple news, SVP Jennifer Newstead sold 2,399 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.18, for a total transaction of $806,495.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 41,992 shares in the company, valued at $14,116,870.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 13,430 shares of company stock worth $4,342,255 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Company Profile (Free Report)

Apple Inc is a technology company that designs, develops and markets consumer electronics, software and digital services. Its best-known products include the iPhone smartphone, Mac personal computers, iPad tablets, Apple Watch, AirPods and other accessories. The company also develops operating systems and software platforms, including iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS and visionOS.

Apple’s services business includes the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+ and iCloud.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Apple AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AAPL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL – Free Report).

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denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,192 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock, valued at approximately $522,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,257,562 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $545,870,000 after purchasing an additional 49,075 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 3.1% in the second quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 73,878 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $17,608,000 after buying an additional 2,245 shares during the last quarter. Kickstand Ventures LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Werlinich Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.7% in the second quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC now owns 6,945 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Prosperitas Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 4.6% during the second quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 44,696 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $10,653,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, July 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Fifty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $321.63.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Amazon.com Amazon.com Stock Performance Amazon.com stock opened at $251.52 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $287.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.23, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. The business had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%.The business’s revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com In other Amazon.com news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total value of $2,404,950.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,699,926.30. This represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $5,180,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,235,766 shares in the company, valued at $579,085,751.66. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 70,589 shares of company stock worth $18,329,015 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Key Amazon.com News Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

Positive Sentiment: AWS data-center push received support: Amazon Web Services pledged more than $1 billion over five years for communities hosting its U.S. data centers, including job training, education and infrastructure initiatives. The investment is intended to ease resistance to new facilities and help Amazon secure capacity for AI workloads. Amazon to invest $1 billion over five years in US data center communities Positive Sentiment: AI and AWS growth remain the main bullish catalyst: Reports highlighted AWS’s rapid expansion, a more than $1 billion Synopsys agreement supporting custom-chip development, and Anthropic’s expected long-term AWS commitments of roughly $110 billion. Amazon also launched an AI agent that audits customers’ cloud environments, potentially increasing AWS usage while improving customer cost, security and performance management. Amazon Is Both Landlord And Shareholder In Anthropic’s Giant Cloud Bet Positive Sentiment: Analyst confidence provided additional support: Goldman Sachs added Amazon to its conviction list, while New Street raised its price target to $385 and maintained a Buy rating. Analysts cited AWS growth, generative AI exposure and potential retail-margin improvement as reasons for longer-term upside. New Street Adjusts Price Target on Amazon.com to $385 Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is reportedly exploring an $8 billion chip sale-and-leaseback: Moving Nvidia AI chips to an investment vehicle could make the balance sheet more asset-light and help fund capital spending, but it also underscores the scale of Amazon’s AI infrastructure costs and financing requirements. Amazon seeks to offload $8 billion of Nvidia chips Negative Sentiment: Investors face profitability and regulatory risks: Analysts questioned how much AWS earnings are distorted by unrealized Anthropic investment gains, while surging AI capital expenditures could pressure free cash flow. Potential tougher EU cloud rules, data-center opposition, warehouse labor actions and Prime-related settlement payments add further uncertainty. What Are Amazon Investors Paying for AWS Without Investment Gains? Amazon.com Profile (Free Report)

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and commerce company that operates online marketplaces, physical stores, and a broad portfolio of digital and cloud-based services. The company offers consumer products across categories such as electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries, and entertainment, while also providing third-party sellers with tools for listing, selling, and fulfilling orders.

Amazon’s major businesses include Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides cloud computing, storage, database, analytics, and artificial intelligence services; Prime, a membership program that includes shipping, streaming, and other benefits; and digital entertainment services such as Prime Video, Amazon Music, Kindle, and Audible.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Amazon.com AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next

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National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 23.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 219,900 shares of the software giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,000 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up 0.5% of National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives’ holdings in Microsoft were worth $82,027,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Microsoft by 56,160.8% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 60,116,384 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,073,486,000 after buying an additional 60,009,531 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Microsoft by 30.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 41,675,076 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,426,862,000 after purchasing an additional 9,814,598 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 10.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,323,744 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $10,852,884,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784,809 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,300,410 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $12,235,785,000 after purchasing an additional 458,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 64.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,264,779 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $8,982,083,000 after buying an additional 9,493,778 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSFT shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Microsoft from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, CLSA restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Forty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.18.

Read Our Latest Report on MSFT Microsoft Stock Up 0.9% Microsoft stock opened at $517.53 on Friday. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $553.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $429.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%.The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.65 earnings per share. Microsoft’s revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a boost from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. Microsoft’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Key Microsoft News Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Azure and AI demand remain the primary catalyst. Investor data and analyst commentary point to accelerating Azure demand, while Microsoft’s recent earnings showed its fastest cloud growth in four years. The improving demand is helping ease concerns that the company’s substantial AI infrastructure spending will not generate adequate returns. Ca$htag: MSFT Azure Cloud Drives Soaring Demand Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo added Microsoft to its Q4 Tactical Ideas list and raised its price target to $725, citing Azure’s growth potential and the prospect of improved AI monetization through Copilot. The action adds to a series of bullish analyst revisions; one report noted that 52 analysts covering Microsoft currently have no sell ratings. With Azure as a Catalyst, Microsoft Is Positioned for Sustained Growth Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s OpenAI relationship provides potential additional value. Investors are increasingly focused on Microsoft’s stake and commercial partnership with OpenAI, particularly ahead of a possible OpenAI initial public offering that could provide a market reference for the investment. OpenAI’s Future IPO Keeps Me Buying Microsoft Positive Sentiment: Microsoft introduced new real-time AI speech models for customer-service agents, multilingual assistants and voice interfaces. The products broaden Microsoft’s enterprise AI offering and could support additional cloud consumption and software revenue. Microsoft Targets Contact Center Market With Real-Time AI Voice Models Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting Microsoft’s October 7 Surface and Windows event. New hardware or Windows updates could support the ecosystem, although the event has not yet produced a material earnings catalyst. Microsoft Stock Notches Up Ahead of the Surface Show Negative Sentiment: Risks include heavy AI capital spending, valuation concerns and broader market concentration. Critics argue that rising data-center capacity could pressure compute pricing and returns, while strategists warn that a market correction could disproportionately affect megacap technology stocks. Microsoft’s dividend remains affordable, but AI infrastructure spending and lease commitments could limit future dividend growth. Morgan Stanley Strategist Sees Market Drawdown Potential Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,007,086.83. The trade was a 9.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 41,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.27, for a total value of $20,764,903.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 533,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,888,830.48. This trade represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 143,009 shares of company stock valued at $71,420,699 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next

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Nike is deliberately shrinking itself, slashing sales of its most iconic products and retreating from entire markets. Whether that painful gamble rebuilds the brand or just accelerates the decline is the question every shareholder now faces.

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Per CFO Dave Denton, Nike (NYSE:NKE | NKE Price Prediction) reported first-quarter revenue of $11.2 billion, down 4%, with gross margin of 42.8%, up 60 basis points, and EPS of $0.48. Shares fell 5.8% to $33.10, down 47.7% year to date and 75.5% over five years. The decline reflects Nike’s plan to get smaller. Denton, new to the role, also delivered the full-year outlook.

Three Cuts Nike Chose to Make Dunk The Dunk is a low-top basketball shoe that became a lifestyle sneaker. CEO Elliott Hill said Nike reduced Dunk revenue by nearly 50% on purpose, creating a roughly $200 million drag in Sportswear. Pulling volume restores full prices because when popular shoes sit on every shelf, retailers discount them.

Jordan Retro Hill said, “We’re going to get back to leading the scarcity model that we created. Simply put, we’ve been oversupplying our iconic retro product, asking it to do too much.”

He also said Jordan made up 13% of Nike’s global business, with revenue down by the mid-teens. Rare shoes command premium prices. “When consumers see the Jumpman, it should feel special. It should feel earned,” said Hill.

Greater China Greater China revenue fell 26%, according to Nike. Hill called the digital marketplace “too broad. It wasn’t differentiated, and it had become promotional.” Nike is cutting back to official stores on Tmall, JD, and Douyin and its own app, expecting continued pressure on revenue and profitability in the near term.

Why the Growing Business Can’t Cover the Gap Yet Hill said Nike’s performance business grew by high single digits on a $16 billion base, with gains across running, football, training, basketball, tennis, and golf. Yet he acknowledged the limit: “Our Nike performance business is not yet large enough to offset the pressure we’re seeing in Nike Sportswear, Jordan brand, and Greater China.”

Sportswear made up just under half of revenue and fell by low double digits, Hill said. Running demand is strong: On Holding (NYSE:ONON) grew quarterly revenue 13.5% year over year. Softness is spreading across the category. A CNBC Fast Money panelist noted “Lululemon is going through the same thing” as Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) works through its own slowdown.

What Shareholders Are Being Asked to Accept “While these decisions can dampen near-term top line results, our focus is on improving the quality of revenue and creating a more sustainable foundation for long-term growth,” said Hill.

Denton guided fiscal 2027 revenue to decline in the high single-digit range, with operating profit falling by a greater percentage than revenue. Adjusted EPS is set at $1.15 to $1.35 versus GAAP EPS of $2.10 in fiscal 2026. Pain may extend into fiscal 2028. Most of the Pace program’s $2.5 billion in savings arrives in fiscal years 29 and 30.

Verdict: A Credible Plan That Still Needs a Floor The strategy is credible because Nike’s results back it up. Where management restored discipline, products responded: Air Force One is a “stable, full-price business,” and the Shanghai House of Innovation has posted 10 consecutive months of growth. The risk is that cutting revenue has no natural stopping point, and the timeline already extends into fiscal 2028.

The test is Nike’s November investor day. A five-year framework with a specific, dated return to growth for Sportswear, Jordan, and China would strengthen the recovery case. Longer timelines would suggest a strategy of demolition without a clear rebuilding endpoint.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. lifted its holdings in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 272,239 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,929 shares during the period. NVIDIA makes up approximately 4.3% of Mmbg Investment Advisors CO.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO.’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $54,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of NVIDIA by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 191,200,989 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $33,345,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,019,505 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of NVIDIA by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 143,239,504 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $26,714,167,000 after buying an additional 446,178 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 13,709.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 125,760,307 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $23,454,297,000 after buying an additional 124,849,603 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 133,768,018 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $23,329,141,000 after buying an additional 12,575,177 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in NVIDIA by 2.3% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 91,954,159 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $18,399,108,000 after buying an additional 2,045,101 shares in the last quarter. 65.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NVIDIA In other NVIDIA news, CFO Colette Kress sold 34,918 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.05, for a total value of $7,648,787.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 765,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,595,812.15. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Timothy S. Teter sold 30,460 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.80, for a total value of $6,786,488.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,687,660 shares in the company, valued at $598,810,648. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,766,118 shares of company stock worth $399,450,353 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.94% of the company’s stock.

NVIDIA Trading Up 1.3% NASDAQ:NVDA opened at $233.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $218.74 and its 200-day moving average is $207.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 4.59. NVIDIA Corporation has a 52 week low of $164.27 and a 52 week high of $237.88. The firm has a market cap of $5.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 2.22. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.27 billion. NVIDIA had a net margin of 63.66% and a return on equity of 96.04%. NVIDIA’s revenue for the quarter was up 105.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that NVIDIA Corporation will post 9.25 earnings per share for the current year.

NVIDIA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, September 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the computer hardware maker to purchase up to 2.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NVIDIA Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 10th. NVIDIA’s payout ratio is currently 12.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have commented on NVDA. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on NVIDIA from $300.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on NVIDIA in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Itau BBA Securities dropped their price target on NVIDIA from $256.00 to $218.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of NVIDIA from $360.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NVIDIA presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.71.

View Our Latest Stock Report on NVDA

More NVIDIA News Here are the key news stories impacting NVIDIA this week:

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named NVIDIA its top semiconductor pick, maintaining an Overweight rating and setting a $300 price target. The firm believes NVIDIA’s software ecosystem, scale and positioning across AI infrastructure trends give it a durable competitive moat. Morgan Stanley names NVIDIA a top pick Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA’s recently announced $150 billion buyback authorization lifts total remaining repurchase capacity to approximately $235 billion. Investors view the plan as a sign of management confidence and a potential source of per-share earnings support. NVIDIA buyback analysis Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to raise expectations for hyperscaler spending, with Barclays estimating NVIDIA could generate $401 billion in hyperscaler revenue in 2027. CoreWeave’s launch of the Vera Rubin platform and additional enterprise customers also supports demand for NVIDIA’s next-generation systems. Barclays hyperscaler revenue estimate Neutral Sentiment: The broader semiconductor and technology complex is attracting buying interest as AI investment remains a major market leadership theme. However, NVIDIA’s valuation and substantial market concentration leave the stock sensitive to interest rates, economic data and shifts in institutional positioning. Negative Sentiment: Investors are monitoring reports that Amazon may move roughly $8 billion of NVIDIA chips off its balance sheet through leasing or financing structures. While this could improve customer flexibility, it adds scrutiny around AI infrastructure financing and so-called circular transactions. Amazon NVIDIA chip balance-sheet report Negative Sentiment: Export-control concerns remain a headline risk after prosecutors alleged a California man helped smuggle approximately $300 million of NVIDIA chips to China. Separately, Michael Burry warned that GPU depreciation could undermine the economics of the AI infrastructure boom, while Alphabet’s growing use of internally designed chips represents a longer-term competitive threat. NVIDIA chip smuggling prosecution NVIDIA Profile (Free Report)

NVIDIA Corporation is a technology company that designs accelerated computing platforms, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), networking products and related software. Its technologies are used in artificial intelligence, data centers, scientific and technical computing, gaming, professional visualization, automotive systems and robotics.

The company’s products include GeForce GPUs and gaming software, data center computing platforms, networking solutions, and enterprise software for AI development and deployment.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVDA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report).

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Stevens Capital Partners raised its stake in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report) by 67.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,339 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the period. NVIDIA accounts for approximately 0.9% of Stevens Capital Partners’ portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Stevens Capital Partners’ holdings in NVIDIA were worth $4,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boyd Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in NVIDIA by 273.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,145 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 6,451.9% in the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 637,236 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $111,134,000 after acquiring an additional 627,510 shares during the period. Storen Legacy Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NVIDIA in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,350,000. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 7.4% in the second quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 71,898 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $14,386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,652,420 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $4,970,704,000 after acquiring an additional 936,506 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In NVDA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on NVIDIA from $300.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on NVIDIA in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $300.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NVIDIA currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.71.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on NVIDIA NVIDIA News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting NVIDIA this week:

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named NVIDIA its top semiconductor pick, maintaining an Overweight rating and setting a $300 price target. The firm believes NVIDIA’s software ecosystem, scale and positioning across AI infrastructure trends give it a durable competitive moat. Morgan Stanley names NVIDIA a top pick Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA’s recently announced $150 billion buyback authorization lifts total remaining repurchase capacity to approximately $235 billion. Investors view the plan as a sign of management confidence and a potential source of per-share earnings support. NVIDIA buyback analysis Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to raise expectations for hyperscaler spending, with Barclays estimating NVIDIA could generate $401 billion in hyperscaler revenue in 2027. CoreWeave’s launch of the Vera Rubin platform and additional enterprise customers also supports demand for NVIDIA’s next-generation systems. Barclays hyperscaler revenue estimate Neutral Sentiment: The broader semiconductor and technology complex is attracting buying interest as AI investment remains a major market leadership theme. However, NVIDIA’s valuation and substantial market concentration leave the stock sensitive to interest rates, economic data and shifts in institutional positioning. Negative Sentiment: Investors are monitoring reports that Amazon may move roughly $8 billion of NVIDIA chips off its balance sheet through leasing or financing structures. While this could improve customer flexibility, it adds scrutiny around AI infrastructure financing and so-called circular transactions. Amazon NVIDIA chip balance-sheet report Negative Sentiment: Export-control concerns remain a headline risk after prosecutors alleged a California man helped smuggle approximately $300 million of NVIDIA chips to China. Separately, Michael Burry warned that GPU depreciation could undermine the economics of the AI infrastructure boom, while Alphabet’s growing use of internally designed chips represents a longer-term competitive threat. NVIDIA chip smuggling prosecution Insiders Place Their Bets In other NVIDIA news, Director Mark Stevens sold 622,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.62, for a total value of $144,122,997.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,336,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $541,187,310.22. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Colette Kress sold 34,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.05, for a total value of $7,648,787.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 765,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,595,812.15. This trade represents a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 1,766,118 shares of company stock worth $399,450,353 in the last quarter. 3.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NVIDIA Stock Up 1.3% Shares of NASDAQ:NVDA opened at $233.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.59, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 2.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $218.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.48. NVIDIA Corporation has a 12-month low of $164.27 and a 12-month high of $237.88.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The computer hardware maker reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.13. NVIDIA had a net margin of 63.66% and a return on equity of 96.04%. The business had revenue of $96.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 105.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that NVIDIA Corporation will post 9.25 EPS for the current year.

NVIDIA Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.64%.

NVIDIA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, September 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer hardware maker to purchase up to 2.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

NVIDIA Company Profile (Free Report)

NVIDIA Corporation is a technology company that designs accelerated computing platforms, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), networking products and related software. Its technologies are used in artificial intelligence, data centers, scientific and technical computing, gaming, professional visualization, automotive systems and robotics.

The company’s products include GeForce GPUs and gaming software, data center computing platforms, networking solutions, and enterprise software for AI development and deployment.

Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVDA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report).

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AI agents are consuming tokens at a pace that dwarfs human usage, and the companies supplying the hardware behind every request are seeing that demand translate into numbers that few investors expected to see this soon.

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One Number: $89.02 Billion From the Machines That Make Tokens NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) generated $89.02 billion in Data Center revenue in a single quarter. That figure covers the second quarter of fiscal 2027, reported on August 26, 2026, and it rose 117% year over year. Total company revenue for the quarter was $96.22 billion, so the Data Center segment produced almost all of it. That segment holds the GPUs, CPUs and networking gear that AI models run on to produce tokens.

Token demand is also changing shape. OpenRouter data shows agentic token usage rose from roughly 0.51 trillion tokens in February to about 7.3 trillion by August, a fourteenfold increase. Human usage grew only about 2.8 times over the same stretch, to approximately 1.4 trillion tokens. AI agents now use roughly five times more tokens than people do. NVIDIA’s $89.02 billion is what that shift looks like on an income statement.

What $89.02 Billion Reveals About Agent-Driven Demand The growth is accelerating. Data Center revenue rose 18% quarter over quarter, and total revenue growth sped up for the fourth consecutive quarter. Hyperscale customers contributed $49 billion, up 13% sequentially. The group that covers neoclouds, enterprises, sovereign customers and industrial buyers grew faster, reaching $40 billion, up 25% sequentially and 138% year over year. Demand is spreading beyond a handful of cloud giants.

Agents are the main reason. According to the OpenRouter data, agents use roughly fifteen times more tokens per request than people. One employee action can set off dozens of model calls, tool runs and retries. Chief Executive Jensen Huang described where this is heading on the earnings call: “When the world goes to agentic, fully agentic systems, you’re going to have agents running all the time, working with other agents running all the time.”

NVIDIA is making more money on each dollar of sales as it grows. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 75.0% from 72.5% a year earlier, and net income reached $59.69 billion, up 125.9%. Huang summed it up: “AI has reached its inflection point. It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue.”

Shares Have Climbed Since the August Earnings Report Shares were priced at $213.67 when the results came out on August 26, 2026, and closed at $233.95 on October 2, 2026. The stock is up 25.74% so far this year and gained 4.37% over the past month.

Bull Case: Demand Outruns NVIDIA’s Supply NVIDIA can’t build enough to meet demand. Management said “NVIDIA Compute is fully utilized across every cloud we serve” and that the company has supply for about 70% of expected demand. NVIDIA expects fiscal 2028 revenue to grow about 70%, and it says supply is what limits that number. Customers are the ones asking for more.

Each new chip generation also brings in more revenue per unit of power. NVIDIA puts its revenue opportunity per gigawatt at roughly $18 billion for Hopper, about $25 billion for Grace Blackwell and about $40 billion for Vera Rubin. Supply and purchase obligations have climbed to $279.00 billion, mostly to buy memory for Vera Rubin production. That shows how much NVIDIA is investing to the ramp ahead.

Shareholders are getting paid along the way. NVIDIA returned about $26.0 billion in the quarter and still has about $99.0 billion left on its buyback authorization. Analysts keep raising estimates: over the past 30 days, fiscal 2028 EPS forecasts got 42 upward revisions and 0 downward ones.

Risks remain: about 85% of agentic tokens come from cached prompts charged at lower rates. Gross margin is expected to bottom at 71% to 72% in the fourth quarter as memory costs rise. Days sales outstanding, a measure of how long customers take to pay, extended to 60 days from 45. Online sentiment has also cooled, with the overall sentiment score falling to 37.17. Even so, cached tokens still need servers, memory and power to run. The supply shortages NVIDIA flagged in memory, power, cooling and networking also bring in business for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), Vertiv (NYSE:VRT), Eaton (NYSE:ETN) and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET). We profiled seven of these picks-and-shovels suppliers, from power to cooling to networking, in a free report you can grab here.

Bottom Line: Third-Quarter Guidance Is the Next Checkpoint The $89.02 billion figure shows token demand turning into revenue, and agents are adding to that demand faster than people are. NVIDIA’s own guidance gives the next checkpoint: third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%, which excludes China data center compute. Vera Rubin is expected to make up about 20% of data center revenue in Q3. Long-term holders should note that AI agents now run around the clock, and each request they make adds to the demand for NVIDIA’s hardware.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,473,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 40,705 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.09% of JPMorgan Chase & Co. worth $809,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,396,496,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 65,660,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,314,681,000 after purchasing an additional 8,941,351 shares during the period. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 32,672.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,647,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,521,126,000 after acquiring an additional 4,632,891 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the second quarter worth about $1,274,097,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 6,944,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,042,648,000 after buying an additional 1,662,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JPM. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley restated a “positive” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.29.

Get Our Latest Report on JPMorgan Chase & Co. Insider Transactions at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In related news, insider Robin Leopold sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.81, for a total transaction of $882,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 71,047 shares in the company, valued at $25,066,092.07. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key JPMorgan Chase & Co. News Here are the key news stories impacting JPMorgan Chase & Co. this week:

Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan’s strong earnings-surprise history and favorable Zacks indicators suggest the bank may again exceed estimates in its upcoming quarterly report. Will JPMorgan Chase & Co. Beat Estimates Again? Positive Sentiment: Analysts collectively maintain a “Moderate Buy” recommendation, supporting the view that JPM’s valuation remains attractive despite recent weakness. JPMorgan Receives Moderate Buy Consensus Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan Payments partnered with Al Salam Bank on an overnight Murabaha liquidity solution, expanding its payments and Islamic-finance capabilities in Bahrain. Al Salam Bank and J.P. Morgan Payments Feature Liquidity Solution Positive Sentiment: The Federal Reserve’s revamped stress-testing framework could reduce volatility in banks’ capital requirements and improve planning visibility for JPMorgan. Fed Revamps Bank Stress Tests Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan remains highlighted as an income-oriented stock with an upcoming dividend ex-date, which may support demand from dividend investors. High-Yield Dividends With Ex-Dates Days Away Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan’s bond-market activity shows continued access to wholesale funding, but investors are assessing whether the additional borrowing improves growth or pressures the capital structure. JPMorgan Taps Bond Markets Neutral Sentiment: The elevation of Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh to co-presidents advances succession planning, but also increases investor focus on the eventual replacement for CEO Jamie Dimon. JPMorgan Elevates Co-Presidents Negative Sentiment: JPMorgan’s credit-loss reserve grew even though provisions declined year over year during the first half of 2026. The unusual combination may signal conservatism, but it also raises questions about management’s expectations for future loan losses ahead of third-quarter results. JPMorgan Reserves for Losses That Have Not Arrived Negative Sentiment: Broad selling across money-center banks has weighed on JPMorgan and the wider financial sector, reflecting reduced investor risk appetite rather than a company-specific catalyst. Bank Stocks Slide JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trading Down 0.3% JPM opened at $332.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $352.44 and a 200 day moving average of $327.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 12 month low of $279.10 and a 12 month high of $366.50. The firm has a market cap of $882.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.02.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $6.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.59 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $58.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.72 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 18.23% and a net margin of 21.86%.JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s revenue was up 27.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 24.11 EPS for the current year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 6th. This represents a $6.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s dividend payout ratio is 25.71%.

(Free Report)

JPMorgan Chase & Co is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City. Through its businesses, the company provides banking, investment banking, asset management, private banking, commercial banking, consumer lending and payment services to individuals, businesses, institutions and governments.

The company operates through major business areas that include Consumer & Community Banking, Commercial & Investment Banking, and Asset & Wealth Management. Its products and services include deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, business financing, investment and advisory services, securities trading and custody, payment processing, and wealth-management solutions.

JPMorgan Chase serves customers in the United States and maintains operations and client relationships across international markets.

See Also Five stocks we like better than JPMorgan Chase & Co. AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JPM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM – Free Report).

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Intel (INTC -0.56%) has spent the past year or so collecting an unusual group of financial backers. The U.S. government took a 10% equity stake. Nvidia (NVDA +1.34%) put in $5 billion. SoftBank (SFTBY -0.87%) added $2 billion on top of that.

Most turnaround stories involve a company convincing skeptical investors to buy in. Intel convinced the government, one of its biggest AI rivals, and a Japanese conglomerate to underwrite its future before ordinary shareholders decided whether the comeback was real.

That's the piece of the Intel story that gets buried under quarterly revenue numbers, and it matters more than most headlines suggest for anyone trying to picture Intel five years from now.

Image source: Getty Images.

Intel's shareholder list looks nothing like a typical chipmaker's When the U.S. government converted roughly $8.9 billion in CHIPS Act and Defense Department grants into 433 million Intel shares, it became the company's largest single shareholder, according to CNBC. The government said it won't seek a board seat and will generally vote alongside Intel's existing board. Still, it's an unusual arrangement: Washington now has a direct financial stake in whether Intel's factories succeed, on top of its existing interest in not depending on Taiwan for advanced chips.

Nvidia's $5 billion came with something more concrete: a plan for the two companies to jointly design custom processors, pairing Intel's CPU know-how with Nvidia's graphics and AI chip technology. SoftBank's $2 billion came with no such product commitment, more a bet that Intel's revival is worth backing early.

None of this is charity. Each of these big three investors has its own reason to want Intel standing five years from now, whether that's national security, a manufacturing hedge, or a return on capital. But it does mean Intel's near-term survival looks less in doubt than it did two years ago. Just look at the stock, which has traded up over 200% in the last year. There are some hefty investors who believe the company is only going up from here.

The comeback still hinges on customers Intel doesn't have yet Strip away the investor headlines, and Intel's fate comes down to its contract manufacturing business, called Intel Foundry, which makes chips for other companies the way Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing does. Last year, Intel warned that it may exit the chip manufacturing business if it cannot attract external customers to its factories, as CEO Lip-Bu Tan worked to boost its foundry business amid layoffs, per Reuters. That being said, Foundry revenue grew 31% last quarter, and Tan has said the company's newest manufacturing process, called 18A, is now producing chips in higher volumes with improving yields. Essentially, this means there are more usable chips per batch, which is the metric that decides whether a factory actually makes money.

The bigger test is the process after that, called 14A. Speaking at a Deutsche Bank investor conference in late August, Intel Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner said customer conversations had shifted from evaluating the technology to discussing how much production capacity those customers could get, and that he'd reached "conviction" about landing external 14A customers. That's a notably more confident tone than earlier in the year, but it's still just talk: Intel hasn't named a committed outside customer for 14A, and the company has said it won't build capacity for one until it signs on.

Intel's own timeline calls for customers to start making firm 14A supplier decisions in the back half of 2026, which is right now, and, according to MarketBeat, the roughly $23 billion Intel raised this summer, aimed partly at 14A infrastructure and equipment orders, suggests management is betting that happens. But even a named customer might not move the stock much at this point, since shares already trade near 60 times next year's expected earnings, a multiple that arguably prices in foundry wins Intel hasn't announced yet.

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Five-year outlook: Intel is a cautionary bet I'd treat Intel as a binary, cautionary bet and as two separate questions resolving on different timelines. The balance sheet risk looks smaller now, given the new capital. Whether Intel will become a real alternative to TSMC for cutting-edge chips remains unresolved, and a firm 14A customer announcement is the clearest signal to watch for over the next year. Anyone considering Intel today should size the position for that uncertainty rather than assume the hardest part is already behind it.

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM – Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $219.93, but opened at $230.76. International Business Machines shares last traded at $230.7220, with a volume of 2,333,473 shares trading hands.

International Business Machines News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting International Business Machines this week:

Positive Sentiment: Accenture’s strong results improved confidence in IBM’s consulting business. Record bookings and resilient consulting demand at Accenture helped ease fears that generative AI will reduce technology-services spending, lifting sentiment across the sector and benefiting IBM. Strength in Accenture’s Consulting Business Gives IBM Stock a Much-Needed Boost Positive Sentiment: Self-hosted IBM Bob expands the company’s AI opportunity. IBM now allows customers to run its agentic software-development platform on-premises, in private or sovereign clouds, and in air-gapped environments. The offering targets regulated enterprises that need tighter control over sensitive code, data, and workflows, reinforcing IBM’s hybrid-cloud and AI-sovereignty strategy. IBM Introduces Self-Hosted Deployment for IBM Bob Positive Sentiment: IBM elected private-equity executive Frank Baker to its board. The appointment could add investment and corporate-governance expertise as IBM seeks to commercialize AI and digital-infrastructure products. IBM Elects Frank Baker to its Board of Directors Neutral Sentiment: IBM is positioned in growing technology markets. Articles highlight IBM’s quantum-computing initiatives and exposure to expanding secure-file-transfer and smart-manufacturing markets, although the near-term revenue impact is uncertain. Quantum Computing Is Having a Moment Negative Sentiment: Weak IBM Z performance remains the central risk. A sharp reaction to disappointing second-quarter results triggered a major market-value loss and renewed questions about IBM’s growth outlook. A shareholder-rights law firm is investigating whether prior disclosures violated securities laws, adding headline and litigation risk. IBM Z Shortfall Triggers Investigation Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on the next earnings report. Analysts expect third-quarter bottom-line growth, but the company must demonstrate that the Z weakness is contained and that AI and consulting momentum can translate into durable revenue and cash-flow growth. What You Need to Know Ahead of IBM’s Earnings Release Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have recently weighed in on IBM shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of International Business Machines to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of International Business Machines from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $247.00 to $217.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Argus lowered their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $360.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of International Business Machines in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $230.00 price target on the stock. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, International Business Machines has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.52.

Read Our Latest Report on International Business Machines International Business Machines Trading Down 1.4% The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $209.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.73.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93. International Business Machines had a return on equity of 35.65% and a net margin of 15.52%.The business had revenue of $17.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that International Business Machines Corporation will post 12.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Business Machines Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a $1.69 dividend. This represents a $6.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. International Business Machines’s dividend payout ratio is 59.98%.

Insider Transactions at International Business Machines In other International Business Machines news, SVP Robert Thomas sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.32, for a total transaction of $5,758,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,009,296. This trade represents a 34.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of International Business Machines Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in International Business Machines by 24.8% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 64,458 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,624,000 after buying an additional 12,791 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of International Business Machines in the second quarter worth about $15,237,000. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of International Business Machines by 939.4% in the second quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 30,495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,575,000 after acquiring an additional 27,561 shares during the period. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC now owns 14,234 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evercore Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,801 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,222,000 after acquiring an additional 5,196 shares in the last quarter. 58.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

International Business Machines Company Profile (Get Free Report)

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM), commonly known as IBM, is a global technology company that provides hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, software, consulting and infrastructure solutions. Its offerings help businesses and government organizations manage data, modernize applications, automate processes and improve cybersecurity.

IBM’s portfolio includes the Red Hat hybrid cloud platform, the watsonx suite of artificial intelligence and data tools, consulting services, and enterprise software for areas such as automation, application management, security and asset management.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than International Business Machines AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Receive News & Ratings for International Business Machines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for International Business Machines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

Medtronic has raised its dividend for 49 straight years while the stock quietly lost a fifth of its value, but something in the operating room just changed the entire conversation about why investors should own it.

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Shares of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT | MDT Price Prediction) trade at $86.75. They are down 7.4% this year and 20.06% over five years, and the dividend kept going up the whole time. Now the business is growing faster than it has in years. That makes it fair to ask whether the payout is still the main reason to own the stock.

Repeat Procedure Revenue Pays for the Dividend Medtronic makes the equipment doctors use in the operating room and the cath lab: pacemakers, heart ablation catheters, spine and brain surgery tools, surgical robots and insulin pumps. A lot of that revenue comes back every year. Each ablation procedure uses a new catheter, and each mapping system a hospital sets up leads to more catheter orders. On the latest earnings call, management said the growing sets up base should drive future sales of higher-margin catheters.

That repeat business has funded a 49th consecutive year of dividend increases. The quarterly payout has grown from $0.04 in 2000 to $0.72, or $2.88 a year, for a yield of about 3.27%. Coverage is solid. Fiscal 2026 dividends of $3.639 billion used about 67% of $5.43 billion in free cash flow. The forward payout is about 48% of the $5.972 consensus EPS for fiscal 2027. The weak spot is how fast it grows: the latest raise from $0.71 works out to about 1.4%.

A 49-year streak puts Medtronic one raise away from Dividend King status, the 50-plus-year club we rated by valuation in a free report here: 10 Dividend Kings to Buy Now and Hold Forever.

Growth Now Comes From the Heart Business Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 came in at $9.76 billion, up 13.7%. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.45 beat the $1.39 estimate. An extra fiscal week added about $570 million, or 670 basis points, to that growth. Even without it, ablation stood out. Cardiac Ablation Solutions grew 88% worldwide and 139% in the U.S., and the Sphere-9 catheter picked up nine points of U.S. share.

“Our execution, alongside our innovation engine, positions us to serve more patients and deliver durable growth,” CEO Geoff Martha said.

Other areas lag. Neuromodulation grew just 3%, and management guided second-quarter organic growth to roughly 6%.

How Abbott and Boston Scientific Frame the Choice Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) has the longer record, with a 54th consecutive year of increases and a $0.63 quarterly payout. Its second-quarter revenue rose 13.0%, but only 4.8% on a comparable basis once Exact Sciences is included.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) pays no dividend and wants investors to pay up for FARAPULSE growth. Its 2026 organic outlook fell from 10.0% to 11.0% to 5% to 6%. A widely upvoted Reddit post summed it up:

“Boston Scientific peaked at $105 last November. It closed yesterday at $43.55.”

Valuation Gives Medtronic Little Credit for Growth Medtronic trades at 15 times forward earnings and 21 times trailing earnings. Analysts rate it 3 Strong Buy, 16 Buy and 9 Hold. Their $104.83 average target means about 20.8% upside.

Verdict: The Dividend Is the Floor, Ablation Is the Reason The dividend now plays a supporting role. It puts a floor under the stock, while ablation, renal denervation and the Diabetes spinoff provide the upside. Management expects the spinoff to lift operating margin by about 100 basis points. The biggest risk is ablation growth slowing toward the mid-teens market rate as year-over-year comparisons get harder. If that happens, Medtronic goes back to being a slow-growth income stock. The investor day on December 10th and 11th is the next checkpoint.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM – Get Free Report)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $108.36, but opened at $117.41. EPAM Systems shares last traded at $117.8730, with a volume of 191,223 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms have weighed in on EPAM. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of EPAM Systems from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on EPAM Systems from $131.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on EPAM Systems from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $97.00 price target on EPAM Systems in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of EPAM Systems in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.47.

Read Our Latest Analysis on EPAM Systems

EPAM Systems Stock Down 5.5% The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.13. EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The information technology services provider reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. EPAM Systems had a net margin of 7.15% and a return on equity of 15.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. EPAM Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.080-13.240 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.380-3.460 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that EPAM Systems, Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of EPAM Systems Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 138.5% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,396 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of EPAM Systems during the second quarter valued at $371,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of EPAM Systems by 23.0% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 79,826 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,000 after acquiring an additional 14,917 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in EPAM Systems by 31.0% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 131,440 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,430,000 after acquiring an additional 31,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in EPAM Systems by 341.1% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 52,893 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,197,000 after acquiring an additional 40,902 shares during the last quarter. 91.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EPAM Systems Company Profile (Get Free Report)

EPAM Systems, Inc (NYSE: EPAM) is a global digital engineering and technology services company that helps businesses design, build and modernize software and digital platforms. Its services include software development, product and platform engineering, cloud services, data and analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and technology consulting.

The company works with clients across industries including financial services, healthcare, life sciences, retail, travel and consumer products, media, telecommunications, and energy.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than EPAM Systems AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Progress Comes With Several Risks Still Unresolved Time to Nibble on MCD Stock After it Enters Oversold Territory? McCormick Stock Trades Cheap, Offers Dividend Growth and Unilever Deal Upside Corning and AT&T’s $3 Billion Fiber Deal Reveals Where AI Spending Goes Next Receive News & Ratings for EPAM Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EPAM Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.