Key Takeaways GE Aerospace will acquire CPP from Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners.CPP makes mission-critical components for commercial and military aircraft engines.GE Aerospace says the deal will expand manufacturing capacity and capabilities. GE Aerospace (GE - Free Report) has inked a deal to acquire Consolidated Precision Products (“CPP”) from private investment firms Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners. The transaction was valued at approximately $11.75 billion in total using $7 billion in cash and debt for the remaining consideration.
Based in Cleveland, OH, CPP is engaged in producing precision-engineered castings and sub-assemblies for commercial aerospace and defense applications. It supplies complex alloy castings for commercial and military aircraft, weapon systems, helicopters and industrial gas turbines. The company was established in 1991 and employs about 6,600 personnel across more than 20 facilities.
Acquisition Rationale of GE AerospaceThe latest acquisition aligns with GE’s strategy of acquiring businesses to expand its market share and customer base. The acquisition of CPP is expected to strengthen the company’s supply chain, expand critical casting capacity and improve manufacturing performance to support strong demand across commercial engines, aftermarket and defense markets. The transaction is also anticipated to support long-term growth by leveraging GE Aerospace’s FLIGHT DECK platform to enhance manufacturing and engineering capabilities and accelerate the development of new engine technologies.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
GE’s Zacks Rank & Price PerformanceGE Aerospace has been witnessing strength in its businesses, driven by robust demand for commercial engines, propulsion and additive technologies. Rising U.S. & international defense budgets, geopolitical tensions, positive airline & airframer dynamics and robust demand for commercial air travel augur well for the company.
The company currently sports a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past year, its shares have gained 18.1% against the industry’s 3% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
However, it has been dealing with high costs and expenses related to certain projects and restructuring activities, which are likely to affect its margins and profitability.
Stocks to ConsiderSome better-ranked companies are discussed below:
Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
HWM delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 6.9%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Howmet’s 2026 earnings has increased 5.6%.
Archer Aviation Inc. (ACHR - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. ACHR delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 18.4%.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Archer Aviation’s 2026 earnings has increased 5.9%.
RTX Corporation (RTX - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 14.2%.
In the past 60 days, the consensus estimate for RTX’s 2026 earnings has increased 4.3%.
NEW YORK, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors at Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today declared a quarterly dividend of 70.75 cents per outstanding share, consistent with the prior quarter's dividend rate. The quarterly dividend is payable on November 2, 2026 to Verizon shareholders of record at the close of business on October 9, 2026.
“Verizon's reliability and consistency in returning capital to shareholders is a result of our focused operational execution and our ability to drive sustainable cash flow," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Verizon. "The strength of our business allows us to maintain our unwavering commitment to the dividend and deliver for our shareholders, while continuing to invest for long-term growth."
Verizon has approximately 4.2 billion shares of common stock outstanding. The company made approximately $11.5 billion in cash dividend payments in 2025.
This announcement was originally published by Verizon. Read the original press release.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) powers and empowers how its millions of customers live, work and play, delivering on their demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security. Headquartered in New York City, serving countries worldwide and nearly all of the Fortune 500, Verizon generated revenues of $138.2 billion in 2025. Verizon’s world-class team never stops innovating to meet customers where they are today and equip them for the needs of tomorrow. For more, visit verizon.com or find a retail location at verizon.com/stores.
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Corning just locked in a supply deal with Verizon that stacks on top of agreements already signed with Meta, Amazon, and NVIDIA, and the market is treating the two sides of this transaction very differently.
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On Tuesday morning, CNBC’s Becky Quick disclosed a commercial pact between two of the most watched names in American connectivity. “Verizon and Corning have reached a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement for 80 million-plus miles of high-density optical fiber solutions,” she said on CNBC on September 8, 2026.
Quick added that the arrangement is “supposedly going to allow Verizon to expand broadband connectivity to homes and businesses and build the network that connects AI data centers for the major hyperscalers.” That double purpose is what makes the deal interesting.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ | VZ Price Prediction) is buying the glass. Corning (NYSE:GLW) is making it. Both companies benefit, although not equally.
Corning shares closed at $165.99 after a one-week gain of 14.04%. Verizon closed at $50.41, up 29.99% year to date, and the market clearly favored the supplier over the buyer.
What the Agreement Actually Commits A fiber supply pact is a purchase commitment. Verizon has agreed to buy a very large quantity of optical fiber over multiple years, and Corning has agreed to reserve manufacturing capacity to deliver it.
The disclosed scale is 80 million plus miles of high-density optical fiber. Neither company attached a dollar figure beyond the multibillion descriptor, and no delivery schedule was disclosed beyond the multiyear framing.
The deal does not dictate where each strand ends up. Some will bury into neighborhoods for fiber-to-the-home, and some will run between and inside data centers as part of interconnect infrastructure.
Corning has been signing these kinds of pacts all year. It struck a deal of up to $6 billion with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), a multibillion-dollar agreement with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and a partnership with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) to expand U.S. optical connectivity manufacturing.
Why an AI Grid Consumes Fiber by the Mile A modern AI training cluster comprises tens of thousands of GPUs wired together so tightly that the model treats them as a single machine.
Every connection is a physical link. Once GPUs cross racks, buildings, or campuses, traffic must move over optical fiber to preserve latency and bandwidth, a discipline the industry calls data center interconnect.
Corning walked through the arithmetic on its July 28, 2026 earnings call. A current scale-out configuration uses roughly 16 fibers per GPU, and a fully optical scale-up scenario could use 160 fibers per GPU.
That demand curve is driving this deal. Enterprise Networks sales inside Corning’s Optical Communications segment rose 65% in the second quarter on generative AI buildouts, and CEO Wendell Weeks said the portion tied to AI data centers nearly doubled in the quarter.
Broadband Half of the Deal Verizon’s other use for all that glass is far more ordinary. CEO Dan Schulman told investors the company is “solidly on track to have more than 32 million fiber passings by the end of this year” and is pushing toward 40 to 50 million passings over the medium term.
The Frontier Communications acquisition closed on January 20, 2026, expanding the fiber footprint to more than 30 million homes and businesses. Fiber broadband connections grew 43.3% year over year to 10.9 million in the second-quarter 8-K.
Schulman’s pitch is that owned fiber lowers churn and lifts revenue per account when bundled with wireless. He said converged customers churn “almost 30% less”, and wireless attaches at 55% when a customer already has broadband.
On the AI side, Schulman said Verizon is in deep discussions with hyperscalers to integrate fiber and 5G assets into their AI infrastructure, calling it “the potential for multi billions in revenues, quite frankly.” The Corning agreement is the supply side of that ambition.
Which Company This Actually Moves Verizon carries a market capitalization near $209.4 billion on trailing revenue of about $138.9 billion. A multiyear purchase spread across broadband and interconnect capacity sits inside a 2026 capital budget guided to $16.0 billion to $16.5 billion.
Corning is a different animal. Its market cap sits near $142.7 billion on trailing revenue of roughly $17.0 billion, and the Springboard Plan targets a $20 billion annualized run rate by the end of 2026.
Stacked with prior deals from Meta, Amazon and NVIDIA, the supply-side visibility for Corning’s Optical Communications segment looks unusually strong. Weeks said major capacity expansions will be underpinned by long-term agreements that share risk and rewards with customers. The picks-and-shovels case here extends well beyond glass, and we sketched out seven of the infrastructure names powering the AI data-center buildout in a free report you can grab here.
Corning shares are up 132.07% over the past year against 24.34% for Verizon. The reaction is directionally right: this is a bigger event for Corning.
Is GLW Stock a Buy? Corning trades at a trailing P/E of 71x and a forward P/E of 35x, with an analyst target price of $191.40. That is expensive against industrial peers, although the backlog now covers years of contracted demand.
The verdict on Corning is Buy. The AI fiber cycle is real, order visibility is contractually locked in, and pricing power exists because hyperscalers cannot easily source elsewhere at scale.
Verizon is a Hold with an income tilt. The forward P/E of 9x and a quarterly dividend of $0.7075, supported by 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of $4.99 to $5.04, leave the payout well covered. If you own Verizon, you own it for that dividend and the fiber optionality, rather than a valuation rerating.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Key Takeaways GS will manage five IG Wealth Portfolios, offering diversified strategies across major asset classes.GS is expanding AWM through partnerships and acquisitions, including Innovator, NEOS and LCN Capital Partners.NEOS, Innovator and existing operations are expected to create a $130-billion global ETF platform. In sync with its broader effort to scale Asset & Wealth Management (“AWM”) and increase the contribution of recurring, fee-based revenues, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS - Free Report) entered a strategic collaboration with IG Wealth Management to expand its presence in the Canadian wealth-management market.
Under the agreement, Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s multi-asset solutions team will assume portfolio-management responsibilities for five IG Strategic Wealth Portfolios. The portfolios provide Canadian investors exposure to diversified strategies spanning equities, fixed income and alternatives.
Over the past several years, Goldman has been focused on building a larger, capital-light AWM franchise and reducing its dependence on more volatile, balance-sheet-intensive revenues. wealth management, alternatives and solutions have been identified as three major growth opportunities within AWM. Management and other fees, together with private banking and lending revenues, saw a compound annual rate of 12% from 2021 through 2025, with the rising trend continuing in the first half of 2026, highlighting the increasing importance of durable revenues to Goldman’s earnings mix.
Goldman has supported this strategy through partnerships and targeted acquisitions. In September 2025, it partnered with T. Rowe Price (TROW - Free Report) to develop public-private investment solutions for wealth and retirement clients. Goldman also acquired Innovator Capital Management in April 2026, adding about $31 billion in assets under supervision and strengthening its defined-outcome ETF capabilities. In August 2026, it agreed to acquire NEOS Investments, which manages roughly $30 billion. Together, NEOS, Innovator and Goldman’s existing operations are expected to create a $130-billion global ETF platform, expanding its reach among advisors and wealth-management clients.
GS entered an agreement in August 2026 to acquire LCN Capital Partners, adding a specialist investment platform focused on sale-leaseback, build-to-suit and triple-net-lease real estate investments. Collectively, these moves demonstrate Goldman’s strategy of adding differentiated investment capabilities that can attract third-party assets and generate recurring management fees.
Overall, the IG Wealth Management collaboration underscores Goldman’s continued focus on scaling AWM and building a more durable revenue base. Alongside the T. Rowe Price partnership and the Innovator, NEOS and LCN transactions, the latest collaboration strengthens GS’s third-party distribution capabilities and broadens its addressable wealth-management market. Over time, successful expansion of these relationships should support recurring fee growth, improve the quality of Goldman’s revenue mix and further advance its transition toward a more capital-light business model.
Goldman’s Competitive Landscape?Two close peers of GS are JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) and Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) , which are also making efforts to expand their AWM businesses.
JPMorgan’s AWM segment is a steadier, fee-led profit engine inside the bank, spanning asset management and the private bank. For the first half of 2026, the segment’s revenues rose 15% from the year-ago period. As of June 30, 2026, JPMorgan’s assets under management were $5.14 trillion, up 18% year over year, while client assets increased 19% to $7.66 trillion.
Morgan Stanley’s AWM push is more than a diversification story. For the first half, Wealth Management revenues and Investment Management revenues were $20.6 billion, nearly half of Morgan Stanley’s $41.9 billion in firmwide net revenues. As of June 30, 2026, total client assets across Wealth Management were $8.08 trillion, while assets under management or supervision reached $2 trillion under the Investment Management division.
Goldman’s Price Performance & Zacks RankGS shares have jumped 37.3% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 24.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Goldman currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) Barclays 19th Annual Global Consumer Staples Conference September 9, 2026 8:15 AM EDT
Company Participants
Noel Wallace - Chairman, CEO & President
Conference Call Participants
Lauren Lieberman - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Presentation
Lauren Lieberman
Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Okay. We're going to get started. So next up this morning, we're very happy to have Colgate-Palmolive here, and the company's Chairman, President and CEO, Noel Wallace. This year, we're going to do things a little bit differently and go right into a fireside chat, which I'm excited about. So thank you for that opportunity.
Question-and-Answer Session
Lauren Lieberman
Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
So 2026 is the first year of the 2030 strategy period, but it's also a year with continued macro volatility. When you step back from the quarter-to-quarter noise, maybe what's the single biggest change, or is it a few things that you're trying to drive inside Colgate this year?
Noel Wallace
Chairman, CEO & President
Yes, I think the fortune is we're coming off the '25 strategic plan where we developed, in my view, a lot of momentum behind the business. And going into the 2030 plan, it's much easier to execute a strategy when you have momentum behind you versus when you're chasing that momentum. So it's really now about perfecting some of the capabilities and scaling some of those capabilities that we've been developing over the last 5 years.
So we've done a lot of work in AI. We've done a lot of work in analytics. We've done a lot of work in revenue growth management. We're now really pushing ourselves very differently in the area of innovation. So we feel like we're in a stage where we're not necessarily trying to play catch-up. We're now scaling these capabilities across the organization. So that momentum
PayPal Holdings remains a “Buy” as its turnaround gains traction, supported by operational restructuring and cost-saving initiatives. PYPL's 9.5x earnings multiple and >14% forward FCF yield highlight significant undervaluation relative to its improving fundamentals. The new CEO's three-unit structure and $1.5 billion cost-cutting plan are driving margin improvements, with recent double-beat quarters and raised guidance.
Enhanced digital capabilities help businesses improve shipment data, estimate costs, and address customs requirements earlier
MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) today introduced Global Trade Navigator, a suite of digital tools and capabilities designed to help businesses navigate the complexities of international shipping with greater confidence. The enhanced capabilities provide businesses with information and insights to better understand international shipping requirements, improve shipment information, and take action when customs requirements need attention.
Businesses of all sizes can experience different challenges when shipping internationally, from understanding duties and taxes to navigating customs requirements and shipment documentation. According to the 2026 FedEx Small Business Trade Index, 68% of small- and medium-sized businesses regularly see customers surprised by duties at delivery, while 60% report losing revenue through refunds or abandoned purchases. Global Trade Navigator is designed to move trade intelligence earlier in that journey, helping businesses make more informed shipping decisions and address issues before they become clearance problems. By addressing those challenges across planning, shipment preparation, checkout, and reporting, FedEx enables businesses to reduce the complexity of international shipping.
“International shipping requires businesses to make complex decisions long before a package begins its journey,” said Jason Brenner, senior vice president, digital portfolio, FedEx. “Building on decades of global trade expertise, Global Trade Navigator makes critical trade information and guidance more accessible to businesses as they grow internationally. The result is fewer surprises and a more predictable experience for businesses and consumers.”
These digital tools support customers ranging from small- and medium-sized businesses exploring international shipping for the first time to enterprises integrating trade information into established workflows.
Plan before shipping: New FedEx® Trade Planner will provide free, self-service guidance on fedex.com without requiring a login. Businesses can look up Harmonized System codes; estimated duties, taxes, and fees; and document recommendations before creating a shipping label. Improve shipment data: New FedEx Ship Manager® capabilities will allow customers to review product Harmonized System code classifications, customs values, and country of manufacture details. Increase cost transparency at checkout: New FedEx® Duty and Tax app on Shopify will enable merchants to display a duty and tax guarantee during checkout, providing customers with greater visibility into import costs before completing a purchase. Integrate trade insights: Available through the FedEx Developer Portal, Global Trade APIs allow businesses to integrate product classifications, estimated duties and taxes, and regulatory information into existing workflows. Manage clearance and reporting: Enhancements to the FedEx® Import Tool and FedEx® Reporting help customers view customs clearance activity, identify required actions, manage payments, and access global import and export data. These capabilities are part of the company’s continued investment in a more connected, intelligent international shipping experience that helps businesses navigate complexity and grow globally with confidence. You can learn more and access available tools at Global Trade Navigator.
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. With annual revenue of $86 billion, the company offers integrated business solutions utilizing its flexible, efficient, and intelligent global network. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 450,000 employees to remain focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards, and the needs of their customers and communities. FedEx is committed to connecting people and possibilities around the world responsibly and resourcefully, with a goal to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2040. To learn more, please visit fedex.com/about.
FedEx Introduces Global Trade Navigator to Simplify International Shipping FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) today introduced Global Trade Navigator, a suite of digital tools and capabilities designed to help businesses navigate the complexities of international shipping with greater confidence. The enhanced capabilities provide businesses with information and insights to better understand international shipping requirements, improve shipment information, and take action when customs requirements need attention.
Businesses of all sizes can experience different challenges when shipping internationally, from understanding duties and taxes to navigating customs requirements and shipment documentation. According to the 2026 FedEx Small Business Trade Index, 68% of small- and medium-sized businesses regularly see customers surprised by duties at delivery, while 60% report losing revenue through refunds or abandoned purchases. Global Trade Navigator is designed to move trade intelligence earlier in that journey, helping businesses make more informed shipping decisions and address issues before they become clearance problems. By addressing those challenges across planning, shipment preparation, checkout, and reporting, FedEx enables businesses to reduce the complexity of international shipping.
“International shipping requires businesses to make complex decisions long before a package begins its journey,” said Jason Brenner, senior vice president, digital portfolio, FedEx. “Building on decades of global trade expertise, Global Trade Navigator makes critical trade information and guidance more accessible to businesses as they grow internationally. The result is fewer surprises and a more predictable experience for businesses and consumers.”
These digital tools support customers ranging from small- and medium-sized businesses exploring international shipping for the first time to enterprises integrating trade information into established workflows.
Plan before shipping: New FedEx® Trade Planner will provide free, self-service guidance on fedex.com without requiring a login. Businesses can look up Harmonized System codes; estimated duties, taxes, and fees; and document recommendations before creating a shipping label.Improve shipment data: New FedEx Ship Manager® capabilities will allow customers to review product Harmonized System code classifications, customs values, and country of manufacture details.Increase cost transparency at checkout: New FedEx® Duty and Tax app on Shopify will enable merchants to display a duty and tax guarantee during checkout, providing customers with greater visibility into import costs before completing a purchase.Integrate trade insights: Available through the FedEx Developer Portal, Global Trade APIs allow businesses to integrate product classifications, estimated duties and taxes, and regulatory information into existing workflows.Manage clearance and reporting: Enhancements to the FedEx® Import Tool and FedEx® Reporting help customers view customs clearance activity, identify required actions, manage payments, and access global import and export data.These capabilities are part of the company’s continued investment in a more connected, intelligent international shipping experience that helps businesses navigate complexity and grow globally with confidence. You can learn more and access available tools at Global Trade Navigator.
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce, and business services. With annual revenue of $86 billion, the company offers integrated business solutions utilizing its flexible, efficient, and intelligent global network. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 450,000 employees to remain focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards, and the needs of their customers and communities. FedEx is committed to connecting people and possibilities around the world responsibly and resourcefully, with a goal to achieve carbon-neutral operations by 2040. To learn more, please visit fedex.com/about.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909671213/en/
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
TPG just bought into the exact Optum clinics that derailed UnitedHealth's profits, and management is hours away from reaffirming guidance that could either validate the deal or reopen a wound investors hoped was healing.
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UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH | UNH Price Prediction) stock is down 3% to $388.58 in early Wednesday trading after Bloomberg reported the company sold an interest in part of its Florida WellMed primary-care clinics. The 3% slide comes even as UnitedHealth stock is still up 15% year to date, and it lands hours before management is set to reaffirm full-year 2026 financial guidance at an investor conference, according to UnitedHealth Group.
TPG (NASDAQ:TPG) is the buyer. The Fort Worth alternative asset manager ended Q2 2026 with $326.8 billion in assets under management and $76.2 billion in available capital, and its Capital and Healthcare Partners platforms have been active in senior-care buyouts.
WellMed sits inside Optum Health, the value-based care unit whose stumbles drove UnitedHealth’s ongoing turnaround. The reaction today looks company-specific rather than sector-wide, and that framing matters for anyone reading through from UnitedHealth into the broader managed-care group.
Selling a Piece of the Problem Child Bloomberg reported Tuesday evening that UnitedHealth sold an interest in some of its Optum Health operations in Florida to TPG, centered on WellMed’s senior primary-care clinics. Terms weren’t disclosed, which leaves investors valuing a transaction with no headline dollar figure attached to it.
Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt told Bloomberg, “We didn’t need the dollars, we have the dollars to invest, but we needed the focus and somebody that could actually work with us locally.” He described the arrangement as a way to grow the clinic footprint faster than UnitedHealth could on its own while it executes a wider reset.
DeVeydt also told the outlet that Optum Health margins will reach 2% this year, ahead of prior expectations, and he guided to 4% next year. That trajectory matters because Optum Health was the source of last year’s disappointing profit and the reason the company replaced its chief executive and other senior leaders.
UnitedHealth reported Optum Health revenue of $23.47 billion in Q2 2026, down 5% year over year (YoY) as the unit shed 700,000 value-based care patients. The WellMed carve-in gives Optum a well-capitalized operating partner and hands TPG a foothold in Medicare-focused primary care during a stretch when the sector’s economics remain contested.
Sector Barely Flinches The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLV) is down 0.4% to $166.44, a fraction of UnitedHealth’s move and a sign the story isn’t reading as a broader healthcare selloff. UnitedHealth is a top-five weight in the fund at 6.57% of net assets, so a heavier sector drop would be showing up if the news were spilling into the group.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.35% to $763.31, so the broad tape is merely soft. Managed-care peers Elevance Health (NYSE:ELV), Cigna (NYSE:CI), and Humana (NYSE:HUM) aren’t posting a matching drop, which reinforces that today’s move is UnitedHealth-specific.
The tension is philosophical. A turnaround company is selling a slice of the exact division that caused the damage, and readers can view that as discipline or as retreat. Without transaction terms, both interpretations have room to breathe.
What to Watch DeVeydt said UnitedHealth expects to reaffirm its financial guidance at an investor conference hosted by Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC). That reaffirmation is the more meaningful near-term catalyst, since the July update lifted UnitedHealth’s full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $19.50 to $20 and raised the company’s operating cash flow outlook to $24 billion.
Analyst consensus for UnitedHealth’s full-year 2026 adjusted EPS sits at $19.81, inside management’s raised range, and the 2027 consensus sits at $22.44. A clean reaffirmation would keep those numbers intact, while any hedging language on Optum Health could reopen the debate the WellMed deal is trying to settle.
Investors could look for signs that UnitedHealth’s management ties the WellMed partnership to specific clinic growth targets or Optum margin milestones on stage. Position sizing on one’s UnitedHealth stock exposure may deserve a fresh look given today’s gap between the stock and its sector fund.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Buy UnitedHealth (UNH). The partial sale of Optum Health Florida/WellMed to TPG brings growth capital, reduces capex burden, and helps de-risk margins in a Medicare Advantage pressure zone while UNH keeps upside via its remaining stake. That combination supports steadier free cash flow and buybacks while management focuses on underwriting and higher-margin OptumRx/tech.
Key Risk: Optum’s Florida clinic economics keep deteriorating (higher medical costs/poor execution), so the deal doesn’t stabilize margins and the retained stake underperforms.
OptumRx/tech momentum buy
Buy UnitedHealth’s “quality earnings” exposure via Optum-linked upside: add to UNH specifically for the rotation toward OptumRx and Optum Insight tech scaling. The TPG partnership frees management attention and capital, making it more likely OptumRx/tech growth offsets care-delivery margin drag.
Key Risk: Regulatory or reimbursement changes hit OptumRx/tech growth (or tech adoption slows), so capital reallocation fails to lift consolidated margins.
UnitedHealth UNH stock is inching lower after the healthcare giant confirmed the sale of a partial stake in its Optum Health Florida primary-care clinic network, including WellMed operations, to private equity firm TPG.
The transaction allows UNH to bring in strategic growth capital while maintaining an equity interest in the regional clinic footprint.
Note that UnitedHealth shares have been nothing short of a blockbuster investment in recent months, currently up some 50% versus their low in late March.
The partial sale of Optum’s Florida clinic operations to TPG represents a “net positive” structural move for UNH shares over the medium-to-long term.
By partnering with a top-tier PE firm, Optum Health unlocks dedicated growth capital to accelerate regional clinic expansion – targeting roughly 15 new locations annually – without burdening itself with excessive capex.
Taking on a private equity partner doesn’t signal distress; in fact, it allows UnitedHealth Group to optimize capital allocation during a challenging operational stretch for its care-delivery arm.
Monetizing a portion of mature assets enables management to focus resources on core profitability while retaining upside exposure through its remaining stake as TPG drives operational efficiencies.
Beyond immediate growth capital, transferring a portion of operational and clinical overhead to TPG helps de-risk Optum's balance sheet against persistent Medicare Advantage headwinds.
With elevated medical care ratio squeezing margins across the value-based care landscape, sharing equity ownership in capital-intensive primary care networks insulates UNH from downside margin volatility in the Florida market.
Furthermore, cash proceeds from the deal provide financial flexibility to pay down debt, fund share buybacks or reallocate capital toward higher-margin OptumRx and Optum Insight tech capabilities.
This disciplined portfolio pruning reinforces the company's long-term earnings power, reassuring market participants that management is actively addressing margin dilution in its health services division.
Ultimately, the TPG deal reflects a disciplined shift toward higher-return operational priorities across the broader enterprise.
By offloading full operational drag in a heavily regulated market, UnitedHealth Group can redirect executive focus toward stabilizing core health insurance underwriting and scaling tech-driven care delivery platforms.
The Florida joint venture establishes a repeatable blueprint for asset-light expansion, demonstrating that Optum can sustain aggressive clinic footprint growth through strategic co-investments rather than balance-sheet-heavy acquisitions.
As UNH management executes on its broader operational turnaround, this rather prudent portfolio realignment positions the conglomerate to deliver more resilient free cash flow and restored margin expansion through the remainder of the fiscal year.
Note that Wall Street analysts currently rate UnitedHealth shares at Overweight, with a mean price target of about $480, indicating potential for a more than 20% rally from current levels.
Key Takeaways UnitedHealth is expanding AI across Optum Insight to support growth and develop new revenue streams.AI prior authorization achieved a 96% first-pass approval rate while retaining human review for exceptions.Value Connect helped early customers cut pharmacy costs by 17%, supporting wider adoption of AI solutions. UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH - Free Report) is making artificial intelligence a bigger part of its strategy to strengthen Optum Insight’s growth. The company plans to invest nearly $1.5 billion in AI-related initiatives in 2026, with about one-third earmarked for software products and platforms. The spending is supporting a broader shift toward an AI-first software and services model, giving Optum Insight an opportunity to develop new revenue streams while improving healthcare workflows.
The strategy is moving beyond experimentation into commercial products. Optum Insight is expanding AI capabilities across autonomous coding, digital prior authorization, real-time payer-provider interfaces and clinical quality and safety tools. Digital prior authorization is showing early traction, with AI achieving a 96% first-pass approval rate while retaining human review for cases that are not approved. These solutions could strengthen Optum Insight’s value proposition as payers and providers seek to reduce administrative costs.
Value Connect offers another example of AI translating into measurable customer benefits. The platform, embedded within provider workflows and electronic health records, has helped early customers achieve a 17% reduction in pharmacy costs. Demonstrated savings could support wider adoption as healthcare organizations increasingly seek technology that delivers measurable financial and clinical benefits.
The underlying business is also gaining momentum. Optum Insight generated $5.4 billion in second-quarter 2026 revenues, while operating earnings increased 13.6% year over year and margin improved to 25.3%. As AI products move toward broader commercialization, the strategy could provide another growth lever. Converting early customer results into wider adoption and recurring revenue will be key to strengthening Optum Insight’s growth trajectory.
How Are Competitors Faring?Some of UNH’s major competitors in the healthcare service provider space are Humana Inc. (HUM - Free Report) and Centene Corporation (CNC - Free Report) .
Humana is expanding AI across care management, prior authorization and member engagement to improve efficiency and health outcomes. HUM is also using predictive analytics to identify high-risk members earlier, supporting value-based care while helping manage medical costs and streamline healthcare delivery.
Centene is using AI to strengthen payment integrity and manage rising healthcare costs. CNC’s advanced analytics help detect suspicious claims, identify billing anomalies and improve medical cost management, supporting margins while enhancing oversight across its government-sponsored healthcare programs.
UnitedHealth’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of UNH have gained 41.9% over the past six months compared with the industry’s rise of 41.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, UnitedHealth trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, above the industry average of 16.02. UNH carries a Value Score of B.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UnitedHealth’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $19.82 per share, implying 21.2% growth from the year-ago period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
UNH stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. and Hazelight Studios, in partnership with Turn Me Up Games, announced today during the Nintendo Direct, It Takes Two, winner of over 90 awards including The Game Awards and DICE's Game of the Year, will launch on the Nintendo SwitchTM 2 on October 15***. The Nintendo Switch 2 version introduces a new way for players to enjoy the game together, regardless of platform or if they own the game, with the free Friend's Pass. Additionally, p.
Key Takeaways Chevron's production rose 20% to a record 4.07M BOE/d in Q2, while structural savings hit $3B.CVX's TTM ROIC is 7.8%, below the 8.6% industry median despite strong cash-flow conversion.Chevron posted $15.4B adjusted FCF and a record $8.4B debt paydown as earnings remained uneven. Oil and gas supermajor Chevron (CVX - Free Report) is benefiting from strong production and Hess buyout synergies. Structural cost reductions have also improved the economics of its massive energy portfolio.
But for investors, the big question is whether Chevron is turning that operating strength into consistently attractive returns. Looking at return on invested capital (ROIC), cash conversion and earnings linearity, we can say that the company is generating plenty of cash, but its returns and earnings consistency leave room for improvement.
The Operating Engine Is RealIn the last reported quarter, Chevron’s worldwide production jumped 20% year over year to a record 4.07 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, powered by the Hess acquisition, Permian growth, and the Gulf of America. On the cost side, Chevron hit $3 billion in annual run-rate structural savings and $1.5 billion in Hess synergies— both six months ahead of schedule. Management is also guiding toward spending 25% less capital per barrel of oil equivalent in 2026 than in 2025.
Put together, Chevron is pumping more oil, spending less to do it, and cutting the capital it needs per barrel going forward.
But Capital Efficiency Hasn’t Kept PaceBased on our proprietary calculation, Chevron's trailing-12-month ROIC stands at 7.8%, above its own 10-year median of 6.3%, indicating that capital efficiency remains better than its longer-term historical norm.
But the more recent trend is less encouraging. CVX’s ROIC has slipped from a 5-year median of 9.4% to a 3-year median of 8.3% and now stands at 7.8%. At the same time, its current ROIC is below the 8.6% industry median. Close peers like ExxonMobil (XOM - Free Report) and Shell (SHEL - Free Report) also generate higher ROIC, at 9.2% and 10.2%, respectively.
The production growth and cost discipline are happening, but they haven't yet translated into a sustained improvement in capital efficiency. Part of the disconnect may be the industry's commodity sensitivity. Higher production and lower unit costs can improve the underlying economics, but weaker oil and gas prices can still compress profits and ROIC faster than the capital base adjusts.
If Hess synergies, structural cost cuts, and a lighter capital footprint in U.S. shale keep compounding, ROIC can increase from here. A downturn in commodity prices or slippage on execution could just as easily pull it the other way. The next few quarters of ROIC data will matter more than any single production headline.
The Cash Flow Story Holds UpIf ROIC shows how productively Chevron uses its capital, cash flow conversion shows whether those earnings are turning into real money. And here, the picture is much cleaner.
Chevron’s TTM cash-flow conversion runs at 220.1%, with free-cash-flow conversion at 131.2%, per our proprietary calculations. Both are a bit below their historical medians, but still comfortably strong. In the last reported quarter, Chevron generated $19.7 billion of operating cash flow excluding working capital, $15.4 billion of adjusted free cash flow, and a record $8.4 billion debt paydown.
Chevron is effective at converting profits into cash to reduce debt, fund investments and return capital to shareholders. That helps offset the ROIC concern. Even if capital efficiency is middling now, the balance sheet is getting materially stronger.
Earnings Are Still UnevenChevron's earnings also lack consistency. Per our proprietary model, its 10-year EPS linearity is only 30.9%, below the 34.8% industry median and far below the 100% ideal baseline. Meanwhile, 10-year EPS CAGR (on a TTM basis) of 9.5% trails the industry median of 13.2%.
That inconsistency largely comes down to commodity exposure. Chevron's earnings move with oil, gas and refining prices rather than following a steady operational trajectory. Mixed downstream demand and softer energy prices can therefore add further volatility to earnings.
Peers show a similar spread. ExxonMobil's EPS linearity sits at 37.5%, while Shell's at 29.1%, suggesting earnings volatility is a sector-wide feature.
Tying It TogetherChevron's higher production, cost cuts and Hess synergies are improving the business, and the benefits are already showing up in strong cash generation. But the improvement in operations has not yet translated into a similar improvement in ROIC as Chevron's earnings remain tied to the highly cyclical energy market.
The Zacks Rundown for ChevronShares of Chevron have gained 38% year to date, outperforming the industry, ExxonMobil and Shell.
YTD Price Performance Comparison Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation perspective— in terms of forward price-to-earnings ratio— Chevron is trading at a premium compared with the industry average. The stock is also trading above its five-year mean of 11.81.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CVX’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $16.51 per share, indicating 126% year-over-year growth. EPS estimates have been revised upward in the last 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Craig Johnson sees the AI trade quietly abandoning its old leaders, and the bond market is the confession. Find out which industrial giant sits at the center of the rotation and what a move through 4.80% on the ten-year would…
On CNBC’s Power Lunch on September 8, 2026, Piper Sandler chief market technician Craig Johnson argued the AI trade is rotating into a new leadership group. His evidence sits in the bond market and leadership tables, where energy is printing new highs while the NASDAQ stalls.
Charles Schwab Asset Management chief executive Omar Aguilar sketched a wave framework: hyperscalers first, then semiconductors, and now the labor-heavy, low-return industries that stand to see the biggest productivity gains from adopting AI. Industrials, financials, materials, and energy sit at the front of that queue.
That framing puts Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT | CAT Price Prediction) in an unusual spot. Its gas turbines and reciprocating engines are keeping data centers powered (we profiled seven of these non-chip AI infrastructure suppliers, from power to cooling, in a free report you can grab here), and its backlog stretches years out. Johnson noted the NASDAQ had gone 14 weeks without a new record high, a leadership drought that usually precedes a rotation.
Rotation in the Charts, and What a Bear Steepener Actually Is Johnson described a bear steepener in the yield curve: short rates pinned while long rates climb. That combination has historically preceded leadership shifts, and energy stocks are the tell.
The 10-year minus 2-year spread stood at 0.41% on September 8, 2026. Johnson said flatly, “Energy stocks. They are leadership in this market.”
Leadership from oil and gas typically arrives alongside inflation pressure, and inflation pressure keeps the long end sticky.
Why the 5% Level on the Ten-Year Matters Johnson pegged the 10-year at 4.8% on the interview date. Treasury data cited on CNBC puts the 10-year at 4.8% on September 8, 2026, with the 30-year already above five at 5.25%.
In his words, “If we break above 480, we’re probably heading toward five and maybe even closer to five and a quarter just looking at the charts.”
Technicians treat round numbers as functional because option desks, corporate treasurers, and mortgage originators reprice at them. A move through 480 would drag discount rates on long-duration equities higher whether or not fundamentals changed.
The 12-month high on the 10-year sits at 4.79% on September 2, 2026, with the current reading in the 98.8th percentile of the past year.
Aguilar’s Wave Framework and Where Caterpillar Fits Aguilar told CNBC, “The infrastructure that goes into the usage and capital expenditures for AI across health care, financial sector, across industrials, across materials could be as big as what we saw in the first wave of the hyperscalers.”
Caterpillar’s Q2 numbers argue that the wave is already funding orders. Revenue was $20.54 billion, up 23.98% year over year, with adjusted EPS of $8.17 versus a $6.1974 estimate.
Power Generation revenue reached $3.098 billion, up 29%, driven by data center demand for large reciprocating engines and turbines. Backlog swelled to $72 billion, up roughly 92% year over year, with large engines scheduled into 2028. Details sit in the Q2 2026 8-K.
Johnson connected the framework to head count: “Companies that have a lot of employees relative to their industries and low ROIs are going to get reset.”
What Could Break the Thesis Aguilar’s caution was direct: “They’re concerned about what oil prices fluctuation eventually we do. And they’re concerned about what these long yields may do to their stock portfolio.”
AI capital spending presumes credit stays open and eventual returns justify the outlay. If long yields punch through Johnson’s 5.25 target, discount rates will rise, and marginal projects will get shelved.
Caterpillar carries its own risks. Full-year 2026 tariff costs are expected at roughly $2.2 billion, and the VIX sat at 15.3 on September 7, 2026.
The stock itself already reflects the setup. CAT is up 44.46% year-to-date and 96.3% over one year through September 8, 2026.
Is CAT Stock a Buy? Caterpillar is the cleanest industrial expression of Aguilar’s third wave that the data supports. The backlog is scheduled into 2028, capacity constraints are the governor, and Power Generation growth is being locked in with escalators.
Against that, shares have doubled in a year, and the yield backdrop Johnson described is a live headwind for any long-duration industrial multiple. A move on the 10-year through his breakout level would likely compress the rerating already underway.
The business is executing at a level unlikely to be matched by peers, but the entry price already assumes the third wave arrives on schedule.
For investors who already own CAT, I would hold it. For investors looking to start a position, I would wait for either a meaningful pullback or another round of earnings growth that brings the valuation back down to earth.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
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What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreWhile good value is important, growth investors are more focused on a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score takes projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow into account to uncover stocks that will see long-term, sustainable growth.
Momentum ScoreMomentum traders and investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." This investing style is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Employing factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, the Momentum Style Score can indicate favorable times to build a position in high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.8% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
But it can feel overwhelming to pick the right stocks for you and your investing goals with over 800 top-rated stocks to choose from.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
You want to make sure you're buying stocks with the highest likelihood of success, and to do that, you'll need to pick stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you like a stock that only has a #3 (Hold) rank, it should also have Scores of A or B to guarantee as much upside potential as possible.
The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.
For instance, a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one that boasts Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings forecast, and a much greater likelihood its share price will decline as well.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) Salesforce is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM - Free Report) software, which enables organizations to better manage critical operations, such as sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, document management, analytics and custom application development. Its offerings are delivered on the Agentforce 360 Platform, which connects customer data with integrated AI across systems, apps and devices.
CRM is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. CRM has a Growth Style Score of B, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 29.2% for the current fiscal year.
16 analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2027. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $2.05 to $16.17 per share. CRM boasts an average earnings surprise of +36.1%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, CRM should be on investors' short list.
Key Takeaways Salesforce's Agentforce ARR topped $1.5B in fiscal Q2'27, soaring more than 240% YoY.Agentforce usage hit 3.2B AWUs, up 97% QoQ, while key product bookings more than doubled.Salesforce raised FY27 revenue guidance to $46.10-$46.40B, implying 11%-12% YoY growth. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM - Free Report) is gaining traction with Agentforce. In the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Agentforce ARR (annual recurring revenue) exceeded $1.5 billion, jumping more than 240% year over year. Combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR reached nearly $3.9 billion, up more than 210%. These figures show that customers are increasingly willing to pay for AI-powered tools and enterprise data capabilities.
Customer usage is also expanding quickly. Salesforce recorded 3.2 billion Agentic Work Units (AWUs) in the second quarter, up 97% sequentially. Bookings for Agentforce One Edition and Agentforce for Apps more than doubled from the previous quarter. This suggests that AI adoption is moving beyond experimentation toward broader use.
However, Agentforce is still small compared with Salesforce’s overall business. Second-quarter revenues reached $11.3 billion, up 11% year over year, while subscription and support revenues rose 12% to $10.8 billion. Current remaining performance obligation increased 14% to $33.5 billion, pointing to healthy demand ahead.
Buoyed by strong top-line performance, Salesforce raised its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance from $45.90-$46.20 billion to $46.10-$46.40 billion, implying 11%-12% year-over-year growth. It also expects subscription and support revenues to increase slightly above 12%.
Agentforce can become a meaningful growth driver, but it will take time to change Salesforce’s growth rate materially. For now, its rapid adoption strengthens the case for steady, rather than explosive, revenue acceleration. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 revenue is currently pegged at $46.22 billion, indicating an 11.3% year-over-year increase.
Salesforce’s Rivals Are Also Betting Big on AI AgentsMicrosoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) and Oracle Corporation (ORCL - Free Report) are formidable competitors to Salesforce in agentic AI because both can combine AI with large enterprise software and cloud platforms.
Microsoft is expanding its AI offering through Copilot Studio and Azure AI, moving beyond simple AI assistance toward autonomous agents that can perform tasks across business applications. Microsoft 365 Copilot is already showing strong adoption. Paid seats surpassed 30 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, while net seat additions more than doubled sequentially. Customers deploying more than 50,000 seats increased more than sevenfold year over year. Azure and other cloud services revenues also jumped 43%.
Oracle is taking a more data-centric approach. Its Oracle AI Database 26ai is designed to serve as a foundation for agentic AI, while AI agents are being embedded across its Fusion Cloud applications. Oracle claims its AI architecture can reduce manual procurement work by 60-80% and lower inventory carrying costs by 15-30%. Its Multicloud AI Database revenues surged 404% year over year in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026.
Salesforce faces strong competition from Microsoft and Oracle. Microsoft has unmatched scale across cloud and productivity software, while Oracle has deep control over enterprise data and applications. Salesforce does not need to beat its rivals everywhere. Its bigger opportunity is to make Agentforce the leading AI layer for customer relationship management solutions and turn rapid adoption into durable revenue growth.
Salesforce’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesSalesforce shares have declined 6% year to date, while the Zacks Internet – Software industry has fallen 0.1%.
Salesforce YTD Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, CRM trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, significantly below the industry’s average of 28.13.
Salesforce Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Salesforce’s fiscal 2027 earnings implies a year-over-year increase of approximately 29.2%, while that for fiscal 2028 indicates a 2.8% decline. Estimates for fiscal 2027 and 2028 earnings have been revised upward in the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Salesforce currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium includes access to the Zacks Style Scores as well.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum traders and investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." This investing style is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Employing factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, the Momentum Style Score can indicate favorable times to build a position in high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreWhat if you like to use all three types of investing? The VGM Score is a combination of all Style Scores, making it one of the most comprehensive indicators to use with the Zacks Rank. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, which helps narrow down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.8% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
This totals more than 800 top-rated stocks, and it can be overwhelming to try and pick the best stocks for you and your portfolio.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To maximize your returns, you want to buy stocks with the highest probability of success. This means picking stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you find yourself looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, make sure they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
Since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank, the direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: T-Mobile (TMUS - Free Report) Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Bellevue, WA, T-Mobile US, Inc. is a national wireless service provider. The company offers its services under the T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Mint Mobile brands. T-Mobile, through its subsidiaries, provides wireless services for branded postpaid and prepaid, and wholesale customers.
TMUS is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
It also boasts a Value Style Score of B thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 16.8; value investors should take notice.
Seven analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.46 to $10.82 per share. TMUS boasts an average earnings surprise of +17.3%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, TMUS should be on investors' short list.
Comcast and Charter are tanking in unison today with no fresh filings or analyst actions to explain the size of the moves, and the usual culprit of wireless competition does not quite fit either.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA | CMCSA Price Prediction) stock is down 8% midday Wednesday to $24.30, and Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) stock is sliding 6% to $137.31. Those declines are several times the pullback in the broader communication services sector today. The two cable operators are moving together and by a similar magnitude.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLC) is down 0.6%, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is off 0.5%. That gap says something specific: today’s selling is concentrated in cable broadband rather than spread across the sector or broader market.
T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) stock is also lower, down 3% to $177.12. The move is far smaller than in the two cable names, and that matters. Renewed fear of fixed wireless and fiber competition is the mechanism this pair has repeatedly been marked down on, yet a shared cable slide without a proportional wireless rally doesn’t fit a clean share-shift story.
The Longer Bear Trend No dated filing, press release, or analyst action from either cable operator accounts for the size of today’s declines. Charter’s recent official releases center on the completed Cox Communications transaction, a CFO transition announced August 31, and a $4.75 billion senior secured notes offering. None of those items landed today, and Comcast’s release feed shows nothing new either.
The fundamentals behind the repricing debate remain live, though. In Q2 2026, Comcast reported domestic broadband revenue of $6.28 billion, down 5.5% year over year, tied directly to its pricing pivot. Charter’s Q2 2026 internet revenue fell 3.2% to $5.78 billion, and internet customer losses accelerated meaningfully from the prior-year quarter.
Comcast paused its share repurchase program on June 29 ahead of the planned NBCUniversal and Sky separation, removing one steady bid at moments like this. Charter carries $93.8 billion in total principal debt, so any rerating of cable free cash flow lands hard on the equity below it.
Year to date, Charter stock is down 34.4%, T-Mobile stock is off 11.2%, and Comcast stock is down 2.9%. Today’s move sits inside a much longer bear trend in cable equity, which is part of why any incremental competitive worry can compound into a same-day repricing.
Cable’s Pricing Pivot Meets Wireless Offense Comcast said on its Q2 2026 call that it “did not take a broadband rate increase” and migrated customers into simplified pricing with lower everyday price points. Broadband ARPU declined 3.8% in the quarter as free wireless lines diluted the mix, and connectivity and platforms EBITDA declined 5.8%. CEO Brian Roberts stated the “strategic pivot in broadband is gaining traction.”
Charter is fighting back with bundling. It’s offering a $1,000 savings guarantee for customers switching mobile lines from Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, and it added 406,000 Spectrum Mobile lines in Q2 to reach 12.5 million total. CEO Chris Winfrey stated internet customers who also buy Charter mobile “churn nearly 40% less than internet customers who don’t have mobile.”
T-Mobile sits on the offensive side of that dynamic. Q2 2026 revenue rose 7.8% to $22.79 billion, with postpaid service revenue up 13%. Growth engines pressuring cable include 5G fixed wireless with speeds 50%+ faster than the next peer, plus the Metronet and Lumos fiber acquisitions layered on top.
On its own Q2 call, T-Mobile’s fixed-wireless lead described the product as delivering “fiber-like speeds over Wi-Fi” and said it has “graduated from being what was in the beginning perceived as just a discount product.” That kind of framing is exactly what makes the cable pair vulnerable when sentiment shifts, even without a fresh catalyst filed today.
What to Watch Investors can watch for whether the concentration in cable names holds through the close and whether either operator posts a formal disclosure. Charter is slated to participate in the Citi Global TMT and Goldman Sachs investor conferences, and any prepared broadband commentary could shape the next move for the group.
If a broker note or a competitor’s disclosure surfaces later in the session, it likely explains why cable is being repriced first and which player is most exposed. Absent that, it’s worth sizing your exposure to reflect the possibility that today’s cable repricing extends before the story is fully explained.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Fastly, Inc. (FSLY) Citi's 2026 Global TMT Conference September 9, 2026 8:10 AM EDT
Company Participants
Richard Wong - Chief Financial Officer
Vernon Essi - Head of IR
Conference Call Participants
Fatima Boolani - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Presentation
Fatima Boolani
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Boolani. I jointly head up our software equity research franchise here at Citi. And I'm very excited to kick off day 2 of Citi's TMT Conference with Fastly. So on stage with me is CFO, Rich Wong; and also Head of Investor Relations, Vernon Essi. Thank you so much for being here.
Richard Wong
Chief Financial Officer
Thank you for having us.
Question-and-Answer Session
Fatima Boolani
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Excellent. Well, I'm looking forward to a very productive discussion. So maybe just to kind of get the conversation flowing and started, Rich, happy 13 months...
Richard Wong
Chief Financial Officer
Yes.
Fatima Boolani
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
in the job...
Richard Wong
Chief Financial Officer
Thank you for remembering.
Fatima Boolani
Citigroup Inc., Research Division
So a whirlwind year for you at the company. So I think a good place to start would be 13 months in review, right? The most important structural changes to the business that you've witnessed in the last 12 months and also the changes you've effected in the last 12, 13 months.
Richard Wong
Chief Financial Officer
Well, thank you for remembering my 13 months. It has been a whirlwind. It's been a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know Fastly, I can just start with a real quick introduction on what Fastly is and what we do. We are an edge cloud provider. We break our revenues down into 3 main revenue lines where we do delivery services, which is really accelerating the Internet. Really, we have 166 points of presence around the world that helps
Oracle just staged a dramatic comeback after cratering more than 50% from its highs, and Wall Street is divided on whether the $638 billion backlog signals a generational opportunity or a capital spending trap waiting to spring.
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Oracle (NYSE:ORCL | ORCL Price Prediction) has become one of the most talked-about names in the AI infrastructure trade, and after a violent round trip from north of $341 to the low $130s and back, investors want a number to anchor to.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Oracle is $219.26, which implies 34.91% upside from the last close of $162.52. Our recommendation is buy, with high conviction at a 90% confidence level.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $162.52 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $219.26 Upside 34.91% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% A Violent Reset, Then a Bounce Into the Earnings Report Oracle shares are down 31.07% over the past year and 15.81% year to date, but the stock has flipped decisively in recent weeks: up 10.54% over the past month and 15% in the past week alone as the OpenAI ecosystem returned to favor per MarketWatch coverage on September 8.
That move sets up the Q1 FY2027 report expected September 10, 2026. In Q4 FY2026, Oracle delivered EPS of $2.11 on revenue of $19.18 billion, with Cloud Infrastructure revenue up 93% and Remaining Performance Obligations reaching a staggering $638 billion, up 363% year over year. Polymarket traders are pricing an 83.5% probability that Oracle beats expectations.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Above $300 The bull case is the RPO. Oracle now sits on a $638 billion backlog, with $67 billion in new AI infrastructure signed in Q4 alone and a global GPU utilization rate of 97.5%.
Multicloud database revenue grew 404%, and Safra Catz has walked investors through an OCI ramp reaching $144 billion by FY2030. Management reconfirmed a 31% revenue CAGR and 28% EPS CAGR through FY2030. If Oracle hits FY2028 consensus EPS of $10.97 and the market awards even a 30x multiple, our bull scenario reaches $347.50.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case is capital intensity. Free cash flow ran to negative $23.7 billion in FY2026 on CapEx of $55.7 billion, and FY2027 CapEx is guided near $70 billion, funded partly through a $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance and additional debt. Software license revenue also fell 6% in Q4.
That said, bulls would counter that a chunk of the RPO, roughly $75 billion, involves customer-supplied GPUs that reduce Oracle’s own capital burden, and Hilary Maxson has flagged steady-state ROIC in the high 20s. Our bear scenario prices in multiple compression and lands at $184.40.
How Oracle Stacks Up Against Microsoft and Amazon Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the natural enterprise-cloud comp, trading at a P/E of 27 with Azure growth of 43% and a commercial RPO of $678 billion. Oracle’s implied forward P/E of 21 looks cheap next to Microsoft given Oracle’s faster OCI growth of 93%.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the pure hyperscaler benchmark. AWS grew 37% in Q2 2026 at a 39.4% operating margin, and Amazon trades at a P/E of 36. Oracle grows OCI faster than AWS, yet trades at a meaningful discount to Amazon on earnings. Against this peer set, the 24/7 Wall St. price target of $219.26 looks conservative relative to peers.
Oracle Price Prediction 2026 to 2030 Oracle looks attractive at $162.52 if you believe the RPO backlog converts to revenue on the schedule management has outlined and OCI capacity keeps clearing at 97.5% utilization. I’d stay on the sidelines if the CapEx-to-FCF gap keeps widening into FY2028 or if a major hyperscaler contract renegotiates lower.
On balance, the 24/7 Wall St. price target of $219.26 and the analyst consensus at $242.05 both point higher. The model’s output skews bullish, with high confidence.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $178.89 2027 $221.66 2028 $269.73 2029 $319.01 2030 $351.18 These projections assume Oracle executes on its FY2030 OCI ramp and preserves cloud margins in the 30% to 40% range. Significant upside or downside could result from AI-contract renewal patterns or the cost of the FY2027 debt and equity raise.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Oracle and Amazon just posted record cloud backlogs while their free cash flow turned negative, and a single Fed decision this month could determine whether their trillion-dollar AI buildouts become strokes of genius or catastrophic overextensions.
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Oracle (NYSE: ORCL | ORCL Price Prediction) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) both just reported standout cloud quarters, and both are pouring unprecedented sums into AI datacenters. Oracle wrapped Q4 FY2026 on June 10, and Amazon delivered Q2 FY2026 on July 30. With the Fed Funds upper bound sitting at 3.75% and the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.78%, financing this buildout is getting expensive. The upcoming Fed meeting this month heightens those fears.
Cloud Backlogs Surge While Cash Flow Flips Negative Oracle’s Q4 revenue hit $19.18 billion with EPS of $2.11, and OCI grew 93% year over year. Remaining performance obligations ballooned to $638 billion, which management called “unprecedented.” The catch: free cash flow ran negative $23.69 billion for FY2026, and Oracle plans to raise roughly $40 billion in debt and equity in FY2027 to fund a $70 billion capex outlay.
Amazon’s AWS grew 37% to $42.23 billion, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, with an AWS backlog of $496 billion. But Q2 capex alone reached $54.2 billion, up nearly 68% year over year, and trailing free cash flow flipped to negative $7.6 billion. CEO Andy Jassy admitted the company will “encounter free cash flow headwinds until these data centers come online.”
Why Rates Bite These Two Harder Amazon has retail, ads, and subscription cash to lean on. Oracle relies almost entirely on legacy software cash flow. CFO Brian Olsavsky acknowledged Amazon has “issued debt this year” and is weighing options. Oracle’s balance sheet already carries $218.7 billion in total liabilities, and every basis point on new issuance matters when you are printing $40 billion of paper into a 4.78% 10-year environment.
Rate Exposure Lens Oracle Amazon FY Capex Plan ~$70B (FY27) ~$200B (2026) Free Cash Flow -$23.69B -$7.6B TTM Non-Cloud Cash Cushion Legacy software Retail, ads, Prime New Funding Need $40B debt/equity Debt optional What I Am Watching Into the Fed Meeting Oracle stock has been punished, down 31.07% over the past year, though it rallied 15% in the past week as the OpenAI ecosystem came back into favor. Amazon has quietly climbed 8.96% over 12 months. A dovish Fed pivot would ease Oracle’s funding math dramatically. A hawkish surprise could force Larry Ellison’s team to lean harder on that $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance, diluting shareholders.
Why I Lean Amazon Right Now For AI cloud exposure with a built-in shock absorber, Amazon carries more diversified cash flow. AWS margins ran at 39.4%, and retail cash flow can carry the capex weight even if the Fed stays higher for longer. Oracle offers more upside if rates fall and the RPO converts to revenue on schedule, but I need to see cash capex peak before I get comfortable. Oracle offers higher torque to a Fed pivot and OCI execution, while Amazon’s diversification offers more insulation if rates stay elevated.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Oracle just posted contract backlog numbers that most cloud giants would envy, yet the stock sits 31% below its peak. Here is why one investor keeps adding shares while Wall Street looks the other way.
I keep buying Oracle, and the reason is simpler than my order history makes it look. The company built a lower-cost way to run AI workloads, and customers are signing contracts that stretch years into the future. That is the whole thesis. Everything else is receipts.
Here is the moment that pulled me in. On the Q4 fiscal 2026 call, co-CEO Clay Magouyrk described Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as “the most highly secure, highest performing, most flexible, lowest-cost infrastructure available anywhere.” Contract backlog backs it up. Oracle (NYSE:ORCL | ORCL Price Prediction) ended the quarter with Remaining Performance Obligations of $638 billion, up 363% year over year, after signing $67 billion in AI infrastructure contracts during the quarter alone. When a customer prepays or brings their own hardware, they are voting with treasury cash. $75 billion of that RPO is tied to prepaid or customer-supplied GPU arrangements, which lowers Oracle’s own capital burden.
Three Reasons I Keep Adding First, the growth is real and it is accelerating. IaaS revenue climbed from +55% in Q1 to +68% in Q2, +84% in Q3, and +93% in Q4 of fiscal 2026. Cloud is now 52% of quarterly sales compared to 43% a year ago. Management guided fiscal 2027 revenue to $90 billion with non-GAAP EPS of $8.05, and reaffirmed a long-range plan of more than 31% revenue CAGR and more than 28% EPS CAGR through fiscal 2030.
Second, the economics of the buildout hold up. Management reiterated a 30% to 40% margin profile on OCI and told analysts steady-state project ROIC lands in the high 20s. Global GPU utilization sits at 97.5%. Cash from operations grew 54% to $32.0 billion for the full year. Oracle still pays me a $0.50 quarterly dividend while it invests.
Third, the price got kind. Oracle trades at $162.52, down 31.07% over the past year. Against forward EPS of $9.30, the implied forward multiple is roughly 21. For a business compounding cloud at these rates, I will take it.
Why Not the Hyperscalers The retirement crowd usually reaches first for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), or Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). I own some of that too. What tips my next dollar to Oracle is footprint and neutrality. Magouyrk said Oracle has “over 211 live and planned regions worldwide, more than any of our cloud competitors”, and Oracle is building 72 Multicloud datacenters embedded inside Amazon, Google, and Microsoft clouds. Multicloud AI Database revenue grew 404% in Q4. Oracle wins whether the customer chooses AWS, Azure, or GCP for the rest of the stack. That is a rare position, and it is why the power, cooling, and networking names behind these buildouts keep showing up in our free AI infrastructure report.
Risk I Take Seriously Free cash flow was negative $23.686 billion in fiscal 2026 on capex of $55.663 billion. Non-current debt reached $124.7 billion, and Oracle plans to raise about $40 billion in fiscal 2027 through debt and equity, including a $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance. Dilution and interest expense are real. What keeps me buying is that 12% of RPO converts to revenue in the next 12 months and another 34% within 13 to 36 months. The cash flows to service that leverage are already contracted.
What Keeps the Buy Button Warm Fiscal 2027 revenue and earnings are guided to accelerate in the second half as megawatts come online, and the CFO’s prior long-range map takes OCI from $18 billion in fiscal 2026 to $144 billion four years later. When a company sells a lower-cost version of the scarcest resource in the economy, and books the demand years in advance, With a lower-cost version of the scarcest resource in the economy and demand booked years in advance, I keep adding.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
CNBC's Sara Eisen sits down with Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf to discuss the company's 2026 healthcare conference, consumer behavior, tariffs, and more.
Streaming has moved beyond the race for subscriber additions and is increasingly becoming a contest for engagement, advertising dollars and content discovery. The shift is visible in viewing trends. Nielsen reported that streaming captured 48.2% of U.S. ad-supported TV viewing in the second quarter of 2026, widening its lead over cable and broadcast. This underscores how connected-TV platforms are gaining importance for both audiences and marketers.
Against this backdrop, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) and Sony Group Corporation (SONY - Free Report) warrant attention as streaming develops into a broader ecosystem spanning distribution, advertising, premium programming and direct-to-consumer services. Their varied exposure provides investors with different ways to participate in the migration of viewing time and ad spending toward digital video while also benefiting from demand for differentiated entertainment experiences.
Live sports should remain a major catalyst for engagement. Gracenote data showed sports offerings across five leading subscription streaming services jumped 52% year over year in February 2026. FAST is also expanding rapidly, with individual sports games and events distributed across free ad-supported streaming services rising 37.5% year over year in the third quarter, highlighting the growing importance of sports beyond traditional pay-TV.
The outlook remains constructive as connected-TV usage, ad-supported services and global appetite for premium and niche content expand. Artificial intelligence is also becoming increasingly important across the streaming value chain, helping platforms improve content recommendations, audience targeting, ad placement and production efficiency. However, higher sports-rights and programming costs, intense competition, subscriber churn and fragmented viewing habits could pressure returns. Companies that combine compelling content with AI-driven personalization, broad distribution and stronger advertising monetization should be better positioned as the industry matures.
If you’re looking to tap into this fast-growing trend, our Streaming Content Thematic Screen offers a simple way to spot promising stocks in the sector. Designed with advanced analytics, the screen highlights companies driving industry transformation, helping investors stay ahead of emerging opportunities.
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Amazon’s streaming journey began with Unbox in 2006, followed by unlimited Prime streaming in 2011. Today, Prime Video has evolved into an entertainment platform spanning originals, licensed programming, live sports, rentals, third-party subscriptions and more than 900 U.S. FAST channels.
The investment case has strengthened as Prime Video moves beyond being a Prime-retention tool. CEO Andy Jassy said in May 2026 that the business is growing, profitable and still early, suggesting room to expand engagement and monetization over time.
Live sports should remain a major growth driver. Prime Video carries NFL Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, the Masters and other rights across markets. These events attract viewing, while Amazon’s shopping, browsing and streaming signals can make advertising inventory more measurable and valuable.
Content ownership adds another layer of strength. AMZN expanded its content ownership, most notably through the $8.45 billion MGM transaction. MGM brought more than 4,000 films and 17,000 TV episodes, while Amazon MGM Studios now has creative control of James Bond. A larger theatrical pipeline can eventually feed Prime Video and could lower dependence on licensed hits over time.
International expansion adds further upside for this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. Amazon is integrating MX Player into Prime Video in India and plans to invest more than $2 billion in Latin America from 2027 through 2030. Combined with sports, owned franchises and commerce-linked advertising, Prime Video looks positioned to become a larger long-term profit engine. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Sony’s streaming history stretches back to 2006, when Sony Pictures acquired video site Grouper. Its current direct-to-consumer strategy expanded through SonyLIV in India, Sony’s 2017 acquisition of Funimation and the 2021 purchase of Crunchyroll, which became Sony’s global anime-streaming platform.
Crunchyroll is now the strongest growth engine in Sony’s streaming portfolio. Paid subscribers surpassed 21 million by March 2026, and Sony said in July that subscriptions continued growing beyond that level. This momentum shows the service still has room to add paying users.
The addressable market remains large. Sony estimates more than 1.5 billion online streaming viewers were watching or interested in anime in 2025 across measured markets, with penetration still low. This creates a long runway for Crunchyroll to convert more anime viewers into recurring subscribers worldwide.
The platform is also becoming more competitive as its streaming library expands. By March 2026, Crunchyroll offered more than 50,000 episodes, subtitled and dubbed in 13 languages. A deeper, localized catalog should support discovery and retention while making the service more relevant internationally.
For investors, Sony’s streaming thesis is attractive. Crunchyroll combines subscriber momentum, low penetration and a broad international catalog, while SonyLIV adds a general-entertainment streaming presence in India. Together, these services give Sony multiple paths to expand recurring digital revenues and build a larger streaming business over time. SONY holds a Zacks Rank #2.
Alphabet’s streaming roots trace to Google’s 2006 acquisition of YouTube, launched a year earlier. YouTube has since evolved from a user-video site into a broad platform spanning long-form video, Shorts, music, livestreams, connected-TV viewing, subscriptions and live sports.
The biggest long-term advantage is audience scale across screens. Nielsen reported YouTube at 13.8% of total U.S. TV watch time in June 2026, still the largest media distributor. Shorts also averages more than 200 billion daily views, feeding discovery across YouTube’s wider content ecosystem.
Monetization is becoming more diversified. YouTube generated more than $60 billion from advertising and subscriptions in 2025, while management said in second-quarter 2026 that subscriptions are growing faster than ads, led by YouTube Music and Premium. This adds recurring revenues while preserving a powerful advertising engine.
YouTube TV strengthens the thesis further. In 2026, Alphabet rolled out more than 10 lower-priced specialized plans, added ESPN Unlimited directly to YouTube TV on Sept. 1 and expanded Peacock availability through Primetime Channels. Primetime Channels now offers more than 45 services.
YouTube is positioned as both a destination and an aggregator. Its creator supply, living-room reach, sports, subscription options and partner catalog reinforce one another, giving Alphabet several ways to capture rising streaming time and spending. This supports a durable growth runway for GOOGL. It carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
NEW YORK, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Hyliion Holdings Corp. (“Hyliion” or the “Company”) (NYSE: HYLN) on behalf of investors that purchased or otherwise acquired Hyliion securities between May 12, 2026 and June 23, 2026 (the “Class Period”).
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CASE
If you are an investor in Hyliion and have suffered losses, you may CLICK HERE to contact us. You may also contact Kaplan Fox by emailing [email protected] or by calling (646) 315-9003.
DEADLINE REMINDER: If you are a member of the proposed Class, you may move the court no later than October 27, 2026 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the purported class. If you have losses we encourage you to contact us to learn more about the lead plaintiff process. You need not seek to become a lead plaintiff in order to share in any possible recovery.
On May 12, 2026, according to the complaint, Hyliion announced a partnership with VFG Holdings LLC (“VFG”) by means of a letter of intent (“LOI”) to provide power modules to support data center applications. Further, the complaint alleges that after this announcement, Hyliion's stock appreciated over the next several days from a closing price of $2.68 per share on May 12, 2026 to close at $4.67 per share on May 15, 2026. According to the complaint, Defendants made false and misleading statements “in order to cause rapid price appreciation in Hyliion stock” and “to insider trade,” among other things.
Then, on June 23, 2026, according to the complaint, Pelican Way Research issued a report alleging that the announced LOI with VFG “is a sham because the counterparty (VFG Holdings, or legally VFG Tech Holdings, LLC) does not appear to have any substance.” On this news, the complaint alleges the price of Hyliion stock fell $1.27, or 17.2%, on June 23, 2026 and declined an additional $1.18 per share, or 19.3%, on June 24, 2026 to close at $4.92 per share.
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Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP is a nationally recognized law firm focused on complex litigation, with offices in New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New Jersey. Founded in 1956, the firm has spent more than 50 years prosecuting securities, antitrust, and consumer protection actions in federal and state courts nationwide, recovering more than $10 billion for clients and the classes it has represented.
Kaplan Fox is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier plaintiffs' securities litigation firms and has received recognition from Chambers and Partners, Benchmark Litigation, Super Lawyers, and Lawdragon. Serving as lead or co-lead counsel in many landmark cases, the firm has secured some of the largest recoveries in the history of securities litigation, including a $2.425 billion recovery on behalf of Bank of America shareholders in In re Bank of America—the largest recovery ever obtained for claims under Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act—$800 million recovered for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and other pension funds in ATRS v. Allianz Global Investors, and a $475 million settlement in In re Merrill Lynch.
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New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2026) - Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Hyliion Holdings Corp. (NYSE American: HYLN) and certain of its officers.
This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Hyliion securities between May 12, 2026 and June 23, 2026, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm's site: bgandg.com/cases/hyliion-holdings-corp-hyln-class_action_lawsuit.
Hyliion Case Details
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:
in order to cause rapid price appreciation in Hyliion stock, Defendants announced a deal with an entity that was very recently formed and does not appear to have any actual business operations; Thomas Healy, the Company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Jon Panzer, the Company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), timed the announcement and the foregoing price appreciation to insider trading; and as a result, defendants' statements about Hyliion's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.What's Next for Hyliion Investors?
A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm's site: bgandg.com/cases/hyliion-holdings-corp-hyln-class_action_lawsuit, or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in Hyliion you have until October 27, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.
No Cost to Hyliion Investors
We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys' fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.
Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for Hyliion Securities Class Action?
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com
"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.
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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/312001
Source: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
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NEW YORK, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Hyliion Holdings Corp. (NYSE: HYLN) and certain of its officers.
This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Hyliion securities between May 12, 2026 and June 23, 2026, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm’s site: bgandg.com/cases/hyliion-holdings-corp-hyln-class_action_lawsuit.
Hyliion Case Details
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:
(1) in order to cause rapid price appreciation in Hyliion stock, Defendants announced a deal with an entity that was very recently formed and does not appear to have any actual business operations;(2) Thomas Healy, the Company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Jon Panzer, the Company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), timed the announcement and the foregoing price appreciation to insider trading; and(3) as a result, defendants' statements about Hyliion's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. What's Next for Hyliion Investors?
A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm’s site: bgandg.com/cases/hyliion-holdings-corp-hyln-class_action_lawsuit. or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in Hyliion you have until October 27, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.
No Cost to Hyliion Investors
We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys’ fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.
Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for Hyliion Securities Class Action?
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com
"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, or Instagram.
Contact Info
Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or Nathan Miller
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
917-590-0911 | [email protected]
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Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
The S&P 500 has advanced for the past three calendar years and continues to march higher in 2026, even reaching record levels. But this isn't without interruption, particularly in recent months. Investors have worried about the ongoing turmoil in Iran, higher oil prices, rising inflation in the U.S., and growing levels of spending in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. These concerns have weighed on the S&P 500 from time to time -- and could even potentially lead to longer-lasting declines.
So, what's an investor to do in such a situation? It's the perfect time to load up on dividend stocks, or companies that pay shareholders just for owning the stock. A dividend stock will offer you recurrent income regardless of the market's performance. This is great during any market environment, but it can be a real portfolio-saver during times of trouble. That's because these payments may at least partially compensate for weakness in some of your other investments. Even better, certain dividend players operate in areas -- such as healthcare -- that generate steady revenue even when times are tough.
Which dividend stocks to choose? The perfect place to start is with the list of Dividend Kings, companies that have lifted their dividend payments for at least the past 50 consecutive years. They are committed to dividend growth and have demonstrated that they have the resources to keep these payments going. With this in mind, let's check out two dividend stocks built to hold up when markets don't.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -0.75%) is a name you might know well, particularly for certain consumer health products. The company actually exited that business a couple of years ago and shifted the focus to its pharmaceutical and medtech units. This move, putting all resources into the highest-potential areas, proved to be a wise one as we can see through recent earnings reports.
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J&J now has 28 products and platforms that bring in more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Its innovative medicines (pharma) business had eight brands growing in the double digits in the recent quarter, and J&J is on track toward its goal of becoming the No. 1 oncology company by 2030. The healthcare giant is also progressing toward another important goal: more than $100 billion in revenue this year. This would be the highest revenue level ever for J&J.
As for dividends, J&J pays $5.36 per share, representing a dividend yield of 1.9%. So, an investment in J&J brings you a winning healthcare business along with passive income in the form of a dividend that's been growing over time.
2. AbbVie AbbVie (ABBV +0.17%) is the company behind the world's first $20 billion drug, immunology blockbuster, Humira. That top-selling drug has since lost exclusivity, resulting in declines in sales, but AbbVie was prepared with newer immunology products, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, and these products are producing impressive results. In the recent quarter, Skyrizi and Rinvoq each delivered revenue growth of about 24% to more than $5 billion and $2 billion, respectively.
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The company also has a leading aesthetics portfolio, with anti-wrinkle treatment Botox and filler Juvederm, as well as neuroscience and oncology portfolios. In the latest quarter, several of the company's neuroscience drugs delivered double-digit growth, including bipolar disorder treatment, Vraylar. That product generated more than $1 billion in revenue.
And total revenue continues to climb, even with the loss of Humira exclusivity, showing the strength of AbbVie's portfolio of commercialized drugs. In the quarter, worldwide revenue advanced 10% to more than $16 billion.
Like J&J, AbbVie has a long history of rewarding shareholders with dividends and lifting these payments year after year. This has brought the payment to $6.92, for a dividend yield of 2.7%, and makes AbbVie a stock built to hold up even when markets don't.
Moderna Just Doubled Overnight, and 2 More Healthcare Stocks Could Follow ItAbbVie NYSE: ABBV executives outlined growth plans across immunology, oncology and neuroscience at a Wells Fargo conference, emphasizing continued momentum for its SKYRIZI and RINVOQ franchises, a pipeline of combination therapies and an approach to business development focused on assets that fit its long-term strategy.
Jeff Stewart, AbbVie’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said the company remains encouraged by the growth outlook for immunology markets including inflammatory bowel disease, atopic dermatitis and psoriatic arthritis. He said these markets are expanding as new therapies support earlier treatment and broader use across lines of therapy.
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MarketBeat Week in Review – 08/03 - 08/07Stewart said SKYRIZI and RINVOQ, now in their eighth year of growth, continue to have opportunities for market-share gains. He pointed to planned or ongoing development in additional indications, including vitiligo, alopecia and hidradenitis suppurativa, or HS. AbbVie previously raised its long-term outlook for the vitiligo and alopecia opportunities to more than $3 billion, he said.
Immunology pipeline and Crohn’s disease plans In inflammatory bowel disease, Stewart said AbbVie expects approval of a subcutaneous induction regimen for SKYRIZI in Crohn’s disease during the fourth quarter. The company expects to release additional data from the AFFIRM study later in the quarter. He said topline findings showed strong endoscopic healing results and that the company views the regimen as a potential catalyst for its IBD position.
The S&P 493 Are Staging a Comeback—This Value ETF Offers Broad ExposureRoopal Thakkar, AbbVie’s executive vice president, head of research and chief scientific officer, discussed the company’s combination-therapy platform. In early data, a combination of SKYRIZI and AbbVie’s proprietary alpha-4 beta-7 therapy showed a doubling in endoscopic remission versus SKYRIZI monotherapy within the same study, according to Thakkar.
AbbVie plans to present additional data at gastrointestinal conferences later this year, representing about 80% of patient data, followed by a full dataset next year. The company is also enrolling a larger platform study evaluating SKYRIZI, its alpha-4 beta-7 therapy and an extended-duration TL1A therapy in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Thakkar said the company will evaluate whether higher dosing of the alpha-4 beta-7 treatment can further improve endoscopic outcomes. Stewart said transformational efficacy and convenient administration would be key commercial requirements for any combination product, including potentially using an on-body device or a simple injection.
AbbVie also expects data later this year from Phase III studies of lutikizumab and RINVOQ in HS. Thakkar said lutikizumab is being studied in patients who have not previously received biologics as well as patients who have failed them, while the RINVOQ study is enrolling patients who have failed biologic therapies. He said the trial designs accounted for potentially variable placebo responses in HS and included site training on lesion identification and counting.
Business development and investment priorities Scott Reents, AbbVie’s chief financial officer, said the company has completed roughly 30 transactions and spent about $20 billion over the past several years. About half of that amount related to the Apogee transaction, he said, while the remaining investments involved smaller and earlier-stage opportunities.
Reents said AbbVie has increased annual research and development spending by roughly $3.5 billion since 2022 and expects R&D spending to approach $10 billion this year. He said the company’s approach combines internal development with external innovation, particularly assets that complement existing franchises.
While AbbVie has the financial capacity to consider early-stage, late-stage and marketed assets, Reents said it does not need to pursue revenue simply for the sake of adding revenue. He said management will continue to evaluate opportunities in the company’s core therapeutic areas and adjacent categories through what he described as a measured and methodical process.
Reents reiterated AbbVie’s previously discussed high-single-digit compound annual revenue growth outlook through the decade and said the company’s first loss of exclusivity after its current major products is not expected until VRAYLAR in 2030.
Oncology and neuroscience developments In oncology, Thakkar highlighted AbbVie’s BCMA-directed T-cell engager etentamig for multiple myeloma. He said the therapy was designed with high affinity for BCMA and lower affinity for CD3, an approach intended to support efficacy while improving tolerability and convenience.
According to Thakkar, a study was stopped early at the request of the data monitoring committee after a median follow-up of 11 months. He said the results showed high response rates, progression-free survival and an overall-survival trend, with both hazard ratios below 0.5. The regimen involved one step-up dose and 13 injections annually because it is administered monthly.
AbbVie has dosed about 100 patients in outpatient settings across the development program, Thakkar said. The company plans discussions with regulators regarding labeling, including potential requirements for risk evaluation and mitigation and hospitalization. Stewart said AbbVie is preparing for a rapid filing and market entry.
Thakkar also described a solid-tumor pipeline including telisotuzumab vedotin, ABBV-901, ABBV-969, a KRAS program, DLL3-directed therapies and a partnership with RemeGen involving a PD-1/VEGF program. He said data from the PD-1/VEGF program were expected to be presented at the World Lung meeting.
In neuroscience, Thakkar said AbbVie is developing bretisilocin for major depressive disorder and plans another readout this year. He said early data showed deep and durable remission, while the treatment experience lasted about two hours. AbbVie is planning an acute Phase III study, a Phase II study to evaluate dose and durability, and a Phase II study in post-traumatic stress disorder.
Looking ahead, Thakkar said a successful year would include continued commercial execution in immunology, favorable HS results, advancement of oncology programs into Phase III, progress in psychiatry and rapid execution of atopic dermatitis studies involving zumilokibart from Apogee.
About AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)AbbVie Inc NYSE: ABBV is a global biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines across immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, aesthetics and other specialty areas. The company was established in 2013 after separating from Abbott Laboratories, which retained Abbott's diversified medical products and diagnostics businesses while AbbVie focused on research-based pharmaceuticals.
AbbVie's immunology portfolio includes Skyrizi (risankizumab) and Rinvoq (upadacitinib), which are used to treat several inflammatory conditions.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
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European cities will gain more leeway to curb short-term rentals such as Airbnb under new EU plans that aim to bring down housing costs in tourism hotspots.
Jim Cramer spent Tuesday night hyping what could be a landmark AI IPO, then spent Wednesday morning explaining why a safety researcher at that same company just made him want nothing to do with it.
Fewer than 14 hours separated Jim Cramer’s two takes on Anthropic. On Tuesday night’s Mad Money, he told viewers the private AI lab “could be a gigantic IPO and investors will sell all sorts of other stocks in order to raise money to participate.” Wednesday morning on Squawk on the Street, he was comparing the odds quoted by one of Anthropic’s own safety researchers to a surgery no sane patient would agree to.
Surgery Analogy That Reframes the IPO Pitch Cramer’s on-air reaction, per CNBC’s Sept. 9 broadcast: “If you ever been in a situation where you want a surgery and the surgery electrosurgery is more than 5%, 5% fatality. No, you don’t do it…10% is twice 5%. So when I read that, I said, well, you know, I don’t like those odds. Those odds are just plain bad.” He followed with, “I’m very surprised that this man still works for Dario, for Anthropic.” Cramer posted a shorter version on X at 9:42 a.m.: “10% chance we’re all gonna die from AI? (anthropic exec) Don’t like the odds.”
The number came from Anthropic safety researcher Evan Hubinger, who publicly wrote he sees “a greater than 10% chance of that happening” in the context of AI killing people. Separately, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and posted that Anthropic and OpenAI are “racing straight to self-improving, superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”
Why the Whiplash Matters for Cramer’s Broader AI Book Anthropic remains private and has no filed S-1 with the SEC, so Cramer’s IPO talk is speculation about a deal rather than a scheduled offering. That matters because his April view had already floated a $1 trillion outcome, and on Sept. 3 he tied Broadcom’s bull case to the same lab, framing it as “Anthropic or bust.” If a private-market safety debate delays or shrinks that IPO, the ripple hits public names investors actually own.
Public-Market AI Proxies Trading Today Meta (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) is the mega-cap answer. On July 29, 2026, Meta posted Q2 revenue of $60.80 billion, up 27.96% year-over-year, while diluted EPS of $6.18 missed the $7.2214 consensus by 14.42%. Capital expenditures hit $30.116 billion in the quarter, and free cash flow collapsed to $784 million. Full-year capex guidance now sits at $130-145 billion, funding an aggressive AI buildout described by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as “accelerating our core business today, powering our next generation of products, and opening the door to entirely new enterprise opportunities.” Details are in Meta’s Q2 2026 8-K exhibit. On Sept. 9, Meta traded up 5.7% in the morning and is up 12.1% in a week on its Muse AI agent launch. The stock ignored the safety headlines.
Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) shows the applied side. Q2 2026 revenue was $3.608 billion, up 16.54%, with GAAP EPS of $1.27. Airbnb’s AI assistant now resolves ~45% of customer support issues without a human agent, pushing support cost per booking down ~16% YoY, and nearly 60% of engineer-produced code is AI-coauthored. Shares traded at 169.42 late morning Sept. 9, down 2.93% on the session and 7.19% over the week, though still up 24.83% year to date.
What to Watch Next Three items: whether Anthropic files actual IPO paperwork (as of today it has not), whether more Anthropic staff go public with p(doom) numbers, and whether Meta’s capex trajectory into $130-145 billion for the year keeps drawing bids while free cash flow compresses. All of that buildout still has to be powered, cooled, and networked by somebody, and we profiled seven of those suppliers in a free AI infrastructure report. The private-market safety debate at Anthropic and the public-market AI trade are the same story pointed at different audiences.
Data Sources CNBC Squawk on the Street, Sept. 9, 2026: Cramer’s surgery analogy, Coxon and Hubinger quotes. Custom user briefing: Cramer X post timing, Meta premarket move, Sept. 3 “Anthropic or bust” framing. Meta Q2 2026 8-K exhibit on SEC.gov: revenue, EPS miss, capex, free cash flow. Airbnb Q2 2026 earnings data: revenue, EPS, AI support metrics, buyback capacity. Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Simon Property (SPG - Free Report) . Shares have lost about 3.5% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Simon Property due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at the latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Simon Property Group, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
Simon Property's Q2 FFO Tops Estimates on Leasing Strength, Guidance RaisedSimon Property Group delivered second-quarter 2026 Real Estate FFO of $3.29 per share, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.18 by 3.46% and increasing 7.9% year over year. Total revenues of $1.79 billion beat the consensus mark of $1.71 billion by 4.49% and rose 19.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Broad-based leasing demand, higher traffic, retailer sales growth and contributions from acquisitions supported results. U.S. Malls and Premium Outlets occupancy remained 96%, unchanged year over year, while retailer sales per square foot jumped 13.9%.
Simon Property's Lease Income Powers Revenue GrowthLease income increased 20.3% year over year to $1.66 billion. Fixed lease income reached $1.35 billion compared with $1.13 billion a year earlier, while variable lease income increased to $310.6 million from $246.7 million.
Management fees and other revenues rose 7.7% to $40.8 million. Other income advanced 11.1% to $90.1 million, aided by higher mixed-use and franchise operations income and other ancillary sources.
Simon Property’s Property Metrics Stay FirmBase minimum rent per square foot for U.S. Malls and Premium Outlets climbed 6.3% year over year to $62.42. Reported retailer sales per square foot increased to $838 for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2026, from $736 a year earlier.
The Mills portfolio remained highly occupied at 98.8%, down from 99.3% a year ago. Its base minimum rent per square foot increased to $42.28 from $37.65, indicating higher rental rates across the portfolio.
Simon Property Posts Strong Property-Level NOI GrowthDomestic property NOI increased 8.5% year over year to $1.51 billion. Portfolio NOI, which includes domestic and international properties, rose 8.3% to $1.60 billion.
Beneficial interest of the combined NOI increased 6.4% to $1.75 billion. International property NOI totaled $96 million compared with $91.3 million in the prior-year quarter, while NOI from other platform investments declined to $31.8 million from $41.7 million.
Simon Property Sees Higher Costs & Interest ExpenseTotal operating expenses increased 28.1% year over year to $966.5 million. Depreciation and amortization rose to $459.9 million from $339.1 million, while property operating expenses increased to $171.4 million from $139.8 million. Interest expense climbed 20.8% to $281.2 million.
Simon Property Maintains Ample Balance Sheet LiquiditySimon ended the June 2026 quarter with approximately $9.3 billion of liquidity, comprising $1.7 billion of cash on hand, including its share of joint venture cash, and $7.6 billion of available capacity under its revolving credit facilities.
During the second quarter, Simon Property completed eight secured loan transactions totaling approximately $1.4 billion at a weighted average interest rate of 5.36%. It also issued €500 million of five-year senior notes carrying a 3.65% coupon and closed a $460 million five-year term loan priced at SOFR plus 0.70%.
Simon Property Raises 2026 Real Estate FFO OutlookSimon increased its full-year 2026 Real Estate FFO per share guidance to $13.20-$13.30 from $13.10-$13.25. The midpoint of the updated range is 8 cents above the midpoint of the previous outlook.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a upward trend in fresh estimates.
VGM ScoresCurrently, Simon Property has a poor Growth Score of F, a score with the same score on the momentum front. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a score of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of this revision looks promising. Notably, Simon Property has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerSimon Property is part of the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry. Over the past month, Regency Centers (REG - Free Report) , a stock from the same industry, has gained 0.2%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended June 2026 more than a month ago.
Regency Centers reported revenues of $413.51 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +8.6%. EPS of $0.61 for the same period compares with $1.16 a year ago.
For the current quarter, Regency Centers is expected to post earnings of $1.22 per share, indicating a change of +6.1% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.4% over the last 30 days.
Regency Centers has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of D.
Palantir's Q2 revenue surged 93%, while U.S. commercial revenue grew 149% and its Rule of 40 reached 155%. U.S. commercial TCV jumped 153% to $2.13 billion, suggesting compute availability could become a bigger constraint than customer demand. The Nebius partnership could accelerate sovereign AI deployments without heavy capital investment, although greater compute exposure creates potential margin-mix uncertainty.
Global organizations face a dilemma as they adopt artificial intelligence. While interest in private model deployment continues to climb, strict data residency laws and internal privacy rules make standard public cloud environments unsuitable for sensitive information.
Lyft, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYFT) today announced that Michael Brous has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective September 28, 2026. Brous takes over from Eri
The sale represented 2% of the executive's direct equity holdings prior to the transaction. All shares were held directly by the insider, with a portion of the remaining stake managed through a living trust.
Key Takeaways Bristol Myers Squibb's arlo-cel met the primary endpoint in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma.Arlo-cel targets GPRC5D, offering a potential option after prior BCMA-directed treatment.Bristol Myers Squibb is broadening its multiple myeloma portfolio with arlo-cel and Zenbexus. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY - Free Report) announced positive phase II results from the registrational QUINTESSENTIAL study evaluating arlocabtagene autoleucel (arlo-cel; BMS-986393) in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.
Arlo-cel is a potential first-in-class autologous G protein-coupled receptor class C group 5 member D (GPRC5D)-directed CAR T cell therapy.
The results are encouraging because arlo-cel targets GPRC5D, giving BMY an opportunity to treat patients already exposed to BCMA-directed therapies. The study met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall response rate (ORR) in quadruple-class exposed patients who had received at least four prior lines of therapy. The trial also met key secondary endpoints, including complete response rate (CRR), as well as ORR and CRR in patients who had received three or more prior lines of treatment.
Quadruple-class exposure consists of those who have been treated with an immunomodulatory inhibitor, a proteasome inhibitor, an anti-CD38 therapy and a BCMA-targeted therapy.
The findings are particularly relevant as treatment options for heavily pretreated multiple myeloma remain limited. As patients increasingly become resistant to multiple drug classes earlier in the treatment journey, therapies that work through alternative targets could have significant commercial potential.
Arlo-cel is also potentially differentiated as a single-infusion autologous CAR T therapy targeting GPRC5D, providing BMY with another potential growth opportunity in cell therapy and multiple myeloma.
Importantly, GPRC5D expression is independent of BCMA expression and can be maintained following prior BCMA-directed treatment, supporting the rationale for using arlo-cel after BCMA therapies.
While arlo-cel is still investigational, and additional clinical and regulatory milestones will be needed before its commercial opportunity can be fully assessed, the positive data potentially strengthens the company’s long-term multiple myeloma pipeline and could help diversify growth beyond its established portfolio.
BMY already has CAR T cell therapy Breyanzi in its portfolio. Breyanzi is a CD19-directed CAR T cell therapy with a 4-1BB costimulatory domain, which enhances the expansion and persistence of the CAR T cells. It is approved for multiple blood cancers.
Last month, the FDA granted accelerated approval to iberdomide in combination with daratumumab and hyaluronidase-fihj and dexamethasone (ZDd).
The regimen, approved under the brand name Zenbexus, is approved for the treatment of adults with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior line of therapy.
Zenbexus is the first FDA-approved cereblon E3 ligase modulator, representing a novel class of cereblon-modulating protein degraders developed to treat multiple myeloma.
BMY is striving to broaden its portfolio to achieve sustained top-tier growth and maximize long-term value. The approval of new drugs brings an incremental stream of revenues to the company.
BMY Faces Competition for the CAR T Cell TherapyBreyanzi faces competition from Gilead Sciences’ (GILD - Free Report) Yescarta for its approved indications.
Gilead’s Yescarta is a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy indicated for the treatment of adult patients with LBCL that is refractory to first-line chemoimmunotherapy or relapses within 12 months of first-line chemoimmunotherapy. It is also approved for adult patients with relapsed or refractory LBCL after two or more lines of systemic therapy, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, high-grade B-cell lymphoma and DLBCL arising from FL.
GILD has another CAR T cell therapy in its franchise, Tecartus.
Another approved CAR T therapy is Novartis’ (NVS - Free Report) Kymriah, which is approved for acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is either relapsing or refractory. It is also used in patients with LBCL or FL, two types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who have relapsed or are refractory after undergoing at least two other kinds of treatment.
NVS’ Kymriah recorded sales of $169 million in the first half of 2026, down 15% from the year-ago period due to competitive pressure.
Per a Wall Street Journal article, Novartis paused eight clinical studies on investigational CAR T cell therapy, rap-cel, in late August, after three patients died.
BMY’s Price Performance, Valuation, Estimates and Zacks RankShares of Bristol Myers Squibb have gained 19.9% year to date compared with the industry’s growth of 10.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, BMY is trading at a discount to the large-cap pharma industry. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the stock currently trades at 9.85x forward earnings, higher than its mean of 8.53x but lower than the large-cap pharma industry’s 18.70x.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 EPS has moved north to $6.86 from $6.32 in the past 60 days, while that for 2027 has increased to $6.44 from $6.09.
Washington just handed half a billion dollars to US battery companies, but industry insiders say the window to break China's grip on the supply chain is far shorter than the money implies, and Albemarle shareholders are caught in the middle.
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A CNBC segment put a hard number on Washington’s latest attempt to loosen China’s grip on the battery supply chain. The Department of Energy is spreading $500 million across seven US battery companies, and the industry experts interviewed for the piece were candid about the math.
One expert told CNBC that catching up will take “decades and tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars”, and that the US has closer to five, six or seven years to become competitive. That framing matters for every US-listed name tied to lithium and battery materials, and it matters most for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB | ALB Price Prediction), the largest domestic lithium producer.
Albemarle trades at $129.57 as of the September 8 close, up 60.13% over the past year but down 7.94% year to date. The stock sits in the middle of a policy story it cannot control, so the honest question is whether $500 million in federal money moves the needle for shareholders.
Where China’s Advantage Actually Sits China’s dominance is stacked at every layer. CNBC reported that China produced 85% of the world’s cathode active material and over 90% of anode active material in 2025.
Downstream, China is at 80% of global battery cells and 70% of the world’s electric vehicles in 2025. That is scale that funds the next round of capacity at prices Western producers cannot match today.
The cost gap shows up in packs. CNBC reported that Chinese battery pack prices were already lower than North American and European packs, and the gap widened between 2022 and 2025.
Albemarle sits upstream of all of this. Its Q2 realized lithium price of $19.53/kg LCE is market-set, and its buyers ultimately compete with Chinese converters.
Midstream Gap the Federal Money Is Chasing The DOE dollars target midstream processing, the step that turns rock and brine into battery-grade material. Raef Sully, whose unnamed company received a $100 million federal grant for a Great Salt Lake lithium project, told CNBC that the award covers about a third of phase one capital.
Sully said his process produces battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide at the point of extraction, “bypassing that important step, that processing step that China has a chokehold on today.” That is the exact bottleneck Albemarle is also attacking with its direct lithium extraction pilot at the Salar de Atacama.
Albemarle disclosed in its Q2 call that its DLE pilot has logged over 3,000 operating hours with recovery rates “over 90%”, versus 30% to 40% for conventional ponds. Details are in the company’s Q2 2026 earnings exhibit.
Federal capital thins the risk on projects like these, although Albemarle is funding its own DLE work off $638 million in Q2 free cash flow, not grants.
Policy Whiplash Is the Real Killer The scarier figure in the CNBC segment was the number of cancellations. CNBC reported that $24 billion of US battery projects were canceled between January 2025 and August 2026.
An industry expert on the segment told CNBC that “a stable policy environment that doesn’t ricochet between administrations is the single most critical thing for successful industrial policy.” Capital allocators need a decade of visibility, and they are not getting it.
Albemarle has adjusted accordingly. The company placed Kemerton Train 1 into care and maintenance, trimmed full-year capex to approximately $500 million, and retired $1.3 billion in debt.
On September 3, Albemarle also announced a CEO succession plan, another reminder that the company is repositioning for a longer, choppier cycle than the 2022 boom suggested.
Demand Problem No Grant Can Solve The last binding constraint is the customer. An industry expert told CNBC that “the ultimate challenge is demand” and that every link depends on someone buying the finished product.
US EV sales fell 36% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025 after federal purchase credits expired. That is a demand shock supply-side grants cannot fix.
Stationary storage is the offset. CNBC reported that roughly 15% of global battery demand came from energy storage in 2025, about double that share in the United States, and Albemarle said on its call that stationary storage will represent about 30% of global lithium market demand in 2026.
CEO Kent Masters said on the Q2 call that “energy storage demand is kind of off the charts” and that global lithium consumption was up 45% year-over-year through May. Grid batteries are carrying the lithium bull case right now, well ahead of EVs.
Is ALB Stock a Buy? Albemarle beat Q2 estimates with adjusted EPS of $3.75 on $1.74 billion in revenue, and management now expects to land at the high end of its $20 per kg LCE scenario. That would put full-year sales at $5.7 to $6 billion.
Analyst sentiment is 59% bullish with an average target of $172.56, although our model flags a -0.662 year-over-year earnings-growth drag and a beta of 1.33.
The $500 million DOE program is unlikely to reprice ALB on its own, and the policy risk described by CNBC’s experts is real. The lithium tightness Masters describes on the call is the real driver of Albemarle’s near-term earnings, and it exists independent of Washington.
The setup reads as neutral. Demand is strong enough to defend today’s price, but until US industrial policy stops ricocheting and domestic EV sales recover from that 36% drop, chasing ALB higher on grant headlines is the wrong reason to own it.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Fox’s $22 billion plan to buy Roku has hit a new hurdle.
The Justice Department sent Fox and Roku what’s known as a “second request” on Tuesday, asking the companies to turn over more data and documents as it takes a closer look at the deal. That’s a fairly standard step in a major antitrust review, but it also means the DOJ has more questions than it could answer from the companies’ initial filings.
Semafor was first to report the investigation. We reached out to Fox for comment.
While a second request doesn’t mean the DOJ is preparing to block the deal, it does signal that regulators want a much closer look at how it could affect competition and consumers before deciding whether to clear it.
There’s plenty for them to examine as it’s believed to be more than just a typical media acquisition. Fox owns a huge collection of news, sports and entertainment content, as well as Tubi, its free, ad-supported streaming service. Roku, meanwhile, operates one of the biggest platforms sitting between viewers and that content. Its operating system is built into millions of TVs and streaming devices, giving the company significant influence over how consumers discover and watch streaming services.
That raises obvious questions for Roku’s competitors, such as whether a Fox-owned Roku would give Fox’s services more prominent placement, if Fox would use Roku’s data to strengthen its advertising business, and if rival streaming services will be pushed lower on the home screen or otherwise receive less favorable treatment.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch has tried to reassure competitors, saying he expects the two businesses to operate separately.
The investigation also comes as the DOJ has faced criticism over how it handles major mergers, including questions about political influence. For instance, Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery sparked criticism because CEO David Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has close ties to President Trump. Critics argued that the deal’s approval has raised questions about political favoritism.
How the DOJ handles the Fox-Roku deal could be an important test of how closely it reviews politically sensitive mergers. Taking a closer look at Fox and Roku could help show that the DOJ isn’t giving politically connected companies a free pass. That’s especially notable given the Murdochs’ ties to President Trump and the DOJ’s scrutiny over other media deals involving Trump allies.
The deal is expected to close sometime in the first half of 2027.
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Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch.
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Goldman Sachs just flipped constructive on memory chips, sending SK Hynix, Micron, and SanDisk higher even as the broader market stumbles, but a major NAND supplier's warning about prices complicates the story.
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Memory chip stocks are rising Wednesday morning after Goldman Sachs told clients the worst of the sector’s downturn may be over. SK Hynix (NASDAQ:SKHY) stock is up 4% to $193.53 in early trading, leading the group higher.
Also rising, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) stock is up 2% to $1,022.16. SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) shares are climbing 3% to $1,784.04, extending a run that has carried the trio meaningfully higher over the past month.
The move caps a strong stretch for the group after weeks of range-bound trading. Volume across the group has picked up notably, and today’s action ties directly to a fresh sell-side call spanning multiple names in the memory complex.
Goldman Says the Worst May Be Over Goldman Sachs described Micron and SanDisk as breaking out of the summer downtrends that had capped both names, noting hedge fund positioning is still light and semiconductor volatility sits well below its July peak. The firm framed the setup as early signs of investor re-engagement, with the underlying fundamental picture unchanged from the last reporting cycle.
Goldman also flagged cyclical risk. Memory prices, capacity additions and consumer spending can turn quickly, so a technical breakout still needs earnings behind it. Micron is scheduled to report fiscal Q4 2026 results after the close on September 30, and the release sets up the near-term test for the bull case.
The technical setup Goldman highlighted has been building for weeks. Semiconductor volatility peaked in July and has since compressed, and the memory names had held their consolidation ranges through August, which the firm reads as an early accumulation pattern in a lightly positioned corner of the market.
The positioning read matters because hedge fund exposure to the memory names had lightened during the summer sell-off, leaving room for re-entry as the technical picture improved. Goldman’s constructive turn arrives with sentiment on semiconductor cyclicality still cautious, and the firm’s framing implies the pain trade for underweight funds is now to the upside.
Sector Bid Runs Against the Broad Tape The rally isn’t gigantic, but it appears to be broad-based across the memory/storage segment, with strength beyond the U.S.-listed leaders. The Roundhill Memory ETF (CBOE:DRAM) is up 1% to $61.65, with Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron as its three largest holdings and a long tail of storage names including Kioxia, Western Digital and Seagate Technology.
Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.53% to $761.87. The memory group is decisively outperforming during soft broader session, which marks today’s action as a coordinated sector bid.
The bullish call arrives just as Kioxia Chief Executive Officer Hiroo Ota told Bloomberg he has instructed sales teams to hold back on pushing data center operators for substantially higher prices. Ota stated “Prices have already risen enough” and warned the industry could hurt its own growth by pushing too hard. Kioxia’s average NAND price rose 70% in the June quarter versus the prior three months, according to Bloomberg.
Ota also dismissed the likelihood of a manufacturing tie-up with SK Hynix, citing antitrust hurdles and Kioxia’s jointly owned facilities with SanDisk. His comments read as a demand-protection move by a large NAND supplier, and they complicate the pricing story sitting underneath today’s rally.
What to Watch Next The fundamental backdrop from recent reports still supports the constructive case. Micron guided fiscal Q4 revenue to a record $50 billion at the midpoint, with non-GAAP EPS of $31 and gross margin of 86%, and management said DRAM and NAND supply-demand conditions may remain tight beyond calendar 2027.
SanDisk carried a similar message on its August call, guiding fiscal Q1 2027 revenue to $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion and estimating the NAND market will exceed $300 billion in calendar 2026, up 3x year over year. Chief Executive David Goeckeler stated “Demand from our customers is growing faster than our supply” and that bids are expected to remain on allocation beyond calendar 2027.
SK Hynix has its own catalyst set. The company is the dominant HBM supplier for AI accelerators, and its late-August groundbreaking on an Indiana HBM production base reinforces the U.S. capacity buildout. Any further HBM commentary in the coming weeks may feed directly into the sector narrative Goldman just endorsed.
Investors can watch for whether Micron’s September 30 update confirms the HBM ramp and pricing durability that fueled the Goldman note. Moreover, traders should size their positions to reflect the cyclical nature of memory and the possibility of sharp reversals around earnings, particularly if the tone on calendar 2027 pricing shifts.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
A collectibles category few investors were watching just drove GameStop's most profitable second quarter ever, and a director moved seven figures into the stock the same morning results dropped.
GameStop (NYSE:GME | GME Price Prediction) stock is up 4% to $19.59 in Wednesday morning trading, powered by a fiscal second-quarter earnings beat, a surge in collectibles revenue, and a same-day insider purchase from one of its directors. The move caps a choppy stretch for the retailer’s shares and reframes the business mix that investors have been valuing.
The session gain still leaves GameStop stock down 2% year to date, so today’s rally hasn’t yet pulled the shares positive for 2026. That’s the cautionary note in the story: a single strong session doesn’t undo a flat-to-negative run, and it doesn’t yet mark a change in trend.
For context, the VanEck Video Gaming and eSports ETF (NASDAQ:ESPO) is trading at $96.77, down 1% on the same session. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) sits at $762.02, down 0.5%, so this reads as a single-name reaction rather than a broad bid for gaming equities.
Collectibles Surge Reshapes the Mix GameStop reported fiscal Q2 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $0.27, above the analyst consensus estimate of $0.19. GameStop’s revenue came in above the consensus estimate but fell from the prior-year quarter, which GameStop attributed to the prior year’s Nintendo console launch, planned store closures, and the divestiture of its France operations.
GameStop’s collectibles net sales rose 57% year over year to $356.3 million, a mix shift that has the trading-card, plush, and pop-culture category carrying growth while the legacy retail line shrinks. The company’s operating income was the highest for a second quarter in its history, and management raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook.
The mix change matters because collectibles carry higher margins than physical software, which has been the retailer’s shrinking core. That shift helps explain why Gamestop’s profit expanded even as headline revenue slipped. It’s the kind of quality-of-earnings improvement that tends to draw a second look from investors who had written the story off.
Notably, there was no formal earnings call accompanying Gamestop’s results, so the release itself is doing the talking. That leaves the mix shift as the reason today’s reaction diverges from prior quarters when reports were greeted with skepticism.
Insider Buy and Sector Divergence GameStop Director Lawrence Cheng reportedly purchased roughly $1.03 million of GME shares through Cheng Capital LLC on the same day results were published, increasing the entity’s declared stake. The timing reads as corroborating rather than causal, because a director bought after seeing the quarter’s numbers rather than before.
GameStop also holds a substantial equity position in eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), which adds a non-retail asset line to the balance-sheet story that isn’t reflected in day-to-day comp trends at the stores. That stake has periodically fueled speculation about strategic options, though nothing on that front was disclosed today.
Gaming comparables Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO) and Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) aren’t providing sector lift today, reinforcing that this is a GameStop-specific reaction. With the sector fund down and the broad tape lower, the divergence itself is the takeaway.
What to Watch Next With no conference call to shape follow-through, the next signal for GameStop stock could come from sell-side notes and from how the collectibles line trends through the back half of the fiscal year. Investors can watch for whether today’s gains hold into the close and whether the raised EBITDA outlook prompts estimate revisions across coverage.
Position sizing on one’s GME stock exposure should stay measured given the stock’s flat-to-negative year-to-date run and the sector fund’s decline on the same session. The setup rewards patience over chasing, particularly with the mix shift still needing another quarter of proof for GameStop.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) stock is trading higher on Wednesday after the retailer reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales results on Tuesday.
The company posted second-quarter revenue of $790.20 million, topping the analyst consensus estimate of $756.85 million. Adjusted earnings reached 27 cents per share, meeting Wall Street estimates.
The Nasdaq is down 0.45% while the S&P 500 has shed 0.58% and Consumer Discretionary is lower by 1.3%.
Top-Line Revenue TrendsTotal revenue declined 18.72% year-over-year. Management attributed the lower revenue comparison to the prior-year launch of Nintendo Switch 2, planned store closures, and the divestiture of operations in France.
Segment Sales PerformanceReporting net sales across three categories starting this quarter, Collectibles generated $356.3 million, up from $227.6 million year-over-year.
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Video Games revenue totaled $263.2 million compared to $494.6 million, while Pre-Owned and Refurbished sales generated $170.7 million, down from $250 million.
Trending
Collectibles grew 57% year-over-year, accounting for 45.1% of total net sales.
Operating income hit $160.2 million, marking the highest second-quarter operating income in company history.
Following the quarter, GameStop raised its fiscal 2026 adjusted EBITDA outlook to "in excess" of $650 million, up from its previous projection of more than $600 million.
Technical AnalysisAt $19.91, GME is trading 7.5% above its 20-day SMA ($18.50), but it’s still trading 1.4% below its 50-day SMA ($20.17) and 10.3% below its 200-day SMA ($22.17), so the bigger-picture trend is still pressured. The 20-day SMA remains below the 50-day SMA, and the death cross that formed in June (50-day below the 200-day) keeps the intermediate trend biased lower until price can reclaim those longer averages.
Key Resistance: $23 — a round-number area sitting near the longer moving averages where rebounds can stall Key Support: $18 — a nearby floor close to the recent low zone and just under the 20-day trend area GME Stock Price Activity: GameStop shares were up 5.43% at $19.10 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Photo: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Key Takeaways AMC's A-List membership topped 1.1M in Q2'26, more than doubling in five years.A-List members made up around 20% of AMC's U.S. theater patronage in Q2.Higher visit frequency could help AMC boost food, beverage and other spending per patron. AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC - Free Report) is seeing strong growth in its A-List subscription program, which is helping the company build a larger base of frequent moviegoers. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, more than 1.1 million moviegoers were enrolled in A-List, more than double the membership level five years ago.
A-List allows members to watch up to four movies a week for a monthly fee of $24-$30 plus tax. While members have the option to see up to 17 movies a month, the typical member attends two to three movies per month. This gives AMC an opportunity to drive attendance beyond major blockbuster releases.
The program also has a meaningful share of AMC Entertainment’s U.S. traffic. A-List members who also participate in AMC Stubs accounted for around 20% of the total U.S. theater patronage in the second quarter. The program is particularly popular among Gen Z moviegoers and provides a more consistent cadence of visits from a younger audience.
Higher visit frequency can also support spending beyond admissions. A-List gives AMC opportunities to attract customers to secondary movies and sell more food. This is important as the company continues to focus on increasing revenues per patron. In the second quarter, food and beverage revenues per patron and total revenues per patron reached all-time highs across both its domestic and international businesses.
However, A-List membership growth does not guarantee continued gains in spending or attendance. The program’s value will depend on how frequently members visit and how effectively AMC Entertainment converts those visits into food, beverage and other purchases.
With more than 1.1 million members and a growing presence among younger moviegoers, A-List gives AMC a recurring customer base that could support traffic and guest spending as the movie slate expands.
AMC Entertainment’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAMC shares have surged 130.6% in the past six months against the industry’s 0.6% fall. In the same time frame, AMC Entertainment has outperformed industry players like Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK - Free Report) and The Marcus Corporation (MCS - Free Report) .
AMC’s Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, AMC Entertainment’s stock trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 0.41, below the industry’s average of 2.64. Cinemark and Marcus have P/S ratios of 1.15 and 1, respectively.
AMC Entertainment’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMC’s 2026 loss per share indicates a 77.1% year-over-year improvement. Conversely, industry players like Cinemark and Marcus are likely to witness 2026 earnings growth of 126.9% and 652.9%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
AMC’s Zacks RankAMC Entertainment currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
When deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock, investors often rely on analyst recommendations. Media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts often influence a stock's price, but are they really important?
Before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage, let's see what these Wall Street heavyweights think about Sea Limited Sponsored ADR (SE - Free Report) .
Sea Limited currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.39, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 19 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.39 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 19 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 15 are Strong Buy and two are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 79% and 10.5% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for SE
Check price target & stock forecast for Sea Limited here>>>
The ABR suggests buying Sea Limited, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.
Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.
This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.
Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.
ABR Should Not Be Confused With Zacks RankIn spite of the fact that Zacks Rank and ABR both appear on a scale from 1 to 5, they are two completely different measures.
Broker recommendations are the sole basis for calculating the ABR, which is typically displayed in decimals (such as 1.28). The Zacks Rank, on the other hand, is a quantitative model designed to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
It has been and continues to be the case that analysts employed by brokerage firms are overly optimistic with their recommendations. Because of their employers' vested interests, these analysts issue more favorable ratings than their research would support, misguiding investors far more often than helping them.
On the other hand, earnings estimate revisions are at the core of the Zacks Rank. And empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.
Another key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank is freshness. The ABR is not necessarily up-to-date when you look at it. But, since brokerage analysts keep revising their earnings estimates to account for a company's changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in indicating future price movements.
Is SE Worth Investing In?In terms of earnings estimate revisions for Sea Limited, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has declined 9.8% over the past month to $3.79.
Analysts' growing pessimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates lower, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to plunge in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for Sea Limited. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Therefore, it could be wise to take the Buy-equivalent ABR for Sea Limited with a grain of salt.
NEW YORK, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) and certain of its officers.
This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Regeneron securities between August 1, 2025 and May 15, 2026, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm’s site: bgandg.com/REGN.
Regeneron Case Details
The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:
(1) the preliminary statistical assumptions underlying Regeneron’s Phase III Fianlimab-Libtayo study were fundamentally flawed;
(2) the study’s active treatment arm was not demonstrating meaningful clinical differentiation from standard therapies;
(3) the study was unlikely to achieve statistical significance with respect to its primary endpoint, even absent overperformance by the control arm; and
(4) as a result, the Company’s statements regarding the study’s design, progress, and prospects were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.
What's Next for Regeneron Investors?
A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm’s site: bgandg.com/REGN. or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in Regeneron you have until September 14, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.
No Cost to Regeneron Investors
We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys’ fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.
Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for Regeneron Securities Class Action?
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com
"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.
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Contact Info
Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or Nathan Miller
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
917-590-0911 | [email protected]
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Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) Wells Fargo 21st Annual Healthcare Conference September 9, 2026 8:45 AM EDT
Company Participants
Ryan Crowe - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Strategic Analysis
Marion McCourt - Executive Vice President of Commercial
Conference Call Participants
Mohit Bansal - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
Presentation
Mohit Bansal
Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
All right. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. My name is Mohit Bansal. I'm one of the biotech and pharma analysts here at Wells Fargo. And I have the pleasure to start the day with the Regeneron management team, fifth year in a row. My 5 years at Wells Fargo. Regeneron has come here every year.
So with us, we have Marion McCourt, the Chief Commercial Officer of the company; and Ryan Crowe, Head of IR at the company. So I'll give the podium to Ryan to talk about some...
Ryan Crowe
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Strategic Analysis
Yes. I appreciate you having us, Mohit, 5 years. It's flown by a lot of successes that we've been able to report at this very conference and excited to be back. So thank you. Thank you. Before we begin, I just need to make a couple of forward-looking statement disclaimers. I would like to remind you that remarks made today may include forward-looking statements about Regeneron, and each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those projected in such statements.
A description of material risks and uncertainties can be found in Regeneron's SEC filings. Regeneron does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
With that, I'll just make a couple of opening comments, and then we'll get to your questions, Mohit. Going
