Verizon signed an over $1 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure deal with Google, and the company expects to sign several similar deals by the end of the year, Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said Friday (July 24) during a second quarter earnings call.
In the recently signed agreement, Verizon dark fiber will be used to connect Google’s data centers. In the other deals that the company expects to announce by year’s end, Verizon will earn “multiple billions of dollars in revenue” over the next several years, Schulman said.
“These are long-duration, high-quality contracted revenue streams from some of the most demanding infrastructure customers in the world,” Schulman said.
“We believe that this is just the beginning,” Schulman added. “The build-out of AI infrastructure across the United States is one of the largest capital cycles of our lifetime.”
Verizon is uniquely positioned to participate in this build-out because it owns an extensive long-haul and metro fiber footprint and it has built the carrier-grade, low-latency, highly resilient transport network that hyperscalers need to connect compute, models and regions, Schulman said.
The company has also begun retrofitting many of its central offices into data centers for inference edgecomputing, and it is already talking with multiple partners who are eager to use these power-ready and permitted locations, he said.
“We are moving quickly to expand our TAM [total addressable market] in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market,” Schulman said. “The agreements we have signed are the leading edge of a strategy that will become a meaningful, incremental leg of growth for Verizon.”
Verizon announced in a January 2025 press release that it launched a strategy and suite of products and solutions called Verizon AI Connect that is designed to serve hyperscalers, cloud providers and global enterprises by managing AI resource-intensive workloads.
The company said at the time that Google Cloud and Meta were among the early adopters of these solutions.
In a Friday earnings release, Schulman said: “Our core connectivity business is gaining momentum, and with the emergence of AI infrastructure revenue, we are fundamentally reshaping Verizon’s growth trajectory.”
PYMNTS reported Wednesday that during Google parent company Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call, the company announced that it had raised its 2026 capital spending forecast from the previous $180 billion to $190 billion to the new forecast of $195 billion to $205 billion.
Key Takeaways Alphabet pairs a Momentum Score of A with a strong earnings surprise history and 32.7% earnings growth. MasTec combines an A Momentum Score with a 46.3% expected earnings growth rate this year. Goldman Sachs made the screen with an A Momentum Score and projected earnings growth of 34.1%. For investors seeking to maximize returns, high-momentum stocks merit close attention. To identify stocks with strong upside potential, investors can adopt Richard Driehaus’s “buy high and sell higher” strategy, a philosophy he famously championed and that earned him a place on Barron’s All-Century Team.
Applying the Driehaus momentum-investing strategy, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) , MasTec, Inc. (MTZ - Free Report) and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS - Free Report) have emerged as the top momentum picks, offering attractive entry opportunities for investors now.
How the Driehaus Momentum Strategy Uncovers Winning Stocks Regarding the strategy, Driehaus once said: “I would much rather invest in a stock that’s increasing in price and take the risk that it may begin to decline than invest in a stock that’s already in decline and try to guess when it will turn around.” In line with this insight, the American Association of Individual Investors (“AAII”) considered the 50-day moving average one of the key criteria when creating a portfolio aligned with Driehaus’ philosophy.
It is calculated by dividing the numerator (month-end price minus 50-day moving average of month-end price) by the 50-day moving average of the month-end price. Another momentum indicator — positive relative strength — has also been included in this strategy. A positive percentage 50-day moving average indicates that the stock is trading above its 50-day moving average, signaling an uptrend.
Moreover, AAII found that Driehaus primarily focuses on strong earnings growth rates and impressive earnings projections to pick potential outperformers. Companies with a strong history of beating estimates are also prioritized in this strategy, which was designed to deliver better long-term returns.
Research Wizard Stock Selection Criteria To make the strategy more profitable, we have considered only those stocks that have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Momentum Score of A or B. Our research shows that stocks with a Style Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1, offer the best upside potential.
• Zacks Rank equal to #1
Whether the market is good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 have a proven track record of outperformance. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
• Last 5-year average EPS growth rates above 2%
Strong EPS growth history ensures an improving business
• Trailing 12-month EPS growth greater than 0 and industry median
Higher EPS growth compared to the industry average indicates superior earnings performance
• Last four-quarter average EPS surprise greater than 5%
Solid EPS surprise history indicates better price performance
• Positive percentage change in 50-day moving average and relative strength over 4 weeks
Positive percentage change in the 50-day moving average and the relative strength signal uptrend
• Momentum Score equal to or less than B
A favorable momentum score indicates that it is ideal to capitalize on the momentum with the highest probability of success.
These few parameters have narrowed the universe of more than 7,743 stocks to only 13.
Here are three of the 13 stocks:
Alphabet Alphabet operates Google Services, Google Cloud and Other Bets, serving customers worldwide. It has a Momentum Score of A. The trailing four-quarter earnings surprise for GOOGL is 86.7%, on average. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 32.7%.
MasTec MasTec provides engineering, construction and maintenance services for communications, energy and utility infrastructure across the United States and Canada. It has a Momentum Score of A. The trailing four-quarter earnings surprise for MTZ is 15.4%, on average. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 46.3%.
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs provides a broad range of financial services to corporations, institutions, governments and individuals worldwide. It has a Momentum Score of A. The trailing four-quarter earnings surprise for GS is 20.4%, on average. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 34.1%.
The cruise industry has rebounded nicely post-pandemic, but Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL +3.38%) stock is up just over 1% in 2026. With the second-quarter release imminent, should you buy the stock now?
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The first-quarter results were great for Royal Caribbean. The cruise liner posted north of $4.5 billion in revenue, and its adjusted earnings per share soundly beat Wall Street's expectations. The second quarter should be much of the same, as bookings and margins remain high. The cost of fuel and shrinking consumer discretionary spending are the biggest threats to another great quarter and year for Royal Caribbean.
The company also has a substantial level of debt, with nearly $20 billion in long-term liabilities. But as long as consumer spending and demand keep this current pace, Royal Caribbean will remain an industry leader.
Now could be a good time for investors on the sidelines to buy in, as Royal Caribbean is currently more than 20% below its 52-week high. The stock also pays a solid quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, a yield just over 2%. The company's forward P/E is a reasonable 16.5, and its PEG sits around 1.3. These indicate the stock is fairly priced.
Image source: Getty Images.
The cruise industry is also cyclical, but Royal Caribbean seems to be doing everything it can to keep customers happy and coming back. The brand is expanding aggressively across the globe as well, with plans to add double-digit ships to its fleet, alongside new destinations. The brand's strength and current valuation make it a compelling stock to consider ahead of earnings on July 28.
Barring any major events, such as a pandemic or a severe economic downturn, Royal Caribbean is sailing on much smoother financial waters, and I'm cautiously bullish on the cruise liner's trajectory for the next several years.
Catie Hogan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Key Takeaways PYPL is expected to report Q2 revenue growth, while non-GAAP EPS is projected to decline.PYPL's TPV is expected to rise 7% as active accounts and payment transactions also show growth.PYPL faces pressure from competition, macro uncertainty, currency swings and a lower transaction margin. PayPal (PYPL - Free Report) is set to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 28, before the opening bell.
This digital payment company expected currency-neutral revenue growth in the low single digits for the to-be-reported quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) are expected to have declined in the high-single digits or approximately -9%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter revenues is pegged at $8.51 billion, indicating an increase of 2.68% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
The consensus mark for earnings is pinned at $1.28 per share and remains unchanged over the past two months. It indicates a decline of 8.57% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company’s EPS surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, with the average surprise being 5.29%. The graph below depicts this surprising history:
Q2 Earnings Whispers for PYPLHowever, our proprietary model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for PayPal this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
PayPal has an Earnings ESP of -0.02% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Factors Likely to Shape PayPal’s Q2 ResultsPayPal is evolving into a comprehensive commerce platform, moving far beyond payments by leveraging advanced data-powered tools to accelerate merchant expansion and foster customer loyalty. PYPL’s second-quarter results are expected to benefit from its scale, diversification and balance sheet strength. During the second quarter, the company continued to make progress on its transformation efforts and is likely to have gained from consumers and merchants expanding usage of PayPal.
PYPL is expected to have benefited from an improving Total Payment Volume (“TPV”). The metric is likely to have gained from the company’s strong relationship with merchants and consumers.
Despite strong fundamentals, diversified offerings and strategic moves, PayPal is likely to have faced competitive pressure from other digital payment companies. Broader macroeconomic pressures and uncertainty are also likely to have affected its second-quarter results.
The nature of business makes PayPal vulnerable to foreign exchange fluctuations. A significant part of the company’s operations is international. Thus, the appreciation or depreciation of the U.S. dollar versus foreign currencies could have impacted the company’s to-be-reported results.
Q2 Projections for PYPLThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for PayPal’s transaction revenues is pegged at $7.66 billion, which suggests a 3% increase from the year-ago quarter.
PYPL is also poised to have benefited from its value-added services. Its consensus mark for revenues from other value-added services is pegged at $857.8 million for the second quarter, up 1.3% from the year-ago period.
The consensus mark for TPV is pegged at $474.515 billion, indicating 7% year-over-year growth. PayPal’s active accounts are likely to have reached 439.9 million, which denotes an increase from the year-ago value of 438 million.
The consensus mark for the number of payment transactions stands at 6.537 billion, which is above the company’s reported figure of 6.226 billion in the same quarter last year.
However, the consensus mark for the transaction margin is pegged at 43.83%, down from the year-ago figure of 46.40%.
PayPal anticipated its second-quarter transaction margin (TM) dollars to decline in the low-single digits, excluding interest on customer balances. The company expected its non-transaction operating expenses to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in the second quarter.
PYPL’s Price Performance & ValuationPayPal shares have gained 32% in the past month. The Zacks Financial Transaction Services has increased 7.8%, while the S&P 500 has remained at 0.0% for the same period. Rivals like Visa Inc. (V - Free Report) and Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) continue to expand their offerings, challenging PayPal’s dominance in digital payments. Mastercard shares have increased 9.5%, while Visa shares have gained 7.2% over the same timeframe.
Compared to its peers, PayPal’s performance has been notably stronger, mainly due to a takeover speculation. PayPal is evaluating a reported $53-billion takeover proposal from Stripe and Advent International, according to a Reuters report. However, its board reportedly believes the offer undervalues the company, leaving the door open for further negotiations or competing bids.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, even after the stock’s recent rally, PayPal shares are trading cheaply, as suggested by the Value Score of A. In terms of forward 12-month P/E, PYPL stock is trading at 10.06X compared with the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry’s 18.12X.
Shares of Visa and Mastercard are currently trading at P/E ratios of 24.21X and 24.84X, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
PYPL: Buy, Sell or Hold?PayPal is evolving beyond a basic payment processor into an integrated commerce platform. By consolidating its services into a single ecosystem, the company is strengthening connections between consumers and merchants. By focusing on smoother user experiences, deeper merchant partnerships and growing internationally, PayPal is laying the groundwork for durable long-term growth. However, competition in digital payments, macroeconomic uncertainty and foreign-exchange volatility pose challenges for the to-be-reported quarter.
Given its strategic advantages and the existing headwinds, the stock is best treated as a hold. For long-term investors its important to wait before adding to positions due to short-term volatility.
Intel (INTC -7.89%) reported second-quarter results after the market closed on Thursday, and they were the strongest numbers of its turnaround so far. Revenue rose 25% year over year to $16.1 billion -- the chipmaker's fastest quarterly growth in more than 15 years, and far above management's own April forecast, which topped out at $14.8 billion.
The stock, which closed Thursday at $100.23 after slipping 2.3% in the regular session, jumped about 12% in after-hours trading Thursday. But at the time of this writing on Friday, that gain had been erased, and shares had fallen below Thursdays closing price.
Intel's revenue was roughly flat in 2025, and it grew just 7% year over year in the first quarter of 2026. From there to 25% is a sharp acceleration for a business many investors had all but written off.
So, why didn't the stock hold its gain?
Image source: Intel.
Where the growth came from Powering its business during the quarter was Intel's data center and AI (artificial intelligence) segment. Revenue there rose 59% year over year to $6.3 billion, accelerating from 22% growth in the first quarter as AI-related demand for the company's server processors climbed.
But the growth was broad-based, too. Client computing and physical AI revenue rose 13% to $8.9 billion. And Intel's foundry segment (the business that manufactures chips, still mostly Intel's own) grew 31% to $5.8 billion.
"AI is driving unprecedented demand for compute, and as we continue to execute, Intel is well-positioned to capture sustainable growth across our CPU franchise, ASICs, advanced packaging and vast wafer foundry network," said CEO Lip-Bu Tan in the company's second-quarter earnings release.
Profitability may be the more impressive part of the report. Intel's non-GAAP (adjusted) gross margin came in at 41.8%, up 12.1 percentage points from the year-ago period. Even more, its adjusted operating margin swung to 17.2% from negative 3.9% a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.42, against a $0.10 adjusted loss per share in the year-ago quarter. In dollars, that's $2.2 billion of adjusted net income from a business that ran an adjusted loss in the same period last year. The quarter also produced $7.0 billion in operating cash flow.
Of course, one number in the report needs decoding: Intel's reported net loss of $11.0 billion. That figure reflects a $12.5 billion non-cash, mark-to-market charge tied to shares Intel holds in escrow under its CHIPS Act agreement with the U.S. government. It's an accounting charge, not a cash cost from operations.
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The price now assumes more quarters like this And looking ahead, Intel's guidance suggests the momentum can hold. Management forecast third-quarter revenue of $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion, put adjusted earnings per share at $0.38, and forecast a 42% gross margin at the midpoint, all on an adjusted basis. At the midpoint, that implies year-over-year growth of about 19% -- a step down from 25%, but a second straight quarter of growth the old Intel couldn't have printed.
And the company is spending to meet the demand it sees. Chief financial officer Dave Zinsner said Intel is "meaningfully increasing our investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates." That spending should support growth, though the resulting depreciation could weigh on margins in the years ahead.
Then there's the stock. Within the past year, shares traded below $20. Today, even after the pullback, shares trade aroudn $96.
This backdrop -- a huge surge in the stock price over the last year -- helps explain the market's reaction today.
Valuation is where I hesitate. The stock's price tag is simply hard to justify. The company commands a market capitalization of about $480 billion. Annualize the adjusted earnings pace of its current and guided quarters, and shares trade at about 60 times that figure. That price assumes quarters like this one become the norm -- and for a long time.
So, is this the quarter that settles the argument? Partly. The turnaround is no longer just a story. The company grew 25% and produced a $2.2 billion adjusted profit doing it.
But given its sky-high valuation, the stock demands that the pace continue -- even after a sharp pullback from 52-week highs recently.
The major indexes are rallying on Friday. Not by a lot, but any uptick counts.
Oil prices retreated from recent highs on reports of potential diplomatic progress in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.46%) is up 0.7% at 11:46 a.m. ET, gaining roughly 310 points. The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.05%) has climbed 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.64%) peeked 0.1% higher. All three indexes started the day lower, ranging from a 0.1% drop in the Nasdaq Composite to a 0.2% increase in the Dow.
^DJI data by YCharts
China and Pakistan step in and oil prices step down Brent crude is trading near $95 per barrel, down roughly 4% from Thursday's close, after Reuters reported that Pakistan is exploring ways to broker new peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. China is apparently pushing the diplomatic effort, according to three Pakistani sources. The Iranian conflict is starting to weigh on Chinese interests, because the Middle Kingdom is a leading importer of oil from the Persian Gulf.
This comes after President Trump told Axios earlier this week that he's considering a "massive attack" on Iran that would be bigger than anything seen so far in the conflict. In other words, tensions are still high. U.S. forces have been hitting Iranian targets for 13 straight nights. But the mere possibility of diplomatic progress is enough to take some pressure off oil markets.
Image source: Getty Images.
Earnings season rumblings also moved the market this morning. American Express (AXP -4.45%) took 120 points off the Dow score with a 5.9% price drop. The credit card veteran beat earnings estimates and raised full-year revenue guidance. Still, profit margins will compress slightly in the second half as the company reinvests the extra top-line cash into cardholder perks and other growth initiatives.
The tech sector added more pressure than fuel to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes. Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix (SKHY -8.81%) is down 6.6% on reports that the company is reallocating some of its AI-oriented HBM manufacturing capacity to commodity DRAM production. Is the memory demand from AI computing systems slowing down, or are DRAM margins growing lucrative? Hynix's first earnings report as a Nasdaq-traded company should provide some insight next week.
Apple (AAPL +3.52%) is up 2.5% and providing the biggest boost to all three major indexes. The stock bounced back from Thursday's decline as investors rotate back into mega-cap tech.
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Wrapping up a wild week Friday's gains brought the Dow and S&P 500 back to where they were at the end of last Friday, making up for Thursday's deep cuts. The Nasdaq Composite is down 1.4% this week. Not exactly catastrophic, but not a great week either.
The market spent most of the week digesting what it actually costs to build the AI infrastructure everyone keeps promising will change everything. Next week will bring another four reports from the Magnificent 7 club, giving investors a clearer picture of how the AI boom is shaping up.
The semiconductor sector is facing its own set of problems. After this week's earnings reports, investors are jumpy about anything that suggests AI demand might be slowing.
Oil prices are still elevated despite Friday's pullback. The Middle East situation remains volatile, adding more fuel to inflationary fires than to vehicles and power plants these days.
Can this rally last? That depends on two things: oil staying below $100 and other tech giants showing lighter capex bills than Alphabet did this week. Stay tuned.
American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet and American Express. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, American Express, and Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Spending by American Express (AXP -4.45%) cardholders continues to rage, as the company just posted its largest quarter of billed business over the past year.
Billed business volume was $455.8 billion in the second quarter, up 10% year over year and roughly 6.5% from the prior quarter.
Despite strong spending data, American Express stock traded roughly 5% lower, as of 12:42 p.m. ET, after posting second-quarter results.
Amex reported $4.53 earnings per share, ahead of Wall Street consensus estimates. Revenue of $19.64 billion missed consensus by about $50 million.
The company also reiterated its full-year EPS guide of $17.30 to $17.90 and then raised its full-year revenue guide from up 9% to 10% to just 10% year over year.
Here’s what this all means for the stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investors likely had high expectationsOf all the credit card players, Amex is viewed as best-in-breed.
Not only does the company operate a closed-loop payment system that generates strong annual recurring fee income, but the company also has the highest-quality cardholders from a credit perspective.
Amex’s card base caters to a higher-net-worth population that tends to be more resilient through the economic cycle. The sell-off can likely be attributed to high expectations entering the quarter.
“Overall, the quarter was marked by a top-line shortfall,” Evercore ISI analyst John Pancari wrote in a research note earlier on July 24.
Expenses in the quarter also jumped 12% year over year and 4.4% from the prior quarter, which could also be pressuring shares.
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Management attributed the step-up in expenses to investments made to refresh its U.S. platinum card offerings, in which the company continues to win new customers.
Amex added 3 million new card members in the second quarter, about in line with what it has done over the past five quarters.
“Retention rates remain very high and we continue to attract a large number of high credit worthy customers with 65% of new consumer accounts coming from Millennials and Gen Zs,” Amex’s CEO Stephen Squeri said on the company’s earnings call.
Meanwhile, the company earlier this year raised the subscription fee on its platinum card from $695 per year to $895.
Is the stock a buy?American Express has retreated from all-time highs made at the end of 2025 and is now down about 13.3% this year.
There is certainly some cyclicality in the stock, as it depends on consumer spending and strong consumer credit quality, which could struggle if there is an eventual recession.
But right now, the data doesn’t support that, as spending data continues to come in strong.
Furthermore, despite the top-line miss in the second quarter, the company maintained EPS guidance and increased full-year revenue guidance.
On a price-to-tangible-book basis, the stock currently trades at a high valuation, but still not too far above its five-year average. Amex also now trades below its two-year average forward-earnings multiple.
AXP Price to Tangible Book Value data by YCharts
I think long-term investors can continue to buy the stock and enjoy solid returns. Not only is the Amex brand incredibly powerful, but the stock also has some ability to hedge inflation.
While it’s not immune to a slowdown in the economy, Amex can charge higher interest rates on credit cards when rates rise, and its payment network collects fees based on a percentage of each transaction, so fees will increase when transactions get more expensive.
Revenue Growth: 10% year-over-year increase.Earnings Per Share (EPS): $4.53 for the quarter, with full-year guidance of $17.30 to $17.90.Net Income: Up 8% year
Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
Back in 1957, William Shockley should have owned the future.
He had co-invented the transistor, won the Nobel Prize, and had eight of the brightest young engineers in America working under him in his Mountain View, California, laboratory.
Instead, all eight engineers quit because they found Shockley impossible to work for.
With no product and no revenue, the eight quickly realized that no institution or company would support them. Back then, the suburbs and farmland south of San Francisco and north of San Jose weren’t exactly “Silicon Valley” yet. The budding tech firms in the region weren’t quite ready to invest in unproven ideas.
So they made one phone call.
A young financier named Arthur Rock listened to their story and took a risk.
Although Rock did not have the capital himself, he was willing to bet on people he deemed impressive.
He found a camera company willing to gamble $1.5 million on eight founders and an idea.
Thus, Fairchild Semiconductor was born. Fairchild eventually became one of the most influential technology companies in history, spawning Intel Corp. (INTC) and dozens of other semiconductor firms worth trillions of dollars today.
And the men Shockley lost became known affectionately as the “Traitorous Eight.” They were the accidental architects of a model Silicon Valley still runs on to this day.
Source: Intel
The Traitorous Eight: That’s Gordon Moore – of “Moore’s law” fame – on the far left.
That same instinct resurfaced in 1998 when Andy Bechtolsheim sat down with two Stanford University grad students. Right on the spot, before their company had a business model or recognizable brand, the Sun Microsystems co-founder wrote a $100,000 check to Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Anyone who’s ever Googled… well… anything knows how that story ended. But for the record: That $100,000 check reportedly bought roughly a 1% stake in Google, a position that eventually became worth tens of billions of dollars.
More recently, in 2023 Spark Capital invested $75 million in Anthropic while it was still an obscure AI startup with little revenue. Today, millions of people are on a first-name basis with Claude, and that stake is estimated to be worth roughly $7 billion.
Across nearly 70 years, the technologies and the players keep changing. The playbook doesn’t.
Rock backed eight unknown engineers. Bechtolsheim backed two graduate students. Spark Capital backed an AI startup few people had heard of.
In each case, the biggest opportunity wasn’t buying a great business after everyone recognized it. It was recognizing exceptional founders and businesses before everyone else did.
I think that same playbook matters more today than it has in decades.
First, because AI has created an unprecedented race to develop new technologies. Second, because the companies leading that race increasingly have more money than time. And finally, because that combination is changing where some of the biggest fortunes in technology are being created.
Let me explain…
Why AI Giants Buy to Fill Critical Gaps There’s a reason this playbook has endured for nearly 70 years, and it isn’t just today’s excitement over AI.
When the prize is building the next great computing platform, speed becomes everything. If a startup has already solved a problem that would take your own engineers two years to crack, buying that company is often far cheaper than losing those two years.
That’s exactly what’s happening in today’s AI race.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) made that decision early, back in 2014, when it acquired the British AI startup DeepMind. Rather than spending years assembling a comparable research lab from scratch, Google bought one of the world’s best AI teams outright. More than a decade later, DeepMind sits at the heart of Google’s AI strategy.
Meta Platforms Inc. (META) reached a similar conclusion last year when it invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI. The deal wasn’t just about software. Scale AI had become one of the industry’s leading providers of the high-quality training data and infrastructure needed to build advanced AI models. Instead of trying to re-create that expertise internally, Meta bought a seat at the table.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) made perhaps the biggest AI boom bet of all. Its $23 billion worth of investments in OpenAI, made between 2019 and 2023, gave the company immediate access to one of the world’s leading AI developers years before it could have built a comparable capability on its own.
And this isn’t unique to AI. Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) spent much of the 1990s building its networking empire by buying promising startups rather than reinventing technologies itself.
Long story short, this isn’t a new playbook. It’s an old one that’s becoming even more valuable.
Every one of those deals happened because the real value had already been created inside a startup, long before Wall Street ever started paying attention.
That’s why I think one of the most important shifts in investing today is this:
The buyout, not the IPO, is increasingly becoming the finish line many early investors are aiming for.
How to Identify AI Acquisition Targets Before Wall Street Even the best startup investors get it wrong sometimes. And nobody understands that better than the funders themselves.
Bessemer Venture Partners keeps what it calls its “Anti-Portfolio” – a public list of companies it had the opportunity to back but passed on. Google is on it. So are Apple, eBay, Airbnb, FedEx, and dozens of other companies that went on to become enormous successes.
Being early is no guarantee, but it does give you the opportunity to make a decision before the rest of the market has reached the same conclusion.
That’s the common thread running through Fairchild Semiconductor, Google, Anthropic, and countless other success stories. The biggest fortunes come from someone recognizing extraordinary people and extraordinary businesses before the consensus formed.
That’s the playbook. And I believe it’s becoming more relevant again as AI reshapes the technology landscape.
The challenge, of course, is knowing what characteristics to look for when opportunities do appear.
That’s exactly what I want to show you during my free 2026 AI Megadeal Event on Thursday, July 30, at 1 p.m. Eastern.
I’ll explain why I believe AI is creating a new generation of acquisition opportunities, walk through the framework I use to identify them, and share the one company I believe best represents this shift today.
That event is free to attend, but you must reserve your seat in order to get an invitation.
If the history of Arthur Rock, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Spark Capital teaches us anything, it’s that the biggest investment opportunities often look the least obvious at the beginning.
My goal is to help you put this playbook to work before the rest of Wall Street catches on.
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has assigned a Long-Term Issue Credit Rating of “a+” (Excellent) to $750 million 4.95% senior unsecured notes, due July 2031, issued by the Travelers Companies, Inc. (Travelers) (headquartered in New York, NY). The outlook assigned to this Credit Rating (rating) is stable. The net proceeds of the issuance are expected to be used for general corporate purposes.Through second-quarter 2026, Travelers' financial leverage ratio is 21.4%, as calculated by AM Bes.
SummaryInternational Business Machines Corporation experienced a historic stock drop after a Q2 earnings warning that showed sluggish 1% YoY revenue growth.Despite lowered 2026 revenue guidance, IBM maintained margin expansion and reiterated a $1B FCF increase, signaling resilient profitability.Strategic moves in cybersecurity and quantum computing, including partnerships and acquisitions, position IBM for future growth.I reiterate a Buy rating for IBM stock, viewing the recent selloff as a generational buying opportunity given IBM’s discounted valuation and AI-enabling role. Getty Images
Introduction International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has made its fair share of headlines lately. We'll get into the details in a second, but basically the company issued a Q2 earnings warning earlier this month, and the
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Analyst's family has a beneficial long position in the shares of IBM.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Revenue: Declined by 1.7% year over year, driven by lower residential revenue.EBITDA: Declined by 3.2% excluding Cox transition expenses.Net Income: $1.3 billi
The energy industry, broadly speaking, has benefited from the higher oil prices this year resulting from Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Yet one energy subsector has significantly outperformed both the energy sector and the broader market.
I'm talking about refiners. As measured by the VanEck Oil Refiners ETF (CRAK -1.00%), refiner stocks are up about 24% since the start of the U.S.-Iran war. That's much better than the overall energy sector, as measured by the State Street Energy Select Sector ETF, up 9% over that period, and the S&P 500 index, up about 7.5%.
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Digging down to individual companies, some of the biggest refiners have seen much larger gains.
Marathon Petroleum (MPC -0.97%) is up 59% since the war began, Valero Energy (VLO -0.95%) has climbed 52%, and Phillips 66 (PSX -0.04%) is up 36%.
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So, what's going on that has driven refiner stocks so much higher than other energy stocks in recent months?
Basically, it's all about crack spreads. Those reflect the difference between the price of crude oil that refiners buy on global markets and the price they can charge for the refined products they extract from it, such as gasoline, diesel, or heating oil. That difference is also essentially the refiner's profit margin.
The most common industry benchmark is the 3-2-1 crack spread, the spread obtained by converting three barrels of crude oil into two barrels of gasoline and one barrel of a distillate, such as diesel or heating oil.
Image source: Getty Images.
So while many people believe the price of gasoline and other products moves exactly in tandem with the price of crude, in fact, there's a difference because of the refining process. When there's a shortage of refining capacity, the price of products like gasoline and jet fuel will rise and deliver bigger profit margins to refiners.
That's the case today.
A global refining capacity shortage Due to wars in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf and the resulting destruction of refining infrastructure, as well as pandemic-era closures and aging infrastructure, global refining utilization was about 78 million barrels a day during the second quarter. That's 5 million barrels below the same period a year ago.
That's created a bottleneck that's driven the 3-2-1 crack spread for U.S. refiners to about $64, a new high.
Even if the two conflicts end tomorrow, it will take much longer to get refining capacity back where it needs to be to meet global demand for petroleum products.
That has generated considerable optimism about refining stocks. This week, Goldman Sachs raised its price target for Valero from $286 to $357, suggesting a 14% upside from the current price.
While I wouldn't put a lot of money into oil companies, as the price of oil remains highly volatile due to the twists and turns of the Persian Gulf conflict, I would invest in refiners. The global refining shortage driving their margins higher will last a lot longer.
SummaryNewmont Corporation is the world's largest gold producer, but operators of this scale face consistent challenges replacing production & reserves each year, creating greater hurdles on a per share growth basis.Fortunately, higher gold prices have helped to improve per share metrics, though, with strong Q2 '26 free cash flow generation despite higher costs, a surprise royalty hike & an operational setback.That said, NEM's strong H1 free cash flow benefited from a back-end weighted CapEx profile, and it enters Q3 with higher oil prices, lower gold prices & catch-up on CapEx.At $95.00/share, NEM's valuation is more reasonable, but with a softer Q3 outlook and a less attractive growth profile than peers, I see more attractive bets elsewhere today.Looking for a portfolio of ideas like this one? Members of Alluvial Gold Research get exclusive access to our subscriber-only portfolios. Learn More » Olga Kostrova /iStock via Getty Images
All figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise noted. G/T = grams per tonne (of gold or silver). GEOs = gold-equivalent ounces. AISC refers to all-in sustaining costs. LOMP = life of mine plan. TPD = tonnes per day. UG = Underground. OP = open-pit. MTPA = million tonnes per annum. FS/DFS = Definitive Feasibility Study. PFS = Pre-feasibility study. NAV = net asset
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of FNV, FNV:CA either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Disclaimer: Taylor Dart is not a Registered Investment Advisor or Financial Planner. This writing is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation regarding any securities transaction. The information contained in this writing should not be construed as financial or investment advice on any subject matter. Taylor Dart expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken based on any or all of the information on this writing. Given the volatility in the precious metals sector, position sizing is critical, so when buying small-cap precious metals stocks, position sizes should be limited to 6% or less of one's portfolio.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the #1 AI CRM, today announced it has granted equity awards under its 2014 Inducement Equity Incentive Plan (the "Plan") to new employe
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the #1 AI CRM, today announced it has granted equity awards under its 2014 Inducement Equity Incentive Plan (the "Plan") to new employees who joined Salesforce in connection with the acquisition of Qualified and MeshMesh. The Plan was adopted by the Salesforce Board of Directors in July 2014, in accordance with New York Stock Exchange Rule 303A.08. Under the Plan, Salesforce granted a total of 209,429 restricted stock units ("RSUs") to 158.
The “Dogs of the Dow” is one of the oldest systematic investing strategies still around today. The idea is remarkably simple. At the beginning of each year, you take the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, select the 10 highest-yielding dividend stocks, invest equally across them, then repeat the process the following January by rebalancing into the new list.
The logic is straightforward. Because the Dow already consists of established, large-cap blue-chip companies with strong liquidity, screening for the highest dividend yields may help identify companies that have become temporarily undervalued while simultaneously boosting portfolio income.
By modern standards, the strategy feels somewhat primitive. Today’s investors have access to sophisticated factor models, smart beta indexes, and quantitative screens that incorporate dozens of variables beyond dividend yield alone. Still, its simplicity remains appealing, especially now that zero-commission trading makes annual rebalancing inexpensive.
If you like the general concept but would rather avoid buying and maintaining individual stocks yourself, there is an ETF built around a similar idea. The Invesco Dow Jones Industrial Average Dividend ETF (DJD) manages approximately $475 million in assets and offers several features that make it an interesting alternative to more mainstream dividend ETFs.
How Does DJD Work? The traditional Dow weights companies according to their share price, an approach dating back to an era when stock indexes were calculated by hand using pencil and paper. While price weighting made practical sense more than a century ago, market-cap weighting has generally become the preferred methodology because it better reflects a company’s economic size.
DJD instead takes the 28 dividend-paying companies currently within the Dow Jones Industrial Average and weights them according to their trailing 12-month dividend yield, with the portfolio rebalanced semi-annually. The result is a portfolio that naturally tilts toward higher-yielding companies while remaining fully invested in one of the market’s highest-quality stock universes.
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Today, DJD offers a 2.32% 30-day SEC yield, roughly one percentage point higher than the traditional Dow Jones Industrial Average. Distributions are paid quarterly. The valuation profile also looks attractive. The portfolio currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26 while maintaining excellent profitability, with a return on equity of 27.57%.
Is DJD Worth It? The answer largely depends on the time period you’re examining. Interestingly, DJD has quietly outperformed the traditional price-weighted Dow over recent years, and charges just a 0.07% expense ratio, making it one of the least expensive smart-beta dividend ETFs available.
Over the trailing five-year period, DJD generated a 10.97% annualized total return at net asset value compared with 10.78% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Over the past three years, DJD returned 17.52% annually versus 17.10%, while over the trailing one-year period it gained 22.44% compared with 20.65%.
The dividend itself shouldn’t be viewed as free money. On every ex-dividend date, the ETF’s net asset value declines by roughly the amount of the distribution. Instead, the appeal comes from the portfolio construction. By emphasizing higher-yielding companies within an already high-quality blue-chip universe, DJD creates a modest value tilt that has historically worked.
For investors looking beyond the largest household-name dividend ETFs, that’s where DJD becomes interesting. Sometimes the smaller, less-publicized funds offer thoughtful index methodologies at extremely competitive fees. DJD is one of those cases, and if its value-oriented approach fits your investment philosophy, it deserves a place on the watch list.
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US stocks ended mixed on Friday as gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average were offset by weakness in semiconductor stocks, while investors continued to monitor developments in the Middle East and their potential impact on global markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235 points, or 0.5%, supported by a 3% gain in Apple shares.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.05% to finish near flat, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% as chipmakers came under pressure.
Markets had traded higher earlier in the session after Reuters reported, citing three Pakistani sources, that Pakistan is considering a path toward new peace negotiations between the United States and Iran, with China initiating the effort.
However, the report also noted that significant obstacles remain before talks with Washington can begin.
Oil prices retreated from recent highs during the session, offering some support to equities, although investors remained cautious heading into the weekend amid continued military tensions in the Middle East.
Semiconductor stocks led the market's decline as investors continued to reassess the outlook for artificial intelligence spending following recent earnings reports from major technology companies.
Intel shares dropped 8%, reversing earlier gains despite reporting second-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations and forecasting quarterly profit and revenue above analyst estimates.
The company also outlined plans to increase spending over the next two years.
The weakness spread across the semiconductor sector. Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices each fell about 3%, while Micron Technology lost 7%.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) also declined 3%.
Investor caution has increased after Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance despite reporting negative free cash flow, prompting broader concerns about the scale of AI infrastructure spending ahead of earnings from Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Apple.
The technology sector became the biggest drag on the S&P 500 as investors questioned how quickly higher AI investments would translate into stronger profitability. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also moved lower during the session.
Middle East tensions, tariffs and economic data remain in focusGeopolitical developments continued to shape investor sentiment.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he was considering a larger military response against Iran following attacks by Yemen's Houthi forces on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
On Friday, The New York Times reported that Trump met with senior advisers and cabinet officials to discuss whether to escalate US military action against Iran.
Although Brent crude fell nearly 4% to settle at $96.78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 3% to $89.31, investors remained wary that further escalation could disrupt global energy supplies and reignite inflation concerns.
Markets also digested the Trump administration's new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners after a temporary 10% global tariff expired.
Economic data released Friday showed US services sector activity accelerated in July, supported partly by spending related to the FIFA World Cup and Independence Day holiday, while manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace since March.
Among individual stocks, Digital Realty Trust gained after raising its full-year funds-from-operations forecast, helping the real estate sector outperform.
Oilfield services company SLB also advanced after reporting second-quarter profit above expectations.
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 both finished lower, extending recent weakness, while the Nasdaq recorded a weekly decline of more than 2% as technology shares remained under pressure.
4:20pm: A losing week overall Wall Street ended a choppy Friday on a mixed note, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 managing modest gains while the Nasdaq remained under pressure as investors wrapped up a volatile week.
The Dow climbed 236 points, or 0.5%, to 51,947, while the S&P 500 edged up 4 points, or 0.1%, to 7,412. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 162 points, or 0.6%, to 24,976, extending its recent weakness.
Despite Friday's rebound for the broader market, all three major indexes finished the week in the red. The Nasdaq led the declines, losing around 2% over the past five trading sessions as investors continued to rotate away from some high-growth technology names.
Attention now turns to a packed week of corporate earnings that could set the tone for markets heading into August. Big Tech will once again dominate the spotlight, with results due from Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Arm. Investors will also be watching reports from blue-chip names including Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil and Chevron for fresh insight into consumer spending and the energy sector.
With earnings season entering one of its busiest stretches, traders will be looking for signs that corporate profits can continue to support a market that has faced increased volatility in recent weeks.
3:40pm: Proactive news headlines American Resources Corp (NASDAQ:AREC) approved a special cash dividend of $0.0431 per share, returning capital to shareholders while continuing to invest in its critical minerals business. Miivo AI (TSX-V:MIVO) launched Customer Insights, an AI-powered self-service platform that helps small and mid-sized businesses track customer sentiment and manage their online reputation across major digital platforms. Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NYSE-A:OPTT) acquired strategic subsea technology assets from Columbia Power Technologies to expand its capabilities from surface to seabed and strengthen its autonomous maritime infrastructure offering. 2:30pm: Market movers Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC, XETRA:INL) shares fell more than 4% after investors looked past a strong second-quarter earnings beat and upbeat guidance to focus on mixed analyst reactions following the chipmaker's results. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ, XETRA:BAC) shares climbed about 3% after the telecom giant beat second-quarter earnings expectations and raised its full-year outlook despite reporting revenue that missed forecasts. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP, XETRA:AEC1) shares dropped about 6% after second-quarter revenue narrowly missed Wall Street expectations, overshadowing better-than-expected earnings. 12:15pm: Welcome to X, Mr Huang Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) (Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD), Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD)) CEO Jensen Huang posted on X for the first time on Friday, sharing a multi-company letter that defends open-weight AI models as essential to US technology leadership.
Huang, who joined the platform last month but had not posted until now, used his debut message to promote a letter signed by Nvidia and roughly 20 other organizations, including Meta, Microsoft and Palantir.
The letter argues that open models strengthen safety, accelerate innovation and support national AI sovereignty, and that US leadership should not rest on a single frontier model alone.
For my first post, I’m sharing a letter @NVIDIA signed on why open models matter.
AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country.
Open models strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.… pic.twitter.com/t02bi51N4C
— Jensen Huang (@JensenHuang) July 24, 2026 11:00am: Inflation still Fed's primary concern The US labour market continues to show little sign of meaningful deterioration despite softer hiring in June, according to Bank of America, leaving inflation as the Federal Reserve's primary concern ahead of next week's policy meeting.
The bank noted that while June payroll growth came in below expectations, the broader picture remains solid. The three-month average of job gains is still comfortably above the level needed to keep pace with population growth, while the unemployment rate has held steady at 4.2%.
More recent indicators have also remained encouraging. Bank of America said ADP private payroll growth has eased in recent weeks, but suggested that slowdown likely reflects a normalization after unusually strong hiring earlier this year. At the same time, weekly jobless claims continue to point to a stable labour market.
"Bottom line: the labor market appears healthy heading into the July FOMC meeting, leaving the focus squarely on inflation risks," analysts wrote.
10am: Mixed open It's another mixed open on Wall Street, with the Dow adding around 100 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq Composite started down 0.2% as technology shares seemed to be extending yesterday's selloff.
Charter Communications was the biggest Nasdaq 100 faller, sliding 6% after earnings, while other fallers include Marvell, Lumentum, Micron, Western Digital, ARM, Seagate and Intel, all down over 3.8%.
American Express has dropped 4.8%, the biggest Dow faller, but Verizon tops the leaderboard with a 3.5% gain, followed by Salesforce and IBM.
8am: Dow called higher but tech to remain a drag Wall Street is set for a tentative recovery on Friday after the previous session's technology selloff wiped roughly $800 billion from the market value of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech giants, with the world also waking to a new US tariff regime.
Dow Jones futures were up 199 points or 0.4%, while S&P 500 was expected to add 0.2% and Nasdaq futures were broadly flat, having surrendered an earlier gain of around 0.25%.
The day before, the Nasdaq had tumbled 2.2% to 25,138 due to the worst session for the Mag 7 since the original "tariff tantrum" day. The S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 7,408, while the Dow shed 507 points, or 1%, to close at 51,712.
Investors dumped technology stocks after results from Tesla and Alphabet failed to ease concerns about surging AI spending. Higher oil prices also reignited inflation worries and pushed Treasury yields to their highest levels of the year.
After WTI crude reached a seven-week high of $93.5 a barrel the previous afternoon, prices eased to $89.8 on Friday morning.
Security concerns remain elevated after strikes in the Red Sea, which led some tanker operators to reroute vessels onto even longer journeys.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump confirmed new tariffs covering more than 99% of US goods imports under Section 301 rules.
The levies, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, take effect Friday and are designed to enforce restrictions on "forced labour" imports, the White House said.
"Today's action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
Yale Budget Lab estimates the measures will lift the average statutory tariff rate to 12.8%.
In company news, Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) gained 3% in premarket trading after beating second-quarter expectations and issuing a stronger outlook.
American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) has fallen 2.3% despite an earnings beat, while Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ, XETRA:BAC) is down 1.3% and NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE) has slipped 0.7% following mixed quarterly updates.
Elsewhere, a senior Korean official said Samsung and SK Hynix are expected to announce “very large-scale” contracts with leading US technology companies during President Lee Jae-myung’s visit to Silicon Valley, which starts today.
Key Takeaways NextEra Energy's adjusted EPS rose 9.5% to $1.15, beating estimates, while revenues missed. FPL added nearly 90,000 customers and has 21 GW of large-load interest, including 12 GW advanced.NextEra Energy Resources added 3.6 GW of renewables and storage, lifting backlog to 35.1 GW. NextEra Energy (NEE - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 results with adjusted earnings per share of $1.15, up 9.5% from $1.05 a year ago. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.09 by 5.5%. Strong contributions from both Florida Power & Light (“FPL”) and NextEra Energy Resources allowed the company to surpass expectations.
GAAP earnings per share were $1.50 compared with 98 cents in the year-ago quarter.
RevenuesTotal operating revenues were $7.53 billion, up 12.4% year over year but missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.99 billion by 5.8%. A key highlight was NextEra Energy Resources’ record renewables and storage origination, which added 3.6 gigawatts (“GW”) to backlog.
NEE’s Revenue Mix Reflected Strength in Both EnginesOperating revenues increased from $6.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025 to $7.53 billion, supported by gains across both major operating platforms. By segment, FPL generated $4.89 billion of operating revenues in the quarter, while NextEra Energy Resources produced $2.53 billion, with Corporate and Other adding $106 million.
Highlights of NextEra Energy's ReleaseFPL’s growth in the reported quarter was largely fueled by ongoing business investments. Operationally, FPL’s regulatory capital employed increased about 9.3% year over year, while the customer base expanded nearly 90,000 in the quarter.
FPL continues to witness strong demand from hyperscalers and other large customers seeking reliable, competitively priced power with quick deployment. The utility has nearly 21 GW of large-load interest, including 12 GW in advanced discussions, with some projects potentially coming online as early as 2028. FPL expects to announce at least one large-load deal under its tariff by year-end.
NextEra Energy Resources had a strong quarter for new renewables and storage origination, adding to its backlog. With the new additions, NextEra Energy Resources' backlog now totals 35.1 GW after taking into account more than 1.1 GW of new projects placed into service as of July 24, 2026.
Total operating expenses in the second quarter were $5.28 billion, up 10%, due to higher operational and maintenance expenses and higher fuel, purchased power and interchange expenses.
Financial HighlightsOn the balance sheet at June 30, 2026, NextEra Energy reported cash and cash equivalents of nearly $2.86 billion and total assets of $232.8 billion.
Long-term debt stood at $98.79 billion, while total equity was $68.1 billion.
In the first six months of 2026, net cash provided by operating activities was $7.27 billion, net cash used in investing activities was $19.11 billion and net cash provided by financing activities was $12.05 billion.
The utility’s full-year growth narrative continued to center on capital deployment, with nearly $5.78 billion of capital expenditures in the first six months of the year.
NEE Guidance and Financial Position Stayed in FocusNextEra Energy maintained the 2026 adjusted earnings per share expectation of $3.92 to $4.02 and said it is targeting the high end of that range. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share is currently pegged at $4.01, which is near the top of the guidance.
In the long term, the company continues to target adjusted earnings per share growth of more than 8% annually through 2032 to 2035, using 2025 adjusted earnings of $3.71 as the base.
NEE’s Zacks RankNextEra Energy carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Upcoming ReleasesXcel Energy (XEL - Free Report) is set to release second-quarter 2026 results on July 30. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share is pegged at 79 cents.
XEL’s long-term (three-to-five years) earnings growth rate is 9.36%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share indicates year-over-year growth of 5.33%.
Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) is scheduled to announce second-quarter 2026 results on July 31. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share is pegged at 78 cents.
The consensus estimate for second-quarter earnings per share indicates growth of 4% from the prior-year actual.
Exelon Corporation (EXC - Free Report) is scheduled to announce second-quarter 2026 results on July 30. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 44 cents per share.
Exelon’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 6.03%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share indicates growth of 12.82% from the year-earlier level.
Charles Lacey “Kip” Compton III, CEO of Fastly, Inc. (FSLY +4.48%), sold 18,485 shares of Class A Common Stock on July 16 and July 17, 2026, at a weighted average price of $20.74 per share according to a recent SEC Form 4 filing.
Transaction summaryMetricValueTransaction value~$383,400Shares sold18,485Post-transaction shares (directly held)1,045,460Post-transaction value$21.66 millionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average sale price ($20.74); post-transaction value based on July 17, 2026 market close.
Key questionsWhat was the context for this transaction?
The disposal was executed under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan established on August 27, 2025, which allows insiders to set up a pre-arranged schedule for selling shares to avoid concerns about trading on non-public information.How do the current holdings reflect the insider's long-term commitment?
Despite the sale of 18,485 shares, the CEO continues to hold 1,045,460 shares directly, representing a 0.67% ownership stake in the company. The insider also holds derivative securities that further align his interests with shareholders.How has the company's financial profile evolved leading up to this filing?
Fastly reported trailing twelve-month revenue of $652.6 million and a net loss of $103.1 million, maintaining a market capitalization of $3.2 billion as of the July 17, 2026 close. The stock has delivered a 202% return over the one-year period ending on the transaction date.Company OverviewMetricValueShare Price (as of market close 2026-07-17)$20.72Market Capitalization$3.2 billionRevenue (TTM)$652.6 millionNet Income (TTM)-$103.1 millionCompany SnapshotFastly provides an advanced edge cloud computing platform that enables developers to build, secure, and deliver digital experiences at the internet's edge, with primary revenue derived from Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings across North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and international markets.The company operates a subscription-based business model where customers pay for access to its customizable edge cloud platform, which optimizes web and application delivery while providing security and performance management capabilities.Fastly primarily serves enterprise customers, developers, and digital-first organizations that require high-performance content delivery, edge computing, and application security solutions across global markets.Fastly is a specialized edge cloud infrastructure provider, serving as a critical infrastructure partner for enterprises requiring optimized content delivery and edge computing capabilities. The company operates a highly customizable platform designed to address the growing demand for distributed computing resources at the internet's edge, enabling rapid digital experience delivery with integrated security features.
With 1,140 employees, Fastly competes in the infrastructure software market by offering differentiated edge computing capabilities that address latency, performance, and security requirements for modern digital applications.
What this transaction means for investorsThe sale of Fastly stock on July 16 and July 17 does not appear to be a cause for investor concern. The July 16 disposition involved 11,412 shares and these were sold to satisfy tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of restricted stock units.
The remaining 7,073 shares sold by CEO Kip Compton on July 17 was a non-discretionary transaction executed as part of a pre-established Rule 10b5-1 plan. Given he retained over one million shares after this sale, Compton maintains a substantial equity stake in the company.
Although Fastly’s first-quarter earnings report did not impress Wall Street, contributing to the stock falling from a 52-week high of $34.82 in April, the company posted record revenue of $173 million. That represents excellent 20% year-over-year growth.
Even so, Fastly remains unprofitable with a Q1 operating loss of $23.9 million. Yet its price-to-sales ratio of about four is higher than it was a year ago, suggesting the stock’s valuation is elevated, which is likely another contributor to its share price decline.
Robert Izquierdo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Fastly. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Gold daily chart shows a potential double bottom forming above the $4,000 area. Source: TradingView Dynamic resistance is represented by the 50-day moving average, at $4,230 currently, which will soon converge with the $4,203 area, adding to the significance of the resistance zone. That would increase the chance that a double bottom breakout would also reclaim the 50-day moving average and therefore improve the chance for an extended recovery. A move through this confluence of resistance would therefore provide a stronger technical confirmation than a breakout above $4,203 alone.
Resistance Confluence Meets Critical Support Despite the potential for an upside move, gold shows significant resistance near the $4,203 pivot. In addition to the 50-day moving average joining the price zone, there is a long-term uptrend line and a shorter downtrend line that align. This week’s low of $4,022 is key short-term support, but it remains possible that a decline to the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $4,004 may yet complete the pullback. If that area fails to hold as support, the chance for a bullish recovery in the near-term weakens. Conversely, holding above this support zone would keep the developing double-bottom setup intact and preserve the potential for a breakout above $4,203.
Path Toward $4,496 If a decisive breakout above $4,203 were to occur, then the 200-day moving average defines the key upside target zone. It is now at $4,496. Since the 200-day moving average was broken in early June, the current advance would be the first notable pullback to test it as resistance. Resistance is therefore anticipated, at least on the initial approach. Therefore, holding $4,022-$4,004 is critical before gold can challenge the $4,203-$4,230 resistance zone and target the 200-day moving average.
If you’d like to know more about how to trade gold and silver, please visit our educational area.
Central Pacific Financial Corp. CPB NYSE: CPF reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $20.8 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, as the Hawaii-based bank benefited from higher earning-asset balances and yields, stable funding costs and a modest expansion in net interest margin.
Diluted earnings per share increased 19% from the year-earlier quarter. Return on average assets was 1.12%, while return on average equity was 13.94%, according to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Dayna Matsumoto.
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Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Martines said the company maintained profitability while managing its balance sheet with discipline. He said the bank expanded average earning assets, preserved a stable core funding base and continued investing in talent, technology, automation and data capabilities while managing expenses.
Margin Expansion and Full-Year Outlook Net interest income totaled $62.8 million during the second quarter, while net interest margin increased four basis points from the prior quarter to 3.57%. Matsumoto attributed the result to growth in average loans and securities, higher earning-asset yields and stable funding costs.
The company expects net interest margin to remain relatively steady or rise slightly in the second half of 2026. While the benefit from repricing existing assets remains favorable, Matsumoto said that benefit has moderated. CPB expects deposit costs to remain fairly steady if the Federal Reserve keeps rates unchanged.
Management reaffirmed guidance for full-year net interest income growth of 4% to 6% over the prior year. Matsumoto said the balance sheet is relatively neutral to slightly asset sensitive and is positioned to benefit from a potential Federal Reserve rate increase, although management does not expect such an increase to have a significant impact this year.
During the question-and-answer session, Matsumoto said loan pricing remains competitive in Hawaii, with some spread compression, while deposit pricing has remained rational. She said the company expects its margin to remain in the “high 350s” as it balances profitability with growth opportunities.
Loans, Deposits and Capital Returns Total loans ended the quarter relatively unchanged at $5.3 billion, although average loan balances rose $33 million from the first quarter. Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer David Morimoto said second-quarter loan growth was affected by several closings shifting into the third quarter and expected commercial real estate loan payoffs.
Average loan yield increased to 4.96% from 4.93% in the prior quarter, primarily reflecting higher yields on new loan production relative to runoff loans. Morimoto said the bank originated nearly $70 million of new construction loans during the quarter, mainly multifamily construction loans on the mainland, with floating rates at Secured Overnight Financing Rate plus spreads in the low 200-basis-point range.
Management expects stronger loan growth in the second half than in the first half, supported by commercial construction funding activity, a commercial lending pipeline and initiatives intended to slow runoff in its Hawaii retail portfolio. CPB continues to expect both loan and deposit growth in the low-single-digit range for the full year.
Total deposits were largely unchanged at $6.7 billion, with core deposits representing more than 90% of the total. Morimoto said noninterest-bearing and relationship-based accounts continued to grow. Total deposit costs held steady at 90 basis points, and the company reported deposit growth of nearly $90 million year to date.
Morimoto said deposit competition in Hawaii has remained consistent and more rational than on the mainland, where banks face a larger number of competitors. Matsumoto said the company’s 79% loan-to-deposit ratio at June 30 was at the low end of its typical 80% to 85% target range, leaving room to support expected lending growth.
CPB paid a $0.29-per-share second-quarter dividend, and its board declared a $0.30-per-share third-quarter dividend, representing a 3.4% increase. The company also repurchased about 322,000 shares for $11.3 million during the quarter, leaving $33.2 million available under its repurchase authorization at quarter-end.
Matsumoto said management generally expects capital returns through dividends and repurchases to continue at a similar pace, though repurchase levels will remain dependent on loan growth, market conditions, risk and valuation.
Credit Trends and Expenses Vice Chair Ralph Mesick said asset quality remained strong. Nonperforming assets totaled $16.5 million, or 22 basis points of total assets, and net charge-offs were 20 basis points of average loans. Past-due trends were stable, and management said it was not seeing broad-based weakness across the loan portfolio.
Criticized loans increased to 234 basis points of total loans, driven primarily by a small number of Hawaii-based credits. Mesick said the credits are well collateralized and actively managed. He discussed the largest downgraded credit, a $20 million Hawaii real estate loan involving an ownership dispute and financial difficulties for the principal guarantor. The loan had debt-service coverage of about 1.27 times and a loan-to-value ratio of 57%, and Mesick said management does not see loss content in the loan.
Provision expense was $4.4 million, including $3.3 million added to the allowance for credit losses and $1.1 million added to the reserve for unfunded commitments. Management said the increase primarily reflected more conservative economic assumptions and commitment growth rather than portfolio deterioration. The allowance rose to $60.6 million, or 1.14% of loans, from 1.13% in the first quarter.
Other operating income increased $3 million sequentially to $14.6 million, largely due to bank-owned life insurance income tied to market performance. Other operating expense rose $2.5 million to $46.2 million, primarily because of higher deferred compensation expense also associated with market performance.
The company maintained its forecast for 2.5% to 3.5% full-year growth in other operating expenses, though Matsumoto said its latest forecast was near the lower end of that range. She said second-half expenses will include costs associated with a customer relationship management system, a new branch system and data platforms. Management expects deferred compensation expense to normalize in the second half.
Martines said Hawaii’s economy remains resilient, citing steady visitor activity, increases in visitors from the U.S. East Coast and Japan, 2.5% unemployment, increased construction employment and rising government contract awards. He added that the company continues to monitor geopolitical conflict, oil prices and inflation, but has not observed significant impacts on customers.
About CPB (NYSE:CPF)Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited NYSE: CPF is a Thailand‐based integrated agro‐industrial and food conglomerate. Headquartered in Bangkok, the company is a subsidiary of the Charoen Pokphand Group and has grown into one of the world's leading producers of livestock feed, meat and seafood products. CPF's businesses span animal feed milling, animal breeding and hatchery operations, meat and seafood processing, and the distribution of fresh, frozen and value‐added food products.
CPF's product portfolio includes poultry, swine and aquaculture feed; fresh and frozen chicken and pork; shrimp and other seafood; as well as ready‐to‐eat and ready‐to‐cook food items.
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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Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) between February 26, 2025 and February 24, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important August 24, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.
So what: If you purchased First Solar during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
What to do next: To join the First Solar class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/first-solar-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 24, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
Details of the case: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants had overstated First Solar's capacity to manage the impact of U.S. tariff policy on First Solar's business; (2) defendants understated the extent to which its responses to U.S. tariff policy, including the intentional underutilization of production facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam, and attempted relocation of production to the U.S., were likely to negatively impact First Solar's projected performance in the 2026 fiscal year; and (3) as a result, defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the First Solar class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/first-solar-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Contact Information:
Laurence Rosen, Esq.
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The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-1060
Toll Free: (866) 767-3653
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Harry Sideris, Duke Energy CEO, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss the misleading ideas around energy prices amid the expansion of data centers, how the recent U.S. power pledge works and much more.
When dividend yields start to creep up, it's worth taking a closer look for any potential warning signs. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY +0.94%) is a leading pharmaceutical company and has been a high-yield dividend stock for some time. Shares have averaged a dividend yield of 3.4% over the past decade.
However, that yield has been abnormally high for most of the past two years. The stock yields 4.1% today, and it's been as high as 6% over the past 24 months. Is the dividend simply too good to be true at this point?
My take is that the dividend is fine right now, but that you'll also need to watch out for potential hurdles as key drugs lose patent exclusivity over the next few years.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The financials back up Bristol Myers Squibb's juicy dividend for now There's a famous expression that money talks. Examining the financials is the best way to check whether a company can actually afford its dividend. Bristol Myers Squibb pays a quarterly dividend totaling $2.52 per share for the year. Wall Street analysts estimate that it will earn $6.34 per share this year, enough to cover the dividend 2.5 times over.
If you're not satisfied, you can double-check this by looking at free cash flow, since dividends are technically a cash expense. Bristol Myers Squibb has generated $5.83 per share in free cash flow over the past year, covering the dividend more than twice over. From a numbers standpoint, the company can genuinely afford its dividend, and quite easily. The near-term risk of a cut seems pretty low.
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Keep an eye on how the drugmaker navigates a looming patent cliff The coast isn't quite clear, though. Patents for some of Bristol Myers Squibb's top-selling drugs will expire over the next few years. As those patents expire, generics will flood the market at low prices, and sales for those branded drugs will crater. It's a normal part of a drug's lifecycle and happens all the time in the pharmaceutical business.
This situation is called a patent cliff, and Bristol Myers Squibb faces a pretty steep one. Eliquis and Opdivo could both face generic competition by 2028 -- and the two drugs combined for over $6.1 billion in sales last year, roughly half of the company's total revenue. Not all is lost, though: Even after the patents expire, branded sales won't go to zero overnight. Additionally, the company has a strong pipeline, and its growth portfolio of newer drugs is steadily taking the baton.
The market perceives Bristol Myers Squibb as a riskier stock these days, and that's not necessarily wrong. Fortunately, the dividend has lots of breathing room, and there's growth from newer drugs on the way. I could see management scaling back dividend growth, perhaps issuing smaller raises to conserve cash while the company navigates these sensitive years. But barring catastrophic failure, I think you can reasonably trust the stock's 4.1% yield now and in the future.
LOS ANGELES, July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP reminds investors of the upcoming August 10, 2026 deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in the class action filed on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Zillow Group, Inc. (“Zillow” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: Z, ZG) Class A or Class C common stock between February 11, 2025 and May 7, 2026, inclusive (the “Class Period”).
Oil tankers are increasingly coming under fire on several fronts as economic warfare is deployed as a weapon in the escalating conflicts in the Middle East and Europe.
Iran has stepped up its attacks on tankers in and around the Strait of Hormuz this month as it tries to impose its control over the crucial oil corridor. Tehran's Houthi allies in Yemen opened a second front this week, firing on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea after declaring a maritime embargo against Riyadh.
Ukraine, meanwhile, says it has attacked more than 150 tankers, cargo ships, and other vessels associated with Russia's shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, according to the Kyiv Post.
The oil market is now dealing with wars on multiple fronts, Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy, told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Thursday. Oil prices have surged more than 30% in July with Brent crude breaking $100 per barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, as the security situation has rapidly deteriorated in the southern Red Sea and Hormuz.
Ship traffic through Hormuz has plunged after rebounding in the weeks following the memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran on June 17 to reopen the strait.
"After the collapse of the MOU, we have entered the worst phase of this conflict for merchant shipping," said Dimitris Maniatis, CEO of the maritime risk service Marisks, headquartered in Athens, Greece.
"The primary reason is the fact that the Iranians want to assert more authority and control over what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz," Maniatis said.
Some 61 commercial ships have been attacked in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf of Oman since March 1, resulting in the deaths of at least 17 seafarers and dozens of injuries, according to the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency.
At least a dozen tankers have been struck this month in and around Hormuz, killing at least two seafarers, as fighting sharply escalates between the U.S. and Iran, according to the IMO data.
The Red Sea attacks now threaten millions of barrels per day of oil that the Saudis redirected through a pipeline to its western coast amid to the security situation in Hormuz. The Saudi exports transit through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
"The Iranians and the Houthis together now are implementing a very significant blow to American national interests, the American oil companies and of course Saudi Arabia," Maniatis said. "But they're not managing to entirely choke exports."
Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea from 2023 to 2025 in response to Israel's war in Gaza dramatically reduced traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb. Shipping through the strait had still not fully recovered.
The Saudis can redirect some oil through a pipeline that stretches from a port on the Red Sea across Egypt to the Mediterranean but the logistics are complex, said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler.
Supertankers cannot transit the Suez Canal fully loaded because the channel is too shallow, Smith said. The Saudis would have to unload half the cargo at the port of Ain Sokhna, pipe it through to the port of Sidi Kerir, send the supertanker through Suez and retrieve the oil on the other side, he said.
The supertanker would then face a much longer journey around Africa to destinations in Asia, and would have to return on the same route through the Suez due to Houthi threats at the Bab el-Mandeb, Smith said. The roundtrip journey would take around eight weeks, he said.
Oil shipments by sea from the Middle East are increasingly facing a "no-way out" scenario due to the disruptions in the Red Sea, Croft said.
In the Black Sea, meanwhile, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium has stopped loading tankers at the Russian port of Novorossiysk due to attacks on vessels. Kazakhstan exports about 80% of its crude oil through that pipeline, Croft said in a note to clients this week.
The Kazakhs have limited alternatives to the pipeline, which means their production of around 1.7 million bpd in June, could face shut-ins, Croft said. The Ukrainians have also pounded Russian refineries, resulting in more than 50% of the country's capacity coming offline, the analyst said.
"Russia has now put a export ban on products and their refineries have been hit so massively by Ukraine," Croft told CNBC. "Russia is one of the largest product exporters, one the largest diesel exporters. It's really tightening the products market as well as the crude market."
The dangerous escalation in the Middle East could potentially spike Brent oil prices beyond the 2022 high of $128 per barrel after Russia invaded Ukraine, Croft said in the note. In a worst-case scenario, where the region descends into full-scale war, Brent could surpass the 2008 peak of $148 per barrel, she said.
The EUR/JPY consolidates around 186.00, edges down by 0.06% amid a souring of risk appetite amid the escalation of the US-Iran war, and strengthens safe-haven assets like the Japanese Yen.
EUR/JPY Price Forecast: Technical outlookThe EUR/JPY trades sideways after reaching the year-to-date (YTD) high of 187.95. The cross-pair dipped toward the 183.00 area following the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) last intervention, and since then buyers have reclaimed key resistance levels to reach the 186.00 mark.
At the time of writing, the EUR/JPY remains capped within the 186.00-187.00 range, amid fears that Japanese authorities could intervene in the foreign exchange markets. But bulls seem to be gaining momentum as indicated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI) in bullish territory.
Buyers need to clear 187.00 to challenge the YTD high at 187.95. Once those levels are taken out, the next resistance would be the 189.00 mark ahead of the 190.00 psychological level.
On the other hand, if sellers push the EUR/JPY below the July 20 low of 185.35, it exacerbates a move toward the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at 185.20, followed by the 100-day SMA at 185.05. Still lower lies the 200-day SMA at 183.29.
EUR/JPY daily price chart
EUR/JPY daily chart Japanese Yen Price Today The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Swiss Franc.
USDEURGBPJPYCADAUDNZDCHFUSD0.02%-0.04%0.00%0.07%-0.17%-0.25%0.19%EUR-0.02%-0.08%-0.06%0.00%-0.25%-0.34%0.12%GBP0.04%0.08%0.04%0.11%-0.16%-0.22%0.22%JPY0.00%0.06%-0.04%0.08%-0.19%-0.27%0.17%CAD-0.07%-0.01%-0.11%-0.08%-0.27%-0.35%0.10%AUD0.17%0.25%0.16%0.19%0.27%-0.07%0.35%NZD0.25%0.34%0.22%0.27%0.35%0.07%0.43%CHF-0.19%-0.12%-0.22%-0.17%-0.10%-0.35%-0.43% The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).
The announcement comes as demand for air and missile defense systems continues to accelerate worldwide.
RTX said Raytheon booked more than $10 billion in international defense awards during the first half of the year—more than double last year’s level—with 48% of Raytheon’s backlog now coming from international customers.
Management also pointed to growing U.S. demand, highlighting bipartisan support for higher defense spending and ongoing discussions to convert long-term framework agreements into production contracts. CEO Christopher Calio said Patriot systems have continued to demonstrate their effectiveness “in some of the most contested environments,” reinforcing demand both at home and abroad.
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During the second-quarter earnings call, CEO Christopher Calio said Pratt & Whitney’s commercial OEM sales fell because the company is ensuring it has “strong material flow into our MRO shops,” allowing repair facilities to process more engines and reduce turnaround times.
CFO Neil Mitchill later reinforced that the shift is “really about the material allocation” between new engine deliveries and aftermarket repairs.
The strategy appears to be working.
RTX said grounded PW1100-powered aircraft are down 25% year to date, maintenance output has increased 43%, and turnaround times have improved 23% despite heavier repair workloads.
At the same time, Pratt & Whitney still expects to deliver a record number of GTF engines this year, suggesting the company is balancing new production with a greater emphasis on restoring aircraft already in service.
Photo: Shutterstock
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Navitas Semiconductor: Navigating Revenue VolatilityNavitas Semiconductor (NVTS -9.23%) designs and develops advanced power integrated circuits, silicon carbide devices, and digital isolators for various enterprise and consumer applications.
It recently entered a technical collaboration within the Nvidia ecosystem to develop data center power solutions, and it reported a -393% net income margin for the quarter ended March 31, 2026.
ServiceNow: Consistent Revenue ExpansionServiceNow (NOW +7.38%) delivers cloud-based software solutions that help large organizations streamline, automate, and manage digital workflows across their enterprise operations.
It introduced new digital oversight tools and expanded partnership agreements at its annual conference, while reporting 8% net income margin for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
Why Revenue Matters for Retail InvestorsRevenue helps investors gauge the total amount of money a business brings in before any operating expenses or taxes are deducted. This metric helps investors measure a company’s overall size, market footprint, and long-term trajectory.
Quarter (Period End)Navitas Semiconductor RevenueServiceNow RevenueQ3 2024 (Sept. 2024)$21.7 million$2.8 billionQ4 2024 (Dec. 2024)$18.0 million$3.0 billionQ1 2025 (March 2025)$14.0 million$3.1 billionQ2 2025 (June 2025)$14.5 million$3.2 billionQ3 2025 (Sept. 2025)$10.1 million$3.4 billionQ4 2025 (Dec. 2025)$7.3 million$3.6 billionQ1 2026 (March 2026)$8.6 million$3.8 billionQ2 2026Not yet reported$4.0 billion (period ended June 2026)Data source: Company filings. Data as of July 24, 2026.
Foolish TakeA look at the revenue trends for Navitas and ServiceNow reveal two companies headed in opposite directions. The former is seeing a self-inflicted decline in sales while the latter is generating quarter-over-quarter growth, an impressive feat to maintain consistently over time.
Navitas’ revenue underwent a substantial drop over the past several quarters because the company decided to exit its mobile and consumer businesses in China last year to focus on artificial intelligence. The China market was responsible for 60% of sales in 2024.
Navitas management expects the fourth quarter of 2025 to be the low point, and that revenue will rebound from there. That appears to be the case given the increase to $8.6 million in Q1. The company reports Q2 results on July 27, where it will need to continue demonstrating quarterly sales growth for its AI pivot to garner investor confidence.
ServiceNow shares were hit hard earlier in 2026, dropping to a 52-week low of $81.24 in April, as Wall Street feared AI would take business away, leading to a sector-wide sell-off in software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks. However, ServiceNow’s sales trend reveals business continues to expand.
The company’s $4 billion in Q2 sales represented strong 24% year-over-year growth, leading to ServiceNow raising full-year guidance for its subscription income. Due to another outstanding quarter, ServiceNow shares are hovering around $100, showing signs of a rebound.
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Intuit Inc. ("Intuit" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: INTU).
IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO SUFFERED A LOSS IN INTUIT INC. (INTU), CONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD G. SMITH BEFORE SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 (LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ONGOING SECURITIES FRAUD LAWSUIT.
Contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss your legal rights by email at [email protected], by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
What Is The Lawsuit About?
The complaint filed alleges that, between August 22, 2025 and May 20, 2026, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) they had overstated Intuit's competitive advantages and growth, as well as the overall strength and sustainability of its business model and operations; (2) in reality, Intuit was losing significant business in its tax-related business, particularly in its Turbo Tax business, as a result of, inter alia, increasing competitive and pricing pressures; (3) accordingly, Intuit's previously issued FY 2026 TurboTax revenue growth guidance was unreliable and/or unrealistic; and (4) as a result, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Contact Us To Participate or Learn More:
If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact:
Howard G. Smith, Esq.,
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith,
3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112,
Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020,
Call us at: (215) 638-4847
Email us at: [email protected],
Visit our website at: www.howardsmithlaw.com.
To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Contact Us:
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith
Howard G. Smith, Esquire
215-638-4847
[email protected]
www.howardsmithlaw.com
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - July 24, 2026) - WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) between August 22, 2025 and May 20, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important September 8, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.
SO WHAT: If you purchased Intuit securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Intuit class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/intuit-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 8, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) they had overstated Intuit's competitive advantages and growth, as well as the overall strength and sustainability of its business model and operations; (2) in reality, Intuit was losing significant business in its tax-related business, particularly in its Turbo Tax business, as a result of, inter alia, increasing competitive and pricing pressures; (3) accordingly, Intuit's previously issued full year ("FY") 2026 TurboTax revenue growth guidance was unreliable and/or unrealistic; and (4) as a result, defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the Intuit class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/intuit-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
-------------------------------
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/306494
Source: The Rosen Law Firm PA
Ready to Announce with Confidence? Send us a message and a member of our TMX Newsfile team will contact you to discuss your needs.
Lockheed Martin (LMT +2.46%) had a terrific Q2, and reported powerful profits and sales in its Q2 earnings report yesterday -- topping off the report with raised guidance.
Wall Street is applauding, with no fewer than five separate analysts raising price targets on Lockheed Martin stock today. Shares of the defense giant are up for a second day running in response, gaining 2.1% through 2:05 p.m. ET, and topping $580 a share.
Image source: Getty Images.
Lockheed Martin Q2 earnings Lockheed grew sales by 11% in Q2 and profits by 444%. Free cash flow flipped from negative $150 million to positive $2.9 billion.
Commenting on the results, Swiss bank UBS highlights "strong demand" for Lockheed Martin's products, paired with increasing production capacity geared to meet that demand -- and grow sales and profits.
As you'd expect in an environment characterized by two "hot" wars going on simultaneously, sales of Lockheed's in-demand Patriot missiles are helping to drive Missiles & Fire Control results. But Lockheed's looking healthy in other areas as well. Each of Lockheed's four main divisions showed sales growth in Q2, and all four earned profits.
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582.60
What's next for Lockheed Martin stock UBS thinks Lockheed's in the early innings of a growth spurt, and the numbers bear this out. Lockheed had a 3.2x book-to-bill ratio in Q2 -- meaning it "booked" 3.2 times more orders than it "billed" by delivering on existing orders. This implies strong sales growth in Lockheed's future, as newly booked orders ship, are billed, and become revenue.
Despite this evidence that a turnaround is afoot, though, UBS hesitates to recommend buying Lockheed -- worried that midterm U.S. Congressional elections could endanger future defense budgets.
I admit that's a risk. But with Lockheed stock trading for a cheap 16.5x free cash flow today, it's a risk worth taking.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Charles Schwab delivered strong fiscal 2026 second quarter earnings, with revenue up 20.9% and adjusted EPS up 42% year-over-year. Core net new assets ramped up 49% to $119.8 billion, with total client assets reaching $13.1 trillion and record trading volumes. SCHW raised 2026 revenue growth guidance to 17.5% to 18.5% as the company looks set to launch a prediction market product.
Key Takeaways Skyworks expects Q3 revenues of $900M-$950M and non-GAAP EPS of $1.03 at the midpoint.Mobile revenues may decline by low single digits sequentially, indicating normal seasonal weakness.Broad Markets should rise modestly, reach 43% of sales and grow high single digits year over year. Skyworks Solutions (SWKS - Free Report) is slated to release third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on July 28.
For the third quarter of fiscal 2026, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of $1.03 per share at the midpoint of the projected revenue range of $900-$950 million.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has remained steady at $1.03 per share in the past 30 days. The projection indicates a 22.56% decrease from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
The consensus mark for third-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues is pegged at $922.08 million, indicating a 4.45% year-over-year decline.
Skyworks’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 12.31%.
Let us see how things have shaped up prior to the announcement.
Factors Likely to Have Influenced SWKS’ Q3 PerformanceSWKS’ third-quarter fiscal 2026 performance is expected to have suffered from seasonal weakness in the mobile business. Management anticipates a low single-digit sequential decline in mobile revenues, consistent with normal seasonality, which could weigh on overall results, given mobile’s significant share of total revenues. However, management remains optimistic due to healthy sell-through at key customers, strong execution on new product launches and increasing RF complexity driven by artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.
The company is expected to benefit from its recently secured multigenerational Android design win, which is projected to generate more than $1 billion in revenues through 2030, reinforcing its position in premium AI-enabled smartphones. The quarter is also likely to have benefited from healthy customer demand, book-to-bill above 1, lean channel inventories and resilient demand for premium high-complexity mobile solutions, supporting the company’s revenue performance.
The company’s third-quarter fiscal 2026 performance is expected to benefit from continued strength in broad markets, particularly in WiFi, data center and automotive segments. The company reported nine consecutive quarters of growth in broad markets, with these three engines collectively growing 30% year over year and accounting for nearly two-thirds of the broad markets business. Broad markets are projected to be up modestly sequentially, representing 43% of sales and up high single digits year over year.
SWKS’ ongoing product innovation is set to drive growth. The company introduced new BAW filters targeting early 6G FR3 spectrum and next-generation RF front-end solutions supporting frequencies above 7 gigahertz. SWKS expanded its timing portfolio with new clock buffers for data center, wireless infrastructure and PCIe Gen 7 applications. These innovations position SWKS to capture opportunities in emerging technology cycles, such as 6G and WiFi 8, and to meet the increasing complexity and performance demands of AI-driven workloads.
For the fiscal third quarter of 2026, gross margin is projected to remain flat at approximately 44.5-45.5%, reflecting seasonally lower volume and higher input costs. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, gross profit was $425 million, translating to a gross margin of 45%, which management said aligned with the midpoint of guidance. However, on a year-over-year basis, gross margin contracted 160 basis points.
What Our Model SaysPer the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is the exact case here.
Skyworks has an Earnings ESP of +0.12% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Other Stocks to ConsiderHere are some companies worth considering, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat earnings in their upcoming releases.
Amphenol (APH - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.12% and a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Amphenol shares have gained 16.5% year to date. Amphenol is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 29.
ASE Technology (ASX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +21.21% and a Zacks Rank #2.
ASE Technology shares have surged 145.1% year to date. ASE Technology is set to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 30.
Fortive (FTV - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.82% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
Fortive shares have gained 9.8% in the year-to-date period. Fortive is set to report its second-quarter 2026 results on July 29.
Why: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX) between October 30, 2025 and April 30, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important August 7, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.
So what: If you purchased Roblox common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
What to do next: To join the Roblox class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/roblox-corporation-2026/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 7, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
Details of the case: According to the complaint, defendants provided overwhelmingly positive statements to investors while, at the same time, disseminating materially false and misleading statements and/or concealing material adverse facts concerning the true state of Roblox's organic growth potential; notably, that Roblox would see a significant slowdown in its growth rates as enrollment in the age verification rollout would quickly taper, compounding the resulting slowdown in on-platform communication, resulting in app store rating reductions and a swift reduction in organic growth. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
Why Rosen Law: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
To join the Roblox class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/roblox-corporation-2026/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Contact Information:
Laurence Rosen, Esq.
Phillip Kim, Esq.
The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-1060
Toll Free: (866) 767-3653
Fax: (212) 202-3827
[email protected]
www.rosenlegal.com
DeFi protocol Fluid and AGI3 Group have released a governance proposal announcing a strategic ecosystem partnership. Kinetic Group plans to acquire up to 10% of the total FLUID token supply via secondary market purchases and over-the-counter (OTC) trades, with the acquired tokens not sourced from the DAO treasury or team allocations. The Fluid Foundation will separately provide 5% of FLUID tokens to be held in custody at compliant private banks and institutional digital asset custodians in Switzerland, the EU, Hong Kong, and Singapore; these tokens will be locked for at least four years through 2030. As part of the strategic collaboration, AGI3 will grant a 2% equity stake to the Fluid Foundation, also locked for four years. AGI3 is an entity established by Kinetic Group, a private asset management firm regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), focused on building composite financial infrastructure spanning payments, banking, capital markets, and tokenization sectors. The partnership’s core product is AGI3 Markets, a permissioned DeFi instance for institutional users, equipped with KYC/AML checks, supporting lending and trading of real-world asset (RWA) classes including tokenized private credit, government bonds, commodities, equities, and corporate bonds. The two parties have agreed that all protocol revenue and incentive budgets generated by AGI3 Markets will be split on a 50/50 basis.
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Canadian National Railway Company delivered strong Q2 results, with 11% revenue and EPS growth, driven by price discipline and volume increases. CNI's operational efficiency improved despite some minor setbacks, and management raised EPS guidance based on internal execution rather than macro tailwinds. The strategic agreement with Union Pacific mitigates merger risks, expands reach into Mexico, and enhances long-term growth opportunities.
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)---- $PNR #Infrastructure--Shareholder rights law firm Robbins LLP is investigating Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) to determine whether certain Pentair plc officers and directors violated securities laws and breached fiduciary duties to shareholders. Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Canada.On April 28, 2026, Pentair projected that second-quarter sales would increase approximately 1%.
A pump jack operates at a well site leased by Devon Energy Production Company near Guthrie, Oklahoma September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Nick Oxford - TM3EB9F0WO901 Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
CompaniesJuly 24 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producer Devon Energy (DVN.N), opens new tab is weighing a potential sale of its Eagle Ford and Powder River shale assets that could fetch more than $4 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The potential divestment comes amid continued investor pressure on Devon to streamline its portfolio and focus on its core Permian Basin operations following its recent merger with Coterra Energy, with some shareholders urging faster asset sales.
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The report said Devon is expected to outline a strategic review of the assets when it reports earnings in early August, though it could still opt to retain the properties and no final decision has been made.
The assets are located in South Texas and Wyoming, respectively, and are considered non-core to Devon's Permian-focused strategy, the report said.
US shale producers have been selling assets to pay down debt following a consolidation wave totaling more than $450 billion in deals since the start of 2023, according to the report.
Devon Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Reporting by Varun Sahay in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
SLB N.V. (SLB) Q2 2026 Earnings Call July 24, 2026 9:30 AM EDT
Company Participants
James McDonald - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Industry Affairs
Olivier Le Peuch - CEO & Director
Stephane Biguet - Executive VP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Scott Gruber - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
James West - Melius Research LLC
John Anderson - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Neil Mehta - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Arun Jayaram - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Derek Podhaizer - Piper Sandler & Co., Research Division
Keith MacKey - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division
Saurabh Pant - BofA Securities, Research Division
Marc Bianchi - TD Cowen, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
Good morning. My name is Sarah, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the Second Quarter SLB Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded.
I will now turn the call over to James R. McDonald, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Industry Affairs. Please go ahead.
James McDonald
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Industry Affairs
Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, and welcome to the SLB Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being hosted from London, following our Board meeting held earlier this week. Joining us on the call are Olivier Le Peuch, Chief Executive Officer; and Stephane Biguet, Chief Financial Officer.
Before we begin, I would like to remind all participants that some of the statements we will be making today are forward-looking. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the results to differ materially from those projected in these statements. For more information, please refer to our latest 10-K filing and other SEC filings, which can be found on our website. Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly
, /PRNewswire/ -- Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, today announced the election of Neil Barua, President and Chief Executive Officer of PTC Inc., to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. He will serve on the Board's Technology and Innovation and Compensation Committees.
"Neil brings to Carrier a track record of successfully leading scale enterprises while applying AI to drive digital transformations across industrial companies," said David Gitlin, Chairman & CEO, Carrier. "His experience will strengthen our Board as we continue advancing intelligent climate and energy solutions and delivering greater value for our customers. We are excited to welcome Neil to our Board."
Mr. Barua has been President and Chief Executive Officer of PTC Inc. since 2024. Previously, he led PTC's Service Lifecycle Management business following the company's acquisition of ServiceMax in 2023. Before joining PTC, he was Chief Executive Officer of ServiceMax from 2019 to 2023 and Chief Executive Officer of IPC Systems from 2014 to 2018. He also was an Operating Partner at Silver Lake from 2018 to 2019. Mr. Barua holds a B.S. in Finance & Economics from the NYU Stern School of Business.
About Carrier
Carrier Global Corporation, global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, is committed to creating innovations that bring comfort, safety and sustainability to life. Through cutting-edge advancements in climate solutions such as temperature control, air quality and transportation, we improve lives, empower critical industries and ensure the safe transport of food, life-saving medicines and more. Since inventing modern air conditioning in 1902, we lead with purpose: enhancing the lives we live and the world we share. We continue to lead because of our world-class, inclusive workforce that puts the customer at the center of everything we do. For more information, visit carrier.com or follow Carrier on social media at @Carrier.
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - July 24, 2026) - Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Lucid Group, Inc. ("Lucid" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LCID) on behalf of investors that purchased or otherwise acquired Lucid Group securities between February 25, 2026 and April 13, 2026 (the "Class Period").
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CASE
If you are an investor in Lucid 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 July 28, 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 Friday April 3, 2026, at the close of the market, Lucid issued in a press release stating that the Company "produced 5,500 vehicles" during the first quarter of 2026, while only "deliver[ing] 3,093 vehicles." The press release further stated that "[d]uring the quarter, deliveries of the Lucid Gravity were disrupted for 29 days due to a supplier quality issue with the second-row seats" and, "[a]s result of this, the [C]ompany's ability to meet customer demand was impacted." That same day, Reuters published an article entitled "Lucid misses first-quarter vehicle delivery estimates on supplier disruptions." According to the article Chief Executive Officer Marc Winterhoff, said "[d]eliveries were particularly hit in February" when the Company "paused to reverse the change and inspect vehicles already produced."
In the first two trading sessions following the news, the price of Lucid shares declined by $1.13 per share, or 11.35%, to close at $8.83 per share on April 7, 2026.
Then, on April 14, 2026, Lucid announced preliminary first quarter 2026 financial results, including revenue in the range of $280 million to $284 million, well below the consensus estimate of $433.8 million according to the complaint, and loss from operations in the range of $985 million to $1.005 billion.
Following this news, the price of Lucid stock fell $0.44 per share, or 4.76%, to close at $8.80 per share on April 14, 2026.
The complaint alleges, among other things, that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) a supplier quality issue had significantly disrupted deliveries of the Lucid Gravity; (ii) the foregoing was likely to, and did, have a material negative impact on the Company's business and financial results; (iii) accordingly, the Defendants had overstated the purported enhancements to Lucid's manufacturing and delivery capabilities and overall operations; and (iv) as a result, Defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHY CONTACT KAPLAN FOX?
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.
For decades, Kaplan Fox has represented public pension funds, institutional investors, businesses, and individuals in high-stakes litigation. Through its successful advocacy and precedent-setting victories, the firm has helped shape important areas of securities and corporate law while advancing accountability and protecting investor interests.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
If you have any questions about this Notice, your rights, or your interests, please contact:
Contacting or submitting information to Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor an obligation on the part of Kaplan Fox to retain you as a client.
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Lucid Group, Inc. ("Lucid" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LCID).
IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO SUFFERED A LOSS IN LUCID GROUP, INC. (LCID), CONTACT THE LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD G. SMITH BEFORE JULY 28, 2026 (LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ONGOING SECURITIES FRAUD LAWSUIT.
Contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss your legal rights by email at [email protected], by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
What Is The Lawsuit About?
The complaint filed alleges that, between February 25, 2026 and April 13, 2026, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) a supplier quality issue had significantly disrupted deliveries of the Lucid Gravity; (2) the foregoing was likely to, and did, have a material negative impact on the Company's business and financial results; (3) accordingly, the Defendants had overstated the purported enhancements to Lucid's manufacturing and delivery capabilities and overall operations; and (4) as a result, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Contact Us To Participate or Learn More:
If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact:
Howard G. Smith, Esq.,
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith,
3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112,
Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020,
Call us at: (215) 638-4847
Email us at: [email protected],
Visit our website at: www.howardsmithlaw.com.
To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Contact Us:
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith
Howard G. Smith, Esquire
215-638-4847
[email protected]
www.howardsmithlaw.com
