Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

TL;DR:
IOTA is now connected to Pyth Pro, Pyth's institutional-grade price feed infrastructure, with lower latency, 3,000+ feeds. Part of a network-wide shift by Pyth, not IOTA-specific. Developers on Pyth Core must migrate by August 18 or feeds stop working.

A major upgrade in the price feed infrastructure of Pyth, the decentralized oracle network, is arriving for IOTA users. IOTA L1 is now connected to Pyth Pro, the next generation of Pyth’s price feed infrastructure, bringing lower latency, higher reliability, and a broader range of institutional-grade data to developers building on IOTA.

What's changingPyth has already been powering real-time price feeds on IOTA: smart contracts on IOTA can query live, cryptographically-verified prices, refreshed roughly every second, letting dApps build with trusted market data rather than relying on centralized sources.

That existing Pyth service was built on Pythnet, Pyth's original decentralized network of nodes, which used the Wormhole bridge to relay data across chains. Now, Pyth has announced that Pythnet is retired, with its infrastructure "center of gravity" shifted to a new architecture, Pyth Pro, built for lower latency, broader asset coverage, and institutional-grade distribution.

Pyth Pro as the Institutional TierPyth describes Pyth Pro as "the institutional product that consolidates more than 3,000 price feeds across equities, futures, ETFs, commodities, FX, crypto, and fixed income into a single distribution network, delivered to traditional financial firms through standard APIs with transparent, tiered subscription pricing." 

The upgrade Pyth experience promises

Higher-frequency updates for faster price moves.Additional price feeds beyond the current Core catalog.Lower latency across the data path.Developers who need this level of speed and reliability (for example, exchanges, perpetuals platforms, or any application requiring constant, high-frequency price updates) are the primary beneficiaries of this upgrade.

This positions Pyth Pro (and by extension, IOTA developers who choose to upgrade to it) to serve the next wave of crypto adoption: applications bridging DeFi with traditional finance, real-world assets, and institutional trading desks that expect TradFi-grade data quality. 

What IOTA Developers Need to DoFrom today onward: Developers currently using Pyth's data feeds on IOTA L1 can subscribe to a Pyth data plan and update their implementation to the new standard. Find out how in Pyth’s documentation.From August 18 onward: Developers currently using Pyth's data feeds on IOTA L1 cannot use Pyth Core any longer and must have completed migration to Pyth Pro. Affected teams have been informed by us already in advance to ensure a smooth transitionPyth’s price feed for IOTA is moving from a free, decentralized, but comparatively slower price feed service to a faster, subscription-based service built on Pyth's institutional-grade infrastructure. This is part of a broader shift across the entire Pyth Network, and not something unique to IOTA, as Pyth transitions its whole ecosystem from Pythnet to Pyth Pro and from a free model to a commercial one.

Announcements Updates

USAT went from $22 million to $140.8 million in a single month, the fastest growth of any regulated dollar token this year. In the same window, its offshore parent shed roughly six billion. One of those numbers is a rounding error on the other, and the gap between them is the most interesting structure in stablecoins.

Summary

USAT, Tether’s US-regulated stablecoin, launched in January with a $10 million initial supply, reached $17.6 million by January 31, $22 million in March, and $140.8 million by April 30, a 540% month-over-month expansion confirmed in a Deloitte-signed reserve report. It remains minuscule in context: roughly 0.08% of USDT’s circulation, about 8% of Ripple’s RLUSD, 2.5% of PayPal’s PYUSD, and under 0.2% of Circle’s USDC. The parent moved the other way, with USDT contracting from a May peak near $190 billion to roughly $184 billion in late July, a drawdown of about $6 billion over sixty days. The structure is unusual: Anchorage Digital Bank issues the token, Cantor Fitzgerald custodies reserves as primary dealer, and the US entity is led by the former executive director of the White House Crypto Council. The disclosure runs backwards from expectations, with the small compliant twin publishing Deloitte-signed reserve reports while the $184 billion parent, whose reserves do not currently meet the federal standard, operates on attestations. There is a specific kind of corporate structure that appears when a very large business decides it may eventually need to be a different business, and Tether built one in January.

USAT is a dollar token issued through a federally chartered bank, designed from the ground up to satisfy the American stablecoin statute, run by a separate US entity with its own chief executive, and it is, by any measure of scale, almost nothing. It launched at $10 million. By the end of its first week, it held $17.6 million. Six months later, after the fastest month of growth any regulated dollar token has posted this year, it holds roughly $141 million, which is about eight hundredths of one percent of the $184 billion its parent has in circulation. Read one way, that is a failure to launch. Read another, it is a 540% month, faster growth than Circle, PayPal, or Ripple managed at any point this year, off a base small enough that the percentage means less than it appears. The interesting reading is the third one: USAT is not primarily a product. It is an option, written on a regulatory outcome, held by a company whose main business currently sits outside the perimeter the option would let it enter. This piece takes the numbers seriously, examines the structure that produced them, and asks what the twin is actually for.

The numbers, in order Start with the sequence, because the growth story and the scale story are both true and point in opposite directions.

USAT launched on January 27 with a $10 million initial supply as an ERC-20 token, immediately available on several major exchanges. Anchorage Digital Bank’s first reserve attestation, dated January 31, reported 17,501,391 tokens outstanding against $17,604,716 in reserves, roughly 0.6% overcollateralized. By the end of March, circulation stood near $22 million. Then April: the Deloitte-signed reserve report published in late May showed circulating supply at $140.8 million as of April 30, an increase of about 540% in a single month, which the US entity’s chief executive attributed to institutional treasury operations, settlement flows, and regulated dollar liquidity management.

Now the context that the percentage conceals. Circle’s USDC sits around $75 billion. PayPal’s PYUSD is roughly $5.5 billion. Ripple’s RLUSD, itself a young institutional token, is about $1.7 billion. USAT at $141 million is therefore under a fifth of one percent of USDC, roughly two and a half percent of PYUSD, and about eight percent of RLUSD, which makes it the smallest meaningful entrant among the regulated dollar tokens competing for American institutional use. Against its own parent, the ratio is starker still: USDT’s circulation of roughly $184 billion makes USAT about 0.08% of the group’s outstanding dollar liabilities.

One further number completes the picture and is the reason this is a story instead of a launch update. While the twin grew, the parent shrank. USDT peaked near $190 billion in May and stood at approximately $184.1 billion on July 21, a decline of roughly $5.4 to $6 billion over sixty days, alongside a broader stablecoin market contraction of about $10 billion from its May high. The compliant American token is growing quickly from nothing while the offshore token it exists alongside is contracting by amounts larger than the twin’s entire supply, several times over, every month.

Strategy acquires $200M Bitcoin, Anchorage reports USAT reserves, Kazakhstan allocates $350M for crypto portfolio | Weekly recap

Strategy bought $200M in Bitcoin, Deloitte audited USAT reserves, and Kazakhstan plans a $350M crypto reserve allocation: weekly recap.

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) March 8, 2026 The structure, and who is in it The corporate architecture explains more about the strategy than any growth figure, and each participant is worth naming.

Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. is the issuer. It holds a national trust bank charter granted conditionally by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021, well before the current administration, and describes itself as the first federally regulated crypto bank. Its chief executive has framed USAT as evidence of what stablecoin issuance looks like inside the US banking system, under supervision, with accountability. That is the structural core of the arrangement: Tether does not issue USAT. A chartered American bank does, under federal supervision, which is precisely the arrangement the offshore parent cannot currently replicate.

Cantor Fitzgerald serves as designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer, the same firm that has handled Tether’s Treasury holdings, and its former chief executive is now the sitting Commerce Secretary. The US entity is led by Bo Hines, previously executive director of the White House Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, appointed in September to run the American vehicle. Neither fact implies impropriety, and both were reported at launch. Together they describe something worth stating plainly: the compliance vehicle for the world’s largest offshore stablecoin issuer is staffed and served at the precise intersection of the policy network that wrote the framework it is designed to satisfy. In an industry where our own reporting has documented the crypto sector supplying more than a third of all corporate election money this cycle, that adjacency is part of the strategic picture, not a curiosity.

Distribution has been assembled in parallel: availability across major exchanges from day one, a payments integration with a commerce platform announced in February, and, in the chief executive’s framing, a stated ambition that Tether could become one of the largest buyers of US Treasury bills as demand for its dollar tokens grows.

The disclosure inversion The most revealing detail in the entire structure is one almost nobody has commented on, and it runs opposite to what anyone would predict.

USAT, at $141 million, publishes reserve reports signed by Deloitte. USDT, at $184 billion, has operated for its entire existence on attestations rather than a full audit, a gap this publication has documented repeatedly and which S&P cited when it downgraded the token to the weakest grade on its stablecoin scale in December, alongside the rising share of higher-risk assets in the reserves. The small token has the stronger disclosure regime. The enormous one does not.

That inversion is not an accident; it is the whole design. USAT exists inside the federal framework, which imposes reserve composition, custody, and reporting requirements, and satisfying them is the token’s entire purpose. USDT operates outside that framework by choice and by history, with reserves that, as reported at USAT’s launch, do not currently align with the statute’s standards, while the company describes itself as progressing toward compliance. The group therefore runs two dollar tokens with opposite regulatory postures: one built to the American rulebook and audited to it, one built for global liquidity and disclosed on its own terms.

For anyone assessing Tether, this is the most useful lens available. The twin is proof that the group can meet the standard when it chooses to, on a token small enough that meeting the standard costs almost nothing. Whether the $184 billion business ever moves onto that footing is a different question, involving reserve composition changes at a scale that would reshape the company’s economics, and nothing in USAT’s existence answers it.

What the twin is actually for Three readings compete, and the honest answer is that all three are partly right.

The product reading takes the growth at face value: institutions want a regulated dollar token from an issuer with unmatched global distribution, USAT supplies it, and 540% in a month is what early product-market fit looks like. Its supporters can point to a real gap in the market, since the regulated field is dominated by one incumbent and the alternatives are small, and to Tether’s distribution as an advantage no startup can match.

The option reading treats USAT as insurance. If American regulation eventually forces offshore dollar tokens out of US-facing channels, or if institutional counterparties increasingly require a federally issued instrument, the group already holds a functioning, chartered, audited vehicle it can scale instead of building under pressure. The cost of maintaining that option is trivial against $1.04 billion in quarterly profit, and the value if the perimeter tightens is enormous. On this reading the size is the point: an option does not need to be large until it is exercised.

The hedge reading is the least flattering and the hardest to dismiss. A company earning float income on $184 billion of offshore liabilities faces exactly one existential risk, which is that the regulatory environment turns against the structure generating those liabilities. A compliant American subsidiary, staffed by the people who wrote the rules and served by a firm with the deepest ties to the administration, is a hedge against that risk purchased in the most direct way available. Nothing about it is improper. It is simply what a rational company with Tether’s exposure would build.

The three readings imply different things to watch, and they are separable in the data. A product would keep compounding across a broad institutional user base. An option would plateau at a level sufficient to keep the machinery live. A hedge would scale only when the perimeter moved. The next two quarterly reserve reports will begin to distinguish them, which makes USAT’s supply curve one of the more informative small numbers in stablecoins.

The field the twin entered USAT’s numbers only mean something against the market it is competing in, and that market changed shape considerably in the eighteen months before it launched.

The regulated American dollar-token field is dominated by one incumbent and populated by a widening set of challengers with different theories. Circle’s USDC, at roughly $75 billion, holds around a quarter of all stablecoin supply and has spent years building exactly the compliance-first, publicly listed profile that the federal framework rewards, which is why its leadership has argued the legislation makes it a primary beneficiary. PayPal’s PYUSD, near $5.5 billion, represents the consumer-platform theory: distribution through an existing payments network with hundreds of millions of accounts. Ripple’s RLUSD, around $1.7 billion, is the institutional-settlement theory, aimed at treasury and cross-border flows and, as this publication has documented, increasingly embedded in that company’s own product stack. Bank consortium tokens and fintech issuers occupy the remainder.

USAT entered against all of them with a distinct pitch: the compliance profile of a chartered bank issuer combined with the distribution of the world’s most widely held stablecoin. That combination is genuinely unmatched on paper, since no competitor has both a national bank issuing its token and a sibling instrument used by hundreds of millions of people in emerging markets. It is also, so far, mostly potential. Distribution is not transferable by announcement; the users who hold USDT hold it for reasons, principally dollar access in markets where dollars are hard to obtain, that have nothing to do with American regulatory compliance and are not served by a token designed for US institutional treasury operations. The two customer bases barely overlap, which is why the parent’s global scale does not automatically become the twin’s American scale, and why the growth that matters is the institutional adoption the US entity’s chief executive describes rather than any migration from the existing user base.

That reframes the competitive question usefully. USAT is not competing for USDT’s users. It is competing with USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD for American institutional balances, in a market where the incumbent has a five-hundred-fold size advantage, a public listing, years of relationships, and a compliance record predating the statute. Against that, $141 million after six months is neither the failure the absolute number suggests nor the triumph the percentage implies. It is an entrant with an unusual parent, roughly where a well-funded entrant would be, in a market that has not yet decided how many regulated dollar tokens it actually needs.

What to watch The May and June reserve reports. One 540% month off a $22 million base proves little. Whether growth compounded through the second quarter, or April was a single institutional allocation, is the difference between the product reading and the option reading, and the Deloitte-signed reports will show it plainly.

USDT’s own compliance path. Any concrete move to bring the $184 billion token’s reserves into alignment with the federal standard would change everything about this structure, because it would make the twin redundant. Silence is equally informative.

The parent’s contraction. USDT shedding roughly $6 billion in sixty days is a far larger phenomenon than USAT’s entire existence, and whether that reflects market-wide stablecoin contraction, competitive loss, or regulatory friction determines how urgent the American vehicle becomes.

The Treasury claim. The stated ambition of becoming a top-ten buyer of US government debt is checkable against public data as it develops, and it is the clearest available test of whether the group’s American strategy is operational or aspirational.

A closing note on what the twin reveals about the parent, because that is ultimately the more consequential subject. Tether’s global business is built on a structure that American law is steadily making harder to operate from outside: an offshore issuer, reserves disclosed on the company’s own terms, a token used by hundreds of millions of people for reasons no regulator designed. Every element of that structure has been a competitive advantage for a decade, and every element is now a liability inside a jurisdiction writing rules for regulated dollars. The company’s response has been neither to restructure the parent nor to abandon the market, but to build a small, clean, fully compliant version of itself and let it grow on its own timetable while the large version continues as it is.

That is a genuinely sophisticated answer to a hard problem, and it has one obvious failure mode. Options expire. If the American perimeter tightens faster than USAT scales, the group holds a compliant vehicle a thousand times too small to absorb the business that would need to migrate into it, and building capacity under regulatory pressure is the most expensive way to build anything. If the perimeter never tightens, the twin remains a modest business inside a company earning billions elsewhere, which costs almost nothing. Between those poles sits the actual question worth watching over the next year, and the reserve reports will answer it faster than any announcement.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Supply figures, reserve reports, and market data reflect information available at the time of writing and change continuously. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 27, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions What is USAT? Tether’s US-regulated dollar stablecoin, launched January 27, 2026 and designed to operate within the federal stablecoin framework. It is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, a nationally chartered bank, with Cantor Fitzgerald as designated reserve custodian and preferred primary dealer, and is run by a separate US entity led by Bo Hines, formerly executive director of the White House Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.

How large is USAT now? Roughly $141 million. Circulating supply was $17.6 million at the end of January, about $22 million in March, and $140.8 million as of April 30 per a Deloitte-signed reserve report, representing 540% growth in a single month. In context, that is approximately 0.08% of USDT’s circulation, about 8% of Ripple’s RLUSD, 2.5% of PayPal’s PYUSD, and under 0.2% of Circle’s USDC.

Why does Tether need a second dollar token? Because USDT’s reserves do not currently align with the federal stablecoin statute’s requirements, while the company describes itself as progressing toward compliance. USAT is purpose-built to satisfy that framework through a chartered bank issuer, giving the group a compliant American instrument without restructuring the reserves behind its $184 billion global token.

Why does the smaller token have better disclosure? Because the federal framework requires it. USAT publishes Deloitte-signed reserve reports as a condition of operating inside the American regime, while USDT has historically operated on attestations rather than full audits, a gap S&P cited when downgrading the token to the weakest grade on its stablecoin stability scale in December. The inversion is a design consequence, not an oversight.

Is USAT growing or stalling? Both, depending on the frame. Its growth rate is the fastest among regulated dollar tokens this year, but from a base so small that the percentage flatters it, and it remains the smallest meaningful entrant in the US institutional market. Whether April’s jump was the start of compounding adoption or a single large allocation should become clear in subsequent reserve reports.

What is happening to USDT itself? It is contracting. Circulation peaked near $190 billion in May and stood at approximately $184.1 billion on July 21, a decline of roughly $6 billion in sixty days, against a broader stablecoin market that shed about $10 billion from its May high. Tether reported $1.04 billion in first-quarter profit and a reserve buffer above token obligations of roughly $8.2 billion.

Who runs USAT, and why does that matter? Bo Hines, previously the executive director of the White House crypto council, leads the US entity, and Cantor Fitzgerald, whose former chief executive is the sitting Commerce Secretary, custodies the reserves. Nothing about the arrangement is improper and both facts were public at launch, but the compliance vehicle for the largest offshore issuer being staffed and served at the center of the policy network that wrote the framework is a material part of the strategic picture.

What should observers actually watch? The next two reserve reports, since compounding growth, a plateau, or a reversal distinguishes a product from an option from a hedge; any concrete step toward bringing USDT’s own reserves into federal alignment, which would make the twin redundant; and the trajectory of the parent’s contraction, which determines how urgently the American vehicle is needed. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.

Tokenized stocks on BNB Chain have crossed $7 billion in cumulative trading volume, driven almost entirely by bStocks, Binance’s 1:1-backed tokenized U.S. equities product. That number lands less than two months after bStocks launched in June 2026.

The product went live on June 10-11, 2026, issuing tokenized equities as BEP-20 tokens on BNB Chain. Total on-chain DEX volume for tokenized stocks across platforms reached approximately $7.05 billion as of late June 2026, with bStocks accounting for a significant share of that figure.

What bStocks actually is, and why traders care Each token is backed 1:1 by an underlying U.S. equity, meaning one bSTSLA token corresponds to one actual Tesla share held in custody somewhere in the traditional financial system. Users can withdraw their bStocks tokens to compatible wallets, use them as collateral, or route liquidity through platforms like PancakeSwap.

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The zero-fee conversion model is the other big draw. Getting in and out of bStocks positions costs nothing at the token layer, which removes one of the main friction points that plagued earlier tokenized asset experiments.

Assets under management crossed $300 million and briefly hit $1 billion.

The milestone timeline tells a story bStocks crossed the $2 billion mark early in its trading life, then surged past $6.7 billion before the cumulative figure settled around $7.05 billion. By July 22, 2026, cumulative volume had surpassed $3 billion on certain tracking metrics, though the broader DEX figure had already moved higher.

The CEX gap is real, and it matters for context On-chain bStocks volume runs approximately 30 times lower than bStocks activity on Binance’s centralized exchange. The vast majority of tokenized stock trading still happens through the traditional order book, not through self-custody DeFi wallets.

The regulatory angle is the wildcard. Tokenized U.S. equities carry compliance obligations that vary by jurisdiction, and the product’s long-term trajectory depends partly on how regulators in key markets choose to classify and treat these instruments tied to U.S. securities law.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Native USDC deposits and withdrawals on Injective are now live on Kraken, one of the world’s largest crypto platforms.

Kraken clients  can now move USDC directly between the platform and Injective without having to withdraw to another blockchain or completing a separate crosschain transfer. The integration creates a direct onramping path into Injective’s onchain markets, tokenization infrastructure, payment rails and applications.

Direct Exchange Access to Native USDCUSDC on Injective is issued natively by Circle. It gives users and institutions a 1:1 dollar-denominated asset for trading, settlement, payments and onchain capital allocation.

When an exchange does not support Injective directly, moving USDC onto the network requires users to withdraw on another chain and complete a separate crosschain transfer.

Injective USDC support on Kraken removes that extra network hop. Kraken clients can withdraw USDC directly to an Injective address, put the asset to work onchain and deposit it back to Kraken through the same network.

That matters for any financial system built around active capital. Every added transfer, interface and network selection creates friction. Direct deposits and withdrawals reduce those steps with a clear route into Injective.

Once on Injective, native USDC can move across an onchain financial system built for fast execution and near-zero fees. Users can access spot and derivatives markets, interact with tokenized assets, settle payments and use applications built around programmable dollars.

From INJ Trading to Network SecurityKraken listed INJ for trading in August 2021. The listing gave Kraken clients access to the native asset used for transaction fees, staking, governance and network security across Injective.

 Kraken also operates an institutional validator on Injective, giving institutions another way to participate in non-custodial staking and help secure the network.

In 2025, Pineapple used Kraken’s validator as one of the major nodes supporting its $100 million INJ Digital Asset Treasury. Kraken helped connect that institutional capital to Injective’s proof of stake network.

Native USDC support adds another layer. The relationship now spans INJ trading, staking, validator infrastructure, institutional treasury support and direct stablecoin movement.

Kraken Brings Scale to Injective’s Dollar RailsKraken has operated since 2011 and is one of the world’s largest digital asset platforms. It is trusted by millions worldwide and reported $2.0 trillion in total platform transaction volume for 2025.

Today’s news means clients can now use Kraken to access USDC natively on the first blockchain purpose-built for finance. Injective USDC support on Kraken both expands access to the native dollar liquidity used across the ecosystem and provides clients with a direct route to using USDC on Injective for onchain trading,tokenization, payments and programmable financial applications.

Get StartedOn Kraken, select USDC and choose either Deposit or Withdraw. Select Injective as the network and verify the destination address before confirming the transfer.

Only send USDC through a network supported by Kraken.

Get started with Kraken⁠

About InjectiveInjective is the first blockchain purpose-built for finance, enabling users, institutions, and AI agents to trade, tokenize, and transact at scale. Proudly made in America, Injective provides foundational blockchain infrastructure for global markets, with embedded financial primitives spanning stablecoins, real-world assets, payments, and programmable perpetuals through a unified onchain engine. Injective is used by Fortune 500 companies, banks, fintechs, and governments to power an open economy where any asset can be accessed anytime, from anywhere. Builders can deploy across multiple virtual machines like WASM and EVM, connect to native financial modules, and launch markets with deep liquidity from day one. INJ is the native token powering the rapidly growing Injective ecosystem and the new internet economy.

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Redwood Trust (RWT - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.25 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.26 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.18 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -3.85%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this specialty finance company would post earnings of $0.28 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.28, delivering no surprise.

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

Redwood Trust, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust industry, posted revenues of $32.1 million for the quarter ended June 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 26.2%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $13.8 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Redwood Trust shares have lost about 10.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Redwood Trust?While Redwood Trust has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Redwood Trust was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.27 on $44.6 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.07 on $168.95 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, REIT and Equity Trust is currently in the bottom 41% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, TPG Mortgage Investment Trust (MITT - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026.

This real estate investment trust is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +44.4%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

TPG Mortgage Investment Trust's revenues are expected to be $22 million, up 23.9% from the year-ago quarter.

In brief Fortitude brought a 12-megawatt mining facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, online, increasing its owned power portfolio to more than 60 MW. The company expects the site to reduce its direct cash cost of mining Zcash through lower electricity costs and newer mining equipment. The announcement follows Fortitude's planned merger with HeartSciences, which would take the company public. Zcash mining company Fortitude has brought a 12-megawatt facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, online, completing its first greenfield data center and expanding its owned power portfolio to more than 60 megawatts across seven sites.

Announced Tuesday, the Digital Currency Group-owned company said its first greenfield facility has completed construction and electrical testing and is ready for commercial operations. The milestone comes ahead of Fortitude's planned public listing through its previously announced business combination with HeartSciences (Nasdaq: HSCS), a publicly traded medical technology company.

"Our power strategy is owned-and-operated, and that discipline is what underpins our vertically integrated Zcash strategy and our venture mining platform," CEO Andrea Childs told Decrypt. "Owning the asset rather than leasing capacity from someone whose incentives run opposite to ours is intended to give us a degree of flexibility that we believe few operators have."

Fortitude said the facility is expected to reduce its direct cash cost of mining Zcash from about $70 per coin to roughly $40 per coin, assuming successful deployment of mining equipment and stable power, network and market conditions. For reference, Zcash currently trades for $489 per coin at an $8 billion market capitalization.

The company said the projected savings stem from lower-cost owned power and more efficient next-generation mining hardware.

Zcash mining company Fortitude's Nebraska facility. Image: FortitudeThe facility is expected to purchase electricity for about $0.045 per kilowatt-hour. It is located between two solar generation facilities and next to a substation with excess capacity, allowing it to operate as an interruptible load that can reduce electricity consumption during periods of peak demand.

Launched in January 2025, Fortitude emerged from Digital Currency Group's mining division at Foundry to mine Bitcoin and other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies through what it calls a venture mining strategy. The company said it would reinvest mining profits into new equipment and site acquisitions as it expanded its infrastructure footprint.

"In our view, Zcash today is at a completely different stage than Bitcoin. Our perspective is that Bitcoin's mining economics are mature and crowded when compared to Zcash," Childs added. "We believe Zcash’s time is now, and our vertically integrated structure, coupled with our long-term conviction and history mining the asset, has positioned us to benefit from Zcash’s continued growth and importance in the future of the financial system."

The project comes as cryptocurrency miners race to secure low-cost power, with growing demand from AI data centers increasing competition for electricity and suitable sites.

With data centers facing increasing scrutiny over their electricity and water demands, Grand Island officials said Fortitude's mining facility was designed to operate as a flexible grid resource while limiting its impact on the surrounding community.

"Competition for power has intensified, but in our view, it hasn't slowed us down," Childs said. "By developing and owning our own sites, we seek to control our power costs directly rather than relying on third-party vendors to set them for us."

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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) enters its July 30 earnings report with eight consecutive EPS beats and its strongest revenue growth in years. The business recently became the most valuable company on Earth, overtaking Nvidia. A new $100 billion buyback, record Services revenue, and management’s outlook for 14% to 17% June-quarter growth give investors 3 clear reasons to watch the stock.

Reason #1: Apple Just Authorized Another $100 Billion Buyback Apple’s board just authorized a fresh $100 billion share repurchase program and lifted the dividend 4% to $0.27 per share. In the March Q2 quarter alone, the company returned $15 billion to shareholders, including $11 billion in buybacks that retired 42 million shares. Since the program’s inception, Apple has returned over $1 trillion to shareholders.

Reason #2: Revenue Growth Is Accelerating Second, growth is accelerating. Q2 FY26 revenue climbed 16.6% year over year to $111.18 billion, with iPhone revenue up 22% on the iPhone 17 launch. Services set another all-time record at $30.98 billion, carrying a 76.7% gross margin against a 2.5 billion-device installed base. This gives Apple a recurring, high-margin income stream investors pay a premium for.

Reason #3: July 30 Q3 Earnings Could Extend the Momentum Third, management guided for this quarter to see 14-17% revenue growth and gross margin of 47.5-48.5%. Prediction markets assign an 81% probability to iPhone revenue clearing $52 billion in this quarter.

The Big Advantage Apple Has Over Alphabet Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Q2 2026 free cash flow was negative $5.86 billion after capital expenditures hit $44.92 billion, and the company’s stock buyback program was suspended in Q2 2026. Alphabet raised roughly $70 billion in combined debt and equity to fund its AI compute.

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On the other hand, Apple has been able to sit out the massive AI infrastructure spending that many other Mag-7 stocks are participating in. While Alphabet and others issue debt and equity, Apple continues to buy back stock.

China Has Become a Growth Engine Again China remains an important risk, but Apple’s recent results point toward renewed strength rather than deterioration. Greater China revenue reached a record $20.50 billion in the March quarter, rising 28%, while first-half regional growth reached 33%.

Apple now combines accelerating revenue, record high-margin Services sales, and a fresh $100 billion buyback. The July 30 report will show whether that momentum can continue through the June quarter and support another year of substantial shareholder returns.

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Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Reddit (RDDT -2.21%) isn't sure that its current agreement with Alphabet (GOOG -0.02%)(GOOGL +0.08%) makes sense anymore. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the social media giant is contemplating a significant move: not making its content available for chatbots.

While Alphabet's Google Search does drive a lot of traffic to Reddit, it has also been declining, with users turning more to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Alphabet's Gemini for answers. And those chatbots have been trained with online content, including Reddit's popular online message boards.

A possible change in strategy for Reddit would be a bold move, but I believe it's the right one.

Image source: Getty Images.

Reddit's revenue growth remains strong, but AI could pose a serious threat Reddit has a strong brand, with its communities being known for often offering balanced, two-sided arguments on common questions. Unlike a typical search query, which may just provide a direct answer, Reddit can offer more value to people seeking deeper analysis and thought. Due to its popularity, the social media giant has been experiencing significant growth in recent years, with ad revenue accounting for the lion's share of its top line.

RDDT Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts

The problem with AI chatbots, however, is that they can significantly impact traffic to Reddit if users get more complex answers without visiting the site's forums.

In 2024, Reddit and Google reached a $60 million-per-year deal that would allow Google to train its AI on Reddit's content. However, that may not be worth the long-term risk that it runs to Reddit's business, and it's a small fraction of the $2.5 billion in revenue the company has generated over the past four quarters. Reddit is reportedly considering not renewing its licensing deal.

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Is Reddit's stock worth buying right now? Reddit is right to question whether its AI deal makes sense. It should consider a far more lucrative agreement with Google to compensate it for the current and future traffic losses it may experience. It may simply be that a deal can't be reached, but it needs to protect its business and brand; if users can find the same types of answers from a chatbot, there may no longer be a need to visit Reddit's online communities.

Overall, Reddit's brand still appears strong, and the company does have leverage given the value and wealth of information it offers AI chatbots; I think it would be premature to worry about its business right now. With the stock down more than 20% this year, now may be a good time to buy it on the dip.

Alphabet had long been Wall Street's favorite hyperscaler due to its expertise in converting high capital expenditures into revenue.

But investors expressed displeasure with company's plans, announced on Wednesday along with second-quarter earnings, to boost its 2026 capex forecast, as the internet giant rushes to open new data centers for artificial intelligence.

Shares of Google's parent slid 7% on Thursday, and Amazon, Meta and Microsoft all fell as well, underscoring increased scrutiny of infrastructure investments that are resulting in dwindling cash piles with uncertain returns. The three megacaps are set to report quarterly results this week.

In recent quarters, investors cheered capital spending hikes, interpreting them as proof of healthy demand and a maturing revenue backlog. Alphabet received the best reception on Wall Street — the stock is up about 70% over the past year — because its cloud infrastructure business has been growing faster than rivals and its Gemini models and services have gained traction in a market dominated by OpenAI and Anthropic.

But if last week's report is a guide, Google is no longer getting the benefit of the doubt. And Mark Mahaney, head of internet research at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note Wednesday that Alphabet's capex boost "increases the odds of similar behavior" from Amazon and Microsoft.

Microsoft and Meta will be next in testing investor appetite, when they report after the close on Wednesday. Amazon follows on Thursday.

In April, Microsoft projected $190 billion worth of capex and finance leases for the year, including $25 billion from higher component prices, as AI chip demand eats up memory supply.

"If they raise capex again, based on what we saw in the reaction of Google [last week], it's probably going to lead to selling pressure in the stock," Cowen analyst Derrick Wood told CNBC in an interview. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expect $190.1 billion from Microsoft.

Following Alphabet's report, the consensus for Amazon crept up almost $2 billion to $207.4 billion, according to Visible Alpha.

'Growing AI fatigue'Amazon in February guided to $200 billion in capex for 2026, the highest among the group until Alphabet lifted the top end of its forecast to $205 billion. The company maintained that forecast in April, with CEO Andy Jassy telling investors at the time that its "plan is largely the same."

Several analysts wrote in research notes earlier this month that they expect Amazon to lift its capex guide for the year, as the company boosts investments in AI, custom chips and other costly bets like its nascent satellite internet service, and given higher memory prices.

Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management, whose top holding is Amazon, wrote in an email that the online retailer could struggle to impress investors "in this environment of growing AI fatigue, the sudden questioning of meteoric capex budget increases and Silicon Valley and the Mag 7 taking on noticeable levels of debt in order to fund the massive data center buildout."

Amazon's long-term debt shot up 81% to $119 billion from Dec. 31 to March 31. Alphabet's rose 111% to $98 billion during the first six months of 2026, while the company, long viewed as a money-printing machine, turned cash flow negative in the second quarter for the first time.

Amazon, Meta, Microsoft stock chart

Wedbush analysts wrote in a Thursday note that Alphabet's report suggested capacity remains constrained in the face of strong demand, and that there's a "willingness to spend." But they don't view a potential capex boost from Amazon as a complete negative.

"We view the trade-off as worthwhile given AWS's re-acceleration and Amazon's expanding platform advantages across Bedrock, Alexa and its logistics network," wrote the analysts, who recommend buying Amazon stock.

While Google's cloud has been growing faster, Amazon Web Services still leads the cloud infrastructure market, with Microsoft second. Google's cloud was 30% the size of AWS in 2020 and nearly 50% in the first quarter of 2026. Its cloud business recorded 82% expansion in the second quarter, the fastest growth since at least 2020, after increasing 63% in the prior period.

AWS revenue rose 28% in the first quarter, and analysts surveyed by FactSet expect nearly 32% for the second quarter. Revenue from Microsoft's Azure and other cloud services grew 40% in the first quarter, with FactSet's second-quarter consensus at 39%.

Read more CNBC tech newsSam Altman to meet with Trump administration, Senators this week. Here's what he plans to sayNvidia, SpaceX, Microsoft launch AI safety initiative as OpenAI cyberattack fallout continuesFrom Silicon Valley to DC, the tech world is suddenly obsessed with one concept in AI: DistillationSpaceX launches massive Starship rocket in first test flight since IPOMahaney wrote that cloud "demand appears relentless," but he noted that it's "hard to see anyone matching" Google's cloud growth rate during the quarter.

Meta, the lone hyperscaler that doesn't have an established cloud business, is expected to record capex this year of $138.9 billion and told investors in April that the number could reach $145 billion. The company is now looking to sell computing power to third parties.

For now, Meta is still throwing off cash. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect Microsoft's free cash flow to go negative in the fourth quarter for the first time since at least 2001.

Amazon's free cash flow flipped into the red in the first quarter, and analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast it will stay there for the full year. The company last had negative free cash flow in 2021 and 2022 as it doubled its warehouse footprint in response to a pandemic-driven surge in e-commerce demand.

"I think that patience is required for these names because I do think that these will be AI winners over sort of the medium and longer term," said Tiffany Wade, a fund manager at Columbia Threadneedle, which held positions in Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft at the end of June.

On Alphabet's earnings call, CEO Sundar Pichai contended that his company's strategy of calling in outside vendors for extra computing power to meet cloud demand will yield attractive margins within years, despite the cost.

"I think that's probably the right thing to do," Wade said. "You don't want to be turning away customers because you don't have capacity."

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Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) will release its second quarter earnings report after the closing bell on Tuesday, July 28.

Analysts expect the Dearborn, Michigan-based company to report quarterly earnings of 34 cents per share, down from 37 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Ford’s quarterly revenue is $45.26 billion. It reported $46.94 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro.

The company has beaten analyst estimates for earnings per share of seven of the last 10 quarters, including the most recently reported first quarter.

Ford shares gained 2.2% to close at $14.68 on Monday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have rated the company in the recent period.

Considering buying F stock? Here’s what analysts think:

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Paypal (PYPL - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.38 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.28 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.4 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.81%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this technology platform and digital payments company would post earnings of $1.27 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.34, delivering a surprise of +5.51%.

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

Paypal, which belongs to the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry, posted revenues of $8.68 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.02%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $8.29 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Paypal shares have lost about 4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Paypal?While Paypal has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Paypal was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.34 on $8.61 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $5.32 on $34.3 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Financial Transaction Services is currently in the bottom 42% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, Corpay (CPAY - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 5.

This provider of fuel card and payment products for businesses is expected to post quarterly earnings of $6.58 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +28.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0% lower over the last 30 days to the current level.

Corpay's revenues are expected to be $1.3 billion, up 18.1% from the year-ago quarter.

The company logo for Hormel Foods is displayed on a screen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

CompaniesJuly 28 (Reuters) - Hormel Foods (HRL.N), opens new tab on Tuesday named insider and industry veteran John Ghingo as CEO, as the ​Skippy peanut-butter maker looks to drive growth ‌and modernize operations amid a challenging consumer spending environment.

Ghingo, 53, has more than 25 years of leadership experience across the consumer ​packaged goods industry, and would succeed interim executive Jeffrey ​Ettinger, who returned last year after former CEO ⁠and president James Snee retired.

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Here are some details:

Ghingo, ​who will take over the role from October 26, ​has served as Hormel's president and board member since July 2025 and previously led the company's retail business, its ​largest segment by sales.

As president, Ghingo also oversees ​the company's food service and international business segments, along with ‌supply ⁠chain and global operations among others.

Ghingo has held leadership roles at various consumer packaged goods companies including at Applegate Farms, a subsidiary of Hormel Foods, ​Mondelez International ​and WhiteWave ⁠Foods.

Ettinger, who served as CEO of Hormel Foods from 2005 to 2016, will ​continue to serve on the company's ​board.

Hormel ⁠Foods beat second-quarter results estimates in May and said demand for food has remained resilient, mainly with ⁠growth ​in protein, where its portfolio ​is "well positioned" despite weak consumer sentiment.

Reporting by Shania S Thomas and ​Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Key Takeaways Enbridge is set to report second-quarter 2026 results on July 31 before the opening bell.Enbridge's second-quarter revenues are projected to increase 0.9% year over year to $10.85 billion.ENB's stable contracted business may be offset by higher financing costs in the quarter. Enbridge Inc. (ENB - Free Report) is set to report second-quarter 2026 results on July 31, before the opening bell.

Highlights of Q1 Earnings & Surprise HistoryIn the last reported quarter, Enbridge’s adjusted earnings of 71 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents, primarily driven by higher adjusted EBITDA contributions from its Gas Transmission, and Gas Distribution and Storage business segments. Lower adjusted EBITDA contributions from the Liquids Pipelines segment slightly offset the positives.

Earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, while missing the same once, delivering an average surprise of 1.79%. This is depicted in the graph below.

Estimate TrendThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings per share of 43 cents has witnessed two downward and no upward revisions in the past seven days. The estimated figure suggests a decline of 8.5% from the prior-year reported figure.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues of $10.85 billion indicates a 0.9% increase from the year-ago recorded figure.

Factors to Consider for ENBAs a leading midstream energy firm, Enbridge serves more than 75% of North American refineries, supplies roughly 20% of the continent's natural gas and reaches more than 7 million utility customers. Backed by long-term contracts and low exposure to commodity price volatility, the company's low-risk business model is expected to deliver stable earnings for the to be-reported quarter.

Despite the stable nature of its business model, ENB’s performance in the to-be-reported quarter is anticipated to have been affected by increased financing costs, which is likely to have weighed on its overall profitability and dampened Enbridge’s quarterly performance.

Earnings WhispersOur proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for ENB this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. That is not the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Enbridge has an Earnings ESP of -0.59%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

ENB’s Zacks Rank: ENB currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

Key Picks From the Energy SectorSome better-ranked stocks from the energy sector are NOV Inc. (NOV - Free Report) , Cactus, Inc. (WHD - Free Report) and Western Midstream Partners, LP (WES - Free Report) . NOV, Cactus and Western Midstream currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

NOV has an Earnings ESP of +19.69%. The company is scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 28, 2026.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOV’s earnings is pegged at 16 cents per share, indicating a 44.8% decline from the prior-year reported figure.

Cactus has an Earnings ESP of +7.04%. The company is scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 29, 2026.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WHD’s earnings is pegged at 71 cents per share, suggesting a 7.6% improvement from the prior-year reported figure.

Western Midstream  has an Earnings ESP of +1.19%.The partnership is scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 earnings on Aug. 5, 2026.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WES’ earnings is pegged at 90 cents per share, suggesting a 3.4% improvement from the prior-year reported figure.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG | ISRG Price Prediction) trades at $356.83, while the average Wall Street price target sits at $484.40. That leaves roughly a 36% gap between current price and Street consensus.

Intuitive builds the da Vinci robotic surgery platform and the Ion lung biopsy system, dominating soft tissue surgical robotics. Wall Street has debated whether that moat holds amid tariffs, softer U.S. procedure growth, and da Vinci 5 margin questions.

Bernstein, the most bullish analyst on the name, targets $685, implying almost 92% upside from here.

The Selloff That Broke a Compounder ISRG has fallen 37% year to date, from $566.36 at the end of 2025 to today’s level. That drawdown well exceeds 30% while the underlying business kept growing.

Q2 2026 was a clean beat. Revenue came in at $2.89 billion, up 18.54% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS of $2.80 topped the $2.5037 consensus. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of beating estimates. Shares still dropped 11.25% the day after earnings.

The guide spooked investors. Management guided full-year da Vinci procedure growth to 13.5% to 15.5%, down from 18% in 2025. U.S. da Vinci growth decelerated from 14% in Q1 to 12% in Q2, with CEO Dave Rosa citing ACA premium dynamics, high-single-digit declines in bariatric cases from GLP-1 usage, and China tender softness. Tariff exposure across Mexico, Germany, and China manufacturing compressed the multiple hard.

Why Bernstein Still Sees a Double Bernstein maintains an Outperform rating and cut its target from $750 to $685 to account for near-term procedure volatility and multiple compression. Even after the trim, it remains the most optimistic shop on the Street. The thesis rests on three pillars: a da Vinci 5 upgrade cycle multiplier, recurring revenue durability, and an international monopolistic moat.

Q2 data supports each leg. Da Vinci 5 placements hit 246 of 468 total placements, with U.S. placements up 24% as customers upgrade from Xi. Recurring revenue was $2.47 billion, roughly 85% of the total. International procedures grew 21%, with Europe and Asia both at 20%. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 70.0%, aided by a $36 million tariff refund but still up meaningfully year over year.

Consensus remains constructive. Ratings break out to 22 Buy, 9 Hold, and 2 Sell, and CEO commentary has been consistently positive through recent quarters. The bull case ties recovery to procedure growth reacceleration in 2027 as deferred cases return, ongoing da Vinci 5 mix shift lifting system ASPs (already $1.6 million versus $1.5 million prior year), and the Extended Use Program on ENDORIST instruments broadening adoption in cost-constrained markets.

Peers Held Up While ISRG Slid This selloff is largely idiosyncratic. Nearest large-cap med device peers have declined far less.

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Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is down 10.83% year to date at $84.22, with its Hugo robotic surgery platform now FDA cleared and Cardiac Ablation growing 78%. Analyst posture skews Buy with modest single-digit implied upside to consensus.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) sits at $336.74, off just 3.67% year to date after a Q1 cyber incident. The Mako orthopedic robotics platform and Inari vascular deal have kept analysts constructive, with Buy ratings dominant and mid-teens implied upside.

The largest analyst-implied upside in this peer group sits with ISRG by a wide margin. This is a single-name reset.

What the Numbers Actually Say At $356.83 against a consensus target of $484.40, implied upside runs roughly 36%. Bernstein’s $685 stretches that to nearly 92%.

ISRG is down 37% year to date and 28.04% over the past year, while the S&P 500 is up 8.38% year to date and 16.01% over 12 months. Shares trade at a P/E of roughly 39, compressed from 2025 premium multiples.

Cash on the balance sheet is $8.6 billion, and the company repurchased $379 million of stock in Q2 at an average price of $439. Management is buying above current levels.

The Verdict on a $130 Billion Reset The bull case for Intuitive Surgical holds if the procedure growth deceleration is a 2026 pothole rather than a new normal. Recovery runs through da Vinci 5 mix continuing to lift ASPs and service revenue, ACA-related patient deferrals unwinding as coverage stabilizes, and tariff impacts staying within the 100 basis points already baked into guidance. Recurring revenue at 85% of the total is a hard base to break.

The bear case takes over if U.S. procedure growth stalls in the low double digits, if China competition and pricing pressure escalate beyond current tender softness, or if further tariffs blow through management’s guardrails. A 39x P/E on a business growing procedures 13% to 15% leaves little room for another guide down.

On balance, lean constructive. The peer set remains committed to surgical robotics, the balance sheet is fortress, and management is repurchasing above current price. Bernstein’s $685 is aspirational, but consensus at $484 looks achievable if the 2027 comp resets even modestly favorably.

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Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Revenue of $4.30 billion, increased +6.1% as organic growth accelerated to +4.5%Operating income of $1.15 billion grew +7.4% marking the most profitable quarter in company historyOperating margin of 26.7% expanded 40 bps, as enterprise initiatives contributed 120 bpsGAAP EPS of $2.84 increased +10.1%Operating cash flow of $723 million and free cash flow of $631 million; an increase of +41%Full Year 2026 guidance raised; organic revenue raised +1.5%-pts to new midpoint of 3.5% and GAAP EPS raised +$0.15 to new midpoint of $11.45 GLENVIEW, Ill., July 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) today reported its second quarter 2026 results and raised full year 2026 guidance.

“The ITW team delivered a strong operational and financial performance in the second quarter highlighted by organic growth of 4.5 percent, operating margin of 26.7 percent, and a 10 percent increase in GAAP earnings per share to $2.84,” said Christopher A. O’Herlihy, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Our results reflect a meaningful acceleration in our capex-related segments, led by double-digit organic growth in Welding and Test & Measurement and Electronics, alongside strong performance in Polymers & Fluids. As we advance our enterprise strategy priorities, we remain well-positioned to drive consistent, above-market organic growth powered by increased contribution to revenue growth from Customer-Back Innovation while further expanding profitability and margins. As a result of our strong operational momentum, we are raising both top- and bottom-line guidance for the full year,” O’Herlihy concluded.

Second Quarter 2026 Results

Second quarter revenue of $4.30 billion increased by 6.1 percent. Organic revenue growth was 4.5 percent, led by 6.4 percent growth in North America. Foreign currency translation increased revenue by 1.4 percent and an acquisition added 0.2 percent.

GAAP EPS grew 10.1 percent to $2.84, while operating income increased 7.4 percent to $1.15 billion, marking the most profitable quarter in the history of the company. Operating margin expanded by 40 basis points to 26.7 percent as enterprise initiatives contributed 120 basis points. In the quarter, price increases more than offset higher raw material costs in dollar terms, though timing lags between inflation and price adjustments modestly diluted margins. Operating cash flow was $723 million, and free cash flow was $631 million, a 41 percent increase representing a 77 percent conversion of net income. During the quarter, the company returned over $1.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases of $750 million. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 24.4 percent.

2026 Guidance

ITW is raising its full year 2026 GAAP EPS guidance by $0.15 to a narrowed range of $11.35 to $11.55 per share, representing 9 percent growth at the midpoint. Based on current demand levels and prevailing foreign exchange rates, the company is raising revenue growth guidance to a new range of 4 to 5 percent and raising organic growth guidance to 3 to 4 percent, a 1.5 percentage point increase at the midpoint.

Operating margin is projected to be in the range of 26.5 to 27.5 percent, with enterprise initiatives contributing more than 100 basis points. Free cash flow is projected to exceed 100 percent of net income, and the company expects to repurchase approximately $1.5 billion of its own shares. The projected effective tax rate is 23 to 24 percent.

Non-GAAP Measures

This earnings release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the attached supplemental reconciliation schedule. The estimated guidance of free cash flow to net income conversion rate is based on assumptions that are difficult to predict, and estimated guidance for the most directly comparable GAAP measure and a reconciliation of this forward-looking estimate to its most directly comparable GAAP estimate have been omitted due to the unreasonable efforts required in connection with such a reconciliation and the lack of reliable forward-looking cash flow information. For the same reasons, the company is unable to address the potential significance of the unavailable information, which could be material to future results.

Forward-looking Statements

This earnings release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding global supply chain challenges, expected impact of inflation including raw material inflation and rising interest rates, the potential impact of tariffs, the company’s projected pricing actions, the impact of enterprise initiatives, future financial and operating performance, free cash flow and free cash flow to net income conversion rate, organic and total revenue, operating and incremental margin, price/cost impact, statements regarding diluted income per share, expected dividend payments, after-tax return on invested capital, effective tax rates, exchange rates, expected timing and amount of share repurchases, end market economic and regulatory conditions, the impact of recent or potential acquisitions and/or divestitures, and the company’s 2026 guidance. These statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Important risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company’s expectations include those that are detailed in ITW’s Form 10-K for 2025 and subsequent reports filed with the SEC.

About Illinois Tool Works
ITW (NYSE: ITW) is a Fortune 300 global multi-industrial manufacturing leader with revenue of $16 billion in 2025. The company’s seven industry-leading segments leverage the unique ITW Business Model to drive solid growth with best-in-class margins and returns in markets where highly innovative, customer-focused solutions are required. ITW’s approximately 43,000 dedicated colleagues around the world thrive in the company’s decentralized and entrepreneurial culture. www.itw.com.

    ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
STATEMENT OF INCOME (UNAUDITED)
     Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30,In millions except per share amounts2026 2025 2026 2025Operating Revenue$4,301  $4,053  $8,317  $7,892 Cost of revenue 2,403   2,271   4,659   4,432 Selling, administrative, and research and development expenses 735   693   1,457   1,399 Amortization and impairment of intangible assets 16   21   34   42 Operating Income 1,147   1,068   2,167   2,019 Interest expense (79)  (74)  (152)  (142)Other income (expense) 12   4   32   16 Income Before Taxes 1,080   998   2,047   1,893 Income Taxes 265   243   464   438 Net Income$815  $755  $1,583  $1,455         Net Income Per Share:       Basic$2.85  $2.58  $5.51  $4.97 Diluted$2.84  $2.58  $5.50  $4.95         Cash Dividends Per Share:       Paid$1.61  $1.50  $3.22  $3.00 Declared$1.61  $1.50  $3.22  $3.00         Shares of Common Stock Outstanding During the Period:       Average 286.4   292.3   287.3   292.9 Average assuming dilution 287.0   292.9   288.1   293.7                  ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION (UNAUDITED)    In millionsJune 30, 2026 December 31, 2025Assets   Current Assets:   Cash and equivalents$839  $851 Trade receivables 3,564   3,227 Inventories 1,756   1,659 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 441   463 Total current assets 6,600   6,200     Net plant and equipment 2,235   2,230 Goodwill 5,074   5,098 Intangible assets 558   591 Deferred income taxes 489   519 Other assets 1,538   1,510  $16,494  $16,148     Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity   Current Liabilities:   Short-term debt$3,145  $2,286 Accounts payable 636   522 Accrued expenses 1,592   1,636 Cash dividends payable 457   465 Income taxes payable 123   217 Total current liabilities 5,953   5,126     Noncurrent Liabilities:   Long-term debt 6,549   6,683 Deferred income taxes 162   154 Other liabilities 935   959 Total noncurrent liabilities 7,646   7,796     Stockholders' Equity:   Common stock 6   6 Additional paid-in-capital 1,838   1,771 Retained earnings 30,812   30,150 Common stock held in treasury (28,004)  (26,875)Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (1,758)  (1,827)Noncontrolling interest 1   1 Total stockholders' equity 2,895   3,226  $16,494  $16,148          ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
SEGMENT DATA (UNAUDITED)
 Three Months Ended June 30, 2026Dollars in millionsTotal RevenueOperating IncomeOperating MarginAutomotive OEM$857 $185 21.6 %Food Equipment 692  188 27.1 %Test & Measurement and Electronics 769  193 25.2 %Welding 549  178 32.4 %Polymers & Fluids 476  140 29.3 %Construction Products 494  151 30.6 %Specialty Products 468  148 31.5 %Intersegment (4) — — %Total Segments 4,301  1,183 27.5 %Unallocated —  (36)— %Total Company$4,301 $1,147 26.7 %           Six Months Ended June 30, 2026Dollars in millionsTotal RevenueOperating IncomeOperating MarginAutomotive OEM$1,677 $358 21.3 %Food Equipment 1,329  345 26.0 %Test & Measurement and Electronics 1,484  357 24.1 %Welding 1,056  341 32.3 %Polymers & Fluids 928  266 28.7 %Construction Products 952  286 30.0 %Specialty Products 899  283 31.4 %Intersegment (8) — — %Total Segments 8,317  2,236 26.9 %Unallocated —  (69)— %Total Company$8,317 $2,167 26.1 %           ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
SEGMENT DATA (UNAUDITED)
 Q2 2026 vs. Q2 2025 Favorable/(Unfavorable)Operating
RevenueAutomotive OEMFood EquipmentTest & Measurement and ElectronicsWeldingPolymers & FluidsConstruction ProductsSpecialty ProductsTotal ITWOrganic(0.4)%— %10.0 %13.9 %7.3 %2.0 %1.6 %4.5 %Acquisitions/
Divestitures— %— %1.3 %— %— %— %— %0.2 %Translation1.7 %1.6 %0.8 %0.8 %1.5 %2.3 %1.4 %1.4 %Operating
Revenue1.3 %1.6 %12.1 %14.7 %8.8 %4.3 %3.0 %6.1 %                          Q2 2026 vs. Q2 2025 Favorable/(Unfavorable)Change in Operating MarginAutomotive OEMFood EquipmentTest & Measurement and ElectronicsWeldingPolymers & FluidsConstruction ProductsSpecialty ProductsTotal ITWOperating Leverage(10) bps—250 bps220 bps140 bps40 bps20 bps90 bpsChanges in Variable
Margin & OH Costs20 bps(60) bps—(250) bps40 bps(40) bps(150) bps(50) bpsTotal Organic10 bps(60) bps250 bps(30) bps180 bps—(130) bps40 bpsAcquisitions/
Divestitures——(20) bps—————Restructuring/Other20 bps—10 bps(40) bps(20) bps(20) bps20 bps—Total Operating
Margin Change30 bps(60) bps240 bps(70) bps160 bps(20) bps(110) bps40 bps         Total Operating
Margin % *21.6%27.1%25.2%32.4%29.3%30.6%31.5%26.7%         * Includes unfavorable operating margin impact of amortization expense from acquisition-related intangible assets20 bps10 bps120 bps—80 bps10 bps20 bps40 bps **** Amortization expense from acquisition-related intangible assets had an unfavorable impact of ($0.04) on GAAP earnings per share for the second quarter of 2026.  ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
SEGMENT DATA (UNAUDITED) H1 2026 vs. H1 2025 Favorable/(Unfavorable)Operating
RevenueAutomotive OEMFood EquipmentTest & Measurement and ElectronicsWeldingPolymers & FluidsConstruction ProductsSpecialty ProductsTotal ITWOrganic(0.6)%(1.3)%7.4 %10.0 %4.6 %0.4 %(1.5)%2.5 %Acquisitions/
Divestitures— %— %1.5 %— %— %— %— %0.3 %Translation3.4 %2.9 %2.0 %1.0 %2.5 %3.5 %2.6 %2.6 %Operating
Revenue2.8 %1.6 %10.9 %11.0 %7.1 %3.9 %1.1 %5.4 %                          H1 2026 vs. H1 2025 Favorable/(Unfavorable)Change in
Operating MarginAutomotive OEMFood EquipmentTest & Measurement and ElectronicsWeldingPolymers & FluidsConstruction ProductsSpecialty ProductsTotal ITWOperating Leverage(10) bps(20) bps200 bps160 bps90 bps20 bps(30) bps50 bpsChanges in Variable
Margin & OH Costs70 bps(100) bps20 bps(180) bps80 bps(10) bps(40) bps(10) bpsTotal Organic60 bps(120) bps220 bps(20) bps170 bps10 bps(70) bps40 bpsAcquisitions/
Divestitures——(40) bps—————Restructuring/Other40 bps10 bps20 bps(30) bps(10) bps(10) bps30 bps10 bpsTotal Operating
Margin Change100 bps(110) bps200 bps(50) bps160 bps—(40) bps50 bps         Total Operating
Margin % *21.3%26.0%24.1%32.3%28.7%30.0%31.4%26.1%         * Includes unfavorable operating margin impact of amortization expense from acquisition-related intangible assets20 bps—130 bps—90 bps10 bps20 bps40 bps  **** Amortization expense from acquisition-related intangible assets had an unfavorable impact of ($0.09) on GAAP earnings per share for the first half of 2026.  ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC. and SUBSIDIARIES
GAAP to NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (UNAUDITED)AFTER-TAX RETURN ON AVERAGE INVESTED CAPITAL (UNAUDITED)

     Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30,Dollars in millions2026 2025 2026 2025Numerator:       Net Income$815  $755  $1,583  $1,455 Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2026 —   —   (34)  — Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2025 —   —   —   (21)Interest expense, net of tax (1) 59   56   115   108 Other (income) expense, net of tax (1) (9)  (3)  (24)  (12)Operating income after taxes$865  $808  $1,640  $1,530         Denominator:       Invested capital:       Cash and equivalents$839  $788  $839  $788 Trade receivables 3,564   3,320   3,564   3,320 Inventories 1,756   1,710   1,756   1,710 Net plant and equipment 2,235   2,177   2,235   2,177 Goodwill and intangible assets 5,632   5,596   5,632   5,596 Accounts payable and accrued expenses (2,228)  (2,157)  (2,228)  (2,157)Debt (9,694)  (8,937)  (9,694)  (8,937)Other, net 791   714   791   714 Total net assets (stockholders' equity) 2,895   3,211   2,895   3,211 Cash and equivalents (839)  (788)  (839)  (788)Debt 9,694   8,937   9,694   8,937 Total invested capital$11,750  $11,360  $11,750  $11,360         Average invested capital (2)$11,650  $10,996  $11,548  $10,741         Net income to average invested capital (3) 28.0 %  27.4 %  27.4 %  27.1 %After-tax return on average invested capital (3) 29.7 %  29.4 %  28.4 %  28.5 %                 (1) Effective tax rate used for interest expense and other (income) expense for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 was 24.4% in both periods. Effective tax rate used for interest expense and other (income) expense for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 was 24.3% and 24.2%, respectively.

(2) Average invested capital is calculated using the total invested capital balances at the start of the period and at the end of each quarter within each of the periods presented.

(3) Returns for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 were converted to an annual rate by multiplying the calculated return by 4. Returns for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 were converted to an annual rate by multiplying the calculated return by 2.

A reconciliation of the tax rate for the six month period ended June 30, 2026, excluding the first quarter 2026 discrete tax benefit of $34 million primarily related to the resolution of a U.S. tax audit, is as follows:

 Six Months Ended June 30, 2026Dollars in millionsIncome Taxes
 Tax RateAs reported$464  22.6 %Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2026 34  1.7 %As adjusted$498  24.3 %        A reconciliation of the tax rate for the six month period ended June 30, 2025, excluding the first quarter 2025 discrete tax benefit of $21 million related to the reversal of a valuation allowance on net operating loss carryforwards, is as follows:

 Six Months Ended June 30, 2025Dollars in millionsIncome Taxes Tax RateAs reported$438  23.1 %Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2025 21  1.1 %As adjusted$459  24.2 %        AFTER-TAX RETURN ON AVERAGE INVESTED CAPITAL (UNAUDITED)
   Twelve Months EndedDollars in millionsDecember 31, 2025Numerator: Net income$3,066 Net discrete tax benefit related to the third quarter 2025 (27)Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2025 (21)Interest expense, net of tax (1) 222 Other (income) expense, net of tax (1) (32)Operating income after taxes$3,208   Denominator: Invested capital: Cash and equivalents$851 Trade receivables 3,227 Inventories 1,659 Net plant and equipment 2,230 Goodwill and intangible assets 5,689 Accounts payable and accrued expenses (2,158)Debt (8,969)Other, net 697 Total net assets (stockholders' equity) 3,226 Cash and equivalents (851)Debt 8,969 Total invested capital$11,344   Average invested capital (2)$10,959   Net income to average invested capital 28.0 %After-tax return on average invested capital 29.3 %     (1) Effective tax rate used for interest expense and other (income) expense for the year ended December 31, 2025 was 23.9%.

(2) Average invested capital is calculated using the total invested capital balances at the start of the period and at the end of each quarter within the period presented.

A reconciliation of the 2025 effective tax rate, excluding the third quarter 2025 net discrete tax benefit of $27 million, which included a favorable discrete tax benefit of $43 million related to the estimated U.S. federal tax liability for 2024, partially offset by a $16 million discrete tax expense related primarily to the resolution of a foreign tax audit, and excluding the first quarter 2025 discrete tax benefit of $21 million related to the reversal of a valuation allowance on net operating loss carryforwards, is as follows:

 Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2025Dollars in millionsIncome Taxes
 Tax RateAs reported$900  22.7 %Net discrete tax benefit related to the third quarter 2025 27  0.7 %Discrete tax benefit related to the first quarter 2025 21  0.5 %As adjusted$948  23.9 %        FREE CASH FLOW (UNAUDITED)

      Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30,Dollars in millions2026 2025 2026 2025Net cash provided by operating activities$723  $550  $1,346  $1,142 Less: Additions to plant and equipment (92)  (101)  (187)  (197)Free cash flow$631  $449  $1,159  $945         Net income$815  $755  $1,583  $1,455         Net cash provided by operating activities to net income conversion rate 89 %  73 %  85 %  78 %Free cash flow to net income conversion rate 77 %  59 %  73 %  65 %                 Investor Relations & Media Contact:                                               
Erin Linnihan
Tel: 224.661.7431 
[email protected] | [email protected]                     

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT | FTNT Price Prediction) heads into Wednesday’s Q2 earnings report with a record few cybersecurity companies can match: 24th consecutive quarter without an earnings miss. The business is generating record free cash flow, and is running a buyback program large enough to function as a de facto dividend. Here are 3 reasons this cybersecurity giant looks appealing ahead of earnings:

Product Revenue Just Accelerated 41% Fortinet’s Product revenue reaccelerated to +41% YoY in Q1, and billings jumped 31%, signaling the firewall refresh cycle around FortiOS 8.0 and the FortiGate G Series is live.

In addition, management raised FY26 guidance to $7.71B–$7.87B revenue and $3.10–$3.16 in non-GAAP EPS. The company’s Q1 earnings report drove a +28.17% 30-day move against the S&P 500’s +0.75%, which demonstrates how a strong report on Wednesday could elicit a meaningful market reaction.

Fortinet’s $10.25 Billion Share Buyback In Q1 alone, Fortinet repurchased $823 million of stock. These purchases have proven to be well timed, as the stock has since raced forward, and they show the business’s capability to return capital to shareholders.

Today, the company sits on a $10.25 billion total share repurchase authorization after a $1.0 billion board raise, and produced record free cash flow of $1.006 billion (+26.32% YoY) to fund it. The company’s net debt to EBITDA sits at -0.67, so the balance sheet has ample room to fund the buybacks directly.

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Fortinet’s Valuation Looks Reasonable Compared to Palo Alto Cybersecurity companies are known for trading at high multiples, but Fortinet looks reasonably valued compared to peers. The stock trades at a forward P/E of 52x against a business compounding at roughly 15% YoY revenue growth with a 31.3% operating margin and a 27.5% net margin. A competitor, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW), trades at a forward P/E of 78x with a TTM operating margin of -2.47%.

Strong Execution Is Offsetting Supply-Chain Pressure The bear case is valuation and lingering supply-chain risk. Both were the exact concerns cited by the last analyst downgrade, and both were answered in the same quarter Fortinet posted 41% product revenue growth and $1.01 billion of free cash flow. CEO Ken Xie framed it directly, noting the company’s “direct operations, manufacturing model and strong execution turn supply chain challenges into opportunities to gain market share.”

If the firewall refresh cycle continues, Fortinet can use its growing cash flow and $10.25 billion authorization to repurchase more shares. That combination gives long-term investors two potential return drivers: continued business growth and a steadily declining share count.

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Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Carrier Global (CARR - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.86 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.83 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.92 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +3.61%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this company would post earnings of $0.5 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.57, delivering a surprise of +14%.

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

Carrier Global, which belongs to the Zacks Building Products - Air Conditioner and Heating industry, posted revenues of $6.35 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.47%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $6.11 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Carrier Global shares have added about 31.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Carrier Global?While Carrier Global has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Carrier Global was favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.83 on $5.77 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.79 on $22.17 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Building Products - Air Conditioner and Heating is currently in the top 19% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Fortune Brands Innovations (FBIN - Free Report) , another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 4.

This maker of products for the home, like faucets, cabinets, windows and doors is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.81 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -19%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Fortune Brands Innovations' revenues are expected to be $1.16 billion, down 3.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Corning stock plunged by over 12% in the premarket session after the company published the latest earnings report. GLW dropped by 12% to $122.92, its lowest level since March 9 this year. It has plunged by 54% from the year-to-date high of $271, with its valuation falling from $219 billion to $123 billion. 

Corning, a top company that manufactures the popular Gorilla Glass, display glass, and advanced optics solutions, has been in a strong bull run this year, helped by its partnerships with companies like Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Amazon. 

These deals will see the company boost its optical connectivity manufacturing capacity by about 10%. It will also expand its fiber capacity by over 50%, including three manufacturing plants in the country. 

As a result, it aims that these deals will help it meet its Springboard Plan, which aims to grow its annualized run rate of $20 billion by the end of this year to $30 billion by the end of 2028. It aims to grow this figure to $40 billion by 2030.

Still, despite these metrics, the stock has dropped sharply after releasing its results. Its results showed that its core sales jumped by 17% in the second quarter to $4.74 billion, with its core EPS rising by 30% to 78 cents. Its optical communications sales jumped by 32% to $2.07 billion. 

By segment, its optical communications revenue jumped by 32% to $2.07 billion, while the glass innovations segment rose by just 1%. The automotive segment rose by just 2%, while its solar business soared by 90% to $438 million after completing a prolonged maintenance shutdown. In a statement, Wendell Weeks, the CEO, said:

“We continue to deepen our long-term customer partnerships with industry leaders, most recently with Amazon and NVIDIA. These partnerships provide strong proof points supporting our exciting Springboard Plan.”

A key concern among investors is that its guidance was relatively softer than expected. It now expects that its third-quarter sales will rise by 16% to between $4.9 billion and $5 billion.

At the same time, there are concerns that the company’s business has become highly overvalued. The company has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 45, higher than the sector median of 24. 

Despite this, analysts believe that Corning has more upside to go. Citigroup’s Asiya Merchant boosted his target from $225 to $240, while Oppenheimer boosted from $210 to $230. Bank of America’s Wamsi Mohan sees the stock soaring from $223 to $243.

Corning stock chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the Corning share price has crashed in the past few months. It fell from a high of $271 on June 30 to a low of $122.9 today. 

It has dropped below the lower side of the ascending channel pattern. Most notably, the stock has dropped below the 200-day moving average and the Ultimate Support of the Murrey Math Lines.

Therefore, the stock will likely continue falling with the next target being the extreme oversold level of $100.

Rithm (RITM - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.6 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.5 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.54 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +20.00%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this real estate investment trust would post earnings of $0.53 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.51, delivering a surprise of -3.77%.

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

Rithm, which belongs to the Zacks Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, posted revenues of $1.28 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.12%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.22 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Rithm shares have lost about 15.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Rithm?While Rithm has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Rithm was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.55 on $1.47 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.23 on $6.02 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Financial - Miscellaneous Services is currently in the bottom 31% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, Vinci Compass Investments (VINP - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 11.

This investments platform is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.23 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +4.6%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Vinci Compass Investments' revenues are expected to be $56.05 million, up 31.7% from the year-ago quarter.

JetBlue Airways (JBLU - Free Report) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.66 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.7. This compares to a loss of $0.16 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +5.71%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this airline would post a loss of $0.72 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.87, delivering a surprise of -20.83%.

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

JetBlue, which belongs to the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry, posted revenues of $2.7 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.07%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $2.36 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

JetBlue shares have added about 19.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for JetBlue?While JetBlue has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for JetBlue was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is -$0.45 on $2.74 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and -$2.39 on $10.31 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Transportation - Airline is currently in the bottom 41% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

One other stock from the same industry, Copa Holdings (CPA - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 5.

This holding company for Panama's national airline is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.88 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -47.9%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 14.4% higher over the last 30 days to the current level.

Copa Holdings' revenues are expected to be $1.07 billion, up 26.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Oshkosh (OSK - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $2.87 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.6 per share. This compares to earnings of $3.41 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +10.39%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this heavy vehicle manufacturer for the military, emergency and commercial companies would post earnings of $1.04 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.85, delivering a surprise of -18.27%.

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

Oshkosh, which belongs to the Zacks Automotive - Domestic industry, posted revenues of $2.92 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.18%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $2.73 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Oshkosh shares have added about 23.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Oshkosh?While Oshkosh has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Oshkosh was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $3.41 on $2.92 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $10.87 on $11 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Automotive - Domestic is currently in the top 33% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

One other stock from the same industry, Rivian Automotive (RIVN - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on July 30.

This a manufacturer of motor vehicles and passenger cars is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.65 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +18.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.2% higher over the last 30 days to the current level.

Rivian Automotive's revenues are expected to be $1.59 billion, up 22.1% from the year-ago quarter.

The number of tokenized stock holders has jumped nearly 68.5% since the beginning of July, reaching 934,800 from 554,900. This surge has largely been driven by the launch of Robinhood Chain, which now leads the sector in tokenized stock holders.

Robinhood Chain surpasses competitorsRecent data indicates that Robinhood Chain now counts 329,200 asset holders, outpacing previous leaders in the space. Solana, which held the top spot for most of the past year, now has 281,400 tokenized stock holders, while BNB Chain follows with 214,600. The rapid ascent of Robinhood Chain follows its mainnet launch on July 1.

Within four weeks, Robinhood Chain has overtaken networks that previously dominated the tokenized equities sector. The holder distribution chart highlights a sharp spike in July, with Robinhood Chain now representing nearly a third of all tokenized stock holders in the market.

The sharp increase in Robinhood Chain’s holder base reflects how existing brokerage users became tokenized equity holders without the typical barriers of wallet setup or cross-chain transfers. This shift resulted in a visible on-chain growth, reinforcing the impact of user base integration on network dynamics.

Distribution advantage drives growthThe rapid rise in tokenized stock holders on Robinhood Chain is not attributed to superior blockchain infrastructure. Instead, the network benefited from direct access to Robinhood’s extensive user base, already estimated at 28 million. By seamlessly integrating tokenized equities into an established brokerage app, Robinhood made it easy for users to gain exposure to these assets without additional hurdles such as wallet management, bridges, or gas fees.

Competing networks in the tokenized stock space have focused on attracting crypto-native users to stock offerings, often resulting in slower growth. Robinhood’s distribution model enabled it to quickly convert stock investors into blockchain asset holders, boosting adoption metrics in a short period.

Despite accounting for roughly 35% of tokenized stock holders, Robinhood Chain holds just $44 million in assets. In contrast, Ondo manages approximately $857 million with significantly fewer wallets. This gap indicates a predominance of small retail accounts within Robinhood’s platform, where average holdings per wallet amount to just over $130.

While Robinhood has rapidly expanded its base of tokenized stock accounts, capital concentration remains relatively low. Ondo, with fewer but larger accounts, continues to capture a significant portion of the sector’s overall value. This distinction highlights the difference between distribution metrics, measured by wallet count, and capital metrics, reflected in total assets under management.

Holder count serves as a distribution metric, not a capital metric, leading to divergent trends between the number of wallets and the actual capital invested across platforms.

Memecoin activity remains strongTrading volume on Robinhood Chain remains dominated by memecoin activity, even as tokenized equities continue to gain traction. The speculative environment initially provided the network with liquidity and attention, which in turn created a foundation for broader asset diversification.

Looking ahead, the evolution of Robinhood Chain’s asset base will depend on whether average balances per wallet increase. If the trend of small holdings continues, Robinhood may remain a high-volume, low-capital network, while platforms like Ondo lead in total assets. If average holdings rise across Robinhood’s 329,000 wallets, its position in the sector could shift significantly.

In this dynamic environment, platforms that streamline access to both traditional and digital assets may continue to grow. For example, 1stepSwap enables users to access shares of leading U.S. companies and commodities like gold or silver directly through their wallets. By automatically searching for the best price available, 1stepSwap helps users efficiently diversify their portfolios with tokenized real-world assets and equities in real time.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Crypto losses topped $1 billion in the first half of 2026 as the industry recorded its highest number of hacks in a six-month period, according to onchain security platform Blockaid.

Ethereum and Solana recorded the largest losses from incidents affecting their networks, with roughly $332 million and $326 million in stolen funds, respectively, Blockaid said in its H1 2026 security report published Tuesday.

Blockaid tracked 212 security incidents during the period, with the largest single exploit coming from KelpDAO at $292 million, while the platform verified 3.4 times as many high-threshold exploits in H1 2026 as across all of 2025.

Code exploits drove Ethereum incidents, while breaches of keys and signing infrastructure accounted for most Solana losses, according to the report.

Ethereum losses reflected the risks of high-value protocolsEthereum incurred the highest losses from incidents in H1 2026, with attackers primarily targeting vulnerabilities in applications built on the network.

Blockaid said code exploits dominated Ethereum incidents by count, with major losses also linked to key compromises involving Humanity Protocol and StablR. CoWSwap, an Ethereum-based decentralized exchange, was the only major Ethereum incident in the report classified as a user mistake.

Blockchain losses by network in the first half of 2026. Source: Blockaid.

Blockaid identified several common attack methods targeting Ethereum, including bugs in bridges and smart contracts, unauthorized access to privileged accounts and market manipulation techniques.

The report said Ethereum remains a major target because it hosts many of the crypto industry’s most valuable applications, including restaking platforms, stablecoins and decentralized exchanges.

Solana losses surged as attackers shifted focusSolana incurred nearly as much in losses as Ethereum during the first half of 2026, a sharp increase from the roughly $127 million in stolen funds the network recorded during 2025.

“2025 had $2.58 billion lost across 63 incidents, concentrated in Q1 by Bybit’s $1.5 billion, with Ethereum and Arbitrum the top chains by stolen-fund flow,” Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan told Cointelegraph.

Blockchain losses by network in 2025. Source: Blockaid.

The change did not stem from a rise in smart contract exploits. Instead, compromised keys accounted for more than 98% of Solana’s losses, driven largely by incidents involving Drift Protocol and Step Finance, which Blockaid linked to North Korea-linked cyber groups.

Unlike Ethereum, where attackers primarily exploited vulnerabilities in protocol code, Solana incidents targeted signer infrastructure and organizational security, while a handful of code exploits involving Raydium and Volo accounted for the remaining losses.

Magazine: A quantum roadmap would push Bitcoin much higher: Charles Edwards

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Incyte (INCY - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $3.09 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.57 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +54.50%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this specialty drugmaker would post earnings of $1.38 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.81, delivering a surprise of +31.16%.

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

Incyte, which belongs to the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, posted revenues of $1.67 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.71%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.22 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Incyte shares have added about 20.4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.3%.

What's Next for Incyte?While Incyte has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Incyte was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $2.04 on $1.47 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $7.87 on $5.73 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Medical - Biomedical and Genetics is currently in the top 38% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Another stock from the same industry, Keros Therapeutics, Inc. (KROS - Free Report) , has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026.

This company is expected to post quarterly loss of $1.25 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -64.5%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Keros Therapeutics, Inc.'s revenues are expected to be $0.35 million, down 98.1% from the year-ago quarter.

@Binance has confirmed it will support the upcoming @Stacks hardfork, set to activate in roughly 279 $BTC blocks. The announcement was made by Stacks founder @Muneeb, who posted the exchange's commitment as the countdown to the network upgrade tightens ahead of a Thursday activation.

What the PoX-5 Upgrade Changes The hardfork, known as PoX-5, is scheduled for July 29 and follows a successful community vote with overwhelming support for SIP-044 and SIP-045. The upgrade brings trustless, self-custodial Bitcoin staking to the network. More broadly, the change represents a material architectural shift for the primary Bitcoin Layer-2, addressing two of the network's most significant limitations: transaction finality and programmable utility for $BTC.

The upgrade introduces Bitcoin Finality, which the Stacks Foundation says makes Stacks transactions as irreversible as those executed on the Bitcoin blockchain, meaning the network can no longer fork on its own. With this mechanism, transaction ordering and reversal on Stacks L2 are protected by all of Bitcoin's hash power, and fast blocks reduce settlement delay to a few seconds instead of Bitcoin's 10 to 40 minutes.

The Monitoring Tag and Market Concern $STX dropped to a six-year low driven by market concerns over the token's monitoring tag on Binance. The Stacks team indicated the tag change on Binance was likely tied to the upcoming PoX-5 hardfork, and that other major centralized exchange partners had already been notified and moved forward in support. According to the team, the tag will be removed once consensus-level changes on Binance are completed.

@Muneeb's comments suggest the broader market has yet to fully price in the significance of the architectural shift. Binance's formal commitment to supporting the hardfork mirrors the exchange's established pattern with Stacks upgrades, where trading of STX is not impacted during the network upgrade and Binance handles all technical requirements for users holding STX in their accounts.

With the activation window now measured in hours rather than days, attention turns to whether Binance's endorsement and the removal of the monitoring tag will stabilize sentiment around $STX heading into the upgrade.

Sources
AMBCrypto: Stacks STX crashes as PoX-5 testnet goes live
Binance: Support for Stacks STX Network Upgrade and Hard Fork
The Defiant: Stacks Unlocks Fast Blocks and Bitcoin Finality