Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC - Free Report) closed at $0.91 in the latest trading session, marking a -2.67% move from the prior day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.14% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.57%.

The stock of company has fallen by 1.16% in the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 5.8% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Canopy Growth Corporation in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of -$0.04, up 71.43% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $58.52 million, indicating a 12.25% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of -$0.11 per share and a revenue of $243.57 million, demonstrating changes of +75.56% and +18.26%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Canopy Growth Corporation. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Canopy Growth Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 168, placing it within the bottom 32% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

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AT&T (T +3.50%), a nationwide wireless and broadband carrier, closed at $23.04, up 3.50%. Earnings and subscriber growth data beat estimates, even as revenue missed expectations.
Trading volume reached 177.6 million shares, coming in about triple its three-month average of 57.9 million shares.

How the markets moved todayThe S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.14%) fell 0.13% to 7,499, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.57%) declined 0.57% to 25,691. Among U.S. wireless telecommunications services peers, Verizon Communications (VZ +1.17%) rose 1.16% to $44.29, while T-Mobile US (TMUS +0.19%) was little changed, edging down 0.09% to $190.94.

What this means for investorsInvestors cheered AT&T’s results despite a slight revenue miss. More important was strong subscriber growth, especially as investors eyed the upcoming initial quarterly report from Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -6.70%).

SpaceX’s Starlink service could be a big disruptor for the existing wireless market, but today’s results indicate AT&T isn’t seeing it yet. Investors should continue to watch how space-based broadband develops, though. SpaceX isn’t the only player in the game. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS -2.18%) is also building a satellite network to provide broadband directly to smartphones anywhere on Earth.

For now, the focus was on AT&T's continued growth. The company gained 432,000 postpaid phone net subscribers during the quarter, surpassing Wall Street's expectations of 338,500 additions.

With competition coming from satellite-based solutions, though, AT&T investors should closely follow what SpaceX says about its existing Starlink business when it reports earnings on Aug. 4.

Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AST SpaceMobile. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Netflix remains a high-quality, profitable, global leader with strong margins and robust free cash flow. Revenue growth is decelerating, with Q2 at 13.4% and Q3 guidance pointing to 11.7%, tempering upside at current valuation. Management maintains a shareholder-friendly capital allocation, including $4.7B in Q2 buybacks and $12.5B full-year free cash flow guidance.

Intel (INTC -2.47%) CEO Lip-Bu Tan told CNBC in May that "multiple customers" were working with the company's foundry business, but that it was his personal policy not to name them. On Tuesday, Intel finally named one.

Cybersecurity specialist Fortinet will use Intel's foundry (the business that manufactures chips for other companies) to produce its next-generation security chip, called the SP6, the two companies announced. The chip will be built on the Intel 4 process, and Fortinet becomes the first named outside customer for the foundry since Tan took over in March 2025.

Investors saw plenty to like. Intel shares jumped more than 8% on Tuesday to close at $105.40, adding to a run that has lifted the stock more than 300% over the past year.

And the timing raises the stakes. Intel reports second-quarter results after the market closes on Thursday, July 23.

So what does the Fortinet deal actually prove -- and what should investors watch for in the report?

Image source: Intel.

A name matters more than the chip Intel's foundry effort has never lacked announcements. What it has lacked is named, committed customers. And Intel has yet to land a major one for its most advanced manufacturing processes, known as 14A and 18A.

That history is what makes the Fortinet deal both encouraging and limited.

On the positive side, a company has now publicly committed a next-generation product to Intel's manufacturing. That is the kind of outside validation the foundry strategy has been missing, and it arguably makes the next customer conversation easier. Fortinet is a credible name, too. The cybersecurity company's dedicated security chips serve a market where demand has been climbing for years.

However, the SP6 will be built on Intel 4. That's an older, less advanced process, introduced in 2023 for the compute tile in Intel's own Core Ultra PC chips -- not the leading-edge technology Intel's turnaround ultimately depends on. A named customer on Intel 4 is progress. It isn't the marquee win that would prove Intel can manufacture the industry's most advanced chips in large quantities.

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The economics are still tiny The deal's financial weight is the other reason to stay level-headed. In the first quarter, Intel Foundry generated $5.4 billion of revenue, up 16% year over year. But nearly all of that came from making Intel's own products. External foundry revenue (money from manufacturing chips for outside customers) was just $174 million in the quarter. That's a sliver for a company that posted $13.6 billion in total revenue.

Demand for Intel's own chips, at least, is trending the right way -- even as the company confirmed this week that it is trimming jobs in that same data center unit. First-quarter revenue in the company's data center and artificial intelligence (AI) segment rose 22% year over year, faster than the company's overall 7% growth rate.

"The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user," Tan said in the company's first-quarter earnings release, adding that the shift "is significantly increasing the need for Intel's CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings."

Even so, Intel's reported bottom line is still in the red while it builds out capacity. The company posted a net loss of $3.7 billion in the first quarter -- though $4.1 billion of restructuring and impairment charges, largely a writedown of Mobileye goodwill, more than accounted for it. On a non-GAAP basis, which strips out those and other items, Intel earned $1.5 billion.

That's what makes Thursday's report the more important event of the week. Investors should watch three things: the trajectory of external foundry revenue, the size of the net loss, and any sign that a significant leading-edge customer is getting closer.

And the stock's run complicates the setup. After rising more than 300% in a year, Intel trades at nearly 90 times forward earnings -- a multiple that assumes the turnaround works, not one that leaves room for it to stumble. For a company still in the red on a reported basis, that is a lot of confidence to carry into an earnings report. And Tuesday's move, which came amid a broad chip-sector rally, showed how eager the market is to reward any scrap of foundry progress.

The Fortinet announcement is the first outside proof point of the Tan era, and I don't want to diminish it. A foundry needs customers willing to say so publicly, and now Intel has one. But the deal contributes a signal -- Intel didn't disclose what it contributes in dollars. At this valuation, Intel needs to deliver both. I'd want to see Thursday's numbers (external foundry revenue in particular) before paying nearly 90 times forward earnings for a turnaround still finding its footing.

IBM Just Had Its Worst Day Ever—What Earnings Must ProveInternational Business Machines NYSE: IBM said its second-quarter 2026 results fell short of expectations as some large software transactions slipped late in the period, prompting the company to lower its full-year revenue growth outlook while maintaining its free cash flow target.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said IBM’s “conviction in the strength of our business and our ability to grow and drive shareholder value remains unchanged,” but acknowledged that the company “fell short” on execution in the quarter.

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3 Dividend Stocks with Growth on Tap for the Second HalfChief Financial Officer Jim Kavanaugh said IBM delivered 1% revenue growth in the quarter, along with 30 basis points of operating pre-tax margin expansion and 5% diluted operating earnings per share growth. Through the first half of the year, IBM generated $4.8 billion of free cash flow, which Kavanaugh said was flat year over year.

Software Shortfall Tied to Client CapEx Priorities IBM’s software revenue grew 5% in the quarter, while organic software revenue was flat. Kavanaugh said that in the final weeks of June, IBM saw “a shift in client spending priorities,” with many customers redirecting spending toward servers, storage and memory purchases to secure supply-constrained infrastructure ahead of expected price increases.

Starbucks Builds Sovereign AI to Cut $400 Million in Software CostsAs a result, Kavanaugh said “tens of large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected,” accounting for the majority of the shortfall. He said the impact was concentrated in enterprise license agreements tied to mainframe and associated software, which are generally treated by customers as capital investments.

Transaction processing revenue declined 9% in the quarter, while data revenue grew 18% and automation grew 3%. Kavanaugh said transactional software revenue was down high single digits, while IBM’s subscription and consumption-based software was “largely unaffected” by the CapEx dynamics.

IBM said roughly 80% of its annual software revenue is recurring, including subscription and consumption-based offerings such as Red Hat, HashiCorp and Confluent, along with subscription and support revenue. Annual recurring revenue was $24.6 billion, up 8% from a year earlier.

Krishna said the software shortfall was limited to a “CapEx-sensitive area” of the portfolio, while the recurring portion of the business delivered healthy growth. In response to an analyst question, he said about one-third of the large deals that slipped had already closed in the first three weeks of the third quarter, calling that “a good indication” that demand was deferred rather than destroyed.

Guidance Lowered, Free Cash Flow Target Maintained IBM now expects full-year 2026 revenue growth of 4% to 5%, down from its prior expectation for growth above 5%. The company maintained its expectation to grow free cash flow by about $1 billion this year.

Kavanaugh said the low end of the revenue range reflects the current environment and serves as IBM’s base case. He said the company now expects software revenue growth of 6% to 8% for the full year. The low end assumes recent spending dynamics persist through the second half, while the high end assumes a more typical conversion of IBM’s pipeline.

Kavanaugh said IBM expects infrastructure revenue to grow in the low single digits for 2026, helped by distributed infrastructure and continued program-to-program performance in IBM Z. Consulting revenue is expected to accelerate to low- to mid-single-digit growth for the year.

The company also expects 100 basis points of operating pre-tax margin expansion for the year, with productivity actions more than offsetting revenue-related headwinds. Kavanaugh cited efforts including broader use of AI and automation, reductions in third-party spending, improved sales and marketing efficiency, more efficient software development, supply chain optimization and enhanced services delivery.

Infrastructure Mixed as Distributed Systems Gain IBM Infrastructure revenue declined 7% in the quarter. Kavanaugh said IBM Z performance was below expectations, but revenue through the first five quarters of z17 availability was nearly 130% of the prior program-to-program cycle.

Krishna said z17 is having “the best refresh cycle in reported history” and that IBM sees “no evidence of clients moving off the mainframe.” He said IBM Z runs more than 70% of the world’s transaction volume by value, with more than 140 million installed MIPS supporting mission-critical transactions.

Kavanaugh said clients continue to invest in IBM Z for resiliency, security and AI-related workloads. He said nearly 50% of z17 customers are investing in AI capabilities with Spyre Accelerator, and that clients deploying watsonx Code Assistant for Z are growing MIPS capacity three times faster than those that are not.

Distributed infrastructure was a brighter spot. Krishna said the business delivered its best quarter of revenue growth on record, rising 37%. Kavanaugh said IBM exited the quarter with about $500 million of backlog, its highest on record, supporting momentum in Power and storage.

Consulting Demand Supported by Generative AI IBM Consulting signings grew 6%, marking a second consecutive quarter of growth. Revenue rose 1%, driven by demand for application modernization, data transformation and cybersecurity services.

Kavanaugh said generative AI represented about 50% of consulting signings in the quarter and now accounts for more than 30% of backlog. He said clients are moving from pilots to enterprise-wide deployments and are turning to IBM Consulting to re-engineer business processes and unlock productivity through AI, automation and digital labor.

Krishna said clients remain in the early stages of AI adoption and that IBM’s combination of consulting expertise and technology is a differentiator. He said IBM is positioned around hybrid cloud, sovereignty and trust, with watsonx Orchestrate serving as a control plane for building, managing and governing agents across models, clouds and on-premises environments.

IBM Highlights AI, Open Source Security and Quantum Plans Krishna also discussed IBM’s broader growth initiatives, including AI orchestration, real-time governed data through Confluent and application health and compliance monitoring through Concert.

He highlighted Lightwell, a new IBM and Red Hat capability aimed at helping clients secure open source software. Krishna said clients can subscribe to Lightwell for $1 million per year to access open source packages that have been remediated or validated. He described the addressable opportunity as “multiple billions of dollars” and said IBM had made more than 7,500 package versions available in the first two weeks.

Krishna also said quantum computing is “no longer decades away.” He cited a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce to build Anderon, described as the world’s first pure-play quantum foundry, supported by $1 billion in chips incentives from the department and a $1 billion cash contribution from IBM. He said IBM plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum over the next five years, supporting its roadmap to install what it calls the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029.

Krishna closed by saying IBM remains confident in its growth opportunities and the actions it is taking to improve execution through the rest of the year.

About International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM)International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and consulting company headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and renamed IBM in 1924, the company has evolved from early electromechanical machines to a diversified technology provider serving enterprises and governments worldwide. IBM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IBM.

IBM's principal businesses encompass cloud computing and software, infrastructure and systems, consulting and technology services, and research and development.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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In the latest trading session, Snowflake Inc. (SNOW - Free Report) closed at $267.80, marking a -1.45% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.14% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.57%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had gained 17.93% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 4.82% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Snowflake Inc. in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.45, up 28.57% from the prior-year quarter. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $1.47 billion, showing a 28.39% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $1.96 per share and a revenue of $6.07 billion, signifying shifts of +56.8% and +29.56%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Snowflake Inc. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Snowflake Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Snowflake Inc. has a Forward P/E ratio of 138.8 right now. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 19.55.

Also, we should mention that SNOW has a PEG ratio of 5.27. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Internet - Software industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.06.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, positioning it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

Globe Life (GL - Free Report) reported $1.59 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 6.2%. EPS of $3.61 for the same period compares to $3.27 a year ago.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.59 billion, representing a surprise of +0.22%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of -1.64%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $3.67.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Globe Life performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Revenue- Total premium: $1.3 billion compared to the $1.3 billion average estimate based on four analysts. The reported number represents a change of +6.6% year over year.Revenue- Net investment income: $293.82 million versus $292.12 million estimated by four analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +4.1% change.Life Underwriting Margin- Liberty National: $36.65 million compared to the $37.29 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +9.6% year over year.Life Underwriting Margin- Other: $33.22 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $32.95 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +0.3%.Life Underwriting Margin- Direct to Consumer: $75.88 million versus $72.89 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +10% change.Revenue- Health premium- Family Heritage: $126.27 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $126.62 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +9%.Life Underwriting Margin- American Income: $213.6 million compared to the $215.86 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +4.4% year over year.Revenue- Health premium- Direct to Consumer: $20.96 million versus $22.01 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +9.1% change.Revenue- Health premium- American Income: $30.81 million versus $31.93 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -2% change.Revenue- Health premium- Liberty National: $47.4 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $48.26 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -0.5%.Revenue- Health Premium- United American: $211.42 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $205.69 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +28.9%.Revenue- Life premium- Other agencies: $49.7 million compared to the $50.15 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -1.7% year over year.View all Key Company Metrics for Globe Life here>>>

Shares of Globe Life have returned +5% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

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

Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $127.95, moving +1.62% from the previous trading session. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.14%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.57%.

The electric utility's shares have seen an increase of 0.69% over the last month, surpassing the Utilities sector's gain of 0.68% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Duke Energy in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on August 4, 2026. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.28, up 2.4% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.69 billion, up 2.46% from the year-ago period.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $6.72 per share and revenue of $33.66 billion, indicating changes of +6.5% and +4.43%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.16% higher. Duke Energy currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Duke Energy is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.75. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.02, which means Duke Energy is trading at a premium to the group.

It's also important to note that DUK currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.77. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.66 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, finds itself in the top 42% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

In the latest close session, Unity Software Inc. (U - Free Report) was down 2.01% at $29.27. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.14% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.57%.

Coming into today, shares of the company had gained 8.19% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 4.82%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.25%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Unity Software Inc. in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on August 6, 2026. On that day, Unity Software Inc. is projected to report earnings of $0.24 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 192.31%. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $510.89 million, reflecting a 15.86% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.03 per share and revenue of $2.11 billion, which would represent changes of +19.77% and +14.14%, respectively, from the prior year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Unity Software Inc. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 5.65% higher. Unity Software Inc. is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

In the context of valuation, Unity Software Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 28.91. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 19.55 of its industry.

Also, we should mention that U has a PEG ratio of 1.21. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Internet - Software industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.06.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, finds itself in the top 43% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

A Boring Dividend Growth Strategy Becomes a Solid Defensive PlayTexas Instruments NASDAQ: TXN reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter 2026 results, with management citing broadening demand across industrial, data center and automotive markets, along with benefits from prior investments in inventory and manufacturing capacity.

Chief Executive Officer Haviv Ilan said revenue for the quarter was $5.5 billion, up 13% sequentially and 23% from a year earlier. Revenue came in above the company’s prior range as industrial and data center demand continued to grow and automotive demand accelerated during the quarter.

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AI’s Biggest Bottleneck Could Make These 2 Stocks Soar“Our investments in inventory and capacity are serving us well, which allows us to support our customers during this time of increased demand,” Ilan said. He added that Texas Instruments has clean room space available and is positioned to support continued growth.

Industrial, Data Center and Automotive Drive Growth Ilan said both Analog and Embedded Processing grew sequentially and year over year. Analog revenue rose 26% from the year-ago quarter, while Embedded Processing increased 16%. The company’s other segment declined 2% year over year.

AI Is Reviving an Overlooked Chip Category—and These 3 Names Are Riding the Demand WaveBy end market, Ilan said industrial revenue increased about 30% year over year and roughly 10% sequentially, with broad growth across sectors and regions. Automotive revenue increased in the mid-teens from a year earlier and rose in the upper single digits from the prior quarter. Data center revenue doubled year over year and grew about 20% sequentially.

Personal electronics was flat year over year and grew in the upper single digits sequentially, while communications equipment increased both year over year and sequentially.

During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Ilan said demand is now broader than in recent quarters, when strength was concentrated in industrial and data center. He said automotive demand built during the second quarter, led by China and by demand tied to electric vehicles and hybrids. He also said some automotive customers had reduced inventories to very low levels.

“I think we are in the start of a cycle that is very broad,” Ilan said.

Profitability Improves; Free Cash Flow Rises Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi said gross profit was $3.4 billion, or 61% of revenue, with gross margin increasing 340 basis points sequentially. Operating expenses were $1 billion, about in line with expectations. Operating profit was $2.3 billion, or 42% of revenue, up 48% from the year-ago quarter.

Net income was $2 billion, or $2.14 per share. Lizardi said earnings per share included a $0.05 benefit from discrete tax items that was not included in the company’s original guidance.

Cash flow from operations was $2.7 billion in the quarter and $8.7 billion over the trailing 12 months. Capital expenditures were $514 million in the quarter and $3.3 billion over the past 12 months. Trailing 12-month free cash flow was $6.5 billion, up from $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2025.

Lizardi said free cash flow over the past 12 months included $1.6 billion of CHIPS Act incentives, consisting of investment tax credits and direct funding. Texas Instruments received $549 million of ITC-related payments in the second quarter for qualifying capital expenditures.

The company paid $1.3 billion in dividends during the quarter and returned $5.8 billion to shareholders over the past 12 months. Texas Instruments ended the quarter with $7 billion in cash and short-term investments and $14 billion in total debt, with a weighted average coupon of 4%.

Inventory at quarter-end was $4.6 billion, down $90 million from the prior quarter. Days of inventory were 196, down 13 days sequentially.

Third-Quarter Guidance Points to Continued Momentum For the third quarter of 2026, Texas Instruments expects revenue of $5.65 billion to $6.15 billion and earnings per share of $2.23 to $2.57. The company expects its effective tax rate to be about 13% in the quarter.

Asked about the demand outlook, Ilan said he expects strength across markets in the third quarter. He noted that personal electronics typically contributes meaningfully to third-quarter growth, but said the current outlook is broader, with industrial, data center and automotive also expected to contribute.

Ilan also said the company has begun executing price increases after pricing remained flat in the first half of the year. He said some increases will begin to affect results in the third quarter, with additional impact expected in the fourth quarter and into next year, depending on annual customer pricing discussions.

“If I think about the forecast for Q3, the vast majority of it is just unit growth and maybe a little contribution from pricing, but almost insignificant,” Ilan said.

Capacity and Lead Times Remain Key Focus Areas Management emphasized that Texas Instruments is better positioned on capacity than in the prior cycle. Incoming CFO Julie Knecht said factory loadings increased from the first quarter to the second quarter and continued to rise throughout the second quarter. She said third-quarter loadings will depend on demand, but the company has clean room space available that it can equip and ramp.

Ilan said Texas Instruments has clean room capacity in Richardson and Sherman, as well as capacity plans tied to Lehi. He said the company is “in great shape” for Analog growth into its existing manufacturing footprint and that Lehi 2 will support Embedded Processing growth.

On lead times, Ilan said they remain competitive, though they have moved slightly higher as demand has increased. He said lead times were below the company’s core 13-week level in the second quarter but have risen by a couple of weeks.

“When I talk with customers, I do believe our lead times are the most competitive in the market,” Ilan said.

CFO Transition and Acquisition Update The call also marked Lizardi’s final earnings call as CFO. Head of Investor Relations Mike Beckman said Lizardi plans to retire at the end of August after nearly a decade as finance chief. Julie Knecht, who has been with Texas Instruments for more than 25 years and has served as chief accounting officer since 2021, will become CFO on August 1.

Lizardi said it had been an honor to work at Texas Instruments for 25 years and to serve as CFO for the past decade. “Over that time, we have made TI stronger and positioned it for continued success,” he said.

Management also provided a brief update on the pending Silicon Labs transaction. Knecht said regulatory approvals are moving as planned and that Texas Instruments still expects the deal to close in the first half of next year. She said the company continues to expect to fund the transaction with cash on hand and debt.

About Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN)Texas Instruments Inc NASDAQ: TXN is a global semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures analog and embedded processing chips. The company's products are used across a wide range of end markets, including industrial, automotive, personal electronics, communications and enterprise equipment. TI's business emphasizes components that condition, convert, manage and move electrical signals—capabilities that are foundational to modern electronic systems.

TI's product portfolio includes a broad array of analog integrated circuits—such as power management, amplifiers, data converters and interface devices—as well as embedded processors and microcontrollers used to control systems and run real-time applications.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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For the quarter ended June 2026, Texas Instruments (TXN - Free Report) reported revenue of $5.46 billion, up 22.8% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $2.14, compared to $1.41 in the year-ago quarter.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of +4.57% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.22 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $1.91, the EPS surprise was +12.04%.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.

Here is how Texas Instruments performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Revenue- Other: $310 million versus $259.07 million estimated by six analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -2.2% change.Revenue- Embedded Processing: $788 million versus the six-analyst average estimate of $756.15 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +16.1%.Revenue- Analog: $4.37 billion versus $4.12 billion estimated by six analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +26.5% change.Operating Profit- Analog: $1.99 billion compared to the $1.78 billion average estimate based on two analysts.Operating Profit- Other: $150 million versus $127 million estimated by two analysts on average.Operating Profit- Embedded Processing: $168 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $135.01 million.View all Key Company Metrics for Texas Instruments here>>>

Shares of Texas Instruments have returned -4.3% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), indicating that it could outperform the broader market in the near term.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said on Wednesday that the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is strengthening the company's competitive position.

His comments come just one day after OpenAI disclosed that one of its advanced AI agents escaped a controlled testing environment during a cybersecurity evaluation and compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face before it was detected and contained.

"We have a kill switch that stops AI agents that go rogue, so those things don't need to happen, and they wouldn't happen when companies run ServiceNow," McDermott said on CNBC's "Mad Money."

ServiceNow offers a suite of software applications and tools used by companies to manage and automate workflows across IT, human resources, and customer service operations. It's also expanded its cybersecurity presence, in part through the acquisitions of Veza and Armis. Both deals closed this year.

Agentic systems are an increasingly popular corner of AI, going beyond a more simplistic chatbot that answers queries with a written response. These advanced systems are capable of executing multi-step tasks with little to no human intervention.

McDermott said ServiceNow's AI Control Tower is its system that gives companies a central place to monitor, manage, and secure the growing number of AI agents, helping businesses move "from AI chaos to AI discipline."

Shares of ServiceNow rose in extended trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Even after the jump, however, the stock remains down more than 30% this year after software shares sold off during what investors dubbed the "SaaSpocalypse" amid concerns that advances in AI would disrupt the industry's traditional seat-based business model.

McDermott dismissed concerns that growing AI competition could pressure ServiceNow's profits or cause customers to shorten contract terms.

"If you look at the terms of our contracts, they've actually gotten longer," McDermott said.

Instead, he argued that broader AI adoption should increase demand for ServiceNow's software.

"There's going to be more AI. There's going to be more incidents, and all these things drive more and more volume to ServiceNow," he said. "That's why we increased the full-year guide."

OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment but said earlier that AI is accelerating the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities, which means model security and safety need to keep up.

"We are strengthening the containment, monitoring, access controls, and evaluation practices used during model development," the ChatGPT maker said.

ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) reported $3.99 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 24%. EPS of $0.90 for the same period compares to $0.82 a year ago.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.92 billion, representing a surprise of +1.65%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +4.65%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.86.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.

Here is how ServiceNow performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Current Remaining Performance Obligations(cRPO) - GAAP: $13.20 billion versus $13.03 billion estimated by four analysts on average.Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) - GAAP: $29.00 billion versus the four-analyst average estimate of $28.82 billion.cRPO (Current Remaining Performance Obligations) - Non-GAAP: $13.28 billion versus the two-analyst average estimate of $13.05 billion.Revenues- Subscription: $3.88 billion versus the nine-analyst average estimate of $3.82 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +24.5%.Revenues- Professional services and other: $110 million versus $107.26 million estimated by eight analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +7.8% change.Gross Profit (Non-GAAP)- Subscription: $3.12 billion versus the seven-analyst average estimate of $3.09 billion.Gross Profit (Non-GAAP)- Professional services and other: $-16 million versus the six-analyst average estimate of $10.73 million.View all Key Company Metrics for ServiceNow here>>>

Shares of ServiceNow have returned +6.4% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), indicating that it could underperform the broader market in the near term.

Contrarian Alert: 5 Downgraded Stocks That May Reward Long-Term InvestorsServiceNow NYSE: NOW reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter 2026 results, with executives pointing to broad demand across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, IT operations, customer relationship management and employee workflows.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said the company delivered “a stunning Q2 print,” citing subscription revenue growth of 23% in constant currency, current remaining performance obligations, or cRPO, growth of 21.5% in constant currency and a non-GAAP operating margin of 29.5%. He said each of those metrics exceeded the company’s guidance.

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Marvell’s AI Moment Raises a Bigger Question for Amazon and ServiceNowServiceNow also reported 123 deals greater than $1 million in net new annual contract value, up 40% year over year. McDermott said ServiceNow AI annual contract value exceeded $1 billion and remains on pace to surpass the company’s target of $1.5 billion by the end of 2026.

AI Demand Continues to Build McDermott and President and Chief Financial Officer Gina Mastantuono both emphasized that AI adoption is becoming a larger driver of ServiceNow’s business. Mastantuono said ServiceNow AI net new ACV growth accelerated sequentially and grew more than 40% quarter over quarter. She added that deals including five or more ServiceNow AI products increased 5.5 times year over year, helping drive a tripling of million-dollar-plus deals.

Microsoft Build 2026 Is Really Just One Big AI Stress TestThe company said the number of customers with agentic AI in production has increased ninefold over the last nine months. Mastantuono said ServiceNow is already tracking ahead of its target for AI to reach 30% of ACV by 2030.

President, Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer Amit Zavery discussed the company’s level 1 IT service management automation, saying more than 40 customers are already using the product. He said the AI specialists are closing about 80% to 85% of service requests without human interaction, reducing some request resolution times from two days to about 20 minutes.

“It’s end-to-end service request completion, not just giving you the information, but actioning on those requests as well,” Zavery said.

Cybersecurity Becomes a Central Theme McDermott repeatedly framed cybersecurity as a major growth area for ServiceNow, saying the company already has a “$1 billion-plus cybersecurity business” and is the “eighth-largest cybersecurity business in the enterprise.” He said ServiceNow is building what he described as an integrated end-to-end security platform spanning cyber risk and compliance, incident response, exposure management, identity and access security and vulnerability detection.

Executives highlighted the company’s acquisitions of Armis and Veza as important additions to that strategy. McDermott said Veza maps access across human, machine and AI identities, while Armis tracks connected devices in real time. He said the combination strengthens ServiceNow’s AI Control Tower, which is designed to give enterprises visibility, governance and security across AI systems.

Zavery said the company is addressing both pre-breach and post-breach cybersecurity workflows, including vulnerability management, exposure management and security operations center processes. However, he said ServiceNow does not plan to participate in every area of the cybersecurity market.

“Where we have strength, where we have opportunity, and it builds on top of what we did with CMDB, what we did with our post-breach stuff, and now adding the AppSec, as well as the pre-breach things,” Zavery said.

Revenue, RPO and Customer Metrics Mastantuono said second-quarter subscription revenue was $3.877 billion, up 23% year over year in constant currency and 150 basis points above the high end of guidance. Remaining performance obligations ended the quarter at approximately $29 billion, representing 22% year-over-year constant currency growth. Current RPO was $13.2 billion, up 21.5% in constant currency and 200 basis points above guidance.

ServiceNow’s renewal rate was 98% in the quarter. Mastantuono said the company ended the period with 658 customers generating more than $5 million in ACV, with 32 additional customers crossing the $20 million threshold compared with last year.

She said demand was broad across workflows:

Technology workflows had 50 deals above $1 million, including nine above $5 million. ITSM appeared in 15 of the top 20 deals, while ITOM appeared in 18 of the top 20 deals. Security and risk solutions were in 16 of the top 20 deals. CRM and industry workflows were also in 16 of the top 20 deals. Core business workflows were in 12 of the top 20 deals, supported by demand for ServiceNow EmployeeWorks. Mastantuono said business and consumer services led industry growth, with net new ACV growing more than sixfold year over year. Education grew more than 125%, while telecommunications and media grew nearly 40%. Manufacturing also posted strong growth, she said.

CRM, Employee Workflows and AI Control Tower McDermott said ServiceNow’s CRM business has reached $2 billion in ACV, and net new ACV growth in CRM accelerated both year over year and quarter over quarter. He said ServiceNow is increasingly being positioned by partners as an “operational CRM platform.”

He cited customer examples including a large airline using ServiceNow’s voice AI CRM agents to handle 5 million annual customer service voice calls in its first year of production. He also pointed to examples in quoting, loan origination and field operations.

On employee workflows, McDermott described EmployeeWorks as a strategic entry point for enterprise employee experiences, combining Moveworks conversational AI with ServiceNow workflows across HR, IT and workplace services. Mastantuono said EmployeeWorks deal volume grew more than 150% quarter over quarter.

The company also said AI Control Tower is gaining traction. Zavery said more than 500 customers are already live using AI Control Tower within the first six months of launch. McDermott cited customers including Maybank, Tech Mahindra, NTT Data and a Fortune 50 healthcare and retail distributor as examples of organizations using ServiceNow for AI governance and workflow transformation.

Guidance Raised for 2026 ServiceNow raised its full-year 2026 subscription revenue guidance by $15 million at the midpoint, to a range of $15.755 billion to $15.770 billion, representing 21% year-over-year growth in constant currency. Mastantuono said the company expects subscription gross margin of 81%, operating margin of 31.5% and free cash flow margin of 35% for the year.

For the third quarter, ServiceNow expects subscription revenue of $3.975 billion to $3.980 billion, representing 20% year-over-year constant currency growth. The company also expects cRPO growth of 20% in constant currency and an operating margin of 31%.

Mastantuono said some second-quarter upside came from strong U.S. federal demand, which shifted certain on-premises revenue from the third quarter into the second quarter. She said the timing shift did not account for all of the quarter’s outperformance, noting strong net new ACV as well.

Asked about sales cycles, McDermott said he has not seen a negative impact. “If I’ve seen any change, it’s on the positive,” he said, adding that ServiceNow’s relevance is increasing in C-suite discussions around AI, workflow automation and cybersecurity.

About ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)ServiceNow NYSE: NOW is a cloud computing company that builds enterprise software to manage digital workflows and automate business processes. Its offerings are designed to replace manual work and legacy systems with cloud-based, service-oriented applications that support IT operations, customer service, human resources, security response and other enterprise functions.

The company's flagship product family is the Now Platform, a suite of subscription software and platform services that includes IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), IT Business Management (ITBM), Customer Service Management (CSM), HR Service Delivery, Security Operations and Asset Management.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

Should You Invest $1,000 in ServiceNow Right Now?Before you consider ServiceNow, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and ServiceNow wasn't on the list.

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Reliance (RS - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $6.27 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.38 per share. This compares to earnings of $4.43 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +16.54%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this metals service-center company would post earnings of $4.63 per share when it actually produced earnings of $5.16, delivering a surprise of +11.45%.

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

Reliance, which belongs to the Zacks Mining - Miscellaneous industry, posted revenues of $4.63 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.93%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $3.66 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.

Reliance shares have added about 32.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.7%.

What's Next for Reliance?While Reliance 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 Reliance 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 $4.68 on $3.94 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $19.24 on $15.83 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, Mining - Miscellaneous is currently in the bottom 16% 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, Alpha Metallurgical (AMR - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.65 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +271.1%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Alpha Metallurgical's revenues are expected to be $567.3 million, up 3.1% from the year-ago quarter.

PAAS weekly chart shows one-week reversal from lower boundary of large falling channel. Source: TradingView Resistance Builds Toward $53.99 That price area looks like it may soon be joined by the falling 50-day moving average at $49.46. The 50-day moving average represents the next key dynamic resistance zone, which was confirmed as resistance during the advance that established the $53.99 swing high. A sustained move above the 50-day moving average would further strengthen the reversal signal. For the health of the long-term trend, the 200-day moving average would need to be reclaimed. Although at first there might be signs of resistance near the average, the completion of recent corrective price action would suggest that it may be reclaimed. Certainly, if the target from the wedge pattern is to be reached, it will need to be.

Weekly Reversal Adds Bigger-Picture Support The weekly chart shows a declining trend channel defining the boundaries of the decline that followed the $69.99 peak in January. A one-week upside reversal triggered this week, establishing a higher weekly high and higher low. Moreover, it occurred from the lower channel boundary, suggesting an eventual approach to the upper boundary of the falling channel.

That higher-time-frame reversal reinforces the bullish signals on the daily chart and supports the potential for the recent correction to have ended. If PAAS can continue to reclaim the resistance levels above, the weekly reversal could provide the foundation for a broader advance toward the upper boundary of the declining channel.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $87.32, demonstrating a +1.3% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.14%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.57%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the agribusiness giant had gained 13.66% outpaced the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.73% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

The upcoming earnings release of Archer Daniels Midland will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on August 4, 2026. In that report, analysts expect Archer Daniels Midland to post earnings of $1.27 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 36.56%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $22.38 billion, showing a 5.72% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.76 per share and revenue of $84.48 billion. These totals would mark changes of +38.78% and +5.25%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Archer Daniels Midland. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 7.45% higher. Right now, Archer Daniels Midland possesses a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Archer Daniels Midland is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.11. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.64, which means Archer Daniels Midland is trading at a premium to the group.

The Agriculture - Operations industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 165, placing it within the bottom 33% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow ADM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

For the quarter ended June 2026, AvalonBay Communities (AVB - Free Report) reported revenue of $777.77 million, up 2.3% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $2.86, compared to $1.89 in the year-ago quarter.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of +0.31% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $775.34 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $2.80, the EPS surprise was +2.14%.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how AvalonBay performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

Same Store Economic Occupancy: 96.1% versus 96% estimated by four analysts on average.Revenue- Management, development and other fees: $1.78 million versus the four-analyst average estimate of $1.73 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +11.8%.Revenue- Rental and other income: $775.99 million versus $772.59 million estimated by four analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +2.3% change.Net Earnings Per Share (Diluted): $1.11 compared to the $1.17 average estimate based on four analysts.View all Key Company Metrics for AvalonBay here>>>

Shares of AvalonBay have returned +4.6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.3% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

In the latest close session, Strategy (MSTR - Free Report) was down 1.9% at $100.01. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.14%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.57%.

Coming into today, shares of the business software company had lost 1.82% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 2.55%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.25%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Strategy in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on July 30, 2026. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $52.04, reflecting a 59.63% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $126.95 million, indicating a 10.88% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $57.47 per share and a revenue of $503.9 million, signifying shifts of +477.35% and +5.59%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Strategy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 50.76% lower. As of now, Strategy holds a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

With respect to valuation, Strategy is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 1.77. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 11 of its industry.

The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, placing it within the bottom 25% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

Agreement expands operating rights in Chicago and creates new Canada-Mexico service opportunities for customers July 22, 2026 18:50 ET  | Source: Canadian National Railway Company

MONTREAL, July 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) today announced the signing of a binding Memorandum of Understanding that will strengthen rail service across North America, improving both railroads' ability to serve customers.

The agreement provides Union Pacific with expanded operating rights over CN's Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (EJ&E) corridor through Chicago, while granting CN new rights over Union Pacific's network between Memphis, Tennessee, and Eagle Pass, Texas, to support freight movements between Canada and Mexico.

“We are thrilled to have an agreement with Union Pacific to expand CN’s access to Mexico. This is a natural extension of our north-south franchise and will open new routes for customers, provide greater choice and strengthen connections between Canada and Mexico,” said Tracy Robinson, President and CEO of CN. “By extending our reach, we are creating new opportunities for growth while continuing to deliver the safe, reliable service our customers expect. This is another example of CN’s commitment to strengthening rail competitiveness across North America.”

"I’ve seen the benefits first-hand of what the EJ&E route around Chicago can do for a railroad, and we look forward to having access to the quickest way around Chicago,” said Jim Vena, CEO of Union Pacific.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements by CN and Union Pacific included in this news release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The companies caution that their assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “assumes,” “outlook,” “plans,” “targets,” or other similar words. Forward-looking statements reflect information as of the date on which they are made. The companies assume no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable securities laws. In the event CN or Union Pacific do update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that they will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement.

About CN
CN powers the economy by safely transporting more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year for its customers. With its nearly 20,000-mile rail network and related transportation services, CN connects Canada’s Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. Midwest and the U.S. Gulf Coast, contributing to sustainable trade and the prosperity of the communities in which it operates since 1919.

Contacts:
 MediaInvestment CommunityAshley MichnowskiJamie LockwoodSenior ManagerVice-PresidentMedia RelationsInvestor Relations & Special Projects(438) 596-4329(514) [email protected]@cn.ca
ABOUT UNION PACIFIC
Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) delivers the goods families and businesses use every day with safe, reliable and efficient service. Operating in 23 western states, the company connects its customers and communities to the global economy. Trains are the most environmentally responsible way to move freight, helping Union Pacific protect future generations. More information about Union Pacific is available at www.up.com.

Union Pacific Media Contact: [email protected]
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Crown Castle (CCI - Free Report) came out with quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $1.13 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1 per share. This compares to FFO of $1.02 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an FFO surprise of +13.00%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this operator of wireless communications towers would post FFO of $1.01 per share when it actually produced FFO of $1.02, delivering a surprise of +0.99%.

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

Crown Castle, which belongs to the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, posted revenues of $1.01 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.52%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $1.06 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 FFO expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Crown Castle shares have lost about 14.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.7%.

What's Next for Crown Castle?While Crown Castle 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 FFO outlook. Not only does this include current consensus FFO 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 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 estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Crown Castle 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 FFO estimate is $1.20 on $1.02 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.43 on $4.13 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, REIT and Equity Trust - Other is currently in the top 24% 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, Easterly Government Properties (DEA - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 3.

This property management company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Easterly Government Properties' revenues are expected to be $91.34 million, up 8.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Tap Into 2026 AI Infrastructure Gains With This High-Growth ETFCrown Castle NYSE: CCI said it delivered “solid” second-quarter 2026 results, raised its full-year AFFO outlook and completed its transition into a pure-play U.S. tower operator following the sale of its small cell and fiber businesses.

President and CEO Chris Hillabrant said the company closed the sale of those businesses on May 1, calling it “an important milestone” that made Crown Castle “the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. tower operator.” He said the company is now focused on becoming a “best-in-class U.S. tower operator” through cost savings, operational efficiency and improved customer service.

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3 AI ETFs Tapping Into the Heart of the AI Revolution“We now expect to drive additional cost savings this year as we continue to drive operational excellence,” Hillabrant said.

Guidance raised on higher revenue and lower interest expense Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel said second-quarter organic growth, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, was 3.9%, or $38 million, including a $5 million increase in other billings. Excluding the increase in other billings, organic growth was 3.6%. Organic growth would have been 4.2% if DISH revenues were excluded from prior-year site rental billings.

Top 3 REIT Picks for 2025: High Yields and Rising Earnings AheadThose gains were more than offset in site rental revenue by $5 million of Sprint cancellations, $49 million of DISH terminations and a $25 million decline in non-cash straight-line revenue and amortization of prepaid rent.

Crown Castle raised its full-year 2026 outlook for site rental revenue by $5 million at the midpoint and increased its AFFO outlook by $5 million. Patel said the AFFO increase reflects a $5 million reduction in expected interest expense. The company maintained its adjusted EBITDA outlook, as higher revenue and $15 million of expected cost reductions are expected to be offset by a $20 million decrease in services contribution, primarily in the third quarter.

The company now expects full-year 2026 organic growth of 3.4%, excluding Sprint cancellations and DISH terminations, up from its prior guidance of 3.3%. If DISH revenues are excluded from prior-year site rental billings, full-year organic growth is expected to be 3.6%, compared with prior guidance of 3.5%.

Patel said Crown Castle continues to expect 2026 to represent the low point for organic growth. As of the end of the second quarter, more than 90% of its full-year 2026 organic growth, excluding Sprint and DISH impacts, was contracted, up from about 80% at the start of the year.

Sale proceeds used for debt repayment and buybacks Crown Castle received $8.4 billion in net proceeds from the sale of its small cell and fiber businesses. Patel said the company used those proceeds to repurchase $1 billion of shares and repay more than $7 billion of debt, consistent with its capital allocation framework.

The company completed the $1 billion share repurchase program during the second quarter at an average price of $88.66 per share, retiring more than 11 million shares and reducing its annual dividend obligation by $47 million.

Since the prior quarter, Crown Castle repaid approximately $7.2 billion in debt, including about $5 billion of floating-rate debt across its commercial paper program, revolving credit facility and term loan. The company also repurchased $500 million of debt in the open market and repaid $750 million of unsecured notes due June 15 and $1 billion of unsecured notes due July 15.

Crown Castle ended the quarter with leverage of 6.3 times net debt to EBITDA, within its target investment-grade range of 6.0 to 6.5 times. The company also reduced the capacity of its revolving credit facility from $7 billion to $4.5 billion following the sale transaction.

DISH bankruptcy and escrow account remain key issues Hillabrant said Crown Castle made progress during the quarter toward recovering payments owed under its original DISH agreement. In May, the Federal Communications Commission approved EchoStar spectrum sale transactions with AT&T and SpaceX, but made the transactions contingent on the creation of a $2.4 billion escrow account for vendors.

Hillabrant said Crown Castle will pursue its $3.5 billion contractual claim in bankruptcy court after DISH Wireless filed for bankruptcy. He said the escrow account is intended to satisfy network-related obligations, including certain infrastructure claims, and is not subject to the normal bankruptcy estate waterfall.

During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Hillabrant said the escrow funding is tied to the closing of the AT&T transaction. He said it is too early to estimate Crown Castle’s potential recovery because the number of claimants and the resolution process remain uncertain.

Asked about DISH equipment on Crown Castle towers, Hillabrant said ownership will be addressed as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. “As far as we’ve seen, they’ve abandoned it and although we’ve requested for them to take it down, have not acted to this point,” he said.

Management points to edge computing, data growth and spectrum Hillabrant said Crown Castle sees multiple long-term demand drivers, including edge compute infrastructure, mobile data growth and new spectrum availability. He said the company has initiated several trials with edge data center providers and is seeing interest in using its tower portfolio for distributed compute deployments.

He said Crown Castle’s sites have existing power and broadband connectivity and can support “move-in-ready” deployments requiring less than 0.2 megawatts. The company is seeing interest from businesses looking to support inference workloads and applications such as cybersecurity, fraud detection and real-time data processing.

Hillabrant also cited Ericsson projections that U.S. mobile data consumption per smartphone will more than double over the next five years, from 25 gigabits to 52 gigabits per month. He said growth will be driven in part by AI-enabled applications and increased uplink traffic from devices transmitting video, sensor and telemetry data to the cloud.

The company also pointed to additional spectrum coming to market. Hillabrant said the FCC has described a pipeline of at least 800 megahertz of additional spectrum expected to be made available for commercial wireless use over the coming years, with plans to auction at least 165 megahertz between 2026 and 2027.

Services activity weakens, but leasing guidance unchanged In response to analyst questions, Hillabrant said lower services activity does not translate directly into lower leasing activity. Crown Castle maintained its leasing guidance range of $60 million to $70 million.

Hillabrant said the services slowdown reflects broader industry conditions, including leadership and strategy changes among wireless customers and slower decision-making. He said the company is not looking to exit the services business and continues to evaluate whether it should expand certain offerings again, including construction-related services, if the economics make sense.

Management also discussed Crown Castle’s ongoing transformation effort, including ground lease buyouts, systems investments, automation and process improvements. Patel said the company expects to expand EBITDA margins by a couple hundred basis points over the next year, driven by structural cost reductions and productivity improvements.

Hillabrant said the company remains focused on operational changes that improve cycle times and customer experience, adding that Crown Castle aims to “win 100% of the jump balls” with customers.

About Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)Crown Castle is a U.S.-focused communications infrastructure company organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and leases shared wireless infrastructure. Its primary business consists of providing tower-based site leases, small cell networks and fiber solutions that support mobile voice and data transmission for wireless carriers, cable companies and other enterprise customers. The company's assets are positioned to enable network coverage and capacity, including the densification projects associated with 4G LTE and 5G deployments.

Its product and service offerings include ground-based tower sites that host multiple wireless operators, distributed small cell nodes and associated fiber backhaul used to connect sites into carrier networks, and site development and maintenance services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].

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Affirm Holdings (AFRM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $73.97, moving -1% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.14%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.57%.

Shares of the operator of digital commerce platform witnessed a gain of 4.02% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its loss of 4.82%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

The upcoming earnings release of Affirm Holdings will be of great interest to investors. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.33, indicating a 65% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.11 billion, up 26.39% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.23 per share and revenue of $4.21 billion. These totals would mark changes of +720% and +30.62%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Affirm Holdings. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 1.2% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Affirm Holdings presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Looking at valuation, Affirm Holdings is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 43.6. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.55, so one might conclude that Affirm Holdings is trading at a premium comparatively.

One should further note that AFRM currently holds a PEG ratio of 3.06. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.06 at yesterday's closing price.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, which puts it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

Cameco (CCJ - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $90.37, moving +1.91% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.14% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.57%.

Shares of the uranium producer have depreciated by 18.56% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 5.65%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Cameco in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on July 31, 2026. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.26, down 49.02% from the prior-year quarter. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $534.36 million, reflecting a 15.69% fall from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.34 per share and a revenue of $2.39 billion, demonstrating changes of +30.1% and -4.07%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Cameco. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.55% higher. Cameco is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Cameco is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 66.34. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 17.7.

We can also see that CCJ currently has a PEG ratio of 1.4. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Alternative Energy - Other industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.91 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Alternative Energy - Other industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 105, this industry ranks in the top 43% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.