Ford zvyšuje výrobu pickupů F-Series po loňských požárech u dodavatele hliníku; srpnová produkce F-150 byla 57 504 kusů, nejvyšší za dva roky. Srpnové prodeje v USA ale klesly o 10,3 %.
DETROIT — Ford Motor said Wednesday it's continuing to increase production of its crucial F-Series full-size pickup trucks after fires at an aluminum supplier severely impacted output over the past year.
The Detroit automaker expects an influx of pickups expected to arrive on dealership lots over the coming weeks and months, said Rob Kaffl, Ford's head of U.S. sales.
"We're increasing production. Dealers will start seeing in the next 30, 60, 90 days that ramp-up in production," Kaffl said Wednesday. "We have a healthy chain of in-transit and in-system."
Ford reported Wednesday that production of F-Series pickup trucks, including the F-150 and its larger siblings, have increased every month this year to being in line with, or slightly above, historical levels. F-150 production of 57,504 units in August was the highest monthly production in two years, according to Ford's data.
The increase in the supply of pickup trucks comes as Ford experienced its eighth consecutive month of year-over-year U.S. new vehicle sales declines in August. The automaker reported Wednesday that sales were down 10.3% for the month compared with a year earlier.
"Our gross availability of products coming in, I would say, is returning back to normalcy – the normal levels our dealers would have," Kaffl said.
Ford said Wednesday F-Series sales remain off 10.9% through August compared to a year earlier, including a 1.2% decrease last month.
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Ford dealers currently have a roughly 40 days' supply of pickup trucks, which is about half of what the industry has typically considers a healthy level for those vehicles. Kaffl reiterated that Ford is targeting a days' supply of the trucks of between 50 days and 60 days, compared with historical industry levels of 75 to 90 days.
"We're being very intentional to make sure the production is meeting the demand," he said.
To meet that pent-up demand, Ford has been increasing manufacturing to higher levels than it had last year in an attempt to make up lost production. The F-Series was hit when two fires halted operations last year at a New York plant of aluminum supplier Novelis, which is expected to cost the automaker $1.5 billion this year.
In addition to lower production of pickup trucks, Ford said its sales have been impacted by the discontinuation of two vehicles earlier this year that makes comparisons harder to meet as well as planned lower sales to daily rental fleets.
Ford also said Labor Day — which is historically a major sales weekend — was a touch comparison since it falls in September this year compared to August of last year.
U.S. automakers overall are experiencing slowing sales, with Ford estimating an industry-wide decline of 6% in new vehicle sales.
Adobe zpřístupňuje své aplikace přímo ve Slacku přes Slackbot a Adobe for Slack MCP app. Integrace bude při spuštění dostupná týmům Slack Business+ a Enterprise+.
Customers can now use Adobe’s apps like Firefly, Adobe Express, Photoshop, Premiere, Acrobat, InDesign, Illustrator, Stock, Lightroom, and others directly with Slack’s AI chatbot, Slackbot, Adobe announced on Monday. In addition, more than 70 Adobe tools will become available in Slack through the Adobe for Slack MCP app.
With the Slackbot integration, users will be able to describe what they want to do, and the bot will call the right Adobe tool to complete the task. Adobe said that while calling its tools, Slackbot also takes in the context of the conversations. For instance, users can get information from conversations or Canvas and turn it into PDFs, images, and videos. They can also bring in assets from previous campaigns or the Creative Cloud asset library into a chat and edit them.
At launch, this integration will be available to Slack Business+ and Enterprise+ teams.
While productivity and creative companies have been busy adding AI features into their tools, most people still work in conversational boxes. This pushes the tool providers to make their features available through services like ChatGPT, Claude, and Slack.
Last month, Adobe introduced a similar integration for ChatGPT and is planning to launch a Gemini integration soon. Deepti Pradeep, Senior Director for Agentic AI at Adobe, told TechCrunch over email that people are using the company’s tool in other apps for repeatable workflows like batch-editing images or resizing creatives without leaving the app.
“In focus groups, people talked about the value they get from this experience very clearly: saving time, getting to the outcome they want faster without having to micromanage every step, being able to access Adobe wherever they’re already working. That’s been interesting for us because it’s pushed us to think less about individual edits and more about the larger outcome someone is trying to get to,” Pradeep said.
Other creative tools like Canva and Figma are also making their capabilities available in chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude. On the other hand, companies like Anthropic are releasing tighter integrations in Slack, because team context is often captured through those conversations.
Pradeep said that consumers having choices between tools is a good thing, but Adobe has the advantage of providing both creative and productive tools across different modalities.
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Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.
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Adobe koupila indický startup Rilo zaměřený na marketingovou inteligenci a automatizaci workflow. Součástí transakce je i šestičlenný tým; podmínky nebyly zveřejněny.
Adobe has acquired India-based marketing intelligence startup Rilo in a deal involving licensing and team acquisition, TechCrunch learned and the company confirmed. This is Adobe’s second acquisition from India after it bought video platform Rephrase.ai in 2023. The companies didn’t disclose the deal’s terms.
Beyond confirming the deal, Adobe declined to comment.
The acquisition gives Adobe a small team and technology focused on automating marketing workflows, which have been changing as companies use AI to build tools to automate the creation, deployment, and tracking of campaigns, get action items from meetings or calls to complete tasks, and increase brand visibility on platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Rilo’s technology could bolster Adobe’s existing products as the company targets its larger customers.
Founded by IIT batchmates Georgi Boby and Dhruv Jaglan in 2025, Rilo raised $1 million from investors including Peak XV, DeVC, and Day Zero Ventures at a $10 million valuation. A source told TechCrunch that investors will get an exit from this deal, and Adobe will integrate some of Rilo’s IP along with the six-member team.
The company worked on letting go-to-market teams create custom workflows, including competitor intelligence, content repurposing and distribution, and sales call analysis. It also allowed teams to set up custom workflows comparable to tools like Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work.
Post-acquisition, Rilo will shut down and won’t be available to its customers.
Rilo co-founders Dhruv Jaglan and Georgi BobyImage Credits:Rilo “We’re very excited that Rilo has been acquired by Adobe in such a short span of time,” Rahul Gupta, managing partner, Day Zero Ventures told TechCrunch over email. “Their workflow builder product was way ahead of the curve and shall be extremely valuable to a giant like Adobe in enhancing customer experience and productivity.”
Adobe made a marquee marketing acquisition last year by buying SEO optimization company Semrush for $1.9 billion.
DeVC’s Rahul Mathur told TechCrunch that Rilo could fit into Adobe’s CX and marketing suite to handle complex workflows and give customers visibility into actions they take on the creative company’s platform.
Rivals like Canva have also bolstered their marketing portfolio with acquisitions and new launches. Meanwhile, Amazon, Google, and Meta have built their own AI-powered marketing rails.
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Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.
You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.
Caterpillar hlásí rekordní objednávkový backlog 72 miliard USD, meziročně o 92 % více; 59 % má být dodáno během příštích 12 měsíců. Tahounem je poptávka po energii pro datová centra pro AI.
Key Takeaways Caterpillar's backlog hit a record $72 billion, up 92% year over year, with 59% due within 12 months.AI data-center demand is driving robust orders for reciprocating engines and power-generation growth.Caterpillar plans to nearly triple engine capacity and more than triple Power Generation sales by 2030. U.S. industrial and manufacturing stocks are seeing a massive price surge from the artificial intelligence (AI) data center boom. Heavy machinery giant Caterpillar Inc. (CAT - Free Report) is one of them. The company has been benefiting from broad demand across construction, mining and power markets, with rising sales to users and a record backlog.
CAT’s order backlog reached a record $72 billion at the end of second-quarter 2026, up 92% year over year. All three primary segments contributed to the increase, and 59% of the backlog is expected to be delivered over the next 12 months.
Growth Through AI-Driven Data Centers Caterpillar is gaining from rising AI data-center-related power demand. As big technology companies establish data centers globally to support their generative AI applications, CAT is witnessing robust order levels for reciprocating engines for data centers.
CAT expects full-year 2026 power generation growth in both reciprocating engines and Solar Turbines as cloud computing and generative AI support data-center build-outs. The company continues to add capacity against this multi-year opportunity.
CAT’s long-term plan calls for large reciprocating engine capacity nearly three times the 2024 levels and Power Generation sales more than three times the 2024 levels by 2030. It is also restarting a 10-megawatt gas reciprocating engine platform, adding about 1.5 gigawatts of capacity with shipments expected from fourth-quarter 2026.
Product Innovation Caterpillar continues to invest in digital capabilities, connected assets, services and more productive equipment to deepen customer relationships beyond new-machine sales. The company targets services revenues of $30 billion by 2030, up from $24 billion in 2025.
CAT is also extending its digital and AI capabilities through Cat AI Assistant, its expanded collaboration with NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) , RPMGlobal and Skycatch. These initiatives add software, spatial analytics and AI tools that can improve equipment interaction, mine planning and operating decisions.
Near-Term CatalystU.S. industrial firms are profiting immensely through increased demand for electrical grid equipment, advanced cooling systems, and specialized semiconductor packaging. The stock price of Caterpillar has surged 36% year to date buoyed by massive power demand for AI data centers.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Demand for these products is likely to remain buoyant as four major hyperscalers raised their AI capital expenditure budget to $750 billion for 2026 from $670 billion estimated earlier. This figure is set to cross $1 trillion next year and rise further beyond 2027.
CAT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Strong Guidance Looking to third-quarter 2026, management expects strong growth in sales and revenues compared with the year-ago period. Tariff costs are expected to be in line with the year-ago quarter. CAT anticipates the adjusted operating margin to be higher year over year in the third quarter. The adjusted operating margin was 17.5% in the third quarter of 2025.
For 2026, management expects sales and revenues to grow in the mid-to-high teens. Adjusted operating margin is projected near the bottom of its target range, excluding tariff recoveries. Machinery, Power & Energy (MP&E) free cash flow is expected in the top half of the company’s target range.
Solid Estimate RevisionsCaterpillar has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 16.6% and 42.4%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 9.1% over the last 30 days.
CAT has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 10.7% and 20.8%, respectively, for the next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year’s earnings has improved 0.2% over the last seven days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Robust Price Upside PotentialThe short-term average price target of brokerage firms represents an increase of 29.6% from the last closing price of $779.16. The brokerage target price is currently in the range of $882-$1,225. This indicates a maximum upside of 57.2% and no downside.
JPMorgan uvádí, že zákazníci Salesforce po vyčerpání AI kreditů dokupují další, což může vytvořit trvalý příjmový proud z využití. Agentforce tak přechází od pilotů k monetizaci.
Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is moving beyond early Agentforce adoption as investors turn their attention to consumption, monetization and revenue growth, according to JPMorgan.
Analyst Samik Chatterjee said Wednesday that Salesforce’s post-earnings product webinar strengthened the firm’s confidence in the company’s artificial intelligence strategy.
JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating and a $265 price forecast.
Agentforce Could Accelerate Revenue GrowthChatterjee said the Agentforce debate has entered a more important second phase. The focus is shifting from attracting customers to expanding usage and generating recurring revenue.
That transition could accelerate Salesforce’s revenue and annual recurring revenue growth. It could also offset pressure from slower growth in traditional software seats.
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The number of customers running Salesforce AI products in production has roughly doubled since February. Customers that prove the technology’s value in one area are also buying more products.
About half of Agentforce bookings tied to agent-specific applications come from customers purchasing additional credits after exhausting their original allocations.
JPMorgan said that refill activity shows customers are moving beyond pilot programs and could create a durable, consumption-driven revenue stream.
Customer service is driving the strongest consumption. These applications use about five times as many Agentforce workload units as other use cases.
Salesforce cited SharkNinja, which achieved a 93% autonomous resolution rate. Live Nation recorded 37,000 interactions about 30 days after deployment.
Agentforce One Edition sits at the top of that structure. It costs $550 per user each month and bundles premium applications, Slack, Tableau, Data Cloud and unlimited internal Agentforce use. Headless access alone costs $50 per user each month.
JPMorgan said early demand for Agentforce One Edition points to a potentially strong upsell opportunity.
Salesforce is also expanding access beyond traditional software seats. Headless 360 allows employees to use Salesforce workflows through Slack, Claude and specialized interfaces.
Premium Slack upgrades have tripled since Salesforce launched Slackbot, according to the company.
Dreamforce Becomes The Next CatalystJPMorgan expects Salesforce to increasingly charge customers for business outcomes, such as resolved cases, qualified leads and processed orders.
The model could improve margins if Salesforce routes each task to the most cost-effective AI model. However, it also carries risk. An unsuccessful task can consume computing resources without generating revenue.
Chatterjee identified Salesforce’s upcoming investor day at Dreamforce as the next major catalyst. The event could connect the company’s expanding Agentforce strategy with its medium-term financial outlook.
Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $266.36. Recent analyst moves include:
Cantor Fitzgerald: Overweight (Raises Forecast to $300.00) (Sept. 2) BTIG: Buy (Maintains Forecast to $300.00) (Sept. 2) TD Cowen: Buy (Raises Forecast to $300.00) (Sept. 1) Salesforce Top ETF Exposure SmartETFs Advertising and Marketing Technology ETF (NYSE:MRAD): 4.11% Weight iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS:IGV): 5.28% Weight First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (NYSE:FDN): 4.66% Weight Significance: Because CRM carries significant weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock.
Salesforce Price ActionCRM Price Action: Salesforce shares were down 0.82% at $256.00 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Seismic oznámila kombinované roční opakované tržby kolem 600 milionů USD, z toho asi 200 milionů USD připadá na Highspot. Firma zároveň ponechá seattleské kanceláře a současné platformy bude zatím dál prodávat i podporovat.
Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff inside Highspot’s longtime offices in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Highspot’s branding is still everywhere inside its longtime headquarters at World Trade Center East, overlooking the Seattle waterfront. But outside the corner office that once belonged to the sales software company’s co-founder and CEO, “Seismic” is scribbled on the whiteboard.
That’s how fresh the merger is. Two weeks after San Diego-based Seismic took over its Seattle-based rival, Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff is in town this week for the first board meeting since the combination was completed, and the inaugural gathering of the combined company’s senior leadership team.
Highspot and Seismic sell sales enablement software: systems that manage the pitch decks, case studies and training materials salespeople use, and track which ones help close deals.
Founded in 2011 by Robert Wahbe and two former Microsoft colleagues, Highspot raised $650 million and held the top spot on the GeekWire 200, our ranking of the region’s privately held tech companies, prior to the merger. Wahbe, its CEO until the deal closed, is now on Seismic’s board.
Highspot co-founder Robert Wahbe, who led the company until the merger closed and now serves on Seismic’s board. (Highspot Photo) Tarkoff, a lawyer by training who spent much of his career in corporate development and M&A, became Seismic’s CEO in October 2025, succeeding co-founder Doug Winter. He had previously spent seven years running Oracle’s customer experience business.
The Highspot deal was announced in February, four months into his tenure.
Tarkoff addressed a wide range of questions from GeekWire in an interview Monday afternoon in Wahbe’s former office, which now serves as an ad hoc meeting room.
Here are the main takeaways from the interview:
A $600 million company: Tarkoff disclosed the combined company’s annual recurring revenue for the first time, putting it at about $600 million, with about $200 million of that coming from Highspot.
That makes the combined business three times the size Highspot was on its own and 50% bigger than Seismic. Tarkoff said the larger size will be an adjustment for people across both companies as they come together. “We’re getting closer to being a billion dollar company,” he said.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, and Tarkoff declined to say whether the transaction put Highspot above or below the $3.5 billion valuation it reached in 2022.
Tim Porter, managing director at Madrona, which led Highspot’s Series A in 2014, called it a “multi-billion-dollar merger” in a post after the deal closed. Porter, who serves as a board observer at Seismic following the combination, wrote that Madrona hopes to help build the combined company into “a truly iconic AI software company, through a potential IPO and beyond.”
Permira, the private equity firm that has backed Seismic since 2020, remains the controlling shareholder of the combined company.
Impact on jobs: Seismic said when the deal closed that Highspot had more than 700 employees and that the combined company would have about 1,700 total. Tarkoff said in a statement at the time that the companies were “carefully evaluating our organizations to identify areas of overlap,” and that “any decisions will be communicated directly and proactively to employees.”
Since then, word of initial job cuts has started to emerge on LinkedIn and other online forums, but the company has not provided specifics or disclosed any numbers.
Asked for an update on job reductions this week, Tarkoff said, “We did our best to try to find roles for everybody that we could, but there’s always some level of overlap where you don’t need two people doing a task that requires one.”
Tarkoff did not provide numbers or address the question of whether more job cuts are coming. He said the company feels “really good about where we are from a go-forward staff perspective,” while adding: “We will continue to push performance and push growth and acceleration.”
Seismic’s future in Seattle: Tarkoff said Seismic will keep Highspot’s Seattle offices at World Trade Center East, where the company has a long-term lease. He called Seattle “one of the top centers of excellence for tech talent,” citing the ability to recruit from Amazon, Microsoft and others.
There will be no designated Seattle site leader, he said, describing the office as one of the company’s major centers rather than a headquarters.
However, several senior leaders of the combined company are based in Seattle, including Kurt Berglund, who led engineering at Highspot and is now Seismic’s senior vice president of AI.
Others include chief human resources officer Kimberly Schultz, who joined Seismic in June after 11 years at Amazon, where she led the team responsible for integrating acquisitions and divestitures, and Lucas Welch, VP of brand and communications, who spent nearly eight years at Highspot.
Tarkoff said a number of the company’s top engineers are based in Seattle as well.
Seismic’s other major locations include San Diego, Boston, Toronto, Vancouver, B.C., London and Hyderabad, India, where Tarkoff said the company has more than doubled its presence. Gurpreet Singh Pall, who was Highspot India’s chief operating officer, now leads Seismic’s India operations.
Product plans: The current Highspot and Seismic platforms both will continue to be sold and supported for the time being, Tarkoff said. He declined to set a timetable for eventually consolidating them, saying customers will move to a new platform when one is ready.
Now that the companies are able to work directly together, he said they’ve come to see that the two products are closer than he understood before the deal closed. Seismic has focused on complex enterprise workflows and regulated industries, financial services in particular, while Highspot built for a broader market of upper mid-market and lower enterprise customers.
With two teams no longer building the same things, he said, engineering can move to new work — more AI agents, additional content governance features, and deeper industry-specific workflows such as archiving and records retention.
Rivals are making the opposite case. Ali Akhtar, CEO of Letter AI, wrote in a LinkedIn post last week that mergers in the category turn companies inward for quarters or years, predicting “stalled innovation, layoffs, and distractions from delivering customer value,” and a period of reduced support for customers on legacy platforms. Akhtar is offering to buy out their contracts.
Pricing: Tarkoff said seat-based subscriptions aren’t going away, because enterprises want predictable costs. He said he’s skeptical of the usage-based pricing some AI vendors have adopted, pointing to high-profile examples of companies blowing past their budgets.
“Token-maxing is not really a good model long term, because it’s just going to force enterprises to use less,” he said.
He said Seismic is working toward pricing tied to outcomes rather than usage.
The Salesforce question: A week after the Seismic-Highspot merger closed, Salesforce and Anthropic announced Claudeforce, making Claude the default model across Slack and parts of Salesforce’s Agentforce platform.
Salesforce is both a channel and a rival for Seismic. Seismic’s software sells through the Salesforce AppExchange, and its Aura AI runs inside Agentforce, Salesforce’s agent platform. At the same time, Salesforce’s Sales Cloud includes its own sales enablement tools. And Agentforce agents increasingly do work that enablement platforms have owned.
Asked whether the partnership makes Salesforce a tougher competitor, Tarkoff said no.
As sellers start working inside Claude rather than inside individual applications, he said, the assistant will call each company separately — Salesforce for customer records, Seismic for approved content and sales materials. That makes Seismic a peer of Salesforce inside Claude, rather than an add-on inside Salesforce’s own product.
“It actually puts us more on an even playing field with Salesforce,” he said.
But Salesforce is considerably further along. Claudeforce launched with a Salesforce plugin carrying 37 prebuilt sales skills, in pilot now and due in open beta this month.
Much of the early analysis of the Salesforce-Anthropic partnership saw it as evidence that enterprise AI is consolidating around a few deep platform alliances rather than opening up.
Seismic’s next fiscal year begins Feb. 1. Tarkoff said he expects to spend much of the intervening months on the road with customers and employees. Seismic plans to give the first detailed look at its new product roadmap at its Shift conference, Oct. 12-15 in Carlsbad, Calif.
Oracle zvýšila tržby z cloudu ve 4. fiskálním čtvrtletí o 47 % meziročně a celkové tržby o 21 %. Akcie jsou ale stále více než 50 % pod dosavadním maximem zhruba před rokem.
It wasn't long ago when Oracle (ORCL +3.23%) was approaching a $1 trillion market cap, thanks in large part to optimism about its cloud computing business. However, the stock is down by more than 50% from the all-time high it set almost a year ago, and it currently has a market cap below $500 billion.
This dramatic drop has created a buying opportunity, and if Oracle can continue to ride the tailwinds of the AI megatrend for multiple years, it has a real shot at recovering past that peak and reaching a $1 trillion valuation for the first time.
Image source: Getty Images.
Cloud revenue continues to climb Oracle's cloud segment is the most important part of the business to consider when assessing how far the stock can climb. That segment continues to do well. Oracle reported cloud revenue growth of 47% year over year in its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter. Total revenue for the company was up by 21%.
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The major drag on the stock relates to Oracle's remaining performance obligations. It has $638 billion in its backlog. That's a good number on the surface since Oracle earned $19.2 billion in its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter. The issue is that its contract with OpenAI accounts for more than $300 billion of that $638 billion total.
There is a lot of uncertainty about that contract. First, in December, Bloomberg reported that Oracle was going to delay delivery of the OpenAI-related data center project by a year -- an assertion that Oracle promptly denied. According to Oracle, those data centers will be delivered on time in 2027.
Investors' bigger concern regards OpenAI's ability to pay $60 billion per year for five years to Oracle when it posted a $38.5 billion net loss in 2025. Its $40 billion in annual recurring revenue wouldn't be enough to cover that commitment, even if it operated with 100% net profit margins, and the Oracle contract is far from OpenAI's only expense.
These concerns are valid when it comes to the pipeline, but Oracle is delivering solid results right now, and it still has a lot of other customers with more reliable finances in its remaining performance obligations.
The valuation has dropped considerably Anytime a stock goes through a deep correction, it's a good time to reassess its valuation. Although Oracle previously commanded a P/E ratio in the 50s, it only trades at a 26 P/E ratio right now. Furthermore, its price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio is just 0.86. Any stock with a positive PEG ratio below 1 is generally viewed as being undervalued.
Oracle stock offers a more attractive margin of safety right now than it did a few months ago. Furthermore, if its revenue and net income continue to climb, investors should feel more willing to expand its valuations again and send it back toward its all-time highs.
The artificial intelligence boom isn't anywhere close to being over. Grand View Research projects a 30.6% compound annual growth rate for the artificial intelligence market through 2033. Oracle's cloud platform is poised to ride that wave, which could propel the company to a $1 trillion market cap.
21 globálních finančních institucí plánuje stablecoin v USD, jehož spuštění cílí na první polovinu roku 2027. Pro Circle Internet Group to znamená novou konkurenci pro USDC, který měl na konci 2. čtvrtletí v oběhu 73,3 miliardy USD.
Key Takeaways Major banks plan a U.S. dollar stablecoin for 2027, intensifying competition in digital payments.CRCL's USDC reached $73.3B in circulation, while on-chain volume surged 151% to $14.8T in Q2.USDC's liquidity and broad distribution offer an edge, but bank-backed tokens could pressure its market share. The stablecoin market could be headed for a major competitive shake-up as some of the world’s largest financial institutions move beyond experimentation and prepare to compete directly for blockchain-based payments and liquidity.
A group of 21 global financial institutions, including Citigroup (C - Free Report) , Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) , Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) and Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) , has committed to establishing a new company in the second half of 2026, subject to closing conditions, to issue a U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin. The group is targeting the first half of 2027 for the launch of its initial U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin, with stablecoins linked to additional G7 currencies planned over the longer term.
The initiative could strengthen the participating banks’ positions in blockchain-based payments and settlement. However, for Circle Internet Group (CRCL - Free Report) , it adds another potentially formidable competitor to USD Coin (“USDC”), its dollar-backed stablecoin and core business product, just as regulatory clarity is making the stablecoin market more attractive to traditional financial institutions.
Why Are Big Banks Moving Into Stablecoins Now?A major catalyst is the improving U.S. regulatory environment. The GENIUS Act created a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, including requirements around licensing and reserves. The law is expected to become effective on Jan. 18, 2027, broadly aligning with the banking consortium’s planned first-half 2027 launch. The consortium has stated that its stablecoin initiative is intended to comply with the GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA framework, where applicable.
This regulatory clarity could make it easier for large financial institutions to compete in a market that has so far been dominated by crypto-native companies.
The 21 participating institutions intend to combine traditional banking strengths, including compliance, governance, distribution and institutional risk management, with blockchain technology. The planned stablecoin is expected to support wholesale, institutional and retail use cases, including cross-border payments and digital-asset settlement. Importantly, the initiative reflects a broader shift in banks’ digital-asset strategy.
C, BAC, GS & WFC Could Gain From the Digital-Money ShiftFor Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, the initiative represents more of a long-term strategic opportunity than an immediate earnings catalyst.
Citigroup could leverage its global transaction-banking and cross-border payment capabilities as blockchain-based settlement expands among corporations and financial institutions.
Bank of America, meanwhile, could use its large commercial and corporate banking franchise to deepen payment and treasury relationships as clients increasingly adopt tokenized forms of money.
Goldman Sachs could benefit from greater institutional adoption of tokenized assets, stablecoins and blockchain-based settlement, particularly if digital assets become more integrated with capital markets.
Wells Fargo could similarly use stablecoin infrastructure to enhance treasury management and payment offerings for corporate customers.
However, the consortium’s stablecoin is not expected to launch until the first half of 2027. Hence, any direct contribution to C, BAC, GS or WFC revenues is unlikely to materially alter their near-term earnings outlook. The more significant benefit is positioning these institutions for a financial system in which traditional deposits, tokenized deposits and blockchain-based stablecoins increasingly coexist.
Banks’ Stablecoin Push Could Pressure CRCL’s USDC MoatFor Circle Internet Group, the development carries meaningful competitive implications because USDC remains the foundation of its business. At the end of second-quarter 2026, USDC in circulation reached $73.3 billion, up 19% year over year, while on-chain transaction volume surged 151% to $14.8 trillion. Reserve income totaled $668 million, accounting for roughly 95% of Circle’s $701 million in total revenues and reserve income.
A stablecoin backed by 21 major financial institutions could eventually challenge USDC by leveraging banks’ extensive corporate, institutional and payments relationships. Greater adoption of a bank-backed token could pressure USDC’s market share, circulation growth and reserve income.
However, the threat is unlikely to be immediate. Circle has spent years building USDC’s liquidity, distribution and network effects across exchanges, wallets, payment applications and blockchain networks. New entrants will need to replicate that ecosystem, secure broad integrations and convince customers to actively use their token. Thus, while the banks’ regulatory standing and distribution provide a strong competitive advantage, they do not automatically match USDC’s established liquidity and scale.
What Should Investors Watch?The 21-bank stablecoin initiative is a long-term strategic positive for Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, giving them another avenue to participate in blockchain-based payments and settlement. While near-term financial benefits may be modest, the banks could leverage their corporate relationships, compliance capabilities and distribution networks to defend existing payment and deposit businesses, and capture transaction flows.
For Circle Internet Group, the initiative is a credible competitive risk but not an immediate threat to USDC. Investors should monitor USDC circulation, transaction volumes, institutional adoption and market share as bank-backed stablecoins enter the market.
GameStop v předběžných výsledcích za 2. čtvrtletí očekává čistý zisk 290 až 310 milionů USD, hlavně díky zisku z podílu v eBay. Část výsledku ale srazila ztráta 75 milionů USD ze znehodnocení digitálních aktiv a souvisejících pohledávek.
Shares of GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) are trading modestly higher Wednesday morning. Investors continue to process the company’s preliminary second-quarter financial update released on August 31.
The stock is finding a floor ahead of its official earnings presentation scheduled for September 8, supported by disclosures of investment income stemming from its equity position in online marketplace giant eBay Inc.
Here’s what investors need to know.
GameStop stock is trading near recent lows. What should traders watch with GME? Preliminary Q2 Earnings Boosted By eBay Equity GainsIn its preliminary disclosure on August 31, GameStop projected second-quarter net income between $290 million and $310 million, up significantly from $168.6 million in the prior-year quarter, alongside operating income of $150 million to $170 million.
Bottom-line expansion was largely driven by approximately $238 million in net gains generated after converting a derivative structure into a direct holding of 43.4 million shares of eBay common stock, valued at roughly $4.95 billion as of August 1.
These equity gains were partially offset by a $75 million impairment loss across the company’s digital assets and related receivables.
Liquidity Profile, Debt Restructuring and Macro HeadwindsGameStop ended the period with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities between $5.05 billion and $5.07 billion. Concurrently, management announced the settlement of $358 million in convertible notes, leaving approximately $2.8 billion in aggregate long-dated notes outstanding.
As Chief Executive Officer Ryan Cohen continues redirecting GameStop’s balance sheet toward active corporate investment strategies, traders are balancing the company’s $10 billion combined cash and equity position against broader market volatility, where the 10-year Treasury yield hovering near 4.81% on Wednesday morning continues to pressure equity valuations across retail and growth sectors.
GME Shares Edge Higher WednesdayGME Price Action: GameStop shares were trading higher by 0.96% at $18.99 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Key Takeaways Lockheed Martin is benefiting from strong defense demand, lifting backlog to a record $230 billion.Javelin, missile-defense and hypersonic investments expand Lockheed Martin's growth opportunities.Lockheed Martin faces program risks and high debt, prompting investors to await a better entry point. Lockheed Martin’s (LMT - Free Report) shares have risen 12.6% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Aerospace-Defense industry’s decline of 4.1%. LMT is benefiting from a favorable macro backdrop of higher U.S. and allied defense spending, inventory replenishment and growing demand for missile defense, munitions, advanced aircraft and space systems.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Shares of other defense stocks, such as General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) and Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) , have shown mixed performance in the year-to-date period. Shares of General Dynamics have risen 9.7% while those of Northrop Grumman have lost 6.5% over the time frame.
Considering Lockheed Martin’s outperformance, investors might be left wondering if this is a good time to add LMT stock to their portfolio. Let's examine the factors that contributed to the share price gain and assess the stock's investment prospects to make an informed decision.
Tailwinds for LMT StockLockheed Martin is capitalizing on strong demand by securing longer-duration awards, enhancing revenue visibility and supporting capacity expansion. Backlog reached a record $230 billion as of June 28, 2026, after the company booked $65 billion of second-quarter orders and achieved a 3.2 book-to-bill ratio.
In August 2026, Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems signed an MOU designating Tata Advanced Systems as the prime Indian partner for locally co-producing the Javelin anti-tank missile. Javelin is developed and produced by the Javelin Joint Venture (“JJV”), a partnership between Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona, and Lockheed Martin in Orlando, FL. The collaboration strengthens LMT's exposure to India's rising defense spending, expands its international production footprint and could support higher Javelin volumes over time. With more than 55,000 missiles already produced, the Javelin program provides the partnership with an established product rather than an unproven system.
In August 2026, Lockheed Martin has been selected by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to modernize its Modeling & Simulation Objective Simulation Framework, a virtual environment used to test and evaluate missile-defense systems before they are deployed. This is particularly attractive as missile threats become more complex and the Pentagon increases investment in layered missile defense. Lockheed Martin's broader missile-defense portfolio — including THAAD, PAC-3 and the Next Generation Interceptor — allows expertise gained through the simulation framework to complement its physical weapons programs.
On Aug. 11, 2026, Lockheed Martin announced a multimillion-dollar internal investment to develop a Modular Payload Delivery System (“MPDS”) that uses proven hypersonic missile-body technologies but redesigns them into a modular architecture. A modular design should enable the company to respond more quickly to evolving Pentagon requirements while potentially reducing the time and engineering costs required to develop new variants.
Challenges for LMT StockLockheed Martin remains exposed to cost-estimate and schedule risk on complex programs, especially under fixed-price arrangements. Second-quarter 2026 results benefited from the absence of the $1.6 billion in reach-forward losses recorded in the prior-year period, rather than from the elimination of the underlying execution risk. Aeronautics also recorded $160 million of lower net favorable profit adjustments.
Management cited F-16 and C-130 program challenges as factors affecting Aeronautics margins, while lower initial booking rates on new contracts may weigh on profitability. The company also retains existing classified and helicopter program exposures on its balance sheet, which could continue to generate additional program losses over time if cost, scope or approval assumptions deteriorate.
Estimates for LMT StockThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share (EPS) indicates year-over-year growth of 31.44%. LMT’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 19.19%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for General Dynamics’ 2026 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 9.44%. GD’s long-term earnings growth rate is 10.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Northrop Grumman’s 2026 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 9.45%. NOC’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.33%.
LMT’s Earnings Surprise HistoryThe company beat on earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 8.85%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
LMT’s Debt PositionCurrently, the company’s total debt to capital is 70.08%, higher than the industry’s average of 46.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
LMT Stock Trades at a DiscountIn terms of valuation, LMT’s forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) is 1.51X, a discount to the industry’s average of 2.4X. This suggests that the stock is trading at a lower valuation relative to its projected sales growth than its peer group.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
What Should an Investor Do Now?Lockheed Martin is benefiting from strong defense demand, building a larger backlog and securing longer-term opportunities that improve revenue visibility and support future capacity expansion. Its partnerships and investments in Javelin production, missile-defense simulation, and modular hypersonic systems strengthen its international presence, broaden its technology portfolio and position the company to benefit from growing demand for advanced defense
capabilities.
Considering its financial pressures and current debt levels, new investors should wait and watch for a better entry point. Investors who already own this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock may consider retaining it, given the company’s earnings growth outlook and price performance.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
JPMorgan sees AI infrastructure spending surging toward a figure that would reshape entire markets, and the companies capable of manufacturing and designing the chips at that buildout's core fit on one hand. Three names sit at the chokepoint, and their…
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The silicon layer is where the AI buildout begins and where the bottleneck is tightest. JPMorgan projects annual AI infrastructure spending will reach $1.4 trillion by 2030, and the chips at the heart of that spend come from a small group of designers and one indispensable manufacturer. NVIDIA’s own CFO commentary underlines the constraint: management characterized the outlook as supply-constrained and expects supply to remain a bottleneck at least through the end of fiscal 2028. Three US-listed names capture the economics of that supply chain, and their most recent quarters make the setup concrete.
NVIDIA: Merchant GPU Standard Riding the Vera Rubin Ramp NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) designs the accelerators that train and run the largest AI models. In plain language, NVIDIA sells the compute engine, plus the switching fabric that connects thousands of those engines into an AI factory. The company outsources manufacturing, handing designs to Taiwan Semiconductor.
The August 26 report was the tell. Q2 FY27 revenue reached $96.22 billion, up 105.85% year over year, with data center revenue of $89.02 billion growing 117%. Non-GAAP EPS of $2.22 beat the $2.0887 consensus by 6.29%, and Q3 revenue guidance came in at $108.0 billion plus or minus 2%, excluding any data center compute revenue from China. Management said Vera Rubin commenced production shipments earlier this month and expects it to mark the fastest product ramp in NVIDIA’s history.
The bull case is simple. Content per gigawatt is expanding as fast as the number of gigawatts being built. NVIDIA cited roughly $18 billion per gigawatt on Hopper, $25 billion on Blackwell, and $40 billion on Vera Rubin. The top five hyperscalers are guided toward nearly $800 billion in capex in 2026 and $1.3 trillion in 2027, and NVIDIA expects to grow revenue approximately 70% in fiscal 2028 with unconstrained demand described as “a lot higher.” Shares are up 14.49% over the past month and 16.79% year to date, closing at $217.55 on August 28.
The risk is concentration and execution. Supply commitments surged to $279 billion, largely tied to memory procurement for Vera Rubin, and China contributed less than 1% of data center revenue in Q2 with no China data center compute revenue in the forward outlook. A slower Vera Rubin ramp or a memory hiccup would leave a lot of committed capital exposed.
Taiwan Semiconductor: Foundry Monopoly on Leading-Edge Silicon Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) is the world’s dominant pure-play foundry. TSMC manufactures the designs that NVIDIA, Broadcom, AMD, and Apple hand over. When observers say “leading-edge silicon,” they largely mean wafers coming out of TSMC’s 3nm and 2nm nodes. Every AI chip designer in this article depends on it.
Q2 was a demonstration of pricing power. Revenue reached $40.20 billion with a 67.7% gross margin, diluted EPS of $4.31 beat the $3.8866 consensus by 10.89%, and technologies at 7nm and below accounted for 77% of wafer revenue, with 3nm at 30% and 2nm at 3% in its first commercial quarter. Guidance was equally aggressive: Q3 revenue of $44.6 billion to $45.8 billion and full-year 2026 revenue growth slightly above 40% in US dollar terms.
The bull case is structural scarcity. CEO C.C. Wei said conviction in the multi-year AI megatrend “remains very high” and that demand should stay strong through 2029 and 2030. TSMC raised its 2026 capital budget to $60 billion to $64 billion and said the next three years of capex will be “even more significantly higher than the past three years.” Total planned Arizona investment now sits at $265 billion following an additional $100 billion commitment. Shares have responded, up 38.08% year to date and 77.12% over the past year through August 28, and the average analyst target sits at $554.45.
The risks are two-sided. Geopolitics around Taiwan is the obvious tail, and near-term margin compression is the near-term one: management expects the 2nm ramp to dilute gross margin by about 3 to 4 percentage points in the second half of 2026, with overseas fabs adding another 2% to 3% of dilution in the early stages.
Broadcom: Custom Accelerator Alternative and AI Networking Backbone Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) plays two roles the merchant-GPU story does not cover. It designs custom AI accelerators (XPUs, essentially bespoke chips) for hyperscalers that want an alternative to NVIDIA’s GPUs, and it sells the Ethernet switching silicon that stitches those clusters together. When a hyperscaler wants its own chip instead of an off-the-shelf GPU, Broadcom is typically the design partner.
The Q2 FY26 earnings report confirmed the trajectory. Revenue reached a record $22.19 billion, up 47.87% year over year, with AI semiconductor revenue of $10.80 billion growing 143%. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 69% of revenue, and free cash flow of $10.262 billion represented 46% of revenue. CEO Hock Tan said Q2 AI semiconductor bookings exceeded $30 billion against $10.8 billion shipped, and Q3 guidance calls for AI semiconductor revenue of $16.0 billion, up over 200% year over year.
The bull case rests on visibility. Broadcom disclosed a contractual OpenAI commitment for 1.3 gigawatts in 2027 within a broader 10 gigawatt agreement targeted by 2029, a Meta MTIA deal contemplating 3 gigawatts through 2028, and an Anthropic arrangement enabling access to 5 gigawatts of next-generation TPU-based compute beginning in 2027. Tan said visibility now runs to 2028 and called demand for XPUs and networking “simply insatiable.” Forward P/E sits at 20, and shares closed at $368.79 on August 28, up 20.36% over the past year.
The risk is customer concentration. Broadcom’s AI revenue leans on a handful of hyperscaler programs, and Tan acknowledged Google may use “diversity of sources” as AI compute consumption grows. Lose a socket at one of six customers and the growth math bends quickly.
Where This Leaves Investors These three names sit at different points of the same value chain: NVIDIA designs the standard, Broadcom designs the custom alternative and the networking silicon around both, and Taiwan Semiconductor manufactures for all of them. All three are mega-cap blue chips, so the risk profile is homogenous. The forward setup rests on hyperscaler and frontier-lab capex holding up through 2027 and 2028, and current bookings, backlog, and capacity commitments say it is. Watch Vera Rubin yield, 2nm dilution at TSMC, and Broadcom’s Q3 earnings report for the next confirmation. Chips are only half the buildout, of course; the power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind the data centers are the other half, and we profiled seven of them in a free report on the AI boom beyond the chipmakers.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Republic Services za poslední tři měsíce posílila o 9,6 % díky lepšímu cenovému řízení. Firma čeká, že investice do AI a digitálu přinesou do roku 2028 alespoň 100 milionů USD ročních úspor.
Key Takeaways Republic Services' pricing execution drove 90-basis-point underlying margin expansion in both quarters.RSG raised its 2026 acquisition investment goal to more than $1.2 billion, focused on key waste assets.Republic Services expects AI and digital investments to deliver at least $100M in annual savings by 2028. Republic Services (RSG - Free Report) stock has gained 9.6% in the past three months. The stock has outpaced the industry and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's 3.9% and 1.3% rallies, respectively.
3-Month Share Price Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Let us delve deeper into the factors that have contributed to the company’s outperformance.
Prudent Pricing ExecutionRSG delivered core price gains on related revenues of 6.8% and 6.4% during the first and second quarters of 2026, driven by open market pricing of 8.4% and 7.8%, respectively. In both quarters, total revenue average yield reached 3.4%, remaining ahead of cost inflation. Underlying margin expanded 90 basis points for both quarters on the back of core pricing execution, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 32.1% amid volume and commodity challenges. The company is bent on incorporating predictive AI models to calculate tailored pricing across localized markets, maximizing price retention while reducing customer churn.
Capital Allocation & BuyoutsIn the first half of 2026, Republic Services spent $860 million in acquisitions and hiked the 2026 buyout investment goal to more than $1.2 billion, targeted mainly on Recycling & Waste alongside Environmental Solutions assets. The company returned more than $1 billion to shareholders via dividends and repurchases during the first half of 2026, including repurchasing nearly 1% of outstanding shares. The company has raised its annual dividend over the past 23 years consecutively on the back of persistent cash flow.
Operational MomentumInvestments made by the company in AI, digital routing and the RISE platform are targeted at enhancing route efficiency, service execution and operating leverage. Management anticipates these investments to deliver at least $100 million in annual cost benefits by 2028. The lower recycled commodity prices are offset by Polymer Center volume gains. In the second quarter of 2026, RSG commenced operations for two renewable natural gas projects with another two expected by the year-end, supporting the company’s long-term growth trajectory. Republic Services had more than 250 units of electric collection vehicles at the end of the second quarter of 2026 and is on track to surpass 300 units by the end of the year.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderRSG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector include Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM - Free Report) and CBIZ (CBZ - Free Report) , each currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13.9%. BFAM delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 7.6%, on average.
CBIZ has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 11.6%. CBZ delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.9%, on average.
CVS Health letos vytvořila zhruba 10,6 mld. USD provozního cash flow a ve 2. čtvrtletí držela asi 2,7 mld. USD hotovosti. Firma čeká zlepšení poměru zadlužení zhruba na 3,5násobek a v roce 2026 nepočítá s odkupy akcií.
Key Takeaways CVS Health generated about $10.6B in YTD operating cash flow and ended Q2 with roughly $2.7B in cash. CVS expects leverage to improve from about 3.5x as it executes its 2026 outlook and reduces leverage. CVS assumes no 2026 buybacks and limited 2027 repurchases, keeping balance-sheet improvement a priority. CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) maintained a strong balance sheet throughout the first half of 2026, supported by robust cash generation and disciplined capital deployment.
The company has generated approximately $10.6 billion in operating cash flow year to date, reflecting strong earnings and improvements in working capital. It ended the second quarter with roughly $2.7 billion of cash at the parent company and unrestricted subsidiaries. The company reported a leverage ratio of approximately 3.5 times in the second quarter and expects the ratio to improve further as it executes against its 2026 outlook. CVS raised its full-year operating cash flow outlook to at least $11.5 billion, providing additional capacity to reduce leverage and strengthen financial flexibility.
CVS also remains committed to shareholder returns, having distributed more than $1.7 billion through dividends year to date. However, the company is maintaining a cautious approach toward share repurchases. Its current 2026 outlook assumes no share buybacks, with additional capital deployment opportunities to be evaluated as leverage improves.
This trend extends into 2027, with repurchases assumed to be limited to offsetting share dilution rather than supporting incremental buybacks. This suggests that balance-sheet improvement remains a near-term capital allocation priority.
Peer UpdateWith no debt on Align Technology’s (ALGN - Free Report) balance sheet, it looks quite comfortable from the liquidity point of view. The company’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.10 billion at the end of second-quarter 2026. Second-quarter operating cash flow totaled $192.8 million, while free cash flow was $157.1 million after $35.7 million of capital expenditures. ALGN repurchased about 393,400 shares for $67 million during the quarter at an average price of $169.45. As of June 30, $733.3 million remained under the $1 billion authorization announced in April 2025.
Cardinal Health (CAH - Free Report) ended fiscal 2026 with $4.9 billion of cash and $5.0 billion of adjusted free cash flow. The company repurchased about $1.4 billion of shares during the year and received a $5.0 billion increase to its repurchase authorization. This liquidity supports ongoing investment, tuck-in acquisitions and shareholder returns while preserving financial flexibility.
CVS’ Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesOver the past year, CVS Health shares have risen 31.1% compared with the industry’s 10.8% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CVS shares are trading at a forward five-year price-to-sales ratio of 0.29, lower than the industry average of 0.50. The stock has a Value Score of A.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The consensus estimate for the company’s 2026 earnings has been showing a bullish trend.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CVS currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Investors looking to capitalize on the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom have increasingly turned to basic materials, and industrial metals—copper chief among them—are having a moment few saw coming even a year ago. What started as a trade-policy story has fused with a structural demand story, and the combination is rewriting price records almost weekly.
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Copper Prices Rise on Tariffs and AI Infrastructure DemandComex copper touched a fresh all-time high above $6.72 per pound in late August, and the metal has continued to trade near those levels into September. Two forces are doing the heavy lifting.
First, there's the current tariff policy. Washington imposed a 50% Section 232 tariff on semi-finished copper products and copper-intensive derivatives in 2025, later expanding the rate structure in April 2026, while leaving refined cathode largely exempt—for now.
That exemption has been enough to trigger a scramble. Traders have spent months rerouting metal into U.S. warehouses ahead of the possibility that refined copper will eventually be swept into the tariff policy, and Comex inventories have ballooned to levels that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago.
The catch is that once copper lands in a bonded U.S. warehouse, it's largely stuck there. So what was supposed to be a comfortable global surplus has effectively been drained from the rest of the world. Analysts at CRU, who had projected a healthy 2026 surplus, now describe the non-U.S. market as balanced at best, with some warning it could look like an outright deficit if the flows continue.
Second, and less reversible, is demand. Data centers have become a source of copper demand that doesn't flex with price the way industrial buying usually does. Hyperscalers need the wiring, bus bars, and cooling infrastructure regardless of what copper costs per pound.
That's a new kind of buyer for a market that used to take its cues almost entirely from construction and manufacturing cycles. Layer on grid modernization and electrification, and you have a demand base that's structurally higher even before the tariff-driven stockpiling is factored in.
Freeport-McMoRan Offers Direct Exposure to Rising Copper PricesFreeport-McMoRan NYSE: FCX is the most direct U.S.-listed proxy for copper prices and the largest domestic producer of refined copper. That means it stands to benefit most if the exemption narrows.
Freeport-McMoRan Today
FCX
Freeport-McMoRan
$74.24 +1.77 (+2.44%)
As of 11:12 AM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$35.15▼
$80.240.40%
36.68
$70.27
The FCX chart confirms that story. Shares have run from the low $40s a year ago to the mid-$70s, with the 50-day moving average now trending firmly upward and MACD back in bullish territory after a rocky spring.
Q2 2026 net income attributable to common stock came in at $984 million, or 68 cents per share. That pushed first-half net income up 65% year-over-year, even as headline revenue slipped to $7.03 billion from $7.58 billion a year earlier. That decline was driven by lower Indonesian gold and copper volumes during the phased Grasberg Block Cave ramp-up, not by weaker pricing.
Realized copper prices averaged $6.17 per pound in the quarter, and U.S. mining operations more than doubled their operating income contribution versus the first half of 2025, underscoring just how much of FCX's earnings power is now coming from the domestic side of the business, which the tariff regime is designed to protect.
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$98.40▼
$223.882.14%
30.10
$146.84
Southern Copper NYSE: SCCO is the low-cost operator of the group, and its Q2 2026 numbers underline why. Revenue rose roughly 41% year-over-year to $4.29 billion, while net income jumped more than 70% to $1.67 billion.
Byproduct credits from silver, molybdenum, and zinc have been the real story. They pushed operating cash cost per pound of copper down to just a nickel, from 63 cents a year earlier. That's a cost structure in which margin expansion accelerates disproportionately as copper prices climb, since so little of the cost base remains exposed once byproducts are netted out.
The chart shows that investors understand the benefits of the company's operating leverage. SCCO has more than doubled off its spring lows and set a fresh record above $220 in late August before pulling back slightly.
BHP Gives Investors Diversified Exposure to the Copper BoomBHP Group Today
$93.86 +1.04 (+1.12%)
As of 11:12 AM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
$51.83▼
$98.713.08%
$78.00
BHP Group NYSE: BHP is the diversified pick, and for readers who are less risk-tolerant, it's arguably the easiest entry point into the copper thesis.
For the first time in the company's history, copper generated more than half of BHP's underlying EBITDA in fiscal 2026, about 54%, or roughly $18 billion, overtaking iron ore as the group's largest earnings contributor.
Underlying attributable profit rose 30% to $13.2 billion for the year. BHP's chart shows the same steady uptrend as its pure-play peers, climbing from the high $50s a year ago to near $96, though it's pulled back modestly from its late-August peak alongside the rest of the group. The tradeoff for investors is that while BHP is less tethered specifically to copper, it means it has a lower concentration risk than the other names on this list.
Copper’s Rally Faces a Risk From Tariffs and Policy UncertaintyNot everyone treats $6.70 copper as a clean read on global growth. Some analysts note the price carries a real "policy premium" tied to tariff uncertainty and the rush to beat any rule change, rather than reflecting pure consumption strength.
Glencore's CEO has even argued that a final tariff decision, whichever way it goes, could take some of the heat out of prices simply by ending the uncertainty. The fundamentals (AI-driven demand, mine supply constraints, grid buildout) are real and durable, but part of today's price also reflects a timing trade that could unwind once the tariff picture clarifies.
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Should You Invest $1,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Right Now?Before you consider Freeport-McMoRan, you'll want to hear this.
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The AI wave will soon hit public markets with Anthropic and OpenAI set to go public later this year. However, you don't have to wait to invest. This report shows seven AI stocks that you can buy today while the big model providers get ready to go public.
J.P. Morgan just praised Nio's quarter and punished the stock at the same time, and the reason behind that split verdict is reshaping how investors see the entire China EV sector.
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Shares of Nio (NYSE:NIO | NIO Price Prediction) are down 4% to $3.92 in early Wednesday trading after J.P. Morgan cut the stock to Neutral from Overweight and lowered its price target to $4.50 from $7.00. The move stands out because the research note credits the company’s execution and blames the market it sells into.
The peer group is lower by a fraction of that move. XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) is down 1% to $11.02, and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) is down 1% to $11.78. For contrast, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.1% to $762.48, so the broader market trades essentially flat while the China EV complex leaks lower and Nio drops by several times the peer group’s move.
Nio reported its Q2 2026 results earlier this week, and today’s action is the analyst response to that same report rather than a new disclosure from the company. The downgrade lands after the print, not alongside it, which shapes how the tape is digesting the news.
Rating Cut and $4.50 Target J.P. Morgan cited sluggish demand in China’s passenger-vehicle market, intensifying price competition, and limited overseas exposure as constraints on Nio’s earnings upside. The firm cut its 2026 and 2027 revenue estimates by 5% and 9%, and its adjusted earnings forecasts by 13% and 52%.
The bank now models an adjusted net loss of 2.34 billion yuan in 2026 and 975 million yuan in 2027, against prior forecasts of a 512 million yuan loss and a 2.52 billion yuan profit. It forecasts 430,000 deliveries in 2026 and 480,000 in 2027, growth of 32% and 12%, and expects China passenger-vehicle demand to be flat to down 5% in 2027.
Among Chinese automakers, the firm said it continues to prefer BYD and Geely on stronger earnings resilience, broader portfolios and greater overseas growth. Xiaomi and Zeekr were named among the rivals crowding the premium segment Nio’s newer models are entering.
Why the Firm Still Praised the Quarter The pivot in the research note is that J.P. Morgan said Nio’s Q2 results came in moderately ahead of its own estimates, and highlighted sustained profitability, resilient vehicle margins and improving free cash flow. Nio’s vehicle gross margin reached 18.5% in the quarter.
The concern centers on cost pressure heading into the second half. Management forecasts another 2,000 to 3,000 yuan per vehicle increase in costs in the second half, mainly from batteries, memory chips and other materials, and J.P. Morgan flagged that a weak pricing environment could make those costs hard to pass on.
That framing matters for how investors size the risk. A rating cut driven by end-market weakness tends to weigh on the whole sector, while a cut driven by company-specific execution problems tends to concentrate the pain in one name. Today’s action shows the market treating this note as a hybrid, punishing Nio hardest but pulling XPeng and Li Auto down modestly alongside it.
How the Chinese EV Peers Held Up XPeng stock and Li Auto stock are both easing today rather than dropping, which fits a downgrade aimed at one name rather than at the whole group. J.P. Morgan grouped XPeng and Li Auto among the rivals crowding the premium segment Nio’s newer models are entering, alongside BYD, Geely, Xiaomi and Zeekr.
Year to date through Tuesday’s close, Nio stock was down 20%, XPeng stock was down 45%, and Li Auto stock was down 30%. That is the tension in the story. The least-damaged of the three names this year is the one drawing the rating cut, on an industry call rather than a company call.
What to Watch The unresolved question for Nio is whether it can hold vehicle margin through the second-half cost increases without cutting price into a flat China market. Vehicle gross margin at 18.5% is the number that has to stand up if the profitability story is going to survive the demand-side headwinds J.P. Morgan flagged.
For investors who own Nio stock, keeping their position sizing modest makes sense while shares digest a downgrade that reset the firm’s multi-year earnings model into loss territory. Watch for management commentary on pricing discipline and any early read on Q3 delivery mix as the ES9 and ES8 continue ramping into the fourth quarter.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
NIO ve 2. čtvrtletí udrželo marži vozidel na 18,5 % a čeká pozitivní provozní i volný peněžní tok ve 3. i 4. čtvrtletí. Cílí také na průměrné měsíční dodávky vozů nad 40 000 ve 4. čtvrtletí.
Key Takeaways NIO held Q2 vehicle margin at 18.5% and aims to keep it near that level through Q4 despite higher costs.NIO targets Q4 average monthly deliveries above 40,000 after guiding Q3 deliveries to 108,000-111,000.NIO expects positive operating and free cash flow in Q3 and Q4 while keeping 2026 capex at RMB6B-RMB7B. NIO Inc. (NIO - Free Report) used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to stress margin resilience, cash generation and a higher-volume fourth-quarter target despite rising input costs.
NIO reported a loss of $0.04 per ADS compared with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a $0.07 loss, a 42.9% surprise. Revenues of $4.7364 billion missed the consensus mark of $4.7806 billion by 0.9%.
NIO Targets Stable Margins Despite Cost PressureChief financial officer Stanley Qu said vehicle margin held at 18.5% in the second quarter as input costs rose about RMB14,000 per vehicle compared with late 2025.
CFO Qu expects material costs to rise another RMB2,000 to RMB3,000 in the second half. Management still aims to keep vehicle gross margin around the second-quarter level in both the third and fourth quarters.
Responding to a UBS analyst, CEO Bin Li said the ES8 and ES9 each carry vehicle margins above 20%, while supply-chain negotiations and product-level cost work remain central to profitability.
NIO Sets a Higher Q4 Volume TargetNIO guided third-quarter deliveries to 108,000 to 111,000 vehicles and revenues to RMB33.285 billion to RMB34.051 billion, representing revenue growth of 52.7% to 56.2% year over year.
During the HSBC Q&A, CEO Li said NIO expects the passenger vehicle market to recover in the fourth quarter and targets average monthly deliveries above 40,000 units.
For the mid and long term, CEO Li said the company is targeting annual volume growth of about 40% to 50%, supported by its products and sales service coverage.
NIO Leans on Flagship SUVs for Mix SupportA Deutsche Bank analyst pressed management on the durability of ES8 and ES9 demand. CEO Li said the ES8 delivered about 10,099 units in August and was on track to pass 150,000 cumulative deliveries in September.
CEO Li added that ES9 buyers face waits of roughly three to four months. About three-quarters of ES9 users are new to the NIO community.
The flagship models also matter to economics. In the UBS exchange, CEO Li identified the ES8 and ES9 as major contributors to product mix and vehicle margin.
NIO Keeps ONVO Focused on Premium FamiliesA Morgan Stanley analyst questioned ONVO's slower order momentum relative to NIO and FIREFLY. CEO Li acknowledged heavier competition in ONVO's segment but said conversion from sales leads to orders was good.
CEO Li identified brand awareness as the bigger constraint. NIO plans to expand Sky stores, deepen targeted offline engagement and add another major ONVO product next year.
CEO Li said ONVO will retain its premium, family-oriented positioning rather than push aggressively into entry-level pricing. The company intends to balance volume with vehicle gross margin.
NIO Preserves Cash While Funding Core PrioritiesCFO Qu said full-year capital spending should remain roughly flat from 2025 at RMB6 billion to RMB7 billion, focused on product development and the sales and service network rather than major factory capacity.
NIO still plans 1,000 new swap stations this year, but CFO Qu said new infrastructure is expected to be funded by Power Up partners. Management also expects positive operating and free cash flow in both the third and fourth quarters.
CFO Qu said non-GAAP R&D spending should run about RMB2.5 billion per quarter. Non-GAAP SG&A is expected at roughly 10% to 11% of second-half revenues after about RMB500 million of launch-related one-time costs in the second quarter.
NIO Frames 2026 Around Disciplined GrowthManagement centered the outlook on sustaining growth without broad price cuts to chase volume. CEO Li and CFO Qu tied execution to premium positioning, product mix and cost optimization.
The company maintained its battery-electric vehicle strategy and continued expanding charging and swapping infrastructure while seeking capital efficiency through partnerships.
The operating framework is to defend margins, preserve positive cash generation and scale deliveries through a broader three-brand portfolio.
Zacks Rank and Style Scores SignalNIO currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Under the Zacks framework, top-ranked stocks paired with favorable Style Scores have stronger near-term performance potential, and NIO has a Growth Score of A, Momentum Score of B and VGM Score of A.
Its Value Score of C is less favorable than its other style readings, while the VGM Score of A reflects a strong combined profile. The Zacks Rank can change as analyst earnings estimates are revised following the newly reported results.
BEIJING, China, Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Li Auto Inc. (“Li Auto” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LI; HKEX: 2015), a leader in China’s new energy vehicle market, today officially launched the new Li MEGA, a high-tech flagship MPV. The vehicle is priced at RMB509,800 for its standard configuration. Deliveries of the new Li MEGA will commence this week. For more details on the new Li MEGA, please visit Li Auto’s official website.
About Li Auto Inc.
Li Auto Inc. is a leader in China’s new energy vehicle market. The Company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium smart electric vehicles. Its mission is: Be Proactive, Change the World. Through innovations in product, technology, and business model, the Company provides families with safe, convenient, and comfortable products and services. Li Auto is a pioneer in successfully commercializing extended-range electric vehicles in China. While firmly advancing along this technological route, it builds platforms for battery electric vehicles in parallel. The Company leverages technology to create value for users. It concentrates its in-house development efforts on proprietary range extension systems, innovative electric vehicle technologies, and smart vehicle solutions. The Company started volume production in November 2019. It offers high-tech flagship family MPVs, Li L series extended-range electric SUVs, and Li i series battery electric SUVs. The Company will continue to expand its product lineup to target a broader user base.
For more information, please visit: https://ir.lixiang.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “aims,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “targets,” “likely to,” “challenges,” and similar statements. Li Auto may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “HKEX”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials, and in oral statements made by its officers, directors, or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Li Auto’s beliefs, plans, and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Li Auto’s strategies, future business development, and financial condition and results of operations; Li Auto’s limited operating history; risks associated with extended-range electric vehicles and high-power charging battery electric vehicles; Li Auto’s ability to develop, manufacture, and deliver vehicles of high quality and appeal to customers; Li Auto’s ability to generate positive cash flow and profits; product defects or any other failure of vehicles to perform as expected; Li Auto’s ability to compete successfully; Li Auto’s ability to build its brand and withstand negative publicity; cancellation of orders for Li Auto’s vehicles; Li Auto’s ability to develop new vehicles; and changes in consumer demand and government incentives, subsidies, or other favorable government policies. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Li Auto’s filings with the SEC and the HKEX. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Li Auto does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
Akcie Palo Alto Networks klesají o 8 % po zveřejnění výsledků, i když tržby vzrostly o 34 % na 3,41 miliardy USD a překonaly odhady. Trh ale zklamalo zpomalení růstu NGS ARR.
Palo Alto Networks crushed revenue estimates and still got punished, while peers with weaker numbers barely flinched. The gap between what bulls expected and what the company delivered reveals a fault line running through the entire cybersecurity rally.
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Cybersecurity stocks are trading lower Wednesday morning as a marquee earnings beat drew heavy selling, and the reaction looks like a repricing of one name’s premium while sector peers move far less. The headline growth number was strong, though the metric bulls watch closest came in modestly light.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW | PANW Price Prediction) stock is down 8% to $332.30 after the company reported fiscal Q4 2026 results Tuesday afternoon. The Amplify Cybersecurity ETF (NYSEARCA:HACK) is down 2% to $109.32, showing much softer selling across the sector basket. The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 0.1% to $706.66, leaving the large-cap tech tape barely lower on the session as Palo Alto Networks stock falls several times harder than its own sector fund.
Earnings Beat With a GAAP Swing Palo Alto Networks reported revenue of $3.41 billion, up 34% year over year and ahead of the $3.35 billion consensus. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.02 versus $0.98 expected, with adjusted profit of $853 million versus $673 million a year earlier. The company also announced the closing of its Console acquisition, an AI-native agentic workflow platform intended to extend Cortex.
On a GAAP basis, Palo Alto posted a net loss of $282 million, or $0.35 per share, against net income of $254 million a year earlier. The swing came from $281 million of acquired intangible amortization and a $524 million fair value change on convertible notes acquired from CyberArk. Operating cash flow at Palo Alto reached $1.357 billion in the quarter, with a full-year adjusted free cash flow margin of 38.4%.
Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation security annual recurring revenue rose 63% year over year to $9.1 billion, with nearly $1 billion of net new next-generation security ARR added in the quarter. Remaining performance obligations at Palo Alto Networks rose 34% to $21.2 billion.
Fiscal 2027 guidance from Palo Alto Networks calls for revenue of $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $4.16 to $4.19 per share against $3.84 in fiscal 2026, and NGS ARR of $11.075 billion to $11.175 billion. Adjusted free cash flow margin is guided to 38%, down from 38.4%.
ARR Deceleration Broke the Bull Case Raymond James reiterated a Market Perform rating on Palo Alto and called the results generally solid, while noting next-generation security ARR came in modestly below what it believed buy-side investors expected. Analyst Adam Tindle said the figure would have needed to reach closer to $9.15 billion to represent an accelerating beat, stating that “the beat decelerated in a very healthy environment.”
Tindle noted the ARR trajectory underpins the bull case that Palo Alto Networks is decoupling from traditional firewall comparisons and behaving like a high-growth next-generation software company. He benchmarked that growth against CrowdStrike, whose total ARR growth is running in the mid-20% range with net new ARR growth above 50%. That comparison explains why the market treated a headline beat at Palo Alto Networks as a disappointment.
CEO Nikesh Arora highlighted the company’s platform expansion in the release, citing “nearly $1 billion of Net New NGS ARR in a single quarter.” The subtext of the reaction is that the buy side had already priced that scale in, leaving Palo Alto Networks with no cushion at the current multiple.
Peer Reaction Stays Muted Meanwhile, CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) stock is down 3% to $208.03, a much softer reaction that leaves the sector picture intact. CrowdStrike stock was up 84% year to date through Tuesday’s close, so today’s drawdown barely dents the run.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) stock is down 3% to $157.51, a similar sympathy move consistent with sector rotation. Fortinet stock was up 104% year to date through Tuesday’s close, actually outperforming Palo Alto Networks over that stretch.
Palo Alto stock was up 97% year to date through Tuesday’s close, so a 9% reaction on a decelerating beat lines up with a group that ran hot into the earnings report. The Amplify Cybersecurity ETF’s 2% pullback captures the sector picture cleanly for the day.
What to Watch The unresolved question is whether fiscal 2027 NGS ARR guidance of 22% to 23% growth is enough to sustain the multiple Palo Alto stock carried into the earnings report. Traders can watch for sell-side revisions in the coming sessions that either endorse the guide as conservative or trim expectations further after Tuesday’s call.
The CyberArk integration progress and the newly closed Console acquisition are the operational threads to follow at Palo Alto Networks. Investors should size their positions carefully given the valuation still embedded in the stock after today’s move.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
FuelCell Energy v předobchodním obchodování klesá o 13 % po zveřejnění výsledků za fiskální 3Q 2026. Tržby 33 milionů USD zaostaly za odhadem a ztráta na akcii byla 0,64 USD.
FuelCell Energy's first data center reservation deal was supposed to be a turning point, but a surprise charge just sent the stock tumbling and raised fresh questions about whether the company can close the gap between its cost structure and…
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FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL) stock is down 13% to $14.90 in early trading Wednesday after the company reported fiscal Q3 2026 results before the open. The Global X Hydrogen ETF (NASDAQ:HYDR) is unchanged at $42.06, keeping the sector barometer flat while FuelCell Energy takes the hit alone.
Meanwhile, Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) stock is down 2% to $209.98, and Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) stock is down 0.6% to $2.08. Through Tuesday’s close, FuelCell Energy stock was up 134% year to date (YTD), Bloom Energy stock was up 146%, and Plug Power stock was up 6%.
Wider Loss and Fit Energy Charge Overshadow the Data Center Win FuelCell Energy reported revenue of $33 million, down 29% from $46.7 million a year ago, missing the $40 million consensus. The company posted a loss of $0.64 per share against an expected loss of $0.40 per share, and gross loss widened to $24.5 million from $5.1 million a year earlier.
The core issue was a $17 million charge tied to product costs and firm purchase commitments that exceed the contractual pricing set under the capital equipment purchase agreement with Fit Energy. FuelCell Energy operated at an annualized production rate of 37.1 MW during the quarter, below the volume at which its cost structure aligns with the pricing on orders of that scale. FuelCell Energy’s loss from operations improved to $46.7 million from $95.4 million a year earlier, since the prior period carried a Groton impairment.
Backlog Growth and the First Data Center Reservation FuelCell Energy’s Committed Backlog rose to $1.3 billion as of July 31, up from $1.24 billion a year earlier, with total Committed and Awarded Capacity Backlog reaching $3.6 billion after Fit Energy’s option for up to 350 MW was added. After the quarter closed, FuelCell Energy signed its first Capacity Reservation Agreement with a major data center operator for a planned 75 MW project in Texas, consisting of six 12.5 MW blocks and supported by an upfront reservation payment. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
CEO Jason Few stated in the earnings release, “During the third quarter, FuelCell Energy accelerated the commercial execution of our data center strategy while continuing to expand the manufacturing capacity we believe is required to support long-term growth.” The Torrington, Connecticut plant is expanding to 500 MW of annualized capacity, scheduled for completion by June 2028, with a targeted 100 MW annualized rate in October 2026. FuelCell Energy’s cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $737.3 million as of July 31.
FuelCell Energy also delivered its first two carbonate fuel cell carbon capture modules to Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM | XOM Price Prediction) at the Rotterdam manufacturing complex in the Netherlands under a multi-year joint development agreement. Separately, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Siemens under which Siemens will design and supply electrical balance of plant systems.
Peers Move on Their Own Clocks Bloom Energy stock is holding up because today’s action is a FuelCell Energy earnings event, and Bloom Energy remains the group’s year-to-date leader. Its onsite power positioning with hyperscalers and AI data center operators gives it a distinct customer narrative that sits apart from FuelCell Energy’s Fit Energy execution issues (the power, cooling, and networking companies behind that same data center buildout are the subject of a free report on seven AI infrastructure suppliers that aren’t chipmakers).
Plug Power stock is the outlier on the YTD figures, having barely budged while FuelCell Energy and Bloom Energy roughly doubled or better through Tuesday’s close. Its business mix in material handling and electrolyzers occupies a different point in the hydrogen value chain, so the FuelCell Energy earnings report is passing through Plug Power without much impact. The Global X Hydrogen ETF holding flat reinforces that the hydrogen group is trading on individual company stories today.
What to Watch Next The unresolved question is whether Awarded Capacity Backlog converts into Committed Backlog, since Fit Energy holds the phase elections at its sole option and awarded capacity is not contracted revenue. The second open question is whether the Torrington ramp lifts production volumes enough to close the gap between per-unit cost and contract pricing before more charges land. FuelCell Energy’s earnings call at 10:00 a.m. ET could sharpen the timeline on both.
Investors should size their positions carefully given the dilution risk, since shares outstanding rose from 46 million to 80 million since October 2025 and FuelCell Energy is targeting positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027. Traders can watch for whether today’s opening reaction holds once management addresses the Fit Energy charge on the call.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Deutsche Bank just made a bold call on the one audio stock that has already outpaced its rivals by a wide margin in 2026, and the market is listening. Here is what the upgrade reveals about where Sirius XM stands…
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Shares of Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI | SIRI Price Prediction) are rallying Wednesday morning after Deutsche Bank raised its rating on the largest audio entertainment company in North America. The move stands apart from the rest of the audio complex, which is essentially unchanged on the session. Sirius XM Holdings stock is up 6% to $29.16 in early trading.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLC) is unchanged at $110.88, framing this as a single-name analyst call rather than a sector rotation. That backdrop makes the reaction in Sirius XM stock cleaner to read, since buyers are responding to something specific in the note rather than to an underlying shift in Communication Services.
The three publicly traded audio pure-plays have taken sharply different paths this year, and the upgrade lands on the incumbent rather than the grower. Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) stock is down 0.7% to $540.31, and iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) stock is down 0.4% to $2.69, so neither peer is confirming today’s move in Sirius XM Holdings stock.
Deutsche Bank Upgrade Drives the Rally Deutsche Bank upgraded Sirius XM stock to Buy from Hold and set a $45 price target on the shares. The call targets a company that carries a market capitalization of $9.31 billion and reaches 255 million monthly listeners across its platforms, with subscriptions accounting for 76% of total revenue.
The upgrade follows a Q2 2026 report that CEO Jennifer Witz framed as a strategy reset delivering results, disclosed on July 30 with revenue of $2.16 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $691 million and free cash flow of $593 million. Self-pay net additions turned positive at 22,000, the first positive quarterly result in four years, while monthly self-pay churn reached a record low of 1.4%. Management raised full-year 2026 guidance by $25 million on each of revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, taking the free cash flow target to $1.375 billion.
Three Audio Paths in 2026 Sirius XM stock was up 43% year to date (YTD) through Tuesday’s close, which makes this upgrade a bet on continued momentum in the audio name that has already led the group. Spotify stock was down 6% and iHeartMedia stock was down 35% over the same stretch, so the audio complex has offered nothing resembling a coordinated trade in 2026.
Spotify offers a scale contrast rather than a like-for-like comparison. The streaming service reported 300 million premium subscribers and 777 million monthly active users as of June 30, and Spotify stock carries a market capitalization of $111.9 billion, dwarfing Sirius XM on both users and equity value. iHeartMedia is the largest U.S. audio company by reach and the top podcast publisher by downloads, and iHeartMedia stock carries a market capitalization of only $361 million, a reminder that debt load and equity value can move in opposite directions from operational scale.
The business at Sirius XM runs on two segments. The SiriusXM segment is subscription satellite and streaming radio delivered through factory-installed receivers under agreements with major automakers and through a streaming app, supported by unique FCC spectrum licenses. The Pandora and Off-Platform segment is ad-supported and premium music streaming, a podcast network, and advertising technology sold through SiriusXM Media and AdsWizz, and Sirius XM Holdings ended Q2 2026 with 33 million SiriusXM subscribers and 39.8 million Pandora monthly active users.
Two adjacent platforms are worth flagging. Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) has a pending acquisition agreement with Fox that was announced in June, so Roku stock reflects deal terms rather than operations. LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) is the small-cap audio streaming and podcast operator at the other end of the market-capitalization spectrum, and LiveOne stock is not participating in today’s move either.
What to Watch Next The $45 target from Deutsche Bank ultimately rests on the subscriber and advertising trajectory Sirius XM reports in its next quarterly update. Consensus for the September quarter currently sits at revenue of $2.15 billion, and management has flagged Companion Plans, expanded dealer programs and the coming YouTube audio commercialization as the growth vectors it wants to be measured against.
Investors sizing their exposure to Sirius XM stock should weigh the leverage profile and the pace of self-pay net additions against the free cash flow rebound. Net leverage at 3.4 times adjusted EBITDA sits at the company’s long-term target range, and management has flagged share repurchases as an increasingly important use of excess cash flow. Those levers, combined with the raised free cash flow guide, are what the Deutsche Bank thesis appears to lean on.
Traders can watch for confirmation from additional research calls in the coming days, and the next scheduled catalyst is Sirius XM’s Q3 2026 earnings report. That release will show whether the operational stabilization from Q2 has carried into the second half and whether the $45 target holds up against fresh numbers.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Southwest Airlines spustí svou první síť letištních salonků, začít mají v Austinu, Baltimoru, Honolulu a Nashvillu. První hosté dorazí koncem roku 2027.
Southwest lounge network represents the latest step in elevating the Customer Experience
, /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) today unveils plans for its first-ever airport lounge network, marking the next chapter of the Southwest Airlines® travel experience.
Southwest is partnering with Chase to bring together Southwest's signature Hospitality and the success of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge Network℠ to create a premium and welcoming airport experience. Each lounge will combine the warmth and friendliness Customers expect from Southwest with sophisticated design, locally-inspired dining, high-quality amenities, and valuable travel benefits that are offered today in the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge Network.
"Southwest Airlines has built one of the most trusted brands in travel1 by delivering authentic Hospitality that Customers value. Our lounges will be a natural extension of that experience, offering Customers a place to relax and experience the Southwest brand in a new way," said Tony Roach, Executive Vice President, Chief Customer & Brand Officer at Southwest Airlines. "The introduction of a lounge network represents a strategic investment in Rapid Rewards and deepens our 30-year partnership with Chase."
At which airports will I be able to access Southwest lounges?
Construction has begun on the first four Southwest lounges, and the first guests are expected to be welcomed in late 2027. These locations include:
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Daniel K. Inouye (Honolulu) International Airport Nashville International Airport This is just the beginning of a broader footprint across the Southwest system, with at least seven more lounges planned to open over the next several years across high-demand business and leisure markets.
How do I gain access to the Southwest lounges?
A new, premium, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card issued by Chase will be launching in 2027 and will provide access to the new Southwest lounge network.
ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.
Southwest Airlines Co. operates one of the world's most admired and awarded airlines, offering its one-of-a-kind value and Hospitality at 120 airports across 12 countries. Southwest took flight in 1971 to democratize the sky through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel and now carries more air travelers flying nonstop within the United States than any other airline2. By empowering its more than 73,0003 People to deliver unparalleled Hospitality, the maverick airline cherishes a passionate loyalty among more than 134 million Customers carried in 2025. Southwest leverages a unique legacy and mission to serve communities around the world including harnessing the power of its People and Purpose to put communities at the Heart of its success. Learn more by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship.
As ranked in the Forbes' Most Trusted Companies in America for 2026. Based on U.S. Dept. of Transportation quarterly Airline Origin & Destination Survey as of Q4 2025. Fulltime-equivalent active Employees as of June 30, 2026. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Specific forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to (i) Southwest's airport lounge network, including with respect to expected timing, number, and locations of the lounges; and (ii) Southwest's strategic investments in its loyalty program, including expected benefits and Customer experiences. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by them. Factors include, among others, (i) the impact of geopolitical conflicts, fears or actual outbreaks of diseases, extreme or severe weather and natural disasters, actions of competitors (including, without limitation, pricing, scheduling, capacity, and network decisions, and consolidation and alliance activities), governmental actions, consumer perception, consumer uncertainties with respect to trade policies or government shutdowns (including the imposition of tariffs), economic conditions, banking conditions, fears or actual acts of terrorism or war, sociodemographic trends, and other factors beyond Southwest's control, on consumer behavior and Southwest's results of operations and business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (ii) Southwest's ability to timely and effectively implement, transition, operate, and maintain the necessary information technology systems and infrastructure to support its operations and initiatives, including with respect to revenue management and assigned and premium seating; (iii) consumer behavior and response with respect to Southwest's new commercial products and policies; (iv) the impact of fuel price changes, fuel price volatility, and fuel availability on Southwest's business plans and results of operations; (v) the impact of governmental regulations and other governmental actions, including with respect to government shutdowns, as well as Southwest's ability to obtain any required governmental approvals, on Southwest's business plans, results, and operations; (vi) Southwest's dependence on The Boeing Southwest ("Boeing") and Boeing suppliers with respect to Southwest's aircraft deliveries, Boeing MAX 7 aircraft certifications, fleet and capacity plans, operations, maintenance, strategies, and goals; (vii) Southwest's dependence on the Federal Aviation Administration with respect to, among other things, the certification of the Boeing MAX 7 aircraft; (viii) Southwest's dependence on other third parties, in particular with respect to its technology plans, its plans and expectations related to revenue management, online travel agencies, operational reliability, fuel supply, maintenance, Global Distribution Systems, environmental sustainability, and the impact on Southwest's operations and results of operations of any third-party delays or nonperformance; (ix) Southwest's ability to timely and effectively prioritize its initiatives and focus areas and related expenditures; (x) the impact of labor matters on Southwest's business decisions, plans, strategies, and results; (xi) Southwest's ability to obtain and maintain adequate infrastructure and equipment to support its operations and initiatives; (xii) Southwest's dependence on its workforce, including its ability to employ and retain sufficient numbers of qualified Employees with appropriate skills and expertise to effectively and efficiently maintain its operations and execute Southwest's plans, strategies, and initiatives; (xiii) the cost and effects of the actions of activist shareholders; and (xiv) other factors, as described in Southwest's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Southwest's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025.
Lam Research zvýšil výhled pro trh wafer fab equipment na nízkých 150 miliard USD z dřívějších 140 miliard USD. Pro čtvrtletí končící v září čeká tržby 8,1 miliardy USD, zhruba o 20 % více než v předchozím čtvrtletí.
If I had to choose one semiconductor stock to buy going into September, Lam Research (LRCX -0.42%) would be near the top of my list. Its seasonal track record is worth paying attention to, but the bigger story is what's happening across the business right now. Demand for chipmaking equipment remains strong, AI investment continues to drive spending, and several of Lam Research's growth areas are starting to come together at the same time.
Data over the past 20 years shows that a buy date of Sept. 9 and a sell date of Jan. 10 produced a geometric average return of 7.46% above the S&P 500. That strategy beat the benchmark index in 17 of 20 periods.
Seventeen out of 20 is a strong hit rate, and it aligns with the broader semiconductor pattern, where a Sept. 22 entry has beaten the index by 5.39% annually over the same span. The market as a whole averages a 0.7% loss in September, with gains only 46% of the time.
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Why does this pattern exist? The seasonal window tracks capital equipment budgeting. Chipmakers finalize their spending plans in the back half of the year, and orders placed during that period convert into revenue over the following quarters. Lam's business responds before the chips those tools produce ever ship.
That cycle is running hot right now. Lam raised its 2026 wafer fab equipment outlook to the low-$150 billion range, up from a prior view of $140 billion. Guidance for the quarter that ends in September calls for $8.1 billion in revenue, which would be roughly 20% sequential growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
What the company does Think of a chip as a skyscraper built one floor at a time. Lam sells the machines that lay down each layer of material and then carve patterns into it. No chips can be manufactured without that step, which is why Lam benefits from all aspects of the AI data center build-out, whether the chip designs come from Nvidia, Broadcom, or a company nobody has heard of yet.
Three parts of the business are working simultaneously right now. The first is NAND flash, and it caught almost everyone off guard. Lam's revenue from that segment more than doubled from the prior quarter as memory-chip makers rushed to upgrade older factories for the enterprise drives that AI data centers keep buying. Here is the part that makes this more than a one-time bump. As NAND chips go from 128 layers to 500 and beyond, manufacturing them gets harder, and Lam's opportunity per wafer doubles along the way. Management believes this upgrade wave will add more than $40 billion in customer spending over the next several years.
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The second is high bandwidth memory, the specialized chips that sit next to all AI accelerators and feed them data. Building HBM means stacking memory dies on top of each other and drilling tiny vertical connections through the silicon so the layers can talk. Lam is a leading provider of equipment for that step. Every HBM stack in every AI system passes through it, so the company gets paid on volume; it does not have to compete chip by chip.
The third piece is the one I find most interesting, because it changes what Lam's customers can do rather than just how much they can make. Its Aether process replaces the old method of spinning liquid chemicals onto a wafer with a dry process done in a vacuum. The result absorbs 3 to 5 times more EUV light and cuts the amount of chemical raw materials being used by 80% to 90%. One of the largest memory makers picked it as the production tool of record for its most advanced DRAM. Akara, Lam's newer etch platform, swaps in a solid-state plasma source that reacts to process changes more than 100 times faster than what came before, which matters when you are cutting features whose sizes are measured in atoms.
None of this shows up in a headline the way a new GPU does. But Lam's equipment is a key layer underneath chip technology, and it gets bought first.
The financial backdrop The company closed its fiscal 2026 in June with record revenue of $23.2 billion and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $5.82, up 41%. Gross margin for the quarter that ended in June hit 52%, the company's highest in 20 years, on pricing actions and favorable mix.
Management then raised its long-term targets by 500 to 1,000 basis points compared to the figures it provided during its 2025 investor day. It's now guiding for a gross margin in the mid-50% range and an operating margin in the mid-40% range. So, all in all, if the seasonal pattern holds again this year, Lam could be one of the more compelling chip stocks to own heading into the fall, especially with its underlying business momentum giving investors more than just history to lean on.
Dell tvrdí, že firmy začínají vnímat datová centra jako zdroj hodnoty, ne jen náklad, a to s rostoucím přijetím AI. Podle firmy modernizace podporuje poptávku po serverech, úložištích i síťové infrastruktuře.
For years, companies viewed the data center as a necessary expense—an asset to maintain, not a business advantage. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) now says that mindset is changing, arguing that enterprises are increasingly treating their infrastructure as a value creator as AI adoption accelerates.
That shift, more than any single product launch, could explain why the company remains confident that demand for AI infrastructure has staying power.
Dell’s Data Center ShiftThe idea surfaced during Dell’s second-quarter earnings call when an analyst asked whether the company’s strong server growth reflected genuine demand or merely pricing and customer pre-buys.
Rather than pointing to a temporary spike, management described a structural change in how enterprises are investing in their data centers.
“We’re seeing signs where the data center is turning from this cost center approach to a value creator,” Chief Financial Officer David Kennedy said. “The ecosystem and the enterprise customers that we’re seeing are starting to embrace that.”
Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke pointed to an ongoing modernization cycle that extends well beyond AI servers. Enterprises are replacing aging infrastructure with systems that deliver more computing power, memory and storage while consuming less space and energy.
“There’s a modernization in the data center,” Clarke said. “That modernization continues to drive consolidation… driving demand for new servers that have more cores, new servers that have more DRAM, and new servers that have more storage.”
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Why Dell Sees Durable DemandDell’s argument is that AI isn’t replacing traditional enterprise infrastructure spending—it’s amplifying it.
According to Clarke, the company still has approximately 1.2 million servers in its installed base that are at least two generations old and need to be upgraded. At the same time, new security requirements, including post-quantum cryptography, are forcing customers to modernize systems that were already nearing the end of their useful lives.
“Increasingly we’re seeing enterprises drive AI workloads, specifically agentic workloads,” Clarke said, adding that AI demand is complementing, rather than displacing, the broader refresh cycle.
That narrative also helps explain why Dell’s traditional server business outpaced AI compute during the quarter. Management attributed the strength to enterprise customers upgrading core infrastructure while preparing for more AI-intensive workloads.
What It Means for InvestorsDell’s most important message this quarter wasn’t simply that AI demand remains strong—it was that enterprise infrastructure spending may be undergoing a broader transformation. By arguing that data centers are becoming strategic assets rather than operating expenses, management is making the case that the current investment cycle extends beyond GPU deployments and into a multiyear modernization wave.
For investors, the next question isn’t whether AI demand remains healthy. It’s whether enterprises continue treating infrastructure as a source of competitive advantage rather than just another IT budget line. If Dell is right, that would support a longer runway not only for its AI servers, but also for its traditional server, storage and networking businesses.
Akcie ZIM klesly asi o 1 % na začátku středečního obchodování, protože rostoucí odpor v Izraeli ohrožuje plánované převzetí Hapag-Lloyd za 4,2 miliardy USD. Regulátoři zvyšují nejistotu kolem dohody za 35 USD za akcii.
ZIM Shares Slide as Israel Resistance Puts Hapag-Lloyd Takeover at Risk Summary
Regulatory resistance and security concerns are creating another hurdle for the proposed $35-per-share transaction
ZIM Integrated Shipping Services ZIM shares fell about 1% early Wednesday after a report indicated growing resistance in Israel to the company's proposed $4.2 billion takeover by Hapag-Lloyd.
Tzadok Radker, director of Israel's Shipping and Ports Authority, has urged government ministers to take a position against the transaction, adding another hurdle as regulators review the proposed combination.
Israeli agencies have previously been reported to lean against the deal, with government officials scheduled to meet Sept. 9 to discuss the transaction. Opposition has also been linked to security concerns involving ZIM's strategically important shipping routes.
Hapag-Lloyd (HPGLY) CEO Rolf Habben Jansen has maintained that the company is working toward securing the required approvals by year-end. Under the agreement signed in February, Hapag-Lloyd would pay $35 per ZIM share.
The proposed structure would leave ZIM's brand with a separate Israeli shipping company backed by FIMI Opportunity Funds, which would operate 16 vessels serving key routes connected to Israel.
Regulatory resistance could increase uncertainty around the $35-per-share deal and weigh on ZIM shares.
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
Rocket Lab úspěšně vypustila 94. misi Electron a dopravila družici StriX pro Synspective na nízkou oběžnou dráhu Země ve výšce 575 km. Jde o 100% úspěšnost všech startů pro Synspective.
MAHIA, New Zealand, Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today successfully launched its 94th Electron rocket to deploy the latest Earth-imaging satellite to space for Synspective.
The ‘Owl Around The World’ mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 12:01 am NZST on September 3, 2026. Electron successfully deployed the StriX satellite to a 575km low Earth orbit, further building out Synspective’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging constellation and expanding the company’s capabilities for advanced ground monitoring and Earth observation.
Mission Highlights:
Strong Launch Cadence: This mission marked Rocket Lab’s 94th overall Electron launch and 15th launch of 2026. Electron remains the world’s most frequently launched small-lift orbital rocketFlawless Launch for Synspective: Today’s flawless delivery of the latest StriX satellite to space continues Rocket Lab’s 100% mission success record across all Synspective launches.Custom Fairing: A specially-configured Electron fairing was built to match the exact dimensions of the StriX satellite: a highlight of Rocket Lab’s dedicated mission service for its long-time partnership with Synspective.More Missions: Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for Synspective's constellation since 2020, with another 16 missions booked on Electron to deliver the rest of their constellation to orbit before 2030. ‘Owl Around The World’ launch images: click here
‘Owl Around The World’ launch broadcast: click here
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) is an end-to-end space company delivering rockets, satellites, and spacecraft components for commercial, government, and defense missions. Driven by its industry-leading small-lift rockets Electron and HASTE and its upcoming reusable Neutron medium-lift rocket, Rocket Lab delivers reliable and responsive launch for the world’s most important missions from constellation deployment to missile defense. Rocket Lab’s satellites and components have powered more than 1,700 missions in Earth orbit, as well as deep-space exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Learn more at www.rocketlabcorp.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our launch and space systems operations, launch schedule and window, safe and repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational expansion and business strategy, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section of our website at https://investors.rocketlabcorp.com which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a3f5cb14-5cb0-4894-8559-c441e72935dd
Rocket Lab - 'Owl Around The World' Launch Rocket Lab's 94th Electron launch and latest mission for Synspective.
Yatsen ve 2. čtvrtletí 2026 zvýšil tržby o 5,1 % na 1,14 miliardy RMB, ale vyšší marketingové výdaje a zásoby prohloubily ztrátu. Skincare vzrostla o 40,4 % a tvořila 71,5 % tržeb.
Yatsen NYSE: YSG reported second-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 5.1% as continued strength in its skincare portfolio offset a sharp decline in color cosmetics sales, while higher inventory provisions and increased marketing spending widened the company’s losses.
Total net revenue rose to RMB1.14 billion from RMB1.09 billion a year earlier. Founder, Chairman and CEO Jinfeng Huang said the result reflected continued progress in the company’s strategic transformation despite a challenging competitive environment for China’s beauty industry.
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“While overall growth was more moderate than our prior expectations, our skincare portfolio delivered exceptional performance,” Huang said, adding that the company’s skincare brands have become a core driver of growth.
Skincare Becomes the Dominant Revenue Driver Revenue from Yatsen’s skincare brands increased 40.4% year over year during the quarter and accounted for 71.5% of total net revenue. That performance was partly offset by a 35.8% decline in revenue from color cosmetics brands, which management attributed to deliberate brand portfolio optimization and SKU rationalization.
Huang said the shift in the revenue mix toward skincare represents a move toward “higher quality, more sustainable growth.” The company continued to invest in research and development, with R&D expense representing 3.3% of total revenue in the quarter, broadly consistent with the prior-year period.
During the quarter, Yatsen expanded product offerings across its skincare portfolio. Galénic launched an Active Eye Cream under its Couture Révélation Cellulaire line; DR.WU introduced three essence masks targeting oil control, hydration and soothing care; and Eve Lom expanded its second-generation Vital Dew range with a hydration cream and skin infusion serum.
Management also cited brand-building activities, including a DR.WU livestreaming event with cctv.com that attracted a cumulative audience of 178 million viewers. Galénic held a summer campaign pop-up event on Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, while Eve Lom participated in the British Beauty Festival.
Margins and Losses Widen Gross profit declined 0.8% year over year to RMB843.8 million, while gross margin fell to 73.9% from 78.3%. Huang and CFO Donghao Yang said the decline was primarily related to higher inventory provisions in the color cosmetics business amid portfolio optimization and SKU reductions.
Huang said that excluding the impact of the one-time inventory provisions, underlying gross margin would have been roughly stable from a year earlier.
Total operating expenses increased 7.7% to RMB975.7 million, or 85.4% of revenue, compared with 83.4% a year earlier. Selling and marketing expense climbed to RMB807.6 million, representing 70.7% of revenue, from RMB722.4 million, or 66.5% of revenue, in the prior-year period.
Yang said the increase reflected investments to build consumer awareness and long-term brand equity for the company’s core skincare brands, along with higher traffic acquisition costs on Douyin as Yatsen pursued growth opportunities on the platform.
Fulfillment expenses declined to RMB56.1 million from RMB63.3 million, which Yang attributed to improved logistics efficiency. General and administrative expenses fell to RMB74.8 million from RMB84.1 million, primarily due to lower share-based compensation expenses.
Operating loss: RMB131.9 million, compared with RMB55.5 million a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating loss: RMB112.1 million, compared with RMB20.4 million a year earlier. Net loss: RMB90.8 million, compared with RMB19.5 million a year earlier. Non-GAAP net loss: RMB99.4 million, compared with non-GAAP net income of RMB11.5 million a year earlier. Net cash used in operating activities was RMB78 million, compared with RMB77.7 million of cash generated from operations in the prior-year quarter. As of June 30, Yatsen had RMB1.06 billion in cash, restricted cash and short-term investments, compared with RMB1.05 billion at the end of 2025.
Channel Diversification and Marketing Efficiency During the question-and-answer session, newly appointed Co-Chief Financial Officer Li Wang said expanding distribution channels will be important to the next stage of growth for Yatsen’s skincare brands.
Wang said the company plans to supplement its core Tmall and Douyin channels with online business-to-business platforms including JD, Vipshop and TBD, as well as offline distribution, duty-free and professional channels. She said such channels generally have lower traffic costs and can support a healthier profitability profile.
DR.WU has already demonstrated that a higher business-to-business sales mix can support both growth and profitability, Wang said, adding that Yatsen intends to selectively apply that model to other skincare brands. The company is also pursuing differentiated formats, including Galénic boutique stores in premium department stores and shopping malls, and DR.WU distribution through over-the-counter drugstore channels.
To address rising online traffic costs, Wang said Yatsen is directing more resources toward higher-growth and higher-return skincare brands, expanding professional and business-to-business channels, and improving content creation, customer relationship management retention and budget allocation. The company is also using AI agents as part of efforts to strengthen financial discipline and marketing efficiency.
“The goal is not to cut investment blindly,” Wang said. “Our goal is to support strong skincare growth with better efficiency and stronger profitability over time.”
Third-Quarter Outlook and Finance Leadership Update For the third quarter of 2026, Yatsen expects total net revenue of between RMB898.6 million and RMB998.4 million, representing a year-over-year decline of approximately 0% to 10%.
Huang also announced that Wang Li was appointed Co-Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. Wang has more than 15 years of experience in the consumer and beauty industries and most recently served as CFO of Proya Cosmetics, according to Huang. She will work alongside Yang to support cost-structure optimization, resource allocation and the company’s pursuit of sustainable profitable growth.
About Yatsen (NYSE:YSG)Yatsen Holding Limited NYSE: YSG is a Shanghai-based beauty and personal care company founded in 2016. The firm operates as a digital-first cosmetics provider, designing, developing and marketing its own brands to a primarily Chinese consumer base. Since its inception, Yatsen has focused on leveraging data analytics and social media engagement to drive product innovation and brand awareness.
The company's core portfolio includes Perfect Diary, a color-cosmetics brand offering lipsticks, eyeshadows, foundations and related accessories; Little Ondine, which specializes in nail lacquers and nail care products; Winona, a sensitive-skin skincare line; and Abby's Choice, which features targeted skincare treatments.
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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Yatsen Holding Limited (YSG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call September 2, 2026 7:30 AM EDT
Company Participants
Irene Lyu - Head of Strategic Investments & Capital Markets
Jinfeng Huang - Founder, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Directors
Donghao Yang - CFO & Director
Conference Call Participants
Manqi Huang - China International Capital Corporation Limited, Research Division
Presentation
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Yatsen's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Irene Lyu, Vice President, Head of Strategic Investment and Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Irene Lyu
Head of Strategic Investments & Capital Markets
Thank you, operator. Please note, the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements relating to the company's future performance and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability as established by the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, assumptions and other factors. Some of these risks are beyond the company's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those mentioned in today's press release and this discussion.
A general discussion of the risk factors that could affect Yatsen's business and financial results is included in certain filings of the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by law. During today's call, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. Please see the earnings release issued earlier today for a definition of non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results.
Joining us today on the call from Yatsen's senior management are Mr. Jinfeng Huang, our Founder, Chairman, CEO, and
Ensign Group ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšila tržby ze stejných zařízení o 6,6 % díky obsazenosti 84,1 %. Kvalita péče byla o 23 % lepší než průměr států, kde působí.
Key Takeaways Ensign Group's same-facility skilled nursing revenues rose 6.6%, aided by higher occupancy.Ensign Group's clinical measures were 23% better than state averages, while surveys were 18% better.Organic growth from maturing centers could increasingly complement acquisitions and support cash flow. The Ensign Group, Inc. (ENSG - Free Report) is widely recognized as an active dealmaker, but its longer-term earnings potential may depend just as much on how effectively it manages and optimizes the facilities already in its portfolio. Its decentralized model empowers local teams to improve operations, allowing the company to create value beyond simply adding new beds.
ENSG’s second-quarter 2026 performance demonstrates this organic momentum. Same-facility skilled nursing revenues rose 6.6% year over year, driven by an increase in occupancy to 84.1% and higher revenue per patient day. This internal growth can support earnings without relying entirely on additional acquisitions.
Clinical performance strengthens that opportunity. Ensign’s same-facility CMS quality measures were 23% better than the average across its operating states, while survey inspection results were 18% better. Stronger clinical outcomes can support relationships with referral sources and strengthen a facility’s competitive position. In a business where occupancy is critical to financial performance, better clinical execution can translate into better results.
As Ensign expands, the real earnings opportunity lies in replicating its operating approach across a larger base and steadily improving facility productivity. If that execution remains consistent, organic growth could increasingly complement acquisitions and make Ensign’s growth profile more durable. Even if new acquisitions paused tomorrow, the ongoing maturation of newly acquired and transitioning centers would provide a multiyear pipeline for organic cash flow growth.
How Are Competitors Faring?Ensign is not alone in benefiting from stronger performance at its existing operations. Medical peers like The Pennant Group, Inc. (PNTG - Free Report) and Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (BKD - Free Report) are also working to improve performance across their existing operations.
Pennant Group follows a decentralized operating model that gives local leaders significant responsibility for clinical, financial and operational performance. PNTG’s focus on strengthening existing operations provides a relevant example of how local execution can support growth within an established care platform.
Brookdale Senior Living is focused on optimizing its existing communities through stronger operations, market-level coordination and targeted investments. BKD’s strategy emphasizes improving occupancy, pricing, expense management and operating performance across its portfolio, demonstrating how operational execution can create value without relying solely on footprint expansion.
ENSG’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of Ensign have gained 0.9% over the past year compared with the industry’s 8.1% growth over the same period.
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From a valuation standpoint, ENSG trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 1.63X, down from the industry average of 2.23X ENSG carries a Value Score of B.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ENSG’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $7.65 per share, implying a 16.4% jump from the year-ago period’s level.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
ENSG currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Bancorp ve 2. čtvrtletí zvýšil zisk na akcii na 1,45 USD a zvedl celoroční výhled zisku na akcii na 5,95 až 6,05 USD. Kritizované úvěry zároveň klesly na 146,7 milionu USD.
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$50.20▼
$81.6512.34
$71.17
The Bancorp, Inc. NASDAQ: TBBK has spent the past two years working to live down a credibility crisis, and its latest quarter suggests it is largely succeeding.
The company hit a rough patch in early 2024 when a short seller questioned its financial results.
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A year later, The Bancorp announced an accounting restatement tied to its real estate bridge lending book.
But the stock has since clawed its way back, and analysts have maintained a positive outlook.
With a moderate upside to its shares and consumer spending still going strong, investors now need to ask how much further this bank has to grow.
Powering Fintech Behind the ScenesEven though The Bancorp is a bank, it has no branches and no household brand name. Instead, it operates behind the scenes as one of the country's largest "banking-as-a-service" sponsors.
The company holds deposits and issues cards so fintech apps can act like banks without becoming one, such as for Chime NASDAQ: CHYM, PayPal NASDAQ: PYPL and Cash App from Block NYSE: XYZ. In fact, the company this year was listed as the top issuer of prepaid cards and the sixth-largest issuer of debit cards in the United States.
Fintech Growth Drives Stronger EarningsThe Bancorp is now working to confirm that the issues of the past two years are well behind it. The second quarter gave the bulls plenty to work with. Bancorp reported diluted earnings per share of $1.45, up 14.2% from $1.27 a year earlier and comfortably ahead of the $1.36 Wall Street had modeled.
Consolidated net income came in at $60.7 million, return on equity hit 34.7%, up from 28.4% in the year-ago quarter. The efficiency ratio, a measure of how much it costs the bank to generate a dollar of revenue, held relatively steady at a lean 41%. The bank also posted a return on assets of an impressively high 2.51% for the quarter.
Growth is coming squarely from the fintech side of the business. Gross dollar volume moving across Bancorp's partner programs rose 22.5% year-over-year to $53.45 billion, and total fintech fee income climbed to $40.9 million from $35.6 million. Fintech loans now amount to $901.5 million, up from $680.5 million a year earlier.
Shares Rebound From Recent WeaknessThese numbers were a positive signal for a bank that has had a rocky journey the past couple of years. Although the stock is down roughly 4% since the start of the year, it has gained more than 18% in just the past three months. That is still a far cry from its 52-week high of $81.65 per share, achieved before issuing disappointing earnings for last year’s third quarter.
The Bancorp, Inc. (TBBK) Price Chart for Wednesday, September, 2, 2026
The company was also hit with difficult news in recent years. In March 2024, short seller Culper Research accused Bancorp of understating losses in its real estate bridge lending portfolio and holding reserves it called grossly inadequate.
A year later, the company disclosed that investors could no longer rely on its 2022 through 2024 financial statements because of accounting issues tied to consumer fintech loan losses, triggering a securities class action lawsuit that remains pending.
Credit Concerns Continue to EaseThe latest report, however, showed that the story that scared investors most in 2024 has flipped in Bancorp's favor. Total criticized loans, or those being watched for potential problems, fell to $146.7 million from $305.2 million a year earlier. In particular, the real estate bridge loans at the center of the earlier controversy dropped $169.6 million from the second quarter of 2025.
At the same time, management raised full-year 2026 earnings guidance to a range of $5.95 to $6.05 per share and reiterated 2027 guidance of $8.10 to $8.30.
Buybacks Return Capital to ShareholdersIn addition, though the company does not pay a dividend, management has said it intends to keep returning close to 100% of net income to shareholders through buybacks, another way to boost per-share growth.
Bancorp repurchased $50 million of stock in the second quarter, representing about 2% of outstanding shares. It has bought back $403.6 million worth of shares since mid-2025, shrinking its share count to about 41 million.
Analysts See More Upside AheadWall Street today is generally optimistic. Seven brokerages now cover the stock with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target near $71.17, implying an upside of abaout 10%.
Overall, four analysts rate the stock a Buy, one has it listed as a Strong Buy, and two suggest a Hold. The highest 12-month target price is $88 per share, while the lowest is $57. Several analysts have raised their targets in recent weeks, citing improving credit trends and fintech growth, while others have reiterated their Outperform or Buy recommendations.
Strong Fundamentals Come With RisksTaken as a whole, Bancorp's fundamentals stand on their own. The bank has double-digit earnings growth, accelerating fintech fee income, criticized loans down by more than half, and management raising guidance. A shrinking share count also benefits investors.
The risk, however, is that much of that good news is already reflected in the stock's trading. Bancorp also depends heavily on a small number of large fintech partners for deposits and fees, and losing even one, or seeing a partner pursue its own banking charter, could dent results quickly.
Investors comfortable with volatility might look to The Bancorp for its growth and buyback story. The company appears to be moving in the right direction, but the question is whether that direction will include more bumps on the way.
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Key Takeaways Barrick Mining's Q2 gold production rose 11% sequentially to 796,000 ounces, topping guidance.Barrick expects Q3 and Q4 production gains from Loulo-Gounkoto, Goldrush and mine sequencing.Barrick's 2026 gold guidance implies no growth from 2025, making second-half execution critical. Barrick Mining Corporation’s (B - Free Report) attributable gold production rose 11% sequentially to 796,000 ounces in the second quarter, exceeding its guidance range of 730,000 to 770,000 ounces.
The company expects production to increase sequentially in the third quarter and again in the fourth quarter, driven by the Loulo-Gounkoto ramp-up, Goldrush and mine sequencing.
Production growth would be critical to sustain revenues and margins in the coming quarters. The consensus estimate implies gold production of roughly 823,000 ounces for the third quarter, indicating a roughly 3% rise from the prior quarter.
Barrick’s operating execution improved in the second quarter, but the full-year gold outlook implies no growth from 2025. It maintained 2026 attributable gold production guidance of 2.9-3.25 million ounces, versus 3.26 million ounces produced in 2025. This leaves full-year delivery dependent on continued second-half execution across several operations despite production tracking slightly ahead of plan at midyear.
Among Barrick’s major peers, Newmont Corporation (NEM - Free Report) saw sequentially lower gold production for the second quarter. NEM reported a roughly 1% sequential decline in attributable gold production to 1.29 million ounces. Lower output from Cadia and reduced grades across certain mines impacted production. Newmont expects third-quarter 2026 production to be largely in line with the second-quarter level.
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited’s (AEM - Free Report) gold production was 855,816 ounces in the second quarter, up around 4% sequentially. For full-year 2026, Agnico Eagle expects gold production near the lower end of its 3.3 million to 3.5 million ounces guidance, reflecting the preliminary redesign of the Barnat open pit. AEM expects the Barnat pit wall movement event to reduce gold production at Canadian Malartic by 60,000-80,000 ounces in the second half of 2026.
B’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesBarrick’s shares have rallied 59% in the past year compared with the Zacks Mining – Gold industry’s increase of 49.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, B is currently trading at a forward 12-month earnings multiple of 11.04, a roughly 17% discount when stacked up with the industry average of 13.3X. It carries a Value Score of B.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for B’s 2026 and 2027 earnings implies a year-over-year rise of 47.1% and 14.6%, respectively. The EPS estimates for 2026 and 2027 have been trending lower over the past 60 days.
InterDigital získal od Düsseldorf Local Division Unified Patent Court (UPC) třetí soudní zákaz proti Disney, tentokrát kvůli patentu na plynulé sledování videa mezi zařízeními. Zákaz platí pro Německo a Nizozemsko.
WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InterDigital, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDCC), a wireless, video and AI technology research and development company, today announced that it has been awarded another injunction against Disney by a court in Europe.
The Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) ruled that InterDigital is entitled to an injunction over Disney’s infringement of an InterDigital patent covering technology which allows users to enjoy seamless viewing when sharing video content between different devices; the court also confirmed the validity of this patent. The injunction against Disney covers Germany and the Netherlands. Disney can appeal the decision.
The judgment from the Düsseldorf court is the third injunction that InterDigital has received from the UPC against Disney; the two previous injunctions both covered patents related to certain video encoding techniques related to HEVC. The UPC is a pan-European patent court which issues decisions that apply across multiple countries in the European Union (EU).
Outside of the UPC, InterDigital has been awarded injunctions from national courts in Germany and Brazil for Disney’s infringement of InterDigital’s intellectual property related to high dynamic range (HDR) technology, the dynamic overlaying of multiple video streams, and additional encoding technologies related to HEVC and AVC.
“This patent-in-suit is another excellent example of how InterDigital shapes so much of the streaming experience from the processing and distribution of video content to the overall user experience,” said Josh Schmidt, Chief Legal Officer, InterDigital. “InterDigital research powers a broad sweep of the streaming industry and by receiving a fair return for Disney’s use of our technologies, we will be able to continue to invest in the next generation of foundational technologies.”
About InterDigital®
InterDigital is a global research and development company focused primarily on wireless, video, artificial intelligence (“AI”), and related technologies. We design and develop foundational technologies that enable connected, immersive experiences in a broad range of communications and entertainment products and services. We license our innovations worldwide to companies providing such products and services, including makers of wireless communications devices, consumer electronics, IoT devices, cars and other motor vehicles, and providers of cloud-based services such as video streaming. As a leader in wireless technology, our engineers have designed and developed a wide range of innovations that are used in wireless products and networks, from the earliest digital cellular systems to 5G and today’s most advanced Wi-Fi technologies. We are also a leader in video processing and video encoding/decoding technology, with a significant AI research effort that intersects with both wireless and video technologies. Founded in 1972, InterDigital is listed on Nasdaq.
InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.
For more information, visit: www.interdigital.com.
InterDigital Contact:
Richard Lloyd
Email: [email protected]
+1 (202) 349-1716
GlobalFoundries uvolnila zákazníkům PDK pro dvě nové CMOS platformy UX: 40UX a 22UX pro inteligentní edge, konektivitu a Physical AI. 40UX míří na ultraúsporné MCU a bezdrátové aplikace, 22UX na náročnější analogové a senzorové systémy.
Newest feature-rich CMOS platform family combines ultra-low power connectivity, sensing and mixed-signal innovation with cost-efficient manufacturing for next-generation edge devices | Source: GlobalFoundries Inc.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at its annual GF Technology Summit (GTS) in North America, GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF) announced process design kit (PDK) availability for its UX platform family, two new feature-rich CMOS technologies purpose-built for next-generation intelligent edge devices and advanced sensing systems. First introduced on stage at GTS last year, the UX family includes 40nm (40UX) and 22nm (22UX) technologies, providing customers with a scalable roadmap for ultra-low power microcontrollers, wireless connectivity devices, sensor interfaces, imaging systems and edge AI applications. Built on proven technology modules and supported by GF’s design ecosystem and global manufacturing footprint, UX technologies help customers accelerate development of AI devices and intelligent systems while balancing performance, power, cost and supply requirements.
As intelligence moves from the cloud into billions of connected devices, designers need semiconductor technologies that combine precise sensing, always-on connectivity and energy-efficient processing within tight power and form factor constraints. The UX family expands GF’s portfolio of differentiated technologies for Physical AI, giving customers a scalable path for solutions enabling connected microcontrollers (MCUs), highly integrated sensing and mixed-signal systems. 40UX brings proven, cost-efficient integration to MCUs and always-on-edge devices, while 22UX provides a higher level of analog, sensing, and mixed-signal performance for more complex intelligent systems.
The 40UX platform is optimized for secure, smart and connected microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) serving wearable, IoT and wireless connectivity applications. Based on GF’s high-volume 40nm platform with high-endurance eFlash technology that has shipped more than one million wafers to date, 40UX combines ultra-low leakage transistors and SRAM, low-noise analog capabilities, integrated embedded flash with built-in self-test functionality and advanced RF enablement to support long battery life, high reliability and compact form factors. The platform is particularly well suited for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices, wireless connectivity products, low-noise sensor interfaces and other power-sensitive edge applications.
The 40UX platform is set to ramp to volume production at GF’s Singapore site by 2027, with future production planned through its site in Malta, New York. The technology’s roadmap includes optimizations embedded processing, including high-voltage and noise enablement, Automotive Grade 1 qualification and enhanced embedded non-volatile memory options.
For applications that require higher levels of analog integration and sensing performance, the 22UX platform delivers an analog-optimized 22nm solution for edge AI, imaging and mixed-signal systems. The platform combines ultra-low power operation with low-noise analog devices, improved device matching, wafer-scale Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) noise characterization, bonding-ready wafers for advanced 3D integration and a roadmap for ultra-low leakage, analog compute-in-memory and embedded memory capabilities. The platform is ideally suited for stacked CMOS image sensor readout ICs with a 1/f flicker noise and low-noise 3.3V analog FET for precise measurement. The platform’s improved device matching and higher voltage headroom make it an optimal choice for cost-optimized mixed-signal SoCs, sensor interfaces and power sensitive edge devices that require superior analog performance.
The 22UX platform integrates analog-optimized features including ultra-low power capabilities for exceptional energy-efficiency and third generation fill cells for faster product-level block/module integration. The platform is industry-compatible, offering easy porting from other bulk CMOS platforms, and was developed using high-volume proven modules and GF’s successful 28nm technology that has shipped over one million wafers to date. 22UX will be manufactured at GF’s advanced manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany with a roadmap to reach multi-site production through GF’s global footprint.
“Intelligence is moving into more of the devices people and businesses rely on every day, creating new demands for power efficiency, precise sensing, connectivity and cost-effective integration,” said Ed Kaste, senior vice president of GF’s CMOS business. “Our new UX platform family gives customers a scalable path to develop differentiated products for the intelligent edge, backed by proven technology and GF’s global manufacturing capabilities. By expanding our feature-rich CMOS portfolio with 40UX and 22UX, we are helping customers bring the next generation of connected and Physical AI systems to market.”
Both platforms are available for customer engagement and prototyping through GF’s GlobalShuttle™ multi-project wafer program with quarterly shuttles scheduled through 2027.
About GF
GlobalFoundries (GF) is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors the world relies on to live, work and connect. We innovate and partner with customers to deliver more power-efficient, high-performance products for the automotive, smart mobile devices, internet of things, communications infrastructure and other high-growth markets. With our global manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe, and Asia, GF is a trusted and reliable source for customers around the world. Every day, our talented global team delivers results with an unyielding focus on security, longevity, and sustainability. For more information, visit www.gf.com.
Forward-looking information
This news release may contain forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. GF undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release or to reflect actual outcomes, unless required by law.
Marotta Controls získala dvě zakázky na podporu programu Next Generation Jammer – Low Band (NGJ-LB) Engineering and Manufacturing Development pro U.S. Navy. Tím vstupuje na trh leteckého elektronického boje.
PARSIPPANY, N.J., Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marotta Controls, a rapidly growing aerospace and defense contractor, today announced two contract awards in support of the Next Generation Jammer – Low Band (NGJ-LB) Engineering and Manufacturing Development program for the U.S. Navy. The company will provide technical expertise for a ram air turbine power generation system under a subcontract with CFD Research Corporation, with a direct award from L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX), the NGJ-LB prime contractor. Together, the wins mark Marotta's entry into the airborne electronic warfare market.
"This is a proud moment for our team. Contributing to two separate subsystems on the same Navy EW platform is a real testament to Marotta’s technology development process," said Adit Girdhari, Vice President, Business Development, Marotta Controls. "We've spent years developing and refining both our technologies, and it's gratifying to see them come together on a program this important to the warfighter."
Under the CFD Research subcontract, Marotta will supply the system for the Turbine Speed Control System within the NGJ-LB pod's ram air turbine power generation assembly.
The NGJ-LB is part of a larger NGJ system that will augment and ultimately replace the legacy AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System on the EA-18G Growler aircraft. Using the latest software and Active Electronically Scanned Array technologies, NGJ will provide enhanced Airborne Electronic Attack capabilities to disrupt, deny, and degrade enemy air defense and ground communication systems. The Navy awarded L3Harris a $587.4 million contract in August 2024 for NGJ-LB Engineering and Manufacturing Development, with operational prototype pods to be delivered to U.S. Naval Air Systems Command for fleet assessment and additional test assets for airworthiness and design verification over the next five years.
"Electronic warfare is a growth area for Marotta, and the NGJ-LB program is a strong foundation to build on," added Girdhari. "We look forward to supporting L3Harris, CFD Research, and the Navy as this system moves toward the fleet."
For more information about Marotta Controls and its longevity in the aerospace and defense sector, visit https://marotta.com/about/.
About Marotta Controls
Founded in 1943, Marotta Controls is a fully integrated solutions provider which designs, develops, qualifies, and manufactures innovative systems and sub-systems for the aerospace and defense sectors. Our portfolio includes pressure, power, motion, fluid, and electronic controls for tactical systems, shipboard and sub-sea applications, satellites, launch vehicles, and aircraft systems. With over 200 patents, Marotta Controls continues to build on its legacy as a highly respected, family-owned small business based in the state of New Jersey. X/Twitter: @marottacontrols LinkedIn: Marotta Controls, Inc.
MongoDB klesá před otevřením trhu navzdory silnému druhému čtvrtletí, protože investory znepokojuje zpomalení růstu Atlasu na očekávaných 26 % ve třetím čtvrtletí zhruba z 29 %.
MongoDB MDB is experiencing a significant drop in pre-market trading, even after reporting a strong Q2 performance that exceeded expectations. Investors are concerned about the slowdown in Atlas growth, which decreased from approximately 29% to a projected 26% for Q3, along with an anticipated further moderation in Q4. Although management raised its FY27 Atlas growth forecast by 300 basis points to around 27%, the overall guidance for Q3 includes an EPS estimate of $1.57-$1.61 and revenue expectations of $756-$761 million. Additionally, FY27 guidance has been lifted to an EPS range of $6.39-$6.58 and revenue of $2.99-$3.03 billion. However, these positive updates did not meet the high expectations reflected in the stock's near 52-week high trading levels.
Atlas achieved a record revenue increase of $127 million year-over-year, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of growth. The company-wide net Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) expansion rate rose to 122% from 121% sequentially, with contributions from both Atlas and Enterprise Advanced (EA). Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) surged 91% to $1.52 billion, while current RPO grew by 73%. However, this growth is influenced by multiyear EA agreements and does not directly indicate Atlas consumption. EA and other revenue increased by approximately 36%, with FY27 growth guidance revised up to about 11%, compared to a previous mid-single-digit forecast. Nonetheless, management expects EA growth to remain in the mid-single digits for Q3 and flat for the latter half of the year due to unpredictable deal timing. MDB welcomed a record 2,900 new customers, bringing the total to 70,600. Customers generating at least $100,000 in ARR increased by 17% to nearly 3,000, and Voyage customers doubled sequentially for the second consecutive quarter. Non-GAAP operating margin improved to 24% from 15%, while gross margin rose by 210 basis points to 75.9%, partly due to a higher proportion of profitable EA revenue. MDB anticipates around 250 basis points of operating margin expansion for FY27, but Q3 margin guidance suggests that Q2 should not be viewed as the new run rate.The key issue lies in the market's high expectations for MDB's Atlas growth trajectory, despite the company improving its annual growth and profitability outlook. Management indicated that consumption trends remain steady, with Q3 presenting the toughest year-over-year comparison. Recent quarterly Atlas guidance has exceeded expectations by 200-300 basis points, suggesting that the projected Q4 slowdown may be conservative. However, visibility on consumption diminishes beyond one quarter, and holiday activities could impact Q4 usage. Additionally, EA's multiyear contracts contribute to revenue variability. While AI adoption bolsters the long-term platform strategy, investors are seeking assurance that Voyage, Vector Search, and production agents can generate significant revenue. Upcoming evaluations will focus on Atlas consumption from September to October, EA deal conversions, multi-product adoption, and MDB's execution against its targeted Rule-of-44 profile.
This stock alert was generated using automated technology and GuruFocus financial data to provide readers with timely and accurate market reporting. This content was reviewed by GuruFocus editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Disclosures I/We may personally own shares in some of the companies mentioned above. However, those positions are not material to either the company or to my/our portfolios.
Par Pacific ve 2. čtvrtletí snížila čistý dluh o více než 220 milionů USD a k 30. červnu 2026 měla likviditu 1,4 miliardy USD. Firma chce využít silnější bilanci k menším rafinérským a logistickým projektům, M&A a zpětným odkupům akcií.
Key Takeaways PARR reduced total net debt by more than $220 million in Q2'26, strengthening its balance sheet & liquidity.Par Pacific had $1.4B in liquidity as of June 30, 2026, with $185M in cash and about $1.2B under ABL.PARR seeks low-20% unlevered returns on smaller refining & logistics projects while pursuing M&A, & buybacks. Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (PARR - Free Report) operates an integrated energy platform spanning refining, logistics, retail and renewable fuels, with 219,000 barrels per day of refining capacity and 13 million barrels of storage. Given the capital-intensive nature of these operations, maintaining ample liquidity is essential to fund maintenance, working capital and investments that support long-term cash-flow generation. PARR has strengthened its financial position by reducing gross term debt by more than $130 million, lowering asset-based lending (ABL) borrowings by $78 million and cutting total net debt by more than $220 million during the second quarter.
As of June 30, 2026, Par Pacific has $1.4 billion in liquidity, including $185 million in cash and roughly $1.2 billion in availability under its ABL facility. The liquidity provides funding capacity for debt service, capital expenditures, refinery turnarounds and other operating requirements without constraining strategic investments. The company extended its ABL maturity to 2031 and increased the revolver commitment to $1.8 billion, expanding financial flexibility for capital spending and general corporate needs.
Backed by a stronger balance sheet, PARR is focusing on smaller-scale refining and logistics projects with targeted unlevered returns in the low-20% range. Its capital-allocation framework includes internal investments, bolt-on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and share repurchases, while Hawaii Renewables adds another long-term growth avenue through its 61-million-gallon-per-year renewable-fuels facility. Therefore, Par Pacific’s financial position supports a more flexible capital-allocation strategy focused on profitable growth and long-term shareholder value.
Are DVN & PSX Focused on Strengthening Their Balance Sheets?Devon Energy (DVN - Free Report) completed its $1.25 billion debt-reduction target for 2026, including the retirement of $250 million of senior notes and $250 million of term debt in the second quarter, followed by repayment of the remaining $750 million term loan in July. DVN exited the quarter with $4 billion of liquidity, including $1 billion of cash, while management targets total debt of about $9 billion by year-end 2027 and leverage at or below 1X through the commodity cycle. The stronger balance sheet gives Devon greater flexibility to maintain disciplined reinvestment, advance its expanded Permian inventory and capture at least $1 billion in targeted annual merger synergies by the end of 2027, supporting stronger long-term free cash flow.
Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) continued to strengthen its balance sheet, repaying all outstanding commercial paper and $1 billion of its March 2027 term loan in the second quarter, followed by repayment of the remaining $1.25 billion of the term loan in July. The company ended June with $4.1 billion in cash and $6.4 billion of committed capacity, while management expects net debt to fall below $16 billion by year-end. With its financial position improving, PSX is directing capital toward organic growth opportunities in Midstream and Chemicals, including the Iron Mesa gas plant, Coastal Bend natural gas liquid pipeline expansion and two world-scale chemical crackers expected to contribute meaningfully in 2027.
Therefore, sustained deleveraging and ample liquidity are strengthening the financial foundations of DVN and PSX. The improved balance sheets provide both companies with greater flexibility to fund high-return growth projects while maintaining financial discipline and positioning them for stronger long-term cash generation.
PARR’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesPar Pacific shares have gained 126.1% over the past year compared with the industry’s 104.7% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, PARR trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 3.36X. This is below the broader industry average of 5.48X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PARR's 2026 earnings has remained constant over the past seven days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
PARR currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Verra Mobility spustila AI řešení pro Title & Registration, které může zkrátit aktivaci vozidel až o 80 % a u některých transakcí ji zvládne ještě tentýž den.
New platform helps fleets move vehicles from acquisition to the road same-day, while reducing compliance risk
, /PRNewswire/ -- Verra Mobility Corporation (NASDAQ: VRRM), a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions, today announced an AI-driven Title & Registration (T&R) solution built to help fleets cut through the manual, state-by-state complexity that has long slowed vehicle deployment and increased compliance risk.
Verra Mobility announces AI-driven Title & Registration solution for fleets. Fleet operators managing growth, geographic expansion, and new vehicle programs have historically relied on T&R processes that are manual, paper-based, and fragmented across jurisdictions, often requiring a trip to a state office or other brick-and-mortar location to complete a single transaction. Verra Mobility's modernized solution replaces that patchwork with AI-powered document intelligence, automated workflow orchestration, and real-time transaction visibility, built on more than 10 years of T&R operating experience.
Verra Mobility currently processes more than 1.7 million T&R transactions annually with 99.8% accuracy, supported by direct electronic connections to DMVs in 15 states and expanding nationwide coverage options. The company's new AI-powered document intelligence identifies document types, extracts required data, and applies jurisdiction-specific rules automatically, processing qualifying transaction documents in under 90 seconds. Combined with automated workflow orchestration, the result is same-day processing for qualifying transactions and an average processing time of roughly half a day - up to 80% faster than the industry's typical 3- to 5-day turnaround.
"We understand where customers feel the most friction and what they need from a modern solution," said Stacey Moser, chief customer officer, Verra Mobility. "Every day a vehicle sits waiting on paperwork is a day it isn't generating revenue for our customers. We've built AI directly into that operational foundation to help our customers get vehicles on the road faster, lower total cost of ownership, and provide stronger compliance confidence at scale."
Verra Mobility's Title & Registration solution is designed to support a range of fleet and mobility use cases, including:
Commercial and corporate fleets seeking a streamlined process across states that reduces administrative burden Autonomous vehicle programs requiring scalable infrastructure that supports compliance in non-standard data environments Rental car operations that depend on fast vehicle turnaround, high utilization, and predictable processing timelines IRP/IFTA and carrier fleet teams that need governed reporting, audit-ready documentation, and consistent compliance support Key capabilities include:
AI-driven workflow orchestration to streamline T&R processes Automated renewals and milestone tracking for greater visibility and fewer manual touchpoints Centralized process management that replaces fragmented, state-by-state coordination Improved compliance support through more consistent documentation and managed workflows Operational efficiency gains that help fleets reduce rework, accelerate in-fleeting, and better support revenue readiness As fleets face growing pressure to activate vehicles faster while managing compliance across an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, T&R is shifting from a back-office function into an operational lever that directly affects revenue readiness. Building on a decade of operational experience, the new AI-driven capabilities extend automation to a process that has historically lagged behind other areas of fleet operations.
To learn more about Verra Mobility's Title & Registration solution, visit www.verramobility.com.
About Verra Mobility
Verra Mobility Corporation (NASDAQ: VRRM) is a leading provider of smart mobility technology solutions that make transportation safer, smarter and more connected. The company sits at the center of the mobility ecosystem, bringing together vehicles, hardware, software, data and people to enable safe, efficient solutions for customers globally. Verra Mobility's transportation safety systems and parking management solutions protect lives, improve urban and motorway mobility and support healthier communities. The company also solves complex payment, utilization and compliance challenges for fleet owners and rental car companies. Headquartered in Arizona, Verra Mobility operates in North America, Europe, and Australia. For more information, please visit www.verramobility.com.
Forward Looking Statements
We describe initiatives that drive our business and future results in this press release. Such discussions contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). Forward-looking statements are those that address activities, events, or developments that management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future including with respect to the AI They are based on management's assumptions and assessments in light of past experience and trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other relevant factors. They are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ significantly from those envisaged by our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update or revise any of our forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities law. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to material risks and uncertainties that can affect our performance in both the near-and long-term. In addition, no assurance can be given that any plan, initiative, projection, goal, commitment, expectation, or prospect set forth in this press release can or will be achieved. These forward-looking statements should be considered in light of the information included in this press release, our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking plans described herein are not final and may be modified or abandoned at any time.
Additional Information
We periodically provide information for investors on our corporate website, www.verramobility.com, and our investor relations website, ir.verramobility.com.
We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor our website, in addition to following the Company's press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
Equinix představil Fabric One, spravovanou službu pro propojení cloudových, AI a firemních prostředí. Beta má přijít letos, ostrý start je plánován na 2027 v Severní Americe.
Equinix Fabric One will deliver any-to-any connectivity across enterprise, cloud and AI environments, with AWS and Google Cloud serving as lead integration partners
, /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company®, today announced Equinix® Fabric One™, a managed, any-to-any connectivity service designed to simplify how enterprises connect distributed cloud, network and AI environments. The announcement was made at Equinix Horizon, the company's inaugural customer and partner event.
Equinix® Fabric One™ customer journey Built to address the networking complexity of the AI era, Equinix Fabric One will leverage open connectivity specifications developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud to support interoperability across distributed cloud, AI and enterprise environments. Customers will simply specify what they need connected and their requirements, and Equinix Fabric One determines and delivers the connectivity required to make it happen. At Horizon, Equinix is also announcing Equinix® Inference Exchange to accelerate enterprise AI infrastructure deployments.
"For decades, enterprise networks have been built one connection at a time for each partner and provider they depend on. That approach doesn't scale in a world of distributed AI that demands dynamic, flexible and real-time connectivity," said Chris Audie, Chief Product Officer, Equinix. "Equinix Fabric One will reduce the complexity that's slowing enterprises down by automatically managing connectivity across distributed architectures, based on the customer's intent."
The Connectivity Modern Enterprises Need
As enterprises need to connect to more clouds, AI providers, partners and locations, every new connection can become a networking project requiring specialized expertise, cross-functional coordination and ongoing management. That complexity can slow deployment and makes it harder for infrastructure to keep pace with the needs of the business.
"Networking is still a key area of enterprise infrastructure that remains heavily dependent on manual design and operations," said Andrew Buss, Senior Research Director, Cloud and Datacenters, Enterprise Infrastructure at IDC. "Organizations are increasingly looking for ways to simplify and automate how connectivity is provisioned and managed across distributed cloud and AI environments, but achieving this transformation remains a major challenge. Advances that enable more integrated automation and intent-driven approaches can reduce operational complexity and risk while supporting the flexibility modern AI and multicloud architectures require."
Equinix Fabric One aims to modernize how enterprises consume connectivity. Instead of assembling and managing networking service component by component, customers simply specify what they need through a portal, APIs, automation workflows, agent-based requests or natural-language prompts. Equinix Fabric One will automatically orchestrate and manage the routing, cloud connectivity, encryption, resiliency and failover required to deliver that outcome as a single managed service.
Equinix Fabric One is built on the company's trusted, neutral exchange of more than 10,500 interconnected businesses, approximately 3,000 cloud and IT providers, and active deployments by eight of the top 10 AI model providers and nine of the top 10 neoclouds. Equinix's neutrality gives enterprises the freedom to connect across providers while keeping their architecture flexible as business and technology needs evolve.
Neutral by Design. Open by Default.
Built on open connectivity specifications, Equinix Fabric One leverages the open source OpenAPI 3.0 Interconnect specification, which AWS and Google Cloud collaborated on to preserve choice and interoperability across distributed AI, cloud and enterprise environments. As enterprises move toward agentic architectures, applications and AI agents can discover, request and provision connectivity programmatically, without manual intervention.
"Customers shouldn't have to figure out how to connect across multiple clouds and AI environments on their own," said Robert Kennedy, Vice President, AWS network services. "They should just define what they need and have it work. Fabric One builds on the open interconnect specification that AWS and Google Cloud helped define and deliver exactly that. A managed service that handles the complexity so customers can focus on their AI workloads, not how everything connects."
"Cross-cloud interoperability is the backbone of the AI era," said Rob Enns, Vice President of Engineering, Cloud Networking, Google Cloud. "We helped establish the open interconnect specification so enterprises no longer have to manage the complexity of multi-cloud networking. By combining Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Network capabilities with Equinix Fabric One, we are giving customers an automated, intent-driven network that lets them quickly deploy distributed AI workloads."
Connectivity That Evolves with the Enterprise
The world's leading organizations are increasingly seeking connectivity models that allow teams to focus on what they need rather than the complexity of building and managing individual connections.
"As technology environments become more distributed, AI workloads and multicloud architectures require connectivity that is flexible, scalable and easier to manage," said Paul Hager, CEO, Hyundai AutoEver America. "Equinix Fabric One has the potential to accelerate our efforts to meet those needs."
Equinix Fabric One is expected to enter beta later this year, with general availability planned for 2027, initially in North America.
Additional Resources
The Network Is How Multicloud AI Scales [Analyst Report] The Coordination Economy: How Enterprises Really Build AI Value [Blog] Equinix Fabric One [Product Page] Equinix Fabric One Product Release Note [Release Note] Equinix Horizon Event Page [Event Page] About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) shortens the path to boundless connectivity anywhere in the world. Its digital infrastructure, data center footprint and interconnected ecosystems empower innovations that enhance our work, life and planet. Equinix connects economies, countries, organizations and communities, delivering seamless digital experiences and cutting-edge AI—quickly, efficiently and everywhere.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks to our business and operating results related to the current inflationary environment; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; stock price fluctuations; increased costs to procure power and the general volatility in the global energy market; the challenges of building and operating IBX® and xScale® data centers, including those related to sourcing suitable power and land, and any supply chain constraints or increased costs of supplies; the challenges of developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; risks related to regulatory inquiries or litigation; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent and upcoming Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Equinix Inference Exchange combines NVIDIA Enterprise Reference Architectures, Together AI's inference platform and Equinix's global infrastructure to optimize deployment speed, flexibility and cost efficiency
, /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company®, today announced a significant expansion of its longtime collaboration with NVIDIA to deliver Equinix® Inference Exchange, a distributed AI inference program for global enterprises, alongside a new collaboration with Together AI.
Equinix® Inference Exchange - Bringing inference closer to where data, users and applications live As AI scales across models, providers and geographies, where inference runs is a strategic imperative that determines performance, cost and governance. Equinix Inference Exchange will give enterprises a faster path from AI experimentation to production, with secure, low-latency connectivity to the data, users and ecosystem they depend on.
This collaboration brings together NVIDIA's validated Enterprise Reference Architectures with Together AI's inference platform, supporting more than 200 open-source models. Delivered through Equinix's global data centers, it will provide connectivity to clouds, networks and AI providers through Equinix Fabric®.
The solution will be announced today at Equinix Horizon, the company's inaugural customer and partner event, alongside Equinix® Fabric One™, which will make it easier for enterprises to connect across globally distributed AI environments.
"AI is transforming enterprise technology at extraordinary speed, and the infrastructure decisions enterprises make today will define their competitive position for years to come. Equinix is uniquely positioned to deliver what this moment demands based on our nearly three decades building the trusted exchange where the world's enterprises run, connect and orchestrate their most critical workloads," said Adaire Fox-Martin, Chief Executive Officer and President, Equinix. "Our longtime relationship with NVIDIA delivers the accelerated computing foundation at the heart of modern AI, while Together AI's commitment to open ecosystems gives enterprises the flexibility to scale on their terms. Equinix Inference Exchange will enable architectures that are neutral by design, open by default and engineered for exceptional performance."
"Equinix Inference Exchange turns the world's leading digital interconnection platform into a global fabric for AI inference," said Raj Mirpuri, vice president of global AI clouds and infrastructure ecosystem at NVIDIA. "As accelerated compute becomes a strategic asset class, combining NVIDIA's infrastructure & technology with Together AI's open-model inference platform and Equinix's global reach gives enterprises a powerful, distributed foundation to bring intelligence closer to their data, applications and customers—accelerating the next generation of intelligent services."
"Together AI was built on the conviction that open, accessible AI is what will define the industry moving forward, because enterprises shouldn't have to choose between model performance and operational flexibility," said Vipul Ved Prakash, co-founder and CEO, Together AI. "What we are building with Equinix and NVIDIA proves that model choice and performance are not trade-offs. They are the foundation of enterprise AI done right."
Where Inference Runs Matters
The pace of enterprise AI adoption is outrunning the infrastructure needed to support it. As enterprise AI moves from experimentation to production, inference increasingly needs to run closer to the users, data and applications it serves across clouds, models, providers and geographies. This shift requires enterprises to determine not only how to deploy AI infrastructure, but where it should run and how it connects to the data, applications and workloads it depends on.
Managing these distributed inference deployments introduces significant operational complexity at precisely the moment enterprises need greater control and visibility.
"Performance, cost and governance have become strategic considerations as AI workloads grow more distributed across providers, data sources and environments," said Nick Patience, Vice President & Practice Lead, AI Platforms, The Futurum Group. "Organizations are increasingly focused on where inference runs and how quickly it can be deployed into production. Solutions that simplify inference deployment while preserving flexibility will become increasingly important to achieve business outcomes."
Equinix brings unmatched scale and ecosystem density to this challenge, with more than 280 data centers across 77 metros, 230 cloud on-ramps and over 10,500 businesses interconnected on its neutral exchange. Eight of the top 10 AI model providers and nine of the top 10 AI clouds are deployed with Equinix, underscoring the company's position at the center of the AI ecosystem.
Built for Choice and Flexibility
Together AI is the latest addition to Equinix's expansive AI ecosystem, bringing open-model flexibility and choice to enterprises deploying AI at scale. The solution combines three complementary layers designed to simplify distributed AI inference:
Equinix provides the infrastructure foundation, including power, advanced cooling and day-two operations, connected through Equinix Fabric to the clouds, networks and AI providers that inference depends on. NVIDIA anchors the build with its Enterprise Reference Architectures and AI infrastructure purpose-built to maximize AI factory throughput and minimize token cost. Together AI runs the platform on top, supporting both multitenant deployments for shared efficiency and dedicated single-tenant environments for workloads that require dedicated capacity. Built on Equinix Fabric, the solution will connect to inference providers across major metros worldwide, cutting time-to-first-token. It also will connect to an expansive ecosystem of clouds, networks and AI providers, reducing deployment complexity.
Designed for Modern Enterprise Inference
The solution aims to support a broad range of enterprise inference scenarios, including:
Metro edge inference: For organizations that need inference running closer to users and data, enabling lower-latency AI experiences while leveraging the security, operational scale and global reach of Equinix. Open model migration: For enterprises moving workloads from closed, proprietary models to open-source alternatives to control cost and avoid lock-in, the solution will provide a direct, low-friction path to run that migration in production, with Together AI's open-model platform reachable over the same interconnected fabric enterprises already use to reach their other providers. Sovereign AI: For enterprises operating in regulated industries or specific geographies, the solution will enable AI workloads to run in locations that support data residency and sovereignty requirements, providing a simpler path to deploying AI at scale while maintaining control over where data and inference are processed. Equinix Inference Exchange will be available starting in Q1 2027.
Additional Resources
Token Optimization Begins with Choice [Analyst Report] The Coordination Economy: How Enterprises Really Build AI Value [Blog] Equinix Inference Exchange [Product Page] Equinix Inference Exchange Product Release Note [Product Release Note] Equinix Horizon Event Page [Event Page] About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) shortens the path to boundless connectivity anywhere in the world. Its digital infrastructure, data center footprint and interconnected ecosystems empower innovations that enhance our work, life and planet. Equinix connects economies, countries, organizations and communities, delivering seamless digital experiences and cutting-edge AI—quickly, efficiently and everywhere.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks to our business and operating results related to the current inflationary environment; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; stock price fluctuations; increased costs to procure power and the general volatility in the global energy market; the challenges of building and operating IBX® and xScale® data centers, including those related to sourcing suitable power and land, and any supply chain constraints or increased costs of supplies; the challenges of developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; risks related to regulatory inquiries or litigation; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent and upcoming Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
In the news release, CPP Investments and Equinix Complete atNorth Acquisition to Support Growth of Leading Nordic Data Center Platform, issued 02-Sep-2026 by Equinix, Inc. over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that changes have been made. The complete, corrected release follows, with additional details at the end:
CPP Investments and Equinix Complete atNorth Acquisition to Support Growth of Leading Nordic Data Center Platform, /PRNewswire/ -- Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company®, have completed the acquisition of atNorth, a leading Nordic data center developer and operator with a scalable portfolio of high-density colocation and built-to-suit data facilities.
atNorth ICE02 data center in Reykjanesbær, Iceland atNorth's footprint spans across all five Nordic countries, with eight operational data centers and several new projects underway across the territory. This includes sites under development in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, alongside expansions to existing sites and a strong portfolio of additional development projects.
Together, the operating portfolio and development pipeline provide atNorth with significant capacity to serve growing demand from global enterprise and hyperscale customers across AI, cloud and high-performance computing workloads, supported by advanced cooling technologies, renewable energy integration and heat reuse solutions.
The US$4 billion acquisition, by CPP Investments and Equinix, builds on CPP Investments' global experience in data center investing and underscores the strategic importance of the Nordics as a leading hub for AI-ready digital infrastructure. atNorth will continue to operate independently under its existing brand, with the backing of its shareholders to accelerate development of its pipeline and expand capacity across the Nordics. Equinix brings complementary digital infrastructure expertise and global customer relationships to support atNorth's continued growth.
Given the strength of the opportunity and confidence in the partnership since the initial announcement, Partners Group, on behalf of its clients, has elected to re-invest and acquire a 10% stake in atNorth. As a result, CPP Investments will hold a c. 51% controlling stake committing US$1.3 billion, alongside Equinix's c. 34% committing US$895 million and Partners Group's c. 10% committing US$260 million. The remainder will be held by atNorth's internal stakeholders, who have chosen to roll over a substantial portion of their equity. The transaction involves a financing package of US$4.1 billion (€3.6 billion), underwritten by a group of European and Canadian lenders to support atNorth's continuous growth, fund the transaction, as well as the capital required to fund the expansion of the business. The transaction is immediately accretive upon close to Equinix's adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share.
"The completion of this investment gives CPP Investments a controlling stake in one of the Nordics' leading hyperscale data center platforms, and marks an important milestone in our partnership with Equinix," said Maximilian Biagosch, Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Real Assets, CPP Investments. "With its strong portfolio of development projects, access to renewable power and differentiated capabilities for AI and high-performance computing workloads, atNorth is well positioned to support the region's next phase of growth. This important transaction also aligns with CPP Investments' focus on investing in high-quality digital infrastructure businesses that can deliver long-term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries."
"The acquisition will strengthen our ability to support customers expanding digital and AI deployments, while increasing capacity in a region widely recognised for its advanced technology ecosystem and sustainable energy profile," said Regina Dahlström, Managing Director, Equinix Nordics. "As AI adoption accelerates, organisations need infrastructure that brings together data, clouds, networks and inference services. Expanding our footprint helps create the interconnected hubs that enable data to move efficiently and securely across ecosystems."
"Since the signing announcement earlier this year, atNorth has continued to build strong momentum, securing new hyperscale contracts and expanding our development pipeline, including a new site in Norway", said Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth. "We enter this next phase from a position of strength, with a clear strategy to continue to operate independently under the atNorth brand, while working closely with CPP Investments and Equinix. The backing of our new owners, enhances our ability to scale at pace, expand capacity across the Nordics, and deepen our relationships with global enterprise and hyperscale customers."
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) shortens the path to boundless connectivity anywhere in the world. Its digital infrastructure, data center footprint and interconnected ecosystems empower innovations that enhance our work, life and planet. Equinix connects economies, countries, organizations and communities, delivering seamless digital experiences and cutting-edge AI—quickly, efficiently and everywhere.
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At June 30, 2026, the Fund totalled C$863.6 billion.
For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.
About atNorth
atNorth is a leading Nordic data center company that offers cost-effective, scalable high-density colocation and built-to-suit services trusted by industry-leading organizations.
With sustainability at its core, atNorth's data centers run on renewable energy resources and support circular economy principles. All atNorth sites leverage innovative design, power efficiency, and intelligent operations to provide long-term infrastructure and flexible colocation deployments.
atNorth is headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland and operates eight data centers in strategic locations across the Nordics, as well as four mega sites under development across Kouvola, inland, Ølgod, Denmark, Sollefteå, Sweden and Haugaland, Norway. The business also has an additional metro site under development in Stockholm, Sweden.
For more information, visit atNorth.com or follow atNorth on LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements, including statements related to the acquisition of atNorth, the joint agreement between CPP investments and Equinix and the expected benefits from the acquisition or the joint agreement. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to; risks to our business and operating results related to the current inflationary environment; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; stock price fluctuations; increased costs to procure power and the general volatility in the global energy market; the challenges of building and operating IBX® and xScale® data centers, including those related to sourcing suitable power and land, and any supply chain constraints or increased costs of supplies; the challenges of developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers, including the atNorth data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; risks related to regulatory inquiries or litigation; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent and upcoming Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Boom umělé inteligence zvedá poptávku po datových centrech a tři infrastrukturní firmy už z toho těží: Comfort Systems, Vertiv a Sterling hlásí rekordní backlogy a silný růst tržeb.
Everyone is betting on GPU makers, but the real bottleneck in the AI arms race sits in the concrete, copper, and chilled water keeping those chips alive. Three infrastructure stocks are already converting that bottleneck into record backlogs.
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The AI story usually stops at the GPU. The harder problem is powering and cooling the buildings that house them. Grid Strategies’ 2025 load growth report identified data centers as the largest driver of U.S. electricity demand, and every megawatt of AI compute needs someone to pour the pad, run the switchgear, pipe the chilled water, and keep the racks from overheating. This edition covers three US-listed companies doing exactly that work, with backlog and revenue already reflecting the buildout. Note upfront: Vertiv and Comfort Systems are large-cap infrastructure names, while Sterling Infrastructure is a mid-cap with heavier concentration in mission-critical projects, which tends to bring more volatility.
Comfort Systems USA: Mechanical Contractor Building the Guts of Hyperscale Data Centers Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX | FIX Price Prediction) is the crew that physically installs the HVAC, piping, plumbing, and electrical systems inside data centers, semiconductor fabs and other mission-critical buildings. In plain terms, when a hyperscaler needs chilled-water piping, air handlers, and switchgear rooms wired up on a construction schedule that cannot slip, Comfort Systems shows up with the engineers and tradespeople.
The Q2 FY2026 print confirmed the demand story. Revenue reached $3.27 billion, up 50.3% year over year, with EPS of $12.53 versus $10.46 expected, the fifth straight EPS beat. Backlog hit a record $14.06 billion, up from $8.12 billion a year earlier. Technology customers, which include hyperscalers, accounted for 58% of first-half 2026 revenue, compared with 40% a year earlier. CEO Brian Lane described the tone from customers plainly: “We see no letdown whatsoever.” Shares were up 53.24% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case is straightforward. Modular construction capacity is expanding from 3.5 million square feet toward approximately 5 million square feet by late summer 2027, largely backed by existing customer commitments, and every project built today becomes a service annuity later. The risk: fixed-price contracts and construction cycle exposure mean margin can compress fast if labor tightens or a big job slips.
Vertiv Holdings: Power and Cooling Gear Inside Every AI Data Hall Vertiv Holdings (NYSE:VRT) designs and manufactures the equipment that delivers clean electricity to AI servers and removes heat from GPU racks: uninterruptible power supplies (industrial-scale battery backup), power distribution units, busbars and switchgear and liquid-cooling systems. If Comfort Systems builds the room, Vertiv fills it with the gear. The company was added to the S&P 500 in March 2026.
Q2 FY2026 results validated the raised outlook. Net sales came in at $3.274 billion, up 24% year over year with 18% organic growth, and adjusted operating margin expanded 410 basis points to 22.6%. Adjusted free cash flow was $925 million, up 234%. Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to net sales of $14 billion at the midpoint and adjusted diluted EPS of $6.70 at the midpoint, up 60% versus 2025. CEO Giordano Albertazzi framed the demand backdrop this way: “Demand for AI and general compute continues to intensify and with each technology advancement, deployments grow more complex and more infrastructure-intensive.” Shares were up 43.29% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case rests on content per megawatt. As racks move toward 800-volt DC architectures with medium-voltage UPS, DC sidecars, and solid-state transformers, Vertiv sells more gear per data hall. Its PurgeRite Near Zero fluid-management service reduces water used at startup by up to 90%, another differentiator that shows up in services revenue. The risk: Q2 revenue timing shifted on multiphase project complexity and supply-chain interdependencies and EMEA organic sales declined 2.4% in Q2.
Sterling Infrastructure: Site Development and Electrical Work for Data-Center Campuses Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) does the work before servers ever arrive: grading, excavation, concrete pads, and utilities for the massive plots of land where data centers, semiconductor campuses, and EV plants get built. Through its CEC acquisition, it also runs electrical services on those same sites. Sterling is a mid-cap with a market cap of roughly $14.39 billion, and its E-Infrastructure segment is heavily concentrated in mission-critical work, making it more cyclical than the other two names. Volatility can run higher as a result.
Q2 FY2026 revenue was $1.17 billion, up 90.1% year over year, with organic growth of approximately 50%. Adjusted diluted EPS came in at $5.80 versus $5 expected, a 16% beat, the fourth consecutive beat. E-Infrastructure revenue grew 192% and now represents 78% of total revenue, and mission-critical projects account for more than 92% of E-Infrastructure signed backlog. Signed backlog stands at $4.33 billion, up 116%, and the total addressable pool of work exceeds $7 billion, an increase of more than $2.5 billion since year-end 2025. Management raised FY2026 guidance to revenue of $4.00 billion to $4.15 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of $19.70 to $20.30. CEO Joe Cutillo said projects historically viewed as three-year opportunities are now being scoped as lasting “five to eight to 12 years” as customers buy adjacent land and expand. Shares were up 43.34% year to date on Sept. 1.
The bull case: Sterling is being pulled into more geographies and more phases of the same customer campuses, with CEC’s electrical arm now landing second buildings at existing sites. The risk is real. Building Solutions is exposed to housing weakness through 2026, integration risk from CEC and Stone Ridge remains, and mission-critical concentration means any pullback in hyperscaler CapEx hits harder here than at FIX or VRT. Cutillo also warned that third-quarter awards could come in softer on timing, with a possible sequential backlog decline that reflects timing rather than demand.
What to Watch Next These three companies are already generating the revenue that pure-play AI infrastructure trades are pricing in for later. Vertiv and Comfort Systems offer scale and blue-chip balance sheets with backlog visibility stretching into 2027. Sterling offers the highest growth rate of the three, at the cost of higher concentration and mid-cap volatility. Track hyperscaler CapEx commentary and, more specifically, backlog conversion and same-store growth at each company’s next print. That is where the AI buildout becomes a cash flow story. If you want a wider map of the suppliers keeping this buildout fed, from power to cooling to networking, we pulled seven of them into a free report on the AI boom beyond the chipmakers.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Orogen Royalties oznámila akvizici zlatých projektů Toro de Oro a El Gigante v jihozápadním Utahu. Oba projekty jsou málo prozkoumané a bez historie vrtání.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / September 2, 2026 / Orogen Royalties Inc. ("Orogen" or the "Company") (TSXV:OGN)(OTCQX:OGNNF) is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Toro de Oro and El Gigante gold projects in Southwest Utah, USA.
Project Highlights
Two low-sulphidation epithermal targets located in caldera complexes of southwest Utah
Toro de Oro is centered on an extensive footprint of steam cap alteration and chalcedonic vein sets indicating the high-level expression of an epithermal system, geologically similar to AngloGold Ashanti's Arthur Project
El Gigante contains two separate quartz veins up to and exceeding three metres wide and over 350 metres long with strong similarities to the surface expression of First Majestic's Ermitaño vein. Multiple vein splays and sub-parallel vein structures are also present.
Both projects are underexplored with no evidence of historical drilling
Both projects were generated in partnership with Triple Flag Precious Metals
The Toro de Oro and El Gigante projects are available for option or sale
"Orogen have applied discovery-proven epithermal exploration strategies developed in Nevada, USA and Sonora, Mexico to underexplored caldera complexes of southwest Utah in an alliance funded by Triple Flag Precious Metals," said Laurence Pryer, VP Exploration of Orogen. "Toro de Oro and El Gigante are the first projects to come out of this partnership and exhibit strong similarities to Orogen's previous major discoveries. We look forward to showcasing these projects at Orogen's upcoming Project Generator Day on September 16th."
Figure 1: Location of the El Gigante and Toro De Oro projectsAbout the Toro de Oro Project
The Toro de Oro project covers approximately 8.6 square kilometres of BLM claims and Utah State (SITLA) mineral lease located 30 kilometres northeast of Modena, Utah (Figure 1).
Toro de Oro is located in the Indian Peak Caldera Complex at the intersection of multiple caldera boundaries creating a complex structural framework for hydrothermal fluids.
The project is centered on an extensive footprint of advanced argillic alteration (kaolinite and alunite). The host rocks to the alteration cell are a thick sequence of Oligocene ignimbrite tuffs and volcanic units (Figure 2). The alteration cell is open in multiple directions under younger Miocene Rhyolites and Quaternary colluvium. Geological mapping has identified alunite, silicification and more crystalline kaolinite associated with specific structures interpreted to represent feeders to the hydrothermal system. Chalcedony veins and vein float are abundant in the centre of the property, on the periphery of the main hydrothermal cell, and associated with anomalous mercury.
These observations are consistent with the high-level expression of a steam cap centered above a prospective low-sulphidation epithermal system.
Toro de Oro is untested by drilling.
About the El Gigante Project
The El Gigante Project covers approximately 3.4 square-kilometres of BLM claims 4.0 kilometres north of Modena, Utah (Figure 1).
The property is centered on two sub-parallel 350 metre long quartz veins on surface and , up to 3.0 metres wide. The veins display abundant overprinting of boiling textures including quartz after platy calcite and sparse crustiform and banded textures, evidence for multiple veining episodes. Sampling of the vein has returned anomalous pathfinder elements and up to 101 parts per billion ("ppb") gold.
The peripheries of the main veins and subsidiary structures display silica-smectite-dominant alteration suggesting a shallow level of exposure and the potential for greater widths and gold grades at depth.
The El Gigante vein displays strong textural and mineralogical similarities to the Ermitaño vein, Mexico (Photo 1) identified by Orogen a decade ago. Initial sampling at Ermitaño returned only 70 ppb gold but follow-up drilling by exploration partners intercepted 14.5 metres (true length), at 11.4 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold and 86 g/t silver from 242 metres downhole. Production started at Ermitaño in 2021.
El Gigante is untested by drilling.
Prospect Generator Day
Toro de Oro, El Gigante and Orogen's other recently created exploration projects will be presented during Orogen's third annual Project Generator Day.
Project Generator Day - New Exploration Assets
Date & Time: Wednesday September 16, 2026, at 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST
Zoom Webinar Registration:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_u5xCHk0LSbSXSJqSDnuwUw
Figure 2: Simplified geology, mineralogy and mercury geochemistry of Toro de OroPhoto 1: Top, sampling the El Gigante vein in 2026 that returned up to 101 ppb gold. Bottom, sampling the Ermitaño vein in 2007 that returned up to 70 ppb gold.Qualified Person Statement
All technical data, as disclosed in this press release, has been reviewed and approved by Laurence Pryer, Ph.D., P.Geo., VP Exploration for Orogen. Dr. Pryer is a qualified person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.
Summary of Analytical Method
The assay results reported from the Toro de Oro and El Gigante property represent first pass reconnaissance samples typically "grab" or "select" in nature. They do not represent the true width or grade of the mineralization. All rock samples were analyzed by ALS Geochemistry via Au-ICP21 (Au 30g FA ICP-AES Finish), ME-MS61 and Hg-MS42. The samples were processed at ALS Reno and ALS North Vancouver. Orogen does not insert any standard, blanks or duplicates during first pass reconnaissance rock sampling.
About Orogen Royalties Inc.
Orogen Royalties is focused on organic royalty creation and royalty acquisitions on precious and base metal discoveries in western North America. The Company's royalty portfolio includes the Ermitaño gold and silver Mine in Sonora, Mexico (2.0% NSR royalty) operated by First Majestic Silver Corp. The Company is well financed with several projects actively being developed by exploration partners.
On Behalf of the Board
OROGEN ROYALTIES INC.
Paddy Nicol
President & CEO
To find out more about Orogen, please contact Paddy Nicol, President & CEO at 604-248-8648, and Marco LoCascio, Vice President of Corporate Development at 604-248-8648. Visit our website at www.orogenroyalties.com.
Orogen Royalties Inc.
1015 - 789 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6C 1H2
Forward Looking Information
This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". All statements in this presentation, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Orogen Royalties Inc. (the "Company") expect to occur, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.
Although the Company believe the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Investment firm KKR & Co (KKR.N) has agreed to buy residential garage door repair and replacement company A1 Garage Door Service for around $2 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The deal adds to a wave of home services M&A including Oak Hill Capital's $800 million-plus acquisition of Guild Garage Group this year. Private equity firms have been acquiring residential services companies because of their steady cash flows and high values in fragmented markets.
Phoenix, Arizona-based A1 Garage was founded in 2007 by CEO Tommy Mello, who grew the business into one of the largest residential garage door service providers in the country, operating in around 20 states. In 2022, A1 received growth capital from the private equity firm Cortec Group.
KKR and Cortec declined to comment. A1 Garage could not be reached for comment.
KKR already has experience in the residential services space through its investments in Neighborly and Groundworks.
In 2021, it bought Neighborly, which it called the world’s largest provider and franchiser of home service brands including plumbing, pest control, restoration, electrical, cleaning, HVAC and home inspection. In 2023, it made a significant investment in Groundworks, which provides residential foundation and water management services. Cortec is also an investor in Groundworks.
Tencentem podporovaná Shanghai Enflame Technology při online části IPO v Šanghaji získala objednávky na 6 109násobek nabídky. Firma chce prodat 43 milionů akcií za 142,18 jüanu a získat asi 6,1 miliardy jüanů.
Chinese AI chipmaker Shanghai Enflame Technology (688801.SS), backed by Tencent, drew investor orders worth 6,109 times the shares available in the online portion of its Shanghai initial public offering, an exchange filing showed on Wednesday.
Investors are betting Beijing's push to develop domestic alternatives to U.S. chip suppliers such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) will create opportunities for Chinese AI chipmakers, after President Donald Trump tightened curbs on exports of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China.
In response to the excess demand, Enflame moved 3.4 million shares from the offline tranche to the online sale after receiving orders from more than 7 million online investor accounts, Wednesday's filing showed.
It said the final winning rate for online investors was 0.025%. The company will announce the results on Friday.
'FOUR LITTLE GPU DRAGONS'
Enflame is one of China's leading AI chip startups, referred to in Chinese financial circles as the "four little GPU dragons". The other three — Moore Threads Technology (688795.SS), MetaX Integrated Circuits (688802.SS) and Shanghai Biren Technology (6082.HK) — have already sold shares publicly over the last year.
Founded eight years ago, Enflame has yet to make a profit, but it has powerful backing from social media and gaming companyTencent (0700.HK), which is one of its major shareholders and its largest customer.
Enflame set its IPO price at 142.18 yuan per share and aims to raise about 6.1 billion yuan ($908 million) by selling 43 million shares on Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market.
It has said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to develop and produce its fifth- and sixth-generation AI chips and related software and hardware.
The company initially allocated 6.89 million shares, or 20% of the shares available after the strategic placement, to online investors, the filing showed.
The shift raised the online allocation to 10.33 million shares, or 30% of the post-strategic-placement offering, while the offline tranche received the remaining 70%, the filing showed.
FDA varuje před neschválenými a kompoundovanými GLP-1 léky na hubnutí kvůli vážným zdravotním rizikům, včetně hospitalizací, silné nevolnosti a zvracení. Úřad eviduje 990 hlášení u kompoundovaného semaglutidu a přes 730 u kompoundovaného tirzepatidu.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday warned patients and healthcare providers about severe health risks linked to unapproved and compounded glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight-loss medications.
Consumers frequently encounter illegally marketed semaglutide and tirzepatide products through online sellers, exposing themselves to unsafe chemical formulations, improper dosing, and product contamination.
Following the update, Hims & Hers Health Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) stock closed 3.85% lower on Tuesday.
Rising Adverse Events And Dosing HazardsAs of May 31, 2026, the agency received 990 adverse event reports regarding compounded Semaglutide and over 730 reports involving compounded tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Eli Lilly and Co.’s (NYSE:LLY) Zepbound and Mounjaro, and Semaglutide is the primary active ingredient in Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) Ozempic and Wegovy.
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Patients reported hospitalizations, severe gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea and vomiting, and injection site reactions from fraudulent formulations.
Additionally, compounders illegally use unapproved salt forms, such as semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate.
Consumers also face contamination risks when using multi-dose vials beyond 28 days or receiving unrefrigerated shipments.
Federal Crackdown On Illegal DistributionFederal law strictly bans Eli Lilly’s retatrutide and Novo Nordisk’s cagrilintide in drug compounding.
Regulators issued warning letters to active pharmaceutical ingredient distributors, outsourcing facilities, and telehealth vendors marketing unauthorized drugs, including products falsely labeled “for research purposes” or “not for human consumption.”
To stop poor-quality foreign ingredients from entering the domestic supply chain, the agency implemented import alert 66-80 targeting non-compliant manufacturers while permitting compliant imports.
HIMS Price Action: Hims & Hers Health shares were down 0.56% at $28.28 during premarket trading on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Apple má podle výkazu za FY2025 dluh 112,377 mld. USD, tedy téměř dvojnásobek dluhu Alphabetu. Alphabet mezitím zvýšil dlouhodobý dluh na 98,165 mld. USD a jeho volný peněžní tok se stal záporným na 5,86 mld. USD.
Jim Cramer called Apple's balance sheet pristine while slamming hyperscalers for wrecking theirs on AI data centers, but the actual filings tell a more complicated story about who is really carrying the heavier debt load.
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On Tim Cook’s final day as chief executive, Jim Cramer delivered a verdict that reframes the entire hyperscaler debate. Speaking on Mad Money on August 31, 2026, he called Apple’s balance sheet “pristine…the envy of the industry, maybe any industry” while accusing the AI infrastructure giants of the opposite sin.
“The hyperscalers have wrecked their balance sheets to build these data centers. They’re the ones to worry about, not Apple.”
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) closed FY2025 with $112.377 billion in total debt, $73.733 billion in equity, and retained earnings of negative $14.264 billion. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), the poster child for AI capex excess, closed the same year with $415.265 billion in equity and only $59.291 billion of debt.
Reading the Filings Side by Side Apple carries nearly twice the total debt Alphabet does, and its debt-to-equity ratio sits at 1.5241 versus Alphabet’s 0.1428. The negative retained earnings are the direct arithmetic of the buybacks Cramer praised in the same breath: Apple has repurchased $62.094 billion of stock in the nine months through June 27, 2026, on top of $90.711 billion in FY2025.
Alphabet’s leverage jumped fast this year. Long-term debt more than doubled from $46.547 billion at year-end 2025 to $98.165 billion by June 30, 2026, funding CapEx guided to $175 billion to $185 billion for 2026. The buyback program was suspended in Q2 2026. Free cash flow flipped to negative $5.86 billion.
Why the Market Isn’t Punishing Apple Cramer’s framing survives scrutiny for a reason: liquidity. Apple holds $39.544 billion in cash and $84.118 billion in long-term investments, a cushion that dwarfs the near-term maturities. Net debt to EBITDA sits at 0.528, and interest coverage on Alphabet’s side remains at 175.3x. Both companies remain financially sound.
Investors have voted with their wallets. Apple is up 16.87% year to date through September 2, 2026, versus Alphabet’s 8.56% gain. Apple trades at a 42 P/E multiple, roughly triple Alphabet’s 14.
What to Watch as Ternus Takes Over Bloomberg reports the John Ternus era begins after Cook’s 2,300% stock gain, with CNBC flagging AI challenges and a memory crunch ahead. If Apple accelerates its own AI infrastructure build, the buyback pace will collide with capex needs, and the “pristine” label will face its first real test. All that hyperscaler spending has to be powered, cooled, and networked by someone, and we pulled together seven suppliers doing exactly that in a free AI infrastructure report.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Apple schválil Timu Cookovi kompenzační balík ve výši 47 milionů USD, aby zůstal výkonným předsedou představenstva. Zahrnuje plat 2 miliony USD a akciovou odměnu s cílem 45 milionů USD pro fiskální rok 2027.
Tim Cook scores $47 million pay deal to stay on as Apple's chairman By You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Tim Cook is Apple's executive chair and former CEO. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Tim Cook is no longer Apple's CEO, but he'll continue to collect a CEO-sized paycheck.
This week, Cook handed Apple's reins to John Ternus after 15 years in charge, and took on the role of executive chair.
Cook's new job pays a $2 million salary instead of $3 million, and comes with an annual equity award with a target value of $45 million for fiscal 2027, Apple said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Half of that award comprises performance-based restricted stock units (RSUs) that will vest based on Apple's total shareholder return relative to other S&P 500 companies. The other half is time-based and will vest over a four-year period.
As CEO, Cook earned around $74 million — including $14 million in cash bonuses and other compensation — in each of 2024 and 2025
Apple disclosed that Ternus will receive a $3 million annual salary and restricted stock with a target value of $55 million for his first year as CEO. A full 75% of the RSUs will be tied to Apple's relative performance, while 25% will vest over four years.
The iPhone maker didn't say how much Ternus and Cook stand to earn in cash bonuses.
The Buffett approachThe size of Cook's pay package signals he'll continue to play a central role at Apple.
Warren Buffett has taken a similar approach at Berkshire Hathaway, retiring as CEO at the turn of this year but staying on as chairman, serving as a close advisor to new CEO Greg Abel, and even picking stocks for Berkshire's portfolio.
Cook's compensation as chairman can also be seen as a reflection of the value he created for Apple. As CEO, he scaled Apple's manufacturing and distribution, strengthened its global supply chain, and successfully catered to China's burgeoning middle class.
Apple's split-adjusted stock price rocketed by nearly 2,300% during his tenure, from about $13 to $317 at the close of Cook's last day as CEO on Monday. It closed almost 3% higher at $325 on Tuesday.
That performance has fueled huge gains for shareholders. Buffett said during Berkshire's shareholder meeting in May that, under Cook, his $35 billion investment in Apple grew to $185 billion in value before taxes, including dividends.
"Tim Cook has made Berkshire a lot more than I have made Berkshire," Buffett told his shareholders last year.
Cook has also cultivated strong relationships with President Donald Trump and the Chinese government, which helped Apple navigate geopolitical turmoil in recent years. Ternus might call on him to work those connections in the future.
As Ternus grapples with challenges such as nailing down Apple's AI strategy and halting its talent exodus, Apple's senior leadership may have decided that keeping Cook on the payroll is worth the price.
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Theron Mohamed You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Theron Mohamed is a London-based correspondent on the International team at Business Insider. His coverage spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI in 2019 as a reporter at Markets Insider and rose to the rank of correspondent before moving to the Trending team then the broader International team. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle magazine and had a brief stint on the Financial Times' Data team. He interned at the Wall Street Journal in New York where he primarily wrote for Heard on the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and several smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, and other elite investors. He also writes about the world's wealthiest people and shares financial advice from all manner of rich and successful people.Email Theron at [email protected] and follow him on X @theron_mohamed.
Tech Apple Tim Cook More Stocks Wealth AI Trump China Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway
Apple zvýšil cenu Apple TV a balíčku Apple One až o 20 %, což ukazuje na silnou cenovou sílu jeho služeb. Tržby ze služeb v posledním čtvrtletí dosáhly rekordních téměř 31 miliard USD.
A price rise on a television subscription might not sound like the sort of thing to move the needle on one of the world's most valuable companies. Yet the increase Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL pushed through last week, lifting the cost of its Apple TV service and its flagship Apple One bundle by up to 20%, speaks volumes about the strategy now driving the business, and by extension, its stock.
The timing is interesting. Apple shares are up 20% so far this year, and have been consolidating comfortably just below the all-time highs they set back in July. Layered on top of that is the fact that the new CEO, John Ternus, formally takes the reins this week. All told, last week’s seemingly straightforward price hike is actually a useful window into where the company, and its shares, might be heading next.
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Squeezing More From the EcosystemThe price rises themselves are straightforward enough. The monthly cost of Apple TV climbs to just under $15, its annual plan jumps to $119, and the all-in-one Apple One bundle edges up to nearly $22 a month. Taken alone, each is a modest sum, but together they reveal a clear direction.
What makes the move so significant is what it says about Apple's pricing power. The company is confident it can charge its enormous customer base up to 20% more for the same service without sending them running for the exits. For context, Apple TV's monthly price has tripled since it launched in 2019.
Underpinning that confidence is the sheer scale of Apple's ecosystem, with more than 1.5 billion paid subscriptions and an installed base topping 2.5 billion active devices. Bundling services together, as the Apple One subscription does, encourages customers to sign up for more of them and makes it harder to leave, quietly boosting both loyalty and the average revenue squeezed from each user.
Why Services Hold the KeyTo understand why any of this matters for the stock, you have to appreciate just how central services have become to the Apple story. Once a company defined almost entirely by the iPhone, Apple now leans heavily on a services division that has become its most prized growth engine.
The numbers explain the enthusiasm. Services revenue hit a record nearly $31 billion in the most recent quarter, up 12% year over year despite currency headwinds, with records across advertising, the App Store, music, and video. Crucially, Apple’s services unit is far more profitable than its hardware unit, so every dollar earned there has an outsized impact on Apple's bottom line.
This is the crux of the bull case. As rising memory and other component costs squeeze the profitability of Apple's hardware, a thriving, high-margin services business offers a powerful counterweight. Price rises like last week's feed directly into that engine, which is precisely why investors should be so excited.
The Other Side of the CoinNone of this is to say the path ahead is entirely smooth, and the more cautious voices have some fair points to make. For one, Apple's shares are hardly cheap, trading on a valuation that already assumes durable services growth, resilient iPhone sales, and successful execution of an AI strategy that has many investors scratching their heads. That leaves little margin for error should any of those pillars wobble.
More immediate pressures remain, too. Rising memory costs are set to weigh on hardware margins for the foreseeable future, and there's obviously a limit to how far Apple can keep raising prices before price-sensitive customers begin to balk. Even the mighty services arm isn't immune, and its growth rate has somewhat cooled from the brisker pace it set earlier in the year.
Then there is the great unknown of AI. Apple has been notably more cautious in this space than its rivals, and questions linger over whether it can turn its AI efforts into tangible sales and services revenue. For John Ternus, the new leader who stepped in Sept. 1, price rises like this one may buy some time, but proving Apple can hold its own in the AI age is likely to be the defining challenge of his tenure.
A Confident Signal in a Time of ChangeViewed as part of a bigger picture, last week's price rises point to a company executing confidently on the strategy investors most want to see: extracting ever more value from its vast, loyal customer base through high-margin services.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) Price Chart for Wednesday, September, 2, 2026
That's a reassuring signal at a moment of transition, and it suggests continuity in the approach that has served Apple so well in years past. The fact that its shares have been steadily recovering from their post-earnings dip to sit just shy of record highs, while the stock carries a MarketBeat consensus rating of Moderate Buy, makes it hard to bet against Apple as the new era begins.
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Should You Invest $1,000 in Apple Right Now?Before you consider Apple, you'll want to hear this.
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The space race is growing fast, and you don’t have to have gotten in early on SpaceX to profit. This report shows seven space stocks you can buy today that may grow as rockets, satellites, defense, space internet, and new space technology become more important.
Tesla v srpnu zvýšila prodej elektromobilů vyrobených v Číně o 3,6 % meziročně na 86 166 kusů, ale tempo růstu prudce zpomalilo z červencových 38 %. Prodej meziměsíčně klesl o 7,9 %.
Tesla's (TSLA.O) China-made electric vehicle sales slowed to a gain of 3.6% year-on-year in August, down sharply from the prior month, as divergent trends persisted across the U.S. automaker's major markets.
Sales of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles from its Shanghai factory, including exports to Europe, Asia Pacific and Canada, rose to 86,166 units from the year earlier, marking the 10th straight month of growth.
That's a sharp slowdown from a 38% year-on-year rise in July though, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Wednesday.
On a month-on-month basis, sales fell 7.9%.
August registration data highlighted diverging fortunes for Tesla across Europe, with strong increases in France and Denmark contrasting with weaker sales in Norway, Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Italy.
The U.S. automaker is grappling with intensifying competition in China, where home-grown rivals are introducing more affordable, feature-rich EVs, while pushing deeper into overseas markets to offset weak demand domestically.
BYD (002594.SZ), , Tesla's largest Chinese rival, generated more revenue overseas than in China for the first time in the first half.
Likewise, exports accounted for more than half of the vehicles produced at Tesla's Chinese factory in the second quarter, also a first. Tesla's share of China's battery EV market shrank to 6.6% in the second quarter from a peak of more than 15% in 2020.
The U.S. EV specialist is also navigating China's growing influence over automotive safety rules, following a record recall announced in late August that involved Tesla alongside several Chinese carmakers.
Tesla čelí nové kontrole po smrtelné nehodě v Illinois, u níž měl být podle zpráv zapnutý Full Self-Driving. Vyšetřování ale zatím neprokázalo, že systém nehodu způsobil.
Electrek reports FSD was engaged during the crash Summary
The accident involved a Tesla Model YThe report adds to scrutiny around Tesla’s driver-assistance technology
Tesla Inc. (TSLA, Financials) gets another tough question about Full Self-Driving after a study tied the technology to a deadly accident in Illinois.
Electrek has uncovered a crash involving a Tesla Model Y that killed a mother of five in March, which was purportedly running Full Self-Driving at the time.
Seeking Alpha cited the results of the probe along with a police report from Batavia, Ill. The report on its own does not prove that FSD caused the crash.
That's an important difference because Tesla's Full Self-Driving system remains a supervised driver-assistance device, meaning the driver must monitor the vehicle at all times and take over when needed.
Still, the alleged engagement shines extra emphasis on the technology at a time when autonomy has been more and more vital to Tesla's investment story.
The business has long contended that advances in its software and artificial intelligence (AI) systems might one day make its massive vehicle fleet a crucial platform for autonomous driving.
This means fatal crashes involving vehicles being operated with FSD could have repercussions far beyond the individual crash, particularly if they receive further regulatory or legal scrutiny.
Investors will now await official conclusions into what transpired and whether Tesla's driver-assistance technology had any involvement.
Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.
Coca-Cola (KO -0.76%) has raised its dividend for 64 consecutive years and yields about 2.4% at a share price near $90. I think it belongs in most income portfolios, though not for the reason most people assume.
In February, Coca-Cola raised its quarterly payout from $0.51 per share to $0.53, bringing the annual dividend to $2.12 per share from $2.04. That was a 3.9% increase and the 64th straight year of growth, a streak that has survived recessions, inflation spikes, and repeated shifts in what people drink. This streak puts Coca-Cola on the elite list of Dividend Kings, companies that have grown their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years.
Image source: Getty Images.
Here is the honest part: A 2.4% yield doesn't sound like income for life. Five-year average dividend growth runs near 4.5%, and the payout ratio sits at 63.7%. The dividend alone will not drive strong near-term returns. What makes the case is what sits behind the payment.
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The business is growing faster than the dividend Second-quarter net revenue rose 7% to $13.38 billion. Comparable earnings per share (EPS) grew 11% to $0.97 against a $0.93 estimate, and reported EPS jumped 16% to $1.03. Global unit case volume increased 5%, with every single reporting segment posting volume growth.
The company is placing fewer and larger bets rather than chasing every trend. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar has become the growth engine, with global unit case volumes up 14%. Fairlife is the protein platform, and Topo Chico anchors premium hydration.
Fairlife matters the most to me. It gives Coca-Cola real exposure to protein and functional nutrition, categories that benefit from fitness culture and the adoption of weight-loss medications. Protein intake is gaining popularity in mainstream health conversations. But capacity has been the constraint. The New York facility began construction at the start of 2026 and is ramping up throughout the year, de-bottlenecking supply across variants and package sizes.
Henrique Braun took over as CEO at the end of March and has been direct about the gap. He said innovation "is not where it needs to be," and that the company needs to get closer to consumers and improve speed to market. That's a useful thing to hear from a new chief executive, rather than a defense of the status quo.
The affordability play Coca-Cola is not resetting prices. Instead, it's widening the range. The company rolled out mini 7.5-ounce cans priced under $2 in United States convenience stores to reach lower-income consumers and get them to try the products. Braun's team is marketing across price points and pack sizes rather than pushing everyone toward premium.
Innovation has also gotten bolder: Sprite + Tea in North America, Bacardi Mixed With Coca-Cola in Mexico and Europe, and Coca-Cola Cherry Float across the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company also added Coca-Cola sweetened with cane sugar to the U.S. lineup.
Does Coca-Cola belong in your portfolio? I believe that Coca-Cola should be in your portfolio, but with the right expectation. You're not buying a high yield. You're buying a company that gained value share in nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages while growing volume by 5% and expanding margins. The dividend grows roughly 4% to 5% annually on top of earnings compounding near 10%.
That combination is what can turn a 2.4% yield today into meaningful income over the next couple of decades. If you need cash flow right away, there are probably better options out there. But if you have a significant amount of money to invest and want a reliable company with a history of steady growth and increasing payouts, this could be a solid long-term choice. If your goal is a dividend that keeps growing through whatever comes next, this is the kind of setup worth seeking.
