Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Key Takeaways NBIS targets at least 4 GW of contracted power in 2026 after expanding beyond 3.5 GW in the first quarter.Nebius broadened its AI platform with Aether 3.6 and acquisitions of Tavily, Eigen AI and Clarifai.NBIS raised 2026 capex to $20-$25B after securing more than $6B and ending with over $9B in cash. Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS - Free Report) is building an AI-native hyperscaler by executing across four strategic dimensions. It is expanding its capacity and scale, enhancing its products and functionality, growing its customer base and demand, and strengthening its capital position.

On the capacity front, Nebius is rapidly expanding its AI infrastructure. After increasing contracted power from more than 2 GW at the end of 2025 to over 3.5 GW in the first quarter of 2026, the company now targets at least 4 GW this year. It also announced a new Pennsylvania site that will support up to 1.2 GW of power, marking its second company-owned GW-scale AI campus in the United States.

Nebius is expanding beyond AI compute to build a fully integrated AI platform. With more than 75% of its contracted power now coming from company-owned infrastructure, it is strengthening its full-stack offering across the AI lifecycle, including bare-metal, multi-tenant cloud, inference and agentic AI services. The launch of Aether 3.6, along with the acquisitions of Tavily, Eigen AI, and Clarifai, further enhances its platform, particularly its AI inference optimization capabilities. Demand is the third growth pillar, led by its full-stack AI platform, which serves a diverse customer base across industries. First-quarter pipeline generation reached a record, growing 3.5x sequentially, while demand continues to outpace available GPU capacity, with new deployments fully committed.

To meet this strong demand and existing customer commitments, Nebius raised its 2026 capex guidance to $20-$25 billion, accelerating capacity that is expected to begin generating revenue in the first half of 2027. Capital is the fourth pillar of Nebius' growth strategy. To fund its rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, it raised more than $6 billion this year, including over $4 billion through convertible notes and $2 billion from NVIDIA's equity investment. As a result, Nebius ended the period with a cash balance exceeding $9 billion, providing ample financial flexibility to support its long-term growth plans.

Inside the Playbooks of NBIS’ Cut-Throat CompetitorsCoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV - Free Report) , like NBIS, highlighted four key themes– rising AI demand across hyperscalers and enterprises, a broader platform supporting training, inference, agentic AI workloads, rapid infrastructure expansion with more than 3.5 GW of contracted power and stronger financing that has secured more than $20 billion in debt and equity this year. AI workloads are shifting from training to inference and enterprise production, driving deeper commitments from existing customers while attracting new enterprise clients. This momentum fueled record backlog additions in the first quarter, with most of the new business expected to support its 2027 growth targets.

Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) capitalizes on AI business momentum and Copilot adoption alongside Azure cloud infrastructure expansion. Its AI capabilities are translating into tangible commercial success, with Microsoft Copilot now deployed across more than 20 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats and growing adoption across productivity, coding and security applications. MSFT’s business model spans multiple high-growth segments that collectively reduce concentration risk while providing numerous expansion vectors. Moreover, financial strength enables simultaneous investment in growth initiatives and substantial shareholder value return, with the company distributing $10.2 billion through dividends and share repurchases in the fiscal third quarter. 

NBIS Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Nebius have gained 151.5% year to date compared with the Internet – Software and Services industry’s growth of 15.2%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

In terms of price/book, NBIS’ shares are trading at 7.36X, higher than the Internet Software Services industry’s 3.97X.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NBIS’ earnings for 2026 has been revised significantly upward over the past 60 days.

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NBIS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

For the past two years, investors have measured the artificial intelligence race by one metric above all others: spending. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are collectively on pace to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure this year, betting that bigger data centers and more powerful chips will translate into long-term dominance. 

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), by comparison, looked like the odd company out. It avoided the AI spending arms race, rolled out Apple Intelligence at a measured pace, and has yet to deliver the fully capable AI-powered Siri it promised. Yet the market is beginning to rethink that narrative. 

Apple is the best-performing Magnificent Seven stock year to date, suggesting investors are starting to recognize that winning AI may depend less on building the biggest model than on controlling how consumers actually use it.

Apple Is Playing a Different AI Game Unlike the hyperscalers, Apple isn’t spending tens of billions of dollars building frontier AI models. Instead, it is positioning itself as the gateway through which consumers interact with AI every day.

At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the company introduced App Intents, the framework allowing Siri to perform actions inside apps instead of simply answering questions. Booking a reservation, buying products, scheduling appointments, or completing tasks could eventually happen through a simple voice command rather than manually opening an app.

Ironically, Apple may not need the best AI model if it owns the customer relationship. Rather than competing head-to-head with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or future models, Apple could become an AI traffic controller, routing requests to whichever model is fastest, cheapest, or most capable for a given task while keeping sensitive information processed locally on-device whenever possible. 

That approach also aligns with Apple’s longstanding emphasis on privacy.

While rivals burn billions on AI infrastructure, Apple is quietly positioning itself as the ultimate gatekeeper. It’s a high-stakes bet on owning the front door to every consumer AI interaction. © 24/7 Wall St. The Device Upgrade Opportunity Could Be Historic The larger investment story isn’t today’s AI features. It’s tomorrow’s hardware demand. According to Morgan Stanley, roughly 850 million active iPhones cannot run Apple Intelligence, while approximately 1.3 billion of Apple’s estimated 1.4 billion active iPhones cannot support the upcoming AI-powered Siri. Those numbers dwarf previous upgrade opportunities.

If agentic AI becomes the preferred way consumers interact with technology — asking Siri to complete purchases, manage schedules, and coordinate digital tasks automatically — it creates a compelling reason to upgrade hardware, not simply download another app.

That’s an important distinction because Apple’s business has always been strongest when software innovation drives hardware sales.

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Granted, Apple’s enhanced Siri remains unfinished. The vision has been outlined, but execution still lies ahead. Investors shouldn’t confuse the roadmap with a guaranteed outcome.

Apple Could Become The Toll Booth For Consumer AI Surprisingly, Apple’s greatest AI opportunity may have little to do with selling smartphones. If intelligent agents become the primary interface between consumers and digital services, Apple already owns the hardware ecosystem where those interactions occur across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision products.

That opens the door to new revenue streams through premium AI subscriptions, transaction fees when AI agents complete purchases, or partnerships with multiple AI providers. Instead of competing against every AI company, Apple could benefit from all of them.

It’s a strategy that resembles the App Store playbook. Apple didn’t invent most mobile apps, but it built the platform that connected developers with consumers.

Agentic AI could become the next version of that ecosystem.

Key Takeaway In short, Apple’s AI strategy has often been criticized because it hasn’t matched rivals dollar for dollar in AI infrastructure spending. Yet investors may have been looking at the wrong scoreboard.

If AI ultimately becomes something consumers use through personal assistants instead of standalone chatbots, Apple already controls the devices where those interactions are most likely to occur. Morgan Stanley’s estimate that 1.3 billion iPhones cannot support the next-generation Siri also hints at what could become the largest hardware refresh cycle in the company’s history.

That said, execution remains the biggest risk. Apple still must deliver the intelligent Siri it has promised. Until it does, the investment case rests on potential rather than proven results.

Ultimately, if Apple succeeds, skipping the AI capital spending race may prove to be one of the smartest investments it never made.

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In a recent interview, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said he can see a time in the future, perhaps only a year or two, when putting limits on Meta employees’ AI token spend will become necessary.

“I think that you can imagine, at least in a year or two … that the burn rate of a strong engineer might be the same as their salary, or their cost of employment. And in that world, you’re going to probably need to put in some caps,” the Meta executive said, while speaking on Lenny’s Podcast.

AI token spend, a reference to the cost of processing AI prompts and responses, has been a much-buzzed-about subject in recent days. Meta shut down an internal AI token spend leaderboard after AI costs put the company on track for billions of dollars in 2026.

Meta is not alone in rethinking its approach to AI experimentation. Uber also had an AI reckoning after it blew through its 2026 AI coding budget by April. Soaring token costs saw Microsoft cancel Claude Code licenses, consolidating its engineers around its own Copilot CLI tool instead.

Mosseri’s belief, he explained, is that AI token costs will have to be managed just like any other resource, offering an analogy to things like payroll or operating expenditure (OpEx), which is the day-to-day costs of running a business.

“I think of it like…any other resource,” Mosseri said. “I have to decide how to deploy capacity to my different teams because I have a limited number of GPUs and CPUs and storage and RAM etc. I have to decide how to deploy OpEx for labeling budgets across my teams. I have to decide how to deploy payroll for headcount across my teams.”

Token budgets will be the same, he added, noting that the cap per engineer would have to be proportional to the company’s trust in their ability to use the budget in an “ROI-positive” way.

Meta doesn’t currently have token caps for any employee, Mosseri said, but he believes that their use could be healthy in the future. Further down the road, he expects token costs to come down as the AI model makers enter a pricing war to attract people to use their tools over their competitors.

For now, the company has managed to rein in its token costs a bit by shutting down the “silly things” that it was doing, Mosseri noted — like that token spend leaderboard.

“It’s not that hard to build a token incinerator, and that doesn’t create a lot of value,” he said.

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Amazon’s chief executive put a number on the AI arms race, and it reframes the entire investment thesis for long-term holders.

The Number $200 billion.

That’s what Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) plans to spend on capital expenditures across the company in 2026, aimed primarily at AI infrastructure, custom chips, robotics, and low-earth-orbit satellite buildout. CEO Andy Jassy disclosed the figure on the Q4 2025 earnings call on February 5, 2026, telling investors: “We expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon.com, Inc., but predominantly in AWS, because we have very high demand.” This figure is forward capital expenditure guidance for 2026.

What It Means The scale of this outlay is without recent precedent inside Amazon itself. Full-year 2025 capex already reached $131.8 billion, up from $83.0 billion in 2024 and $16.9 billion in 2019. The 2026 plan pushes that trajectory higher, funding the physical layer of a business that is monetizing capacity as fast as it can install it.

The demand signal is real. AWS revenue reached $37.59 billion in Q1 2026, up 28% YoY, its fastest growth in 15 quarters, at a 37.7% operating margin. Amazon’s custom chip business, spanning Graviton, Trainium, and Nitro, is now running at a $20 billion-plus annualized run rate with triple-digit YoY growth. Committed customer demand includes roughly 2 GW of Trainium capacity for OpenAI starting 2027, up to 5 GW of Trainium chips for Anthropic, and 1 million-plus NVIDIA GPUs to be deployed starting 2026.

Market Reaction Shares closed at $197.75 on February 5, 2026, the day the $200 billion figure was announced. By the April 29, 2026 Q1 filing, the stock was at $259.67. As of July 1, 2026, the price was $241.70, with a year-to-date gain of 4.71% and a one-year gain of 9.63%. The one-month change stands at -7.49%, reflecting recent hyperscaler capex debate, and shares traded at $244.11 on July 2, 2026.

Bull Case The case rests on unit economics that are already working at scale. Q1 2026 EPS came in at $2.78 versus a $1.73 estimate, a 60.69% beat and the fifth consecutive EPS beat. Revenue was $181.52 billion, up 16.61% YoY, with operating income of $23.85 billion, up 29.6% YoY. Advertising is running at a $70 billion-plus trailing 12-month rate, growing 24% YoY.

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Custom silicon is the lever that turns capex into durable margin. Trainium 2 delivers 30-40% better price performance than comparable GPUs, and Trainium 3 offers up to 40% better price performance than Trainium 2, with nearly all supply expected to be committed by mid-2026. Graviton is used by over 90% of AWS’s top 1,000 customers. CFO Brian Olsavsky framed the operating leverage bluntly: “When you are growing 24% year over year with an annualized revenue run rate of $142 billion, you are growing a lot. And what we are continuing to see is as fast as we install this capacity, this AI capacity, we are monetizing it.”

The balance sheet can carry the load. Operating cash flow reached $139.5 billion in 2025, up 20.4% YoY, and net income hit $77.7 billion. Analyst sentiment is heavily positive, with 15 Strong Buy and 47 Buy ratings versus 4 Hold and zero Sell ratings, and a consensus target of $312.99.

Bottom Line For long-term holders, the $200 billion figure is the price of admission to a business Amazon believes will reshape its economic profile. Free cash flow will be compressed near-term, with TTM FCF at $1.2 billion and long-term debt at $119.1 billion, and management has offered no explicit ROI timeline.

The forward catalyst is management’s own guide: Q2 2026 net sales of $194.0 billion to $199.0 billion (16% to 19% YoY growth) and operating income of $20.0 billion to $24.0 billion. If AWS growth holds near the 28% rate and chip revenue keeps compounding, the $200 billion becomes an investment in scarce infrastructure that competitors cannot replicate quickly. Jassy’s own framing sets the bar: “anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.” The number is the thesis.

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A sign of ZTE is displayed at the company's booth at the expo of the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen town of Tongxiang city, Zhejiang province, China November 8, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

July 14 (Reuters) - A unit of telecoms gear maker ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), opens new tab and two other Chinese firms are among the latest entities to receive U.S. approval to purchase advanced AI chips from ​Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab, according to documents and two sources familiar with the matter.

Nvidia's ‌H200 chip, one of its most powerful and used to train and run large AI models, has become a focal point of U.S.-China tech rivalry as Washington seeks to restrict China's access to advanced ​computing power.

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ZTE Kangxun Telecom and server maker Maginfra have been permitted to purchase Nvidia's ​H200 chips, while Zhuhai Hengqin Yunxiang Zhisheng Network Technology, a subsidiary of ⁠cloud computing company Kingsoft (3888.HK), opens new tab, has been cleared to use some AMD chips that rival ​the H200, according to the documents and the sources.

The three firms, not previously reported to have ​received U.S. clearance, expand the known set of companies involved in the licensing process beyond China's largest internet groups and major electronics distributors.

Reuters reported in May that the U.S. had cleared around 10 Chinese firms, including ​Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab, Tencent (0700.HK), opens new tab, ByteDance and JD.com (9618.HK), opens new tab, to buy the Nvidia chips, but that no deliveries ​had been made at that time as the deals remained caught between approval requirements and scrutiny in both ‌Washington ⁠and Beijing.

However, some Chinese cloud firms have recently told partners and clients they may soon be able to obtain H200 chips, the sources said, indicating some progress in import reviews by Chinese authorities.

ZTE, Maginfra, Kingsoft, Nvidia, AMD and China's Ministry of Commerce did not respond to ​requests for comment. The ​U.S. Bureau of ⁠Industry and Security - the Commerce Department agency overseeing export controls - did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Washington has steadily tightened restrictions ​on sending advanced AI chips to China since 2022, arguing the ​technology could ⁠support the PRC's military modernisation.

But the Trump administration has allowed sales of the H200, which first shipped to clients globally in 2024, with some arguing the exports promote U.S. technological dominance, while ⁠Nvidia ​has pushed to preserve access to one of the ​world's largest technology markets.

China, meanwhile, has encouraged domestic alternatives, creating uncertainty over whether U.S.-approved chip sales can proceed even ​after Washington grants export licenses.

Reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

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Nvidia logo, computer chips and a 3D-printed representation of a robot hand are seen in this illustration taken August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - A top U.S. official told Congress on Tuesday that "very few" Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab H200 chips to date have been shipped ​to China or Hong Kong.

In May, Reuters reported the Commerce Department had cleared around ‌10 Chinese firms to buy Nvidia's second-most powerful AI chip, the H200, but no deliveries had been made. Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that H200 chip ​shipments have begun but the number was "very few."

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Later in the hearing, Kessler said it ​was a "trivial" amount of chips. He said the Commerce Department has provided a ⁠confidential list of applications for H200 chips and their status to Congress but did not elaborate.

The ​chip shipments are being closely watched because the H200 is one of Nvidia's most advanced AI ​processors, and sales to China have become a flashpoint in the broader U.S.-China technology rivalry. Washington has sought to limit Beijing's access to cutting-edge chips that could be used for military applications.

U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks, the top ​Democrat on the committee, on Tuesday criticized the department for not adding any Chinese companies to ​an export control list since October, which is the longest period in more than a decade.

He said President ‌Donald ⁠Trump "has turned (export controls) into a bargaining chip in broader negotiations with China" and "weakened existing safeguards, including by approving licenses for advanced AI chips destined for China."

Kessler defended the department's posture and said it was important to enforce the existing list of Chinese companies facing restrictions.

Reuters reported last month that ​the Commerce Department has held ​off on adding China’s ⁠AI startup DeepSeek, memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies and more than 100 other companies flagged as national security risks to the "Entity List," according ​to two people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration tries ​to avoid ⁠escalating tensions with Beijing.

U.S. companies cannot ship goods, software and technology to companies on the list without a license, which is likely to be denied.

Kessler also defended the decision of the Trump administration on ⁠Friday to ​loosen export controls on the United Arab Emirates, making ​it easier to export Nvidia AI chips, military equipment, commercial satellites and spacecraft in a boost to relations between the ​two allies.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis

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This Dividend ETF Choice Could Shape Your Income Strategy Through 2026JPMorgan Chase & Co. NYSE: JPM reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $16.9 billion, earnings per share of $6.14 and a return on tangible common equity of 23%, Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on the bank’s earnings call.

Excluding significant items noted in the company’s presentation, Barnum said revenue rose 15% from a year earlier, driven mainly by markets revenue, higher asset management fees in Asset & Wealth Management and Consumer & Community Banking, stronger investment banking revenue, and higher deposit and loan balances. Those gains were partially offset by the impact of lower rates.

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Fiserv’s Debit Network Talks Raise a Bigger Question for Visa and MastercardExpenses increased 15% year over year to $27.3 billion, which Barnum attributed largely to volume- and revenue-related costs, front-office hiring and labor inflation. Credit costs totaled $2.5 billion, including $2.4 billion of net charge-offs and a $149 million net reserve build.

The bank ended the quarter with a standardized CET1 capital ratio of 14.1%, down 20 basis points from the prior quarter. Barnum said net income was more than offset by higher risk-weighted assets and capital distributions. The company’s board intends to raise the quarterly dividend to $1.65 per share beginning in the third quarter, according to Barnum.

Markets and investment banking drive CIB results 3 Top Financial Institutions Announce Over $70 Billion in Share RepurchasesThe Corporate & Investment Bank reported net income of $9.7 billion on revenue of $24.9 billion, up 27% from a year earlier. Investment banking fees rose 30%, with double-digit growth across all products and particularly strong equity underwriting performance.

Barnum said the quarter benefited from some large equity capital markets deals and an acceleration in the closing of certain mergers and acquisitions transactions. Still, he said the pipeline “remains quite robust” and that current activity levels appear to be encouraging more activity, while noting that conversion will depend on market conditions.

Markets revenue was led by an exceptionally strong equities performance, with equities revenue up 86% year over year. Barnum said the business saw strength across products and regions, with strong flows and favorable trading in both derivatives and cash. Prime brokerage benefited from higher client activity and balances. Fixed income revenue rose 6%, helped by credit, currencies in emerging markets and rates, partly offset by lower commodities revenue.

Asked about sustainability, Barnum said investment banking fees were not at “super peak” levels by historical standards, though some activity was pulled forward. On equities, he said the specific combination of market events in the quarter would be “a little bit hard to imagine” repeating, while still describing the broader environment as supportive.

Consumer business shows resilience Consumer & Community Banking reported net income of $5.3 billion on revenue of $20.3 billion, up 8% from a year earlier. Barnum said the increase was primarily driven by higher card net interest income on higher revolving balances, higher auto operating lease income and higher wealth management asset management fees.

Barnum said consumers and small businesses continued to show resilience despite elevated gas prices and inflation. He cited higher tax refunds and a solid labor market as contributors to strong spending growth.

Average deposits in banking and wealth management rose 3% year over year and 2% sequentially, supported by more than 500,000 net new checking accounts during the quarter. Client investment assets increased 21% from a year earlier, reflecting market performance and strong flows. Barnum also noted that JPMorgan refreshed its Sapphire Preferred card in June following other product refreshes over the past year.

Asset and wealth management assets climb Asset & Wealth Management reported net income of $2 billion and a pre-tax margin of 38%. Revenue rose 19% year over year to $6.9 billion, reflecting higher management fees from market levels and net inflows, investment valuation gains, higher loan balances and increased brokerage activity.

Long-term net inflows totaled $50 billion, with strength in fixed income and equity. Assets under management reached $5.1 trillion, up 18% from a year earlier, while client assets rose 19% to $7.7 trillion.

Outlook raised for net interest income and expenses For full-year 2026, JPMorgan now expects net interest income excluding Markets to be about $96.5 billion and total net interest income of approximately $105.5 billion, with Markets net interest income expected to rise to about $9 billion. Barnum said the upward revision to NII ex-Markets was driven primarily by deposit balances across wholesale and consumer, along with higher rates.

The bank also raised its adjusted expense outlook to about $107.5 billion. Barnum said the increase was primarily tied to higher volume- and revenue-related expenses stemming from stronger activity and revenue outperformance. He said $1.5 billion of additional expenses tied to first-half capital markets outperformance had already been booked, with another $1 billion implicitly added for the second half.

JPMorgan also lowered its expected card net charge-off rate to approximately 3.2%, reflecting better-than-expected consumer credit performance.

Dimon addresses succession, AI, capital and regulation Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon addressed recent management changes, saying the board’s decision to name Doug and Troy as co-presidents was intended to prepare them to do more at the company. Dimon said the move did not change the timetable for his tenure, adding that timing remains up to the board.

Asked what qualities JPMorgan seeks in a future CEO, Dimon cited management skill, analytical ability, attention to detail, cultural leadership, curiosity, grit, work ethic and the ability to engage with employees, CEOs and government leaders. He said the company has “a lot of people who are great culture carriers.”

Dimon also discussed artificial intelligence, saying JPMorgan is using AI to improve service for clients and expects “huge efficiency” in some parts of the company. He said the bank has nearly 1,000 AI use cases, with about 50 viewed as especially important across areas including risk, fraud, marketing, hedging, prospecting, note-taking, idea generation and document reading. However, he cautioned that in a competitive market, the benefits of AI ultimately accrue to customers rather than simply expanding the bank’s margins.

On capital, Dimon said the bank’s goal is to deploy capital organically at a 17% return, while remaining open-minded about inorganic opportunities. He said JPMorgan has “huge opportunities” for organic growth across its businesses and reiterated that buybacks are an investment decision rather than simply a return of money to shareholders.

Dimon also criticized aspects of bank regulation, arguing that regulators should “do the numbers the right way” and address what he described as double counts in operating risk and market risk capital, as well as issues related to the G-SIB surcharge and short-term wholesale funding. Barnum added that certain proposed changes could disproportionately burden banks with both markets and traditional consumer businesses.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co. NYSE: JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co NYSE: JPM is a diversified global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. The company provides a wide range of banking and financial products and services to consumers, small businesses, corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Its operations span retail banking, commercial lending, investment banking, asset management, payments and card services, and treasury and securities services.

The firm's principal business activities are organized across several core lines: Consumer & Community Banking, which offers deposit accounts, mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and branch and digital banking under the Chase brand; Corporate & Investment Banking, which provides capital markets, advisory, underwriting, trading and risk management services; Commercial Banking, delivering lending, treasury and capital solutions to middle-market and corporate clients; and Asset & Wealth Management, which offers investment management, private banking and retirement services to institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

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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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks during an interview with Reuters in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Emily Elconin Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

SummaryCompaniesDimon says rewrite favors Wall Street giants over large diversified lendersHe urged recalculating the GSIB buffer using economic growth since 2015JPMorgan says current proposals would hike its capital by 4% and lower competitors'WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. bank regulators should not set capital requirements ​in an artificially high way, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday, intensifying his criticism of the new rules, which ‌he has previously said will unfairly penalize his bank.

Speaking during a quarterly earnings call, Dimon said proposals to change the way lenders calculate the funds they must put aside to absorb potential losses were "unfair," and disproportionately affected his and other big diverse banks, while giving a leg up to Wall Street trading giants.

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"They should not do the ​numbers in a false way to make the number higher," said Dimon. "The number should be the number. If they think ​we should have more capital, they should ask us... I'm not happy to have these numbers falsely done."

The ⁠comments underscore a growing rift between JPMorgan — the country's largest bank — and regulators, even as the latest proposals are widely seen as more ​favorable to the industry than the original 2023 version.

JPMorgan has previously said that it would face a roughly 4% capital increase under the new drafts, ​whereas competitors would face an average of a 4.8% capital reduction.

The bank reported a record second-quarter profit on Tuesday, as a wave of big-ticket IPOs and dealmaking helped drive investment banking fees to their highest levels since 2021, while its trading desk capitalized on volatile markets.

A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve, which is leading ​the effort along with two other federal bank regulators, did not respond to a request for comment.

The agencies are working to finalize numerous capital proposals, ​including the Basel rules on risk weights and the GSIB surcharge, which is an added capital layer imposed on the nation's largest and most critical ‌banks. Banks ⁠and other interested parties have submitted formal comment letters to the agencies, flagging issues including what banks see as double-counting of some risks and a new capital charge on unused credit lines.

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman has said she hopes to wrap up the rule-writing effort by the end of this year.

The proposals, unveiled in March, are much more industry-friendly than a 2023 draft unveiled by Democratic regulatory officials, ​which withered on the vine amid industry ​opposition and the transition to ⁠President Trump's administration. Nevertheless, Dimon has become a loud critic, particularly of how the GSIB surcharge is calculated.

He advocated again on Tuesday for the Fed to change the surcharge's calculation so that it fully accounts ​for economic growth since the central bank imposed it in 2015, which would in turn reduce, on ​paper, lenders' footprint ⁠in the economy and the resulting charge.

The Fed has also proposed reducing the impact of banks' reliance on short-term wholesale funding in the surcharge calculation. That is likely to benefit Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab because they are much more reliant on short-term wholesale funding than their GSIB ⁠rivals, which ​have large deposit bases, Reuters previously reported.

"I don't understand why you would want that as ​a policy outcome, because it is disproportionately damaging the ability of banks to serve Main Street," JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on the same call.

"If that's ​not what they want, then they shouldn't let it happen by accident," he added.

Reporting by Pete Schroeder; editing by Michelle Price and Nick Zieminski

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Covers financial regulation and policy out of the Reuters Washington bureau, with a specific focus on banking regulators. Has covered economic and financial policy in the U.S. capital for 15 years. Previous experience includes roles at The Hill newspaper and The Wall Street Journal. Received a Master's degree in journalism from Georgetown University, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.

SUQIAN, CHINA - JUNE 1, 2026 - A netizen is using his mobilephone to view intel logo and using his computer to view intel webpage in Suqian, Jiangsu, China on June 1, 2026. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

This article was written by Doug Nathman, with research by his team at Trefis.

Underlying the semiconductor manufacturer's rising stock price was a story that went unnoticed: the subtle yet significant revival of its oldest and most powerful product.

As we approached mid-2025, it was understandable to think that Intel (INTC) might be a value trap on its path to becoming an artifact of the past. Based on its fiscal Q1 2025 outcomes, the firm's trailing twelve-month revenues declined by 4.0% compared to the previous year, and it was facing a profoundly negative net margin of -36%. The figures were dismal enough to spark entire discussions about the margin squeeze jeopardizing Intel stock. The options market was lackadaisical, with implied volatility residing in the calm 35th percentile of its annual spectrum just weeks before the surge commenced.

By all indications, this was not a stock poised for a 369% increase.

What Was Being Overlooked By The Market?A portion of the narrative was a classic diversion. All attention was directed towards Intel's initiative to develop a specialized AI accelerator chip, Gaudi, to rival industry leaders. The news, however, on that front was disappointing. In late 2024, the management acknowledged that the adoption of Gaudi was "slower than we anticipated" and that it would fall short of its revenue goals. By early 2025, the company disclosed its decision to cancel the next-generation version, an internal venture, as a marketable product. For those monitoring Intel’s direct challenge in the AI training sector, the situation appeared to be a setback.

Yet this narrative missed the company's fundamental strength.

What Was Management Indicating Regarding Its Core CPU Division?While the Gaudi narrative faltered, another, more impactful one was gaining momentum in the background, frequently during the same earnings calls. Management began to subtly yet consistently discuss the changing landscape of AI. They asserted that the dialogue was transitioning from merely training models to effectively utilizing them for inference, a workload where the traditional server CPU, the Xeon, held a pivotal role.

As early as October 2024, the CEO proclaimed that this solidified Intel's status as the 'preferred head node in AI servers,' emphasizing that as the industry progressed toward inference, it would rely on workloads that were 'far more CPU-centric.' By January 2025, his successor underscored the company’s "leading position as the host CPU for AI servers" and the "substantial opportunity for CPU-based inference." The argument was evident: the impending wave of AI would generate tremendous demand for CPUs alongside GPUs.

When Did This Narrative Begin To Appear In The Financial Outcomes?A compelling story is one aspect; actual figures are another. The final indication came in April 2025, coinciding with the company's fiscal Q1 results. The report itself was mixed, but the specifics were revealing. The CFO had achieved figures at the upper end of their guidance, explicitly stating that it was "driven by better-than-expected Xeon sales."

What fueled this strength? He indicated it was "driven by hyperscaler demand for host CPUs for AI servers." The understated narrative had finally made its way to the income statement. DCAI revenue, the segment encompassing those chips, exceeded expectations. It marked the first concrete indication that the increasing significance of the CPU in the AI epoch was a real, revenue-generating phenomenon.

The indicator was not in a flashy new offering, but in the market rediscovering how indispensable Intel’s oldest product line was to the latest technological trend.

And if it is broad exposure to semiconductors you seek, rather than pursuing the next single entity to surge, a semiconductor ETF like SOXX encompasses that entire sector.

Recognizing a setup prior to its rise is a genuine advantage, yet a stock you are enthusiastic about can easily become an oversized portion of your portfolio, and the same volatility that fuels a surge can also reverse it. Concentration can convert that downturn into significant losses, and selling to reduce it incurs a tax liability. There exists a method to secure the profits and diversify without the tax implications.

Key Takeaways Pfizer's Q2 oncology sales may be lifted by Padcev, Lorbrena, Elrexfio and oncology biosimilars. PFE is expected to share updates on late-stage oncology candidates and PF-08634404 on its Q2 call. Ibrance and Adcetris declines may be offset by stronger sales from newer cancer therapies. Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) is one of the world’s leading oncology drugmakers, with a strong presence across breast, genitourinary, thoracic, gastrointestinal and hematologic cancers. The company has built a broad portfolio of marketed cancer therapies and maintains a deep oncology pipeline spanning multiple treatment modalities, including small molecules, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and immuno-oncology biologics.

Oncology sales comprise around 27% of its total revenues. Its oncology revenues grew 7% to $3.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026. Investors will be keen to know how its oncology segment performed in the second quarter when the company announces results on Aug. 4.

Pfizer’s oncology sales in the second quarter are expected to have been driven by higher sales of key drugs like Padcev, Lorbrena and the Braftovi-Mektovi combination, which should make up for declining sales of drugs like Ibrance and Adcetris. Sales of the new drug, Elrexfio, are also likely to have risen in the quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Padcev is $661 million, while that for Ibrance is $1.05 billion.

Pfizer has ventured into the oncology biosimilars space and markets six biosimilars for cancer. Its oncology biosimilars are expected to have made a significant contribution to sales growth in the second quarter of 2026, similar to the past few quarters.

Pfizer is also likely to provide updates on its key oncology candidates on the second-quarter conference call. Several oncology candidates have entered late-stage development, such as atirmociclib and sigvotatug vedotin. A regulatory application seeking approval of sasanlimab is also under review in the EU.

Last year, Pfizer entered into a global ex-China in-licensing agreement with China's 3SBio for exclusive rights to PF-08634404, a dual PD-1 and VEGF inhibitor, which it plans to establish as a potential backbone therapy across multiple tumor types. Pfizer plans to start four pivotal studies for PF-08634404 in 2026. An update on PF-08634404 is expected on the second-quarter conference call.

Competition in the Oncology SpacePfizer is one of the largest drugmakers of cancer medicines. Other large players in the oncology space are AstraZeneca (AZN - Free Report) , Merck (MRK - Free Report) , J&J (JNJ - Free Report) and Bristol-Myers.

For J&J, the Oncology segment comprises around 29% of total revenues and 45% of its Innovative Medicine segment sales. Its oncology sales rose 17.8% on an operational basis in the first quarter of 2026, driven by strong market growth and share gains of key cancer products such as Darzalex and Erleada. The sales growth was partially dampened by lower sales of Imbruvica. J&J’s new cancer drugs, Carvykti, Tecvayli, Talvey and Rybrevant/Lazcluze, are contributing significantly to top-line growth, driven by market share gains.

For AstraZeneca, oncology sales now comprise around 45% of total revenues. Sales in its oncology segment rose 16% at constant exchange rate (CER) in the first quarter of 2026. AstraZeneca’s strong oncology performance was driven by medicines such as Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Calquence and Enhertu (in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo).

Merck’s key oncology medicines are PD-L1 inhibitor, Keytruda and PARP inhibitor, Lynparza, which it markets in partnership with AstraZeneca. Keytruda, approved for several types of cancer, alone accounts for around 50% of Merck’s pharmaceutical sales. Keytruda recorded sales of $8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 8% year over year.

PFE’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesPfizer’s stock has risen 1.6% so far this year compared with an increase of 12.1% for the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, Pfizer appears attractive relative to the industry and is trading below its five-year mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, Pfizer’s shares currently trade at 8.42 forward earnings, significantly lower than 18.49 for the industry as well as the stock’s five-year mean of 9.37.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings has declined from $2.99 per share to $2.96 per share, while that for 2027 has been stable at $2.86 per share over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Pfizer has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways Phillips 66 leverages access to low-cost crude from the Permian Basin, Canada and other regions.Phillips 66 targets controllable costs of $5.50 per barrel to further optimize refining margins.Rising Canadian crude supply and global fuel demand support PSX's long-term earnings and cash flow growth. The refineries of Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) are connected to the Permian Basin, Canada and other key production regions, ensuring access to competitively priced feedstocks. Its strategically located refineries serve both domestic and export markets, enabling the company to capitalize on strong product demand. Consequently, PSX is well-positioned to maximize refining margins through its integrated network and access to low-cost crude.

Phillips 66 has maintained crude utilization rates above industry averages for three years and consistently delivered an 87% clean product yield. The company's refineries process a high proportion of medium and heavy crudes, while retaining feedstock flexibility to exploit widening price differentials. By targeting adjusted controllable costs of $5.50 per barrel, management aims to drive margin optimization. Every $1 improvement in refining market indicators could generate $700 million in incremental EBITDA for PSX.

Favorable macroeconomic trends support PSX’s long-term financial performance. Canada's crude production is projected to rise steadily through 2030, providing a larger, more reliable supply of affordable feedstock. Simultaneously, global transportation fuel demand, led by jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, is expected to increase from 1.3 million barrels per day in 2027 to 2.4 million barrels per day by 2030. Together, abundant North American supplies and rising fuel demand will boost refinery utilization, strengthen refining margins, and drive long-term earnings and cash flow growth for Phillips 66.

VLO & MPC Gain From Favorable Refining Fundamentals

Beside Phillips 66, several U.S. refiners like Valero Energy Corporation (VLO - Free Report) and Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC - Free Report) are also benefiting from favorable refining fundamentals and are expected to remain well-positioned over the next few years.

Valero operates 14 high-complexity refineries with approximately 3 million barrels per day of throughput capacity. The leading refiner benefits from its highly complex Gulf Coast refineries and strong export capabilities. VLO reaches consumers through a robust retail footprint of around 7,000 branded outlets.

Marathon Petroleum benefits from its integrated refining and midstream network, which includes 16 refineries located across the West Coast, Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent regions of the United States. The company has a combined crude processing capacity of about 3 million barrels per day. In the first quarter of 2026, MPC’s refining flexibility and high utilization rates unlocked stronger refining profits.

PSX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesPhillips 66 shares have gained 53.7% over the past year compared with the industry’s 41.1% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, PSX trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 13.84X. This is above the broader industry average of 5.73X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSX's second-quarter 2026 earnings and 2026 earnings has seen upward revisions over the past seven days. Meanwhile, estimates for third-quarter 2026 have seen upward revisions.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

PSX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways Clorox's Cleaning business is gaining share as PURE and Scentiva launches beat expectations.Litter packaging, pricing and shelf-placement changes are slowing recovery despite distribution gains.ERP completion, shelf resets and pricing actions are expected to improve execution across the portfolio. The Clorox Company's (CLX - Free Report) Household segment remains its biggest source of stability, but recent commentary suggests that strength in one business alone may not be enough to drive broader growth. While the segment continues to benefit from solid demand in cleaning products and successful innovation, weakness in a few other categories is weighing on the company's overall momentum.

Management highlighted that the Cleaning business is the portfolio's standout performer. Product launches, including the Clorox PURE allergen platform and additions to the Scentiva lineup, are gaining shelf space, generating strong early consumer response and outperforming internal expectations. Despite an intensely promotional environment, the company has said that it continues to gain market share in cleaning, reinforcing the strength of its flagship brands.

However, the positive momentum in Household is being offset elsewhere. Fresh Step cat litter remains in the middle of a multi-year transformation, with new packaging, product claims and pricing architecture creating temporary disruption. Although distribution gains have met expectations, shelf placement issues and the complexity of converting shoppers to new products have slowed the recovery. Management also acknowledged that Food categories remain under pressure from elevated promotions and weaker-than-expected category demand.

Clorox believes execution rather than demand is the key variable. With the ERP rollout completed, management expects better service levels, stronger on-shelf execution and faster commercialization of innovation. Retail distribution points increased more than 5% in the third quarter of fiscal 2026, while additional shelf resets are expected through the fourth quarter. The company is also expanding revenue growth management initiatives, targeted pricing actions and brand investments to strengthen value perception.

The Household segment provides an important foundation, but Clorox's ability to sustain long-term growth will ultimately depend on whether improvements in Litter, Food and other businesses can match the momentum already visible in Cleaning.

CLX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of the Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have lost 7.6% in the past three months against the industry’s growth of 5%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, CLX trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66X compared with the industry’s average of 17.59X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLX’s fiscal 2026 earnings implies a year-over-year decline of 27.3%, while that of fiscal 2027 shows growth of 11.5%. The company’s EPS estimate for fiscal 2026 has been unchanged in the past 30 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider in the Consumer Staples SpaceUnited Natural Foods (UNFI - Free Report) is the leading distributor of natural, organic and specialty food and non-food products in the United States and Canada. The company currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for United Natural Foods’ current financial-year EPS indicates growth of a whopping 254.9% from the prior-year reported level. UNFI delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 29.9%, on average.

Church & Dwight Co. Inc. (CHD - Free Report) develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of household, personal care and specialty products. The company currently has a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHD’s 2026 EPS indicates growth of 6.2% from the previous year’s reported figure. Church & Dwight delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 6.5%.

Krispy Kreme (DNUT - Free Report) operates as a branded retailer and wholesaler of doughnuts, coffee and other complementary beverages and treats and packaged sweets. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Krispy Kreme’s current financial-year EPS indicates growth of 30% from the year-ago reported number. DNUT delivered a trailing four-quarter negative earnings surprise of 6.3%, on average.

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) is set to pay its quarterly dividend next week, on Friday, July 24, rewarding investors with $0.5 per share.

According to the technology giant’s press release, investors as of July 10 will be eligible for the payment, which remains unchanged from the previous two quarters.

Going by the numbers, 100 ORCL shares will net precisely $50 in quarterly dividends next week.

Oracle dividend calendar. Source: Oracle.com If the payment remains unchanged in the next quarter, investors will receive $200 in annual dividends this year. 

However, looking at historical trends, a dividend increase is likely, considering that the company has increased its dividends every year since it began distributing them, with the exception of 2013, when the payout was nearly 43% lower compared to 2012, as per DivvyDiary calendar.

Oracle stock dividend profile  Currently, Oracle has a forward dividend yield (FWD) of 1.53%, which is noticeably higher than the sector average of 1.37%. On the other hand, its payout ratio is 18.34, versus the industry 27%.

It also has an annual payout (FWD) of $2, and it pays dividends on a quarterly basis: in January, April, July, and October. The stock has an average price recovery of 7.4 days

While the figures are overall positive, the stock itself has suffered quite a lot this year. For context, an investor who placed $1,000 into Oracle at the beginning of 2026 would have seen the investment generate just about $6.6 in dividends, and they would have recorded a total loss of roughly $335.

In other words, in just over two quarters, the investment would have been worth approximately $665, representing a total loss of 33.5%. On an annualized basis, the investment recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -53.66%, highlighting the magnitude of the year-to-date decline.

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Key Takeaways PLTR's Ontology organizes enterprise data into an operational framework that becomes more valuable over time.Palantir delivered 85% revenue growth, 133% U.S. commercial growth and a 60% adjusted operating margin.PLTR combines rapid growth and profitability, distinguishing it from AI software peers. Palantir (PLTR - Free Report) is increasingly distinguishing itself through an advantage that extends well beyond artificial intelligence models. At the heart of its platform is the Ontology, which organizes enterprise data into a connected operational framework that customers can continuously build upon.

Years of deployments across hundreds of organizations have created deeply integrated systems that are difficult and time-consuming to replace. This accumulated implementation expertise, strengthened by Palantir’s forward-deployed engineering model and long-standing government security credentials, makes the platform more valuable with every deployment.

Unlike AI developers that primarily compete on models, Palantir monetizes the operational layer where AI is applied, allowing its software to retain value even as foundation models become increasingly commoditized.

Palantir vs. AI Software PeersPLTR’s competitive strengths are reflected in its financial performance. The company delivered 85% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026, including an exceptional 133% increase in U.S. commercial revenues, while generating a 60% adjusted operating margin and a 53% GAAP net margin. Even leading AI software companies like Datadog (DDOG - Free Report) and Snowflake (SNOW - Free Report) struggle to match this combination of rapid expansion and profitability.

While DDOG and SNOW continue to benefit from AI demand, their growth rates remain significantly lower. By combining a durable software foundation with industry-specific expertise and superior execution, Palantir continues to separate itself from DDOG, SNOW and traditional enterprise software competitors.

PLTR’s Price Performance & EstimatesThe stock has declined 27% year to date compared with the industry’s 5% fall.

                                                          Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, PLTR trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 33.13X, well above the industry’s 4.08X. It carries a Value Score of F.

                                                                    Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PLTR’s 2026 earnings declined over the past 60 days.

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PLTR currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Key Takeaways MercadoLibre's cross-border GMV rose 68% year over year on an FX-neutral basis in Q1 2026.Free shipping, multi-seller carts, seller incentives and a China fulfillment center reduced friction.Argentina and Andean markets are adding growth as broader assortment supports the model's scale. MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI - Free Report) is aggressively scaling its cross-border trade as a potential long-term growth driver. The company recorded impressive 68% year-over-year, foreign-exchange-neutral gross merchandise volume growth for the segment in the first quarter of 2026. This momentum indicates that international commerce is becoming a crucial operational layer alongside the core local marketplace.

The company believes it holds a unique position by connecting merchants in China and the United States with buyers across Latin America. Chinese suppliers, in particular, offer competitive prices, rapid product innovation and broad merchandise selection, helping MercadoLibre address growing consumer demand for affordability and assortment.

The business underwent meaningful changes during 2025. MercadoLibre simplified access to free shipping, introduced multi-seller shopping carts, expanded seller incentives and increased its presence in China, including opening its first fulfillment center there. These initiatives were designed to remove friction from the international drop-shipping model while improving execution and merchant relationships.

Growth is no longer concentrated in Mexico alone. Argentina and the Andean countries are contributing more meaningfully to cross-border trade growth, while markets such as Colombia and Peru benefit from broader product assortment where local seller networks are less developed.

MercadoLibre believes this model can become profitable as scale improves. By expanding product availability, improving delivery capabilities and strengthening merchant participation, cross-border trade is evolving into an increasingly important component of the company's marketplace strategy rather than simply an incremental international offering.

What the Latest Metrics Say About MercadoLibreMercadoLibre, which competes with Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) and Sea Limited (SE - Free Report) , has seen its shares tumble 11.1% over the past six months compared with the industry’s 3.4% decline. While shares of Amazon have jumped 3.8%, those of Sea Limited have fallen 10.8% in the aforementioned period.
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, MercadoLibre's forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio stands at 36.43, higher than the industry’s ratio of 21.94. The stock is also trading above its 12-month median level of 34.46.

MercadoLibre is trading at a premium to Amazon (with a forward 12-month P/E ratio of 25.97) and Sea Limited (22.29).

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MercadoLibre’s current financial-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 39.7% and 4%, respectively. For the next fiscal year, the consensus estimate indicates a 26.6% rise in sales and 47% growth in earnings.
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

MELI currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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JPMorgan kicked off Q2 2026 earnings season this morning with a blowout earnings report that reset expectations for the entire financial sector. The bank posted $7.70 in diluted EPS versus $5.80 expected and $57.35 billion in revenue, powered by a $4.6 billion Visa share exchange gain and a 27% surge in Commercial & Investment Bank revenue. Jamie Dimon flagged IB fees up 30% to the highest level since 2021 and Markets revenue up 35%.

That combination of trading strength, capital markets reopening, and resilient consumer credit is the read-through driving peer stocks today. Here are the five names most exposed to JPMorgan’s tone-setting report, ranked by the size and directness of the impact.

1. Goldman Sachs (GS) Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS | GS Price Prediction) is the purest read-through, and it delivered its own bombshell alongside JPM. Goldman posted EPS of $20.98 versus $14.54 expected, a 44.27% beat and its fifth straight beat. Global Banking & Markets revenue jumped 53% to $15.52 billion, with Equities up 72% and Equity Underwriting up 130%. CEO David Solomon said “Momentum has accelerated throughout our businesses… we expect this flywheel of activity to continue.”

Shares were down 0.88% intraday to $1,045.91 despite the beat, suggesting expectations were already elevated after a 20.12% YTD run. The forward catalyst is backlog conversion: management noted the IB backlog grew again versus Q1.

2. Bank of America (BAC) Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has the closest business mix to JPMorgan, and it also reported this morning. EPS came in at $1.21 versus $1.12 expected, with Equities S&T up 70% to $3.62 billion and investment banking fees up 50%. Net interest income rose 9% YoY, and credit metrics improved with the net charge-off ratio dropping to 0.47% from 0.55%.

Brian Moynihan called it “one of our strongest quarters to date” and noted “pipelines remain strong, and commercial borrowing has picked up.” Shares rallied 2.06% to $60.73, validating the universal-bank thesis JPM anchored.

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3. Morgan Stanley (MS) Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has not yet reported Q2, which makes today’s peer earnings reports a direct sentiment catalyst. The stock is up 4.55% to $231.16, the largest move among the five names. Morgan Stanley’s Q1 already showed 27.1% ROTCE, Advisory up 74%, and $118.4 billion in wealth net new assets. With JPM’s IB fees at their highest since 2021 and Goldman signaling a flywheel, MS’s advisory-heavy franchise inherits the same tailwind. Ted Pick previously described the firm as reporting “a record quarter”, and the read-through raises the bar again.

4. Wells Fargo (WFC) Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is the closest analog to JPM’s core banking franchise, particularly on NII and consumer credit. Shares rose 0.63% to $88.22 as JPM’s 10% NII growth and stable credit card charge-offs of 3.33% supported Wells’ outlook. Wells guided full-year 2026 NII to roughly $50 billion, and its Q1 net interest margin already compressed to 2.47% from 2.67%. The macro backdrop helps: FRED credit card delinquencies eased to 2.92%, and retail sales hit $763.7 billion in May, up 0.9% month over month. WFC remains down 4.92% YTD, so a positive read-through matters most here.

5. Visa (V) Visa (NYSE:V) is the payments proxy for JPM’s consumer spending commentary. Shares climbed 2.52% to $357.75 after JPM highlighted Card Services and Auto revenue up 12% and card annual fees up more than 30%. Visa’s most recent quarter showed payments volume up 8% and cross-border volume up 11%, and JPM’s disclosure that Chase will become the new Apple Card issuer roughly 24 months from December 2025 reinforces network volumes. Ryan McInerney described Visa as “a payments hyperscaler” driven by resilient consumer spending, the exact theme JPM validated today.

Conclusion Three themes anchor today’s cross-company read-through: capital markets have decisively reopened (GS, MS, BAC benefit most), consumer credit is stabilizing rather than deteriorating (WFC, BAC, V), and buyback capacity remains robust, with JPM authorizing a fresh $50 billion program. The primary uncertainties Dimon flagged, “geopolitical tensions and wars, sticky inflation, large global fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices,” remain the swing factors. With Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo still to report, today’s earnings set a high bar that either extends the sector rally or exposes crowded positioning.

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Key Takeaways Fastenal reported Q2 sales above estimates as earnings met expectations and both rose year over year.FAST benefited from contract customer growth, pricing actions and a 16.2% increase in digital sales.Gross margin narrowed, but operating margin held steady as productivity and cost leverage offset pressures. Fastenal Company (FAST - Free Report) reported mixed second-quarter 2026 results, with earnings meeting the Zacks Consensus Estimate and net sales beating the same. Conversely, year over year, both metrics grew notably.

Fastenal continued to benefit from customer signings secured since the first quarter of 2024. Contract customer daily sales increased 17.6% year over year and represented 75.8% of quarterly revenues, up from 73.2% a year earlier.

FAST stock lost 2.2% during today’s pre-market trading session after the announcement of the financial results.

Fastenal’s Q2 Earnings & Sales HighlightsFastenal’s quarterly earnings of 33 cents per share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but increased 15.9% year over year from 29 cents per share.

Net sales rose 14.7% year over year to $2.39 billion and surpassed the consensus mark of $2.34 billion by 1.9%. Growth reflected stronger customer contract signings, pricing actions and improved industrial production. Daily sales also advanced 14.7%.

FAST’s Daily Sales Growth TrendsManufacturing daily sales increased 14.9%, with the segment contributing 75.9% of total sales. Heavy Manufacturing led the improvement with 18.1% growth and represented 44.1% of revenues. Other Manufacturing sales rose 10.8%.

Non-Residential Construction daily sales advanced 17%, marking continued growth in the market. Other End-Market sales increased 14.1%, aided by transportation and warehousing customers. Total Non-Manufacturing daily sales climbed 15.1%.

Direct-Material daily sales grew 16.5% and accounted for 39.2% of revenues. Direct Fasteners and Hardware increased 16.8%, while direct cutting tools and abrasives rose 14.8%. Direct Non-Fasteners and Hardware sales improved 16.7%.

Indirect-Material daily sales increased 14.1% and represented 60.8% of revenues. Indirect Fastener sales rose 14.6%, Safety Products increased 13.1%, and other indirect product lines advanced 14.6%. Direct materials slightly outpaced indirect products due to stronger fastener demand and manufacturing activity.

Fastenal’s Digital Sales Outpace Company GrowthDigital Footprint sales increased 16.2% to $1.49 billion and represented 61.6% of revenues, up from 61% in the prior-year quarter. The metric combines sales through Fastenal Managed Inventory technology with eBusiness sales that do not overlap with those services.

FMI sales rose 16.4% to $1.08 billion and accounted for 44.6% of revenues. FAST signed 6,993 weighted FASTBin and FASTVend devices, up 8.3%, while the installed base grew 6.5% to 140,789 units. eBusiness sales increased 12.6% to $711.9 million.

FAST Holds Operating Margin Despite PressureGross margin contracted 75 basis points (bps) to 44.6%. Unfavorable net price-cost reduced the margin by about 40 bps, while customer mix, transportation costs and rebate activity created additional pressure. Larger customers generally carry lower gross margins but produce greater profit dollars and operating efficiencies.

Selling, general and administrative expenses improved 80 bps to 23.5% of sales. Labor productivity and fixed-cost leverage offset higher incentive compensation, transportation and travel expenses. As a result, operating margin remained unchanged at 21%, while operating income increased 15.1% to $501.8 million.

Fastenal Generates Solid Cash and Returns CapitalNet income increased year over year by 15.9% to $382.8 million. Operating cash flow totaled $265.7 million, down 4.6%, and represented 69.4% of net income. Accounts receivable increased 17.6%, while inventories edged up 0.5% and accounts payable rose 25.2%.

The company returned $305.1 million to shareholders through $275.4 million in dividends and $29.7 million in share repurchases. Total debt declined to $120 million from $230 million a year ago.

FAST’s Zacks Rank & Stocks With the Favorable CombinationFastenal currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Here are some companies from the Industrial Products sector, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their respective quarters to be reported.

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +3.82% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

 Grainger’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 4.2%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to increase 13.1% year over year.

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.11% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

 Caterpillar’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 9.6%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to grow 31.6% year over year.

Kennametal Inc. (KMT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +45.29% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

 Kennametal’s earnings topped the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters and missed on the remaining occasion, with the average surprise being 18.6%. Earnings for the company’s second quarter of 2026 are expected to surge a whopping 376.5% year over year.

Real-World Findings Support Long-Term Benefits of Continuous Treatment with LEQEMBI and Provide Important Insights into Treatment Experience Outside of a Clinical Trial Setting

, /PRNewswire/ -- Eisai Co., Ltd. and Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) announced today that results from the real-world Lecanemab in Early Alzheimer's Disease (LEADER) Study show that nearly 83% of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients enrolled in the study remained stable (75.9%) or improved (6.6%) while receiving LEQEMBI® therapy over an average of 17 months. The results were consistent across sex, race, ethnicity and APOE genotype. The data was presented during the "Developing Topics Session #3-33-DEV-A: Lecanemab Three Years Post-Approval: A Comprehensive Multicenter, Real-World, Retrospective Study (LEADER) in Diverse US Clinical Settings" at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2026 in London and online.

AD is a chronic, progressive disease that requires ongoing treatment. LEQEMBI targets the underlying pathology of the disease and works in two ways throughout treatment - by removing insoluble (plaque) and soluble amyloid beta (protofibrils), helping to slow cognitive decline and loss of daily functioning. Data show continued treatment with LEQEMBI may be able to help keep patients in early AD for longer. Early AD includes mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD and mild AD dementia.

LEADER Study Design
The three-year LEADER Study is a multicenter, retrospective real-world study designed to examine LEQEMBI utilization, treatment persistence, transition to maintenance therapy, safety, cognitive and functional assessments, and healthcare professional (HCP) implementation learnings in diverse U.S. clinical settings for patients with early Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study integrated deidentified chart and electronic medical record (EMR) data from 13 U.S. sites, HCP surveys and HCP interviews. This interim analysis included 432 patients with early AD who received at least seven LEQEMBI infusions as of May 2026.

Patient Characteristics at Baseline

Mean age: 74 years Female Patients: 55.8%  Disease Stage at Baseline

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD: 63.9% Mild AD dementia: 36.1%. Treatment

The mean duration of LEQEMBI treatment was 520 days. The mean number of LEQEMBI doses was 26. Change in disease stage was defined as: Stable: Patient remaining in the same disease stage (MCI due to AD or mild AD dementia) from baseline throughout the course of LEQEMBI treatment. Improvement: Patient transitioning from mild AD dementia at baseline to MCI due to AD over the course of LEQEMBI treatment. Progression: Patient advancing from MCI at baseline to mild/moderate AD dementia or from mild AD dementia at baseline to moderate AD dementia throughout the course of LEQEMBI treatment. LEADER Study Key Findings
Real-World Evidence Shows Long-Term Benefit with Continuous LEQEMBI Treatment Across Sex, Race, Ethnicity and APOE Genotype

Overall Study Population Findings

Of the 432 participants enrolled in the LEADER Study, disease stage could be evaluated in 427. Among these patients with early Alzheimer's disease, 82.5% remained stable or improved while receiving LEQEMBI, with consistent results across sex, race, ethnicity, and APOE genotype groups. 75.9% remained stable compared with baseline, meaning they remained in the same disease stage throughout treatment. 6.6% improved from baseline, moving from mild AD dementia to MCI due to AD. Nearly 87% of patients chose to remain on LEQEMBI treatment. In analyses by APOE ε4 status, clinician-evaluated stable or improved disease stage was observed in: 81.7% of APOE ε4 heterozygotes (stable: 73.8%; improved: 7.9%) 81.0% of APOE ε4 homozygotes (stable: 75.9%; improved: 5.2%). Maintenance Dosing Population Findings

Of the 432 participants in the LEADER Study, 155 transitioned to once-every-four-weeks intravenous (IV) maintenance treatment, and 14 transitioned to once-weekly subcutaneous (SC) maintenance treatment. Among the 155 participants who transitioned to IV maintenance therapy, nearly 81% remained stable (72.3%) or improved (8.4%). Of the 14 patients who transitioned to SC maintenance treatment, 12 (85.7%) maintained their disease stage. Real-World Safety Consistent with U.S. FDA-Approved Label

Overall safety observations in this real-world study were consistent with the U.S. FDA-approved label.

ARIA (amyloid-related imaging abnormalities)* was observed in 12.3% of patients overall; ARIA-E was observed in 6.3% and ARIA-H in 7.9% and isolated ARIA-H in 6.0%. Most ARIA cases were asymptomatic and mild in radiographic severity. No new ARIA-E events, macrohemorrhages or intracerebral hemorrhages greater than 1 cm were reported during once-every-four-weeks IV maintenance therapy.   APOE ε4 status safety observations were consistent with the overall cohort and the U.S. FDA-approved label.

ARIA-E was observed in 5.3% of APOE ε4 noncarriers, 6.1% of APOE ε4 heterozygotes and 10.3% of APOE ε4 homozygotes. ARIA-H was observed in 12.1%, 4.8% and 12.1%, respectively. In APOE ε4 homozygotes, no severe ARIA was reported, and all graded ARIA cases were mild to moderate in radiographic severity. Antithrombotic therapy, including anticoagulants or antiplatelet medications, was used by 106 patients, representing 24.5% of the study population.

Of these, 11 patients were receiving an anticoagulant, either alone or with an antiplatelet medication, and 95 patients were receiving antiplatelet therapy only. Among patients receiving antithrombotic therapy, the incidence of ARIA was not meaningfully different from that observed in patients not receiving antithrombotic therapy. * ARIA refers to amyloid-related imaging abnormalities that can be observed with anti-amyloid beta antibody treatment and includes ARIA-E, which involves edema/effusion, and ARIA-H, which involves hemosiderin deposition, including cerebral microhemorrhage, cerebral macrohemorrhage and superficial siderosis, as observed on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Eisai serves as the lead for lecanemab's development and regulatory submissions globally with Eisai and Biogen co-commercializing and co-promoting the product and Eisai having final decision-making authority.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Eisai Co., Ltd.

Public Relations Department

TEL: +81 (0)3-3817-5120

Eisai Europe, Ltd.

EMEA Communications Department

+44 (0)7760 619251

[email protected]

Eisai Inc. (U.S.)

Julie Edelman

+1-862-213-5915

[email protected] 

Biogen Inc.

Madeleine Shin

+1-781-464-3260

[email protected] 

INVESTOR CONTACTS

Eisai Co., Ltd.

Investor Relations Department

TEL: +81 (0) 3-3817-5122

Biogen Inc.

Tim Power

+1-781-464-2442

[email protected]

Notes to Editors

About lecanemab (generic name, brand name: LEQEMBI®)
Lecanemab is the result of a strategic research alliance between Eisai and BioArctic. It is a humanized immunoglobulin gamma (IgG1) monoclonal antibody directed against aggregated soluble (protofibril) and insoluble forms of amyloid-beta (Aβ).

Lecanemab has been approved in 53 countries and regions including Japan, the United States, China, Europe, South Korea, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia, and is under regulatory review in 6 countries. Following the initial phase with treatment every two weeks for 18 months, intravenous (IV) maintenance dosing with treatment every four weeks was approved in 8 countries including the U.S., China, the UK, and others, and applications have been filed in 12 countries and regions. The U.S. FDA approved LEQEMBI IQLIK, the subcutaneous autoinjector formulation of lecanemab, for use as maintenance treatment in August 2025 and as initiation treatment on July 13, 2026. In November 2025, an application for a subcutaneous injectable formulation in Japan was submitted. In January 2026, the Biologics License Application (BLA) for the subcutaneous formulation was accepted in China. Since December 2025, lecanemab (IV) has been included in the "Commercial Insurance Innovative Drug List", recently introduced by the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) of China.

Since July 2020, the Phase 3 clinical study (AHEAD 3-45) for individuals with preclinical AD, meaning they are clinically normal and have intermediate or elevated levels of amyloid in their brains, is ongoing. AHEAD 3-45 is conducted as a public-private partnership between the Alzheimer's Clinical Trial Consortium that provides the infrastructure for academic clinical trials in AD and related dementias in the U.S., funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, Eisai and Biogen. Since January 2022, the Tau NexGen clinical study for Dominantly Inherited AD (DIAD), that is conducted by Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network Trials Unit (DIAN-TU), led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is ongoing and includes lecanemab as the backbone anti-amyloid therapy.

About Protofibrils
Protofibrils are thought to be the most toxic Aβ species that contribute to brain damage in AD and play a major role in the cognitive decline of this progressive and devastating disease. Protofibrils can cause neuronal and synaptic damage in the brain, which can subsequently adversely affect cognitive function through multiple mechanisms.1 The mechanism by which this occurs has been reported not only by increasing the formation of insoluble Aβ plaques, but also by directly damaging signaling between neurons and other cells. It is believed that reducing protofibrils may reduce neuronal damage and cognitive impairment, potentially preventing the progression of AD.2

Limitations of Real-World Studies
Retrospective real-world studies can be valuable in providing additional information to complement clinical trial data; however, there are potential limitations to consider, including: potential for biases, data completeness and consistency, lack of a control group, interpretation of data due to lack of placebo-controlled arms, and confounding variables, and data inconsistency. Data inconsistency may be mitigated by providing site access to standardized electronic case-report forms.

About the Collaboration between Eisai and Biogen for AD
Eisai and Biogen have been collaborating on the joint development and commercialization of AD treatments since 2014. Eisai serves as the lead of LEQEMBI development and regulatory submissions globally with both companies co-commercializing and co-promoting the product and Eisai having final decision-making authority.

About the Collaboration between Eisai and BioArctic for AD
Since 2005, Eisai and BioArctic have had a long-term collaboration regarding the development and commercialization of AD treatments. Eisai obtained the global rights to study, develop, manufacture and market lecanemab for the treatment of AD pursuant to an agreement with BioArctic in December 2007. The development and commercialization agreement on the antibody lecanemab back-up was signed in May 2015.

About Eisai Co., Ltd.
Eisai's Corporate Concept is "to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides." Under this Concept (also known as human health care (hhc) Concept), we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology.

In addition, we demonstrate our commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target (3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by working on various activities together with global partners.

For more information about Eisai, please visit www.eisai.com (for global headquarters: Eisai Co., Ltd.), and connect with us on X, LinkedIn and Facebook. The website and social media channels are intended for audiences outside of the UK and Europe. For audiences based in the UK and Europe, please visit www.eisai.eu and Eisai EMEA LinkedIn.

About Biogen
Founded in 1978, Biogen is a leading biotechnology company that pioneers innovative science to deliver new medicines to transform patients' lives and to create value for shareholders and our communities. We apply deep understanding of human biology and leverage different modalities to advance first-in-class treatments or therapies that deliver superior outcomes. Our approach is to take bold risks, balanced with return on investment to deliver long-term growth.

The company routinely posts information that may be important to investors on its website at www.biogen.com. Follow Biogen on social media – Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube.

Biogen Safe Harbor
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including about the potential clinical effects of lecanemab; the potential benefits, safety and efficacy of lecanemab; potential regulatory discussions, submissions and approvals and the timing thereof including for lecanemab-irmb (LEQEMBI IQLIK); the treatment of Alzheimer's disease; the anticipated benefits and potential of Biogen's collaboration arrangements with Eisai; the potential of Biogen's commercial business and pipeline programs, including  lecanemab; and risks and uncertainties associated with drug development and commercialization. These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as "aim," "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "guidance," "hope," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "prospect," "should," "target," "will," "would," and other words and terms of similar meaning. Drug development and commercialization involve a high degree of risk, and only a small number of research and development programs result in commercialization of a product. Results in early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of full results or results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Given their forward-looking nature, these statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that may be based on inaccurate assumptions and could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Given their nature, we cannot assure that any outcome expressed in these forward-looking statements will be realized in whole or in part. We caution that these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control and could cause future events or results to be materially different from those stated or implied in this document, including, among others, uncertainty of long-term success in developing, licensing, or acquiring other product candidates or additional indications for existing products; expectations, plans and prospects relating to product approvals, approvals of additional indications for our existing products, sales, pricing, growth, reimbursement and launch of our marketed and pipeline products; our ability to effectively implement our corporate strategy; the successful execution of our strategic and growth initiatives, including acquisitions; the risk that positive results in a clinical trial may not be replicated in subsequent or confirmatory trials or success in early stage clinical trials may not be predictive of results in later stage or large scale clinical trials or trials in other potential indications; risks associated with clinical trials, including our ability to adequately manage clinical activities, unexpected concerns that may arise from additional data or analysis obtained during clinical trials, regulatory authorities may require additional information or further studies, or may fail to approve or may delay approval of our drug candidates; the occurrence of adverse safety events, restrictions on use with our products, or product liability claims; and any other risks and uncertainties that are described in other reports we have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information and estimates available to us at this time. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or projected. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. A further list and description of risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 and in our subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

Digital Media Disclosure
From time to time, we have used, or expect in the future to use, our investor relations website (investors.biogen.com), the Biogen LinkedIn account (linkedin.com/company/biogen-) and the Biogen X account (https://x.com/biogen) as a means of disclosing information to the public in a broad, non-exclusionary manner, including for purposes of the SEC's Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD). Accordingly, investors should monitor our investor relations website and these social media channels in addition to our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls and websites, as the information posted on them could be material to investors.

References

Amin L, Harris DA. Aβ receptors specifically recognize molecular features displayed by fibril ends and neurotoxic oligomers. Nat Commun. 2021;12:3451. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-23507-z Ono K, Tsuji M. Protofibrils of Amyloid-β are Important Targets of a Disease-Modifying Approach for Alzheimer's Disease. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(3):952. doi: 10.3390/ijms21030952. PMID: 32023927; PMCID: PMC7037706. SOURCE Eisai Inc.

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Paramount Skydance is still aiming to close its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the end of September despite a recent lawsuit filed by state attorneys general challenging the deal, Paramount's lead trial counsel Jeffrey Kessler told CNBC's David Faber in an interview on Tuesday.

On Monday, a group of state attorneys general led by California's Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the merger due to antitrust concerns. Later in the day, the group filed court papers seeking a temporary restraining order to put the deal on hold so that legal proceedings could move forward.

Either way, Kessler said that the company is prepared to bring the matter to the Supreme Court if it faced a prolonged blockade in closing the deal.

"The company believes strongly in this," Kessler said of the combination of the entertainment and media companies.

Kessler told Faber on Tuesday the temporary restraining order came after Paramount "indicated" that its intention was to be able to close as early as July 22, when the company expects to have all regulatory clearances.

The July date stems from the next big hurdle Paramount needs to clear. The European Union has been reviewing the deal for approval and recently set July 22 as a new provisional deadline. Paramount recently submitted concessions to the EU as it looks to smooth concerns regarding the deal.

The proposed acquisition that would bring together the two storied film studios of Warner Bros. and Paramount, as well as a sprawling portfolio of pay TV networks, has already received approval from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as other global jurisdictions.

"Or we could work out a schedule to get this all decided by early September, that would be perfectly acceptable to the company if we could create an orderly procedure," Kessler said. "The states rejected both alternatives so right now we have a [temporary restraining order] that's been filed."

If granted, it would pause the deal for 14 days. Up to two temporary restraining orders could be granted before the coalition seeks a preliminary injunction, putting the deal on ice while it's sorted out in court. Kessler said on Tuesday the company doesn't expect it to get to that point, arguing this isn't an antitrust issue.

A long delay could be costly for Paramount. As part of the deal, Paramount has agreed to pay a so-called ticking fee, meaning that if the closing goes past Sept. 30, Paramount would pay additional fees to WBD shareholders per quarter until closing. That fee would equal roughly $650 million in cash value per quarter.

For it to be delayed or blocked, "the merger has to be anti-competitive. This merger is pro-competitive," Kessler told Faber.

"Anybody who knows the entertainment industry knows it is in deep trouble," he added, noting widespread challenges as consumers flee pay TV bundles and competition among streaming giants like Netflix intensifies.

He added that the merger would create a competitor that could "go toe to toe with a Netflix or Disney or [Amazon's] Prime," which would be a positive for the theater industry and Hollywood workers.

On Monday, Bonta said in a release that the merger would "lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S."

As Hollywood has expressed concerns since the deal was announced, Paramount CEO David Ellison has promised that once merged, the film studios would together put out a slate of 30 movies annually.

"We've told the states if they have what they think are legitimate concerns, they should come to the table and we talk about them," said Kessler, noting the question of whether Paramount could deliver the 30 films per year.

Kessler said that Paramount has told state attorneys general the company is willing to put in writing that it would commit to the 30 films, and if it doesn't happen, litigation could then take place.

Key Takeaways Kratos Defense is expanding manufacturing to support higher defense production volumes and future programs.KTOS is investing across missile, radar, electronic warfare, C5ISR and hypersonic production capabilities.KTOS trades below the industry's forward P/S average despite expanded domestic manufacturing investments. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS - Free Report) is investing in manufacturing infrastructure to support higher production volumes rather than relying solely on the development of advanced technologies. Management believes that expanding production capacity today is critical to meeting the growing demand anticipated from future U.S. and allied defense programs.

To support this strategy, Kratos Defense continues to invest across multiple business segments, including Defense Rocket Systems, Turbine Technologies, Microwave Electronics, C5ISR and Hypersonic Systems. The company is expanding manufacturing facilities, increasing engineering resources, and enhancing production capabilities to support programs involving missile propulsion, affordable cruise missiles, radar systems, electronic warfare, and next-generation defense technologies. These investments are intended to improve production readiness while enabling the company to compete for larger, long-duration contracts.

Another important pillar of KTOS' strategy is strengthening the domestic defense supply chain. As governments seek to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers for critical defense technologies, Kratos Defense's vertically integrated manufacturing model and U.S.-based operations provide greater control over production, quality and delivery schedules. This positions the company to support the Pentagon's broader objective of creating a more resilient and responsive industrial base capable of sustaining long-term military readiness.

As global defense spending continues to rise and the U.S. prioritizes rebuilding its industrial capacity, companies with scalable domestic manufacturing capabilities are likely to become increasingly important partners for the Department of Defense. By expanding production capacity and strengthening its supply chain, KTOS appears well positioned to benefit from one of the most significant defense modernization cycles in decades.

Defense Companies Benefiting From Similar TrendsSeveral other defense companies are also investing in expanding domestic manufacturing and production capacity, including:

RTX Corporation (RTX - Free Report) is increasing production of missile systems, air defense technologies, and advanced sensors to meet growing global demand.

Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) continues to invest in facilities that support missile defense, strategic deterrence, space systems, and advanced propulsion technologies, helping strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base.

KTOS Stock’s Earnings EstimatesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share indicates an increase of 30.91% year over year.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KTOS Stock Trades at a DiscountIn terms of valuation, KTOS’ forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) is 4.5X, a discount to the industry’s average of 8.67X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KTOS Stock’s Price PerformanceIn the past six months, KTOS’ shares have lost 62.3% compared with the industry’s 7.8% decline.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

KTOS’ Zacks Rank

Hemp-derived THC beverages, including the new zero-proof Mixer, roll out to liquor retailers statewide

, /PRNewswire/ -- cbdMD, Inc. (NYSE American: YCBD) today announced that its Oasis line of hemp-derived beverages is now available in South Carolina through a new distribution agreement with Morales Beverage Group, South Carolina, a leading beverage statewide alcohol distributor. The agreement places Oasis products on liquor store shelves across the state, giving South Carolina consumers direct access to the brand at established retail destinations.

The rollout includes the the full Oasis portfolio, featuring the brand's newest release, the zero proof spirit style Mixer, a spirit-style hemp-derived beverage designed for consumers looking for a versatile option for cocktails and mixed drinks. Oasis products are now stocked at retailers throughout South Carolina, including Frugal MacDoogal, one of the Carolinas' best-known beverage destinations.

"South Carolina is an important market for Oasis, and Mexcor is the right partner to help us reach consumers where they already shop for spirits, wine, and beer," said Ronan Kennedy, CEO of cbdMD. "Getting Oasis, and especially Mixer, onto liquor store shelves alongside traditional beverage alcohol is exactly the kind of placement that introduces the brand to a broader audience."

"Its always a challenge as a distributor to make decisions on what new products to bring to the market. The team at Herbal Oasis made it very easy. A well-established company from the Carolinas, proven sales in other markets, and quality and innovation that is out pacing the industry. It was an easy yes! I'm very excited to be representing this brand in the state of South Carolina", said Adam Howard, General Manager of MGB South Carolina.

Placing Oasis within the established liquor retail channel reflects the brand's strategy of meeting adult consumers in familiar shopping environments and positioning hemp-derived beverages as an approachable option within the broader beverage category. Mexcor's distribution network and retail relationships across South Carolina provide a foundation for expanding availability over time.

Oasis products are crafted to quality and testing standards consistent with cbdMD's broader commitment to transparency and responsible product development. All Oasis products are intended for adults of legal purchasing age.

About cbdMD, Inc.
cbdMD, Inc. (NYSE American: YCBD) is a consumer wellness company building a multi-brand platform across hemp-derived wellness, beverages, pet wellness, botanical wellness, and related consumer categories. Its portfolio includes cbdMD, Paw CBD, Oasis, and Bluebird Botanicals. For more information, visit www.cbdmd.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding product distribution, retail availability, market expansion, consumer demand, and the Company's beverage strategy. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks related to distribution and retail relationships, evolving federal and state regulation of hemp-derived products, the Company's ability to maintain regulatory compliance, and other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Contacts

cbdMD, Inc.

Ronan Kennedy

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

(704) 445-3064

SOURCE cbdMD, Inc.

(This is a special breaking news edition of the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)

BUFFETT ACCELERATES DONATIONSSETS GOAL TO 'DISPOSE OF ALL' HIS SHARES IN EIGHT YEARSGIVES $6B TO FOUR FAMILY FOUNDATIONSGATES FOUNDATION CUT OFFBUFFETT ON CNBC'S 'SQUAWK' WEDNESDAY MORNINGWarren Buffett is speeding up the pace of his annual donations of Berkshire Hathaway shares to four family foundations, giving them a total of almost $6 billion now.

In a news release this morning, Buffett says, "My goal is to dispose of all of my Berkshire shares within about eight years."

CNBC's Becky Quick is sitting down with Buffett in Omaha and we will bring you that interview starting at 6 am ET tomorrow (Wednesday) on "Squawk Box." 

Buffett, who will be celebrating his 96th birthday next month, now owns stock in the company with a market value of more than $140 billion.

Even without taking into account potential increases in Berkshire's stock price, that implies gifts of at least $17 billion each year, more than double the $7 billion in stock he donated last year. 

In the release, Buffett says, "Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034."

That excludes the Gates Foundation from any further donations, ending what Buffett said in 2006 would be a "lifetime pledge" of annual gifts to the charity established by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda Gates.

Based on the schedule he set out at that time in which the number of shares decreased by 5% each year, he was due to donate almost $4.5 billion to the Gates Foundation this month.

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Last year around this time, Buffett gave the four family foundations around $1.4 billion in gifts, so it appears this year they are also getting the donation originally earmarked for the Gates group.

In this round, Buffett is giving the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife, 9 million Class B shares with a current value of around $4.5 billion.

The three foundations run by his children, Susie Buffett's Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Peter Buffett's NoVo Foundation, will each get 1 million Class B shares worth just under $500 million.

The release does not say whether he will also be making gifts to the family foundations at Thanksgiving as he has done in the last four years, but it seems likely given his new eight-year goal.

Last year those contributions totaled around $1.3 billion.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported Buffett was holding back his scheduled donation to the Gates Foundation pending a law firm's review of the charity's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with the results expected this summer.

In 2006, Buffett said he was "irrevocably committing to make annual gifts of Berkshire Hathaway 'B' shares throughout my lifetime" for the Gates Foundation's benefit as long as either Bill or Melinda Gates "remain alive and active in [its] policy-setting and administration."

But cracks in what had been a strong personal friendship with Bill Gates began to appear in 2021, when Buffett resigned as a foundation trustee two months after Bill and Melinda announced they had decided to end their 27-year marriage. 

In 2024, Buffett told the Journal, "The Gates Foundation has no money coming after my death," following a revision of his will that made his three children the trustees of a charitable trust that will hold "99%-plus" of his wealth. 

This year, revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files about the notorious pedophile's connections to Gates put even more strain on Buffett's relationship with Microsoft's co-founder.

In March, Buffett told CNBC he has not talked to Gates "at all since the whole thing was unveiled" and "until it gets cleared up ... I just don't think it makes sense to do a lot of talking."

Asked whether we will continue to give money to the Gates Foundation, Buffett replied, "I'll wait and see what unfolds ... I don't have to make that decision today. And I haven't made it today." 

"I've learned things I didn't know about something for all these years."

Over the last two decades, Buffett's Gates Foundation gifts have totaled almost $48 billion, based on the value of the shares when they were donated.

The current value of the almost 321 million shares donated to the charity is around $159 billion.

It has sold the vast majority of them over the years to help fund its operations.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTSPlease send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at [email protected]. (Sorry, but we don't forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

If you aren't already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.

Also, Buffett's annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire's website.

-- Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch

, /PRNewswire/ -- Indiana American Water today announced construction of a new 1.5‑million‑gallon elevated water tank in the Innovation Mile in eastern portion of the City Noblesville, supporting the rapidly expanding area surrounding Hamilton Town Center. The project is part of a larger $15 million system investment that includes additional water storage, two booster-station upgrades, and three phases of new water mains—further demonstrating the company's commitment to strengthening water infrastructure and helping ensure reliable service for homes and businesses across the Noblesville distribution system.

Located on Olio Road near Noblesville Fire Station No. 77, the nearly 150‑foot‑tall structure features a concrete pedestal and steel tank designed to serve the region's long-term growth. Recently built, the tank proudly displays the Noblesville city brand on south side and Indiana American Water's logo on the other.

The combined tank, booster station, and water main improvements will increase storage capacity, enhance system reliability, improve water pressure, and bolster fire protection throughout the community.

"Adding a water tank near Noblesville's 600-acre innovation, tech, sports and entertainment district supports the continued growth of Noblesville's east side," said Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen. "The City of Noblesville is grateful to Indiana American Water for its partnership in providing reliable service that helps sustain ongoing economic development and quality of life for residents."

Indiana American Water engineering project manager, Ryan Bane, said, "This project reflects our ability to strategically plan for growth while working hand in hand with the City of Noblesville to meet the community's long‑term needs. By increasing storage capacity and strengthening our system, we're supporting continued economic development in this rapidly expanding area."

Construction of the elevated water tank and associated system improvements is expected to be completed and operational by early Oct. 2026. Indiana American Water recognizes and appreciates the strong support and collaboration of the City of Noblesville, Hamilton County, and the project team—including- Caldwell Tanks, Inc., Tank Industry Consultants, Culy Contracting, F.A. Wilhelm Construction, American Structurepoint, GFT Infrastructure, and Aqualign Engineering.

This project is funded through customer rates from across the state and reflects Indiana American Water's ongoing commitment to investing in the local infrastructure that keeps water service reliable, safe, and ready to meet future needs.

About American Water
American Water (NYSE: AWK) is the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States. With a history dating back to 1886, We Keep Life Flowing® by providing safe, clean, reliable and affordable drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people with regulated operations in 14 states and on 18 military installations. American Water's 6,500 talented professionals leverage their significant expertise and the company's national size and scale to achieve excellent outcomes for the benefit of customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders.

For more information, visit amwater.com and join American Water on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

About Indiana American Water
Indiana American Water, a subsidiary of American Water is the largest regulated water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and wastewater services to approximately 1.5 million people. For more information, visit amwater.com/inaw and join Indiana American Water on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

SOURCE American Water

The market expects Western Alliance (WAL - Free Report) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on July 21. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.33 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +12.6%.

Revenues are expected to be $973.85 million, up 13.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 3.16% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Western Alliance?For Western Alliance, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -2.98%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Western Alliance will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Western Alliance would post earnings of $1.48 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.22, delivering a surprise of +50.00%.

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

Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Western Alliance doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Expected Results of an Industry PlayerAnother stock from the Zacks Banks - West industry, RBB (RBB - Free Report) , is soon expected to post earnings of $0.53 per share for the quarter ended June 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +1.9%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $33.06 million, down 7.7% from the year-ago quarter.

The consensus EPS estimate for RBB has been revised 0.4% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. However, a lower Most Accurate Estimate has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -4.49%.

When combined with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that RBB will beat the consensus EPS estimate. The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Wall Street expects a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when Ally Financial (ALLY - Free Report) reports results for the quarter ended June 2026. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on July 21. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis auto finance company and bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +28.3%.

Revenues are expected to be $2.23 billion, up 6.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.55% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Ally Financial?For Ally Financial, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -2.41%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Ally Financial will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Ally Financial would post earnings of $0.93 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.11, delivering a surprise of +19.35%.

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

Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Ally Financial doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.