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Sandisk (SNDK -10.87%) has been one of the hottest growth stocks of the year (up 579%), but it's down by more than 31% from its June 2026 all-time high. Where does that leave investors heading into Sandisk's Aug. 5 earnings report?

There are some hints that Sandisk will deliver blockbuster results when it releases its report. These are the green flags investors should keep in mind as Aug. 5 draws closer.

Image source: Getty Images.

Micron usually foreshadows Sandisk's earnings Memory chips are gaining substantial traction, and Micron Technology (MU -7.24%) proved that was the case when it reported its fiscal 2026 third-quarter results. These results are a pretty big deal for Sandisk investors since the company has been growing faster than Micron in recent quarters.

Micron more than quadrupled its revenue year over year, crushing its guidance in the process. The memory chipmaker also delivered more than 70% sequential growth. Guidance only suggested $33.5 billion in revenue at the midpoint, which would have been approximately a 40% sequential improvement.

With this important context, let's take a closer look at Sandisk's results for the fiscal 2026 third quarter, which ended April 3. Revenue almost doubled sequentially, outpacing the growth rate Micron exhibited in its groundbreaking quarter. For Q3, Sandisk implied $4.6 billion in revenue at the midpoint of guidance and ended up reporting $5.95 billion.

Sandisk guided for $8 billion in revenue at the midpoint of its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results. Recent history and Micron's results suggest that Sandisk will smash guidance. Micron's $41.5 billion in revenue shocked the most ardent bulls, and the company then guided for $50 billion in the following quarter.

If Sandisk continues to follow the pattern of crushing guidance, its recent dip looks like a compelling buying opportunity.

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The memory chip boom isn't fading Memory chips are cyclical, and supply shortages can quickly turn into inventory gluts. That has been the narrative for multiple decades, and it may explain why memory chipmakers saw their share prices drop just after Micron reported earnings, but the AI build-out is quite exceptional.

Companies with real revenue and rising AI capacity needs are fueling the boom, which makes the dot-com comparison illegitimate. Furthermore, Micron announced it was entering multiyear strategic agreements with customers. This multiyear setup makes the company less susceptible to the bust part of the memory chip cycle. Competitors like Sandisk are likely to follow suit, which can make the current dip attractive.

Moreover, Alphabet boosted its capital expenditures target yet again. The company intends to spend up to $205 billion on capital expenditures this year, and some of that money will have to go to memory chips like the ones Sandisk creates.

These are long-term tailwinds that should continue to propel Sandisk stock to new highs. Expect a beat-and-raise type of quarter. It's just a matter of how much Sandisk beats its guidance for Q4 and what the company tells investors about its upcoming fiscal 2027.

Jul 26, 2026, 6:59 a.m.

2 min read

Crypto exchange BitMart to shut down after nine years. (Tim Mossholder/Unsplashed, modified by CoinDesk)Summary

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMart will wind down its trading platform after nine years, halting all trading by Aug. 26 and fully ceasing operations on Jan. 31, 2027.The closure, attributed vaguely to operating conditions, the market environment and future strategy, sent BitMart’s BMX token down about 58% in 24 hours, extending a yearlong slide of roughly 70%.BitMart, which recently reported about $1.6 billion in 24-hour trading volume, is keeping withdrawals open but warns of extra identity and security checks that could delay processing as users rush to exit.Cryptocurrency exchange BitMart said Sunday it will wind down its trading platform, ending nine years of operation and sending its exchange token down almost 60% after the announcement.

It is the second crypto exchange to announce a closure in the same week, with perpetuals trading powerhouse BitMEX saying Thursday it would shut down after 11 years, as CoinDesk reported.

The exchange stopped accepting new registrations, deposits and new trading orders from 01:30 UTC on Sunday, it said, with futures accounts moving to reduce-only mode.

All trading, spot and derivatives, ends on Aug. 26, and the platform formally ceases operations on Jan. 31, 2027. Withdrawals stay open throughout, though BitMart urged users to complete identity checks, close positions and submit withdrawal requests before the August cutoff.

Important Notice

After a careful evaluation of the Company's operating conditions, market environment, and future strategic direction, BitMart has made the difficult decision to commence an orderly wind-down of its trading platform operations. We deeply regret having to make… pic.twitter.com/KX3zczIrAh

— BitMart (@BitMartExchange) July 26, 2026 The company attributed the decision to its "operating conditions, market environment, and future strategic direction," offering no further detail on which of those forced the closure.

CoinDesk has reached out to BitMart for further comment.

BMX, the platform's token, fell to about 8 cents, down 58% over 24 hours, cutting its market value to roughly $27 million. The token was already down about 70% over the past year, so Sunday's drop extended a long decline rather than starting one.

The exchange's trading figures are significant, despite the closure. BitMart reported about $1.6 billion in 24-hour volume, up 51% from the previous period, with bitcoin accounting for nearly half of it. That jump more plausibly reflects users unwinding positions and moving funds out than any fresh demand, but it leaves open why a platform still clearing that kind of flow is closing.

Meanwhile, the withdrawal terms carry more friction than a routine exit. BitMart said requests may face additional review covering identity verification, device and IP checks, withdrawal-address screening, source-of-funds questions and sanctions checks, and warned that processing could stretch if request volumes spike.

BitMart lost about $196 million to a hot-wallet breach in December 2021, one of the larger exchange hacks of that cycle, and covered customer losses at the time.

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Crypto Flows, Share and the Selective Rotation

Crypto Flows, Share and the Selective Rotation

Markets repositioned since June, but Binance held share (~55% user funds, ~24% spot) and drew net inflows in early July while the tracked market saw outflows.

Jul 22, 2026

Markets repositioned since June, but Binance held share (~55% user funds, ~24% spot) and drew net inflows in early July while the tracked market saw outflows.

Why it matters:

Markets repositioned since June, but Binance held share (~55% user funds, ~24% spot) and drew net inflows in early July while the tracked market saw outflows.

Alphabet (GOOG +0.21%)(GOOGL +0.58%) released its operating results for the second quarter of 2026 (ended June 30) after the market closed on Wednesday. Once again, artificial intelligence (AI) fueled strong revenue growth in important businesses like Google Search and Google Cloud.

However, Alphabet said it plans to spend even more on AI data centers during 2026 than originally expected, which made investors uneasy. These capital expenditures (capex) could seriously hurt the company's earnings power over the next few years, and thus lead to sluggish returns in its stock.

Alphabet stock immediately fell by around 7% following the release of the Q2 report, and it's now down 20% from its recent all-time high. Could this be the ultimate buying opportunity for long-term investors?

Image source: Alphabet.

Another strong quarter for Google Search and Google Cloud Google Search's advertising business is Alphabet's largest source of revenue. The company has infused AI-powered features into the search engine to fight off the competitive threat from chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT, and the strategy is working.

First, AI Overviews use text, images, and links to third-party sources to provide AI-generated answers to queries in Google Search. They appear above the traditional search results, so users no longer have to dig through web pages to find the information they need. Then there is AI Mode, which opens a chatbot-style interface where users can expand on their original query by asking follow-up questions. AI Mode already has 1 billion monthly active users, despite only launching globally last October.

Alphabet said these features are driving increased search usage overall. This is great news because it means users are seeing more ads, and the company is making more money. On that note, Google Search generated a record $63.3 billion in revenue during Q2, up 17% from the year-ago period.

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Google Cloud also had a very strong quarter. The cloud platform operates data centers all over the world that house thousands of specialized AI chips, and it rents the computing power to other businesses. It also offers a platform called Gemini Enterprise, where businesses can turn that computing capacity into finished AI chatbots, agents, and other applications. Alphabet says 90% of the Fortune 100 companies are using it already.

Google Cloud has consistently been the fastest-growing piece of Alphabet's business over the last couple of years, purely because of demand for AI-related services. Its revenue surged by 82% during Q2, to $24.8 billion.

Alphabet raised its capital expenditures forecast While Google Cloud is already growing at a blistering pace, it had a staggering $514 billion order backlog as of June 30, a $50 billion increase from the first quarter of 2026 just three months earlier. Most of that backlog was from AI customers who were waiting for more data center capacity to come online. In order to meet their needs, Alphabet has to spend a truckload of money to build more infrastructure.

When discussing the company's Q2 operating results, management said capex was on track to come in somewhere between $195 billion and $205 billion during 2026. That forecast was revised higher from $180 billion to $190 billion in management's previous update, and it followed $91 billion in spending last year.

Data centers and chips usually have a useful life of several years, so Alphabet doesn't account for these costs up front. Instead, it depreciates the infrastructure over time, which means these enormous capex sums could erode Alphabet's profits for years to come. That won't be a problem if AI computing capacity and enterprise tools remain in high demand, but that isn't a guarantee.

That's why investors wince every time a hyperscaler like Alphabet ramps up its capex plans even further. Every misallocated dollar today could reduce the company's earnings and dent its stock price for a very long time.

Alphabet stock looks cheap, so should investors buy the dip? On the surface, Alphabet's Q2 earnings soared by 294% year over year to $9.11 per share. But that's only because the company experienced a staggering $98 billion increase in the value of its investment holdings in companies like Anthropic and Space Exploration Technologies, which had nothing to do with its operating performance.

If we exclude those gains and also factor in Alphabet's capex, the company actually generated negative free cash flow of $5.8 billion during Q2.

Alphabet stock is trading at a much lower price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio than the Nasdaq-100 index (24.3 versus 33.4), suggesting it's cheaper than a basket of its big-tech peers. However, the stock might be far more expensive than it appears at face value after accounting for investment gains and capex, as demonstrated above.

I'm not saying Alphabet is a bad investment. It's a brilliant company with loads of long-term potential. But as an investor who doesn't already own it, I plan to wait on the sidelines for some of the dust to settle. If management adopts a more cautious approach to capex over the next couple of quarters, I might consider buying the stock.

ASSOCIATED PRESS; Tyler Le/BI

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2026-07-26T08:07:01.230Z

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Three years ago, Satya Nadella catapulted Microsoft to the front of the AI race and became "like a superhero," one recent former Microsoft executive said.

In February 2023, after betting early on OpenAI, the CEO unveiled Microsoft's AI-powered Bing search engine before a packed audience outside Seattle, and declared a war on Google's search dominance. "A race starts today," he said. Waves of adulation followed. When Nadella helped navigate OpenAI's board crisis later that year, Bill Gurley called it an "amazing shift in corporate reputation." CNN Business chose Nadella as the CEO of the Year.

Inside Microsoft and across the tech industry, Nadella was hailed for seizing the future. Now, his legacy is at stake.

Microsoft's stock is down more than 24% from 12 months ago, significantly worse than the rest of the Magnificent 7. Investors have grown increasingly skeptical that the company's multibillion-dollar AI bet will deliver. Copilot, Microsoft's flagship AI product, lags behind other AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. LinkedIn has drawn criticism for becoming flooded with AI-generated hustleporn. Xbox's business is "not healthy," its CEO recently said, and undergoing layoffs and restructuring as it tries to justify the company's record-breaking $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition.

And inside the company, employees are questioning Microsoft's plans to spend a record $190 billion this year to build AI infrastructure. As generative AI changes how people work, write software, and consume information, three of the company's core businesses hang in the balance: Microsoft 365, GitHub, and Azure. Investors will get a report card on these challenges on Wednesday, when the company releases its fourth-quarter earnings results.

As AI adoption spreads through corporate America, every software company is fighting to fend off the so-called SaaSpocalypse. But the battle is particularly fraught for Nadella's Microsoft, which made an early and loud bet on AI to propel the company's future. Now the company's north star has also become a potential noose.

For decades, Microsoft's productivity software has been the default homeroom where knowledge workers start their day. They opened Word to write, Excel to analyze data, and PowerPoint to build presentations. Now, millions of those workers are beginning to do all these things directly inside AI tools. Gartner analysts earlier this year predicted AI would threaten to dethrone traditional productivity suites like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in a $58 billion market shakeup.

Microsoft executives point to continued growth in Microsoft 365 and increasing Copilot adoption as evidence customers still want Microsoft's products at the center of their workdays. "The M365 business is seeing tons of new adoption and M365 Copilot usage," one executive said, who said the company is specifically chasing computing capacity to meet the demand.

GitHub faces a similar challenge. Since acquiring the software development platform in 2018, the company has held a dominant position with developers and had an early advantage in AI coding through GitHub Copilot. And it continues to grow: The platform recently had its "best month ever," an executive told employees in internal meeting comments viewed by Business Insider, though he didn't say by what measure.

But upstarts have swarmed in, as millions of engineers have adopted Cursor — which SpaceX recently announced plans to acquire for $60 billion — and Anthropic's Claude Code. As Business Insider previously reported, executives have discussed internally the need to overhaul GitHub to better compete with those AI-native coding tools. AI demand has also strained Github. As AI usage surged GitHub has experienced dozens of major outages this year.

The company is also struggling broadly to keep up with the demand for compute capacity. Despite this crunch, Microsoft is raising salespeople quotas for selling its cloud computing platform, Azure, some by 30% this year, according to people familiar with the change.

Azure remains Microsoft's fastest-growing strategic business, but internally executives say it has become a constant balancing act. Demand for computing infrastructure has outpaced the company's ability to build new capacity, forcing Microsoft to make difficult decisions about where its resources go. Even with this year's $190 billion capital expenditures — largely to expand data-center capacity for AI workloads — executives say the company is still constrained.

Earlier this year, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood suggested Microsoft was prioritizing scarce computing resources for its own AI products before allocating the remaining capacity to Azure customers.

"The first thing we're doing is solving for the increased usage in sales and the accelerating pace of M365 Copilot, as well as GitHub Copilot, our first-party apps," Hood said during Microsoft's January earnings call. "Then we make sure we're investing in the long-term nature of R&D and product innovation... Then what you end up with is the remainder going towards serving the Azure capacity that continues to grow in terms of demand."

Why would Satya prioritize growing Adobe over growing M365?Microsoft executiveIf Microsoft had allocated the GPUs that came online during the first half of its fiscal year to Azure instead of its own AI products, Azure growth would have exceeded 40% instead of 39%, Hood said. Microsoft previously reported $75 billion in Azure revenue for its 2025 fiscal year.

That earnings report triggered one of Microsoft's biggest post-earnings stock declined by more than 10% as investors questioned the company's slower Azure outlook despite record AI spending and growing concerns that Microsoft was diverting capacity away from cloud customers.

Executives who spoke to Business Insider say those tradeoffs have intensified.

Microsoft is so desperate for capacity that it's turning to competitors to help relieve some of those constraints. Following a series of GitHub outages, Amazon bailed Microsoft out. The company also explored leasing Oracle cloud infrastructure but Microsoft walked away due to security and compliance concerns.

Microsoft is now seeking additional cloud capacity from other providers, including evaluating Amazon and Google, according to people familiar with the discussions. "We are shopping for capacity everywhere," one of those people said.

While prioritizing internal services has a mixed reception on Wall Street, the strategy is clear within Microsoft.

"All of the supply is gone once you solve for frontier labs and our internal businesses like M365 and Microsoft AI," one executive said.

Those decisions have created difficult conversations internally.

"Why would Satya prioritize growing Adobe over growing M365?" the person said. "I have no idea how we're going to land that message with customers."

As the pressure on Microsoft's core businesses mounts, Nadella has been bearing that pressure down on his workforce, and reshaping the structure of the company and its leaders.

As Business Insider previously reported, Nadella promoted Judson Althoff to CEO of Microsoft's commercial business to free himself and the company's engineering leaders to focus more directly on AI. Althoff was previously Microsoft's longtime sales boss but the role gave him a bigger profile. In an internal memo viewed by Business Insider at the time, Nadella described the moment as "a tectonic AI platform shift."

The mounting pressure on Nadella has trickled down through Microsoft's ranks from the executive suite to the rank-and-file employee.

At the same time, Nadella has remade his inner circle. Business Insider previously reported that Microsoft effectively retired its traditional senior leadership team structure in favor of smaller, flatter leadership groups. AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has narrowed his focus to Microsoft's superintelligence efforts, top Nadella lieutenant Rajesh Jha retired, longtime product and marketing leader Yusuf Mehdi is preparing to leave the company, and more executive changes are expected.

According to people familiar with the succession planning, Hayete Gallot, who recently returned to Microsoft from Google to lead the company's security business, is viewed internally as the long-term successor to Althoff as sales chief. Gallot previously worked for Althoff and left in what one executive told Business Insider was "not an amicable departure." Nadella recruited Gallot back to replace Charlie Bell, who moved into an individual contributor role focused on engineering quality. Rodrigo Kede Lima, who Microsoft just put in charge of a $2.5 billion AI sales unit, is also a rising star, one of the people said.

The changes extend beyond the executive suite. Business Insider has learned that Microsoft overhauled its performance review system this year, simplifying ratings into five categories while making performance distinctions significantly sharper.

Executives say the new process feels like a return to "stack ranking," the controversial system that evaluated employees relative to one another during the Steve Ballmer era. At the same time, managers have been instructed to reduce the number of employees in higher-level engineering roles as Microsoft continues flattening parts of the organization, emblematic of a broader hardcore work culture that's spread across Big Tech in the last few years.

"It's almost like the old era of Microsoft is back," one former executive said. "The old Windows era where you lead with a lot of fear and a billy club in your hand."

For years, Microsoft's greatest strength was that it owned where people worked and where developers built software. AI is beginning to challenge both assumptions at once. Now Nadella's legacy won't be defined by whether Microsoft can build the best AI, but by whether it can keep AI from eroding the businesses that made it one of the world's most valuable companies.

Ashley Stewart is a chief technology correspondent at Business Insider.

Business Insider's Discourse stories provide perspectives on the day's most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.

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Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) reported second-quarter 2026 free cash flow of $682 million and cash flow per share of $4.46, with both measures exceeding consensus estimates, according to executives on the company’s earnings call. The company also raised its full-year oil and condensate production outlook after production from its Permian operations surpassed expectations.

President and CEO Brendan McCracken said the company generated more than $1.3 billion in free cash flow during the first half of the year and returned approximately 63% of second-quarter free cash flow to shareholders through share repurchases and its base dividend. Ovintiv expects full-year shareholder returns to exceed 60%, following returns of about 45% year to date.

Production Guidance Raised on Permian Outperformance Second-quarter oil and condensate production averaged 206,000 barrels per day, above the high end of Ovintiv’s guidance, while total production was 615,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Chief Financial Officer Corey Code said the production beat was driven by both new-well productivity and stronger-than-expected base production in the Permian Basin.

The company raised its full-year oil and condensate production guidance to between 210,000 and 212,000 barrels per day. Ovintiv also increased the go-forward Permian oil production run rate to 125,000 barrels per day from 120,000 barrels per day previously, without adding capital spending or drilling activity.

Code said the revised outlook, combined with year-to-date repurchases, represents about 4% oil production growth on a per-share basis. Ovintiv maintained its full-year capital guidance and expects third-quarter capital spending of approximately $575 million, in line with second-quarter spending. Third-quarter total production is expected to average roughly 628,000 BOE per day, including about 208,000 barrels per day of oil and condensate.

Natural gas production came in below guidance during the quarter because of planned Montney plant turnarounds, although Ovintiv said the revenue impact was limited by weak AECO natural gas prices. The company maintained the midpoint of its prior full-year natural gas outlook at 2.05 billion cubic feet per day and increased full-year NGL guidance to about 84,000 barrels per day.

Debt Reduction and Buyback Focus Ovintiv reduced net debt by about $3.4 billion during the quarter, using proceeds from its Anadarko disposition and a portion of free cash flow. Quarter-end net debt stood at $2.995 billion, resulting in a leverage ratio of 0.6 times.

Code said the lower debt balance represented a key milestone for the company, while Fitch upgraded Ovintiv’s credit rating to BBB from BBB low. McCracken said the company views its capital structure as appropriately sized and plans to balance additional debt reduction, share repurchases and smaller land-focused transactions.

During the question-and-answer session, McCracken said Ovintiv sees value in repurchasing shares but does not have a “crystal ball” on commodity prices. He said the company expects its “ground game” acquisitions to be in the low hundreds of millions of dollars range and focused on modest-sized deals in the Permian and Montney.

Operational Technology and Montney Developments Chief Operating Officer Greg Givens attributed Permian outperformance to improved new-well results, base-production optimization and the company’s development approach, which includes co-developing stacked zones from a single pad and timing adjacent development projects to limit pressure depletion.

Givens said Ovintiv has completed approximately 400 Permian wells with surfactant treatments since 2019 and has seen about a 9% improvement in oil productivity compared with wells that did not receive the treatment. The company estimates the surfactants account for roughly half of its productivity uplift over the past several years. Ovintiv said the treatment costs about $100,000 per well.

The company is beginning to evaluate surfactant use in the Montney, where McCracken said it remains in the early stages. Ovintiv also cited the use of AI, automation and its Permian Operations Control Center as contributors to reduced downtime, improved artificial-lift performance and stronger base production.

In the Montney, planned plant turnarounds were completed in the second quarter. Ovintiv said it prioritized production from its most liquids-rich wells during the outages, limiting the effect on condensate volumes. Based on current strip prices, the company expects second-half Montney condensate production of 80,000 to 85,000 barrels per day.

Canadian condensate realizations averaged about $94 per barrel during the quarter, at a premium to WTI, Givens said. Ovintiv also reported that its Montney gas realization was 187% of AECO, supported by physical sales arrangements, financial contracts and approximately $40 million of sulfur revenue. Sulfur, a byproduct from certain Montney gas operations, benefited from historically high prices during the period.

Inventory, Sand Supply and Market Access McCracken said Ovintiv has added more than 3,200 Permian and Montney drilling locations since 2023 at an average cost of $1.4 million per net 10,000-foot location. The company estimates it has nearly 15 years of premium inventory in the Permian and close to 20 years of premium oil inventory in the Montney.

Ovintiv said it has already replaced its planned 2026 drilling locations in both regions through organic additions. In the Permian, the company is evaluating approximately 100,000 acres of Barnett potential on acreage it has held for more than a decade. Givens said Ovintiv has drilled and cored the vertical section of its first Barnett well in Martin County and expects the well to begin production late this year.

In the Montney, Ovintiv said completion speeds have averaged more than 4,900 feet per day year to date, about 20% faster than its 2023 pace. The company recently completed more than 7,000 lateral feet per day in a simul-frac operation and completed Canada’s first 100% domestic wet-sand pad, according to management. Domestic wet sand is roughly 20% less expensive than imported dry sand, the company said, though Ovintiv expects broader adoption to depend on local supply infrastructure and could take until around 2028.

Management also said it continues to diversify its natural-gas pricing away from AECO and Waha. Ovintiv reported total company gas price realizations, including hedging, of $1.99 per Mcf during the quarter, or about 70% of NYMEX pricing.

About Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) Ovintiv Inc is a North American energy company focused on the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Formerly known as Encana Corporation, the company rebranded as Ovintiv in January 2020 and established its headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Ovintiv’s upstream portfolio spans multiple unconventional resource plays, reflecting a strategy centered on high-return projects and disciplined capital allocation.

The company’s core business activities include the acquisition and development of acreage in major shale basins across the United States and Canada.

Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue above $3 billion for the first time, as demand from technology and industrial customers helped drive higher bookings, record backlog and sharply improved profitability.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Lane said the company generated $3.3 billion in quarterly revenue and earned $12.53 per share, a 92% increase from the prior-year period. The company’s backlog reached a record $14.1 billion at quarter-end, supported by continued technology-sector demand and favorable project margins.

“We had a fantastic quarter with amazing execution by our teams,” Lane said. “Demand remains strong, especially in technology, as we continue to book work with good margins and favorable working conditions for our valuable people.”

Revenue, Profit and Cash Flow Rise Chief Financial Officer Bill George said second-quarter revenue increased by $1.1 billion from a year earlier, with same-store revenue up 44%. Electrical-segment revenue rose 81%, while mechanical-segment revenue increased 40%.

For the first six months of 2026, same-store revenue grew 47%. The company expects full-year same-store revenue growth to finish in the mid- to high-30% range, George said.

Gross profit increased to $844 million from $510 million in the second quarter of 2025, while gross margin expanded to 25.9% from 23.5%. Mechanical gross margin rose to 25.6% from 22.9%, and electrical gross margin increased to 26.4% from 25.3%.

SG&A expense increased to $287 million from $210 million as the company invested in personnel and innovation, though SG&A as a percentage of revenue declined to 8.8% from 9.7%. Operating income rose 86% to $558 million, and operating margin increased to 17.1% from 13.8%.

Net income was $442 million, or $12.53 per share, compared with $231 million, or $6.53 per share, a year earlier. EBITDA increased 80% to $600 million, bringing trailing 12-month EBITDA to approximately $2 billion.

Free cash flow totaled $999 million in the quarter. George attributed the result partly to advanced customer cash, strong payment terms and broad-based project performance, rather than a single factor. He said the company expects cash flow over time to align with net income plus noncash expenses.

The company ended the quarter with a net cash position of more than $1.8 billion, despite acquisition spending and capital investments. It expects capital expenditures for the full year to equal approximately 5% of revenue, primarily supporting production facilities and modular capacity.

Backlog Expands as Technology Work Drives Demand President Trent McKenna said backlog increased by $1.6 billion sequentially, including a $1.4 billion same-store increase. Compared with a year earlier, total backlog increased $5.9 billion, or 73%, with $5.6 billion of the gain coming from same-store operations.

Same-store backlog entering the third quarter was 69% higher than a year earlier. McKenna said project pipelines remained at historically high levels, led by technology-sector construction and modular work.

Industrial customers accounted for 75% of first-half revenue. Technology, which is included within industrial, represented 58% of revenue, up from 40% in the prior year. Institutional markets, including education, healthcare and government, represented 17% of revenue. Commercial markets accounted for 8% of revenue. Construction represented 90% of revenue, while service represented 10%. New-building construction accounted for 75% of total revenue, including modular activity, while existing-building construction represented 15%. Modular revenue represented 17% of year-to-date revenue.

During the quarter, modular operations booked $510 million, enough to cover the business’s production activity and add roughly $500 million to backlog, according to George. The company said demand from customers remains consistent with its plans to expand modular manufacturing capacity.

Modular Capacity Plans Tied to Customer Commitments Comfort Systems USA has more than 3.5 million square feet of capacity dedicated to modular operations and expects to exceed 4 million square feet in production by year-end. It plans to reach approximately 5 million square feet of capacity by late summer 2027.

Management said the planned capacity expansion is principally intended to serve existing customers and existing orders. The company is pursuing pilot contracts with frontier labs and colocation providers, but said meaningful programmatic business from those newer customers would require additional manufacturing space.

George said the company will not add buildings solely on speculation and will expand only when customers provide meaningful multiyear commitments. He said recent capital investments have generated rapid returns, with projects producing what he described as full paybacks within one or two years.

Management said it does not see a slowdown in data-center demand despite public opposition and moratorium discussions in some markets. Lane said the company’s direct relationships with hyperscalers and key intermediaries provide visibility into customer plans, and that management sees “no letdown whatsoever” in their need to continue building capacity.

McKenna said much of the company’s current backlog consists of projects that were already planned and permitted. He added that modular capacity is more programmatic and can be directed toward customer locations as needed.

Acquisition and Capital Allocation The company also discussed its acquisition of Hunt Electric, a Utah-based electrical contractor that closed May 1. Lane said Hunt is expected to contribute approximately $250 million in annualized revenue.

McKenna said Hunt has begun pursuing opportunities jointly with Comfort Systems USA’s mechanical contractors in Utah and called it the premier electrical provider in that market.

Comfort Systems USA increased its quarterly dividend by $0.10 to $0.90 per share. George said capital allocation will continue to include investments in facilities, selective share repurchases and a patient approach to acquisitions.

Management also highlighted the longer-term service opportunity created by its growing data-center installed base. McKenna said service revenue increased 7% during the year and remains profitable, though the data-center service opportunity is expected to develop over time as newly constructed facilities move beyond warranty periods.

About Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX) Comfort Systems USA, Inc is a U.S.-based mechanical contracting company that provides a range of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) services to commercial, industrial and institutional customers. The company focuses on the design, installation, maintenance and repair of HVAC systems, and it supports projects from initial engineering and system selection through long-term service agreements and upgrades.

Its service offerings include new construction and retrofit installations, preventive and corrective maintenance, emergency repair, energy management and building automation systems.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 26th, 2026

Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB – Get Free Report) is expected to release its Q2 2026 results before the market opens on Tuesday, July 28th. Analysts expect Hubbell to announce earnings of $5.39 per share and revenue of $1.6620 billion for the quarter. Hubbell has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.300-19.850 EPS. Interested persons may review the information on the company’s upcoming Q2 2026 earning report page for the latest details on the call scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET.

Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $3.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.87 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Hubbell had a return on equity of 27.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Hubbell to post $20 EPS for the current fiscal year and $22 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Hubbell Stock Performance Shares of NYSE HUBB opened at $485.33 on Friday. Hubbell has a 1 year low of $403.82 and a 1 year high of $565.50. The firm has a market cap of $25.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $488.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $496.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Hubbell from $481.00 to $503.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Stephens lifted their target price on Hubbell from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Hubbell from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Hubbell in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Hubbell from $530.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $554.38.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Hubbell

Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HUBB. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Hubbell by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,221,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Hubbell by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Hubbell by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,350,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its position in Hubbell by 79.2% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 1,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Hubbell by 173.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 15,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,684,000 after purchasing an additional 9,544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.16% of the company’s stock.

About Hubbell (Get Free Report)

Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE: HUBB) is an industrial manufacturer and distributor of electrical and electronic products serving a range of end markets including commercial and residential construction, industrial, and utility customers. Founded in 1888 by Harvey Hubbell, the company has a long history in electrical innovation and product development and is headquartered in Connecticut. Hubbell designs, manufactures and sells components and systems that enable the distribution and control of electrical power and provide lighting solutions for indoor and outdoor environments.

The company’s offerings span a broad portfolio of products used by contractors, utilities, original equipment manufacturers and facility owners.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Hubbell Telecom Earnings Reveal a Sector That Finally Looks Healthier Defense Earnings Show Readiness Now and Modernization Ahead Why Palantir Investors Aren’t Panicking While the Rest of AI Sells Off MarketBeat Week in Review – 07/20- 07/24

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The Ethereum network’s validator exit queue has recently fallen to zero, marking a significant milestone for the platform’s staking landscape. On-chain data reveals that there are currently no validators waiting to unstake ETH, allowing their exits to be processed immediately without delays or backlogs.

Validator Dynamics Reflect Growing ConfidenceThis development stands in stark contrast to September 2025, when the queue for validators wishing to exit peaked at over 2.6 million ETH. Market observers view the drop in the exit queue as an indicator of renewed trust and stability within the Ethereum proof-of-stake system.

The exit queue, also called the exit pool, monitors how many validators have requested to leave Ethereum’s network. Major validators and large staking providers—including platforms such as Lido, Coinbase, and Kiln—play critical roles in processing these requests. Many rely on liquid staking protocols, which enable users to delegate their ETH without surrendering self-custody.

Operating with a zero exit queue allows all incoming withdrawal requests to move directly to processing, staying within the protocol’s churn limit and preventing any accumulation of pending exits.

Implications for Staking and Network SecurityA zero exit queue is generally seen as a sign of minimal selling pressure from unstaking events and suggests that validators currently prefer to remain active participants on the network. Such stability helps maintain staking yields and contributes to the overall security and decentralization that institutional and retail investors seek.

For exchanges and liquidity providers offering ETH staking products, immediate processing of validator exits delivers a dependable source of liquidity. This streamlined dynamic also allows regulators to monitor validator activity and staking-as-a-service platforms with more transparency.

As the exit queue reaches zero, developers and validators observe its benefits for long-term protocol health, citing network resilience, stable returns, and support for Ethereum’s decentralized growth as key outcomes.

Against this backdrop, platforms like 1stepSwap have made it increasingly practical for users and institutions to expand their digital asset strategies. By transferring real-world assets onto the blockchain, 1stepSwap allows users to access fractions of leading U.S. stocks and commodities such as gold and silver directly through their wallets. The system’s real-time price comparison engine ensures trades are executed at the best available rates, further supporting portfolio diversification and market efficiency.

Broader Industry Context and Next StepsEthereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently stated that the blockchain has addressed the so-called trilemma—balancing security, scalability, and decentralization—a milestone long viewed as unattainable within the crypto sector.

Institutional adoption of ETH continues to expand, boosted by ETF inflows and the growing popularity of staking within corporate treasuries. The situation also underscores the operational contrast with other proof-of-stake networks, many of which continue to face lengthy exit backlogs for unstaking validators.

In the short term, analysts suggest that close attention should now turn to trends in the entry queue for new validators, the net growth rate of the validator set, and the upcoming Pectra network upgrade. The expansion of liquid staking token integration across DeFi platforms and the evolving ecosystem for restaking opportunities are also expected to draw increased scrutiny from both market participants and regulatory agencies.

Immediate unstaking for Ethereum validators now reshapes market sentiment around network health, supporting ongoing trends of institutional engagement and evolving staking services.

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

Amazon (AMZN -0.70%), the world's largest e-commerce and cloud infrastructure company, will post its second-quarter earnings report on July 30. Analysts expect its revenue and EPS to rise 17% and 8%, respectively, year over year. Should you buy Amazon's stock, which has stayed nearly flat year to date, before it releases that closely watched report?

Image source: Getty Images.

What are the catalysts and challenges for Amazon's stock? Amazon generates most of its revenue from its e-commerce business, but most of its profits come from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud infrastructure platform. AWS controlled nearly a third of the cloud platform market last year, according to Canalys.

Its e-commerce business faces inflationary and competitive headwinds. Still, it's addressing those challenges by regionalizing its fulfillment network, automating its warehouses, adjusting its third-party seller fees, selling more everyday essentials, and launching low-cost storefronts.

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AWS is growing rapidly as more companies expand their cloud infrastructure to handle the latest AI applications. It hosts Bedrock, a platform that helps companies access multiple AI models, develops agentic AI tools, and produces custom AI chips. But to support that expansion, Amazon will boost its capex from $131.8 billion in 2025 to $200 billion in 2026, even as it prunes its workforce. That near-term pressure on margins makes its top-line growth less impressive.

However, Amazon is also expanding its higher-margin advertising business -- which sells integrated ads and promoted listings across its marketplace -- to offset that pressure. That business could eventually become a secondary profit engine alongside AWS.

Is Amazon's stock worth buying today? Amazon's stock has stayed flat this year because investors are concerned about the macro headwinds for its e-commerce business and its increased cloud and AI spending. But at the same time, its e-commerce and cloud businesses remain well-positioned to grow over the long term. That tug-of-war between the bulls and bears could continue through the rest of the year.

For 2026, analysts expect Amazon's revenue and EPS to grow 15% and 22%, respectively. Its stock still looks reasonably valued at 27 times forward earnings. So if you still believe in its long-term growth potential, it's safe to buy the stock as most investors fret over its near-term challenges. That said, any upward revisions to its full-year capex or warnings about the macro environment in its upcoming earnings report might cause its stock to drop, so it might be prudent to wait for the market's broader reaction before buying more shares.

On the 25th of July, Stacks [STX] experienced strong bearish pressure. After a long period of consolidation, bears finally took over the market, with STX losing the $0.16 support level.

As a result, the altcoin crashed to $0.13. STX has not dropped to such levels since mid-2020, marking a 6-year low. As of this writing, Stacks was trading around $0.138, after dropping by 6.2% on the daily charts.

Why is Stacks declining, though? STX dropped to a six-year low driven by market concerns over the token’s tag on Binance. The Stacks Endowment acknowledged the concern and said it was in contact with Binance to resolve the issue.

Importantly, the team posited that the change in tag on Binance was likely due to the upcoming PoX-5 hardfork. For that reason, the Stacks team informed other major CEX partners in time, who have since moved forward in support. 

According to Reubs, the tag will be removed once consensus-level changes on Binance are completed. Although the team assured the community, the market did not receive the assurance positively, and sentiment flipped.

What about the PoX-5 hardfork? The Stacks PoX-5 hardfork is scheduled for the 29th of July. This follows a successful vote and overwhelming community support of SP 044 and SP 045.

The highly anticipated upgrade brings about trustless, self-custodial Bitcoin staking. Thus, the upgrade will allow users to earn BTC-dominated yield while still keeping their holdings under their own key.

Three days ago, the public PoX-5 testnet went live for builders to test their protocols ahead of the mainnet.

On-chain usage remains extremely weak Despite the rollout of the public testnet and market anticipation, Stacks’ on-chain activity has failed to keep up. In fact, the network’s on-chain activity has continued to decline.

According to Token Terminal data, daily active users plunged to 1.1k. The network recorded such a low user count in January 2026.

Source: Token Terminal The declining usage shows that the upcoming upgrade has not incentivized users to stay or attracted new users. Reduced network activity usually translates to lower demand for the native token and could lead to extended weakness for STX.

Can STX hold the pressure? The recent market concerns prompted traders to reduce exposure. As a result, the market structure weakened, thus further strengthening the downward momentum.

In fact, STX’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) formed a bearish crossover and plummeted into oversold territory.

Source: TradingView At 23, RSI indicated sellers had fully retaken control. Furthermore, the Spot Buy Sell Volume metric confirms this bearish flip.

The sell volume rose to 4.98 million while the buy volume dropped to 4.24 million. Previously, buyers had shown relative strength, pushing buy volume to 20.4 million.

Source: Coinalyze With sellers dominating the market, it warns of potentially extended weakness. Therefore, if sellers continue to dominate while network demand is weak, Stacks could drop below $0.13, with $0.1 as a critical support level.

However, if the concerns over the Binance tag are addressed, easing pressure, the altcoin could seek to reclaim $0.16.

Final Summary STX plunged to a 6-year low of $0.13 amid market concerns over the Binance tag. Stacks’ market structure remains bearish, with weak on-chain activity and seller dominance. 

South Korea’s dominant crypto exchange is rolling out the welcome mat for DeFi lending. Upbit will list Morpho (MORPHO) in its KRW trading market on July 25 at 18:00 KST, with Euler (EUL) following one day later on July 26.

The announcement alone was enough to nudge Morpho’s price up 4.8%.

Why these two protocols, and why now Morpho and Euler both belong to a newer generation of lending protocols that take a modular approach, essentially letting users and developers customize lending markets rather than relying on one-size-fits-all pools. This contrasts with legacy monolithic platforms like Aave and Compound, where governance committees set parameters for the entire protocol. Modular lending flips that model, giving market creators more granular control over collateral types, interest rate curves, and risk parameters.

Morpho has been on a tear lately. The protocol raised $175 million in June, pushing its valuation north of $2 billion. Its active deposits now surpass $11 billion, with roughly $4 billion in outstanding loans.

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Just days before the Upbit listing, on July 22, Morpho launched a fixed-rate lending feature called Morpho Midnight on the Base mainnet. Fixed-rate lending has long been a white whale in DeFi, something traditional finance takes for granted but decentralized protocols have struggled to implement cleanly.

Euler suffered a major exploit back in 2023, but rebuilt, and its modular lending infrastructure has since expanded to new chains. On July 17, the protocol deployed on HSK Chain, broadening its capacity to offer loans against tokenized assets. Its token, EUL, was trading in the $1 to $1.70 range around the time of the listing announcement.

Morpho’s market cap sat in the $1 billion to $1.3 billion range prior to the listing, placing it roughly between the 50th and 60th largest crypto assets by market capitalization.

The Upbit effect When a token gets a KRW trading pair on Upbit, it gains direct fiat on-ramp access to millions of Korean traders who might otherwise never interact with it. Historically, this has produced sharp, short-term price spikes as new capital floods in. The 4.8% Morpho bump on announcement alone is textbook.

The back-to-back scheduling is notable. Listing both on consecutive days suggests Upbit sees enough demand to justify two DeFi lending tokens in rapid succession, rather than spacing them out to avoid cannibalizing attention.

What this means for investors Morpho’s $11 billion in deposits demonstrates real demand for more customizable credit infrastructure. First, expect increased liquidity for both MORPHO and EUL. KRW pairs tend to generate meaningful volume, particularly in the first few weeks after listing.

Second, Morpho’s fixed-rate lending launch adds a fundamental catalyst that sits underneath the listing hype. If Morpho Midnight gains traction on Base, it could attract institutional borrowers who have historically avoided DeFi’s variable-rate structures.

Euler presents a different risk-reward profile. The protocol’s recovery from the 2023 exploit is notable, and its expansion to HSK Chain shows technical ambition. EUL’s price range of $1 to $1.70 suggests the market hasn’t fully re-rated the token.

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

SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A securities class action lawsuit has been filed against Primoris Services Corporation (NYSE: PRIM) and certain current and former executives who are alleged to have misled investors about the company’s project management capabilities. It seeks to represent investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Primoris common stock between August 5, 2025 and June 22, 2026.

The lawsuit follows a second massive selloff in Primoris shares in six weeks – this time on June 23, 2026, when shares cratered another $23.29 (-21%). The first occurred on May 6, 2026, when Primoris shares crashed $101.69 (-50%). Both were triggered by surprise revelations of Primoris’ project management problems.

The disclosures’ toll was to erase well over $6 billion from Primoris’ market capitalization between May 5, 2026 and June 23, 2026.

National shareholders rights firm Hagens Berman continues its investigation into claims that Primoris and the other Defendants violated the federal securities laws and encourages investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. The firm also encourages persons with knowledge who may be able to assist the investigation to contact its attorneys.

Class Period: Aug. 5, 2025 – June 22, 2026
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Sept. 21, 2026
Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/prim
Contact the Firm Now: [email protected]
844-916-0895

Primoris Services Corporation (PRIM) Securities Class Action:

During the Class Period, defendants repeatedly assured investors that Primoris maintained “disciplined bidding,” “well-developed estimating processes,” effective project controls, and reliable forecasting that enabled it to accurately price and execute fixed-price renewable energy projects, “manage risk,” and reliably forecast revenues, margins, and earnings.

The complaint alleges that, in contrast to these assurances (and unknown to investors), the Defendants did not disclose that Primoris’ estimating, cost-to-complete forecasting, and project oversight processes were woefully deficient. As a result, the company systematically underestimated project costs and risks on multiple significant renewable energy projects.

Investors learned the truth through a series of partial disclosures:

First, in February 2026, Primoris management attributed lower gross margins to “unexpectedly higher costs” at certain renewables projects, citing difficult soil and rock conditions that required additional labor and equipment. While management later downplayed the issue as being isolated to a single project—expressing confidence in their remedial measures—they simultaneously touted the company’s ability to “accelerate project timelines” for 2026.

Second, on May 5, 2026, the market’s confidence in Primoris’ remedial measures was shattered when the company released its Q1 2026 financial results and revealed a staggering decline in the core Energy segment, with year-over-year revenues falling by $152.9 million (13.8%) and gross profits plunging by nearly 40%.

CEO Koti Vadlamudi admitted the next day during the May 6 earnings call that Primoris’ financial results were battered by cost pressures across multiple solar projects. Moving beyond the “rock and soil” reason used just months prior, Vadlamudi cited a litany of execution-related factors as the cause of the margin collapse:

Project Redesigns: Costly changes to existing plans.Labor Issues: Inability to manage specific workforce demands.Sequencing Errors: Failures in project management and timing.Weather Disruptions: Further complicating already delayed timelines. Finally, after the markets closed on June 22, 2026, Primoris shocked investors when it announced that “[a]dditional challenges and cost overruns were identified as a result of continued progress on projects in the Company’s Renewables business.” Importantly, as a result of ongoing problems in six projects and additional challenges, Primoris said its 2026 renewables business revenues would decline 30% ($900 million) from the $3 billion revenues reported for 2025.

“We’re focused on when Primoris’ management learned of the full scope of the company’s renewables problems, including the apparent inadequacy of remediation measures,” said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the firm’s investigation.

If you invested in Primoris and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that will assist the firm’s investigation, submit your losses now »

If you’d like more information and answers to other frequently asked questions about the firm’s Primoris investigation, read more »

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Primoris should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email [email protected].

About Hagens Berman
Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs’ rights complex litigation firm focusing on corporate accountability. The firm is home to a robust practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and other wrongdoings. Hagens Berman’s team has secured more than $2.9 billion in this area of law. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. 

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future case.

Contact:
Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895

Spot Bitcoin ETF Outflows Rose as CLARITY Act Odds FellBitcoin price retreated for the fourth consecutive day as American investors sold their ETF holdings for two straight days. Data shows that Bitcoin ETFs lost over $240 million in assets on Friday after losing $225 million a day earlier. 

As a result, the net weekly inflow was $33 million, lower than the previous week’s $75 million. BlackRock’s IBIT ETF lost over $212 million on Friday, while Fidelity’s FBTC shed over $27 million. 

Falling Bitcoin ETF inflows normally send a signal that demand among American institutional investors is falling. 

The selling coincided with several major events. For one, there are doubts on whether the Senate will pass the CLARITY Act. While the most important sections have bipartisan support, Democrats and consumer watchdog groups have opposed it. 

They argue that the current provisions will not bar President Donald Trump and his family members from issuing tokens. Recent disclosures showed that Trump pocketed over $1.4 billion in crypto profits last year, even as most supporters lost billions.

Odds of the CLARITY Act being signed into law have dropped to just 35% on Polymarket. Earlier this year, these odds were 75%. 

Polymarket odds of CLARITY Act being signed into law | Source: Polymarket

The CLARITY Act aims to change how the crypto industry is regulated by giving the more lenient CFTC more power than the SEC. It also sets rules for stablecoin rewards and how digital assets are classified.

Bitcoin’s weakness also coincided with the rising odds that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates amid the ongoing US-Iran war. Odds of a rate hike happening this year have jumped to over 70%. In most cases, Bitcoin and other risky assets underperform the market in a high interest rate environment.

Bitcoin Price Dropped After Hitting a Key ResistanceTechnicals show that BTC price retreated after hitting the crucial resistance level of $67,018, its highest level on June 15. That is a sign that it formed a double-top pattern, a common reversal sign. 

The coin also found resistance at the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). It also moved below the Supertrend indicator. 

Therefore, the coin will likely remain under pressure as long as it is below the resistance level of $67,018. A move above that price will point to more gains, potentially to the psychological level of $70,000.

Image: Shutterstock

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22h18 ▪ 4 min read ▪ by Eddy S.

Summarize this article with:

The CLARITY Act, a flagship bill to regulate cryptos in the United States, is on the brink of failure. With 4 days to convince the Senate, its adoption has only a 30% chance of success. Between political deadlocks and economic stakes, the future of Bitcoin and altcoins is at play now.

In Brief Urgency in the Senate: 4 days to adopt the CLARITY Act, with only a 30% chance of success. Political deadlocks: Democrats and Republicans divided on ethics and crypto regulation. Stakes for Bitcoin: Adoption could boost cryptos, failure would plunge them into uncertainty. The U.S. Senate Has 4 Days to Save the CLARITY Act, Chances Drop to 30% The CLARITY Act, this long-awaited bill to clarify crypto regulation in the United States, sees its adoption chances drop to 30%, according to Galaxy Digital. The reason? A dire lack of votes in the Senate. Indeed, with only 4 days before the summer recess, Republicans, who control 53 seats, struggle to gather the 60 votes required to avoid a filibuster.

Democrats, led by Elizabeth Warren, strongly criticize the bill, especially on ethical provisions (entrusted to the Department of Justice) and the sunset clause in 2029. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell, Republican leader, has been absent since his hospitalization, further reducing the chances of success. Alex Thorn, director of research at Galaxy, is clear:

The time for incremental negotiations is over. A last-minute effort is needed.

If the Senate does not initiate the process by July 30, the bill will be postponed to September, where it will have to compete with the federal budget and midterm elections. A failure would mean another year of legal uncertainty for the American crypto industry.

Bitcoin and CLARITY Act: why this law could change everything (or nothing at all) Bitcoin, often considered a commodity by the CFTC, could indirectly benefit from the CLARITY Act, even if the text does not explicitly mention it. Indeed, by clarifying the roles of the SEC and CFTC, this law could reduce the risks of arbitrary lawsuits against platforms like Coinbase or Kraken, which list BTC. However, if the bill fails, Bitcoin could face increased regulatory pressure.

Without a clear framework, the SEC could continue targeting exchanges under the pretext of selling unregistered securities, as it did with Ripple. Conversely, if the CLARITY Act passes, Bitcoin could attract more institutional capital, notably through spot ETFs. Clear regulation would also strengthen BTC’s legitimacy as a digital store of value, against competitors like gold or the dollar.

The CLARITY Act is at a turning point. Its failure would plunge cryptos into uncertainty, while its adoption could revolutionize the market! As Charles Schwab thinks, who sees it as a historic catalyst. But with 4 days to convince, one question remains: will senators dare to save the crypto future of the United States?

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Eddy S.

The world is evolving and adaptation is the best weapon to survive in this undulating universe. Originally a crypto community manager, I am interested in anything that is directly or indirectly related to blockchain and its derivatives. To share my experience and promote a field that I am passionate about, nothing is better than writing informative and relaxed articles.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

The world’s largest stablecoin issuer pays roughly $2.9 billion a year in fees to blockchains it does not control. Its answer was to back two competing chains at once: Plasma, the $373 million DeFi-flavored bet, and Stable, the enterprise rail where USDT is the gas. One issuer, two armies, one enemy named Tron, and a strategy that makes sense only when you see whose problem it solves.

Summary

Tether’s ecosystem has seeded two purpose-built USDT chains that compete directly with each other: Plasma, live since September with a $373 million token sale, a paymaster model, and roughly $551 million in DeFi TVL, and Stable, live since December with $2 billion in pre-deposits, USDT-as-gas, and an enterprise focus. The motive is a number: analyses put Tether’s annual network-fee bill near $2.9 billion, split largely between Ethereum and Tron, value that leaks to base layers the issuer does not control while its own revenue runs near $5 billion. The two chains embody opposite design philosophies, a subsidized general-purpose DeFi economy with a native token doing traditional work, versus a stripped payments rail where the dollar itself is the fuel, and opposite go-to-market strategies. The real target is not each other but Tron, which still carries roughly 45% of all USDT and earns the fees on the world’s largest remittance flows, a moat neither challenger has meaningfully dented. Funding both sides is not indecision; it is a portfolio: the issuer wins if either chain repatriates the fee leak, wins bigger if both segment the market, and loses only to the status quo it is paying $2.9 billion a year to escape. Companies do not usually finance both armies in a war, but then no company has ever been positioned quite like Tether. The issuer of USDT sits atop the most profitable simple business in finance, collecting Treasury yield on the reserves behind roughly $150 billion of circulating dollars, and it watches, every day, a substantial slice of its ecosystem’s economics leak sideways: the fees users pay to move USDT accrue not to Tether but to the blockchains USDT lives on, a bill that research houses have tallied near $2.9 billion a year, flowing mostly to Ethereum validators and, above all, to Tron, the chain that quietly became the developing world’s dollar-remittance backbone.

Tether’s response, characteristically, was not one bet but two. Plasma, backed by Tether-adjacent capital and Founders Fund, raised $373 million in an oversubscribed sale and launched in September as a general-purpose stablecoin chain with a native token, a paymaster that makes USDT transfers free, and a DeFi ecosystem that onboarded Aave, Ethena, and Euler on day one. Stable, backed by Bitfinex with Tether’s chief executive advising, drew $2 billion in pre-deposits and launched in December as something sparer: a chain where USDT itself is the gas, transfers are free by protocol rule, and the pitch is enterprise blockspace rather than yield farming.

Bitfinex-backed layer 1 Stable releases tokenomics, mainnet to go live on Dec. 8

Stable shares tokenomics details ahead of its Dec. 8 mainnet launch, with a total supply of 100B tokens distributed among ecosystem, team, investors and advisors.

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) December 3, 2025 Two chains, one family, the same target market, and a rivalry the ecosystem politely declines to name. This piece names it, maps the two designs honestly, and answers the question the arrangement raises: why an issuer would fund its own chain war, and what winning even means when you own both sides.

The fee leak: the war’s actual cause Start with the number that explains everything, because without it the two-chain strategy looks like a waste and with it the strategy looks obvious.

USDT’s success created a strange corporate geometry: the asset is Tether’s, the activity is enormous, and the toll booths belong to other people. Every USDT transfer on Ethereum pays gas to Ethereum validators; every transfer on Tron, where nearly half of all USDT lives and where the remittance corridors of Asia, Africa, and Latin America actually run, pays energy and bandwidth costs into Tron’s economy.

Aggregated, analyses of Tether’s ecosystem have put the annual network-fee spend associated with USDT movement at roughly $2.9 billion, against issuer revenues that industry estimates placed near $4.9 billion in the same period, meaning the base layers underneath USDT capture value at a scale approaching the issuer’s own take.

Delphi Digital’s framing of the problem is the cleanest: as issuance spread across chains, the infrastructure supporting USDT ended up largely outside Tether’s control, and the economic value generated by usage is disproportionately captured by the rails, especially Ethereum and Tron.

For most companies this would be an irritation. For a stablecoin issuer, it is a strategic vulnerability with three faces. Economically, it is margin leaking to landlords. Competitively, it funds a chain, Tron, whose operator is an independent actor with his own token, his own politics, and his own regulatory exposures, none of which Tether chooses. And architecturally, it means the user experience of the world’s most used digital dollar, fees, congestion, gas-token requirements, is set by networks optimizing for other things.

The purpose-built USDT chain is the answer to all three at once: repatriate the fees, own the rail, and design the experience around the dollar. The only question was which design, and Tether’s ecosystem answered: both.

Two chains, two philosophies The rivals are best understood as opposite answers to one question: how much chain does a stablecoin need?

Plasma’s answer is: a whole one. It is a full EVM Layer 1 with its own token, XPL, doing the traditional native-token jobs, validator staking, settlement asset, and value accrual through the chain’s growth, while a paymaster contract absorbs gas costs so that simple USDT transfers cost users nothing. The design keeps the familiar crypto economy intact: XPL had a $373 million public sale seven times oversubscribed, the chain launched with more than a hundred DeFi integrations, TVL has built to roughly $551 million, sub-second PlasmaBFT finality serves trading as well as payments, Bitcoin anchoring adds a security narrative, and a confidential-transfers module courts payroll and B2B flows.

https://x.com/cryptodotnews/status/1971621952008999090

Plasma is, in short, a general-purpose chain that subsidizes its stablecoin lane, betting that free USDT transfers pull in users whose other activity, lending, trading, yield, pays the bills and accrues to the token. The paymaster’s economics depend on exactly the patron logic this publication’s gasless-transfers guide dissects: most zero-fee chains in history died when the subsidy ran out, and Plasma’s differentiating claim is that its subsidy is underwritten by an ecosystem with a direct commercial interest in USDT ubiquity.

Stable’s answer is: as little chain as possible. No paymaster indirection, no separate gas asset at all: USDT0, the omnichain dollar, is the fee token; simple transfers are exempt by protocol rule, and the native STABLE token is confined to staking and governance, deliberately invisible to users, the architecture this publication’s companion guides map in detail.

Where Plasma courted DeFi, Stable ships enterprise blockspace, dedicated capacity for institutional payment flows, and its traction metric was not TVL but the $2 billion in pre-deposits that arrived before mainnet. The design concedes the DeFi economy to others and optimizes one thing: dollar movement at payments-grade predictability, on the bet that remittance processors, merchants, and treasuries choose rails the way they choose clearing banks: for boredom, not composability.

The philosophies produce different vulnerabilities, and honesty requires both. Plasma’s risk is dilution of purpose: a general-purpose chain competing for DeFi against Ethereum, Solana, and every L2, where free USDT transfers are a loss leader for an economy that may never outgrow its subsidy, and where the XPL token must justify itself against exactly the value-accrual skepticism this publication applies everywhere.

Stable’s risk is the mirror: a rail so minimal that its moat is only execution and alignment, with no ecosystem gravity to retain users who arrive, and a token whose value case, as our STABLE guide argues, waits on governance decisions nobody has made. One chain risks being too much; the other risks being too little; and both share the risk that actually matters, which lives in Asia, on the incumbent.

Tron: the enemy both were built to fight The polite framing says Plasma and Stable address different segments. The impolite truth is that both exist to take the same prize: the roughly 45% of all USDT that lives on Tron and the fee flows it generates.

Tron’s dominance is the most underexamined fact in stablecoin land. It hosts the largest share of the largest stablecoin, it carries the remittance and exchange-settlement flows of the markets where USDT is not a trading chip but a savings technology, and its moat is precisely the kind that whitepapers cannot breach: cash-network effects, integrations in thousands of local exchanges and OTC desks, muscle memory in a hundred million wallets, and fees that, while meaningfully nonzero, are known, tolerated, and priced into every corridor.

Both challengers aim at it explicitly, Plasma’s remittance-routing pitch is skip Tron’s TRX gas requirement, Stable’s free-transfer pitch is the same sentence with different plumbing, and both discovered what challengers of payment incumbents always discover: users do not migrate for architecture, they migrate when their exchange, their employer, or their remittance app migrates, which makes the war a business-development grind, not a technology contest.

The scoreboard that matters is therefore not TVL or transaction counts, both inflatable, but the share of USDT supply resident on each chain, and by that measure the war has barely begun: Tron’s share has eroded only at the edges, the challengers’ combined float remains a fraction of it, and the incumbent retains the advantage every toll-road owner has, profitability that funds its own retention incentives.

Which is exactly why the two-chain strategy makes sense from the issuer’s chair, and this is the piece’s resolving move. Tether does not need to pick the winning design; it needs the fee leak plugged and the rail owned by family, and funding two philosophies is how a portfolio manager attacks an uncertain market: Plasma tests whether a subsidized DeFi economy can bootstrap payments gravity, Stable tests whether enterprise minimalism can, the two chains’ competition sharpens both faster than monopoly would, and every dollar of USDT float either one wins from Tron or Ethereum converts leaked fees into family economics.

If both succeed, the market segments, retail-and-DeFi on one, institutional on the other, and the issuer owns the whole stack. If one dies, the survivor inherits its lessons and its float. The only losing scenario is the status quo, and the status quo is the thing costing $2.9 billion a year.

Wars are usually negative-sum for the combatants and profitable for the arms dealer; this one was designed by the arms dealer, which is the fact to keep in view as the ecosystem spends the next year pretending the two chains are not aimed at each other, and at Tron, and, quietly, at the $2.9 billion.

The regulatory shadow both chains share One more force shapes the war from outside it, and the family’s own coverage of Washington makes it unavoidable: both chains are Tether-ecosystem infrastructure launching into the exact regulatory window in which American law is deciding what offshore-issued dollars may do.

The GENIUS Act’s stablecoin framework, whose missed implementation deadlines this publication has chronicled, and the CLARITY Act’s market-structure fight, live on the Senate floor this very week, together draw the perimeter that will define both chains’ addressable markets. The core exposure is identical for both: USDT remains an offshore-issued dollar under frameworks built to privilege domestically regulated issuance, and every corridor the chains win converts informal USDT usage into visible, systematic flows that regulators can see, name, and gate.

The chains’ opposite strategies produce opposite versions of the exposure. Stable’s enterprise pitch runs toward the regulated world on purpose, courting institutions whose compliance departments must bless the rail, which makes it the family’s test of whether Tether-aligned infrastructure can pass American diligence at all. Plasma’s retail-and-DeFi economy runs away from that scrutiny by construction, thriving in exactly the permissionless corridors that the illicit-finance provisions of every pending bill target.

One chain bets the family can join the regulated system; the other bets it can outgrow the need to; and the legislation moving through Congress this month will grade both bets before either chain’s technology does. The honest summary for the cluster this piece opens: the fee-leak war is the family’s offensive campaign, and the regulatory perimeter is its defensive one, and the second war, unlike the first, is not one the issuer designed.

The third bidder nobody prices One actor complicates the family war’s tidy geometry, and the honest map includes it: the incumbent chains are not standing still, and the war’s most likely spoiler is not either challenger failing but the leak becoming cheaper to tolerate.

Tron’s defense is already visible in its pricing behavior: the network has periodically tuned its resource model when migration pressure rises, and its operator retains the toll-road owner’s ultimate weapon, the ability to cut fees toward zero in the corridors under attack while keeping them positive everywhere else, a price-discrimination play incumbents from airlines to telecoms have run against cherry-picking entrants forever. Every basis point Tron shaves narrows the challengers’ pitch, and Tron can shave from profits while the challengers subsidize from war chests, an asymmetry that favors the incumbent in any prolonged price war.

Ethereum’s defense is structural: the institutional and DeFi USDT that lives there is the stickiest float in the ecosystem, held for composability with the deepest markets in crypto, and no payments-optimized rail competes for it at all, which is why the realistic battlefield is Tron’s remittance float, not Ethereum’s collateral float, and why the challengers’ addressable prize is meaningfully smaller than the headline $2.9 billion suggests.

And there is a fourth trajectory the war could take, the one the arms-dealer framing predicts: the leak becoming the product. Tether’s ecosystem does not strictly need either chain to win the migration war if the chains’ existence disciplines the incumbents’ pricing, converts the issuer from rate-taker to rate-negotiator, and hands the family credible exit infrastructure it can invoke in every commercial conversation with Tron.

Leverage, not conquest, may be the strategy’s real deliverable: the $373 million and the $2 billion pre-deposits purchase, at minimum, the ability to move, and the ability to move is what turns a captive tenant into a negotiating one. On this reading, the two chains are already succeeding, quietly, in the only meeting that matters, and the float-share scoreboard understates a war whose first victory is a better lease.

What to watch USDT float by chain, quarterly: The war’s only honest scoreboard: the share of total USDT supply resident on Plasma and Stable versus Tron and Ethereum. Transaction counts inflate; resident float is the fee leak actually moving. Watch whether the challengers’ combined share reaches double digits, and whose share it comes from.

The subsidy postures: Plasma’s paymaster spend against its DeFi economy’s fee generation, and Stable’s emission schedule against its enterprise fee flows: both chains’ free tiers have funding models this publication’s framework can grade, and the first one to show cross-subsidy covering the free lane has found the sustainable shape.

A corridor flip: The event that would actually move the war: a major remittance processor, exchange, or payments app moving a named corridor’s settlement from Tron to either challenger. One real corridor outweighs any TVL milestone, and business-development announcements of that specific shape are the tell.

The issuer’s hand: Canonical USDT issuance decisions, where Tether mints natively versus where USDT0 bridges, are the issuer quietly picking favorites, and any consolidation move, shared infrastructure, a merger, a formal designation of lanes, would be the portfolio manager closing a position. The war ends the way it started: by family decision.

A closing note on the observable that will settle the philosophies faster than any strategy memo: developer behavior. Chains are chosen twice, once by users moving money and once by builders deploying products, and the two chains’ opposite designs make opposite bids for the second constituency. Plasma’s full EVM economy with a hundred day-one DeFi integrations bids for builders with composability and a token to align them; Stable’s enterprise blockspace bids with predictability and a customer base of institutions that pay for boredom.

The early returns are legible in the metrics each side brags about: TVL and integrations on one side, pre-deposits and enterprise partnerships on the other, and the metric each side avoids, and the first year of divergence will show whether payments infrastructure in crypto follows the platform playbook, where ecosystems win, or the utility playbook, where reliability does.

Tron, for what it is worth, won its position with neither: it won with distribution into exchanges and remittance desks before anyone was watching, which is the quiet reminder that the war’s decisive constituency may be neither users nor builders but the few hundred business-development conversations, with processors, exchanges, and payroll providers, that actually move float at scale. Both challengers know it, which is why the war’s real battles will be invisible, fought in integration roadmaps and settlement agreements, and reported, if at all, one corridor at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions What are Plasma and Stable, in one line each? Plasma is a general-purpose stablecoin Layer 1, live since September, with a native token (XPL), a paymaster making simple USDT transfers free, and a DeFi ecosystem around $551 million in TVL. Stable is a payments-focused Layer 1, live since December, where USDT0 itself is the gas asset, simple transfers are free by protocol rule, and the focus is enterprise and institutional flows.

Why does Tether’s ecosystem back both? Because the strategic problem, roughly $2.9 billion a year in USDT-related network fees leaking to chains outside the family, above all Tron and Ethereum, matters more than which design solves it. Backing two opposite philosophies is portfolio logic: each tests a different route to repatriating the fee flow, competition sharpens both, and any float either wins converts leaked economics into aligned economics.

How do the two chains differ technically? Plasma keeps a conventional chain economy: XPL handles staking and settlement, a paymaster subsidizes the free USDT lane, the EVM ecosystem is fully general, and Bitcoin anchoring plus confidential transfers extend the feature set. Stable removes the separate gas asset entirely, USDT0 pays fees, simple transfers are exempt, the STABLE token is confined to staking and governance, and capacity is marketed as enterprise blockspace.

Are they really competitors, or complementary? Directly competitive, whatever the diplomatic framing. Both target the existing USDT float and the same migration sources, Tron’s remittance corridors first, and both pitch the identical headline benefit of free dollar transfers. Segmentation into retail-DeFi versus institutional lanes is a possible equilibrium, but it would be an outcome of the competition, not an alternative to it.

Why is Tron the real target? Tron carries roughly 45% of all USDT, the largest share of the largest stablecoin, concentrated in the remittance and exchange-settlement corridors where USDT functions as everyday money. Its fees are the biggest single component of the ecosystem’s leak, and its moat, integrations, habits, and cash-network effects, is the one both challengers were engineered to attack, so far with only marginal erosion.

What would winning look like for either chain? Resident USDT float, not activity metrics. A challenger reaching a double-digit share of total USDT supply, or flipping a named remittance corridor’s settlement from Tron, would mark real progress. For the issuer’s ecosystem, winning is broader: any combination of outcomes that moves fee flows from external chains to family-aligned ones, including a split decision where both chains hold different segments.

What are the main risks to each? Plasma: the general-purpose trap, competing for DeFi against far larger ecosystems while its free lane depends on subsidy, and an XPL token facing the standard value-accrual skepticism. Stable: the minimalism trap, a rail with no ecosystem gravity, a token whose value case awaits governance decisions, and reliance on enterprise adoption cycles that move slowly. Both: Tron’s incumbency and the possibility that users simply do not migrate.

What does this mean for USDT holders? Little direct risk and some structural benefit: the chains compete to make USDT cheaper and easier to move, and the omnichain plumbing (USDT0) connecting them is the same system this publication’s guides describe, with the same trust stack. The war’s outcome matters more for XPL and STABLE holders, whose tokens are claims on the respective designs winning, and for the fee economics of Tron and Ethereum, the incumbents being challenged. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Figures for fees, revenues, TVL, and supply shares are estimates drawn from third-party research and change continuously. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 24, 2026.

There are now three public opinions about what PayPal (PYPL +0.28%) is worth. A buyout group says $60.50 per share. The market says about $56. And the average analyst price target says about $53 -- below not just the offer, but the stock's current price.

The newest of the three opinions belongs to PayPal's board, which reportedly views the $60.50-per-share cash offer from privately held payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International as inadequate, according to multiple reports. The bid valued the payments specialist at more than $53 billion. Notably, PayPal hasn't publicly responded to the proposal. Reports say board discussions have centered on whether the bid is high enough to warrant opening negotiations at all.

For shareholders, that leaves an odd setup: a stock pinned between an offer above the market price and an analyst consensus below it. Each number is telling investors something different, and it's worth taking them one at a time.

Image source: PayPal.

Why the board views it as inadequate The bid itself came with roughly $50 billion in committed bank financing, and the offer price represented a 28% premium to where PayPal traded before news of the bid broke on July 15. Shares jumped 17% that day and closed at $55.52.

That view implies its directors value the company above $60.50. And reports suggest the bidders may raise their offer rather than walk. Famed investor Michael Burry, a PayPal shareholder, publicly called the offer an opening bid and pegged the company's value far higher. The board evidently agrees that $60.50 shouldn't be the last word.

Two prices below the offer The market is less convinced. At about $56 as of this writing, shares of the e-commerce payments company trade roughly 7% below the offer price -- almost exactly where they settled when the bid became public. A discount like that is the market's way of pricing the risk that talks collapse, financing slips, or regulators balk. After all, the bidders have reportedly weighed possible antitrust remedies, including separating PayPal's Braintree business and transferring it to Advent -- a sign that even they expect regulatory questions. If the deal died tomorrow, the stock would likely head back toward its pre-offer price of $47.37.

The analyst consensus is the harshest of the three verdicts. At about $53, the average target sits below today's share price. The analysts covering PayPal, in other words, think the company on its own (no deal, no premium) is worth less than the market is currently paying -- and that's with the stock already trading at about 10 times earnings. The company's market capitalization sits near $49 billion as of this writing, below the more than $53 billion the buyers put on the table.

The company's recent results explain the skepticism. First-quarter revenue rose 7% year over year to $8.4 billion, and total payment volume climbed 11%. But transaction margin dollars, the company's preferred measure of transaction profitability, grew just 3%.

Active accounts were 439 million, up only 1% from a year earlier and down slightly from the prior quarter, so user growth has flattened. And management's full-year guidance calls for adjusted earnings per share ranging from a low-single-digit decline to slightly positive.

This is not a business that commands a premium valuation on its fundamentals. The premium exists because someone wants to buy the company.

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So here's how I'd read the standoff. The board looks like it could be preparing to negotiate. Viewing a first bid as inadequate can be a step toward seeking a higher one. Of course, the market's 7% discount is rational, too, because deals like this one do sometimes collapse. And the analysts' sub-$55 consensus is a useful reminder of what the downside looks like if PayPal has to stand on its own numbers again.

The next card gets turned over quickly. PayPal reports second-quarter results on Tuesday, July 28. Strong numbers strengthen the board's case that $60.50 undersells the company. Weak ones hand the leverage back to the bidders -- or worse, remind everyone why the stock traded at $47 in the first place.

For current shareholders, holding through the report makes sense to me. The offer may support the shares while it remains active, and the board's stance could draw a higher bid. But I wouldn't buy shares today just to capture the spread between $56 and $60.50. That 7% gap reflects the market's read on financing, regulators, timing, and the chance that no deal happens at all. And if it does fall apart, the analyst consensus has already marked the downside. So if you hold the stock, do it because you believe in the underlying company and the stock's long-term potential.

Capital One (COF +1.44%) provided Wall Street with a solid earnings update for the second quarter of 2026. But there was a lot of noise, given the company's ongoing integration of Discover. Here's the good news from the quarter, and a look at the ongoing integration effort that will determine how successful the Capital One-Discover tie-up will be.

Earnings numbers are all over the place Right now, the acquisition of Discover means Capital One will have very complicated financial results. For example, in the second quarter of 2026, the bank posted net income per share of $4.73, up from $3.34 in the first quarter of 2026 and a loss of $8.58 per share in the year-ago period. The second quarter of 2025 looks terrible in comparison, but don't get too excited about the improvement.

Image source: Getty Images.

Second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings came in at $5.81, up from $5.48 in the second quarter of 2025. That's a solid uptick, but the difference between adjusted and GAAP earnings highlights that there are many moving parts right now. And the Discover acquisition is a big part of the story, as is the subsequent, though much smaller, purchase of Brex. For example, the loss in the second quarter of 2025 was driven by some large Discover acquisition costs. Removing those costs pushed adjusted earnings well into positive territory. In the second quarter of 2026, costs related to Discover and Brex weren't as large, but still totaled $1.08 per share.

These costs aren't going away anytime soon. So, for now, the Discover acquisition means continued earnings complexity. That's a clear negative, but there are positives to consider, too.

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The integration is going well The real story to watch today is the integration of the Discover business, which is still a work in progress. According to the company, things are going well. Capital one debit customers have been transitioned to the Discover network. And Discover's credit card customers are actively being transferred to Capital One's back-end systems. These are big, technically difficult moves that Capital One has to get right, or it could risk losing customers.

That said, Capital One is deliberately overhauling the Discover business to shift it toward a more conservative financing approach. That will likely depress Discover's performance for a bit. So there are many moving parts, but the end of the story is still a net positive for Capital One. For example, revenues increased 4% year over year, and credit quality metrics improved across the board. That's pretty much what investors should be hoping to see. So, if you can look beyond the earnings complexity, the Capital One-Discover tie-up is still moving the company in a good direction.

The Pound to Dollar exchange rate held near 1.3325 on Friday, having retreated more than two cents from July’s high around 1.3558.

GBP/USD is still around 0.6% higher this month, but Sterling has struggled to respond to a stronger run of UK economic data.

Over the past year, the pair has traded between approximately 1.3010 and 1.3858.

Scotiabank noted that June retail sales were far stronger than expected, while the preliminary July business surveys also surprised positively.

The manufacturing PMI rose to 52.8, signalling a solid expansion, while the services index recovered from contraction territory to 51.8.

Despite the upbeat figures, the bank said “market participants are clearly not responding to fundamentals”, with political uncertainty and concerns over the UK’s fiscal position continuing to weigh on the Pound.

Attention now turns to next Thursday’s Bank of England meeting. Rates are expected to remain unchanged, but Scotiabank anticipates a hawkish hold alongside updated economic forecasts.

Markets currently price around 16 basis points of tightening by September and 32 basis points by November.

Pound Sterling could gain if policymakers strengthen the case for a rate rise at the following meeting.

The options market is sending a more cautious signal, however, with demand increasing for protection against renewed GBP weakness.

Scotiabank linked the shift to geopolitical risks and domestic political concerns, both of which have pushed gilt yields higher.

The bank’s technical outlook remains neutral.

GBP/USD has slipped below the support previously expected near 1.3350, leaving 1.3300 as the immediate level to watch.

Stronger support is located at 1.3150, with resistance around 1.3550.

Exchange Rates UK Research Our currency coverage draws on live market data, official economic releases and published bank research.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 25th, 2026

Assetmark Inc. lessened its stake in Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI – Free Report) by 80.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 126,487 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Old Republic International were worth $1,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ORI. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Old Republic International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Old Republic International during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Old Republic International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Old Republic International during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. acquired a new stake in Old Republic International in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.92% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Old Republic International In related news, SVP Carolyn Monroe sold 13,330 shares of Old Republic International stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.76, for a total value of $516,670.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 32,261 shares in the company, valued at $1,250,436.36. This trade represents a 29.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Old Republic International Trading Up 2.2% NYSE ORI opened at $42.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Old Republic International Corporation has a 1-year low of $35.60 and a 1-year high of $46.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.54. The company has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.58.

Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.03). Old Republic International had a return on equity of 15.41% and a net margin of 11.71%.The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Old Republic International Corporation will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Old Republic International Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.315 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Old Republic International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Old Republic International from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Zacks Research raised Old Republic International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Old Republic International in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $44.00 price target on Old Republic International in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Old Republic International presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.50.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ORI

Key Stories Impacting Old Republic International Here are the key news stories impacting Old Republic International this week:

Positive Sentiment: ORI reported second-quarter revenue of $2.50 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of about $2.38 billion and rising 5.2% year over year. Old Republic International earnings release and conference call links Positive Sentiment: The company also reported net income of $322.3 million, up sharply from $204.4 million a year ago, which supports investor confidence in underlying profitability. Old Republic second-quarter and first-half 2026 results Neutral Sentiment: Management said its ECM business should run at a 90% to 95% combined ratio, and flagged a bargain purchase gain expected next quarter, which may support future results but is not an immediate earnings driver. Old Republic expects ECM to run at a 90%-95% combined ratio Negative Sentiment: Adjusted performance was less impressive: net operating income fell to $186.0 million from $209.2 million last year, and EPS of $0.76 missed consensus by a small amount, which may limit upside. Old Republic Q2 earnings snapshot Old Republic International Profile (Free Report)

Old Republic International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance underwriting and related services business primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: General Insurance, Title Insurance, and Republic Financial Indemnity Group Run-off Business. The General Insurance segment offers aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril, commercial property, general liability, home and auto warranty, inland marine, travel accident, and workers' compensation insurance products; and financial indemnity products for specialty coverages, including errors and omissions, fidelity, directors and officers, and surety.

Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Old Republic International AMD and Cerbras Create A New Blueprint For Hardware Intel Earnings Reveal Whether the Chip Selloff Created a Buy CrowdStrike’s Cerebras Deal Puts Its AI Security Strategy to the Test Plugging In: How Kinder Morgan Powers Up Profits Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ORI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI – Free Report).

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Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER | TER Price Prediction) reports Q2 FY2026 earnings on July 29, giving investors a read into one of the cleanest picks-and-shovels exposures to the AI buildout. The company provides testing equipment used to manufacture AI accelerators, advanced memory, and networking chips.

The company’s Q1 FY2026 earnings report showed that the business’s Semiconductor Test franchise is capturing the test-equipment spend behind every AI accelerator, memory stack, and networking chip going into a data center. That exposure drove Q1 revenue up 87.04% year over year to $1.28 billion, while non-GAAP EPS of $2.56 easily cleared the $2.11 consensus estimate. CEO Greg Smith attributed the record to a “wafer to AI data center strategy,” with roughly 70% of revenue tied to AI-related demand.

3 Reasons Teradyne Has Nearly Doubled in 2026 1. AI demand just sent Teradyne’s profits up 303%. Non-GAAP operating margin expanded to 37.5% in Q1 FY2026, from 20.5% a year earlier. Net income grew 303.36% YoY. Test equipment has fixed R&D and variable revenue, and the AI mix is now pushing incremental margins straight to the bottom line.

2. Valuation is aligned with the growth rate. Shares trade at a forward P/E of 52 against a PEG of 1.462. Analysts’ consensus price target sits at $429.88 vs. a current share price of $349.92, with 12 Buy ratings and 1 Strong Buy against just 1 Sell.

3. Capital returns keep coming. Teradyne paid $702.1 million in FY2025 buybacks and declared a $0.13 quarterly dividend.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Teradyne didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

TER Is Growing 9x Faster Than One of Its Closest Rivals Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) is one of Teradyne’s closest process-control comps. It trades at a forward P/E of 34x while growing revenue just 9.5% YoY. TER saw nine times the revenue growth rate at a slightly higher multiple. Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU), a direct semi-test peer, is unprofitable on a TTM basis with an EPS of -$1.19 and a forward P/E of 93.

China Restrictions Have Not Stopped Teradyne’s Boom Bears point to U.S. Commerce Department export controls on semiconductor equipment bound for China. However, we’re seeing signs that AI demand is dwarfing the China headwind, as TER still delivered 87.04% YoY revenue growth and a 17-point margin expansion with the restrictions in place.

Teradyne enters its July 29 Q2 earnings report with exceptional momentum: 87% revenue growth, a 303% increase in net income, and roughly 70% of revenue tied to AI-related demand. The stock’s 52x forward earnings multiple leaves little room for a slowdown, making guidance especially important.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Teradyne didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

The Euro remains supported by expectations of further ECB tightening, but EUR/USD is still struggling to escape the lower end of its July range. EUR/USD traded close to 1.1371 at the end of the latest session, leaving the pair near July’s low after a subdued week for the single currency.

The Euro has fallen in six of the past eight completed sessions and is down around 0.4% for July, having retreated from a monthly high near 1.1481 to within one cent of June’s 1.1325 low.

Both ING and Nordea expect the European Central Bank to maintain a hawkish bias, with further interest-rate increases still likely.

However, neither the rate outlook nor the latest ECB meeting has generated enough momentum to push EUR/USD out of its narrow trading range.

ING expects the pair to remain supported by higher Eurozone rates, but retains a near-term downside bias towards 1.1380.

Nordea goes further, forecasting three additional 25-basis-point rate increases that would lift the ECB deposit rate from 2.25% to 3.00% by March 2027.

Latest — Exchange Rates:

Euro to Dollar (EUR/USD): 1.137117 (-0.05%)

Pound to Dollar (GBP/USD): 1.332498 (+0.09%)

Dollar to Yen (USD/JPY): 163.85169 (0.00%)

ING Sees September Hike Remaining in Play ING had expected the ECB to leave rates unchanged while preserving the hawkish market pricing already embedded in Eurozone interest rates.

Its baseline was for a hawkish hold, with policymakers attempting to prevent inflation expectations from becoming unanchored as European gas and global energy prices remain elevated.

“The aim today could be – once again – to preserve market pricing to limit the risk of inflation expectations de-anchoring,” says ING FX strategist Francesco Pesole.

ING argued that achieving this might require a clear indication that a September rate increase remained possible, either through the press conference or subsequent guidance.

The bank noted that the market had already priced approximately 45 basis points of tightening by the end of 2026, setting a relatively high hurdle for the ECB to deliver an additional Euro-positive surprise.

“The hawkish bar set by the market via pricing isn’t low,” says Pesole.

ING nevertheless expected a firm ECB stance to limit the downside for short-dated Eurozone rates and, by extension, the Euro.

The difficulty is that supportive rate differentials have not translated into a decisive EUR/USD advance.

“A central bank meeting would normally be a prime catalyst for EUR/USD to break out of its tight trading range, but we do not expect that to happen,” ING says.

The bank retained a near-term downside bias, arguing that currency markets remained too relaxed about the potential consequences of further escalation in the Gulf.

“Unless the newsflow becomes more constructive, we look for EUR/USD to slip towards 1.1380 in the coming days.”

That target has already been reached, with the pair ending the latest session near 1.1371.

Nordea Forecasts Three More ECB Rate Increases Nordea believes the ECB remains in a genuine tightening cycle rather than delivering one or two isolated increases.

The bank forecasts 25-basis-point hikes in September, December and March 2027, which would raise the deposit rate to 3.00%.

“The ECB did not touch rates today, but the message was in line with more rate hikes to come,” Nordea says.

“Our updated forecast still sees three more rate increases, but at a quarterly pace as opposed to a faster speed before.”

Nordea says the ECB’s latest communication left the door “wide open” to a September increase.

It highlights the central bank’s assessment that energy prices remained close to the assumptions used in its June forecast, which showed core inflation staying above 2% throughout the projection period even with two further rate increases already included.

The bank’s conviction does not depend on another major escalation in the Middle East or a renewed surge in oil.

Instead, Nordea expects broader price pressures and a relatively resilient Eurozone economy to keep the ECB tightening for longer.

“We think that we are amidst a hiking cycle rather than one or two isolated rate moves, and continue to expect the ECB to raise rates three more times.”

The bank has slowed the expected pace of tightening because oil prices have fallen from their earlier highs and the growth outlook has become less certain.

A rapid improvement in the geopolitical backdrop could reduce the need for further action, while a prolonged conflict and renewed energy-price increase could produce faster or additional rate increases.

Image: Nordea chart showing 25-basis-point ECB hikes in September, December and March 2027, taking the deposit rate to 3.00% - Courtesy of Nordea. Energy Inflation May Take Time to Spread Nordea argues that markets and policymakers may still be underestimating the delayed second-round effects of higher energy costs.

Its research notes that during the previous inflation cycle it took several months for rising energy prices to feed into food, goods and services inflation.

It also took considerably longer for forward inflation expectations to peak than for spot inflation itself.

“We still see risks biased towards more second-round impact on inflation than what markets and the ECB expect,” Nordea says.

This possibility supports the case for further tightening even if the immediate increase in oil and gas prices begins to reverse.

The bank also points to inflation expectations that remain above the ECB’s target across several measures.

Its report shows five-year market inflation expectations around 2.26%, while household and large-company measures remain closer to 2.9%.

Nordea expects Eurozone growth of approximately 1% in 2026, although it acknowledges that the risks are tilted to the downside.

The bank nevertheless says the economy has remained more resilient than weak purchasing managers’ surveys would suggest.

Manufacturing output and retail sales increased in the available April and May data, while second-quarter growth may have been around 0.3%.

Nordea expects household consumption to remain the primary source of positive growth, supplemented by investment in technology and defence.

EUR/USD Technical Outlook Despite the increasingly hawkish ECB outlook, the EUR/USD chart shows little evidence of sustained buying momentum.

The pair is trading close to 1.1371, below its 20-period moving average near 1.1372 and beneath session VWAP around 1.1381.

It also remains below the 200-period moving average near 1.1392, leaving the immediate intraday structure tilted to the downside.

EUR/USD attempted to recover towards 1.1390 during the latest session but failed to sustain the move.

The retreat confirms a band of resistance between approximately 1.1380 and 1.1392, with the 1.1400 level providing the next major barrier.

RSI stands around 44, having recovered from levels close to 30.

This indicates that selling pressure has eased and the pair is no longer oversold, but momentum remains below the neutral 50 threshold.

The technical picture is therefore consistent with consolidation near the lows rather than the start of a convincing Euro recovery.

Initial support is located around 1.1368, followed by July’s low near 1.1362.

A sustained break below that area would expose the June low around 1.1325.

On the upside, EUR/USD must first recover above 1.1375 and 1.1381.

A move through the 1.1390-1.1400 region would provide the first meaningful evidence that the Euro is developing greater breakout power.

Image: EUR/USD 15-minute chart showing support at 1.1362, resistance at 1.1380 and the 1.1390-1.1400 breakout zone Why ECB Hikes Have Not Lifted the Euro The lack of a stronger EUR/USD response reflects the fact that much of the hawkish ECB outlook is already priced into the market.

Nordea notes that almost a full rate increase is priced by September, another is largely priced by December and part of a further hike is reflected in March 2027 contracts.

This leaves limited room for interest-rate expectations to move further in the Euro’s favour without a fresh inflation shock or more forceful ECB guidance.

The US Dollar also retains support from higher US rates, geopolitical uncertainty and the risk that elevated energy prices eventually damage global risk appetite.

ING says the current low-volatility environment may be underestimating how quickly Dollar demand could return if financial markets lose their tolerance for higher oil and gas prices.

The Euro is therefore receiving support from ECB tightening expectations, but not enough to overcome simultaneous demand for the Dollar.

Euro Forecast 2026: Latest Bank Projections ING and Nordea both see a hawkish ECB, but the implications for EUR/USD remain restrained.

Nordea expects three further rate increases and a 3.00% deposit rate by March 2027, while ING believes policymakers will keep a September hike in play and defend current market pricing.

These forecasts should limit the risk of an immediate collapse in the Euro.

However, the rate outlook is already heavily reflected in market prices, while geopolitical and energy risks continue to favour the Dollar.

EUR/USD therefore remains vulnerable while below 1.1390-1.1400.

A break beneath 1.1362 would expose the June low near 1.1325, while only a sustained recovery above 1.1400 would suggest that hawkish ECB expectations are finally generating a meaningful upside breakout.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 25th, 2026

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN – Free Report) by 19.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 320,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,810 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.13% of Waste Connections worth $52,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Waste Connections during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Waste Connections in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Waste Connections by 1,166.7% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Waste Connections by 346.2% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Waste Connections during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 86.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Waste Connections In other news, VP Patrick James Shea sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total value of $1,171,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 19,737 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,103.62. This represents a 27.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jason Craft sold 1,500 shares of Waste Connections stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.59, for a total transaction of $234,885.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 32,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,703.99. This represents a 4.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 17,605 shares of company stock valued at $2,822,923 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Waste Connections Stock Up 0.9% Shares of NYSE:WCN opened at $169.52 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.36 and a 200-day moving average of $163.28. The company has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.66. Waste Connections, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.89 and a 52-week high of $191.91.

Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.15. Waste Connections had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Waste Connections, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Waste Connections Announces Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 6th. Waste Connections’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WCN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Waste Connections from $210.00 to $195.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Waste Connections from $180.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays set a $180.00 target price on shares of Waste Connections and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Waste Connections from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $218.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Waste Connections in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waste Connections presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.05.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on WCN

About Waste Connections (Free Report)

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) is a North American integrated waste services company that provides a range of solid waste and environmental services to municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers. The company offers collection, transportation, transfer, disposal and recycling services, and operates an extensive network of transfer stations and disposal facilities. Waste Connections positions itself as a provider of infrastructure-driven waste solutions across many regions of the United States and Canada.

The company’s operating activities include routine curbside and commercial collection, roll-off and container services, operation of landfills and transfer stations, and recycling and resource recovery programs.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Waste Connections AMD and Cerbras Create A New Blueprint For Hardware Intel Earnings Reveal Whether the Chip Selloff Created a Buy CrowdStrike’s Cerebras Deal Puts Its AI Security Strategy to the Test Plugging In: How Kinder Morgan Powers Up Profits Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WCN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE:WCN – Free Report).

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Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 25th, 2026

Fulcrum Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,376 shares of the software giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,364 shares during the period. Microsoft makes up approximately 6.7% of Fulcrum Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Microsoft were worth $30,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% in the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC raised its position in Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC increased its stake in shares of Microsoft by 0.6% in the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Microsoft Trading Up 0.0% NASDAQ MSFT opened at $381.70 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $398.21 and its 200-day moving average is $408.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $555.45.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 39.34% and a return on equity of 31.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.7 EPS for the current year.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MSFT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Microsoft from $650.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. China Renaissance decreased their price target on shares of Microsoft from $630.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $556.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Forty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $555.40.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSFT

Insider Activity at Microsoft In other Microsoft news, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Judson Althoff sold 15,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.99, for a total value of $7,145,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 110,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,928,792.23. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,762 shares of company stock worth $10,508,361. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Microsoft Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft joined 25 tech companies in urging U.S. policymakers not to impose broad restrictions on open-weight and open-source AI models, a stance that supports its broader AI ecosystem strategy and could help preserve flexibility for future product development. Reuters article Positive Sentiment: Microsoft also backed a coalition letter with Nvidia, Meta, and other firms arguing that open-weight AI is important for U.S. leadership, reinforcing investor confidence that the company remains a major AI platform player rather than being boxed into one model provider. Business Insider article Positive Sentiment: Microsoft’s expanded Databricks partnership extends a key cloud/data-AI relationship through the 2030s, which should help Azure adoption and strengthen long-term enterprise demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. TipRanks article Neutral Sentiment: Several previews ahead of Microsoft’s July 29 earnings report say the big investor focus will be FY2027 CapEx guidance and Azure growth, with analysts expecting strong results but worrying that AI infrastructure spending could weigh on free cash flow and margins. MarketBeat article Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms issued class-action alerts and deadline reminders tied to Microsoft securities-fraud claims, including allegations related to Copilot disclosures, which adds headline risk and may keep some investors cautious into earnings. GlobeNewswire article Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness tied to AI spending fears also weighed on Microsoft, as investors sold mega-cap names after seeing massive capital outlays across the sector and questioning near-term returns on AI investment. Fox Business article Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

Read More Five stocks we like better than Microsoft AMD and Cerbras Create A New Blueprint For Hardware Intel Earnings Reveal Whether the Chip Selloff Created a Buy CrowdStrike’s Cerebras Deal Puts Its AI Security Strategy to the Test Plugging In: How Kinder Morgan Powers Up Profits Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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Calamos Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 976,409 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,758 shares during the period. NVIDIA comprises approximately 5.9% of Calamos Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Calamos Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NVIDIA were worth $170,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NVDA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NVIDIA during the fourth quarter worth about $62,244,133,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in NVIDIA by 13,709.1% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 125,760,307 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock worth $23,454,297,000 after purchasing an additional 124,849,603 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of NVIDIA by 896.4% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 78,123,960 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $14,570,119,000 after buying an additional 70,283,539 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of NVIDIA by 16.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 165,377,852 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $30,855,564,000 after acquiring an additional 22,896,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in NVIDIA by 15,496.1% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,865,525 shares of the computer hardware maker’s stock valued at $3,454,534,000 after purchasing an additional 21,725,326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NVDA shares. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up from $310.00) on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of NVIDIA in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of NVIDIA in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of NVIDIA in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners upped their target price on shares of NVIDIA from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NVIDIA presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $304.26.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on NVDA

Key Headlines Impacting NVIDIA Here are the key news stories impacting NVIDIA this week:

Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA announced a joint AI research lab with KAIST in Seoul, a $300 million collaboration that will fund researchers, internships, and AI infrastructure to advance agentic AI in South Korea. NVIDIA and KAIST Launch Joint AI Research Lab to Accelerate AI Innovation in Korea Positive Sentiment: The company also struck a $1.5 billion partnership with Amkor to expand advanced semiconductor packaging and test capacity in the U.S., reinforcing NVIDIA’s AI supply chain and manufacturing footprint. Nvidia, Amkor strike $1.5 billion chip packaging deal Positive Sentiment: Jensen Huang and NVIDIA joined Microsoft, Meta, and others in publicly backing open-source AI models, which could support broader AI adoption and future demand for NVIDIA GPUs. Nvidia, Microsoft and other tech giants back open-source AI models Positive Sentiment: Several technical reports say NVDA is holding support and may be forming a bullish inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, while other analysts point to a breakout above the 50-day moving average as a possible catalyst. NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) Price Forecast: Can NVDA Break Above Key Resistance? Neutral Sentiment: Institutional filings show continued buying from some funds, but insider activity remains dominated by sales, which keeps sentiment mixed rather than decisively bullish. Fund Update: 337,821 NVIDIA (NVDA) shares added to COMGEST GLOBAL INVESTORS S.A.S. portfolio Negative Sentiment: Broader semiconductor shares have pulled back as investors take profits and worry about AI valuation levels and heavy capex spending, which has weighed on NVIDIA along with the rest of the AI trade. Semiconductor Crossroads: Healthy Consolidation or Deeper Repricing? Negative Sentiment: News flow also highlights investor rotation out of the biggest AI winners and concerns that the “Magnificent 7” are digesting a surge in AI infrastructure spending, creating near-term pressure on NVDA despite strong long-term demand. Magnificent 7 stocks shed hundreds of billions amid AI spending fears Insider Buying and Selling In other news, Director Stephen C. Neal sold 15,500 shares of NVIDIA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.73, for a total transaction of $3,343,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 116,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,053,803.55. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark A. Stevens sold 885,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.17, for a total value of $186,000,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,207,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,412,146.07. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 1,901,125 shares of company stock valued at $410,583,015 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.94% of the company’s stock.

NVIDIA Stock Down 0.9% Shares of NASDAQ:NVDA opened at $206.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $207.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.81. NVIDIA Corporation has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $236.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.85 and a current ratio of 3.44.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The computer hardware maker reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.11. NVIDIA had a return on equity of 96.94% and a net margin of 62.97%.The business had revenue of $81.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NVIDIA Corporation will post 8.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NVIDIA Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 4th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from NVIDIA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. NVIDIA’s dividend payout ratio is 15.31%.

NVIDIA declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 20th that authorizes the company to repurchase $80.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the computer hardware maker to buy up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

NVIDIA Company Profile (Free Report)

NVIDIA Corporation, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a global technology company that designs and develops graphics processing units (GPUs) and system-on-chip (SoC) technologies. Co-founded by Jensen Huang, who serves as president and chief executive officer, along with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, NVIDIA has grown from a graphics-focused chipmaker into a broad provider of accelerated computing hardware and software for multiple industries.

The company’s product portfolio spans discrete GPUs for gaming and professional visualization (marketed under the GeForce and NVIDIA RTX lines), high-performance data center accelerators used for AI training and inference (including widely adopted platforms such as the A100 and H100 series), and Tegra SoCs for automotive and edge applications.

Further Reading Five stocks we like better than NVIDIA AMD and Cerbras Create A New Blueprint For Hardware Intel Earnings Reveal Whether the Chip Selloff Created a Buy CrowdStrike’s Cerebras Deal Puts Its AI Security Strategy to the Test Plugging In: How Kinder Morgan Powers Up Profits Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVDA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA – Free Report).

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Ford (NYSE:F | F Price Prediction) reports Q2 2026 earnings on July 28 with three major factors working in its favor: a 4.24% dividend yield, a valuation of roughly 4.5 times free cash flow, and recently raised full-year profit guidance.

Ford’s electric-vehicle business remains deeply unprofitable, but the company’s commercial and traditional vehicle operations continue to generate enough cash to fund the dividend and absorb those losses.

Ford Offers a 4.2% Dividend Yield Ford’s $0.60 annualized dividend against a $14.37 share price puts the forward yield at 4.24%, more than double the S&P 500 average. General Motors (NYSE:GM) has a dividend yield of about 1% on a low-single-digit payout ratio.

The Q2 2026 dividend of $0.15 was declared April 28, 2026, and paid June 1, 2026, and management has layered in special dividends of $0.30 in February 2025 and $0.33 the year prior. Ford also repurchased $311 million of stock in Q1 2026, reinforcing the capital-return story.

Ford Trades at Just 4.5x Free Cash Flow The stock trades at roughly 4.5x price-to-free-cash-flow, 1.5x book, and a forward P/E of 8. Free cash flow yield sits near 22%, backed by 2026 guidance for $5.0 billion to $6.0 billion in adjusted free cash flow.

Q1 2026 delivered EPS of $0.66 on $43.25 billion in revenue (6% YoY growth), with net income surging to $2.55 billion from $471 million a year earlier and adjusted EBIT improving $2.50 billion YoY to $3.49 billion.

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Ford Just Raised Its 2026 Profit Forecast Management raised full-year 2026 adjusted EBIT guidance to $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion (from $8.0 billion to $10.0 billion) on Ford Pro’s commercial and software momentum. Paid software subscriptions reached 879,000 in Q1 2026, up 30% YoY with 11.4% segment margins.

CEO Jim Farley said the results “reflect the momentum of the Ford+ plan.” Shares are up 33.85% over the last year and 12.08% year-to-date, with an average analyst price target of $15.05.

Ford’s EV Business Could Lose Another $4.5 Billion The pushback is Model e, where losses are guided to $4.0-$4.5 billion in 2026. However, Ford Blue EBIT is guided to positive $4.5-$5.0 billion and Ford Pro EBIT to $6.5-$7.5 billion, more than absorbing the EV drag. That means the $10.70 billion in Q4 2025 Model e impairments is already accounted for.

Ford heads into its July 28 Q2 earnings report offering a rare combination of income and deep value. If Q2 results confirm that those core businesses remain strong and management maintains its higher outlook, Ford could remain one of the more attractive dividend stocks in the auto industry.

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