Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

By PYMNTS  |  July 14, 2026

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Klarna is working on a significant risk transfer (SRT) that will enable it to offload credit risk tied to buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans and free up capital, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (July 14), citing unnamed sources.

The SRT is tied to about 5 billion kroner (about $516 million) of loans originated by Klarna’s Swedish unit, and the transaction may be completed by the end of the quarter, according to the report.

Reached by PYMNTS, Klarna declined to comment on the report.

SRTs, which are also known as synthetic risk transfers, allow investors to earn regular payments in return for taking on credit risk from a lender’s portfolio.

Klarna is working on its SRT while looking to roll out new products and grow its business in several countries, especially the United States, at a time when its shares are trading at about half the price they achieved in the company’s September initial public offering, according to the Bloomberg report.

An SRT would enable Klarna to undertake new lending, acquisitions or shareholder payouts, per the report.

Klarna announced in April that it entered into a new SRT that covers $1.7 billion in euro-denominated loans and frees up capital to support continued growth. The company said the deal was its sixth SRT transaction.

“This is our largest and most efficient SRT transaction to date,” Klarna Chief Financial Officer Niclas Neglén said in an April 1 press release. “These transactions allow us to maximize every unit of capital to support our continued momentum.”

Klarna said during a May earnings report that in the first quarter, its revenue increased 44% year over year to reach $1 billion and its gross merchandise volume rose 33% to $33.7 billion.

PYMNTS reported at the time that Klarna pushed deeper into everyday spending during the quarter as consumers used BNPL for everything from groceries to larger-ticket purchases and as deposits, debit usage and point-of-sale financing accounted for a greater part of the company’s growth story.

Klarna announced July 6 that it applied to establish Klarna Bank USA, its proposed Utah-chartered industrial bank. The company has been licensed as a bank in Europe since 2017 and offers banking services in the U.S. through a network of partners.

SpaceX SPCX shares rose about 1.5% on Tuesday, recovering modestly after a recent selloff that brought the stock close to its initial public offering price, as a broader market rally and a fresh bullish analyst initiation supported sentiment.

The stock traded around $141 after falling about 4% on Monday. Despite the rebound, shares remained only slightly above the company's $135 IPO price.

The broader market also advanced after June inflation data came in weaker than expected.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded around the flatline.

The consumer price index fell 0.4% in June from the previous month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.5%.

Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected a monthly decline of 0.1% and an annual inflation rate of 3.8%.

Elon Musk's rocket and artificial intelligence company priced its IPO at $135 per share on June 11, with shares opening at $150 the following day.

The stock climbed as high as $225.64 on June 16 before retreating nearly 40% from that peak. On Monday, shares fell as low as $136.78, narrowly remaining above the IPO price.

The decline has come despite broadly positive sentiment from Wall Street analysts.

Approximately 80% of analysts covering SpaceX rate the stock a Buy, compared with a typical Buy-rating ratio of 55% to 60% for S&P 500 companies.

The average analyst price target stands at about $240 per share, implying a valuation of roughly $3 trillion.

Several Wall Street firms have also outlined long-term growth scenarios for the company based on expectations for Starlink, reusable launch systems, and future artificial intelligence infrastructure businesses.

On Tuesday, Evercore ISI initiated coverage of SpaceX with an Outperform rating and a $230 price target.

Analyst Kutgun Maral described SpaceX as "an extraordinary company on a real path to reshaping the future of humanity."

According to Evercore, the company has built a vertically integrated business that has established a near-monopoly on orbital access through reusable, low-cost launch technology.

The firm projects revenue and EBITDA to compound at 106% and 157%, respectively, through 2028, while forecasting margin expansion from 35% to 69%.

SpaceX generated $19.3 billion in revenue and $3.95 billion in EBITDA in 2025.

Evercore said several milestones will be important in validating its long-term investment thesis.

The firm pointed to expected progress in Starship payload delivery during the second half of 2026, continued Starlink broadband expansion through 2026 and 2027, and the development of the company's mobile strategy between 2027 and 2029.

Evercore also cited terrestrial compute growth through 2028, orbital compute viability beyond 2029, and enterprise adoption of Grok and Cursor between 2026 and 2028 as additional milestones investors should monitor.

Earlier this week, Bernstein analyst Douglas Harned reiterated a Buy rating on SpaceX with a price target of $239.

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Uber (NYSE:UBER | UBER Price Prediction) now carries a market capitalization of roughly $151.5 billion, backed by a platform that pushed $53.72 billion in Gross Bookings through its apps in a single quarter. Uber has scaled into a $150 billion consumer platform reporting real operating income, and the most recent quarter shows why the market is starting to price it that way.

What It Means The scale behind the market cap is what makes the profitability turn credible. In Q1 fiscal 2026, reported May 6, 2026, Uber ran 3.6 billion trips across 199 million Monthly Active Platform Consumers, with trips up 20% year over year and audience up 17%. Gross Bookings climbed 25%. Revenue reached $13.203 billion, just missing the $13.263 billion estimate by 0.45%, a gap the company attributes to a roughly 9 percentage-point headwind from business model changes.

The margin story is what pushes this into a new phase. The company’s operating income hit $1.923 billion, up 56.6% year over year. Additionally, adjusted EBITDA margin on Gross Bookings widened to 4.6% from 4.4%, and non-GAAP operating income margin expanded to 3.5% from 3.1%.

Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.72, beating the $0.7133 estimate and growing 44% year over year, more than double the pace of bookings growth. While GAAP net income of $263 million fell 85.19%, that swing came from a $1.50 billion pre-tax mark on equity investments, with the operating business unaffected.

Market Reaction Shares closed at $74.43 on July 2, 2026, up 2.44% on the day and 3.92% over the past month. The year-to-date picture is weaker, with the stock down 8.91% from $81.71 at year-end 2025, and off 19.14% over the trailing year from $92.05. Post-earnings, the stock traded at $77.14 one hour after the filing before settling to $70.71 thirty days later.

Bull Case I think the bull case around Uber rests on operating leverage that is showing up in every line the market cares about. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told investors on the call: “Importantly, we’re scaling this growth profitably. Non-GAAP EPS increased 44% year-over-year, more than twice as fast as our bookings growth, driven by disciplined cost management and operating leverage.”

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That leverage is being reinforced by a subscription flywheel. Uber One now has 50 million members, up from 30 million at the end of the prior year, growing 50% year on year and driving over 50% of bookings. Members spend 3x more than non-members.

Capital return is now part of the equation. Uber repurchased $3.011 billion of stock in Q1 alone, on top of $6.523 billion in buybacks during full-year 2025. Free cash flow reached $2.286 billion in the quarter, and $9.763 billion for full-year 2025, up 41.6%. The balance sheet backs it up, with debt-to-equity at 0.45, net debt to EBITDA at 0.79, and interest coverage of 12.65. Return on equity sits at 41.37%.

Insiders have been buying into the pullback. CFO Balaji Krishnamurthy and executives Tony West, Jill Hazelbaker, Andrew MacDonald, and Glen Ceremony all acquired shares in June 2026 at a reference price of $73.25, below the April level of $76.48. Analyst sentiment lines up behind Uber, with analyst posting 10 strong buys, 36 buys, 5 holds, and 1 sell, and a target price of $104.53.

Bottom Line For long-term holders, the $150 billion valuation now sits on top of a business generating margin expansion, buybacks, and a subscription base that is compounding. Uber’s Q2 guidance calls for Gross Bookings of $56.25 billion to $57.75 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $0.78 to $0.82 (growth of 31% to 38%), and adjusted EBITDA of $2.70 billion to $2.80 billion.

Thus, I think the company’s Q2 2026 report is the next reveal. If EPS growth continues to run at more than twice the pace of bookings, the $150 billion platform stops being a ceiling and starts looking like a floor.

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A group of publishers and authors have filed a class action lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using their copyrighted works to train its AI platform, Gemini.

The group of plaintiffs, which includes Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., also alleges that Google intentionally removed or changed copyright information on these works to “conceal… that its Gemini Models were trained on stolen materials,” according to the lawsuit.

This lawsuit is just one of many complaints that publishers, authors, and other copyright holders have filed against AI companies such as Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

While many of these lawsuits are still pending, two early court decisions in California have favored the AI companies, ruling that the use of copyrighted works for AI training is considered “fair use” under U.S. copyright law that has not been updated since before the existence of the internet.

Anthropic was, however, fined $1.5 billion for pirating the works it trained on, marking the largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright law. Around half a million writers were eligible for payments of at least $3,000. However, many authors opted out of receiving the settlement so that they could pursue further legal action over AI training.

The California judges’ decisions don’t bode well for how other courts may view the tech companies’ fair use defense, but the conflict is too nuanced for these rulings to establish an inarguable precedent. The lawsuit against Google was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, giving a different judge the opportunity to weigh in.

In the Google case, the publishers have a more nuanced, long-term relationship with the company. The lawsuit explains that publishers and authors have a long history of providing Google with copyrighted works for the specific purpose of making books searchable through Google Books. These search results do not allow users to view entire books. Instead, they provide access to short snippets of the book along with bibliographic information. The plaintiffs claim that Google trained Gemini on copies of these books, as well as books uploaded to the Google Play store, even though it never received permission to do so.

“Google illegally copied works from all these scope-limited programs for AI training, knowing it lacked authorization to do so,” the lawsuit reads.

The plaintiffs also cite an internal document from Google that allegedly states that using copyrighted books for AI training could be “highly problematic for Google” and might result in “$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Amanda Silberling is a senior writer at TechCrunch covering the intersection of technology and culture. She has also written for publications like Polygon, MTV, the Kenyon Review, NPR, and Business Insider. She is the co-host of Wow If True, a podcast about internet culture, with science fiction author Isabel J. Kim. Prior to joining TechCrunch, she worked as a grassroots organizer, museum educator, and film festival coordinator. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and served as a Princeton in Asia Fellow in Laos.

You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.

Nvidia remains well-positioned for AI data center growth, according to KeyBanc analyst John Vinh, who raised his price forecast despite some near-term ramp delays.

KeyBanc Raises Nvidia ForecastVinh maintained an Overweight rating on Nvidia and raised his price forecast to $330 from $310. He said his takeaways were mixed but mostly positive, with a slight delay in the Vera Rubin ramp tied to thermal lid issues and SK Hynix qualification delays on HBM4.

The analyst said he sees limited risk to estimates because Nvidia can ship more B300 GPUs in place of R200. He expects Nvidia to ship 5.5 million to 6 million Blackwell GPUs this year, along with 1 million Hopper GPUs.

CoWoS Supply Supports AI DemandVinh said Nvidia’s 2026 CoWoS supply outlook remains unchanged at 650,000 interposers, while 2027 supply has been revised significantly higher to 1.1 million interposers. He said that the increase reflects strong demand and a full-year Rubin ramp.

The analyst expects Nvidia to ship 70,000 to 80,000 total racks this year, including 5,000 to 6,000 Vera Rubin racks. He also expects fewer than 1,000 LPU racks this year due to a delayed ramp, though demand remains strong.

Vinh said Nvidia remains uniquely positioned to benefit from secular growth in data center AI and machine learning. He also pointed to Nvidia’s CUDA software stack as a major barrier to entry and said competitive risks remain limited.

Hedge funds rushed back into U.S. semiconductor stocks last week, buying the sector at the fastest pace in at least three-and-a-half years after two straight weeks of heavy selling.

Hedge Funds Buy The DipGoldman Sachs data shared by The Kobeissi Letter showed semiconductor stocks now make up about 10% of total hedge fund exposure, roughly double last year’s level but below the nearly 14% peak in May.

The renewed buying suggests hedge funds see the recent chip-stock pullback as largely over, while ETF inflows show broader investor demand for AI-related semiconductor names.

Technical AnalysisNvidia is trading above its 20-day SMA ($202.05), 100-day SMA ($198.10), and 200-day SMA ($191.95), which keeps the intermediate-to-long trend constructive even after recent chop. The catch is the stock is still trading slightly below its 50-day SMA ($209.27), and the 20-day SMA remains below the 50-day SMA—an early "cooling" signal that can cap rallies until price reclaims that zone cleanly.

Earnings OutlookLooking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the August 26, 2026 (estimated) earnings report.

EPS Estimate: $2.07 (Up from $1.04 YoY) Revenue Estimate: $91.70 Billion (Up from $46.74 Billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 31.2x (Indicates premium valuation relative to peers) Top ETF ExposureSignificance: Because NVDA carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows will likely trigger automatic buying or selling of the stock.

Price ActionNVDA Stock Price Activity: Nvidia shares were up 2.65% at $208.93 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Image via Shutterstock

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© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Bank of America’s second-quarter earnings call Tuesday (July 14) was dominated by a simple message: Consumers in the United States are spending, companies are borrowing, capital markets are open, and the economy is proving stronger than expected.

That backdrop helped the bank cruise past its earnings targets. Beneath the victory lap, however, CEO Brian Moynihan and Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick also offered signals on artificial intelligence, private credit, consumer risk and the bank’s increasingly digital operating model.

For Bank of America, AI is becoming both a revenue engine and a productivity tool. Borthwick said the bank is benefiting from financing the “massive capital investment and infrastructure build” around AI, particularly through investment banking and Global Markets. Internally, Bank of America employees are generating more than 400,000 AI prompts a day. The bank has approved more than 300 AI use cases, including 114 live generative AI applications and 34 that are fully implemented.

The payoff should extend beyond cutting costs, management said.

“Here’s what’s going to come out of that, we believe: growth, efficiency, risk management and resiliency,” Borthwick said.

Moynihan added that AI is already making software development more productive, so the same technology budget should produce more code over time. Still, the technology needs controls.

“It has great utility,” Moynihan said. “It has to be carefully managed. You have to have your data perfect. You have to have your rules base, so it doesn’t make mistakes.”

Private credit also came up, although management used the broader phrase “private capital lending.” Moynihan said some highly leveraged activity had moved outside the banking system, but parts of it are returning on terms banks can accept. More broadly, he said feared credit problems have not materialized.

“The issues of the moment, whether it’s real estate four or five years ago or whether it was private capital lending and all this stuff, just aren’t surfacing the way people thought they would,” Moynihan said.

The consumer picture was similarly steady. Card charge-offs and delinquencies improved from both the prior quarter and a year earlier, Borthwick said. Bank of America’s credit card charge-off rate fell to 3.55%, from 3.82% a year ago, while early- and late-stage delinquencies improved for a fifth consecutive quarter. At the same time, combined credit and debit card spending rose 9% to $266 billion, and management said broader consumer spending was running more than 6% above last year during the second quarter.

Digital Banking Stars in Q2 Digital banking is increasingly tied to the bank’s funding advantage. Bank of America reported roughly 50 million active digital banking users, 24.6 million active Erica (AI assistant) users and 4.4 billion digital logins during the quarter. Seventy percent of consumer sales were digitally enabled.

Digital tools, security and rewards help the bank win operating accounts and maintain a favorable deposit mix, Borthwick said. It’s a reminder that digital engagement is not just a service channel, but a core part of deposit economics.

On the economy, the bank’s research team raised its 2026 U.S. growth forecast to 2.2%, Moynihan said, calling the economy “more durable than expected,” supported by consumer spending, AI-driven investment and lower energy costs. He also identified inflation and tight monetary policy as the main risks.

Commercial loan growth was broader than the AI buildout, with business banking, commercial banking and corporate banking all contributing, Borthwick said.

Cryptocurrency and stablecoins were not discussed in either the prepared remarks or the analyst Q&A. On the call, Bank of America’s digital story remained centered on Erica, Zelle, CashPro and AI-enabled banking rather than crypto or stablecoins.

As for the headline numbers, Bank of America reported net income of $9.1 billion, up 27% year over year, on revenue of $31.6 billion, up 15%. Diluted earnings per share rose 34% to $1.21. Net interest income increased 9% to $16 billion, investment banking fees jumped 50% to $2.1 billion, and the bank delivered 6.6% operating leverage with a 17% return on tangible common equity.

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA, XETRA:0QF) is expected to report second quarter results on July 31, with investors focused on the impact of seasonal COVID-19 vaccine demand and updates on the company’s late-stage pipeline, including anticipated Phase III melanoma data.

Jefferies analysts expect a largely uneventful earnings report after Moderna previously guided for second-quarter revenue of $50 million to $100 million, down from $389 million in the first quarter, reflecting the seasonal nature of COVID vaccine sales.

The analysts forecast a loss of $1.99 per share on revenue of about $100 million, compared with consensus expectations for a loss of $1.97 per share.

“COVID sales are mostly weighted to H2 2026,” Jefferies wrote, noting that lower vaccination rates year-over-year are also expected to weigh on near-term revenue.

The firm expects management could reiterate its 2026 revenue outlook for growth of up to 10% year over year, which would imply revenue of more than $2.1 billion.

Jefferies said potential upside to Moderna’s 2026 sales outlook could come from stabilization in US COVID revenue, which declined from approximately $1.2 billion in 2025. The firm expects international partnerships, including those in Canada, Australia and the UK, to contribute to growth and help create a more balanced revenue mix between US and ex-US markets.

Investors are also watching Moderna’s pipeline progress, particularly Phase III data for mRNA-4157, the company’s personalized cancer vaccine candidate being evaluated in combination with Merck & Co.’s Keytruda in melanoma. Jefferies highlighted the upcoming Phase III INTerpath-001 trial data as a major potential catalyst for the stock, with results expected in the second half of 2026.

The analysts pointed to recent five-year Phase IIb data as supportive of the ongoing Phase III study in high-risk adjuvant melanoma, which enrolled 1,089 patients. Jefferies wrote that management appears confident in the timing of the readout based on event accrual and said a statistically significant result could have a meaningful impact on investor sentiment.

Beyond oncology, Moderna has several additional potential catalysts in 2026, including regulatory action for its mFluSiva flu vaccine candidate, which Jefferies expects could receive US approval by August 5 following a positive advisory committee review. However, the analysts expect commercial sales to begin in 2027.

The firm also highlighted potential Phase III updates for Moderna’s norovirus vaccine candidate mRNA-1403 and pivotal data for mRNA-3927, an investigational treatment for propionic acidemia, as additional events to watch later this year.

Jefferies noted that Moderna’s shares have outperformed the broader biotechnology sector year to date, gaining 124% compared with a 30% rise in the XBI biotechnology ETF, with much of the recent momentum tied to expectations around the company’s oncology pipeline and the potential of its mRNA technology platform.

Shares of Moderna traded hands at $67 on Tuesday afternoon.

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CEO Arvind Krishna wrote a letter to shareholders eight days before the company was supposed to release its quarterly earnings. Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images IBM is on pace to have its worst day ever on the stock market after saying it misread the AI spending boom.

On Tuesday, eight days before the company's scheduled earnings call, CEO Arvind Krishna released a letter to shareholders that detailed a quarterly "performance shortfall," including slimmer-than-expected revenue.

"While we anticipated some supply chain related impact in our expectations, we did not anticipate the magnitude of the capex reprioritization," he wrote. "In addition, clients were distracted with rapidly-evolving, industry-wide cybersecurity concerns in the quarter."

The warning quickly revived talk of a SaaSpocalypse — the fear that AI will erode the value of some traditional software companies. For months, investors have worried that businesses will need fewer software subscriptions as AI agents automate and build custom tools.

IBM is not a pure software-as-a-service company, and Krishna did not say AI had made its products obsolete. Instead, he said customers redirected spending toward increasingly expensive servers, storage, and memory — leaving less money available for some of IBM's software and consulting services.

The shortfall is still touching a nerve among industry bigwigs. Companies are pouring money into the infrastructure needed to power AI, while investors increasingly question how much of that spending will ultimately flow to established software providers.

Here is what smart voices in business and tech are saying about the early announcement's impact on the economy:

Chamath Palihapitiya — CEO at 8090 and Social Capital

8090 CEO Chamath Palihapitiya.  Jesse Grant/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images Chamath Palihapitiya said IBM's stumble reflects a much bigger problem facing the AI industry: Companies selling intelligence are making enormous sums, but it's unclear whether their customers can turn those costs into profits of their own.

"The downstream ecosystem has to make money as well," Palihapitiya said Tuesday when asked about Krishna's letter on CNBC. "And then, the ultimate buyer of these tokens also has to make money."

He stopped short of blaming IBM's problems on its pivot to AI and cloud computing, and praised Krishna for repositioning the company.

Palihapitiya was less forgiving of IBM's suggestion that rapidly evolving cybersecurity concerns distracted some customers during the quarter.

He said AI companies and their investors have repeatedly swung between extremes: describing the technology as an all-powerful breakthrough when raising money, then warning that it poses an existential threat when seeking regulation.

Jacob Bourne — Analyst at EMARKETERBourne told Business Insider in an email that IBM was hit with a "triple whammy."

He said the AI buildout is directing corporate spending toward hardware rather than software and services. At the same time, investors are punishing legacy companies that appear to be falling behind. Finally, AI-native challengers such as Anthropic are putting additional pressure on traditional software business models.

"We can expect more quarters like this one, but I think it's a disruption story, not necessarily an extinction one for legacy software companies," he wrote. "Spending patterns will shift from the present focus, and the vendors that adapt their products to the changing market will stay competitive."

Nicholas Mugalli — CEO and Principal at World Trade Securities

An IBM logo on a screen.  NYSE Mugalli wrote on X that he believes IBM is the first major casualty of a broader shift in enterprise spending.

He argued that IBM's miss shows the limits of corporate budgets. As hardware became scarcer and more expensive, executives prioritized servers, storage, and memory over software deals that could be delayed.

"This is the SaaS reckoning arriving exactly the way it would," Mugalli wrote, "not with cancellations, but with deprioritization. "

Mugalli predicted IBM would not be the last enterprise software company to feel that pressure, pointing specifically to Palantir and ServiceNow.

Dan Niles — founder of Niles Investment ManagementNiles wrote on X that IBM's warning was an example of the AI "speed bump" he has been expecting.

He also said that customers redirected spending toward AI late in the quarter, cutting into IBM's mainframe and related software business. He said that much of that revenue is supposed to be recurring, making the shortfall more concerning.

"Given software is a back-end loaded business, I doubt this is the last casualty," he wrote.

Read next

Ben Shimkus You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.

Ben Shimkus is a reporter for the Business News desk. He writes about cars, transportation, retail, and jobs. Ben's reporting has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Verge, Automotive News, USA Today, AutoBody News, LGBTQ Nation, TopSpeed, and Out Magazine. He's also held staff writing positions at The U.S. Sun and the Daily Mail. He graduated from NYU with a Master's in journalism in 2024. Email Ben at [email protected] or message him privately on Signal at bshimkus.41. 

IBM AI

, /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) today declared a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $1.085 per share, an increase of $0.02. This dividend is payable on September 16, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 14, 2026.

The company also declared a quarterly cash dividend on its Series A preferred stock of $359.375 per share payable on September 16, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 14, 2026. This is equivalent to $0.359375 per depositary share.

Duke Energy has paid a cash dividend on its common stock for 100 consecutive years.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. The company's electric utilities serve 8.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 55,700 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an energy modernization strategy, keeping customer value at the forefront as it invests in electric grid upgrades and efficient generation resources to strengthen the system and serve growing energy needs.

More information is available at duke-energy.com. Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook for stories about the people and innovations powering its communities.

Media Contact: Gillian Moore
24-hour: 800.559.3853

Analyst Contact: Mike Switzer
Office: 704.382.6473

SOURCE Duke Energy

Micron Technology stock rose more than 4% in early trading on Tuesday, recovering from the previous session's decline.

The stock surged after KeyBanc raised its price target on the memory-chip maker, citing persistent supply shortages and expectations of continued price increases across memory markets.

MU stock gained about 4.6% to $980.34 after falling 4.3% on Monday during a broader semiconductor sector selloff.

KeyBanc analyst John Vinh increased his price target on Micron to $1,750 from $1,600 following a supply chain visit to Asia.

The new target implies approximately 87% upside from Monday's closing price of $937.

KeyBanc expects memory pricing to remain strongVinh said supply chain checks continue to indicate that memory markets will remain tight well into 2027.

He wrote, "Memory shortages remain persistent…Supply chain commentary continues to point to a tight memory environment through 2027."

The analyst expects dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) prices to rise between 15% and 20% in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, followed by another 15% increase in the fourth quarter.

For NAND flash memory, KeyBanc forecasts prices to increase 30% to 40% in the third quarter and another 15% in the fourth quarter.

Vinh also expects high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the specialized memory used in advanced artificial intelligence processors, to more than double in price next year.

His valuation is based on a price-to-earnings multiple of nine times his projected fiscal 2027 earnings for Micron.

Micron continues to benefit from rising demand for memory used in artificial intelligence infrastructure, particularly HBM, which is widely deployed alongside advanced AI graphics processing units.

During the company's latest earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said demand continues to outpace supply.

He stated that demand for DRAM and NAND chips continues to exceed supply and the company "expects tight conditions to persist beyond calendar 2027."

The company has also secured 16 long-term supply agreements with major customers, providing greater revenue visibility while helping improve production planning.

In addition to HBM, Micron continues to see healthy demand for data-center DRAM products and enterprise solid-state drives.

Wall Street remains bullish despite recent volatilityMemory-chip stocks have experienced heightened volatility after posting substantial gains during the artificial intelligence investment boom.

Despite recent weakness, analysts remain largely positive on Micron's outlook.

89% of the 45 analysts who issued ratings in July recommend buying or strongly buying the stock, while none recommend selling.

FactSet data shows the average Wall Street price target stands at approximately $1,579.

Despite the rally over the past year, the stock remains about 21% below its 52-week high of $1,255.

It currently trades at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings multiple of 6.58, below its one-year high valuation of 17.01.

Fastenal Today

$45.56 -1.49 (-3.18%)

As of 02:34 PM Eastern

This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.

52-Week Range$38.97▼

$50.63Dividend Yield2.11%

P/E Ratio40.05

Price Target$48.31

Fastenal’s NASDAQ: FAST stock price declined following its Q2 earnings release, creating another solid entry point for investors. The worst that can be said about the report is that earnings were only in alignment with the consensus forecast, providing no immediate impetus for bullish behavior.

However, “tepid” as the results may have been, the company revealed strengths investors like to own, including double-digit growth and strength across all segments, categories, and end markets, driven by new clients, client penetration, and digitization. Fastenal, among industrial suppliers, is uniquely positioned to benefit from digitization and AI, as it is a leader in technology-backed inventory management, providing effective solutions for businesses.

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Fastenal Fires on All Cylinders: Persistent Strength ExpectedFastenal had a solid Q2 with revenue growing by nearly 15% on broad-based strength. Revenue outpaced MarketBeat’s reported consensus by a slim margin, underpinned by a 14.7% increase in daily sales. Strength was driven by market share gains linked to large-client penetration, with double-digit demand across product lines and end markets. The single area of weakness was the comparison between national-level and localized business, which grew at a 7.2% pace compared to the stronger 17.9% posted by the national-level business.

Margin news was also good, despite the relative weakness in bottom-line results. A slight contraction in gross margin was offset by SG&A leverage, leaving operating and net margins flat to slightly up year over year. Net income grew by 14.9%, enabling balance sheet improvement while investing and returning capital to investors. The capital return is the operational factor, as quarterly strength and business trends allowed management to accelerate buyback activity.

Fastenal is a healthy capital-returning machine. The company’s dividend yields about 2% with shares near the middle of a long-term trading range and is expected to grow annually. Share buybacks have a smaller, but still significant, impact on capital returns, offsetting the impact of share-based compensation, with higher levels expected in upcoming quarters. Q2 capital returns came in at nearly 80% of the net income, well above the long-running 69% average.

Fastenal’s balance sheet highlights provided no red flags for investors, only incentives for ownership. The company's cash balance declined in Q2, but was offset by increases in assets, debt reduction, and equity improvements. Equity improved by more than 3% year-to-date, more than offsetting the incremental increase in the share count logged for the quarter. Looking ahead, investors can expect to see Fastenal’s balance sheet continue improving as it locks in market share and cash flow.

Sell-Side Data Reflects Strong Support for FastenalSell-siders may have wanted more from the Fastenal Q2 release, but it was not sufficient to alter their stance, which reflects strong support. MarketBeat tracks 15 analysts rating the stock as a consensus Hold; there is a 33% Buy-side bias within the data, coverage is increasing, and price targets are steady. Forecasting only modest upside as of mid-July, analyst trends are positive and likely to continue supporting market action. Institutions, meanwhile, are accumulating aggressively, limiting downside risk.

The stock price action also reflects strong, rising support, with the price trending higher over the past two years. The story in 2026 is that price action hit a ceiling in 2025 that will likely be retested before the year ends. The question is whether new highs will be set, and cash flow and capital returns suggest they will. Between then and now, the critical support is near a cluster of exponential moving averages (EMAs), including the 150-day EMA. It is a trigger likely to spur institutional investment when (if) reached.

Fastenal’s primary catalyst this year is the accelerating rollout of its digitized inventory management systems, FastBin and FastVend. They enable manufacturers, industries, and enterprises the ability to manage and control supply costs while providing Fastenal with visibility. Easing inflation is another catalyst, affecting the company’s margin and end-market demand. Assuming energy prices remain subdued, economic activity could pick up across the board.

What the market gets wrong about Fastenal is that its gross margin contractions are part of the overall strategy. The company is leaning hard into national contracted accounts that naturally have lower margins and expenses. Lower expenses are the critical factor, as reduced SG&A more than offsets the decline in gross margin. Meanwhile, the company is becoming entrenched in the end-market ecosystems, a fractured end-market at that, with its FastBin and FastVend systems, establishing a wide moat that competitors will not be able to cross. More importantly, localized vendors are unable to match Fastenal’s scale and digital capabilities, which enable it to gain share across the entire business cycle.

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FuelCell Energy, Siemens Partnership Targets Large-Scale ProjectsSiemens will provide electrical balance-of-plant (EBOP) systems for FuelCell Energy installations supporting commercial projects exceeding 100 megawatts.

The companies will jointly develop distributed energy solutions combining fuel cells, battery storage, microgrid controls and medium-voltage electrical equipment, with a focus on reducing deployment timelines and costs.

The agreement also includes pilot projects for technologies such as medium-voltage DC power delivery and modular electrical systems that could advance to full-scale commercial deployments.

Stock Rebounds From Discounted OfferingThe stock is also recovering from volatility tied to the company’s upsized $225 million equity offering.

The company priced 10.71 million shares at $21 each, about 19% below the prior closing price of $25.96.

The recovery suggests investors are shifting some attention from dilution concerns toward the company’s ability to execute large-scale deployments.

UBS Turns BullishUBS upgraded FCEL to Buy from Neutral and raised its price forecast to $27 from $22.

The upgrade adds to improving sentiment around the stock and provides a higher valuation benchmark following the equity offering.

Although the broader market remained modestly positive, the stock’s sharp advance appeared to be driven primarily by company-specific catalysts rather than sector-wide momentum.

FuelCell Energy Price ActionFCEL Price Action: FuelCell Energy shares were up 14.31% at $21.81 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Hot stock Robinhood Markets (HOOD +2.79%) hasn't been so hot for most of 2026. It's starting to recover, though, and it's roughly flat year to date.

The trading platform reports second-quarter earnings on July 29. Is now the time to buy?

What to expect in the second-quarter report Management doesn't provide a full quarterly outlook, but it does provide guidance around operating expenses, and it has planned expenses to "accelerate product velocity, drive net deposit growth, and grow revenues."

Robinhood has expanded into being much more than a stock trading platform. It also offers cryptocurrency and options trading, as well as several traditional banking products, such as a credit card. It also offers a premium membership program called Robinhood Gold, and it recently launched the prediction markets segment and the Robinhood Social social media app.

Image source: Getty Images.

It generates higher revenue when users trade on their accounts, and launching new products as well as attracting higher deposits should lead to increased revenue. What's been happening is that cryptocurrency, and specifically Bitcoin, is falling, and lower trading is negatively affecting Robinhood's growth.

Last year, cryptocurrency trading revenue increased 98% year over year in the second quarter, implying that this year, there will be either a major slowdown or a decline. In the 2026 first quarter, it declined 47%, which doesn't bode well for the second quarter. This might have already been factored into the stock, but now that the stock has recovered, it could drop again on bad news.

On the positive side, it has been setting up a new product to benefit from Trump accounts, which should be a positive impact on the business, and it was one of the platforms chosen for the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) initial public offering, which could also add more revenue.

How will Robinhood stock react? Robinhood may have a long growth runway as it disrupts traditional finance, but its growth minus cryptocurrency is somewhat underwhelming. Revenue increased 15% year over year in the first quarter. It added 1.7 million funded customers in the first quarter, a 6% year-over-year increase, for a total of 27.4 million. Robinhood Gold members increased by 1.2 million, or a 36% increase, to 4.3 million.

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Since the stock is heading back up, it's becoming more expensive again. It trades at 37 times forward one-year earnings, which is rich, especially as revenue growth slows down.

Since there are reasons to suspect the pressure related to cryptocurrency has yet to abate, I wouldn't buy Robinhood stock before the report with the expectation that it will jump. I would only recommend buying it if you see the long-term vision and can hold through volatility.

With a forward dividend yield of 19.2%, UWM Holdings (UWMC +1.25%) may seem like a golden opportunity for yield-hungry investors. But while this may represent an extremely high yield, especially for a high-profile financial stock, I wouldn't count on buying it, collecting the double-digit yield, and generating above-average total returns.

UWM's newfound status as a high-yield dividend stock is largely due to its share price collapse. Put simply, the market thinks that the mortgage wholesaler's high payout won't last. Even though the stock's valuation may account for a possible dividend suspension, such an event, along with other potential negative developments, could lead to further significant losses.

Image source: Getty Images.

UWM missed out on a merger and has questionable payout sustainability UWM, America's largest home lender, has struggled since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022. Although revenue has bounced back from a steep drop, the company remains far from its pandemic-era high-water mark for profitability.

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In 2021, UWM reported revenue of around $3 billion. Last year, UWM's total revenue came in slightly above $3 billion. However, diluted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.66 in 2021, but in 2025, it was just $0.12.

Reaching past profitability levels was clearly an objective with UWM Holdings' plans to acquire mortgage REIT and loan servicing company Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO +0.21%), which it announced back in December. At that time, UWM's management touted that its $1.3 billion all-stock bid would be highly accretive to shareholders, paving the way for "continued dividends."

Unfortunately, last May, CrossCountry Mortgage, seeking to take advantage of UWM's falling stock price, emerged with a $10.80-per-share all-cash offer for Two Harbors. UWM's would-be target accepted the bid, terminating its prior plans. Although UWM stepped up with an alternative all-cash offer, Two Harbors shareholders approved the CrossCountry deal earlier this month.

Tread carefully, as the dividend remains highly uncertain Based on sell-side consensus, EPS could hit $0.38 this year, nearly covering the stock's $0.40 in annual dividends. However, a reduction or full dividend suspension could still be in the cards.

As KBW analysts Bose George and Frankie Labetti argued earlier this month, UWM Holdings could reduce its debt-to-equity ratio from 3.1 to 2.2 by the end of 2027. If improvements in the housing market coincide with UWM conserving cash, it could set the company up for a much-anticipated recovery.

However, while the analysts may believe that a dividend suspension/cut won't lead to further downside, I'd lean toward caution. Shares could continue to pull back on a dividend cut, even as the market already anticipates one.

Also, keep in mind that the housing market continues to recalibrate. Couple that with the prospect of "higher for longer" interest rates persisting under Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, and it's even easier to see why caution remains key. Whether you like this stock as a dividend payer or as a turnaround play, you may want to take your time before entering a position.

Shares of Aurora Innovation (AUR 0.25%) jumped 77.6% higher in the first half of 2026, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The self-driving truck start-up is beginning to show growth momentum as it develops new routes for customers, even though revenue over the last 12 months was still under $10 million.

At $6.10 as of this writing on July 14, 2026, Aurora Innovation is still well below its price when it went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021. Here's why the stock was up so much in 2026, and whether you should buy shares as its growth starts to pick up.

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Scaling autonomous trucks Aurora Innovation builds hardware and software for self-driving vehicles, specifically for large semi-trucks. With millions of trucks operating in the United States, the company's goal is to expand nationwide for these highway drivers, who face much simpler routes than city drivers.

It is currently focused on the southwest, with 12 distinct routes between cities in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Still, it is very early days for the business, which generated just $1 million in revenue last quarter. Revenue is projected to grow to $14 million to $16 million in 2026, driven by new contracts, representing 400% growth at the midpoint. Growth momentum -- even from this small base -- is what has investors excited about Aurora stock at the moment.

The trucking industry in the United States is massive. If a company like Aurora Innovation can be a leader in self-driving technology nationwide, there is probably a revenue opportunity in the billions from selling this hardware-and-software bundle alone.

Image source: Getty Images.

Should you buy Aurora Innovation stock? Right now, Aurora's financials do not match up with this investor optimism. Free cash flow was negative $646 million over the last twelve months, while revenue was just $4 million. The company does have over $1 billion in cash on the balance sheet as of the last quarter, but that will only provide it with around two years of cash burn at current rates.

Investors are right to be optimistic about Aurora Innovation's growth potential, but the stock's current valuation is getting ahead of itself. Shares currently have a market cap of $12 billion. Even if revenue reaches $1 billion over the next few years (unlikely), the stock still looks overvalued.

Key Takeaways Alliant Energy plans $13.4B of 2026-2029 investments to support 5%-7% annual earnings growth. Five service agreements cover 3.4 GW of data-center demand as peak electricity use is set to rise 60%. New wind and battery projects reduce fossil-fuel reliance while improving grid reliability and flexibility. Alliant Energy (LNT - Free Report) benefits from strategic renewable energy investments, strengthening grid reliability and supporting rising clean electricity demand from AI-driven data centers. These investments expand its regulated asset base, create long-term earnings opportunities and position the company to meet future customer demand while maintaining affordable service.

The company plans to invest $13.4 billion between 2026 and 2029 to expand renewable generation, battery storage, grid infrastructure and other energy assets, supporting long-term annual earnings growth of 5-7%. LNT secured approval for the 150-megawatt (MW) Bent Tree North Wind Project in Wisconsin, which will further reduce reliance on fossil fuels. On Jan. 13, 2026, LNT placed two battery energy storage systems into service, enhancing grid reliability and improving system flexibility.

Renewable projects are also helping LNT serve rapidly growing demand from data centers. The company has signed five electric service agreements representing 3.4 gigawatts (GW) of contracted demand and secured the required wind, natural gas and energy storage resources to serve this load. It expects peak electricity demand to rise about 60%, supporting future capital investments and earnings growth.

Overall, Alliant Energy's renewable expansion strengthens its long-term growth by supporting rising electricity demand, improving grid reliability and increasing regulated investment opportunities. These initiatives position the company for sustainable earnings growth while delivering cleaner, more reliable and affordable power.

Clean Energy Expansion Drives DecarbonizationThe expansion of clean energy reduces fossil fuel dependence and lowers carbon emissions. Renewable investments support rising electricity demand while advancing long-term decarbonization goals.

Clearway Energy (CWEN - Free Report) expands its clean energy portfolio with the 320-MW Honeycomb battery storage project, strengthening contracted cash flows and supporting rising electricity demand.

NextEra Energy (NEE - Free Report) continues to expand its renewable generation and battery storage portfolio, which includes the 200-MW Century Oaks Energy Storage project, supporting rising electricity demand, grid reliability and long-term regulated earnings. The company expects to add 76.6.5-107.6 GW of new renewables to its generation portfolio during 2026-2032 via clean energy investments.

LNT’s Earnings EstimatesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 6.52% and 7.29%, respectively.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LNT’s Returns on Equity (ROE)Alliant Energy's trailing-12-month ROE is 11.37%, ahead of the industry average of 11.21%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LNT’s Stock Price PerformanceIn the past month, the company’s shares have risen 4.2% compared with the industry’s 2.1% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LNT’s Zacks Rank

Key Takeaways AXON's Connected Devices revenues jumped 33% in Q1, driven by TASER 10 and Axon Body 4 demand.Axon Enterprise saw Platform Solutions revenues surge 95% on counter-drone, virtual reality and fleet growth.AXON raised its 2026 revenue growth outlook to 30-32%, up from its prior forecast. Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON - Free Report) is witnessing strong momentum in its Connected Devices segment. Segmental revenues surged 33% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, following an increase of 29.1% in 2025. Strong demand for its next-generation TASER 10 products, counter-drone equipment and virtual reality training services drove its results.

Growing popularity for the company’s advanced body-worn camera, Axon Body 4, also augmented the segment’s growth. With upgraded features such as a bi-directional communications facility and a point-of-view camera module option, this body camera is generating significant demand.

In the first quarter, revenues from the company’s TASER product line increased 19% year over year, driven by TASER 10, while those from the Personal Sensors surged 23%, led by Axon Body 4. Also, revenues from Platform Solutions product line soared 95%, supported by counter-drone, virtual reality and fleet.

Growing instances of terrorism and criminal activities, with concerns related to the ever-increasing fraudulent activities, will augur well for Axon’s products in the quarters ahead. Driven by business strength, Axon issued bullish guidance for 2026. It currently expects total revenues to increase approximately 30-32% year over year, higher than 27-30% guided earlier.

Segment Snapshot of AXON's PeersWoodward, Inc.’s (WWD - Free Report) Industrial business segment reported net sales of $387 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up 20% year over year. Woodward generated 35.5% of its total sales from this segment in the quarter. The increase in revenues for Woodward’s segment is primarily attributable to strength across power generation, transportation and oil & gas markets.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s (KTOS - Free Report) Government Solutions segment’s first-quarter 2026 revenues increased 20.4% year over year to $288.4 million. The segmental revenues were driven by strength in Kratos Defense’s Turbine Technologies, Defense Rocket Systems and Microwave Products businesses. Kratos Defense derived 77.7% of its total revenues from this segment during the quarter.

AXON’s Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Axon have gained 36% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 1.8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, AXON is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 58.61X, above the industry’s average of 42.74X. Axon carries a Value Score of F.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXON’s 2026 earnings has been stable over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

The most instructive XRP trade of 2026 was an exit. When it emerged this month that Goldman Sachs, once the largest XRP holder among Wall Street institutions, had sold down its position, the reaction split along familiar lines: bears read it as the smartest money leaving a stalled asset, bulls read it as a bank taking profits on ETF seeding and creation-desk inventory it never intended to hold.

Both camps then arrived at the same, more interesting question, and it is the one that will define XRP’s next year. The first $1.5 billion of ETF money is in. Goldman’s chapter is closed. Standard Chartered says the next tranche is worth $4 billion to $8 billion. So who, exactly, buys it, what has to happen first, and what does XRP look like if they do?

Summary

XRP ETFs have attracted about $1.5 billion in net inflows, with Standard Chartered estimating another $4 billion to $8 billion could follow if the CLARITY Act becomes law. Registered investment advisors, model portfolios, wirehouses, corporate treasuries, and sovereign investors are expected to drive the next wave of institutional XRP ETF demand over time. ETF inflows have continued despite weak price action as long term accumulation, lower exchange balances, and regulatory progress compete with macro pressure and ongoing supply.  The question matters because XRP has spent 2026 as the market’s cleanest natural experiment in whether flows alone can move a price. The token trades near $1.08 inside a range that has compressed to roughly $1.00 to $1.13, down around 40 percent on the year, while nearly every input a flow analyst would track has pointed the other way: sustained ETF creations, whale accumulation running at multiples of last year’s pace, exchange balances at multi-year lows, and a parent company stacking regulatory wins across three continents. The demand arrived. The price did not respond. Resolving that contradiction requires taking the flow machine apart piece by piece.

What the first $1.5 billion proved Five spot XRP exchange-traded funds launched in the United States between November and December 2025, arriving in the window after the SEC’s posture shifted and before any statute confirmed it. Through mid-2026 the products have gathered roughly $1.5 billion in net inflows, a figure that deserves more context than it usually gets. That total accumulated during the worst crypto tape since 2022, with Bitcoin falling from the $90,000s toward $60,000, the Federal Reserve pivoting from expected cuts toward a possible hike, and the Fear and Greed Index pinned in the twenties. Gathering $1.5 billion into a falling altcoin during a fear regime is not failure. It is evidence of a persistent bid that did not exist in any prior cycle, because the wrapper that carries it did not exist.

The composition of that bid matters as much as its size. ETF flows in the launch phase come disproportionately from three sources: self-directed retail moving out of exchange custody and into brokerage accounts, hedge funds running basis and arbitrage strategies, and early-adopter advisors making small allocations for aggressive clients. What launch-phase flows conspicuously exclude is the slow money: the wirehouse model portfolios, the pension consultants, the bank trust departments, and the insurance general accounts. Those channels move on compliance calendars, not conviction, and their compliance calendars all point at the same gate.

Benchmarking the figure against the category sharpens the point. The five XRP products collectively rank behind only the Bitcoin and Ethereum complexes among American crypto ETFs by assets gathered, ahead of the Solana products that launched into the same window with a stronger price narrative. Monthly net flows have oscillated with the tape, including redemption stretches during the worst weeks of the drawdown, but the cumulative line has kept its upward slope through eight months that destroyed weaker products across the fund industry. Whatever the price chart says, the wrapper found a durable audience on its first attempt, and product durability is the precondition every larger channel checks before it checks anything else.

The gate: statute, not classification That gate is legal permanence. The SEC and CFTC jointly classified XRP as a digital commodity in March 2026, an interpretive release that ended, in practical terms, the five-year war that began with the SEC’s 2020 lawsuit against Ripple. But an interpretive release binds nobody past the current commissions, and the institutional legal departments that gatekeep the largest pools of American wealth have been explicit about the distinction. Their memos approve products backed by law and defer products backed by guidance. The CLARITY Act, the market structure bill now sitting on the Senate calendar, is the instrument that converts one into the other, which is why Standard Chartered’s $4 billion to $8 billion projection is written as conditional: those flows unlock if the bill becomes law.

The mechanics of the projection are worth spelling out, because the number is not a guess about sentiment. Analysts build it from allocation math: take the advised wealth channels that currently exclude crypto ETFs, apply the small percentage allocations their model portfolios assign to alternatives when products clear compliance, weight by XRP’s likely share of a multi-asset crypto sleeve alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana products, and discount for adoption lag. Run that arithmetic across several trillion dollars of advised assets and single-digit billions fall out quickly. The projection’s fragility is equally visible in its assumptions: it requires the law to pass, the wirehouses to act on it within quarters instead of years, and XRP to hold its place in the standard institutional basket. As crypto.news examined in its analysis of the bill’s falling odds, the first assumption alone now carries roughly 43 percent probability for 2026, which means the headline flow number should be probability-weighted by anyone using it seriously.

The buyers, ranked by likelihood Ranking the candidate buyers of the next $4 billion produces a clearer picture than the generic institutional label. The most probable early source is the registered investment advisor channel, roughly $8 trillion of American wealth where individual firms make their own compliance decisions and where crypto allocations have already normalized at the aggressive end. RIA flows into Bitcoin ETFs led every other channel in that product’s first year, and the pattern would likely repeat down the risk curve.

Second come the model portfolio and turnkey asset management platforms, which matter less for their size than for their automation: once an XRP product enters a model, flows recur monthly with rebalancing, indifferent to headlines. Third, the wirehouses, the largest and slowest pool, where solicited recommendations require the statutory green light and where internal approval processes run quarters after that. Fourth, corporate treasuries, a wildcard channel that Bitcoin normalized and that a handful of firms have already extended to XRP; permanence in law plus an accounting framework would widen that experiment. Fifth and most speculative, sovereign and quasi-sovereign buyers in jurisdictions where Ripple’s payment infrastructure is operationally embedded, a category that generates headlines out of proportion to its realistic near-term size.

The timing across these channels is sequential, not simultaneous, and the sequence is the part most projections flatten. RIA adoption can begin within weeks of a statutory trigger because the decision sits with thousands of small compliance committees rather than a handful of large ones. Model platforms follow within one to two quarters, on their scheduled review cycles. Wirehouse approval historically lags by two to four quarters even after the stated objection is removed, because internal product committees, training requirements, and suitability frameworks each add their own clock. Stacking those lags against Standard Chartered’s range suggests the honest shape of the projection: a thin front edge arriving within months of passage, and the bulk arriving across 2027, which is a materially different trade than the headline number implies.

Against these stand the sellers. Launch-phase arbitrageurs exit as basis compresses. Early holders use ETF liquidity as an exit ramp, which is partly what the Goldman episode illustrated. And Ripple itself remains a structural source of supply through its escrow releases, a flow bulls prefer not to model and bears never stop modeling. Net flow, not gross inflow, is what moves price, and the first eight months of ETF trading have shown the net figure can stay positive while the price goes nowhere if enough legacy supply uses the new demand as liquidity.

The demand stack beneath the ETFs The ETF story sits on top of an on-chain demand picture that has quietly strengthened all year. Whale accumulation, measured by large-wallet inflows and exchange outflows, has run at roughly triple last year’s pace during the 2026 drawdown, the classic accumulation-into-weakness pattern that preceded prior cycle turns. Exchange balances have fallen toward multi-year lows, shrinking the tradable float. XRP Ledger activity has grown across payments, tokenized real-world assets, and the RLUSD stablecoin, which has become the settlement asset for an expanding share of Ripple’s enterprise volume.

The corporate side reads the same direction. Ripple holds more than 75 regulatory licenses and registrations worldwide. It secured full authorization under the European Union’s MiCA framework in Luxembourg this month, opening the entire European Economic Area under a single passport. Mastercard named Ripple a settlement partner in its AI payments network. SWIFT-connected banks have begun routing blockchain settlement pilots through Ripple-linked institutions. And the company stages its largest event of the year, Swell, alongside the XRPL developer summit in New York in late October, a traditional venue for partnership announcements. On any fundamental checklist an equity analyst would recognize, the boxes are ticked. That is precisely what makes the price action so uncomfortable.

The RLUSD complication One development the flow models handle awkwardly is that Ripple’s fastest-growing product is no longer XRP. RLUSD, the company’s regulated stablecoin, has become the settlement asset for a rising share of enterprise volume, the collateral base for Ripple Prime’s institutional services, and the instrument through which many of the bank partnerships actually clear. Every corporate win that routes through RLUSD strengthens Ripple the company while contributing nothing direct to XRP the asset, and the divergence has become a live debate among holders: whether the stablecoin is the wedge that eventually drives ledger activity and XRP demand for bridging and fees, or the quiet replacement of the token’s original use case with a product institutions find easier to hold.

For the ETF flow question, the debate cuts a specific way. Allocators buying an XRP product are buying the token’s monetary premium and its role in the ledger economy, not Ripple’s equity story. If the company’s growth increasingly expresses itself through RLUSD and through services revenue, the fundamental narrative that supports a dedicated single-token allocation weakens at the margin, even as the company itself strengthens. Bulls answer that stablecoin settlement and tokenized asset growth raise ledger throughput, and throughput ultimately prices the native asset. The honest status of that argument is unresolved, and it is the fundamental question hiding inside the flow question: $4 billion buys exposure to XRP, and the market is still deciding what XRP is exposure to.

Why ETF demand behaves differently from spot demand The distinction between a billion dollars of exchange buying and a billion dollars of ETF creations is mechanical, and it decides how the next tranche would express itself in price. Spot demand on exchanges is discretionary and reflexive: it arrives with momentum, leaves with drawdowns, and concentrates in the leveraged venues where liquidations amplify both directions. ETF demand routes through authorized participants who create and redeem shares against the net of each day’s orders. The flow that survives that netting is disproportionately allocation flow: advisors rebalancing models, platforms deploying scheduled contributions, funds equitizing mandates. It arrives on calendars, ignores intraday narrative, and, critically, keeps arriving through drawdowns because rebalancing into weakness is what model portfolios are built to do.

That character difference explains an apparent paradox in the 2026 data: steady net creations against a falling price. The creations were real, but they were met by discretionary sellers using the wrapper’s liquidity as an exit, including, evidently, the largest bank holder on the street. The bull interpretation is that this is exactly what accumulation phases look like when a new demand channel opens into an old holder base: impatient supply migrates to patient hands, the float thins, and the price stays flat until the migration completes. The bear interpretation is that the patient hands are simply early, and patience is not a catalyst. The data cannot distinguish the two until a demand shock tests the thinner book. What the data does show is that the pipe works: shares get created, spreads stay tight, and the products tracked their net asset values through the year’s worst volatility, which is the operational track record the slower channels required before even beginning their reviews.

The Bitcoin ETF playbook, one asset down the curve There is a map for how the channels open, because Bitcoin walked it in 2024 and 2025. The Bitcoin spot ETFs launched into self-directed and hedge fund demand, spent roughly two quarters dominated by basis trades, then inflected when the RIA channel cleared the products for solicited use and the first wirehouses followed. Each gate that opened produced a step change in cumulative flows, and the price responded with a lag measured in weeks, not days, because allocation flow does not chase. By the time the largest platforms had fully opened, the products held a meaningful share of circulating supply and the asset’s volatility profile had visibly compressed.

XRP’s products are one asset class rung below on the institutional risk ladder and roughly three quarters into the equivalent timeline, still waiting on the gate that Bitcoin never needed: statutory classification. Bitcoin entered its ETF era with a commodity status nobody seriously disputed. XRP entered with a court ruling, an interpretive release, and a pending bill, which is why its channel-opening sequence stalled at the compliance stage that Bitcoin’s cleared automatically. The playbook’s lesson is not that XRP repeats Bitcoin’s flow curve at smaller scale, though the analog is tempting. The lesson is that the curve is gated by legal events, and the gates open in order. The March release opened the first. The Senate holds the second.

The supply side of the ledger Flow analysis that counts only buyers is half an analysis, and XRP’s supply side has features Bitcoin’s does not. Ripple’s escrow releases up to one billion XRP monthly, with unused portions returning to new escrow contracts. The net escrow contribution to circulating supply has trended well below the headline figure, and the company has leaned on programmatic sales less as institutional revenue lines have grown, but the overhang is structural: the market prices the possibility of supply even in months when little arrives. Layer on the launch-era holders for whom regulated products finally offered institutional-grade exit liquidity, and the absorption burden on the first $1.5 billion becomes clearer. New demand did not meet a fixed float. It met a float with a scheduled faucet and a queue at the exit.

The counterweight is the on-chain float data. Exchange balances at multi-year lows mean the discretionary sell-side has thinned even as the escrow schedule persists, and RLUSD settlement growth gives a share of monthly releases an internal destination that did not previously exist. The supply picture, like everything else in this asset, resolves into a timing question: whether the faucet or the gate moves first.

Why the price has not followed The bear explanation for the standoff is the simplest and has been the best trade of the year: XRP is a high-beta risk asset in a market being repriced by the Federal Reserve, and no token-specific story survives a regime where inflation prints at three-year highs and rate expectations invert. XRP’s correlation with Bitcoin has remained high through the drawdown, and Bitcoin itself has ignored its own bullish supply dynamics for months. In this reading, the flows are real but small against the macro tide, the $1.5 billion of ETF demand was absorbed by sellers grateful for the liquidity, and the next $4 billion, if it comes, arrives only after the Fed turns, at which point every risk asset rallies and XRP’s story adds beta instead of alpha.

The structural bear adds a colder point: XRP’s investment case has become a regulatory derivative. Strip out the CLARITY Act and the token trades on cross-border payment adoption that, while real, has never been priced by the market as sufficient on its own. If the bill slips to 2027, the one catalyst distinguishing XRP from the general altcoin complex slips with it, ETF inflows could reverse the way they briefly did earlier this year, and analysts have flagged the zone below $1.00 as thin support down to materially lower levels. The Goldman exit, in this telling, was not noise. It was a sophisticated holder concluding that the probability-weighted return of waiting had fallen below its hurdle.

The bull rebuttal: coiled, not broken The bull case does not dispute the macro pressure; it disputes the conclusion. Prices that refuse to fall on bad tape while accumulation triples are compressing, not failing, and the float shrinkage means any demand shock hits a thinner order book than at any point in XRP’s modern history. Seasonality offers a minor tailwind with a major caveat: July has historically been XRP’s strongest month, averaging roughly 10 percent gains, though this July opened deep in a fear regime that blunts seasonal patterns. The levels are unusually clean. The $1.00 floor has been defended repeatedly, resistance sits at $1.13 and then the $1.18 to $1.20 zone, and a legislative surprise into light positioning would find little supply between the breakout level and the low $1.40s where the year’s earlier ranges sat, as crypto.news mapped in its July price prediction.

The deeper bull argument is about market structure rather than price. Every prior XRP cycle ran on retail exchanges and offshore leverage. This one is the first where a regulated wrapper connects the token to the advised wealth system, and wrappers change the character of demand: slower to arrive, slower to leave, price-insensitive on schedule. The first $1.5 billion built the pipe. The debate over the next $4 billion is really a debate over timing, because the channels themselves, once compliance-cleared, allocate mechanically. Bulls can be wrong about 2026 and right about the asset, which is an argument for position sizing instead of abstinence.

What would invalidate the flow thesis Intellectual honesty requires listing the ways the $4 billion never arrives even if the bill passes. The first is product cannibalization. The next generation of crypto ETFs is multi-asset: index products holding baskets weighted by market capitalization, which institutional buyers often prefer to single-token bets. If the advised channels open and allocate through baskets, XRP captures only its index weight of the flows, a fraction of the headline projection built on dedicated products. The second is fee and liquidity concentration. ETF flows historically consolidate into one or two winners per category, and a fragmented five-issuer field splits liquidity in ways that keep the largest allocators waiting for a dominant product to emerge.

The third invalidator is reputational path dependence. A single adverse event, an issuer failure, a custody incident, an escrow controversy, would reset the compliance clocks that took years to run, and crypto’s history suggests assigning that tail a nonzero weight. The fourth is simple opportunity cost: if the gate opens during a macro regime where advisors are cutting risk, the mechanical allocations shrink with the risk budgets they draw from. None of these kills the asset. Each of them turns the projection’s midpoint into its ceiling, and collectively they are why serious flow forecasts carry ranges wide enough to drive a truck through.

What Ripple controls and what it does not It is worth separating the variables by who holds them. Ripple controls its licensing map, its product velocity, RLUSD’s growth, escrow release policy, and the October event calendar. It controls none of the three variables that will actually decide the flow question: the Senate schedule, the Federal Reserve, and the oil price. That asymmetry explains the company’s visible strategy of building the institutional rails before the demand arrives, so that when the gate opens, adoption is an integration task rather than a construction project. It also explains why company news has stopped moving the token: the market has correctly identified which variables bind.

For regulation watchers, the checklist between now and the August recess is short. A scheduled Senate floor vote is the unlock signal. The reconciliation of the two committee texts is its precondition. Public declarations from additional Democratic senators are the vote-count tell. And ETF net flows themselves are the real-time referendum: sustained creations through a stalled news cycle would show the slow money starting to front-run the statute, while accelerating redemptions would show the hope premium leaking out.

The scoreboard to watch through August Condensing the analysis into a watchlist: Senate floor scheduling is the master variable, and everything else is downstream. Weekly ETF net flows are the highest-frequency tell, with sustained creations through stalled news indicating front-running and accelerating redemptions indicating the hope premium unwinding. Exchange balance trends and large-wallet accumulation show whether the patient-hands migration continues. RLUSD supply growth versus XRP ledger fee volume tracks the internal debate about what the token captures. And the $1.00 and $1.13 levels frame the range until one of the above breaks it.

The next $4 billion is neither a fantasy nor a schedule. It is a documented pipeline behind a legal gate, with a probability attached that the market itself now prices below even odds for this year. If the gate opens, the buyer list is specific, the mechanics are boring, and boring is what durable repricings are made of. If it does not, XRP spends the midterm season as a range asset defending $1.00 with strong hands accumulating and weak hands gone, which is not the worst setup an asset has entered a year with.

Goldman answered the question of who sells. The Senate, not the market, holds the answer to who buys.

Disclaimer: This article is information, not investment advice. Prices, flow figures, analyst projections, and legislative timelines reflect reporting available as of July 14, 2026, and can change quickly. ETF flow projections are conditional estimates, not commitments. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell XRP or any other asset. Verify current developments from primary sources and consider your own circumstances before making any decision.

As XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is battling to stay above $1, pro-crypto attorney John Deaton said XRP holders played a meaningful role in Ripple’s landmark legal victory against the SEC.

‘Happy XRP is not a security day’In an X post on July 14, Deaton said the court cited his amicus brief, nearly 4,000 affidavits submitted by XRP holders, and an oral argument he made in the LBRY case regarding secondary-market sales of digital assets.

He also noted that his brief argued that the token is merely digital code regardless of how it may have been marketed.

Judge Torres ultimately ruled that XRP itself is not a security, a conclusion Deaton said aligned with that argument.

Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty also celebrated on X stating, "Happy XRP IS NOT A SECURITY DAY!"

Vet, an XRP Ledger validator, also noted that the legal win led to a more crypto friendly administration and it was the "beginning of the end of the previous SEC war on crypto."

Japan remains one of XRP’s strongest markets, supported by regulatory clarity, significant institutional participation and one of the world’s largest XRP holder communities.

Doppler Finance announced a strategic partnership with SBI Digital Finance to expand institutional XRP finance in Japan. The main goal is to develop compliant XRP-based financial solutions for institutional investors.

Potential Capitulation BottomIn a podcast on July 13, crypto analyst Cryptoinsightuk highlighted elevated open interest, positive funding rates and geopolitical uncertainty as possible triggers for XRP to briefly fall below $1, targeting the $0.925-$0.95 range.

However, the analyst views such a move as a potential capitulation bottom rather than the beginning of a deeper downtrend.

Strong support around $0.95 and relatively limited liquidity below that level could pave the way for a rebound toward $1.70-$1.80.

While a decline to $0.63 remains possible, the analyst considers it a lower-probability scenario.

Image: Shutterstock

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Ripple-backed Evernorth has unveiled a $44 million CEO equity package in a fresh SEC filing while advancing its merger to create a Nasdaq-listed XRP treasury company.

Summary

Evernorth’s latest SEC filing includes a $44 million equity award for CEO Asheesh Birla. The amended filing advances Evernorth’s merger with Armada Acquisition Corp II and planned XRPN listing. Evernorth also launched a Japanese-language XRP information channel without announcing local operations. According to Evernorth Holdings’ fourth amended Form S-4 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company updated executive and director compensation arrangements while advancing the paperwork required for its proposed business combination with Armada Acquisition Corp II, a special purpose acquisition company backed by Arrington Capital.

🚨SCOOP: Ripple-backed Evernorth Holdings files S-4 Amendment with the US SEC
🔸Evernorth moves closer to its merger with Armada Acquisition Corp II and to launch the largest Nasdaq-listed public XRP treasury

🔸Filing announces CEO Ashish Birla’s base salary and a $44 million… pic.twitter.com/wStNBFZ23q

— Rednirav (@CryptoRednirav) July 14, 2026 The filing sets CEO Asheesh Birla’s base salary and grants him an initial equity award valued at about $44 million, together with vesting terms. Chief financial officer Matt Frymier would receive a base salary, annual bonus eligibility and an equity award worth about $5.6 million.

Evernorth also disclosed restricted stock unit awards valued at $750,000 for executives, subject to approval by the board’s compensation committee and the company’s shareholders.

Merger filing moves XRP treasury listing closer Beyond executive compensation, the amended filing moves Evernorth another step toward completing its merger with Armada Acquisition Corp II. If the transaction receives regulatory and shareholder approval, the combined company is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker XRPN while operating what Evernorth has described in its SEC filings as the largest publicly listed XRP treasury company.

According to the filing, Evernorth has secured more than $1 billion in gross proceeds from investors including Ripple, Arrington Capital, SBI Holdings, Pantera Capital and Kraken.

Board appointments were also updated. Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty is expected to join the board alongside CEO Asheesh Birla and Ted Janus. The proposed board would also include OpenAI Foundation chief financial officer Robert Kaiden and Antalpha chief operating officer Derar Islim.

Separately, Evernorth has expanded its public communications by launching a Japanese-language social media account focused on XRP-related updates and market education. In its introductory message, the company stated that Japan had supported XRP early and that it would continue building from there. However, Evernorth did not announce a new office, regulatory license, investment, product launch, or local operating business in Japan.

The company added that the Japanese account would explain market developments in simple terms and provide professional information without discussing XRP price movements or forecasts. Evernorth has not disclosed local staffing, partnerships or services connected to the initiative, while its website continues to list San Francisco as its primary headquarters.

XRPN stock holds steady as XRP activity grows While the merger still awaits regulatory approval, Armada Acquisition Corp II shares have largely held their gains. The stock is up about 2.25% since the beginning of the year and has gained nearly 0.5% over the past month, although it closed 0.10% lower on Monday. Its 52-week high stands at $10.91.

Source: Yahoo Finance Evernorth has also pointed to rising XRP adoption across several areas. According to the company, tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger increased from roughly $150 million to $4 billion over the past year, supported by growth in spot XRP ETF inflows and an increase in newly created XRP wallets.

Meanwhile, XRP (XRP) traded at about $1.10 after rising 2.3% over the previous 24 hours. The token fluctuated between $1.06 and $1.11 during the session, while trading volume rose nearly 16% ahead of the release of U.S. consumer price index inflation data.

In This Article The Van Rossem Upgrade Is One Vote AwayHoskinson Defends EMURGO But the SBI Miss StingsThe Cardano DRep Governance Standoff Has Already Drawn Blood Cardano is experiencing one of its most significant weeks in months, and not all of the news is positive. The van Rossem upgrade is progressing through Cardano’s governance process.

Meanwhile, Charles Hoskinson has defended EMURGO after Solana announced a high-profile partnership with SBI Holdings, which the Cardano community believes should have belonged to them.

UPDATE

CARDANO'S NEXT HARD FORK COULD GO LIVE THIS MONTH 😱😱😱

Cardano's Van Rossem hard fork is currently in on-chain governance voting and could activate in July 2026.

The upgrade cuts smart contract costs, introduces ZK-ready cryptography, and marks Cardano's first hard… pic.twitter.com/lAlfY5DtJX

— Mintern (@MinswapIntern) July 12, 2026

Additionally, the ecosystem’s DRep governance system is engaged in an increasingly contentious standoff with founding entities, resulting in the cancellation of the Cardano Summit 2026.

The central issue in all three situations is the same: Cardano’s new decentralized governance infrastructure is functioning exactly as intended, and that is part of the problem.

The Van Rossem Upgrade Is One Vote Away van Rossem hard fork update 🍴

The hard fork initiation action was ratified at the epoch boundary on July 13, 2026 at 21:45 UTC.

Voting Result:
✅️ DReps: 77.63% / 60%
✅️ SPOs: 52.7% / 51%
✅️ CC: 6 constitutional, 1 did not vote

Following ratification, enactment will now… pic.twitter.com/GGcQSajRjm

— Intersect (@IntersectMBO) July 13, 2026

The van Rossem upgrade is being ratified through Cardano’s on-chain governance. Think of it as the difference between a landlord deciding to renovate and tenants voting on it themselves.

The on-chain vote is close to securing the required approvals from DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee, and Intersect’s Hard Fork Working Group has recommended proceeding with the upgrade.

Protocol Version 11 delivers improvements to Plutus smart contract performance and lower execution costs for DeFi/stablecoin scripts.

It also includes pairing-based cryptographic primitives that enable native zero-knowledge proof verification, enhancements to node security, VRF key uniqueness, and stake pool hardening, as well as improved ledger consistency and updated reference input rules. It also lays groundwork for later scaling and governance-era changes.

DISCOVER: Best Meme Coin ICOs to Invest in 2026

Hoskinson Defends EMURGO But the SBI Miss Stings This week, SBI Holdings announced a partnership with Solana to develop on-chain financial markets in Japan, prompting questions about why Cardano missed the opportunity.

Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, refuted claims of failure, stating that historical ties don’t guarantee commercial deals and that neither EMURGO nor the Cardano Foundation is contractually bound to negotiate. He suggested using the Cardano treasury to fund a dedicated business development organization to pursue strategic partnerships.

Cardano also missed out on the OpenUSD stablecoin initiative, which includes companies like Ripple and Coinbase. EMURGO’s reduced activity is due to a focus on recovery after the SecondFi wallet security incident.

The situation is ironic, as Hoskinson is advocating for treasury-funded expansion amid difficulties in getting large proposals approved, despite ongoing engagement in the ecosystem.

EXCLUSIVE: Join 99Bitcoin’s $1000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit

The Cardano DRep Governance Standoff Has Already Drawn Blood

(SOURCE: TradingView)

The DRep system for Voltaire governance has rejected several key proposals, including a 14 million ADA request for the Cardano Summit 2026 and a revised 7.8 million ADA proposal that fell short of the required supermajority, leading to the summit’s cancellation.

Additionally, a 32.9 million ADA research fund proposal faced 86.72% opposition due to concerns about bundling, overlap with IOG’s responsibilities, and lack of detailed milestones. While IOG secured approval for six out of nine treasury proposals totaling 131.5 million ADA, the largest asks faced friction.

Hoskinson has warned that rejecting research funding could deter engineers, prompting the Cardano Foundation to encourage active voting among stake pool operators.

The governance framework established by CIP-1694 is functioning as intended, but the ongoing deadlock raises concerns about Cardano’s competitiveness.

The upcoming ratification of the van Rossem upgrade could enhance the credibility of on-chain governance, but persistent governance issues could lead to significant setbacks for Cardano.

EXPLORE: Best Crypto Presales With Asymmetric Upside in the Current Market

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

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

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

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis credit reporting company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.21 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +10.5%.

Revenues are expected to be $1.69 billion, up 10.3% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

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

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

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

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

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

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

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

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Equifax?For Equifax, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -0.33%.

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

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

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

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Equifax would post earnings of $1.69 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.86, delivering a surprise of +10.06%.

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

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

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

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

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

Key Takeaways Broadridge Financial's recurring revenues made up nearly 66% of total revenues in fiscal Q3 2026.BR is seeing growth in investor communications, equity positions and governance recurring revenues.BR expects the CQG acquisition and post-trade demand to strengthen institutional trading capabilities. Shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (BR - Free Report) have had a decent run over the past month. The stock has risen 5.7% compared with the industry’s 7.6% growth. The Zacks S&P 500 composite barely moved during the said time frame.

BR’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings are expected to be up 5.6% year over year. Earnings for fiscal 2026 and 2027 are projected to rise 11.7% and 9.7% year over year, respectively. Revenues are expected to increase 7.7% in fiscal 2026 and 4.5% in fiscal 2027.

Factors That Bode Well for BRBroadridge Financial, a provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, asset managers and corporate issuers, benefits from a strong business model, backed by higher recurring fee revenues. A major portion of the total revenues is derived from recurring fees, driven by new client growth, internal expansion and acquisitions. During the third quarter of fiscal 2026, recurring revenues accounted for nearly 66% of total revenues. Management expects at least 7% recurring revenue growth on a constant-currency basis for fiscal 2026.

BR’s Investor Communication Solutions is also experiencing growth, aided by strong investor participation and continued growth in equity and mutual fund positions. The company reported that its Governance recurring revenues increased 8% year over year in the third quarter of fiscal 2026. Total equity position growth reached 15%, while revenue-generating equity positions increased 11% during the said time frame.

The Global Technology and Operations segment continues to perform well for the company. Strong demand for BR’s post-trade processing solutions and the recent acquisition of CQG, a leading provider of futures and options trading technology, are expected to boost Broadridge's institutional trading capabilities by adding execution management, algorithmic trading and market connectivity solutions.

The company has demonstrated a strong commitment to its shareholders through consistent dividend payments, despite the fluctuations in its cash position. BR paid dividends of $331 million, $368.2 million and $402.3 million in fiscal 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively. This consistency underscores its dedication to creating long-term value for investors.

Risks to WatchGlobal service providers operate in a fiercely competitive landscape. BR faces stiff competition from DST Systems Inc., investor communication and corporate governance solutions firms, brokerage firms and transfer agents across segments. This competition fuels innovation across the industry while driving pricing pressures. Ongoing technology investments increase the challenge of maintaining profitability while competing for growth.

BR is heavily exposed to the securities industry (including brokerages and asset managers). Any significant market downturn will negatively impact both the industry and the company's financial health.

BR had a current ratio of 0.94 at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2026, lower than the industry's average of 1.9. A current ratio below 1 often suggests that a company may not be well positioned to meet its short-term obligations.

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

Stocks to ConsiderA couple of better-ranked stocks in the Internet-Software industry are HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS - Free Report) and GitLab Inc. (GTLB - Free Report) .

HubSpot, Inc. sports a Zacks Rank #1 at present. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20.8%. HUBS delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 5%, on average.

GitLab also flaunts a Zacks Rank of 1 at present. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 5.8%. GTLB beat on earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 30.1%.

Arm Holdings shares fell more than 6% on Tuesday after HSBC downgraded the chip designer to Hold, saying foundry capacity constraints are likely to limit earnings upside despite the company's strong long-term growth prospects.

The brokerage still raised its price target to $315 from $255.

With Arm trading around $286, HSBC sees upside over the longer term but believes much of the company's growth story has already been reflected in its share price.

“We have previously flagged that Arm’s entry into merchant server CPUs and higher server CPU royalties could be transformative,” HSBC analyst Frank Lee wrote in a note to clients.

According to HSBC, investor enthusiasm around Arm's server CPU ambitions has exceeded expectations since the company's Arm Everywhere event in March.

“The market reaction to the merchant server CPU narrative has exceeded our expectations, with the stock trading +122% since the Arm Everywhere event on 24 March (vs. SOX +57% during the same period)," Lee said.

"With management targeting $25B of revenue and $9 non-GAAP EPS by FY31E, we think the shares already price-in strong long-term growth, trading at an expensive 139x/95x 2026e/2027e PE. We therefore roll our valuation forward to FY29e, which drives our target price revision. However, foundry capacity bottlenecks limit near-term earnings upside, so we downgrade to Hold.”

Lee added that additional foundry capacity remains the primary catalyst for further upside but appears unlikely in the near future.

“Given incremental foundry capacity allocation being the primary upside catalyst, which we believe is unlikely, we downgrade to Hold due to limited earnings upside potential.”

The downgrade marks a reversal from HSBC's stance in March, when it double-upgraded the stock from Reduce to Buy while lifting its price target to $205 from $90.

At the time, the brokerage argued that Arm was transitioning from a smartphone-focused licensing company into a major supplier of CPU architecture for AI servers and remained undervalued.

Other analysts remain bullishNot all brokerages share HSBC's cautious view.

Last month, Bernstein analyst David Dai raised the firm's price target on Arm to $500 from $300 while maintaining an Outperform rating.

Dai described Arm as a structural beneficiary of the "renaissance of CPUs for agentic AI," citing the architecture's power efficiency and the company's evolution from an intellectual property licensor into a CPU developer.

TD Cowen also lifted its price target to $475 from $265 while reiterating a Buy rating, reflecting confidence that AI-driven computing demand will continue to support the stock.

Separately, Arm announced an expanded partnership with semiconductor technology provider Arteris to strengthen processor security.

Arteris said Arm will continue integrating its Cycuity Radix technology into processor core development to enhance semiconductor security assurance.

Arteris Chief Executive K. Charles Janac said that by leveraging the company's technology, Arm is building more rigorous security capabilities at a time when semiconductor cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important for electronic systems, including data centres.

Shares of Arteris rose more than 3% following the announcement.

BNB marked its ninth anniversary since launching on July 14, 2017, evolving from an Ethereum-based utility token into a key asset driving one of the crypto industry’s largest blockchain networks.

Progression from utility token to core network assetWhen BNB debuted in 2017, it entered the market as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, priced at $0.15 with a total supply of 200 million. It initially functioned primarily to reduce trading fees and facilitate activities on the then-emerging Binance exchange, now one of the world’s largest digital asset platforms.

In 2019, BNB transitioned to its own proprietary blockchain, becoming a native asset. This migration allowed BNB to serve as the backbone for its own network infrastructure and opened the door for new on-chain use cases beyond its original exchange utility.

BNB Chain acknowledged that BNB entered the industry as a utility token for a new exchange, and has since become central to one of the most active decentralized ecosystems in crypto after nine years of development.

With the launch of Binance Smart Chain in 2020, the network gained compatibility with Ethereum-based smart contracts, allowing developers to build decentralized applications while using BNB for transaction fees and network operations. This move positioned the chain as an emerging hub for decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming projects.

DeFi expansion and technology upgradesBNB Chain gained significant traction during the 2021 DeFi boom, with its on-chain activity pushing BNB’s price to $690 at its peak. The surge in applications and trading volume established the network as one of the more active blockchains alongside giants like Ethereum.

A major rebranding came in 2022 when Binance Smart Chain became BNB Chain, with BNB reimagined as “Build N Build.” This shift emphasized the chain’s focus on supporting developers and network expansion.

In 2023, the ecosystem incorporated the opBNB scaling solution, designed to increase transaction throughput, and BNB Greenfield, which delivered decentralized storage capabilities. These upgrades reflected the network’s strategy to expand beyond simple financial transactions.

Mini dictionary: opBNB, a Layer 2 scaling solution for BNB Chain, is designed to handle more transactions per second and lower network fees by processing transactions off-chain before settling them on the main BNB blockchain.

Token burns, block speed, and 2026 roadmapEfforts to streamline BNB Chain continued with the 2024 Beacon Chain fusion, which unified staking and governance functions under one chain for improved user and developer experience.

By 2025, BNB Chain had reduced block times to 0.75 seconds through upgrades named Pascal, Lorentz, and Maxwell. That year also saw BNB reach a new all-time high of $1,370, and the network logged a new record for decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volumes.

YearBlock TimeBNB Price HighTotal BNB Burned20240.75 secondsNot specifiedNot specified20250.75 seconds$1,370Not specified20260.45 secondsNot specified65 millionCumulatively, more than 65 million BNB tokens have been burned out of the original 200 million. The burn mechanism aims to reduce the total supply to 100 million, a process intended to increase scarcity and potentially add value to the remaining tokens.

Currently, BNB Chain processes blocks in 450 milliseconds and achieves a final settlement time of 650 milliseconds—double the efficiency compared to early 2026 figures. The 2026 second-half roadmap outlines plans to double mainnet throughput and introduce a Layer 1 solution capable of processing more than 100,000 transactions per second (TPS).

The updated roadmap sets out to improve speed and throughput, targeting a Layer 1 network with over 100,000 TPS and even faster finality for transaction settlement.

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