After a wild first month, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 4.61%), better known as SpaceX, is now below its IPO price of $135, and well under its initial trading price of $150. As of mid-afternoon Thursday, shares were changing hands for around $131. And from the peak of $225.64 it hit in its first week on the market, SpaceX is down 42%. Essentially, every investor who bought in after the IPO is now underwater.
For investors considering taking advantage of this opportunity to buy SpaceX stock for less than its IPO price, the question is where it might head from here. In the near term, that answer could depend significantly on a couple of major events coming in August. Let's review those upcoming catalysts, and consider what a $10,000 investment made today might be worth after the dust settles.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
What's coming up for SpaceX SpaceX hasn't announced a date for its first earnings report as a public company yet, but it's expected to happen on or around Aug. 6. SpaceX's financials have been a mixed bag so far. Its connectivity segment, which primarily consists of its Starlink satellite broadband unit, has been the bright spot. Of the company's $4.7 billion in Q1 revenue, connectivity accounted for $3.3 billion, and it's SpaceX's only profitable segment right now.
The first post-IPO earnings report will give investors a chance to see how revenue is growing and whether SpaceX is getting closer to profitability. If revenue and income make sizable jumps, that could start to bring SpaceX's valuation into more reasonable territory.
The other reason August will be a critical month for SpaceX is that it's when insiders will be able to start selling their shares. The space company put staggered lock-up periods in place for insiders and private stakeholders. These early shareholders will be permitted to sell up to 20% of their stock starting on the second trading day after its first post-IPO earnings report. They'll be able to sell an additional 10% if SpaceX stock trades at 30% or more above its IPO price for at least five of the 10 trading days before its earnings release. That seems unlikely at the moment, but considering how volatile SpaceX has been, it's still a possibility.
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The impact of the earnings report will depend on the numbers, but the additional shares could create selling pressure regardless, as insiders will likely start to take some of their profits.
SpaceX stock could be due for more difficulties in the near term. Even after its recent dip, it still trades at about 92 times last year's sales. It will most likely still look richly valued after its next earnings report, more shares will be hitting the market, and the hype that led to its initial pop seems to have worn off.
I don't think SpaceX stock will crash, but I expect it to continue losing value and trade in the $110 to $120 range by September. If you were to invest $10,000 in SpaceX at around $131 a share, in six weeks, your investment would be worth roughly $8,400 to $9,200 if this prediction proves accurate. Given the risks, it may be wise to wait for SpaceX's valuation to come down even further before investing.
The stock has tumbled nearly 40% from its post-IPO high, erasing the gains that once sent shares soaring above $200 and slipping below its $135 IPO price. For many investors, the obvious question is whether the excitement has faded as quickly as it arrived.
Nancy Tengler, CEO and CIO of Laffer Tengler Investments, believes that’s the wrong question entirely.
Looking At The Wrong Time HorizonFor Tengler, the recent selloff says more about investor psychology than it does about SpaceX’s long-term prospects.
“I don’t invest for the next three or four weeks,” she said. “I invest with a three-, five-, or 10-year time period.”
That distinction matters because some of the market’s biggest winners looked far less convincing during their early years as public companies.
“It’s got some parallels to the Meta IPO, but in our view it’s more analogous to Amazon,” she said.
The comparison isn’t about identical businesses. It’s about how transformational companies often force investors to endure years of volatility while the underlying business compounds in value.
The Price Isn’t the ThesisSpaceX’s recent decline has reignited debates over whether the stock ran too far, too fast after its blockbuster debut.
Tengler isn’t dismissing those concerns. Instead, she argues they’re being asked too early.
For long-term investors, the more important question isn’t whether SpaceX should trade above or below its IPO price today. It’s whether the company’s businesses — from Starlink’s rapidly expanding satellite internet network to its dominance in commercial launches — continue to strengthen over the next decade.
That framework shifts the conversation away from technical levels and toward execution.
After all, Amazon spent years disappointing investors who focused on quarterly share-price swings while rewarding those who focused on the business it was building.
Volatility Is Part Of The JourneyTengler acknowledged that the stock could remain volatile in the near term, particularly after its explosive run immediately following the IPO.
Rather than chasing momentum, she said periods of weakness are when long-term investors should begin paying closer attention.
“If it continues to decline, we will, in fact, step in,” Tengler said.
Her broader message is that SpaceX’s nearly 40% pullback doesn’t necessarily change the investment thesis—it simply changes the price at which investors can buy into it.
For traders, the recent selloff may be a warning sign.
For investors thinking in five or 10 years, Tengler suggests it may be something else entirely: the kind of volatility that has accompanied many of the market’s most transformative companies before.
Image via Shutterstock
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Falling below $125 per share today, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 4.42%) stock is officially a broken IPO now -- trading $10 below the point at which it priced its IPO last month. Investors who missed out on the IPO, therefore, can count themselves lucky they didn't lose money.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
But why is SpaceX down at all? And specifically, why is it down 4.7% through 12:10 p.m. ET today?
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Scrub one launch The most obvious catalyst is that SpaceX was forced to scrub a planned Starship test flight last night after at least two Raptor engines on the Starship's Super Heavy booster failed to ignite. CEO Elon Musk says those engines will need to be replaced, delaying Starship's "lucky" 13th test flight until early next week.
To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.
-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 17, 2026 What it means for SpaceX stock As reasons for a sell-off go, this one's kind of weak. On the one hand, yes, a lot of SpaceX's hopes and dreams hinge on Musk making Starship a success. The megarocket is the only launch vehicle on Earth capable of carrying Musk's V.2 Mobile and V3 Starlink satellites to orbit. In its Human Landing System form, Starship is also the designated hitter on NASA's plan to return astronauts to the moon.
That said, Starship is a project years in the making. Delaying liftoff by a few more days isn't going to do SpaceX any harm -- certainly not as much harm as trying to fly and failing because the engines didn't work. Long story short:
If you liked SpaceX stock as an investment yesterday, before the launch scrub, there's absolutely no reason to like it any less today.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) came public last month in one of the most anticipated IPOs of the decade, and the reception on day one was everything Elon Musk could have wanted.
Nearly 185 million shares, or about 29% of the public float, are now sold short, representing $25 billion in wagers, according to CNBC.
This marks a significant increase from just three weeks ago when short interest was between 5% and 7%. The surge in short selling comes as SPCX’s stock struggles, having dropped below its $135 IPO price on Wednesday.
Short Sellers Increase PositionsThe increase in short selling activity has been dramatic, with short interest ballooning from an estimated 40 million shares to 185 million shares.
Matthew Unterman, head of research at S3 Partners, noted the continuous demand from short sellers building speculative positions since the IPO. CNBC reported this trend has contributed to the stock’s downward momentum.
SpaceX Stock Dips Below IPO PriceTechnical AnalysisSPCX is currently on a six-day losing streak, with its market cap shrinking by approximately $240.01 billion over the past week. Despite the recent downturn, SPCX trades 43.74% above its 50-day simple moving average of $87.04 and 218.27% above its 200-day simple moving average of $39.31, indicating a long-term uptrend remains intact.
Photo: Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 4.42%) stock briefly fell below $125 a share on Friday, before recovering to about a 4% loss as of 12:55 p.m. ET in the afternoon -- and it doesn't matter.
Whether down 5% or only 4% today, SpaceX stock is officially a broken IPO, returning to just pennies above its IPO price Wednesday, and falling well below it Thursday and Friday. But here's the real question.
Image source: Getty Images.
Is SpaceX's below-IPO share price good or bad news? That's a tougher question to answer. On the one hand, SpaceX stock has lost the momentum that drove it up 67% from its IPO price in its first three days of trading. The company faces new competition from China, which just completed its first successful water landing of a reusable rocket. It's also been forced to postpone a Starship test flight when multiple engines refused to ignite at launch.
Worst of all, SpaceX's big bet on turning itself from a space stock into an artificial intelligence stock has gone awry, with investors selling off AI stocks in droves the past several days -- "SpaceXAI" among them.
We are now @SpaceXAI. pic.twitter.com/ema66xDWC9
-- SpaceXAI (@SpaceXAI) July 6, 2026 Is SpaceX stock cheap now?
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Those are all reasons to avoid SpaceX stock -- but now here's one reason to buy SpaceX instead:
At its new share price of $125, SpaceX stock costs 192 times forecast 2027 earnings, but earnings are expected to grow so fast that by 2028 the P/E ratio drops to 33, and by 2029 -- just 22.5.
Analysts see SpaceX earnings growing on average 152% annually over the next five years, more than doubling every year. While the future's uncertain, and the end may always be near, there's now a reasonable case to be made that SpaceX stock is approaching fair value -- and will soon be cheap enough to buy.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
The Defiance Daily Target 2X Short SpaceX ETF (CBOE:SPCQ) is up about 10% today, trading around $23 per share, as shares of Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) slide below $125, $10 under the original IPO price.
SPCQ is a leveraged, inverse, single-stock ETF. It is engineered to deliver roughly negative two times the daily performance of SpaceX. Put simply: when SpaceX falls 5% in a session, SPCQ is designed to rise about 10% that day, before fees. SCPQ is up 91% since it launched in mid-June.
Why SpaceX Is Sliding Last night, SpaceX scrubbed a planned test flight for Starship V3, the newest spacecraft in Elon Musk’s arsenal. As he noted on X, “some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort.”
He followed up by sharing that “most probable launch timing is early next week” after the crews have diagnosed what went wrong.
For a stock as hyped, and as expensive by any traditional valuation metric, as SpaceX, any misstep can spook investors, and that’s what we’re seeing here. When you’re paying 80x+ annual revenue for a stock, it’s priced for perfection.
Underneath this specific news is a genuine debate about valuation. Commentators have flagged the enormous capital SpaceX needs to fund Starship, the Starlink satellite broadband build-out, and its xAI/Grok artificial-intelligence arm acquired earlier in 2026.
How the 2X Inverse Mechanic Actually Works SPCQ does not hand you a short position in SpaceX to hold. The fund uses swap agreements and short-dated options, backed by Treasuries and cash, to synthetically deliver negative 200% daily inverse leveraged exposure to SPCX. Crucially, that target resets every single trading day.
The daily reset matters enormously for anyone thinking about holding the fund. Over any period longer than one session, SPCQ’s return will diverge, sometimes sharply, from a simple negative-two-times SpaceX return. Compounding works in the holder’s favor during a steady one-way decline (which is why SPCQ has run so far as SpaceX has fallen for weeks), and against the holder during choppy, whipsaw markets. This is the volatility drag effect that has historically eroded leveraged and inverse ETFs held for weeks or months. A holder can be directionally right about a stock and still lose money in a product like this if the path is jagged enough.
Small Fund, High Costs, Tactical Use Only SPCQ is a very small, very specialized vehicle. Recent data pegs its assets at roughly $22.53 million, and the prospectus lists a gross and net expense ratio of 1.31%. Those fees compound daily against the holder. Stacked together, the risks are considerable: leverage, inverse exposure, single-stock concentration, and a newly public underlying whose price discovery is still in its early innings.
That is why products like this are designed strictly as short-term tactical or hedging tools. Today it is doing exactly what a trader would want it to do: amplifying a sharp down move in SpaceX into a double-digit gain. The same math will work in reverse the day SpaceX rallies. Investors watching the ETF should keep an eye on whether SpaceX starts rallying or continues lower, and remember that SPCQ’s headline numbers reflect a specific, path-dependent daily strategy tied to each session’s move.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Super Heavy v3 Booster 20 hangs from the chop sticks at Pad 2 as it prepares to roll back to the SpaceX launch production facility in Starbase, Texas, U.S., July 17, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesSpaceX plans to replace two booster Raptor engines before the next launch attempt, Musk saidFour of the booster's 33 engines did not ignite during Thursday's aborted test flightStarship could carry 20 Starlink satellites on its 13th flight test, the company saidWASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab is targeting Monday for another attempt to launch its Starship rocket after a last-second abort during engine ignition on Thursday, a brief setback that nevertheless wiped roughly $100 billion from the newly public company's market value.
The company's Starship rocket ignited its engines for a 13th test flight from Texas, but stopped short of lifting off when an automated abort command shut the engines down early. Four of the Starship booster's 33 engines did not ignite, according to a live SpaceX depiction of the booster's engines.
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A launch delay for the $15 billion rocket development program better known for dramatic engineering feats and explosive testing failures is not uncommon. Still, SpaceX shares have dropped by roughly 6% to $124.30 since the abort, erasing roughly $100 billion in equity value.
Musk wrote on X that the abort was triggered because "some of the engines didn't start." SpaceX on Friday hoisted the Starship upper stage off its Super Heavy booster and plans to replace two of the booster's Raptor engines "to be confident of a good flight," Musk said, without explaining why some engines didn't start.
"Most probable launch timing is early next week," he added. SpaceX's website said Starship could launch "as early as Monday, July 20."
The share price drop offers an early glimpse into how the newly public company's investors might judge the progress of a high-tech rocket program on which SpaceX's most lofty ambitions rely.
The stock had already been sliding from a post-IPO high of $225.64 and fell below SpaceX's $135 IPO price on Wednesday. The abort accelerated the decline.
"If this is how the market reacts to a precautionary abort, I can't wait to see how it responds to a successful flight," Chad Anderson, CEO of Space Capital and a SpaceX investor since 2017, said via text message.
"Zoom out and none of this changes the thesis: we're in the early innings of a multi-decade infrastructure cycle, and Starship is the centerpiece," he added. "Day-to-day price action is noise against the backdrop. This is a long-term opportunity."
Some SpaceX employees on X, which is owned by SpaceX, sought to explain the abort and delay to next week.
Director of Starship engineering Shana Diez said on X that the Thursday launch scrub was the first time a fully stacked Starship rocket lit its engines and then aborted.
"While similar to a wet dress rehearsal," she said, referring to a practice run of a rocket launch, "there is a lot going on and any first time operation comes with additional risk."
"This is how we learn safely and implement mitigations for all scenarios," said Jessie Anderson, a Starship production engineer who sometimes hosts the company's launch live streams.
PRESSURE RISINGSpaceX has launched 12 Starship test flights since 2023, some ending in explosive failures and other hard testing setbacks that have become hallmarks of SpaceX's test-to-failure development ethos, a risky and capital-intensive approach that has been key to the company's quick growth.
But the pressure is rising for Starship to begin operational flights after nearly a decade in development and over $15 billion spent so far.
Two pillars of SpaceX's future growth hinge on Starship: expanding the Starlink network to beam service directly to mobile devices and eventually launching thousands to potentially a million AI-processing satellites into space.
SpaceX aims to launch the first Starlink satellites to orbit on Starship by year's end, followed by routine launches, the company said in its prospectus.
Starship will carry 20 Starlink satellites on its 13th flight test to demonstrate its satellite-dispensing system and the Starlink network's laser communication links, but those satellites will follow the ship's suborbital trajectory and burn up in Earth's atmosphere soon after deployment.
The rocket will launch out of Florida for the first time "potentially" by year's end, SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said Thursday on the Starship live stream.
Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Joey Roulette is a space reporter for Reuters covering the business and politics of the global space industry, often focusing on space power competition and how commercial interests intersect with international relations. He was part of a team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for Reuters' coverage of Elon Musk's business empire. On the space beat for roughly a decade, Joey previously worked for the New York Times, the Verge, and various publications in Florida.
View of an Apple logo at an Apple store in Paris, France, April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
CompaniesJuly 17 (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and the U.S. Department of Justice are in early discussions about settling a 2024 lawsuit that alleges the iPhone maker violated antitrust laws, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Apple and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
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The discussions are active, but there is no guarantee that the two sides will reach an agreement, the report said, adding that the iPhone maker has made multiple offers to the DOJ to bring the case to a close.
The department and 15 states sued Apple in 2024 as the government cracks down on Big Tech, alleging the iPhone maker monopolized the smartphone market, hurt smaller rivals and drove up prices.
In the lawsuit, the U.S. had accused Apple of making it harder for consumers to block competitors and cited five examples where Apple used mechanisms to suppress technologies that would have increased competition among smartphones: so-called super apps, cloud stream game apps, messaging apps, smartwatches and digital wallets.
It could not be learned whether the state attorneys general were engaged in settlement talks, according to the report.
Shares of Apple were down 1.1% in afternoon trading on Friday. They have risen about 23% this year.
The report comes days after Apple sued OpenAI and two former employees, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets to benefit the ChatGPT-owner's foray into consumer hardware, a dramatic escalation of already simmering tension between the two companies.
Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Apple and the US Justice Department are in early discussions about settling a 2024 lawsuit that alleges the iPhone maker violated antitrust laws. Mark Gurman reports on "Balance of Power.
Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI last Friday, and it’s not messing around. The complaint alleges a pattern of misconduct reaching all the way up to OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. OpenAI’s response so far has been carefully hedged, and the timing couldn’t be worse with the company reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as later this year.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what the lawsuit could mean for OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions and IPO timeline, plus a bigger theme running through the week’s news: how much should anyone trust AI companies with their data?
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
Why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is warning enterprises about handing data over to AI labs, and whether open source is really a way out of the “Trojan horse” data-trust problem How forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) are changing the relationship between AI labs and their enterprise customers Why General Catalyst just handed David Beckham’s health drink startup a $1 billion customer value fund The scoop on a new $200M drug-discovery startup from an ex-OpenAI researcher Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.
You can contact or verify outreach from Anthony by emailing [email protected].
Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.
You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].
Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.
Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI last Friday, and it’s not messing around. The complaint alleges a pattern of misconduct reaching all the way up to OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. OpenAI’s response so far has been carefully hedged, and the timing couldn’t be worse with the company reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as later this year.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what the lawsuit could mean for OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions and IPO timeline, plus a bigger theme running through the week’s news: how much should anyone trust AI companies with their data?
Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Topics
Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.
You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].
Back in May at Meta Platformʻs (META 2.55%) annual shareholders meeting, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said something that caught a lot of people off guard -- that the notion of selling computing access, essentially entering the cloud computing arena, was "definitely on the table."
"Almost every week there are different companies that come to us from the outside asking us to both stand up an API service or asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we've bought it at," Zuckerberg said.
Well now, according to various reports, including Bloomberg, it is in development, and it is called Meta Compute. Meta confirmed that the initiative is under development but said things could change and offered no details on its plans, according to Bloomberg.
Image source: Getty Images.
This would enter Meta into the cloud computing fray, where it would compete against "Magnificent Seven" rivals Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet. On July 9, Zuckerberg, in an interview with Bloomberg, confirmed that the idea of offering computing access "makes sense," furthering the notion that Meta is ready to make a splash in this business.
Shares jump on Meta's cloud ambitions Since the July 1 Bloomberg article came out, Meta stock has jumped some 21% to $677 per share. Last week, sparked by the Zuckerberg interview, Meta stock soared 15%, making it the best week for Meta stock in more than two years.
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Bloomberg's initial report included some details, although unconfirmed, on what Meta's cloud plans might look like. One idea, per Bloomberg, is to charge developers to "access AI models hosted on its infrastructure." The other option is to sell excess computing capacity, similar to other cloud providers.
It is way too early for investors to get too concerned about this one way or the other, as we don't yet know the details on what Meta is planning. I would guess that we'll hear more when Meta reports earnings on July 29.
Due to its size, resources, and relationships, Meta would have the capacity to generate meaningful revenue in this booming space. That's probably why we are seeing investor enthusiasm. But the real dirt is in the details, so keep an eye out for more.
In my opinion, Meta stock remains a great buy heading into earnings. Some 91% of analysts rate it a buy with a median price target of $810 per share, which suggests 20% upside. And it is still relatively cheap, trading at 24 times earnings and 21 times forward earnings, below the S&P 500 average.
Dave Kovaleski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Anthropic is in very preliminary talks to lease computing power from Meta, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC's Kate Rooney.
Shares of the social media giant climbed off their lows of the day Friday following a report from the New York Times that a potential deal was being discussed worth about $10 billion.
The talks come weeks after Anthropic announced a similar deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX to use the computing capacity at its Colossus 1 data center to improve capacity for paid subscribers.
They are a sign that Anthropic, one of the leading artificial intelligence labs, continues to make big commitments with other AI labs to use their access to AI chips made by Nvidia.
Access to enough AI chips remains a challenge for firms like Anthropic, which places usage limits on its most advanced models like Fable.
The talks also come after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in May that the social media company was considering entering the cloud computing business, in an effort to show investors that the firm can make money from AI investments beyond improvements to its current business. Dave Brown, a former senior executive at Amazon Web Services, is set to join Meta, CNBC has confirmed.
Meta could spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditures, including for AI infrastructure, in 2026.
Last October, Zuckerberg said that companies are regularly "asking if we have compute that they could buy from us at some premium to what we've bought it at."
Meta declined to comment.
Read more CNBC tech newsElon Musk's Memphis AI empire is the epicenter of the data center backlashChinese startup Moonshot AI unveils Kimi model it says rivals OpenAI, AnthropicSpaceX stock falls after Starship test flight abortedMicrosoft's Nadella criticizes Anthropic's Fable for being 'editorially controlled'
I keep hitting the buy button on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) because I have finally seen a hyperscaler turn a compute bill into a receipt in the same quarter it wrote the check. That is the whole confession. Three AI spend metrics keep me coming back, and July 29 is not going to change what has already been proved on the income statement.
The Ad Auction Yield Loop The first metric is the one nobody can argue with. In Q1 2026, ad impressions across the Family of Apps grew 19% year over year while average price per ad climbed 12%. That is a Lattice and adaptive ranking story, and Susan Li spelled it out on the call: enhancements to Lattice modeling drove a “more than 6% increase in conversion rate for landing page view ads,” and the adaptive ranking model added another 1.6% conversion lift on major Facebook and Instagram surfaces. GPU clusters are being converted into higher ARPP in the same quarter they are installed. Total revenue rose 33.08% to $56.31 billion. That is my ad auction yield loop.
New Commercial Revenue Streams The second metric is the one the bears are ignoring. Meta Superintelligence Labs shipped Muse Spark, and Li disclosed that the value optimization suite is now running at an annual revenue run rate of over $20 billion, more than doubling year over year. Business AI conversations went from 1 million to more than 10 million per week inside a single year. More than 8 million advertisers are using GenAI ad creative tools. Zuckerberg said Meta is “on track to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people.” That is a monetization surface that did not exist two years ago.
Operating Margin Defense The third metric is the one that lets me sleep. Full-year 2026 capex was raised to $125 to $145 billion, and Q1 capex alone was $18.997 billion, up 46.8% year over year. Yet full-year expense guidance stayed pinned at $162 to $169 billion, unchanged. Q1 operating margin held at 41%. Operating cash flow of $32.23 billion, up 34.13%, is funding the buildout. Debt/equity sits at 0.386 with interest coverage of 71.48x. ROE is 30.24%, ROIC 20.69%. That is discipline, not sprawl.
Why Meta, Not Alphabet Alphabet was the obvious alternative for the ad-plus-AI trade. I passed. Meta grew top-line 33.08% in Q1 while running a 41% operating margin and a forward P/E of 21. That combination of growth rate, margin, and multiple is what pulled my money here. This is a purer ad-auction compounder without a cloud segment diluting the AI attribution story.
The Real Risk The risk that could actually hurt me is capex ROI. Reality Labs lost $4.03 billion in Q1, total expenses grew 35% year over year, and Li admitted Meta has “continued to underestimate our compute needs.” If the auction yield loop stalls, the depreciation wave will hit hard. I am watching it. What keeps the thesis intact: five consecutive EPS beats, Q1 EPS of $10.44 against a $6.6587 estimate, and a Polymarket crowd pricing a 91% probability of another beat on July 29.
At $664.54, with 3.56 billion daily active people being monetized more efficiently every quarter, the buy button stays active because the receipts do.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Meta didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
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Nasdaq Struggles As Memory Names Plunge Further; Netflix Sells Off Late On Soft Outlook
Nasdaq Breaks Support As Chip Sell-Off Deepens; Knight-Swift, Canadian Pacific, AbbVie In Focus Meta Platforms (META) is reportedly in early talks to lease computing power to Anthropic, the startup behind the Claude AI chatbot. Meta stock traded lower Friday but trimmed losses following the news. The deal that could be worth as much as $10 billion over two years, according to a report by The New York Times Friday afternoon. The talks remains…
SummaryCompaniesJudge says emergency order not justifiedWorkers claim AI tools targeted people who took medical leaveNovel claims will be decided in private arbitrationJuly 17 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday rejected a bid by 26 employees of Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab to block the tech giant from laying them off while they pursue claims that they were targeted for job cuts by the company's AI-powered tools because they have disabilities or took medical leave.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in Oakland, California, in a written order, opens new tab said he would not stop Meta from carrying out the layoffs beginning July 22 while the merits of the workers' novel legal claims are decided in private arbitration.
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The judge said the workers could not show that losing their jobs amounted to the "irreparable harm" required for him to issue an emergency order blocking the layoffs.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment. The company has denied wrongdoing and said that decisions involving the layoffs were made by humans.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in a joint statement said that while Orrick denied their request, he also recognized that the lawsuit raises "serious questions" about Meta's conduct.
"The Court expressly stated that it may reconsider its determinations 'based on any additional evidence the parties provide regarding whether and how AI was used' in the reduction in force," they said.
Meta in May notified nearly 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its global workforce, that they were losing their jobs as the company doubles down on its investments in AI.
The lawsuit filed on Monday claims that in selecting jobs to cut, Meta relied on AI tools that measured productivity and AI token usage, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions or to care for family members. The company also relied on performance reviews based in part on employees' adoption of AI, the plaintiffs said.
The case appears to be the first against a major U.S. company to challenge the alleged use of AI in conducting layoffs.
'NO DO-OVER'The plaintiffs had asked Orrick for a temporary restraining order blocking Meta from completing its layoffs while they pursue their claims in private arbitration.
Their motion for a preliminary injunction, a longer-lasting temporary order, is pending. Orrick on Friday suggested that he could change his mind once he has more information about the layoffs.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said during a hearing on Thursday that along with their jobs and salaries, the workers stood to lose valuable stock options and their health insurance, imperiling their medical care for pregnancies and other conditions.
"There's no do-over for bonding with a new baby or giving birth or having active medical treatment," one of the lawyers, Barbara Cowan, told Orrick.
Erin Connell, who represents Meta, countered that the workers were losing only employer-subsidized insurance, and not their coverage altogether. Those are the typical kinds of damages that can be recouped later on if the plaintiffs win their cases in arbitration, Connell said.
The workers say Meta's agreements require employees to arbitrate workplace disputes individually, but do not apply to requests for temporary relief.
Most workers at large companies sign arbitration agreements, which generally require employees to pursue workplace claims individually rather than through class actions in court. Companies say arbitration can provide a faster, cheaper alternative to litigation, while critics say it often favors employers and discourages workers from bringing claims.
Exceptions in arbitration agreements for temporary relief are common, but they are typically invoked in cases involving the alleged theft of trade secrets or the solicitation of clients or employees, and not layoffs of at-will employees.
The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, include engineers, managers, researchers and designers. They were notified in May of the layoffs, which are scheduled to be finalized on July 22 for many workers and later in July or August for others, according to court filings.
Laid-off workers remain on the payroll but lost access to Meta systems on May 20 and have not performed work for the company since, Meta said in court filings.
They claim that Meta used a number of internal AI-assisted systems to score and rank employees on a termination list. Those included a large language model assistant known as "Metamate," an employee-trained "second brain" that tracked workers' communications and documents, and a productivity score drawn from scanning keystrokes, screen content, emails and browser history, according to the lawsuit.
Meta did not pause these systems while employees were on vacations and legally protected leave periods, and their AI adoption scores used as inputs for layoff selection dropped as a result, the plaintiffs said.
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Katie Paul in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at [email protected].
Meta Platforms META shares are in the spotlight on July 17th following reports that the tech giant is in preliminary discussions to lease out its computing infrastructure to AI research lab Anthropic.
The blockbuster deal rumoured to be worth up to $10 billion arrives at a time when Meta sits firmly above its major moving averages (MAs) – with an RSI in the mid-50s indicating intense buying pressure.
That said, Meta stock is currently trading at roughly the same price at which it started 2026.
According to anonymous sources that spoke with CNBC today, Anthropic is exploring buying raw computing capacity from Meta to scale its advanced AI models, including its flagship model Fable.
Amidst “industry-wide” shortages of Nvidia’s cutting-edge hardware, the AI research lab has been aggressively hunting for external compute power, having recently inked a similar deal with SpaceX and its Colossus 1 data center.
To prepare for an aggressive venture into cloud hosting, Meta Platforms has strategically fortified its internal operational leadership.
The company recently named former Amazon Web Services (AWS) senior executive Dave Brown as its new head of infrastructure, signaling deep commercial intent.
This potential partnership represents a bullish structural catalyst for Meta shares because it directly addresses the investment community’s primary fear: unmitigated overspending.
The multinational stunned the market earlier this year by accelerating its full-year capex guidance to a staggering range of $125 billion to $145 billion, dedicated almost entirely to massive AI data center buildouts.
Transitioning from a pure consumer-facing platform into a premium wholesale compute provider will enable Meta to seamlessly transform its excess server capacity from a heavy financial liability into an immediate, high-margin enterprise cash flow machine, silencing critics.
Meta’s new business segment is particularly significant given the stock is currently trading at 23x forward earnings, which many believe is inexpensive for an established AI beneficiary.
Ultimately, opening Meta’s world-class AI infrastructure to third-party developers like Anthropic fundamentally re-engineers the long-term investment thesis for the stock.
Rather than forcing shareholders to wait for AI to subtly optimize core digital advertising yields – this development marks the birth of a tangible, recurring B2B enterprise cloud business.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously hinted at this massive opportunity, revealing that external tech firms regularly ask to purchase Meta’s compute at a premium.
As META successfully weaponizes its unprecedented capital outlays into a dominant cloud hosting powerhouse, its stock is primed for a powerful, growth-driven rebound.
Note that Wall Street analysts remain bullish as ever on META shares for the remainder of 2026.
The consensus rating on the titan sits at Strong Buy currently, with the mean price target of about $823 indicating more than 25% upside from here.
I keep hitting the buy button on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction), and I am not embarrassed to say the last add was this week. When a company earns $26.77 billion in net income in a single quarter while reaching 3.56 billion daily users, I stop looking for cleverer trades and start acting like an owner.
The pull, in human terms, is that Mark Zuckerberg has turned Meta into a company that prints cash from its Family of Apps while paying itself to build the next platform. Q1 2026 operating cash flow was $32.23 billion. That is the machine that funds everything else, and it is the reason I keep adding.
Reason One: Structural Cost Efficiency in AI Infrastructure Meta is building its future in-house. The Hyperion data center in Louisiana is now projected to exceed $50 billion for a 5 GW facility, with over $1.6 billion in local contracts already awarded. Zuckerberg told analysts that “one of the primary goals of our Meta compute initiative is to lead the industry in efficiency of building compute, and we expect that will be a strategic advantage over time.” The $125 to $145 billion 2026 capex range reads as scary until you notice $107 billion in new contractual commitments locking in supply through 2027.
Reason Two: Monetization Engines Beyond Ads The core ad engine is still cranking. Ad impressions rose 19% year over year and average price per ad climbed 12%. That alone would justify my position. Then JPMorgan flagged that Meta’s new Model API is priced 75% cheaper than OpenAI and Anthropic, described as Meta’s first real step toward monetizing AI outside advertising. Business AI conversations grew from 1 million to 10 million weekly since the start of the year, and partnership ads reached a $10 billion annual run rate. Multiple new revenue vectors are stacking behind an ad business already growing at 33% year over year.
Reason Three: Vertical Integration Nobody Else Owns Meta is rolling out more than one gigawatt of custom silicon developed with Broadcom, layering in AMD and NVIDIA, and just signed a multi-year agreement with Qualcomm for data center CPUs. On the consumer side, AI glasses users are tripling year over year, which Susan Li called one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics categories ever.
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Why Not the Obvious Alternatives Snap and Pinterest are the usual defaults for social ad exposure, but I stick with Meta because Meta’s 41.44% operating margin, 82.00% gross margin, and 30.24% return on equity are the numbers of a category owner, and its P/E of 24 with PEG of 0.949 is not a premium to that quality. Alphabet is a fine business, but I already own Meta’s superior ROE and I do not need to pay for a second ad engine to get AI exposure.
The Real Risk Reality Labs lost $4.03 billion in Q1 2026 and $19.2 billion for full-year 2025. Add youth-related litigation with additional trials in 2026 and the capex acceleration, and this is not a sleepy compounder. The reason it has not changed my thesis is net debt to EBITDA of 0.471 and interest coverage of 71.48x. Meta can absorb losses others cannot.
The buy button stays active because Meta owns the users, the cash flow, the silicon, and the timeline. I keep buying because the receipts keep arriving.
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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is heading into its second-quarter earnings report with robotaxis doing most of the talking.
Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on the stock and $460 price objective, pointing to the service's rapid expansion, a delivery number that blew past Wall Street estimates, and looming production milestones for the company's Optimus humanoid robot.
The bank said investor focus will center on the pace of robotaxi fleet scaling and new market launches. Tesla now operates in five markets following its July 3 launch in Miami, though its San Francisco service still requires a safety driver. Four additional markets are in preparation, compared with the company's original target of nine cities by the first half of 2026.
Tesla's Texas fleet has scaled quickly, adding more than 100 vehicles over the past month to reach 175, the fastest growth among the robotaxi operators Bank of America tracks. Safety data has remained compelling, with 22 incidents recorded through mid-June since the service's inception and no serious injuries or fatalities. A San Francisco pricing study the bank conducted in June found Tesla was 21% cheaper on average than Waymo, Uber and Lyft, though wait times ran three to four times higher, suggesting demand is outpacing supply.
On the core auto business, Tesla reported second-quarter deliveries of approximately 480,000 vehicles, above consensus estimates of about 406,000 and up 25% year-over-year. That compares with S&P forecasts for global battery electric vehicle sales growth of 15% year-over-year, suggesting Tesla gained roughly 95 basis points of BEV market share. U.S. share rose 50 basis points year-over-year to 46.1% in the quarter.
Bank of America also flagged upcoming updates on Optimus. Tesla is targeting initial production at Fremont for late July or August, around the same time as a possible Gen 3 reveal, with Giga Texas production expected around summer 2027. The bank expects a slow ramp but sees long-term opportunity, forecasting global humanoid shipments of 1.2 million units by 2030 and 10 million by 2035.
Beyond Optimus, the bank expects focus on energy storage following Tesla's agreement with NatPower for 25 GWh using its Megapack system. Tesla remains the leading battery energy storage systems company in the U.S., an area now drawing entrants including Ford, General Motors and BorgWarner.
Bank of America said Tesla is in the early stages of monetizing its autonomy capabilities, which it views as the most significant change agent in the shift toward autonomous, electric transportation.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) sits at the intersection of electric vehicles, autonomous driving, energy storage, and humanoid robotics, and the setup into 2027 is one of the most watched in the market. With shares changing hands at $397.92 and a model that just finalized the design of the AI5 inference processor alongside pilot production of Cybercab, the question retail investors keep asking is straightforward: what could a $10,000 stake actually be worth a year from now?
The Headline Answer Under the base-case model, a $10,000 investment in Tesla could be worth about $11,082 by 2027, a total return of 10.82%. That base case is anchored to a modeled 1-year share price target of $440.95, with a model confidence level of 90% and a BUY recommendation. Wall Street’s own consensus analyst target sits at $425.24, roughly in line with the base scenario.
Scenario Table: What $10,000 Could Become by 2027 Scenario Target Share Price Total Return Ending Value of $10,000 Bull (Optimistic) $493.69 24.07% $12,407 Base $440.95 10.82% $11,082 Bear (Conservative) $384.29 -3.42% $9,658 The spread is wide because Tesla’s beta is 1.802, meaningfully more volatile than the broader market. The current share price sits 15% below the 52-week high of $498.83, with the 52-week low at $297.82. Traders on Polymarket are also digesting this range in real time, with the crowd assigning a 64.5% probability that Tesla beats the next quarterly earnings print.
The Why: Three Drivers Behind the Target 1. Analyst consensus is skewed constructive. Of the covering analysts, 5 rate the stock Strong Buy, 18 Buy, 18 Hold, 4 Sell, and 2 Strong Sell. Bullish sentiment sits at 49% versus bearish at 13%. That mix supports the base case rather than the bull case, which is why the modeled target lands below the highest scenario.
2. Fundamentals are inflecting. Q1 FY2026 delivered a 14.14% EPS beat at $0.41, with revenue of $22.387 billion growing 15.78% year over year. Automotive gross margin expanded to 21.1% from 16.2% a year earlier, GAAP operating income rose 135.84%, and FSD active subscriptions climbed 51% to 1.28 million. Free cash flow more than doubled to $1.444 billion.
3. The catalyst stack is heavy. Volume production of Cybercab, Tesla Semi, and Megapack 3 is targeted for 2026, Optimus production lines are being installed at Fremont with a designed capacity of 1 million robots per year, and unsupervised Robotaxi rides launched in Dallas and Houston. FSD was approved in the Netherlands, opening a European regulatory path.
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For investors trying to size how AI compute and autonomy actually flow through to shareholder returns beyond just the chipmakers, this research on stocks powering the AI boom that aren’t chipmakers offers a useful framework for thinking about the second-order beneficiaries.
Risk: What Could Sink the Projection The bear case has real teeth. Vehicle deliveries grew just 6% year over year in Q1, global vehicle inventory rose to 27 days of supply from 22, and energy generation and storage revenue fell 12% year over year. Operating expenses grew 37% YoY on AI R&D and CEO stock-based compensation. Battery pack capacity remains a physical constraint on vehicle ramp, FSD approvals in China are still pending, and tariff exposure is a moving target. The stock also trades at a trailing P/E of 357, leaving little room for execution slippage.
Long-Term Context Zoomed out, the model’s 5-year base case points to $575.69 per share, a 44.68% total return, with a bull path to $685.30 (72.22%) and a bear path of just 7.21%. Investors weighing a 2027 entry are effectively deciding whether to underwrite the year in which Optimus, Cybercab, and Robotaxi transition from pilots into revenue.
The Bottom Line For a $10,000 stake, the modeled range by 2027 runs from about $9,658 in the bear case to $11,082 in the base case and $12,407 in the bull case, anchored to a base 1-year target of $440.95 and confidence of 90%. That is a scenario framework, not a promise. Analyst targets and model outputs are projections, not guarantees, and nothing here is personalized investment advice. Tesla’s next twelve months will be decided by execution on autonomy and robotics, and the dollar outcome for your stake will follow.
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CocaCola (NYSE:KO – Get Free Report) and Jammin Java (OTCMKTS:JAMN – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.
Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for CocaCola and Jammin Java, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score CocaCola 0 1 15 0 2.94 Jammin Java 0 0 0 0 0.00 CocaCola presently has a consensus target price of $88.81, suggesting a potential upside of 4.73%. Given CocaCola’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CocaCola is more favorable than Jammin Java.
Risk & Volatility CocaCola has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jammin Java has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation This table compares CocaCola and Jammin Java”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio CocaCola $47.94 billion 7.61 $13.11 billion $3.18 26.67 Jammin Java N/A N/A -$230,000.00 N/A N/A CocaCola has higher revenue and earnings than Jammin Java.
Profitability This table compares CocaCola and Jammin Java’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets CocaCola 27.80% 40.55% 12.90% Jammin Java N/A N/A N/A Insider & Institutional Ownership 70.3% of CocaCola shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of CocaCola shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.2% of Jammin Java shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary CocaCola beats Jammin Java on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About CocaCola (Get Free Report)
The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores. The company sells its products under the Coca-Cola, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, caffeine free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Fanta Orange, Fanta Zero Orange, Fanta Zero Sugar, Fanta Apple, Sprite, Sprite Zero Sugar, Simply Orange, Simply Apple, Simply Grapefruit, Fresca, Schweppes, Thums Up, Aquarius, Ayataka, BODYARMOR, Ciel, Costa, Dasani, dogadan, FUZE TEA, Georgia, glacéau smartwater, glacéau vitaminwater, Gold Peak, Ice Dew, I LOHAS, Powerade, Topo Chico, AdeS, Del Valle, fairlife, innocent, Minute Maid, and Minute Maid Pulpy brands. It operates through a network of independent bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, as well as through bottling and distribution operators. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
About Jammin Java (Get Free Report)
Jammin Java Corp. produces and sells roasted coffee under the Marley Coffee brand name in the United States and internationally. It distributes roasted coffee to grocery, retail, online, service, hospitality, office coffee service, and big box store industries. The company was formerly known as Marley Coffee Inc. and changed its name to Jammin Java Corp. in July 2009. Jammin Java Corp. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
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Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER, XETRA:UT8)'s planned acquisition of Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF) could strengthen its cross-platform strategy and create additional opportunities to grow customer engagement, according to Jefferies, which highlighted the strategic benefits of the $14.8 billion transaction.
Jefferies wrote that the combination could increase the value of Uber One and expand cross-selling opportunities across additional delivery markets. The analysts noted that the deal is expected to nearly double the number of markets where Uber offers both mobility and delivery services, increasing those markets from 34 to 58.
The acquisition is expected to add more than 35 million Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF) users and more than 15 million Uber mobility users located in markets where both services are available. Jefferies highlighted that customers using both Uber mobility and delivery products are more valuable to the company, generating three times more bookings and profits than single-product users. The analysts also noted that cross-platform engagement can serve as a more efficient customer acquisition channel, with costs approximately 50% lower.
Jefferies wrote that Uber’s expected $1.2 billion in run-rate synergies by the end of 2027 should enhance the financial contribution of the deal. The analysts noted that savings are expected to come primarily from deploying a common technology platform and reducing localized headcount outside Berlin.
The analysts also highlighted Uber’s expectation that the integration process will be relatively straightforward, as Delivery Hero will use existing Uber Eats technology rather than requiring a costly, multi-year technology overhaul.
Jefferies estimated that the transaction implies a valuation of roughly eight times 2027 enterprise value to EBITDA after including expected synergies, compared with about 11 times for Uber and 18 times for DoorDash.
While some investors have raised concerns that the acquisition could signal a more aggressive M&A strategy from Uber, Jefferies wrote that the company’s decision not to pursue additional large-scale acquisitions in the coming years should help address those concerns. The analysts noted that Uber remains focused on integrating Delivery Hero while maintaining its existing capital allocation priorities, including investment in its core businesses, autonomous vehicle development and share repurchases.
Jefferies added that Uber continues to have flexibility through more than $10 billion in annual free cash flow and selective divestitures of minority equity stakes, while maintaining its goal of returning roughly 50% of rolling 12-month free cash flow through share repurchases.
Shares of Uber traded down about 3% on Friday at $72, down almost 12% so far this year.
Alphabet shares fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session after a report suggested Google’s flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro artificial intelligence model is running behind schedule.
Alphabet GOOGL stock declined about 2% on Friday after falling roughly 4% on Thursday following the report.
The weakness came despite continued bullish views from several Wall Street firms ahead of the company's earnings report due on July 22.
According to a Bloomberg report, Google has delayed the broader release of Gemini 3.5 Pro, its most advanced AI model, as it continues working to improve the model’s capabilities, particularly in coding.
The report cited people familiar with the matter who said the delay has frustrated engineers, AI researchers and managers concerned that Google risks falling behind rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI.
Google first unveiled Gemini 3.5 Pro during its Google I/O developer conference in May, saying the model was being used internally and would be rolled out more broadly the following month.
The reported delay comes at a time when Alphabet is investing heavily in artificial intelligence across its products and cloud infrastructure.
According to the Bloomberg report, Google’s extensive product ecosystem and multiple layers of stakeholders involved in AI releases have contributed to slower product rollouts.
The company is integrating AI across services including Search, Maps and YouTube while balancing internal testing and government engagement.
Responding to reports of the delay, an Alphabet spokesperson told CNBC the company remains focused on rapidly releasing AI products.
"We’re currently testing 3.5 Pro, an upgraded Flash model, and other models with partners, and we’re productively engaged with the US government," the spokesperson said.
The reported delay has intensified investor scrutiny because Alphabet is expected to significantly increase AI-related spending this year.
Analysts forecast Alphabet's capital expenditure will reach approximately $187 billion in 2026, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That figure would consume nearly all of the company's projected $212 billion in operating cash flow, leaving around $25 billion in positive free cash flow, compared with roughly $73 billion generated last year.
The company is under pressure to demonstrate meaningful progress in AI capabilities to justify the enormous spending bill.
Analysts remain optimistic despite reported setbackDespite concerns surrounding Gemini 3.5 Pro, several Wall Street firms maintained positive views on Alphabet.
Wedbush Securities named Alphabet a "top pick" ahead of the company's quarterly earnings.
Analyst Ygal Arounian reiterated an Outperform rating and described Alphabet as the "best-positioned full stack AI offering for the next era of internet and technology."
Arounian said, "Alphabet has the most complete ownership of the consumer distribution layer (Search, Android, Chrome, YouTube), model (Gemini), custom silicon (TPUs), and cloud infrastructure (GCP), at scale."
The analyst expects Alphabet to deliver strong quarterly results as it continues monetizing artificial intelligence across its ecosystem.
Gemini has now been integrated into 13 Google products with more than one billion users each, according to Wedbush.
Five of those products — Search, Android, YouTube, Gmail and Workspace — each serve more than three billion users.
Wedbush also noted that Gemini's monthly active users exceeded 900 million in May, up from 750 million in February, while AI monetization is beginning to surpass the company's traditional search business.
Alphabet shares have declined roughly 5% over the past month, a move Wedbush views as creating an attractive entry point for investors.
Cloud outlook remains a bright spotBMO Capital also reiterated its bullish stance on Alphabet while increasing its price target to $455 from $435.
The firm maintained its Outperform rating after raising fourth-quarter and fiscal 2027 Google Cloud estimates by 2% and 13%, respectively.
According to BMO, stronger cloud demand, expanding capacity, and a growing backlog support improved financial expectations for Google Cloud.
The firm also said Alphabet's search business continues to demonstrate mid-to-high-teen growth.
BMO noted that "Search leadership story remains intact with mid-to-high-teens growth, but new questions are emerging around Gemini model intelligence on reports that Gemini Pro 3.5 is being delayed as it falls short on benchmarks."
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz continues its investigation of Alphabet Inc. (“Alphabet” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: GOOG) on behalf of investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws.IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO LOST MONEY ON ALPHABET INC. (GOOG), CLICK HERE TO INQUIRE ABOUT POTENTIALLY PURSUING A CLAIM TO RECOVER YOUR LOSS.What Is The Investigation About?On July 16, 2026, Bloomberg news reported that Alphabet's Google is “months beh.
Amazon (AMZN 0.90%) just completed a large bond sale, and it's a direct sign of where CEO Andy Jassy is pointing the company. Amazon sold $25 billion worth of bonds to finance its data center build-out, telling investors it's going all in on the artificial intelligence (AI) build-out.
This is a big deal because there have been some concerns proliferating over the past month about the health of the AI build-out trend. This bond sale is a solid indicator that the trend is robust, so investors can refocus on what Amazon's future will look like as an AI-first infrastructure company.
Image source: Amazon.com Inc.
Jassy has some insight into what's coming In Jassy's annual letter to investors, he made the case for Amazon spending $200 billion on data center capital expenditures this year. One major factor he discussed was that the faster a cloud computing business grows, the more money it has to spend to build the data centers and purchase the chips necessary to run the workloads. Plus, he reiterated that Amazon's investments aren't being made on blind faith; the company has secured several data center clients that will start using the new computing capacity being developed the first day it's available.
That should calm investors' nerves a bit, as Amazon is doing everything right to secure a long-term opportunity in the cloud computing market.
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Another factor that could set Amazon apart is its custom AI chips. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has already been successful in developing in-house Graviton central processing units (CPUs) for data centers, and its Trainium chips could also be a huge advantage, as Amazon has touted their cost effectiveness over graphics processing units for AI training workloads. It can't fully finance its ambitious expansion plans with its current cash flows, so Amazon is doing the right thing by issuing debt to secure this opportunity, even if some investors don't like it.
However, with Amazon becoming a more cloud-focused business, the stock looks even more attractive.
AWS' operating margins are far superior to those of Amazon's commerce divisions. This is evidenced by the fact that AWS accounted for 59% of operating profit in the first quarter, despite making up only 21% of revenue. As this division grows faster on the back of the company's increasingly large capital investments, Amazon's profits will likely soar, making the stock a no-brainer buy at today's levels. I think that Amazon's transformation into a cloud-focused business will surprise a lot of investors, and that the upside in the stock is real and immense.
Keithen Drury has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Dave Brown, the senior AWS executive whose departure Amazon announced this week, is joining Meta to work on its data center build-out, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The family of an Indiana teen who suffered traumatic brain injuries last year in a school bus crash is suing Amazon, a trucking company and local county officials for allegedly failing to keep a driver with a 20-year history of driving violations and drug use off the road.
On May 8, 2025, Lucas Bradshaw, then 16, was traveling to a game with his junior varsity baseball team when truck driver Shawn Akison, 42, crashed into the back of their mini school bus, according to a lawsuit filed last week in state court.
Akison was impaired by fentanyl, using his phone to check the Amazon app and traveling more than 75 mph in a 45-mph zone when the crash occurred – overturning the school bus and ejecting Bradshaw approximately 75 feet, the complaint alleged.
Lucas Bradshaw, then 16, suffered traumatic brain injuries in a school bus crash last year, according to the lawsuit. WNDU Bradshaw was rushed into emergency brain surgery after the crash and was in a coma for 54 days, spending a total of 125 days hospitalized and in intensive rehabilitation, according to the suit.
The teen suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, multiple brain hemorrhages, facial fractures and a broken arm, and continues to live with significant cognitive impairment, memory loss, vision loss and impaired mobility, according to the suit and his lawyers.
His family is seeking damages from Amazon and Elite Courier, the trucking company that hired Akison, arguing they did not adequately perform background checks on Akison.
They are also seeking damages from St. Joseph County, alleging police officers were aware of Akison’s erratic driving on May 8 and even initiated a pursuit – but terminated the chase without reporting it to neighboring LaPorte County officials once Akison crossed the county line.
It is the third lawsuit filed in connection with the crash, which reportedly involved another school bus and a fourth vehicle – injuring seven baseball players and two coaches.
“This was a tragedy, and our hearts are with the families affected as they recover and the entire LaPorte County community,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Post. “Given this is active litigation, we have no further comment.”
Shawn Akison pleaded guilty to causing catastrophic injury while operating a motor vehicle under the influence. WNDU/LaPorte County Sheriffs Department Akison was hired by Elite Courier, a third-party trucking company based in Illinois, and made Amazon deliveries as a subcontractor through the app Amazon Relay. According to company policy, Amazon conducts daily carrier screenings and driver verifications, leaving the third-party courier responsible for background checks.
But the lawsuit described the life-changing incident as a preventable tragedy, arguing neither Amazon nor Elite Courier flagged Akison even though he had a history of driving with a suspended license, speeding, unlawful use of a phone while driving, weaving in and out of lanes and even leaving the scene of a separate traffic crash.
In January 2025, less than four months before the tragic school bus crash, Akison was arrested and charged for possession of heroin while he was making Amazon deliveries for Elite Courier after local police received 911 calls about his erratic driving, according to the lawsuit.
The overturned mini school bus and the freight truck involved in the tragic crash last year. WNDU Earlier this year, Akison was sentenced to eight years in Indiana prison after he pleaded guilty to causing catastrophic injury while operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
In addition to fentanyl, Akison had consumed cocaine approximately five days before the school bus crash, as well as three unprescribed Hydrocodone pills the day before the crash, according to the lawsuit.
St. Joseph County Police did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. Elite Courier could not be reached.
Key Takeaways Amazon tied its roughly $200B 2026 AI capex plan to AWS expansion through new AI products and programs.AWS Q1 2026 sales rose 28% to $37.6B, while operating income increased to $14.2B from $11.5B.AMZN expects Q2 2026 sales of $194-$199B as AI infrastructure spending supports future AWS growth. Amazon's (AMZN - Free Report) AWS growth story is now inseparable from its roughly $200 billion 2026 capital spending plan, and recent developments show that the bet is actively shaping the cloud unit's next chapter. Over the past several weeks, AWS has rolled out a dense string of AI-infrastructure announcements spanning the AWS Summit in New York and the AWS Summit in Washington, D.C. These included the expansion of Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with new agent-governance and knowledge-grounding tools, along with a broadened partnership with OpenAI that brings GPT-5.5 and a Bedrock-hosted version of Codex into limited preview.
Amazon also unveiled a $1 billion cloud-incentive program alongside a distinct $1 billion commitment to place AWS AI engineers on-site with public-sector customers. Together, these moves reinforce how directly the heavy AI spend is translating into product breadth and customer wins.
That momentum builds on a strong first-quarter 2026 performance. AWS segment sales rose 28% year over year to $37.6 billion, marking the unit's fastest growth pace in 15 quarters, while AWS operating income climbed to $14.2 billion from $11.5 billion a year earlier. Amazon's custom silicon business, spanning Graviton, Trainium and Nitro, topped a $20 billion annualized revenue run rate while expanding at a triple-digit percentage pace, and management pointed to more than $225 billion in cumulative Trainium-related revenue commitments from customers, including large multi-year, multi-gigawatt agreements.
Looking ahead, the company's own second-quarter 2026 guidance calls for net sales between $194 billion and $199 billion, suggesting growth of 16% to 19%, with operating income projected between $20 billion and $24 billion. This outlook assumes Prime Day falls within the quarter, adding a seasonal tailwind. With the roughly $200 billion capex plan directed largely at data centers, networking and custom AI chips, management continues to frame the spending as the foundation for AWS' next growth phase.
Rival Cloud Spending: Microsoft and AlphabetAmazon's AI-driven capex build sits alongside similar moves from Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) . Microsoft has guided fiscal 2026 capital expenditures to roughly $190 billion, and Azure most recently grew around 40% year over year, according to Microsoft's own disclosures. Alphabet, meanwhile, raised its full-year 2026 capex outlook to a range of $180 billion to $190 billion, with Google Cloud posting 63% year-over-year growth in its most recent quarter. Both Microsoft and Alphabet continue to cite AI infrastructure demand as the primary driver behind their respective spending increases, placing Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon on a broadly comparable investment trajectory this year.
AMZN’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAmazon shares have returned 4.5% in the past six-month period against the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector’s decline 3.1%. The Zacks Internet – Commerce industry has witnessed no change in the said time frame.
AMZN’s 6-Month Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, AMZN stock appears overvalued, trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 26.22X, higher than the industry’s 22.57X. Amazon has a Value Score of D.
AMZN’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMZN’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $8.86 per share, indicating a 23.57% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD, XETRA:AMD) hosts its Advancing AI 2026 event next week in San Francisco, its first dedicated AI day since June 2025 when it launched its MI350 series GPUs and previewed its Helios rack system.
Jefferies analysts expect AMD to raise its addressable market estimate for AI CPUs above $200 billion, topping the figure Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) (Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD)) gave in May. They are also watching for more detail on AMD's next-generation MI500 GPUs and scale-up roadmap, along with any new customer announcements.
New customer announcements have been the biggest swing factor at AMD's past two AI events. The firm's Asia supply chain checks suggest Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) (Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)) is now a customer for AMD's MI400 series GPUs, joining previously disclosed customers OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB) (Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB)).
The analysts said expectations center on a potential Anthropic announcement, noting reports that the AI company has been hiring engineers with ROCm experience, which they said suggests Anthropic is preparing to diversify its computing infrastructure.
Jefferies cautioned that deal economics matter more than any headline, noting AMD has already committed 20% of the company to OpenAI and Meta, so future deals would need smaller incentive packages.
A more traditional Anthropic agreement would reinforce confidence in AMD's ability to compete without equity incentives, the analysts said.
Jefferies expects new disclosure on the MI500 series, previewed at CES 2026 as CDNA 6 architecture on an advanced 2nm process with HBM4E memory targeted for 2027, with a claimed 1,000-times AI performance uplift versus an eight-GPU MI300X node.
The analysts expect the MI500 platform to move to a native Ultra Accelerator Link scale-up domain with 256 GPUs per rack, which may require optical interconnects.
Jefferies is watching for confirmation of a co-packaged optics approach and its supplier, noting AMD's investment in Ayar Labs and its work with Astera Labs Inc (NASDAQ:ALAB) on Ultra Accelerator Link and Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO, XETRA:1YD) (Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO, XETRA:1YD)) on scale-up networking.
Have you been searching for a stock that might be well-positioned to maintain its earnings-beat streak in its upcoming report? It is worth considering Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry.
This chipmaker has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 10.65%.
For the most recent quarter, Advanced Micro was expected to post earnings of $1.3 per share, but it reported $1.37 per share instead, representing a surprise of 5.38%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $1.32 per share, while it actually produced $1.53 per share, a surprise of 15.91%.
With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Advanced Micro. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank.
Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven.
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. 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.
Advanced Micro has an Earnings ESP of +1.37% at the moment, suggesting that analysts have grown bullish on its near-term earnings potential. When you combine this positive Earnings ESP with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner. The company's next earnings report is expected to be released on August 4, 2026.
With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss.
Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate.
Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ:AMD shares fell 1.19% on Friday even as investors looked ahead to the chipmaker's Advancing AI 2026 event next week in San Francisco.
Analysts expect the company to unveil new artificial intelligence products, customer wins, and long-term growth plans in the event.
The event marks AMD's first dedicated AI showcase since June 2025, when it introduced its MI350 series GPUs and previewed its Helios rack system.
Wall Street will be closely watching for updates on AMD's next-generation accelerators, customer adoption, and its strategy to challenge Nvidia in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market.
Jefferies expects AMD to increase its estimate for the total addressable market for AI CPUs to more than $200 billion, surpassing the figure Nvidia presented in May.
The brokerage is also looking for additional details on AMD's next-generation MI500 GPU family and its broader scale-up roadmap, along with potential customer announcements.
According to Jefferies' Asia supply-chain checks, Microsoft has become a customer for AMD's MI400 series GPUs, joining previously disclosed customers OpenAI and Meta Platforms.
The firm said expectations are also building around a possible partnership announcement with Anthropic.
Analysts pointed to reports that the AI startup has been hiring engineers with ROCm experience, suggesting it could be preparing to diversify its AI computing infrastructure.
Jefferies cautioned that any new customer agreement should be evaluated based on its economics rather than the headline alone.
The firm noted that AMD has already committed 20% of the company to OpenAI and Meta, adding that future partnerships would ideally require smaller incentive packages.
According to the analysts, a more traditional commercial agreement with Anthropic would strengthen confidence in AMD's ability to win AI customers without relying on equity incentives.
Beyond customer wins, analysts expect AMD to provide fresh details on its MI500 series accelerators.
The company first previewed the platform during CES 2026, describing it as a CDNA 6-based architecture built on an advanced 2-nanometer manufacturing process with HBM4E memory and targeted for a 2027 launch.
AMD has claimed the platform could deliver a 1,000-times AI performance improvement compared with an eight-GPU MI300X node.
Jefferies expects AMD to discuss plans for a native Ultra Accelerator Link scale-up architecture supporting up to 256 GPUs per rack, a design that may require optical interconnect technology.
The brokerage is also looking for confirmation of a co-packaged optics strategy and potential supplier details.
It highlighted AMD's investment in Ayar Labs as well as its collaborations with Astera Labs on Ultra Accelerator Link and Broadcom on scale-up networking.
UBS also turned more optimistic on AMD ahead of next week's event, raising its 12-month price target to $700 from $670 while maintaining a Buy rating.
The investment bank said recent supply-chain checks indicate stronger demand for AMD's AI accelerators through 2027.
UBS expects the Advancing AI event to feature updates on the MI450X accelerator, the MI500 GPU family and AMD's next-generation server processors.
The bank believes Amazon could emerge as a major customer for the MI450X platform and said Anthropic may also adopt AMD's AI chips, although it cautioned that customer announcements may not necessarily come during the event.
Reflecting its stronger outlook, UBS raised its 2027 revenue forecast for AMD to $83.4 billion, up from $79.2 billion, while increasing its earnings estimate for the year to $14.63 per share.
For investors, the Advancing AI event represents the next major catalyst as AMD seeks to demonstrate growing AI customer adoption and strengthen its position against Nvidia in the AI accelerator market.
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA – Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $186.9048.
Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research raised Alibaba Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Alibaba Group in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $209.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Nomura reduced their price objective on Alibaba Group from $207.00 to $178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th.
View Our Latest Analysis on BABA
Alibaba Group Price Performance BABA opened at $117.61 on Friday. Alibaba Group has a 1 year low of $91.99 and a 1 year high of $192.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $282.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $117.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.36.
Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 4.76%. The company had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alibaba Group Announces Dividend The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $1.05 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 93.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Alibaba Group’s payout ratio is 16.91%.
Insider Activity at Alibaba Group In related news, CEO Fan (Fj) Jiang sold 13,579 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.10, for a total transaction of $164,305.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 556,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,735,065.70. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Siying Yu sold 6,772 shares of Alibaba Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.10, for a total transaction of $81,941.20. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 607,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,347,531.40. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 920,303 shares of company stock valued at $70,796,370 in the last 90 days. 12.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 54,235 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,950,000 after purchasing an additional 5,760 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 24.5% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 259,580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,567,000 after purchasing an additional 51,000 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 584,028 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $85,607,000 after purchasing an additional 30,644 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,266,000. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 50,123 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,347,000 after purchasing an additional 19,169 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.
Key Headlines Impacting Alibaba Group Here are the key news stories impacting Alibaba Group this week:
Positive Sentiment: China approved Apple Intelligence for launch with Alibaba’s Qwen AI integrated into Apple devices in China, strengthening Alibaba’s position in a major AI rollout and fueling a rally in the stock. Apple Intelligence approved for launch in China with Alibaba’s Qwen AI Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlighted that Alibaba’s shares jumped in Hong Kong and U.S. trading on optimism that the Apple partnership could accelerate AI adoption and improve growth expectations. Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares rise 4% after Qwen AI set to be integrated in Apple Intelligence Neutral Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Alibaba as having significant upside potential, though one firm recently trimmed its price target while keeping an Overweight rating. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA): 12 Strong Buy Stocks with High Upside According to Analysts Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm and Pomerantz LLP both announced investigations into possible securities claims against Alibaba, citing alleged misleading business information, which could create legal risk and weigh on shares. Alibaba Investor News: If You Have Suffered Losses in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA), You Are Encouraged to Contact The Rosen Law Firm About Your Rights Alibaba Group Company Profile (Get Free Report)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, by Jack Ma and a group of co‑founders. The company built its business around internet-based commerce and related services and has grown into one of the largest e-commerce and technology companies in the world. Alibaba completed a high‑profile initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.
The company operates a portfolio of online marketplaces and platforms serving different customer segments: Alibaba.com for global and domestic B2B trade, Taobao for consumer-to-consumer shopping, and Tmall for brand and retailer storefronts targeted at Chinese consumers.
See Also Five stocks we like better than Alibaba Group Why Abbott Laboratories Stock Is Suddenly Winning Back Wall Street Revving Up Returns: Big Banks Race Through the Rate Plateau Why Uber’s Biggest Deal Yet Could Unlock Its Next Growth Phase Why Microsoft Is Playing a Different AI Game Than Big Tech—and Cash Flow Is the Test
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Item 1 of 2 The engine of a 737 MAX on the final assembly production line during a media tour of the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, U.S., April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Genna Martin
[1/2]The engine of a 737 MAX on the final assembly production line during a media tour of the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, U.S., April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Genna Martin Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
CompaniesWASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration told Congress on Friday it will allow Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab to issue airworthiness certificates for all 737 MAX and 787 airplanes starting next week, a significant milestone for the U.S. planemaker as it ramps up production.
The FAA told Congress the "decision follows months of thorough data and safety review demonstrating consistent production quality and reflects the FAA's confidence in Boeing's ability to issue airworthiness certificates under FAA oversight," according to an email seen by Reuters.
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The FAA revoked Boeing's right to approve individual MAX planes in 2019 after a second fatal MAX crash in Ethiopia, and for Boeing 787 airplanes in 2022 due to production quality issues.
Boeing did not immediately comment.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
The U.S. government on Friday said Boeing can once again issue airworthiness certificates for its best-selling 737 Max aircraft and 787 Dreamliners, an authority that was stripped from the manufacturer after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 of the 737 Max.
The Federal Aviation Administration said last September that Boeing could ticket its own planes before they're handed off to customers for only some of the Maxes and Dreamliners, alternating weeks between the FAA and Boeing doing that work.
"During the past eight months, the FAA has seen comparable production quality findings when Boeing issued airworthiness certificates and when the FAA issued them," the agency said Friday. "Based on these results, the FAA determined it can safely return this responsibility to Boeing."
Boeing didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The decision is a vote of confidence for Boeing, one of the biggest U.S. exporters by value, from its regulator and the U.S. government after years of safety crises, including the two crashes and a near catastrophe in January 2024 when a door plug blew off of one a new 737 Max 9 moments into the flight.
Read more CNBC airline newsDelta launches ‘basic business’ fares without lounge access, seat selectionRecord heat, crowds drive offseason boom in international travelDelta expects higher airfare to last, bringing 2026 profit goal in reach'Bring 'em on': Delta wants United's crown over the Pacific, tooSpirit's collapse, high fuel prices test limits of summer vacation spendingMeet the pilots flying Spirit Airlines' yellow jets to the desert
Nvidia (NVDA 1.95%) stock plunged nearly 5% early Friday. Shares of the artificial intelligence (AI) leader have been treading water for the past several months, with investors balancing the company's strengths with potential risks.
Today's move is a reaction to more AI model competition from China. Nvidia stock recovered some of the early drop but remained down 2.2% as of 11:11 a.m. ET. Here's why investors should be better prepared to jump in on the dip.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
From DeepSeek to Moonshot The AI market is more mature than it was in early 2025 when DeepSeek shook the AI world with the release of a free chatbot app and its new reasoning model. Still, news today that Chinese start-up Moonshot AI has unveiled a new model that, according to the company, narrows the gap with top U.S. systems, including those from OpenAI and Anthropic, rattled some investors.
Nvidia shares sank along with many others in the tech sector on fears that lower-cost tokens will reduce or shift big tech's capital spending for growing AI infrastructure. Like with DeepSeek, though, the initial reaction seems overdone.
Nvidia continues to grow its expansive business, and investors shouldn't panic even as competitors release more efficient technology that could supplant some of its existing products. The company even announced yesterday that it is expanding its AI footprint in Japan with new partnerships.
Today's Change
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Current Price
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Nvidia stock remains very reasonably priced, and buying on dips may look like a good move after the company provides its next quarterly update, which should prove growth continues at a brisk pace.
Howard Smith has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A new exchange-traded fund is trying to package the biggest names in artificial intelligence into a single ticker that also pays regular income. Tapp Finance, doing business as TappAlpha, has launched the TappAlpha Cboe Magnificent 10 Growth & Daily Income ETF (CBOE:TMGN), which lists on the Cboe BZX Exchange.
TMGN carries a 0.88% management fee, which the prospectus lists as the fund’s total annual operating expenses. That works out to $88 a year on a $10,000 investment. It is actively managed, aims for monthly distributions, and holds ten of the largest US tech and growth stocks alongside a daily options-selling strategy meant to generate income.
What the Fund Does TMGN is built around the Cboe Magnificent 10 Index, an equal-weighted basket of 10 large-cap, US-listed technology and growth-oriented companies with listed options. According to the prospectus, current members are NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), and Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR). The index is rebalanced monthly and reviewed quarterly. Because every stock starts at roughly equal weight, a smaller name like Palantir carries the same starting weight as NVIDIA.
The “daily income” piece comes from a covered-call overlay. Each trading day, the fund writes out-of-the-money call options that expire the same day, known on Wall Street as “0DTE” contracts. It collects a premium for each option sold. In the adviser’s view, a daily strategy “provides a higher income potential and a more stable income level in volatile markets” than a monthly cycle. The prospectus also allows for weekly options, put spreads, or multi-leg strategies as defensive actions during periods of heightened volatility.
Writing calls caps how much the fund can earn when these stocks rally hard, which is the core trade-off. The prospectus states plainly that the strategy “will limit the Fund’s participation in gains” above the strike prices. TMGN is also classified as non-diversified and is currently concentrated in the semiconductor industry, spanning three sectors: Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services.
How It Stacks Up Against Rivals TappAlpha’s pitch is combining a mega-cap growth basket with steady option premium income. The daily 0DTE mechanic is the differentiator. Direct competitors already exist. YieldMax’s Magnificent 7 covered-call fund runs a similar covered-call playbook on the original seven and charges a 1.34% expense ratio, well above TMGN’s 0.88%. Roundhill’s Magnificent 7 ETF offers plain vanilla exposure without an income overlay at a lower fee, while Defiance’s 0DTE income fund runs a similar strategy on the broader Nasdaq-100. TMGN’s twist is broader membership, adding AMD and Palantir to the standard seven, wrapped in the daily options mechanic.
Who It Might Suit and the Risks TMGN is designed for investors who want mega-cap AI exposure but also want regular income, and who accept a ceiling on upside in exchange for premium collection. Income-focused accounts are the obvious target audience.
Several risks deserve weight. TMGN has no live track record, so there is nothing to judge it by yet. New ETFs often trade with wide bid-ask spreads until assets grow, and small funds sometimes close if they fail to gather assets. Distributions are monthly, not daily, and the prospectus warns that payouts “may include a return of capital” and are not guaranteed in any given month. Covered-call strategies historically lag in strong bull markets. If the basket rips higher, TMGN will trail a straight long position.
The Magnificent 10 has often traded as one AI theme, yet concentration risk is real and dispersion inside the basket is significant. Year-to-date price moves through July 16 illustrate the point: AMD is up 133.91%, Apple 22.81%, Alphabet 13.39%, NVIDIA 11.34%, Broadcom 8.59%, Amazon 8.26%, and Meta 0.85%, while Microsoft is down 16.69%, Tesla down 13.04%, and Palantir down 24.37%. For comparison, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is up 14.92% year to date.
Worth watching from here: how quickly TMGN gathers assets, what its first monthly distributions look like once declared, and whether the daily 0DTE overlay holds up its end during the coming earnings weeks for these mega-caps.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Key Takeaways 3M is expected to post Q2 revenues of $6.38B, up 3.6%, with EPS projected to rise 5.1% year over year.MMM's Safety and Industrial unit is expected to benefit from strong demand across key industrial markets.3M's restructuring may aid margins, though higher R&D and operating costs remain a headwind. 3M Company (MMM - Free Report) is scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 results on July 21, before market open.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MMM’s second-quarter revenues is pegged at $6.38 billion, indicating growth of 3.6% from the prior-year quarter’s figure. The consensus mark for earnings is pinned at $2.27 per share, which increased 1.3% in the past 60 days. The figure indicates growth of 5.1% from the year-ago quarter's figure.
The company delivered better-than-expected results in each of the trailing four quarters, the earnings surprise being 4.6% on average. In the last reported quarter, its earnings of $2.14 per share beat the consensus estimate of $2.02 by 5.9%.
Let’s see how things have shaped up for 3M this earnings season.
Factors to Note Ahead of MMM’s Q2 Results3M’s Safety and Industrial segment’s results are expected to perform well, driven by strength across personal safety, industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical markets. Stable demand for electrical infrastructure products like medium voltage cable accessories and insulation tapes is likely to have been a tailwind as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the segment’s second-quarter revenues is pegged at $3.03 billion, indicating approximately a 6.1% increase from the year-ago number.
Solid momentum in the aerospace and defense, commercial branding and automotive markets is likely to have supported 3M‘s Transportation and Electronics segment’s performance. Also, strength in the commercial branding and automotive markets, driven by demand for new products and expanding sales coverage, is proving beneficial for the segment as well.
Healthy demand across the home and auto care business is expected to have benefited the Consumer segment’s performance in the second quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from the Consumer segment is pegged at $1.29 billion, indicating an increase of 1.4% year over year. However, persistent weakness in the packaging and expression and home improvement businesses is likely to mar the segment’s results.
Nevertheless, 3M has undertaken structural reorganization actions that include streamlining its geographic footprint, simplifying the supply chain and optimizing manufacturing operations. These actions are expected to have supported margins in the to-be-reported quarter.
However, MMM’s performance has been negatively impacted by high costs and expenses. The company’s solid investments in research and development (R&D) are expected to have pushed up its operating expenses.
Earnings WhispersOur proven model predicts an earnings beat for MMM this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is the case here, as elaborated below.
Earnings ESP: MMM has an Earnings ESP of +0.76% as the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $2.29 per share, higher than the Most Accurate Estimate of $2.27. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Zacks Rank: 3M presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Other Stocks to ConsiderHere are some other companies, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in this reporting cycle.
Crane Company (CR - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +4.73% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. The company is scheduled to release second-quarter 2026 results on July 28.
Crane’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 11.3%.
Ingersoll Rand Inc. (IR - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.61% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is slated to release second-quarter 2026 results on July 30.
Ingersoll Rand’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters while matching the mark in two, the average surprise being 2.4%.
Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.31% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is slated to release second-quarter 2026 results on July 28.
Illinois Tool’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 2.8%.
Shares of Netflix (NFLX 7.25%) fell as much as 12.2% on Friday morning before recovering to a 9.1% decline as of 11:20 a.m. ET. The video-streaming giant delivered a perfectly cromulent Q2 2026 report on Thursday evening, but investors still found reasons to drop the stock price.
Revenue hit $12.56 billion, matching estimates. EPS of $0.80 beat the Street by a penny. Netflix has missed bottom-line estimates about once a year since 2023, and this wasn't one of those misses. Full-year guidance? Unchanged at the midpoint. Operating income growth tracking north of 20%. Every figure fell well within management's Q2 guidance.
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So what spooked investors? Netflix announced it will publish its "What We Watched" engagement report annually instead of twice a year, starting in 2027. In other words, engagement hawks will have fewer data points to obsess over.
Management argues that this change keeps the focus on the metrics that matter most (revenue, profit, and free cash flow, as most mature businesses do). Furthermore, most streamers never report detailed viewing data. However, some investors clearly interpreted it as the company hiding something.
That wasn't the whole story, of course. Viewing hours grew 2% in the first half, which is positive but probably below the increase in subscriber numbers. Q3 guidance also landed a hair below Wall Street's consensus, which didn't help the mood.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The bigger picture Here's the thing: Netflix stock has already been beaten up pretty badly. Shares are down 46% from their 52-week high, trading at about 21 times trailing earnings and 18 times forward estimates. The PEG ratio is 0.82, which arguably undervalues Netflix's stock given its growth rates.
For a company that's been hitting or beating estimates for years, still growing revenue in the low teens, and expanding margins, that valuation already seems to be pricing in a fair amount of skepticism. Long-term investors might view today's panic as an opportunity to own a dominant streaming franchise at a more reasonable price than it's commanded in years. The crushed multiples should eventually expand again if growth continues at these rates. Netflix certainly has enough irons in the fire to make it happen.
Anders Bylund has positions in Netflix. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The CNBC Business News Update with Jill Schneider features market numbers & news with CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business names. Updated throughout the business day.
Netflix (NFLX) shares currently trade at a 2-year low after revenue missed expectations in earnings. Alicia Reese talks about the metrics she sees weighing down the stock and how the streaming company has potential to stage a rebound.
Key Takeaways Netflix beat Q2 EPS estimates, but revenues narrowly missed consensus and shares fell after hours.NFLX narrowed 2026 revenue guidance to $51-$51.4B while maintaining a 31.5% operating margin target.Netflix posted a record $4.7B quarterly buyback and kept 2026 free cash flow guidance near $12.5B. Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) stock fell more than 8% in after-hours trading on Thursday as the company missed second-quarter 2026 revenue expectations and issued lower guidance for 2026. Investor skepticism remains high amid competitive pressures and a failed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition bid.
The company reported second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of 80 cents, which increased 11.1% from 72 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.27%.
Quarterly revenues increased 13.4% year over year (12% on an F/X-neutral basis) to $12.56 billion, in line with the company's forecast. The figure missed the consensus mark by 0.1%.
Management attributed the revenue growth primarily to membership growth, pricing and increased advertising revenues, with double-digit revenue growth delivered across all regions. Netflix continues to withhold quarterly membership numbers.
Revenue growth was strongest in Latin America (up 21% year over year, or 16% F/X-neutral) and Asia-Pacific (up 16%, or 18% F/X-neutral), followed by EMEA (up 14%, or 11% F/X-neutral) and the United States and Canada (up 10%). Management noted that UCAN growth reflected only a partial-quarter impact from its recent price change, which it said "has gone well and as expected."
The company reiterated that its first-half price changes across markets, including the United States, Mexico and Spain, performed consistently with prior increases and internal expectations. Advertising revenues remained on track to reach roughly $3 billion in 2026, about double the 2025 level.
NFLX Profitability Reflects Higher Content AmortizationOperating income rose 11% year over year to $4.19 billion. Operating margin came in at 33.4%, down from 34.1% in the year-earlier quarter, though slightly ahead of the company's own forecast due to the timing of expenses. The operating income grew slower than revenues because content amortization growth is front-loaded in the first half of the year; amortization is expected to decelerate in the back half and rise about 10% for full-year 2026.
Net income for the quarter was $3.4 billion, up from $3.13 billion a year ago. The letter noted that free cash flow and cash tax payments in the quarter were affected in part by the terminated Warner Bros. transaction, for which Netflix had recognized a $2.8 billion termination fee in the first quarter.
NFLX Cash Flow Declines on Higher Cash TaxesNet cash provided by operating activities was $1.74 billion in the quarter, down from $2.42 billion a year earlier. Free cash flow fell to $1.53 billion from $2.27 billion in the prior-year quarter, which the company attributed to higher cash tax payments, due in part to the Warner Bros. termination fee. For the full year, Netflix continues to expect free cash flow of approximately $12.5 billion and a cash content spend-to-amortization ratio of roughly 1.1x.
On the balance sheet, Netflix ended the quarter with $9.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $14.4 billion in gross debt (non-GAAP net debt of $5.2 billion). The company has $1 billion of debt maturing later this year, which it plans to refinance. In April, Netflix's board authorized an additional $25 billion in share repurchases on top of the $6.8 billion of capacity remaining at the end of the first quarter. Netflix repurchased $4.7 billion of stock in the quarter — its largest quarterly buyback on record — leaving $27.1 billion remaining under its authorization.
NFLX Narrows 2026 GuidanceNetflix narrowed its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to $51.0-$51.4 billion (from $50.7-$51.7 billion previously), suggesting 13-14% growth, while maintaining its operating margin target of 31.5%. For the third quarter, the company forecasts revenues of $12.86 billion, reflecting 12% growth (11% F/X-neutral), and an operating margin of 33.2%, versus 28.2% in the year-ago quarter. Management said the second quarter marked the highest year-over-year content amortization growth rate expected in 2026, with deceleration to mid-to-high single-digit growth anticipated in the second half.
Notable Q2 2026 DevelopmentsNetflix made a significant change to how it discloses engagement, announcing that after releasing its semi-annual "What We Watched" report for the first half of 2026 — which showed members watched more than 97 billion hours, up 2% year over year despite competition from the Winter Olympics and World Cup — it will shift to publishing the report annually, starting in the first quarter of 2027. The company said the goal is to keep quarterly earnings focused on its primary financial metrics of revenue and operating profit, though it will continue reporting weekly Top 10 lists and title-level view-hours data.
Shares of Netflix Inc (Nasdaq: NFLX) are down more than 11% in premarket trading on Friday following an earnings report that came close to Wall Street’s expectations but also announced plans to reduce engagement transparency.
Released on Thursday, July 16, the streamer’s second-quarter earnings report revealed $12.56 billion in revenue, a 13% increase year-over-year (YOY). Netflix attributed the double-digit growth to increased ad revenue, membership growth, and pricing.
Price hikes ‘going well’Netflix raised its prices in late March, with the cheapest option (standard with ads) now costing $8.99 per month. In a post-earnings call, Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann simply stated that the price adjustments are “going well.”
Despite its growth, Netflix’s revenue just missed Wall Street’s predicted $12.59 billion, while slightly surpassing estimates of 79 cents per share with 80 cents per share, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC.
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Alongside its results, the company announced a smaller forecasted revenue range for 2026. It has narrowed from between $50.7 billion and $51.7 billion to $51 billion and $51.4 billion.
Fewer ‘What We Watched’ reportsMoving forward, it will take longer to know people’s viewing habits on Netflix.
The company has announced that its What We Watched report will come just once a year, during the streamer’s first quarter. It had been a biannual report, with the latest edition published alongside quarter two’s financial report.
John Conca and Kenneth Suh discuss their takeaways from Netflix (NFLX) recent earnings. Kenneth says the company's addition of short form content, video games and video game podcasting are lifting a lot of engagement and provide opportunities for ad engagement.
Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow looks at Chinese startup Moonshot's latest model, which it says can compete with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic. Plus, Netflix shares tumble after the streaming giant warns of slowing sales growth for a second straight quarter.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) shares traded up 1.7% on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $62.03 and last traded at $61.6220. Approximately 43,138,347 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average session volume of 38,850,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.62.
The financial services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.78 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS.
Bank of America Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 27.72%.
More Bank of America News Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:
Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised their price targets on BAC after Q2 results, with Barclays, Wells Fargo, KBW, and Truist all seeing further upside on stronger earnings and better growth prospects. Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s earnings call highlighted durable growth drivers including rising net interest income, loan and deposit gains, operating leverage, and AI-enabled productivity, which should support profitability. Bank of America Q2 Earnings Call Points to Durable Growth Drivers Positive Sentiment: Coverage following the quarter noted that Bank of America rode market volatility to trading records, while deal activity remained a bright spot, reinforcing the strength of its capital markets businesses. BofA rides market whiplash to trading records, deal activity shines Positive Sentiment: Commentary after the Q2 report said Bank of America’s consumer unit earned nearly $3.3 billion as spending held up, suggesting its retail banking franchise remains resilient. Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan also warned about AI security risks, but this appears more like an industry-wide caution than a direct business setback for BAC. Negative Sentiment: An article questioning whether Bank of America is overvalued could temper some enthusiasm if investors worry the post-earnings rally has already priced in much of the good news. Is Bank of America Corporation (BAC) Overvalued? Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. HSBC lifted their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Bank of America from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.77.
Read Our Latest Research Report on BAC
Insider Transactions at Bank of America In related news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $6,719,335.56. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,373,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,803,774.97. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 182.3% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC now owns 511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. CrossGen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Bank of America Trading Down 0.2% The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.09. The stock has a market cap of $436.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.
About Bank of America (Get Free Report)
Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.
Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.
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