Centrus Energy Corp (LEU) has signed a definitive contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a notable update for the entire nuclear industry. Originally selected earlier this year for a $900 million award, the final contract value has expanded to over $1 billion.
Key Takeaways Centrus Energy Corp finalized a DOE contract valued at over $1 billion to scale up domestic commercial manufacturing of critical high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The operational expansion directly supports a recent commercial letter of intent (LOI) signed with Oklo Inc to fuel advanced reactor deployments in Ohio. Advisors can access both Centrus Energy and Oklo via the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ), which captures the broader nuclear fuel and reactor ecosystem. This major funding is designed to transition the company’s HALEU production cascade in Piketon, Ohio, into full-scale commercial operations. For investors monitoring the space, this development highlights the significant public-private capital deployment driving next-generation nuclear infrastructure.
Expanding the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain Securing a domestic supply of HALEU remains a bottleneck for the deployment of advanced nuclear reactors in the U.S. The DOE’s commitment derisks the capital expenditure required for Centrus to scale its deployment. Furthermore, this contract allows the company to ramp up production to meet commercial demand.
This infrastructure upgrade directly builds upon recent private sector commercial commitments. Just weeks prior to this contract signing, Centrus finalized a LOI with Oklo Inc. (OKLO). Under the agreement, Centrus will provide enrichment services to supply the necessary fuel for Oklo’s flagship Aurora Powerhouse project slated for southern Ohio.
Playing the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain via NUKZ For advisors looking to capture this investment opportunity, an index-based solution like the Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ) provides balanced exposure to the entire nuclear value chain.
Both Centrus and Oklo are holdings in NUKZ, allowing advisors to capture both fuel production and reactor deployment. As utilities seek reliable, emissions-free baseload power to meet rising data center electricity demands, the nuclear fuel chain represents a resilient thematic allocation.
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vettafi.com is owned by VettaFi LLC (“VettaFi”). VettaFi is the index provider for NUKZ, for which it receives an index licensing fee. However, NUKZ is not issued, sponsored, endorsed, or sold by VettaFi. VettaFi has no obligation or liability in connection with the issuance, administration, marketing, or trading of NUKZ.
TeraWulf is rated BUY for its superior risk-reward profile and significant growth potential in AI data center infrastructure. WULF's capital-heavy model enables advanced, efficient data centers with 1.36GW free capacity and a major $19B, 20-year ANTHRO contract. Despite higher CapEx and net debt, WULF's AI business delivers 88% gross margin and 48% operating margin, outpacing Core Scientific.
Seagate Technology STX shares rose on Friday after Wells Fargo upgraded the data storage company to an Overweight rating.
The analyst cited growing confidence in its long-term earnings potential and sustained demand for hard-disk drives (HDDs) driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The upgrade comes after Seagate shares pulled back in recent weeks amid concerns over the sustainability of AI-related spending, despite the stock remaining up more than 500% over the past 12 months.
Rival Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC), which has also benefited from the AI infrastructure boom, is up nearly 800% over the same period.
Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers upgraded Seagate from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised the firm's price target to $1,100 from $900.
"With the recent market pullback and increasing confidence in what we view as a path to plus-$50 earnings-per-share and significant (capital) return capacity ahead, we upgrade STX to Overweight with a $1,100 price target," Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers said in a note for clients.
Rakers also lifted his price target on Western Digital to $730 from $575 while maintaining an Overweight rating.
The analyst said he remains "positive on HDDs" ahead of June-quarter earnings and increased estimates for both companies.
He projects Seagate's annual earnings per share will rise from $21.60 this year to $53.69 by 2028.
Rakers expects both storage companies to emphasize "extending demand visibility" through long-term purchase agreements with customers.
Seagate said during its latest earnings call that the top three global cloud service providers have nearly doubled their Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) to a record $1.1 trillion, reflecting growing long-term commitments for cloud and AI infrastructure.
The company said the expanding pipeline of contracted revenue should support demand for its high-capacity storage products.
Seagate also highlighted strong momentum for its Mozaic platform and Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, with its 3TB-per-disk HAMR drives shipping to its first cloud service provider during 2025.
According to the company, AI applications are driving higher data creation, longer retention requirements and greater reliance on historical datasets, increasing demand for cost- and energy-efficient HDDs.
Seagate said its strategy is built around durable storage demand, a strong technology roadmap and disciplined execution.
It also raised its annual revenue growth outlook to at least 20%.
The company added that nearline storage products account for about 90% of exabyte shipments, with production capacity largely allocated through 2027 under long-term supply agreements, build-to-order contracts and value-based pricing arrangements.
Western Digital continues expanding its Platforms business to serve enterprise and mid-scale cloud customers while increasing adoption of its UltraSMR technology.
The company said three of its largest customers have already adopted UltraSMR, with management expecting all major customers to qualify the technology by the end of calendar 2027.
Micron Technology is also strengthening customer commitments through long-term supply agreements across data center, consumer and automotive markets.
The memory-chip maker said it has signed 16 strategic customer agreements covering roughly 20% of DRAM volumes and one-third of NAND volumes during the contract period.
Fourteen of those agreements represent approximately $100 billion in cumulative minimum contract revenue and include projected customer deposits and financial commitments totaling $22 billion, including about $18 billion in cash deposits.
Nuclear stocks have been the surprise story of this cycle, and few names carry a bigger swing factor than Oklo. After a violent run to nearly $200 last October and an equally sharp reset this year, the setup is unusually asymmetric. Our proprietary model says the reset went too far.
Our 24/7 Wall St. Price Target for Oklo Oklo (NYSE:OKLO | OKLO Price Prediction) trades at $49.27 as of July 9, 2026. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Oklo is $98.56 over the next 12 months, implying 100.03% upside from here. The recommendation is buy, with a 50% confidence level. That confidence reads as moderate, appropriate for a pre-revenue name with a wide outcome cone but real regulatory traction.
Metric Value Current Price $49.27 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $98.56 Upside 100.03% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 50% From $193 Peak To $49 Reset Oklo peaked at $193.84 and has since ground down to a 52-week low of $44.88. Shares are down 31.34% year to date and 12.77% in the past month, pressured by the DOE’s $17.5 billion loan program tilting toward large reactors and index deletions from Russell benchmarks in late June.
Yet the operating story improves: the DOE approved the Documented Safety Analysis for the Groves Isotope Test Reactor on July 1, 2026, targeting first criticality this month, and a $67 million institutional bullish options bet drew CNBC coverage on July 9.
Why Bulls See A Breakout Ahead The bull case is straightforward: Oklo has a 14 GW customer pipeline, a binding 1.2 gigawatt Meta agreement in Ohio, a Centrus Energy HALEU LOI, and the Creative Engineers acquisition that internalizes sodium-cooled reactor expertise.
Aurora at Idaho National Laboratory targets commercial power by late 2027. The bull scenario points to $170.23, a 245.49% return, if AI power demand and NRC velocity hold.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case is real. Oklo remains pre-revenue with a $73.62 million FY2024 net loss, and Guggenheim initiated coverage in June with a Hold and a $54.06 target, projecting EBITDA positive only by 2030. Short interest sits at $1.65 billion, or 19.29% of float.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Oklo Inc. didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Reported losses are inflated by roughly $12.5 million in stock-based compensation, and R&D spend nearly tripled year over year, reflecting deliberate investment in the platform. The bear case still lands at $81.11, above the current quote.
How Oklo Compares To NuScale And Nano Nuclear The two cleanest US-listed comps are both pre-commercial SMR pure-plays. NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) is the only SMR with NRC design certification and carries a market cap of roughly $3.1 billion. Its Q1 2026 revenue collapsed 95.8% to just $565,000 as one-time contracts rolled off, and it trades at a Price-to-Book near 3x.
Nano Nuclear Energy (NASDAQ:NNE) is a smaller microreactor developer at a $1 billion market cap with fewer commercial anchors than Oklo. Against that field, Oklo’s $8.3 billion market cap looks premium, but so does its execution: binding hyperscaler agreements, DOE safety approval, and a defined 2027 delivery target. Our $98.56 target looks reasonable relative to peers still searching for their first binding customer.
Oklo Price Prediction 2026-2030 Buy, target $98.56, confidence 50%. The tipping factor is the divergence between price action and operational milestones. The setup fits investors who can tolerate 30% drawdowns while regulatory catalysts play out into 2027. Readers who require earnings visibility inside 12 months will not find it in Oklo, which remains pre-revenue.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $98.56 2027 $143.90 2028 $210.09 2029 $306.73 2030 $327.39 These projections assume Oklo brings Aurora online near its late-2027 target and converts non-binding LOIs into revenue-generating PPAs. Significant upside or downside could result from NRC licensing pace, HALEU fuel access, and AI data center power demand trajectory.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Oklo Inc. didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) could see improved confidence around its OpenAI infrastructure ramp following its latest 200MW European data center capacity announcement, UBS analysts wrote, noting the expansion helps reduce execution risk around the company’s cloud and colocation ambitions.
UBS wrote that the additional European capacity provides incremental support for OpenAI’s first tranche deployment, an area where investors had expressed concerns given Cerebras’ position as a relatively new entrant to the cloud and colocation leasing market.
The firm added that the expansion increases confidence in OpenAI’s ramp while providing Cerebras with flexibility to pursue additional business opportunities as the sites come online over the next four to six quarters.
Cerebras announced plans to bring its first European data center capacity online by the end of 2026, with the full 200MW expected to be available by the end of 2027. UBS estimates the new capacity represents a meaningful increase from the company’s previously announced 150MW to 200MW of contracted capacity across projects in the U.S. and Canada.
Including the European expansion and previously disclosed infrastructure commitments, UBS estimates Cerebras now has visibility to approximately 410MW of announced contracted power capacity. Those commitments include Nautilus, Colovore, Digi Power X, WhiteFiber, Scale, and Bell’s 300MW facility announced earlier this year, which UBS assumes is split roughly evenly between Cerebras and CoreWeave.
The analysts wrote that having approximately 400MW of the 500MW required for OpenAI’s first two tranches effectively secured, assuming both are deployed through cloud infrastructure, supports confidence in the deployment timeline. UBS noted that OpenAI retains flexibility to deploy the second tranche through hardware deployments in its own data centers or through cloud partners.
UBS expects the second OpenAI tranche to ramp relatively quickly during the second half of 2027 and wrote that it would not be surprised to see additional agreements with large colocation providers over the coming quarters if deployment continues largely through Cerebras’ cloud platform.
The firm maintained its price target for Cerebras at $320, as shares traded hands up 8% at about $214.
UBS’s valuation is based on an enterprise value-to-sales multiple applied to 2029 estimates and discounted back to 2027. The firm uses an average multiple of around 9 times 2029 estimated EV-to-sales from compute peers and applies it to its $13.6 billion sales estimate, which it wrote could prove conservative as OpenAI and AWS deployments ramp.
Key Takeaways Cerebras is positioned for faster AI inference as demand shifts toward lower-latency token generation.Its OpenAI deal covers 750 megawatts of inference capacity and is valued above $20 billion.Cloud and services revenue surged 167%, though capacity, concentration and infrastructure risks remain. Cerebras Systems (CBRS - Free Report) is tied to a clear change in AI infrastructure: the move from training-heavy demand toward faster, lower-latency inference.
That shift has made speed a commercial feature. For Cerebras, the question is whether demand for fast tokens can scale without stretching capacity, supply chains or margins too far.
Why Cerebras is Levered to Inference DemandCerebras’ wafer-scale architecture is built to reduce chip-to-chip communication, a major bottleneck in conventional accelerator clusters. Its WSE-3 processor powers CS-3 systems designed for training and inference through an integrated hardware and software stack.
The company is aligned with interactive AI use cases where response time matters. Coding tools, agents and customer-facing applications depend on fast token generation, not just model size.OpenAI is the biggest proof point. The companies’ agreement covers 750 megawatts of committed inference compute capacity and is valued at more than $20 billion over several years.
However, Cerebras is facing stiff competition in the AI infrastructure market from the likes of NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) . NVIDIA is dominating the AI GPU market through its Blackwell, Hopper, DGX/NVL systems that are used for AI training and inference. AMD’s MI300 and MI350 accelerator families are competing with CBRS in hyperscale AI infrastructure and enterprise AI clusters. .
CBRS Benefits From Cloud and Marketplace ReachCerebras is no longer relying only on large direct enterprise deployments. Its go-to-market approach now includes cloud providers, software platforms, marketplaces and self-service developer access. CBRS’ partnerships with OpenAI and Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) are noteworthy developments.
OpenAI is the biggest validation point for Cerebras’ speed positioning. The company has an agreement for 750 megawatts of high-speed inference compute over the next several years, valued at more than $20 billion. The relationship also gives Cerebras exposure to frontier-model workloads. Management has said the collaboration gives the company direct insight into where advanced model development is moving.
Amazon’s cloud-arm Amazon Web Services (AWS) adds a distribution angle. Cerebras and AWS plan a disaggregated inference approach in which AWS Trainium 3 handles prefill and Cerebras CS-3 handles decode.
Marketplace and developer channels broaden the funnel. Cerebras solutions are available through AWS Marketplace, Microsoft Marketplace, IBM watsonx Model Gateway, Vercel AI Gateway, OpenRouter and Hugging Face. Those channels can help CBRS reach startups, AI-native companies and enterprises that already build inside existing cloud workflows. Self-service inference APIs may also turn early experimentation into larger deployments.
Cerebras is Seeing a Mix Shift to ServicesThe business model is moving in the same direction as the product story. In the first quarter of 2026, core revenues rose 92% year over year to $191.3 million. Core hardware revenues increased 60% to $111.6 million. Core cloud and services revenues climbed 167% to $79.8 million, suggesting faster growth in more services.
A larger services mix could improve visibility over time because customers can consume inference by token, reserve dedicated capacity or use cloud access for production workloads.
The transition is still early. Hardware remains the larger core revenue contributor, and cloud infrastructure requires capital, leases and operating discipline before recurring demand can fully show through.
What Could Slow the CBRS Trend StoryThe main risk is execution. Cerebras has major demand signals, but it must turn those commitments into delivered capacity across data centers, systems and service levels. The OpenAI agreement raises the stakes. Failure to meet deployment milestones or service requirements could affect portions of the arrangement, and the related working capital loan adds financial risk under certain termination scenarios.
Customer concentration is another concern. A small group of large customers, including OpenAI, AWS, G42 and MBZUAI, is expected to carry a meaningful share of the growth story.
Infrastructure intensity also limits flexibility. Data center availability is a key growth constraint, while manufacturing scale, power access, lease commitments and deployment timing all have to align with demand forecasts.
ConclusionThe bottom line is that CBRS offers direct exposure to faster AI inference, but the stock still carries a prove-it profile. The demand backdrop is attractive, yet capacity delivery and economics remain central to the debate.
Cerebras currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
SpaceX SPCX shares fell more than 2% on Friday, extending a volatile stretch that has erased the stock's post-IPO gains as investors continue debating whether Elon Musk's AI and space ambitions justify one of the world's richest valuations.
The stock traded around $148, below its $150 listing price, after briefly soaring to a record closing high of $201.80 on June 16 following its blockbuster market debut.
The sharp swings come as Wall Street publishes its first wave of research following SpaceX's record-setting IPO, with analysts offering differing views on the company's long-term potential.
Veteran investor Jeremy Grantham was among the most outspoken critics, describing the IPO as a potential landmark market bubble in a recent interview with Morningstar.
Grantham argued that much of SpaceX's valuation rests on aggressive assumptions about artificial intelligence despite what he described as the company's relatively weak competitive position in AI software.
He also questioned projections around orbital AI infrastructure and broader space-related opportunities outlined in the IPO prospectus, arguing they require technological advances that remain highly speculative.
Grantham said the stock could continue rising in the near term because of strong investor demand and index-related buying, but maintained that the valuation would ultimately have to be supported by fundamentals.
Musk remains bullishMusk, however, has continued to raise expectations.
Responding to comments on X this week, the SpaceX chief executive said the company could eventually become "worth more than the rest of Earth" if it achieves its long-term goals.
The remarks add to a series of ambitious projections from Musk, who has previously argued Tesla could become more valuable than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined.
Several Wall Street firms have also outlined aggressive long-term scenarios for SpaceX, driven largely by expectations for Starlink, reusable launch systems, and future AI infrastructure businesses.
Raymond James currently has one of the Street's highest published price targets at $800 per share, while Citi's bull-case scenario values the company at roughly $12 trillion.
SpaceX also faces growing competition overseas.
China on Friday successfully landed the booster stage of its reusable Long March-10B rocket, marking the country's first successful recovery of an orbital-class reusable booster.
The milestone places China's Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. alongside SpaceX and Blue Origin among the small group of organizations to demonstrate reusable rocket landing capability.
While SpaceX remains the clear global leader in reusable launch technology, China's latest achievement highlights the increasing pace of competition in the commercial space industry as governments and private companies race to lower launch costs and expand access to orbit.
SpaceX's pullback follows an explosive start to life as a public company, with the stock surging more than 30% in its first few trading sessions before reversing sharply.
The combination of lofty valuation expectations, ambitious long-term projections, and limited public trading history has left the shares particularly sensitive to shifts in investor sentiment.
With Wall Street still establishing coverage and investors trying to assess the company's AI, satellite, and launch businesses under one public valuation, analysts expect trading to remain volatile in the months ahead.
"The nerd in me loves this company," says Keith Snyder regarding SpaceX (SPCX), though he's cautious as an analyst. He says the company's current growth projections don't match the current valuation, calling it an "Elon Musk premium.
Two notable trends continue to bolster the capital markets landscape.
Of course, investor appetite for businesses in artificial intelligence (AI) remains robust. The view is that this is a groundbreaking technology that will have a meaningful impact on the economy.
Additionally, the market is captivated by anything Elon Musk is working on. His grand visions drive excitement.
These factors created the perfect backdrop for the most anticipated initial public offering (IPO) ever. On June 12, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX 2.14%) went public. It raised $86 billion, after underwriters exercised their greenshoe option. The company currently sports a massive $2 trillion market capitalization. And the stock has traded 13% up from its opening price (as of July 9).
The hype is hard to overstate. But how will SpaceX's shares perform over the 12-month period following its IPO? Investors can try to glean insights by looking at the five largest previous deals.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A wide range of industries The five largest IPOs prior to SpaceX are ranked by the amount of capital raised. The list includes Saudi Arabian Oil ($26 billion raised in 2019), Alibaba Group ($22 billion in 2014), SoftBank Corp. (not the investment holding company) ($21 billion in 2018), NTT DoCoMo ($18 billion in 1998), and Visa ($18 billion in 2008). Investors will notice that these deals come from different industries. Whether it's energy, technology, communication services, or financial services, no single sector dominates.
Their subsequent 12-month performances are a mixed bag. Saudi Aramco shares were down by a single-digit percentage. Alibaba's stock price tanked 30%. SoftBank's shares were up about 10%. NTT Mobile soared 68%. And Visa's stock was essentially flat one year later.
These figures are all over the place. It's telling that these companies were able to raise such massive amounts of capital. However, the timing of their IPOs, as well as their competitive positions, management teams, and financial performance, all weighed on their respective stocks' performances.
Based on these volatile numbers, investors can't come to a definitive conclusion about where SpaceX shares will be trading 12 months after its IPO. It's really a toss-up at this point.
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Sky-high valuation creates significant downside risk History isn't guaranteed to repeat, of course. But these huge IPOs do provide investors with a clear lesson in regard to the blockbuster public market entrance from Elon Musk's enterprise. SpaceX, whose $86 billion capital raise is more than three times the next largest, could see its stock price surge over the next year. It could also fall precipitously.
Investors shouldn't focus on the next 12 months, though. Anything can happen, as a time frame this short is heavily dependent on shifting market sentiment. This is unpredictable. No one has any clue where the stock will be in June 2027.
The best perspective to have is a long-term view. The smartest investors are asking where SpaceX could be in five years and beyond. Even after investors adopt a longer time horizon, the company's future remains extremely uncertain.
SpaceX does possess some notable positive traits. For starters, its vertically integrated business model has reduced launch costs, giving the company a big advantage. SpaceX commands more than 80% of the commercial launch market, according to research from The Motley Fool, as its launch cost per kilogram has fallen significantly over time.
Starlink is a successful endeavor, providing internet access to 10.3 million consumer subscribers (as of March 31) around the world. During the first three months of 2026, the connectivity segment (mostly made up of Starlink) generated $1.2 billion of operating income on $3.3 billion in revenue.
Valuation introduces a huge headwind, however. The stock trades at more than 51 times consensus analyst estimates for 2026 revenue. This is an astronomical price tag that bakes in a gargantuan earnings stream at some point in the future.
To say that SpaceX needs to execute flawlessly in the coming years would be an understatement. Not only that, but the ultimate goal of developing cheap interplanetary travel and establishing a civilization on Mars might not even be possible.
This space stock is best avoided. However, there are certainly bold investors out there who will continue to buy Elon Musk-led businesses.
WINDERMERE, Fla., July 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL), the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes, today announced Saddlecrest at Windermere, a prestigious new home community by Toll Brothers in Windermere, Florida, will open a highly anticipated new phase of home sites in fall 2026. This serene community, located on the banks of Lake Roberts, will offer luxury single-family homes with expansive home designs on half-acre home sites, including waterfront properties with opportunities for private docks.
"Saddlecrest at Windermere is truly a one-of-a-kind community offering home shoppers the perfect blend of tranquility, luxury, and convenience," said Brock Fanning, Division President of Toll Brothers in Central Florida. "With its stunning lake views, spacious home sites, and proximity to Windermere and Winter Garden, this community epitomizes the best of Florida living."
Saddlecrest at Windermere will feature a variety of thoughtfully designed homes with 5 to 7 bedrooms, 4.5 to 7.5 bathrooms, and 3- to 5-car garages. Many homes offer direct access to the lake, providing residents with unparalleled opportunities for outdoor recreation and relaxation. Surrounded by conserved green space, the community offers privacy, natural beauty, and a chance to connect with nature while enjoying all the benefits of luxury living. Homes will be priced starting from $2.3 million.
Toll Brothers customers will experience one-stop shopping at the Toll Brothers Design Studio. The state-of-the-art Design Studio allows home shoppers to choose from a wide array of selections to personalize their dream home with the assistance of Toll Brothers professional Design Consultants.
Located in a prime area where Windermere and Winter Garden converge, Saddlecrest at Windermere offers convenient access to top-rated Orange County Public Schools, shopping, dining, and entertainment options. Residents will enjoy a prestigious address while being just a short drive from everything the Orlando area has to offer.
The community is located at 1841 Windermere Road in Windermere. For more information about Saddlecrest at Windermere and other Toll Brothers communities in Florida, call 877-431-0444 or visit TollBrothers.com/FL.
About Toll Brothers
Toll Brothers, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company, is the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes. The Company was founded in 1967 and became a public company in 1986 with common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TOL.” Toll Brothers builds new homes and communities in over 60 markets across the United States, serving first-time, move-up, active-adult, and second-home buyers. The Company also operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, smart home technology, landscape, and building components manufacturing businesses.
Toll Brothers was named the #1 Most Admired Home Builder in Fortune magazine’s 2026 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies®, the ninth year the Company has achieved this honor. Toll Brothers has also been named Builder of the Year by Builder magazine and is the first two-time recipient of Builder of the Year from Professional Builder magazine. For more information visit TollBrothers.com.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., July 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL), the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes, today announced its newest community, Mountain View Estates, is coming soon to Thousand Oaks, California. This exclusive enclave of just 10 expansive home sites is anticipated to open for sale in early 2027.
Mountain View Estates will provide home shoppers with a rare opportunity to own a luxury home in one of Southern California’s most desirable locations. These striking two-story homes will offer over 3,600 square feet of living space, featuring bright, open-concept gathering areas, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, and 2- to 3-car garages. Detached casita options will also be available, offering flexibility for multigenerational living, private guest accommodations, or secluded workspaces.
Toll Brothers customers will experience one-stop shopping at the Toll Brothers Design Studio. The state-of-the-art Design Studio allows home shoppers to choose from a wide array of selections to personalize their dream home with the assistance of Toll Brothers professional Design Consultants.
Located within the acclaimed Conejo Valley Unified School District, Mountain View Estates is approximately 25 miles from Ventura and Malibu, offering convenient access to top-rated schools, shopping, dining, and major commuter routes. Miles of scenic trails, lush gardens, and colorful Ventura County sunsets surround this community, creating an ideal setting for luxury living.
"Mountain View Estates represents the best of Toll Brothers design and craftsmanship, paired with a location that perfectly blends tranquility and convenience," said Nick Norvilas, Group President of Toll Brothers in Los Angeles. "We are excited to introduce this new community to the Thousand Oaks area and provide home shoppers with the opportunity to create their own retreat in this incredible location."
For more information and to join the Toll Brothers interest list for Mountain View Estates, call (844) 700-8655 or visit TollBrothers.com/CA.
About Toll Brothers
Toll Brothers, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company, is the nation’s leading builder of luxury homes. The Company was founded in 1967 and became a public company in 1986 with common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TOL.” Toll Brothers builds new homes and communities in over 60 markets across the United States, serving first-time, move-up, active-adult, and second-home buyers. The Company also operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, smart home technology, landscape, and building components manufacturing businesses.
Toll Brothers was named the #1 Most Admired Home Builder in Fortune magazine’s 2026 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies®, the ninth year the Company has achieved this honor. Toll Brothers has also been named Builder of the Year by Builder magazine and is the first two-time recipient of Builder of the Year from Professional Builder magazine. For more information visit TollBrothers.com.
Apple is expected to grow free cash flow in 2026—a rarity among Big Tech stocks. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
Shoring up a portfolio with defensive stocks typically means buying stable names from seemingly boring categories: Consumer staples, utilities, medical devices. These days, you can just buy Apple stock instead.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares are gaining Friday. Citizens and Piper Sandler both weighed in on the stock. Here’s what you need to know.
Meta Platforms shares are climbing with conviction. What’s behind META gains? Citizens: A New Revenue Stream Takes ShapeThe firm also sees API revenue as a potential billion-dollar business for Meta on its own. Using Anthropic’s roughly $47 billion annualized revenue run rate as a benchmark, Boone estimates that even a 5% share of a comparable API opportunity would translate to around $2 billion in annualized revenue for Meta.
Piper Sandler: Still the Top Large-Cap PickPiper Sandler analyst Thomas Champion separately reiterated an Overweight rating and held his price target at $800, keeping Meta as his top large-cap pick. Champion cited the combination of durable revenue growth and what he views as an attractive valuation as the foundation of his conviction.
His note flags second-quarter revenue of approximately $61 billion and a third-quarter outlook of $61 billion to $64 billion as the key financial markers to watch heading into earnings, alongside updates on Meta’s capital spending trajectory for 2026 and 2027, the rollout of its Business Agents product on WhatsApp and the expected debut of a new cloud infrastructure business.
META Shares Are FlyingMETA Price Action: Meta shares were up 5.92% at $668.86 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pr.
Image: Shutterstock
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A car passes Facebook's new Meta logo on a sign at the company headquarters on Oct. 28, 2021, in Menlo Park, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File The European Union accused Meta on Friday of breaching its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to get users hooked, and demanded it disable "key addictive features" like infinite scrolling.
The EU's executive arm issued a fresh set of charges against Meta Platforms as part of its investigation under the 27-nation bloc's strict digital rule book known as the Digital Services Act. The sweeping set of regulations from Brussels requires tech platforms to protect internet users under threat of hefty fines.
The European Commission said Meta failed to properly assess the risks its design features pose to the physical and mental health of users, including minors. And while the company has tools and controls to help manage Facebook and Instagram use, it said they were easily overridden, dismissed, or technically challenging to use.
Meta "needs to implement design changes" to Instagram and Facebook, such as disabling "key addictive features" like autoplay of videos and infinite scroll so they're not turned on by default, the commission said in its preliminary findings.
Meta now has the chance to respond and defend itself before the commission issues its final decision, which could result in a fine worth up to 6% of the company's global annual revenue.
Meta said Friday that the preliminary findings do not recognize the steps that the company has already taken to protect teens.
"Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control - allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes," Meta said in a prepared statement. "We share the European Commission's commitment to providing teens with safe, positive online experiences and will continue to engage constructively with them."
Europe is committed to enforcing its legislation that holds platforms accountable for addictive design features, said Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice-president at the commission overseeing tech.
"Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms," Virkkunen said in a written statement.
Facebook and Instagram design features, including personalized recommendations and push notifications, serve up an endless stream of content, putting users' brains on "autopilot" and fueling compulsive use, the commission said.
Meanwhile, screen time controls that parents can impose on their teens' devices can be "easily dismissed" and don't result in a meaningful reduction of use, the commission said. And the controls are undermined by the technical expertise, time and effort that parents need to understand and use them, it said.
The commission's proposed design changes also included finding better ways to encourage screen time breaks, and changing the content recommendation system so that it's less "engagement-oriented."
The preliminary findings are the latest charges since Brussels opened its investigation in 2024 over concerns that the social media giant wasn't doing enough to protect children online.
The EU said earlier this year that Meta had failed to prevent children under 13, the company's minimum age to use Facebook and Instagram, from signing up. It also said Meta was not doing enough to identify and remove underage users after they had opened accounts.
Who's behind this story?
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Citation: EU demands Facebook and Instagram dismantle design features it calls addictive for users (2026, July 10) retrieved 10 July 2026 from https://techxplore.com/news/2026-07-eu-demands-facebook-instagram-dismantle.html
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Meta Platform's AI efforts are looking like the recipe for a comeback after an almost year-long drought in shares of the $1.7 trillion market-cap company.
Shares of Mark Zuckerberg's social media giant jumped more than 6% Friday to the highest level since April, extending gains that began earlier this month when the company detailed plans to sell access to its AI computing capacity. On Thursday, the company launched Muse Spark 1.1, an AI coding product that will compete with Anthropic and OpenAI. Shares of Meta are flat on the year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 is up 18%.
Options traders piled in on Friday, with volume on pace for more than three times the 30-day average and 78% of the stock's $1.8 billion in options premium tied to calls, according to data from Cboe LiveVol and SpotGamma. Some of the call-buying was likely offset with selling as well, with as many calls sold as bought, but more than twice as many calls were bought compared to puts, and eight of the top 10 contracts by volume were calls as of midday.
Meta, 1 year
The five most popular trades were all contracts expiring Friday afternoon, looking for a quick extension of early gains. The top trade, the $675 strike call expiring Friday, trades for about $3 per contract and needs Meta to add on another 2% by the bell.
The most actively traded contract expiring after Friday is the July 17 700-strike, a trade that needs a 6% advance to break even.
While bulls dominated the action in the short-term trades, at least one big trader faded the notion of a big swing in either direction. The second-biggest trade of the session was someone selling a total $29 million of both puts and calls at the 670 strike, a bet the stock will stay right where it is for the next two months.
Key Takeaways Meta led S&P 500 gainers on Friday as Wall Street welcomed its push to monetize the hundreds of billions its spending on AI infrastructure.Shares are up nearly 20% so far this quarter, rebounding after posting one of the worst first-half performances among mega-cap tech stocks. Meta was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Friday as investors continued to cheer the social media giant’s push to monetize its AI investments.
In an internal memo, Meta (META) laid out plans to double its cloud computing capacity to 14 gigawatts next year and begin producing its own AI chips with designer Broadcom (AVGO) in September, Reuters reported on Thursday.1 On Thursday, Meta also released its latest AI model, Muse Spark 1.1, which developers can pay to use through a new API platform.
The shares jumped nearly 5% yesterday, and the stock was up another 5% in recent trading. Friday’s gains pared Meta stock’s year-to-date losses to about 4%, since the stock came into this week down nearly 12% since the start of the year.
Why This Is Important Meta’s taken a different approach to AI investments than its hyperscaler peers, investing huge sums to train AI models primarily for its own use. Recent developments suggest the company is pivoting to a third-party service provider model, a strategy that investors are cheering.
Wall Street started to ask questions about Meta’s AI infrastructure spending this year, with some investors expressing concern the social media giant is spending hundreds of billions on data centers for its own use, unlike Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN), which sell computing capacity to cloud customers.
Meta has been one of Big Tech’s laggards this year. It was the only Magnificent Seven stock to fall in both the first and second quarters. And its 15% first-half decline was the second-worst of the Mag Seven, trailing only Microsoft’s (MSFT) 23% slump.
Sentiment has improved in the second half. Shares popped 9% on July 1 following reports the company is considering renting out unused computing capacity to third parties, similar to SpaceX’s (SPCX) $1.25 billion-per-month agreement with Anthropic. Shares are up nearly 20% since that report.
Bank of America analyst Justin Post, in a note earlier this week, argued Wall Street is undervaluing Meta’s AI infrastructure. Post estimates investors are valuing Meta’s computing capacity at just $4 billion per gigawatt, compared with Amazon’s $59 billion and Alphabet’s $110 billion. Post believes it’s worth $12 billion per GW, with the potential for “significant upside considering specialized AI capacity that Meta is building.” According to Post, SpaceX’s recent deals with Anthropic and Google valued its specialized capacity at about $50 billion per GW.2
Investor enthusiasm for Meta’s AI push has offset regulatory and legal headwinds facing its core social media business. The EU Commission on Friday said in a preliminary report that Meta violated its Digital Services Act with “addictive” features like infinite scroll and autoplay. The commission told Meta to change the violating design features, or risk facing a fine of up to 6% of its global revenue.3
Meta faces mounting scrutiny of its social media platforms and their impact on youth mental health and safety. The company lost two trials centered on child safety earlier this year, potentially setting a precedent for a slew of similar cases being litigated.
Here’s a look at how much Ackman’s position is up in 2026.
Ackman Buys Meta Stock in Q4Ackman announced the new stake in Meta in an investment presentation in February 2026, before a 13F filing officially unveiled the full size.
In the fourth quarter filing, it was unveiled that Pershing Square Capital Management bought 2,673,569 META shares. That position was later slightly reduced to 2,660,861 shares in the first quarter.
It is unknown the exact date that Ackman bought the shares, but many point to November after Meta’s third-quarter earnings report.
Meta stock traded between $581.25 and $759.19 in the fourth quarter, with the low set on Nov. 19, 2025 and the high set on Oct. 29, 2025.
Based on those prices, Meta stock is down 12.1% from the fourth quarter high and up 14.8% from the fourth quarter lows.
Without knowing Ackman’s exact timeline, we use the end of the fourth quarter to estimate how much the position is up in 2026.
The position ended 2025 worth $1,756,407,737.49. Today, the position is worth $1,776,204,543.33. This means the Meta position is up $19,796,805.84, or nearly $20 million since the start of the year.
Ackman’s Belief in MetaA second-quarter 13F for Pershing Square will come out by Aug. 14 and show whether the hedge fund kept their large position in Meta or changed the position at all.
In February, Ackman shared his bullishness on the Magnificent Seven stock during an investor presentation.
“We believe Meta’s current share price underappreciates the company’s long-term upside potential from AI and represents a deeply discounted valuation for one of the world’s greatest businesses,” Pershing Square said in the presentation. Meta is a “leader in the fast-growing digital advertising space and one of the clearest beneficiaries of AI integration,” it added.
“We believe concerns around META’s AI-related spending initiatives are underestimating the company’s long-term upside potential from AI,” it said.
The presentation highlighted Meta’s 3.5 billion daily active users and a growing user base. An experienced leadership team and the company’s stock multiples are also highlighted as reasons to be bullish going forward.
In recent months, Ackman has increased bullishness on Meta and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), two of the Magnificent Seven stocks that had fallen the most.
Investors are closely watching to see if Ackman continues to be wrong on which Magnificent Seven stocks will outperform or if Meta and Microsoft will eventually take over with gains.
Photo created by Midjourney, Dall-E
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
SummaryMeta Platforms, Inc. is up 15%+ since my previous post, and I'm reiterating my 'buy' rating as it pushes ahead to build the strongest foundation of a real AI revenue stack.Recent launches—Meta Cloud, Muse Image, and Muse Spark 1.1—unlock new monetization pathways beyond core advertising that are currently not priced in.META continued to trade at an attractive valuation at just 19.55x FY26 EPS, compressing to 16x FY28, with 23% upside to consensus price targets.Short-term margin pressure from AI capex and Meta Cloud could weigh down on META stock, but I see that as a temporary bump to further upside ahead.Looking for a portfolio of ideas like this one? Members of The REIT Forum get exclusive access to our subscriber-only portfolios. Learn More » kentoh/iStock via Getty Images
Introduction & Investment Thesis When I last wrote about Meta Platforms, Inc. (META), I said that investing in the company at 17x forward P/E doesn't get any easier.
In the post, I explained how investors haven't
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of META either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
As delivery platforms mature, investors often weigh specialized growth against global scale. Deciding between DoorDash (DASH 0.38%) and Uber Technologies (UBER +0.35%) requires analyzing their different paths toward achieving sustained profitability and market dominance.
DoorDash dominates domestic food delivery while expanding into retail and grocery services. Uber uses its ride-hailing backbone to power a global ecosystem of transit and logistics. Both firms are evolving from cash-burning startups into profitable giants, making them prime candidates for investors interested in companies that bridge digital and physical worlds.
The case for DoorDashDoorDash operates a local commerce platform that connects consumers with over 1 million merchants across 40 countries. The company has moved beyond restaurant delivery, signing major nationwide agreements with retailers like Dollar Tree and AutoParts.com to facilitate on-demand logistics. This strategy focuses on increasing the frequency of use by making the app a one-stop shop among tech stocks that serve local needs.
Financial performance has shown significant momentum recently. In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $13.7 billion, representing growth of approximately 27.9% compared to the prior year. The company also generated a net income of close to $935.0 million, resulting in a net margin of roughly 6.8%. Net margin measures how much profit a company keeps from every dollar of sales.
On the balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was approximately 0.3x as of December 2025, which compares total debt to shareholder equity. The current ratio, measuring the ability to pay short-term debts with current assets, was about 1.4x. Free cash flow was roughly $2.2 billion, though note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 43.2% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since SBC is a non-cash expense added back in the cash flow statement.
The case for Uber TechnologiesUber operates a massive global network divided into mobility, delivery, and freight segments. The company has aggressively expanded its international footprint, recently receiving approval to acquire the Getir delivery business in Turkey. While it recently paused some European expansion to focus on acquiring Delivery Hero, Uber remains a dominant force in nearly every market where it operates.
The company's financial scale is substantial and growing. For FY 2025, revenue reached close to $52.0 billion, a nearly 18.3% increase over the previous fiscal year. Uber reported a net income of approximately $10.1 billion; however, nearly half of this reported profit resulted from a one-time, non-cash tax benefit of $5 billion related to its Dutch operations. This puts the company's true organic operating margin at around 9.7%. This still represents a healthy level of profitability as the company leverages its massive user base of over 200 million people.
As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was roughly 0.4x, indicating the mix of debt and equity used to finance assets. The current ratio stood at approximately 1.1x, showing the company's ability to cover its short-term obligations. Free cash flow, or the cash left over after paying for operations and equipment, was nearly $9.8 billion for the fiscal year.
Risk profile comparisonDoorDash faces persistent legal challenges regarding whether its delivery drivers should be classified as independent contractors or employees. Adverse rulings could significantly raise labor costs and disrupt its fundamental business model. Additionally, the company competes in a crowded field against well-capitalized rivals like Amazon and Instacart. Settlement of lawsuits regarding unauthorized merchant listings and reliance on processors like PayPal also highlights ongoing reputational and operational risks.
Uber deals with intense scrutiny over its governance and safety practices, including derivative lawsuits involving the board of directors. The termination of its robotaxi partnership with Alphabet creates uncertainty around its future autonomous vehicle strategy. Global regulatory shifts regarding worker classification and the financial burden of managing thousands of lawsuits remain primary operational risks.
Valuation comparisonUber appears to be the more attractively valued option because it currently trades at significantly lower multiples across both the P/S ratio and Forward P/E.
MetricDoorDashUber TechnologiesSector BenchmarkForward P/E76.3x22.4x16.6xP/S ratio6.1x2.9xn/aSector benchmark uses the SPDR XLC sector ETF.
Valuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.
I'd go with Uber. DoorDash is having a strong year with record membership signups, a new high in monthly active users, and total orders growing at an impressive clip. The Deliveroo acquisition also opens up a bigger international runway. For a long-term investor focused purely on food delivery, DoorDash is a reasonable choice.
But Uber operates on a completely different scale. Gross bookings grew more than 20% for the third consecutive quarter and trips are up 20% year over year. The company is generating substantial free cash flow across both its ridesharing and delivery businesses. That combination of two large, growing platforms under one roof gives Uber a durability that DoorDash simply can't match yet.
Uber is also investing early and thoughtfully in autonomous vehicle partnerships, which positions it well regardless of how the AV landscape ultimately shakes out. DoorDash is a focused bet on delivery. But Uber is a bet on how people and goods move around the world. For a long-term investor, that bigger canvas wins.
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Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction) has quietly become one of the most compelling risk/reward setups in mega-cap tech. Shares trade at $363.62 after a 105.37% one-year rally, yet the stock still carries a trailing P/E of just 28 against 37.9% profit margins.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Alphabet is $441.58, pointing to 21.44% upside over the next 12 months. The recommendation is buy, with high confidence at 90%.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $363.62 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $441.58 Upside 21.44% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% From $173 to $363: How Alphabet Got Here Alphabet has been one of the year’s standout large-cap performers, up 16.03% year-to-date and more than doubling from a 52-week low of $173.38. Shares sit roughly 6% below the 52-week high of $404.23 after a 0.52% pullback over the past month.
The rally is anchored in fundamentals. Q1 FY2026, filed April 29, 2026, delivered EPS of $5.11 against a $2.63 consensus, a 94.10% beat. Revenue of $109.90 billion grew 21.8% year over year, and Google Cloud surged 63% to $20.03 billion with backlog nearly doubling to over $460 billion. That is the fourth straight EPS beat.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead The bull thesis rests on AI monetization at scale. Gemini is processing 16 billion tokens per minute, up 60% QoQ, while Gemini Enterprise paid MAUs grew 40% quarter-on-quarter. Alphabet now counts 350 million paid subscriptions, and Waymo crossed 500,000 autonomous rides per week.
CEO Sundar Pichai told investors “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.”
Wall Street agrees. The analyst consensus target sits at $426.62, with 44 Buy and 14 Strong Buy ratings versus zero sells. Our bull case scenario sees $459.76 within 12 months, a 26.44% return, if cloud backlog conversion accelerates.
The same investor newsletter that told subscribers to buy Amazon in 2002, Netflix in 2004, and Nvidia in 2005 still publishes two new stock picks every month. Over 23 years, Motley Fool's Stock Advisor has more than quadrupled the S&P 500. New members get this month's picks, the Top 10 Rankings, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Click here to unlock their next top stocks while new members are still being accepted.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case starts with capital intensity. Alphabet guided $175-$185 billion in 2026 CapEx, and Q1 free cash flow fell 46.63% YoY to $10.12 billion. If AI infrastructure ROI disappoints, margins compress. Prediction markets are notably cautious, assigning only 15.5% probability that Alphabet is the largest company by year-end, and insiders have logged 179 net-selling transactions.
That FCF compression reflects deliberate reinvestment, with operating margin expanding to 36.1% and operating cash flow rose 26.67%. Regulatory risk, including the $3.5 billion EU competition fine, adds tail risk. Our bear scenario points to $355.92, essentially flat.
Alphabet Price Prediction 2026-2030 Our 24/7 Wall St. price target of $441.58 reflects a buy at 90% confidence. The tipping factor is cloud backlog visibility: $460 billion in signed commitments converts to years of high-margin revenue.
The setup looks constructive if Q2 shows continued Gemini enterprise traction and cloud growth holding above 50%. The thesis weakens if CapEx guidance rises further without a corresponding backlog uplift.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $387.91 2027 $441.58 2028 $505 2029 $578 2030 $654.25 These projections assume Alphabet continues executing on cloud, AI, and Waymo commercialization. Significant upside could come from Gemini monetization breakthroughs, while downside would follow a broad unwind of AI capex enthusiasm.
If You'd Bought Amazon When the Motley Fool Said To…In September 2002, Stock Advisor told subscribers to buy Amazon. In December 2004, Netflix. In April 2005, Nvidia. The newsletter still publishes two new stock picks every month — and over 23 years, has more than quadrupled the S&P 500. Here's how to get this month's picks:
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Five years from now, you'll probably wish you'd bought this month's picks. Don't miss them.
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Jim Cramer used his July 9 Mad Money segment to identify what he evidently sees as a crucial structural advantage in artificial intelligence: distribution across Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) ecosystem. “If there’s only going to be one winner in AI, it’s going to be Google with Gemini, because it’s the default on Apple’s installed base of 2.5 billion devices. That was enough to wipe out all comers once before with Google Search.” The premise is that a Gemini default across Apple’s 2.5 billion devices would replicate the search-era distribution lock-in that made Alphabet‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google untouchable for two decades.
Cramer is characterizing the Apple-Gemini arrangement as a strategic setup rather than confirmed commercial terms. The distinction matters because the bull case rests on distribution economics that have not been fully finalized in public.
The Distribution Thesis Google already pays Apple to be the default search engine inside Safari, disclosed in prior DOJ antitrust testimony. If that same rail pushes Gemini into Apple Intelligence experiences, Google gains instant access to the largest premium consumer footprint on earth without building a phone.
The original Google Search moat came from the compounding effect of being the default answer on every browser and device that mattered, well beyond algorithmic superiority.
Inside Alphabet’s Numbers Alphabet’s Q1 2026 revenue came in at $109.9 billion, up 22% year over year (YoY), with EPS of $5.11 versus a $2.63 consensus. Google Cloud grew 63% to $20.03 billion, with backlog nearly doubling quarter over quarter to over $460 billion.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated on the earnings call, “Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business. Google Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all time high, and 19% revenue growth.” Gemini is now processing 16 billion tokens per minute via direct API, up 60% quarter over quarter.
Alphabet trades near a P/E ratio of 15x versus Apple’s 42x, with an analyst consensus target of $432 against a current price of $354.88. GOOGL stock is up 13% year to date (YTD) and 99.5% over the past year.
Berkshire Hathaway‘s (NYSE:BRK-B) endorsement adds institutional weight. New CEO Greg Abel opened an Alphabet position in Q3 2025, added shares in Q1 2026, and participated in a $10 billion private placement inside Alphabet’s $80 billion AI-funding raise, building a stake of roughly $31.1 billion, 9% of the portfolio. Notably, Berkshire still holds Apple as its largest position at about $57.8 billion, meaning it now owns both sides of the Cramer trade.
July 16 is the Final Day to Tap Into the Lithium Boom (sponsor)
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With tech that can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods, EnergyX is preparing to unlock up to 15M+ tons. Become a private-stage EnergyX investor before the July 16 deadline.
Apple as the Distribution Funnel Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the scale on the January 29 earnings call, stating, “Our installed base now has more than 2.5 billion active devices, which is a testament to incredible customer satisfaction for the very best products and services in the world.”
Apple’s Q2 FY2026 revenue came in at $111.18 billion with Services revenue at an all-time record of $30.98 billion. Apple shares are up 16% YTD.
The Bear Counter A P/E ratio of 15x can reflect real risks: ad-market cyclicality, intensifying AI competition from OpenAI and Anthropic, and unresolved antitrust exposure. Reddit sentiment tracked bearish scores of 28 to 43 in late June on news that Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer and other AI researchers were departing for OpenAI and Anthropic.
A default-placement deal itself could invite fresh regulatory scrutiny, so distribution advantages that look permanent on paper are not automatically durable. The prediction markets currently give only 5% odds that Google will be first to hit a 1550 Arena score in 2026, a reminder that model leadership is genuinely contested.
The Bottom Line Cramer’s argument reduces to a simple question: does distribution beat model quality when the gaps narrow? History with search suggests yes, and Alphabet’s 36% operating margin alongside $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026 CapEx guidance shows the company is spending as if it believes the same.
Investors can watch for two catalysts: the next Gemini Pro release, which prediction markets price at a 78.7% probability by July 31, and Alphabet’s Q2 2026 earnings, where markets assign a 78.5% probability of a beat. Both could confirm or complicate the distribution thesis in real time.
Given the antitrust and competitive overhangs, investors should consider sizing their positions modestly even if they share Cramer’s conviction. The valuation gap between GOOGL and AAPL is real, but so are the reasons the market has left it on the table.
Meet America's Newest $1b Unicorn (Sponsor)A US startup just passed a $1 billion private valuation, joining billion-dollar private companies like OpenAI and ByteDance. Unlike those other unicorns, you can invest in EnergyX right now; but only until July 16.
Over 50,000 people already have, along with global giants like General Motors and POSCO.
Here’s why there’s so much interest: EnergyX’s patented tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That’s a big deal, as demand for lithium is expected to 5X current production levels by 2040.Become an early-stage EnergyX shareholder before the 7/16 investment deadline.
Our Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) call is straightforward: the stock has room to run into year-end. AMZN currently trades at $245.98, sitting 12% below its 52-week high despite AWS growth reaccelerating to its fastest pace in 15 quarters.
The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Amazon is $324.34, implying 31.86% upside over the next 12 months. Our recommendation is buy at a 90% confidence level.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $245.98 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $324.34 Upside 31.86% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% A Quiet Consolidation After a Blowout Earnings Report AMZN is up 6.57% year to date and 3.21% over the past week, but essentially flat over the past month. Shares initially rallied 4.4% after Q1 2026 earnings on April 29, then gave those gains back as retail investors on r/stocks worried about hyperscaler “overinvestment in data centres” triggering a multiyear downturn.
The Q1 report was excellent. Revenue hit $181.52 billion, up 16.61% year over year, with EPS of $2.78 versus the $1.653 consensus. AWS grew 28% to a $150 billion annualized run rate, and the chips business (Trainium, Graviton, Nitro) cleared a $20 billion revenue run rate with triple-digit growth.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead The bull case rests on AWS AI monetization scaling faster than the capex line. AWS backlog reached $364 billion in Q1, and that excludes the recent $100 billion+ Anthropic deal. Total Trainium revenue commitments now exceed $225 billion, with OpenAI committing to 2 GW of capacity starting 2027. CEO Andy Jassy called this “truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
July 16 is the Final Day to Tap Into the Lithium Boom (sponsor)
General Motors, POSCO, and 50,000+ everyday investors have already backed lithium producer EnergyX.
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Layer on Amazon Leo (satellite deals with Apple, Delta, Vodafone), Zoox robotaxis, and Rufus AI shopping driving 115% MAU growth, and the sum-of-parts stretches further. Under our bull scenario, AMZN reaches $372.05 over 12 months.
The Risks Worth Watching Free cash flow TTM collapsed 95% to $1.2 billion as Q1 capex hit $44.2 billion, and 2026 capex is tracking near $200 billion. Long-term debt climbed to $119.1 billion from $65.6 billion. Bulls would counter that these are 30-year data center assets funded ahead of contracted revenue, with Trainium2 nearly sold out. Still, our bear scenario sees AMZN at $279.96 if AI ROIC disappoints.
Amazon Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $324.34 reflects 90% confidence in a buy rating. The tipping factor is AWS accelerating on a $150B base while chip commitments compound. The setup favors investors comfortable with capex-driven FCF volatility through 2027, and looks less attractive for those needing dividend income or expecting a broad AI capex reset.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $324.34 2027 $378 2028 $435 2029 $487 2030 $541.42 These projections assume Amazon executes on its AI infrastructure buildout and monetizes the AWS backlog on schedule. Significant upside could come from Amazon Leo scaling faster than modeled, while a hard AI capex retrenchment is the primary downside risk.
Meet America's Newest $1b Unicorn (Sponsor)A US startup just passed a $1 billion private valuation, joining billion-dollar private companies like OpenAI and ByteDance. Unlike those other unicorns, you can invest in EnergyX right now; but only until July 16.
Over 50,000 people already have, along with global giants like General Motors and POSCO.
Here’s why there’s so much interest: EnergyX’s patented tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That’s a big deal, as demand for lithium is expected to 5X current production levels by 2040.Become an early-stage EnergyX shareholder before the 7/16 investment deadline.
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Leaderboard Quarterly Scorecard Webinar Q&A Summary For Thursday, July 9, 2026 The project pipeline for data centers in North America increased by 4% in June from May, with hyperscale cloud computing firms driving the growth, according to a new report. Bernstein analysts said Friday that the data-center project pipeline last month increased by 14 gigawatts to 338 GW. A gigawatt is a measure of power and is used to describe the…
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) has spent the first half of 2026 in the penalty box. Shares are down 19.24% year to date, weighed down by AI capex anxiety, Copilot execution questions, and a securities class action tied to the January earnings reaction. But fundamentals tell a different story, and our model sees a meaningful gap between price and value.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft is $500.25, implying 28.65% upside from $388.84. The recommendation is buy with 90% confidence.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $388.84 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $500.25 Upside 28.65% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% How MSFT Got Cheap Again Microsoft entered 2026 near $551.05 and has since traded down to a 52-week low of $349.20. The one-year decline sits at 21.25%, though the stock bounced 4.24% in the past week.
Two factors weigh on the stock. First, a securities fraud class action filed after the January 28 earnings reaction alleges Microsoft misled investors on Copilot adoption and Azure growth. Second, capital intensity has exploded: CapEx of $30.88 billion in Q3 FY26 was up 84.39% year over year.
Operating results contradict the price action. Q3 FY26 delivered EPS of $4.27 versus $4.09 expected on revenue of $82.89 billion (+18.3% YoY). Azure grew 40%, and CEO Satya Nadella noted “Our AI business surpassed an annual revenue run rate of $37 billion, up 123% year-over-year.”
Commercial remaining performance obligations reached $627 billion, up 99%, a demand signal that dwarfs current market cap concerns.
The Case for $600+ Bulls have a straightforward path. Fifty-four of 57 analysts rate Microsoft Buy or Strong Buy, with a consensus target implying 46.2% upside.
Seeking Alpha’s Gytis Zizys recently upgraded to Buy, arguing “The current 35% discount below fair value presents an attractive long-term entry point.” Our bull case scenario models MSFT at $600.58 by July 2027, a 54.45% total return.
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Catalysts are tangible. Azure’s 40% growth is accelerating, the OpenAI restructuring extended Microsoft’s IP rights through 2032 and secured a $250 billion incremental Azure commitment, and Microsoft is now replacing OpenAI and Anthropic models with its own MAI models in Excel and Outlook, materially improving unit economics on Copilot.
What Could Go Wrong The bear case rests on capex indigestion and Copilot adoption falling short of the AI narrative. Our bear scenario sees MSFT at just $444.46 in twelve months, a 14.3% return that would underperform expectations.
Alphabet’s Google Cloud grew 63% with an AI-powered revenue surge and a $462 billion backlog, applying competitive pressure. The 33 recent insider transactions skewing net-sell add caution.
The 84% CapEx surge that spooked investors funds infrastructure backing the same $627 billion RPO bulls celebrate. Free cash flow generation of $46.68 billion in operating cash flow for a single quarter provides ample cushion.
Microsoft Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $500.25 with buy conviction at 90% confidence reflects a company trading at 20x forward earnings despite 23.4% earnings growth and 46% operating margins.
The key factor is the RPO backlog: $627 billion in contracted future revenue represents binding customer commitments. The bullish thesis holds if Azure sustains the 35%+ growth line through fiscal 2027; conviction weakens if Copilot enterprise seat count materially misses in the next two earnings reports.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 (year-end) $447 2027 $500 2028 $601 2029 $675 2030 $730 These projections assume Microsoft continues executing on Azure and enterprise AI adoption at current trajectories. Significant upside could result from Copilot monetization outperforming, while a broader AI capex reset or adverse ruling in the pending Copilot securities litigation could compress this path.
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WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026, inclusive (the “Class Period”), of the important August 11, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.
SO WHAT: If you purchased Microsoft common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Microsoft class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/microsoft-corporation/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 11, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs’ Bar. Many of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Microsoft’s Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; (2) Microsoft’s flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; (3) Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert graphics processing unit (“GPU”) and central processing unit (“CPU”) capacity away from fulfilling demand for its profitable Azure services in order to improve the competitive positioning of its critical Copilot family of products and increase its AI-related research and development (“R&D”); and (4) as a result, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and Microsoft’s Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the Microsoft class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/microsoft-corporation/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP, a leading national shareholder rights law firm, continues its investigation on behalf of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (“Alibaba” or the “Company”) (NYSE: BABA) investors concerning the Company’s possible violations of the federal securities laws.
IF YOU ARE AN INVESTOR WHO LOST MONEY ON ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD. (BABA), CLICK HERE TO INQUIRE ABOUT POTENTIALLY PURSUING CLAIMS TO RECOVER YOUR LOSS.
What Happened?
On November 14, 2024, Financial Times published an article entitled “White House memo claims Alibaba is helping Chinese military target US.” According to the article, the memo provided declassified intelligence about how Alibaba provides “the People’s Liberation Army with capabilities that the White House believes threaten US security.” Moreover, “Alibaba also provides the Chinese government and PLA with access to customer data that includes IP addresses, WiFi information and payment records, as well as different AI-related service.”
On this news, Alibaba’s shares fell $6.04, or 3.78%, to close at $153.80 per share on November 14, 2025.
Then, on February 13, 2026, the Pentagon added Alibaba to a list of companies aiding the Chinese military before withdrawing the list only minutes later without explanation.
On this news, Alibaba’s stock price fell $3.00, or 1.9%, to close at $155.73 per share on February 13, 2026.
Then, on March 19, 2026, Alibaba reported weaker-than-expected financial results, with revenue missing consensus estimates “primarily due to weaker transaction activities and phase-out of the impact of software service fee implementation.”
On this news, Alibaba’s stock price fell $9.53, or 7.1%, to close at $124.90 per share on March 19, 2026..
Then, on June 11, 2026, Bloomberg News reported that the Beijing branch of State Administration for Market Regulation summoned Alibaba representatives "over what officials said was false advertising during the annual '618' midyear online shopping festival."
On this news, Alibaba’s stock price fell $1.64, or 1.4%, to close at $112.69 per share on June 11, 2026.
Then, on July 1, 2026, the US Department of Justice published a press release stating that Alibaba had “entered a non-prosecution agreement to pay $600 million to resolve the Justice Department’s allegations that they violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) by failing to prevent merchants from selling and importing illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, listed chemicals, and pill presses into the United States” through its e-commerce platforms.
On this news, Alibaba’s stock price fell $1.85 or 1.9%, to close at $96.14 per share on July 2, 2026, thereby injuring investors further.
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Persons with non-public information regarding Alibaba should consider their options to aid the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower Program. Under the program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Charles H. Linehan at 310-201-9150 or 888-773-9224 or email [email protected].
About Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP
Glancy Prongay Wolke & Rotter LLP (“GPWR”) is a premier law firm representing investors and consumers in securities litigation and other complex class action litigation. GPWR has been consistently ranked in the Top 50 Securities Class Action Settlements by ISS Securities Class Action Services. In 2018, GPWR was ranked a top five law firm in number of securities class action settlements, and a top six law firm for total dollar size of settlements.
With four offices across the country, GPWR’s nearly 40 attorneys have won groundbreaking rulings and recovered billions of dollars for investors and consumers in securities, antitrust, consumer, and employment class actions. GPWR’s lawyers have handled cases covering a wide spectrum of corporate misconduct and relating to nearly all industries and sectors. GPWR’s past successes have been widely covered by leading news and industry publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Reuters, the Associated Press, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes, and Money.
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In his Mad Money broadcast on July 9, Jim Cramer defended a former tech-market darling, arguing that the market has the valuation math backwards. His frustration centered on why sellers keep unloading NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) while assigning higher forward multiples to memory names like SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK).
Cramer put it directly: “Some commodity chip companies like SanDisk now have price-earnings multiples higher on next year’s earnings than NVIDIA.” He added, “I regard that as insulting. Nvidia is the most proprietary chip company in the history of the world.” NVIDIA stock traded at $209.79 Friday afternoon, with a market cap of around $5.08 trillion.
The forward multiple data supports the argument. NVIDIA stock carries a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 23x and a trailing multiple of 31x, while SanDisk stock trades at a 27x forward multiple and a 59x trailing figure.
The Proprietary Moat Cramer Is Defending NVIDIA’s most recent quarter puts hard numbers behind the moat argument. The company’s Q1 FY2027 revenue reached $81.61 billion, up 85% year over year (YoY), with Data Center revenue of $75.25 billion and Data Center Networking up 199%.
NVIDIA’s non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 75%, and management guided Q2 FY2027 revenue to $91 billion. The proprietary layer runs deeper than silicon: CUDA-X software, NVLink Fusion compute fabric, Spectrum-X Ethernet, and the Dynamo inference stack lock developers into NVIDIA’s architecture in ways commodity accelerators cannot replicate.
CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly framed the AI infrastructure buildout as the largest in human history, and deployment commitments from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), and xAI translate that into tangible order flow for NVIDIA’s Blackwell and Vera Rubin platforms.
Wall Street sentiment reflects the view. NVIDIA stock currently carries 10 Strong Buy, 48 Buy, 2 Hold, and 1 Sell rating, with an average analyst price target of $301.62.
The SanDisk Comparison SanDisk stock has been on a rocket ride. Shares are up 710% year-to-date (YTD), if you can believe it. SanDisk’ Q3 FY2026 revenue jumped 251% YoY to $5.95 billion, with Datacenter revenue up 645% YoY.
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SanDisk sells NAND memory, a product category that historically cycles through boom-and-bust pricing tied to industry-wide capacity. That structural difference is what Cramer was pointing at when contrasting proprietary economics against commodity economics.
The Bear Case Worth Considering A cheaper forward multiple on NVIDIA stock can reflect the market pricing in decelerating growth off a large base. NVIDIA’s FY2026 revenue reached $215.94 billion, and comparable percentage growth becomes mathematically harder. Customer concentration among hyperscalers, China export restrictions, and rising cash taxes are real considerations.
A lower multiple can be a rational discount rather than clear mispricing. For investors weighing entry, moderating one’s position size makes sense given NVIDIA stock’s 2.21 beta and history of sharp drawdowns. Readers exploring the broader AI thesis can review our 7 Stocks Powering the AI Boom report for adjacent names benefiting from the buildout.
For investors wanting NVIDIA exposure without single-stock risk, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) offers broad sector access. The concentration risk remains meaningful, though, as NVIDIA sits among the fund’s top holdings.
The Bottom Line Cramer’s core claim is defensible on the data. NVIDIA stock’s forward multiple sits below SanDisk’s despite carrying arguably the strongest software moat and highest-margin franchise in semiconductors. The proprietary software layer, from CUDA to Dynamo to NVLink Fusion, separates NVIDIA from any peer chipmaker.
A discount can reflect legitimate concerns about the law of large numbers, cyclical risk, and hyperscaler concentration, and both realities can coexist. Investors should keep their position sizes calibrated to the stock’s volatility, and diversification through semiconductor ETF exposure can soften single-name risk.
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, /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T and Ericsson demonstrated drone detection using advanced network sensing over a 5G network, showing how capabilities often associated with future 6G systems can begin coming to life today. The demo was conducted in authorized airspace outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, during one of the largest global sporting events in the world. Using Ericsson technology and AT&T network expertise, it detected and located multiple drones, then tracked their movement, illustrating how wireless infrastructure could help protect major venues, critical infrastructure and other key locations.
The future takes flight: AT&T and Ericsson demonstrate drone detection outside of AT&T Stadium This showed how advanced network features can be enabled using 5G capabilities as the industry momentum towards 6G standardization and subsequent deployment accelerates. Critically, the same underlying capabilities could support new levels of low altitude threat detection and tracking around major venues, public spaces and other complex environments.
Using existing cellular towers, Ericsson deployed its Massive MIMO radios across multiple sites, creating a multi-static sensing configuration. The demonstration combined sensing-enabled radio transmissions with advanced signal processing and AI-enabled sensing algorithms to detect, locate, and track the drones in real time, The network utilized the radio signals typically used for communications to enable real-time environmental sensing, while delivering a total cost of ownership advantage for nation-wide coverage.
In the demonstration, multiple drones flying at altitudes between 300 and 400 feet within the coverage area were successfully detected, localized, and continuously tracked by the sensing technology. By combining observations from multiple synchronized sensing nodes, the technology provided enhanced detection reliability, improved positioning accuracy, and robust target tracking performance. The sensing technology generated real-time target metrics, including the drone's location, velocity, and elevation, enabling comprehensive tracking and monitoring throughout the flight path.
The demonstration highlighted how existing network infrastructure can be transformed into a distributed sensing platform, enabling advanced applications such as drone detection without requiring additional standalone sensing technology. But it shows more than a single technical milestone. It reflects a broader view shared by AT&T and Ericsson: that some of the capabilities people may think of as "6G" can begin taking shape now through software, advanced radios and continued growth of 5G.
Together, AT&T and Ericsson will continue bringing their expertise to the evolution of Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) through future demonstrations and learnings, alongside others helping shape the path toward major event environments such as the next major global sporting event in Los Angeles in 2028.
"As networks evolve, the opportunity is not just to prepare for 6G someday, but to begin introducing important building blocks now," said Dyon Agnew, SVP and Head of Customer Unit AT&T, Ericsson Americas. "This demonstration with AT&T shows a product roadmap in action: using advanced 5G capabilities today to explore how sensing and connectivity can work together, then evolving those capabilities over time as the path to 6G becomes clearer."
"Integrated sensing is an important part of the road to 6G, and this work helps show how we can start bringing that future to life right now," said Yigal Elbaz, SVP and Network CTO, AT&T. "By working with Ericsson, we are exploring how advanced wireless networks can add sensing capabilities to connectivity in ways that could support safer operations, smarter venues and stronger customer experiences, while creating a path to evolve these capabilities responsibly over time."
What this roadmap will enable over time:
Help event and facility teams improve planning and staffing by providing broader visibility into how vehicles move through large environments. Enhance coordination around temporary event infrastructure and logistics by adding network-based environmental awareness alongside connectivity. Support a wide-area drone awareness system for public-sector stakeholders, improving visibility into low-altitude drone activity as the low-altitude economy develops across cities and regions. Inform the evolution of future 5G and 6G capabilities as sensing and communications mature together for large venues, enterprises, governments and public-sector environments. What's next: AT&T and Ericsson will continue exploring how sensing capabilities can be introduced pragmatically using existing network foundations, then advanced over time as standards, ecosystems and market needs develop.
The goal is to help shape a practical path where future 6G capabilities are not treated as a distant leap, but as an evolution that can begin delivering value well before full 6G commercialization.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
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Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX | NFLX Price Prediction) closed July 2, 2026 with a market capitalization of roughly $327 billion, a figure that would have seemed unreachable to skeptics who watched the stock slide 39.57% over the past year. The valuation reflects 4,210,799,000 shares outstanding at a closing price of $77.65, a level the crowd on Polymarket now assigns a 0.79 probability of ending the month at the $80 level. This is a reported figure, but one that has some investors growing concerned.
What It Means A market cap of that scale after a year like this one requires a business that keeps compounding through the noise. Netflix delivered such performance.
In fact, the company’s Q1 2026 revenue landed at $12.25 billion, up 16% year over year and beating consensus of $12.17 billion. Net income reached $5.28 billion, growing 82.8% against the year-ago quarter, boosted by a $2.80 billion termination fee tied to the abandoned Warner Bros. deal. Strip that one-time item out and operating income still expanded 18.23% to $3.96 billion. Additionally, the company’s free cash flow of $5.09 billion grew 91.44%, while Netflix’s return on equity sits at 48.5%.
Growth is spread across the map. North America grew 14%, EMEA 17%, Latin America 19%, and Asia Pacific 20%, with Japan the largest single contributor to member growth after the World Baseball Classic drew 31.4 million viewers.
Market Reaction Shares closed at $77.65 on July 2, 2026, up 4.66% on the day and 9.52% over the past week (from $70.90 on June 25 to $77.65 on July 2). Over ten years, the stock is up 703.25%.
Bull Case The bull case for Netflix rests on the gap between what the business is producing and what the stock price has been telling investors. Full-year 2026 revenue guidance was reaffirmed at $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion, or 12% to 14% growth. On the positive side, Netflix’s operating margin is targeted at 31.5%, up from 29.5% in 2025, and free cash flow guidance was raised to approximately $12.5 billion from $11 billion.
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The company’s advertising business is on track to roughly double to $3 billion in 2026, with the advertiser base up 70% year over year to more than 4,000 clients. The ad-supported tier drove over 60% of Q1 sign-ups in ads markets. Netflix ended 2025 with more than 325 million paid members and management estimates it captures only roughly 7% of an addressable revenue pool worth $670 billion.
Capital is coming back to shareholders as well in the form of buybacks, which resumed after the Warner Bros. deal collapsed. Netflix repurchased 13.5 million shares for $1.3 billion in Q1 and $6.8 billion of authorization remaining.
Analyst coverage tilts the same direction, with Wall Street putting forward 37 Buy or Strong Buy ratings, 13 Hold, and zero Sells, with a consensus price target of $114.15. Co-CEO Greg Peters framed the setup on the Q1 call: “We are maintaining our guidance and strong outlook for organic growth that we established for 2026: revenue growth of 12% to 14% and operating margin at 31.5%.”
Bottom Line For long-term holders, the story is a company still compounding at scale while trading at 23x trailing earnings and 23x forward. The next test comes fast, with Q2 2026 earnings confirmed for July 16, 2026 (after market close). Investors will watch closely to see if management can hit its guide of approximately $12.574 billion and a Q2 operating margin of 32.6%. Hit those marks, and the $327 billion price tag stops looking like a ceiling and starts looking like a floor.
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It's not often that components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are shuffled, so when new companies appear, it's usually a much-discussed event. This was certainly the case in late June, when S&P Global announced that Alphabet (GOOG 0.76%) (GOOGL 0.87%) would be joining the index, replacing Verizon Communications.
But while the shake-up means a new name will be added to the Dow, it's worth noting the storied histories of some of the Dow's members. One stock, in fact, has been a Dow component for nearly a century -- and raising its dividend since before Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were born.
Image source: Getty Images.
How is Alphabet a blue chip of a different hue? Unlike many constituents that have earned their stripes through decades of industry leadership and strong financial performance, Alphabet has been admitted to the Dow for reasons other than its performance.
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S&P Global acknowledges Alphabet as a worthy Dow component, in part, for its diversified portfolio, which provides industry-leading digital services spanning numerous tech niches, including advertising, cloud infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI). Moreover, S&P Global states that including Alphabet "will broaden and strengthen the DJIA's exposure to these dynamic areas of the U.S. economy."
While it doesn't have a lengthy operating history to its credit, Alphabet's "larger market capitalization and share price, together with the breadth of its businesses, make it a more representative Communication Services constituent in the DJIA," in S&P Global's estimation.
This consumer goods stalwart is a regal dividend stock Tracing its roots back to 1837, Procter & Gamble (PG +0.50%) is a name many people recognize for its numerous household products -- everything from baby care to personal grooming. Procter & Gamble's stock familiarity as a Dow constituent and as a dividend powerhouse, on the other hand, may be lesser known.
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Procter & Gamble stock debuted in the Dow Jones in 1932, making it one of the longest-tenured Dow components. Perhaps even more impressive is its steadfast dedication to rewarding shareholders. A Dividend King (a company that has boosted its dividend for 50 consecutive years), Procter & Gamble stock has hiked its dividend for 70 years in a row -- a feat that few companies can lay claim to.
Unlike Alphabet, which is consistently developing innovative tech, Procter & Gamble operates a predictable, unexciting business, but that's just fine for passive-income investors. The steady revenue and earnings provide management with ample opportunities to return capital to shareholders while ensuring the company remains financially healthy. From 2016 through 2025, for example, Procter & Gamble has boosted its dividend at a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% -- a period during which the company averaged a conservative 75.7% payout ratio.
Using Alphabet to help spell out the health of U.S. economy As Alphabet's presence in our daily lives grows increasingly prevalent, it's unsurprising that S&P Global elected to replace Verizon with Alphabet stock as a Dow component. While investors have a blue chip powerhouse with AI (and other cutting-edge tech) exposure in the Dow, it's worth taking time to also recognize the value of Procter & Gamble stock -- a long-tenured Dow member dedicated to increasing dividends. For those seeking portfolio diversification, both Alphabet and Procter & Gamble may be welcome additions to investors' holdings.
Image Credits:Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images Disney+ is considering making some of its streaming library available to watch for free, according to a report from Business Insider.
Disney’s chief product and technology officer Adam Smith discussed the possibility of offering free-tier content during a town hall on Thursday, the report says. It’s unknown which shows or movies would be included or when the streaming platform would consider launching the offering.
The rollout of free content would allow Disney+ to better compete with free services like YouTube and Tubi, which are capturing a growing share of consumers’ viewing time.
As streaming giants continue to raise prices, consumers have been turning to ad-supported services. According to data from Neilson, free streaming services represented 18.7% of U.S. television watch time in April 2026, rising from 16.8% in April 2025 and 12.7% in April 2024.
By offering select free content to consumers, Disney+ could better differentiate itself from its streaming peers like Netflix and Amazon Prime, especially as Apple TV+ and Paramount+ already allow non-subscribers to access a few free episodes.
Walt Disney (DIS - Free Report) could be a solid addition to your portfolio given its recent upgrade to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). An upward trend in earnings estimates -- one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices -- has triggered this rating change.
The sole determinant of the Zacks rating is a company's changing earnings picture. The Zacks Consensus Estimate -- the consensus of EPS estimates from the sell-side analysts covering the stock -- for the current and following years is tracked by the system.
Since a changing earnings picture is a powerful factor influencing near-term stock price movements, the Zacks rating system is very useful for individual investors. They may find it difficult to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts, as these are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time.
As such, the Zacks rating upgrade for Disney is essentially a positive comment on its earnings outlook that could have a favorable impact on its stock price.
Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock PricesThe change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, has proven to be strongly correlated with the near-term price movement of its stock. The influence of institutional investors has a partial contribution to this relationship, as these big professionals use earnings and earnings estimates to calculate the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their transaction of large amounts of shares then leads to price movement for the stock.
For Disney, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade fundamentally mean an improvement in the company's underlying business. And investors' appreciation of this improving business trend should push the stock higher.
Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate RevisionsEmpirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, so it could be truly rewarding if such revisions are tracked for making an investment decision. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions.
The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .
Earnings Estimate Revisions for DisneyFor the fiscal year ending September 2026, this entertainment company is expected to earn $6.86 per share, which is unchanged compared with the year-ago reported number.
Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Disney. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 3.8%.
Bottom LineUnlike the overly optimistic Wall Street analysts whose rating systems tend to be weighted toward favorable recommendations, the Zacks rating system maintains an equal proportion of "buy" and "sell" ratings for its entire universe of more than 4,000 stocks at any point in time. Irrespective of market conditions, only the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks get a "Strong Buy" rating and the next 15% get a "Buy" rating. So, the placement of a stock in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks indicates its superior earnings estimate revision feature, making it a solid candidate for producing market-beating returns in the near term.
You can learn more about the Zacks Rank here >>>
The upgrade of Disney to a Zacks Rank #2 positions it in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.
Delta Airlines saidelevated airfares are likely to last despite a recent drop in oil prices, reporting strong appetite for travel and record-high revenue in its quarterly results Friday.
Though the company had its highest quarterly fuel expense in its history, demand has been high enough to pass along 60% of its extra fuel costs to consumers, Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, told CNBC, with plans to eventually pass along all elevated costs.
“The demand for air travel is really strong, and as a result of that, we posted a $1.4bn profit,” Bastian told CNBC.
Airlines across the board have had to pass on elevated fuel costs to customers or cut routes this year as the war in the Middle East drove oil prices up. While some Americans have been forced to cut or adjust their travel plans amid the higher fares, others appear unwilling to sacrifice their travel plans. AAA estimated that a record-high number of Americans drove or flew for their Independence Day holiday plans, despite high gas prices.
Bastian said that he estimated that 60% of the airline industry’s profits this quarter would be coming from Delta, which holds 20% of the market share. Delta is the first airline to report its second quarter results; United Airlines and American Airlines will announce their earnings later this month.
Bastian noted that Delta consumers are at the “top end” of the K-shaped economy, calling them “financially very healthy” with a “tremendous amount of wealth accumulation”. In its earnings report, Delta reported that its premium revenue grew 17% year-over-year, whereas its main cabin sales increased by just 8% over the same time frame. Earlier this week, the airline expanded its premium offerings, launching a “basic business” option that offers business class without expedited check-in or lounge access.
“When you ask our consumers what is their main purpose and use of discretionary funds, they’ll say we want to participate in the experience economy, with air travel being the number one,” he said. “We want to go places. We want to see things.”
Despite airfares that are up between 12 to 15% from last year, Bastian said airfares “continue to be a tremendous bargain”, amid overall inflationary pressures. He added that Delta flyers were still willing to spend on travel, citing the “post-Covid effect”.
Despite the sharp in drop in global oil prices last month after the US announced a peace deal with Iran, oil and gas prices are creeping up again as the future of the ceasefire remains uncertain. The current national average for a gallon of gas is $3.88, which is cheaper than last month’s levels but still $0.71 higher than last year.
Clint Henderson (@ThePointsGuyArrivals/@ThePointsGuyDepartures) says Delta Air Lines (DAL) says the company's premium demand has "more than made up" for a reduction of passengers in the back cabins as air fare prices grow. He outlines the airline's earnings and points to rising costs as a tentative long-term headwind.
Key Takeaways DAL posted Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.56 as revenues rose to $17.67 billion. Delta's premium and diversified revenues climbed 18% and made up 61% of adjusted operating revenues. DAL expects Q3 EPS of $2.00-$2.50 and reaffirmed full-year guidance of $6.50-$7.50. Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2026 earnings (excluding 88 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.56 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.51. Earnings declined in double digits (% wise) from a year ago as sharply higher fuel costs pressured profitability.
Revenues rose on a year-over-year basis to $17.67 billion but missed the consensus estimate of $17.76 billion. Broad demand strength lifted adjusted total revenue per available seat mile, or TRASM, 12.4%, while premium and diversified revenue streams continued to expand.
DAL Benefits From Broad-Based Revenue StrengthPassenger revenues increased 13% year over year to $15.61 billion. Premium-product ticket revenues climbed 17% to $6.92 billion, while main-cabin ticket revenues rose 8% to $6.85 billion. Loyalty travel awards and travel-related services revenues grew 14% and 11%, respectively.
Premium products and diversified revenue streams generated $10.82 billion, up 18%, and accounted for 61% of adjusted operating revenues compared with 59% a year earlier. Management cited yield strength, continued premium-seat investments and stronger customer engagement as major contributors.
Delta Posts Gains Across Key MarketsDomestic revenues advanced 15% year over year to $10.67 billion, supported by 12%-unit revenue growth and a 13% increase in yield. Atlantic revenues rose 8% to $3.11 billion, with unit revenues up 7% and capacity increasing 1%.
Pacific revenues increased 15% to $832 million as capacity expanded 8%. Latin American revenues grew 4% to $990 million despite a 7% capacity reduction, reflecting 12%-unit revenue growth and a 13% improvement in yield. Corporate sales increased at a double-digit rate across all sectors, led by Aerospace & Defense, Banking and Automotive.
Revenue passenger miles (a measure of air traffic) inched up 1% to 66.77 billion. Capacity (measured in available seat miles) expanded 1% to 78.7 billion. Consolidated passenger load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) decreased to 84.8% from 85.5% a year ago.
DAL Sees Momentum in Diverse Revenue StreamsCargo revenues surged 39% year over year to $294 million, driven primarily by volume growth. Maintenance, repair and overhaul revenues increased 32% to $315 million, mainly reflecting strength in legacy engine platforms.
Loyalty and related revenues rose 19% to $1.34 billion. American Express remuneration increased 16% to $2.4 billion, aided by accelerating card acquisitions and the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit cardholder spending growth. Travel products and non-air partnership revenues advanced nearly 20%.
Delta’s Fuel Costs Weigh on MarginsAdjusted operating expenses increased 20% year over year to $16.1 billion. Adjusted fuel expense jumped 77% to $4.41 billion as the adjusted average fuel price climbed 75% to $3.93 per gallon. Fuel consumption inched up 1% to 1.12 billion gallons.
Adjusted operating income declined 24% to $1.56 billion, while the adjusted operating margin contracted 450 basis points to 8.8%. Non-fuel costs rose 8% to $11.09 billion, and non-fuel unit costs increased 6.8% to 14.09 cents.
DAL Generates Cash and Reduces DebtAdjusted operating cash flow totaled $1.65 billion in the June quarter, down 10% year over year. Gross capital expenditures increased 23% to $1.44 billion, leaving free cash flow of $209 million compared with $733 million in the prior-year period.
Adjusted net debt was $13.59 billion at quarter-end, down $709 million from the end of 2025 and $2.73 billion year over year. Delta ended the quarter with $4.67 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $7.7 billion in liquidity, including $3.1 billion of undrawn revolving credit capacity.
Delta Issues Upbeat Q3 OutlookFor the third quarter of 2026, Delta expects adjusted earnings of $2.00-$2.50 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is currently pegged at $1.93 per share. The company projects an adjusted operating margin of 11-13% and mid-teens year-over-year revenue growth on modest capacity expansion. Fuel cost per gallon is expected to be $3.15.
Management expects unit revenue growth to improve sequentially and non-fuel unit cost performance to improve modestly from the June quarter.
Full-Year 2026 Outlook Reaffirmed by DALDelta expects adjusted earnings guidance of $6.50-$7.50 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is currently pegged at $5.78 per share. Delta anticipates free cash flow in the $3-$4 billion range. The company also expects gross leverage of approximately two times by year-end.
DAL’s Zacks RankCurrently, DAL carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Upcoming Earnings Release of Other Transportation CompaniesJ.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 15. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2026 earnings has been revised 0.6% upward over the past 60 days. JBHT’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the preceding four quarters and missed in the remaining one, the average surprise being 6.3%.
Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 earnings on July 23.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2026 earnings has been revised 0.3% upward over the past 60 days. UNP’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the preceding four quarters (missing the mark on the other occasion). The average beat is 2.3%.
Delta Air Lines sees higher fares staying in place for consumers amid higher costs for fuel and other expenses, even if oil prices return to more moderate levels and allow jet fuel costs to decline in turn.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on the company's quarterly earnings call that the dynamics of the airline industry have changed significantly as higher fuel prices, as well as increases in other categories of operational expenses, have made it more difficult for low-cost carriers to compete through lower airfares.
"Most U.S. carriers were already struggling to earn their cost of capital against a backdrop where industry airfares have meaningfully trailed inflation, costs have reset higher, and consumer preferences have evolved," Bastian said.
"As we predicted, structural change has accelerated, enabling the industry to recapture this year's fuel cost inflation at the fastest pace of any recent cycle," he added.
DELTA ROLLS OUT CHEAPER FIRST-CLASS, BUSINESS FARES WITH FEWER PERKS: 'MORE WAYS TO CHOOSE'
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said that he thinks higher airfares will remain for consumers as the industry adjusts to cost pressures. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Bastian said that Delta sees those shifts in the industry continuing to play out, which will allow airfares and the revenue outlook to remain steady even if energy prices return to their pre-Iran war levels.
"Even after recent fare increases, airfares remain 10 to 15 points below overall inflation since COVID," Bastian said, adding that much of the industry is still earning returns below the cost of capital.
"We believe that current revenue momentum should remain sustainable even if fuel prices moderate," Bastian said.
DELTA CEO ED BASTIAN REVEALS WHAT HE SAYS MUST HAPPEN FOR AIRLINE TICKET PRICES TO FALL
Ticker Security Last Change Change % DAL DELTA AIR LINES INC. 87.09 -1.89 -2.12% Airlines are facing not only higher fuel costs, but increased expenses for labor, airport infrastructure, technology and airplanes, which Bastian explained is forcing companies in the industry to build more resilience into their operational strategy.
"What that tells you is that you need to figure out a change to the business model that will enable you to build resilience in your price and durability, and that's what we've done over time," he said, noting that includes higher airfares as well as the diversification of revenue streams, such as through Delta's partnership with American Express.
DELTA, SOUTHWEST HIKE CHECKED BAG FEES AS AIRLINES FACE SURGING FUEL COSTS
Delta believes that airfares are unlikely to decline even after energy prices normalize. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Bastian added that "even with the improvements we've seen in pricing for the industry, the low end of the market still has to increase fares by another 5%, by our estimate, just to get to breakeven at today's fuel environment."
"There's nothing to be gained by trying to grow in that environment. What the opportunity has to be in finding ways to secure higher revenues, not higher market share," he added.
The most recent consumer price index (CPI) inflation data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that airline fares rose 2.7% on a monthly basis in May, and were 26.7% higher than a year ago.
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The BLS is set to release updated CPI inflation data for the month of June next week.
Key Takeaways American Express launched new AI tools to support secure AI-powered payments and developer integrations.AXP uses its closed-loop network to improve approvals, verify intent and strengthen fraud protection.AXP reported 11% revenue growth, reaffirmed 2026 EPS guidance despite higher technology investments. Artificial intelligence is becoming a key part of American Express Company’s (AXP - Free Report) long-term strategy. During its latest earnings call, the company highlighted several AI initiatives aimed at preparing its payments business for the next phase of digital commerce. AmEx also plans to increase technology investments, signaling that AI will remain a major area of focus.
AmEx recently launched the Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences Developer Kit, enabling developers to integrate its cards into AI-powered transactions. It also introduced Amex Agent Purchase Protection, an industry-first feature that protects purchases made by registered AI agents. In addition, the company is building proprietary AI features on its own platforms while partnering with leading AI companies to make its premium membership benefits discoverable and actionable across their platforms.
The company is using its closed-loop payments platform to support these initiatives. Access to end-to-end transaction data helps verify purchase intent, improve payment approvals and strengthen fraud protection and security for both card members and merchants. These capabilities could become increasingly important as AI handles a larger share of digital transactions.
AmEx delivered strong first-quarter results, supporting its investment in future growth. Revenues increased 11% year over year to $18.9 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) rose 18% to $4.28. Despite raising technology investments, the company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 EPS guidance of $17.30-$17.90. As AI continues to reshape digital commerce, these investments could strengthen customer engagement, deepen merchant relationships and support long-term growth.
How Are Competitors Faring?American Express faces intense competition in the payments space from Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) and Visa Inc. (V - Free Report) , both of which are expanding their AI capabilities to strengthen payment security and support the next phase of digital commerce.
Mastercard recently expanded its Agent Pay platform and introduced Verifiable Intent to support secure AI-driven transactions. These initiatives reflect Mastercard's focus on building trust and security as agentic commerce evolves.
Visa is expanding its AI capabilities to strengthen digital payments and fraud prevention. It recently launched the Visa Threat Intelligence Platform (VTIP) to identify cyber threats before they become payment fraud, reflecting its continued focus on AI-driven payment security.
AXP’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of AXP have risen 8.6% over the past year against the industry’s decline of 26.6%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, AXP trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28X, up from the industry average of 9.87X. AXP carries a Value Score of C.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXP’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $17.67 per share, implying a 14.9% jump from the year-ago period’s level.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
AXP currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Looking for a stock that has been consistently beating earnings estimates and might be well positioned to keep the streak alive in its next quarterly report? Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, could be a great candidate to consider.
This drugmaker has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The average surprise for the last two quarters was 10.71%.
For the last reported quarter, Pfizer came out with earnings of $0.75 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.71 per share, representing a surprise of 5.63%. For the previous quarter, the company was expected to post earnings of $0.57 per share and it actually produced earnings of $0.66 per share, delivering a surprise of 15.79%.
Price and EPS Surprise
For Pfizer, estimates have been trending higher, thanks in part to this earnings surprise history. And when you look at the stock's positive Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction), it's a great indicator of a future earnings beat, especially when combined with its solid 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.
Pfizer has an Earnings ESP of +2.22% 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 #3 (Hold), 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.
Investors should note, however, that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss, but a negative value does reduce the predictive power of this metric.
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.
Looking for a stock that has been consistently beating earnings estimates and might be well positioned to keep the streak alive in its next quarterly report? Travelers (TRV - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry, could be a great candidate to consider.
This insurer 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 21.09%.
For the last reported quarter, Travelers came out with earnings of $7.71 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.98 per share, representing a surprise of 10.46%. For the previous quarter, the company was expected to post earnings of $8.45 per share and it actually produced earnings of $11.13 per share, delivering a surprise of 31.72%.
Price and EPS Surprise
For Travelers, estimates have been trending higher, thanks in part to this earnings surprise history. And when you look at the stock's positive Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction), it's a great indicator of a future earnings beat, especially when combined with its solid 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.
Travelers has an Earnings ESP of +0.02% 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 #3 (Hold), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner. The company's next earnings report is expected to be released on July 17, 2026.
When the Earnings ESP comes up negative, investors should note that this will reduce the predictive power of the metric. But, a negative value is not indicative of a stock's earnings miss.
Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, but that may not be the sole basis for their stocks moving higher. On the other hand, some stocks may hold their ground 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.
Key Takeaways UnitedHealth launched a Lifestyle Spending Account integrated with the UHC Store for eligible members.UNH's LSA supports fitness, nutrition, sleep and more without reimbursement claims.UnitedHealth says the benefit complements broader digital health and member experience initiatives. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH - Free Report) , through UnitedHealthcare, has launched a Lifestyle Spending Account (“LSA”), expanding its portfolio of consumer-focused health benefits. The employer-sponsored, post-tax account is integrated with UHC Store, enabling eligible members to shop for approved health, wellness and lifestyle products without submitting reimbursement claims. By integrating the benefit directly into its digital platform, UNH is simplifying the purchasing process while giving employers a flexible way to support employees' evolving wellness needs.
The launch reflects a broader shift toward personalized workplace benefits. Unlike traditional health accounts that cover only qualified medical expenses, the LSA extends support to categories such as fitness, nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, women's health and weight management. The platform is available to more than 15 million UnitedHealthcare commercial members and features over 30 offerings from dozens of vendors.
For UNH, the initiative strengthens its strategy of building a more connected digital healthcare ecosystem. Integrating the LSA with UHC Store simplifies administration for employers by reducing reimbursement hassles and limiting the need for relationships with multiple vendors. It also complements the company's recent efforts to improve the member experience, including easing prior authorization requirements, expanding maternity support, enhancing cancer screening coverage and introducing its AI assistant, Avery.
However, the LSA is unlikely to materially boost near-term earnings but strengthens UNH's long-term value proposition. Greater consumer choice, stronger digital engagement and flexible employer solutions can improve member satisfaction and client retention. As workplace healthcare continues to evolve, such initiatives could help UNH deepen employer relationships and reinforce its competitive position in commercial health benefits.
How Are Competitors Faring?Some of UNH’s major competitors in the medical space are Humana Inc. (HUM - Free Report) and Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV - Free Report) .
Humana is strengthening its employer-sponsored health benefits portfolio through expanded virtual care, wellness and preventive health programs. HUM emphasizes integrated care models that improve member engagement, promote healthier lifestyles and help employers enhance workforce health while managing costs.
Elevance Health is expanding its employer-sponsored health benefits capabilities through the Carelon platform, which integrates pharmacy, behavioral health and care management with digital solutions. ELV continues to invest in personalized care offerings that improve employee health outcomes while helping employers better manage healthcare spending.
UnitedHealth’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of UNH have gained 42% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 35.1%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, UnitedHealth trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, above the industry average of 18.50. UNH carries a Value Score of B.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UnitedHealth’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $18.32 per share, implying 12.1% growth from the year-ago period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
UNH stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
RAHWAY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) and KEYTRUDA QLEX™ (pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapies, each in combination with Padcev® (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), as neoadjuvant treatment and then continued after cystectomy as adjuvant treatment for the treatment of adult patients with muscle-invasive bla.
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a software story — it has become one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in modern business history. Tech giants are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into new data centers, networking equipment, advanced semiconductors, and power capacity to secure an edge in the next phase of computing. That investment wave is reshaping more than the technology industry; it is transforming the corporate credit market as well.
Companies that once relied primarily on their enormous cash reserves are increasingly turning to bond investors to finance their AI ambitions. The strategy makes sense if future profits justify today’s spending. If they don’t, the growing pile of debt could become one of the biggest risks facing the AI boom.
AI Is Rewriting the Corporate Bond Market According to Bloomberg, six AI-focused companies — Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), and SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) — have collectively issued $182 billion of investment-grade bonds during 2026. During the same period last year, those companies raised only about $13 billion. That represents an increase of roughly 1,300% in just one year.
The impact extends far beyond Silicon Valley. Those six companies now account for nearly 15% of all U.S. corporate bond issuance so far this year while generating more than half of the overall growth in the investment-grade bond market.
Company AI Investment Focus Amazon AWS infrastructure and AI data centers Alphabet Gemini AI, cloud infrastructure, custom chips Nvidia AI accelerators and networking Meta Platforms AI models and hyperscale computing Oracle AI cloud infrastructure SpaceX AI-enabled satellite and communications expansion The borrowing reflects one simple reality: AI infrastructure costs hundreds of billions of dollars before it produces meaningful returns.
Bigger Bets Mean Bigger Expectations Granted, borrowing money isn’t automatically a warning sign. Most of these companies enjoy investment-grade credit ratings, generate billions in annual cash flow, and can access debt markets at lower costs than almost anyone else. Amazon and Alphabet each produce tens of billions of dollars in operating cash flow every year, while Nvidia continues posting revenue growth that few large companies have ever matched.
That said, debt creates expectations. Bloomberg reports that seven corporate bond offerings worth at least $25 billion have already been completed this year, matching the total number recorded during the entirety of 2019 through 2025, combined. Six of those blockbuster offerings came from the AI leaders listed above, with Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) accounting for the remaining transaction.
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Ironically, this borrowing boom reflects confidence, not distress. Companies believe AI demand will remain strong enough to justify building infrastructure years before customers fully utilize it. History shows, however, that technological revolutions rarely unfold in a straight line. Demand can outpace expectations for a time before slowing as capacity catches up.
The bigger risk is execution. If AI applications generate enough new revenue to support these investments, today’s borrowing could look remarkably well-timed. Conversely, if companies overbuild data centers or AI adoption develops more slowly than expected, balance sheets could come under greater pressure.
The market is betting on the first outcome. Still, bond markets may have some doubts. Amazon reportedly got something of a cold shoulder for $25 billion it issued this week while S&P Global Ratings downgraded Oracle to the lowest investment-grade rating because of its AI spending binge.
Key Takeaway In short, the AI boom probably won’t collapse simply because companies are borrowing more money at a record pace. Strong balance sheets, investment-grade credit ratings, and robust cash generation give Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta, Oracle, and SpaceX financial flexibility that most companies lack.
Regardless, investors should keep watching one metric above all others: return on AI investment. Borrowing $182 billion only makes sense if those dollars produce growing revenue, expanding free cash flow, and higher earnings over time. As long as those metrics continue moving higher, today’s debt looks more like fuel for the AI race than the beginning of a financial crash. If those returns begin to fade, however, the conversation around AI could change much faster than the bond market expects.
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A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Oracle (ORCL - Free Report) . Shares have lost about 21.7% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Oracle due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at its latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Oracle Corporation before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
Oracle Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Cloud Growth Fuels RevenuesOracle reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $2.11 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.65% and surged 24% in dollar terms and 23% in constant currency (cc) on a year-over-year basis.
Total quarterly revenues beat the consensus mark by 0.54% and increased 21% year over year to $19.2 billion, reflecting broad-based demand for Oracle's industry-leading cloud technology and applications suites.
Cloud revenues (IaaS + SaaS) increased 47% to $9.9 billion, driven by 93% growth in Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS), and 10% growth in Cloud Applications (SaaS). This represents a notable acceleration in cloud infrastructure growth compared to prior quarters, signaling unprecedented demand from AI-focused customers.
Oracle's Remaining Performance Obligations ended the fourth quarter at $638 billion, up 363% from the prior year and $85 billion sequentially from the end of the fiscal third quarter. Most of the RPO increase in both the fiscal third and fourth quarters was large-scale AI contracts where the customer prepaid Oracle for the purchase of the GPUs, or the customer bought and supplied the GPUs to Oracle. This substantial backlog provides remarkable visibility into future revenue growth.
ORCL's Q4 Top-Line DetailsCloud Infrastructure revenues (IaaS) surged 93% in USD and 92% in cc to $5.8 billion, marking another dramatic acceleration from the fiscal third quarter's 84% growth rate. Cloud Application revenues (SaaS) were $4.1 billion, up 10% in USD and 9% in cc.
Total cloud revenues (SaaS plus IaaS) surged 47% in USD and 46% in cc to $9.9 billion, demonstrating that cloud remains the primary driver of Oracle's growth trajectory. Cloud revenues now represent 52% of total quarterly revenues.
Software revenues were down 2% to $6.8 billion, reflecting customers' continuing migration from on-premise software to the Cloud. Services revenues were $1.5 billion, up 13%, and Hardware revenues were $0.9 billion, up 9%.
Operating Details of OracleOracle generated fourth-quarter GAAP operating income of $6.1 billion, up 20%, while non-GAAP operating income rose to a record $8.6 billion, up 22%, driven by strong revenue growth and operating efficiency actions taken during the quarter.
GAAP net income available to common shareholders reached $4.2 billion, up 23%, and non-GAAP net income available to common shareholders grew to $6.2 billion, up 26%. Fiscal fourth-quarter GAAP earnings per share increased to $1.45, up 21%, and non-GAAP earnings per share climbed to $2.111, up 24%.
ORCL's Balance Sheet & Cash FlowOracle's strong operating income translated to a record fiscal year operating cash flow of $32 billion, up 54%. However, free cash flow was negative $23.7 billion for fiscal 2026 as Oracle continued to execute on investments to support the growth of its Cloud Infrastructure business.
Total notes payable and borrowings stood at approximately $129.5 billion as of May 31, 2026 (current portion of $7.2 billion and non-current portion of $122.3 billion). In fiscal 2026, Oracle raised $43 billion in debt financing and $5 billion in equity financing. In fiscal 2027, Oracle expects to raise approximately $40 billion through a combination of debt and equity financing, including its previously announced $20 billion at-the-market equity issuance.
The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 50 cents per share of outstanding common stock, consistent with prior quarters.
Forward GuidanceOracle provided the following forward-looking guidance for first-quarter fiscal 2027. Total Revenues are expected to grow from 27% to 29% in both constant currency and USD. Total Cloud revenues are expected to grow between 57% and 63% in constant currency and 58% and 64% in USD. Non-GAAP earnings per share are expected to grow in the range of 16-19% and be between $1.71 and $1.75 in constant currency. Non-GAAP earnings per share are projected to increase 17% to 20% and be between $1.72 and $1.76 in USD.
For fiscal 2027, the company confirmed prior revenue guidance of $90 billion and raised non-GAAP EPS guidance to $8.05, indicating growth of 18% after adjusting for the one-time events of selling its Ampere chip business and Bloom Energy warrants in fiscal 2026.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a upward trend in estimates revision.
The consensus estimate has shifted 5.31% due to these changes.
VGM ScoresCurrently, Oracle has a great Growth Score of A, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a B. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a score of C on the value side, putting it in the middle 20% for value investors.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Notably, Oracle has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
