Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Key Takeaways TSLA secured an order for 260 Megapack 2XL units, providing about 1 GWh of storage capacity.Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2027, with installations scheduled to become operational in 2028.About 33 units have signed contracts, while 150 remain under negotiation, limiting revenue visibility.
Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) is gaining opportunities in the energy storage market as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers increase electricity demand. Per Teslarati, Taiwan-based power company Apollo Power has ordered 260 Tesla Megapack 2XL battery storage units, representing approximately 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of storage capacity. Apollo signed the contract with Tesla's Taiwan energy arm last week to support behind-the-meter energy storage and grid resilience projects. 

Deliveries are expected to begin in batches toward the end of 2027, with the installations scheduled to become operational in 2028. The companies have not disclosed the contract value, citing a confidentiality agreement. The order highlights the growing role of large-scale battery storage in supporting energy-intensive AI infrastructure. 

TSLA's AI Storage Business Builds on AI DemandThe Apollo Power agreement could strengthen Tesla's position in the energy storage market as AI data centers seek reliable power supplies. Battery storage systems help manage electricity demand, provide backup support and reduce dependence on grid availability.  

Per Teslarati, Apollo is also working with Phison, Gigabyte and Shihlin Electric on an AI data center and grid resilience alliance. The initiative builds on a pilot project at Phison's Zhunan facility, where Apollo and Tesla Energy Taiwan installed grid-forming Megapack 2XL units in June. Teslarati also notes that Megapacks support xAI's Colossus facility in Memphis and a 400-megawatt AI campus in Brazil. The Megapack 2XL has also been included in Nvidia's DSX Ready qualification for battery storage in AI factories. 

Tesla's broader storage capabilities could support further growth. Per Teslarati, the company has deployed more than 50 GWh of energy storage worldwide, while its Megablock offering targets commissioning 1 GWh of capacity in 20 business days.  

Energy Generation and Storage, led by Megapack and Powerwall, remains a key diversification lever. In the third quarter of 2026, Tesla deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage products, up 9.6% year over year and 1.4% sequentially. Tesla says its order backlog remains robust, and Megafactory Texas is nearing production of Megapack 3 and Megablock, which should expand capacity. 

That company-wide momentum is separate from the Apollo deal, though, whose revenue contribution remains unclear.  

Competitive Landscape: Fluence Energy & Bloom EnergyFluence Energy, Inc. (FLNC - Free Report) competes with Tesla in the grid-scale battery storage market, supplying energy storage systems, software and services for utilities and large energy projects. Per Reuters, Fluence was engaged in more than 30 GWh of data center-related projects globally as of May 2026. Yesterday, Fluence also announced an agreement with Vattenfall for a battery storage project in Germany with more than 1 GWh of capacity, scheduled to become operational by the end of 2028. 

Bloom Energy Corporation (BE - Free Report) competes in the broader AI data center power market through its fuel cell technology, which generates electricity onsite rather than storing electricity for later use. Its expanded partnership with MiTAC Computing in August 2026 will deploy fuel cell systems at an AI server manufacturing campus in Fremont, CA. It also announced yesterday that American Electric Power plans to invest approximately $4 billion in a 702-megawatt fuel cell project using Bloom's technology to supply Google under a 20-year power purchase agreement.  

The Zacks Rundown for TeslaShares of TSLA are down 14.3% in a year against its industry's 1.1% fall.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Tesla is currently trading at a forward 12-month price-to-sales of 12.53X, higher than the industry’s average of 3.34X. It carries a Value Score of F.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TSLA for 2026 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 1.2%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The consensus estimate for EPS for fiscal 2026 has moved southward over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TSLA currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

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

Considering its total growth in the current century is at a relatively modest 218% – for comparison, the S&P 500 benchmark index is up over 490% within the timeframe – Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) stock has been one of the most surprising top performers of 2026.

Indeed, after starting the year at $69.12, KO shares rallied 32.78% by the Wednesday, October 14, close at $91.78 – the S&P 500 is up 12.55% year-to-date (YTD).

If the Thursday pre-market rally to $93.19 is taken into account, the soft drink giant’s YTD gains extend to 34.82%, putting it just $6.81 short of $100.

Why the October 27 earnings can decide if KO stock hits $100 by 2027 While such momentum appears to strongly indicate that Coca-Cola shares can hit the psychological threshold by 2027, the deciding moment is likely to come only in late October.

Specifically, a key driver behind KO stock’s strong 2026 performance has been its ability to beat analyst forecasts and, perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, reverse the weakness prevalent through much of 2025.

For example, Coca-Cola’s earnings report covering the quarter that ended on December 31 last year showed revenue at $11.82 billion – significantly below the analyst forecast of $12.03 billion.

The subsequent filing – covering the first calendar quarter (Q1) of 2026 – discloses sales amounting to $12.47 billion – $650 million higher than in the preceding period and $230 million higher than the expected $12.24 billion.

Coca-Cola’s performance in Q2 proved even better, with revenue reaching $13.38 billion – once again, $220 million higher than was forecasted – for a $1.56 billion increase in just six months.

Under the circumstances, the October 27 Q3 filing could make or break KO stock’s performance for the final two months of 2026. 

Here’s how Coca-Cola stock performed after each 2026 earnings report KO shares were 0.22% lower one month after the Q4 earnings – published in the February 10 pre-market – and 0.86% higher two months later. 

The situation was noticeably different following the Q2 filing – made early on July 28 – with a 5.94% rally within a month, and gains then diminished to 3.75% by the Monday, September 28, closing bell.

Finally, the Q1 2026 report led to a surge greater than 8% within the first month, and roughly 9.50% by the end of the second. 

The importance of the October 27 earnings report for Coca-Cola stock’s year-end price can also be seen in the fact that the latest KO rally – started after hitting support on October 7 and leading to 6.94% gains by the latest close  – came in the form of quarterly outlook revisions and the strategic decision to sell Costa Coffee.

Featured image via Shutterstock

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Google on Thursday said “Universal Cart,” a tool that lets users collect and monitor products they find across search and in the Gemini app, is now available to U.S. users. The company first previewed the tool at Google I/O in May.

The idea is to make online shopping easier to manage. Find something you like, save it to your cart, and move on. When you return later, your items and shopping progress are still there, so you don’t have to hunt down the same products or start over. Universal Cart can collect items from multiple retailers, turning it into a central hub for browsing and keeping track of potential purchases.

Google says the cart can also help shoppers stay on top of deals and availability. The tool can send notifications when a saved product’s price drops or when an out-of-stock item becomes available again.

The tool is also designed to offer more tailored help during the shopping process. Google says it can take credit card perks into account when helping users choose how to pay, and also surface relevant promo codes.

Checkout is tied to Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP, an open standard the company introduced earlier this year. UCP is designed to help AI agents and retailers work together across different parts of the shopping journey, including checkout.

Google is already deeply invested in AI-powered shopping, and Universal Cart is its latest effort to make the experience more convenient. It joins features such as conversational product discovery in Search’s AI Mode and Google’s “Let Google Call” tool, which uses an AI agent to contact nearby stores and check whether an item is in stock.

Google isn’t the only company bringing AI into e-commerce. Amazon, OpenAI, and other rivals have added agentic commerce features as companies look for ways to make chatbots useful beyond answering questions.

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Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch.

You can contact or verify outreach from Lauren by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at laurenforris22.25 on Signal.

Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 344,079 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $128,348,000. Microsoft accounts for 2.5% of Callan Family Office LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Microsoft by 1.7% in the second quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial increased its position in Microsoft by 6.2% during the first quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 431 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Planning LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.7% during the first quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 3,733 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC raised its stake in Microsoft by 0.5% during the first quarter. Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $2,052,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

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

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout? Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results. Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny. Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run. Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal. Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, CEO Satya Nadella sold 86,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $43,388,826.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $244,092,173.98. This trade represents a 15.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.42, for a total value of $3,984,293.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 555,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,924,086.32. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock worth $75,404,992 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Microsoft Stock Down 1.8% Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $504.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $438.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Microsoft Corporation has a twelve month low of $349.20 and a twelve month high of $553.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.50. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.65 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSFT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Microsoft from $522.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Wolfe Research cut Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Forty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $581.24.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Microsoft

About Microsoft (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Tesla Wants to Make Its Own Chips—What Could Go Wrong? IREN Limited’s AI Pivot Gains Traction—But Can Its Data Centers Deliver? PBF Energy’s Stunning Rally Faces a Critical Test Citi Stock Falls Despite Earnings Beat: What Investors Need to Know

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EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 939,168 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $350,329,000. Microsoft comprises 1.3% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Microsoft during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 37.4% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 4th quarter valued at about $101,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Microsoft In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This trade represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total value of $2,388,068.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,188,276.96. This trade represents a 10.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Trading Down 1.8% NASDAQ:MSFT opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $504.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $438.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a 1 year low of $349.20 and a 1 year high of $553.72. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a net margin of 40.31% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This is an increase from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Microsoft’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout? Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results. Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny. Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run. Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal. Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several analysts have commented on MSFT shares. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Microsoft from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday. Melius Research set a $665.00 price target on Microsoft and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $510.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Forty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $581.24.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Microsoft

Microsoft Company Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

See Also Five stocks we like better than Microsoft Tesla Wants to Make Its Own Chips—What Could Go Wrong? IREN Limited’s AI Pivot Gains Traction—But Can Its Data Centers Deliver? PBF Energy’s Stunning Rally Faces a Critical Test Citi Stock Falls Despite Earnings Beat: What Investors Need to Know Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSFT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report).

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C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,867 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,815,000. Microsoft makes up approximately 0.7% of C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MSFT. Frankly Finances LLC acquired a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Microsoft by 37.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in Microsoft in the second quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Finally, Glynn Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 34.2% in the second quarter. Glynn Capital Management LLC now owns 255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Stock Down 1.8% Shares of MSFT opened at $533.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.23. Microsoft Corporation has a one year low of $349.20 and a one year high of $553.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $504.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $438.68.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software giant reported $4.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $90.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.62 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.98% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.65 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Microsoft Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a positive change from Microsoft’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Microsoft’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Microsoft News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

Positive Sentiment: Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 custom AI accelerator, designed for multi-gigawatt deployment across Azure data centers. Management says it can deliver 40% more tokens per megawatt than a GPU-based system, potentially lowering inference costs and reducing reliance on Nvidia and AMD hardware. What Could Microsoft Gain From Its Maia 300 AI Chip Rollout? Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism remains focused on Azure growth, Microsoft’s AI backlog, and more than $130 billion in reported data-center leases. The scale of commitments supports long-term demand for Azure and Copilot, although it also raises capital-spending risks. Microsoft Reports $130 Billion in Data Center Leases Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its Microsoft price target to $600 from $512 and expects the upcoming fiscal first-quarter report to show improving differentiation in software. Earnings are scheduled for October 28. Microsoft Price Target Raised by Barclays Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s Azure chief reportedly seeks at least 20% cost cuts in an effort to offset soaring AI data-center expenses. The move could improve efficiency and margins, but it also highlights pressure from the company’s aggressive investment cycle. Microsoft Weighs 20% Cost Cuts in Azure Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft is introducing new AI-enabled Surface devices and an Xbox Nano Controller, supporting its broader push to put generative AI into consumer hardware. These products are strategically relevant but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results. Negative Sentiment: Hot inflation data pushed bond yields higher and triggered a broad selloff in AI-related shares, increasing concern that expensive AI infrastructure projects may face higher financing costs and tougher valuation scrutiny. Negative Sentiment: Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft to “hold,” while Erste Group made a minor reduction to its FY2028 earnings forecast. These actions add to near-term caution following the stock’s strong run. Negative Sentiment: EVP Amy Hood sold 7,305 shares worth approximately $4.0 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Because the sale was scheduled in advance and represents only 1.3% of her holdings, it is a limited bearish signal. Negative Sentiment: Reports that Microsoft issued security updates addressing more than 1,400 vulnerabilities could renew concerns about cybersecurity exposure, though patching the flaws is ultimately protective. Insider Buying and Selling at Microsoft In other news, CEO Judson Althoff sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.89, for a total value of $4,878,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 100,447 shares in the company, valued at $49,007,086.83. This represents a 9.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.48, for a total transaction of $2,388,068.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,188,276.96. This represents a 10.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 150,314 shares of company stock valued at $75,404,992 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSFT. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $660.00 price target on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Microsoft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $530.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Monday, September 28th. Forty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $581.24.

Read Our Latest Analysis on MSFT

Microsoft Profile (Free Report)

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops software, cloud services, devices, gaming products and business solutions. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is best known for the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, and serves consumers, businesses, governments and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft’s productivity and business offerings include Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, along with collaboration tools including Teams.

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Azure just crossed $100 billion in annual revenue and Microsoft's commercial backlog dwarfs what most investors track, yet the stock's biggest risk has nothing to do with AI demand fading.

The 24/7 Wall St. price target for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT | MSFT Price Prediction) is $646.49 over the next 12 months. That means 20.82% upside from the latest close of $535.07. Our model rates the stock a buy with high confidence.

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary

Metric
Value

Current Price
$535.07

Price Target from 24/7 Wall St.
$646.49

Upside/Downside
20.82%

Recommendation
BUY

Confidence Level
90%

My thesis looks past a single AI spending wave. Microsoft has a $678B commercial backlog,

Azure topped $100B in annual revenue for the first time, and Copilot is moving toward what management calls a seat-plus-usage model. Those are recurring enterprise revenue streams built to survive any one hype cycle.

A 37% Rally Since July Puts Microsoft Near Its High
Microsoft has gained 4.33% over the past week, 9.83% over the past month and 12.36% year to date. From July 13 through October 9, shares rose 37.11%. The stock now sits just below its 52-week high of $549.20 and well above its low of $348.54.

The rally started with the fiscal Q4 report on July 29. Revenue of $90.01B beat the $87.63B consensus, and non-GAAP EPS of $4.74 exceeded the $4.24 estimate. Azure grew 43%. On Monday, Barron’s reported that an AI warning from Microsoft’s CEO drew little reaction from cybersecurity stocks.

Why Bulls See $750 Within Reach
Our bull case hits $751.56. CFO Amy Hood said “demand continues to exceed available supply,” and management guided first-quarter Azure growth to around 45% in constant currency. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats.

Analysts have been raising forecasts: fiscal 2028 EPS estimates rose to $23.6759 from $22.6278 90 days ago. Wall Street has 14 Strong Buy, 39 Buy and 2 Hold ratings, with no Sells, and a consensus target of $587.63.

Capex Is the Risk Worth Watching
The bear case lands at $546.65. Fiscal 2026 capex jumped 79.62% to $115.95B, and free cash flow fell 6.46%. Fiscal 2027 capex is expected to hits about $175 billion. Excluding OpenAI, commercial RPO grew a more modest 25%. Q4 EPS also included a $3.20B gain from the Anthropic investment.

Operating cash flow rose 34.35% to $182.94B, and Hood noted that spending has moving toward short-lived chips that Microsoft can slow down if demand cools.

How Microsoft Compares to Alphabet and Amazon
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) competes head to head for enterprise AI cloud customers. Google Cloud grew 82%, but Alphabet’s low trailing P/E is boosted by a $99.03 billion equity gain, and its quarterly free cash flow came in at negative $5.855 billion.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) runs AWS, Azure’s largest rival. AWS grew 37%, slower than Azure, yet Amazon trades at a higher earnings multiple and posted negative trailing free cash flow of $7.6 billion.

Company
Trailing P/E
Latest Cloud Growth

Microsoft
30
43%

Alphabet
16
82%

Amazon
36
37%

Microsoft pairs a middle-of-the-pack multiple with positive free cash flow. Against this peer group, our target looks reasonable.

Microsoft Price Prediction 2026-2030
The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $646.49 has a buy rating and 90% confidence. The backlog grounds the thesis.

The bull thesis holds as long as Azure keeps growing above 40% and Copilot seat additions keep rose. Rising capex alongside flat backlog growth outside OpenAI would weaken the thesis. For now, the fundamentals support the model’s target.

The 24/7 Wall St. price target model projects where Microsoft could trade in the years ahead, assuming current growth trends and market conditions hold.

Year
Price Target from 24/7 Wall St.

2026 (December)
$562.94

2027 (October)
$647.36

2028 (October)
$738.64

2029 (October)
$817.69

2030 (October)
$875.72

The projections assume Microsoft keeps doing its current strategy. Faster growth in Copilot usage revenue could push results higher, while a decline in AI infrastructure demand could pull them lower. The expansion runs on more than chips, which is why we highlighted seven power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind the data centers in a free report you can grab here.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Money is rotating out of AI darlings and into consumer brands that spent the past year getting beaten down, and Nike is leading that charge. Whether the buying pressure signals a real turnaround or just a temporary bounce hinges on…

The hardest-hit names in consumer discretionary are drawing fresh buyers as money shifts away from the market’s favorite trades. Nike (NYSE:NKE | NKE Price Prediction) stock is at $36.89, up 5% in morning trading, leading a rebound in battered footwear and apparel names.

Meanwhile, Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) stock is at $98.24, up 4%, tracking Nike’s gain. On Holding (NYSE:ONON) stock is at $35.30, down 0.6%, missing the rebound.

For sector context, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLY) is at $112.68, up 1%. However, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is at $769.71, practically unchanged, so the consumer-products sector rally is running against a softer broad market.

Money Rotates From AI Into Consumer Brands Investors are shifting funds out of artificial intelligence and technology names into consumer and defensive sectors, and Nike stock leads the battered brands catching that bid. Shares of Nike entered October on pace for their worst year on record, leaving room for a rebound.

Riding a mania while planning the exit is the whole exercise in our free bubble survivor’s handbook, which pairs well with the rotation story playing out now.

In its Q1 FY2027 report on October 1, Nike posted GAAP diluted EPS of $0.48, ahead of the $0.44 consensus. The company’s revenue slipped to $11.21 billion, missing expectations. That mix of an earnings beat and a revenue miss repeated the pattern from the prior quarter.

Greater China dragged on Nike’s results, with revenue there falling 22%, while Converse dropped 28%. Profitability held up better, as Nike’s gross margin expanded 60 basis points to 42.8%.

North America offered a bright spot for Nike, with revenue rising 2% to $5.13 billion as running, global football and basketball grew. Its digital channel stayed soft, with Nike Brand Digital down 13%.

Wall Street Splits on Nike Bank of America analyst Lorraine Hutchinson downgraded Nike shares to Underperform from Neutral on September 25, then cut the firm’s price target again after the October 1 report. Hutchinson pointed to fading momentum in the lifestyle category and weakness in Greater China. Oppenheimer kept an Outperform rating on Nike shares while cutting its own price target.

That split frames the value-versus-value-trap debate. Nike stock trades at a trailing twelve-month P/E ratio of 18x, a multiple that looks cheap only if earnings recover. Management has guided fiscal 2027 revenue to decline high-single digits, with adjusted diluted EPS of $1.15 to $1.35.

Pace, Nike’s new restructuring program, targets $2.5 billion in cumulative savings through fiscal 2031 against $1 billion in pre-tax charges. The plan reorganizes Nike from four geographies to three, though most savings land in fiscal 2029 and 2030. CEO Elliott Hill said, “The Sport Offense is driving measurable progress across our performance business.”

Lululemon Joins the Rally as On Holding Slips Lululemon shares fit the same profile. The company is working through a turnaround, with incoming CEO Heidi O’Neill set to take the helm. Management’s recovery plan centers on fresh product and brand investment, the tools it highlighted for winning back traffic.

On Holding stock sits on the other side of that divide. Known for its CloudTec cushioning technology, the Swiss premium footwear brand has been the growth outperformer in the space, and the slight dip in On Holding stock contrasts with the gain in Nike stock. That gap shows the rally concentrating in the names that have fallen furthest.

Sales Decide the Next Chapter for Nike The next test for Nike is whether sales stabilize. During the October 1 earnings call, Hill stated, “At our size and scale, meaningful change takes time. Our turnaround is happening.” CFO Dave Denton added that Nike’s guidance assumes China “actually gets worse from a revenue perspective for the balance of this year.”

Nike’s investor day in November could show whether management’s broader financial targets hold up. Shares of Nike could keep drawing rotation buyers, yet the bearish call from Bank of America remains a counterweight until revenue turns.

Denton also called the Nike dividend “a very significant priority,” which offers holders some support during the reset. When all is said and done, NKE stock investors should keep their exposure moderate for now.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 22, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

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

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis world's largest airline is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.28 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -64.7%.

Revenues are expected to be $16.2 billion, up 18.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 211.19% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

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

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

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

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

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

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

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

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for American Airlines?For American Airlines, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -2.66%.

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

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

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

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that American Airlines would post earnings of $0.03 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.15, delivering a surprise of +400.00%.

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

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

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

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

Expected Results of an Industry PlayerSouthwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) , another stock in the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry, is expected to report earnings per share of $0.61 for the quarter ended September 2026. This estimate points to a year-over-year change of +454.6%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $8.26 billion, up 18.8% from the year-ago quarter.

The consensus EPS estimate for Southwest has been revised 23.4% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. However, a lower Most Accurate Estimate has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -4.13%.

This Earnings ESP, combined with its Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Southwest will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

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

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares are trading higher Thursday after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised its price target to $136 from $113, citing a more favorable setup heading into 2027.

Walmart stock is among today’s top performers. What’s fueling WMT momentum? Deutsche Bank Says Inflation Reinforces Walmart’s Value PropositionAccording to Investing.com, analyst Krisztina Katai argued that the persistent inflationary environment should reinforce Walmart’s value proposition and drive faster market-share gains. She expects incremental margins to improve as higher-margin businesses, including advertising, marketplace and membership, outgrow core retail and as automation benefits flow through. Katai said investors are starting to look past the headline pressure on U.S. comparable sales. The new target implies about 17% upside from Wednesday’s close, according to CNBC.

"We see pricing tailwinds building, market share accelerating, and WMT’s flywheel strengthening," Katai wrote. She added that greater disclosure around gross merchandise volume could underscore Walmart’s evolution from a traditional retailer to a technology-led marketplace. She also pointed to early results from Sparky, Walmart’s AI shopping assistant, which show baskets about 40% larger and higher conversion than traditional shopping journeys. The upgrade followed investor meetings in New York with Walmart CFO John David Rainey and the investor relations team.

A Rotation Into Staples and a Benefits Expansion Add ContextThe upgrade lands after momentum built in the prior session, when hotter-than-expected September inflation data prompted investors to rotate out of growth and technology stocks and into consumer staples. Costco and Target also edged higher that day, according to Investing.com. Walmart also announced October 13 that it will cover more than 250 prescription drugs, including GLP-1s and insulin, at no cost to eligible employees beginning in 2027. Shares are up more than 8% over the past week, and Koyfin shows 37 of the 43 analysts covering the stock rate it Buy or Strong Buy.

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Walmart Shares Edge HigherWMT Price Action: At the time of publication, Walmart shares are trading 2.79% higher at $119.40, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Altria's cigarettes kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, yet its stock is quietly outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin in 2024. The question investors now face says as much about ethics as it does about returns.

Most of Altria’s (NYSE: MO | MO Price Prediction) revenue comes from cigarettes. It owns the world’s most visible cigarette brand. That is, Marlboro, which is a huge part of its revenue. Altria’s image problem is simple. According to the CDC, “Smoking and secondhand smoke exposure cause over 480,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.” The WHO says the figure is 7 million worldwide. This does not include the people whose health is severely damaged by cigarettes.

Altria has an attraction few stocks do. It has a 6.2% dividend and has raised its dividend 61 times over the last 57 years. It has also bought back shares worth tens of billions of dollars over the same period. Its rock-solid balance means that trend will almost certainly continue.

And yield stocks usually have mediocre stock performance. Altria shares are up 27% year to date while the S&P 500’s increase is less than 13%. As the tech sell-off continues, Altria’s stock price advance could accelerate, as investors look for a safe harbor

Altria is not alone among S&P 500 stocks with a yield over 6%. UPS (NYSE: UPS) is on the list. So are General Mills (NYSE: GIS)  and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). People who are squeamish about a tobacco stock have other places to go.

Altria’s finances are mundane but steady. In the most recent quarter, revenue was flat at $6.1 billion. EPS dropped 3% to $1.37. The company also narrowed its guidance for the balance of the year, and it did so at the top of the previously disclosed range.

Altria has also weathered a sharp drop-off in smoking in America. In 1995, 25% of adults smoked. Last year the figure was 10%. The pace of the decline has slowed.

Investors will face a trade-off if the AI stocks sell-off continues. Will they buy the stock of a company with products that kill people?

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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The EIA sees oil sliding toward $79 a barrel by 2027, and income investors need to know whether Exxon's quarterly check survives the drop before crude gets there.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM | XOM Price Prediction) shares have risen 50.94% this year to $178.10. Crude helped: WTI trades at $96.24 a barrel, up 54.0% from a year ago. Income investors care more about the quarterly check of $1.03, which comes to $4.12 a year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects Brent to slide to $79/b in 2027 as Middle East supply comes back. That makes it worth asking whether the dividend holds up when crude falls.

Dividend Already Survived $64 Oil Recent results show where Exxon’s dividend breakeven is. In Q4 2025, Brent averaged $64 per barrel. That quarter, Exxon brought in $12.68 billion of operating cash flow, spent $7.45 billion on capex and paid $4.37 billion in dividends. Free cash flow covered the payout 1.2 times. In Q2 2025, when U.S. crude prices were $62.58, coverage was 1.23 times. Free cash flow fully paid the dividend with oil in the low $60s.

Coverage Across the Full Cycle For full years, free cash flow covered the dividend 1.84 times in 2024 and 1.37 times in 2025. Single quarters swing a lot more. Q1 2026 covered only 0.52 times, dragged down by $3.88B in mark-to-market timing effects and $706M of Middle East disruption losses. Q2 2026 covered it 3.96 times. On the July call, CEO Darren Woods said:

“That strength allows us to keep investing in advantaged opportunities, return surplus cash to shareholders, and maintain one of the strongest balance sheets in industry.”

Two structural changes raise the buffer. Structural cost savings have reached $16.3 billion since 2019. In Guyana, CFO Neil Hansen said Exxon has “fully recovered the $55 billion of investment along with all the operating costs,” and he called it “very much an inflection into free cash flow.”

Borrowing Room When Cash Falls Short The 2020 crash gives a real stress test. Operating cash flow fell to $14.67 billion against $17.28 billion of capex, so free cash flow came in at negative $2.61 billion. Exxon still paid $14.87 billion in dividends and covered the gap with debt, which rose $20.72 billion to $67.64 billion.

Exxon has more room to do that again. Total debt is $42.37 billion against $259.38 billion of equity. Net debt/EBITDA is 0.548 and interest coverage is 56x. Comparable figures for Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are 0.94 and 13.7x. Exxon also has the planned $20B of 2026 buybacks, which it can cut long before the dividend.

Track Record Versus Chevron and Shell Exxon kept the quarterly payment at $0.87 through 2020 and raised it again in 2021. The company reports 43 consecutive years of dividend growth, the kind of run we screened for in our free Dividend Kings guide. Chevron is close behind with its 39th consecutive annual increase. Shell (NYSE:SHEL) cut its dividend in 2020, and its net debt rose to $52.6 billion in Q1 2026.

Verdict: Exxon Can Keep Paying Yes, Exxon can keep paying its dividend through the next downturn. The payout is covered with oil in the low $60s, and the company has cut costs and turned Guyana into a cash generator since 2020. It also carries less debt than it did going into that crash. If crude drops below $60 for a long stretch, expect buybacks to shrink first and Exxon to borrow before it cuts the dividend, as it did in 2020. Income investors should watch two signals: free cash flow coverage over a full year and the size of the buyback.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Colgate-Palmolive (CL +1.54%) has paid a quarterly dividend since 1895. Moreover, this consumer staples stock has 63 years of consecutive annual dividend increases under its belt. This growth streak makes it a Dividend King, or a stock with over 50 consecutive years of dividend growth.

With this long track record of payouts, investors pay attention when this consumer staples stock declares a dividend. On Sept. 17, Colgate-Palmolive declared its next quarterly dividend, payable Nov. 13, to shareholders of record as of Oct. 20, giving investors until Oct. 19 to purchase a position to qualify for the payout.

With this in mind, let's see how many Colgate-Palmolive shares you'd need to buy to generate $1,000 in yearly dividends.

Image source: Getty Images.

Colgate-Palmolive, its dividend, and the math behind $1,000 per year Colgate-Palmolive currently has a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share. Annualized, that's $2.12 per share. Divide $1,000 by that figure, and you get around 472 shares. An investor who owns 472 shares would collect around $1,000.64 in dividends annually.

$94.21+$1.43 (+1.54%)

NYSE · As of 10:53 AM ET 10/15/26

Based on Colgate-Palmolive's share price of $91.61 at the time of writing, those 472 shares would cost approximately $43,240. This works out to a forward dividend yield of around 2.3%. Compared to some high-yielding dividend stocks, this yield may not sound particularly high, but consider the advantages of investing in lower-yielding dividend stocks with decades-long track records of dividend growth.

The long-term picture with durable dividend stocks It's an understatement to say that reaching Dividend King status is a testament to a business's durability and dividend. Companies like Colgate-Palmolive, which have been able to raise payouts over decades, are fundamentally strong businesses that weather recessions, downturns, and more severe economic crises.

Colgate-Palmolive's dividend growth has averaged around 3.2% yearly for the past decade. If this trend holds, this stock's modest annual increases will compound, leading to the quarterly dividend contributing a greater percentage to overall returns. Past performance is not indicative of future results, but companies like Colgate-Palmolive have a strong chance of delivering steady total returns over time.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced Denise Johnson, group president of Resource Industries, has elected to retire effective Feb. 1, 2027. Derrick York, who currently serves as president of Solar Turbines and Caterpillar senior vice president, has been appointed group president of Resource Industries, effective Nov. 1, 2026, at which time Johnson will assume an advisory role to ensure a seamless leadership transition.

Denise Johnson, group president of Resource Industries, has elected to retire Feb. 1, 2027.

Derrick York has been appointed group president of Resource Industries effective Nov. 1, 2026. Since joining Caterpillar in 2011, Johnson has transformed Caterpillar's mining business and advanced the industry, championing technologies that define the modern mine site. She assumed leadership of Resource Industries in 2016 during a historic mining downturn. Her leadership strengthened operations and the portfolio while maintaining a clear focus on long-term growth, returning the segment to profitability and ultimately delivering its strongest financial performance in more than a decade.

"Denise took on a critical role during one of the mining industry's most challenging times," said Joe Creed, Caterpillar chairman and CEO. "Her disciplined leadership restored Resource Industries to profitability and positioned Caterpillar as an industry leader in mining autonomy and technology. We are deeply grateful for all she has done to strengthen our relationships with customers, develop our people and shape the future of our company. Her impact and influence will be remembered long after her retirement."

Throughout her career, Johnson has been a respected voice across the mining, manufacturing and engineering communities, serving on numerous industry and academic boards and helping advance the future of mining worldwide.

Since 2023, York has led the global business unit that provides industrial gas turbines and compressors for oil & gas and power generation applications. In his 16 years with the company, he has also served as senior vice president of Caterpillar's Oil & Gas and Marine division and held leadership roles in finance and corporate development. Earlier in his career, York worked in banking and public accounting.

York has a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

"Derrick is a highly respected leader who understands our customers, our strategy and the industries we serve," said Creed. "He is well positioned to lead the team into its next chapter of innovation, growth and customer success."

Johnson expressed confidence in York and the future of Resource Industries.

"The greatest accomplishment of any leader is leaving an organization better positioned for the future. I'm proud of the foundation we've built, the people we've developed and the enduring impact this team will continue to make," said Johnson. "Derrick is the right leader to build on that foundation and move Resource Industries forward."

About Caterpillar
For more than a century, Caterpillar has built a better, more sustainable world. With 2025 sales and revenues of $67.6 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is shaping the future as the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Backed by one of the largest independent global dealer networks and financing services through Cat Financial, the company's primary business segments: Power & Energy, Construction Industries and Resource Industries are solving customers' toughest challenges through commercial excellence and advanced technology, driven by a highly skilled, dedicated global team. Learn more at www.caterpillar.com. 

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.

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

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 22. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

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

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis gold and copper miner is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.96 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +14.6%.

Revenues are expected to be $6.01 billion, up 8.8% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 4.47% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

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

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

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

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

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

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

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

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Newmont?For Newmont, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +0.17%.

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

So, this combination indicates that Newmont will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.

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

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Newmont would post earnings of $2.05 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.10, delivering a surprise of +2.44%.

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

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

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

Newmont appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

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

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

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 22, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

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

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.85 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +8.8%.

Revenues are expected to be $2.21 billion, up 6.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.27% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

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

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

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

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

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

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

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

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Dover?For Dover, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -1.75%.

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

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

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

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Dover would post earnings of $2.72 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.74, delivering a surprise of +0.74%.

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

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

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

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

Expected Results of an Industry PlayerAnother stock from the Zacks Manufacturing - General Industrial industry, Graco Inc. (GGG - Free Report) , is soon expected to post earnings of $0.82 per share for the quarter ended September 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +12.3%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $589.82 million, up 8.6% from the year-ago quarter.

Over the last 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for Graco has been revised 2% up to the current level. Nevertheless, the company now has an Earnings ESP of -2.68%, reflecting a lower Most Accurate Estimate.

When combined with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Graco will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once.

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

Dow Inc. (DOW - Free Report) is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price.

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 22, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

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

Zacks Consensus EstimateThis materials science is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.65 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +442.1%.

Revenues are expected to be $11.24 billion, up 12.7% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 51.25% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

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

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

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

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

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

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

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

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Dow Inc.?For Dow Inc., the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -4.12%.

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

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

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

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Dow Inc. would post earnings of $1.25 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.44, delivering a surprise of +15.20%.

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

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

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

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

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

United Parcel Service (UPS - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.

Shares of this package delivery service have returned -3% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +2.1% change. The Zacks Transportation - Air Freight and Cargo industry, to which UPS belongs, has lost 6.5% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Revisions to Earnings EstimatesHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current quarter, UPS is expected to post earnings of $1.63 per share, indicating a change of -6.3% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.1% over the last 30 days.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $7.19 points to a change of +0.4% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed -0.4%.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $7.97 indicates a change of +10.8% from what UPS is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed -0.1%.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for UPS.

Revenue Growth ForecastEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.

In the case of UPS, the consensus sales estimate of $22.22 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +3.8%. The $91.71 billion and $95.15 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +3.4% and +3.8%, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryUPS reported revenues of $22.83 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +7.6%. EPS of $1.76 for the same period compares with $1.55 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $21.75 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +4.98%. The EPS surprise was +6.67%.

The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

UPS is graded B on this front, indicating that it is trading at a discount to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about UPS. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

In its upcoming report, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG - Free Report) is predicted by Wall Street analysts to post quarterly earnings of $2.61 per share, reflecting an increase of 8.8% compared to the same period last year. Revenues are forecasted to be $2.88 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 15%.

The current level reflects no revision in the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter over the past 30 days. This demonstrates how the analysts covering the stock have collectively reappraised their initial projections over this period.

Before a company announces its earnings, it is essential to take into account any changes made to earnings estimates. This is a valuable factor in predicting the potential reactions of investors toward the stock. Empirical research has consistently shown a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and the short-term price performance of a stock.

While investors typically rely on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to gauge how the business may have fared during the quarter, examining analysts' projections for some of the company's key metrics often helps gain a deeper insight.

Given this perspective, it's time to examine the average forecasts of specific Intuitive Surgical metrics that are routinely monitored and predicted by Wall Street analysts.

Analysts' assessment points toward 'Revenue- Product (Instruments and accessories and Systems)' reaching $2.38 billion. The estimate suggests a change of +12.7% year over year.

Analysts forecast 'Revenue- Services' to reach $457.34 million. The estimate indicates a change of +15.5% from the prior-year quarter.

Analysts predict that the 'Revenue- Systems' will reach $650.13 million. The estimate suggests a change of +10.1% year over year.

The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Revenue- Instruments and accessories' of $1.73 billion. The estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +13.7%.

The average prediction of analysts places 'Total System Units Placed - Total Company' at 475 . Compared to the present estimate, the company reported 427 in the same quarter last year.

The consensus estimate for 'Da Vinci Surgical System Installed Base' stands at 12,080 . The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of 10,763 .

Analysts expect 'Total Number of Procedures' to come in at 902,959 . The estimate compares to the year-ago value of 797,000 .

According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Gross Profit- Service' should come in at $303.04 million. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported $252.60 million in the same quarter last year.

It is projected by analysts that the 'Gross Profit- Product' will reach $1.57 billion. Compared to the present estimate, the company reported $1.41 billion in the same quarter last year.

The consensus among analysts is that 'Cost of revenue- Service' will reach $160.38 million.

Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Cost of revenue- Product' should arrive at $776.87 million.

View all Key Company Metrics for Intuitive Surgical here>>>

Over the past month, shares of Intuitive Surgical have returned +9.9% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.4% change. Currently, ISRG carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), suggesting that it may outperform. the overall market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

SummaryTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited delivered another quarterly beat, surpassing consensus on both revenue and earnings.TSM’s growth is fueled by robust AI-driven demand, reinforcing its leadership and long-term investment appeal.Despite strong results, TSM shares have dipped post-earnings, creating what I view as an attractive buying opportunity.I see the market’s reaction as irrational, given TSM’s 14 consecutive quarters of outperformance and ongoing positive momentum.Looking for more investing ideas like this one? Get them exclusively at Cash Flow Club. Learn More » Silver Place/iStock via Getty Images

Article Thesis Very early on Thursday morning, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM), aka TSMC, reported its most recent quarterly earnings results. The company once again beat estimates on both lines, showing excellent

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of TSM, NVDA, GOOG, MSFT 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.

Charles Schwab Corp (NYSE:SCHW), the US financial services and brokerage firm, reported record third-quarter revenue of $7.17 billion as net income rose 23% to $2.91 billion, supported by stronger client asset inflows, lending and interest income.

Revenue increased 17% year on year in the three months to September, while diluted earnings per share rose 29% to $1.62 from $1.26 a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share, which exclude certain transaction and acquisition-related costs and the amortisation of acquired intangible assets, also climbed 29% to $1.69, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.65, according to market estimates reported by Barron’s.

The company attracted a record $190.4 billion in core net new assets, up 38% from the same period last year, while total client assets increased 15% to $13.33 trillion.

Schwab opened 1.2 million new brokerage accounts during the quarter, bringing its total client accounts to 48.6 million, as the company continued to attract investors and expand relationships with existing customers.

Net interest revenue, the difference between income earned on loans and investments and interest paid on deposits and other borrowing, rose 14% to $3.48 billion, while net interest margin widened to 3.04% from 2.88% in the previous quarter.

Asset management and administration fees increased 14% to $1.91 billion, while trading revenue rose 16% year on year to $1.16 billion, although it fell 5% from the second quarter.

Daily average trades climbed 44% year on year to 10.7 million, reflecting stronger client activity, but revenue per trade declined 20% to $1.69.

Lending activity also strengthened, with bank loan balances rising 35% year on year to $72.3 billion and margin loan balances, which reflect borrowing against investment portfolios, increasing 93% to $187.9 billion.

Expenses excluding interest rose 9% to $3.39 billion, slower than revenue growth, helping lift the company’s generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) pre-tax profit margin to 52.7% from 49.2% a year earlier.

Schwab repurchased 4.7 million shares for $500 million during the quarter and continued investing in technology, including its Charley artificial intelligence assistant for US retail clients and a partnership with Anthropic to offer Claude for Financial Advisors to independent registered investment advisers.

Despite the strong results, Schwab shares fell about 2.4% in premarket trading as investors weighed the earnings beat against broader concerns affecting financial stocks.

FIS AML Investigations Agent Now Commercially Available to Help Banks Tackle the Scale and Cost of Financial Crime Compliance
FIS® (NYSE: FIS) today announced that the FIS AML Investigations Agent that was jointly announced in May 2026 with Anthropic, is now commercially available to any U.S.-based bank, including those that are not FIS clients today. This is the first solution of its kind from a provider that already operates the core banking, payments and data infrastructure financial crime investigations depend on, with built-in controls that keep analysts in command of every decision.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261015870819/en/

FIS built the agent with support from Anthropic and design partner Amalgamated Bank. The agent is now being deployed at Amalgamated.

The scale of the challenge is significant. U.S. financial institutions spend an estimated $35 to $40 billion a year on anti-money laundering operations (LexisNexis, 2023), yet analysts devote 40 to 60 percent of investigation time to assembling data before analysis can begin (AnChain.AI, 2025). Industry false-positive rates run between 90 and 95 percent (Datos Insights, 2023). Alert volumes keep climbing. The gap is not analytical capacity - it is the manual evidence assembly that consumes it.

Based on Amalgamated’s analysis of its investigation workflows combined with the AML Investigations Agent’s expected abilities, the agent is projected to reduce Level 1 alert review time by more than 90 percent, Level 2 case investigation time by approximately 98 percent, and SAR narrative preparation time by more than 80 percent - freeing investigators to redirect capacity from data assembly to complex cases that require greater judgment.

The agent applies customer-specific context to every investigation rather than treating all alerts the same. It maps the customer’s type, historical activity and expected behavior against the alert before assembling evidence, so the resulting summary is already calibrated to what is and is not normal for that customer. A seasonal spike in cash deposits looks different from deposits deliberately kept just under federal reporting thresholds. A routine international transfer looks different from an unexplained cross-border wire to a high-risk jurisdiction. The agent identifies those distinctions and explains the rationale to the analyst.

The agent is built on FIS’ Trust Assured framework, which embeds governance, compliance and responsible AI into every FIS product. Every output links to the specific record, document or check image it came from. Every recommendation, the reasoning behind it and the analyst's final decision are logged in a complete audit trail, so investigation outcomes are explainable and ready for internal audit or regulatory examination. Each institution's risk logic, thresholds and investigation procedures remain isolated through the FIS Control Plane, FIS's governance layer for managing agent access, controls and institution-specific configurations. The agent is designed to augment, not replace, the monitoring platforms and case management systems a bank already runs, and natively integrates with FIS Horizon and FIS Systematics, two of FIS core banking platforms, with FIS IBS planned next on the product roadmap.

“Investigations don’t slow down because analysts lack judgment. They slow down because evidence is scattered across systems and every alert gets treated the same,” said Stan Szwalbenest, Head of Enterprise Fraud and Financial Crimes, FIS. “By bringing together the core, payments and data these investigations rely on, FIS gives analysts a head start while keeping them in control of every decision.”

“AML investigations require comprehensive evidence and experienced judgment. The FIS AML Investigations Agent can reduce time spent gathering information and preparing documentation, allowing investigators to focus on complex cases and critical decisions. Each recommendation has a clear audit trail, while the investigator remains accountable for the final determination. In regulated environments, AI must strengthen human expertise while preserving trust and governance,” said Sean Searby, Chief Information & Operations Officer, Amalgamated Bank.

FIS developed and owns the AML Investigations Agent, built with support from an Anthropic team that embedded with FIS product and compliance teams, drawing on FIS’ financial-institution relationships, regulatory expertise and transaction-data infrastructure. The collaboration also produced the evaluation frameworks and engineering practices FIS will use to build and scale additional agents on the same governed platform. The agent runs in FIS’ private cloud and uses Anthropic’s Claude models.

To request a tailored demonstration or connect with a specialist, visit here or contact an FIS representative.

About FIS

FIS is a financial technology company providing solutions to financial institutions and businesses. We unlock financial technology to the world across the money lifecycle underpinning the world’s financial system. Our people are dedicated to advancing the way the world pays, banks and invests, by helping our clients to confidently run, grow, and protect their businesses. Our expertise comes from decades of experience helping financial institutions and businesses of all sizes adapt to meet the needs of their customers by harnessing where reliability meets innovation in financial technology. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS is a member of the Fortune 500® and the Standard & Poor’s 500® Index.

About Amalgamated Bank

Amalgamated Financial Corp. is a Delaware public benefit corporation and bank holding company. Founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, it provides commercial banking and trust services through Amalgamated Bank, a New York-based commercial bank and chartered trust company with offices or branches in New York City, Washington, D.C., Northern California, and Boston. The Bank is a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and a certified B Corporation®.

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Disclosures
I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

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It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.

Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.

It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.

What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.

Each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics. Just like in school, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on -- that means the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.

The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:

Value ScoreFinding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value, are what value investors like to focus on. So, the Value Style Score takes into account ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to highlight the most attractive and discounted stocks.

Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.

Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.

VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.

How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.

It's highly successful, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +23.82% average annual return since 1988. That's more than double the S&P 500. But because of the large number of stocks we rate, there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.

But it can feel overwhelming to pick the right stocks for you and your investing goals with over 800 top-rated stocks to choose from.

That's where the Style Scores come in.

To maximize your returns, you want to buy stocks with the highest probability of success. This means picking stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B. If you find yourself looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, make sure they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.

The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.

Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.

Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.

Stock to Watch: Allstate (ALL - Free Report) Founded in 1931 and headquartered in Northbrook, IL, The Allstate Corporation is the third-largest property-casualty (P&C) insurer and the largest publicly-held personal lines carrier in the United States. The company also provides a range of life insurance and investment products to its diverse customer base. It provides insurance products to approximately 16 million households through more than 12,000 exclusive agencies and financial specialists in the United States and Canada. As of Dec. 31, 2025, total policies in force amounted to 210.9 million, up 3% year over year. The company generated $67.7 billion in revenues in 2025, in which Property and casualty insurance premiums witnessed continued growth. Net investment income is also on the rise.

ALL is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.

Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. ALL has a Growth Style Score of B, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 3.4% for the current fiscal year.

For fiscal 2026, seven analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $2.23 to $36.00 per share. ALL boasts an average earnings surprise of +45.3%.

With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, ALL should be on investors' short list.

Three major developments are reshaping the future of Filecoin tokenomics and strategy this month.

Rewarding Customer Acquisition & Retention – New network reward mechanics will direct a growing share of block rewards to services that bring paying customers onto the network.
End of Vesting – Vesting built into the Filecoin genesis block completes, reducing the daily token supply growth by 75%.
New Products – New products give enterprises, AI agents and IPFS users a live path onto the network.

Filecoin is evolving for a future where digital storage is a core pillar. Global data creation will nearly triple between 2025 and 2029 from a proliferation of AI-driven automation, sensors, and rapidly expanding needs for context to drive intelligence. The pace of these changes have driven memory and storage prices to more than double in a year, and the time between ordering new hardware and being able to install it has grown dramatically.

Other catalysts are also causing huge shifts in the storage market, with growing demand for sovereignty over data. As storage gets scarcer, more expensive, and more location sensitive, decentralized storage is uniquely positioned to meet these demands.

Filecoin has made major progress on the priorities of its 2026 Network Strategy. Six years after launch, the Filecoin network is well poised, offering a model that hyperscalers and other incumbents cannot: an open market where independent storage providers build services, compete for customers, and earn network rewards based on the customers they serve.

“The Filecoin network is already the world’s largest decentralized storage network. This year has been an inflection point for the Filecoin network, with the Filecoin community’s focus shifting away from growing supply and towards scaling demand. This is happening at just the right moment, as AI fundamentally changes the demand for self-sovereign storage, positioning Filecoin to become essential infrastructure for an AI-native world.”

– Marta Belcher, President, Filecoin Foundation

New Incentive Mechanisms: Rewarding Customer Acquisition & Retention
Solstice will change how the Filecoin network distributes block rewards, starting this month. This is one of the most significant changes to Filecoin’s reward system since the network launched.

The change will drive a growing share of block rewards to services that bring paying customers onto the network, while less rewards go to consensus-only mining. Any unearned portion of that service share is burned rather than distributed.

This change is aimed at orienting the network fully around providing services for revenue from paying customers, with the aim to greatly increase the business opportunity for storage providers on the network globally and supporting exceptional storage delivery.

Vesting is Ending, Dropping Circulating Supply Growth 75%
The network’s sixth anniversary since launch also marks the scheduled end of vesting for Protocol Labs and Filecoin Foundation’s token allocations, set when the network launched in 2020. With vesting complete, the daily amount of new FIL entering circulation drops by roughly 75%, according to FilecoinTLDR’s modeling.

Filecoin is Built for Enterprises and AI Agent Developers
Integral Spacetime
Integral Spacetime is a new storage neocloud, launched this week, that leverages the Filecoin network to power its business. The new company’s approach unlocks new commercial opportunities in storage infrastructure.

Acquisitions: Integral Spacetime buys businesses with large storage needs and moves their data workloads onto the network, bringing thousands of paying customers at once.
Equipment financing: Signed customer contracts and recurring revenue from acquired businesses enable financing of new, next generation storage capacity, improving total competitiveness and making the Filecoin network an even better business opportunity for operators around the world.

Fil One
As storage costs climb at the same time that storage needs are growing rapidly, enterprise businesses accustomed to using S3 object storage are looking for alternatives. Fil One is building a commercial onramp for enterprise storage demand within the broader Filecoin ecosystem, delivering high-performance and S3-compatible object storage at a fraction of hyperscaler list prices, with no egress fees on paid plans. The competitive edge is driving an active pipeline of paid enterprise storage demand sourced heavily through a dedicated GTM sales team and channel partners across AI infrastructure, automotive, banking, and sovereign government workloads. Fil One bridges enterprise IT budgets into sustainable, recurring onchain protocol volume while positioning Filecoin directly alongside GPU compute in the emerging neocloud stack.

And we’re building for the AI era, placing storage close to GPU compute in neocloud facilities so training and inference data stays accessible, fast, and affordable with a new storage-for-neocloud offering that places Fil One next to GPU compute.

AI Agent Skills and Tooling
AI agents are becoming storage customers in their own right. They generate a steady stream of output that needs to be kept or shared, and they need to buy storage programmatically, without a sales cycle or enterprise contract.

Filecoin tooling is making it incredibly easy for agents to choose and buy storage directly. Filecoin’s publish skill takes any file or folder and returns a public link that stays live and can be verified. The Filecoin MCP server and foc-cli give agents the same result from the terminal or inside an AI assistant. In each case, a storage provider proves it holds the data, and payment settles onchain. Or, for agents that prefer to use S3, Fil One’s documentation surfaces exactly how to choose and use Filecoin’s high performance network instead of getting locked into an expensive incumbent.

IPFS Migration Tools Converting Customers
Filecoin storage has released features that make it a first class destination for IPFS content in 2026. New, easy migration tools give users a more cost-effective option attached to a wallet, not a user account, with content addressing. Already, several teams are choosing to store their pinned IPFS data on Filecoin, from NFT platforms to institutions with legal and compliance obligations around their data.

A Single Cohesive Strategy for a New Era: Closing the Economic Loop
A customer, whether an enterprise archiving records or an agent storing its outputs, pays for a recurring service, and that payment settles onchain. The storage provider serving that customer earns the revenue and locks FIL against it. Rewards flow toward the services customers keep using, and whatever incentive goes unearned, along with a portion of fees, is burned rather than distributed. The result is a network that becomes more attractive to the next enterprise, developer, and operator, which starts the cycle again.

“The Filecoin flywheel is connected end to end now, and it’s starting to build momentum. We’re still early but the feedback loop between useful storage, customer revenue, network value, and service provider rewards is fully assembled and we have a downhill run ahead of us to build on that momentum.”

– Molly Mackinlay, CEO, FilOz

What Comes Next for Filecoin
The network has made tremendous progress so far in 2026. Data storage is rapidly shifting from commodity service to a fundamental enabling pillar that unlocks the promise of AI. Filecoin’s improved tokenomics, competitive product positioning, and forward-thinking developer tools are propelling the network forward at just the right time to realize the promise of decentralized storage.

The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings often affect a stock's price. Do they really matter, though?

Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about DraftKings (DKNG - Free Report) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.

DraftKings currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.61, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 37 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.61 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.

Of the 37 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 26 are Strong Buy and three are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 70.3% and 8.1% of all recommendations.

Brokerage Recommendation Trends for DKNG

Check price target & stock forecast for DraftKings here>>>

The ABR suggests buying DraftKings, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.

Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.

This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.

Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.

Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRIn spite of the fact that Zacks Rank and ABR both appear on a scale from 1 to 5, they are two completely different measures.

The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.

Analysts employed by brokerage firms have been and continue to be overly optimistic with their recommendations. Since the ratings issued by these analysts are more favorable than their research would support because of the vested interest of their employers, they mislead investors far more often than they guide.

In contrast, the Zacks Rank is driven by earnings estimate revisions. And near-term stock price movements are strongly correlated with trends in earnings estimate revisions, according to empirical research.

In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.

There is also a key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank when it comes to freshness. When you look at the ABR, it may not be up-to-date. Nonetheless, since brokerage analysts constantly revise their earnings estimates to reflect changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in predicting future stock prices.

Should You Invest in DKNG?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for DraftKings, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has declined 19% over the past month to $0.9.

Analysts' growing pessimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates lower, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to plunge in the near term.

The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) for DraftKings. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Therefore, it could be wise to take the Buy-equivalent ABR for DraftKings with a grain of salt.