Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Key Takeaways Western Digital posted 44% Q4 revenue growth, an earnings beat and a 54.4% non-GAAP gross margin.WDC sees Q1 fiscal 2027 revenue near $4.1B, with a non-GAAP gross margin of 55%-56% and EPS near $4.Western Digital's 40TB ePMR is in volume production, with 44TB and 50TB HAMR ramps planned for 2027. Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) ended fiscal 2026 with a fourth-quarter earnings beat, 44% revenue growth and sharply higher margins. The results give the company a strong starting point for fiscal 2027. The next test is execution. Higher-capacity drives must ramp on schedule if WDC is to translate rising cloud and artificial intelligence storage demand into sustained revenue, margin and earnings growth.

WDC's Q4 Beat Shows Demand and Pricing StrengthFourth-quarter revenues reached $3.75 billion, up 44% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.70 billion. Non-GAAP earnings of $3.56 per share topped the consensus mark of $3.35 and increased 109%.

Non-GAAP gross margin expanded 1,310 basis points year over year to 54.4%. A richer mix of higher-capacity drives, favorable pricing and manufacturing discipline helped lift profitability, while blended price per terabyte increased by the high teens.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Western Digital Guides to Another Growth StepFor the first quarter of fiscal 2027, management expects revenues of $4.1 billion, plus or minus $100 million. At the midpoint, that represents about 45% year-over-year growth.

Western Digital also projects non-GAAP gross margin of 55%-56% and earnings of $4 per share, plus or minus 15 cents. The outlook implies another step up from fourth-quarter profitability if demand and pricing remain favorable.

WDC's 40TB ePMR Ramp Moves Into VolumeWestern Digital began shipping next-generation energy-assisted perpendicular magnetic recording drives with capacities up to 40 terabytes in the fiscal fourth quarter. The company has entered volume production with two customers.

Management expects the platform to account for about half of nearline bits by the third quarter of fiscal 2027. Higher capacity per drive should allow WDC to deliver more exabytes without a corresponding increase in unit volumes.

Western Digital's HAMR Timeline Becomes the Next TestThe roadmap calls for 44-terabyte heat-assisted magnetic recording products in the first half of calendar 2027 and 50-terabyte products in the second half. Customer qualification and manufacturing execution therefore remain central to the fiscal 2027 setup.

UltraSMR adoption is advancing as well. Western Digital expects the technology to represent about 60% of nearline exabyte shipments as fiscal 2027 ends, making the sequencing of multiple product transitions important to capacity and cost gains.

WDC's AI Storage Demand Broadens the OpportunityManagement sees inference, agentic artificial intelligence and physical artificial intelligence as persistent storage drivers because these workloads continuously create and retain data. High-bandwidth drives are also sampling with five customers, potentially extending HDD economics into higher-throughput workloads.

The theme is broader than WDC. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX - Free Report) reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenues of $3.6 billion as a mass-capacity storage provider, while Sandisk Corporation (SNDK - Free Report) said fiscal 2026 Datacenter revenues increased 437%, illustrating demand across different storage technologies.

Growth Scores Reinforce WDC's Execution SetupWDC's fiscal 2027 opportunity is substantial, but the product roadmap raises the execution bar. The company must sustain pricing, qualify new platforms and convert higher-capacity drives into the exabyte growth and margin expansion embedded in its outlook.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), along with a Growth Score of A and  Momentum Score of A. Those scores favor growth and momentum characteristics, while the Value Score of F and VGM Score of C point to a less attractive value profile and a mixed combined reading. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

DGrid AI’s utility token DGAI can now move natively between BNB Smart Chain and Arbitrum, powered by Wormhole’s Native Token Transfers framework. The cross-chain integration went live on August 24, 2026, the same day trading kicked off across a slate of major exchanges.

The timing is deliberate. DGrid AI completed its token generation event between August 17 and August 19, and within five days had its token bridgeable across two of the busiest EVM-compatible networks.

How the bridging works Wormhole’s NTT framework is the plumbing behind this integration, and it matters because of what it avoids. Traditional bridging protocols create “wrapped” versions of tokens on destination chains, essentially IOUs that represent the original asset. NTT takes a different approach: burn-and-mint mechanics.

When a user sends DGAI from BNB Smart Chain to Arbitrum, tokens are burned on the source chain and an equivalent amount is minted on the destination chain. The total circulating supply stays constant. No wrapped tokens floating around, no liquidity fragmentation between “real” and “synthetic” versions of the same asset.

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This is particularly relevant for DGAI because the token has a fixed total supply of 1 billion with no inflationary minting built into the protocol. Every token that exists is accounted for, and the burn-and-mint bridge preserves that constraint mathematically rather than relying on custodial reserves.

The contract addresses are already public: 0x10D4183389e99233db3cc981c43443Ebd28Ebd5e on BNB Smart Chain and 0x12C2dE43878FB1A06C1Ead481f11E0C693a719c7 on Arbitrum.

The broader DGrid AI picture DGrid AI is building what it describes as a community-driven decentralized AI inference network. Think of it as a marketplace where AI model providers and users connect through a unified API, cutting out the middlemen that currently dominate cloud-based AI services.

A $5 million seed funding round closed in July, providing runway ahead of the TGE.

DGAI itself is designed to be more than a speculative asset. Within the ecosystem, it serves as the payment mechanism for AI inference services, meaning users pay in DGAI to run queries against models hosted on the network. It also functions as a staking token, a governance token for protocol decisions, and a rewards token for network participants who contribute resources.

Exchange listings and early market dynamics DGAI trading began at 08:00 UTC on August 24 across Kraken, KuCoin, Bitget, Gate.io, and MEXC.

The cross-chain bridging adds another dimension to liquidity. BNB Smart Chain remains one of the highest-throughput, lowest-fee environments for retail transactions, while Arbitrum has established itself as Ethereum’s leading Layer 2 for DeFi activity. Being natively present on both chains means DGAI can plug into the DeFi ecosystems on each, whether that’s lending protocols, automated market makers, or yield strategies that emerge around the token.

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

How the Chainlink Reserve WorksChainlink launched the Chainlink Reserve on August 7, 2025.

The mechanism works in three stages. First, Chainlink generates revenue from two streams: fees from large institutions accessing its infrastructure offchain, and usage fees from decentralized applications consuming its onchain services.

Second, those payments are routed through Payment Abstraction.

Third, the converted LINK is sent to a smart contract deployed on Ethereum. The contract includes a multi-day timelock for withdrawals, and no withdrawals are expected for multiple years, which reduces the circulating supply by locking accumulated LINK.

Growth Since Launch and What It Means for $LINK By August 15, the Reserve had grown to around 5.48 million LINK, worth approximately $63.6 million, a substantial increase from its initial position.

The broader implication is straightforward: as Chainlink's network sees more usage, more revenue is generated, more of that revenue is converted into LINK, and more LINK accumulates inside the Reserve. Network growth and token accumulation become linked rather than separate processes.

Sources:
Chainlink Reserve Official Press Release (PR Newswire, August 7, 2025)
Introducing the Chainlink Reserve: A Strategic LINK Token Reserve (Chainlink Blog)
Chainlink Launches LINK Reserve to Fuel Network Growth (CoinDesk, August 7, 2025)

https://www.disruptionbanking.com/2025/03/28/how-strong-will-chainlink-link-be-in-2025/

Coinbase has selected Chainlink to support its tokenized U.S. stocks on the Base platform, according to a recent announcement on social media. This collaboration leverages Chainlink’s existing infrastructure for tokenized equity feeds, which are already in use on Base. The partnership is part of a broader trend of integration between Coinbase and Chainlink, as seen with previous initiatives like Project Diamond and DataLink. These efforts underscore Coinbase’s commitment to developing its tokenized asset ecosystem with robust oracle and interoperability infrastructure.

The market appears to interpret this development as a positive indicator for the potential of a Base token launch by the end of 2026. Recent price movements suggest increased confidence, as evidenced by a 4-point increase in market pricing for a December 2026 token launch. Currently, the probability of a token launch by this date is priced at 12%, up from 9% a day ago and 7% a week prior.

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This announcement comes amidst a series of strategic moves by Coinbase aimed at bolstering its Base platform’s capabilities, highlighting the company’s ongoing expansion into tokenized assets.

Key Takeaways Recent collaboration between Coinbase and Chainlink suggests increased confidence in Base’s ecosystem, which may indicate potential for a token launch. Market activity reflects increased probability of a Base token launch by the end of 2026, with current pricing at 12% YES. The integration of Chainlink’s infrastructure with Base is part of a broader pattern of Coinbase enhancing its tokenized asset offerings. What to Watch Watch for further announcements from Coinbase regarding its Base platform and potential token launch plans. Any news related to regulatory approvals or strategic partnerships could further influence market pricing. Additionally, updates from key figures at Coinbase, such as CEO Brian Armstrong, might provide further insights into the company’s roadmap for Base. Observing the market response to developments in the tokenized asset space will be crucial in assessing future probabilities for a Base token launch.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 12% — — View market → October 1 2026 1.7% — — View market → January 1 2028 56.5% — — View market → July 1 2027 41% — — View market →

Bernstein has maintained an Outperform rating and $140 price target on Circle Internet Group, implying about 59% upside after CRCL closed Friday at $87.98, as the brokerage expects USDC adoption to support the company even without passage of the CLARITY Act.

Summary

Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $140 Circle price target, implying about 59% upside from Friday’s close. USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion over the past week after nearly six months of largely flat growth. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume is tracking at a $17 trillion annualized rate through July, according to Bernstein. Bernstein said Circle’s growth cycle can continue even if the CLARITY Act does not pass in September. Circle said more than 900 paid services use Agent Stack, with 99.3% of x402 agent payment volume settling in USDC. Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said in an Aug. 24 note that Circle’s next growth cycle does not depend on Congress passing the U.S. crypto market structure bill during the September session.

Circle shares gained more than 5% on Aug. 21 before closing at $87.98, according to Yahoo Finance data. The $140 target would put the stock about 59% above Friday’s closing price, although it remains below Bernstein’s previous $190 target from earlier this year.

Chhugani’s team tied its outlook to several sources of demand, including stablecoin payments, blockchain-based capital markets, tokenized assets and payments made by autonomous software agents.

The analysts also pointed to changes in global liquidity conditions. Bernstein said Bitcoin has benefited from demand for scarce assets while stablecoins have become another destination for dollars as the U.S. Treasury issues more short-term government debt.

USDC supply has started expanding again After spending almost six months largely flat, USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion during the past week, according to Bernstein.

The brokerage said USDC has become an important collateral asset across decentralized finance, tokenized equities, prediction markets and perpetual futures tied to real-world assets. Bernstein estimated that Circle’s stablecoin accounts for about 80% of decentralized exchange trading and finance volumes.

Stablecoin activity outside speculative trading is also expanding, according to the firm. Adjusted transaction volume, which Bernstein said excludes bots and high-frequency activity, reached about $11 trillion during 2025 and was running at an annualized pace of roughly $17 trillion through July 2026.

That pace represented an increase of about 60% from a year earlier, according to the brokerage.

Circle has also been expanding the institutional infrastructure through which businesses can use USDC. In July, crypto.news reported Circle received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised national trust bank.

The approval allows the institution to provide digital asset custody services and could eventually place management of reserves backing USDC within the federally regulated entity, according to Circle.

Institutional access has expanded through banks and digital asset infrastructure providers as well. Circle said during its second-quarter results that Standard Chartered had introduced direct USDC minting and redemption access for institutional customers.

A separate July integration also brought USDC settlement through Fireblocks, allowing institutions to manage USDC balances across supported blockchains and route payments into local fiat currencies through Circle Payments Network.

Fireblocks said stablecoins accounted for 69% of transaction volume across its platform during the second quarter, while Circle said its Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume at the end of the quarter.

Circle sees agent payments as another USDC market Machine-to-machine payments form another part of Bernstein’s Circle thesis, with the analysts pointing to USDC’s early lead in payments made through the x402 protocol.

Circle launched Agent Stack in May as infrastructure that allows software agents to hold assets, discover services and make programmable payments.

By the second quarter, Circle said the platform had more than 900 paid services, while 99.3% of x402 agent-payment volume was settling in USDC.

Independent data has also shown heavy USDC use in the category. A Keyrock report covered in May found that AI agents had settled $73 million across 176 million transactions over 12 months, with USDC handling 98.6% of those payments.

Circle has built Agent Wallets, an agent marketplace and nanopayment tools around the same use case. The company said Agent Stack lets developers set spending limits, allowlists and other controls while permitting agents to make USDC transactions without requiring a human to approve each payment.

For Bernstein, adoption of such services could create another source of stablecoin transaction demand outside cryptocurrency trading.

CLARITY Act outcome does not change Bernstein’s Circle thesis Regulation remains one of the largest variables for Circle because U.S. lawmakers are still negotiating how stablecoin rewards and digital asset market structure should work.

Bernstein said the outcome of the CLARITY Act would not materially change its investment case.

“We believe, this growth cycle is independent of the Clarity Act passing in the September session,” the analysts wrote.

The brokerage said failure to secure Senate support during the expected Sept. 15 vote could prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take a larger role in providing regulatory guidance.

“We believe, the SEC/CFTC intervention would accelerate if the Senate does not support Clarity in the Sept. 15 vote,” Bernstein said.

Stablecoin rewards remain one of the contested parts of the legislation. Under the scenario outlined by Bernstein, failure of the bill would leave third-party reward programs operating under the existing model.

If the legislation passes, the analysts expect rewards to become more closely tied to customer activity instead of payments simply for holding an idle stablecoin balance.

Bernstein views either structure as workable for USDC.

Its view has remained consistent even as the language around stablecoin incentives has changed. In May, Bernstein backed Circle’s regulatory position after lawmakers advanced language that restricted deposit-like yield on passive stablecoin balances.

At the time, the brokerage said such restrictions could prevent stablecoin issuers from competing mainly by paying higher returns to token holders, reducing pressure on Circle to enter what the analysts described as an interest-rate competition.

Banking groups have since pushed lawmakers to tighten the rules further. Several U.S. banking organizations urged Senate leaders in July to revise provisions dealing with stablecoin rewards, arguing that some structures could still function like interest-bearing accounts.

Circle faces competition as payment infrastructure expands Bernstein’s bullish call comes as Circle faces increased competition from other regulated stablecoin models.

Open USD has emerged as one challenge because its consortium structure distributes part of the reserve economics to participating companies, creating a different model from Circle’s approach of earning income from the assets backing USDC.

Mizuho downgraded Circle to Underperform in July and cut its target to $50, citing pressure that Open USD could place on Circle’s margins.

Circle President Heath Tarbert later defended the company’s position, arguing that USDC’s liquidity, existing integrations and regulatory infrastructure would be difficult for new competitors to reproduce quickly.

Circle has continued adding payment partners while competition develops. Its agreement with Japan’s JCB, announced in July, includes tests of USDC for corporate treasury transfers before possible use in merchant payments, while separate partnerships with Kakao and Toss are examining stablecoin settlement and programmable payments in South Korea.

USDC also entered BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform in June, allowing institutional customers to mint, redeem, hold, and transfer the stablecoin through the bank.

Bernstein disclosed that Chhugani holds long positions in several cryptocurrencies and that the brokerage or its affiliates have maintained investment banking or other business relationships with Circle during the past 12 months.

NANO Nuclear Energy and Tillman Global Holdings have entered a strategic commercial framework that positions NANO’s microreactor technology as the preferred nuclear energy source for Tillman’s future AI data center campuses across the United States. The non-binding agreement, announced on August 24, lays out a roadmap to deploy over 2 GW of advanced nuclear capacity by the mid-2030s, scaling to 6 GW by 2040.

What the deal actually includes The framework designates NANO Nuclear’s KRONOS MMR microreactor, rated at 15 megawatts electric, as Tillman Global’s go-to nuclear energy solution. The collaboration spans multiple phases: site evaluation, licensing support, and project development.

On the financial side, the structure is built around milestone-based equity incentives. NANO Nuclear could receive warrants worth up to $100 million in NNE stock, contingent primarily on binding reactor purchase commitments. There’s also an initial restricted stock grant of $5 million baked into the arrangement.

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The word “non-binding” deserves emphasis here. Nothing in this framework obligates either party to purchase, build, or deploy anything. The aggressive capacity targets are contingent on definitive agreements and regulatory approval. NANO’s KRONOS MMR is currently at the NRC construction permit pre-application stage, meaning the reactor design hasn’t yet received a construction permit, let alone an operating license.

Why Tillman matters Tillman Global Holdings has amassed approximately $16 billion in capital since its founding in 2013, built on a track record of financing digital infrastructure projects. For NANO Nuclear, a company still in the pre-revenue, pre-construction-permit phase of its reactor development, having a partner with that kind of capital base is significant.

This deal also follows NANO Nuclear’s recent memorandum of understanding with Supermicro for on-site microreactor installations. The pattern is clear: NANO is systematically lining up commercial relationships across the data center ecosystem, building a pipeline of potential customers before the reactor itself is ready for deployment.

The bigger picture: nuclear and the AI power crunch Microreactors represent a particular bet within the nuclear space. Unlike traditional gigawatt-scale nuclear plants, microreactors are designed to be factory-fabricated and deployed at or near the point of consumption. A 15 MWe unit like the KRONOS MMR could theoretically sit adjacent to a data center campus and provide dedicated, carbon-free baseload power without relying on grid transmission infrastructure.

For investors watching NANO Nuclear’s stock, the equity incentive structure in this deal is worth parsing carefully. The $100 million in potential warrants is tied to binding reactor purchases, not to the framework itself. The $5 million restricted stock grant provides more immediate value, but it’s modest relative to the scale of the capacity targets being discussed.

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

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Through the NU7 Coinholder Vote, Zcash (ZEC) holders will have a direct chance to impact the extent of the network's impending NU7 upgrade. This process grants eligible ZEC holders voting power linked to their shielded holdings, in contrast to governance mechanisms based on validator participation or delegated voting. A snapshot at Zcash mainnet block 3,459,350, which is currently projected for August, determines eligibility.

When does the vote take place?Around 22:20 GMT+3 on August 24, 2026. The authoritative factor is the block height, not the estimated time. One important prerequisite is that ZEC must be shielded, spendable, and stored in Ironwood at the time of the snapshot. Coins kept in Orchard, Sapling, or Sprout and transparent ZEC are ineligible unless they have already been migrated. Likewise, ZEC kept on exchanges or other networks needs to be transferred into Ironwood's self-custody.

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Crucially, holders are not required to maintain their ZEC throughout the voting period. The coins can be transferred once block 3,459,350 determines eligibility. Voting starts on August 25 and ends on September 14 at 22:00 GMT+3. Vizor, Zashi, and Zkool are among the supported wallets, and users of Keystone hardware wallets can take part without removing their keys from the device. 

A number of potentially important Zcash changes are on the ballot. The rate at which new ZEC enters circulation, when previously removed ZEC should return through future block rewards, and when the network should disable legacy Sprout transactions are all options for holders to express their preferences. 

Other concerns include whether Zcash's block interval should be shortened and how developers should handle NU7 features that are not ready on time, such as delaying NU7 until all authorized functionality is finished or shipping the upgrade without them. The process continues to be centered on privacy. 

What Are ZEC Voters Choosing? The voting system employs homomorphic encryption, which encrypts each choice and the associated ZEC amounts while the votes are being processed. After voting is over, only the aggregate ZEC totals for each response are available. To lessen balance-linkability, each vote is further split into 16 unlinkable ballots. 

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As a result, the NU7 vote serves as more than just a local survey. It provides ZEC holders with a privacy-preserving, stake-weighted way to indicate how Zcash should handle legacy infrastructure, monetary policy, and the technical details of its upcoming significant network upgrade.

Zcash is emerging as one of the stars of the sudden broad-based rally in crypto assets that went into high gear last week. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has surged 66% over the past week, hitting an eight-year high of $841 on Monday.

Its surge came after investment manager Grayscale filed an amendment with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday to convert its existing Zcash Trust into an exchange-traded fund. If approved, the fund would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ZCSH.

Zcash’s strong performance comes amid a broader rally across the crypto market. Cryptocurrencies have risen sharply since Wednesday, posting gains not seen in nearly a year. The Treasury Department’s bond-buyback announcement helped spark the move, while renewed political support for the industry and a wave of short-position liquidations pushed prices even higher. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, continued to climb and was trading just below $80,000 on Monday.

For Zcash, Grayscale’s proposed ETF came as an additional catalyst. If approved, the fund would give investors a regulated way to gain exposure to ZEC, Zcash’s native token, through their brokerage accounts, without having to buy or hold the token directly.

Its outperformance has revived discussion of whether Zcash can emerge as a more prominent alternative to Bitcoin for investors seeking financial privacy. Unlike Bitcoin, Zcash allows users to shield transaction details, such as the sender, recipient, and transaction amount, using zero-knowledge cryptography. 

Zcash supporters say that it improves on Bitcoin by offering Bitcoin’s fixed supply without the public ledger. As artificial intelligence grows, proponents argue that so will the risk of government surveillance. 

“Many are calling it ‘perfect Bitcoin,’” Arjun Khemani, a cryptographer and engineer, wrote on X. 

Influential crypto voices have also been speaking out about Zcash’s use cases. During a meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee on Friday, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss pointed to Zcash as an example of how developers can use artificial intelligence to identify vulnerabilities in complex blockchain code and strengthen networks before malicious actors exploit them.

But Zcash’s strongest feature is also its greatest limitation. Its privacy features make it harder for exchanges and law enforcement to trace illicit funds, potentially making Zcash a more attractive vehicle for money laundering or sanctions evasion.

Key Takeaways Akamai's CIS revenues rose 39% year over year to $99 million in Q2 2026.Rising demand for AI workloads and GPU capacity is driving growth in Akamai's cloud infrastructure business.Akamai signed more than $2.8 billion in multi-year CIS commitments and expects at least 50% 2026 growth. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM - Free Report) is benefiting from solid demand in the Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) segment. The segment generated $99 million of revenues in the second quarter of 2026, up 39% year over year.

Its CIS business is benefiting primarily from the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. AI adoption is moving beyond model training toward inference and AI-agent applications. These enterprises increasingly need computing resources to ensure low latency. Akamai is positioning its distributed infrastructure to process these workloads closer to end users. Rather than relying on centralized data centers, this approach is boosting responsiveness while reducing latency.

Strong demand for GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) capacity for AI inference and compute-intensive applications is another growth driver. Akamai reported that its existing GPU capacity was completely sold out, prompting the company to expand its infrastructure to accommodate other customers. AKAM expects to invest up to $500 million in additional capital expenditure to support the growing demand.

In fiscal 2026, the company has signed more than $2.8 billion in multi-year CIS commitments, including a more than $600 million, four-year agreement with a U.S. tech company for robotics-related infrastructure. These large, multi-year enterprise contracts will likely ensure long-term sustainable growth in this segment.

Akamai’s global and distributed infrastructure footprint is a major advantage. The company has infrastructure deployed across more than 700 cities in 130 countries. This allows it to combine core cloud capacity with edge computing. The company expects CIS revenues to grow at least 50% in constant currency for full-year 2026.

Other Tech Companies in Cloud Infrastructure DomainCoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) is emerging as a major player in AI-focused cloud infrastructure. In the second quarter of 2026, the company generated record revenues of $2.6 billion, representing 112% year-over-year growth, while its revenue backlog reached $104 billion. The company is witnessing solid demand for its GPU capacity. Managed inference is becoming an increasingly important growth vertical for CoreWeave as AI moves from experimentation and development to production and inference. In 2026, CRWV expects to generate at least $250 million of managed inference average recurring revenue.

Oracle Corporation's (ORCL - Free Report) cloud infrastructure business is experiencing solid momentum, with multi-cloud database services gaining significant traction across enterprise customers. Its end-to-end technology stack, spanning database, applications, and infrastructure, creates unique value for enterprise customers seeking simplified vendor relationships and seamless integration. The company's ability to deliver complete solutions reduces implementation complexity and total cost of ownership, strengthening customer loyalty and increasing wallet share. In the fourth quarter, Oracle’s cloud revenues (SaaS plus IaaS) increased 47% in USD and 46% in constant currency to $9.9 billion.

AKAM’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAkamai shares have rallied 44.3% over the past year compared with the industry’s 57.6% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 15.79 forward earnings, lower than 20.41 for the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Earnings estimates for 2026 have declined, while those for 2027 have increased over the past 60 days.

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

Key Takeaways Acadia gained EU approval for Daybu, the first and only approved Rett syndrome treatment in the EU.Daybu is approved for neurobehavioral symptoms of Rett syndrome in adults and children aged five and older.The LAVENDER study showed meaningful improvements in Rett syndrome behavior and global impression. Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD - Free Report) announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Daybu (trofinetide) to treat neurobehavioral symptoms of Rett syndrome in adults and pediatric patients aged five years and older. The nod marks a major regulatory milestone for the therapy as it is now the first and only treatment approved for this indication in the EU.

The EU approval enables Acadia to expand Daybu’s commercial footprint across all 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, strengthening the long-term growth potential of its rare disease franchise. As a next step, Acadia will now begin pricing and reimbursement negotiations with relevant national authorities to potentially bring Daybu to patients across the EU.

The EC approval was expected as the advisory committee to the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion in June 2026 recommending the approval of Daybu for Rett Syndrome. It is a rare, neurodevelopmental disorder marked by developmental regression, severe motor impairment and lifelong care needs. The FDA approved trofinetide as the first and only treatment for Rett syndrome in adults and pediatric patients aged two years and older in 2023. The drug is marketed under the brand name Daybue in the United States. Daybue is also marketed (and available) in Canada and Israel for the same indication.

The EC approval is primarily supported by data from the pivotal phase III LAVENDER study, which demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in key measures of Rett syndrome. The study met its co-primary endpoints, showing benefits on the Rett Syndrome Behavior Questionnaire and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement scale, indicating that Daybu can improve some of the core neurobehavioral manifestations of the disease that substantially affect patients' daily functioning and caregiver burden.

Year to date, Acadia shares have gained 10.5% compared with the industry’s 11.1% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

ACAD's Marketed Drugs Expected to Aid GrowthAcadia’s long-term growth is anchored by its two marketed products, Nuplazid and Daybue. The company continues to target approximately $1.7 billion in combined annual net sales by 2028, including roughly $1 billion for Nuplazid and $700 million for Daybue.

Nuplazid is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis in the United States. The drug enjoys patent protection in the United States until 2038, giving it a long runway for revenue generation by protecting against generic erosion. In the first half of 2026, Nuplazid generated $350.1 million in net product sales, up 7% from the year-ago period. The increase was primarily driven by higher unit sales, highlighting continued underlying demand for the drug.

Since its launch in 2023, Daybue has witnessed encouraging sales uptake. The therapy generated $226 million in net product sales in the first half of 2026, up 25% year over year, with the increase primarily reflecting higher unit sales. The EU approval of the drug is expected to further boost sales in the upcoming quarters.

Meanwhile, Daybue STIX, a dye- and preservative-free powder formulation of trofinetide, was broadly launched in the United States in the second quarter of 2026. The formulation provides patients and caregivers greater flexibility while maintaining the same efficacy and safety profile as the original oral solution. Its strong uptake contributed to Daybue’s 30% year-over-year sales growth in the second quarter.

Overall, Acadia’s commercial portfolio remains on a solid growth trajectory. Following second-quarter results, the company raised its 2026 Daybue sales projection to $480-$510 million from the previous guided range of $460-$490 million while maintaining Nuplazid sales guidance of $760-$790 million.

ACAD's Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderAcadia currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Amneal Pharmaceuticals (AMRX - Free Report) , Repligen (RGEN - Free Report) and AC Immune (ACIU - Free Report) . AMRX and RGEN currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, while ACIU carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Over the past 60 days, earnings estimates for Amneal Pharmaceuticals have increased from $1.00 to $1.02 for 2026. Over the same period, earnings estimates increased from $1.12 to $1.21 for 2027. AMRX shares have risen 42.1% year to date.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals beat earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 32.82%.

Over the past 60 days, estimates for Repligen’s 2026 earnings per share have risen from $1.99 to $2.06, while estimates for 2027 have increased from $2.57 to $2.61. RGEN shares have gained 10.6% year to date.

Repligen’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 16.80%.

Over the past 60 days, estimates for AC Immune’s 2026 loss per share have narrowed from 84 cents to 60 cents. Over the same period, earnings estimates for 2027 remained unchanged at 17 cents. ACIU shares have lost 7.7% year to date.

AC Immune’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 33.25%.

Nearly two-thirds of all USDT and USDT0 sitting in decentralized finance belongs to a single protocol. Aave V3 holds $3.83 billion of the $6.1 billion deposited across 29 DeFi venues, good for a 62.8% market share that no competitor comes close to matching.

The data, recorded by Token Terminal on August 19, paints a picture of consolidation that would make any traditional bank jealous. When one platform vacuums up that much stablecoin liquidity, it stops being a lending protocol and starts functioning more like DeFi’s central bank for dollar-denominated assets.

The numbers behind the dominance Aave V3’s stablecoin haul didn’t appear overnight. Over the 90 days leading into late July 2026, the protocol saw a net increase of $526 million in USDT deposits alone. That’s roughly $5.8 million flowing in every single day for three months straight.

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Aave’s overall TVL has swung between $17 billion and $30 billion throughout 2026, buffeted by broader market volatility. Strategic governance decisions have played a role too. The protocol has expanded supply limits through community votes, essentially raising the ceiling on how much can be deposited.

USDT0 and the omnichain twist The $6.1 billion figure isn’t just plain USDT. It includes USDT0, Tether’s omnichain variant built on LayerZero technology that lets the stablecoin move seamlessly between blockchains. Operated by Everdawn Labs and licensed by Tether, USDT0 was introduced in early 2025 and employs a burn-and-mint model, serving markets that lack native USDT issuance while remaining backed 1:1 by reserves on Ethereum.

USDT0 has processed over $85 billion in lifetime bridge volume by late August 2026. Aave V3 has embraced this omnichain approach, with USDT0 appearing in several of its markets including deployments on Plasma and Polygon.

What this concentration means for DeFi There are two ways to read Aave’s 63% stranglehold on USDT and USDT0 deposits. The optimistic interpretation: deep liquidity on a battle-tested protocol means better pricing, lower slippage, and more efficient capital deployment for everyone. When $3.83 billion sits in one place, borrowing rates stabilize, large trades execute cleanly, and the overall user experience improves.

The more cautious read: concentration risk is real. If nearly two-thirds of DeFi’s Tether liquidity lives on one protocol, any smart contract vulnerability, governance misstep, or regulatory action targeting Aave could send shockwaves through the entire stablecoin lending market. The remaining 28 venues splitting the other 37% don’t have the depth to absorb a sudden migration.

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

Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) remains one of JPMorgan’s top semiconductor picks as the firm expects solid fiscal second-quarter results and a stronger-than-expected third-quarter outlook.

JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur reiterated an Overweight rating on Marvell in a Monday note. The firm said Marvell’s data center growth story has strengthened over the past 90 days, helped by demand for optical chips, switching products and custom silicon.

The company will report its second-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings on Thursday, August 27, 2026, after the market close.

AI Chip Demand Drives OutlookJPMorgan expects Marvell to report fiscal second-quarter results in line with or slightly above consensus. The firm cited strong demand for optical DSPs used in 1.6T and 800G programs, as well as traction for Teralynx 10 switching products.

The analyst also expects Marvell’s custom silicon business to benefit from the early ramp of Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) next-generation AWS Trainium 3 XPU ASIC program. Volumes are expected to build more meaningfully in the second half of the year.

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For the fiscal third quarter, JPMorgan expects revenue guidance above the Street estimate of $3.03 billion. The firm said guidance could come closer to $3.1 billion, implying 13% to 14% sequential revenue growth.

Data Center Forecast In FocusThe bigger question for investors may be Marvell’s outlook for calendar 2027 and 2028 data center growth.

JPMorgan said current expectations call for 55% year-over-year data center growth in calendar 2027. The firm sees upside to that forecast, driven by optical strength, Trainium 3 volumes, Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Maia program and broader XPU-attach opportunities.

Marvell’s expanded partnership with Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google also supports the bull case, JPMorgan said. The firm said the deal validates Marvell’s role in silicon used around AI accelerators, including storage controllers, networking chips, memory-interface controllers and AI inference offload engines.

JPMorgan said the setup could give Marvell a clearer path toward calendar 2028 earnings power near $11 per share, above the current Street estimate of $9.64.

MRVL Price Action: Marvell Technology shares were down 4.08% at $227.36 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Key Takeaways Zillow's Q2 revenues rose 18%, led by 31% growth in Rentals and a 75% surge in Mortgage revenues.Opendoor's Q2 revenues fell 43.7% to $883M as housing weakness constrained acquisition and resale activity.ZG's 9.85% ROE exceeds OPEN's negative average, highlighting stronger shareholder returns. Real estate technology companies Opendoor Technologies Inc. (OPEN - Free Report) and Zillow Group, Inc. (ZG - Free Report) are currently operating in a rocky housing market. With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovering above 6% since March 2026, per Freddie Mac, the residential market in the United States is experiencing muted demand as homebuyers are staying away from homeownership.

Nonetheless, these two housing-tech companies are undergoing several initiatives to keep up their profitability and revenue streams.

Opendoor operates a technology-driven residential real estate platform that simplifies home buying and selling by purchasing homes directly from sellers, renovating and reselling them, while using AI to automate pricing, underwriting and operations. Meanwhile, Zillow operates a digital residential real estate marketplace and increasingly an end-to-end real estate transaction platform, connecting buyers, sellers, renters and agents while monetizing through agent partnerships, mortgage lending, rentals, listing products and professional software.

Let’s closely compare the fundamentals of the two real estate stocks for a better investment decision.

The Case for Opendoor StockOpendoor is operating against a difficult U.S. housing backdrop, with elevated mortgage rates, affordability pressures and weak transaction volumes limiting housing market activity. Existing home sales remain near a 30-year low of around 4 million units annually, roughly 20% below the pre-pandemic decade average. Home prices were broadly flat year over year as of June 2026, while seller-buyer disconnect remained evident, with delistings at record levels. These conditions can constrain both acquisition and resale activity, potentially extending inventory holding periods and pressuring margins. Opendoor’s second-quarter 2026 revenues fell 43.7% year over year to $883 million.

Opendoor’s ambitious turnaround depends heavily on successfully scaling AI, mortgage, new transaction models and other technology initiatives. While AI is improving underwriting and operational productivity, the company is increasing fixed operating expenses to fund engineering and AI investments. Cash also declined as OPEN deployed more than $700 million to rebuild inventory, leaving the business exposed to financing and housing-market risks. Its mortgage product remains relatively early-stage, with licensing still progressing across states and management acknowledging that it has more work to do despite strong early adoption. The planned transition toward capital-light 2P and marketplace-based 3P transactions also remains unproven.

OPEN’s second-quarter 2026 net loss also widened to $162 million from $29 million a year earlier. The company’s third-quarter 2026 outlook anticipates contribution margin falling to 4-4.5% amid seasonal weakness, with a prolonged housing slowdown remaining a key overhang on sustainable growth and profitability. Management described the current market as the weakest housing market in a generation, creating uncertainty around future homebuyer and seller demand.

However, Opendoor is broadening its service platform through acquisitions and strategic partnerships, potentially creating additional revenue opportunities beyond buying and selling homes. It completed its acquisition of Doma’s closing and escrow operations in July 2026, strengthening its ability to provide a more integrated real estate transaction experience. Besides, OPEN is demonstrating meaningful progress in controlling costs while improving its unit economics. The combination of higher volumes, lower variable costs and faster inventory turnover provides a stronger foundation for Opendoor’s targeted adjusted net income profitability by year-end 2026.

The Case for Zillow StockZillow is successfully reducing its dependence on housing transaction volumes by expanding Rentals, Mortgages and agent-focused services. Its second-quarter 2026 revenues rose 18% year over year to $772 million, while Rentals revenues climbed 31% and Mortgages revenues surged 75%. The company’s shift toward the Preferred agent model is also increasing revenue per connection. Zillow is expanding its rental reach through Google Gemini’s connected apps ecosystem. Meanwhile, the company is integrating mortgage pre-approval, agent services and transaction tools into its platform. This end-to-end strategy allows ZG to capture revenues across multiple stages of the housing journey, helping sustain mid-teens growth despite an uncertain housing environment.

Besides, Zillow is using AI mode to make its platform more personalized and increase consumer engagement. AI users spend more than three times longer on ZG, view more than twice as many homes and contact agents at nearly three times the rate of non-AI users. The company is also integrating AI into agent tools through Follow Up Boss and Likely to List. By connecting search, financing, agents and transactions, Zillow aims to increase monetization even when overall housing-market activity remains subdued.

However, higher mortgage rates and affordability pressures are increasingly weighing on purchase activity. Zillow expects industry purchase mortgage originations to decline low- to mid-single digits for the remainder of 2026 compared with its previous expectation of flat growth. The company expects third-quarter 2026 For Sale revenue growth of only 5-7% year over year, while Residential revenues are expected to remain flat. ZG’s diversified model provides some protection, but a prolonged housing slowdown could constrain lead volumes, agent connections and mortgage originations.

Despite Zillow’s market-share gains, average monthly unique users fell 2% year over year to 239 million, while visits declined 2% to 2.5 billion. Higher lead acquisition and mortgage processing costs also pressured expenses, while second-quarter 2026 results showed a $4 million net loss. Zillow is simultaneously restructuring its workforce to improve efficiency. Although AI, Rentals and integrated transactions offer growth avenues, execution risks, higher costs, mortgage volatility and regulatory/legal pressures could challenge profitability if housing conditions deteriorate further.

Stock Performance & ValuationAs witnessed from the chart below, over the past three months, the share price performance of Zillow has been above Opendoor’s performance and the Computer and Technology sector, even though they all reflect declining trends.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Considering valuation, over the last five years, Zillow has been trading above Opendoor on a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio basis.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Overall, from these technical indicators, it can be deduced that ZG stock offers a diminishing growth trend but with a premium valuation, while OPEN stock offers a declining growth trend with a discounted valuation.

Comparing EPS Estimate Trends: OPEN vs. ZGThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for OPEN’s 2026 and 2027 bottom line indicates a loss per share. Over the past 30 days, the loss per share has widened to 15 cents and three cents, respectively. Nonetheless, the estimated figures for 2026 and 2027 indicate year-over-year growth of 42.3% and 82.2%, respectively.

OPEN's EPS Trend

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ZG’s 2026 and 2027 earnings has trickled down in the past 30 days to $2.22 and $2.69 per share, respectively. However, the estimates for 2026 and 2027 imply year-over-year improvements of 35.4% and 21.3%, respectively.

ZG's EPS Trend

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Return on Equity (ROE) of OPEN & ZG StocksZillow’s trailing 12-month ROE of 9.85% significantly exceeds Opendoor’s negative average, underscoring its efficiency in generating shareholder returns.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Should Investors Choose ZG Stock or OPEN Stock?Zillow’s growth is being led by strong growth in Rentals and Mortgages, helping reduce its dependence on housing transaction volumes. Its AI-powered search, Preferred agent model and integrated mortgage and transaction offerings could further expand monetization as housing activity remains subdued. Yet, the company is not without risks. Falling user engagement, higher costs, mortgage-market weakness and downward earnings-estimate revisions could limit near-term upside. Its premium valuation also leaves less room for disappointment.

In contrast, Opendoor remains more exposed to home-price trends, transaction volumes and inventory financing. Although AI-driven underwriting, capital-light transaction models, mortgage expansion and the Doma acquisition could improve long-term economics, these initiatives still carry considerable execution risk.

Still, Zillow’s positive ROE, diversified revenue streams and stronger operating resilience outweigh Opendoor’s discounted valuation and turnaround potential. With ZG stock carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) compared with OPEN’s Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), Zillow stock appears to be the better choice for investors seeking relatively lower housing-market risk and more sustainable revenue growth. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A Delaware federal judge finalized a ruling ordering Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) to pay over $245.2 million to TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington, cementing a November 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant willfully infringed on two Duplex Sequencing patents.

Financial PenaltyThe penalty covers willful infringement across 11 products and services that generated roughly 90% of Guardant Health’s revenue during the period. The total award includes an initial $83.4 million jury verdict through mid-2023, $19.5 million in post-trial damages through early 2024, $119.4 million from a 6% court-ordered royalty rate through May 2026, and $22.9 million in calculated interest.

Future Royalties And Validity AssuredMoving forward, the court mandates that Guardant Health submit quarterly accounting reports and pay an ongoing 6% royalty on the contested products until the patents officially expire in March 2033.

Any unpaid judgment balances will also continue accruing interest. Earlier in the litigation process, the judge rejected all counterclaims and dismissed the defense’s attempts to secure a new trial.

The final legal order explicitly upheld the validity of the two disputed patents. While separate administrative reviews remain active at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, neither patent is currently under review for invalidation.

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GH Stock Price Activity: Guardant Health shares were down 3.29% at $165.07 at the time of publication on Monday,
according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Key Takeaways AJG expects 6% total-company organic growth in 2026, led by new business and client retention. New business, exposure growth and diverse offerings support organic growth across Gallagher's businesses. AJG posted its 25th straight quarter of double-digit adjusted EBITDAC growth amid margin expansion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG - Free Report) appears well positioned to sustain around 6% organic growth and continue expanding underlying margins even as insurance pricing moderates. However, the mix of growth is likely to shift away from rate-driven growth toward new business, client retention, exposure growth, productivity and acquisitions.

AJG witnessed another solid quarter of organic growth across each business and geography. AJG projects a total company organic outlook of 6%, brokerage at 5.5% and risk management at 9% for 2026. AJG expects 2026 will be another year of excellent organic growth.
For the combined Brokerage and Risk Management segments, growing both organically and through acquisitions delivered total revenue growth of 24% in the second quarter of 2026. Organic growth was 6%, reflecting continued strength across each of the businesses.

The bigger drivers of Organic growth remain new business, strong client retention, exposure growth and the diversity of the model across P/C, benefits, reinsurance and claims. AJG is also gaining from activity across construction, infrastructure, energy and data centers. These areas create new, more complex client needs, requiring more advice, broader capabilities and deeper expertise, which play directly into Arthur J. Gallagher's advisory strengths.

Arthur J. Gallagher recorded its 25th consecutive quarter of double-digit adjusted EBITDAC growth, while management highlighted continued underlying margin expansion. Productivity and quality improvement are among AJG's four long-term strategic pillars. 
The acquisition of AssuredPartners is now nearly a year into integration, with management reporting strong retention and good collaboration between teams. As integration progresses, cost synergies and greater scale could support margins.

What About Its Peers?Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO - Free Report) experienced a moderation in organic growth in the second quarter of 2026, reflecting a softer insurance pricing environment and weakness in its Specialty Distribution business. Organic revenues declined 0.7% year over year, while organic revenues, including contingent commissions, increased 0.7%. Despite the near-term pressure, BRO expects organic growth to improve in the second half of 2026, with management targeting 1.5-2.5% growth in Retail and 2-4% in Specialty Distribution, excluding contingents.

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (WTW - Free Report) delivered 5% organic revenue growth in the second quarter of 2026, supported by broad-based momentum across its businesses. WTW achieved this growth despite a competitive insurance pricing environment, with rates declining across most lines. The company's specialization, recurring revenue streams, new-business wins and strong client retention should help sustain mid-single-digit organic growth, while operating leverage and expense discipline provide further support for profitability.

AJG’s Price PerformanceShares of Arthur J. Gallagher have gained 1.9% year to date against the industry’s decline of 1.2%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

AJG’s OvervaluationThe stock is overvalued compared with its industry. It is currently trading at a price-to-earnings multiple of 18.43, higher than the industry average of 16.83.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Estimate Movement for AJGThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for AJG’s third-quarter 2026 and fourth-quarter 2026 EPS has moved up 1.3% and 0.3%, respectively, in the past 30 days. The same for full-year 2026 and 2027 EPS has moved up 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, in the past 30 days.

The consensus estimate for AJG’s 2026 and 2027 EPS and revenues indicates year-over-year increases.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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

Seoul, South Korea, August 24th, 2026, Chainwire

New infrastructure enables open competition for Solana blockspace while introducing programmable block policies for validators

Flowra today announced the launch of its Open Orderflow Auction (OOA), a new block-building framework for Solana designed to introduce open competition into the network’s MEV market and increase validator revenue.

The Open Orderflow Auction allows registered searchers to compete for transaction inclusion through a transparent auction rather than relying on closed orderflow channels. By opening blockspace to competitive bidding, Flowra aims to improve price discovery and enable validators to capture a greater share of the value generated by MEV.

In early testing on a single validator, a Flowra-enabled setup increased compute units per block by 20.6%, moving that validator from 84% to 101% of the network average, alongside higher block fees than comparable validator software and 100% block production with 99.999% block engine uptime

In addition to the auction, Flowra is introducing Programmable Block Policy, which allows validators to define their own transaction inclusion policies at the block-building layer. The feature is designed to give validators greater operational flexibility, including the ability to meet regulatory or institutional compliance requirements without changing the underlying Solana protocol. They recently announced a collaboration with compliance infrastructure provider Honeypot to bring sanctions and risk screening to this layer.

“Solana’s performance has made it one of the industry’s leading blockchain networks, but its MEV market remains largely concentrated,” said Harry Hwang , CEO at Flowra. “By opening block building to transparent competition, we’re creating a more efficient market for blockspace while giving validators greater control over how their blocks are constructed with full verifiability and auditability.”

Flowra’s architecture is inspired by the competitive block-building model that emerged on Ethereum, where open bidding significantly increased proposer revenue. The company believes Solana’s high throughput and low-latency design make it well suited for a similar market-based approach to block building.

Flowra is currently onboarding institutional-grade validators to the Open Orderflow Auction, with a broader rollout to follow as the network expands. The Open Orderflow Auction is now available to validators and searchers participating in the Solana ecosystem.

About Flowra Flowra is a blockchain infrastructure company building validator and order flow solutions for the Solana ecosystem. The company develops technology designed to improve transaction transparency, value distribution, and incentive alignment across validators, users, and builders. Through its validator infrastructure, delegation programs, and MEV-related technologies, Flowra aims to create a more open, efficient, and scalable foundation for the next generation of blockchain networks.

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Solana tokenomics proposals SGP-002 and SGP-003 are now open, with $SOL stakeholders casting their votes on two critical changes to network inflation and resource fees.

While initial votes lean heavily towards approving both proposals with flying colors, critics have become more vocal in arguing against SGP-002 and SGP-003.

Why are the experts divided on proposals theoretically designed to make $SOL more valuable?

Solana Governance Proposals Go Live Solana’s stakeholders are once again heading to the ballot boxes to express their views on $SOL inflation and tokenomics design. 

Authored by Helius’ _lostin_, SGP-002 suggests doubling $SOL’s disinflationary rate, bringing the network to its terminal inflation rate of 1.5% p.a. ~3 years early. Simultaneously, Temporal’s cavemanloverboy has floated SGP-003, which proposes introducing a resource fee designed to make Solana programs more efficient and implement a $SOL value accrual mechanic.

With both votes scheduled to run until the end of epoch 1024, or roughly September 28, onchain data suggests both proposals will pass in a landslide. While both SGP-002 and SGP-003 are far from reaching the 33% of stake quorum, over 96% of early voters have responded in favor of the proposals.

However, as we’ve seen previously, early voting behavior is hardly an indicator of final outcomes. SIMD-0228, an earlier governance proposal deliberately new $SOL issuance mechanics, received strong initial support, before a flurry of late voters overturned the vote, which ultimately failed.

Ellipsis Labs CEO Pushes Back on SGP-003 With SGP-003 finally being put to a vote, many of the proposal’s critics have reinforced their arguments against the suggested resource fee. Speaking out against SGP-003, Ellipsis Labs CEO Eugene Chen asserted that introducing a resource fee will make Solana a “worse home for applications”.

Chen, CEO of the firm behind Phoenix Perps and SolFi, the network’s first major prop AMM, argues that the proposal penalizes applications the author deems a “a poor use of blockspace”. By adding a fee that scales based on the complexity and resource-intensiveness, one could argue that the network discourages developers and engineers from building creative and complex applications.

Speaking with SolanaFloor, SGP-003 author cavemanloverboy asserts that the onus is then simply on developers and engineers to write more efficient code. His sentiments were further echoed by ex-Flash Trade engineer Busy Panda, who opined that Solana needs a resource fee mechanic to ensure block space is correctly optimized.

Manifest has also expressed opposition towards SGP-003. According to Solana’s leading spot CLOB DEX, the proposal favors prop AMM architecture and could result in more onchain security risks by forcing developers to write more complex code.

Stakeholders Express Concerns Over “Lost Income” As for SGP-002, pockets of Solana’s validator community are voicing their concerns over the impacts of doubling network disinflation. While much of the Solana community has expressed resounding support for any proposal that will lower $SOL inflation, validators argue this change comes at the direct expense of those providing the network security we all rely upon.

Triton’s Brian Long recently shared a series of arguments against SGP-002 and the proposed acceleration of Solana’s disinflation rate, citing lost stakeholder income as a potential risk to validators. Long asserts the proposal forces validators to give up income for the sake of a speculative attempt to increase price.

Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz pushed back on Long’s arguments, claiming they are mathematically incorrect and positioning it as a Trojan Horse to justify “extracting more value from users” in the name of “economic rationality”.

Ultimately, the raging debates around both proposals highlight one of the core features of blockchain governance. Everyone has self-serving interests, and these can either support or inhibit the chain’s development and progress. 

Validators rightly don’t want to suffer a loss of income, and developers and engineers don’t want to pay higher fees in order to run existing programs. Neither of these positions is unreasonable, but both can be seen as counterproductive to the more popular desire among $SOL holders to try and increase the asset’s markets.

Under Solana’s new governance mechanics, stakers are now able to override validators and vote on these proposals directly. Regardless of your views, every $SOL staker owes it to themselves to learn the ins and outs of each proposal and ensure that their votes reflect their views.

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Solana’s Tokenized Equity Market Size Hits $465M as Sunrise Brings Healthcare Stocks Onchain

SGP-003 Explained

Solana is preparing to flip the switch on Transaction v1, a protocol upgrade heading to testnet in the coming weeks that triples the maximum transaction size. The change takes the ceiling from 1,232 bytes to 4,096 bytes, clearing the way for operations that previously had to be split across multiple transactions or stitched together with workarounds.

What’s actually changing The upgrade is defined across two Solana Improvement Documents: SIMD-0296 and SIMD-0385. Together, they redesign how transactions are structured at the protocol level.

Transaction v1 introduces a new version byte (0x81) and moves compute and priority-fee configurations into a fixed header mask. That’s a fancy way of saying resource limits get baked directly into the transaction header instead of being handled separately, which should streamline how validators process each transaction.

The bigger payload capacity unlocks several use cases that were previously painful or impossible to execute atomically. Zero-knowledge proofs, large multisig transactions, and BLS signature schemes can now fit inside a single transaction rather than relying on lookup tables or bundling tricks to piece things together.

Address Lookup Tables, the compression tool Solana introduced to squeeze more accounts into legacy-sized transactions, are being removed in the new format. Analysis from mid-August 2026 suggests the transition is smoother than it might appear. Roughly 62% of sampled v0 transactions were using ALTs, yet most of those transactions fit comfortably within the new 4,096-byte limit when converted to v1 format, with a median excess of approximately 420 bytes to spare.

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Timeline and testing status The testnet launch is targeted for late August 2026. Local testing has been available for a while through solana-test-validator version 4.2 and above, along with tools like Surfpool.

Preliminary feature-gated improvements for mainnet kicked off on August 17, 2026 as part of the Agave 4.2 client release cycle. That means the groundwork is already being laid for an eventual mainnet deployment, though the testnet phase will come first to shake out any issues.

Legacy transactions and the current v0 format will continue to work without modification. This isn’t a forced migration. Developers and applications that don’t need the extra capacity can keep doing exactly what they’re doing.

That said, indexers and infrastructure services will need to adapt. The new transaction serialization format means any tool that parses raw transactions, block explorers, analytics platforms, RPC providers, needs to understand the v1 structure.

Why this matters for Solana’s architecture The 1,232-byte transaction limit dates back to the network’s early design decisions around UDP packet sizes and later QUIC networking protocols adopted post-2022. While the limit helped keep the network fast, it also forced developers into creative contortions when building anything complex.

DeFi protocols sometimes had to break a single logical operation into multiple transactions. Multisig wallets with many signers bumped up against the ceiling regularly. And zero-knowledge applications, which produce proofs that simply don’t fit in 1,232 bytes, required workarounds.

Transaction v1 doesn’t solve every scaling challenge Solana faces, but it removes a bottleneck that was becoming more noticeable as applications grew more sophisticated. The 3.3x increase gives developers meaningfully more room without fundamentally changing the network’s performance characteristics.

What to watch next Developers building on Solana should be watching how their existing transaction patterns translate to the new format, especially if they currently rely on Address Lookup Tables. While the data suggests most workloads will port cleanly, edge cases always exist.

The gap between testnet activation and mainnet deployment will be the window to watch. If that transition happens without major incidents, it validates Solana’s approach of embedding resource limits directly into transaction headers.

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

MP Materials (MP -4.50%) was America's favorite rare earth mining stock last year -- or, at least, one of the Trump administration's favorite rare earth miners.

Indeed, MP stock tripled in 2025, with much of those gains occurring after the Pentagon's public-private partnership with MP was announced last July. At one point last year, MP was up more than 400%, before giving back much of those gains last October. Fast forward to today, and MP Materials is trading about 45% lower than its 52-week high.

But don't let that red number fool you: Despite the stock's sell-off, which was really just a valuation correction, MP is growing stronger and healthier. The stock might not repeat last year's performance. Yet if its recent earnings tell us anything, it's that MP deserves a second look. Here's what you should know.

Today's Change

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-4.50

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-2.70

Current Price

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MP is getting more value from Mountain Pass The big takeaway from MP's second quarter was revenue growth. MP managed to pull in about $108 million last quarter, a roughly 89% positive change year-over-year, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) swung from a $12.5 loss to positive $28.5 million.

The company also reported $17.6 million in Pentagon-related price-protection income. Remember how the Department of Defense agreed last year to a price floor of $110 per kilogram for MP's neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr)? Well, market prices for this vital rare earth compound apparently fell below that level, and the government made up the difference in a roughly $18 million payment.

Doubling quarterly revenue was impressive, but it's not the reason this quarter left a strong impression on me. That's owed to the fact that MP is now selling a much more refined NdPr product, while subsequently profiting more from the NdPr that it's selling. That might sound confusing, so let me put it into perspective.

Image source: MP Materials.

For much of its life, MP sold rare-earth concentrate to Chinese companies, which would then use chemicals to free the rare-earth elements from the ore. Rare-earth concentrate has valuable rare earth elements, but since they need to be freed, the concentrate is worth less than selling those rare-earth elements outright.

Starting last April, however, MP began to cease selling concentrate, due mainly to the trade war between the U.S. and China. The benefit of that is that MP is now processing the concentrate in-house. This requires more work, but the resulting product is worth more money.

Just consider this: In Q2 2025, MP earned about $25 million in NdPr oxide and metal revenue, with about $12 million from concentrate revenue. This last quarter, it had zero revenue from concentrate sales, and $95 million from oxide and metal revenue. Big jump right? And in the right direction, too.

MP Material's economics are improving, and its raking in more revenue. For me, the next test is whether its second magnet factory (10X) is on track for commissioning in 2028, as well as prove later that it can scale magnets production significantly. I would not buy MP with the expectation that it will triple in 12 months like it did in 2025, but opening a position at today's price could be worthwhile if you want exposure to American rare-earth mining.

Key Takeaways Comfort Systems gets the edge with record backlog, strong cash flow and broad AI infrastructure exposure.Sterling offers faster 2026 growth, a lower valuation and more than $7B in potential work visibility.Comfort Systems' modular expansion and $1.8B-plus net cash strengthen its growth visibility. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (STRL - Free Report) and Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (FIX - Free Report) are emerging as major beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout. Sterling provides site development and mission-critical electrical services for data centers, semiconductor facilities and other large projects, while Comfort Systems provides mechanical, electrical, HVAC and modular solutions for technology and other industrial customers.

Their overlap has become increasingly relevant as hyperscalers and other technology customers invest heavily in data center capacity. Sterling is gaining from the need for large-scale site preparation and electrical infrastructure, while Comfort Systems is benefiting from demand for electrical, cooling, mechanical and prefabricated modular systems.

Both companies also enter the second half of 2026 with record or sharply higher backlogs and strong earnings momentum. Let's dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals of the two stocks to determine which one is a better investment now.

The Case for Sterling StockSterling's growth story is increasingly centered on E-Infrastructure Solutions. Second-quarter 2026 revenues jumped 90% year over year to $1.17 billion, including roughly 50% organic growth, while adjusted earnings per share (EPS) surged 116% to $5.80. E-Infrastructure revenues soared 192%, driven by strong organic performance and contributions from CEC and Stone Ridge. Mission-critical projects, including data centers, manufacturing and semiconductor facilities, accounted for 92% of E-Infrastructure backlog.

Visibility is particularly compelling. Sterling ended June with $4.3 billion of signed backlog and $5.6 billion of combined backlog, up 116% and 150%, respectively. High-probability future-phase opportunities exceeded $1.4 billion, taking total visibility into potential work above $7 billion. Data center projects are becoming larger, lasting longer and spreading into additional markets, while expansions of existing projects are creating opportunities not yet captured in backlog. CEC also broadens Sterling's ability to combine site development with electrical work.

Management raised its 2026 outlook, with revenues now projected at $4-$4.15 billion and adjusted EPS at $19.70-$20.30. At the midpoint, adjusted EPS is expected to grow 84%. Sterling also has considerable financial flexibility. It finished the quarter with $464 million of cash versus $284 million of debt, leaving it in a net cash position, while first-half operating cash flow reached $328 million.

Still, Sterling has some weak spots. Building Solutions continues to face housing-affordability pressures, while Transportation revenues are expected to decline as resources shift toward higher-margin E-Infrastructure projects. Strong project burn and uneven award timing could also cause backlog volatility despite healthy underlying demand.

The Case for Comfort Systems StockComfort Systems offers even broader exposure to the physical infrastructure needed to support AI computing. Second-quarter revenues increased 50% year over year to $3.27 billion, while EPS jumped 92% to $12.53. Backlog reached a record $14.06 billion, up from $12.45 billion sequentially and $8.12 billion a year earlier. Same-store backlog climbed to $13.70 billion.

Technology has become the company's dominant growth engine. It represented roughly 58% of first-half revenues, up sharply from 40% a year earlier. Comfort Systems is also expanding its Modular operations and customer base, including frontier labs and colocation providers. Modular represented 17% of year-to-date revenues, and dedicated capacity is expected to rise from more than 3.5 million square feet currently to more than 4 million by year-end and approximately 5 million by late summer 2027.

Importantly, the expansion is supported largely by existing demand. Management said much of the new modular capacity is intended for existing customers and orders, suggesting further customer wins could require additional capacity. Hunt Electric adds another growth lever, strengthening Comfort Systems' electrical capabilities and contributing an expected $250 million of annualized revenues.

Comfort Systems also has an exceptionally strong financial position. Second-quarter free cash flow approached $1 billion, and despite acquisitions and elevated capital investment, the company had more than $1.8 billion of net cash. Management expects capital expenditures of approximately 5% of revenues as it expands production capacity.

The main concern is concentration. Technology accounted for nearly three-fifths of revenues, increasing dependence on continued data center investment. Rapid expansion also requires significant spending on facilities and people, while labor availability, project execution and customer concentration remain risks. Nevertheless, record backlog and strong pipelines support management's optimism for the rest of 2026 and into 2027.

FIX Leads the Stock-Market RaceBoth stocks have substantially outperformed the broader market in 2026. Sterling shares have climbed 68.7% year to date, while Comfort Systems has surged 77.4%. By comparison, the broader Zacks Construction sector has gained 7%, while the S&P 500 has risen 11.8%.

STRL vs FIX Price Performance (YTD)

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Thus, Comfort Systems holds the edge on share-price momentum. Both have also outpaced major U.S.-listed infrastructure peers such as Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR - Free Report) and EMCOR Group, Inc. (EME - Free Report) , underscoring investors' enthusiasm for companies positioned around data centers, electrification and AI infrastructure.

Sterling Offers the More Attractive ValuationValuation shifts the advantage toward Sterling. STRL currently trades at 21.77X forward 12-month earnings compared with 30.9X for FIX and 19.59X for the Zacks Construction sector.

Sterling therefore commands only a modest premium to the sector despite its faster expected 2026 earnings and revenue growth. Comfort Systems' premium reflects its record backlog, superior cash generation and powerful technology exposure, but also leaves less room for execution disappointments.

STRL vs FIX Valuation (P/E F12M)

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Rising Estimates Keep Both Earnings Stories StrongAnalyst revisions are encouraging for both companies. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Sterling's 2026 EPS has increased to $20.07 (as shown below), implying 84.5% year-over-year growth, while the revenue estimate indicates 65.2% growth. For 2027, EPS is projected to rise another 28.3% on revenue growth of 19.5%.

STRL EPS Estimate Revision Trend

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Comfort Systems' consensus estimate for EPS has also increased, reaching $45.86 for 2026 and $57.81 for 2027 (as shown below). The 2026 estimate implies 58.8% growth, alongside expected revenue growth of 38.3%. For 2027, earnings and revenues are projected to increase 26.1% and 20%, respectively.

FIX EPS Estimate Revision Trend

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Sterling consequently has the edge in expected 2026 growth and slightly stronger projected 2027 EPS expansion, although both companies' upward estimate revisions indicate improving analyst confidence.

Which AI Infrastructure Stock Wins?Sterling offers an impressive combination of faster near-term growth, rapidly expanding mission-critical backlog, strong data center exposure and a considerably lower valuation. Its net cash position and rising E-Infrastructure margins further strengthen the long-term case. However, housing weakness, the planned contraction in Transportation and the potential lumpiness of large project awards introduce some uncertainty.

Comfort Systems looks stronger overall. Its much larger record backlog, dominant technology exposure, expanding modular platform, exceptional free cash flow and substantial net cash position provide a powerful combination of growth visibility and financial flexibility. Its valuation is clearly richer, but strong execution and rising earnings estimates help support that premium.

Comfort Systems, with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), appears to offer better upside potential right now. Sterling, carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), arguably wins on valuation and near-term growth expectations, but Comfort Systems' stronger stock momentum, deeper backlog, cash-generation capacity and broader participation across the mechanical, electrical and modular infrastructure required for AI data centers give FIX the edge for investors seeking exposure to the AI infrastructure boom. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Key Takeaways APLD's power access could strengthen its AI infrastructure edge over WULF & CRWV amid industry constraints.APLD has 1.4 GW of contracted IT load tied to about $36B in lease revenues and 1.2 GW in planned generation.APLD must execute power & campus expansions to translate AI opportunities into expected FY27 revenue growth. Applied Digital (APLD - Free Report) could strengthen its AI infrastructure edge over TeraWulf (WULF - Free Report) and CoreWeave (CRWV - Free Report) by leveraging its access to large-scale, cost-competitive power, a critical constraint and competitive differentiator in the AI data-center market.

APLD has secured roughly 1.4 GW of contracted critical IT load, representing about $36 billion in contracted lease revenues, while its North Dakota strategy is designed to expand access to reliable, low-cost power. The company is also working with Base Electron on approximately 1.2 GW of natural-gas-fired generation, which could unlock additional capacity at existing campuses and support future AI Factory development.

This power position could become increasingly valuable as AI workloads require higher-density infrastructure and the industry faces significant power constraints. APLD has already demonstrated its ability to convert power into operating capacity, bringing 175 MW at Polaris Forge 1 online while continuing to develop additional campuses.

However, the advantage carries execution risks. Base Electron is an independent power producer, meaning APLD does not directly control the project that could provide additional power. Moreover, Applied Digital competes with other power-advantaged developers, making timely conversion of power access into operational AI capacity critical to sustaining its competitive position.

    According to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, revenues are projected to grow by 49.7% in fiscal 2027; therefore, the successful execution of APLD’s power and campus expansion plans is crucial for realizing this expected growth. Overall, the company’s power advantage could strengthen its AI edge over WULF and CRWV, provided it can execute these plans on schedule and convert its scarce power access into revenue-generating AI capacity.

How Are APLD's Competitors Positioned?TeraWulf competes with APLD by controlling power-advantaged sites, interconnection and electrical infrastructure to convert scarce electricity into AI/HPC capacity. TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner and Kentucky projects pair grid access with phased, long-term leases, while its 250-500 MW annual contracting target challenges APLD’s expansion pipeline. TeraWulf therefore competes directly for power, customers and AI capacity.

CoreWeave competes with APLD by aggressively securing power and converting it into AI cloud capacity at scale. CoreWeave reached 1.5 GW of active power and 4.2 GW contracted, with a goal of at least 8 GW by 2030. Its powered-land and self-build strategy directly contests APLD for scarce power, sites and AI workloads.

APLD’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAPLD shares have surged 70.6% in the past year, outperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s 12.1% growth.

APLD’s 1-Year Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, APLD appears overvalued, trading at a trailing 12-month price/book (P/B) ratio of 4.51, above the industry average of 3. The company carries a Value Score of F.

APLD’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The fiscal 2027 bottom-line outlook remains challenging, with the consensus estimate currently pegged at a loss of $1.09 per share, widening by 9 cents over the past 30 days and compared with a loss of 91 cents in fiscal 2026.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Key Takeaways Equinor will supply ORLEN with 5-9 million tons of crude annually for three years starting in September.Johan Sverdrup's low-emission production strengthens the competitiveness of Equinor's key upstream asset.Equinor's broader Polish portfolio spans crude, gas, LNG, offshore wind, solar, onshore wind and batteries. Equinor ASA (EQNR - Free Report) has strengthened its position in the European energy market by signing a three-year crude oil supply agreement with Poland’s ORLEN.

Beginning in September, Equinor will supply crude from the Johan Sverdrup field on the Norwegian continental shelf, with annual volumes ranging from 5 million tons to more than 9 million tons. The agreement allows Equinor to supply other crude grades produced from Norwegian fields.

Stable Crude Offtake Supports EQNR’s Sales VisibilityThe deal provides EQNR with a sizeable and relatively stable market for its crude production. ORLEN plans to process the oil at refineries in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, extending Equinor’s reach across Europe.

The agreement strengthens the relationship between the two companies at a time when European buyers remain focused on supply security and dependable energy partners.

Johan Sverdrup Strengthens EQNR’s Upstream PortfolioJohan Sverdrup is the highest-producing oil field on the Norwegian continental shelf and remains an important contributor to European energy supply.

The field is known for highly energy-efficient production and significantly lower production-related carbon-dioxide emissions than the global average, mainly because it is powered from shore. These characteristics support the competitiveness of one of EQNR’s key upstream assets.

Poland Expansion Broadens EQNR’s Energy FootprintThe ORLEN agreement fits into Equinor’s broader energy presence in Poland. Beyond crude oil, EQNR supplies pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), while developing the Baltyk offshore wind projects with Polenergia.

Through Wento, Equinor is expanding its portfolio of solar, onshore wind and battery-storage assets in the country.

Long-Term Deal Reinforces EQNR’s Investment AppealThe agreement strengthens sales visibility and deepens Equinor’s commercial position in an important European market. Although financial terms remain confidential, the three-year duration and large annual supply range are likely to support resilient crude marketing and therefore strengthen its business model.

Combined with EQNR’s broader oil, gas and renewable-energy presence in Poland, the deal reinforces the company’s diversified role in Europe’s energy market.

EQNR’s Zacks Rank & Key PicksEquinor currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the energy sector are Valero Energy Corporation (VLO - Free Report) , Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (PARR - Free Report) and HF Sinclair Corporation (DINO - Free Report) .  The business models of VLO, PARR and DINO are sensitive to crude price fluctuations. Valero, Par Pacific and HF Sinclair currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Valero operates 14 global refineries with a daily refinery throughput capacity of 3 million barrels. The refiner’s ethanol operations are spread across 12 U.S. ethanol plants. During the second quarter of 2026, VLO recorded strong gains in its ethanol sector. Margins expanded to $1.15 per gallon from 52 cents per gallon and operating income rose to 75 cents per gallon compared with 13 cents per gallon a year earlier.

Par Pacific operates an integrated energy platform spanning 219,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, logistics, retail and a 46% stake in Laramie Energy across Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies. The company’s logistics network includes 13 million barrels of storage, pipeline network, marine terminals, rail facilities and truck racks, supporting the movement and marketing of conventional and renewable fuels. PARR reported a strong second-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $571.3 million, higher than the $137.8 million a year earlier, while adjusted net income increased to $499.2 million from $78.3 million a year ago.

HF Sinclair is an independent refiner producing gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, renewable diesel, lubricants and specialty products. In second-quarter 2026, DINO’s adjusted EBITDA increased to $1.5 billion from $665 million a year earlier, driven by stronger refining margins, higher volumes and solid execution. Meanwhile, the company’s renewable fuels adjusted EBITDA rose to $123 million against a $2 million loss reported a year ago due to increased renewable identification number prices, improved Producer’s Tax Credit benefits and higher volumes.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled Monday’s planned settlement meeting with Paramount Skydance (Paramount Skydance Corp (NASDAQ:PSKY) over the company’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, accusing Paramount of acting in bad faith.

According to a report in The New York Times, Bonta’s office accused Paramount of leaking and misrepresenting details from a preliminary meeting held Friday, prompting the attorney general to call off talks that were intended to explore a settlement.

The canceled meeting came after reports that California was expected to seek the sale of some cable channels and structural safeguards separating the companies' movie studios as conditions for settling the antitrust case.

California and 11 other states sued last month to block the transaction, arguing the combination would reduce competition in theatrical film distribution and cable television and could hurt consumers, theaters and workers.

Paramount has pledged to release at least 30 theatrical films a year after the merger, but the states have argued that commitment would not adequately address their antitrust concerns.

Paramount’s proposed acquisition values Warner Bros. Discovery at $81 billion in equity value and $110 billion in enterprise value, which includes debt and other liabilities assumed in the transaction.

The Justice Department and regulators in dozens of other countries have cleared the transaction, but the state lawsuits remain a major obstacle to closing the deal.

Paramount faces financial pressure to complete the transaction, with Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders entitled to a quarterly ticking fee if the deal remains unclosed after September 30.

The breakdown in settlement discussions leaves the antitrust case unresolved as Paramount seeks to complete one of the largest media transactions in the industry.

The S&P 500 is up by more than 10% this year, and its growth has outpaced Microsoft (MSFT +1.01%), but I don't think that trend will last too much longer. Microsoft's 20% return over the past month shows that more investors are spotting the opportunity.

Its earnings results were the major catalyst behind the surge, and there were a few details in the report that make me think Microsoft is a more promising investment now than the broad-market S&P 500.

Image source: Getty Images.

Cloud computing revenue continues to grow Most of Microsoft's growth is coming from its cloud computing unit. Revenues from that part of the business were up by 27% year over year in Microsoft's fiscal 2026 fourth quarter.

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This segment has maintained high growth rates for many quarters, and I believe that trend will continue. Artificial intelligence (AI) has boosted enterprise demand for cloud platforms. Competitors like Amazon (AMZN +1.24%) and Alphabet (GOOG +1.37%) (GOOGL +1.46%) have reported strong demand for their cloud platforms that continues to accelerate.

Cloud computing operates on a recurring revenue model, and Microsoft's established customers will have to upgrade their plans as their needs evolve. It's extremely cumbersome to switch from one cloud platform to another, and it's not worth the effort if the differences between Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are marginal.

Microsoft continues to enhance its cloud offering to boost retention and attract new customers. Microsoft Cloud provides a broad model catalog of more than 11,000 models. This selection aids customers that want "the right model for each task, based on quality, latency, cost, and compliance," per the earnings call transcript.

Other business segments are also doing nicely I still view cloud computing as the major story for Microsoft, and continued growth in this segment will help the tech stock outperform the S&P 500 in the future. It accounted for roughly two-thirds of Microsoft's revenue in its fiscal 2026 Q4, but the businesses that generated the remaining third of sales still show some upside potential too.

Artificial intelligence has also translated into higher growth rates for Microsoft's other businesses. LinkedIn and online advertising revenue were up by 12% and 10% year over year, respectively.

Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue also rose 16% year over year. The company's "more personal computing" segment, which includes online ads, Xbox, and Windows OEM and devices, was down by 4% year over year. While I would prefer if every segment were delivering revenue growth, this part of Microsoft's business only represented 14.3% of total sales.

Microsoft stock may be suffering from the company's success. While some growth investors are chasing smaller AI stocks in the hopes of more substantial gains, Microsoft steadily delivers better fundamentals each quarter.

Overall revenue and operating income were both up by 18% year over year in the most recent quarter. Those numbers beat most companies in the S&P 500, and to top it off, Microsoft has a lower price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio than the index. These factors explain why I view Microsoft as a better opportunity than the market's most popular benchmark.

The S&P 500 has a lot of dead weight It's not just that Microsoft is a great stock. I also believe investors should look deeper into any index fund or exchange-traded fund they want to buy. For instance, the S&P 500 has recently derived a large portion of its gains from the "Magnificent Seven" stocks, but a closer look reveals many stocks are flat or down this year.

More than 150 S&P 500 holdings are down year to date, while fewer than half of the stocks in this index have a 10% return or higher.

Admittedly, Microsoft is in neither of those categories. It's up year to date, but not by much. However, Microsoft's stock price movements have not kept pace with its improving fundamentals. Meanwhile, some S&P 500 stocks are overextended and more vulnerable to future corrections.

Tech stocks like Microsoft often do the heavy lifting for the S&P 500, and the stock price should eventually catch up with Microsoft's fundamental growth. That's why I like Microsoft better than the S&P 500.

Key Takeaways Boeing secured a P-8A contract worth up to $156.2M, with work expected to run through August 2031.Rising maritime security concerns and defense spending are supporting demand for Boeing's P-8 Poseidon.Boeing's P-8 supports maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) continues to strengthen its position in the military aircraft market through its P-8 Poseidon program. Rising defense spending, growing maritime security concerns and the need for advanced surveillance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities are driving demand for modern military aircraft. This is likely to support continued order activity for Boeing’s P-8 program and strengthen its defense business.

In August 2026, Boeing secured a contract valued at up to $156.2 million to support its P-8A Poseidon program. The deal includes engine build-up kits for the U.S. Navy and Foreign Military Sales customers, with work expected to be completed by August 2031.

This award highlights the sustained demand for the P-8 Poseidon platform, both from the U.S. Navy and international customers. The aircraft plays a critical role in maritime patrol, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, making it an important asset for countries seeking to strengthen their maritime defense capabilities.

Growing geopolitical tensions, expanding naval fleet and rising investments in maritime surveillance should continue to support demand for advanced military aircraft. These trends, combined with Boeing’s strong capabilities in military aircraft and aftermarket support, are expected to create additional opportunities for its defense business.

Overall, the latest contract win underscores the long-term importance of the P-8 Poseidon program. Backed by rising demand for maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare capabilities, Boeing’s P-8 aircraft program should continue to support the growth of its defense business.

Other Companies Benefiting from Military Aircraft Demand

Apart from Boeing, other defense companies are also benefiting from rising defense spending and growing demand for advanced military aircraft. These companies are discussed below:

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT - Free Report) is benefiting from strong demand for its military aircraft, including the F-35 fighter jet and C-130 transport aircraft, supported by fleet modernization and rising defense budgets.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC - Free Report) is also benefiting from growing demand for advanced manned and unmanned aircraft used in surveillance, intelligence and other defense missions.

The Zacks Rundown for BA

Shares of Boeing have risen 1.3% in the past month against the Zacks aerospace-defense industry’s decline of 2.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, BA is currently trading at a forward 12-month sales multiple of 1.58X, a discount when stacked up with the industry average of 2.50X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BA’s 2026 and 2027 earnings has moved south over the past 60 days.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

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