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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Readers are advised to fact-check thoroughly before committing any capital to this idea; this reflects the personal views of the author and should not be pursued as formal financial or investment advice in any manner. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, errors may exist in the data and financial projections presented. The author is not responsible for any financial gains or losses incurred from investments made based on this content.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

ANTWERP, Belgium, 29 June 2026, 08:00 CET – CMB.TECH NV (“CMBT”, “CMB.TECH” or “the company”) (NYSE: CMBT, Euronext Brussels: CMBT and Euronext Oslo Børs: CMBTO) has sold two Suezmaxes, generating a capital gain of approximately 100.5 million USD.

Acuity remains a 'Buy' as Q3 2026 results support the view that recent lighting weakness is timing-related, not structural. The AIS segment continues robust growth, with a 14.9% y/y revenue increase and 25.1% adj. operating margin, driving AYI's valuation case. Management commentary suggests ABL demand is stabilizing, but future quarters must confirm positive revenue and profit trends.

Shares of rocket and satellite company SpaceX (SPCX +0.13%) have tumbled almost as fast as they climbed. After its market debut this month sent shares as high as $225.64, the stock has since fallen about 32% to about $153 as of this writing.

A pullback like this in a stock investors couldn't get enough of just weeks ago raises an obvious question: Is now the time to buy? The company behind Starlink and a leading rocket-launch business is one of the most closely watched companies anywhere. But a lower price doesn't automatically make a stock a good deal -- and in SpaceX's case, the valuation still looks stretched.

Image source: Getty Images.

Understanding the drivers behind the SpaceX business SpaceX completed its initial public offering (IPO) on June 12, pricing shares at $135 -- the biggest market debut in history. The prospectus it filed ahead of the offering gave investors their first detailed look at the financials behind the hype.

The top-line numbers are impressive. SpaceX grew revenue 33% year over year in 2025 to $18.7 billion. And most of that came from Starlink, its satellite internet business, which generated $11.4 billion in revenue (about 61% of the company total), up 48% from 2024. Starlink ended March 2026 with more than 10 million subscribers.

Even better, Starlink is profitable. The segment produced about $4.4 billion in operating profit in 2025, making it the company's profit center.

SpaceX's space segment, which includes its launch business and crew missions for NASA, added about $4 billion in revenue, though the company is spending about $3 billion to develop its next-generation Starship rocket.

This spending, combined with its aggressive outlays to support its nascent AI efforts, means SpaceX is unprofitable overall. The company reported a total net loss of $4.9 billion in 2025 on a retrospectively recast basis that includes the results of xAI, its recently absorbed artificial intelligence (AI) business. That AI segment brought in about $3.2 billion in revenue but is losing money.

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What about the stock's valuation? Even after a 32% pullback, SpaceX stock continues to look overvalued. With a market capitalization above $2 trillion, a business that loses money on the bottom line, and a price-to-sales ratio of more than 100, the bull case rests on highly speculative assumptions about the company's long-term prospects.

A valuation multiple like this prices in years of flawless execution -- not just continued rapid growth at Starlink, but a path to substantial companywide profits even as SpaceX funds Starship and absorbs xAI's losses. It assumes nearly everything goes right. Little wonder some on Wall Street think the valuation got ahead of the business. Morningstar, for one, pegs SpaceX's fair value at about $780 billion -- about half its private-market valuation -- and calls the stock significantly overvalued.

To be clear, I love the business. And I believe it will do extraordinarily well over the long haul. SpaceX has a dominant launch franchise and, in Starlink, a fast-growing, high-margin asset few companies can match. The problem is what you pay for it. It's nearly impossible to justify a price anywhere close to where the stock trades today.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see shares keep trading on sentiment rather than fundamentals. SpaceX has a huge retail following and a founder, Elon Musk, who commands enormous attention -- and stocks like that can stay expensive far longer than the numbers alone would suggest. So while the shares could certainly move higher from here, the math doesn't work for me, and I can't base an investment case on unpredictable sentiment. I'll personally be watching from the sidelines.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Baidu surged more than 7% Monday on reports that its artificial intelligence chip unit Kunlunxin is targeting an initial public offering in the city, which could value its affiliate at $50 billion.

Prospective investors were asked to buy semiconductors worth three to seven times the value of their intended investment in Kunlunxin's planned listing, The Information reported Sunday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

Baidu confidentially filed a listing application for Kunlunxin on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the start of the year, though offering details, including size and structure, were undecided then.

Kunlunxin chips have drawn interest from ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, according to an earlier Reuters report citing sources. 

Founded in 2011, Kunlunxin mainly supplies ‌chips to its parent company Baidu. While Baidu retains a controlling stake, the company operates independently and has broadened its scope to external sales over the past two years.

The report comes as China accelerates efforts to strengthen its position in the increasingly competitive AI sector.

"Despite Chinese progress, the United States remains for now ahead in the race for dominance over the so-called artificial intelligence hardware stack – the resources and equipment, especially semiconductors, needed to run AI models," according to a report by Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel.

However, the think tank also noted that "the signs of Chinese catch-up are real," citing factors such as an open-sourced toolkit with a state-backed contributor pipeline and a large enough domestic market that could buoy the ecosystem through its immature phase.

This article compares RITM's recent dividend per share rates, yield percentages, and several dividend sustainability metrics to 17 mREIT peers. This includes an analysis of RITM's quarterly core earnings/earnings available for distribution (“EAD”) which directly impacts the company's dividend sustainability. This article also projects RITM's dividend sustainability for Q3 2026 – Q4 2026 (including specific per share amounts).

HomeDividends AnalysisDividend Quick Picks

SummaryI present my top 10 high-yield dividend stocks for July 2026, emphasizing margin of safety, attractive valuations, and sustainable dividend growth.Names like PepsiCo, BB Seguridade, Novo Nordisk, and Rio Tinto offer undervaluation, robust yields, and strong profitability metrics, supporting both income and capital appreciation.Several picks, including VICI Properties and Canadian Natural Resources, combine high yields with above-average dividend growth rates and sector-leading financial health.Six of these ten companies offer global diversification, enhancing portfolio resilience and reducing downside risk through international exposure. kzenon/iStock via Getty Images

Investment Thesis Investing in companies with attractive valuations that offer you a margin of safety and pay a relatively attractive amount of dividend income while providing modest dividend growth potential allows investors to generate an

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of VICI, PEP, CNQ, RIO, ALIZY, AXAHY, BBSEY, NVO, CVX, NKE, SHEL, XOM either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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The VanEck Digital Native Economy ETF (NASDAQ:GENZ) is the same fund that traded for years as the VanEck Gaming ETF, VanEck Vectors Gaming ETF (NASDAQ:BJK), until VanEck flipped its mandate on April 9, 2026. The reshuffled basket still carries a trailing 3.77% distribution yield on the VanEck site, but that figure was earned by a portfolio of casino operators that no longer exists inside GENZ. Anyone buying for the headline payout needs to understand that this yield is a rear-view mirror, and the engine behind it has been swapped out.

From Casino Cash Flow to Gen-Z Growth Names BJK launched on January 22, 2008 as a pure gaming play, owning land-based casino operators that distributed real cash. The relaunched GENZ targets fintech, gig platforms, and online entertainment, with a top-10 concentration of roughly 62% of assets. Reported top weightings include NetEase at roughly 8.63%, Uber near 7.6%, Shopify near 7.4%, and Charles Schwab around 7.4%, alongside game publishers lower in the book.

That mix matters because income now depends almost entirely on a handful of dividend payers inside a growth-heavy basket. Uber, and several of the larger growth names pay nothing. The fund’s 0.51% expense ratio also eats into whatever income the remaining payers throw off.

Who Actually Funds the Distribution NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES | NTES Price Prediction) is the heaviest income contributor. The Chinese gaming giant carries a 2.44% trailing yield on a 15.8x P/E, with Q1 net income of $1.55 billion against quarterly dividends of $0.72 to $1.16 per ADS. The payout consumes a modest share of earnings, the buyback runs through January 2029, and the dividend cadence has been intact for over a decade. Currency translation and Chinese regulatory risk are real, but the cash backing is genuine.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) raised its dividend 19% to $0.32 quarterly on the back of $2.48 billion in Q1 net income and $11.77 trillion in client assets. That payout is well covered. Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) is a token contributor: the $0.19 quarterly dividend has not budged since mid-2022, which works out to a 0.37% yield. EA has committed to returning at least 80% of free cash flow through fiscal 2027, but almost all of it goes to buybacks.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Uber didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

The NAV Problem Behind the Yield A 3.77% trailing yield reads well in isolation. It does not survive contact with the price chart. BJK/GENZ is down roughly 10% year to date and 30.8% over five years, and the new holdings have been worse: Roblox is off 41% YTD and 55% over one year, Shopify is down 27% YTD, and Uber has slid 6.7%. Total return for income investors has been negative by a wide margin.

The forward yield will almost certainly fall. Two of the larger weightings, Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) and Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO), are loss-making, with Roblox running negative operating margins and Take-Two trading at a negative trailing P/E ahead of its GTA VI launch on November 19, 2026. They contribute zero dollars to the distribution pool. As the fund’s old gambling holdings roll off and growth names dominate, the trailing yield should compress toward the blended payout of the new mix, which sits closer to 1% to 1.5%.

The Verdict The GENZ distribution as printed today is not safe in the sense most income investors mean. The 3.9% number reflects a portfolio that no longer exists. The new basket is a thematic growth bet on Gen-Z spending, with a small natural yield from NetEase, Schwab, and EA, plus $16.5 million in total assets that signals limited institutional conviction so far. Investors who want digital-economy exposure can own GENZ for the theme. Anyone counting on a 3.77% income stream should look elsewhere, because the next twelve months of distributions will almost certainly tell a very different story.

Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Uber didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

NEW YORK, June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK) between February 4, 2025 and February 2, 2026, inclusive (the “Class Period”), of the important July 6, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Graphic Packaging securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Graphic Packaging class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=64523 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 6, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs’ Bar. Many of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Graphic Packaging was experiencing, inter alia, significant inventory management issues, as well as significantly reduced demand and volumes and increased costs; (2) defendants downplayed the true scope and severity of the foregoing issues, which were likely to, and did, have a material negative impact on Graphic Packaging’s business and financial results; (3) defendants likewise overstated the strength and sustainability of Graphic Packaging’s business model and operations, as well as its ability to weather ongoing macroeconomic headwinds; (4) accordingly, Graphic Packaging’s previously issued full year 2025 financial guidance was unreliable and/or unrealistic; and (5) as a result, defendants’ public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Graphic Packaging class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=64523 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

        Laurence Rosen, Esq.
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        The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
        275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
        New York, NY 10016
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        Toll Free: (866) 767-3653
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By PYMNTS  |  June 28, 2026

 | 

China’s Tencent is reportedly testing an app designed for overseas travelers to its country.

TenPayGo was created to function as a one-stop digital services platform that includes mobile payments, Bloomberg News reported Sunday (June 28), citing Jiemian News. The app, now being tested, lets users spend directly at millions of merchants in China that accept Weixin Pay, letting visitors send and explore China with no need for cash, the report added.

Bloomberg noted that China is seeing a steep increase in foreign visitors, with almost 7 billion cross-border trips logged last year, according to the National Immigration Administration. Overseas nationals made up more than 82 million entries and exits, a 26.4% increase compared to the prior year.

The report added that this increase is indicative of expanded visa-free arrangements and wider travel facilitation measures, which authorities say have made it easier for foreign visitors to come to China for both business and pleasure.

Tencent’s efforts come at a time when digital wallets are evolving from “a more convenient way to pay” to “something more consequential: a platform for managing permissions,” as PYMNTS wrote last week.

This evolution can be seen in two recent developments. Samsung’s launch of Samsung ID with CLEAR lets American passport holders store TSA-approved digital credentials inside Samsung Wallet. Meanwhile Visa and OpenAI announced plans to support payments initiated by artificial intelligence agents operating under consumer-defined rules and controls.

“Viewed separately, one initiative concerns identity and the other payments,” PYMNTS wrote. “Together, they point toward a broader development in digital commerce: identity verification and spending authorization are beginning to reside in the same place.”

The report cited data from PYMNTS Intelligence which suggests consumers, younger ones in particular, are already making digital wallets part of their regular shopping behavior, setting the stage for them to get comfortable using them for other things.

The traditional role of digital wallets, the report continued, was to offer users a place to store payment credentials and make checkout simpler. Today’s wallets, however, house boarding passes, loyalty cards, tickets, digital keys and government credentials.

“A wallet that can prove who a consumer is occupies a different position in the commerce ecosystem than one that simply stores a card number,” PYMNTS wrote. “Identity credentials are difficult to establish, heavily regulated and tied directly to fraud prevention and security requirements. Once consumers rely on a wallet for identity verification, the relationship becomes more durable.”

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2026) - WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important August 11, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Microsoft common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Microsoft class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/microsoft-corporation/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 11, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Microsoft's Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; (2) Microsoft's flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; (3) Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert graphics processing unit ("GPU") and central processing unit ("CPU") capacity away from fulfilling demand for its profitable Azure services in order to improve the competitive positioning of its critical Copilot family of products and increase its AI-related research and development ("R&D"); and (4) as a result, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and Microsoft's Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Microsoft class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/microsoft-corporation/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/303194

Source: The Rosen Law Firm PA

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Are you in retirement or close to it? Are you an investor that appreciates the idea of receiving a check in your brokerage account every quarter? If this sounds like you, then maybe it's time to consider companies with impressive dividend policies.

Businesses with excess cash sometimes return capital to shareholders in the form of dividends. These are usually stable companies with established economic moats.

While investors shouldn't expect to generate market-beating returns from owning these kinds of businesses, they can provide your portfolio with a solid income stream. Here are the smartest dividend stocks to buy with $3,000 right now.

Image source: Getty Images.

Coca-Cola The first dividend stock to buy is Coca-Cola (KO +2.75%), the world's leading beverage company with a presence in over 200 countries and territories. This isn't an exciting business, but that's a feature. Coca-Cola doesn't face any threat of disruption. It has stood the test of time, which arguably makes it one of the safest stocks to own.

Investors should pay attention to profits. Since Coca-Cola outsources bottling and distribution, it's able to post sizable earnings. The company's operating margin in Q1 (ended April 3) was a superb 35%. The bottom-line figure is supported by a history of pricing power, which is due to customer loyalty.

Coca-Cola's success isn't impacted much by the changing economic winds. Its performance is healthy regardless of macro conditions like inflationary pressures or interest rate trends. This essentially eliminates the risk of a dividend cut, as demand is steady.

In February, the company's board of directors approved a 4% dividend increase, marking the 64th straight year that a hike was put in place. Coca-Cola shares currently pay a dividend yield of 2.64%.

Lowe's The next stock on this list is home improvement giant Lowe's (LOW +0.25%). Based on revenue, it's significantly smaller than industry leader Home Depot. But the company's scale, name recognition, and omnichannel capabilities give it durable competitive strengths in a large market.

Starting in August, Lowe's will pay an annualized dividend of $5, translating to a yield of 2.25%. The business has now raised its dividend in more than 25 consecutive years. This is a clear indication of the management team's focus on shareholder capital returns.

What's even more encouraging for investors is that Lowe's is sticking to its commitment, even though the business has struggled in recent years. Higher interest rates, elevated inflation, and low housing turnover have all hurt demand, which makes this a cyclical stock. Same-store sales were up just 0.6% in the latest fiscal quarter (Q1 2026 ended May 1).

However, in the past decade, Lowe's has posted an average quarterly operating margin of 11%. It also collects meaningful free cash flow, providing the resources needed to fund ongoing dividends.

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Procter & Gamble Procter & Gamble (PG +0.75%) is the final dividend stock investors should consider as part of a total $3,000 capital outlay. Generating $21.2 billion in revenue for Q3 2026 (ended March 31), this is a massive consumer goods enterprise. It sells well-known household items like Old Spice, Oral-B, and Downy, holding leadership positions in these end markets.

This is a mature business. In the past 10 years, net sales have only risen by 34%. So it's no surprise that management doesn't have many opportunities to reinvest in growth initiatives. This also explains why profits are so high, as the net margin was 18.4% in the most recent quarter.

That's also why dividends are such an integral part of the capital allocation policy. Procter & Gamble's dividend yield of 2.93% is the highest of the three stocks on this list. It also excels in another critical area. The company's dividend has been paid in a mind-boggling 136 straight years. If history is any indication, the quarterly payout is never going away.

Abbott's milk powder products are displayed on a shelf at a supermarket in Beijing August 7, 2013. Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay a fine amounting to around $12 million, a spokeswoman... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

CompaniesJune 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department closed a criminal probe into Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), opens new tab over ​its handling of a baby formula plant linked to potentially deadly ‌bacteria and infant deaths, opting instead for civil penalties, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The U.S. Department of Justice ​and Abbott Laboratories did not immediately respond to a request for ​comment outside business hours.

Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here.

Abbott initiated a recall of its infant formula ⁠products and closed its Michigan plant in 2022 after investigators found traces ​of a potentially deadly bacteria at that plant. The recall and the ​plant closure worsened a national shortage of baby formula that had begun with pandemic supply chain issues.

Abbott had said at the time that there was no evidence linking ​its formulas to these illnesses. No unopened, distributed Abbott infant formulas have ​tested positive for the bacteria that sickened the babies, a company spokesman told the ‌WSJ.

Some ⁠prosecutors believed they had evidence to criminally charge the company, but top decision makers closed the probe, according to the WSJ report. Instead, they opted for the lighter option of clawing back money the company earned from ​selling formula through ​federally funded nutrition ⁠programs, the report added.

“Ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply is a top priority for the Trump ​administration; however, this Department of Justice does not believe ​in regulation ⁠by prosecution,” a spokeswoman for the DOJ told WSJ.

Prosecutors had been considering a misdemeanor charge against Abbott for violating the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic ⁠Act and ​a separate count for misleading the government ​before dropping the case, the report said, and added that prosecutors were also considering charging ​at least one individual.

Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

News Highlights: 

HP Inc. will deploy powerful AI-driven solutions with OpenAI Frontier to help drive HP transformation and growth initiatives The Frontier platform will be used across HP’s business, to enhance customer-facing experiences and internal operations  The Frontier strategic partnership supports HP’s efforts to deliver an advanced telemetry platform with WXP, a recognized Gartner magic quadrant leader, enabling a connected device layer for the AI era  PALO ALTO, Calif., June 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) announced the launch of a strategic partnership with OpenAI, integrating its Frontier platform into HP’s global efforts to shape the Future of Work through enhanced customer-facing experiences and accelerated transformation across its operations.  

“With OpenAI there is an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how AI can deliver better outcomes. With the use of Frontier platform, HP is planning to build a more consistent experience across store, partner, chat, and voice experiences, giving customers and partners faster ways to get answers, complete routine workflows, and move toward resolution. It reflects the ambition of our AI strategy to deliver real-world outcomes at scale,” said Prakash Arunkundrum, chief strategy and transformation officer, HP Inc.  

HP has become one of the first global enterprises to adopt the Frontier platform to fuel its transformation. While specific use cases will be refined and added as the strategic partnership rolls out, HP’s aim is to deploy AI-driven solutions across areas that include:  

Customer- and partner-facing solutions and experiencesCustomer telemetry insights, enabled through HP’s market leading WXP solution, and reportingEmployee productivity Software development  “HP is showing what enterprise transformation looks like when AI becomes an operating layer - connected to the systems and workflows where work already happens,” said Denise Dresser, chief revenue officer at OpenAI. “HP has been an exceptional early partner, turning early value from OpenAI APIs and tools like ChatGPT and Codex into repeatable systems. We're thrilled to go deeper with them as they move beyond Frontier pilots to deliver measurable business impact at scale.” 

The launch of the Frontier strategic partnership follows an exploratory period started in February 2026, in which HP worked with OpenAI to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Frontier and its capabilities. HP assessed technical capabilities, use cases, and strategic alignment with company priorities through pilots of agentic capabilities, platform components, security, and enterprise integration. 

Based on this evaluation, HP has determined OpenAI offers best-in-class models with a compelling vision for agent-based capabilities. With the Frontier strategic partnership underway, the two companies now plan to co-develop future use cases and ensure they meet HP’s rigorous enterprise standards, particularly around data integration, governance, and security. For HP, AI is becoming a new layer for how work gets done across the company. With OpenAI Frontier, that layer is being built with the context, governance, and execution capacity needed to move from early wins to enterprise-wide transformation. 

Shaping the Future of Work for the AI Era 

AI will change how people work. As AI tools get more powerful, HP believes that humans and AI agents will work together to unlock a new era of innovation and productivity. To prepare for this future, HP is innovating a suite of agentic AI Devices that seamlessly integrate into existing workflows, increasing employee efficiency. For AI Workloads that require always-on inference, HP is building devices with dedicated hardware optimized to run agentic AI workloads 24x7, creating the technology layer customers need to achieve their AI vision.  

HP’s customers are building their workspaces to include PCs, workstations, printers, and collaboration solutions that work together to deliver powerful AI experiences, all secured and managed by the Workforce Experience Platform (WXP). WXP, a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Employee Experience Management Tools, offers a ‘single pane of glass’ that can manage entire fleets of devices and provide the peace of mind CIOs and IT managers need as they define this AI future for their organizations.  

HP is the surface where work gets done. As we move into an AI-driven era of technological advancement, HP brings AI to the edge, where work happens — not just where data is processed. That is the future of work.  

About HP 

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) is a global technology leader redefining the Future of Work. Operating in more than 180 countries, HP delivers innovative and AI-powered devices, software, services, and subscriptions that drive business growth and professional fulfillment. For more information, please visit: HP.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements  

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the partnership between HP and OpenAI, the expected benefits of the partnership, the impact of the partnership on HP’s business, future opportunities, and any other statements regarding HP’s future expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, or future events or performance. Forward-looking statements can also generally be identified by words such as “future,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “can,” “may,” and similar terms. Our forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (may of which are beyond HP’s control) including the factors described in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2025, and HP’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this document and HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.  

HP Inc. Media Relations

[email protected]

www.hp.com/go/newsroom

The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of DXC Technology Company (“DXC” or “the Company”) (NYSE: DXC) for violations of the securities laws.

The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. DXC reported its Q4 and full year 2026 financial results on May 7, 2026. The Company reported a decline in revenue for Q4 and bookings down 13.5% year-over-year. The Company blamed this shortfall in part on execution issues. Based on this news, shares of DXC fell by almost 21.5% on the next day.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at [email protected].

The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260628336337/en/

AVAV Deadline: AVAV Investors with Losses in Excess of $100K Have Opportunity to Lead AeroVironment, Inc. Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Many growth investors have shifted their focus to artificial intelligence (AI) stocks as they seek to outperform key benchmarks like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Despite all of the talk about this innovative technology, it is still in its early innings. Agentic AI is just starting to gain traction among consumers and businesses, and the possibilities of AI extend well beyond chatbots and ChatGPT.

Investors still have time to ride this megatrend, and these three AI stocks look poised to deliver gains for patient investors.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Iren The bullish thesis hasn't changed much over the past few months. Iren (IREN 0.78%) has been loading up on gigawatts and has more than doubled its total number of gigawatts from 2.9 to 5.8 year to date.

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The gigawatt buildup lets Iren service more tech giants who need AI compute. It recently signed a five-year deal with Nvidia (NVDA 1.42%) that comes to $3.4 billion for 60 megawatts. It represents an average annual value of $11.3 million per megawatt.

Iren has built its AI data center pipeline faster than competitors like Nebius (NBIS 6.11%) and Cipher Mining (CIFR +1.01%). However, those two companies have so far run laps around Iren in terms of securing deals with hyperscaler tenants. Iren is borrowing billions of dollars to buy Nvidia chips and build AI data centers. It's expecting a big return on investment from those efforts that should start to materialize soon.

While Nebius and Cipher Mining are making more deals now, Iren has a higher ceiling, especially since it hasn't rallied like those two stocks year to date. Still, Iren raised its projected annualized run rate revenue from $3.7 billion to $4.4 billion, so it should see meaningful growth soon.

2. Alphabet It's hard to go wrong with Alphabet (GOOG 2.19%) (GOOGL 1.73%). The company established itself as the search engine leader more than 20 years ago and turned that visibility into an advertising empire.

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Google and YouTube are high-margin parts of Alphabet that contributed to 22% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1 2026. Critically, these high-margin businesses have helped Alphabet explore new industries, even if its ventures were initially unprofitable. Google Cloud is a major testament to this, since it wasn't profitable for more than a decade. That same segment is now a major growth driver that was up by 63% year over year in Q1.

Google Cloud's revenue has accelerated significantly due to AI enterprise demand. It made up almost 20% of Alphabet's total business and was a key catalyst for Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai's remark on AI investments "lighting up every part of the business."

Alphabet's vast capital and high profits give it the resources to scale self-driving vehicle brand Waymo and AI model Gemini. If Alphabet wants to capitalize on a new AI opportunity, it is well positioned to do so.

3. Broadcom Broadcom (AVGO 3.39%) specializes in customized AI chips. While Nvidia's chips perform general tasks, Broadcom's chips are custom-made for tech giants.

Demand has swelled for these chips, based on Broadcom delivering 48% year-over-year revenue growth in its fiscal 2026 second quarter. Its AI-related revenue increased by 143% year over year and made up almost half of the company's entire sales. That suggests AI-related semiconductors will make up a larger portion of future sales and have a stronger influence on upcoming revenue growth rates.

It's not just top-line growth that is exciting investors. Net income almost doubled year over year, resulting in a 42% net profit margin in the quarter. Revenue and earnings should continue to go up as demand for AI chips soars, especially as Broadcom continues to secure big wins.

The AI chip maker recently unveiled a custom AI chip that it designed for OpenAI. The chip, named Jalapeño, is an LLM-optimized inference chip. An OpenAI press release found in early testing that this chip "delivers performance per watt substantially better than current state-of-the-art."

If Broadcom can continue to make tech companies happy, the orders will continue to accumulate and potentially move Broadcom stock back to an all-time high.

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2026) - WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Badger Meter, Inc. (NYSE: BMI) between April 18, 2024 and April 16, 2026, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important August 3, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Badger Meter common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Badger Meter class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/badger-meter-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 3, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered billions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements concerning the drivers of Badger Meter's "record" financial results, demand for Badger Meter's products, and its prospects for continued growth. During the Class Period, defendants told investors that Badger Meter's strong financial results reflected "ongoing favorable industry trends," "secular growth drivers," and "solid operating execution." They likewise touted "strong" demand and said they were seeing "robust order pacing and a strong bid pipeline that positions us well for continued sales and earnings growth," and that Badger Meter possessed a "long runway" for growth.

According to the lawsuit, these statements were materially false and misleading. In truth, Badger Meter's financial results during the Class Period were at least partially attributable to Badger Meter's practice of pulling-forward customer orders to recognize revenue early, which concealed weakening demand and deteriorating near-term order trends. This practice also depleted revenue otherwise available for future periods, ultimately causing the disappointing financial results Badger Meter later reported. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Badger Meter class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/cases/badger-meter-inc/join or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/303024

Source: The Rosen Law Firm PA

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In the early days of online shopping, Amazon (AMZN +2.44%) was a simple website that sold books. In the years that followed, the company expanded its marketplace into a more comprehensive e-commerce platform. That eventually helped pave the way for the launch of its cloud infrastructure platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). This chain of events quietly turned Amazon into an essential digital infrastructure provider -- driving trillions of dollars in market value.

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX +0.13%) is following a similar path. While SpaceX began with rockets that made it cheaper to get payloads into orbit, the company now also offers global internet connectivity through its Starlink business and is building large artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

SpaceX's long-term goal is to create a comprehensive suite of tools that power the entire AI economy. Recent steps, including its merger with xAI and its acquisition of Cursor AI, are speeding this process up.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Rockets, internet, and AI infrastructure all under one roof SpaceX oversees the complete sequence required to deliver all aspects of the AI infrastructure value chain. The company's rockets handle the launches that place equipment into orbit. Starlink's broadband satellites provide a global connectivity network that can link AI systems with end users. And on the ground, SpaceX is deploying large clusters of servers dedicated to training AI models.

This vertical integration extends to power and data flow, too. Terrestrial data centers draw electricity from the established grid and power plant infrastructure, and supplement that with on-site power generation where needed. The data center satellites it aims to deploy in orbit will operate using continuously available solar power.

Since SpaceX controls rockets, the connectivity layer, the power approach, and the accelerated computing hardware, it will be able to develop and deploy next-generation AI systems without depending on external suppliers for each step. This playbook mirrors the one used by Amazon, which built its own warehouses, logistics network, and cloud platform rather than relying on outside vendors for those key pieces of its operation.

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SpaceX is bolstering its AI business through key combinations Prior to its initial public offering, SpaceX acquired xAI to bring advanced model development inside the organization. In essence, that deal allows SpaceX's engineers to design AI systems while simultaneously building the physical infrastructure that will run them. The result is a closed-loop system between the software and the hardware that supports AI development.

The company's recent $60 billion acquisition of Cursor further supports this effort. Cursor provides tools that help developers create and refine the software needed for designing advanced computing systems.

The key takeaway here is that SpaceX is not stopping at reusable rockets or satellite broadband. CEO Musk is aggressively assembling a portfolio of end-to-end capabilities that AI hyperscalers will need in the future. Against this backdrop, SpaceX is positioning itself to be a core infrastructure provider in the same way that AWS became one of the key supporters of enterprises' digital transformations.

SpaceX's long-term ambitions go beyond Earth There are a host of constraints to building AI data centers on Earth. Such facilities consume massive amounts of electricity, straining local power grids and raising energy costs for everyone around them. They occupy large amounts of land, and also require extensive cooling systems that, in a majority of cases, suck up huge volumes of fresh water. All of those resources are becoming more expensive to secure, particularly given big tech's willingness to lay out hundreds of billions of dollars in capital expenditures to build out AI infrastructure.

AMZN Capital Expenditures (TTM) data by YCharts.

SpaceX is seeking to remove some of these bottlenecks by deploying a constellation of orbital AI servers. In certain orbits, intense solar power is available 24 hours a day to be converted into electricity. Moreover, these satellite-based computer servers can be cooled by using large radiator panels to emit the heat they generate as infrared radiation into the vacuum of space. 

In theory, the payload capacity of SpaceX's Starship rocket will make it feasible to launch large-scale computing modules rather than individual parts -- allowing more efficient construction of these installations. The company can then use its Starlink infrastructure to maintain those data center satellites' connectivity to Earth. Such an orbital ecosystem would open a path for AI computing capacity to continue growing without facing the same resource constraints that hinder its ground-based expansion.

SpaceX combines a proven ability to maintain a rapid rocket launch cadence, a global satellite connectivity service, and a credible approach to building AI compute beyond Earth's limits. The company's ambitious long-term plan for infrastructure leadership echoes the narrative of Amazon's foray into cloud services, with clear implications for sustained growth and strategic importance in the AI economy if Musk and his companies can execute on his vision.

By PYMNTS  |  June 28, 2026

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Reviews website Trustpilot has reportedly launched a partnership with eCommerce platform Shopify.

The arrangement will let merchants showcase and manage Trustpilot reviews on their online stores, Bloomberg News reported Saturday (June 27), citing an interview with Adrian Blair, Trustpilot’s chief executive. 

Blair said that third-party consumer feedback is growing in importance as artificial intelligence plays a larger role in online retail.

“The key problem that all these Shopify merchants are facing is, how do you actually build trust with customers now in the age of AI?” he said. “There is so much that is now being created by AI, this kind of synthetic content, and Trustpilot is a canonical source of what people say about their experiences with businesses.”

AI-driven search engines and AI shopping assistants also depend on data such as Trustpilot’s, the report added, meaning that a greater volume of reviews can create more visibility online. Trustpilot content is already a vital resource for large language models, with the click-through rate from AI search climbing 1,490% in its most recent financial year, Bloomberg said.

Integrated Trustpilot reviews on the Shopify platform are set to go live Monday (June 29), the report continued. Blair had said in March that his company was exploring partnerships with the internet’s shopping giants.

The Shopify collaboration is “the first kind of major proof point, so we are executing against the strategy that we set out earlier this year,” Blair told Bloomberg, adding that the agreement isn’t exclusive and Trustpilot hopes to pursue partnerships across a variety of industries.

“We see huge adoption of Trustpilot with banks, insurance companies, utilities, accounting firms, cybersecurity companies, law firms, et cetera,” Blair added. “For us retail is very important, but it is one of many verticals.”

Meanwhile, recent research from PYMNTS Intelligence shows that consumers want AI to be involved in their online shopping journey, though more as a navigator than a driver.

“Tasks involving discovery, comparison shopping and information gathering emerged as natural fits for AI,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this month. “Areas involving payments, financial commitments and irreversible decisions, however, continued to trigger greater demand for human oversight.”

The findings, from the May 2026 Consumer AI Benchmark, indicate that the next phase of AI adoption will hinge less on the sophistication of the technology and depend more on whether merchants can find the balance between automation and human control.

Nvidia (NVDA 1.42%) has become almost synonymous with the words "artificial intelligence" (AI). When people think of AI, they automatically think of this company -- and for good reason. Nvidia has generated quarter after quarter of explosive earnings growth, with revenue and profit reaching record levels, thanks to its AI products.

The company is the world's leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs), the powerful chips used to fuel AI tasks, and has expanded across other related products, such as networking tools and enterprise software, to build complete AI systems.

Investors recognized Nvidia's strength in AI and raced to get in on this exciting growth story. The result? Nvidia stock soared more than 1,100% over the past three calendar years.

Of course, investors are always on the lookout for another stock that may perform as well. They may not have to look very far. Micron Technology (MU 6.59%) has proven itself to be an AI heavyweight, providing the memory and storage crucial for AI use. Is Micron stock the new Nvidia? Let's find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

Increasing earnings over time Micron isn't new to the technology scene. The company got its start almost 50 years ago and has served computers and other devices with a portfolio of memory and storage options. This helped the company increase earnings over time, but at a much slower pace than what we're seeing today.

MU Net Income (Quarterly) data by YCharts

Though Micron has seen business ebb and flow in the past, as is normal in the cyclical semiconductor industry, the current surge is a whole new ball game. Needs linked to AI have supercharged growth, as we've seen in recent quarters. The latest is the perfect example, with revenue more than quadrupling to reach past $41 billion and net income jumping from $1.8 billion in the year-earlier period to an eye-popping $28 billion.

On top of this, Micron says that demand is surpassing supply, and the company expects this to continue beyond this calendar year. This supply situation is due to strong AI demand as well as general supply constraints that are impacting the entire memory industry. These include various factors, including the time it takes to ramp up manufacturing facilities and obtain permits, and a complex regulatory framework.

While this is a challenge for Micron, it also means that competition isn't a major problem: There is more than enough business for each of the top players to generate growth.

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How Micron resembles Nvidia Now, let's consider how Micron may resemble Nvidia. Like Nvidia, it plays a key role in the AI growth story. The company offers the DRAM, NAND, and HBM memory products that are crucial to the functioning of the technology. And we can imagine that, as the use of AI agents increases, the need for memory power may become even greater. Agentic AI, seen as the next AI growth driver, involves AI taking action, often through several steps, to solve problems.

Also like Nvidia, Micron has been around for decades, perfecting its products, and today, both companies have achieved extremely high profitability on sales. In fact, Micron's gross margin just surpassed that of Nvidia. Micron's reached more than 84% in the recent quarter, while Nvidia's gross margin tops 74%. So not only are these players benefiting from revenue growth in the AI boom, but they are translating that into significant profit.

One area that separates the two is the following: Nvidia is the AI chip leader and has expanded into related products, as mentioned above. Micron remains a memory and storage specialist -- and in AI, though Micron is growing fast and is among the leaders, South Korea's SK Hynix often is seen as the AI memory giant.

This doesn't necessarily mean Micron won't take the path of Nvidia, from an earnings and stock performance perspective. It does mean the company might come with a bit more risk, though.

Now, let's consider stock performance. Micron is already well on its way along an Nvidia-like path. The stock has soared more than 800% over the past year. So I think Micron might already be the next Nvidia -- and the demand and revenue growth Micron has seen in recent months suggest the stock still may have plenty of room to run over the long term.

Most stocks don't offer very appealing dividends these days, with the yield on the S&P 500 near a multi-decade low at around 1%. Investors seeking a higher yield often need to take on more risk, including the greater likelihood of a future dividend cut.

However, there are some lower-risk, higher-yielding investment options out there if you know where to look. Here are three companies yielding over 8%. Those high yields could enable investors to turn $1,000 into a lucrative passive income stream that could last a lifetime.

Image source: Getty Images.

Starwood Property Trust Starwood Property Trust (STWD +1.26%) is a real estate investment trust (REIT). These entities must distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to investors to comply with IRS regulations. As a result, most REITs have higher yields. Starwood's is currently around 11.5%. At that rate, a $1,000 investment would generate $115 in annual dividend income.

The REIT has never cut its dividend since its 2010 IPO and has maintained its current payment level since 2014. One of the keys driving Starwood's dividend durability is its diversification. The mortgage REIT invests in commercial real estate-backed loans (52% of its portfolio), infrastructure loans (10%), residential loans (8%), and several other assets (10%). It also has a growing portfolio of owned properties (20%).

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Starwood's latest diversification move was the acquisition of the net-lease real estate platform Fundamental Income Properties for $2.2 billion last year. It owns an expandable portfolio of properties secured by long-term leases (a 17-year weighted-average lease term and 2.2% average annual rent escalations). This platform will provide Starwood steadily rising income to support its high-yielding dividend.

Main Street Capital Main Street Capital (MAIN +1.63%) is a business development company (BDC). Like REITs, BDCs must distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to comply with IRS regulations. As a result, they typically offer high yields.

Main Street meets this requirement by paying two dividends. The BDC pays a monthly dividend set at a sustainable level. As a result, Main Street has never reduced its monthly dividend. Instead, it has increased this payment 160% since its 2007 IPO, including for the last 12 quarters in a row. Additionally, Main Street periodically pays supplemental quarterly dividends to reach its required payout ratio. It has paid a supplemental dividend for 19 straight quarters. At the current annualized rate of these two payments, Main Street yields more than 8.5% at its recent share price.

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The BDC primarily invests in loans to small private companies, generating interest income that it pays out through dividends. Additionally, Main Street Capital will make equity investments in some of its portfolio companies, which offer dividend income and potential capital appreciation. These equity investments have helped contribute to its growing dividend over the long term.

Western Midstream Partners Western Midstream Partners (WES +0.54%) is a master limited partnership (MLP). These pass-through entities (MLPs send a Schedule K-1 Federal tax form each year) tend to have higher dividend yields due to their higher payout ratios and lower valuations resulting from the tax complexities of K-1s.

The MLP operates oil and gas pipelines, processing plants, and other energy midstream infrastructure. These assets generate stable cash flow backed by long-term contracts. That predictable cash flow supports Western Midstream's more than 8.5%-yielding distribution.

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The company has increased its payout by 184% since 2021, following a 2020 payout reset aimed at strengthening its financial profile. It aims to deliver low-to-mid annual distribution growth going forward, fueled by organic expansion projects and acquisitions. Western Midstream plans to spend $850 million to $1 billion on maintaining and expanding its operations this year, including building the Pathfinder Pipeline and North Loving II gas processing plant. Additionally, it agreed to spend $1.6 billion to buy Brazos Delaware to strengthen its midstream footprint. These investments support its growing distribution.

Lower risk, high-yielding investments Entities like REITs, BDCs, and MLPs tend to offer higher dividend yields. That makes them enticing options for investors seeking lucrative income streams. Starwood Property, Main Street Capital, and Western Midstream Partners have solid track records of paying sustainable dividends, making them ideal investments for those seeking to turn $1,000 into a durable stream of passive income.

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).

Tom Yeung here with your Sunday Digest.

In 2025, two professors wanted to see whether ChatGPT made people less creative. And so, they recruited 356 participants and asked them to perform a series of tasks, including one in which they were to make a toy from a paper bag, a brick, and a fan.

The researchers forced some test subjects to use their own creativity. Others were given access to ChatGPT for help.

To no one’s surprise, the cohorts without AI came up with entirely unique ideas. (One suggested adopting the brick as a pet, while another proposed disassembling the fan and turning the parts into nunchucks.)

But those using ChatGPT came up with almost the same toys. Ninety-four percent of their ideas “shared overlapping concepts,” and nine participants independently named their toy the same thing: the “Build-a-Breeze Castle.”

It’s as if AI is turning the entire world into the blandness of 2000s beige home interiors.

Emails start sounding the same…

Movie recommendations are duller…

And everything has that “competent but forgettable” AI sheen.

In a new presentation, legendary quant specialist Louis Navellier says this convergence is also happening on Wall Street. Millions of trading algorithms, advisors, and investors are increasingly relying on the same AI-powered tools.

The danger isn’t that AI is wrong…

It’s that AI causes everyone to do the same thing.

As Louis puts it, this creates crowded trades, concentrated ownership, and the potential for violent reversals when sentiment changes. It helps explain the strange movements in SpaceX (SPCX) over the past several days, and why “groupthink” seems to be taking over markets.

In that new free broadcast, Louis calls this the 50-Million AI Coordination Trap, a phenomenon where investors are all doing identical things without realizing it. Stocks that are popular among AI algorithms keep going up, while everything else seems to go nowhere. It’s becoming increasingly important to know what AI algorithms are recommending.

Now, many investors will dislike the idea of basing their decisions on AI-powered algorithms. I’m certainly uncomfortable with it.

Nevertheless, Louis has created a stock grading system that has long dealt with this issue by balancing “follow-the-money” scores against a company’s real fundamentals. Only companies that pass both earn his top “Buy” ratings.

And so, to illustrate, I’d like to showcase three of his system’s top-rated companies in this update. And if you’d like to learn more (and get access to that system), then click here.

Stock to Buy No. 1: Quality in a Risk-On Market Swarm trading (whether driven by AI or humans) can mask a lot of bad behavior.

The venture capital boom of the mid-2010s allowed Theranos to raise almost a billion dollars, and so did truck maker Nikola during the electric vehicle craze of 2021. FTX rode a wave of crypto enthusiasm that same year. The founders of all three companies ended up getting convicted of fraud.

Now, most AI semiconductor companies are not criminal enterprises. They’re making legitimate bets on which technologies will come out ahead. But I guarantee we’ll see some spectacular blowups once AI trading tools decide to start selling the hottest chip companies.

To avoid the risk of accidentally buying frauds or mediocre firms, I’ve purposely favored blue-chip semiconductor companies in this newsletter. And it turns out it’s very possible to buy well-established chipmakers for triple-digit gains. Arm Holdings plc (ARM) (+110%) and Cohu Inc. (COHU) (+120%) are some recent examples.

This week, I’d like to bring you one more company that Louis’ system favors. It’s the bluest of blue-chip semiconductor stocks that should do well long after the current AI rally fades:

Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN).

Texas Instruments is the world’s largest analog chipmaker, specializing in the type of semiconductors that handle messy, real-world signals. These are things like pressure… temperature… cell phone signals… human heart rates… and more. Its chips convert this real-world information into the clean “0’s” and “1’s” that digital chips can then process.

Growth has been solid. In the most recent quarter, the company reported a 19% increase in revenues, driven by a 30% rise from industrial customers and a 90% jump in data center demand. AI servers use huge amounts of electricity, and hundreds of analog sensors per rack are needed to track power usage, heat, and voltages.

Texas Instruments should also benefit long after the AI data center boom ends, thanks to its large exposure to self-driving vehicles, humanoid robots, and other AI-powered robotics.

Louis’ system seems to agree. It recently upgraded TXN to a “B,” and highlights the firm’s strong earnings power and upward analyst revisions to stay invested for the long haul, even as “smart money” jumps in for the short-term AI boost.

Stock to Buy No. 2: A Second Power Play In March 2025, I highlighted three stocks to buy for the AI Revolution.

“These are firms that learned to harness the often uncontrollable power of AI,” I wrote. “And as the tech world puts their collective foot on the R&D gas, we’re going to see these firms surge ahead.”

The trio have since returned 117% on average. And the best part is that one of these companies is still a “Buy”:

Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (MPWR).

Monolithic is a leader in power management chips for AI devices. These are the tiny semiconductors that use data (often from Texas Instruments) to convert messy electricity flows into the precise voltages that semiconductors need to function.

This is an incredibly important job. In AI data centers, servers often start up all at once, creating voltage dips and spikes. (It’s why turning on a microwave can briefly dim a home’s lights.) And without proper regulation, these power surges can fry any electronic chip connected to the system.

Monolithic’s products help data centers manage this challenge. The Seattle area-based firm pioneered putting multiple power management components onto a single integrated chip (that’s the “monolithic” in the name), and its advanced devices have become the gold standard for high-end AI chips. Monolithic chips are smaller, run cooler, waste less energy, and are more reliable than the patchwork approach that rivals use.

The result is that Monolithic has been growing fast. Revenues increased 26% last year and are on track to notch a 32% gain this year. The company also has been able to take market share of the voltage regulator chip market, thanks to its higher-end designs.

Louis’ system agrees. The company scores a top “A” grade in its quantitative “follow-the-money” score, and valuations remain reasonable, thanks to its rapid earnings growth.

Stock to Buy No. 3: America’s Healthcare Pivot Finally, I’d like to highlight one decidedly non-AI stock with a lot of “smart money” buyers:

Oncology Institute Inc. (TOI).

This cancer care company has become a potential breakout firm, with strong institutional buying (read: AI-powered investors) and the fundamentals to match.

In short, Oncology Institute runs a network of 146 clinics across five states. Health plans pay TOI a fixed per-member-per-month fee to take on cancer patients, and TOI profits if it provides care below that fee. It was a historically unexciting business that relied on acquisitions and partnerships for growth.

However, TOI now has three potential catalysts.

The first is political.

In late April, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave testimony to Congress that would have seemed totally out of character a year ago.

“China is now eating our lunch,” a visibly shaken Kennedy said in front of a congressional committee. “They went from running 3% of clinical trials to running 30%… We are losing scientists, we’re losing our IPs… and we’re going to lose our biosecurity.”

The federal government has since pivoted toward a far more accommodating stance to the U.S. healthcare system. Following Kennedy’s testimony, a key Food and Drug Administration committee unanimously recommended its first vaccine since the start of the current Trump administration. (An mRNA vaccine, no less!) Several days later, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Operation TrialBlazer, an ambitious project designed to fast-track clinical research.

This is important because TOI generates most of its profits not from direct cancer care, but rather from the expensive oncology drugs that its patients use. And because reimbursement rates are largely set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), favorable posturing from the federal government is a clearly positive sign for TOI. As awful as it sounds, one of the easiest ways for regulators to spur cancer drug development is to raise what the government is willing to pay for them.

The second is TOI’s shift from negative profits to positive. In May, the company reiterated it expects to flip to positive adjusted EBITDA this year, and upgraded its free cash flow to positive $10 million at its midpoint, up from a previous prediction of a $5 million outflow. That matters because conservative investors often wait for companies to become profitable before buying.

The third is TOI’s high popularity among institutional and “smart money” investors. As mentioned earlier, these traders are beginning to show convergence in their actions. And as shares continue gaining momentum, these AI algorithms usually become more willing to buy a stock, not less. Louis’ system awards TOI a solid “B” for strong institutional buying, rising earnings momentum, and very strong sales growth.

The Human Nature of Artificial Intelligence It turns out that AI investing carries many of the same investing biases that we humans do. In one 2025 meta-study, a team of European researchers found that large language models:

Favor U.S. stocks. 93% of portfolios were invested in American stocks. Pursue risky allocations. 51% of investments were beyond normal allocations. Chase hot stocks. 28% of portfolios were invested in the top three equities that were traded most frequently in the past three months Ask an AI where to invest today, and it might give some combination of SpaceX, Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), and the latest meme stock.

Professionally designed AI algorithms are often not much better. They’re trained on the same data… use the same machine-learning techniques… and are even created by the same people.

It’s no surprise that momentum has emerged as the single most important factor for predicting stock market returns.

That’s why I think it’s essential for you to watch Louis Navellier’s latest presentation, where he outlines the opportunities and risks of this new convergent market.

The highs are going to be far higher than in the past. Momentum-seeking algorithms will see to that. And that means the lows will also be far more devastating.

If you invest with the crowd, be sure to do so safely.

Click here to learn how.

Until next week,

Thomas Yeung, CFA

Market Analyst, InvestorPlace

Thomas Yeung is a market analyst and portfolio manager of the Omnia Portfolio, the highest-tier subscription at InvestorPlace. He is the former editor of Tom Yeung’s Profit & Protection, a free e-letter about investing to profit in good times and protecting gains during the bad.

Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, had a huge initial public offering (IPO) earlier this month, making founder Elon Musk the first trillionaire. However, since its splashy debut, the stock had fallen to $147.11 on June 23 and, even after a rebound, is below its opening day's closing price of $160.95.

The sky isn't the limit for aerospace and defense industry stocks, and there are several less-risky stocks than SpaceX, including companies with strong track records of earnings-per-share (EPS) growth.

Howmet Aerospace (HWM 1.71%) and TransDigm Group (TDG 0.40%) have earnings growth profiles that easily outpace larger aerospace and defense companies. Over the past five years, Howmet's EPS have risen by more than 540% while TransDigm's have jumped more than 270%.

Here are three reasons to buy each stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

Howmet is helping keep aging fleets aloft Howmet Aerospace has established itself as an elite, high-moat supplier of industrial and aerospace ecosystems. While delays in new aircraft production by major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have constrained the broader industry, they have created a massive windfall for Howmet's aftermarket business. Commercial airlines are flying older fleets longer to meet robust travel demand, so more aircraft require intensive maintenance and engine overhauls.

In the first quarter, Howmet reported revenue of $2.3 billion, up 19% year over year, and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.44, up 71%. In 2025, Howmet's commercial aerospace spare parts sales skyrocketed 48% year over year, bringing spares to roughly 23% of total revenue. Because aftermarket spare parts carry significantly higher margins than initial equipment builds, this structural mix shift is a powerful margin expander.

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The data center boom needs its gas turbines Beyond aviation, Howmet is emerging as a critical pick-and-shovel play on the artificial intelligence and data center land grab. Data centers require massive, uninterrupted amounts of electricity, driving a secular surge in demand for industrial gas turbines to back up power grids.

Howmet's gas turbine segment delivered 39% year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter. Management expects its roughly $1 billion gas turbine business to potentially double over the next three to five years, giving the company a highly visible, non-aerospace growth engine backed by long-term corporate energy contracts.

A strategic beat and raise M&A record In April, the company finalized its $1.8 billion acquisition of Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing (CAM), expanding its high-value fastening systems portfolio and deepening its lucrative footprint in the defense and space sectors.

The Consolidated Aerospace integration, along with its $120 million purchase of Brunner in February, is projected to add roughly $275 million in revenue and $60 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to the remainder of 2026 alone. This aggressive portfolio optimization, coupled with $450 million in share repurchases executed in early 2026, supports a robust beat-and-raise trajectory that has drawn sizable institutional backing, as institutions own more than 90% of outstanding shares.

TransDigm's proprietary intellectual property moat TransDigm does not manufacture commoditized aviation parts; it focuses strictly on highly engineered, niche components. Roughly 90% of TransDigm's net sales come from proprietary products for which it owns the intellectual property (IP).

Even more compelling, the company is the sole-source supplier for approximately 80% of the products it sells. If an airline needs a specific replacement valve, actuator, or cockpit control component for a commercial airliner, it frequently has no choice but to buy it from TransDigm, giving the company practically unparalleled pricing power.

In the second quarter, TransDigm reported revenue of $2.54 billion, up 18.3% year over year, and EPS of $9.20, up 11.6% over the same period a year ago.

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Its high-margin aftermarket engine While manufacturing parts for new aircraft (OEM) is a solid business, the real goldmine for TransDigm is the commercial aftermarket. Airplanes are legally required to follow strict maintenance schedules based on flight hours. Because commercial airlines are flying existing fleets longer to cope with ongoing OEM delivery bottlenecks, TransDigm's commercial transport aftermarket sales jumped 16% year over year in the second quarter. This aftermarket business is incredibly lucrative, driving a stunning consolidated EBITDA margin of 52.6%, a software-like margin that is rare in heavy manufacturing.

Aggressive M&A value creation TransDigm, like Howmet, accelerates its growth through a highly disciplined and aggressive acquisition playbook. It buys small, niche aerospace component makers that own proprietary IP, integrates them into its value-driven operating model, and strips out structural inefficiencies.

TransDigm drastically raised its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance midpoint by $420 million (now targeting $10.3 billion to $10.42 billion), fueled heavily by its base business and the integration of highly synergistic acquisitions such as its January purchase of Jet Parts Engineering and Victor Sierra Aviation for $2.2 billion.

Management is also aggressively deploying capital, returning $905 million to shareholders via buybacks in the first half of fiscal 2026 while completing its $960 million acquisition of Stellant Systems to expand its defense aftermarket tech footprint.

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS +9.08%) has already proved that ordinary phones can connect directly to satellites. The bigger test now is whether it can build, launch, and operate enough of its BlueBird satellites to turn that technology into a commercial network.

Here's why its upcoming satellite launch could strengthen the bullish case for the stock and why buying before the planned August launches makes sense.

Image source: Getty Images.

AST SpaceMobile's satellite launch strategy In June 2026, AST SpaceMobile launched BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10, which the company says are already operating in orbit. It is now targeting the launch of BlueBirds 11, 12, and 13 in the first half of August 2026.

This timeline will test whether AST can keep launching satellites at the pace needed to build a commercial network. The satellites due to be launched in August are expected to use large 2,400-square-foot antennas.

The company recently reached a peak download speed of 98.9 megabits per second from its satellite network directly to ordinary smartphones. The August satellites are expected to nearly double that peak speed.

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In the 2026 first-quarter earnings call, management said that BlueBird satellites 11 through 33 were already in an advanced state of assembly, with key antenna parts completed through BlueBird 28. The company is targeting six fully assembled satellites per month, showing that it is trying to move from building satellites one by one to a steadier launch program.

AST SpaceMobile says it has already contracted launch capacity to support its 2026 target of roughly 45 satellites in orbit. The company is not relying on only one rocket provider. Its launch plan includes Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9, which can carry three BlueBird satellites; Blue Origin's New Glenn, which can carry up to eight; and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, which can carry up to five. The alliance is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Management said new satellites could be ready to support 4G or 5G service with mobile network partners about 45 days after launch. Over time, it aims to cut that setup period to about two weeks.

Financials may improve over time AST SpaceMobile's revenue was only $14.7 million in the first quarter. However, management expects revenue to grow in the remaining three quarters of 2026. The company is guiding for 2026 revenue in the range of $150 million to $200 million.

The revenue story goes beyond satellite launches. AST SpaceMobile expects 2026 revenue from ground equipment and services for mobile-network partners, government contract work, consulting with mobile operators, and possible early service revenue as more satellites are launched and activated.

Management sees 2027 revenue potentially approaching $1 billion, helped by cellular broadband service in major markets and larger U.S. government contracts. To support that growth, the company is working on ground networks across markets covering about 2.9 billion people. This groundwork should help mobile-network partners activate service as more satellites come online.

Lastly, AST had about $3.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of the first quarter, against about $3.02 billion of total debt. Since nearly $2.9 billion of that is long-term debt, AST SpaceMobile has some flexibility to fund its commercial strategy.

I think it makes sense to buy the stock before the August launches.