The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into a crash that happened over the weekend in Texas, in which a driver slammed into a home in Katy, Texas, killing a resident.
The family of that victim, 76-year-old Martha Avila, have also filed a lawsuit against the driver, Michael Butler, and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB joins the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in investigating the crash. While Butler allegedly told local authorities that he was using Tesla’s Autopilot feature before the crash, the company has since said it has data showing that Butler’s accelerator pedal was pressed to the floor. This “overrode” what was more likely the Full Self-Driving software on his car, pushing his speed to 73 miles per hour before he hit the house, according to Tesla.
Tesla has not provided more proof beyond those statements, though. The NTSB and NHTSA investigations will likely require the company to turn over logs created by the car’s onboard computers that will ultimately reveal how exactly the crash happened.
Alphabet shares GOOG rose 1.8% on Wednesday after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that the Google parent will replace Verizon Communications in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ahead of the opening of trading on June 29.
The move will also result in changes to the S&P 500, with Honeywell Aerospace set to replace Conagra Brands on the same date.
The update marks one of the most significant changes to the 30-stock Dow in recent years and increases the index’s exposure to large-cap technology companies.
Following the adjustment, five of the so-called Magnificent 7 companies will now be included in the benchmark.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said Verizon’s low share price meant it had an “immaterial impact” on the price-weighted index.
Alphabet, by contrast, has a stock price of around $350 compared with Verizon’s roughly $47, making it more influential in a price-weighted structure such as the Dow.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index, meaning companies with higher share prices carry greater influence regardless of market capitalization.
As a result, Alphabet is expected to account for approximately 4.0% of the index based on Tuesday’s closing price, making it the seventh-largest component.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a press release that “Alphabet’s diversified technology and digital services portfolio spans advertising, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, hardware, autonomous mobility, healthcare technology, and media distribution.”
It added: “Adding Alphabet will broaden and strengthen the DJIA’s exposure to these dynamic areas of the US economy.”
Both Alphabet and Verizon are classified as communications stocks by S&P Dow Jones.
The inclusion also reflects a broader shift in the Dow’s composition over recent years.
Nvidia and Sherwin-Williams were added to the index in November 2024, replacing Dow Inc. and Intel.
After the latest change, most major technology companies—including Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.com and Nvidia—will be represented in the Dow.
Honeywell International will remain in the index following the spinoff of Honeywell Aerospace.
Despite the announcement, Alphabet’s share price reaction is expected to be limited.
The stock has fallen about 11% over the past month amid investor concerns about its artificial intelligence strategy and heavy spending.
Market history suggests index additions to the Dow do not typically generate sustained share price gains.
Because the Dow is not widely tracked by passive funds in the same way as the S&P 500, there is little forced buying pressure when companies are added or removed.
When Nvidia and Amazon.com joined the Dow in 2024, both stocks saw muted immediate reactions, with Nvidia falling 0.8% and Amazon slipping 0.1% on the day of inclusion, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
While the direct impact on Alphabet shares may be limited, the inclusion underscores the increasing dominance of large technology companies in major US equity indices and the continued rebalancing of traditional benchmarks toward the tech sector.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ, XETRA:BAC), in a reshuffle that further increases the index’s exposure to large-cap technology companies.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said the change will take effect prior to the opening of trading on June 29, 2026. At that time, Alphabet’s Class A shares will be added to the 30-stock index, while Verizon will be removed.
The index provider said the adjustment is part of a broader rebalancing tied in part to corporate actions involving existing constituents. Honeywell International will remain in the DJIA following its planned spin-off of Honeywell Aerospace, which is not expected to be included in the index. The Honeywell parent will continue in the average under a new name, Honeywell Technologies.
S&P Dow Jones Indices noted that Verizon’s relatively low share price means it currently accounts for only a small fraction of the price-weighted index, limiting its influence on overall index movements.
Alphabet’s addition is expected to expand the Dow’s representation of communication services and technology-related industries. The company operates across digital advertising, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, hardware, and other technology-driven segments.
Following the change, Alphabet will join other major technology constituents in the Dow, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia, further increasing the sector’s weight within the traditionally industrial-heavy index.
Shares of Alphabet traded up 1% at about $350 on Wednesday morning, while Verizon stock was down 2% at about $46.
Amazon's (AMZN +2.69%) annual Prime Day 2026 is underway, running from June 23 to June 26. Some investors may consider purchasing Amazon stock ahead of the event's conclusion and the release of any early sales and engagement stats.
While the multiday shopping promotion always generates considerable buzz, it represents only one piece of a much larger picture for the company.
Image source: Amazon.
What is Prime Day really about? Amazon created Prime Day to stimulate e-commerce activity during the traditionally slower summer period. By offering steep discounts and exclusive deals to Prime members, the company generates increased buying activity during a period of otherwise soft retail demand.
The annual event helps maintain momentum in Amazon's e-commerce segment by reinforcing the benefits of Prime membership -- keeping shoppers engaged with the marketplace even outside of the peak holiday season.
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The real investment thesis for Amazon is AI, not e-commerce In my eyes, the strongest reason to consider investing in Amazon stock lies in its leadership in artificial intelligence (AI), not in online shopping. Through Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company provides critical cloud infrastructure that powers AI applications for countless enterprises. Moreover, the company continues to invest heavily in generative AI tools, machine learning capabilities, robotics, and custom silicon.
These initiatives expand Amazon's total addressable market (TAM) and create new revenue opportunities across cloud services and enterprise solutions. While retail operations remain important, e-commerce is becoming a smaller portion of the overall investment narrative compared with Amazon's AI priorities.
Remember to think long-term and avoid timing the market Attempting to time the purchase of Amazon stock around Prime Day -- or any single event -- is unproductive. Instead, smart investors should evaluate Amazon's diversified business model spanning e-commerce, cloud computing, digital advertising, logistics, entertainment, and AI.
Taken together, investors can better assess Amazon's ability to deliver sustained growth. A patient approach rooted in Amazon's long-term potential offers more reliable upside compared to chasing short-term catalysts.
Amazon's Zoox unveiled the "next evolution" of its toaster-shaped self-driving vehicle on Wednesday, adding more rider-friendly features ahead of a wider U.S. rollout this year.
The company said it's equipping the vehicles with higher-quality touchscreens, more comfortable seats and headrests, and small interior tweaks that will make it easier for passengers to spot forgotten items like keys and phones.
Zoox is also enlarging and relocating the robotaxi's "bidirectional reflectors," which help riders and others such as law enforcement distinguish the vehicle's front from its rear, so that they're easier to spot.
The updates come as Zoox is plotting expansion in additional markets and preparing to charge for rides later this year. The company, which Amazon acquired for $1.3 billion in 2020, is way behind Alphabet's Waymo, the U.S. robotaxi leader.
Waymo recently surpassed 500,000 weekly paid rides across 10 U.S. cities. It also plans to bring commercial service to several new cities this year, including London and Tokyo, the first international markets. By comparison, Zoox said Wednesday it has served more than 500,000 riders since it opened service in Las Vegas last September.
Zoox currently offers free rides in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco, and it's allowing select users to hail its robotaxis in small areas in Miami and Austin, Texas. It's also testing in six other U.S. cities.
In March, Zoox struck a partnership with Uber to make its robotaxis available through its ride-hailing app in Las Vegas, enabling it to reach a wider potential customer base.
The Zoox robotaxis have been nicknamed "toasters" due to their shape. The vehicles have no steering wheel or pedals, and feature four carriage-style seats that face inward, giving them a shuttle-like atmosphere.
Zoox's biggest hurdle remains launching a paid service. The company is awaiting approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to operate as many as 2,500 of its self-driving cars on public roads for commercial purposes.
Zoox's petition is currently under review by NHTSA after public comments closed in early April.
Zoox said Wednesday that the redesigned robotaxi is its "production intent vehicle," and the company expects to introduce the model to its existing fleet later this year.
The company added that it will soon begin large-scale production of its robotaxis at its manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area that opened last June. The facility will help Zoox grow its robotaxi fleet, eventually producing 10,000 vehicles a year once it's at full scale.
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Read more CNBC tech newsGoogle's online dominance is showing signs of cracking in AI eraOracle has cut 21,000 roles over the past year, adding to wave of tech AI layoffsTesla faces federal probe after Model 3 slams into Texas home, killing 76-year-oldSpaceX signs computing power deal with open-source AI startup Reflection worth up to $6.3 billion
Zoox has given its custom-built robotaxi a makeover — and not just to make it look sharper. The Amazon-owned company revealed Wednesday a series of upgrades to the comfort and function of its electric, autonomous vehicle based on rider feedback and ahead of what it hopes will be a commercial launch later this year.
The core features of the Zoox robotaxi remain. The cube-like electric, autonomous robotaxi still lacks a steering wheel and other controls. The company kept the moonroof and starry night lights as well as the 40 cameras, radars, lidars, and infrared sensors, which help the robotaxi perceive the environment around it. And the vehicle still drives bidirectionally, has four-wheel steering, and can transport four people at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour.
Instead, Zoox has made a series of design and product tweaks required for a robotaxi that shuttles thousands of riders. At least, that is Zoox’s hope.
Image Credits:Zoox On the inside, Zoox has added more padding and ergonomic curves to both the seats and headrests, and updated the color, material, and finish with a lighter palette of aloe-green seating and stone-grey flooring and trim.
The lighter color palette creates a calmer environment, according to Zoox.
It also provides the kind of contrasting backdrop that makes it easy to spot common objects, like smartphones. Other interior changes include adding fluting on the charging pad to keep phones in place, enlarging the cupholders, and a more visible touchscreen.
Image Credits:Zoox On the outside, Zoox has relocated its bidirectional reflectors for better visibility and added a new speaker and microphone to the door interface as well as two-way audio capabilities. The company said the upgrades will improve communication with riders and other road users, as well as between Zoox Support and first responders.
The idea, according to Chris Stoffel, director of robot industrial design and studio engineering at Zoox, is for a simple elevated interior design that doesn’t demand a rider’s attention like so many of the features found in today’s passenger cars.
“The updates we’ve made to this iteration of our purpose-built robotaxi continue to further distinguish the Zoox experience from anything else available today,” he said in a statement.
Image Credits:Zoox There are practical reasons for the design changes as well.
Last year, Zoox opened a production facility in Hayward, California, where the company expects to one day build 10,000 robotaxis per year. The improvements were made in preparation of volume production, which Zoox says can reach up to 100 vehicles a week.
Zoox still has one major hurdle to pass before it will launch production in earnest — or offer paid rides.
The company has requested a commercial exemption for its robotaxi since its lacks standard controls mandated by federal law. A public comment period has closed and Zoox is awaiting a decision by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which gave the company an exemption in August 2025 to demonstrate its custom-built robotaxis on public roads.
If it receives approval, Zoox will introduce paid rides, the company said.
For now, the company is testing and offering free rides in Austin, Texas; San Francisco; Las Vegas; and Miami, Florida.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.
Shares of Amazon.com NASDAQ: AMZN started this week on the back foot, trading down around $230, their lowest level since early April. The stock has been going through a tough patch and is now down more than 16% from the all-time high it hit last month.
Amazon.com Today
$240.00 +5.89 (+2.51%)
As of 12:53 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
52-Week Range$196.00▼
$278.56P/E Ratio28.75
Price Target$312.78
What makes the current pullback particularly worrying is the divergence from the rest of the market and the broader tech sector, with much of which has been holding on to most of its recent gains. When a stock starts trading out of sync with its peers, it usually tells you something specific is weighing on it.
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In Amazon's case, that something has just become a lot clearer. It was reported last week that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has drafted a potential complaint against the company, alleging it misled advertisers through hidden ad pricing practices, and the penalty could run into the billions.
This isn’t the first time that Amazon has run afoul of the FTC, and if recent history is anything to go by, investors are right to be worried. The question is how much?
What the FTC Is Actually Looking AtAt the heart of the investigation is whether Amazon properly disclosed the terms and pricing of its advertising auctions, particularly a feature called "reserve pricing" for certain search ads. In simple terms, that's the minimum price an advertiser has to accept before they're able to buy an ad. The argument is that Amazon didn't make these mechanics fully clear, leaving advertisers paying more than they otherwise might have.
It's worth noting that this isn't an entirely new line of inquiry. The FTC's consumer protection unit has been looking into whether both Amazon and Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL misled advertisers placing ads on their respective platforms for some time now. What's changed is that the investigation into Amazon has now reportedly progressed to the point where a formal complaint has been drafted, which is a meaningful step up the regulatory ladder, and this is clearly spooking investors.
Amazon Has Been Here BeforeWhat makes this story particularly relevant for Amazon’s investors is the recent history. Just last September, the FTC secured a historic $2.5 billion settlement against Amazon over allegations that it had enrolled millions of consumers in its Prime program without their consent and made it deliberately difficult for them to cancel. A settlement of that scale makes it very clear just what the FTC thinks it can extract when it sets its sights on Amazon.
For the latest investigation, it’s a useful reference point for thinking about the worst-case scenario. If the FTC was able to secure $2.5 billion in penalties and refunds for the Prime enrollment issue, the potential downside from a misleading-advertisers complaint could be similar, or even larger, given the size and complexity of Amazon's advertising business.
Even for a company of Amazon's scale, that would be a significant amount of money, and it’d come at a time when Amazon’s outgoings are already under the microscope.
A Worrying Near-Term SetupFrom that perspective, this update from the FTC couldn't really have come at a worse moment for Amazon's stock. As we've covered recently, the company has been grappling with a free cash flow squeeze from its enormous AI capital expenditure commitments, a high-profile Blue Origin rocket explosion that set back its satellite ambitions, and a broader cooling in sentiment across mega-cap tech. Adding regulatory uncertainty to that pile is the kind of thing that can keep a stock under pressure for longer than the underlying business deserves.
There’s also the risk that while an eventual settlement could come this summer, it could also just as easily turn into a drawn-out legal battle that dominates the headlines for many quarters to come. Neither of those is ideal for shareholders who have been waiting for the stock to find its footing.
The Long-Term Bull Case Hasn't ChangedOverall MarketRank™99th Percentile
Analyst RatingModerate Buy
Upside/Downside29.3% Upside
Short Interest LevelHealthy
Dividend StrengthWeak
News Sentiment0.99 Insider TradingSelling Shares
Proj. Earnings Growth29.96%
See Full Analysis
Still, for those willing to look beyond the next few months, the long-term case for Amazon remains as strong as ever. AWS continues to grow at a remarkable pace and is increasingly central to the AI infrastructure buildout. The advertising business itself, the very thing now under scrutiny, is one of the fastest-growing high-margin revenue streams in the company. The deepening Anthropic relationship and the wave of analyst price targets sitting comfortably above $300 all speak to a long-term picture that an FTC complaint, even a multi-billion-dollar one, doesn't materially change.
The current weakness is uncomfortable, no question, and the near term could get worse before it gets better. But Amazon has a long history of absorbing regulatory blows and compounding value over time. For those willing to pinch their noses in the near term, this weakness could be a gift in the long term.
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Key Takeaways Amazon expanded Bedrock with OpenAI models and managed agents to support enterprise AI deployments.AMZN's Bedrock spending rose 170% sequentially in Q1 2026, serving 125,000 customers.Nearly 80% of Fortune 100 companies are leveraging Bedrock for AI initiatives. Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) continues to build out the Bedrock ecosystem as enterprises move from AI experimentation toward larger-scale deployments. As companies look to integrate generative AI into customer engagement, software development and business operations, Bedrock is positioned as one of the platforms within Amazon Web Services (AWS) supporting this transition.
The company's approach centers on offering enterprises model choice, scalable infrastructure and tools intended to simplify the deployment of AI applications. Additions to Bedrock, including OpenAI models and managed agent capabilities, have strengthened the platform's capacity to support a wider range of enterprise workloads. These additions are intended to help organizations build and deploy AI applications while addressing security, reliability and operational requirements at scale.
Customer adoption trends suggest that enterprise demand is strengthening. Bedrock customer spending increased 170% sequentially in the first quarter of 2026, while token processing volumes during the quarter exceeded the cumulative total from all prior years. The platform is being used by over 125,000 customers, with nearly 80% of Fortune 100 companies leveraging Bedrock. These figures suggest a shift from initial testing toward broader integration into business workflows for at least some enterprise customers.
The growing adoption of Bedrock is expected to have broader implications for AWS. As enterprises scale AI deployments, demand often extends beyond AI models to include compute, storage, databases and analytics services. This creates opportunities for AWS to benefit from both AI-related spending and the expanding consumption of its core cloud offerings. AWS revenues increased 28% year over year to $37.6 billion in the first quarter. As enterprise AI adoption continues to mature, Bedrock's expanding ecosystem is likely to remain an important catalyst for AWS growth and the broader enterprise AI landscape.
AMZN Faces Stiff CompetitionAmazon is competing aggressively with Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) for enterprise AI workloads. Microsoft has benefited from its close OpenAI relationship, integrating advanced models across Azure AI services and enterprise software offerings. Alphabet has been expanding Gemini and Vertex AI to help enterprises build and deploy AI applications on Google Cloud.
While Microsoft and Alphabet emphasize proprietary model ecosystems, Amazon's Bedrock strategy is centered on offering enterprises access to multiple leading foundation models through a single managed platform. This model choice, combined with AWS' broad cloud infrastructure portfolio, could help Amazon attract organizations seeking flexibility as enterprise AI adoption moves from experimentation to large-scale production deployments.
AMZN’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesAmazon shares have jumped 1.4% in the year to date (YTD) period compared with the Zacks Internet – Commerce industry and the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector’s decline of 6.3% and 2.3%, respectively.
AMZN’s YTD Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, AMZN stock appears overvalued, trading at a forward 12-month price/earnings ratio of 24.88X, higher than the industry’s 20.71X. Amazon has a Value Score of D.
AMZN’s Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMZN’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $8.85 per share, indicating a 23.43% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
A new critique in the scientific journal Nature is raising fresh questions about Microsoft's claimed quantum computing breakthrough last year, which underpinned the company's announcement this month that it will have a working quantum system by 2029.
Meta and Microsoft are leading the pack of tech giants that are shoveling money into artificial intelligence data-center leases – each committing tens of billions of dollars in their most recent quarters, according to a report.
The new agreements helped lift total future data-center lease commitments among the largest cloud-computing companies to more than $850 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The obligations have continued to rise over the past year as tech firms build out server farms to power an expected boom in AI use in coming years.
Tech giants are ramping up spending on power hungry server farms to power AI. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., seen wearing Orion augmented reality (AR) glasses. Bloomberg via Getty Images The lease commitments will largely be paid out over the next two decades, meaning spending on data center necessities like semiconductors and energy show no signs of slowing in the face backlash from some parts of the country.
Meta accounted for the biggest increase in data-center investment.
As of March 31, it had reportedly accumulated $182.9 billion in future lease obligations after adding $79 billion during the quarter – a 76% spike from the prior period.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he intends to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure before the decade ends.
Microsoft’s future lease commitments rose by more than $41 billion, reaching $196.6 billion, according to Bloomberg. The company has been constrained by limited data-center capacity after scaling back its leasing through much of 2025.
Earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled a massive data center development in west Texas in partnership with Chevron.
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella speaks during a keynote address. Getty Images Amazon also ramped up its future lease obligations, reportedly committing $10 billion during the quarter, less than half the amount added in the prior quarter.
As of March 31, Meta had accumulated $182.9 billion in future lease obligations after adding $79 billion during the quarter Askar – stock.adobe.com Oracle was one of the few exceptions to the trend. Its future lease commitments edged lower from the previous quarter.
Even so, the company remains the largest holder of future spending commitments after previously securing many of the large sites needed to support a major contract with OpenAI.
The obligations, which are separate from current leases, typically stay off balance sheets until payments begin. Although they are mainly associated with data centers, they may also cover properties such as office buildings and warehouses. Certain agreements include provisions that can relieve companies of future obligations under specified circumstances.
The Post has sought comment from Amazon, Meta and Microsoft.
Impact of coding artefacts on transport based topological gap detection. Credit: Nature (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10567-8 A critique from the University of St Andrews published in the journal Nature provides evidence that Microsoft's claimed quantum computing "breakthrough" was built on flawed foundations.
The critique, a comment on Microsoft's Nature paper from February 2025, comes after Microsoft's announcement of quantum chips that it claims will allow practical quantum computing within "years not decades." In contrast, the analysis by Dr. Henry Legg, from the St Andrews School of Physics and Astronomy, reveals that Microsoft's claim rested on coding errors and a flawed tuneup protocol and was seemingly contradicted by data not presented by Microsoft.
Dr. Legg said, "Last year Microsoft claimed it had built the equivalent of a precision Swiss watch. However, when I opened the case to examine the mechanism, I found what looked like a chaotic jumble of mismatched parts. Something was making noise, but it didn't look like the breakthrough Microsoft had claimed. Despite the headlines, the vast majority of scientists in the field were skeptical of Microsoft's claim from the start; my critique simply backs up that skepticism in the scientific record."
Quantum computers are predicted to solve complex problems that are impossible for current computers. It is claimed that they can discover new drugs, optimize global logistics and crack encryption. However, quantum states are incredibly fragile, prone to collapsing at the slightest interference from the outside world. To solve this, Microsoft bet heavily on a unique approach called "topological quantum computing." It aims to harness elusive particles called Majoranas to create qubits that are supposed to be immune to outside interference.
However, the existence of Majoranas remains unproven, and Microsoft's pursuit of this technology has faced major credibility issues before. In 2021, researchers funded by the company were forced to retract a previous Nature paper that claimed to have found evidence of Majoranas. The authors of that paper apologized for "insufficient scientific rigor."
The Topological Gap Protocol (TGP) was supposedly Microsoft's answer to these past failures—an automated software test designed to eliminate human bias and prevent false positives. Yet today's peer-reviewed critique provides evidence that this protocol is itself flawed. Legg's analysis reveals severe issues with how Microsoft used the TGP to validate its devices:
Simply shifting measurement windows can alter the protocol's outcome. This causes Microsoft's software to classify the exact same device region as either suitable for quantum computing ("gapped") or not suitable ("gapless") simply because of arbitrary measurement choices. Microsoft presented only the favorable outcomes of the protocol in its Nature publication. Contradictory results, where the TGP classified the purportedly successful regions as not suitable for quantum computing, were not shown. Coding errors in Microsoft's data processing caused it to omit and completely miss exploring other critical regions of the device's phase space, despite the explicit requests of peer reviewers for these checks. The raw conductance data, which Microsoft did not present in its original paper, reveals a highly disordered system. Instead of the pristine topological gap required for quantum computing, the data appears to show signatures of disorder and non-topological "quantum dots" that could explain Microsoft's measurements. This case highlights how rigorous scientific analysis can challenge even the largest technology corporations.
Legg concluded, "I am simply reflecting what most in the field felt from the initial announcement. I felt that I needed to put these concerns into a formal scientific critique. It is good that it has now been peer-reviewed and published."
Publication details Henry Legg, On the robustness of topological gap detection via transport, Nature (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10567-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10567-8
Journal information: Nature
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BENSALEM, Pa., June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith reminds investors that class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of shareholders of the following publicly-traded companies. Investors have until the deadlines listed below to file a lead plaintiff motion.
Investors suffering losses on their investments are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss their legal rights in these class actions at (215) 638-4847 or by email to [email protected].
Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERAS)
Class Period: January 14, 2025 – April 26, 2026
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 10, 2026
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) ERAS-0015’s preclinical data was based on improper comparisons to RevMed and placed Erasca at risk of violating patent and trade secret protections; and (2) as a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Nano-X Imaging Ltd. (NASDAQ: NNOX)
Class Period: March 31, 2025 – April 17, 2026
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 11, 2026
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Defendants overstated purported efficiency gains achieved in Nano-X’s operations, as well as the purported increased demand for its products; (2) in reality, Nano-X’s production and manufacturing operations were poorly aligned with demand for the Company’s products; (3) as a result, Nano-X was experiencing significantly increased operating expenses and cash burn; (4) the foregoing significantly increased the likelihood that Nano-X would be forced to take disruptive remedial measures with respect to its manufacturing operations, entailing significant restructuring and impairment charges; and (5) as a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Class Period: May 1, 2025 – January 28, 2026
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 11, 2026
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (1) that Microsoft’s Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; (2) that Microsoft’s flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; (3) that Microsoft needed to increase by billions of dollars its capital expenditures and divert GPU and 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 R&D; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Microsoft had failed to convert a significant percentage of its commercial Microsoft 365 users to paid Copilot subscriptions and the Company’s Copilot offerings had lost market share to rival products, a trend that was increasing; and (5) as a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
To be a member of these class actions, you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about these class actions, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020, by telephone at (215) 638-4847 or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Contacts
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith
Howard G. Smith, Esquire
215-638-4847
888-638-4847 [email protected]
www.howardsmithlaw.com
NEW YORK, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC, a nationally recognized investor-rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and certain of its officers.
This lawsuit seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Microsoft securities between May 1, 2025 and January 28, 2026, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”). Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm’s site: bgandg.com/MSFT.
Microsoft Case Details
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements because they failed to disclose that:
Microsoft’s Copilot family of products had experienced significant brand positioning, user experience, usage, data siloing, computational capacity, organizational, and interoperability problems; Microsoft’s flagship proprietary AI model ranked well below competitors on a number of benchmark tests; 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 as a result of the above, 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. What's Next for Microsoft Investors?
A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint, you can visit the firm’s site: bgandg.com/MSFT. or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Client Relations Manager, Nathan Miller, of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 917-590-0911. If you suffered a loss in Microsoft you have until August 11, 2026, to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff.
No Cost to Microsoft Investors
We, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, represent investors in class actions on a contingency fee basis. That means we will ask the court to reimburse us for out-of-pocket expenses and attorneys’ fees, usually a percentage of the total recovery, only if we are successful.
Why Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC for Microsoft Securities Class Action?
Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a nationally recognized firm that represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. More at www.bgandg.com
"Our practice centers on restoring investor capital and ensuring corporate accountability, which serves to uphold the essential integrity of the marketplace," said Peretz Bronstein, Founding Partner of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC.
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Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
NIKE NKE shares are trading lower despite announcing that its Q4 results will include an unexpected tariff-refund benefit. However, the company clarified that, excluding this one-time benefit, Q4 results are expected to align with previous guidance rather than exceed it. Additionally, NIKE is set for a CFO transition, with David Denton stepping in on August 17, while current CFO Matthew Friend will assist until September 4. This transition adds another layer of complexity as investors weigh the short-term earnings benefit against ongoing leadership changes during a prolonged turnaround period.
Guidance Quality: NIKE's previous Q4 outlook estimated revenue between $10.65 billion and $10.87 billion, reflecting a decline of 2% to 4%, with gross margin expected to decrease by 25 to 75 basis points year-over-year. The new update does not alter this framework but adds an unquantified tariff-refund benefit. Underlying Sales Read: The prior Q4 revenue guidance included a 2-point FX benefit, indicating that the constant-currency demand remains weaker than the reported decline suggests. Turnaround Shape: Management is focusing on achieving milestones, aiming to complete "Win Now" actions by the end of calendar 2026, with gross margin expansion expected to begin in Q2 2027 and cost-reset benefits to accumulate through fiscal 2028. What is Working: North America is a bright spot, with Q3 revenue increasing by 3% and wholesale up 11%, although recovery remains uneven as Direct sales fell by 5% and Digital declined by 7%. What is Still Weak: Digital remains overly promotional globally, sportswear sales continue to struggle, Converse faced a 35% revenue decline in Q3, and Greater China is expected to remain under pressure due to reduced sell-in and marketplace cleanup. Leadership Transition: The CFO change is not linked to any disputes, and Denton brings valuable experience from CVS Health CVS and Lowe's LOW , providing CEO Elliott Hill with a finance partner skilled in cost discipline and capital allocation.The recent update from NIKE NKE offers a clearer Q4 outlook but does not address larger concerns regarding demand quality, promotional activities, and the timeline for a sustainable margin recovery. The upcoming report on June 30 will be crucial in assessing the underlying business quality, including full-price selling, inventory management, digital promotions, and whether improvements in North America's wholesale sector are translating into a healthier direct business. The CFO transition is significant, as it introduces a new finance partner during this critical reset phase, but Denton's impact will likely unfold over several quarters. A key test will be NIKE's ability to transform its milestone-based turnaround plan into a credible earnings strategy for FY27 and FY28, making the fall Investor Day a pivotal moment for establishing a more sustainable margin recovery framework.
This stock alert was generated using automated technology and GuruFocus financial data to provide readers with timely and accurate market reporting. This content was reviewed by GuruFocus editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
In a research note released Wednesday, Bank of America Securities (BofA) maintained its Neutral rating on the footwear giant with a price forecast of $55.
Analyst Lorraine Hutchinson said investors are expected to focus more on Nike’s forward guidance than on its fourth-quarter performance.
The firm maintained a Neutral rating, saying earnings estimates appear to be nearing a bottom, but the timing of a sustained sales recovery remains uncertain amid China’s reset, sportswear category normalization, and volatile macroeconomic conditions.
While product innovation and North America remain bright spots, BofA said visibility on a sales rebound in China and stabilization in Europe is less clear.
Leadership Transition and Tariff BoostsNike announced David Denton will join the company as chief financial officer, effective August 17, bringing public company expertise from prior CFO roles at Pfizer, Lowe’s and CVS Health. Matt Friend will step down concurrently with Denton’s appointment.
The analyst noted that fourth-quarter results will benefit from a one-time tariff refund. Excluding this benefit, projected performance remains broadly in line with prior company guidance.
BofA models fourth-quarter earnings per share at 11 cents, matching consensus expectations, based on an estimated 3% decline in quarterly revenue.
Wholesale Performance Under MonitoringBofA indicators suggest that slower-than-expected wholesale sell-through continues to warrant caution following management commentary during the third-quarter conference call.
Analysts look for updates on wholesale trends, citing risks that prolonged weakness could lead to elevated discounting, product buybacks, or reduced reorders.
Additional headwind exposure remains for North American sales trends heading into the second quarter of fiscal 2027, as Nike laps a prior 24% wholesale growth period driven by off-price channel inventory.
Near-Term Softness Expected in ChinaThe research firm projects a sharper slowdown in the Greater China region, modeling a 20% decline in fourth-quarter sales. According to the note, Nike continues to pull back on digital promotions and reduce wholesale sell-in within the region.
Valuation and Outlook Inflection TimelineNike trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 22.6 times, down from 31 times prior to the previous quarterly earnings release.
While BofA acknowledged encouraging early indicators within the running category and stable North American demand, the firm anticipates a definitive sales inflection remains several quarters away, limiting immediate opportunities for multiple expansion.
Gross margin improvements are projected to begin expanding in the second quarter of fiscal 2027 as tariff impacts subside.
Nike Earnings EstimatesNike is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings on June 30. Analysts expect earnings per share of 12 cents and revenue of $10.85 billion, according to Benzinga.
In the third quarter, Nike reported earnings per share of 35 cents, surpassing analyst estimates of 28 cents. Revenue came in at $11.28 billion, ahead of the consensus estimate of $11.23 billion.
Nike has exceeded earnings-per-share estimates in each of the past eight consecutive quarters.
NKE Stock Price Activity: Nike shares were down 0.99% at $41.96 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Photo via Shutterstock
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Gold investors may not like what they’re seeing on the charts. According to Barchart, gold has fallen below its 200-day moving average by the largest margin since 2022, a notable technical breakdown for one of the market’s favorite safe-haven assets.
But while the move may concern gold bulls, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) investors could see it differently.
Gold’s Breakdown Is About More Than GoldGold often thrives when investors are worried. The precious metal tends to attract capital during periods of economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension and market volatility. Conversely, when investors become more comfortable taking risk, money often flows elsewhere.
That’s why gold’s latest technical breakdown may be sending a broader message about market sentiment. Investors appear increasingly willing to rotate out of defensive assets and back into growth-oriented trades.
And few trades have captured Wall Street’s attention more than artificial intelligence.
The AI Trade Is Built On Risk AppetiteNvidia has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, helping power a rally that has lifted semiconductor stocks, software names and the broader technology sector.
But AI isn’t just a growth story. It’s also a confidence trade.
That kind of optimism tends to flourish when investors are embracing risk—not hiding from it.
What History SuggestsThe last time gold traded this far below its 200-day moving average was in 2022, a period that ultimately coincided with improving sentiment toward risk assets after one of the market’s most challenging years.
While history doesn’t always repeat itself, the recent divergence between gold and high-growth technology stocks is attracting attention.
AI stocks remain near record highs. And investors continue to pour money into one of the market’s most popular themes.
Whether gold’s decline proves temporary or marks the start of a larger trend remains to be seen.
But for Nvidia bulls, the message may be straightforward: investors appear more interested in chasing growth than seeking safety.
Photo: Shutterstock
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Nvidia (NVDA 0.21%) has been the best-performing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure stock over the past decade, which has propelled it to become the largest company in the world. The chipmaker has grown to its current size because its graphics processing units (GPUs) are the primary chips used to train AI models. More recently, the company has been trying to position itself better for the inference market with its acquisition of Groq, which makes chips designed specifically for this task, as well as for agentic AI with its push into data center central processing units (CPUs).
However, if there is one AI stock I think could become bigger than Nvidia over the next decade, it's Alphabet (GOOGL +0.78%) (GOOG +0.50%).
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The complete AI player The one big long-term advantage that Alphabet has over Nvidia is that it is a complete AI company. It all starts with its custom AI accelerators, Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). This is where the company most directly competes against Nvidia. TPUs are chips designed for specific AI tasks and, as such, tend to have higher performance and consume less power than more general-purpose chips. Alphabet has designed all its software and hardware around these chips to help optimize their performance.
It uses its TPUs to train and run inference with its own AI models, which saves it money. It also offers its cloud computing customers the option to use its TPUs for their own training and inference needs, which means lower prices for its customers and higher margins for itself. It is also just starting to let select customers, such as Anthropic, begin to purchase them outside of Google Cloud. Overall, Alphabet's TPUs both give it a big cost advantage over competitors that rely mostly on Nvidia's chips and provide it with a high-margin revenue stream.
Image source: Getty Images.
By having its own top-tier AI models, Alphabet is also able to capture more of the enterprise AI revenue pie within Google Cloud. On top of that, the company is dominating the consumer AI market because it is able to incorporate its Gemini models into its well-established product ecosystem, including Google Search, to drive growth. It also has a world-class ad network that lets it monetize its AI model in the consumer space better than competitors. Alphabet also has a big distribution edge through its ownership of the world's top smartphone operating system and web growth, which, together with a search revenue-sharing deal with Apple, essentially makes Google the gateway to the internet for most people in the world.
With control over so many parts of the AI ecosystem, Alphabet should become bigger than Nvidia over the next decade.
Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
I keep buying NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) because every quarter the company reports, the math behind my thesis gets stronger. That is the whole confession. I have been adding on every pullback this year, including the 4.13% drop on June 23 that pushed shares back to $200.04, and I plan to keep doing it through the back half of 2026. Here is why.
The core thesis in human terms Jensen Huang calls what is happening right now “the largest infrastructure expansion in human history.” I think he is right, and I think NVIDIA sits at the toll booth. Every hyperscaler, sovereign, neocloud, and enterprise that wants to train or serve a frontier model has to come through this company’s stack. That is a structural position I want to own for the next decade.
Three reasons the thesis holds Reason one: the growth curve is accelerating. Revenue growth has gone +55.6% in Q2, +62.5% in Q3, +73.2% in Q4, and +85.2% in Q1 FY27. Data Center revenue hit $75.25 billion last quarter, up 92% year over year, with networking inside that segment growing 199%.
Management guided Q2 FY27 to $91 billion, and they have beaten the prior two guides by billions. Total supply commitments now sit at $119 billion. That is locked-in demand visibility.
Reason two: margins and cash returns are doing the work. Non-GAAP gross margin printed at 75%. Free cash flow last quarter was $48.55 billion, up 85.41%. The board raised the dividend from $0.01 to $0.25 per share and authorized an additional $80 billion buyback on top of $38.5 billion still available.
Roughly $20 billion came back to shareholders in a single quarter. That is a capital return program I want compounding alongside my position.
Reason three: the moat keeps widening. The customer list reads like the entire AI economy: Meta committing to millions of Blackwell and Rubin GPUs, OpenAI on 10 gigawatts, Anthropic on 1 gigawatt, CoreWeave on 5+ gigawatts by 2030.
Four straight EPS beats, with last quarter at $1.87 against a $1.7738 consensus. And the valuation looks reasonable for this growth rate: forward P/E of 24, PEG of 0.642, against a market cap near $5.05 trillion.
The real risk China. NVIDIA shipped zero H20 compute products to China last quarter, against $4.6 billion in the year-ago quarter. The Q2 FY27 guide assumes no Data Center compute revenue from China at all. That is a real hole in the business that export restrictions could keep open indefinitely.
What keeps me buying anyway: the company guided to $91 billion with that revenue already zeroed out, and growth is still accelerating. The thesis holds even with China taken to zero.
What keeps the buy button active Wall Street consensus target sits at $298.93 from 58 buys against 1 sell. Forward P/E of 24. A dividend that just jumped 25x. A buyback authorization with no expiration. An installed base running every cloud and every frontier model.
I own NVIDIA because the AI factory buildout is a multi-year story and the company collecting the toll is also returning cash and compounding margins while it grows. I will keep buying for as long as the receipts say I should.
Nvidia NVDA shares edged higher on Wednesday as the chipmaker stabilized following a broader semiconductor-sector selloff, with market participants assessing whether the stock is establishing a new trading range.
Despite recent volatility, the stock has largely held above the psychologically important $200 level since breaking out of its previous range in April.
The move comes as investors weigh Nvidia’s relative underperformance against the broader semiconductor sector.
The stock is up 7.3% so far this year, compared with a roughly 90% gain for the PHLX Semiconductor Index over the same period.
Still, technical and valuation signals suggest some support for the stock at current levels.
Nvidia has only briefly fallen below $200 in recent months and has tended to rebound on dips around that level.
The company is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 times, according to FactSet, slightly below the S&P 500 average of 20.77 times.
Analysts suggest this valuation could attract investors looking for relative value, potentially limiting further downside.
Nvidia is also returning significant capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, distributing about 50% of free cash flow.
Based on expected free cash flow of $195.35 billion in 2026, the company could return more than $97 billion to investors.
However, expectations for a sustained breakout remain tied to product cycle developments.
Investors are watching the rollout of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips, which are expected to enter the market in the second half of the year.
Market participants say the company will need to demonstrate continued dominance in artificial intelligence hardware to drive the next leg higher.
Nvidia’s AI chips have seen sharply higher prices on China’s black market, more than doubling over the past six months, according to a Financial Times report.
The increase comes amid tighter US enforcement of export controls restricting access to advanced semiconductors.
The DGX B300 server, which contains eight Blackwell graphics processing units, has risen in price to more than 8 million yuan ($1.1 million), up from around 4 million yuan, based on interviews with Chinese chip traders.
The system typically sells for about $400,000 in the United States.
Similarly, the RTX 6000 Pro workstation chip, used in large language model development, has increased from roughly 50,000 yuan at the start of the year to as much as 130,000 yuan, according to the report.
Both products are subject to US export restrictions on sales to China.
The surge in unofficial pricing follows a series of enforcement actions.
In March, a Supermicro co-founder, along with a Taiwan-based employee and a contractor, was charged with allegedly smuggling $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia AI servers to Chinese customers in what is described as the largest US enforcement case related to AI chip exports.
Key Takeaways MMM signed a long-term deal with Airbus to supply insulation systems for A220 cabins.MMM's thermal solutions aim to improve aircraft efficiency on Airbus A220 jets.MMM acoustic materials are designed to cut noise and enhance cabin comfort. 3M Company (MMM - Free Report) recently entered into a long-term supply agreement with Airbus to enhance passenger comfort and improve aircraft performance on Airbus A220. The deal reflects both companies' focus on improving aircraft performance and passenger comfort.
Based in Netherlands, Airbus manufactures, designs and supplies products, services and solutions across the commercial aviation, helicopter, defense and space industries. The company serves both civil and military markets.
Inside the HeadlinesPer the deal, 3M will supply cutting-edge thermal and acoustic insulation systems for the A220 cabin. The thermal insulation solutions are designed to improve aircraft efficiency. On the other hand, the acoustic materials will help reduce engine and airframe noise, thereby improving cabin comfort for the crew and the passengers.
The agreement builds on the long-standing partnership between 3M and Airbus across a range of aerospace programs. This collaboration is expected to strengthen 3M's position in the aerospace market while supporting the development of more efficient aircraft and enhanced passenger experiences. Going forward, 3M and Airbus will work together on future innovations designed to improve passenger comfort and address airlines' operational goals.
MMM’s Zacks Rank3M is poised to benefit from solid momentum in the Safety and Industrial unit, driven by strength in the industrial adhesives and tapes, abrasives and electrical markets. Strength in the semiconductor, aerospace and defense markets is aiding the Transportation and Electronics unit. Solid operational execution, restructuring savings and spending discipline are supporting the margin performance.
In the past six months, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company’s shares have risen 1% against the industry’s 1.4% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Other Stocks to ConsiderSome other top-ranked companies are discussed below:
GPGI, Inc. (GPGI - Free Report) currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
GPGI delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 25.6%. In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2026 earnings has remained steady.
Luxfer Holdings PLC (LXFR - Free Report) presently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. Luxfer Holdings’ earnings surpassed the consensus estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. The average earnings surprise was 25.5%.
In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LXFR’s 2026 earnings has increased 7.1%.
Griffon Corporation (GFF - Free Report) currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. GFF delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 3.3%.
In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Griffon’s fiscal 2026 earnings has remained steady.
Unhinged, Netflix’s latest endeavor in the gaming world, could be its biggest hit in 2026 outside of its TV and film offerings. The immersive game puts players in the shoes of Ava (Zoë Kravitz), a woman whose bad night stuck in a Category 5 hurricane turns into a nightmare when she realizes she’s trapped in her apartment building with a killer (Troy Baker) dogging her steps and her best friend Claire (Sadie Sink) as her only lifeline.
The premise tips right into the gravitational pull of action-driven thrillers and horror narratives that TV viewers trend toward. But it’s not a time suck. Coming in at 30-40 minutes of gameplay, subscribers will be in and out of the tale. This makes it perfect for casual gamers with time to spare and non-gaming genre fans who are interested in the story but don’t want to have to make a big commitment.
Netflix launched its gaming category back in 2021, but Unhinged feels like its first major swing at having a game be a draw for the platform and not a convenient add-on that subscribers could take or leave. While certainly no one is coming to Netflix for the games, this horror title has the potential to bring the category sustained buzz and more engagement. I know I’m keen to play it when it drops Tuesday, June 30 and I’ve never had an urge to check out the gaming section of the platform.
How To Play ‘Unhinged’ On NetflixYou’ll need a smart TV (or a compatible laptop) and a smart phone to access Unhinged. Set-up is relatively simple, just follow these steps.
Go to Netflix games.Select Unhinged on the Netflix Games row.Scan the QR code on the screen to link your smartphone to make it your controller.The game, designed by Night School Studios, uses your phone to move Ava’s hands. Its first-person gameplay lets you pick up items, engage with her environment, and direct her flashlight as she fights to survive this terrible night.
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Your phone will also act as Ava’s phone, ringing when she receives a call, vibrating when she gets a text, and playing audio through its speakers like hers does. However, the sound effects that create the unsettling atmosphere she’s in will play through your TV or compatible laptop.
Difficulty With ‘Unhinged’ Depends On The Game ModeNetflix considered two types of players for Unhinged. First, there’s the narrative lovers who’d prefer Story Mode, which allows for total immersion without time constraints. In this mode players can’t die, they just work their way through the story until they reach its conclusion.
Playing for the story takes into account non-gamers who’ve never engaged with an interactive format or basic explorative tasks within a setting that requires the player to make in-game decisions through movement.
Then there’s Standard Mode for players that want the story and a challenge. Immersion comes with a timer in this version of the game, playing into the high stakes of the situation Ava has been forced to navigate.
Like in Story Mode, you’ll need to find the interactive object she needs to get to the next part of the tale, but you’ll have to do so quickly. Once time runs out, she’ll die at the hands of the killer and the game will restart at its last checkpoint.
‘Unhinged’ Is Not For KidsWhile Netflix does have kid-friendly games that children and the whole family can enjoy, Unhinged is not one of them. Besides the terrifying premise of being chased by a killer, the game contains strong language and, per Polygon’s review, “gnarly body horror" akin to Resident Evil. Expect blood and violence.
Get a look at Unhinged in the trailer below:
Follow Sabrina Reed on Forbes for more coverage of what’s airing on television, like her weekly recaps/analysis of The Vampire Lestat, and explainers on what’s happening in the entertainment industry that’s impacting consumers.
HomeIndustriesMedia‘The worry has become that Netflix is getting desperate to do something big,’ an analyst saysPublished: June 24, 2026 at 12:40 p.m. ET
By most metrics, Netflix is growing, but its reported interest in M&A has investors worried about the possibility of slower growth ahead. Photo: AFP via Getty ImagesNetflix may be falling victim to its own success.
Despite reporting earnings that have regularly beaten expectations in recent quarters, the streaming giant’s stock price NFLX has been in an extended swoon, as investors have signaled wariness over the company’s ongoing growth.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Mastercard are collaborating to expand access to cybersecurity learning and help organizations in Western Canada strengthen their digital resilience. SAIT Cybersecurity Learning Collective, powered by Mastercard, is a 10-week, 80-hour course designed for small businesses, non-profits and social enterprises, with the first cohort starting in September. Tuition is fully covered for eligible participants through funding from Mastercard, subject to program criteria and availability.
“Cyber threats don’t discriminate by size, yet many small businesses and non-profits are left navigating complex risks without the tools or support they need,” says Vis Naidoo, Associate Vice President, Continuing Education and Professional Studies, SAIT. “This course will help equip leaders with the knowledge and framework to make informed decisions and strengthen their organization’s resilience.”
Naidoo adds, “Together with Mastercard, we’re helping businesses build the digital and financial resilience needed to support their long-term growth and integrate resiliency into their foundation and organizational culture.”
Participants will gain practical tools to assess cyber risk, implement protective measures and prepare for cybersecurity incidents through immersive simulation exercises. By the end of the course, each participant will work towards developing an implementation-ready plan that aligns cybersecurity practices with their organization’s mission, governance responsibilities and operational capacity.
“Small businesses, non-profits and social enterprises are the backbone of the Canadian economy and our communities, and they are operating in an environment of increasingly complex cyber risks,” said Jennifer M. Sloan, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement, Mastercard, Canada. “Our collaboration with SAIT is about helping these organizations build the skills and confidence they need to manage digital risk, protect what they’ve built and thrive in today’s digital economy.”
SAIT Cybersecurity Learning Collective, powered by Mastercard, aims to empower the next generation of business leaders as they navigate the rapidly changing digital landscape, bringing to life a shared vision of innovation, community investment and applied learning in advanced digital technology.
Applications for the September 2026 cohort close July 31, 2026 at 11:59 pm MT.
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About SAIT
Established in 1916, SAIT was the first of its kind, publicly funded technical school in North America. As a global leader in applied education, SAIT serves 40,000 students annually. SAIT offers baccalaureate and applied degree programs, diplomas, certificates, apprenticeship programs and more than 550 continuing education and corporate training courses, and specializes in four awardwinning areas of applied research. Curriculum and research priorities are developed through industry partnerships to meet workforce needs and build capacity for innovation province-wide. SAIT is recognized by Mediacorp Canada Inc. as one of Alberta’s Top Employers (2026) and by Research Infosource Inc. as fourth among the Top 50 Research Colleges in Canada (2025). QS University Rankings and CEOWORLD magazine awarded SAIT’s School of Hospitality and Tourism top honours in 2026, each ranking the school #1 in its sector in Canada. SAIT’s School of Business was recognized as #2 in Canada on CEOWORLD’s list of Best Business Schools in the World for 2026.
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SAIT Downtown Cyber Range A student at the SAIT Downtown Cyber Range
Here at Zacks, we offer our members many different opportunities to take full advantage of the stock market, as well as how to invest in ways that lead to long-term success.
One of our most popular services, Zacks Premium offers daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank; full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List; Equity Research reports; and Premium stock screens like the Earnings ESP filter. All are useful tools to find what stocks to buy, what to sell, and what are today's hottest industries.
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Breaking Down the Zacks Focus ListIf you could, wouldn't you jump at the chance for access to a curated list of stocks to kickstart your investing journey?
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Focus List MethodologyWhen stocks are picked for the Focus List, it reflects our enduring reliance on the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Earnings estimates are expectations of growth and profitability, and are determined by brokerage analysts. Together with company management, these analysts examine every aspect that may affect future earnings, like interest rates, the economy, and sector and industry optimism.
Investors also need to look at what a company will earn down the road. This is why earnings estimate revisions are so important.
Stocks that receive upward earnings estimate revisions are more likely to receive even more upward changes in the future. For example, if an analyst raised their estimates last month, they're more likely to do it again this month, and other analysts are likely to do the same.
Harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions is where the Zacks Rank comes in. The Zacks Rank, which is a unique, proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions to make it easier to build a winning portfolio.
The Zacks Rank consists of four main pillars: Agreement, Magnitude, Upside, and Surprise. Each one is given a raw score, which is recalculated every night and compiled into the Rank. Then, stocks are classified into five groups, ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Strong Sell," using this data.
The Focus List is comprised of stocks hand-picked from a long list of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) ranked companies, meaning that each new addition boasts a bullish earnings consensus among analysts.
It can be very profitable to buy stocks with rising earnings estimates, as stock prices respond to revisions. By adding Focus List stocks, there's a great chance you'll be getting into companies whose future earnings estimates will be raised, which can lead to price momentum.
Focus List Spotlight: Visa (V - Free Report) Incorporated in 2007 as a Delaware corporation and headquartered in San Francisco, Visa Inc. operates as a leading global payments technology company. The firm went public in March 2008 through an IPO but traces its roots back to 1958. Over the past six decades, Visa has grown into one of the world’s most widely used payment networks.
On May 30, 2017, V was added to the Focus List at $94.67 per share. Shares have increased 246.97% to $328.48 since then, and the company is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank.
14 analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.25 to $13.09. V also boasts an average earnings surprise of 3.2%.
Additionally, V's earnings are expected to grow 14.1% for the current fiscal year.
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Walmart's Leo Garcia is using AI to help his drivers get home quicker. Walmart; Bloomberg Leo Garcia is serious about getting his drivers home on time.
As a regional load manager for Walmart, Garcia is responsible for hundreds of semi-trailers hauling merchandise through the Chicago area.
He also knows what it's like to be in the driver's seat, having spent more than five years there before landing in his desk job.
"Being on the road for five days is difficult," he told Business Insider. "You miss your wife, you miss your kids. We have to do our utmost best to get our drivers home."
He's using artificial intelligence to make that journey a little smoother for his team.
Garcia said he started vibe coding after taking a Google AI certification course through Walmart's online education portal for employees. Walmart has a similar credential program with OpenAI.
"I've always wanted to build, I've always wanted to create things, but I was lacking the fundamentals to do it," he said. "Doing the AI program gave me those fundamentals, it gave me that knowledge."
Taking the AI course, as well as others on data analysis, changed the way Garcia looks at problems, he said.
Soon enough, he was tackling one of the most frustrating problems he faced every day: getting drivers home at the end of their routes without leaving the trucks empty.
Garcia could send a driver straight home, but that comes with costs, most notably a metric called empty miles. It's more efficient for Walmart to send the trucks back after a delivery loaded with other merchandise than to send them empty.
Garcia said he used Walmart's in-house coding agent, Code Puppy, to design a tool that analyzes hundreds of available truckloads in the region that need to be picked up and flags the best five or so for him to choose from based on location, timing, and other factors.
"If I'm in the San Gabriel Valley, how are you going to get me home to Oregon?" he said as an example. "It's a difficult question to answer without knowing all the geographies, all our vendors, all our stores, and every option. What this does is it does that for you. It quantifies everything in seconds."
Earlier this week, Garcia said a driver was scheduled to pick up a trailer on his way home to Wisconsin earlier this week. When the driver arrived, he learned the load wouldn't be ready for three more hours.
"He could accommodate those three hours, but he would get home three hours later," Garcia said. "And that's rough."
Instead, the program found a vendor five miles down the road with a load ready to go to the same town, keeping the driver on schedule. Later, the system assigned another driver to grab the initial load when it was ready.
Like many projects built with Walmart's coding tool, the company can evaluate and distribute employee-made ideas across the organization. Garcia said that hasn't happened with his tool yet, but it is being tested for wider use.
Garcia said he couldn't have imagined himself designing software back when he first walked into a Walmart warehouse at age 18.
"If you had told me that now, over 15 years later, I would be sitting here running an area, learning how to implement tools that are going to help people learn and help the company grow, I wouldn't have believed it," he said.
Dominick Reuter You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Dominick Reuter is a senior retail reporter for Business Insider, primarily covering Walmart, Target, and Costco. His stories tend to focus on issues and trends that affect employees and customers.Prior to joining BI in 2019, Dominick worked for more than a decade as an independent photojournalist covering a wide range of stories for global wire services and newspapers, including Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and Agence France-Presse.Dominick studied photojournalism at Boston University and later earned a Masters in business and economics journalism from Columbia University.If you're an employee or customer with a story to share, please contact me via email or text/call/Signal at 646-768-4750.
For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a member of our Finance group, which includes 831 different companies and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for JPM's full-year earnings has moved 2.3% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
According to our latest data, JPM has moved about 3.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 3.7% on average.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Alerus (ALRS - Free Report) . The stock is up 34.9% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Alerus' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, JPMorgan Chase & Co. belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, which includes 20 individual stocks and currently sits at #103 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 8.4% so far this year, so JPM is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
Alerus, however, belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry. Currently, this 107-stock industry is ranked #154. The industry has moved -7.9% so far this year.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Alerus could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
Here at Zacks, we offer our members many different opportunities to take full advantage of the stock market, as well as how to invest in ways that lead to long-term success.
The Zacks Premium service makes this easier. It features daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank; full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List; Equity Research reports; and Premium stock screens like the Earnings ESP filter. All of these can help you quickly identify what stocks to buy, what to sell, and what are today's hottest industries.
It also includes the Focus List, a long-term portfolio of top stocks that have all the elements to beat the market.
Breaking Down the Zacks Focus ListBuilding an investment portfolio from scratch can be difficult, so if you could, wouldn't you take a peek at a curated list of top stocks?
That's what the Zacks Focus List, a portfolio of 50 stocks, offers investors. Not only does it serve as a starting point for long-term investors, but all stocks included in the list are poised to outperform the market over the next 12 months.
One thing that makes the Focus List even more advantageous is that each pick comes with a full Zacks Analyst Report. This helps explain why each stock was selected and why we believe it's a good pick for the long-term.
The portfolio's past performance only solidifies why investors should consider it as a starting point. For 2020, the Focus List gained 13.85% on an annualized basis compared to the S&P 500's return of 9.38%. Cumulatively, the portfolio has returned 2,519.23% while the S&P returned 854.95%. Returns are for the period of February 1, 1996 to March 31, 2021.
Focus List MethodologyWhen stocks are picked for the Focus List, it reflects our enduring reliance on the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Brokerage analysts are in charge of determining a company's growth and profitability expectations, or earnings estimates. These analysts work together with company management to evaluate all factors that may affect future earnings, like interest rates, the economy, and sector and industry optimism.
Earnings estimate revisions are very important, since investors also need to take into consideration what a company will earn in the future.
When a stock receives upward earnings estimate revisions, it will likely get even more positive changes in the future. For instance, if an analyst raised their earnings outlook last month, they'll probably do so again this month, and other analysts will follow.
Harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions is where the Zacks Rank comes in. The Zacks Rank is a unique, proprietary stock-rating model that utilizes changes to a company's quarterly earnings expectations to help investors build a winning portfolio.
Four primary factors make up the Zacks Rank: Agreement, Magnitude, Upside, and Surprise. Each is given a raw score that's recalculated every night and compiled into the Rank, and with this data, stocks are then classified into five groups, ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Strong Sell."
The Focus List is comprised of stocks hand-picked from a long list of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) ranked companies, meaning that each new addition boasts a bullish earnings consensus among analysts.
It can be very profitable to buy stocks with rising earnings estimates, as stock prices respond to revisions. By adding Focus List stocks, there's a great chance you'll be getting into companies whose future earnings estimates will be raised, which can lead to price momentum.
Focus List Spotlight: Walt Disney (DIS - Free Report) Burbank, CA-based Walt Disney Company has assets that span movies, television shows and theme parks. Revenues were $94.4 billion in fiscal 2025.
On March 23, 2020, DIS was added to the Focus List at $85.98 per share. Shares have increased 20.41% to $103.53 since then, and the company is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank.
10 analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.24 to $6.85. DIS also boasts an average earnings surprise of 6.8%.
Moreover, analysts are expecting DIS's earnings to grow 15.5% for the current fiscal year.
Reveal Winning StocksUnlock all of our powerful research, tools and analysis, including the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research Reports, Zacks Earnings ESP Filter, Premium Screener and more, as part of Zacks Premium. You'll quickly identify which stocks to buy, hold and sell, and target today's hottest industries, to help improve the performance of your portfolio. Gain full access now >>
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD | AMD Price Prediction) traded near $521 midmorning Wednesday, roughly flat on the session after a prior close near $520. The quiet tape masks a loud catalyst: UBS just supersized its price target on AMD stock to $670 from $455, one of the more aggressive upward revisions on the Street this month.
The hike landed shortly after AMD stock stabilized from a 5% drop tied to a broad, Korean-led chip selloff on Tuesday. AMD stock now sits below its 52-week high of $562.99 (versus a 52-week low of $132.93).
That backdrop frames the question in the headline. UBS’s $670 mark sits well above today’s print, implying meaningful upside without doing the arithmetic. However, AMD stock has already run hard, so the real debate is whether the multiple still has slack or whether the bar is now set too high.
UBS Bets on Standalone CPU Racks and Agentic AI UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri maintained a Buy rating alongside the supersized target. His thesis leans on a workload shift that plays directly into AMD’s structural strengths rather than the obvious GPU narrative.
Arcuri argues that standalone CPU racks are gaining adoption, supported by AMD’s lead in core density, multithreading, and the established x86 software ecosystem. Traditional workloads being folded into agentic AI pipelines, in his view, still favor x86 silicon. That positions AMD’s EPYC franchise as more than a sidecar to the Instinct GPU story.
The Bull Case: An 80% Buy Wall and a Loaded Order Book The Wall Street consensus on AMD stock remains overwhelmingly positive. Of 51 analysts, 5 rate it Strong Buy, 36 Buy, 10 Hold, and zero Sell. UBS’s $670 mark now ranks among the higher targets in that group, alongside a fundamentals story that has been compounding fast.
AMD’s Q1 FY2026 revenue hit $10.25 billion, up 38% year over year (YoY), with Data Center revenue jumping 57% to $5.78 billion. Management’s Q2 FY2026 guidance points to about $11.2 billion in revenue (46% YoY growth) with non-GAAP gross margin expanding toward 56%.
The AI customer book is unusually deep for AMD. CEO Lisa Su has secured an OpenAI agreement covering 6 gigawatts of GPU deployment, a Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) commitment of up to 6 gigawatts of Instinct GPUs with AMD named lead supplier for 6th Gen EPYC, and an Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) Helios supercluster of 50,000 GPUs. Momentum behind the MI450 series rounds out a pipeline that bulls argue underwrites the new UBS number.
The Bear Case: Elevated Multiples and Policy Risk The valuation is where bulls and bears actually collide on AMD. Yahoo Finance lists AMD’s trailing-12-month P/E ratio near 172x, while other estimates have cited roughly 179x trailing and about 77x forward. Those levels leave little room for execution missteps and are part of why some commentators describe AMD as priced for flawless execution.
Export controls remain a live risk for AMD, as well. U.S. restrictions previously forced the company to absorb an $800 million inventory charge, and any tightening of China rules could repeat that hit. One linked valuation model also suggests AMD could be modestly overvalued at current levels, a counterpoint to UBS’s bullish stance.
Insider activity has drawn attention, too. AMD insider transactions over the last 90 days exceeded $161 million in selling, including disposals by CEO Lisa Su. That headline looks heavy in isolation, though much of it appears to reflect routine diversification after a huge run in AMD stock, not a clean thesis-change signal.
What to Watch Now The open question is whether AMD’s accelerating data-center growth can outrun a multiple stretched into triple-digit P/E ratio territory. UBS’s $670 target implies the answer is yes, but with a P/E ratio of 172x already baked in, even a small guidance wobble could reset sentiment quickly.
Investors can watch for whether AMD stock holds above $520 in the coming sessions; they could also take note of how MI450 ramp commentary evolves through the summer, and look for any movement on U.S. China export policy. Those signals may decide whether UBS’s new target becomes the consensus base case or remains an outlier on the high side.
A commercial plane departs Ronald Reagan National Airport, DCA, as seen from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesS&P 500 Passenger Airlines index target="_blank">(.SPLRCALI) hits record highQ3 earnings could outperform the Street if fuel prices moderate- UBSJune 24 (Reuters) - U.S. airline stocks rose 3% to 7% on Wednesday after crude prices fell to their lowest since before the Iran war, raising hopes that pressure on carriers' earnings could ease, though the benefits are unlikely to be passed on to passengers immediately.
The S&P 500 Passenger Airlines index (.SPLRCALI), opens new tab jumped as much as 5% to an all-time high, and is up nearly 13% since its close on June 12, after which the U.S. and Iran announced a peace agreement. The benchmark S&P 500 has dropped 0.5% in that time.
The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here.
Brent crude futures fell below the $74-a-barrel mark on Wednesday amid signs that more oil tankers are set to move out of the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil supplies.
With crude supplies and prices set to ease, airlines stand to save billions of dollars in additional costs as the run-up in jet fuel prices during the Iran war outpaced fare growth. However, an immediate decline in fares for flyers remains unlikely amid tight capacity.
"Sudden movements in fuel prices mean that in the near term the airline’s profitability can change (in the opposite direction of the fuel price) because they have already sold many tickets assuming the previous fuel cost," Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said.
UBS said in a note on Tuesday that it sees potential for airlines' third-quarter earnings per share to outperform Wall Street expectations, if fuel prices moderate.
Also, while all carriers are expected to benefit from cheaper jet fuel, analysts say those with smaller fleets and a lower share of premium seats and customers are likely to gain more, as their margins are more sensitive to fuel-price spikes.
Frontier (ULCC.O), opens new tab and Southwest (LUV.N), opens new tab rose 3% each, while Delta (DAL.N), opens new tab and JetBlue (JBLU.O), opens new tab rose 3.7% and 4.5%, respectively. Alaska Air (ALK.N), opens new tab and United (UAL.O), opens new tab were up about 6% each, while American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab surged about 7%.
Jet fuel prices, which averaged about $85 to $90 a barrel before U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, had retreated from a peak of over $170 to an average of $119.17 in the week to June 19, according to the International Air Transport Association.
"The drop in oil prices is part of the story but also the ending of the conflict with Iran means a resumption of industrial ventures that were put on hold and a corresponding increase in profitable business and holiday travel," said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner at Cerity Partners.
Shares of online travel firms such as Booking Holdings (BKNG.O), opens new tab and Expedia (EXPE.O), opens new tab were up between 7% and 10%.
Reporting by Nandan Mandayam and Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Key Takeaways UAL and DIRECTV will offer live TV streaming on Starlink-equipped seatback screens. Free access includes ESPN, FOX Sports 1, ABC, CBS, NBC and BBC News for passengers.UAL and DIRECTV will offer live TV streaming on Starlink-equipped seatback screens. United Airlines' (UAL - Free Report) partnership with DIRECTV represents a significant enhancement to the in-flight passenger experience. By enabling live TV streaming on Starlink-equipped seatback screens, the airline is moving beyond traditional on-demand entertainment and bringing real-time content to travelers. The offering is particularly timely, allowing passengers to watch major live sporting events, including international soccer tournaments, while in the air.
The initiative also highlights the growing value of Starlink’s high-speed connectivity platform. Reliable broadband service has historically been a challenge for UAL, especially when supporting bandwidth-intensive applications such as live video streaming. With Starlink now active on more than 400 United Airlines aircraft, the carrier is leveraging the technology to offer a more seamless and connected onboard experience that closely resembles what customers enjoy on the ground.
From a competitive perspective, the collaboration strengthens UAL’s premium positioning. Free access to live channels such as ESPN, FOX Sports 1, ABC, CBS, NBC and BBC News can differentiate the airline from rivals, particularly among business travelers and sports enthusiasts who value uninterrupted access to live events and news. The move complements United Airlines’ broader investment in seatback screens and digital cabin upgrades.
The partnership underscores UAL’s long-term vision for in-flight entertainment. Rather than relying solely on preloaded content libraries, the airline is creating a dynamic entertainment ecosystem powered by real-time streaming. As United Airlines continues its fleetwide Starlink rollout through 2027, initiatives like this could help establish a new benchmark for onboard connectivity and passenger engagement.
UAL’s Share Price PerformanceUAL’s shares have gained 58.4% over the past year compared with the Transportation - Airlineindustry’s 32.6% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
UAL’s Zacks RankUAL currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Stocks to ConsiderInvestors interested in the Zacks Transportation sector may consider Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD - Free Report) and Teekay Tankers Ltd (TNK - Free Report) .
EXPD currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Expeditors has an expected earnings growth rate of 11.9% for 2026. The company has an encouraging earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 13.96%.
Teekay Tankers Ltd currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
TNK has an expected earnings growth rate of 98% for the current year. The company has an encouraging earnings surprise history. Its earnings topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 10.2%.
Zoom Communications (ZM - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.
Over the past month, shares of this video-conferencing company have returned -13.6%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Internet - Software industry, which Zoom falls in, has lost 5.4%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
For the current quarter, Zoom is expected to post earnings of $1.49 per share, indicating a change of -2.6% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +1.4% over the last 30 days.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $6.06 points to a change of +2.4% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +1.5%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $6.22 indicates a change of +2.7% from what Zoom is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.5%.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Zoom.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Revenue Growth ForecastEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
For Zoom, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $1.27 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +4.2%. For the current and next fiscal years, $5.08 billion and $5.27 billion estimates indicate +4.4% and +3.7% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryZoom reported revenues of $1.24 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +5.5%. EPS of $1.55 for the same period compares with $1.43 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.22 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +1.26%. The EPS surprise was +9.93%.
Over the last four quarters, Zoom surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Zoom is graded C on this front, indicating that it is trading at par with its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
Bottom LineThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Zoom. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Zoom Communications (ZM 0.38%) dropped by more than 20% over the past month. The pandemic bubble popped for the video conferencing company in 2021, and it looks like the stock will never reclaim those levels. The current drop doesn't seem to be over. Here's why investors shouldn't buy Zoom on the dip.
Some valuation metrics are more important than others A 12.7 P/E ratio looks attractive on the surface. Zoom commanded a P/E ratio in the 20s for most of 2025, but growth rates have also shrunk over the years. Zoom's revenue has a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.9%, but only a 3.5% CAGR over the past three years.
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Revenue growth rates have steadily dropped since the pandemic, when Zoom was necessary for day-to-day communication. Zoom isn't going to get the catalyst of global lockdowns again, so it's easy to interpret its pandemic success as a one-off event.
The stalling of Zoom's revenue growth highlights the importance of looking at the PEG ratio instead of the P/E ratio. While the P/E ratio measures a stock's price compared to its earnings, the PEG ratio also includes growth rates. Zoom currently has a 4.2 PEG ratio, while a fairly valued stock typically has a 1.0 PEG ratio. Anything higher than that is usually overvalued.
It doesn't get any better Zoom reported 5.5% year-over-year revenue growth in its fiscal 2027 first quarter, ended April 30. Its high-growth days are over, and guidance for upcoming results reflects this reality. Zoom anticipates $1.265 billion to $1.27 billion for its fiscal 2027 Q2 revenue. The high end of guidance only implies a 4% year-over-year increase.
Image source: Getty Images.
Zoom also anticipates $5.085 billion in full-year fiscal 2027 revenue at the midpoint of guidance, which would be a 4.4% year-over-year jump. These aren't eye-catching numbers, and while a P/E ratio of 12.7 suggests setting a low bar, the PEG ratio truly captures how overvalued the stock is.
The most important red flag with Zoom is that it has become a commodity. Nvidia commands a high valuation because no one can produce similar GPUs. However, Zoom has several competitors that offer very similar experiences. Google Meet and Microsoft Teams are two viable competitors that have more generous features for free accounts and lower prices for paid plans.
Zoom's entire business model revolves around video conferencing. There are other options in the industry, and with few ways to innovate in video conferencing, Zoom doesn't have many options to generate sizable growth rates moving forward.
Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft, Nvidia, and Zoom Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
GE Aerospace (GE - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.
Over the past month, shares of this industrial conglomerate have returned +13.4%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Aerospace - Defense industry, which GE falls in, has gained 3.6%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
GE is expected to post earnings of $1.86 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +12.1%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.1%.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $7.48 points to a change of +17.4% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +0.2%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $8.67 indicates a change of +15.9% from what GE is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.4%.
Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, GE is rated Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Revenue Growth ForecastWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.
In the case of GE, the consensus sales estimate of $11.84 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +16.6%. The $48.75 billion and $53.08 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +15.2% and +8.9%, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryGE reported revenues of $11.61 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +29%. EPS of $1.86 for the same period compares with $1.49 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.64 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +9.13%. The EPS surprise was +15.53%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
GE is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about GE. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD | HD Price Prediction) is the largest home improvement retailer in America, and right now it is caught between two stories. The fundamentals are steady while the stock has drifted lower.
Shares trade at $324.45 after slipping 4.3% year to date, while management just reaffirmed full-year guidance and pushed comparable sales back into positive territory. The question I want to answer is straightforward. Can HD reach $400 per share by 2027, and what has to happen for it to get there?
Why Home Depot Shares Are Stuck Despite Stable Demand The market is punishing patience. HD is down 6.63% over the past year and off 3.75% in the last week alone, even though Q1 FY2026 revenue grew 4.8% to $41.77B with comparable sales of +0.6%. The drag is housing.
Customer transactions fell 1.3% year over year, and CEO Ted Decker acknowledged “greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure” on the Q1 call.
Add in SRS Distribution intangible amortization of roughly $119M per quarter compressing reported margins, and you have a stock that looks tired. With a beta of just 0.974, HD is not going to rip higher on sentiment alone. It needs a catalyst.
Wall Street Sees 14% Upside. Our Model Says 18% Consensus is constructive but cautious. The Street’s average target sits at $370.18, with 4 Strong Buy, 18 Buy, 14 Hold, and zero Sell ratings. Our base case model puts fair value at $382.85, an 18% upside, with confidence at 90% and a bull scenario reaching $429.92.
I think analysts are anchoring too tightly to the next four quarters. With 61% bullish sentiment and earnings growth contribution running slightly negative at -0.004, the consensus is pricing in a status-quo housing market. Any normalization of mortgage rates flips that math fast.
The Path to $400 Per Share Here is the math. Reaching $400 from today’s price of $324.45 would require a gain of 23.3%. With forward EPS of $16.31, a price of $400 implies a forward P/E of 25x. Our base case of $382.85 already implies 22x, meaning the bold target requires roughly 2.3 turns of additional multiple expansion. That is achievable.
The 247Factor adjustment of 1.066 is driven by a 1.05 Consumer Cyclical sector multiplier and 0.037 analyst consensus contribution, dampened 50% for mega-cap size. Average ticket rose 2.2% to $92.76, SRS now operates over 1,280 locations, and Decker noted underlying demand was “relatively stable”. The risk is a deeper housing recession that pushes comps negative.
Where Home Depot Trades Today vs Its Earnings Power At $324.45 against forward EPS of $16.31, HD trades at a forward P/E of 20x. That is below its trailing multiple of 23 and a steep discount to its $418.06 52-week high. The stock sits closer to its $286.95 52-week low than its highs.
Over the past decade, HD has delivered a 227.13% return, a reminder that buying quality compounders during housing slowdowns has historically paid. Today’s multiple looks cheap if FY2027 EPS reaccelerates.
Is $400 Realistic? Here’s My Take $400 by 2027 requires a gain of 23.3% from here, modest multiple expansion to 24.5x, and a housing market that stops actively hurting. I think it is realistic.
Three things need to happen: comps need to push toward the high end of the flat to +2.0% guidance, SRS and GMS need to keep adding incremental revenue, and mortgage rates need to drift lower to thaw transaction volume.
A renewed housing recession derails it. Returns at this level shouldn’t be expected every year, but we’ve outlined the blueprint for how Home Depot could reach $400 in 2027.
Starbucks (SBUX - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.
Over the past month, shares of this coffee chain have returned -0.4%, compared to the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -1.3% change. During this period, the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, which Starbucks falls in, has lost 1.9%. The key question now is: What could be the stock's future direction?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
For the current quarter, Starbucks is expected to post earnings of $0.65 per share, indicating a change of +30% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $2.4 points to a change of +12.7% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed -0.7%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $3.07 indicates a change of +27.8% from what Starbucks is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.5%.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- is a more conclusive indicator of a stock's near-term price performance, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) for Starbucks.
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.
For Starbucks, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $9.47 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +0.1%. For the current and next fiscal years, $38.27 billion and $40.19 billion estimates indicate +2.9% and +5% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryStarbucks reported revenues of $9.53 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +8.8%. EPS of $0.5 for the same period compares with $0.41 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.17 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +3.92%. The EPS surprise was +13.64%.
Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationWithout considering a stock's valuation, no investment decision can be efficient. In predicting a stock's future price performance, it's crucial to determine whether its current price correctly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Starbucks is graded F on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Starbucks. However, its Zacks Rank #1 does suggest that it may outperform the broader market in the near term.
Key Takeaways SBUX said delivery has grown more than 30% YTD across its U.S. company-operated business.SBUX reported 7.1% U.S. comparable sales growth in Q2 FY26, driven by transaction growth of more than 4%.SBUX is expanding delivery alongside cafes, drive-thrus and mobile pickup to broaden customer access. Starbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) is seeing delivery become a more visible comp-growth lever as the company broadens customer access across its U.S. store base. During the second quarter of fiscal 2026, delivery contributed to both comp ticket and transaction growth, underscoring its role as a measurable access-point gain within the Back to Starbucks recovery.
The momentum follows Starbucks’ expansion of delivery access across its U.S. company-operated portfolio last fiscal year. The company stated that delivery has proven to be a largely incremental revenue stream, growing more than 30% year to date (YTD) across its U.S. company-operated business. The delivery growth strengthens Starbucks’ access-point strategy, adding an incremental demand channel alongside cafés, drive-thrus and mobile pickup.
The broader U.S. comp recovery provides a stronger base for delivery to scale. In the fiscal second quarter, U.S. comparable sales rose 7.1%, led by transaction growth of more than 4%. Starbucks also reported transaction growth across all dayparts in its U.S. company-operated business, with mornings roughly back to fiscal 2022 levels. This improving traffic backdrop gives the company a stronger foundation to expand delivery as part of its broader access-point strategy.
The opportunity is tied to execution. As Starbucks improves staffing, scheduling and order sequencing, it is trying to support higher volumes across cafés, drive-thrus, mobile order pickup and delivery while keeping service times on target. Customer service times remained on target despite higher transaction volumes, while upcoming scheduled ordering is expected to bring more predictability to mobile order flow.
Delivery’s role in Starbucks’ U.S. growth story will likely depend on whether it can keep the channel incremental while preserving service execution. If the company sustains delivery momentum while maintaining operating discipline, the channel could become a more durable U.S. comp lever within the broader Back to Starbucks strategy.
How Starbucks Stacks Up to CompetitorsDutch Bros Inc. (BROS - Free Report) provides a relevant benchmark because it is also expanding beverage occasions through digital access, rewards engagement and menu innovation. Order ahead reached approximately 15% of the total transaction mix in the first quarter of 2026, while Dutch Rewards accounted for 74% of transactions. BROS is also using food attachment and energy innovation, including Myst Energy Refreshers, to support frequency and transaction growth.
McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) offers a broader scale comparison, as it is using value, marketing and beverage innovation to drive traffic across dayparts. In the first quarter, U.S. comparable sales rose 3.9%, supported by value platforms, meal deals and menu activity. MCD also expanded its McCafe beverage platform with refreshers and crafted sodas, with additional flavors and Red Bull-infused energy drinks planned during the year.
Against this backdrop, Starbucks’ positioning depends on whether delivery can remain incremental while service execution holds. BROS is leaning on order ahead, rewards, food and customized energy to build frequency, while MCD is using value, scale and beverage innovation to reinforce traffic. Starbucks’ differentiation lies in using delivery as a measurable access-point lever, with the channel already contributing to ticket and transaction growth and growing more than 30% year to date across U.S. company-operated stores.
SBUX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of Starbucks have gained 10.4% in the past year against the industry’s 8.9% decline.
SBUX’s One-Year Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, SBUX trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 2.90, below the industry’s average of 3.24.
SBUX’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SBUX’s fiscal 2026 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year increase of 12.7%. The EPS estimates for fiscal 2026 have increased in the past 60 days.
EPS Trend of SBUX Stock
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
SBUX’s Zacks RankSBUX stock currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Investors interested in stocks from the Consumer Products - Staples sector have probably already heard of Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors?
Company's New Foundation Marks Next Chapter in Destination Stewardship
Key Takeaways
Delivered $61 million in total community contributions value. Positively impacted 3.1 million individuals across 85+ destinations since 2023. Launched Royal Caribbean Group Foundation. Invested in conservation, education, disaster relief, and partnerships. , /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) today released its 2025 Community Impact Report, highlighting the company's continued efforts to strengthen the communities and destinations it visits around the world. Guided by its SEA the Future platform - focused on sustaining the planet, energizing communities, and accelerating innovation – the Group delivered $61M in total community impact across 85 destinations, supporting disaster recovery, conservation, education, workforce development, and global partnerships.
Educational Ship Tour Port Villa, Vanuatu The report also introduces the Royal Caribbean Group Foundation, a new philanthropic arm designed to build on more than 30 years of community engagement and expand the company's ability to create lasting, positive impact as part of its mission to deliver the best vacations responsibly.
"The communities we visit are central to who we are and to the experiences we deliver every day," said Jason Liberty, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group. "Across our brands and around the world, we're focused on investing in ways that help those communities thrive, from education and environmental protection to disaster relief and economic opportunity. This year's report highlights the scale of that work, and the launch of the Royal Caribbean Group Foundation gives us an even stronger platform to advance it for years to come."
In 2025, Royal Caribbean Group initiatives spanned six continents. Key highlights include:
Delivered $61 million in total community contributions value. Positively impacted 3.1 million individuals across 85+ destinations since 2023. Donated $10 million in charitable support this year across cash and in-kind support. Invested $13+ million in conservation efforts with the World Wildlife Fund since 2016. Celebrated 15 years of L'École Nouvelle Royal Caribbean in Haiti, which has educated more than 4,600 students and awarded over 700 secondary school scholarships. Raised $4.2 million for Make-A-Wish®, helping grant over 3,000 life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses over 25 years. Contributed $1.6 million to disaster relief efforts, including supporting recovery in Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa. Advanced biodiversity protection through support of the Galápagos Barcode Project, a citizen science initiative that trains local communities to collect DNA samples, helping build a biobank that documents native species and supports long-term conservation across the archipelago. The launch of the Royal Caribbean Foundation advances the company's belief in tourism as an economic vitality engine and commitment to creating positive community impact. The new foundation builds on a 30-year legacy of global investments, with the previously announced inaugural pledge to Jackson Health Foundation supporting education with the creation of a new emergency residency program to help fulfill Jackson's mission of innovative world-class care and workforce readiness in South Florida.
About Royal Caribbean Group
Royal Caribbean Group is a leading global vacation company spanning cruise, one-of-a-kind destinations, and land-based vacation experiences. The company operates 71 ships sailing to more than 1,000 destinations across all seven continents through its three wholly owned brands - Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea - and a 50% joint venture interest in TUI Cruises, which operates the Mein Schiff and Hapag-Lloyd brands.
The Group is expanding its portfolio of private destinations through its Perfect Day and Royal Beach Club collections, and the company will enter river cruising in 2027 with Celebrity River Cruises. Powered by innovative brands, advanced technology, and an industry-leading loyalty program, the company has built a connected vacation ecosystem, turning the vacation of a lifetime into a lifetime of vacations.
Named to the Fortune World's Most Admired Companies 2026 list and to Forbes' 2026 Best American Companies lists, Royal Caribbean Group is guided by its mission to deliver the best vacations responsibly. For more information, visit royalcaribbeangroup.com.
PayPal's (PYPL +2.37%) share price has stumbled by more than 25% year to date, and the stock now trades at a P/E ratio of 8. However, that doesn't make it a buy right away, and it may never climb to a lofty P/E ratio now that the growth narrative is mostly dead.
A premium valuation requires premium growth PayPal delivered 7% year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter, which is well below that of emerging fintech stocks like SoFi Technologies (up 41% in Q1) and Robinhood Markets (up 15%). PayPal's revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been declining in recent years. It has a 10-year CAGR of 13.9%, but only a 7.2% CAGR over the past three years.
Image source: Getty Images.
PayPal isn't delivering high user growth rates either. The company reached 439 million daily active users in Q1, which only represents a 1% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms, a company known by almost everyone, delivered 4% year-over-year user growth but turned that into 33% year-over-year revenue growth. More specifically, in fintech, SoFi grew its user base by 35% year over year.
PayPal doesn't have the exciting user growth rates of SoFi, and it can't translate low user growth into surging sales the way Meta Platforms can. PayPal CEO Enrique Lores said in the Q1 press release that he was confident that the company would soon return to "a more durable path to long-term growth," but the multiyear trend makes it an uphill battle.
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Competitors are squeezing margins PayPal didn't have many competitors in its early days, but that has changed. Apple and Alphabet have payment apps that bypass PayPal for transactions, which is how PayPal makes most of its money. Stripe is another major competitor, and as more companies enter the crowded arena, the best way to gain traction is to have lower fees.
This sets up a race to the bottom, and when it comes to such races, Apple and Alphabet can wait out almost anyone. That's not to suggest PayPal will go out of business. It has far too many users and has become an established brand. However, it will make it even more difficult for the company to gain meaningful market share and expand margins in the years ahead, and that can be enough to keep the stock at a low valuation.
PayPal's guidance hints at this reality. The company is projecting a mid-single-digit year-over-year decline in its full-year 2026 GAAP EPS growth rate.
PayPal also initiated a quarterly dividend last year, which further pushes the company away from a growth narrative. A $0.14-per-share quarterly dividend was comfortably covered with a $1.21 GAAP EPS in Q1. However, PayPal paid $130 million in dividends in Q1 while buying back $1.5 billion in stock. These investments add value to shareholders but not to the company.
All of these details suggest that PayPal has matured. Investors should treat its stock like a traditional bank with a yield, rather than expecting it to be a fintech stock that outperforms the S&P 500.
Marc Guberti has positions in Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, and PayPal. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short June 2026 $50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM | QCOM Price Prediction) shares have whipsawed into the chipmaker’s Investor Day, and our model says the post-selloff setup looks compelling on the data.
With the stock at $204.13 after a 8.01% single-day drop, our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Qualcomm is $278.13, implying 36.25% upside over the next 12 months. Our model frames this as a high-conviction setup with 90% confidence.
Metric Value Current Price $204.13 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $278.13 Upside 36.25% Model Stance Bullish (research view) Confidence Level 90% A Brutal Setup Into Investor Day Qualcomm has been the most volatile large-cap semi. Shares are down 4.64% over the past week and 13.96% over the past month, yet still up 20.57% year to date and 36.11% over the past year. Tuesday’s 8% slide was driven by SK Hynix HBM capacity slowdown, a Bank of America Underperform reiteration, and balance-sheet concerns around a reported $4 billion deal for AI software startup Modular and a rumored $8 to $10 billion bid for Tenstorrent.
Fundamentals remain solid. Q2 FY26 revenue of $10.60 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $2.65 both beat consensus, marking eight straight quarters of EPS beats. Automotive hit a record $1.33 billion (+38% YoY) and IoT grew 9%, while CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed the “leading hyperscaler custom silicon engagement is on track for initial shipments later this calendar year.”
Why Bulls See a Breakout Above $280 The bull case is straightforward: Qualcomm is no longer just a handset company. Combined Automotive plus IoT grew 20% YoY in Q2, the Alphawave Semi acquisition closed in Q1, and the pending Modular deal would hand Qualcomm a credible CUDA alternative via the MAX inference framework and Mojo programming language.
JPMorgan recently raised its target to $265, citing expectations that today’s Investor Day will reveal “significant data center revenue targets for 2027 and beyond.” Our bull-case scenario points to $288.34, a 41.25% return, with capital return cushioning downside via a fresh $20 billion buyback authorization.
The Risks Worth Watching Several headwinds warrant attention. Handsets fell 13% YoY in Q2, operating income dropped 26% YoY, and Q3 guidance of $9.2 to $10 billion revenue with EPS of $2.10 to $2.30 implies further sequential softness. Bank of America argues Qualcomm faces “hyper-competition in the AI data center market” with much upside already priced in, and the consensus analyst target sits at $183.83, below current levels.
GuruFocus flagged the stock as modestly overvalued versus a GF Value of $175.34, and net insider selling adds caution. The counterfactual: operating income compression reflects acquisition integration costs and heavy data center investment, and management still expects Chinese handsets to bottom in Q3 and grow sequentially in Q4. Our bear-case scenario lands at $222.75.
Qualcomm Price Prediction 2026 to 2030 Our 24/7 Wall St. price target of $278.13 reflects a buy rating with 90% confidence. At a PEG ratio of 0.958 and 21x forward earnings, Qualcomm trades at a discount to peers despite eight consecutive beats and entering two new multi-billion-dollar markets.
The thesis strengthens if today’s Investor Day confirms a concrete 2027 data center revenue ramp. The thesis weakens if management defers specifics and handset weakness extends past Q3.
Looking ahead, here is where our model projects Qualcomm could trade, assuming the data center ramp executes and Automotive growth holds.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $278 2027 $330 2028 $385 2029 $430 2030 $487 These projections assume Qualcomm executes on fiscal 2029 revenue goals and the hyperscaler silicon program scales. Significant upside or downside could result from Modular and Tenstorrent integrations, China policy shifts, or Apple modem insourcing accelerating faster than expected.
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
52-Week Range$18.97▼
$141.45Price Target$87.98
Intel Corporation NASDAQ: INTC has orchestrated a historic market reversal over the past six months, surging 281.8% year to date to trade near $141 per share. Investors evaluating this massive valuation expansion must look past legacy personal computer processor sales. The current momentum stems entirely from a highly subsidized, state-backed transition into a sovereign foundry powerhouse capable of rivaling Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company NYSE: TSM.
By securing unprecedented government backing and aggressively poaching top-tier manufacturing talent, Intel Corporation is systematically dismantling the primary barriers to domestic silicon fabrication. The thesis driving capital into Intel Corporation centers on a specific, highly lucrative bottleneck in the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware supply chain: advanced packaging.
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Stacking the Deck Against Overseas FoundriesModern artificial intelligence accelerators are no longer monolithic silicon chips. They rely on complex architectural designs that stack high-bandwidth memory directly alongside logic dies. This intricate physical assembly requires specialized back-end packaging technologies.
Currently, the broader semiconductor sector is constrained by the physical capacity limits of existing packaging lines. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company operates the dominant advanced packaging platform, but surging order volumes from hyperscalers have left those facilities severely oversubscribed. Major fabless designers are now scrambling for alternatives.
Recognizing this structural industry shortfall, management at Intel Corporation executed a decisive leadership overhaul on June 18, 2026, carving out advanced packaging into an independent, hyper-focused business division.
To lead this critical unit, the board appointed Seok-Hee Lee as Executive Vice President. Lee brings invaluable operational experience from his tenure as chief executive officer of SK hynix, the exact memory giant that pioneered high-bandwidth memory integration. Placing a seasoned memory and packaging veteran directly in charge of commercializing proprietary technologies like Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge-T and High-Density Hybrid Bonding signals a sharp operational pivot. The industry is recognizing that back-end packaging is just as critical to computing performance as shrinking transistor sizes.
Analysts are taking note of the revenue potential independent of traditional front-end wafer fabrication. Mizuho Securities recently raised its price target for Intel Corporation to $135, citing the potential for these distinct back-end packaging platforms to capture 10% to 15% of the total addressable market over the long term. Bank of America followed with an even more aggressive move, raising its price target on Intel Corporation to $160 from $135, marking its second target increase this month. While Mizuho’s upgraded target still trails Intel Corporation’s recent share price, Bank of America’s higher target suggests that parts of Wall Street still see upside despite the stock’s massive rally.
Apple and NVIDIA Validate the 18A-P NodeTo operate successfully as a contract foundry, a facility must demonstrate high, defect-free yields at volume. The clearest signal of yield viability comes from the capital commitments of industry leaders. The physical foundation for this validation was presented at the Honolulu VLSI Symposium earlier this month, where engineers from Intel Corporation confirmed that the enhanced 18A-P manufacturing process had officially entered risk production. This specific node delivers a 9% performance increase at equal power, an 18% power reduction at equal performance, and a 20% to 40% reduction in thermal resistance compared to standard 18A iterations.
Those thermal efficiencies perfectly position the 18A-P node for mobile and consumer computing applications. Days after the symposium, reports surfaced detailing a preliminary agreement with Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL to shift production of mature M-series processors and iPad chips to domestic fabrication lines utilizing the 18A-P process. While volume production is not expected to scale until mid-2027, securing the world's most demanding supply chain operator serves as the ultimate commercial validation for the new domestic nodes.
This consumer-level agreement pairs seamlessly with heavier data center initiatives. In December 2025, NVIDIA Corporation NASDAQ: NVDA finalized a $5 billion strategic equity investment in Intel Corporation, taking a roughly 4% stake at $23.28 per share. The two entities are co-developing multiple generations of custom x86 processors featuring high-speed interconnect integration. Embedding domestic manufacturing directly into the core of the leading artificial intelligence hardware ecosystem effectively creates an industry-wide backstop for Intel Corporation's survival.
Weighing Sovereign Backing Against RealityThe geopolitical necessity of a domestic semiconductor supply chain provides a unique floor for Intel Corporation. Brokered in August 2025, the U.S. government established a direct 10% equity stake via an initial $10 billion investment package. As Intel Corporation's market capitalization recently crossed $708 billion, its sovereign position has appreciated to more than $70 billion. Aligning national security interests directly with the foundry's financial viability mitigates the extreme downside risks that typically accompany a turnaround story of this magnitude.
Investors must square this immense structural optimism with harsh financial realities. Contract manufacturing is a highly capital-intensive business in which utilization rates determine profitability. If fabrication plants do not run at near-maximum capacity, depreciation costs rapidly erode margins.
Overall MarketRank™68th Percentile
Analyst RatingHold
Upside/Downside33.6% Downside
Short Interest LevelHealthy
Dividend StrengthN/A
News Sentiment0.97 Insider TradingSelling Shares
Proj. Earnings Growth53.97%
See Full Analysis
Intel Corporation currently trades at a stretched forward price-to-earnings ratio of 223x. The foundry division continues to post massive operating deficits, absorbing a $2.4 billion loss in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Heavy capital expenditures required to equip the localized Arizona facilities will guarantee continued margin compression for at least the next four to six quarters.
Comparing Intel Corporation to its primary overseas rival highlights the premium investors are currently paying. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company maintains a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 38x while already controlling 70% of the contract manufacturing market. Intel Corporation is currently pricing in years of flawless execution, creating a significant execution gap between today's capital outlays and mid-2027 revenue realization.
Despite the staggering multiples, institutional capital continues to flow toward the domestic production narrative. The institutional consensus reflects a firm belief that the shift in capital expenditure back toward domestic fabrication will generate cash flows large enough to justify the current premium valuation. Short interest remains remarkably low at just 2.69% of the public float, indicating a distinct lack of bearish conviction against the sovereign-backed rally.
Silicon Supercycle: Constructing a Position in American SiliconThe fundamental transition of Intel Corporation from a legacy designer to an essential contract manufacturer is fraught with capital-intensive hurdles. The aggressive restructuring of the advanced packaging division under proven leadership indicates that management correctly identifies where the actual value lies in the modern chip cycle.
Those looking to allocate capital in the semiconductor space may want to monitor the timeline for the 18A-P node as it moves from risk production to commercial scaling. Investors comfortable with near-term margin compression and elevated volatility might view pullbacks as an opportunity to gain exposure to the only viable onshore alternative to overseas fabrication. Cautious market participants may prefer to wait for the foundry division of Intel Corporation to string together two consecutive quarters of narrowing operating losses before establishing a full position.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Intel Right Now?Before you consider Intel, you'll want to hear this.
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I keep hitting the buy button on Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE | ADBE Price Prediction) because the market has handed me a chance to own a global software franchise at a multiple normally reserved for a dying utility. The stock is down 44.31% year to date and sits at $194.90, yet the underlying business just put up the strongest quarter in its history. That gap between price and performance is my entire thesis.
The Business Wall Street Says Is Cooked The bear story is that generative AI startups will eat Adobe’s lunch and that 4.2% inflation plus consumer debt will pinch enterprise software budgets. Yet in the quarter Adobe reported on June 11, 2026, revenue hit a record $6.62 billion, up 13% year over year. Non-GAAP diluted EPS came in at $5.96, the fifth consecutive beat. Total Adobe ARR exited the quarter at $27.10 billion. AI-first ARR, the very line item the bears say cannot exist for Adobe, tripled year over year and crossed $500 million. CEO Shantanu Narayen said the company is “raising our full-year fiscal 2026 revenue and non-GAAP EPS targets on the strength of that performance.” That commentary signals a franchise that is accelerating.
Three Reasons I Keep Adding Valuation. Adobe trades at a forward earnings multiple of 8x with a PEG of 0.534, a trailing P/E near 11x, and an EV/EBITDA of 7.8. That is being priced like a no-growth industrial. Yet management guided full year FY2026 revenue to $26.50 billion to $26.60 billion and non-GAAP EPS to $24.35 to $24.45, against a roughly 45.0% non-GAAP operating margin. Software companies with that profile rarely come this cheap.
Cash engine. Q2 operating cash flow was $2.165 billion against capex of just $58 million, on top of a record $10.030 billion in FY2025 operating cash flow. Management repurchased roughly 8.5 million shares for $2.111 billion in the quarter, retiring stock at depressed prices. Return on equity sits at 62.9%. That is the definition of a cash compounder.
Moat monetizing AI. Subscription revenue reached $6.39 billion, up 14% year over year. Acrobat surpassed 850 million monthly active users, Firefly ARR is approaching $300 million with 50% quarter-over-quarter growth, and the AI-first ARR in Customer Experience Orchestration grew 4x year over year. As Narayen put it, “creativity is an area where Adobe is uniquely qualified.” The retail crowd on Reddit captured it more bluntly: “Adobe already put it behind a paywall and called it dinner.”
The Risk I Will Not Wave Away The real worry is leadership transition layered onto a brutal stretch for the stock. CFO Dan Durn departed on June 15, 2026, with an interim CFO in place. The quarter included a $70 million goodwill impairment and a $30 million litigation accrual, and Form 4 filings show executives, including the CEO, sold common stock at prices between $206.36 and $248.02 in April and June rather than buying the dip. What does not change is that the stock now trades below where those insiders sold, the cash machine is unbroken, and the recurring revenue base keeps compounding regardless of who signs the 10-Q.
Why The Buy Button Stays Active Wall Street is paying a stagnant-business multiple for a franchise generating 35.3% operating margins and tripling its AI revenue line. Analysts carry a consensus target of $282.27 while the price sits at $194.90. I am buying Adobe because the cash flows are real, the buyback is shrinking my denominator, and the AI thesis is showing up in the ARR line every quarter. When a global software monopoly goes on sale at 8x forward earnings, I keep clicking buy.
Adobe (ADBE +0.67%) shares have plunged by more than 40% year to date. The stock trades below $200, a far cry from when the stock nearly touched $700 per share.
Artificial intelligence is on most investors' minds, especially with how easy it is to create images with AI tools. However, this fear has resulted in an unreasonably low valuation for a company that is still growing.
Image source: Getty Images.
Addressing the AI concern Software stocks sold off broadly amid concerns that artificial intelligence would replace software businesses, rendering them obsolete. Claude's Cowork demonstrated that its generative AI could replace software. While it's a major AI innovation, it's easy for investors to overestimate how quickly new technology will move and whether existing software businesses will become obsolete.
Adobe isn't the only software stock that has tumbled amid fears that SaaS companies may no longer be needed. Salesforce and Workday were both hit hard. Those two stocks have also lost more than 40% year to date.
While the surrounding narrative about Adobe and AI is that advanced technology can make Adobe obsolete, that is an extreme exaggeration that has driven the company's attractive 11 P/E ratio. Adobe's P/E ratio was in the mid-20s less than a year ago and comfortably held that position. Adobe can more than double in valuation alone.
Even the concerns about images are overblown. Getty Images proved there's little to worry about by securing a long-term deal with OpenAI. While AI is changing the digital landscape, investors are trading Adobe stock as if it were doomed to fail and wouldn't adapt.
Today's Change
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Adobe's fundamentals point to long-term growth Looking at Q1 results and the press release commentary makes the AI-fueled panic even more bizarre. Adobe delivered 12% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1, raised its full-year guidance, and cited "strong AI-driven demand across customer groups" as a major catalyst.
The company has a solid foundation, including $27.1 billion in annual recurring revenue. The company also generates over $500 million in annual recurring revenue from its AI segment, a figure that has more than doubled year over year.
Adobe continues to post net profit margins in the mid-20s. Its business is gaining market share despite the stock's year-to-date losses. That mismatch suggests Adobe can be a compelling long-term opportunity at current levels. Continued success with its AI products can strengthen the bullish narrative and reward investors who wait for the comeback story.
Marc Guberti has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Salesforce, and Workday. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $330 calls on Adobe and short January 2028 $340 calls on Adobe. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?
Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.
Shopify currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.56, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 47 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.56 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 47 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 32 are Strong Buy and three are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 68.1% and 6.4% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for SHOP
Check price target & stock forecast for Shopify here>>>
While the ABR calls for buying Shopify, it may not be wise to make an investment decision solely based on this information. Several studies have shown limited to no success of brokerage recommendations in guiding investors to pick stocks with the best price increase potential.
Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.
This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.
With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, which classifies stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), is a reliable indicator of a stock's near-term price performance. So, validating the Zacks Rank with ABR could go a long way in making a profitable investment decision.
Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRAlthough both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1--5, they are different measures altogether.
Broker recommendations are the sole basis for calculating the ABR, which is typically displayed in decimals (such as 1.28). The Zacks Rank, on the other hand, is a quantitative model designed to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
Analysts employed by brokerage firms have been and continue to be overly optimistic with their recommendations. Since the ratings issued by these analysts are more favorable than their research would support because of the vested interest of their employers, they mislead investors far more often than they guide.
On the other hand, earnings estimate revisions are at the core of the Zacks Rank. And empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
Furthermore, the different grades of the Zacks Rank are applied proportionately across all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide earnings estimates for the current year. In other words, at all times, this tool maintains a balance among the five ranks it assigns.
Another key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank is freshness. The ABR is not necessarily up-to-date when you look at it. But, since brokerage analysts keep revising their earnings estimates to account for a company's changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in indicating future price movements.
Is SHOP Worth Investing In?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Shopify, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.82.
Analysts' steady views regarding the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by an unchanged consensus estimate, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Shopify. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
It may therefore be prudent to be a little cautious with the Buy-equivalent ABR for Shopify.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 after the market closed on Tuesday.
FedEx delivered fourth-quarter revenue of $25 billion, beating analyst estimates of $24.04 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company posted adjusted earnings of $6.31 per share, beating estimates of $5.96 per share.
"Our profitable growth strategy is working. We are building momentum across our global industrial network, driving structural improvements and winning in high-value growth markets," said Raj Subramaniam, president and CEO of FedEx.
However, the company said operating margin in the Federal Express segment shrank to 7.7% from 8.4% a year ago.
FedEx expects revenue growth of 11% year-over-year for calendar year 2026. The company also guided for calendar year 2026 adjusted earnings in the range of $16.90 to $18.10 per share.
FedEx shares fell 0.7% to trade at $314.57 on Wednesday.
These analysts made changes to their price targets on FedEx following earnings announcement.
UBS analyst Thomas Wadewitz maintained the stock with a Buy and lowered the price target from $445 to $350. Stifel analyst J. Bruce Chan maintained the stock with a Buy and lowered the price target from $442 to $326. Considering buying FDX stock? Here’s what analysts think:
Photo via Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
FedEx FDX remains relatively unchanged in trading after reporting significant earnings per share (EPS) growth and moderate revenue gains for its Q4 (May) earnings. This report is particularly noteworthy as it marks the first time FedEx is evaluated as a standalone entity following the spin-off of its FedEx Freight FDXF segment on June 1. Additionally, FedEx has shifted its fiscal year-end from May 31 to December 31, aligning with the calendar year. This change may lead to some confusion when comparing future results to consensus estimates.
For guidance, FedEx anticipates adjusted EPS from continuing operations for calendar year 2026 to range between $16.90 and $18.10. The company also projects an 11% revenue increase on a base of approximately $82 billion for calendar year 2025.
Express Quality: FedEx Express reported a 14% year-over-year revenue increase in Q4, with adjusted operating income rising by 13%. Key metrics include a 3% increase in U.S. domestic volume, a 5% rise in international export package volume, a 12% boost in export freight pounds, and an 11% improvement in package yield. Headwinds: Despite facing significant challenges such as global trade policy shifts and the grounding of its MD-11 aircraft fleet, FedEx celebrated its Q4 performance. The company began safely reintroducing the MD-11s last month and expects the entire fleet to be operational ahead of the peak season. Mix Over Volume: Management highlighted that U.S. growth was primarily driven by Ground commercial and Home Delivery services. However, Ground Economy volume intentionally decreased by about 5% as FedEx focused on higher-yield business opportunities. Additionally, international domestic volume fell by 9% as part of a profit-improvement strategy in Europe. Margins and Cost Bridge: Management noted that variable compensation significantly impacted Q4 profitability. While fuel surcharge revenue contributed to revenue growth, it did not enhance net profit materially; excluding fuel effects, margins would have shown year-over-year growth. Transformation Progress: FedEx exceeded its $1 billion savings target from initiatives such as Network 2.0 and Tricolor. The company is on track to achieve nearly $1 billion in savings from Network 2.0 and related One FedEx projects by the end of calendar year 2026, and $2 billion by the end of 2027. FedEx's recent quarter demonstrated solid performance across key metrics, showcasing strong earnings, improving package yields, and healthy volume trends in both domestic and international markets. This report provides insight into FedEx's operations as a standalone transportation entity post-Freight spin-off, a move management believes will enhance shareholder value over time. The stock's tepid reaction may reflect investor expectations rather than operational execution, especially since shares had surged around 75% from their October lows in anticipation of the spin-off and potential valuation increases. Against this backdrop, FedEx's outlook for calendar year 2026 appears promising, though not extraordinary.
This stock alert was generated using automated technology and GuruFocus financial data to provide readers with timely and accurate market reporting. This content was reviewed by GuruFocus editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
FedEx (FDX) posted earnings that initially sparked a sell-off, though investors piled in at the start of Wednesday's session to push back many of those losses. Marley Kayden runs investors through the earnings and what analysts have to say about the global shipping company.
The day after FedEx (NYSE:FDX | FDX Price Prediction) reported, the stock is down again, and an analyst on CNBC’s Closing Bell Overtime spent his segment trying to convince viewers that the people selling are reading the wrong line of the income statement. The shares finished the prior session lower and slid another 1.83% in Wednesday’s session to $311.43, after dropping roughly 9.3% in the first hour following the 8-K hitting Tuesday after the close. That gives you a stock that is up 70% over the past year and is still up sharply year to date, now marked down on a quarter most of the sell side spent the prior week telling clients would be a beat.
The revenue beat the analyst says is getting buried The analyst’s pitch starts with the headline numbers. Revenue of $25 billion came in roughly a billion dollars ahead of consensus, adjusted EPS of $6.31 topped the Street by $0.36, and Federal Express segment revenue grew 14% year over year to $21.57 billion. International priority package revenue grew 20%, with yield up 16% to $71.12. The streak now stands at four consecutive quarters of beating Wall Street. The full earnings release is on file with the regulator here.
So what is the market mad about? Operating income fell 21.94% year over year. That is the number that traders are anchoring to, and the analyst argued that anchor is on the wrong bottom.
Why fuel surcharges may be distorting the margin picture FedEx passes fuel costs through to customers via surcharges, but the surcharge formula resets on a lag. When WTI is calm, the math is invisible. When WTI goes vertical, it stops working. And vertical is what happened. Crude spiked to $114.58 per barrel on April 7, 2026 and stayed elevated through May, with prices touching $112.25 in mid-May before drifting back toward the mid-$80s by mid-June.
The analyst put it this way on air. “Fuel prices were obviously very parabolic in the early part of the quarter. You can have an EBIT offset with fuel surcharges, but if your costs go up by the same amount as your revenue, that could be margin dilutive.” Both sides of the ratio inflate together, so the percentage shrinks even though the dollars of profit don’t. Revenue gets a fuel-driven tailwind, costs get the same dollar tailwind, and the margin line looks worse than the underlying franchise is performing. If WTI normalizes (and the latest reading suggests it might be), that optical compression unwinds.
The guide that doesn’t fit on a single line The other half of the misinterpretation argument is about the calendar. FedEx is moving its fiscal year-end from May 31 to December 31 effective June 1, 2026, which leaves a seven-month stub period with no clean consensus to compare against. The guide of roughly 11% year-over-year revenue growth is, by the analyst’s read, well above his own 7% model, even though the headline screen-read of adjusted EPS of $16.90 to $18.10 looks soft against a stale consensus near $19.86. A new pilots agreement loading into the back half of calendar 2026 adds cost, but the analyst said that one “should have been anticipated.”
Package volume came in light, but yield made up the gap and then some. Composite package yield was up 11% to $17.90, U.S. priority yield rose 10% to $28.41, and transformation work delivered more than $1 billion in cost savings against a stated target of $1 billion. Capital spending closed at 4.0% of revenue, the lowest in company history. CEO Raj Subramaniam said “Our profitable growth strategy is working.”
UBS kept its Buy rating but cut its target to $350 from $445, while Bernstein went into the quarter at Outperform with a $424 target. The first FedEx Freight quarter as a standalone public company will be the first place to test whether the parcel margin story holds without the freight headwind in the consolidated line.
New ABA program reflects growing demand for association-led financial solutions and lays groundwork for future member and consumer offerings
, /PRNewswire/ -- Mercantile, a financial services platform and division of Onboard Partners, which is focused on expanding responsible access to credit for small and professional service businesses, today announced a new collaboration with the American Bar Association (ABA) to expand access to purpose-built credit solutions for legal professionals nationwide. The new ABA American Express® Business Card will be issued by Celtic Bank and run on the American Express Network — providing ABA Members access to Amex Network benefits, offerings, and protections.
The card offering is designed to better support solo practitioners and small law firms—segments that often need flexible financing to manage cash flow and invest in growth. Through Mercantile's platform, the ABA will offer a new member-focused business credit card designed specifically for the realities of running a modern legal practice, combining competitive rewards with tools that help firms build stronger financial footing.
The ABA American Express® Business Card includes:
Up to 2% cash back on everyday business spending* Up to 5% cash back on ABA spend up to $2,000 per year* Access to Amex Offers and Amex Network benefits across travel, lifestyle, and retail, as well as insurance protections Payment options, including weekly autopay and solutions that allow a broad spectrum of applicants to gain access to credit The ability to build a stronger business credit profile over time while managing budgets and day-to-day expenses "This collaboration reflects Mercantile's commitment to working with trusted institutions to deliver responsible financial solutions," said Scott Shaw, CEO and President at Onboard Partners, Mercantile's parent company. "By teaming with the ABA and leveraging the American Express Network, we're helping create a program that supports legal professionals where they are today—while laying the foundation for future offerings as member needs continue to evolve."
"American Express is proud to partner with Mercantile and the American Bar Association," said Will Stredwick, SVP and GM of Global Network Services for North America at American Express. "Solo practitioners and small law firms need financial solutions that work as hard as they do. The ABA American Express® Business Card delivers tools that help legal professionals manage cash flow, earn on core business expenses, and access the benefits and protections of the American Express Network."
The ABA selected Mercantile following an evaluation process focused on member alignment, operational rigor, and long-term scalability, choosing a platform designed to support small business members. This collaboration also joins a growing roster of association partnerships Mercantile has built over the past five years and marks the continued expansion of the Mercantile American Express card program across professional verticals.
The Mercantile & ABA cobrand program is built on the American Express Agile Partner Platform (APP), which enables fintechs and program managers to create and introduce customized payment products quickly, securely, and seamlessly in partnership with American Express.
For more information, visit about.americanbar.cards
*Program offer terms and conditions apply. See the full Rewards Terms & Conditions for more information. Subject to credit approval.
About Mercantile
Mercantile is a financial services platform and a division of Onboard Partners, focused on expanding access to credit for small and professional service businesses. Mercantile works with trusted organizations to design and operate responsible, scalable credit card programs that support growth, transparency, and long-term financial health. Programs are enabled on leading payment networks, including American Express.
About the American Bar Association
The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary association of lawyers and legal professionals in the world. Founded in 1878, the ABA works to serve its members, improve the legal profession, and promote justice, equity, and the rule of law.
About American Express
American Express (NYSE: AXP) is a global payments and premium lifestyle brand powered by technology. Our colleagues around the world back our customers with differentiated products, services, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.
Founded in 1850 and headquartered in New York, American Express' brand is built on trust, security, service, and a rich history of delivering innovation and Membership value for our customers. We seek to provide the world's best customer experience every day to a broad range of consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, and large corporations, and we build and manage relationships with millions of merchants across our global network. For more information about American Express, visit americanexpress.com, americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/, and ir.americanexpress.com.
