When Kevin Hart announced in January that he’d licensed his name to Authentic Brands Group , the popular comedian was silent on a key detail: the future of his namesake media company. Hart sold some ownership and oversight of his brand in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money and a stake in Authentic, a New York-based firm that manages the likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O...
When Kevin Hart announced in January that he’d licensed his name to Authentic Brands Group , the popular comedian was silent on a key detail: the future of his namesake media company. Hart sold some ownership and oversight of his brand in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money and a stake in Authentic, a New York-based firm that manages the likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal and David Beckham. Hart used the partnership with Authentic to reset his relationship with the people around him and his company, according to six current and former employees. Hart’s employees say they worry that this deal marks the beginning of the end of Hartbeat, the comedian’s namesake media company that produces films, owns a network of short-form video channels and handles marketing for brands. Though the announcement made no mention of Hartbeat, the agreement gave Hart money to buy out his private equity partner in the company over time and regain control of the use of his name, image and likeness. Hart’s endorsement deals, which had been a pillar of Hartbeat business, will now be handled by Authentic. Once valued at about $650 million, Hartbeat has shriveled over the past few years. The company enacted its latest round of job cuts in December, firing the heads of its scripted TV division, as well as employees working across marketing, social media and brand partnerships, said the people. Earlier this year it let go the leaders of its podcast division and later sued them for breach of contract. Hart has withdrawn from the company, leaving day-to-day management in the hands of a small group of executives. Staff meetings have been canceled. The development of new film and TV projects has slowed. A slate of new podcasts was pitched but never produced. Hartbeat’s struggles reflected the challenging environment for many Hollywood production companies as media giants merge and cut spending. The company is also a cautionary tale in this age of the celebrity media mog...
LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RadNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDNT), a national leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective, fixed-site outpatient diagnostic imaging services through a network of 435 outpatient imaging centers and a premier developer of radiology digital health solutions, today reported financial results for its first quarter of 2026.
LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RadNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDNT), a national leader in providing high-quality, cost-effective, fixed-site outpatient diagnostic imaging services through a network of 435 outpatient imaging centers and a premier developer of radiology digital health solutions, today reported financial results for its first quarter of 2026.
Wall Street is increasingly nervous about hyperscaler capex. The combined capital expenditure of the four biggest hyperscalers — Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), and Meta ( META ) — was just over $200B in 2024. Two years later it is on track to approach $700B. Free cash flow at the same four companies fell to a combined $200B last year, down from $237B in 2024, con...
Wall Street is increasingly nervous about hyperscaler capex. The combined capital expenditure of the four biggest hyperscalers — Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), and Meta ( META ) — was just over $200B in 2024. Two years later it is on track to approach $700B. Free cash flow at the same four companies fell to a combined $200B last year, down from $237B in 2024, consumed by the build-out. The question investors are asking: what happens to this spending if the economy turns? History offers a partial answer from an unlikely source. By 1930, AT&T's ( T ) Bell System was spending $585M annually on construction — the largest single private infrastructure program in American history. Then the Depression hit. GDP collapsed, unemployment reached 25%, and corporate America retrenched. Bell did not. Telephone installations declined, but infrastructure investment continued. The dividend held at $9 per share every year from 1929 to 1942 without interruption — through the worst economic catastrophe in American history. The mechanism was simple: Bell had no choice. Stopping was more dangerous than continuing. A telephone network only has value if it keeps growing. The moment Bell stopped building, it began losing the monopoly logic that justified its existence. The arms race imperative made retrenchment structurally irrational. That logic has a modern echo. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently described AI as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the current growth is unprecedented and the future growth even bigger." That's not a growth forecast. It's a statement about competitive risk. Hyperscaler capex budgets are now set to make up 2.2% of U.S. GDP — and the companies spending it have said, repeatedly, that the danger is not over-investing but being caught under-invested when the cycle matures. Combined capital expenditure at the five largest hyperscalers - adding Oracle ( ORCL ) - has been growing at an average of 72% per year since mid-2023. AI as...
Investors riding a scorching run of market momentum will look for fresh signs Mideast hostilities can be defused when trading resumes Sunday night New York time. Iran offered to transfer some of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a third country in its response to the latest US proposal to end 10 weeks of war, but rejected the idea of dismantling its nuclear facilities, the Wall Street Jo...
Investors riding a scorching run of market momentum will look for fresh signs Mideast hostilities can be defused when trading resumes Sunday night New York time. Iran offered to transfer some of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a third country in its response to the latest US proposal to end 10 weeks of war, but rejected the idea of dismantling its nuclear facilities, the Wall Street Journal reported. Highlighting ongoing tension in a conflict that has killed thousands and driven up oil prices, a drone strike on Sunday briefly set a cargo vessel ablaze off Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Futures trading in stocks, bonds and energy resumes in earnest at 6 p.m. New York time. President Donald Trump has proposed that Iran permit passage through the Strait of Hormuz and Washington end its blockade on Iranian ports in the next month. The two sides remain far apart on the question of Tehran’s nuclear program, according to the Journal. Global stocks surged last week, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 to fresh records, while 10-year Treasury yields rose and crypto jumped. A solid US employment report, along with a drumbeat of strong corporate results, has bolstered speculation that the world’s largest economy remains resilient in the face of energy stress triggered by the Iran war. “With the earnings season now largely behind us, investors’ focus remains firmly on the Strait of Hormuz and whether tanker traffic through this critical chokepoint improves,” said Julien Lafargue , chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management. “Recent developments have been modestly encouraging.” About 82% of the S&P 500’s companies have beaten first-quarter profit estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Across markets, the success of the momentum strategy — piling into recent winners, effectively — has become a defining feature. Junk bonds and crypto have been drawn in, and one momentum index in equities closed Friday near the highest since the globa...
Welcome to CFO Briefing, a newsletter dedicated to corporate finance and what leaders need to know. This week’s edition features a Bloomberg interview with KKR CFO Robert Lewin. But first, here’s a look at finance chiefs’ pay and tenure. The tradeoff Companies are getting pickier about who they want to lead their finance departments, and they’re willing to pay a premium for the right candidate. Co...
Welcome to CFO Briefing, a newsletter dedicated to corporate finance and what leaders need to know. This week’s edition features a Bloomberg interview with KKR CFO Robert Lewin. But first, here’s a look at finance chiefs’ pay and tenure. The tradeoff Companies are getting pickier about who they want to lead their finance departments, and they’re willing to pay a premium for the right candidate. Compensation for chief financial officers has jumped 62% over the past six years, about 2.4 times faster than for the average American worker and outpacing even chief executive pay, according to a study by financial planning and analysis platform Datarails . The average salary for CFOs at America’s largest companies is approaching $3.9 million annually. At the same time, finance chiefs have the least job security in the C-suite, with an average tenure of just 2.1 years, the report says. These two seemingly contradictory trends can be explained by one inescapable force: a more volatile operating environment, according to Jonathan Marciano , the report’s lead author and head of communications at Datarails. Amid shocks including the pandemic, tariffs, geopolitical conflict and the rise of generative AI, companies are seeking CFOs who can meet the moment—and are quick to replace those who fall short. “Boards are increasingly impatient,” Marciano said. “When you’ve got a volatile macroeconomic environment like rates and inflation and tariffs, obviously the CFO is often the first person the board looks to when financial performance disappoints.” This hair-trigger mindset has resulted in an elevated turnover rate among CFOs. Sixty percent of companies have changed their CFO in the past six years, while 8.8% are repeat switchers, replacing their finance chief at least twice. In some cases, the churn has tracked specific market events, such as one Bitcoin miner’s rapid-fire rotation through four CFOs as the cryptocurrency peaked and crashed. “It’s a high-pressure environment with high...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images In a week when the US-Iran conflict escalated, de-escalated, and then escalated again, the S&P 500 ( SPY ) seemed mostly oblivious as it exceeded 7400 for the first time and closed 2.33% higher. It is now within 0.35% of the first major technical target of 7425, and it may be time to prepare for the unwind of the trend. That doesn't mean close all long positions and lo...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images In a week when the US-Iran conflict escalated, de-escalated, and then escalated again, the S&P 500 ( SPY ) seemed mostly oblivious as it exceeded 7400 for the first time and closed 2.33% higher. It is now within 0.35% of the first major technical target of 7425, and it may be time to prepare for the unwind of the trend. That doesn't mean close all long positions and look for a top; the unwind can take weeks and typically consists of a series of failed new highs and dips. October '25 to February of this year is a good example. My preparation involves setting expectations and thinking about how the bias can shift from bullish to bearish. I plan to lighten up into strength, buy weakness, and I won't reduce exposure significantly until my expectations are met. S&P 500 Monthly There are three full weeks to go in May, so we can't read much into the monthly bar yet. It is currently 2.33% higher, and in midterm years, it averages -0.7%. It's quite possible to rally further to the monthly target of 7490 (where the 2025-2026 rally would be equal in size (points) to the 2022-2025 rally), then reverse and close lower or flat. If that were to happen, it could develop into a reversal. SPX Monthly ( TradingView ) 7,002, 6,901, and 6,474 are potential supports. A DeMARK exhaustion count was completed in February and had a brief effect with the March drop. No new signal is due this year. S&P 500 Weekly The weekly chart is about as bullish as it gets, and last week followed the usual bullish pattern of a quick dip on Monday to set the low of the week, followed by expansion higher and a close at the highs on Friday. While I always accept that anything can happen, as long as the weekly chart looks like this, new highs are very likely. SPX Weekly ( TradingView ) As each new bar unfolds, there is the potential to form a reversal. The usual way to do that would be to make a new high that fails and then drop into a weak (at the low of the weekly range) close on...
In Brazil’s rough-and-tumble Congress, Senator Ciro Nogueira rose to near-untouchable status for his skill in kingmaking and cutting deals while fending off corruption allegations that have dogged his long career. Now fresh accusations are threatening to sink him. Leia em português . On Thursday, federal authorities served search and seizure warrants against Nogueira , turning him into the highest...
In Brazil’s rough-and-tumble Congress, Senator Ciro Nogueira rose to near-untouchable status for his skill in kingmaking and cutting deals while fending off corruption allegations that have dogged his long career. Now fresh accusations are threatening to sink him. Leia em português . On Thursday, federal authorities served search and seizure warrants against Nogueira , turning him into the highest-profile elected official to face claims of wrongdoing related to Banco Master, a now-defunct bank at the center of a sprawling fraud probe . Investigators say Nogueira, who served as former President Jair Bolsonaro ’s chief of staff, used his sway to help ex-Master chief executive Daniel Vorcaro expand the bank’s business in exchange for bribes and kickbacks. The senator denies wrongdoing, “especially in his parliamentary activities,” his lawyers said. But the formal targeting of Nogueira — who’s faced months of scrutiny over his apparent ties to Vorcaro — nevertheless produced another dramatic turn in the scandal that was already roiling Brazil’s political elite ahead of an October presidential election. Revelations about Vorcaro’s ties to the upper reaches of the country’s political system have weighed on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva , with opponents attempting to channel voter rage over corruption even if the leftist leader hasn’t been linked to Master. The case against Nogueira, one of the country’s most prominent conservatives, is now posing risks to right-wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro , Jair’s eldest son and Lula’s top challenger in the race. Read More: Banco Master CEO’s Contacts Are a Who’s Who of Brazil Elite Flavio Bolsonaro called the allegations “serious” in a Thursday statement, saying he backed a thorough investigation into them. But privately, his allies in Congress have expressed worry about broader political fallout from the probe in an election year, according to a person familiar with the situation, requesting anonymity to speak freely. “It’s a ...
Washington last picked No 1 overall in 2010 Wizards had worst record in the NBA this season The league’s worst team this season are getting the No 1 pick in the NBA draft. The Washington Wizards won the draft lottery on Sunday and are poised to pick first overall for the first time since choosing John Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards’ on-stage representative for this year’s lottery....
Washington last picked No 1 overall in 2010 Wizards had worst record in the NBA this season The league’s worst team this season are getting the No 1 pick in the NBA draft. The Washington Wizards won the draft lottery on Sunday and are poised to pick first overall for the first time since choosing John Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards’ on-stage representative for this year’s lottery. Utah won the right to pick No 2, Memphis will pick No 3 and Chicago will pick No 4. Continue reading...
Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) is designing a small nuclear reactor that could change how we power the world. Or, at least, how artificial intelligence (AI) gets fed. Indeed, with backing from Sam Altman and partnerships with several leading names in the AI data center space, Oklo is quickly emerging as a solution to one of AI's biggest bottlenecks: keeping servers running when the power grid is already strain...
Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) is designing a small nuclear reactor that could change how we power the world. Or, at least, how artificial intelligence (AI) gets fed. Indeed, with backing from Sam Altman and partnerships with several leading names in the AI data center space, Oklo is quickly emerging as a solution to one of AI's biggest bottlenecks: keeping servers running when the power grid is already strained. The downside, of course, is that Oklo doesn't have a single reactor operating in the wild. It doesn't even have regulatory approval to commercialize them. That makes the company's current market cap of $12.5 billion seem staggeringly high for a business still years away from proving its economics. Continue reading
Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, 💰 Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Last week, we discussed the S&P earnings record and why such record earnings could be a warning for the market. I want to continue that discussion by focusing not only on what has happened but also on what is expected to happen in the future. Whi...
Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, 💰 Earnings Estimate Revisions Are Very Optimistic Last week, we discussed the S&P earnings record and why such record earnings could be a warning for the market. I want to continue that discussion by focusing not only on what has happened but also on what is expected to happen in the future. While the Q1 2026 earnings results are spectacular, so far, the earnings estimate revisions behind them are the real story. The first-quarter 2026 earnings season is delivering results that Wall Street rarely sees. With roughly two-thirds of the S&P 500 having reported, the blended growth rate has climbed to 27.1% year-over-year, more than double the 13.2% that consensus modeled at the end of the quarter on March 31. If that figure holds, it will be the strongest year-over-year print since the post-COVID rebound quarter of Q4 2021. 84% of companies have beaten EPS, 81% have beaten revenue, and the average earnings surprise sits at 20.7%, nearly three times the 5-year average of 7.3%. That’s the surface story. The more interesting question, and the one investors should be asking, is why analysts were so wrong heading in, and what it means that they’re now revising earnings estimates higher with a velocity that has almost no historical parallel. Look at Morgan Stanley’s chart of consensus 2026 earnings estimate revisions versus history. In any normal year, by the time Q1 earnings season rolls around, analysts have been quietly walking earnings estimates down for six months. The historical median revision pattern drifts from 1.00 in January to roughly 0.92 by year-end. Two years of cuts. That’s the analyst playbook. Start the year too optimistic, get reset by reality, and end the year right. This year is doing the opposite. The 2026 earnings estimate index cratered to 0.96 last summer during the Iran shock, then turned vertical. By May, it’s broken above 1.06. We’re looking at a ...
Scott Olson Shake Shack’s ( SHAK ) latest earnings reset suggests the premium burger chain is being pulled deeper into the value-meal era, as lower-income consumers face pressure and McDonald’s ( MCD ) leans harder into affordability. The issue is not that Shake Shack has lost its brand cachet. JPMorgan said the company began as a “fine-dining founded Fine Casual largely destination-oriented brand...
Scott Olson Shake Shack’s ( SHAK ) latest earnings reset suggests the premium burger chain is being pulled deeper into the value-meal era, as lower-income consumers face pressure and McDonald’s ( MCD ) leans harder into affordability. The issue is not that Shake Shack has lost its brand cachet. JPMorgan said the company began as a “fine-dining founded Fine Casual largely destination-oriented brand,” with broad consumer and competitor appeal. But the firm now sees “an expectations problem matched with an evolving business model,” as Shake Shack expands beyond its original urban, higher-income customer base and needs higher frequency from a broader range of consumers. That shift has made value more important. JPMorgan noted that Shake Shack’s typical double-cheeseburger combo, including a soft drink but not a shake, often tops $18-$20, compared with roughly $15 at fast-food peers. Chicken combos are similarly above the QSR benchmark, at about $15 versus roughly $10 at peers. But app-only deals, including $1 sodas, $3 fries and $5 shakes, bring Shake Shack’s combo pricing more in line with the broader market. Those promotions are not just defensive. JPMorgan said the $1-$3-$5 soda-fries-shake platform has helped drive more than 30% year-over-year growth in in-app transactions, along with a roughly 50% increase in app downloads, while giving members an effective starting combo price of about $12. The firm said the digital channel remains small enough, at just over 10% of sales, to limit cannibalization of in-store traffic. Still, the market’s reaction showed little patience for volatility. Shake Shack shares fell sharply after the company reported first-quarter earnings , with JPMorgan pointing to elevated expectations and an April same-store sales decline of 0.6%, including an Easter shift headwind. May trends improved with the launch of a $12.99 Boneless Rib sandwich, but JPMorgan said the company’s second-quarter comp guide implies a 5%-8% May/June trend, which it ca...