Chester Cup provided fine finale after festival was saved by repairs after horses slipped in Thursday’s opener A Piece Of Heaven’s 7-1 success in the Chester Cup, the most popular and historic race of the year at the world’s oldest racecourse, was a fine way to round off the track’s May festival meeting on Friday, not least after a day when, for around an hour or so in early afternoon, the event h...
Chester Cup provided fine finale after festival was saved by repairs after horses slipped in Thursday’s opener A Piece Of Heaven’s 7-1 success in the Chester Cup, the most popular and historic race of the year at the world’s oldest racecourse, was a fine way to round off the track’s May festival meeting on Friday, not least after a day when, for around an hour or so in early afternoon, the event had teetered on the edge of an expensive, embarrassing disaster. The odds that the middle day of Chester’s showpiece event would be abandoned, with around 15,000 spectators at the track for Ladies’ Day, seemed to be shortening at 2.30pm on Thursday, as a delegation of jockeys and trainers inspected the turf on the home turn. Continue reading...
juvaida khatun/iStock via Getty Images Performance Review The Fund (Institutional Class) returned -1.17 percent in the first quarter, compared with the -0.50 percent return for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Corporate Index. The Fund benefitted from solid credit selection in capital goods, as it avoided certain issuers whose fundamentals deteriorated during the quarter. This was offs...
juvaida khatun/iStock via Getty Images Performance Review The Fund (Institutional Class) returned -1.17 percent in the first quarter, compared with the -0.50 percent return for its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Corporate Index. The Fund benefitted from solid credit selection in capital goods, as it avoided certain issuers whose fundamentals deteriorated during the quarter. This was offset by the bank loan exposure as well as the underweight to energy, which was the top performing sector during the quarter. Strategy and Positioning New issuance volume increased year-over-year as issuers continued to access the market. We remained selective in participating in new issues, particularly in data center issuance. The Fund remained positioned up in quality versus the benchmark, driven by an underweight to CCCs. This quality bias was a tailwind during the quarter, as CCCs underperformed meaningfully. High yield spreads widened by 50 basis points to 317 basis points. We continue to see opportunities to invest in credits that are trading cheap relative to their fundamentals and their risk of default/loss. Economic and Market Review High yield delivered slightly negative returns in the first quarter, following 13 consecutive quarters of positive performance. Geopolitical sentiments and wider credit spreads weighed on sentiment. Negative performance was led by interest rate sensitive sectors, including mortgage originators and consumer finance companies. Technology also underperformed in the beginning of the quarter before rebounding in March, as concerns around AI-driven disruption weighed on the sector. Energy delivered positive returns, up 2.5 percent, as oil prices surged to $101 per barrel. Higher quality bonds relatively outperformed in the first quarter with BBs returning -0.2 percent, Bs returning -0.6 percent, and CCCs returning -1.3 percent. U.S. high yield new issuance volume totaled $80 billion in the first quarter, up 16 percent compared to first quarter...
And so here we are - the much anticipated fragmentation of British politics . A rowdy gawdy tent has been erected in the middle of the UK political landscape. Reform has taken its first London council alongside Tory strongholds like Essex Council (Conservative for a quarter of a century); the Greens have won their first elected mayoralty in Hackney and while it’s still early in declarations, Scotl...
And so here we are - the much anticipated fragmentation of British politics . A rowdy gawdy tent has been erected in the middle of the UK political landscape. Reform has taken its first London council alongside Tory strongholds like Essex Council (Conservative for a quarter of a century); the Greens have won their first elected mayoralty in Hackney and while it’s still early in declarations, Scotland sees the SNP trounce Labour once more. In Wales, just before we pressed send on this newsletter, Labour’s first minister lost her seat - an historic first. More humiliation is likely in a place where Labour, as our Joe Mayes writes, has “come out on top for more than a century”. Even with only seven of Holyrood’s 129 seats declared, Labour’s Scottish leader Anas Sarwar was blunt: “We made an argument for change and, ultimately, it’s an argument we lost.” Despite much criticism of the SNP’s record in government, the Scottish nationalists defied gravity and won new ground, including edging the Lib Dems out in Shetland after 27 years. The Hartlepool Labour MP called for Starmer to go after Reform’s clean sweep there. Starmer’s former Transport secretary Louise Haigh has also suggested he should bow out if he can’t deliver “significant change” while other figures on the left also predicted Labour could be heading for “annihilation”. And yet. As political assassins go, these knife wielders are not as menacing as they could be. Indeed, despite such widespread losses, the prevailing mood is that the Labour party is stuck and so Starmer is staying. First of all, to help you sift through the cacophony of analysis, here’s my Bloomberg reading list this tea time: Starmer Vows to Stay On as Farage Gains in Labour Heartlands London Offers a Snapshot of an Increasingly Ungovernable UK Keir Starmer Has A Chance to Pause Britain’s Pyschodrama So why is Starmer looking relatively safe this tea time? Well for starters, look at the response from the gilt markets once he insisted he was st...
Earnings Call Insights: Cardlytics, Inc. (CDLX) Q1 2026 Management View "As I mentioned on our last call, 2026 is a year of execution for us." (CEO & Director Amit Gupta) "After a prolonged period, we are pleased to report that our supply has stabilized and many of our existing FI partners are actively engaging with us to co-develop growth opportunities." (CEO & Director Gupta) "Building on strong...
Earnings Call Insights: Cardlytics, Inc. (CDLX) Q1 2026 Management View "As I mentioned on our last call, 2026 is a year of execution for us." (CEO & Director Amit Gupta) "After a prolonged period, we are pleased to report that our supply has stabilized and many of our existing FI partners are actively engaging with us to co-develop growth opportunities." (CEO & Director Gupta) "Building on strong program performance and positive customer response, we will onboard new cardholder portfolios with one of our larger FI partners later this year." (CEO & Director Gupta) "In the case of one of our newer neobanks, the Double Days program continues to be a lever for increased consumer engagement and drove 0.25 million new activators during the event." (CEO & Director Gupta) "We continue to see interest in the Cardlytics Rewards Platform or CRP, from partners across multiple industries." (CEO & Director Gupta) "We currently have three live CRP partners." (CEO & Director Gupta) "In Q1, we received a strong signal from our cohort of new enterprise advertisers that they valued our measurement, network reach and technology forward platform capabilities over our competitors." (CEO & Director Gupta) "Our U.K. business continues to deliver outstanding results with Q1 revenue surging over 21% year-over-year." (CEO & Director Gupta) "Due to macro events, we are seeing some budget pressure in the travel and hospitality sectors with approvals being delayed or pushed into future quarters." (CEO & Director Gupta) "Now looking forward, with the Bridg transaction successfully closed, we are now fully aligned around our core platform with improved financial flexibility and the ability to move faster." (CEO & Director Gupta) "We are pleased to announce Q1 numbers that are above the midpoint of the guide across all metrics, including for the Q1 Bridg results." (Chief Financial Officer David Evans) "We have also taken another step towards self-sustainability since acquiring and quickly selling ...
Earnings Call Insights: The Oncology Institute (TOI) Q1 2026 Management view CEO Daniel Virnich said Q1 2026 was “a strong start to 2026,” citing “continued expansion and performance of our value-based contracts across markets” and “ongoing growth of ancillary services, particularly our pharmacy business,” as the company “reaffirm our 2026 outlook for revenue and full year adjusted EBITDA profitab...
Earnings Call Insights: The Oncology Institute (TOI) Q1 2026 Management view CEO Daniel Virnich said Q1 2026 was “a strong start to 2026,” citing “continued expansion and performance of our value-based contracts across markets” and “ongoing growth of ancillary services, particularly our pharmacy business,” as the company “reaffirm our 2026 outlook for revenue and full year adjusted EBITDA profitability.” Virnich highlighted an update to cash expectations: “we are also pleased to meaningfully update our free cash flow projections for the year to a positive range of $5 million to $15 million,” and he said Florida reached a milestone: “We are now generating a profit in the Florida market.” Virnich detailed Florida delegated expansion timing and scale: “we anticipate expansion of existing plan partnerships across 11 additional counties for Medicare Advantage members in Q3,” taking delegated MA lives “to approximately 200,000 total lives across 25 total counties,” and he added, “we anticipate opening 7 new TOI clinics over the remainder of the year.” CFO Rob Carter said: “Total revenue for the first quarter was $147.4 million,” and added, “We are reiterating our full year 2026 outlook for revenue, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA and are raising our free cash flow outlook.” Outlook Carter reiterated full-year guidance: “we expect revenue of $630 million to $650 million with approximately $150 million of capitated revenue, gross profit of $97 million to $107 million, adjusted EBITDA of $0 to positive $9 million and free cash flow is now in the range of positive $5 million to $15 million compared to our previous outlook of a loss of $15 million to positive $5 million.” For Q2, Carter guided: “adjusted EBITDA in the range of a loss of $1 million to positive $1 million,” tied to “seasonal improvement as deductibles are satisfied and the continued ramp of our Florida delegated lives.” Management described potential upside not embedded in guidance from pharmacy access expansio...
As part of an earnings presentation on Friday , Sony shared how it's thinking about AI at the company, including many details about how it's evaluating AI as part of making PlayStation games. Generative AI has recently been showing up in bigger games - though many indie developers still reject it - and while Sony calls AI a "powerful tool," it says that the "vision, the design, and the emotional i...
As part of an earnings presentation on Friday , Sony shared how it's thinking about AI at the company, including many details about how it's evaluating AI as part of making PlayStation games. Generative AI has recently been showing up in bigger games - though many indie developers still reject it - and while Sony calls AI a "powerful tool," it says that the "vision, the design, and the emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers." and that "AI is meant to augment their capabilities, not to replace them." At its own studios, Sony says that developers are "automating repetitive workflows, improv … Read the full story at The Verge.
Fast-tracked redesign will reduce electrical energy use Max Verstappen has been a vocal critic of new engines Formula One has agreed to make engine design changes for the 2027 season in response to the unhappiness of many leading drivers at the way this year’s new-generation engines have affected how they race. At a meeting on Friday, the FIA, F1, teams and engine manufacturers reached an agreemen...
Fast-tracked redesign will reduce electrical energy use Max Verstappen has been a vocal critic of new engines Formula One has agreed to make engine design changes for the 2027 season in response to the unhappiness of many leading drivers at the way this year’s new-generation engines have affected how they race. At a meeting on Friday, the FIA, F1, teams and engine manufacturers reached an agreement, subject to formal approval, to fast-track changes to the regulations to allow fresh engines to be used next season. Continue reading...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Trilogy, And Why Today Matters I have spent the past few months building a three-part thesis on the AI buildout for my readers. SoFi was the financier. Nebius was the infrastructure. Today's piece on Micron completes the trilogy, and after the past 24 hours I am more convinced than ever that memory is the most underappreciated leg of the entire stack...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Trilogy, And Why Today Matters I have spent the past few months building a three-part thesis on the AI buildout for my readers. SoFi was the financier. Nebius was the infrastructure. Today's piece on Micron completes the trilogy, and after the past 24 hours I am more convinced than ever that memory is the most underappreciated leg of the entire stack. Two things landed this morning. Fitch upgraded Micron's credit rating to BBB+ from BBB, citing significant debt repayments and "materially improved profitability and near-term revenue visibility" tied to multi-year supply agreements with hyperscalers. Within hours, Micron announced shipping of 245TB 6600 ION SSD, the highest-capacity commercially available SSD on the market. I built my position across two tranches at an average cost basis of $400. The stock is trading at fresh all-time highs as I write, and I am not selling. The rest of this piece explains why I think anyone buying here still has a defensible setup. The Wafer Ceiling I saw the majority of the bull cases for Micron get reduced to "AI demand." That framing is incomplete. The real story is physical, and the market is only just starting to grasp it. Importantly, I noted that Micron has disclosed that each gigabyte of HBM3E requires roughly three times the silicon wafer capacity of standard DDR5. With industry estimates that suggest HBM4 pushes the ratio further they are still on a per-bit basis. Now this isn't really a CapEx problem. Or rather, it is one, but not in the way most people assume. A new fab takes years to build and qualify. So wafer starts in the existing fleet are effectively capped. Meaning every gigabyte of HBM that gets sold to Nvidia or AMD is a gigabyte of DRAM that didn't get sold to a smartphone or laptop maker. I know that memory is no longer a commodity tap that gets turned on when prices rise. So now plumbing itself just got three times narrower. Which is why hyperscalers are paying up...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Trilogy, And Why Today Matters I have spent the past few months building a three-part thesis on the AI buildout for my readers. SoFi was the financier. Nebius was the infrastructure. Today's piece on Micron completes the trilogy, and after the past 24 hours I am more convinced than ever that memory is the most underappreciated leg of the entire stack...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Trilogy, And Why Today Matters I have spent the past few months building a three-part thesis on the AI buildout for my readers. SoFi was the financier. Nebius was the infrastructure. Today's piece on Micron completes the trilogy, and after the past 24 hours I am more convinced than ever that memory is the most underappreciated leg of the entire stack. Two things landed this morning. Fitch upgraded Micron's credit rating to BBB+ from BBB, citing significant debt repayments and "materially improved profitability and near-term revenue visibility" tied to multi-year supply agreements with hyperscalers. Within hours, Micron announced shipping of 245TB 6600 ION SSD, the highest-capacity commercially available SSD on the market. I built my position across two tranches at an average cost basis of $400. The stock is trading at fresh all-time highs as I write, and I am not selling. The rest of this piece explains why I think anyone buying here still has a defensible setup. The Wafer Ceiling I saw the majority of the bull cases for Micron get reduced to "AI demand." That framing is incomplete. The real story is physical, and the market is only just starting to grasp it. Importantly, I noted that Micron has disclosed that each gigabyte of HBM3E requires roughly three times the silicon wafer capacity of standard DDR5. With industry estimates that suggest HBM4 pushes the ratio further they are still on a per-bit basis. Now this isn't really a CapEx problem. Or rather, it is one, but not in the way most people assume. A new fab takes years to build and qualify. So wafer starts in the existing fleet are effectively capped. Meaning every gigabyte of HBM that gets sold to Nvidia or AMD is a gigabyte of DRAM that didn't get sold to a smartphone or laptop maker. I know that memory is no longer a commodity tap that gets turned on when prices rise. So now plumbing itself just got three times narrower. Which is why hyperscalers are paying up...
Micron Technology and Sandisk stock continued their historic rally this week, thanks to a flurry of headlines signaling overwhelming demand and limited supply for memory. Micron, the memory chip maker, jumped 11% Friday, putting it on pace to end the week up 32%. Sandisk which specializes in flash memory, rose 12% Friday.
Micron Technology and Sandisk stock continued their historic rally this week, thanks to a flurry of headlines signaling overwhelming demand and limited supply for memory. Micron, the memory chip maker, jumped 11% Friday, putting it on pace to end the week up 32%. Sandisk which specializes in flash memory, rose 12% Friday.
Alexander Shapovalov/iStock Editorial via Getty Images While Blue Owl Capital ( OWL ) has dipped by 43% over the last 1-year, the alternative asset manager just hiked its quarterly dividend as fundraising continues to benefit from strong demand from its investor pools for its strategies. This demand saw assets under management ("AUM") to $314.9 billion as of the end of the fiscal 2026 first quarte...
Alexander Shapovalov/iStock Editorial via Getty Images While Blue Owl Capital ( OWL ) has dipped by 43% over the last 1-year, the alternative asset manager just hiked its quarterly dividend as fundraising continues to benefit from strong demand from its investor pools for its strategies. This demand saw assets under management ("AUM") to $314.9 billion as of the end of the fiscal 2026 first quarter, up 15% over the year-ago comp to drive continued fee-related earnings ("FRE") growth. The alternative asset manager last declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share , a 2% increase from its prior distribution and $0.92 per share annualized for an 8.7% dividend yield. Investment-grade rated OWL at " BBB+ " should not be paying a near double-digit dividend yield. OWL's peer group median dividend yield stands at 2.8% , so the asset manager who just hiked is paying out a yield that's at least 3x this amount. I don't think this is justified from a fundamental view. The market got carried away with the private credit scare, and OWL could stand to see a material share price recovery. I'm targeting double-digit total returns through 2026 on the back of the current yield in aggregate with growth of the common shares. I last covered OWL with a Buy rating in March, with the stock up roughly 14% since then. Blue Owl Capital Inc. Fiscal 2026 First Quarter Presentation OWL's fee-paying assets under management ("FPAUM") grew by 8% year-over-year to reach $188.4 billion , with permanent capital up 15% over the same time period. These numbers are impressive because the quarter was shaped by what was a strange overlap of fears around private credit and AI's possible disruption of SaaS. Crucially, the bearish thesis rested on asset managers being unable to conduct substantial capital formation in an environment where there were intense redemption requests from investors from private credit funds. OWL's large and growing AUM base forms a baseline for recurring generation of FRE an...
bauwimauwi/iStock via Getty Images Celsius Holdings, Inc. ( CELH ) reported the company’s Q1 results on the 7 th of May. The energy drink giant’s U.S. market share momentum remains good in the well-growing category as Alani Nu’s revenues continue to surge, continuing to pave an attractive growth story. International markets’ revenues came in especially strong. While margins have been turbulent, an...
bauwimauwi/iStock via Getty Images Celsius Holdings, Inc. ( CELH ) reported the company’s Q1 results on the 7 th of May. The energy drink giant’s U.S. market share momentum remains good in the well-growing category as Alani Nu’s revenues continue to surge, continuing to pave an attractive growth story. International markets’ revenues came in especially strong. While margins have been turbulent, and the category comes with intense competition, I believe that the market clearly undervalues Celsius’ earnings potential. I maintained a Buy rating in my previous May 2025 article on the stock, titled “ Celsius: Watch International Growth Before It's The Narrative.” The stock has since lost -11% of its value; meanwhile, the S&P 500 has returned 25%. My Rating History on CELH (Seeking Alpha) Celsius Q1 Review I believe that Celsius reported solid Q1 results . Revenues reached $783 million, a new quarterly high, through rapid 138% year-on-year growth. The previous acquisitions of Alani Nu and Rockstar Energy drove significant inorganic growth, but the performance seems to reflect a good underlying brand performance as well. The Celsius brand portfolio’s U.S. market share has continued to grow despite intense competition from Red Bull, Monster Beverage Corporation ( MNST ), and others. The Celsius brand’s retail-level consumption increased by approximately 6% during the quarter, while Alani Nu doubled its retail sales year-over-year . The brand has become the main organic growth driver for Celsius after it was acquired, as increased distribution and new product launches have been successful. The two largest brands continue to drive up the company’s overall U.S. market share. Rockstar Energy’s performance has admittedly been much weaker. The brand’s retail consumption declined by -13% in the quarter. PepsiCo, Inc. ( PEP ) recorded significant impairment charges related to the brand in 2025, as the brand clearly hadn’t performed well even before being sold to Celsius. At just 8....
Concentra Group Holdings Parent press release ( CON ): Q1 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.40 beats by $0.06 . Revenue of $569.6M beats by $16.11M . Concentra raised its financial guidance for 2026: Revenue in the range of $2.275B to $2.375B Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $460M to $480M Free Cash Flow in the range of $215M to $235M Capital expenditures in the range of $70M to $80M More on Concentra Group Holdi...
Concentra Group Holdings Parent press release ( CON ): Q1 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.40 beats by $0.06 . Revenue of $569.6M beats by $16.11M . Concentra raised its financial guidance for 2026: Revenue in the range of $2.275B to $2.375B Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $460M to $480M Free Cash Flow in the range of $215M to $235M Capital expenditures in the range of $70M to $80M More on Concentra Group Holdings Parent Concentra Group Holdings Parent, Inc. 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Concentra Group Holdings Parent, Inc. (CON) Shareholder/Analyst Call Prepared Remarks Transcript Concentra Group Holdings Parent, Inc. (CON) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Concentra Group Holdings Parent declares $0.0625 dividend Concentra outlines $2.25B–$2.35B 2026 revenue target while expanding de novo and M&A strategy
The dollar index (DXY00 ) today is down by -0.15%. The dollar is under pressure today after the University of Michigan’s US May consumer sentiment index fell more than expected to a record low. Also, strength in the Chinese yuan is weighing on the dollar today after the yuan rallied...
The dollar index (DXY00 ) today is down by -0.15%. The dollar is under pressure today after the University of Michigan’s US May consumer sentiment index fell more than expected to a record low. Also, strength in the Chinese yuan is weighing on the dollar today after the yuan rallied...