J2R/iStock Editorial via Getty Images For years, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ( AAVMY ) ( ABMRF ) traded below book value, weighed down by high costs and negative interest rates. After a strong 12-month rally, that phase is over. Now ABN AMRO aims to deliver consistent higher profitability. At its Capital Markets Day (CMD) late last year, the Dutch bank presented a roadmap targeting a return on equity (ROE)...
J2R/iStock Editorial via Getty Images For years, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ( AAVMY ) ( ABMRF ) traded below book value, weighed down by high costs and negative interest rates. After a strong 12-month rally, that phase is over. Now ABN AMRO aims to deliver consistent higher profitability. At its Capital Markets Day (CMD) late last year, the Dutch bank presented a roadmap targeting a return on equity (ROE) above 12% by 2028, largely driven by an extensive cost reduction plan . At the same time, strong capital buffers allow the bank a target of paying out an attractive €7.5 billion via dividends and share buybacks in the three years through 2028, which equates to around 30% of the current market cap. But the recent Q4 2025 results show how far the bank still has to go. Last year, ROE came in at 8.7%, still far from the targeted 12%. At the same time, the cost/income ratio remained well above 60%. This is the crux of the investment case. ABN AMRO needs to execute on its 2028 target to justify the rerating to investors. Although the initial progress on cost reductions is promising, rising credit losses could offset part of these gains. Therefore, I currently view the shares as fairly valued and maintain a Hold rating. ABN AMRO 2025 CMD Presentation Cost Cutting Still Has a Ways To Go The high-cost levels at ABN AMRO have been a sticking point for a long time. In 2020, previous CEO Robert Swaak set out to decrease operating costs to €4.5 billion by 2024 . ABN AMRO completely missed this target, with operating costs amounting to €5.5 billion in 2024. This meant the cost/income ratio ran consistently above 60%. His successor, Marguerite Bérard, was appointed last year with a clear mission to address this issue. Data sources: company presentations The bank could point to a few clear reasons. Rising inflation drove up wages. Labor costs soared as ABN AMRO agreed to an almost 10% wage increase in the 2024 collective labor agreement (CLA) . More importantly, the company was tied up wi...
From the dire Hathaway and Franco double act to the charming Fey and Poehler combo, the choice of MC is vital to a show’s success. With Alan Cumming set to helm the Baftas on Sunday, here’s what he needs to know No modern film awards show is complete without a wisecracking host, who has the tricky job of compering the evening, bringing people on and off stage in rapid succession, keeping a restles...
From the dire Hathaway and Franco double act to the charming Fey and Poehler combo, the choice of MC is vital to a show’s success. With Alan Cumming set to helm the Baftas on Sunday, here’s what he needs to know No modern film awards show is complete without a wisecracking host, who has the tricky job of compering the evening, bringing people on and off stage in rapid succession, keeping a restless audience entertained, and coming up with a decent comedy routine themselves. Hence the attention that is paid to the annual announcement of the Baftas, Golden Globes and Oscars hosts; they are gigs that can flourish in the cultural memory, such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s multiple turns at the Golden Globes , or become infamous, such as Anne Hathaway and James Franco’s double act at the Academy Awards in 2011 , which saw them castigated as “children” and “spectacularly unwatchable” by the media. In December, the Baftas announced that Scottish actor Alan Cumming was to host of the 79th edition of the event, which takes place on Sunday; he takes over from fellow actor and Scot David Tennant, who occupied the berth in 2024 and 2025. Tennant was given a middling review for his efforts last year by the Guardian’s Gwilym Mumford, who called him “a game host, a willing song and dance man, but he definitely needs more help from whoever’s writing his gags” – but that was glowing compared with the notices that arrived for Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley after her turn in 2019; in an article headlined “Is Joanna Lumley the worst Baftas host of all time?” the Guardian said : “Watching it on TV was excruciating. Not only were the jokes bad, but the Bafta audience responded with a total, ominous silence.” Following the Lumley debacle, Bafta managed to claw back some credibility by hiring Graham Norton in 2020 ( “a safe pair of hands” ) and a well-reviewed Rebel Wilson in 2022 (“ rescues Baftas ”). Continue reading...
Pondering my orb. | Cath Virginia Substack has updated its partnership with betting platform Polymarket , "introducing native tools that make it easier to share, discuss, and debate prediction market data directly on Substack." Additionally, Polymarket will effectively pay "a cohort of creators," including Matt Yglesias , to use its data though the newsletter platform's pilot sponsorships program....
Pondering my orb. | Cath Virginia Substack has updated its partnership with betting platform Polymarket , "introducing native tools that make it easier to share, discuss, and debate prediction market data directly on Substack." Additionally, Polymarket will effectively pay "a cohort of creators," including Matt Yglesias , to use its data though the newsletter platform's pilot sponsorships program. This is just the latest foray of prediction markets into media. Last week, Dow Jones agreed to incorporate Polymarket's betting data into its "content," including The Wall Street Journal . A month before that, CNN incorporated Kalshi's betting odds . In December, CNBC agreed to infuse … Read the full story at The Verge.
In trading on Friday, shares of Elevance Health Inc (Symbol: ELV) crossed below their 200 day moving average of $341.74, changing hands as low as $337.78 per share. Elevance Health Inc shares are currently trading down about 2.3% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
In trading on Friday, shares of Elevance Health Inc (Symbol: ELV) crossed below their 200 day moving average of $341.74, changing hands as low as $337.78 per share. Elevance Health Inc shares are currently trading down about 2.3% on the day. The chart below shows the one year
Mark Kostich/iStock via Getty Images Thesis: Have to justify a hefty operational spend Ardelyx, Inc. ( ARDX ) just reported fourth quarter results and actually beat on revenue, but they missed slightly on earnings, which the market took negatively, as you may know. Q4 2025 revenue came in at $125.25 million, up about 7.9% year over year, a figure that beat estimates by $7.21 million. Revenue here ...
Mark Kostich/iStock via Getty Images Thesis: Have to justify a hefty operational spend Ardelyx, Inc. ( ARDX ) just reported fourth quarter results and actually beat on revenue, but they missed slightly on earnings, which the market took negatively, as you may know. Q4 2025 revenue came in at $125.25 million, up about 7.9% year over year, a figure that beat estimates by $7.21 million. Revenue here was mainly driven by strong Ibsrela sales. As for earnings, the company’s GAAP EPS of $0.00 missed by $0.01 due to some sharply higher costs, including SG&A, which jumped to $337.2 million, and R&D, to $71.5 million for the year. Now, management has put this down to the need for scaling commercialization and pipeline programs. FY 2025 showed strong Ibsrela growth but a pretty steep decline in Xphozah revenue, with a net loss widening to $61.6 million. This is one area where the market would have some concerns that possibly expenses are rising faster than profitability despite top-line strength. We also need to take a deep look at what's expected from 2026 with such a big research spend. Ardelyx has the Phase 3 CIC trial and their next-generation NHE3 inhibitor program taking up a large portion of the spend, so it's worth trying to value the longer-term potential in these areas. Ardelyx, Inc. FY 2025 earnings Ardelyx has delivered a pretty notable revenue performance for FY 2025 , and the initial market reaction is quite negative. Shares find themselves trading about 8% lower in pre-market today. As for company performance. We saw explosive growth in Ibsrela, which was much needed to offset the hefty contraction in Xphozah. However, I think there was still decent top-line expansion overall. Total revenue jumped to $407.3 million, up from $333.6 million in 2024, which was mainly driven by Ibsrela’s surge to $274.2 million, representing 73% year-over-year growth. Ibsrela now makes up about 82% of the company's revenue. The big chunk came from Q4 2025, where Ibsrela alone contr...
Raw sugar futures briefly extended gains after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, as the move could allow top producer Brazil to export more sugar and ethanol to the US. The most-active contract in New York rose as much as 2.3% to the highest price in almost two weeks, before paring some of the gains. The removal of tariffs could allow Brazil to ship more of its...
Raw sugar futures briefly extended gains after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, as the move could allow top producer Brazil to export more sugar and ethanol to the US. The most-active contract in New York rose as much as 2.3% to the highest price in almost two weeks, before paring some of the gains. The removal of tariffs could allow Brazil to ship more of its cane-based ethanol to the US, according to Claudiu Covrig , the lead analyst at Covrig Analytics. That could allow Brazilian producers to max out the use of cane for ethanol instead of sugar, he said. Millers have been looking for more markets for the fuel, as plunging sugar prices amid ample global supplies and weak demand have made it less profitable to produce the sweetener. The lifting of levies could provide some support to the world sugar market if more Brazilian sugar ends up flowing into the higher-priced US market, said Mike McDougall , an analyst at McDougall Global View. Meanwhile, arabica coffee futures dropped as much as 1.6% after the Supreme Court’s ruling, before turning higher. While coffee prices had already adjusted last fall after tariffs on beans were lifted, including for top grower Brazil, the move will make buying decisions more fluid and provide relief to roasters, said coffee broker Thiago Cazarini. Still, the Supreme Court did not address the issue of refunds to importers, and Trump has said he has a backup plan . Raw sugar rose 1.5% to 13.91 cents a pound at 11:12 a.m. in New York Arabica coffee was up 0.37%
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the State Street SPDR S&P MIDCAP 400 ETF Trust (Symbol: MDY) where we have detected an approximate $245.4 million dollar inflow -- that's a 1.0% incr
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the State Street SPDR S&P MIDCAP 400 ETF Trust (Symbol: MDY) where we have detected an approximate $245.4 million dollar inflow -- that's a 1.0% incr
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF (Symbol: DYNF) where we have detected an approximate $286.6 million dollar inflow -- that's a 0.9% inc
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF (Symbol: DYNF) where we have detected an approximate $286.6 million dollar inflow -- that's a 0.9% inc
Key PointsBattery Management sold 374,479 shares of Sprinklr in the fourth quarter; the estimated transaction value was $2.85 million (based on quarterly average prices).
Key PointsBattery Management sold 374,479 shares of Sprinklr in the fourth quarter; the estimated transaction value was $2.85 million (based on quarterly average prices).
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (Symbol: KWEB) where we have detected an approximate $327.5 million dollar outflow -- that's a 4.3% decrease week
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (Symbol: KWEB) where we have detected an approximate $327.5 million dollar outflow -- that's a 4.3% decrease week
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the ProShares Ultra S&P500 (Symbol: SSO) where we have detected an approximate $312.2 million dollar outflow -- that's a 4.2% decrease week over wee
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the ProShares Ultra S&P500 (Symbol: SSO) where we have detected an approximate $312.2 million dollar outflow -- that's a 4.2% decrease week over wee
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the VanEck Oil Service ETF (Symbol: OIH) where we have detected an approximate $156.7 million dollar outflow -- that's a 6.2% decrease week over week (f
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the VanEck Oil Service ETF (Symbol: OIH) where we have detected an approximate $156.7 million dollar outflow -- that's a 6.2% decrease week over week (f
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the MAGS ETF (Symbol: MAGS) where we have detected an approximate $126.3 million dollar outflow -- that's a 3.5% decrease week over week (from 58,850,00
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the MAGS ETF (Symbol: MAGS) where we have detected an approximate $126.3 million dollar outflow -- that's a 3.5% decrease week over week (from 58,850,00
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares Global Energy ETF (Symbol: IXC) where we have detected an approximate $267.2 million dollar outflow -- that's a 11.0% decrease week over wee
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares Global Energy ETF (Symbol: IXC) where we have detected an approximate $267.2 million dollar outflow -- that's a 11.0% decrease week over wee
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (Symbol: IYF) where we have detected an approximate $124.8 million dollar outflow -- that's a 3.0% decrease week over we
Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (Symbol: IYF) where we have detected an approximate $124.8 million dollar outflow -- that's a 3.0% decrease week over we