BofA Securities raised its recommendation on Equifax ( EFX ) and TransUnion ( TRU ) stocks as the investment bank reinstated coverage of the business and information services sector. "We are generally constructive on the group and expect avg. rev/EPS/FCF growth of 7/12/11% in '26 vs. 6/10/17% in '25," said analysts Curtis Nagle, Wahid Amin, and Ryan Rivera. "Our criteria for Information Services companies with the least disruption risk and best opportunity to leverage AI include: 1) proprietary and walled off data; 2) entrenched regulatory structures that make it difficult for new entrants to enter and scale in a market; 3) high switching costs and; 4) a high cost of failure from incorrect or incomplete model/workflow outputs," said the analysts in the research note. "Companies that best meet this criteria, in our view, include SPGI, MCO, MSCI, FICO, EFX, TRU, and VRSK," added the note. "Equifax's EWS segment is entering a multi‑year acceleration as TWN record expansion, government mandates, and low government penetration create meaningful, underappreciated growth visibility," said the note, with a Buy rating. "An eventual mortgage recovery adds substantial unpriced optionality, with EFX estimating $1.2B in incremental revenue at normalized volumes and significant margin upside. Mix shift toward high‑margin verification and improving FCF conversion post‑cloud further strengthens the outlook," added the note. EFX shares were +2.15% Tuesday pre-market to $196.95. BofA's rating on EFX aligns with the average sell-side analysts rating of Buy. Meanwhile, Seeking Alpha authors and the Quant Rating system grade the stock as Sell. Furthermore, TransUnion was raised to Neutral at BofA Securities. Quant rates the stock as Hold, while the Wall Street analysts see TRU as Buy. TRU shares were +1.92% to $75.34. More on Equifax, TransUnion TransUnion (TRU) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript TransUnion 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Equifax Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Ea...

Warner Bros has given Paramount a week to table its “best and final” takeover offer, raising the prospect of a fresh bidding war with Netflix.

primeimages/E+ via Getty Images Investment Team David Vaughn, CFA Portfolio Co-Manager Alex Turner, CFA Portfolio Co-Manager Gashi Zengeni, CFA Portfolio Co-Manager Characteristics Total Net Assets (millions): $896.76 Number of holdings: 154 Top 10 Holdings Taiwan Semiconductor ( TSM ) SK Hynix ( HXSC.F ) Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) Barclays ( BCS ) Sumitomo Electric Industries ( SMTOY ) Tencent Holdings ( TCEHY ) Novartis ( NVS ) HSBC Holdings ( HSBC ) NN Group ( NNGPF ) Market Overview The fourth quarter was a fitting coda to 2025. It featured many of the ingredients that were in play over the year. Markets generally set records; there was intense scrutiny on artificial intelligence (AI), the VIX volatility index was lackluster, but gold was bright; fiscal and monetary policy saw major developments; trade talks between China and the United States took another turn; and the consumer displayed resilience but also bifurcation. A key support for the markets came from higher than expected corporate earnings. Capital expenditures (capex) levels on AI remained elevated, providing ammunition for both bulls and bears. A data vacuum caused by the longest government shutdown in history added to the uncertainty for investors. The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered 50 basis points (bps) of interest rate cuts over the quarter, but the larger story was the lack of consensus among Fed voters and the choice of the next chair. The United States and China agreed to lower tariffs and extend their trade truce for a year. The 2.4% rise in the Russell 1000® Index (2.6% for the S&P 500 Index) masked divergence across styles as the Russell 1000® Value Index jumped 3.8% but the Russell 1000® Growth Index rose 1.1%. Within the Russell 1000 Index, healthcare was the best-performing sector by far, aided by the U.S. government reaching deals with major pharmaceutical companies. Stocks in the information technology and communication services sectors advanced after investors weighed confiden...

(RTTNews) - Sanofi SA (SNY) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) reported on Tuesday, positive long-term extension data from the phase 2b RELIEVE UCCD study of duvakitug in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Billy Steinberg, who has died at the age of 75, co-wrote Madonna's 1984 chart-topper Like a Virgin.

加拿大1月整体通胀率放缓至2.3%，低于经济学家预期的2.4%，主要因汽油价格同比下降。加拿大统计局周二公布的消费者价格指数（CPI）报告显示，通胀率较12月的2.4%小幅回落。CPI环比持平经济学家此前预计价格环比上涨0.1%。通胀同比放缓主要源于汽油价格的基数效应。今年1月汽油价格环比上涨0.5%，而去年同期涨幅为4%。汽油价格同比下降16.7%。与此同时，联邦政府去年针对餐馆餐饮和儿童玩具等商品实施的临时消费税假期措施仍在推高整体通胀率。（财联社）

Lemon_tm Conagra Brands ( CAG ) reiterated its full-year guidance ahead of the company's presentation at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference on Tuesday. The consumer packaged foods company reaffirmed FY26 expectations for organic net sales growth of -1% to +1% compared to FY25. Adjusted operating margin is seen landing in a range of 11.0% and 11.5%. Adjusted EPS is expected to fall in the range of $1.70 and $1.85 (midpoint $1.775) vs. $1.72 consensus. Additionally, the company now expects free cash flow conversion to be approximately 100% for the full year, an increase from its previous expectation of approximately 90%. Shares of Conagra Brands ( CAG ) edged 0.1% higher in premarket trading to $19.79 vs. the 52-week range of $15.96 to $28.52. The dividend yield for new buyers of the stock is 7.1%. Wall Street analysts and Seeking Alpha analysts both have Conagra Brands ( CAG ) rated at Hold collectively. More on Conagra Brands Conagra Brands: Positive Demand Signs, But More Proof Is Needed Conagra Brands: A Fallen High-Yield Food Giant With Multiple Paths To Recovery Conagra Brands: Not Out Of The Woods Just Yet - Betting On AI To Sharpen Performance Government tells Americans to eat more meat, less pudding Conagra expects AI to unlock significant value across the company

Image source: The Motley Fool. Feb. 17, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Continue reading

@media (max-width: 768px) { .image-container { width: 100% !important; float: none !important; margin: 0 0 1rem 0 !important; } } Image source: The Mo

(RTTNews) - Blackstone, Inc. (BX) announced Tuesday that funds managed by Blackstone's perpetual private equity strategy or BXPE, have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Champions Group, a premier provider of essential home services, from Odyssey Investment Partners,

Artificial intelligence first spurred massive gains to record levels in the stock market. Now, AI is taking out equities, one sector at a time. First, it was software getting pressure. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) has fallen nearly 16% in the past month on fears AI will curb demand for software services. Financials got wracked last week as well after tech platform Altruist unveiled a new tax planning tool powered by AI. The State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) dropped 4.8% last week, marking its worst weekly performance since April. Then office real estate stocks got crushed Thursday on concern AI will lead to a rise in unemployment , thus decreasing demand for commercial real estate. Lastly, trucking and logistics names fell as investors believed AI could curb freight inefficiencies — thus lowering demand for the industry. "[Last] week felt like a game of whac-a-mole," wrote Tony Pasquariello, global head of hedge fund coverage at Goldman Sachs. "The big question is, while the market separates 'rent-seekers' from companies with strong moats, where does one hide?" Luckily, there are some stocks investors can turn to and weather the AI storm. JPMorgan compiled a list of "mispriced" stocks that are most insulated from AI disruption. Buy-now-pay-later giant Affirm made the list. The stock, which JPMorgan rates as overweight, has plunged more than 17% this month. But fundamentally, "business performance is as strong as ever, as the company continues to post premium [gross merchandise value] growth ( > 25%) and stable credit performance, and GAAP operating profit margins are expanding (albeit off a low base)," wrote analyst Reginald Smith. Another name that made the cut is Carvana . Despite being down more than 14% in February, analyst Rajat Gupta thinks "CVNA's vertically integrated infrastructure and moat at [the] end-of-line for AI disruption." Other stocks on JPMorgan's list include Roku , Spotify Technology and CrowdStrike .

Brett_Hondow While Bath & Body Works ( BBWI ) is expected to beat fourth quarter consensus estimates, its full year guidance will likely reflect continued headwinds to its core business ahead of a rollout on Amazon ( AMZN ) and efforts to drive traffic through increased promotions. Accordingly, Citi Research analyst Paul Lejuez downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy ahead of fourth quarter results, anticipating that Bath & Body Works ( BBWI ) will show a fifth consecutive year of sales declines driven by weakness in its core business. The Disney Villain collaboration “didn’t resonate with customers” and weighed on Q3 results, highlighting underlying weak trends in its core body/core/home fragrance business, Lejuez said in his note to clients. This not only underscores weak traffic trends in off-peak periods but also raises the outlook for BBWI to rely more on price to drive demand in the near term. “While we are hopeful new leadership can reinvigorate the core business through new product innovation, we are concerned that this will not have enough of an impact to drive a sales inflection in 2026,” he writes. Lejuez also worries that retail partnerships could further erode store traffic. During the company’s most recent earnings call with analysts, CEO Daniel Heaf intimated further partnerships could be in the works. “The third part of our strategy is about winning in the marketplace. I fundamentally believe that you have to go to where the consumer is. You have to meet the consumer where they are so they can find, fall in love with, and purchase your product, this idea of just being a single stores-based retailer operating in your own 4 walls. I think that came to an end some time ago. So, if our aspiration is to grow share, we must grow share by winning in the marketplace." While this strategy could raise BBWI’s top-line, it will exacerbate declining store traffic as customers will find it more convenient to shop online (and as BBWI’s own digital platform lags). ...

PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Market Update U.S. equities finished higher for a third consecutive quarter in Q4, with the Russell 3000 Index rising 2.4% and the S&P 500 posting similar gains. The quarter was supported by strong earnings growth, 50 basis points of additional Fed rate cuts, and an extension of the US-China trade truce. However, headwinds emerged from AI investment scrutiny, labor market softening with unemployment reaching a four-year high of 4.6%, and a prolonged government shutdown. The quarter reflected investors navigating between optimism around earnings strength and concerns about AI returns and macroeconomic softening. Equity market performance was again characterized by uneven leadership beneath strong headline returns. Performance among the Magnificent 7 companies displayed growing divergence, while the high beta rally that began in April showed signs of exhaustion beginning in November. Stylistically, Value outperformed Growth across the market cap spectrum, but performance between Large and Small Cap equities was more balanced. Sector leadership was mixed. Health Care and Communication Services were the most positive, while the other Defensive sectors (Real Estate, Utilities & Consumer Staples) were negative for the quarter. Looking at market factors, Value factors were the primary driver of returns, led by stocks trading at lower prices relative to sales and book value, while cash-flow-based measures were more muted. Quality factors, which our portfolios tilt toward, were headwinds. Momentum and Volatility factors provided support; meanwhile, Growth & Yield factors were mixed. Key Performance Takeaways The London Company Small Cap portfolio increased 2.7% (2.5% net) during the quarter vs. a 2.2% increase in the Russell 2000 Index. Outperformance was driven by stock selection, partially offset by sector exposure. The Small Cap portfolio finished 2025 on a high note, outperforming the benchmark and exceeding our 85-90% upside capt...

Madrid is requesting prosecutors investigate the social-media platforms as they might be abetting the creation and dissemination of child pornography.

BING-JHEN HONG Nvidia ( NVDA ) is set to report its next fiscal quarterly results and guidance on Feb. 25, and Citi is expecting strong guidance from the Jensen Huang-led chipmaker. "We model Jan-Q sales of $67B above Street $65.6B and [we] expect Apr-Q guide of $73B vs. Street $71.6B," analyst Atif Malik wrote in a note to clients. "We expect continued strong ramp of B300 with Rubin launch to drive a 34% H/H acceleration in CY2H26 sales vs. 27% in CY1H26. We believe most investors are looking past the earnings to [the] annual GTC conference in mid-March for NVIDIA to talk about [its] inference roadmap using Groq’s low latency SRAM IP and provide an early outlook for 2026/27 AI sales." Malik has a Buy rating and $270 price target on Nvidia. Delving deeper beyond the quarter and guidance, Malik said Nvidia's valuation “looks attractive” on the belief that the stock is likely to outperform in the second-half of 2026, as visibility into next year comes into view. He also said the inference market is likely to be "more diversified in nature," which should enable more optionality in model size and specificity this year. "Therefore, by nature we expect room for a variety in AI accelerator usage. That said, at a system level, we expect NVIDIA to continue to be the leader across both training and reasoning focused inference workloads, and rely on MLPerf as the best apples-to-apples comparison metric for AI accelerators." More on Nvidia Nvidia Should Double-Beat Again (Earnings Preview) Nvidia May Be At Risk As Big Tech Capex Concerns Mount Tech Tug Of War: Fear Vs. Greed Quant ratings on Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater top holdings: NVDA, LRCX, CRM, GOOGL Big tech CEOs head to India for major AI summit

Nvidia likely to see 'continued strong ramp' with upcoming Rubin GPU sales, Citi says (NVDA:NASDAQ) Seeking Alpha

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the vessel was departing Marseille after a payment of "several million euros".

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 at 8 a.m. ET Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Continue reading

Key PointsBitcoin maximalists will argue that nothing beats holding the crypto asset directly.

Lisa-Blue/E+ via Getty Images Ormat Technologies ( ORA ) +7.4% pre-market Tuesday after saying it signed a long-term geothermal power purchase agreement with Berkshire Hathaway's ( BRK.A ) ( BRK.B ) NV Energy to support Google's ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) operations in Nevada with as much as 150 MW of new geothermal capacity. Ormat ( ORA ) said the agreement establishes a portfolio structure allowing it to develop a series of new geothermal projects across Nevada, which will be added to the portfolio as they reach commercial operation, beginning as early as 2028 and expected to continue through 2030. According to the PPA structure, the contract term begins with the first geothermal project achieving commercial operations and extends 15 years beyond the final project's commercial operations date. " AI is fundamentally increasing electricity demand across the technology sector, and geothermal power is uniquely positioned to deliver the reliable, carbon-free power required to support that growth," Ormat Technologies ( ORA ) CEO Doron Blachar said. NV Energy is the primary investor-owned utility in Nevada, serving 1.4M customers and 56M tourists annually, or more than 90% of the state's residents, as well as 56M tourists annually. More on Ormat Technologies Ormat Technologies: Geothermal Is Getting Overdue Attention Ormat Technologies Q3 2025 Earnings Call Presentation Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Ormat Technologies

MF3d/E+ via Getty Images Organizations in the U.S. and Europe moderately increased spending on cybersecurity during the last quarter, according to a channel check by Oppenheimer, with CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) continuing to stand out as the clear leader. However, Palo Alto Networks ( PANW ) was not far behind, and SentinelOne ( S ) demonstrated the most improvement. "CrowdStrike sustained the best sentiment among our Jan./Feb. checks, with outperformance noted across the channel and positive revisions to partners' 2026 expectations," said Oppenheimer analysts, led by Ittai Kidron, in a Monday investor note. "Competitively, the company continues to drive growth in core endpoint through the displacement of legacy vendors (checks noted Trellix, Sophos, McAfee displacements), holding ground against next-gen competition (notably Palo Alto), and driving successful new product cross-selling." Meanwhile, Palo Alto is driving up its cross-sell opportunities with a flurry of acquisitions. In late January, it completed its acquisition of Chronosphere , which adds real-time visibility, monitoring, and protection for the large data volumes that power AI applications. Earlier this month, it closed on its $25B deal to acquire Israeli-based CyberArk , which provides clients with the ability to manage privileged access across their entire hybrid cloud environment. And today, Palo Alto announced its intent to acquire Koi to increase the capabilities of AI agents. Palo Alto plans to release its second quarter fiscal 2026 financial results after post-market today. Finally, SentinelOne demonstrated marked improvement in the last quarter. "SentinelOne showed improved sentiment in Jan./Feb. checks, posting positive performance as partners reported high 20% YoY growth on average, ending CY25 above plan after being at or below plan for much of the year," Kidron said. "Partners modestly raised their 1H26 outlooks. The biggest highlight was Purple AI, noted as the best autonomous SOC solution on t...

The U.S. FDA has granted approval for a monthly dosing of Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) Rybrevant Faspro ( amivantamab and hyaluronidase) for EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The treatment was previously approved for biweekly subcutaneous administration. Rybrevant Faspro is taken in combination with Lazcluze (lazertinib). J&J said that patients can switch to monthly dosing as early as week 5 of treatment. More on Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson: Fraud Claim Dismissal Today Is Not A Sign Talc Litigation Is Over Johnson & Johnson: Strong Momentum Heading Into 2026 Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript J&J hit with $250K jury verdict in Philadelphia talc powder case SA Sentiment: Which company will be the next to join the $1T club?

imaginima/iStock via Getty Images Valuations in the value segment are more stretched than we have been used to seeing in the last 20 years. At least this is what emerged from my analytical reworking of the data while I was studying the JPMorgan International Value ETF ( JIVE ). And the question that arose for me, and that I am sure has arisen for each of you, is: in 2026, could JIVE make a positive contribution to the total returns of the portfolio? My opinion, data dependent, is more yes than no. Because it is true that multiple expansion is limited (in my opinion), but in JIVE’s total returns there are also other components, which simply the growth segment cannot have. Such as earnings with more stable growth rates (even if moderate) and positive dividend flows. But before analyzing total return expectations in aggregate terms... What is JIVE? JIVE’s objective is long-term capital appreciation by gaining exposure to equities of developed and emerging countries seeking to outperform the return of MSCI ACWI ex USA Value (net total return). JIVE (Seeking Alpha) It positions itself, therefore, as a pure active ETF, not low-cost smart beta, and this is demonstrated both by the 55% portfolio turnover and by an expense ratio above average equal to 0.55%. To this is added a Median Bid/Ask Spread of 0.06%, very contained, which nevertheless signals good secondary liquidity. The fund remains, however, fairly appreciated, as shown by the contained premium of 0.48% (which signals efficiency). Costs, however, are covered fairly well by a 30-Day SEC Yield (Unsubsidized) of 3.01%, to which corresponds to a 12-Month Rolling Dividend Yield of 2.35%. JIVE yeld (Seeking Alpha) Holding distribution Management framework: it is based on a quantitative screening that follows a behavioral Model apparently based on a proprietary fundamental Analysis without bias on market cap and an actively managed currency exposure. We are talking about about 371 holdings where the top 10 holdings weigh...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Getty Images Introduction Uber Technologies ( UBER ) remains a compelling buying opportunity, especially given the fact that the stock has sold off by around 12% over the past year. I believe that the market has overreacted to the recent earnings report given that the company's core operating metrics continue to rise at a very healthy pace. Uber appears to be making a transition from an asset-light platform operator into a critical infrastructure and network provider for the impending autonomous vehicle revolution, and I believe that the firm's fundamentals and potential upside warrant a STRONG BUY rating. Key Developments I want to begin by breaking down the evolving autonomous vehicle (AV) landscape and where Uber finds itself at the current moment. Starting off, management claims that utilization rates for AVs deployed on its network are substantially higher than those that are exclusively available through 1P platforms (such as the Waymo One app). This makes sense given the sheer amount of people that use Uber regularly, as well as how nascent the robotaxi industry is. Also, in some of the U.S. markets where AVs are operating commercially (such as San Francisco, Austin, and Atlanta), Uber is seeing both gross bookings and new users rise at a faster rate than other cities. Uber executives believe that this is due to the fact that, as supply increases, fares and ETAs tend to come down, which incentivizes consumers to use Uber more frequently. This ties into Uber's thesis that the ideal future for ride-hailing is a hybrid platform approach, where AVs and human drivers coexist. The primary argument for operating in such a way is that demand is not static throughout any given day, and it would simply be impossible to build up an autonomous fleet that is large enough to service peak demand times. If a company like Waymo were to scale its fleet to the point that it could meet customer demand on, say, a busy Saturday night, the majority of its AVs would be underutilized...

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Continue reading

Up to a third of people worldwide have shoulder pain; it's one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints. But medical imaging might not reveal the problem—in fact, it could even cloud it. In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week, 99 percent of adults over 40 were found to have at least one abnormality in a rotator cuff on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons in a shoulder joint that keeps the upper arm bone securely in the shoulder socket—and is often blamed for pain and other symptoms. The trouble is, the vast majority of the people in the study had no problems with their shoulders. The finding calls into question the growing use of MRIs to try to diagnose shoulder pain—and, in turn, the growing problem of overtreatment of rotator cuff (RC) abnormalities, which includes partial- and full-thickness tears as well as signs of tendinopathy (tendon swelling and thickening). Read full article Comments

Entry requirements to the UK for dual nationals are being overhauled as part of sweeping changes to the immigration system.