Trevor Srednick/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The TJX Companies ( TJX ) has been thriving in the recent quarters and years, mainly driven by the weakness of the consumer. This may sound counterintuitive at first, but when consumer confidence is low, people normally choose cheaper alternatives when it comes to discretionary shopping. As an off-price retailer, TJX is thriving in this environment...
Trevor Srednick/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The TJX Companies ( TJX ) has been thriving in the recent quarters and years, mainly driven by the weakness of the consumer. This may sound counterintuitive at first, but when consumer confidence is low, people normally choose cheaper alternatives when it comes to discretionary shopping. As an off-price retailer, TJX is thriving in this environment. The recent developments in the macro landscape - and here I specifically mean the outbreak of the war in Iran - may, however, pose headwinds for TJX's business. In my view, these developments and their potential implications are not currently reflected in TJX's valuation. While I fundamentally like the company, the current overvaluation, combined with the insider activity - which was largely selling - prevents me from issuing a buy rating for TJX. I currently rate TJX as a hold. Fundamentals and the Macro Landscape TJX did not just deliver strong results in the most recent quarter, but they have been doing so in the past several years. The table below shows how TJX's net sales and profits developed for each segment over the past three years. Over this time period, the segment revenues grew each year, as well as the segment profits, causing company-wide profitability to significantly improve. Results (The TJX Companies) When analyzing firms with numerous reportable segments, I generally like when the growth is broad-based and not driven by a single segment or product category. This is true for TJX. Also important to highlight that comparable sales growth contributed significantly to the net sales growth. This is important because it means that the company's sales are not only growing because they are expanding, but also because people are spending more at their existing locations. Comparable sales growth (The TJX Companies) Looking forward to fiscal 2027, TJX expects the comparable sales growth to soften, estimating the growth to be between 2% and 3%. With regard to profit...
Following a recent ceasefire that has boosted market morale, tech stocks have experienced a notable rebound. Brook Dane, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's co-head of public tech investing, discusses his strategy for investing in tech stocks amid the relief rally. (Source: Bloomberg)
Following a recent ceasefire that has boosted market morale, tech stocks have experienced a notable rebound. Brook Dane, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's co-head of public tech investing, discusses his strategy for investing in tech stocks amid the relief rally. (Source: Bloomberg)
At any given time, the market's very best dividend stocks to buy are usually shares of enduring companies worth owning all the time. Every now and then, though, even a "forever" dividend payer is clearly entering a period of unprecedented opportunity, when it might not only dramatically grow its per-share payout, but also dish out some serious capital gains. To this end, here's a closer look at th...
At any given time, the market's very best dividend stocks to buy are usually shares of enduring companies worth owning all the time. Every now and then, though, even a "forever" dividend payer is clearly entering a period of unprecedented opportunity, when it might not only dramatically grow its per-share payout, but also dish out some serious capital gains. To this end, here's a closer look at three such names income investors might want to buy and hold for the next 10 years. That doesn't mean they won't do well beyond that point. The coming decade, though, could be -- and should be -- something special. Just as the name suggests, Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) is an investment manager. This business is well suited for supporting reliable dividend payments, too. These companies charge a quarterly fee not based on their stock-picking performance, but simply for keeping their clients' money invested. Continue reading
In this article FDX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT A pedestrian walks by a parked FedEx truck on Sept. 18, 2025 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images FedEx Freight, the trucking company separating from the overnight delivery firm this summer, is expected to report an operating margin of 12% this year, incoming CEO John Smith told investors on Wednesday. That...
In this article FDX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT A pedestrian walks by a parked FedEx truck on Sept. 18, 2025 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images FedEx Freight, the trucking company separating from the overnight delivery firm this summer, is expected to report an operating margin of 12% this year, incoming CEO John Smith told investors on Wednesday. That is based on expected revenue of $8.7 billion and adjusted operating income of $1.1 billion, Smith said at the first investor day for the trucking company scheduled to be spun out of FedEx into an independent, publicly listed company on June 1. Prior to the meeting, FedEx Freight — which competes with the likes of XPO , Saia and Old Dominion Freight Line — said it expects average core profit growth in the range of 10% to 12% over the medium term. FedEx Freight, the largest provider of less-than-truckload (LTL) services in the U.S., also sees average revenue growing in the range of 4% to 6% in the medium term. FedEx Freight's forecasts come as higher U.S. diesel prices delay a long-awaited trucking industry turnaround and squeeze cash flow and profits for independent big-rig drivers. Analysts have said they believe FedEx Freight's assets were not fully appreciated within FedEx and that being a separate public entity would help it expand in the LTL trucking market that involves carrying multiple shipments from different customers on a single truck. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
US, Israel Insist Iran Ceasefire Doesn't Apply In Lebanon, Which Suffers Huge Airstrikes Israel has made clear that it doesn't see the newly declared US-Iran ceasefire as applying to its war in Lebanon, where it is still trying to destroy Hezbollah. The White House too has made its stance clear that it doesn't apply, but President Trump has stated his intent to take care of a Lebanon ceasefire sep...
US, Israel Insist Iran Ceasefire Doesn't Apply In Lebanon, Which Suffers Huge Airstrikes Israel has made clear that it doesn't see the newly declared US-Iran ceasefire as applying to its war in Lebanon, where it is still trying to destroy Hezbollah. The White House too has made its stance clear that it doesn't apply, but President Trump has stated his intent to take care of a Lebanon ceasefire separately . The military has unleashed hell on Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa valley overnight and through Wednesday - with Beirut suffering some of the worst aerial bombardments of the war . via Associated Press Pakistan, however, has said that the ceasefire does extend to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. But the Israeli military (IDF) is as usual letting the bombs do the talking, and is largely ignoring the diplomatic side of things. Israel on Wednesday reportedly struck over 100 Hezbollah (and civilian) targets within a mere 10 minutes across Beirut, the south of the country, and Bekaa. Viral images and videos have shown massive smoke plumes lingering above the densely populated Lebanese capital. The surprise attack on busy commercial locations unleashed panic in the streets - and a full casualty accounting has not been immediately forthcoming . Below is an outline of some of the earlier reported attacks, via Al Jazeera : An air raid on a funeral in the the east Lebanon village of Shmestar killed at least 10 people. Six people were killed in one attack in Saida. Three people were killed in a strike in western Beirut. Three girls were killed in the coastal town of Adloun. At least two were killed in Douris in the Bekaa Valley. Casualties were reported in Kayfoun in Mount Lebanon. ⚡️Beirut now Holy shit… pic.twitter.com/7hHquWxM2Y — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) April 8, 2026 Here's how the same regional outlet described it, noting that Lebanese TV has said the attacks have claimed "many lives" : "Israel has launched a surprise attack with dozens of air strikes a...
US vice-president says on visit to Budapest ‘we had to show’ support for Viktor Orbán, as opposition leads polls Hungary elections: what is at stake and who is likely to win? JD Vance has pushed back against claims that the US is interfering in Hungarian politics, describing the accusations as “darkly ironic”, as a set of polls suggested the opposition Tisza party could win a supermajority in the ...
US vice-president says on visit to Budapest ‘we had to show’ support for Viktor Orbán, as opposition leads polls Hungary elections: what is at stake and who is likely to win? JD Vance has pushed back against claims that the US is interfering in Hungarian politics, describing the accusations as “darkly ironic”, as a set of polls suggested the opposition Tisza party could win a supermajority in the upcoming elections. After spending his first day in Budapest excoriating the EU and accusing it of being behind one of the “worst examples” of foreign interference, the US vice-president spent part of Wednesday morning speaking at a thinktank and educational institution linked to Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán. Continue reading...
The LAPD said the breach affected “a digital storage system” belonging to the city’s Attorney's Office. The World Leaks extortion gang was reported to be behind the attack.
The LAPD said the breach affected “a digital storage system” belonging to the city’s Attorney's Office. The World Leaks extortion gang was reported to be behind the attack.
Thapana Onphalai/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis The Index tracked by the $99B Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF ( VIG ) reconstituted last month, but unlike in 2023 and 2025 , when Apple ( AAPL ) and Eli Lilly ( LLY ) crossed the ten-year dividend growth threshold to qualify, there were no noteworthy additions or deletions this year. Total portfolio turnover was just 5%, and besides so...
Thapana Onphalai/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis The Index tracked by the $99B Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF ( VIG ) reconstituted last month, but unlike in 2023 and 2025 , when Apple ( AAPL ) and Eli Lilly ( LLY ) crossed the ten-year dividend growth threshold to qualify, there were no noteworthy additions or deletions this year. Total portfolio turnover was just 5%, and besides some trimming of top names like Broadcom ( AVGO ), I have very little to report. Although not exciting from a writer's perspective, this consistency is actually excellent news for dividend growth investors, since relatively low portfolio turnover is a common denominator for nearly all U.S. Equity ETFs on 10+ year dividend growth streaks. In addition, VIG's fundamentals look solid. Along with a 1.71% estimated dividend yield, its five-year portfolio beta is low at 0.86, and its next-year 13.67% EPS growth rate should provide a strong foundation for future dividend increases. To be sure, I haven't always been VIG's biggest fan, but I do appreciate that it consistently achieves its dividend growth objectives and often does so with less risk. Therefore, I've assigned VIG a solid "hold" rating today, and I look forward to explaining why in further detail below. VIG Strategy Discussion VIG has $99B in assets, a 0.04% expense ratio, and tracks the S&P Dividend Growers Index after previously tracking the Nasdaq Dividend Achievers Index until September 2021 . A summary of the changes is below, and although it's technically a different Index, I've previously determined that this Index change was not very impactful. Certain screens, like the removal of the top 25% of eligible stocks by yield, were formalized, but the requirement of 10+ years of consecutive dividend increases remains the core criterion. Morningstar VIG's turnover rates are consistently low, too. For the year ending January 31, turnover ranged from 8-12% for the last four years, and that's actually a really good sign for ...
Back in February, Valve gave Steam client beta users the option to share anonymized framerate data and hardware information with the company to "help us learn about game compatibility and improve Steam." Now, new text buried in a recent Steam client update suggests Valve is preparing to use this data to power a "framerate estimator" tool in the future. As noted in SteamTracking's automated Steam c...
Back in February, Valve gave Steam client beta users the option to share anonymized framerate data and hardware information with the company to "help us learn about game compatibility and improve Steam." Now, new text buried in a recent Steam client update suggests Valve is preparing to use this data to power a "framerate estimator" tool in the future. As noted in SteamTracking's automated Steam client change notes (and picked up by some forum and social media users), the April 3 Steam client update contains explicit references to a "Framerate Estimator" in a store UI JSON file. A subheader listed in that file describes the ability to "Select an App and a PC config to get a chart of estimated framerates, based on the framerates of other Steam users." Based on the inputs referenced in the JSON data, it looks like generated framerate estimates will be based on CPU, GPU, and system RAM levels selected by the user (or saved as a hardware configuration in the Steam client) rather than any sort of automated system scanning software. Users will be able to see per-game frame rate estimates as well as the "Number of matching training... entries" those estimates are based on for that game and/or the applicable CPU/GPU. Read full article Comments
Chesky_W/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I have been long on Aehr Test Systems ( AEHR ) since the $30s and even with the recent volatility, I remain as bullish if not more bullish now. While I was waiting for the earnings report as the ultimate test of the thesis, what stood out even more was the stock’s reaction ahead of the release, signaling that the trend was already unfolding. As a ...
Chesky_W/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis I have been long on Aehr Test Systems ( AEHR ) since the $30s and even with the recent volatility, I remain as bullish if not more bullish now. While I was waiting for the earnings report as the ultimate test of the thesis, what stood out even more was the stock’s reaction ahead of the release, signaling that the trend was already unfolding. As a result, the minor correction after the report was not enough to shake my conviction. The revenue miss doesn’t matter much because demand is clearly accelerating as they secured strong new orders that should show up as revenue soon. Data by YCharts Weak Print, Powerful Signal For those who are not familiar with the company, Aehr Test Systems produces testing equipment for stress testing semiconductor wafers before they can be used. The technique is known as burn-in. Stress testing semiconductors through burn-in reduces the number of defective products. The burn-in testing technology ensures that AI and data center semiconductors are high quality. aehr.com The earnings print appeared to be weak at first glance. However, I believe that focusing on this metric would mean missing out on something bigger here. Specifically, revenues declined by 44% YoY to $10.3 million , slightly missing estimates, whereas gross margin contracted to 36.5%. On face value, this appears to be pretty poor performance. Instead, I focus on demand as bookings rose to $37.2 million, or 6x QoQ, pushing the book-to-bill ratio to above 3.5x, and backlog increased to $38.7 million, with effective backlog growing to $50.9 million, shortly after quarter-end. I see all of the above as critical, especially considering that this is what this business does at its current stage, given the nature of system orders. More importantly, I see the demand-side strength coming from the right areas here, namely from AI processors, hyperscalers and silicon photonics rather than any legacy segments. I don't view this quarter a...