Alex Wong/Getty Images News Kraft Heinz’s ( KHC ) announcement to remain as a single entity eclipsed fourth quarter results Wednesday. But for J.P. Morgan’s Thomas Palmer and Brandon Cohen, the lackluster outlook and risks associated with the cost to drive growth warranted a downgrade to Underweight. “We see ongoing challenges that could limit KHC’s expected volume inflection as 2026 progresses,” ...
Alex Wong/Getty Images News Kraft Heinz’s ( KHC ) announcement to remain as a single entity eclipsed fourth quarter results Wednesday. But for J.P. Morgan’s Thomas Palmer and Brandon Cohen, the lackluster outlook and risks associated with the cost to drive growth warranted a downgrade to Underweight. “We see ongoing challenges that could limit KHC’s expected volume inflection as 2026 progresses,” Palmer and Cohen said, adding that if the cost of driving growth for its underperforming segment proves higher than KHC anticipates (which has been the case for General Mills and others in the space), the company might find itself with less flexibility, given that the dividend should absorb nearly 80% of 2026 free cash flow. The analysts cite North American volume decline of more than 3% in each of the past 19 quarters, despite investments in innovation, marketing, price, and brand renovation. “The declines have been the result of both weaker category performance (which is less of a headwind lately than in the past) and market share losses (which show little signs of abating),” Palmer and Cohen write. According to Nielsen data, volumes are trending lower in 13 of KHC’s largest U.S. retail categories, and the company is losing volume share in 10 categories, including packaged lunch meat. Investments in marketing might be the “right choice” in the longer term, but these investments take time to translate into higher sales. KHC assumes these investments will start to ramp in the second quarter of this year and further into the second half and that volumes will closely follow. But Palmer and Cohen are skeptical. “On this basis, we wonder to what extent KHC’s 2026 outlook is conservative,” they say. More on Kraft Heinz The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript The Kraft Heinz Company 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Kraft Heinz: Berkshire May Be Out Of The Equation And What That Means For Shareholders Kraft Heinz stock tests key moving averages...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Continue reading
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. ET Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Continue reading
In January 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) exchange-traded funds ( ETFs ). Unlike the earlier Bitcoin ETFs, which mainly tracked Bitcoin futures, these ETFs were directly backed by Bitcoin reserves and pegged to the cryptocurrency's market price. Retail and institutional investors could easily buy those ETFs to gain ...
In January 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved the first batch of spot Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) exchange-traded funds ( ETFs ). Unlike the earlier Bitcoin ETFs, which mainly tracked Bitcoin futures, these ETFs were directly backed by Bitcoin reserves and pegged to the cryptocurrency's market price. Retail and institutional investors could easily buy those ETFs to gain exposure to Bitcoin without using crypto wallets. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT) , which holds $52.6 billion in assets, is now the top spot Bitcoin ETF. But how many of its shares would be equivalent to a single Bitcoin? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
The US IPO market was jolted over the past week as companies going public delivered losses to investors that piled into technology upstarts, threatening the buoyant mood ahead of mega-listings expected later this year. Broker Clear Street Group Inc. slashed its initial public offering target by nearly two thirds , just days after Brazilian fintech AGI Inc. was forced to pare back its own ambitions...
The US IPO market was jolted over the past week as companies going public delivered losses to investors that piled into technology upstarts, threatening the buoyant mood ahead of mega-listings expected later this year. Broker Clear Street Group Inc. slashed its initial public offering target by nearly two thirds , just days after Brazilian fintech AGI Inc. was forced to pare back its own ambitions . The reductions came within a week of Blackstone Inc. -backed Liftoff Mobile Inc. ’s move to postpone its first-time share sale as tech stocks spiraled. The potentially record-breaking IPO for Elon Musk ’s SpaceX , and perhaps even listings by its xAI unit’s artificial intelligence rivals, remain the most important events this year for the market. Still, with the three businesses whose IPOs came under attack this month pitching themselves as technological disruptors, jitters over AI’s effect even on cutting-edge tech can hit investors and advisers where it hurts. Read More: Musk Shifts Focus to Moon as Mars Mission Remains Years Away “If there’s any question or any doubt, investors will pass on a deal and they aren’t feeling any FOMO right now — so they’re fine waiting,” said Matthew Kennedy , senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research and IPO-focused exchange-traded funds. Investors have been happy to sit out deals and wait for companies to prove their value, or at least settle down after their IPOs. More than half of the 15 companies whose listings on US exchanges raised more than $100 million each are trading below their offer prices, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Five of those stocks are trading at least 15% lower than what IPO buyers paid for them. AI Uncertainty Investors who bought technology IPOs recently are licking their wounds, as publicly-traded companies across software and financials are being pressured on AI uncertainty. For Liftoff, peers including AppLovin Corp. , which similarly operates in the mobile app marketing space,...
The Bank of Canada ’s second-in-command is warning of future inflation risks if investment in artificial intelligence is concentrated among the country’s big companies. Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said that while large firms have the scale and capacity to make “big bets on technology,” the country’s ailing productivity is more likely to be repaired if there’s broader adoption of AI acros...
The Bank of Canada ’s second-in-command is warning of future inflation risks if investment in artificial intelligence is concentrated among the country’s big companies. Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said that while large firms have the scale and capacity to make “big bets on technology,” the country’s ailing productivity is more likely to be repaired if there’s broader adoption of AI across small- and medium-sized companies. That’s because large businesses — many of which face limited competition — are less likely to pass savings from productivity gains into higher real wages or lower prices, she said Thursday at an AI conference in Toronto. “You also don’t want things concentrated in big firms. That’s not good for productivity either,” Rogers said in a fireside chat at the event hosted by the University of Toronto. “If all of the gains are concentrated in big firms, they aren’t likely to translate to gains across the economy.” In 2023, 98% of businesses in Canada were defined as “small,” employing one to 99 paid employees, according to government data . Medium-sized firms, which have 100 to 499 paid employees, represent 1.5% of the total. Just 0.3% of Canada’s businesses are “large” — defined as employing 500 or more people. But over a third of the country’s population work for these firms, and they’re more likely to make large-scale capital investments. In a speech last week, Governor Tiff Macklem said the bank was seeing little evidence of widespread uptake of AI among Canadian businesses. Rogers echoed those comments Thursday, but added that some of the “low hire, low fire” sentiment in the country’s labor market may reflect firms that are beginning or weighing adoption of AI. Read More: Macklem Warns Against Rate Cuts to Offset Structural Changes Vass Bednar, managing director at the Canadian Shield Institute think tank, agrees that there needs to be a more targeted policy discussion about who stands to benefit most from investment into AI. “We can’t ju...
Programming note: Money Stuff will be off next week, back on Feb. 23. Insider predicting Insider trading, I often say around here , is not about fairness; it is about theft. The problem with insider trading is not that you have information that the rest of the market doesn’t have: You’re supposed to try to get information that the rest of the market doesn’t have; the point of financial markets is ...
Programming note: Money Stuff will be off next week, back on Feb. 23. Insider predicting Insider trading, I often say around here , is not about fairness; it is about theft. The problem with insider trading is not that you have information that the rest of the market doesn’t have: You’re supposed to try to get information that the rest of the market doesn’t have; the point of financial markets is for people to compete to get good information and incorporate it into prices. The problem with insider trading is that you are using information that belongs to someone else — your employer or client or shareholders or brother-in-law or golf buddy — without their permission; you have some duty not to trade on it. But your duty is to the source of the information, not the person you trade with. (Not legal advice! There are some exceptions to this, including (1) tender offers and (2) a company itself trading its own stock using nonpublic information is arguably misappropriating that information from its shareholders, but it might be simpler to analyze as “the company is trading unfairly against its shareholders.” ) Here is one not-quite-right but interesting way to think about it. You have a “ duty of trust or confidence ” to the source of the information; they have given you the information in confidence, expecting you to keep it secret. If you just go and tell everyone the information — if you post it on X or whatever — then you have obviously violated that duty, and you might get in trouble, though not for insider trading. What kind of trouble you would get in depends on what sort of duty you have. A duty of trust or confidence could come from your company’s employee handbook, or from your relationship with your spouse; if you violate it, you might get fired, or divorced . Or it could come from a nondisclosure agreement, and if you violate it, you might get sued. Or you might have a duty to keep information secret because you work for the government and the information is ...
Earnings Call Insights: Conduent Incorporated (CNDT) Q4 2025 Management View Harsha Agadi, President, CEO & Director, emphasized a decisive turnaround approach, stating, "My expectations are simple and my objectives are clear. It is to lead Conduent to consistent year-over-year revenue and EBITDA growth, supported by very strong and durable free cash flow generation." He highlighted the company's ...
Earnings Call Insights: Conduent Incorporated (CNDT) Q4 2025 Management View Harsha Agadi, President, CEO & Director, emphasized a decisive turnaround approach, stating, "My expectations are simple and my objectives are clear. It is to lead Conduent to consistent year-over-year revenue and EBITDA growth, supported by very strong and durable free cash flow generation." He highlighted the company's status as a turnaround story and outlined several immediate priorities: faster decision-making, maximum financial discipline, cost structure reductions—particularly in SG&A and technology—portfolio rationalization, improved pipeline conversion, and organizational simplification. Agadi stated the company will categorize every business as "fix, sell or grow," and clarified, "Businesses that are in the category of sale will be actively marketed with a focus on executing transactions efficiently and at fair value. Proceeds will be first used to reduce debt, followed by multiple other priorities." Agadi announced plans to host an Analyst Day in New York City to detail the strategy, priorities, and execution plan. Giles Goodburn, Chief Financial Officer, reported, "We signed $152 million of new business ACV in the quarter, one of our highest quarters in recent years, up 11% versus Q4 2024. Our full year 2025 new business ACV was $517 million, up 6% versus 2024." Goodburn also noted, "Our qualified ACV pipeline remains strong at $3.2 billion, which is up 4% year-over-year." Goodburn stated, "Adjusted revenue for full year 2025 was $3.04 billion, compared to $3.18 billion in 2024, down 4.2%." He added, "Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $164 million, as compared to $124 million in 2024. And our adjusted EBITDA margin of 5.4% is up 150 basis points year-over-year and towards the top end of our guided range." Outlook Agadi indicated that a more detailed update on strategy and financial guidance will be provided with Q1 results, stating, "We will also be prepared to outline their expec...
Earnings Call Insights: Antero Midstream Corporation (AM) Q4 2025 Management View Michael Kennedy, President, CEO & Director, announced the closing of the HG Midstream acquisition for $1.1 billion, stating this bolt-on asset in the Marcellus shale "adds over 400 highly economic undeveloped locations dedicated to Antero Midstream that immediately compete for development capital and infrastructure p...
Earnings Call Insights: Antero Midstream Corporation (AM) Q4 2025 Management View Michael Kennedy, President, CEO & Director, announced the closing of the HG Midstream acquisition for $1.1 billion, stating this bolt-on asset in the Marcellus shale "adds over 400 highly economic undeveloped locations dedicated to Antero Midstream that immediately compete for development capital and infrastructure projects in 2026." Kennedy emphasized the strategic fit of the acquisition and reaffirmed the company’s "just-in-time capital investment strategy that generates consistent and repeatable free cash flow." Kennedy reported that EBITDA grew 7% year-over-year in 2025, marking "our 11th consecutive year of growth since our IPO in 2014." Free cash flow after dividends increased by 30%, driven by capital-efficient organic growth and throughput from Antero Resources. He projected continued EBITDA and free cash flow growth in 2026, with expectations for "8% year-over-year EBITDA growth and 11% year-over-year free cash flow growth." Kennedy forecasted "another year of high single-digit EBITDA growth" in 2027 as benefits from the recent acquisition and synergies are realized, particularly from the integration of the water system and AR’s 3-rig new completion crew development program. Justin Agnew, CFO, stated, "Adjusted EBITDA was $285 million during the quarter, which was a 4% increase year-over-year, driven by an increase in gathering and compression volumes." Agnew added, "We generated $85 million of free cash flow after dividends, which we used to reduce leverage to 2.7x and repurchased approximately $48 million of AM shares." Agnew highlighted a company record for the year, noting "free cash flow after dividends of $325 million, which is a 30% increase compared to 2024," and a "20% return on invested capital or ROIC in 2025." Agnew outlined the 2026 capital budget of $190 million to $220 million, allocating funds to well connect and water capital, construction and relocation of co...
Blackstone Inc. has named Thomas Schleicher , who used to manage money for the billionaire owners of Lego A/S, as a senior adviser for the Nordic region. A spokesperson for Blackstone confirmed the appointment, saying Schleicher will support the firm’s origination efforts and deepen investor engagement across the Nordics. Schleicher was most recently chief investment officer of Kirkbi A/S , which ...
Blackstone Inc. has named Thomas Schleicher , who used to manage money for the billionaire owners of Lego A/S, as a senior adviser for the Nordic region. A spokesperson for Blackstone confirmed the appointment, saying Schleicher will support the firm’s origination efforts and deepen investor engagement across the Nordics. Schleicher was most recently chief investment officer of Kirkbi A/S , which oversees about 178 billion kroner ($28 billion) in assets on behalf of Denmark’s billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family, which controls the Lego toymaker. Kirkbi teamed up with Blackstone in 2019 on a £4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) take-private of theme park operator Merlin Entertainments , which owns Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Schleicher previously worked at private capital firm EQT AB . His appointment follows a number of other senior appointments across Blackstone in Europe as the firm prepares to invest $500 billion in the region over the next 10 years. Blackstone’s Nordic portfolio spans a broad range of strategies including real estate, infrastructure, private equity and growth investments. Blackstone and Permira agreed to buy Adevinta ASA , the online classified company, in 2023 for about €14 billion ($16.6 billion) including debt. The investment firm is also working on a large-scale data center project in Forssa, Finland, in what’s expected to be one of the biggest such developments in Europe. In November, Blackstone appointed former Morgan Stanley rainmaker Franck Petitgas to a newly created role of vice chairman for Europe . His appointment came just weeks after Blackstone hired former Apollo Global Management Inc. executive Michele Raba as head of European corporate private equity. Blackstone has also added Jon Abrahamsson Ring as senior adviser for its global consumer franchise. He was previously chief executive officer of Inter IKEA Group, the worldwide franchiser of the furniture retailer.
March arabica coffee (KCH26 ) today is up +3.15 (+1.07%), and March ICE robusta coffee (RMH26 ) is up +68 (+1.81%). Coffee prices are sharply higher today as strength in the Brazilian real (^USDBRL ) has spurred short covering in coffee futures. The real rallied to a 1.75-year high against...
March arabica coffee (KCH26 ) today is up +3.15 (+1.07%), and March ICE robusta coffee (RMH26 ) is up +68 (+1.81%). Coffee prices are sharply higher today as strength in the Brazilian real (^USDBRL ) has spurred short covering in coffee futures. The real rallied to a 1.75-year high against...
March WTI crude oil (CLH26 ) today is down -1.19 (-1.83%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26 ) is down -0.0533 (-2.69%). Crude oil and gasoline prices are sharply lower today as the chances of a US attack on Iran eased. Also, mounting crude supplies in floating storage are undercutting oil...
March WTI crude oil (CLH26 ) today is down -1.19 (-1.83%), and March RBOB gasoline (RBH26 ) is down -0.0533 (-2.69%). Crude oil and gasoline prices are sharply lower today as the chances of a US attack on Iran eased. Also, mounting crude supplies in floating storage are undercutting oil...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Opportunity Fund ( PFO ) is a closed-end fund that investors may choose to purchase as a way of earning an attractive level of income from the assets that they already possess. The fund does reasonably well at the provision of income, as it has a 6.77% yield at the current share price, but there are several other...
PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Opportunity Fund ( PFO ) is a closed-end fund that investors may choose to purchase as a way of earning an attractive level of income from the assets that they already possess. The fund does reasonably well at the provision of income, as it has a 6.77% yield at the current share price, but there are several other preferred stock funds that boast substantially higher yields. Furthermore, this fund has been one of the worst-performing preferred stock funds over the past five years, and it is one of the only ones that delivered a negative total return over the period. The combination of a lower yield than its peers and its poor performance history might certainly prompt investors to consider other options, but we should never completely ignore any asset due to a poor recent history. After all, there have been situations in which an asset performed quite poorly for a long period of time before engaging in a powerful bull run that enriched its investors. Gold is a pretty good example of this, as its performance over the 2013 to 2020 period was very disappointing, but its performance over the past two years has been quite impressive. Bearing in mind that past performance is no guarantee of future results, let us have a look at the Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Opportunity Fund and see if it could be a reasonable investment opportunity today. The Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Opportunity Fund Compared to the Benchmark Indices The name of the Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred and Income Opportunity Fund suggests that the fund’s portfolio will primarily be invested in preferred stocks and similar fixed-income products. The fund’s website supports this conclusion, as it states: Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its Managed Assets in a portfolio of preferred and other income-producing securities. There are a few different types of securities th...
Even as the market dives, Micron Technologies (NASDAQ: MU) is rocketing higher. All after CFO Mark Murphy addressed “inaccurate reporting” about the company’s next-generation high-bandwidth-memory positioning, saying that the company’s HBM4 offering is in high-volume production, as noted by MarketWatch.com. “Shipments to customers have ‘successfully’ ramped in the first quarter, he noted, with tha...
Even as the market dives, Micron Technologies (NASDAQ: MU) is rocketing higher. All after CFO Mark Murphy addressed “inaccurate reporting” about the company’s next-generation high-bandwidth-memory positioning, saying that the company’s HBM4 offering is in high-volume production, as noted by MarketWatch.com. “Shipments to customers have ‘successfully’ ramped in the first quarter, he noted, with that development ... Market Movers: Micron Soars on CFO Comments
Alphabet Inc. ’s YouTube released a dedicated app for Apple Inc. ’s Vision Pro on Thursday, filling a notable gap in the headset’s lineup of entertainment options two years after its debut . The software closely resembles the version of YouTube that shipped last fall on the Galaxy XR from Samsung Electronics Co. , which runs Google’s Android XR platform. It offers full access to the platform’s bil...
Alphabet Inc. ’s YouTube released a dedicated app for Apple Inc. ’s Vision Pro on Thursday, filling a notable gap in the headset’s lineup of entertainment options two years after its debut . The software closely resembles the version of YouTube that shipped last fall on the Galaxy XR from Samsung Electronics Co. , which runs Google’s Android XR platform. It offers full access to the platform’s billions of videos and supports playback of 3D content, along with immersive 180-degree and 360-degree clips. Before now, YouTube was only accessible via the built-in Safari web browser on Apple’s $3,499 mixed-reality headset. The lack of an official app left users without the ability to download videos for offline viewing and take advantage of other features as they’ve long been able to do on mobile devices. The fact that YouTube waited two years to deliver a Vision Pro app is another reminder of the niche status that surrounds Apple’s headset. Though the device is impressive from a technical standpoint — especially for viewing immersive videos — it lacks the vibrant app ecosystem of Apple’s iPhone, iPad and other hardware. Netflix Inc. remains a holdout, with no dedicated Vision Pro app available from the streaming service. Read More: Apple’s Vision Pro Is Suffering From a Lack of Immersive Video Third-party developers have tried to fill the void by releasing unsanctioned YouTube players for visionOS, the headset’s operating system. But some of these have been removed from the App Store since they violate the video platform’s terms of service. The official YouTube app is a free download and is available now.