KathyDewar Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) continues to advance its refranchising plans as part of a broader turnaround strategy aimed at reducing debt and shifting to a more capital-light model. The most recent step was a transaction with WKS Restaurant Group that increased WKS’s ownership in their Western U.S. joint venture from 45% to 80%, while also bringing in 23 company-owned Krispy Kreme shops in Cal...
KathyDewar Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) continues to advance its refranchising plans as part of a broader turnaround strategy aimed at reducing debt and shifting to a more capital-light model. The most recent step was a transaction with WKS Restaurant Group that increased WKS’s ownership in their Western U.S. joint venture from 45% to 80%, while also bringing in 23 company-owned Krispy Kreme shops in California and Hawaii. The deal is worth about $90M, including roughly $50M in cash at closing. Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) said it plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt. Management described the transaction as advancing sustainable, profitable growth through refranchising and lowering leverage. WKS now has about 50 Krispy Kreme shops plus roughly 1,000 "Delivered Fresh Daily" points of distribution through partners like Kroger ( KR ), Target ( TGT ), and Walmart ( WMT ). Notably, the updated agreement calls for additional shop development and wider DFD growth over time. Outside the U.S., Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) is also targeting two to three international refranchising deals in 2026, and it recently completed a refranchising transaction in Japan with Unison Capital that brought in nearly $70M in cash proceeds. During its last earnings conference call, Krispy Kreme (DNUY) management said that as a result of the refranchising efforts, the company expects nearly 50% of system-wide sales to come from franchisees as it begins 2027. The refranchising effort is expected to enable Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) to more profitably drive system-wide sales growth and accelerate unit development through the capital-light franchise model. Shares of Krispy Kreme ( DNUT ) are down 18.0% on a year-to-date basis and trade on the lower end of the 52-week range of $2.50 to $5.73. Short interest on DNUT stands at 11.3% of the total float. More on Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme, Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Krispy Kreme: Fewer Holes In The Turnaround Story (Rating Upgrade) Krispy Kreme, Inc...
The share of Affordable Care Act insurance customers in plans that cost more than $6,000 a year doubled, a sign of the squeeze on household budgets after Congress let Covid-era assistance expire. The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted data late Friday on ACA plans, also called Obamacare, that showed total enrollment this year dipping by about 5% to 23.1 million. That figure doesn...
The share of Affordable Care Act insurance customers in plans that cost more than $6,000 a year doubled, a sign of the squeeze on household budgets after Congress let Covid-era assistance expire. The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted data late Friday on ACA plans, also called Obamacare, that showed total enrollment this year dipping by about 5% to 23.1 million. That figure doesn’t yet count people who still may drop off plans because they can’t pay premiums, so the decline is expected to deepen. The share of people paying more than $500 a month — or $6,000 a year — is 8%, double the level of the previous four years, according to CMS data. The report shows how the distribution of costs has shifted, with more people paying higher premiums since enhanced subsidies expired at the end of 2025. Far fewer people are getting free or low-cost plans, while the proportion paying the highest prices is rising, according to data from the federal HealthCare.gov site, which covers 30 states. A growing percentage of Obamacare customers willing to pay the highest premiums may signal that the pool of recipients is skewing toward those with significant health care needs, as healthier members drop off due to rising costs. This would be problematic, given the program depends on payments from healthy individuals to help offset the higher costs associated with customers that need more expensive treatment. Despite the dip in customers, the Trump administration touted the enrollment numbers as a sign of “strength and stability” in the ACA marketplaces on Friday. Two days later, President Donald Trump renewed calls for the ACA to be replaced with direct payments to individuals, a proposal his administration hasn’t detailed. “ObamaCare is not and, never has been, sustainable!” Trump posted on social media. Data on the number of people who drop off because they can’t pay premiums is expected this spring, CMS said.
Live cattle futures are 75 to 85 cents in the green so far on Monday. Cash trade was light last week with a few early $234-235 sales. A few late sales were reported at $238 in the south. Feeder cattle futures are up $1.35 to $1.85 so far on Monday....
Live cattle futures are 75 to 85 cents in the green so far on Monday. Cash trade was light last week with a few early $234-235 sales. A few late sales were reported at $238 in the south. Feeder cattle futures are up $1.35 to $1.85 so far on Monday....
Corn futures are showing 4 to 5 cent gains in the front months on Monday. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price is up 4 3/4 cents to $4.15 3/4. USDA reported a private export sale of 145,000 MT of corn to unknown destinations this morning. USDA’s FGIS tallied corn...
Corn futures are showing 4 to 5 cent gains in the front months on Monday. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price is up 4 3/4 cents to $4.15 3/4. USDA reported a private export sale of 145,000 MT of corn to unknown destinations this morning. USDA’s FGIS tallied corn...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Key takeaways 1 MLPs total return outperformed the broader equity market For the quarter, master limited partnerships (MLPs), as measured by the Alerion MLP Index (AMZ), rose 1.81% on a price basis and returned 3.79% when including distributions. The S&P 500 Index rose 2.35% on a price basis and had a total return of 2.66%. 2 Better-than-expected ope...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Key takeaways 1 MLPs total return outperformed the broader equity market For the quarter, master limited partnerships (MLPs), as measured by the Alerion MLP Index (AMZ), rose 1.81% on a price basis and returned 3.79% when including distributions. The S&P 500 Index rose 2.35% on a price basis and had a total return of 2.66%. 2 Better-than-expected operating results During the quarter, 62% of midstream sector participants reported third quarter results in line with or better than consensus. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortization (EBITDA) were about 5% higher than the second quarter and about 7% above the third quarter of 2024. 3 We remain focused on the long-term investment horizon We believe valuations remain attractive and fundamentals support expectations for cash flow growth. Further, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) models has been increasing power demand from data centers, which may meaningfully increase demand for natural gas. Investment objective The fund seeks total return. Fund facts Fund AUM ($M) 2,011.83 Portfolio managers Brian Watson, Stuart Cartner Manager perspective and outlook West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil priced at the Cushing hub ended the quarter at $57.42 per barrel, down 8% from the end of the third quarter and 20% lower than one year ago. The price spread between Brent crude, a proxy for international crude prices, and WTI ended at $3.43 per barrel, narrowing during the quarter. Crude oil priced in Midland, Texas maintained a premium relative to WTI as crude pipeline capacity out of the Permian basin remained sufficient and there appeared to be an incentive for incremental volumes to move toward the Gulf Coast and export markets. Henry Hub natural gas prices ended the quarter at $3.69 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), up 12% from the end of the third quarter and 1% higher than one year ago. Gas pricing in the Permian Basin ended the quarter at negat...
De Zerbi is only candidate currently talking to Spurs Tottenham intend to give Italian a long-term contract Roberto De Zerbi has moved closer to becoming Tottenham’s new manager after further negotiations on Monday. The club have made him their prime target to replace Igor Tudor and save them from what would be a ruinous relegation to the Championship. De Zerbi is in fact the only live candidate g...
De Zerbi is only candidate currently talking to Spurs Tottenham intend to give Italian a long-term contract Roberto De Zerbi has moved closer to becoming Tottenham’s new manager after further negotiations on Monday. The club have made him their prime target to replace Igor Tudor and save them from what would be a ruinous relegation to the Championship. De Zerbi is in fact the only live candidate given that Spurs are not talking to anyone else. The makeup of his backroom staff has also been discussed. Continue reading...
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares are sliding in Monday’s session, down 4% to trade $137 and change after opening at $143.06. The move extends a rough stretch for the stock, which is now down 22% year to date. Today’s pullback reflects a familiar tension for Palantir’s investors. On one hand, the company keeps delivering impressive year-over-year ... Palantir Drops 4%: Can Its AI Partners...
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares are sliding in Monday’s session, down 4% to trade $137 and change after opening at $143.06. The move extends a rough stretch for the stock, which is now down 22% year to date. Today’s pullback reflects a familiar tension for Palantir’s investors. On one hand, the company keeps delivering impressive year-over-year ... Palantir Drops 4%: Can Its AI Partnerships Justify One of the Market’s Most Expensive Valuations?
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Micron Technology ( MU ) is an interesting company. At the time of writing, it’s the only company in the S&P 500 with a “straight A” report card on Seeking Alpha’s Quant Factor ratings. It’s got a 4.99/5 Quant rating (ranked #2 out of all stocks covered by the system), an overall “Buy” rating from Seeking Alpha analysts, and a “Strong Buy” a...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction Micron Technology ( MU ) is an interesting company. At the time of writing, it’s the only company in the S&P 500 with a “straight A” report card on Seeking Alpha’s Quant Factor ratings. It’s got a 4.99/5 Quant rating (ranked #2 out of all stocks covered by the system), an overall “Buy” rating from Seeking Alpha analysts, and a “Strong Buy” average rating from Wall Street analysts (28 rate it a strong buy, 10 buy, 5 hold, and no Wall Street analysts rate it a sell). What’s that adage about when something sounds too good to be true? Seeking Alpha For a stock that’s surged nearly 300% in the last year, this has me asking, “What's the catch?” How can the stock appreciate this much and still look so cheap? The answer, in my view, is that Micron is the ultimate siren song stock. I see commentators and analysts mentioning metrics like P/E, EV/EBITDA, and PEG ratios, but the problem is that with this stock in particular, these are not buy signals but warning signs. In this article, I lay out the rationale for Micron being a tempting but ultimately unwise investment. I then use a valuation model based on a projection of 2030 book value and apply a 1.5x price-to-book multiple on that value and then discount it to the present. Under optimistic assumptions, I get a fair value per share of $264. I don’t include a repricing catalyst or suggest trading the stock right now. But I argue that Micron’s behavior right now is right in line with its historical boom-bust pattern. Background (Earnings Call) Micron recently reported what is possibly the best quarter in the history of the semiconductor industry, and paradoxically the stock has since declined significantly. Revenues tripled, and gross margins hit 74.4%, and the company guided for 81% margins. On this news the stock entered a bear market within a matter of days, and as a result is currently one of the ‘cheapest’ stocks in the S&P 500 in terms of forward P/E. So how do we...