Corpay Inc. (NYSE: CPAY) , formerly FleetCor Technologies, operates as a leading global corporate payments provider. The company delivers specialized solutions across vehicle payments (fleet fuel and maintenance), lodging payments and corporate payments (including cross-border transactions, accounts payable automation, and foreign exchange services). Corpay's revenues are estimated at approximatel...
Corpay Inc. (NYSE: CPAY) , formerly FleetCor Technologies, operates as a leading global corporate payments provider. The company delivers specialized solutions across vehicle payments (fleet fuel and maintenance), lodging payments and corporate payments (including cross-border transactions, accounts payable automation, and foreign exchange services). Corpay's revenues are estimated at approximately $4.5 billion in FY2025, which will be confirmed (or not) when the company reports earnings this Wednesday after the close. The bull case rests on the company's ability to shift its revenue mix decisively toward higher-growth Corporate Payments while maintaining a durable, cash-generative Vehicle Payments base ("vehicle payments" is what the company now calls its legacy fleet business). Presumably, this strategy accounts for the company's name change, despite the legacy fleet business still representing a larger share of revenue: 51% for what used to be called "fleet" versus 31% for "CorPay". (source: June 2025 Investor Presentation) Organic revenue growth has been accelerating throughout 2025, reaching 11% in Q3 — an improvement of 500 basis points year over year — led by the Vehicle Payments segment and particularly the U.S. business. This is important because tracking the company's growth over the past five years based solely on the topline is complicated by considerable M & A activity. The company is a serial acquirer, which is acceptable, provided the transactions are accretive. Corpay completed the Alpha Group acquisition and acquired a 34% stake in AvidXchange, a $450 million revenue AP automation and payments solutions provider, with an option to buy the remainder. The company also divests some units; for example, most recently, it sold a unit to Mastercard for $300 million, which closed in early December 2025. Integrating acquisitions can be a source of concern; however, net debt has increased to approximately $6 billion as of quarter-ended Sept. 30 (we'll see the...
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is considering adopting his own “ anti-establishment ” discourse in his 2026 election campaign, replacing his theme of “rebuilding” Brazil with a focus on the financial elite, according to Folha de S.Paulo. Such discourse has been a feature of former President Jair Bolsonaro ’s messaging, as he and allies seek to negatively portray judicial and political elites ...
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is considering adopting his own “ anti-establishment ” discourse in his 2026 election campaign, replacing his theme of “rebuilding” Brazil with a focus on the financial elite, according to Folha de S.Paulo. Such discourse has been a feature of former President Jair Bolsonaro ’s messaging, as he and allies seek to negatively portray judicial and political elites with whom they’ve clashed, according to Folha. Lula’s campaign is likely to focus on opposing financial market operators, billionaires and other privileged sectors of society, including those who defend their own tax benefits, Folha reported without revealing how it obtained the information. He also plans to target those tied to organized crime and money laundering in an effort to bolster his message on public security, according to the report. Flavio Senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro , a son of the former leader, is betting that he can replicate the same strategies that helped his father win in 2018, O Globo reports, citing unidentified allies. That includes direct communication through social media, encouragement of widespread donations, street mobilizations, and the use of symbols aimed at conservative and religious voters. But Flavio also wants to professionalize the plan and correct errors identified in recent election cycles, including coordination failures, a lack of focus on the Brazilian northeast and gaps in economic discourse, according to the report. Still, he’s facing hurdles including a more limited social media reach than his father, greater Electoral Court control over content circulating online and more pronounced rejection rates. Senator Rogerio Marinho , who is helping coordinate the campaign, said they will respect other opposition candidates in the race, with an eye toward building an alliance against Lula in a second round, according to Folha. Northeast Lula’s Workers’ Party is still facing difficulties in parts of the northeast, trad...
In the fast-paced and cutthroat world of business, conducting thorough company analysis is essential for investors and industry experts. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) in comparison to its major competitors within the Software industry. By analyzing crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth potenti...
In the fast-paced and cutthroat world of business, conducting thorough company analysis is essential for investors and industry experts. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) in comparison to its major competitors within the Software industry. By analyzing crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company's performance in the industry. Palantir Technologies Background Palantir is an analytical software company that focuses on leveraging data to create efficiencies in its clients' organizations. The firm serves commercial and government clients via its Foundry and Gotham platforms, respectively. Palantir works only with entities in Western-allied nations and reserves the right not to work with anyone that is antithetical to Western values. The Denver-based company was founded in 2003 and went public in 2020. By closely studying Palantir Technologies, we can observe the following trends: Debt To Equity Ratio The debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio is a financial metric that helps determine the level of financial risk associated with a company's capital structure. Considering the debt-to-equity ratio in industry comparisons allows for a concise evaluation of a company's financial health and risk profile, aiding in informed decision-making. When evaluating Palantir Technologies alongside its top 4 peers in terms of the Debt-to-Equity ratio, the following insights arise: When considering the debt-to-equity ratio, Palantir Technologies exhibits a stronger financial position compared to its top 4 peers. This indicates that the company has a favorable balance between debt and equity, with a lower debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, which can be perceived as a positive aspect by investors. Key Takeaways For Palantir Technologies, the PE, PB, and PS ratios are all high compared to its peers in...
RiverNorthPhotography on Monday GameStop Corp. ( GME ) opened with a 5.8% swing higher as speculation builds over what Ryan Cohen's M&A master plan might be. Volume on GameStop ( GME ) is already over 2.2M shares during the morning session, putting it on pace for an above-average volume day. Earlier in the morning, Fox Business reporter Charles Payne said an interview with Cohen was cancelled. "Ry...
RiverNorthPhotography on Monday GameStop Corp. ( GME ) opened with a 5.8% swing higher as speculation builds over what Ryan Cohen's M&A master plan might be. Volume on GameStop ( GME ) is already over 2.2M shares during the morning session, putting it on pace for an above-average volume day. Earlier in the morning, Fox Business reporter Charles Payne said an interview with Cohen was cancelled. "Ryan is working on something monumental, and he would not be able to say much," updated Payne on the reason for the cancellation. Notably, Ryan Cohen has a nonqualified stock option grant on 171,537,327 shares of Class A GameStop ( GME ) with a strike price of $20.66 per share if an aggressive list of market cap and EBITDA targets are hit. Cohen's compensation package is similar in some respects to Elon Musk's at Tesla ( TSLA ), while Michael Burry thinks Cohen has a Buffett-style playbook working in his favor. Over the weekend, Seeking Alpha subscribers speculated on which consumer companies could be the M&A target for GameStop ( GME ). The crowdsourced list included Five Below ( FIVE ), Western Union ( WU ), Gravity Co. ( GRVY ), Nintendo ( NTDOY ), Target ( TGT ), Best Buy ( BBY ), and Build-A-Bear ( BBW ). Short interest on GME stands at 14.7% of the total float. More on GameStop GameStop: A Cash-Rich Holding Company Is A New Kind Of Growth Investment GameStop: From Melting Ice Cube To A Directional Bet On Cohen's Incentives Wall Street Lunch: GameStop's CEO Bets On $100B Dream Insider trades: JNJ, Intel, IBM among notable names The GameStop M&A guessing game: Who will be the target?
Porsche AG is considering shelving an electric sports car line to cut costs that have ballooned due its overly ambitious EV bet, according to people familiar with the matter. New Chief Executive Officer Michael Leiters may scrap the planned 718 line of Boxster and Cayman EVs because of development delays and rising expenses, said the people, who declined to be named discussing internal deliberatio...
Porsche AG is considering shelving an electric sports car line to cut costs that have ballooned due its overly ambitious EV bet, according to people familiar with the matter. New Chief Executive Officer Michael Leiters may scrap the planned 718 line of Boxster and Cayman EVs because of development delays and rising expenses, said the people, who declined to be named discussing internal deliberations. The gasoline versions of the two models for years proved a relatively affordable path to owning a Porsche, with starting prices at around €70,000 ($82,754). They were discontinued in 2025. The move may be necessary because Porsche faces budget constraints due to slumping sales in China and the cost of reversing its EV strategy. Deliberations to add a plug-in hybrid variant to the new line have only complicated things further because such a car requires different underpinnings, the people said. That would delay the project by several years, putting Porsche at risk of introducing older technology at a time it needs to generate excitement with its products, they added. While scrapping the line is one option Leiters is considering, he hasn’t made a final decision, the people said. The CEO, in the job since Jan. 1 after taking over from Oliver Blume , is under pressure to balance the spending constraints with concerns over underused factories due to lower-than-expected demand for Porsche’s EVs. A spokesperson for Porsche declined to comment. The issues with the 718 line are part of a broader set of problems Leiters inherited following Porsche’s ailing EV push. The company is pivoting back to combustion-engine and hybrid models after cutting its guidance four times last year, a slump that also hit parent Volkswagen AG . Porsche has warned that the EV course correction would slash operating profit by as much as €1.8 billion in 2025 . In addition, the automaker is grappling with import tariffs in the US, its biggest single market. Read More: Porsche Sales Slump Most in 16 Years...
BING-JHEN HONG/iStock Editorial via Getty Images This couldn't have been a more bifurcated times for the tech sector leaders ( XLK ). As the market rotation themes got underway, tech has seen an underlying disconnect in the AI value chain, hitting the software providers hard. For the Magnificent Seven companies that just reported earnings, Microsoft ( MSFT ) suffered at the hands of sellers who lo...
BING-JHEN HONG/iStock Editorial via Getty Images This couldn't have been a more bifurcated times for the tech sector leaders ( XLK ). As the market rotation themes got underway, tech has seen an underlying disconnect in the AI value chain, hitting the software providers hard. For the Magnificent Seven companies that just reported earnings, Microsoft ( MSFT ) suffered at the hands of sellers who lost confidence with its heightened CapEx plans, coupled with the relatively high exposure that is also alluded to its growing backlog linked to OpenAI ( OPENAI ), as I mentioned in a recent update. Magnificent Seven EPS growth estimates (Yardeni Research) Moreover, I've also been seeing a broader narrative shift in encouraging an allocation out of the Mag 7, relative to the other 493 in the S&P 500 ( SPX ), lending credence to the thesis that perhaps, even the small or mid caps could continue to outperform for 2026. I think on the top of the minds of investors will be whether earnings growth could continue to slow through 2027 for the Mag 7, or could we see bigger upside surprises in store for the big tech leaders? Because, I think more than ever, with the Magnificent Seven now trading at a valuation >28x, we must be cognizant of the increasing likelihood that 2026 could be a year when the market wants clearer validation of the AI themes , as the recent Davos conversation has unveiled. In this context, McKinsey also did a recent podcast, which highlighted the challenges in operationalizing this AI buildout, as they noted that "many companies are experimenting, but few are realizing meaningful ROI ." Therefore, I think we will concur that enterprise AI adoption/productization is still very much in its infancy, while also potentially upending the SaaS leaders (that has also implicated MSFT ). Should investors be banging the table about seeing robust ROI on their fledgling AI projects right now and then? Hence, I think the debate in assessing the skewed balance of power now fav...
Amidst the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment of today, conducting comprehensive company analysis is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in comparison to its major competitors within the Software industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market positio...
Amidst the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment of today, conducting comprehensive company analysis is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in comparison to its major competitors within the Software industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company's performance in the industry. Microsoft Background Microsoft develops and licenses consumer and enterprise software. It is known for its Windows operating systems and Office productivity suite. The company is organized into three equally sized broad segments: productivity and business processes (legacy Microsoft Office, cloud-based Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, LinkedIn, Dynamics), intelligence cloud (infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service offerings Azure, Windows Server OS, SQL Server), and more personal computing (Windows Client, Xbox, Bing search, display advertising, and Surface laptops, tablets, and desktops). By closely examining Microsoft, we can identify the following trends: Debt To Equity Ratio The debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio helps evaluate the capital structure and financial leverage of a company. Considering the debt-to-equity ratio in industry comparisons allows for a concise evaluation of a company's financial health and risk profile, aiding in informed decision-making. When comparing Microsoft with its top 4 peers based on the Debt-to-Equity ratio, the following insights can be observed: Microsoft is in a relatively stronger financial position compared to its top 4 peers, as evidenced by its lower debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15 . This implies that the company relies less on debt financing and has a more favorable balance between debt and equity. Key Takeaways For Microsoft in the Software industry, the PE and PB ratios a...
Amidst the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment of today, conducting comprehensive company analysis is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in comparison to its major competitors within the Automobiles industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market position...
Amidst the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment of today, conducting comprehensive company analysis is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in comparison to its major competitors within the Automobiles industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company's performance in the industry. Tesla Background Tesla is a vertically integrated battery electric vehicle automaker and developer of real world artificial intelligence software, which includes autonomous driving and humanoid robots. The company has multiple vehicles in its fleet, which include luxury and midsize sedans, crossover SUVs, a light truck, and a semi truck. Tesla also plans to begin selling a sports car and offer a robotaxi service. Global deliveries in 2025 were nearly 1.64 million vehicles. The company sells batteries for stationary storage for residential and commercial properties including utilities and solar panels and solar roofs for energy generation. Tesla also owns a fast-charging network and an auto insurance business. By thoroughly analyzing Tesla, we can discern the following trends: Debt To Equity Ratio The debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio is a key indicator of a company's financial health and its reliance on debt financing. Considering the debt-to-equity ratio in industry comparisons allows for a concise evaluation of a company's financial health and risk profile, aiding in informed decision-making. When evaluating Tesla alongside its top 4 peers in terms of the Debt-to-Equity ratio, the following insights arise: When considering the debt-to-equity ratio, Tesla exhibits a stronger financial position compared to its top 4 peers. This indicates that the company has a favorable balance between debt and equity, with a lower debt-to-e...
Apple Inc. ’s new second-generation AirTag is basically a slightly better do-over of the original. At $29 for a single item tracker or $99 for a four-pack, it also costs the same. Upgraders can expect slightly better wireless range, a louder chime and the ability to pinpoint an item’s location with their Apple Watch: no iPhone necessary. Considering the original was released almost five years ago,...
Apple Inc. ’s new second-generation AirTag is basically a slightly better do-over of the original. At $29 for a single item tracker or $99 for a four-pack, it also costs the same. Upgraders can expect slightly better wireless range, a louder chime and the ability to pinpoint an item’s location with their Apple Watch: no iPhone necessary. Considering the original was released almost five years ago, some Apple fans and techies might have hoped for more. But after a few days of testing, the updated AirTag hasn’t changed the calculus for how and where I use Apple’s tracker. And I think that’s exactly the point. Read More: Apple Announces New AirTag with Longer Range, Louder Speaker The AirTag is the rare Apple item that you’re never supposed to think about. Having been an early adopter of the original $29 device, I’ve kept the tiny circular tracker on my keychain, tucked it away in my backpack, and hidden it in my guitar case. And for most of that time, the AirTag has dutifully (and uneventfully) served its purpose, continually pinging nearby iPhones, Macs and other devices in Apple’s vast Find My network to report its whereabouts. That location is almost always right where I expect it to be. But as someone with an unfortunate history of losing wallets and keys, I’ve found the AirTag invaluable on multiple occasions. The AirTag is there when I need it, even if I rarely ever do, slowly trickling down its year-long endurance before the CR2032 coin cell battery inside needs replacing. The new device’s improved loudness — an increase of 50%, according to Apple — is the biggest improvement. Whereas I sometimes struggled to hear the original AirTag emit its location in a crowded restaurant or on a city street, this one cuts through clearly in those environments. If someone were to covertly plant one of Apple’s trackers on me for nefarious purposes , the louder chime makes it easier to pinpoint and disable. (Like iPhones, Android phones now alert users if an unknown AirTag is ...
Defying a tight domestic job market, a record wave of overseas graduates is flooding back to China, eager to snatch up opportunities in its fast-growing tech and advanced manufacturing sectors. The influx, up 12 per cent in 2025 to an eight-year high, signals “determined confidence” among globally trained talent, according to findings by job-recruitment platform Zhaopin. And the robustness of this...
Defying a tight domestic job market, a record wave of overseas graduates is flooding back to China, eager to snatch up opportunities in its fast-growing tech and advanced manufacturing sectors. The influx, up 12 per cent in 2025 to an eight-year high, signals “determined confidence” among globally trained talent, according to findings by job-recruitment platform Zhaopin. And the robustness of this homecoming trend, at 2.25 times the 2018 level, points to a “sustained trend” in domestic opportunities, the platform said in a report last week. Despite hiring demand remaining concentrated in traditional sectors such as education and foreign trade, “policy backing and heightened investor interest are accelerating hiring in emerging strategic industries such as new materials, artificial intelligence and high-end manufacturing, which are increasingly seen as long-term, high-value career paths”, Zhaopin’s report said. Advertisement This shift is also reshaping jobseekers’ preferences, with application interest increasingly tilting towards emerging industries. Demand for overseas-educated talent continues to concentrate in traditional sectors such as education, training and academic institutions, which Zhaopin said accounted for more than 30 per cent of hiring demand for overseas-educated candidates in 2025. That was considerably higher than consulting services, at 8.7 per cent, and trade and import-export, at 3.4 per cent, followed by several other sectors in the single digits. Advertisement Meanwhile, application growth was fastest in next-generation information technology and advanced manufacturing last year, led by new materials and optoelectronics, which both saw applications surge by more than 80 per cent.
US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is unlikely to pose a credible challenge to the United Nations, analysts say. They also warn that legal ambiguity, as well as doubts over credibility and funding, make the initiative’s long-term viability uncertain. Beijing was likely to respond cautiously but might also see some advantages if Washington’s attention was diverted elsewhere, leading to Chin...
US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is unlikely to pose a credible challenge to the United Nations, analysts say. They also warn that legal ambiguity, as well as doubts over credibility and funding, make the initiative’s long-term viability uncertain. Beijing was likely to respond cautiously but might also see some advantages if Washington’s attention was diverted elsewhere, leading to China potentially taking on a more proactive role in some regional security matters, they said. Advertisement The peace board concept was first laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan to oversee the rebuilding of the war-torn territory. It was also endorsed by the UN Security Council. However, a draft charter that was later sent out to prospective members suggested the board’s role could be expanded to other conflicts, sparking concerns of a potential challenge to the UN. Advertisement At last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said the board would be able to do “pretty much whatever we want to do”, but also promised that “we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations”.
Bob Mortimer, writer, host The first time I saw what was to become Shooting Stars was Vic Reeves – AKA Jim Moir – doing The Big Quiz during Vic Reeves Big Night Out live. I’d never seen anything like it. It was full of meaningless questions and had an attitude. I remember thinking: “There must be something we could do with that.” We got lucky. We were doing a Vic and Bob Christmas TV special and t...
Bob Mortimer, writer, host The first time I saw what was to become Shooting Stars was Vic Reeves – AKA Jim Moir – doing The Big Quiz during Vic Reeves Big Night Out live. I’d never seen anything like it. It was full of meaningless questions and had an attitude. I remember thinking: “There must be something we could do with that.” We got lucky. We were doing a Vic and Bob Christmas TV special and thought we might be able to get away with having that “Big Quiz”. It must have had something as the BBC approached us saying: “We think you could do this as a show.” I’d make the prizes myself. The art department would say: ‘We can do that better. You’re making us look really bad’ It was the most intense writing we ever did. We’d sit for hours trying to think up true or false questions, but because we loved it we were happy to give it the time it needed. Jim put George Dawes, played by Matt Lucas, in the romper suit, but after that, anything you see him wearing was Matt’s choice. We wouldn’t know what he was going to wear or say. He would come to me before filming and say: “At some point, can you ask me if I like going to the cinema?” I never let him tell me what this was setting up. Then we were genuinely in hysterics on the show because we hadn’t heard it before. Team captain Mark Lamarr was a gift. Being deadpan is in his nature. He’s not easily impressed. Ulrika Jonsson, the other team captain, actually gave a toss about the show, which was unexpected. She wanted to win. View image in fullscreen ‘We were genuinely in hysterics’ … Matt Lucas as George Dawes in 1996. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Lots happened that the guests couldn’t prepare for. We’d sabotage their seats. A good chunk of them would say: “My children love it. I had to go on.” Others were on publicity rounds and I suppose their agents chose the wrong show. Larry Hagman, who played JR in Dallas, seemed unsure of what was going on but went along with it. People always say they’re glad they did it. They may...
Let’s get real. Few of us look or feel at our most fabulous in February. It’s been cold and dark for, what, 18 months? Feels like it. Getting dressed feels less stylish self-expression than huddling for warmth. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. But there are reasons to be cheerful – or, more to the point,...
Let’s get real. Few of us look or feel at our most fabulous in February. It’s been cold and dark for, what, 18 months? Feels like it. Getting dressed feels less stylish self-expression than huddling for warmth. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. But there are reasons to be cheerful – or, more to the point, things that can bring you cheer. There is Valentine’s Day. (I will never understand why people like to sneer about Valentine’s Day. A daft festival of joy in the bleakest moment of the calendar. Take the win!) I’ve also found a shirt that will be your new favourite layering piece. And a very fun jumper for £54. Read on for the lowdown. I am a big fan of a shirt with a jewelled collar Boden Sienna shirt with jewel collar £85 £85 at Boden Sienna shirt with jewel collar £85 at Boden This sounds niche, but hear me out. Years ago – a decade at least – I bought a classic blue cotton button-down shirt from J Crew, with rhinestone beads embroidered on the collar. One of those purchases that feels whimsical but turns out to be an unexpected wardrobe staple. I still wear it all the time, because it hits a sweet spot of being special without being fussy, and it layers brilliantly under crew-neck sweaters or knit vests. I spotted this Boden version at their recent press day: it’s great. Boden Sienna shirt with jewel collar £85 £85 at Boden Magic mushrooms Superoom Lion’s mane liquid formula from £39.99 £39.99 at Superoom £44.99 at Amazon Superoom lion’s mane liquid formula £39.99 at Superoom £44.99 at Amazon Not that sort. Functional mushrooms are the latest niche wellness craze to go mainstream, with lion’s mane coffee the new kale juice. The mushroom market is a bit of a wild west – Instagram keeps trying to sell me Chinese imports of dubious origin and efficacy – but I’ve tried Superoom for six weeks (lion’s mane for focus, reishi for sleep) and I think it’s helping. Superoom tinct...
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images News I mark a Strong Buy rating on B2Gold Corp. ( BTG ) stock, as there is a severe valuation disconnect between current transitional friction and the possible 2026 FCF inflection. Ahead of Q4 (to be out on February 18, 2026), Wall Street is penalizing BTG stock for crushing bottlenecks at the Goose Mine and Fekola's fiscal reset. Along with that, in my opinion, th...
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images News I mark a Strong Buy rating on B2Gold Corp. ( BTG ) stock, as there is a severe valuation disconnect between current transitional friction and the possible 2026 FCF inflection. Ahead of Q4 (to be out on February 18, 2026), Wall Street is penalizing BTG stock for crushing bottlenecks at the Goose Mine and Fekola's fiscal reset. Along with that, in my opinion, the market is not pricing in the structural margin expansion as Goose ramps to ~300K ounces annually. With capital intensity peaking in 2025 ($688 million YTD, Q3) , the shift to high-grade underground ore at both Goose and Fekola builds a catalyst for deleveraging and multiple expansion. I am not ignoring the primary risks that involve logistical bottlenecks in the Fekola Hub and Spoke model and execution delays in the permanent crushing circuit at Goose. YCharts The Goose Mine Grade-Cost Arbitrage and FCF Inflection What I see as the most important bullish catalyst capable of driving B2Gold's stock price upward is beyond the addition of ounces from the Goose Mine. I am focusing on the specific mispriced velocity of the FCF inflection based on the grade-cost arbitrage between the FY2025 commissioning phase and the FY2026-2027 steady-state operation. Ahead of Q4, Wall Street is penalizing BTG stock on the friction costs (Q3 MD&A). These costs are mainly the crushing plant capacity shortfalls and the temporary delays in accessing high-grade Umwelt underground ore. This issue has led to a guidance revision to 50K-80K ounces at a high all-in sustaining cost [AISC] of $3,290-$3,350/ounce. These high costs form a distortion in the BTG stock valuation that sidelines the shift in B2Gold's margin profile (beginning in FY2026). The catalyst is the BTG's shift from processing lower-grade commissioning ore to the ultra-high-grade Umwelt underground reserves. These reserves hold a grade of 8.30 g/t Au relative to the open pit reserve grade of 6.19 g/t Au. This geological state may force ...
Silver Place/iStock via Getty Images Bullish ( BLSH ) went public in a hot IPO back in August, but the stock has plunged in the last few months. The weak bitcoin price hasn't helped the stock, but Bullish is now trading below the IPO prices despite major catalysts in the institutional crypto space. My investment thesis remains Bullish on the stock, though one needs to let the stock find a bottom a...
Silver Place/iStock via Getty Images Bullish ( BLSH ) went public in a hot IPO back in August, but the stock has plunged in the last few months. The weak bitcoin price hasn't helped the stock, but Bullish is now trading below the IPO prices despite major catalysts in the institutional crypto space. My investment thesis remains Bullish on the stock, though one needs to let the stock find a bottom after reporting Q4 results next week. Source: Finviz Monthly Metrics Bullish has only reported a couple of quarterly earnings since going public, so the market is still feeling its way around the important metrics. As with any crypto play, monthly and quarterly trading volumes are very volatile while the company continues to launch new services. The crypto options with 14 partners starting on October 8 and U.S. institutional spot trading only started in September in 20 states, with Bullish securing the NY BitLicense. The company provides monthly trading volumes with Q4 volumes vastly exceeding the prior quarter levels, but the volumes were below the Q1 levels. In total, Bullish did $223 billion in total trading volume for Q4, up 57% from the $142 billion in Q3. Spot trading volume was $205 billion, up from only $130 billion in the prior quarter. Source: Bullish Dec. '25 monthly metrics Bullish fully launched options trading at the end of October and has already reached $6.2 billion in trading volumes for December alone. The crypto options trading should be a big story for 2026, with the company claiming the market size in Q3 was already over $200 billion. The key to the trading volumes is that Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) has traded weak throughout the last quarter and into January. The weaker crypto prices tend to lead to lower trading volumes in the short term, so the start of U.S. spot trading is somewhat being overshadowed by the weaker crypto prices pressuring trading volumes. Source: CoinDesk Since the BitLicense, Bullish onboarded retail brokers like Webull and Moomoo, along w...
What is and isn’t a weed that needs to be eliminated in the field is determined by the eyes of the farmer — and now, increasingly, by a new AI model from Carbon Robotics. Seattle-based Carbon Robotics, which builds the LaserWeeder — a robot fleet that uses lasers to kill weeds — announced a new AI model, the Large Plant Model (LPM), on Monday. This model recognizes plant species instantly and allo...
What is and isn’t a weed that needs to be eliminated in the field is determined by the eyes of the farmer — and now, increasingly, by a new AI model from Carbon Robotics. Seattle-based Carbon Robotics, which builds the LaserWeeder — a robot fleet that uses lasers to kill weeds — announced a new AI model, the Large Plant Model (LPM), on Monday. This model recognizes plant species instantly and allows farmers to target new weeds without needing to retrain the robots. The LPM is trained on more than 150 million photos and data points collected by the company’s machines across the more than 100 farms in 15 countries where the robots currently operate. The model now powers Carbon AI, the AI system that serves as the brains inside the company’s autonomous weed-killing robots. Paul Mikesell, the founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics, told TechCrunch that prior to LPM, every time a new type of weed would show up on a farm — or even the same type of weed in different soil or with a slightly different appearance — the company would have to create new data labels to retrain its machines to recognize the plant. This process took about 24 hours each time, Mikesell said. Now, LPM can learn a new weed instantly, even if it’s never seen it before. “The farmer can live in real time and say, ‘Hey, this is a new weed. I want you to kill this,’ and that was something that had never been done before,” Mikesell said. “There’s no new labeling or retraining because the Large Plant Model understands, at a much deeper level, what it’s looking at and the type of plant.” Mikesell said that the company, which was founded in 2018, started developing this model shortly after it began shipping its first machines in 2022. Mikesell has years of experience building these types of neural networks from previous roles at Uber and working on Meta’s Oculus virtual reality headsets. Techcrunch event TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026: Tickets Live On June 23 in Boston, more than 1,100 founders come together at Te...
A coalition of nonprofits is urging the U.S. government to immediately suspend the deployment of Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, in federal agencies including the Department of Defense. The open letter, shared exclusively with TechCrunch, follows a slew of concerning behavior from the large language model over the past year, including most recently a trend of X users asking Grok to...
A coalition of nonprofits is urging the U.S. government to immediately suspend the deployment of Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, in federal agencies including the Department of Defense. The open letter, shared exclusively with TechCrunch, follows a slew of concerning behavior from the large language model over the past year, including most recently a trend of X users asking Grok to turn photos of real women, and in some cases children, into sexualized images without their consent. According to some reports, Grok generated thousands of nonconsensual explicit images every hour, which were then disseminated at scale on X, Musk’s social media platform that’s owned by xAI. “It is deeply concerning that the federal government would continue to deploy an AI product with system-level failures resulting in generation of nonconsensual sexual imagery and child sexual abuse material,” the letter, signed by advocacy groups like Public Citizen, Center for AI and Digital Policy, and Consumer Federation of America, reads. “Given the administration’s executive orders, guidance, and the recently passed Take It Down Act supported by the White House, it is alarming that [Office of Management and Budget] has not yet directed federal agencies to decommission Grok.” xAI reached an agreement last September with the General Services Administration (GSA), the government’s purchasing arm, to sell Grok to federal agencies under the executive branch. Two months before, xAI – alongside Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI – secured a contract worth up to $200 million with the Department of Defense. Amid the scandals on X in mid-January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Grok will join Google’s Gemini in operating inside the Pentagon network, handling both classified and unclassified documents, which experts say is a national security risk. The letter’s authors argue that Grok has proven itself incompatible with the administration’s requirements for AI systems. According to the OMB’s g...
Today, I’m talking with Allan Thygesen, who is the CEO of Docusign. You know Docusign; it’s the platform where you sign things online. It turns out 7,000 people work there, which is one of those facts you see flying around sometimes that’s always felt like perfect Decoder bait. What are all those people doing? And what kind of product roadmap does a company like Docusign even need? I always assume...
Today, I’m talking with Allan Thygesen, who is the CEO of Docusign. You know Docusign; it’s the platform where you sign things online. It turns out 7,000 people work there, which is one of those facts you see flying around sometimes that’s always felt like perfect Decoder bait. What are all those people doing? And what kind of product roadmap does a company like Docusign even need? I always assumed I would never find out, because most enterprise software CEOs do not like being on Decoder . That’s because most enterprise software is bad, and they often don’t actually use their own products, which means they have a hard time answering my questions. So I was pretty happy when Allan agreed to come on — and then told me he had actually used Docusign himself just that morning. Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. Head here . Not a subscriber? You can sign up here . From there we talked about what Docusign’s platform actually is, how it’s expanding, and, of course, how all of those employees are structured. Allan has been CEO there for just three years, so he had an interesting perspective on where the company was and the changes he wanted to make when he joined Docusign from Google. Of course, that brought us to AI. Allan and I spent a long time talking about the idea that Docusign should summarize contracts for people before they sign them and who is responsible if the AI gets that interpretation wrong. We also spent a while talking about how Docusign’s customers actually generate the kinds of documents that get signed and how automating that process with AI does and does not work. You’ll hear Allan point out that a lot of this looks like just a fancy mail merge, which was at least refreshingly down to earth in the context of an AI conversation. I also had to ask Allan which parts of his enterprise software were bad and how he’d improve them — he actually answered the question, which might be a first ...
When a video game series goes on for a long time, it raises a question for newcomers: Just where is the best place to jump in? In the case of Dragon Quest, there are nearly a dozen mainline titles, not to mention copious spinoffs and ports that span four decades of history. Of late, though, publisher Square Enix has been releasing a number of remakes that serve as almost ideal entry points for beg...
When a video game series goes on for a long time, it raises a question for newcomers: Just where is the best place to jump in? In the case of Dragon Quest, there are nearly a dozen mainline titles, not to mention copious spinoffs and ports that span four decades of history. Of late, though, publisher Square Enix has been releasing a number of remakes that serve as almost ideal entry points for beginners who are intimidated by all of that baggage. And the new Dragon Quest VII Reimagined might just be the best so far. DQVII was a pivotal game for the series when it launched on the original PlayStation, as it was the first with 3D graphics. For a franchise that evolves at a slow, deliberate pace, that was a big deal. Maybe that’s why this isn’t the first time Square Enix has remade it; the game also launched on the Nintendo 3DS under the new subtitle Fragments of the Forgotten Past. Reimagined builds on the core experience with a number of quality-of-life tweaks — you can see enemies before battle starts, for instance, and the game gives you a “previously on” story update each time you start it up — along with revamped graphics that make the game world look like a series of cute-as-heck dioramas. It doesn’t quite approach the handcrafted charm of Fantasian, but it’s close. That stuff is great and makes Reimagined feel like a thoroughly modern game. But what really makes it a great entry point for Dragon Quest beginners is the way it’s structured. For the most part, every Dragon Quest is a standalone experience that tells its own story, so narrative-wise there’s no real issue with jumping into the series with any specific number, including the seventh game. But what makes DQVII unique is how its premise turns it into a series of episodes that are much more digestible than one single, epic quest. Unlike most Dragon Quest games, and most other fantasy RPGs for that matter, DQVII isn’t set in one huge world. Instead, the game opens on a tiny island, one where the residents...
VIENNA, Va., Feb. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DC Capital Partners ("DC Capital"), a private equity investment firm with deep expertise in Government and Engineering markets, announced today that it has made a majority investment in Knexus, a provider of applied artificial intelligence ("AI") capabilities supporting complex, mission-critical government programs. AI Solutions Company Receives Majority I...
VIENNA, Va., Feb. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DC Capital Partners ("DC Capital"), a private equity investment firm with deep expertise in Government and Engineering markets, announced today that it has made a majority investment in Knexus, a provider of applied artificial intelligence ("AI") capabilities supporting complex, mission-critical government programs. AI Solutions Company Receives Majority Investment to Scale Operations and Maximize Growth in the AI Market (PRNewsfoto/Knexus) Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, Knexus is a trusted partner to U.S. defense and civilian agencies, designing, building, and operating enterprise-grade AI systems that enable secure adoption of next-generation AI in production environments. The Company maintains long-standing client relationships across defense and civilian agencies and has tremendous expertise in deploying Google enabled AI solutions. Knexus is a Google Public Sector Premier Partner, implementation partner for Gemini for Government and received the 2025 Google Cloud Partner of the Year Award for Business Applications in Government, reinforcing its role as a trusted bridge between leading commercial AI technologies and federal mission requirements. "The U.S. Government's focus on artificial intelligence continues to accelerate as agencies seek to modernize operations, improve readiness, and enable faster, more informed decision-making," said Thomas J. Campbell, Founder and Managing Partner of DC Capital Partners. "Knexus has built a differentiated capability at the intersection of AI and mission execution. We are excited to partner with the Knexus team to support the next phase of growth through investment in business development, technology, and operations, consistent with DC Capital's systematic approach to building durable, mission-focused government technology platforms." "The partnership with DC Capital represents a pivotal milestone for Knexus," said Adam Lurie, Chief Executive Officer of Knexu...