Image source: The Motley Fool. Jan. 28, 2026 5 p.m. ET Call participants Chief Executive Officer — Scott Sanborn Chief Financial Officer — Drew LaBenne Head of Investor Relations — Artem Nalivayko Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Takeaways Loan originations -- $2.6 billion, up 40% year over year, with all product lines contributing to the increase. -- $2.6 billion, ...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Jan. 28, 2026 5 p.m. ET Call participants Chief Executive Officer — Scott Sanborn Chief Financial Officer — Drew LaBenne Head of Investor Relations — Artem Nalivayko Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Takeaways Loan originations -- $2.6 billion, up 40% year over year, with all product lines contributing to the increase. -- $2.6 billion, up 40% year over year, with all product lines contributing to the increase. Return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) -- 11.9%, more than tripling from the prior period and above guidance. -- 11.9%, more than tripling from the prior period and above guidance. Marketplace revenue -- Increased 36% year over year, driven by higher marketplace sales volumes and improved loan sale pricing. -- Increased 36% year over year, driven by higher marketplace sales volumes and improved loan sale pricing. Net interest income -- $163 million, a 14% rise year over year, reaching an all-time high. -- $163 million, a 14% rise year over year, reaching an all-time high. Noninterest income -- $103 million, up 38%, supported by marketplace sales volumes and credit performance. -- $103 million, up 38%, supported by marketplace sales volumes and credit performance. Net interest margin -- 6%, representing a 56 basis point annual increase, with a sequential decline attributed to higher cash balances for future growth. -- 6%, representing a 56 basis point annual increase, with a sequential decline attributed to higher cash balances for future growth. Total deposits -- $9.8 billion at period end, growing 8% year over year. -- $9.8 billion at period end, growing 8% year over year. Noninterest expense -- $169 million, up 19%, mainly due to higher planned marketing investments. -- $169 million, up 19%, mainly due to higher planned marketing investments. Provision for credit losses -- $47 million, reflecting a stable credit environment, with a higher proportion from longer-duration major purchase finance lo...
Sales at Tesla fell 3pc to $94.8bn (£68.7bn) last year. - Mike Blake/Reuters Elon Musk’s Tesla has experienced its first ever annual revenue decline after the world’s richest man faced a backlash over his ties to Donald Trump. Sales at the electric car giant fell 3pc to $94.8bn (£68.7bn) last year, marking the first time that Tesla has failed to increase revenues since it started publicly disclosi...
Sales at Tesla fell 3pc to $94.8bn (£68.7bn) last year. - Mike Blake/Reuters Elon Musk’s Tesla has experienced its first ever annual revenue decline after the world’s richest man faced a backlash over his ties to Donald Trump. Sales at the electric car giant fell 3pc to $94.8bn (£68.7bn) last year, marking the first time that Tesla has failed to increase revenues since it started publicly disclosing financial figures in 2010. Alarmingly for Mr Musk, Tesla’s annual profits also plunged by 46pc to $3.8bn from $7bn last year, the lowest level since the depths of the pandemic. Once a darling of US liberal circles, Tesla has been under pressure after a boycott over Mr Musk’s support of Mr Trump and his controversial outbursts on X, the billionaire’s social network. Activists last year launched “Tesla Takedown” protests targeting the carmakers’ stores in a bid to slow sales after Mr Musk was appointed by the White House to cut government spending, Tesla has also been forced to grapple with fast-growing Chinese rivals, including electric car maker BYD, which have attempted to undercut the US business. Compounding the issue, sales have also been hit by the removal of electric vehicle subsidies by Mr Trump. In the UK, a vehicle excise duty exemption for electric cars was also scrapped last April. Tesla last month reported its biggest ever fall in annual car sales. The company sold 418,227 cars in the final three months of 2025 - a 15.6pc drop on the Christmas quarter a year earlier. It meant annual sales fell by 8.6pc, the second consecutive year that sales have fallen. With sales declining, Mr Musk has instead pinned Tesla’s hopes on robotaxis and autonomous humanoid robots. On Wednesday, the car group unveiled plans to invest $2bn in Mr Musk’s xAI group, which owns the X and the controversial Grok chatbot. The deal involves a tie-up to “enhance Tesla’s ability to develop and deploy AI products and services into the physical world at scale,” Tesla said. Despite the AI push,...
Abstract Aerial Art/DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis We recently wrote about the Series C Preferred Shares from Eagle Point Income Company Inc. ( EIC ) after the Series B was called. Today we are going to look again at the Series A from the same CEF and articulate why these 'boring' securities represent a very constant source of income, with a very low volatility profile. Why CEF Preferred Sh...
Abstract Aerial Art/DigitalVision via Getty Images Thesis We recently wrote about the Series C Preferred Shares from Eagle Point Income Company Inc. ( EIC ) after the Series B was called. Today we are going to look again at the Series A from the same CEF and articulate why these 'boring' securities represent a very constant source of income, with a very low volatility profile. Why CEF Preferred Shares Exist CEF preferred shares are a form of funding for the closed-end fund, and they represent what is called 'term funding.' Term funding means that the rate the CEF pays stays the same until the securities are called or mature. CEFs place a mix of true preferred shares (i.e., no maturity date) and term preferred shares (there is a defined maturity date and liability-like treatment on the balance sheet). In the case of EIC, all its series have been term preferred shares. The details for the Series A ( EICA ) are as follows: Details (Fund Fact Sheet) The term preferred shares have a 5% coupon and are due to mature in October 2026. The series have been callable for a while, but due to their low coupon, the CEF has not done that. A fund will only call term preferred shares when they can place new debt or preferred shares at a much lower rate. It is not the case with these 5% yielding preferred shares. Why is EICA 'boring'? We are calling EICA boring because it is trading at $24.8/share with a par value of $25.00 per share. Investors in this security will get $25 per share on October 30, 2026. The upside here is very limited; hence, EICA represents an accrual instrument. Some yield analytics for the name are as follows: Current yield: 5.04% Yield to maturity: 6.08% Dividend frequency: monthly Is a 6% yield to maturity something to brag about at a party? No, absolutely not. Does it represent a very valid alternative to money market funds at this stage? You bet. Keep in mind that EIC is a closed-end fund, thus subject to the 1940 Act regulations, which offer coverage requirem...
The social media giant continues to fire on all cylinders. While many companies are looking for ways to profit from artificial intelligence (AI), Meta Platforms (META 0.43%) has flipped the narrative on its head. The company has long used sophisticated algorithms to surface relevant content and direct targeted advertising to users of its social media platforms. The advent of generative AI has take...
The social media giant continues to fire on all cylinders. While many companies are looking for ways to profit from artificial intelligence (AI), Meta Platforms (META 0.43%) has flipped the narrative on its head. The company has long used sophisticated algorithms to surface relevant content and direct targeted advertising to users of its social media platforms. The advent of generative AI has taken that approach to the next level. When Meta reported its quarterly results after the market close on Wednesday, one thing was crystal clear. The company continues to stick to the strategy that fueled its success while also looking for ways to profit from an AI-centric future. The numbers tell the tale For the fourth quarter, Meta generated revenue that grew 24% year over year to $59.9 billion. This fueled diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88, which increased 11%. For context, analysts' consensus estimates were calling for revenue of $58.47 billion and EPS of $8.22, so Meta sailed past Wall Street's expectations. The results were fueled by Meta's social media audience, with daily active users of 3.58 billion, up 7% year over year. This ever-growing user base is Meta's target market for digital advertising, which generates the lion's share of its revenue. CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta has been reaping the benefits of its foray into AI. In the fourth quarter, ad impressions climbed 18% year over year, driving the average price per ad up 6%. Zuckerberg said the company plans to lean into its AI-driven success. In 2026, Meta is planning to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on capital expenditures (capex), primarily on AI infrastructure. Meta's ability to scale down its Llama large language models (LLMs) to smaller AI systems for targeted advertising has been tremendously successful, boosting user engagement and making its adtech business even more profitable. This is a prime example of getting a great return on investment (ROI), the holy grail of AI spen...
Key Points Polkadot's developers have been shipping upgrades and racking up code commits. The Polkadot community just approved a hard cap of 2.1 billion DOT tokens, adding Bitcoin-style scarcity to the project's long-term appeal. Even if a rival like Ethereum ends up dominating the web3 era, Polkadot's connective services could still carve out a meaningful role. 10 stocks we like better than Polka...
Key Points Polkadot's developers have been shipping upgrades and racking up code commits. The Polkadot community just approved a hard cap of 2.1 billion DOT tokens, adding Bitcoin-style scarcity to the project's long-term appeal. Even if a rival like Ethereum ends up dominating the web3 era, Polkadot's connective services could still carve out a meaningful role. 10 stocks we like better than Polkadot › For a blockchain that once ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) has spent the past couple of years flying under the radar. That's not necessarily a bad thing. While speculative frenzies have come and gone, Polkadot's developers have kept their heads down, shipping upgrades and refining the protocol's core infrastructure. No ridiculous rallies. Just... code commits. Thousands upon thousands of code commits. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks » Sounds boring, right? Maybe. But boring has a funny way of winning in the long run. The Polkadot community has been building a powerful app platform for the web3 world, which should pay off as the web3 revolution gains momentum. This isn't a story about hype. It's about whether Polkadot can polka its way from "promising infrastructure" to "actual adoption" before the accordion music stops. So let's connect the dots and see where this blockchain could realistically land by 2029. Quiet progress, loud potential While crypto Twitter (sorry, I mean X) debates meme coins, Polkadot's developers have been doing something old-fashioned: They are improving the product. A network upgrade in January 2026 made transactions faster and opened the door to Polkadot-native apps like those in the Ethereum or Solana ecosystems. New developer tools rolled out. The commit count keeps climbing, signaling healthy activity among Polkadot's app developers. It's not exactly the stuff ...
The social media giant continues to fire on all cylinders. While many companies are looking for ways to profit from artificial intelligence (AI), Meta Platforms (META 2.95%) has flipped the narrative on its head. The company has long used sophisticated algorithms to surface relevant content and direct targeted advertising to users of its social media platforms. The advent of generative AI has take...
The social media giant continues to fire on all cylinders. While many companies are looking for ways to profit from artificial intelligence (AI), Meta Platforms (META 2.95%) has flipped the narrative on its head. The company has long used sophisticated algorithms to surface relevant content and direct targeted advertising to users of its social media platforms. The advent of generative AI has taken that approach to the next level. When Meta reported its quarterly results after the market close on Wednesday, one thing was crystal clear. The company continues to stick to the strategy that fueled its success while also looking for ways to profit from an AI-centric future. The numbers tell the tale For the fourth quarter, Meta generated revenue that grew 24% year over year to $59.9 billion. This fueled diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88, which increased 11%. For context, analysts' consensus estimates were calling for revenue of $58.47 billion and EPS of $8.22, so Meta sailed past Wall Street's expectations. The results were fueled by Meta's social media audience, with daily active users of 3.58 billion, up 7% year over year. This ever-growing user base is Meta's target market for digital advertising, which generates the lion's share of its revenue. CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta has been reaping the benefits of its foray into AI. In the fourth quarter, ad impressions climbed 18% year over year, driving the average price per ad up 6%. Zuckerberg said the company plans to lean into its AI-driven success. In 2026, Meta is planning to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on capital expenditures (capex), primarily on AI infrastructure. Meta's ability to scale down its Llama large language models (LLMs) to smaller AI systems for targeted advertising has been tremendously successful, boosting user engagement and making its adtech business even more profitable. This is a prime example of getting a great return on investment (ROI), the holy grail of AI spen...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I've been flirting with the idea of adding Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ) to my portfolio for a few months now, and I think now may be the time to do so (depending on how the stock price performs tomorrow). Even after a Q4 that I considered very solid, and which showed excellent momentum for the business overall, the market reaction , at least so fa...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images I've been flirting with the idea of adding Meta Platforms, Inc. ( META ) to my portfolio for a few months now, and I think now may be the time to do so (depending on how the stock price performs tomorrow). Even after a Q4 that I considered very solid, and which showed excellent momentum for the business overall, the market reaction , at least so far, seems fair to me. But at the same time, I'm a little cautious, and I don't think it's time for a Strong Buy rating, especially with regard to expenses. Meta's Q4 Earnings: The Core Was Great Meta just delivered a double beat on market estimates for Q4. And they weren't shy beats. Revenue was $1.4 billion above expectations, while EPS was $0.66 above expectations. Revenue came in 2% above (which for a company like Meta that has so many billions in sales is already interesting) and EPS came in 8% above, possibly due to lower provision for taxes and also due to the better tax rate for the period (which went from 12% to 10%), as the table below shows. The guidance for Q1 also came in well above, more than $3.5 billion above what the market was estimating (considering the mid point). Meta’s Earnings Release But that's not the most important thing for Meta's long-term shareholders. At least for me, my main fear has never been margin or CapEx, although burning cash flow with new technologies is not always positive. My fear with Meta was precisely the sustainability of the topline. It was that you would buy a company expecting sustainable growth, and eventually Meta would become something similar to what Apple ( AAPL ) was delivering in terms of growth, something stagnant on the topline, but with an advance on the bottom line with better efficiency and buybacks. This fear was justified by the company's core business. Unlike Alphabet ( GOOGL , GOOG ), Meta is not only a benchmark for the advertising industry, it is completely dependent on advertising, and this through (a few) soc...
The death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the second fatal shooting by federal agents there in less than a month, reignited a public outcry at the tactics used in the city's sweeping immigration operation. A growing backlash after the 37-year-old nurse was shot and killed prompted a shift in tone from President Donald Trump - who said his administration was going to "de-escalate a little bit". But ...
The death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the second fatal shooting by federal agents there in less than a month, reignited a public outcry at the tactics used in the city's sweeping immigration operation. A growing backlash after the 37-year-old nurse was shot and killed prompted a shift in tone from President Donald Trump - who said his administration was going to "de-escalate a little bit". But tensions have been high in Minneapolis for weeks, with frequent protests and confrontations between residents and federal agents. New footage published by the News Movement and shared with BBC News shows an altercation between Pretti and federal officers 11 days before his death. BBC analysis editor Ros Atkins examines this footage - and explains how Trump changed course on Minneapolis. Produced by Katerina Karelli. Graphics by Waleed Al-Temimi.
anouchka/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my last article on Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: ( SBUX )), published in January 2025, I initiated coverage on the company by analysing the initial impact of the company’s ‘Back to Starbucks’ turnaround strategy undertaken by the then-new CEO Brian Niccol and team. I had a HOLD rating on the stock. Since the article was published, t...
anouchka/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Investment Thesis In my last article on Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: ( SBUX )), published in January 2025, I initiated coverage on the company by analysing the initial impact of the company’s ‘Back to Starbucks’ turnaround strategy undertaken by the then-new CEO Brian Niccol and team. I had a HOLD rating on the stock. Since the article was published, the stock has declined 10.3%, significantly underperforming the S&P 500, which gained 14.4% during the same period. SBUX reported its Q1 FY26 numbers on Wednesday and while it was a mixed quarter, there were clear signs that the turnaround strategy is paying off, especially from a sales growth perspective. In this article, I dissect the Q1 numbers and evaluate the road ahead for the turnaround strategy. I also identify what the key areas of focus for investors should be during the company’s Investor Day, scheduled for January 29 th , the first such event under Mr. Niccol. First Quarter Highlights SBUX had a mixed quarter, with a beat on the top-line but a miss on the bottom-line estimates. More specifically, while Q1 revenues of $9.92 billion were up 6% y/y and beat analyst estimates by $260 million, non-GAAP EPS of $0.56 came in lighter than street estimates by $0.03 and was down 19% y/y. Comparable store sales grew 4% y/y, a sharp reversal from the 4% drop seen during the same period last year. Operating margins came in at 41.3%, which represents a decline of 640 bps (or 6.4%) on a y/y basis. As for FY26 guidance, the company now expects both global and US comparable store sales to grow at 3% y/y or greater, with consolidated net revenues also expected to grow at a similar rate. The company expects non-GAAP consolidated operating margins to show a slight improvement on a y/y basis. Finally, the company now expects non-GAAP EPS to come in the range between $2.15 and $2.40. From a ‘Show Me’ Story to a ‘Now Showing’ Story: Q1 Shows that the Turnaround Strategy is Working When...
Shares of bitcoin mining companies that have shifted business plans to cater to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were big winners in 2025, a run they continued into the new year. And if big tech's earnings this year are any indications, they might continue to reap the benefit of the pivot. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newslette...
Shares of bitcoin mining companies that have shifted business plans to cater to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were big winners in 2025, a run they continued into the new year. And if big tech's earnings this year are any indications, they might continue to reap the benefit of the pivot. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . Fourth-quarter results and 2026 outlooks released Wednesday evening from tech giants Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) — both of which put AI investment at the center of their growth strategies for this year and beyond — suggest no slowdown in the AI spending binge. “We are only at the beginning phases of AI diffusion, and already Microsoft has built an AI business that is larger than some of our biggest franchises,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We are pushing the frontier across our entire AI stack to drive new value for our customers and partners.” Meta, meanwhile, forecast 2026 capital spending of $115-$135 billion, well ahead of consensus forecasts for $110 billion. Read more: GPU Gold Rush: Why Bitcoin Miners Are Powering AI’s Expansion Facing a profit squeeze from bitcoin's last halving event, which cut miners' rewards by half, as well as higher competition and power costs, mining firms have pivoted to use their data centers to host AI and cloud computing machines. The move has saved many miners from going under, as it has allowed them to diversify their revenue sources beyond mining bitcoin and reap the profits of the continued AI-related hype. In November, Iren (IREN) announced a multiyear cloud-services contract with Microsoft to support AI workloads using advanced Nvidia (NVDA) chips, signaling a deeper shift into high-performance computing. Around the same time, Cipher Mining (CIFR) signed a deal...
A plane crash in northeast Colombia on Wednesday killed all 15 people on board, including a local lawmaker, state-run airline Satena said. The Beechcraft 1900 twin-engined turboprop plane took off before noon from Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, for a short flight to the town of Ocana, Satena said. Air traffic control lost contact with the plane 12 minutes into the flight, the carrier ad...
A plane crash in northeast Colombia on Wednesday killed all 15 people on board, including a local lawmaker, state-run airline Satena said. The Beechcraft 1900 twin-engined turboprop plane took off before noon from Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, for a short flight to the town of Ocana, Satena said. Air traffic control lost contact with the plane 12 minutes into the flight, the carrier added. Advertisement Satena did not say what caused the crash and said the plane’s emergency beacon had not been activated. Lawmaker Diogenes Quintero and members of his team were aboard the plane, as well as Carlos Salcedo, a candidate for Congress ahead of elections in March, according to a passenger list released by the airline. Advertisement Images released by local media showed the crashed plane, including what appeared to be significant damage to the fuselage.
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank left its base rate unchanged after a similar move overnight by the US Federal Reserve, leaving borrowers in the city with a longer wait for funding costs to fall. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced its decision on Thursday morning to keep the city’s base rate at 4 per cent. Hours earlier, the Fed also kept its target rate in the range of 3.5 per cen...
Hong Kong’s de facto central bank left its base rate unchanged after a similar move overnight by the US Federal Reserve, leaving borrowers in the city with a longer wait for funding costs to fall. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced its decision on Thursday morning to keep the city’s base rate at 4 per cent. Hours earlier, the Fed also kept its target rate in the range of 3.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent, after the first meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year. The pause came after the Fed and the HKMA cut their key interest rates by a total of 75 basis points over the last three FOMC meetings since September. Advertisement The Fed’s decision was widely expected. More than 97 per cent of traders expected no change, according to the CME’s FedWatch data based on the Fed funds futures contracts on Wednesday. “Following the hawkish rate cut in December and a cumulative easing by 75 basis points over the last three meetings, the FOMC is expected to adopt a wait-and-see stance,” said Michael Krautzberger, the chief investment officer for public markets at Allianz Global Investors, on Tuesday. Advertisement “Recent macro data, including stronger-than-expected third quarter gross domestic product growth and a decline in the unemployment rate in December, point to an ongoing robust economic environment.” The rate decision came as Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May. Many analysts expect the new chair could be more receptive to pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has been highly critical of Powell for cutting rates too slowly.