claudiodivizia/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Action I had a buy rating for Victoria 's Secret & Co. ( VSXY ) previously, as I thought the turnaround was moving very nicely, in that we could see the core intimates business scaling well, the customer file getting better, and the international playbook playing out nicely. VSXY 's Q1 results strengthened the fundamental turnaround thesi...
claudiodivizia/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Action I had a buy rating for Victoria 's Secret & Co. ( VSXY ) previously, as I thought the turnaround was moving very nicely, in that we could see the core intimates business scaling well, the customer file getting better, and the international playbook playing out nicely. VSXY 's Q1 results strengthened the fundamental turnaround thesis, with core intimates still working, PINK showing better momentum, Beauty growing, and international scaling well. Margins also improved, helped by stronger regular-price selling. The issue is valuation and expectations. After the stock 's move, I think a lot of the good news has already been rewarded. I still like the operating story, but the risk/reward is no longer as attractive as before. Q1 2026 Results VSXY came through with a strong performance again in Q1 2026 . Net sales grew 15% y/y, with comparable sales growth [CSG] of 13%, while comparable store sales growth [CSSG] saw 10%. Note that this was the 4th straight quarter of positive CSG, and encouragingly, the strength was not isolated to one product or one channel. Victoria 's Secret, PINK, and Beauty all delivered double-digit sales growth, and VSXY saw growth across categories, channels, and geographies. By channel, North America store sales were up 11% y/y, with direct sales up 8.4% y/y. International sales were up significantly, at 44.9% y/y, as they benefited from the shift of European Union direct sales into the International channel. But even still, international sales grew 36% after adjusting for that shift. In North America, the intimates business across Victoria 's Secret and PINK grew low double digits. The bra business also grew low double digits, while panties and sleep were both up mid-teens. PINK also delivered low double-digit growth, with demand seen in core apparel, intimates, and stronger regular-price selling. Lastly, Beauty also grew in low double digits. Strong revenue performance drove very...
panida wijitpanya Meta Platforms ( META ) has delayed plans to release its newest artificial intelligence model to developers multiple times and, as of Tuesday, didn’t have a planned date to release it, WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The delay, stretching nearly two months after the company’s AI chief told developers to expect a release “soon,” raises questions about how qui...
panida wijitpanya Meta Platforms ( META ) has delayed plans to release its newest artificial intelligence model to developers multiple times and, as of Tuesday, didn’t have a planned date to release it, WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The delay, stretching nearly two months after the company’s AI chief told developers to expect a release “soon,” raises questions about how quickly Meta can monetize its massive investments in building its own frontier AI models. An API is a type of software interface that determines how two software systems will interact. "The muse spark API will be coming soon," Meta AI Chief Alexandr Wang announced in a post on X in April. Meta unveiled Muse Spark in April as the first model built to close the gap with rivals. Earlier on Wednesday, the tech giant unveiled an AI agent aimed at helping businesses carry out day-to-day operations, hinting at the company's ambitions to compete with rivals such as OpenAI ( OPENAI ), Anthropic ( ANTHRO ) and Alphabet's ( GOOGL ) Google. More on Meta Meta Platforms: The Market Is Missing What Nvidia Just Confirmed Meta: The 'Zuckerberg Discount' May Soon Turn Into A Premium Meta: From Social Media To Superintelligence Meta Platforms launches Business Agent across messaging apps EchoStar tops communications services stocks in short interest; Alphabet sees the lowest exposure
Tim Robberts/DigitalVision via Getty Images If there were a single product in the Twilio ( TWLO ) portfolio of offerings to focus on right now, it would undoubtedly be Voice AI. It was a major contributor to a very exciting Q1 2026 earnings report for the company as a whole, and I feel that this is just the beginning. A 20% jump in revenue YoY represented the largest increase in organic growth for...
Tim Robberts/DigitalVision via Getty Images If there were a single product in the Twilio ( TWLO ) portfolio of offerings to focus on right now, it would undoubtedly be Voice AI. It was a major contributor to a very exciting Q1 2026 earnings report for the company as a whole, and I feel that this is just the beginning. A 20% jump in revenue YoY represented the largest increase in organic growth for the company since 2022 , and management continued to emphasize that it is seeing never-before-seen levels of demand for its Voice AI offering, saying: In Q1, we continued to see unprecedented demand for voice, reimagined through the lens of AI, which is increasingly an entry point to the Twilio platform for AI natives and enterprises alike. Customers no longer view Twilio as just a provider of communications channels. Instead, they are relying on us to be a foundational infrastructure layer for the era of AI. This transformational reframing of how customers see Twilio could be the beginning of sustained levels of growth, in my opinion. With this thesis in mind, I want to explore why I feel that Twilio is a stock worth owning today. Twilio Raises Guidance Outlook Due to AI Demand Sometimes, you don't have to dig all that deep to find the good news on a given company. When Twilio released its Q1 2026 report on May 1, 2026, management also took that moment to raise its 2026 outlook as well. Chief Financial Officer Viggiano stated the following on the call: For Q2, we're initiating a revenue target of $1.42 billion to $1.43 billion, representing 15.5% to 16.5% reported growth and 10% to 11% organic growth. So, let's take a step back here for a moment and break this down a little to help understand a little better what is going on. Management is seeing such high levels of demand for its AI products that it feels that the most responsible step to take is to raise the outlook for 2026, as the previous outlook was likely outdated. Perhaps unsurprisingly, shares have popped signifi...
真正的问题不是谷歌是否垄断，而是在一个由技术驱动的市场中，我们愿意把“定义秩序的权力”交给谁？这将是未来十年全球市场秩序的核心问题 2026年5月22日，谷歌上诉。理由111页。 此前，4月17日，华盛顿特区联邦法院（U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia）收到了一份紧急动议，措辞急迫。文件末页的签字人，是约翰·施密特莱因（John Sch...
真正的问题不是谷歌是否垄断，而是在一个由技术驱动的市场中，我们愿意把“定义秩序的权力”交给谁？这将是未来十年全球市场秩序的核心问题 2026年5月22日，谷歌上诉。理由111页。 此前，4月17日，华盛顿特区联邦法院（U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia）收到了一份紧急动议，措辞急迫。文件末页的签字人，是约翰·施密特莱因（John Schmidtlein），威廉姆斯与康诺利律所（Williams & Connolly LLP）的合伙人，这场世纪诉讼中谷歌的首席出庭律师。 格式千篇一律，内容却让法官皱起眉头。谷歌公司要求法院立即暂停一项处罚措施，否则，将对“数亿普通用户的隐私权造成无法挽回的损害”。 推荐进入 财新数据库 ，可随时查阅宏观经济、股票债券、公司人物，财经数据尽在掌握。
Copper and aluminum extended their retreat as US President Donald Trump continued his fraught push to reach a peace deal with Iran, while a pullback in technology stocks also weighed on sentiment. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a conditional ceasefire , in what could be a possible step toward a broader resolution of the Middle East war. But that prospect remains uncertain as it will need Hezbollah t...
Copper and aluminum extended their retreat as US President Donald Trump continued his fraught push to reach a peace deal with Iran, while a pullback in technology stocks also weighed on sentiment. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a conditional ceasefire , in what could be a possible step toward a broader resolution of the Middle East war. But that prospect remains uncertain as it will need Hezbollah to stop fighting. Metals have given up some of the big gains they made earlier this week. “Near-term price direction is likely to remain sensitive to macro risks, with uncertainty in the Middle East acting as a headwind,” analysts from ING Groep NV said in a note. A reversal in equities — especially for technology stocks — may also add to pressure on metals. Copper has benefited from investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence trades, because of the metal’s use in power infrastructure. South Korea’s Kospi, an AI bellwether, dropped as much as 2.6% on Thursday, after the S&P 500 snapped a nine-day winning streak. Copper fell 0.2% to $13,804 a ton as of 11:44 a.m., after shedding 1.5% on Wednesday amid renewed fighting in the Middle East, including strikes by Iran on Kuwait and Bahrain. Aluminum dipped 0.1% to $3,700.50 a ton after falling 1.3% from a four-year high.
President Vladimir Putin ’s push for what he calls Russia’s technological sovereignty is turning into a family affair with the development of key sectors entrusted to one of his daughters and the children of close allies. Katerina Tikhonova, the president’s younger daughter, and Ksenia Shoigu, whose father Sergei is secretary of Russia’s Security Council, are taking part in Putin’s flagship econom...
President Vladimir Putin ’s push for what he calls Russia’s technological sovereignty is turning into a family affair with the development of key sectors entrusted to one of his daughters and the children of close allies. Katerina Tikhonova, the president’s younger daughter, and Ksenia Shoigu, whose father Sergei is secretary of Russia’s Security Council, are taking part in Putin’s flagship economic forum in St. Petersburg, where artificial intelligence, digital services and the race for rare earth metals are major topics. Tikhonova, 39, heads Innopraktika, a technology-focused organization involved in research, university partnerships and import-substitution projects. Her influence has increased significantly as Russia has accelerated efforts to expand domestic industrial capabilities, including in areas like drones, to weaken the impact of unprecedented Western sanctions over the war. She also heads Moscow State University’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems, which launched the “ MGU-270 ” supercomputer in 2023 specifically for AI. Shoigu, 35, took charge this year of a fund that coordinates a government-backed project to build a rare earth and critical minerals processing cluster in Siberia. She’s due to speak at a SPIEF panel on the subject on Thursday. Russia is attempting to reduce dependence on foreign technology and supply chains in response to the sanctions since Putin ordered the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As the Kremlin pours support into sectors tied to defense, tech innovation and critical raw materials, it’s relying on personal ties between a network of loyal aides and their offspring to achieve its aims. “Beyond their role as ‘overseers,’ most members of Putin’s extended ‘family’ — including aides and the children of loyalists — are useful for little else,” said Nikolai Petrov, a senior research fellow at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, a think tank founded by Putin’s longtime opponent Mikh...
Donny DBM/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Virtus SGA International Growth Portfolio Q1 2026 Commentary. When any investment manager, ourselves included, experiences a period of poor relative performance, it is reasonable for clients and their advisers to ask tough questions. Is the manager executing its investment philosophy? How much of the underperformance sh...
Donny DBM/iStock via Getty Images The following segment was excerpted from the Virtus SGA International Growth Portfolio Q1 2026 Commentary. When any investment manager, ourselves included, experiences a period of poor relative performance, it is reasonable for clients and their advisers to ask tough questions. Is the manager executing its investment philosophy? How much of the underperformance should be attributed to shifts in the market environment? Has the manager identified and acted upon opportunities for process improvement? How compelling is the forward outlook for the portfolio? In the remainder of this commentary, we attempt to address these questions. AI Investment and the Growth Question Compounding the uncertainty, the enormous capital expenditure cycle driving the AI revolution now faces a more demanding environment. Companies such as Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), and Meta ( META ) are reinvesting most of their cash generation into data center infrastructure. The market may have assumed AI-driven productivity gains were accelerating global growth and supporting market optimism. That thesis has not been invalidated, but it is being tested. If global growth slows materially, as it did in prior energy crises, the payback period on these investments lengthens, and the market's willingness to capitalize future AI earnings at premium multiples will be questioned. While the proven, predictable compounders and established businesses that form the core of our portfolios have continued to be overlooked despite delivering strong fundamental results, we see an increasingly attractive set up for strong performance moving forward. Should there be further moderation in the momentum of the immediate AI CapEx beneficiaries, and possibly moderating global growth expectations, we expect the portfolio to be rewarded given its more durable and reliable growth prospects and attractive relative valuation. Portfolio Fundamentals: Execution Remains St...