Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street's hottest trend for years, it's not the only catalyst responsible for lifting the broader market. Stock-split euphoria has also been pivotal in sending the stock market to new heights. Several high-profile companies have completed or announced forward stock splits in 2026 , including online travel site Booking Holdings , which effected a 2...
Although artificial intelligence (AI) has been Wall Street's hottest trend for years, it's not the only catalyst responsible for lifting the broader market. Stock-split euphoria has also been pivotal in sending the stock market to new heights. Several high-profile companies have completed or announced forward stock splits in 2026 , including online travel site Booking Holdings , which effected a 25-for-1 split, and online used-car retailer Carvana , which enacted a 5-for-1 split. But it's the newest stock-split stock that may draw the most attention of the bunch: AI-driven cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD) . Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
jirkaejc Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) has significantly underperformed both stocks and gold over the past year, highlighting a sharp divergence in returns across major asset classes. Over the last 12 months, Bitcoin has declined -38.5%, while the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) has gained +27.0% and spot gold ( XAUUSD:CUR ) has advanced +33.1%. The cryptocurrency briefly outperformed traditional assets during the second...
jirkaejc Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) has significantly underperformed both stocks and gold over the past year, highlighting a sharp divergence in returns across major asset classes. Over the last 12 months, Bitcoin has declined -38.5%, while the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) has gained +27.0% and spot gold ( XAUUSD:CUR ) has advanced +33.1%. The cryptocurrency briefly outperformed traditional assets during the second half of 2025, but a sharp selloff beginning late last year erased those gains. Bitcoin's losses accelerated in early 2026, leaving it well below both equities and precious metals. Meanwhile, gold emerged as the strongest performer among the three assets, benefiting from investor demand for safe-haven assets amid economic uncertainty and market volatility. The S&P 500 also posted solid gains, supported by resilient corporate earnings and continued enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence-related investments. Seeking Alpha The performance gap underscores how investor preferences have shifted over the past year, with capital flowing toward traditional safe-haven and equity assets while cryptocurrencies have struggled to maintain momentum. Bitcoin's recent weakness has led some analysts to argue that the cryptocurrency is following a familiar post-cycle pattern. "Bitcoin has moved in a four-year pattern since its first traded cycle. Peaks have arrived in late 2013, late 2017, late 2021, and late 2025. Troughs have followed roughly twelve months later: January 2015, December 2018, November 2022. The pattern has held across three complete cycles regardless of the prevailing narrative: retail-driven in 2017, institutional-curious in 2021, ETF-enabled & Bitcoin treasury companies in 2025," Seeking Alpha analyst BloFin Research explained . Looking ahead, the analyst said several high-profile technology IPOs could compete with cryptocurrencies for investor capital in the near term. "SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic listings could pull risk capital away from crypto through mid-to-...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Ever since I started covering Target Hospitality Corp. ( TH ), we have seen how it successfully rise from the ashes. From being a risky stock investment after major contract cancellations, it rebuilt and repositioned itself for more promising growth prospects. Now, it is a much stronger business amid new opportunities in the oil and gas market. But this ...
Morsa Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images Ever since I started covering Target Hospitality Corp. ( TH ), we have seen how it successfully rise from the ashes. From being a risky stock investment after major contract cancellations, it rebuilt and repositioned itself for more promising growth prospects. Now, it is a much stronger business amid new opportunities in the oil and gas market. But this time, I'd like to take a cautious approach as it becomes fully priced. Technicals adhere to it as downside risks emerge due to the recent overbuying. TH Q1 2026: Strength Sustained In the past three to four quarters, Target Hospitality Corp. has proven its resilience and durability. After the contract cancellations that greatly eroded its revenues, it went back on its feet. By adapting to new market trends and opening its services to other niches, TH found new opportunities to increase its demand and revenues again. The trend continued at the start of the year. In Q1 2026, its operating revenue amounted to $72.78M , up by 4.12% YoY from $69.90M. This positive YoY growth showed its sustained strength and recovery. This was mainly driven by by its workforce hospitality solutions. Revenue in this segment amounted to $23.62M, which was already more than four times its value in Q1 2025. Thanks to its expansion in the data center niche. This allowed it to cater Data Center Community and West Texas Power Community. And in my view, this is not far from its original niche, which is the oil and gas workforce. I will discuss this more later. This strong segment completely offset the weakness in the other three segments. Meanwhile, its Hospitality and Facilities Services - South had weaker revenues due to lower bed utilization. Even so, TH enjoyed higher average daily rate or ADR, which showed its pricing strength. Workforce Hospitality (TH Q1 ) Meanwhile, the operating costs and expenses increased a lot and outpaced revenue growth. This should not be surprising due to the rising price...
witsarut sakorn/iStock via Getty Images Concerns about AI disruption, geopolitical tensions and wars, as well as persistently high inflation, are all increasingly at the forefront of investors' minds. Most equities, in my view, do not look attractive at all right now, given how richly priced indexes are as a whole. However, I am seeing significant opportunities in select real asset investments, in...
witsarut sakorn/iStock via Getty Images Concerns about AI disruption, geopolitical tensions and wars, as well as persistently high inflation, are all increasingly at the forefront of investors' minds. Most equities, in my view, do not look attractive at all right now, given how richly priced indexes are as a whole. However, I am seeing significant opportunities in select real asset investments, including in the REIT space ( VNQ ). While most of the REITs that I like yield in the 4-6% range, there are a few high-yielding REIT investments that are also attractive at the moment. In this article, I will detail two of my favorites right now. Why REITs Make Sense in Today's Market Before I begin to dig into the specifics of these two opportunities, I do want to emphasize why, in general, I think that some REITs make a lot of sense. REITs have been in a bear market, by and large, for the past 4-5 years, as interest rates started to rise rapidly in 2022, which, given how interest-rate-sensitive the REIT sector is, began to drive REIT valuation multiples lower, such that today many high-quality REITs are trading at steep discounts to their private market values. Meanwhile, REITs are, in many ways, some of the most AI-resistant investments you can make, while alternative sources of recurring cash flows, such as software-as-a-service companies ( IGV ) and companies that lend to them, such as BDCs ( BIZD ) like Ares Capital Corporation ( ARCC ), are increasingly being viewed as at risk of AI disruption. Thus, REITs like Realty Income ( O ) are increasingly looking attractive as durable cash generation alternatives for investors who want to be able to sleep well at night in the AI era. On top of that, because of the large disconnect between public and private markets in the REIT space, large private equity buyers like Blackstone ( BX ) and Blue Owl Capital ( OWL ) have been on a buying spree recently, acquiring publicly traded REITs at discounts to NAV and then taking them priva...
ABM Industries press release ( ABM ): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.90 beats by $0.02 . Revenue of $2.3B (+9.5% Y/Y) beats by $90M . The Company is reaffirming its fiscal 2026 outlook with the following updates. The Company now expects organic revenue growth toward the top end of the 3% to 4% range and total revenue growth toward the top end of the 4% to 5% range. Segment operating margin, defined as tota...
ABM Industries press release ( ABM ): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.90 beats by $0.02 . Revenue of $2.3B (+9.5% Y/Y) beats by $90M . The Company is reaffirming its fiscal 2026 outlook with the following updates. The Company now expects organic revenue growth toward the top end of the 3% to 4% range and total revenue growth toward the top end of the 4% to 5% range. Segment operating margin, defined as total segment operating profit divided by total revenue, is projected toward the low end of the 7.8% to 8.0% range, and adjusted EPS is still expected to be in the range of $3.85 to $4.15 vs. consensus of $3.96. More on ABM Industries ABM Industries: Even Though Shares Are Unchanged, They Deserve To Trade Higher ABM Industries Incorporated 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation ABM Industries Incorporated (ABM) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript ABM Industries Q2 2026 Earnings Preview ABM Industries maintains 2026 EPS guidance of $3.85-$4.15 as WGNSTAR acquisition strengthens semiconductor services
Getty Images Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. ( STRL ) is one of the best businesses in the infrastructure sector. It's positioned at the centre of the AI build out. The tragedy for investors discovering it today is that the market already knows this. At $960 a share, the quality has been priced in and then some. Thesis Sterling is a truly fantastic company, one that Munger would undoubtedly regard a...
Getty Images Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. ( STRL ) is one of the best businesses in the infrastructure sector. It's positioned at the centre of the AI build out. The tragedy for investors discovering it today is that the market already knows this. At $960 a share, the quality has been priced in and then some. Thesis Sterling is a truly fantastic company, one that Munger would undoubtedly regard as high quality. It has the highly demanded but rare capability of building out AI infrastructure during the greatest infrastructure build out in decades. We already see the expansion of margins from 3-5% to 23-25% gross, and revenues are guided to grow 51% in 2026 . This growth is set to continue at least over the next twelve months because their combined backlog book plus future phase pipeline ( $6.5bn ) represents 1.7 times their 2026 guided revenue. The business is debt-free. Their profits turn to cash. Management is excellent and has acquired other companies wisely. But my call is to hold and even trim the holding, given the price has just surged to 960 because this represents 71 times trailing adjusted earnings (86x GAAP) and 51 times forward adjusted earnings. This valuation forces investors to look a decade ahead. It assumes continued surging demand from hyperscalers, the perfect scale-up, continued peak margins that reflect rare market conditions, and a smooth transition in leadership. When the valuation leaves no margin of safety and is so optimistic, small and medium-sized risks to the company become large risks to the investor. My call is to hold over the long term but trim on strength. Investors are paying for a decade of strong outcomes. Should this quality company become available at a more reasonable price, then I'd consider accumulating. Business Overview Under the leadership of Joseph Cutillo, the company has transformed itself into one that focuses on high-complexity and high-margin work. They've increased gross margins from 3%-5% to 23%-25%. The growth ra...
全文阅读时长约14分钟 在当今的商业环境中，AI 热潮汹涌澎湃，但企业若想让 AI 投入转化为实实在在的收益，须精准锚定落地价值，建立可靠的数据统计规则，并围绕实际业务成果严格管控项目进度。 速读要点 众多 AI 项目虽在技术上验收合格，却难以收获商业收益。企业常将技术落地与业务落地混为一谈，忽视成本损耗、品牌负面影响及合规隐患。 AI 创收主要涵盖四类落地方向：拓展新业务以增收、优化内部运营来降...
全文阅读时长约14分钟 在当今的商业环境中，AI 热潮汹涌澎湃，但企业若想让 AI 投入转化为实实在在的收益，须精准锚定落地价值，建立可靠的数据统计规则，并围绕实际业务成果严格管控项目进度。 速读要点 众多 AI 项目虽在技术上验收合格，却难以收获商业收益。企业常将技术落地与业务落地混为一谈，忽视成本损耗、品牌负面影响及合规隐患。 AI 创收主要涵盖四类落地方向：拓展新业务以增收、优化内部运营来降本、改善客户互动，以及优化员工日常工作。选定单一主线进行落地，更易核算真实回报。 将 AI 当作常规项目投资进行管理，提前敲定优先级、考核口径与退出条件的企业，其整体落地效果普遍优于大范围盲目试错的同行。 2021 年，麦当劳在汽车穿梭餐厅上线 AI 语音点餐系统，初衷是借助自动化减少人工成本、加快出餐速度，平稳应对用餐高峰。 历经三年，在上百家门店落地测试后，该系统点餐识别准确率达到 85%，技术层面看似达标。然而，剩余 15% 的识别失误却在实际运营中引发了一系列问题。社交平台上频繁爆出，AI 错给单人订单叠加大量单品、混淆相邻车道语音，甚至出现冰淇淋搭配培根这类不合理推荐。 这些频繁的故障不仅拉高了客诉率，打乱了门店运营节奏，使得智能化节省的成本被额外损耗抵消，还让麦当劳遭遇集体诉讼，被质疑在未征得许可的前提下收集用户语音信息。最终，2024 年 7 月该项目正式宣告终止。 这一案例深刻折射出行业的普遍现状：许多 AI 产品虽符合设计标准，却无法实现商业价值的落地。自 2022 年底生成式 AI 普及后，不少企业开启全业务线智能化布局，但落地数据却不尽如人意。根据麦肯锡 2025 年发布的《2025 State of AI report》显示，仅 6% 的企业借助 AI 实现了息税前利润上涨 5% 以上；普华永道 2026 年全球 CEO 调研数据表明，只有 12% 的企业同步达成成本下降与营收增长。 项目落地的成效，与算法精细度、数据体量并非必然相关，关键在于企业能否提前清晰地梳理收益来源、落地方式与核算方式。 从实际操作来看，多数项目失利的根源在于企业缺乏落地价值管控。 许多企业对 AI 项目的投入审核标准，远宽松于固定资产投入。AI 通常被纳入创新试错范畴，收益测算由技术部门主导，项目评估仅参考技术参数，管理层也很少主动叫停创新项目。最终导致不少项目仓促上马，缺...
(RTTNews) - The UK market's benchmark index FTSE 100 gained modest ground in positive territory Friday morning despite lingering concerns about Middle East tensions, and reports saying Hezbollah has rejected a new ceasefire agreement with Israel.
(RTTNews) - The UK market's benchmark index FTSE 100 gained modest ground in positive territory Friday morning despite lingering concerns about Middle East tensions, and reports saying Hezbollah has rejected a new ceasefire agreement with Israel.