China is moving to leverage data as a core strategic asset, aiming to build industry-specific data sets to power its next-generation artificial intelligence models, as developers worldwide grapple with a looming data drought. On Monday, the country’s data authority unveiled a sweeping nationwide plan to boost the supply of high-quality AI training data, underscoring Beijing’s resolve to secure a l...
China is moving to leverage data as a core strategic asset, aiming to build industry-specific data sets to power its next-generation artificial intelligence models, as developers worldwide grapple with a looming data drought. On Monday, the country’s data authority unveiled a sweeping nationwide plan to boost the supply of high-quality AI training data, underscoring Beijing’s resolve to secure a leading position in the global AI competition. The draft plan, published online by the National Data...
pingingz/iStock via Getty Images I'm a bull on Rapid7, Inc. ( RPD ), after assessing the promising takeaways from its CEO appointment and its inorganic transaction. RPD's 3Q24 outperformance and its appeal as a buyout candidate were detailed in my earlier November 11, 2024 article . A Changing Of The Guard Last Monday, the firm issued an announcement revealing that " Wael Mohamed will assume the r...
pingingz/iStock via Getty Images I'm a bull on Rapid7, Inc. ( RPD ), after assessing the promising takeaways from its CEO appointment and its inorganic transaction. RPD's 3Q24 outperformance and its appeal as a buyout candidate were detailed in my earlier November 11, 2024 article . A Changing Of The Guard Last Monday, the firm issued an announcement revealing that " Wael Mohamed will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer." I've a favorable opinion of this latest move. During the William Blair 46th Growth Stock Conference on June 2, RPD indicated that the new leader is tasked to "operationalize key [product] releases that are coming up over the next nine months." The company has upheld its existing full-year forecasts too. RPD's FY26 outlook points to a "Free Cash Flow" or "FCF" of $0.13B (mid-point). That's the same as the $130.1M it registered last year. Also, management highlighted at Blair's early-Jun event that the "guidance implies our margins improve through the year." This aligns with the sell-side's sequential EBIT-to-sales expansion estimates of +0.3ppts, +3.2ppts, and +0.6ppts for 2Q26, 3Q26, and 4Q26, respectively. My take is that RPD is confident about delivering stable FCF and profitability accretion because of the incoming CEO's background and actions. Wael knows the group well, having been on the board for 14 months before taking the helm. Having worked in the digital security space for over three decades, he is a seasoned industry insider. One of Wael's accomplishments as a director was the recruitment of a new Chief Commercial Officer to reorganize RPD's "Go-To-Market/GTM" division in late-2025. This has already begun to pay off. The Blair conference disclosures highlighted that there was "a nice uptick in year-over-year productivity per rep" in 1Q2026. The CFO stressed during the Jun 2 investor event that Rapid7's executive suite is now "routinely talking about balanced growth." This sends me a clear message that both top-line and margins wil...
For years, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) has been touted as an explosive, high-upside cryptocurrency. But that certainly has not been the case in 2026. XRP is down 40% year to date and is dangerously close to falling through the $1 price level. So, where will XRP be in three years? Will it finally fulfill its longtime promise, or will it continue to crater in value? Here are two possible scenarios. Image sour...
For years, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) has been touted as an explosive, high-upside cryptocurrency. But that certainly has not been the case in 2026. XRP is down 40% year to date and is dangerously close to falling through the $1 price level. So, where will XRP be in three years? Will it finally fulfill its longtime promise, or will it continue to crater in value? Here are two possible scenarios. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Latest news as World Cup countdown continues Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | Mail Tom And another thing that we need, frankly, to feel righteously angry about is the denial of entry by US authorities to the Somali referee Omari Artan, who was refused entry to the country at Miami International Airport despite apparently having a valid travel visa. Fifa, so quick to deploy control-freaker...
Latest news as World Cup countdown continues Player guide | Bracketology | Wallchart | Mail Tom And another thing that we need, frankly, to feel righteously angry about is the denial of entry by US authorities to the Somali referee Omari Artan, who was refused entry to the country at Miami International Airport despite apparently having a valid travel visa. Fifa, so quick to deploy control-freakery when it comes to pressing matters such as recyclable water bottles, shrugged its shoulders and abdicated responsibility for one of its own referees. “Fifa is not involved in host country immigration processes, including visa adjudications … in line with previous Fifa events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country,” sniffed a statement. The Football Family there, bringing the world together. Continue reading...
Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images Earlier this year, I made the commitment to analyze companies in the for-profit education sector. Although I had touched briefly on the space in the past, it was always a segment of the market that I never really focused much on. Part of this was because I am ideologically opposed to the idea of for-profit education institutions for the most part. But with the...
Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images Earlier this year, I made the commitment to analyze companies in the for-profit education sector. Although I had touched briefly on the space in the past, it was always a segment of the market that I never really focused much on. Part of this was because I am ideologically opposed to the idea of for-profit education institutions for the most part. But with the goal of becoming a more well-rounded analyst, with a better understanding of the broader economy, I felt as though it was necessary to dig into this fascinating industry. Although my ideological stance remains, I will say that some of the firms in this industry have become very attractive in my eyes. A great example of this can be seen by looking at Universal Technical Institute ( UTI ), which owns not only its hallmark Universal Technical Institute locations but also Concorde Career Colleges. In my article about the company, I lauded management for their growth plans. I made the argument that attractive upside for the firm would be justified based on growth initiatives that should ultimately boost revenue and profitability significantly over the next few years. This led me to rate the company a soft ‘buy.’ And since then, shares have jumped 17%. That's above the 13.5% increase that the S&P 500 saw over the same window of time. After seeing this move higher, I decided to dig a bit deeper into the firm. I really wanted to know if further upside is justified. Based on my own analysis, I believe that it is. Because of this, I am reaffirming it as a soft ‘buy’ candidate. A Growth Play You Should Learn to Watch In my last article about Universal Technical Institute, I dug deeper into the core operations of the business. I don't think it would be terribly helpful to rehash all of those details. However, a brief refresher is probably in order. For those who are unfamiliar with the business, it focuses on two primary areas of the economy. The first of these would be certain trades...
Technology secretary says legal requirement that protects women, older people and others from workplace discrimination is ‘really important’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”. The Ukrainian president made the comment in an interview with Pippa Crerar and Luke Harding ....
Technology secretary says legal requirement that protects women, older people and others from workplace discrimination is ‘really important’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”. The Ukrainian president made the comment in an interview with Pippa Crerar and Luke Harding . In response, Reform UK has defended the flag policy being adopted by some Reform-led councils, saying not flying the Ukrainian flag does not mean the party is not supporting Kyiv in its fight against Russia. No, I think we should only have British flags. Because we’re a British country. We can’t have flags [for all conflicts]. We’re a British country and our public buildings should have the British flag. It doesn’t mean that we don’t support Ukraine, in any way. Continue reading...
Pinterest, Southwest Airlines, and United Therapeutics each executed significant share repurchases in Q1 2026, reducing their outstanding share counts by 16%, 5%, and 3.2%, respectively.
Pinterest, Southwest Airlines, and United Therapeutics each executed significant share repurchases in Q1 2026, reducing their outstanding share counts by 16%, 5%, and 3.2%, respectively.