Jaclyn Vernace/iStock Editorial via Getty Images I first wrote about Burke & Herbert Financial Services ( BHRB ) in December of last year . Its stock had enjoyed a healthy bump in price prior to the publication of my analysis, but I rated BHRB as a Hold based largely on some concerns for its loan portfolio. The company had also recently announced a deal to acquire LINKBANCORP in a $354 million all...
Jaclyn Vernace/iStock Editorial via Getty Images I first wrote about Burke & Herbert Financial Services ( BHRB ) in December of last year . Its stock had enjoyed a healthy bump in price prior to the publication of my analysis, but I rated BHRB as a Hold based largely on some concerns for its loan portfolio. The company had also recently announced a deal to acquire LINKBANCORP in a $354 million all-stock transaction , which created some additional uncertainty. My recommendation to stay on the sidelines for Burke & Herbert appears to have been fitting, as its stock has declined by over 4% since that article was published. This performance trails the State Street SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF ( KRE ) by over 5% and the S&P 500 by over 10%. Given the fact that BHRB released its Q1 2026 earnings on April 23 and completed its merger with LINKBANCORP on April 30 , I thought it was time to revisit my analysis to see what, if any, improvements have been made for the company over the last five months. At first glance, the forward PE for Burke & Herbert certainly looks enticing as it currently sits well below 8. However, the company has made few improvements in its condition, as I will discuss in the analysis below. Unfortunately, the asset quality concerns are not going away, and earnings growth, while improved, does not appear to be enough to move the needle off my previous Hold rating. Company Overview Based in Alexandria, Virginia, Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corporation is a holding company for Burke & Herbert Bank and Trust. The company operates 102 locations in six states, with the bulk of those in Virginia and West Virginia. Burke & Herbert Bank and Trust provides customers with traditional consumer and commercial banking services as well as wealth management and trust services. BHRB has a market cap of $1.27 billion as of May 29. As part of its Q1 2026 10-Q filing , the company reported $7.93 billion in total assets. Its loan portfolio, before allowance for cre...
The gig economy has evolved from a collection of experimental startups into a massive global infrastructure. Investors must now decide whether Uber Technologies (UBER 0.73%) or DoorDash (DASH +1.64%) offers better potential. Uber operates as a global transportation platform, moving people and freight across dozens of countries. DoorDash focuses on local commerce, aiming to become the logistics lay...
The gig economy has evolved from a collection of experimental startups into a massive global infrastructure. Investors must now decide whether Uber Technologies (UBER 0.73%) or DoorDash (DASH +1.64%) offers better potential. Uber operates as a global transportation platform, moving people and freight across dozens of countries. DoorDash focuses on local commerce, aiming to become the logistics layer for every neighborhood store. Both companies are now generating positive net income, yet their growth trajectories and valuation multiples differ significantly. The case for Uber Technologies Uber operates a massive global logistics network that connects riders with drivers and merchants with consumers. The company generates revenue through three primary segments: Mobility, Delivery, and Freight, serving over 15,000 cities worldwide. Nearly 15% of its mobility gross bookings originate from airport trips, making travel a critical driver of its high-margin business. In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $52.0 billion, up approximately 18.3% from the prior year. This top-line expansion supported a net income of close to $10.1 billion, resulting in a net margin of roughly 19.3%. These figures highlight a significant trend toward profitability as the company scales its advertising and membership programs. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is approximately 0.5x, which compares total debt to shareholder equity. The current ratio is nearly 1.1x, a measure of how well a company can pay its upcoming bills with current assets. For the full year, the business generated free cash flow of close to $9.8 billion, which is the cash remaining after paying for property and equipment. This capital provides flexibility to reinvest in tech stocks that support its platform. The case for DoorDash DoorDash functions as a local commerce platform that facilitates the delivery of food, groceries, and retail goods to over 56 million monthly active users. The company has su...
The speech was expected to be a barometer of the summit’s outcomes between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump. Here are some of the main points from Hegseth’s address. Tough on China, but less confrontational Hegseth referred to China’s “historic military build-up ” and reaffirmed that the US’ strategy in the Pacific centred on “deterrence by denial” along the first island ch...
The speech was expected to be a barometer of the summit’s outcomes between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump. Here are some of the main points from Hegseth’s address. Tough on China, but less confrontational Hegseth referred to China’s “historic military build-up ” and reaffirmed that the US’ strategy in the Pacific centred on “deterrence by denial” along the first island chain. Advertisement This is widely seen as to counter the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait. But the tone of Hegseth’s speech was markedly milder than last year, when he said the China threat was real and it could be imminent and that the PLA was rehearsing for the “real deal”. Advertisement On Saturday, he said US-China relations were “better than they have been in many years” and praised the Xi-Trump talks in Beijing last month as “historic”.
National outcry has erupted in India after more than 400,000 students have requested copies of their exam papers and answer sheets amid an outcry over marking errors in the country’s most important school-leaving exams. Within days of the grade 12 exam results being issued, students began reporting marking discrepancies they linked to a new digital marking system. The government-run Central Board ...
National outcry has erupted in India after more than 400,000 students have requested copies of their exam papers and answer sheets amid an outcry over marking errors in the country’s most important school-leaving exams. Within days of the grade 12 exam results being issued, students began reporting marking discrepancies they linked to a new digital marking system. The government-run Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) says it has received requests for 1.1 million answer sheet copies from more than 400,000 students to crosscheck the results. At least 1.7 million students sat the class 12 exams, which are key to university admissions. The board says the new on-screen marking (OSM) system is aimed at reducing human error and increasing efficiency. Instead, many students say it has resulted in wrong grades. In the new system, physical copies of answer sheets are scanned and uploaded to an online portal for teachers to evaluate, with a software then calculating the total mark. Some students said scanned answer sheets were incomplete or had missing pages, while others reported incorrect marking, blurry scans and mismatched answer sheets. One mother, Geetu Moza, posted on X that her daughter had lost at least 30 marks despite answers that “exactly matched the official answer”. “Do the authorities even understand what 30-35 marks can mean for a Class 12 student whose entire future and admission process depends on these scores?” she said. “This is playing with the careers, mental health and future of thousands of students.” The problem surfaced when Delhi student Vedant Srivastava said in a now viral post that the physics exam answer sheet sent to him after he requested it was not his. He said the handwriting differed and the paper contained answers he had not written. “I studied for an entire year. I sacrificed sleep, peace of mind, outings, everything for these exams,” he wrote. “And now I don’t even know whether my actual physics paper was checked.” Days later, th...
Key Points The S&P 500 is hovering near all-time highs. The list of concerns in the world is long. Conservative investors should probably be cautious. 10 stocks we like better than Coca-Cola › The average price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) over time is around 19x. Today, the S&P 500's P/E ratio is around 27.5x. That suggests that the market is not fully pricing in pote...
Key Points The S&P 500 is hovering near all-time highs. The list of concerns in the world is long. Conservative investors should probably be cautious. 10 stocks we like better than Coca-Cola › The average price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) over time is around 19x. Today, the S&P 500's P/E ratio is around 27.5x. That suggests that the market is not fully pricing in potential summer headwinds. And yet, markets often climb higher amid uncertainty. Here's what you need to know as you make investment decisions at the start of June. There is a material "wall of worry" An old Wall Street saying explains that the market climbs a wall of worry. If that is true, the summer of 2026 could be an excellent time for the market. Indeed, there are a plethora of reasons to be worried. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » One that grabs headlines daily is the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East. Given the region's importance to the world's energy market, this disruption has pushed energy prices sharply higher. News flow out of the Middle East can move energy prices, and the broader market, higher and lower in dramatic fashion. The problem is that oil executives are warning that Wall Street isn't paying enough attention to the fundamentals of the energy sector. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) CEO Mike Wirth, for example, has been going to great lengths to explain that oil prices are far more likely to rise than fall, given the reduction in supply and its impact on global oil reserves. He's hardly alone, with industry watchers saying it could take months for energy markets to normalize after the conflict finally ends. Higher energy prices, meanwhile, are flowing through the global economy, pushing up prices across the board. The inflation driven by high energy prices is becoming cleare...
Biden's Weaponized DOJ Ruined Tate Adamiak's Life. Top Gun Rights Group Calls On Trump To Pardon Via Gun Owners of America , In 2022 during the Biden Administration, federal agents arrested Patrick "Tate" Adamiak, a U.S. Navy sailor with no violent history or criminal record. Tate's crime? He was a firearms enthusiast. If that sounds like an exaggeration, it's not. Biden's weaponized DOJ charged T...
Biden's Weaponized DOJ Ruined Tate Adamiak's Life. Top Gun Rights Group Calls On Trump To Pardon Via Gun Owners of America , In 2022 during the Biden Administration, federal agents arrested Patrick "Tate" Adamiak, a U.S. Navy sailor with no violent history or criminal record. Tate's crime? He was a firearms enthusiast. If that sounds like an exaggeration, it's not. Biden's weaponized DOJ charged Tate with violations of the National Firearms Act for having collectible firearm parts at home. Importantly, NONE of these items was an actual "firearm" under the NFA - at least, not until ATF agents tampered with evidence before trial, leading to one of the most unjust convictions we at Gun Owners of America have ever seen. United States v. Adamiak is a case that everyone should be talking about. That's because, right now, Tate is languishing in federal prison , serving a ridiculous 20-year sentence that is longer than sentences received by most violent criminals. And to make matters worse, the U.S. Supreme Court has just declined to hear his case. That means if DOJ doesn't ask that Tate's sentence be reduced at an upcoming hearing, then a presidential pardon is Tate's last shot at freedom . We're calling on the Trump Administration to do the right thing and reverse this Biden-era miscarriage of justice. The story of Patrick "Tate" Adamiak begins well before his 2022 prosecution, and it's worth telling here. From an early age, Tate was fascinated with firearms, and he was as patriotic as they come. At the age of 17, Tate enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and eventually became a Master-at-Arms - the Navy's equivalent to military police . And, by the time he was 27 years old, Tate had been accepted to BUD/S - the selective training program to become a Navy SEAL. Throughout his young adult years, Tate began amassing a collection of firearms and historic military memorabilia. At the height of his collection, Tate owned around 150 firearms, and his goal was to one day open a military-t...
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images With inflation rising and the market turning hawkish, I thought to have a quick look at some ETFs that might perform particularly well if the Fed is forced into a hiking cycle. I've selected four such ETFs, with varying levels of risk and income. First and second, we have the WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund ETF ( USFR ) and the Alpha Architect 1-3 Month...
We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images With inflation rising and the market turning hawkish, I thought to have a quick look at some ETFs that might perform particularly well if the Fed is forced into a hiking cycle. I've selected four such ETFs, with varying levels of risk and income. First and second, we have the WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund ETF ( USFR ) and the Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box ETF ( BOXX ), both cash ETFs. USFR focuses on floating-rate treasuries, securities with extremely similar characteristics to T-bills but trading at a small spread to these. Investors should expect around 3.6% in returns for the fund, as per its SEC yield. BOXX is a synthetic T-bills options ETF, also with extremely similar characteristics to T-bills, but with a generally higher yield and some (potential) tax advantages. I expect similar returns from BOXX relative to USFR, perhaps marginally higher. BOXX seems like the more interesting choice for investors in taxable accounts, although obviously much will depend on the specific circumstances of each individual investor. The third ETF is the Eldridge BBB-B CLO ETF ( CLOZ ), which focuses on BBB-rated CLOs, variable rate investments with good credit quality. CLOZ's 7.0% SEC yield is equivalent to high-yield corporate bond benchmark ETFs, but with a much higher quality portfolio. A great choice for most investors, with below-average risk. Fourth, we have the FolioBeyond Alternative Income and Interest Rate Hedge ETF ( RISR ). RISR's interest-only MBS investments have negative duration, boosting prices during periods of higher (mortgage) rates. RISR also generates a good amount of income, with a 5.9% dividend yield. RISR is the riskiest and oddest of the bunch, but the one with the greatest potential returns during a period of rising rates. As the above ETFs have varying levels of risk and volatility, none is strictly superior to the others. CLOZ is arguably the most well-balanced, with a good mix of income and quality, and...
Valve tonight released their beta version of SteamOS 3.8.6 that contains a number of notable enhancements, including native HDMI Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support in initial form.SteamOS 3.8.6 beta brings preliminary support for HDMI VRR for devices with native HDMI output. This goes along with ongoing work by AMD toward upstreaming their HDMI 2.1 implementation into the mainline Linux kernel fo...
Valve tonight released their beta version of SteamOS 3.8.6 that contains a number of notable enhancements, including native HDMI Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support in initial form.SteamOS 3.8.6 beta brings preliminary support for HDMI VRR for devices with native HDMI output. This goes along with ongoing work by AMD toward upstreaming their HDMI 2.1 implementation into the mainline Linux kernel for the AMDGPU driver. Great seeing Valve proactively picking up the HDMI native VRR enablement work ahead of that milestone and continues to show the close collaboration with AMD on this long sought after effort after being blocked for years by the HDMI Forum. Some other work in today's beta release include various bug fixes, controller support for MSI Claw and OneXPlayer APEX / X1 handheld devices and improvements to existing handheld support.More details on today's SteamOS 3.8.6 beta via SteamPowered.com
Investing.com -- Meta Platforms, TikTok parent ByteDance, Snap, and Alphabet’s YouTube have agreed to pay roughly $27 million to settle claims brought by a Kentucky school district alleging their platforms contributed to a student mental health crisis, Reuters reported on Friday. According to documents obtained by Reuters, Meta agreed to pay the largest share of the settlement at $9 million. TikTo...
Investing.com -- Meta Platforms, TikTok parent ByteDance, Snap, and Alphabet’s YouTube have agreed to pay roughly $27 million to settle claims brought by a Kentucky school district alleging their platforms contributed to a student mental health crisis, Reuters reported on Friday. According to documents obtained by Reuters, Meta agreed to pay the largest share of the settlement at $9 million. TikTok and Snap each agreed to pay $8 million, while YouTube agreed to pay about $2.01 million. The settlements resolve claims brought by the Breathitt County School District in Kentucky, which accused the companies of designing their platforms to keep young users engaged, contributing to anxiety, depression, and self-harm among students. Meta settled the case on May 21, several weeks before a trial that had been scheduled to begin in June. The company followed earlier settlements reached by Snap, YouTube, and ByteDance. The agreements do not require any of the companies to admit wrongdoing and include no commitments to change features or operations on their platforms. Meta, YouTube, and Snap said they had resolved the matter amicably and remain focused on tools and features designed to help protect younger users. TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The Breathitt County School District had sought more than $60 million to fund programs aimed at addressing the effects of social media on student mental health, including a proposed 15-year support initiative. The district had also requested a court order requiring the companies to modify features it described as addictive. The case was expected to serve as a bellwether trial in broader litigation involving school districts across the United States. More than 1,200 school districts have filed similar claims, alleging social media platforms contributed to rising mental health challenges among students. Several larger school systems are also pursuing claims. Tucson Unified School District in Arizona is s...