Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Chevron ( CVX ) CEO Mike Wirth said Venezuela needs to lower its taxes and royalties on oil to attract new investment. “We need a new set of fiscal terms under which we would invest in the country,” Wirth told Bloomberg TV on Friday . “Right now the amount of tax and royalty that’s paid doesn’t leave enough for an investor to get a return on their investments.” Bl...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Chevron ( CVX ) CEO Mike Wirth said Venezuela needs to lower its taxes and royalties on oil to attract new investment. “We need a new set of fiscal terms under which we would invest in the country,” Wirth told Bloomberg TV on Friday . “Right now the amount of tax and royalty that’s paid doesn’t leave enough for an investor to get a return on their investments.” Bloomberg noted that Chevron currently only invests money that it makes within Venezuela as part of a U.S. program to recover debt from the country's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Wirth said he sees the debt being paid in full within a year. Meanwhile, American oil giants Chevron, Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), and ConocoPhillips ( COP ) have been meeting with Venezuelan officials to discuss terms and contracts following recent changes to the country's oil and gas laws, according to Bloomberg. “There are negotiations underway, discussions even this week,” Wirth told Bloomberg. “I expect over the next short period of time we may see some clarity from them on specific values, on corporate income tax, on a range of things on royalties, and how that might be applied.” Chevron plans to boost production in Venezuela by 50% over the next two years, using local profits to pay the costs, but would need more clarity before it considers committing additional capital. “We don’t have enough clarity right now,” Wirth said. “We don’t understand what the regime would look like. And so it’s unlikely we would put capital to work until those things are clarified.” More on Chevron Chevron Corporation (CVX) Presents at Bernstein 42nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference Transcript Chevron: Attractive Total Return Potential Over 3- To 5-Year Horizon Chevron Can See Significant Upside From Spot And Oil-Linked LNG Sales Exxon, Chevron heads warn of higher oil prices amid falling inventories Chevron files to take 70% stake in Greek offshore gas block
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 9 p.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Chief Executive Officer — Junjie Zhang Chief Operating Officer — Dengfeng Yin Chief Financial Officer — Hongfei Huang Investor Relations Moderator — Ms. Alicia Guo Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] TAKEAWAYS Total Revenue -- RMB 3,546 million, up 4.5% year over year and 19.2% quarter...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 9 p.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Chief Executive Officer — Junjie Zhang Chief Operating Officer — Dengfeng Yin Chief Financial Officer — Hongfei Huang Investor Relations Moderator — Ms. Alicia Guo Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] TAKEAWAYS Total Revenue -- RMB 3,546 million, up 4.5% year over year and 19.2% quarter over quarter. -- RMB 3,546 million, up 4.5% year over year and 19.2% quarter over quarter. Gross Margin -- 55.6%, improved from 53.1% year over year, attributed primarily to increased contribution from company-owned teahouses. -- 55.6%, improved from 53.1% year over year, attributed primarily to increased contribution from company-owned teahouses. Non-GAAP Net Income -- RMB 506.7 million, over fourfold sequential improvement; non-GAAP net margin reached 14.3% compared to 3.4% in the previous quarter. -- RMB 506.7 million, over fourfold sequential improvement; non-GAAP net margin reached 14.3% compared to 3.4% in the previous quarter. Global GMV -- RMB 7,917.8 million, up 8.1% quarter over quarter; overseas GMV grew 14.6% sequentially and 139% year over year. -- RMB 7,917.8 million, up 8.1% quarter over quarter; overseas GMV grew 14.6% sequentially and 139% year over year. Teahouse Network -- Totalled 7,531 locations (7,157 Greater China, 374 overseas), an increase of 12.7% year over year; 790 company-owned, 6,741 franchisee teahouses. -- Totalled 7,531 locations (7,157 Greater China, 374 overseas), an increase of 12.7% year over year; 790 company-owned, 6,741 franchisee teahouses. Organizational Efficiency -- Non-GAAP G&A expense ratio declined 8.1 percentage points sequentially to 11.6%; non-GAAP sales and marketing expense ratio declined 3.6 points to 8.6%. -- Non-GAAP G&A expense ratio declined 8.1 percentage points sequentially to 11.6%; non-GAAP sales and marketing expense ratio declined 3.6 points to 8.6%. Product Innovation -- 12 new products launched; Da Hong Pao s...
Key Points Companies that consistently pay dividends are an excellent source of passive income. They tend to have strong business models and excellent capital management. These companies also tend to outperform non-dividend payers over the long term. 10 stocks we like better than ExxonMobil › Are you looking to generate passive income from your portfolio? If so, dividend stocks are for you. Invest...
Key Points Companies that consistently pay dividends are an excellent source of passive income. They tend to have strong business models and excellent capital management. These companies also tend to outperform non-dividend payers over the long term. 10 stocks we like better than ExxonMobil › Are you looking to generate passive income from your portfolio? If so, dividend stocks are for you. Investing in high-quality, dividend-paying companies gives you a share of established companies that pay investors a share of their earnings over time. While some companies optimize for high payouts, their dividends can fluctuate widely and are far from reliable. By investing in companies that consistently raise their annual dividend payments, you benefit from predictable passive income and also lower volatility, as these companies tend to handle market drawdowns better than non-dividend-paying companies. 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 » If this sounds appealing to you, here are three dividend energy stocks that are smart buys today. ExxonMobil: 43 consecutive years of raising its annual dividend ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is a major player in the oil and gas industry that has grown its dividend payout for 43 consecutive years. Last year, the company paid out $17 billion in dividends to shareholders, making it one of the largest dividend payers in the S&P 500 index. It returned another $20 billion to shareholders through share repurchases. The oil giant's long history of returning capital to shareholders is a testament to its integrated business model, which operates across the oil and gas value chain. ExxonMobil strategically focuses on "advantaged" assets, or high-quality assets that are characterized by low operating costs, low emissions, and high returns on investment. These advantaged assets are...
Stablecoins, which have risen in popularity in recent years, are pegged to the U.S. dollar and can be transferred cheaply and instantly over blockchain rails rather than traditional payment networks. That makes them a potential threat to payment companies like Visa (V +1.84%), Mastercard (MA +1.01%), American Express (AXP +1.08%), and PayPal (PYPL +0.89%). However, stablecoins probably won't impac...
Stablecoins, which have risen in popularity in recent years, are pegged to the U.S. dollar and can be transferred cheaply and instantly over blockchain rails rather than traditional payment networks. That makes them a potential threat to payment companies like Visa (V +1.84%), Mastercard (MA +1.01%), American Express (AXP +1.08%), and PayPal (PYPL +0.89%). However, stablecoins probably won't impact Visa, Mastercard, and American Express as much as PayPal. Let's see why those three credit card stocks are still worth buying in the stablecoin era, and why it might be smarter to avoid PayPal's stock. Why stablecoins can't derail the credit card leaders Visa and Mastercard don't issue their own cards. Banks and other financial institutions issue those co-branded cards and handle the actual accounts. At the same time, Visa and Mastercard generate most of their revenue by charging merchants 1%-3% "swipe fees" for processing those cards. Expand NYSE : V Visa Today's Change ( 1.84 %) $ 5.97 Current Price $ 330.93 Key Data Points Market Cap $612B Day's Range $ 325.21 - $ 331.65 52wk Range $ 293.89 - $ 375.51 Volume 200.7K Avg Vol 7.2M Gross Margin 78.28 % Dividend Yield 0.80 % On the surface, stablecoins appear to be a major threat to Visa and Mastercard, as merchant groups have repeatedly demanded lower swipe fees. But in reality, most businesses will still accept Visa and Mastercard ubiquitous cards rather than dropping them and alienating a large portion of their customer base. Most businesses and consumers also probably won't want to manage crypto wallets or private keys just to save a few dollars. Visa and Mastercard also provide strong consumer protection, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution services that stablecoins don't offer on their own. Instead of directly competing with stablecoins, Visa and Mastercard have been testing stablecoins to settle payments within their own networks and integrating them into their cards and digital wallets. In other words, they're ...
Clorox CEO Steps Down For "Health Reasons" After Six-Year Stock Rout Clorox shares tumbled on Friday after Chair and CEO Linda Rendle said she will step down for " health reasons ," prompting the board to begin a search for her replacement. "Rendle will also serve in an advisory role for a period following the appointment to drive business performance and a smooth leadership transition ," Clorox w...
Clorox CEO Steps Down For "Health Reasons" After Six-Year Stock Rout Clorox shares tumbled on Friday after Chair and CEO Linda Rendle said she will step down for " health reasons ," prompting the board to begin a search for her replacement. "Rendle will also serve in an advisory role for a period following the appointment to drive business performance and a smooth leadership transition ," Clorox wrote in a press release. Rendle wrote in a statement, "Serving as CEO of Clorox for the past six years—and being part of this special company for more than two decades—has truly been the privilege of my career." Under Rendle's six-year tenure, Clorox shares have fallen from grace, down a staggering 57%. Here's what Wall Street analysts are saying, courtesy of Bloomberg: TD Cowen (hold, PT $90) Analyst Robert Moskow says the announcement reinforces concerns about execution missteps amid CLX's plans to modernize its enterprise resource planning software and launch new products, particularly restaging cat litter." "We expect the company to guide below consensus for FY27." BNP Paribas (neutral, PT $97) Analyst Kevin Grundy says CLX's next CEO will inherit a host of challenges, including worsening business performance, volatility in delivery, and subdued category growth. "Former and now retired CEO of CHD, Matt Farrell, is very unlikely, but would be a home run for CLX's shareholders" So, did Rendle actually step down for "health reasons," or was it because investors had lost confidence in the turnaround timeline? Tyler Durden Fri, 05/29/2026 - 13:20
St. John’s University has officially sold its Staten Island campus for $30 million to Wagner College, according to documents from the New York City Office of the City Register. Wagner, a small private school based in the New York City borough, is expected to take on debt to buy the campus. It received a $32 million mortgage from Metropolitan Commercial Bank to finance the purchase, the school said...
St. John’s University has officially sold its Staten Island campus for $30 million to Wagner College, according to documents from the New York City Office of the City Register. Wagner, a small private school based in the New York City borough, is expected to take on debt to buy the campus. It received a $32 million mortgage from Metropolitan Commercial Bank to finance the purchase, the school said in bond documents. It also considered borrowing through a private placement transaction, according to state agency documents. City assessment data shows the property’s market value was most recently calculated at $56.5 million for the 2026-27 tax year. “Wagner is essentially going to paint the red to green and move right in,” said David Carlos, who heads up JLL’s education practice in the New York area and co-led the sale. St. John’s pulled out of its campus in Staten Island’s historic Grymes Hill neighborhood in May 2024, after years of declining enrollment. The sale allows St. John’s to funnel investments toward its main campus in Queens and sites in Italy, France and Ireland, the school said in a web post. St. John’s has about $354 million in outstanding debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Wagner’s purchase comes as the school contends with weak cash flows and budget gaps, according to a February report from Fitch Ratings. Analysts at the ratings company affirmed the school’s BB rating, two steps into junk, and negative outlook. “Fitch projects deficits to persist through FY30 as Wagner implements strategic programmatic and operational initiatives,” analysts led by Geshawn Williams wrote. “These pressures are compounded by Wagner’s elevated debt burden.” The college has $110 million in outstanding debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Adding 16.5 acres and 10 buildings will help Wagner introduce new majors, according to a statement from President Jeffrey Doggett when the purchase was announced. Wagner will start using the campus for classrooms and of...
The former first minister says she didn't think it was fair that Murrell - who embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP - should lose his job when she became SNP leader.
The former first minister says she didn't think it was fair that Murrell - who embezzled more than £400,000 from the SNP - should lose his job when she became SNP leader.
TotalEnergies SE ’s oil trading activities generally earn the company about $2 billion per year, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné said, a rare comment on the vast size of the oil trading operations of some of Europe’s majors. The comment comes as the company reported a 29% jump in its adjusted net income in the first quarter thanks to rising hydrocarbon prices, and a strong performance of ...
TotalEnergies SE ’s oil trading activities generally earn the company about $2 billion per year, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné said, a rare comment on the vast size of the oil trading operations of some of Europe’s majors. The comment comes as the company reported a 29% jump in its adjusted net income in the first quarter thanks to rising hydrocarbon prices, and a strong performance of its trading arm, which embarked on one of the biggest-ever buying sprees of Middle Eastern oil. Total traded about 7 million barrels a day of crude oil and refined products last year, about 7% of global supply. The company’s oil trading “fetches about two billion per year,” representing 10% of earnings and cash flow, Pouyanné said at an annual shareholders meeting near Paris Friday. It’s one of many oil traders that have seen outsized profits so far this year as a result of the Iran war and the disruptions arising from it. Shareholders also approved a resolution that would open the way for the executive to extend his term at the top of the company by increasing the upper age limits for both the company’s CEO and chair. During the shareholders meeting, Pouyanné said he could at some point remain just chairman of the company while “accompanying” a new CEO before the two roles are reunited again by his successor. Pouyanné said the company’s traders “noticed at the end of February that the US Navy was positioning itself near the Gulf,” the CEO said. “They took a position that wasn’t obvious, which was to buy oil, while markets at the time were rather pointing to a decline.” “For a deal that may have made a profit, some other have been losing” bets, Pouyanné said. The company always mentions “exceptional” trading profits in its quarterly earnings statements, he said, adding that low market volatility in 2025 didn’t allow for a remarkable trading performance last year.
Solstock | E+ | Getty Images For lower- and moderate-income workers who contribute to retirement savings , the new federal Saver's Match — scheduled to start with the 2027 tax year — could be a much-welcomed addition to their nest egg . Yet many current savers may first need a different account to get the money. Authorized by the 2022 Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, the Saver's Match program wi...
Solstock | E+ | Getty Images For lower- and moderate-income workers who contribute to retirement savings , the new federal Saver's Match — scheduled to start with the 2027 tax year — could be a much-welcomed addition to their nest egg . Yet many current savers may first need a different account to get the money. Authorized by the 2022 Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, the Saver's Match program will provide income-eligible retirement savers with a matching annual contribution worth up to $1,000 for single tax filers and $2,000 for joint filers. They can receive that benefit whether they save through a workplace plan like a 401(k) or an individual retirement account . The catch: Although contributions to an IRA may qualify workers for the match, any money the worker is entitled to can only go into a traditional IRA — not a Roth IRA . This means that workers who save via a Roth — including nearly all of those enrolled in state-run auto IRA programs — would need a traditional account to receive the match, experts say. As of April 30, more than 1.2 million accounts in the state programs held $3 billion in assets, according to Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University. Read more CNBC personal finance coverage This federal program trains older workers. The Trump administration wants to cut it Trump Accounts app launches — here's how to get started More workers are raiding their 401(k)s as average balances fall, Fidelity says Jeff Bezos says bottom half of earners should pay zero in income taxes CNBC's Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked "State programs absolutely want, can and will help their participants take advantage of the [Saver's Match], because these participants are exactly the low- to moderate-income workers the match was designed for," said Angela Antonelli, executive director for the center. "But there is unnecessary administrative complexity because the match must be deposited into a traditional IRA, while state pr...
NetApp (NTAP +25.86%) investors are having a nice Friday. The massive-scale data storage specialist's stock jumped as much as 35.3% around 10:25 a.m. ET. The stock backed down a bit from that extreme gain, but was still up 26% at 12:45 p.m. ET. Yep, that's what a strong earnings report can do, especially when paired with bullish guidance targets. Expand NASDAQ : NTAP NetApp Today's Change ( 25.86 ...
NetApp (NTAP +25.86%) investors are having a nice Friday. The massive-scale data storage specialist's stock jumped as much as 35.3% around 10:25 a.m. ET. The stock backed down a bit from that extreme gain, but was still up 26% at 12:45 p.m. ET. Yep, that's what a strong earnings report can do, especially when paired with bullish guidance targets. Expand NASDAQ : NTAP NetApp Today's Change ( 25.86 %) $ 36.83 Current Price $ 179.22 Key Data Points Market Cap $28B Day's Range $ 172.34 - $ 192.83 52wk Range $ 93.69 - $ 192.83 Volume 7.6M Avg Vol 2.5M Gross Margin 70.27 % Dividend Yield 1.46 % Another dot-com peak bites the dust With this surge to more than $170 per share, NetApp's stock finally eclipsed a long-standing record price of $148.63, set in the fall of 2000. NetApp crushed analyst targets in fiscal Q4 2026. Earnings rose 26% year-over-year to $2.43 per diluted share. Revenue increased 13% to $1.95 billion. The consensus Street view had called for earnings near $2.27 per share on sales in the neighborhood of $1.87 billion. And that's not even the best part. Management's guidance targets for the next quarter and fiscal year 2027 consistently landed well above current analyst projections. Messy data is NetApp's best friend As expected, NetApp CEO George Kurian celebrated the ongoing AI boom. The company helps enterprise customers manage huge arrays of raw, disorganized data. Real-world data is often messy, especially if it includes input by real, imperfect, wonderful humans. AI systems prefer working with clean, structured datasets. A quick round of NetApp's data cleanup and organization makes a significant difference to the speed and quality of AI training or inference. "As enterprise AI adoption scales, the primary challenge is not compute, but activating large volumes of unstructured data," Kurian said in the earnings call. "We are encouraged by the robust demand signals we are seeing and are confident in our ability to maintain this momentum, as reflected in ...
More than 26 U.S. states have introduced legislation to add Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and digital assets to their state treasury reserves, with New Hampshire, Arizona, and Texas being the first to sign these bills into law. The bills vary in size and structure, but most propose allocating somewhere between 5% and 10% of state funds ... Bitcoin Rallied 146% After Strategy’s First Purchase and 57% After...
More than 26 U.S. states have introduced legislation to add Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and digital assets to their state treasury reserves, with New Hampshire, Arizona, and Texas being the first to sign these bills into law. The bills vary in size and structure, but most propose allocating somewhere between 5% and 10% of state funds ... Bitcoin Rallied 146% After Strategy’s First Purchase and 57% After ETF Launch. Could State Reserves Push BTC Past Its ATH?
The 15-week-old triplets get their first swimming lesson from their mum, Bonita, and dad, Manu. The two boys, Uca and Yali, are named after an area of the Amazon rainforest and the second largest region in Peru. The female pup is named Yara, which means ‘river spirit’ in Brazilian folklore. Endangered giant otters face an uncertain future as conservationists estimate that only a few thousand remai...
The 15-week-old triplets get their first swimming lesson from their mum, Bonita, and dad, Manu. The two boys, Uca and Yali, are named after an area of the Amazon rainforest and the second largest region in Peru. The female pup is named Yara, which means ‘river spirit’ in Brazilian folklore. Endangered giant otters face an uncertain future as conservationists estimate that only a few thousand remain across South America. The pups have been born as part of the international conservation breeding programme in European zoos that is working to safeguard them from extinction Continue reading...
A mail-in ballot featuring California's Proposition 50 is seen in this illustration taken in Encinitas, California, U.S., October 21, 2025. Mike Blake | Reuters The U.S. Postal Service proposed new rules Friday that would require states to provide voter-level data on mail-in ballots in federal elections, one day after a federal judge declined to immediately block President Donald Trump's executive...
A mail-in ballot featuring California's Proposition 50 is seen in this illustration taken in Encinitas, California, U.S., October 21, 2025. Mike Blake | Reuters The U.S. Postal Service proposed new rules Friday that would require states to provide voter-level data on mail-in ballots in federal elections, one day after a federal judge declined to immediately block President Donald Trump's executive order tightening mail-in voting rules. The proposal would require states to submit to the Postal Service the names and addresses of voters receiving mail-in or absentee ballots, along with unique barcodes tied to each voter's outbound and return ballot envelopes. USPS said the rule would help determine how many ballots were mailed and allow officials to compare that figure with the number of ballots returned to detect potential issues for further investigation. The rule would apply to general, special and runoff federal elections, but not primaries or ballots sent to military and overseas voters. The proposal shifts USPS from recommending ballot-mail practices to mandating them for federal elections. The rule would require official logos, tracking barcodes, and a reporting system linking voters to specific envelopes. USPS would use the data to create state-specific "Mail-In and Absentee Participation Lists" through a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal. The proposal would also let the USPS return outbound federal ballot mailings that do not meet the new standards or are not tied to state-submitted voter lists. States would still control who is eligible to vote by mail. The Constitution designates states to oversee most election-related functions, not the federal government. The rule follows Trump's March 31 executive order on elections that directed USPS to begin a rulemaking on mail-in and absentee ballot services. A federal judge on Thursday declined to immediately block the mail-voting provisions of the order, finding the challenge premature because agencies had not yet carr...
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Stocks hit records as Dell rides the AI boom, and space stocks lose altitude. Plus, Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost on the $3.6 billion MaintainX deal, Gap CEO Richard Dickson joins Bloomberg Open Interest on the retailer’s turnaround. Chef and Dinex Group Founder Daniel Boulud and SL Green Realty Chairman and CEO M...
Get a jump start on the US trading day with Matt Miller on "Bloomberg Open Interest." Stocks hit records as Dell rides the AI boom, and space stocks lose altitude. Plus, Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost on the $3.6 billion MaintainX deal, Gap CEO Richard Dickson joins Bloomberg Open Interest on the retailer’s turnaround. Chef and Dinex Group Founder Daniel Boulud and SL Green Realty Chairman and CEO Marc Holliday join us on luxury dining and office demand, and Admiral James Stavridis weighs in on Iran, China and the future of war. (Source: Bloomberg)
Why are people attacking Ebola clinics? It revolves around trust, death and body bags toggle caption Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters "I was really shocked," says Dr. Babou Rukengeza. He's talking about the footage he saw on social media of flames and charred bedframes at an Ebola treatment center in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Community members attacked the facility on Thur...
Why are people attacking Ebola clinics? It revolves around trust, death and body bags toggle caption Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters "I was really shocked," says Dr. Babou Rukengeza. He's talking about the footage he saw on social media of flames and charred bedframes at an Ebola treatment center in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Community members attacked the facility on Thursday, May 21. By the end of the weekend there were two other attacks on a different medical facility treating Ebola patients. Staff and suspected Ebola patients fled in the midst of the chaos. Rukengeza found himself asking: "What will be our response?" And he had an answer: "We have to build trust." Sponsor Message Rukengeza is the Ebola Response Health Lead for Save the Children in his native Democratic Republic of Congo, where he is based. It's been less than two weeks since the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. In that short time, mistrust between communities and health providers has been evident. While Rukengeza was shocked by the attacks, he admits, he is not entirely surprised. This has happened during past Ebola outbreaks — and the tension is particularly evident around the death and burial of Ebola patients. Attacks fueled by panic and rumors Dr. Micaela Serafini — president of Doctors Without Borders Switzerland — has worked on Ebola response efforts since 2007. She remembers vividly when, in 2019, an Ebola treatment center in the DRC that her organization ran was attacked. "They believed that everyone that came in [to the clinic] was killed," she says. Since the death rate of Ebola patients was "extremely high," people imagined that aid workers were murdering them. She says this type of panic, fear and misinformation fuel the tension that emerges in the wake of a growing outbreak. Today, rumors circulating on social media in the DRC include false claims that Ebola is not real, that humanitari...
Earnings Call Insights: Okta, Inc. (OKTA) Q1 FY2027 Management View "We're pleased with the strong start to FY '27" and "our results were driven by strength with large enterprises, partner engagement and contribution from our newer products" (Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO Todd McKinnon). "Okta for AI agents, which became generally available last month" was positioned as a new control plane: "gives en...
Earnings Call Insights: Okta, Inc. (OKTA) Q1 FY2027 Management View "We're pleased with the strong start to FY '27" and "our results were driven by strength with large enterprises, partner engagement and contribution from our newer products" (Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO Todd McKinnon). "Okta for AI agents, which became generally available last month" was positioned as a new control plane: "gives enterprises a single control plane to discover, govern and manage agents across their organization" (CEO McKinnon). On market timing, he emphasized: "It's still early. They're not materially contributing to the business in Q1" (CEO McKinnon). Management tied broader platform motion to new products: "Our new product portfolio represented approximately 25% of Q1 bookings" and "We see a 40% ACV uplift when new products are included in a deal" (CEO McKinnon). Partnerships were highlighted as part of the AI-agents strategy, including: "a partnership with ServiceNow," "Our partnership with Google," "integrates with Amazon Bedrock Agent core," "a launch partner for OpenAI's release of GPT 5.5 trusted access for cyber" and "collaborating with Anthropic" (CEO McKinnon). "We had another strong quarter of cash flow in Q1" and "ended the quarter with... approximately $2.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments" (Chief Financial Officer Brett Tighe). Capital allocation updates included: "we will settle the remaining principal amount of $350 million in cash" for convertibles, and "we repurchased and retired just over 3 million shares for a total cost of $241 million" with "$680 million" remaining under the "$1 billion repurchase program" (CFO Tighe). Outlook "For the second quarter of FY '27, we expect total revenue growth of 9%, current RPO growth of 11%, non-GAAP operating margin of 26% and free cash flow margin of 20% to 21%" (CFO Tighe). "For the full year FY '27, we now expect total revenue growth of 9% to 10%, non-GAAP operating margin of 25% to 26% and a free c...
Louisiana lawmakers pass a congressional map to dismantle a majority-Black district toggle caption Michael DeMocker/Getty Images Republicans in the Louisiana legislature have approved a new congressional map ahead of the midterms that will likely net their party one seat in the race to control the House. Louisiana lawmakers raced to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional seats in the st...
Louisiana lawmakers pass a congressional map to dismantle a majority-Black district toggle caption Michael DeMocker/Getty Images Republicans in the Louisiana legislature have approved a new congressional map ahead of the midterms that will likely net their party one seat in the race to control the House. Louisiana lawmakers raced to eliminate one of two majority-Black congressional seats in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the current map unconstitutional in a sweeping decision last month that severely weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Following that ruling, and just days before early voting was set to begin — and with tens of thousands of voters having already returned mail ballots — Republican Gov. Jeff Landry pushed to delay the House primary elections scheduled for May 16, allowing the legislature to redraw the map. Sponsor Message The rescheduled primaries are now set for Nov. 3. The new map dismantles a majority-Black district that zigzagged from Baton Rouge to Shreveport, and was created as a result of a 2022 lawsuit. That case argued that Louisiana lawmakers illegally diluted Black voting power by failing to draw a second majority-Black district in a state where Black voters account for roughly one third of the population. A court agreed, and Louisiana legislators passed the current map. That map was then challenged in the case that ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that Section 2 of the VRA only protects against political lines drawn with the intent of discriminating on the basis of race. "The best way to end race-based discrimination is to stop making decisions based on race," Landry wrote in the executive order delaying the House primaries. Some Republicans pressed lawmakers to draw a map that would give the GOP the advantage in all six of Louisiana's congressional districts. Legislators opted to eliminate only one of the majority-Black districts held by Democrats, fearing that going further...
mactrunk/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Summary For years, Dell Technologies Inc. ( DELL ) was viewed as a mature hardware company. Unexciting, but profitable and investor-friendly But like with many other things, AI has completely changed that, and the proof is in the latest earnings . DELL is up over 40% following a very strong quarter, in which it is proving to be a major beneficiary of AI. Bac...
mactrunk/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Summary For years, Dell Technologies Inc. ( DELL ) was viewed as a mature hardware company. Unexciting, but profitable and investor-friendly But like with many other things, AI has completely changed that, and the proof is in the latest earnings . DELL is up over 40% following a very strong quarter, in which it is proving to be a major beneficiary of AI. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Intel ( INTC ) became one of the most valuable companies in the world because it sat at the center of the computing revolution. Every PC needed Intel. Every server needed Intel. As computing expanded, Intel expanded alongside it. I believe Dell is quietly becoming the Intel of the AI era, as it sits at the heart of data center deployments. While the stock has already come up significantly in the last few months, Dell is still a buy in my opinion. Dell's Q1 Was Extraordinary A very strong quarter, and one that the market wasn’t able to ignore. Dell In Charts (SA) Revenue was up 88% YoY, while non-GAAP EPS increased 214% to $4.86. The growth came from the Infrastructure Solutions Group, which jumped 181% YoY and reached $29 billion. Overall, AI server revenue reached $16.1 billion in a single quarter, a 757% YoY increase. But perhaps what the market liked the most was the increased guidance. Management raised FY27 AI server revenue guidance from $50 billion to $60 billion. Dell Guidance (Investor slides) And it looks like there’s plenty more to come, as the backlog climbed to $51.3 billion. Management repeatedly emphasized that demand remains significantly ahead of supply. We have a supply issue. We are supply constrained in the second half. It is not a demand issue for us. Source: Earnings Call . Beyond GPUs: Dell Is Building AI Factories Much of the market still thinks AI is synonymous with Nvidia, but that view is becoming increasingly incomplete, and markets have realized. In fact, while Nvidia ( NVDA ) struggles to make new highs, other AI...