As digital advertising moves away from walled gardens, deciding between The Trade Desk (TTD +5.17%) and Magnite (MGNI +0.08%) involves weighing the merits of the buy side versus the sell side of the industry. The Trade Desk operates as a demand-side platform, helping agencies buy ad space efficiently across various digital channels. Magnite serves the opposite side as a supply-side platform, helpi...
As digital advertising moves away from walled gardens, deciding between The Trade Desk (TTD +5.17%) and Magnite (MGNI +0.08%) involves weighing the merits of the buy side versus the sell side of the industry. The Trade Desk operates as a demand-side platform, helping agencies buy ad space efficiently across various digital channels. Magnite serves the opposite side as a supply-side platform, helping publishers sell their inventory to the highest bidder. Both companies capitalize on the growth of connected television, but they occupy different seats at the same table. The case for The Trade Desk The Trade Desk provides a technology platform for ad buyers, allowing them to manage data-driven campaigns across the open internet. By focusing on the demand side, the company serves advertising agencies and brands looking for space on video, audio, and connected television. Within the communication stocks sector, The Trade Desk is a prominent player. Two holding companies each represented more than 10% of gross billings in 2025. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business. In its 2025 fiscal year, revenue reached nearly $2.9 billion, representing growth of approximately 18% compared to the previous year. This expansion was accompanied by net income of $443.3 million. The company has maintained a positive net margin of close to 15.3%, showing its ability to generate profit from its top-line sales. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is approximately 0.2x. This ratio, which compares total debt to shareholder equity, helps investors understand how much a company depends on loans. The current ratio, which measures the ability to cover short-term debts with current assets, is nearly 1.6x. Free cash flow for the period was roughly $795.7 million, which is the cash left over after a company pays for its capital expenditures. Note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 49.4% of operating cash flow, which inflates repo...
With major U.S. indexes near record highs, dividend stocks are a great way to get paid now instead of simply speculating that stocks that have already soared will soar even more. That said, it may be tempting to chase dividend stocks with the highest dividend yield in this market to counter some of the high valuations in the market, but this is arguably a flawed approach to picking dividend stocks...
With major U.S. indexes near record highs, dividend stocks are a great way to get paid now instead of simply speculating that stocks that have already soared will soar even more. That said, it may be tempting to chase dividend stocks with the highest dividend yield in this market to counter some of the high valuations in the market, but this is arguably a flawed approach to picking dividend stocks. Instead, the best dividend stocks to hold for a decade aren't usually the ones with the fattest yields today -- they're the ones whose payouts keep climbing, backed by a business likely to still be thriving 10 years out. One name fits that bill almost too well: Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) . The membership-based retailer's dividend yields only about 0.6% as of this writing -- a number most income investors would shrug at. But fixating on it misses the point. The real story is a payout that has grown relentlessly for more than two decades, backed by one of the steadiest business models in retail. But the problem is valuation . Shares command a high premium. Continue reading
Chinese companies have found it difficult to secure offices, logistics facilities and retail space when expanding their footprints abroad, forcing some to put their global expansion plans on hold due to failed property strategies, according to a JLL report. The real estate services firm said 82 per cent of corporate respondents in a survey reported either paying more than expected to buy or rent p...
Chinese companies have found it difficult to secure offices, logistics facilities and retail space when expanding their footprints abroad, forcing some to put their global expansion plans on hold due to failed property strategies, according to a JLL report. The real estate services firm said 82 per cent of corporate respondents in a survey reported either paying more than expected to buy or rent properties, or wasting time in failed searches or prolonged furnishing, representing a stern challenge to their international plans. The missteps for these companies, from electric vehicle (EV) makers to consumer-product companies, could eventually hurt their public images, increase difficulties in recruiting talent and raise their logistics costs, according to Daniel Yao, head of research for JLL China. Advertisement “In some cases, they had to adjust the original strategies to find a new solution, which resulted in a heavier financial burden,” he said in an interview. “We found some of them had even scrapped the original investment plans because of the property issues and had to restart from scratch.” The research showed that Chinese manufacturing businesses with ambitions of foraying into international markets would face challenges despite their technological and production advantages over overseas rivals. Advertisement Previously, trade barriers like tariffs, unfamiliar legal frameworks, culture shock, brand awareness and difficulty providing aftermarket service were viewed as major hurdles for Chinese companies to crack open Western markets, according to Chen Xiao, CEO of Shanghai Yacheng Culture, a provider of marketing and branding services. “Fixed-assets like office space, production facilities and logistics parks in various markets could become a stumbling block to mainland Chinese companies’ go-global drive too,” he said. “In some countries, logistics parks are in severe shortage, while rents for office space can be super expensive in some other developed markets. ...
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 during the first day of in-store sales of Apple's latest products at Apple's Grove store in Los Angeles, California, US, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. The new iPhone 17 is seen as the most significant upgrade Apple has brought to its iPhone lineup in years, with a refreshed design and souped-up camera system. Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 during the first day of in-store sales of Apple's latest products at Apple's Grove store in Los Angeles, California, US, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. The new iPhone 17 is seen as the most significant upgrade Apple has brought to its iPhone lineup in years, with a refreshed design and souped-up camera system. Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
LeslieLauren/iStock via Getty Images Innovative Industrial Properties ( IIPR ) is undervalued against a U.S. landscape for cannabis that's set to support partially enhanced multi-state operator ("MSO") profitability following the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule 1 to 3. While the broad impact will be limited in the near term as it covers just medical cannabis, the longer-term trend is clear....
LeslieLauren/iStock via Getty Images Innovative Industrial Properties ( IIPR ) is undervalued against a U.S. landscape for cannabis that's set to support partially enhanced multi-state operator ("MSO") profitability following the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule 1 to 3. While the broad impact will be limited in the near term as it covers just medical cannabis, the longer-term trend is clear. The long-term broader adult-use market could be set to benefit from this regulatory peelback, and the performance of listed MSOs reflects an enthusiasm that has yet to be reflected in the performance of IIPR. To be clear, IIPR is up just 2.74% on a price return basis over the last 1 year, markedly below the average 106% performance of four of the largest US MSOs. IIPR is now trading for 8x its annualized fiscal 2026 first quarter normalized funds from operation ("NFFO"), with this at least 42% lower than its REIT peer group comp of 14.37x . Data by YCharts IIPR generated fiscal 2026 first-quarter NFFO of $1.78 per share , down from $1.84 per share in the year-ago comp but still beating consensus estimates by 6 cents. The REIT last declared a monthly cash dividend of $1.90 per share , maintained from its prior distribution, and $7.60 per share annualized for a 13.32% dividend yield. Hence, the dividend is not covered, and the market is currently pricing in a cut with a yield that's 872 basis points ahead of its industrial REIT peer group median yield of 4.60%. However, while bears would describe this as a sucker's yield, I believe IIPR's total return profile through the next year should be ahead of the broader market as tenant default resolutions stream in. This could push the NFFO coverage of the dividend to expand. There's a material 11% short interest in the common shares, markedly higher than the average short interest for U.S. equity REITs at 5% as of the end of March. Tenant Defaults, Leasing, and Dividend Coverage Innovative Industrial Properties Fiscal 2026 First Qu...
Toshifumi Suzuki , who built 7-Eleven into the world’s largest convenience store chain and became chief executive of Seven & i Holdings Co. , only to lose the top job following a boardroom coup, has died of heart failure. He was 93. The Japanese retailer announced his death on May 18 in a statement Monday. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the kindness and support shown to him du...
Toshifumi Suzuki , who built 7-Eleven into the world’s largest convenience store chain and became chief executive of Seven & i Holdings Co. , only to lose the top job following a boardroom coup, has died of heart failure. He was 93. The Japanese retailer announced his death on May 18 in a statement Monday. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude for the kindness and support shown to him during his lifetime, and respectfully inform you of his passing,” the company said. Suzuki revolutionized how Japanese people shop when he opened the nation’s first 24-hour 7-Eleven franchise in 1974, a time when mom-and-pop stores dominated the local retail landscape. He bought 7-Eleven’s US parent, Southland Corp. , after it filed for bankruptcy in 1990 and went on to expand it to more than 55,000 outlets in at least 16 countries by the time he left in May 2016. “When I first decided to bring 7-Eleven to Japan, everybody said it won’t succeed and opposed the idea — executives, university professors, consultants, all of them,” Suzuki said in a 2013 interview . “I knew they were wrong.” The group now has more than 85,000 stores dotting the globe, with about a quarter of them in Japan. 7-Eleven traces its roots to the 1920s and 1930s, when icehouses in the US South expanded into selling eggs, bread and milk, growing into a chain of convenience stores called Tote’m. In 1946, the name changed to 7-Eleven to reflect extended hours — 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. Suzuki was named chairman and CEO of 7-Eleven parent Ito-Yokado Co. in 2003 and changed the Tokyo-based company’s name to Seven & i in 2005. He expanded the chain to countries such as Indonesia and Denmark and increased the number of US stores to almost 10,500 in 2015 from about 7,300 when Southland failed. Since then, the retailer’s convenience store empire has grown to more than 18,000 outlets, including the $21 billion acquisition of Speedway stores from Marathon Petroleum Corp. in 2021 as well as Sunoco gas st...
For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has preached a mantra of peace and stability in the Middle East through the destruction of Iran ’s Islamic Republic. The obliteration of the ayatollahs, he prophesied, would lead to the normalisation of relations between Israel and the wider Arab-Islamic world – with Israel emerging as the Middle East’s dominant power and indispensable securit...
For decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has preached a mantra of peace and stability in the Middle East through the destruction of Iran ’s Islamic Republic. The obliteration of the ayatollahs, he prophesied, would lead to the normalisation of relations between Israel and the wider Arab-Islamic world – with Israel emerging as the Middle East’s dominant power and indispensable security provider. But on Saturday, Netanyahu’s dreams looked set to be dashed, after US President Donald Trump ’s disclosure on social media that a preliminary peace deal with Tehran has been “largely negotiated”. Advertisement The announcement, following calls between Trump and key Arab-Islamic leaders, instantly triggered a war of words on social media platforms between White House advisers and Israel’s top Republican allies. The framing of the proposed deal as “Iran appeasement” by Senator Ted Cruz is indicative of the pressure Trump is under from the pro-war ultraconservative wing of his party. Israelis take part in a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government in Tel Aviv on April 25. Photo: Reuters Similarly, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo equated the MOU with “pay[ing] the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to build a weapons of mass destruction programme and terrorise the world”.
China’s latest crackdown on cross-border stock trading aimed at tightening control over capital outflows may affect as much as HK$250 billion ($32 billion) of assets in Hong Kong, according to Citic Securities. Citic estimates that Futu Holdings Ltd. accounts for around HK$150 billion to HK$180 billion of the affected assets, while Tiger Brokers represents another HK$45 billion to HK$50 billion. I...
China’s latest crackdown on cross-border stock trading aimed at tightening control over capital outflows may affect as much as HK$250 billion ($32 billion) of assets in Hong Kong, according to Citic Securities. Citic estimates that Futu Holdings Ltd. accounts for around HK$150 billion to HK$180 billion of the affected assets, while Tiger Brokers represents another HK$45 billion to HK$50 billion. Including other brokerages caught up in the clampdown, the total impact across the market could reach HK$200 billion to HK$250 billion, analysts led by Tian Liang wrote in a note. Chinese regulators on Friday announced the surprise campaign against illegal cross-border trading, saying they planned to penalize brokerages including Futu, Tiger Brokers and Long Bridge Securities Ltd. for operating on the mainland without licenses and confiscate what they described as “illegal gains” from their domestic and offshore entities. The move marks Beijng’s most aggressive attempt yet to curb citizens from accessing overseas markets outside approved channels, a practice that remains officially off-limits under the nation’s strict capital controls. It comes as more mainland investors chase higher returns in US and other overseas markets, with Chinese equities largely lagging in performance while returns on fixed-income products have trended lower. Under the plan’s two-year transition period, existing investors may continue to access their accounts but will only be allowed to sell assets and withdraw funds. Purchases and fund deposits are prohibited. Morgan Stanley said the measures remove a major regulatory overhang while leaving the financial impact manageable. The bank said it does not expect all mainland customer accounts in Hong Kong to be shut down within two years, but rather that trading, deposit and withdrawal activities cannot occur onshore. Citic said the HK$250 billion figure does not completely translate into potential selling for Hong Kong stocks and that the market fallout ...