EnDyk/iStock Editorial via Getty Images PayPay ( PAYP ) is indicating to investors that its U.S. initial public offering will price at $16 per share, just below the $17-$19 range it marketed the listing at, according to a media report on Wednesday. Despite recent market turbulence, the Japanese digital wallet app is moving forward with pricing the IPO after the market closes on Wednesday, Bloomber...
EnDyk/iStock Editorial via Getty Images PayPay ( PAYP ) is indicating to investors that its U.S. initial public offering will price at $16 per share, just below the $17-$19 range it marketed the listing at, according to a media report on Wednesday. Despite recent market turbulence, the Japanese digital wallet app is moving forward with pricing the IPO after the market closes on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The IPO has attracted demand from institutional investors for multiple times the 55M American depositary receipts being offered, Bloomberg said , citing the people familiar. At the $16-per-ADR price, the offering would generate gross proceeds of $880M and value the entire company at ~$10.7B, based on the number of shares outstanding listed in its filings. The offering's lead underwriters are Goldman Sachs ( GS ), JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ), Mizuho Financial Group ( MFG ), and Morgan Stanley ( MS ). More on PayPay PayPay Targets US IPO On Accelerating Growth, High Profitability SoftBank's PayPay eyes lower end of $17–20 IPO price range - report PayPay expects IPO to price at $17-$20 per ADS Financial information for PayPay Corporation
Check out some of the companies making the biggest moves midday: Oracle — Oracle jumped 10% after the cloud infrastructure company gave strong fiscal third-quarter results and lifted its revenue guidance for fiscal 2027. Management lifted its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook by $1 billion to $90 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $86.6 billion. Campbell's Co . – Shares of Pepperidge Farm co...
Check out some of the companies making the biggest moves midday: Oracle — Oracle jumped 10% after the cloud infrastructure company gave strong fiscal third-quarter results and lifted its revenue guidance for fiscal 2027. Management lifted its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook by $1 billion to $90 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $86.6 billion. Campbell's Co . – Shares of Pepperidge Farm cookie and Goldfish cracker maker slid more than 7.5% after disappointing fiscal second-quarter earnings. Campbells' earnings and revenue missed analyst estimates, as did full-year guidance, according to FactSet. Net sales in its snacks business fell by 6% and U.S. soup sales declined by 4%, helping to send the stock to a 23-year low. Nebius Group — The artificial intelligence cloud company climbed 15% after Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment to "enable Nebius to deploy more than 5 gigawatts of capacity by the end of 2030" and support Nvidia's AI infrastructure buildout, a statement said. Uber Technologies - The ride-hailing firm rose nearly 3% after Amazon's Zoox unit agreed to a multiyear partnership with Uber that will soon make the company's toaster-shaped robotaxis available via the app in the U.S. Uber plans to offer Zoox driverless rides in Las Vegas this summer, and in Los Angeles next year. Cintas , UniFirst – Cintas advanced more than 2% after the company said it would acquire UniFirst for $310 per share, a deal valued at roughly $5.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Baird also upgraded Cintas to outperform following the announcement. UniFirst shares gained 9%. Serve Robotics – Shares of the autonomous robotics company jumped nearly 13%. Serve posted a fourth-quarter loss of 46 cents per share, narrower than the FactSet consensus call for a loss of 48 cents per share. Revenue for the full year also surpassed Wall Street's estimates. Separately, Serve announced a partnership with White Castle to launch autonomous deliver...
The dollar is the best haven bet as market volatility picks up during the Mideast conflict, according to Nathan Thooft of Manulife Investment Management, who says he’s shifted more of his investments to the US since hostilities erupted. Thooft, who helps oversee more than $300 billion at the firm, said the fighting and the leap in oil prices it’s caused have led him to reduce his allocation to non...
The dollar is the best haven bet as market volatility picks up during the Mideast conflict, according to Nathan Thooft of Manulife Investment Management, who says he’s shifted more of his investments to the US since hostilities erupted. Thooft, who helps oversee more than $300 billion at the firm, said the fighting and the leap in oil prices it’s caused have led him to reduce his allocation to non-US equities and non-dollar shorter-term bonds and move those funds into US stocks and Treasuries. The senior portfolio manager still expects the dollar will resume its weakening trend on a longer horizon, although he sees the current dynamic persisting for weeks. For now, the greenback is benefiting, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gaining 1.3% this month. “The shift in the short-term has been to bring some dollars back into US assets just given that that is likely the safest equity option and the safest currency option in the short term,” said Thooft, who’s based in Boston. “It’s hard to react to the situation. It’s a bit of a pogo stick, you’re bouncing up and down.” The US currency is up versus most major counterparts since the war began. One reason is that the US, a key exporter of oil and gas, is more sheltered from the impact of soaring energy prices than economies in Asia and Europe. The euro and the yen have been among the hardest-hit currencies, highlighting the dependence of those regions on energy imports. Read more: Dollar Enjoys Petrocurrency Status as Oil Drives Markets “Once this passes, I do believe we go back to an environment where dollar weakness prevails,” Thooft said. “Non-US assets have a good backdrop and continue to provide positive diversification benefits.” US President Donald Trump said in an Axios interview on Wednesday that the conflict will end “soon” because there’s “practically nothing left to target.” Still, Israeli and US officials told the news outlet that they’re preparing for at least two more weeks of strikes. “The market is a lit...
Applied Materials (AMAT) and Micron Technology (MU) have partnered to develop next-generation memory chips specifically for artificial intelligence. This collaboration focuses on DRAM and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to meet the massive speed and power requirements of modern AI systems. By combining Applied Materials' materials engineering with Micron's memory expertise, the companies aim to create...
Applied Materials (AMAT) and Micron Technology (MU) have partnered to develop next-generation memory chips specifically for artificial intelligence. This collaboration focuses on DRAM and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to meet the massive speed and power requirements of modern AI systems. By combining Applied Materials' materials engineering with Micron's memory expertise, the companies aim to create a "lab-to-fab" pipeline that moves new designs from research to mass production faster. The partnership centers on two major U.S. hubs: Applied Materials' new $5 billion EPIC Center in Silicon Valley and Micron’s innovation center in Boise, Idaho. A key focus is advanced packaging, a technique that stacks chip components to increase performance while reducing energy consumption. As AI models grow more complex, this alliance ensures that the underlying hardware can scale efficiently, solidifying the U.S. as a leader in the critical semiconductor innovation needed to unlock AI’s full potential. About Applied Materials Applied Materials is a leading provider of equipment, services, and software for manufacturing semiconductors, displays, and solar products. It supplies critical tools for chip fabrication, like deposition, etching, and inspection systems, powering virtually every new semiconductor used in electronics, AI, smartphones, and high-performance computing. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA, Applied Materials operates globally with facilities, R&D, and sales in over 100 countries. Applied Materials Stock Surges Applied Materials has demonstrated explosive growth over the last year, fueled by the accelerating demand for artificial intelligence and high-bandwidth memory. The stock has climbed an impressive 138% over the past 52 weeks, after hitting a one-year high of $395.95. Short-term indicators show some recent volatility, as the stock experienced a 2% drop over a five-day period but has since seen a 3% rise over the last month, with i...
Applied Materials (AMAT) and Micron Technology (MU) have partnered to develop next-generation memory chips specifically for artificial intelligence. This collaboration focuses on DRAM and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to meet the massive speed and power requirements of modern AI systems. By combining Applied Materials' materials engineering with Micron's memory expertise, the companies aim to create...
Applied Materials (AMAT) and Micron Technology (MU) have partnered to develop next-generation memory chips specifically for artificial intelligence. This collaboration focuses on DRAM and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) to meet the massive speed and power requirements of modern AI systems. By combining Applied Materials' materials engineering with Micron's memory expertise, the companies aim to create a "lab-to-fab" pipeline that moves new designs from research to mass production faster. The partnership centers on two major U.S. hubs: Applied Materials' new $5 billion EPIC Center in Silicon Valley and Micron’s innovation center in Boise, Idaho. A key focus is advanced packaging, a technique that stacks chip components to increase performance while reducing energy consumption. As AI models grow more complex, this alliance ensures that the underlying hardware can scale efficiently, solidifying the U.S. as a leader in the critical semiconductor innovation needed to unlock AI’s full potential. More News from Barchart About Applied Materials Applied Materials is a leading provider of equipment, services, and software for manufacturing semiconductors, displays, and solar products. It supplies critical tools for chip fabrication, like deposition, etching, and inspection systems, powering virtually every new semiconductor used in electronics, AI, smartphones, and high-performance computing. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA, Applied Materials operates globally with facilities, R&D, and sales in over 100 countries. Applied Materials Stock Surges Applied Materials has demonstrated explosive growth over the last year, fueled by the accelerating demand for artificial intelligence and high-bandwidth memory. The stock has climbed an impressive 138% over the past 52 weeks, after hitting a one-year high of $395.95. Short-term indicators show some recent volatility, as the stock experienced a 2% drop over a five-day period but has since seen a 3% rise ove...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Cloud platform Oracle ( ORCL ) reported much-anticipated results for its third fiscal quarter on Tuesday that beat analysts consensus estimates on both EPS and revenues by wide margins, causing shares to surge 8.7%. The Cloud enterprise added significantly to its revenue backlog, and generated higher operating income (margins), showing that Oracle’s growth is becomin...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Cloud platform Oracle ( ORCL ) reported much-anticipated results for its third fiscal quarter on Tuesday that beat analysts consensus estimates on both EPS and revenues by wide margins, causing shares to surge 8.7%. The Cloud enterprise added significantly to its revenue backlog, and generated higher operating income (margins), showing that Oracle’s growth is becoming more profitable. The firm's free cash flow, however, took a massive hit as the Cloud platform ramped up its CapEx spending. Oracle, like so many other AI companies, has has recently seen a contraction of its valuation multiplier, which I believe creates an opportunity for investors to increase their exposure. Shares are trading below the 3-year average P/E ratio and with a growth acceleration also evident in Oracle's results, on a Q/Q basis, I believe the growth story for the Cloud player is fully intact. Data by YCharts Previous rating I rated shares of Oracle a buy after the company reported a massive $300B Cloud computing deal in the second half of 2025 with OpenAI: Unleasing Massive Cloud Growth . I like that Oracle is focused on expanding its Cloud platform offers to enterprise customers and the recent addition to its contracted backlog indicates that the company will be able to accelerate its top line growth going forward. Oracle also improved its profitability and is set for double-digit top line growth in the current fiscal year. Oracle’s Q3’26 beat expectations Oracle beat analyst expectations easily with EPS and revenues surpassing consensus figures by large margins: Oracle reported normalized (non-GAAP) earnings of $1.79 per-share for Q3'26, beating the estimate by $0.10 per-share. Revenues were reported at $17.2B and beat by $281M. Seeking Alpha Oracle's total revenues in the third fiscal quarter amounted to 17.2B, showing 22% year-over-year growth, mainly due to a massive surge in AI infrastructure and Cloud services demand, with partners like Alphabet ( GOOG...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Cloud platform Oracle ( ORCL ) reported much-anticipated results for its third fiscal quarter on Tuesday that beat analysts consensus estimates on both EPS and revenues by wide margins, causing shares to surge 8.7%. The Cloud enterprise added significantly to its revenue backlog, and generated higher operating income (margins), showing that Oracle’s growth is becomin...
Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images Cloud platform Oracle ( ORCL ) reported much-anticipated results for its third fiscal quarter on Tuesday that beat analysts consensus estimates on both EPS and revenues by wide margins, causing shares to surge 8.7%. The Cloud enterprise added significantly to its revenue backlog, and generated higher operating income (margins), showing that Oracle’s growth is becoming more profitable. The firm's free cash flow, however, took a massive hit as the Cloud platform ramped up its CapEx spending. Oracle, like so many other AI companies, has has recently seen a contraction of its valuation multiplier, which I believe creates an opportunity for investors to increase their exposure. Shares are trading below the 3-year average P/E ratio and with a growth acceleration also evident in Oracle's results, on a Q/Q basis, I believe the growth story for the Cloud player is fully intact. Data by YCharts Previous rating I rated shares of Oracle a buy after the company reported a massive $300B Cloud computing deal in the second half of 2025 with OpenAI: Unleasing Massive Cloud Growth . I like that Oracle is focused on expanding its Cloud platform offers to enterprise customers and the recent addition to its contracted backlog indicates that the company will be able to accelerate its top line growth going forward. Oracle also improved its profitability and is set for double-digit top line growth in the current fiscal year. Oracle’s Q3’26 beat expectations Oracle beat analyst expectations easily with EPS and revenues surpassing consensus figures by large margins: Oracle reported normalized (non-GAAP) earnings of $1.79 per-share for Q3'26, beating the estimate by $0.10 per-share. Revenues were reported at $17.2B and beat by $281M. Seeking Alpha Oracle's total revenues in the third fiscal quarter amounted to 17.2B, showing 22% year-over-year growth, mainly due to a massive surge in AI infrastructure and Cloud services demand, with partners like Alphabet ( GOOG...
(RTTNews) - Hill & Smith PLC (HILS.L), a provider of infrastructure and building products, announced on Wednesday, an agreement to acquire an 80 percent stake in Freeberg Industrial Fabrication Corp., a designer and manufacturer of custom enclosures and engineered systems for data centers, power generation, and infrastructure markets. The initial cash consideration for the transaction is $36 milli...
(RTTNews) - Hill & Smith PLC (HILS.L), a provider of infrastructure and building products, announced on Wednesday, an agreement to acquire an 80 percent stake in Freeberg Industrial Fabrication Corp., a designer and manufacturer of custom enclosures and engineered systems for data centers, power generation, and infrastructure markets. The initial cash consideration for the transaction is $36 million on a debt- and cash-free basis. Additional payments of upto $50 million may be made for the remaining 20 percent stake, depending on Freeberg's profitability through December 2031. Freeberg's CEO, Marc Brown, will continue to lead the business following the transaction. In 2025, Freeberg reported unaudited revenue of $31.7 million and adjusted EBIT of $5.3 million. Hill & Smith expects the acquisition to close in the second quarter of 2026 and be earnings accretive that year. HILS.L is currently trading at GBP 2,230.00, down GBP 15.00 or 0.67 percent on the London Stock Exchange. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Daniel Grizelj/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Hims & Hers Health, Inc. ( HIMS ) partnership with Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) could be the inflection point at which Hims evolves from being a controversial GLP-1 disruptor to being a legitimate consumer-focused healthcare platform. By aligning with the pharmaceutical industry with its branded Wegovy and Ozempic, the single greatest regulatory overhang w...
Daniel Grizelj/DigitalVision via Getty Images The Hims & Hers Health, Inc. ( HIMS ) partnership with Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) could be the inflection point at which Hims evolves from being a controversial GLP-1 disruptor to being a legitimate consumer-focused healthcare platform. By aligning with the pharmaceutical industry with its branded Wegovy and Ozempic, the single greatest regulatory overhang will be eliminated, and the scale of the platform will be its greatest asset. My view on the bull case for Hims is that the company becomes the front-end distributor for several multibillion-dollar treatments and continues to build its diagnostics, hormone, and international businesses. The narrative evolves from being a telehealth player to being a global digital health leader, which could unlock much higher valuations over time based on the potential of the platform. I initiated a position in HIMS shortly after publishing my first bullish call on the company, and since then the Novo partnership has sent the stock up roughly 40%, but the outlook has improved even more than the price, leading me to upgrade the stock to Strong Buy. The Partnership That Changes The Narrative When evaluating Hims & Hers today, the biggest change from just three months ago isn’t the revenue growth, the subscriber growth, or the average revenue per user. It’s credibility. The March 2026 partnership with Novo changed the narrative of the company. For the last year, the conversation has been whether or not Hims & Hers could execute its weight-loss strategy and navigate the regulatory environment and the branded pharmaceutical industry. This deal changes the conversation. Hims will be the distributor of FDA-approved Wegovy and Ozempic and will discontinue its compounded GLP-1 products. The stock immediately responded with the stock rising 40% in one day as the market began to reassess the long-term viability of the Hims model, which had appeared to be operating in the regulatory gray area and sudden...
Iran are not in a position to participate in the 2026 World Cup, says the country's Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali. The team are scheduled to play three group matches in the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico and gets under way on 11 June. Iran are due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June respectively, and Egypt in Seat...
Iran are not in a position to participate in the 2026 World Cup, says the country's Minister of Sports and Youth Ahmad Donyamali. The team are scheduled to play three group matches in the tournament, which is being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico and gets under way on 11 June. Iran are due to face New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on 15 and 21 June respectively, and Egypt in Seattle on 26 June. But their participation has been in doubt since the US and Israel launched strikes on the country, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones towards Israel and other nations which host US military bases. Earlier on Wednesday, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said US President Donald Trump had told him Iran are "welcome to compete" at this summer's finals. But in an interview with the IRIB Sports Network on Tuesday, Donyamali said: "Given that this corrupt government has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances do we have the appropriate conditions to participate in the World Cup. "Our boys are not safe, and conditions for participation do not exist." He added that "over the past eight or nine months, two wars have been imposed on us and several thousand of our people have been killed and martyred. Therefore, we definitely do not have the possibility for participation."
One thing investors need to keep in mind when investing in the energy sector is that oil prices are highly volatile. While the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East is newsworthy, the reaction in the oil markets is rather predictable. But the lingering story on Wall Street may not be about oil prices; it could quickly return to inflation. Inflation is already a problem Target (TGT 1.15...
One thing investors need to keep in mind when investing in the energy sector is that oil prices are highly volatile. While the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East is newsworthy, the reaction in the oil markets is rather predictable. But the lingering story on Wall Street may not be about oil prices; it could quickly return to inflation. Inflation is already a problem Target (TGT 1.15%), a large U.S. retailer, saw its sales drop 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Its organic sales were off by 2.5%. The problem for the company is that consumers are worried about rising prices and, thus, they are being cautious about spending. Target tends to offer higher-priced products and a more premium shopping experience than its closest peer, Walmart (WMT 0.31%). Walmart's focus on everyday low prices, however, has been resonating with consumers. The company's most recent quarter saw sales rise 4.6% and same-store sales rise by the same amount. Relatively speaking, Walmart is eating Target's lunch right now thanks to consumers' belt-tightening efforts. The inflation concerns that are driving this dichotomy have receded from the headlines as the current geopolitical conflict is more newsworthy. However, that doesn't mean that inflation has gone away. Expand NYSE : TGT Target Today's Change ( -1.15 %) $ -1.39 Current Price $ 119.35 Key Data Points Market Cap $55B Day's Range $ 118.51 - $ 121.31 52wk Range $ 83.44 - $ 126.00 Volume 60K Avg Vol 6.8M Gross Margin 25.44 % Dividend Yield 3.76 % Higher energy prices could make the problem worse Oil prices have risen very quickly as the Middle East's ability to supply the world with oil and natural gas is at risk. The price of energy has whipsawed back and forth in response to news flow and investor sentiment. However, higher oil prices will eventually flow through to consumers and the inflation data. Expand NASDAQ : WMT Walmart Today's Change ( -0.31 %) $ -0.39 Current Price $ 124.73 Key Data Points Market Cap $997B Day's ...
Even if you only pay cursory attention to the news, you are likely aware of the geopolitical conflict unfolding in the Middle East. Given the region's importance to the energy sector, it shouldn't be surprising that oil prices have become very volatile, rising and falling in dramatic fashion. If oil prices stick at or around $100 per barrel, there's a strong likelihood that energy producers are bi...
Even if you only pay cursory attention to the news, you are likely aware of the geopolitical conflict unfolding in the Middle East. Given the region's importance to the energy sector, it shouldn't be surprising that oil prices have become very volatile, rising and falling in dramatic fashion. If oil prices stick at or around $100 per barrel, there's a strong likelihood that energy producers are big winners. The energy sector's winners and losers There are three segments in the energy sector: the upstream, the midstream, and the downstream. The upstream is where oil and natural gas are produced. The midstream essentially moves oil and natural gas around the world. The downstream sector is filled with chemical companies and refineries that transform oil and natural gas into usable products like gasoline. Each segment reacts differently to rising oil prices. The midstream is largely fee-driven, so oil prices aren't all that important. The volume of energy flowing through a company's portfolio of infrastructure assets is the key driver of financial performance. Performance in the downstream is generally hampered by high oil prices because oil is a key input and thus a key cost of doing business. The segment that benefits is the upstream, with pure-play energy producers like Devon Energy (DVN +2.68%) likely to see the biggest upside. However, even integrated giants like ExxonMobil (XOM +1.96%) and Chevron (CVX +2.03%), which are vertically integrated across the industry, will see earnings improve, though to a lesser degree, thanks to high oil prices. What goes up also comes back down As the chart above shows, Devon Energy's stock price performance more closely tracks energy price swings than Exxon's, which is larger and more diversified. So if oil prices rise and linger at higher levels, Devon is likely to be a big winner because it can sell oil at higher prices, boosting its earnings. Investors are already anticipating that, but if energy prices remain elevated, the ear...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) is up +0.20%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) is down -0.26%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) is up +0.46%. In an effort to stabilize energy markets disrupted by conflict in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency has authorized a record-breaking release of 400 million barrels of oil from its member nations' strategic reserves, surpassi...
The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) is up +0.20%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) is down -0.26%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) is up +0.46%. In an effort to stabilize energy markets disrupted by conflict in the Middle East, the International Energy Agency has authorized a record-breaking release of 400 million barrels of oil from its member nations' strategic reserves, surpassing its previous historic action taken in 2022. Join 200K+ Subscribers: Oracle is rallying more than 10% after the company reported strong sales and issued optimistic guidance on demand for AI computing. Stocks showed little net reaction to the CPI report, which was in line with market expectations. Stocks are seeing downward pressure as the Iran war drags on, with three vessels hit by missiles today in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, and with new volleys of missiles hitting Israel. Today’s US Feb CPI report was exactly in line with market expectations. The Feb CPI rose +0.3% m/m and +2.4% y/y, while the Feb core CPI rose +0.2% m/m and +2.5% y/y. Today’s headline CPI report of +2.4% y/y was just 0.1 point above the 5-year low posted in April 2025, while today’s core CPI of +2.5% y/y matched the 5-year low posted in the two previous months. Even though the CPI figures are at or near 5-year lows, they are still above the Fed’s target of +2%. Moreover, inflation pressures will worsen in the coming months due to the recent spike in oil and fuel prices caused by the war in Iran. Stocks were undercut today after JPMorgan Chase said it is restricting lending to private credit funds amid markdowns on some of its loans in the sector, hampering the sector's attempt to weather the current crisis. The $1.8 trillion private credit sector is struggling to cope with an investor exodus driven by unattractive returns and fears of more financial difficulties among portfolio borrowers. Q4 earnings season is nearly over, with more than 95% of the S&P 500 companies having reported ear...
Apple's ( AAPL ) MacBook Neo, which was unveiled last week, became officially available for purchase on Wednesday. And given the early reception towards the low-cost device, industry analysts believe it may just be the start of a deeper push for the tech giant. TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next version of the MacBook Neo, which he dubs the Neo 2, may not feature touch ...
Apple's ( AAPL ) MacBook Neo, which was unveiled last week, became officially available for purchase on Wednesday. And given the early reception towards the low-cost device, industry analysts believe it may just be the start of a deeper push for the tech giant. TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the next version of the MacBook Neo, which he dubs the Neo 2, may not feature touch support, despite his belief that it was originally expected to do so. And while the MacBook Neo only went into “small-volume production” in December (with mass production three months later than expected), shipments this year may only be around 4.5M to 5M, Kuo added. “For a single laptop model, that’s still a very strong number,” Kuo wrote in a blog post . However, he believes that Neo shipments should see steady momentum this year for two reasons: back-to-school and holiday shopping, as well as the competition likely being unable to compete on price by the end of the first-half of the year, due to memory prices. “As a result, more laptop models may start raising prices from 2Q26 to reflect higher memory costs, making it harder to compete with Neo,” Kuo added. Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said the MacBook Neo, which starts at $599 (or $499 for education), helped “fill the gap” in Apple's MacBook portfolio, allowing it to strongly go after the education market, where Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) Chromebooks and Microsoft ( MSFT ) Surface devices are popular. “[The] MacBook Neo launch firmly positions Apple in the mid-range PC market, where it'll see greater competition from traditional PC OEMs,” Daryanani wrote in a note to clients. “In addition, Neo reinforces Apple’s flywheel effect by bringing more price-sensitive consumers into the Mac ecosystem, deepening cross-device engagement through iPhone integration features like Handoff that could ultimately drive incremental hardware and services monetization.” J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee agreed and said he thinks t...
Shares of Groupon ( GRPN ) fell over 8% in trading after the company reported fourth-quarter results that beat profit expectations but missed on revenue. For the quarter, the online marketplace posted GAAP earnings per share of $0.17, exceeding analyst estimates by $0.03. However, revenue came in at $132.7M, rising 1.8% year over year but missing consensus estimates by $3.87M. In its regional perf...
Shares of Groupon ( GRPN ) fell over 8% in trading after the company reported fourth-quarter results that beat profit expectations but missed on revenue. For the quarter, the online marketplace posted GAAP earnings per share of $0.17, exceeding analyst estimates by $0.03. However, revenue came in at $132.7M, rising 1.8% year over year but missing consensus estimates by $3.87M. In its regional performance , North America local revenue grew 4%, while local billings increased 9% during the quarter. The company reported 16.2M active customers as of Dec. 31, 2025, down 1% sequentially and 5% compared with the prior year. Groupon ended the quarter with $296.1M in cash and continued emphasizing growth in its local experiences marketplace, which management says remains a core focus for long-term expansion. More on Groupon Groupon: Focus On Billings Growth Recovery (Rating Upgrade) Groupon: This Marketplace Could Be At An Inflection Point (Upgrade) Groupon Q4 2025 Earnings Preview Quant snapshot: Avino Silver & Gold, Harmony Gold lead strong buys as Angel Studios, Exagen lag Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Groupon
Hiroshi Watanabe Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, says the stock market ( SP500 ), ( COMP:IND ), ( DJI ) is handling the risks from the Iran war “amazingly well,” with the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) sitting within 3% of its all-time high despite the greatest hostilities the region has seen in decades—and indexes in the red on Wednesday’s midday trade. The market’s resilience has been re...
Hiroshi Watanabe Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, says the stock market ( SP500 ), ( COMP:IND ), ( DJI ) is handling the risks from the Iran war “amazingly well,” with the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) sitting within 3% of its all-time high despite the greatest hostilities the region has seen in decades—and indexes in the red on Wednesday’s midday trade. The market’s resilience has been remarkable given the geopolitical turmoil, Hickey noted in an interview with CNBC. Hickey pointed to historical patterns suggesting that oil price ( CL1:COM ), ( CO1:COM ) spikes during conflicts tend to be short-lived. While crude oil ( CL1:COM ) has rallied more than 40% during the crisis, the energy sector has only gained 2%, signaling that investors don’t expect elevated prices to persist. “The energy stocks ( XLE ) are somewhat telling you that maybe these high prices aren’t going to stay there,” Hickey said. The market has a tendency to look past geopolitical shocks once the initial uncertainty fades, according to Hickey. He noted that investors will eventually shift their focus back to fundamentals like the economy and developments in private credit, adding that “the market tends to look past these things” because “it’s had this experience before.” Much of the market’s stability stems from a broadening of gains beyond mega-cap technology stocks. More stocks in the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) are up or down 20% this year than are moving less than 5%, with most of those larger moves being to the upside. “You’ve seen a lot of strength underneath the surface,” Hickey observed, even as the largest companies have stalled. On interest rates, Hickey dismissed concerns that the 10-year Treasury yield ( US10Y ) at 4.2% signals inflation worries. However, he cautioned that a rapid move above 4.5% within a month or two “would be a big concern,” distinguishing between a gradual rise and a sudden spike. The index-level stability has been extraordinary, with the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) taking until ...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images About four months after the publication of my previous coverage , Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. ( KNSL ) has remained weak as its value dropped further by approximately $30 or 8%. While I think the downtrend was stretched, I understand the cautious market sentiments due to various factors. The consolation is that the stock remains robust with sustained...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images About four months after the publication of my previous coverage , Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. ( KNSL ) has remained weak as its value dropped further by approximately $30 or 8%. While I think the downtrend was stretched, I understand the cautious market sentiments due to various factors. The consolation is that the stock remains robust with sustained revenue growth and high liquidity. Valuation still appears reasonable with some decent upside potential. Nonetheless, technical caution still appears to overpower and defy fundamentals. KNSL Q4 2025: Strength is Still Insured Stubborn inflation persists and continues to raise cost pressures and affect pricing flexibility across industries. Even insurance companies are not entirely safe, as higher prices may affect policyholder retention and the purchasing power of prospective customers. Yet, the strategic operations and well-diversified products and services of Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. allow it to sustain growth and protect margins. This was evident in its most recent performance. In Q4 2025, its total revenues amounted to $483.27M , up by 17.3% YoY from $412.12M. This revenue growth was slower than in my previous coverage or in Q3 2025 at 19.0% YoY. In fact, this was the second-lowest revenue in the past seven quarters , with Q1 2025 being the slowest, with 13.4% YoY. This is not that surprising for a company that appears to be transitioning to a mature growth level or phase. After all, it has already been in a high-growth phase. For instance, its revenue growth in Q3 2024 was 33.0%. From Q2 2025 to Q4 2025, revenue growth decreased continuously from 22.2% to the most recent one mentioned above. This is not exactly a bad thing. It’s just that its premiums have just grown rapidly in recent years. After all, its revenues had a five-year CAGR of 32.5%. To make it simple, it seems to be moving from hypergrowth to steady growth, and that is perfectly normal. The fact of the...
Mind Robotics, an industrial robotics lab spun out of the electric vehicle maker Rivian, has raised $500 million in a Series A funding round co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The financing, announced Wednesday, follows a $115 million seed round that was led by Eclipse in late 2025, bringing Mind Robotics’ total fundraising to $615 million in the few months since its founding. ...
Mind Robotics, an industrial robotics lab spun out of the electric vehicle maker Rivian, has raised $500 million in a Series A funding round co-led by venture firms Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. The financing, announced Wednesday, follows a $115 million seed round that was led by Eclipse in late 2025, bringing Mind Robotics’ total fundraising to $615 million in the few months since its founding. This round brings the startup’s valuation to around $2 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. Mind Robotics was created by Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe. It was spun out of Rivian in November 2025, with Scaringe serving as chairman. The general idea is that Scaringe wants to use data from Rivian’s electric vehicle factory to train industrial robots to be more dexterous and adaptable, as well as a venue to prove out those robots’ usefulness. The company “was founded to address a structural gap with current industrial automation solutions,” according to a press release announcing the Series A round. “Existing industrial robotics can perform repeatable, dimensionally stable tasks, but a large share of factory value-add work requires human-like dexterity, adaptation, and physical reasoning that classical robotics cannot address. Mind Robotics is building the AI foundation — models, hardware, and deployment infrastructure — to close that gap.” Scaringe told the Wall Street Journal that Mind Robotics will have a large number of robots deployed by the end of this year. In the months since Mind Robotics was announced, he has spoken a few times about how the startup intends to focus on more traditional factory robot designs, instead of the much-hyped humanoid robots that have garnered so much attention over the last year, like those built by Tesla. “Doing cartwheels does not create value in manufacturing,” Scaringe told the Wall Street Journal. Beyond the training data and a place to deploy the robots, there are other ways Rivian and Mind ...
Yesterday amid a flurry of enterprise AI product updates, Google announced arguably its most significant one for enterprise customers: the public preview availability of Gemini Embedding 2, its new embeddings model — a significant evolution in how machines represent and retrieve information across different media types. While previous embedding models were largely restricted to text, this new mode...
Yesterday amid a flurry of enterprise AI product updates, Google announced arguably its most significant one for enterprise customers: the public preview availability of Gemini Embedding 2, its new embeddings model — a significant evolution in how machines represent and retrieve information across different media types. While previous embedding models were largely restricted to text, this new model natively integrates text, images, video, audio, and documents into a single numerical space — reducing latency by as much as 70% for some customers and reducing total cost for enterprises who use AI models powered by their own data to complete business tasks. Who needs and uses an embedding model? For those who have encountered the term "embeddings" in AI discussions but find it abstract, a useful analogy is that of a universal library. In a traditional library, books are organized by metadata: author, title, or genre. In the "embedding space" of an AI, information is organized by ideas. Imagine a library where books aren't organized by the Dewey Decimal System, but by their "vibe" or "essence". In this library, a biography of Steve Jobs would physically fly across the room to sit next to a technical manual for a Macintosh. A poem about a sunset would drift toward a photography book of the Pacific Coast, with all thematically similar content organized in beautiful hovering "clouds" of books. This is basically what an embedding model does. An embedding model takes complex data—like a sentence, a photo of a sunset, or a snippet of a podcast—and converts it into a long list of numbers called a vector. These numbers represent coordinates in a high-dimensional map. If two items are "semantically" similar (e.g., a photo of a golden retriever and the text "man's best friend"), the model places their coordinates very close to each other in this map. Today, these models are the invisible engine behind: Search Engines : Finding results based on what you mean , not just the specific...
Track your investments for FREE with Simply Wall St, the portfolio command center trusted by over 7 million individual investors worldwide. Cisco Systems' Networking Academy has partnered with Senac Brasil and Senac Pará to expand digital skills training in underserved Amazon regions. The initiative focuses on AI enriched learning and broader connectivity access for communities that have limited d...
Track your investments for FREE with Simply Wall St, the portfolio command center trusted by over 7 million individual investors worldwide. Cisco Systems' Networking Academy has partnered with Senac Brasil and Senac Pará to expand digital skills training in underserved Amazon regions. The initiative focuses on AI enriched learning and broader connectivity access for communities that have limited digital infrastructure. At the same time, Cisco is dealing with margin pressure linked to higher memory costs and a hardware heavy product mix. Cisco Systems (NasdaqGS:CSCO) is working on both social impact and operational execution at the same time, with its Amazon focused education push landing alongside ongoing profitability headwinds. The stock trades at $77.7, with a 1 year return of 31.2% and a 3 year return of 72.5%, and is up 80.8% over 5 years. Shorter term, shares show a 2.2% gain year to date and a 1 week and 1 month decline of 1.6% and 8.4% respectively. For investors, the Amazon partnership adds another data point to how Cisco approaches long term market development and talent pipelines in emerging regions. Margin pressure from memory costs and a hardware tilted mix remains an important watch item. How the company balances investments in connectivity and skills with its focus on profitability may shape how you think about the risk reward profile of NasdaqGS:CSCO over your time horizon. Stay updated on the most important news stories for Cisco Systems by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Cisco Systems. NasdaqGS:CSCO Earnings & Revenue Growth as at Mar 2026 4 things going right for Cisco Systems that this headline doesn't cover. Cisco’s Amazon focused Networking Academy partnership sits at the intersection of long-term market development and current profitability pressure. On one side, training new network and AI-skilled workers in underserved regions supports future demand for Cisco’s in...