'I just want to be able to sleep': Attacks in Iran rock cities and cut power Iranians in Tehran and Karaj tell the BBC they are exhausted and struggling to sleep after 10 days of Israeli and US attacks.
'I just want to be able to sleep': Attacks in Iran rock cities and cut power Iranians in Tehran and Karaj tell the BBC they are exhausted and struggling to sleep after 10 days of Israeli and US attacks.
hirun/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Fluent, Inc. ( FLNT ) is a microcap that works in digital advertising and customer acquisition. In simple terms, the company acts like a middleman between businesses that want new customers and people online who might be interested in their products. Over time, Fluent's built a large database of first-party consumer data. This means they have profiles of millio...
hirun/iStock via Getty Images Thesis Fluent, Inc. ( FLNT ) is a microcap that works in digital advertising and customer acquisition. In simple terms, the company acts like a middleman between businesses that want new customers and people online who might be interested in their products. Over time, Fluent's built a large database of first-party consumer data. This means they have profiles of millions of people who've opted in to see or interact with promotional offers and ads. This data helps them match the right brands with the right potential customers. It's my understanding that the company usually only gets paid when something actually happens. Meaning, for example, its services have to lead to some kind of conversion, like someone signing up for a credit card, requesting an insurance quote, installing an app, or starting a subscription. They also have another piece of business that runs social media advertising campaigns for brands. After going over its latest earnings , I'm leaning neutral on the shares, as the company’s strategic shift is beginning to show promise but still carries execution risk. Fluent Inc.’s Q4 Results: My Take Q4 2025 Commerce Media Revenue: $34.7M (+101% YoY) Commerce Media Revenue Mix: Q4 2023: 10%, Q4 2024: 26%, Q4 2025: 56% Commerce Media Annual Run Rate: $105M (Dec 31, 2025) FY 2025 Commerce Media Revenue: $82.3M (+99% YoY). Looking at Fluent’s latest quarterly performance , a few key points jut out on how the company's continuing to change its business. Company leadership says their faster move into commerce media solutions is proof that strategic decisions they made several years ago are now starting to pay off. Seeking Alpha After an absolutely brutal share performance, management thinks those earlier decisions are starting to pay off now, pointing to new partners coming in and deeper integrations with the ones already on board. This segment is taking up a bigger share of Fluent’s revenue, the result of targeted investments aimed a...
fatido/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Long the banks was a popular trade coming into 2026. And why not? The S&P 500 Financials sector has helped lead equities ever since the bear market began. The largest component in the index is JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ). CEO Jamie Dimon has been outspoken of late, calling out potential “cockroaches” in the private debt market, along with macro " skunks " poten...
fatido/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Long the banks was a popular trade coming into 2026. And why not? The S&P 500 Financials sector has helped lead equities ever since the bear market began. The largest component in the index is JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ). CEO Jamie Dimon has been outspoken of late, calling out potential “cockroaches” in the private debt market, along with macro " skunks " potentially peeking out into the open. Indeed, market-wide volatility has increased, and questions grow regarding the health of the labor market —just as geopolitical risk heats up this month. I had a "B uy" rating on JPM back in June 2023 . Shares have more than doubled since then, and today I’m downgrading shares of the bank to a "H old." Yes, the company boasts a fortress balance sheet, but the valuation is also elevated. What’s more, the technicals don’t paint a rosy picture with just a few weeks left in Q1. JPM Has Given Back Significant Gains, Still Beating XLF, SPY YoY StockCharts.com Back in January, JPM reported a solid set of quarterly results. Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $5.23 beat the Wall Street consensus forecast of $4.86, while revenue of $46.8 billion (up 7% from the same period a year earlier) was a material $520 million beat. The bank tallied total assets under management of $4.8 trillion, a strong 18% increase from Q4 2024 (though it missed on Investment Banking revenue). Its book value per share increased 9% YoY to $126.99, leaving its equity more than 2x book. Shares fell 4.2% in the session that followed, however, marking the third straight post-earnings slump. Looking ahead to the April Q1 report, the options market prices in a somewhat elevated 4.2% earnings-related stock price swing based on the at-the-money straddle expiring soonest after the April 14 reporting date. That’s the most expensive straddle going back to April 2025 (immediately after Liberation Day), according to data from Option Research & Technology Services. Implied volatility is near 30% today. Lo...
spawns/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist Western Asset Premier Bond Fund ( WEA ) is a closed-end fund that provides investors with exposure to a diversified pool of fixed-income bonds. It provides a more balanced approach to both below- and above-investment-grade credit qualities. The hybrid approach mostly favors BBB overall and provides relative sa...
spawns/iStock via Getty Images Written by Nick Ackerman, co-produced by Stanford Chemist Western Asset Premier Bond Fund ( WEA ) is a closed-end fund that provides investors with exposure to a diversified pool of fixed-income bonds. It provides a more balanced approach to both below- and above-investment-grade credit qualities. The hybrid approach mostly favors BBB overall and provides relative safety when compared to all high-yield bond funds. The fund has also been seeing downward pressure recently. The NAV has been falling a bit, but its share price has been falling even faster. This has opened up a more meaningful discount compared to when we last gave the fund a look. WEA Basics 1-Year Z-score: -2.95. Discount/Premium: -6.45%. Distribution Yield: 7.83%. Expense Ratio: 1.02%. Leverage: 29.22%. Managed Assets: $201.9 million. Structure: Perpetual. WEA's investment objective is to "seek current income and capital appreciation." To achieve those objectives, the fund will invest in a "diversified portfolio of primarily investment-grade bonds." They also "emphasize team management and extensive credit research expertise to identify attractively priced securities." Given that the fund is leveraged, that increases overall risk due to greater volatility. That's on top of the discount/premium mechanic due to the CEF structure. It also adds to expenses due to the financing charges. With those included, the fund's total expense ratio comes in at 3.55%. Performance: Discount Becomes Attractive Given the widening discount amid some overall greater market volatility, the fund has seen negative total returns since our last update . WEA Performance Since Prior Update (Seeking Alpha) That said, it is primarily the widening discount that pressured the total share price returns. The actual underlying portfolio, represented by total NAV returns, was positive during this period. Albeit, it has seen a bit of a downturn more recently. YCharts The S&P 500 Index has also provided a nega...
What happened According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 17, 2026, Valley Financial Group, Inc. acquired 358,260 additional shares of Eaton Vance Total Return Bond ETF. The quarter-end position value rose by $18.46 million, reflecting both the share increase and market price movement. What else to know Valley Financial Group, Inc. increased its stake in EVTR t...
What happened According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 17, 2026, Valley Financial Group, Inc. acquired 358,260 additional shares of Eaton Vance Total Return Bond ETF. The quarter-end position value rose by $18.46 million, reflecting both the share increase and market price movement. What else to know Valley Financial Group, Inc. increased its stake in EVTR to 14.37% of reportable 13F assets. Top five holdings after the filing: NYSEMKT: IVV: $39.37 million (22.1% of AUM) NASDAQ: QVAL: $15.56 million (8.7% of AUM) NASDAQ: QMOM: $14.86 million (8.3% of AUM) NYSEMKT: FENI: $11.99 million (6.7% of AUM) NYSE: BRIE: $11.98 million (6.7% of AUM) EVTR’s annualized dividend yield was 4.51% as of February 18, 2026, shares were 0.29% below their 52-week high. ETF overview Metric Value AUM 4.89 billion Price (as of market close 2/18/26) $51.99 Dividend yield 4.50% 1-year total return 1.49% ETF snapshot The Eaton Vance Total Return Bond ETF (EVTR) provides investors with diversified access to U.S. investment grade fixed-income markets through an actively managed portfolio. It is structured as an exchange-traded fund, the vehicle offers daily liquidity and a competitive yield, with an expense ratio that supports cost-efficient access to actively managed fixed-income exposure. The fund's strategy emphasizes both income generation and capital preservation, leveraging a mix of government, corporate, and securitized bonds. With a substantial asset base and a competitive yield, EVTR serves as a core fixed-income allocation for institutional and individual investors seeking total return in a liquid ETF format. Eaton Vance Total Return Bond ETF ‘s investment strategy focuses on generating total return through a diversified portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade fixed-income securities, including government, corporate, municipal, mortgage- and asset-backed bonds. The ETF primarily holds investment grade bonds, allocating at least 80% ...
Elon Musk has amassed a staggering amount of wealth like we’ve never seen before. That may seem like hyperbole, but it’s true: The tech titan has a mind-boggling $839 billion net worth, according to Forbes’s annual World Billionaires List, making him the first person to surpass the $800 billion mark on his way to becoming the first trillionaire. Musk is perched atop the publication’s ranking for t...
Elon Musk has amassed a staggering amount of wealth like we’ve never seen before. That may seem like hyperbole, but it’s true: The tech titan has a mind-boggling $839 billion net worth, according to Forbes’s annual World Billionaires List, making him the first person to surpass the $800 billion mark on his way to becoming the first trillionaire. Musk is perched atop the publication’s ranking for the second year in a row, and now his status has been cemented as the richest person ever recorded. As the founder of Tesla, SpaceX, and A.I. start-up xAI, the CEO saw his net worth get a big push forward by half a trillion dollars last year, thanks to his E.V. company’s rising value and his space company’s potential to go public this year. And though things can change, Musk’s fellow billionaires have quite a ways to go to catch up. Google cofounder Larry Page sits at No. 2 on the ranking, with a net worth of $257 billion. His fellow exec Sergey Brin comes in at the three slot, thanks to his $237 billion fortune. Rounding out the top five are some familiar names: Jeff Bezos, with a $224 billion to his name, at No. 4, and Mark Zuckerberg following close behind at $222 billion. So, though those figures rounding out the top seem lightyears away from Musk’s fortune, it’s actually a pretty tight race for slots 2 through 5 on the list. As for LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, he and his family sit at number 6, at $190 billion. There were a couple of newcomers on the list this year, too. Dr. Dre hit the $1 billion mark, currently placed at 3,331 in the ranking. Fellow music icon Beyoncé also joined the eight-figure fray, with help from her Cowboy Carter tour that ended last year. Other notable names making their debut are tennis star Roger Federer, filmmaker James Cameron, Warren Buffet’s successor Greg Abel, and Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk. Overall, the world’s billionaires are richer than they’ve ever been before, worth a total of $20.1 trillion in an increase of $4 trillion since early 202...
After allegations emerged this week that René Redzepi had abused his staff at Noma, once considered the world’s best restaurant, sponsors on Tuesday announced they would end their support for the chef’s upcoming events in Los Angeles. The New York Times reported that American Express and the hospitality company Blackbird have cut ties with Noma ahead of the Copenhagen restaurant’s four-month pop-u...
After allegations emerged this week that René Redzepi had abused his staff at Noma, once considered the world’s best restaurant, sponsors on Tuesday announced they would end their support for the chef’s upcoming events in Los Angeles. The New York Times reported that American Express and the hospitality company Blackbird have cut ties with Noma ahead of the Copenhagen restaurant’s four-month pop-up in LA, which was set to kick off this week. The development came days after the newspaper detailed shocking allegations of psychological and physical abuse against Redzepi by staff at the fine dining eatery where he was the head chef and co-owner. For years, Redzepi allegedly berated employees and inflicted violence on them, according to the report, including punching them in the face and body and slamming them into walls. In response to the allegations, Redzepi posted a statement online, writing:“Although I don’t recognize all details in these stories, I can see enough of my past behavior reflected in them to understand that my actions were harmful to people who worked with me.” He apologized to those who have “suffered under my leadership, my bad judgment, or my anger”, and said he had “worked to change”, including therapy and finding “better ways to manage my anger”. The world-renowned Noma announced in 2023 its plans to close its doors as a full-time restaurant and reinvent itself as a food laboratory and test kitchen, while continuing to hold pop-up events around the world. The LA pop-up, despite its $1,500 a ticket price tag, sold out in three minutes. This week both Blackbird and American Express said they would end partnerships with Noma ahead of the LA pop-ups. “René’s past practices, by his own admission, were unacceptable and abhorrent. We cannot lean on time elapsed and rehabilitation claims when these things resurface. Regardless of context, this is highly problematic behavior,” Ben Leventhal, the Blackbird CEO, told Eater Los Angeles. His company purchased $...
The Trump administration is reportedly considering the deployment of special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which experts say could be used to make at least 10 nuclear warheads. Preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb is one of Trump’s stated war aims, and the 440kg HEU stockpile represents the greatest nuclear threat as it could be turned into weapons-gra...
The Trump administration is reportedly considering the deployment of special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which experts say could be used to make at least 10 nuclear warheads. Preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb is one of Trump’s stated war aims, and the 440kg HEU stockpile represents the greatest nuclear threat as it could be turned into weapons-grade uranium relatively easily. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has told Congress that “people are going to have to go and get it”. Rubio did not go into greater detail, but there have been US and Israeli reports on discussions between the two countries on how such a mission might be carried out by special forces from either or both militaries. But nuclear experts say the complexity and risk involved would be considerable. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that the UN watchdog body believed that 200kg of Iran’s HEU stockpile was in deep tunnels at its nuclear complex outside the city of Isfahan. He added that there was another “amount” of HEU in another nuclear centre at Natanz, where Iranians have constructed a new fortified and deeply buried facility called Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, known to western analysts as Pickaxe Mountain. View image in fullscreen The new fortified and deeply buried facility known to western analysts as Pickaxe Mountain. Photograph: Maxar/DigitalGlobe/Getty Images The HEU is in the form of uranium hexafluoride, which is solid at room temperature but turns into a gas when heated allowing it to be further enriched. It is believed to be stored in metal canisters each about the size of a scuba diving tank, stored down deep shafts. US and Israeli special forces have long trained for missions to extract nuclear materials from hostile environments, and the US has developed equipment, known as the Mobile Uranium Facility, designed to contain and remove HEU. But deploying it along with speci...
Over the past year, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 0.41%) and DexCom (DXCM 0.49%) have faced headwinds, and have lagged the stock market as a result. Shares of the former are down 13% over the trailing-12-month period, while the latter is down 12%. Despite the obstacles they have faced, Intuitive Surgical and DexCom have excellent prospects that could allow them to outperform broader equities over the n...
Over the past year, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 0.41%) and DexCom (DXCM 0.49%) have faced headwinds, and have lagged the stock market as a result. Shares of the former are down 13% over the trailing-12-month period, while the latter is down 12%. Despite the obstacles they have faced, Intuitive Surgical and DexCom have excellent prospects that could allow them to outperform broader equities over the next decade. 1. Intuitive Surgical Intuitive Surgical, the leader in the robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) market, encountered at least two obstacles in 2025. First, tariffs took a bite out of the company's financial results. Second, Medtronic, a medical device leader, earned clearance for a competing device in the U.S., the Hugo system, in urologic procedures. While the Hugo system won't seriously challenge Intuitive Surgical's crown jewel, the da Vinci system, for a few years, the prospect of more competition did the company no favors. Let's see how Intuitive Surgical can overcome both obstacles, starting with the second one, and still deliver competitive returns through 2036. Intuitive Surgical will benefit from an important secular trend: The world's aging population, which means a higher demand for many of the procedures it offers with its da Vinci system. By 2034, there will be more seniors aged 65 and older than people 18 and under in the U.S., according to projections (and it's already the case in 11 states). Expand NASDAQ : ISRG Intuitive Surgical Today's Change ( -0.41 %) $ -1.99 Current Price $ 477.94 Key Data Points Market Cap $170B Day's Range $ 473.34 - $ 484.82 52wk Range $ 425.00 - $ 603.88 Volume 66K Avg Vol 1.9M Gross Margin 65.98 % It's also worth noting Intuitive Surgical's wide moat, driven by switching costs (da Vinci systems are expensive), as well as its innovative qualities, which have enabled it to launch new iterations of its devices and secure label expansions. The result should be a larger market and increased procedure volume, leading to higher rev...