Wigglesworth worked with Russell on the Lions’ tour ‘He’s one of those guys whose talent speaks for itself’ The England defence coach, Richard Wigglesworth, has admitted it is pointless trying to come up with a plan to stop Finn Russell after getting a closeup view of Scotland’s star fly-half during last summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia. England head to Murrayfield on Saturday favo...
Wigglesworth worked with Russell on the Lions’ tour ‘He’s one of those guys whose talent speaks for itself’ The England defence coach, Richard Wigglesworth, has admitted it is pointless trying to come up with a plan to stop Finn Russell after getting a closeup view of Scotland’s star fly-half during last summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of Australia. England head to Murrayfield on Saturday favourites to defend the Calcutta Cup on the back of 12 straight victories while Scotland are reeling after last Saturday’s shock defeat by Italy . England have not won at Murrayfield since 2020, however, and only once since 2016 with Russell proving their nemesis on several occasions. Continue reading...
Sandwish/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Paycom Software, Inc. ( PAYC ), recently reported its Q4 and full-year numbers that were seen as a mixed bag; however, since the last time I covered the company back in November of 2024 , the company’s operation improved tremendously, and its sky-high valuation came back to earth, prompting me to upgrade it to buy. I believe even if the high-growth per...
Sandwish/iStock via Getty Images Introduction Paycom Software, Inc. ( PAYC ), recently reported its Q4 and full-year numbers that were seen as a mixed bag; however, since the last time I covered the company back in November of 2024 , the company’s operation improved tremendously, and its sky-high valuation came back to earth, prompting me to upgrade it to buy. I believe even if the high-growth performance is gone, the company is a lot more attractive now because of its improved profitability. The company’s share price has dropped by over 46% since my last coverage, and it is a very attractive opportunity now. By the Numbers Starting from the top, sales for Q4 were around $544m, 10% y/y, and beat estimates by $1.5m. I would consider this more like in-line than a beat. There isn’t much of a breakdown in revenue segments, as most of the sales come from Recurring & Other, which accounts for 95% of total revenues, while Implementation & Other account for the rest. R&O grew 11% y/y to $517m, while I&O declined 6% to just $27.2m for the quarter. In the past, I had issues with the company’s profitability deterioration. Let’s see how the company’s margins progressed over the last year. Gross margin for the quarter came in at around 83.9%, up 80 bps from last year, while operating margin came in at around 29% for the quarter. Looking back to the last time I covered the PAYC, the company’s gross margins were around 80% and operating margin around 24%, so we can see that the company has become a lot more profitable since then. Around 400 bps since my last coverage. Adjusted EBITDA was a healthy 43.4% this quarter, which is slightly down 10 bps compared to last year. Clearly, the company’s flagship offerings, like Beti, have made the company a lot more profitable, as was expected. On to the company’s financial position, Paycom finished the year with $370m in cash and equivalents, and no long-term debt, just like when I covered it last in November 2024. The company has no risk of...
Shares of Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) were up by 10.5% at 2:50 p.m. ET on Thursday. The information manager's stock had gained as much as 20.2% earlier in the day. Zebra's Q4 2025 results were broadly in line with expectations, but management set bullish guidance targets for the next quarter. Zebra's fourth-quarter sales rose 10.6% year-over-year to $1.48 billion. Adjusted earnings jumped fr...
Shares of Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) were up by 10.5% at 2:50 p.m. ET on Thursday. The information manager's stock had gained as much as 20.2% earlier in the day. Zebra's Q4 2025 results were broadly in line with expectations, but management set bullish guidance targets for the next quarter. Zebra's fourth-quarter sales rose 10.6% year-over-year to $1.48 billion. Adjusted earnings jumped from $4.00 to $4.33 per diluted share. The bottom-line result matched the consensus analyst target, while revenue came in slightly above the average estimate of $1.47 billion. Looking ahead, Zebra's management sees revenues of roughly $1.48 billion in the next report, alongside adjusted earnings of approximately $4.18 per share. Both targets are significantly above the current Street projections. Continue reading
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson has accused Apple of violating US law by suppressing conservative-leaning news outlets on Apple News. Ferguson pointed to research by a pro-Trump group that accused Apple News of suppressing articles by Fox News, the New York Post, Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit. The FTC chair claims that Apple News might be violating promises made t...
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson has accused Apple of violating US law by suppressing conservative-leaning news outlets on Apple News. Ferguson pointed to research by a pro-Trump group that accused Apple News of suppressing articles by Fox News, the New York Post, Daily Mail, Breitbart, and The Gateway Pundit. The FTC chair claims that Apple News might be violating promises made to consumers in its terms of service, but his letter doesn't cite any specific provisions from the Apple terms that might have been violated. "Recently, there have been reports that Apple News has systematically promoted news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed news articles from more conservative publications," Ferguson wrote in the letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday. He said the "reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers, as well as the reasonable consumer expectations of the tens of millions of Americans who use Apple News." Read full article Comments
Summary: Our AI Investor Podcast hosts, Eric Bleeker and Austin Smith, have been counting down 12 trends that AI investors will want to keep an eye on in 2026. Recently, the two discussed the emerging Vera Rubin wave; a major industrial-scale upgrade in data center technology recently announced by Nvidia. At CES 2026, Nvdia announced ... NVIDIA’s (NVDA) $100 Billion Bet For 2026
Summary: Our AI Investor Podcast hosts, Eric Bleeker and Austin Smith, have been counting down 12 trends that AI investors will want to keep an eye on in 2026. Recently, the two discussed the emerging Vera Rubin wave; a major industrial-scale upgrade in data center technology recently announced by Nvidia. At CES 2026, Nvdia announced ... NVIDIA’s (NVDA) $100 Billion Bet For 2026
Tax exile has already proven himself a terrible club owner; now his ill-informed diatribe about immigration has poured fuel on wider flames Well I, for one, am shocked. Shocked to learn that a tax-exiled English expat who made his billions squeezing chemicals plants doesn’t have liberal, let alone accurate, views on immigration. Or at least, in public anyway. It seems highly likely Sir Jim Ratclif...
Tax exile has already proven himself a terrible club owner; now his ill-informed diatribe about immigration has poured fuel on wider flames Well I, for one, am shocked. Shocked to learn that a tax-exiled English expat who made his billions squeezing chemicals plants doesn’t have liberal, let alone accurate, views on immigration. Or at least, in public anyway. It seems highly likely Sir Jim Ratcliffe knew what he was doing in the course of his now semi-recanted Sky News interview. And it is above all vital that at least one part of his empire of influence – football, sport, Manchester United – rejects it, as the club have done to some extent in their statement . Continue reading...
Autthapol Champathong/iStock via Getty Images SI saw mixed performance in 2025, with energy transition continuing but market penetration plateauing. Climate physical risk and energy transition continue to have a significant impact on the global economy, and investors’ sustainability concerns are growing despite geopolitical headwinds; the market for sustainable investment products has been mostly ...
Autthapol Champathong/iStock via Getty Images SI saw mixed performance in 2025, with energy transition continuing but market penetration plateauing. Climate physical risk and energy transition continue to have a significant impact on the global economy, and investors’ sustainability concerns are growing despite geopolitical headwinds; the market for sustainable investment products has been mostly flat over 3 years. Investment performance was mixed in 2025; most global SI equity indices outperformed the market, whilst SI fixed income indices were in line or behind the market. Source: Author Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
With shares down by an eyepopping 89% since hitting public markets in late 2021, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) has been a punishing investment for many of its shareholders. But to be fair, the crash was needed to reset expectations and make the stock a realistic reflection of the challenges involved in building a global automotive brand from scratch. In recent months, the narrative has shifted ...
With shares down by an eyepopping 89% since hitting public markets in late 2021, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN) has been a punishing investment for many of its shareholders. But to be fair, the crash was needed to reset expectations and make the stock a realistic reflection of the challenges involved in building a global automotive brand from scratch. In recent months, the narrative has shifted away from Rivian's company-specific problems and more toward the headwinds in the electric vehicle (EV) industry as a whole, as the Trump administration rolls back U.S. government support. Let's explore how Rivian might navigate these challenges, and potentially emerge stronger than ever over the next five years and beyond. Continue reading
Broadcom 's (NASDAQ: AVGO) stock rallied nearly 600% over the past five years. Most of that growth was driven by its aggressive acquisitions and its brisk sales of AI chips. Let's see why it could still be one of the best stocks to buy in 2026 as the AI market continues to expand. From fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025 (which ended last November), Broadcom's revenue grew at a 22% CAGR from $23.9 billion ...
Broadcom 's (NASDAQ: AVGO) stock rallied nearly 600% over the past five years. Most of that growth was driven by its aggressive acquisitions and its brisk sales of AI chips. Let's see why it could still be one of the best stocks to buy in 2026 as the AI market continues to expand. From fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2025 (which ended last November), Broadcom's revenue grew at a 22% CAGR from $23.9 billion to $63.9 billion. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ( EBITDA ) rose at a 26% CAGR from $13.6 billion to $43.0 billion. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Filograph/E+ via Getty Images Gold and Silver prices fell during intraday trading on Thursday, as the commodities market continued to battle volatility in 2026. In light of this, b elow is a list of the top 10 gold and silver stocks ranked based on their RSI, identifying those that are most oversold. The list is topped by Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation ( HYMC ), Hecla Mining Company ( HL ), an...
Filograph/E+ via Getty Images Gold and Silver prices fell during intraday trading on Thursday, as the commodities market continued to battle volatility in 2026. In light of this, b elow is a list of the top 10 gold and silver stocks ranked based on their RSI, identifying those that are most oversold. The list is topped by Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation ( HYMC ), Hecla Mining Company ( HL ), and Dakota Gold Corp. ( DC ), all sharing an RSI of 50. These represent the most oversold entries in this selection of precious metals stocks. Other significant players on the list include Newmont Corporation ( NEM ) and Royal Gold, Inc. ( RGLD ). The RSI values in this top 10 range from 50 up to 62. The Relative Strength Index ( RSI ) is a momentum oscillator that measures the velocity and magnitude of price changes, plotting them on a scale from 0 to 100. RSI compares the magnitude of recent gains to recent losses over a chosen lookback period—typically 14 days. RSI readings of 70 or above are generally considered a signal that a stock may be overbought and potentially poised for a pullback. Here is the list: Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation ( HYMC ), RSI: 50 Hecla Mining Company ( HL ), RSI: 50 Dakota Gold Corp. ( DC ), RSI: 50 Hecla Mining Company PFD CV SER B ( HL.PR.B ), RSI: 50 Perpetua Resources Corp. ( PPTA ), RSI: 52 Gold Reserve Ltd. (Bermuda) ( GDRZF ), RSI: 54 Coeur Mining, Inc. ( CDE ), RSI: 56 Newmont Corporation ( NEM ), RSI: 60 SSR Mining Inc. ( SSRM ), RSI: 61 Royal Gold, Inc. ( RGLD ), RSI: 62 Gold and Gold Miner ETFs: ( GLD ), ( IAU ), ( SGOL ), ( OUNZ ), ( BAR ), ( GDX ), ( GDXJ ), ( NUGT ), ( RING ), and ( DUST ). Silver and Silver Mining ETFs: ( SLV ), ( SIVR ), ( AGQ ), ( ZSL ), ( PSLV ), ( SIL ), ( SILJ ), and ( SLVP ) More on gold and silver stocks What Really Drove Gold's Violent January Reversal? Whale's Digital Asset View: Why Bitcoin Sells Off While Gold Stabilizes Silver Tests $80 Ahead Of NFP - What's Next? SSR Mining Leads the Pack: The Most...
Pixelbizz/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Based in Minnesota, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL ) is arguably one of America’s more under-the-radar industrial enterprises. With the recent run-up in the share price, Ecolab is now approaching a $100 billion market cap. And it has built an absolutely massive moat for itself in providing cleaning solutions, pest control, water management, and related services ...
Pixelbizz/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Based in Minnesota, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL ) is arguably one of America’s more under-the-radar industrial enterprises. With the recent run-up in the share price, Ecolab is now approaching a $100 billion market cap. And it has built an absolutely massive moat for itself in providing cleaning solutions, pest control, water management, and related services for a significant chunk of the world’s largest enterprises. Customers range across many industries, including hospitality, technology, life sciences, manufacturing, and numerous others. Ecolab shares have risen more than 3,500% over the past 30 years, making it a tremendous growth story. It’s also a compelling income story, at least for its long-term holders. While the starting dividend yield is low, Ecolab has increased its dividend for 33 years in a row, making for quite an income engine over the long haul. Of note, the company just raised the dividend by 12% earlier this year. I’ve been an Ecolab shareholder since 2022. At that time, the stock had gotten hammered on what I viewed as overblown concerns based on margin pressures as some of its clients struggled to return to normal operations coming out of the pandemic. Those worries are now far behind us, as the stock's 5-year chart shows: Data by YCharts While I continue to be a happy long-term Ecolab shareholder, I don’t see much reason to expect outsized gains over the next year or two. Here’s why I have a more neutral outlook on ECL stock for 2026. (I last wrote about it in July 2025.) Ecolab Q4 Earnings Ecolab reported its Q4 earnings on Tuesday. The results were, at least from my perspective, unremarkable. Non-GAAP EPS of $2.08 beat expectations by a single cent. Revenues of $4.2 billion marked a 5% year-over-year increase and were in line with expectations. Nothing in the press release would seemingly explain the jump in ECL stock to new all-time highs following the earnings report. Perhaps guidance is what made the...
Chinese AI startup MiniMax , headquartered in Shanghai, has sent shockwaves through the AI industry today with the release of its new M2.5 language model in two variants, which promises to make high-end artificial intelligence so cheap you might stop worrying about the bill entirely. It's also said to be " open source ," though the weights (settings) and code haven't been posted yet, nor has the e...
Chinese AI startup MiniMax , headquartered in Shanghai, has sent shockwaves through the AI industry today with the release of its new M2.5 language model in two variants, which promises to make high-end artificial intelligence so cheap you might stop worrying about the bill entirely. It's also said to be " open source ," though the weights (settings) and code haven't been posted yet, nor has the exact license type or terms. But that's almost beside the point given how cheap MiniMax is serving it through its API and those of partners. For the last few years, using the world’s most powerful AI was like hiring an expensive consultant—it was brilliant, but you watched the clock (and the token count) constantly. M2.5 changes that math, dropping the cost of the frontier by as much as 95%. By delivering performance that rivals the top-tier models from Google and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost, particularly in agentic tool use for enterprise tasks, including creating Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files , MiniMax is betting that the future isn't just about how smart a model is, but how often you can afford to use it. Indeed, to this end, MiniMax says it worked "with senior professionals in fields such as finance, law, and social sciences" to ensure the model could perform real work up to their specifications and standards. This release matters because it signals a shift from AI as a "chatbot" to AI as a "worker". When intelligence becomes "too cheap to meter," developers stop building simple Q&A tools and start building "agents"—software that can spend hours autonomously coding, researching, and organizing complex projects without breaking the bank. In fact, MiniMax has already deployed this model into its own operations. Currently, 30% of all tasks at MiniMax HQ are completed by M2.5 , and a staggering 80% of their newly committed code is generated by M2.5! As the MiniMax team writes in their release blog post, "we believe that M2.5 provides virtually limitless ...
Welcome back to Soundbite. We’re only about a week away from the Podcast Business Summit, and I’m getting very excited. While we announced most of the speakers last month, we’ve now got the agenda fully locked. Check it out here – we’ll have coverage out of these sessions that week. Send me a note if you’ve got any burning questions for the folks we’ll have on stage. While the Summit is invite-onl...
Welcome back to Soundbite. We’re only about a week away from the Podcast Business Summit, and I’m getting very excited. While we announced most of the speakers last month, we’ve now got the agenda fully locked. Check it out here – we’ll have coverage out of these sessions that week. Send me a note if you’ve got any burning questions for the folks we’ll have on stage. While the Summit is invite-only, On Air Fest will be taking place later in the week, and tickets are still available . Bloomberg podcasts, like Everybody’s Business and Odd Lots , will be recording live shows. Very much worth attending! This week, we’ll touch on a few different topics that have come up in conversations I’ve been having across our various industries. If you appreciate this kind of work, please support it and subscribe . Reach me through email . Up first, here’s what I’m reading and writing this week. Fox Corp., under its Tubi Media Group division, has acquired the podcast subscription tool Supercast in an effort to build out a more robust digital creator offering. I’d anticipate this being a deal sweetener that Red Seat Ventures (an ad network Fox bought last year) can extend to potential talent, bringing all these revenue streams under one roof. Spotify Technology SA shared its financial results for the past quarter, and the shares rose as much as 19%, their biggest intraday gain since April 2018, the day of the earnings release. The company far exceeded analysts expectations on user growth, partially thanks to its viral Wrapped campaign. Inception Point AI, the podcast company leaning heavily into artificial intelligence, announced that it raised money last month. A new filing divulges how much: $5.05 million. Jeanine Wright, chief executive officer at the company, has said the tech can generate 3,000 episodes a week at a cost of $1 each, so this funding can go a long way toward pumping out even more programming. The seed round will quicken the company’s growth around “real-time engage...
Soybeans are trading with 7 to 10 cent gains on Thursday int eh front months. The cmdtyView national average Cash Bean price is up 9 1/4 cents at $10.68 1/2. Soymeal futures are $4.50 to $5 higher on the day, with Soy Oil futures 5 to 10 points lower. A...
Soybeans are trading with 7 to 10 cent gains on Thursday int eh front months. The cmdtyView national average Cash Bean price is up 9 1/4 cents at $10.68 1/2. Soymeal futures are $4.50 to $5 higher on the day, with Soy Oil futures 5 to 10 points lower. A...