United States

• The SP 500 index tracks the 500 largest US-listed names and is one of the most highly-tracked indices in the world.
• The rankings used for the September 2026 index rebal event will be based on yesterday’s (2 September 2026) opening prices. The announcement will be made after the close on Friday.
• In this insight, we take a look at our final expectations for ADDs/DELs (along with a tracker of all live spinoff/M&A events which affect the index the next few quarters).

• Strategic Portfolio Transformation Toward Regulated & High-Growth Markets: Jabil has systematically de-risked its operating model by divesting high-volatility, lower-margin consumer mobility manufacturing and redeploying capital into secular growth verticals, specifically AI/cloud data center infrastructure, healthcare/medtech, automotive electrification, and renewable energy.
• Structural Free Cash Flow Generation Supporting Capital Returns: The company exhibits strong cash flow conversion, underscored by a 3-year Free Cash Flow CAGR of 68.61% and annual operating cash flows consistently exceeding 9.3 billion (in reporting currency), enabling proactive share repurchases, balance sheet optimization, and a 13.47% 3-year dividend CAGR.
• Resilient Margin Profile Amid Cycle Re-acceleration: Despite top-line portfolio rationalization (-1.06% 3-year revenue CAGR), gross margins have expanded toward the 8.8%–9.3% range, underpinned by design-led manufacturing, advanced thermal and power management solutions for hyperscalers, and sticky, multi-year customer relationships.

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• The Lyft Company reported strong operational and financial performance in the second quarter of 2026, highlighted by record metrics and continued growth across multiple business segments.
• Active riders reached an all-time high of over 30 million, and the company completed 262 million rides during the quarter, positioning it to exceed 1 billion rides for the full year.
• The growth was driven by a diverse set of factors, including expansion in North America’s large and low-scale markets, significant progress in Canada, and ongoing organic growth in European markets following the integration of the Freenow platform.

• Asset-Light Compounding Engine: Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. operates an industry-leading, capital-light franchise and management model (>90% fee-based rooms) that generates predictable, high-margin cash flows, minimal maintenance capital expenditure requirements, and exceptional free cash flow conversion exceeding 95%.
• Formidable Brand Architecture and Loyalty Moat: With a global portfolio spanning 24+ differentiated brands from luxury to premium economy and a rapidly growing Hilton Honors loyalty membership of over 180 million members, Hilton captures over 50% of room nights directly, driving superior RevPAR index premiums for hotel owners and reinforcing developer preference.
• Robust Unit Growth and Capital Returns: Net unit growth (NUG) remains disciplined at 5-6% annually, supported by an industry-leading pipeline and rapid-conversion brand rollouts (Spark, LivSmart Studios, Graduate Hotels). Robust balance sheet management enables significant capital return via share repurchases and regular dividend distributions, balanced against premium valuation multiples (EV/EBITDA of 26.5x).

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• The SPR sits near its statutory floor with degraded withdrawal capacity, leaving the U.S. far less room to absorb the next major supply shock.
• Record U.S. production hasn’t rebuilt reserves. Gradually rising output and strong export demand mean few barrels are being diverted to SPR storage.
• Trump’s Venezuela deal is unlikely to “top out” the SPR in 2026, as heavy crude quality, damaged infrastructure, and no DOE program stand in the way.

• Rigetti Computing reported second quarter 2026 financial results highlighting both technical advancements and ongoing challenges within the quantum computing industry.
• The company reiterated progress on its Cepheus-class 108-qubit system, which remains one of the highest qubit count, gate-based quantum computers globally, distinguished by its modular chiplet-based architecture.
• Rigetti reported median single-qubit gate fidelity around 99.9% and two-qubit fidelity near 99.1% with gate speeds approximately 60 nanoseconds.

• Casella Waste Systems delivered a quarter that reflected solid underlying execution, although reported margin progression was restrained by fuel-related revenue gross-ups, acquisition dilution, and weaker Resource Solutions comparisons.
• Management indicated that the base business generated more than 50 basis points of margin expansion after excluding acquisition effects, supported by pricing, higher landfill volumes, and positive price-cost performance.
• This suggests that the core operating model remains healthy, even though consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin declined year over year.

• Arrow Electronics reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $10 billion, up 32% year-over-year, while operating margin expanded 120 basis points to 4%, exceeding expectations.
• Non-GAAP EPS rose 124% to $5.45, supported by unit volume growth, price inflation, disciplined expense and working capital management, and operating leverage.
• Demand remained broad across geographies, verticals, and customer segments, with strength in industrial, aerospace and defense, transportation, and technology markets influenced by AI investment.

• Doximity’s first quarter fiscal 2027 results showed continued revenue growth and increased investment in clinical artificial intelligence.
• Revenue rose 7% year-over-year to $157 million, exceeding the high end of guidance by 3%.
• Adjusted EBITDA reached $75 million, representing a 48% margin and an 8% outperformance versus guidance.

• A large cargo of Group II base oils loaded from Taiwan in late August before heading to South Korea, set to arrive this week.
• Shipments from Taiwan typically move to China, Southeast Asia or India rather than to South Korea.
• Singapore-to-US shipments extended their surge for a second week, even as total Singapore exports declined.

• Two viral blog posts by Satya Nadella over the summer suggest a tops-down change in Microsoft’s AI deployment strategy
• Microsoft is investing $2.5 billion & deploying 6,000 engineers into a new division, Microsoft Frontier Company, to help manage its AI deployments to enterprise clients globally
• There are going to be areas where we are very complementary and partner very, very closely with AI frontier labs. Then, there might be areas of overlap competitively.

• Akamai Technologies, Inc. reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.1 billion, up 5% year over year both as reported and in constant currency.
• Cloud Infrastructure Services generated $99 million, rising 39% year over year in line with expectations.
• Security revenue increased 10% to $604 million, supported by demand for web application firewall, API security, and microsegmentation solutions.

• Amazon has quietly transformed advertising into one of its most important businesses, generating roughly $68 billion in ad revenue in 2025 and establishing itself as the world’s third-largest digital advertising platform behind Google and Meta.
• That growth story is now colliding with regulatory scrutiny.
• The Federal Trade Commission, joined by more than 20 state attorneys general, has sued Amazon, alleging that the company secretly altered parts of its advertising auction system in ways that caused advertisers more than $20 billion in harm.

• JFrog, a company specialized in enterprise software supply chain solutions, reported second quarter 2026 revenues of $163.8 million, marking 29% year-over-year growth and surpassing the high end of guidance across all key metrics.
• The company demonstrated significant momentum in its cloud business, which grew 53% year-over-year to $87.5 million and now represents over half of total revenues, an increase from 45% a year ago.
• This growth was driven by higher secure binary consumption and customer adoption tied to accelerating AI-driven software development, resulting in increased volumes of binaries managed on JFrog’s platform.

• Cloudflare reported a strong second quarter in 2026 with total revenue reaching $696.1 million, representing a 36% increase year-over-year.
• The growth was driven by significant customer expansion, notably adding 80,000 paying customers in the quarter—a number matching the total customers at the company’s public debut in 2019—and increasing the count of customers spending more than $100,000 annually to 4,698, up 27% year-over-year.
• This cohort exhibited record net additions across every tier, contributing 73% of total revenue and resulting in a dollar-based net retention rate of 120%, demonstrating solid expansion within its existing large customer base.

• Defensive Cash Flow Profile in Niche Secondary Markets: Global Self Storage, Inc. (NASDAQ: SELF) operates a focused portfolio of 13 self-storage properties across secondary and tertiary US markets. Its local-market operating strategy and digital marketing framework insulate the asset base from severe Tier-1 metropolitan price wars, delivering consistent gross margins of ~48-50% and stable rental occupancy.
• Compelling Income Yield Backed by Cash Flow: Trading at $5.25, SELF offers an attractive annualized dividend yield of 5.48% ($0.29/share annualized). The distribution is fully covered by recurring operating cash flow ($4.47M in 2025) and free cash flow ($4.15M in 2025), underpinned by a conservative balance sheet and an extended $15 million Huntington credit facility.
• Sub-Scale Constraints vs. Compelling Valuation Support: Revenue growth has moderated to a 3-year CAGR of 2.08% as post-pandemic move-in velocity normalizes. While micro-cap liquidity and higher capital costs present headwinds to rapid portfolio scaling, current multiples (1.3x P/B, 5.3x EV/Sales, 15.6x EV/EBITDA) offer downside valuation support for income-oriented institutional investors.

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• The Fox Corporation reported strong financial results for fiscal year 2026, marked by record annual revenue exceeding $17 billion and a record EBITDA of $3.9 billion, representing growth of 5% and 8% respectively versus the prior year.
• This performance was notable given the particularly strong comparison base, which included the Super Bowl and the U.S. presidential election in fiscal 2025.
• The fiscal fourth quarter saw a significant acceleration in growth, with total revenue up 28% to $4.2 billion and EBITDA up 27% to $1.2 billion.

• BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) is the world’s preeminent asset management firm, maintaining an unrivaled global scale across public and private markets, anchored by its premier iShares exchange-traded fund franchise and rapidly expanding private market capabilities.
• The Aladdin technology platform provides a critical competitive moat and mission-critical enterprise software ecosystem, generating high-retention, SaaS-like recurring revenues that provide strong cash flow resilience across macroeconomic cycles.
• With robust gross margins of ~77-79%, an expanding alternative investment footprint, and disciplined capital allocation prioritizing consistent dividend compounding and share buybacks, BlackRock remains prime-positioned for multi-year earnings growth.

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• DraftKings Inc. reported its second quarter 2026 financial results, highlighting growth in its core Sportsbook business and strong early momentum in its newly launched Predictions vertical.
• The company generated $115 million in adjusted EBITDA during the quarter, though this figure was impacted by customer-friendly sports outcomes and higher-than-expected customer acquisition expenses.
• Despite these factors, DraftKings achieved a 10% year-over-year revenue increase on a normalized basis, supported by 11% growth in Sportsbook handle and a 15% rise in overall sports consumer volume, which includes both Sportsbook and Predictions activity.

• ConocoPhillips reported robust second quarter 2026 results, highlighted by production exceeding guidance and strong financial performance.
• The company achieved a record Permian Basin output of over 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, contributing to total production of approximately 2.25 million barrels per day.
• Operational execution was characterized by disciplined cost management, with the company progressing ahead of its cost-reduction plan.

• Intel 18A progressing past internal yield milestones and 14A defect-density yields tracking at levels unseen since Intel’s 22nm era. Not entirely sure that latter comparison is a good thing!
• Formal commitment to high-volume manufacturing (HVM) for the 14A process node in 2028, backed by the release of the 0.9 Process Design Kit (PDK) in October 2026.
• The EMIB-T Advanced packaging business is on track to generate multi-billion dollars per customer annually by 2028–2029 at 40% gross margins and 30% operating margins.

• Syntiant is a semiconductor and software company enabling Physical AI through on-device sensing and neural inference. It provides a full-stack, ultra-low-power platform for real-time, continuous intelligence.
• AI technology is deployed in tens of millions of devices globally as of June 30, 2026, with over one billion sensors shipped in 2025.
• Total revenue was $131,563 and net loss was $(30,613) for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Total assets were $208,495.

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• Firehawk Aerospace was valued at approximately $282M following its $55.8M Series C-1 round in January 2025.
• Firehawk Aerospace manufactures 3D-printed thermoplastic propellant, solid rocket motors, hybrid rocket engines, and complete tactical rockets for the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Firehawk Aerospace is expanding from propulsion technology into end-to-end energetics and munitions manufacturing, with growth vectors across high-volume production programs, adjacent munition categories, and allied manufacturing.

• Leapfrog to Electric delivers a simple conclusion:Accelerated battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption in Colombia could save around US$40 billion in cumulative fossil fuel import costs by 2050, while also reducing pollution-related health costs and avoiding climate-related economic damage.
• The report finds that, under a business-as-usual pathway, Colombia’s cumulative road transport fuel import bill could reach US$226bn by 2050.
• Electrification isn’t just cleaner—it is structurally cheaper, strategically smarter, and financially unavoidable.

• Graybar Electric Company, Inc. is a leading North American distributor of electrical, industrial, automation, and connectivity products, also providing supply chain management and logistics services. This offering is made to.
• Graybar distributes approximately two million products from over 6,000 manufacturers and suppliers, with 100% employee ownership and cash dividends paid since 1929.
• Graybar has 100% employee ownership, an extensive product offering from over 6,000 suppliers, but no public trading market for its Common Stock.

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• IEHC announced $6.5M in orders supporting the APKWS program.
• This brings its backlog to $45M, nearly tripling YoY.
• Last month, IEHC reported Q1 financials that largely beat our estimates including revenue of $10.0M (+59% YoY) and EBITDA of $0.9M (9% margin) compared to negative levels in Q1/26.

• MMED fell nearly 50% below its IPO price before a strong June report sparked a dramatic recovery and renewed investor interest.
• September results again exceeded expectations, with $843 million of sales versus an $827.1 million consensus estimate.
• Shares reached a post-IPO high of $24.43, but Medtronic’s ownership creates potential future secondary-offering overhang.

• As NVX advances towards expected commercialization, NVX believes it remains on-track to begin commercial production for Panasonic in 2H 2027, subject to successful completion of Panasonic’s full qualification process.
• The company also believes that moving forward with Panasonic facilitated its capital raise in 1H 2026, with funds earmarked to support capacity, equipment, and operations to commence production to fulfill the Panasonic offtake agreement.
• Moreover, NVX has provided 100+ samples of synthetic graphite to prospective customers in 2025-26 to-date for battery, energy storage, and industrial applications & expects to expand its customer base.

• As many of you know, I cut my teeth on investing in bankruptcy dockets, but I very rarely get involved on the equity side of things.
• I had a few of you reach out on this idea, but until last Friday I didn’t see a clear buy signal for owning this security.
• Let’s walk through what has happened and why I am now in the mix as of this week.

• NVIDIA sees enough customer demand for nearly 100% FY28 growth, but available supply supports roughly 70%. That revenue number also includes richer Rubin system content and higher pricing.
• Supporting that growth is becoming more capital intensive: receivables rose 55% QoQ, inventory doubled YoY, while supply commitments have surged to $279 billion.
• NVIDIA is also supporting deployment downstream through $36 billion of AI-cloud commitments and $108.5 billion of maximum guarantees, making third-party utilisation an increasingly important test of growth quality.

• Salesforce reported Q2 FY 2027 revenue of $11.345 billion, up 11% YoY in constant currency, at the high end of the previously guided range. 
• Cloudforce, a partnership between Anthropic & Salesforce, integrates Claude into Salesforce and vice versa. Basically, Claude becomes the new user interface for Salesforce, as long as you upgrade to premium
• Benioff is betting big on Cloudforce unlocking previously unheard of value from customers’s underlying Salesforce data and that they will pay handsomely for this privilege. Let’s see… 

• LivePerson (LPSN) merger arbitrage offers an 18% spread; requires 2% more shares to vote for deal closure.
• Pacific Current Group (PAC:AX) faces a reverse merger proposal; management seeks solutions for 30% NAV discount.
• Xponential Fitness (XPOF) has a new activist with a 10% stake; strategic review could monetize Club Pilates.

• Intel says EMIB-T packaging could generate multiple billions of dollars per customer annually, with 40% gross and 30% operating margins from a relatively capital-light business.
• SK hynix is reportedly considering Intel for HBM4E base dies, offering a potential first step into AI silicon without displacing TSMC from the entire accelerator.
• Packaging can give Intel external revenue, process learning and customer relationships before 14A is fully proven, lowering the hurdle for its broader foundry ambitions.

• While the SPX remains bullish above 7580-7629 support, we’re becoming near-term cautious on the Russell 2000 (IWM) and we remain near-term cautious on the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and A.I. areas.
• As discussed last week, we believe the Aug4 and Aug12 gap fills suggest more consolidation is likely; not only have the odds increased that A.I. areas test their July lows… 
• …but the lower highs that have formed could be an early sign that they could break below their July lows in SOXX, CHAT, NCLD, DTCR, and EUV

• TEN Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:XHLD) is an event-technology company that provides virtual, hybrid, webinar, and physical-event services through platforms including Xyvid Pro and TEN Pro.
• Ordinarily, that business would be the center of the investment debate.
• Right now, however, the more immediate question sits on the other side of the balance sheet: who can sell the stock, when they can sell it, and how much stock could potentially become available?

• LivePerson’s merger arbitrage involves an 18% gross spread with uncertain shareholder approval due to passive retail investors.
• TherapeuticsMD is trading at a 50%+ discount to royalty asset value, with Rubric Capital holding a 25.5% stake.
• US Solar Fund’s non-binding offer reflects a significant premium, yet maintains a ~38% discount to NAV, indicating market skepticism.

• Transformational Business Model Evolution: Sezzle has successfully evolved from a merchant-subsidized point-of-sale Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) vendor into a high-margin, dual-monetization financial platform. Driven by the rapid adoption of consumer subscription products (Sezzle Premium and Sezzle Anywhere) and on-demand virtual cards, revenue expanded from $159.36M in 2023 to $450.28M in 2025, while gross margins advanced from 45.76% to 72.87%.
• Industry-Leading Unit Economics and Cash Conversion: Unlike legacy BNPL peers constrained by high credit loss provisions and rising cost of funds, Sezzle‘s proprietary underwriting algorithms, direct debit integrations, and credit-building feature (Sezzle Up) have driven robust net margins of ~29.6% in 2025 ($133.13M Net Income) and free cash flow generation of $209.25M, demonstrating structural operating leverage.
• Premium Multiple Supported by Superior Growth Profile: Trading at 27.0x P/E and 20.3x EV/EBITDA, Sezzle commands a valuation premium over mature legacy payment processors (e.g., PayPal at 10.1x P/E). This multiple is justified by an exceptional 3-year EPS growth trajectory (Smartscore Growth of 5/5) and high ROE, balanced against medium uncertainty regarding macroeconomic consumer credit performance and evolving CFPB oversight.

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• Bitcoin reversed from $80,258 midweek (Aug 27), closing the week near $77K to $78K, per Coinglass, after Warsh’s hawkish Jackson Hole speech elevated September rate-hike odds.

• Spot BTC ETFs snapped a nine-day $3.04B streak (Aug 17-27) with a $201.81M outflow on Aug 28; ETH inflow streak extended to ten days, bringing in roughly $1.52B.

• SEC sent modernized crypto custody rules to the White House OMB, advancing clarity outside the stalled CLARITY Act.

• Deleveraging Prioritized Over Buybacks: Following a peak historical leverage of 10.5x, Light & Wonder (LNW) has executed a major balance sheet repair, reducing its net debt leverage ratio to 3.4x as of June 30, 2026. Management has pivoted capital allocation, guiding that second-half 2026 share buybacks will be well below the first-half average of $150 million per quarter to prioritize reducing net leverage to below 3.0x during the first half of 2027.
• The $127.5 Million Aristocrat IP Settlement Aftermath: The legal settlement in January 2026 resolved the long-running Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon trade secret litigation. While the $127.5 million payout removed a massive overhang, LNW was forced to permanently cease commercialization of these highly profitable titles. The transition to clean-room game development and a newly established, confidential compliance protocol to clear “hold and spin” math models is introducing friction into the product pipeline and slowing speed-to-market.
• Caledonia’s Block Sale is Tactical Rebalancing, Not a Structural Alarm: The $372 million block trade run by Barrenjoey on August 31, 2026, which trimmed Caledonia’s stake from 9.7% to approximately 5.8% at a floor price of $124 per share, represents a profit-taking and portfolio-rebalancing move rather than a vote of no confidence. Caledonia remains LNW’s largest active shareholder and has signaled no intention to sell further tranches in the medium term.

• WTI fell 4.2% in the week ending 28/Aug despite U.S. sanctions on Iran, as recovering oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz eased the geopolitical premium.
• Energy ETFs mostly fell with WTI, but clean energy held up, showing investors treated the sanctions-driven selloff as a short-term event risk.
• Equinor marks a firm shift back to oil and gas, but its power strategy and state ownership still leave capital allocation questions unresolved.

• Merger arbitrage offers an 18% gross spread, contingent on LPSN shareholder approval with a small 2% turnout shortfall.
• Merger consideration involves a variable exchange ratio with a collar on SOUN’s share price, complicating hedging.
• LPSN’s restructuring involves $350 million secured debt exchange for SOUN shares, with creditors supporting the merger completion.

• Shake Shack Inc. reported its second quarter of 2026 financial results amid a challenging operating environment characterized by elevated input costs, particularly record-high beef prices, and broader inflationary pressures.
• The company posted total revenue of $417.6 million, representing a 17.2% year-over-year increase.
• This growth primarily stemmed from the opening of new company-operated and licensed locations combined with 3.5% Same-Shack sales growth, which included 2.0% traffic growth and 1.5% price/mix gains.

• We had discussed various signals for gold and see some of them reversing at the tail end of the summer as we had discussed on the Precious Metals portal.
• COMEX Gold recently rebounded from lows in the 4000, especially in early August.
• Directional option strategies on MAR27 COMEX Gold could help investors position for the next move.

• Net income over the twelve months to June 2026 grew 103.5% and pre-tax income grew 41.5%.
• A single tax entry separates them: A US$19.9m release of a valuation allowance on deferred tax assets, which brought in no cash and cannot arrive twice.
• On reported earnings the shares trade at 41.7x; strip the release and the same price is 57.8x. 

• Nvidia is reportedly moving to deepen its influence across the artificial intelligence stack through a potential $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, one of the most widely used platforms for developing, sharing and deploying open-source AI models.
• The reported agreement follows a period of acquisition interest in Hugging Face and comes as Nvidia expands beyond GPUs into networking, CPUs, inference systems, AI software and infrastructure financing.
• The timing is notable.

• Microchip Technology Incorporated reported strong financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, driven by broad-based growth across multiple end markets.
• The company’s total net sales reached $1.485 billion for the quarter, reflecting a 13.2% sequential increase and a 38% year-over-year rise compared to the June 2025 quarter.
• Non-GAAP gross margins improved to 63.8%, despite including $38.5 million in capacity underutilization charges, while non-GAAP operating income represented 35.1% of sales.

• Howmet Aerospace reported a strong second quarter in 2026, marked by a 24% year-over-year increase in headline revenues and a 21% organic growth excluding acquisitions.
• This growth was supported by robust demand across several end markets, including commercial aerospace, defense aerospace, industrial gas turbines (IGT), and commercial transportation.
• Notably, commercial aerospace revenue increased 28% driven by both new builds and spare parts demand, while defense aerospace grew 11% year-over-year.

• SoundHound AI reported a strong second quarter for 2026, achieving record revenue of $61.9 million, a 45% year-over-year increase and 40% sequential growth, marking its largest quarter since going public.
• This growth was driven largely by the company’s OASYS platform, a self-learning agentic AI system launched in May 2026.
• OASYS has been cited as a key competitive advantage, enabling faster transitions from demos to contracts, shorter pilot periods, and significant deal wins, including an eight-figure contract secured within 90 days of initial demo.

• Bumble Inc. reported second-quarter 2026 financial results in line with the company’s expectations, reflecting ongoing strategic efforts focused on a foundational quality reset and a significant technological transformation.
• Total revenue reached $211 million, down from $248 million in the same period last year, while adjusted EBITDA stood at $73 million, representing a 35% margin compared to 38% a year prior.
• Gross margin improved by approximately 380 basis points to 74%, driven by increased adoption of alternative billing methods reducing aggregator fees.

• Giant Oak Acquisition Corporation is a blank check company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, formed to effect a business combination.
• Giant Oak Acquisition seeks growth businesses with strong management, proven revenue and earnings growth, avoiding start-ups or negative cash flow.
• The accounting firm expressed substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a “going concern” as of June 30, 2026.

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• Automation is Paycom’s next moat: Beti, GONE, iWant and Project Arc could deepen customer ROI, retention and internal productivity.
• Growth is becoming harder: Client growth has slowed, increasing reliance on cross-sell, larger customers and higher revenue per client.
• Capital intensity is the key debate: R&D and CapEx are rising sharply; Paycom must prove automation can drive growth without permanently eroding its capital-light economics.

• Obsidian Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered TIL cell therapies for solid tumors using its cytoDRiVE™ platform. Amsoki-cel, its lead candidate, is in Phase 2 for melanoma and.
• Amsoki-cel is in Phase 2 for melanoma and Phase 1 for NSCLC. It showed a 67% ORR in melanoma Phase 1/2 and received FDA Fast Track and RMAT designations.
• The company incurred significant financial losses since inception and anticipates continued losses, with approximately $186.5 million in federal net operating losses as of December 31, 2025.

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• Severe Liquidity Strain Met with Extreme Dilution: Reliance Global Group (now trading under the ticker EZRA, formerly RELI) is managing a severe cash squeeze—with cash of $0.8 million as of June 30, 2026—by heavily relying on a highly dilutive $50 million equity line with White Lion Capital, which puts immense structural downward pressure on the stock.
• High Precarity of Debt-Clearing Divestiture: The critical plan to retire the company’s only term debt, the $4.4 million Oak Street Funding loan, via the sale of its Altruis Benefit Consulting subsidiary is highly volatile. The original $11 million cash deal was terminated on August 14, 2026, and while a new LOI was signed with a different buyer on August 27, 2026, the lack of disclosed pricing terms indicates the buyer likely holds substantial leverage.
• Underwriting Hard Cycle Flattening the Insurtech Adoption Curve: The value proposition of B2B and B2C digital quoting platforms (RELI Exchange and 5MinuteInsure.com) has been severely compromised by a persistent hard insurance market. With carriers restricting capacity and tightening guidelines, automated APIs frequently fail and default to manual “refer to underwriter” workflows, flattening the actual digital adoption curve.

• SeeQC, Inc. aims to unlock quantum computing’s full potential by enabling scalable, commercially viable quantum systems through its superconducting foundry, chip, firmware, and software capabilities.
• SEEQC was formed in 2019, with 95% of 2025 revenue from quantum computing-related activities, not fully commercialized product sales.
• Management concluded substantial doubt about continuing as a going concern, having incurred recurring losses and negative operating cash flows since inception.

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• Medium term: Vertiv’s Gray-space leadership is extending into white space through liquid cooling, integrated infrastructure and 800VDC; management targets 20-22% organic revenue CAGR through 2030, with further content/share upside.
• Short term: 2Q26 weakness was driven by supply-chain constraints and execution on larger integrated projects. FY26 guidance 40%+ 2H26 organic growth, making 2H26 backlog conversion the key debate near-term.
• Valuation: Recent consensus earnings have upgraded, accompanied by P/E de-rating to bottom-of-range. Our base case implies roughly 80% upside and bull case 100%+, driven mainly by earnings growth.

• Just when it appeared the “relative calm” would continue, the U.S. and Iran have resumed military strikes.
• At this juncture, however, we see no reason to amend our previously delineated trading range for the prompt NYMEX crude oil contract of roughly $75.00-$88.00 per barrel.          
• However, given Friday’s surge in value, we consider NYMEX RBOB cracks to be overvalued from a fundamental, seasonal basis as we move into September.           

• Youmi Inc. is a paper-thin corporate shell with a single pilot store in China and an unreleased, outsourced software platform. Despite its grand pitch to digitize mom-and-pop stores, it lacks the scale, supply chain power, or capital to compete with established giants, operating on just $132,508 in cash as of April 30, 2026.
• The structural shift in Chinese retail favors low-cost digital franchise networks like Meiyijia (40,147 stores as of late 2025), while high-capital, algorithmic-heavy models like Bianlifeng have severely faltered, closing approximately 1,300 stores over the last three years due to a lack of local human touch and margin compression from quick commerce.
• The broader convenience store sector faces unprecedented macro headwinds, with CCFA’s July 2026 briefing revealing that 71.7% of convenience store enterprises suffered declining foot traffic in the first half of 2026. Early-stage, uncapitalized networks like Youmi are fundamentally unviable in this environment, especially given their lack of compliance with China’s strict “two-store, one-year” franchise regulations.

• NextBoat Inc. is a premier yacht and boat dealership specializing in buying, selling, and wholesaling. It operates as an AI-enabled, vertically integrated marine marketplace with complementary businesses.
• NextBoat generates over $120 million in annual sales, operating across eight locations with 100 sales representatives, transacting over 400 vessels annually.
• Revenue was $119,866,298 in FY2025 and $98,995,562 in FY2024. Total assets were $100,493,104 as of June 30, 2026.

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• Reliance Global Group, Inc. is a diversified company primarily operating in the insurance market, acquiring agencies and developing Insurtech platforms. It is also expanding into artificial intelligence, technology, and healthcare.
• The company operates six insurance agencies and its 5MinuteInsure.com platform is in 46 states. RELI Exchange increased its agent roster by almost 300% since inception.
• The Market Value of Listed Securities has been below the $5.0 million threshold, and the company needs to raise additional capital.

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• Axcelis Technologies reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $215 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.06, both exceeding internal forecasts.
• The company’s operational performance was bolstered by favorable demand trends across key end markets, particularly in the power and general mature segments, while memory-related revenue moderated sequentially due to timing of available fab space.
• Despite this, management emphasized ongoing robust customer investment plans in memory with strong engagement, especially in DRAM, signaling potential for growth as new cleanroom capacity comes online.

• CLEAR Corporation, a secure identity platform company, reported its fiscal second-quarter 2026 results emphasizing strong growth and expanding margins.
• The company ended the quarter with nearly 44 million total members, generating $296 million in bookings and $189 million in free cash flow, representing 33% and 60% year-over-year growth respectively.
• For the first time, CLEAR exceeded its 35% adjusted EBITDA margin target set at its IPO, achieving 36.4%, attributed to robust bookings growth and operational efficiencies.

• Capri Holdings Limited reported its first quarter fiscal 2027 results with total revenue of $769 million, representing a 3.5% decline compared to the previous year, while operating income increased by approximately 40%.
• Earnings per share improved to $0.67, up nearly 30%, driven by higher gross margins and operating margin expansion.
• The company continues to focus on enhancing the quality of its sales, reducing promotional activities, and limiting markdown inventory to strengthen brand foundations and profitability.

• The passive targeting paradigm based on the Enhanced Permeability and Retention (EPR) effect has largely failed in human clinical trials. While preclinical mouse models with rapid tumor growth showed high nanoparticle accumulation, human tumor pathophysiology is far too heterogeneous, leading to poor clinical translation for first-generation nanoparticle-drug conjugates (NDCs) like Cerulean’s CRLX101.
• Modern drug conjugate success has shifted decisively toward active targeting (such as Antibody-Drug Conjugates, or ADCs) and highly controlled polymer architectures. Competitors utilizing poorly defined, polydisperse linear polymers have faced systemic clinical and financial failures, illustrated by the shutdowns of Dantari Pharmaceuticals in August 2024 and Elucida Oncology in late 2024.
• Platform-stage biotechs must maintain extreme capital discipline, balancing platform optimization with clinical asset advancement. Cerulean’s fatal strategic error was overallocating capital to late-stage trials for a flawed lead asset (CRLX101) rather than licensing early or preserving capital to optimize its platform chemistry, ultimately forcing a fire sale of its assets for $7.5 million total in 2017 to clear its $12.5 million venture debt.

• Chord Energy reported its second quarter 2026 financial and operational results, with notable performance on several fronts alongside some challenges.
• The company delivered adjusted free cash flow of $414 million, exceeding expectations, and returned 54% of that ($220 million) to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
• The balance sheet strengthened, with normalized leverage declining below 1.5 turns, enabling the company to target returning at least 75% of adjusted free cash flow to shareholders beginning in the third quarter.

• Boston Scientific has been hit by a cyberattack at one of the worst possible moments for the medical-device giant.
• The incident triggered a global outage affecting information systems and business applications used for order processing and shipping, leaving management unable to say when normal operations would be restored.
• Shares fell more than 4% in early trading after the disclosure, but the bigger question is whether the financial consequences could extend beyond the initial market reaction.

• A review of recent events/data impacting our investment themes and outlook
• Warsh’s “hawkishness” provides an opportunity to pick up precious metals and commodities
• The Chinese platforms follow their Western counterparts in the raise and spend game

• Diodes Incorporated reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2026, with total revenue increasing 22% year-over-year to $445.5 million and 10% sequentially compared to the prior quarter.
• This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth, driven by demand across all three major geographic regions—Asia, Europe, and North America—with Asia representing the largest share of revenue at 79%.
• Key markets contributing to growth included automotive, industrial, and computing, with automotive revenue reaching a record 21% of product revenue and demonstrating notable market share gains.

• Arcosa, Inc. reported its first quarter 2026 results reflecting progress in its strategic transformation and strong operational performance across its two continuing segments: Construction Products and Engineered Structures.
• The company completed the divestiture of its barge business for $450 million, simplifying its portfolio and focusing on infrastructure-related growth markets.
• The proceeds partly reduced debt, lowering its net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio to 1.9x, enhancing financial flexibility.

• Context: The Nucor Corp (NUE US) vs. Steel Dynamics (STLD US) price ratio has deviated more than two standard deviations from its one-year average, presenting a potential relative value opportunity.
• Highlight: Going long Steel Dynamics (STLD US) and short Nucor Corp (NUE US) targets a 4% return.
• Why Read: Essential for quantitative traders seeking mean-reversion opportunities, with detailed execution framework, risk management protocols, and historical simulation showing the statistical basis for this relative value play.

• HubSpot Inc. reported its second quarter of fiscal 2026 results with revenue growth of 17.5% year-over-year in constant currency, reaching a total customer base exceeding 306,000, although net additions of 7,000 were below expectations due to cautious buying behavior.
• Subscription revenue increased 20% year-over-year, with international markets growing notably faster than domestic.
• Operating margins improved significantly, with non-GAAP operating margin expanding by 3 percentage points to 20.3%, driven by disciplined spending partly offset by increased AI investment costs.

• Apple is heading into one of its most consequential September events in years.
• The company has scheduled its next product showcase for September 9, when it is expected to introduce its latest premium iPhones and potentially its first foldable device.
• Yet the hardware itself is only part of the story.

• Meta Platforms has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed younger users, ending a closely watched federal trial and introducing some of the strongest teen-focused restrictions yet imposed on a major social-media platform.
• The agreement goes well beyond financial penalties.
• Users under 18 will face a default two-hour daily limit, overnight restrictions between midnight and 6 a.m., reduced notifications during school hours, and parental approval requirements for changing certain settings.

• Anterix Inc. (ATEX US) operates as the premier pure-play sub-1 GHz spectrum asset holder in the United States, controlling nationwide licensed 900 MHz spectrum dedicated to private broadband networks for critical infrastructure industries (CII), predominantly investor-owned electric utilities.
• The business model delivers high-margin, asset-light monetization through multi-decade spectrum leases and outright spectrum transfer agreements, supported by an expanding contracted pipeline, an ecosystem of over 100 technology partners, and gross margins consistently exceeding 90%.
• While financial results exhibit quarter-to-quarter lumpiness due to long utility regulatory and procurement cycles, Anterix maintains robust earnings growth (3-year EPS CAGR of 96.44%), positive free cash flow generation, and strong structural positioning to benefit from grid modernization and decarbonization mandates.

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• 57% of Alexa AI users purchased products they previously did not know existed, suggesting agentic AI can discover customer needs and generate new purchase opportunities. 
• Amazon is betting heavily on this new economics, expecting to generate significant future monetization. The stock’s rally could go considerably higher according to our model.
• AI is becoming revenue-generating infrastructure: AWS revenue grew 37% to $42B, showing Amazon’s enormous AI investments can become productive assets that generate substantial new revenue rather than simply increase costs.

• Palo Alto Networks has spent years telling investors that cybersecurity is moving toward consolidation, but recent reports suggest CEO Nikesh Arora may have considered taking that strategy much further.
• According to The Information, Arora held meetings with Okta CEO Todd McKinnon between late 2024 and early 2025 about a potential acquisition, with discussions ultimately breaking down over price.
• He also reportedly approached Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel in spring 2025, although Pomel was not interested and no formal offer followed.

• Daré Bioscience, Inc. is a purpose-driven health biotech company solely focused on women’s health, advancing innovations from contraception to infectious disease. It uses a dual-path approach for new products.
• DARE to PLAY Sildenafil Cream is the first 503B product, available for pre-order in December 2025, with revenue expected Q3 2026. Flora Sync LF5 launched June 2026, and Ovaprene is.
• The auditor’s report expresses substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Stockholders’ equity was less than $2.5 million as of March 31, 2026.

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• RZ Wellness Limited, a Nevada corporation, operates through its Malaysian subsidiary, RZ Wellness Sdn. Bhd., selling dietary supplements and offering packaging and labeling solutions.
• The global dietary supplement and wellness market is projected to reach USD 7.43 trillion in 2026, with the dietary supplements market reaching USD 307.8 billion by 2028.
• A cash balance of $12,763 as of March 31, 2026, is not sufficient to fund operations for any period.

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• Copa Holdings reported its second quarter financial results amid a challenging environment characterized by significantly higher fuel costs.
• The company recorded an operating profit of $91.7 million with an operating margin of 8.7%, down from 21.7% in the same period last year.
• The operating margin contraction was primarily driven by an 85% increase in all-in fuel prices, which rose from $2.32 to $4.28 per gallon year-over-year.

• NVIDIA reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 results, details here. Revenue was $96.2 billion, up 18% sequentially and up 106% year over year, also blowing past the $91.0 billion guided midpoint.
• Q327 revenue forecast  $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%,  +12% QoQ, +89% YoY. The company also threw in forecast for fiscal 2028 growth of 70% YoY.
• Recent announcements by NVIDIA, built around guaranteeing and backstopping investment in data centres that exclusively use their compute, suggest that much of their future demand is actually being self funded. 

• The Nasdaq 100 index tracks the 100 largest names listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
• We expect no changes for the September 2026 index rebal event, though SpaceX’s free-float increase should still drive roughly US$13bn of one-way flow.
• We expect three ADDs and four DELs at the December 2026 annual reconstitution, with DELs necessarily exceeding ADDs by one to bring member count back to 100.

• Crude oil futures were trading lower for a third session on Wednesday, but steadied later in the session as tensions remain high after the US announced a new round of economic sanctions against Iran on Monday.
• Oct26 ICE  Brent futures were 1.2% lower at $87.54/b (2032 BST), while Oct26 NYMEX  WTI was at $81.99/b , down 0.5% changed versus Tuesday’s settle.
• However, benchmarks pared most of the earlier losses that saw Brent print a low of $85.41/b as the situation in the Middle East remains highly volatile, while a lower-than-expected US crude inventory build helped to steady markets.

• AI data centre demand is reshaping Caterpillar, with Power & Energy emerging as the main growth engine as gas genset and turbine orders accelerate across key end markets.
• Order backlog reached USD 72 billion, while quarterly revenue crossed USD 20 billion for the first time, highlighting broad-based demand and exceptional order visibility through the end of the decade.
• Raised guidance and stronger cash generation support Caterpillar’s outlook, but backlog conversion remains critical as hyperscaler capex concentration increases the risk of a sharper slowdown in hyperscaler spending.

• Symbotic Inc. reported its third quarter fiscal year 2026 results with a continuation of its revenue growth and improved profitability metrics.
• Revenue reached $721 million, marking a 22% increase year-over-year and 7% sequential growth, positioning the company near the high end of its guidance range.
• Expansion in system deployments and recurring operational system services underpinned this growth, with 11 new deployments started during the quarter, bringing the total to 77 systems deployed and 56 operational.

• Mainland exposure was always the “red flag” for Futu and that’s now removed; the current valuations and downgrades price in the worst case scenario, providing a clear asymmetric upside opportunity.
• 2Q is evidence that the underlying business remains strong: revenue increased 36% y/y, profits +40% y/y, strong client adds ex-mainland, and trading volume reached new records
• Futu trades at 9.9x FY2 P/E, around the bottom of its three-year range; a return to 16x FY2 P/E implies approximately 60% upside, not to mention the long-term compounding business.

• SanDisk Corporation reported strong financial performance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026, demonstrating significant growth driven primarily by the rapidly expanding demand for NAND memory products fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-intensive workloads.
• The company’s strategic emphasis on deepening relationships with key customers through its New Business Models (NBMs) and advancing its proprietary technology portfolio, notably the BiCS 8 NAND and the Stargate QLC platform, contributed to record revenue, gross margin, and earnings per share.
• Revenue for the fourth quarter reached $8.97 billion, marking a 51% sequential increase and a 372% year-over-year rise, exceeding guidance expectations.

• SiTime Corporation reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2026, highlighted by significant revenue growth, expanded gross margins, and improved operating profitability.
• Total revenue reached $157.4 million, representing a 127% year-over-year increase and a 39% sequential rise.
• The Communications, Enterprise and Data Center (CED) segment was the primary growth driver, with revenues of $101.2 million—up 181% year-over-year and 34% sequentially—reflecting increased demand for precision timing products in AI infrastructure and data centers, including optical modules and networking equipment.

• Figma reported solid financial results for the second quarter of 2026, demonstrating continued revenue growth and strategic progress in AI monetization and product innovation.
• The company generated $370 million in revenue, reflecting a 48% year-over-year increase and marking the third consecutive quarter of accelerated growth.
• This revenue expansion was accompanied by a strong net dollar retention rate of 136% among paid customers with more than $10,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR), alongside growth in this customer segment (34% year-over-year) and in larger customers with over $100,000 ARR (46% year-over-year).

• Enhanced Group is a growth-stage sports entertainment, performance technology, and lifestyle wellness company. It develops businesses around the “Enhanced Games” and “Live Enhanced” offerings. The company will not receive proceeds.
• Kristian Gkolomeev set a 50m freestyle world record, earning $1.5 million at the 2026 Enhanced Games. The Games generated over $32 million in sponsorship value.
• Revenue was $17.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, with a net loss of $78.4 million. Cash and cash equivalents were $19.6 million.

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• Alibaba (BABA US) dropped 8.6% following its USD 10.2bn placement, although the capital raising represents only 3.6% of market capitalization and will fund AI investment.
• One-Month implied volatility stands at 42.3%, in its 61st percentile, creating elevated—but not extreme—premium income opportunities.
• September short puts offer premiums ranging from 1.6% (OTM) to 3.7% (ATM), with lower strikes providing greater downside protection and higher strikes offering greater tactical returns.

• OpenAI model mentions reached 13K/day, with GPT-5.6 representing 84% of current model-family mentions.

• GPT-5.6 reached 11K mentions/day, up 119.9% WoW and 300.9% MoM. Within the GPT-5.6 family, Sol leads at 3K/day, increasing 113.4% WoW and 76.5% MoM.

• Meanwhile, older model families have declined, with GPT-5.5 down 72.0% MoM and GPT-5.4 down 49.0% MoM.

• AppLovin reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of approximately $1.92 billion, representing a 53% increase year-over-year but slightly below the midpoint of its guidance range.
• Adjusted EBITDA grew 58% year-over-year to about $1.61 billion, with margins expanding by roughly 300 basis points compared to the prior year, although just below guidance expectations.
• Free cash flow for the quarter was $863 million, below the company’s typical cadence due to timing of international tax and interest payments; the company expects conversion to normalize near 75% of adjusted EBITDA for the full year.

• Corpay’s second quarter 2026 results reflected a combination of solid operating performance and favorable macroeconomic conditions.
• The company reported revenue of $1.34 billion, representing a 21% year-over-year increase and outperforming expectations by $45 million, driven partially by a $30 million macroeconomic tailwind.
• Cash earnings per share (EPS) reached a record $7, up 36% year-over-year, with the Alpha acquisition and Avid investment contributing $0.39 in EPS accretion, in line with management’s targets.

• Tenax Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TENX) has become one of the more unusual biotechnology special situations of August.
• The company is developing oral levosimendan for pulmonary hypertension associated with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or PH-HFpEF, a difficult cardiovascular condition with no approved therapy specifically targeting this population.
• On August 10, the investment case appeared to break.

• The company reported a strong second quarter in 2026, highlighted by a 22% year-over-year increase in gross bookings to over $58 billion, exceeding the high end of guidance and marking the fourth consecutive quarter with growth above 20%.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share rose 35% year-over-year, accompanied by trailing twelve-month free cash flow surpassing $10 billion for the first time.
• These financial metrics illustrate an improvement in operating leverage and cash generation.

• Western Digital Corporation reported strong financial performance for fiscal year 2026, driven by a focused strategy as a pure-play hard disk drive (HDD) company.
• The company achieved 36% year-over-year revenue growth to $12.9 billion, with gross margins expanding by 970 basis points to 49.1% and operating margins improving by 1,290 basis points to 37.3%.
• Earnings per share (EPS) more than doubled to $10.22, supported by $3.5 billion in free cash flow and a strengthened net positive cash position.

• Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VIII is a Cayman Islands exempted company formed to effect a business combination with one or more businesses. The company has not selected any specific target.
• The company aims to identify and complete an initial business combination leveraging its leadership team’s network and deal sourcing capabilities. It seeks strong businesses in disruptive growth sectors.
• Total assets were $44,866 (audited) as of May 11, 2026. The auditor’s report expresses substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

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• Dominant Financial and Business Software Ecosystem: Intuit Inc. maintains a formidable market position across small business accounting (QuickBooks), consumer tax preparation (TurboTax), personal finance (Credit Karma), and digital marketing (Mailchimp), supported by high customer switching costs and expansive proprietary data network effects.
• High-Margin Financial Profile and Free Cash Flow Generation: The company has demonstrated consistent top-line and earnings compounding, with annual revenue expanding to $107.75B in FY2025 (17.19% 3-year CAGR) and free cash flow exceeding $34.80B, underpinned by gross margins above 77% and disciplined operating leverage.
• AI-Driven Platform Transition vs. DIY Tax Pricing Headwinds: Intuit‘s strategic pivot to an ‘AI-driven expert platform’ (Intuit Assist, TurboTax Live, QuickBooks Live) broadens its total addressable market into assisted services, though medium-term growth is tempered by rising competitive intensity and pricing pressure in the consumer DIY tax filing segment.

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• Axon Enterprise, Inc. reported a second quarter 2026 performance highlighting continued strong growth across its diverse product and service offerings, driven by both core and emerging sectors.
• Total revenue reached $904 million, marking a 35% increase year-over-year and sustaining over 30% growth for ten consecutive quarters.
• This growth was broad-based, supported by robust demand in Software & Services and Connected Devices segments.