Lowe's edges out Home Depot as the safer income hold, with a 6.93% FCF yield covering its 2.39% dividend yield by a far wider margin.
Home Depot's Pro contractor pivot drove 1.7% comp sales growth versus Lowe's 0.2%, but its free cash flow still shrank 22% and its payout ratio sits higher.
Lowe's steady raises from $1.05 to $1.25 quarterly signal a longer dividend growth runway than Home Depot's token 1.3% ***** p to $2.33.
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For an income investor weighing Home Depot (NYSE:HD) against Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), the real question is which dividend holds up better when the housing market stays frozen. Existing home sales sit at 3.98M annualized, the lowest reading in the trailing twelve-month history and inside what the series classifies as the soft range ***** ociated with high mortgage rates. Home Depot's CFO said housing turnover has "never been lower as a percentage of the housing stock". When people stop moving, they stop renovating. That is the identical headwind facing both payouts, and it sharpens the question of which one is actually safer.

#home #depot #Dividend #housing

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) could be positioning itself for its next major phase of growth following its roughly $10 billion acquisition of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals. The deal gives the company immediate exposure to the endocrinology market and provides a new commercial platform beyond its established cystic fibrosis franchise.
On September 3, Citigroup **** yst Geoff Meacham highlighted the strategic importance of the Crinetics acquisition, arguing it could diversify Vertex's business while complementing its existing cystic fibrosis franchise and newer businesses in renal disease, hematology, and pain.
Through the transaction, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) gains access to Palsonify (paltusotine), an oral treatment for acromegaly that has already received regulatory approval in Europe. Paltusotine is also in Phase 3 development for carcinoid syndrome **** ociated with neuroendocrine tumors.
Palsonify is particularly important because it provides an immediate commercial revenue opportunity, rather than requiring the company to wait several years for an entirely new drug to reach the market.
Early uptake of Palsonify has been encouraging, supported by expanding physician adoption and improving reimbursement coverage. If that momentum continues, the drug could become an important contributor to Vertex's revenue growth.

#palsonify

Colorado State is 2-0 and has scored nearly 100 points in eight quarters.
Jim Mora was happy after CSU's 58-24 win over Southern Utah on Sept. 12, but already looking for growth.
"I think there's just so much more out there for us," Mora said. "We have a ton of improvement we can make and we will make."
Here's a look at what Mora said after the win:
"I thought it was another step in the right direction. I thought we were explosive on offense. Unfortunately, they were explosive on offense as well, so there's some disappointment there but things we can correct. We will correct. Positives on defense are we held them to three points in the second half. We had the four takeaways again. Those are things we can build on. But I was not happy with the way they split our defense a couple times for big gainers. When you have a good staff, which we do defensively, and you have players that are willing, you can get that fixed. It's going to have to get fixed quick because BYU is a really good football team. "

#correct

During the September 3 episode of Mad Money, Jim Cramer mentioned Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) for its unconventional approach to powering hyperscale data centers in partnership with Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX). He said:
How about Microsoft? Look, Mr. Softee is getting religion. They've realized that by giving us more disclosure on Azure, their cloud infrastructure business, we'll find more things to like. They're right. In the end, I come to praise Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, not bury her. They've been very clever getting power for the data centers, pumping it right out of the Permian. They got this deal with Chevron as a partner… 2.67 gigawatts. No one's talking about it. It's the cleanest behind the meter plan for power I have seen yet. People even, and this is not a stretch, I'm not kidding, people even like Copilot.
CFO Amy Hood provided Wall Street with a much clearer look at actual cloud demand by breaking down detailed Azure growth metrics and data center capacity constraints. At the same time, enterprise adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot is moving past initial trials, with major corporations deploying the AI ***** istant across workforce segments.
A major highlight of the company's infrastructure strategy is a twenty-year agreement with Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) for a proposed 2.67-gigawatt natural gas power plant in West Texas. Designed to supply dedicated off-grid electricity directly to a hyperscale data center in the Permian Basin, the project bypasses regional grid transmission queues to secure reliable power for continuous AI workloads. Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ:MSFT) president of Cloud Operations + Innovation, Noelle Walsh, commented:
Our agreement with Chevron helps ensure we'll have dedicated, large-scale power to support the evolution and reliability of advanced compute. Through this partnership, we're delighted to grow with and become a deeper part of the West Texas community.

#chevron #power #they 've

This story was originally published on Bisnow, the newsroom global commercial real estate reads first. To receive daily news and ***** ysis, subscribe to Bisnow's free suite of newsletters.
Despite office vacancy falling in most major cities, most landlords are still watching their margins shrink a half-decade after tenants embraced remote work.
Median total operating expense growth has exceeded revenue every year from 2021 through 2025, according to a Trepp ***** ysis of office properties backing CMBS loans.
Operating expenses have increased 2.7% annually, compared with a 1.3% growth rate for revenues. Net operating income has been squeezed to just a 0.2% uptick annually as a result.
Overall, the implied five-year growth rate is 14.3% for operating expenses and 6.7% for revenues. NOI was up just 1% during the period, according to Trepp's model.

#year #expenses

Arrow Electronics (ARW) stock has gained about 50% over the past six months and then stopped. It has slipped 1.0% over the past three months and trades roughly 9% below its 52-week high. Underneath the run is a machine that pays owners whether or not the price moves: a shrinking share count. It is shrinking more slowly now, and that changes what you are buying.
How Did Arrow Pay You While Its Profit Went Nowhere?
Over the past three years, Arrow's net income grew 0.7% a year on average while earnings per share grew 4.7% a year on average. Most of that gap is arithmetic: it retired about 3.3% of its shares a year on average, so each surviving share held a bigger claim on the same profit. Owners got a bigger slice for doing nothing.
Arrow returned 69% over those three years, about 19.0% a year, and still trailed the 76% the S&P 500 returned over the same span. The stock was up 85% at its three-year peak before giving some back. Retiring shares was one driver of that, alongside earnings growth and a changing multiple.
Can Arrow Afford A Bigger Buyback?

#Share #owners

If you are looking for yield today, rising interest rates have increased your options. For example, the 30-year Treasury bond's yield is around 5.3% as of this writing. By comparison, the S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is only yielding around 1%. But there are still two big reasons why investors may want to buy a high-yield dividend stock like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), even though its 2.4% yield isn't even close to the 30-year Treasury yield.
A bond is an agreement between the lender and the borrower. The lender provides a fixed amount of cash, while the borrower pays interest at a fixed rate until the loan matures. When the loan matures, the borrower repays the bond's principal. Everything is fixed, and both the value of the interest collected and the bond's principal are slowly eroded by inflation. It doesn't matter that 30-year Treasuries are considered safe because they are backed by the U.S. government. The big inflation risk is still the same.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
If you have a short investment time horizon, inflation may not be a big issue for you. In which case, the 5.3% yield of a 30-year Treasury would probably be more attractive than Coca-Cola's 2.4% yield. However, if you have a long time horizon, Coca-Cola's yield comes with something that a Treasury doesn't: Growth.
Coca-Cola is one of the world's largest consumer staples companies. It has an incredible history of growth, highlighted by 64 annual dividend increases. That makes the company a Dividend King. But think about that for a second, you can collect 30 years of the same income from a bond or 30 years of increasing income from Coca-Cola. Since the start of 1996, roughly 30 years ago, the company's dividend has increased by nearly 750%. That dividend growth was driven by the company's growth, which also led to an over 300% increase in the stock price. If you hold a bond to maturity, all you get back is the principal.

#coca

Jim Cramer sees Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) as a major beneficiary of the disruption surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, as he said during the September 8 episode of Mad Money:
When I wrote How to Make Money in Any Market… I didn't know that Enterprise Products Partners was going to be the, maybe the single biggest pipeline winner in this country thanks to the war. I didn't see that war coming. The CEO of Enterprise, Jim Teague, has raised awareness for the company's profit opportunity because of the Hormuz closing. The margins of some of its liquids, like ethane to ethylene, ethylene to polyethylene, have soared. As Teague says, the Houston Ship Channel is now just as important as the Strait of Hormuz. Now, there's an endorsement. Stock yields 5.8%.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) reported record second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $2.8 billion, up 17% year over year, while operational distributable cash flow reached a record $2.3 billion, up 21%. Moreover, pipeline volumes reached a record 14.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 8%, while marine-terminal volumes increased 33% to 2.8 million barrels per day. Co-Chief Executive Officer James Teague said:
Volumes at our marine terminals have returned to normal levels in June and July after the initial rush to backfill volumes affected by hostilities in the Middle East in April and May.
In July, Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) declared a quarterly distribution of $0.56 per unit, or $2.24 annualized, a 2.8% increase from a year earlier. At EPD's September 8 closing price of $38.83, that equates to a yield of approximately 5.8%. The company has increased its distribution for 27 consecutive years. The company's latest investor materials show $6.5 billion of major capital projects under construction. It expects 2026 organic growth capital spending, net of ***** et-sale proceeds, of $2.9 billion to $3.4 billion. The company retained $1.1 billion of DCF for internally funded growth capital expenditures and buybacks.

#partners #hormuz

Fundstrat's Tom Lee took the Future Proof Citywide stage earlier this year with CNBC's Scott Wapner for a session that landed in the middle of a jittery tape that included geopolitical conflict, oil spiking, private credit cracking, and fresh doubts about AI spending. Not too far off where we find ourselves currently, but with an awful lot of volatility and shifting, uncertain outlooks between these six months. While their conversation was a snapshot in time, you can expect more of this kind of sharp, thoughtful ****** ysis next week.
The contrarian take of the session was oil. High crude, Lee argued, is actually constructive for U.S. equities. With the U.S. as a net exporter, our economic competitors are importers, and stalled global growth pushes investors toward growth stocks, which is about 80% of the U.S. market. On AI CapEx, he pushed back on the sticker shock, claiming roughly $700 billion a year is a fraction of the $60 trillion global labor market and small change against daily moves in gold.
Lee also made the case that software had bottomed at the time, that enterprises building their own tools inherit the maintenance burden software companies exist to carry, and that private credit is genuinely bad but not a GFC repeat, with the real fix being taking private companies public rather than pushing private product into retail portfolios. On crypto, his argument shifted from a perspective of digital gold to one of plumbing whereby Wall Street tokenizes ****** ets, and AI agents needing a settlement rail that handles fractions of a penny.
His parting advice was the oldest one in the book, dressed in new clothes: miss the 10 best days of each year and a 16% average return goes to roughly nothing. Danger and opportunity show up together. Staying invested is the perpetual drumbeat of advisors to their clients, but one that needs banging louder when markets feel much less certain.
Future Proof Festival is September 14–17 in Huntington Beach and includes four days on the boardwalk with advisors, ****** et managers, and fintechs building the modern wealth management industry. Find us at the ETF Oasis and don't miss the stellar agenda we've got lined up.

#find #session #credit #time

Extreme weather is creating a more demanding environment for property owners, insurers, and communities. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the United States recorded 27 confirmed billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2024, resulting in a total cost of $182.7 billion. These events spanned a wide range of extremes, including severe storm events, tropical cyclones, wildfires, drought/heat waves, and winter storm/cold wave events. Over the last decade, ***** ulative losses from these disasters have exceeded $1.4 trillion, driven significantly by population growth, material wealth, and increased development in hazard-prone areas. These figures suggest that the financial consequences of extreme events may increasingly depend on how accurately the value of exposed property is understood before a loss occurs.
That question becomes especially consequential during reconstruction. A 2026 report from Bloomberg, featured in Claims Journal, noted that surveys conducted by United Policyholders since 2007 found an average of two-thirds of wildfire survivors reporting that they were underinsured, with an average shortfall of $200,000 or more. The Insurance Information Institute has similarly estimated that two-thirds of American homeowners may be underinsured for wildfire losses, typically by about 20%, and in some cases by as much as 60%. These findings illustrate how the presence of an insurance policy can still leave a substantial difference between available coverage and the resources required to rebuild, particularly when construction costs rise after a catastrophe.
The financial implications can extend across the broader insurance ecosystem. Aon's 2026 Climate and Catastrophe Insight reported approximately $260 billion in global economic losses from natural catastrophes during 2025, compared with $127 billion in insured losses. For property stakeholders, such a figure may place greater attention on the relationship between the value ***** igned to an ***** et, the cost of restoring it, and the capital available when a loss occurs.
Frequency can add another layer to that calculation. Data from NCEI indicate that the average interval between U.S. billion-dollar disaster events was approximately 16 days during 2020–2024, compared with 82 days during the 1980s. NCEI notes that shorter intervals can leave less time and fewer resources for response, recovery, and preparation for subsequent events. As the time between major events contracts, property valuations may require more frequent attention because construction costs, labor conditions, materials, and local economic circumstances can change between policy reviews.

#property #losses #insurance #information

Interested in Intuitive Surgical, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better.
Global procedure growth remains intact despite a recent U.S. slowdown and Affordable Care Act-related uncertainty; Intuitive Surgical maintained its 13.5%–15.5% global procedure-growth outlook, expecting results near the midpoint.
Ambulatory surgery centers and international markets remain important expansion opportunities, with second-quarter system placements rising in the U.S. and abroad. However, China remains pressured by local competition and slower tenders, with improved visibility not expected until 2027.
Future growth could come from da Vinci 5 upgrades, Force Feedback instruments, new procedures and sites of care, and AI services such as Case Insights. The company also reported strong financial performance, including 21% revenue growth and operating and free-cash-flow margins above historical averages.
This AI ETF Is Missing the Biggest AI Winners

#affordable

Toward the end of the lightning round on September 8, when a caller inquired about AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN), Mad Money host Jim Cramer commented:
Alright, now, AstraZeneca reminds me of a company, it's not unlike Novartis. I'm a little nervous about it. It's been missing some of its trials. I don't think COPD is enough to change my mind… I am not going to put my money on AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN) maintains a solid financial foundation supported by steady top-line growth and disciplined cost management. In its second-quarter report, the company generated total revenue of $15.38 billion, marking a 6.4% increase compared to the same period last year. Adjusted earnings per share reached $2.63, outperforming ****** yst consensus estimates.
The profitability was driven by strong global demand for core oncology and rare disease treatments, which successfully offset revenue headwinds from generic competition affecting older blockbusters like Farxiga and Brilinta. With a net margin hovering around 17.02% and management reiterating its full-year guidance for mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth along with low double-digit core EPS expansion, the core business continues to demonstrate commercial resilience.
The primary driver behind the skepticism could be based on tangible execution risks and regulatory hurdles that threaten AstraZeneca PLC's (NYSE:AZN) long-term top line. A significant blow to the rare disease division came when anselamimab failed to achieve statistical significance for the primary endpoint in the overall AL amyloidosis population in the Phase III CARES program, although AstraZeneca reported encouraging results in a prespecified subgroup of patients with kappa light-chain amyloidosis.

#management

Investors seeking exposure to artificial intelligence infrastructure must weigh the explosive growth of Astera Labs Inc (NASDAQ:ALAB) against the established scale and diverse portfolio of Marvell Technology Inc(NASDAQ:MRVL) to determine the better buy.
Both companies focus on the plumbing of the digital world, ensuring data moves quickly between processors and memory. While Astera Labs focuses on specialized connectivity for AI racks, Marvell offers a broader range of networking, storage, and custom compute solutions. This comparison explores which strategy offers more potential for long-term investors.
Astera Labs designs connectivity solutions that integrate various protocols to support rack-scale AI infrastructure, a high-growth niche among semiconductor stocks. The company serves major hyperscalers and equipment manufacturers who need to overcome data bottlenecks in massive data centers, though its revenue is highly concentrated. In 2025, one end customer -- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- accounted for over 70% of revenue, which adds a significant layer of risk to the business model.
According to its latest annual report, filed for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2025, revenue reached close to $853 million, representing a significant jump of 115% compared with the prior fiscal year. This growth trajectory helped the company transition to a net income of just over $219 million after recording losses in the previous two years. The net margin for the latest year was close to 26%.
As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was 0.0x, meaning the company carries no debt relative to its shareholder equity, while the so-called current ratio was 10.2x. Free cash flow for the period reached nearly $282 million. Note that stock-based compensation (SBC) represented roughly 50.1% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since SBC is a non-cash expense added back in the cash flow statement.

#company #million

Salesforce (CRM) trades at 20.6 times earnings, below the S&P 500 median of 22.6, after losing 2.8% over the past twelve months while the index gained 17.9%. A profitable software company priced under the market is the setup value buyers wait for. The question is whether that is a good business on sale or a fair price for a legacy platform facing disintermediation from next-generation AI architectures.
Salesforce sells the customer relationship software that companies run their sales and service teams on, and it owns Slack. Deutsche Telekom and FIFA both expanded their AI spending with Salesforce in fiscal Q2 2027. Revenue over the trailing twelve months was $43.94 billion, up 11.2%. The three-year average revenue growth rate is 9.9% a year—ahead of the S&P 500 median of 8.3%—making the last twelve months the faster of the two.
Free cash flow over the same window was $15.15 billion, a 7.6% yield on the market value. Operating margin over those twelve months is 21.5% against an S&P 500 median of 18.6%, and the margin did not thin against the year before.
Free cash flow in fiscal Q2 2027 was $1.1 billion, up 81% from a year earlier. That is one quarter. For the whole of fiscal 2027 management guides free cash flow growth of 4% to 5%, against revenue guided up 11% to 12%, so cash is set to grow at less than half the pace of the top line.
License revenue is a headwind and integration and ******* ytics revenue is volatile, management says, though both only partially offset growth in the newer lines. Near $243, the stock is just 8% off its 52-week high, though it remains about 33% below its two-year peak of $363.22: while the recent rally closed the immediate valuation gap, the longer-term discount reflects that structural hesitation hasn't fully cleared.

#cash #billion

High-performance computing is currently undergoing a massive generational shift. Deciding between Astera Labs Inc (NASDAQ:ALAB) and Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) means choosing between a fast-growing connectivity specialist and an established ******* an of manufacturing equipment.
Astera Labs focuses on the internal plumbing of data centers, providing chips that move data between processors. Applied Materials builds the actual machines that make those chips possible. While both benefit from artificial intelligence, they occupy very different rungs on the technology ladder.
Astera Labs sells high-speed connectivity hardware and software designed for AI-heavy data centers. Its primary products include PCIe and Ethernet solutions that help hyperscale cloud providers manage massive data workloads. In its latest annual report, filed for the period ending December 31, 2025, the company noted that one end customer represented more than 70% of its revenue. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.
In FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $853 million, which is an increase of approximately 115% over the prior year. This growth resulted in a net income of roughly $219 million, compared to a net loss in the previous fiscal year. The company recorded a net margin of close to 26% during this period. Such expansion is notable among semiconductor stocks catering to the cloud market.
The company carries no debt, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.0x. This metric compares total debt to shareholder equity to show how a firm finances its ******* ets. As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the so-called current ratio was nearly 10.2x, indicating a strong ability to cover short-term debts. Free cash flow was roughly $282 million. Note that stock-based compensation represented just about 50% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since SBC is a non-cash expense added back in the cash flow statement.

#million #flow #NASDAQ

Navan Inc. (NASDAQ:NAVN), a global AI-enabled business travel and expense management solutions provider, announced its second quarter results on September 9. The company registered a 45% growth in its gross booking volume (GBV), which reached more than $3 billion. Such growth was fueled by cohort expansion, customer additions and increase in its existing install base. Total revenue for the quarter was $233 million, representing a 35% year-over-year jump. The company's adjusted operating income more than doubled compared to Q2 FY26, and the quarter also saw positive cash flow generation.
Copyright: kentoh / 123RF Stock Photo
Navan delivered robust performance during the recently concluded quarter, driven by a 35% increase in usage revenue which clocked in at $211 million. Subscription revenue was also up 39%, reaching $21 million. Apart from the 45% GBV expansion, a 34% growth was witnessed in Q2 Payment Volume which stood at $1.3 billion. One of the highlights of this quarter was a turnaround in adjusted net income, which jumped from an $8 million loss in Q2 FY26 to a $14 million profit for the reported period.
Enterprise market momentum remained persistent during the period, as the company established partnerships with leading names such as Evotec, Enbridge, ****** mins, and Ingersoll Rand. Significant progress was made around the Navan's proprietary AI agent, Ava, which managed roughly 60% of the total customer interactions. More than 50% of AI calls are now being managed through the company's in-house AI models, compared to 30% for the previous quarter.
Additionally, the company finalized its acquisition of a leading travel management business, Smartrips. This will enable Navan to expand its presence within the swiftly expanding Latin American market. Navan also acquired an AI-led meetings and events management platform, BoomPop.

#volume

CrowdStrike (CRWD) stock rose about 97% over the past year, against 18% for the S&P 500, as growth in the recurring revenue it adds each quarter sped up. Management was forecasting that speed-up by March 2025 and named one mechanism: Falcon Flex customers using up their contracts early and coming back for more. The direction was public. The size of the fiscal 2027 speed-up was not.
How Early Did CrowdStrike Forecast The Speed-Up?
The earliest sign came with the fiscal Q4 2025 report in March 2025. After its July 19 outage, CrowdStrike had given affected clients customer commitment packages, mostly extra product and Falcon Flex subscriptions. The CEO said that uptake underpinned an expected speed-up in net new annual recurring revenue (ARR) in the second half of fiscal 2026. He added that Flex demand plans were running ahead of schedule and expected contracts to be upsized and renewed. The CFO expected more acceleration in fiscal 2027.
The fiscal Q1 2026 report in early June 2025 put numbers on the mechanism: 39 Flex customers had deployed initial plans signed for 35 months on average and came back for more within five months, a step the company calls a reflex.
What Could You See Just Before The Run Began?

#speed #crowdstrike

SCHD returned 28.99% through Sept. 1 versus 12.31% for SPY, despite owning none of the Magnificent Seven stocks that dominated market performance in previous years.
SCHD's dividend methodology doubles as a quality and value screen, ranking companies using free cash flow relative to debt, return on equity, dividend yield, and five-year dividend growth.
With only 8% overlap by weight with SPY, a 0.06% expense ratio, and a 3.15% 30-day SEC yield, SCHD provides a relatively inexpensive way to diversify away from the S&P 500's growth and technology concentration.
Just released. Our ***** ysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
Investors have spent much of 2026 talking about a potential style rotation. Large-cap growth stocks are still positive year to date, but their leadership has weakened as small-cap and, increasingly, value stocks have taken over more of the market's momentum.

#Dividend #market

As artificial intelligence matures, investors must decide between the high-growth niche players and the foundational giants. Choosing between Astera Labs Inc (NASDAQ:ALAB) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM) involves weighing explosive potential against established dominance.
Astera Labs provides the critical connectivity infrastructure that allows AI chips to communicate within data centers. Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing operates as the world's largest dedicated chip foundry, producing the actual processors for almost every major tech firm. Both companies are central to the future of semiconductor stocks.
Astera Labs specializes in connectivity solutions designed to remove bottlenecks in high-performance data centers. The company sells hardware and software that helps AI accelerators, such as those made by major chip designers, communicate efficiently across servers. Its customer base is highly concentrated, primarily consisting of the largest cloud providers and system manufacturers. In 2025, one end customer accounted for over 70% of total revenue. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.
In FY 2025, revenue reached more than $852.5 million, representing an impressive increase of roughly 115% compared to the prior year. This rapid growth helped the company pivot from a loss in previous years to a net income of approximately $219 million. The net margin, which measures how much of each dollar of sales remains as profit, stood at nearly 26%. This trajectory highlights the surging demand for the specialized connectivity chips required for large-scale AI deployments.
As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the company reported a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.0x, indicating it holds no debt relative to its shareholder equity. Its so-called current ratio, which compares short-term ******* ets to short-term liabilities, was a robust 10.2x. Free cash flow, or the cash left over after paying for operations and equipment, was approximately $282 million. Note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 50% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since this is a non-cash expense added back in the cash flow statement.

#company

The Cooper Companies Inc. (NASDAQ:COO), a leading medical device company, announced its third quarter fiscal 2026 results on September 9. Topline went up 1% to $1.066 billion in comparison with the same quarter last year, which also included 1% organic growth. The company posted quarterly adjusted diluted EPS of $1.15, which represented a 4% jump from Q3 FY25. During the quarter, $339.1 million was spent on repurchasing around 4.9 million of the company's common shares. This leaves management with $1.5 billion of repurchase capacity, which remains available after the Board had raised its buyback authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion.
The quarter featured several encouraging highlights. These include earnings that exceeded projections, notable growth across the fertility segment within CooperSurgical, record free cash flow generation, and a major tax resolution in the company's favor.
GAAP gross margin went up from 65% in Q3 FY25 to 67% during the recent quarter, largely reflecting the comparison against fiscal 2025 inventory write-downs tied to a CooperSurgical product line exit. Adjusted operating margin improved by 30 basis points to 26%, supported by cost discipline and productivity gains, though partly offset by currency headwinds.
Interest expense fell to $21.5 million from $25.4 million a year prior, reflecting lower rates and reduced average debt. Free cash flow surged 66% to $273.0 million, driven by $341.7 million in operating cash flow less $68.7 million in capital spending.
Due to unfavorable currency movements and rising manufacturing costs, the Q3 gross margin settled at 67% on adjusted basis. This was a 60 basis point drop from Q3 FY25. Certain areas of the business grant caution, such as the CooperVision segment. It generated flat organic growth amid notable weakness across the Asia Pacific and Americas regions.

#billion #cash

Interested in Lam Research Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better.
Lam Research raised its 2026 wafer-fabrication equipment spending outlook to the low-$150 billion range from $135 billion-$140 billion, driven by sustained AI demand and expectations for eight to 10 new leading-edge fabs through 2027.
AI hardware is increasing equipment intensity, while advanced chip designs and packaging are expanding Lam's addressable market. The company cited growing opportunities in gate-all-around transistors, backside power delivery, advanced packaging and dry-resist technology.
Lam is accelerating capacity expansion, including a second Malaysia facility, as clean-room availability and supply-chain capacity constrain the industry. The company also expects NAND upgrades to accelerate, while targeting mid-50% gross margins and reporting record customer-support revenue.
From High Dividend Growth to High Yield, These 3 Stocks Just Boosted Dividend Payouts

#billion #Research #equipment #advanced

Updated Sept 11, 2026, 1:55 pm EDT / Original Sept 11, 2026, 7:30 am EDT
The grocery giant now expects same-store sales excluding fuel to rise between 0.2% and 0.8% for the fiscal year, down from a prior range of 1% to 2% growth. The new guidance includes a hit of roughly 140 basis points tied to the Inflation Reduction Act, which ⁠lowered prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and impacted pharmacy revenue. Management separately reaffirmed its earnings guidance of $5.10 to $5.30 a share for the fiscal year.
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#inflation #medicare

SailPoint Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIL), a leading player within the enterprise identity security ***** e, released its fiscal second-quarter 2027 on September 9. The company registered a 25% growth in its annual recurring revenue compared to the same period last year, with figures of $1.231 billion. This was driven by a 36% expansion in SaaS ARR which clocked in at $847 million. SailPoint generated $45 million in operating cash flow during the quarter, along with $37 million in free cash flow.
Burben/Shutterstock.com
Topline for the quarter hit $309 million, exhibiting 17% growth compared to Q2 FY26, amid several underlying factors. The company's subscription revenue reached $295 million, up 19% from a year earlier. SaaS customer base increased by 16%, with net new SaaS ARR jumping 34% year-over-year. It contributed around 97% to overall net new ARR for the business, with AI-driven ARR crossing $70 million mark.
SailPoint's existing customer base showed highly encouraging trends in adopting the company's AI-enabled solutions, with a 60% increase in their annual spend during the second quarter. These solutions were incorporated within more than two-thirds of the completed migrations during the quarter. Quarterly adjusted operating income increased from $54 million a year prior to $63 million, translating into an adjusted margin of 20%.
The quarter also saw key strategic moves by the management. It introduced the SailPoint Identity Security solution, which integrates SailPoint Agentic Fabric with SailPoint Human Fabric to deliver a real-time cycle for discovering and securing intricate digital ecosystems. The company also launched its Cursor Enterprise connector, which enables enterprises to manage both autonomous AI agents and human developers through an integrated control plane.

#year #SaaS #fabric #identity

On September 9, AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) revealed its Q1 FY27 results, posting its highest ever first quarter revenue. Topline figure of $480.5 million marked a 6% year-over-year growth, fueled by a $15.5 million jump in product sales and a $10.3 million expansion of service revenue. The company reported a book-to-bill ratio of 1.4, after total bookings for the quarter came in at $0.7 billion. Let's explore the underlying drivers of AeroVironment's impressive first quarter print.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
The first quarter record topline figure reflects on strength across the underlying business lines. The Autonomous Systems (AxS) and the ***** e, Cyber and Directed Energy (SCDE) segments contributed $346 million and $134.5 million to the total revenue, respectively. The overall gross profit jumped 31% during the quarter to $124.6 million. This pushed gross margin to 26% from 21% posted a year earlier.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the first quarter almost doubled, from $0.32 in the same period last year to of $0.59 in the recently concluded quarter. The company also increased its funded backlog, which clocked in at $1.5 billion, compared to $1.2 billion recorded on April 30.
With a strong backlog position and landmark strategic wins, management upheld its full-year guidance, with topline figures estimated to land between $2.125 billion and $2.225 billion. It has forecasted an adjusted EBITDA ranging from $305 million to $325 million, along with diluted EPS between $3.02 and $3.34 on adjusted basis.

#million #quarter #billion #first

Qualcomm (QCOM) grew revenue just 1.9% over the last twelve months, against a compound pace of about 6.2% a year over five years and 4.5% over three. The quarterly path is worse. Across the last four quarters, year-over-year growth slid from 10.0% to 5.0%, then to declines of 3.5% and 4.0%. That turn to shrinking quarterly sales is the risk to weigh.
Phones Still Bring In About Half The Sales
In fiscal Q3 2026, handset chip revenue was $5.1 billion, about half of the $9.9 billion total. The CEO says unprecedented memory prices, plus supply shortages driven by data center demand, are pulling revenue down across mobile and consumer electronics. Management puts the net effect at a 20% drop in its Android chip revenue in 2026 from 2025.
And Apple Revenue Is Exiting Faster Than Planned
Apple is the second drag. Citing its own supply constraints, Qualcomm said on its fiscal Q3 2026 call that it expects materially lower share in new iPhone launches than its prior 20% estimate. An ****** yst put fiscal 2026 Apple product revenue at about $7.5 billion, and management called that a fair range.

#revenue #Apple #fiscal #management

To summarize my investment approach, I prefer to buy companies with long histories of dividend increases and historically high yields. Those two traits don't come around all that often, and sometimes I find clusters of stocks in specific sectors. I need to think specifically about diversification, one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce risk. Here's how I've done it as I've built my portfolio of around 34 investments.
The Motley Fool recommends that investors own 50 stocks. That's a perfectly fine number, but also a lot of work. And just owning 50 stocks doesn't actually mean you are diversified. You could own 50 technology stocks, for example, which would leave you with exposure to just a single sector. That's not diversification. Diversification is really about owning a reasonable number of investments across a wide range of sectors and ****** et classes.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
My first step toward diversification was to take an honest look at what I want to achieve and what I'm capable of. My goal is a mixture of income and capital appreciation. I am fairly confident in my ability to select dividend stocks, though every investor makes mistakes from time to time, and I know I can only juggle so many stocks at once. In other words, 50 stocks are too many for me, so a core part of my diversification strategy is to outsource some of my work.
For example, I own two Baron mutual funds to gain exposure to growth stocks and smaller companies. I own several closed-end funds: one focused on healthcare stocks with an option income overlay, one investing in convertible securities, and one with a broadly diversified dividend portfolio. And I own three exchange-traded funds: one with an option income focus and two that use very different screening approaches to pick dividend stocks.

#Diversification #funds

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) is entering its fiscal 2027 with strong momentum, particularly in next-generation security. But investors now demand more from the cybersecurity company after its stock rallied sharply.
On September 7, PhillipCapital downgraded Palo Alto stock to Neutral from Accumulate but raised the price target to $346 from $320.
PhillipCapital's move captures the central investment debate. It's that Palo Alto's opportunities are compelling, but the stock's roughly 160% rise from its February low to its August peak has raised the bar for further gains.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)'s revenue rose 34% YoY to $3.4 billion in fiscal 2026 fourth quarter. More importantly, Next-Generation Security ARR (NGS ARR) surged 63% to $9.10 billion. The company added nearly $1 billion of net new NGS ARR in the quarter. The company targets $20 billion in NGS ARR by fiscal 2030, as it expects platformization and AI infrastructure investment to continue driving growth.
More than 65% of Palo Alto's NGS ARR comes from platformized customers. Meanwhile, AI is expanding the addressable market. As enterprises deploy agents, Palo Alto offerings such as Prisma AIRS and Cortex, alongside CyberArk's identity-security platform, can address emerging needs.

#palo #company #NASDAQ #PANW

Interested in American Tower Corporation? Here are five stocks we like better.
2026 is expected to be American Tower's organic growth trough, with tenant billings growth projected to accelerate in 2027 as Dish Network churn fades and carrier network investment improves.
Future demand could be supported by 5G capacity expansion, higher-band spectrum, AI-driven uplink traffic and eventual 6G deployments. CoreSite's data-center business is also benefiting from rising bandwidth and cloud-interconnection demand.
American Tower is targeting 200–300 basis points of tower-business margin expansion and mid- to upper-mid-single-digit long-term AFFO-per-share growth, while Dish litigation and a Mexico arbitration could provide additional upside if resolved favorably.
AST ****** eMobile Looks to Extend Its 30-Day FCC Satellite Testing Window

#Growth #expansion #interested

On September 10, Piper Sandler **** yst Bill Carcache initiated coverage of Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO), giving the stock an Overweight rating and setting the price target at $82.
The research firm started coverage on companies in the payments and consumer finance group and named Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO) as its preferred name in the sector.
According to Piper Sandler, the company offers the "clearest combination" of subscription revenue growth, visibility into annual recurring revenue, and improving free cash flow conversion. The firm also highlighted the company's growing margins and debt-free balance sheet. Piper Sandler said these factors support what it sees as the clearest path toward durable growth among the payments and consumer finance group.
Q2 Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:QTWO) delivered strong financial performance in Q2 2026. The company reported revenue of $219.8 million, an increase of 13% year-over-year and 2% sequentially. GAAP gross margin improved to 59.2% from 53.6% in the prior-year quarter, while GAAP net income rose to $29.9 million from $11.8 million.
Adjusted EBITDA reached a record $62.8 million, up 37% year-over-year. The company said it delivered another quarter of consistent execution, with strong bookings across its solutions.

#year #NYSE #revenue

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) has raised its quarterly dividend by 3.8% to $0.54 per share. That brings the annualized payout at $2.16 and the yield at 3.5%.
For income-focused investors, the increase adds to the bank's appeal. But the more important point is what supports the higher payout.
U.S. Bancorp enters the second half of 2026 on firm footing. The bank's latest results show accelerating earnings, strong loan growth, and a solid capital position.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)'s revenue increased 10% YoY in Q2 to a record $7.7 billion. Net interest margin jumped to 2.79%, up from 2.66% a year ago. That helped push the net income attributable to the bank up 20% to $2.18 billion. Diluted EPS rose 21.6% to $1.35.
The bank's balance sheet also continued to expand. Average loans increased 7.1% to $405.5 billion, supported by strong commercial, commercial real estate and credit card lending activity. Average deposits increased 2.4% to $515.1 billion, providing low-cost funding for the loan growth.

#Growth