On September 17, Ferrari N.V. (NYSE:RACE) announced a partnership with the technology company Rakuten Group, Inc., effective January 1, 2027. The announcement gives no scope and no price tag, so it works better as a signal than as a number. The real substance sits in the results Ferrari posted on July 30, when it raised its 2026 guidance because buyers are ordering more personalization than the company expected.
In the second quarter, revenue rose 8%, but operating profit rose 10%, which means each euro of sales is leaving more behind. Ferrari credits a richer mix of cars, with the F80 helping, along with more buyers paying up for personalization. Strip out currency swings, and the gap widens, with revenue up 11% and operating profit up 16%. Deliveries of the Purosangue and the 296 Speciale family grew even in the middle of a planned model changeover.
Cash and demand back that up. Industrial free cash flow jumped 39% to €276 million, and Ferrari also returned more than €800 million to shareholders through a dividend and buybacks. Racing helped too, as higher sponsorships and engine rentals to other Formula 1 teams lifted revenue. Meanwhile, the order book covers 2027 in full, and the new 12Cilindri Manuale is already fully allocated, which is about as strong a demand signal as a carmaker can send. Those trends are why revenue guidance moved up to about €7.60 billion from about €7.50 billion.
Part of the strength is timing. Operating profit got a boost from temporarily lower depreciation and amortization while Ferrari swaps out models, and the company says those charges will climb once the new cars enter production. Net profit also leaned on a 23.0% tax rate, which reflects an estimated benefit from the new Patent Box. Neither says much about how profitable the cars themselves are.
Costs are climbing too. Higher industrial and marketing expenses weighed on operating profit, EBITDA margin slipped to 39.0% from 39.7% a year earlier, and management expects heavier brand, racing and digital spending for the year. Currency is a drag as well, mostly from the dollar and the yen, which is why 11% growth at constant currency shrank to 8% as reported. Deliveries totaled 3,366 cars while the 296 GTS, Roma Spider and SF90 XX family wound down, and sponsorship, commercial and brand revenue grew just 2%. And the whole outlook leans on current visibility into the Middle East crisis, which Ferrari cannot control.

#Ferrari

On September 16, IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) announced it had bought CoVetAI, a fast-growing veterinary software company whose tool listens during appointments and organizes what gets said and done. It sounds like a productivity gadget. But IDEXX is pitching it as a way to put the right patient details in front of a vet at the moment they decide what to test. The price was not disclosed, so the strategy is the story.
Start with the customer base IDEXX already has. More than 10,000 clinics worldwide run on its cloud practice software, and CoVet will plug into that system, including a link to IDEXX VetConnect PLUS. That hands a new product a ready audience. CoVet also works with practice systems IDEXX does not make, and IDEXX plans to keep supporting rival scribes, so the tool can reach clinics and regions the company does not serve today.
Then there is the engine this could feed. On August 4, IDEXX reported second-quarter revenue growth of 10%, and its recurring diagnostics business grew 11%, powered by higher volumes. That says vets are already running more tests, which is the behavior a smarter workflow tool is meant to encourage. The company also placed more than 1,600 inVue Dx ****** yzers in the quarter, lifting the installed base past 9,000, and it counts that instrument among its AI-driven products. Software and hardware are pointing in the same direction.
The biggest problem is what we can't see. Without deal terms, there is no way to judge what IDEXX paid or how much CoVet matters to earnings. And the company describes the payoff in future tense, saying these capabilities can raise diagnostic use over time. That is a hope, not a result yet. CoVet's openness to other systems cuts both ways too. It widens reach, but it also means a clinic can use CoVet without going deeper into IDEXX's ecosystem.
The second quarter also needs a careful read. Earnings per share rose 18%, but that included tax benefits from stock-based pay and a currency boost, and growth on a comparable basis was 15%. Some of the gain, in other words, did not come from selling more to vets. IDEXX also says it is spending more on commercial and innovation priorities, so its higher full-year earnings outlook comes with added costs attached.

#company #software #earnings #already

Bloomberg reported on August 25, 2026, that BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) cut the minimum size for converting large Bitcoin holdings directly into shares of its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF to $1 million in July, down from $25 million when the in-kind conversion process first became available. The fund has facilitated more than $5 billion of these conversions, up from more than $3 billion when Bloomberg first reported on the trend in October, according to Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital ******* ets. The process, which can take more than a week, lets holders move Bitcoin from private wallets into a regulated fund structure while retaining price exposure. Mitchnick said "kidnappings, ransom demands, and custody failures" motivate some holders to make the switch. Rival issuer Bitwise has cut its own minimum even further, from $100 million to $3 million, Bloomberg reported.
This is a fast-scaling new source of fee-generating ******* ets for BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK). The $5 billion processed through IBIT is up from $3 billion just months earlier. It shows accelerating adoption of a service that pulls previously self-custodied Bitcoin wealth directly into BlackRock's ******* et base rather than competing for ******* ets already inside the traditional financial system.
Cutting the minimum by 96% meaningfully widens who can use the service. Dropping the threshold from $25 million to $1 million brings the option within reach of family offices and wealthy individual holders, rather than limiting it to the largest Bitcoin holders. That gives BlackRock access to a substantially larger pool of potential conversions as the practice becomes more common.
IBIT's scale gives it a head start in capturing this migration. The fund already holds roughly 3.645% of Bitcoin's total supply and lists net ******* ets of $60.65 billion. It is scale advantage that likely makes it the default destination for holders deciding where to move their coins, reinforcing BlackRock's position as conversions boost industry-wide.
The process remains manual and slow despite the lower headline minimum. Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said the conversion process industry-wide is "still bespoke, from introducing a client to a market maker to working with the adviser, but it's becoming more standardized," and Mitchnick himself said conversions can take more than a week. That means BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has not yet turned this into a fully automated, scalable pipeline even as it markets lower minimums to a broader audience.

#blackrock #billion #minimum

(Widens distribution)
By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall
DUBAI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources said.
Washington has in recent weeks sought to ratchet up the economic pressure on Tehran, in an effort to extract concessions in any future negotiation that six months ‌of conflict have so far failed to secure.
Although Iran's clerical rulers managed to bypass sanctions for decades, the latest U.S. moves have left them in a far more sensitive position, with few remaining ‌channels to secure foreign currency or buy goods, the sources said.

#widens

STATE COLLEGE — The scar runs maybe nine inches down the middle of his chest.
Penn State football quarterback Alex Manske says, truly enough, that he doesn't think about it much. Not when he's running and throwing, like he was during another steamy morning preseason practice this week.
Not when he's constantly studying film and learning from former Iowa State teammate and starting QB Rocco Becht, and his trusted head coach Matt Campbell and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser.
No matter that the uber-talented redshirt freshman underwent a startling open-heart surgery just five months ago — and appears to be fully recovered and ready for the 2026 season in a couple of weeks, stunningly enough.
His potentially life-altering defect, Manske said, was found during a Penn State-mandated echocardiogram that he and fellow newcomers to the program underwent this past winter. He said he was not aware of any symptoms from his dilated aortic root issue − where the section of the aorta that connects to the heart widens abnormally, increasing the risk of a life-threatening tear or rupture.

#state #alex

By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Monday as investors eyed developments in the Iran war, while the pound fell from earlier highs as markets prepared for new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Yemen's Iran-aligned ‌Houthis said they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that opens a new front against the ‌United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
Crude prices came off their initial move higher, however, as Tehran and Washington signaled they wanted to resume diplomacy.
U.S. crude was up just 0.01% at $82.50 a barrel and Brent rose to $88.17 per barrel, up 0.08% on the day, after earlier hitting their highest levels in more than a month.

Management now champions a new portfolio of 'growth engines,' but the story they quietly shelved was powered by a flagship product whose once-explosive growth has started to cool.
For Intuit (INTU) investors, the new story is loud and clear: the company is firing on all cylinders with a set of "growth engines" all expanding at a blistering pace, "north of 30%." It's a compelling narrative for a stock that has badly lagged the market. But the real signal for a long-term holder isn't what's being amplified, it's what has gone quiet. Just over a year ago, the company's identity was wrapped in a different, singular mission. And the silence that has settled over that old story tells you more about where the real risks and dependencies now lie.
Not long ago, you couldn't get through an Intuit presentation without hearing about the revolution in "done-for-you experiences." This was the core strategy. As recently as a few quarters ago, management was consistently "making progress delivering done-for-you experiences," a concept powered by its AI ***** istant and embodied by its star product, TurboTax Live. The results were spectacular, with the company reporting a stunning "47% growth in TurboTax Live revenue" in that period. It was the undisputed hero of the growth story.
But listen to the latest call, and that specific drumbeat has faded. The "done-for-you" framing is largely gone, replaced by talk of "AI agents" and "autonomous execution." While the underlying business is still there, the narrative emphasis has decisively moved on.
The new headline act is a broader, more diversified portfolio. Management now points to four key areas as the company's future: "Assisted tax, money, portfolio and mid market, all growing north of 30%." This is a classic and often smart strategic pivot, shifting the spotlight from one high-performing product to a basket of them. It spreads the risk and widens the story.

There aren’t many college programs on the kind of recruiting heater Texas A&M is riding right now. Every time another school lands a major commitment and threatens to close the gap, the Aggies answer with a heavyweight pledge of their own, and the latest addition only widens the margin.
With the commitment of five-star Eric McFarland, head coach Mike Elko now holds eight top‑50 recruits in the 2027 class. Outside Aggieland, the predictable chatter has resurfaced: “Remember the Jimbo era.” But this cycle doesn’t just feel different, it’s being directly addressed by the recruits themselves, including five-star linebacker and Aggie commit Kaden Henderson.
“I know a lot of people want to think, ‘Oh, this is like the Jimbo (Fisher) class.’ I think it’s completely different. I think this is a class that’s going to stick,”
Of course, no ink has hit paper yet, and flip season hasn’t even begun. And while the Aggie staff has been elite on the trail coming off a historic season, a disappointing fall, especially with similar NIL packages in play, could complicate the finish. That bridge will be crossed when the time comes.
For now, the good guys in Maroon and White sit firmly atop the mountain. Every challenge has been met with an answer. Every push from another contender has been countered with a bigger swing. As June closes, Texas A&M is not just leading the 2027 cycle, they’re defining it.

Tender acceptance rates have long signaled stress in the truckload market — but until now, users had no direct index tracking the volume of freight that actually cleared that process and moved.
SONAR's new Accepted SONAR Truckload Volume Index (ASTVI) fills that gap. The dataset family isolates accepted truckload demand by stripping out rejection activity, giving a cleaner read on what's actually flowing through the market versus what was simply offered.
The index is available at the national, regional, and market levels and updates daily. It covers total accepted volume, van, and reefer — with week-over-week, month-over-month, and year-over-year change metrics for each.
The distinction between tendered and accepted freight is especially meaningful in soft market conditions, when routing guide compliance deteriorates and the spread between offered and accepted loads widens. ASTVI gives brokers, carriers, shippers, and ****** ysts a direct view of that spread without having to manually back into it from multiple indices.
ASTVI is available now to SONAR subscribers, access a pre-made dashboard here. Full ticker documentation is available in SONAR's Knolwdege Center.

Strategy Bitcoin Bet Grows With Preferred Stock As Valuation Gap Widens

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Strategy Inc. (NasdaqGS:MSTR) acquired more than 22,000 BTC in a single week, its largest Bitcoin purchase of the year.
The company funded the move primarily through preferred stock and common equity, using high yielding, variable rate preferred shares (STRC).
This latest purchase lifts Strategy's total Bitcoin holdings above 761,000 BTC and puts it close to potentially surpassing BlackRock as the larges