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The Great British Bake Off judges Dame Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood have opened up about their judging roles on the popular Channel 4 show and how they’re perceived by viewers

Prue Leith has leapt to the defence of her fellow judge, Paul Hollywood, over his so-called “horrible” image on The Great British Bake Off. Speaking from the iconic tent at Welford Park in Berkshire, the Bake Off judges shed light on their roles and how they’re seen by fans of the Channel 4 programme.

Prue, a South African-born restaurateur, pointed out that they’re perceived quite differently by the public, with her being seen as “kind” and Paul as “horrible”, but when it comes down to the brass tacks of scoring, they’re pretty similar.

The chef disclosed that their chat about the bakes in Cake Corner is generally to “inform and remind” the viewers, as, in reality, Prue and Paul could “do it in two seconds”.

Prue told Radio Times magazine: “The audience often say that I’m kind and Paul’s horrible, but if you look at our scores out of 10, we’re never more than one point apart. I think I’ve given one 10 in nine years… I can’t remember to who though!”.

She continued: “I used to say, ‘It’s not worth the calories’. That is my absolute judgment about any baking, because you know it’s full of fat and sugar, so: ‘Do I really want to eat this? Am I prepared to get fat?'”

However, it appears Prue had a change of heart regarding this particular remark, as people would say they “felt judged” for enjoying cake and thought she was being “fattist”.

Paul stated: “I’ve never given a 10, only a 9.5. A handshake is very close to a 10. These are amateur bakers, but if they get a handshake from me, it means it’s very professional.”

Prue added that Paul often claims he won’t be giving out any handshakes, but inevitably his hand will “come out” when a bake is so impressive that he “can’t resist”. She also mentioned the idea of her own version, the “Prue pat”.

In other developments, Paul, who has been on the show since 2010, reportedly showed a different side away from the cameras. Briony May Williams, who came fourth in the 2018 series, broke down in tears when “every element” of her showstopper went awry.

On the show, the chef labelled her creation “a disaster” as she “overcooked” the mirror glaze and was unfortunately left with uncooked pastry. However, Paul’s off-camera actions revealed a gentler side.

She disclosed: “I never got a [Paul Hollywood] handshake. I did, however, get a Hollywood hug off-camera when I was really upset about my cake on Cake Week, my showstopper, because it was really bad.

“I was upset, I was sat on my bench crying and I realised someone was stood behind me and I turned around and it was Paul.

“He gave me a really big hug and he said, ‘It’s okay it’s only a f*****g cake’. And yeah, that just really made me laugh.”

You can catch The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice on Channel 4 on Friday, October 24, from 8pm to 9pm.

The word on Rohl is wholly positive, though. Players talk at length about his many strengths. Barry Bannan says he’s the best manager he’s ever played for.

It’s not the same, but he has operated successfully in a demanding regime before. In Sheffield, before he was appointed, the team was in the grip of the worst league start in more than 150 years.

He had an owner, Chansiri, who was, to put it kindly, eccentric. He had fans in uproar over all manner of things. He had players who were not only demoralised but also unpaid at times.

So, though Rohl is only 36, he’s had experience of football’s turbulence. He’s young, but he may not be wet behind the ears. You’d hope not, for his sake. Once a defender, he was invalided out of the game with an ACL injury at 21. It takes talent and drive to do the things he has done since then.

Every Rangers fan will know the outline of his story, the assistant manager positions he held at RB Leipzig, Southampton, Bayern Munich and Germany.

He has said before that he doesn’t do dogma and is not a slave to any one system. He’s flexible, be it 4-2-3-1, 3-4-3, 4-4-1-1 or any other formation. It would appear that he’s tried them all at one time or another depending on the challenge staring him in the face.

There’s enough testimony out there about the endless hours he put in at Sheffield Wednesday and the improvement he made to the players he had – Djeidi Gassama, now at Rangers, being one of many.

The fans liked and admired him. He kept Wednesday up when most people had abandoned all hope. He got them to 12th the following season with a side high on energy and togetherness despite Chansiri-inspired mayhem behind the scenes.

The supporters didn’t want him to leave at the end of his second season in July this year, but thought he was better off out of the basket case.

He cited financial issues and a total breakdown in communication with Chansiri as the reason for a mutually agreed contract termination.

Rohl says the scale of the challenge at Rangers is part of the appeal, which is what you would expect him to say, but fans have heard too much chat from too many managers to be comforted by fighting talk.

Win games and he can be as quiet as a Trappist monk. Don’t win games and the eloquence of the greatest orator will not save him. It was ever thus.

“Grounded,” the newly opened exhibition of relatively recent acquisitions of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, starts out setting a very high bar. It’s a compelling launch, even if the spotty show that unfolds in the next several rooms falls apart.

Grounded, it isn’t.

“Land Deeds,” a 1970 work by Iranian American artist Siah Armajani (1939-2020), is the opener, and it’s terrific. The piece is composed of 50 documents recording real estate purchases that the artist made in all 50 U.S. states, spending less than $100 on each. Sometimes, I’d guess, much less: Armajani only bought a single square-inch of land in each place, so the properties were cheap. Maybe that would cost a hundred bucks in Beverly Hills or Honolulu, but a square-inch of Abilene, Kan., or Whitefish, Mont., would be lucky to get a buck.

In true Conceptual art form, the notarized documents confirming the transactions are lined up on the wall in alphabetical order, from Alabama and Alaska to Wisconsin and Wyoming, in two rows of 25. Visually dry, they nonetheless quickly pull you in. These are warranty deeds, a legal document used to guarantee that a property being sold is unencumbered and the transfer of ownership from seller to buyer is legit. In good Dada and Pop art-style, the work’s title turns out to be a pun: A deed is not just a real estate certificate but an endeavor that one has undertaken.

Siah Armajani’s 1970 “Land Deeds” records his purchase of one square-inch of all 50 U.S. states.

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Other artistic resonances unfold. Land art was then at the cutting edge of avant-garde activity.

By 1970, sculptors Christo and Jeanne-Claude had just wrapped a million square-feet of coastal Australia in tarpaulin lashed with rope. Robert Smithson had bulldozed dirt and rocks to build a spiral jetty coiling out into Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Michael Heizer had dug a huge trench across Mormon Mesa near Overton, Nev., making a sculptural object out of empty space. Armajani’s unusual earthwork joined in: Embracing a legal, bureaucratic form, he pointed to land as a decidedly social structure.

The document display is droll but serious. It may be a layered example of up-to-the-minute Conceptual art, deeply absorbing and surprisingly suggestive, but the deeds are also lithographs, a perfectly traditional medium. They’re signed by administrative officials — one Julian Allison, warranty trustee, and notary public Brenda J. Hord — rather than being autographed by the artist. An art experience is a social transaction.

Armajani, an immigrant working as an artist in New York but not yet a U.S. citizen, was profoundly committed to democratic principles. (His citizenship would come in the wake of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which installed a disastrous theocracy from which the Middle East still suffers.) With “Land Deeds,” he put his finger on a critical real estate context: From the get-go, full participation in American democracy had been limited to white male landowners. The explanation was that they had a vested interest in the community.

The deeper reasons, however, were profoundly anti-democratic — the noxious intransigence of patriarchy and white supremacy in Western culture, which drastically narrowed the eligible land-owning class. Women and people of color, except in limited instances, need not apply. (And suffice to say that warranty deeds for land transfers from Indigenous people were in rather short supply.) Gallingly, this autocratic check on egalitarian participation was also spiked with an element of informed equanimity: An educated populace is essential to democracy’s successful functioning, but in the 1770s, that mostly meant white male landed gentry, since they were likely to have had formal schooling.

At LACMA, Armajani’s marvelously revealing “Land Deeds” sets the stage for “Grounded.” The show was organized by LACMA curators Rita Gonzalez and Dhyandra Lawson, and deputy director Nancy Thomas. Entry wall text — there is no catalog — says it “explores how human experience is embedded in the land, presenting the work of artists who endow it with meaning.”

But, collectively, the 39 assembled contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, textiles and videos by 35 artists based in the Americas and areas of the Pacific underperform. Sometimes that’s because the individual work is bland, while elsewhere its pertinence to the shambling theme is stretched to the breaking point.

Familiar photographs of figures in the landscape by Ana Mendieta, left, and Laura Aguilar, center, offer background for the theme explored in “Grounded.”

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

The land theme is so loose and shaggy that, without the contemporary time frame, the show could start with prehistoric cave paintings, toss in a Chinese Song Dynasty scroll whose pictures follow a journey down the Yangzi River, add a Central African Kongo spirit sculpture filled with grave dirt and, for good measure, suitably hang a Jackson Pollock drip painting solely because it was made by spreading raw canvas flat on the ground.

Superficial bedlam, in other words.

Some work does stand out. Across from the Armajani is Patrick Martinez’s “Fallen Empire,” which takes a sly commercial real estate approach. The poignant mixed-media painting doubles as a large shop façade of crumbling, graffitied ceramic tiles with signage attached on a tarp. The name “Azteca” evokes a long-gone historical realm, here attached to a shop now falling into ruin. Martinez scatters ceramic roses across the painting, a mordant honorific to past glory and current hopes.

In the next room, Connie Samaras’ serendipitous landscape photograph unshackles whatever might be meant by being grounded. Shot from her L.A. home in the hills, what at first appears to be a strange cloud in the night sky over the twinkling city below turns out to be the vapor trail of a Minuteman missile deployed one night in 1998. A tangle of light above a black silhouette of a palm tree emits a sulfurous glow, its nauseous beauty balanced on the tip of potential annihilation.

Also among the more engaging works are two well-known photographic excursions into the landscape. Laura Aguilar’s “Grounded #111,” from a large series that likely gave the show its name, poses her corpulent nude body before a majestic boulder in the Joshua Tree desert, as if a secular saint enclosed within a sacred mandorla.

Six adjacent photographs in Ana Mendieta’s “Volcano Series no. 2” record a performance type of Land art in which a female form seems to erupt from within the Earth, spewing a volatile shower of flaming embers and smoke. Forget placid if repressive fantasies of Adam’s rib. The volcanic explosion provides a theatrically dramatic precedent for Aguilar’s contemplative composition.

Other impressive works include Mexico City-based Abraham Cruzvillegas’ exceptional sculpture, “Autoconcancion V” — the title’s made-up word translates to “auto with song” — which upends conventional L.A. car culture. An old automobile’s beat-up rear bench seat becomes the launching pad for a wooden box holding a small fan palm, held aloft on buoyant metal rods and exuding a witty mix of aplomb and high spirits.

A 70-foot video projection by Lisa Reihana reimagines a famous scenic French wallpaper.

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana, who is of Māori British ancestry, transformed a famous early 19^th century French scenic wallpaper designed by Jean-Gabriel Charvet into an equally extravagant, 70-foot-wide projection of video animation. The showily exoticized wallpaper, sold throughout Europe and in North America by celebrated manufacturer Joseph Dufour, was the culmination of Western public fascination with British Royal Navy Capt. James Cook’s three voyages to the Pacific. In a big, darkened room, Reihana redecorates.

Amid dreamy island landscapes, “in Pursuit of Venus [infected]” beautifully mixes interactive scenes of playful harmony and brute conflict between red-uniformed colonizers and colonized Polynesians. She maintains a nuanced sense of humanity’s transgressions and innocence, without demonizing or idealizing either side. Emblematic is a wickedly funny episode where a British plein-air painter at his easel bats away pesky tropical insects, invisible to a viewer’s naked eye, as he attempts to render a still life of a dead fish.

What either the Reihana video or the Cruzvillegas sculpture has to do with how human experience is embedded in the land — “grounded” — I cannot say, except in the most superficial ways. The land is certainly not a major focus of either one. The Cruzvillegas sculpture celebrates varieties of youthful play, while the Reihana animation ruminates on dimensions of cultural collision. The exhibition’s purported theme unhappily narrows perspectives on the assembled works of art, rather than opening wide their myriad readings.

Lisa Reihana, “in Pursuit of Venus [infected],” 2015, projected video animation.

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Essentially, “Grounded” is an old-fashioned “Recent Acquisitions” show, with most works entering LACMA’s collection in the last half-dozen years or so. (The big exception is Mendieta’s “Volcano” series, easily the show’s most famous work, purchased a quarter-century ago; it’s apparently included here as a benchmark.) Six pieces are shared with the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the new MAC3 (Mohn Art Collective) program, and the Aguilar is shared with the Vincent Price Art Museum at East L.A. College.

The exhibition is on view in LACMA’s Broad Contemporary Art Museum for eight months, until late June 2026. The unusually lengthy run will put recent art on par with LACMA’s historical departments, when the new Geffen Galleries building opens in April. Those rooms are also expected to thematize the museum’s diverse permanent collection of art’s global history.

But “Grounded” would have been better left without its imposed topic, which inadvertently casts much work as ugly stepsisters unsuccessfully trying to jam their feet into Cinderella’s glass slipper. Skepticism over the coming Geffen theme idea mounts.

UiPath (PATH 1.18%) finally gave the market something to get excited about. The stock popped after the company laid out a series of new collaborations with Nvidia, Alphabet, Snowflake, and OpenAI. For a business that has been slogging through a multiyear turnaround, this was great news, as it shows a company ready to play a central role in how enterprises actually use artificial intelligence (AI).

Going down a new path

UiPath is no longer trying to be just a robotic process automation (RPA) company that uses software bots to automate rule-based tasks such as data entry. Instead, it is shifting to agentic automation, where its AI agent orchestration platform can coordinate how humans, bots, and different AI agents all work together. These new partnerships are about pushing that vision into the real world.

Image source: Getty Images

The deal with Nvidia focuses on industries that have little room for error. UiPath will use Nvidia’s Nemotron models and NIM microservices to power agents that can run on-premises in regulated environments like healthcare and fraud detection, where data can’t leave secure systems. Meanwhile, it will bring Alphabet’s Gemini models into its platform, so people can use automation with voice commands.

In addition, by linking up with Snowflake, it will tie Snowflake’s Cortex AI to its orchestration platform to help customers act on data insights in real time. And finally, its OpenAI partnership adds a ChatGPT connector that lets customers weave advanced large language models (LLMs) right into their workflows without rebuilding everything from scratch.

When you look at these moves together, UiPath is trying to position itself as the Switzerland of enterprise AI agents: integrating with everyone and letting customers pick whichever models they want without locking themselves into a single vendor. That pitch resonates because companies are wary of vendor lock-in, and having one orchestration platform that can handle all these AI agents could become a valuable advantage. The collaboration with Snowflake looks particularly compelling because the combination should be able to offer an alternative approach to Palantir that can deliver similar data-driven automation and real-world insights using a customer’s data that is already warehoused inside Snowflake servers.

Meanwhile, even before announcing these partnerships, UiPath was already seeing early signs that its turnaround was starting to take hold.

In its most recent quarter, the company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) climbed 11% to $1.72 billion, beating the high end of guidance. Cloud ARR jumped 25% to cross the $1 billion mark, proving that the migration to the cloud is moving along. Net revenue retention stabilized at 108% after several quarters of slippage, which is important because it suggests existing customers are still spending more. Its public sector business, which had been frozen earlier in the year, is starting to come back, and adjusted operating margins jumped to 17% as the company’s past cost cuts and restructuring efforts began to show up in its numbers.

Is the stock a buy?

While UiPath still has plenty to prove, there are other encouraging signs. The return of founder Daniel Dines as CEO has given the company a steadier hand and clearer focus on its agentic automation vision. More than 450 customers are already building AI agents on its platform, and 95% of new customers are adopting its core automation products too, suggesting the new AI tools are complementing rather than replacing its traditional offerings.

Trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of roughly 4.1 times expected 2026 revenue, the stock’s valuation is inexpensive for a business with improving fundamentals. If these partnerships can further help accelerate growth, UiPath’s stock could have plenty of upside ahead.

That said, this is not a low-risk story, and there will likely be bumps along the way. However, for investors willing to bet on a company that looks like it is getting its act together and has some powerful partners lined up, the stock looks like an interesting buy.

Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumped more than 25% Thursday morning after a report that the Larry Ellison-backed Paramount was preparing a cash bid to buy the company that owns HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. studio.

The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners acquired Paramount a month ago, and has signaled that it would take bold steps as it tries to rebuild Paramount to its former glory. David Ellison, Larry’s 42-year-old son, serves as chairman and chief executive of Paramount.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount’s bid would be for the entire company, including its movie studio, streaming assets and cable networks. Warner Bros. Discovery is in the process of spinning the cable channels into a separate company, a transaction that Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav said would be complete by next April.

Representatives of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment.

Warner Bros. Discovery stock closed at $12.54 on Wednesday. It had soared to around $16 a share in Thursday mid-day trading.

Paramount Skydance shares also climbed 7% to around $16.30.

This is a developing story.

AeroVironment (AVAV -2.38%), a provider of unmanned systems and defense technologies, reported results for Q1 FY2026 on September 9, 2025. The headline news was a record quarterly revenue of $454.7 million for Q1 FY2026, driven largely by the recent BlueHalo acquisition. Profit margins were compressed by large non-cash amortization and integration expenses. Overall, the quarter showcased strong top-line growth and a significant backlog expansion, but profitability and cash flow were negatively affected by integration and acquisition costs.

Business Overview and Strategic Priorities

AeroVironment is known for developing unmanned aircraft systems, robotic platforms, and defense technologies used by military and government customers. Its core strength lies in autonomous systems, including drones and related products like Switchblade loitering munitions. The BlueHalo acquisition immediately broadened AeroVironment’s focus into new areas such as directed energy (energy weapons), space technologies, cyber solutions, and advanced radio frequency (RF) and electronic warfare (EW) systems.

The company’s current strategy centers on innovation, integrating advanced technologies from BlueHalo, and meeting the evolving requirements of defense customers. Key performance drivers are its ability to win and scale large government contracts, continuous product development in areas such as artificial intelligence-enabled drones and electronic warfare, and the efficiency with which it integrates acquisitions and expands production capacity. Strong relationships with the U.S. Department of Defense and allied governments are also a cornerstone of AeroVironment’s business, guiding both growth and technology investment.

Quarterly Results and Developments

The quarter set a new revenue record primarily because of the BlueHalo acquisition, which closed on May 1, 2025. Legacy AeroVironment grew its organic revenue by 16%. The result reflected both acquisition-driven expansion and organic demand for the company’s established unmanned systems.

Performance by business segment revealed most profit contribution continued to come from the Autonomous Systems area. That segment, which includes legacy drone and loitering munitions products as well as BlueHalo’s unmanned offerings, posted $285.3 million in revenue. The newly created Space, Cyber and Directed Energy segment brought in $169.4 million in revenue, but margins there lagged as integration continued. The revenue figure represents a sharp acceleration from the prior year. Management reported that these results meant “Record revenue of $454.7 million, up 140% year-over-year; legacy revenue of $219.5 million up 16% year-over-year”

Despite the revenue growth, gross margin dropped to 21% from 43% in the prior year, a significant decline. Management attributed this to high purchase accounting adjustments, $37.4 million in non-cash intangible amortization, and a much larger portion of service revenue, which tends to have lower profit margins than product sales. Operating expenses rose sharply as well, particularly selling, general and administrative costs associated with the acquisition and integration work, which were $97.5 million higher than last year. As a result, the company posted a loss from operations of $69.3 million, compared to a $23.1 million operating profit in Q1 FY2025.

Earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis dropped to $0.32, down 64% from $0.89 in Q1 FY2025. The decrease was due to both higher costs—especially amortization and acquisition charges—and dilution resulting from the increase in shares outstanding after the BlueHalo transaction. Adjusted EBITDA, which removes many of the acquisition-related charges, increased by over 50%, indicating some underlying improvement in core cash-generating ability when nonrecurring costs are excluded. Net cash outflow from operations was $123.7 million, compared to an inflow of $28.4 million in Q1 FY2025. The cash balance, however, rose sharply to $685.8 million as a result of financing tied to the BlueHalo deal.

The acquisition also transformed the company’s future business visibility. Funded backlog at the end of the period reached a record $1.1 billion, up from $726.6 million as of April 30, 2025. This reflects both the strong order book brought by BlueHalo and continued high demand for the company’s legacy unmanned systems portfolio. Bookings totaled $399 million. Management stated that, as of September 9, 2025, AeroVironment had “Visibility of 82% to the midpoint of the FY2026 revenue guidance range” This means a large part of the year’s projected revenue comes from orders already in hand, providing a measure of predictability for the next several quarters.

The company continued to invest in research and development (R&D), with R&D expenses rising to $33.1 million. This maintains AeroVironment’s longstanding focus on developing new technologies for defense customers. Among the newer offerings are the P550 unmanned aircraft system (an artificial intelligence-driven modular drone), the JUMP 20X (a vertical takeoff and landing drone), and Red Dragon (an autonomous, single-use drone). BlueHalo’s specialties in advanced RF, directed energy, and space-qualified electronics add significant new competencies, and management expects ongoing integration of these capabilities to open further market opportunities. Still, the cost and complexity of absorbing such a large acquisition have introduced execution risk, both operationally and financially.

The period also saw significant balance sheet changes. Total assets grew to $5.6 billion, up dramatically from $1.1 billion as of Q4 FY2025, mostly due to the addition of goodwill and intangibles from the BlueHalo transaction. Share count rose by 77% between April 30, 2025, and August 2, 2025, and long-term debt increased from $30.0 million as of April 30, 2025, to $725.7 million as of August 2, 2025. The capital raised provides flexibility but also brings a substantial increase in financial leverage and dilution for existing shareholders.

AVAV does not currently pay a dividend.

Looking Ahead: Outlook and Watchpoints

For FY2026, management maintained its previous revenue outlook of $1.9 billion to $2.0 billion. It projects continued losses, with a net loss of $77 million to $72 million for FY2026, and a loss per share of between $1.63 and $1.53. On an adjusted basis—removing non-cash and non-recurring expenses—management expects EBITDA in a range of $300 million to $320 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.60 to $3.70. The company stated that visibility to the revenue midpoint stood at 82% as of September 9, 2025. But actual profitability may remain pressured until integration costs and purchase accounting impacts begin to diminish.

Key areas for investors to monitor include the pace and effectiveness of integrating BlueHalo, control of operating and working capital expenses, and the conversion of the record backlog and bookings into profitable future revenue. Management flagged that intangible asset amortization will continue to weigh on reported earnings until those assets are fully written down over several years, and cash flow from operations will require careful management as receivables and inventories expand alongside the larger business. Defense-contract timing risks and strong competition from larger established players remain watchpoints. The scale of the recent acquisition means that AeroVironment’s performance over the next several quarters will be closely tied to its ability to deliver on the promise of its expanded technology portfolio while navigating higher operating complexity and integration challenges.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

Cognyte(CGNT -12.29%) reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Sept. 9, 2025, with revenue rising 15.5% year over year to $97.5 million and adjusted EBITDA increasing 33% to $11 million. Management raised full-year guidance, now projecting $397 million in revenue (up 13% year over year at midpoint) and $45 million in adjusted EBITDA, while reiterating a $500 million revenue target for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2028, and signaling continued margin expansion.

The following analysis highlights execution on strategic wins, margin expansion, and the path to U.S. market growth.

Major military intelligence wins accelerate Cognyte’s momentum

Cognyte secured two $10 million deals with military intelligence customers in Asia-Pacific and EMEA, including a successful displacement of a regional incumbent in EMEA. New business wins contributed to short-term remaining performance obligations (RPO) increasing to $355 million, supporting 12-month revenue visibility amid heightened global security spending.

“In Asia-Pacific, we signed a $10 million follow-on deal with a longstanding customer. They operate in a complex border environment and use our border security solutions to stop infiltration attempts by hostile actors, clear proof of the ongoing trust they place in us and the tangible operational results we deliver. In EMEA, we won a competitive deal worth about $10 million with a new Tier 1 military intelligence organization, beating several global vendors, including the regional incumbent. They chose Cognyte Software Ltd. for our proven tactical intelligence solutions to modernize operations and address emerging threats.”
— Elad Sharon, CEO

Winning large, competitive contracts and demonstrating follow-on demand validate the company’s technology differentiation and strengthen the long-term growth narrative through increased market share in core government verticals.

Gross margin expansion demonstrates operational leverage at Cognyte

Non-GAAP gross margin improved to 72.1%, expanding 81 basis points year-over-year, while non-GAAP gross profit increased 16.8% year-over-year to $70.3 million. Annual non-GAAP gross margin guidance was raised to 72%, with a new long-term target of 73% non-GAAP gross margin for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2028, driven by a software revenue mix projected to reach 87% in fiscal 2026.

“Our total software revenue for the quarter was approximately $83.3 million, representing 85.5% of total revenue. We continue to expect software revenue to be about 87% of total revenue on an annual basis.”
— David Abadi, CFO

Sustained mix shift toward higher-margin software, and disciplined cost management, improve profitability, signaling the company’s capacity to drive long-term free cash flow generation and strategic reinvestment without impairing financial flexibility.

U.S. expansion strategy advances but remains a future growth lever

Despite the U.S. accounting for a small portion of current revenue, the company highlighted recent state and local customer acquisitions, the start of a strategic LexisNexis Risk Solutions partnership, and successful proof-of-concept (POC) engagements with federal agencies in the U.S. Management reiterated that budget constraints and procurement delays in U.S. federal markets are built into guidance, but confirmed strong product-market fit and growing partner interest.

“The U.S. represents a significant opportunity for us, given that it’s a large territory with many security agencies. We continue to make investments in order to expand presence, increase market reach, expand the partner network, and invest more in marketing. Having said that, in the shorter term, the U.S. presents a small portion of our business, so we are not relying in our guidance heavily on the U.S. We do believe that the U.S. will become a more significant portion of our business over time.”
— Elad Sharon, CEO

Cognyte’s measured U.S. go-to-market investments, combined with low near-term guidance dependence, preserve upside optionality, allowing the company to capture growing demand as federal agency budget normalization occurs over the next several years.

Looking Ahead

Management projects approximately $397 million in revenue for fiscal 2026 (plus or minus 2%), $45 million in adjusted EBITDA, 72% non-GAAP gross margin, and $0.23 in annual non-GAAP EPS. Sequential quarterly revenue growth is expected in both Q3 and Q4. Strategic financial targets for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2028, remain unchanged, including $500 million in revenue, a 73% gross margin target, and adjusted EBITDA margins above 20%.

Pro-Dex (PDEX -1.03%), a developer and manufacturer of powered surgical instruments for medical device OEMs, released its Q4 FY2025 earnings on Sept. 4, 2025. The company reported GAAP revenue of $17.5 million, up from $15.0 million a year earlier, but faces margin pressure as gross margin contracted to 20%. Net income (GAAP) fell to $1.2 million, with diluted earnings per share at $0.36. These results showed top-line growth in line with recent management emphasis, but also highlighted new cost and margin risks facing the business.

Overall, the quarter demonstrated growth momentum, with caution signals on profitability and working capital.

Source: Pro-Dex. Note: Fiscal 2025’s fourth quarter ended June 30, 2025. Fiscal 2024’s Q4 ended June 30, 2024.

Business Overview and Focus Areas

Pro-Dex specializes in designing and manufacturing powered surgical devices, with a core focus on products that rely on its patented adaptive torque-limiting technology. These tools are primarily marketed to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), especially for orthopedic, cranio-maxillofacial (CMF), and thoracic surgery applications.

The company’s recent strategic objectives emphasize deepening customer penetration, especially among its top accounts. Investment in R&D continues to be a priority, seeking to expand its torque-limiting technology into broader surgical markets. Success depends on continued product innovation, managing customer concentration risk, and maintaining robust regulatory compliance for quality and safety.

Quarterly Performance Details: Key Metrics and Drivers

Revenue (GAAP) grew sharply in Q4 FY2025, led by increased shipments to a small group of existing customers. In the company’s words, “revenue to our top three customers” accounted for the majority of the gain. Sales of a next-generation powered surgical handpiece to its largest customer contributed meaningfully during FY2025, driving both quarterly and full-year growth. While higher sales indicate progress in leveraging existing relationships, the narrow customer base remains a structural risk. The largest customer accounted for 75% of FY2025 revenue, while the top three comprised 94% of sales.

Gross margin, which measures profit after production costs, contracted significantly from 27% to 20% in Q4 FY2025 compared to the prior year. Management attributed the drop in Q4 FY2025 to a less favorable product mix — a shift back toward legacy device shipments rather than newer, higher-margin models — and to new tariff costs that increased indirect manufacturing expenses. Despite this quarterly pressure, full-year gross margin (GAAP) improved to 29% in FY2025, thanks to gains earlier in the year and stronger sales of newly launched products. However, margin weakness in Q4 FY2025 highlights vulnerability to production mix and external cost headwinds.

Operating expenses increased by $409,000 from a year ago, reaching $2.1 million in Q4 FY2025, due to higher personnel costs across selling, general and administrative, and engineering functions. These investments support future growth and product development, but add to cost pressure when gross profit is under strain. This rise in ongoing expenses contributed to a 43% drop in operating income in Q4 FY2025.

Net income (GAAP) decreased from $1.6 million in the prior-year quarter to $1.2 million, influenced by both lower gross profit and higher operating costs. On a diluted per-share basis, earnings (GAAP) fell to $0.36 from $0.46. Management notes that full-year net income (GAAP) for FY2025 rose more sharply, aided in part by unrealized gains from investments, but warns that such non-operating swings can add volatility and do not reflect ongoing core business trends.

Looking Ahead: Guidance and Watch Points

Management reported a record order backlog of $50.4 million as of June 30, 2025 (FY2025). Management described this backlog as supporting expectations for continued revenue and operating income growth in FY2026. The earnings release also mentioned plans to cooperate with customers on tariff cost sharing and intentions to further strengthen management and manufacturing processes. However, no specific financial guidance for revenue or earnings was provided for the next quarter or the coming fiscal year.

Investors should monitor several key areas in upcoming quarters. These include: trends in margin recovery or further erosion from cost or product mix effects; the pace at which inventory and accounts receivable return to more normal levels; and how quickly Pro-Dex can diversify its customer base to reduce dependency on a single large buyer. Close attention to working capital and liquidity will be important, given the sharp decrease in cash balances in Q4 FY2025 as funds were absorbed by increased inventory and accounts receivable.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

GitLab (GTLB -1.89%), a leading provider of an integrated platform for software development, security, and operations, reported its Q2 FY2026 results on Sept. 3, 2025. Revenue reached $236 million, exceeding management’s revenue guidance range of $226 million–$227 million. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.24, up from $0.15 in the same period last year and also ahead of guidance offered back in the Q1 report. Adjusted operating margin moved to 17% in Q2 FY2026, up from 10% one year ago.

The quarter underscored robust customer and enterprise expansion and continued focus on AI-driven innovation, although leadership transitions and slight margin pressures introduced areas to watch for the coming quarters.

Source: GitLab. Note: Fiscal 2026’s second quarter ended July 31, 2025. Fiscal 2025’s Q2 ended July 31, 2024.

Business Overview and Strategic Focus

GitLab serves organizations ranging from startups to multi-national enterprises with its all-in-one DevSecOps platform, reflecting GitLab’s core proposition—a single application that helps customers manage every step of the software development lifecycle, from planning to code writing to deployment and monitoring. The platform streamlines workflows, increases code delivery speed, and helps reduce security risks by integrating all these functions into a unified experience.

The company’s open-core approach encourages thousands of community members to contribute improvements and new features, supporting rapid innovation. In recent years, GitLab has moved to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities inside its platform, aiming to give customers smarter automation, better code suggestions, and advanced security features. Expanding into enterprise accounts, deepening cloud partnerships, and furthering AI integration have been key areas of focus.

Quarter Highlights: Growth Drivers and Product Developments

The reported quarter saw GitLab achieve a 29% increase in GAAP revenue. Those generating over $100,000 in recurring annual revenue now total 1,344, up 25 % from last year’s reporting period. Total customers spending more than $5,000 annually rose 11% to 10,338.

The platform’s subscription-based model, combining both software as a service (SaaS) and self-managed options, generated $212.7 million (GAAP), up from $163.2 million in Q2 FY2025. Remaining performance obligations, a measure of future contracted revenue not yet recognized, increased by 32% year-over-year. The dollar-based net retention rate, which measures how much recurring revenue is retained from existing customers after accounting for churn, upgrades, and downgrades, held steady at a healthy 121%.

It launched a public beta of GitLab Duo Agent Platform, described as an AI orchestration layer that integrates with multiple external artificial intelligence tools. This product is meant to help customers quickly adopt AI-driven development through their preferred large language models. Strategic expansion continued with a three-year partnership with Amazon‘s AWS to broaden the Dedicated (single-tenant) service, specifically targeting compliance-heavy and public sector environments.

Gross margin, a key profitability indicator measuring the percentage of revenue remaining after direct costs, slipped slightly to 90% on a non-GAAP basis, down from 91% in Q2 FY2025. Although operating margins improved, the company reported a GAAP net loss, influenced by stock-based compensation and other non-cash accounting charges. The cash position strengthened, with cash and equivalents rising to $261.4 million, providing flexibility for ongoing investment and operations.

Looking Ahead: Guidance and Key Watch Areas

For Q3 FY2026, management projects revenue of $238 million to $239 million, implying year-over-year growth of about 30%. Full-year guidance for FY2026 forecasts revenue of $936 million to $942 million. The company provided guidance for non-GAAP operating income of $133 million–$136 million for FY2026, and similarly raised its forecast for non-GAAP diluted earnings per share to $0.82–$0.83 for FY2026. Revenue guidance, however, was maintained at its previous level.

Leadership changes are a notable point going forward. GitLab’s Chief Financial Officer is stepping down as of September 19, 2025, with the interim CFO promoted from within the finance function. Additional new executive appointments may support scaling as the company grows. Investors will likely monitor how the company manages its margin trends, continued enterprise customer gains, and execution on its AI strategy, all while facing strong competition in developer and security software markets. GTLB does not currently pay a dividend.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

Uwharrie Capital (UWHR -0.98%), a community-focused bank operating mainly in central North Carolina, reported its latest quarterly earnings on August 22, 2025, announcing its second quarter results. Net income (GAAP) was $2.8 million, a 27.3% rise (GAAP) from the year-earlier period, and diluted earnings per share (GAAP) of $0.38, representing 31.0% growth compared to Q2 2024, as the company saw broad-based gains across net interest, noninterest, and mortgage banking income, and highlighted improved profitability. Overall, it was a quarter of steady top- and bottom-line growth amid a continued focus on expanding the loan book, deposit base, and earnings power.

Company Overview and Focus Areas

Uwharrie Capital is a bank holding company with a deep emphasis on serving local communities in North Carolina, particularly in Stanly, Anson, Cabarrus, Randolph, and Mecklenburg Counties. Its business centers around traditional community banking — providing checking, savings, commercial lending, and mortgage services to individuals and small businesses. The company’s approach relies on building long-term customer relationships with an emphasis on service, local knowledge, and personalized decision-making.

Key factors for its continued success include maintaining a strong community presence, staying current with technological advances, and navigating the complex regulatory requirements that shape the banking industry. Ongoing attention to the economic conditions in its service regions also plays a central role in its strategy.

Quarter Highlights: Growth, Product Trends, and Expenses

The latest quarter saw net income climb to $2.8 million, up from $2.2 million last year. Earnings per share (GAAP) increased to $0.38, a 31% improvement. Mortgage banking, which encompasses services like originating and selling home loans, rose 44.3% year over year for the six months ended June 30, 2025.

Total loans reached $687 million, rising 7.2% from June 30, 2024, while total assets measured $1.17 billion, up 4.1% from June 30, 2024. On the funding side, deposits increased to $1.06 billion, supported by steady inflows across demand, savings, and time deposit accounts. Savings balances grew 7.8% from June 30, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

Net interest margin, representing the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits as a percentage of average earning assets, climbed to 3.56%. Noninterest income (GAAP) rose 38.5% compared to Q2 2024, reflecting a significant jump in mortgage-related activities.

Salary and benefit costs were up 11% compared to Q2 2024, “other operating expenses” rose nearly 58% compared to Q2 2024. The provision for credit losses was $254,000, down from $431,000 in Q2 2024. No noteworthy one-time events or items affecting results were disclosed in the release. The company did not announce a change in its dividend for the quarter.

Business Strategy, Technology, and Market Context

Uwharrie Capital highlights its community engagement initiatives, including a focused effort in April for Community Banking Month. According to management’s direct statement, its “concentrated effort reaffirmed our deep commitment to service and civic engagement.”

On the technology front, the company did not provide updates on new digital products, internet banking systems, or service upgrades in this period. Although previous public statements have highlighted a goal to adapt technologically, the lack of detail on this front in the latest earnings is notable, especially as competition from larger banks and fintech companies increases. Regulatory compliance also received little attention in the report, although the bank’s strong capital position supports ongoing regulatory health. No issues or new compliance initiatives were cited.

Credit quality indicators, such as the proportion of nonperforming loans or charge-off rates, were not reported in the earnings release, and without specific data, it’s difficult to form a complete view of underlying risk. Book value per share rose to $7.81, a 36% jump from 2024.

Peer comparison data places Uwharrie Capital as the 14th ranked bank nationally (under $2 billion in assets) by the American Bankers Association, suggesting the bank is performing well compared to similar-sized peers. However, the absence of information about new product rollouts, technology investment, or strategic differentiation could pose challenges amid a highly competitive environment.

Looking Ahead: Outlook and Investor Considerations

The company did not offer an earnings outlook or financial guidance for the rest of 2025. There was no projection provided by management regarding expected growth trajectories for revenue, loans, or profitability. The release contains broad statements about “growing with purpose” and focusing on core values but lacks specific forward-looking targets or quantified commentary.

Investors will want to watch upcoming quarters for more transparency on the bank’s approach to technology, further detail on its expense growth, and sharper disclosures on asset quality. Monitoring net interest margin and loan growth will also be key to tracking progress throughout the rest of the year.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.