soaring

Californians renewing their public health plans or who plan to sign up for the first time will be in for sticker shock when open enrollment begins on Saturday. Monthly premiums for federally subsidized plans available on the Covered California exchange — often referred to as Obamacare — will soar by 97% on average for 2026.

The skyrocketing premiums come as a result of a conflict at the center of the current federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1: a budgetary impasse between the Republican majority and Democrats over whether to preserve enhanced, Biden-era tax credits that expanded healthcare eligibility to millions more Americans and kept monthly insurance costs affordable for existing policyholders. About 1.7 million of the 1.9 million Californians currently on a Covered California plan benefit from the tax credits.

Open enrollment for the coming year runs from Nov. 1 until Jan. 31. It’s traditionally the period when members compare options and make changes to existing plans and when new members opt in.

Only this time, the government shutdown has stirred uncertainty about the fate of the subsidies, first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and which have been keeping policy costs low, but will expire at the end of the year if lawmakers in Washington don’t act to extend them.

Californians window shopping on the exchange’s consumer homepage will have to make some tough decisions, said Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman. The loss of the tax credits to subsidize premiums only adds to what can already be a complicated, time-consuming and frustrating process.

Even if the subsidies remained intact, premiums for plans offered by Covered California were set to rise by roughly 10% for 2026, due to spikes in drug prices and other medical services, Altman said.

Without the subsidies, Covered California said its members who receive financial assistance will see their monthly premiums jump by an additional $125 a month, on average, for 2026.

The organization projects that the cost increases will lead many Californians to simply go without coverage.

“Californians are going to be facing a double whammy: premiums going up and tax credits going away,” Altman said. “We estimate that as many as 400,000 of our current enrollees will disenroll and effectively be priced out of the health insurance that they have today. That is a devastating outcome.”

Indeed, the premium spike threatens to lock out the very Americans that the 2010 Affordable Care Act — President Obama’s signature domestic policy win — was intended to help, said Altman. That includes people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but who either make too little to afford a private plan or don’t work for an employer that pays a portion of the premiums.

That’s a broad swath of Californians — including many bartenders and hairdressers, small business owners and their employees, farmers and farm workers, freelancers, ride-share drivers, and those working multiple part-time gigs to make ends meet. The policy change will also affect Californians who use the healthcare system more frequently because they have ongoing conditions that are costly to treat.

By raising the tax-credit eligibility threshold to include Americans earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level, the Biden-era subsidies at the heart of the budget stalemate have brought an estimated 160,000 additional middle-income Californians into the system, Covered California said. The enhanced subsidies save members about $2.5 billion a year overall in out-of-pocket premium expenses, according to the exchange.

California lawmakers have tried to provide some relief from rising Covered California premiums by recently allocating an additional $190 million in state-level tax credits in next year’s budget for individuals who earn up to 150% of the federal poverty level. That would keep monthly premiums consistent with 2025 levels for a person making up to $23,475 a year, or a family of four bringing in $48,225 a year, and provide partial relief for individuals and households making slightly more.

Altman said the state tax credits will help. But it may not be enough. Forecasts from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group and think tank, also show a significant drop-off of roughly 400,000 enrolled members in Covered California.

The national outlook is even worse. The Congressional Budget Office warned Congress nearly a year ago that if the enhanced premium subsidies were allowed to expire, the ranks of the uninsured would swell by 2.2 million nationwide in 2026 alone — and by an average of 3.8 million Americans each year from 2026 to 2034.

Organizations that provide affordable Obamacare plans are preparing for Californians to get squeezed out of the system if the expanded subsidies disappear.

L.A. Care, the county’s largest publicly operated health plan, offers Covered California policies for 230,000 mostly lower-income people. About 90% of the Covered California consumers they work with receive subsidies to offset their out-of-pocket healthcare insurance costs, said Martha Santana-Chin, L.A. Care’s CEO. “Unless something drastic happens … a lot of those people are going to fall off of their coverage,” Santana-Chin said.

That outcome would ripple far and wide, she said — thanks to two factors: human behavior and basic economics.

If more and more people choose to go uninsured, more and more people will resort to visiting hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency care, disrupting and overwhelming the healthcare system.

Healthcare providers will be forced to address the cost of treating rising numbers of uninsured people by raising the prices they bill to insurers for patients who have private plans. That means Californians who are not Covered California members and don’t receive other federal healthcare aid will eventually see their premiums spike too, as private insurers pass any added costs down to their customers.

But right now, with the subsidies set to end soon and recent changes to Medicaid eligibility requirements threatening to knock some of the lowest-income Californians off of that system, both Altman and Santana-Chin said their main concern is for those who don’t have alternatives.

In particular, they are concerned about people of color, who are disproportionately represented among low-income Californians, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Any hike in out-of-pocket insurance costs next year could blow the budget of a family barely getting by.

“$100, $150, $200 — that’s meaningful to people living on fixed incomes,” Altman said. “Where is that money coming from when you’re living paycheck to paycheck?”

A couple of years ago, things looked dire for Plug Power (PLUG 3.42%) stock. It was plunging in value and it even issued a going concern warning, which means that the business was concerned about its finances and that there were significant doubts about its ability to continue operating.

The company says that risk no longer exists. And not only are its financials stronger, but the energy stock has also been red hot of late. This year, share prices of the hydrogen company are up an incredible 95%. In just the past six months, its stock price has more than tripled in value.

Has this once-risky stock become a good, safe option for investors?

Image source: Getty Images.

Why is there so much hype around Plug Power?

Energy has been a big investing theme this year, largely due to artificial intelligence (AI) and the need to power up large data centers. Plug Power has positioned itself as one of the leading companies in offering clean energy solutions with hydrogen fuel cells. Many investors likely see the zero-emission energy options that Plug Power offers as one of several potential solutions to rising energy needs in AI.

The more that tech companies invest in AI data centers, the greater the need may be for energy in the future. And it’s that potential growth that has many investors willing to look past Plug Power’s lack of profitability and shortcomings today — but doing so could be a perilous mistake.

Plug Power’s financials remain problematic

Plug Power may have removed the near-term going concern warning last year, but I have doubts about the company’s ability to survive in the long run. This is, after all, still a massive, cash-burning business. In the past six months, it has incurred net losses totaling $425.6 million, which was more than the revenue it generated over that time frame ($307.6 million). The business’s cost of sales was even higher at $435 million, resulting in negative margins and a loss before even factoring in overhead and other operating expenses.

It also burned through $297 million in cash over the course of its day-to-day operating activities during the past two quarters. Without a path to profitability or positive cash flow in the foreseeable future, there is plenty of risk for dilution and frequent share offerings in the stock’s future.

I’d stay away from Plug Power stock

Investing in hydrogen energy is a long-term play, and it’s one that’s full of risks. While hydrogen can play an important role in addressing the world’s global energy needs, not everyone is convinced that it will be the case. Some critics point to the inefficiency and high costs that come with hydrogen energy production. And there are alternative energy sources that may be cleaner and better options in the long run.

It’s easy to get swept up in the AI-driver energy hype, and that’s what may be happening with Plug Power. But that doesn’t mean this is a safe stock to invest in. For a while, this stock was going nowhere but down; it declined by more than 50% in each of the past three years. Then, the energy stock craze took off, and so did Plug Power’s valuation.

While it may look like a cheap stock to own given its massive decline in recent years and the fact that it’s trading at just 4 times its trailing revenue, this is still a highly risky investment to hold in your portfolio. Until and unless its fundamentals drastically improve, you’re likely better off avoiding Plug Power as this is a speculative stock to own, with plenty of downside risk.

California Sen. Alex Padilla is among the highest-ranking Latinos in U.S. politics today, but it took a pair of handcuffs to make him famous.

How’s that for a comment on America 2025?

Padilla, you may remember, was tackled and cuffed by federal officers after attempting to ask a question of Homeland Security Czarina Kristi Noem at an L.A. news conference in June, when the National Guard first made its appearance on our streets. Noem later claimed Padilla “lunged” at her — which he did not — using the classic Trumpian technique of erasing reality with blame, especially when it comes to brown people.

Padilla told me that “from day one of this administration, I have tried to speak truth to power,” and if getting tackled forced people to “have no choice but to now start paying attention … that could be helpful, because the general public knows it’s wrong.”

U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi recycled the incident on Tuesday when Padilla attempted to question her during a congressional hearing, voicing concern about the weaponization of the Department of Justice. Bondi refused to answer multiple questions, instead invoking the Noem defense.

“I find it interesting that you want order … in this proceeding now,” Bondi said. “You sure didn’t have order when you stormed Secretary Noem at a press conference in California, did you?”

Again, no storming, no lunging, not even a feint. Really, if anything can be said of Padilla, it’s that he’s a guy who likes order. An MIT-trained engineer, he’s known for being calm to the point of boring — in the best of ways. Who wouldn’t want a bit of boring in their politics today, if it’s seasoned with compassion and common sense?

Calm, of course, does not mean a lack of conviction. As the government shutdown limps to the end of its first full week, Padilla took a few minutes to fill me in on why Democrats shouldn’t back down, and why he won’t — whether the issue is healthcare, immigration or the collision of the two, which is at the heart of this shutdown.

Republicans would like voters to believe that undocumented immigrants are throwing parties in our emergency rooms, racking up free services while shoving U.S. citizens out to the sidewalk. In reality, there’s not a lot of good data on how many ER visits involve undocumented folks because doctors are more focused on saving lives than checking immigration status. But one Texas study found that about 2% of all hospital visits in a three-month period involved people without documentation. That’s in a state with a high number of undocumented folks, so take it for what it’s worth — hardly a scourge.

Padilla and Democrats would like to stay focused on an actual crisis — healthcare premiums for low- and middle-income folks are about to skyrocket in coming weeks if Congress doesn’t keep the Obama-era subsidies that make the premiums affordable. Padilla wants voters to understand how dire this is.

“This is not a what-might-happen-next-year concern … this is a now concern,” Padilla told me.

“Open enrollment is opening,” he said. “People are setting their premiums and have to make choices of where to sign up for healthcare and at the cost right now, and so it does need to be immediately addressed.”

In case you think this is partisan show, far-right MAGA cheerleader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) agrees with Padilla. That’s when you know things are getting weird.

“Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!” Greene wrote on social media, breaking with her party on the issue.

That’s about the only thing that Padilla and Greene may ever agree on. Padilla is the son of immigrants who met in L.A. and later obtained legal status. He was born in Southern California, making birthright citizenship core to his identity at a moment when Trump is asking the Supreme Court to end it. His isn’t just an immigrant story, it’s a California story, and it’s never far from his mind.

He was recently asked if he regretted fighting with the Biden administration over proposed immigration reform that lacked pathways for immigrants, especially Dreamers and others who have been in the United States for years if not decades, to become citizens. Would it have been better to sell them out, leave them in limbo, but fix the border before Trump could exploit it?

“Of course not,” Padilla told me. Rather than shrink under attack, Padilla said he’s holding his ground.

California is one of a handful of states that does in fact offer healthcare to undocumented people, though budget shortfalls forced Gov. Gavin Newsom to scale back that plan.

No federal dollars are used for that undocumented healthcare — it’s solely state money. And Padilla supports it.

“There are some states that choose to use state funding to provide that care, and I agree with that, because it’s much smarter, from a public health standpoint, to help prevent people from getting sick or treat people early on, not administer healthcare, certainly not primary care, through emergency rooms,” he said.

Padilla said it’s rich that the very workers deemed essential during the coronavirus pandemic, the workers who kept food on tables, deliveries going, and cared for our young and our elderly, are now “the primary target of Trump’s massive deportation agenda. So whether it’s in the vein of the healthcare question, whether it’s in the vein of the indiscriminate raids by ICE and other federal agencies, that’s the cruel irony.”

The Trump administration raised Padilla’s profile inadvertently, but the newfound fame has had a somewhat unexpected consequence: Frequent speculation that he may run for governor when Newsom terms out in 2026.

Padilla said he hasn’t “made a decision on that and not making any announcements right now.”

Instead, he’s focusing on helping to pass California’s Proposition 50, which would rig election maps to potentially create five more Democratic seats in the midterm elections, with the hopes of taking control of at least one house of Congress, an effort he says is “critical to reining in this out-of-control administration.”

Markets are hovering in positive territory today, and while they may end up down by the end of Tuesday’s trading session, there’s a strong likelihood that USA Rare Earth (USAR 9.92%) stock will end the day higher than where the rare earths stock began. And it doesn’t even relate to any company news. Instead, the stock’s spike stems from a development regarding a metals peer.

As of 12:14 a.m. ET, shares of USA Rare Earth are up 10%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Speculation of a notable partnership isn’t just running rampant — it’s full-on sprinting

Trilogy Metals (TMQ 241.63%) is the latest beneficiary of the U.S. government’s growing enthusiasm for investing in companies focused on critical mineral production. The company, focused on copper and cobalt production, announced today that the U.S. government intends to make a $17.8 million investment in the company, which would result in an approximate 10% equity stake.

While investor interest in rare earths has soared since President Trump issued executive orders in May to shore up the nation’s supply of these critical minerals, the administration’s interest in acquiring equity stakes in these mining companies to expedite their growth has also represented a powerful catalyst — one that has led investors to gobble up USA Rare Earth stock on the belief that it too will receive an equity investment from the U.S. government.

With shares rising, what are investors to do now?

Although it certainly seems with the realm of reason that the U.S. government would pursue an equity investment in USA Rare Earth, it’s speculative at this point to predicate an investment in the company solely on this notion. Instead, potential investors should monitor the company’s progress in developing its rare earth magnet production facility — something a lot more material to a sound investment.

Shares of leading private-label snacking and beverages manufacturer TreeHouse Foods (THS 3.47%) rose 31% this week as of 2 p.m. ET on Friday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Octus, a global financial intelligence firm, learned that private equity firm Investindustrial was working on trying to acquire the beleaguered packaged foods company for $3 billion.

This news sent shares rocketing higher, following the stock’s decline from $40 to just $15 over the last year.

Image source: Getty Images.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?

While these types of M&A (mergers and acquisitions) updates are often speculative at best, there may be reason to believe in this potential bid.

In 2022, Investindustrial purchased a large portion of TreeHouse Foods’ meal preparation business for $950 million. So there is a history between the two.

One possible scenario could be that Investindustrial saw success from its previous deal and is coming back for seconds with TreeHouse’s stock cratering.

Now trading with an EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) ratio of 8, TreeHouse is quite reasonably valued, even with its minimal growth rates.

Furthermore, the company is home to a portfolio of steady private label categories, such as baked snacks, tea and coffee, broth, hot cereal, powdered beverages, refrigerated dough, and pickles.

As private-label brands continue to grow market share in the consumer-packaged goods category — and remain popular among Gen Z and millennial shoppers — a well-priced buyout could make a lot of sense for InvestIndustrial.

For investors currently holding the stock, I would leave the arbitrage opportunity to the traders and move on from the debt-heavy, low-growth business. Its valuation is appealing, but it might be better off left to private equity to turn around.

Since the close of trading last week, shares of the artificial intelligence (AI) cloud company Nebius Group (NBIS 3.67%) had risen 16%, as of 10:18 a.m. ET today. The company has purchased new land that could signal expansion, and one of its competitors also just signed a major deal earlier this week.

Still plenty of fuel behind AI infrastructure

There’s a lot of debate among investors regarding what inning of AI infrastructure buildout we are in. While no one knows for sure, there still appears to be a strong appetite for AI data centers. Earlier this week, CoreWeave, a competitor of Nebius, signed a new multiyear, $14 billion deal to provide capacity to Meta Platforms.

Image source: Getty Images.

While Nebius and CoreWeave compete, many of the hyperscalers use more than one AI data center, provider and if demand for AI infrastructure is still strong, it’s good for everyone in the space. Kimberly Forrest, the chief investment officer for Bokeh Capital Partners, said the deal shows that demand for high-quality AI chips is “limitless.”

Additionally, this week Nebius purchased 79 acres of land in Birmingham, Alabama, for $90 million that appears to be tied to a previous announcement from the company about U.S. expansion. M.V. Cunha, who runs a substack and a popular account on X and who has nailed bullish calls on Nebius, believes the company could use the newly purchased land to build new data centers with hundreds of megawatts of capacity.

It’s not too late

Nebius has been a monster this year, with its stock up about 310%. That said, I think investors can still buy the stock, especially with the huge deal with Microsoft it announced recently. While I do have concerns about an AI slowdown at some point, Nebius still has a strong balance sheet, is likely to reach other big deals with hyperscalers, and also has other businesses like autonomous driving that could be valuable down the line.

In the energy sector on Wednesday, a north-of-the-border stock was producing the most energy. Canadian Solar (CSIQ 14.11%) was having quite a day on the exchange, as investors were bidding its shares up by almost 14% in late-session action. This was on the back of the company’s news that it secured a new deal for its energy storage business.

A powerful development

Before market open today, Canadian Solar announced that its e-STORAGE unit had signed a set of agreements with privately held Aypa Power. Under those contracts, the Canadian Solar unit will provide its SolBank energy storage system to a pair of battery energy storage projects run by Aypa in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.

Image source: Getty Images.

The deal will be in force for some time, assuming it goes fairly well. Canadian Solar said that the two partners had signed 20-year long term services agreements for this work.

The solar company added that delivery is slated to begin in the first quarter of next year, with the aim of launching commercial operations at some point in the first half of 2027. The deal expands an existing business relationship between Canadian Solar and Aypa.

The solar company did not provide any financial details of its new contracts with Aypa.

In for the long haul

As these particulars were lacking, it’s difficult to get a handle on how this rather lengthy arrangement will impact Canadian Solar’s key fundamentals like revenue or profitability. That said, any time a company secures a 20-year deal to supply its wares, the news is at least mildly positive. The bullish investor reaction and the double-digit share price pop feel entirely deserved.

Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV 12.34%) jumped after the company filed an 8-K detailing a fresh order with Meta Platforms.

The agreement initially commits up to $14.2 billion of spend through Dec. 14, 2031, “with the option to materially expand its commitment through 2032 for additional cloud computing capacity”– sending the GPU-cloud provider’s stock higher as investors digested the scale and duration of the commitment. Shares climbed as much as 16.4%, but were up about 13% as of noon ET.

Image source: Getty Images.

Massive dealmaking

The new order sits under an existing master services agreement and provides Meta access to CoreWeave’s reserved artificial intelligence (AI) compute capacity. In plain English, Meta is locking in a lot of high-end GPU cloud for years, with room to grow. That should help CoreWeave diversify beyond its biggest ecosystem relationships and improve revenue visibility through 2031, with a possible step-up in 2032. It also signals that hyperscale AI buyers continue to secure multiyear capacity, a trend that can move shares quickly when deals are disclosed.

Importantly, this Meta news comes just days after CoreWeave and OpenAI expanded their own agreement by up to $6.5 billion. That Sep. 25 update increased OpenAI’s long-term commitments with CoreWeave and extended the relationship through 2031. Taken together, the two back-to-back announcements highlight how CoreWeave is steadily locking in multibillion-dollar, multiyear partnerships with the most important AI developers.

Valuation and the long view

The business clearly has momentum — and today’s Meta order strengthens the backlog and diversifies demand. That said, after a string of headline contracts and a sharp rebound in the share price, the stock appears priced for perfection. We’re talking about a cyclical company with a market capitalization of $68 billion that is still reporting losses.

Of course, we can’t rule out a scenario in which fundamentals do exceed expectations. But this will depend on the speed of future capacity ramps and market demand over the next five years — two very unpredictable factors.

Overall, in a capital-intensive, fast-moving market where supply chains, customer concentration, and hardware cycles can shift quickly, patience is probably a good idea. At a lower price, the stock might make sense. But after its recent run-up, it’s probably worth staying on the sidelines.

Shares of cloud infrastructure player CoreWeave (CRWV 12.90%) were trading 15% higher as of 10:50 a.m. ET Tuesday. The stock price jump came after the company announced a new $14.2 billion deal with Meta Platforms.

Continuing to strike deals

In a regulatory filing Tuesday morning, CoreWeave announced that it had expanded its deal with Meta Platforms: It will provide cloud computing capacity to the social media giant through 2031 for $14.2 billion. Meta also has “the option to materially expand its commitment through 2032 for additional cloud computing capacity under the Order Form.”

Image source: Getty Images.

CoreWeave builds and operates data centers equipped with the latest graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia, and rents out capacity on its machines largely to companies that use it to power and train artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Many of the hyperscalers in the “Magnificent Seven” have high demand for this type of processing capacity. “The agreement underscores that behind every AI breakthrough are the partnerships that make it possible,” a CoreWeave spokesperson told CNBC.

CoreWeave has had a good couple of weeks. It recently expanded its deal with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, for an additional $6.5 billion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously vowed to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new data centers to help power his company’s AI ambitions.

Good as long as the party continues

As long as companies keep spending on AI infrastructure, CoreWeave is going to benefit. How long the party will continue is another question. CoreWeave is fast approaching a $70 billion market cap, but it is not yet profitable and trades at about 13 times forward expected sales. It also has a debt-to-equity ratio of more than 8.3, which is high.

All of this makes me a bit cautious on CoreWeave, despite the high-profile agreements it has signed recently. Due to the state of its balance sheet, its valuation, and the possibility of a slowdown in AI capital expenditures, I wouldn’t recommend investing too much of your portfolio in the stock.

Over the past five years, Eli Lilly (LLY 1.43%) has outperformed the broader market, largely thanks to its progress in the GLP-1 arena. Its major breakthroughs in the field are already leading to incredible commercial success.

But Lilly isn’t done just yet. Recent clinical developments may set the stage for further stock-market gains, and potentially allow the drugmaker to maintain that momentum through the end of the decade. Let’s find out what Eli Lilly has been up to, and what that means for investors.

The next generation of GLP-1 medicines

Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide, marketed under the brands Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight management, is highly effective — and generating billions of dollars in sales per quarter already. However, the medicine is administered subcutaneously once a week. This route has several drawbacks compared to oral pills.

First, the latter are often cheaper to manufacture. With an oral GLP-1 medicine, drugmakers might be able to pass cost savings onto consumers, making them more accessible than their subcutaneous counterparts.

Image source: Getty Images.

Second, oral pills are easier on patients who abhor needles and injections. That’s why Lilly and other companies in the field have been racing to develop novel oral GLP-1 therapies. There is already one such treatment on the market: Novo Nordisk‘s Rybelsus, which was first approved in the U.S. in 2019 and is indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

But Eli Lilly is on the verge of launching its own oral option. The company’s orforglipron performed well in a series of phase 3 studies in diabetes and obesity. What’s more, Lilly recently released results from a 52-week study in diabetes patients that pitted orforglipron and Rybelsus head-to-head. During the trial, the highest dose of orforglipron resulted in an average blood-sugar reduction of 1.9%, compared to 1.5% for Rybelsus. Additionally, orforglipron induced an average weight loss of 8.2%, versus 5.3% for Rybelsus.

Once again, Lilly is showing its dominance in this area, even against the company with a first-mover advantage. And if orforglipron is approved by year-end, Eli Lilly’s shares could soar. Although the pharmaceutical giant has yet to complete regulatory submissions for orforglipron, some Wall Street analysts believe that the medicine is an excellent candidate for a new program launched by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which reduces the 10-month review time for drug applications to a mere one or two months.

Is Lilly overvalued?

No one would question that Eli Lilly is performing extremely well. In the past couple of years, it has arguably produced more positive clinical data in the rapidly growing field of weight management than the rest of the industry combined. And the drugmaker is reaping the rewards of a job well done; its financial results speak for themselves. Second-quarter revenue jumped by 38% year over year to $15.6 billion, while non-GAAP (adjusted) net earnings per share grew 61% to $6.31. Lilly even increased its guidance for the full year 2025.

However, the stock was recently trading at 24.7 times forward earnings estimates, while the average for the healthcare industry is 16.5.

That said, Eli Lilly is worth a hefty premium. Its revenue and earnings are already growing faster than those of its peers. And there are good reasons to believe the pharmaceutical leader will keep that up through the next few years (at the very least), as it continues to benefit from its groundbreaking work in the GLP-1 market. According to some analysts, orforglipron could generate as much as $12.7 billion in revenue by 2030.

Will this medicine cannibalize sales from Lilly’s other GLP-1 products? Not at all. Tirzepatide is still growing strongly and could generate nearly $62 billion in revenue by 2030, a figure unheard-of in the industry. A few years ago, some analysts predicted that tirzepatide would peak at $25 billion, which would have been pretty impressive. It’s already set to eclipse that number this year, just three years after it first hit the market. Lilly’s success in the GLP-1 market has been remarkable and should continue driving solid top-line growth.

Furthermore, several other products will contribute. Lilly’s Alzheimer’s disease medicine Kisunla has grabbed barely any headlines, but it could also achieve blockbuster status, as could Ebglyss, a new treatment for eczema.

Eli Lilly’s outstanding results and prospects justify its valuation, leaving plenty of upside for the company. The stock might not soar based on the recent clinical trial data for orforglipron showing its superiority to Rybelsus unless it leads to regulatory approval by year-end. But Lilly still looks likely to deliver market-beating returns over the next five years.

Shares of Rigetti Computing (RGTI 15.44%) are rising on Friday, up 15.4% as of 2:59 p.m. ET. The jump comes as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

The quantum computing stock continues to ride momentum from a federal contract win announced yesterday.

Rigetti secures $5.8 million Air Force deal

The company announced that it has secured a $5.8 million, three-year contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory, focusing on quantum networking technology.

Under the contract, Rigetti plans to work with Netherlands-based start-up QphoX to explore methods for combining their technologies. The goal is to enable information transfer between quantum computers.

While the announcement excited investors, CEO Subodh Kulkarni made clear this is an experimental program, describing it as “a far-out kind of research program” that’s “very much in the R&D phase.”

Image source: Getty Images.

The quantum networking opportunity remains distant

The potential of quantum is enormous, but the technology is earlier in its development than investors believe it to be. Rigetti and its peers are heavily overvalued. The company’s price-to-sales is an astronomical 779. Despite sales last year of just $10.8 million — which was less than 2023’s sales — the company’s market cap is over $9 billion.

There are more risks here than upside with a valuation like that. The quantum computing market is full of a lot of hype and enthusiasm that I think is leading investors astray. I would stay away from Rigetti stock and others like it. Instead, investors should look at stocks like Alphabet.

Shares of leading pet goods e-commerce juggernaut Chewy (CHWY -0.85%) are up 11% this week as of 1 p.m. ET on Friday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Chewy reported earnings last Wednesday, Sept. 10, and immediately saw its shares drop after it offered up guidance that traders deemed was too conservative.

At that time, I argued that the sell-off seemed to be an overreaction and that the company’s underlying business looked stronger than ever. One week later, Chewy’s stock has bounced back on minimal news, so perhaps long-term investors have turned the tide against short-term traders selling due to 90 days’ worth of information.

Chewy: Building the strongest pet care ecosystem

The primary reason that I am confident in Chewy’s stock to succeed over the coming decades is the potential for its profit margins to rise. However, Chewy also offers numerous qualitative factors that make it an outstanding stock to consider, alongside its improving financials.

First off, Chewy ranked as the 29th top brand among millennials, according to Comparably. Landing at the No. 1 spot on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index, Chewy and its willingness to go above and beyond for its customers and their furry friends shine through.

Image source: Getty Images.

This customer satisfaction creates an immensely loyal base of patrons to build an ecosystem around.

Home to the Chewy+ membership program, 12 Chewy Vet Care clinics, a heavily used autoship offering, the most pet pharmaceutical sales in the U.S., and a growing list of private label products, the company has quickly become a one-stop shop for pets.

Trading at 30 times forward earnings, Chewy’s rising margins, budding ecosystem, and 10% annualized growth rate over the last three years look attractively valued.

Shares of IonQ (IONQ 1.67%) were soaring again this week as the quantum computing stock made multiple announcements, showing its technology is continuing to gain traction and is finding new customers. It also received a number of price target hikes from Wall Street analysts.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, IonQ stock was up 24.6% as of Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET.

Image source: Getty Images.

A banner week for IonQ

IonQ has delivered solid gains every day this week on a drumbeat of good news. On Monday, two Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the stock and reiterated buy-equivalent ratings. B. Riley said IonQ is “far better positioned” than the stock indicates.

The following day, IonQ said it would acquire Vector Atomic, a quantum technology company.

Finally, on Wednesday, IonQ was named a new partner, along with Honeywell, for the Quantum-in-Space collaboration spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE), which will advance quantum technologies used in space. IonQ also signed a memorandum of understanding with the DOE.

The rapid-fire news items added to the bullish narrative building around the stock.

What’s next for IonQ

IonQ has made a number of acquisitions in quantum computing and signed on new customers in recent months. Although the business is still small, with the company aiming for up to $100 million in revenue this year, IonQ looks poised to be a leader in the quantum computing revolution, as it’s the most valuable among the four major quantum stocks.

If interest in the sector continues to build, expect IonQ to continue to move higher, especially if it forges new deals and acquisitions.

More than a dozen names are on the ballot, but analysts say the race is between President Lazarus Chakwera and his predecessor Peter Mutharika.

Polls have opened in Malawi with the incumbent president and his predecessor vying for a second chance to govern the largely poor southern African nation, battered by soaring costs and severe fuel shortages, in a closely and fiercely contested election where a run-off is widely expected.

Polls opened at 6:00am (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday with 17 names on the ballot.

Analysts say the race is between President Lazarus Chakwera, 70, and his predecessor, law professor Peter Mutharika, 85, both of whom have campaigned on improving the agriculture-dependent economy battered by a series of climate shocks, with inflation topping 27 percent.

Tuesday’s elections mark Malawi’s first national elections since the 2019 presidential vote was nullified and ordered to be redone in 2020 because of widespread irregularities.

However, both of the men have been accused of cronyism, corruption and economic mismanagement during their first presidential terms, leaving voters a choice between “two disappointments”, political commentator Chris Nhlane told the AFP news agency.

Though both drew large crowds to colourful final rallies at the weekend, many younger Malawians were reportedly uninspired.

With about 60 percent of the 7.2 million registered voters aged less than 35, activists have been mobilising to overcome apathy and get young voters to the polls.

“We are frustrated,” said youth activist Charles Chisambo, 34. “If people vote for Mutharika, it is just to have a change,” told AFP.

“We don’t need a leader, we need someone who can fix the economy.”

The cost of living in one of the world’s poorest countries has surged 75 percent in 12 months, according to reports citing the Centre for Social Concern, a nongovernmental organisation.

Two seasons of drought and a devastating cyclone in 2023 have compounded hardships in a country where about 70 percent of the 21 million population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Chakwera, from the Malawi Congress Party that led the nation to independence from Britain in 1964, has pleaded for continuity to “finish what we started”, flaunting several infrastructure projects under way.

Days earlier, he announced a huge drop in the high cost of fertiliser, a major complaint across the largely agricultural country.

Lydia Sibale, 48, a hospital administrator who had been in a petrol queue in Lilongwe for an hour, told AFP she still had confidence in Chakwera. “The only challenge is the economic crisis, which is worldwide,” she said.

Chakwera was elected with about 59 percent of the vote in the 2020 rerun, but, five years later, there is some nostalgia for Mutharika’s “relatively better administration”, said analyst Mavuto Bamusi.

“Chakwera’s incumbency advantage has significantly been messed up by poor economic performance,” he said.

“I want to rescue this country,” Mutharika told a cheering rally of his Democratic Progressive Party in the second city of Blantyre, the heartland of the party that has promised a “return to proven leadership” and economic reform.

“I will vote for APM (Mutharika) because he knows how to manage the economy and has Malawians’ welfare at heart,” 31-year-old student Thula Jere told AFP.

With a winner requiring more than 50 percent of votes, a run-off within 60 days is likely.

When I visited the Silicon Valley headquarters of Oracle (ORCL -5.05%) 25 years ago as a young technology reporter, I was dumbstruck.

The stunning campus of glistening emerald towers surrounding a placid lake looked positively otherworldly to me, something akin to the Emerald City of Oz that summoned Dorothy and her ragtag gang in The Wizard of Oz. “This place looks like the future,” I kept thinking.

The enterprise software firm has since relocated to Texas, but its future is now.

Many of the big tech names of the 1990s have faded from view — acquired, outmoded, or outcompeted.

Not Oracle. The stock is up 79% year to date and rose about 39% on Sept. 10.

What happened?

On Sept. 9 after the market closed, the software giant announced its results for the fiscal first quarter, ended Aug. 31, and they were as awe-inspiring as that original emerald campus.

Now, however, instead of back-office systems, the company’s fortunes are surging on the cloud.

A burgeoning backlog

But it wasn’t the revenue or earnings results that sent the stock skyward. In fact, quarterly revenue of $14.9 billion was up 12% from a year ago but still slightly below Wall Street’s expectations of $15 billion. And earnings per share of $1.47, up 6% from last year, came in a penny below expectations.

All that mattered little. It’s the backlog of business that stunned the market and sent the share price soaring.

Oracle said it expects revenue from its cloud infrastructure unit to surge 77% this year, to $18 billion. It also posted a huge surge in bookings in the latest quarter and signed four multibillion-dollar contracts with three different customers in the quarter.

The company’s remaining performance obligations — expected future revenue from signed contracts that has not yet been collected — surged during the quarter to $455 billion, a jump of 359%.

If that’s not the future, I’m not sure what is.

Multibillion-dollar customers

“Clearly, it was an excellent quarter and demand for Oracle Cloud infrastructure continues to build,” CEO Safra Katz said on the Sept. 9 earnings call. “I expect we will sign additional multibillion-dollar customers.”

CEOs often speak in hyperbole on earnings calls. But in this case Katz’s language seemed subdued, if anything. Multicloud-based revenue from Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon soared more than 1,500% in the quarter.

Oracle Chairman and Silicon Valley legend Larry Ellison said the company expects to deliver another 37 data centers to these three tech giants over the next few years, taking the total to 71.

Image source: Getty Images.

Pure gold

By the way, due to Oracle’s incredible run-up, Ellison’s fortune soared $90 billion to more than $380 billion, putting him right behind the world’s richest person, Elon Musk.

To incentivize his sales force, Ellison once paid bonuses in gold coins. He wanted to reward ruthlessness and drive competitors out of business.

It worked, as several early competitors — Sybase and Informix are a couple of them — stagnated or were swallowed up by other companies.

Ellison no longer pays bonuses in gold. But Oracle is certainly a golden stock for its shareholders.

Why is the healthcare industry a great place to find investments right now?

There are tree major reasons. First, spending on healthcare in the U.S. is growing rapidly. The industry already accounts for more than 17% of the economy and is expected to expand by 5.8% a year on average through 2033, when it should account for more than a fifth of the economy.

Second, the healthcare industry is widely considered to be recession-proof, or at least highly recession-resistant. Historically, the sector has fared well during recessions, as people need healthcare and find ways to pay for it even when the economy is contracting.

And the third reason is demographics. U.S. society is graying. The number of Americans 65 or older is projected to rise from 62 million in 2024 to 84 million within three decades, and the number of centenarians — those 100 or older — is expected to quadruple over that time frame. It’s no secret that people generally require more healthcare as they age.

A health giant

So, what’s a good way for an investor to take advantage of these trends and participate in that industry’s relentless expansion? There are many ways, including investing in drug manufacturers, medical device makers, health insurers, and care providers, among other health-related companies.

One health company has operations that span many of those sectors. In fact, you might have visited one of its locations in the past month. It has around 9,600 stores across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 85% of Americans live within 10 miles of one.

I’m talking about CVS Health (CVS 0.43%). CVS is much more than a pharmacy chain. It provides healthcare services like lab tests, health screenings, vaccinations, and treatments for minor injuries at its in-store clinics. It employs more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners to enable those services.

It also owns health insurer Aetna, which it acquired in 2018. Covering 36 million people, it’s the fifth-largest health insurer in the nation.

Oh, and the pharmacy part: CVS Health has a 27% share of pharmacy prescriptions nationwide.

Image source: Getty Images.

Strong results

Right now, CVS is firing on all cylinders. The company released its second-quarter results on July 31, and both earnings and revenue beat Wall Street’s estimates. The company also increased its guidance for full-year earnings per share from a range of $6.00 to $6.20 to a range of $6.30 to $6.40. The report sent the stock sharply higher, and it climbed 18% in August.

Analysts now expect full-year earnings growth of 15% in 2025 and another 13% in 2026.

Yet the stock remains cheap, trading at just 10 times forward earnings estimates, which is lower than many of its healthcare industry peers.

CVS is also expanding. It’s now swallowing up many former locations of competitor Rite Aid, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May,  and even better, acquiring Rite Aid’s prescription files.

CVS has a market cap of about $90 billion, and the stock is up 65% year to date as of market close Sept. 10. Looking back further paints a different picture. The stock is down roughly 30% over the past three years.  But the company has been rewarding investors. Last year, the company repurchased about 40 million shares of stock and paid $3.3 billion in dividends.

Now on sale

So, CVS is doing well, and shares are on sale. They dipped a bit recently when CVS executives declined to give guidance about upcoming government ratings that will impact how much money the company gets from Medicare Advantage plans.

But that’s not worrisome. CVS says it never gives guidance between quarterly earnings reports.

Savvy investors will take this opportunity to pick up a few shares of the expanding healthcare provider in light of the company’s potential. There’s plenty of upside with CVS.

Sky-high air fares and peak holiday cost increases have left families cutting back to make trips abroad a reality, research has revealed.

A survey of 1,000 parents with children up to the age of 16 who holiday abroad revealed that 66% believe price hikes have made it more challenging to get away. This has led to 69% having to be inventive with their finances to make overseas trips feasible due to rising air fares.

Top tips for stretching budgets included booking flights and accommodation well in advance, packing snacks and essentials instead of buying them upon arrival, and using comparison sites to hunt for the best deals.

Research commissioned by travel insurance provider Staysure showed that families have had to slash their holiday budgets by an average of £941 in recent years, with the cost of a holiday now just over £2,800. As a result, 44% are now more likely to opt for a staycation than a trip abroad.

However, with the average family having spent nearly £300 to keep kids entertained during school holidays, even UK day trips can still put a real strain on budgets, with 57% looking for discounted tickets for theme parks and attractions.

It’s not just young families that are struggling to afford a trip abroad as 60% of over 65s also say a staycation is on the cards due to increased prices. While 75 % of this age group also look for discounted day trip and attraction tickets when entertaining the grandchildren.

A spokesperson for Staysure, which has launched a rewards scheme offering customers access to 1.4 million worldwide hotel discounts and reduced entry fees to major UK attractions for 12 months when they purchase a policy, said: “Families long for holidays abroad, and need to entertain the kids with days out but rising costs are just squeezing what’s affordable for all generations.

“With children now back in school, thoughts will naturally turn to the October half term – and how families will once again afford to keep the kids busy often relying on grandparents to help out.

“Whether it’s a trip away or days out in the UK, the desire for cost savings will only increase as people look for more creative ways to maximise budgets – it’s a tricky juggling act.”

With getaway expenses rocketing, it merely compounds the frustration of having to fork out extra to guarantee seats that keep relatives and youngsters together on aircraft, with those surveyed expressing irritation (41%) and exasperation (32%).

Meanwhile, 44% of over 65s went as far as to say they feel livid. And 40% believe it’s unjust that a youngster’s spot on a plane can cost nearly as much as an adult fare.

Of the 66% who have been forced to slash holiday expenses, it has meant compromising on dining out (32%), slashing their total spending allowance (31%), and forgoing accommodation improvements or additional perks (28%). A further 28% have also had to reduce spending on souvenirs and shopping whilst abroad to maintain strict budgets.

Of all respondents surveyed, 71% have previously enjoyed an all-inclusive break, but 75% are now more inclined to choose self-catering options due to unaffordable price increases during busy periods.

Nearly a third (30%) have removed their child from school to secure cheaper holidays, with 29% of those doing so regularly, for an average of five days each time.

And 55% believe they could be taking breaks exclusively within the UK moving forward due to rising expenses according to the OnePoll.com research.

A spokesperson from Staysure, which is providing a 20% discount on policies in September, said: “With costs creeping up at every turn it’s no wonder parents are feeling the pinch and making cutbacks to afford a family holiday.

“Many will already be counting the cost of having spent plenty of cash keeping their kids entertained over the past six weeks.

“With expensive day trips, cinema outings, excursions, and visits to theme parks all mounting up, these are areas where parents could make savings.”

TOP 10 WAYS PARENTS LOOK TO MAKE THEIR BUDGET GO FURTHER FOR HOLIDAYS ABROAD.

1. Book flights and accommodation well in advance.
2. Pack snacks and essentials to avoid buying on the go.
3. Use comparison sites for best deals.
4. Plan free or low-cost activities.
5. Use cashback and reward schemes.
6. Set a daily spending limit
7. Whip up your own meals rather than dining out.
8. Value experiences over keepsakes.
9. Jet off during quieter seasons.
10. Take advantage of loyalty points or travel vouchers.

Newegg Commerce (NEGG 29.96%) is off to the races again. The online retailer posted incredible price gains in July and early August, followed by a sharp drawdown in the last three weeks. On Thursday, the stock was back to its old tricks with a 26.7% single-day gain as of 3 p.m. ET.

Meme stock action, with a twist

Like the momentous rise and fall in recent months, Newegg’s fresh surge looks like a meme stock rally — with some unique quirks.

The stock’s short-selling ratio is high, inspiring dreams of quick short-squeeze rallies when share prices start to move higher. I see no game-changing news in Newegg’s press center, or the company’s official blog. The only potentially market-moving news source would be Newegg’s financial filings, where I found independent investor Vladimir Galkin reporting another purchase of Newegg shares.

Galkin’s Newegg stake now consists of 3.6 million shares, up from 3.52 million on Aug. 19. He controls 17.6% of the stock’s shareholder votes at this point and should be considered a powerful voice in Newegg’s boardroom. Not that he holds a seat there, but large shareholders have ways to make their opinions known anyway.

That’s pretty much it. Scouring the usual online news media you often see in meme stock boosts, there hasn’t been much talk about Newegg on X or Reddit today.

So Newegg’s stock is soaring almost purely because Vladimir Galkin is boosting his ownership again. It’s a somewhat unusual angle on the classic meme stock idea, but the results are the same.

Image source: Getty Images.

Vladimir Galkin’s strategy

It’s important to note that Galkin’s claim to fame (and wealth) comes from his lucrative investments in Gamestop during the video game retailer’s meme stock peak. He is also a top shareholder in airline operator JetBlue Airways, which has acted like a meme stock recently.

Meme stock investing is what Galkin does, pulling strings and pushing buttons to boost social media chatter around the stocks he’s buying. And at this point, his strategy is famous enough that the stock buys themselves have market-moving power.

That’s all Newegg is doing today. The struggling e-tailer did not sign an important contract, nor did it start low-priced sales of the Next Big Thing in gaming hardware. It’s just another meme stock surge.

Both Class A and C shares of Alphabet (GOOG 8.59%) (GOOGL 8.34%) popped about 8.4%, as of 10:48 a.m. ET today, after a federal judge ruled that the conglomerate will not have to divest its massive Chrome search business.

A big win for big tech

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a landmark lawsuit against Google for monopolistic practices in the search engine space, specifically related to its digital advertising practices. Last year, a federal judge sided with the DOJ and found that Google had run an illegal monopoly. The DOJ then requested that a judge require Google to divest its Chrome browser, a big driver of the company’s search business that makes up more than half of the company’s total revenue.

Image source: Getty Images.

While many believed this was unlikely to happen, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta made it official yesterday, ruling that Google will not have to divest Chrome. Furthermore, Google can keep paying large partners like Apple to feature it as the default search engine on web browsers like Safari. However, Mehta also ruled that Google cannot propose exclusive contracts that prevent competitors from being able to fairly compete in the space. Google will also have to share some data that will supposedly help competitors get on more of an even playing field.

“This is a monster win for Cupertino and for Google its a home run ruling that removes a huge overhang on the stock,” Wedbush’s Global Head of Tech Research Dan Ives in a recent research note, according to CNBC.

A catalyst for the cheapest Mag Seven name

This year, Alphabet has traded at the cheapest valuation in the “Magnificent Seven,” largely due to the DOJ’s lawsuit and other issues with the search business including how artificial intelligence chatbots might disrupt the business.

But within the massive tech conglomerate are several incredibly fast-growing and strong businesses like Waymo, YouTube, Google Cloud, and even a chip business. Even after the nice move today, investors can still buy the stock.