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On Friday, HLS Therapeutics (TSX:HLS) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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View the webcast at https://app.webinar.net/d5b9MbO46zE

Summary

HLS reported Q1 2026 revenue of $12.9 million, a 2% year-over-year increase, driven by a 15% rise in Vascepa net sales.

The company is focused on launching new products, Nalemdo and Nexlzet, as growth catalysts, with Nalemdo already showing strong initial demand and coverage from major insurers.

HLS reaffirmed its 2026 guidance with expected revenue of $56 to $60 million and adjusted EBITDA of $18.5 to $21 million, with anticipated margin expansion in the second half of the year.

The company’s net debt reduced significantly to $31.9 million, down 52% over two years, strengthening its balance sheet and capital allocation flexibility.

Management expressed optimism about the cardiovascular portfolio’s potential to double the company’s size, given robust early indicators from Nalemdo’s launch and strategic positioning in the market.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to the Q1 Fiscal 2026 Financial Results Conference call for the HLS Therapeutics. At this point I would like to turn the call over to David Mason, Investor Relations for the introductory remarks.

David Mason (Investor Relations)

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. With me on the call is Craig Million, Chief Executive Officer, John Hanna, Chief Financial Officer and Brian Walsh, Chief Commercial Officer. Earlier this morning we issued a news release announcing our financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2026. This news release, along with our MD&A and financial statements is available on our website and on SEDAR+. Please note that slides accompanying today’s call can be viewed via the webcast, a link to which is available in our earnings press release and on our website on the Events page. Certain matters discussed in today’s conference call or answers that may be given to questions could constitute forward looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Risk factors that could affect results are detailed in the Company’s Annual Information form, which has been filed on SEDAR+. During the call we will refer to Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Adjusted EBITDA is defined in our press release and annual filings that are available on SEDAR plus and on our website. Please note that all financial information provided is in US Dollars unless otherwise specified and I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Million. Please, please go ahead.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Dave. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. On our call today, I’ll take you through our Q1 performance along with a corporate update. Brian will then follow with a deeper look at performance for each of our products with a focus on the Nalemdo launch. John will cover the financials in detail and then I’ll be back with a few closing thoughts before we open it up for questions starting with the big picture. We believe today’s HLS is in a very favorable position. VASCEPA is still growing in its seventh year on the market, Clozaril is showing resilience and Nalemdo is off to a great start, better than expected in many respects. Over the past couple years we’ve put HLS on a solid operational and financial footing, making necessary improvements to increase efficiency and profitability while delevering our balance sheet. In addition, we brought in two important new assets last year, Nalemdo and Nexlizet, that we believe will be important catalysts for growth. With a stronger financial foundation and expanded cardiovascular portfolio, we’re now focused on accelerating growth in the years to come. With that, let me start by walking you through the first quarter highlights starting with the top line. Revenue in Q1 was $12.9 million, up 2% year over year. That growth was led by a 15% increase in Vascepa net sales, the highest year over year quarterly growth we’ve seen since Q2 of last year.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

This is encouraging in that the leadership and staffing changes along with the commercial strategy that we put in place last year are having the desired impact. Adjusted EBITDA for The quarter was $3.5 million, down about 300,000 from the prior year and that is as expected. As previously discussed, we’re making a small increase in commercial investment to help ensure a successful Melendo launch. We expect that launch related expenses will be mostly front loaded in the first half of the year, with margins improving in the second half as spend normalizes and Nalendo revenue ramps up.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

Cash from operations was up 80% year over year and on the balance sheet, net debt at the end of Q1 was $31.9 million, down 52% in just two years. This delevering has strengthened our financial position and will increase our options for deploying capital. Now a few comments on our business performance turning to Clozaril Q1 results were in line with expectations. As discussed on the last call, Clozaril encountered some contracting dynamics in Ontario in the latter part of 2025 and as expected, this is impacting year over year

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

comparisons in the first half of 2026. And while we are seeing those residual impacts, we’re also seeing positive signs that our business is stabilizing.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

Most encouraging is that we saw a sequential return to Clozaril monthly patient growth in Ontario specifically and across Canada more broadly in both March and April. Month to month growth in our patient base is a positive leading indicator suggesting business results should follow. Regarding vascepa, we’re encouraged by the strong prescription and net sales growth seen in the first quarter.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

For full year 2026, we’re projecting double digit growth in both prescriptions and revenue. With sustained demand growth, an increasingly stable payer mix and a cost structure that’s now spread across multiple products, VASCEPA should contribute growth along with margin expansion for years to come. Now let’s turn to Nalendo, which had its full commercial launch in April.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

With just over one full month on the market, we’ve shipped nearly a quarter million Canadian dollars worth of Nalendo. Multiple wholesalers are placing reorders based on strong initial demand and the weekly run rate for ex factory sales is growing.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

On the private payer side, Canada Life and Sun Life, two of the largest plans in Canada, are already listing Nalemdo with full coverage and without restrictions. These two plans cover about 40% of all privately insured patients in Canada. Although early we’re pleased with how this launch is progressing, regarding nexlzet, the fixed dose combo pill combining bempedoic acid and ezetimibe, we expect to respond to Health

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

Canada on their outstanding queries this quarter, keeping us on track to launch in the first half of 2027. The sequencing of the Nalemdo launch in Q2 followed by Nexlizet in the first half of 2027 gives HLS two distinct growth catalysts within 12 months. From a big picture perspective, HLS is becoming a leading Canadian cardiovascular company. We have a growing portfolio of oral first in class medicines, each with compelling outcomes data, long patent runways in Canada and a distinct role in addressing cardiovascular risk.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

And although we’ll be tripling the number of products in our CV portfolio, the incremental investment required is modest. We believe these dynamics add up to a unique and perhaps underappreciated opportunity as the economics of our cardiovascular franchise model are compelling. First, there are the expanding margins. We’re leveraging existing infrastructure with no need to expand our customer base and footprint with a stable cost structure as we introduce these new medicines and as sales volumes increase, the cardiovascular portfolio will become significantly more profitable in years to come.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

And second, the revenue opportunity here is significant. Based on what we believe are conservative assumptions, the Nalendo and NEXT Closet franchise has the potential to more than double the size of the company.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

For those of you on the webcast, we’re showing a slide with an illustrative example of how we’re thinking about revenue potential for the Nalendo Nexlizet franchise. Based on conservative estimates for peak market penetration of the target population, along with preliminary assumptions around patient compliance and gross to net, we get to a revenue range of 50 to 100 million Canadian dollars. Again, at that level we would essentially double the size of the company and we believe there could be additional upside to our assumptions. That said, I want to caveat that we will have a more fully formed view on peak sales potential once we finalize public payer negotiations by early next year.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

The bottom line is that Nalendo and Next Lizette are entering a sizable market targeting a well defined patient population with unmet need and we are in a great position to capture this opportunity.

Craig Million (Chief Executive Officer)

Let’s move on to guidance where we are reaffirming our 2026 outlook revenue of 56 to $60 million reflecting mid single digit growth and adjusted EBITDA of 18.5 to $21 million, which is relatively flat as we absorb the Nalemdo launch costs. As I mentioned, the launch investment is concentrated in the first half. We expect to see margin expansion as sales momentum picks up in the second half …

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POET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:POET) shares traded lower Friday after the optical networking company announced a $400 million capital raise alongside first-quarter results.

The company disclosed a large registered direct offering with a single institutional investor while reporting widening losses despite rising AI infrastructure demand.

Large Capital Raise Announced

POET agreed to sell 19.05 million common shares and matching warrants in a non-brokered transaction.

The securities carry a combined purchase price of $21 each. The financing could generate gross proceeds exceeding $400 million.

The warrants remain exercisable for three years at a strike price of $26.15 per share. Management expects the transaction to close on Monday.

The company plans …

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Surgepays (NASDAQ:SURG) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Access the full call at https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3060/54033

Summary

Surgepays Inc reported a 51% year-over-year revenue growth to $16 million for Q1 2026, driven primarily by a 71% increase in point of sale and prepaid services.

The company achieved a milestone of surpassing 200,000 wireless subscribers and initiated a Buy One Get One campaign to further drive subscriber growth.

Surgepays Inc reduced customer acquisition costs significantly by transitioning its marketing in-house, resulting in a 28% reduction in cost per lead and a 48% reduction in cost per enrollment.

Six new wholesale distribution partners were added, expected to increase prepaid top-up volume by 30% once fully integrated.

New monetization layers were introduced, including a stored value and loyalty program and a managed marketing services platform, contributing to incremental revenue.

The company anticipates continued revenue growth and operational expansion, with strategic partnerships and wholesale wireless revenues expected to contribute in the upcoming quarters.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to the Surgepays Inc’s First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode and a question and answer session will follow management’s prepared remarks. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Walter Pinto with KCSA Strategic Communications. Walter, please go ahead.

Walter Pinto

Thank you operator and good morning everyone. Welcome to the Surgepays Inc’s first quarter 2026 financial results conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Brian Cox, Chief Executive Officer and Chelsea Polano, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that statements made on this call that are not historical facts, may be forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Additional information about these risks is included in the Company’s filings with the securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10Q. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements except as required by law. With that, I’d like to now turn the call over to Brian Cox. Brian, please go ahead.

Brian Cox (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Walter and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today. The first quarter of 2026 is the quarter where diversification work of the last 12 months becomes visible. In the numbers, revenue grew approximately 51% year over year to 16 million, driven by an approximately 71% increase in point of sale and prepaid services. At the same time, the cost discipline we set in motion in 2025 reached our general and administrative expense line which declined approximately 25% year over year. Today, Surge Pays operates with multiple revenue channels working in parallel. Total wireless subscriber lines across our LinkUp Mobile and Torch wireless brands surpassed 200,000 subscribers during the quarter. Our point of sale platform continues to scale across a retail footprint of more than 9,000 convenience store locations nationwide. We have added new monetization channels on top of that footprint, including a stored value and loyalty program and a managed marketing services platform for the in store media network we launched during the quarter and we have rebuilt the top of our acquisition funnel through ProgramBenefits.com which is now serving as both a unified intake and decisioning platform and a monetization layer for the subscribers it brings in. The way to think about this business is straightforward. Every consumer Surge Pays acquires can now be paired with additional financial and benefit products distributed through the same platform. That is the compounding model we designed Q1 is the first quarter where you can see it forming in the financials, and we’re going to walk you through each one of the operating pieces that drove that. There are five operating themes that define the first quarter and that frame how we expect the rest of the year to unfold. First, Wireless Subscriber Growth Total wireless subscriber lines across our LinkUp Mobile and Torch wireless brands surpassed 200,000 during this quarter. That’s a milestone the team has worked toward for several quarters and it reflects the operational work we have done to scale the prepaid wireless business in house. To press that momentum further, we initiated a Buy one get one promotional campaign in our prepaid wireless business designed to drive subscriber growth and increase market penetration across our retail and digital channels. Second, the Customer Acquisition engine this is one of the most important shifts inside the company and I want to spend a minute on it. During the first quarter we transitioned subscriber acquisition to our in house growth marketing team. For the past five years this has been outsourced to third party ad agencies. Since that transition, we have reduced customers cost per lead by approximately 28%. Cost per enrollment is down approximately 48% and our lead to enrollment conversion rate is up approximately 39%. We are paying less to acquire each new customer. Fewer of those leads fall out of the funnel and the customers we bring on cost materially less than than they did one quarter ago. Our marketing team is winning. That is a structural improvement in unit economics that’s impactful now, but even more so as we ramp up our sales push on top of that engine. We have continued to scale ProgramBenefits.com as both a unified intake and decisioning platform and as a monetization layer for the subscriber base. Internal upsells, top up, cross sell affiliate offers and data partnership initiatives are now generating revenue against those subscribers. This partially offsets the acquisition costs. In other words, the funnel is starting to pay for itself and our end of year goal is to continue improving this funnel so we effectively eliminate our cost to acquire customers entirely. Third, wholesale distribution expansion during the period we closed six new …

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Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) on Thursday reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Brookfield reported quarterly earnings of 66 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 65 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $18.580 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.603 billion.

Nick Goodman, President of Brookfield Corporation, said, “We started the year strong, with good growth in asset management, continued scaling of wealth solutions, and stable cash flows in our operating businesses. We …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Klarna Group Plc  (NYSE:KLAR) on Thursday reported first-quarter sales that topped Wall Street estimates.

Revenue rose 44% year over year to $1 billion, ahead of the analyst consensus estimate of $945.1 million. Gross merchandise value climbed 33% to $33.7 billion, supported by 39% growth in the U.S. and 31% growth outside the U.S.

“Klarna addresses the entire consumer wallet: Pay Now for everyday spending and saving, Pay Later our charge card equivalent at 0% interest for mid-size ticket spending, and POS installments (Fair Financing) for big-ticket purchases. In Q1 we executed well across all the business, driving every line of our P&L and …

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Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=oINfocKb

Summary

Data Storage Corporation reported a strategic repositioning following the sale of its Cloud solution business in 2025, which provided capital to pursue larger market opportunities.

The company announced the formation of Sovereign AI Solutions, a subsidiary focused on AI continuity for regulated enterprises, addressing gaps in recovery, resilience, and compliance for AI environments.

Financial results showed a 10.9% year-over-year increase in sales for the Nexus subsidiary, with gross profit up 32.1% and expanded gross margins to 53.7%.

The company ended the quarter with $9.7 million in cash and marketable securities, maintaining a debt-free status and strong liquidity.

Management highlighted a focus on strategic initiatives for 2026, including developing the AI platform architecture, industry engagement, and potential customer opportunities.

The company emphasized its financial strength and flexibility to pursue strategic investments, partnerships, and potential acquisitions to enhance shareholder value.

Management expressed confidence in the timing and market potential for AI infrastructure, citing a multibillion-dollar annual market opportunity driven by regulatory demands.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings and welcome to the Data Storage Corporation first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow a formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press Star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce David Waldman, Investor Relations.

David Waldman (Investor Relations)

Thank you and good morning everyone. Welcome to Data Storage Corporation’s 2026 first quarter business update conference call. On the call with us this morning are Chuck Peluso, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Chris Pangio, Chief Financial Officer. The Company issued a press release this morning containing its 2026 first quarter financial results which is also posted on the Company’s website. If you have any questions after the call or would like any additional information about the company, please contact Crescendo Communications at 212-671-1020. Before we begin, please note that today’s call contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to various risks and uncertainties described in the Company’s filings with the SEC. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise forward looking statements. I’d now like to turn the call over to Chuck Peluso. Please go ahead Chuck.

Chuck Peluso (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, David. Good morning everyone. We appreciate everyone joining us today. The first quarter of 2026 marked another important milestone in the strategic transformation of Data Storage Corporation. Over the past year we have repositioned the company following a successful sale of our Cloud solution business in 2025 and today we are operating from position of financial strength, strategic flexibility and operational focus. As many of you know, the sale of Cloud solution business was transformational for Data Storage Corporation. That transaction not only validated the value we created over more than two decades, but also provided us with the capital foundation necessary to reposition the company towards what we believe are significantly larger long term market opportunities. Following the transaction, we completed a substantial tender offer that reduced our outstanding shares count by approximately 72% while still maintaining debt free balance sheet and substantial liquidity. Importantly, the period following the sale was not a pause in activity. It was a period of evaluation, of analysis, of strategic development. We spent considerable time assessing emerging infrastructure trends, regulatory developments, competitive positioning and areas where we believe meaningful structural market gap existed. What became increasingly clear experimentation into mission critical software deployment environments across industries such as healthcare, financial service, insurance organizations are beginning to Deploy Sovereign AI in AI factory environments on site equipment designed to run proprietary AI models on highly sensitive data sets. These are not public AI cloud environments. These are private enterprise grade AI infrastructures that organizations increasingly rely upon for core operating workflows, security, decision making, compliance functions and customer facing processes. As we study this market, we identify what we believe is a critical infrastructure gap as these systems are deployed today. We believe there are no widely adopted purpose built platforms designed specifically addressing recovery, resilience, behavior validation and regulatory compliance to these AI factory environments after two successful decades Operating Cloud first, we understand the client’s requirements as it relates to meeting their expectations surrounding business continuity. Traditional data storage systems focus primarily on restoring hardware or infrastructure uptime, but AI introduces an entirely different challenge set. Enterprises will require a business continuity service and will increasingly need to validate those models of behaving correctly when a situation occurs that output remains compliant, that inference consistency is maintained and that recovery procedures themselves satisfy the client and regulatory standards. We believe this creates a significantly new category of infrastructure need. To address this opportunity, we plan to establish Sovereign AI Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary focused on developing what we describe as an AI continuity control plane for regulated enterprises. Our intention is to create a platform capable of serving as a resiliency, recovery, validation and compliance label for sovereign AI infrastructure environments. The platform we envision is designed to detect behavioral anomalies, execute validated recovery sequences and generated audit ready documentation that regulated industries may increasely require as AI becomes embedded into critical business operations. Importantly, we believe our approach is differentiated because it focuses not only on infrastructure restoration but also on preserving operational integrity, compliance posture at the model and behavioral levels. We also believe the market timing is compelling. Earlier this month, several leading AI developers announced multibillion dollar initiatives designed to integrate AI deeply into the enterprise wide workflows. Further, validating large scale AI deployment across mission critical environments is accelerating rapidly while this market remains early stage and rapidly evolving. Evolving, we believe long term opportunity could be substantial. Based on our preliminary analysis, regulatory driven enterprise AI infrastructure infrastructure spending could ultimately represent a multibillion dollar annual market opportunity. At the same time, we are not currently aware of any other purposely built platform targeting compliance driven AI recovery for regulated enterprises. In the matter we are pursuing, our focus throughout 2026 will be advancing the platform architecture, redefining our go to market strategy, continuing industry engagement discussions and progressing towards potential initial customer opportunities. We expect to provide additional commercial and operational updates as these initiatives advance throughout the year. At the same time, our nexus business continues to provide an important operational and financial foundation for DTST Nexis remains a stable recurring revenue business delivering VoIP, dedicated Internet access, SD WAN and data transport services. During the first quarter of 2026, Nexis sales increased 10.9% year over year while gross profit increased 32.1% and gross margins expanded to 53.7 compared to 45% in the prior year period. We believe these results demonstrate both the continued demand for our connectivity services and operational discipline within the business. Just as importantly, NEXIS provides us with a recurring revenue base and operating infrastructure that supports our broader strategic initiatives. Financially, we believe DTST is well positioned relative to many companies pursuing emerging technology opportunities. We ended the year with no long term debt, substantial working capital, significant market securities and a highly flexible balance sheet. That strength gives us the ability to remain patient strategic disciplined on how we allocate capital. While SAIS remains our primary strategic initiative, we are also continuing to evaluate complementary opportunities including partnerships, strategic investments, mergers and acquisitions and other transactions that could strengthen our competitive position and enhance long term shareholder value. Ultimately, our goal is to position DTST at the intersection of enterprise AI infrastructure, resiliency, compliance and mission critical continuity areas where we believe demand will continue to expand significantly over the coming years. We appreciate the continued support and confidence of our shareholders and we look forward to updating everyone on our progress as we move throughout 2026. I’d like to turn it over to Chris Panagia Tacos for a review of the financial results.

Chris Panagia Tacos

Chris thank you Chuck Good morning everyone. As previously discussed, on September 11, 2025 we closed the sale of our Cloud first business for $40 million. As a result of the transaction and in accordance with auditing and reporting standards, our ongoing financial reporting now reflects only our continuing operations. Specifically, our Nexus subsidiary sales from continuing operations were $347,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2026, an increase of $34,000, or 10.9% compared to $313,000 in the prior year. The increase was primarily attributable to continued growth in our Nexus Voice and Data Solutions business driven by the addition of new customers and increased spending from existing customers. Revenue growth during the period reflects continued demand for our voice and data connectivity solutions and expansion of services within our existing customer base. Gross profit for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $186,000, an increase of $45,000, or 32.1%, compared to $141,000 in the prior period. Selling general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2026 increased $615,000, or 71.8%, to $1.5 million from $857,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2025. The increase was primarily driven by a $425,000 or 311% increase in non cash stock based compensation as a result of grants to certain employees. During the three months ended March 31, 2026, professional fees increased by $135,000, or 73.6%, attributable to higher fees paid relating to legal and consulting services during the period. Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $631,000 compared to net income of $24,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2025. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of approximately $9.7 million. At March 31, 2026, we used $29.5 million of the proceeds from the sales of marketable securities to repurchase common stock from our shareholders in connection with the tender offer, which closed on January 15, 2026. Thank you and I will now turn the call back to Chuck.

Chuck Peluso (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Chris. Let’s open up the call for some questions. Thank …

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On Friday, RBC Bearings (NYSE:RBC) discussed fourth-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Access the full call at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=ANQZfym5

Summary

RBC Bearings reported a strong fiscal fourth quarter 2026 with net sales increasing by 18.3% year-over-year to $518 million, driven by growth in the Aerospace and Defense (A&D) segment and steady industrial business performance.

The company achieved an adjusted diluted EPS of $3.62, up from $2.83 in the previous year, and adjusted EBITDA rose by 21% to $168.9 million.

A&D segment revenue increased by 41.2%, driven by robust demand in defense and space markets, with a backlog totaling approximately $2.3 billion.

RBC Bearings paid down $116 million of debt during the quarter and plans to continue its deleveraging strategy.

For fiscal year 2027, the company expects revenue growth of 14.7% to 17% in Q1, with adjusted gross margins between 45.25% and 45.5%.

The company is investing in additional machinery and floor space to support increasing production rates, particularly for the marine and missile sectors.

Management highlighted strong performance in commercial aircraft, defense, and industrial markets, with plans to expand in the space sector.

RBC Bearings continues to focus on strategic expansion through organic growth and potential acquisitions aligned with current customer segments.

Full Transcript

Josh Caro (Investor Relations Team)

Good morning and thank you for joining us for RBC Bearings’ fiscal fourth quarter 2026 earnings call. I’m Josh Caro with the Investor Relations Team. With me on Today’s call are Dr. Hartnett, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Bergeron, Director, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Rob Sullivan, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, some of the statements made today may be forward looking and under the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995, actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied due to a variety of factors. We refer you to RBC Bearings’ recent filings with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risk that could impact the company’s future operating results and financial condition. These factors are also listed in the press release along with a reconciliation between Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and non Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial information. With that, I’ll now turn the call over to Dr. Hartnett.

Dr. Hartnett (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Josh and good morning and thank you all for joining us this morning. As usual, I’ll begin today’s call with a brief review of our financial results and highlight several key trends we see across the sectors. Then I’ll turn the call over to Rob Sullivan who will provide additional details on our financial performance for the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter net sales increased 18.3% year over year to $518 million, driven by continued momentum in our A and D segment and steady growth in our industrial businesses. Consolidated Gross margin was 44.4% for the quarter or 45.3% on an adjusted basis. Adjusted diluted EPS increased year over year to $3.62 compared to $2.83 in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA rose 21% to 168.9 million, up from 139.8 million last year. Free cash flow remained a strong 67.5 million and we paid down an additional $116 million of debt during the quarter. Now turning to our two business segments, approximately 57% of our revenue during the quarter came from our industrial segment, 43% came from our A and D segment. Our A and E business has continued to deliver exceptional performance with Segment revenue increasing 41.2% compared to the prior year period. This strong momentum in aerospace and defense is further reflected in our backlog which has continued to expand and currently stands at approximately $2.3 billion. This growth continues to be driven by robust demand across the defense and space markets along with unprecedented commercial aircraft build rates at the major builders for the full year A and D segment was up 32% of which 19.1% was organic. With regard to our business segments, commercial aircraft was up 17.8%, 17.3 of which was organic, defense was up 65.4% and 22.1% was organic. Our Key Revenue drivers First, as many of you know, Marine has been a significant contributor to our backlog growth driven by accelerating build out of the submarine fleet. Given the strategic importance of submarines within today’s defense strategies, we expect this to remain a meaningful tailwind as production rates continue to ramp across all subcontractors for both the Virginia and Columbia class programs as well as fleet spares. We are adding machinery and floor space to accommodate increased production rates as we speak. Next is Missiles Missile related revenue was up significantly this year with revenue for this sector exceeding $45 million in the fiscal year. Some of this gain did come from our recent EVACO acquisition. This growth really reflects increased content we have across several cooperative missile programs and the expanding demand we are seeing. Given the current global conditions, we are planning for sustained growth in requirements for this sector in the current and future years. We also see an impressive ramp in our space business as investments in this sector continue to hit record levels. During the year we saw space revenues come in just above $70 million including 30 million from 8 months contribution by Vacco. This impressive growth, especially considering that space related revenue was only $4 million for RBC back in 2021. As this trend accelerates and private investment grows, space infrastructure is being viewed not only as a major strategic national priority, but as a substantial and essential commercial reality. On top of this strong momentum, we are also supporting the unprecedented, unprecedented production rates for commercial aircraft and engines. As you know, we are deeply embedded across these markets on three continents and as a result expect to see continued growth at both the OEM and aftermarket levels. Turning now to our industrial business, performance remained steady and up during the period with OEM revenue increasing 7.8% and distribution revenue growing at 4.5%. During the quarter we saw strength in aggregates warehousing, food and beverage, grain and semiconductor end markets. As we look to the fiscal year 2027, we are encouraged by the continued strength of our operating environment and the building momentum across many businesses. We firmly believe our strong service levels coupled with our brands, our renowned brands, market positions and technical expertise provide for continued strong financial results long into the future. This was a record year for RBC and as always it is a true team effort. I want to thank our employees across the organization for their hard work, dedication and unwavering commitment to executing our strategy and serving our clients with excellence. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Rob, who will walk us through the financials. Thank you, Mike we closed fiscal year

Rob Sullivan (Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)

2026 with another strong quarter that exceeded our expectations, with net sales growing 18.3%, which led to an 18.9% increase in our reported gross margin. Gross margins were 44.4% for the quarter, or 45.3% on an adjusted basis, compared to 44.2% in the same period last year. Fourth quarter A and D sales increased 41.2% year over year, with the Vaco acquisition excluded. Our A and E business saw an increase in sales of 22.8%, which highlights the continued strong growth in our legacy commercial and defense markets. A and D gross margins during the quarter were 41.6% or 44.2% on an adjusted basis, and industrial margins were 46.5% or 46.2% on an adjusted basis. Excluding VATCO, our aerospace and defense gross margins were 43.7% during the period. We are encouraged by the margin improvement we’ve achieved within amd, driven by increased efficiencies, volumes and newly awarded contracts in the period. Looking ahead, we expect these benefits to continue to further support margin improvement, while recognizing the impact will be gradual as these benefits flow through. On the SGA line, we had total cost of 86.9 million, or 16.8% of net sales for the quarter. This ultimately resulted in an adjusted EBITDA of 168.9 million, or 32.6% of sales for the quarter. That represents an approximate 21% increase in adjusted EBITDA dollars during the quarter compared to the same period last year. Interest expense for the quarter was 11.2 million. This was down 12.5% year over year, reflecting the improved leverage position achieved over the last 12 months coupled with lower interest rates compared to this time last year. We paid off 116 million of debt during the quarter and another 27 million since the end of the fourth quarter. The tax rate in our adjusted EPS calculation was 21% compared to last year’s 21.7%. This led to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.62, representing growth of 27.9% year over year. Free cash flow in the quarter came in at 67.5 million with conversion of 73.6% compared to 55 million and 75.7% last year. For the Full year free cash flow was 342.6 million with conversion of 119.1% compared …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Garages are usually packed with old holiday decorations, dusty storage bins, and things nobody has touched in years. For Maye Musk, the mother of the world’s richest man, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, they are also perfectly acceptable places to sleep during family visits.

Last week, the 78-year-old model and author told E! News that she has never believed in demanding time from her children or grandchildren. Maye, who shares Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca with ex-husband Errol Musk, said, “There is no greater joy in my life than being a mother—and now a grandmother.”

Still, she made clear that family time comes without pressure.

“I’m always here for them, ready with advice, support or a listening ear,” Maye said. “But I never demand their time.”

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A Garage Full Of Boxes Beat A Long Hotel Drive

That same easygoing attitude apparently extends to sleeping arrangements too. “I could sleep in a hotel 45 minutes away, or in his garage,” Maye told E! News in an interview last year while recalling visits to Elon during his earlier SpaceX days in California.

“He had a single bed there. And everybody says, ‘Oh, was it fabulous?’ I said, ‘No, there were boxes. It’s a garage. There were boxes.’ I would rather sleep on a single bed rather than at a hotel 45 minutes away. There’s no point in visiting then.”

The setup was not exactly what most people picture when they think of a billionaire’s family. But Maye made clear convenience mattered more than luxury.

She also said this was hardly the first time she had made a garage work as a guest room.

“When my mom had a home in Canada, she had a garage as well and didn’t have a spare room for me,” Maye said. “So I sleep in the garage every time I visit her, I just put a bed in it.”

Then came the line that summed up her approach to family visits: “I couch surf, whatever’s available. I’d rather see my kids and grandkids than be in comfort.”

Trending: From the International Space Station to everyday use — this NASA-tested diagnostics platform is moving toward at-home lab testing

Elon’s Tiny Home Fit His Minimalist Lifestyle

While Elon has become known for his immense wealth through Tesla and SpaceX, he has also spent years talking about living with fewer physical possessions. 

“My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica/Starbase that I rent from SpaceX. It’s kinda awesome though,” he wrote on X in 2021.

He later joked that upgrades pushed the value closer to $69,000.

The compact Texas home became part of Elon’s broader minimalist phase after he sold much of his California real estate portfolio between 2020 and 2021. Texas later became even more central to SpaceX operations as Starbase evolved into a growing company town tied to rocket launches and development.

That shift has also mirrored growing interest in alternative ways to invest in housing. Arrived allows people to invest in fractional shares of rental homes with a starting …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) on Thursday reported worse-than-expected first-quarter results.

Bullish posted adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share, missing market estimates of 17 cents per share. The company’s sales came in at $92.80 million, missing expectations of $93.558 million.

Tom Farley, CEO said. “We’re pleased with our Q1 results and we’re even more excited about what comes next. With the proposed acquisition of Equiniti, we will have all three elements required to become …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades, downgrades and initiations, please see our analyst ratings page.

• DA Davidson analyst Jake Civiello initiated coverage on Eastern Bankshares Inc (NASDAQ:EBC) with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $24. Eastern Bankshares shares closed at $19.44 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• DA Davidson analyst Jake Civiello initiated coverage on Unity Bancorp Inc

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to fly the first Starship V3 on Tuesday, May 19, the debut of a vehicle the company has rebuilt almost from scratch and the last major test before its expected IPO roadshow.

Liftoff is targeted for 6:30 p.m. EDT from a new pad at Starbase in South Texas. SpaceX has a 90-minute window to get the rocket off the ground before the attempt scrubs to another day.

V3 stands 124.4 meters tall, roughly 1.5 meters taller than its predecessor and the tallest rocket ever built. Both stages run on SpaceX’s new Raptor 3 engine, with the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3s generating over 18 million pounds of combined thrust at liftoff. That is more than twice the thrust of NASA’s Saturn V moon rocket.

A redesigned fuel transfer tube roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage allows all 33 engines to ignite simultaneously.

Fewer Fins, Hotter Stage

The booster has three grid fins rather …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

WhiteFiber, Inc. (NASDAQ:WYFI) reported mixed first-quarter results on Thursday.

WhiteFiber reported a loss of 31 cents per share, missing the consensus estimate of a 28 cent-loss. In addition, it reported revenue of $21.92 million, beating the consensus estimate of $21.62 million, and representing a 31% year-over-year increase.

Cloud services revenue totaled $16.8 million in the quarter, up 13.0% year-over-year from $14.8 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Colocation services revenue increased 190.2% year-over-year to $4.8 million, driven by the commencement …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) spiked to $1.55 following the CLARITY Act passing the Senate Banking Committee before pulling back below $1.45

Whales Hold 45.83 Billion XRP Tokens

Wallets holding at least 10 million XRP now control 45.83 billion tokens worth $68.5 billion, representing 68.5% of circulating supply. 

This marks the highest whale concentration since May 2018, signaling major holders are accumulating rather than distributing into strength.

The spike to $1.55 occurred immediately after the Senate Banking Committee passed the CLARITY Act 15-9, legislation that could formally reinforce XRP’s regulatory status as a commodity rather than a security.

ETF Inflows Accelerate To $49.63M Weekly

U.S. XRP Spot ETFs recorded $18.52 million in net inflows Thursday, bringing weekly inflows to $49.63 million with Friday still remaining. 

Bitwise XRP

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A viral Indiana Pacers fan couple almost became an engagement story. 

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal told Pacers couple Grace and Michael he would buy the ring if they got engaged on the spot. “Ask her to marry you right now, I’ll buy the engagement ring,” O’Neal said last month on ESPN’s “Inside the NBA.” 

The couple hesitated through the surprise offer, and the segment ended without a proposal.

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The Conversation That Didn’t Add Up 

The couple drew attention early last month at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where a TV camera caught them talking in the stands during a Pacers-Nets game, a moment that quickly spread online.

Co-host Ernie Johnson asked Michael what he was talking about and why there was a “filibuster in the stands.” 

“We were talking about sort of the rigors of a liberal arts education,” Michael said. He thought it should reflect the future job market and that she disagreed. 

Grace framed the viral moment more casually. She said their usual conversation was being interrupted by the game and that she is not a big sports fan.

“I don’t believe that story that you just told,” O’Neal said, suggesting he thought the answer was planned.

Trending: This Under-$1 Pre-IPO AI Company Is Still Open to Retail Investors — Learn More

The Offer Was Instant. The Answer Wasn’t 

When O’Neal referred to Grace as his wife, Michael said she was his girlfriend. O’Neal then told him to propose. “Get on your knee right now,” he said. “I’ll buy the ring. Look into the camera when you do that.”

Michael did not propose and instead asked whether the show’s hosts would attend the wedding. “If you guys agree to come to the wedding, we’ll do that,” Michael said.

O’Neal said he would attend, but co-host Charles Barkley pointed out that they would need to know when the wedding would take place.

“You’ve already cursed him out on national television,” Barkley said. “If you turn him down on national television, he better abort! Abort! Abort!”

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Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market

Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has made Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) a core holding, with the legendary activist investor arguing the software giant’s roughly 27% economic interest in OpenAI is worth around $200 billion and not reflected in the share price.

Ackman disclosed the new position in a post on X early Friday, ahead of Pershing Square’s 13F filing later in the day.

He said the firm began building the stake in February after Microsoft’s fiscal Q2 results sent shares lower.

Pershing Square USA, Ackman’s newly launched publicly traded vehicle, has also made Microsoft a core holding.

The Valuation Case

Pershing established its position at 21 times forward earnings, broadly in line with the market multiple and well below where Microsoft has traded over the past few years, according to Ackman.

Microsoft shares are down 12% year-to-date and have lost more than a quarter of their value since peaking last fall.

Ackman compared the trade to Pershing’s earlier buys of Alphabet

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Shares of Robo.ai Inc. (NASDAQ:AIIO) are trading lower on Friday as the market reacts to broader declines in major indices, including the Russell 2000, which is down 2.21%.

The stock’s movement follows the introduction of its new NeuroStream technology platform. It is aimed at optimizing data storage and processing for AI applications, which initially spurred interest in the stock.

The company said that the NeuroStream platform, developed by Robo.ai’s newly acquired business, Neurovia AI, promises to significantly reduce data storage costs for AI customers, with potential savings of $1,000 to $1,500 annually per terabyte.

This acquisition, valued at $100 million, is part of Robo.ai’s strategy to enhance its infrastructure in the growing AI market.

About Robo.ai

Robo.ai Inc is building a decentralized, AI-powered intelligent mobility platform that blends smart vehicles, robotics, and blockchain. The company is developing an AI-NAS ecosystem aimed at a passenger-centric platform that combines hardware and software, onboard computing, and an open cloud …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

GH Research PLC (NASDAQ:GHRS) reported a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly losses of 31 cents per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of losses of 28 cents per share.

“The first quarter of 2026 marks progress as planned toward our global GH001 Phase 3 pivotal program,” said Dr. Velichka Valcheva, Chief Executive Officer.

GH Research shares fell 3.4% to trade at $21.46 on Friday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on GH Research following earnings announcement.

• Citizens …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, American Strategic (NYSE:NYC) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

American Strategic reported first quarter 2026 revenue of $7.3 million, down from $12.3 million in the same period the previous year, primarily due to the foreclosure of a property.

The company experienced a GAAP net loss of $7.8 million, influenced by a $2.3 million non-cash gain and a $5 million decrease in tenant revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.1 million, compared to negative $0.8 million in the first quarter of 2025.

American Strategic is focused on tenant retention and property improvements, with 60% of leases extending beyond 2030.

The company is exploring asset sales and refinancing options to maximize long-term value.

Management emphasized portfolio stability with a high quality tenant base, including 69% investment grade tenants.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to the American Strategic Investment Company’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press Star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Curtis Parker, Senior Vice President. Please go ahead.

Curtis Parker (Senior Vice President)

Thank you. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. This event is also being webcast in the Investor Relations section of our website. Joining me today on the call to discuss the quarter’s results are Nicholas Schorsch Jr. American strategic investment Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Michael Lofrano, the Chief Financial Officer. The following information contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995 which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please review the forward-looking and cautionary statements section at the end of the first quarter 2026 earnings release for various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements made during our call today. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. We refer all of you to our SEC filings, including the Form 10K filed for …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

By the time most retail investors get access to blockbuster IPOs, the biggest gains may already be gone. That’s the argument Tessera PE CEO Chan Ahn is making as debates intensify around SpaceX‘s public offering.

SpaceX’s rise from roughly $350 billion to a reported $1.75 trillion-$2 trillion IPO target highlights a growing imbalance in modern markets, Ahn told Benzinga.

“SpaceX compounded from roughly $350 billion to a reported $1.75–2 trillion IPO target — that’s 5x appreciation that happened entirely while retail was locked out,” the former Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan executive said. He called it “the biggest wealth-creation event of a generation.”

IPO Access Versus IPO Illusion

Ahn argues the issue goes beyond allocation size. Even when companies reserve shares for retail buyers, oversubscribed deals …

H&R REIT (TSX:HR) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

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Summary

H&R REIT successfully transitioned property management to Greystar as of April 1st, with positive early indicators such as increased lead volume and approved leases.

Same property net operating income from residential properties in the Sunbelt increased by 2.3% year-over-year, driven by lease-ups in Dallas but offset by higher vacancies and concessions.

Development projects in Florida are progressing well, with expected construction completion by the end of June.

The company is not planning to sell its Front Street asset until further leasing progress is made, while other asset sales are expected to close soon.

Management is optimistic about capturing savings from the Greystar transition and is considering NCIB activity following asset sales.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to H&R REIT 2026 first quarter earnings conference Call. Before beginning the call, H&R would like to remind listeners that certain statements which may include predictions, conclusions, forecasts or projections and the remarks that follow may contain forward looking information which reflect the current expectations of management regarding future events and performance and speak only as of today’s date. Forward looking information requires management to make assumptions or rely on certain material factors and is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from the statements in the forward looking information. In discussing H&R’s financial and operating performance and in responding to your questions, we may reference certain financial measures which do not have a meaning, recognized or standardized under IFRS or Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other reporting issuers. Non GAAP measures should not be considered as alternatives to net income or comparable metrics determined in accordance with the IFRS as indicators of HR’s performance, liquidity, cash flows and profitability. HR’s management uses these measures to aid in assessing the REIT’s underlying performance and provides these additional measures so that investors can do the same. Additional information about the material factors, assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements in the forward looking information. That and the material factors or assumptions that may have been applied in making such statements, together with details on H&R’s use of non GAAP financial measures are described in more detail in H&R’s public filings which can be found on H&R’s website and www.sedar.com. i would now like to introduce Mr. Tom Hofstetter, Chief Executive Officer of H&R REIT. Please go ahead. Mr. Hofstadter.

Tom Hofstetter

Good morning everyone and thanks for joining us. Larry Froome, our CFO is not available today. Cheryl Freed and Jason Birkin will be taking the questions. In light of that, we’re going to bypass Larry’s introductory comments and go right to Emily Watson, head of our Land Tower Division to bring us up to date.

Emily Watson (Head of Land Tower Division)

Emily thank you Tom and thanks to all of you for joining us. I’ll begin with status update on externalizing property management and some operational highlights followed by an overview of our first quarter performance before turning to development progress. Q1 Operating conditions progressed as we anticipated. We successfully transitioned property management to Greystar as of April 1st. We are encouraged by our early post transition indicators. April lease volume increasing 18% over prior year. Completed tours were 13% higher than April of last year and approved leases increased over 70% year over year for the month of April. Additionally, our bulk WI FI projects are progressing well. Four communities have launched and are expected to drive roughly 800,000 in revenue for 2026 with another seven projects in the pipeline. Greystar’s early results, paired with strong demand driven by steady wage growth, low rent to income ratios and high retention rates reinforce our confidence that we are well positioned to capitalize on a market recovery. And across our Sunbelt portfolio, same property net operating income on a cash basis from residential properties in US dollars increased by 2.3% for the three months ending March 31, 2026 compared to the respective 2025 period. This growth was primarily driven by the lease up of landtower Westlove and Landtower Midtown both in Dallas, Texas. The increase was partially offset by a decrease in rental income from H and R Sunbelt properties as a result of higher vacancies and concessions. Same asset occupancy ended the quarter at 90.9%, a decrease of 1.2% from Q4 and 30 basis points from prior year. Sunbelt blended lease tradeouts were negative 3.5% in Q1, a 50 basis point decrease over Q4 and 114 basis point point decrease over Q1 of 2025. New lease tradeouts were negative 14.8% and renewal lease rates increased 3.8%. Importantly, our Sun Belt resident retention remained strong at 58.3% in Q1. Turning to developments, our new Redwood projects in Florida, of which H and r has a 29.1% ownership interest, continue to progress well and remain on budget. Sunrise in Orlando received their Temporary Certificate of Occupancy this week, expecting first move ins by June. We expect landtower Bayside in Tampa, Florida to receive Temporary Certificate of Occupancy next week and also expect first move ins in June. Construction completion for both assets is expected by the end of June. Land tower currently has nine Sunbelt developments in the pipeline totaling approximately 2,900 suites. At H&R’s ownership interest, multiple sites are fully permitted and ready for construction and we are advancing design, drawing and permitting on the remainder. In summary, the partnership between the Greystar teams and our asset management development and accounting teams has begun well. We believe this transition will result in long term value creation through efficiency at scale, enhanced oversight and significant overhead savings. We are encouraged by the strong fundamentals in the multifamily sector and specifically our markets. Improving Market conditions A laser focused operating platform with buying power and market presence of our third party management company has positioned our portfolio to take advantage of the recovery expected in the second half of this year. Short term pricing power remains soft in a few regions, but the broader fundamentals for multifamily are gaining traction. Supply pipelines are thinning and affordability continues to draw demand. And our early operational indicators under greystar are moving in the right direction. I also want to recognize and thank our team for a successful transition to greystar and for their continued partnership and drive to deliver strong performance across the portfolio. And with that, I’ll turn the call back to Tom.

Tom Hofstetter

Thanks, Emily. Operator, you can open up the call for questions.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any. One moment please for your first question. First question comes from Jimmy Shan with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Jimmy Shan (Equity Analyst)

Hi. Thanks. So maybe just on …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling around 500 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded down 1% to 49,562.35 while the NASDAQ dipped 1.79% to 26,158.37. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.29% to 7,404.51.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.2% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, information technology stocks fell by 2.2%.

Top Headline

The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index rose to 19.6 in May from 11 in the previous month, also topping market estimates of 7.5. The latest reading signalled showed that New York manufacturing activity surged at its fastest pace in more than four years.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Hcw Biologics Inc (NASDAQ:HCWB) shares shot up 283% to $1.29 after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company posted first-quarter results.
• Shares of Dreamland Ltd (NASDAQ:TDIC) got a boost, surging 102% to $1.62.
• Auddia …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) shares are down Friday, trading lower by more than 5% as the company faces a legal setback following a ruling in the UK regarding patent licensing disputes.

This decline comes after a British appeals court sided with Taiwanese electronics makers Acer and Asus, halting ongoing litigation over fair patent licensing terms, a decision that has raised concerns about Nokia’s future revenue from its licensing agreements.

The stock’s movement reflects broader market trends, with major indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also experiencing declines.

Leadership Transition

Nokia appointed Emma Falck as President of Mobile Infrastructure and a member of its Group Leadership Team, effective Sept. 1.

Falck joins from Siemens, where she led Smart Infrastructure Buildings products and global technology operations. CEO Justin Hotard said Falck will help drive Nokia’s AI-native 5G Advanced and 6G infrastructure strategy.

Technical Analysis

Nokia’s stock is currently trading at $13.88, significantly above its major moving averages, with the 20-day SMA at $12.19, indicating a bullish trend. The stock is 13.9% above the 20-day SMA, 38.2% above the 50-day SMA, and 100.4% above the 200-day SMA, suggesting strong upward momentum.

The primary momentum indicator, MACD, is above its signal line, indicating that downside pressure is easing. This suggests that while the stock is experiencing a pullback, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The ticketing company benefited from soaring concert sales last year, almost doubling its profit, and is also pivoting towards pop-culture merchandise

image credit: Author

Key Takeaways:

• Damai Entertainment has predicted its annual net profit for 2025 will surge by more than 90%, driven by strong demand for live music performances
• The company is also moving beyond ticketing into IP merchandising and cute collectibles

China’s concert sector has boomed over the past two years, driven by demand for live experiences and a government drive to boost leisure consumption.

As concerts have become big business in many cities, tours for big-name acts popular with a young crowd, such as Jay Chou, Mayday or Jason Zhang, are typically selling out. Which is good news for Damai Entertainment Holdings Ltd (1060.HK), one of China’s leading ticketing platforms.

In a May 8 statement, the company said its profits for the year to March were expected to jump 92% or more to at least 700 million yuan ($103 million) from around 364 million yuan a year earlier. The company cited what it called a more stable asset structure, lower risk exposure within its portfolio and reduced investment losses.

Originally operating as Alibaba Pictures, the business rebranded as Damai Entertainment last year and has been scaling back its film and TV projects, which can be volatile and weigh on profits. Instead the firm has been shifting towards live entertainment, ticketing and cute merchandise derived from copyrighted cartoon or film characters.

China’s large-scale concert box office revenue rose 13.7% in 2025 to 29.56 billion, according to figures from China’s performing arts association. Including related spending, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

PAVmed (NASDAQ:PAVM) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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The full earnings call is available at https://app.webinar.net/Q1Al7VQqbJL

Summary

PAVmed Inc completed a restructuring process, improving its capital structure to focus on growth as a diversified life sciences company with independently financed subsidiaries.

The company relaunched its medical device portfolio under new leadership, focusing on opportunities like Point IO and endoscopic imaging technology from Duke.

Lucid Diagnostics is nearing Medicare coverage, with ongoing efforts to expand through partnerships with the VA and commercial payers, and has extended its runway into 2027.

Verus is advancing its commercial phase with Ohio State University, focusing on its implantable physiologic monitor with developmental progress towards submission by year-end.

Financially, PAVmed Inc reported a GAAP net loss of $1.1 million before non-controlling interest, with a restructuring improving its balance sheet and eliminating preferred stock.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to the PAVmed’s first quarter 2026 business update conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. There will be a question and answer session following the prepared remark. To require operator assistance, please press 0. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Matt Riley, PavMed’s vice president of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Matt Riley (Vice President of Investor Relations)

Thank you Operator and good morning everyone. Thank you for participating in today’s business update call. Joining me today on the call are Dr. Leshawn Aklog, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PAVMED, along with Dennis McGrath, Chief Financial Officer of PAVMED. The press release announcing our business update and financial results is available on pavmed’s website. Please take a moment to read the disclaimers about forward looking statements in the press release. The business update press release and conference call all include forward looking statements and these forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from statements made. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are described in the disclaimer and in our filings with the SEC. For a list and a description of these and other important risks and uncertainties that may affect future operations, see Part 1, Item 1A entitled Risk Factors in PAVMED’s most recent Annual Report on Forms 10-K filed with the SEC and any subsequent updates filed in the Quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q and subsequent Forms 8-K. Except as required by law, PAVMED disclaims any intentions or obligations to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect the changes in expectations on events, conditions or circumstances on which the expectations may be based or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those contained in the forward looking statements. I would now turn the call over to Dr. Lishan Aklog, chairman and CEO of PAVmed.

Lishan Aklog

Thank you Matt and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining our quarterly update call today. At our last business update call, we discussed the two year process we undertook to permanently fix PAVmed’s legacy capital structure and strengthen its balance sheet. The final step has been completed in the last couple of weeks and the cap table is now clean. Dennis will discuss this in more depth. But a cap table now just consists of common stock and term debt and with that we now truly believe that PavMed is really well positioned to execute on its founding mission for us to operate as a high growth, diversified commercial life sciences company with multiple independently financed subsidiaries operating under our shared services model and that we are well positioned to evaluate new opportunities as they come along. I’ll talk a little bit about how that has accelerated since the restructuring took place. As we described on our last call, part of one major initiative that followed this restructuring has been the relaunching of our medical device portfolio under Joe Virgilio. He’s been on board now and has hit the ground running. He’s actively focusing on advancing multiple medical device opportunities, including Point IO and the endoscopic imaging technology we licensed for Duke under the Acteris umbrella, as well as broader responsibilities across our entire medical device portfolio, utilizing his expertise on building and scaling growth stage businesses and raising capital for these individual medical device initiatives. As I mentioned, the pipeline has definitely opened up. We are evaluating business development assets that are being brought forth to us. We’re on our second major diligence exercise. We did pass up the first opportunity, as attractive as it was, and we really do expect those to bear fruit for us bringing in commercial assets into our portfolio. So now let’s move on to Lucid Diagnostics. So Lucid is on the cusp of transformative milestones, including what we believe is impending Medicare coverage. As we discussed on our previous call, we’re awaiting Medicare. We’re a bit of frustration that this has dragged on, but our confidence has not wavered. And I encourage you to listen to yesterday’s Lucid Business Update call for greater details on this and other aspects of Lucid’s business. As a reminder, PAVmed remains Lucid’s largest shareholder. Lucid’s progress and upcoming major inflection points will benefit havmed. Just a couple of highlights from the call yesterday. In addition to Medicare, it’s clear that we’re not remaining idle on the Lucid front. As we discussed the VA’s off-circuit start following us, securing the Federal supply schedule and pricing. First orders are being placed, the pipeline is being expanded, then we look forward to driving volume and revenue along that segment. We also discussed our direct engagement with commercial payers that we have received positive coverage under one of the laboratory benefit managers and that will be public soon. And of course with all that, Lucid was also able to successfully raise a round of capital that extended our Runway well into 2027.

Lishan Aklog

So now let’s move on to Verus. So as we discussed in our last call, Verus is now well into the commercial phase of our strategic engagement with Ohio State University. That process is well underway. The clinical rollout has been focused on the three clinical departments that had participated in the successful pilot study and we’re now on the cusp of adding additional departments according to our rollout schedule that OSU leadership developed in collaboration with us as we announced last time, the EHR integration is now live.

Lishan Aklog

It’s working well and just overall the feedback both on the clinical and the administrative side from our partners at OSU remains excellent and we look forward to continuing to drive towards the targets that were established within as part of our strategic partnership with them. Of course, a major focus right now is on the implantable physiologic monitor that development is progressing towards plant by the end of this year. As we discussed last time, we have a new contract development and manufacturing partner firm. That partnership is going well. That’s Valentium and the design and development efforts leading to design freeze and the transitions of the final pre submission development work and testing is going well. A lot of the most recent efforts have been around the technical aspects of optimizing the battery life to get a full 2 year 2 years of battery life and we’ve made excellent progress on that and look forward to continuing the work towards submitting by the end of the year.

Lishan Aklog

We’re also continuing to work on this expanded strategic vision for the company that we spent a bit of time on discussing during our last call that includes ultimately expanding our commercial efforts beyond our single strategic partner and a variety of initiatives that are focused on transforming beyond simple remote patient monitoring into additional strategic areas. We’re looking to leverage our commercial success at OSU to support this expansion into additional centers.

Lishan Aklog

The Other strategic the other aspects of the strategic transformation that we are working on, although within the limited confines of our capital resources today, are additional work on clinical support services and development efforts around AI based projects beyond remote patient monitoring. So with that I’ll hand the call over to Dennis for an update on the financials.

Dennis McGrath (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Leshawn and good morning everyone. Our summary financial results for the first quarter were reported in our press release that has been distributed on the next three slides. I’ll emphasize a few key highlights from the first quarter, but I encourage you to consider those remarks in the context of full disclosures covered in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC. So with regard to the balance sheet, you’ll recall from our last investor update that in February we completed a $30 million Series D preferred stock offering. Concurrently, the company issued a $15 million senior secured note to an existing investor. The company used the proceeds from these financings consisting of $22.3 million cash payment and a $15 million senior secured note with a February 2029 maturity date to redeem all of the outstanding shares of the Series …

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On Friday, Mastech Digital (AMEX:MHH) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

Mastech Digital Inc reported a 15% decrease in consolidated revenue for Q1 2026, totaling $41.1 million, reflecting declines in both the Talent and Data and AI segments.

The company has realigned its business structure into two segments: Talent and Data and AI, to better serve client needs and drive long-term value creation.

Despite revenue declines, the Data and AI segment showed a 90% increase in new bookings compared to the previous year, indicating strong market demand for AI and data services.

Mastech Digital Inc is focusing on strategic investments in AI engineering and data platform capabilities, with plans to increase spending on talent and go-to-market strategies.

Management highlighted the success of the EDGE initiative in driving efficiency, with savings being reinvested into strategic priorities to position the company as an AI-first leader.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Mastech Digital Inc first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Lacy, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Please go ahead.

Lacy

Thank you Operator and Welcome to Mastek Digital’s first quarter 2026 conference call. If you have not yet received a copy of our earnings announcement, it can be obtained from our website at www.mastechdigital.com. with me on the call today are Nirav Patel, Mastek Digital’s Chief Executive Officer and Kannan Sudantharman, our Chief Financial and Operations Officer. I would like to remind everyone that statements made during this call that are not historical facts are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements include our financial growth and liquidity projections as well as statements about our plans, strategies, intentions and beliefs concerning the business cash flows, costs and the markets in which we operate. Without limiting the foregoing, the words believes, anticipates, plans, expects and similar expressions are intended to identify certain forward looking statements. These statements are based on information currently available to us and we assume no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from these forward looking statements, including those listed in the company’s 2025 Annual Report on Form 10K filed with the securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at www.sec.gov. additionally, management has elected to provide certain non GAAP financial measures to supplement our financial results presented on a GAAP basis. Specifically, we will provide non GAAP net income and non GAAP diluted earnings per share data which we believe will provide greater transparency with respect to the key metrics used by management in operating. The reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measures to their comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings announcement which can be obtained from our website at www.mastechdigital.com. as a reminder, we will not be providing guidance during this call nor will we provide guidance in any subsequent one on one meetings or calls. I will now turn the call over to NIRAV for his comments.

Nirav Patel (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks Jenna Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us. As we review our first quarter 2026 results. This was a quarter of proof points. Not all of them are visible in the top line and I want to explain why that matters before Kannan walks you through the financials. We have continued to make meaningful progress on our transformation plan in the first quarter of 2026. Edge is executing exactly as we anticipated. We are starting to see traction both in our offerings and across our business segments and new opportunities are beginning to materialize. We also made a structural change this quarter, realigning our business into two new reportable segments, Talent and Data and AI. We believe this will prove to be one of the most consequential decisions we make this year as a key enabler of what we do. As part of that realignment, we moved certain client relationships directly into our data and AI segment where we believe our integrated capabilities create more durable differentiated value aligned with our clients business outcomes. We believe this realignment better reflects how we serve our clients, strengthen our position as a full service provider and creates a stronger foundation for long term value creation. Canon will provide more details on this realignment and our new segment structure in his remarks. Let me take a moment to address the market environment as it continues to shape how enterprises are making decisions. Geopolitical events and ongoing conflicts created an environment of compounding uncertainty throughout the first quarter. We are seeing enterprises be deliberate, not panicked, but deliberate about where they commit budget, discretionary and non strategic technology spends have seen meaningful pullback, decision cycles are longer, procurement is more rigorous and yet organizations have continued to make strategic investments in data infrastructure and AI readiness. These are not seen as discretionary, they are on the critical path for these organizations. Clients are not asking whether to invest in becoming AI ready. They are asking who the right partner in data and AI for them is to help them do it. And we are confident that we are positioning ourselves to be that partner. We expect conditions to remain fluid in the near term and we are factoring that into how we operate and plan. Despite the current environment, I’m pleased to share that we have made meaningful progress in generating net new demand. Our data and AI segment delivered meaningful new bookings momentum, a nearly 90% increase compared to the same quarter last year. We believe this reflects the growing relevance of our capabilities in the market and the conviction clients have in our ability to deliver while the revenue recovery remains in progress. What is evident to us is that the model is working. We are seeing clients engage with us differently than they were 18 months ago. The conversations are more strategic, the deed structures are more durable and the pipeline is more qualified Edge efficiency driving growth and expansion has been at the center of how we have navigated this environment. When we launched Edge, we were clear that savings had to come ahead of our investments. We are pleased that Edge has continued to execute as anticipated. The efficiency gains we committed to have started to materialize and we have now created the capacity to pivot towards our AI first vision. As we move through the remainder of 2026, we intend to invest disproportionately in the capabilities that will define us, expanding our AI engineering and modern data platform capabilities, building proprietary tools and accelerators and deepening partnerships across the platform ecosystems with our clients on their journey to becoming AI First Enterprises. Let me now walk through performances at the segment level. In our talent segment, the story is one of deliberate quality improvements. We have been methodically exiting lower margin nonstrategic positions as part of a focused effort to improve revenue quality. Our average win rates remain at historically strong levels and we believe the margin profile of the business has held up well as a consequence. We believe the revenue performance reflects the market reality as enterprises continue to manage their discretionary spends more tightly in a measured hiring environment. In our data and AI segment, I want to acknowledge the headwinds directly and then tell you where we are seeing momentum build because those are two very different stories. The headwinds from 2025, including the backlog reversal we highlighted in the previous earnings call, continued to weigh on revenue in the first quarter of 2026. What matters more is the momentum building. Our first quarter saw us win a multi year, multimillion dollar strategic engagement. We secured a partnership with a leading healthcare payer working to transform its member experience through a more integrated care journey. We are partnering with this organization to build a next generation AI ready data platform to serve as the foundation for advanced analytics and AI use cases as it modernizes its core systems. We view this engagement as a perfect example of how we are competing and winning with our industry led data platform modernization offerings. We remain confident in the long term demand drivers of our data and AI segment enterprises need their data to be ready for modernization, AI and transformation. We are building capabilities on two fronts to serve them. Our modern data platform capabilities anchored by ecosystem partnerships with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Snowflake, Databricks, Informatica and Reltheo and our AI engineering capabilities where proprietary tools, accelerators and industry solutions are tailored to the verticals we serve. We believe the bookings trajectory we are seeing today is an early and encouraging indicator of what that can look like at scale. We believe the market will remain volatile through 2026, but we have shown our determination to navigate uncertainty without losing focus. We said 2026 would be a year of execution and we believe the results we are sharing today are the early proof points of that commitment. We …

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Corby Spirit and Wine (TSX:CSW) released third-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

CSW.A reported a strong fiscal year-to-date performance with a record high revenue growth of 15%, driven by RTD (Ready-to-Drink) segment growth and market share gains in spirits.

The company achieved 21% growth in reported net sales for Q3, with a 22% organic growth, supported by favorable order phasing and strategic investments in key brands.

Net debt to adjusted EBITDA stood at 1.4 times, and a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share was declared, reflecting confidence in the company’s outlook despite a challenging market environment.

CSW.A’s RTD segment now represents 38% of revenue, with significant expansion across Canada, particularly in Ontario and Western Canada.

Despite the Canadian spirits market decline, the company outperformed by capturing market share, with a notable 22.4% growth in RTD compared to the market’s 10% growth.

Future outlook anticipates high single-digit revenue growth for FY26, though Q4 is expected to be softer due to normalized ordering patterns and persistent market decline.

Management highlighted disciplined cost management, strategic brand investments, and a robust financial position as key strengths supporting long-term value creation.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good Morning. Welcome to Corby Spirit and Wine’s fiscal year 2026 third quarter financial results conference call for the period ended March 31, 2026. Joining me on the call this morning are Florence Tresarrieux, President and Chief Executive Officer and Juan Alonso, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Hopefully you have read the opportunity to review the press release which was issued yesterday. Before we begin, I would like to inform listeners that information provided in today’s call may contain forward looking statements which can be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Risks and uncertainties about the Company’s business are more fully discussed in Corby’s materials including annual and interim MD and a filed with the securities Regulatory Authorities in Canada as required. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Following Management’s commentary, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at the time for you to queue up for questions. If you have any difficulties hearing the conference, please press Star zero on your phone for operator assistance or press the button on your screen. Now I would like to turn the call over to Ms. Florence Tresarrieux. Please go ahead. Thank you so much and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us to review Corby spirits and wine Q3 and fiscal year to date March results. For those of you who may be joining us for the first time, my name is Florence Tresarrieux and it’s a pleasure to speak with you again as the CEO. As I continue to spend time across the business, what remains very clear to me is the strength of our fundamentals, the quality of our portfolio and the disciplines with which our teams execute in a complex and evolving market. Turning to today’s results, message is simple. Colby delivered a strong fiscal year to date performance driven by RTD growth and continued market share gains in spirits. We’ve achieved record high fiscal year to date revenue as of March with a reported growth of 15% and organic growth of 16%. This performance was driven by sustained momentum in our RTD business, continued shockings in spirits and was also amplified by favorable LCD order phasing in Q3. These results reflect the continued excellence of our Excel’s execution with strong share gains across our total portfolio. Define also benefited from the ongoing impact of US Origin products removed from the shelf. The breadth and depth of our portfolio continue to be a key competitive advantage. In Q3 we delivered again strong shipments and earning growth at the retail. We outpaced the spirit market in value for the 14th consecutive quarter, not through resilience of any single brand or channel, but definitely through the portfolio wide execution. A notable feature this quarter is the quality of earnings delivery, earnings growth outpace revenue growth reflecting purposeful investments behind proz brands and tight cost management. This was achieved despite a more RTD skewed mix, less favorable sterile internal dynamics and declining commission income. This very much illustrates the underlying resonance of our business model. RTD now represents approximately 38% of Corby revenue, firmly establishing us as a leading Canada wide player in the south calling category. Our focus remains very much on profitable expansion, leveraging to market modernization in Ontario while continuing to build scale in Western Canada. From a financial standpoint, we generated solid cash flow supporting working capital needs this quarter and reinforcing our long term approach to value creation. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA stood at 1.4 times reflecting our strong balance sheet. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share consistent with the prior quarter, underscoring confidence in the outlook. Despite a more normalized market environment overall, Corby continues to gain share, strengthen earnings quality, positioning the business to perform across cycle and to adapt to market context. So let me take you through that market context. Just now Corby continued to capture incremental market share. In Q3 our team again translated opportunity into performance, notably benefiting from the removal of US origin products from shelf. The rolling three month trend ending 31 March highlights the continued strength of Corby’s performance related to the broader market.

OPERATOR

While the Canadian spirits market declined 4.2%, Corby delivered flat value performance representing a 4.2 point out performance. In RTD where the category grew almost 10%, Corby significantly outpaced the markets with 22.4% growth or a 12.7 points advantage. Our one portfolio also performed strongly growing 12% against a market decline of 0.4% translating into a 12.4 points of performance. RTV is indeed a key contributor. Nonetheless, it’s the breadth of our portfolio and the consistency of our delivery that continue to define Corby’s performance this quarter. Looking now at the rolling 12 month performance, Corby has now outperformed the Canadian market in value for what I said already 14 consecutive quarters, which is demonstrating the quality of our execution in a softer spirit and wine environment. In spirits, while the market declined 3.6%, Corgi delivers 3.1% growth, a 6.7 point out performance. RTD continued to lead with Corby growing 13.6% versus 12 persons for the category representing a CRCA 20 points outperformance Our wine portfolio also delivers strong results growing 16.2% against a market decline of 0.6% or a 16.8 points outperformance.

OPERATOR

Looking now more closely at spirits by category, Corby continues to outpace the market across most segments on a rolling 12 month basis. We are delivering growth in several categories which are declining and this includes vodka and rum benefiting from strong shelf presence following the removal of U.S. origin products. We also continue to lead the Irish whiskey category while tequila remains a key growth engine delivering double digit growth as we expand our footprint in this fast growing segment.

OPERATOR

Let me know Pivot to discuss our growth strategy. I’ve stated a few times already that RTD continues to be one of Corby’s most significant growth engines and a key contributor to our overall performance. Over the last 12 months our RTD business has delivered strong acceleration with sustained share gains supported by focused innovation and market expansion. Our dedicated RTD route to Market strategy continue to drive penetration and share gains across Ontario and Western Canada supported by RTD focused execution.

OPERATOR

In a very short period of time this approach has materially expanded RTD availability, increasing distribution from approximately 1,000 to more than 7,000 points of sales. Now in a rolling 12 month basis, Corby RTD portfolio delivered plus 32% value growth significantly outspacing the category. Over the last three months …

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U.S. stocks were lower, with the Dow Jones index falling around 400 points on Friday.

Shares of Gemini Space Station Inc (NASDAQ:GEMI) rose sharply after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results. Also, the company announced a $100 million direct investment by Winklevoss Capital Fund.

Gemini reported a loss of 93 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of a 96 cent-loss. In addition, it reported revenue of $50.27 million, beating the consensus estimate of $49.28 million and representing a 42% year-over-year increase.

Gemini Space Station shares jumped 25.7% to $6.61 on …

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Bit Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Bit Digital reported Q1 2026 total revenue of $27.9 million, a 13.7% decrease from Q4 2025, with significant declines in Ethereum staking and digital asset mining revenues.

The company is strategically shifting focus away from Bitcoin mining towards Ethereum, AI infrastructure, and treasury operations, emphasizing long-term value creation over short-term gains.

Bit Digital’s strategic initiatives include maintaining a significant stake in White Fiber to capitalize on AI infrastructure demand and expanding relationships within the Ethereum ecosystem, including a direct purchase agreement with the Ethereum Foundation.

The company is exploring strategic acquisition opportunities, particularly in Ethereum-adjacent infrastructure and the agentic economy, to enhance revenue and align with their long-term strategy.

Management emphasized the convergence of AI and Ethereum as a strategic focus, seeing compute as a new asset class amid growing demand, and expressed confidence in their positioning for future growth.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello and welcome to the Bit Digital First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. During the call, all participant lines will be in listen only mode. Following management’s remarks, we’ll open the line for questions. If you would like to ask the question at that time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded. I’ll now turn the call over to your host, Daniel Kennedy, Head of Investor Relations at Bit Digital. Daniel, please go ahead.

Daniel Kennedy (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you and welcome everyone to Bit Digital’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Sam Tabar, our Chief Executive Officer, and Eric Huang, our Chief Financial Officer. I’d like to remind everyone that certain statements made during today’s call may be forward looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ. For a discussion of these risks, please refer to our SEC filings,, including our Form 10Q filed today. Throughout the call, we may also refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most direct comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings materials available on our website. Unless otherwise indicated. Figures discussed during these remarks are rounded for readability. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. With that, I’ll turn the call over to thank you, Daniel and thank you everyone for joining us. Before I begin, I would like to extend a hand of welcome to our new Head of Investor Relations, Daniel Kennedy. He was formerly a board member, advisor and Director to publicly listed companies across the digital asset, crypto, fintech and AI infrastructure sectors. Welcome aboard Daniel, and we look forward to your abilities to share the BitDigital story and trajectory to our shareholders. BitDigital continued advancing its strategic asset transition during the first quarter. Our business today is centered around three verticals Ethereum, treasury and staking AI infrastructure through white fiber and building durable cash flow through disciplined capital allocation. We believe these businesses complement each other. Ethereum provides long term treasury exposure and staking yield. White fiber provides exposure to AI infrastructure and compute demand. Over time, we expect additional operating businesses to support recurring revenue generation across the platform. Starting with Ethereum. We continue viewing Ethereum as foundational infrastructure for digital assets and on chain financial activity. Our approach remains disciplined. We are focused on increasing eth per share over time while maintaining balance sheet flexibility and capital efficiency. Turning to our white fiber holding White fiber remains a core strategic asset for BitDigital and provides critical exposure to AI infrastructure where demand for compute continues exceeding available supply. We expect these constraints to persist, presenting opportunities which we believe we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on we continue viewing White Fiber as a long term holding and do not intend to monetize the position in 2026. Our company has a long history of execution in HPC, delivering projects on time and on budget to customers and partners. Importantly, Bit Digital continues to maintain a significant ownership position in White Fiber. The company held approximately 27 million white fiber shares with a market value of approximately 322.1 million as of the end of March 2020. Turning briefly to mining, we continued reducing exposure to Bitcoin mining during the quarter. Mining remains cash flow generative, but it is no longer a strategic growth priority. Capital will continue shifting towards Ethereum and infrastructure related opportunities. Turning to the convergence and the constraint, we believe AI and Ethereum are converging. We are uniquely positioned through our exposure to AI infrastructure, the Ethereum ecosystem and strategic acquisitions. At the same time, demand for compute and power continues to exceed available supply. We believe COMPUTE itself is becoming sufficiently scarce and valuable to emerge as a new asset class. We are strategically positioned to capitalize on both the convergence and the constraint. Finally, we will continue evaluating opportunities to expand recurring cash flow generation across our strategic asset platform. We remain disciplined in our approach and focused on long term value creation rather than transaction volume. I’ll now turn the call over to Eric.

Sam Tabar (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you. Our first quarter 2026 results reflect the continued repositioning of the business toward infrastructure making and treasury operations. Total revenue for Q1 was $27.9 million, compared to 32.3 million in Q4 2025. This represents a decrease of 13.7% quarter over quarter. Cloud services revenue was $16.8 million, down 13.1% Q and over Q. …

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Datavault AI (NASDAQ:DVLT) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Datavault AI Inc reiterated its target revenue of $200 million for 2026, with $800 million in tokenization contracts signed, expected to bring $90 million in fees.

The company announced the spin-out of its Acoustic Science division, to be led by David Reese, and expects to operate under the name API Media.

Datavault AI Inc highlighted the completion of a $120 million non-dilutive financing for the nationwide rollout of the Sanctum platform.

The company is integrating recent acquisitions, including Nayax and Cyber Catch, to enhance its cybersecurity and tokenization capabilities.

Management is optimistic about the Clarity Act, which could enhance regulatory clarity for digital assets, and anticipates launching industry-leading exchanges in July.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning everyone. Welcome to Datavault AI Inc first quarter of 2026 corporate update call. I’ll now turn the call over to Ed Barger, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, operator.

Ed Barger (Vice President of Investor Relations)

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. My name is Ed Barger. I serve as Vice President of Investor Relations. With me today is our Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel Bradley and our Chief Financial Officer Brett Moyer. Before I turn the call over to our CEO, I would like to remind you that this conference call will include forward looking statements within the meaning of US SEC laws with respect to future operations, financial results, events, trends and performance which are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions as of today’s date. Forward looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. We see Datavault AI Inc’s first quarter press release and SEC filings for information regarding specific risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. As required by law, Datavault AI Inc undertakes no obligation to update such forward looking statements. I will now pass the call over to our CEO, Nathaniel Bradley.

Nathaniel Bradley (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much, Ed. Very excited to be here today. Good morning and thank you for your interest in Datavault AI Inc. First, before we get started and give you the full update, I’d like to turn the call over to our CFO, Mr. Brett Moyer to give our financial results from quarter one and update us on the spin out of our Acoustic division. Brett.

Brett Moyer (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Nate. And thanks everyone for joining us today. First of all, I’d like to reiterate that our Target revenue of 200 million has not changed. We ended the quarter with a very exciting $800 million in tokenization contract signed. These contracts are tied to approximately 90 million in fees. As these projects get funded, they will impact 2026 revenue throughout the year. We still expect to recognize at least 200 million in this calendar year, but as we said back in March, this is more heavily weighted to the second half of the year. Our balance sheet is stronger than ever. We funded the closing of API during Q1, but added 60 million from a private placement early May from large institutional funds, bringing our current working capital to approximately 140 million. Additionally, we announced the execution of a binding term sheet for 120 million in non dilutive financing to accelerate the nationwide rollout of the Sanctum platform. All told, we have over 250 million available funding this year. Regarding the spin out that we announced last week, datavault AI currently operates through two primary business divisions, Acoustic Science and Data Science. What is getting spun out later this year is the Acoustic Science division, and we have appointed an exceptional leader to oversee the business. As you may recall, Datavault AI Inc acquired API Media in January and David Reese, API’s CEO who came over with that acquisition, will assume leadership of the new company. The business is tentatively expected to operate under the name API Media and trade under the ticker symbol ADIO or ADIO. This new company will include ADIO, wisa, Event Citadel, formerly known as csi, and API Media. This is still in the early days, so I do not have a lot of details to share today, notably the specifics on the valuation, but we wanted to take a moment to unpack the two businesses and hopefully clarify what each company will look like in the future. The new Events API Media Company is a terrific standalone entity with significant growth opportunities when combined with ADIO, while datavault AI is a data monetization platform on the cutting edge of Web 3.0. The split will permit leadership to better focus on these two businesses. Last item for me before passing it back to Nate. We expect to close a previously announced Nayax acquisition acquisition here in May. Nayax acquisition adds a fifth exchange to the Data Vault platform for a total of nine when you include the four that we licensed. On that note, I’ll pass the microphone back to Nate.

Nathaniel Bradley (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Brett. Yes, so this is Nate Bradley and I’m very excited to have this opportunity to not only celebrate our success in Q1, our upcoming dividend spin out of our Acoustic division, which now led by David Reese, is poised for an unabashed success. They’re at aeronomic right now at the PGA Tour Championship, and it’s a big event and we’re making a lot of success in that div. So very pleased to have David as a partner moving forward. He’s been a mentor of mine in my career and having him lead API Media is going to be a very, very exciting thing to see coming forward. I would like to take this time to describe to you the solution our Data Vault AI platform a bit further to give all of our shareholders a good understanding of why our company is so well positioned and in a very, very positive position in our market. And that leadership is really defined by our intellectual property. We have a freedom to operate that other companies don’t enjoy. We also have market traction and thought leadership really working to our benefit. Data, as you know, is valuable. It’s largely underutilized by corporations. It lies in waste in silos. It is unappreciated in its value. It’s undetermined how to monetize data vault solves all that Data vault AI has been built to address that head on using AI and blockchain technology. We believe cybersecurity is the central risk facing corporations today. And it’s a prerequisite to data monetization, data management, really cybersecurity, a number one issue facing us all. And with the quantum leap, this is heightened and also accelerated in its urgency. We believe we have a solution that will address this for customers of all types. And our platform has been enabled to value, secure and monetize data. We created an index, a system that allows for the indexing, the structuring and the tokenization and the monetization of data. Through our index, we’re able to understand data better. We’re able to index it on behalf of our clients. And if you want to think of the power of the librarian at a library, really our index achieves that same purpose. It allows for a CEO or for management authorized to look at a data vault and see data how it enters the company from every location that it enters. And we allow for the ability to understand its value finitely. For the first time, as you walk by a server or you see a cell phone on the table, we very rarely understand the value of the data within those particular devices. And by illuminating that value, we become better stewards of it. So, so step one is cybersecurity. Step two is index. Step three is really our ability to see a value. And we created step four, which is our ability to see a score and value and score work in tandem to let us understand the value of our data, but also the veracity of it. Can it be trusted? Is it data that is complete and accurate? And when we have complete inaccurate data, the values increased? The value for actionable intelligence put the value to the world in our ability to monetize it. So we’ve built a platform that addresses all of this. Assets come in many different flavors. We know that derivatives were Approved in the 1980s. Before derivatives, we had the stock market. We had an individual increase in the number of assets that were under management. We have an increase to derivatives, and now we have an increase to digital that that is enabled by our Clarity Act and Genius Act passage. We’re waiting, of course, for this Clarity Act that just passed through the Senate and will be voted on soon. And that that particular piece of legislation enables digital assets. We’ve created a platform that addresses it in a number of genre specific exchanges. We have our information data exchange, our international elements exchange, our American political exchange, our six exchange in development with Sports Illustrated. All of those exchanges designed to index value and score data so that it may be tokenized and managed and ultimately monetized. We have three core revenue streams that derive from our operation of data vault AI. We have the ability to license our technology. We’ve done so into large markets. We’ve identified that we simply don’t have the bandwidth to manage every single detail. And we’ve given a license to third parties that will use our technology to develop high margin revenue for us and develop the use cases for our technology that can be replicated in other licenses. We also have tokenization services, a big driver of value where we’re able to tokenize and create smart contracts for our customers that have high utility and very strong efficacy in the ability to create monetization and value for our clients. Our exchange revenue is nirvana for us. It’s the focal point. We have more margin and high velocity and value that’s created in our exchange. It is passive to our company and its collection. We have the ability to monitor and yield manage and bring our exchange to a very high level. We intend to rival from our operation in Philadelphia, that of Wall Street. We have the ability to tokenize and build volume around a number of key use cases. Geothermal energy, rare earth. The ability to look at real world assets including your own beating heart, the nil, the name, image and likeness on our Sports Illustrated exchange. All monetizable assets when you take into account AI, blockchain and data vault AI technology. We have built a home for our technology in the Sanctum. It’s secure infrastructure. It is for data monetization. It is for the use cases of digital twins and highly securitized use case assets that are derived from data. Data is worth the decisions it informs and when you develop a sanctum for it, it can live and thrive and serve our clients. It can be AI that is subordinate to our clients desires and our our clients needs. And it works for us and for our clients. It is subordinate AI in a cybersecurity sanctum. Our Sanctum initiative with available networks is second to none. We’re building 100 quantum ready data centers across the United States. These are redundant mini data centers that rival their rotund competition. Where individual companies have focused on giant data centers. Data centers that take up city blocks and have enormous power consumption and many other failover and cybersecurity risks that are present when you consolidate data centers into one large location. We are disparate. We have a self healing mesh, a system that is deployed over 100 cities and that will address our customers needs around cybersecurity primarily. And also their ability to use digital twins and our world class data monetization systems. All of which we have patented. All of which we have invested heavily in to create the quantum ready infrastructure, the quantum VPN of the future that will be in our control. Our sanctum has been enhanced with our potential acquisition of Cyber Catch. We’ve announced an acquisition of Cyber Catch out of California. They have a robust pipeline, executive leadership with government contracting backgrounds and huge opportunity for data vault to enhance our cybersecurity footprint and allow for our technology stack to begin with a cybersecurity nest for all of our customers. And when we have that nest in place, when we have our sanctums in place, we’re able to place quantum coins and quantum security into our customers accounts. And we’re able to deliver a system that allows us to not only value score and monetize, but deliver actionable intelligence to our customers. Our platform is enhanced with multi billion dollar partners clear on the front end for KYC and verification develops investor trust. It allows our customers to sort who they want to sell their data to, who qualifies to acquire data assets of our customers and we have the ability to exclude others that are not invited to enjoy the value of our customers data. So the ability to utilize world class KYC systems with their international corollaries clear is our choice. We’ve also been chosen by IBM as a platinum partner. They’ve invested in us, we’ve invested in them. We’ve brought in their team to help enhance our team. And our team out of Atlanta led by Jeff Jones, our CTO is building this platform that now includes …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Westport Fuel Systems (TSX:WPRT) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

The full earnings call is available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/dxhbj7ur/

Summary

Westport Fuel Systems reported a 33% year-over-year increase in revenue for Q1 2026, driven by stronger volumes and market adoption of HPDI technology.

The company expects continued momentum supported by favorable fuel economics and tightening emissions regulations, with expanding interest from OEMs and fleets.

Cash and cash equivalents declined slightly to $24.5 million, but the company improved its cash usage from operating activities by $5.2 million year-over-year.

Cespira joint venture contributions decreased due to improved financial performance, with a significant 65% reduction in net loss for Q1 2026 compared to the previous year.

Operational highlights include increased production at facilities in Canada and China, successful demonstrations at the ACT Expo, and ongoing trials with a second OEM.

Management expressed optimism for capturing long-term growth opportunities in the heavy-duty transportation market, particularly in North America and emerging markets like India and Brazil.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the West Ports Q1 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star one. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ashley Newell. Please go ahead.

Ashley Newell

Good morning everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems’s conference call regarding the first quarter 2026 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing our financial results that was issued yesterday after market close. On today’s call, speaking on behalf of Westport Fuel Systems will be our Chief Executive Officer and Director Dan Selai and our Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the analyst community. You are reminded that certain statements made on the conference call and our responses to certain may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws and as such, forward looking statements are made based on our current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. With that, I will turn the call over to you Dan.

Dan Selai (Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Thank you Ashley and good morning everyone. I’ll turn to our financial results. Cespira’s momentum continues to build with revenue up 33% year over year in the first quarter. That growth is increasingly material to Westport, reflecting stronger volumes, broader market adoption of HPDI and progress with a second OEM. Importantly, we expect this momentum to continue through 2026, supported by favorable fuel economics, tightening emissions regulations and growing OEM and fleet interest in practical low carbon solutions. The significance for our investors is not only top line growth but the financial read through. As Cespira continues to scale and improve operating performance, we expect our funding requirements for the joint venture to continue to decline. That creates a more direct link between commercial execution at Cespira and improved capital efficiency at Westport. The broader market backdrop also remains supportive. Volvo Trucks recently announced it has delivered more than 10,000 gas powered trucks globally, highlighting growing adoption in key European markets. While cognitive market research projects the European LNG heavy truck market to grow at a 12.5% growth rate through 2030. Together, those indicators reinforced our view that Cespira is participating in a market with both near term momentum and multi year growth potential. Our high pressure controls business has also reflected improved results in Q1 2026 with a 21% increase in revenue compared with the same period last year. What makes it truly meaningful is how we delivered it. Our brand GFI Control Systems provides critical components that make this system viable, while AFS ensures that the technologies come together as a complete real world solution, enabling the performance, reliability and control our customers expect. Adding to this result, we commenced production at the expanded Product Development Manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Ontario and GFI’s new China hydrogen Innovation center and manufacturing facility in Jiangsu, China. With production underway at all facilities, combined with strong demand from large industrial companies, we remain optimistic about its performance this year. Building off this strong start Moving on to some recent excitement at the ACT Expo conference in Las Vegas. I believe it provides some key insights into our experience. Getting this truck to Las Vegas on time, show ready and performing was a complex high pressure effort and the fact that we delivered speaks volumes at act. From the moment the show floor opened, we saw strong interest. Other exhibitors, fleets and OEMs stopping to take a closer look and excited by what they saw because this is not a concept, it’s a fully integrated platform that proves we can deliver diesel performance with cleaner, more cost effective fuel. Today a Focus team brought this to life, but their success reflects something bigger our ability to execute, to integrate and to lead. As we showcased this platform, we demonstrated what sets us apart. Not just innovation, but the ability to bring it to market where it matters most. And fleets and OEMs are starting to notice. It was clear from the volume of interactions this year compared to previous years that this is an exciting time for Westport. We …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Westport Fuel Systems (NASDAQ:WPRT) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. Read the complete transcript below.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/dxhbj7ur/

Summary

Westport Fuel Systems reported a 33% year-over-year increase in revenue for Q1 2026, largely driven by its Suspira joint venture and broader market adoption of HPDI technology.

The company’s high pressure controls business showed a 21% increase in revenue, supported by the expansion of its manufacturing facilities in Canada and China.

Westport Fuel Systems maintained a strong cash position with $24.5 million as of March 31, 2026, and reduced its outstanding debt to $1.9 million.

Management highlighted the successful showcase of its technology at the ACT conference, which garnered significant interest from OEMs and fleets, indicating potential for growth in North America.

Future outlook is positive with expectations of continued revenue growth and reduced capital contributions to the Suspira joint venture, alongside expanding market opportunities in India and Brazil.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the West Ports Q1 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star one. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ashley Newell. Please go ahead.

Ashley Newell

Good morning everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems’s conference call regarding the first quarter 2026 financial and operational results. This call is being held to coincide with a press release containing our financial results that was issued yesterday after market close. On today’s call, speaking on behalf of Westport Fuel Systems will be our Chief Executive Officer and Director Dan Selai and our Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owens. Attendance on this call is open to the public, but questions will be restricted to the analyst community. You are reminded that certain statements made on the conference call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of U.S. and applicable Canadian securities laws and as such, forward looking statements are made based on our current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. With that, I will turn the call over to you Dan.

Dan Selai (Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Thank you Ashley and good morning everyone. I’ll turn to our financial results. Saspira’s momentum continues to build with revenue up 33% year over year in the first quarter. That growth is increasingly material to Westport, reflecting stronger volumes, broader market adoption of HPDI and progress with a second OEM. Importantly, we expect this momentum to continue through 2026, supported by favorable fuel economics, tightening emissions regulations and growing OEM and fleet interest in practical low carbon solutions. The significance for our investors is not only top line growth but the financial read through. As Suspira continues to scale and improve operating performance, we expect our funding requirements for the joint venture to continue to decline. That creates a more direct link between commercial execution at Suspira and improved capital efficiency at Westport. The broader market backdrop also remains supportive. Volvo Trucks recently announced it has delivered more than 10,000 gas powered trucks globally, highlighting growing adoption in key European markets. While Cognitive Market Research projects the European LNG heavy truck market to grow at a 12.5% growth rate through 2030. Together, those indicators reinforced our view that Saspira is participating in a market with both near term momentum and multi year growth potential. Our high pressure controls business has also reflected improved results in Q1 2026 with a 21% increase in revenue compared with the same period last year. What makes it truly meaningful is how we delivered it. Our brand GFI Control Systems provides critical components that make this system viable, while AFS ensures that the technologies come together as a complete real world solution, enabling the performance, reliability and control our customers expect. Adding to this result, we commenced production at the expanded Product Development Manufacturing facility in Cambridge, Ontario and GFI’s new China hydrogen Innovation center and manufacturing facility in Jiangsu, China. With production underway at all facilities, combined with strong demand from large industrial companies, we remain optimistic about its performance this year. Building off this strong start Moving on to some recent excitement at the ACT conference in Las Vegas. It provides some key insights into our experience. Getting this truck to Las Vegas on time, show ready and performing was a complex high pressure effort and the fACT Expo that we delivered speaks volumes at ACT Expo. From the moment the show floor opened, we saw strong interest. Other exhibitors, fleets and OEMs stopping to take a closer look and excited by what they saw because this is not a concept, it’s a fully integrated platform that proves we can deliver diesel performance with cleaner, more cost effective fuel. Today a focused team brought this to life, but their success reflects something bigger our ability to execute, to integrate and to lead. As we showcased this platform, we demonstrated what sets us apart. Not just innovation, but the ability to bring it to market where it matters most. And fleets and OEMs are starting to notice. It was clear from the volume of interactions this year compared to previous years that this is an exciting time for Westport. We are making clear steps forward in expanding our technology reach. What we see Growing demand …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) shares are trading lower Friday. The decline follows a week of volatile price action. Investors are now shifting focus back to the company’s long-term financial health.

Nasdaq futures are down 1.79% while S&P 500 futures have shed 1.22%.

Fading Momentum After Q1 Beat

Earlier this week, the hydrogen fuel cell maker reported a strong first quarter. Revenue hit $163.5 million, a 22% year-over-year increase. The company reported a quarterly loss of 8 cents per share. This beat analyst expectations of a 9-cent loss.

Despite the post-earnings rally, momentum faded Friday as broader market weakness and lingering skepticism around the hydrogen sector pressured shares.

On Wednesday, Susquehanna analyst Biju Perincheril maintained a neutral rating on …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” Malcolm Ethridge, managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group, named Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) as his final trade.

Lending support to his choice, Dominion Energy, on May 1, posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

Don’t forget to check out our premarket coverage here

Bill Baruch, founder and CIO of both Blue Line Capital and Blue Creek Capital Management, said Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) reported great earnings.

On April 30, Eli Lilly released better-than-expected first-quarter 2026 earnings and raised fiscal …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Quantum Cyber N.V. (NASDAQ:QUCY) shares are trading lower Friday. The decline follows an extraordinary multi-day rally that saw the stock climb 779.77% since Tuesday.

Nasdaq futures are down 1.22% while S&P 500 futures have shed 0.86%.

Dramatic Rally Meets Fast Fade

The stock surged from under 40 cents to a high of $3.97 this week. Much of this momentum arrived between Wednesday and Thursday. However, the stock began a fast fade as short-term traders exited positions to lock in gains. This natural correction comes after the price skyrocketed from its Tuesday low of 30 cents.

The Catalyst: Autonomous Drone Deal

The initial spike followed an exclusive IP license and supply agreement with BP United Inc. Quantum Cyber secured rights to autonomous drone technologies and a sky defense platform. CEO David Lazar called this the “first building block” of the company’s assembly. He noted that autonomous …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

When it comes to mining for copper, the old way of exploring entails manual soil sampling, expensive geological drilling and slow, hit-and-miss target identification. The new way of copper mining, thanks to NovaRed Mining Inc.’s (OTC:NREDF) AI platform, is multi-source data integration, probabilistic target scoring and 3D geological visualization.

The mineral exploration company operating the Wilmac Copper-Gold Project, which is 16,078 hectares in British Columbia’s Quesnel porphyry belt in the Similkameen Mining Division, recently filed a provisional patent application for its AI platform, which it says will transform how it explores for copper. 

The platform is designed to integrate multiple geological data sources, apply probabilistic scoring models to support target evaluation and incorporate blockchain-based document verification to strengthen data integrity and traceability. All of it aims to enhance the speed, precision and transparency of exploration by ranking the best drill targets before a single shovel hits the ground. 

NovaRed’s adoption of AI comes as the mining industry is rapidly moving that way. After all, AI can assist with geophysical interpretation, machine learning anomaly detection, historical exploration, dataset integration, predictive mineral targeting and automated pattern recognition across geological systems — speeding up a process that takes years of manual labor and is often marred with human bias and data fragmentation. 

The Power Of AI 

With its AI platform, NovaRed can find patterns that the human eye may miss, assign probability to specific locations to ensure exploration budgets are spent wisely and use blockchain to ensure geological records and documents are secure and protected, giving investors increased confidence in the transparency of its findings, reported the company. That builds faith in NovaRed as a reliable miner and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Companies should remove managers who prioritize procedure over results, warning that bureaucracy can quietly undermine organizations from within, said  JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon.

“Bureaucracy, complacency and arrogance will take down a company,” Dimon said at Norges Bank Investment Management’s investment conference in Oslo on April 28. “Bureaucracy is like the petri dish of politics and everything else.”

Dimon, who has led JPMorgan since 2006, has overseen its growth from a roughly $130 billion company into the world’s largest bank by market value, according to media reports.  

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Fighting Bureaucracy From The Top

Dimon said bureaucracy can spread in organizations of any size, from large corporations to small departments, if leaders fail to address it early.

He said the solution starts with management accountability and removing leaders who become too attached to procedures rather than outcomes.

“Get rid of the jerks,” Dimon said at the conference, referring to managers who favor process over execution.

“They admire a problem,” he added. “I say they’re like good bureaucrats. They like the process, not the outcome. Whereas I like the outcome.”

Trending: From the International Space Station to everyday use — this NASA-tested diagnostics platform is moving toward at-home lab testing 

Small Teams, Faster Decisions

One sign of bureaucracy is when employees withhold information or create unnecessary delays, Dimon said.

At JPMorgan, he said meeting materials are distributed in advance to ensure participants have access to the same information before discussions begin, arguing that withholding information creates needless friction within organizations.

“If [information] isn’t shared properly, I generally just cancel the meeting,” Dimon said at the conference.

Despite running one of the world’s largest financial institutions, Dimon said he prefers assigning critical work to small, focused teams rather than large committee structures.

“Get the people in the room and work it out,” he said. “Don’t allow it to go back and forth with groups for six months or nine months or a year.”

See Also: What If Your Investment Income Didn’t Rely Entirely on Market Swings? Some Investors Are Taking a Different Approach

A Broader Push Against Corporate Red Tape

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy has also pushed to streamline management layers since taking over the company in 2021 as part of a broader effort to operate like the “world’s largest startup.”  

In September 2024, Amazon said managers would be expected to oversee larger teams as part of broader restructuring efforts aimed at reducing organizational layers.

The company also launched a “bureaucracy mailbox” that allowed employees to flag unnecessary processes and internal inefficiencies. Amazon said the initiative resulted in hundreds of operational changes in its first year.

“I would say bureaucracy is really anathema to startups and to entrepreneurial organizations,” Jassy said at the company’s annual conference for third-party sellers in September, according to media reports. “As you get larger, it’s really easy to accumulate bureaucracy, a lot of bureaucracy that you may not see.”

As Jamie Dimon pushes …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stock futures were lower this morning, with the Nasdaq futures falling around 1% on Friday.

Shares of DeFi Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:DEFT) fell in pre-market trading following first-quarter results.

DeFi Technologies reported quarterly earnings of 1 cent per share, down from 10 cents per share in the year-ago period. The company reported sales of $11.193 million, down from $43.792 million a year ago.

DeFi Technologies shares dipped 5.3% to $0.77 in pre-market trading.

Here are some other stocks moving lower in pre-market trading.

• LG Display Co Ltd (NYSE:LPL) shares dipped 11.2% to $4.74 in pre-market trading after gaining 7% on Thursday.
• Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW) declined 10.5% to $19.00 in pre-market trading as …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

TORONTO, May 15, 2026 /CNW/ – Manulife Investments Management Limited regularly reviews its mutual fund lineup and today announced sub-advisor updates to its investment offerings. All changes become effective on or about May 22, 2026, at the close of business.

Sub-advisor Updates

Manulife Investment …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Top Wall Street analysts changed their outlook on these top names. For a complete view of all analyst rating changes, including upgrades and downgrades, please see our analyst ratings page.

• Piper Sandler cut the price target for Figma Inc (NYSE:FIG) from $35 to $30. Piper Sandler analyst Billy Fitzsimmons reiterated an Overweight rating. Figma shares closed at $20.24 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Roth Capital raised Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ:LUNR) price target from $35 to $50. Roth Capital analyst Suji Desilva maintained a Buy rating. Intuitive Machines shares closed at $36.52 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Deutsche Bank raised price target for BWX Technologies Inc (NYSE:BWXT) from $205 to $255. Deutsche Bank analyst Scott Deuschle upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy. BWX Technologies shares closed at $210.94 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• BTIG cut the price target for StoneCo Ltd …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares fell in Friday’s premarket session. The decline follows a historic week where the memory maker approached a $900 billion market capitalization.

Traders appear to be locking in gains after a parabolic surge that saw the stock gain over 146% year-to-date.

Nasdaq futures are down 1.32% while S&P 500 futures have shed 0.89%.

Analyst Raises Price Forecast To $950

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya issued a massive upward revision this week. He nearly doubled his price forecast on Micron from $500 to $950. Arya cited a “structurally lower” memory supply elasticity.

He noted that capital, power, and geopolitical constraints hinder rapid capacity expansion. “We view memory supply elasticity as now structurally lower,” Arya wrote. This shift keeps pricing …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

During times of turbulence and uncertainty in the markets, many investors turn to dividend-yielding stocks. These are often companies that have high free cash flows and reward shareholders with a high dividend payout.

Benzinga readers can review the latest analyst takes on their favorite stocks by visiting Analyst Stock Ratings page. Traders can sort through Benzinga’s extensive database of analyst ratings, including by analyst accuracy.

Below are the ratings of the most accurate analysts for three high-yielding stocks in the energy sector.

Northern Oil and Gas Inc (NYSE:NOG)

• Dividend Yield: 7.71%
• Citogroup analyst Paul Diamond maintained a Buy rating and cut the price target from $39 to $36 on April 14, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 57%
• B of A Securities analyst Noah Hungness maintained a Buy rating and raised the price target from $27 to $32 on March 24, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 54%.
• Recent News: On April 28, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC), owner of Vans, The North Face, and Timberland, will release fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, May 20.

Analysts expect the apparel and footwear company to report a quarterly loss of 1 cent per share. Compare that to a loss of 13 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for VF’s quarterly revenue is $2.13 billion (it reported $2.14 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

Ahead of quarterly earnings, BTIG analyst Janine Stichter, on May 6, upgraded VF from Neutral to Buy and announced a $23 price target.

With the recent buzz around VF, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends too. As of now, VF has an annual dividend yield of 2.08%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 9 cents per share (36 cents a year).

To figure out how to earn $500 monthly from VF, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stock futures fell on Friday following Thursday’s record moves. This comes as investors weigh the outcomes of President Donald Trump‘s visit to China.

President Trump concluded a business-focused visit to Beijing on Friday, securing deals for major U.S. companies like Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA). However, complex diplomatic issues regarding Taiwan and Iran remain unresolved.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.54%, and the two-year bond was at 4.06%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during June’s meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Friday. The SPY was down 1.05% at $740.34, while the QQQ was lower by 1.54% to $708.74.

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Will S&P 500 Open Up Or Down On May 15?

The most oversold stocks in the utilities sector presents an opportunity to buy into undervalued companies.

The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered oversold when the RSI is below 30, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major oversold players in this sector, having an RSI near or below 30.

FirstEnergy Corp (NYSE:FE)

• On April 28, FirstEnergy posted upbeat quarterly earnings. “We are off to a great start in 2026,” said Brian X. Tierney, FirstEnergy Board Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our strong first quarter results reflect the progress we are making as we execute …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A roundup of the most newsworthy press releases from Cision Distribution this week

TORONTO, May 15, 2026 /CNW/ – With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on Cision. To help journalists and consumers stay on top of the week’s most newsworthy and popular releases, here’s a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn’t be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. TELUS and Government of Canada advance work to scale Canada’s sovereign AI infrastructure 
   With Canada’s first Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec, now sold out, TELUS is expanding its sovereign AI infrastructure with three world-class facilities in B.C. “Securing Canada’s technological independence is a national priority, and it requires building the infrastructure to back it up,” said The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation. “By working with TELUS, we are taking concrete action to strengthen Canada’s sovereign AI capacity and ensure that Canadian innovation, data, and economic advantages are anchored in Canada. This is how Canada competes in the AI-driven economy.”
2. Mackenzie Investments Announces Changes to Select Mutual Funds and ETFs 
   The changes are designed to drive investment excellence and consistent investor outcomes and include Mackenzie reassigning select mandates to teams with demonstrated quantitative and systematic expertise. These include the transition of U.S. Growth mandates to the Mackenzie Global Quantitative Equity team and Betterworld mandates to the Mackenzie Multi‑Asset Strategies team. Mackenzie has also implemented select portfolio management changes across the North American Equity & Income and Fixed Income teams.
3. The Salvation Army Thrift Store Expands in Saskatoon with the Opening of Its Second and Largest Location 
   Conveniently located near residential neighbourhoods and local businesses, the new store offers ample parking, and expands access to budget‑friendly, sustainable shopping while supporting Salvation Army programs and services that …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) AI Chief, Alexandr Wang, has debunked rumors that the company’s SuperIntelligence Lab is staffed with top AI researchers who were poached from rival companies with lucrative pay packages.

On the “Core Memory” podcast with tech journalists Ashlee Vance and Kylie Robison, on Wednesday, Wang addressed the claims that Meta has been aggressively recruiting top AI researchers from competitors, allegedly offering up to $100 million.

He dismissed the idea that these researchers were primarily driven by financial incentives. “I think it’s like an incorrect assumption to think that, like the researchers are just money motivated or anything,” Wang said.

Wang emphasized that the recruits were attracted by other factors, such as the opportunity to have a large amount of computing power at their disposal. “People joined because there was high compute per researcher, so they could make more progress than maybe they would be able to make it wherever they were before,” he …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:NRXP) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Monday, May 18.

Analysts expect the Wilmington, Delaware-based company to report quarterly loss of 11 cents per share, versus a loss of 34 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for NRx Pharmaceuticals’ quarterly revenue is $19.43 million, according to Benzinga Pro.

On May 7, NRx Pharma received clearance from the FDA to initiate clinical trial of NRX-101 vs. placebo in patients with depression and suicidality.

NRx Pharmaceuticals shares gained 8.8% to close at $3.21 on Thursday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a tax on digital prewritten software on Thursday, aimed at creating a level playing field between online and in-store software purchases.

Newsom suggested expanding the state sales tax to include digital prewritten software, noting the unfairness of consumers paying a 7.25% sales tax on in-store software purchases while those buying online aren’t taxed.

Newsom said during a press conference that he frequently shops at Best Buy because he lives nearby. “And I’m paying sales tax on a lot of this prewritten software. And then I find out that all my friends that aren’t near a Best Buy, they’re downloading and they are not paying sales tax. How is that fair?”

The proposal, pending approval from the California legislature, is set to become effective on January 1, 2027. The Governor noted that 35 states already tax digital prewritten software, and 24 states have a SaaS tax.

The proposed tax is anticipated to generate …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Nonprofit organizations across the U.S. are facing rising burnout, worsening financial stress and a tougher funding environment as demand for services continues to climb, according to a new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, published this week.

The report, titled “State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know,” surveyed 380 nonprofit CEOs in February and found that 46% said their own burnout was “very much a concern,” up from 29% in 2025.

Nearly three-fourths of nonprofit leaders said their organizations experienced increased demand for services since January 2025, while almost 60% reported it had become harder to secure foundation grants.

Funding Pressure Mounts

More than 40% of nonprofit CEOs said they had experienced reduced funding from foundations since January 2025, while over a third reported cuts in government funding from federal, state or local sources.

The report defines the “current context” as federal legislative actions, executive orders and budget decisions introduced starting in 2025 that could have broad effects on nonprofits and philanthropy.

Earlier …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The S&P 500 closed above the 7,500 level for the first time on Thursday, but Polymarket traders are overwhelmingly betting the benchmark index will open lower on Friday as investors digest stretched valuations, AI-driven market concentration and developments from the ongoing U.S.-China summit.

The S&P 500 rose 0.77% to finish at a record 7,501.24 on Thursday. However, the May 15 Polymarket contract implied a 99% probability that the benchmark index would open lower on Friday.

Why That Number Matters

Thursday’s close marked another milestone in the market’s AI-fueled rally, with the benchmark index extending gains even as investors continued monitoring tensions involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Markets also tracked developments from the U.S.-China summit, where officials discussed trade, tariffs, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) faces a potential strike by its South Korean labor union next week, despite the company offering to restart unconditional wage negotiations. The Korean chipmaker’s shares plunged nearly 9% in Seoul on Friday.

The union has expressed its willingness to engage in new discussions post June 7, but remains firm on its 18-day strike plan starting May 21, potentially disrupting production at the world’s largest memory chipmaker, reported Yonhap News.

The union also warned that over 50,000 workers could walk off the job next week.

According to the report, Samsung proposed keeping its current excess profit incentive system while offering a more flexible bonus structure tied to either 10% of operating profit or economic value added (EVA), along with a new special compensation system. The union, meanwhile, is demanding fixed bonuses equal to 15% of the semiconductor division’s operating profit and the removal of payout caps.

Urging the union to recommence talks, Samsung executives have apologized for the discord caused by the labor dispute and committed to an open approach in future negotiations. A meeting between the company’s executives and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Shares of Figma Inc (NYSE:FIG) rose sharply in pre-market trading as the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its FY26 sales guidance.

Figma reported revenue of $333.44 million for the first quarter, beating estimates of $313.16 million, per Benzinga Pro. The company reported adjusted earnings of 10 cents per share, beating estimates of six cents per share.

Figma shares jumped 10.6% to $22.39 in pre-market trading.

Here are some other stocks moving in pre-market trading.

Gainers

• Hcw Biologics Inc (NASDAQ:HCWB) gained 121.6% to $0.75 in pre-market trading after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company posted first-quarter results, reporting earnings per share of $0.37, which beat the analyst estimate of -$0.44 by 184.09%.
• Dreamland Ltd (NASDAQ:TDIC) gained 97.5% to $1.58 in pre-market trading after dipping 97% on Thursday.
• Murano Global Investments Plc (NASDAQ:MRNO) rose 72% to $0.50 in pre-market trading after falling 5% on Thursday.
• P3 Health Partners Inc (NASDAQ:PIII) gained 40.4% to $5.66 in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter EPS results.
• MicroAlgo Inc (NASDAQ:MLGO) gained 38.6% to $6.31 in pre-market trading after adding 13% on Thursday.
• Baiya International Group Inc (NASDAQ:

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Uber Technologies Inc.’s (NYSE:UBER) partnership with Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo could reportedly hit a sour note as executives from the ride-hailing giant have criticized the latter’s expansion.

Waymo’s Expansion, Scary San Francisco Moment

Uber executives have painted AV-only operators like Waymo as less scalable and less reliable than a hybrid approach, with human drivers and Robotaxis being offered on ride-hailing platforms, Business Insider reported on Thursday.

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The U.S. dollar is headed for its strongest weekly performance in more than two months on Friday as Treasury yields climbed and traders scaled back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.

The U.S. Dollar Index rose to 99.15 at 4:12 a.m. ET, gaining about 1.3% for the week. The move boosted dollar-linked ETFs, including the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE:UUP) and WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (NYSE:USDU).

Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund

UUP is among the biggest beneficiaries of the rising dollar. It offers exposure to the value of the U.S. dollar relative to a basket of the six major world currencies – the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc.

The fund has assets under management (AUM) of $348.7 million and trades in an average daily volume of around 2 million shares. UUP charges 0.70% in annual fees and has gained nearly 1% over the past week.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate that UUP maintains a …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In the dynamic and cutthroat world of business, conducting thorough company analysis is essential for investors and industry experts. In this article, we will undertake a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its primary competitors in the Software industry. By closely examining key financial metrics, market position, and growth prospects, our aim is to provide valuable insights for investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

Microsoft Background

Microsoft develops and licenses consumer and enterprise software. It is known for its Windows operating systems and Office productivity suite. The company is organized into three equally sized broad segments: productivity and business processes (legacy Microsoft Office, cloud-based Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, LinkedIn, Dynamics), intelligence cloud (infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service offerings Azure, Windows Server OS, SQL Server), and more personal computing (Windows Client, Xbox, Bing search, display advertising, and Surface laptops, tablets, and desktops).

Full story available on Benzinga.com

NBA champion and serial investor Tristan Thompson disclosed that he holds equity in Anthropic, the maker of Claude, which is currently valued at roughly $900 billion, crediting Silicon Valley dinners hosted around NBA road games for the access.

How The Warriors’ Schedule Opened An Investment Door

“Playing against the Warriors and going to a couple of these dinners they were doing just with the NBA — sitting there and just talking to these guys and really picking their brain,” Thompson said during his appearance on the Market Bubble podcast that aired Thursday.

According to Thompson, the San Francisco-based founders described the AI roadmap and he committed on the spot. “I was like, ‘Hey man, I like what you’re talking about. Here’s a check. I want in.’”

What Investors Need To Know

The Cleveland Cavaliers champion invested in a special purpose vehicle (SPV), pooling money from fellow athletes to make a larger investment. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Leverage Shares is preparing to launch a single-stock ETF tied to Cerebras Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CBRS) just a day after the stock’s successful Nasdaq debut.

The Leverage Shares 2X Long CBRS Daily ETF (CBRG) seeks two times (200%) leveraged exposure to the performance of the Cerebras stock, while Leverage Shares 2X Short CBRS Daily ETF (SCBR) offers two times inverse exposure to the stock.

Both ETFs have an expense ratio of 0.75% and would allow investors to capitalize on short-term bullish and bearish moves in the stock.

Record Time Launch                       

In a Thursday post on X, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said “LeverageShares’ 2x $CBRS launches tmrw, a mere 24hrs after the IPO today.”

He stated that CBRS had a blockbuster IPO, surging 75% in its first trading session and generating a massive volume of $10 billion. The daily volume was more than that of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, Figma Inc. (NYSE:FIG) shares jumped after the design software company posted its strongest quarterly earnings surprise as a public company, fueled by rapid paid customer growth, AI monetization and expanding enterprise adoption.

Figma’s Q1 Earnings Showcase Broad-Based Growth Across AI

During its first-quarter earnings call, CFO Praveer Melwani said Figma’s outperformance was driven by multiple business segments accelerating simultaneously rather than any single catalyst.

“The beat and the core makeup of the quarter for us came from all different directions,” Melwani said, adding that “all the components” of seat expansion, product adoption, pricing, international momentum and AI monetization are now “kicking into high gear.”

Figma reported paid customer count growth of 54% year over year, with larger enterprise customers continuing to expand full-seat subscriptions across teams.

The company also cited strong demand for newer offerings such as Make, Governance+ and advisory services.

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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reaffirmed orbital datacenter goals on Thursday as NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang outlined the growing need for energy to operate AI compute.

Space Is The Only Way

User @TheChiefNerd posted a clip on X that showed Huang sharing that the amount of energy needed for AI compute exceeded current capacity. “The amount of energy that we need for computing is probably 1,000x more than we currently have,” Huang said.

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Despite reporting one of the best quarters in the company’s history, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is restructuring its workforce to the tune of 4,000 jobs. However, CEO Chuck Robbins insists the move is a strategic “reallocation” to fuel expanding artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, rather than a traditional cost-cutting measure.

Fueling The AI And Silicon Boom

Driven by a massive surge in demand from hyperscalers, Cisco recently reported a record $15.8 billion in third-quarter revenue. Yet, the pace of the AI revolution required shifts in internal investments.

“We intentionally wanted to stay away from having that appear to be an excuse, because that’s not why we’re doing it,” Robbins told Jim Cramer on CNBC, regarding the workforce reduction. Instead, the move is designed to feed Cisco’s highest-growth sectors.

“What we have to do is we need more funding in silicon. We need more funding in optics, we need more funding in our AI solutions, and we need more funding in security,” Robbins explained.

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WidePoint Corporation (NYSE:WYY) shares jumped 16.48% to $10.46 in after-hours trading on Thursday after the Virginia-based secure mobile management provider reported first-quarter results, topping both revenue and earnings per share estimates.

EPS Crushes Estimates by 108%

For the quarter ended Mar. 31, WidePoint posted EPS of $0.01, beating the analyst estimate of negative $0.12 by 108.33%, while revenue of $40.60 million came in 6.66% above the $38.07 million analyst forecast.

The beat marks a notable turnaround, as WidePoint had missed EPS estimates in each of the previous three quarters.

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, surged 714% year-over-year to $752,000, while free cash flow increased 941% to $674,000.

CEO Jin Kang cited both federal resilience and cost discipline as drivers. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRY) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Friday, May 15.

Analysts expect the San Diego, California-based company to report quarterly loss of 54 cents per share, versus a loss of 35 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for ARS Pharmaceuticals’ quarterly revenue is $22.12 million (it reported $7.97 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On May 13, ARS Pharmaceuticals named Donn Casale as president.

Shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals fell 0.9% to close at $7.94 on Thursday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Suncrete, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMIX) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Friday, May 15.

Analysts expect the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company to report quarterly earnings of 3 cents per share on revenue of $65 million, according to Benzinga Pro.

On May 7, Suncrete announced closing the acquisition of Nelson Bros. Ready Mix, LLC.

Shares of Suncrete fell 0.7% to close at $17.50 on Thursday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

RBC Bearings Incorporated (NYSE:RBC) will release earnings for its fourth quarter before the opening bell on Friday, May 15.

Analysts expect the Oxford, Connecticut-based company to report quarterly earnings of $3.32 per share, up from $2.83 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for RBC Bearings’ quarterly revenue is $506.59 million (it reported $437.7 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On Feb. 5, RBC Bearings posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.

RBC Bearings shares fell 1.1% to close at $611.93 on Thursday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have rated the company in the recent …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ross Gerber, Co-founder of the investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, on Thursday, said his team was forced to sell some positions in semiconductor stocks like Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) to comply with the sector cap limit.  

Diversification Rules Prompt Semiconductor Sales

In a post on X, Gerber said, “Today we had to sell a small amount of our positions in semis” – Micron, Nvidia and Broadcom.

The diversification rule has forced a reduction in semiconductor holdings even as he reiterated a bullish stance on the group. He said, “This was a requirement of diversification in my fund of 25% max in a sector, not because of my desire in any way. I am very bullish on these companies.”

The semiconductor stocks have been on a tear this year on the AI-fueled semiconductor boom. The PHLX Semiconductor Index recently reached its highest level since March 2000.

Micron

Micron has been on a remarkable surge, having gained more than 714% over the past year and 172% since the start of this year. The rally has lifted the memory chipmaker’s market capitalization near $900 billion, vaulting the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

With U.S. stock futures trading lower this morning on Friday, some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are as follows:

• Wall Street expects RBC Bearings Inc. (NYSE:RBC) to report quarterly earnings at $3.32 per share on revenue of $506.59 million before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. RBC Bearings shares rose 0.8% to $617.00 in after-hours trading.
• Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) reported better-than-expected second-quarter financial results and issued strong third-quarter guidance. Applied Materials reported second-quarter revenue of $7.91 billion, beating analyst estimates of $7.65 billion. The chip equipment manufacturer reported adjusted earnings of $2.86 per share for the quarter, beating analyst …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Thursday.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones index closing above the 50,000 level during the session.

In earnings, shares of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) surged 13% on Thursday after the company posted upbeat third-quarter results and issued strong guidance. Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE:DDS) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter.

On the economic data front, U.S. initial jobless claims increased by 12,000 from the previous week to 211,000 during the first week of May, compared to market estimates of 205,000. U.S. import prices increased by 1.9% month-over-month in April, compared to market estimates of a 1% gain. U.S. retail sales rose …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Economist and co-founder of Echelon Wealth Partners, Peter Schiff, called the Iran war a foreign policy blunder on Thursday, slamming the President Donald Trump administration amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

‘Not Advocating’ For Ground Invasion

In a post on X, Schiff expressed his disappointment with the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war. “Absent a U.S. boots-on-the-ground invasion and occupation, it’s clear Iran will win this war,” Schiff said.

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President Donald Trump‘s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr has backed Elon Musk-led SpaceX‘s Starlink satellite internet service amid a partnership between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS).

Betting Against Elon Musk Is Risky

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Carr expressed his optimism about SpaceX’s efforts in the satellite communications sector as the FCC approved the sale of EchoStar Corp‘s (NASDAQ:SATS) $40 billion spectrum to SpaceX and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).

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Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf criticized the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday over rising U.S. borrowing costs and elevated national debt amid his actions on military spending in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Debt-Fueled Military Spending

In a post on X, Ghalibaf said “So you’re funding Hegseth the failed TV host at rates unheard of since 2007, so he can cosplay as Secretary of War in our backyard in Hormuz?”

He warned that a higher level of debt could result in a new financial crisis, saying, “You know what’s crazier than $39 trillion in debt? Paying a pre-GFC premium to fund a LARP and all you’ll get is a brand new GFC.”

Ghalibaf referred Hegseth here as playing a live role in movies rather than being realistic.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

CNBC host Jim Cramer said that Thursday’s pullback in Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) shares looked ‘good’ after President Donald Trump announced a new China jet order that fell well short of Wall Street expectations.

Cramer Sees Boeing Drop As Opportunity

The “Mad Money” host wrote on X, “Boeing is very good down ten,” referring to the roughly $10-to-$11 drop in the stock after China agreed to buy 200 Boeing aircraft. The announcement sent Boeing shares down more than 4%, as investors had expected a much larger order.

Details of the agreement were not immediately available, including delivery timing or aircraft types, although the number was far below the expected package. Bloomberg News reported in March that the deal package could include as many as 500 737 Max jets.

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U.S. stocks climbed to fresh highs on Thursday, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.75% to 50,063.46, while the S&P 500 gained 0.77% to 7,501.24 and the Nasdaq advanced 0.88% to 26,635.22.

These are the top stocks that gained the attention of retail traders and investors through the day.

POET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:POET)

POET Technologies saw a significant rise of 43.15%, closing at $20.57. The stock reached an intraday high of $20.81 and a low of $17.39, with a new 52-week high of $20.81. In the after-hours trading, the shares shot up 11.28% to $22.89.

The surge followed the announcement of a new AI partnership with Silicon Valley-based technology startup Lumilens, which placed an initial $50 million order for POET’s Electrical-Optical Interposer-based engines. This collaboration could potentially generate over $500 million in purchases over five years.

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Buying a first home is supposed to come with champagne toasts, badly wrapped kitchen gadgets and at least one relative asking where the “good bathroom” is. 

For one 31-year-old wife, the celebration took a sharp turn when her husband began telling dinner guests about the sacrifices he made to buy their new house — while leaving out one very important detail: she paid for half of it too.

The wife shared the story on Reddit after a dinner with her husband’s family and friends spiraled into an argument over who actually bought the home. According to her post, both spouses contributed equally toward the purchase and both names were listed on the title. But during dinner, she said her husband repeatedly referred to it as “my house” while describing the extra jobs he took and the years he spent saving for it.

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“I said hold on,” she wrote. “And told them that it’s not his house, but our house because we both equally saved and contributed equally to be able to purchase it.”

Things reportedly became even more awkward when the husband’s mother asked whether that was true and the wife offered to show legal documents confirming both names were on the home. 

She said her husband then excused himself to the bathroom for about 40 minutes before later “blew up” at her. 

“He asked ‘what could you have possibly gained by saying what you said?” What could you have possibly lost if you didn’t? Do you ever think before you speak?'” she wrote.

People Questioned What He Told His Family Before Dinner

Many Reddit users focused less on the correction itself and more on why the husband’s family seemed surprised to learn the home belonged to both spouses equally.

One commenter wrote, “His presenting the whole thing that he bought the house himself was humiliating you in front of his family. You just set the record straight.”

Trending: The Midwest multifamily trend attracting institutional capital and accredited investors alike

Another person questioned what conversations may have happened before the dinner took place, writing that “a lot would have had to be said” for the husband’s mother to assume the wife had not contributed financially.

Others mocked the husband’s response after disappearing into the bathroom during the gathering. One Redditor joked, “LOL he practiced this speech in the bathroom for 40 minutes and that’s the best he could come up with.”

A separate commenter took the discussion in a more serious direction and asked whether the husband had enough money saved to “buy out” her share if the relationship ever ended.

Couples And Shared Assets Can Become Financial Flashpoints

Disagreements involving homes, savings and ownership can quickly turn emotional because they often involve more than money. Recognition, transparency and long-term expectations all tend to get wrapped into the same conversation.

Financial professionals frequently encourage couples purchasing property together to have direct conversations about ownership structure, contributions, debt obligations and long-term financial goals before tensions build. Consulting a financial advisor can also help couples stay aligned on major shared assets, especially when both partners are contributing significant money toward a home purchase.

See Also: Discover …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Faraday Future (NASDAQ:FFAI) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

View the webcast at https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1762529&tp_key=f62d2cee38

Summary

Faraday Future reported Q1 2026 revenue of $512,000, a significant increase from $316,000 in the same period last year, with a focus on robotic devices as a new revenue source.

The company has shifted its strategic focus to an AI-first ecosystem, emphasizing humanoid and bionic robotics while postponing full-scale vehicle production until securing long-term funding.

Faraday Future aims to ship 1,500 robotic units in 2026, with 68 units already delivered by April, and is expanding its dealer network and product offerings, including educational robotics.

Operational costs have been reduced, with a 33% decline in G&A expenses, and the company reported a narrowed loss from operations compared to the previous year.

Recent capital market activities include securing $45 million in new financing and restructuring agreements to support the EAI strategy, alongside efforts to regain NASDAQ compliance and combat illegal short selling.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings. Welcome to Faraday Future’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press Star 0 on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to John Schilling, Director of Public Relations and Communications. Thank you. You may begin.

John Schilling (Global Director of Public Relations, Communications and Government Affairs)

Good evening everyone and thank you for joining Faraday Future’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. My name is John Schilling, Global Director of Public Relations, Communications and Government affairs here at Faraday Future. Today I am joined by our Global CEO YT Zha. Before we begin, please note that today’s discussion will include forward looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. We encourage you to review our SEC filings for a detailed discussion of these risks. We undertake no obligation to update forward looking statements except as required by law. Following prepared remarks, we will address a selection of stockholder questions submitted in advance and with that I’ll turn the call over to YT, our Founder and Global CEO.

YT Zha (Founder and Global CEO)

Thank you John and thank you to those joining us here today. I would like to thank the company and the Board for their trust in acknowledging and appointing me as global CEO. In today’s call, I will provide an update on Faraday Future’s first quarter 2026 results, key progress from the first quarter through today and our outlook for the next stage of growth FF will officially evolve into a US based physical AI ecosystem company focusing on two product engines within its EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) robotics business, EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) Humanoid and Bionic robots and EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) Automotive robots. Committed to an AI first philosophy by building a three in one ecosystem consisting of device brain and open source and open developer platform and data. FF aims to create an evolutionary flywheel of scaled device delivery, data collection and training, continuous evolution of the EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) brain, stronger product capability and larger scale delivery with the goal of maximizing commercial value. In terms of business model, FF generates platform revenue through agent skill revenue sharing, platform service fees and enterprise solutions. At the same time, through EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) brand licensing, FF can extend its general intelligence capabilities to more robust and intelligent devices, creating scalable licensing revenue. More importantly, every skill call, agent operation and device deployment will continuously accumulate real world data which will flow back to the EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) brain through the data factory. This creates an evolutionary flywheel and builds EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) ecosystem infrastructure that will be difficult to replicate in the physical AI era. From a strategic execution standpoint, our first phase will focus primarily on humanoid and bionic Robotics with EAI (Evolutionary Artificial Intelligence) Automotive Robotics serving as a complementary business. And I also want to reiterate something very clearly regarding our vehicle robotics business. We will only fully launch that business once we have secured strategic or long term investment and sufficient funding to support scaled production and delivery. Until then, we will continue moving forward in a disciplined way with low cost, low capital intensity, low risk and a strong focus on maximizing stockholder value. Let me now walk through our business update the first quarter of 2026 was a pivotal period for our robotics business as our three in one EAI ecosystem strategy began forming a tangible commercial closed loop EAI device update devices serve as the physical gateway to our strategy. We’re accelerating deployment of FF’s robotic devices across vertical use cases, capitalizing on our first mover advantage as the first US company to deliver humanoid and bionic robots. On February 4th, we officially released three series of EAI Robot Futurist Master and EGS. During the event the company announced a cumulative non binding, non refundable paid pre orders for our robot products totaling over 1,200 units. The delivery of our EAI robots started in late February with positive product growth margins. The total shipments have reached 68 units by the end of April. This provides a new asset light high margin revenue source that is expected to support short term cash flow while reinforcing our long term ecosystem strategy. We are also actively expanding our dealer network to concurrently support the sales of both EAI EVs and EAI robots. Following the NADA Dealer Summit, we signed MOUs with several mainstream US dealerships for both FX Super 1 and robot sales and we continue to explore diversified sales models including customized leasing programs, EAI Brain and Open Source and Open Developer Platform update Our Brain Smart products are leveraging an open source foundation model and our data factory, we are building a proprietary EAI Brain that bridges simulation and real robot data training. This creates a closed loop of efficient SIM to SIM and SIM to real deployment and continuous model self evolution targeting manipulation autonomy by year end. To date we have successfully built a cross platform architecture for our self developed EAI Interactive brain. With commercial demos now running across multiple sectors. Our proprietary data portal, cloud platform and robot management backend v1.0 are live laying the smart management groundwork for large scale operations. Open source and open developer platform is the enabling system for our strategy. By opening our platform to global developers, we significantly expand the value and diversity of our ecosystem, speed up the flywheel and establish one of FF’s most important levers for creating a differentiated competitive mode. We held our EAI Developer Platform Strategy Launch in San Francisco officially initiating the era of EAI robot education tailored for AI natives, we achieved the first practical application of OpenClaw on our robots and are successfully testing its expansion across various scenarios. Data Factory Update Data fuels our strategy. as the first US company to deliver humanoid and bionic robots, we are moving aggressively to build a first mover advantage in the data business with the goal of fully commercializing our data factory to close the loop. We closed the R&D to sales loop in just two months after we launched our three in one strategy in February. Our data factory, powered by our proprietary data os, replaces the costly custom built data collection model and we’ve signed and begun delivery on our first sales order within two months of launch. The data factory consists of two components, centralized and decentralized. For centralized data factory, we developed a full stack in house software suite covering collection, validation, upload and conversion on par with industry benchmark tools and with the core toolchain fully under our control, the first centralized supermarket shelf scenario is deployed at our LA headquarters and our teleoperation data business is an active market outreach for decentralized data factory. We built our own data collection software, eliminating the need to purchase costly third party robot hardware just to access basic software licenses. The full pipeline from collection and processing to FF cloud upload is up and running and we’ve collected the first batch of pilot real world data across our EAI devices. We’ve signed MOU with Boston International Business School to jointly establish the Bibs SFAI Robotics Institute, the first industry driven …

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On Thursday, Jefferson Capital (NASDAQ:JCAP) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

Jefferson Capital reported record collections of $310 million, a 19% increase from the previous year, and revenue of $176 million, up 14% year over year.

The company highlighted its strategic advantage in the auto finance sector, with a focus on portfolios affected by rising vehicle prices and interest rates.

Jefferson Capital’s strategy includes a strong focus on legal channel collections, with significant improvements in process efficiency leading to increased suit volumes.

The company’s cash efficiency ratio was 73%, driven by collections from the Bluestem and Conn’s portfolio purchases, and it maintained a strong financial position with a leverage ratio of 1.79 times.

Management expressed confidence in future portfolio supply due to elevated consumer delinquencies and charge-offs, and highlighted a robust outlook for portfolio purchases.

A new amendment to the senior secured revolving credit facility increased committed capital to $1.15 billion, enhancing liquidity and strategic optionality.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good afternoon and welcome to Jefferson Capital’s fourth quarter and full year 2025 conference call. With us today are David Burton, Founder and Chief Executive Officer and Christo Rylov, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. This call may contain forward looking statements regarding the Company’s plans and initiatives and strategies and the anticipated financial performance of the Company including but not limited to sales and profitability, expected benefits of the Bluestem acquisition, expectations on the market and macroeconomic factors and expected collections and growth in certain collections. Such statements are based upon management’s current expectations, projections, estimates and assumptions. Words such as expect, believe, anticipate, think, outlook, hope and variations of such words and similar expressions identify such forward looking statements. Forward looking statements involve known risks and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties are further disclosed in the Company’s most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward looking statements made herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update the forward looking statements except as required by law. Also, during this conference call, the Company will be presenting certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the Company’s historical non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures appear in today’s earnings press release. And now I will turn the call over to David Burton. Please go ahead.

David Burton (Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you operator and thanks everyone for joining our investor call. Let’s dive into our first quarter financial performance highlights. We again generated strong results for shareholders. We delivered record collections of 310 million up 19% versus the prior year period and we continue to perform well versus our underwriting expectations. Our estimated remaining collections grew 18% to 3.4 billion, driven by our continued deployment performance and attractive anticipated returns. Revenue for the quarter was a record 176 million up 4.14 percent versus the prior year period. We delivered a sector leading cash efficiency ratio of 73% driven in part by strong collections from the Bluestem and Conn’s portfolio, purchases. We generated strong cash flow in the quarter which improved our leverage to 1.79 times a level which positions us well for future growth and creates significant strategic optionality adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.73. Turning to the next slide, I’d like to offer a brief market update and cover some of the macroeconomic indicators to provide better context for why we remain confident in the investment opportunity for our business, delinquency trends remained elevated across all non mortgage consumer asset classes create favorable portfolio supply trends. An asset class we continue to watch closely is auto finance. Receivables have grown steadily to a record of 1.68 trillion with an average monthly new vehicle loan payment of $806, up 52 percent compared to pre pandemic. As a result of higher vehicle prices and elevated interest rates. In March of 2026, nearly one-third of used vehicle trade ins carried negative equity. In addition, 72-month loans accounted for 40.5% of all financed vehicle sales and 84-month loans accounted for 12.8%. Continued strain on the consumer and deteriorating credit quality for originators in some instances coupled with financing headwinds, all set the stage for increasing portfolio supply. We remain uniquely positioned to offer solutions across the spectrum of performing charged off and insolvency auto finance portfolios for both secured and unsecured accounts. The next important component to better understand the state of the consumer is the current level of personal savings. During the pandemic, consumers accumulated abnormally high savings as a result of the unprecedented levels of government stimulus which served as a financial cushion against life’s unexpected events. By the end of 2022 the excess savings had been depleted and in fact the current level of personal savings at 857 billion is substantially lower than than the long term pre pandemic average from 2013 through 2019 of 1.1 trillion, a dynamic which is even more pronounced when adjusted for inflation. This suggests that consumers have a more limited ability to absorb unanticipated temporary financial hardships, which is an important driver for delinquency and charge off volumes. Next, regarding the insolvency market, we have seen a well pronounced increase in the number of insolvencies both in the United States and in Canada from the pandemic trough in 2021, which in turn has fueled the resurgence in supply of insolvency portfolios. Insolvency valuation and servicing requires highly specialized expertise, a robust data set to develop accurate forecasts and a technologically advanced servicing platform. And we remain one of the very few debt buyers in the US and by far the largest debt buyer in Canada that can capitalize on this market opportunity. Finally, this backdrop is also underpinned by a low level of unemployment which supports the expected liquidation rates on our existing portfolio and gives us confidence in underwriting new purchases. Our portfolio performance is less sensitive to changes in unemployment compared to an originator and despite the recent labor market headwinds, the overall employment level is still favorable for our business. All of these trends point in one direction elevated levels of consumer delinquencies and charge offs, which we’re seeing across all consumer asset classes and which we believe create a long Runway for a robust portfolio portfolio supply over the coming quarters, coupled with continued strong collection performance on our existing book and on any future portfolio purchases. Moving on, I’d like to review in more detail some of the key performance trends for the quarter. Our collections, as I mentioned, were $310 million, up 19% year over year, driven by strong deployments. In 2024 and 2025, 54.5 million of collections for the quarter were attributable to the Bluestem portfolio purchase and 31 million were attributable to the Conn’s portfolio, purchase. More broadly, our collection performance on the overall portfolio continues to reflect the accuracy of our underwriting models, and we did see the typical seasonal impact of tax refunds on consumer liquidity. In the United States, a key trend in collection performance has been the increase in Legal Channel collections. Jefferson Capital utilizes Legal Channel as a means of last resort in instances where we believe the account holder has the ability but not the willingness to engage or pay. We have achieved a number of important process improvements, specifically in the United States which which have significantly compressed the timing from placement of the account to filing of the lawsuit, which in turn has accelerated suit volumes. This inventory of suit eligible accounts has increased given the significant growth in deployments over the past three years, so over time we expect to see continued growth in legal collections. Our portfolio purchases for the quarter were 150 million compared to 175 million in in the first quarter of 2025. Returns remain attractive and we remain confident in the deployment landscape. I will note that our deployments in the year ago first quarter benefited from a $28.5 million insolvency back book purchase in Canada. More broadly, our business is subject to pronounced seasonality. The fourth quarter is typically the largest quarter for deployments as credit originators aim to dispose of nonperforming portfolios ahead of year. End deployments then tend to decelerate in the first quarter as portfolio sales activity declines as originators want to take advantage of consumer liquidity related to tax refunds in the US as of March 31st we had 353 million of deployments locked in through forward flows, which is an important building block of our deployment strategy for the coming quarters. Our estimated remaining collections as of March 31 were 3.4 billion, up 18% year over year, with ERC related to Bluestem and Conn’s comprising 238 million and 105 million of us distressed, respectively. Our ERC is relatively short in duration due in part to the lower average balance accounts in our portfolio. With 52 percent of our ERC expected to be collected through 2027, we expect to collect 1.1 billion of our March 31 ERC balance during …

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Blaize Holdings (NASDAQ:BZAI) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Blaize Holdings reported Q1 2026 revenue of $2.7 million, reflecting a 170% year-over-year increase despite a global memory shortage impacting server availability.

The company reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $130 million and anticipates a back-half weighted revenue distribution due to the timing of large orders and data center expansion.

Strategic initiatives include expanding the Neotensor contract to a potential $70 million value, launching Blaze AI Services starting with a Face Recognition AI service, and establishing partnerships with Winmate and Nokia for AI innovation and infrastructure development.

Blaize Holdings closed a $35 million equity offering to strengthen its balance sheet, support commercial commitments, and advance AI Services development and platform advancement.

Management highlighted the transition to higher-margin, recurring revenue from AI services and emphasized the strategic focus on hybrid AI infrastructure to meet the shifting market towards sovereign AI and edge deployment.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Blaze first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today. Lana Adair, Investor Relations Please go ahead.

Lana Adair (Investor Relations)

Before we begin the prepared remarks, we would like to remind you that earlier today Blaze Holdings Inc. Issued a press Release announcing its first quarter 2026 results. Earnings Materials are available on the Investor Relations section of Blaze Holding, Inc. S website. Today’s earnings call and press release reflect management’s views as of today only and include statements related to our 2020 financial guidance, revenue, gross margin, competitive position, anticipated industry trends, market opportunities, products and financing opportunities, all of which constitute forward looking statements under the federal securities laws. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by these forward looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with our business. For a discussion of material risks and other important factors that could impact our actual results and please refer to the company’s Form 10K and amendment number one to Form 10K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and our Form 10Q for the period ending March 31, 2026, including the risk Factors section therein and today’s press release, both of which can be found on our Investor Relations website. Any forward looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today and other than as may be required by law. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information for future events. Information discussed on this call concerning Blaize Holdings, Inc. Industry competitive position and the markets in which it operates is based on information from independent industry and research organizations, other third party sources and management’s estimates. These estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and other third party sources as well as data from Blaze Holding, Inc. S internal research. These estimates are based on reasonable assumptions and computations made upon reviewing such data and Blaize Holdings, Inc. S experience in and knowledge of such industry and markets. By definition, assumptions are subject to uncertainty and risks which could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimate. During this call we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures. These non GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with gaap for a reconciliation of non GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to today’s press release. Now I’d like to turn the call over to Dinakar Munagala, CEO of Blaze Holdings, Inc.

Dinakar Munagala (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Lana and good afternoon everyone. We came off a breakout growth year in 2025 and we expect 2026 to continue the trend. Q1 strengthened our commercial foundation through several new contracts and partnerships. First, we expanded our Neotensor contract, bringing the total potential value to $70 million. We signed a strategic partnership agreement with Winmate, a publicly traded leader in ruggedized computing, with the intent to close approximately $15 million in business in the first year. We deepened our joint engagement with Nokia across Asia Pacific. Together we stood up a joint AI Innovation Lab advancing hybrid AI RAC scale development. The engagement also includes a strategic partnership with Datacom, one of Southeast Asia’s leading cloud service providers. Finally, we announced Blaize AI Services and will bring our first application service to market. Q1 revenue came in at approximately $2.7 million. This reflects a global memory shortage that limited server availability from one of our trusted suppliers and delayed orders. Customer demand remained intact throughout the quarter. We expect to secure the inventory needed to deliver over $11 million to a single customer in the second quarter of this year and we are reaffirming our full year 2026 revenue guidance of $130 million at JITEX AI 2026 in April, one of the largest AI showcases in Asia, we announced Blaize AI Services which we expect to turn AI infrastructure into production ready APIs that cloud service providers, data center operators and system integrators can deploy, monetize and resell. Today we are going to announce the next step in execution, the upcoming launch of our Face Recognition AI service, the first in a series of application level services running on the Blaze hybrid AI platform. Why this matters AI Services will complement our hardware sales with recurring application layer revenue per query. It’s higher margin, it’s stickier and it scales with our partners growth not just with their capex cycle. Face Recognition is the first proof point. Additional high demand services including intelligent document processing will follow. We have signed a contract with Neotensor that is expected to generate up to $50 million in revenue in the first year. This builds on more than $20 million in revenue that we recognized in Q4 of 2025, bringing the total potential value to approximately $70 million. The development uses a co branded AI server built on Blaze Quad card. Each server handles 200 plus simultaneous camera streams with advanced AI analytics while running LLM and VLM inference on the same infrastructure. This is what our hybrid AI architecture was built for. Real time perception at the sensor layer, Advanced reasoning on the same rack no round trip to a distant cloud. The rollout is expected to span multiple cities across Asia Pacific in multiple phases. Each phase is expected to drive higher margin revenue as the AI services layer takes hold. Earlier this month we entered into a strategic agreement with winmate. Together we will integrate Blaze AI into ruggedized systems, drones, handhelds, vehicle mounted units and embedded devices for mission critical operations, border security, maritime essential infrastructure and field healthcare. Beyond the contracts I just described, we are advancing a series of RAC scale hybrid AI engagements anchored by our joint partnership with Nokia. This work reaches cloud service providers and infrastructure partners. These opportunities are multi site multi phase with hundreds to thousands of edge nodes per program. They span Spark, City, Sovereign Data center and large scale ruggedized field use cases. The architecture is hybrid GSP plus GPU at RAC scale orchestrated by Blaize AI Services stack. The pattern is consistent. Customers want sovereign control of their data. They want efficiency. They want application level AI services. They can resell hybrid AI delivers all three Stepping Back the AI infrastructure conversation is shifting fast. A year ago the industry was focused on one thing massive centralized GPU clusters for training. Today the conversation moved decisively toward sovereign language model inference at the edge in country at unit economics that actually work at scale. That shift is what Blaze was built for. Three Pillars Number one Sovereign AI Infrastructure Governments and large enterprises across Asia, Middle east and Europe demand compute that stays within their borders under their control. Hybrid Rackscale enables this without HyperScaler Economics. Number two Smaller LLM based AI services. Most enterprise AI workloads do not need a frontier model. They need a tightly tuned domain specific model on infrastructure they can afford. Our hybrid architecture runs vision and language workloads on the same rack, opening the service revenue our partners can monetize per query. Number three Programmable energy efficient compute. This is where the Blaze GSP advantage compounds performance per watt Deterministic latency a software stack that serves vision, LLM and VLM workloads on the same hardware. Hybrid Rackscale is the unit of deployment for the next phase of AI. We are building toward it and our partners are buying in. On May 6th we closed a $35 million equity offering supported by a group of large institutional investors. This capital strengthens our balance sheet. The proceeds will support our commercial deal commitments, continued AI Services development, RAC Scale Hybrid Platform Advancement and Next Generation Platform development. Blaze is a company executing against one of the most significant opportunities in AI history. RAC Scale Hybrid AI Sovereign infrastructure the strategic path for recurring AI services Revenue and partnerships that put Blaze at the center of the AI inference build out Contracts are expanding, partnerships are deepening across an increasingly diverse base of AI use cases and finally, engagements are advancing in the field. So with that I’ll turn it over to our cfo Harminder Samey.

Harminder Samey (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Dinnikar and good afternoon everyone. I’m pleased to share our …

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GEN Restaurant Gr (NASDAQ:GENK) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

GEN Restaurant Gr reported an 8.8% decrease in same-store sales for Q1 2026, primarily due to economic challenges and high gas prices in California.

The company is undergoing strategic initiatives, including a partnership with Chubby Cattle for five restaurants and streamlining menu options to manage food costs.

GEN Restaurant Gr is expanding its consumer packaged goods (CPG) division, projecting a run rate of over 2,000 supermarket locations by 2027, with potential revenue exceeding $100 million annually in three years.

Operational highlights include the launch of a digital platform, acceptance of cryptocurrency payments, and development of a Gen loyalty program.

Management expressed cautious optimism for future growth, balancing restaurant operations with CPG expansion, while slowing new restaurant openings to five to seven in 2026.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to GEN Restaurant Group Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call. this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 14, 2026. And now I would like to turn the conference over to Tom Kroll, the company’s Chief Financial Officer. You may begin.

Tom Kroll (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you operator and good afternoon. By now everyone should have access to our first quarter 2026 earnings release. If not, it can be found at www.genkoreanbbq.com in the Investor Relations section. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that our discussions today will include forward looking statements within the meaning of federal security laws, including but not limited to statements regarding growth plans and potential new store openings, as well as those types of statements identified in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 and our subsequent reports filed with the SEC. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore you should not put undue reliance on them. These statements represent our views only as of the date of this call and are also subject to numerous risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from what we currently expect. We refer you to our recent SEC filings, including our Annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, for more detailed discussions of the risks that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise these forward looking statements in light of new information or future events. During today’s call, we will discuss some non GAAP financial measures which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP reconciliations of the non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are available in our earnings press release and our SEC filings which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. Now I’d like to turn it over to our Chairman and CEO David Kim.

David Kim (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you Tom and good afternoon everyone. In the first quarter of 2026, the economic challenges continued to impact customer traffic for all restaurant businesses just as we began seeing improvement in January. The increase in fuel prices because of the war has reduced customer discretionary spending. This impact has been particularly pronounced for GEN as approximately 45% of our stores in the US are in California where gas prices have climbed to over $6 a gallon. This has led to a decrease in our same store sales of approximately 8.8% for the quarter, although our same store sales Decline improved from 11.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025. In our continued response to the changing economic environment, several directional changes were made at the end of 2025 and in the first quarter of 2026 through initiatives designed to improve the company’s value proposition. First, during March of 2026, as part of an ongoing portfolio update, we entered into a partnership with Chubby Cattle International related to five of our restaurants. We will own 49% and Chubby Cattle will own 51% of these restaurants which will be operated under the Chubby Cattle brand. Importantly, these joint ventures are far different than closing a restaurant as the locations remain open and continue generating value. The first two conversions took place on May 1, 2026, with two more scheduled for June 1, 2026 and the final conversion on August 1, 2026. This transaction created a 4.5 million write down, but we anticipate no further liability from the deal and expect these five restaurants to generate strong EBITDA going forward, of which we’re entitled to 49%, enhancing our overall profitability. This will reduce our loss positions in these 5 restaurants starting in the second and third quarters of 2026. Second, we also have several operational initiatives currently in progress to improve the financial result of our restaurants. A. We’re adjusting our menu to streamline options in response to stubborn increases in our food cost. B We’re enhancing our incentive program with restaurant managers to drive stronger store level execution and performance. C We’re testing new boba drinks as well as soju drinks which have shown promising sales during the Launch. D Following 2/4 of research and preparation, we are exploring a new digital platform to enhance our customers online experience. In parallel, we plan to roll out our GEN loyalty program in quarter two and have begun accepting cryptocurrency for pay. We’re also preparing to launch our enhanced e commerce website which will offer an expanded selection of our Gen branded products. Finally, we have made the strategic decision to slow restaurant developments to five to seven openings for the full year of 2026 and have proactively suspended construction on six additional stores. This disciplined capital allocation strengthens our balance sheet and reduces near term expenses. We have also initiated an AI program to drive further efficiencies and reduce corporate overhead. As a further update, our Costco gift card program continues to contribute to our brand presence with cumulative sales since inception reaching over $30 million. In October 2025, we announced the creation of a new division within the company to develop and sell CPG products to grocery stores. We started by testing our products at over 30 locations in Southern California in October of 2025 and the customer response significantly exceeded our expectations. We’re now confident in an estimated run rate of over 2000 locations in supermarkets across the country. We plan to announce a financial forecast for the CPG division at the end of quarter two. Our retail product lineup under the Exclusive Gen brand. It is anchored by our core meat offerings complemented by a growing selection of additional products spanning from beef jerky and beef chips, frozen sides, snack chips, sauces and seasonings, ready to drink beverages and soju’s sold under our Jeju brand. Here are a breakdown of our 56 SKUs Core frozen meats 6 SKUs Beef jerkies 6 SKUs Frozen meat and sides 12 Skews Snack chips 6 SKUs Sauces and seasonings 6 Skus Ready to drink beverages 9 Skus soju’s 11 Skus Part of the expansion of our ecosystem is our CPG placement including soju with the number one beverage retailer, the west coast bevmo. Our growing lineup of shelf stable Korean snacks and beverages, as previously mentioned, represents a meaningful expansion of our non meat product catalog. These single serve formats are well suited for convenient driven channels such as 7, 11 and other convenience stores, opening a significant growth opportunity beyond our core meat offerings. Additionally, at the end of May, Albertsons is launching a regional test of our full shelf stable product lineups across 150 stores and based on the projected numbers, we anticipate additional regions to follow. With the strength of our restaurant labor force, JEN has deployed trained team members to local grocery stores to demo our products which have been highly successful in driving sell throughs. Unlike many grocery demos which are run by outside companies with no product knowledge, our restaurant staff brings firsthand expertise that creates a dynamic sales presentation and significantly lifts product sales. Combined with our well known JEN brand and great tasting Korean inspired food, this makes it easy for our staff to introduce our products to new customers. Additionally, last week we announced the launch of our Costco Roadshow Demonstration series, a multi region initiative bringing JEN Signature Ready to Cook marinated meats to Costco members in Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Texas. Powered by our restaurant staff, this launch marks the next chapter in Jen’s growing retail presence and supports our broader phased retail expansion strategy. We anticipate this will lead to permanent shelf space. Separately, we recently announced a major milestone in Jen’s retail expansion Our first direct Southern California and Hawaii regional Costco purchase order securing freezer aisle placement for one SKU of our ready to cook marinated meat across approximately 40 Costco warehouse locations. Importantly, this order was issued without a preceding regional roadshow requirement, reflecting Jen’s strong regional brand presence, proven …

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On Thursday, Sky Harbour Group (AMEX:SKYH) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

Sky Harbour Group reported a significant increase in assets under construction, reaching $352 million, with a $75 million increase from the previous year.

Revenues increased by 56% year over year and 8% sequentially, driven by new campus openings and higher occupancy rates.

Operating expenses rose due to new campus openings and non-cash expenses from new ground leases.

The company expects gross profit margin expansion from upcoming campus phases in Miami and Addison, with a focus on operational efficiency.

Sky Harbour Group announced a guidance for 2026 with an expected revenue run rate of $42-$46 million and an adjusted EBITDA run rate of $4-$6 million by year-end.

The company is focusing on expanding in Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets, emphasizing profitable growth over simply increasing the number of locations.

Sky Harbour Group highlighted a successful pre-leasing strategy, achieving 68% occupancy at Miami Phase 2 upon opening.

Management emphasized the potential for operating leverage due to high upfront capex with growing revenue potential.

The company reported strong liquidity with $368 million in available resources, including cash and unused credit facilities.

Sky Harbour Group is actively pursuing investor relations initiatives, increasing conference participation to engage with investors.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate and I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to The Sky Harbour 2026 first quarter earnings call and webinar. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. In order to ask a question, you can send via webcast in the Q and A box. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Francisco Gonzalez, CFO please

Francisco Gonzalez (Chief Financial Officer)

ahead thank you Kate and hello and welcome to the 2026 First Quarter Investor Conference Call and webcast for the Sky Harbor Group Corporation. We have also invited our bondholder investors and lenders in our borrowing subsidiaries Sky Harbor Capital, Sky Harbor Capital 2 and Sky Harbor Capital 3 to join and participate on this call. Before we begin, I’ve been asked by Council to note that on today’s call the company will address certain factors that may impact this and next year’s earnings. Some of the information that will be discussed today contains forward looking statements. These statements are based on management assumptions which may or may not come true and you should refer to the language on slides one and two of this presentation as well as our SEC filings for a description of the factors that may cause actual results to differ from our forward looking statements. All forward looking statements are made as of today and we assume no obligation to update any such statements. So now let’s get started. The team with us this afternoon you know from our prior webcast our CEO and Chair of the Board Tom Kanan, our Treasurer Tim Herr, our Chief Accounting Officer Mike Schmidt, our Accounting Manager Tory Petro and our Assistant Treasurer Andreas Frank. We have a few slides we will want to review with you before we open it to questions. These were filed with the SEC an hour ago in Form 8K along with our 10Q and will also be available on our website later this evening. We also filed our first quarter Sky Harbour Capital obligated group Financials with MSRB’s EMA an hour ago. As Kate mentioned, you may have submitted written questions during the webcast during the Q4 platform using the Q4 platform and we will address them shortly after our prepared remarks. Let’s get started. At the end of the first quarter on a consolidated basis, assets under construction and completed construction reached over 352 million. That is a 75 million increase from a year ago. Let me highlight that the pace of investment and new construction at Sky Harbour is accelerating and this column will continue to grow at a higher rate revenues experienced an increase of 56% year over year and 8% sequentially given the new campus openings during past year and increases in occupancy and rental rates. Operating expenses in Q1 continue to increase in tandem with new campus openings, impacted in particular by increases in campus headcount and the cash and non cash expense accruals of new ground leases entering into the past year which are not yet in construction or in operations. More than half of the increase in OPEX in quarter over quarter or quarter sequentially is related to the signing of these new ground leases at the end of the year and within that expense. More than half of that is noncash accruals payments that will be made in the future. We look forward to benefiting from the operating leverage of our Phases II both in Miami Opaloka we just opened and in early 2027 with the opening of Addison 2 Phase II. We expect gross profit margin expansion with these 2 phase phases. 2s with the same people and fuel trucks basically serving a doubling of hangar campuses in terms of SG and A. We strive to keep this in check as we grow, keeping frugality front and center in our expense and cost management initiatives. Cash flow used in operations moved higher than last quarter of 2025 which usually happens in each of our first quarters given the seasonality of our cash performance, Boardman bonuses bonuses paid to our employees in February, the annual increases in base salaries that occur as of January 1st and also some minor items related to 401k corporate matches, Social Security, employer contributions and the like that they all tend to be concentrated in Q1. If you look historically, that pattern has been the case in terms of Q1 prior Q1 quarters. In prior years. Also, the figure in Q4 had the non recurrent benefit of the 5.9 million upfront payment we received by one tenant in terms of at least renegotiation in Miami on a normalized basis. As we have disclosed previously, we have reached cash out breakeven at the operating level. More on this when we talk about our guidance for 2026 shortly. Next slide please. This slide is a summary of the financial results of our wholly owned subsidiary Sky Harbor Capital and submarine projects that form the Obligated Group. Assets under construction are still growing as we complete Opaloka Phase 2 and will only stabilize once we complete Addison Phase 2 at the end of the year. These will constitute the last projects of the Obligated Group’s first Vintage Oak campuses that were financed primarily by the 2021 series bonds. Revenues at the Obligated Group in Q1 increased 76% year over year and 15% sequentially. We expect another step function increase in revenues in Q2 and Q3 of this year following the opening of Phase 2 in the Opaloka and then in Q1 and Q2 of 2027 after the opening of Phase 2 in Addison. As I mentioned earlier, we expect a significant increase in the obligated group’s gross profit and EBITDA margins given the additional revenues of these two phases with limited increases in operating costs given the ability to use the same personnel and equipment. With an expanded campus doubling in size both in Dallas and in Miami, cash flow from operations at the Obligated group reached 2.9 million, almost tripling of the same amount, I’m sorry, of a million dollars a year ago and a 14% increase from the prior quarter after adjusting for that non recurrent 5.9 million influx in the prior quarter with the prepaid rent that we discussed also earlier. So at this point let me pass it on to Tal to provide a leasing and development update.

Tal

Tal thanks Francisco. So the slide is self explanatory and it’s the same format we’ve been using in the last few earnings calls. So I think I’m just going to highlight a few specific rubrics here for people’s attention starting with the campuses that are in initial lease up. We’ll speak specifically about Opaloka Miami Phase 2 in a later slide. I think our what I just call attention to is Denver APA Phase 1 where we’re only 44% leased at this point. Sometimes they go a little bit slower than others. This one has definitely lagged a bit, but again that’s, you know, I think Nashville looked quite similar six months after it opened. So we don’t really, we don’t really attach that much significance to it and obviously we wish everything moved a bit little, little bit faster. And then on the left side you can see the economic occupancy which now on all but one campus is at 100% or above. What’s the upper limit of that? I’m going to go down limb and say San Jose is probably somewhere near the upper limit of that. We might find a few more creative ways to increase occupancy beyond 130%, but it’s probably not going to go much beyond that. However, what I really want to point out is the lower left hand corner of the slide that release update. So in the last 12 months we have released about 119,000 square feet of hangar, meaning leases that have come to term and either been renewed by the existing resident or taken over by a new resident. The average escalation between one lease and the next is 23%. By the way, that’s up from 22% in the last quarter. All of this is on top of the annual escalators, the contractual escalators that feature in all of our leases which escalate at CPI with a floor of 4%. Anyone who is running a model for Sky Harbour knows that your inflation, your inflation assumption is one of the most sensitive inputs in the entire model. I don’t want to make a claim here that we’ll always be getting 23% escalations, but for the time being at least, I think what we’re seeing is more or less what we, what we forecast a couple of years ago on these calls, which is that hangar inflation has nothing to do with cpi. We are on the island of Manhattan. From a, from a real estate perspective, you just cannot build new airports. And we think that this, this scarcity is what is one of the key components of driving the value on a macro level in this company going forward. Next slide, a little bit of kind of forecast versus actual. So again, things that I’ll point out, you’ve got two rows here of third party forecasts for revenue per square foot on different campuses. What we’re showing right now is whatever is gray is going to be within the range of those forecasts. Whatever is green is going to be above both forecasts. Whatever is red is going to be below both forecasts. So what you see at first, lush might look like a mixed bag to us. It does not. Because that high range, if you look, we’ve got high average and low, the high range in the campuses that are in lease up. Okay? So look at DVT, APA and Addison. The high range are the long term leases. Okay? And I think as people might remember, our strategy on initial lease up, this is before we move to the pre leasing strategy, which we’ll get to soon, has been to get these campuses to 100% as quickly as possible. So if somebody wants to come in on a six month lease at some very low introductory rate, we’re fine with that. We want to start actually negotiating in earnest with our long term tenants on the basis of 100% occupancy or higher. So rather than let these hangars ride empty for the month that it takes to get to 100% and surpass it, we rent them out like this, which skews your averages. So all of those higher the Green numbers on those lease up campuses are long term leases. That’s what that looks like. And then another thing I’ll call everyone’s attention to is if you look at the legacy campuses we call the stabilized campuses. So Nashville, that’s Nashville, Miami Phase 1, that’s Miami Phase 1, even Camarillo, TMA at the end, what you’ll see is the lows are the first leases that we signed. In fact, if you take bna, that might actually be the very first lease we signed at bna. And the highs tend to be the last leases that we sign, which again, I think corroborates the trend that we’re talking about, that 23% release rate. As time goes by, these leases go up, which is why we’re getting a lot of demand from new residents, especially long term residents, to maximize the term of their leases. Because there’s an increasing appreciation that this inflation trend is here to stay in business aviation. Okay, next slide. A little bit about pre leasing. So Miami Phase 2 is the first campus that we’ve. The first campus on which we’ve applied this pre leasing strategy where we’re going out and offering people certain incentives to sign leases before we even open the doors, which has resulted in what we consider pretty significant success. We’re 68% leased in Miami phase two, the day we open the doors. That means we’re leaving some money on the table. No question. We think, all things considered, this is probably the right way for us to continue a few things that we learned from Opelaka. Phase two, I’m starting at the top of the slide. Number one, this is the first, at least partial trial of the Ascend Integrated Construction Program that we have in place. We’re using the prototype hanger. It’s a derivative of the SH37 hangar, it’s the SH34 hangar hanger. We’re using Stratus Construction. That steel that you see in the picture is our Stratus steel. We’re using Ascend Construction Management. What we don’t have yet here is number one, our Guaranteed Maximum Price was priced before we implemented the program, before Ascend came in. So that budget construction cost is what it is. And number two, we’re using a third party general contractor in Miami. But other than that, this is the Ascend Integrated Construction Program. We’re very happy to demonstrate an on time, on budget delivery. The next thing I think it’s worth understanding is you’ll see this in some of the upcoming slides. Same campus expansion can be a lot more valuable than putting a new dot on the map in that we know the market. We’ll take Miami in this case as sort of the first example of this. We know the market and even more importantly, the market knows us. Okay. It’s not like we’re getting more speculative when we increase the size. And you’ll see when we talk about Stuart and Dulles, that’s exactly what we’re doing. It’s just that we know the battle space a lot better. And again, our counterparties know us better. There’s a lot of pent up demand in Miami. There’s about to be a lot of pent up demand in Dallas. Once people experience the Sky Harbour model, the churn is extremely low. People tend not to leave us. Most, Most of those 23% markups are to existing residents who just understand that there is a market. This is what people are paying now. If I want to stay, that’s what I have to pay. So the churn has been extremely low. So look out for a lot more of that going forward and we’ll show as we people have already seen our press release, but the guidance that we’re putting forward is based a lot more on that, meaning more dots on …

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Forward Industries (NASDAQ:FWDI) reported second-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s second-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

Forward Industries reported a significant improvement in revenue for Q2 2026, increasing over fourfold to $13 million, primarily due to staking revenue from their Solana treasury strategy.

The company executed strategic initiatives including a 7.4% reduction in outstanding shares through a share repurchase program and accessed $40 million in institutional debt at favorable terms to strengthen its balance sheet.

Forward Industries is focused on deepening its engagement with the Solana ecosystem, exemplified by its minority investment in the Solana native reinsurance protocol, Onre, which is part of its strategy to diversify revenue sources and enhance Sol per share growth.

The company achieved a 44% annualized Sol per share growth, largely driven by share repurchases, and is maintaining a robust balance sheet with a NAV of 0.827 as of March 31, 2026.

Management highlighted the strategic importance of Solana as a settlement layer for digital assets and emphasized their intent to position Forward Industries as the ‘Berkshire Hathaway of Solana.’

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us for participating in today’s conference call to discuss Forward Industries financial and operating Results for the second quarter fiscal 2026 ended March 31, 2026. By now, everyone should have access to the second quarter of fiscal 2026 earnings press release, which was issued today at approximately 4:05 PM Eastern Time. The release will be available on the Investor Relations section of Forward Industries website. This call will also be available for webcast replay on the company’s website. Following Management’s remarks, we’ll open up the call for Q and A. I’ll now hand the call over to Forward Industries General Counsel Georgia Quinn for introductory comments. Georgia, please go ahead.

Georgia Quinn (General Counsel)

Thank you operator before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that today’s call may include forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law forward looking statements made by the Board or Management on this call are based on their assumptions and beliefs. As of today, you should not rely on forward looking statements as predictions of future events as these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. For more information about these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Forward Industry filings with the securities and Exchange Commission. During today’s discussion, we will reference certain metrics related to our Solana digital asset treasury, including SOL holdings, SOL per share staking, performance validator operations and deployments. These metrics are core to evaluating the execution and progress of our strategy. With that, I will turn the call over to Forward Industries Chairman of the Board Kyle Samani. Kyle, please go ahead.

Kyle Samani (Chairman of the Board)

Thank you Georgia and good afternoon everyone. Our second fiscal quarter was defined by disciplined execution. Against the backdrop of continued market volatility, we took decisive steps to strengthen Forward’s capital foundation, improve our cost structure and deepen our engagement across the Solana ecosystem. In March, we completed a strategic share repurchase that reduced our common shares outstanding by 7.4%, accessing $40 million of institutional debt from Galaxy Digital on highly advantageous terms and implemented a cost reduction initiative that has yielded material operating expense savings through disciplined cost management. Together, these actions reflect the long term mindset that we bring to managing Forward disciplined capital allocation, compounding SOL per share which is currently above 44% on an annualized basis, on an annualized in the money basis, and positioning the business to grow and diversify alongside the Solana ecosystem. These two themes our continued conviction in the Solana ecosystem, particularly its accelerating momentum across stablecoins payments and real world assets, and the opportunities we see to deepen forward engagement with the Solan ecosystem to grow and diversify our revenue are where I want to focus our time today, starting with the network Solana’s transition from promising technology to real financial infrastructure has accelerated meaningfully in recent months for stablecoins and payments. Solana is emerging as the default settlement layer for dollar denominated value on chain. According to Masari report published in early March, total payment volume on Solana grew more than 8x year over year, which is nearly three times the median growth rate of comparable fintech and blockchain platforms. The Solana Foundation’s launch of payments.org in late February and the Solana developer platform in March, which brings together mastercard, worldpay, Western Union and other global payments partners, has consolidated what had been a fragmented set of partnerships into a single institutional grade payment stack. Western Union is expected to go live with its US Dollar payment token USDPT on Solana in the first half of this year, connecting on chain dollar transfers to Western Union’s network of more than 360,000 physical cash locations worldwide on real world assets. In January, Ondo Finance launched over 200 tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Solana, joining an ecosystem where tokenized equities had already processed over 3 billion in transaction volume. Forward was among the first pilot companies to put its SEC registered shares on chain through Superstate, and we view the rapid expansion of tokenized equities on Solana as further validation of the thesis that Solana is becoming the settlement layer for capital markets. In March, The SEC approved NASDAQ’s proposal to trade tokenized securities alongside their traditional counterparts on the same order book covering Russell 1000 stocks and major ETFs. As a Nasdaq listed company that already has its shares tokenized on Solana, we view this as a powerful convergence. The infrastructure that Forward helped pioneer is now being adopted by the exchanges themselves. On the infrastructure side, the rollout of Firedancer Jump, Crypto’s independent validator client for Solana, represents a landmark moment for the network’s decentralization and resilience. Firedancer’s testnet results showed throughput exceeding 1 million transactions per second, and the client is now phased and now phased mainnet deployment. This is exactly the kind of foundational infrastructure maturation that institutional participants need to see before committing capital at scale. At the network level, Solana continues to lead across the metrics that matter decentralized exchange volume, real economic value generated, active users, and developer engagement. These fundamentals reinforce our view that it is not just another blockchain. It is the execution layer for what we’ve often called the Internet capital markets. Before we move on to forward strategic initiatives, I want to address a topic that’s gotten a lot of attention lately. The security incidents developing Drift Protocol on Solana and more broadly, the other exploits we’ve seen as a crypto industry across a number of other networks. The key point here is that the incident involving Drift was a social engineering attack, not an explicit exploit of the Solana protocol or contract code itself. Bad actors targeted with privilege access through deception, not through any underlying vulnerability in the network. To be clear, Solana’s Core Layer 1 network has not experienced a consensus level breach. The base protocol has continued to operate with full uptime, strong validator decentralization, and no cryptographic vulnerabilities. Think of it this way, a brief at a company running on AWS does not mean AWS is broken. The same logic applies here. If anything, these incidents reinforce how seriously we take operational security in managing our own holdings. As the Solana ecosystem continues to accelerate, so do the opportunities for Forward to leverage protocols in the network to drive revenue growth. As Such, priorities for 2026 are focused on two initiatives. First, deepening our engagement with the FLAN ecosystem in ways that grow and diversify our revenue, and second, using our strengthened balance sheet to lower cost structure and accelerate SOL per share growth. On the ecosystem engagement front, we’ve made meaningful progress on initiatives we’ve discussed previously. First, Tokenized FWDI Forward remains one of the only public companies with SEC registered shares that live on a public blockchain through Superstate’s opening DAO platform. There are currently more than 6.9 million shares at FWDI tokenized on Solana and the Camino Pool where FWDI can be utilized as collateral for on chain loans is approximately 91% utilization. Next initiative I’d like to talk about is our Forward validator and FWDsold. Today over 6.9 million SOL is staked to forwards validator and it is the 8th largest validator in the Solana network by stake weight. Our proprietary liquid staking token SWD Sol has become a cornerstone of our capital market strategy. It is collateral supporting our 40 million institutional debt facility with Galaxy, which Ryan will discuss more in detail. On the revenue front, I want to highlight Forward Industries minority investment in deployment of capital in onri, a Solana native reinsurance protocol that is building infrastructure to bring traditional risk transfer markets on chain. Since launch, ONRE has attracted meaningful liquidity onboarded its first reinsurance counterparties and built a real reputation as one of the more interesting DEFI native risk protocols on Solana. What’s compelling here is that Forward participates in ONRI both as an investor and as a participant in the ONRE protocol by purchasing ONYC tokens so we have direct upside as the protocol grows and generates fee revenue that also adds USD denominated non correlated revenue for Forward, which helps diversify our revenue base beyond sol. Each of these initiatives is designed to accomplish the same thing turn Forward from a passive treasury holder into an active participant in the Solani economy, generating yields above the native staking rate, expanding our surface area on chain, and creating durable sources of revenue beyond staking alone. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Ryan Navi, Ford’s Chief Investment Officer, to further discuss our strategic initiatives and treasury performance during the quarter.

Ryan Navi (Chief Investment Officer)

thank you Kyle and good afternoon everyone. Since stepping into the CIO role in December, I focused on building out a comprehensive plan to drive meaningful SOL per share growth, lower our cost of capital and position Ford as the Berkshire Hathaway of Solana in the long term. Today, I’d like to walk through our progress on all three, starting with treasury performance, moving through our capital structure actions during the quarter, and closing with how we’re positioning Ford for the Future. As of March 31, 2026, Ford held a little over 7 million Solana, with nearly all of our holdings generating native staking yield between 6.5 and 7.2%. Cumulative staking rewards since our inception in September 2025 have now exceeded 200,000 Solana 25.1% of our Solana is now represented as SWD SOL, our proprietary liquid staking token developed with Sanctum SWD Sol is what allows us to continue earning native staking yield while simultaneously using our holdings productively as collateral, and it is the foundation of the institutional debt facility. I’ll discuss in more detail later. Turning to SOL per share, we continue to compound our fully diluted SOL per share from 0.0604 in September 2025 to 0.0624 as of December 31, 2025 and to 0.0669 as of March 31, 2026. That reflects annualized sold per share growth of 29.1% on a fully diluted basis. Since the launch of our treasury strategy. On an in the money share basis, our annualized sold per share growth exceeds 44%. Our fully diluted share count as of March 31, 2026 was 105,231,015 shares comprised of 76,314,617 common shares net of treasury 25,759,600 warrants 1,599,066 options and 1,557,732 unvested restricted and performance stock units. The reduction in common shares outstanding from 84.9 million to 76.3 million reflects our March repurchase of 6.2 million shares in our ongoing share repurchase program which reduced our basic shares outstanding by 10.1%. As of March 31, 2026, Ford’s NAV was 0.827 calculated using the closing price of Solana on March 31 of $83.12, total sole holdings of 7,044,079 plus our cash balance less debt, Ford’s closing price of $4.43 and a fully diluted share count of 105,231,015 shares. The most consequential actions during the quarter were in our capital structure. In March we completed two highly strategic transactions that taken together represent the disciplined capital allocation we believe is required to deliver long term value to our shareholders. This in turn gave us the balance sheet strength to capitalize on opportunities like our investment and deployment into Henri, which provides Ford with upside as the tokenized RWA ecosystem on Solana grows and adds a USD denominated revenue stream for the company. First we entered into a master digital currency loan agreement with our long standing partner Galaxy Digital and drew on an initial 40 million facility collateralized by FWD SOL with a weighted average interest rate of 3.4% and a weighted average maturity of 5 months. I really want to underscore how compelling these terms are. At a 3.4% weighted average interest rate, this facility represents access to capital at a cost that is in our view not only highly advantageous relative to what is available to most companies in our sector, but also most publicly traded small to medium sized market cap companies. Our extremely attractive cost of capital is the direct product of the strength of both our balance sheet and our team’s approach to risk management. Given the recent drawdown in Solana. In conjunction with our shares trading at a discount to nav, we made the conscious decision to lower our cost of capital via non dilutive financing, meaning that we were able to access liquidity without issuing equity or selling our sole holdings. It is also important to Note that approximately 40% of this facility is evergreen in nature, which means it automatically renews and does not require active refinancing. This provides us with a stable recurring capital base and means the effective refinancing burden on the remaining portfolio is both manageable and well within our liquidity planning horizon. Second, on March 19th we announced the deployment of 27.4 million of that $40 million credit facility to repurchase 6.2 million shares of our common stock at $4.44 per share. This transaction reduced our basic shares outstanding by 7.4% and our fully diluted shares outstanding by 5.5% which drove an immediately compelling SOL per share accretion of 8.0% on a common share basis and 5.8% on a fully diluted basis. Third, on May 5th we announced our investment and deployment into Henri alongside Rockaway X, the global multi strat digital asset investment firm. Ford Co led Henri’s 5 million Series A at a 25 million post money valuation and has begun deploying capital into ONYC. Henri’s yield bearing token on Solana NYC provides Ford with real world cash flows that are both complementary and uncorrelated to Solana. By gaining exposure to reinsurance through a tokenized on chain structure, we’re unlocking a new layer of durable dollar denominated income while remaining fully aligned with the Solana ecosystem. Together, this series of transactions gives us three things dramatic SOL per share growth, a robust balance sheet to continue operating and investing in the business and most importantly, an enhanced capital structure that lowers our cost of capital which unlocks a wider opportunity set to pursue strategic transactions beginning with Ornery that will deliver greater SOL per share growth and value to shareholders over the course of 2020. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on driving efficiencies across the business while executing on three strategic priorities. First, continuing to leverage our advantageous access to capital through the GALSEE facility and new potential …

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Stardust Power (NASDAQ:SDST) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Stardust Power’s Q1 2026 marks a transition to advancing project financing and execution, focusing on the Muscogee Refinery to address US lithium refining capacity constraints.

The company secured a minor source air quality construction permit, completed FEL3 engineering studies, and established multiple LOIs for feedstock supply, positioning itself for the next project phase.

Financially, the company remains pre-revenue, reporting a net loss of $5.2 million, with disciplined cash management to support long-term shareholder value creation.

Stardust Power enhanced its liquidity through various financing facilities and programs, securing an equity financing facility of up to $15 million and a $150 million project-level financing LOI.

Strategic initiatives include expanding government engagement, joining industry consortia, and focusing on domestic lithium ecosystem development, aligning with US energy policy initiatives.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good afternoon and welcome to Stardust power Inc. S Q1 2026 earnings call. My name is Tawanda and I’ll be your operator today. Before this call, Stardust Power issued its financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2026. Joining us on today’s call are Stardust Power founder and CEO Roshan Pajari and CFO Uday DeVasper. Following their remarks, we will open the call for questions. Before we begin, Joanna Gonzalez, Stardust Power Director of Investor Relations and Communications, will make a brief introductory statement. Ms. Gonzalez, please proceed. Thank you operator and good afternoon everyone. Before management begins their formal remarks today, we would like to remind everyone that some statements we’re making today may be considered forward looking statements and the securities laws and involve a number of risks and uncertainties as a result. We caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results, outcomes and events and the timings of such results, outcomes and events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements. For more detailed risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our forward looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and public filings made with the sec. We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update forward looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward looking statements are made. Except as required by law, we refer you to our filings with the SEC for detailed disclosures and descriptions of our business as well as uncertainties and other variable circumstances including but not limited to risks and uncertainties identified under the caption risk factors in our recent filings. You may get Stardust Power’s SEC filings by visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. i would like to remind everyone this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link available in the Investor Relations section of Stardust Power’s website. Now I will turn the call over to Status Power CEO Roshan Pajari.

Roshan Pajari (Founder and CEO)

Thank you Joanna and thank you everyone for joining us today. Q1 marks a clear transition for Stardust Power from materially de risking the project to advancing financing and execution. The core dynamic hasn’t changed. The constraint in the US Lithium supply chain is not resource availability, it’s refining capacity. That’s the critical gap our Muskogee Refinery will address. Let me briefly frame where we are today. The project is now advanced across key areas that matter for financing and execution. From a permitting standpoint, we have received our air quality construction permit which enables construction of the refinery to start Once financed, this is a critical milestone that provides clarity on the regulatory path forward. On engineering, we have completed our FEL3 study which defines the technical scope, cost framework and execution plan for the project. That work has also been supported by an independent third party review validating the design approach and overall project readiness. On the commercial side, we have advanced feedstock supply with multiple LOI agreements in place and ongoing discussions to further build out a diversified supply base. A strength of our model is to aggregate supply to limit dependence on single asset supply risk and from a site and infrastructure perspective, we have secured key elements required to support construction and operations, including utility support at our Muskogee location. Taken together, these milestones position the project to move into the next phase with a clear focus on financing and execution. With that context, let me highlight some of the key developments and work streams advanced during the quarter and into the subsequent period. During the quarter, we continued to advance the Muskogee Lithium Refinery across financing, project development and strategic positioning. A key milestone was securing our minor source Air quality construction permit, representing the final major permit required for construction and commissioning to start alongside completion of FEL3 engineering and third party validation last year. The permit was only required to be a minor source permit. Speaking to the limited emissions we shall produce. Our design does not require any smokestacks. In parallel, we expanded our government engagement efforts …

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Laird Superfood (AMEX:LSF) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

LSF reported a 20% year-over-year increase in Q1 2026 net sales to $13.9 million, driven by acquisitions and strong performance in the wholesale channel.

The company completed acquisitions of Navitas Organics and Terasol Superfoods, funded by $110 million from Nexus Capital, which now holds a controlling interest.

LSF aims to integrate these acquisitions, leveraging shared capabilities to improve supply chain and broaden distribution across multiple channels.

Despite gross margin contraction due to higher commodity costs and tariffs, LSF expects margin improvement through synergies and commodity cost reductions.

The company provided a FY 2026 outlook with expected net sales of $138 to $148 million and adjusted EBITDA of $8 to $12 million, excluding one-time costs.

Management emphasized the strategic focus on building a comprehensive superfood platform, with plans for additional acquisitions to grow the portfolio.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to Laird Superfood Inc. First quarter 2026 financial results. After today’s prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, please press Star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Trevor Russo, Head of Investor Relations. Trevor, please go ahead.

Trevor Russo (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you and good afternoon. Welcome to Laird Superfood’s First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and webcast. On today’s call are Jason Vieth, Laird Superfood’s President and Chief Executive Officer and Anya Hamill, our Chief Financial Officer. By now everyone should have access to our earnings release which was filed today after market close. It’s available on the Investor Relations section of our website, lairdsuperfood.com before we begin, please note that during this call management may make forward looking statements within the context of federal securities laws. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Please refer to today’s press release and other filings with the SEC for a detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties. With that, I’ll turn the call over

Jason Vieth (President and Chief Executive Officer)

to Jason Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us on today’s call to Discuss Laird Superfood’s first quarter 2026 financial results. I’m Jason Vieth, President and Chief Executive Officer. With me today is Anya Hamill, our Chief Financial Officer. We issued our earnings press release and filed our Form 10Q after market close today and both are available on our investor relations website. The first quarter of 2026 marked a transformative milestone for Laird Superfood. On March 12, we completed the acquisition of Novitis Organics, one of the most trusted and established names in the premium organic superfood category. Founded in 2003, Navitas brings high quality organic superfoods with strong presence across natural and conventional grocery club and e commerce channels. We acquired Navitas to expand our product portfolio, broaden our distribution reach and accelerate our strategy of building a scale positive nutrition platform. Just weeks after quarter end on April 21, we closed the acquisition of Terrasol Superfoods. Terrasol is a vertically integrated branded superfoods platform offering nuts, seeds, dried fruits, powders, baking ingredients and functional beverage mix ins. IT sources globally, processes and packages in house and distributes through e commerce, food service and retail channels. This acquisition further expands our product assortment so strengthens our supply chain capabilities and broadens our footprint across multiple channels Both transactions were funded through our partnership with Nexus Capital management. The initial $50 million Series A preferred stock issuance in March funded the Navitas acquisition and the subsequent $60 million issuance in April funded the Terasal acquisition. These investments not only provided the capital to execute, but also brought strategic expertise as we build a larger, more diversified superfood company. Following these transactions, Nexus now holds approximately 73.8% of our common stock on a fully diluted as converted basis and we are operating as a controlled company under NYSE American rules. Strategically, these moves are about creating a comprehensive superfood platform and that can compete more effectively in a rapidly evolving category. Consumers continue to shift toward clean, minimally processed, functional foods with recognizable ingredients. By combining Laird’s functional coffee solutions and performance focus, Navitas Premium Organic Superfood leadership and Terrasol’s vertically integrated ingredient expertise, we are building a differentiated portfolio that spans daily use products, functional beverages and broad superfood ingredients. As we have stated previously, these two acquisitions represent just the beginning of our roll up strategy in the Superfoods and positive nutrition space and we expect to make additional acquisitions in the years to come as we continue to scale the platform. Through these transactions, we have created a much stronger enterprise that is positioned to generate positive EBITDA and cash flow in the future. Given these improvements, we expect to use our balance sheet to attain some combination of debt and equity financing to support those future acquisitions. We are already executing our integration playbook across the three businesses. For Navitas, which was with us for the final 19 days of the quarter, we are laser focused on aligning supply chain finance and commercial operations while also preserving the brand’s authentic identity and strong consumer relationships. The early contribution from Navitas in both E commerce and wholesale channels validates the strategic fit. We have already integrated the Navitas organization into Laird Superfood and I’m pleased to report that we are attaining the expected synergies across the combined organization. Our team is now focused on delivering the cogs and distribution and brokerage savings that we had planned for the second half of this year and beyond. And with Terrasol now part of the family, we are applying the same disciplined approach, leveraging shared capabilities in sourcing, co manufacturing optimization and omnichannel distribution to drive efficiencies and accelerate growth. The addition of Terrasol is particularly meaningful. Its vertical integration provides greater control over quality and cost, while its broad product line in nuts, seeds and powders complements our existing offerings and opens new doors in food service and ingredient channels at the same time, Terrasol delivers Laird Superfood and enhanced online marketplace capability which we believe will greatly benefit our entire business in the future. Together, these two acquisitions significantly increase our overall scale, which we believe will improve our ability to invest in innovation, expand our consumer awareness and distribution footprint, and deliver better economics over time. Looking forward, we are confident that this platform positions us to capture a larger share of the growing positive nutrition market. We will continue to focus on driving repeat usage, expanding our customer base across both E commerce and wholesale, optimizing our supply chain and delivering innovative new products that align with consumer demand for functional clean label solutions. With regards to Q1, I am pleased to report that all of our brands achieved growth well in excess of the industry. Anya will share more details in a moment, but I can proudly report that our Q1 company growth was 20% versus last year driven by the wholesale channel and our Amazon platform and including more than two weeks of Navitas Organics post acquisition. Even as we integrate two businesses, our supply chain continues to perform remarkably well. And while we hit some margin pressure in Q1 related to inventory that was costed at higher commodity prices and with tariffs, we expect that to mitigate as we move forward through the balance of the year since the commodity prices have already come down and tariffs are now removed from our products. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that we are also leveraging AI in a very aggressive fashion and across our entire business we now have AI supporting our team in forecasting, planning and execution activities across all of our functions including supply chain, finance and marketing. We are already reaping the benefits of this technology in the organization as we transition the Navitas business to the Laird team with very little incremental headcount. I also want to share that we are making important shifts in our commercial engine. I am pleased to announce that Andy Judd has returned to the company to lead our marketing efforts. Andy was most recently at Poppy where he led the marketing activities as the brand rapidly scaled to to more than $500 million in revenue and to an eventual sale to Pepsi. Under Andy’s leadership, we will be pivoting more work in house to drive greater efficiency, creativity and speed to market. This transition will involve some near term ramp up investment, but we are confident that it will deliver both better ROI and stronger brand storytelling and consumer activation across our portfolio. On the sales side, we are bringing in new leadership to accelerate our wholesale momentum, particularly in conventional grocery and club where we see substantial Runway. We’ll be able to share more on that appointment during our next call. While the near term will involve integration, costs and complexity, we are energized by the strategic position that we have built and the long term value creation opportunity ahead for our customers, our team and our shareholders. I’ll now turn the call over to Anja to provide greater detail on the first quarter financial results.

Anya Hamill (Chief Financial Officer)

Anya thank you Jason and good afternoon everyone. I will now provide additional detail on our first quarter 2026 financial results. As Jason highlighted, Q1 was a foundational quarter for our platform. Now I will walk you through what drove our Q1 results and then spend some time on how we’re thinking about the full year picture for the combined three brand business net sales for the first quarter of 2026 were 13.9 million, up 20% compared to 11.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. Navitas Organics contributed 1.6 million of net sales in the quarter, representing its first partial period contribution. Following the March 12 close, Wholesale was again the primary growth engine, growing 37% year over year to 7.5 million and representing 54% of total net sales. This was driven by the addition of Navitas wholesale revenues as well as continued distribution, expansion, product assortment wins in grocery and club and strong velocities at shelf. Our E commerce channel grew 4% to 6.5 million or 46% of total net sales driven by the addition of Navitas E Commerce revenues and continued strength on Amazon.com, partially offset by softness in Laird’s direct to consumer channel. Gross margin in the first quarter was 33.3% compared to 41.9% in the prior year period, a contraction of 8.6 percentage points. I want to give you a clear breakdown of what drove this approximately 3.2 percentage points of the contraction was driven by a timing related inventory cost and benefit in the first quarter of 2025 that did not recur in 26. This was a priority item, not a reflection of current period performance. The remaining approximately 5.4 percentage points reflects a combination of unfavorable channel and product mix, inflationary commodity costs, particularly in coffee, and the impact of import tariffs on certain input costs. These are real pressures that we are actively managing. The total operating expenses were 7.7 million in Q1 of 2026 compared to 5.1 million in the prior year period, an increase of 50%, which I will explain was largely driven by one time acquisition cost. General and administrative expenses increased by 73% to 3.9 million. The increase was driven primarily by 1.3 million of Navitas acquisition and integration related professional fees which are one time in nature as well as planned increases in personnel costs. As we build the team to support a scaled multi brand platform, sales and marketing expenses increased 33% to 3.8 million driven by higher media spend, agency fees and increased selling costs on higher sales volume. GAAP net income for first quarter of 2026 was 1.8 million or $0.12 per basic share compared to a net loss of 0.2 million in the prior year period. I want to be transparent about what drove this the gap Net income figure includes 4.7 million discrete non recurring income tax benefit resulting from the release of a deferred tax valuation allowance acquired in the connection with Navitas transaction. This reflects the recognition of deferred tax liabilities assumed in acquisition, a one time accounting benefit, not a reflection of …

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Metatek-Group (TSX:MTEK) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

Maris Tech Ltd reported first quarter revenue of $4.1 million, consistent with the previous year, primarily driven by their EFDG system.

The company is expanding its operational capabilities with the deployment of the V SDG system, despite temporary halts due to geopolitical events in Dubai.

Maris Tech Ltd’s adjusted backlog grew to $77 million, with expectations to convert it over the next 18 months, driven largely by repeat sovereign customers.

The company completed its IPO, raising approximately $22 million after expenses, which significantly strengthened its balance sheet.

Management highlighted a strategic focus on disciplined execution, capacity expansion, and meeting the growing demand from sovereign and independent clients.

Full Transcript

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

Thank you. Operator on the call today are Mark Davies, Meditech CEO and Nick Morgan, CFO. Before we begin, Meditech would like to remind listeners that certain information discussed today may be forward looking in nature. Such forward looking information reflects the company’s views with respect to current future events. Any such information is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. For more information on the risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to forward looking statements, please refer to Meditech’s public filings which are available on SEDAR. During the call we will reference certain non IFRS financial measures. Although we believe these measures provide useful supplemental information about our financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please see our MD&A for additional information regarding our non IFRS financial measures, including for reconciliations to the nearest IFRS measures. Please note that unless otherwise stated, all references to any financial figures are in US dollars. With that, I’ll hand the call over to Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I’ll start with what drove revenue in the quarter, then spend some time on the progress we made with our DFTG system, which I think was an important operational milestone for the company. First quarter results reflected the normal seasonality of our government and sovereign nation led business. Fiscal budgets and approval cycles typically result in lower activity early in the year, with activity building as the year progresses. That’s a cadence we expect and plan for. Revenue in the first quarter was primarily driven by our EFDG system, which completed two surveys, both for repeat clients. In Angola, we executed the following project from a prior survey completed in 2024. In West Africa, we completed an initial program for a client we have now worked with multiple times. In fact, this marked our fourth return to the region. Both projects were completed within the quarter and the work with our West African client is expected to lead into a larger planned survey expected to commence in the second quarter of 2026. That repeat customer dynamic, starting with initial survey and expanding coverage over time, continues to be a defining feature of our business model from an execution standpoint. It also reduces risk and improves visibility.

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

Once a system is mobilized for a client, follow on phases tend to be more efficient to execute and easier to sequence, which supports utilization over time. The first quarter also marked the first deployment of a V SDG system on a live customer project following installation and testing in fiscal 2025. The DFTG system is designed to be more portable, allowing deployment on a wide range of aircraft, including smaller aircraft and helicopters. That portability expands our ability to operate in geographies where access and logistics are more constrained.

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

The DFTG system commenced operations in Dubai late in February and completed just over 12% of the planned data acquisition before activity was halted due to regional military events and airspace closures. Importantly, the project itself has not gone away. The client, who has previously used older generation technology, has been very impressed with the data required to date and is paying the pro rata fees associated with the work completed. We have agreed to return and complete the project once conditions allow. The remaining contract value sits in backlog, although for prudence we have not included the return to Dubai in our schedule or forecast for the year. The DFTG system has since been demobilized from Dubai and it is important to note we have no other contracts in the Middle east region in our adjusted backlog. As with any new system, particularly a new system design, there was a degree of technical risk associated with the DFTG system’s first real world deployment, particularly around how the technology would perform in an operational environment.

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

Based on analysis of the initial Dubai data set, the system has performed significantly better than we anticipated. We have seen a performance that exceeds expectations in both signal to noise around 40% better than expected dynamic range that gives us a high degree of confidence in the platform and confirms that DFTG system is ready to operate at scale. Most importantly, the dynamic range indicates that the system should exceed current daily production estimates.

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

In addition to data acquisition work, the first quarter also included revenue from processing and interpretation phases of projects where data had been acquired in 2025. This included airborne EFDG system projects in Singapore and Malaysia and after the successful execution and result of the Airborne Survey, a ground based magneto telluric project in Singapore. We also began work on a marine based conventional gravity data acquisition program during the quarter in partnership with a marine gravity provider we have worked with previously.

Dennis Huang (Investor Relations)

Longleat pre project deliverables were completed and mobilization occurred late in the quarter, with data acquisition commencing in the second quarter. At the end of …

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Intrusion (NASDAQ:INTZ) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

Intrusion Inc reported first quarter 2026 revenue of $0.9 million, down 40% sequentially due to a delay in a contract extension with the Department of War.

The company signed a new $4 million annual contract with the State of Texas for cybersecurity services, indicating strong demand for their solutions.

Intrusion Inc expects financial improvements throughout 2026, driven by new contracts, expanding partnerships, and broader adoption of their products, despite current revenue challenges.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Intrusion Inc.’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. At this time, all participant lines are in a listen only mode. For those of you participating in the conference call, there will be an opportunity for your questions at the end of today’s prepared comments. Please note this conference call is being recorded. An audio replay of the conference call will be available on the company’s website and a few hours after this call. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Josh Carroll with Investor Relations. Josh, the floor is yours.

Josh Carroll (Investor Relations)

Thank you and welcome. Joining me today are Tony Scott, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Kimberly Pinson, Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast and will be archived on the Investor Relations section of our website. Before I turn the call over to Tony, I’d like to remind everyone that statements made during this conference call relating to the company’s expected future performance, future business prospects, future events or plans may include forward looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on the specific risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the projections described in today’s conference call. Any forward looking statements that we make on this call are based upon information that we believe as of today and we undertake no obligation to update these statements or as a result of new information or future events. In addition to U.S. GAAP reporting, we report certain financial measures that do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles. During the call, we may use non GAAP measures if we believe it is useful to investors or if we believe it will help investors better understand our performance or business trends. With that, let me now turn the call to Tony for a few opening remarks.

Tony Scott (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Josh and good afternoon and thank you all for joining us today. Our first quarter results reflect the negative impact of the previously disclosed delay in an anticipated contract extension with the Department of Defense. And I’ll discuss that in more detail in a moment. But while these short term headwinds to our financial results have been challenging, we remain optimistic that our financial results will see an improvement throughout the remainder of the fiscal year. And this is supported by strengthening sales momentum that’s already visible in the second quarter, including broader adoption of the POSSE program through our partnership with Port Nexus and growth in our shield installed base. As I mentioned, during our fourth quarter earnings call, we have been enhancing our federal, state and local sales efforts and broader go to market strategy and we’re beginning to see the early signs of these efforts paying off Last week we signed a significant new customer contract, a $4 million annual contract to deliver our cyber threat intelligence and critical infrastructure protection to the State of Texas. The contract was awarded in recognition of intrusion’s unique capabilities and reflects the growing demand for our intelligence driven approach to cybersecurity. The performance period for this contract is 12 months, during which we will work closely with the customer to deliver high standards of cybersecurity protection and operational responsiveness. Importantly, we believe that this engagement establishes a strong framework that can be replicated across other US States and territories. Now I’d like to address the delayed contract extension of our critical infrastructure technology with the Department of War. Our revenues during the first quarter were once again impacted by delays in finalizing an expected contract extension with the Department of War. And as noted on our fourth quarter earnings call, these delays were driven by operational and administrative constraints stemming from the US Government shutdown, which limited agencies ability to initiate and process contract actions, as well as ongoing geopolitical developments related to the conflict with Iran. Despite this delay in funding, we’ve continued to support the already deployed critical infrastructure technology, which is reflected in our operating expenses. We expect to recognize revenue from this effort in a future quarter and remain confident in expanding our solution across additional regions with the Department of War throughout 2026. And while the Department of War is heavily focused on the war in Iran, the threats in the Asia PAC region have not gone away and we believe the situation will normalize in the next few months. Now I’d like to address some of the other opportunities that will help support future financial growth for intrusion the expansion of our Shield Cloud solution on both the AWS Marketplace and the Microsoft Azure platform have begun to show some promising signs in helping us expand our customer pipeline. While both expansion efforts are still in the early stages, we believe that we will see an uptick in revenue contribution from having our solution available on these two platforms over the next several quarters. As you may recall, we also expanded our partnership with Port Nexus in February with the launch of the POSSE program, which leverages our shield on premise technology to help protect law enforcement from cyber threats. The program continues to progress well with ongoing deployments and strong engagement across Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Iowa, and we expect to see further adoption as additional law enforcement agencies recognize the value of intrusion shield technology in identifying and stopping active cyber threats. We’re beginning to see the benefit of this partnership reflected in our second quarter results, and we anticipate that we’ll see further financial growth from this program over the next few quarters. As I’ve discussed on previous earnings calls and with many of you during our one on one meetings, AI is rapidly reshaping the cybersecurity landscape. Its …

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Sidus Space (NASDAQ:SIDU) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Sidus Space Inc reported a 51% increase in total revenue for Q1 2026, reaching $359,000, driven by new customer contracts.

The company achieved a 25% reduction in cost of revenue due to lower depreciation expenses and improved cost discipline, resulting in a 36% improvement in gross loss.

Strategic initiatives included the launch and operation of multiple LISISAT satellites, advancing the Fortis VPX platform, and expanding agreements with Lone Star Data for data storage payloads.

Future outlook emphasizes scaling capabilities, disciplined capital allocation, and converting evaluations into commercial revenue, supported by a strengthened balance sheet with $27.3 million in cash.

Management highlighted successful capital raises, strategic investments in technology development, and maintaining a debt-free status to support growth in commercial and defense markets.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good evening and welcome to Sidus Space Inc First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the start key followed by zero. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Adarsh Parekh, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for Sidus Space Inc’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining us today from the company is Carol Craig, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer and myself Adarsh Parekh, Chief Financial Officer. During today’s call we may make certain forward looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations with respect to the future of our business, the economy and and other events and as a result are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward looking statements made on this call. These factors include our ability to estimate operational expenses and liquidity needs, customer demand, supply chain delays, including launch providers and extended sales cycles. We also expect to discuss certain financial measures and information that are non GAAP measures as defined in the applicable SEC rules and regulations. Reconciliations to the Company’s GAAP measures are included in the management’s discussion and analysis of financial conditions and results of operations within Sidus Space Inc Quarterly report on Form 10Q for the period ended March 31, 2026. For more information about these risks and uncertainties, please refer to the risk factors in the Company’s filings with the securities and Exchange Commission, each of which can be found on our website www.sidusspace.com. listeners are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward looking statements and the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward looking statements that may be discussed during this call. At this time I would like to turn the call over to Carol. Carol, please go ahead.

Carol Craig (Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer)

Good evening and thank you for joining us. I want to start by saying that the first quarter of 2026 reflects continued progress as we translate several years of development into operational capabilities supporting both space and defense missions across multiple domains. Our team has remained focused on disciplined execution, advancing our next generation satellite builds, expanding our technology platforms and delivering on customer commitments. For those who may be new to our story, Sidus Space Inc was founded as an agile and vertically integrated company to deliver high quality, cost effective end to end space and defense solutions for multi domain operations integrating satellite design, manufacturing and on orbit operations with advanced computing and data capabilities. Over the past several years we have made disciplined investments in our technology stack, operating infrastructure and workforce to support our mission and strengthen our position as a provider of scaled space and defense technology capabilities and data driven solutions. We are now seeing those efforts materialize into tangible mission ready capabilities. Today, Sidus Space Inc is a proven U S based vertically integrated space and defense technology company delivering end to end satellite infrastructure, space and defense grade hardware and AI enabled data platforms from quarter to quarter. Our progress has been supported by continued momentum and expanding activity across the commercial space sector. Most recently the successful Artemis II mission with splashdown in April marked the first crewed flight beyond low earth orbit in more than 50 years and reinforced the viability of the CIS lunar economy where CITUS is well positioned.

Carol Craig (Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer)

More broadly, there is sustained investment across commercial space, expanding national security priorities and a growing demand for space based data and resilient compute architectures which all align with the capabilities we have built. The market is seeing meaningful investor attention return to the commercial space sector including a much anticipated public listen of a major peer which could be the largest IPO in history. As a nimble small cap player, we benefit from this rising tide while focusing on specialized opportunities that complement larger players.

Carol Craig (Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer)

The first quarter of 2026 saw record investment in the commercial space industry. This strategy is not theoretical. The strongest validation of our technology is not what we say, but what our systems are doing operationally. With multiple satellites on orbit, CITUS is progressing into a new phase where focus shifts from proving technical capabilities to executing and operating mission ready platforms for our customers. We successfully launched three LISASat satellites between March 2024 and March 2025, each one building upon the last and demonstrating increased capability across design, operations and mission performance.

Carol Craig (Chairwoman and Chief …

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KinderCare Learning (NYSE:KLC) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/920571642

Summary

Kindercare Learning Companies Inc reported a modest revenue increase for the first quarter, driven by strength in the Champions brand and B2B businesses, despite a year-over-year enrollment decline of 3%.

Management emphasized strategic initiatives such as refined marketing investments which led to a 15% increase in inquiries in targeted areas, and efforts to improve execution at the center level.

The company plans to close a higher number of centers than usual in 2026 to strengthen its real estate portfolio, while expecting gradual enrollment improvements in the first half of the year and more significant progress in the latter half.

The company reported a net loss of $290 million due to non-cash impairment but raised full-year adjusted EBITDA and EPS guidance based on first-quarter performance.

Management highlighted positive developments in state and federal childcare subsidies, ongoing marketing investments, and the success of the Opportunity region and Champions brand as key growth drivers.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to KinderCare’s first quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press STAR followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press STAR one again. It is now my pleasure to introduce Olivia Kier, KinderCare’s VP of investor relations. Ms. Kier, you may now begin the conference.

Olivia Kier (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to KinderCare’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me from the company are Chief Executive Officer Tom Wyatt and Chief Financial Officer Tony Amandi. Following Tom and Tony’s comments today, we will have a question and answer session. During this call we will be discussing non GAAP financial measures. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of the differences between the GAAP and non GAAP financial measures are available in our earnings release and within the supplemental earnings presentation, both of which are posted on our investor relations website at investors.kindercare.com a reminder that certain statements made today may be forward looking statements. These statements are made based upon management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the company and involve a number of uncertainties and risks which are explained in detail in the Risk factors section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. Please refer to these filings for a more detailed discussion of forward looking statements and the risk and uncertainties of such statements. The actual results of operations or financial condition of the company could differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward looking statements. All forward looking statements are made as of today and except as required by law, Kindercare undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Before we move on, we’d like to note that management will be holding meetings at Baird’s 2026 Global Consumer and Services Conference on June 2. We look forward to connecting with those of you who will be attending. I’ll now turn the call over to Chief Executive Officer Tom Wyatt.

Tom Wyatt (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Olivia and good afternoon everyone. I’m pleased to share with you updates. on our first quarter performance. We finished the quarter slightly better than expected. That was supported in part by the efforts of our center and site directors and by our focus on execution. Over the past few months we’ve made several changes across the business and our results reflect the work that is already underway. It is still early, but we are starting to see encouraging signs that those actions are making an impact. Revenue was up modestly, supported by continued strength in our Champions brand and B2B businesses. At the same time, enrollment in our Early Childhood Education (ECE) centers remain below prior year levels, down about 3%. That is an improvement from the fourth quarter when enrollment was down 3.6% year over year, but it continues to be a primary pressure point on the business and where we are concentrating our efforts. Enrollment is not something that turns during a single quarter. It’s a process of improving execution across a large portfolio of centers. Our focus right now is on putting the right pieces in place so that performance improves as we move throughout the year. Our best opportunity for material progress will be in the back half of the year. Until then, we expect gradual improvements through the first half. Over the past few months we have increased and refined our marketing investment and we are seeing that show up in higher inquiry volume over the last year. Since we began our investment, we have seen a 15% increase in inquiry in the targeted areas and a 3% increase for kindercare overall. So more families are engaging with us and that is an important first step. Just as importantly, we are starting to see early signs that conversion is beginning to improve in certain parts of the business. This is notable at CRIM and most pronounced in our Opportunity region where enrollment during the quarter versus last year increased by 8%. That progress is not yet consistent across the system, but it reinforces something we believe strongly demand is there. Our job is to convert it consistently across the system and that is where our focus is right now. We are putting a dedicated focus on tightening execution at the center level. This is about how quickly we respond to families, the quality of our tour experience, and how effectively we follow up. It is also about making sure our center and site leaders spend their time on the things that matter most. We’ve taken steps to reduce administrative burden so they can focus more on the families and teachers because that is what ultimately drives performance. In addition to work on enrollment, we are also taking steps to strengthen our real estate portfolio and better position our centers for sustainable long term performance. Much like any multi-unit operator, we evaluate our real estate portfolio on an ongoing basis and that typically includes closing roughly 1% of our centers each year. We recently completed a more comprehensive network assessment with the goal of enabling long term health and growth for all of our centers. To achieve this goal in 2026, we expect to have a higher number of center closures than usual. We understand that any closures can be disruptive to families and staff. Whenever possible, we proactively help families and employees transfer to nearby locations to maintain continuity of care. This is disciplined portfolio management. It will result in stronger, more productive centers and higher overall occupancy over time, both of which support our mission to offer high quality care to families. To be clear, these are not easy decisions. They will create some near term variability as we execute across the year. However, we are confident that they are the right decisions to drive beneficial outcomes in the long term. We’ll keep you updated in the coming quarters on our progress. Before turning to more detailed business results, I want to spend a few minutes on the subsidy landscape. I have spent time this quarter meeting with state and federal lawmakers to advocate for families and a critical role childcare plays in this country. From Colorado to Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. the feedback has been constructive and encouraging. We continue to see strong bipartisan support for child care at all levels of government. Federally, an additional 85 million in CCDBG funding was approved in February. At the state level, while we are seeing different approaches, the overall direction remains constructive. For example, Indiana is deploying approximately 200 million to support the families of 14,000 additional children. We applaud the state’s leaders for taking action to support the children and families of Indiana. More broadly, we are seeing constructive developments in several other states. There are supportive actions in New Jersey and in Maryland to reach more subsidy families and reduce their program wait list overall. While conditions vary by market, we’re encouraged by the recent directions many states are taking. Turning back to the business, we spent this quarter taking steps to drive week to week enrollment improvement in the first half of the year so we can build momentum in the second half for our flagship brand KinderCare Learning Companies Inc. Our work continues to enable center directors to spend more time engaging in person with teachers and families. We are also evolving how we manage inquiries, allowing our directors to stay focused on families, particularly in centers with high inquiry and lower occupancy. The data consistently tells us that when family and teacher engagement improves, outcomes improve across the board for children, teachers and enrollment leading to stronger center performance. We are also placing more emphasis this year on our in center small group enrichment programs which provide incremental revenue. These are programs we have had for quite some time which offer families additional options for their children like phonics, languages, music and stem. We are creating amazing experiences for children in our centers and expanding this enrichment into our summer camps as well. Early results are encouraging and we’re pleased with the momentum we see in engagement, retention, educational enrichment and the value these programs bring to our centers. At crim, our new brand positioning is starting to resonate. We are preparing for upcoming specialty summer camps and we see families enjoying our updated curriculum which launched in the first quarter. We are seeing better conversion on stronger inquiries, especially in younger students, and are encouraged by the progress we are making. Champions continues to be a strong performer for us. Our 17% growth reflects both new site additions and the strength of our existing sites and we see continued opportunity in both. In our B2B offering, we continue to see strong employer interest in supporting their employees. We signed 12 new tuition benefit clients in the quarter, including a large public university in Florida and multiple professional organizations. All told, we are seeing increasing demand for more integrated solutions across our services. These relationships are becoming a more meaningful and complementary part of our business and a strong growth driver going forward. We continue to make positive progress in our real estate growth during the quarter by opening three new centers and acquiring another two. So when you step back, the picture to us is clear. We feel good about the progress we’re seeing, we are proud of the growth from B2B and champions, and we’re seeing solid improvement at CRM. We’re also seeing traction from our marketing investment and from the changes we’ve made within our KinderCare Learning Companies Inc centers. We still have work to do, but we have a clear path forward and are focused on continuing our progress into the second half of the year. With that, I will turn it over to Tony.

Tony Amandi (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Tom. I’ll walk through the quarter and then go over how we are thinking about the year starting with income. Revenue was $673 million in the first quarter, up modestly compared to last year. Same center revenue decreased by $7 million from last year, driven primarily by lower enrollment, while contributions from newer centers and higher tuition rates helped offset some of that pressure. Pricing contributed about 2% to ECE revenue growth despite continued lower subsidy reimbursement rates, which we expect to persist at least through the current state budget cycles. This 2% increase from tuition contribution was offset by Lower overall enrollment, down 3% year over year. While that represents an improvement from the 3.6% decline in the fourth quarter, enrollment continues to weigh on results. As a reminder, enrollment typically builds through the first half of the year and will decline with the transition to summer before we build back up. During back to school, Same center occupancy for the quarter was 66%, up 150 basis points from the fourth quarter and down 310 basis points from the first quarter of last year. Our Champions before and after school. Business continues to perform well as revenue increased 17%, driven primarily by new site openings and incremental pricing. Beyond near term performance, we see champions and by extension our B2B business as an increasingly important and diversifying part of our mix. We opened three new centers and acquired two new centers during the quarter. Cash consideration for the acquisitions in Q1 is about a half million dollars funded completely out of the $1.1 million in free cash flow generated in the quarter. New and acquired centers contributed approximately $12 million in revenue since the start of the year, an increase of 35% from the same period a year ago. Similar to the fourth quarter, we recorded a non cash impairment related to the decline in our stock price in Q1. This drove a reported net loss of $290 million and reported EPS loss of $2.45 and does not impact our liquidity or outlook. Adjusted EBITDA was $52 million for the quarter compared to $83 million in the first quarter last year. Adjusted net income was $4.2 million and adjusted EPS was $0.04 compared to $27 million and $0.23 respectively in the prior year period. The drivers here are relatively straightforward. Lower occupancy continues to be the largest factor since we must maintain minimum teacher to student ratios. Our labor inputs are not as flexible at our current position in the margin step function improvements in occupancy will allow us to drive better overall operating leverage. As Tom outlined, the path to improvement is through enrollment. The early signs we are seeing in inquiries and conversion are important and we’re now looking for consistency as we move through the year. SG&A was 10.6% of revenue, down slightly from last year. As we look ahead, we expect to see additional improvement coming from a continued focus on efficiency and cost discipline. Interest expense was $18 million for the quarter, down from $20 million in the prior year driven by a repricing last summer. Moving on to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $133 million in cash and $190 million of available capacity under our revolving credit facility. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA was just under three times and within our targeted range. We expect leverage to be around this level as we work through the enrollment pressure and EBITDA recovery. Consistent with our current operating profile, we have been taking a closer look to identify centers that should exit our real estate portfolio. We’ve examined center level trends for local market demographics, occupancy engagement, lease terms and other factors. To that end, we’ve identified a set of potential centers for Action and are working through timing and approach. Ideally, we want to avoid as much disruption to families and employees as possible, while also consolidating affected families and teachers into nearby centers where …

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DLocal (NASDAQ:DLO) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

DLocal reported a significant increase in Total Payment Volume (TPV) to $14.1 billion in Q1 2026, marking a 73% year-over-year growth.

The company continues to expand its geographic and vertical reach, now operating in over 60 countries and serving 760 enterprise merchants.

Strategically, DLocal emphasizes localization of payment methods as a core differentiator, supporting local payment schemes across various emerging markets.

Despite strong top-line growth, operating expenses were higher than anticipated due to carryover from prior investments and a one-off tax adjustment.

Management remains confident in maintaining full-year guidance and anticipates improved operating leverage in the second half of the year.

The asset acquisition in Africa is expected to enhance capabilities and positioning but is not immediately impactful on financial results.

DLocal is seeing increased interest from merchants in localized payment solutions, particularly in Africa and Asia, which are driving growth.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to DLocal first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation there will be a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. I will now hand the call over to the company.

Mirele Aragao (Head of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon and thank you all for joining our earnings call today. If you have not seen the earnings release, as always, a copy is posted in the Financials section of the Investor Relations website. On the call today you have Pedro Arndt, Chief Executive Officer, Guillermo Lopez Perez, Chief Financial Officer, Christopher Stromeier, SVP of Corporate Development and Mirele Aragao, Head of Investor Relations. A slide presentation has been provided to accompany the prepared remarks. This event is being broadcast live via webcast and both the webcast and presentation may be accessed through Delocal’s website at investor.dlocal.com the recordings will be available shortly after the event has concluded. Before proceeding, let me mention that any forward looking statements included in the presentation or mentioned in this conference call are based on currently available information and DLocal’s current assumptions, expectations and projections about future events. Whilst the Company believes that our assumptions, expectations and projections are reasonable given currently available information, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those included in D Local’s presentation or discussed in this conference call for a variety of reasons, including those described in the Forward Looking Statements and Risk Factors section of DLocal’s filings with the securities and Exchange Commission which are available on DLocal’s Investor Relations website. Now I will turn the conference over to delocal. Thank you.

Pedro Arndt (Chief Executive Officer)

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. This year, 2026 marks two important milestones for Delocal. Ten years since we founded the company and five years since our NASDAQ IPO. Before I go into the quarter’s results, I wanted to reflect briefly on what has been built over the past decade and why it matters for where we’re going. The story of the past 10 years is one of consistent compounding growth, built on a vision of helping world class merchants reach consumers across emerging markets or as we like to call them, the markets of the future. If we look back at 2016, we processed $100 million in TPV in a single country on the last 12 months basis. As of this quarter we’ve crossed $47 billion across the entire Global south. So we now process more in a single day than we did in our entire first year of operations. Only a decade ago. That’s an almost 90% compound annual growth rate sustained over a decade. And what is most notable about that trajectory is not the scale itself, but the consistency throughout every phase. From Latin America, Africa and Asia, from a handful of payment methods to over a thousand, from a startup to a publicly listed company, the strategic model has not changed. OneAPI deep local infrastructure Continuous expansion of payment method coverage, licensing, regulatory capabilities and products. The same focus on helping merchants operate efficiently in markets where the next wave of digital consumers is moving online. Delocal now operates in more than 60 countries, including new markets such as Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. We now hold 38 licenses and authorizations across 26 markets, with 16 additional applications in process. Our platform reaches approximately 70% of the world’s population, serving over 760 enterprise merchants through a single API. It took a decade of investing in infrastructure, building regulatory ip, forging relationships with local ecosystem stakeholders, and learning how to operate at scale in markets that most find too complex to enter. Those foundations are not easy to replicate and even harder to outperform. The reason all of this infrastructure matters is quite simple. Localization is what ultimately drives success throughout emerging markets. Local payment methods are no longer alternative options in many of our markets, they are the primary way consumers transact online, and their share continues to grow. For merchants, supporting them is not just about improving the checkout experience, but also reaching consumers who do not transact in any other way. In Peru, for example, Jape drives 40% net new customers to some of our merchants. In South Africa, Playflex drives 80%, and our own innovation layer such as smart pics and biometric enabled pics lets us drive differential performance on top top of those existing local rails. Even within the global credit card schemes, local processing is key to maximizing authorization and conversion rates in emerging markets compared to international acquiring. When merchants use international card rails to complete transactions, we’re able to deliver up to 20 percentage points conversion uplift. In certain markets, the same Visa or MasterCard card converts significantly better when processed locally. But Visa and MasterCard are only part of the story. There is a growing base of local card schemes emerging across the global South. In Saudi Arabia, mada represents around 90% of cards issued, verve is roughly 60% of Nigeria’s digital payment market, and Misa is held by about half of eligible adults in Egypt. If you don’t support these schemes, you simply cannot win in those markets. That’s what DLocal is local payments, local processing of global cart schemes, and local scheme coverage all in a single API Vertical diversification is the other dimension of resilience to our model. Many payment companies tend to be concentrated in one or two verticals. Our platform has demonstrated the ability to scale across a wide range of industries and use cases. Every single vertical in our portfolio grew between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2026 and our mix has become increasingly diverse across categories. E Commerce remains our largest vertical. We work with half of the top global platforms in our markets and they keep expanding with us in ride hailing. We serve four of the five largest players operating throughout emerging markets and continue to expand global deals with them. For several of those players, we also process their on demand delivery businesses. Both of these verticals inherently carry a higher local to local component with stronger adoption of local payment methods, which supports the strength you are seeing in our local to local volumes. In remittances, one of our fastest growing verticals, we continue to partner with major players and support their geographic expansion driven by sustained strategic focus and ongoing merchant onboarding. Looking forward, we’re excited about the prospects of our travel and gaming verticals as we continue to build these vertical payment flows that optimize for the particularities of multiple industries. Perhaps the most compelling illustration of our business model in practice is at the individual merchant level, so I wanted to take a minute to walk through three examples of top 10 TPV merchants for us that demonstrate how it is that we scale alongside our customers over time. What we see consistently is that after an initial ramp up period, relationships deepen as merchants expand into new countries, adopt products and add payment methods. One of our hot ride hailing merchants who we’ve worked with since 2016 initially started with one specific use case and later expanded into on demand delivery. We now serve this client end to end across 18 countries and are expanding through recently signed new deals that further reinforces the long term growth potential of this relationship. An Internet service provider who we’ve categorized as software as a service Merchant onboarded in 2021 has expanded from 19 countries to 40 in the last three years, a testament to the trust these merchants place in DLocal to power their international expansion. What enables that pace is our licensing portfolio, our local payment method coverage, and our ability to open frontier markets very quickly. In markets such as Kenya, for example, over half of users transacting with this merchant via mobile money are net new customers they would not have reached otherwise. And an E Commerce merchant we onboarded in 2023 started with only two countries but now operates in 21 with buy now Pay Later Having gone live in Mexico and South Africa over the past two quarters, which are driving higher ticket sizes and over 50% net new users for them. Examples like these are why our revenue retention has exceeded 140% for four consecutive quarters. But as we like to say, we’re still in the early early days. These three merchants, for example, all grew TPV north of 70% year on year during the first quarter of 2026. So to wrap up 10 years and the thesis is intact, the opportunity is larger than ever and we’re better equipped to capture it than ever before. The infrastructure we’ve built, licenses, payment methods, stakeholder relationships and data, the technology it all abstracts local complexity and compounds in value over time. The combination of a strong base business momentum, a product roadmap that is beginning to gain traction, and secular tailwinds across our markets as merchants increasingly convert to local processing gives us confidence that the next decade can be as impressive as as the last. With that, let me hand the call over to Guillermo to cover our quarterly financials.

Guillermo Lopez Perez (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you, Pedro. Good afternoon everyone. Let me take you through Q1 results. Top line momentum continued to accelerate with TPV north of $14 billion for the first time and gross profit reaching a new record. The bottom line though, reflects two specific dynamics I want to address upfront. The expected and already flagged higher OPEX carrying over from our 2025 investments and a non recurring prior year tax adjustment. TPV reached $14.1 billion in Q1, up 73% year on year and 7% quarter on quarter. Our sixth consecutive quarter above 50% growth and that’s a number we’re very proud of. And more importantly, this growth isn’t concentrated in just one place. It’s broad based and runs across different countries, verticals, merchants and products. Our top three markets, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina continue to grow consistently and we’re also seeing a strong contribution from markets like Chile, Nigeria, Colombia and Vietnam. On verticals. Travel led quarter on quarter growth at 38%, driven by a new expansion deal with a key global travel merchant. This is a vertical that’s still early for us, but it’s gaining real traction on demand. Delivery also grew strongly quarter on quarter at 24%, fueled by the expansion of deals with both regional and global merchants. On the other hand, E commerce and remittances deliver soft results sequentially consistent with the expected seasonality. Following the fourth quarter, peak gross profit reached a record $119 million, up 40% year on year and up 2% quarter on quarter on a sequential basis. The gross profit performance is explained by two key positive Argentina recovery, which we saw a strong volume growth and normalized funding cost and growth in Africa and Asia with notable contribution from Nigeria, Mozambique and Vietnam which is also helping us drive a more diversified geographic mix. Those were partially offset by Brazil’s normalization after an exceptionally strong Q4 together with a modest mix shift to lower tech break merchants across all the LATAM and other smaller markets. But most of these markets are still growing strongly in volume and the quarter on quarter dynamics are driven by mix and seasonality, not by an underlying softness in demand. Very importantly this quarter we decided to book a one off prior period tax adjustment. During an internal review of certain tax items and after consulting with our advisors, we adjusted our tax treatment for prior periods of one of our installment payment products in certain markets to reflect what we determined to be the most appropriate position and the applicable rules. This out of period adjustment was not material to any previously reported annual or interim period and we do not expect to record comparable items in future quarters. The total impact was $9.7 million of which approximately $5.3 million landed in the corporate tax line and $4.4 million in operating expenses. This related to indirect and other taxes. Given its non recurring and prior period nature, we think the normalized numbers tell the real bottom line story better. Operating profit for the quarter was $53 million as reported, but $57 million excluding this one off out of period adjustment representing a 25% growth year on year and a 48% operating profit to gross profit ratio. Excluding the one off on the cost side, total operating expenses were $62 million excluding the auto period adjustment, up 58% year on year and 16% quarter on quarter. This reflects the expected carryover of the second half of 2025 OpEx into the first quarter, something we had flagged at our last earnings call. As we close out our investment cycle, a portion of that cost base is annualized into 2026 and the first half of the year is naturally where that pressure is most visible. This reflects the timing of our 20242025 investment cycle moving through our P and L. We expect that to moderate as the year progresses. Below the operating line. Net income came in at $42 million as reported. Adjusted for the same one off we would be at $52 million which represents about 11% year on year growth. It’s worth noting that Q1 2025 benefited from approximately $7 million in non cash mark to market gains in our Argentina bond holdings plus a …

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WASHINGTON, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Total money market fund assets¹ increased by $436 million to $7.75 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, May 13, the Investment Company Institute reported today. Among taxable money market funds, government funds² increased by $3.25 billion and prime funds decreased by $4.08 billion. Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $1.27 billion.

Assets of Money Market Funds
Billions of dollars

Full story available on Benzinga.com

A debt-free couple wanted their first real estate move to be the right one.

Kat from Pittsburgh called “The Ramsey Show,” saying she and her husband were married and had no debt. They also built up roughly $70,000 to $80,000 in liquid savings while earning about $70,000 to $75,000 a year combined.

With rent and utilities costing about $850 to $900 a month, they were weighing whether to buy a duplex as a first home. They also considered buying a smaller house, renovating it and later renting or flipping it.

“You’ve lost your butt on it,” personal finance expert Dave Ramsey said.

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The Duplex Advantage Came With A Trade-Off

Ramsey said duplexes could work for a first property, but the arrangement came with its own challenges.

“The beautiful thing about a duplex is your renter lives next door,” he said. “The problem with a duplex is your renter lives next door.”

Resale was another drawback, Ramsey said, because duplexes usually attracted investors looking for deals. Single-family homes often appealed to buyers willing to pay more for a place to live, while duplex owners also had to manage the personal and emotional boundaries of living next to a renter.

A duplex in a strong neighborhood could still be worthwhile, Ramsey said, though single-family homes typically appreciated faster.

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Crypto Shifted The Conversation

Co-host George Kamel then asked how much cryptocurrency the couple owned. Kat said she personally held just under $10,000 and had not yet merged finances with her husband after their wedding.

Ramsey said Kat and her husband seemed more comfortable with risk than he was after losing everything in real estate decades earlier.

Before rebuilding his wealth, Ramsey recalled borrowing heavily to flip homes in the early 1980s and making profits on nearly every deal. The problems started when banks demanded repayment on the loans at the same time. He said he sold properties quickly and lost everything.

“I don’t like losing money,” Ramsey said. “It’s too hard to make.”

See Also: Explore Jeff Bezos-backed Arrived Homes and see how investors are earning passive rental income — now with a limited-time 1% bonus match for new investors.

The Strategy Ramsey Said Changed Everything

Kamel told the couple to start with a primary home before looking at investment properties. Ramsey said that became his strategy after going broke. He paid off his house, saved cash and bought his first rental outright.

“You know what happens with a rental that you have zero debt on?” Ramsey asked. “It cash flows like a bandit.”

That debt-free approach also changed how he handled renters during difficult periods. Without mortgage payments, landlords could better absorb the strain of COVID-19 eviction moratoriums, according to Ramsey.

“It takes a little longer,” he said. “But you can be gentle when you don’t have any payments.”

The debate over duplexes versus single-family homes highlights a …

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Intellinetics (AMEX:INLX) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Intellinetics reported a total revenue decline of 8% to $3.9 million for Q1 2026 compared to $4.2 million in the same period last year.

SaaS revenue remained stable at approximately $1.5 million, while professional services revenue decreased by 14.3% to $1.9 million.

Consolidated gross margin decreased by 307 basis points to 63.5%, primarily due to lower professional services volume and project mix.

Operating expenses increased by 4.4%, influenced by one-time CEO transition costs totaling $430,000.

Net loss for Q1 was $1.2 million, with a loss per share of $0.27, impacted by reduced professional services revenue and transition costs.

Intellinetics has no debt as of March 31, 2026, and maintains $2.1 million in cash.

Management aims for double-digit year-over-year SaaS growth for fiscal 2026, focusing on improving execution and operational discipline.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings. Welcome to Intellinetics first quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance during the conference, please press the star key followed by zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Joe Spain, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. You may begin.

Joe Spain (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. I am pleased to welcome you to the Intellinetics 2026 first quarter conference call. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that during this conference call, comments made by management may include forward looking statements regarding Intellinetics Inc. That are not historical facts. These forward looking statements are based on the current expectations and beliefs of management and they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause such statements to differ materially from actual future events or results. Intellinetics Inc. Undertakes no duty to update any forward looking statements. For more information about factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward looking statements, please refer to the press release issued today as well as risks and uncertainties included in the section under the caption Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Intelnetics Annual report on Form 10K or the quarterly report on Form 10Q filed today. Also, please note that on the call today management will discuss the non GAAP financial measure adjusted ebitda. Non GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP and may be different from non GAAP financial measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP …

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Viking Holdings Ltd (NYSE:VIK) shares moved higher after the cruise operator reported better-than-expected quarterly results and highlighted strong booking momentum across upcoming travel seasons.

The company also announced a significant leadership transition.

• Viking Holdings shares are testing new highs. Why did VIK hit a new high?

Quarterly Details

Viking Holdings reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 11 cents loss, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 12 cents loss. Quarterly sales of $1.054 billion (+17.5% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $1.01 billion.

In the quarterly conference call, Viking said booking trends remained strong, with the 2026 season already 92% …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) is shaping up as the go-to rare earth stock in the West, according to Cantor Fitzgerald.

The firm’s analysts, Derek Soderberg and Drew Nordquist, raised their 12-month price targets to $35 from $30, reiterating an Overweight rating.

There are several catalysts supporting the bull case. Production is accelerating, a transformative acquisition is closing, European production is expanding, and the strong U.S. government backing is de-risking the investment thesis.

From Mine to Magnet

USAR commissioned phase 1a of its Stillwater, Oklahoma, magnet manufacturing facility in March, setting up initial commercial shipments for the second quarter of 2026. The 600 metric tons per year production line should reach full run-rate capacity by year-end, with phase 1b bringing total Stillwater capacity to 1,200 metric tons in the first quarter of 2027.

Soderberg and Nordquist said they will be closely monitoring the magnet production learning curve — yield improvement, throughput, and equipment effectiveness — as the company moves from commissioning to commercial scale.

Revenue estimates more than doubled in the latest note, with 2026 projections rising to $80.8 million from a prior $40.4 million, and 2027 estimates surging to $453.3 million from $197.2 million.

Closing the Loop

The revision reflects the inclusion of Serra Verde‘s contribution following an …

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The Senate Banking Committee advanced the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act on Thursday in a 15-9 vote. Polymarket traders responded by pricing the bill becoming law in 2026 at just 68%.

That is up 10 points on the day, but well short of the February peak of 80% and a long way from the certainty the headline vote tally suggests. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), one of the lead Republican negotiators, has warned that missing the current legislative window could push the next viable crypto market structure attempt to 2030.

Three obstacles explain the gap between the committee win and the prediction market’s hedge.

The Floor Math

The full Senate needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Republicans hold 53 seats, meaning at least seven Democrats have to cross over. Thursday’s committee vote started that fight from a base of two.

Senators Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) broke ranks to vote yes alongside all …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

SCHMID Group NV (NASDAQ:SHMD) shares are trading higher Thursday.

The Nasdaq is up 0.48% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.57%.

SCHMID Reaffirms 2026 Outlook

Recently, SCHMID reaffirmed its 2026 outlook after reporting first-quarter revenue of 18.2 million euros and order intake of 13.6 million euros, while citing strong business momentum in China.

The company maintained guidance for revenue above 100 million euros, adjusted EBITDA margin above 12% and annual order intake of about 114 million euros.

SCHMID also disclosed that investors converted 12 million dollars of convertible notes into roughly 2.2 million shares, increasing the company’s total outstanding shares to 57.8 million.

Separately, the company plans to issue shares to offset 30.75 million euros in liabilities owed to key shareholders and related entities, pending shareholder approval later this month.

SCHMID said the transactions are expected to strengthen its balance sheet, reduce leverage and improve financial flexibility.

SCHMID Short Interest …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Source: TradePulse | May 14, 2026

Market Overview

Recent aggregate flow data reflects continued institutional participation across a broad range of sectors, with semiconductors, software, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, crypto-related equities, financials, energy infrastructure, and leveraged ETFs all represented within the current Top Inflows dataset. While order flow toward semiconductor-related equities remains strong, the latest flow rankings also show meaningful participation across cloud infrastructure, digital assets, enterprise software, communications infrastructure, and sector ETFs, implying a more diversified allocation of capital rather than concentrated positioning in a single sector.

Within the current Top Flows rankings, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. leads by TradePulse’s flow score, supported by significant large deal order flow despite weaker short-term momentum flow. Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares and Ondas Inc. also rank among the highest by flow score, reinforcing continued investor interest in semiconductors, leveraged technology exposure, and communications infrastructure-related equities. Additional semiconductor and infrastructure exposure is represented through Oracle Corporation, CoreWeave, and ProShares UltraPro QQQ.

Observations from Current Flow Activity

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. currently leads the group in aggregate flow score, accompanied by strong institutional order flow activity despite weaker near-term momentum readings

• Software, AI, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity interest remains strong , led by Oracle Corporation, CrowdStrike Holdings, AppLovin Corporation, and CoreWeave

• Semiconductor-related exposure continues to attract interest through, Direxion Daily …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Discovery Silver (TSX:DSV) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Discovery Silver is on track to more than double gold production at Porcupine to over 500,000 ounces per year and develop the Caro project in Mexico with a target of producing 14 million ounces of silver annually.

The company announced a significant acquisition of Glencore Kidd operations, which will enhance milling capacity and provide exposure to critical minerals like copper, zinc, and silver.

Q1 2026 saw revenues of $285 million, a 4% increase, with EBITDA growing 41% quarter-over-quarter to $178 million, driven by higher gold prices.

Discovery Silver’s cash balance at the end of Q1 was $384.9 million, with free cash flow generation strengthening its balance sheet.

The company is advancing exploration and drilling projects, with notable progress at Hoyle Pond and TVZ zones, aiming for a resource estimate by year-end.

Management remains confident in achieving 2026 guidance, emphasizing increased production in the latter half of the year and ongoing improvements at the Dome Mill.

Full Transcript

Sarah (Conference Operator)

Good afternoon. My name is Sarah and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Discovery Silver’s first quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press STAR followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Mark Utting, Senior Vice President, Investor relations for discovery. Mark Utting, you may begin your conference.

Mark Utting (Senior Vice President, Investor Relations)

Thanks very much operator and thanks everyone on the line for joining Discovery Silver’s first quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. Joining me today are many members of the Discovery senior management team. Speaking will be Tony Makuta, our president and CEO Allison White, our Chief Financial Officer Pierre Roc, our Chief Operating Officer Eric Calio, our Senior Vice President, Exploration and Jose Javalera, our Senior Vice President, Corporate affairs and Sustainability in Mexico. And again, there are many other members of our senior executive team in the room as well. Before we get started, I’ll remind you that during today’s call we will be making forward looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events. They’re subject to risks and uncertainties and actual outcomes may not be what is included in those statements. I refer you to slide two as well as our website for further information. In addition, we will also be making reference to a number of non GAAP measures during the presentation. These measures do not have any standardized meaning and they under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers. I refer you to slide three on our deck as well as our website for more details. Finally, all dollar amounts will be in US dollars unless otherwise indicated. Now turning to the quarter.

Tony Makuta

To begin with, as many of you know, you know we’re working towards more than doubling gold production at porcupine to over 500,000 ounces per year. the same time we working towards developing our Cordero project in Mexico through which we will produce about 14 million ounces of silver per year at least over the first 10 years. You know, we plan to achieve these levels of performance while averaging the lowest half of the global cost curve for both gold and silver. And we’re going to achieve these milestones using a disciplined approach to investment with a focus on investor returns. During the first quarter there were a number of key developments in support of achieving our Growth objectives. Specifically, we announced the acquisition of Glencore Kid operations in Timmins. We also reported continued outstanding exploration results in and around Timmins. And we continued with our investment programs through which we will both grow and optimize our current operations. Getting into those in a little bit more detail. Looking at Kid on Slide 6. We announced the acquisition of the Kidd operations on March 2. We expect that transaction to close very soon, likely over the next few weeks. This is a major milestone for our company. To achieve over half a million ounces of annual gold production. We require additional milling capacity through the Kid Met site. We have an opportunity to dramatically grow processing capacity and to process different kinds of ore. There’s lots of other benefits as well, including adding valuable infrastructure that will support the future expansion of both Hoyle Pond and Tamworth, including the development of TVZ. It gives us exposure to critical minerals, copper, zinc and silver through Kid Creek Mine. Adds significantly more exploration potential to our already very large and highly prolific portfolio. Delivers cost synergies and this is a very important point. Adds a very large, highly skilled workforce that’s going to help us with our existing growth plans. Going to the next slide. This gives you a view of Kid Net site and a conceptual plan for what we expect to do and are currently evaluating. It’s a conceptual plan but it kind of points or shows you our thinking in terms of path forward. And maybe at this point point I’ll turn it over to Tony to talk about that. Okay. And maybe I’d just a couple simple things. I mean people should understand first off that the Hoyle Pond underground operations are actually under. Under the Kid Met site. And you can see that the blue rectangular box here and it’s trying to show where the location could be for the new. Any new vet phrases we we can establish for the Hoyle Pond mine as well as central location would be for a new shaft if we wanted to develop for the TBZ zone. But also I think what we show here there’s as we’ve alluded to before, there’s four circuits at the Kidd Met site and you can see where it says A division. And we sort of tried to conceptualize on here what would be involved in building and show the location of why we built a new facility. 5 to 7 million ton per annum conventional gold circuit at the plant with the Oregon crushing and how that would. How that would fit in. We still continue to use the B division which is the base metal circuit. It’s flotation circuit. The C division we’re working pretty hard right now on that. That’s about a million ton a year capacity. So looking at the aspect of bringing the board nors and run it, run it through this division as early as we can over the next six to 12 months. And that would unlock two to 3,000 tons of AM capacity in the Dome mill for conventional processing. And you can see that these circuit that’s where it’s here which is which we would turn into a cold refractory flotation circuit. But on the other side Both all the A.B. the B and C and D circuits that are here could always be utilized as combination base metal circuits if needed and old circuits as required. So give you the sense on what this could unlock for us. Basically if I you know you can look 5, 6 to 6 to 8 million sorry 77 to 9 million ton a year new gold processing assessing capacity at the Kid Met site. The A division has a conventional circuit the C division for processing 1 million ton a year for processing the board Norris and the D division which we would then use to process refractory ores in Timothy. And effectively the refractory oars would be the TVZ as we’re talking about and then general location where it is. This map doesn’t, sorry this figure doesn’t show where the Pamworld operations are in here but the Pamour open pit operations are less than a half a kilometer from the bottom of it page. And the idea would be all the Pam ores would be would be trucked and same as the oil pond ores would be trucked and processed through this new circuit. Just going on to slide 8. We’ll get to the next next key development that’s exploration progress and you know for all the production that we have and we’re going to be adding you know this is, we think it’s one of the most compelling exploration stories in the industry as well. You know we issued a press release on April 23rd. That’s our latest one. I’m not going to get into a lot of the details. Eric will get into the details of that release shortly. I’ll just at a high level say we continue to get very good results from resource conversion and extension drilling at Royal Pond Ford in Pamour. And included in that release was excellent results at a number of district targets near those operations and positive results at our near term projects, specifically Dome and tbz. And again there’s a lot more information that you’ll be hearing very soon about that. Slide 9 looks at our investment programs in the first quarter. Sustaining capital for the quarter was about 21 million mainly related to capital development, mobile equipment and infrastructure investments at Hoyle Pond and Gordon. And I’ll mention we were very much on track with our capital development activities at those mines. Also contributing with new mobile equipment at Pamour and some investments at the TMA 6 or tailings facility project as well. Staying capital was somewhat lower than we planned, which was primarily related to to the shifting of delivery schedules for new mobile equipment to the second quarter and just other quarters of the year. Growth capital totaled 40 million. Investment in the TMA 6, including our new acquisition strategy and pre stripping at Pamour accounted for the vast majority of that. And again pre stripping at Pamour was very much in line with expectations. Just going to Slide 10. This gets to the operating results during the first quarter. Allison will get into all the financial numbers in a few minutes and Pierre will then add some additional color on operations as well. You know, in our year end results we indicated that production in 2026 would be weighted to the second half of the year and the Q1 would likely be our lowest quarter of production for the year. Well, production was 60.2 thousand ounces for the first quarter. What I will say is a highlight of the quarter was Hoyle Pond. It had a very good quarter in Q1 with an average grade exceeding 12 grams per ton. Also, our total mine tons increased by 4% and we ended the quarter with stockpiles of close to 1.3 million tons, which will help us manage both our throughput levels and grades over the balance of the year. Like production, our unit costs are expected to improve significantly in the second half of the year. You know, one reason our guidance ranges were as wide as they are is because of the variability we saw coming in the quarters. I will say our AISC number for the quarter was in line with our guidance and we do expect that number to improve as we get into the second half of the year. Going to slide 11. It shows a visual of, well, Dome Mill, but specifically in the foreground, the crushing circuit. As we mentioned, we expected quarterly production this year to be lowest in Q1 and a significant reason for that was mill throughput. We did 698,000 tons in the quarter. You know, the reduction from the previous quarter. Most of that was expected. An expected reduction due to scheduled downtime and our understanding of the implications of severe winter on our crushing plant at Dome. We’ve indicated since we announced the porcupine deal beginning of last year that we were looking at replacing the three stage crushing system that it needed to be replaced. You know, that’s because it’s inefficient and contributes to high unit costs because it’s prone to breakdowns, particularly in winter conditions and ultimately because we’re going to need to move it to get it out of the way as we push back the dome pit when we bring dome mine into production. The longer term solution for this is single stage crushing and a sag mill. And that’s part of our plans going forward in terms of achieving our growth targets. The near term plan is that we are keeping increasing levels of critical spares on site and there is a newly designed secondary screening system that’s going to be delivered at the end of June that will be installed during the scheduled shutdown in July. And these steps we’re taking now are designed to help us when we get to next winter. Just going on to slide 12. This shows you our guidance and I can say we remain on track to achieve all of our guidance for 2020 26, we completed the lowest quarter of the year. We expect to see significantly higher production, particularly in Q3 and Q4. An important contributor there will be Hollinger. We began ramping up Hollinger in Q1 and actually this quarter mining about 2,000 tons a day. We expect to get over 40,000 tons from Hollinger this year. There was only a few thousand in the first quarter. We also expect to see higher levels of mill throughput supported by the large stockpiles I mentioned. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Allison White, our CFO to look at the financial results.

Allison White (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Mark and good afternoon everyone. On the call on slide 13. Let’s look at what a solid quarter and start. We had 2026, which reflects the continued momentum that we are building on from last year. We had robust revenues during during Q1 of 285 million, an increase of 4% quarter over quarter, primarily reflecting the higher than average gold prices throughout the quarter. We lose more tons during the quarter and coupled with the number of ounces sold over the same period, cash costs per ounce were $1,417. As previously mentioned, unit costs are projected to be the highest in the first half of the year and are scheduled to improve during the second half of 2026 as production and sales volumes increase and benefits are realized from the investment to optimize the company’s operation. All in sustaining costs averaged $2,041 per ounce sold, reflecting the higher operating cash cost per ounce sold and is partially offset by lower spend from the sustaining capital during the period. The lower than planned sustaining capital is due to the delayed timing that Mark had mentioned earlier for the delivery of new mobile equipment and for construction work that’s ongoing at the tailings TMA6 project, EBITDA grew quarter over quarter to 178 million, an increase of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Anduril Industries and LMI are launching a three-month Rapid Development Pilot aimed at building targeted capabilities for the U.S. Army Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) environment.

The effort will focus on developing and testing “combat-ready” applications designed to be distributed across the Army enterprise through the NGC2 ecosystem.

LMI said the pilot signals a shift in defense capability development, moving away from traditional program-of-record timelines toward continuous, mission-driven cycles intended to accelerate delivery of tools for an evolving battlefield.

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Andreessen Horowitz Partner Reignites Carried Interest Debate With Call For Higher Taxes

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) stock is surging during Thursday’s trading session. The move follows the official settlement of the company’s upsized $2.6 billion convertible senior notes offering.

The Nasdaq is up 0.92% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.87%.

Massive Liquidity Boosts AI Ambitions

According to a United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filed on Tuesday, the offering was scheduled to close on Thursday. This capital raise provides liquidity to fund its aggressive transition into an AI infrastructure giant. The company priced the 1% notes due 2033 to qualified institutional buyers.

The company estimates net proceeds of approximately $2.57 billion after expenses. Per the SEC filing, IREN intends to use the funds for general corporate purposes and working capital. This includes …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

TORONTO, May 14, 2026 /CNW/ – Aviso has published its 2025 Year in Review, marking a transformational year defined by outstanding financial performance, groundbreaking innovation, stronger partnerships, and the achievement of key strategic milestones. In addition, Aviso is proud to unveil its inaugural Sustainability Report, reinforcing its commitment to responsible, sustainable business practices that empower partners and investors across Canada.

“In 2025, we continued to transform how independent financial firms and advisors drive business growth and meet the evolving needs of investors in a dynamic wealth management landscape,” said Bill Packham, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aviso. “Our commitment to digital innovation, sustainability-driven strategies, and collaborative partnerships reflects the strength of our vision, the dedication of our team, and the collective efforts that enable our partners and clients to thrive.”

A proudly Canadian-owned and operated leader in investing and wealth management services, Aviso powers businesses that empower investors, including Canada’s credit unions and over 300 independent financial services organizations.

Highlights from Aviso’s 2025 Year in Review

Aviso’s achievements underscore its leadership in shaping the future of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is barreling toward what could be the biggest IPO in history, but the three largest US public pension systems demanded he rewrite the governance structure first.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine and California Public Employees’ Retirement System CEO Marcie Frost wrote to Musk on Wednesday, calling the planned IPO structure “extreme” and “the most management-favorable governance structure ever brought to the US public markets at this scale.”

The three oversee more than $1 trillion in retirement assets between them.

What The Pension Funds Want Stripped Out

The letter objects to a dual-class structure that would hand Musk roughly 80% voting control and a provision allowing only Class B shareholders to remove him as CEO or chair.

SpaceX would reportedly be the first major US company to require mandatory arbitration for shareholder claims under federal securities laws, killing class actions entirely.

SpaceX’s …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) shares are surging on Thursday. The Nasdaq is up 0.87% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.78%.

Retail traders are tracking a significant decrease in short interest. Data shows short interest fell from 86.79 million to 80.58 million shares recently. Currently, 17.73% of the company’s float remains short.

It would take 2.89 days for shorts to cover their positions. This is based on an average daily volume of 27.89 million shares.

• Super Micro Computer stock is moving in positive territory. Why are SMCI shares climbing?

Earnings Beat Sparks Optimism

The rally follows a blowout third-quarter earnings report. Super Micro reported adjusted earnings of 84 cents per share. This beat the consensus estimate of 62 cents by 35.48%.

While revenue of $10.24 billion missed the $12.33 billion …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) priced its IPO at $185 per share but opened at $350 on the Nasdaq today. Nearly 90% above the offer price. This story is about what investors are paying for versus what the business actually delivers today, and the gap between those two things is wider than the first-day excitement will suggest.

Institutional Demand Signals Sentiment, Not Value

A 20-times oversubscribed book sounds like validation. In reality, it is not. Specifically, it tells you that institutions wanted more shares than were available at a fixed price, which is a function of supply scarcity and AI sector momentum. The most oversubscribed IPOs in history have both soared and collapsed on day one. Put simply, oversubscription measures demand for an allocation, not conviction in a valuation.

Retail investors entering CBRS at the open today are not getting the institutional price. Instead, they are absorbing the premium that institutional crowding created. The question is not whether AI infrastructure is real. It is whether this valuation, on this revenue base, leaves room to generate a return.

The Revenue Base Does Not Match the Price Tag

At $350, CBRS trades at approximately 206 times its 2025 revenue of $510 million. Using the company’s own $24.6 billion backlog, with management projecting 15% recognition across 2026 and 2027, annualized forward revenue approaches $1.85 billion. That puts the forward price-to-sales multiple at approximately 57 times. By comparison, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) trades at roughly 20 times forward revenue, with proven profitability, a dominant software ecosystem, and a customer base spanning every major hyperscaler.

Moreover, the GAAP net income of $237.8 million that appears in headlines came almost entirely from a one-time non-cash gain of $363.3 million on a forward contract liability extinguishment tied to G42, per the Cerebras S-1/A filed May 4, 2026. Strip that out and the operating business posted a $145.9 million operating loss. As a result, investors buying CBRS today are paying a growth premium for a …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Sam Altman‘s OpenAI is preparing possible legal action against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), according to a Bloomberg report Thursday, as the two-year-old ChatGPT partnership frays just weeks before Apple’s biggest AI reveal of the year.

OpenAI lawyers are working with an outside firm on options that could include a breach-of-contract notice, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. A full lawsuit is not the only option on the table.

OpenAI Says Apple Did Not Deliver

The startup believed the 2024 deal that wove ChatGPT into Siri and Apple’s Writing Tools would funnel iPhone users into paid ChatGPT subscriptions.

“We have done everything from a product perspective,” an OpenAI executive told Bloomberg. “They have not, and worse, they haven’t even made an honest effort.”

OpenAI initially believed the arrangement could generate billions of dollars per year in subscription revenue, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Velo3D Inc (NASDAQ:VELO) shares are trading lower on Thursday. The retreat follows a massive rally during Wednesday’s session. Investors appear to be locking in profits after a triple-digit run-up over the past six months.

The Nasdaq is up 0.97% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.96%.

• Velo3D stock is feeling bearish pressure. Why is VELO stock dropping?

Profit-Taking Follows 50% Surge

The metal additive manufacturing specialist saw its stock skyrocket over 50% on Wednesday. This move came after a strong first-quarter 2026 earnings report. As of Thursday, the stock is seeing a natural cooling period. Market data shows the share price surged 316.74% over the last half-year.

Q1 Earnings Top Wall Street Estimates

Velo3D reported a first-quarter loss of 20 cents per share. This significantly beat analyst estimates of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) shares edged lower after the department store chain reported first-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations, supported by strength across multiple merchandise categories and improved margins.

The company also highlighted continued customer demand, inventory discipline and a focus on refreshing its merchandise assortment heading into the rest of the year.

Quarterly Details

The company reported first-quarter earnings per share of $16.04, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $10.37. Quarterly sales of $1.568 billion outpaced the Street view of $1.555 billion.

The quarter included a pre-tax gain on litigation settlement of $104.1 million ($5.10 per share after tax) tied to the company’s favorable settlement of a payment card interchange fee lawsuit.

Total retail sales increased …

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At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries across the globe, Verkada is betting that one of the biggest transformations will happen far from Silicon Valley chatbots and productivity software—in the physical world.

The company, which builds AI-powered security systems for schools, hospitals, warehouses, office buildings and industrial sites, is increasingly using generative AI to prevent crimes before they happen rather than simply recording them afterward.

“We solve a problem in the world which we think is extremely important, which is safety in the physical world,” Verkada CEO Filip Kaliszan told Benzinga in an interview. “You could think of it as bringing physical AI into the world to deliver safety.”

That push is scaling quickly. Verkada now serves more than 30,000 customers globally, manages over 2 million devices and generated roughly $1 billion in sales last year.

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On Thursday, Vecima Networks (TSX:VCM) discussed third-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

Vecima Networks reported expectations for significant revenue growth in calendar 2026, with an anticipated year-over-year increase of 22.5% to 30% and adjusted EBITDA growth of 74% to 85%.

The company has signed a major multi-year DOCSIS 4.0 agreement with Charter Communications, expanding its collaborative partnership and driving demand for its fiber access solutions.

Third-quarter financial performance showed a slight year-over-year revenue increase to $64.8 million, with improved gross margins and adjusted EBITDA climbing to $11.3 million.

Vecima Networks achieved its highest quarterly revenue for Entra optical products in over three years, driven by strong demand for fiber-to-the-home solutions.

Management emphasized a strong long-term growth trajectory, bolstered by network upgrades and expanding customer relationships, particularly in broadband and IPTV solutions.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello, this is the Course Call Conference Operator welcome to Vecima Networks’s third quarter fiscal 2026 results conference call and Webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Analysts and institutional investors who wish to join the question queue, simply press Star and one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you’re using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing any keys. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing Star and zero Presenting today on behalf of Vecima Networks are Sumit Kumar, President and CEO and Judge, Mid Chief Financial Officer. Today’s call will begin with executive commentary on Vecima’s financial and operational performance for the third quarter fiscal 2026 results. Lastly, the call will finish with a question and answer period for analysts and institutional investors. The press release announcing the company’s third quarter fiscal 2026 results as well as detailed supplemental investor information are posted on Vecima’s website at www.vecima.com under the Investor Relations heading. The highlights provided in this call should be understood in conjunction with the Company’s unaudited, interim, condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025. Certain statements in this conference call and webcast may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law from which Vecima’s actual results could differ. Consequently, attendees should not place undue reliance on such forward looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact are forward looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding management’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations with respect to market and general economic conditions, future sales and revenue expectations, future costs, and operating performance. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and or are beyond our control. Vecima disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Please review the cautionary language in the Company’s third quarter earnings report and press release of fiscal 2026, as well as its annual information form dated September 25, 2025 regarding the various factors, assumptions and risks that could cause actual results to differences. These documents are available on Vecima’s website at www.vesima.com under the Investor Relations heading and on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca at this time I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Kumar to proceed with his remarks. Please go ahead.

Sumit Kumar (President and CEO)

Good morning and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us in our third quarter earnings release this morning we not only reiterated our expectation of a near term resurgence of growth, but we also increased our outlook. I’m going to start today’s call with some comments on our updated outlook before moving on to an overview of our third quarter highlights. Judd will provide our financial review and then I’ll return to wrap up. Before we take questions, you’ll recall that in our last outlook we were anticipating major growth momentum for calendar 2026 with revenue increases of between 20 to 30% compared to calendar 2025. I’m pleased to report that expectations for near term customer demand have not only been confirmed, but they’ve also expanded leading to today’s upward revision. We’re now anticipating year over year revenue growth for calendar 26 in the range of 22.5 to 30% and together with an expected adjusted EBITDA margin of 20%, we’re anticipating year over year adjusted EBITDA growth of between 74 and 85% for the same period. With increased demand coalescing, a raised outlook is underpinned by customer purchase orders and forecasts with clear visibility into increased volumes in the near term. We’re already seeing this start to materialize. As we move into Q4, we continue to see strong revenue momentum that positions us to reach a new quarterly high in the near term with sustained growth expected thereafter. And that’s Q4 fiscal 26. On the broadband side, there are multiple growth drivers supporting this outlook. First, we’re broadly supplying one of our largest customers Charter Communications, as they expand their wide scale DAA network deployment using our next gen cable and fiber access technologies. These are major multi year upgrade programs encompassing our Entra Remote 5 products including our EN9000 Gap node and ERM RPD platforms, and our Entra Optical Fiber Access portfolio centered around Fiber to the Home Remote OLT nodes. As of Q3, this rollout is fully underway and it’s driving significant long term waves of demand. At the same time, we’re building on our revenue base with the launch of several new Entra products across multiple customers. Those include the EN3400, a new smaller version of the EN9000 gap node, the EEM210 standalone 2 port 10 gig EPAN module, and our Power Holdover modules. On the commercial video side of the portfolio, we’re also preparing to roll out our next generation TERRIS IQ platform as Our Lead Tier 1 customer undertakes the wholesale upgrade of its national commercial video network. This multiyear program includes upgrades to thousands of existing commercial property accounts and supports new commercial video properties and accounts added by the operator on an ongoing basis. I want to emphasize that while our outlook currently focuses on calendar 2026, the growth trajectory we see for Vecima extends well beyond that. During the third quarter we signed a major multi year DOCSIS 4.0 agreement with Charter for its Spectrum operations. That’s in addition to the major network upgrade program we’re already working on. The new agreement again expands our collaborative partnership with Chartered and covers deployment of our high value next gen Entra ERM422, which is the world’s first DOCSIS …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

For plenty of Americans, a $400,000 salary sounds like the kind of money tied to luxury vacations, valet parking and grocery bills that no longer require glancing at the price tag. Real estate mogul Grant Cardone says that in California, it can still feel surprisingly average once taxes and everyday expenses start taking their cut.

Last month on TikTok, Cardone posted a blunt breakdown of how quickly high income can disappear in a high-cost state. The caption read: “$400K is not enough money.”

“If you live in the state of California, 400 grand is really 260,” Cardone said. “And after the cost of living, electricity, taxes, insurance, etc., you’re probably down to 100,000. And 100 grand today in this country — in almost any place except maybe rural Midwest — it’s not a lot of money.”

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The video included a chart comparing different income levels in California and how taxes can dramatically reduce take-home money before everyday expenses even enter the picture. Cardone’s core argument was simple: what looks wealthy on paper can feel very different after housing, insurance, utilities and other costs begin stacking up.

California’s Numbers Tell A Different Story

The broader statistics help explain why Cardone’s comments sparked debate.

California’s overall cost-of-living index sits around 137, meaning costs are roughly 42% higher than the national average, according to GoBankingRates. Housing prices are especially punishing, with housing costs nearly double U.S. averages in many parts of the state. Utilities also run significantly higher than much of the country.

Meanwhile, annual household expenditures in California average roughly $107,000, well above national norms.

That creates a strange disconnect around six-figure incomes. Nationally, only about 23% of individual workers earn more than $100,000 annually. Yet in California, a household left with roughly $100,000 after taxes and major expenses may still feel firmly middle class rather than wealthy.

Trending: More Than Half of Americans Aren’t Prepared for Retirement — Including 62% of Gen Y

The state’s median household income hovers around $100,000, meaning Cardone’s “you’re down to 100 grand” comment lands surprisingly close to what many California households already bring in before expenses.

Even earning $400,000 places households in rare territory. Only about 6% of California households reach that income level. But high taxes, insurance premiums, housing costs and general living expenses can narrow the lifestyle gap faster than many people expect.

Where $100K Still Carries Real Weight

Cardone’s “except maybe rural Midwest” comment also lines up with broader cost-of-living data.

States like Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas and Iowa carry cost-of-living indexes closer to 84 through 90, far below California levels. In practical terms, $100,000 in those areas often stretches much further than it does in coastal California cities.

A six-figure income in lower-cost regions may support homeownership, retirement contributions, vacations and discretionary spending with considerably more breathing room. Housing prices alone can look dramatically different, with homes in some Midwest markets selling for a fraction of California prices.

That contrast has also pushed some investors toward alternative ways to gain exposure to real estate without taking on the full burden of direct property ownership.

Arrived allows investors to buy fractional shares of rental homes for as little as $100, giving people access to residential real estate investing without directly handling maintenance issues, tenants or day-to-day landlord responsibilities.

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U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining around 200 points on Thursday.

The Dow traded up 0.68% to 50,031.50 while the NASDAQ gained 0.85% to 26,625.71. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.70% to 7,497.13.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 0.9% on Thursday.

In trading on Thursday, materials stocks fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

Dillard’s Inc (NYSE:DDS) shares gained around 3% on Thursday as the company reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $16.04 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $10.37 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.568 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.555 billion.

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Full story available on Benzinga.com

Global Water Resources (NASDAQ:GWRS) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Global Water Resources reported a 6.7% increase in total revenue for Q1 2026, reaching $13.3 million, primarily due to the acquisition of water systems and organic growth.

Operating expenses increased by 15.1% to $12.9 million, driven by higher depreciation, amortization, and accretion expenses due to recent capital investments.

The company reported a net loss of $0.4 million or $0.01 per diluted share in Q1 2026, compared to net income of $0.6 million in Q1 2025.

Strategically, the company emphasized its focus on obtaining rate increases to support earnings growth and has slowed the pace of capital investments to control expenses.

Operationally, active service connections grew by 5.7% year-over-year, with notable infrastructure investments totaling $6.3 million in 2026.

The company reached a settlement in pending rate reviews, anticipating a water revenue increase for GW Santa Cruz and a wastewater decrease for GW Palo Verde.

Future outlook includes continued efforts to secure rate increases and organic growth, with plans for additional rate review filings in upcoming quarters.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Global Water Resources Inc. 2026 first quarter conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press Star zero for operator assistance at any time. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded on May 14, 2026 at 1:00pm Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kyle Upchurch, Controller. Please go ahead.

Kyle Upchurch (Controller)

Thank you Operator and welcome everybody. Thank you for joining us on today’s call. Yesterday we issued our 2026 first quarter financial results by press release, a copy of which is available on our website at gwresources.com speaking today is Ron Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Liebman, Chief Financial Officer and Chris Krieger, Chief Operating Officer. Ron will summarize the key operational events of the quarter. Mike will review the financial results for the first quarter and Chris will review Arizona Corporation Commission activities. Ron, Mike and Chris will be available for questions at the end of the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain information presented today may include forward looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company’s current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions regarding future events. These forward looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, uncertainties, estimates and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward looking statements. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward looking statements which reflect management’s views as of the date here and are not guarantees of future performance. For additional information regarding factors that may affect future results, please read the Risk Factors and MD&A sections of our periodic SEC filings. Additionally, certain non GAAP measures may be included within today’s call for a reconciliation of those measures to the comparable GAAP measures. Please see the tables included in yesterday’s earnings release which is available on our website. I will now turn the call over to Ron.

Ron Fleming (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Kyle. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. First, before jumping to normal operating highlights, I’d like to emphasize our focus on earnings growth. While most elements of our business have experienced growth, our goal is to achieve long term earnings growth and we are committed to this objective which we believe will allow us to enhance shareholder value. As we reported last quarter, as part of our year end reporting for 2025, we had a near record year for capital investments that were critical to complete. This included the investment necessary to recommission our Southwest Plant water reclamation facility, which was originally constructed 20 years ago …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Avino Silver & Gold Mines (TSX:ASM) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

Access the full call at https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3038/53838

Summary

Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd reported record revenue of $39.4 million for Q1 2026, with a strong cash position of $139 million and working capital of $140 million.

The company completed the 2025 drill program at La Preciosa and launched a 30,000-meter drill program across La Preciosa and Avino, aiming to bolster production and resource estimates.

Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd announced an inaugural mineral reserve estimate of 127 million silver equivalent ounces, reinforcing its growth strategy towards becoming a mid-tier producer.

The company’s mill performance exceeded expectations, with significant contributions from La Preciosa, processing over 14,000 tons of material in Q1, and aiming for 500 tons per day by year-end.

Revenue from silver production accounted for 60% of the total, with average realized silver prices at $86.42 per ounce, contributing to record free cash flow generation.

Management highlighted strategic exploration, community engagement, and operational sustainability as key factors in supporting long-term growth and shareholder value.

Future guidance includes scaling up production by 2029 and leveraging existing infrastructure to efficiently execute the growth plan, with continued focus on maintaining financial discipline and strategic capital allocation.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to the Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue you may press Star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing Star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer North, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jennifer North (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you operator. Good morning everyone and welcome to our Q1 2026 earnings call and webcast. To join this webcast and conference call, there is a link in our news release of yesterday’s date which can be found on our new website under Investor center then News and Media. In addition, a link can be found on the homepage of the Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd website. The full financial statements in MDA are now available on our website under the Investor center tab, then Reports and Financials. In addition, the full statements are available on Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd’s profile, on SEDAR plus and on EDGAR. Before we get started, I remind you to view our precautionary language regarding forward looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements and note that that certain statements made today on this call by the management team may include forward looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different than those expressed by or implied by such forward looking statements. For additional information, we refer you to our detailed cautionary note in the presentation related to this call or or on our press release of yesterday’s date. On the call today we have the Company’s President and CEO David Wolfen, our Chief Financial Officer Nathan Hart, our Chief Operating Officer Carlos Rodriguez and our VP Technical Services Peter Latta. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay later today. Replay information and the presentation slides from this call and webcast will be available on our website. Also, please note that all figures stated are in US Dollars unless otherwise noted. Thank you. I will now hand over the call to Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd’s President and CEO David Wolven. David?

David Wolfen (President and CEO)

Thanks Jennifer. Good morning everyone and welcome to Avino’s first quarter 2026 earnings call and webcast. We will cover the highlights of our financial and operating results and then provide an overview of what’s coming up in the next quarter followed by a Q and A session once I’ve gone Through the operational highlights and overall progress during the quarter, I will turn it over to Nathan Hart, Avino’s CFO, to discuss the financial results for the period. Please turn to Slide 5. We continue advancing along our clear path for transformational growth, evolving Avino from a single mine operator to a diversified multi asset mid tier producer in Mexico. We’ve had a very active first quarter achieving progress across operations, development and corporate initiatives including the completion of the 2025 drill program at La Preciosaa and welcoming Linda Broughton to our board who has a track record in operations, sustainability and the environment. In addition, we launched an ambitious 30,000 meter drill program across La Preciosaa and Avino. We have currently drilled 2,600 meters at La Preciosaa and 3,000 meters at Avino early in the second quarter. On April 16, we announced our inaugural mineral reserve and updated mineral resource estimates. We began 2026 with a positive momentum which is reflected in our quarterly production of just over 568,000 ounces, providing a strong foundation to deliver on our annual production target. Mill performance remained solid during the quarter, with tons milled exceeding expectations. Our teams continued to actively manage throughput across all four circuits. Contributions from the Preciosaa development exceeded plan and we are seeing encouraging progress in grade improvements particularly towards the end of the quarter. The key drivers guiding success achieved in Q1 are as follows. Firstly, financial discipline and strategic capital allocation played an important role driving meaningful improvement across key financial metrics. Record revenue of 39.4 million, cash of 139 million and working capital position of 140 million. Our financial strength enables us to carry out our organic growth plan with a bulletproof balance sheet. Next, continued advancing La Preciosaa with increased tonnage processed during Q1 2026. Throughput averaged approximately 200 to 230 tons per day during the quarter resulting in more than 14,000 tons of material processed. The next key driver was the completion of a new mineral reserve estimate and updated mineral resource estimate. This was released on April 16. Establishing mineral reserves across all of our properties is a transformational milestone for Avino. For the first time, we have defined reserves that demonstrate the underlying quality, scale and economic potential at our asset base base. Further advancing the company towards a multi asset mid tier producer. We are very pleased to report an inaugural mineral reserve estimate of 127 million silver equivalent ounces across all three assets. The milestone is complemented by growth in our mineral resource base. The growth was achieved after accounting for depletion from ongoing mining activities, underscoring the strength and continuity of of our ore bodies and mineralized systems. Together, these results reinforce the depth of our organic pipeline and position Avino for continued growth and long term value creation for shareholders. NEXT La Preciosao was an important contributor to our operational progress this quarter. With strategic exploration efforts continuing successfully. The planned 2025 drill program was completed and results were released in late January. We reported excellent silver grades from the remaining six holes which totaled 1400 meters drilled. The entire 2025 program consisted of 14 holes for approximately 3500 meters of drilling. The silver grade continues to surprise us with significantly higher silver grades compared to the average grade in the current mineral resource. These latest holes were outside of our recent mineral resource update as the data was not received until after the cutoff period. However, we expect to encounter similar high grades as we continue with development mining on each face of the vein to the north and south of the main San Fernando ramp. The Preciosa also contributed positively to our first quarter performance through ongoing extraction, haulage and processing of development material, supporting elevated mill throughput and operational flexibility. NEXT Silver revenues have increased with 60% revenue from silver production in Q1 2026, record revenues and free cash flow generation. Also during Q1, precious metal prices remained strong, supporting our operations and contributing positively to to our overall financial results. Another important contributor to our continued progress is the growing recognition Avino is receiving within the institutional investment community as we continue to execute on our transformational growth strategy. Additional funds and ETFs are becoming shareholders of the company, broadening our investor base and enhancing overall market visibility. These achievements demonstrate the meaningful progress made in advancing Avino’s transformational growth strategy while reinforcing the company’s investment case. In addition, a key contributor of our continued success is the quality of the jurisdiction and communities in which we operate. Mexico remains an important and established mining jurisdiction and we believe our long operating history in Durango continues to demonstrate the strength of the region in which we operate. We have built strong relationships with our local communities and workforce over the decades, which is reflected in our low labor turnover and growing base of skilled employees. Our operations contribute meaningfully to the local economy through employment, training, procurement and community initiatives. At the same time, we remain focused on responsible mining practices and continually work to reduce our environmental footprint through initiatives such as water recycling, backfilling underground workings where appropriate, and reclaiming historic open pit areas. We believe this balanced approach to operational excellence, community engagement and environmental stewardship supports the long term sustainability of our operations and future growth plans. Moving to slide 6, we turn to our Q1 production results which were released on April 23rd and reflect steady operational performance. On this slide we show our production Results compared to Q1 2025 and Q4 2024 with production of 568,000 silver equivalent ounces and 185,000 tons of total mill feed, which is 11% higher than Q1 of last year. On slide 7 we highlight production by operation showing contributions from both Avino and La Preciosaa for the year. We …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Avino Silver & Gold Mines (AMEX:ASM) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

Access the full call at https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3038/53838

Summary

Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd reported record revenue of $39.4 million, driven by 60% of revenues from silver production and strong metal prices.

The company achieved significant operational milestones, including the completion of a 2025 drill program and the announcement of inaugural mineral reserves totaling 127 million silver equivalent ounces.

The company maintained a strong cash position of $139 million, and working capital of $140 million, enabling strategic growth initiatives.

Operational highlights included over 568,000 ounces of silver equivalent production and successful processing contributions from La Preciosa.

Management emphasized their transformational growth strategy, aiming to evolve into a diversified mid-tier producer with a goal of 8 to 10 million ounces of silver equivalent production annually.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to the Avino Silver and Gold Mines First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue you may press Star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing Star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer North, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jennifer North (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you operator. Good morning everyone and welcome to our Q1 2026 earnings call and webcast. To join this webcast and conference call, there is a link in our news release of yesterday’s date which can be found on our new website under Investor center then News and Media. In addition, a link can be found on the homepage of the Avino website. The full financial statements in MDA are now available on our website under the Investor center tab, then Reports and Financials. In addition, the full statements are available on Avino’s profile, on SEDAR plus and on edgar. Before we get started, I remind you to view our precautionary language regarding forward looking statements and the risk factors pertaining to these statements and note that that certain statements made today on this call by the management team may include forward looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different than those expressed by or implied by such forward looking statements. For additional information, we refer you to our detailed cautionary note in the presentation related to this call or on our press release of yesterday’s date. On the call today we have the Company’s President and CEO David Wolfen, our Chief Financial Officer Nathan Hart, our Chief Operating Officer Carlos Rodriguez and our VP Technical Services Peter Latta. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay later today. Replay information and the presentation slides from this call and webcast will be available on our website. Also, please note that all figures stated are in US Dollars unless otherwise noted. Thank you. I will now hand over the call to Avino’s President and CEO David Wolfen. David?

David Wolfen (President and CEO)

Thanks Jen. Good morning everyone and welcome to Avino’s first quarter 2026 earnings call and webcast. We will cover the highlights of our financial and operating results and then provide an overview of what’s coming up in the next quarter followed by a Q and A session once I’ve gone Through the operational highlights and overall progress during the quarter, I will turn it over to Nathan Hart, Avino’s cfo, to discuss the financial results for the period. Please turn to Slide 5. We continue advancing along our clear path for transformational growth, evolving Avino from a single mine operator to a diversified multi asset mid tier producer in Mexico. We’ve had a very active first quarter achieving progress across operations, development and corporate initiatives including the completion of the 2025 drill program at La Preciosaa and welcoming Linda Broughton to our board who has a track record in operations, sustainability and the environment. In addition, we launched an ambitious 30,000 meter drill program across La Preciosaa and Avino. We have currently drilled 2,600 meters at La Preciosaa and 3,000 meters at Avino early in the second quarter. On April 16, we announced our inaugural mineral reserve and updated mineral resource estimates. We began 2026 with a positive momentum which is reflected in our quarterly production of just over 568,000 ounces, providing a strong foundation to deliver on our annual production target. Mill performance remained solid during the quarter, with tons milled exceeding expectations. Our teams continued to actively manage throughput across all four circuits. Contributions from La Preciosaaa development exceeded plan and we are seeing encouraging progress in grade improvements particularly towards the end of the quarter. The key drivers guiding success achieved in Q1 are as follows. Firstly, financial discipline and strategic capital allocation played an important role driving meaningful improvement across key financial metrics. Record revenue of 39.4 million, cash of 139 million and working capital position of 140 million. Our financial strength enables us to carry out our organic growth plan with a bulletproof balance sheet. Next, continued advancing La Preciosaa with increased tonnage processed during Q1 2026. Throughput averaged approximately 200 to 230 tons per day during the quarter resulting in more than 14,000 tons of material processed. The next key driver was the completion of a new mineral reserve estimate and updated mineral resource estimate. This was released on April 16. Establishing mineral reserves across all of our properties is a transformational milestone for Avino. For the first time, we have defined reserves that demonstrate the underlying quality, scale and economic potential at our asset base. Further advancing the company towards a multi asset mid tier producer. We are very pleased to report an inaugural mineral reserve estimate of 127 million silver equivalent ounces across all three assets. The milestone is complemented by growth in our mineral resource base. The growth was achieved after accounting for depletion from ongoing mining activities, underscoring the strength and continuity of of our ore bodies and mineralized systems. Together, these results reinforce the depth of our organic pipeline and position Avino for continued growth and long term value creation for shareholders. NEXT La Preciosaa was an important contributor to our operational progress this quarter. With strategic exploration efforts continuing successfully. The planned 2025 drill program was completed and results were released in late January. We reported excellent silver grades from the remaining six holes which totaled 1400 meters drilled. The entire 2025 program consisted of 14 holes for approximately 3500 meters of drilling. The silver grade continues to surprise us with significantly higher silver grades compared to the average grade in the current mineral resource. These latest holes were outside of our recent mineral resource update as the data was not received until after the cutoff period. However, we expect to encounter similar high grades as we continue with development mining on each face of the vein to the north and south of the main San Fernando ramp. The Preciosa also contributed positively to our first quarter performance through ongoing extraction, haulage and processing of development material, supporting elevated mill throughput and operational flexibility. NEXT Silver revenues have increased with 60% revenue from silver production in Q1 2026, record revenues and free cash flow generation. Also during Q1, precious metal prices remained strong, supporting our operations and contributing positively to to our overall financial results. Another important contributor to our continued progress is the growing recognition Avino is receiving within the institutional investment community as we continue to execute on our transformational growth strategy. Additional funds and ETFs are becoming shareholders of the company, broadening our investor base and enhancing overall market visibility. These achievements demonstrate the meaningful progress made in advancing Avino’s transformational growth strategy while reinforcing the company’s investment case. In addition, a key contributor of our continued success is the quality of the jurisdiction and communities in which we operate. Mexico remains an important and established mining jurisdiction and we believe our long operating history in Durango continues to demonstrate the strength of the region in which we operate. We have built strong relationships with our local communities and workforce over the decades, which is reflected in our low labor turnover and growing base of skilled employees. Our operations contribute meaningfully to the local economy through employment, training, procurement and community initiatives. At the same time, we remain focused on responsible mining practices and continually work to reduce our environmental footprint through initiatives such as water recycling, backfilling underground workings where appropriate, and reclaiming historic open pit areas. We believe this balanced approach to operational excellence, community engagement and environmental stewardship supports the long term sustainability of our operations and future growth plans. Moving to slide 6, we turn to our Q1 production results which were released on April 23rd and reflect steady operational performance. On this slide we show our production Results compared to Q1 2025 and Q4 2024 with production of 568,000 silver equivalent ounces and 185,000 tons of total mill feed, which is 11% higher than Q1 of last year. On slide 7 we highlight production by operation showing contributions from both Aveeno and La Preciosaa for the year. We continue to see contribution from La Preciosaa delivering just over 14,000 tons during the quarter. At this time I’ll hand it over to Nathan Hart, Avino CFO to present our record financial performance for the first quarter.

Nathan Hart (Chief Financial Officer)

Nathan thank you David and thank you to all of you for taking the time to join us as we recap our record financial …

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On Thursday, NextPlat (NASDAQ:NXPL) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This transcript is brought to you by Benzinga APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ for a consultation.

View the webcast at https://app.webinar.net/aK21yzvyep9

Summary

NextPlat Corp has regained compliance with NASDAQ’s minimum bid requirement following a reverse stock split, positioning it for long-term profitable growth.

The company’s Q1 2026 results showed significant margin expansion and improved profitability, largely driven by its healthcare operations which accounted for 68% of revenue.

Strategic initiatives include expanding healthcare services to all 50 states, launching a new e-commerce healthcare website, and maintaining strong global demand for satellite connectivity products.

Gross margin improved to 35% in Q1 2026, up from 21% a year prior, due to a shift towards higher-margin revenue streams and operational restructuring.

NextPlat Corp ended the quarter with $11 million in cash and no meaningful debt, aiming to sustain profitability and explore growth opportunities through potential joint ventures or acquisitions.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to The Next Platform First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call Certain statements made during this conference call constitute forward looking statements. These statements include the capabilities and success of the Company’s business and any of its products, services or solutions. The words believe, forecast, project, intent, expect, plan, should, would and similar expressions in all statements which are not historical facts are intended to identify forward looking statements. These forward looking statements involve and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors any of which could cause the Company to not achieve some or all of its goals or the Company’s previously reported actual results, performance, gaps in operating, including those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov the company assumes no and hereby disclaims any obligation to update the forward looking statements made during this conference call. Joining us on the call today are David Phipps, Chief Executive Officer, Amanda Ferriero, Chief Financial Officer and Bruti Narkut, Vice President of Healthcare Operations. I will now turn the meeting over to David Phipps for opening remarks.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

Good morning and welcome to NextPlat’s first quarter 2026 results conference call. Thank you for joining us. On today’s call, we will discuss our first quarter results and highlight many of the improvements now being delivered in our business because of our turnaround efforts. In addition to discussing the results of the quarter, we will also share with you some insights into what we expect for the remainder of 2026 and specifically the progress we are making on achieving our growth and profitability goals. As is customary, I will begin today’s call by briefly recapping the results of the first quarter. Then I will turn the call over to Bruti Narkut, our Vice President of Healthcare Operations, to discuss that segment in more detail and then turn the call over to Amanda Ferriero, our Chief Financial Officer, to review financial results. Following that, I will make closing remarks and then conclude the conference call by responding to questions that were submitted by our shareholders. Let me start by commenting on our NASDAQ listing status. On April 27, we announced that we regained our compliance with NASDAQ’s minimum bid requirement as a result of us completing a required reverse split. As I indicated on our last call, this was not something we wanted to do. It was required to maintain our listing on Nasdaq, which we believe was in the best interest of our shareholders. With that behind us, instead of looking back, we are now 100% focused on delivering on the promise we see of a bright future for our company, as evidenced by our significantly improved Q1 operating results announced today.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

These improvements are the direct result of our efforts to turn the business around and position it for long term profitable growth. As you can see, we now have a fundamentally improved business featuring dramatic margin expansion supported by a leaner operating structure and an expanding domestic and international new business pipeline. With the turnaround largely complete, we are now looking to add scale and expand the scope of our business, in particular in our healthcare operations.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

This is highlighted by our expansion into all 50 states from our current base in Florida and other developments which we intend to announce shortly. I will discuss these and other critical developments in a minute. Looking at the first Quarter the positive trends established late last year and as outlined in our previous guidance announcement have continued. The business is now beginning to deliver tangible financial results. This is especially visible in terms of improved profitability as reflected by a consolidated gross margin percentage which is now at record levels.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

This is largely driven by a dramatic improvement in our healthcare business which represented about 68% of our revenue in the first quarter. As we previously indicated, our efforts here were focused on new business development targeting higher margin 340B covered entities and long term care facilities, securing medication fulfilment contracts, re engagement with former clients and improving customer service. Initiated late last year, these efforts are now delivering sustainable margin improvement and are expected to support revenue growth later this year. This is a major contributor to our ability to achieve operational profitability in the latter half of 2026. Furthermore, as evidenced by our first quarter results, the combination of new higher margin revenue and a greatly streamlined and cost efficient operating structure means that we have created a clear path to meaningful reductions in operating losses in the second half of the year. At this point, I’d like to now review our business and provide some additional insights which I believe will be helpful for investors in measuring our progress in our healthcare segment.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

We are pleased to report the following improvements in operations during the first quarter. Although revenue continues to be down on a year over year basis as expected, our focus on attracting and supporting the needs of contracted 340B entities, long term care providers and other healthcare facility operators is delivering bottom line improvements. Furthermore, momentum in this segment is building. Having secured new 340B pharmacy service agreements with five new entities a single quarter record, these entities are now onboarding a process which usually takes about 90 days to complete before they can start directing prescriptions for us for fulfillment.

David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer)

As such, we believe these new customers will start contributing to our revenue during the third quarter. The contributions from medication fulfillment contracts continue to surpass expectations as we filled an …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) begins trading today on the Nasdaq at $185 per share, carrying a $56.4 billion fully diluted valuation into its first morning as a public company. That number is not the story. Rather, the story is what investors are paying for versus what the business actually delivers today, and the gap between those two things is wider than the first-day excitement will suggest.

Institutional Demand Signals Sentiment, Not Value

A 20-times oversubscribed book sounds like validation. In reality, it is not. Specifically, it tells you that institutions wanted more shares than were available at a fixed price, which is a function of supply scarcity and AI sector momentum. The most oversubscribed IPOs in history have both soared and collapsed on day one. Put simply, oversubscription measures demand for an allocation, not conviction in a valuation.

Retail investors entering CBRS at the open today are not getting the institutional price. Instead, they are absorbing the premium that institutional crowding created. The question is not whether AI infrastructure is real. It is whether this valuation, on this revenue base, leaves room to generate a return.

The Revenue Base Does Not Match the Price Tag

At $185, CBRS trades at roughly 110 times its 2025 revenue of $510 million. Using the company’s own $24.6 billion backlog, with management projecting 15% recognition across 2026 and 2027, annualized forward revenue approaches $1.85 billion. That puts the forward price-to-sales multiple at approximately 30 times. By comparison, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) trades at roughly 20 times forward revenue, with proven profitability, a dominant software ecosystem, and a customer base spanning every major hyperscaler.

Moreover, the GAAP net income of $237.8 million that appears in headlines came almost entirely from a one-time non-cash gain of $363.3 million on a forward contract liability extinguishment tied to G42, per the Cerebras S-1/A filed May 4, 2026. Strip that out and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

John O’Farrell, a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, says he believes carried interest is essentially compensation for doing work, managing investments and generating returns; therefore, it should be treated as ordinary income.

“I’ve argued for more than 15 years that carried interest is a fee for service, and thus should be taxed as ordinary income. Many of you vociferously disagree (some sincerely, some selfishly). I agree,” the executive wrote on X.

A new report from The Budget Lab at Yale argues that the U.S. has been significantly underestimating how much tax revenue could be generated by closing the carried interest “loophole,” which allows many private equity and venture capital managers to pay lower capital gains tax rates on compensation that critics say should be taxed as ordinary income.

IRS data and new academic research have now made it possible to better estimate the size of carried interest income. 

“The results indicate that previous estimates did, in fact, substantially undercount how much revenue could be gained from reforming carried interest taxation,” the report stated.

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Ondas Holdings (NASDAQ:ONDS) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=i4xJFXim

Summary

Ondas Inc reported a tenfold increase in revenue for Q1 2026, reaching $50.1 million, significantly surpassing their prior target and achieving product company-level EBITDA profitability ahead of schedule.

The company is expanding its global presence with strategic acquisitions, including Worldview and Mistral, and partnerships, such as with Palantir, to enhance their multi-domain ISR capabilities and autonomous systems platform.

Ondas Inc increased its full-year 2026 revenue target to at least $390 million, supported by a substantial backlog of $457 million and a strong cash position of $1.48 billion, enabling continued investments in strategic growth and operational scale.

Operational highlights include a successful launch of Iron Wave, a multi-layered robotic solution, and strong performance from subsidiaries like Aerobotics and Centrix, with significant growth in order capture and backlog.

Management emphasized their commitment to building a scalable operating platform through disciplined execution and strategic growth, with a long-term focus on capturing market opportunities in the unmanned and autonomous systems sector.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to The Ondus Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings and Business Update Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal Conference specialist by pressing the Star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press Star then one on your telephone keypad and to withdraw your question, please press Star then two. Before we begin, the Company would like to remind you that this call may contain forward looking statements. While these forward looking statements reflect on this best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by these forward looking statements. These risks are discussed in Ondas Inc periodic SEC filings and in the earnings press release issued today, which are both available on the Company’s website. Ondas Inc undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Except as required by law. During this call, Ondas Inc will refer to certain non GAAP financial measures. These non GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. A reconciliation of the non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures as shown in our press release issued today, which is available at the Investor Relations section of our website, this non GAAP information is provided as a supplement, not as a substitute or as superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. However, management believes these non GAAP measures provide investors with valuable information on the underlying trends of our business. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Eric Brock, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead sir.

Eric Brock (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you Operator and good morning everyone. We appreciate you joining us today and your continued interest in Ondas. Before we begin, I want to thank ThinkReal for allowing us to share his Systems of Systems music video ahead of the formal program. He is an Ondas investor and a talented creator active on X. We are grateful for his support, appreciate his creativity and look forward to seeing more of his work. With that, let me set the stage for today’s discussion. Our Plan is working over the past year we laid out a clear core plus strategic growth strategy to build ONDAZ into a scaled global operating platform for unmanned and autonomous systems serving defense, security, industrial and critical infrastructure markets. We believe our results in today’s update increasingly validate that strategy. We are building a world class systems of systems portfolio across air, ground and now the stratosphere through internal innovation, disciplined execution and strategic acquisitions. We continue to add differentiated capabilities across multiple operational layers. At the same time, we are executing against our operating plan and capturing growth synergies across the Ondas Inc platform. We are leveraging shared customer relationships, expanding go to market reach and building a broader global footprint to scale efficiently. We are also expanding our global market opportunity as reflected in growing customer traction, strategic partnerships, major program opportunities and a larger backlog. All of this continues to support what we believe is a powerful financial model driven by strong market tailwinds, operating leverage, scalable infrastructure and attractive long term returns on capital. We believe the strategy is sound, execution is improving quarter by quarter and the market is increasingly recognizing the value of what we are building as shown by growing support from customers, strategic partners and institutional investors. Today we look forward to updating you on our progress and explaining why we remain highly optimistic about andas future. Let’s turn to today’s agenda. This morning we will outline how the business is scaling across our technology portfolio, operating platform, go to market capabilities and financial model. I’ll begin with key first quarter 2026 highlights and our progress against our strategic objectives. Neil will then review our Q1 financial results. Next, we will provide an operational update on customer momentum, global expansion and progress across our product solutions and go to market roadmaps. We will also take a closer look at Worldview, our multi domain ISR roadmap and our work with Palantir to advance mission autonomy and layered ISR capabilities for defense and security customers. We’ll close with an updated 2026 outlook and then open the call for questions. I’m also pleased to be joined this morning by key members of our leadership team. Joining me today are Neil Laird, our Chief Financial Officer, Oshri Lugassi, Co CEO of Ondis Autonomous Systems and Mayor Kleiner, President of oas, all of whom are well known to many of our investors and stakeholders. We are also joined by Ryan Hartman, President and CEO of Worldview, who will provide additional insight into our multi domain ISR capabilities and long term Strategic Roadmap. Neil and I will lead today’s presentation and will aim to be efficient with your time while providing meaningful detail on the progress we are making across the business. OSHRI will provide the operational update for oas. Let’s now turn to some of the key takeaways from the start of 2026. We began the year with tremendous momentum which we have sustained. I’m extremely proud of our performance and want to recognize our employees who partners and customers for their exceptional efforts and support. We believe we have built a highly talented and mission driven organization at ONDAZ and that team is executing at a very high level. In the first quarter we generated more than $50.1 million in revenue representing ten fold growth year over year and over 25% above the high end of our prior target. To put that into perspective, our Q1 revenue alone was approximately equal to all of the revenue Ondaz generated during full year 2025. We believe that clearly demonstrates the pace at which we are scaling the business and expanding our financial model. Revenue growth during the quarter was driven by strong performance across our counter drone and defense related markets with particularly strong contributions from our Sentrix Cyber OVERRF platform and our Iron Drone Interceptor systems. We also saw upside contribution from Bird Aerosystems where demand for airborne missile defense and protection systems continues to strengthen as threats to both military and commercial aircraft increasingly evolve. Importantly, we achieved product company level EBITDA profitability during the first quarter, approximately 2/4 ahead of our internal plan. We believe this is another important validation point for the operating and financial model we have been building. At the same time, it is important to recognize that we continue to make substantial investments across the organization including leadership expansion, operational infrastructure, global go to market capabilities and strategic growth initiatives designed to support the next phase of scale. So while we are pleased to reach this milestone ahead of schedule, we also believe there remains significant operating leverage ahead of us as the platform continues to mature. As Neil will discuss in greater detail, our strengthening financial profile is also reflected in the continued expansion of our backlog and and the strength of our balance sheet. Following the closing of the Worldview and Mistral acquisitions in April, backlog increased to more than $450 million, providing significant visibility into our 2026 outlook and beyond. Our focus now is on efficiently converting that backlog into customer deliveries, revenue growth and cash flow generation. Our balance sheet also remains a major strategic advantage with approximately $1.4 billion in cash and short term investments. We have substantial financial flexibility to continue investing in the business, supporting organic growth initiatives and advancing our strategic growth program. We believe that capital position gives ONDIS a meaningful competitive advantage as we continue to scale the platform and pursue additional accretive opportunities. Finally, based on the strength we are seeing across the business, we we are pleased to raise our full year 2026 revenue outlook to at least $390 million. In summary, 2026 is off to a terrific start and we are demonstrating our ability to execute against our long term objectives and financial model which we believe is allowing us to create substantial shareholder value. Over the past year, Ondas has transformed from a small unmanned systems developer to into a growing global enterprise with increasing operational scale across markets and geographies. As shown on this slide, we now operate across 15 offices in key regions supporting engineering, manufacturing, business development, customer operations and field support worldwide. Our customer footprint is also expanding with active deployments in more than 45 countries across defense, homeland security, critical infrastructure and public safety markets. This expansion is not just geographic, it reflects the build out of a scalable operating platform for large customers, complex deployments and long term strategic programs worldwide. ONDAZ now has more than 1,000 employees globally supporting operations, engineering, manufacturing integration and customer delivery, positioning us to meet growing demand and keep scaling in unmanned and autonomous systems. Leadership requires more than strong technology. It requires an integrated operating platform that can deliver mission critical systems at scale across engineering, manufacturing, deployment, training and global support. That is what we are building at Ondas by expanding not only our technology base but also our operations and go to market capabilities. In recent months, we have significantly expanded our US Market reach, production infrastructure and strategic ecosystem through the April acquisitions of Worldview and Mistral. We believe both businesses fill key strategic gaps and accelerate the scaling of our platform while adding differentiated technology, customer relationships, leadership, engineering talent and operational capabilities to support growth in 2026 and beyond. We also announced a strategic partnership with Palantir, which we see as strong validation of ondaz’s capabilities and growth strategy. The partnership gives us access to Palantir’s AIP stack and operational software, helping us scale internally while advancing mission autonomy and multi domain ISR solutions. It also aligns both companies on customer opportunities, go to market initiatives and and long term roadmap development. During the quarter, we also launched Anberg, our Germany based joint venture with Heidelberg, initially focused on Germany and Ukraine. With broader European expansion over time as defense and security markets increasingly require localized manufacturing, sovereign alignment and regional operating capabilities, we believe Ondas strengthens our position in the European defense modernization cycle and across EU and NATO markets. As our global operating platform grows, so do our customer reach talent base and ability to deliver integrated systems of system solutions at scale. In the last 12 months, Ondis has significantly expanded its opportunity set and addressable and obtainable markets. We are now positioned across four major defense technology verticals including Counter UAS and Aerial Security, ISR and surveillance systems, loitering munitions and and autonomous strike systems and unmanned ground Robotics. Within our Aerial Security and Counter UAS vertical, our portfolio now includes the Sentrix Cyber Over RF platform, the Iron Drone radar interception system, Insightsense EoIR sensing technologies and Burnt Aerosystems Airborne Missile defense and Protection systems. Our ISR portfolio includes worldview Stratilites, the Optimus autonomous drone platform and Rotron UAV systems providing capabilities spanning tactical to high altitude persistent intelligence and surveillance operations. In loitering munitions and autonomous strike systems. We now include the Rotron Skylance and Defender platforms, the Rift Dynamics Wasp system and related border security and autonomous response infrastructure capabilities. Of course, Mistral is additive here with a broad lineup of both ISR and strike capabilities being deployed with US defense customers. In ground robotics, our portfolio includes Roboteam and Apero Motion UGV platforms, Indo Earth’s heavy military engineering and support capabilities and 4M’s demining and land intelligence operations. These markets are huge and global and rapidly growing and Ondas is building a very impressive set of capabilities to deliver effective and mission ready capabilities satisfying our customer roadmaps. What is important here is not simply the expansion of the portfolio itself, but the evolution of ONDAZ into a broader multi domain autonomous systems platform. We will be introducing new systems of systems capabilities over the course of 2026. This includes our newly introduced Iron Wave platform which I will highlight in just a moment. As I mentioned, we are increasingly integrating our technologies into systems of systems deployments and aimed at some of the fastest growing segments of the global defense and security market. This includes a range of new platforms that connect aerial and ground domains with integrated sensors and AI enabled command and control capabilities. We have a number of these platforms underway and we will share updates as development progresses through 2026. One example is Iron Wave, a newly introduced systems of systems platform featured in this video. Ironwave is a combat proven multi layered robotic solution built around a mobile UGV platform that integrates multiple autonomous systems to support maneuvering forces in complex operational environments. It includes a mobile containerized unit for remote operations enabling rapid deployment and sustained frontline support while bringing multiple ONDIS technologies together in a unified operational system. The platform provides both aerial defense and offensive support combining CUAS detection and neutralization against multiple drone threats with both ground and aerial assault effectors. Ironwave is powered by an AI assisted mobile command and control center with secure communications, onboard power and advanced operational management software for coordinated multi domain missions. The UGV can also deploy smaller robotic systems to investigate confined spaces and complex environments more safely for reconnaissance and operational control. Ondas provided the initial Iron Wave systems to combat units during the first quarter and they are now operational with multiple military units in active combat environments. The system has received strong feedback for improving mission effectiveness, enhancing force protection and helping protect troops during combat operations. We are very happy with this introduction and think Iron Wave and our Systems of systems pipeline is both differentiating ONDAZ and expanding our addressable markets. That concludes our introductory comments. I will now hand the call to Neil to provide a detailed financial update.

Neil Laird (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Eric we are pleased to report strong first quarter 2026 results that mark an inflection point in the growth of the business both organically and through our strategic growth program. These results validate our strategy, demonstrate the strength of our core business, and highlight the scalability of our operating model as we prepare for a significantly larger phase of growth. Revenue in the first quarter was $50.1 million, a tenfold increase year over year and up 66% sequentially from the fourth quarter 2025. This performance was 25% above the high end of our prior year Q1 targets and reflects strong demand across our ONDAZ Autonomous Systems segment. Gross profit was $24.7 million, representing a 49% gross margin, a significant improvement from 35% in the prior year and 42% in the fourth quarter 2025. This reflects both favorable product mix and the benefits of scaling revenue across our cost base. Operating expenses increased to $67.3 million, driven primarily by investments in personnel and infrastructure to support the scaling of our operating platform as well as increased activity related to our acquisition program. We view these investments as both intentional and necessary to support the significant revenue growth we expect in 2026 and beyond. Let me briefly address the movement in other expenses during the quarter, which was primarily driven by non cash accounting items. As a result of the structure of the October 2025 and January 2026 financings, certain warrants are required to be classified as a liability and are marked to market each reporting period using a Black Scholes valuation methodology. In the first quarter, this resulted in a non cash gain of approximately $389.5 million, which is reflected in other income. As a reminder, this charge is purely accounting driven and and does not impact our cash position operations or the underlying economics of the business. We expect this line item will continue to result in variability in our reported earnings going forward. We also had several other non cash Items, including a $51.5 million accounting gain on the deconsolidation of Ondas Networks due the capital restructuring of that company in January of 2026. Other key items to note in other income include $12 million in interest generated primarily by interest ear cash balances following our recent capital raises and a $46.2 million non cash charge to adjust the value of an acquired variable interest entity. We believe it is important for investors to focus on the underlying operating performance of the business where we are seeing strong revenue growth, significant backlog expansion and continued execution of our strategic plan. Cash operating expenses were $36.9 million. A summary of cash operating expenses was included as a table in our earnings release and as an appendix to this presentation. Net income for the quarter was $362.9 million, driven by the $389.5 million non cash gain related to warrants discussed above. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $10.9 million compared to a loss of 7.5 million in the prior year. Overall, the financial results reflect a business that is scaling rapidly, investing ahead of growth and beginning to demonstrate the operating leverage embedded in our model. This level of growth reflects the high demand signal from customers, strong execution in our core business and the early impact of our strategic growth program. Now turning to our cash flow and capital position, we ended the first quarter with $1.48 billion in cash, cash equivalent, restricted cash and short term investments compared to $616.1 million at the end of 2025. In addition, the company holds long term investments of $42.3 million, up from $35.6 million at the end of 2025. We believe this large cash balance provides us with significant financial flexibility to execute our growth strategy. Cash used in operating activities for the first quarter was $51.3 million compared to $6.7 million in in the first quarter 2025. This includes approximately a $47 million increase in working capital to support expected revenue growth. Cash used in investing activities was $474.2 million, the majority of which approximately $429.1 million was for the purchase of short term investments net of maturities and another $31.8 million for deployed into acquisitions as part of our strategic growth program. In addition, we invested $5 million in the quarter in long term equity investments. Our short and Long term investments are aligned with our broader platform strategy. They support key partners, enhance access to critical technologies, improve supply chain efficiency, and we believe will generate attractive returns over time. Cash provided by financing activities was $968.5 million primarily from our January equity offering throughout the year, along with proceeds from warrant and option exercises. Looking ahead, we expect cash efficiency to improve over the course of 2026 as revenue and gross profit scale. We continue to expect higher cash usage in the upcoming quarter reflecting continued investment ahead of growth. In particular, the second quarter will have a step up in spending related to the acquisitions that occurred year …

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American Shared Hospital (AMEX:AMS) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

American Shared Hospital reported a 15.9% increase in revenue year-over-year to $7.1 million, driven by strong performance in the Direct Patient Care Services segment.

The company highlighted a leadership transition with Craig Tagala taking over as interim CEO, bringing over 35 years of experience.

Management expressed confidence in growth prospects, citing increasing treatment volumes and successful partnerships, particularly in Rhode Island and internationally.

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 18.4% year-over-year, reflecting improved operational execution and revenue growth.

Future growth opportunities include the development of new facilities in Rhode Island and Guadalajara, which are expected to significantly contribute to long-term expansion.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and welcome to the American Shared Hospital Services first quarter of 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode for the duration of the call and should you need any assistance today, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the Star key followed by one. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question you may press Star then one on your telephone keypad and to withdraw a question please press Star then two. Please also note that this event is being recorded today. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kieran Smith, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Kieran Smith (Investor Relations)

Thank you Operator and thank you everyone for joining us today. AMS First Quarter 2026 Earnings Press Release was issued earlier today. If you need a copy, it can be accessed on the company’s website at www.ashs.com under the Investors section. Before turning the call over to Management, I would like to make the following remarks concerning forward looking statements. Please note that various remarks that may be made on this conference call about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company constitute forward looking statements for the purposes of safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may vary materially from those indicated by these forward looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including our Form 10Q for the second quarter ended March 31, 2026. The company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this conference call. Before I turn the call over to Management, I’d like to remind everyone about our Q and A policy where we provide each participant the time to ask one question and one follow up. As always, we’ll be happy to take additional questions offline. With that, I’d now like to turn the call over to Ray Stikowiak, Executive Chairman. Ray, please go ahead.

Ray Stikowiak (Executive Chairman)

Thank you Karen and thank you all for joining us today. First, I’ll start with an update on our recent management changes and then we’ll provide some key highlights from the quarter and give further detail on our enthusiasm and confidence in our growth prospects. In late April, we announced a leadership transition with Gary Delanis stepping down as our Chief Executive Officer for personal reasons and the Board appointing Craig Tagawa as as our interim CEO. We thank Gary for his valuable contributions and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Craig brings more than 35 years of experience with the company, including leadership roles as our President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. His deep operational and financial expertise, along with his long history with the organization positions him well to lead the company through its next phase. We are confident in the team’s ability to continue driving execution, increasing treatment volumes and supporting revenue growth. As we look at the first quarter and a continuation into the second quarter, we are encouraged by the continued progress across our network, particularly in terms of increasing treatment volumes and improved center level performance. I’m pleased to report that we are continuing to see volumes trending positively into our second quarter as we remain extremely focused on strong execution. We saw meaningful growth in volumes at the Orlando PBRT facility, our Rhode Island Centers and our International Gamma Knife Centers. They all contributed directly to our year over year revenue increase and reflects the ongoing ramp up of these facilities. These trends are important as increasing utilization is a key driver of both revenue growth and margin expansion in our model. Our partnerships remain central to our strategy and we continue to work closely with our health system partners to strengthen clinical programs, support physician alignment and expand patient access to advanced radiation therapy services. In Rhode Island, our collaboration with Leading Health Systems continues to support improvements in staffing, referral patterns and overall operational execution. As these centers continue to mature, we believe there’s significant opportunity to further increase volumes and improve financial performance. Internationally, our Puebla center continues to demonstrate strong growth and we remain focused on building on that momentum while also advancing our broader international strategy. Across our Linac and Proton therapy platforms, we are seeing steady demand trends and we believe our investments in this technology and the clinical capabilities position us well to capture that …

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The AI power infrastructure trade is no longer a side bet. Two deals from the first week of May 2026 confirm that the $725 billion AI buildout runs on land, grid access, and energy storage. Both Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT) and Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) just locked in structural positions inside that demand. However, a third development, reported by The Wall Street Journal on May 12, introduces a long-horizon risk that most coverage of these two stocks has not addressed.

The Lease Structure Is What Investors Should Actually Price

On May 6, Hut 8 signed a 15-year, triple-net, take-or-pay lease at its Beacon Point campus in Nueces County, Texas. The base-term contract value is $9.8 billion. The tenant remains confidential but carries a high-investment-grade credit rating.

The structure matters more than the headline figure. A triple-net lease means the tenant covers all operating costs. A take-or-pay clause means the tenant pays even without using the facility. Together, these terms convert a real estate play into something closer to a contracted utility revenue stream. Expected average annual net operating income is $655 million upon stabilization, per Hut 8’s May 6 press release. With three five-year renewal options, the total contract could reach $25.1 billion.

The deal also brought Hut 8’s total contracted AI capacity to 597 MW. Aggregate base-term contract value across both campuses now stands at $16.8 billion. The facility runs on Nvidia Inc. (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s DSX reference architecture. Execution partners include American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP), Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT), and Jacobs Solutions Inc. (NYSE:J). AEP Texas has executed an interconnection agreement for 1,000 MW of utility capacity. Initial energization arrives in Q1 2027. First data hall delivery follows in Q3 2027.

Hut 8 shares jumped more than 30% on the day. Needham subsequently raised its price target on HUT to $12.

Fluence’s Hyperscaler Agreements Signal a Category Shift

Before May 7, Fluence was a battery storage company trying to break into the data center market. After May 7, it is a pre-qualified global supplier to at least two of the world’s largest AI infrastructure spenders. That distinction is what investors should focus on, not the quarterly revenue miss.

Here is what actually happened. Two separate hyperscalers each ran structured competitive processes to find an energy storage partner. One process started with 26 vendors. Fluence cleared every round first and signed a global master supply agreement before any competitor, per CEO Julian Nebreda on the May 7 earnings call. The other customer set requirements so specific that most rivals could not meet them. Fluence qualified there too.

That kind of process is not a handshake deal. Hyperscalers run …

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Artificial intelligence is reshaping software companies, jobs and the computing infrastructure supporting it, but major technological shifts have always led to better outcomes over time, according to Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz.     

“The history of technology is things have always gotten better,” he said last month at the a16z Connect/Fintech conference in Park City, Utah, even as he warned that AI can fuel fears that “nothing is worth anything.”

When Speed Becomes The Only Advantage 

According to Horowitz, companies no longer have years to rely on a strong software product.

A product that once gave a company 10 years, or at least five years, may now offer “maybe five weeks,” he told a16z General Partner Alex Rampell. That shorter timeline is pushing companies built before AI to reassess what they still offer customers.

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Horowitz said companies can now spend heavily on GPUs and data to solve software problems that once took years. Companies also can no longer rely as much on customer lock-in because competitors can more easily copy code, move data and work around user interfaces.

“If you keep looking at it like the old world, and it’s got completely different laws of physics, you are definitely going to die,” he said.

For companies built before AI, that means pressure on products, pricing and strategy at the same time, Horowitz said.

The Hidden Limits Slowing The AI Surge 

The AI race is also running into limits beyond software. Horowitz said at the conference the U.S. does not have enough rare earth minerals, electricity or manufacturing capacity for the AI buildout.

“Almost everything is a bottleneck,” he said. 

Trending: From the International Space Station to everyday use — this NASA-tested diagnostics platform is moving toward at-home lab testing

The country is already short on electricity, and building new capacity, including memory-chip factories, could take years, Horowitz said. Even if Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) makes enough chips, he said the AI buildout could still face shortages of memory and electricity.

In his view, America has to rebuild its infrastructure for the AI era “like right now.”

The Future Feels Unclear — Until It Isn’t 

Horowitz said during the conversation that large technological shifts can be hard to understand while they are happening because people cannot always see what comes next.

He pointed to the decline of farming jobs and the rise of electricity as examples of changes that reshaped work and daily life. For Horowitz, those shifts can feel “scary” in the moment. 

He also said humans keep finding new things they need, creating demand that earlier generations could not have imagined. “I think it’s very, very likely to be way, way, way better for everybody,” he said.

If AI is shortening the lifespan of traditional business advantages, some investors believe the biggest opportunities may come from identifying emerging companies before they ever reach the public markets.

Read Next: 

• What …

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On Thursday, Biofrontera (NASDAQ:BFRI) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=Re1hZKm0

Summary

Biofrontera reported Q1 2026 product revenues of $10.1 million, a 17% increase from Q1 2025, driven by a 16% growth in Amelus unit volume.

Gross margin improved significantly to approximately 80%, up from 62% in the prior year quarter, reflecting a new cost structure post-strategic transaction.

Cash used in operations was nearly zero at $70,000, marking a substantial improvement from $4.1 million in Q1 2025.

The FDA accepted a supplemental NDA for Amylus PDT for superficial basal cell carcinoma with a PDUFA date of September 28, 2026.

Positive phase 3 results for actinic keratosis and phase 2 results for acne vulgaris were announced, with plans to discuss future studies with the FDA.

The company regained compliance with NASDAQ’s minimum bid price requirement.

SG&A expenses increased to $11 million, driven by higher sales activities and legal expenses.

Biofrontera aims to achieve cash flow breakeven in 2026, leveraging revenue growth and cost management.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and welcome to Biofrontera Inc. First quarter 2026 financial result and Business Update Conference Call. All participant line will be in the listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the Star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask question. To ask a question you may press Star then one on a touch tone phone. To withdraw your question please press Star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would like to turn the conference over to Ben Shamsian, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Ben Shamsian (Investor Relations)

Good morning and welcome to Biofrontera Inc. first quarter 2026 financial results and Business Update Conference Call. Please note that certain information discussed during today’s call by management is covered under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Security Litigation Reform Act. We caution listeners that Biofrontera’s management will be making forward looking statements and that actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied by these forward looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business. All risks and uncertainties are detailed and in and are qualified by the cautionary statements contained in Biofrontera’s press releases and SEC filings, including the Company’s Quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 and the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025. Also, this conference call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of this live broadcast. Biofrontera undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this conference call. Except as required by law. During today’s call there will be references to certain non GAAP financial measures. Biofrontera believes these measures provide useful information for investors and yet should not be considered as a substitute for gaap, nor should they be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with gaap. A reconciliation of non GAAP to GAAP results is included in the press release issued today and is available on the company’s website at www.Biofrontera-us.com under the Investor Relations section. Please note Management will be referencing adjusted EBITDA a non GAAP financial measure the defined as net income or loss excluding interest, income and expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and certain other non recurring or non cash items including changes in fair value of warrant, liabilities and stock based compensation. With that said, I would like to now turn the call over to Herman Lavert, CEO, Chairman and Founder of Biofrontera.

Herman Lavert (CEO, Chairman and Founder)

yes, thank you Ben, and thank you to everyone joining us this morning. The first quarter of 2026 was strong across our key metrics. We delivered product revenues of $10.1 million, an increase of approximately 17% compared to $8.6 million in the first quarter of 2025. This marks the first full quarter reflecting our new cost structure following the strategic transaction with biofantera ag, and the results demonstrate that our business model transformation is delivered as planned. These results further demonstrate the strength of our commercial execution and the growing adoption of Amylus PDT across the dermatology community. George Jones, our cco, will follow up about this in more detail. As a reminder, the strategic transaction, which closed in October 2025, gave Biofrontera Inc. Full ownership and control of all U.S. rights approvals and patents for Ameluz and Rhodonet, including the New Drug Application, the investigational New Drug Application, all manufacturing rights and contracts, and all intellectual property. The FDA formally transferred the NDA and IND to us in December 2025. Under the new earnout structure, we pay 12% of net sales when annual US Ameluz revenues are at or below $65 million and 15% when they exceed that threshold. This replaced a transfer pricing model that previously was 25% to 35% of revenue. The impact of this is clearly visible in our Q1 results. Our gross margin expanded to approximately 80% compared to approximately 62% in the prior year quarter and our cash used in operations was near zero at just 70,000, a dramatic improvement from 4.1 million used in operations in Q1 2025 and sets the path for cash flow break even this year. Fred Leffler, our cfo, will provide more detail on the financial performance in a few moments. Let me now turn to the significant clinical and regulatory progress we have made during and since the first quarter. First in superficial basal cell carcinoma in February 2026, we announced that the FDA completed its filing review and accepted our supplemental new drug application for Amylus PDT for the treatment of superficial basal cell carcinoma. The PDUFA target action date is September 28, 2026. If approved, Ameluz would be the first PDT drug approved to treat a cancer in the United States, representing a significant additional commercial opportunity for our platform and providing a significant advantage to what our direct competitor can do. Second, in actinic keratosis on the extremities, neck and trunk in February 2026, we announced positive and statistically significant top line results from our phase 3 clinical trial. The study met its primary endpoint demonstrating highly statistically significant superiority for Ameluz versus vehicle gel. Additionally, we announced the database log of the phase 1 pharmacokinetics study required for our FDA filing. Combined, these data support our plan to file a supplemental NDA in the third quarter of 2026 to expand the Ameluz label for the treatment of AK beyond the face and scalp on a treatment field of up to 240 square centimeters. With approximately 58 million American adults having at least one AK lesion treating extensive fields on the extremities, neck and trunk represents a very large addressable market for our installed base of RodoLED lamps. Third in moderate to severe acne vulgaris in March 2026 we announced the results of our phase two study with Ameluz PDT. The three hour incubation protocol does demonstrated a 58% reduction in inflammatory lesions with MLUs compared to 37% with vehicle gel. In the per protocol population, patient satisfaction was very high with 86% of patients stating they would choose PDT treatment. Again, based on these data, we plan to discuss the design of future phase three program with the FDA in the second half of 2026. Acne Vulgaris is a chronic condition affecting millions of adults and adolescents and we believe Ameluz PDT has the potential to offer a differentiated treatment option …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

ChatGPT is becoming a new way for Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) customers to discover drinks, even as most consumers still do not trust artificial intelligence to make everyday purchases.

Only 39% do, according to research from The Harris Poll conducted with Quad (NYSE:QUAD) published last month.

Starbucks is testing a beta app inside ChatGPT that recommends drinks based on prompts and photos. The feature allows users to discover drinks inside ChatGPT before completing orders through Starbucks’ app or website, the company said. 

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Starbucks Brings Drink Discovery Into ChatGPT

Starbucks launched the beta app inside ChatGPT last month, saying customers are increasingly starting with a feeling rather than a menu when choosing drinks.

Users can enter prompts describing what they feel like drinking or upload images that reflect a mood, outfit or surroundings. The system then generates drink suggestions based on those inputs.

The beta builds on Starbucks’ existing drink-discovery features, including Trending Beverages and Secret Menu tools. 

Once a drink is selected, users can customize it and choose a store.

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A Menu Built For Personalization 

The feature lands as Starbucks continues testing ways to make ordering more personal without forcing customers to scroll through the menu. Starbucks Senior Vice President of Digital and Loyalty Paul Riedel recently said the beta app aims to meet customers “right in that moment of inspiration.”

Shoppers Want Control When AI Suggests 

The same Harris Poll research found that only 34% of Americans are comfortable with AI-driven purchasing for larger items.

It also found that 75% would trust AI shopping less if recommendations were influenced by sponsored placements, while 73% of consumers say being an informed shopper matters more than it did a year ago. 

As AI becomes more embedded into everyday consumer experiences, some investors are also looking at companies building next-generation computing and productivity platforms around immersive digital environments and AI-driven workflows.

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Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) hasn’t seen a moment like this in years ― Wall Street is waking up to the idea that the legacy automaker may have stumbled into a surprisingly lucrative corner of the artificial intelligence buildout.

Shares are up roughly 22% over the past two sessions through Thursday midday, the strongest two-day rally since the March 2020 pandemic crash low.

The trigger was not earnings, not a product launch, not a buyback. It was a Morgan Stanley research note that turned a quietly announced subsidiary into a $10 billion thesis.

Chart: Shares Of Ford Motor On Pace For Best 2-Day Jump Since March 2020

Morgan Stanley’s Bullish Call on Ford Energy

The note, published late Tuesday by analyst Andrew Percoco, indicated that Ford Energy — the battery storage business Ford formally introduced on Monday — could one day be worth as much as Ford’s entire commercial vehicle franchise.

Ford Energy will deploy at least 20 gigawatt-hours of battery storage systems annually, targeting data centers, utilities and industrial customers.

First deliveries land in late 2027.

Morgan Stanley estimates the unit could generate a 25% gross margin and roughly $346 million in earnings before interest and taxes by 2028.

According to Morgan Stanley, the business could be worth $10 billion — and that figure could prove conservative if Ford lands a single hyperscaler client.

The Tesla Comparison Wall Street Is Whispering About

For years Ford was the punchline of the EV transition. Its electric vehicle unit lost $19.5 billion in 2025 alone, prompting the writedown of nearly every major battery program.

Now the company is leveraging that same plant footprint to do something Tesla pioneered but never scaled industrially: turn lithium iron phosphate batteries into a high-margin grid storage business.

Ford’s edge comes from a licensing agreement with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., known as …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, Capital Southwest (NASDAQ:CSWC) discussed fourth-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This transcript is brought to you by Benzinga APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ for a consultation.

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Summary

Capital Southwest experienced a 17% growth in its investment portfolio, increasing from $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion, with $762 million in new committed investment originations.

The company reported a 14% rise in investment income, reaching $232 million, and maintained a stable NAV per share of $16.69.

The company achieved a 40% return on equity for fiscal year 2026, despite market disruptions.

Weighted average leverage was reported at 3.6 times, with non-accruals reduced to 1.1% at fair value.

Capital Southwest raised over $465 million in new debt capital commitments, including a $350 million bond issuance.

The joint venture with Trinity Capital, CapTrend Partners, now holds approximately $85 million in assets, with plans to increase scale.

The company maintained strong dividend distributions, with a total of $2.56 per share for the fiscal year.

The lower middle market remains stable despite broader market slowdowns, with Capital Southwest focusing on disciplined transaction pricing.

Future guidance suggests continued growth in equity co-investments with a focus on conservative underwriting.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Thanks for joining Today’s Capital Southwest fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call. Participating on today’s call are Michael Zarner, Chief Executive Officer Chris Reberger, Chief Financial Officer Josh Weinstein, Chief Investment Officer and Amy Baker, Executive Vice President, Accounting. I will now turn the call over to Amy Baker.

Amy Baker (Executive Vice President, Accounting)

Thank you. I would like to remind everyone that in the course of this call we will be making certain forward looking statements. These statements are based on current conditions, currently available information and management’s expectations, assumptions and beliefs. They are not guarantees of future results and are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For information concerning these risks and uncertainties, see Capital Southwest’s publicly available filings with the SEC. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changing circumstances or any other reason after the date of this press release, except as required by law. I will now hand the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Sarner.

Michael Zarner

Thanks Amy and thank you everyone for joining us for our fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call. We’re pleased to be with you today to discuss our fourth fiscal quarter and the 2026 fiscal year. Overall, 2026 was an outstanding year for Capital Southwest by any measure. During the year we grew our investment portfolio by approximately $300 million, or 17%, from 1.8 billion to 2.1 billion. Deal activity was robust with 762 million in new committed investment originations. Additionally, we grew investment income by 28 million or 14%, from 204 million to 232 million. And despite a backdrop of pronounced volatility, we preserved the value of our portfolio. NAV per share closed the year at $16.69, essentially unchanged from $16.70 in the prior year, underscoring the resilience of our platform and the durability of our underwriting. As a result of our consistent investment strategy and strong operating performance, we’ve delivered an industry leading 40% return on equity for our shareholders during fiscal year 2026. Despite relentless market disruptions this year, from a major geopolitical event to the private credit contagion to the conflict in Iran, we continue to execute with consistency. The market has recognized that stability and our stock performance reflects the value of our approach. The quality of our debt portfolio remains strong, reflected in a weighted average leverage of 3.6 times, weighted average interest coverage of 3.5 times and non accruals of 1.1% at fair value down from 1.7% in the prior year. During the quarter, we saw improved performance across our watch list, with seven companies demonstrating meaningful progress and two removed from the watch list following a return to plan. We attribute much of this improvement to our Portfolio Operations group which works closely with our deal teams on credits that require additional support. This team is driving tangible value at the portfolio level, which in turn contributes to stronger overall performance and enhanced long term shareholder value. Additionally, our equity portfolio continues to perform well with net unrealized appreciation of 37.8 million or $0.62 per share as of the end of fiscal year 2026. We anticipate that a portion of this appreciation will be harvested as realized gains in fiscal year 2027 and thus will be available in our UTI bucket to support future dividend distributions. With $1.07 per share of undistributed taxable income, we are entering the year from a position of strength. Over the last 12 months, we have harvested $36.9 million in realized gains from equity exits, driving UTI growth from $0.79 per share in March 2025 to today’s level. Our UTI balance highlights both the reliability of our realization engineering and our conservative approach to dividend distributions when base rates were elevated, resulting in a meaningful balance of taxable income which we intend to distribute to our shareholders over time. Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to continue generating real life gains that will support and expand our UTI balance. That confidence is grounded in the strength of our investment strategy in the lower middle market. At origination, we typically see three distinct avenues for equity value creation. First, new investments often present low hanging fruit opportunities, operational or strategic adjustments the sponsor can implement immediately to drive meaningful EBITDA uplift. Second, following a change of control, the sponsor and management team activate a set of targeted growth initiatives designed to accelerate both revenue expansion and margin improvement. Third, in many cases, the team has already identified actionable M&A opportunities that can further scale the platform, broaden its capabilities and diversify the business. As EBITDA grows and the business becomes more resilient and diversified, we expect these initiatives to enhance enterprise value and ultimately result in realized gains on our equity investments. We were also extremely active during the year in diversifying our sources of capital. We raised over $465 million in new debt capital commitments in the form of $350 million 5.9% bond issuance, $90 million in approved leverage commitments for our second Small Business Investment Company fund, and an additional $25 million in new secured debt commitments on our corporate credit facility. Additionally, we raised over $160 million in gross equity proceeds on our AGM program during the year at a weighted average price of 1.3 times the prevailing NAD per share. Having continual access to the public equity market through the at-the-market program is a tremendous tool which we can use in all market environments. We have also made meaningful progress on CapTrend Partners, our joint venture with Trinity Capital. The Joint Venture now holds approximately 85 million in assets and we expect to continue originating low leverage, high quality investments with within this structure. Subsequent to quarter end, we closed a $150 million revolving credit facility, further expanding the Joint Venture’s capacity and competitiveness. This facility provides the liquidity to meaningfully increase the scale of our joint venture over time and advance rates that should produce a 13 to 14% return once fully ramped. From a relationship standpoint, we could not be more impressed with Kyle and the entire Trinity team and we look forward to exploring additional avenues where we can create value for both organization. Finally, this year we continued our long track record of producing steady dividend distributions, consistent dividend coverage and solid value creation. Despite a year in which SOFR shrunk by approximately 60 basis points, we increased our total dividends paid from $2.54 per share in fiscal year 2025 to $2.56 per share in fiscal year 2026. Dividend sustainability, strong credit performance and continued access to capital from multiple capital sources are all core to our overall business strategy. Our track record in all these areas demonstrates consistent performance as well as the absolute alignment of all our decisions with the interest of our fellow shareholders. Although broader middle market M&A headlines have highlighted a slowdown tied to technology uncertainty and AI related risks and inflation concerns stemming from the conflict in Iran, our vantage point in the lower middle market tells a very different story. Activity in this segment has historically been and continues to be remarkably steady. Founder driven. Catalysts such as retirement, succession, planning, estate considerations and the desire to de risk after years of value creation do not fluctuate with macro sentiment or quarterly volatility. As a result, the lower middle market consistently offers a more resilient and predictable transaction environment, a characteristic that remains significantly under appreciated from a Capital Southwest perspective. We have seen a meaningful increase in new deals reviewed, advanced and ultimately closed. However, our close rate, which has historically averaged roughly 2%, has moderated to 1.5%. This decline reflects our continued discipline in pricing and structuring transactions based on the risk we underwrite, not simply the terms required to win a deal. We attribute the increase in deal flow to the continued development of our deal leads the addition of two Managing directors and the joint venture which has enhanced our competitiveness on higher quality opportunities. Despite this increase in deal flow, we’ve also seen tightening in leverage levels and loan to value ratios, underscoring the importance of maintaining our disciplined approach as the market continues to reprice risk. In summary, we are extremely …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Trump Media & Technology Corp. (NASDAQ:DJT) sustained significant losses in Q1 and its cryptocurrency holdings are largely to blame.

The Truth Social parent on May 8 reported a $406 million loss in Q1, including $244 million in unrealized digital asset losses, wider than the $32 million loss reported for the same period last year.

Trump Media is 41% owned by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, a legal entity that holds and manages President Donald Trump‘s assets while he is in office. 

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The company said it held 9,542.16 Bitcoin, purchased at a cost of over $1.1 billion, with a fair value of $647 million as of March 31. It also reported holding 756 million Cronos tokens at a cost basis of nearly $114 million and a fair value of about $53 million.

The losses come as the cryptocurrency market has endured a significant correction from last year’s highs. Bitcoin, for example, has fallen as much as 52% below its record price of $126,000 reached in October to a low of $60,000 in February. 

Meanwhile, Trump Media reported about $871,000 in revenue in Q1, 6% up from $821,000 reported last year.

Trump Media also reported $2.2 billion in assets and $17.9 million in operating cash as of March 31.

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“Trump Media is using its strong balance sheet and positive operating cash flow to continue growing all our businesses and platform infrastructure,” Interim CEO Kevin McGurn said in a statement.”We’re identifying new growth opportunities and new ways to increase shareholder value.”

McGurn said Trump Media was working to finalize its merger with nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies announced in December. The company said it is working on new features for its Truth Social and Truth+ platforms, including discussion and share features for prediction market contracts and expanded live TV offerings.

Trump Media stock is down over 90% since 2022.

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Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/h4s4ecdx/

Summary

Copa Holdings reported a record net profit of $212 million for Q1 2026, with earnings per share increasing by 20.5% year over year.

The company achieved an operating margin of 24.6%, with capacity increasing by 14% and passenger traffic by 15%, resulting in a load factor of 87.2%.

Copa Holdings resumed service to multiple Venezuelan cities, expanding its network to 87 destinations and placed a new order for 40 Boeing 737 Max aircraft to support long-term growth.

Despite higher jet fuel prices, the company maintained strong financial performance, supported by cost discipline and a robust demand environment.

For Q2 2026, Copa Holdings expects an operating margin of 8% to 12% with a capacity growth of approximately 16% year over year.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Copa Holdings first quarter earnings call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time. If you have a question, you will have to press star 11 on your telephone. As a reminder, this call is being webcast and recorded on May 14, 2026. Now I will turn the conference over to Daniel Tapia, Director of Investor Relations. Daniel, you may begin.

Daniel Tapia (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Carmen. And welcome everyone to our first quarter earnings call. Joining me today are Mr. Pedro Hedron, executive Chairman and CEO of COPA holdings and Peter Dunkersut, our CFO. First, Pedro will begin by going through our first quarter highlights followed by Peter who will discuss our financial results in more detail. Immediately after, we’ll open the call for questions from analysts. As a reminder, COPA holdings financial reports have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting standards. In today’s call, we will discuss certain non IFRS financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures to comparable IFRS measures can be found in our earnings release which is available on our website. Our discussion today will also contain forward looking statements, not limited to historical facts that reflect the company’s current beliefs, expectations and or intentions regarding future events and results. These forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and are based on assumptions subject to change. Many of these are discussed in our annual report filed with the sec. Now I’d like to turn the call over to Our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Pedro Hedron.

Pedro Hedron (Executive Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Daniel. Good morning and thank you all for joining us for our first quarter earnings call. Before we begin, I would like to recognize our more than 9,000 coworkers. Their commitment and professionalism continue to be key drivers of Copa’s strong operational performance and leadership in our industry, especially in today’s higher and volatile jet fuel price environment. Their consistent focus on execution and cost discipline has allowed us to enter the current fuel environment from a position of strength to them. As always, my sincere appreciation and respect. We delivered another quarter of strong financial and operational results reaffirming the strength and resilience of our business model and our ability to consistently deliver industry leading profitability. Our first quarter results reflect a strong demand environment across the region, continued discipline in cost execution and our relentless focus on delivering operational excellence to our passengers. Now I’ll go over our first quarter highlights. Capacity increased 14% year over year while passenger traffic increased 15% resulting in a 0.8 percentage point increase in load factor to 87.2%. Passenger yield increased 1.6% year over year. RASM came in at 11.8 cents, 2.7% higher compared to Q1.25. Unit costs for QAASM increased 1.6% to 8.9 cents driven by higher fuel prices. QASM excluding fuel declined 1% to 5.8 cents reflecting our continued cost discipline and we delivered an industry leading operating margin of 24.6%, 0.8 percentage points higher than Q1 of last year. On the operational side, we delivered an on time performance for the quarter of 91.6% and a flight completion factor of 99.7%, once again positioning COPA among the very best in the industry. Turning to our network, we have resumed service to Valencia and Barquisimeto and have scheduled the restart of Barcelona in June. Together with our existing service to Maracaibo and Caraca. This returns us to serving 5 cities in Venezuela from our hub of the Americas in Panama. With these additions we will operate to 87 destinations in 32 countries, further strengthening our position as the most complete and convenient connecting hub for travel in the Americas. With regard to our fleet, during the quarter we took delivery of two Boeing 737 Max 8 ending Q1 with 127 aircraft. We have already received two additional Max 8s in the second quarter bringing our fleet total to 121 aircraft. Additionally, in April we announced a new Boeing 737 Max order for 40 firm aircraft and 20 options with delivery scheduled between 2030 and 2034. This new order, which begins as we complete deliveries from our existing order book in 2029, reinforces our long term growth strategy and ensures COPA Hub of the Americas continues to lead well into the next decade. As always, we maintain significant flexibility in our fleet plan thanks to options, flight rights, leased expiration and unencumbered aircraft which provide us the ability to adjust our growth plan if needed. Turning now to the current environment of higher and volatile jet fuel prices, throughout our history we have successfully navigated periods of increased fuel prices and volatility, consistently delivering strong financial results supported by the effectiveness of our business model, low cost and disciplined execution. I feel confident that we will demonstrate this once again. To summarize, we delivered strong industry leading profitability in the quarter. We continue to improve our already competitive cost structure. We keep delivering best in class on time performance and reliability. We continue expanding and strengthening our network, the most complete and convenient hub for intra America travel. The current demand environment remains strong supporting yield increases and our proven business model built on having the best geographic position, structurally low unit cost, a strong balance sheet and liquidity position and a superior passenger friendly product positions us well to navigate the higher jet fuel price environment and again in 2026 deliver strong and industry leading financial results. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Peter who will walk us through the financials in more detail.

Peter Dunkersut (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Pedro. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining our call today. I would like to start by reinforcing Pedro’s recognition of our team’s continued dedication to delivering leading results. Their commitment remains essential to our strong operational and financial performance. Let me begin by going over our first quarter highlights. We reported a record net profit of $212 million for $5.16 per share, representing a 20.5 year over year increase in earnings per share. Net margin came in at 20.2%, 0.5 percentage points higher year over year. Operating profit came in at $258 million resulting in an operating margin of 24.6%, 0.8 percentage points higher than the first quarter 2025. Unit costs excluding fuel or exfuel chasm declined 1% to 5.8 cents, reflecting the company’s continued focus on cost discipline. Including Fuel CASM (Cost per Available Seat Mile) increased 1.6% year over year to 8.9 cents, driven by the increase in the average price of jet fuel during the quarter. All in Jet Fuel prices increased 7.5% year over year from $2.54 to $2.73 per gallon, while the average increase for the quarter was moderate. Higher prices in the second half of March had a more pronounced impact on our results, driving an approximately $20 million year over year impact on the first quarter performance. Moving on to our balance sheet and liquidity, we ended the quarter with approximately $1.5 billion in cash, short term and long term investments representing 40% of last 12 month revenues. This number excludes approximately $700 million in pre delivery deposits for new aircraft as well as 45 unencumbered aircraft and 15 unencumbered spare engines worth an estimated additional value of over $1 billion. Total debt including lease liabilities stood at $2.4 billion and we ended the quarter with an adjusted net debt to ebitda ratio of 0.7x. Reflecting our strong financial position, I’d like to highlight that our average cost of debt, comprised solely of aircraft related financing remains highly competitive at 3.6%. Turning now to the return of value to our shareholders, the Board of Directors has ratified the company’s second quarterly dividend for the year of $1.71per share to be paid June 15th to all shareholders of record as of May 29th. Additionally, during the quarter we repurchased $45 million worth of shares representing approximately 1% of the total outstanding shares. Finally, turning to our outlook, we continue to see a robust demand environment across the region and our effective business model combined with continued cost discipline position us to continue sustaining strong financial performance. For the second quarter, we expect to deliver an operating margin in the range of 8% to 12% with a capacity growth in ASMs of approximately 16% year over year. These …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) shares are climbing on Thursday. Investors are reacting to reports of intensified activist investor pressure. New players are joining Elliott Management in seeking changes at the tech firm.

The Nasdaq is up 0.83% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.69%.

• Hewlett Packard shares are testing new highs. Why are HPE shares at highs?

Irenic Capital Joins Activist Push

‘Irenic Capital has built a stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise, according to a report from Semaphor. The fund joins a year of sustained pressure from Elliott Management. According to the report, Irenic’s leadership has already discussed frustrations with HPE executives.

Regulatory Hurdles and Acquisitions

HPE recently closed its $14 billion …

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Orbit Garant Drilling (TSX:OGD) held its third-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

The full earnings call is available at https://app.webinar.net/Vax7BzPREL5

Summary

OGD achieved a record third-quarter revenue of $51.4 million, marking a 2.7% increase year-over-year, despite challenges from severe winter weather and legacy contract pricing.

The company’s drilling utilization rate reached 67%, the highest in over a decade, with a strategic focus on securing long-term contracts with senior and well-financed intermediate customers.

OGD anticipates improved financial performance in Q4 and beyond, supported by favorable market conditions, strong customer demand, and an improving pricing environment.

Profitability was negatively impacted by the mobilization of drill rigs under new contracts and pricing pressures from previous contracts, resulting in a net loss of $1.2 million for the quarter.

OGD is deploying significant capital, including $20 million for a new five-year contract in Northern Canada, expected to generate over $100 million in revenue, with half of the rigs refurbished and half newly built.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Orbit Garant Drilling’s Fiscal 2026 third quarter results conference Call and Webcast at this time, all lines are in a listen only mode. Following Management’s remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please be aware that certain information discussed today may be forward looking in nature. Such forward looking information reflects the Company’s current views with respect to future events. Any such information is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking information. For more information on the risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to forward looking information, please refer to the Company’s latest MDA and Annual Information form which are available on SEDAR Plus. Management may also refer to certain non IFRS financial measures. Although Orbit Garant believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under ifrs. Please refer to the Company’s latest MDA for additional information regarding non IFRS financial measures. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 14, 2026. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Mr. Daniel Maheu, President and CEO of Orbit Garant Drilling. Please go ahead sir.

Daniel Maheu (President and CEO)

Thank you Jim and good morning ladies and gentlemen. With me on the call today is Pierre Luc Lapin, Chief Financial Officer. Following my opening remark, Pierre Luc will review our financial result in greater detail and I will conclude with comment on our outlook. We will then welcome questions. Our overall level of drilling activity continued to increase in the quarter as we reach our highest drilling utilization rate in more than 10 years at 67% and record our highest third quarter revenue in the company history. Our fiscal third quarter is typically our weakest quarter due to the gradual ramp up of operations after the shutdown of mining and exploration activities over the holiday season and more difficult winter weather conditions in Canada. So our continued utilization gains are a positive sign. This quarter we experienced more severe winter weather in Canada than usual which had a negative impact on productivity on surface drilling operations. Our profitability for the quarter was also negatively impacted by the ramp up of drilling rig under new long term contract in Canada.

Daniel Maheu (President and CEO)

Related as we increase our drilling utilization rate, the legacy pricing on contract from previous quarter and continuous modification to a drilling program in South America. During the first half of our fiscal year we experienced pricing pressure that resulted in us losing or walking away from certain bids. So we added ease our pricing strategy, discipline on certain important new contracts and renewal during this period. Pricing pressure has now disappeared and we saw an improved pricing environment during our third quarter and into April and May due to the sustained high level of demand in our industry and conflicts in the Middle east and Ukraine, we are experiencing cost inflation with respect to supply, material and wages, so we will continue to work with customers to accommodate these. Expect increase to our input cost with future contract and renewal supported by an improving pricing environment. We also expect to continue to benefit from the continuous advancement of our ramp up activities on newer project in Canada. In summary, while continue to experience highly favorable industry fundamental and customer demand, we have had some challenge over our first three fiscal quarter this year, many of which were out of our control.

Daniel Maheu (President and CEO)

We believe our operational headwinds are behind us now and we are well positioned to achieve further increase in our drilling utilization rate, improved operating performance and more profitable financial result in our fourth quarter. I will now turn the call over to Pierre Luc to review our financial result in greater detail.

Pierre Luc Lapin (Chief Financial Officer)

Pierre Luc thank you Daniel and good morning everyone. Revenue for the quarter totaled $51.4 million, an increase of 2.7% compared to Q3 last year. Canada revenue was $36.3 million in the quarter, an increase of 0.5% compared to Q3 last year. The increase was attributable to increased overall drilling activity partially offset by lower average revenue per meter drilled resulting from a decline in meters drilled on certain specialized drilling projects due to more severe winter weather conditions compared to Q3 2025 and legacy pricing on contracts from previous quarters.

Pierre Luc Lapin (Chief Financial Officer)

International revenue totaled $15.1 million, an increase of 8.2% compared to Q3 a year ago. The increase reflects increased drilling activity in both Chile and Guyana, partially offset by continued modifications to an existing drilling program and lower average revenue per meter drilled due to a decline in certain specialized drilling activities. Gross profit was $2.9 million, or 5.7% of revenue compared to 5.9 million or 11.9% of revenue in Q3 2025. Adjusted gross margin excluding depreciation expenses and a gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment was 10.3% in the quarter compared to 16.5% in Q3 last year. The decrease in gross profit, gross margin and adjusted gross margin was attributable to the mobilization of drill rigs under new long term contracts in Canada and the associated ramp up periods, legacy pricing pressure on contracts from previous quarters and more severe winter weather conditions in Canada compared to Q3 last year, which negatively impacted productivity on all surface drilling projects including specialized surface drilling, the continued modifications to a drilling

Pierre Luc Lapin (Chief Financial Officer)

program and a decline in certain specialized drilling activities in South America also negatively impacted profitability. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $1.4 million compared to 5.4 million in Q3 last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the that fact factors already discussed and also reflects a negligible foreign exchange gain in the quarter compared to $1.2 million gain in Q3 last year. Our net loss for …

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Auxly Cannabis Group (OTC:CBWTF) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Monday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc reported record Q1 2026 financial results with a net revenue of $39.8 million, a 22% year-over-year increase, and adjusted EBITDA of $12.3 million, reflecting a 65% increase year-over-year.

The company’s strategic focus includes maintaining market growth through innovation and distribution investments, with plans for $10 to $12 million in capital projects to enhance product quality and capacity.

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc maintained a strong balance sheet with over $42 million in cash and a debt of $45 million, planning significant free cash flow generation in 2026, while exploring strategic acquisitions and share repurchases to enhance shareholder value.

Operational highlights include strong demand for the Back 40 brand, which remains Canada’s top cannabis brand, and improvements in manufacturing and procurement processes that supported a gross margin increase to 55%.

Management reiterated confidence in the company’s ability to grow above market rates, driven by product quality, consumer trust, and strategic initiatives focused on efficiency and cost control.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Auxly Cannabis Group Inc Q1 2026 Financial Results Conference call. At this time, all lines in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 14, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Hugo Alves, CEO. Please go ahead.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you operator Hello, Good morning. I’m Hugo Alves, Auxly’s co Founder and Chief Executive Officer. I’d like to welcome all of you to Auxly Cannabis Group Inc’s Q1 2026 conference call and webcast. Joining me on the conference call today are Travis Wong, our Chief Financial Officer, and Marc Charbin, our Head of Investor Relations. Today I’ll share key takeaways from the quarter and then we’ll open the call up to questions from analysts and answer some questions that have come through our Investor Relations inbox over the last few days. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that our remarks may contain forward looking information and actual results could differ materially. Forward looking information is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Certain factors or assumptions applied in the forward looking information can be found in our latest annual information form and management discussion and analysis. These documents are available on our website and sedarplus.ca. More generally, if you have questions once this call is completed, please reach out to our Investor Relations. Our contact information can be found at the end of our earnings press release. Turning to our Financial Results Our Q1 2026 financial results represented seasonal records in net revenue, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow from operations. Net revenue reached 39.8 million, an increase of 22% year over year against a backdrop of industry growth of approximately 2% over the same period. Gross margin on finished cannabis inventory sold increased to 55%, up from 48% in Q1 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was 12.3 million, an increase of 65% year over year and representing an EBITDA margin of 31%. Cash flow from operations before working capital changes reached 11.3 million, an increase of 102% year over year and representing a 92% conversion from adjusted EBITDA. Our 22% net revenue growth is driven by the continued success of Back Forty as Canada’s number one cannabis brand by dollars sold, a position Back Forty has held since December of 2024. The seasonally slow first calendar quarter of the year typically results in a sequential decline in net revenue for Auxly of 3 to 6%. In Q1 2026, our sequential decline was less than 1%, just shy of an overall quarterly record. We are seeing strong demand across the board for our flower pre rolls and vapes. Consumers continue to be drawn to the back 40 value proposition of high THC and consistent quality at a competitive price compared to Q1 2025. We are also benefiting from higher incremental volumes across the portfolio and improved pricing in the flower portfolio, which was partially offset by price compression on VAPE products. Our gross margin of 55%, an EBITDA margin of 31% reflect improved manufacturing processes to reduce operating costs, higher cultivation yields, efficiency improvements across the operating footprint, strategic procurement initiatives that further reduce costs and a relatively fixed overhead cost base. We believe these margin improvements are structural and sustainable over the long term. Our improved profitability is translating directly into cash flow. With interest expense down by almost half relative to Q1 2025 and little change to working capital as compared to year end, Auxly ended the quarter with over $42 million in cash and $45 million in debt on the balance sheet. This is the strongest our balance sheet has been in years. Our outlook for 2026 is unchanged from when we reported Q4 25 results just two months ago.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

We believe Auxly can continue to grow net revenue above market rates through continued investment in distribution and innovation and increased quality and capacity at Auxly and Edington. We plan to maintain profitability through continued investments in efficiency and rigorous cost control across the organization and we expect the conversion of profitability to cash flow from operations to improve through the reduction of interest, expense and stabilization of working capital investments.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

And the continued strong demand for our products gives us the confidence to keep building for the Future through a $10 million to 12 million dollar capital program at Auxly and to increase quality, capacity and efficiency and also give us greater optionality for international sales in the future. As our financial position strengthens, capital allocation is becoming an increasingly important part of how we create long term value. Our trailing twelve month cash flow from operations before working capital will was approximately $44 million and we planned …

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High Liner Foods (TSX:HLF) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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The full earnings call is available at https://app.webinar.net/revD7gJl42k

Summary

Herbalife Ltd reported strong top-line growth driven by promotional activities and product innovation, although operational pressures and supply chain constraints impacted profitability.

Key strategic initiatives include addressing pricing strategies post-Lent, focusing on targeted promotions to optimize margins, and improving supply chain efficiency.

Despite challenges, the company remains optimistic about improving bottom-line performance with pricing adjustments, cost management, and strategic investments in innovation.

Financially, the company saw a 24.8% increase in sales to $334.9 million, but gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased due to higher raw material costs and promotional activities.

Management emphasized a disciplined approach to capital expenditures and capital allocation to ensure optimal returns, while also addressing challenges related to rising fuel costs and supply constraints.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Highliner Foods Incorporated Conference call for results of the first quarter of 2026. At this time, all participant lines are in the listen only mode. Following Management’s prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties hearing the conference, please press star key followed by zero for operator assistance at any time. This conference call is being recorded today, Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 10:00am Eastern Time for replay purposes and I would like to turn the call over to Matt McDonald, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations for Highliner Foods. Please go ahead

Matt McDonald (Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations)

Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining the Highliner Foods Conference call today to discuss our financial results for the first quarter of 2026. On the call from Highliner Foods are Paul Jewer, Chief Executive Officer, Kimberly Stevens, Chief Financial Officer and Anthony Rosetta, Chief Commercial Officer. I would like to remind listeners that we use certain non IFRS measures and ratios when discussing our financial results as we believe these are useful in assessing the Company’s financial performance. These measures are fully described and reconciled to IFRS measures in our MD and A. Listeners are reminded that certain statements made on today’s call may be forward looking statements under applicable securities law. Management may use forward looking statements when discussing the Company’s investments and acquisitions strategy, business and markets in which the Company operates, as well as the operating and financial performance in the future. These statements are based on assumptions that are believed to be reasonable at the time they were made and currently available information. Forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results or events, including operating or financial results, could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward looking statements. Highliner Foods includes a thorough discussion of the risks and other factors that could cause its anticipated outcomes to differ from actual outcome in its publicly available disclosure documents, including its most recent annual MDA and Annual Information Form. Please note that Highliner Foods is under no obligation to update any forward looking statements discussed today at the close of markets yesterday May 13, Highliner Foods reported its financial results for the first quarter ended April 4, 2026. That news release, along with the Company’s MDA and unaudited condensed interim consolidated statements for the first quarter of 2026 have been filed on SEDAR plus and can also be found in the Investors section of the Highliner Foods website. If you would like to receive our news release in the future, please visit the Company’s website to register. Lastly, please note that Company reports its financial results in US Dollars and therefore the results to be discussed today are also stated in US Dollars unless otherwise noted. Highliner Foods common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and are quoted in Canadian dollars. I will now turn the call over to Paul for his opening remarks.

Paul Jewer (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks Matt and thank you everyone for joining us on today’s call. Before I share my perspective on the quarter, I’d like to begin by welcoming Matt to Highliner Foods as our new Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Matt brings extensive public market experience both domestically and internationally in oil and gas, real estate and financial services. We are thrilled to have him on board. Now turning to the first quarter. When I last spoke to you in February, we were encouraged by the strong start to the year, both in terms of demand for our products and the progress we were making on driving enhanced profitability. As we reported today, despite a volatile and inflationary macro environment, the strong demand we saw at the start of the year persisted through the quarter, supported by an earlier lent promotional activity and product innovation. Demand on the top line surpassed our expectations. However, as the first quarter progressed, that outperformance created operational pressure impacting profitability and delaying the timing of our margin improvement initiatives. Challenges included larger than expected constraints on global supply, particularly in key whitefish species which impacted fill rates and operational efficiency across the supply chain. Against this backdrop, our plants were operating in catch up mode to respond to higher than planned demand which coupled with higher inflation and rising input costs negatively impacted our Q1 margins. I recognize that the strength of the top line has not translated to bottom line profitability over the past three quarters and this is being actively addressed across the business. Our focus is on the factors we can control and it comes down to strengthening execution across the organization in three primary areas, pricing, promotions and supply chain. First, on pricing. With Lent behind us, we’ve been able to address pricing with our customers and now have necessary pricing in place across the majority of our portfolio for Q2. However, these are unprecedented times and as raw material costs continue to rise, we are prepared to have more frequent pricing discussions with our customers, particularly as it relates to certain whitefish products and along with all suppliers, we will be seeking to pass on higher fuel costs. Second, promotions. We are taking a more targeted approach to promotional activity to ensure investments support the bottom line as well as the top line. In today’s environment, strategic investment in trade is essential to attract a value conscious consumer to our brands and to the category in general. However, as we consider future investments, we will put greater emphasis on the importance of optimizing margins and an overall return on investment. Third Supply Chain Given the global supply shortages in some of our key species and the resulting higher raw material costs, the work we are undertaking here focuses on strengthening planning around raw material availability and driving greater efficiency across our operations. While this is still in progress, I’m pleased to report that post lent raw material availability is and production are improving. We are taking steps to improve capacity utilization by reducing lower return SKUs and focusing our teams on productivity and operational discipline in parallel to action on price promotions and supply chain. We will continue to manage costs across the organization and remain extremely disciplined in our capital expenditures and capital allocation to ensure optimal return on investment. Our recently announced organizational changes have helped to right size our costs to this current reality. To sum up, we have a clear roadmap for stronger bottom line performance and to restore margins to the level this business is capable of delivering. With that, I will pass the call over to Kimberly to discuss our financial results. Kimberly, over to you.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Paul and hello everyone. As Paul mentioned, we saw strong top line growth during the first quarter supported by our targeted promotional activity, the earlier led in period and the underlying strength of our branded and value added product portfolio.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

While margins remain pressured due to the ongoing internal and external factors previously discussed, we are applying insights from the first quarter to strengthen our execution across pricing, promotion and plant operations while simultaneously we’re continuing to identify cost saving opportunities to support our value proposition in an inflationary and competitive environment. Despite continuing to operate in a volatile and inflationary macroeconomic environment, we continue to see and experience top line growth in both volume and net sales over the prior year.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

In both retail and food service sales volume increased in the first quarter by 7 million pounds or 10.6% to 73 million pounds compared to 66 million pounds in the first quarter of 2025 due to the timing of the Lenten period, the additional contract manufacturing business and the volume growth associated with the United States Department of Agriculture USDA contract retail volume was also higher due to the incremental volume associated with the newly acquired brands from conagra Brands as well as the company’s targeted approach to value driven promotions and innovations and strong demand in the Highliner Foods diversified product portfolio. Sales increased the first quarter by 66.5 million or 24.8% to 334.9 million compared to 268.4 million in the same period last year driven by the increased volume as well as the increased pricing reflecting inflationary markets, gross profit increased for the first quarter by 3.1 million or 4.9% to 66.6 million and gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased by 380 basis points to 19.9% as compared to 23.7 in the first quarter of 2025.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

The increase in gross profit is driven by the increase of sales volume previously mentioned. This is offset though by higher raw material costs including tariffs on select species, elevated promotional activity, unfavorable product mix and supply chain challenges due to the limited availability of supply, particularly in the company’s key whitefish species, which is reflected in the decline in the gross profit as a percentage of sales.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

Distribution expenses consisted of freight and storage increased in the first quarter by 4.2 million or 33.6% to 16.7 million compared to 12.5 million in the same period in the prior year. This increase in distribution expense was mainly due to the increased freight costs incurred on the sales associated with the newly acquired brands from Conagle brands and incremental retail distribution.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

Increased storage costs from higher levels of inventory due to the newly acquired brands and to support strategic purchasing at the beginning of the quarter also contributed to the overall increase. As a percentage of sales, distribution expenses increased to 5% in the first quarter compared to 4.7% in the same period in the prior year.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

Although the distribution cost rose due to the addition of the newly acquired brands, we are pleased to report that these brands generated incremental positive adjusted EBITDA during the quarter. As anticipated, adjusted EBITDA decreased in the first quarter by 2.8 million or 8.7% to 29.3 million compared to 32.1 million in the same period in the prior year, and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of sales decreased to 8.7% compared to 12%. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA reflects the increase of gross profit previously mentioned, offset by increased distribution and SGA expenses. Reported net income decreased in the first quarter by 7.3 million or 47.7% to 8 million, while diluted earnings per share decreased to $0.27 compared to $0.51 in the prior year.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

The decrease in net income reflects the expenses related to the recent restructuring efforts that the Company undertook to align its cost structure with the current market conditions as well as the decrease in the adjusted EBITDA previously mentioned. Excluding the impact of certain non routine or non cash expenses that are explained in our MDA, adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2026 decreased by $5.2 million, or 31.3% to $11.4 million. Adjusted diluted earnings per share decreased to $0.39 from $0.55 in the same period in 2025. With regards to cash flows from operations and the balance sheet, net cash flows from operating activities for the first quarter 2026 increased by $35.6 million to an inflow of $25 million compared to an outflow of 10.6 million in the same period of 2025.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

The increase is primarily driven by favorable changes in non cash working capital balances, specifically in the collection of our accounts receivables and lower inventory balances in relation to the earlier timing of the lenten period in 2026 compared to 2025, partially offset with the repayments of our account payable balances.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

Net debt at the end of the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 4.4 million to 318 million compared to 300 million at the end of fiscal 2025, reflecting our higher cash balances partially offset with an increased bank loans and lease liabilities, Net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.6 times at April 4, 2026 compared to 3.5 times at the end of fiscal 2025. We expect the ratio to improve throughout the year and be slightly above the company’s long term target of three times by the end of fiscal 2026. We are in the process of applying for US tariff refunds, however, this is not currently reflected in our financial statements. Due to the high level of uncertainty around the process and the timing of collecting these funds, we are continuing to pursue this and we will share further updates when appropriate.

Kimberly Stevens (Chief Financial Officer)

I’ll now hand the call over to Anthony to discuss our operational performance.

Anthony Rosetta (Chief Commercial Officer)

Thanks Kimberly. As you’ve heard, we delivered a strong quarter on the top …

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On Thursday, Keyera (TSX:KEY) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

KeyCorp reported a successful acquisition of Plains’ Canadian NGL business, which expands their platform and enhances connectivity across their system.

Financial performance included a record quarterly realized margin in gathering and processing, with adjusted EBITDA of $232 million and a net loss of $122 million due to acquisition costs.

Strategic initiatives focus on integration and capturing synergies from the acquisition, as well as progressing growth projects like the KFS frac2d and Capzone 4.

Future outlook includes maintaining a strong balance sheet with a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 2.2x and guidance for marketing realized margin between $210 million and $250 million.

Management expressed confidence in their case before the Competition Tribunal regarding the acquisition and emphasized continued execution on growth and long-term value delivery.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning. My name is Joelle and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Keyera’s 2026 first quarter conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press Star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star followed by two. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Dan Kupferson, General Manager, Investor Relations. You may begin.

Dan Kupferson (General Manager, Investor Relations)

Thanks and good morning. Joining me today will be Dean Setaguchi, President and CEO Eileen Maricar, Senior Vice President and CFO Jamie Urquhart, Senior Vice President, Liquids Business Unit and Brad Slesser, Senior Vice President, GMP and NGL Pipelines Business Unit. We will begin with some prepared remarks from Dean and Eileen, after which we will open the call to questions. I’d like to remind listeners that some of the comments and answers that we will give today relate to future events. These forward looking statements are given as of today’s date and reflect events or outcomes that management currently expects. In addition, we will refer to some non GAAP financial measures. For additional information on non GAAP measures and forward looking statements, please refer to Keyera’s public filings available on SEDAR and on our website. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Dean.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

Thanks Dan and good morning everyone. Two days ago we successfully closed the acquisition of Plains’ Canadian NGL business in its entirety. This is a transformative deal that materially expands Keyera’s integrated platform. This transaction is a natural extension of our strategy to extend our integrated value chain. It enhances connectivity across our system and improves our ability to efficiently process, transport and market products for our customers. The combined platform provides improved access to key markets, greater flexibility and increased reliability. It also represents an important step for Canada bringing critical energy infrastructure under Canadian ownership. It enhances Canadian energy security, supports economic resilience and establishes a stronger, more efficient Cross Canada NGL corridor. As previously disclosed, the Commissioner of Competition has filed an application with a Competition Tribunal in connection with the transaction. As you can appreciate, this matter is now before the tribunal, so we’re limited in what we can say about this process. We are confident in the strength of our case and excited to demonstrate to our shareholders and to our stakeholders the strategic rationale and the value creation that will result from this transaction. Our focus now is on integration and capturing the synergies of the expanded system Turning to our quarterly results, we continue to execute on our strategy, building a more connected and efficient system to support our customers and strengthen our platform. In gathering processing. We delivered a new quarterly record for realized margin driven by record throughput at Wapiti and contributions from our recently acquired interest in the Simonette East gas plants. We also continue to advance our growth projects. The KFS frac2d bottleneck remains on schedule for completion by the end of June and is now expected to come in below budget. FRAC 3 and KAPS Zone 4 continue to progress well both on time and on budget. These projects are highly contracted and will continue to drive growth and stable Fee for Service cash flow supporting the strength of our balance sheet and long term dividend sustainability. Now turning briefly to AEF following the previously announced outage, the repairs have been completed. We’re also now completing the turnaround plan for the fall, eliminating the need for a separate shutdown later this year. The facility is expected to return to full operating capacity by the end of May. While the reliability of the asset has been below expectations, we recognize the importance of AEF to our business and the value it delivers during the outage. We completed a comprehensive review of the facility and its operating plan. As a result, we expect to enhance our maintenance strategy by supplementing the existing four year major turnaround cycle with a smaller plant outage between major turnarounds. Our objective is to maximize production of iso-octane during a four year cycle while ensuring safe and efficient operations. With that, I’ll turn it over to Eileen to walk through our financial results and outlook.

Eileen Maricar (Senior Vice President and CFO)

Thanks Dean and good morning everyone. Keyera’s first quarter results reflect continued strength in our fee for service business which was offset by lower marketing contributions. Excluding transaction costs related to the Plains acquisition, adjusted EBITDA was $232 million and distributable cash flow was 133 million or $0.58 per share. Net earnings for the quarter or a loss of 122 million in our fee for service segments gathering and processing delivered record quarterly realized margin of 118 million in liquids. Infrastructure realized margin was 141 million. Results included record throughput across our condensate system supported by continued growth in oil sands production. Turning to the marketing Segment, realized margin was 13 million for the quarter. The decrease compared to last year was primarily attributable to the AEF outage and corresponding butane risk management activities. We ended the quarter with net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.2x which remains below our long term target range and provides Continued financial flexibility following the completion of the NGL contracting season. We are providing 2026 marketing segment realized margin guidance on a standalone basis. Marketing realized margin is expected to range between $210 million and $250 million, with the majority of contributions weighted toward the second half of the year. All other Keyera standalone guidance for growth capital, maintenance capital and cash taxes remain unchanged. With that, I’ll turn it back to Dean for closing remarks.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

Thanks, Eileen. Keyera continues to execute on a clear strategy to strengthen and extend our integrated value chain. Building a more connected and efficient system that supports customer growth improves access to key markets. With the closing of the Plains acquisition, we are entering into the next phase of growth for the company with an expanded platform that further enhances our ability to serve customers across the basin. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on disciplined integration, continued execution of our growth projects and delivering long term value for our customers and shareholders.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

On behalf of the board and management team, I want to thank our employees, customers, shareholders, indigenous rights holders and other stakeholders for their continued support. With that, we’ll open the line for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press Star followed by the 1. On your touch tone phone, you will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press Star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing the keys. One moment please, for your first question.

OPERATOR

Your first question comes from Rob Hope with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.

Rob Hope (Equity Analyst)

Morning everyone. I’d like some more color on the Competition Tribunal process. So you have 45 days to put in your application. There’s, Can you maybe give us a little bit more incremental color on what the key themes that you would like to put forward to the Competition Bureau to state your case that the acquisition should close as filed, as well as, you know, Do you think you’ll take the full 45 days or could you accelerate that? Yeah.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

Good morning, Rob, and thank you for the question. You know, we’re not in a position to speak more about what our position is. I just want to emphasize that we’re very confident in the strength of our case. And again, because the matters before the tribunal, we’re limited in what we can say. But with respect to the actual process. I’ll just turn it over to Eileen and she can speak to it in more detail?

Eileen Maricar (Senior Vice President and CFO)

Sure. Thanks. Good morning, Rob. There’s not too much incremental from what was Already in Dean’s opening remarks. The matter now will proceed through the tribunal process and it’s an impartial and independent specialized court which gives us the opportunity to have our case heard by a panel of judges and non judge tribunal members. And as Dean mentioned, we believe in our case and look forward to presenting it to the tribunal.

Eileen Maricar (Senior Vice President and CFO)

At this point it’s really too early to speculate on what the timeline will be.

Rob Hope (Equity Analyst)

All right, thanks. I thought I’d try maybe moving over to the marketing guidance excluding Plains. Can you maybe help us understand what commodity price assumptions are included in that? Just given it is looking similar to kind of the prior guidance, yet the commodity pricing looks quite a bit different than before.

Eileen Maricar (Senior Vice President and CFO)

Thanks Rob, I can take that one. So the guidance we did provide is on a standalone basis and it does incorporate the AEF outage which was approximately 110 million. I would say it’s conservative at this point in time. It does include the impact of butane, which is lower than our 10 year average. So that’s a positive. Certainly there were some hedges on the inventory where we took a loss in the front month, but we’ll start to see that as we sell the inventory.

Eileen Maricar (Senior Vice President and CFO)

The one thing that again could be a tailwind to the guidance we’ve put out is the iso-octane premiums. As you are aware, that’s something that we cannot hedge. And so as AEF comes up and by the end of the month and we get into the summer driving period, that is a potential tailwind to the guidance that we provided but largely in line with the assumptions that we had laid out. The hedges that were already in place, which is the 210 to 250.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

I think just to add on to Eileen’s comments, Rob, overall we think that there is more of a macro tailwind to our marketing business. I mean if you think about the situation in Strait of Hormuz, the longer that blockage lasts, it really puts a higher floor under the whole price complex for crude oil, natural gas and also LPGs, for a longer period of time. So we think that’s positive for frac spreads. We think that’s positive for our octane business.

Dean Setaguchi (President and CEO)

And Eileen talked about the premiums but obviously if you look at the gasoline cracks, they’re very strong as well. And the underlying crude oil price is very high. So you know, we think the forward prices for the rest …

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Akari Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:AKTX) shares are surging on Thursday. Investors are reacting to upcoming earnings and recent intellectual property milestones.

Earnings Anticipation Builds

The oncology biotech company will report first-quarter 2026 earnings on May 26. Analysts currently estimate a loss per share of $2.80. Despite the projected loss, sentiment remains high. Akari has beaten EPS estimates in three consecutive quarters.

European Patent Strengthens IP

On Tuesday, the company announced a major European patent grant. This provides composition-of-matter protection for Akari’s proprietary PH1 ADC payload platform. The patent spans over 35 countries, including Germany, France, and the U.K.

CEO Abizer Gaslightwala stated, “This European patent grant further strengthens the foundation of our proprietary payload platform …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Auxly Cannabis Group (TSX:XLY) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

State Street Cons Disc Sel Sect SPDR Income ETF reported Q1 2026 financial results with record net revenue of $39.8 million, up 22% year over year, and an adjusted EBITDA of $12.3 million, marking a 65% increase.

The company highlighted the success of its Back 40 cannabis brand, which remains the top-selling brand in Canada, contributing to significant growth in net revenue and profitability.

Future outlook remains positive with expectations of revenue growth above market rates, continued investments in distribution and innovation, and a focus on maintaining a strong balance sheet and cash flow.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Oxley Cannabis Group Q1 2026 Financial Results Conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, May 14, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Hugo Alves, CEO. Please go ahead.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you operator Hello, Good morning. I’m Hugo Alves, Oxley’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. I’d like to welcome all of you to Oxley Cannabis Group’s Q1 2026 conference call and webcast. Joining me on the conference call today are Travis Wong, our Chief Financial Officer, and Marc Charbain, our Head of Investor Relations. Today I’ll share key takeaways from the quarter and then we’ll open the call up to questions from analysts and answer some questions that have come through our Investor Relations inbox over the last few days. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that our remarks may contain forward looking information and actual results could differ materially. Forward looking information is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Certain factors or assumptions applied in the forward looking information can be found in our latest annual information form and management discussion and analysis. These documents are available on our website and@sedarplus ca. More generally, if you have questions once this call is completed, please reach out to our Investor Relations.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

Our contact information can be found at the end of our earnings press release. Turning to our Financial Results Our Q1 2026 financial results represented seasonal records in net revenue, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow from operations. Net revenue reached 39.8 million, an increase of 22% year over year against a backdrop of industry growth of approximately 2% over the same period. Gross margin on finished cannabis inventory sold increased to 55%, up from 48% in Q1 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was 12.3 million, an increase of 65% year over year and representing an EBITDA margin of 31%. Cash flow from operations before working capital changes reached 11.3 million, an increase of 102% year over year and representing a 92% conversion from adjusted EBITDA. Our 22% net revenue growth is driven by the continued success of Back 40 as Canada’s number one cannabis brand by dollars sold, a position Back 40 has held since December of 2024.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

The seasonally slow first calendar quarter of the year typically results in a sequential decline in net revenue for Oxley of 3 to 6%. In Q1 2026, our sequential decline was less than 1%, just shy of an overall quarterly record. We are seeing strong demand across the board for our flower pre rolls and vapes. Consumers continue to be drawn to the back 40 value proposition of high THC and consistent quality at a competitive price compared to Q1 2025.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

We are also benefiting from higher incremental volumes across the portfolio and improved pricing in the flower portfolio, which was partially offset by price compression on VAPE products. Our gross margin of 55%, an EBITDA margin of 31% reflect improved manufacturing processes to reduce operating costs, higher cultivation yields, efficiency improvements across the operating footprint, strategic procurement initiatives that further reduce costs and a relatively fixed overhead cost base.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

We believe these margin improvements are structural and and sustainable over the long term. Our improved profitability is translating directly into cash flow. With interest expense down by almost half relative to Q1 2025 and little change to working capital as compared to year end, Oxley ended the quarter with over $42 million in cash and $45 million in debt on the balance sheet. This is the strongest our balance sheet has been in years. Our outlook for 2026 is unchanged from when we reported Q4 25 results just two months ago. We believe Oxley can continue to grow net revenue above market rates through continued investment in distribution and innovation and increased quality and capacity at Oxley and Leamington. We plan to maintain profitability through continued investments in efficiency and rigorous cost control across the organization and we expect the conversion of profitability to cash flow from operations to improve through the reduction of interest, expense and stabilization of working capital investments.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

And the continued strong demand for our products gives us the confidence to keep building for the Future through a $10 million to 12 million dollar capital program at Oxley and to increase quality, capacity and efficiency and also give us greater optionality for international sales in the future. As our financial position strengthens, capital allocation is becoming an increasingly important part of how we create long term value. Our trailing twelve month cash flow from operations before working capital will was approximately $44 million and we planned on improving that figure over the next 12 months.

Hugo Alves (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer)

After considering our full CapEx budget of 10 to 12 million, we expect significant free cash flow in …

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) attempted to tie Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) to Jeffrey Epstein during the CLARITY Act markup hearing Thursday, but her amendment forcing the release of Epstein-related bank records failed 11-13.

Warren’s Epstein Amendment Fails

Warren proposed an amendment calling for federal bank regulators to release bank supervisory information about Jeffrey Epstein’s activities.

“Jeffrey Epstein was an early backer of crypto,” Warren stated on the Senate floor. “He poured millions of dollars into Coinbase, one of the biggest benefactors of this bill, if it becomes law. Epstein recognized crypto’s potential as a tool to covertly facilitate illicit payments,” she added.

The Massachusetts senator argued the amendment would share sunlight on what bank supervisors knew and what banks might have known about Epstein’s activities.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) quickly countered that “confidential supervisory information is not germane to digital asset market structure.” The vote failed 11-13.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-KY) said afterward he would vote in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Urban One (NASDAQ:UONE) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

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Summary

Urban One reported a tough first quarter with consolidated net revenue of $77.7 million, down 15.8% year over year.

The company focused on balance sheet management, reducing debt by $60 million, resulting in a current long-term debt balance of $326.7 million.

Urban One announced an acquisition of Service Broadcasting in Dallas, Texas for $22 million, offset by dispositions in Dallas and Charlotte, with a net investment of $11 million.

The company updated its guidance for 2026 to approximately $60 million of EBITDA and expects year-end leverage to be below five times.

Operational highlights include a decrease in operating expenses, with significant reductions in sales and marketing expenses across segments, and a focus on expanding local digital sales.

Management expressed confidence in generating about $40 million of free cash flow for the year and emphasized ongoing efforts to deleverage and improve profitability.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Urban One 2026 first quarter earnings call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. We will begin this call with the following Safe Harbor Statement during this conference call, Urban One will be sharing with you certain projections or other forward looking statements regarding future events or its future performance. Urban One cautions you that certain factors, including risks and uncertainties referred to in the 10Ks, 10Qs and other reports it periodically files with the securities and Exchange Commission could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those indicated by its projections or forward looking statements. This call will present information as of May 14, 2026. Please note that Urban One disclaims any duty to update any forward looking statements made in the presentation. In this call, Urban Urban One also discuss some non GAAP financial measures in talking about its performance. These measures will be reconciled to GAAP either during the course of this call or in the Company’s press release which can be found on its website at www.urbanone.com. a replay of the conference call will be available from 2:00pm Eastern Daylight Time May 14, 2026 until 11:59pm EDT May 21, 2026. Callers may access the replay by calling 1-800-770-2030. International callers may dial direct 1609. The replay access code is 343-8559. Access to live audio and a replay of the conference will also be available on Urban One’s corporate website at www.urbanone.com. the replay will be made available on the website for seven days after the call. No other recordings or copies of this call are authorized or may be relied upon. I will now turn the call over to Alfred C. Liggins, Chief executive officer of Urban One, who is joined by Peter Thompson, chief financial officer. Mr. Liggins, please go ahead.

Alfred C. Liggins (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much operator and welcome to our first quarter results conference call. Also joining Peter and I are Joe Detour, the Chief Financial Officer at TV One and Chris Simpson who is our General Counsel. Press release came out this morning. I think that we had warned inferred other people have also reported already but first quarter was very tough quarter. We were budgeted to be down but things the marketplace was softer than anticipated due to continued declines in the traditional ad marketplace. Peter, I’ll give you more specifics and details on the numbers in a moment, but with the slow start to the year we’ve been focused on balance sheet management and debt reduction and deleveraging opportunities since the beginning of the year we spent approximately $25 million to reduce our debt balance by another $60 million or so, approximately just to over $300 million of of gross debt. We’ve also announced some delevering and accretive M&A with the acquisition of Service Broadcasting in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Two radio stations there in the marketplace for an in market consolidation opportunity. For an announced purchase price of just about $22 million but net of dispositions of one station in Dallas and two stations in Charlotte we will spend approximately by the way those dispositions don’t contribute any cash flow. Currently we’ll invest approximately $11 million and pick up about $5 million in pro forma EBITDA. And with that we are also giving out a new As I said in the last conference call, we’re going to wait until after we got through first quarter to look at what that we wanted to do about updating guidance for 2026. So with that we’re actually updating the 2026 guide to approximately $60 million of EBITDA and we expect year end leverage to be below five times by year end with these acquisitions and DISH positions. Another bright spot on this is with these numbers we’ll generate about $40 million of free cash flow this year. Peter is going to have more details on that in his comments. So I’m going to let Peter go into the details and then we can open it up for Q and A and answer any more detailed questions about the business.

Peter Thompson (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Alfred. So consolidated net revenue for the quarter was approximately $77.7 million, down by 50 15.8% year over year. Net revenue for the radio broadcasting segment was $30.5 million, which was a decrease of 6.4% year over year excluding political revenue. Then net revenue for radio was down 8.7% year over year and according to Miller Kaplan, our local ad sales were down 5.5% against the market that was down 7.1%. National ad sales were down 8.2% against a market that was down 6.7%. Our largest ad category was services which was up 14.5% primarily due to legal services and the government and public category was up 23.6% due to political spending, but all of the other major categories were down. Net revenue for the Reach media segment was $4.9 million, down 17% from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of half a million for the quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in the network marketplace revenue and key client attrition Net revenues for the digital Segment were down 33.5% in first quarter at $6.8 million. Decrease was driven by the decrease in national direct revenue streams as a result of a reduction of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) focused spending, ad budgets being pushed to second quarter and second half, and a general pullback in advertiser spending due to macroeconomic concerns. Local digital revenue was up 10.9% for the quarter. As we continue to focus on expanding and improving our local digital sales, we recognized approximately $36 million of revenue from our cable television segment during the quarter decrease of 18.5. Cable television advertising revenue was down 24.9%. Prime time delivery declined 24% year over year for persons 25-54 the integration of Nielsen DASH data gave a boost to linear inventory and this along with a weak scatter market led to more commercial units being allocated to Direct Response which has a lower average unit rate. Cable television affiliate revenue was down by 9.8% driven by a decrease in subscribers as linear cable continues to decline when that was partially offset by an increase in subscriber rates. Cable subscribers for TV One as measured by Nielsen finished the first quarter at 29.1 million compared to 30.2 million at the end of the day. Q4 decline is a result of the combination of churn and a conversion of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) that has been sold as connected television and therefore pulled out of the Nielsen numbers. Cleo TV had 28.6 million Nielsen subscribers. Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization, stock based compensation and impairment of goodwill and intangible assets approximately $73.5 million compared to approximately $80.7 million for the comparable period in 2025. Decrease was mainly driven by sales and marketing expense decreases in the operating segments. Radio expenses were down …

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On Thursday, Urban One (NASDAQ:UONEK) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This transcript is brought to you by Benzinga APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ for a consultation.

View the webcast at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/gdvaighm

Summary

Urban One reported a tough first quarter with consolidated net revenue of $77.7 million, down 15.8% year-over-year, and a consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $4.7 million, down 63.8%.

The company focused on balance sheet management, reducing long-term debt by $60.2 million and aiming for year-end leverage below five times.

Strategic initiatives included the acquisition of Service Broadcasting in Dallas for $22 million and selling stations in Dallas and Charlotte to optimize market presence and improve EBITDA.

Management updated 2026 guidance, projecting approximately $60 million in EBITDA and $40 million in free cash flow for the year.

Despite challenges, the company made significant strides in digital revenue, which is expected to improve in Q2, and continued efforts to manage costs and reduce operating expenses across segments.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Urban One 2026 first quarter earnings call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. We will begin this call with the following Safe Harbor Statement during this conference call, Urban One will be sharing with you certain projections or other forward looking statements regarding future events or its future performance. Urban One cautions you that certain factors, including risks and uncertainties referred to in the 10Ks, 10Qs and other reports it periodically files with the securities and Exchange Commission could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those indicated by its projections or forward looking statements. This call will present information as of May 14, 2026. Please note that Urban One disclaims any duty to update any forward looking statements made in the presentation. In this call, Urban One may first also discuss some non Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial measures in talking about its performance. These measures will be reconciled to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) either during the course of this call or in the Company’s press release which can be found on its website as at www.urbanone.com.. a replay of the conference call will be available from 2:00pm EDT May 14, 2026 until 11:59 PM EDT May 21, 2026. Callers may access the replay by calling 1-800-770-2030. International callers may dial direct 1609. The Replay access code is 343-8559. Access to live audio and a replay of the conference will also be available on Urban One’s corporate website at www.urbanone.com.. the replay will be made available on the website for seven days after the call. No other recordings or copies of this call are authorized or may be relied upon. I will now turn the call over to Alfred C. Liggins, Chief Executive Officer of Urban One, who is joined by Peter Thompson, chief financial officer. Mr. Liggins, please go ahead.

Alfred C. Liggins (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you very much operator and welcome to our first quarter results conference call. Also joining Peter and I are Joe Detour, the Chief Financial Officer at TV One and Chris Simpson who is our General Counsel. Press release came out this morning. I think that we had warned or inferred other people have also reported already but first quarter was very tough quarter. We were budgeted to be down but things the marketplace was softer than anticipated due to continued declines in the traditional ad marketplace. Peter, I’ll give you more specifics and details on the numbers in a moment, but with the slow start to the year we’ve been focused on balance sheet management and debt reduction and deleveraging opportunities since the beginning of the year we spent approximately $25 million to reduce our debt balance by another $60 million or so, approximately just to over $300 million of gross debt. We’ve also announced some deleveraging and accretive M&A with the acquisition of Service Broadcasting in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Two radio stations there in the marketplace for an in market consolidation opportunity. For an announced purchase price of just about $22 million but net of dispositions of one station in Dallas and two stations in Charlotte we will spend approximately by the way those dispositions don’t contribute any cash flow. Currently we’ll invest approximately $11 million and pick up about $5 million in pro forma EBITDA. And with that we are also giving out a new As I said in the last conference call, we’re going to wait until after we got through first quarter to look at what that we wanted to do about updating guidance for 2026. So with that we’re actually updating the 2026 guide to approximately $60 million of EBITDA and we expect year end leverage to be below five times by year end with these acquisitions and DISH positions. Another bright spot on this is with these numbers we’ll generate about $40 million of free cash flow this year. Peter is going to have more details on that in his comments. So I’m going to let Peter go into the details and then we can open it up for Q&A and answer any more detailed questions about the business.

Peter Thompson (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Alfred. So consolidated net revenue for the quarter was approximately $77.7 million, down by 15.8% year over year. Net revenue for the radio broadcasting segment was $30.5 million, which was a decrease of 6.4% year over year excluding political revenue. Then net revenue for radio was down 8.7% year over year and according to Miller Kaplan, our local ad sales were down 5.5% against the market that was down 7.1%. National ad sales were down 8.2% against a market that was down 6.7%. Our largest ad category was services which was up 14.5% primarily due to legal services and the government and public category was up 23.6% due to political spending, but all of the other major categories were down. Net revenue for the Reach media segment was $4.9 million, down 17% from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of half a million for the quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by a decrease in the network marketplace revenue and key client attrition Net revenues for the digital Segment were down 33.5% in first quarter at $6.8 million. Decrease was driven by the decrease in national direct revenue streams as a result of a reduction of DEI focused spending, ad budgets being pushed to second quarter and second half, and a general pullback in advertiser spending due to macroeconomic concerns. Local digital revenue was up 10.9% for the quarter. As we continue to focus on expanding and improving our local digital sales, we recognized approximately $36 million of revenue from our cable television segment during the quarter decrease of 18.5% Cable television advertising revenue was down 24.9%. Prime delivery declined 24% year over year for persons 25-54 the integration of Nielsen Dash data gave a boost to linear inventory and this along with a weak scatter market led to more commercial units being allocated to Direct Response which has a lower average unit rate. Cable television affiliate revenue was down by 9.8% driven by a decrease in subscribers as linear cable continues to decline when that was partially offset by an increase in subscriber rates. Cable subscribers for TV One as measured by Nielsen finished the first quarter at 29.1 million compared to 30.2 million at the end of the day. Q4 decline is a result of the combination of CHURN and a conversion of virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) that has been sold as connected television and therefore pulled out of the Nielsen numbers. CLEO TV had 28.6 million Nielsen subscribers. Operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization, stock based compensation and impairment of goodwill and intangible assets approximately $73.5 million compared to approximately $80.7 million for the comparable period in 2025. Decrease was mainly driven by sales and marketing expense decreases in the operating segments. Radio expenses were down 3.8% or $1.1 million, driven primarily by lower costs associated with revenue, lower …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Northland Power (TSX:NPI) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

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Summary

Northland Power reported strong financial performance for the first quarter of 2026, with adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow per share increasing by 18% and 17% respectively, driven by favorable wind conditions in Northern Europe.

The company is advancing several key construction projects, including the Hailong offshore wind project in Taiwan and the Baltic Power project in Poland, which are on track for commercial operations in 2027 and the second half of 2026, respectively.

Northland Power discontinued its High Bridge onshore wind project in New York and paused other projects in South Korea due to regulatory uncertainties, focusing instead on disciplined growth and high-return projects.

The company secured a new 30-year corporate power purchase agreement for the Hailong project, enhancing its contract portfolio and creating opportunities for financial optimization.

Management reaffirmed 2026 financial guidance, expecting adjusted EBITDA between $1.45 to $1.65 billion, supported by strong liquidity and strategic capital allocation.

Full Transcript

Operator

Welcome to the Northland Power Conference Call to discuss the first quarter 2026 results. As a reminder, this call is being recorded on Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 10:00am Eastern. Present for this call are Christine Healey, President and CEO Jeff Hart, Chief Financial Officer, and Adam Beaumont, Head of Capital Markets,. Before we begin, Northland’s Management has asked me to remind listeners that all figures presented during today’s call are in Canadian dollars and to caution that certain information presented and responses to questions may contain forward looking statements that include assumptions and are subject to various risks. Actual results may differ materially from management’s expected or forecasted results. Please read the Forward Statements section in yesterday’s news release announcing Northland Power’s results and be guided by its contents when making investment decisions or recommendations. The release is available at www.northlandpower.com. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Christine Healey. Please go ahead.

Christine Healey (President and CEO)

Thank you and good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us. I’d like to begin with a few perspectives on the broader macro environment that’s shaping our business and the energy sector overall. Recent geopolitical developments reinforce the importance of energy security for governments, businesses and consumers. We’re operating in a dynamic global environment where evolving market fundamentals underscore the need for resilient and flexible energy systems. Across markets we see a clear and consistent theme tightening supply and growing demand, driven in part by accelerating electrification. And together these dynamics are reinforcing the critical role of renewables as a scalable, domestically sourced and increasingly cost competitive solution, playing a central role in strengthening energy independence and system resilience. As energy security becomes more critical around the world, demand for long term contracted solutions that provide price certainty and system reliability continues to grow. We’re seeing this play out across our portfolio. In Europe we see power pricing continuing to reflect underlying macro events, particularly in markets such as Germany and the Netherlands where natural gas prices are a driver of marginal electricity pricing. And here in Canada we see an increase in power demand with the need to nearly double electricity generation in coming years. We see that already within our natural gas facilities in Canada where there is a trend of increasing utilization month over month. Stepping back the current environment reinforces our strategy at Northland, which is anchored in creating value through disciplined execution, operational excellence and effective operation of our high quality asset base. Northland is well positioned given our multi technology expertise. We own and operate a diversified portfolio spanning offshore wind, onshore renewables, natural gas fired power and grid scale battery energy storage across Canada, Europe and asia comprised of 3 and a half gigawatts of gross operating capacity and 2.2 gigawatts of capacity under construction. Our scale, operating expertise and technology breadth position us well to capture growing demand and increasing value across our markets. Our diversification helps us deliver stable performance while creating value through recontracting, optimizing our existing fleet and disciplined execution of our development pipeline. Before turning to our first quarter results, I want to acknowledge a tragic incident that occurred during the quarter at our EPSA utility in Colombia where a contractor lost his life while performing work on one of our transmission lines. We took immediate action to support the family and colleagues and have implemented a detailed action plan. We’ve completed a thorough investigation and our action plan is directed at strengthening our safety culture and and applying the lessons learned to protect everyone who works at our sites around the world. This terrible incident reinforces the importance and the need for relentless focus on improving safety culture. With that, I will begin with an overview of our first quarter results, our strategic priorities and updates on our construction activities. Jeff will then take us through the financial results in more detail and after which we will open the line for questions. Strong wind conditions in Northern Europe contributed to solid financial performance in the first quarter, with adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow per share increasing 18% and 17% respectively compared to the first quarter of last year. While strong wind conditions underpinned that performance, our high fleet availability of 96% enabled us to capture these favorable wind resources and convert them into generation. We continued to advance construction at the 1 gigawatt Hailong offshore wind project in Taiwan, the 1.1 gigawatt Baltic Power offshore wind project in Poland, and the 80 megawatt 2 hour Jurassic Best project in Alberta, together representing more than 2.2 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity under construction. At Hilong, we recently signed a new 30 year corporate power purchase agreement with our current corporate offtaker which will cover 100% of the project’s generating capacity. As electricity demand grows and energy security becomes a greater policy priority, we see commercial off takers seeking long term contracted supply, providing price certainty and reliability, and Northland is well positioned to meet that demand. Turning to a bit more detail about our construction projects at Hailong fabrication of all the remaining major components has been completed. Our turbine installation campaign is underway following the opening of the weather window on April 1, we have 51 out of 73 turbines now installed. With 32 of those turbines generating power and all cabling work now complete, the project remains on track for commercial operation in 2027. At Baltic Power, we completed several important construction milestones including fabrication of the remaining components and installation of all four export cables, all the interarray cables, all the transition pieces and 38 of the 76 turbines. The project remains on track for commercial operation in the second half of 2026. At Jurassic Bass in Alberta, we installed all 39 battery packs and 20 medium voltage transformers during the quarter and successfully energized the project’s main transformer. That project remains on track for commercial operations in the second half of this year and we are advancing our two battery energy storage projects in Poland. We expect to start construction on one of those projects in the coming weeks, with the second project beginning in the coming months. Disciplined capital allocation remains central to our strategy. We continue to refine and high grade our development pipeline and prioritize projects with returns that meet our investment criteria. During the quarter, we decided to discontinue the 100 megawatt High Bridge onshore wind project in in New York State following the government’s suspension of permit applications. We had previously minimized spending on this project pending certainty on the permitting path and we’ve now determined that the issues are unlikely to reverse in the near term and our development money is better spent elsewhere. We also chose not to renew a permit for a 990 megawatt offshore wind project in South Korea due to the project not meeting our investment criteria. The remainder of our 1.6 gigawatt development portfolio in South Korea remains paused as we continue to assess the regulatory environment. These are the right decisions for our business. Our objective is disciplined growth supported by strong returns and execution certainty. We are also evaluating opportunities across our core markets and we’re maturing value enhancement opportunities within our existing fleet and we look forward to providing you with updates and more details on that as the year unfolds. With that, I’ll turn it over to Jeff to walk us through the financial results.

Jeff Hart (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Christine and good morning everyone. It was a strong quarter with operational availability of 96% which allowed us to capture strong wind resource across our European offshore fleet. In addition, our results were supported by lower curtailments related to negative pricing and grid outages and the Oneida Energy Storage facility, which commenced operations in May of last year, also contributed meaningfully. These drivers were partially offset by lower production from our onshore wind and solar facilities in Spain, Canada and the U.S. overall, we generated first quarter adjusted EBITDA of 427 million, which represents an 18% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025. This increase, as I mentioned, was due to higher production from offshore wind and Contributions from Oneida as well as pre completion revenues from Highlon. Net income for the quarter was 161 million compared to 111 million in 2025 and free cash flow per share for the quarter was $0.70 compared with $0.60 in 2025. And in relation to our major construction projects, Baltic Power and Highlong both are on track for commercial operations as planned, with overall costs aligned with original expectations and as previously disclosed in the fall of 2025, slower than expected turbine commissioning at Highlong may require a potential equity injection of 150 to 200 million Northland share and this can be funded by several sources including corporate liquidity. However, we and our project partners are actively looking at optimizations at the project level and will provide an update later this summer. The signing of the new 30 year Highlon corporate power Purchase Agreement extends our weighted average contract length and creates incremental capacity for further project level optimizations. The Northland team is pursuing more value creation activities across our fleet and we are reaffirming our 2026 financial guidance with 2026 adjusted EBITDA expected to be in the range of 1.45 to 1.65 billion and free cash flow per share in the range …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, Galiano Gold (AMEX:GAU) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

Benzinga APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ to learn more.

The full earnings call is available at https://www.gowebcasting.com/events/galiano-gold/2026/05/14/first-quarter-results-conference-call/play

Summary

Galiano Gold reported a solid first quarter with no lost time injuries, maintaining a strong safety record for over 12 months.

The Sanco Gold Mine marked its 10th year of operations, producing 34,500 ounces of gold in Q1 2026, aligning with full-year production guidance of 140,000 to 160,000 ounces.

The company extended its mining contract with Rabotec, enhancing local content compliance in Ghana, and ended the quarter with $115 million in cash, positioning well for future operations.

Exploration activities progressed, with significant steps towards expanding reserves at Asasi and underground resources at Abore, supported by an increased exploration budget from $17 million to $25 million.

Financial results were impacted by losses on hedges, but the company generated record revenues of $166 million, with an adjusted net income of $0.11 per share.

Future outlook remains positive with anticipated cash flow growth in 2027 as hedges roll off and production increases, leveraging high gold prices for shareholder value.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello and welcome to the Galiano Gold First Quarter Results Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press STAR followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press Star one again. I’ll now turn the conference over to Matt Badlock, Galiano CEO. Please go ahead.

Matt Badlock (CEO)

Thank you operator and good morning everyone. We appreciate you taking time to join us on this call today to review Galiano Gold’s first quarter 2026 results we released yesterday after market close. We will be making forward looking statements and referring to non IFRS measures during the call. Please refer to the cautionary notes and risk disclosures in our most recent MDA as well as this slide of the webcast presentation. Yesterday’s Release Details Our First Quarter 2026 Financial and Operating results. They should be read in conjunction with our first quarter financial statements and MDA available on our website and filed on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. Also, please bear in mind that all dollar amounts mentioned in the conference call are in US Dollars unless otherwise noted. With me on the call today I have Michael Cardinals, our Chief Operating officer, Matt Freeman, our Chief Financial Officer and Chris Peppman, our Vice President, Exploration for this presentation I will initially provide a brief overview of the quarter. Michael will discuss operations, Matt will discuss financials, and then Chris will highlight the exciting growth potential at Asasi and our ongoing exploration success at Abore. I’ll then provide some closing remarks and open the call for Q1 and A Turning to slide 5 here we can see the team delivered another solid operational quarter in line with our expectations for the period. Let me walk you through some of the key highlights. Safety continues to be our top priority and I am pleased to report that we recorded no lost time injuries in Q1, extending our LTI free period to more than 12 months. This milestone reflects the team’s ongoing focus and commitment to maintaining a strong safety culture across the operation. Turning to production, the Sanco Gold mine reached an important milestone during the quarter, marking its 10th year of continuous operations. Over that period, the mine has produced more than 1.9 million ounces of gold, or just over 190,000 ounces per year on average. In Q1 we produced 34,500 ounces of gold, slightly above the midpoint of our first half forecast. Our full year production guidance remains unchanged at between 140,000 and 160,000 ounces during the quarter, we executed a four year extension to our mining contract, Ravitec, who have been actively mining at Asasi and at Abore since 2024. This strengthens an existing relationship with a highly qualified domestic service provider and highlights our commitment to local content requirements in Ghana. Our balance sheet remains strong and we ended the quarter with $115 million in cash. Despite increased stripping activities at Nkran and an impact of higher royalties, including the $75 million revolving credit facility added in Q4, total liquidity now stands at approximately $190 million. Positioning the company well moving forward. Exploration activities also progressed well during the quarter with the team advancing work streams focused on expanding mineral reserves at Asasi and growing underground mineral resources at Abore. With that, I’ll now pass it over to Mick to discuss production in more detail.

Mick

Thank you Matt and good morning everyone. Starting with safety, our improvement from last quarter continued into 2026. We recorded no lost time injuries and no recordable injuries. And I’m pleased to report that at the end of March we reached 12 months lost time injury free. That milestone brought our lost time injury frequency rate down to zero and our total recordable injury frequency rate to 0.11 per million hours worked. Turning to mining, Tarsi ramped up production in Q1 as planned and together with Abore, we increased total tonnes mined by 9%. Mill feed in 2026 is planned from these two pits. Abore and Asasi and ortons mined increased 6% compared to the previous quarter. As the year progresses, strip ratios, especially at Abore, are forecast to decrease. That gives us access to more ore and allows us to preferentially feed higher grade material to the mill, supporting higher gold production in the second half of 2026 at Nkran cut 3 stripping continued volumes mined increased modestly by 8% in the quarter and we expect material movement to build through the year as additional equipment is mobilised to site. Now, if we move to the next slide, I’ll walk you through our processing performance for the quarter. Overall, the year has started well. In Q1 we completed a substantial planned maintenance program including relines for both mills and replacement of the primary crusher pitman. As a result, tonnes treated were lower but as expected. Importantly, with the circuit optimisations we’ve implemented, throughput is now performing in line with expectations. Grades and recovery met plan or were better during the quarter. That translated into gold production of 34,747 ounces and sales of just over 34,000 ounces. We are well positioned to achieve the upper end of our previously communicated production range of 60 to 70,000 ounces for the first half of the year and we remain on track to meet our full year guidance. So, in summary, both mining and processing areas are performing as expected and we’re tracking well against our 2026 guidance. I will now hand over to Matt Freeman to discuss the Q1 financial results.

Matt Freeman (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Michael. Good morning everyone. As Michael outlined, we’re pleased with the first quarter delivered in line with our plan. The continued strong gold price environment enabled us to generate record revenues …

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Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Thursday morning that China has “never lived up to one contract they’ve ever signed,” delivering a blunt counter to President Donald Trump’s claim from Beijing overnight that U.S.-China relations are “going to be better than ever before.”

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box as Trump kicked off a two-day summit with Xi Jinping, Scott said he does not believe Xi will “do anything other than lie, cheat and steal.” He cited the WTO, the previous trade deal and Beijing’s continued imprisonment of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai.

“I’m appreciative that President Trump is busting his butt,” Scott said. “But do I believe Xi will do anything other than lie, cheat and steal? No, I don’t.”

What Prediction Markets Are Pricing In

Prediction markets agree with Scott on one thing: the big policy …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) shares are trading lower Thursday. The dip follows a period of extreme volatility and massive gains for the hydrogen fuel cell sector.

Investors Pivot to Profit-Taking

The primary driver behind Thursday’s decline appears to be aggressive profit-taking. FuelCell Energy stock hit a new 52-week high of $20.27 on Wednesday.

This peak capped a four-day surge where the stock climbed over 50%. Traders are now securing gains after the rapid price appreciation.

AI Data Center Euphoria Cools

Market optimism recently shifted into high gear following a landmark deal between Bloom Energy Corp (NYSE:BE) and Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) last month.

Sector …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, Aya Gold & Silver (TSX:AYA) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

View the webcast at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/x8mnaba5/

Summary

Aya Gold & Silver reported exceptional financial results for Q1 2026, achieving record revenue of $117 million, record cash flow of $17 million, and a net income of $49 million, despite losing five days of production due to extreme weather conditions.

The company maintained high production rates with nearly 1.5 million ounces of silver produced, and an increase in stockpiled resources, leveraging a strong mining rate of 4,600 tons per day.

Aya Gold & Silver continues to focus on strategic initiatives, including the Boumadin project, which is progressing with pyrite reclamation and planning for future feasibility studies, while maintaining strong cost controls and increasing their exploration budget to $60 million for 2026.

The company is confident in its future outlook, maintaining guidance for 2026 production between 6.2 to 6.8 million ounces of silver, and expects to improve margins further due to rising silver prices and stable operational costs.

Management highlighted the company’s strong balance sheet with $172 million in unrestricted cash, a robust exploration program aiming to drill 240,000 meters, and a strategic focus on expanding operations in Morocco, supported by a favorable mining jurisdiction.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning everyone. I will now turn the call over to Elizabeth Hemowy, Aya Gold & Silver’s Director of Corporate and Financial Communications. Please go ahead.

Elizabeth Hemowy (Director of Corporate and Financial Communications)

Thank you Operator. And welcome to everyone who has joined IA’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Here with me today I have Benoit Alazal President and CEO Hugo Lambry, Tolsch Chief Financial Officer Elias Elias, Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer, Rafael Baudoin, Vice President of Operations and David Lalonde, Vice President of Exploration. We will be referring to a presentation on this conference call which is available via the webcast and is also posted on our website. As we will be making forward looking statements during the call. Please refer to the cautionary notes included in the presentation news release and MDA as well as the risk factors included in our annual information form. Technical information in this presentation has been reviewed and approved by Rafael Baudoin, Aya’s Vice President of Operations and David Lalonde, Aya’s Vice President of Exploration, both of whom are IAAS qualified Persons as defined under National Instruments 43101 Standards of disclosure for Minerals Projects. I would also like to remind everyone that our presentation will be followed by a Q and A session. With that I would now like to turn the call over to Benoit Alazal.

Benoit Alazal

Thank you Elizabeth. Good morning everyone. Thank you for assisting this Q1 2026 conference call. Let me summarize the quarter before we get through the presentation. I think we need to Summarize this as Q1 is an exceptional quarter for Aya. It’s an exceptional quarter knowing that Q1 is always the most difficult quarter for the company as we are at 2,200 meter above sea level in the mountains with lots of snow and rain and wind. So this year due to the fact that we lost five days of operation due to weather related situation, we still delivered an outstanding quarter. I had delivered record revenue, record cash flow, expanding margin, rising silver price and lower cash costs. So we have a very strong Q1 and when you compare it to Q4 of last year with Q1 of this year on a per day basis, the production per day is very similar, approaching 15,000 ounces. The reason the production is a little bit lower in Q1 is due to the fact that we lost an equivalent of about five days of production. But when you look at the highlights, it’s record revenue of $117 million, it’s record cash flow of $17 million, it’s a record net income after tax of $49 million. It’s a cash balance at the end of the Quarter of unrestricted cash of $172 million. It’s a production of almost 1.5 million ounces for the quarter with record mining rates, you know, really strong quarter. And as we have a record mining rate, we’ve also increased are stockpiled. So taking you to our presentation that we use, showing you some, you know, graphics. If we go to page four after the forward looking statement, you see exactly what I’ve just said. The record revenue in Q1 2026 at 117 million. Compare that to last year at 34 million. The net income of 49 million compared to last year of 7 million with an EPS of $33 fully diluted, $0.33 fully diluted and 34 on a non diluted basis. And when you look at Q1 of operating cash flow this year at 70 million compared to last year, 8 million. So very strong quarter. You see it on the right hand side we’re showing you the production profile as increase from Q1 2025 where we produced a million ounces of silver to Q1 of 2026 where we’re at 1,490,000 ounces. Of course a little bit lower than Q4 of last year. Because Q4 of last year had no weather related event. Whereas Q1 of this year had approximately five days of weather related events. Moving on to page five of the presentation. Very interesting. On the left hand side, the quarterly mining tonnage. You know, we’ve always been saying that the mining has to follow the plant. The plant is. The plant’s production profile has been 30 to 40% above nameplate capacity. But the mine also needs to follow the plant. And the mine is actually now exceeding the plant. So you see on the left hand side, last year we were running at 2,200 ton a day. In Q4 we were at 4,200 ton a day. And now by Q1 this quarter, we were running at 4,600 ton a day. So absolutely stellar performance from the mine, from the open pit and from the underground mine. The grade is also steady and improving. So we’re pleased with the outcome of the mining and the grade and the throughput. And then on the right hand side, you look at the plant. Well, in Q4 the plant was running at 3,800 ton a day. In Q1 the plant’s running as well. And if not sometimes higher. But as indicated because of the lost days. If some of you have followed the weather in Morocco, it was extremely rare. Like they had two times the historical average rainfall and snowfall in all of Morocco. I was there two weeks ago and the week before that there was snow in Marrakech, which is absolutely, you know, rare. So this is in one way it was a little bit difficult on the actual production, but we now have more than 15 months of inventory of water at site and the rivers are still running. So, you know, being a little difficult on the production was a great situation for water management and for us and for all the country. Now all the water reservoirs have been filled. Some of the reservoirs that had not seen water in many, many, many years are now full. So the water situation globally for the country was extremely good. Moving on to slide number six. A quick word on Boumadine. You know, at Boumadine we are reclaiming the pyrite. The operation is going extremely well. We produced 127,000 ounces of silver and, and 1,757 ounces of gold. A little bit lower than what we wanted it to be. Again, weather related because of course the bad weather of Zgounder was also weather related at Boumadine. And the other situation with Boumadine is because we are exporting the pyrite tonnage. The port in Morocco were shut down for one month because of weather, because of floods. So of course that’s why, you know, this silver equivalent sold. If when you look at page 6, you see the silver equivalent produced of 227,000 ounces and only 50,000 ounces sold. One reason exporting is, you know, we produce it, we ship it to port and then it stayed there because we could not ship it just because of very, very difficult weather. All of that is behind us. It’s probably now going to rain next time in November or December. It’s all behind us. But the reality was that even at Boumadine we were a little bit affected, especially on the shipment of the concentrate to Asia. But the Boumadine project is really an add on to it’s minimal capex. Very, very low cash cost. It’s positive cash flow. The grade reconciliation is actually better. We have the gold grade is a little bit better. The silver grade is better than what we had in our model. So globally it’s a very profitable project and which is at the same time an ESG project because we’re cleaning all of the historical waste that was left there for many, many years. So it’s still going on and it’s accelerating now in Q2, Q3 and Q4, we are accelerating the reclamation of the Boumadine pirate. Going to page seven of the presentation. This again Coming back to last quarter, this is the most important slide. The one on the left is the margin. Look at the margins from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026. You know, we were working with a $12 margin in Q1 last year and staying at $12 in Q2 of last year. And then margins started going up to $20 in Q3 and then you saw to about $40 in Q4. And now margins right now are like $63 in Q1 of 2026. And obviously you are following the silver price and we’re seeing that this is, you know, is very, very. It’s a very strong silver price at the moment and our costs are stable. We are not affected greatly by the war and the increase in fuel price. We are. Cyanide went up a little bit. We’re going to see that in Q2, but it’s marginal. The main reason is our electricity is from the grid and it’s solar and wind. So most companies are affected because they need to generate their own power at. And it will be the same at Boumadine. The power is solar and wind. So we do not expect cost to increase more than maybe $1 announced if they increase by that much. And the reason is really because of the source of energy. On the right hand side you see the growth of revenue and obviously, As I said, Q1 at US$117 million revenue with a net income after tax of 49 million. This is a very strong performance of revenue increasing. Of course it’s due to the silver as we understand what the production profile is. But that the silver price was extremely good in Q1, our highest selling unit or selling price in Q1 at one point we were able to sell close to $120 an ounce. So it’s showing. And now the average of 82 as we speak. Right now the silver price is higher than the average of Q1 2026. And the net income, well, net income after tax of 49 million with an EPS of $33. Taking us to page eight, a very strong balance sheet. We finished the quarter with $172 million US in the bank. And on top of that we have the restricted cash that we have for the eBRD loan of 16 million US. So when you look at this, it’s a very, very strong cash position, a strong balance sheet. Only one debt with EBRD which is now below $100 million and which we could pay, but it’s a very good and not so expensive loan with ebrd. So there’s no point in pushing the repayment of that debt. When you look at cash from operation at 70 million, our capital expenditure program is 4 million. The expiration and evaluation expiration mainly is 14 million. We had a very good quarter on expiration and I’ll talk about the drilling. So all in all, when you look at this with an $18 cash costs and all the capital expenditure behind us, so it’s a very, very profitable quarter.

Benoit Alazal

Moving to page nine, which is our guidance. So our guidance was presented to you at the beginning of 2026. We are maintaining our guidance though we are a little bit below where we wanted to be in our production guidance. We knew that that Q1 is always a little bit weaker than the rest of the year because of seasonality and we knew that. So that was part of our planning. And we’re very comfortable with our guidance of 6.2 to 6.8 million ounces. This Zgounder production between 5.2 and 5.8. The Boumadine at 1 million ounces of silver equivalent. We’re very comfortable with that. Now when you look at Zgounder cash costs at 2150, I understand that we were at 18 this quarter but you know, it’s a question of the strip ratio and we know that, you know, over time we’re going to be a little bit higher than this. So we’re comfortable to say that the guidance at 2150 is where it should be. The Boumadine cash cost at 10, 10 in Q4 it was 6. In Q1 of this year it’s more like 11.

Benoit Alazal

We’re very close. We are also going to ramp up on quantity and in …

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On Thursday, Bird Construction (TSX:BDT) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

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Summary

Bird Construction reported strong financial performance with a 9.2% year-over-year growth in construction revenue, stable margins, and improved adjusted earnings.

The company announced two major strategic partnerships: one with Martin Falls First Nation and another with Bell AI Fabric, aimed at enhancing infrastructure and data center projects respectively.

Bird Construction maintains a strong backlog of $5.4 billion, with a diverse portfolio across sectors including defense, energy, and infrastructure, supporting visibility into future revenue and margin progression.

The company reaffirmed its 2027 strategic plan targets, including an 8% adjusted EBITDA margin, supported by its balanced business model and robust backlog.

Management expressed confidence in the company’s capacity to manage growth through disciplined project selection and a strong team structure, ensuring execution capability for large-scale projects.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Bird Construction first quarter conference call and webcast. We will begin with Terry McKibben, President and Chief Executive Officer’s presentation which will be followed by a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, analysts will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded and at this time all participants are in a listen only mode. Before commencing with the conference call, the Company reminds those present that certain statements which are made express management’s expectations or estimates of future performance and thereby constitute forward looking information. Forward looking information is necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Management’s formal comments and responses to any questions you might ask may include forward looking information. Therefore, the Company cautions today’s participants that such forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from the company’s estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking information. Forward looking information does not guarantee future performance. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information events or otherwise. In addition, the presentation today includes references to a number of financial measures which do not have standardized meanings under IFRS and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other companies and are therefore considered non GAAP measures. I would like to turn the call over to Terry McKibben, President and CEO of Bird Construction.

Terry McKibben (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining Bird’s first quarter 2026 conference call. With me today is Wayne Gingrich, Bird’s Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I’d like to acknowledge our teams across the country who recognized Safety Week last week and the National Day of Mourning on April 28th at Bird Safety is fundamental to how we operate. It’s about ensuring our people return home safely every day and it is inseparable from strong execution and operational discipline. Our focus on safety underpins consistent performance and supports long term strength of the business. Thank you to our teams for the continued commitment to working safely and to delivering excellence. Our business is aligned with some of the most significant long cycle investment programs in Canada’s history getting underway across the country including defense, nuclear and renewable energy, oil, gas, lng, health care and educational infrastructure, land and marine infrastructure, mining and community development and data centers. Distinct vertical platforms designed with purpose built teams strategically developed with the overall benefit to not be overweight in any particular sector subject to economic volatility. In summary, it’s an exciting time to be at Bird and we are built for this. Bird continues to carry significant backlog pending backlog and our teams are winning work across our target sectors that visibility supports disciplined planning and execution while advancing progress toward our 2027 strategic plan objectives. We’re starting to see a meaningful shift in how capital is approaching infrastructure investment in Canada. Recent federal actions including the Sovereign Wealth Fund, investment in Skilled Trades, the Major Projects Office 1 project 1 review agreements and reinforced NATO defense spending are moving policy into execution. Together, these measures support projects advancing into construction and we expect this to improve line of sight on project progression nationally. Third delivered a solid start in 2026 with strong revenue growth, stable margins and improved year over year adjusted earnings. As we discussed at year end we expect revenue growth and margin accretion to accelerate in the second quarter and second half of the year. This is still on track. First quarter results reflect solid execution, a diverse and growing backlog and clear cadence for margin accretion as our record work program converts. Construction revenue returned year over year growth of 9.2% while adjusted EBITDA increased 8.9% with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 4.7%. Adjusted earnings and adjusted EPS also increased year over year. The quarter reflected strong organic growth in buildings and year over year growth in infrastructure supported by both organic activity and and contributions from FRPD. Industrial revenue tracked as expected with a modest year over year decline ahead of an expected ramp up in the second quarter and second half. Backlog growth during the quarter reinforced performance trends as securements and conversions increased visibility and supported a favorable margin profile. Subsequent to quarter end we announced two transformational partnerships which I will discuss further in the following slides. We remain focused on disciplined project selection and continued progress towards a more balanced mix across industrial buildings and infrastructure. Our combined backlog continues to be a key strength. Robust demand drove 1.1 billion of backlog securements and conversions during the quarter resulting in record contracted backlog of 5.4 billion up 23.8% year over year pending backlog total 5.6 billion and this includes approximately 1.5 billion of MSA and other recurring revenue expected to be earned over the next five years through our industrial maintenance and environmental remediation businesses. A high proportion of our backlog is delivered under collaborative contract structures that align incentives and help mitigate cost escalation while supporting consistent margins. Overall backlog remains well balanced and reflects higher embedded margins than a year ago, supporting revenue and Margin progression through 2026 and 2027. Margin progression continues to be driven by our fundamentals revenue mix, increased exposure to more complex and higher margin sectors, strong execution and increased self perform content and operating leverage as volume scale in the quarter revenue mix reflected a higher proportion of buildings revenue which typically includes less self performed work. Our full year expectations are unchanged and we remain confident in achieving our 2027 strategic plan objective of an 8% adjusted EBITDA margin. Turning to execution, our focus remains on safe delivery and predictable performance and our major projects progressed as planned during the quarter. Large capital investment projects remain a core element of our strategy, providing long duration revenue visibility and opportunities to expand scope over time. Our approach is to establish early involvement, demonstrate a strong commitment to safe execution, and deepen our role as programs advance. Projects highlighted on this slide illustrate that model in practice and across several end markets. Through this model, LCLPs support margin progression, multi year growth and strategic capital deployment and remain an important contributor to to Progress against our 2027 strategic plan objectives and beyond we recently announced a majority Indigenous owned strategic partnership with Martin Falls First Nation through the formation of Panazi LP, focused on the collaborative delivery of community infrastructure that supports both near term priorities and longer term development objectives. Initial opportunities include improvements to the local airport, a solar facility with battery storage and a training center. Martin Falls traditional territory includes large areas within the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario. The region is a significant nation building priority with Canada’s critical mineral strategy and hosts deposits of chromite, nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group metals critical to electric vehicle batteries and clean energy supply chains. Despite this, potential, development has historically been constrained by the absence of permanent all season infrastructure, particularly the access roads to remote First Nation communities and prospective industrial sites. Governments are now advancing infrastructure initiatives to address these constraints and improve access as part of a broader effort to unlock long term economic development. A number of agreements have advanced over the past year to support momentum on access and enabling infrastructure. Our partnership provides a structured framework to work with the community on infrastructure and readiness initiatives with strong emphasis on capacity building and local participation. Over the coming three to six months, we expect progress on planning design of access roads within the Martin Falls First Nation, with construction anticipated commence in 2027. Beyond access roads, the region will enable will require additional enabling infrastructure including transmission, telecommunications and digital networks to support future development. This early engagement positions Bird with potential visibility into a Significant multi year infrastructure program supporting demand beyond 2027 and backed by our partnership with the Martin Falls First Nation. This morning we announced a significant long term strategic partnership with Bell AI Fabric Bell Canada’s national National AI Infrastructure Platform. This partnership reflects the strength of our integrated self performed model and our ability to deliver mission critical infrastructure at scale underpinned by an increasingly differentiated electrical, mechanical, civil and system capability. As a leading specialty contractor under the agreement, Bert and Bell have established a structured basis from which to collaborate on future AI data center projects. This provides us with a meaningful pipeline opportunity in one of the fastest growing segments of the construction market while also giving us greater confidence in future demand. That long term view will enable us to continue investing constantly in our people supply chain relationships operational capacity required to support a transformational multi year build up program. Today, Bell has indicated line of sight to monetizing approximately 800 megawatts of power over time. The structure of the partnership is also designed to align incentives over the long term. As part of the agreement we will grant Bell warrants to acquire common shares which vest in connection with delivery milestones. This creates strong alignment between both organizations as we work together to build world class digital infrastructure nationwide. The data center environment remains a significant addressable market. Over the past five years, Bird has built a mission critical team and is well positioned to pursue large scale opportunities across Canada as reflected in this morning’s Strategic Partnership announcement with Bell. Overall, this partnership reinforces our position as the partner of choice for Canada’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects. The first project under the long term Strategic partnership with Bell AI fabric is a 300 megawatt data center announced in March in the rural municipality of Sherwood, Saskatchewan. This facility represents Bell’s largest ever investment in Saskatchewan and will be Canada’s largest purpose built AI data center. The first phase is expected to come online in the first half of 2027. Bird has been selected as the lead Construction manager for the Sherwood facility. Building on our deep roots in Saskatchewan. Since our founding In Wuxia in 1920, we have contributed to projects that generations of residents rely on every day. From hospitals and schools to industrial military facilities, energy assets and potash operations. That long standing present matters because projects of this scale and importance require more than technical capability. They require trusted relationships, regional knowledge and a proven ability to deliver in partnerships with communities and stakeholders. A core part of our commitment is our approach to Indigenous engagement not just at Sherwood, but at other critical projects like the Panazi eliminated partnership in the Ring of Fire. We believe that meaningful partnerships are built through action accountability and measurable outcomes. That includes creating opportunities for indigenous employment, procurement, training and long term community participation. We’re proud to have maintained Partnership accreditation in indigenous relations since 2013 and in 2024 we achieved the PEAR Silver Certification, a recognition that reflects years of sustained effort and continuous improvement. As we move forward with the Sherwood Project alongside Bell and our other project partners, we will focus on local and indigenous involvement throughout the life of the project. The Sherwood Project and our other partnerships are not simply about delivering infrastructure, they are about creating durable economic benefits and strengthening communities. In addition to these recent announcements, we continue to see significant depth across birds end markets. Clients are increasingly prioritizing safety, performance, delivery, certainty, self perform capability and proven execution. As a reference, the opportunity set remains broad across defense, nuclear and renewable energy, oil, gas and lng, healthcare and educational infrastructure, land and marine infrastructure, mining and community development and data centers. We are now seeing acceleration in spending in real time and we expect project flow to continue as policy commitments increasingly move to execution. Many programs are anchored in long term national priorities tied to energy security, supply chain resilience, geopolitical considerations supporting multi year construction programs with high barriers to entry due to complexity and certification requirements. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our progress towards the objectives outlined in our 2027 strategic plan. The fundamentals underpinning the plan have been in place for several years and have continued to strengthen since we formally laid out the strategy in 2024. Performance over the 2022-2024 strategic …

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ETFs posted $635.2 million in outflows Wednesday, but Thursday price action could nullify analysts’s warnings about a drop to $70,000.

Biggest Daily Outflow Since Late January

The fresh outflows mark the largest daily Bitcoin ETF withdrawal since January 29, when the funds posted about $818 million in losses. 

Weekly outflows now stand at $841.2 million, putting ETFs on track for their first week of net losses after six consecutive weeks of gains totaling around $3.4 billion.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) led losses with roughly $285 million in outflows. 

ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (BATS:ARKB) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (BATS:FBTC) followed with $177 million and $133.2 million respectively.

Additionally, Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:MSBT) posted …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Legence (NASDAQ:LGN) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

Legence reported first-quarter 2026 revenues of over $1 billion, more than doubling year-over-year, driven by both organic growth and the acquisition of Bowers.

The company raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $4.1 to $4.3 billion, and EBITDA guidance to $470 to $490 million, reflecting strong project execution and increased market demand.

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 132% year-over-year, with margins expanding due to strong project execution and cost leverage.

The total backlog reached a record $5.4 billion, up 104% from the previous year, indicating strong future demand, particularly in the data center and technology sectors.

Legence continues to focus on strategic growth through acquisitions, particularly in mission-critical building systems, and maintains a disciplined approach to M&A.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2026 Legence earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today. Son Van, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Son Van (Vice President, Investor Relations)

Thank you Daniel and good morning everyone. Welcome to Legion’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. With me today are Jeff Sprow, our Chief Executive Officer, Steven Butts, Chief Financial Officer and Steve Hanson, Chief Operating Officer. This morning we issued a press release that covers our first quarter 2026 financial results and posted a slide presentation that accompanies the earnings release. All materials can be found on the investor relations section of the company’s website. wearelegence.com before we begin, I want to remind you that comments made during this call contain certain forward looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those identified in our risk factors contained in our SEC filings. Our actual results could differ materially from and we undertake no obligations to update any such forward looking statements. During this call we will refer to certain non GAAP financial measures which should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Please refer to our quarterly earnings presentation for reconciliations of these non GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. With that, let me turn the call over to Jeff.

Jeff Sprow

Thank you son. And thanks everyone for joining today to discuss our first quarter performance and current outlook for Legence. It’s only been a month and a half since our last earnings call and the themes that we spoke about then are still applicable today. These themes include a very healthy demand environment for mission critical building systems, particularly in the data center and technology end market, our strong project execution, our ability to attract talented labor and the impact that M and A can bring to accelerate our growth. All of these factors contributed to our strong first quarter results that exceeded quarterly guidance as well as provide the underpinning to raise our full year 2026 guidance on our first quarter results. Stephen will go into greater detail, but at a high level. Total revenues more than doubled year over year to just over a billion dollars. Now to put that into perspective, Legion’s generated $1.2 billion of revenue for all of 2022, so we’ve grown revenue at an incredible pace over the past three years. Our historic growth was roughly split evenly between organic growth and through acquisitions. This was the case in our latest quarterly results where our acquisition of Bowers accounted for just under half of the year over year revenue gains, with organic growth essentially making up the other half. Excluding the impact from Bowers, revenues increased by a robust 57% year over year, with the majority of this growth coming from the installation and maintenance segment. While data centers and technology clients drove our growth, other key end markets such as life science, healthcare, education and state and local government also posted solid gains. Engineering and consulting segment revenue growth was a bit more broad based across our end markets and that segment is seeing more traction with our data center and technology clients. Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) grew by 132% year over year, reflecting the contribution from Bowers as well as overall growth in our existing businesses. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) margins expanded by over 130 basis points as we benefited from strong project execution, particularly with our installation and fabrication projects, and better leverage of our SGA costs. Total backlog and awards ended the quarter at a record 5.4 billion, up 104% year over year, which reflects the inclusion of Bowers. Excluding Bowers, backlog and awards grew by 36% from a year ago. Now, on a sequential basis and pro forma for the inclusion of Bowers backlog, we added approximately 200 million of net new backlog on top of the billion dollars in revenue recorded during the first quarter. Most of the increase in backlog and awards came in the installation and maintenance segment driven by the data center and technology market. While the addition of Bowers not only expanded our mechanical presence in the D.C. virginia region, we also diversified our client base in this end market, increasing our presence with certain hyperscalers and co locators. Engineering and consulting backlog rose by 13% on a year over year basis, driven by state and local government and education clients. The resulting book to bill ratio for the three months ended March 2026 was 1.2 times. While this is lower than the book to bill experience in the fourth quarter, realize that we had several very large awards that from a timing standpoint were booked at the end of last year. This added to backlog growth and elevated book to bill in the fourth quarter, but also impacted what we would have otherwise booked in the first quarter. Now, setting aside the timing aspect of when awards are booked, the underlying growth that we expect in our end markets, particularly in data centers and technology remains very robust and we feel confident in our ability to continue to grow. Total Backlog as the year progresses Based on what we see in our pipeline, we continue to grow our labor force to meet the strong demand that we see in the end markets that we serve. In April we crossed over 10,000 full time employees at Legence. This includes approximately 7,400 skilled technicians and craftspeople, which is over 1,000 more than what we began the year with. They work alongside our 1,200 plus engineers and consultants to deliver projects at the highest standards for our clients across both segments. While we’re always mindful of having the right people necessary to execute on our projects, we do not expect labor to be a material constraint on our ability to grow. Finally, on our fabrication capacity and expansion plans. While there are some advanced tooling installations and other operational items that we need to complete to get where we want to be from a functionality and efficiency standpoint, we are largely up and running on 1.3 million square feet of fab capacity today. At this level of capacity and the operational flexibility that we have with this capacity, we feel good about our ability to execute on our current book of business with some room to meet the additional demand that we see in our pipeline. Our fabrication business continues to be driven by our technical cooling systems for data centers and will likely continue to be the case for some time. With that said, we’re seeing additional indications of interest for fabrication services with our pharmaceutical and semiconductor clients. As the benefits of fabrication and modular construction are recognized by more mission critical markets and given our relationships with many of the most technologically innovative companies in the world, we’re in a great position to capitalize on this trend. With that, let me turn the call over to Steven.

Stephen Butts

Thank you Jeff and good morning everyone. For the remainder of our call, I’ll begin with A review of first quarter 2026 results in comparison to first quarter of 2025. Following my review of our historical results, I’ll make some brief remarks about our current guidance, discuss our balance sheet and liquidity position before handing the call back to Jeff. Starting with the first quarter of 2026, we generated revenue of $1,038,000,000, an increase of $506,000,000, or 105% from the year ago quarter. The Bowers Group acquisition contributed a little over $240 million of revenue. Excluding Bowers, our revenues grew by approximately 57% year over year. Our first quarter 2026 revenues surpassed our guidance primarily due to outperformance in the installation and maintenance segment with very strong project execution and fabrication as a key driver. The larger scale of data center projects in particular has given us a chance to apply best practices and continuously improve our delivery model and efficiencies as we gain in efficiency. One of the outcomes is that we’re able to complete and ship product ahead of schedule, all while maintaining our high quality standards. As a result, our clients are able to install and commission our system sooner, allowing us to release contingencies earlier than expected, effectively pulling forward some revenue that was originally expected in later periods and also lift our margin profile. Increased confidence around this dynamic is also behind why we are raising our full year 2026 guidance, which I’ll cover later in my remarks breaking down our latest quarterly revenue growth at the segment level. Starting with engineering and consulting, the segment revenue grew by 14%, most of which was organic, to 166 million. Program and project management service revenues grew at a robust 75% with particularly strong growth in K12 schools. As we’re working on several large projects in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, we also saw additional activity in data centers and technology. However, engineering and Design revenues declined by 8%, largely due to a very tough comparable prior year quarter that included some strong revenues from commercial solar advisory services coupled with softer demand in the current period for sustainability consulting from mixed use clients. We are hopeful that sustainability consulting will pick up in future periods as backlog for this service has increased since year end 2025. Moving to installation and maintenance, segment revenue of $872 million increased by 142% versus the year ago quarter. Roughly half of this growth was from the addition of Bowers, with the remaining growth largely organic installation and fabrication services accounted for the majority of segment growth, increasing by 162% driven by the inclusion of Bowers and robust organic growth with data center and technology clients. The segment also experienced attractive organic growth in life science and healthcare, in part reflecting our work on some larger hospital projects. Maintenance and service revenue increased by 60% year over year. When excluding the impact of Bowers, this service line still grew at a robust rate in excess of 20%. This high growth rate was due in part to a somewhat softer first quarter of 2025 comparison, but also reflected healthy increases in education, hospitals and semiconductor clients, the latter of which are included in our data center and technology end market classification. Turning to gross profit, consolidated gross Profit for the first quarter 2026 increased by 67% to approximately 186 million. Similar to our fourth quarter results, gross profit includes stock based and other compensation expense related to legacy profit interest units where the payment of this expense is borne by entities outside of Legions Corp. Essentially the legacy pre IPO shareholders. As a reminder, the settlement of legacy profit interest does not impact Legions Corp. Either in the form of cash outlay or the issuance of additional common shares. Because these profit interest units are marked to market, any significant changes to our share price will have a material impact on this expense expense as it did in the first quarter of 2026 excluding the impact of profit interest expense. Adjusted gross profit on a consolidated basis totaled approximately $194 million and adjusted gross margin was 18.7 for the first quarter 2026 compared to approximately 111 million and 21.9% in the first quarter 2025. The lower adjusted gross margin was primarily due to a revenue mix shift to the installation and maintenance segment as a result of the addition of Bowers and the high growth rate in this segment as well as lower gross margins in engineering and consulting segment. This was somewhat offset by the strong margin improvement in the IM segment. Delving into margins at the segment level first quarter 2026 engineering and consulting adjusted gross margin was 33.2% down from 40.7% in the first quarter 2025. As mentioned, the year ago quarter was a tough comparison in ENC as we had a few projects which generated very high margins that were not replicated in the latest quarter. Furthermore, the segment gross margin …

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Brookfield (NYSE:BN) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Watch the full earnings call below:

Summary

Brookfield reported strong financial performance with distributable earnings of $1.6 billion for the quarter, driven by growth across asset management and stable cash flows from operating businesses.

The acquisition of JustGroup in the UK has significantly increased their insurance assets, enhancing their position in the retirement market.

The company remains optimistic about future growth, particularly in areas like AI, digital infrastructure, and decarbonization, with a strategic focus on high-quality, cash-generative assets.

Brookfield has raised $67 billion in capital this year, contributing to a record fundraising outlook for 2026, and maintains a strong pipeline for asset sales and monetizations.

Management highlighted the importance of disciplined capital allocation and the potential for strategic investments in technology and infrastructure, with a focus on long-term value creation.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

One good day and welcome to the Brookfield Corporation first quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Ms. Katie Battaglia, Vice President Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Katie Battaglia (Vice President Investor Relations)

Thank you Operator and good morning. Welcome to Brookfield Corporation’s first quarter 2026 conference call. On the call today are Bruce Flattened, Chief Executive Officer Nick Goodman, President of Brookfield Corporation and Satchin Shah, Chief Executive Officer of our Wealth Solutions business. Bruce will start off by giving a business update followed by Nick who will discuss our financial and operating results for the quarter. And finally, Satchin will provide an update on our Wealth Solutions business. After our formal comments, we will turn the call over to the operator and take analyst questions. In order to accommodate all those who want to ask questions, we request that you refrain from asking more than two questions. I would like to remind you that in today’s comments, including in responding to questions and in discussing new initiatives in our financial and operating performance, we may make forward looking statements, including forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. security laws. These statements reflect predictions of future events and trends and do not relate to historic events. They are subject to known and unknown risks and future events and results may differ materially from such statements. For further information on these risks and their potential impacts on our company, please see our filings with the securities regulators in Canada and the U.S. and the information available on our website. In addition, when we speak about our Wealth Solutions business or Brookfield Wealth Solutions, we are referring to Brookfield’s investments in this business that supported the acquisition of its underlying operating subsidiaries. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Bruce.

Bruce Flattened (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Katie and welcome everyone on the call. We had a strong start to the year. Distributable earnings were $1.6 billion for the quarter, 6 billion over the last 12 months. More importantly, it also looks like the business will get stronger over the year. Our business has performed well and we continue to execute against initiatives which will drive our next phase of growth. Our asset management business delivered strong earnings growth supported by continued fundraising momentum across our institutional client base. Our operating businesses generated stable cash flows backed by resilient Underlying fundamentals our Wealth Solutions business performed well as it continues to scale globally. In April we closed the acquisition of JustGroup, a leading pension risk transfer platform in the UK. This increased total insurance assets by $40 billion and we’re now heading to $200 billion and strengthens our position in one of the world’s most active, attractive retirement markets. Nick will cover our financial results in more detail and tchin will spend more time on Just Group and the continued growth of our Wealth Solutions business. Before that, I would note that the current environment has had no shortage of macro developments competing for investors attention from geopolitics to trade issues, inflation and interest rates. And while these factors are important to monitor, they often receive far, far more attention than their long term impact warrants. Bottom line, we largely try to ignore them when building our business. This is particularly true in periods when capital flows, sentiment and prevailing market narratives influence price, which can increase the impression that the business fundamentals have changed when in most cases they have not. Value, on the other hand, you all know, is determined by the cash flows of a business that it generates and management’s ability to reinvest that capital at attractive returns. Our role as investors is to capitalize on attractive entry points to acquire good businesses for value, operate them well and allow compounding to work over time. Equally important is ensuring that compounding is not disrupted by being forced to act in detrimental ways during periods of market stress. This discipline shapes how we allocate capital and build our businesses. We take the time to watch an industry learn how it works, invest in a measured way, refine a business model, and only then scale a platform. This allows us to make small mistakes while avoiding large ones. In our experience, successful businesses are not built quickly, they are built deliberately with the resilience to allow one to compound cash flows and create value through economic cycles. And by adhering to these principles, our shareholders have earned excellent compound returns over long periods of time. Over that same period we’ve navigated many market environments. Each felt dramatic at the time. But the most important point is that each period of market disruption in hindsight had very little impact on long term outcomes. Today we believe many of the market distortions we are seeing are temporary and will moderate in the sectors we focus on. And while the current environment may feel volatile, it is ultimately constructive for businesses like ours. In addition, as uncertainty around growth and inflation rises, capital tends to shift towards high quality cash generative assets, an environment that favors real assets which we are specialists in. We are now seeing large flows of funds due to the halo effect, that’s hard assets, low obsolescence and are seeing this across the board within our businesses. Real estate is a good example of this. Sentiment is now catching up with fundamentals. Financing markets are much, much stronger, new supply is limited across our core markets and demand for the best assets continues to grow. In office as an example, replacement costs have risen significantly across our core markets. As a result, the rents required to justify new construction are well above in many markets, double current market rents. This makes new supply very difficult to deliver. And with demand remaining strong, in fact very strong for the best buildings and the best markets, rents continue to rise substantially. To put this in perspective, at Manhattan west, one of our super core assets in our portfolio, it would cost around $2,500 a square foot to build that same building today, compared to our cost of just over $1,000 a square foot. Fortunately, we started this at the depths of COVID in 2020 when few decided that they should build an office building. So we benefited in many ways due to our countercyclical investment. Our most recent lease there was signed at rents nearly three times higher than the first lease in the complex. And the financing recently completed cashed out approximately $400 million of net cash which was due to the increase in value of the asset. This took our debt to almost the construction cost of the building, exemplifying the increase in cash flows since launching the building. And I’d note we continue to own the property. More important, despite rents where they are, they actually need to go higher to justify a new tower like this being constructed today. And we’re seeing the same dynamic play out across our global portfolio. Another example being one leaden hall in London. A brand new asset which we consider as core plus in our portfolio was fully leased within six months of completion and achieved the highest rents ever in the City of London. With very limited new supply and demand for the best buildings continuing to grow, premier assets are becoming increasingly scarce and values are set to continue to rise. Capital markets are also beginning to recognize this as well. The aforementioned financing of to Manhattan west was $1.9 billion for a 10 year non recourse mortgage with a 5.5% coupon and was done at 107 basis point spread to Treasuries. Buyers looking for solid assets are moving back from software to real assets like these. Given all the drama in the news over the last five years, I will repeat that comment. The cash flows of this property allows us to complete a non recourse investment grade financing and generate real cash of $400 million from the property. This is the benefit of owning great real estate through cycles. As fundamentals strengthen and capital markets improve, the embedded value of portfolios that was always there become increasingly evident. At the same time, uncertainty is increasing the urgency for companies and governments to reposition around AI, energy security, data sovereignty and supply chain resilience. These priorities sit at the intersection of the themes we have invested behind for years, namely digitalization, decarbonization and DE globalization. Of course, if you have followed us, these themes are not new, but they are more prominent today than ever and the form they take continues to evolve, taking them in order. Digitalization started with fiber networks and telecom towers, then hyperscale data centers. Today, artificial intelligence is driving the next wave of demand through AI factories which require enormous amounts of computing capacity and reliable power. Second, decarbonization. The opportunity is no longer just energy transition, it is energy addition. In plain English that means more electricity. Demand is rising at a pace not seen in decades, driven by electrification, re industrialization and digital infrastructure. Meeting this demand will require enormous amounts of new generation capacity, with solar, wind, nuclear and batteries increasingly well placed given one or all of their attributes being they are low cost, they can be deployed quickly or they have limited reliance on imported fuel. Last, deglobalization began as reshoring, manufacturing and reorganizing supply chains. It has now evolved to include data sovereignty, where governments and companies want critical data stored and processed within their own borders, leading to the build out of domestic digital infrastructure, including large scale data centers. We are working with major governments and enterprises around the world to help build this infrastructure. And while digitalization, decarbonization and DE globalization will continue to evolve, each is driving significant long term demand for new infrastructure. Our ability to provide scalable solutions across technologies and regions reinforces our position as a partner of choice. And with almost $200 billion of capital to deploy, together with what we expect to be a record fundraising year in 26, we are well positioned to scale these businesses. Thank you all for your continued support in Brookfield. I’ll now turn the call over to Nick.

Nick Goodman (President)

Thank you Bruce and good morning everyone. Financial results were strong for the first quarter, underpinned by continued momentum across all of our businesses. Distributable earnings or DE before realizations for the quarter were $1.4 billion or $0.59 per share, representing a 7% increase over the prior year. Quarter over the last 12 months, DE before realizations was $5.5 billion or $2.32 per share. Total DE including realizations was $1.6 billion or $0.66 per share for the quarter and $6 billion or $2.54 per share over the last 12 months. Starting with our operating performance, our asset management business started the year strong, generating $765 million of distributable earnings or $0.32 per share for the quarter and $2.8 billion, or $1.20 per share over the last 12 months. We’ve raised $67 billion of capital so far this year, including $21 billion during the quarter, a $40 billion investment mandate from JustGroup and $6 billion for our seventh vintage flagship private equity strategy. Fee Bearing Capital ended the quarter at $614 billion, up 12% over the prior year, driving an 11% increase in fee related earnings to $772 million. And with strong momentum across our flagship and complementary strategies, we are well positioned to deliver a record year of fundraising in 2026. This quarter our results also benefited from a gain on the partial monetization of one of our technology investments which generated approximately $120 million of DE. We own a focused portfolio of select investments in new businesses, technology and innovation driven that are positioned to benefit from major secular trends shaping the global economy. This includes our investment in SpaceX of approximately $1 billion at the pre IPO mark, which is part of a $2 billion total investment. Turning briefly to our wealth Solutions business, which Sachsin will expand on in his remarks, we delivered strong results with distributable earnings of $430 million or $0.18 per share in the quarter and $1.7 billion or $0.71 per share over the last 12 months, representing an 11% increase over the prior year period. Results were driven by continued growth in our asset base, including $4 billion of annuity inflows during the quarter and the ongoing rotation of the portfolio into higher yielding investment strategies, our PNC business also performed well, achieving a combined ratio of 99%, contributing to an overall reduction in our cost of funds. Our operating businesses continue to deliver stable and resilient cash flows with distributable earnings of $360 million or $0.15 per share for the quarter and $1.5 billion or $0.65 per share over the last 12 months. Operating funds from operations in our infrastructure, private equity and energy businesses increased by 19% over the prior year quarter, supported by continued momentum in the underlying businesses and and ongoing execution of growth initiatives across each platform. Fundamentals in our real estate business are very strong. The recovery is quality led with tenants, lenders and capital increasingly focused on the best assets in the strongest markets. Our Supercore and Core plus portfolios are over 95% occupied and we continue to sign new leases at rents materially above expiring levels supported by a strong pipeline of tenant demand and limited new supply in our retail portfolio. Tenant consolidation into top tier malls continues to drive demand for our well located high quality assets and during the quarter 1.6 million square feet of leases commenced at rent 11% above prior levels. In office we signed 2.6 million square feet of leases globally with average net rents 15% above the expiring levels. This included 227,000 square feet of leases in the US a rent more than double expiring levels and 761,000 square feet in Canada a rent 30% above expiring levels including a 203,000 square foot lease at Exchange Tower, a core plus …

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Team (NYSE:TISI) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Team reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $215 million, an 8.3% increase year-over-year, marking the highest Q1 revenue since 2019.

Adjusted EBITDA rose by 45.2% to $7.7 million, with a 90 basis point margin improvement, reflecting strong performance in inspection, heat treating, and mechanical service segments.

The company emphasized strategic initiatives including workforce investment, expansion into growth markets like LNG, midstream, and data centers, and a focus on healthy, margin-accretive growth.

Team provided 2026 guidance with expectations of 4% revenue growth, 8% gross margin increase, and 16% adjusted EBITDA growth, driven by cost efficiency and market share expansion.

Management discussed ongoing efforts to optimize costs, enhance leadership, and improve decision-making processes, with plans for detailed cost reduction targets in the next quarter.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and welcome to Team’s first quarter 2026 conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nelson Haight, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Nelson Haight (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Operator Good morning everyone and welcome to Team’s discussion about our first quarter 2026 operational and financial results. On the discussion today are Gary Hill, our Chief Executive Officer and myself Nelson Haight, Chief Financial Officer. I want to remind you that Management’s commentary today may include forward looking statements including without limitation those regarding revenue, gross margin, operating expense and other income and expense taxes, adjusted EBITDA cash flow and future business outlook which by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company’s control. Although these forward looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs, actual results may differ materially. For a discussion of some of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to the Risk Factors section of Team’s latest annual and quarterly filings filed with the securities and Exchange Commission along with our associated earnings release. Team assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements or information which speak as of their respective dates. With that I will turn it over to Gary Hill, our Chief Executive Officer.

Gary Hill (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Nelson. Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us on the call today. I am pleased with the solid start to 2026 that we were able to deliver from both an operational and financial perspective. First quarter 2026 revenue rose 8.3% year over year to 215 million, our highest Q1 revenue since 2019. This growth was driven by robust performance across both our inspection and heat treating and mechanical service segments. These results drove meaningful profitability gains including a 45.2% increase in adjusted EBITDA to 7.7 million and a 90 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. Both are the best Q1 levels since prior to 2019. Our last call was my first with team and I have been here for about 100 days now. In that time I have been able to meet with many of our hard working employees, visit some of our worldwide locations and have in depth discussions with the leadership, team and board. I am going to share my observations with you and share the priorities, strategic vision and guidance for 2026 that are the result of these meetings. I want to start by saying that following these discussions I am even more excited by the financial and operational potential and the opportunity to lead Team. I believe that our strategic vision will help accelerate our delivery of progressively better operational and financial results. My first observation is about team’s most important asset are people. Our workforce truly has an unparalleled set of skills and technical expertise to tackle any issue that may arise for our customers. We have a dedicated service team that is customer focused and 100% committed to quality and safety. This is paramount to our success, which is why one of the key points of our strategic vision is deepening our commitment to our workforce. We want to improve our retention rate which we believe is already industry leading and we do that by protecting and investing in our people. For example, we believe TEAM is the first in our industry to develop a former hire to retire career path program for our technicians that lays out the long term benefits from working at TEAM and …

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On Thursday, Aveanna Healthcare Hldgs (NASDAQ:AVAH) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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Summary

Aveanna Healthcare Hldgs reported Q1 2026 revenue of $648 million, a 15.9% increase from the previous year, with an adjusted EBITDA of $84.4 million, reflecting a 25.2% rise.

The company is focusing on strategic initiatives like expanding preferred payer agreements, achieving Medicaid rate integrity, and enhancing clinical outcomes, with an aim to grow through acquisitions.

Aveanna Healthcare Hldgs has raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $2.56-$2.58 billion and adjusted EBITDA to $328-$332 million, excluding the Family First Home Care acquisition impact.

Operationally, the company saw improvements in caregiver hiring and retention and reported a strong financial performance across all business segments, including Home Health and Hospice, Private Duty Services, and Medical Solutions.

Management highlighted strategic focuses, including partnerships with government and payers, AI and automation for operational efficiency, and a continued commitment to community service through the Aveanna Cares initiative.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Aviana Healthcare Holdings Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Today’s call is being recorded and we have allocated one hour for prepared remarks and Q and A. At this time I’d like to turn the call over to Debbie Stewart, Aveanna’s Chief Accounting Officer. Thank you. You may begin.

Debbie Stewart (Chief Accounting Officer)

Good morning and welcome to Aveanna’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. I am Debbie Stewart, the Company’s Chief Accounting Officer. With me today is Jeff Shainer, our Chief Executive Officer and Matt Buchalter, our Chief Financial Officer During this call we will make forward looking statements. Risk factors that may impact those statements and could cause actual future results to differ materially from currently projected results are described in this morning’s press release and the reports we file with the SEC. The Company does not undertake any duty to update such forward looking statements. Additionally, during today’s call we will discuss certain non GAAP measures which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures can be found in this morning’s press release which is posted on our website aveanna.com and in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10Q. When filed with that, I will turn the call over to Aveanna’s Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Shainer.

Jeff Shainer (Chief Executive Officer)

Jeff thank you Debbie, Good morning and thank you for joining us today. We appreciate each of you investing your time this morning to better understand our Q1 results and how we are moving Aveanna forward in 2026. My initial comments will briefly highlight our first quarter results along with the steps we are taking to address the labor markets and our ongoing efforts with government and preferred payers to create additional capacity. I will then provide updates on the recently announced Family First Homecare acquisition and how we are thinking about our 2026 strategic initiatives and our enhanced guidance before turning the call over to Matt. Moving to Highlights for the first quarter revenue for the first quarter was approximately $648 million, representing a 15.9% increase over the prior year period. First quarter adjusted EBITDA was $84.4 million, representing a 25.2% increase over the prior year period, primarily due to the improved rate and volume environment and continued operational efficiencies. As we have previously discussed, the labor environment represented the primary challenge that we needed to address to see Aveanna resume the growth trajectory that we believed our company could achieve. It is important to note that our industry does not have a Demand Problem the demand for home and community based care continues to be strong with both state and federal governments and managed care organizations asking for solutions that create more capacity while reducing the total cost of care. Our Q1 results highlight that we continue to align our objectives with those of our preferred payers and government partners. By focusing our clinical capacity on our preferred payers, we achieved solid year over year growth in all three of our business segments. We also experienced improvement in our caregiver hiring and retention trends by aligning our efforts with those payers willing to engage with us on enhanced reimbursement rates and value based agreements. While we continue to operate in a challenging environment, our Preferred Payer strategy supports our ability to achieve accelerated growth rates in all 3 of our business segments. Since our fourth quarter earnings call, I am pleased with the continued progress we have made on several of our rate improvement initiatives with both government and payer partners as well as continued signs of improvement in the caregiver labor market specifically as it relates to our Private Duty Services business. Our our Government affairs strategy for 2026 was twofold. First, we continue to advocate for Medicaid rate integrity on behalf of children with complex medical conditions. Our strong advocacy presence of both federal and state legislatures across our national footprint enhances our value proposition and second, we expect to achieve mid single digit state rate enhancements in 2026. As of Q1, we have received three Private Duty Services state rate wins and believe we will achieve our goals as states complete their annual budget processes. After three years of meaningful rate increases in a majority of our PDS states, we are in a very stable rate environment and are shifting our focus to cost of living and wage rate adjustments. Moving to our PDS Preferred Payer initiatives, Aveanna’s Preferred Payer Strategy continues to gain momentum and allows us to invest in caregiver wages and recruitment efforts to accelerate hiring and staffing of nurses. Our preferred payer goal for 2026 is to achieve eight additional agreements for a total of 38 preferred payers. We signed four preferred pay agreements in Q1 and are well on our way to achieving our 2026 target. Additionally, our Q1 PDS preferred payer agreements accounted for approximately 60% of our total Private Duty Services MCO volumes, up from 57% at the end of 2025. This positive momentum in preferred payer volumes continues to highlight the shift in our caregiver capacity and recruitment efforts towards our preferred payer partners. Moving to our Preferred Payer progress in Home Health, our goal for 2026 is to maintain our episodic payer mix above 75% while returning to a more normalized growth rate. I am pleased to report in Q1 our episodic mix was approximately 80% and our total episodic volume growth was 23.1% compared with the prior year period. The continued investment in clinical outcomes, sales resources and a focused approach to growth is driving results with Q1 total admissions of approximately 11,000 or 13.4% organic growth over the prior year period. Additionally, we exited 2025 with 45 preferred pay agreements in home health and expected to add five agreements in 2026 for a total of 50 as of Q1. I am pleased to report that we added four additional preferred pay agreements and are well on our way to exceeding our goal of 50 preferred payers in home health in 2026. Our dedicated focus on aligning our home health caregiver capacity with those payers willing to reimburse us on an episodic basis has led to double digit year over year growth in home health, total admissions and episodes as well as improvement in our clinical and financial outcomes. Finally, as we have achieved our desired preferred payer model in Private Duty Services and home health and hospice, we are continuing with a similar strategy in our medical solutions business. As we exited 2025 we had 18 preferred payer agreements in Med Solutions and expected that number to grow to 25 by the end of 2026. As of Q1 we signed two additional agreements for a total of 20 preferred payer agreements. To date, our gross margins have stabilized in our desired range as we align our clinical capacity with those payers that value our services and pay us in a timely fashion. I am pleased with our Q1 volume growth in Med Solutions of approximately 93,000 ups or positive 4.5% over the prior year period. As we think about Medical Solutions growth in 2026, I would expect us to remain in the mid single digits for the next few quarters and then return to double digit growth by the end of the year. We are encouraged by our rate increases, preferred payer agreements and subsequent growth in our businesses. Our company has demonstrated a stable return to organic growth as we achieve our rate goals previously discussed. Home and community based care will continue to grow and Aveanna is a comprehensive platform with a diverse payer base providing cost effective high quality alternative to higher cost care settings. Now turning to our recently announced transaction to acquire Family First Homecare, a Florida based company with a great reputation for quality in home pediatric care. Again, I would like to send my warm welcome to the Family first teammates. I am thrilled to continue our acquisition growth story with great companies like Thrive, Skilled Pediatrics and Family First Homecare. Both companies continue to build upon the Aveanna brand of high quality compassionate care in the most cost effective setting, the comfort of our patient’s home. We continue to work through the regulatory approval process and expect the transaction will close sometime in late Q2. I look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming months. Additionally, let me comment on our strategic plan and enhanced outlook for the 2026 we will focus our efforts on five primary strategic initiatives. First, strengthening our partnerships with government partners and preferred payers to create additional capacity and growth. Second, improving clinical outcomes and customer engagement scores while lowering the total cost of care Third, implementing high priority artificial intelligence and automation efforts to improve operational efficiency and productivity gains. Fourth, growing through acquisitions while improving net leverage and free cash flow and finally, engaging our leaders and employees in delivering our Aveanna mission. Based on the strength of our first quarter results and the continued execution of our key strategic initiatives, we are increasing our full year revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance to a revenue range of 2.56 to $2.58 billion and an adjusted EBITDA range of 328 to $332 million. We believe this enhanced 2026 outlook provides a prudent view considering the challenges we still face with the evolving environment and does not include the impact of the Family first acquisition. As I reflect on the strong start to 2026, I want to take a moment and comment on our second annual Aveanna Cares Month of Community Service. We dedicate the month of April to not only focusing on our mission, but living that mission in our 379 communities. Aveanna cares is an extension of the care we provide families every day and we are proud to give back, help others and strengthen our communities and our teams through our volunteering efforts. We set an ambitious goal this year to serve 7,500 volunteer hours and I am extremely proud to announce that our Aveanna family completed over 9,000 total volunteer hours. Our teams held approximately 200 volunteer events nationwide and lived our core values while giving back to important local charities that support children, adults and seniors in our communities. I look forward to raising the bar in 2027 with plans to further expand our Aveanna Cares impact across the country. With that, let me turn the call over to Matt to provide further details on the quarter in our 2026 outlook.

Matt Buchalter (Chief Financial Officer)

Matt thank you Jeff and good morning. I’ll first talk about our first quarter financial results and liquidity before providing additional details on our refreshed outlook for 2026. Starting with the top line, we saw revenues rise 15.9% over the prior year period to $647.9 million. We achieved year over year revenue growth in all 3 of our operating divisions, led by our Home Health and Hospice, Private Duty Services and Medical Solutions divisions, which grew by 17.4%, 16.4% and 7.4% compared to the prior year period. Consolidated Gross margin was $205.4 million, or 31.7%. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $84.4 million, a 25.2% increase as compared to the prior year period. This growth reflects an improved rate environment, increased volumes as well as enhanced operational efficiencies. Now taking a deeper look into each of our segments, starting with private duty services. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $536 million, a 16.4% increase and was driven by approximately 12.1 million hours of care, a volume increase of 10.7% over the prior year. Q1 revenue per hour of $44.43 was up 5.7% compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by growth in preferred payer volume and updated reimbursement agreements. We remain optimistic about our ability to attract caregivers and address market demands for our services when we obtain acceptable reimbursement rates. Turning to our cost of labor and gross margin Metrics, we achieved $149.2 million of gross margin or 27.9%. The cost of revenue rate of $32.05 in Q1 was up $2.17 or 8.1% from the prior year period. Our Q1 spread per hour was $12.38, reflecting continued normalization driven in part by ongoing caregiver wage adjustments, supporting higher volumes and improving clinical outcomes. Moving on to our Home Health and hospice segment, revenue for the quarter was approximately $66.6 million, a 17.4% increase over the prior year. Revenue was driven by 11,000 total admissions with approximately 80% being episodic and 14,900 total episodes of care up 23.1% from the prior year quarter. Medicare revenue per episode was $3,167, up 0.5% from the prior year quarter. Our episodic focus has accelerated our margin expansion and improved our clinical outcomes. With episodic emissions well over 75%, we have achieved our goal of right sizing our margin profile and enhancing our clinical offerings. We are pleased with our Q1 gross margin of 53.7% representing our continued focus on cost initiatives to achieve our targeted margin profile. Our Home Health and Hospice platform is dedicated to creating value through effective operational management and the delivery of exceptional patient care. Now to our Medical Solutions segment. Results for Q1 during the quarter we produced revenue of $45.7 million, up 7.4% over the prior year period. Revenue was driven by approximately 93,000 unique patients served and revenue per UPS of approximately $491, up 2.9% over the prior year period. Gross margin was approximately $20.4 million or 44.7% for the quarter. As Jeff mentioned, we are in the final stages of implementing our Preferred Payer Strategy and Medical Solutions by aligning our capacity with those payers that value our resources and appropriately reimburse us for the services we provide. As a result, we expect margins to normalize and UPS to continue to accelerate its growth in the back half of 2026. In summary, we remain focused on keeping our patients care at the center of everything we do. It is clear that aligning caregiver capacity with preferred payers who value our partnership is the right path forward at Aveanna. With the strong momentum through Q1, we are optimistic these trends will continue into 2026. We will continue to pass through wage improvements and other benefits to our caregivers and the ongoing effort to better improve volumes now moving to our balance sheet and Liquidity at the end of the first quarter we had liquidity of approximately $525 million representing cash on hand of approximately 189 million 110 million of availability under our securitization facility and approximately 226 million of availability on our revolver which was undrawn. As of the end of the quarter we had $24.5 million in outstanding letters of credit at the end of Q1. On the debt service front, we had approximately $1.48 billion of variable rate debt at the end of Q1. Of this amount, $520 million is hedged with fixed rate swaps and $880 million is subject to an interest rate cap which limits further exposure to increases in silver above 3%. Accordingly, substantially all our variable rate debt is hedged. Our interest rate swaps extend through June 2026 and our interest rate caps extend through February 2027. In anticipation of the swap expiration, we entered into an additional interest rate cap agreement effective July 2026. This agreement limits exposure on $520 million of variable rate debt to increases in SOFR above 4% through December 2029 looking at year to date cash flow, cash generated by operating activities was $4.3 million and free cash flow was negative $3.8 million. We are encouraged by our strong cash collections and cost efficiency efforts, which drove solid operating and free cash flow in 2025, and we expect similar cash flow performance in 2020. As a reminder, the first quarter is typically our seasonal low point for both operating and free cash flow, with improvement expected throughout the rest of the year. Before I hand the call over to the operator for Q and A, let me take a moment to address our raised outlook for 2026. As Jeff mentioned, we expect full year 2026 revenue range of 2.56 to 2.58 billion and adjusted EBITDA range of 328 to 332 million. Consistent with our standard practice, our full year 2026 guidance excludes the pending Family first acquisition, which we expect to close in late. Q2 as we reflect on our Q1 results, I’d like to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to our Aveanna teammates. These strong results would not have been possible without your hard work and dedication. Looking ahead, I’m excited for the continued execution 2026 strategic plan. I look forward to providing you with further updates at the end of Q2. With that, let me turn the call over to the operator.

OPERATOR

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star two to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up their handset before pressing these star keys. To allow everyone in the Q and A queue to be able to ask a question, we ask that everyone limit themselves to only one question and one follow up. One moment please. While we poll for questions, our first question comes from the line of Ben Hendricks with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Ben Hendricks (Equity Analyst)

Great. Thank you very much and congrats on the strong performance. Just wanted to get some comments on the regulatory backdrop, specifically with the home health moratorium on new Medicare licensure announced yesterday. Just wanted to get your overall thoughts, any impact it’s having on your acquisition strategy to the extent to which it might impact acquisitions like Family first or others. Any kind of comments you can give on the backdrop. Thanks.

Jeff Shainer (Chief Executive Officer)

Morning Ben. And well, Matt won the bet because we figured that would be the first question, the second question, third question. So I appreciate you just getting us right there all kidding aside, Ben, if I think macro industry wide, let’s start with the industry and then we’ll come back to it. To AveAnna, Dr. Oz and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the administration have been pretty deliberate with their messaging around fraud, waste and abuse now for …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Epsilon Energy (NASDAQ:EPSN) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=vCctDJ0X

Summary

Epsilon Energy reported strong financial performance for Q1 2026, driven by robust gas pricing and full contributions from Powder River Basin assets.

The company is executing its development plan, with significant production growth expected from oil-weighted projects in the Permian and Powder River Basins.

Earnings were impacted by unrealized hedge losses due to oil price fluctuations, but adjusted earnings were $0.29 per share.

The company has reduced debt by $10 million and sold non-core assets to strengthen its balance sheet.

Operational updates highlighted new well activities in the Permian and Powder River Basins, with future projects planned to drive production growth into 2027.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Epsilon Energy first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today all participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance during today’s call, please signal for a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question at that time you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note that today’s event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Andrew Williamson, the company’s cfo. Please go ahead.

Andrew Williamson (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you operator. And on behalf of the management team, I would like to welcome all of you to today’s conference call to review Epsilon’s first quarter 2026 financial and operational results. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our comments may include forward looking statements. It should be noted that a variety of factors could cause Epsilon’s actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in these forward looking statements. Today’s call may also contain certain non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the press release that we issued yesterday for disclosures on forward looking statements and reconciliations of non GAAP measures. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Jason Stabell, our Chief Executive Officer.

Jason Stabell (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Andrew and good morning everyone. Joining me today are Andrew Williamson, our cfo, and Henry Clanton, coo. We’ll be available for questions after our remarks. We’re off to a solid start in 2026 and remain firmly on track with the development plan we outlined earlier this year. The key message today is simple. We are in execution mode and we expect to deliver meaningful production growth year over year with the oil weighted ramp in the Permian and Powder river basins beginning in the second quarter and building through the back half of the year across the portfolio. Activity is progressing as planned in the Permian. Our ninth well in the project and our first three plus mile Barnett well is expected online in the second quarter. In the Powder River Basin, two Niobrara ducts which we acquired in last year’s acquisition will be completed in June and turned to sales in the third quarter, followed by a three well Parkman development in the fourth quarter. This activity sets up material oil weighted production growth in both basins starting in the second half of the year and carrying into 2027. These new volumes will have full exposure will have full exposure to higher oil prices. From a financial standpoint, the first quarter reflects a combination of strong gas pricing and a full quarter of contribution from our Powder River Basin assets. We have also recently taken steps during the second quarter to strengthen the balance sheet, including further debt reduction and monetizing non core assets at attractive values. Looking ahead, the path forward is clear a focus on production growth in our oily assets while maintaining a strong balance sheet. We believe we are well positioned to deliver a strong year. I’ll now turn it over to Andrew and Henry for additional comments.

Andrew Williamson (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Jason. I’ll provide more commentary on the quarter starting with CapEx. We spent just under 5 million through March primarily through our participation in the drilling of the three mile Barnett well in Hector county and some facilities work preparing for Parkman Drilling this summer on our Campbell county position in the prb. We plan to invest at a higher clip over the next three quarters of the year, driving the oil-weighted growth Jason mentioned those full year investment plans are right sized to maintain our Target leverage profile of 1 to 1.5x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. We expect unit operating costs and G and A to trend down over the remainder of the year as we add incremental volumes and roll off some of the integration costs associated with last year’s peak acquisition. I provided some additional color there in the press release issued yesterday. Earnings for the quarter were materially impacted by unrealized or non cash hedge losses driven by the dramatic move in oil prices during the quarter. The revenue impact of higher pricing will primarily fall in subsequent quarters, so a bit of a mismatch on the P and L. Adjusting for that item, we earned $0.29 per share for the quarter. Since closing the acquisition in November of last year, we’ve paid down the outstanding debt balance by 10 million to 40.5 million. Currently, as mentioned, we have a disciplined approach to the balance sheet. We’ve made several moves to help fund our investment plans by selling non core assets. Earlier this month we sold an overriding royalty interest package and PA for 3.9 million to a private buyer which was approximately 6 times expected next 12 months. Cash flow from those assets. The overrides accounted for just 1.5% of the company’s upstream revenue over the last four quarters. We also have the office building we acquired from peak under contract for 3 million with closing expected in the next 30 days. Now to Henry to provide more detail on the operations side.

Henry Clanton (Chief Operating Officer)

Thank you Andrew and good morning to everyone. Exciting times for Epsilon as we continue the integration of our newly acquired operating assets in the Powder River …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

When Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher Nassetta introduced the term “C-shaped economy” during the company’s latest earnings call, he added a new phrase to Wall Street’s growing list of alphabet-themed economic narratives.

The term appears to describe a potential shift away from the “K-shaped economy” that dominated much of the post-pandemic recovery, where wealthier consumers continued spending while lower- and middle-income households faced pressure from inflation, higher interest rates and rising debt burdens.

Nassetta said easing inflation, expectations for lower interest rates and investment linked to artificial intelligence are beginning to support broader consumer demand, particularly among middle-income households.

How ‘C-Shaped’ Economy Differs From ‘K-Shaped’ Recovery

Economists say the concept reflects the idea that consumer spending is becoming less polarized.

“A C-shaped economy is essentially a rebuttal to the K-shaped economy narrative,” It’s A Working Title’s Chief Economist, Bryce Quillin, told Benzinga.

“In practical terms, luxury demand remains healthy, but growth broadens downward into mid-market and value categories.”

Quillin said that would mean middle-income consumers are gradually regaining …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Berkshire Hathaway Chair Warren Buffett has spent years arguing that raising hourly pay alone will not magically fix poverty. More than a decade later, with lawmakers pushing a new plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, his old comments are suddenly back in the middle of the conversation.

The federal minimum wage has remained stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. During that same stretch, rent prices climbed, grocery bills ballooned, and even fast-food meals started feeling like minor financial decisions.

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Last month, three House members introduced the Living Wage for All Act, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour. Larger employers would need to hit that mark by 2031, while smaller businesses would have until 2038. The proposal would also eliminate lower wage tiers for tipped workers and some younger workers.

Supporters say the bill is long overdue after years of rising costs. Critics argue that forcing businesses to pay dramatically higher wages could lead to layoffs, reduced hiring, fewer hours, and higher prices.

Buffett Saw A Problem Bigger Than Hourly Pay

Buffett raised those same concerns year ago. 

“I may wish to have all jobs pay at least $15 an hour,” Buffett wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled “Better Than Raising the Minimum Wage” from 2015. “But that minimum would almost certainly reduce employment in a major way, crushing many workers possessing only basic skills.”

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He also argued that smaller increases would still leave many workers struggling financially.

“The better answer is a major and carefully crafted expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which currently goes to millions of low-income workers,” Buffett wrote. “The EITC rewards work and provides an incentive for workers to improve their skills. Equally important, it does not distort market forces, thereby maximizing employment.”

Buffett’s Long-Standing Proposal

Buffett returned to the same theme during a CNN interview in 2018, saying, “People don’t need a minimum wage, they need a maximum amount of cash in their pocket. And the earned income tax credit rewards those who work, but they also help the person whose skills don’t fit a market economy.”

Congress still has not raised the federal minimum wage, and Buffett’s preferred EITC expansion never arrived either. Instead, states and cities largely handled wage increases on their own, creating a patchwork where some workers earn the federal minimum while others live in places with wage floors above $15 an hour.

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Now, with a proposed $25 federal minimum wage back on the table, Buffett’s argument is getting another look. His position was never that workers should earn less. It was that forcing employers to carry the entire burden could create another set of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Fermi (NASDAQ:FRMI) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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View the webcast at https://www.webcaster5.com/Webcast/Page/3144/53899

Summary

Fermi reported a net loss of $189 million for the first quarter, with about 70% being non-cash, primarily due to share-based compensation.

The company is in the process of transitioning to ‘Fermi 2.0’, focusing on governance, commercial execution, and financial discipline to support large-scale operations and multi-billion dollar contracts.

Strategic changes include leadership restructuring, with Marius Haas as Chairman and the engagement of a recruiting firm for a new CEO.

Fermi has secured $1 billion in financing commitments, including equipment financing from MUFG and a facility from Yorkville, to support Project Matador.

The company is focused on executing a 90-day plan that includes securing a binding tenant agreement, maintaining capital discipline, and exploring strategic partnerships.

Commercial progress includes strong tenant interest and validation of Project Matador, emphasizing large-scale reliable power for hyperscale compute needs.

Operationally, Fermi has made significant progress on Project Matador, with infrastructure developments and equipment procurement for power generation.

Regulatory achievements include receiving a clean air permit for 6 gigawatts and filing for an additional 5 gigawatts.

Fermi is exploring partnerships with data center operators to enhance its execution capacity and meet increasing customer demand.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to Fermi America’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. this time, all participants are on a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the prepared remarks. Please note that today’s event is being recorded. I’d now like to turn the call over to Rodrigo Acuna, Fermi Director of Investor Relations. Rodrigo, the floor is yours. Good morning and thank you for joining Fermi America’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me today are our Chairman of the Board, Marius Haas, Co President of the newly established Office of the CEO and Ana BofA, and our Interim Chief Financial Officer Rob Mason. Today’s call contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements reflect management’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. For a detailed discussion of the risks, please refer to our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our recent reports on Form 8-K. Any non GAAP measures discussed today are intended to provide supplemental perspectives on the company’s ongoing operations. I will now turn the call over to Marius. Thank you Rodrigo. Good morning everyone and thanks for joining us today. We’re at a meaningful inflection point in Fermi America’s development with Fermi 2.0. We’re moving forward from the entrepreneurial foundation to that built this company to the institutional framework required to scale it. Fermi was built on delivering reliable private grid power at scale to the hyperscale compute infrastructure that the AI economy requires. That hasn’t changed and market conditions continue to validate our approach and value proposition. Forecasts for AI driven power demand vary, but the central tendency has moved meaningfully upward over the past year. In the near term, the picture is one in which power availability, not capital and not demand, appears to be the biggest constraint. It’s clear that delays are being reported across announced projects globally and those delays are being driven by grid interconnection timelines and equipment availability. What’s important for you to know is that our strategy is oriented towards addressing that specific gap and it’s why we believe our project is advantaged. Our mandate today is to execute with the governance, commercial relationships and operational discipline that our investors rightly demand and expect. On today’s call, we’ll cover several important topics. First, I’ll address the leadership changes and the steps we’ve taken to strengthen governance, commercial execution and financial discipline. Second, Anna will cover commercial progress, including tenant engagement, regulatory and nuclear. Third, Jacobo will provide an operational update on Project Matador, including recent site progress across procurement and construction. And finally, Rob will review first quarter results and liquidity. To begin, I want to take a moment to directly address the recent changes in leadership. Last month the board removed Toby Nogabauer from the positions of President, Chief Executive Officer and Director. He was terminated for cause. The Board’s decision was deliberate. It was unanimous among the directors involved and it was the result of a careful and comprehensive process that included guidance of an independent counsel. Importantly, the Board firmly believes the move was in the long term interest of this company and its shareholders. While Toby played a critical role in building something genuinely ambitious, the Board recognized that over the next 18 months, Fermi needs to operate differently. We need to execute multi billion dollar contracts with investment grade counterparties while continuing to evolve as a public company advancing towards commercial operations. This evolution is what Fermi 2.0 is all about and executing it will require changes at the top. These include three significant actions. First, we have strengthened our governance structure. I have assumed the role of Chairman of the Board bringing experience from Dell Technologies and the enterprise technology sector. We expanded the board from five to seven directors adding Miles Everson, Larry Kellerman and Jeffrey Steed. As our former cfo. Miles knows the company inside and out. Larry currently serves as our Head of Power and has more than 40 years of experience building multibillion dollar power generation asset portfolios. Jeffrey is a seasoned Chief Executive and Chairman with deep experience scaling industrial enterprises into public company caliber organizations. We have engaged Hydrating Struggles, a respected executive recruiting firm to lead the search for our next CEO. That process is underway and we have a preliminary slate of highly qualified candidates already in hand. We’re focused on identifying the right person. A season leader with experience leading large complex companies, relationships with hyperscalers and fluency in project financing to take Fermi to commercial operation and beyond. Additionally, we have hired Rob Mason as our Interim Chief Financial Officer. Rob has more than 20 years of public company financial leadership. His track record of driving growth and enterprise value across multiple industries is exactly what this company requires as we scale Project Matador and and cultivate institutional relationships. Second, we have formalized our operational presence. We’ve established a new corporate headquarters in Dallas in addition to our permanent on site presence in Amarillo. Dallas positions us close to key stakeholders and deep talent while Almarillo keeps our team embedded in Project Matador’s build out. And third, we have actively rebuilt and expanded our commercial relationships. Since the leadership changes in April, our commercial momentum has strengthened Tenant conversations that had previously stalled have been reinitiated and new prospective tenants have entered our data room. The market’s response to the structural changes we’ve made have been constructive, and we’re increasingly confident that this evolution positions Fermi to accelerate the execution of our first binding tenant agreements. Anna will provide more color in a moment. At this point I want to quickly touch on a few topics that are top of mind. I’ll start with liquidity. Rob will discuss this in more detail shortly, but here’s the main takeaway. We have multiple levers we can pull and we’re managing this company so that capital decisions are driven by strategy and not by pressure. Next, our former CEOs ill advised call for an immediate sale of the company. The board has carefully considered that view and rejected it outright. Our forced sale at this moment is not in the best interest of of the long term shareholders, especially with anchor tenant negotiations advancing and our financing structure intact. As any responsible public company should be. We’re always open to value creating opportunities, but we’re not going to be stampeded into a short sighted decision. Lastly, I’d like to talk plainly about what has not changed. The assets and fundamental value of our business have not changed. We have a campus on the path to 17 gigawatts of private power with a 6 gigawatt clean air permit in hand and an additional 5 gigawatt application filed. We have more than 2 gigawatts of long lead time gas generation either on site or under a firm contract. We have great partners including Texas Tech University which has reaffirmed its support. Our mission has also not changed. The country is in a generational race for AI compute and that race is bottlenecked by power. As I mentioned earlier behind the meter gigawatt scale, redundant private power that is delivered on the necessary timeline is not nice to have for the hyperscalers and frontier model developers. It is the constraint. Fermi was purpose built to relieve that constraint. If anything, the macro thesis that served as the basis for a highly successful IPO is sharper today than it was then. And perhaps most importantly, the fantastic team executing on our vision has not changed. The engineers and project managers who pour the foundations, handle supply chain logistics, manage EPC contractors and run permitting are here, remain focused and are moving forward. I will now turn the call over to Anna for a commercial and regulatory update.

Anna BofA

Thanks Marius. I’ll cover three areas today, commercial progress, regulatory advancement and the continued de risking of our nuclear program. I’ll start on the commercial side. The most important message is that the market has not walked away from this asset. If anything, recent engagement has reinforced the strength of Project Matador and the urgency of the customer need we are addressing. The underlying customer need has not changed. If anything, it has intensified. Across hyperscalers, neo cloud providers and enterprise compute operators, the same constraint keeps coming up access to large scale reliable power on a timeline that matches AI demand. That is the commercial opening for us at Fermi. Fermi 2.0 is about making the company easier to work with, creating a more streamlined commercial interface for customers and partners who want to move quickly and confidently. That means faster decision making, tighter commercial coordination and a more direct path from diligence to binding agreements. Over the past two weeks we’ve hosted multiple prospective tenants and strategic partners at our site. The feedback has been highly constructive. Customers and partners continue to view Project Matador as one of the most advanced and customer ready large scale power campuses they have evaluated. That matters because customers are not looking for a conceptual capacity. They are looking for credible near term power, real infrastructure, secured equipment, permitting, progress, land control and a team that can execute. The conversations we’re having are increasingly specific. Customers are working with us on capacity planning, delivery sequencing, power availability, reliability, operating structure and the commercial frameworks required to move from interest to execution. Importantly, these conversations are continuing under the Office of the CEO structure. Customers are not waiting for a permanent CEO appointment to engage. Their need is immediate and they are working with us now to match capacity requirements and potential delivery paths. We are also evaluating strategic partnerships with established and respected data center operators and infrastructure partners. We view those partnerships as potential accelerators, a way to expand our execution capacity, increase customer confidence and serve a broader set of tenants while maintaining commercial discipline. So the commercial message is straightforward, demand remains strong, the asset is being validated directly by the market, and Fermi 2.0 is giving the structure to convert that demand into binding agreements with the right counterparties, at the right economics and on timelines we believe we can execute. We will announce binding agreements when they are signed and when disclosure is appropriate. We are encouraged by the progress and we believe the changes we’ve made have strengthened and accelerated our ability to transact. On the regulatory front, the most significant milestone of the quarter happened in February with the receipt of our clean air permit for 6 gigawatts. This represents the second largest permit of its kind in the US. This is not just a regulatory milestone, it is a commercial milestone. The approval is a key enabler of our commercial program. It provides prospective tenants with the regulatory certainty they need to commit capital to long term agreements at this scale. In late March we filed for an incremental 5 gigawatt gas permit, giving us additional flexibility as we build toward the broader campus vision. We have also filed for Foreign Trade Zone subzone designation for our imported generation assets. Once that’s received, it will deliver meaningful tariff relief and duty deferrals, which has a quantifiable benefit to our balance sheet. Finally, on nuclear, this work is about strengthening the long term commercial value of Project Matador. We have a front end engineering and design agreement with Hyundai Engineering and Construction that covers site layout and civil cost estimating. Doosan Enervability has also commenced preparation of forging dies for our reactor pressure vessels. It’s worth noting that we’re the first private company to be admitted to the NRC’s Accelerated National Environmental Policy act pilot program. This work in combination with the DOE financing track significantly de risks the long dated portions of the campus build out and underscores the national strategic priority assigned to this project. I will now turn the call over to Jacobo for an operational update.

Jacobo

Thank you Anna and good morning everyone. Construction at Project Matador continued to advance during the quarter. Our team is focused on consistent strategic execution. We have continued to build our team and strengthen our systems and processes. We have now installed more than 11 miles of perimeter fencing, nearly 5 miles of high pressure gas pipeline, 7 miles of water distribution lines providing 2.5 million gallons a day and we have built a 2 million gallon water storage tank and secured additional water rights for the site. We have also brought 86 megawatts of power from Xcel to the site. Looking at our power generation assets, three GE6B frame turbines are currently undergoing refurbishment in Houston and and we expect them to be completed by the middle of next month. The foundation for these turbines have already been poured. Our Siemens SGT 800 generator sets have arrived in Houston and cleared customs. The foundations for these gensets have been prepped at the site and are almost ready to be poured. Lastly, the F-Class turbines representing 1.1 gigawatts of combined cycle capacity are scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of this year with an additional six Siemens GT800 turbines which are secured and scheduled for delivery in 2028. Our total natural gas generation equipment is roughly 2.2 gigawatts. With this significant milestone and the conclusion of phase zero, we begin additional site development. And as it was always planned, until a tenant is signed, future capital deployment will remain disciplined and aligned with commercial Progress. Through our 1.4 billion investment in balance sheet assets, we have established A speed to power advantage that we believe is unmatched and highly compelling for customers facing rapidly growing compute demand. Bottom line, we’re in a great position to mobilize immediately upon …

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Mattr (TSX:MATR) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

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Summary

Mattr delivered sequential revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth in the first quarter of 2026, driven by strong sales in wiring cables and underground tanks, with improvements in operational efficiency.

The company expects progressively stronger margins as startup inefficiencies and modernization costs decrease, with a focus on operational execution and market share gains in mining, data center, and utility wiring cable markets.

Revenue increased modestly, but adjusted EBITDA was below the prior year due to less favorable margins in the connection technology segment, although improvements were seen compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.

The company’s strategic shift to a localized supply chain helped navigate US copper tariffs with minimal impact, and rising costs in materials like resins are generally passable to customers.

Mattr anticipates a gradual upward trend in North American drilling and completion activity in the second half of 2026, with promising demand indications in international markets.

The Xerces business set a new Q1 performance record, with strong demand for fuel and water tanks, and is expected to drive a 10% production increase year-over-year.

The company renewed its credit facility through October 2030, providing funding stability, and plans to resume share repurchases under its NCIB.

Mattr’s adjusted EBITDA outlook for full-year 2026 has improved, expected to be similar to last year after adjusting for prior year one-time expenses, with a long-term goal of a 20% EBITDA margin.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Thank you for standing by and welcome to Mattr first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Currently, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. To remove yourself from the queue. You may press star 11 again. I would now like to hand the call over to Megan McCracken, Investor Relations, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Megan McCracken (Investor Relations)

Good morning. Before we begin this morning’s conference call, I’d like to remind listeners that today’s call includes forward looking statements that involve estimates, judgments, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The Complete text of Mattr’s Statement on Forward Looking Information is included in Section 4.0 of the First Quarter 2026 Earnings Press Release in the MDA that is available on SEDAR+ and on the Company’s website at mattr.com for those joining via webcast, you may follow the visual presentation that accompanies this call. I’ll now turn it over to Matter’s President and CEO Mike Reeves.

Mike Reeves (President and CEO)

Good morning and thank you for attending our first quarter conference call today. Megan and I are joined by our Senior Vice President of Finance and CFO Tom Holloway. Q1 saw Mattr’s talented teams deliver sequential revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth. Normal early year seasonal slowness was largely offset by strong wiring cable sales into mining and utility applications, underground tank sales into retail, fuel and water management markets, and sequentially stronger operational efficiency across matter’s newly modernized North American manufacturing network. I was particularly pleased with the sequential margin progression delivered by our composite technology segment where Xerces set a new first quarter performance record across matter. Our focus remains on what we can control operational execution, technology development and disciplined capital allocation, all of which strengthen the quality and durability of our earnings. We continue to build momentum within mining, data center and utility wiring cable markets where our unique products, delivery speed and technical support translate into accretive margins and defensible share gains across our manufacturing footprint. Startup inefficiencies and one time modernization costs that have weighed on results in recent years are largely behind us, and as volumes rise, mix improves and cost absorption increases, we expect to deliver progressively stronger margins over time. It’s worth noting that recent external events have had limited impact on our organization. Our strategic shift to a largely localized supply chain during 2025 has positioned matter to navigate recently updated US copper tariff rules with no incremental effect on our wire and cable businesses, and we have not experienced raw material availability issues tied to the Middle East conflict. While we have observed rising costs position, particularly in resins, we generally have the ability to pass these onwards. Tom will now walk us through some additional financial details.

Tom Holloway (Senior Vice President of Finance and CFO)

Thanks Mike. Revenue in the first quarter of 2026 modestly increased year over year and sequentially, primarily resulting from strong production and sales of Xerces fuel and water products within the composite technology segment. Adjusted EBITDA came in below the prior year period, primarily driven by less favorable margins in the connection technology segment. When Compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, adjusted EBITDA improved on the strength of composite technologies performance. Connection technology segment revenue in Q1 of 2026 was roughly flat versus the prior year quarter with segment adjusted ebitda declining by 20% versus the same period. This decline in profitability was expected and was primarily driven by a less favorable product mixed, most notably the absence of specific project driven mining and energy related revenues which drove particularly strong results within our wiring cable businesses in the prior year quarter. This was partially offset by share gains in utility and data center end markets. In addition, higher average copper prices slightly inflated Q1 wiring cable revenue with little corresponding benefit to adjusted EBITDA. Common the technology segment revenue during the quarter increased slightly versus the prior year quarter while adjusted EBITDA increased 15% year over year. Growth in revenue and profitability was primarily driven by increased productive output and improved operational efficiency within the Xerces business which dampened typical seasonal softness as fuel and water tank demand remained robust. Turning to cash flow Q1 is typically our largest working capital investment quarter and this year was consistent with that pattern as we supported operational scaling and late quarter revenue acceleration. Accounts receivable increased with strong finish to the quarter and inventories increased as we positioned the business for the seasonally stronger middle quarters. Cash used in investing activities was primarily made up of capital spending on property, plant and equipment which was $9 million during the first quarter. This cash outflow includes approximately $7 million that was previously accrued and then paid in the first quarter of 2026. We still expect full year capital spending to be in the 35 to 45 million dollars range. During the quarter, the company increased net borrowings by $10 million on the revolving credit facility. At quarter end, the company’s net debt to adjusted ebitda ratio was 3.7x or 2.6 times if lease liabilities are excluded. This ratio reflects the impact of a larger first quarter of 2025 which included a strong result in our now divested Brazilian pipe coating business being replaced by a slightly smaller first quarter of 2026. We anticipate this ratio will move lower throughout the remainder of the year and remain committed to debt reduction activities. Our strengthened outlook, including a clearer view on likely U.S. tariff risks and impact, has positioned the Company to resume share repurchases under its NCIB during the current quarter and continuing for the foreseeable future. Subsequent to the current quarter end, the Company renewed its credit facility through October 2030. This renewal provides funding stability and additional flexibility to continue growing the business while taking advantage of appropriate high high return opportunities as they may arise. We thank our banks for their continued support and partnership. I will now turn it back over

Mike Reeves (President and CEO)

to Mike thank you, Tom From a market perspective, conditions largely remain consistent with what we shared during our fourth quarter call, with strong and rising demand for products serving retail and backup fuel, water management, power generation, utility and data center end markets. We’ve also seen constructive activity in the mining sector, particularly in Canada and certain international markets. Mining was the largest single end market by revenue in our connection Technology segment during the first quarter of 2026 and I’ll talk in more detail about it later. In oilfield markets, our customers have remained cautious despite a structural rise in oil prices. We have not yet seen a meaningful change in U.S. onshore customer spending and currently anticipate U.S. activity levels will remain relatively flat during the second quarter. However, we believe the first half of 2026 represents the cyclic low for North American drilling and completion activity and anticipate a gradual upward trend commencing in the second half of 2026. In parallel, we have seen some promising demand indications in certain international markets. With an expanding product portfolio and enhanced production capacity, FlexPipe is well positioned to benefit from these increasingly favorable market conditions. In automotive, we have observed modest downward revisions to global production expectations, with particular pressure in Europe. Despite this, we also continue to see average electronic content in newly launched vehicle platforms rise, creating an ongoing opportunity for matter to grow market share. We are watching the Middle East conflict closely and as I mentioned earlier, are seeing petroleum derived raw material costs move higher, though availability has not been an issue. That said, the potential for broader economic impact rises the longer this conflict continues. External conditions remain dynamic and we have appropriate contingency plans ready if needed. However, our focus is firmly on those things. We can control commercial execution, operational efficiency, technology development and targeted growth in end markets where we see durable demand and attractive returns, all of which contributed to sequential margin expansion in Q1. If we look more closely at our mining related business within the surface and underground mining sector, which we serve via premium wire and cable products. Our exposure spans a variety of subsectors and geographies. We benefit from a relatively consistent baseline of maintenance and repair demand at existing mine sites in all geographies which is often enhanced by project specific revenue typically tied to mine extensions or new mine initiation. In Canada and other international locations, this project driven revenue tends to have less quarter to quarter consistency. Our current exposure skews towards US and Canadian markets, although we have a long established history beyond North America and invested last year to enhance our international commercial presence within each mine site. NATO’s rugged waterproof crush and wear resistant cables are used to reliably bring electrical power to heavy equipment. From massive mobile shovels in surface mines to high speed conveyors in underground environments. Our products serve as heavy duty extension cords for some of the largest, most demanding machines in the world and are critical to keeping production running. With rising demand for copper, precious metals, critical minerals, metallurgical coal and other mined commodities, and slowly improving regulatory environments for new mine permitting in North America, we believe MATTER stands to benefit from a multi decade mining upcycle which is one of the reasons we are investing to increase productive capacity and efficiency in Amerkable’s US manufacturing facility over the next 18 months. Our teams performed well in Q1 and our outlook continues to strengthen. The pace of operational efficiency improvement was consistent with our expectations and strong commercial execution, particularly within Xerces and the mining and utility sectors of our wire and cable businesses helped partially offset typical early year seasonal slowness. As we move through the year, we expect adjusted EBITDA in Q2 will improve from Q1 supported by continued commercial success, further operational efficiency gains and seasonally favorable patterns that typically make Q2 and Q3 our strongest quarters. These factors, plus a sizable international flex pipe order which was secured subsequent to quarter end and a growing order book for our new 8 inch flex pipe products support our favorable outlook for the second half …

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U.S. stocks were higher, with the Dow Jones index gaining around 300 points on Thursday.

Shares of STAAR Surgical Co (NASDAQ:STAA) rose sharply after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results.

Staar Surgical reported quarterly earnings of 10 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of loss of 6 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $93.522 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $75.509 million.

STAAR Surgical gained 8.7% to $31.96 on Thursday.

Here are some other big stocks recording gains in today’s session.

• POET Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:POET) shares jumped 37.3% to $19.72 after the company announced it entered into a supply agreement with Lumilens to establish a strategic joint development and commercial technology partnership to advance a new class of wafer-level photonic integration for frontier AI infrastructure.
• Stubhub Holdings, Inc (NYSE:STUB) rose 21.1% to $9.11 …

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Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp reported a record-breaking Q1 2026 with high time charter equivalent rates and significant earnings, resulting in a $2 per share dividend, which is 88% of their net income.

The company highlighted strategic fleet growth with the addition of new vessels and successful refinancing efforts, reducing interest expenses significantly.

Management expressed optimism about future earnings, projecting Q2 to potentially surpass any previous annual earnings, driven by strong market conditions and strategic positioning.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to OET’s first quarter 2026 financial results presentation. We will begin shortly. Aristides Alafouzos, CEO and Heracles Varvitsiotis, CFO of Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp will take you through the presentation. He will be pleased to address any questions raised at the end of the call. Matters that are forward looking in nature will be discussed and actual results may differ from the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements. Please read through the relevant disclaimer on slide 2. I would like to advise you that the session is being recorded. We will begin the presentation now.

Aristides Alafouzos

Thank you for taking the time to join our Q1 2026 call. Q1 was a record quarter for our company and Q1 plus Q2 combined will be stronger than any previous year in our company’s history. In fact, the potential distributions tied to this half year are approaching our original listing price in 2018. It definitely was and is an exciting, stressful, challenging and demanding quarter. This cumulative pressure surely overshadowed the pleasure of earning so much for our shareholders, which is regrettable. Q1 began with a sell off in freight into mid January where the market turned by the continued exquisite fundamentals Venezuela reopening, India, diversifying imports and most importantly the extremely rapid consolidation of the VLCC market by CMACGM or Aponte Joint Venture. This strength continued until February 28th where the war in Iran began and set off a 2, 3, 4 week period of unprecedented strength in the tanker market overall. Following this explosive and unbelievable period, the market found a balance at extremely elevated rates where the loss of cargoes from Hormuz closure is offset by ton miles inefficiencies, vessels trapped inside and vessels outside waiting for the Hormuz to reopen. Earlier this week there were over 55 VLCCs and ballast waiting outside the high risk area for a potential reopening. This doesn’t include vessels waiting around Sri Lanka, off India, Singapore and the Sinokor fleet. Values and time chart rates have also seen consistent and profound strengthening throughout the quarter. We’re in a period of record income and the anchoring bias on values freight time chart rates from 20 years ago doesn’t hold anymore. The market needs to recognize this. What is the natural ceiling where rates and values can go internally? At OET and looking at Q2, one of our greatest challenges going forward is keeping tonnage available for the immediate exposure to a Hormuz’s reopening while optimizing our performance. I hand you over to go through the financials.

Heracles Varvitsiotis

Thanks. Let’s have a look at this record quarter we achieved 50-foot wide time charter equivalent of about $93,000 per vessel per day. That’s 106,000 per day on our spot and 104,000 on all operating VLCC days and 82,000 on our Suezmax operating days, all being spot. We report adjusted EBITDA of 110 million, adjusted net profit of 89 million and adjusted EPS of $2.33. This is basis our average share count for the quarter. Our board declared the 16th consecutive quarterly dividend of $2 per share. This represents 88% of our reported net income. On our current fully diluted share count post our January equity transaction. This is the highest quarterly dividend amount since the company’s inception, although I assume everyone is already modeling our second quarter. Over the last four quarters we have distributed per share or 96% of our reported net income. For the period in January we executed another successful and accretive equity raise of $130 million in gross proceeds against. Slide 5. Since our IPO in Oslo, we have distributed approximately two and a half times our initial market cap with over 550 million paid in dividends. Since we have had a fully delivered fleet in 2022, we have paid out 91% of our reported debt income, demonstrating clearly demonstrating our commitment to distributing value to our shareholders. Slide 6 We show the detail of our income statement for the quarter. TCE revenue stood at $132.2 million. At quarter end we had 176.5 million of cash that included a portion of the equity earmarked for the acquisition of the Nisos Campos boost. We also had almost $80 million in trade receivables. Our restricted cash figure as of March 31 includes an amount of 45 million we have deposited on short term against one of our loan facilities which has the feature that it reduces the interest pay just half a percent in on a net basis providing a better return than what we can achieve under time deposit rates. We may roll forward such cash characterized as restricted or a different amount on a short term basis depending on our cash flow needs and applicable rates. Our balance sheet debt was 683 million. Our book leverage stands at 41% while our market adjusted net MVP basis, latest broker values and pro forma for the acquisitions in recent transactions is now just over 30% on slide 8 looking at our fleets, I’m pleased to show the addition of our most recently acquired modern and high spec vessels. We have a total of 16 vessels on the water, eight Suez Maxs and Navy SSDs with an average age of only six years which will further improve once we get delivery shortly of the Nigami and N Boos currently under construction pending. As a reminder from a maintenance capex perspective, our only driver for 2026 is that of the middles 10 years earlier. Slide 9 Moving on to our capital structure, this is a quarterly update that have been personally looking forward to for a while. We recently announced new financings for four vessels as follows. We purchased back from insane leaseback and refinanced the Misovra with a new 50 million dollar bank loan maturing in 7 years priced at SOFR plus 125 basis points. This transaction closed last week. We will purchase back from its sale and lease back and refinance the Nisos Despotic co with another 50 million bank loan maturing in nine years priced at SOFR plus 130 basis points. This transaction is expected to close in early June. We have also signed a 90 million backlog for the Nisos Tigani and Nisos vous maturing in 8 years priced at SOFR plus 120 basis points. The Tigani will close in a couple of weeks and the VUS in early July we have taken advantage of the very competitive financing market and our financiers appetite to transacted us. Our most recent transactions have demonstrated the relationships and track record we have developed in two key banking markets for us in Greece and in Thailand. We now have staggered maturities all the way through 2035. Extremely attractive pricing and we have finally put behind us all our legacy saving lease plans. On slide 10 we look at our pricing on a vessel by vessel. All our loans are not priced below 2% with an with a weighted average margin of 1.47%. That’s an improvement of more than 200 basis points compared to where we were prior to the Libor to software transition in mid 2023 on a consolidated debt of over 750 million that’s performed for the upcoming drawdowns. That’s an impact of more than 15 million a year straight into the bottom line, quarter on quarter. For a while we have been seeing the material improvement into our interest expense and starting in Q3 of this year when all this will have concluded, we expect to see the full effect. We’re extremely happy with where we are today, but of course by nature we continuously monitor the market for opportunities that may further optimize our structure, trying to improve one or all aspects of our debt structure whether it’s pricing, tenure, amortization profile or other terms that might add flexibility and agility. I will now turn it back to our statements for the commercial market update.

Aristides Alafouzos

Thank you Rakli and great job on the refis. Now as I said during the intro, Q1 was a record quarter for the company. Amazing fundamentals. Venezuela reopening, the consolidation of the VLCC market and likely the biggest shock to oil trading in the past 50 years all converged in the same three months we concluded fixtures in Q1, mostly realizing Q2 that we could never have previously fathomed. Absolutely remarkable. Fleetwide, TCE came in at $93,100 per day with 106,400 on our spot VLCCs and 81,600 on the Suezmaxes and we achieved perfect utilization across the field. One commercial mistake I want to flag was fixing the nisos Nicoria for one year at a net rate of $90,000 per day. With hindsight, the market gave us much more spot market that is Separately Denise’s Queiros is currently stuck inside the AG and we haven’t added an additional line for her on the table. She is being compensated on a commercially agreed rate while she waits to get out. We took delivery of the Nisos Piperi, Nisus, Serico, Hula also in this quarter the market was so firm that we were able to fix a car. We were able to fix cargoes from West Africa on our first voyages and get them into our trading patterns. But the ballast voyage from Korea to West Africa was far longer than the lay in, which did negatively impact our Suez Max earnings. On the Suez Maxes we focused on trading the ships in the Atlantic Basin. We did not fix any vessels into the east and kept the voyages shorter while focusing on optimization and our preferred trades on the BLCCs. Early in the quarter we committed to longer voyages to lock in higher ends, balancing with some shorter voice in the east to keep our fixing exposure intact within the quarter. The strategy is what ultimately led to porkidos being trapped inside the Hormuz, but the same strategy is what set up the Q2 numbers. Comparing our Q1 against the peers who have already reported we are at 28 and a half percent higher on our BLCCs and 20% higher on our suit. Looking at our guidance for Q2, I believe …

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Whitefiber (NASDAQ:WYFI) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

Whitefiber reported a solid first quarter of 2026 with a 31% year-over-year increase in revenue, reaching $21.9 million, primarily driven by growth in colocation services.

The company’s strategic focus remains on data center development, specifically through its retrofit strategy, which was demonstrated by the swift conversion of Montreal 3 into a Tier 3 data center.

NC1 in North Carolina is progressing well, with Duke Energy delivering initial utility power, and the company expects to start delivering capacity soon, despite minor supply chain delays.

Whitefiber completed the purchase of Montreal 3, reducing lease payments and planning to significantly increase the site’s available power.

The cloud segment is undergoing a strategic pivot to focus on longer-term enterprise deployments, with a significant nine-figure opportunity in the final stages of negotiation.

Management emphasized the importance of execution in the current high-demand environment, highlighting the company’s ability to quickly bring sites online and manage complex operations.

The company ended the quarter with $80.1 million in total cash and cash equivalents, supported by a $230 million private placement of convertible notes.

Full Transcript

Cameron Schneer (Vice President of Capital Markets and Corporate Strategy)

Thank you and welcome to the White Fiber first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Sam Tabar, our Chief Executive Officer, and Eric Huang, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that some of the statements we make on this call are forward looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described in today’s earnings press Release. Our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 filed today, as well as our other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. Our remarks today may also include non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our form 10Q and in the earnings press release posted on our website. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Sam to discuss our performance.

Sam Tabar (Chief Executive Officer)

Sam thank you Cam. And thank you everyone for joining us. The first quarter was another important quarter for Whitefiber. We delivered a solid first quarter with year over year revenue growth, strong gross margins and positive adjusted EBITDA while continuing to invest in the AI infrastructure platform we are building. More importantly, we continue to make progress across the four areas that matter most in creating long term value creation, data center development, customer demand financing and cloud capacity deployment. The market backdrop remains very strong. Demand for AI infrastructure continues to exceed available supply. Customers need power, they need high density capacity, they need speed and they need partners who can actually execute. That last point is important. In this market. Demand is not the main constraint. Access to potential sites is not the main constraint. The real constraint is execution. Power has to be secured, equipment has to arrive, capital has to be available, customer requirements have to be finalized, construction has to be managed and the facility has to be delivered and operated at a high standard. That is where we believe Whitefiber is differentiated. Our retrofit first strategy is designed to reduce development risk and shorten the path from site acquisition to revenue. Montreal 3 is a good example. We converted an existing industrial facility into a Tier 3 data center in approximately six months. Who else does that? And now the site is supporting Cerebras. At the same time, the current market environment is challenging. Equipment lead times are longer, supply chains are tighter, utility and commissioning timelines are complex. That is why we are disciplined about how we commit to new projects and why execution remains the central focus of the business. With that context, I’ll start with NC1, our site in North Carolina. NC1 continued to make substantial progress during the quarter and after quarter end. Duke Energy has completed delivery of the initial 54 gross megawatts of utility power to the site, supporting the first 40 megawatts of IT load. Under our agreement with nScale, construction and commissioning activity remains highly active with approximately 600 personnel on site last week. As the facility moves through final commissioning stages, the major equipment packages needed for the deployment including generators, ups, systems and chillers are all on site. The remaining supply chain item we are managing relates to certain medium voltage switchgear components. That is not a broad equipment availability issue across the project. We expect to begin delivering initial capacity within the next couple of weeks. In connection with the supply chain related timing item similar to what we are seeing across the broader sector, delivery may begin slightly later than June 1st. Based on our current discussions, we do not expect a material delay, a material impact to our customers commissioning process or a change to the overall project economics. The core commercial rationale for NC1 remains unchanged. The project is backed by a long term agreement with nScale and the deployment is supported by nScale’s investment grade hyperscaler offtake. As a reminder, construction started in January. We are moving this project from construction to initial capacity delivery on a timeline unmatched by any of our peers for a 40 megawatt AI infrastructure deployment. We believe NC1 validates the strength and speed to market of our retrofit model, especially in an environment where utility timelines and electrical equipment constraints are impacting projects across the broader data center industry. Importantly, NC1 remains a strategic platform asset beyond the initial deployment. We continue advancing plans for additional capacity at the site and expect to begin marketing the next 45 megawatts tranche of capacity this summer. We are also working with the utility on longer term power expansion opportunities with the potential to scale the site up to approximately 300 gross megawatts over time. That is why we remain excited about NC1. The initial nScale deployment is important, but it is not the Full opportunity. We believe NC1 can become a larger platform asset over time as we bring the first 40 megawatts online, advance the next tranche of capacity and continue working on the broader power expansion path. In short, NC1 is nearing the point where it could begin converting contracted demand into revenue. We believe this will be an important milestone for. Excuse me, we believe that this will be an important milestone for Whitefiber and a major proof point that our retrofit model can create large scale, high value AI infrastructure. Turning to Montreal 3 the first quarter was the first full quarter of operations for that facility. Montreal 3 is supporting our colocation agreement with Cerebras. Cerebras is an important innovator in AI infrastructure and we are proud to support their growth. We congratulate their team on this exciting milestone as they become a public company and we look forward to continuing to support them as their infrastructure needs grow over time. After quarter end, we completed the purchase of Montreal 3 through the exercise of our previously disclosed purchase option. The purchase was supported by our amended credit facility from the Royal bank of Canada. We believe owning Montreal 3 is strategically beneficial. It reduces our lease payments by approximately 3.1 million Canadian or 2.3 million US annually over the remaining term. It also gives us greater control over a strategic asset that is already generating revenue and we believe it allows us to capture more of the upside if the site can be expanded. On that note, we have submitted an application with the local utility to more than triple the available power of that site over time. This remains subject to utility review and approval, but it is an important part of of why we believe ownership of that specific site is valuable. If approved, the incremental power would increase the strategic value of Montreal 3 well beyond the current deployment. This is a good example of how we think about our platform. We are not only bringing sites online quickly, we are also looking for ways to own, optimize and expand assets once they are operational. Turning to Montreal 2, we continue to advance discussions around the best customer solution for that site. We have quality customer interest in the facility and we believe the location can support valuable enterprise and AI infrastructure use cases. The site is smaller than NC1, but it has strategic value because of its location, connectivity and potential fit for customers seeking more targeted deployments. We are focused on matching the site with the right customer and the right commercial structure. As with the rest of our pipeline, we will remain disciplined and move forward only when there is customer demand. Economics and capital plans are all aligned. More broadly, our pipeline remains active and continues to improve in both quality and scale. We are not constrained by customer demand and we are not constrained by access to potential sites. We have both. The gating item is making sure each project has the right combination of power, customer alignment, capital availability, equipment, visibility and execution certainty before we commit that discipline is important, but it should not be mistaken for a lack of opportunity. We are seeing more customer interest than we can currently serve and we are evaluating sites that are larger and more scalable than our initial Montreal deployments. The opportunities we are most advanced on today are not small follow on projects. Several are comparable to or even larger than NC1 in potential scale. Importantly, we believe these opportunities also offer meaningful near term power availability along with significant expansion paths over time. We are not disclosing specific locations or counterparties before transactions are finalized because that protects our negotiating position, but we do want shareholders to understand that the quality and scale of the pipeline has continued to improve. Our goal is to demonstrate in the coming months that this pipeline can translate into actionable customer backed projects. We are focused on opportunities where we can align customer demand, site control, power availability and financing from the outset. That is important in this market. Equipment lead times are increasing, utility timelines are complex and customers are demanding more certainty before committing to large deployments. We do not want to announce capacity just to announce capacity. We want to build a pipeline that can be contracted, financed, delivered and operated reliably. We are advancing several opportunities and expect to close at least one additional site in the coming months subject to final diligence documentation, customer alignment and capital availability. That is the standard we are holding ourselves to. We believe this approach gives us the best chance to turn a strong pipeline into durable financed revenue generating assets. Turning to our cloud business we discussed last quarter we made the decision to strategically pivot this business in Q1. This shift positions us to deliver a longer duration enterprise deployment, managed infrastructure services and next generation GPU capacity. While we implement this strategy, it has created near term revenue pressure and we continue to expect the second quarter to be the low point for cloud revenue. However, we are seeing positive outcomes faster than we expected As a result of this change. The cloud business today is in a much stronger strategic position than it was only a few months ago. We remain focused on improving our customer mix, extending contract duration, sharpening our return thresholds and moving away from shorter term commodity bare metal leasing. At the same time we are seeing accelerating momentum and high quality pipeline growth and deal velocity. Notably, we are in the final stages of a long duration nine figure cloud opportunity with a high quality enterprise customer in a new market. We expect to provide more detail if and when the agreement is executed and customer disclosure approvals are in place. We view opportunities like this as important validation of our revised cloud strategy. They combine long duration customer contracts, next generation GPU infrastructure, customer supporting funding and attractive project level financing. They also diversify our cloud footprint geographically and reinforce that demand for high performance AI infrastructure is global. In addition, we signed a two year agreement with Hyperbolic for approximately $17 million of total contract value supporting Moto Labs as the end customer. This deployment uses H200 GPUs from our existing owned fleet as part of our cross data center R and D project, so it does not require incremental GPU capex. The deployment is expected to begin contributing revenue in the coming months. This was a competitive process with multiple customers interested in acting as a design partner for the ongoing R and D. We selected a customer who saw value in the novel infrastructure and how they can apply it to their environments. As a design partner, Moto Labs will support ongoing R and D through input on design, development and testing. We expect that they will scale with this cluster as they move through later phases of R and D. This structure allows us to monetize existing capacity while continuing to develop technology that we believe can differentiate our platform and contribute meaningfully to our revenue growth. We plan to announce the outcomes of this first phase of R and D in late Q2. More broadly, we are seeing strong interest in current and next generation GPU capacity. Our current prospects and customers are increasingly looking for reserved high performance infrastructure as well as vendors who can reliably support their scaling requirements. That is where we believe Whitefiber can compete …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Pelthos Therapeutics (AMEX:PTHS) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

View the webcast at https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1761761&tp_key=d31924f2e0

Summary

Pelthos Therapeutics Inc reported strong revenue growth with a 17% increase in net product revenue for Q1 2026 compared to Q4 2025, driven by an increase in prescriptions of their lead product, Zelseubemi.

The company expanded its sales force from 50 to 64 representatives and executed a contract with a major pharmacy benefit manager, boosting demand for Zelseubemi.

Future plans include the launch of two FDA-approved products, Zeppi and Zeglais, in early and mid-2027 respectively, leveraging the existing sales infrastructure.

Pelthos Therapeutics Inc secured a $50 million term debt loan in January 2026 to support ongoing and future product launches.

Management is optimistic about continued growth and has not provided specific revenue guidance but feels confident about their financial trajectory and market opportunities.

Full Transcript

Mike Moyer (Moderator)

Good morning everyone and welcome to Pelthos Therapeutics Inc 2026 first quarter financial results Conference Call. Peltos issued a press release today announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. A copy can be found in the investor relations tab on the corporate website, www.peltos.com. before we begin, I’d like to remind you that during today’s call, statements about the Company’s future expectations, projections, plans and prospects are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are based on management’s current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from our current expectations expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Any such forward looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this conference call. While the Company may elect to update such forward looking statements at some point in the future, it disclaims any obligation to do so even if subsequent events cause its views to change. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded and will remain available for 90 days. I’d now like to turn the floor over to Scott Plesha, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Scott Plesha (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Mike and good morning everyone. We’re delighted to be with you today and to share with you our first quarter 2026 operating results and highlights. Joining me today are John Gay, our Chief financial officer, and Cy Rangero, our chief commercial officer. The first quarter of 2026 was a successful one for Peltos with strong execution and progress made in several key areas that I’ll share at a high level with you. First, we experienced substantial revenue growth driven by increased prescriptions of our lead products, Zelsuvemi, during its third quarter since its launch. Next, we completed the expansion and optimization of our sales force from 50 sales representatives to 64. We believe that the expansion of our sales force and the contract we executed with a major pharmacy benefit manager in December 2025 have been important catalysts in demand for Zelsuvemi since January. Within this PBM units dispensed have doubled and the number of Prescribers has increased 121%. Finally, we continue to make progress in establishing the manufacturing of our two other highly complementary products, Zeppi and Zeglis. John and Sai will provide a more detailed look at the quarter Zelsumi launch metrics and reported financial results, but I’d like to share a brief overview of our results of operations. Our top line results were driven by a 25% increase in prescription units as reported by Symphony Health, which increased from 6,312 units in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 7,884 units in the first quarter of 2026. This drove an increase in net product revenue from $9.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 to 10.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. Importantly, we achieved this growth with only a minimal increase in wholesaler inventory while reducing the days on hand by more than one week from the end of Q4 2025 to the end of Q1 2026. As a reminder, Zelsuvemi is a novel topical nitric oxide releasing product indicated for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum or MC in patients 1 year of age and older for up to 12 weeks. Zelsuvemi is an important advancement in the treatment of MC as it’s the first and only FDA approved therapy that can be applied by parents, patients or caregivers in the home or on the go. We believe the opportunity to treat MC at home and without the need for an in office procedure has been and will continue to be a key driver of Zelsuvemi demand. We are pleased with the growth delivered in Q1 and are confident we can build on our momentum as units dispensed during April 2026 increased to 3776 from 3309 units in March 2026, a 14.1% month to month increase. Regarding Zepi and Zeglis Zepi is a novel FDA approved topical treatment for Empetigo that addresses a critical unmet needed antibiotic resistant skin infections by staph and strep infections most commonly affecting children. Empetigo is the most common skin infection in children seen by pediatricians with approximately 3 million patients diagnosed with this bacterial infection each year. We believe Zeppi is a highly complementary product as it mostly treats children that are managed by the same healthcare providers as Zelsuvemi. Importantly, this allows us to leverage our commercial infrastructure including our expanded sales force. We continue to focus on establishing the manufacturing process and building launch inventory. Expect to launch zeppi in early 2027. With respect to Zeglais, Zegleyes is a novel FDA approved product that is highly complementary to Zelsumi and Zeppi and is expected to require minimal incremental overhead to commercialize. At the operational level, we are standing up manufacturing for Zeglais and expect to bring it to market in mid-2027. Both Zeppe and Zeglais will have meaningful call overlap for existing sales force, providing the company with greater operational and financial leverage from our existing team and infrastructure. Supporting our continued launch execution of Zelsumi and the launch preparation of Zeppe and Zeglais, we closed a $50 million term debt loan in January 2026 of which we drew $30 million. This additional capital strengthens our balance sheet and together with expected revenue growth supports our in summary, we are pleased with the strong response from health care professionals to Zelsumi as demonstrated by the more than 20,000 units dispensed since its launch in July of 2025. We continue to plan for the upcoming launches of Zeppi and Zeglais, two complementary FDA approved products. We’ll continue to evaluate and optimize our commercial strategy to drive sustainable long term shareholder value. I’ll now turn it over to SY to provide more specifics on the results of the Xelsumi launch and key performance indicators.

Cy Rangero (Chief Commercial Officer)

Thank you Scott Good morning everyone. I’m pleased to provide an Update on our Q1 2026 Zelsuvemi performance. Our progress to date continues to deliver better than expected results in just our third quarter since launch for Q1 2026, shipments and prescriptions were ahead of expectations. On the qualitative side, we continue to receive very positive feedback from HCPs, patients and caregivers on the ease of use and efficacy of Zelsuvemi. Getting into prescription details the number of prescriptions rose a very strong 25% from 6,312 in Q4 2025 to 7,884 prescribed units in Q1 2026 and the number of unique prescribers rose from 2,377 in the fourth quarter 2025 to 3,228 by the end of the first quarter, with both sets of data reported in Symphony Health data. We are pleased with our sales force ability to drive a significant increase in prescriptions in Q1 despite seasonal dynamics at the start of the year and severe weather conditions disrupting operations in January. Our belief remains strong that celsuve ME is revolutionizing the treatment of MC and is becoming the first line treatment of choice for many HCPs and patients. We affirm this confidence with the increased utilization of Zelsuvie in April 2026 prescribed units in April were 3776 versus 3309 in March. We continue to see weekly highs in our prescribed units with our latest data week ending May 1st hitting an all time high of 917 prescribed units. Our coverage for ZELSUVMI remains strong in 2026. As of today we have a 59% coverage rate for commercial insurance plans and an incredible 99% coverage rate for Medicaid. This is a testament to the fact that Zelsuvemi, as the first FDA approved at home treatment for EBC, is being adopted as a first line treatment option and is being well received by HCPs and coverage providers. As previously announced, we executed a contract with a large PBM to remove friction and help gain access to zelsugmi for many patients. This effort has continued to help many patients gain rapid access to Zelsuvemi for Medicaid coverage. A large number of states do not require a prior authorization. For other states that require a pa, Medicaid only requires a prior authorization written to label, meaning that a patient over one year of age presenting with MC qualifies for coverage. We also continue to have very good gross to nets or GTNs. Our current GTNs largely revolve around distribution costs, Medicaid discounts, payer contracts and our copay voucher program. It is our goal to pay down with the copay card program so the prescription costs are $0 or close to zero for the patient in most instances. For the first quarter of 2026 we had favorable GTNs of 29.1% in line with our expectations and going forward we are expecting our GTNs to move to the mid 30% range. Next, I would like to provide an update on our sales team. As mentioned previously, we commenced the launch of Zelsuvi in July 2025 with 50 territory managers placing them in locations based on the ICD10 data of most prevalent MC cases. We then announced an expansion of an additional 14 territory managers in Q4 2025 in metropolitan areas not previously supported by the original sales footprint. Q1 data suggests that this is a highly effective expansion as prescriptions in many of those territories have jumped markedly to the point where in a very short time they have covered the costs of their sales efforts entirely. We continue to grow awareness and utilization for Zelsuvemi as the first only at home prescription treatment option for MC through various channels and venues, our Zelsuvmi YouTube commercial continues to be very successful with more than 6.7 million total views. This unique and informative short form video has prompted parents and caregivers, along with adult patients to ask their hcps about Celsus Me. To further our digital outreach, we launched a new YouTube video in April featuring a real patient testimonial including a young patient and a renowned pediatric dermatologist. This effort helps educate parents and caregivers on the benefits of treating MC with zellsuven. The video and others like it to follow also help hcps understand the significant benefits Zelsuvemi can provide for their patients very quickly. We will also continue to attend key conferences throughout 2026 educating HCPs on featured benefits of Xelsuviny for their patients. Our attendance and presentations at these meetings have garnered significant attention and generated vast HCP leads resulting in significant prescriptions from many new prescribers. We continue to build off our great tactical platform along with strong execution of our sales team to grow Zelsudni. I’m very pleased with our strong performance to date alongside our highly passionate, dedicated and hard working commercial team and with that I now turn the call over to John to discuss our financials. John

John Gay (Chief Financial Officer)

thank you Cy Good morning everyone. I am pleased to be with you on today’s call and thank you for joining us. As Scott and Cy have already touched on, we continue to see increasing demand for our flagship products el suit me as demonstrated with our growing pull through and dispensed units to date. Please note that my comments will focus on our first quarter 2026 results and as compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 as the first quarter of 2025 is not comparable due to the timing of our merger in July of last year. For the first quarter of 2026 we reported 10.7 million of net product revenue, representing a 17% increase from the fourth quarter of 2025. With today’s filings, including our quarterly report on Form 10Q also filed this morning, we have now completed and reported on three full fiscal quarters of commercialization efforts for Zelsuzme. While these quarters straddle two fiscal years, we have reported in aggregate 26.9 million of net product revenue for the three fiscal quarters since commercial launch of Zilsudemi in July of 2025. This amount is comprised of our net product revenue from the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2025 of 7.1 million and 9.1 million respectively plus 10.7 million of net product revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2026. In both the first quarter of 2026 and fourth quarter of 2025, cost of goods sold was 1.7 million. During the fourth quarter of 2025, write offs of …

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Quantum Cyber N.V. (NASDAQ:QUCY) shares are up during Thursday’s premarket session as the company announced an IP license and supply agreement with BP United Inc.

The deal, which involves autonomous drone technologies, is seen as a significant step toward expanding Quantum Cyber’s defense capabilities. The agreement highlights the company’s focus on building a broader autonomous defense lineup.

Quantum Cyber signed an exclusive IP License Agreement with BP United for autonomous drone technologies, including a sky defense platform.

This agreement is part of a strategy to enhance U.S. defense capabilities, aligning with rising government spending on drone and autonomous …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Stantec (TSX:STN) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

View the webcast at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/zfzjvgvw/

Summary

Stantec reported strong Q1 2026 financial performance with net revenue growth of 9.1% to $1.7 billion, driven by 3.6% organic and 7.2% acquisition growth.

The company highlighted significant growth in its water and energy sectors, with organic growth of over 14% and nearly 9%, respectively.

Stantec’s adjusted EBITDA increased by close to 14%, and adjusted EPS grew by almost 15% year over year.

The company reported a record contract backlog of $9 billion, representing a 13.2% increase year over year.

Stantec reaffirmed its 2026 financial targets, expecting net revenue growth in the range of 8.5% to 11.5% and adjusted EPS growth of 15% to 18%.

Management highlighted the company’s commitment to sustainability, with 68% of total revenue in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The company sees strong opportunities in the US and Canadian markets, driven by infrastructure projects and public sector investments.

Stantec is actively pursuing M&A opportunities while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to Stantec’s first quarter 2026 results, webcast and Conference Call Leading the call today are Gord Johnston, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Vito Cummone, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Stantec invites those dialing in to view the slide presentation, which is available in the Investors section at Stantec. Today’s call is also being webcast. Please be advised that if you have dialed in while also viewing the webcast, you should mute your computer as there is a delay between the call and the webcast. All information provided during this conference call is subject to the forward looking Statements qualifications set out on slide 2, detailed in Stantec Management Discussion and Analysis and incorporated in full for the purposes of today’s call. Unless otherwise noted, dollar amounts discussed in today’s call are expressed in Canadian dollars and are generally rounded. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Gord Johnston. Please go ahead, sir.

Gord Johnston (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Our first quarter results reflect a solid start to the year, underpinned by continued strong execution and our diversified platform. We are well positioned to continue building momentum through the balance of the year. Macro trends across water, aging infrastructure, mission critical facilities and the energy transition continue to support strong long term demand for our services. While the operating environment remains dynamic, we remain focused on execution, prioritizing the right work and continually driving strong operational performance. In the first quarter we grew our net revenue to $1.7 billion, up over 9% compared to Q1 2025, driven by 3.6% organic and 7.2% acquisition growth. Organic growth was achieved in all of our regional operating units. Our water and energy and resources businesses achieved over 14% and almost 9% organic growth respectively. Adjusted EBITDA increased close to 14% year over year and our adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 16.9% a year over year increase of 70 basis points. Adjusted EPS grew almost 15% compared to Q1 2025. Looking at our results in each of our geographies in the first quarter, US net revenue increased 11% driven by 12.5% acquisition growth from Page and almost 3% organic growth. Our water business achieved double digit organic growth primarily due to activities on large wastewater treatment projects. In energy and resources, work on a major hydropower dam project contributed to solid organic growth and our infrastructure business continued to deliver growth through data center projects. In the North Central region, we’re seeing a number of our major clients consolidating work and awarding larger, more integrated programs to a smaller set of trusted providers like Stantec activity is beginning to ramp up across these programs and we expect this to continue throughout 2026. In Canada, first quarter net revenue grew just over 1% organically strong organic net revenue growth in our water business was driven by biosolids projects and continued momentum on wastewater projects. Robust organic net revenue growth was also achieved in both our energy and resources and buildings businesses through consistent progress on major industrial process projects and public sector investments primarily in civic markets respectively. While our infrastructure business experienced the wind down of certain transit and roadway projects in the quarter, we expect a ramp up of new projects to commence in Q2. Lastly, our global business delivered over 13% net revenue growth in the first quarter driven by almost 8% organic and 3% acquisition growth as well as positive foreign exchange impacts. Our industry leading water business delivered 15% organic growth this quarter through long term framework agreements and public sector investments in water infrastructure across the uk, Australia and New Zealand. The ramp up of new projects in Chile and Peru drove strong organic growth in energy and resources as the growing need for energy transition solutions continues to drive demand in mining for copper and we achieved double digit organic growth in our German infrastructure business due to continued momentum on a major public sector electrical transmission project and increased volume on transit and rail projects. Before handing the call over to Vito, I want to briefly highlight our 19th annual sustainability report which we released in April. Accomplishments from the report Approximately 5.5 billion or 68% of total revenue was generated from work aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We achieved operational carbon neutrality for the fourth consecutive year while continuing progress towards our Net Zero commitments under Canada’s Net Zero Challenge and we maintained an A CDP Climate Score for the eighth consecutive year reflecting sustained external recognition of our climate action efforts. Sustainability is a core driver of stantec’s strategy shaping the markets we serve, the projects we pursue and how we deliver work, all of which support long term growth. I’ll now turn the call over to Vito to review our first quarter financial results in more detail.

Vito Cummone (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Gord and good morning everyone. As Gord noted, we achieved solid financial results in the first quarter. Sustained demand across a diverse multi sector platform combined with strong operational execution continues to support these strong Results. In the first quarter we achieved gross revenue of $2.1 billion and net revenue of $1.7 billion, an increase of 9.1% compared to Q1 of 2025. This growth was driven by 3.6% organic and 7.2% acquisition growth. Project margins as a percentage of our net revenue once again remained in line with our expectations at 54%. We achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.9% in the quarter, a 70 basis point increase compared to Q1 of 2025. The growth in margin was primarily due to lower admin and marketing expenses as a percentage of our net revenue and reflects ongoing disciplined management of our operations and our adjusted eps in the first quarter increased 14.7% to $1.33. Turning to our cash flow, liquidity and capital resources, during the first quarter our net operating cash outflows totaled $2.3 million. The first quarter is typically a seasonally lower quarter for cash flow generation. Further, the Q1 results reflect the expected transitory disruption associated with the financial migration of Page and the higher investment in working capital funding the elevated organic growth in our global region required Our DSO at the end of the first quarter was 74 days, an improvement of 3 days compared to Q1 of the prior year and below our internal target of 75 days. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio remained at 1.3 times and this is within our internal target range of one to two times and our balance sheet remains very strong, leaving us well positioned for future acquisition growth. I’ll now hand the call back over to Gord to discuss our backlog, our recent project wins and our outlook for 2026.

Gord Johnston (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Great. Thanks Vito. At the end of Q1 2026, our contract backlog reached a record of $9 billion, a 13.2% increase year over year representing approximately 13 months of work. Acquisitions completed in 2025 contributed to backlog growth of over 9%, primarily within our buildings business backlog grew 5.4% organically year over year. Most notable year over year organic growth was achieved in our global region which delivered double digit growth of 22%. We also saw strong backlog growth in our water and buildings businesses, both achieving nearly 10% organic growth. I’ll note that in the US we continue to see procurement cycle activity picking up as we delivered another quarter of consecutive organic backlog growth. When compared to Q4, 2025 backlog increased over 3% organically, which follows the 3% organic growth that we saw from Q3 to Q4 of last year. I’ll now highlight a few projects Stantec secured over the quarter. These wins help demonstrate the breadth of opportunities we’re capturing, varying in size, scope and complexity. Drawing upon extensive experience in advanced manufacturing, our buildings team was selected to provide design services during the construction phase of a multi billion dollar semiconductor manufacturing and research and development facility in Idaho. This project includes on site water treatment facilities and five ancillary support buildings. Our infrastructure team, as part of a joint venture, was selected to lead the Design of the first fully electric light rail system in Austin, Texas. This project includes a 10 mile, 15 station transit corridor where we will deliver full multidisciplinary design across tracks, stations, bridges, systems, utilities, drainage and streetscape improvements. In Chile, our Energy and Resources team was selected to provide oversight and quality review for a tailings management facility, reflecting our continued strength in supporting complex mining infrastructure projects. Our scope spans earthmoving, civil piping, geosynthetics and electromechanical systems, and our work will continue through construction and commissioning including tailings, pumps, water systems, piping and electrical components. As we look toward the remainder of the year, we are reaffirming our 2026 financial targets including net revenue growth which is expected to be in the range of 8.5 to 11.5%. With organic net revenue growth in the mid to high single digits driven by strong demand across all geographic reporting segments and business units. In the us organic growth is expected to accelerate, supported by the demand across all five of our business verticals. We are also encouraged by the growing demand in key areas such as data centers and defense as well as in advanced manufacturing. In Canada, we expect to see growth driven by public sector spending plans and continued demand in energy and resources. We continue to see good momentum in defense and other nation building efforts following the recent announcements by the Canadian government. While still in early stages, these programs are expected to contribute to growth well beyond 2026. Related to defence, Stantec has completed work on 16 national defence and Canadian Forces bases across Canada and is currently supporting projects that advance national sovereignty from coast to coast to coast and the Canadian Defence Review recently named STANTEC within its list of top 100 defence companies in 2026. Lastly, Global is expected to maintain strong organic net revenue growth driven by continued high level of activities in our water business under AMP8 and other framework agreements, strong demand in energy and resources and positive demand fundamentals across other global business units. With our continued focus on operational excellence, we expect our adjusted EBITDA margin will continue to expand to a record range of 17.6 to 18.2% and we expect to deliver 15 to 18% growth in adjusted EPS compared to 2025. I would note that these targets do not include any assumptions related to additional acquisitions. Given the unpredictable nature of the timing and size of such transactions on ma, we are starting to see more buyers in the market, particularly private equity. We remain active evaluating opportunities while maintaining our disciplined approach. We continue to see a healthy pipeline of firms coming to market. And we remain confident that MA represents the best use of our capital. As we close out the final year of our 2024-2026 strategic plan, we continue to be grounded in disciplined execution while preparing Stantec for what comes next. We are confident in our positioning and our ability to continue delivering strong performance and long term value for years to come. With that, let me turn the call over to the operator for questions.

OPERATOR

Operator Certainly. And our first question for today comes from the line. Frederick Bastian from Raymond James. Your question please.

Gord Johnston (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Good morning. Good morning. How are you? We’re doing good, thank you. Frederick, how are you?

Frederick Bastian (Equity Analyst)

Good, thanks guys. Listen, investors have come to expect Stantec to direct its next dollar of investment towards MA and Gord, you just said as much in your prepared remark. How do you think about share purchases …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong on Thursday said “all American companies can finally start to build” the crypto industry as the Senate Banking Committee votes on the CLARITY Act.

Banks Integrating Stablecoins As Fast As They Can

Armstrong told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that he speaks with lots of different bank CEOs and many of them are leaning into crypto as an opportunity to grow their business.

They’re integrating stablecoins as fast as they can and understand their clients want access to crypto assets.

“All these funds are now being tokenized and it’s just gonna make everything more efficient in the financial system,” Armstrong said. 

“We’re at a place now where all American companies can finally start to build this industry. My hope is that with this legislation getting through we’re all gonna be …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, Fidelis Insurance Hldgs (NYSE:FIHL) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.

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View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/138609479

Summary

FIHL achieved a strong first quarter with a combined ratio of 86.6% and an annualized operating ROAE of 15.2%, growing book value per diluted share by 7.2% to $26.22.

The company grew gross premiums written by 7% overall and 13% in the insurance segment, driven by new underwriting partnerships and strategic capital allocation.

Management repurchased $219 million of shares, indicating confidence in stock undervaluation, and emphasized no further secondary offerings are anticipated in the near term.

Operational highlights include strong growth in property, construction, asset-backed finance, and marine sectors, leveraging partnerships and underwriting discipline.

Future outlook remains positive, with expectations of mid-single-digit growth, supported by strategic partnerships and improved outwards reinsurance strategies.

Management expressed confidence in maintaining strong pricing and retention levels despite competitive pressures, emphasizing their lead market position.

The company continues to focus on efficient capital allocation and maintaining a lean operational structure to optimize margins and manage risk.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Pelagos Insurance Capital First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded for replay purposes. Following the conclusion of formal remarks, the management team will host a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. With that, I will now turn the call over to Miranda Hunter, Head of investor relations. Ms. Hunter, please go ahead.

Miranda Hunter (Head of Investor Relations)

Good morning and welcome to Pelagos Insurance Capital’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. With me today are Dan Burrows, our CEO, Alan Declare, our CFO, and Johnny Strickel, our Group Managing Director. Before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that statements made during the call, including the question and answer section, will include forward looking statements. Management’s comments regarding expectations, projections, targets and any future results are based upon current assessments and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and emerging information developing over time. It is important to note that actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied today. Additional information regarding factors shaping these outcomes can be found in our SEC filings, including our earnings press release issued last night. Management will also make reference to certain non-GAAP and proprietary measures of financial performance. The reconciliations to US GAAP for each non-GAAP financial measure as well as description of our proprietary financial measures can be found in our earnings press release and financial supplement available on our website at pelagosinsurancecapital.com with that, I’ll turn the call over

Dan Burrows (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Miranda. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. I’m pleased to welcome you to our first earnings call as Pelagos Insurance Capital. The Pelagos rebrand marks an exciting milestone and a deliberate step in our evolution. Our new name is a stronger, clearer reflection of who we are. An expert capital allocator accelerating our resilient, high performing diversified portfolio by bringing together strategic capital and underwriting expertise through our expanding community of specialist partners. Our strong first quarter performance builds on our momentum from last year. I want to highlight three key areas that both underscore our progress and position us well for continued success. First, we once again delivered excellent results demonstrating the strength and flexibility of our capital allocator model. We achieved a combined ratio of 86.6%, generated annualized operating ROAE of 15.2% and grew book value per diluted share to $26.22 including dividends. An increase of 7.2% in the quarter. This represents our best ever quarter of value creation for our shareholders. Second, our growth this quarter highlights the Unique advantages of our model, we grew GROSS Premiums written by 7% driven by our new underwriting partners and as our platform evolves, we will continue to expand on this. What sets us apart in the market is our ability to allocate capital across a diverse and expanding universe of distribution networks. This gives us multiple differentiated points of access to the market and allows us to execute with agility. Third, we continue to successfully balance profitable underwriting with meaningful capital returns, creating significant value for shareholders. This is underscored by the accretion to our book value per share, which to reiterate, increased by 7.2% in the first quarter alone. We continue to believe that our current market price of stock is undervalued and as part of our capital management Strategy, we repurchased $219 million of shares in the quarter. This includes 163 million bought through a privately negotiated transaction to repurchase all the remaining shares of one of our original PE sponsors. Importantly, following this strategic transaction, approximately 65% of our shares are now in the public fleet at current market valuation. We do not anticipate any further secondary follow on offerings with our remaining original and long term PE sponsors. In the near term, turning to our segments within insurance, we grew gross premiums written this quarter by 13% driven by the continued execution of our strategy to expand new underwriting partnerships across multiple lines of business. Property again delivered strong performance with continued growth and new business momentum. Our disciplined underwriting approach has enabled us to maintain our margin through our leadership position and by optimising our use of outwards reinsurance, even amid a competitive environment and rate pressure. This is evidenced by the fact that over the last three years we have been running at an average sub 40% loss ratio for our property line. Despite an active catastrophe and secondary parallel environment within property, construction has had a strong start to the year with growth driven by success in the open market, particularly in complex and post loss accounts where pricing and terms are more attractive. While some segments continue to experience pressure, we have remained selective while continually adapting our underwriting approach. Asset Backed Finance and Portfolio Credit continued its strong performance with both our existing and new underwriting partners as we continue to convert our pipeline of opportunities. This is not only diversifying our portfolio, but giving us additional ways to grow in a market with high barriers to entry and where we have deep expertise. We continue to see strong margins across these products which are insulated from traditional market cycles. In Marine we saw strong new business flow with a step change in marine war rates driven by conflict in the Middle East As a leader, our ability to quickly respond executing bespoke trades in the open market enables us to actively manage our portfolio at the individual risk level. Our underwriting discipline is driven by a precise risk assessment process. Along with our underwriting partners, we analyze each risk across critical factors like vessel journey, crew origination, cargo and beneficial ownership, allowing us to underwrite vessel by vessel, avoiding broader coverage through facilities outside of war. Market conditions in hull, cargo and liability remain competitive and we continue to to prioritise underwriting discipline to maintain portfolio quality. Our political violence and terror lines also presented opportunities for growth in the quarter, driven by our agile approach to selecting individual risks that meet our pricing hurdles. Pricing in the Middle east remains strong. We continue to benefit from our scale and lead position, enabling selected deployment and margin preservation Attractive Segments the evolving geopolitical landscape is creating new opportunities in this region which we are well positioned to continue executing on. In our reinsurance segment, gross Premiums written were $404 million for the quarter. This represented growth of 7% excluding the impact of the reinstatement premiums related to the California wildfires in Q1 2025. We are pleased with the results of our January 1st renewal season. Our underlying portfolio is supported by strong margins and sustained demand and We’ve delivered a three year average annual loss ratio in the sub 20% for this segment, clearly demonstrating the healthy margin profile of the business. Before I hand it over to Alan to discuss our first quarter results in more detail, I’d like to take a moment to highlight how our capital allocated model uniquely positions us in this market. While the market is seeing increased competition in certain lines today, that pressure is verticalized. By that we mean the pricing difference between lead and follow markets continues to become more pronounced and being a price maker, not taker, is increasingly important. As a market leader, we continue to see strong pricing, retention levels and access to business. Our ability to pick and choose how, where and when we execute across lines and geographies and with the right partners gives us the flexibility to capitalise on the most attractive opportunities. For example, following the outbreak of conflicts in the Middle east, we immediately set an underwriting and risk appetite framework and working alongside our partners, were among the first to underwrite risk and deploy capital. This enabled us to maximize pricing and set terms and conditions, demonstrating our ability to not only match the right capital to the right risk, but but also to the right partner at the right time. In summary, our strong capital position, deep relationships and access to the market, we continue to see significant opportunities for disciplined profitable growth and as demonstrated by our results this quarter the deliberate actions we are taking across this selection, our outwards reinsurance strategy and capital allocation position us to deliver strong performance throughout the cycle. And with that, I’ll turn the call over to Alan.

Alan Declare (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Dan Pelagos Insurance capital delivered operating net income of $88 million, or $0.94 per diluted common share in the first quarter, resulting in an annualized operating return on average equity of 15.2%. This performance was driven by another quarter of excellent underwriting results. Our combined ratio of 86.6% was a significant improvement of 29 points. Over the first quarter of 2025. Our book value per diluted common share grew to $26.22, including dividends. This increased by 7.2%, delivering outstanding value creation in the quarter. Taking a closer look at our quarterly results, we grew our GROSS Premiums written by 7% versus the same quarter last year to $1.8 billion during the quarter. In the insurance segment, gross premiums written increased by 13%. We saw continued growth from new underwriting partnerships in several lines of business. In the reinsurance segment, we had growth of 7% excluding the impact of the reinstatement premiums related to the California wildfires in Q1 2025. This growth was driven by new underwriting partnerships. Our net premiums earned were $515 million in insurance and 54 million in reinsurance. Through our network of underwriting partnerships, we saw additional opportunities to strategically deploy capital in the quarter, including in lines that have an accelerated earning pattern, enabling us to exceed the expectations provided on our last call. Looking into the second quarter, we expect net earned premiums to be similar to the first quarter in our insurance segment and 65 to $75 million in our reinsurance segment. Our excellent underwriting performance resulted in a combined ratio of 86.6%. I will now break down the components of our combined ratio in more detail. For the quarter, our catastrophe and large losses were 12.7 points of the combined ratio, or $72 million. This represents a significant improvement compared to the same period last year when catastrophe and large losses were 55.3 points of the combined ratio, or $333 million, primarily related to the California wildfires. As Dan said, the evolving geopolitical landscape, particularly in the Middle east, has created underwriting opportunities for us. It is an ongoing situation and we continue to monitor it. The loss experienced in the first quarter was minimal during the quarter, our attrition loss ratio was 27.2 points of the combined ratio, consistent with the low levels we have reported over the last several quarters. We recognize net favorable prior year development of $3 million for the quarter compared to $41 million in the prior year period. We had continued positive development on catastrophe losses and benign prior year attritional experience in our reinsurance segment and better than expected loss emergence in multiple lines of business in our insurance segment in the quarter. We, like others, recognized increased loss estimates related to the Baltimore Bridge collapse. Turning to expenses, Underlying policy acquisition expenses were 26.8 points of the combined ratio for the first quarter consistent with 27.8 points in the prior year period. Policy acquisition expenses to Total Financial Performance were 15.3 points of the combined ratio in the quarter. The increase of 2.3 points from prior year related to the excellent underwriting results in the current year. Finally, our general and administrative expenses were $29 million in the quarter. This is consistent with what we shared on our last call and continue to expect through 2026. Moving on to our investment results, our net Investment income was $44 million consistent with the fourth quarter of 2025. As of March 31, 92% of our portfolio is in cash and fixed maturity securities yielding an average of 4.4%. The fixed maturity securities have an average rating of A plus with an average duration of 2.7 years and a new money yield of 4.5%. Turning to taxes, our effective tax rate for the first quarter was a negative 4.8% in the quarter. We recorded a one time benefit due to the UK government updating its tax laws to conform with the most recent OECD guidance on Pillar 2 global minimum tax. Excluding this discrete item, our effective tax rate remains in line with our expectations at 16%. Turning to capital Management, we are in a very strong capital position which has enabled us to grow our underwriting portfolio and also return capital to shareholders. In the first quarter, we repurchased 11.5 million common shares for $219 million at an average price of $19 per share, which includes our previously disclosed repurchase from CVC. Our repurchases have been highly accretive on both a book value and earnings per share basis to our shareholders contributing $0.75 to our diluted book value per share. In the first quarter alone, we have repurchased an additional $14 million of common shares through May 8th with $185 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization. Since our IPO, we have repurchased $600 million of our common shares or 30% of our shares at an average price of $17.66 per share. We continued to pay a quarterly common dividend in the first quarter and last week we announced a 15 cent dividend payable in June. In April, we also redeemed our $125 million junior subordinated notes, reducing our debt and resulting in a pro forma debt to capital ratio of 24.2% as of March 31. In summary, our financial results once again demonstrated strong earnings power as well as effective capital management, resulting in 7.2% growth in book value per diluted share. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Jonny Thanks Alan

Jonny

and good morning everyone. As Dan mentioned, at a time when the market is finding it more challenging, our model continues to drive profitable growth as we grow and form new relationships with trading partners. As a capital allocator, we bring together underwriting partners, each with their own strengths, expertise and differentiated access points to the market. Then, based on our underwriting …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Dynatrace, Inc (NYSE:DT) on Wednesday reported upbeat fourth-quarter financial results and issued first-quarter sales guidance below estimates.

Dynatrace reported quarterly earnings of 41 cents per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 39 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $531.716 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $520.670 million.

Dynatrace said it sees first-quarter adjusted EPS of 44 cents to 45 cents, versus market estimates of 45 cents. The company sees sales of $547.000 million to $551.000 million, versus estimates of $552.627 million.

“Dynatrace delivered a strong finish to FY26, surpassing $2 billion in ARR and achieving our fourth consecutive quarter of 16% constant currency ARR growth,” said Rick McConnell, CEO of Dynatrace. “In an AI‑first world, observability has …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

AUTOMOTIVE PPTYS REAL EST INVT TR (TSX:APR) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

View the webcast at https://app.webinar.net/zwaWP8nKDdj

Summary

APR.UN reported a strong first quarter, with property rental revenue up 21.7%, cash NOI up 19%, and AFFO per unit diluted increasing to 26.2 cents, reflecting the positive impact of recent acquisitions.

The company completed two property acquisitions during the quarter, including a Hyundai dealership in Quebec City and a Rivian facility in California, with plans for further growth supported by strategic acquisitions.

APR.UN has a debt to GBV ratio of 46.3%, with 77% of its debt fixed at an average interest rate of 4.48%, providing financial flexibility for future acquisitions.

The company has expanded its presence in the U.S. market, now owning properties in Ohio, Florida, and California, and continues to target high-quality tenants and prime metropolitan locations for growth.

Management expressed confidence in the company’s ability to build momentum and achieve its objectives, including driving AFFO per unit and enhancing unitholder value.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Automotive Property REITs 2026 First Quarter Results Conference Call and Webcast. At this time all lines are in a listen only mode. Following Management’s remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please be aware that certain information discussed today may be forward looking in nature. Such forward looking information reflects the REIT’s current views with respect to future events. Any such information is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking information. For more information on the risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to forward looking information, please refer to the REIT’s latest MDA and Annual Information form which are available on SEDAR plus. Management may also refer to certain non IFRS financial measures. Although the REIT believes these measures provide useful supplemental information about financial performance, they are not recognized measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Please refer to the REIT’s latest MDA for additional information regarding non IFRS financial measures. This call is being recorded on May 14, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Milton Lamb, President and CEO. Please go ahead Mr. Lamb.

Milton Lamb (President and CEO)

That’s great. Thank you John and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us today. With me is Andrew Kalra, our Chief Financial Officer. Our strong first quarter performance reflects the positive impact of the 13 property acquisitions we completed in 2025 for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $200 million and the partial contributions of the two additional property acquisitions completed during the quarter. Compared to Q1 of last year, our property rental revenue has increased by 21.7%, cash NOI was up 19% and AFFO per unit diluted increased to 26.2 cents from 24.7 cents. This represents a record quarterly AFFO per unit amount for apr, demonstrating the positive impact over acquisitions and the embedded growth from contractual fixed or CPI adjusted annual rent increases in our net lease structure. This is further reflected in a reduced AFFO payout ratio of 78.6% in the quarter even after our 2025 distribution increase. The 2 acquisitions we completed during the quarter A full service Hyundai dealership located in Quebec City in a Rivian tenanted sales, delivery and service facility in Vista, San Diego County, California subsequent to quarter end. On April 7th we completed our second property acquisition in Southern California consisting of two Penske Automotive dealership properties in Santa Ana in Orange County. The dealerships are situated on parcels of land totaling approximately six acres within the Santa Ana Auto Mall, one of the area’s premier dealership corridors. The dealerships include Audi south coast, a 32,000 square foot full service Audi dealership and South Coast Volkswagen, a 29,000 square foot full service VW dealership, both operated by Penske Automotive Group. We expect our acquisitions from last year sorry, and to date in 2026 to to drive continued growth in our AFFO per unit going forward. At this point, I’d now like to turn it over to Andrew Kalra to review our financial results in greater detail.

Andrew Kalra (Chief Financial Officer)

Andrew thanks Milton and good morning everyone. Our property rental revenue for the quarter increased to $29.1 million from 23.9 million in Q1 a year ago, reflecting growth from the properties acquired during and subsequent to Q1 last year and contractual annual rent increases. Total cash NOI and same property cash NOI for the quarter totaled 23.8 million and $20.4 million respectively, representing increases of 19 and 2.1% compared to Q1 last year. Interest expense and other financing charges for the quarter were $7.3 million, an increase of 1.3 million from Q1 last year, reflecting additional debt incurred to fund our acquisitions. Our G&A expenses were $1.6 million for the quarter, an increase of $0.1 million from Q1 last year and in line with our expectations. Net income and other comprehensive income was $25.3 million compared to 7.6 million in Q1 last year. The increase was primarily due to higher NOI changes in non cash fair value adjustments for four investment properties and interest rate swaps, partially offset by higher interest costs and the change in non cash fair value adjustments

Andrew Kalra (Chief Financial Officer)

for Class B units and unit based compensation. FFO and AFFO increased by 20.4 and 19.1% respectively, compared to Q1 last year, reflecting higher rental revenue from the acquisitions and contractual rent increases. On a …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Thursday, May 14.

Analysts expect the Lima, Peru-based company to report quarterly earnings of $7.26 per share, up from $6.06 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Credicorp’s quarterly revenue is $1.75 billion (it reported $1.52 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On May 13, Credicorp announced planned executive leadership succession across microfinance, finance and audit.

Credicorp shares fell 1.9% to close at $317.68 on Wednesday.

Benzinga readers can access the latest analyst ratings on the Analyst Stock Ratings page. Readers can sort by stock ticker, company name, analyst firm, rating change or other variables.

Let’s have a look at how Benzinga’s most-accurate analysts have rated the company in …

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Billionaire Ray Dalio thinks the best investing strategy is to build a portfolio of uncorrelated assets — investments that don’t all move in the same direction at the same time, according to motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

“He said, ‘Tony, you have to understand all investing is risk-reward,'” Robbins said on “The Iced Coffee Hour” podcast in January. “He said, ‘The more you can reduce your risk but have upside reward, the better.’ And he said, ‘I call it the holy grail of investing.'”

Robbins, who called Dalio a “dear friend,” said the billionaire shared this principle with him during what was supposed to be a 30-minute interview that stretched into four hours.

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If you can find eight to 10 uncorrelated but quality investments, you can significantly reduce overall risk while still preserving upside potential, Dalio purportedly told Robbins.

“I worked on it for 30 years to refine this principle for myself,” Dalio said, according to Robbins.

Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates in 1975 from his New York apartment, building it into one of the world’s largest hedge funds before exiting the firm last year.

Dalio’s approach is reflected in his famous All Weather strategy, which he developed to build a portfolio that can hold up across different economic conditions. Bridgewater’s All Weather fund gained 20% last year, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the fund’s returns.

See Also: 1.5M+ People Work in Headsets Every Week— Here’s the Under-$1 Pre-IPO Company Behind It

Tony Robbins on Private Equity

Dalio’s principle is getting harder to apply in today’s public markets, where everything is connected and assets often move in the same direction when stress hits, Robbins told hosts Graham Stephan and Jack Selby.

The S&P 500 has delivered an average annual return of about 9.5%, while private equity has historically averaged closer to 15.5%, Robbins said. That means $1 million in private equity can grow to about $140 million over roughly 36 years, compared with around $26 million in the S&P 500 over the same period.

“If you look at the history in the last 36 years, every stock market in the world has underproduced private equity,” Robbins said. “And when stock markets crash, these guys don’t have to sell.”

Dalio’s focus on uncorrelated assets has helped fuel broader interest in alternative investments that don’t always move in lockstep with public markets. Some investors have increasingly looked beyond stocks and bonds into areas like private equity, real estate and even blue-chip artwork as part of a diversified portfolio strategy.

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• From Apple to Tesla — The Stocks Driving a Leveraged ETF Revolution for Retail Traders
• What If Your Investment Income Didn’t Rely Entirely on Market Swings? Some Investors Are Taking a Different Approach

Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market

Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single …

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U.S. stock futures were higher this morning, with the Dow futures gaining around 200 points on Thursday.

Shares of Doximity Inc (NYSE:DOCS) fell sharply in pre-market trading after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results and issued weak first-quarter sales guidance.

Doximity, which operates an online networking service for medical professionals, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $145.4 million, beating analyst estimates of $144.08 million, according to Benzinga Pro. Revenue was up 5% on a year-over-year basis. The company reported adjusted earnings of 26 cents per share for the quarter, missing estimates of 28 cents per share.

Doximity shares dipped 21.3% to $18.42 in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Americans are getting older, but that doesn’t mean they are slowing down. By 2040, 25% of the U.S. population will likely be 65 or older, and a large portion of them will continue to live active,  independent lives. This generation of older adults is opting to age in place, pursue passions, stay socially connected and maintain the lifestyles they’ve built, a sharp contrast to the more sedentary habits of generations past.

While today’s aging baby boomers are empowered, their desire for autonomy also brings challenges that traditional safety technologies often aren’t designed to address. Many of the products are reactive, kicking in only after an incident such as a fall or medical event. To fully support an independent lifestyle as the population ages, safety technology must evolve to become predictive, integrated and unobtrusive. 

That’s exactly why LogicMark Inc. (OTC:LGMK), with nearly two decades of experience in the personal safety industry, developed an entire suite of solutions, including personal emergency response systems (PERS), health communications devices and a connected care platform. Each is purpose-built to empower older adults with the independence they want and the protection they deserve.

Personal Emergency Response With A Twist 

LogicMark’s approach to personal emergency response systems (PERS) reflects how the category is evolving. Unlike the status quo, in which PERS are largely stand-alone devices, LogicMark integrates its hardware into an AI-driven connected care ecosystem that collects, processes and analyzes data. Through its Caring Platform as a Service (CPaaS), data from LogicMark’s products is collected and analyzed to provide critical insights and notifications to users.

With personalized remote monitoring, caregivers can be notified immediately if a patient’s device leaves its preset location boundary or a fall is detected. LogicMark views its CPaaS platform as the next evolution of personal safety, moving beyond emergency response toward predictive, connected care that supports aging in place.

Consider LogicMark’s Freedom Alert Cargiver …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The Federal Reserve has stopped cutting interest rates thanks to persistent inflation, a war in Iran that has sent gas prices soaring and geopolitical tensions that don’t appear to be abating. 

At its most recent meeting in April, the Fed did as expected and held its benchmark fund rate at between 3.5% and 3.75%. But what wasn’t expected was the dissent within the Federal Reserve. Instead of a unanimous vote, the FOMC was split 8-4, with Fed officials expressing different reasons for their vote. It was the first time since 1992 that there was dissent among the ranks.

While the markets had expected the Fed to hold rates steady, they weren’t expecting the dissent, which has led to uncertainty about what the Fed will do next. After all, the word on Wall Street is that the Fed will keep rates unchanged for the remainder of 2026 and potentially into 2027. But if inflation continues to increase and the job market slows, some investors speculate the Fed may change course and even raise rates.

Options Abound 

Either way, this has compounded volatility, shining a spotlight on instruments for income-seeking investors. After all, with interest rates still elevated, it means they can potentially capture attractive yields on cash, dividends and fixed-income holdings. It can be even better for options investors because increased uncertainty drives up premiums, creating more opportunities to generate upfront income and allowing for more strategic entry and exit points in a fluctuating market.

That’s particularly true if income investors are focused on the Nasdaq, which is full of big tech companies that are still growing despite the current chaos. When investors are nervous about wars or the Fed’s next move, they often tend to pay higher prices for the insurance that options provide. If you are an investor who is selling those options, you get to pocket the fees month after month, all the while getting exposure to some of the biggest names in tech. You could  essentially be getting paid a premium to wait out the storm with some of the most valuable companies in the world. 

Take Advantage Of Uncertainty With The Infrastructure Capital Nasdaq Option Income ETF 

That in turn shines a spotlight on the recently launched Infrastructure Capital Nasdaq Option Income ETF (NASDAQ:QVOL). Brought to you by Infrastructure Capital Advisors, which manages over $3.5 billion as of 04/30/2026, the ETF seeks to generate high monthly income from options premiums and dividends from the fund’s equity holdings. The ETF invests at least 80% of its net assets in stocks and option contracts that give it exposure to the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Driven by the relentless artificial intelligence (AI) boom, U.S. data center construction has eclipsed office building investment, with stocks like Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) and Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:DLR) in focus.

A Historic Real Estate Reversal

According to Augur Infinity market data highlighted by The Kobeissi Letter, data center construction spending “jumped +34%” year-over-year in March to reach a “record $50 billion” annualized rate.

This represents a massive 437% increase since the beginning of 2021, when the annualized rate stood at a mere $9 billion. Conversely, traditional commercial real estate is facing a steep decline.

Office building construction spending fell 9% year-over-year in March, down to $46 billion, officially hitting the “lowest since 2015.” This marks a historic real estate shift: data center spending now outright exceeds office building construction by $4 billion.

Office construction spending exceeded data center investments by $65 billion as recently as 2020.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump‘s ongoing visit to China could potentially unsettle markets if it fails to bring about a breakthrough in the U.S.-Iran war, according to an analyst.

Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie Group, told Market Watch on Wednesday that the strong performance of the stock market might give Trump the “political cover” to reconsider military strikes on Iran next week. Analysts at Macquarie coined the term “SALSA,” which stands for “Stocks are lifting, so attack,” the opposite of the popular TACO trade, an acronym for “Trump always chickens out.”

Wizman warned that a new wave of risk-off sentiment could emerge as early as next week if China refuses to intervene and the U.S.-Iran war escalates further.

“It could happen next week if the Iranians are not making concessions and if [Trump is] rebuffed by the Chinese, who tell him they’re not going to help him here,” said Wizman. He added that it is not his “baseline view,” but warned that the risk could increase.

Krugman’s NACHO Trade Scenario

Meanwhile, economist Paul Krugman warned the Strait of Hormuz could remain closed under a “NACHO trade” scenario—short for “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens”, signaling a potential …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) shares are falling this Thursday. Investors continue to take profits following a historic rally and a record high of $132.75 reached earlier this week.

Nasdaq futures are up 0.25% while S&P 500 futures have gained 0.31%.

Despite the immediate cooling, market experts suggest the underlying fundamentals are shifting in favor of the company.

The Rise Of Agentic AI

Dan Niles, Founder of Niles Investment Management, argues Intel is “still undervalued.” He believes the market is entering a phase centered on Agentic AI. Unlike basic chat tools, these systems execute complex, multi-step tasks.

Agentic AI requires 10 to 100 times more tokens than basic chat-based AI, Niles noted. This transition requires an orchestration engine to organize data, a task CPUs perform best. Consequently, hardware …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Global oil markets have been hit with fresh concerns about falling inventories amid the supply losses due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has removed more than 14 million barrels per day of crude output from global supply.

Declining Inventories

Global inventories declined by another 117 million barrels in April after falling 129 million barrels in March, according to the May 2026 Oil Market Report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The agency said that “More than ten weeks after the war in the Middle East began, mounting supply losses from the Strait of Hormuz are depleting global oil inventories at a record pace.” Total supply losses from Gulf producers topped 1 billion barrels, with more than 14 million b/d of crude output offline. IEA calls it “an unprecedented supply shock.”

Disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz had affected oil output from Gulf countries by 14.4 million b/d below pre-war levels, offsetting higher production and exports from the Atlantic Basin.

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The most oversold stocks in the real estate sector presents an opportunity to buy into undervalued companies.

The RSI is a momentum indicator, which compares a stock’s strength on days when prices go up to its strength on days when prices go down. When compared to a stock’s price action, it can give traders a better sense of how a stock may perform in the short term. An asset is typically considered oversold when the RSI is below 30, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major oversold players in this sector, having an RSI near or below 30.

Farmland Partners Inc (NYSE:FPI)

• On April 29, Farmland Partners posted upbeat first-quarter results, but lowered FY2026 guidance. Luca Fabbri, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “The first quarter of 2026 was in line with expectations. We made progress this quarter in strengthening the quality and resilience of our portfolio, including the disposition of an additional West Coast property, which modestly reduced our exposure to higher-risk assets.” The …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Jeff Rosenberg, senior portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) said Thursday that inflation pressures may actually be nearing a peak despite recent hotter-than-expected CPI and producer inflation reports that reignited fears of further Federal Reserve tightening.

Speaking on CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime,” Rosenberg said markets may be looking beyond alarming headline inflation figures because underlying inflation measures appear more stable.

“If you look inside the data today, it was actually a little bit better in the details,” Rosenberg said, pointing to softer core PCE trends and easing tariff-related inflation pressures.

His comments came after U.S. consumer inflation rose to 3.8% in April from 3.3% in March, topping economist expectations and marking the hottest CPI reading since May 2023. Producer prices also surged more than expected, with headline PPI jumping 6% year-over-year in April, the highest level since late 2022.

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President Donald Trump‘s counselor and economist, Peter Navarro, had criticized Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) last year, calling the company a “car assembler” reliant on overseas parts from China and other countries. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said the country could allow more U.S. investment in China.

Open Criticism

The comments were highlighted by Bloomberg presenter Joumanna Nasr Bercetche on X on Thursday. She shared that Navarro, as well as Trump, had “openly criticized US companies/ executives that were seen to be too close to China,” targeting the likes of Tesla, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), as well as Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA).

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During times of turbulence and uncertainty in the markets, many investors turn to dividend-yielding stocks. These are often companies that have high free cash flows and reward shareholders with a high dividend payout.

Benzinga readers can review the latest analyst takes on their favorite stocks by visiting Analyst Stock Ratings page. Traders can sort through Benzinga’s extensive database of analyst ratings, including by analyst accuracy.

Below are the ratings of the most accurate analysts for three high-yielding stocks in the consumer staples sector.

Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE:ENR)

• Dividend Yield: 7.05%
• Barclays analyst Lauren Lieberman maintained an Equal-Weight rating and cut the price target from $19 to $18 on May 7, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 61%
• Canaccord Genuity analyst Brian McNamara maintained a Hold rating and cut the price target from $20 to $19 on May 6, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 62%.
• Recent News: On May 5, …

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The S&P 500 climbed to another record high on Wednesday as investors piled back into semiconductor and artificial intelligence-linked stocks, brushing aside another hotter-than-expected inflation reading.

The benchmark index rose 0.58% to close at 7,444.25, while the May 14 Polymarket contract implied a 77% probability of the S&P 500 opening higher on Thursday.

Why That Number Matters

Markets continued to digest April’s producer price index report, which showed wholesale inflation rising 1.4% on the month — the largest monthly increase since March 2022 and well above economist expectations for a 0.5% gain.

The inflation data added to concerns that elevated energy prices linked to the Iran war could keep price pressures higher for longer.