Benzinga (Page 2)

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) reported first-quarter financial results on Monday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been 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.

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

Summary

Verizon Communications reported a 2.9% increase in total revenues to $34.4 billion for Q1 2026, with adjusted EPS growing 7.6% year-over-year to $1.28.

The company added 55,000 postpaid phone net adds, marking the first positive Q1 in 13 years, and achieved significant improvements in customer churn and acquisition costs.

Verizon Communications raised its 2026 guidance for adjusted EPS growth to 5-6% and expects postpaid phone net adds to reach the upper half of their 750,000 to 1 million range.

A comprehensive transformation program is underway, focusing on healthier growth, improved customer economics, and stronger cash generation, with specific initiatives in AI and operational efficiency.

Free cash flow for Q1 was approximately $3.8 billion, up 4% year-over-year, supporting continued investment in network excellence and shareholder returns.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Verizon’s first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants have been placed in listen-only mode and the call will be open for questions following the presentation. Today’s conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Colleen Ostrowski, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations.

Colleen Ostrowski (Senior Vice President, Investor Relations)

Thanks Brad. Good morning and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. I’m Colleen Ostrowski and on the call with me this morning are our Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman and Tony Sciatis, our CFO. Before we begin, I like to point you to our Safe harbor statement which can be found in the earnings presentation and on our Investor relations website. Our comments this morning may include forward looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that may affect future results are discussed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. This presentation also contains non-GAAP financial measures and you can find reconciliations of these measures in the materials on our website. Finally, as a reminder, the results of Frontier Communications are included in our financial and operating Results Beginning on January 20, 2026, the date we closed the Frontier acquisition. With that, I’ll turn it over to Dan.

Dan Schulman (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Colleen and good morning everyone. When I joined Verizon, I had a simple but ambitious goal. I wanted Verizon to reclaim its market leadership. Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to do right to make that happen. We need to delight our customers and put them at the center of everything we do. We need to drive consistent and fiscally responsible subscriber and revenue growth. We need to keep more of our customers as measured by our churn rate and convert that into stronger, more predictable cash generation for our shareholders. With all that in mind, we ended last year with our strongest quarter of mobility and broadband net adds in six years. And we entered 2026 with a clear set of priorities, a step, functional improvement and guidance and a realistic plan. Today, our first quarter results show that our turnaround is not only progressing, it is gaining momentum, powered by a comprehensive transformation program that is reshaping how we operate and serve our customers. I’m also very pleased that our unions in the East recently ratified a new four year contract that we believe will enable us to better serve our customers. Let me start by saying we delivered a strong quarter across our core operating metrics and we translated that performance into solid operational and financial outcomes, some of which we haven’t seen in over a decade. I’ll briefly review the key highlights of the quarter, including the impact of the network outage we experienced earlier in January. Then I’ll walk through three key themes how we will continue to drive healthier growth, second, how we will accomplish that with meaningfully better customer economics, and finally, how that leads to improved cash generation. I’ll close with how these results and the transformation work underway Support an increase in our 2026 guidance for both our adjusted EPS growth and our postpaid phone Net adds. In the first quarter, total revenues grew 2.9% to $34.4 billion, while our reported mobility and broadband service revenue grew below our annual guided range. Our reported growth includes one time pressure of 80 basis points on our wireless service revenues from customer credits and other impacts related to our network outage. We ended the quarter with momentum with March mobility and broadband service revenue growing in the middle of our guidance range, with consumer wireless service revenue approximately flat year over year. We anticipate Q1 mobility and broadband service revenues will be the low point of 2026 and we are highly confident that our forecast for mobility and broadband service revenue growth is in line with our 2 to 3% guidance for the year. Importantly, the quality of our revenue is improving. We are purposely shifting our mix towards durable recurring service revenues and away from low margin highly promotional activity. We are prioritizing customer lifetime value over short term revenue maximization. The benefits of that approach are obvious when looking at the combination of positive postpaid phone net adds and better churn, lower acquisition and retention costs and higher free cash flow and adjusted EPS. We added 55,000 postpaid phone net ads in the quarter. That represents an improvement of over 340,000 postpaid phone net ads versus the same period a year ago. And it’s the first time in 13 years that Verizon has had positive postpaid phone net ads. In Q1, both consumer and business had significant improvements in postpaid phone net adds. Overall, we delivered almost half a million net adds across our mobility and broadband platforms. This is a strong continuation of the momentum we established in Q4 of last year and it is happening while we are also improving the overall quality and economics of our customer relationships. I’m particularly pleased to see the early results of our transformation efforts on our customer retention. Consumer postpaid phone churn in the quarter was 90 basis points, a sequential improvement of 5 basis points from Q4. Importantly, churn improved throughout the quarter and in March, consumer postpaid phone churn improved further to below 85 basis points. That is a significant improvement both sequentially from Q4 and within the quarter, and it reversed the upward pressure we had seen in churn over the past several years. As expected, when we stop imposing blunt price increases without corresponding value on our customers and begin to remove friction from the end to end customer experience, they reward us with their loyalty. At the same time, we are acquiring and retaining customers far more efficiently. Our cost of acquisition and retention in March was down approximately 35% relative to the end of Q4, and we expect to maintain a lower cost of acquisition and retention as we look forward. I would point out that we accomplished these meaningful cost reductions while still delivering increasingly positive postpaid phone net ads versus a year ago. In other words, we are no longer predominantly reliant on expensive promotions to drive our growth. We are growing and we are doing so in a much more disciplined, repeatable and fiscally responsible manner. We of course retain the flexibility and conviction to defend our base and have a large war chest if necessary to react to competitive moves in the market. These trends in churn and unit economics are lifting our consumer lifetime value and are already flowing through to the bottom line and into our free cash flow. I’d also point out that a lower cost of acquisition will benefit our future revenue growth as the headwinds of promotion amortization finally begin to subside. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $1.28, up 7.6% year over year. Our highest adjusted EPS growth rate in over four years free cash flow was approximately $3.8 billion, up 4% year over year and represents a strong start to the year. Our performance is consistent with and in a few key areas ahead of the guidance we laid out for 2026, driven by a better customer experience and operating efficiency. It is also the foundation for the capital allocation priorities we have outlined. Investing to maintain our network excellence and our overall value proposition, maintaining our ironclad commitment to our dividend, steadily reducing our leverage and returning capital to our shareholders. Now let me come back to the three themes I mentioned earlier. Healthier growth, better economics and stronger cash generation first Healthier growth the story in mobility and broadband is that we are now consistently adding more of the right customers at the right economics. The dramatic year over year improvement in postpaid phone net ads over the past two quarters with continued momentum into Q2 all reinforce that our offers and our go to market strategies are working. We are leaning into converged value mobility plus broadband, a simplified customer experience and features that matter to customers rather than chasing every promotion in the market. We are also beginning to see the benefits of our transformation efforts we which make it easier for customers to do business with us and reduce friction in their interactions with us. In fact, I’m very pleased to say that our consumer customer service team delivered its best quarter on record for customer satisfaction. Driven by improved resolution, fewer handoffs and faster response times in broadband, we continue to aggressively expand our footprint, increase penetration and and position those assets as a core part of our long term growth story. We are solidly on track to have more than 32 million fiber passings by the end of this year. We are early in the journey of fully monetizing the combination of best in class mobility and a growing fiber and fixed wireless access footprint. But we already see in our net adds and in our improved churn that customers value having more of their connectivity needs metrics a single trusted provider. Our frontier integration is on track and I am extremely pleased with the level of teamwork and focus from go to market execution to network integration and all with a keen focus on driving convergence and delivering on our more than $1 billion of run rate operating cost synergies by 2028. Now let me turn towards our second theme which revolves around driving better economics. The improvements in churn acquisition costs and retention costs are not one off events. They are the result of specific choices we have made over the past 200 days and the early benefits of a broader transformation we have launched across the company. We have put in place an ambitious company wide transformation built around 10 major work streams. These work streams span everything from becoming an AI first company to to reducing friction in every step of the customer journey, to reexamining outdated internal policies and procedures that slow us down and add to bureaucracy. We aim to simplify our products and services, apply micro segmentation to better match offers to customer needs and drive towards our goal of being the most efficient telco in the world. Each work stream has a dedicated cross functional tiger team with clear monthly and annual targets and a disciplined governance process that reviews progress, unblocks issues and reallocates resources where needed. This program is changing how we run the company day to day. As I’ve mentioned before, we will not rely on empty across the board price increases that create short term financial gains but erode the long term trust of our customers. Instead, we aim to delight customers. A central pillar of our upcoming new value proposition is the end to end redesign of our customer experiences to ensure we delight each customer in every interaction. Our commitment to customer value and trust is becoming part of our corporate DNA embedded in how we design offers, how we communicate with our customers and How We Measure Success Internally we are in the final stages of extensive market research that will inform a new generation of offers built around the principles of transparency, simplicity and genuine value delivery. We have begun to embed AI and automation into our operations and customer interactions, which is already significantly improving customer experiences and lowering costs. We will encourage more volume into digital sales and service channels which lowers costs, increases engagement and leads to higher customer satisfaction. And we have begun to see meaningful cost benefits from our transformation efforts as we take out legacy structural costs from the business. Consequently, we are well on our way towards our OPEX savings target of $5 billion in 2026. Churn is the clearest measure of whether our efforts are resonating with our customers. When we achieve the kind of churn benefits we did during the first quarter, it has profoundly positive implications for our business model. Every cohort now contributes more revenue, more margin and more cash that effect compounds over time. Lower churn also makes our marketing dollars work harder because we are not simply replacing customers who leave, we are adding to a more stable base. Our advertising is also evolving as exemplified by our Connor Story brand advertisement which resonated powerfully across social media and focused on our service and our network, not promotions or handsets. The same is true for acquisition and retention economics. We were able to meaningfully drive year over year improvement in our postpaid phone net adds while driving the cost of acquisition and retention lower by approximately 35%. Obviously, this fundamentally changes the return on investment we make to attract and keep our customers and as I mentioned, the less we spend on promotions, the lower our amortization headwinds, enabling a step function change in our future revenue growth. These improvements come from the work our teams are doing in our transformation streams smarter channel mix, less friction, better tools and modeling, the beginning of AI enabled processes and a tighter focus on fiscally responsible offers that drive profitable growth. We expect these more efficient levels to be sustainable under our current strategy and we see additional opportunities to further improve our trends as our transformation matures. Finally, our third theme revolves around stronger cash generation. The combination of healthier subscriber growth and better economics is evident in our first quarter free cash flow results and we are confident in our annual guidance of approximately 7% or more growth. We are seeing the benefits of a more disciplined capital program where we continue to invest in capacity, coverage and reliability, but do so with sharper prioritization and better utilization of the assets we already have. We are also continuing to execute on our operating expense initiatives which are delivering a substantial warjust to continue our investments in driving our end to end value proposition while driving continued shareholder returns. We see room for further meaningful efficiencies in the years ahead while simultaneously advancing our primary goal of delighting our customers and by doing so driving long term sustainable revenue growth. We have also discussed in our previous earning calls that we aim to drive incremental margin by eliminating sunsetting or creating structures to dramatically reduce our exposure to non core assets. We are well underway in this journey and we look forward to sharing more details shortly. All that brings me to our updated outlook on the back of our first quarter performance, the leading indicators we see in our business and the traction we are seeing in our transformation work streams. We are raising our guidance for adjusted eps growth to 5 to 6% versus the prior range of 4 to 5%. We also now anticipate our postpaid phone net adds to be in the upper half of our 750,000 to 1 million range. We are reaffirming the balance of our guidance mobility and broadband service revenue growth up 2% to 3% with Q1 being the low point of 2026 and free cash flow growth of approximately 7% or more versus last year. We are making these changes early in the year because the data supports a higher level of confidence. We are ahead of pace on postpaid phone net adds. In doing so with lower churn, better unit economics and record customer satisfaction scores, we have clear line of sight to the remaining cost and capital efficiency actions that underpin our free cash flow target and the transformation program gives us additional levers as the year progresses. At the same time, we are far from assuming a perfect environment. We operate in a dynamic and rapidly changing landscape. Our revised guidance continues to reflect a prudent view of competitive dynamics and the macro, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

KKR & Co. (NYSE:KKR) and Capital Group are working on the launch of a public-private credit fund.

The fund, which will be launched in Asia this year, will target both public and private investments as a ‘’more liquid, cheaper, and more transparent” option, Capital Group chief executive officer Mike Gitlin told Bloomberg.

• KKR stock is showing downward pressure. What’s ahead for KKR stock?

Gitline added that this fund, which will start fundraising in the second half of this year, is “a calmer way to introduce private markets to wealth management.”

This is the second time Capital Group and KKR have joined together to launch a combination fund. 

Last year, the companies raised more than $500 million, which was a mix of 60% public credit assets …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Noble Corp (NYSE:NE) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Monday. Read the complete transcript 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.

Access the full call at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/107153466

Summary

Noble Corp reported Q1 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $277 million and free cash flow of $169 million, maintaining a 35% EBITDA margin.

The company secured new contract awards totaling approximately $565 million, with significant extensions and new deals in Brazil, Australia, Guyana, Ghana, and Malaysia, raising its backlog to $7.5 billion.

Noble Corp anticipates higher floater rates amid tightening deepwater rig demand, supported by energy security concerns and an upward move in oil prices.

Despite geopolitical disruptions, the company experienced limited operational impacts, with the Mick O’Brien rig being an exception due to the Iran conflict.

Management maintains 2026 guidance for total revenue between $2.8 and $3 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $940 million to $1.02 billion, with potential upside tied to operational efficiency and additional contract wins.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello everyone and welcome to Noble Corp. First quarter 2026 earnings call. Please note that this call is being recorded. After the speaker’s prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you’d like to ask a question during that time, please press STAR and then one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. I would now like to hand the call over to Ian McPherson, vice president of Investor Relations. You may now go ahead.

Ian McPherson (Vice President of Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator. And welcome everyone to Noble Corp’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. You can find a copy of our earnings report along with the supporting statements and schedules on our website at noblecorp.com we will reference an earnings presentation that’s posted in the investor relations page of our website as well. Today’s call will feature prepared remarks from our President and CEO Robert Eifler, as well as our CFO Richard Barker. We also have with us Blake Denton, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Contracts, and Joey Kawaja, Senior Vice President of Operations. During the course of this call, we will may make certain forward looking statements regarding various matters related to our business and companies that are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon current expectations and assumptions of management and are therefore subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements and Noble does not assume any obligation to update these statements. Also note, we are referencing non-GAAP financial measures on the call today. You can find the required supplemental disclosure for these measures, including the most directly comparable GAAP measure and an associated reconciliation in our earnings report issued yesterday and filed with the sec. Now I’ll turn the call over to Robert Eifler, President and CEO of Noble.

Robert Eifler (President and CEO)

Thanks Ian. Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us. I’ll open today’s call with a brief summary of our Q1 highlights and recent contract awards, followed by an update on the market. Richard will then cover the financials before I wrap up with closing remarks and move to Q and a. During the first quarter, we earned adjusted EBITDA of $277 million and generated free cash flow of $169 million. We again distributed our 50 cent quarterly dividend and yesterday our board declared a 50 cent per share dividend for the second quarter, maintaining our consistent and highly differentiated return of cash strategy. Overall, it was a solid start to the year and I’d like to thank our outstanding men and women of Noble around the world for your fantastic teamwork in helping us to realize our first choice, offshore performance standards. While it’s an understatement to say that energy markets have seen extreme volatility over the past couple of months. Since the outset of the Iran conflict, we are fortunate to have experienced limited operational disruption confined to just one jackup in the Middle east, the Mick O’Brien, which we sold in January but have continued to operate under a bare boat agreement. All of our crew and related personnel were safely evacuated from the rig during the early days of the conflict and Richard will expand on the rig’s current status outside of the war impacted region in the Middle East, Commercial momentum throughout the offshore drilling market remains brisk, irrespective in many ways of the recent oil price surge. However, the recent reawakening of energy security concerns around the world and the corresponding move higher in the oil futures strip are clearly supportive of the already steadily improving demand trends evident in the deep water and harsh environment offshore markets where we are operate over the past three months we’ve secured new contract awards totaling approximately $565 million. First, the Noble Courage received an extension with Petrobras of slightly more than three years which will keep that rig committed in Brazil through the end of 2030. This extension represents net incremental backlog of $339 million, with the current day rate reduced from $290,000 to $280,000 from April 1, 2026 through late 2027, followed by the extension of slightly over three years at just over $309,000 per day. Next, I’m pleased to announce that the Noble Deliverer has been awarded a five well contract from Woodside in Australia which will support that rig’s reactivation. This contract is valued at $121 million based on an estimated 300 days of firm scope excluding options, and also does not include revenue for additional services or potential rig upgrades. In Guyana, the Noble Developer has been awarded a one well contract with ExxonMobil at $375,000 per day, which is scheduled to slot in after the rig’s current program right around year end. Next, the Noble Black Rhino has recently commenced an exercised option well for beacon in the US Gulf with an estimated duration of 100 days. In Ghana, the Noble Venturer has been awarded a one well contract with Planet One in Ghana at a day rate of $430,000, expected to commence late this year with estimated duration of approximately 45 days with two unpriced options. And finally, in Southeast Asia, the Noble Viking has received an additional one well contract in Malaysia which is expected to extend the rig through October this year. With these awards, our current backlog stands at $7.5 billion. Now I’ll share a few observations on recent developments in the market. In short, all measurable and anecdotal indicators of deepwater rig demand are flashing green. And I would submit that this is not a reflection of $100 oil because most of what we’re seeing in the market today has been in motion for months or longer. But of course, recent events absolutely have elevated energy security priorities around the world and improved upstream cash flows will only serve to enhance an already strong and expanding demand picture and deep water exploration thesis in parallel, the volume of Deepwater contract fixtures had spiked in the early part of this year, partially but not entirely due to the execution of Petrobras wide reaching contract extensions. The first quarter saw 32 rig years of Ultra-Deepwater (UDW) fixtures, which was roughly double the average quarterly run rate of last year. And with conclusion of Petrobras extensions in April, this month alone has already had more than 40 additional Ultra-Deepwater (UDW) rig years fixed, bringing year to date backlog additions significantly above the entirety of last year’s contracting volumes. For the full year, Petrobras has comprised over half of 2026 year to date Deepwater rig years fixed and non Petrobras contracting activity has also continued at a healthy level. And notably, despite this recent surge in contract fixtures, the pipeline of open demand in the form of tenders and pretenders has actually continued to expand rather than deplete. Last quarter we observed slightly over 100 rig years of open floater demand which was a 33% year on year increase. This figure has now eclipsed 110 rig years. All this tendering activity is developing alongside an increasingly tightening supply demand balance. Total Ultra-Deepwater (UDW) contracted utilization is currently 105 rigs or 95% of marketed supply. This is approaching recent peak contracted demand levels of two years ago, albeit with markedly different directional momentum, especially considering the renewed length of backlog across the South America region juxtaposed against open demand throughout the rest of the world. That’s now more than 55% higher compared to the previous high water mark two years ago. The contracted Ultra-Deepwater (UDW) count of 105 includes 14 rigs with future contracts that aren’t yet working today, six of which happen to be noble rigs. We have been anticipating the convergence of future contracted utilization and present utilization as a critical factor that could substantially eliminate industry white space and result in a comprehensively tight market. This convergence becomes increasingly tangible as these 14 future contracted assets ramp up over the next six to 12 months with average contract durations of two years per rig. Taken together, all these market dynamics are resulting in upward day rate pressure. Therefore, we believe it is likely that we will begin to see floater rates move higher as we move through the rest of this year. So overall, with the continuing positive development of our backlog as well as the state of the drilling market more broadly, we’re even more optimistic about the years ahead than we were last quarter. Now I’ll pass the call over to Richard for the Financial review.

Richard Barker (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Robert and good morning or good afternoon all. In my prepared remarks today, I will briefly review the highlights of our first quarter and then discuss the outlook for the remainder of 2026, starting with our quarterly results. Contract drilling services revenue for the first quarter totaled $742 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $277 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 35%. Q1 cash flow from operations was $273 million, capital expenditures were $104 million and free cash flow was $169 million. I’d like to touch on a few discrete cash flow related items during the first quarter. Firstly, we received $210 million in cash proceeds from the jack-up sale to Bore Drilling in addition to the 150 million seller’s note which is recorded in other assets on the balance sheet. Secondly, we completed the lease buyout on the first two of the four Blackships’ BOP systems for 36.5 million. The buyout of the remaining two BOP systems is expected to occur during Q2 and Q4 this year for approximately 18 million each. In total, the lease buyout for all four systems is expected to cost 73 million. The cash outflow for these payments is not part of capital expenditures but instead is part of financing activities on our cash flow statement. Lastly, during the first quarter we redeemed 55 million principal amount of the 8.5% senior SECured notes at 103 as an opportunistic and efficient use of capital. As summarised on page 5 of the Earnings presentation slide, our total backlog as of April 26th stands at 7.5 billion. As a reminder, our backlog excludes reimbursable revenue as well as revenue from ancillary services. Our current backlog includes approximately 1.8 billion that is scheduled for revenue conversion during the remainder of 2026 and 2.4 billion scheduled for 2027. Referring to page 9 of the earnings presentation, we are maintaining full year 2026 guidance for total revenue between 2.8 and 3 billion, which includes approximately $150 million in reimbursable and other revenue and adjusted EBITDA between 940 million to 1.02 billion. Capital expenditures guidance for this year is increased by 25 million and this is due to the contract award supporting the reactivation of the Noble deliverer. The lower side of our adjusted EBITDA range is fully contracted by current backlog, although we have banked a somewhat stronger than expected first quarter in terms of adjusted EBITDA. This is offset by a few discrete items including the recent notice of early contract termination on the Mick o’, Brien, the lower near term dayrate revision resulting from the Courage’s blend and extend and slightly later estimated contract commencement dates for the Jerry d’ Souza and Endeavour driven by customer schedules. Regarding the Mick o’ Brien recall that we closed the sales of Bore Drilling in January and have continued to manage the rig through the completion of its current contract in Qatar with a corresponding bareboat that we paid to bore into early December 2026. On April 12th we received notice of early release from the customer QE LNG and we are now in the process of winding down operations. The contract termination is effective after 30 days and this will result in an estimated negative impact of approximately 15 million due to our remaining bareboat obligations through early December as well as stacking costs for the rig. To sum up, we have had a very solid start of 2026 from a financial point of view. With continued contract wins in the quarter and solid project execution. We continue to solidify the expected path to a healthy inflection of both EBITDA and free cash flow starting in 2027 as we outlined in detail on our call last quarter. With that, I’ll now pass it back to Robert for concluding remarks.

Robert Eifler (President and CEO)

Thank you Richard. Starting this summer with the Voyager, Jerry D’Souza and Interceptor startups, followed by the Valiant and Endeavour later this year and then the Great Fight Deliver, Deliver and Venture throughout next year, we have a sharp organizational focus on project execution. This is a large slate of projects to deliver in a quote, normal time. And these are of course hardly normal times given the various dislocations resulting from the Strait of Hormuz impasse. But overall, I’m pleased to report that all of our projects are progressing very well so far and we’re incredibly excited to be preparing for commencement on these important drilling campaigns for our customers. These programs span virtually all of the major non OPEC offshore basins around the world, which are increasingly critical to current and future energy supply to wrap up as outlook for our business continues to improve. Noble is very well positioned to grow into the next leg of the offshore drilling cycle with a strong balance sheet, $7.5 billion of backlog …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stocks traded mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 100 points on Monday.

Following the market opening Monday, the Dow traded up 0.06% to 49,261.34 while the NASDAQ fell 0.56% to 24,697.00. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 0.19% to 7,151.76.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1% on Monday.

In trading on Monday, consumer discretionary stocks fell by 0.9%.

Top Headline

Domino’s Pizza Inc (NASDAQ:DPZ) reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Domino’s Pizza reported quarterly earnings of $4.13 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $4.28 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.151 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.163 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Youxin Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:YAAS) shares shot up 60% to $1.49 after the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Editor’s Note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, the economic data and the headline were updated in the story.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures pared losses to advance, whereas Dow Jones futures fell on Monday, following Friday’s mixed close.

This week, investors will be closely watching the Federal Reserve’s meeting to gauge how the central bank is navigating interest rates amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict.

Simultaneously, market-moving earnings reports from the ‘Magnificent 7 tech giants—including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)—will take center stage as Wall Street looks for returns on their massive AI investments.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he canceled plans for envoys to meet with Iranian leadership in Pakistan, citing divisions within Tehran. Trump’s declaration that the U.S. has “all the cards” sent immediate ripples through the energy markets.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.32%, and the two-year bond was at 3.79%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 100% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in its Wednesday 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 higher in premarket on Monday. The SPY was up 0.018% at $714.07, while the QQQ advanced 0.15% to $664.89.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Will S&P 500 Open Up Or Down On April 27? Here’s How Polymarket Traders Lean As Trump Halts Iran Talks And Oil Spikes

Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, April 27.

Analysts expect the Daytona Beach, Florida-based company to report quarterly earnings of $1.36 cents per share, up from $1.29 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Brown & Brown’s quarterly revenue is $1.89 billion (it reported $1.4 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On April 14, Brown & Brown announced the appointment of Eileen Akerson as chief legal officer.

Brown & Brown shares fell 2.4% to close at $65.90 on Friday.

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

Full story available on Benzinga.com

As of April 27, 2026, two stocks in the communication services sector could be flashing a real warning to investors who value momentum as a key criteria in their trading decisions.

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 overbought when the RSI is above 70, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major overbought players in this sector.

Uniti Group Inc (NASDAQ:UNIT)

• On April 16, Barclays analyst Brendan Lynch maintained Uniti Group with an Equal-Weight rating and raised the price target from $8 to $11. …

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.

• Raymond James analyst Steve Moss upgraded First Bancorp (NYSE:FBP) from Outperform to Strong Buy and raised the price target from $26 to $27. First BanCorp shares closed at $23.41 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz upgraded Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) from Neutral to Outperform and raised the price target …

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.

• Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz downgraded Adobe Inc (NASDAQ:ADBE) from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $315 to $270. Adobe shares closed at $245.44 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Northland Capital Markets analyst Gus Richard downgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) from Outperform to Market Perform and announced a …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has announced a partnership with space startup Overview Energy to utilize space-based solar energy for Meta’s data centers by the end of this decade.

Overview Energy is developing a system to collect solar energy in space and transmit it to ground facilities for continuous power generation. The companies plan to demonstrate the system in orbit by 2028, with commercial power delivery expected in 2030.

The deal provides Meta with early access to up to 1 gigawatt of capacity from Overview’s system. The financial details of the agreement, however, have not been disclosed.

“Space solar technology represents a transformative step forward by leveraging existing terrestrial infrastructure to deliver new, uninterrupted energy from orbit,” stated Nat Sahlstrom, vice president of energy and sustainability at Meta.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Meta Goes All-In On Amazon’s Beast Chips

SLB NV (NYSE:SLB) reported lower first-quarter earnings on Friday.

SLB reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $8.72 billion, beating the $8.647 billion estimate. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.52, in line with expectations, while GAAP EPS fell 14% year over year to $0.50.

“It was a challenging start to the year as widespread disruptions in the Middle East impacted our business,” CEO Olivier Le Peuch said. “The impact was most pronounced in Well Construction and Reservoir Performance, as SLB demobilized operations in a number of countries in response to customer actions to safeguard …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Baker Hughes Co. (NASDAQ:BKR) reported upbeat first-quarter results after the closing bell on Thursday.

Baker Hughes reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 58 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 49 cents. Quarterly sales of $6.587 billion outpaced the Street view of $6.335 billion.

“Despite significant disruptions in the Middle East, our teams executed at a high level and delivered results that exceeded our guidance range,” said CEO Lorenzo Simonelli.

Management expects second-quarter revenue of $6.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $1.13 billion, assuming the conflict lasts through June without further escalation.

Baker …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

When it comes to trading stocks and futures, most traders have come to accept that, at a basic level, there is just one way to do things. They understand there are restrictions around pattern day trading and that in order to make money, they have to tie up their own capital. But what many serious traders don’t realize is that multi-asset proprietary trading provides an entirely different path, one that removes those old barriers, puts the focus back on trader performance and doesn’t require them to risk their own capital.

This new era of prop trading was the focus of a recent Benzinga webinar in which PropShopTrader’s Senior Risk Manager Jim Simmons and Gianni Di Poce, analyst at The Mercator LLC, discussed how professional traders can build a career using the PropShopTrader platform.

“Once a trader believes the old path is the only path, they sort of stop questioning it. They just assume this is how it works, this is what I have to deal with, this is the cost of trading professionally,” said Simmons. “The biggest breakthrough is not improving your strategy, it is [realizing] that the game may be structured entirely differently than what you originally thought.” 

Taking The Pain Points Out Of Day Trading 

PropShop is “addressing a real pain point for stock traders,” says Simmons, noting that with the platform, traders don’t have to come to the table with capital to start trading. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) are experiencing a massive surge in market momentum, driven by major artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships and robust technical strength.

Technicals And Edge Rankings Point Upward

The semiconductor giant’s Benzinga Edge’s Stock Rankings‘ momentum score climbed from 89.89 to 91.66 week-on-week, a metric that measures the stock’s relative strength based on price movement patterns and volatility over multiple timeframes.

This leap into the top 10% coincides with a stellar 22.15% year-to-date gain. The price trend indicators confirm this, showing upward trajectories across the short, medium, and long-term horizons.

Beyond momentum, Broadcom boasts a formidable quality score of 96.21, reflecting superior operational efficiency and financial health compared to its peers. However, investors are paying for this excellence; the stock’s value score sits at a low 6.36, indicating a premium valuation relative to fundamental asset and earnings measures.

Key Takeaways

• On April 22, 2026, FHFA and HUD jointly announced that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA will accept VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T for mortgage underwriting, ending the single-model era.
• The mandate follows Fannie Mae’s November 2025 Selling Guide update removing the 620 minimum score from Desktop Underwriter, giving the three credit bureaus a structural revenue tailwind on trended-data products.
• TransUnion (NYSE:TRU), Equifax (NYSE:EFX), Experian (OTC:EXPGY), Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST) and OneMain Holdings (NYSE:OMF) sit at five distinct points on the rollout.

A Discrete Catalyst, Not A Theme

The credit score modernization trade stopped being a thesis on April 22, 2026. FHFA Director Bill Pulte and HUD Secretary Scott Turner confirmed that FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would accept VantageScore 4.0 immediately through a rollout to 21 lenders, with FICO 10T behind it. The decision layered onto Fannie Mae’s November 2025 Selling Guide change, which stripped the 620 minimum from Desktop Underwriter.

The private market was already moving. By February 2026, more than 40 lenders had joined the FICO Score 10T Adopter Program for non-conforming loans, and Cardinal Financial traded the first VA MBS pool decisioned with 10T in late 2024. Both models require 24 to 30 months of payment history rather than a single-month snapshot, so every origination pulls a richer, more margin-accretive data package from each bureau. A plain-language scoring model primer covers what the models penalize or reward.

TransUnion: US Markets Doing The Work

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) reported Q4 2025 revenue of $1,171 million, up 13%, with US Markets revenue …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Lionsgate Studios Corp. (NYSE:LION) is trading 9.36% higher in Monday pre-market after the production’s Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” has set a new record with its $217 million global box office opening over the weekend.

The film, co-produced by the Jackson estate and starring the King of Pop’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, as the lead, generated $97 million in North American theaters and $120.4 million internationally. This has resulted in the film setting the record for the highest-grossing biopic opening of all time, reported Forbes, citing early estimates from Hollywood trade publications.

The film has been launched in most parts of the world, with a release in Japan, known for its large Jackson fanbase, scheduled for June.

Adam Fogelson, the chairman of Lionsgate, shared his optimism with Associated Press about the film’s performance, stating that they had witnessed “massive engagement with every conceivable audience segment.” 

Plans for a sequel are already in the works, with Fogelson saying the possibility of a third film is “not inconceivable.”

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) said …

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.

• Truist Securities raised the price target for Brunswick Corp (NYSE:BC) from $92 to $93. Truist Securities analyst Michael Swartz maintained a Buy rating. Brunswick shares closed at $79.37 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Guggenheim raised Equinix Inc (NASDAQ:EQIX) price target from $985 to $1,235. Guggenheim analyst Joseph Osha maintained a Buy rating. Equinix shares closed at $1,108.89 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Benchmark increased price target for Lionsgate Studios Corp (NYSE:LION) from $12 to $15. Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan maintained a Buy rating. Lionsgate Studios shares closed at $11.43 on Friday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• HC Wainwright & Co. raised the price target for Prelude Therapeutics Inc

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Fulcrum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FULC) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Monday. 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/.

Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pzpi4fi3/

Summary

Fulcrum Therapeutics reported positive clinical data from its Phase 1b Pioneer trial for Posterior Dare in sickle cell disease, showing an increase in fetal hemoglobin levels and a reduction in vaso-occlusive crises.

The company initiated an open-label long-term dosing trial for Posterior Dare and plans to provide updates on clinical trial design following an upcoming end-of-phase meeting with the FDA.

Financially, Fulcrum Therapeutics reported a net loss of $22.2 million for Q1 2026, with cash and marketable securities of $333.3 million, providing a runway into 2029.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Fulcrum Therapeutics First Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call. Currently, all participants are in a listen only mode. This call is being webcast live and can be accessed on the Investors section of Fulcrum’s website at www.fulcrumtx.do and is being recorded. Please be reminded that remarks during this call may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995 may include statements about the Company’s future expectations and plans, clinical development timelines and financial projections. While these forward looking statements represent Fulcrum’s views as of today, this should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views in the future. Fulcrum may update these statements in the future, but is not taking on an obligation to do so. Please refer to Fulcrum’s most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for discussions of certain risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business. Leading the call today will be Alex Sapier, CEO and President of fulcrum. Joining Alex on the call are Alan Musso, Chief financial officer, and Dr. Ian Frazier, senior Vice President, Clinical Development. After providing updates on the Company’s key programs, there will be a brief Q and A in which the Fulcrum management team will be available for questions. With that, it’s my pleasure to turn the call over to Alex.

Alex Sapier (CEO and President)

That’s great. Thanks, Shannon and good morning everyone. We appreciate you all joining us today. The first quarter of 2026 was an important and exciting period for Fulcrum, highlighted by the positive clinical data we reported from the Phase 1b Pioneer trial of Poseradir in Sickle Cell disease. Now, as a reminder, sickle cell disease is a serious genetic blood disorder with a significant unmet need, affecting approximately 120,000 patients in the United States and millions more globally. Patients with sickle cell disease face a substantial disease burden, including chronic pain and fatigue, as well as serious complications such as vaso occlusive crises, stroke and progressive end organ damage, all of which result in a substantial reduction in life expectancy of over 20 years. Now, we have known for decades that increasing levels of fetal hemoglobin, or HbF, in patients with sickle cell disease leads to improvements in anemia and reductions in vaso occlusive pain crises. And so it was for that reason that that we were so pleased with the data that we reported in February, demonstrating that after only 12 weeks of treatment, 20 milligrams of Poseradir taken once daily demonstrated a robust and clinically meaningful increase in HBF from 7.1% at baseline to 19.3% at week 12, along with improvements in markers of hemolysis and improvements in anemia. We also observed continued progression toward pancellular expression of HbF, which we believe is critical for achieving meaningful clinical benefit. And importantly, we saw a reduction in the number of VOCs we would have expected in this severe patient population with 7 of the 12 patients experiencing no VOCs during the 12 week treatment period. And importantly, Poseradir has continued to be generally well tolerated with no treatment related serious adverse events reported to date. And so taken together, these data reinforce our conviction in posterior’s potential to address the underlying biology of sickle cell disease and support our belief that posterior has the potential to represent a differentiated or once daily oral treatment option for patients. Now, during the quarter we also initiated an open label long term dosing trial for patients in the Pioneer study and we recently enrolled our first patient in this new study. All patients in this long term dosing study previously completed 12 weeks of treatment as part of the Pioneer trial. Therefore, we expect to provide a distinct we expect this study to provide a distinct data set offering important insights into long term safety, durability of response and the effects of reinitiating treatment with posterior. We also continue to support initiatives aimed at improving the care journey for people living with sickle cell disease, including our recent collaboration with Medic Alert and the Sickle Cell Disease association of America or SCDAA to help improve access to patient specific care information in the emergency department setting. Looking Ahead we are now focused on the next stage of clinical development for posterior and we expect to provide an update in the design of our next trial later this quarter following our upcoming end of phase meeting with the FDA and receipt of the final meeting minutes. Pending FDA feedback from that end of phase meeting, we plan to initiate a potential registration enabling trial in the second half of 2026. And so with a strong balance sheet that provides cash Runway into 2029, we are well positioned to advance posterior through the next phase of clinical development. Now, before turning it over to Alan, I want to cover two other important corporate updates. First, I want to welcome Josh Lure to our Board of Directors. Josh brings to Fulcrum a deep experience and passion for sickle cell disease as well as a strong track record in advancing transformative therapies in this space, including his role in the development and approval of Oxbrida. We are honored to have Josh join FULCRUM at this important stage and secondly, I would also like to thank Alan for his years of dedication and leadership as he looks towards retirement later in the year. Alan has played a critical role in strengthening our balance sheet and instilling financial discipline across the organization and we are grateful for his continued commitment to Fulcrum as he remains in his role until a successor is named to ensure a smooth transition. And so with that, let me now turn it over to Alan to review our financial results. And again, Alan, thanks for all you’ve done for fulcrum.

Alan Musso (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Alex, and thank you for the kind words. It’s been a privilege to be part of Fulcrum’s progress and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together. With the impressive results from the Pioneer trial, a talented and motivated team and a strong capital base, the company is well positioned to deliver transformative therapy for sickle cell patients. I look forward to continue working with the team over the coming months and ensuring a successful transition. And with that, I’ll now go over our Results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. The research and development expenses were 14.1 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to 13.4 million for the first quarter of 2025. The increase of 700,000 was primarily driven by higher employee compensation costs, including 400,000 of increased stock based compensation expense. General and Administrative expenses were 8.1 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to 7 million for the first quarter of 2025. The increase of 1.1 million was primarily driven by higher employee compensation costs including 300,000 of increased stock based compensation expense as well as higher professional services costs. The net loss was 22.2 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to a net loss of 20.4 million for the first quarter of 2025. Now turning to the balance sheet, we ended the first quarter of 2026 with cash cash equivalents of marketable securities of 333.3 million compared to 352.3 million as of December 31, 2025. The $19 million decrease was primarily due to cash used to fund our operating activities. And based on our current plans, we expect our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our operating requirements into 2029, providing Runway to advanced Poseradir through the next phase of clinical development. And with that, I’ll turn it back over to you, Alex.

Alex Sapier (CEO and President)

That’s great. Thanks so much Alan. So Fulcrum has reached an important inflection point with the positive clinical data from our Pioneer trial Reinforcing our conviction in Poseradir’s potential in sickle cell disease. We are focused on the next stage of development and look forward to providing an update on our plans following our upcoming end of phase meeting with the FDA. And with a strong balance sheet and a dedicated team, we believe we are well positioned to advance Poseradir through the next phase of clinical development. And so with those brief remarks, Shannon, why don’t we go ahead and open up the line for questions?

OPERATOR

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q and A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Joe Schwartz with Lee Rink Partners. Your line is now open.

Joe Schwartz (Equity Analyst at Lee Rink Partners)

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions, Alan. Congrats on your upcoming retirement and thanks for your excellent stewardship of the company over the years. Alex, as you reflect on the experience gained through Pioneer, what are the most important things you’ve learned that you might not have fully appreciated going in? And how will those lessons shape your phase three design and execution? Yeah, it’s a great question, Joe. And I may start. And I’ll also turn it over to Ian to see if he wants to add anything. I mean, I think the one thing that I’ve really learned from Pioneer and talking with a lot of the investigators and hearing from those investigators, the conversations that they’ve had with their patients, is that there continues to be continued high, high, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

While the market awaits the next catalyst from the Middle East, institutional money eagerly awaits the next signal from Tokyo.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is meeting today and tomorrow to discuss the next policy move. While the consensus is to hold rates unchanged, the jitters are about what happens next.

Untangling the Carry Trade

For decades, Japan has been the anchor of ultra-loose monetary policy. Now, even a modest tightening threatens to unwind one of the largest and least appreciated sources of leverage underpinning global markets — the yen carry trade.

“The BOJ will stand pat this time but deliver a hawkish message with an eye on a rate hike in June or July,” Tetsuya Inoue, executive economist at Sony Financial Group, said according to Reuters.

“Corporate price-setting behavior has changed, so the BOJ must keep an eye out for signs of second-round effects,” he added.

Meanwhile, ING Think’s research still sees a risk of a hike tomorrow, “if the BoJ gives priority to preventing inflation expectations from accelerating.” In a note from April 24, the bank suggested that “energy shocks …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The stock market is roaring back to all-time highs with a historic 12.5% four-week surge, yet a stark disconnect remains as everyday consumers grapple with economic pessimism, highlights Charlie Bilello.

The ‘Elevator Up’ Market Surge

The S&P 500 has staged a staggering comeback, gaining 12.5% over four weeks to mark its 20th biggest advance since January 1950.

Chief Market Strategist at Creative Planning, Bilello, highlighted the unprecedented nature of this rapid rebound. Unlike previous massive market rallies, this surge did not emerge from the depths of a traditional bear market. Instead, the index experienced a modest 9.8% decline before rocketing upward. Bilello describes this unusual price action as “stairs down and elevator up.”

The ETF tracking the S&P 500 index, State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) has also returned 12.59% over the last month, 4.50% year-to-date and 29.61% over the year.

Despite the lack of a major preceding crash, history suggests the momentum could continue. Bilello notes that “strength tends to beget strength” in equities.

On CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer said Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) is up “way too much” and is just going higher.

“We’re gonna say, no,” Cramer adds. “We’re not going to pay these prices.”

Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Valentini, on April 20, maintained Planet Labs with a Neutral and raised the price target from $18 to $20.

Cramer called Symbotic Inc. (NASDAQ:SYM) an automation company and a robotic company.

“You are going up against Elon Musk,” he said. “But there’s room for both.”

On the earnings front, Symbotic is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results after the market …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Tuesday, April 28.

Analysts expect the car company to report quarterly earnings of $2.62 per share. That’s down from $2.78 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for GM’s quarterly revenue is $43.68 billion. It reported $44.02 billion last year, according to Benzinga Pro.

Ahead of quarterly earnings, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu upgraded GM from Hold to Buy on April 14 and raised the price target from $83 to $90.

With the recent buzz around General Motors, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends too. As of now, GM has an annual dividend yield of 0.92%, with a quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share (72 cents per year).  

So, how can investors exploit …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Selected firms exemplify global standard for principles-based excellence in private equity

NEW YORK, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Institutional Investor (II), the award-winning finance and investment news publisher, and industry-leading sponsor of investment conferences, has released its first annual Alpha Edge Buy List—a new global benchmark for excellence in private equity. Reinforcing the standards that matter most to long-term capital allocators, the list recognizes firms that demonstrate superior alignment, governance discipline, transparency and long-term value creation.

The eight firms selected for the Alpha Edge Buy List are Apollo Global Management, Goldman Sachs, HarbourVest Partners, HG Capital, Neuberger, Octopus Investments, TPG and 17Capital. Each firm was nominated by members of the Alpha Edge Advisory Board and vetted through a research and verification process to …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stock futures were mixed this morning, with the Dow futures falling around 0.1% on Monday.

Shares of Domino’s Pizza Inc (NASDAQ:DPZ) fell sharply in pre-market trading after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Domino’s Pizza reported quarterly earnings of $4.13 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $4.28 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.151 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.163 billion.

Domino’s shares dipped 3.8% to $353.77 in pre-market trading.

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

• Compass Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CMPX) gained 10.5% to $4.50 in pre-market trading. Compass Therapeutics will host webcast on April 27 to review topline secondary endpoints from Phase 2/3 COMPANION-002 clinical study assessing tovecimig …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” Jim Lebenthal, partner at Cerity Partners, named Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) as his final trade.

Supporting his view, J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee, on April 16, maintained Cisco with an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $95 to $96.

Jenny Van Leeuwen Harrington, chief executive officer of Gilman Hill Asset Management, LLC, said Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE:HTGC) has a 12% yield and is down 18% year-to-date.

On the earnings front, Hercules Capital, on Feb. 12, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The Trump administration is negotiating a $500 million bailout for Spirit Airlines Inc (OTC:FLYYQ) to keep the struggling carrier from collapsing. Trump has publicly backed the intervention, framing it as a matter of saving thousands of jobs.

Marc Scribner, Senior Transportation Policy Analyst at Reason Foundation, in an exclusive interview with Benzinga, explained why the government shouldn’t bail out Spirit or other airlines with public funds.

Who Should Pay For Spirit’s Rescue?

Scribner argued that Spirit’s financial risks should fall on its own shareholders and lenders, not taxpayers, especially given the airline’s slim odds of recovery.

Calling it a “bad investment,” Scribner said that a government loan, or in the worst case, government ownership, just transfers the risks associated with the beleaguered airlines to taxpayers. “What is the benefit of perpetuating a financial zombie like Spirit Airlines?” he questioned.

He added that, as the chronic losses at Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service demonstrate, the government has a poor track record of running commercial operations. The policy analyst also emphasized that the entire ultra-low-cost carrier segment is “pro-competitive” and government involvement would undercut competition.

However, Trump argued the government would acquire Spirit nearly debt-free …

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 consumer staples sector.

Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG)

• Dividend Yield: 9.88%
• BTIG analyst Rob Dickerson initiated coverage on the stock with a Neutral rating on April 14, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 62%
• Goldman Sachs analyst Leah Jordan maintained a Sell rating and slashed the price target from $17 to $15 on April 2, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 59%.
• Recent News: On April 13, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

OpenAI is reportedly exploring a move into smartphones designed around artificial intelligence agents, potentially reshaping how users interact with mobile devices.

AI Agent Smartphone Concept Emerges

On Sunday, Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on X, OpenAI is reportedly working with chipmakers MediaTek and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), along with manufacturing partner Luxshare, on a potential “AI agent” smartphone concept expected for mass production as early as 2028.

The concept centers on replacing app-based interactions with a task-driven AI assistant that executes user requests directly.

“Users are not trying to use a pile of apps. They are trying to get tasks done and fulfill needs through the phone,” the report stated, framing the device as a shift in how smartphones are used.

It also noted, “Only by fully controlling both the operating system and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ford Motor Co.‘s (NYSE:F) racing division has set a new record for the fastest electric vehicle on the quarter-mile track with a 2,200 hp electric Mustang.

Quarter Mile In 6.87 Seconds

In a post on the social media platform X on Saturday, Ford’s official racing handle shared the achievement with a video of the car in action on the track.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Ross Gerber Thinks Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Tesla Could Create ‘Berkshire Hathaway Of AI’

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, April 27.

Analysts expect the Tempe, Arizona-based company to report quarterly earnings of 24 cents cents per share, up from 9 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Amkor Technology’s quarterly revenue is $1.65 billion (it reported $1.32 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On Feb. 19, Amkor announced that its board has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.08352 per share on the company’s common stock.

Amkor Technology shares gained 7.2% to close at $78.11 on Friday.

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 …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The White House’s move to designate U.S. grid infrastructure as “essential to national defense” could supercharge demand for companies tied to transformers, transmission lines, and high-voltage equipment, setting up a potential rally across electrification-focused stocks and ETFs, according to Anthony Pompliano.

Electrification Push

In Sunday’s post on X, Pompliano highlighted that transformers, transmission lines and conductors, substations, and high-voltage circuit breakers are the big tailwind for companies driving America’s electrification push.

Last month, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced that it is developing a new device known internally as “Transformer” that aims to leverage artificial intelligence to streamline user experiences.

Where The Money Goes First

Rosanna Prestia framed the playbook as “Where the Money Goes First,” arguing that “Money doesn’t hit utilities first. She wrote, “The winners are suppliers, not just utilities.”

Prestia put “transformers (massive shortage)” at the top of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In the dynamic and fiercely competitive business environment, conducting a thorough analysis of companies is crucial for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will perform an extensive industry comparison, evaluating NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) in relation to its major competitors in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By closely examining crucial financial metrics, market position, and growth prospects, we aim to offer valuable insights for investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

NVIDIA Background

Nvidia is a leading developer of graphics processing units. Traditionally, GPUs were used to enhance the experience on computing platforms, most notably in gaming applications on PCs. GPU use cases have since emerged as important semiconductors used in artificial intelligence to run large language models. Nvidia not only offers AI GPUs, but also a software platform, Cuda, used for AI model development and training. Nvidia is also expanding its data center networking solutions, helping to tie GPUs together to handle complex workloads.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

In today’s rapidly changing and fiercely competitive business landscape, it is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts to thoroughly analyze companies. In this article, we will conduct a comprehensive industry comparison, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) against its key competitors in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By examining key financial metrics, market position, and growth prospects, we aim to provide valuable insights for investors and shed light on company’s performance within the industry.

Advanced Micro Devices Background

Advanced Micro Devices designs a variety of digital semiconductors for markets such as PCs, gaming consoles, data centers (including artificial intelligence), industrial, and automotive applications. AMD’s traditional strength was in central processing units and graphics processing units used in PCs and data centers. However, AMD is emerging as a prominent player in AI GPUs and related hardware. Additionally, the firm supplies the chips found in prominent game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Amidst the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment of today, conducting comprehensive company analysis is essential for investors and industry enthusiasts. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in comparison to its major competitors within the Software industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company’s performance in 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

Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, April 27.

Analysts expect the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company to report quarterly earnings of $2.82 per share. That’s up from 77 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Nucor’s quarterly revenue is $8.86 billion (it reported $7.83 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On March 19, Nucor said it sees preliminary first-quarter GAAP EPS of $2.70-$2.80.

Shares of Nucor gained 0.6% to close at $214.29 on Friday.

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 …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Investor Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki thinks that the Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX merger could lead to an entity like Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) in the artificial intelligence space.

Intertwining Of Businesses

In a video shared by The Information on Sunday on X, Gerber shared that investors wanted to own shares of both companies. “Many of the Tesla investors want to own SpaceX,” he said, which could lead to them selling Tesla shares to buy SpaceX stock. Gerber also shared that both companies being public could expose Elon Musk and the organizations to “conflict of interest lawsuits.”

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Ross Gerber Slams Elon Musk’s Tesla For Phasing Out ‘Best EV Ever’ Amid Optimus Push: ‘This Is Just Wrong’

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya is raising alarms on California’s proposed “Billionaire Tax”, claiming the measure could ultimately expand far beyond the ultra-wealthy and impact everyday residents.

Billionaire Tax Debate Heats Up

In Sunday’s post on X, Palihapitiya wrote, “The Billionaire Tax is actually an Everyone Tax.” He added, “Despite its name, it applies to every California resident who currently has assets or ever will.”

Palihapitiya pointed to what he described as a conversion mechanism buried in the text, writing, “On page 26, he explains how the government can convert to an Everyone Tax without voter approval.” He also warned, “They can also adjust the tax to be a yearly tax, not just one time…again, without your approval,” he said.

This …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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.

La Rosa Holdings (NASDAQ:LRHC)

• On April 22, La Rosa Holdings announced it received a noncompliance notification from the Nasdaq. The company’s stock fell around 59% over the past month and has a 52-week low of $1.82.
• RSI Value: 24.9
• LRHC Price Action: Shares of …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Investors are flooding the U.S. stock market with capital at an unprecedented, record-breaking pace, with equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) hitting fresh highs since the late March bottom.

Record-Breaking April

In a massive reversal of market sentiment, total U.S. equity ETF inflows have surpassed a staggering $100 billion since the market’s March 30th low.

Being the largest ETFs in the U.S., State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO), and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:IVV)—are the primary vessels for this historic surge.

According to data from Strategas Asset Management shared by The Kobeissi Letter, average daily equity ETF inflows skyrocketed to a record $7.5 billion during the first three weeks of April.

To put this sudden influx into perspective, it represents a massive 153% increase compared to the March daily average of just $2.9 billion.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The S&P 500 enters the final week of April on the heels of a strong performance, having gained 0.80% on Friday to close at 7,165.08. However, fresh geopolitical friction over the weekend is testing investor resolve as the new trading week begins.

The Polygon-based (CRYPTO: POL) Polymarket crowd is maintaining a bullish outlook for the Monday open. The “S&P 500 Opens Up or Down on April 27?” odds currently show a 65% chance of an “Up” open.

Why That Number Matters

Geopolitical risk has surged back to the forefront after a weekend of hardline rhetoric. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he canceled plans for envoys to meet with Iranian …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed a slight decline in the overall market sentiment, while the index remained in the “Greed” zone on Friday.

U.S. stocks settled mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite settling at record levels during the session.

Major indices saw mixed performance last week, with the S&P 500 gaining about 0.6% and the Nasdaq surging 1.5%. However, the Dow fell 0.4% last week.

Pakistan signaled that Iran’s foreign minister was heading to Islamabad for possible ceasefire talks, easing some of the energy-driven pressure that had dominated the tape all week.

In earnings, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) shares jumped more than 23% on Friday after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter guidance above estimates. Procter & Gamble …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) 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://app.webinar.net/9DKl5Lg0Mab

Summary

Norfolk Southern Corp reported a modest increase in adjusted expenses by just 1% year over year despite inflationary pressures and higher fuel costs.

The company is advancing PSR 2.0 structural changes to build more resilience and efficiencies across their network, enhancing safety and service capabilities.

Although first-quarter revenue remained flat, the company is optimistic about growth prospects, particularly in domestic intermodal and export coal markets, despite macroeconomic uncertainties.

Management highlighted significant improvements in fuel efficiency and labor productivity, and reiterated their commitment to safety and operational excellence.

The company remains on track with its merger application and maintains its cost guidance for 2026, though acknowledging potential volatility due to fluctuating fuel prices.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Norfolk Southern Corporation first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, note that all participant lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session and if at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. Also note that this call is being recorded on Friday, April 24th, 2026 and I would like to turn the conference over to Luke Nichols. Please go ahead sir.

Luke Nichols (Operator)

Good morning everyone. Please note that during today’s call we will make certain forward looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or future performance of Norfolk Southern Corporation which are subject to risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results. Please refer to our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC for a full discussion of those risks and uncertainties we view as most important. Our presentation slides are available at norfolksouthern.com in the Investors section, along with our reconciliation of any non GAAP measures used today to the comparable GAAP measures, including adjusted or non-GAAP operating ratio. Please note that all references to our prospective operating ratio during today’s call are being provided on an adjusted basis. Turning to slide 3, I’ll now turn the call over to Norfolk Southern’s President, Chief Executive Officer Mark George.

Mark George (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Good morning and thanks for joining us with me today are John Orr, our Chief Operating Officer, Ed Elkins, our Chief Commercial Officer, and Jason Zampi, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we get into details, I wanted to start by recognizing our Thoroughbred team. Working together, we successfully navigated another challenging winter with weather events that affected most of our territory, putting real pressure on the network and our volumes in the month of February. But as conditions normalized and our network recovered, we were able to capture the available volume in March and exited the quarter with solid momentum, all while staying focused on what matters most, operating the railroad safely. Our safety performance continues to excel, which remains our most important work. We’re seeing the benefits of the investments we’ve made in technology, training and standard processes. From digital inspection tools to more rigorous operating standards, these efforts are helping us detect and address potential issues earlier and keep our employees, customers and communities we serve safe. Our FRA-reportable accident rate is down yet again thanks to the systems we have and our leadership. I’m proud of how our people stayed disciplined and committed. Through all the weather challenges and other distractions on costs, we remained disciplined. Total adjusted expenses were up just 1% year over year despite inflationary pressures, storm costs and sharply higher fuel prices. We earned new business, expanded key relationships and saw customer confidence grow across multiple sectors, reflecting improved execution and trust in our capabilities. We’re seeing strength and encouraging results across multiple parts of the business, reflecting focused investments and improved coordination across our teams. Ed will walk through some of our wins and the underlying volume drivers in more detail. Lastly, stepping back to the broader environment, the macro remains a mix of puts and takes. Customers continue to manage dynamic and shifting supply chains, but our message is simple. Norfolk Southern is well positioned to grow alongside of them. The strength of our network combined with the flexibility we built into our cost structure gives us confidence to navigate whatever the market brings. And with that, I’ll turn it over to John to get into the operational details.

John Orr (Chief Operating Officer)

John Good morning everyone and thanks Mark Throughout 2025 our Norfolk Southern team was focused on growing our team’s capabilities, skills and speak up willingness, creating the environment to deeply embed our safety and service maturity and capabilities. Now, with a full quarter behind us in 2026, we are realizing measurable gains from those successive efforts. We are advancing and layering progressive PSR 2.0 structural changes to build more resilience and efficiencies across the railway, develop generational railway leaders and provide our customers with the best possible service plan. As Mark noted, extreme and network wide winter weather in the first quarter tested the network. I am very proud of the entire enterprise in the way we anticipated, prepared and responded to deliver for our customers. The extraordinary commitment of more than 19,000 railroaders across our franchise was clear in the service and volume execution coming out of the system wide storms. Thank you to all my fellow railroaders. The entire team delivered both daily and storm backlog demand and drove post pandemic daily GTM volume records made possible by our operations and commercial teams turning to slide five at Norfolk Southern. Safety is the core value through which all of our operating decisions are made. Our continued investment in safety is producing results while building a stronger, more durable safety culture. In the quarter our FRA personal injury rate was 1.10. This is consistent with full year 2025 performance. Our FRA accident ratio was 1.43. This reflects a 37% improvement year over year. In the first quarter our FRA meanline accident ratio was 0.26. For the second consecutive year, Norfolk Southern continues to lead the way for Class 1 railroads in mainline incident reliability. This progress is not isolated, it is also mirrored in a reduction of non FRA reportable accidents. These improvements reflect the strategic impact of our intentional coordination of field level technology coupled with execution across back office work scope, process refinement and field conversion engagement combined, we are creating reliable network value by engineering out risk from operations wherever our teams work. This holistic approach to safety improvement is now embedded in how we plan, execute and manage the railway every day. While we are all proud and encouraged by our safety improvements, we are driven by a relentless drive for continuous improvement. Our enterprise is committed to putting in the work we know there’s more work to do. We are strengthening our stop work authority, reinforcing a speak up culture and relentlessly addressing root cause analysis to prevent block crossing and other incidents. Turning to Slide 6 throughout the first quarter, the network demonstrated resilience in the variable demand environment we faced. Our focus remains on improving our train speed while maintaining balanced discipline around energy management and service levels, a core operational priority. While shipments were modestly lower year over year, we moved 1.1% more gross ton miles reflecting stronger train productivity and better asset utilization across the network. Terminal dwell improved year over year. Coupled with continuous focus on execution to the plan, this supports gains in car miles per day. We have been intentional about protecting service and operating the network at a lower cost structure. That discipline is reflected in 8.6% fewer recruits. Improved locomotive reliability and continued reductions in unscheduled train stops. Improved crew scheduling and greater crew availability are supporting stronger crew productivity across the network and a better aligned qualified T and E crew base which is down about 6% year over year. And we continue to strategically recruit and renew our workforce in markets where we anticipate growth, reliability drives, improved productivity, improves locomotive and fuel efficiency. Taken together, these results demonstrate we are controlling what we can control, managing costs, improving efficiencies and positioning the network to respond to the evolving market conditions. Turning to slide 7 at the core of PSR 2.0 is a self reinforcing operating system, a flywheel where disciplined execution compounds over time. At Norfolk Southern, we know when we run the plan, reduce recruits and improve network velocity. We create stability in the operation. Stability matters to our people and to our customers. It allows us to deliver our service and utilize assets more effectively, improve locomotive and field productivity and operate with better energy efficiencies. Operational gains have manifested into the continued evolution of our service plan and its execution. They feed directly back into better schedules, better planning and more consistent execution. We now have a connected system where every improvement strengthens the next. That compounding effect is how we intentionally build a more resilient railroad. Steadily over time, our war rooms continue to translate this discipline into measurable results. The mechanical room has improved detection, quality in our wheel integrity systems while delivering confirmed defect identification that directly improves safety and reliability. This is a clear example of technology, process and field execution working together at scale. At the same time, our need for speed war room is embedding advanced analytics directly into daily operating. By pairing data science with frontline execution, we are improving plan quality, accelerating decisions and strengthening the performance across our network. Disciplined execution across the organization is delivering results in the first quarter we achieved a fuel efficiency record, strengthening our competitive position in a high fuel price environment while protecting margins. More importantly, it reflects the repeatability of this operating system. Taken Together, our PSR 2.0 transformation and operating systems position us to continue to outperform our original cost reduction commitments and deliver sustained progress across safety, service and financial performance. With that, I’ll turn it to you Ed.

Ed Elkins (Chief Commercial Officer)

Thanks a lot John and good morning everybody. Let’s move to Slide 9. We closed out the first quarter with significant volume momentum and this is offsetting a volatile February where severe winter weather impacted our customer car loadings for several weeks. Overall volume finished down 1% primarily due to challenging intermodal market conditions as well as merger related losses. However, revenue ended the quarter flat year over year and revenue per unit (RPU) was up 2% with solid core merchandise pricing and some favorable high level mix which were somewhat overshadowed by some puts and takes within the individual business groups, particularly within coal. Within merchandise, volume and revenue increased 1% from a year ago and this was driven by continued share gains in our chemicals and our automotive markets. revenue per unit (RPU) less fuel was flat year over year within the segment as strong core pricing was offset by mix interactions due to sustained growth of lower rated commodities within our chemicals franchise that we’ve talked about for a couple of quarters. Now in our intermodal business, volumes decreased 4% reflecting difficult comparisons related to tariff front running in 2025 as well as impacts from the winter storms in the quarter and ongoing merger related losses from prior quarters. Overall, intermodal revenue declined 1% and revenue less fuel decreased 2% due to these volume impacts while improved pricing and positive mix within the segment drove revenue per unit (RPU) higher by 3% and revenue per unit (RPU) less fuel higher by 2%. Looking at coal volume increased substantially as higher electricity demand, stockpile replenishment and a supportive regulatory environment powered our utility segment. Now this strength was partially offset by reduced volume in domestic met coal and so while total coal volume increased 9%, revenue declined 2% as mixed headwinds from utility growth and continued overhang of export pricing drove revenue per unit (RPU) down by 9%. Let’s go to slide 10. Here we highlight several dynamic factors influencing our market outlook, including the conflict in Iran which has obviously driven energy prices sharply upward. In the near term, our fuel surcharge revenue will be the most immediate impact as an offset to fuel expense and additionally, we’re aggressively pursuing volume and revenue opportunities in a variety of energy related markets while also monitoring potential impacts to overall consumer demand. Looking at merchandise, we have a subdued but positive outlook for vehicle production due to near term economic uncertainty on the part of consumers. Manufacturing activity remains mixed with output forecasted to expand modestly amid the shifting economic landscape. Energy prices and global supply chains will be significant wildcards in the months ahead due to the conflict in Iran and depending on the duration of supply chain disruptions, we could see near term opportunities in markets like natural gas liquids, export, plastics and potentially even crude oil. Looking to our intermodal markets, international volumes are going to remain soft due to continued tariff volatility and trade pressures. On the other hand, retailers have been maintaining lean inventories in response to this macro uncertainty for which eventual restocking offers some support for baseline freight activity. The truck market has turned relatively positive with dry band rates trending upward in 1Q26 and capacity continues to right size while demand is firming. Taken together, we have an optimistic view of intermodal, although we’re tempering that optimism somewhat due to increased competitor activity following the merger announcement, let’s turn to coal, where a combination of global factors is supporting pricing across both metallurgical and thermal seaborne markets. Now, most notably, the conflict in Iran is impacting global LNG supply chains, opening the global market to consider alternatives such as US Sourced thermal coal. The utility outlook remains positive as growing domestic electricity demand and inventory restocking should continue to support Norfolk Southern coal volumes. Okay, let’s move to slide 11 where I’m excited to introduce an innovative new short line and transload partnership which is subject to standard regulatory approval with Jaguar Transport Holdings. Unlike traditional short line transactions across the industry, which have been focused on finding efficiencies and leveraging lower density lines, our new partnership focuses on growth in a high density switching corridor located in Doraville, Georgia. Our new partnership, which includes operation of both an industrial short line and our transload terminal, will deliver exceptional local service and responsive capacity to customers in the growing metro Atlanta market. Now here’s what I want everyone to take away. This new partnership is just the latest example of our larger growth strategy in action. We’re focused on building and executing innovative deal structures that deliver new capabilities and exceptional value for our customers. Look for more innovative solutions and new capabilities in the months ahead as we continue to execute on our strategy for growth. With that, I’m going to turn it over to Jason Zampe to review our financial results.

Jason Zampi (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Ed. I’ll start with a reconciliation of our GAAP results to the adjusted numbers that I’ll speak to Today on slide 13 we incurred $52 million in merger related expenses during the quarter while total costs related to the Eastern Ohio incident, were $10 million. Adjusting for these items, the operating ratio for the quarter was 68.7 and earnings per share (EPS) was $2.65 per share. Moving to Slide 14, you’ll find the comparison of our adjusted results versus last year. From a year over year perspective, the operating ratio increased 80 basis points. Inflation and fuel price headwinds drove an approximate 280 basis point increase. However, we were able to mitigate a large part of that increase through productivity and higher revenue per unit. Taking a closer look at our quarter on slide 15, overall costs were up 1% as we were able to offset an estimated 5% headwind from inflationary pressures. Specifically, fuel price alone was $31 million higher than last year and over $40 million higher than our expectations, a phenomenon that really accelerated in the later part of March and has continued here into the second quarter. We have continued to deliver on our productivity initiatives with fuel efficiency and labor productivity delivering over $30 million in savings. Partially offsetting those gains, we had some volumetric increases that drove purchase services and rents higher in the quarter. So to summarize our financial Results on Slide 16, while first quarter costs were only up 1% and in line with our cost guidance for 2026, the lack of revenue growth combined to drive a modest earnings per share (EPS) reduction. While we overcame typical operating ratio seasonality in Q1, we are constantly striving to improve. We continue to refine our focus to unearth other opportunities and you heard John talk about some of those initiatives as we work towards the 150 plus million dollars of efficiencies planned for this year on top of the over $500 million in productivity we generated over the last two years. Fuel …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Hilltop Hldgs (NYSE:HTH) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/472534358

Summary

Hilltop Holdings Inc reported a net income of approximately $38 million or $0.64 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2026, with a return on average assets of 1% and return on average equity of 7.1%.

Plains Capital Bank experienced a favorable net interest margin of 3.38% and generated $47 million in pre-tax income, supported by active management of the deposit portfolio and growth in core loans and deposits.

Prime Lending narrowed its pre-tax loss to $2 million, benefiting from higher loan origination volumes and improved gain on sale margins, though overall profitability remains challenged by affordability issues and interest rate volatility.

Hilltop Securities delivered strong earnings with pre-tax income of $15 million and net revenue of $116 million, driven by solid performance in public finance services, structured finance, and wealth management.

The company maintains strong capital levels with a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 19.1%, and returned $11.8 million to stockholders through dividends and $47.5 million in share repurchases.

Future outlook anticipates continued growth in core deposits and loans, with expectations for modest seasonal volatility, and a stable net interest income despite competitive pressures.

Management remains focused on strategic investments in technology and client-facing resources to drive productivity and future growth, while maintaining caution amidst geopolitical and economic uncertainties.

Full Transcript

Jordan (Operator)

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jordan and I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Hilltop Holdings Inc First Quarter 2026 Earnings 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’d like to ask a question during this time, simply press STAR followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you’d like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Matt Dunn. Please go ahead. Thank you.

Matt Dunn

Before we get started, please note that certain statements during today’s presentation that are not statements of historical fact, including statements concerning such items as our outlook, business strategy, future plans, financial condition, credit risks and trends in credit allowance for credit losses, liquidity and sources of funding, funding costs, dividends, stock repurchases, subsequent events and impacts of interest rate changes. As well as such, other items referenced in the preface of our presentation are forward looking statements. These statements are based on management’s current expectations concerning future events that by their nature are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results, capital liquidity and financial condition may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including the precautionary statements referenced in the preface of our presentation and those included in our most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Please note that certain information presented is preliminary and based upon data available at this time. Except to the extent required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update earlier statements as a result of new information. Additionally, this presentation includes certain non-GAAP measures including tangible common equity and tangible book value per share. A reconciliation of these measures to the nearest GAAP measure may be found in the appendix to this presentation, which is posted on our website@ir.hilltop.com. I will now turn the call over to Jeremy Ford.

Jeremy Ford

Thank you, Matt and good morning. For the first quarter, Hilltop reported net income of approximately $38 million or $0.64 per diluted share. Return on average assets for the period was 1% and return on average equity was 7.1%. To summarize, the quarter, PlainsCapital Bank reported a continued expansion in net interest margin while generating year over year growth in both core loans and core deposits. PrimeLending narrowed its operating loss when compared to the first quarter of 2025 as the mortgage business benefited from higher origination volumes and Hilltop Securities delivered strong earnings as net revenues across its business lines showed good momentum to start the year at PlainsCapital Bank. A favorable 3.38% net interest margin and the continued execution on a robust loan pipeline helped to produce $47 million of pre tax income and and a 1.2% return on average assets for the quarter. Operating results at the bank were supported by active management of the deposit portfolio and a further remixing of earning assets into core loans. This combination led to an increase in net interest income of $8 million versus the first quarter of 2025. Results in the quarter included a $1.8 million provision expense. This was largely driven by a stressed auto note credit that we have discussed in prior quarters. Will is going to provide further commentary on credit in his prepared remarks. The bank is poised to deliver continued core loan growth as we seek to organically recruit talented bankers to our platform and expand on our existing customer base by offering value enhancing products and services. Additionally, we expect to grow core deposits on a year over year basis, but we anticipate modest seasonal seasonal volatility in core deposit balances. We believe the backdrop of a healthy Texas economy and a constructive shape to the yield curve will continue to provide a favorable operating environment for PlainsCapital Bank moving to PrimeLending where the company reported a pre tax loss of $2 million during the first quarter. The improvement in financial results was primarily driven by year over year increases in loan origination volumes and gain on sale margins as well as cost structure enhancements that were implemented in 2025. However, overall profitability within the mortgage business remains under pressure from stubborn headwinds such as affordability and the interest rate lock. In effect, the spring and summer months historically drive elevated origination volumes at PrimeLending. However, persistent volatility in long term interest rates creates greater uncertainty around second and third quarter production than in a typical year. Given the structural challenges that homebuyers currently face, we anticipate that overall volumes will be materially impacted by prevailing mortgage rates. We remain focused on achieving internal productivity metrics to best position the business for profitability in this prolonged mortgage cycle. During the quarter, Hilltop Securities generated pre tax income of $15 million on net revenue of $116 million for a pre tax margin of 12.7%. Speaking to the business lines at Hilltop Securities, Public Finance Services continued to produce solid top line results as it delivered 23.6 million DOL net revenue which is a modest decline versus last year’s robust first quarter. Structured finance showed strength in a volatile interest rate environment as the business line delivered net revenue of $23.6 million benefiting from a material increase in TBA lock volume on a year over year basis in wealth management results further improved versus the prior year’s first quarter from higher advisory fees and transaction fees. We continue to see organic growth in the wealth business in the midst of a competitive operating environment. Finally, Fixed income services delivered $14 million of net revenue which was a 58% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, primarily from strong sales volumes. Despite the highly volatile interest rate environment, Hilltop Securities produced a solid first quarter and improve pre tax income by 60% on a year over year basis. The firm continues to add scale to our core competencies and deliver value to our clients. Moving to page four, Hilltop maintains strong capital levels with a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 19.1%. Additionally, tangible book value per share increased to $31.97 during the period. We returned $11.8 million to stockholders through dividends and repurchased $47.5 million in shares. Thank you and I’ll now turn the presentation over to Will to discuss our financials in more detail.

Will

Thank you, Jeremy and I’ll start on page five. As Jeremy discussed, for the first quarter of 2026, Hilltop reported consolidated income attributable to common stockholders $37.8 million, equating to $0.64 per diluted share. Quarter’s results included 7% growth in net interest income driven by ongoing efforts …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Corporacion Inmobiliaria (NYSE:VTMX) 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/.

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/586656108

Summary

Vesta Real Estate Corporation SAB de CV reported strong financial performance in Q1 2026 with total rental income increasing 14.4% to $76.7 million, driven by new leases and inflationary adjustments.

The company maintained a disciplined approach to development with a focus on high-quality, tenant-aligned projects, launching new projects in Mexico City and Tijuana.

Occupancy rates remained stable, and the company anticipates continued demand from sectors such as electronics and data infrastructure, with a positive outlook for future leasing activity.

Vesta’s financial position remains robust with $250 million in cash and a low net debt to EBITDA ratio of 4.1x, enabling flexibility in capital allocation.

Management expressed confidence in the 2030 strategy, emphasizing portfolio quality over scale and anticipating favorable market dynamics and interest rate environments to support growth.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Vesta Real Estate Corporation SAB de CV first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants are currently in listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow today’s prepared remarks and as a reminder, this call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Fernanda Bettinger, Vesta Real Estate Corporation SAB de CV’s Investor Relations Officer. Please go ahead. Good morning everyone and welcome to our review of the first quarter 2026 earnings results. Presenting today with me is Lorenzo Dominic Vero, Chief Executive Officer and Juan Totil, our Chief Financial Officer. The earnings release detailing our first quarter 2026 results was released yesterday after market close and is available on Vesta IR website along with our supplemental package. It’s important to note that on today’s call, management remarks and answers to your questions may contain forward looking statements. Forward looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. For more information on these risk factors, please review our public filings. Vesta assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements in the future. Additionally, note that all figures were prepared in accordance with ifrs which differ in certain significant respects from US gaap. All information should be read in conjunction with and is qualified in its entirety by reference to our financial statements including the notes thereto and are stated in US Dollars unless otherwise noted. I’ll now turn the call over to Lorenzo.

Lorenzo Dominic Vero (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you for joining us today and for your continued interest in Vesta. The first quarter marked a strong start to the year with solid leasing momentum and stable portfolio performance despite ongoing global tensions. Importantly, as our results demonstrate, we’re seeing not only continued activity but growing conviction from our tenants. This was reflected in new leasing and expansions with existing clients as well as with exciting new clients during the quarter. Our performance reinforces the strength of Vesta’s platform and reaffirms our approach for 2026 and of our Route 2030 strategy which is centered on expanding a well curated, high quality portfolio for disciplined development, leveraging our privileged land bank to capture demand. We believe value creation in our space is driven more by quality than size. While we are seeing increased competition for stabilized assets, Vesta’s differentiation lies in our ability to develop and operate a selective portfolio aligned with global best practices and the evolving needs of our clients. Let me briefly highlight the key drivers of Vesta’s results. As I noted, leasing activity remains Strong with total first quarter leasing reaching approximately 1.6 million square feet, including 1 million square feet in new leases with Best in Class companies. Total portfolio occupancy reached 89.7% by quarter cent while stabilized and same store occupancy reached 93.4% and 95% respectively, reflecting the strength and stability of our tenant relationships. During the quarter, we saw strength in the electronics and aerospace sectors and also in AI related data center infrastructure which is becoming an increasingly relevant demand driver that will benefit from long term structural headwinds. On the development side, our pipeline continues to convert into active construction with vested projects breaking ground across key markets. This is further evidence of both improving demand visibility and the strength of our land bank which is expected to support stabilization and gradual recovery of occupancy. Along these lines, as leasing activity continues to gain momentum and we have selectively resumed development, we launched 2 new projects in Mexico City and one in Tijuana during the first quarter, which brings our total development pipeline to approximately 1.6 million square feet. Importantly, our approach remains disciplined and demand driven, prioritizing 10 and back projects in high conviction markets. From a financial perspective, results remain solid. Total rental income increased to $76.7 million while rental revenues reached $74 million, a 14.1% sequential increase. Also, with sustained strength across our key profitability metrics including NOI and ebitda, let me now turn to the broader market environment and how we are seeing it reflected across our portfolio. Recent data has focused on rising vacancy in certain regions, particularly in the north. However, what we are seeing is better characterized as a correction, not a structural slowdown or decline in underlying demand. Markets such as Tijuana reflect more uneven dynamics, but it’s important to note that this is largely due to supply from less experienced developers. Vesta’s high quality infrastructure ready buildings continue to outperform, reinforcing our focus on portfolio quality. We’re leveraging our strength in this market and launch a new project in Tijuana during the first quarter. New construction starts in key markets such as Monterrey, have declined significantly year over year, reflecting a market that is adjusting quickly. In Mexico City, fundamentals remain Strong. According to CBRE, Mexico City gross absorption reached approximately 6.7 million square feet during the quarter, with pre leasing accounting for most of the activity and more than half of new supply delivered already pre leased. This dynamic reinforces both demand debit and forward visibility across this market. It has also led us to launch the two new projects in Mexico City which I have described. In Guadalajara, we are seeing healthy demand, particularly from electronics and technology related tenants, a key driver of activity in the market. During the quarter, we successfully preleased the two Vesta buildings under construction underscoring the strength of underlying fundamentals and the sustained momentum we’re seeing in the region. Let me now turn to how we are executing against this environment. Our strategy remains consistent. Vesta will grow through a high quality, well created portfolio developed with discipline and aligned with the long term demand. As I have commented, our focus is on portfolio quality, not scale, ensuring that each asset meets the highest standards of infrastructure, energy and operational performance. This is particularly relevant in the current environment. Despite the competition for stabilized assets we are seeing, we believe there is greater opportunity in selective development where we can create value and differentiate through product quality and tenant alignment. Before I conclude, let me briefly touch on our capital position and outlook. As Juan will discuss, we continue to operate with a strong and flexible balance sheet, maintaining a disciplined approach to leverage and liquidity which enables us to execute our strategy while navigating uncertainty. Capital allocation remains selective with a focus on high quality projects supporting efficient growth. In closing, we are highly confident in our outlook. While near term uncertainty persists, the underlying structural drivers underpinning our business are stronger than ever. Tenant activity continues to be robust, foreign direct investment is maintaining strong momentum and manufacturing exports are at record levels. At the same time, higher value industries such as electronics, aerospace, semiconductors and data infrastructure are accelerating demand for Vestas premium properties. We also expect a more favorable interest rate environment together with greater clarity around USMCA to support activity in the quarters ahead. Let me now turn the call over to Juan to review our financial results in more detail.

Juan Totil (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you, Lorenzo. Good day everyone. Let me start with a brief overview of our first quarter results. On the top line, we delivered a solid start of the year with total revenues increasing 14.4% to 76.7 million, primarily driven by rental income from new leases and inflationary adjustments across our portfolios. In terms of currency mix, 88.9% of first quarter 2026 rental revenues were US dollar denominated compared to 89.7% in the same period last year. Turning to profitability, adjusted net operating income increased 13.4% to 74.7 million. Our adjusted NOI margins decreased 62 basis points year on year to 95.1%, reflecting higher operating property costs. Relative to rental revenues. In the quarter, adjusted EBITDA totaled 62.1 million, up 12.4% year over year, while margin contracted by 130 basis points to 83.9%, primarily driven by higher operating and administrative expenses. During the quarter, Vesta FFO excluding current tax was $43.1 million compared to $45.1 million in the first quarter 2025. The decrease was primarily due to higher interest expense in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. We closed the quarter with pre tax income of $97.9 million compared to $28.6 million in 2025. This increase was primarily to higher gains in the revaluation of investment properties, higher interest income and higher other income. This was partially offset by higher interest expense reflecting an increase in debt balance during the period, along with the increase foreign exchange losses and other expenses. Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $250 million in cash, a cash equivalent and total debt of $1.2 billion. Net debt to EBITDA stood at 4.1 times and our loan to value ratio was 26%, down from the 28.1% at the year’s end, reflecting the prepayment of the remaining 180 million MetLife 3 facilities. As of the end of the first quarter, we have no secure debt with 100% of our debt denominated in US dollars and 87.2% of our interest rate exposure on a fixed rate basis. Finally, consistent with our balanced capital allocation strategy, on April 22, 2026, Vespas shareholders approved a $74.8 million dividend for 2026, representing a 7.5% increase year over year. On May 5, we will pay a first quarter cash dividend. This concludes our first quarter 2026 review. Operator, could you please open the floor for questions?

OPERATOR

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, press Star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press Star one. Again, our first question will come from the line of Pierre Otrada with Citibank.

Pierre Otrada (Equity Analyst at Citibank)

Hi Lorenzo, Juan and Fernando. Thank you for the call. I have two questions. The first one is SPAC development in Tijuana. So, given this start, could you elaborate to us on the key conditions that supported the decision to move forward with this project in a market where vacancies remain high? More specifically, what metrics or market finance are you monitoring most closely when allocating capital into Tijuana? Just …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

First Business Finl Servs (NASDAQ:FBIZ) 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/.

Access the full call at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/805218265

Summary

First Business Financial Services Inc reported strong financial performance in Q1 2026 with a 9% increase in net income and earnings per share year-over-year.

The company achieved a 15% loan growth, exceeding its annual target, with significant contributions from Madison, Milwaukee, and Kansas City markets, as well as asset-based lending.

Fee income grew by 16% year-over-year, with private wealth business producing record revenues.

The company reported an 18% increase in core deposits from the previous quarter, driven by new client acquisitions and strong treasury management.

Management expects loan and deposit growth to normalize in Q2 but aims to achieve a 10% annual growth by the end of 2026.

The company resolved some non-performing assets and expects further resolution in the second half of the year.

First Business Financial Services Inc maintains a positive outlook for 2026, with strategic plans focusing on high-quality growth, revenue diversification, and talent retention.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good Afternoon. Welcome to the First Business Financial Services Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. 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. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to First Business Financial Services Inc. CEO Corey Chambas. Please go ahead.

Corey Chambas (Chief Executive Officer)

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time and your interest in First Business Bank. Joining me today is our President and Chief Operating Officer Dave Seiler and our CFO Brian Spielman. Today we’ll discuss our financial performance followed by a Q and A session. I’d like to direct you to our first quarter Earnings Release and supplemental earnings call slides which are available through our website@ir.firstbusinessbank.com. We encourage you to review these along with our other investor materials before we begin. Please note this call may include forward looking statements and the Company’s actual results may differ materially from those indicated in any forward looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements are listed in the Earnings Release and the Company’s most recent annual report form 10K and as may be supplemented from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. There you can also find information related to any non GAAP financial measures we discuss on today’s call, including reconciliations of such measures. We are very pleased with our strong start to 2026. Our team’s execution was exceptional. We won new relationships in a highly competitive environment, growing loans and deposits at a pace that well exceeded our expectations. We grew fee income by nearly 16% year over year with strong contributions from multiple sources. I’ll highlight our private wealth business which again produced record revenues and provides annuity like support for our revenue growth and diversification goals. Asset quality remains stable in our core performing portfolio and we were pleased to see some swift progress toward resolving our largest non performing asset which was downgraded last quarter. At the bottom line, we grew net income and earnings per share by more than 9% over last year’s first quarter even as our margin returned to a more normalized level and after being elevated in early 2025 which was residual from the period of rapid Fed tightening and perhaps most importantly Our strong earnings and disciplined capital deployment drove 14% year over year growth intangible book value per share. This success reflects our commitment to four key objectives prioritizing high quality relationship based growth, diversifying our revenue streams, maintaining long term positive operating leverage and preserving a culture that attracts and keeps the highest quality talent. We are very pleased with the momentum of our first quarter results which Dave will discuss more now.

Dave Seiler (President and Chief Operating Officer)

Dave thank you Corey. Our outstanding first quarter growth positions us well to achieve our long term goals. As you know, we aim for 10% loan and core deposit growth on an annual basis. In the first quarter we grew loans by 126 million or 15% far outpacing our plan. Growth came from across our markets led by Madison, Milwaukee and Kansas City as well as from asset based lending which is generating some great momentum under the new leader we brought on a year ago. The growth occurred late in the quarter with 90 million or 72% added in March. That had margin implications which Brian will cover and it included some pull forward of growth we had forecasted for the second quarter after an extremely strong first quarter. Our pipelines are lighter going into Q2 and we will have some known payoffs in the second quarter. Therefore, we expect the second quarter to be lighter on growth than Q1 with normalization in the second half of the year placing us on track to achieve our 10% annual growth goal for 2026. Our 10% growth expectations are driven by continued positive trends in our businesses and the banking industry. Our largest markets in Southern Wisconsin continue to benefit from a strong regional economy. Our clients in the manufacturing and distribution space are doing well. Commercial real estate occupancies have remained strong, particularly in multifamily properties. We are also seeing signs that new development is picking up after a slight slowdown in 2024 and 2025. Additionally, we continue to expect the 2026 changes to federal tax policy should be a tailwind for our business clients and C&I portfolio. We continue to see tangible benefits from talent acquisitions as well. We recently hired a new president for our private wealth business. We are also seeing positive results from producers in asset based lending who were hired in the second half of 2025. Obviously we are looking at the same wildcards as everyone else and will continue to monitor for any impact of oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty. So far it’s been business as usual. I also want to highlight our exceptional double digit growth in core deposits this quarter. First quarter balances were up 18% from the linked quarter and up 14% year over year. That’s not an easy feat in this environment. Our focus on hiring the best treasury management talent and maintaining a disciplined approach to business development continues to pay off. We are pleased to see this core deposit growth coming from multiple bank markets and our private wealth group. Our strength is in taking market share as you saw this quarter, so we are confident in our team’s ability to not only maintain existing client relationships, but also to continue bringing in new deposit balances. As with loans, we continue to target 10% growth on an annual basis. Another highlight was our strong non interest income which grew 16% compared to last year’s first quarter. Private wealth produced record revenue of 3.9 million, up 11% year over year. This business consistently generates more than 40% of our total quarterly fee income. Strong deposit growth contributed to service charges increasing more than 26% year over year, displaying our team’s impressive success in adding and expanding full business banking relationships. And our other fee income sources, which tend to be variable from quarter to quarter, posted favorable results for the quarter. Moving to credit, we saw some rapid progress on our largest non performing asset. Recall that we downgraded $20.4 million in CRE loans from a single Southeast Wisconsin based client relationship to non accrual status. Last quarter in Q1, 3.4 million of land development loans in this portfolio were sold at par. You can see the benefit of this to our non performing asset ratio on slide 12 of the earnings supplement, appraisals exceed carrying values on the land and the remaining $17 million of loans with no specific reserves recorded. We expect ongoing resolution, but the timing will be variable based on current activity. We don’t anticipate additional progress to occur before the second half of 2026. The remainder of our portfolio is stable and you can see our favorable Trends on slide 11. Before I hand it off to Brian, I’ll note that this is Cory’s last call before his retirement next week. I want to thank Cory for his leadership and service to First Business Bank. It’s difficult to summarize as many contributions to our company, so I’ll leave you with this. During Corey’s tenure as CEO, First Business bank has produced cumulative shareholder returns of nearly 700%, outperforming bank and regional bank indices by a multiple of more than 3x and the Russell 2000 by more than 200 percentage points. This is no coincidence. Corey is a visionary and we are grateful for his leadership and friendship. We are also very happy that Cory will be continuing to serve on our board. Now I’ll hand it off to Brian.

Brian Spielman (Chief Financial Officer)

Well said Dave, thanks. First quarter net interest margin increased three basis points to 356 and there is some noise in both the first and linked quarters. You can see a breakdown of this on slide 6 of our earnings supplement. First quarter NIM included the 5 basis point impact of fewer accrual days in the quarter. Excluding this impact, first quarter NIM was 361 which would be in line with our internal budget expectations. As a reminder, fourth quarter NIM included 10 basis points of compression from the non-accrual interest reversal on the downgraded CRE MPLE. Excluding this fourth quarter NIM would have measured 363. There was no non-accrual interest reversal activity in Q1. The 2 basis point difference in these adjusted NIM measurements primarily reflects the late quarter timing of loan growth. As Dave mentioned, the bulk of our significant loan growth came late in the quarter. Two thirds of the growth was from our CNI portfolios which are higher yielding than C&I and we expect this to benefit our net interest margin going forward. You can see the historical trend of this Yield differential on slide 5 of the earnings supplement. Looking out at the year, we think the early momentum of C and I loan Growth in Q1 …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

European satellite operator Eutelsat‘s CEO Jean-Francois Fallacher on Sunday shared that the company is seeing steady demand for its services in the U.S. despite pushback from SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Musk.

US Demand Steady

In an interview with Reuters, Fallacher shared that his company’s demand from U.S.-based companies, as well as the Pentagon, was resilient. “Both businesses and the Department of Defense have appetite ⁠for ​alternative solutions,” the CEO said in the interview, as it was in talks with governments to have Earth observation and communications payloads on its satellites.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

FCC Chair Brendan Carr Gives Nod To Amazon-Globalstar Deal As Satellite Internet Race With Elon Musk-Led SpaceX Intensifies: ‘We’re Very Open-Minded…’

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) Co-founder Reed Hastings said the long-standing emphasis on STEM education may be reaching its peak as artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes which skills will matter most in the future workforce.

AI Driving Shifts Away From STEM

Last week, speaking on the “Possible” podcast, Hastings framed his view around what AI does well versus what still depends on human connection.

Hastings said AI’s strengths lean toward structured, rule-based work, pointing to areas like software development and healthcare as places where capabilities could advance quickly.

He contrasted that with experiences driven by emotion and culture, arguing that those won’t become the central focus of an AI-led economy.

“You’re not going to watch a basketball game of robots,” Hastings said. He also described entertainment, art, and sports as emotional domains that are not “the big thrust of the AI world.”

Hastings suggested education may swing back toward …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) will release earnings for its first quarter after the closing bell on Monday, April 27.

Analysts expect the San Jose, California-based company to report quarterly earnings of 64 cents per share. That’s up from 59 cents per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Rambus quarterly revenue is $179.94 million (it reported $166.66 million last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On Feb. 10, Rambus announced the departure of chief financial officer.

Shares of Rambus jumped 14.4% to close at $158.40 on Friday.

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 …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Tech bull Dan Ives is predicting a major consolidation of Elon Musk‘s corporate empire, forecasting a highly probable merger between Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and IPO-bound SpaceX by early 2027.

The Merger Timeline

Speaking to Schwab Network about the potential for the two visionary companies to combine under one umbrella, the Wedbush Securities managing director outlined a specific sequence of events.

Ives predicts that SpaceX’s initial public offering this summer will set the financial stage for a massive corporate tie-up shortly thereafter.

“I think that’s the step process that they’ll go through,” Ives said. “And then ultimately a merger with Tesla… I think 80%, 90% type of chance.” He noted that this historic consolidation would likely finalize in the “first half” of 2027.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Analyst Questions Why Tesla’s 90% Value Hasn’t Evaporated Following Elon Musk’s FSD Admission: ‘It’s Astonishing…’

Food inflation in the U.S. is set to accelerate in the coming months, with surging food and beverage prices fueling concerns over rising grocery bills and adding upward pressure on broader inflation measures.

Food Inflation Set To Rise

According to a Sunday post on X by The Kobeissi Letter, average inflation for food and beverage companies surged 7.9% year over year in March, the biggest jump in at least 12 months. This is up from 4.2% increase in February.

Tomatoes saw the largest price jump of 102% year over year, followed by a rise of 90% in vegetables and 88% in diesel. The social media post attributed the rise to “higher fuel costs, meaning the full impact of rising fertilizer and plastics prices has not yet been reflected.”

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Economist and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump‘s approach to the war in Iran, saying that the situation in the Middle East has raised doubts among Trump’s core MAGA supporter base.

An Important Lesson

In an episode of Reich’s podcast “The Coffee Klatch,” the economist shared that Iran had figured out “how to trump Trump,” adding that the country was engaged in “asymmetrical warfare.” Reich also said that Trump’s decision to impose a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz for Iranian ships has resulted in Iran blocking all ships and that time was on Iran’s side.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth Warns Oil Prices Face Prolonged Pressure Due Amid Strait of Hormuz Crisis: ‘Can’t Turn On Production At A Moment’s Notice’

Financial Institutions (NASDAQ:FISI) 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.

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/208517337

Summary

Financial Institutions Inc reported a net income of $20.6 million, or $1.04 per diluted share, showing improvement from previous quarters.

The company completed the refinancing of $65 million in legacy sub debt and repurchased over 163,000 shares, with a total of 500,000 shares repurchased since December.

A 3.2% increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.32 per share was approved, reflecting confidence in long-term strategy.

Total loans decreased slightly from the previous quarter but increased by 1.6% year over year, with plans for loan growth in the second half of the year.

The company reported a net interest margin (NIM) expansion and has adjusted full-year NIM guidance to the upper 360s.

Non-interest income was slightly down due to reduced swap fee activity, while wealth management and insurance revenues remained stable.

The efficiency ratio improved, and the company expects a full-year ratio approaching 57% due to disciplined expense management.

Deposit growth was impacted by the wind-down of the banking as a service segment, but core deposits remain a focus.

Management expressed confidence in achieving a full-year loan growth target of 5%, driven by commercial loan demand in New York markets.

Full Transcript

Josh (Moderator)

Hello and welcome to the Financial Institutions Incorporated first quarter 2026 earnings call. My name is Josh and I will be the moderator for today’s call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portions of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question please press STAR followed by one on your telephone keypad and to remove that question please press STAR followed by two. At this time I’d like to introduce your host Marty Birmingham may proceed.

Kate

Marty Birmingham, thank you for joining us. For today’s call, providing prepared comments will be President and CEO Marty Birmingham and CFO Jack Plant. You will be joined by additional members of the Company’s leadership team during the question and answer session. Today’s prepared comments and Q and A will include forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from forward looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. We refer you to the previous day’s earnings release and investor presentation as well as historical SEC filings which are available on our investor relations website for our safe harbor description and a detailed discussion of the risk factors relating to forward looking statements. We will also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures intended to supplement and not substitute for comparable GAAP measures. Non GAAP to GAAP reconciliations can be found in the earnings release filed with an exhibit to form 8K or in our latest investor presentation available on our IR website www.fisi-investors.com. please note this call includes information that may only be accurate as of today’s date April 24, 2026. I will now turn the call over to President and CEO Marty Birmingham.

Marty Birmingham (President and CEO)

Thank you Kate Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us today. Our first quarter results underscore the strength of our community banking franchise, reflecting disciplined execution by our team and a continued focus on sustainable profitability. We delivered net income available to common shareholders of 20.6 million or $1.04 per diluted share, representing improvement from both the linked and year ago quarters. The first quarter operating results also supported meaningful improvement on key measures of profitability over both the length and year ago quarters including return on average assets of 1.37%, return on average tangible common equity exceeding 15% and an efficiency ratio of 57%. Our management team and board took strategic actions during the quarter that reflect our commitment to prudent capital deployment and long term shareholder value creation. In January we completed the refinancing of 65 million of legacy sub debt issuances. In addition, we repurchased a little over 163,000 shares bringing the total repurchase since December to approximately 500,000 shares, or half the 5% authorization approved under the current buyback program. In February, our Board also approved a 3.2% increase in our quarterly cash dividend to $0.32 per common share. Tangible book value per share increased 1.1% to $28.15 this quarter, and strong earnings more than offset the impact of our share repurchase activity and some downward pressure in AOCI driven by interest rate volatility. Our capital actions underscore our Board’s confidence in our strategy and long term outlook while reaffirming our commitment to disciplined capital management and long term shareholder value. From a balance sheet perspective, total loans were down modestly on a linked quarter basis and up 1.6% year over year. Commercial loans are relatively flat on a late quarter basis with business loans up 1% and mortgage down modestly. Compared to the first quarter 2025, both categories were up about 5%. On our January call we indicated that our expectation for first quarter commercial growth would be modest given the magnitude of loans that were closed in late 2025 and higher payoffs we anticipated to take place in the first quarter. Given geopolitical and economic uncertainty in the first quarter, we did see some of our commercial customers taking a cautious approach by tightening their balance sheets and paying down debt with cash reserves, which impacted both sides of our balance sheet in the form of lower loans and deposits. Asset Line activity in the fourth quarter 2025, we originated approximately $270 million in commercial loans with roughly 135 million rolling off in the first quarter 2026 originations were 147 million with 158 million in payoffs and paid out. Based on the size and health of the pipelines we have today, we expect to see loan growth rebound through the second half of the year and continue to expect full year loan growth of 5% driven by commercial in our upstate New York markets, we are seeing demand pick up on the C and I side, particularly in Rochester and Buffalo. In Syracuse, excitement on the ground is palpable following the Micron groundbreaking earlier this year. With a seasoned local lender joining our team recently, we believe we are well positioned to support the growth that will take place in central New York. In our Mid Atlantic portfolio where we have a small team of CRE lenders, we have experienced higher refinancing activity for construction loans, which is a testament to the high quality of sponsors and the liquidity of this portfolio. Turning to consumer loans on balance sheet, residential grew modestly up about 1% from the end of the link in year ago, quarters sold and service residential mortgages of 298 million were up 1.5% during the quarter and more than 6% year over year. As we shift more production to our off balance sheet service portfolio supporting fee income in the upstate New York metros of Rochester and Buffalo, the housing market remains hotter with home values projected to climb another 4% or more in 2026. Both mortgage and home equity applications are up 10% year over year and we are enthused about our opportunity as we enter the busier spring and summer home buying season. Consumer indirect loans were down 2.4% from the end of the fourth quarter and around 8% from the first quarter of 2025 to 788 million. As we have shared previously, we have been comfortable allowing runoff to outpace originations given our focus on profitable spreads and favorable credit mix. Originations in the first two months of the quarter were lighter than we planned, but March was very solid. With April pacing well, we feel well positioned …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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

• Wall Street expects Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) to report quarterly earnings at $1.20 per share on revenue of $34.84 billion before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Verizon shares rose 0.3% to $46.53 in after-hours trading.
• Analysts are expecting Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NASDAQ:DPZ) to post quarterly earnings at $4.27 per share on revenue …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Budget airline operators Frontier Group Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ULCC) and Avelo are reportedly among a group of airlines seeking a $2.5 billion relief package from President Donald Trump in exchange for convertible equity stakes in the companies.

Jet Fuel Costs

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the airlines were factoring in jet fuel costs remaining above $4/gallon this year. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had earlier met with executives from low-cost carriers to discuss the sector’s challenges.

Frontier and Avelo didn’t immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Sean Duffy Touts Revamped Air Traffic Control—Floppy Disks, Flight Strips To Be Retired

Organon & Co. (NYSE:OGN) said on Sunday it signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in an all-cash deal valued at $11.75 billion.

According to the terms of the agreement, Organon shareholders will receive $14 per share in cash, representing a 103% premium to Organon’s closing share price on April 9. The deal is expected to close in early 2027 if required approvals are secured.

The $11.75 Billion Acquisition

Organon, which ​was ​spun off from Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in 2021, sells more than 70 products across Women’s Health and General Medicines, including biosimilars, and markets them in more than 140 countries.

The transaction was approved by the Boards of Directors of both Organon and Sun Pharma. Organon’s portfolio, global reach, and strong stakeholder relationships are expected to complement Sun Pharma’s existing strengths and further drive long-term value creation.

The proposed acquisition of Organon aligns with Sun Pharma’s strategy to enhance its global footprint, following a period of extensive due diligence that lasted over three months. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

GLJ Research founder Gordon Johnson has slammed Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) lack of progress in its self-driving efforts, questioning the company’s valuation.

Self-Driving Makes Up 80-90% Of Tesla’s Valuation

In a post on the social media platform X on Sunday, Johnson slammed Tesla. “The $TSLA brass is admitting, in broad daylight, FSD is far from ready,” he said in the post, questioning why the comments from the automaker’s first quarter 2026 earnings call weren’t a “bigger story” in the media.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Ross Gerber Says Tesla Faces Potential SpaceX Merger As Investors Question Strategic Direction, ‘It Will All Be Wrapped Up As One Ball of Elon’

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) CEO Mike Wirth said on Sunday that oil prices are likely to remain under “upward pressure” as the U.S.-Iran conflict continues to disrupt global supply.

Hormuz Crisis Hurting Supply and Inventory

On Sunday, in an interview aired on “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan, Wirth described the current situation as a structural shock to the global energy system, with critical supply routes, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, significantly disrupted. He noted, “The global economy consumes about 100 million barrels of oil every day, and about 20% of that moves through the Strait of Hormuz.”

He said stockpiles in tanks, ships, and strategic reserves have been reduced over the last couple of months, making the market less able to cushion shocks and leaving prices more exposed to supply interruptions.

Wirth said the quickest path to easing pressure is restoring movement through the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the market cannot easily replace the volume affected. He added that even if flows restart quickly, rebuilding inventories and rerouting logistics would not be immediate.

He said new oil production will take time to come into the market. “You can’t turn on production at a moment’s notice. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Large-cap stocks faced broad selling pressure last week as earnings disappointments, cautious outlooks and analyst downgrades weighed on sentiment across sectors.

From communications and retail to defense and industrials, company-specific headwinds drove sharp declines despite a mixed broader market backdrop.

These ten large-cap stocks were the worst performers last week. Are they a part of your portfolio?

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) slumped 24.78% in the past week after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 EPS results.

Medpace Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDP) decreased 20.8% this week. The company reported its Q1 financial results.

Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) fell 18.54% this week after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and affirmed its FY26 GAAP EPS …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Large-cap stocks rallied last week, led by strong earnings, upbeat guidance and renewed momentum in semiconductor names.

Chipmakers and industrials drove gains as optimism around demand trends and improving outlooks lifted investor sentiment.

These ten large-cap stocks were top performers last week. Are they a part of your portfolio?

Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ:ARM) gained 40.15% this week amid sympathy with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) after the company reported Q1 financial results.

Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ:VICR) increased 25.47% this week.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) jumped 23.06% this week amid sympathy with Intel.

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump fired multiple members of the National Science Board (NSB) on Friday.

White House Axes NSF’s Governing Board

The dismissals, delivered via boilerplate emails from the Presidential Personnel Office, terminated members “effective immediately” with no stated reason, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The NSB guides the National Science Foundation (NSF), a nearly $9 billion agency backing foundational research behind MRI technology, LASIK surgery, and cellphone innovation, and even seeded companies like Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL).

Budget Cuts

According to the report, physicist Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University confirmed that at least one-third of members received …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) vowed to dismantle large media conglomerates if Democrats retake power, targeting Paramount Skydance Corp. (NASDAQ:PSKY) CEO David Ellison directly after Ellison hosted a White House Correspondents’ celebration at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The event invitation stated that “David F. Ellison cordially invites you to an intimate gathering in celebration of the First Amendment honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House Correspondents.”

Sen. Murphy’s Breakup Threat

In his Friday post on X, Murphy wrote, “We are going to break these anti-consumer, anti-free speech media conglomerates into pieces.”

Full story available on Benzinga.com

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE:NOW) is pitching artificial intelligence as a growth engine, not a threat, after first-quarter results topped company guidance.

The enterprise software company said customers are moving from AI experiments into broader deployments, according to the ServiceNow earnings call transcript.

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

CEO Frames AI As Tailwind

Bill McDermott, ServiceNow’s chairman and CEO, rejected concerns that AI could weaken the business. “There has never been a tailwind for ServiceNow like AI,” McDermott said on the call.

He said ServiceNow sits inside a more than $600 billion total addressable market. He also said the company operates with $28 billion in remaining performance obligations.

Subscription revenue rose 19% in constant currency during the first quarter. Current remaining performance obligations grew 21% in constant currency. Operating margin reached 32%, while free cash flow margin …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management CEO Ross Gerber has suggested that SpaceX could end up stepping in to support Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a deal that gets labeled a merger rather than a straight takeover. The comment lands as Gerber has also criticized Tesla’s product and spending priorities, including winding down Model S production to focus on Optimus even as investors debate the company’s long-term direction.

In a post on X, he wrote that the situation “looks more like SpaceX will be bailing out tesla,” with the structure framed as a merger and compared to how Musk-linked ventures have been handled around xAI and Twitter. Gerber added that he expects everything to be “wrapped up as one ball of Elon.”

Gerber’s broader critique has centered on Tesla pulling back from its highest-end cars, including the Model S, which he has called the “best EV ever made.” He has argued the company is even spending to dismantle a production line, calling the move “so counter productive versus building robots elsewhere” and adding, “This is just wrong.”

Anthony Scaramucci has argued that his costliest habit in markets has been exiting positions too soon, and urged investors to stick with a simple plan: buy an S&P 500 index fund and hold it for decades. He has also pointed to his own missed Amazon call — where a $10,000 Amazon investment made that day could have grown to $16.5 million —t o show what patience can capture even after brutal drawdowns.

In his late-night post on Friday, Scaramucci said his advice is to let the S&P 500’s rules do the heavy lifting rather than trying to outsmart the cycle. he wrote that the index already filters for size and business strength, and that investors can focus on owning it instead of constantly trading around headlines.

He framed the index as a built-in upgrade mechanism, noting that companies can be removed when they no longer meet the bar. Scaramucci added that he bought his first S&P 500 index investment roughly 30 years ago and still owns it.

Why Timing The Market Is A Mistake

That message lines up with a separate regret he has described from 1999, when he said he listened to Jeff Bezos explain Amazon’s logistics-driven ambitions and left convinced he should invest. He …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Chinese electric vehicle leader BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) says it can expand globally without relying on the U.S. market, as demand surges elsewhere.

Rising fuel costs tied to geopolitical tensions have accelerated global EV interest, boosting Chinese automakers across regions outside America, BBC reports.

Global Demand Shifts Away From U.S.

BYD continues to scale operations despite limited access to the United States.

The company focuses on markets across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Executive Vice President Stella Li said the firm already thrives without American consumers.

“We survive and are successful without the US market today,” Li told the BBC at the Beijing Auto Show.

The company now struggles to meet demand across international markets.

Li said …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Pony AI Inc. (NASDAQ:PONY) on Friday announced a new generation autonomous driving domain controller, which is expected to enhance performance and efficiency in its L4 autonomous driving products, up 0.09%.

Pony AI unveiled its next-generation domain controller built on Nvidia Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) DRIVE Hyperion platform, designed to support advanced L4 autonomous driving applications. This development is part of the company’s ongoing collaboration with Nvidia, which has been pivotal in its autonomous driving journey.

The broader market saw gains, with the Technology sector rising 2.89% on the trading day. Pony AI’s rise occurred as the broader sector moved higher, indicating company-specific factors may have been at play.

Technical Analysis

Pony AI is currently trading within a 52-week range of $4.54 to $24.92, indicating it is positioned significantly below its 52-week high, which suggests potential challenges in regaining previous momentum. The stock is trading 6.5% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), indicating short-term strength, while it is 7.8% below its 50-day SMA, suggesting some intermediate weakness.

The relative strength index (RSI) is at 48.89, reflecting neutral momentum, which implies that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold at this time. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors’ favorite stocks over the last week — here’s a look at some of our top stories.

U.S. stocks extended their rally this week, with the Nasdaq 100 posting its strongest four-week gain since 2020 as investor sentiment improved on easing geopolitical tensions and resilient earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all moved higher, supported by a continued rebound in technology shares and declining volatility. The sustained advance marks a sharp turnaround from the earlier oil-driven selloff, as markets increasingly price in a more stable macro backdrop.

Semiconductor stocks were at the center of the rally, with Intel leading gains after strong earnings and renewed confidence in AI-driven demand. The chip sector’s momentum helped push major indexes toward record levels, with the broader tech complex regaining leadership after months of uncertainty. The rally in semiconductors also reinforced optimism that corporate investment in AI infrastructure remains intact despite geopolitical and macro headwinds.

Despite the strong momentum, investors remain cautious as markets approach key earnings and economic data in the coming weeks. Analysts note that the durability of the rally will depend on continued earnings strength and stability in global conditions, particularly around energy markets and interest rate expectations. For now, the market’s ability to sustain a multi-week advance highlights improving confidence, even as underlying risks have not fully dissipated.

Benzinga provides daily reports on the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week’s most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.

The Bulls

“UnitedHealth Stock Jumps After Q1 Beat — Here’s What Execs Say Drove It,” by Anusuya Lahiri, reports that UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) shares rose after the company delivered a strong …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. cybersecurity stocks are trading at a 24% premium to the broader software sector, measured by enterprise value to forward sales as of Apr. 15, according to a Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Research report published this week.

Gabriela Borges, a software sector analyst with Goldman Sachs Research, says software industry leaders should look to cybersecurity for inspiration on meeting AI challenges.

“Over the last 10 years, cybersecurity firms have been dealing with existential threats,” Borges said. “Now they show …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk made a blunt case for a fundamental marketing overhaul, arguing that large brands are hemorrhaging cash by ignoring the mid-funnel.

Touts Social Media Production

“Every brand on earth should be spending 20% of their entire marketing budget just on social media organic production,” Vaynerchuk said during his appearance on an episode of TBPN released on Friday.

He added that marketing teams at Fortune 500 companies are “wasting 93 cents of every dollar they spend,” remaining focused on upper-funnel sponsorships and outdated A/B testing approaches from 2016, even as the mid-funnel has become dominant.

Using the podcast itself as a real-time example, the entrepreneur explained that the conversation would be broken into organic social media clips, allowing audience engagement to determine what …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) co-founder and Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Chairman Peter Thiel has reportedly acquired a landmark estate in Buenos Aires’ ultra-exclusive Palermo Chico enclave for about $12 million, resetting the residential price ceiling for the Barrio Parque submarket.

The 17,200-square-foot property, originally designed by revered Argentine architect Alejandro Bustillo, features a French Academic facade, six en-suite bedrooms, and a marble staircase, Forbes Argentina reported on Thursday.

The deal was handled by boutique firm JdC Propiedades.

Milei Alignment Fuels Broader Investment Play

The acquisition follows reported meetings between Thiel and Argentina’s President Javier Milei. Thiel has …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Baker Hughes Co. (NASDAQ:BKR) is factoring a prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure into its financial guidance, with CFO Ahmed Moghal telling investors Friday the waterway may not fully reopen until the second half of the year.

“There’s still a great deal of uncertainty regarding, ultimately, the duration and depth of the conflict,” Moghal said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

CEO Lorenzo Simonelli also said that geopolitical risk is now an enduring feature of oil and gas markets. He noted that the shutdown has removed about 10% of global oil supply and disrupted roughly 20% of global LNG output, calling it the biggest oil supply disruption ever recorded. He added that these conditions are likely to result in “persistent risk premiums” in the market.

Q1 Results Beat Estimates

Baker Hughes reported its first-quarter results for the period ended March 31, showing revenue of $6.6 billion, a 2% increase …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares gained 4.32%, pushing the chip designer’s valuation past $5 trillion as a fresh wave of AI-driven optimism lifted semiconductor stocks across the board.

AI Demand Fuels Nvidia’s Historic Rally

Shares of Nvidia closed at $208.27 on Friday, marking their first record close since October. Year-to-date, Nvidia is up 10.28%, while over the past 12 months it has risen 95.68%, according to Benzinga Pro.

Nvidia’s graphics processing units remain central to AI infrastructure, powering services at Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, as well as AI developers like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Despite its dominance, Nvidia faces mounting competition. Alphabet is developing in-house AI chips aimed at reducing reliance on Nvidia’s hardware, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Is Excited …

First Hawaiian (NASDAQ:FHB) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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/u73rxu4c/

Summary

First Hawaiian Inc reported a strong start to 2026 with growth in loans and deposits and solid credit quality.

The company maintained a return on average tangible assets of 1.2% and return on average tangible equity of 15.3% in Q1.

There was a repurchase of approximately 1.3 million shares at a cost of $32 million.

Total loans increased by $128 million, driven by growth in commercial real estate and commercial and industrial loans.

Net interest income was $167.5 million with a net interest margin of 3.19%, expected to increase slightly in the next quarter.

Non-interest income declined due to lower BOLI income and swap fee activity, viewed as timing-related.

The bank maintained strong credit performance with a $5 million provision for credit losses and an increase in allowance for credit losses.

First Hawaiian Inc expects full-year loan growth between 3% to 4% and non-interest income around $220 million.

The company emphasizes community support following recent natural disasters in Hawaii and Guam.

Management highlights a stable employment rate and steady growth in tourism and the housing market.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first Hawaiian Inc. Q1 2026 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press Star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press Star one one again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Kevin Hasayama, Investor Relations Manager.

Kevin Hasayama (Investor Relations Manager)

thank you Josh and thank you everyone for joining us as we review our financial results for the first quarter of 2026. With me today are Bob Harrison, Chairman, President and CEO, Jamie Moses, Chief Financial Officer and Lee Nakamura, Chief Risk Officer. We have prepared a slide presentation that we will refer to in our remarks today. The presentation is available for downloading and viewing on our website at fhb.com in the Investor Relations section. During today’s call we will be making forward looking statements, so Please refer to Slide 1 for our safe harbor statement. We may also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures. The appendix to this presentation contains reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measurements through the most directly comparable GAAP measurements. And now I’ll turn the call over to Bob thank you everyone for joining us today. I wanted to start by sharing our support for the communities impacted by the recent flooding in Hawaii from the Kona Low storms and Typhoon Sinlaku in Guam and Saipan. It’s really important for us to support our communities and we are actively providing relief and support to help our customers and those affected in the relative communities. Moving on to an outlook, the statewide unemployment rate remained relatively stable at 2.2% in January. That compares to the national rate at 4.3% for the same month through February. Total visitor arrivals were up 7.1% compared to last year, primarily due to more visitors from the US Mainland and Japan. Year to date spending through February was $4.2 billion, up 14.8% compared to 2025 levels for the same period. At this point, it’s too soon to know how tourism and the local economy might be impacted by the recent global events. The housing market remains stable with the median single family home sales price on Oahu in March at $1.2 million, up 3.4% from the and the medium condo sales price on Oahu in March was $510,000, up 2% from the prior year. Turning to Slide 2, we had a strong start to the year. Loans and Deposits grew, credit quality remained solid and we remained well capitalized. Our return on average tangible assets of 1.2% and return on average tangible equity of 15.3% for the first quarter. The effective tax rate for the first quarter was 22.5%. Turning to Slide 3, the balance sheet remains solid as we continue to be well capitalized with ample liquidity. We remain asset sensitive and well positioned to benefit from a higher for longer rate scenario. During the quarter we repurchased about 1.3 million shares at a cost of $32 million. Turning to slide 4, total loans grew over 128 million in the quarter, up 3.6% on an annualized basis. We had good growth in CRE and CNI loans, partially offset by runoff in residential loan portfolio and payoffs in the construction loan portfolio. Some of the growth in the CRE portfolio and decline in construction portfolio were due to completed construction projects converting to permanent financing. Now I’ll turn it over to Jamie.

Bob Harrison (Chairman, President, and CEO)

Thanks, Bob. Turning to Slide 5, we delivered solid deposit momentum in the prior year and quarter with total deposits increasing by 262 million, driven primarily by growth in public operating balances. Retail and commercial deposits were modestly higher and importantly did not experience the prior year and typical seasonal outflows we have seen at the prior year and start of prior years which we view as a positive signal. Public deposits increased $244 million reflecting higher operating account balances. We continue to see meaningful improvement in funding costs with the first quarter total cost of deposits declining 7 basis points to 1.22%. Our non interest bearing deposit ratio remained healthy at 31%, reinforcing the first quarter strength and stability of our core funding base. On slide 6, net interest income for the first quarter was $167.5 million, down $2.8 million from last quarter. Net interest margin was 3.19%, a decline of 2 basis points sequentially. This reflects the full quarter impact of the December rate cut. As we look ahead, we expect the balance sheet repricing story to continue throughout the year. Turning to slide 7, non interest income totaled $52.8 million for the first quarter. The decline from last quarter was primarily attributed to lower BOLI income and swap fee activity which we view as timing related rather than structural. Non interest expense was $127.9 million and there were no material, unusual or non recurring items in the first quarter. Our expense profile remains well controlled and aligned with our full year outlook. With that, I’ll turn it over to Lee to review our credit performance.

Jamie Moses (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you, Jamie. Moving to Slide 8, the bank continued to maintain its Strong credit performance and healthy credit metrics in the first quarter quarter credit risk remains low, stable and well within our expectations. Overall, we’re not observing any broad signs of weakness across either the consumer or commercial books Criticized assets decreased by 21 basis points and nonperforming assets and loans 90 days or more past due were 30 basis points of total loans and leases down 1 basis point from the prior quarter resulting from a decrease in dealer flooring non accruals quarter to date. Net charge offs were $4.9 million or 14 basis points of average loans and leases unchanged from the fourth quarter. The bank recorded a $5 million provision. In the first quarter. The allowance for credit losses increased by just under $1,000,000 to $169,000,000. With a coverage ratio of 1.17% of total loans and leases. We believe that we are conservatively reserved and ready for a wide range of outcomes.

Lee Nakamura (Chief Risk Officer)

Thanks, lee. Turning to slide 9, we have updated our outlook for key performance drivers. We continue to expect full year loan growth to be in the 3% to 4% range. With the markets now expecting no rate cuts this year, we have revised our full year NIM outlook to be in the 3.22 to 3.23 range. We expect second quarter NIM to be up 2 to 3 basis points from …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ken Griffin is reportedly pushing back hard after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used the Citadel CEO’s $238 million Manhattan penthouse as a prop in a ‘tax-the-rich’ campaign video.

In a Thursday email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Citadel COO Gerald Beeson warned the firm may not proceed with the $6 billion redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, a project projected to generate 6,000 construction jobs and support more than 15,000 permanent positions.

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, was filmed Apr. 15 outside Griffin’s 220 Central Park South penthouse, a 2019 purchase that set a U.S. record, to promote a proposed pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes worth over $5 million.

A pied-à-terre tax is an annual surcharge on high-value residential properties not used as a primary residence, designed to discourage vacant luxury homes and generate municipal revenue.

Political Risk Meets Economic Clout

According to The Wall Street Journal, Beeson wrote that over the past five years, Citadel principals and team members, including nonresidents, have paid nearly $2.3 billion in city and state taxes. He …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

(Editor’s note: The story has been updated to include White House’s response.)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sharply criticized the Trump family’s reported profiteering from cryptocurrency and other deals on Thursday.

Sanders Spotlights Old Report On Trump Family’s Deals

Sanders referenced a January article by The New Yorker, estimating $4.05 billion in gains for the first family of the U.S. through cryptocurrency investments, Persian Gulf deals, Qatari jet deal and other sources such as Mar-a-Lago events and Truth Social.

Sanders denounced these deals as “unprecedented kleptocracy.”

A White House spokesperson told Benzinga that Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and rejected any claims of conflict of interest.

The Crypto Effect?

The January …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The latest conflict in the Middle East only reinforced a trend that gained momentum in 2025. Investors are leaning into a full-blown rearmament supercycle, bidding up defense names and pricing in years of steady government demand.

Yet, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees the issue, warning that the same spending boom could destabilize the support for those valuations in the first place.

“While the resulting defense buildups can boost economic activity in the short term—lifting consumption and investment, particularly in defense-related sectors—they also temporarily increase inflation and create significant medium-term challenges,” the IMF noted in the latest outlook.

Per their estimates, average fiscal deficits worsen by about 2.6 percentage points of GDP while public debt increases by around 7 percentage points within three years of the start of a build-up.

In wartime scenarios, the fiscal impact becomes more acute. Public debt can rise by around 14 percentage points of GDP, while social spending declines in real terms. Such fiscal shifts are powerful enough to change the entire cost structure of the economy.

The mechanism is straightforward, but the implications are not. Governments don’t fund rearmament out of thin air; they must borrow. And when sovereign borrowing ramps up, it competes directly with private capital demand. Interest rates rise, tightening financial conditions …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is joining xAI’s lawsuit against the state of Colorado, seeking to stop the state from enforcing a law that would impose significant operational demands on companies building AI products.

The lawsuit names Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and asks the court to block a 2024 statute focused on “high-risk” AI uses. The law covers systems in areas such as housing, education, and employment, and requires developers to take steps to prevent “algorithm-driven discrimination.” 

The DOJ argues that the Colorado law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by compelling AI developers and deployers to consider race, sex, and religion to “correct” statistically disparate impacts.

“The Colorado attorney general’s office has no comment on this active litigation,” a spokesperson for the office told Benzinga. The DOJ, and xAI were also contacted for comment.

“Laws that require AI companies to infect their products with woke DEI ideology are illegal,” said Assistant …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Former Disney (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Iger is rejoining Josh Kushner‘s Thrive Capital as an advisor, a month after handing the reins to successor Josh D’Amaro.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iger will be working with Thrive’s investment staff and portfolio founders, but it will likely not be a full-time job. Iger apparently already has a stake in the firm as well. 

Iger stepped down from his leadership role, passing the torch to D’Amaro, the former chairman of experiences. Iger is serving as a senior adviser to D’Amaro through the end of 2026.

Iger had earlier spent about two months as a venture partner at Thrive in late 2022, but stepped away after Disney’s board requested that he return to lead the company again, following his original exit in 2020.

As the CEO …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shares rose after the company reported quarterly results that topped expectations, driven by broad-based growth across categories and regions.

The consumer goods giant highlighted steady organic momentum and reaffirmed its full-year outlook despite ongoing cost pressures and a challenging macro environment.

Details

The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.59, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $1.56. Quarterly sales of $21.235 billion (+7% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $20.516 billion.

The company returned $3.2 billion of cash to shareowners via $2.5 billion of dividend payments and over $600 million of share repurchases. 

“We delivered a solid acceleration in top-line results in our fiscal third quarter, with broad-based growth across product categories and regions,” said Chief Executive Officer Shailesh Jejurikar.

Organic sales rose 3%, excluding impacts from foreign exchange, acquisitions, and divestitures. A 2% increase in volume drove growth.

Higher pricing contributed an additional 1% gain. Product mix had a neutral …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is ramping up its strategy to funnel “tens of billions” into loans originated by its commercial banking arm.

Executives George Gatch and Bob Michele said the firm is in talks with institutional investors to raise capital and has already secured some commitments, according to Bloomberg News.

The move comes as the private credit sector faces pressure, with investor concerns over defaults, elevated rates, and AI-driven disruption—particularly in software—driving a rise in redemption requests.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Apollo Global (NYSE:

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Two things are true this morning. Intel just dragged semis into another record run, and Brent crude is still holding above $104 with Gulf output down 57% from pre-war levels.

That is the split market: AI leadership is saying risk-on, while energy and inflation are telling the Fed to stay careful. Thursday’s completed close had the S&P 500 at 7,108.40, the Nasdaq at 24,438.50, and the Dow at 49,310.32. By Friday morning, Nasdaq was green, Dow was red, and the market was asking one question: can chips outrun oil?

The Rundown

AI

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) reported Q1 revenue of $13.6B and non-GAAP EPS of $0.29, then guided Q2 revenue to $13.8B-$14.8B. The stock was up more than 22% Friday morning, AMD $AMD jumped double digits, and the SOX index was riding an 18-session winning streak. That’s the tell: AI demand is still strong enough to pull old-school chip names back into the spotlight.

Oil

Brent was near $104.78 and WTI was near $94.83 Friday, even after easing intraday. Goldman estimated Gulf crude output is down 14.5M barrels per day, or 57% from pre-war levels. P&G $PG just put a number on the pain, warning of a $1B after-tax fiscal 2027 profit hit from higher oil prices. A bounce is not a bottom when the margin pressure is this visible.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has done something it has never done before — logged 17 consecutive green trading sessions, surpassing the previous record of 15 set back in 2014. 

Over that stretch, the SOX has surged roughly 42%, putting it on track for its largest monthly gain since the dot-com boom of February 2000.

• SOXL is hitting all-time highs. See the chart and price action here. 

The Semiconductor ETFs

The ETFs riding the wave are seeing historic numbers of their own.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) has posted a gain of more than 30% in April — its best month in the fund’s 25-year history. 

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is up over 25%, its strongest monthly return since November 2003. 

For traders using Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSE:SOXL) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X Shares (NYSE:SOXS), the volatility has been extreme in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stocks traded mixed midway through trading, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 150 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 0.35% to 49,137.50 while the NASDAQ rose 1.45% to 24,793.34. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.65% to 7,154.55.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, health care stocks fell by 1.3%.

Top Headline

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) reported better-than-expected third-quarter financial results.

Procter & Gamble reported quarterly earnings of $1.59 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.56 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $21.235 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $20.516 billion.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) shares shot up 23% to $81.92 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Phillips Edison & Co (NASDAQ:PECO) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been 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.

Access the full call at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/868368165

Summary

Phillips Edison & Co reported a 4.7% growth in NAREIT FFO per share and a 6.2% growth in core FFO per share for Q1 2026, with same center NOI growth of 3.5%.

The company increased its full year 2026 guidance and expects mid to high single digit growth in NAREIT FFO and Core FFO per share.

Operational highlights include high occupancy rates with 97.1% overall, 98.4% in leased anchor occupancy, and 95% in leased inline occupancy, with renewal rent spreads of 21.2%.

Phillips Edison & Co is actively involved in development and redevelopment, with 19 projects under construction, totaling an estimated $74 million in investment.

The company has engaged in $185 million in acquisitions year-to-date, including grocery anchored shopping centers and development land.

Management emphasized resilience in the retail sector, focusing on necessity-based goods and services, and maintaining strong retailer relationships.

The sentiment around capital markets indicates a preference for private over public market valuations, suggesting a lean towards more private market transactions.

Phillips Edison & Co highlighted strong leasing demand and plans to drive additional growth through targeted space approaches and development initiatives.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and welcome to Phillips Edison & Co’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Kimberly Green, Head of Investor Relations. Kimberly, you may begin.

Kimberly Green (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you. I’m joined today by our Chairman and CEO Jeff Edison, President Bob Myers and CFO John Caulfield. As a reminder, today’s discussion may contain forward looking statements about the Company’s view of future business and financial performance including forward earnings guidance and future market conditions. These are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties as described in our SEC filings and our discussion today will reference certain non GAAP financial measures. Information regarding our use of these measures and reconciliations of these measures to our GAAP results are available in our earnings press release and Supplemental information packet, both of which have been posted on our website. Please note that we have also posted a presentation and our caution on forward looking statements also applies to these materials. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call to Q and A. Given the number of participants on the call today, we respectfully ask that you be limited to one question. Please rejoin the queue if you have follow up questions. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Jeff Edison.

Jeff Edison (Chairman and CEO)

Jeff thank you Kim and thank you everyone for joining us today. We’re pleased to report another quarter of strong results which reflect the strength of our high quality portfolio and the consistency of our execution. The PECO team delivered NAREIT FFO per share growth of 4.7%, core FFO per share growth of 6.2% and same center NOI growth of 3.5%. We’re pleased to increase our full year 2026 guidance. Our growth rates for NAREIT FFO and Core FFO per share are in the mid to high single digits consistent with our long term targets. We are operating in a time where there are many ongoing uncertainties both domestically and globally. Interest rates have been volatile, the global trade picture is shifting and conflicts overseas continue to affect markets. Technology, especially AI is changing how companies work. Add in an active election cycle and high energy cost and it’s no surprise that there is a general feeling of uncertainty in times like this. The market tends to reward businesses that have stability and that’s exactly where PECO plays Grocery anchored necessity based everyday retail. PECO offers resilience while also offering steady growth. We believe PECO is built to deliver growth across changing economic cycles. Our long term growth targets remain unchanged. We are maintaining our focus and driving value at the property levels, our retailers are healthy and continue to look long term. We’re seeing a resilient consumer and our top grocers and necessity based retailers continue to drive solid foot traffic to our centers. One of the dynamics we’re watching closely is the gap between private and public market pricing of assets. This influences our capital decisions including how we fund growth and where we invest and it’s why the PECO team stays disciplined about accessing the most efficient capital. Our platform can raise capital in the public markets through institutional joint ventures and through asset recycling. We believe markets in 2026 will reward companies with a focused growth strategy and and the ability to fund growth responsibly. PECO is well positioned to continue to do both. In summary, we’re pleased with first quarter results and our outlook for 2026. We operate in a resilient part of retail. We’re located in the neighborhood close to your home. We’re disciplined about our investments and most importantly, we have the best teams in the business. With our shares trading at a discount to our long term growth profile, we believe PECO represents an attractive opportunity to invest in a leading operator that can deliver mid to high single digit annual earnings growth. We will continue to drive more alpha with less beta. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Bob.

Bob Myers (President)

Bob thank you Jeff and thank you for joining us everyone. Our first quarter results were marked by solid leasing activity and success in growing cash flows. We continue to see high retailer demand with no current signs of slowing. Necessity based categories including quick service and fast casual restaurants, health and wellness, beauty, fitness and medtail (medical retail) continue to be excellent drivers of demand. 74% of PECO’s rents come from necessity based goods and services. PECO’s leasing team remains focused on capturing demand and driving continued high occupancy while pushing very impressive comparable rent spreads. Our pricing power remains market leading during the first quarter. Lease portfolio occupancy remained high at 97.1%. Leased anchor occupancy remained strong at 98.4% and leased in line occupancy remained high at 95%. Our rent spreads reflect an extremely positive retailer environment. During the first quarter, PICO delivered comparable renewal rent spreads of 21.2%. Solid retention during the quarter means less downtime and lower tenant improvement costs which translates to better economics for PECO. Looking at comparable new rent spreads, they remain strong at 36.2% during the quarter. Inline leasing deals executed during the first quarter, both new and renewal achieved average annual rent bumps of 2.7%. This is another important contributor to our long term growth as it relates to bad debt. We actively monitor the health of our neighbors. Bad debt was lower than expected in the first quarter at around 60 basis points of revenue. We continue to expect bad debt in 2026 to be in line with 2025 which came in at just 78 basis points of revenue for the year. Our retailers remain healthy. We have a highly diversified neighbor mix with no meaningful rent concentration outside of our grocers. Turning to development and redevelopment, PECO has 19 projects under active construction. Our total investment in this activity is estimated to be approximately 74 million with average estimated yields between 9 and 12%. During the first quarter, six projects were stabilized with over 87,000 square feet of space delivered to our neighbors. This reflects incremental NOI of approximately 1.7 million annually. We are focused on growing PECO’s development and redevelopment pipelines which is an important driver of growth. In addition, the PECO team continues to find accretive acquisitions that add long term value to to our portfolio. Our year to date acquisition activity through this week reflects 185 million. This includes five grocery anchored shopping centers, three everyday retail centers and land for future development. Currently in our pipeline we have approximately 150 million in assets that we’ve been awarded or under contract that we expect to close by the end of the second quarter. Our pipeline reflects a combination of grocery anchored neighborhood shopping centers, everyday retail centers and joint venture opportunities. I will now turn the call over to John.

John Caulfield (Chief Financial Officer)

John thank you Bob and good morning and good afternoon everyone. Our strong first quarter results demonstrate what we’ve built at Pico A high performing grocery anchored and necessity based portfolio that generates reliable high quality cash flows. First quarter 2026 NAREIT FFO increased to $92.9 million or $0.67 per diluted share. First quarter core FFO increased to $96.4 million or $0.69 per diluted share and same center NOI increased 3.5% in the quarter primarily due to higher revenue which was driven by increases in average rent and economic occupancy. Turning to our balance sheet this quarter we extended our weighted average duration on our maturities and increased our percentage of fixed rate debt which is important in times of interest rate volatility. In February we completed a public debt offering of $350 million. Aggregate principal amount of 4.75% senior notes due 2033. The proceeds were used to repay term loans that were maturing in 2027 and a portion of our revolver with $810 million in liquidity at the end of the quarter we have the capacity to execute our growth plans. Our net debt to trailing twelve month annualized adjusted EBITDA was 5.3 times at quarter end and was 5.1 times on a last quarter annualized basis. At the end of the first quarter PECO’s outstanding debt at a weighted average interest rate of 4.4% and a weighted average maturity of 5.8 years when including all extension options and 94% of our total debt is fixed rate debt which includes Pico share of debt. For our JVs we are pleased to increase our 2026 guidance. Key drivers of our increased guidance include a continued strong operating environment, strong year to date acquisitions activity and our recent bond offering. Our updated guidance for 2026 NAREIT FFO per share reflects a 5.9% increase over 2025 at the midpoint and our updated guidance for 2026 core FFO per share represents a 5.8% increase over 2025 at the midPoint. We are pleased with these strong growth rates. We are reiterating Our full year 2026 guidance of 3 to 4% same Center NOI growth and we are pleased to reaffirm Our full year 2026 guidance of 400 to $500 million in gross acquisitions at PECO’s share. The Pico team is not just maintaining a high quality portfolio, we’re building one. We continue to have one of the best balance sheets in the sector which has us well positioned for continued external growth. As Jeff mentioned, we remain disciplined about accessing the most efficient capital. These sources include additional debt issuance dispositions, joint ventures and equity issuance when the markets are more favorable. Year to date we’ve sold $29 million of assets at PECO’s share. We plan to sell between 100 and 200 million dollars in assets in 2026. In summary, we’re very pleased with our results this quarter and our ability to raise guidance for the remainder of the year. We continue to see a resilient consumer and we believe our portfolio will outperform as necessity based retailer demand remains Strong. Looking beyond 2026, we continue to believe that Pico can consistently deliver 3 to 4% same center NOI growth and achieve mid to high single digit core FFO per share growth on a long term basis. We also believe that our long term AFFO growth can be higher as more of our leasing mix is weighted towards renewal activity. We believe our targets for core FFO per share and AFFO growth will allow Pico to outperform the growth of our shopping center peers on a long term basis. With that, we will open the line for questions. Operator.

OPERATOR

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. And if you’d like to withdraw that question again, press star one. As a gentle reminder, please limit yourself to one question. If you have a follow up, you may re queue. Your first question comes from Andrew Real with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Andrew Real (Equity Analyst)

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. You know, we can appreciate your necessity focused tenant base’s position to weather some macro uncertainty. But just curious to hear any latest color on your conversations with, you know, some of these discretionary or off price mom and pop tenants in the current environment. Maybe just any incremental changes in their tone or plans versus say six months ago. And how do those conversations compare to what you’re hearing on the necessity side?

Jeff Edison (Chairman and CEO)

Well, Andrew, great question because it’s one that we are, you know, very focused on trying to read where, what feedback we can get there. Bob, I don’t know if you want to give a little, you know, color to that and how we’re, you know,

Bob Myers (President)

what, what we’re doing. Yeah, absolutely. So Andrew, thank you for the question. This is something that we monitor all the time and probably our best indicator, not only are we, you know, on the ground locally smart, we also the visibility that we have would suggest that, you know, we have the best renewal pipeline and new leasing pipeline that we’ve seen and about the last six to nine months, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Firstcash Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:FCFS) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $2.69 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.31 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.052 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.003 billion.

Mr. Rick Wessel, chief executive officer, said, “FirstCash is pleased to report its first quarter results highlighted by record revenue, net income and earnings per share. Consolidated revenues again exceeded $1 billion for the quarter, representing an increase of 26% over the first quarter of last year. Resulting net …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, First Western Financial (NASDAQ:MYFW) 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/qjapsr5j

Summary

First Western Financial reported a strong first quarter with notable improvements in loan and deposit growth, net interest margin expansion, and asset quality, leading to an 85% increase in EPS quarter over quarter.

The company maintained a disciplined approach to new loan production, with a focus on pricing criteria and expanding their banking team, resulting in diversified loan production and an average rate of 6.31% on new loans.

Total deposits increased by $95 million, with significant growth in non-interest-bearing deposits, bringing the loan-to-deposit ratio below 95.

Assets under management increased by $43 million due to new accounts and contributions, and the company’s trust and investment management fees rose by 5.3% from the previous year.

The company anticipates continued growth in 2026, leveraging market conditions and potential disruptions to expand client and talent acquisition, while maintaining a focus on deposit growth and operating leverage.

Management highlighted a focus on expanding in markets like Scottsdale, Arizona, and capitalizing on market disruptions in Colorado for talent acquisition.

First Western Financial continues to see opportunities for further net interest margin expansion, although not at the same pace as previous quarters, with a long-term goal of reaching a 3.15% to 3.20% margin.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the First Western Financial 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 a message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded now. It’s my pleasure to hand the conference to Tony Rossi. Please proceed.

Tony Rossi

Thank you Carmen. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today for First Western Financial’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining us from First Western’s management team are Scott Wiley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Corkamp, Chief Operating Officer and David Weber, Chief Financial Officer. We’ll use a slide presentation as part of our discussion this morning. If you have not done so already, please visit the events and Presentations page of First Western’s investor relations website to download a copy of the presentation. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that this conference call contains forward looking statements with respect to the future performance and financial condition of First Western Financial that involve risks and uncertainties. Various factors could cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These factors are discussed in the Company’s SEC filings which are available on the company’s website. I would also direct you to read the disclaimers in our earnings release and investor presentation. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements made during the call. Additionally, management may refer to non GAAP measures which are intended to supplement but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The press release available on the website contains the financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today as well as a reconciliation of the GAAP to non GAAP measures and with that I’d like to turn the call over to Scott.

Scott Wiley (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks Tony and good morning everybody. We executed well in the first quarter and saw positive trends in many areas including loan and deposit growth, net interest margin expansion, well managed expenses, higher mortgage banking revenues and improved asset quality. This resulted in another increase in our level of profitability with EPS up 85% quarter over quarter. We continued to maintain a conservative approach to our new loan production with our disciplined underwriting and pricing criteria. As a result of the additions we’ve made to our banking team over the past few years, as well as the generally healthy economic conditions in our markets, we had a Solid level of loan production which was diversified across our market industries and loan types. As a result of our financial performance and the balance sheet management strategies, we had a further increase in both book value and tangible book value per share. Moving to Slide 4, we generated net income of $6.2 million or $0.63 per diluted share in the first quarter which was higher than the prior quarter. This represented our third consecutive quarter where we generated an increase in net income and earnings per share with our prudent balance sheet management. Our tangible book value per share increased 3.3% for the quarter quarter over quarter. Now I’ll turn the call over to Julie for additional discussion of our balance sheet and trust investment management trends. Julie?

Julie Corkamp (Chief Operating Officer)

Thank you, Scott. Turning to Slide 5, we’ll look at the trends in our loan portfolio. Our loans held for investment increased 41 million from the end of the prior quarter. We continue to be conservative and highly selective in our new loan production, but with the higher level of productivity we are seeing from the additions to our banking team that we have made over the last several quarters, we are seeing a solid level of new loan production. New loan production was 116 million in the first quarter. That production was diversified across our portfolios and we are also getting deposit relationships with most of these new clients. We continue to be disciplined and are maintaining our pricing criteria. This resulted in the average rate on new production of 6.31% in the quarter. Moving to Slide 6, we’ll take a closer look at our deposit trends. Our total deposits increased 95 million from the end of the prior quarter with growth in all types of deposits. The increase was driven by both new deposit relationships and inflows from existing deposit accounts. Notably, non interest bearing deposits increased 10% or 35 million in the quarter. The deposit growth in the quarter brought our loan to deposit ratio down from 96.5 in the prior quarter and 96.4 from a year ago to below 95. Now turning to trust and investment management, Slide 7. We had a $43 million increase in our assets under management in the first quarter, primarily attributed to lower market values which were partially offset by the addition of new accounts. Net new accounts and contributions contributed a net increase of 42 million in the quarter. On a year over year basis, our assets under management increased by approximately 1%. As David will cover shortly. Our trust and investment management FEES have increased 5.3% from the second quarter of 2025 as we have restructured that team for growth. Now I’ll turn the call over to David for further discussion. Of our financial results.

David Weber (Chief Financial Officer)

David thank you Julie. Turning to slide 8, we’ll look at our gross revenue. Our GROSS Revenue increased 3.4% from the prior quarter due to increases in both net interest income and non interest income. Turning to slide nine, we’ll look at our trends in net interest income and margin. Our net interest income increased 1.5% from the prior quarter due to an increase in our net interest margin. Our NIM increased 10 basis points from the prior quarter to 2.81%. This was due to a reduction in our cost of funds which was primarily due to lower rates on money market deposit accounts as a result of the company reducing deposit rates commensurate with the short term rate decreases in 2025 and runoff of higher cost deposit accounts. Our net interest income increased 19.7% from the first quarter of 2025 due to an increase in net interest margin and an increase in average interest earning assets. Now turning to Slide 10, our non interest income increased by approximately 600,000 from the prior quarter. This was primarily due to increases in gain on sale of mortgage loans, risk management and insurance fees and trust and investment management fees which increased for the third consecutive quarter. Now turning to slide 11 and our expenses our non interest expense decreased by 1.1 million from the prior quarter. The decrease was due to an OREO (Other Real Estate Owned) write down in the fourth quarter of 2025 and a decrease in professional services partially offset by an increase in salaries and employee benefits due to payroll tax seasonality and an increase in bonus accruals as a result of the improved earnings in the quarter. Our efficiency ratio improved for the sixth consecutive quarter as we continue to tightly manage expenses while also making investments in the business that we believe will positively impact our long term performance. Now turning to slide 12, we’ll look at our asset quality. As Scott indicated earlier, we saw improved trends in the loan portfolio in the first quarter with decreases in non accrual loans and NPAs. This was partially driven by the sale of the last OREO (Other Real Estate Owned) property we had on the balance sheet. Additionally, we had no loan charge offs in the quarter. Our allowance coverage was 77 basis points of total loans as improved trends during the quarter drove a release of provision. Now I’ll turn it back to Scott.

Scott Wiley (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Scott Thanks David. Turning to slide 13, I’ll wrap up with some comments about our outlook based on our first quarter performance and what we’re seeing in our markets. Our expectations for the year are unchanged from what we provided at the start of the year. Overall, we continue to see relatively healthy economic conditions in our markets, we’re seeing good opportunities to add both new clients and banking talent. Due to the ongoing disruption from M and A activity, particularly in the Colorado banking market, we’re also seeing. Well, we also recently added a new market president for Scottsdale, Arizona, where we see good opportunities for growth. Our loan and deposit pipelines remain strong and should continue to result in solid balance sheet growth in 2026, with loan deposit growth at similar levels to what we had in 2025. In addition to the balance sheet growth, we expect to see more positive trends in our net interest margin or fee income and more operating leverage resulting from our disciplined expense control. We had net interest margin expansion of 26 basis points in 2025 and while we expect further expansion in 2026, it may not be at the same level as last year. While we’ll remain disciplined in our expense control, we believe that investing in the business will drive future shareholder value and ongoing disruption from the M and A activity in our markets creates unique opportunities for us to add banking talent. We will take advantage of those opportunities if and when they materialize, as well as opportunities to add new clients. Based on the trends we’re seeing in the portfolio and the feedback we’re getting from clients, we don’t see anything to indicate that we’ll experience any meaningful deterioration in asset quality. The positive trends we’re seeing in a number of key areas expected to continue, which we believe should result in steady improvement in our financial performance and further value being created for shareholders in 2026. So with that we’re happy to take your questions. So Carmen, please open up the call.

OPERATOR

Thank you so much. And as a reminder, if you do have a question, press star 11 and wait for your name to be announced. To remove yourself, press star 11 again. One moment for our first question. It comes from the line of Brett Rabatin with Stonex Group. Please proceed.

Brett Rabatin (Equity Analyst)

Hey good morning everyone. Or good afternoon to some. Wanted to start off obviously great to see the trends this quarter in a number of categories. How many MLOs have you guys added and then just obviously stronger starts than usual on mortgage. How much production that you guys have this quarter? I know it was better than usual for 1q.

Scott Wiley (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

I think we added one new MLO this quarter and we added another seven folks in front office banker type jobs. The MLO additions are especially nice if they’re a good fit for us and producers because they have very low fixed costs and their compensation largely comes from variable cost from production. Do either of you have the data for last year handy? Last year MLO Ads. Yeah, we’ll look up that number, Brett. And then just mortgage production totals. Yeah, mortgage had a good strong first quarter. We saw gains on mortgage loans go from 800,000 in quarter four to 1.3 in quarter one. So several strong production, good economic conditions I think spurred that. But also the MLO ads we’ve been doing over the last several quarters have just given us a level of ability to produce mortgages. Yeah, block volume increased a little under 40 million. Quarter over quarter, we were just under 180 million secondary LOC volume for Q1. And then we added in 2025, we added 8 MLOs. Okay, that’s helpful. Color. Brett, just on that point, just on that point, I would love to tell you that we were expecting a strong first quarter, but actually our experience is first quarter tends to be pretty …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Churchill Downs Inc (NASDAQ:CHDN) reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, after the closing bell on Wednesday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $1.00 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $663.000 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $662.185 million.

Churchill Downs shares gained 3.2% to trade at $101.06 on Friday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on Churchill Downs following earnings announcement.

• Citizens analyst Jordan Bender …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Boyd Gaming Corp (NYSE:BYD) on Thursday reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and announced a $500 million buyback plan.

Boyd Gaming reported quarterly earnings of $1.60 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.73 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $997.355 million which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.000 billion.

Keith Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Gaming, said: “Our first-quarter results reflect the benefits of our diversified business, our successful focus on operating efficiencies and our ongoing capital investment program. On a property-level basis, we achieved year-over-year revenue and Adjusted EBITDAR growth, as property margins once again exceeded 39%. These results were supported by …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Baker Hughes Co. (NASDAQ:BKR) shares rose Friday, gaining about 4% after the oilfield services provider reported first-quarter results that topped expectations, driven by solid execution and portfolio moves.

Quarterly Highlights

Baker Hughes reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 58 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 49 cents. Quarterly sales of $6.587 billion outpaced the Street view of $6.335 billion.

Revenues had a slight year-over-year increase of 2%, while net income surged 131% to $930 million.

The company emphasized its ongoing portfolio management strategy, including the divestiture of Waygate Technologies, which is expected to generate approximately $3 billion in gross proceeds this year.

“Despite significant disruptions in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Union Pacific Corp (NYSE:UNP) reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted first-quarter 2026 diluted EPS of $2.87 and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.93 on Thursday, beating analyst estimates of $2.86. Operating revenue rose 3% year over year to $6.217 billion, exceeding estimates of $6.199 billion.

“Our safety, service, and operating momentum continued in the first quarter as we further challenged ‘what’s possible’ from our great railroad,” said Jim Vena, Union Pacific CEO.

The company reaffirmed its 2026 outlook, expecting mid-single-digit EPS growth, further operating ratio improvement and strong cash generation.

Union Pacific shares fell 0.2% to trade at $270.85 on Friday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on Union Pacific following earnings …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter adjusted earnings per share guidance with its midpoint below estimates, after the closing bell on Wednesday.

Southwest reported adjusted earnings per share of 45 cents, missing the consensus estimate of 47 cents. In addition, it reported revenue of $7.24 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $7.26 billion.

“Our customers have embraced and value our new products, and that is reflected in our financial performance,” said CEO Bob Jordan.

The company is guiding for second quarter earnings per share to be in a range of 35 cents to 65 cents per share. The current Street …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Elon Musk borrowed $500 million from SpaceX at interest rates as low as 1%, used the rocket company to bail out a struggling solar venture, and most recently had SpaceX swallow his cash-burning AI lab, according to a New York Times investigation published Friday.

The report lands six weeks before SpaceX is expected to hit the road with the largest IPO in history.

What The NYT Documented

Musk pulled three loans totaling $500 million from SpaceX between 2018 and 2020, at rates that ranged from under 1% to nearly 3%, according to the Times.

The prime rate sat closer to 5% for most of that period. Under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, public companies cannot lend to senior executives. SpaceX could because it is private.

SpaceX also lent Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) $20 million during the 2008 crisis, per Musk’s own earlier comments. It injected $255 million …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) on Thursday posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

The company, which owns brands such as Dr Pepper, 7Up, Snapple and Green Mountain Coffee, reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 39 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 37 cents. Quarterly sales of $3.976 billion (+9.4% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $3.838 billion.

The firm affirmed the 2026 sales outlook of $25.900 billion-$26.400 billion, compared with the $26.081 billion estimate.

“With well-constructed plans in place, high-quality execution, and improving cost visibility as the year unfolds, we remain confident in our ability to deliver …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) shares moved higher Friday after the company reported first-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, supported by strong demand for advanced features.

The firm also raised its sales outlook, signaling confidence in its growth trajectory despite ongoing headwinds in global vehicle production.

Quarterly Details

The company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share, topping the analyst consensus estimate of 45 cents. Quarterly revenue rose 17% year over year to $675.44 million, beating the Street view of $648.71 million.

VOXX contributed $88.6 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2026. Core Gentex revenue reached $586.8 million, increasing 2% sequentially despite a decline in global light vehicle production.

“Core Gentex revenue growth in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ:VRSN) reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter on Thursday.

The company posted quarterly earnings of $2.34 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.25 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $428.900 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $425.912 million.

VeriSign raised its FY2026 sales guidance from $1.715 billion-$1.735 billion to $1.730 billion-$1.745 billion.

“Through the first quarter of 2026 we continued to execute on our primary mission, extending into its 29th year our unparalleled record of providing 100% availability of our resolution service for the .com/.net domains. For the quarter, we …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Erie Indemnity (NASDAQ:ERIE) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been 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.

Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/e7v7bdm8/

Summary

Tom Hagan stepped down as Chairman of the Board and was succeeded by Jonathan Herd Hagen, maintaining leadership continuity at Erie Indemnity.

The first quarter of 2026 saw a 3.6% growth in direct written premium, a slowdown compared to 13.9% in 2025, influenced by competitive pricing and market conditions.

The combined ratio improved to 99.4% from 108.1% in the previous year, driven by reduced catastrophe losses and improved non-catastrophe underwriting performance.

Net income for Erie Indemnity increased to $151 million, or $2.88 per diluted share, up from $138 million or $2.65 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2025.

Strategic initiatives include the rollout of Erie Secure Auto and Business Auto 2.0, with expansions planned across multiple states, aiming to enhance agent and customer experience.

The company is investing in technology modernization and AI, enhancing operational efficiency and supporting growth, while maintaining a focus on the human element of service.

Future outlook includes continued disciplined growth, profitability restoration, and expansion of new products, with a focus on leveraging AI to improve operational workflows.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to the Erie Indemnity Company first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. This call was pre recorded and there will be no question and answer session following the recording. Now I’d like to introduce our host for the call, Vice President of Investor Relations Scott Valhartz. Please proceed.

Scott Valhartz (Vice President of Investor Relations)

Thank you and welcome everyone. We appreciate you joining us for this recorded discussion about our first quarter results. This recording will include remarks from Tim Nicastro, President and Chief Executive Officer and Julie Pockowski, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our earning release and financial supplement were issued yesterday afternoon after the market closed and are available within the Investor Relations section of our website erieinsurance.com before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today’s discussion may contain forward looking remarks that reflect the company’s current views about future events. These remarks are based on assumptions subject to known and unexpected risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties may cause results to differ materially from those described in these remarks. For information on important factors that may cause such differences, please see the Safe harbor statements in our Form 10Q filing with the SEC filed yesterday and in the related press release. This prerecorded call is the property of Erie Indemnity Company. It may not be reproduced or rebroadcast by any other party without the prior written consent of Erie Indemnity Company. With that, we move on to Tim’s remarks. Tim thanks Scott and good morning everyone. Before we get into our first quarter results, I’d like to share some recent changes to the Erie Indemnity Company Board of Directors. First, Tom Hagan recently informed the Board of his decision to step down as Chairman after serving in the role for more than 20 years. Following a special meeting of the Board of directors on April 19, Jonathan Herd Hagen was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Board. Jonathan is the son of Tom Hagan and the late Susan Hert Hagen and the grandson of our co founder Ho Hurd. He has served on our board since 2005 and as vice chairman since 2013. Jonathan brings a thoughtful, steady approach to leadership along with a strong understanding of our business and of our culture. It also carries forward the legacy of those who helped build this company. Grounded in service, integrity and a long term perspective, Tom will continue to serve as a member of the Board as Chairman Emeritus and Chair of the Executive Committee. His …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stocks were mixed, with the Dow Jones falling over 150 points on Friday.

Shares of Sensient Technologies Corp (NYSE:SXT) rose sharply during Friday’s session following upbeat quarterly earnings.

Sensient Technologies reported quarterly earnings of $1.04 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 84 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $435.834 million which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $411.283 million.

Sensient Technologies shares jumped 15.8% to $114.92 on Friday.

Here are some other big stocks recording gains in today’s session.

• Maxlinear Inc (NASDAQ:MXL) shares jumped 69.2% to $57.95 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter sales guidance above estimates.
• Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) gained 22.7% to $81.95 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter guidance above estimates.
• Organon & Co (NYSE:OGN) surged …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Elon Musk is telling investors the Cybercab is finally rolling off the line. Prediction market traders are pricing in a much slower story than the one Tesla is selling.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has started manufacturing the two-seat driverless sedan, Musk said Friday on X, fulfilling a long-promised production timeline as the company’s global sales slump and the stock sits down 17% year-to-date.

The Cybercab was unveiled two years ago without a steering wheel or pedals, a design that will need exemptions from US regulators before it can scale. Musk has said it will be cheaper than anything else in the Tesla lineup.

What Polymarket Is Pricing

Polymarket traders give Tesla a 9% chance of launching a driverless robotaxi service in California by June 30.

Tesla has not filed for the permit required to run …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Primis Finl (NASDAQ:FRST) 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://events.q4inc.com/attendee/286254303

Summary

Primis Finl reported first-quarter earnings of $7.3 million or $0.30 per share, down from $22.6 million or $0.92 per share in the same quarter last year; however, operating earnings increased to $0.33 per share, up 126% from the previous year.

The company’s net interest margin improved to 3.43% due to securities restructuring and a favorable mix of earning assets. Loan growth was robust, ending at $3.4 billion, reflecting an 11.7% increase, while deposit growth was strong at over 8%.

Primis Finl is focusing on technology and service to drive deposit growth and plans to leverage AI for operational efficiency. The mortgage division had a strong quarter with pre-tax income rising to $2.1 million, and the company expects to be a top 50 mortgage firm by 2026.

Management highlighted their aim to achieve a 1% ROA by the end of the year, with aspirations for 1.25% or higher in the future, driven by growth in mortgage, warehouse, and core banking operations.

The company is keen on using AI to enhance operational leverage, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction, positioning itself as a leader among banks under $10 billion.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Colby and I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome you to the Primis Finl Primis Finl First quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise and after the speaker’s remarks we will conduct a question and answer session. If you’d like to ask a question at that time, please press Star then the number one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and enter the queue. If you’d like to withdraw your question at any time, you can press Star one again. I will now turn the call over to Matthew Switzer. You may begin.

Matthew Switzer

Good morning and thank you for joining us for this financial conference call. Before we begin, please note that many of our comments during this call will be forward looking statements which involve risk and uncertainty. There are many factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward looking statements. Further discussion of the Company’s risk factors and other important information regarding our forward looking statements are part of our recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recently filed earnings release which has also been posted to the Investor Relations section of our corporate site, firm’s bank website. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward looking statements to reflect changes, assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time. In addition, some of the financial measures that we may discuss this morning are non GAAP financial measures. Our non GAAP measure relates to the most comparable GAAP measure will be discussed when the non GAAP measure is used, if not readily apparently. I will now turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Seppert.

Dennis Seppert (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Dennis thank you Matt. Thank you. For all of you that have joined our first quarter conference call, we’re excited to report that in the first quarter we earned $7.3 million or $0.30 per share which compares to $22.6 million $0.92 per share in the same quarter of 25. I guess I’m reading that excited to report earnings shrinking that much. The fact of the matter is on an operating basis we earned $0.33 per share in the first quarter, which excluded a small tax adjustment related to 2025 results. And when you compare that to second quarter a year ago, it’s up 126% operating earnings where we reported $0.14 in the same quarter of 25. And Matt may mention this but the first quarter 25 included a substantial gain on the deconsolidation of Panacea, which is the. Which is what I’m excluding. Our key operating ratios obviously improved alongside that earnings number I just gave you. On an operating basis, our ROA improved to 84 basis points compared to 40 basis points in same quarter of 25. Driving that were a couple items margin mostly and as well as operating expense control on net interest margin. Our net interest margin, excuse me, benefited from the securities restructure as well as the mix of earning assets and climbed to 3.43% in the first quarter compared to 315 in the same quarter of 25. We continue to put up nice growth numbers that are manageable but really distinguish us amongst our peer group. Loans ended at $3.4 billion 11.7% compared to the same quarter in 26. That excludes about $40 million or so that Matt that we moved into loans held for sale related to a flow agreement with Panacea. So really our growth was probably stronger than this. Deposit growth over the same period is really what you should look at. That came in at just better than 8% with very little of that from the digital platform which is pretty steady state at about a billion dollars. The growth in checking accounts in our company was even more notable with non interest bearing checking accounts growing to 541 million which is almost 19% higher than where we were in 25. Checking accounts continue to be a more meaningful element of our deposit mix and we’re 15.9% of total deposits compared to just 14.2% in 1Q25. And lastly, it’s very important to note that we grew deposits in this strong fashion and never once felt pressured in our core bank or on our digital platform to be more aggressive on rate. We’re doing it with technology, with service, with people getting in front of folks, focusing on commercial deposits and having real success. All of the energy and momentum on our balance sheet really starts at our core bank. There’s never been a time since I came to premise that our core bank has had this opportunity on both sides of the balance sheet. Honestly, we’re winning business that several years ago we just wouldn’t have been in the running for or maybe even had a conversation about. Virtually nothing that we’re doing to win this business has to do with rates or fees. Is we’re leaning hard into our technology, our service, our people, our existing customers who are turning out to be amazing centers of influence for us. For so long it felt like we were that all we were doing here is working on our factory and stuff in the factory. But today stuff is rolling off that assembly line faster and faster and I’m very encouraged by what our people are accomplishing. Mortgage Warehouse is full, fully replaced. Life Premium finance at this point has been so well received in the marketplace. We finished the quarter with about 460 million outstanding for a few days in the quarter. At the end, near the end of March we crested half a billion dollars outstanding. This is before any refi boom. It’s before the busy spring and summer seasons for retail mortgage. Importantly, Warehouse is still producing impressive yields and margins efficiency ratios in the 20s. The amount of scale and impact on our overall operating ratios from this business is not really something that’s been fully baked or recognized in our current numbers as really they’ve been just scaling the business so quickly over the past year. But as we I believe we could probably double this business in the next 12 to 18 months and I believe the incremental impact from that second double is going to be very meaningful. Retail mortgage had an absolute blowout quarter. They’ll tell you that it was impacted by some Middle east activities and an impact on rates and fair value adjustments. And that’s true. We might have reported half a billion dollars looking at map half a billion dollars more had that. But regardless pre tax income in the mortgage group grew to $2.1 million in the first quarter compared to 766,000 same quarter a year ago. In the quarter our earnings crept up to 57 basis points on close volume compared to 46 in the same period a year ago. So on a profitability basis we’re up maybe 20 little better than 20% on closed volume. Our recruiting pipeline has never been this strong and consistently we double each month on apps, close volume, new files, so we have real so we’re very positive about what the second half of the year would look like right now we believe Primis Mortgage is on track to be a top 50 mortgage company nationwide in 2026. And lastly before I turn it over to Matt, I want to emphasize what’s really present mind for us in our desire to build this into a top performing bank in our day to day here we are laser focused on growing checking accounts like I mentioned earlier to about 20% of total deposits. Secondly, we’re determined to drive massive amounts of operating leverage from our consistent reliable balance sheet growth using steady to decreasing opex. And I know I’ve been saying this for several quarters and so as the quarter ended I was pretty delighted to start playing with the numbers and see what I’m about to tell you here. If you look at the last year first quarter 25 to from first quarter of 25 all the way back to 1Q24, we’re reporting growth in core revenue of about 45. Excuse me, we’re reporting core revenue of about $45.6 million, which is higher about 33.7%. Call it 34% over a year ago, reported operating expenses straight off of map income statement, no adjustment came in at 33.8 million which is only 4% higher than the same time a year ago. That’s 34% growth in revenue, only a 4% growth in opex. I had in my comments that I’d like to promise that we could do that for a couple more years, but I was afraid Matt would grimace so I took that out. But this is an extraordinary level of operating leverage and really the driver of our results. Nobody at Primis thinks we’re done in this area and that revenue may not be outpacing OPEX going forward. We have …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Byline Bancorp (NYSE:BY) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. 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.

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/539835327

Summary

Byline Bancorp reported strong financial performance with a net income of $37.6 million and EPS of $0.83 per share, reflecting growth of 8.9% and 9.2%, respectively.

The company maintained a solid balance sheet with total deposits increasing by 8.2% annualized to $7.8 billion, while loan balances were slightly lower due to planned runoff of acquired loan portfolios.

Operational highlights included being named a U.S. Best in Class Employer and the top SBA 7A lender in Illinois for the 16th consecutive year.

Capital levels remain robust with a CET1 ratio over 12.5% and a share repurchase program in place, returning 40% of net income to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends.

Management remains optimistic about future prospects, citing stable credit quality, disciplined expense management, and ongoing strategic initiatives to drive growth.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Byline Bancorp first quarter 2026 earnings call. My name is Tiffany and I will be your conference operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question, simply press the star followed by the number one on your telephone. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are listening via speakerphone, please lift your handset prior to asking your question. If you require operator assistance, please press star then zero. Please note the conference call is being recorded at this time. I would like to introduce Brooks Reaney, Head of Investor Relations for Byline Bancorp, to begin the conference call.

Brooks Reaney (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Tiffany. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today for the Byline Bancorp First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. In accordance with Regulation FD, this call is being recorded and is available via webcast on our investor relations website along with our earnings release and the corresponding presentation slides. As part of today’s call, management may make certain statements that constitute projections, beliefs or other forward looking statements regarding future events, the future financial performance of the company. We caution that such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. The Company’s risk factors are disclosed and discussed in its SEC filings. In addition, our remarks and slides may reference and contain certain non GAAP financial measures which are intended to supplement but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Reconciliation of each non GAAP financial measure to the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found within the appendix of the earnings release. For additional information about risks and uncertainties, please see the forward looking statement and non GAAP financial measure disclosures in the earnings release. As a reminder for investors during the quarter, we plan to participate in two upcoming conferences here in Chicago. The Stevens Chicago bank tour on May 14 and the Raymond James Chicago Bank Symposium on May 28. With that, I’ll now turn the call over to Alberto Farcini, President of of Byline Bancorp.

Alberto Farcini (President)

Great. Thank you. Brooks. Good morning and welcome to Byline’s first quarter earnings call. We appreciate all of you taking the time to join the call this morning. With me today are Chairman and CEO Roberto Horencia, our CFO Tom Bell and our Chief Credit Officer Mark Fusinato. Before we get started, I’d like to pass the call over to Roberto for his comments. Roberto.

Roberto Herencia

Thank you, Alberto and good morning to all. As Alberto said. We do appreciate you joining us today and taking the time to engage with Byline. Markets in general continue to offer plenty of distractions and at times entertainment. Shifting interest rate expectations, inconsistent economic signals, policy uncertainty and heightened geopolitical tensions. With the Iran tensions at the center of it and its broader implications, these add another layer of complexity for businesses and investors alike. We have learned over time that durable results do not come from reacting to every headline. They come from being anchored to purpose, discipline, execution and long term thinking. So we remain focused on driving value for our stockholders as we work and make progress, I may add, toward becoming the preeminent commercial bank in Chicago. We started the year with another strong quarter. Roa, ptpp, NIM and Efficiency remain among the best in class. Tangible book value growth of 14% year over year are also knocking on the door of best in class. Our balance sheet remains strong and positioned to support customers through the cycle. I want to recognize what matters deeply to us. Our people by land bank was recently honored as a U.S. best in Class Employer in Gallagher’s 2025 U.S. benefits Strategy and Benchmarking Survey. We were also named to Newsweek’s America’s Greatest Mid Sized Workplaces for Women, highlighting our dedication to practices grounded in transparency, professional development and flexibility, empowering women to build careers that grow with their lives. These awards reflect effective people strategies with measurable outcomes including employee well being and engagement. They reinforce our people first approach and strengthens our ability to attract, retain and develop top talent in a very competitive environment. I would like to point out that our SBA platform continues to perform well. For the 16th consecutive year, our team ranked as the number one SBA 7A lender in Illinois according to the most recently published fiscal year rankings. This kind of consistency does not happen by accident. It reflects decades of experience, disciplined execution and the dedication of an outstanding team. I would also like to recognize two individuals who have been familiar voices to many of us for a long time. This marks the end of an era as Terry McAvoy of Stevens and David Long of Raymond James step into new chapters in their careers. Collectively as sell side analysts, they’ve covered more than 200 earning seasons and more importantly, they brought professionalism, consistency and thoughtful engagement to their work. We are grateful for the time they spent covering Bylane and for the relationships built over many years. On behalf of the Board and the entire management team. We wish both Terry and David continued success in their new roles. To close I remain very optimistic about byline. We are operating with clarity of purpose supported by strong fundamentals an engaged workforce and a resilient business model. We are very focused on compounding returns the right way through prudent growth, disciplined risk management and an unwavering commitment to our people and customers. With that, Alberto, back to you. Great.

Alberto Farcini (President)

Thank you Roberto. As is our normal practice, I’ll start with the highlights for the quarter, followed by Tom who’ll take you through the financials and then I’ll come back to wrap up before we open the call up for questions. As always, you can find the deck we’re using this morning on the IR section of our website and please refer to the disclaimer at the front. Turning to slide four on the deck Overall, I’m pleased to report that we had a solid start to the year and delivered another excellent quarter. Earnings momentum continued along with strong profitability, disciplined expense management and stable credit quality despite an evolving macro and geopolitical backdrop. For the quarter, we reported net income of 37.6 million and EPS of $0.83 per diluted share, representing growth of 8.9% and 9.2% respectively. Profitability was strong with ROA of 156 basis points and ROTCE of 13.77%. Pre tax preparation income totaled 55.2 million, resulting in a pre tax preparation margin of 229 basis points points, which marks the 14th consecutive quarter in which this metric exceeded 2%, reflecting the durability and consistency of our operating results. Total revenues were 1:12.4 million for the quarter. Net interest income remained solid at just under 100 million, while non interest income was lower at 12.5 million, largely due to lower fair value marks. For the quarter, the margin remains stable at 4.33% notwithstanding a lower day count and lower yields. This was offset by a drop in deposit costs driven by a better mix coupled with pricing discipline, which Tom will cover in more detail shortly. From a balance sheet standpoint, total deposits increased 8.2% annualized to 7.8 billion, reflecting growth across both quarters. Core as well as time deposits. Loan balances were modestly lower linked quarter as payoffs more than offset solid origination activity of $241 million. Expenses remain well managed at 57 million, down 5.3% from the prior quarter, with our efficiency ratio improving to 49.8% for the first quarter, one of the lowest levels we’ve reported since becoming a public company. Asset quality remained stable. Credit costs were 5.5 million for the quarter and consisted of 6 million in net charges and a small reserve release of half a million dollars. Both NPLs and criticized loans showed declines and the ACL increased 1 basis point to 1.46% of total loans. Moving on to capital Our capital levels continue to grow and balance sheet strength is excellent evident with a TCE at 11.1% and CET1 over 12.5%. We exercised some of that capital flexibility this quarter and returned 40% of net income back to shareholders by repurchasing approximately 318,000 shares of stock at an average price of $30.84, in addition to our quarterly dividend …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMKR) has what I would consider a very fascinating long-term story, but in the near-term, it’s a bit uncomfortable. That is primarily because of its current share price, not the business itself. The business has a lot going for it, and I’ll drill down into those later. The price, though, is not as cheap as it looks, in my opinion, and that is because the market is already valuing the upside from the company’s Arizona campus. That facility is not going to reach meaningful production levels until 2028, according to what Amkor tells us.

I believe that paying 14x EV/EBITDA for a business that is going to have sharply negative free cash flow, smaller gross margins, and very high capex figures over the next two fiscal years doesn’t sound like the best possible deal. To be clear, I’m confident in Amkor’s growth and expansion over a longer period of 5-10 years, but the next two years are also important when deciding what the stock is worth now.

Amkor’s Business

I think it’s fair to say that most people who own a smartphone, a laptop, or a car have interacted with Amkor’s work on some level, even if they don’t know it. The company runs one of the biggest outsourced semiconductor assembly and test provider (OSAT) businesses in the world, along with ASE Technology Holding Co Ltd (NYSE:ASX). OSAT companies are a critical part of the semiconductor supply chain, and they handle the packaging, testing, and prep work for semiconductor chips before they go into the devices I mentioned above.

There are a fair few tailwinds for the company’s business today because of how complex chip design and packaging have now become. For example, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)’s AI accelerators depend on high-bandwidth memory connected through exactly this kind of advanced packaging architecture. We can also say the same for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s entire lineup of custom silicon.

Also, Amkor’s product mix is interesting to me because of how much of its revenue comes from just one segment, and that segment has what I’d consider to be some of the strongest possible industrial support in the company’s sector. Advanced Products (the segment that contains its flip-chip chip-scale packages, flip chip ball grid array, and memory and wafer-level packages) brought in around 83% of its revenue in FY25, and it only has a few big customers that are driving sales here. According to the same FY25 annual report, Apple is Amkor’s biggest customer (~30% of total revenue), and it’s not even close. Then there’s Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM), which made up another 11% of the total for the year. Together, those two companies are supporting 40% of Amkor’s sales, and they are two of the biggest chip designers and producers globally. Besides them, there are some other AI-adjacent hyperscalers, so that’s an incredibly solid customer base that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

I also believe that Amkor’s geographical location is another strategic advantage, especially when you look at the current geopolitical landscape. Generally speaking, most of the advanced packaging industry is in Asia, especially in Taiwan and China. ASE Technology, which is arguably the biggest of them, is in Taiwan, and JCET Group is a Chinese company. Amkor is the only one of them that has its headquarters in the US, and that’s partly why it is able to take advantage of CHIPS Act funding support for its $7 billion Arizona facility and have Apple and Nvidia as anchor customers there.

The Bull Case: Arizona And The AI Packaging Cycle

In my intro, I mentioned that I can see the long-term appeal to owning Amkor stock, and the Arizona campus is the main reason why. The company is spending $7 billion to build what will be the most advanced semiconductor packaging facility in the US, and it is supposed to start production there in early 2028. Roughly 5-8% of that amount could come from the US government’s CHIPS Act purse if Amkor takes the initial $400 million in direct funding and another $200 million in loans from the program, so it will fund the rest of the build by other means. 

All of that is normal, but the main reason why I’m ascribing so much value to the campus is how important it is in terms of a geopolitical advantage. The US has made the semiconductor industry and its domestic advanced packaging capacity a national priority, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, regardless of which administration is in power. Amkor is the only company that can benefit from the policy change on such a huge scale, and that just gives it another moat.

Now, the demand backdrop for what Arizona will produce is as strong as anything I can point …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Westport Fuel Systems (NASDAQ:WPRT) reported fourth-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s fourth-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/uxhk9mgz/

Summary

Westport Fuel Systems successfully completed a review following a cybersecurity incident, ensuring IT system integrity and business continuity.

The company divested its light-duty business, receiving a $6.5 million payment, and ended the year with over $27 million in cash and low debt.

Total revenue for Q4 2025 was $29.3 million, a 28% increase from the previous year, driven by strong market adoption of HPDI fuel systems.

Westport Fuel Systems is focusing on expanding its market reach with its proprietary CNG fuel storage and delivery system, particularly in North America.

The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $29.6 million for 2025, a slight improvement over the previous year’s $31.3 million loss.

Strategic initiatives include relocating manufacturing capacity to Canada and China, aiming for cost reductions and improved competitiveness.

Future outlook emphasizes the growing role of natural gas in transportation, with plans for demonstrations and fleet trials of new technology in 2026.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day ladies and gentlemen and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westport Fuel Systems’ fourth quarter 2025 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 keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Ashley Newell. Ma’am, Please begin.

Ashley Newell (Moderator)

Thank you. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems’ conference call regarding its fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial and operating results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing Westport’s financial results that were issued yesterday after market close. On today’s call, speaking on behalf of Westport will be Chief Executive Officer and Director Dan Selai and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owen. You are reminded that certain statements made on this conference call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the 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’ll turn the call over to you, Dan.

Dan Selai (Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Thank you, Ashley. And good morning everyone. I want to begin by addressing recent events. We appreciate the patience and support of our shareholders as we work through our recent cybersecurity incident. Our priority was to ensure the integrity of our IT systems, business continuity and financial reporting and we are pleased to confirm that this review has been successfully completed. With this behind us, we’re looking forward to executing on our strategy and delivering on the next phase of our business objectives. Turning to our financial results, the past year has been a defining one for Westport, marked by the successful divestiture of our light duty business, the recent receipt of a 6.5 million payment and further strengthened by Suspira’s agreement with a leading OEM to manufacture and deliver HPDI components for a truck trial assessing the future commercialization. These accomplishments, combined with ending the year with over $27 million in cash and very low debt, reflect the meaningful progress we have made in sharpening our strategic focus and building a stronger company. The global heavy duty transportation market is increasingly recognizing natural gas as a practical lower emissions solution available today. This is evidenced by Volvo’s recent milestone of delivering more than 10,000 natural gas trucks on the road, underscoring the accelerating adoption of Suspira’s HPDI fuel system technology and validates the strategic direction we have taken from a market perspective. The UK leads the adoption of HPDI powered LNG trucks, followed by Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and France. Emerging gas markets such as India and Latin America are also gaining momentum with volume seeing steady growth. When we introduced our proprietary CNG fuel storage and delivery system several months ago, we emphasized its potential to significantly expand our addressable market, particularly in North America. Development has progressed well and our confidence in the commercial opportunity continues to build. We look forward to showcasing this solution at the upcoming Advanced Clean Transportation Expo act where we will have the opportunity to show off our technology to industry partners and customers. By integrating advanced high pressure CNG storage with Suspira’s field proven HPDI fuel system, we match or exceed the performance and efficiency expected from diesel engines with compelling economics. In markets where CNG is the natural choice like North America, we believe this innovation meaningfully enables Westport and Suspira to capture new opportunities as we move into field testing our GFI brand through our high pressure controls, business has also delivered important operational milestones. The opening of one of the world’s fastest growing hydrogen markets and in Canada represents a step in localizing manufacturing, reducing costs and improving competitiveness. As the transportation industry continues to balance economic realities with sustainability objectives, we are confident that alternative fuel systems, including Suspira’s HPDI technology and our high pressure components provide real world solutions that deliver both performance and affordability. With the completion of our strategic transition and only a few milestones remaining, a growing market, validation of Suspira’s expansion, a path to address the North American market and a clear strategic focus Westport is excited to drive into this next phase. Now I’ll have Elizabeth run through some financial details and then come back afterwards. Over to you Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Owen (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Dan. Before I dive into the details, I’ll just touch on a few key milestones that we achieved, the first of which is our strong cash position reflective of a successful divestiture of the light duty segment. As of December 31, 2025, our cash and cash equivalents position increased by 12.4 million to 27.2 million compared to 14.8 million at December 31, 2024. The increase in cash was primarily driven by the sale of our light duty segment, as I mentioned, partially offset by cash used in our operating activities and debt repayments exiting 2025 with the proceeds from the disposition of Westport’s light duty segment debt, including the current portion reflected a 57% reduction to 2.9 million as at December 31, 2025. This was compared to 6.8 million in the prior year period, including the long term debt from discontinued operations. The reduction was more than 90%. This improved financial position provides Westport with greater flexibility to concentrate on markets that are best suited to our current strategy. Suspira continues to drive meaningful improvement in our Results. In the fourth quarter of 2025, total revenue was $29.3 million compared to 22.9 million in the same period last year, representing an increase of 28%. This progress is supported by strong market adoption, including Volvo reaching the milestone of more than 10,000 natural gas trucks on the road equipped with Saspira’s HPDI fuel systems. We are also encouraged by the continued progress of a second OEM that is …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Westport Fuel Systems (TSX:WPRT) discussed fourth-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/uxhk9mgz/

Summary

Westport Fuel Systems successfully completed a cybersecurity review, ensuring business continuity and financial reporting integrity.

The company divested its light-duty business, received a $6.5 million payment, and ended the year with $27 million in cash, reflecting improved financial health with low debt.

Total revenue in Q4 2025 was $29.3 million, a 28% increase from the previous year, driven by strong market adoption and OEM trials, despite a yearly revenue drop due to the end of a transitional service agreement.

Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 was negative $17.3 million, and the net loss from continuing operations was $29.6 million, slightly improved from the prior year.

Strategic focus includes expanding the market for its CNG fuel storage and delivery system, with progress in North America and growing opportunities in India and Latin America.

The company plans to showcase its technology at the upcoming Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, with a focus on high-pressure CNG systems and HPDI technology.

Operational highlights include transitioning manufacturing from Italy to Canada and China, leading to temporary margin pressures but expected improvements in 2026.

Management is optimistic about 2026, focusing on disciplined execution, advancing OEM programs, and addressing new market opportunities, especially in North America and China.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day ladies and gentlemen and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westport Fuel Systems’ fourth quarter 2025 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 keypad. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. At At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Ashley Newell. Ma’am. Please begin.

Ashley Newell

Thank you. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Westport Fuel Systems conference call regarding its fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial and operating results. This call is being held to coincide with the press release containing Westport Fuel Systems’ financial results that were issued yesterday after market close. On today’s call, speaking on behalf of Westport will be Chief Executive Officer and Director Dan Selai and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Owen. You are reminded that certain statements made on this conference call and our responses to certain questions may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the 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’ll turn the call over to you, Dan.

Dan Selai (Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Thank you, Ashley. And good morning everyone. I want to begin by addressing recent events. We appreciate the patience and support of our shareholders as we work through our recent cybersecurity incident. Our priority was to ensure the integrity of our IT systems, business continuity and financial reporting and we are pleased to confirm that this review has been successfully completed. With this behind us, we’re looking forward to executing on our strategy and delivering on the next phase of our business objectives. Turning to our financial results, the past year has been a defining one for Westport, marked by the successful divestiture of our light duty business, the recent receipt of a 6.5 million payment and further strengthened by Cispira’s agreement with a leading OEM to manufacture and deliver HPDI components for a truck trial assessing the future commercialization. These accomplishments, combined with ending the year with over $27 million in cash and very low debt, reflect the meaningful progress we have made in sharpening our strategic focus and building a stronger company. The global heavy duty transportation market is increasingly recognizing natural gas as a practical lower emissions solution available today. This is evidenced by Volvo’s recent milestone of delivering more than 10,000 natural gas trucks on the road, underscoring the accelerating adoption of Cispira’s HPDI fuel system technology and validates the strategic direction we have taken from a market perspective. The UK leads the adoption of HPDI powered LNG trucks, followed by Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and France. Emerging gas markets such as India and Latin America are also gaining momentum with volume seeing steady growth. When we introduced our proprietary CNG fuel storage and delivery system several months ago, we emphasized its potential to significantly expand our addressable market, particularly in North America. Development has progressed well and our confidence in the commercial opportunity continues to build. We look forward to showcasing this solution at the upcoming Advanced Clean Transportation Expo act where we will have the opportunity to show off our technology to industry partners and customers. By integrating advanced high pressure CNG storage with Cispira’s field-proven HPDI fuel system, we match or exceed the performance and efficiency expected from diesel engines with compelling economics. In markets where CNG is the natural choice like North America, we believe this innovation meaningfully enables Westport and Suspira to capture new opportunities as we move into field testing our GFI brand through our high pressure controls, business has also delivered important operational milestones. The opening of one of the world’s fastest growing hydrogen markets and in Canada represents a step in localizing manufacturing, reducing costs and improving competitiveness. As the transportation industry continues to balance economic realities with sustainability objectives, we are confident that alternative fuel systems, including Cispira’s HPDI technology and our high pressure components provide real world solutions that deliver both performance and affordability. With the completion of our strategic transition and only a few milestones remaining, a growing market, validation of Cispira’s expansion, a path to address the North American market and a clear strategic focus Westport is excited to drive into this next phase. Now I’ll have Elizabeth run through some financial details and then come back afterwards. Over to you Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Owen (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Dan. Before I dive into the details, I’ll just touch on a few key milestones that we achieved, the first of which is our strong cash position reflective of a successful divestiture of the light duty segment. As of December 31, 2025, our cash and cash equivalents position increased by 12.4 million to 27.2 million compared to 14.8 million at December 31, 2024. The increase in cash was primarily driven by the sale of our light duty segment, as I mentioned, partially offset by cash used in our operating activities and debt repayments exiting 2025 with the proceeds from the disposition of Westport’s late duty segment debt, including the current portion reflected a 57% reduction to 2.9 million as at December 31, 2025. This was compared to 6.8 million in the prior year period, including the long term debt from discontinued operations. The reduction was more than 90%. This improved financial position provides Westport with greater flexibility to concentrate on markets that are best suited to our current strategy. Cispira continues to drive meaningful improvement in our Results. In the fourth quarter of 2025, total revenue was $29.3 million compared to 22.9 million in the same period last year, representing an increase of 28%. This progress is supported by strong market adoption, including Volvo reaching the milestone of more than 10,000 natural gas …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is “not happy” with prediction markets, after federal prosecutors charged an Army special forces soldier with turning $33,000 into more than $409,000 on Polymarket by betting on the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Master Sgt. Gannon Van Dyke allegedly placed the wagers using classified information about the operation in the days before it became public.

Asked about the case in the Oval Office, Trump reached for a sympathetic comparison. “That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team,” he said. “Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team.”

Rose, the all-time MLB hits leader, was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on games involving his own team.

Pressed on separate insider trading concerns around Iran war contracts, Trump’s tone shifted. “You know the whole world, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Orchid Island Cap (NYSE:ORC) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. 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://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pp74w7ci/

Summary

Orchid Island Cap reported a net loss of $0.11 per share for Q1 2026, a significant drop from the net income of $0.62 per share in Q4 2025.

The company’s average portfolio balance grew to approximately $11 billion compared to $9.5 billion in the previous quarter, with a leverage ratio increase to 7.9.

Management highlighted the impact of geopolitical events on market variables, noting stability in interest rates and a modest recovery in mortgage spreads.

The company maintained a focus on a highly liquid 100% agency portfolio, raising $108 million in Q1 and an additional $28 million in early April.

Orchid Island Cap’s outlook remains bullish due to stable market conditions and attractive returns, despite uncertainties related to geopolitical tensions.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Orchid Island Capital First Quarter 2026 Earnings 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 Melissa Alfonso, Office Manager. Please go ahead. Good morning and welcome to the first quarter 2026 earnings conference call for Orchid Island Capital. This call is being recorded today, April 24, 2026. At this time the Company would like to remind the listeners that statements made during today’s conference call relating to matters not historical facts are forward looking statements subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Listeners are cautioned that such forward looking statements are based on information currently available on the management’s good faith belief with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences are described in the Company’s filings with the securities and Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The company assumes no obligation to update such forward looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward looking statements. Now I’d like to turn the conference over to the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Robert Cawley. Please go ahead sir.

Robert Cawley (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Melissa. Good morning everyone. I hope everybody’s had a chance to download our deck as usual. That will be kind of the basis of our call today. First off, I’d just like to walk you through the agenda as usual. Jerry Cintez, our controller will walk you through the financial results. I’ll then go through the market developments. Basically discuss briefly the market variables that impact our decision making and our performance and have a few comments on those. Then we’ll talk about the portfolio and our hedging positions and then we will open the call up for questions. With that I’ll turn it over to Jerry. Thank you Bob. If we start on page 5, we’ll look at the financial highlights of the first quarter. For the first quarter we had a net loss of $0.11 per share compared to net income of $0.62 in Q4. Our book value at March 31 was 708 per share compared to 754 at December 31st. Total return for the quarter was a negative 1.3% compared to 7.8% in Q4, and we declared dividends of $0.36 during both quarters on page 6. Portfolio highlights Our portfolio continued to grow during Q1. We had an average balance of approximately 11 billion compared to 9.5 billion in Q4. Our leverage ratio increased to 7.9 compared to 7.4 at December 31. Three month CPR during the quarter was 14.7% compared to 15.7% and our liquidity at March 31 was 54.5% compared to 57.7%. On page 7 is our financial statements, which are also presented in our earnings release last night and will also be available in our 10-Q later. And with that I’ll turn it back over to Bob for a discussion of the market development. Thanks Jerry. Alrighty, I will start on slide number nine. As I mentioned, we’re just going to go through the market variables that impact our decision making and our performance. So on page or slide 9 we have the interest rate curves on the top of the page. On the top left is the nominal or cash market curve. On the right is a swap curve. On the bottom it’s just the spread between 3 month treasury bills and 10 year treasuries. Just a few general comments. Obviously in this environment, the war headlines with respect to the war are driving performance of not just interest rates but basically all risk assets. We kind of have competing forces at play. On the one hand you have forces that are inflationary in nature. Others are kind of impact growth or slow growth. The ultimate outcome that’s yet to be seen. We could end up with both. We could end up with stagflation. With respect to the economic data we’ve been seeing, it’s actually been fairly resilient, although I would characterize it as mixed. We’ve had some strong, some weak. But that being said, most of the data that we’ve seen so far is really for the pre war period, so we haven’t seen a lot to gauge the impact of the war. I’d also like to point out that while the war kind of represents a headwind to economic activity and maybe supportive of inflation, there are also tailwinds impacting the economy. The one big beautiful bill was passed last year. The government is running a very significant fiscal deficit. But both of those factors should be kind of supportive of the economy and I think they go a long way in explaining why the data has been so resilient and kind of finally, as we’re Fairly far into Q1 earnings, the earnings have been very strong. So at least so far the impact of the war seems to be modest. With respect to rates, as I mentioned, rates have been very stable. If you look on the left you can see that the curve has flattened. The market is pricing out most Fed cuts that were in the market three months ago or pre war. Now there’s virtually nothing priced in in terms of cuts for the balance of 26 a few basis points, but the curve has been very stable. The impact of inflation is driving Fed cuts out of the market and the impact on growth is keeping longer term rates stable. On the right hand side you can see the swap curve even more stable, same kind of flattening. I would say that the difference between these two is simply just swap spreads. And if you look at where swap spreads are for some comp context, most spreads across the curve are at or slightly above their 12 month averages. They have been moving in Q1. I’ll say a little bit about that in a moment. Moving on to the next kind of variable for us, obviously mortgage spreads and the performance of To Be Announced (TBAs). We do not own typically a lot of To Be Announced (TBAs), we do own spec polls, but they trade at a spread to To Be Announced (TBAs). So obviously the performance of this matters. If you look on the top, you can see the spread of a current coupon mortgage to the 10 year Treasury. This data goes back 16 years. So it gives you a lot of perspective. As you can see on the right hand side, for quite a while mortgages have been tightening. I think it’s noteworthy to note that’s pretty solid performance and also without the participation of one of the largest, typically one of the largest holders of mortgages, which are the large banks, they have not been active in the market and yet this market has performed well. If you look at the extreme right, you can see the tightening. As we all know, early in January President Trump put out a post on Truth Social media indicating that the GSC, Fannie and Freddie would be buying up to $200 billion in mortgages this year. Mortgages gapped tighter. That was in early January. As we moved into February, the performance of the sector was still very solid. At the end of the month, the war hit, we gapped wider, but as you can see, we’ve been tightening since. And so the way I look at that is that the tightening that we’ve seen in place for two years appears to be resuming in terms of the extent of the tightening, our book was down about 6.1%. We’ve gotten back a little under half this week. We’ve given back a little bit, but we’ve basically recouped about half. With respect to the prices of To Be Announced (TBAs) on the bottom left, as we always show, these prices are normalized. So for each coupon we start at 100. I just basically want to show the change over the quarter. Obviously, the announcement by President Trump early in the month caused most mortgages to do very, very well. The exception being the orange line there. Those are higher coupon mortgages, representative of higher coupons, and they would be impacted by speeds. The rationale for the buying of the GSEs is to try to drive spreads tighter, which would presumably impact refinancing, driving …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

ASGN Inc. (NYSE:ASGN) shares jumped on Friday as traders reassessed the fallout from a recent earnings miss and soft guidance amid improving tech-led risk appetite.

ASGN will change its name to Everforth, Inc. on April 24, 2026, and begin trading under the ticker “EFOR.”

The move reflects its rebranding strategy, with no action required from shareholders and no change to its NYSE listing or CUSIP.

Post-Earnings Selloff And Miss

The stock had previously dropped more than 25% after reporting first-quarter EPS of 69 cents, missing the 98-cent consensus estimate, and revenue of $968.3 million, slightly below expectations.

ASGN expects second-quarter revenue of $970 million to $1 billion, with net income of $8.0 million to $13.7 million and adjusted EBITDA of $85 million to $95 million, assuming stable end markets.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Mobileye Global Inc (NASDAQ:MBLY) reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised FY26 revenue outlook on Thursday.

Revenue rose 27% year over year to $558 million, topping the $515.501 million estimate, while adjusted diluted EPS of 12 cents beat the 9 cents estimate.

“First quarter results reflected a stronger than expected start to 2026, and continued favorable demand trends enable us to modestly increase our 2026 outlook. We also secured an important design win with Mahindra which adds a third Surround ADAS customer and a second customer for our next-generation SuperVision product,” said CEO Professor Amnon Shashua.

Mobileye raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $1.935 billion–$2.015 billion. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz pushed back against speculation that Ripple is coordinating a large-scale XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) adoption strategy with central banks, warning that investors who believe conspiracy theories are “fooling” themselves.

The NDAs Don’t Mean What You Think

Schwartz addressed rumors on X that Ripple is quietly working on major undisclosed announcements involving central banks and XRP adoption.

“I’m saying the conspiracy theories that constantly claim something big is about to happen or that the government is going to do something massive are almost always going to be completely false,” Schwartz wrote. 

“And if you’re investing time, money, or emotion based on them, you’re fooling yourself,” he added.

Moreover, Schwartz acknowledged that many of Ripple’s partners insist on NDAs to keep their business confidential, but he stressed that non-disclosure agreements don’t …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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

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

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/339022795

Summary

HCA Healthcare reported a 4.3% increase in revenue and a nearly 2% increase in adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2026, with diluted earnings per share rising by approximately 11%.

The company experienced a reduction in respiratory-related volumes due to a milder season and winter storms, which affected admissions by 70 basis points and ER visits by 140 basis points.

State supplemental programs provided a net benefit of $200 million to adjusted EBITDA, offsetting some of the volume shortfalls.

Strategic initiatives included a focus on digital transformation and AI, with new key initiatives rolled out to more facilities, and continued investments in network development, expanding sites of care by 4%.

The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance, expecting volume growth of 2-3% for the rest of the year and maintaining its outlook for the impact of health insurance exchanges on adjusted EBITDA.

Full Transcript

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to HCA Healthcare’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today’s call is being recorded at this time for opening remarks and introductions. I would like to turn the call over to Vice President of Investor Relations, Mr. Frank Morgan. Please go ahead, sir.

Frank Morgan (Vice President of Investor Relations)

Good morning and welcome to everyone on today’s call. With me this morning is our CEO Sam Hazen and CFO Mike Marks. Sam and Mike will provide some prepared remarks and then we’ll take questions. Before I turn the call over to Sam, let me remind everyone that should today’s call contain any forward looking statements, they’re based on management’s current expectations. Numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those that might be expressed today. More information on forward looking statements and these factors are listed in today’s press release and in our various SEC filings. On this morning’s call, we may reference measures such as adjusted EBITDA, which is a non GAAP financial measure. A table providing supplemental information on adjusted EBITDA and reconciling net income attributable to HCA Healthcare Inc. Is included in today’s release. This morning’s call is being recorded and a replay of the call will be available later today.

Sam Hazen

With that, I’ll now turn the call over to Sam. Good morning and thank you for joining the call. First, I want to recognize our colleagues for continuing to demonstrate a remarkable ability to adapt to changing conditions and deliver positive results for our patients, communities and stakeholders. The start of the year presented a dynamic environment for HCA Healthcare. From a volume perspective, we did not experience the typical lift related to seasonal respiratory conditions compared to the first quarter of last year. Our respiratory related admissions were down 42% and our respiratory related emergency room visits were down 32%. Additionally, the storm that hit a few of our markets adversely impacted our volumes in the quarter. On the positive side, however, we experienced a greater net benefit than anticipated from state supplemental programs. As a reminder, these programs are complex, they’re variable and difficult to predict. This benefit mostly offset impact from the shortfall in volumes. Regarding payer mix for the quarter, the underlying shifts resulting from the changes in the health insurance exchanges were generally in line with our expectations. This area remains fluid. As we stated in our fourth quarter call, we have considered a range of potential scenarios as the effects continue to evolve. As mentioned, over the last several quarters, our teams have been focused on a broad resiliency plan designed to generate cost savings where appropriate, enhance network execution and strengthen organizational capabilities. I’m pleased with our resiliency efforts to date and we expect they will continue to help offset some of the expected impact from the payer mix shift. Additionally, we were pleased with the volume results exiting the quarter. The respiratory related and winter storm impacts were mostly contained to January with February and March volumes rebounding nicely. For the first quarter. Revenue increased 4.3% compared to the first quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA increased almost 2% and diluted earnings per share as adjusted increased approximately 11% versus the prior year period. We continue to deliver for our patients in important metrics including improved quality measures, increased patient satisfaction and reductions in average length of stay. I remain excited about our digital transformation program and AI agenda. They progressed during the quarter with rollout of some key initiatives to more facilities. Our clinical teams continue to advance efforts to enhance quality, safety and services to our patients with progress on broad initiatives across nursing care, hospital based physician services and support functions. We continue to invest significantly in network development with our capital spending and with selective outpatient facility acquisitions as compared to the first quarter. Last year, our networks expanded their overall sites of care by more than 4%, increased hospital beds through capital spending by almost 1% and added 4% to emergency room capacity. To summarize, we view the respiratory related volume shortfall and the increase in supplemental payment net benefits as first quarter events. As such, we believe our assumptions for the remainder of the year related to volumes, payer mix and costs continue to remain in line with our original guidance. HCA Healthcare has an impressive capability to remain disciplined in dynamic environments. This is a resounding strength of our teams and what they have built over time. It is rooted in our culture and it helps us to execute on our mission to provide high quality care to our patients while delivering strong financial results. With that, I will turn over the call to Mike for more details on the quarter.

Mike Marks (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Sam and good morning everyone. Let me start by providing same facility volume comparisons for the first quarter of 2026 versus the first quarter of 2025. Admissions increased 0.9%, equivalent admissions increased 1.3%, inpatient surgeries were down 0.3% and outpatient surgeries declined 1.7%. ER visits increased 0.3%. As Sam mentioned, we had a much milder respiratory season in the quarter. This produced a drag on our quarterly volume growth in admissions and ER visits of 70 basis points and 140 basis points respectively. In addition, the winter storm in January impacted a wide swath of our markets including Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, reducing admissions and ER visits by an estimated 30 basis points and 50 basis points, respectively. The impact of these two factors was consistent across all payer categories and in total adversely impacted adjusted EBITDA by an estimated $180 million. Regarding payer mix, commercial equivalent admissions excluding exchanges increased 0.6%, Medicare increased 1.9%, and Medicaid increased 0.3%. We believe the variance in volume relative to our expectations was almost entirely driven by the respiratory season and winter storm. We view these factors as being temporal and not structural. Overall, taking all of this into consideration, our volume growth in the quarter was generally in line with our 2 to 3% volume growth assumption for the year, albeit at the lower end of the range. Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 50 basis points versus prior year. Quarter salaries and benefits as a percentage of revenue improved 30 basis points and supplies improved 20 basis points. Other operating expenses as a Percentage of revenue increased 90 basis points, primarily due to an increase in costs related to the Medicaid state supplemental payments, professional fees, and technological investments. As Sam noted in his comments, volumes continued to improve throughout the quarter and we noted a similar progression of operating leverage and cost trends regarding Medicaid supplemental payment programs. While we expected an increase in net benefit of $80 million, we realized an increase in net benefits of approximately $200 million to adjusted EBITDA versus the prior quarter. This was primarily due to the grandfathered approval of Georgia, the reinstatement of the ATLAS program in Texas, and the year over year benefit of the Tennessee program that was Approved in the third quarter of 2025. We are adjusting our full year range to reflect a decline in supplemental payment program net benefit between $50 million to $250 million versus prior year. This updated guidance does not include any potential impacts from additional approvals of grandfathered applications. We continue to monitor the ongoing developments related to these programs and particularly Florida. We continue to feel positive about the prospects for the approval of the Florida program which covers the period of October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. If approved, we believe it should result in additional revenues which may be significant. Now let me provide additional information regarding the exchange environment. As we stated in our fourth quarter call, the complexity of the exchanges is significant and we’re tracking several areas within the company for the quarter. We estimate our same facility exchange equivalent adjusted emissions declined approximately 15% versus prior year quarter. This represents our comprehensive evaluation of patients that presented with exchange coverage but ultimately will not be covered for their episodes of care. Using the same analysis, we estimate same facility uninsured equivalent missions increased approximately 16% versus versus prior year quarter. Over half of this implied increase relates to the movement from exchanges and normal uninsured growth. The remaining portion reflects a slowdown of conversions to Medicaid from patients who were not willing to fill out applications. We estimate the adjusted EBITDA impact from the exchanges to be approximately $150 million in the first quarter of 2026 versus the prior year quarter. Given our experiences today, we still believe our full year range of $600 million to $900 million expected impact on adjusted EBITDA is appropriate. However, the exchange environment remains dynamic and has not fully settled. We will continue to track the fluid nature of this reform and will provide further commentary on our second quarter call moving to capital allocation capital expenditures total $1.1 billion in the quarter. Additionally, we purchased 1.57 billion of our outstanding shares and we paid 183 million in dividends for the quarter. Cash flow from operations was $2 billion in the quarter, representing a 22% increase in the first quarter of 2026 versus the prior year quarter. Our debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage remains in the lower half of our stated target range and we believe our balance sheet is strong and well positioned for the future. As noted in our release, we are reaffirming our estimated guidance races for 2026. I will now hand the call back to Frank Morgan for questions.

Abby

Thank you. Mike. As a reminder, please limit yourself to one question so that we might give as many as possible in the queue an opportunity to ask a question. Abby, you may now give instructions to those who would like to ask a question. Thank you. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press Star one again. If you’re called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, it is Star one to join the queue and our first question comes from the line of Ben Hendricks with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Ben Hendricks (Equity Analyst)

Thank you very much. I appreciate the color on the Respiratory STP and other components. Maybe you could just give us a rundown broadly of how your results compared to your internal expectations for the quarter.

Mike Marks (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Ben, this is Mike. I mean, our results were a bit short in terms of adjusted EBITDA to our internal expectations. You know, I would size our internal expectations as being pretty consistent with the midpoint of Our guidance in terms of growth, pretty consistent actually with consensus coming into the call. Really two main drivers in terms of the shortfall to internal expectations. The first one is this kind of shortfall in the seasonal volume uplift from respiratory and the winter storms, which was mostly offset by the net benefit from the supplemental payment programs. A little detail here on the on seasonal volumes that fall. You know, I’ve already kind of quantified the volume side of that, so let me talk about the expense side. As we were, as we were coming into January, our respiratory season was actually strong at the beginning of the year. However, later in January, it became apparent that the respiratory season was was actually ending abruptly and we were then hit with a significant January winter storm across several of our states. Both the quick ramp down of the respiratory volume as well as the winter storm delayed our ability to flex down our seasonal cost in the quarter. We were ultimately able to do so as we move through the quarter, but there was a delay. So let me switch now to the supplemental payment program activity. The as noted, you know, Medicaid supplemental payments net benefits was better than expected as we came into the quarter. We did anticipate an increase in the supplemental payment net benefit in Q1 of $80 million, largely due to the increase in the Tennessee program that was approved in Q3 of 2025. So the $200 million in net benefit in the first quarter was about $120 million higher than our internal expectations in the quarter and again resulted from the approval of the Grandfather Georgia program as well as the reinstatement of the Atlas program in Texas. So in summary, Ben, when I think about first quarter, you know, largely we were just a bit short in total. But when you take the temporal factors of the lack of the seasonal volume uplift and the pickup in net benefit supplemental payments, those are really the main drivers in the quarter.

AJ Rice (Equity Analyst)

Thanks. Appreciate that color. And then kind of as a quick follow up, can you just give us an update on the moving pieces that kind of get you back to the initial guide? You know, maybe walk us through the components of the EBITDA bridge as you see them today after such a dynamic first quarter. Thanks. Sure. You know, if you go back to the release, you know, the really only change to our key assumptions for the 2026 guidance relates to the supplemental payment programs. We estimate that the Georgia approval and the reinstate Atlas program previously discussed will provide approximately $200 million of incremental net benefit for the full year that was not originally included in our guidance. I would note that, you know, the $120 million Georgia and Texas that we talked about for first quarter had a prior period impact in it. And so, you know, the component that applied the first quarter and for the full year of 26 really make up that $200 million. And so, you know, that’s why we’re adjusting our assumption for full year net benefit to now be a decline of 50 million to $250 million. And just to note, that assumption does not include any additional approvals of grandfathered applications. When I think about the rest of our assumptions, Ben, if you think about the impact of the exchanges, we still believe that that 600 to $900 million range is appropriate based on what we’ve learned in first quarter, our resiliency assumptions that we’re in guidance also we believe are still reasonable and appropriate. And so, you know, at the end of the day, we just felt like that it was, it was appropriate not to change our total guidance ranges even with the $200 million improvement in first quarter. You know, a chunk of that really goes back to this, this temporal nature of the headwinds that we saw in first quarter being related to the seasonal volume impacts in the winter storm and the related cost impacts. And so as we think about how we progress through the quarter, you know, Sam mentioned that, you know, as we exited the calling, exited the quarter in March, there are volumes. We’re improving largely back to our original plan. We also saw the same thing in our cost structure as we got through March. Our cost trends really reflected good performance in March and were largely on plan. And so that’s the walkthrough on guidance. Thank you very much. And our next question comes from the line of AJ Rice with ubs. Your line is open.

Mike Marks (Chief Financial Officer)

Hi everybody. Just to put a fine point on what we’re just going, all the numbers flying back and forth is the right way. Am I hearing you say you basically had 180 million of negative impact from flu and weather in the first quarter. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBTB) 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://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/jw5n3uqu/

Summary

NBT Bancorp reported solid first-quarter 2026 financial results, with a 27% increase in net income compared to the same period in 2025, driven by disciplined balance sheet management and diversified revenue streams.

The company’s operating return on assets was 1.29%, and return on tangible equity was 15.50%, reflecting significant improvements over the prior year.

Net interest margin improved by 28 basis points year-over-year, although commercial real estate payoffs and challenging winter conditions impacted early 2026 performance.

Non-interest income reached a new high with growth in retirement plan administration services, and the company continues to focus on organic growth and dividend increases.

The integration of Evans Bancorp is progressing well, and NBT Bancorp is actively exploring M&A opportunities while maintaining strong capital levels.

Loan portfolio diversification is maintained, despite a slight decline in total loans, with a strategic focus on deposit growth and optimizing funding costs.

Management noted continued economic activity in their markets, particularly in advanced manufacturing and infrastructure, with confidence in future growth opportunities.

The company repurchased 250,000 shares in the first quarter and plans to continue opportunistic share repurchases.

Key asset quality metrics showed an increase in provision for loan losses due to a higher level of net charge-offs and non-performing loans, though reserves are well-positioned.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day everyone. Welcome to the conference call covering NBT Bancorp’s first quarter 2026 financial results. This call is being recorded and has been made accessible to the public in accordance with the SEC Regulation FD. Corresponding presentation slides can be found on the company’s website at nbtbancorp.com before the call begins, NBT’s management would like to remind listeners that as noted in slide 2, today’s presentation may contain forward looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those projected. In addition, certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed. Reconciliations for these numbers are contained within the appendix of today’s presentation. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Later we’ll conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to NBT Bancorp President and CEO Scott Kingsley for his opening remarks. Mr. Kingsley, please begin.

Scott Kingsley (President and CEO)

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining us for this earnings call covering NBT Bancorp’s first quarter 2026 results. With me today are Annette Burns, NBT’s Chief Financial Officer, Joe Stagliano, President of MBT bank and Joe Ondesco, our Treasurer. Our solid operating performance for the first quarter was driven by disciplined balance sheet management, the growth of our diversified revenue streams and the continued benefits of integrating Evans Bancorp into our franchise following the merger in May 2025. These factors have contributed to productive gains in operating leverage. Operating return on assets was 1.29% for the first quarter with a return on tangible equity of 15.50%. These metrics represent meaningful improvement over the first quarter of last year and have provided incremental capital flexibility. Our tangible book value per share of $27.05 at quarter end was more than 9% higher than a year ago. The continued remix of earning assets, diligent management of funding costs and the addition of the Evans balance sheet resulted in a 28 basis point improvement in net interest margin year over year. We got off to a slow start in January and February with the very difficult winter weather conditions and we experienced a higher than expected level of commercial real estate payoffs. With that said, activity since then has been quite good and we are very pleased with the types of customer opportunities we are seeing across our footprint as well as our current pipeline levels. Growth in non interest income continue to be positive, highlighted by a new all time high in quarterly revenue generation from our retirement plan administration business. Our capital utilization priorities remain focused on supporting organic growth while continuing our long standing commitment to annual dividend growth. In addition, our strong capital levels continue to allow us to evaluate a variety of M and A opportunities. Another component of our capital planning is to return capital to shareholders through opportunistic share repurchases. Consistent with that approach, we repurchased 250,000 of our own shares again in the first quarter of 2026. One year in the integration of our Evans bank colleagues has gone smoothly and validated the strong cultural alignment we saw from the outset. Their customer and community focused approach continues to enhance our franchise and we remain excited about the opportunities ahead in the western region of New York. Momentum across upstate New York’s semiconductor corridor continues to build. Since Micron’s groundbreaking late last year and the completion of its site acquisition from Onondaga county in the first quarter, development activity has accelerated. Site development and infrastructure buildout for the first fabrication facility are now underway and we are already seeing tangible benefits with more than a dozen of our customers and securing contracts tied to the project. Stepping back more broadly across our seven state footprint, we continue to see encouraging activity tied to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure investment, housing development and workforce driven economic initiatives. These dynamics are evident across our core markets including manufacturing and defense activity in New England as well as construction and community revitalization efforts throughout our legacy regions. While activity levels can vary quarter to quarter, the depth and diversity of these initiatives reinforce our confidence in the markets we serve. We believe NBT is well positioned to support this activity through our relationship driven model, significant balance sheet capacity and a diversified set of financial solutions. I will now turn over the meeting to Annette to review our first quarter results with you in detail.

Annette Burns (Chief Financial Officer)

Annette thank you Scott and good morning. Turning to the Results Overview page of our earnings presentation for the first quarter we reported net income of $51.1 million or $0.98 per diluted common share. We have improved earnings 27% from the first quarter of 2025 with growth in our balance sheet, net interest margin improvement and a 4.5% year over year growth in our fee based income as well. Earnings were modestly lower than the prior quarter, consistent with seasonal expectations, two fewer days in the quarter and a normalized effective tax rate. The next page shows trends in outstanding loans. Total loans at $11.5 billion were down $50.9 million from December 31, 2025, with other consumer and residential solar portfolios in a planned runoff status representing half of that decline. In addition, we continue to experience an elevated level of commercial payoffs similar to the prior 2/4. Our total loan portfolio remains purposely diversified and is comprised of 56% commercial relationships and 44% consumer loans. On page six total deposits were up $244 million from December 2025, primarily due to the inflow of seasonal municipal deposits during the quarter along with increases in consumer and commercial customer account balances. Generally, in most of our markets, municipal tax collections are concentrated in the first and third quarters of each year. We experienced a favorable change in our mix of deposits out of higher cost time deposits and into checking, savings and money market products. 59% or $8 billion of our deposit portfolio consists of no and low cost checking and savings account at a cost of 38 basis points. The next slide highlights the detailed changes in our net interest income and margin. Our net interest margin in the first quarter increased 7 basis points to 3.72% compared with the prior quarter as the 9 basis point decrease in the cost of funds more than offset the 2 basis point decline in earning asset yields. Loan yields decreased 4 basis points from the prior quarter to 5.66% primarily due to the repricing of variable rate loans following the prior quarter’s federal funds rate decreases. We were able to actively manage our funding costs downward to more than offset that impact as evidenced by the 10 basis point decline in our total cost of deposits to 1.34% for the quarter. Net interest income for the first quarter was $134.3 million, a decrease of $1 million compared to the prior quarter, but more than 25% above the first quarter of 2025. The decrease in net interest income from the prior quarter was driven by two fewer days in the first quarter of 2026. The opportunity for further upward movement in earning asset yields and net interest margin will depend largely on the shape of the yield curve and how we reinvest loan and investment portfolio cash flows. The trends in non interest income are outlined on Page 8. Excluding securities gains, our fee income was $49.7 million consistent with the prior quarter and increased 4.5% from the first quarter of 2025. Our combined revenues from retirement plan services, wealth management and insurance services exceeded $32 million in quarterly revenues. Noninterest income represented 27% of total revenues in the first quarter and reflects the strength of our diversified revenue base. Total operating expenses were $112 million for the quarter, a 0.5% increase from the prior quarter. Salaries and employee benefit costs were $68.8 million, an increase of $2.8 million from the prior quarter. This increase was primarily driven by seasonally higher payroll taxes and stock based compensation partially offset by lower medical expenses. In addition, annual merit increases occurred in mid March at an average rate of 3.3%. The quarter over quarter increase in occupancy expenses was expected driven by increases in seasonal costs including utilities and higher maintenance costs. The effective tax rate for the first quarter was higher than the prior quarter at 23.3% primarily due to the finalization of the deductibility of last year’s merger related expenses and the associated impact on the full year effective tax rate in 2025. Slide 10 provides an overview of key asset quality metrics. Provision expense for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was $5.6 million compared to $3.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2025. The increase in provision for loan losses was primarily due to a slightly higher level of net charge offs and non performing loans resulting in a higher level of allowance for loan losses. Reserves were 1.2% of total loans and covered more than two times the level of non performing loans. In closing, we believe the strength of our franchise positions us well for growth opportunities as they arise. We continue to see productive engagement across our markets reflecting our ongoing investment in our people and communities. Thank you for your interest in our results. At this time we welcome any questions you may have.

OPERATOR

Thank you. To ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. One moment please. Our first question comes from the line of Mark Shutley with kbw.

Mark Shutley (Equity Analyst)

Hey, good morning. Good morning. So expenses came in a little bit better than, you know, we were expecting despite sort of the seasonal factors there. So I was wondering if you could maybe update us on your outlook there and sort of maybe what’s an appropriate run rate for the year?

Annette Burns (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure, I’ll take that. Mark. So yes, there were some seasonality in our first quarter expenses, primarily higher levels of salaries and benefit costs related to payroll taxes and stock based compensation as well as some higher level of occupancy costs. As we look into the next quarter and we think about salaries and benefit costs, we’ll probably see some increased costs related to our merit increases as well as an additional payroll day as well as our occupancy expense. Seasonal increase will probably be offset in the second quarter by just increase in productivity across our markets like higher travel training as well as technology initiatives. So with all that being said, our run rate in the first quarter was right around 112 million that will probably be a good place to be in the second quarter. And we still think our run rate or overall increase in occupancy or overall operating expenses typically runs between 3% and 4% annually. We still think that that is, you know, kind of where we’re landing for 2026.

Scott Kingsley (President and CEO)

And Mark, we had some costs in the third and the fourth quarter of last year on the operating expense side that were a little bit higher than sort of standard run rate, you know, some specific initiatives or some specific costs that we incurred in those quarters. So not unusual for sort of the other, the other expense line to be a little bit lower in the first quarter with that, as Annette mentioned, with the costs associated with stock based compensation and payroll taxes to kind of be the higher one.

Mark Shutley (Equity Analyst)

Great, that’s helpful. Thank you. And then maybe …

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.

• Morgan Stanley analyst Erin Wright upgraded Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $147 to $174. Phillips 66 shares closed at $159.53 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Needham analyst N. Quinn Bolton upgraded Maxlinear Inc (NASDAQ:MXL) …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Kinsale Cap Gr (NYSE:KNSL) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Friday. 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://events.q4inc.com/attendee/540154483

Summary

Kinsale Cap Gr reported a 37.7% increase in diluted operating earnings per share for Q1 2026, with an annualized operating return on equity of 24%.

Net written premium grew by 5.6%, despite a 0.5% decrease in gross written premium, reflecting growth in business lines with less reinsurance participation.

The company highlighted its commitment to disciplined underwriting and a low-cost business model, supported by a strong focus on technology and analytics.

Operationally, new business submissions, quotes, and bind orders increased, with significant growth seen in smaller accounts amid increased competition in larger commercial property divisions.

The company continues to leverage AI and technology innovations to enhance efficiency and maintain an expense ratio advantage.

Management expressed confidence in maintaining strong ROE, targeting a low 20s return, and adapting to competitive market conditions.

The overall sentiment from management was optimistic about future growth opportunities, particularly in small to medium-sized accounts, despite some market challenges.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Before we get started, let me remind everyone that through the course of the teleconference, Kinsale Capital Group’s management may make comments that reflect their intentions, beliefs and expectations for the future. As always, these forward looking statements are subject to certain risk factors which could cause actual results to differ materially. These risk factors are listed in the company’s various SEC filings, including the 2025 Annual Report on Form 10K, which should be reviewed carefully. The Company has furnished a Form 8K with the securities and Exchange Commission that contains the press release announcing its first quarter results. Kinsale Capital Group’s management may also reference certain non GAAP financial measures in the call today. A reconciliation of GAAP to these measures can be found in the press release which is available at the company’s website at www.kinsalecapitalgroup.com. I will now turn the conference over to Kinsale Capital Group’s Chairman, President and CEO, Mr. Michael Keogh. Please go ahead sir.

Michael Keogh (Chairman, President and CEO)

Thank you Operator and good morning everyone. Today I’m joined by Brian Petrocelli, our Chief Financial Officer, Stuart Winston, our Chief Underwriting Officer and Salman Alabay, our Chief Actuary and head of our data and analytics team. In the first quarter 2026 Kinsale Capital Group’s diluted operating earnings per share increased by 37.7% over the first quarter of 2025, generating an annualized operating return on equity of 24%. Gross written premium was down half of 1% but net written premium grew by 5.6% for the quarter as our business lines with the least reinsurance participation continue to show positive top line growth. Sales combined ratio was 77.4%. E&S market conditions in the first quarter continued to be competitive with the level of competition and our growth rate varying from one market segment to another. We added additional disclosure to our 10Q this quarter with gross written premium detailed by Underwriting Division first quarter of 2026 and 2025. This quarterly disclosure complements the annual disclosure of premium by Underwriting division in our 10k and provides some insight into market conditions and growth prospects at a more granular level and continuing the trend from the last few quarters. Much of the headwind to our growth emanates from our large commercial property division where we write larger layered property accounts and where there is an abundance of competition and falling rates. Excluding the commercial property division, Kinsale’s growth in Gross written premium was 6% for the first quarter. The investment thesis in Kinsale has always started with our disciplined underwriting and low cost business model. By maintaining control over our underwriting operation and never outsourcing it to third parties. We drive a more accurate and more profitable underwriting process while offering our brokers the best customer service and the broadest risk Appetite in the E&S market. Likewise, our 17 year commitment to making technology and analytics a core competency allows us to operate a smarter business with a tremendous cost advantage over every competitor in the market. No exceptions. And in this competitive period of the insurance cycle, the model continues to succeed. In the first quarter, new business submissions were up 6%, new business quotes were up 8% and new business bind orders were up 9%. We are seeing the largest headwind to growth among larger accounts, particularly within our commercial property division. It’s on the larger premium accounts where the competition is most intense, hence our continued focus on smaller transactions where margins continue to be robust. You can see this smaller account trend in our average policy premium for the quarter. It was $12,200 per policy, down from 14,200 in the first quarter of 2025. Finally, we continue to work on technology innovation, including extensive use of AI models to drive automation in our business process, especially underwriting and claim handling, and throughout our software development and analytics teams. This innovation is improving efficiency, customer service, accuracy and data collection across our business and we have begun incorporating various AI agents into our enterprise system. With the talent of our technology professionals and our bespoke enterprise system and the lack of any legacy software, we are well positioned to expand our tech lead to the benefit of both profitability and growth. And with that, I’ll turn the call over to Brian Petrucelli.

Brian Petrocelli (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks Mike. As Mike just noted, the profitability of the business continues to be strong with net income and net operating earnings increasing by 26.1% and 36.3% respectively. Quarter over quarter 77.4% combined ratio for the quarter included 4.5 points from net favorable prior year loss reserve development compared to 3.9 points last year, with less than a point in cat losses this year compared to six points in Q1 last year. Gross written premium decreased by a half point for the quarter while net written Premium grew by 5.6%. And as Mike mentioned, the growth in net written premium was higher than gross as the lesser reinsured lines continue to grow at a nice clip. We produced a 21.1% expense ratio for the quarter compared to 20% last year. The other underwriting expense portion of the ratio, which is the best measure of the operational efficiency of the business, was 10.3% for the quarter compared to 10.5% in Q1 2025. The overall expense ratio increase is attributable to a higher net commission ratio resulting from higher reinsurance retentions. The larger retention provides a positive economic trade for the company with a higher net commission ratio being more than offset by greater underwriting and investment income. On the investment side, net investment income increased by 26.5% for the first quarter over last year as a result of continued growth in the investment portfolio generated from strong operating cash flows. Kinsale Capital Group’s float mostly unpaid losses and unearned Premium grew to 3.3 billion at March 31 from 3.1 billion at the end of 2025. Annual gross return was 4.5% for the quarter compared to 4.3% last year. New money yields are averaging around 5% with an average duration slightly above four years on the company’s fixed maturity investment portfolio. And lastly, diluted earnings per share continues to improve and was $5.11 per share for the quarter compared to $3.71 per share for the first quarter 2025. And with that I’ll pass it over to Stuart.

Stuart Winston (Chief Underwriting Officer)

Thanks Brian. There’s plenty of competition in the E&S market, but there’s also opportunity and it’s also a market in constant transition areas like large shared and layered placements in commercial property, certain professional lines, management, liability and public entity all continue to experience strong competition and headwinds to growth. Recently we have noticed more aggressive competition in some long tail lines like construction over the last quarter as well. There are also strong areas of opportunity with favorable growth prospects within the E&S market. Within the overall property market, our small business property, inland marine, agribusiness, property and personal insurance divisions all experienced favorable underwriting conditions and strong growth in the quarter. Within casualty, our agribusiness, casualty, Allied Health, General casualty, Health care, Entertainment and Product Liability division saw favorable markets and growth in the quarter as well. We also continue to drive growth through new product offerings and product expansions, robust marketing efforts, new broker appointments and continually improving service standards combined with the broadest risk appetite in the business. As Mike mentioned, overall new Business submission growth increased 6% in the first quarter, a similar rate to the fourth quarter of 2020. We continue to see a decline in new business submissions in the commercial property division that handles large shared and layered deals and excluding the commercial property division, new business submissions were up 9% for the quarter. While our lines of business are experiencing varying levels of competition and pricing pressure, the combined pricing trend for Kinsale is in line with the AmWINS pricing index which showed a rate decrease of 3 and a third percent compared to a 2.7% decrease in the fourth quarter of 2025. Although large …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Amid the ongoing Iran war, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) CEO Mike Wirth has cautioned that air travel costs could surge, and flight availability may dwindle.

Wirth, on Thursday, expressed that the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz is causing instability in global markets, leading to a rise in fuel prices. “We’ve seen some upward pressure on gasoline prices now. I think aviation is clearly an area where it’s going to probably get worse over the next few weeks,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.

He also pointed out that the jet fuel market in Europe and Asia is tightening rapidly, compelling airlines to modify their flight schedules and hike fares.  “We’re seeing it flow through into fares. I think that’s one of the first places it will be felt most broadly,” Wirth noted.

“And yes, fares — fares could be higher,” he said. 

Wirth highlighted that a jet fuel shortage was already in effect in certain regions before the Iran war commenced on Feb. 28. In response, airlines have increased bag check …

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.

• BTIG analyst Thomas Shrader initiated coverage on Neonc Technologies Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:NTHI) with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $15. NeOnc Technologies shares closed at $4.79 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Jefferies analyst Stephanie Moore initiated coverage on Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE:NMM) with a Buy rating and announced a price target of $85. Navios Maritime Partners shares closed …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) reported third-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s third-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://events.q4inc.com/attendee/506630038

Summary

Procter & Gamble reported a solid acceleration in top-line results for Q3, with organic sales up more than 3% year-over-year, driven by a 2% volume increase and 1% pricing increase.

The company achieved broad-based growth across all product categories and regions, with notable sales growth in skin and personal care, and strong performance in North America and Greater China.

Core earnings per share (EPS) grew 3% to $1.59, though margins were pressured by incremental investments and energy cost impacts related to geopolitical conflicts.

Procter & Gamble announced a 3% increase in its dividend, marking the 70th consecutive annual increase, and returned $3.2 billion to shareholders this quarter.

The company is focusing on strategic initiatives such as innovation, consumer communication, and supply chain enhancements to drive future growth and mitigate cost headwinds.

Management expressed confidence in maintaining momentum despite geopolitical uncertainties and affirmed its commitment to its Integrated Growth Strategy.

Fiscal 26 guidance remains unchanged, with organic sales growth expected to be in the range of 0-4%, but results are likely to be at the lower end due to cost headwinds.

Management highlighted ongoing investments in innovation and productivity to support business growth and expressed optimism about long-term opportunities.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning and welcome to Procter & Gamble’s quarter end conference call. Today’s event is being recorded for replay. This discussion will include a number of forward looking statements. If you will refer To P&G’s most recent 10K, 10Q and 8K reports, you will see a discussion of factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from these projections as required by Regulation G. Procter & Gamble needs to make you aware that during the discussion the Company will make a number of references to non GAAP and and other financial measures. Procter and Gamble believes these measures provide investors with useful perspective on underlying business trends and has posted on its Investor Relations website www.pginvestor.com A full reconciliation of non GAAP financial measures. Now I will turn the call over to P&G’s Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten.

Andre Schulten

Good morning everyone. Joining me on the call today are John Chevalier and Kerry Cohen, our Senior Vice Presidents of Investor Relations. I will start with an overview of results for the third quarter of fiscal ’26 and then discuss our progress on near term business interventions and longer term transformation efforts. I’ll close with guidance for fiscal ’26 and then we’ll take your questions. As we expected, we saw solid acceleration in top line results in our fiscal third quarter. Bottom line results reflect the strength of the top line progress with partial offsets from incremental investments in the business and energy cost impacts from the conflict in the Middle East. Taken together, we remain on track to deliver within our guidance ranges. For the fiscal year, organic sales increased more than 3% versus the prior year. Volume increased 2 points, pricing was up a point and mix was flat. For the quarter we delivered broad based growth across the business with each of our 10 product categories growing organic sales. Skin and personal care grew organic sales high single digits. Hair care, family care and home care grew mid singles personal health care, oral care, fabric care, baby care, feminine care and grooming each grew low single digits. Growth was also broad based geographically. While with each of our seven regions growing organic sales focus markets were up 3%. Organic sales in North America grew 4%. Volume was up 3 points driven by improved consumption and trade inventory dynamics. We saw a benefit from base period trade inventory destocking and a modest help from a current period trade inventory increase late in the quarter driven by Easter timing. Price mix added a point of growth. The Europe region was up 2% led by enterprise markets being up 6% and modest growth in focus markets led by the UK, Italy and Spain. Greater China organic sales grew 3% continued growth in what remains a challenging consumer environment. Campus and SK2 led the growth, each up double digits. Enterprise markets in aggregate grew 5% for the quarter. Latin America organic sales were up 5% with Mexico and Brazil each up high single digits. Organic sales in Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa enterprise region was up 4%. Global aggregate market share improved to in line with prior year with positive Trends through the quarter. 26 of our 50 top 50 category country combinations held or group share for the quarter. On the bottom line, co earnings per share came in at $1.59 up 3% versus prior year. On the currency neutral basis, Core EPS was in line with prior year core growth margin was down 100 basis points and core operating margin was down 80 basis points versus prior year. Strong productivity improvement of 330 basis points was offset by healthy reinvestment in innovation and demand creation. Currency neutral core operating margin was down 70 basis points. Adjusted free cash flow productivity was 82% and we returned $3.2 billion of cash to share owners this quarter, $2.5 billion in dividends and over $600 million in share repurchases. Earlier this month we announced a 3% increase in our dividend, continuing our commitment to return cash to share owners and this marks the 70th consecutive annual dividend increase and the 136th consecutive year P&G has paid a dividend. In summary, this was a solid quarter of progress, positive sales and share trends and earnings growth in a difficult environment. Geopolitical dynamics have thrown new challenges in front of us, but we will continue to fully support the business to maintain the momentum that we are creating as we move forward. We remain committed to the Integrated Growth Strategy, a portfolio of daily use products in categories where performance matters. In these performance driven categories, we must deliver irresistibly superior products across the product itself, the package, the brand, communication, retail execution and value. We continue to drive productivity with multi year visibility, to fund innovation and demand creation and to mitigate cost headwinds. Constructive disruption is key to staying ahead of and to creating emerging trends and opportunities in our fast changing industry. Finally, an organization that is fully engaged, enabled and excited to serve consumers and to win in the marketplace. Now P&G’s point of difference Our competitive advantage comes from outstanding integrated execution of these strategies across all activity systems in the company and from anticipating what capabilities are needed next. While the core strategy remains constant. On last quarter’s call and at the CAGNY conference, we outlined three major changes in the landscape around us. Media fragmentation and changing consumer media preferences preferences are affecting how consumers are collecting information about our categories, including platforms like social media, retail media and AI portals. The retail landscape is changing. More concentration, but also brand proliferation. Retailers are becoming media platforms and media platforms are becoming retailers. Third is Inflation across food, energy, health care and many other areas of spending has taken a toll on consumers and how they assess value. Recent geopolitical events have elevated this to a new level of concern. In short, the consumer path to purchase is changing every day and we expect an even more intense pace of change in the next three to five years. The interventions and investments we’re making in P&G capabilities to adapt to these changes are beginning to bear fruit. Strong innovation supported by sharper consumer communication and retail execution. A few examples Building on the success of Dawn Powerwash in the US Ferries Skip the Soak in the UK is a great example of deep consumer insight that’s driving innovation. Consumer research showed us that more than 70% of UK consumers soap dishes before washing. With this insight in mind, we created the Ferry Skip the soap idea which instantly and intuitively helps consumers understand what the product is and what it’s for. Integrated superiority across all vectors where the product name inspires the packaging in store. Execution and communication all supported by superior performance that delivers on the promise. Skip the Soak drove Fairy brand wholesale penetration to 61%, up 5 points in its first year. Mister Clean continues to innovate on its core proposition and solving more cleaning jobs with new additions to the portfolio core and more. The brand has launched new innovations on the Magic Eraser platform that improved the longevity with a denser foam and a wider micro scrubbing structure that now lasts two times longer. We restaged the packaging to use room and mass focused names that clearly signal where to use the eraser. At the same time, we launched Mister Clean Shower and Tub Scrubber to address consumers number one most hated cleaning chore Shower and tub Mistr. Clean Shower and Tub Scrubber delivers a quicker, easier and deeper clean with the power of the Magic Eraser, a sturdy grip handle built in squeegee and a pivoting head for hard to reach areas. The results Mister Clean is winning consumers and driving category growth, delivering 18 times its fair share of the bath cleaning category growth since launch. Germany Pantene identified an opportunity to improve brand and product superiority awareness by capitalizing on media landscape shifts. The increased investments in social media and influencer partnerships including top German beauty opinion leaders, hair experts and brand events including talk worthy local events like the Oktoberfest and Berlin Fashion Week. The impact earned influencer posts grew four times and total reach tripled despite a 20% reduction in media spend. Content value share in Germany is up 60 basis points versus a year ago and accelerating. The other examples we’ve discussed recently also continue to deliver strong results including Greater China baby Care, Mexico fabric enhancers, Brazil hair care and US Personal care. Finally, tight boosted liquid detergent in the US continues to deliver strong results. Initial weeks in the tight EVO launch are on track with our high expectations. While we work to improve our near term results, we’re also making progress on a longer term reinvention of PNG capabilities, the next phase of constructive disruption that will create and extend our competitive advantages in each element of our strategy. The way to break through consistently is to build the strongest brands in the industry. P&G has the unique strengths and capabilities to redefine brand building to deliver consumer relevant superiority. First, we are leveraging our large iconic brands with huge consumer bases and all the data we gather. We are now scaling the integrated data platforms and the technologies that will enhance our team’s ability to mine this data for insights that lead to new product innovations, brand ideas, performance claims and marketing campaigns across all relevant consumer platforms. Next, we are driving our unique set of innovation capabilities, substrate technology, thermoleic chemistry devices and biology to deliver breakthrough solutions in every part of the business. Third, we have tremendous supply chain capability. Supply chain 3.0 is driving a more complete system connection from purchase signal to our production planning and material ordering to ensure consumers find the product they want each time they shop. We know how to automate, digitize and autonomize our operations and more importantly, we have qualified a financial framework to generate strong returns on these investments. Our innovation and supply capabilities are key enablers to win in the volatile market we operate in today. Connecting R and D supply chain and procurement allows us to adjust, sourcing, optimize formulations and qualify alternative suppliers faster and more effectively than ever done before. It took years to build these underlying platforms and capabilities and we are now in full scaling mode across the company. The next step is to connect the dots to integrate the pieces. We will close the loop and we believe this will create a new S curve for growth and value creation centered around our consumers. We are confident in the short term progress we’re making and we’re excited about the mid to long term as we leverage our strength and unique capabilities to set us apart from the industry. Moving on to Guidance as we saw in our press release this morning, we are maintaining our fiscal ’26 guidance ranges across organic sales, growth, core, EPS and adjusted free cash flow productivity. However, where we will land within those ranges has become more uncertain. Given the geopolitical dynamics in the Middle east, we continue to expect organic sales growth of in line to 4%. We’re seeing progress in most categories and regions as you can see in this quarter’s results. Underlying global market growth for our portfolio footprint is around 2% on a value basis with a positive trend over the last two months. However, it’s unclear how much higher gasoline and energy costs will impact near term consumer spending in our categories. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the trade inventory increase we saw in March was driven by Easter timing and likely some protection against potential price increases or supply chain disruptions resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. We expect this to result in fourth quarter organic sales somewhat lower than third quarter. As a reminder, our top line guidance includes a roughly 30 to 50 basis point headwind from product and market exits as part of our restructuring work. Our bottom line guidance is for core EPS growth in line to 4% versus prior year. This equates to a range of 683 to 709 per share. This guidance includes a foreign exchange tailwind of approximately $200 million after tax, unchanged from our prior outlook. We now expect a headwind of approximately $150 million after tax for the fiscal from a combination of commodity linked cost inflation, feedstock exposures and logistics disruptions resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. Almost all of these increased cost excuse me, will be in the fiscal fourth quarter. Our teams are doing a tremendous job to protect supply continuity and to minimize cost impacts. Much of this work, such as rapid product reformulation and supplier diversification is enabled by the advanced data, tools and capabilities we discussed earlier. With the timing of these cost impacts, there is little opportunity to create short term offsets within cost of goods sold. Likewise, we will protect our demand creation investments in the business to support our new innovation and maintain positive momentum. In fact, we’ve approved incremental investments in several businesses in the last month. Given all the above, we now expect full year EPS results to be toward the lower end of the guidance range. Our fiscal ’26 outlook continues to call for approximately $500 million before tax and higher costs from tariffs below the operating line. We continue to expect modestly higher interest expense versus last fiscal year and a core effective tax rate in the range of 20 to 21% for fiscal ’26 combined, a $250 million after tax headwind to earnings growth. We continue to forecast adjusted free cash flow productivity in the range of 85 to 90% for the year. This includes an increase in capital spending as we add capacity in several categories and as we incur the cash costs from the restructuring work. We expect to pay around $10 billion in dividends and to repurchase approximately $5 billion of common stock combined, a plan to return roughly $15 billion of cash to shareholders at fiscal ’26. This outlook is based on current market growth rates, commodity prices and foreign exchange rates. Significant additional currency weakness, commodity or other cost increases further geopolitical disruptions, major supply chain disruptions or store closures are not anticipated within the guidance range. We won’t provide guidance for fiscal 27 until our next call in July. However, we understand investor concern about potential cost and supply impacts from the Middle east conflicts. For perspective, the annual cost impact of Brent crude at around $100 per barrel is roughly $1.3 billion before tax or $1 billion after tax versus a pre conflict oil price in the mid-60s. Again, this goes beyond direct commodity cost to include other upstream and downstream cost impacts that would hit our pnl. Regarding supply impacts, we are hopeful the full flow of materials will resume in the coming weeks. We continue to work closely with our suppliers and contract manufacturers to identify potential short term risks. So far our business continuity plans continue to perform well and despite some force majeure declarations by our direct suppliers or by their upstream suppliers, no company will be immune to these effects. But this is an example of where our capabilities help us buffer the impacts on our business. Our business teams have been developing multiple contingency plans to mitigate potential cost and supply disruptions. Underpinning each of these options is a commitment to maintain support for our brands and superior value for our consumers. We remain willing to manage some short term pressure on the bottom line to come out of this period with stronger brands and business momentum on the other side. This has proven to be the right path in the past and we are confident that it is now. In summary, we continue to believe the best path to sustainable balanced growth is to double down on the strategy. Stronger integrated execution to delight consumers with superior products at superior value. Challenging markets like the ones we compete in today are an opportunity for P&G to step out from the pack and to lead. We have the brands, the tools, the capabilities and most importantly the people required to win. We’re confident in the short term progress we’re making. It won’t be a straight line, but we are moving in the right direction. We are building momentum and we are excited about the long term opportunities ahead and with that we are happy to Take your questions.

Steve Powers (Equity Analyst)

Thank you very much. Good morning everybody. Andre, you covered a lot of ground in your prepared remarks, but I guess as you as you look through the puts and takes and timing nuances in the third quarter, how do you assess underlying progress on organic …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Amerant Bancorp (NYSE:AMTB) 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://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=0cascMmg

Summary

Amerant Bancorp focused on credit quality, improving loan portfolio, and cost-saving initiatives, achieving approximately $30 million in cost savings for 2026.

The company reported a Q1 net income in line with guidance and strong international deposit growth, particularly from Venezuela, contributing $188 million in total deposit growth.

Amerant Bancorp’s strategic initiatives include optimizing risk management, exiting non-core loans, and emphasizing sustainable growth with disciplined expense management.

The company’s net interest margin faced pressure due to lower loan yields and a shift in asset mix, with expectations to stabilize around 3.4% by year-end.

Management highlighted enhancements in credit evaluation processes and proactive portfolio management, aiming for long-term sustainable financial results.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Greetings and welcome to the Amerant Bancorp First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. You may be placed into question queue at any time by pressing Star1 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press Star zero. It’s now my pleasure to turn the call over to Laura Rossi, Executive Vice President, Head of Investor Relations. Laura, please go ahead.

Laura Rossi (Executive Vice President, Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you operators. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us to review Amerant Bancorp’s first quarter 2026 results. On today’s call are Carlos Yafigliola, our interim CEO, and Cherima Calderon, our CFO. Additionally, we’re pleased to welcome as a guest speaker this quarter Leanne Craig, Chief Credit Officer who will share further insight into our credit risk management initiatives as we begin. Please note that discussions on today’s call contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the securities Exchange Act. In addition, references will also be made to non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the Company’s earnings release for a statement regarding forward looking statements as well as for information and reconciliation of non GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures. I will now turn it over to our interim CEO, Carlos Yafigliola.

Carlos Yafigliola (Interim CEO)

Thank you Laura Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today to discuss Amerant Bancorp first quarter 2026 results. As we begin, I want to acknowledge where we are in the execution of our strategic plan. I’m proud of the continued progress we have made on the three priorities we outlined last stabilizing the business, optimizing our credit portfolio, and growing sustainably. I also want to thank the Ameren team for the hard work and dedication throughout the quarter. Our people are the key enablers of this plan and that continues to guide our execution. So let’s begin with our primary focus, which has been credit quality and improving our loan portfolio. As a reminder, in Q4 last year we completed a comprehensive reassessment of our portfolio in terms of risk identification and classification and subsequently exited a segment of loans from classified categories. This process continued into the first quarter where we demonstrated proactive credit management and further refined declassifications of certain loans based on current macroeconomic data and new information received. We identified both necessary downgrades as well as merited upgrades. Additionally, we exited and transferred to held-for-sale another group of loans that we no longer consider core to our business. The new process and people we have put in place have significantly improved our credit evaluation capabilities and the team is executing well. The composition of our loan portfolio now reflects a healthier mix with a risk profile that is more consistent with our long term goals. Leanne will share additional details shortly going forward as we prioritize business development and we will pursue growth within credit parameters that allow for sustainable financial results. To this end, we have enhanced risk based limits to adjust concentration risk and prevent single borrower overexposure. We have also refined our market approach by moving away from out of market collateral projects except selectively for existing clients in core markets where we have deeper borrower insight. We have also fundamentally shifted underwriting, prioritizing borrowers with proven stable operating history over projection based lending and tightening our policy exception framework by lowering allowable exception thresholds to better align with our risk appetite. Lastly, we have continued to invest in experienced, talented and we’re taking a more intentional approach to growth focusing on what we believe are the right fundamentals to drive stability, consistency and sustainable top line performance. Our top priority is continuing to improve our efficiency which the team executed well against. This quarter Our net income for Q1 was in line with our guidance and we have significantly reduced non interest expenses quarter over quarter supported by better than expected cost savings. To put this in perspective, our expense management efforts represents approximately 30 million in cost savings for 2026. Additionally, we saw strong growth in favorable low cost international deposits as a result of the reactivation of the Venezuelan economy and our deep knowledge and experience in the market as well as the extensive work that for many years we have done to preserve and expand our relationships in the country. In line with this, I would like to take a moment to provide some additional context on our international deposit growth. Last quarter we highlighted Venezuela as an area of opportunity and this quarter we delivered recording $188 million of total deposit growth in Q1 from which 95 million came from Venezuela and 66 million of this growth was in March alone. These deposits are quite attractive due to their stability, overall cost of funds and beta in rates up cycle such as the one we recently experienced, allowing for improved profitability as we continue to grow our international presence. Furthermore, these customers are well aligned with our relationship first approach as they can be cross sold via our wealth management offering. Moving forward, Venezuela represents a key opportunity to continue generating net interest income from a source of funds and to capture increased market share. We believe Amerent is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this opportunity and support both individual entities as the country reopens. In summary, we believe we executed well against our strategic plan, we took a focused, deliberate action to further optimize our credit portfolio while reinforcing risk management. We implemented cost savings initiatives that have reduced our expenses and improved our efficiency. We generated long growth that is aligned with our risk appetite despite exits of certain criticized loans and significant loan repayments, which provides a clear line of sight to sustained credit performance. And we executed well on our international strategy, particularly in Venezuela, which we view as a meaningful opportunity to further scale our international deposit franchise and drive incremental earnings. With that, I will turn it over to Sherry to review our quarterly financial results in more detail.

Charima Calderon (CFO)

Thank you, Carlos and good morning everyone. I want to begin by saying that going forward we will be discussing results without breaking down core versus non core metrics in our financials. We would like to be more selective with adjustments with the goal of providing a clearer and more straightforward view of our quarterly performance. All comparisons made to last quarter’s results are to our GAAP reported figures. Let’s turn to slide 4 where you will see our balance sheet highlights. Note that in the next three slides I will focus on those items that are most relevant to the quarter and will not be covered in subsequent slides. Total assets were $9.9 billion as of the end of the first quarter, an increase from $9.8 billion as of the end of the fourth quarter. The increase was primarily driven by higher deposit balances. Additionally, we reallocated our assets to fund net loan growth, including selected residential loan purchases, and deployed available cash into higher yielding assets. Cash and cash equivalents were 188.7 million, down by 281.5 million, compared to 470.2 million in the fourth quarter due to the purchases of investment securities at attractive yields as well as to fund loan growth. Total Investment securities were $2.4 billion, up by $346.3 million compared to $2.1 billion in the previous quarter. Total gross loans were $6.8 billion, up by $56.5 million compared to $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter. While we experienced increases in certain portfolios, overall loan balances were only slightly higher than in the fourth quarter due to a high level of prepayments and some loans that we exited in line with our focus on credit quality. This was anticipated and guided to in our call last quarter. On the deposit side, total deposits were $7.9 billion, up by 152.2 million compared to 7.8 billion in the fourth quarter, primarily driven, as Carlos mentioned, by strong growth and international deposits. Our assets under management increased $148.6 million to $3.4 billion driven by higher market valuations. As we’ve shared previously, we continue to see this business as an area of opportunity for us to grow fee income going forward. Increasingly, in light of the opportunity in Venezuela, let’s turn to slide 5 looking at the income statement, Diluted income per share for the first quarter was $0.44 compared to $0.07 in the fourth quarter. Net interest income was 80.3 million, down 9.9 million from 90.2 million in the fourth quarter. This was primarily driven by lower average balances and yields on interest earning assets, largely attributable to the anticipated cuts of 50 basis points in market rates impacting the portfolio for the entire quarter. The decrease in net interest income was also driven by the asset mix reallocation that translated into a contraction of our financial margin to 3.55% from 3.78% in the fourth quarter. Provision for credit losses was $7.8 million compared to $3.5 million in the fourth quarter. Non interest income was $17.4 million, down $4.6 million from $22 million, primarily driven by the absence of the gain that we had in the fourth quarter from the sale and leaseback of two banking centers as well as lower securities gains this quarter compared to the fourth quarter. Non interest income this quarter includes securities gains of $516,000. Non interest expense was $66.9 million down by $39.9 million or 37.3% from $106.8 million in the fourth quarter. The significant reduction in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, Ameris (NYSE:ABCB) 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.

The full earnings call is available at https://event.choruscall.com/mediaframe/webcast.html?webcastid=wlhfkm1n

Summary

Ameris reported a strong financial performance with a return on assets (ROA) of 1.62% and a return on tangible common equity of nearly 15%.

The company achieved a 10% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the first quarter of 2025, while expenses only rose by 4%, maintaining an efficiency ratio just under 50%.

Ameris repurchased 1.4% of its shares during the quarter, demonstrating active capital management.

Loan production saw a significant increase with a 45% rise over the previous year, while deposits grew by 5% annualized.

The company anticipates mid-single-digit loan and deposit growth for the rest of the year, with some expected slight margin compression.

Non-interest income increased due to better mortgage fees and equipment finance fees, while non-interest expenses rose due to higher compensation costs.

Management expressed confidence in their competitive positioning and focus on growing core deposits and organic growth.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and welcome to the Ameris Bancorp first quarter 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. After today’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on the touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press Star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nicole Stokes, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Nicole Stokes (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you. And thank you to all who have joined our call today. During the call we will be referencing the press release and the financial highlights that are available on the investor Relations section of our website at amerisbank.com I’m joined today by Palmer Proctor, our CEO, and Doug Strange, our Chief Credit Officer. Palmer will begin with some opening comments and then I will discuss the details of our financial results before we open up for Q and A. But before we begin, I’ll remind you that our comments may include forward looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. The actual results could vary materially. We list some of the factors that might cause results to differ in our press release and in our SEC filings which are available on our website. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of new information, early developments or otherwise, except as required by law. Also during the call we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures in reference to our performance. You can see our reconciliation of these measures and GAAP financial measures in the appendix to our presentation. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Palmer for his comments.

Palmer Proctor (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Nicole. Good morning everyone. We appreciate you taking the time to join our first quarter call. I’m proud of our performance to start the year primarily due to three factors. First, we operated at a high level of core profitability with an ROA above 160ppnr, ROA at 2.30, and a return on tangible common equity of almost 15%. Second, we experienced good growth in loans, deposits earning assets and revenue. And third, we actively managed our capital by repurchasing 1.4% of the company in the quarter at about a 7.5% discount to yesterday’s closing price. In addition to those 3 positives, I want to revisit something I said on our first quarter call last year. I said we were focused on enhancing revenue generation and positive operating leverage, and once again we executed on our plan. Compared to the first quarter of 2022, our quarterly revenue is up 10% with expenses up only 4%. That’s about a 21% growth efficiency on our growth due to our focus on efficient, organic profitable growth. More specifically, on an annualized basis, we grew loans and deposits by 5 to 6% along with earning assets at nearly 10%. Revenue increased 9.5% driven by an uptick in fee income which represented a strong 22% of total revenue for the quarter. Our continued focus on expense discipline across the company results in an efficiency ratio of just under 50%. Despite some seasonal revenue and expense headwinds in the first quarter, our net interest margin expanded 3 basis points to 388 in the quarter and remains well above peer level. Loan production was 2.2 billion in the first quarter of a 45% increase over first quarter last year. Our loan pipeline remained robust at 2.8 billion. On the deposit front, we continue to focus on core granular deposits and relationship banking with total deposits up 5% annualized in the quarter. Our non interest bearing deposits grew 323 million in the quarter, recapturing some of the seasonal decline of last quarter. Our non interest bearing deposits returned to 30% of total deposits and we have minimal reliance on brokered funds. We increased our capital return in the quarter by repurchasing 75 million or 1.4% of shares outstanding, which is the highest level of buybacks we have had in any one quarter. Capital levels remain robust with CET1 finishing at roughly 13% and our TCE ratio slightly above 11%. These capital levels position us well for any type of environment. Credit quality was stable, our 1.62% reserve was unchanged and both net charge offs and nonperforming assets excluding government guaranteed mortgages improved modestly in the quarter. CRE and construction concentrations were relatively stable at 265 and 46% respectively. Overall, we remain well positioned for future growth and this growth should be positively impacted by the continued disruption in our southeastern footprint. I’ll stop there and turn it over to Nicole to discuss our financial results in more detail.

Nicole Stokes (Chief Financial Officer)

Great. Thank you Palmer. So we reported net income of 110.5 million or $1.63 per diluted share in the first quarter. Our return on assets was 1.62%, our PPNR ROA was 2.3% and our return on tangible common equity was 14.75%. For the quarter our tangible book value increased to 44.79 and that’s about 12.5% than a year ago. As Palmer said, capital levels remain robust and we were notably active in our share buybacks during the quarter, repurchasing 74.9 million of common stock or 950,400 shares at an average price of $78.76. Combined with our full year 2025 share buybacks, we’ve repurchased just over 3% of the company over the last five quarters. Our remaining share repurchase authorization was 84.3 million. At the end of the first quarter, our net interest margin expanded 3 basis points to a strong 388. The expansion came from 6 basis point positive impact on the funding side, more than offset the three basis point decline from the lower asset yields. Our margin level is well above peer and is at 100% core without any purchase accounting accretion from M and A. Our asset liability sensitive is effectively neutral and has really served us well through this macroeconomic environment. That said, we do anticipate we could have some slight margin compression over the next few quarters and that’s really due to pressure on the deposit costs as we fund our balance sheet growth. We believe the margin could decline a few basis points per quarter, probably 5 to 10 total basis points lower over the next few quarters but but we will continue to focus on growth in net interest income both through earning asset growth and margin management. Non interest income increased 8.1 million this quarter, mostly from better mortgage fees as well as an increase in our equipment finance fees. Total non interest expense increased about 14 million in the quarter, partially driven by seasonally higher compensation costs, specifically higher payroll taxes, 401 matching expenses and incentive accruals. Comparing cyclical first quarters, our efficiency ratio this year was 49.97, an improvement from 52.83 first quarter of last year. This improvement was driven by the positive operating leverage as year over year quarterly revenue growth was 28.5 million and our expense growth was only 6 million for that same period. Going forward, I anticipate the efficiency ratio to be slightly above 50% for the rest of the year. During the quarter we recorded $16.6 million of provision expense. Annualized net charge offs this quarter decreased to 21 basis points. We continue to anticipate net charge offs in the 20 to 25 basis point range. For 2026, our reserve remains strong at 1.62% of loans, the same as last quarter and overall asset quality trends remain strong with nonperforming assets excluding government guaranteed mortgages and net charge offs down in the quarter and both classifies and criticize remain well below peer. Looking at our balance sheet, we ended the quarter at 28.1 billion of total assets compared to $27.5 billion at year end. Earning assets grew 607.8 million or 9.7% annualized. As we grew, both the loan book and the bond portfolio loans grew 314.5 million or about 5.9% annualized. And as Palmer mentioned, our loan production and our pipelines rem strong. The real big win for the quarter was our core deposit growth. Deposits grew 261 million or 4.7% annualized. And that was really strong growth in both our consumer and commercial customers of 547 million. As expected, we had the seasonal outflows of about 430 million of public funds and our non interest bearing to total deposit ratio improved back up to 29.8% from 28.7 at year end. We project our loan and deposit growth to be in the mid single digit range for the rest of the year. And as I previously mentioned, we expect longer term deposit growth will be the governor on loan growth. With that, I’m going to wrap it up and turn the call back over to Bailey for any questions from the group.

OPERATOR

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw the question, please press star then two. At this time we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Will Jones with kbw. Please go ahead.

Will Jones (Equity Analyst)

Yeah. Hey, thanks. Good morning guys. Good morning. Good morning, Will. Hey. So Nicole, I just wanted to start just with the margin. You know, you guys have just perpetually continued to outperform your guidance and kind of outperform your expectations there. Although you know, the forward outlook, the messaging has really been the same that you kind of see, you know, a couple basis point headwind just as, it becomes more competitive to fund some of your growth. Although it feels like that messaging hasn’t particularly changed much either. So maybe just a backward looking question. What has kind of differed from your expectations with that dynamic and maybe more forward looking, where are you seeing new loan yields today? Coming on just relative to new deposits?

Nicole Stokes (Chief Financial Officer)

Yep, great question. So I’ll start with kind of the look back and you know, we’ve said all of our guidance when we talk about our Asset Liability Management (ALM) modeling and where our margin guidance is going, we’ve said all along that that had to do with some of our guidance we added was deposit pressure and also the funding and the mix of the deposits as we fund the growth. So where is the growth coming from? So certainly in the first quarter something that really helped the margin was the deposit growth, you know, of the non interest bearing. So $323 million of non interest bearing growth …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ:APOG) reported fourth-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call has been 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.

Access the full call at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/nep9ptwn/

Summary

Apogee Enterprises reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results, with a 1.6% increase in net sales to $351.4 million, driven by favorable pricing in the metals segment.

The company successfully integrated UW Solutions into its Performance Services segment, achieving first-year financial targets of $100 million in revenue and an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%.

Strategic initiatives include leveraging the Apogee management system to drive manufacturing improvements, actively managing the cost structure, and enhancing strategic pillars to position the company for growth.

Future guidance for fiscal 2027 anticipates net sales between $1.38 billion to $1.43 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.70 to $3.25, reflecting a challenging macroeconomic environment.

Management highlighted the impact of aluminum cost increases and tariffs, with efforts to offset these through pricing actions and strategic cost management.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Apogee Enterprises’ fourth quarter 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 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. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I will now turn the conference over to Jeremy Stephan, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications to begin. Jeremy, please go ahead.

Jeremy Stephan (Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications)

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Apogee Enterprises fiscal 2026 fourth quarter earnings call. On call today are Don Nolan, Apogee’s Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Abdall, our Chief Financial Officer. During this call, the team will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions of these measures and a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP measures are provided in the Earnings Release and Slide deck which are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. As a reminder, today’s call will contain forward looking statements. These reflect management’s expectations based on currently available information. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed today. More information about factors that could affect Apogee’s business and financial results can be found in our press release and in the company’s SEC filings. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Don.

Don Nolan (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks Jeremy and good morning everyone. We’re glad you could join us for our fourth quarter earnings call. As I spent more time with the business over the past several months engaging with our teams, visiting our operations and working closely with our leadership group, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for both the strengths of our portfolio and the discipline embedded in how we operate. While the market environment continues to evolve, we are focused on executing what is within our control, managing through near term pressures, and continuing to build a strong foundation for long term sustainable performance. I’m confident in the organization we have in place and the enhanced strategic direction we are taking as we move forward. With that said, I’m pleased to share that our results for the quarter were ahead of our expectations on both the top and bottom line, despite what continued to be a dynamic and challenging environment. I’d like to thank our team of dedicated and resilient employees for their focus on delivering exceptional products and services to all of our valuable customers. Fiscal 2026 was a year of disciplined execution for Apogee and as we navigated a difficult environment while continuing to strengthen our operating foundation, our teams delivered meaningful gains in safety, service and productivity and generated solid cash flow. I’d like to emphasize three areas that position us particularly well for the future. First, Performance Services successfully integrated UW Solutions into the segment. They delivered upon the first year financial targets for the acquisition of $100 million in revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%. The total segment delivered revenue of almost $200 million and an accretive margin for the company and we’re excited for the future given the expanded market, greater geographical reach along with the added substrate capability and coating technology. Second, the Apogee management system continues to drive meaningful improvements across our manufacturing footprint utilizing technology with embedded AI. Last fiscal year our Architectural Metals segment made significant progress improving outcomes for our Tube Light brand, completing a value stream redesign which resulted in improved service levels and lead times. We also reconfigured our linetech finishing facility in Wausau, Wisconsin, creating a tighter, more connected footprint that streamlined anodizing paint and packaging operations. This drove significant reductions in material movement, ultimately creating a leaner and safer environment. AMS has truly become a cornerstone of Apogee’s operating success, creating a safer work environment for our teams, delivering better quality service and reliability for our customers, and building a culture of continuous improvement that will drive even stronger outcomes in the years ahead. And third, we actively managed our cost structure and manufacturing footprint to mitigate portions of direct and indirect tariffs while driving efficiencies across the organization. These decisions were difficult and we certainly don’t take them lightly, but we are confident that the actions further position Apogee to successfully navigate the market headwinds we see today and expect in the near future. What we delivered in fiscal 2026 reflects more than just execution. It reflects the strength of a strategy that has guided Apogee through change and positioned us to lead. The strategy we put in place in 2021 continues to serve us well with a clear focus on becoming the economic leader in our target markets, actively managing our portfolio and strengthening our core capabilities and platforms. That focus has driven meaningful improvement across the business, including a more competitive cost structure through facility consolidation and organizational alignment, tighter supply chain integration and greater leverage of enterprise back office functions. At the same time, the Apogee management system delivered substantial gains in productivity and safety. We elevated pricing discipline and sharpened our portfolio, resulting in higher margins and increased profit dollars over the past five years. Moving forward, we are enhancing these strategic pillars to position Apogee as a more growth oriented, customer obsessed organization. Pillar number one is focused on accelerating leadership in target markets by differentiating through deep customer focus and insight, shaping what we offer and how we deliver it to be the economic leader in the markets we serve. The second pillar involves growing and strengthening the portfolio through organic and inorganic advancements and differentiated solutions that address evolving customer challenges and deliver lasting value. And the third pillar is all about advancing core capabilities by driving a culture of continuous improvement through operational excellence, talent development and technology that truly elevates a customer experience. Building on the progress we’ve made, we continue to identify areas for growth in non residential construction markets. We see opportunities to further …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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

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.

The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/361570488

Summary

SouthState reported a return on assets of 1.37% and a return on tangible common equity of 17.6% for Q1 2026.

The company is focusing on expanding its commercial banking sales force, achieving organic growth, systematic share repurchases, and leveraging artificial intelligence.

Loan pipelines have increased by 50% since last summer, leading to solid annualized loan growth, with a significant boost in Texas and Colorado.

SouthState repurchased nearly 4% of its shares since Q3 2025 at an average price of $95.28, viewing this as an attractive use of excess capital.

Net interest margin guidance was slightly missed due to higher-than-expected deposit costs, but the company remains optimistic about continued loan growth with strong loan pipelines.

Non-interest income reached $100 million, slightly above expectations, with strong performance in capital markets and wealth.

The company is embracing AI to improve efficiency and customer service, with plans to integrate AI tools at various levels.

SouthState maintains strong credit quality with non-performing assets stable and a focus on long-term growth through strategic hiring, particularly in the Texas and Colorado markets.

Overall capital levels remain healthy, with a payout ratio higher than long-term expectations due to strategic share repurchases.

Full Transcript

Audra (Conference Operator)

Good morning, My name is Audra and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the SouthState Bank Corporation first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today’s conference is being recorded. 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 the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. At this time I would like to turn the conference over to William Matthews, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

William Matthews (Chief Financial Officer)

Good Morning. Welcome to SouthState’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. This is Will Matthews and I’m here with John Corbett, Steve Young and Jeremy Lucas. We’ll follow our pattern of brief remarks followed by Q&A. I’ll refer you to the earnings release and investor presentation under the Investor Relations tab of our website. Before we begin our remarks, I want to remind you that comments we make may include forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and regulations. Any such forward looking statements we may make are subject to the Safe Harbor rules. Please review the forward looking disclaimer and safe harbor language in the press release and presentation for more information about our forward looking statements and risks and uncertainties which may affect us now. I’ll turn the call over to you. John.

John Corbett (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you Will. Good morning everybody. Thanks for joining us. For the quarter, SouthState delivered a return on assets of 1.37% and a return on tangible common equity of 17.6%. As we progress through 2026, our four main priorities are first, to expand our commercial banking sales force, second, to deliver meaningful organic growth, third, to systematically retire shares at an attractive valuation, and fourth, to learn how to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence implement it throughout the company. We’re making good progress on all four fronts as far as recruiting. We’re now in a yield curve environment that is more favorable to balance sheet growth, and with the consolidation disruption occurring throughout our markets, we see an opportunity to expand our commercial banking team by 10 to 15% in the next couple years. In the last six months alone, our division presidents were successful in attracting and growing our commercial banking team by about 7%. We’re going to continue to be opportunistic, but based upon the rapid success, we may slow the pace of hiring in the next few months. Second, for organic loan growth, loan pipelines have grown 50% since last summer and that’s resulted in solid annualized loan growth of 8% in the fourth quarter and then another 7.5% loan growth in the first quarter. Pipelines grew significantly again in the first quarter, which gives us confidence moving forward. Our previous loan growth guidance for 2026 called for mid to upper single digit growth this year. There’s a decent chance that we could end up on the higher end of our guidance. The biggest highlight by far has been the success in Texas and Colorado on a year over year comparison. Loan production in those two states have more than doubled from 500 million in 1Q25 to 1.1 billion in 1Q26. And Houston, specifically experienced the highest loan growth of any market in the entire company this quarter. Third on stock buybacks, we’ve repurchased nearly 4% of our shares outstanding since the beginning of the third quarter at an average price of $95.28. We continue to see this as an attractive use of excess capital at a time when bank valuations seem, at least to us, disconnected from fundamental performance and intrinsic value. And then fourth, we’re enthusiastically embracing the potential for artificial intelligence. We’re deploying more and more copilot licenses and training our bankers at the individual user level. We’re researching and beginning to deploy AI tools from our major software providers at the department level, and we’re looking for ways to re engineer processes between departments at the enterprise level. More to come, but we’re pleased with the way the entire organization is embracing these new tools with the goal of improving our speed and scalability. Speed for improved customer service and then scalability for efficiency and shareholder returns. Before I turn it over to Will, I’ll point out that we’ve refreshed some of the slides in our deck to highlight the value proposition of being a SouthState shareholder. Our story hasn’t changed and it isn’t complicated. We’re building a premier deposit franchise and we’re doing it in the fastest growing markets in the United States. We adhere to a geographic and local market leadership business model. It’s a model that empowers our division presidents to tailor their team products and pricing to deliver remarkable service to their unique local community and at the same time, an incentive system built on geographic profitability that instills a CEO and shareholder mindset. This is a model that produces durable results that have outperformed our peers on deposit cost, asset quality and overall returns. And the outperformance is consistent and durable over the last year, over the last five years and over the last 20 years. Ultimately leading to a top quartile shareholder return over multiple cycles. Will, I’ll turn it back over to you to walk through the details on the quarter.

William Matthews (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks John. Our net interest margin of 379 was just below our guidance of 380 to 390. The slight miss was primarily a result of deposit costs being a few basis points above our expectation. In spite of the 6 basis point improvement from the prior quarter, loan yields of 596 were slightly below our new loan production coupons of 609 for the quarter. An accretion of 38.8 million was in line with expectations and $11.5 million below Q4 levels. Excluding accretion, our net interest margin (NIM) was up a basis point. Net interest income of 562 million was down 19 million from Q4 with the day count impact being 12.6 million of that difference. As John noted, we had another good loan growth quarter with loans growing 896 million 7.5% annualized growth rate. Average loans grew at a 6.5% annualized rate. Our Texas and Colorado team led the company in loan growth and every banking group within the company grew loans in the first quarter. We have some optimism about continuing loan growth as our pipeline at quarter end was up 33% compared with year end. Non interest income of 100 million was at the high end of our range of 55 to 60 basis points guidance. We had a solid quarter in capital markets and wealth with seasonally lighter deposit fees offset by stronger mortgage revenue which was aided by an increase in the MSR asset value net of the hedge. NIE of 359.5 million was in line with expectations. Looking ahead, we have no changes to our NIE guidance for the remainder of the year, but if we have greater success in our recruiting efforts and we’ve been pleased with our success thus far, NIE could of course move up somewhat. Net charge offs of $10 million represented a 9 basis point annualized rate for the quarter and this amount was matched by our provision for credit losses. Non accrual and substandard loans were down slightly. Payment performance remains very good and we continue to feel good about our credit quality. Turning to capital, we repurchased one and a half million shares in the quarter at a weighted average price of $100.84. This makes a total of three and a half million shares repurchased in the last two quarters and our share count was 97.9 million shares at quarter end, down from 101.5 million shares a year prior. Like last year’s fourth quarter, the first quarter payout ratio was higher than we expect to maintain over the long term, but we thought it an opportune time to be more active. Our strong loan pipeline and recruiting success give us some optimism. We’ll need to retain capital to support healthy growth. Even with a higher capital return posture and a 7.5% annualized loan, growth in the quarter capital levels remained very healthy. CET1 ended at 11.3%, our TCE was 8.64% and our tangible book value per share ended at $56.90. I’ll point out that our TBV per share is up almost $7 or 14% above the year ago levels and our TCE ratio is up 39 basis points from March 2025, even with our higher capital return activity of the last couple of quarters. Operator, we’ll now take questions.

Audra (Conference Operator)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press Star one again. We’ll go first to Kathryn Mueller at kbw. Thanks. Good morning.

Kathryn Mueller (Equity Analyst)

Hey Kathryn, I wanted to see if we could start on the margin. Will you talked about how the margin fell a little bit below the range just on deposit costs. Curious if you still think that 380 to 390 range is fair for the year or if deposit pressures are bringing that a little bit lower than the range. Thanks.

Steve Young

Sure. Thanks. Kathryn,, this is Steve. Let me kind of, walk through our various assumptions and kind of, update them versus last quarter. So to your point, yes, we were, you know we thought that the margin would start out in the low 380s for the first quarter and trend higher during the year. It looks like we missed that by a couple of basis points to start the year. If you look at, you know the four things that really make up that guidance in our forecast or the level of interest earning assets, the rate forecast, what our loan accretion forecast is, and deposit costs. So those four things and if you look at the interest earning assets I think we forecasted for the first quarter we’d be between 60 and 60 and a half. I think we ended up at 60.2. So right, right in the middle of that we said for the year that our interest earning assets would average somewhere in the 61 to 62 billion dollars range. And I think where we are with that, we think that it’s potential. We’re kind of reiterating that, but we do think that the loan growth might drive that slightly higher. A little bit too early to tell, but that, you know it could, it could, interest earning assets could end the year in the 63, 64 million dollar range, billion dollar range relative to the fourth quarter. But the average is probably going to be more on the high end of what we were thinking as it relates to rate forecast. Last quarter we thought that there would be three rate cuts coming into 2026 and it looks like right now the market’s at zero relative to the conflict and so on. I think the two year and the five year treasury rates are up 40 basis points from the lows earlier this quarter. So we’ve now taken out the rate cuts in our forecast on loan accretion, which is our third one is we forecasted 125 million for the full year of 26 and there’s really no change. So that’s coming in line with what we’d expected. And then the last one was on deposit costs and our original deposit beta forecast was 27%. And then, you know, it looks like we came in around 20% for the quarter. So you know, if you kind of go back and look at the movie, I think for the first hundred basis points of cuts we got 24 had a 38% beta and then the last 75 basis points we had a 20% beta. So you combine it all together, we’ve had a 30% beta on 175 basis points. But as we look forward and think about the deposit environment that we’re at, in the flat environment with our growth trajectory, we think that the deposit cost will be in the mid-170s versus our early forecast to be in the low mid-170s. So based on all these assumptions, we’d expect NIM to be in the 375 to 380 range. If the mid, if growth is in the mid single digit, we would expect them to be on the high end of the range. And if growth is as we expect, a little bit …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

(Editor’s note: The futures and ETFs data and headline were updated.)

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Friday following Thursday’s decline, after President Donald Trump announced the extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon by three weeks.

Meanwhile, peace talks between Iran and the United States could resume soon in Pakistan, with Iranian Foreign ​Minister Abbas Araqchi expected to arrive on Friday night, Reuters reported, citing three Pakistani sources.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones index closed 179 points lower as investors gauged the evolving Middle East conflict and a downturn in the software sector.

The 10-year Treasury bond yields stood at 4.316%, and the two-year bond was at 3.831% at the time of writing. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.5% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in April.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in pre-market on Friday. The SPY was up 0.36% at $711.01, while the QQQ surged 1.2% to $659.21.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Can Trump’s ‘Maritime Golden Age’ Catch Up With China? Navy Secretary Firing In Focus As Shipbuilding Tensions Deepen

As of April 24, 2026, two stocks in the utilities sector could be flashing a real warning to investors who value momentum as a key criteria in their trading decisions.

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 overbought when the RSI is above 70, according to Benzinga Pro.

Here’s the latest list of major overbought players in this sector.

Oklo Inc (NYSE:OKLO)

• On April 23, Oklo announced an agreement with NVIDIA and Los Alamos National …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Friday, AtlasClear Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ATCH) announced it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Ark Financial Services, Inc. and its subsidiary Dawson James Securities, Inc., expanding into investment banking and capital markets origination.

AtlasClear Signs LOI to Acquire Ark Financial, Dawson James

The transaction will be completed in two stages, with an initial 24.9% stake followed by full ownership after FINRA approval. The deal is expected to be accretive in the first year.

AtlasClear said the combined business, including its pending acquisition of Commercial Bancorp of Wyoming, could generate about $45 million in annualized revenue and roughly $5 million in net income, as …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the US Navy to “shoot and kill any boat” laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, boasting that Iran’s naval ships were “ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea.”

Traders on prediction market Kalshi are pricing in a 52% chance that US gasoline prices top $5 per gallon at some point in 2026.

Oil Prices Climb As Hormuz Stays Shut

Brent crude popped above $105 after Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on Thursday that air defense systems were activated in parts of Tehran to counter unspecified hostile targets.

Trump added that US minesweepers are clearing the Strait, and ordered them to continue, but “at a tripled up level.”

The Pentagon said it intercepted two oil supertankers attempting to evade its blockade on Iranian ports. Tehran has said it will not return to negotiations while the blockade remains in …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

POET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:POET) shares jumped in Friday’s premarket session. Traders are leaning into the week’s fast-moving rebound narrative.

The move follows the company pushing back on short-seller claims and a sharp prior pullback.

Risk appetite is also supportive with tech leadership, and the tape is still reacting to profit-taking on Thursday after an earlier surge.

What Is Driving POET Technologies Stock Today?

The latest move follows a volatile stretch in which POET ripped about 75% earlier in the week, then retreated on Thursday as traders took profits after the company’s CFO, Thomas Mika, dismissed a Wolfpack Research report as a “big nothing burger.”

Mika also confirmed a business relationship with Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:

Full story available on Benzinga.com

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC) 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://events.q4inc.com/attendee/208945676

Summary

First Financial Bancorp reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.77, a 22% increase from the previous year, driven by a robust net interest margin and strong fee income.

The company’s strategic moves included completing the acquisition of Bank Financial and the conversion of Westfield Bank, leading to slight increases in loan balances.

Future outlook remains positive with expectations for mid-single digit loan growth, stable net interest margin, and strong fee income in the upcoming quarters.

Operationally, the company maintained a strong capital position with tangible book value per share increasing by 2.6% over the linked quarter.

Management highlighted successful cost management, achieving acquisition-related cost savings and maintaining strong asset quality despite economic uncertainties.

Full Transcript

Kate (Conference Operator)

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the first financial banker first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. All lights 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. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Scott Crowley, Corporate Controller. Please go ahead.

Scott Crowley (Corporate Controller)

Thanks, Kate. Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us on today’s conference call to discuss First Financial Bancorp’s first quarter financial results. Participating on today’s call will be Archie Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Anderson, Chief Financial Officer and Bill Harrod, Chief Credit Officer. Both the press release we issued yesterday and the accompanying slide presentation are available on our website at www.bankatfirst.com under the Investor Relations section will make reference to the slides contained in the accompanying presentation during today’s call. Additionally, please refer to the forward looking statement disclosure contained in the first quarter 2026 earnings release as well as our SEC filings for a full discussion of the Company’s risk factors. The information we will provide today is accurate as of March 31, 2026 and we will not be updating any forward looking statements to reflect facts or circumstances after this call. I’ll now turn the call over to Archie Brown. Thanks, Scott. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us on today’s call. Yesterday afternoon we announced our first quarter results and I’m very pleased with our overall performance. The first quarter was a busy one as we closed the Bank Financial Acquisition, completed the conversion of Westfield bank and wrapped up the sale of the Bank Financial Multifamily Loan Portfolio. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.77 with an adjusted return on assets of 1.45% and an adjusted return on tangible common equity of 19.2%. Adjusted earnings per share increased 22% compared to the first quarter of last year, driven by robust net interest margin and strong fee income. Our net interest margin was resilient despite the Fed Funds rate cut in December as the expected decline in loan yields was offset by a similar decline in deposit costs. Assuming no short term rate reductions by the Fed, we expect the margin to remain stable in the near term. Loan balances increased slightly for the quarter due to the Bank Financial acquisition. Excluding the Bank Financial Portfolio loans declined for the quarter as seasonally strong loan production was offset by extended payoff pressure in the ICRE portfolio. Compared to the first quarter of 2025, originations increased approximately 45% and excluding Westfield and bank financial originations were up by over 25%. Our expectation for loan growth for 2026 has not materially changed. Loan pipelines are very healthy and we expect strong production in the second quarter. We also expect payoff activity in ICRE to approach more normal levels leading to solid loan growth in the second quarter. Adjusted fee income was strong for the quarter. Historically, fee income significantly dips early in the year. However, we successfully combated this Trend in the first quarter. Adjusted non interest income was 75.6 million, which was 24% higher than in the first quarter of 2025 and only a slight decline from the linked quarter. These results were driven by record wealth management income, strong client derivative income and record leasing business income. Additionally, expenses were well controlled during the quarter with total non interest expenses coming in well below our expectations and acquisition related cost savings exceeding our initial estimates. Net charge offs were 35 basis points of total loans and were impacted by one large commercial relationship. Other asset quality indicators were stable with non performing assets slightly declining from the linked quarter to 44 basis points. While there is certainly more uncertainty in the economy due to the impact of the war in Iran, our current expectations are for asset quality to gradually improve throughout the year, similar to our performance in 2025. Capital ratios are strong and continue to climb. In the first quarter, all regulatory ratios were well in excess of regulatory minimums and the tangible common equity increased 7.9%. Tangible book value per share was $16.15 which was a 2.6% increase over the linked quarter and a 9% increase compared to the first quarter. 2025 tangible value was at approximately the same level as the third quarter of 2025. Just prior to the Westfield bank acquisition this month, the Board of Directors authorized a $5 million share repurchase plan replacing the plan we had in place through 2025 and we’re evaluating opportunities to employ buybacks as part of our overall capital planning. I’d like to take a minute and discuss our recent acquisitions. During the quarter we successfully completed the conversion of Westfield bank and then for the quarter Westfield deposit and loan balances were stable. We maintained high associate retention and we have achieved the financial results that we expected from the transaction to date. We’re happy with the quality of the bank we acquired and with the talented team that has joined us. We also completed the purchase of Bank Financial on January 1st and plan to convert systems in early June. Remain excited about the opportunities in the Chicago market and continue to see growth potential from this transaction. Now I’ll turn the call over to Jamie to discuss these results in greater detail. And after Jamie, I’ll wrap up with some additional forward looking commentary and closing remarks.

Jamie Anderson (Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Archie and good morning everyone. Slides 4, 5 and 6 provide a summary of our most recent financial performance. The first quarter results were excellent and included strong earnings record revenues driven by a robust net interest margin and higher than expected fee income. Our net interest margin remains very strong at 3.99%, increasing 1 basis point during the quarter. Cost of funds declined 13 basis points while asset yields declined 12 basis points points. End of period loan balances increased $71 million, which included $228 million acquired in the Bank Financial transaction. This was partially offset by a $152 million decrease in ICRE balances, reflecting the payoff pressure that Archie mentioned earlier. Total average deposit balances increased $1.7 billion, including $1.2 billion acquired in the Bank Financial transaction and the full quarter impact from Westfield. We maintained 20% of our total deposit balances and non interest bearing accounts and remain focused on growing lower cost deposit balances. Turning to the income statement, first quarter fee income overcame seasonal headwinds with strong performance across all income types. Additionally, we had an $8.9 million gain on bargain purchase related to the Bank Financial acquisition. Non interest expenses increased from the linked quarter due primarily to the impact of our most recent acquisitions. Our ACL coverage decreased slightly during the quarter to 1.36% of total loans and we recorded $8.5 million of provision expense during the period, which was driven primarily by net charge offs on asset quality. Net charge offs were 35 basis points on an annualized basis, an increase of 8 basis points from the fourth quarter, while NPAs as a percentage of assets were 44 basis points, declining 4 basis points from the fourth quarter. Classified assets as a percentage of total assets also declined slightly during the period. From a capital standpoint, our ratios are in excess of both internal and regulatory targets. Tangible book value increased $0.41 to $16.15 while our tangible common equity ratio increased to 7.88%. Slide 8 reconciles our GAAP earnings to adjusted earnings, highlighting items that we believe are important to understanding our quarterly performance. Adjusted net income was $80.5 million or $0.77 per share for the quarter. Non interest income was adjusted for $1.3 million of losses on the sales of investment securities, the $8.9 million gain on bargain purchase related to the bank financial acquisition and a $1.4 million loss on the surrender of a bank owned life insurance policy. Non interest expense adjustments exclude the impact of acquisition costs, tax credit, investment write downs and other expenses not expected to recur. As depicted on Slide 9, these adjusted earnings equate to a return on average assets of 1.45%, a return on average tangible common equity of 19% and a pre tax pre provision ROA of 1.99%. Turning to slides 10 and 11, net interest margin increased 1 basis point from the linked quarter to 3.99%. Total deposit costs declined 13 basis points from the linked quarter, offsetting the impact of lower asset yields. Slide 13 illustrates our current loan mix and balance changes. Compared to the linked quarter, loan balances increased $71 million during the period. As you can see on the right, we acquired $228 million of loans in the bank financial transaction. This was offset by a $152 million decrease in ICRE balances absent the acquisition. We loan balances decreased 4.7% on an annualized basis driven by elevated payoffs in ICRE. Slide 15 depicts our NDFI exposure. As you can see, our total NDFI balances are approximately 3% of our total loan book and all NDFI loans were pass rated at the end of the first quarter. The majority of our NDFI lending is concentrated in loans to REITs which we believe further mitigates our risk. Slide 16 shows our deposit mix as well as a progression of average deposits from the linked quarter. In total, average deposit balances increased $1.7 billion, including a $1.2 billion impact from the bank financial transaction as well as a full quarter impact from Westfield. Slide 18 highlights our non interest income. Total adjusted fee income was $76 million with leasing and Wealth Management both posting record results. Foreign exchange delivered strong results and client derivative fees increased during the period as well. Non interest expense for the quarter is outlined on slide 19. Core expenses increased $12.9 million as expected during the period. This was driven primarily by recent acquisitions. Turning now to slides 20 and 21, our ACL model resulted in a total allowance which includes both funded and unfunded reserves of $207 million, which includes $3.1 million of initial allowance on the bank financial portfolio. This resulted in an acl that was 1.36% of total loans which was a 3 basis point decline from the fourth quarter. We recorded $8.5 million of provision expense during the period. Provision expense was primarily driven by net charge offs which were 35 basis points. Additionally, our NPAs to total assets decreased slightly to 44 basis points, while classified asset balances as a percentage of total assets decreased to 1.02%. Finally, as shown on slides 22 and 23, capital ratios remain in excess of regulatory minimums and internal targets. During the first quarter, tangible book value increased to $16.15 while the TCE ratio increased to 7.88% at the end of the period. Our total shareholder return remains strong with 35% of our first quarter earnings returned to our shareholders during the during the period through the common dividend, the Board also approved a 5 million share repurchase program. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Flagstar Financial (NYSE:FLG) 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.

View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/310889277

Summary

Flagstar Financial reported strong first-quarter 2026 results, with significant progress in core banking operations, including net interest margin expansion and increased core deposits.

The company highlighted a strategic focus on diversifying its loan portfolio, specifically through CNI loan growth, and reduced its CRE exposure by $1.6 billion.

Management noted continued improvement in credit quality, with a 11% decrease in non-accrual loans and a 3% reduction in criticized and classified loans.

Flagstar Financial achieved a CET1 capital ratio of 13.2%, with plans for potential capital distributions in the second half of the year following sustained profitability.

The company completed the consolidation of six legacy data centers into two, setting the stage for a core conversion in 2027, and received upgrades from Fitch and Moody’s to investment grade.

Future guidance suggests a slight downgrade in interest income expectations due to increased CRE payoffs, but the company remains optimistic about continued CNI growth.

Full Transcript

Regina (Operator)

Hello and thank you for standing by. My name is Regina and I will be your conference operator today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to Flagstar Financial first quarter 2026 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’d like to ask a question during this time, simply press Star then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I would now like to turn the conference over to Sal DiMartino, Director of Investor Relations, director of investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Sal DiMartino (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Regina and good morning everyone. Welcome to Flagstar Financial’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. This morning our Chairman, President and CEO Joseph Otting along with the company’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Lee Smith will discuss our results for the quarter. During the call we will be referring to a presentation which provides additional detail on our quarterly results and operating performance. Both the earnings presentation and the press release can be found on the Investor Relations section of our company website, ir.flagstarfinancial.com Also, before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone that certain comments made today by the management team of Flagstar Financial may include forward looking statements within the meanings of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Such forward looking statements we make are subject to the safe harbor rules. Please review the forward looking disclaimer and safe harbor language in today’s press release and presentation for more information about risks and uncertainties which may affect us. Additionally, when discussing our results, we will reference certain non GAAP measures which exclude certain items from reported results. Please refer to today’s earnings release for reconciliation of these non GAAP measures and with that I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Otting. Joseph

Joseph Otting (Chairman, President and CEO)

thank you Sal. Good morning everyone and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. We are pleased to report another quarter of solid progress and continued momentum across our core banking franchise. Our first quarter performance reflects continued improving fundamentals, strong C&I growth, a high level in growth of core deposits, further progress in reducing the level of non accrual and criticized classified loans, continued margin expansion and industry leading capital levels. Just as importantly, our first quarter results demonstrate we are exceeding and executing on the strategy we laid out two years ago. In delivering against our priorities, we are doing exactly what we set out to do. Strengthening our earnings profile, improving the quality of our balance sheet and building a top performing regional bank. The progress we are making is intentional and driven by a clear focus on disciplined execution. Now turning to the slides, slide number 3 of the investor presentation, I’d like to highlight some of the key performance factors and drivers during the quarter. First, disciplined expense management has been a hallmark of our return to profitability over the past two years and in the first quarter operating expenses continued to decrease and we expect them to decrease in 2026 and 2027. We also had another quarter of net interest margin expansion driven primarily by lower funding costs. Second, one of our key growth strategy is to diversify our loan portfolio by increasing our CNI lending platform. This quarter marked the third consecutive quarter of CNI loan growth after us reducing our exposure to certain industries, lowering our single transactions exposure exposures and exiting certain relationships that did not meet our return hurdles and we’ve done this throughout 2024 and part of 20. Third, we experience a further reduction in our overall Commercial Real Estate (CRE) exposure mostly through PAR payoffs, resulting in the multifamily and Commercial Real Estate (CRE) portfolios declining by 1.6 billion or 4% relative to the fourth quarter and further improvement in our Commercial Real Estate (CRE) concentration. Fourth, we continue to see positive credit migration as non accrual loans declined by 11% and criticized and classified loans decreased by 3%. Additionally, we ended the quarter with a robust Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio of 13.2%. In terms of future capital distributions, our focus first is on demonstrating several quarters of sustainable profitability and continued improvement in our non accrual loans and flexibility to support our anticipated loan growth. We expect the board taking action on capital distributions in the second half of the year. Finally, I would like to highlight 2 other milestones during the first quarter. We were very pleased with Fitch and Moody, upgraded the bank’s long term and short term deposit ratings to investment grade with a positive outlook and when we filed our 10k in late February we disclosed that the previously material weakness in internal controls have been remediated. Both of these milestones reflect the tremendous effort, dedication and hard work of our entire team. On the next couple of slides we spotlight the significant progress we continue to make in our C&I lending businesses during the quarter. C&I loans grew by 1.4 billion or 9% on a linked quarter basis, significantly higher than in prior quarters. On slide four we go into detail on the trends in our CNI portfolio. While the first quarter is typically a seasonally slow quarter for originations, you can see on the left side of the slide that our originations were essentially flat compared to the fourth quarter. We also will note that the pipeline remains strong and we expect second quarter funding from CNI to be similar to Q1. On the right side is the five quarter trend in the CNI portfolio. After bottoming in the second quarter of last year, we’ve had steady growth in the first quarter. CNI loans grew by the 1.4 billion, up 9% compared to the fourth quarter and year over year 12%. The next slide provides quarter over quarter growth by loan category. While the majority of the growth was driven by our two main strategic focus areas, specialized industries lending and corporate and regional commercial banking, this quarter gross was broad based with gross also occurring in the mortgage finance and asset based lending verticals. Now turning to Slide 6, you can see the trend in our adjusted diluted EPS whereby we have now reported two consecutive quarters of EPS growth By executing on all our strategic initiatives on an adjusted basis, we went from $0.03 in the fourth quarter to $0.04 during Q1. One other positive note I’d like to make is that during the first quarter we completed the consolidation of our six legacy data centers into two colocation centers with no disruptions neither to the organization or any of our customers. And this positions us well in 2027 to have the baseline and platform for our core conversion with Ultimately the goal in 2027 is to get onto one core. So with that I’ll now turn it over to Lee to review our financials and credit quality.

Lee Smith (Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)

Thank you Joseph and good morning everyone. We’re very pleased with another quarter where we continue to execute our strategic vision to make Flagstar one of the best performing regional banks in the country. We were profitable for the second consecutive quarter following the bank’s return to profitability in the fourth quarter. More importantly, we made real progress against key initiatives that drive our financial forecast. We achieved net C&I loan growth during the quarter of 1.4 billion, significantly higher than previous quarters following the origination of 2.6 billion in new CNI loans of which 2 billion was funded. As we’ve discussed, net CNI growth in previous quarters was muted as we right sized legacy CNI positions within the portfolio. Most of this is behind us and you’re now seeing the growth from new originations materialise into net loan growth. Net Interest Margin (NIM) expanded 10 basis points after adjusting for the one time hedge gain of approximately 21 million in Q4. Furthermore, much of the new CNI growth occurred towards the end of Q1, meaning the full benefit of these newly originated loans will be felt in Q2 and beyond. Core deposits excluding brokered grew 1.1 billion and we reduced deposit costs by 21 basis points. We paid off another 1 billion of flub advances and 300 million of brokered deposits as we further reduced our reliance on high cost wholesale funding. Despite this deleveraging of 1.3 billion, our balance sheet only decreased 400 million quarter over quarter. Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and multifamily payoffs were again elevated at 1.6 billion, 1.1 billion of which were par payoffs and 42% of these par payoffs were rated as substandard loans. We resolved the situation with the one borrower that was in bankruptcy and reduced our non accrual loans by 323 million while substandard loans decreased almost 700 million, meaning we reduced non accrual and substandard loans over 1 billion quarter over quarter. Our ACL reserve decreased 78 million, primarily driven by lower Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and multi family loan balances. Operating expenses were again well contained at 441 million, a decrease of 5% quarter over quarter and we ended the quarter with 13.24% Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital at or near the top of our regional bank peers. We were also thrilled to be upgraded by both Moody’s and Fitch, particularly given that both agencies returned our long and short term deposit ratings to investment grade. We continue to execute on our strategic plan exactly as we said we would. Now turning to Slide 7. We reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.03 per diluted share. On an adjusted basis, we reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.04 per diluted share. First quarter was a relatively clean quarter with only one adjustment, our investment in figure technologies which decreased in value during the first quarter by 9 million based on its closing stock price as of March 31. Subsequent to the end of the quarter we have sold out of approximately 75% of our figure position at a gain of 1.8 million compared to our March 31 mark on Slide 8. We provide our updated forecast for 2026 and 2027. We have adjusted our interest income guidance downward for both years as a result of increased Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and multifamily payoffs, pay downs and amortization. This is both good news and bad news as it accelerates our diversification strategy and reduces our Commercial Real Estate (CRE) exposure but also reduces interest income and Net Interest Margin (NIM) in the short term. Also, we are seeing fewer resetting loans staying on our balance sheet. We’re currently retaining 35 to 40% of resetting loans versus 50% previously. Again, while this accelerates our overall diversification strategy, it reduces short term net interest income and Net Interest Margin (NIM) temporarily and until we replace it with new CNI Commercial Real Estate (CRE) or consumer growth in order to retain some of the higher quality relationship Commercial Real Estate (CRE) runoff in the future. We have assumed spreads off of sofa in the 175 to 225 basis point range versus our contractual option of 275 to 300 basis points off a 5 year flub lower non interest bearing DDA growth in Q1 deposit growth in Q1 was all interest bearing which was positive particularly as we also reduced interest bearing deposit costs. 21 basis points quarter over quarter. We believe the current rate in agency upgrades will help us garner more non interest bearing DDAs going forward, but as it’s been pushed out it impacts net interest income and nimble. We expect total assets to be approximately 94 billion at the end of 26 and 102 billion at the end of 27 as a result of net loan growth. The reduction in interest income has been partially offset by reducing provision and operating expense guidance. Adjusted EPS is now forecast to be in the 60 to 65 cent range in 26 and in the $1.80 to $1.90 range in 2017. Slide 9 depicts the trends in our net interest margin over the past five quarters. We continue to post steady quarterly improvements in Net Interest Margin (NIM) driven largely by lower funding costs. First quarter Net Interest Margin (NIM) increased 10 basis points quarter over quarter to 2.15% after adjusting for the recognition of a one time hedge gain of 21 million in the fourth quarter. Turning to slide 10, our operating expenses continue to decline reflecting our focus on cost containment. Quarter over quarter operating expenses declined 21 million or 5%. Slide 11 shows the growth in our capital over the last few quarters at 13.24%. Our CT1 ratio ranks among the top relative to other regional banks and we have about 1.6 billion in excess capital after tax relative to the low end of our target Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) operating range of 10.5%. The next slide provides an overview of our deposits. Core deposits excluding brokered increased 1.1 billion on a linked quarter basis or about 2%. This growth was primarily driven by growth in commercial and private bank deposits of 461 million and retail deposits which were up 142 million. As in past quarters, during the current quarter we paid down 300 million of broker deposits with a weighted average cost of 4.76%. In addition, approximately 5.3 billion of retail CDs matured during the quarter with a weighted average cost of 4.13% and we retained 86% of these CDs as they moved into other CD products with rates approximately 35 to 40 basis points lower than the maturing products. In the second quarter we have 4.8 billion of retail CDs maturing with an average cost of 3.98%. Also during the quarter we further deleveraged the balance sheet by paying down 1 billion of flub advances with a weighted average cost of 3.85%. The deleveraging CD maturities and other deposit management actions led to a 21 basis point reduction in the cost of interest bearing deposits quarter over quarter. Slide 13 shows our multifamily and Commercial Real Estate (CRE)PA payoffs which were again elevated this quarter at 1.1 billion of which 42% were rated substandard. These payoffs are resulting in a significant reduction in in overall Commercial Real Estate (CRE) balances and in our Commercial Real Estate (CRE) concentration ratio. Total Commercial Real Estate (CRE) balances have decreased 13.4 billion or 28% since year end 2023 to approximately 34 billion, aiding in our strategy to diversify the loan portfolio to a mix of 1/3 Commercial Real Estate (CRE), 1/3 CNI and 1/3 consumer. Additionally, the PAR payoffs have helped lower our Cre concentration ratio by 134% basis points to 3.67%. The next slide provides an overview of the multifamily portfolio which declined 5.5 billion or 17% on a year over year basis and 1.1 billion or 4% on a linked quarter basis. The reserve coverage on the total multi family portfolio was 1.83% and remains the highest relative to other multifamily focused lenders in the Northeast. Additionally, the reserve coverage on these multi family loans where 50% or more of the units are rent regulated is 3.20%. Currently there are $11.9 billion of multi family loans that are either resetting or maturing through year end 2027 with a weighted average coupon of approximately 3.75%. Moving to slides 15 and 16, we have again provided detailed additional information on the New York City multifamily portfolio where 50% or more of the units are rent regulated. At March 31st this tranche of the portfolio totaled 8.8 billion down 4% compared to the previous quarter and has an occupancy rate of 97% and a current LTV of 70%. Approximately 52% or 4.6 billion of the 8.8 billion are pass rated loans and the remaining 48% or 4.3 billion are criticised for classified meaning they are either special mention substandard or non accrual. Of the 4.3 billion, 1.9 billion are non accrual and have already been charged off to at least 90% of appraised value, meaning 287 million or 15% has been charged off against these non accrual loans. Furthermore, we also have an additional 73 million or 5% of ACL reserves against this non accrual population, meaning we have taken 20% of either charge offs or reserves against this population. Of the remaining 2.7 billion that are special mention substandard loans between reserves and charge offs we have 5.8% or 154 million pounds of loan loss coverage. We believe we’re adequately reserved or have charged these loans off to the appropriate levels and with excess capital of 2.2 billion before tax we think we’re more than covered were there to be any further degradation in this portion of the portfolio. Slide 17 details our ACL coverage by category. The 78 million reduction in the ACL was largely driven by lower CERE and multifamily health reinvestment balances. Our coverage ratio included unfunded commitments was at 1.67% at quarter end. On slide 18 we provide additional details around credit quality which trended positively during the quarter. Non accrual loans totaled $2.7 billion down $323 million or 11% compared to the prior quarter. Criticised and classified loans also declined decreasing $385 million or 3% compared to the prior quarter. During the quarter we did see an increase in special mention loans as a result of our comprehensive and prudent process that analyses in detail all loans with a reset or maturity date 18 months out 18 months from March 31, 2026 is September 27 and 27 is our largest reset year where nearly 9 billion Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans either reset or mature. This amount includes approximately 2.9 billion of multifamily where 50% or more of these units are rent regulated. As part of this internal forward looking process we’ve applied the relevant pro forma contractual interest rate calculations and adjusted risk ratings accordingly. Three items I would note we are now 75% through analysing the entire 2027 cohort. The results of this analysis is reflected in our ACL and we continue to see significant substandard PAR payoffs each quarter. At the end of the quarter 30 to 89 day delinquencies were approximately 967 million, a decrease of 19 million from the previous quarter. As mentioned last quarter, the biggest driver of this delinquency Number is the additional day or 31st day of March when calculating delinquencies. At precisely 30 days as of April 21, approximately 493 million of these delinquent loans had been brought current. We continue to deliver on our strategic plan and are excited about the journey we’re on and the value we will create for our shareholders over the next two years. With that, I will now turn the call back to Joseph.

Joseph Otting (Chairman, President and CEO)

Thank you very much Lee. Before moving to Q and A, I wanted to add that we are encouraged by our continued progress made in the first quarter and remain focused on driving sustainable profitability, improving returns and delivering long term value for our shareholders. With continued improvement in credit trends, …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Toro Corp (NASDAQ:TORO) shares are up during Friday’s premarket session following the announcement of a special dividend of 90 cents per share.

This news has contributed to the stock’s positive momentum as investors react favorably to the company’s decision to reward shareholders.

What Happened?

Toro Corp. declared a one-time special dividend of 90 cents per common share, payable to shareholders of record by May 4, 2026, with a payment date set for June 5, 2026.

The company declared a one-time special dividend of $1.75 per share on Dec. 5, 2025, paid to shareholders of record as of Dec. 16. The dividend was paid Jan. 16, 2026, totaling about $9.3 million in cash and 7.38 million shares of common stock.

Technical Analysis

Toro is currently trading significantly above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) by 64.2%, suggesting strong short-term bullish momentum. The stock is also 75% above its 50-day SMA, indicating a robust intermediate trend, while it is 56.2% above its 100-day SMA, reinforcing the overall positive sentiment.

The relative strength index (RSI) is at 87.29, which is considered overbought, suggesting that …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump‘s policy decisions and commentary drove the five best and worst days of the U.S. stock market during his second term, according to an analysis by Tom Lee‘s asset management firm Fundstrat.

Since his election in 2025, Trump’s decisions on key issues such as tariffs, Iran war, and Federal Reserve chair appointments have been erratic, reflecting his “Art of the Deal” negotiation style. This unpredictability has made his policy agenda and commentary the primary drivers of the market’s performance, as per the report released on Thursday.

Trump’s influence is a departure from the norm, where the S&P 500’s performance is typically driven by macroeconomic factors like corporate earnings, geopolitical events, and monetary policy. While U.S. government policy can be a factor, it’s unusual for it to be the sole driver.

The President’s impact has been so pronounced that without the five strongest market days tied to his decisions, the S&P 500 would be down 2.7% since he took office in 2025, rather than up 19%, the report stated.

Source: Fundstrat Direct

This is a stark contrast to other presidencies, where the stock market remained in the green even when the five best days were removed, except during former President George W. Bush‘s 2001 and 2005 terms, when it remained negative regardless, according to Fundstrat. With about 2.5 years still left in Trump’s term, markets still have time to change direction.

The five biggest up days in Trump’s second term (by magnitude) are:

(1) A 9.5% surge on April 9, 2025, after …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report Final Trades,” Joshua Brown, co-founder and CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, picked Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), ahead of quarterly earnings.

Starbucks is expected to report earnings for the second quarter on Tuesday, April 28, after the closing bell. Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings at 44 cents per share on revenue of $9.21 billion.

Malcolm Ethridge, managing partner at Capital Area Planning Group, named Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR).

After the closing bell on Thursday, Digital Realty Trust reported …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

RPT Realty (NYSE:RPT) reported first-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been 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://events.q4inc.com/attendee/827134728

Summary

RPT Realty reported a relatively uneventful quarter, focusing on opportunities to transform the company and create shareholder value amid market pressures.

The company maintained a clean balance sheet with around $100 million in cash and liquidity, and no problematic loans, while continuing to pay dividends.

Strategic moves include repositioning from residential to commercial real estate, exploring M&A opportunities, and potential stock buybacks.

Financial performance saw negative GAAP income of $3.2 million and earnings available for distribution at negative $300,000, with a dividend yield of 10.8%.

Management highlighted an opportunistic approach to deploying capital in higher-yielding assets and potential growth through future large-scale investments and capital raises.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Thank you and good morning everyone. I would like to thank you for joining us today for RPT Realty first quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Michael Nirenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Rhythm Capital and Rhythm Property Trust, and Nick Santoro, Chief Financial Officer of Rhythm Capital and Rhythm Property Trust. Throughout the call we are going to reference the earnings supplement that was posted this morning to the Rhythm Property Trust website www.rptrealty.com. if you’ve not already done so, I’d encourage you to download the presentation now. I would like to point out that certain statements made today will be forward looking statements. These statements by their nature are uncertain and may differ materially from actual results. I encourage you to review the disclaimers in our press release and earnings supplement regarding forward looking statements and to review the risk factors contained in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. In addition, we will be discussing some non GAAP financial measures during today’s call. Reconciliations of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings supplement and with that I will turn the call over to Michael.

Michael Nirenberg (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks Emma Good morning everyone and thanks for joining us for the quarter. The company had a pretty uneventful quarter as we continue to look for opportunities that could be a game changer for our capital vehicle. With asset manager valuations under pressure, downward pressure on equity valuations in the public markets, we’re going to continue to remain patient and work towards creating value for shareholders. While the geopolitical events affecting the world credit spreads have remained actually in a relatively tight range and markets in general are performing well away from the headline risk we’ve seen in some of the retail private credit. Even there, if you take out the retail component, private credit is still performing well. The software headlines you’ve been reading about will take a while to play out in the earlier vintages. In the private credit world, where companies borrowed money at large multiples of revenue will likely be the ones affected negatively in the future. And a lot of those deals were originated back in the 20, 21 and 21ish kind of vintage. For RPT. We positioned the company for success by doing the following when we took over this vehicle in 24, we made a decision to clean up the balance sheet, liquidate a lot of the residential stuff, and reposition the company in the commercial space, using this as an opportunistic vehicle to deploy capital in the commercial world. Today the company has just a little under $100 million of cash and liquidity. The balance sheet is extremely clean there’s no problem loans and again is in great shape. While we continue to wait for the opportunity to transform the company, we’ll continue to pay the dividend. From an optionality standpoint, at some point it’s likely, if we can, we need to grow the vehicle quite frankly from an overall capital standpoint, if we can, we’ll be looking at different opportunities in the M and A world. And at some point we may consider even buying back a little bit of stock here. With that I’ll refer to the supplement that we posted online. I’m going to start on page three. And again, this is just really the summary of what rhythm is than RPT Realty. Today the pipeline is give or take about $2 billion. It’s always fairly robust. Looking at large opportunities in the multifamily space. We also evaluate things that we could potentially do around our genesis business where we continue to grow our multifamily lending. There the equity is a little bit under 300 million. It’s about 287 million. The commercial real estate portfolio, this is all post 24 vintage things that we’ve done is $236 million and we have give or take a little bit under $100 million of cash and liquidity. When you look at the financial highlights for the quarter, quite frankly, not a lot of activity. We sold down a little bit of we sold a few commercial real estate (CRE) floaters in the quarter to create a little liquidity. Looking for better opportunities, quite frankly to increase earnings. You know, as I pointed out in my opening remarks, the, you know, the credit markets continue to perform well. The CMBS markets perform well. But while saying that, well, you know, we’ll continue to monitor opportunities to turn over the portfolio and deploy capital in higher yielding assets. Gap income negative 3.2 million or 42 cents per diluted share. Keep in mind we did a reverse split. I think it was in Q4 earnings available for distribution at negative $300,000 or $0.04 per diluted share. Again, not a lot of activity. A lot of this relates to either the general and administrative (G&A) or the dividend paid. Dividend paid in the quarter, $0.36 per diluted share which correlates to about a 10.8% dividend yield based on where the equity is trading today. Book value 236.2 million or $30.83. And then as I pointed out, cash and liquidity a little under 100 million bucks. When you look at RPT, you know, I mentioned again earlier the strategic transformation, you know, again going back to when we took over this vehicle, we cut general and administrative (G&A) dramatically. We cleaned up the balance sheet. We sold down a lot of the residential portfolio where we could. And I’ll talk a little bit about the equity that’s remaining in the book. We’ve made some new commercial real estate (CRE) investments and that was mostly done in floating rate AAA cmbs. We made a few loans. On the debt side. We deployed 50 million in equity alongside Rhythm in the Paramount transaction, which we closed in December of 25. We continue to renegotiate our repo agreements and we continue to improve liquidity. So overall, the company’s in what I would say as much as there’s very little activity, in great shape and we look for an opportunity to deploy capital or create more capital, quite frankly, on something that’s going to be a game changer. I like to go back and refer to what Blackstone did with BXMT many years ago or what we did with Rhythm, which was going back to 2013, where we started that with a billion dollars of capital. And today, you know, the company has about $8 billion of capital. So we need to be patient here. As I pointed out, we’ll continue to pay the dividend. At some point, we need to make a move and either clean up the vehicle or figure out a way to grow it. And we can. We’re, and obviously we’re actively trying to grow the vehicle. When you look at page six, the repositioning of the portfolio, you know where we can go here. I pointed out on the Genesis side, we’re doing more, more lending in the multifamily space. There could be some opportunities to work together with that company. We continue to look for opportunities to put out capital in the debt markets on the commercial real estate (CRE) side. And then we’ll continue to evaluate opportunistic investments and figure out different ways that we can increase shareholder value. And then on page seven, it really just talks about how Rhythm Property Trust benefits from the overall Rhythm ecosystem. And that includes, you know, the Paramount transaction that we closed in December and then our asset management businesses, Sculptor and Crestline. So with that, I’ll turn it back to the operator. We could open up for Q and A and then get on with our beautiful Friday.

OPERATOR

At this time, I would like to tell everyone, in order to ask a question, press Star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star one again. Thank you. We’ll pause for a moment to compile a Q and A …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On Thursday, the Donald Trump administration accused China-linked entities of carrying out large-scale theft of U.S. artificial intelligence technology, warning of stronger enforcement measures against what it describes as unauthorized “distillation” of frontier AI models.

US Alleges Coordinated AI Model Copying Effort

In a memo, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the administration has intelligence indicating that foreign actors, primarily based in China, are running “industrial-scale campaigns” aimed at replicating advanced U.S. AI systems.

Kratsios said these efforts involve extracting knowledge from leading American AI models and using it to build competing systems at lower cost, calling the activity an “unacceptable” threat when conducted without authorization.

“The United States government has information indicating that foreign entities principally based in China, are engaged in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to distil US frontier AI systems,” he wrote.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

OpenAI …

The most oversold stocks in the materials 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.

Scully Royalty Ltd (NYSE:SRL)

• On Jan. 12, Scully Royalty’s board terminated CEO and commenced search for new CEO. The company’s stock fell around 11% over the past month and has a 52-week low of $5.13.
• RSI Value: 29.5
• SRL Price Action: Shares of Scully Royalty fell 2% to close at $6.87 on Thursday.
• Benzinga Pro’s newsfeed tool helped identify the developments in SRL stock.

Bon …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

While investors remain fixated on oil, gold, and the Federal Reserve, aluminum – the metal behind automotive, aerospace, packaging, and power infrastructure – is experiencing the biggest disruption of the century, so far.

“The scale of the supply shock we’re seeing in the aluminum market is probably the largest single supply shock a base metals market has suffered in the post-2000 era. We are already in a black swan event. No one could have foreseen something on this scale,” Mercuria’s analyst Nick Snowdon said, according to Reuters. His firm estimates a 2 million ton deficit by the end of the year.

The Gulf region is a large source for the global market. Its producers account for about 9% of global primary aluminum supply – 6.45 million tons a year. With the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, force majeure declarations mounting, and damage reported at key facilities, the problem isn’t just what metal can’t get out. It is also what raw materials, especially alumina, can’t get in.

The situation leaves the two most exposed markets, Europe and the U.S., scrambling for replacement supply simultaneously.

The Energy Bottleneck

Europe is particularly vulnerable since it has spent years hollowing out its smelting base. Structurally high power costs, carbon pricing, and increasingly tight environmental rules have all squeezed primary …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

The technology trade is back with chip stocks witnessing an astounding rally, driving gains in semiconductor ETFs. iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX), VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH), SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:XSD) and First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:FTXL) are all rising.

Historic Semiconductor Stocks Rally

According to a Thursday post on X by The Kobeissi Letter, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained for 16 consecutive trading sessions, surging 38.7% and putting the index on pace for its biggest monthly gain since February 2000. The winning streak has officially surpassed the previous record stretch of 15 days posted in 2014.

As per the post, SOXX and SMH have collectively pulled in $5.5 billion so far in April, “already surpassing any other full month of inflows on record.”

SOXX has absorbed $2.05 billion in April inflows, more than double its previous monthly record, while SMH has pulled in $3.4 billion, also an all-time high for the fund.

data-variant=”card”
…

General Motors Co.‘s (NYSE:GM) bonuses for CEO Mary Barra and other top executives from the company remained unaffected by the losses GM incurred due to President Donald Trump‘s tariffs, which were around $3 billion in 2025.

Mary Barra’s Bonus Unaffected By Tariffs

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accessed by The Detroit News on Thursday, the bonuses were unaffected due to the company’s Board discounting the losses tied to the tariffs when calculating the company’s profitability. The package was awarded to Barra for her role in offsetting additional losses due to tariffs.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

Massive Ford Recall: About 1.4 Million F-150 Trucks Hit By Gearshift Glitch

The world is facing its worst-ever energy security crisis, according to Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who warned on Friday that disruptions linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz now exceed the scale of the 1970s oil shocks.

“We are indeed facing the biggest energy security threat in history,” Birol told CNBC at the CONVERGE LIVE event in Singapore, saying the world has lost 13 million barrels per day of oil supply — above the 10 million barrels per day disrupted across the 1973 and 1979 oil crises combined.

Getting Worse Every Day, Birol Warns

“The crisis is getting worse every day,” Birol added.

The comments underscore growing fears that the Hormuz disruption is evolving from a geopolitical flashpoint into a broader macroeconomic risk, with implications for inflation, growth and supply chains.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats laying mines in the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

President Donald Trump commended insurance companies for their response to the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, while criticizing banks, particularly Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC), for their lack of support.

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to praise insurance companies for “stepping up to the plate” and making “big progress” in treating homeowners affected by the disaster. However, he criticized banks for their inadequate response. He pledged to investigate their actions and urged them to treat the victims fairly.

“Wells Fargo, in particular, has been very difficult to deal with,” wrote Trump.

The President also mentioned his plans to work with local authorities to ensure a smooth resolution to the situation. He thanked the EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, for his swift and effective environmental work.

Trump’s post came on the heels of his Oval office meeting with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger (Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors), and the Supervisor’s Chief of Staff, Anna Mouradian, to review progress on recovery efforts following the devastating fires, on Thursday.

Bass and Barger, in a joint statement on X, said …

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 consumer discretionary sector.

Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN)

• Dividend Yield: 8.08%
• UBS analyst Dennis Geiger maintained a Neutral rating and cut the price target from $8.5 to $7.5 on Feb. 17, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 56%
• Goldman Sachs analyst Christine Cho maintained a Sell rating and slashed the price target from $8 to $7 on Feb. 17, 2026. This analyst has an accuracy rate of 63%.
• Recent News: The Wendy’s Company said it will report first quarter results on May 8.
• Benzinga …

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.

• Morgan Stanley analyst Carlos De Alba downgraded Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) from Overweight to Equal-Weight and lowered the price target from $70 to $66. Freeport-McMoRan shares closed at $61.48 on Thursday. See how other analysts view this stock.
• Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss downgraded Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) shares are up during Friday’s premarket session as the company celebrates the Government of Peru’s decision to purchase 12 new F-16 Block 70 aircraft, enhancing its national defense capabilities.

Separately, Lockheed Martin also filed a mixed shelf prospectus, allowing it to potentially offer a range of securities at a later date. The company did not disclose the size, timing, or specific terms of any future offering.

Strategic Defense Partnership

This move is seen as a significant step in strengthening U.S.-Peru relations, while the stock’s rise coincides with broader market gains, with the Nasdaq rising 1.34% on Thursday.

The acquisition of the F-16 Block 70 aircraft marks a pivotal moment for the Peruvian Air Force, reinforcing its fighter fleet transformation and solidifying a strategic partnership with the United States.

Lockheed Martin’s Vice President highlighted that this collaboration fosters economic growth for all involved, as Peru joins a global fleet of over 2,800 F-16s.

Lockheed Martin Quarterly Results

The firm also reported first-quarter 2026 results on Thursday. Sales were $18.021 billion, below the $18.244 billion estimate, and diluted EPS of $6.44 missed the 

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Monday, April 27.

Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share. That’s up from $1.19 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Verizon’s quarterly revenue is $34.86 billion (it reported $33.48 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

Ahead of quarterly earnings, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar, on March 31, maintained Verizon with an Equal-Weight rating and raised the price target from $43 to $47.

With the recent buzz around Verizon, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company’s dividends too. As of now, Verizon has an annual dividend yield of 5.99%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 70.75 cents per share ($2.83 a year).

To figure out how to earn $500 monthly from Verizon, we start with the yearly …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

U.S. stock futures were mixed this morning, with the Dow futures falling around 100 points on Friday.

Shares of Boyd Gaming Corp (NYSE:BYD) fell sharply in pre-market trading after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter financial results and announced a $500 million buyback plan.

Boyd Gaming reported quarterly earnings of $1.60 per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.73 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $997.355 million which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.000 billion.

Boyd Gaming shares dipped 6.1% to $83.75 in pre-market trading.

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

• StoneCo Ltd (NASDAQ:STNE) fell 15.2% to $12.34 in pre-market trading. …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

On CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer said Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ:CRML) is a spec. “If you really want to be in that industry, you need to buy MP Materials (NYSE:MP),” he added.

According to recent news, the company announced on Tuesday a private placement of ordinary shares for gross proceeds of $60 million.

“We cannot be in SoundHound (NASDAQ:SOUN),” Cramer said.

On the earnings front, SoundHound AI is expected to report first-quarter financial results on May 7.

Cramer said he was surprised as …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Amidst today’s fast-paced and highly competitive business environment, it is crucial for investors and industry enthusiasts to conduct comprehensive company evaluations. In this article, we will delve into an extensive industry comparison, evaluating Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) in comparison to its major competitors within the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. By analyzing critical financial metrics, market position, and growth potential, our objective is to provide valuable insights for investors and offer a deeper understanding of company’s performance in the industry.

Advanced Micro Devices Background

Advanced Micro Devices designs a variety of digital semiconductors for markets such as PCs, gaming consoles, data centers (including artificial intelligence), industrial, and automotive applications. AMD’s traditional strength was in central processing units and graphics processing units used in PCs and data centers. However, AMD is emerging as a prominent player in AI GPUs and related hardware. Additionally, the firm supplies the chips found in prominent game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Veteran trader and chartist Peter Brandt predicted on Thursday an “investable low” for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) later in the year, followed by a major cyclical high in 2029.

The Story Of Tops And Bottoms

Brandt, a technical analyst with nearly 50 years of experience, based his prediction on the historical accuracy of its 15-year cyclical patterns.

They projected an “investable low” in September or October 2026, which may or may not “penetrate” February 2026 lows around $60,000.

Moreover, if the patterns persist, Brandt expected the next major high between $300,000 and $500,000 in late 2029.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Companies planning to embrace the biannual reporting instead of quarterly, a proposal revived by President Donald Trump, may encounter investor backlash, an expert has warned.

Sam Rines, macro strategist at WisdomTree Asset Management, told Reuters that companies dropping quarterly reporting could face selling pressure and valuation cuts from active investment managers.

“We want, we need, more information, not less,” Rines said.

Rines added that this shift would be “a tough sell” to corporate boards, as they weigh cost savings against the potential perception of increased risk by investors.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.

data-variant=”card”
data-news-mode=”manual”

>

Read Also:

SEC Is ‘Closely Monitoring’ Private Credit Pressures: Chairman Atkins

Tivic Health Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVC) shares jumped 24.10% to $1.39 in after-hours trading after the San Antonio-based company announced a full corporate rebrand to Valion Bio, Inc., with its ticker shifting to VBIO at market open on April 28.

Strategic Transformation Behind The Rebrand

The rebrand caps a fundamental strategic pivot, exiting consumer medical devices and repositioning around Entolimod™, a TLR5 agonist developed as a medical countermeasure for acute radiation syndrome, with Food and Drug Administration Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations. The asset is advancing under the FDA’s Animal Rule pathway, which permits approval based on animal efficacy data when human trials are not feasible or ethical.

Valion Bio is actively engaging the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and the National Institute of Allergy and …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) has rolled out OpenAI’s Codex coding agent across its global workforce, with CEO Jensen Huang hailing the move as a milestone in “the age of AI,” while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said early company-wide testing “was awesome.”

Nvidia Expands Codex To 10,000 Employees

Nvidia said more than 10,000 employees across engineering, product, legal, finance, marketing and other teams now have access to Codex, OpenAI’s agentic coding tool powered by GPT-5.5.

The rollout followed an internal pilot where employees reported faster debugging cycles and accelerated software development.

On Thursday, Altman shared Huang’s internal email on X, highlighting early success.

“We tried a new thing with NVIDIA to roll out Codex across a whole company and it was awesome to see it work,” Altman wrote, adding, “Let us know if you’d like to do it at your company!”

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Thursday called for stricter rules on prediction markets, warning that access to insider information could fuel unethical profits and criminal activity tied to sensitive global events.

In a post on X, Schiff said Congress must ensure that “no public official or other person with insider information” can use that knowledge to place bets in prediction markets. He pushed legislation that would prohibit contracts tied to events such as war, assassination, terrorism and death.

“These kinds of bets should be precluded altogether,” Schiff said, adding that failure to act could lead to “a lot more crimes like this one.”

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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

• Wall Street expects Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) to report quarterly earnings at $10.12 per share on revenue of $13.55 billion before the opening bell, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Charter Communications shares fell 0.93% to $239.52 in overnight trading.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued second-quarter guidance above estimates. Intel reported quarterly earnings of 29 cents per share, which blew past the analyst consensus estimate …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Friday, April 24.

Analysts expect the Stamford, Connecticut-based company to report quarterly earnings of $10.08 cents per share. That’s up from $8.42 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Charter Communications’ quarterly revenue is $13.54 billion (it reported $13.73 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On Jan. 30, Charter Communications reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Shares of Charter Communications fell 0.3% to close at $241.78 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 period.

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) will release earnings for its first quarter before the opening bell on Friday, April 24.

Analysts expect the Atlanta, Georgia-based company to report quarterly earnings of $2.49 cents per share. That’s down from $2.69 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for Norfolk Southern’s quarterly revenue is $3.00 billion (it reported $2.99 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

On April 23, Norfolk Southern announced a quarterly dividend of $1.35 per share.

Shares of Norfolk Southern jumped 7.8% to close at $321.44 on Friday.

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 …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

Infosys (NYSE:INFY) held its fourth-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.

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

Summary

Infosys Ltd reported a full-year revenue growth of 3.1% in constant currency terms, with Q4 showing a year-on-year growth of 4.1%.

The company secured $14.9 billion in large deals for the year, marking a 24% increase from the previous year, with $3.2 billion in Q4 alone.

Infosys Ltd highlighted its AI strategy, showcasing projects with companies like Ralph Lauren, Hertz, and BP, which have led to substantial business improvements.

The company formed strategic collaborations with AI and tech giants such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, and Microsoft to enhance its AI capabilities.

Guidance for FY27 projects a revenue growth of 1.5% to 3.5% and an operating margin of 20% to 22%, with expected growth in financial services and energy utilities.

FY26 revenues surpassed $20 billion, with communication and manufacturing verticals and the Europe region driving growth.