• Occidental Petroleum stock is among today’s top performers. Why are OXY shares rallying?Occidental shares surged in investor attention after the company completed the sale of its OxyChem division to Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion. As it reported its fourth quarter earnings, Occidental revealed it used the proceeds to cut roughly $5.8 billion in debt, bringing its principal debt down to about $15 billion and materially strengthening its balance sheet.Occidental Slashes Debt With Berkshire DealThe cle ...

Group 1: U.S. Stock Market Performance - U.S. stocks traded lower, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 300 points, down 0.64% to 49,346.38 [1] - The NASDAQ decreased by 0.45% to 22,650.78, and the S&P 500 fell 0.42% to 6,852.56 [1] - Energy shares gained by 1.1%, while financial stocks fell by 1% [1] Group 2: Walmart Inc. Financial Results - Walmart Inc. reported adjusted earnings per share of 74 cents, exceeding the Street view of 73 cents [2] - Sales reached $190.70 billion, a 5.6% year-over-year increase, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $190.43 billion [2] - The company issued a fiscal 2027 outlook projecting adjusted earnings of $2.75 to $2.85 per share, below the analyst consensus estimate of $2.96 [3] Group 3: Walmart Inc. Sales Projections - Walmart's projected sales for fiscal 2027 are between $731.12 billion and $738.19 billion, compared to the Street view of $748.06 billion [3]

Core Viewpoint - Blue Owl Capital is experiencing significant stock weakness, with shares down 10% following a call where the CEO discussed changes in redemption methods and the cancellation of a planned merger [1][12]. Group 1: Redemption Changes - The company is changing its redemption method, opting to accelerate redemptions instead of resuming the previous five percent tendering of shares [1]. - Investors will receive 30% of their capital at book value within the next 45 days, which is six times the previously anticipated five percent [2]. - The CEO expressed confidence that investors will remain satisfied if the company continues to manage their capital effectively [3]. Group 2: Merger Cancellation - Blue Owl announced the cancellation of the merger between its two private credit funds, which was initially intended to combine the smaller OBDC II with the larger OBDC [4][5]. - The decision to terminate the merger was based on market reactions and the conclusion that it no longer made sense, despite the potential benefits of scale [6]. Group 3: Asset Sales - The firm announced the sale of a portfolio of OBDC II assets at book value, totaling $600 million, which represents approximately 35% of the fund's total assets [7]. - In total, $1.4 billion of assets are being sold, including $400 million from OBDC, due to significant demand from institutional investors [8]. Group 4: Portfolio Performance - The firm's portfolio has a strong focus on software, which has performed well, with borrowers in the software portfolio seeing revenue growth of 10% and EVIDAC growth of 16% in the fourth quarter [9][10]. - The company plans to take a discriminating approach towards new software loan purchases, maintaining that software is a significant sector but a relatively small percentage of the overall fund [11].

Group 1: U.S. Stock Market Performance - U.S. stocks traded lower, with the Dow Jones index falling more than 300 points, down 0.64% to 49,346.38 [1] - The NASDAQ decreased by 0.45% to 22,650.78, and the S&P 500 fell 0.42% to 6,852.56 [1] - Energy shares gained by 1.1%, while financial stocks fell by 1% [1] Group 2: Walmart's Financial Results - Walmart Inc. reported adjusted earnings per share of 74 cents, exceeding the Street view of 73 cents [2] - Sales reached $190.70 billion, a 5.6% year-over-year increase, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $190.43 billion [2] - The company projected fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings of $2.75 to $2.85 per share, below the analyst consensus estimate of $2.96 [3] - Walmart's projected sales for fiscal 2027 are between $731.12 billion and $738.19 billion, compared to the Street view of $748.06 billion [3] Group 3: Commodity Market Updates - Oil prices increased by 2.1% to $66.53, while gold rose by 0.1% to $5,014.50 [4] - Silver also saw a slight increase of 0.1% to $77.605, whereas copper fell by 1.7% to $5.7030 [4] Group 4: European Market Performance - European shares declined, with the eurozone's STOXX 600 falling 0.69% [5] - Spain's IBEX 35 Index decreased by 1.41%, London's FTSE 100 fell 0.76%, Germany's DAX dropped 1.14%, and France's CAC 40 fell 0.75% [5] Group 5: Asian Market Performance - Asian markets closed mixed, with Japan's Nikkei gaining 0.57% and India's BSE Sensex falling 1.48% [6]

High-rolling investors have positioned themselves bearish on Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD), and it's important for retail traders to take note.\This activity came to our attention today through Benzinga's tracking of publicly available options data. The identities of these investors are uncertain, but such a significant move in RGLD often signals that someone has privileged information.Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 9 options trades for Royal Gold. This is not a typical pattern.The sentiment among the ...

Whales with a lot of money to spend have taken a noticeably bullish stance on Coinbase Global.Looking at options history for Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) we detected 35 trades.If we consider the specifics of each trade, it is accurate to state that 37% of the investors opened trades with bullish expectations and 34% with bearish.From the overall spotted trades, 16 are puts, for a total amount of $2,478,336 and 19, calls, for a total amount of $1,353,282.Projected Price TargetsAnalyzing the Volume and Open ...

In the current session, First Citizens BancShares Inc. (NASDAQ:FCNCA) is trading at $2060.02, after a 1.69% decrease. Over the past month, the stock fell by 8.09%, and in the past year, by 1.17%. With performance like this, long-term shareholders are more likely to start looking into the company's price-to-earnings ratio. A Look at First Citizens BancShares P/E Relative to Its CompetitorsThe P/E ratio measures the current share price to the company's EPS. It is used by long-term investors to analyze the com ...

The Walmart AnalystJPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers maintained an Overweight rating on Walmart with a price target of $137.The Analyst TakeawaysWalmart's fourth quarter showed "solid fundamentals," Horvers said in a new investor note."Overall, WMT's 4Q results and operating income were likely a bit light vs. expectations," he added.The analyst said there may be a "high bar" for the company.Walmart's first-quarter guidance came in shy of analyst estimates."The stock had run and earnings likely provide a ...

Knorex Ltd. (KNRX), a micro-cap player in the ad-tech space, saw its stock rocket over 170% Thursday following the launch of its latest agentic AI-ready ads API.KNRX stock is soaring. See the chart and price action here. The CatalystThe catalyst for the explosive move is Knorex's API designed specifically for the era of agentic AI and automates workflows across Meta Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and TikTok Ads.Unlike traditional programmatic tools, Knorex said its new API powers cross-channel automation. Th ...

Core Viewpoint - Booking Holdings Inc. experienced a decline in stock price following multiple analyst firms lowering their price forecasts due to concerns over artificial intelligence potentially disrupting the traditional online travel agency model and affecting long-term growth [1] Earnings Performance - The company reported quarterly earnings of $48.80 per share, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $48.27 per share [2] - Quarterly sales reached $6.349 billion, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $6.130 billion [2] - For the first quarter, the company anticipates sales between $5.429 billion and $5.524 billion, compared to market estimates of $5.359 billion [2] Analyst Insights - RBC noted strong results with room nights, bookings, EBITDA, and EPS exceeding expectations, although first-quarter room nights and full-year margin guidance fell short of Street estimates [3] - The analyst highlighted that room nights growth was driven by acceleration in the U.S. and easing concerns over AI disruption, with loyalty and direct bookings remaining robust [3] - Nearly 90% of Booking.com room nights are non-chain, which limits aggregation risk [3] Management Commentary - Management's focus on search and merchant-of-record strengths is seen as constructive, despite a $700 million reinvestment impacting leverage [4] - The analyst from Davidson reiterated the rating based on strong results, indicating upside to guidance and consensus across all key metrics [4] Regional Performance - Room nights accelerated due to broad strength across regions, particularly in Asia and the U.S., with the latter benefiting from a tough comparison and strength in paid channels and B2B [5] - Management's commentary emphasized resilient underlying travel demand, although U.S. average daily rates (ADRs) and length of stay showed slight declines [5] Stock Performance - Booking Holdings shares fell by 8.78% to $3,895.00, marking a new 52-week low according to Benzinga Pro data [6]