No matter what people say, only two companies—Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Waymo and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA)—are fighting for supremacy in the completely self-driving car industry. (This excludes China.) So, Waymo just put $16 billion into its war chest. By some measures, it already has a lead over its rival. 24/7 Wall St. Key Points According to The New York Times, the new Waymo funding came from Alphabet, Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital. The fact that investors outside ...

Company Moves - PayPal has appointed Enrique Lores, former CEO of HP, as its new chief executive effective February 3, 2026, marking a rare instance of a public company poaching a sitting CEO from another [2][6] - Lores led HP through six consecutive quarters of revenue growth, with Q4 2025 revenue reaching $14.64 billion, surpassing the consensus estimate of $14.06 billion [3][6] Market Performance - Despite Lores' operational successes, HP's stock has declined by 36% over the past year and is currently 11% below its starting point for 2026, indicating a lack of market confidence in HP's future [3] - PayPal's stock has dropped 41% over the past year, even while consistently beating earnings estimates, suggesting that execution alone does not guarantee positive stock performance [4][6] Strategic Challenges - PayPal faces significant challenges in its branded checkout segment, with interim CEO Jamie Miller acknowledging that execution has not met expectations, indicating competitive pressures [4] - The strategic question arises regarding what insights HP's board may have that the market does not, as they release a CEO who achieved operational wins but could not reverse the decline of a legacy hardware business [4] - PayPal is betting that Lores can modernize its business model in fintech, similar to what he could not achieve at HP, with a focus on addressing branded checkout struggles and developing a credible AI-driven payments strategy by mid-2026 [4]

Another consideration is that someone building wealth through investments faces one set of challenges if they live in Washington, where they have to work on capital gains and high estate taxes, when compared to New York residents, who have higher income taxes but don't have a special capital gains rate. If you happen to live in any of 10 10 states listed below, like New York and California, you're experiencing a tax burden of more than $8,000 per person.Understanding why a state collects so heavily matters ...

No large retailer in America has posted worse results over the past five years than Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). And the board has shown another example of the poor judgment that hurt it. Michael Fiddelke, Target’s chief operating officer, was promoted to chief executive, after working for his boss Brian Cornell. 24/7 Wall St. Key Points The Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) board of directors showed poor judgment in its choice for new chief executive. The chief operating officer was part of the team that broke ...

Core Insights - Broadcom and TSMC are major beneficiaries of the custom AI chip boom, alongside NVIDIA's dominance in the AI infrastructure market [2] Company Performance - Broadcom reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $18.02 billion, a 28% increase year-over-year, with AI semiconductor revenue surging 74% [3] - TSMC posted Q4 2025 revenue of $33.73 billion, up 20.5% year-over-year, with 77% of wafer revenue from advanced 7nm and below processes [4] Future Projections - Broadcom projects AI semiconductor revenue will double year-over-year to $8.2 billion, driven by custom AI accelerators and Ethernet AI switches [3] - TSMC guides Q1 2026 revenue between $34.6 billion and $35.8 billion, indicating strong demand for AI infrastructure [6] Industry Trends - Companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are designing specialized AI accelerators, reducing reliance on NVIDIA's off-the-shelf GPUs, which creates sustained demand for chip designers like Broadcom and manufacturers like TSMC [5] - The custom chip trend is creating parallel revenue streams that benefit the entire semiconductor ecosystem, rather than replacing NVIDIA's dominance [6]

Quick Read Apple (AAPL) reported record quarterly revenue of $143.8B with 16% year-over-year growth. EPS of $2.84 beat analyst estimates. iPhone sales hit $85.27B while Services reached $30.01B. Apple returned $32B to shareholders in the quarter. Investors rethink 'hands off' investing and decide to start making real money A Steve Jobs-signed check from Apple's earliest days just sold for $2.4 million at auction, more than doubling pre-sale estimates. The check, made out to Crampton, Remke & Miller ...

Core Insights - Walmart generated $681 billion in revenue during fiscal 2025, translating to $1.87 billion per day, but the more critical metric is its operating margin [1] Revenue and Operating Margin - Walmart's operating margin for fiscal 2025 was 4.3%, resulting in an operating income of $29.3 billion from the $681 billion revenue [2] - The operating margin is essential as it indicates how much profit Walmart extracts from each dollar of sales after covering inventory and operational costs [2] Importance of Operating Margin - The scale of revenue is impressive, but the operating margin shows whether that scale translates into profitability [3] - Walmart's operating margin increased from 3.3% in fiscal 2023 to 4.3% in fiscal 2025, indicating a full percentage point of margin expansion over two years [3] - Each 0.1% improvement in margin equates to an additional $681 million in operating income [3] Current Trends - Walmart's operating margin has shown a steady increase from 3.3% in fiscal 2023 to 4.2% in fiscal 2024, and then to 4.3% in fiscal 2025 [4] - The company is enhancing profitability through higher-margin initiatives such as pharmacy services expansion, advertising ventures, and AI-assisted shopping [4] Future Considerations - A sustained operating margin above 4.5% would indicate successful monetization of Walmart's technology investments [5] - Conversely, a margin compression below 4% would suggest competitive pricing pressures or unsuccessful margin-expansion initiatives [5] Conclusion - The expansion of Walmart's operating margin demonstrates that the company is not only growing in size but also increasing profitability per dollar of revenue, thereby turning scale into a sustainable competitive advantage [6]

Group 1 - The core focus for Boeing is the monthly delivery rate of the 737 MAX, which is critical for the company's financial health and operational stability [2][3][5] - Boeing has a backlog of over 4,000 MAX jets, with each jet selling for approximately $55 million, indicating significant potential revenue if deliveries can be increased [3][7] - The company is targeting 38 deliveries per month but is currently achieving only 20-25, resulting in a revenue shortfall of $715 million monthly, equating to $8.5 billion annually [3][7] Group 2 - A high delivery rate indicates effective production, resolution of quality issues, and positive cash flow, while a low delivery rate suggests ongoing production challenges and potential order cancellations [4][5] - The integration issues with Spirit AeroSystems and regulatory scrutiny are contributing to production delays, while competitors like Airbus are meeting their delivery schedules [4][7] - The delivery rate is a key indicator of whether Boeing can fulfill its substantial backlog or if the $682 billion in orders will be at risk due to customer dissatisfaction [5]

Quick Read Apple (AAPL) beat earnings estimates in eight consecutive quarters with $416B annual revenue and 31.7% operating margins. Apple stock declined 5.7% year-to-date while Microsoft gained 8.5% over one year. Apple partnered with Google for Gemini AI features after arriving late to the AI race. Investors rethink 'hands off' investing and decide to start making real money Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) investor Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, dropped a bombshell ...

Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ: TSLA) share price pulled back 4.0% in the past week. The company reported a 46% drop in annual profit for 2025 but announced plans for $20 billion in capital spending. It also said it would end production of its flagship Model S and Model X vehicles. While it began operating "unsupervised†robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, the NHTSA is investigating reports of Tesla vehicles with automated systems running red lights and making dangerous lane changes. Loading stock data... Tesla stock i ...