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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fed 'playing with fire' by keeping rates higher for longer
STORY: Browne said the Fed should consider a "more assertive" 50 basis point rate cut in September rather than the expected 25 basis point cut. If the central bank "discussed the fact that they're being a little more assertive because they're anticipating a shorter rate cut cycle and just kind of get things back to neutral, I think the markets would accept that fine," Browne added. Related Videos Tariff latest, Rate cuts and big earnings: Three Things Bad news flurry, IPO market, crypto dive: Market takeaways MercadoLibre Q2: CFO talks tariff impacts & Brazil e-commerce Novo Nordisk, Super Micro, Shopify: Trending Tickers Sign in to access your portfolio
Los Angeles Times
17 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Uber's ride results disappoint even as bookings top estimates
Uber Technologies Inc.'s rideshare division missed Wall Street estimates, disappointing investors who were looking for signs of more robust demand in its signature business. Total gross bookings — a closely watched metric that includes ride hails, delivery orders and driver and merchant earnings but not tips — came in at $46.8 billion for the three months ended June 30, topping analysts' estimates. But that was mostly thanks to a strong showing from the company's food-delivery unit. Bookings for Uber's rideshare division — the business it remains best known for — fell short of Wall Street's projections, with $23.8 billion versus an average estimate of $23.9 billion. Investors responded by sending the stock down as much as 3.5% on Wednesday. It has been up 47% so far this year, outpacing the S&P 500 Index. The market reaction overshadowed a rosy third-quarter outlook. The bookings forecast for the current period represents an 18% to 21% growth rate, according to Bloomberg calculations, faster than the 17% gain Uber saw in the second quarter. Uber also announced new share buybacks of an additional $20 billion, reflecting its 'continued confidence in the business,' Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks. The company still has $3 billion remaining from its prior authorization. Its results are likely to set expectations for the broader ride-hailing and food-delivery industries, as broader concerns remain about the health of the US consumer. Rideshare peer Lyft Inc. and delivery rival DoorDash Inc. are both scheduled to report results after the close on Wednesday. The delivery business, which fueled the strong second-quarter bookings, saw more users placing orders in the US, Australia, Canada and Mexico. Khosrowshahi also cited an uptick in grocery and retail merchants on the platform. The company completed its acquisition of Turkish delivery app Trendyol Go at the end of the second quarter, which will help boost business in the country, he added. On the rideshare side, Uber has been offering more types of trip types to cater to different user needs. While ride prices have been increasing less sharply as of late thanks to moderating insurance costs, the firm said its efforts to improve affordability in the US are also helping boost trip growth in the current period. In May, for example, it launched cheaper pooled rides and a monthly ride pass allowing commuters to lock in prices on frequently taken routes. Uber partially attributed the results to the cross-selling advantage it has for the two core services it offers. Khosrowshahi said that 12% of annualized delivery bookings — translating to $10 billion — are generated via the Eats tab within the Uber rideshare app. Subscribers for Uber One, the company's paid membership program, jumped about 60% from the year-earlier period, topping 36 million. Those members now generate 40% of total gross bookings. Internationally, Uber said it's 'redoubling' efforts to increase its presence outside large European cities, as well as in new markets through taxi partnerships. Competition is set to heat up in the continent after rival Lyft entered new European countries through its acquisition of the taxi app Freenow. For the current period, gross bookings will range from $48.25 billion to $49.75 billion, Uber said. Wall Street was projecting $47.6 billion, according to Bloomberg-compiled estimates. The outlook includes a small bump from the completion of the Trendyol Go purchase and some currency tailwinds. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the second-quarter were a record $2.12 billion, ahead of the $2.09 billion that analysts had forecast. For the third quarter, Uber sees adjusted Ebitda from $2.19 billion to $2.29 billion, the mid-point of which also beats estimates. The company is also looking to monetize more of its $8.7 billion equity stakes — most of which are publicly listed — to help seed investments related to the commercialization of autonomous vehicles, said Chief Financial Officer Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah in prepared remarks. During the earnings call, Khosrowshahi laid out a clearer vision of that strategy. So far, Uber has struck 20 autonomous partnerships across its ride-hailing, delivery and freight business, including offering Waymo robotaxis on its platform in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. It has also invested in fleet managers that handle daily maintenance and depot operations on the ground. Those efforts are still in an early stage, but Khosrowshahi said the company will be using the initial launches to assess how much revenue each robotaxi generates on a per-day basis, so it can secure more third-party financing to scale future autonomous fleets. 'We've talked to private equity players, we've talked to banks,' Khosrowshahi said. 'While it will take some time, we're very confident that these assets are going to be financeable. And for us, we believe it's a competitive advantage for us to be able to use a relatively modest part of our cash flow to fund kind of the catalyst getting started here.' Uber will potentially invest in real estate, facilities and vehicles in the autonomous ecosystem, as it's doing in its recently announced deal with Lucid Group Inc., Mahendra-Rajah added in the call. 'This is really to help us build our learning base and to build enough information for us to be able to engage more credibly with financing partners, having run these at scale ourselves, and then be able to bring them into the fold with real data on how they can earn a return in this space,' Mahendra-Rajah said. 'That has been a pretty consistent investment approach for Uber,' he added. 'We go into markets and go into products starting at a loss, we build scale, we build our experience, and then over time we know exactly the levers that are necessary to turn to get that profitability.' Lung writes for Bloomberg.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
5 No-Brainer Growth Stocks to Buy Right Now
Key Points Nvidia and Alphabet are two tech titans benefiting from AI. GitLab has a strong growth opportunity in front of it as AI accelerates software development. Dutch Bros and e.l.f. are two of the most exciting growth stories in the consumer space. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Growth stocks have been leading the market higher for several years, and right now there are no signs of this trend slowing down. While growth stocks can be found in any sector, two of the most common places to find them are in technology and the consumer spaces. Let's look at five no-brainer growth stocks to buy now. Nvidia Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the clear-cut artificial intelligence (AI) leader, and it's not even close. The company captured an absurd 92% share of the graphics processing unit (GPU) market in the first quarter, and yet it's still in full-on growth mode. Despite topping a $4 trillion market cap, Nvidia continues to expand rapidly, driven by demand for its data center chips. Its real moat, though, is its CUDA software platform. Nvidia got CUDA into the hands of researchers and academics way before AI went mainstream, and now it has a dominant developer ecosystem built on its tools and libraries. If you listen to any of the commentary from cloud computing companies, AI infrastructure spending is only increasing. Meanwhile, the company just got the green light to resume H20 chip sales in China. While the Chinese government wants Nvidia to provide security proofs, demand is already reported to be robust. At the same time, its automotive segment is well positioned for a robotaxi future. Given the growth opportunities still in front of Nvidia, it looks like a no-brainer long-term winner. Alphabet Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) continues to be wildly underappreciated. With Alphabet trading at just 19 times forward earnings with a forward price/earnings-to-growth ratio (PEG) of 0.8, the market is treating it like its best days are behind it. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Google Search isn't going anywhere -- it's evolving -- and Alphabet is steering that evolution with AI Overviews, its Gemini model, and multimodal search tools like Circle to Search and Google Lens. In Q2, its search revenue accelerated to 12% growth, and over 2 billion people are already using AI Overviews. Its cloud computing unit, Google Cloud, is also firing on all cylinders, with revenue up 32% and segment profit more than doubling last quarter. AI is the big driver, as customers create AI models and tools through its Vertex platform and then deploy them on its infrastructure. Its custom-built Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), meanwhile, have been designed specifically to optimize AI workloads within Google Cloud's TensorFlow framework, leading to increased efficiency and a cost advantage. At the same time, YouTube is holding its own with ad revenue up 13% in Q2, and its Waymo robotaxi is expanding into more cities. All in all, Alphabet is a great mix of leading and emerging businesses. GitLab GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB) is no longer just a code repository -- it's turning into the software development backbone for the AI era. With GitLab 18, the company introduced more than 30 new features, including its Duo Agent, which enables AI-driven testing, deployment, security, and monitoring. That's important, since only about 20% of a developer's time is spent writing code. GitLab is now helping with the drudgery of the other 80%, helping developers become more efficient. The company has already been a strong revenue grower, consistently growing its revenue by 25% or more since its stock debuted in 2021. AI, meanwhile, has only accelerated software development. While some fear that AI will lead to fewer coders, given the value of its platform, there is a good chance the company could eventually shift from a seat-based model to consumption-based pricing, giving the increasing value proposition of its platform In a world where AI is changing how software gets built, GitLab's end-to-end platform is becoming vitally important. That puts it in a very strong spot going forward. Dutch Bros Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) might not be a household name outside the western U.S., but it's one of the most promising restaurant growth stories out there. The company just passed 1,000 locations and has a clear path to achieve its goal of 2,029 locations by 2029. Its model is capital-light, with a small drive-thru-only footprint that makes expansion quick and cost effective. Its long-term goal, meanwhile, is to have around 7,000 locations nationwide. But there's more to the Dutch Bros story than just expansion. Its same-store sales have been strong, and the company is still in the early stages of rolling out mobile ordering, which should speed up throughput and help drive peak-hour volumes. It's also testing hot breakfast items, which could unlock a major new revenue stream. Dutch Bros has been getting less than 2% of its sales from food items, compared to nearly 20% for Starbucks, so this is a huge opportunity. Meanwhile, the brand resonates with younger consumers; it doesn't spend heavily on marketing, its prices are generally cheaper than rival Starbucks', and its overhead is pretty low given its drive-thru model. All in all, Dutch Bros is one of the best growth stories in the restaurant space. e.l.f. Beauty e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) already disrupted the mass cosmetics market, and now it's looking to do the same in prestige beauty with its Rhode acquisition. Rhode is already generating over $200 million in sales with no retail footprint, but that's about to change. Rhode is rolling out at Sephora in the fall, and it will benefit from e.l.f.'s strong retail relationships in the future. Rhode founder Hailey Bieber will stay on to help run the creative side and brings a lot of clout to the brand. Meanwhile, e.l.f.'s influencer strategy has helped it take a huge share in the mass cosmetics market over the past few years, so expect this marketing network to help drive growth at Rhode as well. In addition, with Rhode having only a modest product lineup, an increased product assortment is also likely in the cards. e.l.f. has a huge runway to grow the already viral Rhode brand -- from increasing distribution, to adding marketing, to expanding the number of Rhode SKUs it sells. After e.l.f. hit a recent bump in the road in terms of growth, expect Rhode to become a huge growth driver for the company in the coming years. Do the experts think Nvidia is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Nvidia make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,019% vs. just 178% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 841.12%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet, GitLab, and e.l.f. Beauty. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, GitLab, Nvidia, Starbucks, and e.l.f. Beauty. The Motley Fool recommends Dutch Bros. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 5 No-Brainer Growth Stocks to Buy Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool
