
Asics Shares Surge as Raised Guidance Predicts Record Profit
The Onitsuka Tiger-owner now expects operating profit to reach ¥136 billion ($919 million) this year, according to a Wednesday statement. That's ahead of analysts estimates, and up from a prior forecast of ¥120 billion. The company had previously said its operating profit wouldn't hit ¥130 billion until 2026.

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15 minutes ago
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Should You Buy the Post-Earnings Plunge in Applied Materials Stock?
Applied Materials (AMAT) shares crashed nearly 15% on Friday after the semiconductor company reported a strong third quarter but offered disappointing guidance for its fiscal Q4. In its earnings release, the industry bellwether attributed its worse-than-expected future outlook to tariffs, which it said were 'creating increased uncertainty and lower visibility in near term.' More News from Barchart UnitedHealth Stock Soars as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Discloses $1.57B Stake Palantir CEO Alex Karp Sees More Gains Ahead With America-Focused Growth Strategy, Calls U.S. The 'Leader of the Free World' Lucid Motors Is Caught in a Tariff Trap. Is LCID Stock More Likely to Hit $1 or $7 in 2025? Tired of missing midday reversals? The FREE Barchart Brief newsletter keeps you in the know. Sign up now! Applied Materials stock has been in a massive uptrend over the past four months. Despite its post-earnings decline, therefore, it remains well over 30% up versus its year-to-date low set in early April. Why Lam Research Is a Better Pick Than Applied Materials Stock In a post-earnings research note, a senior Bank of America analyst, Vivek Arya, dubbed rival Lam Research (LRCX) a better pick for exposure to chipmaking equipment than AMAT stock. Why? Mostly because the former's portfolio 'bias toward high-growth etch/deposition products is skewing foundry/logic share in its favor.' In comparison, Applied Materials is 'exposed to other, potentially sluggish product categories that are weighing on growth,' he told clients in a research note. On Friday, Arya downgraded Applied Materials shares to 'Neutral' and reduced his price objective to $180. Post-Earnings Decline in AMAT Shares May Still be Overdone Stifel's analyst Brian Chin also lowered his price objective on AMAT shares to $180 following the earnings release – saying the firm's revenue won't grow as steadily in the near-term as management believes. According to him, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), one of Applied Materials' key customers and a major chip manufacturer, was more 'first-half oriented' in terms of spending, which could hurt growth in H2. However, it's worth noting that that both BofA and Stifel revised their price targets on the Nasdaq-listed firm to $180 – up more than 10% from current levels – suggesting the post-earnings decline, nonetheless, is a bit overdone. Plus, a 1.13% dividend yield makes up for another great reasons to own Applied Materials here. How Wall Street Recommends Playing Applied Materials In conclusion, Wall Street hasn't thrown in the towel on AMAT stock following its Q3 earnings. The consensus rating on Applied Materials shares remains at 'Moderate Buy' with the mean target of roughly $207 signaling potential upside of some 28% from current levels. On the date of publication, Wajeeh Khan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
$5.3 billion issue revealed in Australia's cashless revolution: 'Not tolerating it'
The true cost of system outages that have plagued Australian telecommunication providers, banks, retailers, airlines and other institutions has been revealed. New data from PagerDuty showed that in the last 12 months alone, $5.3 billion worth of pain has been inflicted on everyday Aussies during these failures. That equates to around 73 million hours of time wasted or lost. Callum Eade, vice president of PagerDuty's Asia Pacific region, told Yahoo Finance he was "shocked" by how many people had been affected, especially edge towards a more digital society. "We're seeing impacted consumers go from 'that was a bit annoying' in the past, to 'I'm not tolerating it anymore' now," he said. RELATED 'Staggering' $160 billion cashless trend as Aussies flock to new technology over cash Centrelink warning for downsizing Baby Boomers over 'special' retirement rule Text message 'proves' common dinner bill foul play as woman left '$500 out-of-pocket' PagerDuty, an AI-powered platform that discovers and mitigates system outages, found telcos and financial services topped the list for the number of Aussies affected by this issue, at 41 and 38 per cent, respectively. But, 71 per cent said they would abandon a company if it suffered just one more outage. Banks have repeatedly attracted headlines after their digital operations went dark, even just for a few belonging to Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, NAB, ANZ, ING, Bendigo Bank and others have recently experienced moments where they couldn't access their money or had been locked out of their accounts. This comes at a time when Aussies are increasingly dependent on digital financial systems to run smoothly, as there has been a gradual decline in the use of cash in the last decade. More reliance on cashless systems means a far bigger impact on society when those networks fail, crash, or go offline. The Australian Banking Association (ABA) said 99.3 per cent of customer-bank interactions now occur via digital channels. However, these channels aren't foolproof. Aussies losing trust in essential services due to outages Eric was trekking through Nepal last year when his bank, ING, suffered a days-long outage. He was out of money and wanted to transfer some funds around, but couldn't get into his account while the system was out of whack. "There's been no communication to me," he told Yahoo Finance at the time. "I've had to search the web to locate an explanation... I can't even access their website. This is becoming a regular event at ING. What a lousy communication system they've got - it totally disregards the customer." This sentiment has permeated across the country and it's having a massive impact on how customers view their financial institutions. PagerDuty found 25 per cent of people affected by a system outage lost trust in their bank due to the way it was handled and how it impacted them. Lives can be thrown into disarray during these outages, which can last up to a few days at a time. Some people have been in the middle of paying for petrol or their groceries when these outages hit, and it can leave them faced with either waiting until the problem is fixed or walking away empty-handed. As a result, 61 per cent revealed they had started carrying cash more often as a backup in case they couldn't use their card or access their accounts. Research found this worry of being left stranded financially is now carried by 77 per cent of Australians. Calls for change to prevent more problems Aussies aren't confident the situation is going to get any better as we rely more heavily on digital banking and other services. PagerDuty found 34 per cent of people believe outages will happen more often in telco services, along with 30 per cent in the banking sector. Eade told Yahoo Finance that while these institutions have been trying to be more proactive in preventing these issues, they need to up their game as we become more reliant on their systems. "That complexity, which we are all embracing, brings with itself a headache," he said. "That isn't going to change. What needs to change, and where we're seeing a number of those institutions spending time and energy, is ensuring that they've got a plan for that." Research showed that 97 per cent of consumers "expect action" when a failure occurs, with nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) expecting regular updates. A further 63 per cent want a "clear explanation" from the institution of what went wrong. Eade said this gives banks, telcos and other essential services a good idea of what to do in the future when outages hit to prevent more in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold Block Stock After Its Post-Earnings Pop?
Block's (XYZ) stock surge following its Q2 earnings presents a mixed picture for investors. In the June quarter, the fintech company reported revenue of $6.05 billion vs. estimates of $6.31 billion, while earnings fell short at $0.62 per share versus estimates of $0.69 per share. However, strong operational metrics told a different story. Block's gross profit jumped 14% to $2.54 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. More importantly, Block raised full-year gross profit guidance to $10.17 billion, representing 14% growth and above its previous forecast of $9.96 billion. Square's payment volume grew 10% to $64.25 billion, demonstrating continued market share gains despite intensifying competition from Toast (TOST) and Fiserv's (FI) Clover. More News from Barchart Why This Cannabis Penny Stock Could Be Wall Street's Next Meme Trade Breakout Apple Stock Is Gaining Momentum, Is AAPL Stock a Buy? Peter Thiel-Backed Bullish Is About to IPO. Should You Buy BLSH Stock? Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. Net income in Q2 more than doubled to $538.5 million, showcasing improved profitability. The company's strong guidance for Q3 gross profit growth of 16% and expectations for 20% operating margins indicate that management is confident in Block's execution. Is Block Stock a Good Buy Right Now? Block's second-quarter earnings call revealed a company hitting its stride through accelerated product development and strategic execution. CEO Jack Dorsey emphasized the transformative impact of increased shipping velocity, highlighting the rapid three-month development cycle for Cash App Pools, a complex feature enabling group money pooling that extends beyond the Cash App network to include Apple Pay (AAPL) and Google Pay (GOOG) (GOOGL) users. The company's artificial intelligence investments are proving transformative, as internal AI coding tools like 'Goose' have accelerated developer productivity and enabled near-zero-cost experimentation. This technological infrastructure is fueling Block's ability to deliver customer value faster while maintaining its focus on the core network effects that originally made Cash App successful. Cash App's banking strategy is gaining traction, with 8 million active users either depositing paychecks or spending over $500 monthly, a 16% year-over-year increase. These high-engagement customers generate over $250 in annualized gross profit per user, triple Cash App's blended average, demonstrating the platform's value as a primary banking relationship. The lending portfolio continues expanding responsibly, with Borrow reaching 6 million monthly active users and $18 billion in annualized originations. Block's proprietary credit scoring model enables approval of 38% more customers compared to traditional VantageScore metrics while maintaining loss rates under 3%. The recent migration to Square Financial Services for loan origination enhances unit economics and provides greater operational control. Square's go-to-market investments are delivering strong returns, with field sales teams showing 5-6 quarter payback periods and the strongest new volume growth since Q3 2021. The launch of Square Handheld hardware and Square AI dashboard tools positions the platform competitively across restaurant, retail, and service verticals. Block's commitment to accepting emerging payment methods, including Bitcoin (BTCUSD) and stablecoins, reinforces its strategy of enabling sellers to capture every transaction opportunity. The company's focus on next-generation financial tools positions it well for sustained growth as product velocity continues accelerating. Is XYX Stock Undervalued? While the earnings pop reflects optimism about raised guidance, Block stock still faces revenue headwinds and competitive pressures. XYZ stock's year-to-date 9.5% decline suggests market skepticism, but improving profitability metrics and market share gains in key verticals provide reasons for cautious optimism. Analysts tracking Block stock forecast sales to rise from $24.1 billion in 2024 to $39.55 billion in 2029. In this period, free cash flow is forecast to improve from $1.55 billion to $5 billion. If XYZ stock is priced at 20 times forward FCF, which is reasonable, it could gain over 120% from current levels over the next four years. Of the 42 analysts covering XYZ stock, 26 recommend 'Strong Buy,' four recommend 'Moderate Buy,' seven recommend 'Hold,' and five recommend 'Strong Sell.' The average Block stock price target is $80.61, roughly 5% above the current price. On the date of publication, Aditya Raghunath did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data