Latest news with #O'Reilly
Extra.ie
a day ago
- Climate
- Extra.ie
Rare summer storm could batter Ireland as expert warns of 'worst case scenario'
Ireland may be in for an unwelcome blast of extreme weather next week, as a rare summer storm looms on the horizon. Weather models are suggesting the possibility of very strong winds sweeping across the country, but there is still some hope for calmer conditions to follow. Both the Global Forecast System (GFS) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) have flagged the potential development of a low-pressure system early next week that could bring stormy conditions to Irish shores. Ireland may be in for an unwelcome blast of extreme weather next week, as a rare summer storm looms on the horizon. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Irish weather expert Alan O'Reilly, who runs the widely-followed @CarlowWeather account on X, has been monitoring the charts closely and highlighted next Tuesday as the most likely day for disruption. 'When it comes on Tuesday – look at this – very, very strong winds right across the country. Now, it's a week out. It's very uncertain. It's going to chop and change but the GFS and the ECMWF are both showing the risk of a low pressure storm moving towards us on Monday or Tuesday, hopefully Tuesday,' he said on social media. While he urged people not to panic, he advised keeping an eye on developments. 'I wouldn't get too worried at the moment but it's certainly something to keep an eye on.' Monday evening update and an early look ahead at the long weekend including latest weather models showing risk of storm early next week. — Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) July 28, 2025 There's also a silver lining. O'Reilly suggested that even if strong winds do materialise, better weather may follow shortly after: 'The good news is that once that clears, high pressure looks more likely to move in for next week so it might be a short-term loss in terms of some wind and rain but then high pressure moving in so fingers crossed that we get that high pressure and the low pressure stays to the north.' For now, conditions will remain mixed in the lead-up to the weekend. According to Met Éireann, a good deal of dry weather is expected over the coming days, with temperatures remaining in the high teens. However, that's set to change by Saturday, August 2, when a band of rain moves in across the country, turning heavy at times. Sunday is expected to bring scattered showers, with temperatures holding steady in the mid to high teens. Providing some cautious optimism, O'Reilly added that the most severe projection from the ECMWF might not come to pass. Good news is the weather model ensembles show that the ECMWF model with storm next Tuesday is currently worst case scenario so hopefully won't end up that bad🤞 — Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) July 28, 2025 'Good news is the weather model ensembles show that the ECMWF model with storm next Tuesday is currently worst case scenario so hopefully won't end up that bad.'
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
The Most Anticipated Stock Split of 2025 May Be Announced Later Today
Key Points Next to artificial intelligence (AI), excitement surrounding stock splits has been a dominant trend on Wall Street. Three prominent non-tech companies have announced and completed forward splits in 2025. Retail investors own more than 27% of the outstanding shares of what could become Wall Street's blockbuster stock-split stock of 2025. 10 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms › For much of the past three years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been the hottest thing since sliced bread on Wall Street. But it's not the only trend investors have gravitated to. Euphoria surrounding stock splits in highly influential businesses has played a key second fiddle to AI. A stock split is a tool publicly traded companies have at their disposal to cosmetically adjust their share price and outstanding share count by the same factor. These adjustments are considered cosmetic in the sense that they don't alter a company's market cap or in any way effect its underlying operating performance. Though stock splits can increase or decrease a company's share price, investors perceive these actions very differently. Reverse splits, which increase a company's share price, are often avoided by investors since they're typically conducted from a position of operating weakness. Meanwhile, forward splits, which reduce a company's share price to make it more nominally affordable for everyday investors who can't buy fractional shares, are adored. This type of split is associated with businesses that are out-innovating and out-executing their competition. Additionally, public companies completing forward splits have a knack for outperforming Wall Street's benchmark stock indexes in the 12 months following their initial split announcement. This is why investors are always on the lookout for the next blockbuster stock-split stock. Although there's no guarantee of which premier business will take the plunge next, the most-anticipated potential stock split of 2025 may be announced later today by none other than social media colossus Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META). 2025 is waiting on its first true blockbuster stock split announcement Last year, more than a dozen high-profile companies announced a split -- only one of which was of the reverse variety. Quite a few of these forward splits traced back to the tech sector, and more specifically AI stocks. Through nearly seven months of 2025, only three prominent businesses have announced and completed a stock split; and none are from the tech space. Though O'Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY) wasn't the first to complete a split this year, it was the first notable public company to declare a split (15-for-1). In addition to the company benefiting from Americans hanging onto their vehicles for a longer period of time, O'Reilly has steadily repurchased shares of its stock since January 2011. Over the last 14 years and change, it's bought back roughly $26.6 billion worth of its common stock and retired almost 60% of its outstanding shares. This is having a decisively positive impact on earnings per share. Automated electronic broker Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) announced its first-ever forward split (4-for-1) in mid-April, which was completed two months later. All facets of Interactive Brokers' key performance indicators are rocketing higher, with customer accounts up 32% year-over-year, as of the end of June, and daily average revenue trades soaring 49% from the prior-year period. Its investments in technology and automation are paying dividends. Finally, wholesale industrial and construction supplies company Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST) was the last of 2025's prominent stock-split announcements (2-for-1), but the first to actually complete its split. This marked the ninth time Fastenal has split since going public in 1987, which is a reflection of the company becoming more ingrained in industrial supply chains. Everything from internet-connected vending machines to inventory bin technology is helping Fastenal better understand its clients supply chain needs. While O'Reilly Automotive, Interactive Brokers Group, and Fastenal are amazing companies, they're not Wall Street blockbusters. If Meta Platforms was to announce its first-ever split when reporting its second-quarter operating results after the closing bell on July 30, it would be the undisputed star among 2025's stock-split stocks. Facebook parent Meta appears primed for a stock split To be clear, there's more to picking out Wall Street's next stock-split stock than just finding a public company with a high share price. Not all companies are interested in splitting their stock. Additionally, if retail investor ownership is minimal, there's not much of an incentive for a company's board to approve a split. Meta finds itself in the sweet spot where a stock split would make sense. Its board hasn't offered any opposition to the idea of a stock split, and more than 27% of its outstanding shares are held by retail investors. With Meta's share price consistently above $700 in recent weeks, the catalyst to make its stock more affordable for everyday investors is absolutely present. More importantly, the building blocks are in place for Meta stock to head even higher. Before delving into its AI ambitions, don't overlook the important role its social media platforms continue to play. Collectively, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Facebook Messenger helped to lure 3.43 billion people, on average, to its family of apps daily in the month of March. No other social media company comes particularly close to this figure, which allows Meta to charge a healthy premium for ad placements. To build on this point, ad-driven businesses are typically well-positioned for long-term success. Periods of economic expansion last substantially longer than recessions, which bodes well for ad-based operating models over the long run. Meta has pretty consistently generated 98% of its net sales from advertising. However, the company's future is very much dependent on the success of artificial intelligence. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is spending aggressively to build out his company's AI data centers. Some of this technology is already being incorporated into Meta's platforms, with generative AI solutions becoming available to businesses advertising on its social sites. Other aspects of AI will come into play years down the road, with Zuckerberg's company still aiming to be a critical on-ramp to the metaverse. Meta's cash-rich balance sheet and cash generation also suggest its stock isn't done heading higher. With more than $70 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities available, as of the end of March, and the company generating $24 billion in net cash from operations in the first three months of 2025, there's more than enough capital to direct to innovation, share buybacks, and dividends. The table is set for Meta Platforms to become Wall Street's most-anticipated stock-split stock of 2025. We'll know shortly if the company's board agrees. Should you invest $1,000 in Meta Platforms right now? Before you buy stock in Meta Platforms, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Meta Platforms wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $633,452!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,083,392!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,046% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. 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 July 29, 2025 Sean Williams has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Interactive Brokers Group and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2027 $175 calls on Interactive Brokers Group and short January 2027 $185 calls on Interactive Brokers Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why companies are leaning into skills-first, AI-enabled employment models
Good morning. As AI continues to revolutionize business, companies are fundamentally rethinking their workforce strategies for the decade ahead—and exploring new options. This topic came up during a panel session at the Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore conference last week. Jess O'Reilly, Workday's general manager for the ASEAN business, reflected on how a major Southeast Asian bank is considering a skills-based approach to employment. 'I was in Thailand a couple of weeks ago with a huge bank, and they're really looking at their 10-year strategy and saying, 'We don't even know if our people are going to have a traditional full-time job anymore,'' O'Reilly said. Instead of planning around fixed job roles, the bank is considering pivoting to what it calls a 'skills economy.' Here, every project or initiative is treated like a gig assignment—team members are chosen for their specific skill sets relevant to the project at hand. What's particularly notable is the bank's approach to continuous learning and reskilling. O'Reilly explained that there's always room for someone new to build their skills within these project teams. For example, the bank might set aside 1% of a project team for employees looking to reskill—people who say, 'I don't have these skills yet, but I have experience in adjacent areas and I want to learn.' By doing so, the company ensures that fresh talent is constantly cycling into critical roles. O'Reilly posed the question: How do we use AI not just for automation, but as the backbone for identifying and matching skills with project needs? She argued that AI can help organizations inventory existing skills, identify opportunities, and make it easier to create space for upskilling and onboarding new talent through gig-style projects. Perhaps a gig-based workplace would also inject variety into the day-to-day. And many companies are considering moving away from job-centric structures and toward a skills-focused approach, according to Deloitte's report, 'Becoming an AI-enabled, skills-based organization.' The firm finds that companies integrating both AI and skills-based approaches will be better positioned to predict talent gaps, improve talent placement, retain high performers, and reduce mis-hires. AI and skills-based approaches could also mean that entry-level positions aren't eliminated by automation—instead, new hires would be selected for specific skill sets that can be expanded and developed. Skill requirements for jobs are constantly changing, noted Peiying Chua, head economist for APAC at LinkedIn, during the panel session. 'For entry-level workers, this presents the opportunity to upskill and work on different sets of abilities—to build human-centric skills, agility, and creativity,' she said. Sheryl This story was originally featured 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
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Tony O'Reilly, the ‘boy wonder' who took the Lions tour of South Africa by storm
No matter how well the Irish international rugby players perform on the current British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, none of them is likely to match the impact that Dubliner Tony O'Reilly made 70 years ago this summer during the 1955 Lions tour of South Africa . Not yet three months past his 19th birthday, he scored two tries on his Lions debut and he played in all four test matches against South Africa in August and September when South Africa were regarded as the best team in the world. He was top scorer on that tour with 15 tries, including one in the first and fourth test matches. 'His speed shook the Springboks ,' said the Sunday Press report on the first test, which the Lions won 23-22, in Johannesburg. The accompanying photograph was captioned: 'The fast-running Tony O'Reilly, whose great individual efforts were rewarded by scoring a try.' Another try in the fourth and final test in Port Elizabeth, where South Africa won by 22 points to 8 to share the series 2-2, enabled the same paper to headline its match report: O'Reilly Stars As Tourists Go Down. The Irish Times report was more phlegmatic. 'He dislocated his shoulder when scoring, but the bone was later replaced successfully,' it said. (Idiosyncratic house styles dictated that the The Irish Times called the travelling team 'British Isles' while the Sunday Press called them 'British and Irish XV' or 'the Tourists'.) READ MORE During the subsequent Lions tour of Australia, New Zealand and Canada in 1959, O'Reilly scored a try in each of the test wins over Australia and in two of the four tests against New Zealand. His combined total of 37 tries on the 1955 and 1959 tours remains a Lions record. The 17 tries he scored in New Zealand in 1959 is also a Lions record. O'Reilly won his first Irish international cap, aged 18, in January 1955, less than two months after he was hailed as 'an up-and-coming boy wonder' in the Sunday Press, then the country's best-bestselling paper. Already 'attracting attention as a great attacking player' on the Old Belvedere senior team, the 6ft 3.5in, 14-stone O'Reilly had also achieved success at cricket, tennis and soccer, it noted. 'He has four School Cup medals for tennis and was on the Belvedere team which won the Schools Cricket Cup as a wicketkeeper and opening bat,' the report said, adding: 'In cricket he has provincial honours and was a reserve for the Schools of Ireland team. At soccer Tony played for Home Farm and got a trial as a centre-forward for the Irish Schools against England, but was unable to play because of a Rugby Cup match.' Rugby renown was followed by a successful business career, initially as general manager of An Bord Báinne, the Irish Dairy Board, for whom he oversaw the launch of the internationally successful Kerrygold butter brand. He became chairman and chief executive of the giant US food group Heinz and owner of the Waterford Wedgwood crystal glass and ceramics brands. [ Tony O'Reilly: A dazzling star who left a mark on many facets of Irish society Opens in new window ] He also enjoyed more than 35 years as a 'media magnate' (a now obsolescent term), peaking in ownership of 128 newspapers and a number of radio stations and TV cable interests in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Britain. He gained control of the Irish Independent group in 1973 and he became majority owner of Ireland's bestselling Sunday World five years later. After another five years he had full control over the Independent Group and from about 1990 onwards he was in effect bankrolling the Sunday Tribune. He was also joint owner of the Anglo-Irish tabloid Daily Star and owner of the Belfast Telegraph. His investments in the Sunday Tribune and in the London Independent and Independent on Sunday probably never made a penny profit, however. Neither did his multimillion pound 1994 investment and loan to the owners of the newspaper that had first heralded his sporting prowess, the Sunday Press, and its sister daily and evening titles. The State's Competition Authority found that the investment and loan amounted to 'very serious breaches' of the Competition Act and 'an abuse of a dominant position' by O'Reilly's Independent group. The Press group collapsed in May 1995 and O'Reilly was ousted from Independent News & Media (INM) in 2009. His shareholdings in INM and Waterford Wedgwood nosedived in value, foreshadowing his serious illness and bankruptcy. His long-serving INM chief executive Vincent Crowley was asked later what value had been attributed to the Press shareholding in its annual reports. He replied: 'Zero.'
The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Bill O'Reilly: ‘People are very uneasy' in New York
Political commentator Bill O'Reilly said Monday night that New York City residents are 'very uneasy' in light of the skyscraper shooting in Midtown, where four people were killed, including a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer. 'But in New York City, the largest and most powerful city in the country, people are very uneasy. And the reason…is because the system has collapsed, the justice system,' O'Reilly said during his appearance on NewsNation's 'On Balance.' The former Fox News host said that he often speaks to the city's residents who tell him they are '100 percent' scared of going to work and taking the subway and concerned for the safety of their kids. O'Reilly criticized New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), accusing them of 'not trying to solve the problem.' 'And the legislature is insanely left-wing. So, once you have a culture of violence, which you do have in New York City, you have a culture of violence,' he told host Leiland Vittert. 'Anything can happen at any time.' The gunman, identified as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, went into a high-rise building in Manhattan and allegedly opened fire, killing four people before taking his own life. Another person was injured in the shooting. One of the four people killed was Didarul Islam, an NYPD officer who was with the department for over three years. Islam was an immigrant from Bangladesh who was married and had two kids, His wife is pregnant with their third kid, according to Adams. 'He was doing what he does best and all members of the police department carry out. He was saving lives,' the mayor said. 'He was protecting New Yorkers.' He also ordered flags in the city's five boroughs to be flown at half-staff in honor of the victims. Adams's fellow mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani (D), former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who is also running as an independent — and Curtis Sliwa (R) responded to the shooting, calling the incident 'heartbreaking.' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), whose district includes parts of Brooklyn, also weighed in, condemning the shooting as 'tragic and horrifying.'
