Latest news with #Yext
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Yext (YEXT) Stock Is Trading Up Today
What Happened? Shares of digital knowledge management company Yext (NYSE:YEXT) jumped 10.6% in the morning session after its Chairman and CEO, Michael Walrath, submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of the company he doesn't already own for $9.00 per share in cash. The offer prompted the company's board to form a special committee of independent directors to evaluate the proposal and explore other options. Mr. Walrath indicated that the proposal is backed by reputable financing sources. In a separate announcement, Yext stated it expects its second-quarter results to be within or better than its previously issued guidance. However, in light of the acquisition offer, the company withdrew its financial guidance for the full fiscal year 2026. Is now the time to buy Yext? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. What Is The Market Telling Us Yext's shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Yext and indicate this news significantly impacted the market's perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock dropped 3.4% on the news that markets pulled back as a hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation report for July dampened hopes for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI), a key measure of wholesale inflation, rose 0.9% month-over-month in July, far exceeding the 0.2% increase that economists had predicted. Annually, prices at the wholesale level jumped 3.3%, also surpassing the 2.5% forecast. This hotter-than-expected data has poured cold water on widespread expectations for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month. Persistent inflation makes it less likely for the central bank to ease monetary policy. Sectors with high-growth stocks, such as SaaS, are particularly sensitive to interest rate changes, as the prospect of higher rates for longer can diminish the present value of their future earnings, leading to a decline in stock prices. Yext is up 38% since the beginning of the year, and at $9.02 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Yext's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $519.76. Unless you've been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story. Sign in to access your portfolio
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Yext CEO offers to take company private in $1.1 billion deal
FILE PHOTO: A Specialist trader wears a Yext vest during the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo (Reuters) -Yext's CEO Michael Walrath has proposed taking the search optimization company private in a deal valued at about $1.1 billion, it said on Monday, sending shares up 9% in early trading. Walrath, who owns 2.8% of the company's shares according to data compiled by LSEG, offered $9.00 per share in cash for the stock he does not already own — a premium of 11.2% to Friday's closing price. Walrath indicated that the proposal is backed by reputable and well-capitalized financing sources, the company said. It did not disclose the names of the funding sources. Yext's board has formed a special committee to evaluate the proposal and any strategic alternatives. There is no assurance the proposal will result in a transaction, the company said. The New York-based company also said it is withdrawing its forecast for the rest of the fiscal year 2026 in light of the proposal. The company's full-year revenue for 2025 rose 4% to $421.0 million, but its net loss jumped to $27.9 million from $2.6 million from a year ago. Its stock has gained more than 50% in the past 12 months. Yext provides software that helps companies increase their visibility on AI and traditional search, social media, websites and direct communications platforms. "Yext has achieved remarkable progress, and I believe now is the right time to explore a transaction that can deliver compelling value to stockholders," Walrath said in a statement. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Yext, Duolingo, Applied Digital: Trending Tickers
Yext (YEXT) stock is climbing after CEO Michael Walrath proposed taking the company private in a $1.1 billion deal. Duolingo (DUOL) was upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight by Keybanc, despite recent backlash from artificial intelligence (AI) and viral marketing efforts. Applied Digital (APLD) stock is surging after the company announced plans for a $3 billion AI-focused data center campus in September. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts. Now time for some of today's trending tickers. We are watching Yext, Duolingo and Applied Digital. First up, Yext. Shares jumping as its CEO proposed taking the company private. The CEO proposing to take the search optimization company private in a deal valued at about $1.1 billion. It's Michael Walroth. He indicated that the proposal is backed by reputable and well capitalized financing sources, but didn't disclose the names of those sources. So with us senior reporter Brooke DiPalma from the Nasdaq. So seeing those shares get a boost on that, um, and you know, as always, we don't know how these situations exactly if it's gonna end up going through. Absolutely. It's worth noting that right now they would buy it out of that $9 price point, that's where it's trading at. But that's largely just a tin lower than it's 52 week high of $9.16. Also worth noting that the attention from the street has been quite minimal when it comes to coverage here. Yext has three buy ratings, one hold and that's about all the coverage that they're getting right now from the street, but it's also, you know, remains to be seen what exactly happens. We know that they're set to release their fiscal year 2026 second quarter earnings in early September. They also withdrew their guidance for the rest of the year and so I think investors are just sort of in that wait and see mode. Certainly you see some momentum at that price point of $9 per share, but over the past month, this momentum, you know, right now largely gaining a lot because of this today's trading action. In the past six months though, we have seen this stock move up about 35% after it got a bit of a boost back in June. And next up, let's talk Duolingo, Brooke, getting an upgrade at KeyBank. The analyst upgrading the language learning software company to overweight from sector weight, saying that the AI backlash was a bump in the road, viral marketing efforts have created upside risk and the company's CEO has been out talking a lot about AI. So and seeing a little bit of a bumpiness on that that the analyst alluded to, but today up 10 and a half percent. Yeah, they did get a city initiating coverage of Duolingo with a buy and there is lots of optimism on the street when it comes to this stock. We have 18 buy ratings, as well as seven holds once again, including that city initiating coverage with a price target set to $400. Now this stock is right now priced around $361 and that's really kind of in the middle of their 52 week high and 52 week low being $201, 52 week high being $554. But it's also worth noting that New York Times did have an interview with the CEO over the weekend and he did weigh in on that backlash that they got after they did send out that memo around AI and he said that this one was a me. I did not give enough context internally, it was not controversial. And he went on to say that external is a publicly traded company. Some people assume that it's just for profit or that we're trying to lay off humans and that was not their intent at all. And so it'll be interesting to see how this language machine really does use AI in the coming years for, you know, not only for their employees and boosting that productivity there, but also for users as well. Yeah. And I'm sure it's not going to be the last company dealing with that kind of trying to to tread that line carefully. Uh but finally let's talk about Applied Digital, announcing it's going to break ground on a $3 billion campus next month. That new campus designed to meet surging demand for computing power. The shares are up 14 and a half percent today. This one feels a little memey, I got to say, when you look at the action that we have sort of seen in the stock, it's more than doubled year to date, Brooke. Yeah, and right now it's trading around that 52 week high of $16.92. But then keep in mind on the flip side, it's 52 week low was just $3. And so I really think this speaks volumes to what we've seen around that excitement of AI. It largely seems especially what we heard during earnings reports and rather the market reaction to earnings beats and any sort of mention of AI has been this flock, this excitement among investors that this is really going to change the game, but as you could see here, it's been sort of a short, a short high and then you know, a really fall to $3 over the past 52 weeks. Important to note here that they also did announce this back in, you know, they announced this today, but also back in June, they also entered an agreement with core weave. And so I think this company has really just been looped into this AI narrative and this excitement that investors have around that right now. Yeah, it looks that way. Thanks a lot, Brooke. You can scan the QR code below to track the best and worst performing stocks with Yahoo Finances trending tickers page. Related Videos GoodRx CEO discusses GLP-1 deal with Novo Nordisk: What to know Trump to meet Zelensky at WH: US vs. European defense stocks Solar stocks, Tesla, TeraWulf & Google: Trending Tickers Air Canada, Soho House, Dayforce: Trending Tickers 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
CNA
3 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Yext CEO offers to take company private in $1.1 billion deal
Yext's CEO Michael Walrath has proposed taking the search optimization company private in a deal valued at about $1.1 billion, it said on Monday, sending shares up 9 per cent in early trading. Walrath, who owns 2.8 per cent of the company's shares according to data compiled by LSEG, offered $9.00 per share in cash for the stock he does not already own — a premium of 11.2 per cent to Friday's closing price. Walrath indicated that the proposal is backed by reputable and well-capitalized financing sources, the company said. It did not disclose the names of the funding sources. Yext's board has formed a special committee to evaluate the proposal and any strategic alternatives. There is no assurance the proposal will result in a transaction, the company said. The New York-based company also said it is withdrawing its forecast for the rest of the fiscal year 2026 in light of the proposal. The company's full-year revenue for 2025 rose 4 per cent to $421.0 million, but its net loss jumped to $27.9 million from $2.6 million from a year ago. Its stock has gained more than 50 per cent in the past 12 months. Yext provides software that helps companies increase their visibility on AI and traditional search, social media, websites and direct communications platforms. "Yext has achieved remarkable progress, and I believe now is the right time to explore a transaction that can deliver compelling value to stockholders," Walrath said in a statement.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Yext CEO offers to take company private in $1.1 billion deal
(Reuters) -Yext's CEO Michael Walrath has proposed taking the search optimization company private in a deal valued at about $1.1 billion, it said on Monday, sending shares up 9% in early trading. Walrath, who owns 2.8% of the company's shares according to data compiled by LSEG, offered $9.00 per share in cash for the stock he does not already own — a premium of 11.2% to Friday's closing price. Walrath indicated that the proposal is backed by reputable and well-capitalized financing sources, the company said. It did not disclose the names of the funding sources. Yext's board has formed a special committee to evaluate the proposal and any strategic alternatives. There is no assurance the proposal will result in a transaction, the company said. The New York-based company also said it is withdrawing its forecast for the rest of the fiscal year 2026 in light of the proposal. The company's full-year revenue for 2025 rose 4% to $421.0 million, but its net loss jumped to $27.9 million from $2.6 million from a year ago. Its stock has gained more than 50% in the past 12 months. Yext provides software that helps companies increase their visibility on AI and traditional search, social media, websites and direct communications platforms. "Yext has achieved remarkable progress, and I believe now is the right time to explore a transaction that can deliver compelling value to stockholders," Walrath said in a statement. 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
