Jefferies Increases PT on Verint Systems Stock to $23, Keeps Hold Rating
Samad Samana from Jefferies raised the price target on VRNT following strong Q1 FY2026 results, especially citing the 7% revenue beat and material earnings upside driven by a pull-forward of unbundled software-as-a-service deals.
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The firm says Verint's fiscal 2026 revenue and earnings guides were unchanged, and Q1 was guided below consensus. Investor attention will be on whether the steeper implied second half of the year revenue ramp is achievable given prior unbundled misses, contends Jefferies.
Verint Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:VRNT) offers customer engagement solutions. The company offers AI-powered bots to improve AI business outcomes across the enterprise. Verint's Da Vinci AI tool, which is embedded in its cloud platform, powers all applications running in the platform with advanced AI and automation.
While we acknowledge the potential of VRNT as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money.
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Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
A conservative crackdown on advertisers has forced a 'brand safety' reset
Conservative media company The Daily Wire is celebrating the downfall of " brand safety," and benefiting from the new state of play in the ad business during the second Trump era. Last week, The Daily Wire's commercial team received a request for proposal, or RFP, from Omnicom, one of the world's biggest ad agency groups. An RFP typically indicates an agency or advertiser's interest in buying ad space. The RFP was a huge win for The Daily Wire. It was only the second time it had received an inbound ad request from Omnicom. The first was in May, but the latest was a much bigger buy. Last year, The Daily Wire's famous cofounder and podcaster, Ben Shapiro, testified that the site had been unfairly shunned by major advertisers and ad agencies who, he said, had deemed its content unsafe for their brands. "Brand safety was being defined by people with a severe bias against a certain point of view," The Daily Wire's editor in chief, Brent Scher, told Business Insider in an interview. But since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, the power dynamics around "brand safety" — the practice of brands seeking to avoid their ads appearing next to, or otherwise supporting, "unsafe" content — have shifted, with some advertisers scrambling to avoid any whiff of anti-conservative bias. The situation is particularly acute for Omnicom, making its outreach to The Daily Wire both unprecedented and unsurprising. Last month, Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Republican-led Federal Trade Commission, gave conditional approval to a proposed $13.5 billion merger of Omnicom and fellow ad company IPG, which would create the world's largest ad agency. It had an unusual caveat: Omnicom agreed to a consent order that would prevent it from colluding with other companies to encourage its advertiser clients to boycott media based on publishers' "political or ideological viewpoints." 'Brand suitability' versus 'brand safety' The FTC's move is the latest victory in the battle against brand safety waged by US conservatives. Brand safety in 2025 has become such a political flash point that some ad execs are changing the way they talk about the topic. "I hear the phrase 'brand suitability' far more than 'brand safety' now," said Liam Brennan, a marketing consultant and former ad agency director. "It makes it sound like a cop out, but it's a shift in the approach brands are taking. Before it was 'block, block, block,' now it's more about where my brand should be appearing. It's a more positive approach." While the Trump administration's actions have turned up the heat on brand safety practices, a broader backlash has been building for some time. Brand safety began as a seemingly innocuous practice of preventing brands from appearing next to the worst of the internet, such as violence, pornography, and illegal content. But it gradually expanded, with brands seeking to avoid a wide variety of political issues, or platforms that supported them. In investigations and lawsuits, lawmakers and other high-profile conservatives have argued that ad practitioners, brand safety tech vendors, and industry groups forced the brand safety pendulum to swing too far into partisan areas, unfairly depriving right-leaning outlets of ad dollars. Media companies on the left have said they, too, have been harmed by advertisers who deemed news sites as unsafe for brands. "What may have started as a good idea expanded, and then became too broad," said Mark Penn, CEO of the advertising holding company Stagwell. "Consequentially, it wasn't really about brand safety — it became almost brand censorship." The emergence of brand safety The practice of brand safety arose as advertisers shifted from analog media buying — placing deals directly with the TV stations, billboard owners, or newspaper proprietors they wished to buy space with — toward digital. Using technology, advertisers could target their audiences across swaths of websites, social platforms, and apps with just a few clicks. However, this meant they had less visibility about the content their ads were likely to appear next to. Brand safety technology was created to give advertisers more control over the types of content they wanted to fund or avoid. Keyword block lists were an early but somewhat blunt tool, helping advertisers avoid appearing in articles about grisly news topics like murders or natural disasters. However, marketers often didn't maintain good block list hygiene. Mike Zaneis, CEO of ad industry accreditation organization the Trustworthy Accountability Group, said he was recently reviewing brand block lists that still had the term "Ariana Grande" on them, years after the deadly terrorist attack that took place at the pop star's Manchester Arena, UK, concert in 2017. "Never mind that she's won two Grammys since then," Zaneis said. Enter: The conservative backlash The scrutiny on brand safety notably dialed up in 2024 and took on a partisan tone. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, released an investigation that accused advertisers of illegally colluding to withhold ad dollars from conservative-leaning media like The Daily Wire, X (after Elon Musk's takeover of the company), and "The Joe Rogan Experience." The report took aim at an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which developed brand safety frameworks and common definitions that advertisers and Big Tech platforms like Meta and YouTube could universally adopt. Elon Musk's X then sued several major brands, including Mars and CVS Health, alleging their participation in GARM involved a conspiracy to withhold ad dollars from the platform formerly known as Twitter. The conservative video platform Rumble also sued GARM and some of its members, making similar claims in its suit. GARM shut down shortly after X's suit was filed. Its parent organization, the World Federation of Advertisers, denied wrongdoing but said GARM didn't have the resources to fight the legal action. In a May legal filing seeking to dismiss the X case, the defendants said the lawsuit was an attempt to use the courts win back business X had "lost in the free market when it disrupted its own business and alienated many of its customers." In a statement, the WFA said GARM provided tools to help advertisers better exercise their freedom to choose where to place their ads in the best interests of their brands, and that it was always voluntary and pro-competitive. "WFA will continue to fight these allegations, and we are confident that the US judicial system will find in our favor," the statement said. While GARM is no more, the lawsuits and the Judiciary Committee's investigation continue, and the FTC has joined the brand safety battle under the Trump administration. Ferguson, the FTC chair, has said that maintaining a free ad market and free speech is a top priority and that he hopes other ad companies will adopt policies similar to those in the Omnicom-IPG consent decree. That notice extends to other advertising vendors in the brand safety sphere. In May, the FTC sent sweeping civil investigative demands to media watchdogs and rating firms, including Media Matters and Ad Fontes Media, seeking information about their brand safety practices. In one such letter, viewed by BI, the FTC sought documents related to relationships with GARM, the publicly traded ad verification firms Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify, and other entities that track and characterize "misinformation," "hate speech," "false" or "deceptive" content, and other similar categories. While the FTC's actions have made many in the ad industry nervous, some execs consider much of brand safety to be, as Stagwell's Penn puts it, a "fabricated issue." Penn said there were only limited situations in which brands might really be negatively affected by where their ads appeared. "From the polling I've done, conservatives think that they were being censored and demonetized, and liberals think they were being censored, so nobody was particularly happy about what was going on," Penn said. (Stagwell owns the public opinion and advisory firm The Harris Poll.) Will the brand safety crackdown benefit news publishers? Execs at The Daily Wire say the scrutiny on brand safety was warranted and has gotten results. "My team is inside of the bigger agencies, having discussions, whereas the door was automatically shut 12 to 16 months ago," said The Daily Wire's SVP of ad revenue, Christine Hoffmann. "We're getting business from Fortune 500 companies, like Chevron, like Amazon, like Paramount, and that was business that was nonexistent to us." Other conservative news outlets, including Fox News and The National Review, have also noticed a bump in advertising interest since Trump took office for the second time. Ad industry insiders previously told BI this reflected advertisers' realization that half of the country voted for Trump, but that it could also be a signal of advertisers hedging against political risk. The notion that the crackdown on brand safety will provide a long-term bump to news publishers is untested and, for many industry insiders, feels unlikely. An executive from the media buying giant GroupM testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing last year that just 1.28% of its clients' global ad budgets went toward news outlets. Meanwhile, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon — with their superior scale and adtech — are set to take in more than half of global ad spending outside China this year, according to the latest forecast from the World Advertising Research Center. Omnicom has agreed to be audited to demonstrate its compliance with the FTC's proposed consent decree, which also includes an agreement not to create block lists, unless requested to do so by clients. The FTC's provisional agreement says Omnicom-IPG can't collude with other firms to steer client ad spend based on political ideologies, which might cause some advertisers to simply opt to avoid news altogether. As BI previously reported, some ad industry insiders and analysts think the government's crackdown on brand safety is an overreach that will hurt publishers of all kinds while further consolidating power with the tech giants. New tools could help brands avoid the censorship label, but there's no room for GARM 2.0 Some in the ad industry tell BI they're hopeful that brand safety could enter an apolitical era, powered by tech rather than individual decisions over blunt filters. "My view is that AI will bring greater nuance to brand safety — making it more effective for buyers and less restrictive for sellers," said David Kohl, cofounder of the performance marketing firm Symitri. Kohl said startups like Mobian are building models that assess context, user sentiment, and real-time ad performance to identify which media environments deliver and which don't. Elsewhere, Stagwell is creating what Penn describes as a politically neutral news marketplace, in partnership with the adtech company The Trade Desk, enabling advertisers to buy multiple news sites at once, according to demographics. While brand safety might become more tech-enabled, it seems unlikely there will be a GARM 2.0 for some time yet. "It would be far too easy to become a target," said Lisa Macpherson, a former marketing executive who now serves as the policy director of Public Knowledge, a tech policy consumer advocacy group. Just ask the advertising agency group Dentsu. Late last year, Dentsu quickly exited its involvement with the creation of a new coalition that had intended to encourage ad investments in "credible" news. Days after the press release about the coalition was published, the House Judiciary Committee requested documents from the ad firm, having noticed similarities to GARM. In response, Dentsu said it had decided "not to pursue the initiative" nor "pursue any other effort with similar aims." Macpherson said advertisers would continue to do what's necessary to protect their investments in their brands. Yet, as the threat of lawsuits and document demands related to GARM rumbles on, people in the ad industry will likely avoid using the phrase "brand safety" in emails or marketing materials. "They may describe it differently," Macpherson said. "They will be very careful to couch it in language that evokes their constitutional right" to send ad dollars or not spend money on certain media outlets based on the suitability for their individual brands, she added. Zaneis of TAG said the recent government and legal scrutiny of brand safety practices might have been the jolt the industry needed, forcing marketers to pay closer attention to an issue that had gotten out of hand. "We may not like how we got here as an industry, but it's where we should have been all along," Zaneis said.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump's Approval Rating Flips With Baby Boomers
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Donald Trump's support among baby boomers has rebounded sharply, giving the president a boost with one of his most dependable voting blocs as he heads into the 2026 midterm cycle. In the latest Quantus Insights poll, Trump's approval rating with baby boomers has flipped from being even to solidly positive. Last month, his numbers among over-65s stood at 49 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove. This month's results, however, show a significant turnaround. Trump now sits at 56 percent approve and 41 percent disapprove, a net positive of +15 points and a 15-point swing in his favor in just a few weeks. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he arrives on Air Force One on July 4, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he arrives on Air Force One on July 4, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Alex Brandon/AP Why It Matters The reversal underscores Trump's enduring appeal with older conservatives, even as his approval ratings have dropped among younger Americans and some other key groups. Baby boomers—who were critical to Trump's win in 2024, when 51 percent of the age group voted for him—remain a vital pillar of his political base. What To Know While the Quantus Insights poll showed a boost in boomer support for the president, other polls show that his approval rating among this demographic has remained remarkably consistent in recent months. A YouGov/Economist poll found Trump's rating among over-65s holding steady at 45 percent approve/53 percent disapprove in June—barely changed from May's numbers of 45/51. An ActiVote poll shows a similar pattern, with Trump's approval slipping only slightly from 48 percent approve/48 percent disapprove in May to 42/52 in June among over-65s. Marist polling, too, shows almost no movement among boomers, with 41 percent approve/58 percent disapprove in June for over-60s compared with 40/57 in April. A Fox News poll recorded a modest shift, with Trump's rating among over-65s at 46/53 in June, up just a few points from 43/57 in April. Could the Big Beautiful Bill Affect Trump's Approval? Trump's standing with boomers could collapse in the coming months after Congress passed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" on Thursday. It will cut roughly $1.1 trillion in health care spending and result in 11.8 million people losing Medicaid health insurance over the next decade, according to new estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In 2021, approximately 9.4 million individuals aged 65 and older were enrolled in Medicaid, according to the Brookings Institution, including many who are "dual eligibles," meaning they are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. This makes Medicaid the single largest payer for long-term services and supports in the country. In fact, more than 60 percent of nursing home residents in the U.S. depend on Medicaid to help pay for their care. Recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans say they oppose Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A Quinnipiac poll conducted June 22-24 found that 55 percent of Americans oppose the bill. A Fox News survey from June 13-16 put opposition even higher, at 59 percent. Meanwhile, a KFF poll from June 4-8 showed the strongest pushback, with 64 percent saying they reject the legislation. Even polls with relatively lower opposition still show more Americans against the bill than in favor. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll, conducted June 6–10, found 42 percent opposed but only 23 percent support it. While a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 2-8 showed 49 percent disapproval and 29 percent in favor. All five surveys included samples of at least 950 U.S. adults, indicating broad national sentiment. In the Quinnipiac poll, 47 percent of registered voters said they support the Medicaid work provision in the bill and 46 percent said they oppose them, effectively a dead heat. Meanwhile, the KFF poll found that 79 percent of Americans think it is the government's responsibility "to provide health insurance coverage to low-income Americans who cannot afford it." During his campaign, Trump vowed: "We're not cutting Medicaid, we're not cutting Medicare, and we're not cutting Social Security." What Happens Next Trump's approval rating among baby boomers is likely to fluctuate throughout his second term.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Morgan Stanley Lifts PT on CG Oncology (CGON) to $56, Keeps an Overweight Rating
CG Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON) is one of the 13 Best Pharma Stocks to Buy According to Wall Street Analysts. On June 17, Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on CG Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON) to $56 from $52, while maintaining an Overweight rating on the shares. A researcher in a laboratory examining a vial of oncolytic herpes simplex virus, demonstrating the company's commitment to finding a cure for cancer. The firm told investors in a research note that although the non-muscle invasive bladder cancer space has undergone recent and anticipated approvals, the space is comprehensive enough to accommodate multiple players. It thus considers cretostimogene to be meaningfully differentiated by its safety data and durability, along with having 'best-in-disease potential' that supports an optimistic rating for the company. CG Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGON) is a clinical biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes bladder-sparing therapeutics for bladder cancer. Its product cretostimogene is initially in clinical development for the treatment of Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC). While we acknowledge the potential of CGON as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None.
