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USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Texas A&M loses out of 2026 4-star Edge, who committed to Florida
Texas A&M's pursuit of 2026 four-star edge KJ Ford was always in doubt this week, knowing that the Florida Gators, and, out of nowhere, Alabama, were the front-runners for the Duncanville (TX) standout pass rusher, who developed a strong connection with Gators outside linebackers coach Mike Johnson. On Friday night, Ford officially committed to Florida, which came as a surprise to those who did not see On3/Rivals insider Steve Wiltfong's late prediction for the Gators to finish out the week on a high note. For Texas A&M, coach Mike Elko and defensive line coaches Tony Jerod-Eddie and Sean Spencer expected this outcome and are likely ready to shift their focus to five-star edge Anthony "Tank" Jones. However, this doesn't mean landing Ford in the future is out of the picture, as he has yet to shut down his recruitment officially, and will continue to receive calls from the Aggie coaching staff for a potential in-season visit, which could shift his mindset. This is all hypothetical, but, like five-star defensive lineman Lamar Brown, who committed to LSU on Thursday, Texas A&M was in the mix right up until the very end. Flipping Brown, who is a Baton Rouge native, is the most challenging task. Still, given that Duncanville is a little over two hours away from College Station, you can be sure Texas A&M's staff will attend several of KJ Ford's games this coming season and keep in contact before Early Signing Day on December 4. During his 2024 junior season, KJ Ford recorded 57 tackles, seven sacks, 16 tackles for loss, and 15 hurries. According to 247Sports, Ford is the 98th-ranked prospect in the 2026 class, the 11th-ranked edge, and the 16th-ranked prospect in Texas. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Here are investors' burning AI questions with tech earnings around the corner
AI has powered the market to all-time highs. But this earnings season will be an important moment for Big Tech to show that massive AI spending is paying off. Here are three big questions investors have about AI before tech earnings kick off this month. Big Tech companies are soon going to let investors know if all the hype is still worth it. Amid tariff turmoil and market uncertainty, the tech trade continues to power the S&P 500 higher. With mega-cap tech earnings due to kick off later this month, investors are looking for clues to know if the AI-fueled momentum can keep powering stocks higher. The launch of DeepSeek—a cost-efficient AI model from a startup in China—was an "existential moment" for the AI trade, according to Eric Sheridan, co-business unit leader of the TMT group at Goldman Sachs. "There's an increasing focus on the payoff or the return dynamic," Sheridan told Business Insider. "How are we seeing enterprises use AI? How are we seeing consumers adopt AI applications in their day-to-day life? Is AI technology delivering on its promise of increasing productivity and profit margins? Investors will soon be turning to second-quarter earnings season for answers. Big Tech companies have poured billions into building out AI infrastructure, and there's a lot of debate on Wall Street about how much more companies can spend. As of February, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta's total AI investment for 2025 was over $300 billion, a notable increase from the $246 billion spent in 2024. Competition in the AI space is fierce as Big Tech companies race to develop better large language models. And it's still early stages, meaning that this level of capital expenditure could persist well into the future. "There's still pretty low visibility into what they're going to spend next year," Sheridan said of the Big Tech companies. "I wouldn't put a high probability on a slowdown," he added. A lot of money and effort is being poured into AI tools for companies, but investors want a clearer sign of what it all means. Investors will look for clues on earnings calls that AI adoption is accelerating. They're not just interested in whether Nvidia beats consensus expectations; they're also looking for more widespread adoption of AI among other companies. Investors have reasons to be optimistic, as there have been green shoots in previous months. The earliest signs of AI adoption have been showing up primarily in the software industry as companies adopt agentic AI to complete tasks autonomously. According to Bank of America, earnings calls of Russell 2000 companies have mentioned AI more frequently over the last few quarters. This quarter's earnings season will be key to determining whether the trend holds. In June, Bank of America identified software winners, including Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow. The bank expects monetization to begin taking off in 2026. For Big Tech, the pressure is on to show strong software margins. "We think the AI backdrop is a big stimulant for the cloud computing businesses on the revenue side," Sheridan said. "And we'll be looking for some proof points around that through earnings season as well." First-quarter earnings were stronger than expected despite uncertainty related to tariffs. That's mostly thanks to Big Tech, and investors are watching to see if the sector can continue to lead to outperformance again. Nadia Lovell, senior US equity strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management, believes AI will continue to be the primary driver of earnings growth across the S&P 500. "Yes, there might be vulnerability, but we need to focus on those secular and structural growth stories, like AI power and resources," Lovell said at the bank's roundtable on July 8. Tariffs are putting extra pressure on the AI trade, as investors are worried about higher import costs eating into company margins. Could AI use cases provide a shield against tariff headwinds? Jeremy Siegel, Wharton professor and senior economist at WisdomTree, thinks firms need to start showing investors that they're putting AI to use, especially as tariffs drag on consumer sentiment. "I think they're going to have to do it very soon, facing some of these tariff price increases," Siegel said on CNBC on Friday. Read the original article on Business Insider 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
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Prediction: Lucid Group Could Lose a $200 Million Revenue Source That Is Nearly 100% Profit
Lucid Group risks losing its federal and state credits for producing nonpolluting vehicles, which it can sell to other automakers. Scaling up the business in 2025 and 2026 may get more difficult. 10 stocks we like better than Lucid Group › Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) has a very exciting future. Analysts forecast sales to surge this year by more than 70%. Next year, they should spike even higher, with 97% growth expected. But there's one hidden challenge that few investors may be paying attention to. It will affect nearly every electric vehicle (EV) stock, including Rivian and Tesla. It's hard to be an EV producer. Over the last decade, more than 30 EV start-ups have either faced bankruptcy or quietly disappeared. It's no surprise why. Building a car company from scratch takes many years and often billions of dollars to bring to fruition. Keeping investors keen on backing financial losses at such a high magnitude for such a long time is extremely difficult, even if the occasional Tesla does succeed. Lucid is a prime example of this challenge. After nearly 20 years of operation, the company remains unprofitable. This has forced it to continually raise more capital from new and existing investors. Earlier this year, it began production of its Gravity SUV. Sales from this new model are expected to drive heavy double-digit sales increases in 2025 and 2026. In late 2026 or early 2027, the company is expected to begin production of several other models, all of which are expected to be priced under $50,000. This will allow Lucid to tap tens of millions of new potential buyers. If sales growth surges in the coming years from these new models, Lucid has the opportunity to finally achieve positive gross margins -- something competitors like Tesla and Rivian have already done. There's just one problem: Lucid may soon lose a crucial revenue source that is nearly 100% profit. For years, EV manufacturers in the U.S. have accumulated a variety of federal and state regulatory credits for selling nonpolluting vehicles. EV makers can then sell these credits to other automakers that do not produce enough nonpolluting vehicles. Besides a bit of overhead, there's essentially no extra cost involved in receiving or selling these credits, making them hugely profitable. Last quarter, Lucid generated $31.5 million in revenue by selling these credits. In the past, its chief financial officer has said that the company was sitting on more than $200 million in credits. These sales helped gross margins considerably given how profitable they are to sell. Unfortunately for the company, much of this profit source may soon disappear. EV tax credits for buyers are already set to be eliminated by Sept. 30 of this year given the passage of President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." Senate proposals also call for the elimination of federal automotive regulatory credits, the exact kind Lucid has relied on for years to generate extra profit. There are some important details to highlight before getting nervous about Lucid's future. First, the automotive regulatory credits that the company has already accrued almost certainly won't go away. They will still be sellable at nearly 100% profit margins. Second, much of its regulatory credits likely comes from states like California and New York. These programs will be minimally affected by changes at the federal level. Still, there's a real risk that the company will lose a large chunk of this crucial profit source by the end of the year. Lucid doesn't precisely break down its regulatory credits by state or federal sources, but the potential impact is clear: It posted a $228 million negative gross profit last quarter. That includes $31.5 million in credit sales. Without those, Lucid would effectively have generated another $31.5 million in losses. That's not necessarily a make-or-break figure, but every dollar counts considering it posted a $2.4 billion net loss over the last 12 months. Will the elimination of automotive regulatory tax credits sink the EV maker? Likely not. But does that potential add a new challenge at a time when Lucid is struggling to scale up its business aggressively? Absolutely. This is a little-known metric to monitor in future earnings releases. Before you buy stock in Lucid Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Lucid Group 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 $674,432!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,005,854!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,049% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025 Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Prediction: Lucid Group Could Lose a $200 Million Revenue Source That Is Nearly 100% Profit was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
