Earnings Update: Extracting Signal from CEO/CFO Commentary
Insights and Ideas for Intelligent Investors
In this article we highlight key takeaways from selected earnings calls over the past week. We focus on companies of particular interest to value-oriented investors. The goal is to bring you surprising or potentially market-moving statements by management, often in response to analyst questions.
Before we delve into the specific calls, a quick summary of key themes:
Capital allocation and shareholder returns: Quite a few management teams emphasized returning cash to shareholders. For example, EOG Resources unveiled a new $6 billion share repurchase authorization, and Tyson Foods restarted its stock repurchase program after a long pause – the first buybacks since 2023. Even smaller companies are making outsized repurchases; the CEO of Forum Energy Technologies noted their remaining buyback authorization equals 28% of the company’s market cap.
Strategic pivots and business shifts: Several companies outlined notable shifts in strategy or focus to drive future growth. Peloton’s new CEO described plans to transform the fitness company into a broader “wellness” platform spanning strength training, mental health, sleep, and nutrition – leveraging AI to act as personalized coaches for members. Industrial giant Siemens highlighted a pivot toward software-driven hardware, with its CEO noting the world is moving to “software defined” machines and over half of Siemens’ engineers are now software specialists. In the auto sector, American Axle stated that a longer-than-expected life for internal combustion engines is good for the company because it can further capitalize on its existing assets.
Regulatory and macroeconomic catalysts: New government policies and macro trends were a recurring theme. Alpha Metallurgical Resources lauded a recent U.S. law that deems metallurgical coal a “critical mineral,” making 2026–2029 production eligible for tax credits – an unexpected windfall worth an estimated $30–50 million annually. Trade policy was also in focus: crane manufacturer Manitowoc warned that newly imposed tariffs are causing a six-month drag on U.S. equipment demand as buyers delay purchases to avoid higher costs. On a more positive note, Western Forest Products pointed out that Canada’s Prime Minister is now actively addressing the long-running softwood lumber dispute.
Pricing power and market dynamics: Many companies reported surprising pricing dynamics in their markets. Air Lease Corp. noted that virtually all airline customers are renewing leases rather than risk losing planes to competitors, allowing Air Lease to lock in lease rates higher than a year ago on extensions. In commodities, fertilizer producer Mosaic indicated the phosphate market remains so tight that they do not expect the usual second-half price slump. In luxury goods, management hinted at pricing leverage: Kering’s finance chief said the company may implement another round of price hikes in the autumn.
Operational efficiency and cost management: Improving efficiency and cost discipline was another cross-cutting theme. Devon Energy reported rapid progress in an ambitious cost optimization drive – just four months in, it has already realized 40% of a $1 billion efficiency target, which boosts FCF and reinforces confidence in hitting the full goal. Meanwhile, Tyson Foods highlighted operational improvements, having trimmed over $100 million in costs from its beef segment. In the coal industry, Alpha Metallurgical achieved its lowest unit cost since 2021, reflecting successful efficiency efforts.
Industry consolidation and M&A: Earnings calls revealed selective moves in mergers and acquisitions. Gray Television announced station acquisitions that will add six new markets and create 11 additional duopoly markets. Gray’s CFO observed that if those deals closed now, the company’s leverage would be about a quarter-turn lower, underscoring the immediate deleveraging benefit of these acquisitions. In contrast, Intesa Sanpaolo in Europe flatly dismissed participating in the current banking M&A frenzy. Instead, Intesa is taking advantage by recruiting talent from rivals amid the upheaval.
A small number of seats at our event of the year, Latticework 2025, will be made available soon to our Substack subscribers. Stay tuned!
Latticework 2025 will be held in New York City on October 7th. In fireside chats with audience participation, the summit will explore intelligent investing in a rapidly changing world. Keynote speakers include:
Chris Bloomstran, President of Semper Augustus Investments Group
Tom Gayner, CEO of Markel and Director of The Coca-Cola Company
Saurabh Madaan, Managing Member of Manveen Asset Management
Scott Miller, Founder of Greenhaven Road Capital
Bob Robotti, President and CIO of Robotti & Company Advisors
Tom Russo, Managing Member of Gardner Russo & Quinn
Will Thomson, Managing Partner of Massif Capital
Christopher Tsai, President of Tsai Capital Corporation
Ed Wachenheim III, Chairman of Greenhaven Associates
Now, let’s highlight the most noteworthy CEO/CFO statements from each call.
Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL)
• Billion-dollar capital freed from aircraft order cancellation. “We did cancel our order for seven A350 freighter aircraft... This cancellation frees up more than $1 billion in forward CapEx commitments, making that capital available for other alternatives.” —John Plueger, CEO
• Capital return strategy under consideration. “We are carefully considering opportunities to return capital to shareholders” —John Plueger, CEO
• Strong lease extension dynamics driving pricing power. “Lease extension activity also remains high, with nearly all customers choosing to extend rather than let aircraft go to competitors or other airlines. And the lease rates we are garnering on these extensions are strong, higher than a year or even eight months ago.” —John Plueger, CEO
• Meaningful capital deployment philosophy. “Whatever we do in capital appointment, it's meaningful, whether to shareholders or anything else. And, at the same time, to be able to, as I said, retain a very strong balance sheet.” —John Plueger, CEO (Q&A)
Alpha Metallurgical Resources (NYSE: AMR)
• Best cost performance since 2021. “At $100.06 per ton, the second quarter cost of coal sales represents our best quarterly performance since 2021.” —Jason Whitehead, COO
• Critical mineral tax credit windfall of $30-50 million annually. “With President Trump's signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, metallurgical coal has been added to the list of applicable critical minerals. Met coal produced between 2026 and 2029 will be eligible for the refundable tax credit... we estimate that the cash benefit of the tax credit may be in the range of $30 million to $50 million annually.” —Andy Eidson, CEO
• Strategic buyback restart after five quarters. “This morning, we announced the Board's decision to restart the buyback program on an opportunistic basis. While the program has been inactive for roughly the last five quarters, our commitment to shareholder return has not changed.” —Andy Eidson, CEO
• Multi-year pricing lows despite tight market. “Met coal indexes have stayed depressed in recent weeks, and in the case of U.S. East Coast High Vol A and High Vol B, both pricing mechanisms reached multiyear lows that were last seen in 2021.” —Andy Eidson, CEO
American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE: AXL)
• ICE longevity strategy counters EV rush. “We are prepared for electrification, but a longer ICE tail is good for AAM as we can further leverage our installed fixed asset base and core products.” —David Dauk, CEO
• Scout Motors validates technology leadership. “We clearly leveraged our IP and our own capability... we're winning complete systems with respect to both e beam and EDUs. So very big win for us. Validation of our technology and capability.” —David Dauk, CEO (Q&A)
• Reshoring inquiries surge on tariff concerns. “We are receiving several inquiries from many of the global OEMs that are looking to localize production capability or component capability to the U.S. to address the tariff issues that are out there.” —David Dauk, CEO (Q&A)
• Leverage-neutral M&A approach. “Our goal is to deleverage quickly after the Dallet combination... we are driving towards trying to be approximately leverage neutral at close.” —Chris May, CFO (Q&A)
BanColombia (NYSE: CIB)
• Digital wallet reaches massive scale. “Nequi has reached more than 17 million customers” —Management
• Strong restructuring and sustainable growth emphasis. Company highlighted “restructuring success, solid financial performance, Nequi expansion, and sustainable growth” —Management
Burford Capital (NYSE/LSE: BUR)
• Record-breaking capital raise completed in two days. “Substantial new business growth and successful capital raise of $500 million in July, completed in just two days” —Christopher Bogart, CEO
• Scale creates formidable competitive moat. CEO Christopher Bogart emphasized Burford's scale as a “formidable competitive moat” highlighting the company's market position advantage
Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ)
• Major production boost from acquisitions. “Recent accretive acquisitions have added approximately 82,000 BOEs per day of production, enhancing the company's asset base and production capacity.” —Management
• Turnaround completed five days ahead of schedule. “The company completed a planned turnaround at AOSP five days ahead of schedule and on budget, demonstrating operational efficiency.” —Management
• $2 billion debt reduction target for 2025. “Canadian Natural maintains a robust balance sheet with $4.8 billion in liquidity and aims to reduce year-end 2025 net debt by approximately $2 billion compared to 2024 levels.” —Management
Carriage Services (NYSE: CSV)
• Return to growth mode after two-year hiatus. “We're back to growth mode” —Carlos Quezada, CEO (Q&A)
• First acquisitions since 2023 generating $50 million revenue. “We're under contract to acquire new businesses, which we anticipate will close this quarter subject to customary regulatory approvals. Combined, these premier locations serve more than 2,600 families and generated more than 50,000,000 in revenue last year.” —Management
• Strong negotiating position despite consolidation. “We're in a position to be selective” —Carlos Quezada, CEO (Q&A)
• Cultural transformation initiative launched. “Our passion for service program is set to become a cultural movement, igniting a passion for service delivery and wow moments across our organization” —Carlos Quezada, CEO
Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE: CPK)
• 13% capital expenditure guidance increase. “CPK increased its 2025 capital expenditure guidance to $375-$425 million, up by $50 million from previous guidance” —Management
• Standout regulated energy performance. “The company's regulated energy segment was the standout performer with adjusted gross margin increasing $16.2 million” —Management
• Ambitious 26% compound growth target. “CPK maintains its 2028 EPS guidance range of $7.75 to $8.00 per share” —Management
Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN)
• 40% progress on $1 billion optimization in four months. “Only four months into this initiative, our team has already captured 40% of our target. As I sit here today, I'm highly confident in our ability to achieve our $1,000,000,000 target on time” —Clay Gaspar, CEO
• $2 billion incremental cash flow windfall. “This reduction will provide Devon with increased cash flow of approximately $1,000,000,000 over the next three years assuming a similar pricing environment and capital spend. This is in addition to the $1,000,000,000 of incremental free cash flow from our business optimization plan” —Jeff Nauer, CFO
• Value creation beyond cost cutting. “We are not just cutting costs. We are optimizing well performance, reducing cycle times and streamlining field operations” —Clay Gaspar, CEO (Q&A)
• Aggressive debt reduction while maintaining investment grade. “We feel very comfortable maintaining our investment grade status with an absolute debt level of $6-6.5 billion” —Jeff Nauer, CFO (Q&A)
E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ: SSP)
• WNBA viewership surges 133%. “Sports is bringing new advertisers to our platform and will once again be a driver that differentiates our performance” —Adam Symson, CEO
• Regulatory changes expected to facilitate portfolio optimization. “We are focused on optimizing our portfolio through swaps and select asset sales to improve performance and accelerate debt paydown... ongoing discussions with peers and the potential for regulatory changes to facilitate these efforts” —Adam Symson, CEO (Q&A)
• Streaming revenue growing 57%. “Streaming/connected TV revenue growing 57% in Q2” —Management
• Nine-point margin lift despite revenue decline. “Scripps Networks segment profit was $56 million and segment margin was 27%, a nine point lift from 18% in 2024” —Management
Eni (Milan: ENI)
• 40% cash flow growth target by 2030. “We expect to grow CFFO by around a total of 40% by 2030” —Claudio Descalzi, CEO (Q&A)
• 50% increase in cash initiatives to EUR 3 billion. “We have identified a further EUR 1 billion to be captured by the end of the year, raising the total benefit to EUR 3 billion” —Claudio Descalzi, CEO
• Geopolitical disruptions driving refining margin windfall. “The crack spread of gas oil is very, very high because of the stress in the ban of Russian crude, Russian gas oil. This is very positive for the at least for all the driving season” —Pino, Executive (Q&A)
• Major production growth to 500,000 barrels per day. “We expect gross production of over 300,000 barrels per day at closing with the prospect of over 500,000 barrels per day in four, five years” —Claudio Descalzi, CEO (Q&A)
EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG)
• New $6 billion share repurchase program announced. “We expect to complete the 2020 program over the next several quarters and our board recently approved a new, $6 billion program to support continued share repurchases” —Ann Janssen, CFO
• $150 million annual synergies from Encino acquisition. “We expect at least $150 million in annual run rate synergies within the first year post close” —Jeff Leitzel, COO (Q&A)
• 10% increase in free cash flow guidance. “At assumed prices of $65 WTI and $3.5 Henry Hub, we expect to generate $4.3 billion in free cash flow in 2025, which adjusted for commodity price changes is 10% higher than our forecast last quarter” —Ann Janssen, CFO
• 8% of shares already repurchased for $5.5 billion. “Since initiating buybacks in 2023, we have repurchased over 46 million shares, which is approximately 8% of shares outstanding or a total of $5.5 billion” —Ann Janssen, CFO (Q&A)
Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE: FET)
• 15-73% annual growth since 2021. “Since 2021, we have grown revenue and free cash flow by 15% to 73% annually” —Neil Lux, CEO
• Buyback representing 28% of market cap. “We aim to return a prodigious amount of capital to shareholders. We have $64 million remaining under our current share repurchase program. That represents approximately 28% of our current market cap” —Neil Lux, CEO
• Market share doubling strategy with $72 million EBITDA target. “Our goal over time is to double our share in growth markets... eight points of market share gain could be an additional $240 million in revenue. At a 30% incremental margin, that is $72 million of additional EBITDA” —Neil Lux, CEO (Q&A)
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD)
• 2 million people to receive lenacapavir in global access program. “We recently announced a partnership with the Global Fund to bring lenacapavir to approximately 2 million people in primarily low and lower-middle-income countries over the next three years” —Daniel O'Day, CEO
• Unprecedented rapid launch of YES2GO. “The first YES2GO prescription was written within hours of approval, with the first product shipped within 24 hours, and the first dose administered within days” —Johanna Mercier, CCO (Q&A)
• Game-changing once-yearly HIV prevention trial launched. “We have just initiated PURPOSE 365, a Phase III trial evaluating once-yearly lenacapavir for PrEP” —Dietmar Berger, CMO
• Biktarvy achieves 51% market share. “Biktarvy once again expanded its US market share and increased two percentage points year over year to over 51%” —Johanna Mercier, CCO (Q&A)
Gray Television (NYSE: GTN)
• M&A spree creates 11 new duopolies. “Together, the Scripps, Sagamore, Block, and Allen transactions will add a net six new markets to our portfolio... These transactions also will create 11 new big four full powered duopolies” —Hilton Howell, CEO
• Immediate deleveraging from acquisitions. “We estimate that if we close these transactions today, our leverage ratio would be approximately a quarter turn lower than where we finished the quarter” —Jeff Geniak, CFO (Q&A)
• Strategic CBS affiliation termination ahead of Super Bowl. “With the Super Bowl coming to Atlanta in February 2027, it seemed likely to us that CBS is going to want the affiliation back under independent station at some point prior to the Super Bowl” —Kevin Latek, CLO (Q&A)
IAMGOLD Corporation (NYSE: IAG)
• Essakane mine life extended to 2033. “So let's see now we're focusing on looking beyond 28 up to 30, 20, 33. So it looks extremely well. So like if we wanted to stay, you know, and develop and increase the life of mine and invest, you know, to extend, we're pretty confident we could easily bridge, you know, the first five years, extension beyond that.” —Renaud Adams, CEO (Q&A)
• Massive expansion potential at Cote Gold. “As currently designed, Cote has the mining capacity to average an annual ore mining rate of 50,000 tonnes per day versus our current nameplate processing rate of 36,000 tonnes per day... If mined at the rate of 20 million tons of ore per year or 50,000 tonnes per day, the Cote deposit itself will have a mine life of potentially 20 years prior to bringing Gaslink into plant.” —Bruno Lemelin, COO (Q&A)
• Efficient cash repatriation from Burkina Faso. “The agreement allows for efficient cash flow management, enabling IAMGOLD to move excess cash out of the country. The government of Burkina Faso receives dividends, and IAMGOLD can repay intercompany loans using Essakane's free cash flow, improving cash repatriation efficiency.” —Maarten Theunissen, CFO (Q&A)
Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan: ISP)
• CEO calls Italian M&A the “Far West”. “I have to tell you that our attitude today is to stay absolutely without any kind of involvement and also because we have a significant antitrust problem in the country. So there is also there is a condition of of style. So I think that what's happening in Italy is absolutely something that I define far west, but I don't like what it is happening in the country.” —Carlo Messina, CEO (Q&A)
• 20-year sustainable returns focus. “So we are focused and all the investors know that if they want a bank in which they can invest for sustainable return forever, Intesa Sanpaolo is the best option. If you are looking for the short term yield or maximization of net income in short term Intesa Sanpaolo is not the right choice for you. So we want result to stay for the next twenty years.” —Carlo Messina, CEO (Q&A)
• Benefiting from M&A chaos through talent acquisition. “I clearly said that we will not participate, but we are in a condition to increase our market share through the hiring of people from other companies. And this is what, in reality, has happened, especially in the sector of private banking, wealth management and fideogram.” —Carlo Messina, CEO (Q&A)
International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF)
• Food Ingredients divestiture clarity coming in 2026. “And I expect that we'll be able to update you on where we stand with the fourth quarter earnings call early next year. And I believe we'll have absolute clarity in 2026. But what I'll and I'll just finish by saying that there's already been strong proactive interest by both private equity and strategics incoming that we can now really start to engage with as we consider our options.” —Eric Fearwald, CEO (Q&A)
• Fragrance Ingredients facing meaningful pressure. “For Fragrance Ingredients in the back half of the year, we expect it to be down at similar levels that we had in Q2, which was pretty meaningful. Now there's a story that's happening there that the more commodity elements of our portfolio are under the most pressure.” —Michael DeVoe, CFO (Q&A)
• Health business recovery not until 2027. “The real challenging area is health. And we're hearing from our customers that in the second half, they're seeing slowdown... we will see a slow second half in our health business, very important business. But we'll see it start to come back in 2026, and I would say get to full strength in 2027.” —Eric Fearwald, CEO (Q&A)
• MAHA movement creating cleaner label opportunities. “What we're hearing is, I would say, an even stronger desire for cleaner laborers, cleaner labels, for innovation to help reduce sugar, salt, fat, increase protein, all the things that we are good at. And we're seeing the continued healthy reformulation to do those things. And I would say the MAHA movement in The U.S. Is helping that.” —Eric Fearwald, CEO (Q&A)
Kering (Euronext Paris: KER)
• Performance well below potential. “Though the numbers we are reporting remain well below our potential, we are certain that our comprehensive efforts of the past two years have set healthy foundations for the next stages in Kering's development.” —François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO
• Potential second wave of price increases. “We may consider a second wave [of price hikes] in the autumn. [But] we will make sure we are applying it in a smart way, mindful of consumer sentiment.” —Armelle Poulou, CFO
L'Oréal (Euronext Paris: OR)
• CEO admits skincare disappointment. “You're right to say we're not happy. I'm not happy about skincare, but I would just take it with a pinch of salt. The first one is that, as you know, and that's we have to live with this until the first half of this year. Skincare is the category impacted by the biggest by the discrepancy between sell in and sell out the same as Sun Care stocking of last year.” —Nicolas Irenimus, CEO (Q&A)
• Tariff impact less than 40 basis points. “As of today, because of course, there are some maybe tariffs that will still move in Canada or in Mexico. But when Nicolas says the situation is manageable, it means that the impact could be less than 40 basis points as of today.” —Christophe Babul, CFO (Q&A)
• Helena Rubinstein's premium success in China. “No, Helena Rinsteyn is a fantastic success story in North Asia... There's also the question of service. Because it's premium, you go to any counter or any boutique that we have in China, you have cabins where services, skincare, facials are provided. So here we are talking about a brand that has a limited number of consumers, but that are super loyal and very high spenders with a very strong CRM and great services.” —Nicolas Irenimus, CEO (Q&A)
Mammoth Energy Services (NASDAQ: TUSK)
• Aviation sector targeting 25-35% IRRs. “What we're targeting in the aviation sector is IRRs of 25 to 35%. And if you look at a three to five year hold at that IRR, you're looking at a two to 3x multiple on invested capital.” —Mark Layton, CFO (Q&A)
• Litigation overhang continuing through 2025. “As we look to the back half of the year, as we flagged previously, we've still got some SG and A overhang relative to some ongoing litigation from the exit Puerto Rico... we're forecasting about 2,000,000 to $2,500,000 in overall SG and A legal fees relative to the run out of some of that Puerto Rico litigation in the back half of the year.” —Mark Layton, CFO (Q&A)
• Montney Shale focus for sand business. “As we look at the split right now, we've not disclosed the split publicly, but the majority of what we've sold historically has been into Western Canada into the Montney. And as we look forward, given what we believe is the availability of Tier one acreage in the Montney, we think that split will continue on a go forward basis to be more weighted to Montney Shale.” —Mark Layton, CFO (Q&A)
Manitowoc (NYSE: MTW)
• Tariffs creating six-month demand drag. “Given the fluid nature of the situation and the price elasticity of cranes in the short term, we see a drag on demand in The United States... For the next six months, it's hard to see a scenario where demand accelerates. Crane buyers can afford to wait, and at the moment, they prefer to buy units that are sitting on the ground at pre tariff prices.” —Aaron Ravenscroft, CEO
• Inventory could hit all-time lows signaling acceleration. “Looking beyond the next six months, dealer inventory in The U.S. Could reach all time lows if current trends continue... Point being, dealer inventory could be exceptionally low, which is a classic signal for the market to accelerate at the beginning of next year.” —Aaron Ravenscroft, CEO
• Free cash flow guidance slashed from $45 million to $10-15 million. “Our free cash flow for the year is expected to be on the low end of our original range. So we're thinking that 10,000,000 to $15,000,000 for the full year.” —Brian Regan, CFO (Q&A)
Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS)
• 8 million tonne run rate target achieved. “There is no more planned maintenance that would impede us from reaching our target run rate of 8 million tonnes per year... Our third quarter sales volume guidance of 1.8 million to 2 million tonnes reflects our confidence in our strengthened assets.” —Bruce Bodine, CEO
• China export availability declining structurally. “We anticipate a further reduction in high-analysis phosphate export this year. As the country limits export quarters in support of the domestic market and industrial phosphate production... we expect China to continue to reduce export availability as independent projection for LFP demand through 2030 exceed even our own projection.” —Jenny Wang, Executive VP (Q&A)
• No second half price reset expected. “We see no signs of a second half price reset that has occurred in the past few years. The global phosphate market has been tight for 2 years now, and we do not expect that to change in the near to medium term.” —Bruce Bodine, CEO
Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON)
• $100 million cost restructuring plan launched. “Our operating expenses remain too high, which hinders our ability to invest in our future. We are launching a cost restructuring plan intended to achieve at least $100 million of run-rate savings by the end of FY26 by reducing the size of our global team, paring back indirect spend, and relocating some of our work.” —Peter Stern, CEO
• Expanding beyond fitness to wellness. “We plan to support our members' wellness journey by expanding our offerings and strength where we are already a category leader, mental wellbeing, sleep, recovery, and over time, nutrition and hydration. We will employ advanced technologies like AI to enhance our ability to serve as personalized coaches.” —Peter Stern, CEO (Q&A)
Petrobras (NYSE: PBR)
• Strong operational performance despite market challenges. Management discussed oil price pressures declining from $84/barrel in Q1 2024 to expected $65/barrel in Q2 2025
RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE: RLJ)
• San Francisco CBD achieves 20% RevPAR growth. “Our urban hotels continue to be the key driver of our portfolio, with RevPAR outperforming our portfolio by 140 basis points. Notably, our hotels in San Francisco, CBD, achieved 20% RevPAR growth.” —Leslie Hale, CEO
• AI investments driving sustained economic expansion. “We believe that the scale and trajectory of AI investments should drive sustained economic expansion in the region and support further improvement in lodging fundamentals over the next several years.” —Leslie Hale, CEO (Q&A)
• Third quarter softness isolated, not structural. “While we have articulated some of the segment softness in the third quarter, we think it's isolated to the third quarter. It is not a function of what we're seeing from a fundamentals perspective and isn't carrying into the fourth quarter.” —Leslie Hale, CEO (Q&A)
SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD)
• Breakeven down to $35 WTI. “At current commodity prices, our operated Cherokee wells have robust returns, and breakevens for these new wells are down to $35 WTI.” —Grayson Pranin, CEO
• Cumulative dividends of $4.36 per share since 2023. “We have paid a cumulative $4.36 per share in dividends since the beginning of 2023.” —Jonathan Frates, Chairman
• Capital return remains top priority. “Our return of capital program will continue to be our top priority, and given our financial flexibility, we'll exercise capital stewardship to respond to changes in commodity prices, costs, macroeconomic, or other factors.” —Grayson Pranin, CEO (Q&A)
Sandstorm Gold (NYSE: SAND)
• Record revenue of $51.4 million, up 24%. “We delivered another record quarter in terms of revenue and operating margin...total revenue for the second quarter was $51,400,000 a 24% increase compared to the same period last year.” —Yifan, CFO
• Royal Gold acquisition transforms portfolio. “Prior to announcing the Sandstorm acquisition, 79% of their NAV came from their top 10 assets. Now, after the Sandstorm acquisition...their top 10 assets now only represent 61% of their value, which puts their diversification approximately the same as Franco Nevada's.” —Nolan Watson, CEO
Siemens (Germany: SIE)
• Software-defined hardware strategic pivot. “The world is going into the direction of software defined hardware. An autonomous car is a software defined hardware... This is exactly where Siemens has its strengths. Out of our soft all our engineers, more than 50% increasing number is already software people.” —Roland Busch, CEO (Q&A)
Siemens Energy (Germany: ENR)
• Guidance raised across all four KPIs. “We are executing better than expected, which allowed us to raise our guidance for this fiscal year across all four KPIs, growth, margin, net income and cash flow.” —Christian Bruch, CEO (Q&A)
Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68)
• Strongest IPO pipeline in years. “Our IPO pipeline is the strongest in years. A pipeline in our definition is not about marketing to a prospect - our pipeline is more refined, they are companies that have really considered that IPO is a route and have engaged advisers to do that.” —Loh Boon Chye, CEO
Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN)
• $100 million beef cost reduction achieved. “We've removed over $100 million of controllable costs out of our beef segment this year... our beef assets are running better than they ever have before.” —Brady Stewart, Group President (Q&A)
• Prepared Foods performing better than ever. “I could not be prouder of our prepared foods team. They are absolutely performing across every phase of the game from innovation and successful innovation and also in terms of shifting their mix to more valuable products.” —Donnie King, CEO (Q&A)
• Herd rebuilding timeline pushed to 2028. “We think herd rebuilding will begin in earnest in 2026. And we think that will through the next couple of years after that, that's when we will get back. Let's call it 2028 is when we see herd rebuild and seeing the benefit from that.” —Brady Stewart, Group President (Q&A)
• Share buybacks restarted after 2023 pause. “We restarted open market share repurchases under our share repurchase program late in the quarter, the first since 2023.” —Curt Calaway, CFO
Unity Software (NYSE: U)
• Vector platform achieving exceptional sequential growth. “What's exciting about that is we're seeing 10% or more sequential growth on top of the 15% sequential growth we saw the preceding quarter or at least 25% growth inside of a couple quarters.” —Matt Bromberg, CEO (Q&A)
• Cannibalization concerns dismissed. “We estimate that the cannibalization of our other ad network to Unity is less than 10%. So that's just demonstrably not what's happening.” —Matt Bromberg, CEO (Q&A)
• Transformational data opportunity beginning 2026. “We anticipate seeing the impact of our work in this area beginning in 2026 and extending well into the future.” —Matt Bromberg, CEO
Wayfair (NYSE: W)
• Market has bottomed after years of decline. “The market is flat to down low single digits, indicating it has bottomed out after several years of decline.” —Niraj Shah, CEO (Q&A)
• Strength is structural, not cyclical. “Wayfair's strength is structural, driven by improving core elements like price, selection, and delivery speed. Wayfair's momentum is building due to these structural improvements rather than any pull forward related to tariffs.” —Niraj Shah, CEO (Q&A)
Western Forest Products (TSX: WEF)
• 25 million board feet production cut. “We plan to reduce lumber production by approximately 25 million board feet in the third quarter.” —Stephen Hoefer, CEO (Q&A)
• Prime Minister now speaking about softwood lumber. “Most importantly, we now have our prime minister speaking about softwood lumber, and we would view that as a very significant event compared to the previous administration.” —Stephen Hoefer, CEO (Q&A)
Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM)
• Most active bidding in ten years. “We're probably bidding on more opportunities this year and larger opportunities than we have in any other year in the last ten years.” —Haytham Hodulay, President (Q&A)
• Gold tariff arbitrage opportunity identified. “We are definitely insulated from it, but you could wind up with some, if this does carry through, you could wind up with a bit of a differential in pricing and we've got a team down in The Caymans that's always looking for opportunities to try and take advantage of that.” —Randy Smallwood, CEO (Q&A)
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Volunteer by reaching out directly to John (john@moiglobal.com).