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AXT Inc Shares Jump Another 13% as AI-Driven Chip Substrate Demand Keeps Fueling Historic Rally and More

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Shares of AXT Inc continued an extraordinary rally Wednesday, climbing another 12.61% to $73.50, extending a run that has seen the compound semiconductor substrate maker’s stock repeatedly post double-digit percentage gains in the days since a blowout second-quarter earnings report at the end of July.

The latest advance builds on a string of powerful sessions for AXT, a small-cap materials company whose shares have surged from the low $40s in mid-July to well above $70 in the weeks since, driven by surging demand for the indium phosphide substrates used in high-speed optical connectivity for artificial intelligence data centers.

A Quarter That Shattered Expectations

AXT’s rally traces back to its second-quarter results, released July 30, which showed revenue of $47.59 million, up 77% from the first quarter and 164% higher than the same period a year earlier, comfortably beating the $34.1 million analysts had expected. Adjusted earnings came in at 19 cents per share, nearly three times the 7-cent consensus forecast, marking a dramatic turnaround from a loss in the prior-year period.

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The results were driven primarily by record indium phosphide revenue of $30.7 million during the quarter, reflecting surging demand tied to AI and data center optical connectivity applications. Following the earnings release, AXT shares closed the regular session up 26.89% at $46.91, then climbed another 21.28% in after-hours trading to $56.93, before continuing to extend those gains in the sessions that followed.

Guidance and Backlog Signal More Growth Ahead

For the third quarter, AXT guided to non-GAAP earnings per share of 30 to 32 cents on approximately $66 million in revenue, a forecast far above prior Street estimates that had anticipated a much more modest recovery. Management said the company’s order backlog for indium phosphide products had grown to more than $100 million, giving the company meaningful visibility into demand well beyond the current quarter.

The company has laid out ambitious expansion plans to meet that demand, targeting more than a doubling of its indium phosphide production capacity by the end of 2026, with a further capacity expansion planned for 2027 aimed at reaching a quarterly revenue run rate of approximately $130 million by the end of that year. Long-term supply agreements with Coherent, Casela and Lumentum are expected to help support that growth trajectory, though the Lumentum agreement is not expected to begin contributing meaningfully until 2027. The Lumentum deal specifically includes $87 million in upfront deposits, locking in future demand for AXT’s indium phosphide wafers.

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A Volatile but Well-Supported Rally

AXT’s stock has exhibited pronounced volatility even amid its overall upward trajectory, with the company posting several wide-range trading days in recent weeks, including intraday swings of $6 to $8 per share. That volatility has continued even as the underlying fundamental story, robust revenue growth, expanding margins and a rapidly growing order backlog, has remained consistently supportive of the stock’s advance, according to traders who have tracked the name closely through its recent run.

Not every analyst has embraced the rally without reservation. B. Riley Securities lowered its price target on AXT to $52 from $73 even as the firm acknowledged the strength of the company’s underlying momentum, citing concerns about the stock’s rapid appreciation relative to its longer-term fundamentals. That kind of divergence between bullish operational momentum and more conservative price targets has become a recurring theme in coverage of the stock as its rally has continued to extend further than many analysts initially anticipated.

A Broader Strategic Backdrop

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AXT’s growth has also been shaped by broader shifts in its supply chain and corporate structure. The company noted during its most recent earnings call that its majority-owned Chinese subsidiary, Tongmei, is moving toward a listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, a transition that creates a redemption right tied to roughly $49 million invested by private equity funds back in 2021. Management has said it is in discussions with those investors, who have so far indicated an intention to continue their investment rather than seek redemption, while the company maintains sufficient cash reserves to honor any redemption requests should they arise.

With AXT’s order backlog continuing to build and capacity expansion plans extending well into 2027, investors are likely to watch closely whether the company can continue converting its rapidly growing indium phosphide demand into sustained margin improvement, particularly as the stock’s valuation has climbed to levels that leave less room for any disappointment in future quarters relative to the exceptionally high bar the company has now set for itself.

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Zeta Global Shares Jump 16% as Marketing Software Firm Extends 20-Quarter Beat-and-Raise Streak This Week

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Zeta Global Shares Jump 16% as Marketing Software Firm Extends

Zeta Global Holdings shares extended a sharp rally Wednesday, building on gains from the previous session after the marketing technology company delivered second-quarter results that beat expectations and extended what the company describes as its 20th consecutive “beat and raise” quarter.

Shares climbed to $28.20, up 16.24%, continuing a rally that began Tuesday when the company’s earnings report initially sent the stock up 7.54% to close at $24.26. The move built on a year in which Zeta shares have already climbed nearly 50%, according to recent trading data, as the New York-based company has continued posting accelerating growth in its AI-driven marketing platform business.

A Streak Extended

Zeta reported second-quarter revenue of $442.8 million, comfortably clearing the company’s own guidance range of $419 million to $422 million and marking a 44% increase year over year and a 12% sequential gain from the first quarter. In a statement, the company described the results as achieving positive GAAP net income for the second quarter, a milestone that adds to the company’s continued push toward sustained profitability alongside its rapid top-line growth.

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Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $91.7 million, more than 50% higher than the $58.77 million posted in the same period a year earlier. Following the results, Zeta raised its third-quarter revenue guidance to a range of $469 million to $472 million, above the $461.01 million analysts had been expecting, while also lifting its full-year earnings-per-share guidance to a range of 9 cents to 11 cents, up sharply from a prior forecast of 2 cents to 4 cents.

AI Platform Drives Momentum

Much of the enthusiasm surrounding Zeta’s results has centered on the rapid adoption of the company’s Athena AI platform, which the company has said captured 60% of platform AI usage within its first week of availability, driving what Zeta described as a sevenfold surge in agentic interactions and a 40% lift in sales pipeline activity. The company has continued expanding partnerships tied to its AI infrastructure strategy, including collaborations with OpenAI, Snowflake and Palantir, with integration of the Palantir partnership expected to be completed within 45 days of the announcement.

Zeta has also continued extending Athena’s capabilities to advertising agencies, using what the company calls its proprietary SuperGraph technology to analyze consumer signals and recommend real-time marketing actions across a customer’s full lifecycle. The company has said a broader rollout of that agency-focused offering is planned to continue through the remainder of 2026, following an initial beta period with select partners.

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A Credit Facility to Support Growth

Alongside its earnings results, Zeta has continued strengthening its financial flexibility. The company closed a $1 billion credit facility in recent weeks, which it said would be used to support mergers and acquisitions, share repurchases and general corporate purposes, giving the company additional capacity to pursue growth initiatives beyond its organic platform expansion.

Zeta has also continued building out its executive team, recently naming Intel and Synopsys veteran Trey Campbell to lead investor relations, a move the company has framed as part of its broader effort to strengthen its engagement with the investment community as it continues to scale.

Some Caution Amid the Rally

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Despite the overwhelmingly positive market reaction, not every signal surrounding Zeta’s stock has been unambiguously bullish. Options activity ahead of the earnings release showed significantly more call volume than put volume, reflecting broadly bullish positioning among traders, though the company has also seen a notable number of recent insider transactions net sold, a dynamic some analysts have flagged as a cautionary signal against uniformly bullish sentiment. Wall Street coverage of the stock remains heavily weighted toward buy ratings, with 12 buy recommendations and two holds and no sell ratings among covering analysts, alongside a consensus price target implying meaningful additional upside from recent trading levels.

A Track Record of Consistency

Zeta’s ability to extend its beat-and-raise streak to 20 consecutive quarters has become a central part of the bullish narrative surrounding the stock, with the company’s full-year 2026 revenue guidance now standing at a range of $1.779 billion to $1.792 billion, up $30 million at the midpoint from its prior forecast and representing year-over-year growth of 36% to 37%. Even excluding the impact of political candidate advertising revenue and contributions from its Marigold enterprise business, the company has said its underlying growth rate remains in the 22% to 23% range, a figure management has pointed to as evidence of durable demand for its core marketing platform independent of one-time or cyclical revenue sources.

With Zeta’s stock continuing to build on its post-earnings momentum into Wednesday’s session, investors are likely to keep a close eye on the continued rollout of the company’s Athena AI platform and its expanding partnership ecosystem as key indicators of whether the company can sustain its remarkable streak of exceeding its own guidance in the quarters ahead.

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Bayer CEO Rules Out Breakup, Says Spinoffs Would Be a Distraction

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Bayer CEO Rules Out Breakup, Says Spinoffs Would Be a Distraction

Bayer’s BAYN Chief Executive Bill Anderson ruled out a breakup of the group’s operations for now, saying the company still has work to do before it can consider options.

The German conglomerate is focused on containing litigation uncertainty, reducing debt and internal bureaucracy, strengthening the drug pipeline of its pharma business, and improving the profitability of its agriculture unit. Anderson said Bayer wouldn’t allow discussions on potential sales or spinoffs of its divisions to become a distraction.

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NICE Ltd. (NICE) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript