With a market cap. of $25.4 billion, Houston, Texas-based CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP) is an energy delivery company providing electric and natural gas services across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas. The company serves more than 7 million metered customers through its electric transmission and distribution, power generation, and natural gas distribution operations.

Companies valued between $10 billion and $200 billion are generally classified as “large-cap stocks,” and CenterPoint Energy comfortably fits this category. As of June 30, 2026, CenterPoint Energy owned approximately $48.3 billion in assets and employed around 8,800 people, with a history spanning more than 150 years.

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CNP stock has slipped 15.3% from its 52-week high of $45.26, reached on Jul. 28. Over the past three months, CNP shares have dipped 10.5%, underperforming the Nasdaq Composite ( $NASX), which has declined marginally over the same period.

CNP stock is down marginally on a YTD basis, lagging behind NASX’s 13.6% gain. Moreover, shares of the company have risen marginally over the past 52 weeks, compared to NASX’s 17.5% return over the same time frame.

The stock has been trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since August.

CenterPoint Energy has underperformed due to its substantial capital requirements and reliance on external financing, which may increase dilution risk. The company also faces pressure from its relatively low dividend yield, elevated valuation, and the need to convert expected data-center and large-load electricity demand into contracted, rate-base-producing assets.

In comparison, rival Duke Energy Corporation (DUK) has declined 2.6% over the past 52 weeks, lagging behind CNP stock over the same period.

Despite the stock’s underperformance relative to the NASX, analysts remain moderately optimistic on CNP. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from 19 analysts in coverage, and the mean price target of $45.29 implies 17.5% upside from its current price.

On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com

SailPoint Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIL), a leading player within the enterprise identity security space, recently expanded its strategic alliance with CrowdStrike. As part of the revised arrangement, the company’s SailPoint SecOps Identity Intelligence will be integrated with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM. This will help in expediting threat detection procedures, and will also incorporate access data and identity governance into the overall investigation process. The expanded partnership will facilitate security teams in lining up the identity insights with Falcon’s existing security telemetry.

Copyright: franckito / 123RF Stock Photo

Strategic Alignment

The announcement aligns strongly with SailPoint’s broader strategic narrative revealed in its Q2 FY27 print. It builds upon several recent initiatives undertaken by the management, such as introduction of the SailPoint Identity Security solution. This is aimed toward integrating SailPoint Agentic Fabric with SailPoint Human Fabric for real-time discovery and security of complex digital ecosystems. The company also launched its Cursor Enterprise connector, which helps organizations to leverage a highly-integrated control plane to manage human developers and autonomous AI agents.

The recently released financials also back this narrative as the company delivered a 25% year-over-year growth in its annual recurring revenue, which stood at $1.231 billion. SailPoint generated $45 million in operating cash flow during the second quarter, along with $37 million in free cash flow.

By weaving SailPoint’s identity intelligence into Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, customers gain extra context inside workflows they already rely on, making it easier to probe identity-related risks. The integration augments SailPoint’s position at a time when identity threats are on a rise. This leads to an opportunity for SailPoint to cement itself as a leading provider of advanced security solutions.

Adoption Will Be A Real Test

A certain degree of caution is still warranted despite the promising prospects related to this expanded partnership. There is a view that such vendor partnerships tend to overstate short-term impact, and the actual outcomes are more dependent on adoption trends and the follow-through.

For the announced integration to succeed, the targeted customers will need to utilize both platforms at scale. However, several organizations operate mixed security stacks where rival SIEM or identity tools can limit the underlying potential of new partnerships.

There’s also the larger issue of vendor lock-in, since tighter integration between SailPoint and CrowdStrike may make switching providers down the road more difficult. On top of that, sharing identity data across platforms brings up data governance and privacy questions that security teams will need to weigh carefully. Investors should keep in mind, too, that partnership news rarely converts quickly into measurable revenue for either side.

Institutional Sentiment

Data tracked across 1,000+ hedge funds by Insider Monkey reveals an increasing number of smart money managers invested in SailPoint. As per 13F filing data for Q2 2026, a total of 31 hedge funds held positions in the stock compared to 25 by the end of the first quarter.

As per Yahoo Finance database, Thoma Bravo held 479.84 million shares, representing 84.60% of outstanding shares. Other notable institutional names include NORGES BANK and UBS Group that hold 2.30% and 0.81% of outstanding shares, respectively.

Conclusion

For SailPoint, the expanded partnership could bolster its presence across the broader cybersecurity landscape. From a strategic standpoint, it could pave the way into CrowdStrike’s existing customer base, without any standalone sales pitch. Such a path will be largely dependent on delivering operational value for customers, as part of the current arrangement with CrowdStrike.

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READ NEXT: 12 Best Industrial Stocks With More Than 50% Upside and 10 Best Stocks Under $10 That Could Triple.

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The US Treasury has sanctioned BitBank, a Tehran-based bitcoin exchange it says Iran used to move hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and to pass on tanker tolls charged at the Strait of Hormuz.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury arm that administers US sanctions, designated BitBank and Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software firm that built the exchange, in an action under Operation Economic Outcast confirmed in the announcement. OFAC says the exchange was set up in 2024. The designation freezes its property in US jurisdiction and bars Americans from dealing with it.

The allegations reach further. Iran has spent this year charging tankers between $1 million and $2 million to cross the Strait of Hormuz, and the Treasury said that since June, part of that money has moved through the exchange. The Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, the outfit Tehran uses to sell ships “safe passage” insurance, was itself sanctioned on July 29 and, per OFAC, began using BitBank in June to pass what it collected on to regime entities.

Every designation also carries a secondary sanctions tag. That means a foreign firm still processing BitBank’s flows is exposed to US penalties, a direct compliance risk for exchanges and banks outside the United States.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as a warning to anyone financing the Iranian government with digital assets. “Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach,” he said in the release.

One break from precedent stands out: the action listed no wallet addresses. OFAC’s January designation of the Zedcex exchange, by contrast, published seven tron wallets that compliance teams could screen against. Without addresses, on-chain screening software has nothing to load for BitBank, and no independent check of the alleged flows is possible from the announcement alone.

Iran has not commented on the designations, and no vessel operator has confirmed paying through the exchange.

Shareholders of International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) have had a difficult 2026. The stock is down about 22% year to date as of this writing, trading near $230 — roughly 30% below the record close of $329.23 it set on June 2.

Most of that damage arrived in a single session. Shares fell about 25% on July 14, when IBM reported preliminary second-quarter results that fell short of the company’s own expectations. The lowered full-year outlook came on July 22, with the final report.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

A sell-off like this invites a longer view, though. Where could IBM stock be five years from now?

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Image source: The Motley Fool.

Growth slowed, and guidance followed

What made July especially painful was how strong the year had looked. IBM increased revenue 8% in 2025, to $67.5 billion. Free cash flow of $14.7 billion was up $2 billion from the previous year.

The momentum carried into 2026. First-quarter revenue rose 9% year over year, and software revenue jumped 11%.

Then the second quarter broke the pattern. Revenue of $17.2 billion was up just 1% year over year. Software revenue growth slowed to 5%, under half the first quarter’s pace. Consulting revenue was flat. And infrastructure revenue fell 7%, with IBM Z, the mainframe business, down 42% as the z17 launch cycle wound down.

Management now expects revenue to increase 4% to 5% this year in constant currency, down from the more than 5% it still expected in April.

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In a July 14 letter to investors, CEO Arvind Krishna pointed to clients moving spending toward servers, storage, and memory ahead of expected price increases, and to large deals that did not close on time.

“These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” he said.

However you assess those explanations, the slowdown that concerns me is software’s. It’s the segment that underpins IBM’s growth case. Mainframe cycles come and go. But a software slowdown is more difficult to dismiss.

Cash flow and the dividend

For all the top-line problems, IBM’s cash generation has held up. Management still expects free cash flow to grow by about $1 billion in 2026, which would put the full-year total near $15.7 billion.

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That cash supports one of the longest dividend growth records in technology. April’s increase, to $1.69 per share quarterly, was IBM’s 31st in a row, and the company has paid quarterly dividends since 1916. At the current share price, the stock yields just under 3%.

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Quick Read

• Inherited savings bonds are classified as income in respect of a decedent, meaning all 30 years of deferred interest, which can amount to somewhere between $70,000 and $90,000, is taxable as ordinary income to the heir.

• Executors have a one-time election to report all accrued bond interest on the decedent’s final return, potentially saving tens of thousands if the deceased was in a lower tax bracket.

• Cashing all bonds in one year can push heirs into the 32% bracket, trigger Medicare surtaxes, and raise IRMAA premiums two years later at age 65.

• Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.

Inheriting a shoebox of paper savings bonds sounds like a windfall until the IRS shows up. A 63-year-old daughter receives $118,000 of bonds her father bought over three decades, discovers he never paid tax on any of the interest, and learns the entire accrued balance is now her problem. This scenario plays out in thousands of estates every year because Series E, EE, and I bonds allow interest to compound tax-deferred.

The Bogleheads and Reddit r/personalfinance forums are full of near-identical stories: a parent dies, an executor finds bonds in a safe deposit box, and the family realizes the interest has been quietly accruing since the Clinton administration. The tax bill is almost always larger than the heir expects.

Why This Inheritance Triggers a Six-Figure Tax Bill

Savings bond interest is classified as income in respect of a decedent (IRD). Unlike a brokerage account or a house, IRD assets keep the decedent’s original cost basis, so every dollar of deferred interest inside those bonds remains fully taxable as ordinary income to whoever ends up cashing them.

The 4% Rule is Broken, Built On A World That No Longer Exists

Every retiree knows about the 4% rule, but it frames retirement as a slow liquidation and still causes retirees with seven-figure accounts to agonize over a dinner out.

There’s a different way to run the math that makes more sense today. Build an income floor — dividends, interest, and Social Security that cover your essential bills every month — and you never have to sell shares into a down market just to pay them.

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Our free reader guide, The 4% Rule Is Broken, walks through it in about 15 minutes. Access the report here.

On a $118,000 face-and-accrual position built over 30 years, the taxable interest portion could easily run $70,000 to $90,000 depending on issue dates and rates. Series E and EE bonds hit final maturity at 30 years and stop earning. Once a bond reaches final maturity, the IRS treats the interest as taxable in that year whether the bond is redeemed or not. Many heirs discover the tax is already technically due on bonds that matured years before the parent died.

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Taxpayers whose prior-year adjusted gross income (AGI) topped $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately, must clear the higher 110% mark to avoid the penalty.

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Tax professionals view the withholding provision as one of the most effective tools for retirees managing uneven income.

Quarterly liabilities from retirement account withdrawals that carry penalty exposure shift between periods in ways the estimated payment system was not built to accommodate.

Ed Slott, a certified public accountant and founder of Ed Slott and Company, told Morningstar the withholding method gives retirees a timing benefit no catch-up payment can match, because the IRS spreads the credit across the full calendar year, regardless of when the distribution clears. 

That money, even though he was holding onto it the whole year almost, is treated as having been paid in equally throughout the year, even though he held onto the money, even though it was in December. That’s the advantage because if you do the estimates, you must hit those quarterly estimates.

Slott’s warning lands hardest for retirees carrying a Q3 shortfall, since the Q4 estimated payment due Jan. 15, 2027, cannot reach back to cover earlier periods, only stops the penalty clock from that date forward.

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What the distribution request requires before year-end

Executing the fix starts with a call to the IRA custodian to request a new distribution with a specific federal withholding percentage on IRS Form W-4R, which allows any rate between 0% and 100%. Some custodians process the request electronically, while others require a signed form.

The math starts with the full-year federal tax liability minus all withholding already collected, with the remainder showing how much the year-end distribution must carry.

The prior-year safe harbor is the more practical target because the amount is already fixed on the filed 2025 return, IRS Publication 505 confirms. 

Retirees 73 or older can fold this strategy into their required minimum distribution by raising the withholding percentage on the mandatory withdrawal.

The approach also benefits retirees whose layered retirement income has shifted them into higher tax brackets and whose withholding has fallen behind.

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State estimated tax rules operate independently, and the quarterly-credit distinction that makes this strategy work federally does not cure a state-level shortfall.

What happens when the December window closes

Once Dec. 31 passes, the 2026 tax year closes, and the window to use withholding as a backward-reaching credit shuts permanently, according to IRS Publication 505. Any remaining quarterly shortfall becomes a fixed penalty when the return is filed in April.

When year-end withholding pushes the total above the applicable safe harbor, the taxpayer owes no underpayment penalty and is not required to file Form 2210, the IRS worksheet used to calculate quarterly shortfalls, with the return, the publication confirms.

The withholding route is available to retirees 59½ and older with pre-tax retirement balances.

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Distributions taken before that age trigger a separate 10% early withdrawal penalty on the gross amount, which typically erases the benefit of the strategy, IRS Publication 505 confirms.

Related: IRS rule could change who qualifies for tax credit refunds

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Taxes section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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The sticker price on a phone stopped being the price anyone actually pays a long time ago.

What you pay is a blend of a trade-in credit, a monthly installment, a plan tier you may not have chosen on your own, and a commitment that outlasts most car leases.

That structure is why two people can buy the identical phone in the same week and pay very different amounts for it. One trades in a three-year-old handset on a premium unlimited plan and pays almost nothing each month. The other buys outright and pays full retail on the spot.

Apple (AAPL) raised the price of its Pro iPhones by $100 this year. The Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, and for a lot of households that jump is the difference between upgrading now and waiting another year.

Then the three major U.S. carriers made their counteroffer, and Bank of America (BAC) spent this week working out what it is really worth to you.

How carrier trade-in credits actually reach your bill

Carrier promotions work as credits rather than discounts, and that distinction decides how much cash leaves your account on day one.

When a carrier advertises $1,200 off, the full retail price of the phone goes onto a 36-month installment plan, and the credit comes back to your bill in monthly slices across those same 36 months.

Related: Bank of America flags surprising iPhone 18 pre-order trend

Leave early and the remaining credits stop. That structure is the point, because it keeps you on the account and on a plan tier that bills more each month than an entry-level one.

Apple sells the same phones outright with no strings. The trade-off is that you pay for all of it at once.

What the $1,200 iPhone 18 trade-in credit actually covers

Maximum trade-in credits for the iPhone 18 Pro Max have climbed to $1,200 at Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T) and T-Mobile (TMUS), Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in a Sept. 17 research note.

More Apple News:

That is $100 more than the top credit on the iPhone 17 Pro Max last year and $200 more than the iPhone 16 Pro Max the year before. The richer promotions largely cancel out Apple’s price increase, according to Mohan.

Here is the part that matters at the register. Even at the maximum credit, you are not walking out for nothing.

Carriers charge an activation or upgrade fee of $35 to $40, and sales tax is calculated on the full retail price of the phone rather than the discounted amount. On BofA’s figures, using New York City sales tax, that lands at $142 to $147 for the Pro and $250 to $255 for the Pro Max.

What you actually pay upfront for an iPhone 18

• iPhone 18 Pro: $142 to $147 in fees and tax, or $291 to $296 with AppleCare+, according to Bank of America.

• iPhone 18 Pro Max: $250 to $255 in fees and tax, or $400 to $405 with AppleCare+, according to Bank of America.

• Activation or upgrade fee: $35 at AT&T and T-Mobile, $40 at Verizon unless waived, per the carriers’ published terms cited by Android Authority. 

• Sales tax: charged on full retail, roughly $107 on the Pro and $115 on the Pro Max, on BofA’s New York City math.

• Credit delivery: monthly bill credits across 36 months, per carrier promotion terms, highlighted by Tom’s Guide.

Add AppleCare+ at $150 a year and the upfront total runs $291 to $296 for the iPhone 18 Pro and $400 to $405 for the Pro Max, according to the note. Verizon waives the fee for loyalty and new customers, which is the only line item you can negotiate away.

Which older iPhones qualify for the $1,200 credit

The offers target frequent upgraders. Someone holding a five-year-old handset will not see anything close to the top number.

Verizon and AT&T generally require an iPhone 14 or newer to hit the top credit, while T-Mobile sets the bar at an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, per BofA’s survey of carrier terms. AT&T excludes the 16e.

Condition requirements are loose. AT&T and T-Mobile accept qualifying devices in any condition, and Verizon does the same with the exception of battery damage, which matches the carrier deal roundups at Tom’s Guide.

The catch sits in the plan. Credits at every carrier are tiered by plan, number of lines and customer status, so the advertised number is a ceiling rather than an offer. T-Mobile reserves its full credit for its Experience Beyond and Go5G Next tiers, according to Android Authority.

What the iPhone 18 upgrade cycle means for Apple stock

In my analysis, the interesting thing about this note is that it is an argument about affordability rather than about Apple itself. The carriers absorbed the price increase on Apple’s behalf, in Mohan’s framing.

Early signals have been mixed. Bank of America also found shipping times on the new Pro models running shorter than last year, which usually reads as softer initial demand.

BofA kept a buy rating and a $370 price objective, about 11% above Apple’s $332.41 close on Sept. 16. The firm cut that target from $380 a week earlier, after the iPhone Duo came in cheaper than expected.

What I would watch is whether subsidies this rich show up later as a margin problem for the carriers, or as a churn problem when 36 months of credits run out. For now the benefit sits with Apple, which collects full retail either way.

If you are upgrading, the question that decides your real cost is whether you plan to stay with the same carrier until 2029.

Related: T-Mobile adds monthly fee to a new iPhone feature for customers

This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Markets section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Nobody knows when the next stock market crash will happen. It could be next week. It could be years from now. But I know what I’d want to buy if it happened.

The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG) is a portfolio of high-quality companies that generate big cash flow and demonstrate a history of paying and growing dividends over time.

Missed AI’s “Act 1”? Act 2 Could Be 15x Bigger. Most investors think they missed the AI boat because they didn’t buy Nvidia in 2005. But according to our analysts, we’re only at the end of “Act 1″—the R&D phase. “Act 2” is the global rollout. Continue »

But that’s not the biggest selling point in a down market. It provides the combination of growth and income that helps cushion against downside risk when weaker companies are getting hit hard, yet maintains a more growth-oriented profile that should capitalize on an eventual recovery.

In a sense, it potentially allows you to take advantage of both the crash and the rebound.

In this case, VIG isn’t really a dividend story

The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF tracks an index that requires companies to have grown their annual dividend for at least 10 consecutive years. It eliminates the highest-yielding stocks right off the bat, helping to avoid companies that could be signaling financial trouble.

That last piece effectively serves as a quality screen for the fund, which is incredibly important during crashes. In volatile markets, investors often turn to safer, more durable stocks that can withstand tough environments. The dividend growth requirement and high yield elimination essentially help create a portfolio of those very stocks.

The fund’s portfolio is a bit unique for a dividend ETF. Technology accounts for around 25% of the portfolio, which is one of the highest allocations in this category. While that could increase volatility, I’d point out that half of that allocation goes to Broadcom, Microsoft, and Apple. Those are three heavyweight tech companies with huge revenue streams that should be able to hold up. These aren’t speculative growth names.

The additional sector weightings to financials (22%) and healthcare (18%) provide an attractive combination for an eventual recovery, quality companies with meaningful exposure to economically sensitive areas of the market.

The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF will almost certainly fall in the next market crash. Investing in this fund isn’t meant to be a way to avoid it altogether. But it’s got durability, balance sheet strength, cash flows, and an improving income stream. These are the kinds of companies that are built for down markets.

It gives investors a quality tilt that plays well in down markets while positioning them well when stocks eventually begin turning higher again.

Should you buy stock in Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF right now?

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If a Stock Market Crash Is Coming, I’m Buying This 1 Vanguard ETF Without Hesitation was originally published by The Motley Fool