Markets
markets
Luke Kawa

The market’s obsession with “Magnificent Seven” stocks, in one chart

The Magnificent Seven stocks — that is, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla — account for about 31% of the S&P 500, and probably command an even higher mindshare than that in discussions about publicly traded American companies.

There’s a good reason for that: higher profits are what makes the stock market go up, and right now, effectively all the earnings growth for the benchmark US stock index this reporting period is attributable to this handful of companies.

Wall Street is looking for a convergence in operational outcomes going forward, notes FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters.

“Analysts predict the companies in the ‘Magnificent Seven’ in aggregate will report double-digit earnings growth over the next five quarters as well,” he wrote. “However, it is interesting to note that analysts believe the other 493 companies in the index will also report double-digit [year-over-year] earnings growth over the next five quarters.”

More Markets

See all Markets
markets
Claire Yubin Oh

Firefly Aerospace falls after losing a rocket stage during a preflight test

Firefly Aerospace plunged as much as 13% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company disclosed an incident that resulted in the loss of the rocket stage during a test at its facility in Briggs, Texas.

“During testing at Firefly’s facility in Briggs Texas, the first stage of Firefly’s Alpha Flight 7 rocket experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage,” shared Firefly in a statement. The company said that all personnel were safe and that it is assessing the impact to its stage test stand, with no other facilities impacted.

The mission for the tested vehicle, which the rocketmaker is preparing for Lockheed Martin, is planned to launch no earlier than Q4 2025.

Firefly, which made the headlines after successfully landing its Blue Ghost robotic spacecraft on the moon in March, has been struggling recently after a series of failed launches, including its most recent Alpha launch in April which exploded during a preflight test.

Luke Kawa
14h
The early rally in US stocks ran out of steam as government shutdown looms

Stocks still ended the day in the green, pulled higher by tech.

Close up of a majestic brown and black horned bull lying near a large boulder
J. Edward Moreno
14h
Pharma company Aurinia falls after FDA official uses LinkedIn to call out lupus drug

Lupkynis, which was approved in 2021, is Aurinia’s primary source of revenue.

Food And Drug Administration Headquarters In Maryland
markets
Luke Kawa

Cava may be an unlikely victim of a potential US government shutdown

Government shutdowns typically aren’t a big deal for the stock market as a whole.

But for Cava, which was founded in Maryland and is headquartered in Washington, DC, there’s the prospect of forgone sales in the event that government employees suddenly have no cause to frequent the fast-casual Mediterranean chain, which means emptier tills as bellies get filled elsewhere.

At the end of Q2, Cava had 398 locations. It currently boasts seven in the district proper, at least 14 a close drive away in Virginia, and 25 in Maryland.

Cava’s annual report singled out the Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia metropolitan area as having “a high concentration of restaurants” in discussing risk factors for the company. And it may be a particularly bad time to be a slop bowl seller around the nation’s capital.

The potential shutdown would be the latest challenge for Cava as it struggles to stand out amid a myriad of lunch options for working professionals and following the recently announced departure of COO Jennifer Somers.

For what it’s worth, this is not the first time this year Cava has faced concerns about potential weakness in DC. During its Q1 earnings call, Bank of America analyst Sara Senatore questioned Cava’s leadership about a potential impact from DOGE given its “fairly big footprint” in the metro area, and at the time CFO Tricia Tolivar said the company hadn’t really seen evidence of metro-specific softness.

markets
Matt Phillips

Robinhood surges as prediction markets gain traction

Robinhood jumped to an all-time intraday record of more than $132 late Monday morning on growing optimism about the brokerage’s prediction markets business both on Wall Street and within the company’s own executive suite.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions. I own stock as part of my compensation.)

Earlier in the day, Robinhood Chief Executive Vlad Tenev posted this tweet spotlighting that more than 4 billion event contracts have been traded on the platform since they began to be offered in February.

Analysts have also been focusing on the uptick in activity in the events contract business as a potential boon for the shares.

Piper Sandler analyst Patrick Moley published a note on Monday highlighting how trading volumes at prediction market company Kalshi soared to new records over the weekend as traders took positions on the outcomes of college and pro football games using event contracts.

Moley estimates that users at Robinhood — which partnered with Kalshi to offer contracts on games — account for between 25% and 35% of Kalshi’s daily event contract activity.

“We continue to expect HOOD will report ~2.5B of event contracts traded in 3Q25 which, at $0.01/contract, translates to ~$25M in revenue,” Moley wrote.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
©2025 Sherwood Media, LLC