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Mattel is expanding its “KPop Demon Hunters” action figure line with a third wave that includes a pair of demon Saja Boys members and more.

Ron Baron has already earned billions from Elon Musk.

Now the billionaire investor feels the largest portion of that gamble may still be in front of him.

The founder of Baron Capital made a very positive case for SpaceX on a CNBC “Squawk Box” appearance, suggesting that reducing launch costs, on top of Starlink growth, and accelerating artificial-intelligence demand may drastically raise the company’s long-term worth.

Baron said Baron Capital has invested roughly $25 billion in SpaceX and more than $5 billion in Tesla (TSLA). Of the approximately $71 billion in profits he said the firm has generated for clients over its history, roughly $30 billion came from investments associated with Musk.

His newest prediction about SpaceX is far broader.

Ultimately, Starlink could be producing something like $1 trillion per year in sales and $700 billion to $800 billion in EBITDA, Baron said. Based on his assumptions, he said the satellite business itself could eventually be worth something like $14 trillion to $15 trillion.

Those statistics are estimates from Baron, not financial forecasts from SpaceX.

But advancements at both SpaceX and Tesla are providing investors with much more real data points to judge the Musk enterprises.

Ron Baron sees a massive opportunity beyond SpaceX rockets

Baron’s thesis for SpaceX starts out with one critical variable: the cost of reaching orbit.

Reusable rockets have dramatically cut launch costs compared to the economics of traditional, expendable launch vehicles, he said. He expects Starship will drive those costs down even further, potentially making space accessible to businesses for which that wasn’t economical before.

Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed by SpaceX to carry more than 100 metric tons to orbit in a reusable configuration.

That’s significant because Baron isn’t just predicting more rockets to launch.

It is based on what cheaper launches allow.

The most established example is Starlink. Baron said he had modeled the satellite network growing dramatically over the next decade, with consumer broadband accounting for only part of the potential revenue opportunity.

Government customers, businesses, and mobile connectivity could contribute substantially more, he argued. And increasingly, Baron believes, AI agents could create another wave of communications demand as autonomous software performs more tasks around the clock.

SpaceX’s own current plans illustrate how aggressively it is trying to expand network capacity.

Starship will allow much more network capacity to be deployed per launch, and the company said its next-generation V3 Starlink satellites are expected to provide far more capacity than today’s generation.

SpaceX is also no longer restricted to private-market holdings.

The company priced its massive public offering in June at $135 per share, selling about 555.6 million Class A shares and raising roughly $75 billion. The stock began trading under the ticker SPCX.

That gives public-market investors a direct way to judge whether SpaceX can grow into anything resembling Baron’s enormous long-term expectations.

“We’re going to make hundreds of billions in the next 10 years from Elon,” Baron said.

Related: Elon Musk sends strong message to SpaceX and Tesla investors

The $15 trillion figure isn’t the most ambitious part of his thesis, either. Baron believes orbital computing could eventually create an even larger opportunity.

SpaceX’s AI data-center plan strengthens Baron’s thesis

One theme Baron kept returning to throughout the interview was space-based data centers .

AI companies are demanding larger and larger amounts of computing infrastructure, which requires electricity, cooling, land, and significant capital.

Some of those constraints could eventually be eased by moving computing infrastructure into orbit, says Baron.

He said he expects SpaceX to begin deploying data center capability into space as early as 2027, though he said the timeline could slip. As for the new business, he called it “Star Mind” and said it could one day be bigger than Starlink.

SpaceX has since publicly documented the underlying project, unlike some of Baron’s more aggressive financial assumptions.

SpaceX says StarMind is a system of satellites in orbit that carry AI-compute hardware powered by solar energy. Its initial AI1 satellite design calls for up to 250 kilowatts of peak computing power, and SpaceX says a planned manufacturing facility in Bastrop is meant to support production of thousands of AI satellites starting as soon as late 2027.

SpaceX also says Starship is key to that strategy because the company will need to launch large amounts of computing hardware at a reasonable cost.

Its current planning assumes that the gradual deployment of millions of tons of satellites could result in a huge amount of AI-compute capacity in orbit. These are company ambitions, not guaranteed outcomes, and building such infrastructure will require advances in launch cadence, satellite manufacturing, computing hardware and thermal management.

Heat management is one of the challenges Baron discussed in the CNBC interview

Hardware in space can’t use air-based cooling like ground-based data centers do. Instead, SpaceX’s StarMind design uses radiative cooling, solar power and laser links to tie the orbital compute network to Starlink.

There is an official SpaceX orbital-AI program, which gives Baron’s larger argument a more concrete grounding.

His valuation for Starlink is still very speculative at $14 trillion to $15 trillion.

But the notion that SpaceX wants to be more than a rocket-and-internet company is no longer theoretical.

Musk’s next growth engine could come from an unlikely placeBloomberg / Getty Images

Tesla’s latest autonomy push backs part of Baron’s argument

SpaceX may be Baron’s biggest bet on Musk, but Tesla is still a big part of his portfolio.

Baron said his firm has more than $5 billion in Tesla stock, and he personally owns about $1.5 billion worth of the EV maker.

And he also cleared his stance on the shares.

Baron said he believes “the time to buy the stock is now,” arguing that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology is gaining traction.

Some recent data from Tesla also backs up the specific autonomy trends Baron pointed to, but it doesn’t prove his investment conclusion will be right.

Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in the second quarter of 2026, including 467,762 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. The company produced 451,758 vehicles and delivered 13.5 gigawatt-hours of energy-storage products in the quarter.

Tesla’s financials included revenue of $28.24 billion for the second quarter, with net income attributable to common shareholders of $1.11 billion.

The company said its strategy increasingly centers on bringing AI into the physical world through FSD, Robotaxi and humanoid robots such as Optimus.

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Tesla’s Robotaxi operation has progressed further since that quarterly report.

The current Robotaxi website for the company lists autonomous ride service in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando and Tampa. Tesla claims the Cybercab is designed for full autonomy with no steering wheel or pedals.

Tesla says Cybercab is now only available to take rides in limited areas of Austin, while Model Y vehicles support Robotaxi service in other markets.

On Sept. 22, Tesla published a specific Cybercab rider guide explaining how customers can hail and ride driverless Cybercab rides via its Robotaxi app.

Tesla is also making strides on FSD (full self-driving) outside of North America.

On its FSD safety page, the European version currently lists the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia and the Czech Republic as markets where FSD (Supervised) has been approved. The system still needs driver supervision and should not be confused with a fully autonomous product.

But Tesla’s push toward autonomy also faces regulatory scrutiny.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation Sept. 4 into Tesla’s self-certification of the Cybercab after it began commercial deployment in Austin. The agency said it is looking into whether the vehicle complies with applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

This is a necessary counterweight to Baron’s enthusiasm.

FSD subscriptions and Robotaxi deployment are growing, but regulatory approval, technological reliability, and consumer adoption are key variables in how valuable those businesses ultimately become.

Baron is not focusing as much on Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot business.

Musk believes robots could one day be bigger than Tesla’s other businesses, Baron said. But at the moment, Baron places more emphasis on autos, self-driving, batteries, and energy.

That makes his investment thesis somewhat narrower than Mr. Musk’s own vision for Tesla.

But it also connects directly to what Tesla is doing today: the rapid growth in adoption of FSD, the expansion of the Robotaxi service, and the move of Cybercab from development into the real world.

Baron’s Musk bet is becoming an AI infrastructure bet

Baron started wagering on Musk with electric cars and rockets.

It increasingly feels like a gamble on the AI infrastructure.

Tesla is trying to make AI into physical products with autonomous cars and robots.

SpaceX is bringing more satellite connectivity online and building up orbital computing infrastructure that could potentially provide AI models with lots of compute.

Baron believes those trends could come together.

AI agents require connectivity. You need to be connected to network capacity. The AI models need the computing power. And SpaceX has a launch platform that could deliver communications and compute infrastructure to orbit at an unprecedented scale.

There are big expectations.

Baron sees a path to a Starlink revenue run rate of about $1 trillion and a valuation of as much as $15 trillion. He thinks orbital AI computing could be even bigger in the future.

Neither is guaranteed.

To build that future, Starship launch rates, satellite production, customer adoption, and AI-compute demand will all have to increase steeply, and significant engineering and regulatory hurdles will have to be overcome.

Tesla’s own unknowns lie in its efforts to transform ever more capable autonomous-driving technology into a mass-scale transportation business.

Yet the latest twists make one aspect of Baron’s thesis easier to grasp.

His Musk bet is no longer primarily about cars or rockets.

More and more, it’s about controlling the infrastructure required to connect, move, and provide computing power for an AI-driven economy.

And the opportunity is just beginning, says Baron.

Related: The Robotaxi payday Tesla promised owners isn’t coming

There is a version of the Oracle story that sounds like triumph. Cloud infrastructure revenue up 121%. A $664 billion backlog. $30 billion in new AI contracts signed in a single quarter. 300,000 GPUs delivered to customers, and management raising the full-year revenue forecast to at least $90 billion. I covered all of that in my previous piece.

Then there is another version that sounds like a warning. Credit default swaps at record highs. The 2056 bonds yielding over 8% for the first time. A force majeure notice delaying payments on the New Mexico Project Jupiter data center. S&P downgrading the firm to BBB, one notch above junk. 

If that final downgrade comes, $120 billion of Oracle bonds would be automatically removed from investment-grade indexes, according to a Seeking Alpha analysis.

Both versions are simultaneously true. That tension is the Oracle story in 2026, and it matters for anyone trying to understand how the entire AI infrastructure buildout is being financed.

Also read: How much Oracle stock is Larry Ellison using as loan collateral? 

The cash flow picture that is scaring bond markets

Oracle spent approximately $28.5 billion on capital expenditure in Q1 fiscal 2027 against quarterly revenue of $19.35 billion. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months through August 2026 is -$28.72 billion, according to Alpha Spread.

That number looks catastrophic until you understand what is driving it. Oracle’s operating cash flow remains strongly positive before the massive growth spending on GPUs, power infrastructure, and new data centers. The negative free cash flow is largely the result of discretionary investment against a contracted backlog, not a deterioration in the underlying business.

Now, the bull case: once Oracle slows its growth capex engine, the company could return to generating substantial free cash flow. Its underlying software and support business, while shrinking as a share of revenue, still carries exceptional margins. And the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) buildout represents heavy upfront investment to support a multi-year revenue stream.

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The bear case is that Oracle has yet to give investors a clear timeline for when free cash flow will turn positive again. 

Management expects fiscal 2027 net cash capex to approach $70 billion, against roughly $90 billion to $95 billion in reported capex, according to the Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript. At that scale, Oracle needs sustained access to external financing to keep the buildout going.

The bond market is charging Oracle for that uncertainty. Five-year credit default swaps for Oracle have reached levels far above the investment-grade average, according to a Seeking Alpha report.

Latest Goldman data via Reuters show that AI-related issuers are paying about 115 basis points on new debt versus 78 basis points for the broader investment-grade market. But Oracle’s situation is more acute than the average.

How Oracle is trying to manage the financing problem

The company is not ignoring the issue. Two structural approaches are cutting down its capital burden.

Customer prepayments. Customers increasingly fund hardware purchases themselves through bring-your-own-hardware arrangements. In Q4 fiscal 2026, approximately $75 billion in AI infrastructure contracts were structured primarily through prepayments or BYOH structures. Q1’s new contracts, management said, did not require additional Oracle capital to fulfill.

The Apollo and Blackstone $35 billion AI purpose vehicle I covered when reporting on Broadcom — Oracle is using similar third-party financing structures to keep specific deployments off its direct balance sheet.

If customers fund a large portion of their own infrastructure, Oracle can grow OCI dramatically without proportional increases in its own spending. I think that is the best-case scenario for the capital structure concern.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure revenue is up 121%, with a $664 billion backlog and $30 billion in new AI contracts signed in a single quarter.Shutterstock

The business transformation that changes how Oracle should be valued

The deeper issue Morgan Stanley has been wrestling with, as I covered in the Sep. 10 earnings note, is that Oracle is becoming a fundamentally different company.

Software revenue fell 3% in Q1 fiscal 2027. The high-margin, asset-light software business that defined Oracle’s economics for decades is shrinking as a proportion of the total. 

Growth is now being driven by cloud infrastructure, which requires significant physical capital for every incremental dollar of revenue.

Oracle’s long-term margin target for Oracle cloud infrastructure (OCI) is above 30%, with high-20% returns on invested capital for mature data centers. If Oracle hits those targets, this capex cycle could look like one of the most profitable infrastructure investments in technology history.

If they are not achieved — if utilization ramps slowly, if energy and GPU costs remain elevated, if customers negotiate down pricing as more supply comes online — the math looks very different.

The $664 billion backlog provides revenue visibility. It does not provide equal visibility into the economics of converting that backlog into cash. 

You see that gap between contracted revenue and actual free cash flow? That is the question Oracle’s bond market is pricing, and the one equity investors need to think carefully about before treating the 121% OCI growth number as the complete story.

Related: Jim Cramer sends strong signal to Oracle stock investors

Think about what investing in international stocks meant for an ordinary investor not so long ago. 

You needed a brokerage account with international access, dealt with currency conversion fees, navigated tax complications and, in many cases, couldn’t buy the companies you wanted. The financial system was built for insiders.

That is the problem Robinhood built its entire identity around solving. And now, according to a Morgan Stanley research note shared with me at TheStreet, it is doing it again. And this time for global investors who want access to U.S. equities without a U.S. brokerage account.

Robinhood (HOOD) has launched Stock Tokens. These are tokenized debt securities tracking U.S. equities and are available to investors in more than 120 countries. 

Within months, the product accumulated more than $150 million in assets, approximately 200,000 holders, and roughly $400 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, according to the Morgan Stanley note. 

A person in Brazil or Nigeria can now hold a derivative position tracking Apple or Nvidia stock through a blockchain wallet.

Also Read: Robinhood Markets Inc. Latest News and Stories

What Robinhood has actually built and why Morgan Stanley calls it a “right to win”

Looking at the note, I see Morgan Stanley framing Robinhood’s onchain evolution around one structural advantage: 28 million funded customers who already trust the platform with real money.

Building a blockchain product from scratch requires trust, which, of course, takes years. Robinhood is starting with a customer base that has already crossed that threshold. 

The firm sees this as the foundation for what Morgan Stanley calls a “right to win” in tokenized finance.

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The product stack that the note describes is actually more comprehensive than most investors realize. Robinhood Chain is a Layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum, dedicated to financial services and real-world assets.Robinhood Earn integrates decentralized lending directly into the main app via protocols such as Morpho. Robinhood Wallet provides self-custody and decentralized exchange routing. Bitstamp, the $200 million institutional crypto exchange Robinhood acquired, provides the infrastructure for global crypto trading across all U.S. states and international markets.

Robinhood Chain has already scaled to more than $1.5 billion in total value locked, with Earn balances approaching $450 million, according to Morgan Stanley’s note. 

Robinhood’s regulatory picture that shapes what comes next

The U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act on Sep. 15, falling short of the 60 votes needed in a 49-to-50 procedural vote, with negotiations stalling over ethics provisions tied to President Trump’s crypto businesses, according to CNBC.

That outcome matters, but Morgan Stanley’s note suggests it is not the decisive factor for Robinhood’s timeline. 

The SEC subsequently introduced a digital asset “innovation exemption” that would allow eligible platforms to trade tokenized U.S. stocks without registering as national securities exchanges. 

Related: Robinhood makes controversial change to beloved product

The CFTC issued a no-action position for passive software providers and sent the crypto market rulemaking proposal to the White House. The OCC is advancing stablecoin rulemaking with completion targeted for November.

The regulatory environment is messy and incomplete, but it is moving toward recognizing tokenized finance as a legitimate category rather than treating it as an extension of speculative crypto trading.

That distinction actually matters enormously for Robinhood. The company’s Q2 2026 earnings showed traditional cryptocurrency transaction revenue falling 38% year over year (YOY) to $100 million, according to the earnings release.  The growth is in the infrastructure and financial products built on top of blockchain rails.

Robinhood (HOOD) launched tokenized debt securities tracking U.S. equities, available to investors in more than 120 countries.Shutterstock

The Robinhood catalysts Morgan Stanley is watching

The note identifies several near-term events that could move the story forward. The Robinhood Summit on September 29 and 30 could bring product announcements, including potential U.S. perpetual futures trading. This is a product category currently available internationally but not yet in the domestic market. 

Expanded real-world asset offerings and deeper lending and collateral use cases for Stock Tokens are the other near-term priorities.

The Q2 2026 earnings, reported July 29, already showed a business generating record revenue of $1.31 billion, up 32% year over year, with 13 separate business lines each above $100 million in annualized revenue. Net deposits were a record $22 billion. Gold subscribers hit a record 4.8 million, or 39% YOY.

Whether it’s the Robinhood Chain, Robinhood Ventures, or Trump Accounts, our product velocity is focused on one goal: making everyone an owner.

Morgan Stanley’s onchain thesis is really the latest chapter of that mission: expanding financial access to people and markets that the traditional system was never built to serve. 

The bigger question is whether Robinhood’s 28 million customers, along with the millions of global investors now gaining access through Stock Tokens, can turn that mission into a meaningful new growth engine.

Currently, HOOD trades near $119.40, up 5.57% year-to-date, and $1,133.47% according to Yahoo Finance. Based on TheStreet’s 21 analysts’ stock ratings for Robinhood in the past 3 months, 19 gave a buy, 2 a hold, and 0 a sell.

Related: Cathie Wood buys $3.5 million of surging tech stock

Restaurants have a pricing problem.

In late 2025, more than 80% of Americans believed that restaurant prices had climbed over the previous 12 months, according to a YouGov report. However, only 28% of diners believed that those prices were fair for the quality of the meal.

This perceived “value gap” affects how diners are spending.

More than half (54%) say they spend less at restaurants overall, employing strategies like ordering fewer items and skipping drinks to ensure their bills stay small.

“Americans still enjoy dining out, but value has become the deciding factor shaping where and how they choose to eat,” Nora Hao, YouGov America’s Sr. Sales Director, said in a statement accompanying the report. 

For chains like Cracker Barrel, where low prices are the bedrock of the menu, this value-seeking behavior among consumers created an opportunity. 

With some 60% of diners saying that they actively seek out restaurants with lower prices when deciding where to eat out, Cracker Barrel has been able to leverage its wallet-friendly pricing into steady foot traffic and revenues.

But that may be coming to an end. 

During the chain’s fourth-quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call, CEO Dave Deno warned that some major price jumps are coming in the near future.

Cracker Barrel plans to raise prices again

During the call, Cracker Barrel executives confirmed that menu prices would be rising by 3% or more in 2027.

The move, they say, is to offset the cost of inflation.

However, the chain says it’s not taking an all-or-nothing approach to the price increases, and says it’s committed to maintaining its affordability status for all income cohorts.

“When it comes to us specifically, yes, we do see some pressure with our low-income guests,” Deno told investors. 

That pressure, he continued, is what makes it so essential that the chain’s price jumps are strategic and not universal. 

“We have some special pricing constructs with really sharp, stark new price points,” CFO Craig Pommells told investors. 

“For example, we have our Sunrise Pancake Special that’s every day at $7.99. It’s a great deal,” he continued. “We have early dine Monday through Friday that starts at $8.99. We also have, again, the loyalty program, and we have lunch specials.”

“There are a lot of ways that if you’re feeling pressured from a discretionary income perspective, there are a lot of ways you can still have a great experience at Cracker Barrel,” he continued.”

Overall, the chain maintains that, even with the menu price jumps, its value proposition remains strong.

“We believe the Cracker Barrel value equation is really outstanding,” Pommells said. “We’ve got a check average that’s in the $16 range, and that compares to casual dining [in the industry in general] that’s $27… I think that positions us well in that regard.”

Cracker Barrel says it plans to raise prices in 2027, but says overall food quality will also improve. Jeff Greenberg / Getty Images

The chain is focusing on more than price

But Cracker Barrel knows value isn’t just about price.

If the chain wants customers to accept higher menu prices, it needs to convince them that the food they’re getting is worth the extra money.

So Cracker Barrel is also focusing on improving that half of the value equation, as well.

“Our first priority is food, more specifically, enhancing our quality while making it more craveable,” Deno said.

“We are making investments to improve food quality,” he continued. “Dinner is our biggest opportunity, and we plan to upgrade our chicken, hamburger, and steak offerings. We also want to ensure our great food meets guests’ expectations for taste, temperature, and quality on every visit.

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Some of these updates have been in the works for a while.

In 2025, the chain told the Wall Street Journal it was changing its cooking processes for some items like green beans and bacon to make them fresher when they hit the table.

It’s also been adding lighter fare, like grilled shrimp, and bringing back old favorites like the ‘90s campfire meals, in an effort to ensure there are options for diners of all types.

“I think they are trying to broaden it out so there’s more of a selection, so you’re not pigeonholing yourself to, ‘I want to go eat hearty,’” Benchmark analyst Todd Brooks told the Wall Street Journal. “But it’ll still be within the Cracker Barrel ethos.”

If Cracker Barrel can nail the balance of both halves of this value equation — raising costs just enough to keep it profitable without shutting out a portion of its consumer base and keeping food quality high — it could land right in that “value gap” sweet spot.

I get a coffee, an iced tea, or some other drink from Starbucks nearly every day.

That, at least to me, feels like a nonnegotiable reward for working hard. Yes, I’m spending $4-6 on something I can make at home, but it’s an ingrained ritual that’s a pleasant part of my day, and something that’s a fixed cost, not an indulgence.

But buying an $8-$12 smoothie from Jamba Juice, Smoothie King, or the new place opening down the road from me, Bora Bora Smoothie Cafe? That choice seems increasingly difficult to justify as consumers become more selective about where they spend, while GLP-1 drugs add another challenge for food and beverage companies.

“As households navigate ongoing financial pressures, consumers are becoming more intentional about where they spend, balancing health, wellness, and enjoyment while prioritizing the outcomes they value — a shift further shaped by growing GLP-1 adoption,” Circana reported in its 2026/2027 Global Food and Beverage Outlook.

The market makes a chain like Jamba Juice, which has terminated 116 franchise agreements and had another 14 operators not renew, a challenge to operate.

Jamba Juice loses 130 franchise operators

Jamba Juice sells smoothies, blended coffee, fruit and acai bowls, various drinks, oatmeal, and juices.

The company, which is franchised, reported that it has lost a lot of locations.

In a “special risks” section of its 2026 franchise disclosure document (FDD), which can be downloaded here, the smoothie chain revealed that 130 Jamba Juice franchise agreements have not survived the last three years.

“During the last three years, 130 outlets were terminated, not renewed, reacquired, or ceased operations for other reasons. This franchise could be a higher-risk investment than a franchise in a system with a lower turnover rate,” the company shared.

The 2025 FDD shows that the chain closed nearly 50 stores (although it also added locations). Most of those were the company terminating the franchise deal. Only three of the stores that closed in 2025 were franchise operators deciding not to renew.

There was a net loss of 17 when offset by the openings.

“In an unusual twist, that turnover rate has been overwhelmingly driven by franchise terminations, the document reveals, with some 116 Jamba Juice franchises being terminated since the beginning of 2023. Over that same period, only 13 franchises were listed as non-renewals, and just one store ceased operations for another reason,” Fast Company reported.

Jamba is performing well below industry norms.

“The high level of terminations is not typical of Jamba’s competitive set. By comparison, rival Tropical Smoothie Cafe had only 28 terminations over the same three-year period, despite that chain having a much larger footprint. Planet Smoothie, a smaller competitor, had just 4 terminations,” added Fast Company.

Jamba had 893 locations at the end of 2015 with 818 being in the United States, according to an SEC filing.

Jamba Juice offers a store design for inside a mall or food court.Shutterstock

What does it cost to open a Jamba Juice?

Jamba Juice explains its franchise model on its website: “Every market is different. That’s why Jamba offers multiple development formats designed to match different investment goals, locations, and growth strategies,” the company shared.

The company shared the costs of its various models:

Traditional store: Starting at $480,850 

Drive-thru: Starting at $517,000

Nontraditional investment (like a mall food court or rest stop): Starting at $249,025

The company also shared its financial requirements:

Initial franchise fee: $35,500

Minimum liquid capital: $120,000

Minimum net worth: $300,000

Estimated initial investment for a traditional store without a drive-thru: $481,000 to $941,000

A traditional Jamba store requires an estimated initial investment of $480,850 to $941,300, according to the company’s 2026 FDD.

Jamba faces an economic problem

Starbucks has seen its U.S. same-store sales climb, which suggests that even in a challenging economy, the company’s customers see its coffee, snacks, and meals as an affordable indulgence.

“North America comparable store sales increased 8.1%, primarily driven by a 4.5% increase in comparable transactions and a 3.5% increase in average ticket; U.S. comparable store sales increased 7.9%, primarily driven by a 4.2% increase in comparable transactions and a 3.6% increase in average ticket,” the company shared in its third-quarter earnings release.

Jamba’s closures suggest the people don’t see the chain’s products the same way, according to RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino.

“The challenge for Jamba is that a smoothie is easier to cut out of the budget than coffee. Coffee has become part habit, part ritual, and part reward. A smoothie may be healthier or more substantial, but at $9, consumers are much more likely to look at it and say, ‘I don’t really need that today,’” he told TheStreet.

Consumers have become more careful with their money, according to EY-Parthenon Americas Retail Sector Leader Will Auchincloss.

“More than half of consumers report saving nothing, and one in five households are spending beyond their income. For retailers, demand remains intact but increasingly selective, making value, affordability and clear differentiation more important than ever,” he said in an EY-Parthenon release based on an August survey.

These Jamba locations closed in 2026

Jamba has not shared which locations have closed, but, according to its store locator, these shut down in 2026.

6000 J St Student Union, Sacramento, CA 95819

6050 Main St, American Canyon, CA 94503 1570 Disneyland Dr, Anaheim, CA

92802 32358 Dyer St, Union City, CA 94587 1497 Adams Ave, El Centro, CA

92243 921 Topsy Ln #412, Carson City, NV 89705 6440 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, TX 75039 4

502 S Steele St Ste. #381, Tacoma, WA 98409

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The SpaceX insider-selling question finally has an answer. Since the June IPO, investors have watched every Form 144 filing and share unlock for signs of a flood of stock hitting the market. Tuesday brought the reveal.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s President and Chief Operating Officer, filed to sell 342,170 shares valued at approximately $51.96 million, according to an SEC Form 144 filed September 22. 

Gwynne was the executive who had run the company’s day-to-day operations for nearly two decades while Elon Musk occupied the visionary role.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is listed as the broker according to the same form. The implied price is approximately $151.85 per share.

The filing is notable as the first significant stock sale by a SpaceX executive since the June 12 IPO. SPCX now trades at $148, up from the $135 IPO price but below the day-one open of $150 and well below the all-time high of $225.64 reached on June 16.

Also Read: SpaceX Latest News and Stories

The mechanics and why this is not what the bears expected

According to the filing, Shotwell acquired the 342,170 shares on Sept. 22 by exercising stock options. The sale follows a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on June 23, eleven days after the IPO, meaning the transaction was scheduled in advance when Shotwell did not possess material non-public information.

The Form 144 states she had no securities sales to report in the preceding three months. The filing represents only a small fraction of the roughly 7.7 billion shares listed as outstanding.

 SpaceX:

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Let’s look at the context. The insider-selling scenario investors feared, given SpaceX’s unusual staggered lockup structure, was a wave of early investors and executives flooding the market with shares at the first opportunity. 

What has actually emerged is one executive exercising options and selling the resulting shares under a preplanned trading program.

Just as notable, recent disclosures show that several high-net-worth individuals with established ties to Elon Musk have been buying SPCX shares on the open market since the IPO. In other words, the insider activity so far does not look like the one-way exit bears wanted.

SpaceX’s lockup structure has been driving investor anxiety

SpaceX’s approach to post-IPO liquidity was genuinely unusual, and understanding it explains why investors have been so focused on insider activity.

Rather than a standard 180-day lockup cliff, SpaceX implemented a rolling unlock schedule. Up to 5% of shares were made available immediately through a Directed Share Program for select employees, friends, and family. 

The first major wave came on Aug. 6, releasing roughly 911.5 million shares, approximately 20% of the early pool, right after Q2 earnings. I covered that event in August, when Morgan Stanley warned of the $100 billion lockup overhang.

Related: Morgan Stanley warns SpaceX approaching its most dangerous moment

Sequential 7% tranches are scheduled at 70, 90, and 105 trading days, with the next releases due Oct. 9 and Oct. 24. The largest remaining wave will follow Q3 earnings, releasing approximately 28% of the regular insider pool, Morningstar reported.

Standard employees and early retail investors see full lockup expiry on Dec. 8, which is 180 days post-IPO. Elon Musk and core institutional backers cannot sell until June 12, 2027.

The August unlock absorbed 911.5 million shares without the catastrophic selloff many anticipated. The stock subsequently rallied approximately 35% from its post-unlock lows.

The first major SpaceX IPO lock-in expiry wave came on Aug. 6, releasing roughly 911.5 million shares, approximately 20% of the early pool, right after Q2 earnings.Shutterstock

Where SPCX stands and what the rest of 2026 means for investors

SpaceX’s market capitalization is at $1.96 trillion according to Yahoo Finance. That makes it one of the largest companies in the world by that measure. The stock at $148 is above the $135 IPO price but below both the day-one open and the all-time high, meaning many early post-IPO buyers are still underwater on their trades.

The Q2 2026 earnings I covered in August showed $7.8 billion in revenue, up 92% year over year, with Starlink connectivity revenue growing 66% year over year. 

The AI compute segment generated $2.6 billion in revenue. Adjusted EBITDA grew 191%. The $18.4 billion in Q2 capital expenditure — $15.8 billion directed toward AI — was what spooked investors more than any insider trade.

Shotwell’s $52 million sale is not small by any individual measure. Against a $2 trillion market cap, it is financially immaterial. What it is, however, is a data point in the pattern investors are watching: who is selling, how much, and whether the institutional buyers absorbing those shares believe in the long-term thesis more than the early holders believe in the exit.

So far, the pattern suggests the big sellers have not arrived. Shotwell exercised options and sold what her trading plan called for. I think that’s a normal insider activity.

Related: OpenAI makes development moves to counter SpaceX and Meta

Looking for help with today’s New York Times Pips? We’ll walk you through today’s puzzle and help you match dominoes to tiles.

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale produced world record numbers as the largest auction in history. The through the ring sales exceeded last year’s record numbers.