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TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this dealBackyard barbecues during summer are an American tradition. Inviting friends and family, throwing some delicious food on the cooktop, and having a great time with loved ones is something that many people look forward to every season. The more convenient it is to host a barbecue, the more likely it is to happen, and if you’re someone who loves having friends over or just cooking outdoors for yourself or the family, having the right tools can streamline the whole process, allowing you to spend more time having fun and less time worrying and cleaning. If you’ve been shopping for some grill accessories, chances are you’ve seen Blackstone pretty much everywhere. They’re versatile, easy to clean, and can make your outdoor feast even more delicious, and they also make great accessories. The Blackstone Deluxe Stainless Steel Griddle Spatula Set is a great addition to any outdoor cooking setup, and the best part is, this set is just $24 at Walmart. Blackstone Deluxe Stainless Steel Griddle Spatula Set, $24 (was $30) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at WalmartWhy do shoppers love it?This set includes an extra-large hamburger spatula that’s great for smashing, flipping, and serving, two griddle spatulas with a beveled edge, stainless steel tongs with a locking mechanism, a paintbrush-style griddle scraper to make cleaning easier, and a 32-ounce squeeze bottle with a twist-top nozzle for flavoring, steaming, and cleaning. It also features a “Griddle Essentials” cookbook for inspiration and ideas. Each tool is designed with heavy-gauge brushed stainless steel and plastic handles for durability, offering professional-grade accessories that are perfect for cooking burgers, pancakes, vegetables, eggs, and tons of other foods. They’re useful for Blackstone griddle cooktops, but can also be used to flip burgers on a normal grill, and even stainless steel kitchen pans. Related: Walmart has a Blackstone griddle that’s ‘built like a tank’ for under $100, and it’s selling fastThis set allows you to cook seamlessly, keeping food moving across the cooking surface, adding water or oil when needed, and transitioning from breakfast to dinner without missing a beat. If you’ve ever cooked breakfast for a crowd or tried to keep burgers, onions, and toasted buns going at the same time, you know that having the right tools to help everything go smoothly is a huge advantage. Then, with the tools already on hand, it’s just as easy to clean up with the griddle scraper and squeeze bottle at the end of the night. Details to knowItems: This set includes an extra-large hamburger spatula, two griddle spatulas, and a pair of tongs. It also has a griddle scraper and a 32-ounce squeeze bottle. Material: The stainless steel material works well and can last for decades. Bonus cookbook: Enjoy a bonus cookbook with this set to help kick off the backyard season. One reviewer loved this set, saying “These are made of heavy stainless steel. I’ve had them over high heat plenty of times and haven’t seen any warping. The set comes with a wide burger spatula that has a sharp, beveled edge. If you like making smashburgers, this is key for getting under that crust without tearing the meat apart. The handles also have built-in thumb rests and hooks on the end. It sounds small, but when you’re juggling three different things in the heat, having a spot to hang your greasy tools is a lifesaver.””They are very useful, sturdy, and beautiful as well,” said another shopper. “I love them so much I purchased a set for each of my adult children as nice gifts.”Shop more dealsBlackstone 25-Piece Ultimate Griddle Set, $60 (was $69) at WalmartBlackstone Signature 12-Inch Round Basting Cover, $20 (was $26) at WalmartMibote Griddle Accessory Kit, $32 (was $53) at WalmartThe Blackstone Deluxe Stainless Steel Griddle Spatula Set offers an affordable, accessible option for any cooktop grilling this season. Whether it’s Saturday morning breakfast or weeknight dinner for the family, this set has you covered for just $24.

On July 21, Mizuho told clients that Oracle (ORCL) stock could more than double from here.The bank reiterated its Outperform rating and kept its $320 price target, a call that implies about a 164% rise from Monday’s close.That number stands out because Oracle has been one of 2026’s most punished large-cap tech names.ORCL shares are down about 38% from the start of the year and more than 48% over the past 12 months.So when a major bank says a beaten-down stock can double, the first question worth asking is simple. What does Mizuho see that the bears do not?Why Mizuho is calling Oracle stock a discount buyMizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi framed the case around one word: valuation.Oracle now trades at about 14 times its expected fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings, a level Panigrahi called a clear discount compared to its peers, TipRanks reported.He believes Oracle offers one of the most attractive risk-reward setups.That argument rests on a gap. Oracle is growing faster than many rivals, yet the stock trades cheaper than them.Panigrahi pointed to steadier execution in three areas: converting signed contracts into live capacity, the quality of the backlog, and clearer visibility into how Oracle funds its buildout.Mizuho is arguing that the market has priced Oracle as a troubled spender while ignoring the revenue already under contract.

Oracle has become one of the AI data-center race’s biggest spenders, and its stock has paid the price in 2026.NurPhoto / Getty Images

The backlog Oracle is counting on to grow intoOracle finished fiscal 2026 with remaining performance obligations of $638 billion, up 363% compared to last year.Remaining performance obligations, or RPO, is simply the value of signed contracts a company has not yet delivered.In plain terms, it is revenue Oracle has already booked but still has to build the capacity to serve.That backlog is why Oracle’s management predicts about 34% total revenue growth in fiscal 2027, up from 17% in fiscal 2026.More AI Infrastructure Stocks:UBS says to ‘buy the dip’ in Bloom Energy stockNvidia CEO doubles down on AI and stock market verdictCathie Wood buys $2.1M of tumbling AI stockOracle also signed $67 billion in new AI infrastructure contracts in the fourth quarter alone, much of it prepaid or built on customer-owned hardware.Prepaid deals matter because customers front the cash, which eases the pressure on Oracle’s own wallet.Why Oracle stock fell so far in the first placeThe fear driving the selloff is cost. Building AI data centers is very expensive, and Oracle is spending like few companies ever have.Oracle estimated roughly $90 billion to $95 billion in gross capital spending for fiscal 2027, MLQ reported.Free cash flow ran deeply negative in fiscal 2026 as that buildout accelerated.Here is what investors have been cautious of:A credit profile pushed to BBB-, one grade above junkA capital need that CLSA estimates could reach $500 billion through 2030Roughly $40 billion in planned debt and equity raises for fiscal 2027The picture worsened this week when a New Mexico regulator again rejected the pipeline meant to power Oracle’s flagship Project Jupiter data center, threatening its timeline.How Mizuho’s target stacks up against the rest of Wall StreetA 164% target sounds ambitious until you see where the rest of Wall Street sits.Mizuho is the most bullish voice, but it is not alone in seeing a large rise from these levels.Of the 32 analysts covering Oracle, 28 rate it a Buy or Strong Buy, while four gave a Hold rating. The 12-month average target sits at $259.76.Related: Oracle stock makes rattling move after major setbackThe difference between the average target and today’s price is a signal that Wall Street mostly believes Oracle is worth far more than it trades for. Most analysts want to see a debt or equity raise land cleanly before pricing in the full recovery. Mizuho is willing to price it in now, ahead of that confirmation.How ORCL has moved against the marketOracle has badly trailed the wider market during this stretch, and that shows how much sentiment has turned.Here is the recent scorecard for ORCL:Past five days: down about 4%, near $125.73Past month: down about 28%Year to date: down about 38%52-week range: a low of $120.03 against a high near $346That 52-week range is what Mizuho is leaning on. A stock trading close to $120 with a backlog of over $600 billion is either a value trap or a rare mispricing.What Oracle investors should watch before actingA double-your-money target is exciting, but it depends on several things going right.Before treating Mizuho’s call as a green light, track the catalysts that actually decide the final outcome:Financing clarity. Any large debt or equity raise will show how Oracle plans to close its funding gap, and could pressure shares near term.Power and permits. A resolution on Project Jupiter’s pipeline and air quality permit would remove a concrete delay risk.The next earnings check. Oracle reports first-quarter fiscal 2027 results on September 10, the next real test of whether the backlog is converting.Credit re-ratings. Mizuho flags potential upgrades as a mid-term catalyst, so watch the rating agencies.The bull case is real. Oracle has the demand, the backlog, and a cheaper multiple than its peers.The risk is equally real. A company funding a historic buildout largely on borrowed money has little room for error, and the market is pricing that in.Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell. Weigh the growth against the balance sheet and decide what fits your own risk tolerance.Related: Analyst sends chilling Oracle stock verdict

The U.S. and China have been fighting over AI for a while now. Chip bans, export controls, benchmark competition, open-source model releases that sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley — most of it has been quiet enough that regular people didn’t notice. July 22 was different.Scott Bessent got on X (the former Twitter) and said something that caught the attention of every major AI company with international operations. The Treasury Secretary wasn’t talking about tariffs or trade. He was talking about how one Chinese AI company trained its model, and what he said was coming if Washington’s version of events held up.What Scott Bessent said about Chinese AI companies and American IPBessent’s post had one line that stood out from everything else. “Open source is not open season on American IP,” he wrote on X. “When firms conduct covert, industrial-scale distillation attacks that cross the line into IP theft, sanctions and Entity List designations will be on the table.”Entity List. That’s the list Huawei is on. That’s the list the U.S. puts companies on when it decides they’re a national security problem. Bessent just dropped that word into a conversation about how a Chinese AI company trained its model. That’s the part of the post worth sitting with.He had made a version of this threat the day before, too, saying the government would examine Chinese open-source models for signs of IP theft. The July 22 post was a doubling down, not a first shot.Why Moonshot and Kimi K3 are at the center of this AI disputeThe target is Moonshot, a Chinese AI company that released Kimi K3 on July 16. It’s a 2.8 trillion parameter model, the largest open-weight AI model ever built, and Moonshot is promising to publish the full weights by July 27. White House Science and Technology Policy Chief Michael Kratsios pointed the finger at them on July 22, posting on X that Moonshot had conducted large-scale distillation against U.S. models.More AI:Workers just sent AI companies an ultimatumPalantir CEO has a blunt verdict on OpenAI and AnthropicElon Musk pulls no punches with AI rivals as Grok 4.5 debutsKratsios went further than the IP angle. He alleged that Moonshot acquired Nvidia GB300-equipped servers and accessed GB300 systems in Thailand. That’s a separate and more serious problem. GB300 servers are part of Nvidia’s Blackwell generation and are banned from being sold to Chinese companies. If those allegations are accurate, Moonshot may have violated export-control rules on top of the IP complaint.Moonshot hasn’t responded publicly. Some experts are skeptical of the full picture. Fable only became available on July 1, and researchers have questioned whether Kimi K3 could have been built primarily through distillation from a model that’s only been out for three weeks, according to TechCrunch.What model distillation actually is and why it’s become a legal and political problemDistillation is one of the most common techniques in AI development. A smaller, cheaper model learns from the outputs of a larger, more powerful one. Done properly, it’s a legitimate optimization method. Most AI companies do some version of it. The dispute is never really about whether distillation happened. It’s about whether it was done at a scale and in a manner that amounts to stealing someone else’s work.Most major AI models have terms of service that say you can’t use their outputs to train a competing model. If Moonshot was systematically hitting Anthropic’s systems to generate training data, that’s a terms violation at minimum. Whether it rises to the level of legal IP theft is a much murkier question, and whether Treasury sanctions are the right tool for a terms-of-service dispute is murkier still.The open-source angle makes it more complicated. Moonshot released Kimi K3 as an open-weight model, which has drawn comparisons to DeepSeek’s approach earlier this year. That release rattled U.S. AI labs because it suggested Chinese companies might be closing the gap faster than expected. Washington’s response appears to be that if the gap is closing because American IP is being stolen, that’s not acceptable competition.

Anthropic has been lobbying Washington for tougher action against Chinese AI rivals.Cho/Getty Images

Why Washington is pushing to restrict Chinese AI models more broadlyBessent and Kratsios aren’t the only voices in this conversation. Dean Ball, formerly a White House AI adviser and now OpenAI’s Head of Strategic Futures, has been arguing that the U.S. should restrict or effectively ban the use of Chinese open-weight models entirely. His case is partly about national security and partly about preserving the economic model that justifies the enormous capital costs behind frontier AI development. Bessent himself has been framing the U.S.-China AI competition in existential terms for months, saying at a Wall Street Journal event in April that the U.S. had just 12 to 18 months before AI defines daily life, as TheStreet reported.Kimi K3 got attention because it was good, good enough that people started asking whether Chinese labs were closing the gap faster than anyone expected. That’s an uncomfortable question for U.S. AI companies that have been spending hundreds of billions on training runs. If a Chinese company can match that output at a fraction of the cost, the whole investment thesis gets harder to defend. The IP theft accusation gives Washington a cleaner story. But the anxiety underneath it isn’t really about one model.Anthropic has been lobbying Washington for tougher action against Chinese AI rivals. The company pressed officials earlier this year for stronger IP protections. In June, it sent a letter to the White House and U.S. senators alleging that Alibaba ran 28.8 million exchanges against its Claude models using 25,000 fake accounts in what it called the largest distillation attempt it had documented. The Fable-Kimi K3 situation is, in some ways, the fight Anthropic was already trying to get Washington to take seriously, as TheStreet reported.What Bessent’s AI sanctions threat means for the global AI industryIf the U.S. begins imposing sanctions over model training practices, it changes the rules of the AI race in a meaningful way. Companies building models with international teams, using open-source tools, or operating in multiple jurisdictions would have to think carefully about what they’re training on and where the data is coming from.Entity List designations are particularly significant. Being placed on the Entity List cuts off a company from U.S. technology supply chains. For an AI company that depends on Nvidia chips, cloud infrastructure, or American software tools, that’s potentially a company-ending designation.The broader implication is that AI intellectual property is becoming a national security issue. Washington is no longer treating model training as a purely commercial or technical dispute. When Treasury starts using the same language it uses for financial sanctions in an argument about how one AI company trained its chatbot, the AI industry is operating in a different environment than it was a month ago.Related: Scott Bessent shares the truth about American gold and dollars

Every public company has a number it wants you to see and a number it hopes you scroll past.Earnings season is built on that tension.The revenue line is the easy one. It goes in the press release, it goes in the headline, and it goes in the first paragraph of most coverage.Bigger is better, and bigger is simple.The profit line is harder. It carries the cost of producing that revenue, and it tells you whether growth was bought at a sensible price or an ugly one.Automakers live in a particularly cruel version of this. Building cars eats capital, and selling more of them at a thinner margin can leave a company busier and poorer at the same time.For years, electric vehicle makers had a cushion that hid the problem. Regulatory credits, sold to rival manufacturers who needed them to meet emissions rules, dropped nearly pure profit onto the income statement.No factory required. That cushion is mostly gone.Which brings us to Wednesday, July 22, afternoon, when Tesla (TSLA) posted the best revenue quarter in its history and handed investors something considerably less pleasant to think about.

Tesla sets a revenue record while operating profit fell 57%.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Why Tesla margins matter more than a revenue recordThe record itself is real. Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in the second quarter, up 25% from a year earlier, and booked revenue of $28.24 billion, up 26%, according to CNBC.That cleared the roughly $25.71 billion Wall Street had penciled in.Trailing 12-month revenue passed $100 billion for the first time, the company said in its second-quarter update filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.So the top of the income statement did everything the bulls wanted. Bank of America had raised its Tesla estimates going into the print on the strength of those deliveries.More Tesla:Elon Musk just got a new rival on three frontsCalifornia sends Tesla a message with its new EV rebateTesla now has a serious software rivalThe trouble starts one line down.Gross margin on the car business, stripped of regulatory credits, landed at 16.3%, down from 19.2% a year earlier. Analysts had modeled 18.4%.Regulatory credit revenue fell to $146 million from $439 million, reported Quartz.That is a two-thirds collapse in the single most profitable line Tesla has ever carried, and it does not come back. The buyers of those credits were rival automakers under emissions mandates that no longer bind them the way they once did.Strip the credits out and you are looking at the car business as it actually is, probably for the first time in a decade.Where Tesla’s quarterly profit actually came fromOperating income, the line that measures whether the actual business made money, fell 57% to $398 million. Operating margin narrowed to 1.4% from 4.1%, according to StockTitan.Net income, by contrast, fell only 5%, to $1.11 billion.That gap is the story.I put the two figures side by side, and the arithmetic is uncomfortable. Operating income was $398 million. Net income was nearly three times that.The difference came from below the operating line.Tesla booked a $1.005 billion unrealized gain on its equity stake in SpaceX (SPCX), worth $763 million after tax.Net of tax, that paper gain accounts for roughly 68% of the quarter’s reported net income.Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja confirmed the mechanics on the call, saying net income was “positively impacted by a mark-to-market gain” of about $1 billion on the SpaceX holdings, reported TradingView.Tesla did not go shopping for that stake, exactly. It committed $2 billion to xAI in January, SpaceX absorbed xAI weeks later, and the position converted into 18,990,195 SpaceX Class A shares, under 1% of the company, reported Electrek.SpaceX then went public in June. A private holding that sat quietly on the balance sheet suddenly had a daily price, and accounting rules require Tesla to mark it to that price every quarter.Tesla’s own accountants agree this is not operating performance. The company added the SpaceX gain to the list of items it strips out of adjusted earnings, per its second-quarter update.How the Tesla cash burn changes the mathHere is where the quarter gets expensive.Capital spending jumped 142% to $5.79 billion. Operating cash flow rose 85% to $4.70 billion, which was not enough to cover it.Free cash flow came in at negative $1.09 billion.Full-year capital spending will exceed $25 billion, weighted toward the second half, according to GuruFocus.Tesla has arranged capacity to borrow up to $30 billion, according to GuruFocus.Energy storage deployment reached 13.5 gigawatt-hours, up more than 40% from a year earlier, according to Tesla’s second-quarter update.Cash and investments finished the quarter at $43.52 billion, according to StockTitan.That last figure matters. This is a choice, not a crisis.But it is a choice that quietly changes what owning the stock means.What Tesla investors should watch nextHere is the part my analysis keeps circling back to.A mark-to-market gain is not a one-way street.Tesla now carries a stake in a publicly traded company on its books, and that stake moves with the market like any other holding.SpaceX has shed more than 40% of its value from its peak close since its June debut, according to CNBC.If those shares sit lower on Sept. 30 than they did on June 30, the same accounting that flattered this quarter works in reverse next quarter.That is a new kind of volatility for a company whose reported earnings used to depend on how many cars it sold.For anyone holding Tesla in a retirement account or an index fund, the practical translation is blunt. The earnings number you see quoted is now partly a bet on a second stock you never chose to buy.I think that is the detail most retail investors will miss, and it is the one that changes how you read the next four quarters. Judging Tesla by net income used to be a rough proxy for judging how the cars were selling. It is not anymore.The next report lands in October, and the question it has to answer is narrow. Did the $25 billion Tesla is spending this year start generating revenue, or did it only generate depreciation?Management pointed to the Cybercab moving into robotaxi fleets and 2026 production starts for the Semi and Megapack 3 as the answer, according to StockTitan.Those are the lines to watch. A car business running on a 1.4% operating margin leaves no room for a quarter that goes sideways.Related: Bank of America revamps Tesla forecast before earnings

Despite receiving $13.5 million in city grant money to keep grocery stores open in underserved neighborhoods, a popular discount chain is preparing to close another six stores.  The decision highlights a growing paradox across the industry: Even though inflation is driving more shoppers to discount aisles, foot traffic alone isn’t enough to keep discount chains thriving.Former Family Dollar CEO Rick Dreiling explained this during an earnings call, according to InsiderMonkey. He noted that while store traffic was up, total spending dropped because low-income customers faced rising inflation and reduced federal benefits.That pressure contributed to widespread store closures. Family Dollar closed at least 350 locations, Dollar Tree cut another 75 stores, and I recently reported on Save A Lot’s closure of 100 stores and exit from three states. After facing heavy debt and competition from Aldi, Save A Lot wiped out $500 million in debt in 2020 and became a wholesale supplier. It transferred its stores to independent owners, passing along operational risks, such as rising rents, labor costs, and higher inventory prices, to local operators.Now, that independent model is facing another setback in Chicago.Save A Lot closes 6 stores, despite $13.5 million public investmentRetail group Yellow Banana is preparing to close six Chicago Save A Lot stores after several financial and operational setbacks, writes Supermarket News. The unexpected death of Yellow Banana CEO Joe Canfield in April left the company without leadership qualified to manage the locations. At the same time, the stores faced severe revenue drops due to federal cutbacks in SNAP (food stamp) benefits. SNAP money previously accounted for nearly half of the stores’ total sales, but revenue fell around 27% year over year. Consequently, Yellow Banana fell behind on paying for store inventory.Save A Lot had stepped in for months to cover inventory costs, but has now officially severed ties with Yellow Banana. Employees have been notified of potential termination, with pay promised through the end of the month, a source familiar with the matter told Supermarket News. 

Save A Lot closes six stores, despite a $13.5 million public investment.Bloomberg / Getty Images

The collapse of a $26 million agreement In July 2022, Yellow Banana confirmed the receipt of a $13.5 million Community Development Grant from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City of Chicago to upgrade Chicago stores, as well as to re-open a location in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood that closed in 2020.“The City’s grant, combined with other financing and funding from Yellow Banana, will bring approximately $26 million in investment into six locations in underserved communities throughout the City’s South and West Sides,” reads the official press release. The $25.2 million project was designed to upgrade store operations to fit local community needs while keeping the Save A Lot name, reported the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. The locations include:10700 S. Halsted St., Morgan Park2858 E. 83rd St., South Chicago420 S. Pulaski Road, West Garfield Park4439 W. 63rd St., West Lawn7240 S. Stony Island Ave., South Shore7908 S. Halsted St., Auburn GreshamThe project faced construction delays, community complaints, and city fines for failing to meet local hiring and diversity quotas. Yellow Banana had to pay more than $70,000 in penalties for failing to meet the minority, women-owned business and resident workforce requirements at the Gresham location, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. “Since signing its redevelopment agreement in 2023, Yellow Banana closed all 38 of its Save A Lot stores outside of Chicago, racked up over $2 million in vendor lawsuits and municipal debt, and faced sanitation violations and complaints of expired food,” reported the Chicago Sun-Times.  Under the contract terms, the stores needed to remain open for 10 years for Yellow Banana to receive its full city compensation.Save A Lot is 19.3% more expensive than Walmart Despite marketing itself as a low-cost option for budget-conscious families, pricing comparisons reveal that Save A Lot is less affordable than major discount competitors. A national price study by Consumer Reports comparing identical brand-name items against Walmart showed that Save A Lot is 19.3% more expensive than Walmart. In contrast, value rivals such as Costco (-21.4%), Lidl (-8.5%), and Aldi (-8.3%) undercut Walmart’s baseline prices, placing Save A Lot closer to traditional full-service grocers like Kroger (+14.8%) in price.Despite the data, for some consumers, Save A Lot is not only the best grocery shopping option, but the only nearby option. Related: Car dealer closes 40% of its stores, shares bankruptcy warningWhat Save A Lot closures mean for consumers In large urban environments, losing a store or two doesn’t make headlines because residents can go to another one. In less-crowded and lower-income neighborhoods, losing a grocery retailer is a more serious problem. “When low-income households lack transportation and live beyond walking distance to the nearest supermarket, families often find themselves unable to purchase healthy food due to unavailability and high prices. Consequently, the residents of food deserts suffer adverse health outcomes,” according to University of Kentucky College of Law Professor Ramsi Woodcock. Speaking of Family Dollar closures, Dominick Miserandino, CEO of RTMNexus, stressed how these types of closures could seriously impact certain communities. “They might be the only store that serves the entire community in this area,” Miserandino told CBS News. “They might have been one of the few jobs in the community.”Additionally, for many consumers, Save A Lot provides smaller, budget-friendly product sizes that match their immediate cash flow.“It is disappointing to lose a grocery store that serves a large neighborhood,” county economic development manager Dianna Cantler told Mashed after the 2018 closure of a Save A Lot in Johnson City, Tennessee. “Once again, the North Side community will be a food desert, with nothing within a walkable distance.”Save A Lot explores ways to provide resident access to quality foodFor the stores to remain open and running past July, an investor would have to come forward. “If there’s a solution that keeps them open and that means Save A Lot’s just the wholesaler and helping them to transition to a community-run grocery store, a municipal grocery, whatever it is … [even] if it has a different banner outside, [Save A Lot] will facilitate that,” the source told Supermarket News. Some of these stores are located in food deserts, which means that consumers in the region would have difficulty obtaining groceries if stores permanently close their doors. Save A Lot says it is willing to help. “We are committed to the well-being of the communities we serve. We will continue to engage with city and community leaders to explore ways to provide access to quality food and services for residents, and we are actively supporting impacted Yellow Banana team members throughout the transition,” a Save A Lot spokesperson told Supermarket News.Related: KFC closed 207 U.S restaurants

Every business eventually reaches the moment when growth stops being free.For most of the past decade, the biggest American technology companies looked like they had found a way around that rule. They generated cash faster than they could spend it, bought back their own stock, and pushed into new markets without ever asking shareholders to fund the expansion out of current earnings.Investors got comfortable. A generation of retirement accounts was quietly built on the assumption that these companies could grow enormously without bleeding.That assumption is being stress tested in public now, one quarter at a time, by a handful of firms that have decided artificial intelligence is worth almost any price. The outlays are staggering. The payback remains theoretical. And the market has spent most of 2026 trying to work out how much patience it actually has left.Wednesday, July 22, in the afternoon, brought the biggest test of that patience yet. Alphabet (GOOGL) posted second-quarter results that beat Wall Street on revenue, delivered the fastest cloud growth in company history, and then watched its own shares slide anyway.

Cloud revenue grew 82% and total revenue topped estimates.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Why Google Cloud carried the whole quarterThe setup mattered. Going into the print, the bear case on Alphabet had almost nothing to do with advertising and almost everything to do with arithmetic.More AI Stocks:GE Vernova’s Al power trade has one weak linkJim Cramer reveals 4 surging chip stocks he likes bestZuckerberg’s stock rebound made him world’s 5th richest at $222BSearch held up. Google Search and other advertising revenue climbed 17% to $63.3 billion, and YouTube advertising added $11.1 billion, up 13%, according to Alphabet’s earnings release. The feared collapse in query volume from chatbots has not shown up in the numbers, a point our coverage flagged ahead of the print in Google stock price faces major AI test ahead of earnings.Cloud was the swing factor, and it swung hard. Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% to $24.8 billion, with segment operating income reaching $8.8 billion against $2.8 billion a year earlier.Analysts had been watching the margin line closely, since cloud margin estimates for the back half of the year had already come down roughly 300 basis points from the prior quarter, according to S&P Global.Total revenue landed at $119.80 billion against the $116.93 billion analysts expected, reported CNBC. Operating income rose 30% to $40.8 billion.By any ordinary standard, that is a strong quarter. This was not an ordinary quarter.What the capital spending guidance changed for Alphabet investorsThe stock held steady through the numbers and broke when chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi got to guidance. Alphabet lifted its 2026 capital expenditure range to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from $180 billion to $190 billion three months ago, and repeated that 2027 spending would increase significantly from there.Shares dropped nearly 5% in extended trading before recovering part of the loss, reportedStocktwits.I ran the capital spending figure against the revenue line before writing a word of this, and the ratio is what makes the reaction rational rather than emotional. Alphabet spent $44.9 billion on capital projects in a quarter that produced $119.8 billion in revenue. That is roughly 37 cents of every dollar coming in the door going straight back out into data centers, chips, and power.Free cash flow went negative as a result, landing at negative $5.9 billion, reported Seeking Alpha. Adjusted earnings came in at $2.85 a share against the $2.89 analysts modeled.Here is the quarter in five numbers:Google Cloud revenue rose 82% to $24.8 billion, according to Alphabet’s earnings release.Cloud backlog reached $514 billion after growing more than $50 billion in three months, reported Seeking Alpha.Capital expenditures hit $44.9 billion for the quarter, roughly double the year ago figure, according to Alphabet’s earnings release.Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had modeled about $188 billion of 2026 capital spending, reported CNBC.Alphabet is now guiding to as much as $205 billion, according to Alphabet’s earnings release.Management is not apologizing for it. “We’re still in a supply-constrained environment,” Ashkenazi told analysts, according to CNBC.How a $98 billion gain reshaped the profit headlineThen there is the number that made every headline and tells you almost nothing about how Google is running.Net income came in at $112.1 billion, up 298%, with diluted earnings of $9.11 a share. Almost none of that came from selling ads or renting servers.Other income reflected “a net gain of $98 billion,” driven primarily by unrealized gains on equity holdings, Alphabet said in its earnings release. The equity gain alone added $6.26 to diluted earnings per share and $77.1 billion to net income.Those gains trace primarily to Alphabet’s stakes in privately held AI developer Anthropic and in SpaceX, which went public in June, reported Fortune. Bank of America had flagged the accounting quirk days earlier, as our preview of the analyst note laid out.What struck me when I read the release is how cleanly the two stories separate. Strip out the paper gains and you get a company growing operating income 30% while spending like it is at war. That is the business. The rest is a mark-to-market on somebody else’s valuation, and marks move both ways.What Alphabet investors should watch over the next two quartersThe useful question is not whether Alphabet had a good quarter. It did. The question is what the reaction tells you about how the market now prices this entire category.For most of the past three years, rising capital spending was read as confidence, and stocks went up on it. That reflex is gone. The same guidance that would have added market value in 2024 subtracted it on Wednesday, and Alphabet is the most profitable company on the tape.If you hold an S&P 500index fund in a 401(k), you own this argument whether you follow it or not. The four largest AI spenders carry enough index weight that their return on invested capital is functionally a decision about your retirement math, made by finance chiefs you will never meet.Three things worth tracking into the fall. Whether cloud operating margin holds near current levels once the newest capacity comes online. Whether free cash flow returns to positive territory by the fourth quarter. And whether the 2027 capital number, when Alphabet finally puts a range on it, lands closer to analyst models or blows through them the way this one did.The efficiency of that spending and the timeline on returns remain the variables that separate the bull and bear cases.The backlog says the demand is real. The cash flow statement says the bill arrives first.Related: Intel and Google deepen AI ties for chip designWall Street fears AI spending will slow — here’s why they are wrong (16:09)

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this dealAs the song goes, it’s summer summer summertime. Time to sit back and unwind. It’s pretty hard to do that if you don’t have a good patio set to sink into when the weather gets warm. Luckily, Walmart is one of the best places to find deals on outdoor furniture, and one of its most impressive rocking chair patio sets is currently on a limited-time sale. Whether you’re looking to entertain friends and family for a backyard barbecue or you’re a party of one, this set is exactly what you’ll want. That said, it’s a limited-time Flash deal, so the sooner you take advantage of the price drop, the better off you’ll be.The Lazzo 3-Piece Wicker Rocking Chair Patio Set is on sale for only $166. That’s 17% off the original price of $200. If you want a quick way to boost the fun factor of your patio or backyard, this Flash deal is the best possible option.Lazzo 3-Piece Wicker Rocking Chair Patio Set, $166 (was $200) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at WalmartWhy do shoppers love it?This patio set brings the heat in every possible sense of the word. It’s compact, comfortable, and beautifully designed. Included in the set are two high-back rocking chairs and a matching bistro table. Each of the three pieces is made from a combination of powder-coated stainless steel and hand-wound wicker. The fact that the entire set takes up so little space is such a great selling point. In an era where square footage is one of the most valuable commodities in the country, it’s good to know that you can still find a small outdoor furniture set at a reasonable price, even if it is only a temporary sale.As for comfort, the thickness of the seat and back cushions are outstanding and rare at this price point. The set even includes small lumbar pillows for each rocker. Each cushion has a zipper-enclosed cover, allowing it to be removed and machine washed. You can wash the covers on the cold cycle and tumble dry them on low. If you do so, they’re sure to come out of the dryer looking and feeling fresh and brand new. The ergonomic armrests also help to keep your posture on the straight and narrow, which is great for those who spend their summers in permanent lounging mode.Finally, the aesthetics of this set is an absolute winner. The dark steel contrasts nicely with the natural brown fibers of the wicker accents. The table mimics the materials of the chairs, with the exception of a tempered glass tabletop. It’s shatter-resistant and scratch-proof, offering a good sturdy accessory to this refined-looking set. The cushions are available in both beige and gray, so there’s definitely something for everyone’s tastes.Related: Walmart’s $460 expensive-looking sectional patio set was slashed by $160 with a Flash DealWalmart shoppers were very impressed with this rocker set. One praised the “comfortable and nice-looking chairs,” adding “I’m really happy with this set…the rocking motion is smooth and relaxing.”Shop more deals Lacoo 3-Piece Patio Set, $85 (was $160) at WalmartLofka 3-Piece Rocking Chair Patio Set, $66 (was $103) at WalmartMainstays Albany Lane 3-Piece Outdoor Bistro Set, $67 (was $78) at WalmartThe Lazzo 3-Piece Wicker Rocking Chair Patio Set may be the solution to your patio’s drab look and feel. It’s a rocking good deal, but only for a few more days. Take advantage of this Flash deal now if you don’t want to miss out. There will be plenty of time to sit back and unwind later.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) just offered investors a reason to overlook its stalling revenue growth.Shares of the artificial-intelligence server maker jumped more than 20% after it gave a preliminary update on its fiscal fourth quarter. The sharp uptick came after surprise upward revisions to projected profitability, but sales are seen coming in at the low end of the company’s previous estimate.Super Micro Computer expects revenue to be at the low end of its forecast of $11 billion to $12.5 billion. Analysts were looking for roughly $11.7 billion.The bigger number was gross margin.Super Micro Computer now forecasts fourth-quarter gross margin to be between 15% and 17%, almost double the previous forecast of 8.2% to 8.4%. Management said the rise was helped by a better mix of customers and products.That changes the basic question about the stock.Super Micro Computer has already demonstrated its ability to secure large AI-infrastructure orders. Investors now want to see proof that these orders can translate into sustainable earnings and cash flow.Super Micro Computer finally addressed its margin problemSuper Micro Computer doesn’t seem to be hampered by an imminent shortage of demand.The company booked more than $60 billion in new orders in the quarter, resulting in a record backlog at the end of fiscal 2026. Those orders will be recognized as revenue over future periods rather than immediately.That helps explain why investors were ready to overlook the low-end revenue guidance.And the challenge has been the expense of collecting that demand.AI servers require costly graphics processors, networking hardware, memory, and cooling. Super Micro Computer often has to make sure it has those parts before it can collect money from customers, putting pressure on inventory and working capital.Super Micro Computer announced $7 billion in stock and equity-linked funding in June to help fund about $39 billion in AI-related orders from more than 20 clients. The financing was in the form of common stock and convertible securities, which could be dilutive to existing shareholders.Related: Super Micro earnings put cash burn in focusThe latest order update showed the financing backed a far larger pipeline than investors had known before.But a backlog by itself doesn’t provide shareholder returns.Systems come with delayed orders, changed hardware configurations, and fluctuating component pricing. Super Micro Computer still needs to turn the backlog into revenue, operating profit, and free cash flow.Super Micro Computer’s rally depends on 1 number lastingSuper Micro Computer is competing for big AI data center installations with Dell Technologies (DELL), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and others.Many of those systems use similar chips from Nvidia (NVDA) and other chip makers. This gives big customers a lot of leverage and makes server assembly a lower-margin industry.If gross margins are in the 15% to 17% range, that would signal Super Micro Computer has achieved higher pricing, a more profitable mix of full systems, or especially strong supply conditions.Shares of Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise also rose on the announcement, as investors took the update as a broader sign of strong demand and possibly better pricing in the AI server market.More AI:Workers just sent AI companies an ultimatumPalantir CEO has a blunt verdict on OpenAI and AnthropicElon Musk pulls no punches with AI rivals as Grok 4.5 debutsThe other question is whether this margin expansion is sustainable.The right mix of customers or products can vary from quarter to quarter. Manufacturers can use shortages of supplies to negotiate higher prices for a short time. But that advantage might fade when parts become more available or rivals boost capacity.Super Micro Computer’s previous volatility in its profit margins gives investors still more reason to be cautious. The company reported third quarter sales of $10.2 billion, down from $12.7 billion the prior quarter.It’s an important first update, but not yet a durable trend.What Super Micro Computer investors should watch nextSuper Micro Computer is scheduled to report its full fourth quarter and fiscal year results on Aug. 11.The first test will be whether gross margin at the end comes in at the targeted 15% to 17%.Investors also should look at inventory, accounts receivable, and operating cash flow. If sales growth requires new inventory or excess external capital, margin recovery is of less value.Management’s fiscal 2027 outlook will show how quickly the record backlog can become recognized sales.And the last point is: Can the superior combination at Super Micro Computer be copied? A quarter of improved pricing can make a company rise. Continued execution across customers, components, and whole rack-scale systems is needed for sustained profitability.

Super Micro’s next test is bigger than its record backlog.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Key takeaways for Super Micro Computer investorsRevenue in the fourth quarter is projected to be at the low end of the range.Gross margin is now projected at 15% to 17%.Quarterly orders were over $60 billion.Super Micro Computer ended the fiscal year with record backlog.The company raised cash to pay for AI server orders.The report due Aug. 11 must show the margin rebound is sustainable.Super Micro Computer’s surge had nothing to do with sales growth.It seemed the corporation could be enhancing the economics of that growth.Demand for the AI server maker has never been in short supply. The market has been skeptical about its ability to turn substantial orders into sustainable margins, cash flow, and shareholder value.Its first update gives a hopeful answer but only for a quarter.The next Super Micro Computer earnings report must show the margin improvement is a lasting operational transformation, not a one-off benefit from customer mix or limited supply.That’s a lot of backlog, $60 billion worth of orders.The question isn’t whether Super Micro Computer will get bigger, but whether it will be more profitable in delivering all those orders.Related: Super Micro risks massive dilution for uncommitted AI orders

With any efforts to reach a ceasefire failing to hold, the volatile security situation set off by the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran has left airlines flying into the Middle East struggling to plan any service.Delta Air Lines recently extended the suspension of its flight between Atlanta and Tel Aviv until November 2026, while American Airlines confirmed that it will not restart its routes to Doha and Tel Aviv until 2027 at the earliest.Dutch flag carrier KLM’s last update states that it will “not operate flights to Dubai, Riyadh and Dammam until and including August 23.” Air France, which is under the same Air France-KLM parent company, just released a new extension of its routes to Dubai, Riyadh, and Beirut.”Security situation on the ground is highly fluid”: Air France on Middle East flightsIn an update issued on July 20, the suspension of Air France’s route between Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris and Dubai International (DXB) has been extended until July 27, EuroNews indicated. The flight to Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport (BEY) will not restart until Aug. 2.The flight to King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in Riyadh is currently set to restart on July 24.Related: Alaska Airlines exits one entire international market”The resumption of operations will remain subject to an assessment of the security situation on the ground, which is highly fluid,” the airline said in a statement on its flight restart timeline. “[…] The airline continuously monitors the geopolitical situation in the territories served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security.”The flights to Dubai and Beirut have been suspended since the strike on the last day of February. Meanwhile, Air France resumed the service to Riyadh several times during periods of relative quiet before suspending it again.

Air service to Dubai has been severely restricted since the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran in February 2026.Ciel Tower Dubai

“Affected customers are being notified individually,” Air France says of flight refund optionsAccording to the airline’s update, anyone with booked travel for dates before the new restart dates or those who kept pushing back an unused ticket will be contacted with options to rebook or refund it. Travelers can also initiate this process on their own through their booking on the Air France website.More Travel News:Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.There is a very cool Irish version of swimming pigs in the BahamasUnexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri Lanka”Affected customers are being notified individually,” Air France states further. “Commercial measures available on airfrance.com are in place, allowing customers to cancel or postpone their travel at no extra cost, even if their flight is not canceled.”The guidance from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to European airlines is currently to avoid the airspace of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan until Aug. 31, Reuters confirmed.This comes amid a fresh round of strikes between Iran and the U.S., as NPR reported. The risk of new hostilities in response to the three U.S. troops killed by Iranian ballistics and drone attacks on military bases remains high. Air France’s restart dates, which in some cases are just a few days from when the update was published, are significantly more optimistic than those of many of its European and North American competitors.Related: Another airline cancels 3 flights to U.S., offers refunds

Qualcomm and Samsung expanded their chip partnership this week, putting Snapdragon silicon inside nearly every new device in the Galaxy lineup.For over a decade, Samsung ran a split system, selling some flagship phones with its own Exynos processor and others with a Snapdragon chip depending on the region, according to Android Authority.That regional divide is largely gone now, and the new deal shows how far the consolidation has traveled, reaching into watches and smart glasses for the first time.Samsung’s chip history goes back further than most buyers realize. The original 2010 Galaxy S ran on a Samsung designed chip called Hummingbird, and the Exynos name itself did not appear until the Galaxy S2 a year later, according to Android Authority.Exynos then spent years as the weaker half of that dual sourcing strategy, falling behind Snapdragon most visibly in 2020, when the Exynos 990 trailed on battery life and speed.By the Galaxy S23 launch, Samsung had quietly shifted to a single global Snapdragon chip for its top phones.Qualcomm (QCOM) supplies the processors inside most non-Apple flagship phones sold worldwide, and Samsung is its largest customer by volume.Related: Qualcomm’s datacenter ambitions win over Goldman SachsSnapdragon becomes the default across the whole Galaxy lineupThe new agreement covers the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra, the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform for the Galaxy Watch9 and Watch Ultra2, and the Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 for Samsung’s new smart glasses, according to a press release distributed through Qualcomm.The Wear Elite chip stands out on its own. It marks the first time Samsung has used a Snapdragon platform to power a smartwatch.Samsung MX Business president Won-joon Choi framed the goal as giving users a “consistent, premium Galaxy experience” across every device they own.Samsung is betting that owning the full hardware stack, phone, watch, and glasses, running on one chip family will keep customers inside its ecosystem the way Apple keeps buyers tied to iPhone, Watch, and AirPods.

Qualcomm expands its Snapdragon partnership with Samsung across phones, watches and smart eyewear.SimpleImages / Getty Images

A separate, larger Samsung story broke the same daySamsung is also in advanced talks to invest about €1 billion in French AI startup Mistral, a deal that would value Mistral near €20 billion, or roughly $22.8 billion, according to Financial Times.That would nearly double the roughly €11.7 billion valuation Mistral secured less than a year ago. Two Samsung headlines landing on the same day, one about chips and one about equity, are not really separate stories.Both point to the same shift. Samsung wants deeper, stickier relationships with the companies building AI, whether that means supplying memory chips to an AI lab or letting Qualcomm’s silicon carry Samsung’s own AI features.Related: Samsung cuts jobs as it shifts U.S. headquartersA Mistral stake would also hand Samsung a customer relationship in high bandwidth memory, a segment where rival SK Hynix has moved faster in recent quarters.Samsung currently leans on Google’s Gemini for Galaxy AI, so a stake in a foundation model lab would make it an investor, not just a customer.The market’s reaction says more than the announcements didQualcomm (QCOM) shares rose about 1.3% to $175.70 on the news. Samsung’s Seoul listed shares gained a modest 0.6% to 260,500 won.That muted reaction is worth noting. Investors appear to be treating the Mistral talks as unconfirmed and the chip deal as an expected renewal rather than new information.More Qualcomm:Qualcomm’s datacenter ambitions win over Goldman SachsQualcomm eyes $10 billion AI shortcut as smartphone growth slowsQualcomm CEO plans to kill app store with AIThe bigger pattern is fewer chip platforms, not moreQualcomm’s expanded Samsung deal fits a wider trend across consumer hardware. Companies with the resources to design their own silicon, Apple among them, increasingly do, leaving Qualcomm to compete by making itself indispensable to everyone else.Samsung choosing one chip family across phones, watches, and glasses is that same logic playing out from the buyer’s side instead of the seller’s.The regional Exynos versus Snapdragon split that once defined the Galaxy S series is fading into a footnote.What is replacing it is a smartphone industry where the real competition sits between entire hardware and AI ecosystems, not between chip variants inside one phone line.That shift also raises the stakes for Samsung’s own Exynos chip, since every device shipping with Snapdragon is one less proof point for it.Samsung’s next earnings report, due July 30, will be the first real test of whether either bet shows up in the numbers.Related: Qualcomm’s massive AI expansion already has 2 Mag 7 giants on board