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Why we love this deal

A good patio chair can work wonders when you’re trying to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors, but these days patio furniture has lots of extra features, big and small, that make relaxing so much more enjoyable. When a chair has rocking capabilities, like the ones that the Costway Patio Gliders possess, you’re able to enjoy a gentle, back and forth motion that doesn’t just seem more relaxing. It actually naturally calms your nervous system, decreasing your stress hormone, and inducing a meditative state. Whether that’s through a rocking motion or a back-and-forth movement like the one a glider chair provides, the benefits are the same, and it’s far more affordable as a solution to stress than booking an expensive massage every few weeks. 

Right now, the Costway Patio Gliders are on sale for 38% off. The $169 set of two glider chairs are now just $105 instead of $169, saving you $64 and providing not just one but two chairs to aid in relaxation while you’re sipping your morning coffee or kicking your feet up after a long day. 

Costway Patio Gliders, $105 (was $169) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Although this patio set only includes chairs, the great thing about this sale is you can use that extra $76 you save to buy a little coffee table to pair with these gliders. Measuring 23 inches long, 27.5 inches wide, and 37 inches high, each chair is designed to gently rock back and forth as you sit in them. The secret is in the construction right under the seat, where a smooth glide system sits and operates as you use your momentum to move. It is key to note that unlike a rocking chair, which rests on curved legs, glider chairs rest on a stationary base and have a mechanical track which moves them back and forth. You won’t get as much of a rocking movement as you would with a rocking chair, but you still get enough to enjoy the benefits of moving back and forth.

The chairs are constructed with iron, ensuring sturdiness and durability. With a weight limit of 330 pounds per chair, the actual seat itself sits about 17 inches off the ground and is made from tightly woven fabric that’s breathable and resistant to tearing. This provides support but also helps keep you cool as you sit and use the chair. Both materials are weather-resistant and easy-to-clean, with the fabric seat providing comfort. The armrests sit about 24.5 inches off the ground. 

Related: Walmart is selling a 3-seat patio swing glider with an adjustable canopy for 44% off

The bottoms of the chairs are equipped with four rounded pads that prevent slipping and protect patio decking or wooden decks from damage and scratching. 

What to expect from $105 patio gliders: Pros and cons

Pros

Heavy-duty: Each chair can hold up to 330 pounds. 

Safer than similar models: Gliders chairs are generally safer and more stable than traditional rocking chairs. The stationary base makes them less prone to tipping. 

Weather-resistant: The chair’s iron framework and fabric seats are weather-resistant, durable, and long-lasting. 

Cons

Assembly required: Shoppers find the assembly process challenging and the instructions unclear. 

Table not included: Unlike traditional patio sets, these chairs don’t come with a matching table. 

“These chairs are worth the money,” one shopper said. Although building them can be challenging, the finishing product looks great, and they feel comfortable and roomy. “My favorite glider chairs,” another shopper said. 

Shop more deals 

Serwall Outdoor Glider Bench, $240 (was $400) at Walmart

Best Choice Products 2-Person Outdoor Swing Glider, $85 (was $172) at Walmart

Parkwell Outdoor Patio Swivel Glider Chair (Set of 2), $351 (was $460) at Walmart

With warm weather conditions lasting well into fall, it’s still a great time to add some new outdoor furniture to your patio, pool deck, or balcony. With the Costway Patio Gliders, you can relax even more, even when the weather starts to cool off. 

Oil prices are surging again, pushing diesel prices and interest rates to new highs and driving the stock market crazy.

A cynic might say: What did you expect? It’s September, historically a crummy month. And, oil and the Middle East are among the biggest problems.

Related: Pain at the gas pump rises as Middle East violence worsens

Here’s a list of all the issues as of Sept. 10:

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped to $107.63 per 42-gallon barrel in London, its highest settlement price since May 19.

Light sweet crude moved above $103 a barrel, its highest level since May 19.

Gasoline prices jumped in the United States: $4.277 a gallon, per AAA Fuel Prices. $4.273 a gallon, according to GasBuddy They’ve risen about 5% so far in September and 51% so far in 2026.

U.S. diesel prices were in worse shape: $5.9773 a gallon, according to AAA, up 67% year to date. That weighs heavily on truckers and farmers in the United States. A freight trucker might buy 300 gallons at a stop. The cost: nearly $1,800. A new credit may help.

Bond yields are rising, which means mortgage rates and other consumer rates are moving up. The 10-year Treasury yield hit a 52-week high of 4.963% during the day. Why does it matter? Multiply the yield by 1.5 and you get a reasonable look at what a 30-year mortgage might cost. It was right at 7.07% on Sept. 10, according to Mortgage News Daily.

Stocks continue late-summer struggle

Stocks struggled for a fourth straight day as a result.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 45 points to 7,592. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 317 points to 52,064, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 172 points to 26,082.

The S&P 500 is off 1.2% so far this month. The Dow is down 2.1%, and the Nasdaq has dropped 1.1%, modest losses to be sure. All three indexes have felt larger falls since hitting 52-week highs earlier this summer.

But it is also September. The month has been the weakest for the three indexes since 1950, according to the Stock Traders Almanac.

Goldman Sachs doubles down on oil price forecast for 2026

Is Trump’s big, splashy Venezuela oil deal real?

Setting the Stage for Stagflation?

The Middle East conflict casts a long shadow

And it all dials back to the Middle East, where a big concern on Sept. 10 was that Houthi rebels based in Yemen were attacking Saudi Arabian port facilities on the Red Sea in hopes of taking control of the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait, at the southern end of the waterway.

A Houthi win could choke off a way to ship crude oil to Europe and elsewhere. And it would be a potentially serious setback for the Trump administration in its ongoing war with Iran and for Saudi Arabia.

Iran has warned this week of “a faster, heavier, and more painful response” to U.S. attacks, as hostilities between the two sides escalate.

President Trump himself has suggested the war could last at least until the November Midterm elections. If Republicans win, the Iranians will sue peace, he predicted.

Related: August sees a dubious record on gasoline prices

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 deal

No matter the time of year, you should always have a good comforter set. Whether you’re in the balmy doldrums of summer or the height of blizzard season, a versatile bedspread and sheet set are a must. As luck would have it, we’ve found a seven-piece comforter set on sale at Walmart. Not only is the set available at a great price, but it includes everything you need to revamp your bed’s look and feel. It even comes with matching sheets.

The Dhole 7-Piece Lightweight Comforter Set is currently on sale for $39. That’s a discount of 29% off the original price of $55. If you want to take all-new bedding into the cool autumn months, then we recommend putting this set into your cart ASAP. If you don’t, you may miss out, as offers this good tend to sell out quickly this time of year.

Dhole 7-Piece Lightweight Comforter Set, $39 (was $55) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

This comforter set is the perfect buy for ensuring a good night’s sleep year-round. It includes a lightweight comforter, a fitted sheet, a flat sheet, two matching pillowcases, and two pillow shams. It’s got everything you need for a complete bedding refresh. The comforter’s shell is made from ultra-soft microfiber, and it has a down alternative fill. The fill is hypoallergenic and stays in place thanks to a box-stitch design that prevents it from pooling in one side of the comforter.

Aesthetically, the bedspread and sheet set are a great pick for any decor style. The comforter has a breezy boho feel, with a large tufted pattern throughout. The other six pieces of the set match the color of the comforter, though you could easily buy multiple sets at this price to mix and match. It’s available in eight colors and five sizes, from twin to California king.

Proper care of this set doesn’t require a whole lot of forethought or effort. The entire thing is fully machine washable on the cold cycle and can be tumble dried on low heat. Doing so will have everything coming out looking and feeling virtually brand new. We can’t think of a better way to spend your money to give your bedroom an entirely new vibe.

Related: Amazon’s highly rated $35 7-piece comforter set comes with every bedding essential you need

Details to know

Included: Comforter, fitted sheet, flat sheet, two pillowcases, and two pillow shams.

Materials: Ultrasoft breathable microfiber and down-alternative fill.

Colorways: Eight color variants.

Sizes: Twin through California king.

Walmart shoppers were very happy with this set. One called it “so pretty and cozy,” adding, “I’m obsessed with the color.”

Shop more deals 

Hig 7-Piece Comforter Set, $46 (was $100) at Walmart

Wishead 7-Piece Comforter Set, $36 (was $56) at Walmart

Vccoem 7-Piece Comforter Set, $36 (was $66) at Walmart

The Dhole 7-Piece Lightweight Comforter Set is a great purchase if you’re a fan of quality bedding at an affordable price. At just $39, it’s one of the best bedspread sets for a total overhaul of your bedroom’s look. Why not give it a shot right now and head into the holiday season with every night’s sleep feeling like a wonderful dream?

Every so often a stock stops being the thing investors thought it was.

For most of the past decade, Dell Technologies (DELL) was a name people owned without thinking about it much. It sold laptops to school districts and servers to mid-sized banks, threw off cash, and traded at the multiple the market reserves for companies it expects to grow slowly and predictably forever.

That reputation was fair. Dell went private in 2013, returned to public markets in 2018, and spent years getting described as a hardware business in a software world.

Then artificial intelligence (AI) showed up, and the unglamorous part of Dell’s business turned out to be the part that mattered. Somebody has to build the machines that run the models, wire them, cool them and service them.

Wall Street has been marking that discovery up in real time. The stock has roughly quadrupled over the past year, and analyst notes have spent most of it chasing the price rather than leading it.

Which brings us to Wednesday, Sept. 9, when Evercore ISI lifted its price target on Dell to $650 from $575 and kept an outperform rating, according to CNBC.

That is a large number. It is also the least interesting number in the note.

Why Dell’s AI server backlog changed the story

For the target to makes sense, you need to understand the backlog.

Dell reported fiscal second quarter results on Sept. 1 that broke the model most investors were carrying into the print. Revenue landed at $47 billion, up 58% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share hit $7.04, up 203%, according to a company statement.

The figure that actually moved the stock was not revenue. Dell booked $60.9 billion in AI server orders during the quarter and finished it with a $95 billion AI backlog, “the most in our history,” said operating chief Jeff Clarke, according to a company statement.

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Three months earlier that backlog sat at $51.3 billion. Dell also raised full-year guidance for the second time this fiscal year, to roughly $192 billion in revenue and $25.50 in adjusted earnings per share.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup all lifted their price targets after the report, reported MarketWatch.

What makes the backlog unusual is that it is not purely a demand signal. Dell has been supply constrained on memory, flash and processors, which means some of that $95 billion reflects orders the company physically could not fill in the quarter.

That cuts both ways for shareholders. Constraint protects pricing and pushes revenue into future quarters, but it also means the conversion timetable belongs partly to Dell’s suppliers rather than to Dell.

What Evercore’s new Dell price target actually says

The Evercore argument is not that the AI trade is early. It is that Dell’s next leg comes from somewhere other than raw server volume.

Analyst Amit Daryanani tied the next phase of appreciation to enterprise AI adoption, higher-margin attach and continued operating expense leverage. Then he added the line most of Wednesday’s coverage skipped past, writing that the firm was maintaining its rating and raising its target to $650, “with upside at $1,000,” according to CNBC.

Here is the context in a few numbers:

Dell’s AI backlog stood at $95 billion at quarter end, against roughly $74 billion in AI server revenue guided for the entire fiscal year, according to a company statement.

Full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance went to $25.50 from $17.90, according to a company statement.

Shares closed Wednesday at $535.25 after touching an intraday high of $562.99, according to StockAnalysis.com.

That last line is the one I keep going back to. The stock printed a fresh 52-week high on the upgrade and then handed almost all of it back, closing up 0.26%.

From Wednesday’s close, the $650 target implies about 21% upside. The $1,000 figure implies roughly 87%.

Evercore ISI raises its Dell price target to $650 and floats a $1,000 bull case.NurPhoto / Getty Images

Running the math behind the $1,000 case

I ran the numbers against Dell’s own guidance, and the bull case turns out to be arithmetic rather than enthusiasm.

At $650, Dell would trade near 25 times the $25.50 in adjusted earnings the company has guided to for this fiscal year. That is a full-market multiple for a hardware maker, though not an absurd one at this growth rate.

Get to $1,000 on that same multiple and you need something close to $40 in earnings per share. Dell earned $10.30 on an adjusted basis across all of fiscal 2026.

Related: Analyst resets Dell stock price target after earnings

So the bull case is not asking whether Dell beats this quarter. It is asking whether Dell can roughly quadruple fiscal 2026 earnings inside about two years and hold a premium multiple the whole way.

My analysis keeps landing on one variable: how much of that $95 billion backlog converts, and at what margin. Dell has said AI server profitability is tracking to a mid-single-digit operating margin, well under what the company earns on storage and commercial PCs.

Backlog tells you the revenue is coming. It tells you almost nothing about what falls to the bottom line.

That distinction is why the same $95 billion can support a $650 target and a $1,000 target at the same time without either being dishonest. One assumes Dell ships the backlog. The other assumes Dell ships it and earns more on each unit than it does today.

What Dell investors should watch next

Wednesday’s intraday reversal matters because it shows where the marginal buyer sits.

A $650 target on a $535 stock is a bet that the backlog converts. A $1,000 target is a bet that the mix improves while it converts, which is a different and considerably harder claim.

Dell has at least given investors a checkable schedule for finding out. Third quarter guidance calls for about $49 billion in revenue and $6.50 in adjusted earnings per share, with results due in late November.

Watch gross margin and the storage line rather than the headline revenue figure. Storage carries the margin profile that makes the high case work, and it grew 26% last quarter off a small base.

If margin follows the backlog, the case for the high target gets easier to make. If it does not, $650 stops looking like a waypoint and starts looking like the ceiling.

For anyone holding Dell after a year like this one, that is the more useful question than whether an analyst moved a number on a Wednesday morning. The target tells you what one firm thinks. Gross margin tells you whether the company can earn it.

Related: Dell Technologies Inc. Q2 2027 Earnings: Recap of $DELL Earnings Call, Forecast 

The flag carrier for Colombia and the fourth-largest airline in South America after LATAM and two Brazilian giants, Avianca unveiled its Insignia business class in April 2024 for several of its Boeing 787 planes.

Routes ran from El Dorado International Airport (BOG) in Bogotá and José María Córdova International Airport  (MDE) in Medellín to several destinations in Europe and New York.

The high-fare class caters to wealthy travelers with an upgraded long-haul business class featuring lie-flat seats and premium dining through partnerships with local chefs.

This week, the airline announced an Insignia overhaul featuring redesigned suites with sliding doors and more privacy.

The exact configuration and dimension of the seats will be shared closer to when they are rolled out in 2027, but the airline did reveal that they will have cabin doors that allow a traveler to block out their neighbor or the aisle.

Avianca reveals new Insignia business class with sliding doors

American Airlines recently rolled out the first of what will eventually be 20 Boeing 777-300ER widebody jetliners retrofitted with the same concept of sliding door suites in a one-two-one configuration.

The other upgrades will include Meridian noise-canceling headphones at every seat, a pajama and slipper set designed by local Colombian designer Maaji, and an amenity kit featuring Loto del Sur products, designed to evoke the handwoven craftwork of indigenous women in the Chimichagua region of Colombia.

Related: An American Airlines plane now has one-fifth of its seats lie flat

Local contemporary chefs Álvaro Clavijo of El Chato in Bogotá and Rafael Buitrago of Elvia Barichara in Santander will create the new menu featuring Latin American flavors.

Select flights from Bogotá and Medellín will offer treats from Colombian burger chain Home Burgers, while routes departing from Europe will feature wine and olive oil products from Umbria-based estate Castello Monte Vibiano.

The new Avianca Insignia suites will be available on select Boeing 787 planes in 2027.Avianca

Business-class travelers get “a differentiated experience to service excellence”

Earlier in the summer, Avianca unveiled a new level in its LifeMiles loyalty program. The Magno tier is attained through 110,000 qualifying miles on Avianca flights and includes perks such as lounge access and concierge services at check-in for travelers flying in the Insginia fare class.

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“These initiatives are part of our ongoing work to transform the travel experience for our customers,” Avianca President Gabriel Oliva said in a statement. “Beyond specific elements, they reflect our commitment to offering a differentiated experience throughservice excellence, greater personalization and consistent standards across our network.”

Adrián Neuhauser, chief executive of the Abra Group parent company that also owns Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aéreas and Wamos Air in Spain, also said the updates aim “to exceed the expectations of our most discerning customers on every flight and in every detail.

“Likewise, Magno, the new status tier for Lifemiles and Smiles, recognizes our most loyalcustomers with exclusive, personalized benefits and services,” Neuhauser said further. “The trust and preference of the more than 48 million members of our loyalty programs reaffirm the long-term relationship we have built with those who choose us.”

Related: All-business-class airline launching new route to fun European city

Wall Street has spent much of the past year debating whether Meta’s enormous AI spending would ever pay off beyond better ads. On September 10, one of the bank’s biggest skeptics changed his answer.

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth upgraded Meta Platforms and raised his price target sharply. Arguing the company’s new AI agent and frontier models open a growth path that goes well beyond the advertising business Meta has leaned on for years.

JPMorgan’s makes an upgrade on Meta stock after its Muse AI release

JPMorgan moved Meta to Overweight from Neutral and lifted its price target to $820 from $640 in a note published September 10. The new target implies roughly 25% upside from the September 9 closing price, according to GuruFocus. A notable jump from where the bank stood on the stock just months earlier.

Anmuth’s reasoning is centered on timing. He wrote that there is still meaningful upside potential for Meta, because Meta is in the early stages of releasing frontier models and AI-driven products beyond advertising, pointing specifically to the Muse AI agent and Meta Model API access.

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The analyst also credited Meta’s Superintelligence Lab with essentially delivering on its goal of reaching the AI frontier within a year, citing an accelerating cadence of Muse Spark model releases that culminated in Muse Spark 1.3, which he said is now competitive with cutting-edge models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Looking ahead, Anmuth pointed to an upcoming model internally dubbed Watermelon, which he expects to unlock further opportunities across consumer products, engagement, advertising and internal efficiency.

Muse’s early traction and what it means for revenue

Meta’s Muse AI has only been available for a few days, but JPMorgan already has data to point to. The agent reached as high as number three in the U.S. App Store on its second day alone, with early usage running at roughly ten times that of internal training cohorts.

Monetization is not the near-term priority for Muse, Anmuth noted, but he also pointed to longer-term opportunities from take-rate commissions and subscriptions in a market he sized in the tens of trillions of dollars.

That optimism comes with a real cost attached. Anmuth is now projecting Meta’s capital expenditures at $243 billion in 2027 and $284 billion in 2028, both above Wall Street consensus, underscoring the enormous cash demands required to support the company’s AI buildout, as reported by Investing.com.

Even with that spending backdrop, Anmuth argued there is still meaningful headroom in core advertising from AI-driven improvements tied to content recommendations, better ad targeting and retrieval, and AI-generated ad content.

For investors, JPMorgan’s upgrade is less a claim that Meta has already proven its AI bet and more a wager that the market is underpricing the company’s early product momentum.NurPhoto / Getty Images

How Meta stock has reacted to JPMorgan’s call

Meta shares are up about 20% from their recent 52-week lows but were still roughly flat for the year heading into September 10, compared with an approximately 12% gain for the S&P 500 over the same stretch. That gap is central to JPMorgan’s argument that the stock has room to catch up.

Anmuth’s new price target is built on 23 times his 2028 earnings estimate of $35.44 a share. A multiple he said could prove conservative if Meta’s AI products start converting into revenue faster than expected, according to the original report on Investing.com.

The swing in tone is notable given where JPMorgan stood just months ago. The bank had actually downgraded Meta to Neutral from Overweight in April, cutting its target to $725 from $825 the day after Meta’s first-quarter earnings, when a surprise increase in capital spending guidance helped send shares down more than 10% in a single session, TheStreet reported.

JPMorgan is not alone in its renewed optimism. KeyBanc maintained an Overweight rating with a $780 price target after the Muse launch, while Bernstein reiterated an Outperform rating with an $800 target. Citing Meta’s strength in AI-driven advertising.

What it means for Meta investors

For investors, JPMorgan’s upgrade is less a claim that Meta has already proven its AI bet and more a wager that the market is underpricing the company’s early product momentum.

The bank is betting Muse and other future models like Watermelon become real and meaningful growth drivers as Meta expands beyond advertising. This helps justify the enormous capital spending required to build out its AI infrastructure.

That bet is not without risk.

The projected free cash flow deficit assumes none of Meta’s AI products generate meaningful revenue in the next two years. This means the investment case is largely dependent on Anmuth’s forecasts. A move to be conservative rather than optimistic.

Still, the size of the target increase and the swing from a downgrade earlier this year to an upgrade earlier this year now suggest Wall Street’s patience with Meta’s AI spending may be growing, even if the payoff for shareholders remains, by JPMorgan’s own admission, still a few years away.

The more bullish view is that Meta may now be reaching a point where evidence of product adoption is beginning to arrive before the full financial payoff — in other words, giving investors a clearer reason to tolerate the enormous upfront cost

Related: Jim Cramer sends a strong message to Meta stock investors

When traveling outside of their country, visitors are always subject to local laws that, in some cases, can be drastically different from those back home.

With recreational marijuana use legalized in 24 states and the District of Columbia as of 2026, either knowingly or unknowingly bringing cannabis products into other countries is a common way that some Americans get into serious legal trouble when traveling.

At the start of the summer, Thailand changed its border laws to reclassify cannabis buds as a fineable offense, meaning that anyone caught bringing them into the country now faces criminal charges instead of simple confiscation.

Countries such as Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates are among the many countries that enforce strict zero-tolerance policies, under which Americans claiming lack of knowledge have in the past faced detention and multi-year prison sentences, according to The Guardian.

“Legal in your home state does not mean you can take it abroad”

On Sept. 8, the U.S. State Department issued an official warning on its X and Facebook accounts, telling Americans not to travel internationally with marijuana or any other cannabis-derived products.

“U.S. citizens are subject to local laws,” the State Department warning reads. “Just because a cannabis, THC, or CBD product is legal in your home state does not mean you can take it abroad. This includes prescribed medical marijuana.”

Related: U.S. government issues strange new warning about Belgium travel

The government agency goes on to warn that even countries with legal or decriminalized cannabis do not necessarily allow tourists to freely transport it when entering.

Canada, which is among the eight countries that have fully legalized marijuana, has strict laws against it being brought in at border crossings (including from the United States and a state where it is also legalized).

Transporting marijuana cross-border is strictly forbidden by almost every country in the world.Shutterstock

“Many countries impose severe criminal penalties for possessing cannabis”

“Many countries impose severe criminal penalties for possessing cannabis or cannabis-derived products,” the State Department writes.

As frequent cannabis users sometimes end up unintentionally leaving products or paraphernalia with traces of them in other belongings, international travelers are told to “always pack a completely empty bag” and check suitcases and other bags in which they plan to transport their items to make sure they do not accidentally contain a cannabis product.

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“Americans have been arrested after unintentionally bringing cannabis products into another country, including edibles, vape cartridges, oils, and concentrates,” the warning continues. “Check all suitcase compartments and pockets carefully before traveling.”

The same goes for bringing marijuana into the U.S., as recent incidents in U.S. airports have shown.

In April 2026, two Baltimore travelers coming home from the United Kingdom through Washington Dulles International were arrested with 57 pounds of marijuana in their baggage, according to Axios.

Similarly, a New Jersey traveler at Portland International Airport was stopped at the gate when TSA officers discovered more than 30 pounds of marijuana in his checked bags, Oregon Live reported.

Amid such high-profile cases, government agencies, including the TSA and the State Department, periodically offer similar reminders about both local laws and cross-border prohibitions.

Related: TSA issues strict warning about ranch dressing

Shake Shack (SHAK) has had a rough 2026, and the stock now sits about 19% lower for the year.

However, a Wall Street firm thinks that decline has gone far enough.

On Sept. 8, 2026, RBC Capital Markets started coverage of the burger chain with an Outperform rating and an $89 price target.

That target points to roughly 28% upside from where shares closed the prior Friday.

Several brokers have cut their Shake Shack targets after a broad guidance reset earlier this year.

Why RBC thinks Shake Shack shares can recover

RBC analyst Logan Reich, who covers the consumer cyclical sector for the firm, believes SHAK has reached a turning point after a long slide from its July 2025 highs.

His call rests on two operating changes that he expects to lift results in 2027, at least.

The first is marketing. 

Reich said stronger marketing should push same-store sales growth higher, and RBC models 3.1% growth in 2027 against Wall Street’s consensus of 2.2%.

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The second is cost. 

Reich expects lower beef prices to improve margins in 2027 and 2028, since beef is one of Shake Shack’s largest expenses.

Shake Shack makes its money by selling burgers, fries, and shakes at company-operated locations. It also makes money by collecting fees from licensed shops, so beef costs and customer traffic move its profits directly.

What Starboard’s stake means for Shake Shack investors

Shake Shack got backing from an activist investor this summer.

Starboard Value, the hedge fund run by Jeff Smith, disclosed a several hundred million dollar position in the company, Barron’s reported. 

Activist investors often push company management to control spending, and protect free cash flow. For shareholders, that pressure can act as a check on how freely management spends.

Reich also flagged a management change that could help. 

Related: After closing 39 locations, 76-year-old Mexican chain has 1 left

He noted that a new finance chief who drops quarterly guidance and sets more conservative targets could produce steadier earnings beats.

That view aligns with the company’s stronger second quarter, when Shake Shack reported adjusted earnings of $0.43 a share and beat expectations of $0.33.

Why the valuation still carries real risk

Shake Shack shares recently traded near $67 with a price-to-earnings ratio above 70.

That tells you the market still prices Shake Shack like a fast-growing company.

RBC values Shake Shack at about 11 times its expected 2027 earnings. That’s before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, which is near a historical low.

If consumers cut back on eating out or food costs climb again, a premium name like Shake Shack feels the impact on margins quickly.

Analysts remain divided. Of the 15 analysts who cover the stock, 6 rate it a Buy.

RBC started coverage of Shake Shack with an Outperform rating on Sept. 8, 2026.Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images

What Shake Shack investors should watch next

RBC’s $89 target gives growth-focused investors a clear bull case. However, a few things need to hold for the call to work:

Key factors that support RBC’s Shake Shack call

Same-store sales stay on the higher track RBC expects into 2027.

Beef prices hold near current levels so margins can widen.

Starboard’s pressure keeps spending disciplined and free cash flow strong.

Conservative guidance produces steady quarterly beats.

If those factors hold, the recent drop could be a reasonable entry point for investors who can handle sharp price swings.

If they slip, the high valuation is the first thing likely to take the hit.

Related: Mexican restaurant chain closes all locations in major market

An investor looking at a rising S&P 500 may make a simple assumption: Stick with the biggest U.S. companies that have led the market higher, and hope for more of the same.

Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management and chairman of Schiff Gold, sees this strategy as a risk. He spoke with TheStreet’s Caroline Woods to explain why.

Schiff argues that cap-weighted indexes, which give the largest companies the greatest influence, can make a market look broader and sturdier than it is, when in reality, a small group of AI-linked technology companies is doing much of the lifting.

His answer is not to move entirely into cash or to bet against the S&P 500. Schiff says a smart portfolio (in current market conditions) should hold 10% to 20% in physical precious metals, favor foreign stocks over U.S. stocks, lean toward value investing and emerging markets, and hold less technology than a conventional index fund does. That is a highly opinionated allocation, built around his expectation that inflation, debt, and easier monetary policy will eventually pressure the dollar.

The important distinction for investors is between accepting Schiff’s forecast and understanding the portfolio problem he is trying to solve. A broad U.S. index can deliver gains while also becoming more and more dependent on a narrow group of expensive companies.

Here’s a closer look at how his strategy addresses that concentration risk, and where its trade-offs are most severe.

Why an AI-led S&P 500 can create concentration risk

Schiff’s central stock-market argument begins with index construction. In a cap-weighted index, a company with a larger market value gets a larger portfolio weight. If the biggest technology companies rise, their gains can have an outsized effect on the S&P 500 even when many other stocks are lagging. That structure matters to an investor who believes a broad-market index like the S&P 500 is a diversified bet on the entire U.S. economy.

He attributes the resilience of U.S. stocks to AI-related capital spending, or capex, and to expectations that AI will produce unusually large future profits. Hyperscalers, the giant technology companies that operate vast cloud-computing networks, are among the companies most closely connected to that spending. Schiff’s concern is that valuations leave little room for disappointment if the expected profits arrive more slowly or prove less substantial than investors expect.

As of September 2026, these seven companies — all heavily invested in AI spending — make up nearly 35% of the S&P 500 by weight:

Nvidia

Apple

Microsoft

Amazon

Alphabet

Broadcom

Meta

“I think the U.S. stock market is being disproportionately led by the AI related companies. And I think if you back them out, then the rest of the market is not doing well. And so that’s why you really can’t just look at these cap weighted indexes that are so disproportionately impacted by these hyperscalers and other tech companies that are directly benefiting from the AI spend.”

—Peter Schiff, when asked why he still views U.S. stocks as vulnerable while the S&P 500 is rising

Schiff isn’t alone in his concern about how AI-heavy American index funds have become. Steve Sosnick, Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers, shared a similar warning with TheStreet about a week earlier: “Even if you’re putting money into an S&P 500 mutual fund or index fund, you’re about 40% or 45% exposed to the AI trade.”

How an S&P 500 selloff could hit AI-linked tech companies the hardest

Schiff’s point does not establish that the market will fall, and it does not mean that every large technology company is a poor business. It is a warning about the difference between owning an index and knowing what drives it. Investors with sizable S&P 500 holdings can and should examine their overlap with the largest companies before adding separate positions in Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms, or Tesla.

The risk becomes more pronounced in the scenario Schiff described: a broad market decline that prompts investors to redeem shares of index funds to halt their losses. An index fund meeting redemptions sells the stocks it owns in proportion to their weights. Because the largest technology companies are major components of the index, selling can be concentrated in the same names that helped propel the index higher.

“When you sell the S&P, you’ve got the index fund, they’ve got to sell the stocks in the basket, and they’re disproportionately those stocks.”

—Peter Schiff, when asked why a broader stock-market sell-off could hit large technology stocks particularly hard

Why Peter Schiff favors an underweight position in technology

Schiff does not advocate a zero allocation to technology. He says his wealth-management firm, Euro Pacific Asset Management, is underweight technology relative to its representation in relevant indexes, meaning the firm’s portfolios own less of the sector than an index fund would. The approach reflects a valuation judgment rather than a claim that technology has no role in a portfolio.

Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company illustrate the distinction. Schiff said their price-to-earnings ratios look more attractive to him than those of the Magnificent Seven, the group of dominant U.S. technology-oriented stocks that has been a major focus for investors in recent years. Even so, he said the firm’s holdings in Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are underweight compared with their index weights.

Schiff on value vs. growth

Where Schiff would add exposure is in value-oriented basic-materials companies. Value investing generally emphasizes companies whose share prices appear low relative to measures such as earnings or assets, while growth investing puts greater emphasis on the potential for faster future earnings growth.

Neither style wins continuously. The trade-off in Schiff’s proposed tilt is clear: value and foreign stocks can lag U.S. growth stocks for long stretches, as he acknowledged happened during much of the period from roughly 2011 through 2024.

That history is a practical caution. Investors who move away from U.S. mega-cap technology because of valuation concerns need a time horizon that can withstand periods when their alternative holdings trail the S&P 500. A portfolio should not be rebuilt around a forecast if the investor is likely to abandon the plan after a year or two of disappointing relative returns.

How Schiff’s foreign-stock allocation is meant to work

Schiff’s broader preference is for foreign stocks, particularly value stocks from emerging markets. Emerging markets are countries with developing financial markets and economies, rather than the more mature markets typically classified as “developed.” His thesis rests on the view that U.S. shares are expensive and that investors can find better valuations abroad.

He also emphasizes geographic diversification rather than simply buying foreign versions of the same crowded technology space. His preferred areas include basic materials, energy, dividend-paying companies, and companies from select international markets.

For example, he identified Delta Electronics (Thailand) PCL as one of his best-performing holdings and cited Freeport-McMoRan among U.S. companies he personally owns for copper and gold exposure.

Those examples should be treated as illustrations of Schiff’s investment style, not as a ready-made stock list. A past winner does not guarantee a future return, and a foreign allocation introduces its own risks, including currency fluctuations, differing accounting standards, political uncertainty, and periods of weak performance relative to the United States. Investors considering international funds should also check how much exposure they already have through global funds or retirement accounts.

Schiff’s case is strongest for investors whose portfolios have gradually become dominated by U.S. large-cap growth stocks through years of market appreciation. For those investors, the useful action is an inventory: Identify the percentage of total equities tied to the largest U.S. technology companies, then decide whether that percentage matches their risk tolerance.

The decision does not require accepting Schiff’s bearish outlook in full.

Schiff recommends allocating 10–20% of one’s portfolio to physical precious metals, but this often requires a large minimum investment and ongoing storage and administrative costs. Scottsdale Mint via Unsplash

Why physical precious metals are the anchor of Schiff’s portfolio

The clearest numerical part of Schiff’s framework is his allocation of physical precious metals. He said investors should generally hold 10% to 20% in physical gold, silver, and similar metals. The range is intended as a portfolio allocation, not a trading call on the next month — or year — of gold prices.

“I would say that people should have 10% to maybe even as much as 20% in physical precious metals. So that’d be gold, silver, stuff like that.”

—Peter Schiff, when asked how he would allocate $10,000 for an everyday retail investor

Schiff’s rationale hinges on real interest rates, which adjust stated interest rates for inflation.

He argues that a small Federal Reserve rate increase would not be negative for gold if inflation rises faster than policy rates, because the inflation-adjusted return available on cash and bonds would still be falling. He also argues that the U.S. government’s debt burden limits how far the Federal Reserve can raise rates without sharply increasing federal interest costs.

That is a macroeconomic thesis, not a certainty. Gold can decline or experience increased volatility, and it produces no income. Owning physical metals can also involve dealer spreads, storage costs, and insurance, and it tends to be less convenient than brokerage-held securities.

An investor using metals as a hedge needs to decide in advance whether the position is insurance against inflation and currency stress, a long-term strategic holding, or a shorter-term price view. Those purposes call for different allocation sizes.

Schiff described a much more severe policy shift as the condition that could change his bullish view: large spending cuts, a sharply smaller Federal Reserve balance sheet, and much tighter monetary policy. He also said such a combination would likely bring falling real estate and stock prices, higher unemployment, and a protracted recession.

His conclusion is that policymakers will avoid that path. Investors should recognize that this conclusion is Schiff’s forecast and that his entire portfolio structure depends heavily on it.

What Schiff would do with bonds, cash & U.S. stocks

After the 10% to 20% allocation to physical precious metals, Schiff said he would overweight equities relative to bonds. He said he prefers short-term, high-quality foreign bonds and suggests allocating about 20% of one’s portfolio to them. Short-term bonds mature sooner, so their prices are generally less sensitive to changes in interest rates than those of longer-term bonds.

The remainder, in his framework, would go to foreign stocks. He said he would favor value over growth and emerging markets over developed markets, while keeping some technology exposure at an underweight level. For the hypothetical portfolio he was asked about, he said he would have no U.S. stock allocation, although he separately noted that his personal holdings include some U.S. oil, tobacco, agricultural, copper, and technology stocks.

That distinction is important. A model allocation offered in a rapid-fire discussion cannot account for an investor’s age, income needs, taxes, pension benefits, mortgage, emergency savings, or existing investments.

Schiff himself asked how large the hypothetical $10,000 investment was relative to the investor’s total assets before giving a general answer. The same question should come before any investor makes a major allocation change.

A decision process for investors concerned about U.S. stock concentration

Schiff’s portfolio is best understood as a concentrated macro view expressed through several holdings: precious metals for a weaker-dollar and inflation scenario, foreign value stocks for a valuation reset between U.S. and overseas markets, and a reduced technology weight for an AI-expectations reversal.

That combination could work well if his assumptions prove broadly correct. It could also trail badly if U.S. technology earnings remain strong, inflation cools, and foreign markets continue to lag.

For a long-term, buy-and-hold investor, the more durable lesson is to separate a portfolio review from a market forecast. First, calculate the actual weight of the largest U.S. companies across every fund and individual stock. Second, decide how much exposure to a single country, sector, and investment style is appropriate. Third, if adding gold, foreign stocks, or bonds, set an allocation that can be maintained through a period of underperformance rather than one based on a near-term price target.

Schiff is asking investors to give up some of the momentum that has rewarded U.S. mega-cap technology ownership in exchange for broader geographic exposure, more value-oriented holdings, and an explicit metals hedge. Whether that trade fits depends less on a prediction about the S&P 500’s next move than on whether an investor’s existing portfolio has already become more concentrated than they intended.

Schiff’s prescription is unusually decisive, but the underlying assumption applies more broadly: Look at your index fund’s weighting, and determine whether it’s actually providing the degree of portfolio diversification you want.

A portfolio built to withstand more than one market outcome may look less exciting when one group of stocks is surging, but it can also reduce the need to make drastic changes after sector leadership reverses.

Related: S&P 500 investors may be more exposed to the AI trade than they think

Patients expect their physicians to recommend treatments based on medical evidence. But a growing body of university research suggests that the company covering the insurance may also employ the doctor diagnosing and treating the patient’s conditions.

Five of the largest health insurance companies in the United States now operate networks of physician practices, pharmacy benefit managers, and ambulatory surgery centers. 

Those five insurers collectively cover about 126 million Americans and control 69% of all Medicare Advantage enrollment, a Brookings Institution analysis found.

For the millions of people comparing plans during the next open enrollment window, the financial relationship between insurers and physicians is invisible, yet consequential. 

New data from Brown University and Brookings show that when insurers buy doctor practices, spending climbs.

UnitedHealth’s Optum acquisitions added $250 million in annual Medicare spending

A working paper from Brown University’s Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research measured what happened after UnitedHealth Group purchased physician practices through Optum.

The research team tracked more than 200 acquired practices and followed about 4,500 primary care providers alongside more than 500,000 Medicare patients. 

Medicare Advantage payments tied to those practices rose by roughly $250 million per year after the acquisitions, the Brown researchers concluded.

That increase in spending produced no measurable improvement in patient care quality. Patients at the acquired practices were no less likely to be hospitalized or visit the emergency room, two standard measures used to evaluate clinical performance.

“The rise of insurers, particularly UnitedHealth, acquiring physician practices is one of the most notable recent trends in health care consolidation,” said Jeffrey Marr, Brown’s assistant professor of health services, policy, and practice. 

Marr added that regulators including the Department of Justice and Congress have scrutinized the practice, yet little empirical evidence exists to show whether the deals benefit patients.

Acquired practices listed more diagnoses without treating sicker patients

After UnitedHealth completed the acquisitions, physicians at the purchased practices began documenting more medical conditions per patient during routine visits.

That pattern made patients appear sicker in billing records, according to a press release on the Brown working paper.

In Medicare Advantage, insurers receive larger federal payments for patients documented with more serious or numerous conditions.

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“It’s primarily known as a way of gaming the system,” said Christopher Whaley, associate director of the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research, in the press release. 

“The main point of this gaming is that it substantially increases payment to insurers, in this case, UnitedHealthcare, even though the patient’s true conditions remain the same,” he said.

Medicare Advantage now covers more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries, and federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans reached $534 billion in 2025, according to the Medicare Trustees Report. 

In 2022 alone, the acquired practices generated about $265 million in additional Medicare Advantage payments tied to the diagnostic coding changes.

Acquired practices recorded more diagnoses, making patients appear sicker and driving higher Medicare Advantage payments without changes in their health.Me 3645 Studio / Getty Images

UnitedHealthcare paid Optum doctors up to 61% more in concentrated markets

A study published in Health Affairs by researchers at Brown and the University of California at Berkeley examined how UnitedHealthcare compensates physicians.

Using newly available federal price transparency data, the team found that UnitedHealthcare pays Optum doctors about 17% more than independent practices for identical services. 

In markets where UnitedHealthcare controls a large share of the insurance business, that payment difference widened to as much as 61%, the study found.

Daniel Arnold, the study’s lead author and a senior research scientist at Brown’s School of Public Health, said in a Brown release that the payment pattern only makes financial sense once the corporate structure is factored in.

What we saw in the data was that UnitedHealthcare is paying its doctor practices at Optum well above the market rate. Normally, an insurance company wouldn’t pay above market rate because it costs them money, but here it’s not really a cost.

Federal law requires insurers to spend between 80% and 85% of collected premiums on medical care, depending on market segment, under a rule known as the Medical Loss Ratio. Medicare Advantage plans, the focus of the Brown research, are subject to the 85% threshold.

By directing higher payments to their physician networks, insurers can meet the Medical Loss Ratio threshold on paper without reducing overall corporate revenue.

Nearly 80% of U.S. physicians now work for corporate owners, and Congress is responding

That financial architecture gives insurers a structural reason to continue acquiring physician practices, and the ownership shift is already well advanced.

By 2024, nearly 80% of physicians in the United States were employed by hospitals or corporate entities, up from 62% just five years earlier. 

Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms published those figures in a May 2026 analysis of the effects of vertical integration on consumers and clinicians.

Three federal bills have been introduced to strengthen antitrust enforcement against integrated insurer-provider organizations, according to Georgetown. 

Only one, the Break Up Big Medicine Act, introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) as co-sponsor, is bipartisan. That legislation would ban common ownership between insurers and physician practices. 

The other two, the Patients Over Profits Act and the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, are sponsored exclusively by Democrats.

Brookings traces the money inside each insurer’s corporate tree

Richard Frank, director of the Center on Health Policy at Brookings, and senior research assistant Samuel Peterson mapped the subsidiary networks and traced intercompany revenue flows.

UnitedHealth Group lists more than 2,000 subsidiaries, according to Brookings. In 2025, related entities paid Optum Health $63.6 billion, 63% of that division’s total revenue. 

The other major insurers follow similar playbooks:

CVS routes Aetna premiums through Caremark and Oak Street Health.

Elevance channels payments through CarelonRx.

Humana directs spending through CenterWell Senior Primary Care.

Standard plan documents do not disclose whether a Medicare Advantage plan’s insurer, physician network, and pharmacy benefit manager share one corporate parent.

What the Brookings subsidiary map means for plan shoppers

Georgetown’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms has called for greater transparency around ownership and affiliations in healthcare, research that can help enrollees determine whether their plan’s insurer also owns their primary care provider.

Brown’s research shows the financial consequences of that structure: increasing what taxpayers spend on Medicare Advantage while patient hospitalization and emergency room visit rates remain unchanged.

The Brookings subsidiary spreadsheet is the first publicly available dataset to trace those connections, and enrollees approaching the next open enrollment window can cross-reference their plan’s parent company against it before selecting or renewing coverage.

Related: Your health insurance may not protect your finances