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Anyone who has hosted a football watch party knows the moment after the food lands. Someone pulls out a phone and starts splitting the bill four ways. Wingstop Inc. (WING) is now building its sales pitch around that exact moment.

The chain’s Watch Party Bundle packs 20 classic wings, a large fry, and a large ranch, according to the company. Wingstop lists the bundle at $27.99 and split four ways, the bundle costs about $7 per person.

The timing is no coincidence. Domestic same-store sales fell 5.4% in the third quarter, according to Wingstop’s earnings release, which blamed fewer transactions and pressure on consumer spending. Same-store sales track restaurants that have been open for at least a year, so existing locations are simply taking fewer orders.

I went back through the call transcript, and the clearest explanation of the pitch came during the Q&A. Answering Guggenheim analyst Gregory Francfort on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, CEO Michael Skipworth said the bundle serves up to four people.

Wingstop, he added, chose to frame that value per head. “The messaging includes that $7 per person,” Skipworth said, according to a transcript of the call.

Also read: Wingstop’s slump is getting worse, not better

The $7 figure is math, not a markdown. Wingstop is describing its regular bundle price in smaller pieces rather than cutting it. Still, the plan carries a plain tension: Wingstop needs more orders, yet Skipworth insists this is not a quick promotional fix.

Budget-minded guests are still buying big

The quarter marked Wingstop’s sixth straight decline in same-store sales, and management cut its full-year forecast for the third time this year. The company now expects domestic same-store sales to fall 6.5% to 7% in 2026, a range that implies no quick rebound this quarter.

Lower-income consumers account for about 25% of Wingstop’s transactions, CFO Alex Kaleida said in April, according to Restaurant Dive. Those guests were not trading down, he said. “They’re actually trading up into larger bundles,” Kaleida told analysts.

That detail helps explain the per-person pitch. A household watching every dollar may skip solo visits but still chip in for a shared order on game day. The $7 framing speaks directly to that buyer.

Wingstop now pitches its $27.99 Watch Party Bundle at about $7 per person after domestic same-store sales fell 5.4% in the third quarter of 2026.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Gas prices explain only part of the slump

Gasoline prices rose 34.2% in the 12 months through September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices at limited-service restaurants, which include fast food chains, rose 3.2% over the same stretch, the BLS said. In other words, the squeeze on Wingstop’s customers is coming from the gas tank more than the menu board.

Even so, some rivals facing the same pump prices found ways to grow. Burger King’s U.S. comparable sales rose 8.4% last quarter, helped by value deals such as “3 for $7,” Reuters reported. Popeyes, which shares a parent with Burger King in Restaurant Brands International (QSR), saw U.S. same-store sales fall 2.2%, according to CNBC.

Burger King’s 3-for-$7 deal and Wingstop’s $7 pitch land on the same number. The difference is that one customer can claim Burger King’s price alone, while Wingstop’s requires four people to share a $27.99 order. A per-person price only works when the table is full.

Morgan Stanley sees progress but wants proof

Wall Street gave Wingstop some credit for the early fixes. Brian Harbour called the results “perhaps the definition of better-than-feared,” according to a Morgan Stanley research note shared with TheStreet.

The note, titled “3Q26: Amid Clear Headwinds, Nascent Progress Recently,” kept an Overweight rating but trimmed the price target to $198 from $202. Harbour wrote that more proof points are needed before declaring victory.

Harbour also pointed to a quieter tailwind. Chicken prices have been favorable this year, he wrote, and Wingstop is locking in multi-year supply contracts at attractive prices, which helps franchisees. Cheap wings let those operators honor a $7 pitch with less strain on margins.

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The broader Street remains patient too. Wingstop carries a consensus Buy rating from 28 analysts, according to StockAnalysis. Their average price target of $186.46 sits well above the current share price.

The latest calls tracked by StockAnalysis, all made after the report:

Buy rating, with the target raised to $170 from $165 by Wells Fargo’s Zachary Fadem on Thursday, October 29, 2026.

Hold rating, with the target raised to $150 from $140 by UBS’s Dennis Geiger on Thursday, October 29, 2026.

Hold rating, with the target cut to $160 from $165 by BMO Capital’s Andrew Strelzik on Thursday, October 29, 2026.

Wingstop’s real test comes after football season

The stock shrugged off the weak sales. Shares jumped 11% in afternoon trading on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Even after the bounce, the stock was still down about 46% for the year.

For shoppers, the $7 math works only when four people split the order. When Francfort opened Wingstop’s app, he said individual bundles ran about $8 to $10. That makes a full table the better per-person deal.

Longer term, Morgan Stanley’s bull case, worth $263 a share, assumes same-store sales climb back to mid-single-digit growth. Its bear case, at $76, assumes comparable sales stay negative through 2026 while store growth slows to single digits.

I’ll be watching the months after the Super Bowl, when Wingstop must prove its game day deals built a year-round habit. Fast-food value fights have long centered on the cheapest single meal. Wingstop is betting the next round will be won on the cheapest seat at a shared table.

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Personal finance author and radio host Dave Ramsey cautioned investors about self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts (SDIRAs) as he explained how this retirement savings strategy can be risky.

For investors who like options, the SDIRA gives people the power of choice.

“But hold up,” Ramsey warned. “As niche investments, self-directed IRAs can get complicated fast.”

“They often involve high-risk investments with complicated fees — and you’ll carry the burden of more responsibility for your investment choices, too,” he added.

Unlike conventional traditional or Roth IRAs, a SDIRA offers the same tax advantages while granting one the flexibility to hold alternative assets — such as real estate, private equity, and commodities — that standard brokerages typically prohibit.

“Self-directed IRAs have a lot in common with their close cousins, the regular traditional and Roth IRAs,” Ramsey wrote. “They’re designed to offer the same kinds of tax benefits, whether that’s tax-deferred growth (traditional) or tax-free growth and withdrawals in retirement (Roth).”

Choosing between traditional SDIRAs and Roth SDIRAs

Choosing a Roth versus traditional SDIRA requires weighing illiquid asset payoffs against upfront taxes. A Roth SDIRA is exceptionally powerful for explosive, early-stage private assets: paying taxes on a low initial valuation allows potential massive future gains — like a multi-million-dollar land sale or private stock payout — to be withdrawn entirely tax-free.

Conversely, an illiquid asset held in a traditional SDIRA will eventually trigger hefty mandatory taxes upon retirement distribution, often forcing owners to liquidate hard-to-sell assets just to pay the IRS.

There is another important nuance when choosing between a traditional SDIRA and a Roth SDIRA.

Vetted Prop Firms CPA Dat Ngo points out that people making this decision often focus only on tax implications.

“One thing I always walk clients through is the idea that the Roth vs. traditional decision isn’t just about where you expect tax rates to go — it’s about your income trajectory right now,” Ngo told me. “If you’re in a lower tax bracket today and expect meaningful income growth over the next decade, paying taxes upfront with a Roth contribution is often the smarter long-term move.”

“That said, for someone already in a higher bracket who anticipates a lower income in retirement, the traditional IRA’s deduction can provide real, immediate relief,” he added. “There’s no universal right answer, which is exactly why people should run the numbers for their specific situation rather than defaulting to a rule of thumb.”

Personal finance author and radio host Dave Ramsey cautions investors about self-directed IRA risks while detailing a sensible approach to navigating them.Shutterstock

Dave Ramsey explains how SDIRAs are different

What truly sets a self-directed IRA apart is the freedom it gives you to deploy account funds into non-traditional asset classes.

“Regular IRAs offered by most brokerage firms only allow you to invest in certain types of traditional investments — like stocks, bonds and mutual funds, for example,” Ramsey wrote. “But with a self-directed IRA, you could potentially use retirement funds to invest in real estate, small businesses and cryptocurrencies.”

“Most folks who open a self-directed IRA typically use them for long-term investments that are more difficult to buy and sell than stocks, bonds, or mutual funds (which can be bought with the click of a mouse),” he continued.

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In financial terms, self-directed IRAs are tailored for relatively illiquid assets that cannot be quickly converted to cash on public exchanges.

Beyond illiquidity, SDIRAs carry severe regulatory traps. The IRS strictly prohibits transactions involving “disqualified persons” (such as buying real estate from a spouse or parent), which can instantly disqualify the entire account and trigger back taxes plus penalties.

Additionally, debt-leveraged assets inside an SDIRA can unexpectedly trigger Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) frequently warns that lack of custodian oversight makes these accounts prime targets for fraudulent investment schemes.

During my years of experience reporting on retirement savings, I’ve often covered various ways of investing in IRAs. With SDIRAs in particular, it’s important to know that, by leveraging account capital, investors can branch out into tangible real estate, raw land, and livestock, or pursue alternative commodities like precious metals, oil, gas, and water or mineral rights.

These accounts also provide avenues to back private businesses, hold cryptocurrency, purchase tax lien certificates, and issue debt instruments such as promissory notes.

Ramsey, IRS clarify IRA contribution requirements

Ramsey emphasizes an important point.

“Yes, you can have both a regular and a self-directed IRA at the same time,” he wrote. “There’s actually no limit to the number of individual retirement accounts you can own.”

Regardless of how many individual accounts investors maintain, their combined annual deposits must remain within the overall contribution ceiling mandated by the IRS.

“For 2026, the total contributions you make each year to all of your traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs can’t be more than $7,500 ($8,600 if you’re age 50 or older), or if less, your taxable compensation for the year,” wrote the Internal Revenue Service.

The relevant IRS docs to dive into for further information are IRS Publication 590-A (Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements), and IRC Section 4975 (on prohibited transactions).

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as individualized tax or investment advice.

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Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) is losing its everyday shoppers, and fast. Its consumer arm sells the memory cards and flash drives that made the brand famous. That business lost more than a quarter of its sales in three months.

Consumer revenue fell 29% from the prior quarter to $397 million, according to Sandisk’s fiscal first-quarter results. On the earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Luis Visoso said the drop came “as the market adjusts to higher pricing.”

That is a polite way of saying Sandisk charged more and shoppers bought less. The admission came inside a record quarter, which makes it easy to miss.

Also read: Sandisk’s next chip could save cloud giants billions, but not us

Shoppers are paying more and buying less

Consumer sales also fell 39% from a year earlier, according to the same results. A year ago, that business brought in about 28% of Sandisk’s revenue. Today it accounts for less than 4%.

Booming data-center sales explain part of that shrinking share. Yet consumer dollars fell too, and with prices rising, unit sales almost certainly fell faster than revenue.

Chief Executive David Goeckeler still called the consumer arm “a differentiated strategic asset” in his prepared remarks.

That is the tension in plain view. Sandisk calls its shoppers strategic while its own price tags push them away.

Sandisk’s consumer revenue fell 29% in fiscal Q1 to $397 million as the market adjusted to higher prices, even though data-center sales jumped 61%.NurPhoto / Getty Images

Data centers are getting the flash first

Every memory card, phone, and server drive draws from the same supply of NAND flash chips. Sandisk is steering more of that supply toward data centers built for artificial intelligence, where customers sign multi-year contracts.

Data center revenue jumped 61% from the prior quarter to $4.8 billion, according to the release. Goeckeler said Sandisk “allocated more supply to address the growing demand from this end market.”

Those contracts now cover about half of Sandisk’s fiscal 2027 output, Visoso said. That leaves a thinner slice for the store shelf. The low end of its edge business, which supplies phone and PC makers, also shrank.

Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes opened the Q&A by tying Intel Corp.’s (INTC) weaker PC outlook to memory costs.

Goeckeler conceded that PC unit sales fell this year and will be “slightly down next year.” That means fewer devices sold, each carrying more storage at a higher price.

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Wall Street trims targets as Sandisk stock slides

Sandisk shares were down 12% by midday Oct. 30 despite an earnings beat, CNBC reported.

The sell-off hit the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), where Sandisk makes up about 4% of holdings, according to StockAnalysis. The fund fell more than 8% by the afternoon, a sign that a memory basket offers little shelter.

The bigger blow came from Japan. Kioxia Holdings Corp., Sandisk’s flash manufacturing partner, warned that price gains are stalling, Bloomberg reported. Its NAND selling prices rose about 20% last quarter, after a 70% jump the previous quarter.

Sandisk’s own numbers tell a similar story. Pricing drove two-thirds of its growth in the quarter that ended in July, according to its fiscal fourth-quarter release. This time, pricing drove about 40%, Visoso said, and he guided to only “modest” increases ahead.

Put that next to the consumer slump, and the picture sharpens. Price gains are cooling at the top of the market just as they break demand at the bottom.

On paper, the stock looks cheap. Analysts expect about $215 a share in adjusted fiscal 2027 profit, according to StockAnalysis. At the Oct. 30 price, that is less than six times earnings, a discount usually reserved for profits expected to fade.

Wall Street still mostly likes the name, though the Oct. 30 trims undo part of earlier target hikes. StockAnalysis shows a consensus Buy rating from 25 analysts, with an average price target of $2,144.

Here are the latest calls, in pre-split dollars:

Hold, $1,300 target, down from $1,550: Wells Fargo’s Joseph Quatrochi, Oct. 30

Buy, $2,000 target, down from $2,500: Bank of America’s Wamsi Mohan, Oct. 30

Buy, $2,300 target, maintained: Barclays’ Thomas O’Malley, Oct. 30

Sandisk’s outlook hinges on the March quarter

Sandisk guided fiscal second-quarter revenue to $12.2 billion to $12.6 billion, according to the release. Split-adjusted trading for its eight-for-one stock split is set to begin Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, according to an SEC filing.

The real test comes after that. Visoso told Goldman Sachs analyst Jim Schneider that “our Q3 is normally our weakest sequential quarter.” That quarter covers roughly January through March.

I see two companies inside one quarter. The data center business looks durable, with multiyear contracts and customers coming back for more. The consumer business shows where pricing hits a wall, and that wall gets closer as price growth cools.

If you already own the stock, I would not sell into a slide driven by fear of a peak. I would trim only if Sandisk has grown into an outsized slice of your portfolio.

Profits kept climbing, yet the stock has roughly halved from its 52-week high of $2,354.39.

If you are on the sidelines, I would wait for the March quarter report. That seasonal low will show how much pricing power Sandisk has left.

For most of its history, Sandisk sold flash to shoppers first and servers second. This quarter shows that the order has flipped, and the shopper now waits at the back of the line.

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A laptop is a tool you touch all day, just not usually on the screen.

Your hands live on the keyboard and trackpad. The display sits upright, a foot or two away, and that setup has barely changed in decades.

Apple liked it that way. For years, the company argued that reaching up to poke a laptop screen was a bad idea, even as rivals added touchscreens to Windows machines.

That stance made the Mac different from almost every other premium laptop. It also kept Apple’s line between the Mac and the iPad clear.

So when Apple finally put touch on a Mac, the obvious question was whether it works. One of the most-watched tech reviewers on YouTube just gave his answer.

Apple (AAPL) announced the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display on Oct. 28, calling it the first Mac with Touch, according to its press release. Pre-orders are open, and the laptops will reach customers and stores on Friday, Nov. 6.

Marques Brownlee, the YouTube reviewer known as MKBHD, tried it in a first-impressions video titled “Macbook PROLED XDR Impressions: They Said They Wouldn’t!” His verdict on the headline feature was cool.

“It’s still kind of sloppy and messy to use it,” Brownlee said, Dexerto reported.

What MKBHD didn’t like about the touchscreen Mac

Brownlee laid out his objections plainly. “I never want fingerprints on my display,” he said, adding that he also never wants “the display wobbling around as I’m touching it,” according to Dexerto.

He also didn’t want to “hold my arm out and have my arm get tired.”

That’s the same complaint Steve Jobs made about vertical touchscreens in 2010. “It doesn’t work, it’s ergonomically terrible,” Jobs said at the time, Gulf News noted.

Here are the main problems Brownlee flagged, according to Dexerto and Gulf News:

The screen still wobbles. Apple stiffened the hinge slightly, but the display still moves when pressed.

No Apple Pencil. The MacBook Pro doesn’t support it.

Mac apps aren’t built for fingers. Most desktop software still assumes a keyboard and trackpad, and many demos he saw involved mis-touches and fumbles.

Apple adapted the Mac rather than rethinking it. He said Apple is “adapting for you,” for example by enlarging small buttons so they’re easier to tap.

Tom’s Guide Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer raised the same Pencil gap in his own hands-on. “We’ll have to see how well touch works with third-party apps,” he wrote.

Marques Brownlee called Mac touch “sloppy and messy” but praised the OLED screen and weight.Mario Tama / Getty Images

Why MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display costs you $400 more

This is the number I’d focus on. The 14-inch touch model with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,899, while the existing 14-inch MacBook Pro with the same chip and a mini-LED screen costs $2,499, PPC Land reported.

Apple is keeping the mini-LED models on sale alongside the new ones, MacRumors reported. So the $400 buys the OLED panel, the touch layer, the lighter body and the Dynamic Island, not more computing power.

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Here’s how the lineup stacks up in the U.S., according to Apple and PPC Land:

14-inch MacBook Pro, M6: $1,999

14-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Pro (mini-LED): $2,499

14-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Pro (PROLED XDR, touch): $2,899

16-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Pro (PROLED XDR, touch): $3,399

14-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Max (PROLED XDR, touch): $4,499

16-inch MacBook Pro, M5 Max (PROLED XDR, touch): $4,799

By my math, the touch model costs 16% more than the same-chip mini-LED version. It’s $900 more than the M6 MacBook Pro, Apple’s cheapest new Pro.

If you split the $2,899 base price over 12 months, that’s about $241.58 a month before tax.

Apple’s Upgrade lease, run through Klarna, starts at $78.99 a month over 24 months at that price, according to Apple. A lease isn’t ownership, though, so read the terms before you sign.

What MKBHD liked about the new MacBook Pro

It wasn’t all bad. Brownlee found the touchscreen responsive and smooth, with multi-touch gestures, pinch-to-zoom, and touch window management, Dexerto reported.

He also saw a clear use for iPhone app developers, who can tap a simulated iPhone on screen. And he said he’s “fine” with touch as an optional feature, even if he’s “personally not interested.”

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The display and the weight impressed him most. “I’d upgrade for the weight savings before I would for the touchscreen,” he said, according to Dexerto.

Apple’s numbers back that up. The 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, half a pound lighter than before, and the 16-inch weighs 4 pounds, according to Apple. The OLED panel hits 2,000 nits of peak brightness with a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

“PROLED XDR is the world’s best laptop display,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer, in the release.

Brownlee also noted that the nano-texture finish feels softer to the touch and that both finishes hide fingerprints well, Gulf News reported.

Who should buy the touchscreen MacBook Pro

Based on Brownlee’s take, here’s how I’d sort it:

Photo and video pros: The screen is the real upgrade, and touch is a bonus.

iPhone app developers: Touch makes testing apps on a simulated iPhone more natural.

Frequent travelers: The half-pound weight cut matters if you carry it every day.

Everyone else: The $2,499 mini-LED model has the same chip. The $1,999 M6 model may be all the laptop you need.

Microsoft Word, Excel, Zoom, and other apps are getting touch support “later this year,” Apple said. If touch is your reason to buy, waiting for those updates costs you nothing.

Should you pre-order before Nov. 6?

If you’re on the fence, I’d treat this like any big purchase. Decide what you’re paying for, and make sure you’ll use it.

Students and teachers can save $150 on the 14-inch model, which drops to $2,749 with education pricing, according to Apple. Trade-in credit can also take a chunk off the price.

Brownlee’s verdict is a useful filter.

If you want the best screen on a laptop and a lighter bag, the new MacBook Pro delivers.

If you’re paying $400 extra mainly to touch the screen, you may be paying for the part of the Mac that still needs work.

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