Adnoc Drilling Affirms 2026 Outlook After Record First-quarter Performance

Adnoc Drilling (ADX:ADNOCDRILL) said Monday it is well-placed to meet its full-year 2026 guidance, following a "best-ever" first-quarter performance.

The offshore drilling company expects net profit of between $1.45 billion and $1.50 billion and revenue of $5 billion for 2026, bolstered by high utilization, expanding integrated services and multi-year contract visibility.

Supporting this reiterated outlook, Adnoc Drilling's profit after tax rose year over year to $346.7 million from $340.9 million, while revenue climbed to $1.23 billion from $1.17 billion in the year-ago period. The 5% increase in revenue was underpinned by operational stability and efficiency alongside "strong" cash generation across its segments amid shifting market conditions.

With free cash flow up 12% year over year to $356 million, the board recommended a cash dividend of 0.06025 Emirati dirham per share for the first quarter, subject to shareholders' approval. A year ago, the management paid 0.04976 dirham per share.

While the quarterly dividend translates to $262.5 million in total, Adnoc Drilling said its 2026 dividend floor of $1.05 billion is still "well supported by strong free cash flow generation, long-term contract coverage and balance sheet strength."

Nasdaq, S&P 500 Hit New Highs, Log Sixth Consecutive Weekly Gains

The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 reached new peaks on Friday, boosting their weekly gains, following a stronger-than-expected jobs report.The Nasdaq climbed 1.7% to 26,247.1, while the S&P 500 added 0.8% to 7,398.9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended just above the flatline at 49,606.5.Among sectors, technology paced the gainers with a 2.7% jump, while utilities and healthcare saw the steepest drop.Micron Technology (MU) jumped 15% and Intel (INTC) soared nearly 14%, among the top gainers on the S&P 500. Apple (AAPL) gained 2.1% and Nvidia (NVDA) rose 1.8%, two of the five best performers on the Dow.This week, the Nasdaq logged a weekly gain of 4.5%, while the S&P 500 rose 2.3%. Both indexes marked their sixth consecutive weekly advance, which CNBC said is the longest win streak since 2024. The Dow posted a weekly gain of 0.2%.Total nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, well above the 65,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey."Earlier signs hinted that the job market had actually been gathering strength in recent weeks, and the April nonfarm payroll report pounded home that reality with full force," Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Group, said in a report.The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in April, in line with Wall Street's estimates.For the Federal Reserve, the hiring momentum further shifts the focus to inflation, keeping it on the sidelines for now, "and raising the possibility of future rate hikes," Stifel Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza said in a report e-mailed to.Brent advanced 0.6% to $100.68 per barrel in Friday late-afternoon trade, while West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed at $94.84. Both benchmarks were on track for weekly declines following two consecutive weekly advances.The US Central Command said Friday it fired on two Iranian-flagged empty oil tankers trying to bypass an ongoing blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington expects Iran to respond to its peace proposal Friday, CNN reported, citing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The US and Iran traded fire Thursday in the narrow waterway, though a fragile ceasefire between the two appeared to still be holding.The United Arab Emirates intercepted two ballistic missiles and engaged three drones fires by Iran, the UAE's Ministry of Defense said on Friday.The oil market was "relatively calm" despite the flare-up of tensions between the US and Iran, Macquarie said in a report."We suspect that the market's calm reflects the unwillingness of the US to broaden the conflict beyond what's needed to protect US navy ships that are trying to secure safe passage through the strait for third-party commercial vessels," Macquarie said.US Treasury yields were lower, with the 10-year rate down 2.6 basis points at 4.37% and the two-year rate easing 1.2 basis points to 3.90%.US consumer sentiment continued to fall in May as cost pressures tied to the Middle East conflict sent the measure tumbling to fresh lows, a survey by the University of Michigan showed.In company news, Akamai Technologies (AKAM) shares surged nearly 27%, the best performer on the S&P 500. The company late Thursday disclosed a new $1.8 billion cloud infrastructure services contract with an unnamed company. The seven-year contract should help accelerate revenue growth, UBS Securities said, even though the brokerage is skeptical about the deal's impact on margins and profitability.Fluor (FLR) reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter results, while the engineering and construction company lowered the top end of its full-year earnings outlook. The company's shares tumbled 15%.Gold was up 0.5% at $4,732.90 per troy ounce, while silver gained 1.2% to $81.15 per ounce.

Dow JonesNasdaq CompositeS&P 500$AAPL$AKAM$FLR$INTC$MU$NVDA

Akamai's Mega Computing Deal to Boost Revenue Amid Margin Concerns, UBS Says

Akamai Technologies' (AKAM) new $1.8 billion customer contract for computing services should help accelerate revenue growth, UBS Securities said in a note on Friday, even though the brokerage is skeptical about the deal's impact on margins and profitability.The seven-year contract with an unnamed "leading frontier model company" is the largest customer deal in the cloud services provider's history, Chief Executive Tom Leighton said during an earnings conference call on Thursday, according to a FactSet transcript.Akamai expects to start recognizing revenue against the contract in the fourth quarter, at $20 million to $25 million, Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan told analysts. The company will spend $800 million to $825 million in capital expenditures over the next 12 months to support the new deal.Bloomberg News identified that customer as Anthropic, citing people familiar with the matter.Shares of Akamai soared about 27% at market close on Friday, and are up nearly 70% year to date."While we appreciate the large deal momentum and (revenue) growth acceleration, we're less confident in corresponding bottom-line growth," UBS analyst Roger Boyd wrote in the note.Akamai late Thursday raised the lower end of its full-year revenue guidance to $4.445 billion from $4.40 billion, leaving the top end of the outlook unchanged at $4.55 billion. The company raised the cloud infrastructure services outlook to at least 50% year-over-year growth at constant currencies. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $4.49 billion in consolidated revenue.Akamai lowered its full-year adjusted operating margin guidance to 26% from a prior outlook that called for 26% to 28%. UBS attributed that to upfront scaling costs and lower-margin new mega deals.The company is willing to accept cloud infrastructure services deals that are below its 30% medium-term margin target, Boyd said. Meanwhile, additional capital spending will push free cash flow close to breakeven or into negative territory in 2026, he said.The brokerage raised its price target on Akamai's stock to $160 from $110 and reiterated its neutral rating.The company said late Thursday its first-quarter adjusted earnings per share declined to $1.61 from $1.70 a year earlier, while revenue increased 6% to $1.07 billion. These were largely in line with consensus estimates on FactSet."Investor enthusiasm around the cloud infrastructure space could outweigh margin concerns (near term)," Boyd said.

$AKAM

HubSpot's Concurrent Change to Pricing, Go-To-Market Focus Poses 'Significant' Execution Risk, BofA Says in Downgrade

HubSpot (HUBS) could face a "significant" execution risk from its simultaneous change to pricing, packaging and go-to-market focus, BofA Securities said Friday.Late Thursday, the customer relationship management platform provider raised its full-year outlook after delivering a first-quarter beat."We believe (artificial intelligence) value should be measured on outcomes, so we recently updated our pricing for agents to match," HubSpot Chief Executive Yamini Rangan said on an earnings conference call Thursday, according to a FactSet transcript. "Customer agent has moved to consuming credits based on resolved tickets, and prospecting agent has moved to qualified leads recommended for outreach."The company now offers a free 28-day trial for both agents, so customers can "see the value" before committing, Rangan told analysts."The biggest surprise from yesterday's print is that HubSpot is reorienting its go-to-market model to be agent-first, with reps now expected to position AI agents as the tip of the spear during sales conversations rather than traditional products," BofA analyst Matt Bullock said in a note to clients Friday.Last month, the company introduced a new outcomes-based pricing model for AI agents."While we view these moves as strategically sound for the long term, a concurrent change to both pricing/packaging and go-to-market focus introduces significant execution risk," Bullock said Friday. "We expect this to constrain investor sentiment until clear traction can be proven, which we believe could take multiple quarters."BofA downgraded its rating on the HubSpot stock to underperform from buy and slashed its price objective to $180 from $300. "We believe a lower multiple is justified given a meaningfully cloudier path to durable growth reacceleration," the analyst wrote.The company's shares were down nearly 20% in Friday late-afternoon trade, bringing its year-to-date losses to 51%.The changes announced by HubSpot have reduced BofA's confidence in a "meaningful" growth reacceleration in the second half of the year, the brokerage said in the note."The shift toward an agent-first sales motion could lengthen sales cycles and temper the historically consistent momentum of the core business," Bullock wrote. "At the same time, we note that end-market readiness for broad-based agent adoption remains unproven, creating additional uncertainty around near-term sales productivity."Price: $195.56, Change: $-48.16, Percent Change: -19.76%

$HUBS

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Nasdaq, S&P 500 Hit New Highs, Log Sixth Consecutive Weekly Gains

Akamai's Mega Computing Deal to Boost Revenue Amid Margin Concerns, UBS Says

HubSpot's Concurrent Change to Pricing, Go-To-Market Focus Poses 'Significant' Execution Risk, BofA Says in Downgrade