Author: Doug Kass

Upside:

-DY +27% (earnings, guidance; acquires low-voltage engineering and construction firm National Technology Integrators for $275M)

-DTIL +13% (Clinical Data Show PBGENE-HBV Eliminates and Inactivates cccDNA in Liver Biopsies)

-SMTC +13% (earnings, guidance)

-BBWI +11% (earnings, guidance; CFO to resign)

-SPIR +7.1% (signs MoU with Schaeffler to develop space hardware subsystems and satellite platforms)

-CORT +6.0% (plans to resubmit relacorilant NDA for Cushing’s syndrome)

-MANU +4.9% (earnings, guidance)

-ANF +4.5% (earnings, guidance)

-TSM +4.2% (said to increase 3nm chip prices by 15% in H2, 2026)

-MGM +3.7% (JPMorgan Chase and Co Raised MGM to Overweight from Neutral, price target: $46)

-AXTA +3.3% (Akzo Nobel confirms on May 1st rejected conditional cash offer at €73.00/shr from Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams)

-APP +3.1% (constructive comments from Morgan Stanley)

-LULU +3.0% (confirms Chip Wilson (Founder) cooperation agreement for ~18 months)

-FLY +2.6% (confirms wins $75M NASA JPL MoonFall Subcontract to Deliver Drones to the Moon’s South Pole; files to sell total of 12M shares of common stock – Firefly offers 4M shares with 8M shares offered by Selling Stockholders)

-BNTX +2.5% (UBS Raised BNTX to Buy from Neutral, price target: $135 from $117)

-HIMS +2.0% (Board member purchases $1.2M of stock)

Downside:

-VRRM -55% (receives Termination of Agreement Notice From Avis Budget Group; Cuts FY guidance)

-ZS -25% (earnings, guidance)

-APGE -11% (discloses data from APEX Phase 2 Part B trial; enters up to $1.3B financing collaboration with Blackstone Life Sciences for zumilokibart)

-GRRR -5.2% (earnings, guidance)

-KMT -5.1% (Barclays Cuts KMT to Underweight from Equal Weight, price target: $33 from $40)

-CPRI -3.8% (earnings, guidance)

-PODD -3.8% (issues voluntary recall for Omnipod Pods that could result in insulin under-delivery)

-DKS -2.6% (earnings, guidance)

Positions: None.

Over the last several trading days the market has behaved more like a casino than a church – with memory  and semis serving as the house.

Caveat emptor.

I will be expanding my short exposure on the Iranian news.

Positions: None  

Treasury Auctions

11:30 a.m.: Treasury hosts a $69B 17-Week Bill Auction; 

11:30 a.m.: Treasury hosts a $28B 2-Year FRN (r) Auction; 

1:00 p.m.: Treasury hosts a $70B 5-Year Note Auction

Fed Speakers: 

4:00 a.m.: Fed Bank of Dallas President Logan (Voter) participates in “Policy Panel Discussion 1: Monetary Policy and Imbalances” before the 2026 Monetary Policy from New Perspectives Conference hosted by the Bank of Japan Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Tokyo (Embargoed text available);

3:55 p.m.: Fed Board Governor Cook (Voter) speaks on “AI, the Economy, and the Financial System” before the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) Policy Forum, Stanford, CA (Text available. Q&A from moderator. Livestream at stanford.zoom.us);

8:00 p.m.: Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson (Voter) participates in “Fireside Chat: Monetary Policy and Supply Shocks” before the 2026 Monetary Policy from New Perspectives Conference hosted by the Bank of Japan Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Tokyo (Text available. Q&A from moderator. No webcast); 

9:10 p.m.: Fed Bank of Chicago President Goolsbee (Non-Voter) Television Appearance – CNBC Squawk Box Asia (Interview to air across Asian markets. Interview excerpts will publish to CNBC Asia website after the interview); 

10:25 p.m.: Fed Bank of Chicago President Goolsbee (Non-Voter) participates in a panel discussion titled “Monetary Policy in a Changing World Economy” at the Bank of Japan Institute for Monetary and Economics Studies Conference, Tokyo (No Live Stream, Embargoed Text) 

Economic Calendar

Positions: None.

Positions: none.

Positions: None.

My pals Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell had an informative Trade to Black interview after the close yesterday.

Run, don’t walk to watch the Chairman of ($CURLF) discuss uplisting and reverse splits:

TDR on X: “Curaleaf Thickens The Plot While SAM Keeps Losing https://t.co/NSJkqswKnt” / X

Positions: None.

From Knowledge@Wharton:

Cities Can’t Afford to Fight the Last War – Knowledge at Wharton

* The last chapter…

Twitter/X has an addictive quality. 

The “discussions” on X mirror the anger that characterizes discourse in this country today.  

As to my constant criticism of the financial media, Fin TV (in particular) prizes the consensus. It favors “first-level thinking” and generally ignores “second-level thinking.” This non-rigorous delivery is effective when the “tide is coming in.”  Not so much in corrections when the “tide is going out.”

Many corners of the media have too often become an echo chamber of opinion. It is sometimes dishonest in the sense that it is not transparent (no timestamps and no ownership for investing/trading boners). But, at this point, I have made this point often enough.  

In case you missed my Tweet of the Day:

In a way Twitter mirrors drug addiction by hijacking your brain's dopamine system. Just as a drug triggers a massive chemical flood, Twitter creates a "compulsion loop" of intermittent, unpredictable rewards—likes, retweets, and outrage—that keeps you constantly craving your next…

— Dougie Kass (@DougKass) May 26, 2026

Position: None

* Cyclical stocks tend to peak with what appear to be low price-earnings multiples

Cyclical Stocks 101: Final highs don’t come at high P/Es. They come when earnings are peaking and P/Es look deceptively “cheap.” Semis—especially MU—are classic: they screen undervalued right before the cycle turns. https://t.co/MPD0s25iVy

— Milton W Berg CFA (@BergMilton) May 27, 2026

Position: Short MU (VS)