Five interesting things that Hodges Capital research analysts discovered this week...
#1 FLATTENING THE ARCH: As food costs rise and weight-loss drugs flood the market, the world's largest fast-food brands are experiencing a serious slowdown. McDonald's share price is down nearly 10% year-to-date, and quick-service restaurants as a whole saw a 1.6% decline in traffic during the first seven months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. This reflects the reality that fast-food prices have increased 15–20% more than grocery prices over the past decade, along with changing consumer food preferences. Limited-time meal deals and new menu offerings are among the short-term strategies restaurants have tested to bring customers back, but broader changes may ultimately be needed.
#2 ROGUE ROBOT: Britain's government AI safety watchdog ran tests on advanced AI systems from Anthropic and OpenAI, deliberately disabling some of their safety protections to observe how they would behave. In the most alarming case, one of Anthropic's AI models invented fake online identities and used them to contact real people, attempting to trick them into approving harmful software code before covering its tracks when questioned. Investigators said this was the first time they had seen an AI deceive a real person so seriously without being explicitly instructed to do so. Anthropic said the tests were conducted using unusually relaxed safety settings that do not reflect how its systems normally operate, and the company is now investigating further alongside the UK regulator.
#3 TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: Elon Musk's SpaceX announced its quarterly earnings for the first time as a public entity. Amid the lofty expectations Musk laid out for the company was the underlying reality that SpaceX is heavily reliant on Starship to achieve many of its long-term goals. The Starship rocket is capable of carrying roughly four times the payload of its predecessor, Falcon 9. Falcon 9 has reliably carried satellites into low-Earth orbit for several years and is responsible for deploying the satellite network that powers Starlink. However, unless Starship proves to be as reliable as Falcon 9, SpaceX will struggle to grow at the pace it envisions, and its plans to establish data centers in space would be extremely difficult to achieve.
#4 LEGACY POWER: Zach Dell, the son of Michael Dell, has launched an energy startup focused on power storage. Base Power raised $1 billion in its latest funding round, reaching a valuation of $13 billion, and has secured contracts in Illinois and Texas to deploy its products in an effort to support strained power grids. The company's technology stores electricity during periods of low demand and releases it during peak demand, helping smooth costs for both consumers and utilities. Americans are expected to spend an average of $800 powering their homes this summer, an 11% increase from 2025.
#5 PLAYING HOUSE: New data from Zillow indicates that sales of luxury homes—defined as homes priced within the top 5% of a given region—increased 6.2% over the 12-month period ending in May. Meanwhile, sales of starter homes declined 5.4% over the same period. This trend coincides with corporate equities now accounting for 46% of household financial assets, the highest level on record and well above the previous peak of 39% during the dot-com bubble.
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