Edgen AI operates independently of, and is not controlled by Aspen Digital Financial Limited.
Guidewire cloud ARR jumps 35% as backlog shields 2027 guidance
Edgen Stock·Sep 22 2026, 15:41Share to
Share to
Copy link
[1] Can Guidewire Software Maintain Its Robust ARR Growth Momentum? (https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2993720/can- ...)
Related News
Sep 22 2026, 16:07
Rosenblatt starts SanDisk at Buy with $2,400 target on AI NAND demand
A first-time Buy rating and a $2,400 price target landed on SanDisk Corp. Tuesday, as Rosenblatt Securities argued that AI inference workloads have turned NAND flash into critical computing infrastructure rather than a cyclical commodity part. "AI models are becoming more complex and inference workloads are generating more data, which creates a larger opportunity for NAND flash," Kevin Cassidy, the Rosenblatt analyst who wrote the initiation, said. The thesis widens NAND's addressable demand beyond the cellphones, PCs and consumer gadgets that have historically set the pricing cycle. Cassidy carries a 59.2% success rate and a 39.0% average return over the past year, according to TipRanks data. Rosenblatt did not publish a prior rating or target for SanDisk, making the call a first-time coverage decision rather than a revision. SanDisk shares traded at $1,405.65, down 1.41% on the session, implying roughly 71% upside to the new target. The bull case rests on two company-specific levers. SanDisk has secured New Business Model agreements with eight of its largest NAND customers, which Cassidy estimates could cover close to 65% of fiscal 2028 production. Those contracts give the company earlier visibility into demand and reduce the volume and price swings that have defined the NAND market for a decade. The second lever is the technology roadmap: BiCS8 and BiCS10, successive generations of the company's 3D NAND architecture, are designed to raise storage density while holding down cost per bit. Management has set a longer-term target of mid-to-high teens sales growth and roughly 80% non-GAAP gross margins. Those figures sit well above the trough margins NAND makers recorded during the 2022-2023 inventory correction, when oversupply pushed several producers to operating losses. The read-through extends past SanDisk. If the market accepts that flash is now AI infrastructure rather than a cyclical commodity, the same multiple expansion applies to Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the three largest NAND producers, along with the storage controllers and enterprise SSD suppliers that sit downstream of them. Memory and storage equities have already drawn heavier positioning this year as hyperscaler capital spending plans climbed. The next test is whether AI-driven storage demand shows up in actual NAND contract prices and wafer-start commitments. SanDisk's quarterly results and the monthly NAND contract price prints from TrendForce will be the first places that shows up. A target implying 71% upside from the current price leaves the stock exposed to any downgrade or soft pricing data point. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Sep 22 2026, 16:05
Connecting Excellence raises £600,000 for Bitcoin treasury as Adam Back funds a third
Connecting Excellence Group Plc sold 39,999,999 new ordinary shares at 1.50 pence each to raise £600,000, money the Aquis-listed recruiter will split between a Bitcoin treasury, acquisitions and hiring, with strategic investor Adam Back taking a third of the issue. "This raise has attracted institutional participation alongside continued support from Adam Back," Scott Ellam, chief executive of Connecting Excellence Group, said. "That is a strong signal that our strategy — acquiring profitable, owner-managed recruitment businesses and holding them, coupled with a Bitcoin treasury — is beginning to be embraced by the market." The issue price carries a 3.4% premium to the 1.45 pence closing mid-market price on 21 September 2026. Back, an existing substantial shareholder, subscribed £200,000 for 13,333,333 shares, a related-party transaction under Rule 4.6 of the AQSE Growth Market Access Rulebook. The board said it considered the terms fair and reasonable to shareholders. Admission of the new shares is expected on or around 29 September 2026, lifting the total ordinary shares in issue to 506,498,952, each carrying one vote. The raise is small in absolute terms — £600,000 against a market capitalisation that the 1.45 pence close implies at roughly £7.3 million on the pre-issue count — but it is the second leg of a treasury strategy the company has been assembling since before it listed. Connecting Excellence announced on 1 September 2026 a proposed acquisition of a specialist recruitment business that already holds 8.216 Bitcoin, a deal still subject to legal and financial due diligence, funding and a definitive share purchase agreement. The company has warned there is no certainty it will complete. ## Why 8.216 Bitcoin matters more than £600,000 The subscription proceeds are earmarked partly for that acquisition, which would hand Connecting Excellence a disclosed Bitcoin position without the company having to buy the coins on the open market. At a Bitcoin price near $63,000, 8.216 BTC is worth roughly $518,000 — comparable to the entire raise. That ratio is the point: for a micro-cap recruiter, a treasury strategy can be assembled through acquisition rather than balance-sheet accumulation, and the equity issued to fund it is the currency. Back's participation is the credibility anchor. The cryptographer, who developed Hashcash — the proof-of-work system cited in Bitcoin's original whitepaper — has become one of the more visible backers of listed-company Bitcoin treasuries. His £200,000 commitment is modest in dollar terms but carries signalling weight for a company of this size, and it is the second time he has funded the same strategy at Connecting Excellence. The structure mirrors a template now spreading through small-cap equities: a cash-generative operating business, a Bitcoin reserve policy, and equity issuance priced at a premium to fund both. Connecting Excellence frames the treasury as a retention tool as much as an investment, tying share option incentives to revenue, profit and cashflow while holding reserves and surplus cash in Bitcoin. The company is also building a dedicated Bitcoin executive recruitment division, placing candidates into Bitcoin businesses and traditional firms hiring for Bitcoin roles. ## Dilution and the September deadline The 39,999,999 new shares represent about 7.9% of the enlarged 506,498,952-share capital, a dilution that existing holders absorb in exchange for the treasury exposure. The company's own risk disclosure is unusually direct: it states that an investment in Connecting Excellence is not an investment in Bitcoin "either directly or by proxy," that the company is materially exposed to Bitcoin, and that it is neither authorised nor regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Bitcoin is unregulated in the UK, and holders are not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Two dates now frame the story. Admission of the subscription shares is expected on or around 29 September 2026, and completion of the 8.216 BTC acquisition remains contingent on due diligence and funding. If it closes, Connecting Excellence joins a small but growing set of micro-cap listed vehicles whose disclosed Bitcoin holdings are the primary reason investors track them — a cohort where treasury policy, not the underlying operating business, drives the equity narrative. If it fails, the company retains £600,000 and a stated intention to hold reserves in Bitcoin, but no disclosed coins. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Sep 22 2026, 16:03
ARS Pharmaceuticals faces Oct 5 deadline in 23.9% drop lawsuit
Investors who bought ARS Pharmaceuticals Inc. shares between March 9 and June 24, 2026 have until October 5 to seek lead-plaintiff status in a federal securities class action over the company's CVS Caremark coverage guidance. The complaint alleges the company and its executives told investors that expanded insurance coverage for neffy, its needle-free epinephrine nasal spray, would take effect July 1, 2026, while disclosing only generalized risk language about that timeline. "Defendants provided these overwhelmingly positive statements to investors while, at the same time, failing to adequately disclose the risk that the expanded insurance coverage may not be available by the July 1 deadline," according to the Robbins LLP notice of the action. ARS disclosed the reversal after the close on June 24, 2026, saying no new commercial formulary additions or coverage decisions had been issued for neffy in the July 1 cycle and that CVS Caremark had reserved its decision until January 2027. The stock fell $2.52, or 23.9%, to close at $8.02 on June 25 from $10.54 a day earlier, on unusually heavy volume. That single session is the loss event the class period is built around. The class period runs from March 9, 2026 through June 24, 2026, inclusive, and covers holders of NASDAQ-listed SPRY securities. Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, any investor who purchased during that window may move for appointment as lead plaintiff; courts generally appoint the movant with the largest financial interest who also satisfies Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Participation in any recovery does not require serving in that role, and absent class members keep their claim. At least two firms are running parallel solicitation campaigns on the same deadline. Faruqi & Faruqi, which has offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia, is directing investors to partner Josh Wilson, while Robbins LLP, which says it has restored more than $2 billion in value to shareholders, is routing inquiries through attorney Aaron Dumas, Jr. Both notices carry attorney-advertising disclaimers and neither firm has disclosed a filed damage figure. The litigation adds legal expense and management distraction to a company whose commercial story now depends on a January 2027 coverage decision rather than the summer and back-to-school allergy seasons it had guided toward. For holders who bought into the July 1 timeline, the case preserves a recovery path but does not reverse the drawdown — SPRY closed at $8.02, roughly 24% below its June 24 level. The next checkpoint is October 5, 2026, when lead-plaintiff motions are due. Watch for a consolidated complaint and any disclosed settlement framework after that date, and for CVS Caremark's January 2027 formulary decision, which now sets the timeline for neffy's expanded commercial coverage. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.