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September 24 U.S. close; changes versus September 23. ETF prices, not index levels or live premarket quotes.
| 01 / THE BIG STORY · AKAMAI 
Akamai headquarters, 2019 file photo. PhotoFlight Aerial Media / Akamai, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 A huge customer. A very real cash gap.Akamai announced a seven-year, $11.6 billion agreement with Anthropic after Thursday’s close. An expansion option could add approximately $9 billion. Keep those numbers separate: the larger opportunity depends on additional commitments. The work supports Anthropic’s demand for computing infrastructure. For Akamai, it is a substantial opportunity to build a bigger cloud business. But the near-term economics look very different from the headline contract value. The spending arrives firstManagement’s investor presentation lays out the timing:
Company estimates as of September 24. Approximately $5.5B total project capex. Service starts late Q2 2027; full contracted revenue run rate expected by end-2028. At full scale, Akamai expects approximately $1.7 billion in annual revenue from the base agreement. That could make the investment meaningful for years. It also leaves a period when equipment spending is substantial and revenue remains small. Contracted demand reduces one uncertainty; it does not remove financing, delivery or operating costs. There is a shareholder cost, too. Anthropic received warrants covering up to roughly 5% of Akamai’s shares: about 2% tied to the initial commitment, with the remainder linked to expansion. That is potential dilution under specified terms, rather than an immediate 5% increase in the share count. The SEC filing adds a supply-chain detail: a Jabil arrangement authorizes approximately $1.7 billion of memory-component procurement. Capacity needs hardware secured ahead of service delivery. Investors should therefore track financing and equipment commitments alongside contract announcements.
| 02 / COSTCO · AFTER-CLOSE EARNINGS 
Costco, 2021 file photo. Ambrosia LaFluer · CC BY 2.0 The earnings grew. The refund helped.Costco’s fourth-quarter results show $95.72 billion of total revenue and $6.75 in diluted earnings per share. The 16-week quarter ended August 30. Revenue includes $1.85 billion of membership fees; merchandise net sales alone were $93.87 billion.
That 15-cent benefit came from tariff refunds, after some was reinvested in member value. Subtracting it gives $6.60—a simple calculation, not a company-issued adjusted EPS measure. It helps separate this quarter’s windfall from earnings that might recur. Look beneath the receiptMembership-fee revenue rose approximately 7.3%, calculated from the reported figures. Operating income increased about 13.8%, faster than total revenue’s roughly 11.1% growth. Together, those numbers support a stronger case than sales growth alone, although the reported profit still includes the refund effect. The membership model gives Costco a reason to share savings with shoppers: a good deal can bring the customer back and make renewing feel worthwhile. Keeping every extra dollar as margin might flatter one quarter while weakening that proposition. Shareholders need to judge both the immediate profit and the durability of demand. The valuation leaves little room for complacency. Thursday’s $896.48 close divided by the newly reported $20.76 full-year EPS is approximately 43.2 times trailing earnings. That is our calculation using a pre-results share price, not a forward multiple or a live quote.
| 03 / BLACKBERRY · THURSDAY’S EARNINGS Cars carry BlackBerry’s growth.BlackBerry’s fiscal second-quarter release deserves a closer look beyond Thursday’s stock reaction. Revenue rose 26% to $163.3 million, while operating cash flow reached $29.3 million. The quarter ended August 31; the results were released Thursday morning.
Management raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to $616–636 million. QNX supplies software used in vehicles and other embedded systems. Its growth matters because a software platform selected during vehicle development can earn royalties as those vehicles enter production. Winning the design is the beginning of that relationship; production volumes help determine the eventual payoff. Coretura, the Volvo Group–Daimler Truck venture, selected Alloy Kore for its commercial-vehicle software platform. BlackBerry says the win adds more than $100 million to QNX’s royalty backlog. That represents expected future business, not $100 million of current-quarter revenue. The other division tells a different storySecure Communications grew revenue just 2% to $60.9 million, while its segment adjusted EBITDA fell 18% to $8 million. QNX’s momentum therefore does not describe the whole company. The stronger outlook gives investors something measurable to assess. The key is whether automotive programs turn into royalty revenue while the communications business protects profitability. One division can lift the group for a while; a healthier mix would make that growth less dependent on a single engine.
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