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Editor's Note: In 2018, when popular media outlets like the MIT Technology Review were calling AI "overhyped," former VC insider Luke Lango went against the grain and claimed that "AI is the future" and "Nvidia is the cream of the crop." Now, Lango is stepping forward with a new prediction, and it once again flies in the face of everything the mainstream media is telling you. See below for the full story...
Dear Reader,
Is Elon Musk about to make the biggest announcement of his career?
Rumors of a Tesla-SpaceX merger are heating up...
- Tesla Weighs Sale of China Business to Pave Way for Potential SpaceX Merger – Wall Street Journal
- Tesla and SpaceX Are Secretly Merging—Not on Paper, But in AI Power – Barron's
- Musk Keeps Tesla-SpaceX Merger Speculation Alive, Cites Growing Overlap – Reuters
- Musk's Next Move May Be a Megamerger of SpaceX and Tesla – New York Times
But the mainstream media is missing the bigger picture. The implications of this historic convergence are vast.
Bestselling author and longtime Elon Musk confidant Peter Diamandis predicts it will create...
"A world in which everyone can have access to all the food, water, energy, healthcare, and education that they need and desire."
Furthermore – according to my estimates – it could create $126 trillion in wealth, dwarfing the impact of AI, robotics, clean energy, and driverless cars COMBINED.
Elon himself has said this opportunity is so massive, it could multiply your starting investment 1,000 times over.
But here's the surprising part...
If you want to take full advantage of Elon's audacious plan, you don't want to buy Tesla or SpaceX.
Forget stocks, bonds, crypto, and options. One overlooked asset captures Elon's entire plan — name and ticker revealed here.
Regards,
Luke Lango
Senior Investment Analyst, InvestorPlace
P.S. You'll want to move fast on this one. During Tesla's most recent earnings call, Elon hinted at an imminent Tesla-SpaceX merger, prompting Tesla investor Gene Munster to say, "I would put the odds that these two will combine at 90% today." Click here to discover how to profit from this explosive move BEFORE it becomes official.
3 Energy Stocks Raising Dividends as the Sector Surges
Written by Leo Miller. First Published: 8/20/2026.
Key Points
- The energy sector has led all S&P 500 sectors in 2026 with a total return above 40%, fueled by surging oil prices.
- BP, Excelerate Energy, and Occidental Petroleum recently raised their dividends while maintaining strong yields and sustainable payout ratios based on cash flow.
- Occidental Petroleum, a top Berkshire Hathaway holding, boosted its dividend about 8% after generating roughly $3 billion in free cash flow and cutting debt in Q2.
- Special Report: Everyone wanted SpaceX. Smart money wants this.
Energy is the best-performing sector in 2026, and it's not even close. The S&P 500 energy sector has delivered a total return of more than 40% in 2026. Meanwhile, the next-best-performing sector, technology, has returned less than 30%. Significant increases in energy commodity prices have benefited the sector, with West Texas Intermediate oil futures up more than 40% in 2026.
While energy’s price performance may not always remain this strong, many companies in the sector provide solid dividend returns, making them appealing to income-focused investors.
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Click here to see what Ian King found about this new savings shiftThe energy sector has also recently seen a wave of dividend increases, ranging from some of the biggest names in refining to companies operating in lesser-known market niches.
Three companies boosting their payouts offer meaningful yields, solid dividend sustainability and strong performance in 2026.
BP Boasts Over 4% Yield as Profits Rise 78%
First up is one of the world’s best-known energy companies, BP (NYSE: BP). With a market capitalization of around $110 billion, BP is one of the 15 most valuable firms in the worldwide oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. The stock has performed well in 2026, generating a return of nearly 30%. Soaring oil prices have helped the company’s profits balloon.
“Underlying profit” is the key performance metric BP references. It adjusts for fluctuations in the value of oil inventories. The figure rose strongly, increasing 78% year over year (YOY) in the second quarter. This came even as refining throughput fell 4% from the first quarter because of planned facility maintenance.
BP also announced a 4% increase to its quarterly dividend. While this boost is moderate, it adds to BP’s already strong dividend yield, which is near 4.6% on a forward basis. This figure significantly exceeds the dividend yields of several U.S. oil giants, including Chevron (NYSE: CVX), whose yield is approximately 3.5%.
At first glance, BP’s dividend sustainability looks questionable, with its payout ratio near 100%. However, cash flow is often a better measure of dividend sustainability for capital-intensive companies. Based on cash flow, BP’s payout ratio is just 21%, indicating that its dividend is well supported.
Excelerate Energy Raises Dividend 12.5% as Shares Take Off
Excelerate Energy (NYSE: EE) is a significant player in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, with a market capitalization of more than $4 billion. The company’s floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) convert LNG into natural gas, which then flows through pipeline infrastructure. Much of its demand comes from island nations that lack direct access to natural gas for heating and other purposes. The stock has also generated strong returns in 2026, rising nearly 40%.
Notably, the company posted adjusted EBITDA growth of 12% YOY last quarter. Excelerate raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to $490 million to $515 million, citing a strong first half. The company also continues to add capacity to serve demand, targeting the commercial deployment of its recently purchased Methane Patricia Camila unit in early 2028.
Excelerate announced a substantial 12.5% dividend increase in its latest earnings report, raising its payout to 9 cents per quarter. Although the payout is not large, Excelerate’s forward dividend yield of nearly 1% provides a moderate income return. Meanwhile, Excelerate already has a very strong payout ratio of around 22%, and analysts expect that figure to improve to 16% based on next year’s earnings estimates.
Top Berkshire Position Occidental Petroleum Issues Sizable Dividend Boost
Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) may not be a household energy name, but Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) knows the company well. Berkshire invested $7.7 billion in OXY in the first quarter of 2022, and Occidental continues to be one of the firm’s largest holdings, even after Warren Buffett’s retirement. At around $12.9 billion, OXY accounted for 4.3% of Berkshire’s portfolio as of the end of the second quarter. Buffett is likely pleased with OXY’s 2026 performance, with the shares delivering a total return of more than 40%.
Occidental posted robust financial results in the second quarter, generating approximately $3 billion in free cash flow. This was the company’s highest free-cash-flow level since late 2022. Occidental also raised its full-year production guidance and reduced its principal debt by $1.5 billion from the first quarter, bringing it to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2019.
Occidental is adding to its dividend, increasing its quarterly payout by approximately 8%. The stock’s forward yield now stands at 1.8%, providing a solid stream of dividend income. Additionally, Occidental is in a strong position regarding dividend sustainability. Its payout ratio is only around 16%, while its cash-flow-based payout ratio is near 10%.
Occidental Watch Items: Capital Spending Decreases Post-2027, Berkshire Position
Looking ahead, it will be important to see whether Occidental can achieve its target of improving sustainable cash flow by $4 billion by 2030. The company expects to accomplish this through lower costs and reduced capital spending, making changes in these figures important to watch after 2027. Occidental expects capital spending of $5.5 billion to $5.9 billion in 2026 and $5.9 billion in 2027.
Additionally, changes in Berkshire’s Occidental holding will be notable. Since the first quarter of 2025, Berkshire has consistently held around 265 million OXY shares. Changes in this figure could indicate whether Berkshire’s conviction in the company is strengthening or deteriorating.
Securing AI: 5 Most-Upgraded Stocks From the Q2 Reporting Season
Written by Thomas Hughes. First Published: 8/31/2026.
Key Points
- Cybersecurity stocks dominated MarketBeat's Most Upgraded Stocks list for Q2, with all five top names coming from the sector amid surging demand.
- Rising agentic AI traffic is driving analyst optimism toward Okta, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Cloudflare, and Palo Alto Networks, each earning Moderate Buy ratings with bullish price target trends.
- No single cybersecurity company offers complete coverage, so analysts expect these fractured but complementary players to keep advancing toward their higher price targets.
- Special Report: Everyone wanted SpaceX. Smart money wants this.
Anyone doubting the importance of cybersecurity to AI—or its strength as a business model—need only look at MarketBeat’s Most Upgraded Stocks. The five most upgraded stocks from the Q2 reporting period were all cybersecurity names. Not five of the most upgraded—the five most upgraded stocks. These companies' services are in demand, and the game is just getting started.
The early phase of AI cybersecurity was underpinned by modelers and model trainers who needed to keep their technology both secret and secure. The phase unfolding today is adoption, and it is by far the larger phase, with cybersecurity companies embedding AI into their offerings and operations while their clients do the same.
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Seven small gold miners - MAG Silver, Reunion Gold, Calibre Mining, Probe Gold, Rupert Resources, Loncor Gold, and G2 Goldfields - were acquired by major producers, with gains ranging from 56.6% to 1,228.6%.
Golden Portfolio's Garrett Goggin, CFA, CMT, held every one of these names before the buyouts happened. Major miners face shrinking output and record cash reserves, forcing them to acquire the small companies holding the assets they need.
See the three gold miners Goggin expects majors to target next.The critical takeaway is a chain reaction: AI drives automation, automation is handled by agents, and those agents become cyber identities multiplying across the internet at an exponential pace. Each needs monitoring, but the bigger imperative is shielding the enterprise data and operations behind them.
For those looking for the single cybersecurity stock to rule them all, there isn’t one. While some companies offer superior coverage in their “comprehensive” packages, none provide 100% complete coverage, and all are intended to be used alongside other tools. This creates numerous growth opportunities in a highly fragmented market, but some names are clearly favored as the second half of the year progresses. Look for these stocks to move toward the upper end of their target ranges, then continue advancing.
Okta: Identity Security Protects Even the Deepest Corporate Secrets
Okta’s (NASDAQ: OKTA) importance lies in how it handles identities. The exponential increase in AI agents means exponentially greater traffic, both internally and from outside sources. Okta’s platform acts as a central control plane, identifying, tokenizing, tracking and monitoring agents alongside their human counterparts while enabling or disabling access as needed.
Okta's Q2 results showed significant traction and outperformance, with expectations that strength will continue as agentic traffic increases.
MarketBeat tracks 43 analysts covering Okta, and all made at least one revision during the trailing 90 days leading into September 1, most of which came after the Q2 release. The current consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with a bullish bias, but the price targets matter most. An eye-popping upswing in price targets drove a 40% increase in the consensus over the last 30 days.
Consensus aligns with the highs reached at the end of August, while the high-end targets forecast a move above $200 and likely continued gains as the year progresses.
CrowdStrike’s Falcon Platform Provides Real-Time Control
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) provides real-time visibility and governance for agentic AI applications. It can detect and respond to threats as they arise, securing endpoints from malicious behavior such as ransomware attacks.
Recent earnings results included sustained 25% year-over-year growth, acceleration from the prior year and an optimistic outlook. Executives highlighted record and accelerating annual recurring revenue growth, which was up nearly 55%, and expect further acceleration in upcoming quarters.
MarketBeat tracks 51 analysts with coverage, and 46 issued updates during the trailing 90 days. The trend reflects increased coverage, firming sentiment, a bullish bias and an uptrend in the price target. Consensus assumes no upside as of late August, but the high-end target of $425 is where the trend points; that represents about 90% upside.
Datadog Unified Platform Observes, Traces, Secures Agentic AI
Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) provides a unified platform for developers and engineers, enabling visibility and security across technology stacks. 2026 results reflected acceleration, outperformance and sustainability, with guidance above forecasts, although management guided for slight deceleration in upcoming results.
The critical takeaway is that analysts didn’t mind the guidance too much. Of the 43 analysts tracked by MarketBeat, many issued positive revisions during the period, primarily after the Q2 release. They rate the stock as a Moderate Buy, have a bullish bias and forecast about 18% upside at the consensus. The high-end price targets, where the trend leads, add more than 20%.
Cloudflare: The First Line of Defense, But There’s More
Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) is an important first line of defense for internet-connected companies, providing proxy services through its global edge network. More importantly, Cloudflare can track incoming and outgoing agentic traffic and monetize it. Agentic AI is changing how the internet works; websites and publishers need a way to monetize traffic, and Cloudflare provides it.
Its results and analysts' responses mirror those of the other leading plays, including acceleration and outperformance, along with a robust upswing in price targets. Consensus forecasts only moderate upside as of late August; the upper end of the price targets, however, adds 25%.
Palo Alto Networks: Comprehensive, But Not Quite Comprehensive Enough
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a leading cybersecurity play, providing the most complete coverage on the market. However, it is still not a pure play, though it may become one as it continues to acquire companies. Highlights from 2026 include the strength of its platformization strategy, which unifies products into a single access point, as well as the customer gains and deeper market penetration this strategy is driving.
Analysts rate PANW as a Moderate Buy; coverage and sentiment are firming, and the price target trend is upward. The high end tops out at $475, representing 25% upside, but higher highs are likely over time.
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