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Life after Jensen: What Nvidia’s shakeup means for private AI



This time last week, AI without Jensen Huang seemed impossible. Today, that’s the world we live in. 

Granted, it’ll have been less than (or about) 24 hours into that new world by the time you’re reading this, and there’s so much we don’t know about what a Jensen-less AI landscape looks like. One thing we do know: It will affect the private markets. 

“Nvidia matters more to private AI markets than any single investor because it has three roles,” said Harrison Rolfes, PitchBook senior research analyst, who was among many who answered my feverish reporting calls yesterday. “It’s the largest corporate investor in U.S. AI. It’s the main supplier for AI startups, and it’s the main [benchmark] public stock investors use to judge the AI market.”

Now, in the near term at least, how Nvidia and new interim CEO Colette Kress will handle dealmaking is in question. Rolfes pointed out to me that Nvidia invested $189 billion in 2026, making it AI’s top U.S. corporate backer. This broke down somewhat expectedly: OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI account for $172 billion, and 27 other deals make up the remaining $17 billion. Kress, and any Huang successor, could be more circumspect moving forward. (Indeed, worth noting: Nvidia’s blockbuster $12.93 billion buyout of open-source startup Hugging Face hasn’t yet closed.) And some companies will struggle more than others, especially neoclouds, for which Huang was dealmaker and guarantor.

“If they’re dependent on Nvidia to bankroll them, like [CoreWeave] or Lambda Labs or some of these neoclouds, then I think you could be really screwed,” one early-stage VC told me. 

Much will move forward, nevertheless: My colleague Beatrice Nolan and I reported that Anthropic’s IPO is high-stakes but (for now) very much on, and some VCs told me that, yes, this could pressure AI valuations—and so what. 

“I think the valuations were ridiculous anyway,” said Rob Biederman, managing partner at Asymmetric. “I don’t think it would be the worst thing for the tech world if there was a little bit of a reset shakeout because a lot of things are getting funded right now that aren’t especially good ideas.” 

For startups wondering what’s next, Rolfes had some advice: Nvidia will invest less for now, but (on the bright side) it’s possible GPU prices will also drop.

“If you’re a startup, maybe don’t reach out to Nvidia in the short term to get investment cash,” he said. “What they should do is reach out to go get compute, go buy the chips…If some of these startups can get a hold of cheaper chips, then they can build out their product, which means we’ll probably start to see an influx of seed-stage [and] Series A-stage startups moving up.”

Here’s our larger feature contemplating life in AI after Jensen.

See you Monday,

Allie Garfinkle
X:
@agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com

Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE CAPITAL

– Mirendil, a San Francisco-based developer of tools for frontier AI research, raised $1 billion in Series A funding. Kleiner Perkins and Clearlake Capital led the round and were joined by Battery Ventures, Doerr Capital, Google, M13, Pear VC, and S32.

– UFORCE, a London, U.K.-based developer of uncrewed defense systems, raised $700 million in Series A funding. Valor Equity Partners and the U.K. National Wealth Fund led the round and were joined by Menlo Ventures, Shield Capital, Ballistic Ventures, Lakestar, and others.

– Databento, a Salt Lake City-based market data platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Fifth Down Capital led the round.

– SE3, a Munich-based developer of spatial AI software for military drones, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by Keen, Lakestar, and Seedcamp.

– Hatz AI, a provider of a platform that lets managed service providers sell AI services to small businesses, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Nadia Partners led the round and was joined by Vestigo Ventures and The Private Shares Fund.

– Nebuly, a Turin, Italy-based provider of software that measures the return on enterprise AI, raised $21 million in Series A funding. Planven led the round and was joined by Exor Ventures and others.

– Griffin, a London, U.K.-based embedded banking platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Octagon Partners led the round and was joined by Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, NordicNinja, and Breega.

– Biomatter, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based developer of AI-designed enzymes, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Astanor led the round and was joined by UVC Partners, Inventure, and Metaplanet.

– Gama, a Paris, France-based maker of lightweight solar arrays for satellites, raised €15 million ($16.6 million) in seed funding from Transition, Planet A, Draper Associates, and Manta Ray.

– Duet, a New York City-based network of primary care practices owned by nurse practitioners, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Kairos led the round and was joined by Lerer Hippeau.

– Athlete To Athlete, a youth sports mentorship platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Rally Ventures led the round.

– Twin1 AI, a San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of AI digital twins for professionals, raised $5 million in seed extension funding. Curql led the round and was joined by Greyhair Ventures and KittyHawk Frontier.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Branford Castle Partners acquired Floratine Products Group, a Collierville, Tenn.-based maker of specialty plant nutrition products for golf courses, sports turf, and agriculture. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Bluestone Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in 11th St. Workshop, a New York City-based designer and fabricator of custom environments for live events, brand campaigns, and retail spaces. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Trusted Space, a Washington Harbour Partners portfolio company, acquired Falcon ExoDynamics, an El Segundo, Calif.-based developer of autonomy technology for national security spacecraft. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOs

– vVardis, a Zug, Switzerland-based health care and dental company, now plans to raise up to $199.2 million in an offering of 8.3 million shares priced between $21 and $24 on the New York Stock Exchange.

New Amex Marriott Bevy Card Bonus: 150K Points + $250 Credit


Amex Marriott Bevy Card Bonus: 150K Points + $250 Credit

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card is offering an improved welcome bonus of 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points plus a $250 credit. Thanks to Kai for sharing this offer in our Facebook Group. Let’s go over the offer details.

Welcome Offer

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  • APPLICATION LINK

Card Details

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The Marriott Bonvoy program is one of the largest hotel rewards programs in the world, counting 30 brands spread out around the world. Brands very from budget hotels to luxurious properties in exotic locations. Marriott Bonvoy points are worth about 0.6 cents each. You earn 10 base Bonvoy rewards points per dollar spent at Marriott properties. So if you spend $100, you’ll earn 1,000 points. But, some budget brands have lower base earning rates. Bonvoy elite status holders earn additional points:

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Guru’s Wrap-up

This is a pretty good welcome offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card. You get 150,000 bonus points plus a $250 statement credit after spending $5,000 within the first six months.

The statement credit helps offset the card’s $250 annual fee during the first year. Also the six-month spending window makes the $5,000 requirement more manageable. The highest ever offer on this card was for 175,000 bonus points.

The Bevy Card can make sense for Marriott loyalists who want a mid-tier premium card without paying the Brilliant Card’s much higher annual fee. Just be sure to review Amex’s Marriott welcome-bonus eligibility restrictions before applying.

How AI Predicts Direct Mail Results


How AI Predicts Direct Mail Results written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Catch the Full Episode:

Overview

On this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I talk with Brad Kugler, founder of DirectMail2.0. A lot of small business owners wrote off direct mail years ago. Brad explains why a growing group of them is coming back to it, and how AI now lets them estimate a campaign’s response before they spend anything on printing and postage.

Brad spent twenty-six years in VHS and DVD distribution, until streaming wiped out the category. He rebuilt his career as a technology layer on top of direct mail. His company partners with printers, mail houses and agencies to add tracking, reporting and digital ads aimed at the same households that get the postcard. We talk about why the mailbox gets so much more attention than the inbox, and how variable data printing and QR codes make mail as measurable as any digital channel. We also cover how a database of tens of thousands of past campaigns can flag weak creative and bad timing before a campaign goes out.

I also hand Brad a real scenario: a Kansas City remodeling contractor with a $20,000 winter budget. He lays out how he’d build an omnichannel campaign for them and what the smallest useful test looks like. If you own or market a local business and have wondered whether direct mail still pays off, this one gives you a practical way to find out.

Guest bio

Brad Kugler is a Clearwater, Florida entrepreneur and the founder of DirectMail2.0, now rebranding as DM Intel (Direct Marketing and Intelligence). Before direct mail, Kugler spent twenty-six years running his family’s VHS and DVD media distribution business, from 1990 until streaming ended the category in 2016. He went on to build DirectMail2.0, a white-label platform that adds tracking, reporting and digital ad targeting to direct mail campaigns for printers and agencies. The company acquired the Who’s Mailing What archive. Kugler says the combined data covers more than 80,000 campaigns and 2.2 billion mail pieces, and it powers the company’s AI tools for predicting campaign performance.

Key takeaways

  • The mailbox is quiet. Most people get three or four pieces of mail a day and hundreds of emails, so a postcard has far less competition for attention.
  • Match the channel to the economics. Mail makes sense when a customer is worth four figures or more over time, like recurring landscaping or jewelry. It makes less sense for selling a few dozen pizzas.
  • Variable data inkjet printing makes one-to-one personalization affordable, which traditional sheet and web presses couldn’t do.
  • Personalized QR codes, text-back numbers and call tracking make a mail piece about as trackable as a digital ad.
  • Geofenced digital ads aimed at the same households can add eight to sixteen extra impressions per mail piece. Kugler puts the cost at roughly 10 to 15 cents more per piece.
  • Kugler reports a typical 25 to 50 percent lift over mail alone, for a 10 to 15 percent increase in cost.
  • Printing and postage are costs you never get back. Testing creative and targeting against past campaign data before you mail is cheap insurance.
  • Timing is part of the offer. A landscaper should mail in February, before homeowners have already hired someone in May.
  • Reach fewer people more often. On a $20,000 budget, Kugler would reach 7,000 households three times rather than 20,000 once.
  • The smallest test worth running is about 2,500 households with three touches. B2B mail works, but it takes more persistence and testing than B2C.

Great moments

  • [00:11] – Why some small business owners are taking a second look at direct mail
  • [01:13] – Kugler’s first public mention of the rebrand from DirectMail2.0 to DM Intel
  • [02:02] – Going from VHS to streaming, and deciding to be the disruptor this time
  • [03:37] – How a technology layer sits on top of print without printing anything
  • [05:15] – Three pieces of mail versus 300 emails a day
  • [05:44] – The pizza shop rule of thumb for when direct mail pays off
  • [07:16] – Variable data printing, QR codes and call tracking
  • [08:40] – A 25 to 50 percent lift for a 10 to 15 percent increase in cost
  • [10:07] – Building a prediction model from more than 80,000 past campaigns
  • [11:26] – Why a landscaper should mail in February instead of May
  • [12:59] – Live scenario: a Kansas City remodeler with a $20,000 winter budget
  • [15:43] – What’s in the omnichannel bundle: QR codes, an identity pixel, call recording and geofenced ads
  • [18:14] – Reach 7,000 households three times before 20,000 once
  • [19:07] – The smallest direct mail test worth running
  • [19:48] – Why B2B direct mail is harder

Memorable quotes

“I needed to re-educate myself, and I needed to be a disruptor and not a disruptee.” – Brad Kugler

“You go somewhere where everybody else isn’t.” – Kugler

“You can track a piece of mail like you track a package now down to your doorstep.” – Kugler

“I would always go for a smaller number who you hit repetitively.” – Kugler

“At least it gives you a better mousetrap than just going with your gut.” – Kugler

Resources
DirectMail2.0 / DM Intel: dm20.com 
Duct Tape Marketing: ducttapemarketing.com

Email

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John Jantsch (00:11.434)

So most small businesses, most small business owners at least, wrote off direct mail years ago. Well, right now, a handful of operators are kind of rediscovering it. And the AI tools they’re now able to employ to predict the response before a single piece gets printed. the owners who dismissed the channel maybe now are sitting on data they never bothered to run the numbers on. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Brad Kugler. He is a

Clearwater, Florida entrepreneur who spent two decades running his family’s DVD and media distribution business until, well, streaming video kind of gutted that. rather than go down with the industry, he built Direct Mail 2.0, acquired the direct mail archive of who’s mailing what. I used to get that, and now runs DMI or DM Intel.ai, a connected set of tools that pairs AI prediction with direct mail and digital.

Cracking. So hopefully I got all that right. Brad, welcome to the show.

Brad Kugler (01:13.752)

Thank you, John. Happy to be here. And I have to say this is really the first public announcement of what I’m calling our rebrand from Direct Mail 2.0 to DM Intel, Direct Marketing and Intelligence. again, soft launch, but you got the scoop on that, and I’m happy to talk about it and anything else you like to talk about.

John Jantsch (01:34.442)

So I have to tell a little story. There was a little I can’t even call it a D V D store. It was a VHS video store, you know, tape store probably before before your time, even called SRO Video, and I remember it fondly, but yes, they they they they went by the wayside, but gosh darn it, I bet you there’s some some videos that she had down in the basement there that probably have never been put on stream streaming. She had quite an archive.

Brad Kugler (02:02.662)

It’s funny, I’ve actually heard of that. You know, I I started in the VHS business in nineteen ninety. Okay. That was probably the tail end of SRO even at that point, but I wrote it all the way from its its sort of big proliferation in the early nineties all the way down to nothing in 2016. And I have to say

coming to Direct Mail 2.0 or digital marketing is is an interesting story because I was disrupted. You know, I I made the transition from VHS to DVD, great, no problem. But as streaming proliferated after 2010, the writing was on the wall. And I never finished college. I had been in the business since as I said, you know, 26 years. And I’m looking at

I’m looking at starting a new career with two kids in college. And talk about stressful mortgage, two kids in college. What am I gonna do now? No college degree. Am I even marketable other than being a CEO for a small business? It was it was disconcerting to say the least. And I knew two things. I needed to re-educate myself, and I needed to be a disruptor and not a disruptee.

John Jantsch (03:21.961)

Well, you know, I’ve I’ve actually heard you say that or read it somewhere, that line. So I was prepared for you to say that. But on one hand, it’s a little ironic because I think a lot of people would say digital disrupted direct mail. and here you’re back in direct mail, adding a disruptor. So tell me about that.

Brad Kugler (03:37.807)

So I I’ll make it real simple. I don’t print or mail anything. I I am a technology layer that sits on top of direct mail. We partner with printers and mail service providers and agencies who do direct mail and we give them a technology edge by providing tracking, reporting tools, and allowing them to digitally target the same people receiving the mail. So in marketing, we all know that it’s repetition.

You know, it’s repetition that drives home the message. So when you have a piece of direct mail, that’s one piece in the mailbox. Now, if I can deliver ads to the same guy receiving that mail piece for pennies per piece, I’m repeating that message. And here’s the key with direct mail: direct mail being a physical, tactile thing, stays in memory, scientifically proven much longer than a digital ad you have no recollection of seeing in an email or

browsing the web. So I’m combining the two technologies to sort of create or disrupt direct mail.

John Jantsch (04:44.787)

Yeah. So so we’re adding a layer. So this is additive. you know, the because the technology allows us to do that. Go step back just a moment. where where do you feel direct mail sits in general? you know, there there definitely are people said it was dead, and now there’s kind of a a chorus of people starting to say, you know what? Nobody does it anymore. And now we’ve got this other technology, and there’s a lot of other advantages to maybe doing it. So where do you sit on on

Just the idea of direct mail as a channel.

Brad Kugler (05:15.436)

So obviously the bright shiny object gets all the attention. And now email and digital are no longer bright shiny objects. Okay. They’ve been around for a generation. The average person gets six to ten thousand digital images a day. how many pieces are in your mailbox? I get three, maybe four a day. Okay. Yeah. How many emails do you get a day? 300? Yeah. So so here you go.

John Jantsch (05:18.535)

Right, right.

John Jantsch (05:23.081)

Yeah, yeah.

John Jantsch (05:34.473)

Yeah. Yeah. The credit card people have stayed at it. Right. Two thousand. Yeah.

Brad Kugler (05:44.779)

You go somewhere where everybody else isn’t. So people are coming back to the mailbox. It’s tactical and it’s tactile and physical. And then you layer on some of the best direct mail, I’m sorry, digital marketing technologies. And now you’ve got a hybrid that’s best of both worlds. Okay. Direct mail has always converted well, but it converts. If I was running a pizza shop, I wouldn’t send a $10,000 direct mail campaign to sell a few dozen pizzas.

You know, if I’m selling jewelry or landscaping that comes every month for years, now you’ve got a four digit revenue source, it justifies the direct mail. That’s that’s the rule of thumb here.

John Jantsch (06:28.894)

What are some of the technologies that people are marrying? You know, obviously the printing technology has changed dramatically. I mean, it used to be, you know, ten up on a sheet, start the presses, ink up, go. You know, and now with all of this digital printing, I mean, you know, you see personalization, you see different images, you know, on different I mean, so what has the technology really done to the effectiveness of direct mail?

Brad Kugler (06:48.908)

Yeah. So so you you’re well versed and obviously the technology has improved in the direct mail. You can you can have variable data presses that can you know personalize a postcard one to one. So and and there’s no real additional cost in investing in the in the infrastructure in the first place. It’s you could never do that with a sheet or a web press. It’s impossible.

John Jantsch (07:15.668)

Yeah. Yeah.

Brad Kugler (07:16.642)

But you can do that with variable data inkjets. And you know, pretty much if you’re in the business now, you got one. So you can do that. Any type of personalization segmentation helps with targeting, it helps with relevancy. So that’s a that’s a plus. Now, if you start combining that with personalized QR codes, text back numbers, call tracking, you can track a piece of mail like you track a package now down to your doorstep. So you’ve got tools that make direct mail.

as immediately quantifiable and reportable as any digital product at this point. So so it’s caught up to the digital products. where people need help is deploying an omnichannel campaign.

systemically or systematically with a with a print campaign, it’s a lot of moving parts. So this is where guys like me coming in that automate that process, time the campaign deployments, time all of the reporting and the digital deployment of digital ad targeting. And now you’ve got a real product that’s easily deployable from for one or two phone calls rather than calling five different guys and agencies. So that it that’s what it is. It’s it’s all technology driven.

John Jantsch (08:26.176)

Right.

John Jantsch (08:32.042)

So I assume there’s a a cost involved in employing your platform. So what kind of lifts are you seeing and why?

Brad Kugler (08:40.793)

We’re seeing usually 25 to 50% over direct mail alone. And and this is this is the real simple elevator pitch. If I can get you a 25 to 50% lift in your direct mail responses for a 10 to 15% increase in cost, does that work for you? I mean, it’s a no-brainer. If would you make an investment like that? And we’re seeing that. And and again.

And I sure I’m sure being a marketing guy, you know, there’s no guarantees in marketing. There’s so many variables that somebody could have a have a have a flat campaign and it does happen. And but for the most case, we do see a lift for a very small increase in price. And if nothing else, the reporting you’re getting and the targeting visibility and transparency you’re getting with our reporting will help you correct those mistakes in the next mailing.

But like any marketing campaign, there’s gotta be a little repetition. There’s gotta be a staying partner. It’s not a one and done and all of a sudden all the leads run in. You gotta stick with it a little bit, like any type of campaign.

John Jantsch (09:35.136)

Mm-hmm.

John Jantsch (09:40.609)

So one of the things I’ve seen as people have moved back to direct mail is there’s a a lot of the everydoor stuff that that people are doing because it’s, you know, in theory it’s cheaper. I would say twenty five to thirty percent of it goes in every trash can before it gets to a door. But what what does the predictive modeling, you know, do to to actually save, you know, on on printing costs in general and and postage costs?

Brad Kugler (09:55.756)

At least

Brad Kugler (10:07.001)

So let let me take a step back and explain what our predictive modeling is. We we’ve launched over 80,000 direct mail campaigns, 2.2 billion pieces of mail in 157 different verticals. We have kept all that data. I knew it would be valuable someday, and I believe with the acquisition of who’s mailing what, we have the largest database of direct mail marketing in the world.

So, what we’ve done with that database, because 20,000 of those campaigns can carry results, who engaged with those campaigns? How were they engaged in? So we can take a piece of creative, we can take your targeting that you’re intending to do. And before you spend the money on the print and mail, which are hard cost, never to be recouped, you can feed that data into our model.

John Jantsch (10:55.008)

Mm-hmm.

Brad Kugler (10:57.717)

And it will give you back a kind of benchmark. If the benchmark for a credit card campaign comes at this level, we can dissect your campaign and predict based on past results, is it going to perform better, equal, or worse? And what can you do to perform better? sometimes an easy example is add a QR code, it gives you a 3% lift. make your headline bigger, offer something free. If you’re a landscaper, for instance,

John Jantsch (11:18.197)

Mm-hmm.

Brad Kugler (11:26.433)

Start doing your mailing in February rather than May, you know, when people have already found someone. So some of it’s obvious, but some of it is very specific for that cohort, that cohort of who you’re targeting and what vertical you’re in because of all of our past history. So the savings can be infinite. If you’ve got a campaign that’s just time-wronged and creative-wronged, and we avert some of those with our recommendations.

John Jantsch (11:43.071)

Brad Kugler (11:52.996)

Well, you’ve saved the entire cost of the mailing and not recompensed anything, you know. again, no guarantees. It’s all probability rated based on past experience, but past results do not guarantee future results. But at least it gives you a better mousetrap than just going it from your gut, you know?

John Jantsch (12:14.25)

So you were rolling this out, I think, as a as kind of a white label for agencies, is that kind of the model or

Brad Kugler (12:19.201)

Well, the predictive modeling we’re doing under our own label. But for the omnichannel marketing suite for pr for for direct mail, yes, that is white labeled. So if you’re a cut commercial printer or an agency, you know, they don’t ever have to know who we are. You can label it, tweak the campaigns, manage them yourself, and resell it. we offer it what we think is a wholesale, and there’s

room on the bone, left there’s more meat on the bone so that you can make a margin on it. So we’re trying to be that guy that helps the printers and agencies add a revenue and a profit center to their business.

John Jantsch (12:59.336)

All right, so I gave you a little heads up on this, fair warning, but I’m gonna throw out a typical sort of B2C, hyperlocal example and and just kind of how you would approach the omni channel, you know, idea behind this. So I’ll I’ll read off what I wrote to you. So I’ve got a client that’s looking for handyman leads or actually a modeling contractor or they have a handyman division. In the winter, that business slows down sometimes.

they’ve got a twenty thousand dollar budget. they are in a metro s midsized metro area, Kansas City, Missouri, mostly upscale work or is is the work that they do. They’ve already considered some radio and direct mail. but walk me through how you would if you were advising them, how would you how would you design the that entire campaign?

Brad Kugler (13:48.399)

Well, you know, without kind of selling my own products here, I would definitely say feed your proposed campaign into our predictive modeling. Not only will it predict the outcome based on benchmarks of that industry for that time period, for that geography, it’ll also show you what the competitors are offering.

And and why is that useful? Like let’s say a competitor’s offering, buy a five-hour block of handyman time, you know, for 350 bucks, we’ll sell it to you for 250. You know, they can see if anybody’s got a similar offer or or what other handyman services are being offered in that locale. So the the the point of knowledge being power is key here. And we have the largest database of other direct mail offerings.

So, not only are you going to get a prediction on how well your mailpiece is going to do before you spend a penny on mailing it, so you can tweak it, but you can also see what competitors are offering for similar products in a similar area. So that for sure. As far as economies for scale, our omnichannel platform, dm20.com, will combine a lot of these digital products with the mailing products, and it will

obviously save you time and resources. You are not an agency. You don’t have a team there who can actually manage and you know initiate these campaigns. We can do it in a few clicks. So we’re offering people that do not have in-house marketing teams the avail to basically have an agency in a box by using us. So there’s a lot of benefits and and obviously if we weren’t adding to somebody’s

bottom line and top line with our campaigns, we wouldn’t b have been around for nine years already. So and now with the AI tools we’ve built, I think we’re just a better mousetrap, improving all the time.

John Jantsch (15:38.381)

So so again, part of what I was trying getting at is what would an omni channel approach for for that type of thing look like? Yeah.

Brad Kugler (15:43.869)

I see. So so the bundle would be this. Rather than just a postcard in the mail, we would have trackable QR codes added to every piece. We would track who goes to the website and what we do with our de-anonymizing pixel or identity resolution pixel. We’re able to tell you which of those people you mailed to actually made it to the website. So you can track conversions. If they call

Or you want to do a text pan campaign, we’ll record those call transactions and engagements. We even record the phone calls to your office that again is perfectly secure that only you can see. So maybe you’ve got somebody at the front desk who’s burning the leads as they come in. At least they’re trackable and at least they’re memorialized so you can go back to them and recover those failed closes. not to mention a social media campaign. We’re doing a

geofenced campaign that will target the same households that are getting the mail. So if if they’re getting one piece of mail in the mailbox, we’re hoping they get eight to sixteen additional impressions digitally between Meta, that’s Instagram and Facebook, Google, they’re getting additional campaigns. So it stays top of mind. So we’re doing all of that for an extra maybe 10 to 15 cents per piece.

John Jantsch (17:03.125)

And that’s y you would provide the list as part of that as well, because that’s no.

Brad Kugler (17:07.502)

No, the the list we can help with that. It’s not included in that price. So we can either get them the list or you know, assuming that they’ve mailed before, maybe they have a list or the commercial printer they’re using as a list. The list the list acquisition is easy. You know, you tell me what kind of household you’re getting. There’s thousands of people that can procure that in seconds.

John Jantsch (17:10.603)

Yeah. Yeah.

John Jantsch (17:28.373)

Yeah, yeah. but again, that’s that seems like that’s a key component to the Omni part, right? Yeah, yeah.

Brad Kugler (17:34.273)

It it absolutely is. And in fact, there’s so many vendors of that. We’ve we’ve vacillated on do we want to offer this too? I mean it’s it’s a commodity. List brokerage now is a commodity. You can go to a website and put in your it it’ll go and search your customers and it will come up with your ICP. It feeds at this point it’s a pretty easy thing to acquire. And you know, to make five percent on that, I don’t know that it’s worth it when most people already have a source for that.

But we can help if someone doesn’t have that.

John Jantsch (18:06.017)

All right, so so a business owner well, I one last question on that. I is that twenty thousand budget realistic for that type of thing or yeah, okay.

Brad Kugler (18:14.125)

absolutely. I mean if you’re I’m gonna assume a dollar a target, so you can either hit twenty thousand people one time or you could what I would prefer is they hit seven thousand people three times. Okay. Again, it’s that repetitive message. I would always go for a smaller number who you hit repetitively.

John Jantsch (18:34.879)

Yeah. And the nice thing about a local business like that is that they probably can actually target by even even smaller than zips.

Brad Kugler (18:42.691)

yeah, you can go specific households. Now you’re not gonna get E D DM that way, but you’re gonna pay a little more for postage, but you’re gonna target guys that are homeowners versus renters. You’re gonna target guys that are gonna really it’s a better targeting operation.

John Jantsch (18:47.881)

No. Yeah.

John Jantsch (18:53.611)

Yeah. Right, right.

John Jantsch (18:58.069)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So if if if I’m a business owner who still thinks direct mail is dead, what’s what’s the smallest test that could run th th this winter?

Brad Kugler (19:07.445)

You know, that’s a great people ask us that all the time. And and and a lot of people say, well, why don’t we try a hundred? And I’m like, man, you know, go see what Google says if you want to target a hundred people. They’ll they’ll laugh at you, you know. we like to see at least 2,500 on a target, and we like to see at least hitting them three times. That’ll give you an indication of of your marketing, is it hitting or not? And you can try something else. But that’s that’s we’ usually what we recommend.

John Jantsch (19:13.281)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

John Jantsch (19:23.435)

Yep, okay.

John Jantsch (19:35.521)

Do you find that B to B, B to C, you know, mo I think most people think of direct mail as B to C are you finding any success in for that accounting firm or that law firm that’s targeting businesses?

Brad Kugler (19:48.311)

I I’ll be honest with you, B2C is trickier because you’re trying to find those people. I’m sorry, B you’re right. B2B is trickier. B2B is definitely trickier because you can try to target them at their home, which is easy to, you know, with data service, you can find them. Or you risk sending it to a business and that thing makes it to the trash before it makes it to any decision makers’ eyes. So you you you have additional challenges B2C with direct mail. It’s doable, people are getting success.

John Jantsch (19:53.909)

You mean B to B is trickier. Yeah, okay, yeah. Yeah.

John Jantsch (20:09.599)

Yeah, yeah.

Brad Kugler (20:16.702)

It involves a little more persistence in testing than the B to C does.

John Jantsch (20:21.141)

Yeah. Well, Brad, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast and talk direct mail. Where where would you have people find out more about what you’re doing and connect with you?

Brad Kugler (20:31.501)

the easiest thing to remember is dm two zero dot com. That’s dm two zero dot com. It it it’ll show all of our direct mail and direct marketing related features there and I’m easy to find from there. LinkedIn, I’m I’m pretty well known there too.

John Jantsch (20:47.649)

Awesome. Awesome. Well again, appreciate you taking a moment and hopefully we’ll run into you one of these days out there on the road.

Brad Kugler (20:54.211)

I hope so. Thanks, John. It’s been a pleasure.

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More Pain for Mortgage Rates as Bond Yields Jump Back Above 5.10%


After a day off due to Veterans Day, it was back to higher bond yields again, which will translate to higher mortgage rates as well.

It seems to be correlating somewhat well to the AI trade, which is relatively hot again, despite the scandal with now-former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. And due to some choice comments by Trump regarding Iran.

At last glance, the bellwether 10-year bond yield was up a big 11 basis points, putting it back above 5% (and even north of 5.10%).

Mortgage rates will rise from around 7.375% to roughly 7.50% today as a result.

Bond Yields Higher Thanks to Tech and Trump

Today is a little bit of a catch-up day for bonds, which took Wednesday off.

While the hot CPI report from Tuesday was already baked in, yields moved another leg higher due to the AI trade and some fresh rhetoric from President Trump.

The first driver is the AI trade, which has correlated well with bond yields and mortgage rates lately.

In short, there’s been a flight to safety where an overheated stock market has moved into bonds, pushing yields (and mortgage rates) lower.

But recently there’s been a risk-on trade again, even in spite of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang getting in trouble and voluntarily resigning today.

The swift decision by Nvidia and its board might be deemed a good thing, instead of dragging it all out for weeks or months.

The market seems to have shrugged off the controversy, with stocks relatively flat or even positive on the day so far.

At the same time, Trump riled the markets by saying, “We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”

So the conflict in the Middle East some people may have forgotten about is alive and well and putting pressure on oil prices.

Simply put, higher oil translates to higher inflation which translates to higher mortgage rates.

To put it all together, that will likely reinforce additional Fed rate hikes next month and beyond, which hurts mortgage rates as well.

Existing Home Sales Hit a 16-Year Low as Higher Mortgage Rates Hurt Affordability

In related news, existing home sales slid 5.5% in October to the slowest pace in more than 16 years, per NAR.

Sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million in October, which was the worst total since August 2010.

They were also 8.8% lower year-over-year as higher rates took the wind out of the market’s sails.

Many of those sales reflect contracts signed in August and September because they’re based on transaction closed during the month of October.

It can take anywhere from 45 to 60 days or longer to get a mortgage and close on a home.

During those months, mortgage rates began to rise, but got a lot worse in October.

So the damage from October’s higher mortgage rates probably hasn’t even shown up yet, and will make the November home sales numbers potentially pretty ugly.

Of course, NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yun said, “there could be sizable pent-up demand if mortgage rates decline.”

Apparently prospective home buyers are waiting it out until rates come down, which could hurt sellers.

Despite that, the median price paid increased 0.4% from $414,900 one year ago, marking the 40th consecutive month of YoY price increases

Read on: Compare mortgage rates and monthly payments side by side with my mortgage rate calculator.

(photo: Eli Duke)

Colin Robertson
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Open University Management Degrees 2026 | BMS, HRM, Marketing & Accounting | Selection Test



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This video is specially created for A/L students, working professionals, and anyone planning to pursue a management degree through the Open University of Sri Lanka.

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AI in Investment Committees: Four Tests Every Memo Should Pass



AI in Investment Committees: Four Tests Every Memo Should Pass

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Sensus Healthcare (SRTS) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript


Image source: The Motley Fool.

DATE

Thu, Nov. 12, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Joseph Sardano
  • President, Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel – Michael Sardano
  • Chief Financial Officer – Javier Rampolla
  • Investor Relations – Leigh Salvo

Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected]

TAKEAWAYS

  • Revenue — $6 million, representing a 13% decrease driven by product mix shifts and the absence of sales to the company’s historically largest customer.
  • System Shipments — 26 units, including eight systems carried over from the second quarter of 2026 due to third-party financing delays.
  • Shipment Mix — 18 systems excluding carryover units, compared with six shipments to nonmajor customers in the third quarter of 2025.
  • Gross Margin — 55%, compared with 39.1% in the prior-year period due to a higher proportion of higher-margin SRT-100 units shipped.
  • Net Loss — $1.5 million, or $0.09 per share, compared with a net loss of $900,000, or $0.06 per share, primarily reflecting the inclusion of a $1.5 million income tax benefit in the prior-year period.
  • Cash Position — $12.9 million as of Sept. 30, 2026, a decrease from the $15.2 million reported at the end of June 2026.
  • Research and Development Expense — $1.1 million, representing a 38.9% decrease due to reduced lobbying costs and lower headcount.
  • General and Administrative Expense — $2.3 million, reflecting a 21.1% increase primarily driven by higher legal and professional fees.
  • Operating Expenses — $4.9 million, compared with $5.3 million in the prior-year period.
  • Adjusted EBITDA — negative $1.5 million, representing an improvement from negative $2.4 million in the third quarter of 2025.
  • Installed Base — 1,000 systems, a milestone reached subsequent to the end of the third quarter of 2026.
  • Hospital Reimbursement Proposal — 26% increase, proposed by CMS for hospital-based radiation treatment delivery codes expected to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
  • Revenue Recognition Models — three systems shipped during the quarter under Fair Deal Agreements or rental arrangements, where revenue is recognized over the agreement term rather than at shipment.
  • Private Equity Footprint — two large dermatology groups, representing a combined footprint of more than 450 practices, signed initial contracts during the quarter.
  • Consumer Education Engagement — 1,000 visits, recorded during the initial launch period for the new TreatSkincancer.com website.
  • Cost of Sales — $2.7 million, representing a 35.7% decrease due to the lower average manufacturing cost of SRT-100 units relative to SRT-100 Vision units.
  • Total Inventory — $18.0 million, compared with $18.5 million as of June 30, 2026.
  • Notes Receivable — $3.3 million, representing the total of current and noncurrent portions as of Sept. 30, 2026.

SUMMARY

Sensus Healthcare, Inc. (SRTS -5.57%) reported a decline in quarterly revenue that management attributed to product mix shifts and the absence of shipments to its historically largest customer. The company reported an increase in total system shipments during the quarter, supported by the fulfillment of orders previously delayed by third-party financing approvals. Management noted a gross margin expansion driven by the higher proportion of SRT-100 units sold compared to the SRT-100 Vision model. The company’s strategic focus involves diversifying its customer base through engagement with large private equity-backed dermatology groups and expanding recurring revenue streams from utilization-based models and software services.

  • Michael Sardano noted that customer conversations have shifted from validating reimbursement mechanics to discussing the practical integration of SRT into clinical workflows.
  • The company reported that three systems were placed under Fair Deal Agreements or rental arrangements, where revenue is recognized over the agreement term rather than at shipment.
  • Joseph Sardano indicated that the company is engaging with larger dermatology groups that possess the potential to adopt SRT technology across multiple locations.
  • Management stated that the CMS proposal for a 26% increase in hospital-based SRT delivery codes is expected to take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
  • Michael Sardano stated, “You can literally do 50 patients a day on our machine because it’s less than 5 minutes total for the blocking in, setting up and the radiation is only 40 seconds.”
  • The company reached a milestone by placing its 1,000th SRT system subsequent to the end of the third quarter of 2026.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • CPT Codes: Current Procedural Terminology codes used by healthcare providers to report medical, surgical, and diagnostic procedures for reimbursement.
  • Fair Deal Agreement: A commercial shared-service model where the company provides equipment in exchange for recurring revenue tied to system utilization.
  • IG-SRT: Image-Guided Superficial Radiation Therapy, a type of radiation therapy that incorporates imaging technology, such as ultrasound, to plan and monitor treatments.
  • Keloids: Raised scars that occur where the skin has healed after an injury, which can be treated using radiation therapy.
  • Mohs Surgery: A precise surgical technique used to treat skin cancer by removing layers of cancer-containing skin until only cancer-free tissue remains.
  • Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer: A group of skin cancers that includes basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which develop in the upper layers of the skin.
  • Sensus Link: A cloud-based software solution that allows clinicians to manage patient data and access remote radiation oncology or medical physics services.
  • Superficial Radiation Therapy (SRT): A low-energy X-ray technology used to treat nonmelanoma skin cancer and other dermatological conditions without surgical excision.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Sensus Healthcare Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Leigh Salvo, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Leigh Salvo: Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining today’s call to discuss Sensus Healthcare’s Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results. Joining me from Sensus are Joe Sardano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Sardano, President, Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel; and Javier Rampolla, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, some of the matters that will be discussed during today’s call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements other than historical facts that address activities Sensus Healthcare assumes, plans, expects, believes, intends or anticipates and other similar expressions will, should or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements are management’s beliefs based on currently available information as of the date of this conference call, November 12, 2026. Sensus Healthcare undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the company’s Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other SEC filings. During today’s call, references will be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Sensus believes these measures provide useful information for investors, yet they should not be considered a substitute for GAAP nor should they be reviewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP results is included in today’s press release.

With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Joe Sardano. Joe?

Joseph Sardano: Thank you, Leigh, and good afternoon, everyone. At the beginning of this year, we laid out 5 priorities for Sensus: educate the market about SRT and the new reimbursement environment, accelerate customer adoption, expand recurring revenue opportunities, broaden our commercial reach and move Sensus towards sustainable profitability. Those priorities have not changed. I want to take a minute to start with the bigger picture because it’s important to understand what we’re building at Sensus. For decades, surgery, including Mohs surgery, has been a primary treatment option for non-melanoma skin cancer. Mohs is an effective and well-established procedure, but surgery isn’t the right choice for every patient.

Many patients want to avoid cutting, stitches, scarring or the recovery associated with surgery, particularly when the cancer is in the cosmetically sensitive area. SRT gives physicians and patients another option. It’s a noninvasive treatment that can address certain skin cancers without surgical excision. We believe patients should understand their treatment choices and physicians should have the technology to offer those choices when clinically appropriate. That’s our vision for Sensus. We’re not simply selling equipment. We’re working to make SRT a more widely understood and accessible treatment option. And we’re making progress.

During the first half of the year, we concentrated on educating the market about the dedicated CPT codes and what the new reimbursement landscape means for physicians and their practices. Now we’re seeing that groundwork translate into a stronger pipeline, more inbound interest and engagement with a broader range of customers from independent dermatology practices to larger physician groups. To me, that’s the real opportunity. We’re building a broader, more diversified and direct customer base, including organizations with the potential to bring SRT to multiple locations. That’s how we intend to build the business with a wider geographic reach and more sustainable, predictable growth.

The dedicated CPT codes are an important part of that transition, giving physicians greater clarity about the economics of incorporating SRT into their practices. We’ve expanded those efforts beyond the physician community. Our recent launch of TreatSkincancer.com is designed to help patients better understand their options, including noninvasive alternatives and have informed conversations with their physicians. And our ambitions extend beyond U.S. dermatology. We continue to pursue international opportunities, particularly in Asia Pacific, while exploring adjacent markets and applications where our technology offers value. Another important part of our strategy is what happens after a system is placed.

As our installed base grows, we have opportunities to support greater treatment utilization and develop revenue streams through programs such as our Fair Deal Agreement and Sensus Link. Over time, our goal is to combine equipment sales with software, services and utilization-based revenue. We believe that can create a stronger, more scalable business. I also want to recognize a milestone I’m especially proud of. We recently placed our 1,000th SRT system. That represents years of building this company, developing the technology and earning the trust of physicians. We’re building a stronger, more diversified Sensus. We have the technology, the reimbursement framework, the commercial programs and the expanding base of physicians who recognize the value of what we offer.

Our focus is on bringing those pieces together to drive adoption, increase utilization and build consistently growing profitable business. At the start of this year, we said that each quarter would be better than the previous one. In the next few minutes, Michael and Javier will highlight 3 areas that I believe clearly indicate our progress so far in 2026. But in short, we delivered more units directly to dermatology practices in Q3 than in the prior 2 quarters combined. In addition, excluding sales to our historically largest customer, both revenue and gross margins increased year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. We expect to build on this momentum in the fourth quarter.

Importantly, every system we place creates a revenue opportunity for Sensus, whether through an outright sale or recurring revenue generated over time through our alternative commercial models. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Michael to discuss our commercial activities in more detail. Michael?

Michael Sardano: Thank you, Joe. I’d like to start by giving some color on what we’re seeing in the market because the nature of our customer conversations in the United States has evolved considerably since the beginning of the year. When the dedicated CPT codes took effect on January 1, our first job was education. Physicians needed to understand the codes, the economics and most importantly, see reimbursement working in practice. That conversation is changing. Increasingly, we’re no longer explaining whether reimbursement works. We’re talking about how to bring SRT into their practices. We continue to support that process with physician education and training in the technology, treatment workflows and system operation.

Our pipeline strengthened during the third quarter through physician education, inbound inquiries and follow-ups from our commercial initiatives. We are seeing engagement across independent dermatology practices and larger physician groups, and we’re increasingly spending time with organizations that have multiple locations. Those discussions can take longer than a single practice sale, but one relationship can ultimately create opportunities for multiple systems. During the quarter, we secured initial system purchases from 2 large private equity-backed dermatology groups. These new relationships illustrate the type of customer we are now reaching. Customers also have more ways to access our technology. They can purchase the system outright, use financing, enter a rental arrangement or participate in our Fair Deal Agreement program.

Those options allow us to meet practices where they are. We’re seeing customers evaluate direct ownership as they better understand the reimbursement economics, while larger groups, in particular, may find our Fair Deal shared service model an attractive way to introduce SRT across multiple practices. We are continuing to focus on increasing utilization within the Fair Deal Agreement program. That will allow us to participate in treatment activity as adoption expands. At the same time, we’re continuing to develop Sensus Link and other software and service opportunities across our installed base. These initiatives are part of our longer-term strategy to complement equipment sales with recurring utilization-based revenue.

On the patient side, we launched treatskincancer.com in September to help people learn about skin cancer treatment options, including noninvasive approaches and to encourage informed conversations with their physicians. It complements the work we’re doing with dermatologists. Early engagement included nearly 1,000 visits during the initial launch period and more than 2,000 social media views. Internationally, I spent a significant amount of time during the quarter developing opportunities across Asia Pacific, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong. During the fourth quarter, Sensus will additionally be attending conferences in Europe and Korea. We continue to see physician interest in SRT across these markets.

China remains an important market for us, and the response we’ve seen in Australia has been especially encouraging. Australia and New Zealand have a substantial skin cancer burden, which underscores the potential need for additional treatment options such as SRT. We’re actively developing relationships that could support our commercial presence, and we intend to be disciplined as we pursue international expansion. Our priorities are straightforward: convert the pipeline, expand adoption across a broader customer base, increase utilization of systems already in the field and give customers the flexibility to bring SRT into their practices. We have more opportunities in front of us today than at the beginning of the year. Now it’s about conversion.

With that, I’ll turn the call over to Javier for a review of the financials. Javier?

Javier Rampolla: Thank you, Michael, and good afternoon, everyone. I will walk through our third quarter financial performance and provide some context around the shipment activity we discussed earlier. Revenue was $6 million compared with $6.9 million in the third quarter of 2025, a decline of 13%. The year-over-year difference was driven primarily by product mix, with more lower-priced SRT-100 systems relative to SRT-100 Vision systems and no sales to our historically largest customer during the quarter. Let me put the system shipments into perspective because the customer mix is an important part of the story. We shipped 26 systems in the third quarter compared with 16 a year ago.

8 of this quarter’s systems were originally expected to ship in the second quarter but were delayed by third-party financing delays as we discussed on our last call. Excluding those 8 carryover systems, we shipped 18 systems in the third quarter of 2026. Of the 16 systems we shipped in the third quarter of 2025, 10 went to our historically largest customer and 6 went to other customers. Shipments also do not always translate into revenue at the time of delivery. 3 systems were shipped this quarter under Fair Deal Agreement or rental arrangements compared with none in the year-ago period. Revenue under those arrangements is recognized over the applicable agreement term rather than entirely upon shipment. Turning to profitability.

Cost of sales decreased to $2.7 million from $4.2 million. Gross profit increased to $3.3 million from $2.7 million, and gross margin improved to approximately 55% from 39% a year ago. That margin improvement was primarily driven by the mix of systems shipped, including a greater proportion of higher-margin SRT-100 units. On operating expenses, general and administrative expense was $2.3 million compared with $1.9 million a year ago, primarily reflecting higher legal and professional fees, partly offset by lower insurance costs. Selling and marketing expense was essentially flat at $1.5 million. Research and development expense decreased to $1.1 million from $1.8 million, primarily reflecting reduced lobbying costs and lower headcount.

Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.5 million versus a negative $2.4 million a year ago. As a reminder, adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and the reconciliation is included in today’s earnings release. Net loss was $1.5 million or $0.09 per share, compared with a net loss of $0.9 million, or $0.06 per share in the prior year quarter. An important difference in that comparison is that the third quarter of 2025 included an income tax benefit of approximately $1.5 million. On the balance sheet, we ended September with $12.9 million in cash, restricted cash and cash equivalents compared with $15.2 million at the end of June. Prepaid inventory declined to 0 from $0.6 million at June 30.

We had no outstanding borrowings under our revolving line of credit at quarter end. Looking ahead, we remain focused on converting commercial opportunities into revenue while managing costs and working towards sustainable profitability. With that, I’ll turn the call back to Joe.

Joseph Sardano: Thank you, Javier. Before we open the call for questions, I want to leave you with one important point. We spent years developing our technology, building our installed base and demonstrating the value of SRT as a noninvasive treatment option for non-melanoma skin cancer. What provides an exciting catalyst for our business is the new reimbursement environment. The dedicated CPT codes that took effect at the beginning of this year represent an important change. For the first time, physicians have the procedure-specific codes that provide greater clarity around reimbursement and the economics of offering SRT in their practices. We believe that changes the commercial opportunity for Sensus.

We’re now seeing conversions move beyond educating physicians about reimbursement to discussing how they can incorporate SRT into their practices. We’re engaging with a broader range of customers, including larger dermatology groups with the potential to adopt our technology across multiple locations. And we’re building a business model that extends beyond equipment sales with opportunities for recurring revenue tied to system utilization, software and services. I continue to be inspired by the commitment of our team, encouraged by our progress and confident in the opportunity ahead. Our focus is on capitalizing on that opportunity, converting interest into sales and building a profitable, more diversified business. Thank you for joining us today. And operator, we’re ready to take questions.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Anthony Vendetti of Maxim Group.

Anthony Vendetti: So Joe, obviously, getting these CPT codes as of 1/1/’26 is, I know, something you and the firm has worked hard towards achieving. I think you mentioned in the last call that in addition to those CPT — dedicated CPT codes for SRT that CMS has proposed a 26% increase in hospital-based SRT delivery codes. Can you give us an update on where that’s at? And what’s the likelihood that, that gets approved and finalized? And if so, the timing there, please?

Joseph Sardano: Yes. Thanks for the question, Anthony, and thanks for being on. The 26% is very, very unique. It’s been proposed by CMS and usually, as they propose it when they announce it as they did last year about our reimbursement, things go into effect January 1 of the upcoming year, so 2027. As of right now, that has been a very good proposal and has been very well accepted by ASTRO and the other societies that are involved. So quite frankly, we fully expect that 26% to take effect on January 1 in the hospital environment.

Michael Sardano: Yes, just to add to that, Anthony, this is Michael. Yes. So that reference that you’re talking about is going into effect. It’s for Level 1 radiation treatment delivery in hospital coding, and it just so happens that we are part of that Level 1. So that’s why it’s going up.

Anthony Vendetti: Okay. Great. And so that should go into effect 1/1/’27?

Michael Sardano: Correct.

Anthony Vendetti: Okay. Excellent. And then obviously, you talked about some new APAC markets, including Australia and New Zealand. And I think you mentioned you were pursuing a regulatory application in Australia. Where is that at? And any type of time line on that application?

Joseph Sardano: Michael, you go ahead since you just came from there.

Michael Sardano: Yes, exactly. Yes, great question. So SRT is already cleared for use in Australia, actually. So we are good to go or greenlighted to sending machines over there. However, we haven’t really pushed into the market over the last decade. I think that a lot of that has to do with the reimbursement structure of that society in general, but that is changing dramatically as far as the last 2 dermatology and radiation oncology meetings that I attended there in Australia, we’re seeing a desperation from patients. And again, the numbers are staggering there. There’s only 26 million people in Australia, but 30% of them will get skin cancer. So it’s a staggering number.

And then there’s keloids there as well. Yes. So there’s such an amount there. And the craziest part about it is where here in the United States, we have dermatologists, a lot of them being Mohs surgeons and the primary — the way to get rid of the skin cancer besides SRT is Mohs surgery. In Australia, they barely have Mohs surgeons. There’s only 600 total dermatologists in the entire country and only about 60 of them are actual Mohs surgeons. So they don’t rely on that either. They just excise you.

So imagine if you’re an 80-, 85-year-old woman or man going into a dermatology facility, you’re not getting Mohs, you’re not getting SRT, you’re going to get your entire nose chopped off. That’s literally what’s happening. So there are numerous private equity-backed groups with a lot of money pushing into the market and garnering the attention of patients, especially in larger areas like Sydney. So we’re working with a couple of those groups, and they’re very interested in getting SRT and marketing that in those larger areas in Australia, like in Sydney and New South Wales. So we’ll continue to update you on the progress there, but we’re pretty excited to be working with those groups.

Anthony Vendetti: Okay. So you’re already — it’s already cleared, it’s just a matter of educating them and getting into the hands of the dermatologists there, which obviously there seems to be a huge need. Okay.

Michael Sardano: Yes. I mean these groups are treating 1,000 patients a month for skin cancer. So it’s astronomical, the numbers. So imagine putting some of those on SRT. And that’s really the only device that can do more than 10 patients a day. You can literally do 50 patients a day on our machine because it’s less than 5 minutes total for the blocking in, setting up and the radiation is only 40 seconds. So you can scale it.

Anthony Vendetti: Okay. And then maybe just lastly, you mentioned on the call and in the press release, a mix of lower-priced SRTs. Is that because you just had more sales internationally? Or is that just — sort of just a slight mix shift that you think is temporary?

Joseph Sardano: We’re starting to see the shift towards the SRT-100, plain and simple, versus the Vision, and we do have higher margins with our SRT-100 versus the Vision product. So we’re going to see larger margin numbers, and now we’re catching up with our revenue as well in selling multiple units as well as the revenue that we’re starting to see from our FDA programs and all of the other recurring revenue programs we have.

Anthony Vendetti: Is that partially because the Vision systems were the primary purchase of your former largest customer and now you’re getting more discerning customers saying, “Hey, do we really need to spend this with the Vision product when we can get the SRT without the ultrasound capability?”

Joseph Sardano: Yes. I think the reimbursement is pushing a lot of customers towards the SRT-100. And so we’re excited for that opportunity because of the opportunity it gives us for our margins and profitability. The Vision product, it was just very factual. It costs more to manufacture.

Michael Sardano: We are seeing — However, I just want to add to that. We are seeing some interest internationally for the Vision product now. A lot of our sales that are upcoming are on the Vision most likely because with just socialized medicine over there, they want something with imaging. And again, we’ve said this in the past, every form of radiation oncology, whether it’s breast cancer, colorectal, they’ll do some form of imaging prior to treatment with radiation. And so a lot of the international community in radiation oncology wants a form of imaging as well. So the natural interest is on the SRT-100 Vision.

But to Joe’s point and to what you already reiterated, because of the reimbursement, the SRT-100 became a lot more likely as a purchase than the SRT-100 Vision in the United States.

Operator: Our next question comes from Benjamin Haynor of Lake Street Capital Markets.

Benjamin Haynor: First off for me on the couple of private equity-backed practices or groups that bought units. It sounds to me, maybe I’m reading too much into this, that they kind of sharpened their pencils and decided that purchasing was a better option for them rather than going with the FDA program. Is that true? And then have others kind of made similar decisions? And do you think that, that — the capital direction is the more likely that these guys will go in the future?

Joseph Sardano: Michael, I’ll let you answer that because it’s quite the opposite of that, Ben, but let me have Michael explain that.

Michael Sardano: So essentially, we announced that we had 2 private equity groups go with us and sign contracts in this past quarter. And your question is asking which one did they go with, which model did they go with, a Fair Deal Agreement or recurring revenue or do they outright purchase? And the answer to that is both because one decided to purchase and one decided to go with the Fair Deal Agreement. So I can tell you that much, and we’ll see where that goes.

It really — that’s the type of thing we’re talking about where our flexibility of our model gives us a leg up on any competitor in the market because one private equity-backed group or one single practice wants one thing and the other one wants another thing. And it could be a personal preference. It could be a personal life of the dermatologist or just the way one is funded versus the other. You’re seeing a lot of things going on right now in tech. You see like a company like CoreWeave has a ton of debt, whereas another company may not have a lot of debt.

It just depends on how they went and got their compute, and that’s the way we’re modeling ourselves here.

Benjamin Haynor: Okay. That’s helpful color. And then just with these groups, are the models that they’re kind of going with are hub and spoke in the cities that they’re in? Or are they eventually looking at putting it in every practice? And then maybe give us — if you can give us a sense of how large collectively in terms of number of practices these guys are, that would be helpful.

Michael Sardano: Yes. Great question. Between the 2 groups that are with us now, I think their footprint is about 450-or-more practices nationwide.

Benjamin Haynor: And are they — is there the opportunity to get into every one of them at a given time? Or is it more likely that it’s going to be a handful of them in each MSA or what have you?

Michael Sardano: That’s certainly our goal, I’d rather say …

Joseph Sardano: It’s already mentioned, Ben. We want to put it in every one of those facilities. Some might start off as a hub and spoke. We’ve got some of the smaller groups that are putting them in every site, but — and a lot of the larger groups are doing a hub and spoke, but those hubs begin to grow very, very quickly.

And so I think that in the long run as well as the short run, we’ll be putting as many units as we possibly can, and we’ll be showing and they’ll be demonstrating the value of those units in every one of those regions that they have practices because you’re going to have patients that are going to start to migrate towards a noninvasive treatment.

Benjamin Haynor: Okay. That’s more helpful color. And then lastly for me, on Sensus Link, how is that going? A lot of takers thus far?

Michael Sardano: Absolutely, absolutely Sensus Link …

Joseph Sardano: Yes, we see that growing on a monthly basis. Go ahead, Mike.

Michael Sardano: No, absolutely. Sensus Link, again, it’s a new form of technology that we’ve developed for the SRT-100 system mainly, but it allows customers to have a Sentinel-type technology that allows them to put all of their patient data along with the machine and pair it with the machine. And it also gives them access to remote radiation oncologists or remote medical physicists if they need it. And so it’s something that they’re all signing up for.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Seeing no additional questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Joe for any closing remarks.

Joseph Sardano: Thank you, again. And as you’ve heard today, we’re making good progress and believe we’re well positioned to finish the year on a strong note. We have a growing pipeline and expanding customer base and a lot of opportunities ahead of us. We’re excited about what the future and where the business is headed. We look forward to continuing our conversations with investors in the coming weeks and updating everyone on our progress during our next earnings call. Thank you for joining us today, and I want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and a very happy and safe holiday season. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

Jane Street more than doubled its Nvidia stake last quarter, filings reveal



Jane Street, one of Wall Street’s leading quantitative trading firms, more than doubled its Nvidia holdings in the third quarter, according to regulatory filings released Thursday and reviewed by Fortune. The securities filings show the firm’s positions as of Sept. 30—just over six weeks before Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO following reports of extramarital affairs, including one with a woman U.S. authorities suspect of spying for China. The scandal has led Nvidia shares to fall nearly 13% over the past five days, reaching a 17-month low intraday Thursday. The regulatory disclosure, known as a 13F, doesn’t reveal exactly when Jane Street purchased the shares, or how much the firm has gained or lost on its bets though.

The market maker held 23.8 million shares worth about $5.44 billion at $228.38 at quarter end, according to the 13F. That’s over double the 11.8 million shares held, worth $2.4 billion, in the second quarter. Nvidia was its second-largest holding behind SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust. Jane Street did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment. 

The filings show what Jane Street held in late September, not what it owns now, and leave out short positions. Jane Street traders could, in theory, have shorted Nvidia after the reporting period ended and made money from the subsequent decline. The filings alone cannot tell us whether they did, though.

Options add another layer of complexity to this. The 13F also discloses that Jane Street holds a large amount of puts and calls, which are reported using the value of the underlying shares, rather than the market value of the options themselves. Those notional figures can make positions look far larger than the sums actually invested, while revealing little about the firm’s overall exposure once offsetting trades are taken into account. A large reported position, in other words, is not necessarily a huge directional bet.

Huang stepped down on Thursday after more than three decades at the helm of the company he cofounded in 1993. In his place, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO. Huang’s departure comes days after bombshell media reports about his relationship with Alice Huang, a former exec at Singapore-based cloud company Megaspeed who U.S. intelligence authorities suspect of working for Beijing. 

In a message to employees on Sunday, Huang admitted that he had been “unfaithful” to his wife and apologized. He also said he supported an independent investigation into whether he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. 

The bad news didn’t stop there for Huang, though. Just three days later, the New York Times reported that the 63-year-old also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare. Reuters reported Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter, that he had an intimate relationship with another Nvidia employee, as well. 

Reuters reported in August, citing a person familiar, that Jane Street had so far generated more than $40 billion in trading revenue in 2026. That surpassed its $39.6 billion total for all of 2025 and comfortably beat trading revenues for the nation’s largest banks.

Still, there have been some signs of cracks. That same Reuters report over the summer said Jane Street took a $15 billion hit, partly from its exposure to AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness. Situational Awareness, started by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold the bulk of its equities portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel after the market downturn triggered margin calls. Jane Street told employees that the drawdown had left its investment roughly flat for the year, though it remained profitable over the full period, per Reuters. Jane Street has not confirmed this report. 

B.C. home sales slide 11% in October as Lower Mainland struggles




British Columbia recorded 5,670 home sales last month, a drop of almost 11% from October last year.