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Prediction: This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Semiconductor Stock Will Join the $1 Trillion Club by 2028


There are currently 16 companies that have crossed the $1 trillion market cap plateau, with two more, Walmart and JPMorgan Chase, knocking on the door.

One of the next artificial intelligence (AI) stocks to reach $1 trillion in market cap should be the Dutch semiconductor company ASML (ASML 2.14%).

Currently, ASML is the world’s 20th-largest company, with a market cap of about $693 billion. Based on its rapid growth rate over the past five years or so, it should reach $1 trillion sometime in 2028.

ASML, which makes the lithography equipment used to manufacture semiconductors and chips, has been growing rapidly during the artificial intelligence boom. While it’s not a chip foundry like Taiwan Semiconductor, it has a competitive advantage similar to Taiwan Semiconductor.

Image source: Getty Images.

ASML is the dominant leader in its space, with a market share of roughly 90%. It is also agnostic in that its equipment is used by all the major chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor, and it does not compete with any of them as a chipmaker itself.

Plus, its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines are cutting-edge and sought after by the leading foundries and chipmakers, such as Samsung Electronics, Taiwan Semiconductor, Intel, Micron, and SK Hynix, among others. Some analysts suggest that its competitors would need 10 years and an investment of more than $100 billion to simply catch up to its technology advantages. That’s a huge leg up on the competition.

The total addressable market for chips is expected to be more than $1 trillion in 2030, and the company anticipates revenue of between $50 billion and $68 billion by 2030 — or 44 billion to 60 billion euros. But some analysts, like Bank of America, think revenue could reach $83 billion by 2030, or 73 billion euros.

Will it join the $1 trillion club by 2028?

ASML Stock Quote

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At the end of fiscal 2025, ASML generated 32.7 billion euros in net sales, around $37 billion. That’s a roughly 15% growth rate from $32 billion in 2024.

A 15% growth rate over the next five years would easily put ASML’s net sales at about $75 billion by the end of 2030 — more than double its current total. That’s probably what BofA is thinking in its projections.

Given the explosion in AI and its huge competitive advantages, I do not see ASML’s growth rate slowing down — if anything, it may increase.

So, if you look at how the market cap has grown over the past five years during the initial AI boom, it is not out of the realm of possibility that ASML could hit $1 trillion in market cap in two years.

In July of 2021, ASML’s market cap was $288 billion, so it has grown at a 19% annualized clip over the past five years. If it averages 19% growth over the next two years as of June 25, the market cap would be roughly $980 billion. So, by the end of calendar year 2028, it would likely surpass $1 trillion and be, perhaps, the 20th company to join the club.

Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Dave Kovaleski has positions in Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Micron Technology, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The MLC rejects Pandora’s bid to use a horse racing ruling against the mechanical royalties lawsuit


The Mechanical Licensing Collective has rejected Pandora‘s attempt to use a federal appeals court ruling on horse racing regulation to undermine the collective’s authority to sue the streaming service over mechanical royalties.

In a filing on Wednesday (June 24) in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the MLC called the cited ruling “inapposite” and said it “does not advance Pandora’s argument.”

The response came one week after Pandora filed a notice of supplemental authority citing a June 11 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which found that the enforcement provisions of a federal horseracing law violated the private nondelegation doctrine.

That doctrine restricts Congress‘s ability to hand government enforcement powers to private entities without supervision from a federal agency.

Pandora contends that the same reasoning applies to the MLC – a private, government-designated body created under the Music Modernization Act of 2018 – which can investigate licensees and pursue them in court without sign-off from a government agency.

But the MLC argued that Pandora has forfeited its constitutional challenge by raising it too late in the proceedings.

“Pandora forfeited its constitutional arguments when it chose not to assert them at the outset and instead litigated this action for two years through discovery without once raising them,” the MLC said in its filing.

The collective also argued that it operates under sufficient government oversight to satisfy the nondelegation standard, stating that the MLC and “the individual voting members of its board of directors are appointed and removable by a department head (the Librarian of Congress) and are subject to pervasive oversight by the Librarian and the Register of Copyrights.”

On the substance of the horseracing ruling, the MLC raised three objections.

First, the collective noted that the Fifth Circuit‘s decision does not apply a different legal standard from the one articulated by the Sixth Circuit in Oklahoma v. United States – which is the binding authority in the Middle District of Tennessee, where the Pandora case sits.

Second, the Fifth Circuit‘s specific conclusion that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) enforcement provisions are unconstitutional “directly conflicts” with the Sixth Circuit‘s conclusion to the contrary.

Pandora itself acknowledged this in its filing, conceding that the Fifth Circuit “expressly parted ways with the Sixth Circuit.”

Third, the MLC argued that the horseracing law’s structure is fundamentally different from the Music Modernization Act.

The MLC said the MMA “fully lacks HISA’s ‘clear delineation’” of enforcement functions, and instead “grants The MLC broad authority to engage in activities concerning the Blanket License, including enforcement, and also grants the agency broad oversight that encompasses The MLC and the entire statutory regime.”

“In sum, Black does not provide Pandora with an escape from the liability that is established in the summary judgment papers,” the MLC said.

The case dates to February 2024, when the MLC sued Pandora in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, alleging that the company underpaid mechanical royalties on its ad-supported Pandora Free tier.

Both parties filed competing motions for summary judgment in February 2026, each asking Judge Eli J. Richardson to rule in its favor.

In opposition briefs filed in March, the MLC called Pandora‘s constitutional argument “desperate and unfounded.”

The underlying question in the case remains whether Pandora Free qualifies as an “interactive service” under the Copyright Act, which would make it subject to mechanical royalties on all of its streams.

The MLC argues that on-demand listening, unlimited skips and replays, and personalized programming each place the service in that category.

A spokesperson for the MLC told MBW in March that the evidence “confirms that Pandora Free is an ‘interactive service’ and that Pandora has improperly underpaid royalties due to copyright owners under the Blanket License.”

Pandora counters that its free tier operates as noninteractive internet radio, and that its Premium Access sessions, 30-minute windows that free users can unlock after watching a video ad, are licensed separately.

Pandora‘s constitutional argument tracks a separate fight involving its own parent company.

In August 2025, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a lawsuit brought by SoundExchange against SiriusXM, Pandora‘s parent, finding that Section 114 of the Copyright Act does not authorize SoundExchange to litigate royalty disputes.

That ruling turned on statutory interpretation rather than the Constitution, and Buchwald noted that the MLC‘s governing statute, Section 115, expressly grants the collective the power to bring a federal court action.

SoundExchange is appealing the decision.

A ruling from Judge Richardson on the summary judgment motions is pending.Music Business Worldwide

Amex Delta Business Upgrade Offers: Earn Up to 60K Bonus Miles


Amex Delta Business Upgrade Offers

American Express has Delta Business cards upgrade offers that can get you up to 60,000 bonus SkyMiles. If you’re eligible, you can upgrade your existing card to a higher-tier Delta Business card and receive a bonus after meeting the required spending requirement.

Before upgrading, it’s important to compare the offer with applying for a new card. Upgrade offers generally don’t involve a new credit inquiry and let you keep your existing account history, but they also make you ineligible for a new card welcome bonus on that product if you haven’t had it before. Let’s see these two offers.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business Card

  • Upgrade to the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business Card to earn 50,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $8,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.
  • $350 Annual Fee
  • UPGRADE OFFER LINK

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business Card

  • Upgrade to the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business Card to earn 60,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $12,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.
  • $650 Annual Fee
  • UPGRADE OFFER LINK

Things to Know

When you upgrade your card, American Express will typically charge a prorated annual fee based on the time remaining in your current cardmember year. If you’ve already paid the annual fee on your existing card, you’ll usually receive a prorated credit for the unused portion and then be charged the prorated fee for the upgraded card.

Also keep in mind that American Express requires you to keep the upgraded card for at least 12 months after accepting the upgrade offer. Downgrading or canceling the card before then could result in the bonus being clawed back and may violate the terms of the upgrade offer.

Guru’s Wrap-up

These are solid upgrade offers, especially for cardholders who don’t qualify for a welcome bonus on a new Delta Business card. Just make sure the additional annual fee and premium benefits make sense for your spending and travel habits. 

HT: Parts_Unknown

INTRO TO FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT – THE THREE KEY DECISIONS (PART 1)



This video explains the concept of financial management and the three key decisions of financial management.

source

Florida Could Bar Undocumented Students From Public Universities Starting in 2027


  • Florida is moving to block undocumented students from its public universities, colleges, and adult-ed programs starting in 2027.
  • Florida is advancing a series of rules that would block undocumented students from enrolling in the state’s public higher education system — first at its selective universities, and potentially at its community colleges and adult education programs too.

    This comes from a set of proposals that would take effect in the 2027-28 academic year if approved.

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    Driving The News

    The State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors voted Thursday to advance a proposed admissions rule (Regulation 6.001) that would bar students “present in the United States unlawfully” from any university that did not admit all academically qualified applicants in the two most recent years.

    Because all 12 of the system’s campuses use selective admissions, the change would function as a near-total ban.

    The proposal now enters a 14-day public comment period before returning to the full board for a final vote. If approved, it takes effect for the 2027–28 academic year. Students currently enrolled would not be affected.

    The Bigger Picture

    A separate set of rules from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) would extend the restrictions further down. Proposed rule 6A-10.0240 would prevent undocumented students from attending the 28 colleges in the Florida College System, and proposed rule 6A-6.014 would block them from adult general education programs, where enrollment starts at age 16.

    By The Numbers

    The Florida Policy Institute (FPI) estimates the college-system rule alone could cost Florida’s public colleges roughly $15 million a year in lost tuition and fees. The biggest projected losses fall on:

    • Miami Dade College — about $1.8 million
    • Broward College — about $1.18 million
    • Palm Beach State College — about $1.06 million
    • Florida SouthWestern State College — about $825,000

    FPI built its estimate using the number of students who received the state’s “tuition fairness” waiver (repealed last year) as a proxy for undocumented enrollment, then multiplied by each college’s in-state tuition rate.

    Florida has one of the largest populations of undocumented college students in the country, with one report estimating roughly 40,000 attended the state’s colleges in 2021.

    How This Connects

    Florida’s push follows a broader rollback of benefits for undocumented students. Last July, the state repealed a policy that let certain undocumented students pay in-state tuition rates.

    As The College Investor has covered in its work on state residency requirements and Florida college costs, where a student is considered a resident can swing the cost of a degree by tens of thousands of dollars, and these rule changes would remove the public-college option for affected students entirely.

    Watch for the Board of Governors’ final vote, expected after the comment period, and for the FLDOE rules to move through their own approval process. If adopted, both sets of rules would reshape who can access Florida’s public colleges starting in 2027.

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    Home listings drop 1.7% to lowest level since February


    Differences across metro areas

    The national figures also mask sharp differences across major metro areas. Among the 50 most populous U.S. metros, San Francisco posted the largest year-over-year increase in median sale price (11.5%), followed by Detroit (9.7%), West Palm Beach, Florida (9%), Pittsburgh (8.7%), and St. Louis (8.5%).

    Median sale prices declined in eight metros. The largest drops were in San Jose, California (-6.2%), Seattle (-4.8%), Portland, Oregon (-2.8%), Dallas (-1.8%), and Orlando, Florida (-1.5%).

    Pending sales rose the most in West Palm Beach, Florida (21.5%), San Francisco (17.9%), Austin, Texas (15%), Milwaukee (14.8%), and Boston (11.1%). They declined in five metros, led by Houston (-12.7%) and Seattle (-12%).

    New listings increased the most in Philadelphia (16.3%), St. Louis (11.2%), Boston (10.8%), Pittsburgh (10.5%), and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (9.6%). Meanwhile, the largest declines were in Dallas (-12.7%), Riverside, California (-6.8%), Fort Worth, Texas (-6.7%), Jacksonville, Florida (-6.3%), and Atlanta (-5.4%).

    Markets feel relief as US and Iran agree to a ceasefire on their increasingly violent ‘ceasefire’



    Stock futures rallied on Sunday evening after the U.S. and Iran appeared to step back from a weekend of escalating violence in the Persian Gulf.

    Futures tied to the Dow Jones industrial average rose 101 points, or 0.19%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.45%, and Nasdaq futures jumped 0.64%.

    But energy markets were still spooked as any fighting around the Strait of Hormuz threatens the nascent recovery in ship traffic through the vital chokepoint.

    U.S. oil futures climbed 1.5% to $70.29 a barrel, and Brent crude rallied 1.1% to $72.80.

    Sources told Axios that both sides agreed to halt attacks on each other and meet in Qatar on Tuesday to resolve differences over the Strait of Hormuz.

    Earlier on Sunday, Iran launched new attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, while threatening a “complete halt” to peace talks. It continuined a tit-for-tat cycle of retaliation after U.S. airstrikes punished the regime for targeting commercial ships with drones.

    The renewed skirmishes came as Iran seeks to shut down an alternate route through the strait that’s protected by the U.S. and bypasses a Tehran-backed channel meant to normalize its control over the narrow waterway.

    President Donald Trump accused Iran of violating the two-week-old ceasefire deal and lobbed more of his signature apocalyptic threats, though he has also signaled reluctance to restart all-out war.

    “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” he wrote on Truth Social. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

    For now, the U.S. Navy appears to be making of a point of showing that the alternate route is still safe, as Gulf traffic data Sunday revealed a convoy of tankers heading through the strait under escort with their transponders turned on.

    But Iran observers noted the regime was forcing the U.S. into an escalation trap over the Strait of Hormuz that could lead to more war.

    “For the US, the fact that the Oman route might be blocked presents it with a big ultimatum: either the US escalates or gives IRGC control of the Strait of Hormuz. Logic says there’s no way that would happen, so escalation will continue,” HFI Research posted on X.

    For its part, Tehran isn’t budging from its position that control over the strait rests with Iran. Earlier this month, it created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority and suggested ships would have to pay fees to cross Hormuz.

    Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed on Sunday that the memorandum of understanding the U.S. and Iran signed gives the regime the exclusive right to manage traffic.

    “The management and full restoration of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s responsibility,” he said, according to state media. “No other country or entity has any responsibility or authority in this matter.”

    Meanwhile, investors are looking for rebound in a holiday-shortened week after tech stocks led a deep selloff last week.

    With the U.S. observing Independence Day on Friday July 3, the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report will come on Thursday, a day earlier than usual.

    Wall Street expects June payrolls to increase by 118,000, down from May’s gain of 172,000, and for the unemployment rate to remain steady at 4.3%.

    How Leaders Engineer Margin Resilience



    By Gregory Daco and Josh Putnam

    Volatility used to be episodic. Today it is structural. Inflation shocks, geopolitics, capital market repricing, and shifting supply chains no longer arrive as surprises—they define the operating environment.

    Yet while many companies see margins erode amid uncertainty, a small group consistently pulls ahead. Their advantage is not timing, luck, or scale. It is design.

    New research analyzing more than 1,000 U.S. companies over multiple economic cycles reveals a sobering truth: Only about 10% consistently deliver top‑quartile margins. Even more striking, these companies sustain margin leadership across downturns, rate resets, and geopolitical shocks. While most companies treat margin pressure as temporary, these leaders treat margin resilience as a core feature of their business strategy.

    The implication for executives is clear: Margin performance is no longer a financial outcome—it is a strategic choice.

    The Strategic Architecture of Margin Leaders

    Only the top 10% of public companies have consistently delivered EBITDA margins that outperform their industry peers, EY‑Parthenon analysis shows. Top performers sustain structurally higher margins year after year, even during periods of macroeconomic and geopolitical stress. By contrast, lower performers experience sharp margin compression during shocks and fail to recover fully.

    EBITDA margin evolution for assessed cohort of U.S. public companies (2010–2024)


    This divergence isn’t explained by industry mix alone. Margin leaders are found across sectors, whether industrials, consumer products, technology, or financial services. What distinguishes margin leaders is a shared strategic DNA built around five common reinforcing principles:

    1. Low capital intensity and high asset productivity. Margin leaders generate more profit per dollar of capital deployed. By minimizing fixed‑asset drag and optimizing working capital, they preserve flexibility when markets reprice risk.

    2. Recurring revenue and customer lock‑in. These firms prioritize business models that smooth revenue volatility—subscriptions, long‑term contracts, and embedded services—reducing sensitivity to short‑term demand swings.

    3. Pricing power through differentiation. Rather than competing on volume, leaders invest in defensible differentiation that allows them to pass through cost increases without destroying demand.

    4. Operational discipline that protects growth margins. Scale efficiency matters, but only when paired with rigorous cost governance. Margin leaders avoid “growth at any price” traps that dilute profitability.

    5. Active portfolio management. Margin leaders continuously reallocate capital, divesting subscale or margin‑dilutive assets while doubling down on advantaged businesses.

    Importantly, these levers are mutually reinforcing. Pricing power is unsustainable without differentiation. Recurring revenue loses value without operational discipline. Margin leadership is systemic, not siloed.

    How Markets Reward Strategic Clarity

    Equity markets price uncertainty in real time. Nowhere is that clearer than during macroeconomic and geopolitical inflection points.

    A recent EY-Parthenon analysis of daily S&P 500 returns from 1981 through 2025 reveals how markets reward transparency and penalize ambiguity. The excess return of equities over safer assets plunges in times of geopolitical stress and rises when there’s greater clarity following macroeconomic and U.S. Federal Reserve policy announcements.

    Equity markets penalize ambiguity, reward transparency


    Source: EY‑Parthenon analysis of nearly 45 years of S&P 500 data, Sep 1981–Oct 2025, measuring the equity premium as the excess return over the three-month Treasury bill.

    Market reactions to macroeconomic announcements, Federal Reserve decisions, and geopolitical shocks show a consistent pattern: Companies with clear, resilient margin profiles experience less valuation volatility, while structurally weaker firms face sharper repricing.

    For executives, this principle reframes margin resilience as a capital markets issue, not just an operating one. Transparency around how enterprises protect, sustain, and grow margins has become central to valuation credibility, transaction readiness, and investor confidence.

    Margins Are a Leadership Test

    The findings of this analysis challenge a deeply held assumption in many boardrooms: that margins will normalize when conditions stabilize. The data suggests the opposite. In structurally volatile markets, margin leaders pull further ahead while laggards fall into persistent underperformance cycles.

    This creates a stark choice for leadership teams. Either margins are treated as just another financial metric, managed reactively through cost cuts and one‑off initiatives, or they are designed deliberately through strategic architecture.

    The latter requires uncomfortable trade‑offs: walking away from capital‑heavy growth, sunsetting legacy offerings, and resisting price‑led competition. But the payoff is not just higher margins—it is resilience, valuation stability, and strategic freedom.

    Four Actions to Take Now

    To move from margin defense to margin leadership, leaders should focus on four priorities:

    1. Audit margin drivers structurally, not tactically. Go beyond cost reviews. Identify which parts of the business structurally earn returns above the cost of capital—and which never will.

    2. Embed pricing power into strategy, not negotiations. Invest in differentiation, data, and value communication that allow proactive pricing decisions.

    3. Redesign portfolios for resilience, not scale. Actively rotate capital toward businesses with recurring revenue, lower capital intensity, and defensible economics—even if it slows top‑line growth.

    4. Align leadership incentives with margin quality, not just growth. Reward sustained profitability, not volume expansion that erodes long‑term returns.

    Gregory Daco is the EY-Parthenon Chief Economist.

    Josh Putnam is the EY-Parthenon Global and Americas Corporate Finance Leader.


    Click here to access the full EY-Parthenon analysis on margin resilience.

    The views reflected in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.

    Fandango: $5 off on Wednesday’s (Apple Pay)



    Fandango: $5 off on Wednesday’s (Apple Pay) – Doctor Of Credit





















    The Offer

    Direct Link to offer 

    • Fandango is offering $5 off when paying with Apple Pay on Wednesday’s. Use code APPLEPAYWED.
    • Valid through August 19, 2026. 

    Our Verdict

    Nice easy savings. 






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