Weekend Update - W2634

▶ Explore this week’s Tape — live, sortable, drill-down → Twelve Times Free Cash Flow Bought One Company and Trapped Another Two of our companies signed deals this week, and the Cash Flow Memo prices them almost identically: about twelve times trailing free cash flow, roughly an eight percent free cash flow yield, page fifteen and page six¹²³⁴. One of them got bought at a premium. The other one had to be its own buyer. The multiple decided none of that. Leverage did, and the leaderboard the memo ranks on does not measure leverage at all. Start with what an acquirer is actually buying. Curium agreed to take Lantheus out whole — a hundred and two fifty a share in cash plus contingent value rights worth up to twelve dollars more, call it eight billion dollars, per the merger 8-K, with a close pushed out to the first half of 2027⁵. The agreement landed five days after the FDA approved Tauklarify, the company’s tau imaging agent for Alzheimer’s evaluation⁶. What Curium is buying is a business carrying about one turn of debt against its cash flow⁷. Not a multiple. Cash flow with nobody else’s name on it, which turned out to be the scarce thing this week. Charter ran the same arithmetic from the other side of the table. It closed a thirty-four and a half billion dollar acquisition of Cox and Liberty Broadband, took the largest internet and cable footprint in the country, and then took the acquired company’s name⁸. Same twelve times trailing free cash flow. Ten turns of debt against it⁹, on fifty-four billion dollars of revenue that is going backwards¹⁰. The market prices that equity under four times next year’s earnings¹¹, which is less a verdict on the business than an estimate of who ends up owning the cash it throws off. Ten turns. Charter has been at this altitude before. It filed Chapter 11 in March 2009 and came out that November having shed about eight billion dollars of debt, roughly forty percent of the stack, and some eight hundred and thirty million dollars a year of interest expense, per the company’s own release¹². That trade worked because broadband was still a growth business. Cut the debt, keep the subscribers, let the growth re-lever you back into solvency. The same trade is not available on revenue that shrinks, and the fix on offer this time is a bigger footprint bought with more paper. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the merger on August thirteenth and attached affordable-broadband and network-upgrade conditions to the sign-off¹³. A regulator collecting spending promises from a company whose free cash flow is committed a decade out. Everyone signed. The cashflow read is in Marcus’s column below; short version, the composite ranks cash yield and growth and stops there. Scroll down to the debt-to-free-cash-flow table in The Tape and read it as something other than a risk screen. It is a list of the companies in this memo that will be approached rather than approaching. The ones that fund the next move with equity because the cash is already spoken for. The ones that answer to a lender before they answer to an owner. Last week’s essay argued the AI buildout had turned into a credit trade. This week credit walked into a healthcare name and a cable name priced within a tenth of a turn of each other and decided which one was the asset. What changes the read. Lantheus is still trading under the hundred and two fifty in cash¹⁴, which is what an eighteen-month regulatory close does to a spread — the cash alone is barely above where the stock sat into the weekend, and the full package, contingent value rights paid out, is about fifteen percent above it. The test is the antitrust review of two radiopharmacy businesses combining, and the contingent value rights are where the argument over the Tauklarify ramp actually gets settled. On Charter, the date is mid-September, when the full Spectrum portfolio lands in Cox markets¹⁵. Watch what the integration gets funded with. Out of operating cash flow and the read holds. New paper against the same cash flow and ten turns becomes eleven, into a refinancing that has to underwrite a declining revenue line. Wall Street’s consensus on Charter: the largest broadband network in the country, at that price, has to be the cheapest thing on the board. It is the cheapest thing on the board because the equity stands last in line. Lantheus is this week’s quote on what it costs to stand first. The Tape — W2634 Universe of 94 cashflow-memo names, snap dates 2026-08-15 → 2026-08-21. Composite is rank-sum percentile of FCF Yield + NTM Revenue Growth (higher = better balance). Banks and finance-book names shown separately. Telltales Yield — Top 10 From the Cashflow Desk — Marcus Graham Salesforce is no longer being priced as software. It is being priced as an annuity, and the dashboard is where that shows up. Going into Wednesday’s print, the memo has CRM at a 7.8% FCF yield, roughly four times the 1.9% median for the tech names in this universe, against NTM revenue growth of 9.4%. That pairing does not belong on a software comp sheet. It belongs on a pipeline. Consensus is still arguing about whether the agent products re-accelerate the top line; the multiple stopped waiting for that answer some time ago and re-rated onto the cash. The test on the 8/26 print is current RPO growth, not the EPS line. If RPO tracks the revenue guide, the annuity read holds. If it steps up, the tape has been pricing the wrong company — call that 30%. Telltales Yield — Bottom 10 This Week’s Reporters Sector Medians Debt / FCF Watch (highest leverage on TTM FCF) Weekly Price Movement Top 5 (week-over-week price) Bottom 5 (week-over-week price) Banks (shown separately — FCF metric not meaningful) Finance-book — FCF not comparable Customer-float / captive-finance / reserve businesses (IBKR broker float, KMX CarMax Auto Finance, PYPL customer funds, CRCL stablecoin reserves). The memo’s operating-FCF method overstates their FCF, so they are held off the ranked leaderboard pending the P&L-waterfall rebuild. Data Gaps 89 of 92 ranked-eligible names ranked. 3 dropped for missing FCF yield or NTM revenue growth; 7 shown separately (banks + finance-book, FCF not comparable). Source: cashflow-memo master_2026-08-21.csv. NTM growth from analyst-estimates consensus. Composite is a percentile rank, not a recommendation. The Issue — This Week's Brief The Cashflow Memo Repriced Without a Print Nothing that repriced the memo this week came out of an earnings report. The Telltales Weekend Update. Ava Cabot and analyst Marcus Graham walk through what happened this week — and what’s coming next — across the 86 companies in the Cash Flow Memo. About 13 minutes. No filler. Download the memo at telltales.us. Hunt, Jason, and Mike are back Wednesday on episode E2635. Chapter markers * Time | Segment * 0:00 | Cold open — four repricings, zero prints * 0:45 | Theme — the legal bill: Meta and Eli Lilly * 4:45 | Deep dive — two deals, same price: Lantheus and Charter * 8:45 | Rapid fire — Harrow, Celsius, Walmart, Tesla, forward calendar * 11:45 | Close — Consensus Watch and the Wednesday tease * 12:45 | Disclaimer Full transcript Cold open Ava: Nothing that repriced this memo this week came out of an earnings report. A California jury put a number on Meta[^news-meta-verdict-20260820]. Eli Lilly agreed to plead guilty and write a check to make a marketing case go away[^news-lly-zyprexa-20260821]. A rival radiopharmacy company agreed to buy one of our healthcare names outright[^news-lnth-curium-20260819], five days after the FDA approved its newest product[^news-lnth-fda-20260814]. And a $34.5 billion cable merger closed, creating the largest internet and cable company in the country[^news-chtr-close-20260820]. Four repricings. Zero earnings prints. Ava: Telltales Weekend Update. I’m Ava Cabot, with Marcus Graham at the cashflow desk. Theme — The legal bill Ava: Meta spent this week finding out what its product design is worth in a courtroom, and the number in the headline is not the number that matters. A California jury found the company liable on 75,000 separate violations of state consumer protection law, and a judge separately found that Meta’s platforms constitute a public nuisance. $375 million in civil penalties[^news-meta-verdict-20260820]. That is the part that is now settled. The open part is bigger. 29 state attorneys general are still in federal trial in California, alleging Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive, and they are asking for up to $200 billion in damages plus limits on the algorithmic feed[^news-meta-trial-20260818]. And a former Meta engineering director testified that Mark Zuckerberg ran a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth[^news-meta-testimony-20260820]. Not a plaintiff’s lawyer. Their own engineering director. Marcus, what does a jury verdict actually cost? Marcus: The penalty isn’t the problem, the finding is. A public-nuisance ruling is a template every other state attorney general can now run without having to win the argument themselves, and it lands on a cash flow that has already been cut in half this year. The memo has Meta at 32x trailing free cash flow[^memo-meta-evfcf-20260821] on $43 billion trailing twelve, and that number is down about 73% from the prior TTM[^memo-meta-fcf-20260821]. Not because the business slowed. Because the buildout ate it. What I’d watch is which attorney general files next, and whether it lands before or after the capex guide. Ava: So the jury did the cheap part first. And the guide didn’t help either. Meta told the Street to expect $61 billion to $64 billion in the third quarter, midpoint $62.5 billion, below where the Street was sitting[^news-meta-q3outlook-20260820]. Meanwhile the company is cutting staff across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs in another team restructure, the second round of cuts this year[^news-meta-layoffs-20260820]. Under trial for how the product was built, and reorganizing the teams that built it. Ava: Eli Lilly ran the same week in reverse. Lilly agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and pay roughly $800 million over how it promoted Zyprexa[^news-lly-zyprexa-20260821]. That’s the headline. Underneath it, in the same seven days, Lilly announced agreements to buy three vaccine and infectious-disease companies for $3.83 billion[^news-lly-vaccines-20260821], put $50 million up front into a CureVac mRNA cancer partnership worth up to $1.8 billion[^news-lly-curevac-20260821], and raised full-year revenue guidance to $85 billion to $87 billion[^news-lly-guidance-20260821]. One of those four things led the coverage. Marcus, which of them matters? Marcus: Lilly bought its way out of the past and into a category it doesn’t have, in the same week, and only one of those is going to be visible a few years out. The $800 million[^news-lly-zyprexa-20260821] sits against $21 billion of trailing free cash flow in the memo[^memo-lly-fcf-20260821]. That’s about two weeks of production. The vaccine and infectious-disease deals are the ones I’d actually underwrite, because that’s Lilly buying a second act while GLP-1 is still paying for everything. Ava: Two courtrooms, two directions. Marcus, price them. Marcus: The two courtrooms are pricing different things. Lilly’s legal exposure is closed and quantified, and the memo still carries it at 58x trailing free cash flow[^memo-lly-evfcf-20260821]. Meta’s is open and unquantified, and the memo carries it at 32x[^memo-meta-evfcf-20260821]. The cheaper name is the one still in trial. I’d read that as the market having decided Meta’s growth is more uncertain than Meta’s lawsuit, and I’m not convinced it has that ordering right. Ava: The cheaper one is the one still in trial. Hold onto that, because the next two names on the show are priced almost identically, and one of them just got bought. Deep dive — Two deals, same price Ava: Two of our companies did a deal this week, and the memo prices them almost exactly the same way. Same multiple, same yield, opposite ends of the one thing that decides whether a deal like this works. Lantheus is on page 15[^memo-lnth-evfcf-20260821]. Charter is on page 6[^memo-chtr-evfcf-20260821]. Both trade around 12x trailing free cash flow. Both throw off roughly an 8% free cash flow yield[^memo-lnth-fcfyield-20260821][^memo-chtr-fcfyield-20260821]. One of them got bought. The other one did the buying. Ava: Lantheus first. Curium agreed to acquire the entire company: $102.50 a share in cash, plus contingent value rights worth up to $12 more, for a total potential value around $8 billion, expected to close in the first half of 2027[^news-lnth-deal-terms-20260819]. That agreement landed five days after the FDA approved Tauklarify, Lantheus’s tau PET imaging agent for identifying tau pathology in adults being evaluated for Alzheimer’s[^news-lnth-fda-20260814]. Bought and re-rated inside one week. And Lantheus pulled its own full-year guidance when the agreement was signed[^news-lnth-deal-terms-20260819], which is what a company does when the forecast stops being its decision. Ava: Charter did the opposite trade. Charter closed its $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications and Liberty Broadband, creating the largest internet and cable television company in the country[^news-chtr-close-20260820]. California’s Public Utilities Commission signed off on August 13, with affordable-broadband and network-upgrade conditions attached[^news-chtr-cpuc-20260813]. Six million Cox customers come onto Spectrum, with the full Spectrum product portfolio launching in Cox markets by mid-September[^news-chtr-spectrum-20260820]. And the acquirer is taking the acquired company’s name[^news-chtr-close-20260820]. Charter bought Cox and is calling itself Cox. And it did all of that against $54 billion of trailing revenue that is going backwards, down about 2%[^memo-chtr-rev-20260821]. Marcus, which one surprises you? Marcus: Charter, and not because of the price. Because of what’s sitting under it. The memo has Charter at 12x trailing free cash flow and 10x levered on debt to free cash flow[^memo-chtr-evfcf-20260821][^memo-chtr-debtfcf-20260821]. That’s a company whose cash flow is spoken for years out, buying its way to the largest footprint in the country in a business where revenue is going backwards. The market’s answer to that is a forward price-to-earnings under 4[^memo-chtr-fwdpe-20260821]. I’d read that as the market pricing real risk that the earnings don’t survive the debt, not as a bargain waiting to be found. What I’d watch is what integration actually costs through mid-September, when the Spectrum portfolio lands in Cox markets. Ava: Under 4x forward earnings. For the largest broadband company in America. Marcus: And Lantheus is the same multiple with none of that. 12x trailing free cash flow[^memo-lnth-evfcf-20260821], with essentially no debt against it[^memo-lnth-debtfcf-20260821]. Curium is paying about 15x that trailing cash flow to take the whole thing out. And the tell is that Lantheus is still trading under the $102.50 cash consideration[^memo-lnth-price-20260821]. Which is what a long regulatory close does to an arbitrage spread. Ava: A 2027 close will do that. Marcus, so what does the comparison say? Marcus: The memo prices these two identically and the balance sheets are not remotely the same. 12x trailing free cash flow at one turn of leverage got itself a buyer at a premium. The same multiple at ten turns is a company that has to be its own buyer, because nobody else can carry that debt. I’d weight it this way: the multiple tells you what the market will pay for the cash flow. The leverage tells you who gets to decide what happens to it. Ava: Two deals, one multiple. The balance sheet was the entire story, and it never showed up in a print. Rapid fire Ava: Rapid fire. Harrow is the one name on this list we actually own, and it just put up the quarter the thesis needed. Second-quarter revenue $70.7 million, up 60% sequentially and 11% year over year, with VEVYE contributing $29.4 million of it[^news-hrow-q2-20260814]. Management reiterated full-year guidance of $350 million to $365 million in revenue and $80 million to $100 million of adjusted EBITDA[^news-hrow-guidance-20260814]. And this week Harrow released prospective randomized data showing IHEEZO delivered about 58% less patient-reported discomfort following intravitreal injections[^news-hrow-iheezo-20260820]. The part that isn’t in the press release is in the memo: Harrow is levered 10.5x free cash flow[^memo-hrow-debtfcf-20260821]. 60% sequential growth on a balance sheet that tight is a good problem, right up until it’s the only problem. Ava: Celsius. The core brand is shrinking and the President and Chief Operating Officer just walked out. Second-quarter revenue $817.9 million, up 11% year over year, and every dollar of that growth is Alani Nu, which did $364 million and grew 21%. The CELSIUS brand itself, the thing the company is named after, declined about 12%[^news-celh-q2-20260806]. Eric Hanson, the President and COO and a former PepsiCo executive, departed in a leadership realignment that also installed a new Chief Commercial Officer and a new Chief Business Transformation Officer[^news-celh-leadership-20260819][^news-celh-hanson-20260810]. Three C-suite seats and a three-brand playbook, for a company that was a one-brand growth story 18 months ago. Ava: Walmart. The largest retailer in the country posted its slowest US comparable sales growth in six years and raised full-year guidance anyway[^news-wmt-slowdown-20260821]. Net sales growth guidance goes to 4–5%, up from 3.5–4.5%[^news-wmt-guidance-20260820]. What’s doing the work is a $2.9 billion tariff refund, which Walmart says it’s putting straight into price cuts for customers[^news-wmt-tariff-20260821]. A customs windfall spent on buying traffic. That works right until the refund stops arriving. Ava: Tesla, and this one belongs to this episode. Nevada regulators approved permits letting Tesla, Uber, and Waymo all run commercial robotaxi services in Clark County[^news-tsla-nevada-20260820]. Not a Tesla approval. A Nevada approval, handed to three companies in the same decision, in the county that contains Las Vegas. Whatever exclusivity anyone was underwriting in that market, a regulator just deleted it in an afternoon. And Tesla is the only one of the three still buying the fleet out of its own cash flow. The company expects 2026 capital expenditure above $25 billion, rising further over the next two to three years[^news-tsla-capex-20260821]. The memo has Tesla at 230x trailing free cash flow[^memo-tsla-evfcf-20260821]. That multiple is not underwriting a robotaxi business with two approved competitors in it. Ava: Forward calendar, and it’s a page 2 and page 3 week. Salesforce and Nvidia both report Wednesday, August 26. Consensus has Salesforce at $3.27 on $11.3 billion[^earn-crm], and Nvidia at $2.09 on $92.0 billion[^earn-nvda]. Then the Wednesday after, September 2: Broadcom[^earn-avgo], Snowflake[^earn-snow], and Five Below[^earn-five]. And two more semis moved this week without a print. AMD posted second-quarter revenue of $11.54 billion, up 50%, with adjusted EPS of $1.66[^news-amd-q2-20260821], and guided the third quarter to $13.0 billion[^news-amd-q3guide-20260821]. Micron committed $10 billion to a memory research lab in Boise[^news-mu-labs-20260820], the same week its chief executive said data-center customers are asking for about 50% more supply than Micron can currently commit to[^news-mu-demand-20260820]. Close Ava: That’s the show. Wall Street’s consensus on Meta this week: the stock has sunk 32%, and the analysts see a 38% rebound[^news-meta-q3outlook-20260820]. Same firms, same week, same price. The jury is the only party that changed its mind. Ava: Nothing that repriced this memo came out of an earnings report. A jury, a guilty plea, an FDA approval, and a closed merger did more to four of these companies than any quarter did. And page 15 has now carried two shows in a row. Ava: Because on Wednesday’s episode 2634, Hunt, Jason, and Mike spent more than half the show on that same page: Moderna’s phase 3 melanoma readout with Merck, and the capital-allocation scoreboard against BioNTech[^ep-e2634]. Hunt, Jason, and Mike are back Wednesday on episode 2635. Ava: Download the Cash Flow Memo at telltales.us, and tell us what you want covered through the Substack. Ava: The show is produced entirely with AI tools, and both voices you’re hearing are AI-generated. Disclaimer Ava: This podcast is intended for informational purposes only. You should always do your own work to determine if an investment is suitable for you. The views expressed on this podcast are the host alone and do not constitute an offer to sell or a recommendation to purchase, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, nor a recommendation for any investment product or service. While certain information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, neither the host nor any of their employers or their affiliates have independently verified this information, and its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Accordingly, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to, and no reliance should be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of this information. The host and all employers and their affiliated persons assume no liability for this information and no obligation to update the information or analysis contained herein in the future, and may or may not hold positions in the securities mentioned. Sources * AMD stock holds high valuation as AI earnings beat meets cautious margin outlook. (2026, August 21). Ad-Hoc News. https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/amd-stock-holds-high-valuation-as-ai-earnings-beat-meets-cautious-margin/69979000 [^news-amd-q2-20260821] * AMD stock trades off recent highs as AI gains offset valuation worries. (2026, August 21). Ad-Hoc News. https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/amd-stock-trades-off-recent-highs-as-ai-gains-offset-valuation-worries/69982466 [^news-amd-q3guide-20260821] * California Public Utilities Commission. (2026, August 13). CPUC approves Charter-Cox merger with strong consumer protections. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-approves-charter-cox-merger-with-strong-consumer-protections [^news-chtr-cpuc-20260813] * Celsius Holdings, Inc. (2026, August 6). Celsius Holdings reports second quarter 2026 financial results [Press release]. https://ir.celsiusholdingsinc.com/news/news-details/2026/Celsius-Holdings-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results/default.aspx [^news-celh-q2-20260806] * Celsius Holdings, Inc. (2026, August 10). Form 8-K, current report [SEC filing]. Retrieved via ADVFN. https://www.advfn.com/stock-market/NASDAQ/CELH/stock-news/99088768/form-8-k-current-report [^news-celh-hanson-20260810] * Celsius shakes up leadership as new CCO lays out three-brand playbook. (2026, August 19). Beverage Digest. https://www.beverage-digest.com/articles/1460-celsius-shakes-up-leadership-as-new-cco-lays-out-three-brand-playbook [^news-celh-leadership-20260819] * Charter closes $34.5 billion Cox deal in cable megamerger, company to adopt Cox Communications name. (2026, August 21). Variety. https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/charter-closes-cox-merger-new-company-name-1236838902/ [^news-chtr-close-20260820] * Charter Communications stock holds steady as $34.5 billion Cox deal creates Spectrum giant. (2026, August 21). Ad-Hoc News. https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/charter-communications-stock-holds-steady-as-34-5-billion-cox-deal/69982753 [^news-chtr-spectrum-20260820] * Eli Lilly enters three separate acquisitions totaling $3.83 billion. (2026, August 21). PharmExec. https://www.pharmexec.com/view/eli-lilly-three-acquisitions-totaling-3-billion [^news-lly-vaccines-20260821] * Eli Lilly to pay more than $800 million for off-label promotion of Zyprexa. (2026, August 21). Drug Topics. https://www.drugtopics.com/view/eli-lilly-pay-more-800-million-label-promotion-zyprexa [^news-lly-zyprexa-20260821] * Harrow announces IHEEZO data in patient-reported discomfort following intravitreal injections [Press release]. (2026, August 20). GlobeNewswire. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/08/20/3348208/0/en/harrow-announces-iheezo-data-in-patient-reported-discomfort-following-intravitreal-injections.html [^news-hrow-iheezo-20260820] * Harrow, Inc. (2026, August 14). Form 8-K, report of material event [SEC filing]. Retrieved via StockTitan. https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/HROW/8-k-harrow-inc-reports-material-event-4f9c4727aa82.html [^news-hrow-q2-20260814] [^news-hrow-guidance-20260814] * Lantheus Holdings, Inc. (2026, August 19). Form 8-K, report of material event [SEC filing]. Retrieved via StockTitan. https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/LNTH/8-k-lantheus-holdings-inc-reports-material-event-a06c5bcd537b.html [^news-lnth-deal-terms-20260819] * Lilly and CureVac partner on mRNA cancer vaccines in $1.8-billion deal. (2026, August 21). BioPharm International. https://www.biopharminternational.com/view/lilly-and-curevac-partner-mrna-cancer-vaccines-273-billion-deal-0 [^news-lly-curevac-20260821] * Lilly’s multiple assumes less growth than you think. (2026, August 21). Trefis. https://www.trefis.com/stock/lly/articles/612404/lillys-multiple-assumes-less-growth-than-you-think/2026-08-21 [^news-lly-guidance-20260821] * Meta child safety and addiction lawsuit reaches trial as 29 states allege addictive design. (2026, August 18). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/meta-child-safety-addiction-lawsuit-states [^news-meta-trial-20260818] * Meta faces $1.4 trillion penalty in landmark child-safety trial. (2026, August 20). Fortune. https://fortune.com/article/meta-faces-1-4-trillion-threat-stakes-of-case-reach-across-tech-08-20-2026/ [^news-meta-verdict-20260820] * Meta stock sinks 32%, but analysts see a 38% rebound. (2026, August 20). Yahoo Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/meta-stock-sinks-32-analysts-150427583.html [^news-meta-q3outlook-20260820] * Micron CEO: AI has totally changed the equation for the boom-and-bust memory industry. (2026, August 20). CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/20/micron-ceo-ai-changed-memory-industry.html [^news-mu-demand-20260820] * Micron Technology, Inc. (2026, August 20). Micron unveils Micron Research Labs, a U.S.-based long-horizon innovation hub to shape the future of memory and AI [Press release]. https://investors.micron.com/news/press-release/2026/Micron-Unveils-Micron-Research-Labs-a-U-S–Based-Long-Horizon-Innovation-Hub-to-Shape-the-Future-of-Memory-and-AI/default.aspx [^news-mu-labs-20260820] * Tech companies that have made layoffs from 2022 to 2026. (2026, August 20). Tech.co. https://tech.co/news/tech-companies-layoffs [^news-meta-layoffs-20260820] * Tesla (TSLA) up 8% since last earnings report: Can it continue? (2026, August 21). Yahoo Finance. https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-tsla-8-since-last-153013632.html [^news-tsla-capex-20260821] * Tesla, Uber, and Waymo all get the OK to operate thousands of robotaxis in Nevada. (2026, August 20). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/20/tesla-uber-and-waymo-all-get-the-ok-to-operate-thousands-of-robotaxis-in-nevada/ [^news-tsla-nevada-20260820] * The merger of radiopharmaceutical pioneering companies: Curium and Lantheus. (2026, August 19). LabRoots. https://www.labroots.com/trending/biotech-and-pharma/30916/merger-radiopharmaceutical-pioneering-companies-curium-lantheus-2 [^news-lnth-curium-20260819] * US FDA approves Lantheus’ brain-imaging agent for Alzheimer’s assessment. (2026, August 14). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-approves-lantheus-brain-imaging-agent-alzheimers-assessment-2026-08-14/ [^news-lnth-fda-20260814] * Walmart cautionary with 2026 expectations after sales growth slows. (2026, August 20). AP News. https://apnews.com/article/walmart-quarter-earnings-inflation-tariffs-955945e03ffcc111389d62fa3103a051 [^news-wmt-guidance-20260820] * Walmart posts slowest sales growth in years as Americans tighten wallets. (2026, August 20). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/business/walmart-target-retail-consumer-economy.html [^news-wmt-slowdown-20260821] * Walmart promises price cuts after $2.9 billion tariff refund. (2026, August 21). ABC7 New York. https://abc7ny.com/story/walmart-promises-price-cuts-after-2-9-billion-tariff-refund/19713516/ [^news-wmt-tariff-20260821] * Zuckerberg encouraged growth over child safety, ex-Meta executive testifies at trial. (2026, August 20). Claims Journal. https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2026/08/20/339673.htm [^news-meta-testimony-20260820] Internal data Internal data is provided on a best efforts basis. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit telltales.substack.com