Raymond James Financial Inc.

Rocket Lab has secured $1.94 billion through an at-the-market share sale to fund its planned Iridium acquisition, replacing a planned $3.6 billion bridge facility and reducing its need for debt financing at the cost of a higher share count. The company also added to its order pipeline with a $190 million award for 20 HASTE hypersonic test flights and a separate $266 million Space Force contract covering at least 12 suborbital missions, and it was selected by Viasat to provide a satellite bus for a protected communications program. Rocket Lab has completed 96 Electron launches, including 17 missions this year. Raymond James initiated coverage with an $80 price target, citing growth opportunities and a potential path toward positive EBITDA and free cash flow by 2027 or 2028, though the company still reports negative free cash flow and operating losses. Shares climbed about 2% Tuesday as investors weighed the defense awards, satellite work and financing progress.

Raymond James launched coverage of Rocket Lab Corporation on September 11 with an Outperform rating and an $80 price target, implying roughly 29% upside from current levels. Analyst Brian Gesuale framed Rocket Lab as an emerging, vertically integrated space platform spanning launch, spacecraft, components, payloads and optical communications, and projected a path to positive adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow by 2027-2028. The firm flagged two upside drivers beyond the core launch business: Neutron, Rocket Lab's medium-lift reusable rocket, which is now under testing with launch pad delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter and is expected to expand its addressable market in 2027, and its push into satellite operations and optical communications through its completed $155.3 million purchase of Mynaric in April 2026 and its pending roughly $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications, which would bring Iridium's operating satellite network, L-band spectrum and more than 2.55 million billable subscribers. Raymond James also cited substantial execution risk, including aggressive Street gross-margin assumptions, the complexity of transitioning Neutron from development to commercialization, and the integration risk of absorbing both Iridium and Mynaric, with the Iridium deal still seeking regulatory approval. On the launch side, Rocket Lab completed its 16th Electron mission of 2026 on September 11, launching an Earth-observation satellite into a 500-kilometer low-Earth orbit for a confidential customer from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, and added another Electron mission on September 19 to reach 96 total launches, closing in on its annual record of 21 set in 2025. Institutional ownership rose from 43 funds in the first quarter to 52 in the second for Rocket Lab, and from 31 to 37 for Iridium.

Raymond James Financial, Inc. has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.54 per share on its common stock, payable on October 15, 2026, to shareholders of record as of October 1, 2026. The dividend was announced by the company's Board of Directors on August 26, 2026. Raymond James, a diversified financial services firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RJF, manages total client assets of $1.93 trillion.

Raymond James Financial reported that total client assets under administration reached a record $1.93 trillion in July 2026, up 17% year over year. Private Client Group assets under administration rose 17% to $1.86 trillion, with fee-based account assets up 21% to $1.16 trillion. Financial assets under management surged 30% to $344.6 billion, and net bank loans grew 13% to $56.3 billion. Domestic cash sweep and Enhanced Savings Program balances totaled $56.7 billion, up 3% from a year earlier but down 4% sequentially due to quarterly client fee billings. CEO Paul Shoukry said investment banking pipelines and client activity are robust, though the timing of closings remains uncertain.

Electrovaya's fair value estimate has been raised from CA$12.55 to CA$13.99, reflecting updated analyst assumptions tied to the Amazon commercial agreement and progress at the Jamestown, New York facility. Revenue growth in the model now uses 44.07% instead of 42.30%, net profit margin is set at 15.05% compared with 14.48% previously, the future P/E multiple assumption has shifted from 22.9x to 24.0x, and the discount rate has adjusted from 8.78% to 8.66%. Roth Capital, H.C. Wainwright, and Raymond James have all lifted their price targets in recent months, with Roth moving from US$12 to US$20 after visiting Jamestown, H.C. Wainwright raising from US$10 to US$15 following fiscal Q2 results, and Raymond James increasing from US$14 to US$22 citing the Amazon relationship as a potential market expander. Roth Capital also noted near-term uncertainty around airline customers weighing on airport equipment demand, even as forklift battery demand tracks above earlier assumptions.

Raymond James Financial is drawing investor attention after reporting third quarter earnings and completing a share repurchase program, with some narratives suggesting the stock could be about 7% undervalued. The company posted revenue of US$4,362 million and net income of US$595 million, while the stock last closed at US$169.30. One widely followed narrative estimates a fair value of approximately US$182.67, implying the shares are trading below that level. The firm's successful recruiting of financial advisors with high trailing production and assets has boosted client assets under administration, which is expected to drive future revenue growth. However, questions remain around market and interest rate uncertainty, as well as whether heavier technology spending could pressure margins if conditions change.

Raymond James Financial posted record quarterly revenues of $3.93 billion for its fiscal third quarter of 2026, a 16% increase from the prior-year period. Pre-tax income rose 33% to $750 million, while net income available to common shareholders reached $595 million, yielding record earnings per share of $3.01 and adjusted EPS of $3.14. Client assets under administration climbed to a record $1.86 trillion, up 18% year-over-year, supported by net new assets of $21.7 billion, an annualized growth rate of 5.5%. The company also reported record loans of $56.2 billion, with securities-based lending balances surging 34% from a year ago, and completed the acquisition of Clark Capital, which added approximately $47 billion in combined assets under management and non-discretionary assets.

Raymond James ended the first quarter of 2026 with 9,076 financial advisors, up from 8,372 five years earlier, a roughly 2% annual compound growth rate. The firm reported its second highest quarterly result ever in terms of recruited production and assets, with 12-month production of $141 million and nearly $21 billion of client assets. Total assets under administration reached nearly $1.9 trillion by the end of May, with around 60% in fee-based accounts that generate recurring, annuity-like fees. The company is expected to report solid third-quarter earnings on July 22, though its price-to-earnings ratio is slightly above its five-year average, leading value investors to consider waiting for a market downturn before buying the stock.

Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Strong Buy rating and an $800 price target by 2031, implying a valuation of roughly $10.5 trillion and 451% upside from the July 10 closing price. The target is driven by SpaceX's Starship, Starlink, and its potential as a global infrastructure giant, with projected full-year sales scaling from an estimated $38.5 billion in 2026 to approximately $837 billion by 2031 and EBITDA catapulting from $17.7 billion to $696 billion over the same period. SpaceX raised a record $85.7 billion in its June 12 initial public offering, nearly tripling the previous record held by Saudi Aramco, and currently trades at a valuation of $1.91 trillion. The article argues that the price target may signal an end-stage artificial intelligence bubble, citing SpaceX's unproven operating model, Elon Musk's history of overpromising, and historical precedents where no company at the forefront of a game-changing technology has sustained a price-to-sales ratio above 30 for an extended period.

Raymond James Financial may be trading at a 32% discount to its intrinsic value of about $247 per share, according to an Excess Returns model, following a strong first quarter and a 13.4% revenue increase. The model uses an average return on equity of 18.92% on a book value of $64.56 per share and a stable earnings estimate of $14.03 per share, yielding an excess return of $7.99 per share. However, the stock's price-to-earnings ratio of 15.3 times is roughly in line with its estimated fair multiple, suggesting it is fairly valued on that measure, while broader value checks present a mixed picture. Over the past five years, Raymond James Financial has delivered a total return of 110.6%.

Raymond James Financial is expected to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on Wednesday, July 22, after the market closes. Analysts forecast diluted earnings per share of $2.91, a 33.5% increase from $2.18 in the same quarter last year. The company has beaten Wall Street EPS estimates in three of the past four quarters. For the full fiscal year 2026, EPS is projected at $11.82, up 10.9% from $10.66 in fiscal 2025, with further growth to $13.52 expected in fiscal 2027. The stock has a Moderate Buy rating from 15 analysts, with an average price target of $173.28, implying a 16.2% upside.

Raymond James Financial will trade ex-dividend on July 1, 2026, for a quarterly dividend of $0.54 per share, payable on July 15, 2026. The dividend represents approximately 0.36% of the recent stock price of $152.07, with an annualized yield of about 1.42%. Shares of Raymond James Financial were up about 1.4% in Monday trading, last trading at $151.18, within a 52-week range of $138.82 to $177.66.