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Luke Kawa

Derivatives strategist recommends call spread trade for a big Apple bounce post-earnings

Apple has become the red-headed stepchild of the Magnificent 7 in an AI-heavy market.

Jeff Jacobson, head of derivatives strategy at 22V Research, thinks the time is ripe to bet on a rebound in the stock that retail traders have been using as a source of funds for other opportunities in tech.

Ahead of the iPhone maker’s earnings report on Thursday, Jacobson recommends a call spread trade in Apple that offers exposure to a long-lived positive reaction to the company’s quarterly results and commentary.

His proposed trade:

  • Buy Apple calls with a strike price of $262.50 that expire on February 20;

  • Sell the same amount of Apple calls with a strike price of $285 and the same expiry.

When Jacobson initially made this recommendation in an email to clients, the trade could be put on for about $3.95; as of Monday’s close, that’s risen to about $4.27.

“What I particularly like about the setup for AAPL into earnings this quarter is the sharp pullback in the stock on both an absolute and relative basis heading into the report later this week (AAPL reports on 1/29 post-close),” he wrote. “Not only did we see a nearly 16% decline from the December (all-time) highs but shares also underperformed the market (SPX) by over 14% over that time. Now that the stock has already moved lower and underperformed, perhaps we can see a meaningful rebound once they report earnings?”

Apple is aiming to beef up its AI presence in 2026 after a host of management changes late last year, and is reportedly exploring the possibility of a wearable AI pin. The company seemingly has a solid base from which to innovate, with its now world-leading smartphone market share and its Services business supported by the 850 million weekly App Store users it counted at the end of 2025.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the Tim Cook-led firm one of his top 5 artificial intelligence stocks for 2026, despite its “invisible AI strategy.”

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Luke Kawa

Richtech Robotics soars after announcing partnership with Microsoft to use AI to improve its robots

Shares Richtech Robotics are surging in premarket trading after the company announced “a hands-on collaboration with Microsoft through the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Labs to jointly develop and deploy agentic artificial intelligence capabilities in real-world robotic systems.”

Per the press release, the two companies worked together to imbue Richtech’s flagship ADAM robot with “additional layers of context awareness” to “support smoother workflows and more responsive customer interactions in retail environments.”

Apropos of nothing, here’s an ADAM robot serving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang a margarita:

Richtech was one of many robotics and vaguely robotics companies that caught a massive bid in early December after Politico reported that the Commerce Department was poised to go “all in” to support the industry. To date, there's been no evidence of such a plan, but that hasn’t stopped robotics stocks from having a phenomenal start to 2026. The Themes Humanoid Robotics ETF, which counts Richtech as one of its members, gained nearly 50% year-to-date through Thursday’s close, though it has since come off the boil.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Boeing posts its second straight quarter of positive free cash flow, revenue beats estimates

Boeing reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings before the market opened on Tuesday.

Boeing posted adjusted earnings of $9.92 per share, compared to the $0.44 loss per share expected by Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet. Those earnings, however, aren’t comparable to estimates because they reflect a massive gain from the close of Boeing’s sale of its digital aviation assets, which the company said boosted overall earnings by $11.83 per share.

The plane maker generated $375 million in free cash flow, its second straight quarter of positive FCF following six consecutive quarters of negative results. Wall Street expected $207 million.

Boeing last year saw significant recovery from its bleak 2024, improving its commercial deliveries by 72%. The company logged nearly 1,200 plane orders in 2025, outselling European rival Airbus for the first time since 2018. Boeing’s revenue climbed 57% in the fourth quarter to $23.95 billion, beating estimates of $22.6 billion. Its total backlog grew to $682 billion.

In October, US regulators approved an increase to the monthly cap on 737 production from 38 to 42 planes.

Luke Kawa
3h
D-Wave Quantum jumps on $20 million system sale, deal with Davidson and Anduril for US air and missile defense

D-Wave’s CEO had previously lamented feeling left out in the cold by the US government. Today’s announcements may give it a foothold.

Julich Research Center Inaugurates Europe's First 5,000+ Qubit Quantum Computer
markets
Max Knoblauch

American Airlines gives upbeat full-year guidance, lifting shares

American Airlines gave a rosy projection for full-year earnings that has the stock taking to the skies on Tuesday.

For the full year, American forecast adjusted earnings of between $1.70 and $2.70 per share, putting the midpoint of $2.20 significantly higher than analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.97 per share. The carrier also guided for more than $2 billion in free cash flow in 2026, more than double Wall Street’s expectations.

American shares are up about 3.2% in premarket trading as of 7:35 a.m. ET, after the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings reports, which included the guidance.

The airline’s earnings for the quarter missed Wall Street’s expectations, with adjusted earnings of $0.16 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $0.37 per share.

American, the third of the big four US airlines to cap off its 2025 fiscal year, said it expects a loss of between $0.10 and $0.50 per share in the first quarter of 2026. Analysts expected a loss of $0.29 per share.

Passenger revenue reached $12.66 billion in Q4, up 2.1% from last year but below estimates of $12.72 billion. American produced an adjusted operating margin of 3.5% in the quarter, compared to 8.4% in the same quarter a year ago.

American also announced a $325 million hit to its revenue from the government shutdown.

And it said the winter storm that has caused widespread cancellations this week will negatively impact revenue by between $150 million and $200 million.

markets
Max Knoblauch

JetBlue sinks on deeper-than-expected loss, forecasts higher costs in 2026

America’s sixth-largest airline, JetBlue, reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday morning.

For the quarter that ended in December, JetBlue reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.49, a deeper loss than the $0.46 figure expected by Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet. Its passenger revenue dropped 2.2% from the year before to $2.05 billion, beating estimates of $2.02 billion. Still, the airline has now posted year-over-year passenger revenue declines for three years in a row.

JetBlue said it expects its costs per seat mile excluding fuel to rise between 3.5% and 5.5% in the first quarter this year, and between 1% and 3% in 2026. The carrier guided for a boost in capacity between 0.5% and 3.5% in the first quarter of 2026, and between 2.5% and 4.5% for the full year.

JetBlue plans to roll out first class seating to its fleet this year, amid an industry-wide premium push.

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