Trader who successfully shorted Tesla into earnings now sets sights on this high flyer
The bearish Tesla set-up we flagged ahead of Wednesday’s report has delivered most of what it can. Two ways forward: bank the entire gain, or press the same playbook against another priced-for-perfection name reporting in two weeks.
Heading into Tesla‘s second-quarter report, I argued the risks were skewed to the downside. Greeting a delivery beat with selling was a classic tell of expectations “priced for perfection.” While revenue of $28.2 billion beat handily, up 26% year over year, adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share missed the consensus (50 cents) by a wide margin. Operating margin compressed to 1.4%, and a 142% surge in capital spending swung free cash flow negative. Combining disappointing EPS, a call for patience (this is the pattern with Tesla) on robotaxi, and the stock slid roughly 14.5% Thursday, through our short put strike, and closed near the move targeted by the trade. Investors are apparently more interested in the “show” rather than the “tell” in Tesla earnings.
Which brings us to the less glamorous but more important part of trading: what to do when a position works. Our bearish structure has captured the bulk of its maximum potential value. When most of the possible profit is already in hand, the math flips against you — what’s left to earn is small relative to what you’d give back if the stock snaps back (a possibility I consider quite unlikely). So that leaves us with a couple reasonable paths:
Path one: take the money and run. Close the position, book the gain, and wait for another fat pitch. There is never anything wrong with this. There’s an old saw in investing: “One never loses money taking profits.” Platitudinous admittedly, but we’ll reserve a more nuanced approach for another day.
Path two: bank most of it, and press. Make a similar play with “house money”. Somewhat emboldened, redeploy a portion of the profits toward another high-multiple pioneering company whose valuation and price action make it vulnerable to disappointment: Palantir, which reports August 3rd.
The counterpoints on Palantir
Palantir is a remarkable company, one of my favorites actually. But several counterpoints deserve weight heading into the print. The stated ambition to grow revenues tenfold without scaling the sales force is, to put it charitably, ambitious. Competition among LLM providers is likely to intensify, and enterprise customers increasingly look to deploy large language models directly rather than through an intermediary platform. The total addressable market, while large, is finite — and international sales are likely to be constrained by the understandable preference for local vendors wherever national security is concerned.
The numbers, while good, were less good last quarter. Commercial backlog growth slowed to 12% in the first quarter, per Bloomberg, down from 21% in the fourth quarter of 2025. And even net of its recent declines, Palantir trades at a material premium to its software peer group — and well above its own historical EV/sales average.
For context, the average move in Palantir from one week before earnings (about where we are now) through two weeks after (consistent with August regular way expiration) is approximately 26%!
Palantir, YTD
The options market is pricing a one-day earnings move of 9.5% — larger than the past four quarters delivered, but substantially below the long-term average of more than 14%. That suggests August options, expensive as they appear at 65% implied volatility, may be reasonably priced, particularly if you use spreads, selling one expensive option against another to neutralize the volatility premium.
So, what to do.
Step 1: Close the TSLA position — sell the August 360/330 put spread, banking at ~$23, well more than a double from the price at which we put it on.
Step 2 (for those pressing): Buy the PLTR August 21st $120/$95 put spread for ~$6.50, funded with a portion of the TSLA proceeds.
Risk is defined to the debit paid.
Max profit: the $25 spread width less the debit, if PLTR closes at or below $95 at expiration — a decline of roughly 23% from current levels, in line with the historical three-week earnings window.
The short $95 put materially offsets the 65% vol premium embedded in the long strike.
Like the Tesla trade, the Palantir put spread offers defined risk, and for those using the proceeds from the winner in Tesla, less than the “house money” (profits) collected on the first trade.
Singer Chris Brown pleads guilty to affray over altercation at London nightclub
AP —
Grammy-winning US singer Chris Brown pleaded guilty Friday to affray over an altercation in a London nightclub in a fight that injured a music producer.
Brown, 37, made the change of plea during a hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court. He had previously denied more serious charges over the 2023 altercation.
In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of assault, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and having an offensive weapon.
Brown had denied attacking Abraham Diaw with a bottle at the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in February 2023.
The fight was caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, prosecutors said.
Brown had been free on bail of £5 million ($6.75 million), which allowed him to tour last summer in Europe and North America.
He was freed on bail again Friday and will be sentenced October 26 for the affray charge.
Brown, who rose to stardom as a teen in 2005, won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for “F.A.M.E..” He earned his second in the same category for “11:11 (Deluxe)” earlier this year.
Fighting Souls First Year 1 DLC character – PlayStation.Blog
Hello everyone, I am Takeshi Yamanaka, producer of MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls. Earlier today at San Diego Comic-Con, we hosted the panel MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls — Behind the Battle. where we shared several new announcements and updates about the game. Today I would like to recap those reveals here on PlayStation Blog.
Phoenix Cyclops confirmed as the first year 1 additional character
We’re excited to announce that Phoenix Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase), will be the first additional character joining MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls as part of Year 1 content.
Cyclops is one of Marvel’s most iconic X-Men leaders. In MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, however, this version of Cyclops draws inspiration from his Phoenix Five incarnation from Avengers vs. X-Men, sporting a bold new look infused with the fiery cosmic power of the Phoenix Force. In addition to powerful Optic Blasts and exceptional hand-to-hand combat abilities that define the character, this Cyclops also possesses the Phoenix Force, so expect Scott Summers to bring the heat! .We’ll have more to share about how these abilities are incorporated into his gameplay, so please stay tuned for future updates on his fighting style.
A high-octane anime opening
Have you had a chance to watch our newly revealed opening movie? For this opening, we set out to combine the spirit of classic fighting game openings with the charm and energy of beloved anime openings from the early 2000s. We hope you’ll enjoy the world created through its animation and rock-inspired theme song.
The opening movie, as well as the cinematic sequences featured throughout Episode Mode, were produced by the Japanese animation studio Sanzigen. Like our team, Sanzigen continues to push the boundaries of high-quality 2.5D expression, and they did a remarkable job bringing the world of MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls to life.
The opening theme song features two iconic Japanese rock vocalists: Keiko Terada of SHOW-YA and mayu of NEMOPHILA. Their powerful and captivating dual vocals bring an even greater sense of energy and excitement to the game.
The lyrics were written by Kanata Okajima, while composition and arrangement were handled by MEG (MEGMETAL). The opening animation was directed by Daisuke Suzuki of Sanzigen. As a passionate Marvel fan himself, Suzuki’s enthusiasm can be felt throughout the entire production. We hope you’ll enjoy the opening movie, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on social media.
Insomniac Games Collaboration Costumes
Download the image
Through our collaboration with Insomniac Games, we’re pleased to bring costumes inspired by the worlds of Wolverine to MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls. Wolverine Battle Reborn Suit will be available starting September 1st, and all players will be able to download it at no additional cost.
During development, we had the opportunity to visit Insomniac Games’ studio and share an in-development version of the game with their team. Their valuable feedback and advice were a tremendous source of encouragement throughout development, and we’d like to once again thank everyone at Insomniac Games for their support.
As previously announced, the Ultimate Edition also includes a costume inspired by the Advanced Suit 2.0 featured in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Historically, alternate costumes have been relatively limited in Arc System Works titles. With MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, however, we’ve placed a much greater emphasis on costume development as one of the ways players can enjoy their favorite characters in new ways. We have plans to continue adding a variety of costumes in the future, so please look forward to what’s ahead.
Join our Open Beta on July 24
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Launch is now just around the corner, and we’re excited to welcome players to the MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls Open Beta, taking place from July 24 through July 26.
The Open Beta will be available to everyone on PlayStation 5 consoles and PC.* In addition, while we originally planned for the Open Beta roster to include 15 characters, we’ve decided to make Green Goblin playable as well. We hope you’ll take this opportunity to experience our team-based battles firsthand with a diverse roster of heroes and villains.
This will be your final opportunity to play the game for free before launch, so if you’re considering picking up MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, we encourage you not to miss this chance.
As we count down to launch, we’ll also be sharing special countdown illustrations created by members of the development team and an exciting lineup of Marvel guest artists. We hope you’ll enjoy those as well. For us, launch day is not the finish line—it’s the starting point. Following release, we’re planning a variety of updates, including new characters, new stages, and more.
Your enthusiasm and support continue to inspire us every day. Thank you for supporting MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, and we look forward to seeing you in the fight.
*Account for PlayStation and internet connection required to participate in Open Beta.
Honda teases new American-built midsize pickup truck
2026 Honda Ridgeline pickup truck.
Courtesy HondaHonda,
Honda Motor on Thursday confirmed a next-generation model of its Ridgeline pickup truck will be produced in the U.S. following a temporary production stoppage later this year.
The future of the midsize pickup truck has been in flux amid reports that there could be a production pause coming due to the vehicle not meeting California emissions regulations.
The Japanese automaker on Thursday said there will be a temporary production stoppage for the pickup truck later this year at the Alabama plant that produces the vehicle, with assembly returning to the facility within two years, likely in 2028.
“The goal is to continue to serve those customers who’ve been loyal to the Ridgeline,” Lance Woelfer, vice president of auto sales at American Honda Motor, told CNBC. “But one of the things that we want to bring forward in the future is increased ruggedness of that vehicle, even more capability.”
Woelfer declined to comment on whether the more rugged capability will include the vehicle moving from a car-based production process to a more traditional truck assembly, known as “body-on-frame,” which is how most trucks are built in the U.S.
Honda on July 23, 2026, released a teaser image of its next-generation Ridgeline pickup truck for the U.S. market.
COurtesy Honda
“That’s been an important part of its history. Whether or not it’s part of its future, I won’t get into that,” Woelfer said. “This is a step forward for the Ridgeline that I think everybody will appreciate.”
Expanding the capability of the Ridgeline, which is more known for smooth driving than ruggedness, could assist in expanding the vehicle’s buyers.
Sales of the Ridgeline were down about 3% during the first half of the year. The company has sold between roughly 41,000 and 52,000 Ridgelines annually since 2021. That compares with more than 270,000 units sold of the segment-leading Toyota Tacoma in 2025.
Honda’s confirmation of the new pickup comes as its CR-V compact crossover led U.S. auto sales through the first half of the year for the first time ever.
CR-V sales increased roughly 6% compared with last year as the Ford F-Series pickups and Toyota Rav4 crossover, which have led sales in recent years, dealt with production bottlenecks.
