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I told them gold had broken its ceiling…

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Since then, gold has more than doubled.

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It’s an overlooked “backdoor” asset that leverages the move…

And has seen gains of 846%, 1,668%, and 1,915% in past cycles.

Based on everything I’m seeing, this cycle could be even bigger…

And we’re still in the early stages.

If you want to make the most of it, the time to get positioned is NOW….

Here’s the number-one move I recommend making today.

Regards,
Ross Givens
Director of Research, Traders Agency

Cintas Keeps Beating Expectations—And the Story Isn’t Over

Reported by Thomas Hughes. Posted: 7/16/2026.

Cintas (NASDAQ: CTAS) shares aren't inexpensive, trading at 37x current-year earnings, or approximately 65% more than the average S&P 500 company. However, this may be about as cheap as they're going to get.

While valid concerns have weighed on the share price, fears about the UniFirst (NYSE: UNF) acquisition, regulatory scrutiny, and energy-cost headwinds have failed to derail the business. Cintas remains the leading player in uniform services, outperforming in fiscal 2026 and on track to sustain its strength in 2027.

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UniFirst could be both a hurdle and a catalyst this year. UniFirst shareholders have approved the merger, but the Federal Trade Commission has not.

On the one hand, the merger would enable numerous proven synergies that Cintas has unlocked through past acquisitions while expanding its footprint and cross-selling opportunities—both of which would benefit growth and margins. On the other hand, a blocked deal would allow Cintas to continue operating as it is: outpacing competitors, capturing market share, driving cash flow, and returning capital to investors—all of which would benefit its share price.

Cintas Advances After Beat-and-Raise Quarter

Cintas reported another fantastic quarter on July 15, with revenue and earnings outperforming expectations despite the impact of acquisition-related expenses. Revenue grew 9% to $2.91 billion, outpacing consensus estimates by approximately 140 basis points. Strength was underpinned by the core Uniform Services segment, which grew 8.2%, and the Other segment, which grew more than 11%. The Other segment includes safety, fire, and first-aid services, all of which offer high-margin cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Margin news was also positive. The company expanded its gross and operating margins, with gross margin increasing 11.6% and operating margin rising 12.7%. As a result, earnings grew at more than twice the pace of revenue. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased 18.3%, exceeding estimates by 5 cents, even after including the 3-cent impact of acquisition expenses. More importantly, full-year cash flow came in at $2.28 billion, up more than 5% year over year (YOY). That was sufficient to cover capital expenditures and acquisition costs while also funding the dividend.

Cintas' fiscal year-end balance sheet highlights reflected the strength of its business model and market position. Current and total assets increased on higher cash, receivables, and inventory, while long-term debt and liabilities declined. Dividends were paid and shares were repurchased. The net result was a 9.7% increase in equity and a 1% YOY reduction in the share count, alongside a dividend yield of about 1%. The takeaway is that CTAS shares returned 1% through dividends while investors gained 1% in share-count leverage and nearly 10% in equity—metrics that underpin share-price gains over time.

Analysts and Institutions Show Confidence in CTAS's Long-Term Potential

Cintas’ Q4 results and guidance update may not inspire a robust round of analyst revisions, but they should be enough to end the decline in price targets. That downtrend contributed to the fall in the share price and obscured an otherwise favorable market outlook.

The current analyst consensus is Hold, which is not surprising given the execution risks involved with the UniFirst merger. Price targets suggest modest upside from recent lows. The opportunity is that analyst sentiment will improve in the coming quarters, triggering more bullish activity in the market.

Institutions, on the other hand, are more actively bullish than analyst trends suggest. The group owns a considerable 63% of the stock and has been buying aggressively over the trailing 12 months. Activity was subdued ahead of the release but still reflected a robustly bullish market, with institutions accumulating shares at a $4-to-$1 pace. Given the low price and favorable technical setup, the likely outcome is that institutions will continue accumulating CTAS shares and limit downside risk.

The charts suggest that CTAS hit a bottom over the past year and entered rebound mode as of mid-2026. Price action moved above critical support ahead of the release and then accelerated afterward, with support at a cluster of exponential moving averages (EMAs), including both long- and short-term indicators. Market forces are bullishly aligned, with the price positioned to sustain a rally over the coming quarters. In this scenario, CTAS is on track to retest its existing all-time high within the next 12 months and potentially continue higher afterward.

Fundamentally, Cintas is well positioned to benefit from economic tailwinds. This year’s labor market data isn't robust but does reveal growth and stability, including improvements in total jobless claims that point to continued demand for uniform and related services. With labor markets supported by business investment, deregulation, and favorable tax policies—as recently indicated by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon—Cintas’ business should remain healthy in the coming quarters and may even accelerate.

Delta vs. United: Which Airline Is Better Built for Higher Fuel Costs?

Authored by Chris Markoch. Originally Published: 7/18/2026.

Airline stocks’ sensitivity to jet fuel prices is tested whenever fuel spikes. In 2026, fuel costs are testing every airline's balance sheet. This quarter, both Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) passed the test on paper. But they passed it in very different ways—and the difference matters more than the headline numbers.

Delta's adjusted fuel price rose to $3.93 a gallon, up 75% year over year. United's increase was even larger, at $4.19 a gallon, up nearly 80%. Neither number is small. United took a significant year-over-year hit to adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and now expects almost $6 billion in incremental fuel expense for full-year 2026, up from its original budget.

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Anthropic's valuation has doubled since the news, with estimates as high as 3 trillion by IPO day. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and major banks all hold stakes.

Revenue grew 80 times in the first quarter alone, and the IPO could arrive as early as this October.

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That's real data that investors shouldn’t dismiss as quarterly noise. The question is which airline has the structural tools to keep passing those costs through to ticket prices without losing travelers.

How Higher Jet Fuel Costs Are Impacting Delta and United

As noted above, United's adjusted EPS fell 48.6% year over year, from $3.87 to $1.99. Delta's adjusted EPS fell 26%, from $2.12 to $1.56. The same pattern was evident in margin compression. United's adjusted pre-tax margin fell just over six points, from 11% to 4.8%. Delta's fell four points, from 11.7% to 7.7%. Delta's earnings base shrank by a smaller proportion, even though both carriers faced comparable fuel inflation.

To be fair, not all of the weakness in United’s EPS and margin numbers was due to fuel costs. The company absorbed $184 million in one-time labor contract charges this quarter, versus $561 million a year ago.

Delta's Fuel Hedging Strategy Vs. United's Liquidity Approach

At the crux of the “built for higher fuel costs” question is the strategy of fuel hedging. Most major U.S. airlines walked away from large-scale fuel hedging years ago. Unlike European carriers such as Air France-KLM (OTCMKTS: AFLYY) or Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY), which routinely lock in 70%–90% of their fuel needs through derivative contracts extending a year or more, U.S. legacy carriers have largely stopped using the strategy.

Industry reporting has quantified the impact of that exposure, and it explains the problem well. A 1-cent move in jet fuel can cost a major U.S. carrier roughly $50 million a year, with no derivative book absorbing the blow.

Delta is the partial exception because it owns Monroe Energy, a refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, that supplies a meaningful share of its jet fuel needs. Third-party refinery sales hit $2.09 billion this quarter, up 83% year over year, and Delta credits the refinery with an 11-cents-per-gallon benefit this quarter, including a 5-cent hit from a temporary outage.

Delta's earnings report showed $301 million in mark-to-market hedge adjustments and settlements this quarter alone. That's not the 80%+ coverage ratios seen at Ryanair or Air France-KLM, but it's meaningfully more structural protection than a pure spot-market buyer has.

United's approach is based on liquidity. 

Management raised $3.7 billion in new liquidity through private bank transactions this quarter, explicitly describing it as “low-cost insurance” against a further oil spike.

According to sources, United has also secured select fuel supply contracts that limit some exposure—but these reportedly fall well short of the large-scale, derivative-based hedging programs that European carriers or Delta's refinery model provide.

Can Delta and United Pass Higher Fuel Costs to Travelers?

Rising jet fuel costs only matter if passengers aren’t willing to pay. So far, that hasn’t been the case. United grew capacity 3.5% year over year while still pushing adjusted unit revenue (TRASM) up 12.1%. Delta grew capacity roughly 1% while pushing TRASM up 12.4%.

Delta is generating comparable unit-revenue growth with a fraction of United's capacity growth—a tighter, lower-risk version of the same pricing story. United is growing into demand more aggressively, which raises the ceiling if travel stays strong and the downside if it doesn't.

Why Travel Demand Remains Strong Despite Higher Airfares

Both United and Delta cited increases in premium and economy/main-cabin demand. United's Basic Economy revenue rose 11%, and its overall economy-cabin unit revenue rose 12%. That was the airline’s second consecutive quarter of positive economy growth after a long soft patch. Delta's main-cabin ticket revenue rose 8%, also its second straight quarter of positive main-cabin growth, while premium ticket revenue rose 17%. 
 
At first glance, that pattern looks contradictory. The broader travel narrative through 2025 and into 2026 has been a “K-shaped” split: strong premium demand alongside a documented pullback in budget-conscious leisure travel, with ultra-low-cost carriers absorbing the brunt of that softness. If price-sensitive travelers are genuinely pulling back across the industry, why are Delta and United both showing their cheapest cabins turning positive at the same time? 
 
It may come down to a share shift rather than a demand surge. Neither Delta nor United built its brand around the price-sensitive flyer, but both have spent recent years building lower-tier fare products. United’s Basic Economy and Delta's comparable lower-tier fares are designed to compete for that traveler when needed.

As ultra-low-cost carriers cut capacity or struggle with their own economics, some of that traffic doesn't vanish. It shifts, “below the line,” to a legacy carrier's cheapest available seat. That would reconcile positive economy-cabin growth at Delta and United with a well-documented pullback at the dedicated budget carriers.

Which Airline Is Better Positioned for Higher Fuel Costs?

Warren Buffett has been one of the most outspoken critics of airline stocks. Buffett’s argument comes down to high operating costs outweighing travel demand, which can be fickle. But every rule has occasional exceptions.  In 2026, the airline industry is having a moment where, for now, the math is working in its favor.

That doesn’t mean this time is different. It just means that there’s an opportunity for growth despite higher jet fuel prices—at least as long as travelers are willing to absorb the higher costs.

If stock price growth is the only consideration, both UAL and DAL are attractive targets. In fact, an argument could be made that United has more short-term upside. But for an investor looking for long-term growth, Delta’s hedging strategy should do a better job of protecting its margins. Plus, DAL's dividend increased about 15% (from $0.1875 to $0.2150 per share) and will be paid on July 30, 2026, to shareholders of record as of July 9.