Dear Reader,

The chaos you're seeing?

It's not chaos at all.

I realized that after two private meetings with United States Congressmen — three days after 2,000 missiles rained on Iran.

March 2nd. Back-to-back meetings. No cameras. No staff.

And what I dug into afterward led me to something much larger than anyone on the news is reporting.

A coordinated Two-Front Economic War.

Already in motion.

I didn't want to believe the scale of what I found.

But after weeks of research…

It became undeniable.

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You can ignore this…

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Go here now and decide for yourself.

Sincerely,

Dylan Jovine

Founder, Behind the Markets

Energy Transfer Taps the AI Power Boom

Reported by Peter Frank. Published: 9/23/2026.

Nearly a year ago, Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) announced a strategic shift that might have looked like a retreat. Today, it looks much less like one.

The diversified midstream energy partnership has seen its distributable cash flow soar, earnings jump, revenue rise 79% and dividend yield climb above 6%.

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The new strategy has worked. Investors, however, should take a closer look before jumping in to ride the good news.

A Strategic Shift Pays Off

In December 2025, after 12 years of effort, Energy Transfer announced it was killing the project that was supposed to define its next decade. It would no longer pursue a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana. Instead, the company said it would redirect capital toward its pipeline backlog.

For its most recent quarter, reported Aug. 4, the move clearly paid off. The limited partnership announced that revenue far exceeded consensus estimates, rising to $34.3 billion from $19.2 billion a year ago. Net income nearly doubled to $2.03 billion from $1.09 billion a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, EBITDA came in at roughly $5.07 billion, up sharply from $3.87 billion a year earlier. Net income per common unit hit 59 cents, well above the 39 cents analysts had modeled.

Overall, quarterly results were remarkable. The company said volumes reached records across nearly every segment during the three months, with NGL transportation up 13%, NGL exports 25% higher and crude oil transportation up 4%.

Confident in the trend, management raised full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $18.8 billion to $19.1 billion. Analysts have since raised their own earnings estimates for the year in response.

Cash Flow Fuels a Growing Payout

Beyond the impressive cumulative results, and more important to unitholders, distributable cash flow attributable to partners rose to approximately $2.6 billion from $1.96 billion.

For unitholders, the payout remains the central attraction. In July, the partnership raised its quarterly cash distribution for the 19th consecutive time, to 34 cents. At the recent unit price, that works out to a yield of roughly 6.6%. Management has committed to annual distribution growth of 3% to 5%.

AI Data Centers Drive New Demand

While the company does not break out specific figures, some of its additional growth has clearly come from the rise of artificial intelligence and data centers.

Earlier this year, the company began supplying natural gas to the first of three Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) data centers and signed an agreement to do the same at a large AI hyperscale campus in central Texas. A third agreement, with CloudBurst, was reached in February to supply an AI-focused data center in Texas.

Just as notably, the company said existing customers are returning to expand their existing commitments.

Analysts See More Upside

Analysts have been impressed. Among the 17 analysts following the company, Energy Transfer has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Fourteen analysts have assigned a Buy rating to the units, including two who rate them a Strong Buy. Three others recommend holding the units.

With the units already up roughly 24% year-to-date, the consensus 12-month price target is $24.36, implying healthy upside. The highest price target is $26, while the lowest is $22, representing relatively little disagreement about where the units might be headed from their current price of $20.50.

Debt and Spending Add Risk

Even with the recent positive news, there are risks and shifts that prospective unitholders should understand.

The balance sheet shows roughly $68.4 billion of debt as of June 30. That’s manageable, but spending is not slowing. Management has said it expects to continue spending $5 billion or more annually on organic growth projects through 2029.

That’s probably fine as long as American electricity and gas demand keeps climbing, which is likely. Still, if the AI-driven power demand behind some of these new projects arrives more slowly than promised, the debt will remain.

Investors Face Structural Changes

Two structural quirks also matter for investors. Energy Transfer is a master limited partnership, so buyers own units rather than shares and receive a Schedule K-1. For some, that can complicate tax filings and create complications inside retirement accounts.

Separately, the partnership is also moving its primary listing to the Texas Stock Exchange in October. It would be the first major company of its size to leave the New York Stock Exchange for that venue. The potential impact on liquidity and index eligibility remains untested.

Growth Depends on the AI Boom

Even with analysts' bullish ratings, prospective investors should understand what they would be buying.

In essence, investors are helping underwrite a large, multiyear construction program, a heavy debt load and a demand thesis tied to growing electricity consumption and artificial intelligence. That is not necessarily a bad bet, as the second quarter demonstrated. But it is also not necessarily predictable.

Anticipated growth in electricity demand, the future of AI data center buildouts and the company’s position in a competitive field are where Energy Transfer’s bets mostly lie. Then again, management did walk away from the Louisiana project and helped deliver the company to where it is today.

Encore Capital Group Has Doubled—But Its Best Tailwind Won’t Last Forever

Reported by Peter Frank. Published: 9/22/2026.

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ: ECPG) has built a business around a part of the economy most investors would rather not think about. It buys charged-off consumer debt from banks, including credit-card balances that have been written off as uncollectible, and then collects what it can.

It is an uncomfortable business, but elevated consumer credit stress has created unusually favorable conditions for Encore. The stock has more than doubled over the past year as the credit cycle has shifted increasingly in the company’s favor.

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But is it too late to get in? That’s the question investors should ask.

Record Collections Drive Encore’s Earnings Recovery

The business model is not a sure thing. Encore lost money in both 2023 and 2024 as rising interest rates pushed up borrowing costs while pressuring the value of older debt portfolios. Profitability returned last year.

The second quarter of this year, reported Aug. 5, showed why the market has been re-rating the shares so aggressively.

Net income came in at $64 million for the quarter, equal to earnings per share of $2.81, 14 cents above analysts’ estimates and extending a streak of earnings beats. Earnings increased even as Encore absorbed roughly $1 per share in refinancing costs during the quarter. The refinancing is expected to generate about $15 million in annualized savings going forward.

Revenue rose to $491.9 million, roughly 8.1% above analysts’ expectations. Global collections, or the amount the company collects from its portfolios of distressed debt, reached a quarterly record of $737 million, up 13%. Encore also put a record amount of capital to work buying new debt portfolios in the United States.

But the most important number in the release was not revenue or collections. It was the relationship between them. Operating expenses rose only 5%, compared with 13% growth in collections. In other words, Encore is collecting substantially more money without adding expenses at anywhere near the same pace.

Consumer Credit Stress Expands Encore’s Opportunity

Those familiar with Encore know that an uncomfortable engine sits behind its financials. Encore’s raw material is American financial distress, and there is a great deal of it right now.

Annualized U.S. net charge-off volume has remained high, and credit-card delinquencies are near multiyear highs, giving Encore an unusually deep and relatively inexpensive pool of debt to buy.

Management has leaned into that opportunity, directing the majority of the quarter’s purchasing dollars to the U.S. market.

The company also responded by raising full-year guidance. It now expects collections of $2.8 billion to $2.85 billion and earnings of $13 to $14 per share for the full year.

Accounting Estimates Add Uncertainty

The company’s revenue also depends on management’s estimates of how much cash it expects to eventually collect from portfolios purchased years earlier. When those estimates are revised upward, revenue rises without any cash changing hands.

The second quarter included a favorable revision of that kind, and collections have been running well ahead of the company’s own forecast from the end of 2025. That track record has been reassuring, but it still means investors are trusting a model rather than a bank statement.

On the balance sheet, a May refinancing and a July redemption of convertible notes leave the company with no material debt maturities until 2028.

Analysts Remain Positive Despite the Run-Up

While coverage of Encore is relatively thin, recent analyst sentiment has been broadly positive. The stock carries a consensus Buy rating, with recent ratings including Buy, Strong Buy and Market Outperform.

With the stock trading at about $99.54 per share, the highest 12-month price target is $115, while the lowest is $62 per share, although that price target is notably old.

Even the highest target price is within reach after the recent run-up. Shares of Encore have soared 83% since the start of the year and 120.5% over the past 12 months, outperforming even their five-year performance.

A Healthier Consumer Could Cool the Growth Story

The central risk with Encore is that its prosperity depends on the American consumer continuing to struggle.

The low prices and abundant supply of debt driving record purchasing volume exist precisely because delinquencies are up. If household credit improves, Encore’s cost of inventory will rise and its growth engine will cool—the opposite of how most growth stories play out.

Europe already offers a preview of that pattern. The company’s Cabot unit saw collections remain flat as the U.K. market dealt with lower delinquencies, subdued lending and stiff competition.

Debt collection also remains one of the most heavily regulated corners of finance, and Encore has settled multiple federal enforcement actions over the past decade. That is a reminder that regulatory risk never fully goes away in this business.

Encore’s Gains Depend on How Long This Cycle Lasts

That combination of a doubled stock price and a still-modest price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 7.5 is unusual. It reflects a business that is cheap and improving, but one whose current tailwinds are not permanent.

The operating gains and funding adjustment look durable. The heightened purchasing environment fueling growth does not, at least not forever. The share price has already absorbed a good deal of that good news.

For investors who are comfortable with where things stand and understand that the credit cycle will eventually turn, Encore is well-positioned for the world as it is. But “eventually” is the word investors should always keep in mind.