Streaming Saga Ends

Netflix investors cheered as the company stepped away from the Warner Bros. saga.

Author

Ankit Sinha
February 27, 2026

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🎯 In this issue:

  • Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

  • Market Summary: Lofty expectations drag tech lower

  • What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks today

  • Technical Trip: Interview Q&A from Moelis

  • Lesson from the Library: Understand how firms restructure debt, stabilize operations, and recover value under stress.

  • Deal Deep Dive: M&A, IPO, and transaction breakdowns

  • The Daily Poll: See how you stack up

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

Market News

Lofty Expectations Drag Tech Lower

Wall Street finished mixed, though the session told a better story than the closing numbers suggested.

Stocks rebounded from their lows after oil prices slipped on signs of progress in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, while Treasurys rallied and yields moved lower. Under the surface, market breadth appeared relatively firm, with more stocks advancing than declining, but weakness in megacap tech kept the major indexes in the red.

The S&P 500 fell about 0.5%, and the Nasdaq 100 dropped roughly 1.2%, led lower by semiconductor stocks after Nvidia delivered results that were strong by any normal standard, and apparently not strong enough for this market.

The company beat expectations and issued upbeat guidance, yet shares sold off, potentially reflecting valuation concerns, positioning, or questions about long-term AI economics.

Nvidia didn’t stumble. It simply failed to deliver the kind of perfection investors have come to expect. When expectations are this high, “excellent” can be treated like “concerning.”

Elsewhere, Salesforce helped steady sentiment with strong long-term sales targets and a sizable share buyback, easing fears that artificial intelligence might hollow out enterprise software overnight.

Dell Technologies added support on the infrastructure side, pointing to continued strength in AI server demand and reinforcing the idea that the buildout phase is still very much alive.

Peel Take: The mixed reaction reflects a subtle but important shift in market psychology. After years of explosive gains fueled by AI enthusiasm, investors are starting to focus less on potential and more on economics. The key question is shifting from whether AI demand exists to how sustainable it is and who ultimately captures the profits.

What's Ripe

IonQ Inc. (IONQ) 21.7%

  • IONQ surged 22% after the quantum-computing company reported fourth-quarter revenue that easily beat analysts’ expectations, even as losses widened.

  • The stock had been under pressure, down about 25% for the year through Wednesday’s close, weighed down by concerns over a recent acquisition and a short-seller report accusing IonQ of overstating revenue and relying on acquisitions to drive growth.

  • Peel Take: The big revenue beat helped spark a sharp rebound after a rough start to the year, suggesting investors are still willing to bet on IonQ’s long-term quantum-computing story despite ongoing controversy. Still, widening losses and lingering questions from short sellers mean the stock is likely to remain volatile as the company works to prove its growth is durable.

Paramount Skydance Corp. (PSKY) 10.0%

  • PSKY was among the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500, rising 10%, after the media giant reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. The company opened a four-day window for Netflix to submit a revised bid after stating that it considers another bidder’s offer to be superior.

  • Peel Take: Investors focused on the potential for a higher bid rather than the mixed earnings report, with deal speculation helping drive the stock higher. The bidding dynamic suggests strategic assets remain valuable in the streaming wars, but uncertainty around a final agreement could keep shares moving on headlines.

What's Rotten

C3.ai Inc. (AI) 18.5%

  • Shares of AI software company cratered 19% after it reported declining revenue and a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal third quarter. The results highlight that not all companies in the AI space are experiencing uniform growth.

  • Peel Take: The drop is a reminder that the AI boom isn’t lifting every company in the space. Investors are increasingly rewarding firms with clear revenue growth and penalizing those still struggling to translate AI hype into sustainable business performance.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) 5.5%

  • The chip maker declined 5.5% despite reporting fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates. Sales in its key data-center division jumped 75% to $62.3 billion, easily beating analysts’ forecasts, but the strong results failed to lift the stock.

  • Peel Take: The selloff suggests expectations remain extremely high for AI-driven chip demand. Even strong results may not be enough to satisfy investors worried about long-term AI competition and whether Big Tech’s heavy capital spending can be sustained.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from Moelis

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📚 Lesson from the Library

🎥 Corporate Restructuring Program: Fixing Businesses Under Pressure

Understand how firms restructure debt, stabilize operations, and recover value under stress.

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

📊The Daily Poll

Did Netflix make the right call walking away from the Warner deal?

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Why are government bonds losing shine?

Yields up: 25.0% // Better options: 25.0% // Risk shift: 29.8% // Borrowing surge: 20.2%

Student Success Corner

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Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

60% of the members of a study group are women, and 45% of those women are lawyers. If one member of the study group is to be selected at random, what is the probability that the member selected is a woman lawyer?

Answer: 27%

Today

There are 8 teams in a certain league, and each team plays every other team exactly once. If each game is played by 2 teams, what is the total number of games played?

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Milton Friedman

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Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Fernanda, & Patrick