HAPPY FRIDAY TO THE STREET.

Epic Games beat Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 1.5% ) in a Battle Royale, and now it’s looting the rewards. Namely, the company has submitted Fortnite for inclusion in the App Store after a judge ruled in its favor in a recent legal battle, finding Apple illegally kicked the popular game off its platform for attempting to circumvent commission fees.

In short: the corporate version of the Billy Bounce.

• 🟨 | US stocks were mostly flat to end a mostly flat week, as the US crawled toward trade deals with some of its biggest trading partners.

• 📈 | One Notable Gainer: Medical device maker Insulet $PODD ( ▲ 0.12% ) made it into investors’ portfolios today after posting its best growth since 2023.

• 📉 | One Notable Decliner: Investors said “sell now, buy later” on Affirm $AFRM ( ▼ 3.25% ) following weak guidance from the BNPL firm.

— Brooks & Cas

Sponsored by Pacaso

ZILLOW’S CO-FOUNDER HAS A BIG NEW IDEA

Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it to a $16B valuation. But everyday investors couldn’t invest until the IPO, missing early gains.

"I wish we had done a round accessible to retail investors prior to Zillow's IPO," Rascoff later said. Now he’s fixing that with Pacaso, his new company disrupting the $1.3T vacation home market. Unlike Zillow, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Firms like SoftBank and Maveron are already on board – and you can join them for $2.80/share.

Invest now.

Disclaimer: This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com.

STOCK HEATMAPS

LYFT, EXPEDIA, TRADE DESK

$LYFT ( ▼ 2.15% ) Lyft closes 28% higher after issuing buyback and posting bookings growth (CNBC)

$EXPE ( ▼ 2.41% ) Expedia Shares Fall After Weak Demand Trends Hurt Results (WSJ)

$TTD ( ▲ 0.11% ) Trade Desk Stock Is Surging on Earnings. There Are ‘Significant Opportunities.’ (Barron’s)

$CRWD ( ▼ 1.17% ) CrowdStrike Stock Slides as Cybersecurity Firm Plans Job Cuts (Investopedia)

$MCHP ( ▼ 0.74% ) Microchip Technology Q1: Beats On Revenue, Stock Soars (YF)

OVERHEAD ON THE STREET

CNN: President Trump said the tariff on China should be 80%, a major concession compared to the current policy.

Bloomberg: CEOs are scared of robots coming for their jobs too. The vast majority expressed concerns about AI and job security in a recent survey.

CNBC: Air traffic controllers in Newark briefly lost contact with planes overnight, as calls to overhaul the technology mount.

Reuters: Google $GOOGL ( ▼ 1.29% ) settled a lawsuit brought by a Black employee alleging racial bias.

WSJ: Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is in talks to buy a stake in a Russian natural gas pipeline to Europe.

Tomorrow's Trade Idea, Today

NATIONAL VISION IS SEEING THINGS CLEARLY

Seeing the Vision

Bank of America $BAC ( ▼ 0.54% ) sees the vision.

Its analyst Robert Ohmes recently upgraded little-watched eyecare stock National Vision $EYE ( ▲ 0.21% ), pointing to signs that the company’s strategic initiatives are working.

Ohmes lifted the stock’s rating from Underperform to Buy, and brought his price target up from $13 to $22, implying nearly 30% upside from today’s close.

Strategic Moves Pay Off

Improved pricing strategies and successful recruitment drove performance last quarter, and customer traffic is gaining momentum, per BoA. As a result, the bank is bullish on EYE’s trajectory for the second half of the year.

National Vision is currently reaping the benefits of its targeted initiatives. Ohmes credits improving results to fresh advertising campaigns, a broader range of $99+ frames, and the deployment of a new customer relationship management system.

The firm expects these continued efforts to lift customer engagement and sales. Ohmes noted they are already translating into improved metrics. The analyst takes this as a clear sign that National Vision’s plans are resonating with consumers and positioning it well in a competitive market.

Tariff Resistance

As with most companies, tariffs are likely to increase costs for National Vision. But BofA believes it is capable of weathering the storm.

The company projects $10-$15 million in additional costs in 2025, but less than 10% of its cost of goods sold is exposed to China, the firm found.

Ohmes emphasized that pricing adjustments implemented last year have increased average purchase value without harming customer satisfaction.

Its projected revenue for 2025 sits around $1.93 billion, and the analyst believes National Vision has both the pricing power and tariff resistance to pull it off.

Sponsored by Pacaso

ZILLOW’S CO-FOUNDER HAS A BIG NEW IDEA

Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it to a $16B valuation. But everyday investors couldn’t invest until the IPO, missing early gains.

"I wish we had done a round accessible to retail investors prior to Zillow's IPO," Rascoff later said. Now he’s fixing that with Pacaso, his new company disrupting the $1.3T vacation home market. Unlike Zillow, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Firms like SoftBank and Maveron are already on board – and you can join them for $2.80/share.

Invest now.

Disclaimer: This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com.

ON OUR RADAR

WSJ: Chinese exports to the US predictably plunged in April, as the nations’ officials meet to renew trade talks.

CNBC: Trump openly wrestled with the politics of a tax hike on the rich, writing he’s “OK” with it, but “Republicans should probably not do it.”

AP: The USPS tapped FedEx $FDX ( ▼ 2.6% ) board member David Steiner as the new postmaster general.

CNN: The founder of crypto exchange Celsius was sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud that led to “billions in losses”.

BI: Considering a job change? You might want to stay put for now.

THURSDAY’S POLL RESULTS

Are you bullish or bearish on Arista Networks (ANET) over the next 12 months?

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐂 Bullish

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐻 Bearish