Holiday season’s still two months away, but retail’s already decking the halls — and discounting the shelves.

Kohl’s $KSS ( ▲ 1.11% ) and Academy Sports $ASO ( ▼ 2.49% ) say shoppers are showing up early, armed with promo codes, primed for buyer’s remorse.

In other words, the mood is cautiously optimistic. But that might just be retailer for, “Don’t expect record-breaking sales.”

— Brooks & Cas

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It’s no secret that AI is fueling demand for power. But an energy stock that hasn’t even risen 3% YTD? It might just be the AI boom’s best-kept secret.

Expand Energy $EXE ( ▼ 0.66% ), formed from the 2024 merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, is now the largest natural-gas producer in the US. Morgan Stanley $MS ( ▲ 2.86% ) analyst Devin McDermott just raised his price target to $135, implying 30% upside from Friday’s close.

Expand’s assets sit close to the Haynesville Shale and Louisiana’s fast-growing LNG export hubs, giving it a geographic edge as global demand rises. LNG capacity is projected to double by 2029, according to the Energy Information Administration.

“The outlook for natural-gas demand is pretty strong,” says Hennessy Midstream’s Ben Cook. “You can’t flip the switch on nuclear overnight.”

Originally expected to produce $400 million in annual cost savings, Expand now forecasts closer to $600 million by 2026. Morgan Stanley projects its free-cash-flow yield will climb from 9% in 2025 to 16% next year — fueling dividends and buybacks under a $1 billion repurchase plan.

Consensus earnings estimates see profits rising more than 65% between 2025 and 2026. 90% of analysts rate the stock a Buy.

Volatility remains a concern, however. The stock fell 15% this summer on weak gas prices. But analysts maintain the pullback was weather-driven, not fundamental.

With global data-center electricity demand expected to more than double by 2030, Expand Energy may be the most direct way to power AI’s growth. In this case, it might not just be winter coming, but also opportunity.

Core Scientific $CORZ ( ▲ 7.09% ) just got a vote of confidence from Roth Capital Partners. Analyst Darren Aftahi upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised his 12-month price target to $23.50, implying 21.5% upside from current levels.

The catalyst: CoreWeave’s $CRWV ( ▲ 7.47% ) decision to walk away from acquisition talks. The AI cloud company said it wouldn’t raise its bid for Core Scientific, calling the deal “a nice to have, not a need to have”, effectively ending negotiations.

A deal falling through might not be most investors’ idea of a tailwind. But Roth’s analyst argues it could leave Core Scientific in a stronger position on its own.

Aftahi wrote that the company’s standalone value now looks more compelling, supported by growing demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI workloads. “We pivot to a standalone CORZ that leases its power pipeline primarily for HPC,” he said.

Core Scientific operates data centers across six US states with 1.3 gigawatts of contracted power capacity — one of the largest footprints in North America. The company has roughly 700 megawatts of uncontracted power, a key opportunity as AI infrastructure buildout accelerates.

Roth’s valuation also factors in the firm’s bitcoin mining assets and recent data-center M&A metrics. As more tech companies seek reliable power for compute-heavy AI tasks, Core Scientific’s infrastructure could become increasingly valuable.

Shares of Core Scientific are up more than 33% in 2025 so far. But Roth believes there’s more room to run as investors refocus on fundamentals rather than M&A speculation.

For now, independence seems to be paying off. Freed from CoreWeave’s orbit, Core Scientific is positioned to keep mining.

Yesterday morning, in our weekly Street Sheet Research report, we covered why munis had their best month in nearly two years (and whether their moment can continue), an attractive opportunity amid a “minefield for investors”, what’s driving a slew of price target hikes across the crypto sector, and much more.

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Some of America’s biggest retailers are betting that ChatGPT can drive new sales. But in trying to catch the AI wave, they may have just handed over their most valuable asset — direct access to customers.

Walmart’s $WMT ( ▼ 0.65% ) stock popped after announcing shoppers could buy products directly through ChatGPT. Etsy $ETSY ( ▲ 0.03% ) and Shopify $SHOP ( ▲ 3.54% ) rallied as well on similar deals. OpenAI’s new Instant Checkout feature lets users find, compare, and purchase items inside the chatbot — no retailer website required. Merchants pay a small fee on each sale, and OpenAI says results are “organic and unsponsored.”

Analysts like TD Cowen’s Oliver Chen call it smart positioning: “You want to be closest to the place of discovery.” But discovery is only half the game. The other half is control.

ChatGPT now accounts for about three-fourths of global chatbot traffic, and roughly 2% of conversations already involve shopping. If that share rises, retailers could lose a big slice of web traffic, ad revenue, and cross-selling opportunities.

E-commerce ad spending is expected to hit $59 billion in the US this year, with over 60% tied to search placements on retailer websites, according to eMarketer. If shoppers never visit those sites, those ads — and profits — could vanish.

Amazon $AMZN ( ▲ 1.41% ) sees the risk. It’s blocking AI bots from scraping its listings while building its own GenAI shopping tools.

For now, retailers see the appeal in ChatGPT’s potential to help reach customers faster. But that risks the same technology one day wresting control of this ever-important relationship.

If AI assistants become the default shopping interface, retailers may find themselves paying rent to the very platforms replacing them. Convenience comes at a premium — and retailers may wind up the ones footing the bill.

Tariffs are back. Walls are rising. The Red Sea — once a superhighway — is now a bottleneck. Supply chains are being forced into longer, costlier, more fragile routes.

And someone is making money off the chaos.

In our upcoming Street Sheet Research report, we break down this rare shift in shipping — and why it is quietly funneling profits toward a class of operators positioned to win in an increasingly inefficient world. Specifically, we’ve identified one stock directly exposed to this trend, with a rare setup to take advantage.

The full report drops Nov. 1st — but only for Street Sheet Research members.

So, if you want to see the name, the thesis, and the numbers behind it:

Are you bullish or bearish on Quanta Services $PWR ( ▲ 3.18% ) over the next 12 months?

▇▇▇▇▇ 🐂 Bullish

▇▇▇▇▇ 🐻 Bearish

And, in response, you said:

Are you bullish or bearish on Freeport-McMoRan $FCX ( ▲ 0.34% ) over the next 12 months?

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐂 Bullish

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 🐻 Bearish

And, in response, you said:

Do you believe AI energy stocks are a bubble?

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 😱 Yes

▇▇▇▇▇▇ 😎 No

And, in response, you said: