Viking Holdings Tops Second-Quarter Earnings Forecasts as Demand Remains Strong

Viking Mines said it has signed a binding agreement to sell 12 tenements covering its non-core First Hit gold project in Western Australia to ASX-listed First Au. Viking will receive $2.2m upfront ($1.2m cash, $1m in First Au shares) plus up to $2.8m in milestone-linked performance rights. Proceeds fund a focus on its Nevada Linka tungsten project; completion is subject to approvals.

U.S. and Iran announced a preliminary agreement to ease conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to the report. Oil fell more than 5% to the lowest since March. Airline shares rose: United, Delta and American up 4.5% each; Southwest up 4%. Cruise stocks also gained: Norwegian +4.7%, Carnival +4.5%, Royal Caribbean +4.3%, Viking +3%, as investors expect lower fuel costs.

Wall Street analysts issued multiple calls Monday. Goldman initiated HawkEye 360 as buy; Morgan Stanley upgraded Dell to equal weight; Wells Fargo upgraded Tandem Diabetes Care to overweight. Citizens initiated Microsoft at Market Outperform with a $550 target; Barclays initiated IBM at overweight with a $350 target. Cantor reiterated Tesla overweight; RBC reiterated Meta outperform. Broadcom was reiterated overweight by Morgan Stanley, raising its target to $485.

Viking Holdings (VIK) has risen 108% over the past year, outpacing Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian, which gained 4% to 21%, according to the article. It says Viking leads North American outbound river cruising with over half the market and has $6.7B trailing revenue. Viking’s market cap is $41B and enterprise value $43B, and its latest-quarter revenue rose 18%. The article also cites 92% of 2026 capacity booked and 21x next-year earnings.

Nick Mersch of Purpose Investments highlights Palantir, Snowflake, and DigitalOcean as top tech picks. Palantir reported $1.94B revenue, 93% YoY growth, and raised guidance. Snowflake saw 34% revenue growth and increased full-year guidance. DigitalOcean grew 29% YoY, with AI customer ARR up 212%. Mersch also discusses market trends in AI spending and semiconductor earnings.

ZTO Express (NYSE:ZTO) reported Q2 2026 revenue of RMB14.55B ($2.14B), up 23% YoY, and adjusted net income of RMB3.1B, up 50.3% YoY. Parcel volumes rose 6.5% to 10.5B, with market share expanding to 19.9%. Despite strong earnings, shares fell 1.86% pre-market. ZTO revised its full-year parcel growth outlook to 6-10% due to moderating industry growth.