Strong full-price sales, international growth and tighter inventory management have helped the luxury apparel group extend its market gains

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday that Ralph Lauren’s years of stock-market outperformance are the result of a deliberate strategy rather than a temporary retail upswing, pointing to the company’s brand strength, international expansion and operating discipline under CEO Patrice Louvet.

“Retail’s really hard … Louvet makes it look easy,” the “Mad Money” host said, referring to Louvet’s tenure at the apparel company.

Louvet joined Ralph Lauren in July 2017 after nearly three decades at Procter & Gamble. Since he became chief executive, Ralph Lauren shares have gained roughly 444%, compared with a gain of about 214% for the S&P 500 over the same period.

The stock added nearly 4% Thursday after the company reported earnings and revenue that exceeded expectations, extending a rally that has made Ralph Lauren one of the stronger-performing names in the retail and luxury apparel sectors.

For Cramer, the latest results boost the argument that Ralph Lauren has built a business capable of generating growth without relying heavily on discounting. He identified three elements behind the company’s performance: strengthening the brand, expanding its established businesses while developing new growth opportunities, and building deeper relationships with consumers in major cities around the world.

Brand Investment Becomes A Growth Engine

Cramer highlighted Ralph Lauren’s efforts to position itself beyond conventional apparel retail by associating the brand with prestigious sporting events, luxury destinations, and lifestyle experiences.

The company has also focused on reaching younger consumers through what management calls “cinematic storytelling”, using social media and digital content to reinforce the brand’s identity rather than relying solely on traditional advertising.

Ralph Lauren added 1.5 million social media followers during the quarter across Instagram, TikTok, LINE and Douyin, according to Cramer.

That expansion is important because luxury and premium apparel companies compete not only on product but also on consumer engagement and brand relevance. A larger direct relationship with consumers can give companies greater control over pricing, customer data and repeat purchases.

Cramer also pointed to Ralph Lauren’s ability to introduce new women’s products and limited-edition collections while retaining the classic designs that have defined the company for decades. The combination allows Ralph Lauren to pursue new customers without abandoning the products that provide the foundation of the business.

China and Asia Emerge As Major Growth Drivers

The company’s growth has become increasingly international, with particularly strong momentum in Asia. Comparable sales increased 9% in North America and 23% in Asia, including a 40% increase in China, according to the results cited by Cramer.

The performance in China rings a bell because the country’s luxury and premium consumer market has faced an uneven recovery, making strong growth there an important differentiator for global apparel companies.

Cramer also emphasized the quality of Ralph Lauren’s sales growth. Much of the increase came from full-price sales rather than promotions or markdowns. That distinction matters for profitability. Selling merchandise at full price allows retailers to preserve gross margins and reduces the need to clear excess inventory at the end of a season.

Ralph Lauren’s performance has also been supported by tighter operational management. Inventories declined 3% during the quarter while operating margins expanded, according to Cramer.

That combination is necessary for retailers because rising sales accompanied by falling inventories can indicate that demand is absorbing merchandise efficiently, reducing the risk of excessive stock and future discounting. Margin expansion also suggests that the company’s revenue growth is translating into stronger profitability rather than being purchased through heavier promotional spending.

The result is a model in which brand investment, pricing power and inventory discipline reinforce one another.

A Broader Lesson for Retail Investors

Cramer said that Ralph Lauren offers a useful case study for investors trying to distinguish durable retail businesses from companies benefiting only from short-term changes in consumer spending.

The company’s stock performance under Louvet is notable because it has substantially exceeded the broader market over nearly nine years, even as the retail sector has faced shifts in consumer preferences, inflation, higher interest rates and the rapid expansion of e-commerce.

The challenge for Ralph Lauren now is to maintain that momentum without diluting the exclusivity that supports its pricing power.

Its expansion in China and other Asian markets provides room for further growth, while its focus on younger consumers could broaden the customer base. At the same time, continued inventory discipline and full-price selling will remain important indicators of whether growth can continue to translate into higher margins.

However, Cramer believes the latest earnings report reinforces the view that Ralph Lauren has developed a repeatable operating formula rather than simply benefiting from a favorable period for luxury apparel stocks.

“For anyone who aspires to own a retail stock, before you take a position in one, I’m begging you to read this Ralph Lauren conference call,” Cramer said.

“That’s the highest praise I can offer.”

Measures target China-dominated polysilicon market as Washington seeks to expand domestic manufacturing for semiconductors, solar power and AI infrastructure

The White House on Thursday imposed a 15% tariff and minimum import prices on polysilicon and related products, targeting a critical raw material dominated by China as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to strengthen U.S. semiconductor and solar supply chains.

The measures, imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, are designed to encourage domestic production of polysilicon and its derivatives and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign supply chains considered strategically important to artificial intelligence, energy and national security.

“The plan of action in this proclamation will, among other things, help ensure the commercial viability of United States production of polysilicon and its derivatives that is necessary to meet United States economic and national security requirements,” the order said.

The trade protections will take effect on December 4, giving importers several months to adjust supply contracts before the new regime begins.

Under the White House plan, imported polysilicon will face a minimum price of $21 per kilogram, while polysilicon ingots and wafers will have minimum import prices of $100 per kilogram. Solar cells will face a floor of $0.22 per watt and solar modules, or panels, a floor of $0.38 per watt.

The administration will combine those price floors with a 15% tariff on covered polysilicon products, creating a two-part system intended to prevent foreign suppliers from undercutting U.S. manufacturers through low-cost imports.

The proclamation also authorizes the Commerce Department to establish an incentive programme for companies investing in factories producing polysilicon and derivative products.

The hybrid approach of tariffs and minimum import prices was first reported by Reuters.

A Chokepoint in The AI And Solar Supply Chains

Polysilicon is an ultra-pure form of silicon that sits near the beginning of two strategically important manufacturing chains. In solar manufacturing, polysilicon is converted into wafers, which are processed into solar cells and eventually assembled into panels. In semiconductor manufacturing, highly refined silicon is used to produce wafers that form the foundation of modern chips.

China dominates global polysilicon production, making the material another potential chokepoint in the intensifying U.S.-China technology and industrial competition.

For Washington, the issue extends beyond solar power. The semiconductor industry requires highly refined silicon materials, while the expansion of AI is driving enormous investment in chip factories, data centers and electricity infrastructure.

The Semiconductor Industry Association estimates that the chip industry accounts for only 2.4% of global polysilicon demand. However, the much larger solar industry helps sustain the commercial ecosystem needed to produce polysilicon at scale, making solar demand important to the availability and economics of the material for semiconductor manufacturing.

That creates a strategic link between two industries that are increasingly central to U.S. industrial policy.

The United States currently has two polysilicon factories. Hemlock Semiconductor operates a Michigan plant through a joint venture between Corning and Japan’s Shin-Etsu Handotai. Munich-based Wacker Chemie operates another facility in Tennessee.

“Today’s decision encourages continued investment in U.S. capacity and supports long-term U.S. competitiveness,” a Corning spokesperson said.

Wacker said it was reviewing the measures to assess their full impact.

“We appreciate the Administration’s continued engagement on the issue given the ramifications for semiconductor supply chain resilience, advanced computing infrastructure, and broader U.S. defense and security interests,” the company said in a statement.

The new policy could improve the economics of domestic polysilicon production by limiting the ability of overseas suppliers to compete solely through lower prices. It could also make new U.S. investment more attractive by giving producers greater certainty over the competitive environment.

The key question, however, will be whether the price floors and tariffs are sufficient to justify the enormous capital expenditure required to build and expand polysilicon, wafer and semiconductor facilities in the United States.

Solar Industry Faces Higher Input Costs

The measures were welcomed by U.S. solar manufacturers, which have spent years accusing Chinese producers of dumping solar products into the U.S. market, benefiting from government subsidies and shifting production to third countries to avoid existing U.S. trade barriers.

U.S. solar manufacturing has expanded since Congress introduced tax incentives in 2022, but much of that expansion has focused on final panel assembly. Domestic manufacturers remain dependent on imported wafers and solar cells, which require significantly longer investment cycles to produce at scale.

Companies with U.S. solar operations, including T1 Energy, First Solar and Qcells, the U.S. solar arm of South Korea’s Hanwha, welcomed the new measures.

“This is a decisive win for advanced American manufacturing and investment in domestic energy supply chains,” T1 Energy CEO Dan Barcelo said.

T1 is investing $510 million in a solar-cell factory in addition to its Texas panel plant.

The policy could therefore encourage companies to move further upstream, from panel assembly into cells, wafers and polysilicon. That would support Washington’s broader objective of building a domestic solar supply chain rather than simply assembling imported components in the United States.

The trade-off is potentially higher costs. Solar developers and panel buyers could face more expensive equipment if tariffs and minimum prices increase the cost of imported materials and components. Companies that purchase solar panels have noted that the delayed implementation is necessary to give them time to renegotiate supply contracts and adjust to potentially higher prices.

December Start Could Trigger Import Rush

The four-month gap before the measures take effect creates a potential incentive for companies to accelerate imports.

Tim Brightbill, a trade attorney with Wiley Rein who has brought several trade cases against Chinese solar companies, warned that the delay could produce a surge in imports before December 4 as companies seek to bring products into the United States ahead of the new restrictions.

That possibility could temporarily boost inventories and alter trade flows before the new pricing regime takes effect. The longer-term impact will depend on whether the measures actually stimulate new domestic capacity or primarily raise the cost of imported materials.

That distinction is important because polysilicon production is capital intensive and requires substantial investment, specialized technology and access to relatively inexpensive energy. Establishing a competitive U.S. supply chain cannot be achieved simply by restricting imports.

The announcement adds polysilicon to the expanding list of strategic technologies and materials caught in the broader U.S.-China economic confrontation.

Washington has increasingly sought to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains for semiconductors, batteries, critical minerals, solar equipment and other technologies viewed as important to national security and economic competitiveness.

The Trump administration’s latest measures therefore serve two objectives: protecting an existing U.S. manufacturing base and encouraging investment in new capacity.

The success of the policy will ultimately be measured not by the tariff rate, but by whether it leads to a deeper domestic supply chain spanning polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules and semiconductor manufacturing.

If new investment follows, analysts expect the measures could strengthen U.S. control over a critical input at a time when AI is accelerating demand for both advanced chips and electricity infrastructure. But if investment fails to materialize, the immediate result could instead be higher costs for U.S. solar and technology manufacturers without a corresponding increase in domestic supply.

Earnings reports show rapid growth in event contracts as sportsbooks, exchanges and crypto firms compete for a market attracting retail traders, syndicates and institutions

Prediction markets are rapidly becoming a new battleground for companies across sports betting, financial exchanges, cryptocurrency and online brokerage, with recent earnings reports from DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment, Coinbase and Robinhood providing fresh evidence of the industry’s accelerating growth.

A growing number of companies are either developing their own prediction market platforms or partnering with existing exchanges, according to Joel Shulman, chief executive of investment firm Entrepreneur Shares.

The expansion is creating a competitive market around contracts that allow users to trade on the outcome of future events, including sports results and other real-world developments. The rapid increase in trading volumes has also attracted regulatory scrutiny, particularly over whether sports-related contracts should be treated as financial products or gambling.

DraftKings has emerged as one of the most aggressive entrants.

The sports-betting company launched its prediction market platform in December 2025 and says adoption has exceeded its initial expectations. Chief Executive Jason Robins said more than 600,000 customers had used the platform, with activity expected to accelerate as the NFL season approaches.

“We had over 600,000 customers so far engaged with our predictions offering, and that’s just going to explode this NFL season. I’m expecting millions, so we’re excited about it,” Robins told CNBC’s Squawk Box.

The scale of trading has increased sharply. Robins said the annualized total volume on DraftKings’ prediction platform rose to $11 billion between April and July, from $2.3 billion previously.

That growth suggests prediction markets are evolving beyond a niche product into a potentially significant source of trading activity, particularly around major sporting events.

Robins also noted that prediction markets have so far attracted a meaningfully different customer base from DraftKings’ traditional sportsbook.

“We continue to see only about 1% customer overlap between our sportsbook and the largest prediction market operator in sportsbook states, which tells us these platforms are driving a fundamentally different and largely professional audience,” he said.

DraftKings estimates that betting syndicates and institutional traders account for between 80% and 90% of consumer volume on prediction markets, according to Robins. That composition could have important implications for the industry’s development. Institutional and professional participants generally trade at higher volumes and can provide substantial liquidity, potentially allowing prediction markets to operate more like financial exchanges than conventional sportsbooks.

DraftKings is also attempting to control multiple parts of the market infrastructure. Robins said the company has exposure to three key layers: brokerage, exchange and market making.

The strategy could allow DraftKings to capture revenue from several stages of the transaction process while giving it greater control over liquidity and pricing.

However, the company’s broader second-quarter results were weaker than analysts had expected. DraftKings reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $114.6 million and revenue of $1.44 billion, below FactSet expectations of $156.1 million in EBITDA and $1.51 billion in revenue.

Flutter Entertainment, the parent of FanDuel, is pursuing a different strategy while also expanding its presence in the sector.

Flutter’s shares fell more than 11% on Wednesday after the company announced that Dan Taylor, chief executive of its international division, would replace Peter Jackson as CEO. The company also reported quarterly earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

At the same time, Flutter announced a major change to its prediction market infrastructure.

FanDuel Predicts will move its sports and novelty event contracts from CME Group to Crypto.com, while CME will continue to provide financial market contracts.

Flutter launched FanDuel Predicts with CME in December 2025, as trading volumes at established prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket were accelerating.

Peter Jackson said the new arrangement would allow FanDuel to develop and launch products more quickly ahead of the NFL season.

“This new exchange arrangement will ensure we can deliver new products at pace ahead of the NFL season start,” Jackson said during the company’s earnings call.

Another Phase of Competition Emerges

The change also highlights the increasingly fragmented infrastructure developing around prediction markets, with companies competing not only for customers but also for exchange technology, liquidity and market-making capabilities.

Regulation remains one of the industry’s biggest uncertainties.

Kalshi and Polymarket have faced scrutiny from state regulators who argue that certain event contracts amount to illegal gambling. More than 40 state attorneys general have also challenged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s position that it has exclusive regulatory authority over sports-related event contracts.

Flutter believes its existing presence in regulated sports betting markets could give FanDuel Predicts an advantage as the industry develops.

“Our own prediction market offering FanDuel Predicts allows us to acquire customers ahead of sports betting regulation in new states,” Jackson said.

Flutter reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of 49 cents per share on revenue of $4.33 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 54 cents per share and revenue of $4.23 billion.

The company expects to generate about $50 million in market-making revenue from prediction markets this year, indicating that it sees the business as more than simply an extension of its sportsbook operation.

Coinbase is also benefiting from the expansion.

The cryptocurrency exchange said in late July that revenue from its prediction markets business increased 106% from the previous quarter. Annualized revenue from the business exceeded $100 million in the second quarter.

The growth was substantial, although it still fell short of some analysts’ expectations.

“Prediction markets run rate of $100M+ in 2Q was below our estimate,” KeyBanc analysts said in a report following Coinbase’s earnings.

Coinbase’s overall second-quarter performance was also weaker than expected. The company reported a loss of $1.36 per share, significantly wider than the 17-cent loss analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected, while revenue of $1.2 billion fell short of the $1.3 billion consensus forecast.

Robinhood has taken perhaps the most direct approach by building an exchange around event contracts.

The brokerage launched Rothera in June through its joint venture with Susquehanna International Group. The platform is licensed by the CFTC, positioning it within the federally regulated derivatives market.

Robinhood said more than 3.5 billion contracts had been traded on its platform to date. Event-contract revenue reached $156 million in the second quarter.

Rothera’s founders, Tom Chippas and Matt Trudeau, said in a LinkedIn post on Aug. 4 that the platform had captured approximately 7% to 8% of total market share among CFTC-regulated venues less than two months after launch.

They said Rothera had achieved roughly 30% average market share in the specific contracts it listed.

The founders described the trading volumes as evidence that the platform’s technology and operating infrastructure could handle sustained activity at significant scale.

The numbers across the industry point to a rapidly developing market in which traditional boundaries between sports betting, financial trading and cryptocurrency are becoming increasingly blurred.

For sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel, prediction markets offer a way to expand beyond conventional wagering and potentially reach customers in jurisdictions where traditional sports betting remains restricted.

The opportunity is attracting capital and technological investment, but analysts say the industry’s future will depend heavily on regulation.

The central question is whether sports and other event contracts will ultimately be treated primarily as financial derivatives under federal oversight or as gambling products subject to state-level restrictions. The answer could determine which companies are allowed to offer them, where they can operate and how quickly the market can expand.

Competition is also likely to intensify as more financial and betting companies enter the sector. Companies with large customer bases, deep liquidity, strong market-making capabilities and regulatory access are expected to have an advantage as prediction markets move from an emerging product into a more established financial category.