AI is helping lift profits at consumer companies on multiple levels. It allows companies to better understand their customers, which can improve target marketing and customization. Companies can hone menus, goods, and services to achieve broader appeal and to reach new audiences. Consumer companies are also harnessing AI technology to help with processes, inventory control, and supply-chain management, and in many other ways. By way of examples, restaurants are using smart robots to take orders, and prep and serve food. They also have front and back offices, and AI is helping make both more efficient and cost effective. As well, consumer companies utilize a lot of data, and AI helps elevate the use of that data. We recently concluded our five-part webinar series on AI, looking at how different industries are using AI. Our final event spotlighted consumer companies. For this week's list, we offer details on the BUY-rated stocks we highlighted during the webinar.

Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider trading and institutional stock ownership trends. Form 13-Fs, which institutions must file to report their holdings, are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in from 1Q26. We like to review the 13Fs of major activist investors -- including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, Starboard Value and ValueAct Holdings, among others -- in order to determine their core holdings and new purchases. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Activists have made progress in the past year, with high-profile investments into blue-chip companies such as Fedex and Union Pacific. Here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, as well as other high-profile money managers.

Carvana Co., based in Arizona, is an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars. The platform enables customers to complete a purchase or sale, secure financing, and schedule delivery or pickup online. The company is the second-largest used automotive retailer in the U.S. The company completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange on April 28, 2017. The company competes in the $1.2 trillion retail auto industry in the U.S., $840 billion of which consists of used car sales. The auto industry accounted for 22% of the U.S. retail economy in 2022. Carvana's sales account for 1.5% of used car sales - the largest dealer brand market share in the U.S. The company employs approximately 23,100 people (as of year-end 2025) and the shares are a component of the S&P 500 index.

The major stock indices are higher at midday on Tuesday. The earnings news continues to pour in and oil prices have pulled back. Crude oil is down about 5%, the yield on the 10-year note is at 4.42%, and the VIX volatility index is at 17.