Markus Andrews

ETF Strategist

ETF Street
ETF Strategist

This year’s wild market fluctuations haven’t done much to dim investor confidence, a new report by Fidelity found.
However, it’s a great time to reassess risk, according to certified financial planner Tim Maurer.
Exchange-traded funds, in particular, are a great tool for diversification with lower fees relative to mutual funds, Maurer said.

Recent bouts of market volatility haven’t done much to dim investor confidence, according to a new report.
After a year of wild market swings followed by the S&P 500 hitting fresh highs last week, nearly two-thirds of investors expect their portfolios to perform the same or better in the coming months, according to Fidelity Investments’ “State of the American Investor” study.

However, while newer investors are increasingly bullish, seasoned investors have a more pessimistic outlook and lower risk tolerance, likely from experiencing other periods of extreme market fluctuations, the report found.
Fidelity analyzed sentiment and behaviors of more than 2,000 adult “DIY investors,” or those who manage their own portfolios. The investors had at least $25,000 in investable assets outside of retirement and real estate.
New and more experienced investors should be asking themselves, “How much risk do I need to take? Your willingness to take risks is always going to be changing,” said Tim Maurer, a certified financial planner and the chief advisory officer at SignatureFD, based in Atlanta.
“We should always be calibrating,” he said.

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“Navigating shifting market conditions can be daunting,” said Josh Krugman, a senior vice president of brokerage at Fidelity Investments.

Although newer investors felt better about investing in nontraditional assets, such as crypto, investors with over a decade of experience are adopting a cautious approach for the year ahead while seeking out stable investments to accomplish their more conservative goals, Fidelity’s report also found. 
Focusing on the long term and adhering to a consistent investment strategy, along with a mix of investments, can help investors achieve better results over time, Krugman said. “That tends to help them get through the ups and downs of the market.”
Maintaining a well-diversified portfolio — including a mix of stocks and high-quality bonds, which have historically performed well during downturns — is key, other experts also say.
Exchange-traded funds or mutual funds, which are baskets of securities like stocks and bonds, “are easy vehicles to get a broad diversity of exposure to various asset classes,” Krugman said.

ETFs notch record growth

Exchange-traded funds, in particular, have gained popularity among investors, with ETF assets crossing the $10 trillion mark last year — a trend experts say is largely due to advantages like lower tax bills and fees relative to mutual funds.
“ETFs are one of the best ways for investors to get exposure to various swaths of the market at the lowest cost possible,” said Maurer, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.
Exchange-traded funds are generally known for passive strategies, but there has also been a surge in actively managed ETFs, with the goal of beating the performance of broader markets.
“Active and indexed ETFs are particularly popular because they price intraday,” Krugman said.
Unlike mutual funds, which can only be traded once a day after the market closes, ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the day and during extended hours.

‘You still need to look under the cover’

“ETFs are a fantastic innovation,” Maurer said.
“My caution is that just because something is an ETF, doesn’t mean it’s a great investment,” he added. “It’s the wrapper around the investment, rather than an investment itself — you still need to look under the cover.”

With potential economic headwinds in the back half of the year, there could be more volatility in store for markets, many experts say.
That makes this “a great time for investors to be reassessing risk,” Maurer said, depending on their individual goals, life changes and time horizon, including keeping a certain amount of cash “especially if that market volatility is causing you to lose sleep.” 

The benefits of buffer ETFs

So-called buffer exchange-traded funds could also provide some downside protection.
Buffer ETFs, also known as defined-outcome ETFs, use options contracts to offer investors a predefined range of outcomes over a set period. The funds are tied to an underlying index, such as the S&P 500.
But these ETFs also come with higher fees than traditional ETFs and typically need to be held for a year to get the full benefit.
“It can be a helpful tool for those who would like extra layers of protection. But there’s always going to be a cost that comes with whatever protections you are going to get, and that’s often going to be limited upside,” Maurer said.
Despite the trade-off, buffer ETFs could be a good option as you reassess your risk tolerance, he said. 
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The Trump administration has proposed changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that it said “may delay or prevent forgiveness for a subset of borrowers.”
The U.S. Department of Education said the plan would halt the loan relief for employees “of organizations that are undermining national security and American values through illegal means, and therefore not providing a public service.”

Nathan Howard | Reuters

The Trump administration is moving to “prevent benefits” for some student loan borrowers under the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, according to an announcement on Monday.
The U.S. Department of Education said it issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on its regulations to halt loan forgiveness under PSLF for employees “of organizations that are undermining national security and American values through illegal means.”

PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows many not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years of payments.
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For now, the language used by the Trump administration on how it will determine an organization is ineligible is vague, which advocates say could help it nix any nonprofit it doesn’t approve of. Organizations that provide support to undocumented immigrants or transgender people, for example, could be at risk, they say.
“Public Service Loan Forgiveness was enacted in a bipartisan way to help incentivize hardworking people to go into public service,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. “The Trump administration is trying, through executive authority, to limit who can access this benefit based on a litmus test of who they like and who they don’t like.”
People can comment on the proposed rules at Regulations.gov. on or before Sept. 17, the Education Department said.

In its proposed rule, the department says the changes “may delay or prevent forgiveness for a subset of borrowers.”

What it means for student loan borrowers

Experts say borrowers’ best option right now is to stay the course, assuming their current employer has previously been considered qualifying.
That’s because it remains unclear exactly which organizations will no longer be considered a qualifying employer for PSLF under the Trump’s administration’s regulations. And some experts say the changes to eligibility could be challenged in court.

Whatever the outcome, the overhaul of the PSLF program can’t be retroactive, said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.
That means that if you are currently working for or previously worked for an organization that the Trump administration later excludes from the program, you’ll still get credit for that time — at least up until the rule changes go into effect.
“If an organization is deemed illegal, the borrower can switch jobs to another that isn’t considered illegal,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
The proposed narrowing of PSLF comes at the same time that more than 72,000 borrowers are stuck in a backlog of applications waiting for relief under the program. More

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A worsening macroeconomic climate and the collapse of industry giants such as FTX and Terra have weighed on bitcoin’s price this year.
STR | Nurphoto via Getty Images

The crypto market tumbled to begin the week as heightened macro concerns triggered more than $500 million in forced selling of long positions.
The price of bitcoin was last lower by 2% at $115,255.70, after touching a new all-time high last week – its fourth one this year – at $124,496. At one point, it fell as low as $114,706. Ether slid 4% to $4,283.15 after coming within spitting distance of its roughly $4,800 record last week. Both coins rolled over after higher-than-expected July wholesale inflation data raised questions over a Federal Reserve rate cut in September.

Investors’ profit-taking triggered a wave of liquidations across the crypto market.
In the past 24 hours, sales from 131,455 traders totaled $552.58 million, according to Coin Metrics. That figure includes about $123 million in long bitcoin liquidations and $178 million in long ether liquidations. This happens when traders are forced to sell their assets at market price to settle their debts, pushing prices lower.

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Bitcoin briefly dropped below $115,000 after reaching nearly $125,000 last week

Adding to investor disappointment were comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who clarified Thursday that the strategic bitcoin reserve President Donald Trump established back in March will be confined to bitcoin forfeited to the federal government, as it explores “budget-neutral pathways to acquire more bitcoin.”
The top cryptocurrencies by market cap fell with the blue-chip coins, with the CoinDesk 20 index, a measure of the broader crypto market, down 3.7%. Crypto related stocks were under pressure premarket, led by ether treasury stocks. Bitmine Immersion was down 6% and SharpLink Gaming fell 3%. Crypto exchange Bullish, which made its public trading debut last week, was also lower by 3%.
This week, investors are keeping an eye on the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for clues around what could happen at the central bank’s remaining policy meetings this year. Crypto traders also will be watching Thursday’s jobless claims data.

Last week’s test of bitcoin and ether highs surprised traders who expected an August pullback for cryptocurrencies, expecting macro concerns to steal focus from recent momentum around crypto’s institutional and corporate adoption – especially in what has historically proven a weak trading month for many markets – until the September Fed meeting.
Many see pullbacks this month as healthy and strategic cooldowns rather than reactions to crisis, thanks largely to support from crypto ETFs as well as companies focused on aggressively accumulating bitcoin and ether. Although ETFs tracking the price of bitcoin and ether posted net outflows on Friday, they logged net inflows of $547 million and $2.9 billion, respectively, for the week. For ETH funds it was a record week of inflows as well as their 14th consecutive week of inflows.

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Roughly 70% of working Americans have considered delaying retirement, with nearly half citing fear of not having enough money, according to a July survey.
But planning to work longer may not be enough. Over half of retirees end up leaving the workforce earlier than expected, often due to health issues or job loss.
“The labor market doesn’t always want you when you want the labor market,” said one economist.

As Americans live longer and worry about outlasting their money in retirement, a growing number are counting on one strategy for their future financial security: working longer.
Roughly 70% of U.S. workers who haven’t retired yet have considered pushing back their retirement date, according to a recent survey from F&G, an insurance company. Nearly half of the 2,000 adults surveyed said they’re afraid they won’t have enough money to retire.

Some people have gone beyond considering the strategy. “Two in 10 workers adjusted their target retirement age in 2024,” according to a recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, “with most of them now planning to retire later.”
But experts say that plan to work longer may not be as reliable as workers hope.
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About 58% of workers retire earlier than they intended, according to 2024 research from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies in collaboration with the Transamerica Institute. Of those who did, 46% did so for health-related reasons, while 43% cited employment issues and 20%, family reasons.
Only 21% said they retired early because they are financially stable.

“The 2008 recession kind of knocked all those assumptions about being able to work longer with enough money out of reality,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics and policy analysis at The New School for Social Research. “We had 50-year-olds, 55-year-olds, being really pushed out of the labor market or lose their career jobs, and having to come back and having to spend their savings while they were still in their 50s and 60s because of the hardship of that recession.”
“So you can’t [always] work longer because of age discrimination, and because the labor market may not want the skills that you’ve acquired over 40 years, because the labor market and the skills required have moved forward,” she added.

A system built for a different generation

The instinct to delay retirement is understandable, experts say.
Life expectancy across developed countries has climbed significantly over the last several decades, according to World Bank data analyzed by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. At the same time, the burden of investing for retirement has shifted to workers.
For much of the 20th century, the American retirement system relied on what economists call the three-legged stool: Social Security, employer pensions and personal savings.
But one of those legs, Social Security, has a looming funding shortfall that has left some workers concerned about what kind of retirement benefits they may receive.

Another leg, pensions, has rapidly declined for private sector workers. In 1989, 63% of full-time workers at companies with more than 100 employees had pensions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of early 2023, only about 15% of private industry workers did.
Workers now largely depend on 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans, which rely on them to determine how much to contribute and how to invest those funds.
Some younger workers are rising to the challenge. Younger workers today often have more money in retirement accounts by age 30 than boomers did, according to Federal Reserve research.
“Millennials are saving at a higher rate at this age than Gen Xers or Boomers,” said Christine Mahoney, global pensions leader at the pension consulting firm Mercer. “So I guess I would say if they’re nervous and it’s making them save, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
But personal savings may not be enough. Unexpected medical bills, market downturns or job losses can quickly derail even disciplined savers, leading to what experts call 401(k) “leakage.” Add in the growing weight of student loan debt, and retirement becomes even harder to afford for some workers.

Is working longer the solution?

Some policymakers and economists say extended careers could help Americans close their retirement gaps.
“We have more options for extended work lives today than we’ve ever had before, and Americans are taking advantage of them,” said Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
The number of employed Americans age 65 and older grew 33.2% between 2015 and 2024, according to a CNBC analysis of BLS data.
Biggs also emphasized that older workers continue to bring value to the labor force. “There’s great demand for older workers,” he said. “They still have a lot of skills, a lot left to give, and so they can be valuable to employers.”
But others say that perspective doesn’t align with how the labor market actually works.
“The labor market doesn’t always want you when you want the labor market,” said Ghilarducci. “Employers have the biggest role in the decision about whether or not you work and what the quality of your work is.”
Watch the video above to learn more about why Americans may end up working longer than their parents and whether planning to work longer will actually help people in retirement. More

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

A softer-than-expected July inflation report has improved investor sentiment and revived hopes for a rate cut. Traders await more economic data to gain further insights about the state of the U.S. economy.
Looking beyond macro uncertainties and tariff pressures, it is always a good idea for investors to search for stocks that have strong long-term growth potential and enhance their portfolio returns. To this end, recommendations from top Wall Street analysts can help pick attractive stocks, as these experts perform an in-depth analysis of a company’s financials and growth prospects.

Here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

Pinterest

First on this week’s list is social media platform Pinterest (PINS). The company recently reported mixed results for the second quarter of 2025. While second-quarter revenue surpassed expectations, earnings missed the Street’s consensus estimate. Meanwhile, Pinterest’s third-quarter revenue outlook topped analysts’ estimates.
In reaction to the Q2 print, BMO Capital analyst Brian Pitz increased the price forecast for Pinterest stock to $41 from $40 and reiterated a buy rating. TipRanks’ AI Analyst has an “outperform” rating on PINS stock with a price target of $40.
Pitz noted that Pinterest delivered upbeat revenue and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) in the quarter, fueled by the company’s solid execution and the strength in the retail and financial services businesses. However, the analyst pointed out that Q2 performance was adversely impacted by a 25% drop in advertising pricing resulting from the company’s rising market share in previously unmonetized markets around the globe.
Pitz views Pinterest as a “Clear AI Winner.” While users are gaining from AI-powered search functions and algorithm upgrades on PINS’ platform, advertisers are using Performance+ Creative Preview to observe modifications made by PINS+ creative tools and maximize ad efficiency.

“As AI continues to drive enhancements, we see it as a clear tailwind for PINS to both improve user experience and drive greater efficiency,” said Pitz.
The analyst added that advertisers are also benefiting from Pinterest’s useful customer insights, given that Gen-Z now constitutes more than half the platform’s user base.
Pitz ranks No. 95 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 72% of the time, delivering an average return of 19.2%. See Pinterest Statistics on TipRanks.

CoreWeave

We next move to the AI cloud computing company CoreWeave (CRWV), which reported market-beating revenue for the second quarter and issued better-than-anticipated top-line guidance for the third quarter. However, the AI infrastructure company reported a larger-than-expected loss for the second quarter.
Following the Q2 results, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill reiterated a buy rating on CoreWeave stock with a price target of $180. The 5-star analyst highlighted the 86% year-over-year jump in CRWV’s remaining performance obligations (RPO). However, Thill noted the disappointment related to the limited sequential upside in RPO compared to the high buyside expectations following the $4 billion expanded deal with OpenAI signed in May.
Nonetheless, Thill remains optimistic, given that CoreWeave signed expansion deals with two hyperscalers, which he believes reflects “the unrelenting demand for high performance compute and CRWV’s best in class capabilities.”
Thill’s bullish view on the company’s backlog is also supported by the ramp-up in its capacity. Notably, CoreWeave added 600 megawatts of contracted power, bringing the total capacity to 2.2 gigawatts. Overall, the analyst is confident about RPO acceleration going forward, given that AI demand continues to exceed supply.
Thill ranks No. 317 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 61% of the time, delivering an average return of 12.3%. See CoreWeave Ownership Structure on TipRanks.

Starbucks

Finally, let’s look at the well-known coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX). Jefferies analyst Brent Thill upgraded Starbucks stock to buy from hold and increased the price target to $115 from $100.
Tarantino has “high conviction that turnaround strategies under new leadership will be effective in transforming Starbucks into a better company.”
Given the recent underperformance of SBUX stock – which has sunk by 16% over the past six months – Tarantino believes that it now has an improved risk/reward profile. He expects the turnaround initiatives under chairman and CEO Brian Niccol to drive improvement in U.S. comparable sales in Fiscal 2026. The company’s turnaround initiatives are focused on ensuring high levels of hospitality and a faster speed of service in stores.
Moreover, Tarantino expects to gain more visibility on SBUX’s earnings outlook over the upcoming quarters, as the impact of the turnaround efforts starts to become clear. In particular, the analyst expects more details on Starbucks’ cost-saving initiatives and greater clarity on store-level labor investments to provide insights into the company’s long-term aim to revive its operating margin to the level of 17% seen in Fiscal 2019, compared to 10.3% in Fiscal 2025.
Overall, Tarantino expects SBUX’s multiple to expand on signs of improvement in financial performance, driven by the company’s turnaround efforts.
Tarantino ranks No. 441 among more than 9,900 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 61% of the time, delivering an average return of 10.8%. Interestingly, TipRanks’ AI Analyst is not quite as keen as Tarantino, assigning a “neutral” rating on SBUX stock with a price target of $99.  See Starbucks Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks.

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A handful of colleges and universities across the country are tuition free for all students.
While paying the tab may be easy, getting a degree is another story.
These schools have high standards and in return for no-cost education, the commitment they require, even after graduation, is steep.

With more families concerned about how they will afford college, some schools are offering an unbeatable deal.
While the total cost of college is nearing or crossing the $100,000 threshold at several institutions across the country, according to data provided by The Princeton Review, tuition is completely free for all students at handful of other colleges and universities in the U.S.

Although paying this tab is easy, getting in may not be. Each of these schools has high academic standards, experts say — and in return for a degree at no cost, the commitment they require, even after graduation, is steep.
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“This is a self-selecting group in a lot of ways,” said Robert Franek, editor in chief at The Princeton Review. Yet “it gives some hope for parents who worry about making college affordable — these colleges are doing just that.”
For those up for the challenge, The Princeton Review compiled a list of the colleges that cost nothing. Here are the nine schools that don’t charge tuition at all.
Berea College

Berea College in Berea, Kentucky.
Source: Berea College | Wikipedia CC

For over 150 years, this small school in Berea, Kentucky has strived to reach first-generation and low-income students who otherwise could not afford to pay for college, according to the school. But it doesn’t stop there: Berea gives every student a laptop and funds to cover internship opportunities and even professional clothing for job interviews.

College of the Ozarks

Students walk on the campus of the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo.
Cliff Schiappa | AP

Dubbed “Hard Work U,” College of the Ozarks is a coed Christian school in rural Missouri geared toward serving students in the Ozark region. In return for a full scholarship, undergraduates must work 15 hours a week, plus two 40-hour weeks during the academic year as part of the school’s work program.
Deep Springs College

Deep Springs College students vote on issues of governance during student meeting, the meeting which decide everything from when to harvest to whom the college should hire to teach often last until late into the evening.
Spencer Weiner | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Only 12 to 15 students are admitted each year to this all-male liberal arts college in California’s remote High Desert, according to the school. However, every student is awarded a scholarship that covers tuition and room and board. Since Deep Springs is a two-year school with no majors, many graduates go on to transfer to four-year programs to complete a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.
U.S. Air Force Academy

Fighter jet on grounds of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Education Images | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

In addition to free tuition and room and board, students receive a stipend to cover all other costs at this academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado. In exchange, the academic and physical demands are rigorous, according to The Princeton Review, with classes from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. followed by fitness training multiple times a week. After four years, graduates are commissioned as second lieutenants in the Air Force or U.S. Space Force and commit to several years of active duty.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Newly commissioned officers toss their hats during the US Coast Guard Academy’s 144th Commencement in New London, Connecticut, on May 21, 2025.
Joseph Prezioso | Afp | Getty Images

This New London, Connecticut-based academy is also highly selective and demanding, according to The Princeton Review. The extremely structured four-year program, which is fully paid for by the government, offers 10 academic majors, including civil engineering and marine science. After completing their schooling, students commit to five years of service, although many opt to stay in the Coast Guard for much longer, the academy says.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

United States Merchant Marine Academy
Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Tuition, room and board, uniforms and books are similarly covered at this service academy in Kings Point, New York. As part of the four-year program, cadets gain hands-on experience working aboard commercial and military vessels around the world. Once they graduate, midshipmen can enter any branch of the armed forces as an officer. The service obligation varies depending on what type of job they choose.
U.S. Military Academy – West Point

Closeup view of iconic United States Military Academy at West Point, seen from the Hudson River.
Brian Logan | Istock | Getty Images

Every cadet at this prestigious institution in West Point, New York receives free tuition and a scholarship that covers room and board, in addition to a stipend for uniforms, books, supplies and all other expenses. Armed with a BS degree, West Point graduates then serve at least five years of active duty and three years in the reserves and are “ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and nation,” according to the academy.
U.S. Naval Academy

Mahan Hall displays banners for the War of 1812 exhibit at the United States Naval Academy in Annaplois.
Loop Images | UIG | Getty Images

All students on campus, known as “the Yard,” in Annapolis, Maryland, receive a full scholarship that covers tuition, room and board and other costs, in return for at least five years of active duty after graduation, followed by the reserves. After their rigorous training, many midshipmen go on to have prominent careers within and outside the military, according to The Princeton Review.
Webb Institute

Webb Institute
Source: Webb Institute

Founded by the shipbuilder William Webb, this small, private college in Glen Cove, New York specializes in naval architecture and marine engineering. Every student receives a full scholarship to cover tuition and, along with little to no debt, they benefit from a 100% job placement rate upon graduation, according to the school. More

An Avantor logo is seen displayed on a smartphone.
Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Company: Avantor (AVTR)
Business: Avantor is a life science tools company and global provider of mission-critical products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries. The company’s segments include laboratory solutions and bioscience production. Within its segments, it sells materials and consumables, equipment and instrumentation and services and specialty procurement to customers in the biopharma and health care, education and government and advanced technologies and applied materials industries. Materials and consumables include ultra-high purity chemicals and reagents, lab products and supplies, highly specialized formulated silicone materials, customized excipients and others. Equipment and instrumentation include filtration systems, virus inactivation systems, incubators, analytical instruments and others. Services and specialty procurement include onsite lab and production, equipment, procurement and sourcing and biopharmaceutical material scale-up and development services.
Stock market value: $8.85 billion ($12.98 per share)

Stock chart icon

Avantor shares year to date

Activist: Engine Capital

Ownership: ~3%
Average Cost: n/a
Activist Commentary: Engine Capital is an experienced activist investor led by Managing Partner Arnaud Ajdler. He is a former partner and senior managing director at Crescendo Partners. Engine’s history is to send letters and/or nominate directors but settle rather quickly.
What’s happening
On Aug. 11, Engine sent a letter calling on Avantor’s board to focus on commercial and operational excellence, demonstrate organic growth, reduce costs, optimize the portfolio, refresh the board and use free cash flow to repurchase stock. Engine noted that the company can alternatively consider a sale.
Behind the scenes
Avantor is a market leading distributor of life science tools and products for the life sciences and advanced technology industries. The company is comprised of two segments: laboratory solutions (LSS) (67% of revenue) and bioscience production (BPS) (33% of revenue). LSS is one of the three top life sciences distributors in the world (Thermo Fisher and Merck KGaA being the other two).

BPS is a supplier of high-purity materials and is the leading supplier of medical-grade silicones. Despite being one of the few scaled global life science tool distribution platforms, the company has vastly underperformed. At its 2021 investor day, management projected earnings per share above $2 for 2025; and at its 2023 investor day, management targeted an EBITDA margin exceeding 20%. Now in 2025, these currently stand at 96 cents per share and 11.8%, respectively. Consequently, Avantor’s share price has declined 53.96%, 59.69%, and 43.41% over the past 1-, 3- and 5-year periods, as of Engine’s announcement Monday.
Engine believes that Avantor’s significant underperformance is a consequence of self-inflicted mistakes rooted in a flawed leadership team and framework. A complex matrix organizational structure and resultant lack of accountability have led to mass leadership turnover, including Avantor’s CEO, CFO and both segment leaders within the past three years, contributing to a dysfunctional decision-making process and inefficient employee structure.
The biggest casualty of this rocky management team is LSS, which has lost significant profitability and market share to its peers. Specifically, poor capital allocation decisions have destroyed significant value. In 2020 and 2021, Avantor spent a total of $3.8 billion to acquire Ritter, Masterflex and RIM Bio – companies that were notably purchased during the peak of the pandemic when life sciences businesses were trading at exceptionally high multiples. Applying Avantor’s next 12 months 10x multiple to the 28x average acquisition price implies over $2.4 billion in lost value on these acquisitions, contributing to the company’s high leverage.
On top of that, despite LSS’s ongoing underperformance and the need for strong leadership, from June 2024 to April 2025, LSS was left without a leader due to a non-compete lawsuit involving the hiring of its new segment leader, underscoring the operational dysfunction that has been taking place at the company.
But perhaps the nail in the coffin for this management team and board is that despite this cascading set of errors and the internal knowledge of these forecasted losses, they were still given a way out. In 2023, the company was approached by Ingersoll Rand to be acquired at an estimated $25-$28 per share, a 20%-35% premium of the share price at the time, yet the board inexplicably rebuffed this approach. Today, Avantor trades at just under $13 per share.
Enter Engine, who has announced an approximately 3% position in Avantor and is urging the board to focus the organization on commercial and operational excellence, demonstrate organic growth, reduce costs, optimize the portfolio, refresh the board and use free cash flow to repurchase its own stock.
Engine points out that Avantor’s reported $6.8 billion in revenue was stretched across 6 million stock keeping units, while Thermo’s peer segment achieves similar revenue with less than half the SKUs, indicating a large opportunity, specifically within LSS, to optimize the portfolio by concentrating purchases to improve inventory turns, rebates and margins.
Divesting non-core assets is another way to optimize the portfolio. For BPS, certain facilities operate in periods of extended downtime, limiting growth. For LSS, subscale facilities in smaller geographies may be more valuable to a competitor, and the same goes for some of the assets purchased under Avantor’s aforementioned acquisition spree.
On the cost discipline side, Avantor’s history of poor M&A and its low valuation should limit its accretive M&A opportunities, and while the company is on the path to reduce leverage below 3x, the market remains concerned that once this is achieved, they will simply resume this costly M&A strategy. Engine argues that free cash flow should instead be allocated evenly to share repurchases and debt reduction.
Additionally, executive compensation is also a concern. In 2024, despite organic revenue declining by 2% and a 7% share price decline, the board awarded CEO Michael Stubblefield 110% of his target annual bonus, underscoring the need to align these management incentives with shareholder value creation.
Engine believes that all of these changes would be best implemented with a comprehensive board refreshment. Adding directors with executive leadership, capital allocation, and distribution expertise to replace board members that have overseen years of value destruction, likely targeting chairman Jonathan Peacock specifically, should signal to the market the start of a new chapter. Engine believes that if these changes are properly implemented that Avantor shares would be worth between $22 and $26 per share by the end of 2027.
As a secondary option, Engine suggests that if a standalone path does not appear viable then the board should consider selling the entire company or splitting LSS and BPS into separate entities.
When Avantor acquired VWR, which is now the core of the LSS business, it was valued at about 12x EBITDA, or $6.5 billion, and BPS peers trade at a median of 17x EBITDA. Neither of these businesses’ valuations correspond to what Avantor trades at, roughly 8x EBITDA, and it’s possible that a strategic path could become the best way to unlock this value on a risk-adjusted basis. If this were to become the case, there is likely to be both private and strategic interest. New Mountain Capital previously owned Avantor prior to its IPO and still maintains an approximately 2% position. Strategics, like Ingersoll, would likely be interested as well, especially at a significant discount to what they once offered. Engine believes that Avantor could sell between $17 to $19 per share.
Overall, Engine makes not only a compelling case that major change is needed at Avantor, but also a clear multipath plan forward. While some of these changes are already underway: a new CEO is set to start next week and management announced a $400 million cost-cutting initiative, the sheer volume of change required here is unlikely to occur by Engine’s 2027 estimate.
Engine’s plan includes strengthening execution, instilling a culture of cost discipline, improving capital allocation, evaluating the company’s portfolio, aligning executive compensation to shareholder value creation and refreshing the board. Engine’s plan is the right one, but this is a company whose top line and operating margins have been in decline since 2022 and refreshing a board, instilling a new culture, reversing declining revenue and operating margins and evaluating and executing asset sales, many of which cannot be done simultaneously, is something that will likely take much longer than two years, particularly with the director nomination window not opening until Jan. 8. Moreover, the kind of change that Engine calls for here is generally not the kind of change that comes from an amicable settlement.
Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments. Viasat is owned in the fund. More

On average, surveyed Americans say you should start saving for retirement at age 27, according to a recent report by Empower, which polled 1,001 adults on June 2.
Respondents also say you should be able to retire at age 58; on average, men typically retire at age 64 and women at age 62, per findings by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
The effect of compounding interest and returns can help get you to an early retirement goal.

Young couple considering early retirement.
Ric Rowan | Getty Images

While some Americans think starting to save for retirement in your late 20s is ideal, financial advisors say it can pay to start even sooner — especially if you plan to retire early.
On average, surveyed Americans say you should start saving for retirement at age 27, according to a recent report by Empower, which polled 1,001 adults on June 2. Respondents also say you should be able to retire at age 58. 

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Those “ideal targets” in Empower’s report differ from what other reports indicate people are doing.
A separate 2024 report by the Transamerica Institute and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that, on average, Gen Xers and baby boomers began to save for retirement at ages 30 and 35, respectively. But Gen Zers and millennials started to save earlier at average ages of 20 and 25.
Meanwhile, the average goal age for retirement among Empower respondents is much sooner than the typical retirement age. As of 2024, men on average retire at age 64 while women retire at age 62, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

‘Doable,’ but earlier is better

Starting your retirement savings in your late 20s and aiming to retire in your late 50s can be ambitious, but it’s “definitely doable,” said Gloria Garcia Cisneros, a certified financial planner at LourdMurray, an investment and wealth management firm.

“Three decades is a good amount of time for your money to grow and compound,” said Garcia Cisneros.
However, if you’re getting a later start, “the trick” is to make sure you’re saving more aggressively, said Garcia Cisneros. 

About 40% of surveyed Americans said they were behind on retirement savings, according to a 2024 CNBC survey, which polled more than 6,600 adults. Of those who felt behind, many pointed to getting a late start, debt or insufficient income.
In fact, not starting to save or invest earlier is a common regret. Nearly half, or 45%, of survey respondents said they wish they’d started to save earlier, Empower found.
A separate report by Charles Schwab found that surveyed women typically began investing at age 31. However, 85% said they wish they started at an earlier age.
The sooner you start, the better, experts say. 
“Start saving as early as possible because you have the beauty of compound interest,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a CFP and founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida.

How starting early can work in your favor

Compounding can turbocharge your money, experts say. Compound interest refers to interest calculated on the initial principal and on accumulated interest of previous periods and typically applies to savings accounts, bonds and loans, according to a report by Fidelity.
Compound returns can include compound interest, but also refers to other kinds of investment returns like dividends and capital gains. 
“Time fuels the potential power of compounding,” according to the report. 

If you start saving in your early 20s, “that money has more time to grow, and that’s going to give you a bigger nest egg,” said McClanahan, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
For instance, let’s say someone began to save and invest for retirement at age 22, and they put away $100 per month. Assuming they get a 6% compounded return every month, they could have over $242,000 in savings by the time they’re 65, according to CNBC calculations. 
Those few years of early investing can make a difference. If they started to save $100 per month at age 27, assuming the same retirement age and rate of return, their retirement savings would be roughly $174,000. More