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Investment research site StockStory picked two stocks to buy and one to avoid among companies trading near 52-week highs. It likes Mastercard and ConocoPhillips, and advises selling Biogen. Mastercard trades at $588.84 per share, or 27x forward earnings. Its revenue grew 16.1% a year over five years, and its return on equity is 182%. ConocoPhillips trades at $134.30, or 12.3x forward earnings. Its revenue grew 10.1% a year over ten years, and its revenue stands at $65.28 billion. Biogen trades at $224.63, or 16.5x forward earnings. Its revenue fell 3% a year over five years, and its earnings per share have declined.

US envoy Tom Barrack lobbied for business partner's involvement in $15bn Syria-Iraq pipeline: Report. Barrack's involvement with TI Capital, which will help rehabilitate the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, reportedly violates US government ethics rules OCT 9, 2026 (Photo credit: ap.org) US envoy Thomas Barrack violated US ethics rules by advocating for a firm run by his business partner to help develop an oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria, Reuters reported on 9 October, citing three people familiar with the matter. In July, Iraq and Syria signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with a consortium made up of TI Capital, run by Barack's business partner Ziad Ghandour, along with Chevron and Qatar's UCC Holding. The documents authorized the consortium to conduct technical and financial studies to prepare to rehabilitate the pipeline between oil-rich Kirkuk in northern Iraq and Baniyas on the Syrian coast. Baghdad and Damascus seek to revive the pipeline, which was shuttered after the illegal US invasion in 2003, as part of a broader effort to bypass the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February, Tehran has restricted tanker traffic through Hormuz, causing Iraqi exports to plunge. Barrack, who serves as President Donald Trump's special envoy to Iraq and Syria and as Ambassador to Turkiye, has a longstanding business relationship with TI Capital and its founder, Ghandour. In 2025, Barak held a stake in TI Capital that entitled him to 20 percent of profits from a real-estate development near San Francisco, California. After the war on Iran began, Barrack lobbied Iraqi and Syrian officials to include Ghandour's TI Capital in the Kirkuk-Baghdad pipeline project, which is expected to cost $15 billion and take four years to complete. In June, one month before the consortium agreement was signed, Barrack and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi issued a joint statement announcing Iraq's decision to sign the MoU with TI Capital to participate in the pipeline project. Reuters stated that it found no evidence that Barrack will directly profit from the pipeline or other projects. Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer and University of Minnesota Law School professor, says advocating for TI Capital's inclusion violated US ethics rules because of his relationship with Ghandour. Barack's actions violate the impartiality rule, which applies regardless of whether a US official stands to gain financially. His promotion of TI Capital violates a regulation prohibiting officials from using their office to endorse any enterprise or the benefit people with whom they are affiliated, Don Fox, a former general counsel and acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics, explained. Barrack discussed the idea of bringing TI Capital into the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline project during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles in May, one of the sources speaking with Reuters stated. Barrack and Ghandour participated in an invite-only panel at the conference, where they discussed the need for new energy supply lines in West Asia amid the ongoing closure of Hormuz. Iraqi officials have said TI Capital will join another consortium with UCC Holding and ConocoPhillips to assess the Akkas gas field, one of Iraq's largest undeveloped reserves. The firm also states on its website that it is involved in projects at Syria's Tartous port, without providing details. A person close to Barrack said Ghandour is playing a key role in implementing Trump's regional strategy of bringing Iraq and Syria closer to the US. "Ziad is the chosen man. Hand-picked by Barrack," the person said.

Mazama Energy raises $135 million to test superhot-rock geothermal in Oregon. Key points * Mazama says its oversubscribed Series B was led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital, with ConocoPhillips, Shell Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier among the participants. [[1]] * The company says its Athena well reached 10,350 feet in 15 drilling days and is being extended toward rock at roughly 750°F. [[1]] * Mazama's 15-megawatt claim is described differently across its materials: the funding announcement says 15 MWe per well, while the project page describes a two-well pair targeting 15 megawatts in initial testing. [[1]] [[2]] * The Bureau of Land Management has completed a categorical exclusion for the Ceres drilling plan, but additional drilling permits remain necessary. [[3]] Mazama Energy has raised $135 million to push its superhot-rock geothermal project in central Oregon toward a power-generation test, giving the startup capital to drill deeper, build horizontal wells and target temperatures above the point where water becomes supercritical. [[1]] The Frisco, Texas-based company says Project Ceres could demonstrate 15 megawatts of initial capacity in 2027 at its Newberry site. That figure is a design target: Mazama has created and circulated an engineered reservoir at high temperature, but its new system has not yet generated electricity. [[1]] [[2]] A faster second well, aimed at hotter rock. The financing includes an oversubscribed Series B led by Centaurus Capital, founded by John Arnold, and Doerr Capital. ConocoPhillips and Shell Ventures joined the round, while Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier reinvested. SiteGround Capital, H. Barton Asset Management and the Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild Foundation also participated. Mazama's announcement describes the total as $135 million in new capital; Axios reported that the amount includes the Series B and grants. [[1]] [[4]] Mazama's Newberry project is near Newberry Volcano in central Oregon. In 2025, the company drilled a well to 10,200 feet and reported 629°F, or 331°C, at the bottom after creating an engineered geothermal reservoir and circulating water through it. That result established the company's reported temperature record, but it was not commercial power production. [[1]] [[2]] Project Athena, the second well, reached 10,350 feet in 15 drilling days in September 2026, according to Mazama. The company says it is drilling roughly another mile toward rock at about 750°F, or 400°C. At about 705°F, water reaches its critical point and becomes a supercritical fluid that can carry more energy than ordinary hot water or steam. [[1]] [[2]] How the 15-megawatt target would work. Mazama's system is an enhanced-geothermal design. It drills into hot, relatively impermeable rock, creates connected flow paths underground, injects water and brings heated fluid back to the surface. A power plant would then convert that heat into electricity. The company groups the approach under its MUSE platform, which combines high-temperature drilling, its Thermal Lattice reservoir technology and heat-harvesting tools. [[2]] [[5]] The company's public materials use two different descriptions of the initial power target. The funding announcement says Ceres will advance horizontal wells toward 15 MWe of capacity per well. Mazama's project page says Ceres consists of two horizontal wells, each more than half a mile long, connected by an engineered reservoir and designed to generate 15 megawatts in initial testing. That distinction matters because a 15-megawatt well and a 15-megawatt well pair imply different drilling costs and project economics. [[1]] [[2]] Mazama plans to use Ceres to demonstrate power generation in 2027. Its longer-term plan calls for a 200-megawatt Newberry plant, with drilling and construction during 2027 and 2028, first power targeted for 2029 and full output in 2030. The company says it is seeking independent certification of more than 10 gigawatts of resource potential at the site, a resource estimate separate from demonstrated generating capacity. [[1]] [[2]] Permits are advancing, while the economics remain modeled. The Bureau of Land Management says it completed a categorical exclusion and decision record for Project Ceres in July 2026. The approved plan covers one well pad, access-road work, up to three geothermal wells, a freshwater well and possible waterline routes. BLM also says subsequent sundry notices and geothermal drilling permits must still be issued. [[3]] Mazama's website models a levelized cost of electricity of $59 per megawatt-hour using GEOPHIRES, a 500-megawatt, 30-year project, the federal Section 48E investment tax credit and temperature scenarios from 200°C to 450°C. The presentation compares that modeled figure with a $45-per-megawatt-hour Department of Energy target, a $50-to-$100 natural-gas range and $141-plus for new nuclear. Those are modeled comparisons, not costs from an operating Mazama plant. [[2]] The technical hurdles extend beyond drilling speed. Independent geothermal research identifies unresolved questions around well and tool integrity, fluid-rock reactions, reservoir longevity and injection-induced seismicity in superhot conditions. DOE describes Mazama's Newberry work as a demonstration intended to test whether a commercially viable reservoir can be created under those conditions. [[5]] [[6]] A crowded field of advanced geothermal developers. Mazama is raising capital as several geothermal companies move from laboratory claims toward field demonstrations. Canary Media reported that Fervo Energy went public in 2026 and signed a large power-purchase agreement with Google, while Sage Geosystems began producing power from a pilot system in Texas. Quaise Energy, which is also pursuing deep geothermal near Newberry, closed a $180 million funding round in August 2026. [[4]] Those projects do not use identical designs. Fervo is developing horizontal enhanced-geothermal reservoirs at more conventional temperatures, Sage is testing a pressure-based geothermal system, and Quaise is developing millimeter-wave drilling for very deep wells. Mazama's differentiator is its attempt to create a productive reservoir at temperatures approaching or exceeding the supercritical threshold. [[4]] [[7]] Mazama's next concrete test is therefore Ceres: whether high-temperature horizontal wells can sustain commercial fluid flow and convert underground heat into measurable electricity. Until that happens, the 15-megawatt figure and the company's $59-per-megawatt-hour estimate remain engineering targets rather than operating results. [[1]] [[2]] Companies mentioned. At the intersection of AI, tech, and markets. The stories that matter, in one email. Free - unsubscribe anytime.