Rebels Edge · Mon, Apr 27, 2026

Bald Billion-Dollar Breakthrough? Veradermics Sends Hair (and Stocks) Surging | Rebel’s Edge

Summary

John and Pete Najarian discuss a modest market pullback near record highs, volatility, and company-specific catalysts involving critical minerals, hair-loss treatments, smartphone chips, and restaurant earnings. They review unusual options activity in Critical Metals and Qualcomm, emphasizing strike selection and trading discipline. The episode also covers NFL draft selections, international prospects, and their preferred team draft classes.

Major indexes eased slightly after record highs; the hosts suggested the VIX could decline further if market conditions remain calm.
An AI prediction market heavily favored Anthropic over OpenAI for the best model by April's end.
Critical Metals rose following an announced $835 million acquisition of European Lithium; the hosts highlighted gains in at-the-money calls and cautioned against far-out-of-the-money contracts.
Veradermics gained roughly 35% following positive hair-loss treatment results, while the hosts flagged high cash burn and short interest.
Qualcomm jumped on reports of potential OpenAI and MediaTek smartphone-chip partnerships, then retreated; the hosts suggested the reported 2028 production timeline may have tempered enthusiasm.
Domino's fell roughly 9–10% after earnings and revenue missed expectations and guidance weakened; Pete was not ready to buy the decline.
The NFL discussion favored the Raiders' and Packers' draft classes while emphasizing that exceptional athletic testing does not guarantee football success.

INTC MSFT CRML MANE QCOM DPZ NKE

Full transcript

Welcome back to the Rebels Edge. Pete Najarian and I are going to break down a little bit of the NFL draft as well as some Qualcomm news that had that stock popping big and unusual activity all on today's Rebels Edge.
>> [music] [music] >> All right. All right.
Bang.
All [laughter] right. All right. All right.
Yeah, it was fun last week, Pete.
You got to ring the bell. It was really fun for me, John, and the reason I say that is I don't come back to Chicago hardly ever and matter of fact, Jared, who is doing all the the tough stuff in this whole thing with this podcast is uh you know, it's it's fun. It's it's great to see the city. The city itself was uh
bubbling pretty good. Although, I did see a lot of stuff for sale, but uh in the city, but it sure was a great time, John. It was. It was good to see the floors, the trading floors, the screaming and yelling that still exists out there is uh is still pretty cool.
So, that was fun. Seeing the VIX pit and talking to those guys in the VIX pit and all that, that was awesome.
It was. Well, and speaking of VIX, Pete, uh we'll get to it in a sec, but the market after hitting another record high virtually across the board uh softens up a little bit, like you know, 2/10 of a
percent or so to the downside for the Nasdaq, S&P not even down that much, not even 2/10. So, uh I think the macro is that people are sitting and waiting and that's despite the fact that the president, there was yet another
attempted assassination of the president of the United States. Mhm.
Yeah, so you know what and you would have thought that the markets would have a little bit different uh movement going on early on. It's getting a little bit of a sell-off starting to starting to develop a little bit, at least right at the moment anyway, but nothing big. Uh you know, it's it is interesting because there's a lot of things going on obviously in the world from Iran to the
White House and what was going on there and all the rest of it, but uh you know what, I think a lot of people too last week talking about Intel, John, and how what an unbelievable move that made uh this past Friday. That was incredible. And how about the fact that uh the Nasdaq was up 400 points. So, yeah, I would say that the backdrop
actually from the market perspective is looking pretty solid even though we're down a little bit today.
What about the VIX? VIX was down earlier today uh without a rally in the market and uh then it kind of got back to flat, right?
>> Mhm. Yeah, it's that part's interesting, John, because yeah, we we we popped a little bit. We were in the low 19s early on and um started easing back a little bit and now we're more in the the 18s.
It's up about maybe a half a percent right now, but that that can change pretty quickly, but interesting to see where we are. It makes a lot of sense. I mean, if you look at the S&P 500 right now it's down 0.1 and 1/2%. So, uh you know what, it makes sense where it is and actually I wouldn't be
surprised if um without some craziness going on, we could easily see the VIX start to slide into the 17s in the not too distant future, John, based upon the movement of the S&P.
Well, uh I just thought I'd throw this one up for our prediction market view, Pete. Um basically, the question posed by somebody, which is of course what you can do on Polymarket and Kalshi um they can propose whatever they want and then we'll see what kind of action people
come in on either side and so forth.
Question was, what company has the best AI model by the end of April? And overwhelmingly, it's Anthropic, a company that's going to be coming public, but it ain't OpenAI, Pete, which is kind of interesting, right?
It is interesting and and and it's dominant. I mean, the fact that it's like what, it's right there, but 94% uh wow. I I get I don't know enough about all of the various craziness out there, John, with the AI world, but that seems
to be like uh a little bit more tilted than I would have expected. But, uh you know what, we'll find out a lot more.
That's the good and the bad about being a company that's actually out there into the world and no longer private, right?
I mean, they're going to have to report and give us all kinds of things that maybe they wouldn't have wanted to do in the past. So, we'll see. Or maybe they did. Maybe they're so great that they would say, "Oh, yeah, we're going to be on this thing." But, that'll be pretty interesting.
Yeah. Well, you know, and we've got Sam Altman all the time over at OpenAI um and he's shaking things up again, Pete, with Microsoft. Yep. Uh it's just kind of interesting that they're not giving his AI much credit at all right now. It's all Anthropic. Yeah.
>> Um so, we'll we'll keep you guys informed, but just thought you might like to see that.
>> Yeah.
>> All right. Let's dive into critical minerals, Pete. Um because you and I have been involved in a couple critical mineral companies including Eagle which uh you and I were down in Palm Beach when Eagle was uh talking about what they do on the critical mineral side of
the world. Critical metals uh basically agreed to buy a European lithium limited for 835 million and CRML was trading up on that news that they're spending uh basically a lot of money, almost a
billion dollars. What do you think of that deal? Yeah, it's pretty interesting, John. I think they just want to try to get up in as much as they possibly can. They they already had ties in with this company before, so it's more of a closure than anything, but yeah, an Australian company. It's it's interesting. Uh the critical metals, you
know, this thing was up 13% started to ease back a little bit from there, but um it's interesting. By the way, it's still a long ways from the 52-week highs, but that might be something that uh starts to get a little bit more momentum, but yeah, this is like you said, uh a nearly billion-dollar deal with this European lithium. So,
um nothing to sneeze at and something that these guys have been consolidating or trying to consolidate a little bit more and more with this critical minerals, but uh or metals, this this is an interesting one. And you know what, the fact that it's got a 32 and change 52-week high and it's trading somewhere between 12 and 13. Uh there's a lot of
room for this thing to maybe make a move under the right circumstances, John.
Well, and we had some unusual activity.
I mean, just last uh week, Pete, we had on Friday the unusual activity at the uh May 15s. Now, they were buying an out of the money, so you know view that as you will. I thought it would it made more sense to buy the 11s,
you know, the at the money call. Could have bought the 1150s, too, but the 11s went from a basically a buck to over $2, Pete. Mhm. And uh uh I doubt if the 15s have moved all that much.
>> Yeah. Because again, out of the money and they've only got uh four trading days left this week cuz Friday's expiration. So, keep your discipline if you're somebody who followed us into this one. Keep your discipline and always remember that uh Pete and I like trading at the money's much more than
the out of the money's. Mhm. A little bit out of the money, okay, but a lot out of the money like the 15s when it's an $11 stock >> [laughter] >> as Larry David would say.
All right. Now, this next one Maine is an interesting stock and it's interesting for the main reason that they unveiled positive top-line results, Pete, for the first uh non-hormonal FDA-approved oral treatment in 30 years. For For
what?
For [laughter] this.
For the fact that some of us don't have any hair. And it's allegedly uh something that people can take once a day and it regrows hair.
Uh so, I don't want to say I'm waiting outside >> [laughter] >> the drugstore for as soon as they list it, Pete, but sounds pretty good to me.
I think for any of us males, cuz this is a study for men, um I think we who are suffering from a little bit of uh full issues with the our follicles [laughter] Follically challenged, is that what you >> Yeah. The challenge is there, John, but you know what, what a nice bump. I mean,
look at that move on the stock. That was a 35% move to the upside. There's some shorts in there. The cash burn is something that's fairly high that I think you'd want to be aware of, but that's it's kind of interesting. Um you know, this is the first time, John, to go in back to the future, so to speak, because they're going back to the oral.
This is the first treatment in 30 years that that has been in front of them and I'll tell you what, not just you and I, I think there's plenty of men out there that would like to uh potentially at least take a look at this and see if this is something that they'd want to do. And so, because of that, this is pretty meaningful and it's given the
company a heck of a nice move, this biopharma company, to the upside. So, um orally administered, the whole thing and makes it pretty damn simple, John. I I I'll tell you what, I'm not saying I'm in line, but I certainly might take A LOOK AT IT.
>> [laughter] >> WELL, LET'S TALK A little bit, Pete, about Qualcomm then because as I said top of the show, Qualcomm did a deal with an AI, an artificial intelligence. They did the deal with OpenAI and
this securities analyst, Pete, is saying that they are talking with OpenAI about exploring partnerships between Qualcomm and MediaTek to develop smartphone processors.
Obviously, that's something that could move the stock and it did early on, but it gave back a little not not tons, but it did give back a little and this is another one where we've had unusual activity, Pete. And
I'll just point out that that unusual activity in Qualcomm, there it is.
Last Friday, again, somebody has the timing down this good?
Now, I didn't like buying way out in December, folks, just because the great news is that those December options, they wouldn't move much.
They don't move much and that's kind of a bad thing, too. There's almost no time to decay, but the fact that they're not as reactive as short term things, I thought it was better to maybe look at those out of the money's just a little bit out of the money, the October 155s
against the 170s. But stock did move up from one what 148, Pete, to 1 61 today on the highs so far and I think, you know, depending what they put together with OpenAI, could go a lot higher.
Super early this morning, I saw 170 print. So, yeah, this thing this thing made a big move, John. Regardless, 161, 170, either way, it's no longer up there. Last I looked, it was trading about 148. It's up 16% in a month. So, it's had a a really good last month and that's been something I think that's
pretty impressive that they've been able to do, but you were talking about some of these things. I almost wonder if the initial pop one of the reasons maybe that it dropped a little bit, John, was that the production is not expected until 2028.
So, that could be part of the reason. I mean, this thing made a nice spike. It was up there for a moment or two and then I think as people started digging a little deeper, maybe that was the reason. I'm not saying it is absolutely. I'm just saying that that's a possibility because they probably didn't get that far into into this whole
idea of this partnership until they got a little bit deeper and then suddenly we see that big break to the downside as well back kind of back not too terribly far from where they were, but the stock was 134 last Friday and all of a sudden you see it at what 148 or something like that. So, a nice move for the stock
and that move could have been and and and probably would have sustained up there, John, somewhere north of 160, we could even call it, if this was going to be happening a little bit quicker. But I mean, the fact that it's all the way out to 2028, I don't blame people maybe for kind of pulling back a little bit on
that.
Well, now we've got one, Pete, that's a bit of a head scratcher, I think.
Domino's Pizza, DPZ, because you look back a year ago and the stock was basically 490 bucks a share. Now it's 333.
That's a, you know, 160 points more or less drop in a year. That ain't good and it's down 9% today.
Basically, mixed expectations. Their Q1 results basically revenue 1.15 billion, EPS $4.13, but just not showing the kind of year-over-year growth that people were looking for, Pete. I think people are pretty frustrated about it, John, as a
matter of fact. I mean, it was it's down year-to-date 20%. It's down in the last year about 31%.
And you were talking about the year-over-year, yeah, I mean, they missed pretty substantially on the earnings. They were looking for 428 and they came back with 413. That's not so great. And even the revenue was down just a little bit, but it was still down from where they are the expectations were. And then added to everything else, they had some lower guidance. So, the
combination of all of that brings you to where we are where the stock's down what about 10% today, something very close to that, I think, at least. So, getting beat up a little bit, but you know what, the fact that it's down 31% year-over-year or over the last year, that's not so great, John. I mean, this they're they're struggling. I think
there's competition. I'd almost throw them in the category of Nike where everything's been great, but now competition is starting to come there.
There's a lot of other things that I think are getting in the way for Domino's. They're having to do things to get people to still come come to them. I I think the sales numbers themselves are pretty decent, but it's because of how they've gotten those sales, right? I mean, cut cut cut cut cut and all of a sudden margins don't look as good, either. So,
there's a lot of lot of things going on, I think, right now within Domino's. If if somebody said to me, "Hey, are you looking at this name to buy something here after this big sell-off?" I don't think it's the time yet. I'd I'd like to see them be able to show us that they can compete in the environment that we're in today. And right now, they're not competing very well at all.
No, I mean, it basically erased all the way back to June of 2023, Pete. So, nearly 2 years of gains just wiped out.
Not today, but ever since the sell-off started in Let me see, July, no, May of 2024.
Man, it has been, you know, just backing and filling to the downside. Not at all what you'd like to see if you're a a true believer in Domino's. Mhm. All right, let's dive in a little bit into sports video, Pete, cuz we always like
to kick it off with a video here or there about some of these players and this one I thought was very interesting because the NFL just crushed again on ratings, Pete. I'm sure we're going to hear for the next several
days how much they beat the Stanley Cup and all the rest, you know, any playoffs that are going on right now, they're being dwarfed by the NFL. But let's give this a listen, shall we?
Eagles just drafted a Nigerian who has never played football. He might be the most freakish athlete we have ever seen.
That's not the Nigerian. Eagles went back to the international player pathway, the same program that gave us Jordan Mailata, to draft Ed as a tackle or Bernard. And his story is unbelievable because he grew up farming in a village in Nigeria, did not pick up a basketball until he was 16, and has never played a single snap of football in his life. But in the actual goodness measurables, you're going to understand
why Philadelphia took a big gamble.
Bernard stands 6'4" and weighs 306 lb.
But here's the kicker. That's a 390 lb That's a 300 figure. And at his pro day, he put up numbers that no human being that size should ever be able to go ahead and put up. He ran a 4.63 40-yard dash. For context, that's faster than most tight ends and some linebackers. He also
posted a 39-in vertical and a 10-ft 10-in broad jump, which is a full foot further than any defensive tackle ever recorded at the NFL combine. And he finished with a 10.0 RAS score. Relative athletic score, perfect. It's amazing.
Perfect RAS, I have never seen a prospect like this in my entire life. I mean, can we compare his numbers to, say, Myles Garrett's NFL combine numbers? Myles Garrett back in 2017, this guy had better numbers overall.
Now, he actually he is incredibly raw.
Never played football in his entire life. This is going to be Incredibly raw or holy cow. a project for Howie, but the fact they [laughter] spent a seventh-round draft pick on him tells me they think they can get something out of this. And hey, if there's any team that can do it, they did it with Jordan Mailata, never played football ever. He is an all-pro Pro Bowl left tackle in the National Football League. If Ed
Bernard gets even half that good with this athleticism, Philadelphia just got not the steal of the draft, I mean, the steal of a lifetime.
Eagles just drafted a Nigerian It is amazing. You know what, though, Pete?
He one thing he skipped over, however, was Mailata. Yeah.
I'm not sure I'm pronouncing his name right, that guy right there. Um Mailata was a rugby player. Yes. That's a different sort of guy. I mean, if you're playing rugby, at number one, you're you've got contact. You've got hits, um you've been hit and all the
rest. Now, I'm sure that this big man can handle hits, but we don't know how well he can handle them. We don't know how well he can deliver them.
If he was on the Nigerian rugby team, I'd be even more bullish. Clearly, he's a freak show of an athlete. Can they make him, um you know, if if a coach works with him basically May, June, July, August, 4 months before he act actually has to go
against another team other than his own guys, Pete? Yeah. Um I think you could teach a guy to be a defensive tackle within that and maybe you're going to tell me because he runs 4.6, he could be an edge rusher. And maybe, but I'm thinking, you know, a big
dude like this is they're probably going to want him at tackle and occasionally let him loop around the outside as an edge rusher. Yeah, I I think you could do both uh quite frankly, but I I can tell you from an experience that I had John, I played in the World Football League after the NFL and it was great, great experience. One of the things that
they did in the World Football League was every single team, every single team. Originally you can draft, you know, you go through a regular draft just like the NFL and that was great, but then every team had to have four players, I think it was four, might have been five, but whatever it was four or
five players on every roster of somebody from outside of the United States and the likelihood that they ever played football was pretty unlikely. So, I can tell you this, it is a very very difficult thing if you've never played football and like you said, it would be
helpful had you not played football, but you did play rugby. Rugby's a basically football without pads, right? I mean, for the most part. So, um you at least understand the game inside and out and I I want the best for this guy. I think he's an absolute freak. He's doing everything the right way and it's
impressive. I mean, you watch what he does, but I'll tell you John, um you've got to understand all the blocking schemes, everything that's coming at you and it comes at you fast in the NFL, which is why great players often times still don't play all that well in the NFL because they're playing against
nothing but great players. So, you know, it makes it a lot more difficult, but you know what? You and I talked about this kid being a freak show couple weeks ago when we heard about him and and some of the numbers and everything else. Um it's always fun to try, but we had shot putters from Germany, we had guys from all over the world or whatever and let
me tell you >> Kickers probably. John, not one of them could play WORTH A DAMN.
>> [laughter] >> NO, WHY?
CUZ THEY NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL BEFORE.
SO, THEY DON'T understand it and they don't understand hey, if the guard's pulling, it doesn't always mean that the play is going there. Maybe it's do they're doing it for a different reason.
All these things that as a football player you see and know, but if you've never played, this is a guy who could definitely be running all over the place, make some great plays, some tackles and the next thing you know, he's completely out of place because he has no idea where he's going. So, it'll be interesting to see, but he is a
freak, there ain't no doubt. I mean, the body and everything else about him is just off the charts. And by the way, >> [laughter] >> I don't I don't know how natural that looks, but anyway, how about we do this John? [laughter] What What team crushed it in the draft this year?
It's easy for me to say this, but I love what they did all the way around. So, I'm going to say the Raiders. I've been saying the Raiders are the Seattle of this year and I honestly am starting to believe more and more about that John.
So, they get the very first pick, they did exactly what they said they were going to do and Fernando Mendoza is the first pick in the draft and he went of course to the Raiders. Everybody loves that. You know what else they did John?
They went to the University of Arizona and stole two safeties from Arizona. So, you've got two safeties back there in the secondary. Oh, what else did they do? They went and got two cornerbacks who also came from different parts of the of college football, but nonetheless, one of them, the kid from
Tennessee is a total freak show and for some reason he started to slide a little bit. So, you got two safeties, you got two corners, they're addressing things on the defensive side and oh by the way, let's go for some offense. They also got one of the best centers in the draft.
They got him nice and early, this kid Trey Sermon and then lastly, they got the running back John from Arkansas who only runs a 43340, who does play football, so he knows what he's doing on the football field with that speed, but Mike Washington. So, I think everywhere you look, you go, well,
it it seems like the Raiders did just about everything they could to get themselves better and this is the first real coach, in my opinion, in a long time down there. Pete Carroll was too old, some of the other guys were probably too young and not and and you know, inexperienced. Now, I think you've got a a coach who will understand this
and oh by the way, behind your shoulder is going to be Tom Brady telling you how to take take care of Fernando. So, I like what the Raiders did. How about you?
I like what the Raiders did a lot Pete um and like you said from the very beginning, you can't just draft a quarterback and maybe a receiver. You got to get some O-linemen because he's used to having great O-linemen because virtually his line,
all the ones that came out Pete, they're playing in on Sunday this year. Um so, uh he needed a good line and I think he's going to have it. My pick Pete is going to be uh uh Green Bay Packers. Yeah. They didn't even have a first round pick because of course uh they made some
trades last year. We all know that.
Micah Parsons and so forth, I think he'll without the injury, I think he'll be ready for camp this year and hopefully uh playing at the same high level he started uh 2025 at, but they picked up a cornerback from South Carolina that's a stud in round two. Uh
they picked up a defensive tackle who is an absolute beast from Missouri. Um and I don't like saying this because I don't like the Green Bay Packers. You're a Bear. But I got to give them I got to give them credit. Um you know, yeah, the Chicago Bears, we'll talk about them tomorrow like you said, oh
John, you're a Bear, but Green Bay, they kind of scare you a little bit with these picks. An edge rusher from Penn State that's really good. A guy that played guard, center and tackle at Kentucky and this Kentucky team was a good one Pete this past year.
Quarterback from Alabama that's a hitter and then they got this guy what? Trey Sermon, the kicker who all he's done is the kid anything within 70, he's automatic.
That's not me.
And they traded up to get him. How many times do you trade up to get a kicker?
Well, they did because they knew they needed it after the Bears uh dusted them off a couple times last year and they didn't like it at all.
Yeah. I like it. I think you're dead dead on on on that John. Matter of fact, I'll tell you what, I love seeing in the NFL, they're really going after some of these D3 players as well John and not necessarily drafting, some of them yes, every once in a while you get a guy drafted, but giving them an opportunity, right? I mean, the kid from the
University of Wisconsin-River Falls won a couple national championships, I believe at at Wisconsin-River Falls John, the quarterback. He went to the Saints and they got a couple other guys, but uh the the other thing I wanted to just jump on real quick that you and I talked about last week was we talked about uh Jack Strang from Minnesota-Moorhead.
Well, he signed with the Falcons. He didn't get drafted, but he got signed with the Falcons and that's that kid John that goes about 6'5, about 240 who can launch the ball pretty good, threw a hell of a lot of touchdowns. He's got a lot of uh game play. I know it's, you know, the next level down, whatever you want to
say to D2 and all that stuff, but I'll tell you what, some of these guys can fit in pretty nice. That Cole Payton is another one, the kid from North Dakota State, quarterback. He's got the size, he's got the arm, he's got the winning ability. I mean, the guy knows how to get the ball to his receivers and all the rest of it. He went in the fifth
round to the Philadelphia Eagles. So, I'll tell you what, the general manager for the Eagles has to be the best in a in the NFL because consistently they do get the right people and they find ways to get guys that nobody else has
uncovered for whatever reason. So, I give him Howie Roseman, I I give him all the props in the world for what he's been able to do John, but so lastly, why don't we just finish with this?
Who was the best pick in the draft and I think you and I both agree on this one.
The Pittsburgh Steelers decided to go for a wide receiver out of Navy who is an absolute freak. He runs a 4440.
They they get the ability to go into the NFL and do their thing, you know, when they've come there. There's a couple other players too John that came from military schools that got drafted, which is very very cool. So, Eli at the 230th pick John, the wide receiver, I'll tell
you what, that kid is going to be really really fun and I think he's going to be legit at the NFL level because everybody who's ever talked about him, seen him play says he is special and he's kind of a running back {slash} receiver, which as we've seen in the past, those kind of players can make their way onto the
field a little bit quicker than some of the other guys and I'll tell you what, I could see this kid if he had to play running back and they wanted him to throw him in there for that or or just a standard wide receiver position and I'll tell you what, I'm wondering if Aaron Rodgers is taking note of some of the things that they did because he hasn't
committed yet John, but I'm going to say this right now, he's going to commit to the Pittsburgh Steelers this year.
Well, that Eli or Elijah Yeah.
>> Hymen Reich. Yep. Um he is a beast.
You'll hear that name a lot folks. If he stays healthy, that kid's going to be sort of like a cross he's not as small as Edelman, um but he's reminds me Pete of like Christian McCaffrey. Um so, watch this guy. Again, I'm I'm saying he's Christian McCaffrey. We all know
how at a Stanford that kid was like just magic. Right. But this guy is pretty damn stout and he's fast, great hands, and obviously winning attitude. So Yeah.
And he's precious.
I got to jump on the plane, Pete. Have a good one. I'm going to see all of you guys from Vegas tomorrow 1:00 Eastern time.
We'll see you then.
>> [music]

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