Elijah-Lovkoff/iStock via Getty Images Blackstone Mortgage Trust ( BXMT ) has worked diligently in the last two years in reducing the size of its office loan portfolio which has weighed on the REIT's financial performance. BXMT's impaired loans in turn dragged down the mortgage REIT's distributable earnings and dividend coverage which necessitated a 24% dividend cut in 2024. Since then, however, t...
Elijah-Lovkoff/iStock via Getty Images Blackstone Mortgage Trust ( BXMT ) has worked diligently in the last two years in reducing the size of its office loan portfolio which has weighed on the REIT's financial performance. BXMT's impaired loans in turn dragged down the mortgage REIT's distributable earnings and dividend coverage which necessitated a 24% dividend cut in 2024. Since then, however, the mortgage REIT has seen a consistent improvement in its dividend coverage trend which as of the end of the fourth-quarter stood at 109%. Blackstone Mortgage Trust now published two consecutive quarters of more than 100% dividend coverage, drastically reducing the odds of another dividend cut. This, in combination with the second-largest discount to book value in the CRE finance REIT industry group, justifies a rating up-grade to buy, in my opinion. Data by YCharts Previous rating Shares of Blackstone Mortgage Trust were a hold for me -- Improving Outlook For 2026 -- following the company’s dividend cut in 2024, but I am now willing to up-grade shares to buy due to favorable underlying business trends. While Blackstone Mortgage Trust continues to suffer from a high amount of impaired loans in its portfolios that require resolution, the overall trend in the distributable earnings metric as well as the coverage ratio is a positive one, mainly due to a past dividend cut that realigned its dividend with lower income expectations. I like Blackstone Mortgage Trust here, given its solid growth in earnings available for distribution/EAD and the coverage profile. Shifting portfolio structure, focus on non-office properties Blackstone Mortgage Trust originates mortgage loans for commercial properties, invests in bank loans and owns real estate directly in order to generate income. This income is then distributed to shareholders of the business on a recurring basis. The main reason to own Blackstone Mortgage Trust is therefore to capture a 9.6% dividend yield with the potential of ca...
baona/iStock via Getty Images Over several years, I have regularly followed the offshore drilling industry with a particular emphasis on forecasting future revenues based on backlog. I most recently advised investors to scrutinize backlog on Noble's recent earnings report and concluded that Transocean's backlog remains pivotal even given the Valaris acquisition . Please consider the following anal...
baona/iStock via Getty Images Over several years, I have regularly followed the offshore drilling industry with a particular emphasis on forecasting future revenues based on backlog. I most recently advised investors to scrutinize backlog on Noble's recent earnings report and concluded that Transocean's backlog remains pivotal even given the Valaris acquisition . Please consider the following analysis as a continuation of my work regarding the offshore drilling industry. Recent Outperformance Over the last six months, Borr Drilling Limited ( BORR ) and its offshore drilling peers have dramatically outpaced the S&P 500 despite only modest gains by crude oil. Offshore Drillers: 6M Performance Seeking Alpha BORR has gained over 150% while NE, RIG, and VAL each gained 70%, 123%, and 109%, respectively. Over the same period, crude oil gained only 7% and remains near a 5YR low. Crude oil's recent rally in response to global tensions (particularly regarding Iran) has provided some additional fuel but does not fully explain the offshore drilling industry's outperformance. Likewise, RIG's plan to acquire VAL has provided a recent boost but lends little support for the wider trend. Recently, BORR's momentum has continued with a new 52Wk high of $6.07. What Is Driving BORR's Momentum? Assuming BOOR's extraordinary momentum has some catalyst beyond sentiment, I suspect it is all about market expectation's regarding BORR's rebounding revenue and the broader offshore drilling upcycle. Shares frequently advance and retreat, but generally track with revenue growth over longer periods. BORR Price, Revenue, & Revenue Growth Seeking Alpha From mid 2021 through mid 2023, share price generally trended upward as revenue growth increased with shares peaking at over $8 in August of 2023. By late 2023, the trend reversed; BORR's revenue growth slowed and share price trended down through mid 2025. The last six months are somewhat puzzling. BORR's share price has spiked over 150% while revenu...
Institutional investors have turned long the Australian dollar for the first time in more than a year, driven by the combination of a hawkish Reserve Bank and weak greenback. After holding a net short position since October 2024, asset managers are now of the same bullish view as their leveraged peers, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data for the week through Feb. 17. Leverage...
Institutional investors have turned long the Australian dollar for the first time in more than a year, driven by the combination of a hawkish Reserve Bank and weak greenback. After holding a net short position since October 2024, asset managers are now of the same bullish view as their leveraged peers, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data for the week through Feb. 17. Leveraged funds had already flipped to a long bias in December. With Australian economic data forecast to stay strong while US data becomes choppy, and as commodity prices surge, traders are positioning for a wider divergence between the Reserve Bank and Federal Reserve. The Aussie has climbed as much as 7% against the greenback in 2026, hitting 0.7147 — its year-to-date high — on Feb. 12. The Aussie traded around 70.8 US cents in Asian trading on Monday. “We see the Aussie tracking in a higher average range than what it has over the past few years,” Peter Dragicevich , currency strategist at Corpay Inc., wrote in a note. “The shift up in the level of interest rates and swing in interest rate differentials in Australia’s favor could also limit how deep and long-lasting Aussie pullbacks may be.”
Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Hynix Inc. ’s parent SK Group pledged to grow production of AI memory chips to meet a surge in demand from the global data center buildout. The billionaire chief of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate also called high-bandwidth memory a “monster chip” that’s generating enormous profits for SK Hynix when speaking at a conference in Washington on Feb. 20. The chipma...
Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Hynix Inc. ’s parent SK Group pledged to grow production of AI memory chips to meet a surge in demand from the global data center buildout. The billionaire chief of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate also called high-bandwidth memory a “monster chip” that’s generating enormous profits for SK Hynix when speaking at a conference in Washington on Feb. 20. The chipmaker’s share price has more than quadrupled over the past year on record earnings . While Chey did not specify the scale of his chip firm’s expansion, SK Hynix said in January that its capital expenditure in 2026 will rise significantly from its spending last year to satisfy demand for HBM chips that are required to make accelerators designed by the likes of Nvidia Corp. to train and run artificial intelligence services. US tech firms from Microsoft Corp. to Meta Platforms Inc. are allocating about $650 billion this year for infrastructure that gives them an edge in the race to build AI technologies. That record spending is causing a global shortage of memory chips, a market that’s dominated by SK Hynix, its South Korean peer Samsung Electronics Co., and US-based Micron Technology Inc. SK Hynix has sold out its entire slate of memory chips in 2026, while Micron has done similarly with its HBM offerings. Read: Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis But Chey also cautioned losses are still a possibility in the future due to potential changes in the competitive landscape caused by rapid technological shifts. The average of analyst projections for SK Hynix’s annual operating profit for 2026 has risen to $70 billion in January from about $50 billion late last year, and some have revised that up again to more than $100 billion, according to Chey. “That sounds like really good news,” Chey said, “but it could just as easily turn into a $100 billion loss.” Chey also highlighted mounting infrastructure challenges. He said SK Group is now exploring building power...
The chipmaker’s share price has more than quadrupled over the past year on record earnings. While Chey did not specify the scale of his chip firm’s expansion, SK Hynix said in January that its capital expenditure in 2026 will rise significantly from its spending last year to satisfy demand for HBM chips that are required to make accelerators designed by the likes of Nvidia Corp. to train and run a...
The chipmaker’s share price has more than quadrupled over the past year on record earnings. While Chey did not specify the scale of his chip firm’s expansion, SK Hynix said in January that its capital expenditure in 2026 will rise significantly from its spending last year to satisfy demand for HBM chips that are required to make accelerators designed by the likes of Nvidia Corp. to train and run artificial intelligence services.
Sergio Delle Vedove/iStock Editorial via Getty Images A changing tariff landscape has left NIKE, Inc. ( NKE ) in an interesting spot. The apparel giant’s margins have been pressured significantly by tariffs on the company’s critical sourcing countries, but the Supreme Court’s recent ruling could now ease tariff pressure. Ultimately, Trump hasn’t yet given up on the tariff regime, and alternative w...
Sergio Delle Vedove/iStock Editorial via Getty Images A changing tariff landscape has left NIKE, Inc. ( NKE ) in an interesting spot. The apparel giant’s margins have been pressured significantly by tariffs on the company’s critical sourcing countries, but the Supreme Court’s recent ruling could now ease tariff pressure. Ultimately, Trump hasn’t yet given up on the tariff regime, and alternative ways to impose tariffs legally continue to weigh on the outlook. Nike’s brand turnaround remains volatile. I initiated the stock at a Sell rating in my previous August 2025 article on the stock, titled “ Nike: The Odds Are Stacked Against Shareholders ”. The stock has since lost -14% of its value, losing to the S&P 500’s 8% return. My rating History on NKE (Seeking Alpha) The Supreme Court's Tariff Ruling Is Positive for Nike, But the Tariff Battle Isn't Over Yet The Supreme Court decided on Trump’s tariffs on the 20 th of February. The court decision ruled that Trump’s tariff regime under the IEEPA is illegal, effectively dropping tariffs to a pre-“Liberation Day” level and potentially bringing an end to fast-changing tariff policies and related trade uncertainty. The decision has major implications for Nike alongside most, if not all, other apparel companies in the U.S. market. Ruling the tariffs as illegal could get rid of a massive a cost burden, improving margins; Nike sources nearly all of its products from Vietnam, Indonesia, and China, previously facing tariff rates of approximately 19-20%. Nike noted in the previous Q2 earnings call that tariffs cause a massive $1.5 billion burden as incremental product costs on an annual basis, around 40% of the company’s total $3.7 billion operating income in FY2025. Tariffs caused a 520 basis point headwind on Nike's U.S. gross margin in Q2. The apparel sector’s ability to shift the tariff burden onto consumers through pricing has been limited so far, especially as the consumer sentiment has been weak. Nike’s global gross margin ...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Fund performance Columbia Acorn International Institutional Share Class returned -2.22% for the three months ending December 31, 2025. The fund's benchmark, the MSCI EAFE Small Mid Cap Growth Index, returned 0.24% for the same period. In sector terms, positioning in industrials and consumer discretionary led positive contributions to performance relative to the benc...
peshkov/iStock via Getty Images Fund performance Columbia Acorn International Institutional Share Class returned -2.22% for the three months ending December 31, 2025. The fund's benchmark, the MSCI EAFE Small Mid Cap Growth Index, returned 0.24% for the same period. In sector terms, positioning in industrials and consumer discretionary led positive contributions to performance relative to the benchmark, while positioning in communication services, materials and consumer staples weighed most heavily on relative performance. Market overview International equity markets posted generally positive returns in the fourth quarter of 2025, capping a strong year in which they were supported by fiscal stimulus and robust earnings growth in Europe and Japan. The Chinese market was an outlier for the quarter, declining on signs of softening growth, government stimulus efforts that were less vigorous than hoped for and a resurgence in U.S.-China trade friction. Within international equities, value stocks outperformed their growth peers for both the quarter and the calendar year. Returns for international small- and mid-cap growth stocks lagged the broader market. The quarter saw relative performance largely bifurcated along the lines of companies perceived to be AI beneficiaries and those viewed as having their business models threatened by AI. In this vein, the fund's underperformance for the quarter vs. the benchmark, in significant part, reflects what we believe is an overstated view of the potential for large language model-driven tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Alphabet's Gemini to displace certain businesses. Top holdings (% of net assets): as of December 31, 2025 Taisei ( TISCY ) 2.97 Halma ( HALMY ) 2.69 Niterra ( NGKSY ) 2.59 Bank Of Ireland Group ( BKRIY ) 2.58 Kokusai Electric ( KOKSF ) 2.43 Capcom ( CCOEY ) 2.42 Prysmian ( PRYMY ) 2.40 Hexagon AB-B Shs ( HXGBY ) 2.25 Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (FSPKY) 2.20 Babcock Intl Group ( BCKIY ) 2.18 Top holdings exclude shor...