As the AI boom enters its next phase, Cloudflare and Akamai Technologies are providing the critical infrastructure needed for autonomous agent deployment.
As the AI boom enters its next phase, Cloudflare and Akamai Technologies are providing the critical infrastructure needed for autonomous agent deployment.
Michael Vi/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Intro American Express Company ( AXP ) has had a rough couple of months, declining 9% in 6 months. With many short-term forces acting against AXP, such as Trump’s intention to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and the oil shock caused by the war, it may provide a nice opportunity to buy based on long-term fundamentals. Since his tweet, Trump has not...
Michael Vi/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Intro American Express Company ( AXP ) has had a rough couple of months, declining 9% in 6 months. With many short-term forces acting against AXP, such as Trump’s intention to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and the oil shock caused by the war, it may provide a nice opportunity to buy based on long-term fundamentals. Since his tweet, Trump has not posted anything else about it, and considering the massive hassle to pass such an act and the massive impact it will have on the economy, I highly doubt this cap will happen. Although there has been a significant de-escalation of the war, there is no certainty of a definitive ceasefire, and the oil shock can reduce spending and even trigger a recession. Out of all of the issuers, I believe AXP is the most resistant,, as its cardholders are generally more financially able to withstand financial pressure. I also believe that in the long term, a recession will not cause AXP to lose cardholders and all of the advantages that come with it. In this article, I will detail its sustainability by explaining its moat, covering its recent changes, and discussing how industry threats can affect AXP in the long term. Business overview AXP operates under a closed-loop system, which means that AXP is the network, the issuer, and, in many cases, the acquirer all at once. Although AXP does not enjoy the margins that Visa ( V ) and Mastercard ( MA ) have, it has an edge in the data it collects. It can collect data on who spent how much, where, and what merchant received it. While owning a network is an incredible business, AXP’s real moat is the customer relationships it has with high-net-worth customers. These cardholders typically spend 50% more, pay their loans faster, and are a key reason why merchants accept paying a higher rate per transaction to Amex. The average proprietary basic card member spend has been steadily increasing at 5% annually over the past 6 years, reaching $25,000 in ...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis Kinross Gold ( KGC ) is the kind of miner that I like because of a couple of reasons. One is that the cash is already there. Also, the balance sheet is already repaired. And thirdly, I believe the next leg is already visible. That is why I am comfortable rating KGC a Strong Buy because the company finished 2025 with a record free cash flow of $2.47 ...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis Kinross Gold ( KGC ) is the kind of miner that I like because of a couple of reasons. One is that the cash is already there. Also, the balance sheet is already repaired. And thirdly, I believe the next leg is already visible. That is why I am comfortable rating KGC a Strong Buy because the company finished 2025 with a record free cash flow of $2.47 Bn, a net cash of $1 Bn and a plan to return 40% of FCFs to shareholders in 2026. In addition to that, I also note that management has greenlit 3 US growth projects . And these three together carry a combined post-tax NAV of $4.1 Bn at a $4300 gold price. KGC is also expected to add about 3 Moz of production over time. To me, this is a cash machine with a second engine already being bolted on. KGC's revenue growth y/y sits at 36.95%, while the sector median sits at 4.22%. Also, I note that the FWD revenue growth rate stands at 24.34%, while the sector median stands at 5.97%. Additionally, the FWD EPS long-term growth is at 67%, while the sector median is at 16.31%. I am emphasizing these numbers because they help in explaining why I am comfortable rating the stock a Strong Buy. Seeking Alpha I also note that the company has a healthy visibility about their guidance, given that the company has been meeting their guidance, as noted by the CEO, Paul Rollinson ...we met our guidance once again, delivered robust margins and generated free cash flow of $2.5 billion... ...We've given good visibility on our guidance for 3 years and beyond. So we don't feel under any pressure and what that means is if we saw the right thing and we felt it created value, we'd have a look at it. But we certainly don't feel under any pressure and we're quite happy with the organic profile as it looks today... These two quotes are quite important because they tell me exactly what KGC is built on. It tells me that Kinross hit its numbers, expanded their margins, and paid down debt. Also, they raised the ...
Earlier this week I stumbled on a fascinating piece of research led by geography professor Becky Loo at the University of Hong Kong and soon to be published in the Nature Cities journal. Fascinating not just because of its scale – an analysis of 200,000 household travel surveys covering Boston, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong – but because of its focus on daily mobility and social mixing....
Earlier this week I stumbled on a fascinating piece of research led by geography professor Becky Loo at the University of Hong Kong and soon to be published in the Nature Cities journal. Fascinating not just because of its scale – an analysis of 200,000 household travel surveys covering Boston, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong – but because of its focus on daily mobility and social mixing. Its key finding? That people aged over 66 have more encounters with a broader cross-section of...
Supatman/iStock via Getty Images 451 Research from S&P Global Energy Horizons provides technology industry research, data, and advisory solutions. For more information or to contact us, please visit 451 Research. As the war in Iran dominated headlines, AI was drawn into the geopolitical story. Reports suggested that Persian Gulf data center infrastructure linked to US cloud providers had come unde...
Supatman/iStock via Getty Images 451 Research from S&P Global Energy Horizons provides technology industry research, data, and advisory solutions. For more information or to contact us, please visit 451 Research. As the war in Iran dominated headlines, AI was drawn into the geopolitical story. Reports suggested that Persian Gulf data center infrastructure linked to US cloud providers had come under attack, while Anthropic PBC's Claude was reportedly still being used in US military operations even as Anthropic remained in conflict with the Pentagon over safeguards around mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Against that backdrop, the enterprise AI agenda continued to advance, with recent launches reinforcing the industry's shift toward agentic systems. The take While Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon escalated over guardrails on military use, OpenAI LLC ( OPENAI ) struck its own publicized defense agreement. The timing helped generate a "Cancel ChatGPT" backlash online, with critics framing the episode as a test of AI ethics and acceptable-use boundaries. Commentators pointed to a sudden rise in interest in Anthropic's Claude following Anthropic's refusal to support uses tied to mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. OpenAI felt forced to respond, with CEO Sam Altman saying he "shouldn't have rushed" the announcement and acknowledging that the move had appeared "opportunistic and sloppy." While it would be a stretch to suggest this reflects broad consumer alignment with AI ethics, it does suggest that a visible segment of users is paying active attention to questions of acceptable use. Product releases and updates NVIDIA Corp. ( NVDA ) used GTC 2026 to argue that its opportunity now extends beyond AI training infrastructure into the software, model and simulation layers needed for agentic and physical AI. Alongside the Vera Rubin platform and related AI factory infrastructure, the company expanded its open-model portfolio for agentic systems. T...