Key Points Inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's preferred target and could worsen as oil prices surge due to the conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised lower, while unemployment rose in February. Although it's impossible to predict what will happen in the Middle East, investors should remember that things can change quickly. These 10 stocks ...
Key Points Inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's preferred target and could worsen as oil prices surge due to the conflict in Iran. Meanwhile, fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised lower, while unemployment rose in February. Although it's impossible to predict what will happen in the Middle East, investors should remember that things can change quickly. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › Over the past several years, there have been frequent concerns about stagflation, characterized by high or elevated inflation, rising unemployment, and low growth. This particular situation wreaked havoc on the economy in the 1970s, which is why investors get spooked at just the smallest whiff of stagflation. While stagflation concerns dissipated over the past year, they have once again reared their ugly head, as recent economic data and the conflict in Iran have quickly renewed concerns. While it's certainly understandable for investors to be worried, I don't believe it's time to panic just yet. Here's why. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Economic conditions have deteriorated I won't sugarcoat it: Signs of stagflation have certainly emerged. The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, rose 2.8% year over year and 0.3% from the previous month. The headline 2.8% number actually came in slightly better than expected, which is good news. However, that's still well above the Fed's 2% target rate, and the number will likely be much higher when the March PCE price index is released, due to surging oil prices resulting from the conflict in Iran. The core PCE number, which strips out more volatile food and energy costs, came in at 3.1% and rose 0.4% during the month, slightly higher than e...
My bearish stance on Palantir is centered on its expensive valuation. Palantir’s forward P/E multiple of 114x makes the company look expensively valued. The real insights, however, are buried deep in its valuation. For Q4 2025, the company reported a Rule of 40 score of 127% . Rule of 40 scores are calculated by adding revenue growth and adjusted operating margin. A closer evaluation of this strat...
My bearish stance on Palantir is centered on its expensive valuation. Palantir’s forward P/E multiple of 114x makes the company look expensively valued. The real insights, however, are buried deep in its valuation. For Q4 2025, the company reported a Rule of 40 score of 127% . Rule of 40 scores are calculated by adding revenue growth and adjusted operating margin. A closer evaluation of this strategic portfolio decision suggests Peter Thiel has turned bearish on the prospects for risky assets in general. This adds much-needed context to his recent Palantir sales. Rather than a lack of conviction about Palantir’s growth potential, Thiel seems worried about a broad market sell-off amid macro challenges and adverse geopolitical developments. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Thiel Macro, the hedge fund managed by Peter Thiel, liquidated its entire portfolio and hoarded cash in Q4. Some of the biggest sales executed as part of this portfolio liquidation include Nvidia Corporation (NVDA), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), and Apple Inc. (AAPL). Since Q2 2025, Thiel Macro has liquidated stocks worth over $212 million. I am bearish on Palantir, not because of Peter Thiel’s recent transactions. There is reason to believe that Peter Thiel is de-risking his portfolio by limiting his exposure to risky assets, especially tech stocks that have performed exceptionally well in the recent past. Peter Thiel, who co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Alex Karp , filed to sell $280 million worth of shares on March 3. Recent Palantir insider transaction data confirms that billionaire Thiel has been executing these sales since the start of this month. Although Peter Thiel’s sales represent approximately 1% of his total Palantir ownership, I believe Palantir’s valuation does not make the company an attractive investment opportunity today. Palantir Technologies (PLTR) stock has surged more than 460% over the past five years, making it one of the biggest winners of ...
My bearish stance on Palantir is centered on its expensive valuation. Palantir’s forward P/E multiple of 114x makes the company look expensively valued. The real insights, however, are buried deep in its valuation. For Q4 2025, the company reported a Rule of 40 score of 127% . Rule of 40 scores are calculated by adding revenue growth and adjusted operating margin. A closer evaluation of this strat...
My bearish stance on Palantir is centered on its expensive valuation. Palantir’s forward P/E multiple of 114x makes the company look expensively valued. The real insights, however, are buried deep in its valuation. For Q4 2025, the company reported a Rule of 40 score of 127% . Rule of 40 scores are calculated by adding revenue growth and adjusted operating margin. A closer evaluation of this strategic portfolio decision suggests Peter Thiel has turned bearish on the prospects for risky assets in general. This adds much-needed context to his recent Palantir sales. Rather than a lack of conviction about Palantir’s growth potential, Thiel seems worried about a broad market sell-off amid macro challenges and adverse geopolitical developments. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Thiel Macro, the hedge fund managed by Peter Thiel, liquidated its entire portfolio and hoarded cash in Q4. Some of the biggest sales executed as part of this portfolio liquidation include Nvidia Corporation (NVDA), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), and Apple Inc. (AAPL). Since Q2 2025, Thiel Macro has liquidated stocks worth over $212 million. I am bearish on Palantir, not because of Peter Thiel’s recent transactions. There is reason to believe that Peter Thiel is de-risking his portfolio by limiting his exposure to risky assets, especially tech stocks that have performed exceptionally well in the recent past. Peter Thiel, who co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Alex Karp , filed to sell $280 million worth of shares on March 3. Recent Palantir insider transaction data confirms that billionaire Thiel has been executing these sales since the start of this month. Although Peter Thiel’s sales represent approximately 1% of his total Palantir ownership, I believe Palantir’s valuation does not make the company an attractive investment opportunity today. Palantir Technologies (PLTR) stock has surged more than 460% over the past five years, making it one of the biggest winners of ...
Lux Metals ( BBBMF ) has made two key appointments : Mike Stier as a director and Geneviève Ayotte as CFO. The transition comes as the company continues to scale its exploration projects, following the recent resignations of CFO Joseph Meagher and Director Nathan Tribble. Mike Stier has held various roles, including senior financial advisor at CIBC and senior analyst at a private equity firm. He h...
Lux Metals ( BBBMF ) has made two key appointments : Mike Stier as a director and Geneviève Ayotte as CFO. The transition comes as the company continues to scale its exploration projects, following the recent resignations of CFO Joseph Meagher and Director Nathan Tribble. Mike Stier has held various roles, including senior financial advisor at CIBC and senior analyst at a private equity firm. He has consulted for multiple industries, including mining, oil and gas, and biotech, and is currently on the boards of Saga Metals Corp. and GoldHaven Resources Corp. Geneviève Ayotte, a Chartered Professional Accountant, has over 15 years of financial experience in the mining sector, including a decade at PwC, where she led audits for public mining companies. She has also served as president of Women in Mining Montréal. More on Lux Metals Corp. Lux Metals upsizes private placement to $3.5M Financial information for Lux Metals Corp.
March is halfway over, and there continues to be no shortage of reasons for investors to worry. Whether it's fears of disruption from artificial intelligence, ongoing geopolitical tension, or just general macro uncertainty, investors are thinking about possible moves to make for their portfolios. As we head into April 2026, what should you be buying? It's time to think outside the U.S. One of the ...
March is halfway over, and there continues to be no shortage of reasons for investors to worry. Whether it's fears of disruption from artificial intelligence, ongoing geopolitical tension, or just general macro uncertainty, investors are thinking about possible moves to make for their portfolios. As we head into April 2026, what should you be buying? It's time to think outside the U.S. One of the best ways to ensure long-term investing success is to focus on building a diversified portfolio. Not only does this mean owning companies of different sizes and that operate in different industries, but it also suggests considering various geographies. It's time to think outside the U.S. In the past decade, the S&P 500 index has generated a total return of 289% (as of March 13), significantly better than its historical annualized average of 10%. There are valid concerns among market participants about the valuation of U.S. stocks these days, driven particularly by the rise of the technology sector. This should force investors to at least examine how to gain more exposure to international businesses, even though betting on the American economy has clearly worked out well in recent memory and could continue being the case. Expand NASDAQ : VXUS Vanguard Total International Stock ETF Today's Change ( 1.99 %) $ 1.53 Current Price $ 78.27 Key Data Points Day's Range $ 77.78 - $ 78.53 52wk Range $ 54.98 - $ 84.28 Volume 5.8M This exchange-traded fund deserves consideration Investors should look to buy the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS +1.99%) as we head into April. In the past year, it has produced a total return of 27% that comes up ahead of the S&P 500's performance. All 8,703 stocks that this ETF contains are located outside of the U.S., providing a compelling vehicle to immediately give investors broad geographic exposure. Japan, the U.K., China, Canada, and Taiwan are the top five countries in terms of concentration, making up a combined 47% of the entire asset...
Materion (MTRN) shares ended the last trading session 5.9% higher at $144.08. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 14.8% loss over the past four weeks. The company reported a 7% increase in net sales to $1.79 billion in 2025. Value-added sales totaled $1.05 billion, marking a 4% organic rise ex...
Materion (MTRN) shares ended the last trading session 5.9% higher at $144.08. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 14.8% loss over the past four weeks. The company reported a 7% increase in net sales to $1.79 billion in 2025. Value-added sales totaled $1.05 billion, marking a 4% organic rise excluding precision clad strip, driven by strong demand from semiconductor, energy, and data center markets. Adjusted EPS grew 2% year-over-year to $5.44 in 2025. Supported by recent contract wins and favorable industry trends, MTRN anticipates solid sales growth across all three segments in 2026. Adjusted EPS is expected at $6.00–$6.50, implying roughly 15% growth at the midpoint. This supplier of engineered materials to technology companies is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.24 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +9.7%. Revenues are expected to be $478.8 million, up 13.9% from the year-ago quarter. Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements. For Materion, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 7.8% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. And a positive trend in earnings estimate revision usually translates into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on MTRN going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> Materion is a member of the Zacks Mining - Miscellaneous industry. One other stock in the same industry, Ivanhoe Electric (IE), finished the last trading session 1.9% higher at $12.58. IE has returned -21.9% over the p...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview With the continued growth of the technology markets, I am optimistic about industries that are utilizing these tools to expand earnings. I believe that financial markets are aligned to capture some of this positive momentum, and that's where the John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund ( BTO ) comes in. When I previously covered BTO, I issued a...
Gary Yeowell/DigitalVision via Getty Images Overview With the continued growth of the technology markets, I am optimistic about industries that are utilizing these tools to expand earnings. I believe that financial markets are aligned to capture some of this positive momentum, and that's where the John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund ( BTO ) comes in. When I previously covered BTO, I issued a buy rating due to the consistent earnings and dividend coverage. Unfortunately, BTO has traded sideways since then, but I believe this has provided us with plenty of time to accumulate shares at discounted levels. BTO recently released an updated annual report, so I wanted to revisit the fund's performance and outlook going forward. What caught my attention is the fund's deep discount to NAV valuation. BTO operates as a closed-end fund, so the price can trade at a difference from the actual value of its underlying assets. Despite the fund's resilience, BTO now trades at a discount to NAV of 4.09% at the time of this writing. Referring to the red line on the graph below, we can see that this is one of the largest discounts to NAV levels over the last decade. Therefore, I believe that this is a great opportunity for long-term investors to accumulate shares and collect a massive dividend yield. CEF Data Looking forward, I believe there are several growth catalysts related to AI that aren't obvious. These catalysts position BTO to capture the expansion of the technology market going forward, despite being primarily allocated to financial companies. However, there are some risks that investors should be aware of. For instance, the fund's structure makes it vulnerable to downside market movements, and the emphasis on distributions can result in underperformance against standard ETF peers. Fund Strategy According to the latest fact sheet , BTO has total managed assets of $844.2M that are spread across 158 different positions. The fund is specifically focused on its investments in...
Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could upend decades of reliance on helium-3 and send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors. A mini-fridge built with the alloy has achieved temperatures extremely close to absolute zero using no moving parts. And it comes at a time when the US Defence Advanced Research...
Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could upend decades of reliance on helium-3 and send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors. A mini-fridge built with the alloy has achieved temperatures extremely close to absolute zero using no moving parts. And it comes at a time when the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ) is actively hunting for exactly such a technology. On January 27, DARPA issued an urgent call for proposals: develop a modular, helium-3-free cooling system for next-generation quantum and defence technologies Advertisement Less than two weeks later, the Chinese scientists answered – with a paper published in Nature. The alloy “has the potential for mass production. The joint team has recently successfully developed a pure metal refrigeration module based on this alloy material,” the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said on its website on February 13. Advertisement