Sunday lunch guests often check in the day before, but this text was different. Rather than making sure of the time, or wondering what to bring, it was a bold, direct question. “Is it cold in your house?” I stared at my phone screen in awe. This was revolutionary. I’ve been freezing in so many homes, but it had never occurred to me to make temperature inquiries in advance so I could wear a thicker...
Sunday lunch guests often check in the day before, but this text was different. Rather than making sure of the time, or wondering what to bring, it was a bold, direct question. “Is it cold in your house?” I stared at my phone screen in awe. This was revolutionary. I’ve been freezing in so many homes, but it had never occurred to me to make temperature inquiries in advance so I could wear a thicker jumper or thermals. Even if I’d had the idea, I probably wouldn’t have followed through for fear of appearing rude, preferring instead to slowly lose the feeling in my toes. But here was proof that, for a host, this kind of query is welcome – after all, most people want their guests to be comfortable and have a nice time, unless they’re a dominatrix. The message reminded me of a similar incident a few weeks before. I’d offered somebody a cup of tea and they’d smiled and said: “I’d love one, thanks, but I’m really particular about how I take my tea,” and then explained exactly how they wanted it. I was staggered – and haunted by the memory of the many weak, milky cups of torture I’d politely endured in the past. I’m also particular about how I take my tea – who isn’t? – but I’ve never thought to mention it in such detail. Again, if I had, I would have worried I’d be seen as demanding and difficult, rather than someone giving our national drink the respect it deserves. Life is too short for being unnecessarily cold, or suffering through an accidental insult of a cuppa. In fact, there are so many things that we don’t do, or say, that we definitely should. So, inspired by these maverick heroes, I’m starting now. For example, how often have you been travelling somewhere and bumped into an acquaintance – a neighbour, a colleague, a parent from school – who happens to be travelling the same route? They’re perfectly fine, probably – no offence to them – but your heart sinks as you realise you’re now obliged to sit next to them and chat all the way there. Except, bombshell: you’re ...
Centene ( CNC ) fell ~11% on Tuesday after the managed care firm's CEO, Sarah London, presented at the Barclays Healthcare Conference, flagging continuing headwinds in its operations in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. London stated that compared to the company's prior expectation of a high-teens to mid-30% drop, CNC now expects the ACA membership decline to be “at the higher end of that...
Centene ( CNC ) fell ~11% on Tuesday after the managed care firm's CEO, Sarah London, presented at the Barclays Healthcare Conference, flagging continuing headwinds in its operations in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. London stated that compared to the company's prior expectation of a high-teens to mid-30% drop, CNC now expects the ACA membership decline to be “at the higher end of that and possibly higher than the top end of that” by the end of the year. She added that the higher-than-expected membership attrition was "partly because of our FPL mix and partly because of the pricing that we took coming into the year and our focus on margin over membership.” CNC’s ACA business, Ambetter, was on track for roughly 3.5M ACA members by the end of Q1 after recording approximately 5.5M members by the end of last year. However, the ACA membership dropped to 4.6M and 3.6M by the end of January and February, respectively, London said. “So the membership trajectory is actually tracking, as we just talked about, very nicely in line with our expectations, including that big step down from January to February." However, ahead of the conference, Centene ( CNC ) reaffirmed its full-year outlook of more than $1.98 in GAAP EPS and more than $3.00 of adjusted diluted EPS in line with the consensus. More on Centene Centene Corporation (CNC) Presents at Barclays 28th Annual Global Healthcare Conference Transcript Centene: Aggressive Re-Pricing/Cuts Deliver Improved Margin Of Safety - Reiterate Buy Centene Corporation Is On The Mend After A Hefty Fall (Upgrade) Trump administration to hold back $259M in Medicaid payments to Minnesota CVS Health, Centene, Elevance among insurers to receive House panel subpoenas: Axios
Laycock was asked why he had not instructed solicitors sooner against Adams, as they had already been acting on his behalf between 2017 and 2021 in seeking compensation from the British government over the use of Semtex supplied to the IRA by Libya during the Troubles.
Laycock was asked why he had not instructed solicitors sooner against Adams, as they had already been acting on his behalf between 2017 and 2021 in seeking compensation from the British government over the use of Semtex supplied to the IRA by Libya during the Troubles.
Understanding “Picks and Shovels” Investments During the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, the term “picks and shovels” became prominent. In the case of the Gold Rush, picks-and-shovel plays included Levi (LEVI) jeans and, as the name implies, the tools for mining gold. Since the gold rush, pick and shovel plays have proven that they often make for gold miner optimal investments. For instance...
Understanding “Picks and Shovels” Investments During the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, the term “picks and shovels” became prominent. In the case of the Gold Rush, picks-and-shovel plays included Levi (LEVI) jeans and, as the name implies, the tools for mining gold. Since the gold rush, pick and shovel plays have proven that they often make for gold miner optimal investments. For instance, regardless of whether one gold miner or another struck it rich, each get-rich adventurer needs jeans and tools to even attempt to mine gold. More recently, discount stockbroker Robinhood (HOOD) is a perfect example of a pick-and-shovel play. The company and its stock have benefited tremendously because, regardless of whether specific stocks rise or fall, it makes money from payment for order flow. Photonics: The “Picks and Shovels” of the AI Revolution One relatively obscure technology is quickly becoming the pick-and-shovel investment opportunity of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution: photonics. Photonics is the science of generating, controlling, and manipulating light (photons). As AI computing demands grow (which they will), traditional copper wiring for data transfer is becoming a bottleneck due to heat and speed constraints. In the AI infrastructure cycle, investors first piled into semiconductor makers like NVIDIA (NVDA), then cooling/power systems. Currently, the biggest bottleneck in the burgeoning industry is network and communication speed. Regardless of how fast the chips are, if the optimal networks carrying the data are suboptimal, the system gets clogged. Companies such as Coherent (COHR), Lumentum (LITE), and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) manufacture the technology to de-clog AI networks. The AI-Build Out Isn’t Slowing One of the biggest misconceptions on Wall Street in 2026 is that AI spending is slowing. Although AI-related CAPEX spending is already unprecedented, according to Bloomberg research and guidance from hyperscalers like Alphabet (GOO...
Eoneren/E+ via Getty Images This is my first coverage of Applied Digital Corporation ( APLD ). In recent articles, I have explored other crypto miners pivoting to HPC, like IREN Limited ( IREN ), MARA Holdings, Inc. ( MARA ), and TeraWulf Inc. ( WULF ). I want to continue to do research to find which crypto miners are, in my opinion, the best addition to the portfolio of a long-term investor. In t...
Eoneren/E+ via Getty Images This is my first coverage of Applied Digital Corporation ( APLD ). In recent articles, I have explored other crypto miners pivoting to HPC, like IREN Limited ( IREN ), MARA Holdings, Inc. ( MARA ), and TeraWulf Inc. ( WULF ). I want to continue to do research to find which crypto miners are, in my opinion, the best addition to the portfolio of a long-term investor. In this article, I will focus on APLD’s operational assets, their backlog, and their pipeline. I will try to estimate how much revenue they could earn from their contracts and pipeline capacity and try to provide an appropriate valuation. Introduction and Moat For those unfamiliar with the company, I want to provide a short summary of recent events. APLD is pivoting to AI data centers, serving as a landlord, renting out data center capacity. We are currently seeing a boom in everything related to AI. Data center construction is on the rise, with data center vacancies reaching a record low of 1.4% at year-end, according to CBRE . This, in my opinion, completely negates the bearish theory that we are at the peak of the AI boom. As long as vacancy rates are low, APLD will have pricing power when renting out the upcoming data center capacity. It is reasonable to assume that at one point in the future, data center demand will stabilize, at which point we should see commoditization in the sector, eroding the pricing power. But until we see that, I remain bullish on the sector as a whole. Grid constraint is another reason why I remain optimistic about the company. Some other competitors, like WULF and IREN, plan to draw power from the grid (though WULF also utilizes behind-the-meter nuclear power), while APLD recognized the potential problem and established a partnership with Base Electron. Base Electron, formed by certain APLD’s insiders, plans to build electricity generation infrastructure and sell the produced electricity to Applied Digital. Note that Applied Digital owns 10% of Ba...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Meta ( META ) has acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI agents, for an undisclosed sum, Axios reported Tuesday. Moltbook's creators, Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr, will join Meta Superintelligence Labs, the report said. The deal is expected to close mid-March, Meta says, with Moltbook founders starting at MSL on March 16. Schlicht has been working on...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Meta ( META ) has acquired Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI agents, for an undisclosed sum, Axios reported Tuesday. Moltbook's creators, Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr, will join Meta Superintelligence Labs, the report said. The deal is expected to close mid-March, Meta says, with Moltbook founders starting at MSL on March 16. Schlicht has been working on autonomous AI agents since 2023 and launched Moltbook in late January as an experimental “third space” for AI agents. The platform was built largely with the help of Schlicht's personal AI assistant, Clawd Clawderberg. Meta's Vishal Shah, in an internal post seen by Axios , said existing Moltbook customers can temporarily continue using the platform. More on Meta Meta: Time To Sit On The Fence (Downgrade) Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) Presents at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2026 Transcript Meta Platforms: The Growth Machine That Keeps On Giving Meta to start charging advertisers 'location fee' in certain European countries Former Meta AI chief's startup raises $1.03B, appoints CEO
The market has turned down since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. And that drop accelerated in recent trading days due to a spike in the oil price. As I write this on Monday morning, March 9, the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, is about $104 per barrel. That's about $33 higher, or 47% higher, than the price the day before the conflict began. That's brought panic to t...
The market has turned down since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. And that drop accelerated in recent trading days due to a spike in the oil price. As I write this on Monday morning, March 9, the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, is about $104 per barrel. That's about $33 higher, or 47% higher, than the price the day before the conflict began. That's brought panic to the stock market. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index -- or VIX, also known as the stock market's fear gauge -- climbed to as much as 31, the highest level in about 11 months and 12 points higher than the day before the U.S. and Israel launched the first salvos against Iran. And the S&P 500 index was down over 3% after the the war began on investor concerns that the spike in the price of oil could both slow global economic growth -- perhaps even pushing the global economy into recession -- and push inflation higher. That's because energy costs are a primary expense for most households, while crude oil is used to make myriad other products, from plastics to fertilizer. Slowing growth and higher inflation equals stagflation -- never good for the stock market. Stocks outperform in years of rising oil prices But investors might be surprised at how the market performs during longer periods of rising oil prices. Ritholtz Wealth Management compared the market's performance in years when the price of oil rose against how it did in years of falling prices. Intriguingly, since 1986, the S&P 500 index returned an average of 13.1% in years when the price of oil was rising versus 11.1% in years when oil was falling. One reason for that is that a rising oil price often signals more oil use in a growing global economy -- more factory usage, more flights and commerce, and more energy use overall. In addition, when the price of oil rises 5% two days in a row, as it did last week, most of the time stocks were higher one month, three months, six months, and 12 months later. To ...
Key Points Oil prices have risen nearly 50% since the beginning of the Middle East war. The VIX, which measures market volatility, has also soared due to investor anxiety. Stocks are down for the moment, but will likely recover and hit new highs. 10 stocks we like better than CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index › The market has turned down since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. And that drop...
Key Points Oil prices have risen nearly 50% since the beginning of the Middle East war. The VIX, which measures market volatility, has also soared due to investor anxiety. Stocks are down for the moment, but will likely recover and hit new highs. 10 stocks we like better than CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index › The market has turned down since the beginning of the war in the Middle East. And that drop accelerated in recent trading days due to a spike in the oil price. As I write this on Monday morning, March 9, the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, is about $104 per barrel. That's about $33 higher, or 47% higher, than the price the day before the conflict began. 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 » That's brought panic to the stock market. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index -- or VIX, also known as the stock market's fear gauge -- climbed to as much as 31, the highest level in about 11 months and 12 points higher than the day before the U.S. and Israel launched the first salvos against Iran. And the S&P 500 index was down over 3% after the the war began on investor concerns that the spike in the price of oil could both slow global economic growth -- perhaps even pushing the global economy into recession -- and push inflation higher. That's because energy costs are a primary expense for most households, while crude oil is used to make myriad other products, from plastics to fertilizer. Slowing growth and higher inflation equals stagflation -- never good for the stock market. Stocks outperform in years of rising oil prices But investors might be surprised at how the market performs during longer periods of rising oil prices. Ritholtz Wealth Management compared the market's performance in years when the price of oil rose against how it did in years of falling ...
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. It's not often you see a brand ...
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. It's not often you see a brand new business model in an industry as old as residential real estate. Sure, marketing strategies have evolved with new technology, and commission and pricing structures for agents have shifted to be more competitive. But real estate companies are generally in business to sell properties. Not according to Ryan Serhant, founder of his namesake real estate company. He's also the executive producer and star of a Netflix reality show, a social media influencer, author and teacher. "We're not selling property. We sell the people. The agent is our customer every day," said Serhant, who sat down for the Property Play podcast at his SoHo, New York, headquarters. That means letting his agents lean into what they want – including commercial real estate, which he said is about 10% of his business now but is quickly expanding. That includes multifamily residential buildings. "We're seeing the money come from people that have never touched commercial real estate before, because in certain parts of not just this city, but parts of Florida, parts of the Carolinas, there is, I think, a price stabilization that has come from just excess debate and thought process," Serhant said. "And now, honestly, we've got three years of high rates. So a lot of these owners, if they're sitting on adjustable mortgages, if they're trying to figure out what to do, they're kind of starting to get realistic for the first time. And so buyers are coming in and pouncing on things." In his popular Netflix show, "Owning Manhattan," Serhant purposely highlights a storyline with an agent who is determined to sell a tro...
TLDR Amazon plans to raise between $37 billion and $42 billion through a historic corporate bond issuance. The debt sale includes multiple tranches across both dollar and euro-denominated markets, with up to 11 U.S. tranches and up to 8 European tranches. Maturities extend from 2 to 50 years in U.S. markets and 2 to 38 years in European markets. Capital raised will finance artificial intelligence ...
TLDR Amazon plans to raise between $37 billion and $42 billion through a historic corporate bond issuance. The debt sale includes multiple tranches across both dollar and euro-denominated markets, with up to 11 U.S. tranches and up to 8 European tranches. Maturities extend from 2 to 50 years in U.S. markets and 2 to 38 years in European markets. Capital raised will finance artificial intelligence infrastructure development. The company’s previous bond sale occurred in November 2024, generating $15 billion from its first U.S. offering since 2021. Amazon is making a substantial move in debt markets. The technology behemoth has initiated what could become one of history’s largest corporate bond offerings, seeking to raise between $37 billion and $42 billion from U.S. and European investors to finance its artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion. AMAZON $AMZN TARGETS $25B-$30B IN DOLLAR BONDS, E10B IN EURO OFFERING — Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) March 10, 2026 The capital-raising effort spans two continents. Within the United States, Amazon is offering investment-grade bonds across potentially 11 different tranches, aiming to secure $25 billion to $30 billion with maturity dates ranging from 2 to 50 years. Concurrently, the company seeks up to €10 billion through a potential eight-part euro-denominated bond issuance, featuring maturities between 2 and 38 years. Amazon.com, Inc., AMZN Should Amazon proceed with an eight-tranche euro bond structure, it would mark a historic first for European debt markets. The company has never previously issued euro-denominated bonds, representing a debut entry into this market segment. The most extended maturity being offered is a 2076 note. Preliminary pricing discussions indicate this long-dated tranche at approximately 1.55 percentage points above comparable Treasury securities. Documentation for the U.S. component has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Amazon has refrained from issuing public statement...
brunocoelhopt Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan delivered an optimistic assessment of the U.S. economy during the Bank of America Financial Services Conference, highlighting that GDP estimates for 2026 have been revised upward to 2.8% and continue to build momentum month over month. He noted that global CEOs are increasingly viewing America as “a place to invest” now that trade tarif...
brunocoelhopt Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan delivered an optimistic assessment of the U.S. economy during the Bank of America Financial Services Conference, highlighting that GDP estimates for 2026 have been revised upward to 2.8% and continue to build momentum month over month. He noted that global CEOs are increasingly viewing America as “a place to invest” now that trade tariff concerns are working their way through and tax policies including bonus depreciation are being locked in. The CEO pointed to strong labor market fundamentals as evidence that consumer spending remains resilient despite ongoing affordability concerns. According to Moynihan, Bank of America customers spent 5% more in January compared to the previous year, with growth spanning all income cohorts, and he noted that no major economist projects unemployment exceeding 4.6% for any quarter in 2026. “People are employed, [and] wage growth” remains constructive, he said, adding that consumers are demonstrating their confidence through actions rather than sentiment surveys—evidenced by “cruises being up double-digit month after month after month.” Moynihan explained that artificial intelligence represents both a transformative shift and a continuation of the bank’s long-running digitization efforts. The bank’s AI assistant, Erica, which he described as having originated as a “small language model” before the term existed, now serves 20 million users and handles the equivalent workload of 11,000 full-time employees. He emphasized that the bank invested approximately $3B in data cleansing over the past decade to ensure AI accuracy. The executive detailed how Bank of America has maintained a flat headcount at roughly 213,000 employees—consistent with 2015 levels—while significantly expanding the business and increasing technology investment by 10% annually. He noted that the company recently engineered out 2,000 positions in just four months, demonstrating the ongoing discipline around...
koyu/iStock via Getty Images IREN Limited ( IREN ) surged around 13% on Wednesday, after a series of brutal selling sessions that took the stock down over 45% from its November highs near $80 to the high $30s and now consolidating at the low $40s. Seeking Alpha The surge came hand in hand with strong volume, though the 8% pullback on Friday raised concerns about whether Wednesday's move had any re...
koyu/iStock via Getty Images IREN Limited ( IREN ) surged around 13% on Wednesday, after a series of brutal selling sessions that took the stock down over 45% from its November highs near $80 to the high $30s and now consolidating at the low $40s. Seeking Alpha The surge came hand in hand with strong volume, though the 8% pullback on Friday raised concerns about whether Wednesday's move had any real legs. Seeking Alpha The stock erased all its Wednesday’s gains, and then some more, currently trading at $35.8 in pre-market trading on Monday, as seen above. I think the pullback is a gift, as the entire market pulls back on the Iran-U.S.-Israel war. While I’ll get to my investment thesis in a second, I think the stock is attractive on the pullback but would recommend investors wait for it to form a strong support at the $35 level and add on confirmation, not catching a falling knife in the middle of a geopolitical selloff. Why I’m not too worried The answer, as always with IREN, depends entirely on what lens you're looking through. The pullback isn't company-specific, and it's a broad risk-off mood hitting Bitcoin-linked names, and anything wearing that label is getting sold indiscriminately, along with the market at large. The catalyst for Wednesday's surge was concrete, in my opinion, despite the pullback that followed. IREN announced it has entered into purchase agreements for over 50,000 Nvidia ( NVDA ) B300 GPUs, expanding its total fleet to 150,000 GPUs, up from the prior 100,000 target. The 150,000 GPU fleet is expected to support AI Cloud annualized run-rate revenue of over $3.7 billion by the end of 2026, with deployment phased through the second half of 2026 across its air-cooled data centers in Mackenzie, British Columbia, and Childress, Texas. The company also disclosed it has secured $9.3 billion in funding over the past eight months across customer prepayments, convertible notes, GPU leasing, and GPU financing. IREN is a company showing up with a GPU orde...
Martin O'Neill fears large ticket allocations for away fans at matches between Celtic and Rangers may be lost forever - and he is "saddened" by events that have led him to that conclusion. Ugly scenes marred the aftermath of Celtic's Scottish Cup quarter-final win on penalties at Ibrox, with spectators entering the pitch. As of Monday, nine arrests had been made following Sunday's encounter. It wa...
Martin O'Neill fears large ticket allocations for away fans at matches between Celtic and Rangers may be lost forever - and he is "saddened" by events that have led him to that conclusion. Ugly scenes marred the aftermath of Celtic's Scottish Cup quarter-final win on penalties at Ibrox, with spectators entering the pitch. As of Monday, nine arrests had been made following Sunday's encounter. It was the first meeting of Rangers and Celtic since 2018 to have such a large away support - around 7,500. In recent years, away allocations in the fixture had been 800, 2,500 or with no visiting support at all. Sunday's derby had a larger away crowd in part because of the rules of the Scottish Cup, while other recent Old Firm cup ties have been semi-finals or finals at Hampden, with evenly-split crowds. Celtic manager O'Neill told Talksport: "I was a really big advocate, from a distance, of feeling that without away fans, without the full allocation of away fans, I thought the Old Firm game, still a fantastic fixture, had lost some of its lustre."
Parts of a giant Nasa satellite will crash to Earth on Tuesday evening, the US space agency is warning – but the chance of being struck is extremely low. According to the US military’s Space Force, the roughly 1,323lb (600kg) spacecraft, one of twin probes launched in 2012 to investigate the Van Allen radiation belt, is estimated to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 7.45pm EDT. Most of the craf...
Parts of a giant Nasa satellite will crash to Earth on Tuesday evening, the US space agency is warning – but the chance of being struck is extremely low. According to the US military’s Space Force, the roughly 1,323lb (600kg) spacecraft, one of twin probes launched in 2012 to investigate the Van Allen radiation belt, is estimated to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 7.45pm EDT. Most of the craft, it said in a prediction published Monday, will burn up on re-entry, yet some components are expected to survive. There is a small chance, which the Space Force calculates at 1 in 4,200, that somebody on Earth could be harmed. “Nasa and Space Force will continue to monitor the re-entry and update predictions,” the statement said, adding there was an initial uncertainty of plus or minus 24 hours in the calculations. Debris falling from space is not uncommon, and Wired reported in 2009 that over a 40-year period roughly 5,400 tons are thought to have survived re-entry. But the odds of being hit are low because about 71% of Earth’s surface is covered by water. A 2011 report by space.com said the overall chance of anybody being hurt was 1 in 3,200, and for any given individual far less. “The odds that you will be hit are one in several trillion, so quite low for any particular person,” Mark Matney, a scientist in the orbital debris program office at Nasa’s Johnson space center, Houston, told the outlet. One not so lucky was Lottie Williams, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident who was walking through a park in January 1997 when she saw a sudden flash of flight, followed by a six-inch chunk of metal striking her on the shoulder. The small, blackened fragment was never formally identified as space junk. But the time and location was confirmed by Nasa as consistent with the re-entry and break up of the second stage of a Delta rocket that had been orbiting for months. And Williams, who was not injured, remains the only person known to have been struck by falling manufactured space debris....
Nansan Houn/iStock via Getty Images There's no doubt that the stock market in 2026 has been an incredibly challenging environment to invest in. Virtually all sectors, except for basic materials, are selling off sharply. Enterprise tech stocks are falling on fears of an AI-driven "SaaSpocalypse," while consumer-facing companies are jittery on a weak macro and escalating geopolitical tensions. Again...
Nansan Houn/iStock via Getty Images There's no doubt that the stock market in 2026 has been an incredibly challenging environment to invest in. Virtually all sectors, except for basic materials, are selling off sharply. Enterprise tech stocks are falling on fears of an AI-driven "SaaSpocalypse," while consumer-facing companies are jittery on a weak macro and escalating geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, Rocket Companies ( RKT ), which is now the real estate juggernaut and parent company behind the Redfin brokerage and Mr. Cooper mortgage servicing, has seen its share price fall more than 20% since the start of January, breaking the momentum the company generated last year as it began leveraging vertical M&A to substantially expand its scope. The question for investors now is, can Rocket stage a rebound? Data by YCharts I last wrote a "Neutral" article on Rocket in December, when the stock was trading at $19 per share. Since then, Rocket has fallen ~20% along with the broader stock market. But at the same time, its growth rates have also slowed post-acquisition integration. While I do think that the company's recently announced partnership with Compass is a great way for the company to continue diversifying its revenue streams, ultimately I still don't think Rocket's valuation multiples make much sense amid a still-stalled housing market. I'm reiterating my "N eutral" rating here. Breaking Down the Compass Deal Let's kick off the discussion with an overview of the deal that Rocket announced with Compass ( COMP ), which, after acquiring Anywhere Real Estate (the parent company of Coldwell Banker and Century 21 Real Estate), has now become the largest real estate brokerage company in the United States. As most investors are aware, Compass is best known for doubling down on its strategy of "pocket listings" that are not published to the MLS and are only visible to select agents and clients, which is at the exact center of a legal battle with Zillow ( Z ). Roc...