Derick Hudson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Meta ( META ) has been one of the most frustrating stocks to wrap our heads around. This is a mega-cap company, growing topline at a healthy level, holds a monopolistic position in the social media space, but its EBITDA multiple trades at mid-teens, while its closest peer ( GOOG ) trades at 28x. This low multiple is due to the fact ...
Derick Hudson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Meta ( META ) has been one of the most frustrating stocks to wrap our heads around. This is a mega-cap company, growing topline at a healthy level, holds a monopolistic position in the social media space, but its EBITDA multiple trades at mid-teens, while its closest peer ( GOOG ) trades at 28x. This low multiple is due to the fact that the firm has been committing a lot of cash to fund its AI infrastructure build-out. While these expenses are not structural and wouldn't chokehold the operations of the firm if ever they were to be paused, they still channel a significant amount of cash away from shareholders' pockets currently. Unlike in the case of GOOG, ( MSFT ) and ( AMZN ), META doesn't have computing services like the cloud to sell to AI enterprises, instead, the GPU purchases and the data center build-outs are solely for internal use to improve the recommendation algorithm so the firm can charge more for ad impressions. In the last earnings call , the CEO Mark said, " We're also using AI to unlock more inventory by auto translating and dubbing videos into a viewer's local language, enabling us to recommend a more diverse set of content. Over 0.5 billion users on each of Facebook and Instagram are now watching AI translated videos weekly ". Even though these unlocked features are impressive, the ROI currently looks incremental and not justifying a premium valuation. Another headwind for Meta is that the firm is a net buyer of the compute shortage and not the seller. The compute shortage constantly changes form, affecting net buyers subsequently, firstly it was a GPU shortage, and now it's a memory and optics shortage. All resulting in Meta increasing its CapEx guidance to keep up with price increases, making matters worse, META even took on more debt to further the infrastructure buildout. Meta grew revenue by 26.18% on a TTM basis, while capex grew by 47% to $19 billion, resulting in a capex-to-...
Derick Hudson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Meta ( META ) has been one of the most frustrating stocks to wrap our heads around. This is a mega-cap company, growing topline at a healthy level, holds a monopolistic position in the social media space, but its EBITDA multiple trades at mid-teens, while its closest peer ( GOOG ) trades at 28x. This low multiple is due to the fact ...
Derick Hudson/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment Thesis Meta ( META ) has been one of the most frustrating stocks to wrap our heads around. This is a mega-cap company, growing topline at a healthy level, holds a monopolistic position in the social media space, but its EBITDA multiple trades at mid-teens, while its closest peer ( GOOG ) trades at 28x. This low multiple is due to the fact that the firm has been committing a lot of cash to fund its AI infrastructure build-out. While these expenses are not structural and wouldn't chokehold the operations of the firm if ever they were to be paused, they still channel a significant amount of cash away from shareholders' pockets currently. Unlike in the case of GOOG, ( MSFT ) and ( AMZN ), META doesn't have computing services like the cloud to sell to AI enterprises, instead, the GPU purchases and the data center build-outs are solely for internal use to improve the recommendation algorithm so the firm can charge more for ad impressions. In the last earnings call , the CEO Mark said, " We're also using AI to unlock more inventory by auto translating and dubbing videos into a viewer's local language, enabling us to recommend a more diverse set of content. Over 0.5 billion users on each of Facebook and Instagram are now watching AI translated videos weekly ". Even though these unlocked features are impressive, the ROI currently looks incremental and not justifying a premium valuation. Another headwind for Meta is that the firm is a net buyer of the compute shortage and not the seller. The compute shortage constantly changes form, affecting net buyers subsequently, firstly it was a GPU shortage, and now it's a memory and optics shortage. All resulting in Meta increasing its CapEx guidance to keep up with price increases, making matters worse, META even took on more debt to further the infrastructure buildout. Meta grew revenue by 26.18% on a TTM basis, while capex grew by 47% to $19 billion, resulting in a capex-to-...
Getty Images GE Aerospace ( GE ) has struggled this year, despite the ongoing conflict in Iran. Shares are down 1.5%, total return, compared to the S&P 500’s +9.6% performance. Many investors surely placed wagers on the leading aerospace & defense stock leading into and at the war’s onset, but broader Industrials sector weakness and the AI trade may be pressuring the stock. Indeed, with the SpaceX...
Getty Images GE Aerospace ( GE ) has struggled this year, despite the ongoing conflict in Iran. Shares are down 1.5%, total return, compared to the S&P 500’s +9.6% performance. Many investors surely placed wagers on the leading aerospace & defense stock leading into and at the war’s onset, but broader Industrials sector weakness and the AI trade may be pressuring the stock. Indeed, with the SpaceX ( SPCX ) IPO on tap, new ways of harnessing the skies and space above could be an emerging bearish thesis for traditional aerospace & defense companies. What’s more, with a still-premium valuation, the onus is on the bulls heading into the middle of the year. I downgraded GE to a hold in Q3 last year . Shares are up 12%, but the stock is down rather sharply since late February, all while the S&P 500 has notched record highs. I reiterate a hold rating. I’ll provide a look at the Q1, along with refreshed fundamental and technical takes. GE Lagging XLI & The S&P 500 YTD Stockcharts.com Back in April, GE reported a solid set of quarterly results. Q1 non-GAAP EPS of $1.86 topped the Wall Street consensus forecast of $1.60, while revenue of $11.6 billion, up 29% from the same period a year earlier, was a material $890 million beat. The company merely reaffirmed FY 2026 guidance, but noted that the top and bottom lines were trending toward the upper end of the previously provided ranges. Shares fell 5.6% in the session that followed, however, marking a second consecutive post-reporting fall. Looking ahead to the July Q2 report, the options market prices in a moderate 6.0% earnings-related stock price swing based on the at-the-money straddle expiring soonest after the release. Shares of the now-$315 billion large-cap Industrials company feature an implied volatility of 38%, with the next dividend date slated for July 7. Looking back on the quarter that was, GE delivered a solid start to 2026, with better-than 20% growth in both revenue and earnings. Driven by robust customer deman...
Key Points The geopolitical conflict in the Middle East has pushed oil prices higher. Long-term investors need to consider the history of energy prices, not just the current price of oil. Most investors should focus on diversified oil companies that have proven they can survive the entire energy cycle. 10 stocks we like better than Chevron › Given the importance of oil and natural gas to the globa...
Key Points The geopolitical conflict in the Middle East has pushed oil prices higher. Long-term investors need to consider the history of energy prices, not just the current price of oil. Most investors should focus on diversified oil companies that have proven they can survive the entire energy cycle. 10 stocks we like better than Chevron › Given the importance of oil and natural gas to the global economy, every investor should probably have some exposure to the energy sector. I personally own one oil stock, yet I'm not the least bit worried about oil prices. That's notable because the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East has made high oil prices headline-grabbing news. If all you care about is finding a way to profit from rising oil prices over the short term, you'll probably want to buy a dedicated energy producer like Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN). Notably, its production is unaffected by the Middle East disruptions because it is U.S.-focused. But if you are a long-term investor, you'll want to take a more balanced approach to the energy sector, buying stocks like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), and, in my case, TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE). Here's why these three energy giants are my top oil stocks right now. 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 » Go integrated or go home The unifying theme with Exxon, Chevron, and TotalEnergies is that they are all integrated energy companies. This means they have operations across the entire energy value chain. So they produce oil and natural gas in the upstream, like Devon or Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG). However, unlike an upstream-focused business, an integrated energy company also moves energy in the midstream, via infrastructure assets such as pipelines. And it processes these vital fuels in the downstream segment of the broader ...
Leon Neal/Getty Images News Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek ( DEEPSEEK ) announced on Saturday that it will make a 75% discount offered for its newly launched V4‑Pro AI model permanent after an ongoing promotion expires at the end of this month. Accordingly, the Hangzhou-based firm has revised pricing for the V4-Pro API to 0.025 yuan - 6 yuan (roughly $0.0036 - $0.84) per million ...
Leon Neal/Getty Images News Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek ( DEEPSEEK ) announced on Saturday that it will make a 75% discount offered for its newly launched V4‑Pro AI model permanent after an ongoing promotion expires at the end of this month. Accordingly, the Hangzhou-based firm has revised pricing for the V4-Pro API to 0.025 yuan - 6 yuan (roughly $0.0036 - $0.84) per million tokens, a unit of text processed by the AI model. During its launch last month, the pricing started at 0.1 yuan and went up to 24 yuan (roughly $0.01 - $3.48) per million tokens, depending on usage. “The deepseek-v4-pro model API pricing will be officially adjusted to 1/4 of the original price after the 75% discount promotion ends on 2026/05/31,” DeepSeek ( DEEPSEEK ) said. V4, adapted to run on Huawei Technologies’ Ascend 950 AI chips, would cost up to 12 times more for its pro version compared to its less powerful Flash version because of “ constraints in high-end compute capacity, ” limiting availability, the company said last month. It is not immediately clear if increased supplies of Huawei’s Ascend 950 chips led to the pricing cut. More on Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd. AI's threat potential prompts US, China to consider discussions on guardrails: report DeepSeek may be valued at $45B as China's Big Fund eyes investment - report Financial information for Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd.
France has decided to ban Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday, adding that this reflected growing anger among governments around the world over the treatment of an activist flotilla heading to Gaza. “As from today, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from entering French territory,” Barrot wrote on X. “Along with my ...
France has decided to ban Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday, adding that this reflected growing anger among governments around the world over the treatment of an activist flotilla heading to Gaza. “As from today, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from entering French territory,” Barrot wrote on X. “Along with my Italian counterpart, I am asking the European Union to also take sanctions against Itamar Ben-Gvir.” Advertisement Western governments expressed outrage after Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting activists who had intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza being pinned to the ground. Some of the activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was trying to get aid to Gaza, arrive in Rome on Saturday after being released by the Israeli authorities. Photo: EPA Some later alleged they had been physically assaulted in detention, allegations that Israel’s prison service denied.
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer and burger season. Wayback Burgers President Patrick Conlin joined Christina Ruffini and David Gura on Bloomberg This Weekend to discuss changing consumer tastes, rising food costs, and how restaurants are preparing for one of the busiest dining seasons of the year. (Source: Bloomberg)
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer and burger season. Wayback Burgers President Patrick Conlin joined Christina Ruffini and David Gura on Bloomberg This Weekend to discuss changing consumer tastes, rising food costs, and how restaurants are preparing for one of the busiest dining seasons of the year. (Source: Bloomberg)
Oksana Iermolinska/iStock via Getty Images Co-authored with Beyond Saving. Is it worth paying a premium? When faced with that question, many investors will instinctively say "no." I can appreciate the sentiment because I love a discount as much as the next person. However, when I'm going out with my wife for a romantic steak dinner, I'm not going to the place with the best discount coupon. I'm goi...
Oksana Iermolinska/iStock via Getty Images Co-authored with Beyond Saving. Is it worth paying a premium? When faced with that question, many investors will instinctively say "no." I can appreciate the sentiment because I love a discount as much as the next person. However, when I'm going out with my wife for a romantic steak dinner, I'm not going to the place with the best discount coupon. I'm going to the place that is going to charge a premium in return for a truly memorable experience. If I'm on a long road trip and just looking for a quick bite, then the meat that the truck stop alleges as "sirloin steak" might pass because at least it's cheap. The answer to whether it is worth paying a premium is situational and depends on what you are buying. The same is true of investments. For many investments, you want to buy at a discount because they are frequently available at a discount. For other investments, they chronically trade at a premium and are worth the premium. In the world of BDCs (Business Development Companies), people often talk about the valuation in reference to NAV (Net Asset Value). They will say that the stock is trading at a premium or discount to NAV. While there are certainly cases where a discount is attractive and can be a motivation to invest, BDCs that consistently trade at a premium to NAV have a competitive advantage. They experience better results and produce better returns because they are trading at a premium. Today, we are going to take a close look at Capital Southwest ( CSWC ). It's a BDC that has been trading at a significant premium to NAV, and it is worth every penny. CSWC Is A Premium BDC It has been a tough quarter for BDCs, with most seeing a decrease in their book value and several cutting their dividends. Against that backdrop, CSWC reported a very strong quarter with pre-tax NII at $0.59/share, down only a penny from last quarter. NAV was down 0.4% to $16.69, making it essentially flat over the past year. CSWC has established ...
Pentagon, Intelligence Community Preparing For Renewed Strikes On Iran This Weekend: CBS CBS is reporting that the Trump administration, specifically the Pentagon - as well as intelligence community officials - are currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days . However, like with much of the latest speculation and reporting regarding wha...
Pentagon, Intelligence Community Preparing For Renewed Strikes On Iran This Weekend: CBS CBS is reporting that the Trump administration, specifically the Pentagon - as well as intelligence community officials - are currently preparing for a new potential round of military strikes against Iran within the next three days . However, like with much of the latest speculation and reporting regarding what comes next in the Iran war, the report included the important caveat that nothing is ultimately confirmed or final: "No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon." Any new US attack would likely see Israel join in, & Tehran vows it would retaliate. Getty Images "Some members of the US military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes," several sources said . "Defense and intelligence officials began updating recall rosters for US installations overseas as tranches of troops stationed in the Middle East rotate out of theater , part of an effort to reduce the American military footprint in the region amid concern about possible Iranian retaliation," CBS said. Additionally, Trump's own Truth Social post about missing his son's wedding has set off an avalanche of speculation that renewed attacks are imminent. "Circumstances pertaining to Government" are keeping him from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend, Trump wrote in the post. "I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!" Trump said. The day prior he had been vague in answering reporters' questions on the matter. "He’d like me to go, but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it," he had said. A number of pundits noted the ease with which he frequently goes down to Florida to play golf, and that it's strange that he would now miss his son's wedding. Howev...
Melania Trump has won the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by author Michael Wolff designed to head off a billion-dollar defamation action brought by the first lady over statements he made in the media. The US district judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said that Wolff’s claim against Trump under anti-Slapp statutes, which are designed to allow defendants to quickly dismiss meritless, intimidating lawsuits, wa...
Melania Trump has won the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by author Michael Wolff designed to head off a billion-dollar defamation action brought by the first lady over statements he made in the media. The US district judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said that Wolff’s claim against Trump under anti-Slapp statutes, which are designed to allow defendants to quickly dismiss meritless, intimidating lawsuits, was “preemptive” and presented in a “somewhat contorted posture”. In a 45-page ruling, Vyskocil said the “plaintiff asks for a declaration that, if the first lady sues him, he deserves to win. That is not how the federal courts work.” Wolff, who has written four books about Donald Trump, filed the lawsuit last year in response to a lawsuit brought by the first lady after she demanded – and failed to receive – an apology for Wolff’s comments on the administration’s handling of files related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Vyskocil, who was appointed by Trump, agreed that Wolff and the first lady “have a real dispute”, but said “they must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else”. Wolff sued Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t retract statements that the lawyer said had caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”. Vyskocil ruled that Wolff was seeking special treatment by seeking to litigate out of order and accused him of “textbook bad-faith forum shopping” by filing his claim in New York before Trump had filed her defamation suit in Florida. In that legal effort to establish his statements as non-defamatory, Wolff had won “the race to the courthouse”, Vyskocil wrote, but said he had exhibited an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship”. “The outcome is simple,” Vyskocil continued. “The court will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat and so declines to reach the merits here.” Wolff, who...
Key Points Energy Transfer will remain a reliable income stock in bull and bear markets. Amazon’s cloud, e-commerce, and advertising businesses will continue to grow. 10 stocks we like better than Energy Transfer › The S&P 500 is hovering near its record high, and the benchmark index looks historically expensive at 32 times earnings. However, many investors are still rushing into this frothy marke...
Key Points Energy Transfer will remain a reliable income stock in bull and bear markets. Amazon’s cloud, e-commerce, and advertising businesses will continue to grow. 10 stocks we like better than Energy Transfer › The S&P 500 is hovering near its record high, and the benchmark index looks historically expensive at 32 times earnings. However, many investors are still rushing into this frothy market, expecting the market's top-performing stocks to keep rising. While many of these stocks might head higher over the long term, they could pull back sharply before that happens. That downturn could shake many bullish investors out of the market. As Peter Lynch once said, "Everyone is a long-term investor until the market goes down." 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 » As someone who started investing right before the Great Recession, I know that feeling well. But today, I'm hopefully better at tuning out the near-term noise and staying focused on my longer-term goals. Here are two of my top stocks I'd be willing to hold and forget for the next 20 years: Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Energy Transfer I started to accumulate shares of Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) last April. Today, the stock accounts for about 4% of my portfolio, and I don't plan on selling that stake anytime soon. Three things drew me to Energy Transfer. First, it's a major midstream company that transports natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, and other refined products through over 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states. By charging upstream and downstream companies "tolls" to use that infrastructure, it's well-insulated from volatile oil prices and generates plenty of cash to cover its distributions. It currently pays a forward yield of 6.6%, and analysts e...
The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda”. The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the...
The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda”. The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the US Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025 , pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and a crutch. On Monday, the justice department announced the creation of a $1.776bn fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress. After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the justice department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the January 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it”. “We are proud to reverse the [justice department’s] weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping [the justice department’s] website of partisan propaganda.” Among the releases removed from t...
ArtistGNDphotography/E+ via Getty Images Thesis With commodity markets on fire, we are going to explore a long-short commodities ETF today. The name of the fund is First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF ( FAAR ) , and it represents an actively managed ETF that seeks to provide investors with long-term total returns. As a long-short fund with an absolute return strategy, the ETF aims ...
ArtistGNDphotography/E+ via Getty Images Thesis With commodity markets on fire, we are going to explore a long-short commodities ETF today. The name of the fund is First Trust Alternative Absolute Return Strategy ETF ( FAAR ) , and it represents an actively managed ETF that seeks to provide investors with long-term total returns. As a long-short fund with an absolute return strategy, the ETF aims to make money both during bear and bull markets. The name discloses the following in its fact sheet: Unlike traditional investment strategies, where returns are generally tied to the ups and downs of a single benchmark, absolute return strategies may produce positive returns in any market environment, independent of the market being up, down or flat. Absolute return strategies offer a potential strategy diversification benefit, that may help to achieve more consistent returns over time and reduce overall investment risk, but it does not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss. In today's article we are going to look at the fund's composition, its analytics and historic returns. Furthermore we are going to benchmark the ETF's performance versus a cohort of peers, taking into account volatility profiles as well. Fund composition The name utilizes futures to gain its exposures; thus, the fund composition is bifurcated between cash in treasuries and T-Bills and commodity futures positions. This is fairly standard for commodities funds; however, this is the first long-short fund we are analyzing in the sector. The name provides its net exposures: Positions (Fund Fact Sheet) The fund is net long energy, precious metals, livestock, agricultural commodities and industrial metals. Do note this is the net long positioning, with the ETF having both long and short positions: Long vs Short Exposure (Fund Fact Sheet) Note how the fund is long June Brent futures, May gasoline futures and May NY Harbor ULSD (distillate fuel), while short June WTI futures. Similarly the fund is long on...
The electric vehicle (EV) market remains a battleground of innovation and scale, with legacy makers and newcomers vying for dominance. Choosing between Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) requires looking at their distinct paths toward profitability. Rivian builds rugged trucks and SUVs for the outdoors, while Lucid specializes in ultra-luxury sedans with record-setting r...
The electric vehicle (EV) market remains a battleground of innovation and scale, with legacy makers and newcomers vying for dominance. Choosing between Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) requires looking at their distinct paths toward profitability. Rivian builds rugged trucks and SUVs for the outdoors, while Lucid specializes in ultra-luxury sedans with record-setting range. Both companies are scaling production during a pivotal period for the automotive market while facing intense competition for market share. Rivian Automotive focuses on the production of high-end electric adventure vehicles, including the R1T pickup and the R1S SUV. The company also operates a commercial division that sells delivery vans directly to business clients like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) . Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business, as a significant portion of its future success is tied to a single buyer. Rivian builds vehicles for the adventure-oriented segment of consumer discretionary stocks and hopes to expand its footprint in global markets. Continue reading