Two Beastly Bargains to Stuff in Your Stocking

Now, listen closely, because I’m only going to say this once. There are certain companies, see, that are like little seedlings, just bursting with the potential to grow into enormous, money-printing trees. And if you’re clever enough to spot them before everyone else, well, you could be sitting pretty. We’re not talking about sensible, predictable growth, oh no. We’re talking about the sort of explosive, gobble-you-up-whole returns that make even seasoned investors do a little jig. I’ve been sniffing around, and I’ve found two particularly promising specimens. Don’t expect a gentle climb, mind you. These are wild things, prone to sudden leaps and occasional tumbles. But that, my friends, is where the fun begins.

1. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Now, Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD as the grown-ups call it, is a bit of a scoundrel, really. It’s been nipping at the heels of the big cheese, Nvidia, for quite some time. Nvidia, you see, is a bit of a bully, hoarding all the best bits and pieces for its fancy graphics cards. But AMD is no slouch. It’s been busy brewing up something special in its laboratories – a whole heap of clever chips for something called ‘artificial intelligence.’ A bit of a mouthful, that one. It’s like teaching a machine to think, only without the messy bits of having a brain.

The shares have been doing a bit of a dance lately, leaping upwards like a frog on a hot griddle. And why? Because everyone is suddenly realizing that this AI business is rather important. They’re aiming for a trillion-dollar market, which is a number so big it makes your head spin. They haven’t quite caught up with Nvidia’s swagger, but honestly, who needs to be exactly the same when there’s enough pie for everyone? Their ‘Instinct’ chips – rather a dramatic name, don’t you think? – are proving rather popular in these ‘data centers,’ which are basically enormous rooms full of blinking lights and whirring machines. They’ve grown a whopping 22% in the last quarter, which is enough to make even a grumpy accountant crack a smile.

They’re cooking up something called ‘Helios,’ a colossal rack system that weighs as much as a small elephant – 7,000 pounds, to be precise. It’s stuffed with chips and memory, and it’s designed to make these AI machines think even faster. They’re aiming to close the gap with Nvidia, and I, for one, wouldn’t bet against them. OpenAI and Oracle, two rather important customers, are already queuing up to get their hands on the next batch of chips. That’s a good sign, wouldn’t you say? They need to prove they can supply everyone, not just a lucky few. But they’re already planning even more powerful chips, the ‘MI500,’ which promise a thousand-fold increase in performance. That’s a lot of thinking, even for a machine.

The analysts reckon their earnings will grow at a rate of 45% a year. That’s a rather optimistic prediction, but I suspect they’re not far off. The shares are trading at 33 times this year’s earnings, which isn’t cheap, but it’s a fair price for a company with so much potential. This isn’t a slow and steady climb, mind you. It’s a rocket ship, and you need to be prepared for a bumpy ride. But if you can stomach the turbulence, you could be handsomely rewarded.

2. CleanSpark

Now, here’s a curious one. CleanSpark, you see, is a Bitcoin miner. Which means they use enormous amounts of electricity to solve complicated puzzles and create digital money. A bit odd, perhaps, but bear with me. These new chips from AMD and Nvidia, the ones that power all this artificial intelligence, are terribly thirsty for electricity. And data centers, those rooms full of blinking lights, are already struggling to keep up. It’s a bit like trying to fill a bathtub with a thimble.

CleanSpark, with its portfolio of power plants, land, and data centers, is perfectly positioned to solve this problem. They’ve already got more than 1.3 gigawatts of power at their disposal, which is enough to power a small city. They’re cranking out Bitcoin at a healthy rate, and they’re making a tidy profit doing so. They’re planning to adapt their data centers to serve the needs of these AI machines, and while they’re a bit late to the party, there’s still plenty of room for them to grow.

They’ve secured a massive site in Texas, where they’re building a new data center for these ‘hyperscalers’ – the big tech companies. They’ve also got sites in Georgia and around Atlanta. These megawatts of power are worth a fortune. Just last year, a company called CoreWeave signed a deal worth $11 billion for 400 megawatts of data center capacity. Another company, Hut 8, signed a deal worth $7 billion for 245 megawatts. You see where this is going, don’t you?

The biggest risk is getting these facilities built on time. Delays can be costly, and investors don’t like to wait. But CleanSpark has a profitable Bitcoin mining business to fall back on, and the shares are trading at a rather reasonable 12 times earnings. You’re essentially getting the mining business for a fair price, and the AI infrastructure opportunity for almost nothing. If they can secure a few deals with these hyperscalers, investors could see substantial returns over the next five years. It’s a bit of a gamble, perhaps, but then again, the best things in life usually are.

2026-01-17 09:23

1. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

2. CleanSpark

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