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In the final quarter of 2025, Iradimed amassed $22.7 million in revenue – a seventeen percent improvement over the previous year. Their non-GAAP net income, a rather fanciful accounting measure, ascended by twenty-three percent to $0.54 per share. They surpassed the analysts’ expectations by a mere $0.06. A triumph, no doubt, but one built upon the shifting sands of expectation. After all, to consistently meet expectations is merely to avoid failure, not to achieve brilliance.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.33% to 6,942. The Nasdaq Composite… oh, the Nasdaq… a sickening 0.59% drop to 23,102. A collective shudder. Apple, down 0.34% at $273.68. Alphabet, bleeding out at -1.77%, ending at $318.58. They’re all infected. This isn’t a correction, it’s a SYSTEMIC FAILURE of imagination. Everyone chasing the same phantom, the same AI-fueled unicorn. And unicorns, as any seasoned observer knows, are notoriously difficult to ride.

There exists, however, a company whose contributions, though less ostentatiously displayed, deserve a more discerning gaze. International Business Machines, or IBM as it is more commonly known, has been quietly establishing itself in this novel field, pursuing a course less travelled and, perhaps, more secure.

Both funds purport to offer exposure to long-duration fixed income, yet their paths diverge. SPLB, a compendium of investment-grade corporate bonds stretching beyond the decade mark, carries the weight of private enterprise—its ambitions, its frailties, its inherent capacity for both reward and ruin. SCHQ, in contrast, adheres strictly to the long-term U.S. Treasury market—a realm ostensibly free from the vagaries of balance sheets and boardroom decisions, yet subject to its own, often opaque, currents. This examination seeks not merely to compare metrics, but to dissect the underlying philosophies—and the attendant risks—embedded within each.

However, some companies have demonstrated a more…robust appetite for growth. Among these, Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ 0.17%) stands out, a Calgary-based firm engaged in the extraction of what remains of the earth’s more easily accessible resources. A pursuit, one might observe, with a limited shelf life.

Now, let’s do some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Assuming a ten percent annual return – and yes, the S&P 500 has historically averaged around that, but past performance is no guarantee of future results, blah, blah, disclaimer, you know the drill – it’ll take roughly 31 years to hit that million-dollar mark. Thirty-one years! That’s… a good chunk of time. Plenty of time to perfect your shuffleboard game. But trust me, it beats working until you’re 85. And it’s a heck of a lot less stressful than trying to time the market. Which, by the way, is like trying to herd cats. With boxing gloves.

It is a curious asymmetry. While the consumer-facing applications of this technology – the chatbots, the image generators – operate largely on hope and borrowed money, the underlying infrastructure is, for the moment, a comparatively solid proposition. This suggests a strategy, if one is inclined to indulge in such things, of backing the pick-and-shovel merchants rather than the gold prospectors. Two companies, Micron Technology (MU 2.61%) and Broadcom (AVGO 1.02%), present themselves as plausible beneficiaries of this digital rush.

Memory chips, too, have seen a brief flowering. Demand, predictably, outstrips supply. A temporary imbalance, most likely. These things rarely resolve themselves neatly. It is a curious thing, this constant striving for more, when so often, enough would suffice.