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CapitalWatch, the latest to enter this hall of reflections, alleges a scheme of “Ad-Spend-as-Laundering,” a phrase that, while lacking the elegance of a Borges short story, evokes a compelling image: a river of money flowing through the digital ether, its source and destination obscured by layers of algorithmic complexity. The claim – that AppLovin facilitates the distribution of illicit applications, silently seeded onto unsuspecting devices – is unsettling, not for its novelty, but for its inherent plausibility. In an age defined by data streams and obscured transactions, the line between legitimate commerce and covert operation has become dangerously blurred.

This Oracle, it’s become one of them essential infrastructure providers, like the railroad was back in my day. Servin’ up cloud computin’ and data to all these newfangled tech companies. They’ve got contracts, mind you, for all this future business. But a contract ain’t a gold nugget in yer pocket; it’s just a piece of paper with fancy writin’. Still, it is a sign, if you squint at it just right, that somebody believes they’ll be around to collect when the bill comes due. Though, let me tell ya, fulfillin’ promises is harder than wranglin’ a stubborn mule.

The stock, as these things do, has been on a journey. A rather enthusiastic parabolic arc, rising some 2,300% over the last three years. Which, let’s be honest, is the sort of number that usually precedes a stern talking-to from the Department of Common Sense. But here we are. And now, in the early days of 2026, a wobble. A dip. A chance, perhaps, to acquire a small piece of the future at a slightly less astronomical price.

Three months? Nearly doubled. Since my September prediction – a prediction I’m now legally obligated to remind everyone about – we’re up 165%. Which, frankly, is embarrassing for all the other chip companies. It’s like watching a rom-com where the underdog actually gets the girl. And the stock? Scorching hot into 2026. I’m starting to think I should quit my day job and just become a stock whisperer.

During the last quarter, Atwater Malick acquired 42,862 shares of ACWX. The figure, as best as anyone can calculate given the inherent imprecision of financial reporting (it’s all approximations, really, based on assumptions about the speed of light and the migratory patterns of accountants), equates to roughly $2.84 million. And, rather delightfully, the value of the fund itself increased by $3.27 million – a figure that accounts for both the purchase and the general upward tendency of things that people decide are worth more. It’s a curious phenomenon, this “value,” isn’t it? (One might spend a lifetime pondering it, and still end up with a slightly dented teapot.)

Yet, even in the most assured of ascensions, a counter-current begins to form. The disparity between the grand estates of the S&P 500 and the more modest holdings of the Russell 2000 – the smaller concerns, the nimble ventures – has been, of late, quite striking. As one observes the charts – these pale imitations of life, these attempts to impose order on chaos – the gulf between the two becomes almost… melancholic. The larger firms have doubled the returns of their smaller counterparts, a circumstance that speaks not necessarily of inherent superiority, but perhaps of a certain… inertia. They are the established landowners, content to reap what is sown, while the smaller tenants strive to cultivate new fields.