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The stock, on a purely mathematical basis—price to sales, you understand—appears remarkably inexpensive. A bargain, one might say. Yet, it remains consistently so, a persistent anomaly. The reason, predictably, lies in its inability to generate earnings that align with its peers. EBITDA margins, that cold, clinical measure of performance, continue to lag. It is a familiar story: a potential unrealized, a promise unfulfilled.

Thiel, a name synonymous with the early bloom of PayPal and, more recently, the enigmatic precision of Palantir, moved with the deliberate grace of a seasoned cartographer charting a course through treacherous waters. His portfolio, a reflection of his own peculiar blend of optimism and skepticism, had always been a subject of intense scrutiny, each transaction dissected and interpreted as a sign of things to come. During the last quarter, three movements, subtle yet significant, echoed through the halls of finance. He relinquished his entire stake in Nvidia, a company that had, for a time, seemed to hold the very future of artificial intelligence within its circuits. He pared back his holdings in Tesla, the electric dream machine, by a considerable margin, though it remained the largest ship in his fleet. And, almost as an afterthought, he began to accumulate shares in Microsoft, a titan of the old guard, a company that had weathered countless storms and emerged, not unscathed, but undeniably resilient.

The former President, a man of bold, some would say impetuous, decisions, has since moderated some of these impositions, yet the threat of new ones lingers, a phantom menace haunting the exchanges. A recent declaration, threatening a substantial levy upon those nations daring to engage in commerce with Iran, served as a stark reminder of the capricious nature of power. But a more profound contest is now unfolding, a legal challenge before the Supreme Court concerning the very legitimacy of these tariffs, specifically those enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The outcome, expected within days, promises to either calm or further roil the markets, a prospect that gives pause even to the most seasoned speculator.

This one…this one is sneaky good. Realty Income (O), a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, if you’re feeling fancy. They own properties – lots of ’em – and lease them out. It’s as simple as that. Now, these REITs are legally required to hand out most of their profits as dividends. It’s the law! They’re basically forced to be generous. And get this: they pay monthly dividends. Monthly! That’s right, not quarterly, not annually…monthly! It’s like getting a tiny little birthday present every month. They’ve been doing this for 667 consecutive months, which is longer than some marriages, let me tell you.

To leap from the current $64 to $100 represents a gain of precisely 56%, a figure that, while mathematically sound, feels…optimistic. Especially when one recalls the stock’s nadir, a 64% descent from the effervescent heights of November 2021. It’s a humbling reminder that even the most athletic of companies can stumble, its momentum momentarily lost in a tangle of its own laces. Five years prior to that peak, however, a soaring 255% ascent proved that Nike is not immune to the capricious whims of investor fancy. Bulls, naturally, yearn for a repeat performance, a resurrection of past glories.

To speak of ‘money machines’ is to misunderstand the currents at play. These are not engines of pure creation, but rather vessels that collect the detritus of desire, the shimmering fragments of dreams cast off by a restless world. And yet, even a cynic like Mateo couldn’t deny that certain vessels were more adept at gathering these fragments than others. Three, in particular, stood out, their hulls reinforced against the inevitable storms of the market, their captains steering by a compass calibrated to the whims of the collective imagination.