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The conglomerate, a behemoth forged in the fires of patient accumulation, now bore the subtle imprint of a new hand. Greg Abel, the chosen successor, walked the halls, but the spirit of Buffett lingered, woven into the very fabric of the portfolio. A quarter of that vast wealth rested within the often-overlooked realm of finance, a silent testament to the old man’s understanding of risk and reward. It was there, amidst the intricate web of loans and investments, that the seeds of future growth, or decline, were sown. And two names, seemingly small in the grand scheme, held a particular allure: Jefferies Financial and Ally Financial. They were not the grand cathedrals of commerce, but rather, the humble chapels, quietly gathering their strength.

Units of Cryptocurrency Lost: 12. Hours Spent Watching Charts: 9. Number of Panicked Texts to Friends: 24. (Mostly about the crypto, to be fair.) But I digress. Lemonade launched a new car insurance plan. A very specific car insurance plan. It rewards people for letting their Teslas drive themselves. It’s…ambitious. And possibly insane. But it got the stock moving, so who am I to judge?

First, this short-seller comes along. CapitalWatch, or whatever they’re called. Accusing them of…get this…skirting anti-money-laundering controls. Like every other company isn’t dancing on the edge of something questionable. They call it “improprieties.” Improprieties! It’s a strong word. And AppLovin pushes back, naturally. Calls it “false, misleading, and nonsensical.” Which, let’s be honest, is exactly what every company says when they’re caught doing something they shouldn’t. It’s the corporate equivalent of “I didn’t do it!”

Palantir Technologies, however, is a different proposition altogether. It is not merely a purveyor of algorithms, but a constructor of order from chaos. One detects a certain governmental fondness for the firm, which is, in these anxious times, hardly surprising. Governments, after all, have always had a weakness for systems that promise to tell them what they already suspect, but with a veneer of scientific respectability.

I present here five such holdings, each representing a calculated wager against the prevailing currents, a quiet affirmation of enduring principles in a world increasingly defined by ephemeral trends. These are not recommendations for the impatient, but for those who understand that true wealth is built not on fleeting bubbles, but on the solid foundations of genuine innovation and sustained performance.

The energy business, you see, is a fickle mistress. She’s prone to fits and starts, booms and busts. But these two, they’ve built themselves businesses that, while not entirely immune to the storms, are at least built on solid ground. The question, then, isn’t whether they’ll pay a dividend, but which one will offer a steadier, more reliable stream of income for a fella lookin’ to build a bit of security.

Now, some folks get all hung up on being number one. Like they’re competing in the Olympic Games of chip-making. But frankly, who needs to be Nvidia? It’s exhausting! It’s like trying to out-spend Croesus. And besides, second place gets a perfectly good trophy… and a potentially lucrative stock price, if you ask Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson. A smart fella, that Bryson. Probably owns a yacht. Or at least a very nice rowboat.

The second-quarter earnings report, released at month’s end, confirmed what the market had already, with its usual impetuousness, priced in. Though, one notes, there was precious little in the way of genuinely new information. Merely confirmation that the rising tide of AI-related expenditure was, indeed, lifting all boats, however ramshackle.

Wall Street, in its infinite wisdom (and penchant for categorization), has placed NuScale within the “nuclear energy” bucket. Perfectly reasonable, one supposes. But to categorize is not to understand. These SMRs, these miniature behemoths, are not the sprawling, site-built dinosaurs of yesteryear. No, these are fabricated in factories, assembled with the cold precision of a clockmaker, and thus, theoretically, benefit from economies of scale. The crucial word being theoretical. NuScale, you see, hopes to be an industrial manufacturer. It dreams of assembly lines humming with activity, of molten metal and the satisfying clang of progress. But dreams, as any seasoned investor knows, do not pay dividends.

The hyperscalers – Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Amazon – are the cartographers of this digital domain, endlessly charting territories that, even as they are mapped, begin to dissolve. Their quarterly pronouncements, meticulously parsed by the acolytes of Wall Street, are akin to consulting the entrails of a mechanical oracle. On February 5th, Amazon will offer its latest decree, a ritualistic accounting of past performance and future projections. But my attention, unlike that of the more literal-minded, will not be fixed upon the familiar metrics of revenue and profit. I seek instead a shadow, a whisper of something nascent within the figures.