There are companies, naturally, that are positioning themselves to not merely survive a potential downturn, but to thrive in it. To scoop up the remnants of shattered dreams and turn them into… well, more algorithms. And one, in particular, is looking remarkably well-equipped. It’s a name you’ve almost certainly heard before, mostly because it’s been attempting to index the entire world for the last couple of decades.1
They report earnings on February 18th. Which, frankly, is a little too close for comfort. I always feel pressured when a financial decision has a deadline. It’s like being asked to pick a favorite nephew. Impossible. Still, the question is whether to buy before the report, or wait and risk missing whatever brief rally might occur. It’s a dilemma that keeps me up at night, alternating between spreadsheets and imagining the disappointment of my financial advisor.
And within this field, those who understand the very nature of the coming storm – the artificial intelligence itself – are best positioned to thrive. This brings me to Rubrik (RBRK +2.46%). The market has, with a characteristic impatience, marked it down – more than 45% from its peak, as if a promising sapling had been carelessly pruned. Yet, beneath the surface, the roots run deep, and the growth is undeniable. It presents, to my eye, a compelling opportunity.
The table below, a monument to bureaucratic thoroughness, details the particulars of this shedding of stock:
The figures for 2025 are, of course, encouraging. Fifty million daily active users, a billion in revenue – numbers that lend themselves to optimistic projections. Subscriptions increased, margins improved, and profitability, that most elusive of virtues, strengthened. But scale, as any seasoned observer will attest, alters the arithmetic. To add users at this magnitude is no longer a matter of simple progression; it demands a more nuanced assessment.
I confess, I find this fear…overstated. A naive dread, perhaps, blinding them to the inherent resilience of value. This, then, presents a peculiar opportunity. A chance to acquire genuine, enduring businesses at prices that betray a lack of…understanding. Let us examine two such entities, those caught in the crosscurrents of this technological tempest, and attempt to discern, not merely their financial prospects, but the very essence of their being.
Klarna, you see, is in the business of making tomorrow’s money available today. A perfectly respectable profession, of course, practiced for centuries by pawnbrokers and, more recently, by credit card companies. Their specialty is “buy now, pay later,” a phrase that sounds suspiciously like a promise to worry about consequences after the shopping spree. They’ve even secured a monopoly with Walmart, a partnership that suggests either great foresight or a shared fondness for risk. Their “Pay in 4” service, splitting purchases into bite-sized, interest-free installments, is particularly ingenious. It’s the financial equivalent of offering a man a fish, then politely requesting he pay for it over four weeks. They’re also branching out, naturally, into all manner of financial services. One suspects they’ll soon be offering loans to finance the purchase of larger, more extravagant illusions.
However, a closer examination reveals a company not in decline, but rather, actively engaged in a series of undertakings which, if successful, promise a substantial return. The last quarter witnessed revenues of $3.45 billion – a respectable increase of twenty-seven per cent – and a surge in orders to 776 million. Though the earnings per share fell somewhat short of expectations, one must remember that such figures are often a consequence of deliberate investment – in the curious devices known as delivery robots, in the infrastructure required to support this novel method of distribution, and, indeed, in the recent acquisition of Deliveroo. To mistake such expenditure for a sign of weakness would be a most grievous error.
It’s an ETF, which is just a fancy way of saying a basket of stocks. They trade like a single stock, which is convenient. The world is obsessed with convenience, as if it will somehow stave off the void. It won’t.
Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT +3.42%), a particularly ambitious alchemist in this digital gold rush, has decided to take a different tack. While most are building bigger and more complicated spellbooks – sorry, computers – they’re focusing on what they describe as ‘imminent solutions’. In other words, things that might actually generate revenue before the heat death of the universe. They’re peddling quantum semiconductors – thin-film lithium niobate photonic integrated circuits, to be precise – and the software to make the whole contraption whirr and click. Apparently, it’s all very flexible and applicable to high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.1