The stock took a tumble, naturally. Down 32% in a year? That’s less “home appliance giant” and more “slightly used toaster oven.” Tepper’s Appaloosa Management had a stake, then…trimmed it. It’s the corporate equivalent of ghosting. They still have a little skin in the game, though. Like, they’re still on Facebook with the ex, just mostly lurking.
Despite this modest setback, the accounts remain, shall we say, presentable. Revenue for 2025 reached $72.2 billion – a perfectly respectable sum. Earnings per share, a figure increasingly divorced from reality, reached $15.38. A tidy profit, even after discounting the rather convenient windfall from the disposal of Accertify. One suspects the accountants are quite pleased.
They’re calling it a ‘position increase.’ I call it throwing good money after… well, let’s just say ‘potential.’ It now represents 1.96% of their portfolio. Which, if you’re keeping track – and honestly, who isn’t – means they’re still mostly betting on SEMrush. Smart. SEMrush is predictable. Sportradar? It’s a bit of a wild card. A shiny, data-filled wild card.
They keep talking about Vera Rubin, Nvidia’s new chip. Supposedly, it’s going to solve all our problems. Reduce costs, improve performance… It’s always the same promises. Meanwhile, they’re trading at 24 times sales. Twenty-four. It’s insulting. Like they expect a reward just for existing. And people are buying it! It’s like a collective delusion.
The company itself reports revenues dwindling, losses deepening – a perfectly respectable trajectory for a concern navigating the treacherous currents of modern commerce. But this, it seems, was anticipated. Management, in a display of what one might charitably call ‘strategic repositioning,’ is abandoning its traditional markets, like a ship shedding ballast before entering a storm, and setting sail for the shimmering, yet ultimately elusive, promise of high-power AI data centers. One pictures frantic carpenters rebuilding the vessel mid-voyage, using whatever materials come to hand.
Now, IonQ… they’ve had a run. 550% over three years! Oy vey! That’s… something. But let’s not confuse a flash in the pan with a solid investment. This ain’t the stock market; it’s a vaudeville show! They’re losin’ money faster than I lose my patience with slow walkers, and quantum computin’ itself is still years away from actually makin’ a buck. Years! That’s an eternity in the stock market. It’s like waitin’ for Godot, but with more silicon.
By noon ET, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +1.13%) was leading the charge, closely followed by the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.73%). The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.59%)? Well, let’s just say it was bringing up the rear, but still technically moving forward. Progress, people! It’s a concept.
Warner Bros., naturally, is playing coy, saying this new offer “could reasonably be expected” to be better. A polite way of saying they’re holding out for the highest bidder, like a farmer waiting for the best price at market. Netflix gave ’em a week to consider, a courtesy, mind you, and now Paramount’s laid down a final offer. Which leaves Netflix in a bit of a pickle. Do they raise the stakes, and risk a bidding war that’ll leave ’em poorer than a church mouse? Or do they simply tip their hat and walk away? The shareholders, bless their optimistic hearts, are betting on the latter, and the stock’s taken a bit of a jump, as if to say, “Good riddance to that expensive notion!”
Thus, the discerning eye turns to Artificial Intelligence, a field brimming with promises…and, naturally, inflated valuations. It’s experiencing a similar cooling, a brief respite before the next wave of hype. Still, one must acknowledge a certain…potential. Not a revolution, mind you, but a carefully engineered evolution. And within this landscape, a familiar name presents itself – Alphabet, the behemoth formerly known as Google. It’s not a pure play, no. It’s a corporation, a complex organism driven by profit, not some idealistic pursuit of technological singularity. But that, in itself, is reassuring.
This investment, amounting to 1.37% of Penn Capital’s holdings, is a testament to the allure of ACM Research, a company dedicated to the unseen work of cleansing and plating the very foundations of the digital age. One observes the firm’s other holdings – ATEC, WFRD, MIRM, AMTM, and NXST – each a piece in the complex puzzle of modern finance, yet it is ACM Research that holds a peculiar fascination. For it is a company entangled in the delicate dance between innovation, national ambition, and the ever-present specter of control.