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Artificial intelligence, it seems, is the new gold rush. Everyone is scrambling for a claim, and the price of shovels – and the companies that make them – has risen accordingly. But unlike a proper gold rush, where fortunes are made and lost with equal abandon, the AI boom has been remarkably…stable. Stocks that demonstrate even a whiff of intelligence tend to be bid up to stratospheric levels. Therefore, to stumble upon one trading at a modest price is akin to finding a perfectly good samovar in a pawn shop. Unusual, and worth investigating.

The sum expended – approximately $15.30 million, calculated by the imprecise measure of quarterly averages – is but a ripple in the vast ocean of capital. Yet, the fund’s overall position in MercadoLibre has swelled by $13.10 million, a figure encompassing both the addition of shares and the capricious dance of market pricing. It is a ledger entry, yes, but also a confession of faith in a system predicated on growth, a faith that appears, at times, to border on the irrational.

The optimistic scenario requires a lot of luck, and a little bit of physics. Rigetti needs breakthroughs. Real ones. The kind that translate into contracts. Not just promises, but actual money flowing in. Enough to move the needle beyond the $7.5 million they managed in the last year. A tall order, wouldn’t you say?

By the closing bell, the price had ascended a little more than two percent. A fleeting triumph, perhaps, in the grand, absurd theater of capital. One suspects the applause was orchestrated.

Indeed, another company, somewhat less inclined to self-promotion, directs its energies toward providing this innovative service to discerning travelers. It is a name which those engaged in the more thoughtful consideration of this industry would do well to remember.

Novo Nordisk, purveyor of Wegovy, directly challenges Lilly’s Zepbound. They’ve announced a cut in price, a lowering of the barrier to entry for those seeking to lighten their load – and, more importantly, for those who profit from the effort. A one-month supply, once exceeding $1,000, is now slated for $675. A significant reduction, yes, but one that feels less like generosity and more like a calculated maneuver. The change takes effect in 2027, giving the market time to adjust, to absorb the shock of diminished returns.

Therefore, let us consider a trio of enterprises, not as beacons of guaranteed fortune, but as vessels—somewhat leaky, perhaps—capable of navigating the treacherous currents of commerce. These are not promises of riches, mind you, but observations—the musings of a man who has seen too many ledgers and too few honest accounts.

One does not suggest a crisis, merely a recalibration. The truly elegant investor anticipates, and profits from, the inevitable shifts in fortune. To assume perpetual growth is, shall we say, lacking in imagination.

ServiceNow. Started as a glorified help desk, fixing broken printers and lost passwords. Now, it’s the nervous system of a lot of big companies. They’ve dug in deep, wrapped themselves around critical systems with security protocols and audit trails. Hard to dislodge once they’ve got a grip. That’s what they call a moat, and this one’s wide. They’ve been sprinkling AI on top like a fancy garnish, but it’s their new Control Tower that’s got my attention. A place to orchestrate the digital workforce, before it gets out of hand.

Regeneron’s current star performer is a preparation called Dupixent, a rather ingenious concoction for soothing the woes of eczema sufferers. They share the spoils with Sanofi, which is always a civilized arrangement. It’s become quite the leader in its field, and they’re extending its talents to other bothersome conditions, including a particularly nasty form of lung trouble—Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD as the chaps in white coats call it—in the coming months.