Sprouts. The name itself is optimistic. The stock hasn’t been. It soared for a while, riding the health kick, then took a tumble. A 60% drop. That’s not a correction; that’s a freefall. Now it’s trading at twelve times this year’s projected earnings. Five dollars and seventy-four cents a share. Plausible, they say. Everything’s plausible until it isn’t. Analysts think it’s worth a hundred and eight bucks. They always do. The chart looks like a broken staircase.
The filing speaks of $5.56 million. A cold, hard figure. But what does it mean? That Barington has committed a portion of its capital, yes. But capital, my friends, is not merely money. It is distilled ambition, frozen expectation, the very lifeblood of enterprise. To invest is to believe. And belief, in these times, is a dangerous thing.
On February 12th, 2026 – a date which, let’s be honest, feels suspiciously significant2 – Barington Companies Management completed its acquisition of those 325,000 BILL Holdings shares. This wasn’t a mere rounding error in the grand ledger of finance; it represents a substantial increase in their holdings. The transaction itself was valued at approximately $16.70 million, calculated using the average closing price for the quarter. As a result, the value of Barington’s existing BILL position swelled by another $17.83 million, a figure encompassing both the purchase price and the inevitable whims of the market.
The filings speak of a ‘new position,’ as if attaching a label can change the stench of decline. 2.53% of Barington’s holdings now reside within Americold’s refrigerated walls. A small wager on the continued necessity of keeping things cold. One wonders if they’ve actually seen the balance sheets. The rest of their portfolio – Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret, the usual parade of fading glories – suggests a fondness for propping up the already teetering.
ISCB has been putting up slightly better recent returns, which is nice. It also holds more companies. It’s like being the person who brings 72 different dips to a party. VB, on the other hand, is the reliable, slightly boring friend who always shows up with a decent cheese plate. It’s bigger, more liquid, and less likely to give you a panic attack. Honestly, in this market, that’s a win.
But the Fed’s started to tap the brakes. A few cuts. Maybe more to come. That’s a scent in the air, a whisper of a rebound. It doesn’t guarantee a win, mind you, but it’s enough to make a man consider a play. A calculated gamble, if you will.
Now, under the stewardship of Lip-Bu Tan, they’re attempting a course correction. It’s a grand ambition, like trying to steer an ocean liner with a teaspoon. Tan’s been at the helm for less than a year, and while there’s been much flurry and pronouncements, it’s far from clear what Intel will be in five years. Will it be a phoenix risen from the ashes, or merely a particularly expensive bonfire? And, crucially, will all this effort translate into actual, tangible profit? That, my friends, is the question that keeps investors awake at night.
So, on February 12th, 2026—mark your calendars, it’s a momentous occasion—Barington reported selling 143,900 shares of TriMas. That’s a substantial chunk, yes, but let’s remember they still hold 3.05% of the company. They didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, just…reduced the bubbles. The value of their TriMas position dipped $5.98 million during the quarter, factoring in both the sale and, naturally, the stock doing its little dance up and down. A perfectly normal routine for a publicly traded company, I assure you.
In a world where transparency is both a blessing and a curse, the XRP Ledger validator Vet has emerged from the digital ether to proclaim the coming of “Confidential Transfers.” Ah, the irony of a ledger-once a symbol of open accountability-now seeking to hide in the shadows. In an X post, Vet, with a wink and a nudge, hinted at this grand transformation, scheduled for the first quarter of the year, as if such timelines were ever sacred.
As of December 31st, this adjustment brings Chou Associates’ SiriusXM stake to 4.06% of their total 13F assets under management. A curious detail, perhaps, but the landscape of portfolio holdings is rarely defined by bold strokes alone; it is the delicate shading, the subtle shifts in emphasis, that truly reveal the strategist’s intent.