So, after the closing bell Monday, a regulatory filing dropped – a document so thrilling, it’s a wonder it didn’t require a drumroll. Apparently, an entity associated with Mr. Sprott scooped up 150,000 shares. Not exactly a king’s ransom, but enough to make Hycroft’s stock price do a little jig. He now owns over 36.9 million shares. Thirty-six point nine million! I’ve got that many paperclips, and frankly, they’re not performing nearly as well.
Workiva (WK +0.19%)… honestly, the name. It sounds like a spa treatment. Anyway, the stock’s down 25% this year. And people are surprised? I’m not. It’s just… predictable. They aggregate data, create reports, regulatory filings… it’s all very… responsible. But responsible doesn’t pay the bills, does it? The idea that a manager is going to trust AI with something going to the SEC… it’s just… naive. One misplaced decimal point, a misspelled word, and suddenly you’re on the news. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. And it’s always the little things.
The fund, in the fourth quarter, decided it had seen enough of hand soaps and wallflowers. They sold it all. Not a share lingered. It’s a clean break, really. A decisive severing of ties. The market, of course, barely noticed. It rarely does, except when it’s convenient to notice.
Pershing Square, under Mr. Ackman’s direction, acquired 3.7 million shares. Egerton Capital, a further 1.8 million. The latter, I understand, now holds a substantial portion of its portfolio in the company. Baupost Group, ever cautious, added a little over 2.1 million. A respectable sum, certainly, though one wonders if they, too, are simply delaying the inevitable reckoning.
Seven million, five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. That was the estimated weight of this transaction, measured in the quarterly average of the share price. A tidy sum, easily lost and regained in the grand game. The books show it, of course. The Securities and Exchange Commission, a monument to paperwork and the illusion of control. But what does it mean? It means that someone believes the flow of data will only increase, that the hunger for bandwidth is insatiable. And they are likely correct. We build these networks not for ourselves, but for a future we scarcely understand, a future where every thought, every purchase, every fleeting glance is captured and commodified.
The numbers themselves are not precisely cause for jubilation. Revenue, at $66.7 million, represents a decline of 13% year on year. Net income, similarly, has withered by 22% to $30.7 million, or $1.06 per share. Adjusted Funds from Operations – the REIT’s preferred metric, and one which, naturally, presents a more favourable picture – fell by 16% to $53.3 million. One is reminded of a particularly disappointing herbaceous border.
Mercado Pago is no longer a supporting function. It is, in many respects, the engine. The question is not whether this ‘fintech’ arm will grow – growth is, at this point, almost guaranteed – but whether that growth will prove to be a strengthening of the entire structure, or merely a gilded layer of vulnerability.
An earnings report is scheduled, a ritualistic pronouncement of figures, and with it, a preliminary projection for the fiscal year 2027. The anticipation is…curious. It is not a matter of prediction, for the future is, by definition, unknowable. Rather, it is the precise measurement of expectation. Even a demonstration of robust performance may elicit a downturn, a correction not based on inherent weakness, but on the failure to exceed a phantom standard, a benchmark established by the market’s own internal, and ultimately illogical, logic.
Iovance Biotherapeutics, a name to conjure with, experienced a positively ripping good climb of 32% on the back of some encouraging sarcoma trial data. And Advanced Micro Devices, not to be outdone, found itself on the upswing, thanks to whispers of a new AI chip arrangement with Meta Platforms – a decidedly clever bit of business, that. In the realm of everyday staples, J.M. Smucker, a firm built on solid foundations, outperformed expectations following a commendation from the Bank of America, while General Mills, alas, lagged somewhat after a less-than-enthusiastic assessment.
Trading volume reached 52.8 million shares, a considerable increase of roughly 36% over the three-month average. Such activity suggests a degree of nervous shuffling, rather than confident investment. The bank, established in 1973, has seen a 989% increase since its initial public offering – a figure that, while impressive, feels increasingly detached from present realities.