These companies, representing a combined 1.5% of Berkshire’s total equity holdings as of February 4th – $2.7 billion in Visa shares and $2.2 billion in Mastercard – are not insignificant, despite their relatively modest weighting. The temptation to dismiss them on that basis would be a mistake. They are, in essence, toll collectors on the vast highway of commerce, and that is a position of considerable power.
Despite the recent… challenges, Enterprise operates with a certain dependable dullness. A staggering 82% of their gross operating profit in 2025 stemmed from fee-based activities – back to the reliably unexciting levels of yesteryear. One assumes they haven’t been attempting anything terribly ambitious.
A pittance for expenses, they say. A mere fraction. But fractions add up. The iShares fund, cheaper, yields more now. A small comfort, perhaps, for those who rely on such things. The difference in holdings, though, is a matter of illusion. One boasts of ‘climate alignment’, the other of broad market access. Both are merely collections of shares, subject to the whims of fortune and the maneuvers of larger players.
Over the coming two years, a transformation is brewing. Broadcom stands poised to emerge from this obscurity, to claim its rightful place amongst the pantheon of market leaders. It is a slow awakening, a gradual shedding of its anonymity, reminiscent of Nvidia’s own ascent from a niche concern to a household name. But this is not merely a question of stock price appreciation, though that will undoubtedly follow. It is a question of recognition, of acknowledging a force that has long been quietly reshaping the very foundations of our digital world. And within that recognition lies a certain…moral imperative, wouldn’t you say? To see what has been hidden in plain sight.
The S&P 500, being a broad index, hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire either – a modest 1% gain – but that doesn’t make Microsoft’s task any easier. It’s a bit like trying to win a slow race; there’s not much margin for error. Still, I remain cautiously optimistic. And the reason, as is so often the case in the modern world, revolves around something called ‘the cloud.’
The company, you see, has not merely sold machines; they’ve cultivated a habit. A most profitable habit, indeed. To achieve consistent growth in a world obsessed with novelty is rare, but Intuitive Surgical has done so, and that, my dear readers, is always worth a closer inspection. It’s not enough to be clever; one must also be consistently rewarded for it.
The Brazilian government is cooking up a decree to tax cryptocurrency and stablecoin flows, treating them like foreign currency exchanges. Because nothing says “make it simple” like classifying digital coins the way you classify dollars-only with more paperwork. The ministry plans to put the document to public consultation to see how this impacts crypto usage in the country. Yes, please, tell us how tax policy will change how we spend our digital coins that no one truly understands.
Times, as they are wont to do, have shuffled on. And investors, bless their optimistic souls, are forever searching for the next big thing. The current refrain of a ‘nuclear renaissance’ is, admittedly, a bit overused – it’s bandied about like a particularly enthusiastic goblin with a shiny bauble. But there’s a kernel of truth to it. Nuclear isn’t just a ‘clean’ energy source – a term that feels suspiciously like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic – it’s become absolutely vital to the current mania for Artificial Intelligence.1 Turns out, all those servers need a lot of power. Who knew?
However, a principle long observed in this profession suggests caution. When circumstances appear excessively favorable, a critical reassessment is warranted. The market, after all, is not governed by optimism alone, but by the cold logic of valuation. And it is here that a disquieting picture emerges.
The market is currently doing that thing where it punishes growth stocks like they personally offended it. Which, honestly, some of them probably did with all the metaverse talk. But The Trade Desk isn’t some crypto-adjacent fantasy. It’s an ad platform. A really good one. And right now, it’s trading like it’s selling buggy whips. Which, in the digital age, is a truly impressive feat of market miscalculation.