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There are those who speak of ‘long-term’ investments as if time itself were a guarantor of success. A naive notion. Time merely reveals the true character of things, exposing the foundations of both strength and folly. To place one’s trust in a company requires more than a glance at its recent gains; it demands an understanding of its essence, its place in the grand scheme of things, and the enduring nature of its purpose. Five thousand dollars, a sum not inconsiderable, deserves to be allocated with such discernment.

They reported decent numbers last quarter, but foot traffic was… flagging. Down in every single quarter of 2025. It’s like hosting a party and realizing no one actually likes your potato salad. A little disheartening. Still, the CEO, Scott Boatwright (a name that sounds suspiciously like a brand of sensible shoes), is talking a good game. He left Brian Niccol to go to Starbucks, which, frankly, seems like a lateral move. More coffee, more lines.

One might be tempted to question the cause of this diminution, given the numbers presented; yet a careful consideration suggests that AMD is, at last, demonstrating the progress long anticipated by those acquainted with its affairs. The question, therefore, is whether this presents a suitable opportunity for investment, or whether a more patient course might prove more advantageous.

February 19th brings the reckoning, the quarterly report. Folks are asking if now’s the time to buy. It’s a fair question. A man has to consider the ground beneath his feet.

However, to declare all investments perilous would be to succumb to a pessimism as unproductive as it is widespread. Even amidst such turbulence, certain enterprises possess a resilience, a capacity to weather the storm and, perhaps, even flourish in its aftermath. It is to these, then, that we shall turn our attention, examining their strengths and weaknesses with a dispassionate eye, seeking not merely profit, but an understanding of the forces that shape our economic destiny.

They’re deep-sea miners, you see. Not the sort who strap on a helmet and go looking for coal, but a company trying to vacuum up polymetallic nodules from the bottom of the Pacific. Nodules, for the uninitiated, are lumpy little formations containing metals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese. Apparently, there are enough of these things scattered around the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a rather remote bit of ocean – to make all our current land-based reserves look a bit…modest. The U.S. Geological Survey reckons it’s got more nickel, cobalt, and manganese than everything we’ve already dug up. And a comparable amount of copper. It’s a bit like discovering a spare planet, really, only this one is already here, just…underwater.

This season of earnings reports has confirmed a predictable truth: the building of things – data centers, in this case – continues apace. The large owners of these digital estates are committing considerable sums, driven by an insatiable appetite for processing power. It is a grand undertaking, really, though one wonders if they pause to consider what all this calculating truly means. Nvidia, of course, finds itself well-positioned. Their graphics processing units remain, for the moment, the engines of this infrastructure. They offer not just the chips themselves, but increasingly, the entire solution – a neat package, though one suspects the margins are more substantial than the innovation.

The numbers, as of Thursday’s close, are down 19.9% from last Friday. Which, let’s be clear, is not a percentage one enjoys seeing. It’s the sort of number that makes you question all your life choices, and possibly the existence of a rational market.

A billion dollars. Nearly. In revenue. Doubled year-over-year. Let that sink in. These aren’t incremental gains, this is a goddamn tidal wave of cash washing over the balance sheet. And what do we get? A collective shrug? The analysts, those self-appointed arbiters of value, were expecting… more. More! As if the market operates on some divine right of endless expansion. They wanted $1.15 billion. Alnylam delivered just under. Close enough for government work, I always say, but not close enough for Wall Street’s insatiable appetite. The net income? A respectable $169.8 million. Enough to fund a small nation, or at least a very lavish shareholder party.