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The month itself was unremarkable, a dull procession of days, until the January 29th earnings report arrived like an unexpected summons. Revenue, alas, failed to meet expectations – a minor disappointment, easily dismissed. Profits, however, held steady, a predictable outcome. But it was the 2026 guidance that truly captivated the market’s fickle imagination – a promise of future prosperity, delivered with the audacity of a seasoned illusionist. Shares, predictably, leaped upwards in the final days of the month, as if gravity had momentarily lost its grip.

The pitch is simple enough. These AI things need power, and lots of it. Training these models is like running a small city, and then actually using them—the “inference” stage, they call it—is like adding another city on top. So, the cloud providers are, predictably, thrilled. The big ones, like Alphabet, can probably handle it, but then you have the smaller players, the upstarts, the companies trying to carve out a niche. I’ve been looking at two of them: Nebius and CoreWeave. Mostly because my broker suggested them, and I’m a sucker for a good suggestion, even if it’s probably terrible.

They’re building batteries that swap out the liquid electrolytes in your standard lithium-ion pack for something solid. Think of it like switching from a sloshy milkshake to a perfectly formed ice cube. More stable, theoretically better performance. The problem is, making these solid-state things at scale is…a challenge. It’s like trying to build a Lego Death Star. Impressive in concept, but you’re going to need a lot of tiny pieces and a serious commitment.

The year unfolds, a slow unraveling of expectations, and already the signs are clear: the small and the undervalued are stirring. The Russell 2000, a restless spirit, has climbed 7.59% since the beginning of this cycle, a tremor that speaks of a deeper shift in the tectonic plates of the market. The Russell 1000 Value, a more seasoned traveler, follows with a gain of 6.77%, a confirmation that the winds of change are indeed blowing. It is a pattern as old as the markets themselves: the forgotten rise, and the giants stumble, blinded by their own grandeur.

Analysts, those people who make educated guesses for a living (a surprisingly common profession), thought Gilat would earn a modest 14 cents a share on revenues of $78.1 million. Gilat, however, sailed past that, reporting 20 cents a share on sales of $137 million. A decisive victory, you might think. Like winning a game of croquet against someone who’d never seen a mallet. But the market, as anyone who’s ever spent more than five minutes looking at it will tell you, isn’t always logical.

The forecasts, as they often are, proved to be… optimistic. Analysts anticipated $0.52 per share, a tidy sum. Amentum achieved that, technically. But the sales figures – a shade over $3.2 billion – fell short of the projected $3.3 billion. A fractional difference, one might say. Yet it is in these fractions, these small disappointments, that the larger truths often reside.

But for those of a more… pragmatic disposition – those who prefer a firm footing beneath their investments, rather than a hopeful trajectory towards the void – there exist more established constellations in this firmament of finance. Lockheed Martin and Honeywell. These are not the flamboyant dreamers, but the diligent cartographers, mapping the routes to profit with a steady hand and a meticulous eye for detail. And in February, they present a curious opportunity, like finding a perfectly preserved onion in a snowdrift.

IEI is basically the pure-play Treasury bond guy – very focused, very government-approved. FIGB, on the other hand, is like the overachiever who diversified into everything – corporate bonds, securitized bonds, you name it. It’s trying to impress everyone. Let’s break down the cost, performance, and what exactly is lurking inside these things.

Both XLP and PBJ are trying to cash in on our insatiable need to… well, not starve. They’re both playing the “defensive” game, which, in market terms, means they’re supposed to hold up okay-ish when everything else is crashing. But there are differences, oh yes, differences. It’s like choosing between a pastrami on rye and a knish. Both are good, but one’s got a little more… oomph.