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MPLX is basically a plumbing system for energy. Pipelines, processing plants, storage – it’s all very… infrastructure-y. And that’s good! Stable cash flow, supported by government regulations and contracts with its parent, Marathon Petroleum. It’s not glamorous, but it works. It’s the corporate equivalent of sensible shoes. Last year, they covered their payout 1.4 times over. Which means they had enough left over to… fund more pipelines. It’s a beautiful, self-perpetuating cycle. Their leverage ratio is a respectable 3.7 – meaning they’re not borrowing money to buy yachts… yet.

They’re planning a cluster of upgrades to the XRP Ledger (XRPL) – think of it as a particularly fussy accounting book – early in the year. The results, or lack thereof, will be rather… visible. Q2 and Q3 will be the time to see if this ledger is actually attracting capital, or merely collecting dust and the hopes of optimistic investors. Let’s unravel this, shall we?

Look, they’re building data centers. Good for them. Everyone and their mother is building data centers. It’s the new thing. But the idea that this justifies a doubling of the stock price… it just feels… aggressive. And don’t even get me started on the phrasing. “Could double.” It’s so wishy-washy. Either it will, or it won’t. Why can’t anyone just be direct? It’s the ambiguity that gets me.

Amidst the wreckage, there’s this company, Doximity (DOCS +1.27%). It’s a social network, of all things, but for doctors. Not for cat videos or political arguments, but for actual medical information. The stock has lost a good chunk of its value – about 66% in the last year. A shame, really, but also, potentially, an opportunity. It’s down near an all-time low, and a fellow can’t help but wonder if the baby’s been thrown out with the bathwater.

The Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF (VTWO +0.02%) offers a direct route to this territory. Its appeal lies not in brilliance, but in simplicity and a remarkably low expense ratio of 0.06%. It holds, without discrimination, every stock within the Russell 2000, a commitment to completeness that is, in a market increasingly obsessed with curated experiences, almost radical. This isn’t about picking winners; it’s about acknowledging the inherent messiness of the market as a whole.

The company, Lucid (LCID 2.05%), now trades at a valuation that whispers of forgotten grandeur. A ninety percent descent over three years is not merely a financial statistic; it is a lament, a slow unraveling witnessed by the ghosts of optimistic projections. The Air sedan, a marvel of engineering, glides through the imagination even as its price remains stubbornly beyond the reach of most, a phantom luxury in a world increasingly defined by austerity. They say it can travel seven hundred and forty-nine miles on a single charge – a distance that feels less like a technological achievement and more like an allegory for a journey without end.

So, let’s have a peek behind the curtain, shall we? Here are three predictions, backed by numbers (rather boring, but necessary), that might just tell us where Alphabet is headed.