As we approach 2026, with the American consumer’s pocket feeling a trifle lighter and the job market exhibiting a hint of the slows, it strikes me as a rather opportune moment to give Costco a closer look. A bit of defensive positioning, you understand, is always the thing when the economic clouds begin to gather.
The company, having previously devoted itself to the extraction of digital currency – a pursuit of dubious long-term viability – has pivoted, with admirable agility, to the supply of power for AI data centres. They have secured agreements with certain leading technology firms, a circumstance which, while not guaranteeing success, does offer a temporary respite from the usual anxieties of the market.
He thinks it’ll be worth $600 in a year. A 28% profit, he says. Assuming the world doesn’t end, of course. Or that we all suddenly decide money is worthless. Which, honestly, wouldn’t be the worst thing.
The company, a titan of the attention economy, continues to generate robust profits, a relentless flow of revenue. Yet, this prosperity feels… precarious. The valuation, a price-to-earnings ratio hovering in the low twenties, suggests a discounting, a collective skepticism. It is as if the market, weary of illusions, anticipates a reckoning. The question is not whether Meta can grow, but at what cost, and for whose benefit.
QCi, it appears, traffics in photonic quantum chips – minuscule constellations of light, beamed through silicon and glass. The conceit, rather elegant, is that these chips might circumvent the cryogenic demands of more conventional quantum architectures. Room temperature, you see, is a desirable condition, suggesting a certain domesticity, a lessening of the chillingly abstract. Yet the reality, as is so often the case, proves more recalcitrant. These chips, while theoretically cheaper and more scalable, currently exhibit a disconcerting tendency toward error, requiring cumbersome optical appendages and proving, ironically, costly to manufacture in modest quantities. A paradox, wouldn’t you agree?
Lilly, to be fair, is a perfectly respectable pharmaceutical company. They’ve stumbled upon a popular remedy, and Wall Street, predictably, has decided it’s made of gold. The current price-to-earnings ratio, a staggering 51, suggests a belief in perpetual miracles. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.03%), a far more pragmatic entity, ambles along at a modest 28. A difference, one might observe, equivalent to the disparity between a well-fed bear and a particularly lean badger.
This week, the stock has performed a curious little dance, surging 12% according to those diligent number-crunchers at S&P Global Market Intelligence. One might be tempted to attribute this to genuine enthusiasm for the company’s prospects. But such optimism is a rare bloom in the financial winter. No, there’s a more…substantial reason.
Johnson & Johnson and Merck, you see, are rather large players in the pharmaceutical game. Merck, in particular, has made a name for itself with a rather clever concoction called Keytruda, a remedy for a most unpleasant ailment that seems to be causing quite a stir. It’s currently the best-selling cancer drug, and they’ve managed to apply it to a positively alarming number of cancers – a truly impressive feat, wouldn’t you say? And they’re not resting on their laurels, oh no. They’re diligently concocting new applications, which should keep the coffers full even when the original patent expires in 2028 – a bit like a resourceful butler always having a plan B.
They still hold a piece of it, mind you. A reduced stake, now representing just over half a percent of their total managed assets. It’s a familiar story, this paring down. A farmer doesn’t hold onto all his land in a single season; he harvests what he needs, and lets the rest lie fallow, or perhaps plants a different seed. The fund itself, LMBS, remains a part of the larger field, though its portion has diminished.
But here’s the thing. I’ve been staring at the charts (units of coffee consumed: 7. Hours spent questioning life choices: 4) and I’m starting to think it might not be completely insane. It’s a bit like that dress you think is hideous until someone else wears it and suddenly it’s…interesting. The market, clearly, sees something I initially missed. Or maybe I’m just easily swayed by green candles. It’s possible.