Both aim to capture the world, of course. But SPGM, with its blend of American and international holdings, feels… comprehensive. A sort of all-weather portfolio, perhaps. IXUS, however, is a more pointed inquiry. A deliberate attempt to seek growth elsewhere. One imagines the fund manager, gazing at a map, tracing lines to Tokyo, to Frankfurt, to São Paulo… a longing for something beyond the predictable.
They’re due to report their fourth-quarter earnings on February 19th, and the question, as always, is: should you buy? Now, I’ve spent a good portion of my career staring at numbers, trying to predict the unpredictable, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that predicting the future is, well, difficult. But let’s have a look at what’s going on under the hood.
These magnets, you see, are born of rare-earth elements – substances abundant in the earth’s crust, yet frustratingly elusive in concentrated form. Mining them is merely the first act in a rather elaborate drama; refining them into something genuinely useful is where the true artistry – and the true expense – lies. And it is here, in this realm of geological alchemy, that USA Rare Earth (USAR +1.81%) has chosen to stake its claim.
The bottleneck, you see, is not in the thought, but in the transmission. Imagine an endless procession of clerks, each carrying a single digit of a vast calculation. They jostle, they stumble, they lose numbers in the mud. This is, in essence, the problem of interconnectivity within an AI data center. The racks of processors, these metallic behemoths, require a swift and reliable means of communication. A nervous system, if you will, for the digital leviathan. And it is here, amongst the wires and the blinking lights, that a small, unassuming company called Astera Labs has begun to quietly amass a fortune.
Chime, you see, is one of those ‘disruptive’ fintechs. A polite term for ‘doing things differently.’ In this case, by offering banking services without the usual fees. Now, banks don’t generally like giving things away. It rather undermines the whole point of being a bank. So, Chime operates on the principle of attracting a vast number of customers, then subtly extracting value from their transactions. It’s a bit like a particularly clever spider, really. They call it “interchange fees”. We call it “the engine of modern commerce”.
The VOO, you see, is like pickin’ the biggest apples off the tree. It holds the 500 largest companies in the land, the ones everyone’s heard of. It’s a solid, dependable sort, aimin’ to mirror the whole S&P 500 index. The IWM, though, that’s a different breed altogether. It’s like rummagin’ through the orchard for the smaller, wilder apples. It holds nearly 2,000 smaller companies – the Russell 2000 index – and that means it’s a bit more rambunctious, a bit more prone to shakin’ things up.
Remember Pfizer? Back in 2020, they had a bit of a lucky streak, didn’t they? A certain virus came along, and suddenly, their shares were shooting upwards like rockets. From a measly $33 to nearly $60! For a short while, they were the golden geese of the stock market. But geese, as anyone knows, don’t stay golden forever.
The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed a complete exit, the entirety of ACK’s 1,375,000 shares now dispersed. A curious act, to abandon a position that, until recently, appeared to be blossoming. It is as if a gardener, having nurtured a promising vine, should suddenly turn away, declaring it no longer worthy of attention.
The SEC filing confirms the purchase, a significant, though not extravagant, addition to ACK’s holdings. It represents 5.6% of their 13F AUM – a noticeable commitment, certainly, but one that doesn’t exactly set the financial world ablaze. One wonders if the decision was made over lukewarm coffee and a shared sigh regarding the current market conditions.
It’s a classic case of overconfidence, if you ask me. They thought they could just transplant the American car experience onto a continent that, shocker, has its own ideas. Passenger vehicle demand was weak? Well, maybe the cars weren’t good. EV adoption slower than anticipated? Maybe people don’t want to pay a fortune for something that still requires a charging station search that feels like a scavenger hunt. And then these Chinese EV makers come along, offering something decent at a price that doesn’t require a second mortgage? It’s not a mystery, it’s basic economics. The whole thing is just… irritating. Like when someone cuts you off in line. Unacceptable.