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E.l.f. Beauty (ELF +1.14%) is currently sporting a valuation that suggests someone forgot to update the spreadsheet. A forward P/E of 24? That’s practically Victorian! But the PEG ratio is a delightful under 0.4. Which, in finance-speak, means it’s cheaper than my last dating app subscription. They’ve spent years connecting with, let’s face it, the TikTok generation. They understand the power of a good filter… and a good blush.

Nvidia’s current profitability is, shall we say, robust. This allows for strategic investments, a rather delightful habit. The recent $5 billion investment in Intel is particularly intriguing, a foray into the AI PC market. A clever maneuver, deepening ties to the consumer electronics world. Then there’s the partnership with Palantir, integrating Nvidia’s models into their AI platform. A marriage of convenience, perhaps, but a potentially lucrative one. The investments in Nokia, CoreWeave, and Lumentum – all rather substantial – demonstrate a commitment to expanding beyond the predictable. It is, in essence, a gamble on the future, and one undertaken with a certain panache.

Abel, in his inaugural act as chief steward of this vast financial estate, has begun to repurchase shares of Berkshire Hathaway. A most sensible endeavor, one might think. Yet, do not be misled by such apparent rationality. The market, dear reader, is rarely rational. It is more akin to a flock of geese, honking and squawking in a direction no one can truly predict. And this repurchase, while seemingly straightforward, is entangled in a most peculiar streak – a thirteen-quarter drought of net stock purchases that plagued Buffett in his final years. A streak, I assure you, that haunts the balance sheets like a persistent cough.

History, that relentless compiler of data, suggests that this downward drift might continue. Investors, being sensible creatures (mostly), should be aware. Let us delve, shall we, into the exquisitely improbable details.

You see, these utilities ain’t just slingin’ electricity anymore. They’re dabblin’ in the very stuff that powers progress… or at least, the illusion of it. And they’re doin’ it in different ways. One’s bettin’ on the atom, the other on the wind and sun. A fella could spend a lifetime ponderin’ which is the better wager.

One asks oneself, what does it signify? The question, of course, is rhetorical. Signify it does not. The market, like life, proceeds according to its own obscure logic, indifferent to our anxieties and pronouncements. Still, it is the habit of humans to seek meaning, even in the face of absurdity.

Let’s consider. A significant geopolitical kerfuffle in the Middle East, oil prices behaving as though they’ve been startled by a badger, inflation stubbornly refusing to lie down, and economic growth…well, let’s just say it’s taking a very leisurely stroll. Sound familiar? It should. Because this is, with unnerving precision, what things looked like half a century ago.