US Stocks prediction

The SEC filing landed on February 2nd. Central Trust Co. bought in. A significant block. $177 million doesn’t buy a whisper in this town; it buys a shout. A calculated shout, I suspect.

Fluor, in a moment of speculative audacity, became an early patron of NuScale, a company attempting to condense the awesome power of the atom into manageable, modular units. The hope, naturally, is to become a favored artisan in the construction of these futuristic power plants. A collaboration is underway in Romania, where a utility contemplates adorning the landscape with a sextet of these miniature reactors. A charming prospect, to be sure. However, Fluor is currently engaged in the rather prosaic act of monetizing its NuScale investment, having already extracted $605 million in late 2025. A further divestment is planned for 2026. A pleasant windfall, undoubtedly, but hardly a tectonic shift in the company’s fundamental disposition. It is, one might say, a temporary embellishment to an otherwise sturdy, if somewhat predictable, balance sheet.

It is a curious thing, this human desire for a ‘third place’ – neither home nor work, but a sanctuary in between. Starbucks, in its ambition, once sought to fill this void. Yet, in the relentless march of digitization, the very notion of such a place seemed to fade, a quaint anachronism in a world obsessed with immediacy. Niccol, however, appears to be revisiting this concept, not by clinging to the past, but by reshaping it, by acknowledging the evolving needs of a clientele accustomed to swiftness and convenience. He does not seek to be the third place, but to facilitate the experience of finding one’s own.

But here’s the thing: the company actually did pretty well. Revenue was up a robust 22% to $201 million. Q4? Even more enthusiastic – 24% growth. And they’re forecasting even more enthusiasm in Q1 – between 26% and 34%. Which, in the current market, is basically a victory parade. They’re predicting more growth, which, frankly, feels a little… optimistic? Like ordering a size small after Thanksgiving.

Indeed, a few amongst Berkshire’s treasures currently present opportunities for the astute investor. Herein, I present three – not as recommendations, mind you, but as observations for those with the wit to appreciate them.

Among these ten, the Wall Street seers favor Palantir and Microsoft. They see a stronger current lifting these two. Let’s look closer, not at the numbers alone, but at the stories behind them.

We present three such enterprises. Not thrilling, certainly. But then, fortunes are rarely built on fireworks. More often, they’re accumulated through quiet consistency. Consider them not as rockets, but as sturdy, reliable locomotives chugging along the tracks of the market.

The current valuation, a mere 8.6% below the consensus price target, feels less like an opportunity and more like a preordained condition. The ‘Hold’ rating, curiously prevalent amongst the prognosticators, suggests a reluctance to fully endorse this slow march forward. It is as if they recognize the futility of expecting radical transformation, acknowledging that Check Point’s deliberate pace is not a deficiency, but an inherent characteristic – a stubborn refusal to participate in the prevailing frenzy. The company does not grow; it persists.

ServiceNow, it seems, is attempting to be frightfully modern with all this ‘artificial intelligence’. Their ‘Now Assist’ suite is apparently doing rather well – a rather vulgar $600 million in annual contract value. They envision it becoming even more substantial, exceeding a billion by 2026. They’re also acquiring cybersecurity firms – Armis and Veza, if you’re keeping score. All rather technical, of course, but the idea is to orchestrate this ‘agentic AI’. One hopes it doesn’t become too bossy.

Mr. Musk speaks of the Cybercab, a self-driving chariot envisioned to roam our streets, generating revenue day and night. And Optimus, the humanoid robot… a creature born not of necessity, but of a restless ambition, a desire to populate the world with mechanical echoes of ourselves. He dreams of a future where these automatons perform the tedious, the dangerous… the tasks we, in our human frailty, would rather avoid. It is a vision both compelling and… unsettling. Does it not strike you as a peculiar sort of salvation, this outsourcing of our burdens to machines?