For those with the foreboding sense that they had missed the train, that there was no more room aboard the shimmering stock of TSMC, let me tell you this: there is a reason, profound and destined, why the rally may continue. And it lies not in the stock’s ascent, but in the cold, digital heart of artificial intelligence, which pulses with the promise of endless infrastructure spending in the years to come.
Yet, somehow, there are always a few that break free from the pack. The divvies that somehow manage to outperform even the S&P 500’s 13% gain in 2025. Enter Altria and IBM, two companies that have outpaced the market like a dog sprinting away from its owner’s inevitable “No more treats” lecture. But how did they manage this, especially when so many others fell flat? Let’s dig into it, and maybe you’ll have a reason to thank the stock gods-or at least send a polite thank-you note to your financial advisor.
Yet the story of Nvidia is not merely one of numbers. It is a fable of silicon and ambition, where graphics processing units (GPUs) became the modern-day alchemists, transmuting data into gold. These chips, with their feverish parallel computations, were the muscle behind generative AI models, their clusters humming like choirs in a cathedral of code. When a data center ordered hundreds of thousands of them, it was as if the gods had decided to auction off their own divine calculations. Nvidia’s management, with the confidence of soothsayers, claimed 50% of the cost for a gigawatt AI factory-a share that, though it excluded the cost of land and bricks, still gleamed like a treasure map in the dim light of boardroom meetings.
ExxonMobil (XOM) hauled in $11.5 billion faster than a Mississippi steamboat this quarter, natchin’ $24.5 billion so far this year. Even with oil prices droppin’ like a sack of wet sand, they’re still on pace to print $50 billion-enough to buy every man, woman, and child in Texas a new pair of boots.
The telecom sector, a veritable theater of grand gestures, has long been populated by titans like AT&T and Verizon. These behemoths, with their decades-long traditions of dividend stewardship, now offer raises so modest they resemble the gentle drip of a leaky faucet. Verizon, that paragon of patience, recently boosted its dividend by 1.8%, a figure that would make a drowsy sloth blush. Yet here comes T-Mobile, a relative newcomer, with its 16% increase-proof that even the youngest pup can bark louder than the old guard.
Let’s start with the king of logistical efficiency-United Parcel Service (UPS). If you’ve ever marveled at the precision with which a delivery package finds its way to your door, then you’ve seen the magic of UPS at work. It’s not just about moving boxes; it’s about understanding the deep undercurrent of human nature-our unyielding need for things now, and yet, UPS somehow makes it all look effortless. Their consistent dividend payments are like the dependable train service of the stock world-rarely flashy, but always on time and very, very reliable. So, while everyone else is busy chasing the latest shiny object, you can sit back and relax knowing that the world is getting its parcels delivered on time, and so is your income stream.
Right now, we hear the usual names: Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor, and Broadcom. All of them sit at the high table, where the rich and powerful dine. But for us, the ones looking to make sense of it all, the question remains: Are these really the places where we ought to park our hard-earned money, or are we simply feeding the machine that’s already too big to fail?
Look, if you will, at the miners: MARA Holdings, Cipher Mining, TeraWulf. They are not just players in the great game, but operators of machinery-the very lifeblood of blockchain itself. And though Bitcoin itself may be bruised, these firms remain seemingly unscathed, a curious anomaly in an otherwise volatile world. They are thriving, in fact, as Bitcoin itself takes a slight dip-a phenomenon one might struggle to understand.
When the world hit pause, UPS thought it was in the “pause to win” phase. Everyone was stuck at home, so they spent money on Amazon (AMZN) like it was their new therapist. UPS became the delivery boy for the apocalypse. But here’s the rub: trees don’t grow to the sky, and neither do margins when you’re shipping every household’s emergency toilet paper stash. Wall Street, in its infinite wisdom, priced in a future where UPS would be the eternal Amazon concierge. Then reality hit like a truck to the ribs. The stock plummeted. Management, in a moment of sheer panic, decided to play Russian Roulette with its balance sheet. And we’re still picking up the pieces. 🎯
The fintech sector’s promise-streamlining back-office operations through cloud-based platforms-remains compelling. Bill’s network of 8 million financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, positions it as a critical node in small-to-mid-market enterprises’ financial ecosystems. Its 493,000 users (as of Q4 2025) and 72% transaction-fee revenue mix suggest a defensible monetization model. Yet the company’s reliance on a niche segment (micro to mid-market businesses) exposes it to sector-specific risks, including regulatory shifts and economic downturns.