They pulled in $4.24 billion in revenue and a profit of $0.45 per share. Perfectly fine. Except last year they made $0.54 on slightly less revenue. It’s the difference between a decent Chardonnay and a really good Pinot Grigio. You notice. And then you quietly judge. Plus, January was a blizzard, which, while great for hot cocoa sales, is not ideal for getting people into stores. And then there are tariffs. Tariffs are always a mood killer.
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT 2.85%) is currently experiencing the downward part of things. Down a good forty-eight percent this year. A number like that used to mean something. Now? It’s just a number. Trading at eleven dollars and forty cents as of March 3rd. Less than half of where it started on the New York Stock Exchange. A bit sad, really.
Dave’s journey since its emergence through the special acquisition route at the dawn of 2022 has been… instructive. A precipitous decline, followed by a tentative recovery beginning this year. The stock remains burdened by a 33% deficit from its initial valuation, yet those who ventured in during the depths of 2022 or 2023 may find themselves pleasantly surprised. It is a reminder that even in the most turbulent of times, opportunities—however fleeting—can present themselves.
Leshock observes, with the solemnity of a fortune teller, that the inaugural week of this nascent “conflict” witnesses a proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles. And, naturally, a depletion of existing ordnance. A predictable cycle, wouldn’t you agree? Like a gentleman depleting his funds at a particularly spirited card game.
Revenue up 26% to $146 million. Subscription revenue jumping 30% to $102.5 million. Monthly Active Users (MAUs) swelling to 95.8 million. On paper, it’s a goddamn growth story. But the analysts, those pale, caffeine-fueled creatures of habit, were looking for more. They were expecting the digital equivalent of a gold rush. What they got was… a steady stream of digital ore. Net income ballooned to $129.7 million, a number so absurdly inflated by a one-time tax benefit ($118 million!) it practically defies gravity. It’s like finding a twenty in your old coat – feels good, but doesn’t change the fundamental laws of finance. They modeled $144 million in revenue, $0.33 per share. Close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and this is the stock market, baby.
For those of you playing along at home with Kalshi, the contract is simple: “Will Caesars be acquired this year?” You’re betting on an announcement before January 1st, 2027. The actual deal closing? Irrelevant. It’s all about the headline, isn’t it? The delicious, fleeting moment of speculation. I swear, sometimes I think these markets are more about performance art than actual investment.
Momentum in the crypto ETF market finally hit the brakes. After three sessions of steady institutional buying, Thursday rolled in with the first coordinated pullback across major crypto exchange-traded funds, like a bad punchline finally landing.
And now, from the gilded cage of Nvidia’s executive suite, Monsieur Huang, the company’s chief visionary, delivers his latest decree. He proclaims that we have arrived at the ‘inflection point’ of ‘agentic AI.’ An inflection point! As if the relentless march of technology were not already sufficiently dramatic. One half expects trumpets and a chorus of adoring sycophants.
They’ve got this new thing, the Rubin platform. Sounds like a fancy Yiddish surname, doesn’t it? Anyway, it’s supposed to be a game-changer. They’re promising it’ll train AI models with fewer GPUs. Fewer GPUs! It’s like saying you can build a pyramid with fewer slaves. Efficient, yes, but where’s the drama? The spectacle? Still, 75% fewer GPUs… that’s a lot of saved electricity. And reducing the cost of “inference tokens” by 90%? Tokens, schmokens. What does that even mean? It means AI companies won’t have to charge you quite as much for the privilege of being insulted by a chatbot. Progress!
The curious thing about markets is their inherent unevenness. They are not a smooth plain, but a landscape of hills and valleys, of sudden blooms and lingering frosts. To seek a uniform return is to ignore the very nature of things. One can, with a discerning eye, locate those pockets of vitality, those nascent forces that promise a richer harvest. And it is in this spirit that I have turned my attention to the Invesco QQQ Trust, a fund that has, for a considerable time, defied the easy categorization of ‘market-matching.’