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The company, a century-old institution built on the combustion of fuel, had long been priced as a reflection of the open road, a cyclical wager on the price of freight. A reasonable, if unremarkable, investment. But the roads, it seems, were no longer the most demanding masters. Now, it was the insatiable appetite of the cloud, the endless calculations of algorithms, the very breath of artificial intelligence, that dictated the terms. The surge in demand for uninterrupted power, for the seamless flow of electrons to these digital cathedrals, had transformed Cummins from a maker of engines into something…else. Something akin to a provider of divine sustenance.

Two transactions are of particular note. He liquidated his entire position in Sandisk, a manufacturer of memory storage, and initiated a new position in Amazon. These are not bold gambles, but calculated shifts in allocation, reflecting a clear understanding of underlying value, or the lack thereof.

Target, it must be admitted, has endured a period of distinctly unglamorous performance since the onset of the pandemic. A surfeit of inventory, a discernible decline in the allure of its merchandise, stores exhibiting a certain…laxity, and a regrettable tendency towards political posturing have all contributed to its current predicament. The financial results reflect this. Net sales experienced a 2% contraction in fiscal 2025, with net income falling by a rather more substantial 9.7% to $3.7 billion. A sorry spectacle, indeed.

There is much chatter, naturally, about the President’s pronouncements on trade – tariffs and the like. These are presented as potential calamities, as if a few well-aimed duties could bring the entire edifice crashing down. While such policies are not without consequence, to fixate upon them as the primary threat is akin to blaming the footman for the master’s folly. The true dangers, I assure you, lie deeper, concealed within the very mechanisms designed to safeguard our prosperity.

There are these prediction markets now. People bet on things. Political races, the weather, whether Bitcoin will hit a hundred and fifty thousand dollars by 2026. The markets say eleven percent. Eleven. That’s a low number. It peaked around one hundred and twenty-six thousand before, a while ago.

The management, one gathers, isn’t averse to a spot of forward thinking. Which explains the rather astonishing performance of late – a 647% ascent over a decade, and a positively vertiginous 11,500% over twenty years. Figures that would make even the most hardened gambler raise an eyebrow.

Quanta Services, Vertiv, and Eaton… these are not names that stir the soul. They do not promise revolution, only competence. And yet, it is competence, reliably delivered, that underpins all things. Quanta, with its knack for connecting power to these digital fortresses, seems particularly well-positioned. They’ve been acquiring companies – Cupertino Electric, Dynamic Systems – not with fanfare, but with the steady hand of a seasoned gardener tending to his vines. A backlog of forty-four billion dollars… it’s a comforting number, isn’t it? Suggests a certain… stability. Goldman Sachs predicts a growth of 17-18% in earnings per share. A respectable figure. Though, one wonders, how long can such growth continue? The world is rarely so accommodating.

Bank of America, a behemoth whose tendrils reach into the very foundations of American finance, finds itself conspicuously absent from this designated eternity. It is the fourth-largest holding, a substantial weight in Berkshire’s vast portfolio, yet unacknowledged as “core.” One recalls the apocryphal treatise of the Alexandrian scholar, Ptolemy Philometres, who posited that all great fortunes are built upon a foundation of deliberate silences. Berkshire’s involvement began in the aftermath of the Great Recession, a transfusion of capital in 2011 yielding warrants exercised in 2017—a transaction that echoes the alchemical dreams of transforming base metals into gold.