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One cannot help but observe that Nebius has, in a manner of speaking, rather outdone itself. A tripling of the share price in a single year is a circumstance which, while undeniably pleasing, does raise the question of sustainability. The company, it must be confessed, is currently valued at a premium, a fact which, whilst not alarming, does require a discerning eye.

I mean, the long-run average is around 10%, isn’t it? Which feels… sensible. This, however, is not sensible. 2025 was the worst year in the last three, at only 16%. The sheer audacity. 2024 and 2023 were both over 20%. It’s like the market decided to have a mid-life crisis and buy a sports car. I keep telling myself it’s just a temporary blip, but then I remember history. And history, as I’ve learned, is rarely kind to optimists.

One finds, then, a pair of companies frequently touted as inheritors of the Buffettian spirit. Amazon and American Express. Both, undeniably, successful. Though success, as any seasoned observer knows, is often merely the prolonged postponement of failure, elegantly disguised. Let us dissect these specimens, shall we?

The anticipation now centers on the fourth-quarter pronouncements from Palantir, a reckoning that must justify the staggering multiple – 416 times trailing earnings, 117 times sales. A precarious edifice, indeed. But while the gaze of the multitude remains fixed upon this particular beacon, a quieter signal emerges from another quarter – Lumentum Holdings. A company, perhaps less glamorous, but possessing a solidity that warrants closer inspection.

Recent commentary from governmental sources, coupled with a meeting between Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Trump, appears to have temporarily catalyzed market sentiment. While such interactions can provide short-term boosts, a sustainable trajectory requires substantiation through fundamental performance metrics.

The company has, with some haste, begun to offer artificial intelligence tools. This is not innovation, precisely, but adaptation. The current fervor surrounding AI presents an obvious opportunity, and DigitalOcean is attempting to position itself as a provider of affordable access for smaller businesses. The claim is that demand is “through the roof,” and revenue has indeed doubled in the last five quarters. Such figures, however, must be viewed with a degree of skepticism. The entire sector is inflated, and a doubling of revenue from a small base is hardly conclusive proof of long-term viability.

They make a decent electric vehicle, I’ll grant you that. But “decent” doesn’t pay the bills, does it? And that’s the whole thing. They’re years from profitability, and in the meantime, they’re relying on someone else to keep the lights on. It’s like being perpetually stuck behind someone going 5 under in the fast lane.

Costco, Coca-Cola, and Amazon. These aren’t exciting names, not like rockets or miracle cures. They’re just… persistent. Like dust. And, surprisingly, that can be a good thing.