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The price, you see, has retreated from its recent, frankly improbable, peak. About half, if we’re being precise. Which, naturally, leads to the usual chorus of pronouncements. ‘Buy the dip!’ they cry. As if dips aren’t, by definition, places where things tend to… stay down. Meanwhile, the price of actual, physical gold—mined from the earth, requiring actual effort—continues to climb. A fact that’s causing a few eyebrows to be raised in the Guild of Alchemists and Venture Capitalists¹.

The reported increase in projected capital expenditure related to artificial intelligence initiatives appears to have triggered a degree of concern. This analysis will assess the validity of that concern and outline potential catalysts for future performance.

The company’s CEO, Alex Karp, has publicly decried those who dare to question this ascent, labeling them “short-sellers” as if criticism were a crime. Yet, it is worth noting that Mr. Karp himself has, over the past three years, disposed of $2.2 billion worth of Palantir stock. While he retains a substantial holding – 6.4 million Class A shares, currently valued at approximately $832 million – the timing of these sales suggests a private assessment that diverges sharply from the prevailing market euphoria. To ignore this is to embrace a willful blindness.

It is in such times that the virtues of a diversified portfolio are most keenly appreciated. A prudent investor will always seek to complement more adventurous ventures with those of a steadier, more predictable nature. Companies engaged in the provision of everyday necessities, and possessing a consistent record of dividend distribution, offer a particular degree of comfort, and may be regarded as the very cornerstones of a well-ordered estate.

The Magnificent Seven, they call them. A pretty name for a bunch of companies that mostly just deliver what the public wants. Berkshire Hathaway, a solid citizen. Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor, building the future, one chip at a time. Eli Lilly, chasing miracles. And now, Walmart, the retail king. They all have something in common: they understand the customer. And the customer, let’s face it, is usually right, even when they’re wrong.

AMD projected around $9.8 billion in revenue for the first quarter, give or take a few hundred million – which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t a vast sum, but then again, I’m not the one doing the accounting. There’s a seasonal dip happening, naturally. People tend to buy fewer computers after the holidays – a fact that seems intuitively obvious, yet still manages to surprise some analysts. But the real story isn’t in the usual suspects; it’s in the data centers.

The company carries a weight of expectation, a market value north of five billion dollars. A considerable sum. Yet, when you sift through the numbers, the last twelve months show a mere seven and a half million in sales. It’s like staking a claim on a gold mine and finding only dust. Investors are betting on a harvest years away, a yield that may never come. They’re pricing in dreams, and dreams, as any weathered farmer will tell you, are a fickle crop.