Some Thoughts on Nvidia (-17%) Versus DeepSeek AI

So Artificial Intelligence (AI) darling of the world, Nvidia (NVDA), was down 17% on Monday following news that China startup, DeepSeek, had created an AI application “superior” to US leaders (e.g. OpenAI), and DeepSeek had accomplished this on only a tiny fraction of the budget. Specifically, DeepSeek doesn’t need all those expensive Nvidia chips that the rest of the world has been spending hundreds of billions of dollars on. Here are 5 lessons for Nvidia investors to keep in mind.

Apple: Time to Sell Your Shares?

Apple (AAPL) shares have been weak this year as compared to other mega-cap names (as you can see in the chart below). And with iPhone market share falling in China, some investors are wondering if it’s time to dump their shares. Here are five (5) key points to consider, followed by my personal opinion on selling versus buying and/or holding the shares.

AMD: A Top AI Megatrend Play, On Sale

Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) revenue has been growing rapidly. This is because of its datacenter tie in with Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and the great cloud migration and digital revolution. However, the shares have been falling, sitting near a 52-week low. In this report, we review the business, the AI megatrend, AMD’s valuation and the big risk factors for investors. We conclude with our strong opinion on investing.

4 Good Stocks

With the turn of every new year, stock market pundits love to look at what performed best and worst last year, as if that magically gives them some hidden wisdom about what will perform the best in the year ahead. And while momentum and contrarian investment philosophies may both have some merit, a better bet is always to invest in businesses that are fundamentally promising in the years ahead, and also trading at reasonable valuations. In the report, we take a closer look at “4 Good Stocks,” all of which appear extremely promising in the year (and years) ahead, assuming of course you are a patient investor looking to make a lot of money.

Monolithic Power: Very Tempting Post Pullback

Shares of Kirkland Washington based chipmaker, Monolithic Power Systems, are getting very tempting again. We dumped 100% of our shares back in August in the $800’s, and they now trade below $600. The company’s diverse end-market strategy is expected to produce ~+20% revenue growth this year and next, while producing above 20% net margins and trading at only 1.7x forward PEG ratio (price-to-earnings / growth) and with a 5-year expected EPS growth rate estimate of 25%… impressive!

Top 10 Growth Stocks (December Update) + Disciplined Growth Portfolio

The Top 10 Growth Stocks tear sheet has been updated for December, and so has the complete Disciplined Growth Portfolio. As a reminder, these are NOT “swinging for the fences” types of strategies (although the Disciplined Growth Portfolio is up nearly 40% this year). Rather, they are disciplined, long-term, real money strategies, and they are beating the living pants off “Vanguard Target Date funds.”

Top 10 Big Yields (December Update) + High-Income NOW Portfolio

The Blue Harbinger “High Income NOW” portfolio, and the “Top 10 Big Yields” tear sheet have been updated for December. There is one new purchase in the “High Income NOW” portfolio, and two new names on the “Top 10 Big Yields” tear sheet (as well as a handful of rebalancing trades and updates to “buy under” prices). The overall theme this month is that a lot of big-yield opportunities are getting expensive, but not all of them. And we have highlighted our top ideas in these two updated documents for December.

Snowflake Earnings Note: Massive Revenue, Still No Profits

If you are a growth investor, cloud data AI company, Snowflake (SNOW) has massive revenue and massive revenue growth. However, the share price has fallen from extreme highs (in 2021) so that its recent 33%+ pop in share price (following strong quarterly earnings) still leaves a lot to be desired. In this brief note, we review the company’s incredible revenue growth, earnings (still very negative net income), valuation and share dilution. We conclude with our strong opinion on investing.

10.9% Yield CEF: Big NAV Discount, Disciplined Approach

If you like big steady income, the CEF we review in this article has delivered for decades. And it just got better this year after increasing its quarterly distribution meaningfully. Not to mention, it trades at a compelling discount to NAV which basically eliminates the small performance drag of its very reasonable expense ratio. Furthermore, it provides critical exposure to diversified equity (stock) markets that a lot of income investors frequently miss out on (because they’re overly concentrated in bonds and only a small subset of the equity market). And it does all of this in a highly-disciplined quarterly-distribution approach that allows many investors to “set it on auto-pilot” and sleep well at night.

Big Dividends Report: 200+ Closed-End Funds

If you enjoy digging into the universe of data (to help yourself identify attractive opportunities for further research), this report shares updated data on over 200 big-dividend (technically “big-distribution”) Closed-End Funds (“CEFs”). The data includes a variety of CEFs (including taxable bond CEFs, non-taxable municipal bond CEFs, stock CEFs and more), and it is sorted by market cap (you likely recognize several of your favorites near the top). There is also a link to an Excel spreadsheet with all the data (for those of you who like to sort, slice and dice the data your own way). We own several CEFs on this list in our Blue Harbinger “High Income NOW” portfolio.

Steady Income: 8.4% Yield CEF Worth Considering

If you are like a lot of people: (a) you recognize stocks have been very strong and may be due for a pullback, and (b) you don’t need homeruns from your investments at this point in life, just steady high income and a lot less volatility than the overall market. In this report, we review an attractive 8.4% yield “balanced” CEF with a healthy dose of utilities stocks (known for steady dividends and lower volatility), plus a side helping of bonds (also known for steady income) and a prudent amount of leverage (~25%). It also trades at a significantly lower price premium that it has been (compelling entry point) and pays distributions monthly.

Aspen Aerogels: High Growth, Shares Down 50% Since August

Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) recent sell-off (shares down 50% since August) provides a tempting buying opportunity for long-term growth investors. But there are a few things investors need to consider. For starters, investors were disappointed with Q3 results, in large part because the company reported a $13.0 million net loss, which included a $27.5 million one-time charge from the redemption of the company's convertible note (without the one-time charge, net income was $14.5 million, a $27.4 million YoY improvement). Additionally…

Post-Election Markets: Are You Ready for What's Next?

It’s been a big week for geopolitics and for the stock market (some sectors more than others). In this note, we review the performance of various stock market styles (eg. Small Caps, International, Large-Cap Tech and more), and then share some insights as to whether your personal investment portfolio is positioned corectly for what is coming next. For starters, here is a look at how various stock categories have performed since the election (obviously some big changes)…