GREAT open today......PLTR....is BOOMING. Here is the probable reason. Palantir Wins Overweight Rating From Piper Sandler https://www.investors.com/news/technology/palantir-stock-piper-sandler-overweight-rating-valuation/ The "guts" of the story....says it all: "Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin set a price target of 170 on Palantir stock, which he says offers "one of a kind growth." "We have monitored Palantir for five-plus years from a coveted late-stage private that completed a direct listing in September 2020 through the trough of disillusionment in late 2022 as the stock plummeted to $6 lows into the recent 'rise of the phoenix' moment where PLTR has been crowned an AI All-Star on accelerating growth," Bracelin said in a report. He added: "No doubt, Palantir carries a rich valuation premium and remains a high-risk investment, but it also has a one-of-a-kind growth plus margin model that if proven durable could grow into a $24 billion run-rate by 3032 via share gains across two $1-plus trillion total addressable markets. We see Palantir as an AI secular winner and initiate at overweight." MY COMMENT YES.....still high risk.....and time will tell.
To continue with PLTR.....NOW.....number 20 in the SP500. Truly one of the largest companies in the world....for now. Palantir joins list of 20 most valuable U.S. companies, with stock more than doubling in 2025 https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/25/pal...high-becomes-20th-most-valuable-us-firm-.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Key Points Palantir shares rose about 3% on Friday, pushing the stock to another record. The provider of software to military agencies became the 20th most valuable U.S. company by market value. Palantir has more than doubled in value this year as investors ramp up bets on its artificial intelligence tools and government contract agreements. Palantir has hit another major milestone in its meteoric stock rise. It’s now one of the 20 most valuable U.S. companies. The provider of software and data analytics technology to defense agencies saw its stock rise about 3% on Friday to another record, lifting the company’s market cap to $375 billion, which puts it ahead of Home Depot and Procter & Gamble. The company’s market value was already higher than Bank of America and Coca-Cola. Palantir has more than doubled in value this year as investors ramp up bets on the company’s artificial intelligence business and closer ties to the U.S. government. Since its founding in 2003 by Peter Thiel, CEO Alex Karp and others, the company has steadily accrued a growing list of customers. Revenue in Palantir’s U.S. government business increased 45% to $373 million in its most recent quarter, while total sales rose 39% to $884 million. The company next reports results on Aug. 4. Earlier this year, Palantir soared ahead of Salesforce, IBM and Cisco into the top 10 U.S. tech companies by market cap. Buying the stock at these levels requires investors to pay hefty multiples. Palantir currently trades for 273 times forward earnings, according to FactSet. The only other company in the top 20 with a triple-digit ratio is Tesla at 175. With $3.1 billion in total revenue over the past year, Palantir is a fraction the size of the next smallest company by sales among the top 20 by market cap. Mastercard, which is valued at $518 billion, is closest with sales over the past four quarters of roughly $29 billion. MY COMMENT STILL a high risk play....but holding for the long term deals with some of that risk. NOW....the company needs to bootstrap the current PR and take advantage of this new milestone to translate it into business. Are we approaching the advent of the.....MAGNIFICENT EIGHT?
OHHHH......NO. But this really does not apply to me and what I collect. This article is dealing with the big New York auction houses which lately have been selling.....super expensive.... Modern Contemporary Art. What I collect is Western Art and a particular type of Impressionistic Art....both of which are BOOMING and setting records. The big auctions for Western art.......Santa Fe Art Auction, Jackson Hole Art Auction, Scottsdale Art Auction, the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, the Russell Art Auction, and a few more. In the type of Impressionistic art that I collect......it is mostly specialized auctions that are NOT the big boys. Auction sales fall 6% in the first half, raising fears of an art market shift https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/25/fine-art-auction-sales.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Key Points Auction sales have been declining for the third year in a row and are down 44% — or more than $3 billion — from the first six months of 2022. But the prosperity of the wealthy is at record levels, raising questions about a bigger shift in the art market. Auction houses are working to attract younger clients with more online sales, luxury items and lower-priced offerings. Ups and Downs by KAWS, estimated£30000-£50000, on display during a preview at the Phillips showroom in central London, ahead of their forthcoming Evening and Day Editions auction. Picture date: Friday January 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images) Ian West - Pa Images | Pa Images | Getty Images Auction sales have been declining for the third year in a row, as dealers, auctioneers and collectors ponder a deeper crisis in the art market. Auction sales for the first half of the year at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips fell to $3.98 billion, a drop of 6% compared with the same period in 2024, according to ArtTactic. The auction total is the lowest in at least a decade (setting aside the 2020 pandemic) and is now down 44% — or more than $3 billion — from 2022. The declines follow a 19% drop in 2023 and 26% decline in 2024. Postwar and contemporary art, which has been the main engine of growth for art auctions in recent decades, fell by an even greater 19% in the first half, according to ArtTactic. “Lingering concerns over global economic growth, ongoing inflation, and rising geopolitical tensions are weighing on confidence and creating a more cautious investment climate,” ArtTactic said. “These factors are likely to challenge the market’s momentum in the second half of the year, as the industry adapts to a still-uncertain global landscape.” Those lingering concerns, however, aren’t showing up in other areas of the wealth economy. The prosperity of the wealthy is at record levels, with the top 10% of Americans adding $37 trillion to their wealth since Covid, marking a 45% increase. Stock markets were up more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024 and are up again so far in 2025. Housing values and business valuations have also soared, adding to personal wealth. Yale professor William Goetzmann has studied the relationship between art prices and financial wealth going back over 300 years and found they are “highly correlated.” “Demand for art increases with the wealth of art collectors,” he wrote in his famous paper “Accounting for Taste, Art and the Financial Markets over Three Centuries.” With personal wealth at all-time highs, however, Goetzmann said the 300-year correlation is broken. He said there are one of two explanations for the divergence: Either the dip in the art market is a temporary aberration and will bounce back this year or next, or the art market is going through a more structural change. “The question is, is there some kind of fundamental deviation from the social norm of the very wealthy being highly involved in collecting art at the highest prices and levels,” he said. “We don’t know yet.” That fundamental deviation, if it’s happening, may be rooted in the generational shift in wealth. For decades, the art market has been driven largely by baby boomers who built large art collections as their wealth grew throughout the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s. Many of those baby boomer collectors are now buying less or downsizing. And a growing number are leaving estates with large collections to sell, since their kids often don’t want the art. At the same time, the new generation of wealthy — millennials and Gen Z — grew up in a more digital world and may not have the same tastes or interest in the paintings of 20th century artists. With over $100 trillion in wealth expected to pass mainly from baby boomers to the next generation, some experts say the art market may be showing signs of structural change and a more existential crisis. The auction houses are racing to adapt with more online sales, luxury items and lower-priced offerings. Auction sales in the luxury category — including jewelry, handbags, wine, watches and sports memorabilia — grew 1% in the first half even as art sales declined, according to ArtTactic. Jewelry is shining especially bright among young, female collectors as more wealth shifts to women. Jewel and jewelry sales jumped 68% in the first half compared to a year ago. Online auctions are also rapidly gaining share over physical auctions as younger collectors prefer to bid from their phones. Total auction sales at Christie’s were stable in the first half, thanks in large part to online sales and luxury. Its luxury sales, which also included classic cars, surged 29% to $468 million. Among the highlights: the Marie-Therese Pink Diamond, said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, which sold for $14 million, and the “Blue Belle” fancy vivid blue diamond went for $11 million. The shine from jewelry and luxury goods is also helping Sotheby’s, which sold its own blue diamond, the famed “Mediterranean Blue,” for $21.5 million in May after a fierce bidding war. Younger collectors are driving strong demand for collectibles priced under $100,000, with the most competitive bidding for works under $50,000. The top end of the art market, with lots priced at over $10 million, plunged 39% last year, while sales of works for less than $5,000 jumped 13%, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Bonnie Brennan, CEO of Christie’s, told reporters that the auction’s house’s chief mission is to offer the objects that its clients want today, and offer them at the right price — especially for the new generation of collectors. Fully 80% of its bids this year have been online and nearly a third of winning bids came from millennial or Gen Z buyers. “We are showing great relevance to the younger generation, to millennials, to Gen Z,” Brennan said. “It’s something that’s really critical to sustain our business going forward.”" MY COMMENT Art is very specific to certain generations. It is a common and long time topic in the general art world..... how and if.....younger generations will be interested or involved. I have been LUCKY lately....what I collect is RED HOT and the value of what I own is at an all time high. BUT.....art is a commodity....a thing.... and NOT an investment...even though good money can be made. I see it as a hedge against inflation and a store of some value as a.....REAL......hard asset.
The market SLIPPED on me as the day progressed. BUT....I still ended with a good but smaller GAIN. I got beat by the SP500 by....0.14%.
The week that was. DOW year to date +5.92% DOW five days +1.20% SP500 year to date +8.86% SP500 five days +1.33% NASDAQ 100 year to date +11.00% NASDAQ 100 five days +0.75% NASDAQ year to date +9.48% NASDAQ five days +0.71% RUSSELL year to date +1.32% RUSSELL five days +0.57% As for me at the close today my entire portfolio is at year to date.....+15.87%. Last week it was at........+14.36%. A good week.
For me, this is everything. This is the meaning of investing. I do not believe more than a handful of people are aware of the idea beyond hearing the term and pretending to practice it. When I first bought Tesla, my analysis showed I had a 50/50 chance of either losing everything or 10x my money within 10 years. That's one of the best risk/reward ratios I have ever seen. That's why I hit it hard. The best risk/reward ratio I've ever seen was a tiny Canadian company called High Arctic Energy. I followed these guys for years. They almost went bankrupt during an oil price dip in the early 2000s. That caused the CEO to have an aversion to debt. He got the company entirely out of debt; both their operating lines and their equipment leases. It was distributing beautifully. I was thinking of getting in, and would have, when the market started giving oil away. The industry was in freefall. Shuttering wells. Energy sector equities all crashed hard. The HWO CEO's repsonse was to buy some containers and set up mobile service rigs for the natural gas field. He offered contracts to staff who wanted work and were prepared to go to Papua New Guinea to service LNG rigs. He said he wanted to retain as many staff as he could. When I saw how the company was being operated, I bought the hell out of HWO. I considered the risk of HWO going bankrupt to be 0%. I was confident I would end up with 2x~10x within two years. Middle Eastern countries can afford to give oil away for a while but, sooner or later, they need fresh gilding on their mosques. I got out of HWO entirely when my hero CEO retired. HWO treated my wife and I extremely well. A new CEO came in and immediately leveraged the hell out of the company. He had big ideas. HWO is now a penny stock that I don't follow.
So true TomB16. I try to base EVERYTHING I do as an investor on.....PROBABILITY. I am extremely CLINICAL and able to see REALITY very clearly.....and that is HUGE for me as an investor. Fundamentals are my data....but in the end it comes down to my opinion of.....PROBABILITY....on any investment.
