Month: May 2022

Platform Companies Will Increasingly Design Proprietary Silicon

Platform Companies Will Increasingly Design Proprietary Silicon

It is only logical that the leading smartphone company (Apple) and the leading AI company (Google) are increasingly designing more of their own silicon which is optimized for each company's respective products and services. Tickers mentioned: AAPL, AMZN, AVGO, GOOG, INTC, QCOM, SWKS Think of the iPhone and Google's Pixel phone. Every feature, every application, … Continue reading Platform Companies Will Increasingly Design Proprietary Silicon

Oil Prices Are Going Much Higher

Oil Prices Are Going Much Higher

WTI crude is at $116 and going higher. $150? $200? Who knows. There are several key factors that support higher prices: Summer vacations for most states begin in June which will obviously put upward pressure on the price of oil.The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine will provide a floor for high oil prices. It … Continue reading Oil Prices Are Going Much Higher

Living On The Edge: Investor Sentiment Feels Like 2008

Living On The Edge: Investor Sentiment Feels Like 2008

Investors are too optimistic. The economy and markets will get worse before they get better. We climbed high during 2020 and 2021 due to manufactured "stimulus" in the absence of production which could only end in inflation. Given the nose-bleed heights brought on by artificial excess, we have far to fall as markets, asset prices … Continue reading Living On The Edge: Investor Sentiment Feels Like 2008

Broadcom Agrees To Acquire VMware

Broadcom Agrees To Acquire VMware

Broadcom agrees to acquire VMware for $61 billion As we wrote previously, we believe this acquisition is a strategic blunder on the part of Broadcom (AVGO). Broadcom's acquisition of VMware (VMW) is essentially a "bet the company" type of acquisition given the amount of purchase consideration ($61 billion) and also given the fact that the … Continue reading Broadcom Agrees To Acquire VMware

Jerome Powell Will Talk Tough This Summer

Jerome Powell Will Talk Tough This Summer

Powell was confirmed for a second term as Fed Chair on May 12th. His nomination was held up for months in the Senate. Powell's confirmation will provide him with temporary courage - enough to talk in a hawkish manner, enough to take the Fed Funds Rate to 2% by summer's end - but not enough … Continue reading Jerome Powell Will Talk Tough This Summer

Bold Broadcom Pursues VMware

Bold Broadcom Pursues VMware

Last year Broadcom pursued an acquisition of SAS Institute (private) before SAS Co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight withdrew. Now, the WSJ reports that Broadcom (AVGO) is working to acquire private cloud and infrastructure software provider VMware (VMW). While the SAS pursuit was bold and creative, the prospective VMW acquisition is bold, risky and lacks creativity. … Continue reading Bold Broadcom Pursues VMware

Facebook and The Blockchain

Facebook and The Blockchain

Here is our follow-up to our recent article Facebook Will Be Next. We have stated on a number of occasions that social media companies such as Meta/Facebook and Twitter overstate the number of active users given that the active user metric is a self-reported figure and given that no outside firm has the ability to … Continue reading Facebook and The Blockchain

The Fed Is To Blame, Not Private Equity

The Fed Is To Blame, Not Private Equity

The Justice Department's Antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter is misguided in his comments about the Private Equity industry. Mr. Kanter ought to look to the Federal Reserve for perverting markets through its actions over the past decade-plus, especially during the April 2020-March 2022 period. If Mr. Kanter wishes to place blame somewhere place it at the … Continue reading The Fed Is To Blame, Not Private Equity