Natalie Pace

On Feb. 19, 2025, Super Micro Computer jumped 74% from a Dec. 2024 low. An independent auditor had wiped clean the company's allegations of accounting irregularities. With year-over-year revenue growth of 55% (at the time), the future looked bright for the company. SMCI's price/earnings ratio of 16 (compared to Nvidia's 37) seemed like a bargain. Yet, the gains were fleeting. Within two weeks, the shares had dropped 47%. 
In April, Nvidia plunged to a low of $94/share after hitting a high of $153 in January. It's back to $135/share, but how long will it last? Is the Saudi deal announced recently the fuel Nvidia needs to soar even higher? Will the Taiwan Semiconductor Arizona chip factory help Nvidia to mitigate the impact of tariffs? Is all of this factored into the share price already? Why has there been so much volatility?
Picking stocks in a world where share prices sink and soar with such wild swings equires a great deal of babysitting, peering into crystal balls, factoring in the impact of tariffs, adding a splash of consumer sentiment, and then pitting all of that against expensive equity prices and an economy that is slowing down. So, should you be trying to outwit Wall Street's hedge funds, or is there a better way to invest in hot, volatile industries such as artificial intelligence and breakthrough technology that puts us on the right side of the trade?

Long-term government bonds lost -26% in 2022, and only made up 2% of the losses in 2023. Everyone is hoping for recovery with a rate cut. However, if you've been cut by "paper" losses, perhaps you're looking in the wrong place for high yield. By rethinking ROI, we can earn a fantastic "yield" with bills we toss out the window. Examine some lesser-known safe investments that will pay far more than even the 5% you can get on short-term CDs these days.  

Nvidia and artificial intelligence are all the rage. Without the doubling in share prices of the Magnificent 7 (Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla) in 2023, the 26.3% total returns of the S&P500 would have been just 9.9%. Can a market that is surging on just a handful of stocks keep hitting new highs? Why are investors willing to pay such lofty prices for these mega tech companies? Will any fall the way of Tesla, which is down almost -30% in 2024? (Many were the biggest losers in 2022.) How can investors profit from the promise of AI without getting swallowed up by the volatility?   

Nvidia carries a $3 trillion valuation, even though the company only earned $30 billion in 2023. Apple and Tesla were on fire last year, but are losing revenue year over year, which is why the Magnificent 7 are now the Fantastic 5. Learn how to profit, capture gains, lean into super performers and underweight laggards, and make sure that we have enough safety to smooth out the market gyrations in this invaluable session.