Welcome back to another edition of the Smart Wealth Newsletter, where we follow the markets, study individual companies, invest in real estate, and—most importantly—try to become better long-term investors every week.

This newsletter has always been about more than simply picking stocks. It is about learning how businesses create value, understanding how economic cycles affect investments, using real estate to build long-term wealth, and passing those lessons from one generation to the next.

Chris continues to manage the family's larger stock and real estate investments while Trip and Frankie are developing their own investment philosophies and building portfolios of their own.

Trip attends Tulane University's Freeman School of Business, where his business education provides an excellent complement to the real-world investing experience he is gaining by managing his own portfolio.

Frankie will be attending Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business this fall, beginning another exciting chapter while continuing to follow the companies and investment themes that have helped shape his portfolio.

One of the most valuable lessons we have learned together is that the market rarely rewards impatience. Great businesses can become temporarily unpopular, entire sectors can fall out of favor, and even outstanding companies can experience dramatic declines. Investors willing to separate a company's underlying business from short-term movements in its stock price can sometimes find their best opportunities precisely when everyone else is looking somewhere else.

That lesson was on full display again this week.

What a difference a week can make.

After investors spent portions of the summer questioning technology valuations, artificial-intelligence spending and the direction of interest rates, Wall Street came roaring back this week. The rally was broad enough to push the major averages substantially higher, but once again technology and artificial intelligence were at the center of the action.

And this time the rally had something very important behind it:

earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 54,036.93, rising 151.83 points, or 0.28%, on the final trading day of the week.

The S&P 500 finished at a record 7,757.64, gaining 47.68 points, or 0.62%, Friday.

The Nasdaq Composite closed at 26,690.62, surging 342.26 points, or 1.30%, Friday.

Those are the August 7 closing levels, and the weekly numbers were even more impressive.

For the full week, the S&P 500 gained 3.58%, the Nasdaq jumped 5.19%, and the Dow climbed 2.96%.

That 5%-plus weekly move in the Nasdaq tells the story. Investors aggressively returned to technology and AI-related companies after the recent correction created considerably more attractive entry points.

For months, investors have debated whether the enormous amount of money being invested in artificial intelligence could possibly generate sufficient returns.

We are starting to receive an answer.

Corporate America is producing remarkably strong results.

By Friday morning, 436 companies in the S&P 500 had reported quarterly results. An extraordinary 85.1% had beaten analysts' earnings expectations.

That is far above the long-term historical average.

It is difficult to sustain a bearish argument against the stock market when companies continue producing substantially more profit than Wall Street expected.

This is also why we continue emphasizing something in this newsletter:

Eventually, earnings matter more than headlines.

Markets can become frightened about tariffs, wars, interest rates, politics, inflation or valuations. Those concerns can certainly move stocks in the short term.

But over long periods, stock prices ultimately follow corporate earnings and cash flows.

Right now, those earnings remain remarkably resilient.

Artificial-intelligence stocks have experienced some violent swings this year.

At various points investors began questioning whether AI spending had gotten ahead of itself. Companies are investing enormous sums in data centers, GPUs, networking equipment, power generation and cloud infrastructure.

The numbers are staggering.

But investors are beginning to see that this infrastructure isn't simply being built as an experiment.

Customers are using it.

Cloud demand remains enormous. AI inference is expanding. Corporations are deploying AI assistants and agents. Data-center demand continues growing. Semiconductor capacity remains tight in important areas.

That translates into revenue.

The AI investment cycle is beginning to look less like speculative spending and more like the construction of a new layer of global computing infrastructure.

That does not mean every AI stock deserves an unlimited valuation.

Far from it.

But it does explain why high-quality technology companies can rebound incredibly quickly when investors become too pessimistic.

One of the best examples is Microsoft.

Just two issues ago, we highlighted Microsoft as a value opportunity.

At the time, sentiment surrounding the stock had become surprisingly cautious. Investors were worried about enormous AI capital expenditures, slowing returns on those investments and whether Microsoft's growth justified the money being poured into infrastructure.

The stock subsequently delivered exactly the kind of rebound that illustrates why we pay attention when a world-class company temporarily falls out of favor.

Microsoft closed Friday at approximately $500 per share.

On July 7, Microsoft had closed around $388.84.

That means Microsoft has gained roughly 29% in just one month.

For a company Microsoft's size, that is an extraordinary move.

The catalyst has been the realization that Microsoft's AI spending is being accompanied by enormous underlying demand.

Azure continues to be one of the primary platforms through which companies consume AI computing resources. Microsoft's cloud and AI businesses have demonstrated that customers aren't merely experimenting with artificial intelligence—they are increasingly paying for it.

That is exactly what investors needed to see.

The lesson isn't that investors should chase Microsoft after a huge rally.

The lesson is that price and value are not always the same thing.

When excellent businesses temporarily become unpopular, investors should investigate whether the business has deteriorated or whether the stock has simply become cheaper.

Two issues ago, we believed Microsoft's underlying business remained exceptionally strong.

The market appears to have reached the same conclusion.

Friday's rally received another powerful boost from the employment report.

The U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July, compared with economists' expectations for an increase of roughly 80,000.

Previous months were also revised downward.

The unemployment rate nevertheless declined from 4.2% to 4.1%, partly because fewer people were participating in the labor force.

Normally, a negative jobs number doesn't sound like good news.

But financial markets don't operate in a vacuum.

Investors have spent months worrying that inflation and economic strength might force the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy further.

A weaker labor market reduces that pressure.

Market expectations for a Federal Reserve rate increase at the September meeting dropped to roughly 44% Friday, down from approximately 67% only a week earlier.

That change matters tremendously for stocks.

Higher interest rates reduce the present value of future corporate earnings and make bonds more competitive with equities. Lower expected rates have the opposite effect, particularly for growth companies whose valuations depend heavily on earnings many years into the future.

That helps explain why the Nasdaq responded so strongly Friday.

The geopolitical situation has also influenced markets.

Signs of progress toward a potential peace agreement involving Iran have helped reduce some of the fear premium embedded in oil prices.

Lower oil prices are important for much more than what consumers pay at the gas pump.

Energy costs flow through transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, chemicals and virtually every part of the economy.

When oil prices decline, inflationary pressure can decline with them.

That gives the Federal Reserve greater flexibility.

For investors, therefore, the combination of softer employment data and easing energy prices created a potentially favorable scenario: economic growth may be slowing enough to reduce inflation pressure without collapsing enough to destroy corporate earnings.

That is the soft-landing scenario Wall Street has been hoping for.

We don't want to pretend everything is perfect.

The market is expensive.

Technology stocks have rebounded dramatically.

Expectations for AI companies are extremely high.

A company can report excellent earnings and still watch its stock decline when expectations become unrealistic. AMD demonstrated that phenomenon this week when investors focused less on strong current results and more on whether future AI growth could justify increasingly aggressive assumptions.

That is healthy.

Markets need skepticism.

Investors should never confuse a great industry with an automatically great investment at any price.

The Internet changed the world, but plenty of Internet stocks purchased at ridiculous valuations during 1999 became terrible investments.

Artificial intelligence can transform the global economy and still produce periods when AI stocks become overvalued.

Both things can be true.

Inflation now becomes especially important.

The market has moved rapidly toward the view that the Federal Reserve may not need to become more restrictive. Upcoming inflation reports will either reinforce or challenge that thesis.

If inflation continues cooling while corporate earnings remain strong, equities could have another powerful tailwind.

If inflation unexpectedly accelerates, Treasury yields could rise again and pressure high-multiple growth stocks.

That is why we don't try to predict every market move.

We build portfolios around businesses we believe can become substantially more valuable over many years.

This week's rally provided another reminder of why selling great companies during periods of fear can be so costly.

The Nasdaq gained more than 5% in five trading days.

Microsoft has gained nearly 30% from its early-July level.

AI stocks that investors suddenly wanted nothing to do with only weeks ago have attracted buyers again.

Nobody rings a bell announcing the bottom.

The best market days frequently occur close to some of the worst ones.

That is why our strategy remains consistent.

Own excellent businesses.

Understand what you own.

Pay attention to valuation.

Keep some liquidity available when opportunities appear.

And allow time and compounding to do the heavy lifting.

The market will continue providing frightening headlines, spectacular rallies and painful corrections.

Our job isn't to predict all of them.

Our job is to make intelligent decisions when they happen.

Sometimes the most interesting investment isn't the company everyone already agrees is great.

Sometimes it is the company everyone believes has already lost.

That brings us to this week's Stock Spotlight:

Intel Corporation (INTC).

Intel closed Friday, August 7, at $101.65, gaining 1.84% during Friday's session.

Intel has experienced an extraordinary transformation in investor perception, although the stock remains well below its June 30 52-week high of $142.35.

Trip likes Intel because he sees it as something fundamentally different from buying the obvious AI winner.

Intel is a turnaround investment.

And turnaround investments can generate enormous returns when three things happen simultaneously:

the company's core business stabilizes, management improves execution, and investors begin raising their expectations.

Intel may be moving through that process.

For decades, Intel was synonymous with computing.

Its processors powered generations of personal computers and servers, and its manufacturing capabilities were once considered among the most sophisticated in the world.

Then Intel stumbled.

Competitors became more aggressive.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company established itself as the world's premier semiconductor foundry.

AMD became a far more formidable competitor.

Nvidia captured the defining technology trend of this decade by dominating the market for GPUs used to train and run artificial-intelligence models.

Intel suddenly found itself in the unusual position of playing catch-up.

That history explains why the opportunity interests Trip.

He isn't buying Intel because it has executed perfectly.

He likes Intel because expectations were once so depressed that meaningful operational improvement could dramatically change how investors value the company.

Intel's second-quarter results provided evidence that the turnaround may be gaining traction.

The company reported approximately $16.1 billion in quarterly revenue, an increase of roughly 25% from the previous year.

That represented Intel's strongest year-over-year revenue growth in more than fifteen years.

Management also projected third-quarter revenue between approximately $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion.

Those aren't numbers investors associate with a dying semiconductor company.

They suggest a business finding its footing.

The AI revolution is creating unprecedented demand for computing, and Intel does not need to defeat Nvidia to benefit.

That's an important point.

When many investors hear "artificial intelligence," they immediately think Nvidia.

Understandably so.

Nvidia has built one of the most extraordinary businesses in corporate history.

But AI infrastructure requires much more than GPUs.

Data centers need CPUs.

They need networking.

They need advanced packaging.

They need memory.

They need custom accelerators.

And they need factories capable of producing increasingly sophisticated chips.

Intel participates in several of those markets.

That gives the company multiple ways to benefit from the AI infrastructure boom even if it never becomes the dominant supplier of AI accelerators.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of Intel's long-term thesis is its manufacturing business.

Intel has invested heavily in rebuilding advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in the United States.

The strategic importance is obvious.

Semiconductors are no longer simply another consumer technology product. They are critical infrastructure.

They power artificial intelligence, defense systems, automobiles, communications networks, data centers and virtually every advanced electronic system.

The United States has a tremendous strategic incentive to maintain leading-edge domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.

Intel is one of the few American companies capable of attempting that at enormous scale.

Intel's 18A manufacturing process is central to that strategy.

If Intel can prove that its manufacturing technology is competitive and attract major outside customers to Intel Foundry, investors may eventually stop valuing Intel primarily as a struggling processor company.

They could begin valuing it as both a chip designer and a strategically important semiconductor manufacturer.

That would represent a major change in the investment story.

There is another area that receives less attention: advanced packaging.

Modern AI systems increasingly depend on combining multiple sophisticated chips into highly integrated packages.

As computing becomes more specialized, packaging technology becomes increasingly important.

Intel has invested heavily in technologies such as EMIB and Foveros.

The company has also continued expanding partnerships around advanced semiconductor packaging for AI and data-center applications.

That gives Intel another possible route into the AI supply chain.

Again, Intel does not need to replace Nvidia.

It needs to participate profitably in a rapidly expanding ecosystem.

Trip's thesis is straightforward.

The market already knows Nvidia is exceptional.

The market already knows AI demand is enormous.

The more interesting question is:

Which companies could benefit if expectations improve dramatically from where they were?

Intel fits that description.

This is not a risk-free investment.

Intel must execute.

Its factories require enormous amounts of capital.

Its competitors are exceptionally strong.

Manufacturing delays could damage the turnaround.

Margins remain an important issue.

And the semiconductor industry can change incredibly quickly.

But those risks are precisely why Intel can offer a different type of opportunity.

When investors already expect perfection, a company must continually deliver perfection.

When investors have spent years expecting disappointment, sustained improvement can be enormously powerful.

Trip also likes the strategic importance of Intel.

Semiconductor manufacturing has become a national priority.

America's reliance on Asian semiconductor production has created economic and national-security concerns that are unlikely to disappear.

Regardless of which political party controls Washington, maintaining advanced domestic semiconductor production makes strategic sense.

Intel therefore occupies an unusual position.

It isn't merely competing for consumer demand.

It is participating in an industry governments increasingly view as critical infrastructure.

That does not guarantee shareholder returns, but it does strengthen the strategic rationale for Intel's manufacturing ambitions.

At $101.65, Intel is no longer the deeply depressed stock it once was.

Investors have already recognized substantial improvement.

The stock's earlier surge to $142.35 demonstrates how quickly expectations can change—and its retreat from that level demonstrates how volatile turnaround stocks can be.

Trip therefore views Intel as a company that requires patience rather than blind enthusiasm.

The next stages matter enormously.

Can Intel continue growing revenue?

Can margins improve?

Can Intel 18A demonstrate competitive manufacturing economics?

Can Foundry attract meaningful outside customers?

Can Intel participate more aggressively in AI infrastructure?

If the answers increasingly become yes, Intel's turnaround could have considerably further to go.

If execution falters, the stock could quickly remind investors why turnaround investing is difficult.

Trip rates Intel a BUY.

This isn't because Intel is the strongest semiconductor company today.

It isn't.

It is because Trip believes the market may still underestimate what Intel could become if management continues executing its turnaround, advanced manufacturing improves, and AI creates sustained demand across CPUs, custom silicon, packaging and foundry services.

Intel represents a different side of investing.

Nvidia demonstrates what can happen when an extraordinary company becomes the undisputed leader of a transformational market.

Intel could demonstrate what happens when a former leader finally gets back on its feet.

Sometimes wealth is created by finding tomorrow's winner.

Other times it is created by recognizing that yesterday's loser isn't finished yet.

This week provides another fascinating snapshot of what long-term investing can accomplish. Across the family portfolios, we have everything from enormous multiyear winners such as Microsoft and GE Vernova to newer positions that are still developing and several investments currently below their purchase prices.

Our philosophy remains unchanged: a stock's gain or loss since purchase doesn't determine what we should do next. What matters is the company's future. Every holding should continually earn its place in the portfolio based on its competitive position, growth prospects, valuation and our confidence in management.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | 12-Month Target Range: approximately $275–$515 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Alphabet is the parent company of Google, YouTube, Google Cloud, Waymo and a growing portfolio of artificial-intelligence businesses. Chris continues to own Alphabet because Google remains one of the world's dominant advertising and information platforms while Google Cloud gives the company another major growth engine. AI presents competitive risks to traditional search, but Alphabet's enormous data resources, Gemini ecosystem, cash generation and distribution make Chris believe the company will remain one of the central players in artificial intelligence.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $196–$287 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Amazon combines the world's dominant e-commerce platform with Amazon Web Services, advertising, logistics and a rapidly expanding AI infrastructure business. Chris believes AWS should remain one of the biggest beneficiaries of cloud computing and artificial intelligence while Amazon's retail operation continues improving efficiency. Few companies possess Amazon's combination of scale, logistics, computing infrastructure and customer relationships.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $200–$400 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Apple operates one of the world's most valuable consumer technology ecosystems through the iPhone, Mac, iPad, Watch, Services and related products. Chris continues holding Apple because its installed customer base, brand loyalty, recurring services revenue and extraordinary cash generation remain extremely difficult to replicate. The valuation and questions surrounding Apple's pace of AI innovation make Chris less aggressive about adding shares at current prices, but this remains a world-class franchise.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst targets vary widely | Chris's Rating: BUY

Costco operates membership-based warehouse clubs built around tremendous purchasing power, customer loyalty and exceptionally high membership renewal rates. Chris owns Costco because its membership model creates recurring revenue while the company's reputation for value keeps customers returning in almost every economic environment. Costco rarely looks inexpensive, but its consistency and execution make it one of the highest-quality retailers in America.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | 12-Month Target Range: approximately $458–$812 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Deere is a global leader in agricultural, construction and forestry equipment with an increasingly sophisticated precision-agriculture technology platform. Chris likes Deere's dominant brand, enormous installed equipment base and opportunity to use automation and precision technology to improve farm productivity. At today's valuation, however, Chris views Deere primarily as a high-quality long-term holding rather than an aggressive new purchase.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $264–$389 | Chris's Rating: BUY

GE Aerospace manufactures commercial and military aircraft engines while generating recurring revenue through decades of maintenance and service contracts. Chris owns GE because the global commercial aviation recovery and enormous installed engine base create years of high-margin aftermarket revenue. The company has emerged from the old General Electric structure as a much more focused aerospace franchise.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: roughly $1,133 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

GE Vernova operates power-generation, electrification and wind businesses that are increasingly important as electricity demand accelerates. Chris's incredible +864.79% gain reflects the power of owning a major beneficiary of the global electrification cycle before that theme became fully appreciated. AI data centers are increasing electricity demand dramatically, but after such an enormous stock-price advance, Chris considers GEV a Hold rather than chasing the shares aggressively.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | 12-Month Target Range: approximately $58–$85 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Kroger is one of America's largest grocery retailers, operating supermarkets, pharmacies, fuel centers and private-label brands. Chris owns Kroger because groceries provide defensive demand and the company generates significant recurring cash flow regardless of economic cycles. It provides diversification against the portfolio's much larger technology exposure.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Chris's Rating: BUY

Marvell designs semiconductors used in data centers, networking, storage and custom AI infrastructure. Chris remains patient despite the 20.22% decline because custom silicon, optical connectivity and high-speed networking should become increasingly important as AI clusters grow. The investment has not worked yet, but the underlying AI infrastructure thesis remains intact.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Chris's Rating: BUY

Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger while investing heavily in artificial intelligence and next-generation computing. Chris believes AI can make Meta's advertising platform substantially more efficient while its enormous user base gives the company unmatched global distribution. The position is relatively new, and Chris sees considerably more long-term potential than the current modest gain suggests.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $1,269 | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Micron is one of the world's leading memory semiconductor companies and a major supplier of high-bandwidth memory required for advanced AI systems. The stock is currently Chris's largest percentage loser in this account, but he believes AI-driven memory demand and HBM growth make the long-term opportunity substantially more important than the current loss. Semiconductor cycles can be brutal, which is exactly why Chris prefers buying strong companies when expectations weaken.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $555 | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Microsoft is one of the world's dominant software and cloud-computing companies through Azure, Microsoft 365, Windows, GitHub and its expanding Copilot AI ecosystem. At +994.38%, Microsoft is Chris's greatest percentage winner in the Morgan Stanley portfolio, and the recent rally reinforces why he has refused to sell a great company simply because it became temporarily unpopular. Azure and Microsoft's ability to monetize AI across an enormous installed customer base remain central to the long-term thesis.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $138–$167 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Procter & Gamble owns globally recognized consumer brands across household products, grooming, health and personal care. Chris owns P&G because its defensive cash flows, dividends and pricing power help stabilize a portfolio containing numerous faster-growing technology investments. It may never be the portfolio's most exciting company, but that is precisely why it serves an important purpose.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: $196.00–$287.20 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Amazon remains one of Chris's core long-term technology holdings. AWS, artificial intelligence, advertising and continued improvements in retail profitability give Amazon several independent avenues for long-term earnings growth.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $291–$387 | Chris's Rating: BUY

American Express operates a premium global payments network with an unusually affluent customer base. Chris likes the company's closed-loop network, brand loyalty and exposure to higher-income consumers who historically have demonstrated greater resilience through economic cycles. The investment has now more than doubled.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Analyst Target Range: approximately $26–$35 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Kinder Morgan owns one of North America's largest networks of natural-gas pipelines and energy infrastructure. Chris owns KMI for cash flow, income and exposure to America's growing need for natural gas, particularly as electricity demand from data centers increases. With the investment already more than doubled, Chris is comfortable holding rather than aggressively adding.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Analyst Target Range: approximately $38–$52 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Verizon operates one of America's largest wireless communications networks. Chris owns Verizon primarily for defensive characteristics, recurring subscription revenue and income rather than explosive capital appreciation. The position remains below its cost basis, but it provides diversification and cash flow.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $106–$176 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Exxon Mobil is one of the world's largest integrated energy companies with upstream, refining, chemical and LNG operations. Chris views Exxon as both a long-term cash generator and a hedge against geopolitical disruptions and higher energy prices. Its disciplined capital allocation has helped make the position an excellent long-term winner.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Analyst Target Range: approximately $297–$499 | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Chris continues to view Tesla as much more than an automobile manufacturer, with autonomous driving, robotics, energy storage and AI representing potentially enormous future businesses. The volatility is substantial, but Chris believes Tesla's long-term upside warrants maintaining the position.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $217–$345 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Apple's ecosystem and customer loyalty have produced an outstanding 180.41% gain for this account. Chris continues holding the position but believes Apple's valuation and AI execution deserve close attention before committing substantial new capital.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $164–$237 | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Nvidia is the dominant supplier of GPUs and accelerated-computing platforms powering the modern AI revolution. Chris believes demand for AI training and inference remains in the early innings and that Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem creates a formidable competitive moat. Even after more than doubling, this remains one of his highest-conviction AI holdings.

Analyst Coverage: Limited/Nontraditional | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

This position provides Chris exposure to SpaceX, whose businesses include reusable launch vehicles, Starlink satellite broadband and next-generation space infrastructure. Chris believes SpaceX has built one of the world's most strategically important private aerospace businesses and is willing to tolerate short-term valuation fluctuations for the potential long-term opportunity.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $217–$345 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Apple remains one of the world's strongest consumer brands, but this newer position is slightly below its cost basis. Chris is comfortable owning the franchise while waiting for AI execution and earnings growth to justify additional upside.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $844–$1,097 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Costco's membership model, pricing power and customer loyalty make it one of Chris's favorite retailers. The modest decline since purchase doesn't alter his long-term view of the business.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $66–$130 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Cisco supplies networking, security and infrastructure technology that connects businesses and data centers worldwide. Chris believes AI will require massive increases in network capacity in addition to computing power, giving Cisco an opportunity to participate in the infrastructure buildout.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $264–$389 | Chris's Rating: BUY

GE Aerospace combines an enormous installed engine base with decades of recurring service revenue. Chris continues to believe commercial aviation demand and aftermarket services can drive durable cash-flow growth.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $65–$91 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

Coca-Cola owns one of the world's strongest consumer brands and an unparalleled global beverage distribution network. Chris owns it for defensive stability, dividends and pricing power, balancing the higher volatility elsewhere in the portfolio.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Lam Research manufactures critical wafer-fabrication equipment used to produce advanced semiconductors. Chris believes increasingly complex AI chips and memory devices will require more sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing equipment, giving Lam a powerful long-term tailwind.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $465–$602 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Mastercard operates one of the world's dominant electronic-payment networks. Chris owns Mastercard because the long-term transition from cash to digital payments continues globally while the company's network model generates exceptional margins and cash flow.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $78–$135 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Merck is a global pharmaceutical company with a major oncology franchise and extensive drug-development pipeline. Chris owns Merck for healthcare diversification and believes its research pipeline can help offset longer-term concerns surrounding dependence on Keytruda.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $138–$167 | Chris's Rating: HOLD

P&G supplies everyday consumer products that remain in demand regardless of the economic cycle. Chris views the position as a defensive ballast rather than a high-growth investment and remains comfortable holding through modest price weakness.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Chris's Rating: STRONG BUY

Palantir builds artificial-intelligence and data platforms for governments and commercial enterprises. Chris believes Palantir's accelerating commercial adoption and ability to deploy AI into mission-critical environments give it one of the most compelling long-term software opportunities in the portfolio, although the stock's premium valuation creates considerable volatility.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Analyst Target Range: approximately $294–$374 | Chris's Rating: BUY

Visa operates the world's largest electronic-payment network and benefits every time more commerce moves away from cash. Chris likes Visa's enormous margins, network effects and relatively capital-light business model, making it a classic long-term compounder.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $1,133 | Trip's Rating: HOLD

GE Vernova has become one of Trip's greatest investments, producing an extraordinary +883.47% gain. Trip remains bullish on the long-term electricity-demand story created by AI data centers and electrification, but after such an enormous advance he believes holding is more prudent than aggressively chasing the stock.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Trip's Rating: BUY

Costco has more than doubled for Trip and remains one of the highest-quality consumer businesses in his portfolio. He likes the recurring membership revenue, enormous customer loyalty and ability to perform through a wide variety of economic environments.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Trip's Rating: BUY

Intel is currently Trip's largest losing position at -20.49%, but as discussed in this week's Stock Spotlight, that weakness is part of what makes the turnaround interesting to him. Trip believes Intel's manufacturing revival, foundry ambitions, advanced packaging capabilities and strategic importance to U.S. semiconductor production create meaningful long-term upside if management executes.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $1,269 | Trip's Rating: STRONG BUY

Micron supplies the advanced memory that has become critical to AI servers and accelerated computing systems. Trip believes high-bandwidth memory demand could remain exceptionally strong as AI infrastructure expands, and he views the current small gain as far less important than the company's long-term earnings opportunity.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Average Analyst Target: approximately $14.74 | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Navitas develops next-generation gallium nitride and silicon carbide power semiconductors used in data centers, electric vehicles and high-efficiency power systems. Frankie continues to like the long-term opportunity created by rapidly increasing power requirements from AI infrastructure, although NVTS remains a smaller and significantly more speculative semiconductor investment.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $1,133 | Frankie's Rating: HOLD

GE Vernova has become Frankie's greatest percentage winner, rising an astonishing 883.47% from his cost basis. Frankie believes global electrification and AI-driven electricity demand remain powerful long-term trends, but the enormous appreciation makes valuation increasingly important.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Costco has more than doubled for Frankie while continuing to deliver remarkably consistent operating performance. Its recurring membership fees, customer loyalty and tremendous purchasing power make this a business Frankie is comfortable owning for many years.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $222 | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Nebius is an AI infrastructure company building computing capacity and cloud services designed for artificial-intelligence workloads. Frankie has already more than doubled his money but believes enormous demand for AI compute capacity could provide another multiyear runway for growth. The stock is volatile, so he views it as a higher-risk growth investment rather than a traditional blue-chip holding.

Wall Street Consensus: Hold | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Tesla combines electric vehicles with energy storage, artificial intelligence, autonomy and robotics. Frankie believes the largest potential long-term value may ultimately come from businesses beyond automobile manufacturing, although execution risk and valuation make Tesla one of the portfolio's more volatile holdings.

Wall Street Consensus: Buy | Frankie's Rating: BUY

ServiceNow provides cloud-based workflow and enterprise automation software used by major organizations around the world. Frankie's gain has now expanded to 37.07%, and he believes AI agents and automated enterprise workflows could significantly expand the company's addressable market over the coming decade.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Aurora is developing autonomous-driving technology with an initial emphasis on self-driving trucks. Frankie has an 81.03% gain but continues to view Aurora as a high-risk, high-potential investment in the eventual commercialization of autonomous transportation.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Frankie's Rating: BUY

Meta owns some of the world's largest social platforms while using AI to improve advertising, recommendations and engagement. Frankie believes Meta's enormous user base and cash-generating advertising operation give it the financial resources and distribution needed to become one of the major long-term winners from AI.

Wall Street Consensus: Moderate Buy | Average Analyst Target: approximately $555 | Frankie's Rating: STRONG BUY

Microsoft has now produced an outstanding +188.46% gain for Frankie. Azure, Copilot, Microsoft 365, GitHub and Microsoft's enormous enterprise customer base make it one of Frankie's highest-quality AI holdings, and the recent rally demonstrates why temporary weakness in exceptional companies can create opportunities.

This week's portfolios provide an extraordinary lesson in the power of patience. Chris is approaching a 1,000% gain in Microsoft, while his GE Vernova position is up more than 860% and GE Aerospace is up more than 270%. Trip and Frankie are each sitting on gains of more than 880% in GE Vernova, while Frankie has also more than doubled his money in Microsoft, Nebius and Costco.

Those returns didn't happen because we correctly predicted every market move.

They happened because great businesses were given time to compound.

At the same time, there are losing investments in these portfolios. Chris is down on Micron and Marvell. Trip is down more than 20% on Intel. Chris has newer positions in Apple, Costco and Procter & Gamble that are below their purchase prices.

That is investing.

A red number does not automatically mean the original thesis was wrong, just as a green number doesn't guarantee that a stock remains attractive. The important question is always the same: If we didn't own this company today, knowing what we know now, would we still want to own it?

The artificial-intelligence revolution continues to create enormous opportunities, but it is also creating enormous expectations. That makes discipline more important, not less important.

We want exposure to AI.

We want exposure to electricity demand.

We want semiconductor exposure.

We want dominant cloud platforms.

But we also want Costco, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Visa, Mastercard, Exxon, Merck and other businesses that make the portfolios more resilient when the hottest areas of the market inevitably experience corrections.

Building wealth isn't about finding one magical stock.

It is about consistently buying productive assets, avoiding catastrophic mistakes, allowing winners to compound and having the patience to think in years rather than days.

Chris, Trip and Frankie are at very different stages of their investing lives, but the principle is identical for all three:

Own great assets. Understand why you own them. Give them time.

We'll see what the market gives us next week.

The Smart Wealth Newsletter is provided solely for educational, informational and entertainment purposes. Nothing contained in this newsletter should be considered individualized investment, financial, tax, accounting or legal advice, nor should anything presented here be interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell or hold any particular security, investment or real estate asset.

Chris, Trip and Frankie may own securities discussed in this newsletter, and their personal ratings reflect their own opinions, investment objectives, risk tolerances and time horizons. Those circumstances may be completely different from yours.

Stock prices, analyst ratings, analyst price targets and portfolio gains and losses can change rapidly. Analyst estimates are opinions rather than guarantees, and different research providers may report different consensus ratings and target prices. Past performance—including the substantial historical gains discussed in this newsletter—is not indicative of future results.

All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Growth stocks, technology companies, semiconductor companies, private investments, concentrated portfolios and emerging businesses may experience especially significant volatility.

Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified financial, tax, legal and real estate professionals before making investment decisions.

Invest wisely, remain patient, keep learning—and never invest money you cannot afford to lose.