Market Signal Briefing

VTI provides broad exposure across the entire U.S. stock market.

Many people think being a successful investor involves picking individual winners, but it can be as simple as investing in broad exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that contain hundreds or thousands of companies. One great option is the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI +1.16%), which offers instant diversification across the entire U.S. market.

Investing in VTI is more than just banking on stock price growth, too. It also pays a dividend that can be a reliable income source for investors. As an ETF, VTI's dividend payouts aren't as straightforward as regular stocks. They vary from quarter to quarter. However, the ETF's average yield over the past 12 months is 1.24%, meaning that if you wanted to receive $500 in yearly dividends, you'd need to purchase around 124 VTI shares at its current price of $327 (as of Nov. 19).

Image source: Getty Images.

As the name suggests, VTI does a great job covering virtually all aspects of the stock market. Like many market-cap-weighted ETFs, VTI leans heavily toward the tech sector, but it still contains companies from every other major sector. And unlike indexes like the S&P 500, which contain only large-cap stocks, VTI includes large-, mid-, and small-cap companies.

Today's Change

(

1.16

%) $

3.70

Current Price

$

323.80

VTI isn't a pure-play dividend ETF, but it's a great mix of marketwide exposure, long-term growth potential, and a dividend yield that rivals that of an S&P 500 ETF.

Stefon Walters has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

November 23, 2025 4:15 PM EST | Source: The Rosen Law Firm PA
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - November 23, 2025) - WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: TLX) between February 21, 2025 and August 28, 2025, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important January 9, 2026 lead plaintiff deadline in the securities class action first filed by the Firm.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Telix securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Telix class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=43778 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than January 9, 2026. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved, at that time, the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants materially overstated the progress Telix had made with regard to prostate cancer therapeutic candidates; (2) defendants materially overstated the quality of Telix's supply chain and partners; and (3) as a result, defendants' statements about Telix's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Telix class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=43778 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/275591

By

PYMNTS
 | 
November 23, 2025

 | 

Sales of Apple’s iPhone Air have reportedly been lower than anticipated.

That’s according to a report Saturday (Nov. 22) by the Financial Times (FT), citing early sales data for the Air, a thinner iPhone and the largest change to Apple’s smartphone design in years.

According to the report, consumers instead have sought out better value and higher specifications, turned off by the Air’s relatively high price and changes to the camera and speakers needed to create its 5.64 millimeter thickness.

“Apple had bigger expectations for the Air and it has not delivered on them,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director at the International Data Corporation.

IDC, which monitors iPhone sales by tracking Apple’s supply chain, found the company had halved production plans within weeks of the launch after the new smartphone sold about a third of its highest expectations.

PYMNTS has contacted Apple for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

Advertisement: Scroll to Continue

The FT report said Apple is looking for new ways to energize iPhone sales, which made up $209 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year, around half Apple’s total sales.

Other phones in the iPhone 17 lineup, which debuted at the same time as the Air, have sold well, the report added. Apple has projected these sales will help fuel a record holiday quarter, far above Wall Street estimates. 

The report also cited analysts from Morgan Stanley who projected that Apple could build 90 million units of the iPhone 17 in the second half of the year, which is roughly 6 million more than expected before the launch. The figures were “partially offset by relative weakness in the iPhone Air,” they added.

Demand for the new phone was credited as the reason Apple achieved a $4 trillion market capitalization last month.

Also last month, a report from research firm Counterpoint found that early sales of the iPhone 17 had outshone those of the iPhone 16 in the U.S. and China.

“The base model iPhone 17 is very compelling to consumers, offering great value for money,” Senior Analyst Mengmeng Zhang said in the Counterpoint report. “A better chip, improved display, higher base storage, selfie camera upgrade — all for the same price as last year’s iPhone 16.”

Meanwhile, a recent report by Bloomberg News said that a new version of the iPhone Air could be part of a wider rollout of new smartphones by Apple next fall.

Lululemon has had an awful year, but the worst could be over.

Lululemon Athletica (LULU +2.12%) has been one of the best-performing apparel stocks on the market over this century. Since its 2007 IPO, the stock, which is best known for pioneering the athleisure category, has jumped 1,090%. Those gains were much more impressive before the stock tumbled this year, though.

Year-to-date through Nov. 19, the stock was down 57%, making it one of the worst performers in the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.98%) this year.

Like other apparel companies and much of the discretionary goods sector, including Deckers, Nike, Target, and Chipotle, Lululemon is seeing a pullback in demand as sales in its core North American market have essentially flatlined. In the second quarter, comparable sales fell 4% in the Americas, and revenue in the region was up just 1%.

In addition to the macroeconomic headwinds, management also acknowledged its own lack of execution as it failed to keep product fresh and in stock in specific categories, leading to weaker sales.

It was also forced to slash its guidance for the year due to the loss of the de minimis exemption, which had allowed shipments of less than $800 to be imported into the U.S. without paying tariffs.

As a result of those setbacks, the stock has dropped sharply, but is this a buying opportunity or a sign of things to come? Let's take a look at three things you should know before buying Lululemon stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Management is changing strategy
CEO Calvin McDonald acknowledged the challenges the company is facing, as well as its own errors. He said, "Our lounge and social product offerings have become stale and have not been resonating with guests," and that the company relied on the same product playbook in certain categories for too long.

In order to fix these problems, the company plans to speed up its go-to-market process to test new styles, increasing the number and frequency of new styles. Specifically, it's aiming to increase the percentage of new styles in its assortment from 23% to 35% by next spring, and will measure customer behavior to the change and respond accordingly.

Additionally, the company has improved its fast-track design capabilities, reducing lead times by several months for some products, and expects those to begin to have an impact starting early next year.

It's too soon to say if that's enough to turn Lululemon's performance, but investors should be encouraged by management's diagnosis and its quick action.

2. International growth is still strong
While Lululemon is clearly struggling in its core market, it is finding success elsewhere. In its international segment, comparable sales rose 15%, driving revenue up 22%. Its performance was particularly strong in China, which has become its second-largest market outside of North America.

Comparable sales in China jumped 17% in the second quarter, and revenue rose 25%.

Lululemon has followed in the footsteps of other Western brands, including Nike, Apple, and Starbucks, that have had success in a market known for conspicuous consumption, and it sees a long runway of growth in China.

It opened five new stores in China in the second quarter, and more than half of its international store openings this year will be in China. It is also a promising opportunity in Mexico, where Lululemon has opened 18 locations over the last four quarters.

Today's Change

(

2.12

%) $

3.49

Current Price

$

168.18

3. The valuation is attractive
Following the sell-off this year, Lululemon's price-to-earnings valuation is the lowest it's ever been, with the possible exception of the great financial crisis, as it now trades at a P/E of just 11.3.

That's a valuation that indicates that investors expect the stock to only have low-single-digit growth from here on out. However, despite its recent struggles, Lululemon is still very much a growth company, opening new stores both in North America and abroad, and benefiting from the continuing growth of the category it invented, athleisure.

It's possible that the consumer slump could weaken and send Lululemon stock even lower, but it looks more likely than not that the apparel retailer will come out of the other side a stronger, faster-growing company, especially if its style refresh pays off.

Investors have an opportunity to get a piece of the growth stock for a bargain price.

Jeremy Bowman has positions in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Lululemon Athletica Inc., Nike, Starbucks, and Target. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Deckers Outdoor, Lululemon Athletica Inc., Nike, Starbucks, and Target. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short December 2025 $45 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF and Alerian MLP ETF are two nice high-yield ETF options.

Not every investor is looking to chase the next big growth stock. In fact, some investors are more concerned about finding investments that can generate solid passive income.

These types of investments are particularly attractive the older you get, as they can provide a steady stream of income in retirement without you having to sell off any of your holdings. Before you get to that point, though, you can still dollar-cost-average into positions and reinvest the dividends to build them up over time.

While you can certainly find attractive dividend-paying stocks on your own, you do need to be wary of running into value traps with high yields that could be unsustainable and eventually cut. That is why investing in high-yield dividend exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may be a better option. Let's look at two high-yield ETFs you can add to your portfolio today.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
One great option for income-oriented investors is the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD +1.80%). The ETF has a solid long-term track record and currently sports a yield of 3.9%. It also carries a low expense ratio of just 0.06%.

Today's Change

(

1.80

%) $

0.48

Current Price

$

27.10

The ETF tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, which was specifically designed to avoid high-yield value traps. The index has a stringent set of criteria that looks well beyond just a stock's yield to be included. To be added in the index, Dow Jones looks at several metrics, including a company's free cash flow to total debt ratio, return on equity (ROE), forward dividend yield, and five-year dividend growth rate. This helps ensure that you are getting stocks of companies with solid balance sheets and that generate strong cash flow, which can help sustain continued dividend growth.

The index is reconstituted once a year, helping make sure that companies meet its standards. Last year, the index added 20 new stocks, while removing 17 current holdings. This included exiting some larger positions, including Pfizer, which added some significant debt after it acquired Seagen.

The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has been a solid performer over the years, generating a 12.2% average annual return since its inception in October 2011.

2. The Alerian MLP ETF
For investors looking for a higher yield, the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP +0.45%) is a great option. The ETF mirrors the performance of the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index, which invests in midstream master limited partnerships (MLPs).

The ETF currently carries a robust 8.8% yield, making it an attractive option for income-oriented investors. Another reason investors are drawn to the ETF is that it lets investors avoid the K-1 forms that come with investing in individual MLPs. But because of this, it does carry a higher expense ratio of 0.85%.

Today's Change

(

0.45

%) $

0.21

Current Price

$

47.00

I think now is actually an ideal time to invest in the Alerian MLP ETF. The pipeline stocks that make up the bulk of the index largely act as toll roads, with very little exposure to energy prices, and their primarily fee-based models create solid cash flow visibility. At the same time, midstream MLPs have greatly lowered their leverage and improved their balance sheets over the past several years. Meanwhile, many are seeing some great growth prospects given the increasing demand for natural gas coming from the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure buildout.

The ETF has been a strong performer over the past five years, with an average annual return of 28.8%. Despite that, the sector is trading at a huge discount to where the stocks traded before COVID-19. At the end of October, the sector had a forward enterprise value (EV) -to-EBITDA multiple of 8.6 times 2026 analyst estimates compared to the average 13.7 times multiple the group traded at between 2011 and 2016. That's a huge discount for a group of stocks that are arguably in much better shape today than a decade ago.

As such, I think this is a great entry point for investors looking to add some high-yield stocks to their portfolio. Also note that 90% of the stocks in the ETF also raised their distributions within the past year, so this is not just a stagnant yield play.

Key Takeaways
Which crypto tokens were the highest gainers this week?
MYX Finance [MYX], Pi [PI], Bitcoin Cash [BCH] led the week in gains.

Which crypto tokens lost the most this week?
 Dash [DASH], Starknet [STRK], Canton [CC] saw significant declines.

This week, the crypto market saw a sharp drop.

Bitcoin [BTC] fell toward $80k and the total crypto market cap shed hundreds of billions of dollars amid concerns over rate-cuts. Overall, at both the micro and macro level, conditions turned broadly bearish.

Still, a few coins managed to stand out. Even with the risk-off mood keeping their gains limited to double digits, they held their ground. It showed that some parts of the market were stronger than the rest.

MYX Finance [MYX] — DeFi protocol broke away from the market slump
MYX Finance [MYX] led this week’s gainers with a 15% rally. The move stands out from the broader market, and on-chain flows suggest it’s not just hype, as AMBCrypto noted.

In fact, the week started near key resistance. After last week’s 17% run and a close at $2.6, MYX dipped 5%, letting bears step in. But a 13% bounce the next day quickly regained momentum, keeping bulls in control.

Moreover, MYX saw a 17% dip to $2.5 on the 21st of November, but bounced back 8% by week’s end. Bulls haven’t fully recovered the losses, yet the daily chart still shows a solid bullish structure.

Source: TradingView (MYX/USDT)

This month alone, bulls have shrugged off six bear attempts. 

As the chart above shows, each red candle has been followed by three to four green ones, showing bulls are clearly holding control. With $2.5 likely flipping from resistance to support, MYX remains in a bullish zone.

Pi [PI] — Mobile-first crypto lingered just under key resistance
Pi [PI] emerged as the second-biggest gainer this week with a 6% rally. While smaller than MYX’s double-digit jump, the move is supported by solid regulatory developments.

For context, Pi is set to operate under the EU’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) framework, which will allow trading on exchanges like OKX Europe, adding a structural layer that could support future growth.

Technically, though, the coin is still showing some weakness. 

After an early-week 8% spike to $0.26, Pi slid back to $0.23 by week’s end, failing to break through key resistance. While the rally shows potential, it also highlights that bulls haven’t fully taken control yet.

Bitcoin Cash [BCH] — Payments-focused chain kept bulls firmly in control
Bitcoin Cash [BCH] jumped 13% this week. Moreover, it snapped a three-week losing streak. Consequently, the rally pushed RSI up 20 points to 60, though FOMO hasn’t really kicked in yet.

BCH started the week strong but pulled back to 9% mid-week. A 15% rebound over the next two days brought it back to late-October levels around $550, a key level it hasn’t held since the crash.

An intraday dip of 1.66% at press time shows bears are testing the market and some holders are taking profits. If bulls defend $550, a short squeeze could break resistance, making this a make-or-break week for BCH.

Other notable winners
Outside the majors, altcoin rockets stole the spotlight this week.

BabyBoomToken (BBT) led the charge with a massive 370% jump, followed by Tensor (TNSR) climbing 133%, and Audiera (BEAT) rounding out the leaderboard with a strong 124% gain.

Weekly losers
Dash [DASH] — Payments-focused crypto slid into double-digit losses
Dash [DASH] led this week’s losers with a 28% drop, wiping out over 75% of its monthly gains after breaking $70 resistance. The weekly RSI shows the market was clearly overextended.

As AMBCrypto noted, the dip was mostly driven by overextended derivatives, while spot demand remained solid. In other words, futures traders were just closing positions and deleveraging.

On the charts, DASH is now testing the $60 floor, which back in late October triggered a rally to $120. With privacy tokens gaining traction, this pullback looks like a healthy reset rather than a full sell-off.

Source: TradingView (DASH/USDT)

In that case, a rebound could be just around the corner. 

Strong spot support, deleveraging in derivatives, and renewed market interest suggest DASH may flip $60 into support. If that happens, next week could be crucial in setting its near-term direction.

Starknet [STRK] — Layer-2 network stalled after hitting resistance
Starknet [STRK] was the second-biggest loser this week, dropping 25% from its $0.21 open. The weekly chart shows weak bid support, with bulls failing to defend key levels.

This pullback comes after two weeks of strong uptrend, where STRK rallied about 70%. Around 20% of those gains are already gone, and bulls haven’t shown up on the daily chart yet.

After peaking at $0.27 mid-week, STRK gave back all its gains over three straight red candles. If bulls can flip $0.15 into support, a rally could kick off; if not, the coin might see a deeper sell-off.

Canton [CC] — Interoperability chain reversed last week’s gain
Canton [CC] was the third-biggest loser this week, falling 20%. On-chain data suggests this isn’t a healthy reset or cooldown, making CC technically the most bearish among the three.

Reinforcing this, the week started with a 1.7% bounce after last week’s breakdown to $0.11, which could have been an opportunity for bulls to step in and accumulate. However, buyers didn’t show up.

Instead, CC printed five straight red candles, highlighting sustained selling pressure. This pattern suggests the “dip” isn’t yet a clear buying opportunity, pointing to a distribution phase, with sellers still dominating.

Other notable losers
In the broader market, downside volatility hit hard.

SOON (SOON) led the losers with a steep 73% drop, followed by Rekt (REKT) falling 52%, and Saros (SAROS) slipping 50% as momentum sharply cooled.

Conclusion
This week was a rollercoaster. Big pumps, sharp dips, and nonstop action. As always, stay sharp, do your own research, and trade smart. 

This week, the cryptocurrency market experienced a rollercoaster ride as several high-cap tokens fell below critical thresholds. However, amidst the turbulence, some lesser-known coins like MYX and PI emerged as standout performers, capturing investor interest with significant price movements.

Why Trust CoinGape

CoinGape has covered the cryptocurrency industry since 2017,
aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journal analysts bring years of experience in market analysis and blockchain technology to ensure factual accuracy and balanced reporting. By following our Editorial Policy,
our writers verify every source, fact-check each story, rely on reputable sources, and attribute quotes and media correctly. We also follow a
rigorous Review Methodology when evaluating exchanges and tools. From emerging
blockchain projects and coin launches to industry events and technical developments, we cover
all facets of the digital asset space with unwavering commitment to timely, relevant information.

The founder of the Cardano network Charles Hoskinson has pushed back against increasing concerns following a recent sluggishness in the network. This has caused a speculation frenzy among the online community.

Cardano Founder Provides Verified Incident Report 
Hoskinson provided an official “Myths vs Facts” breakdown. It confirmed that the mainnet never shut down and that the core protocol was never compromised.

Hoskinson shared the post to address increasing FUD since many were unsure of whether Cardano experienced a massive failure. This additional explanation became necessary after claims of a rollback, and that a transaction created by an AI crashed down the network.

Hoskinson rejected such assertions by advising people to share known facts as opposed to unverified stories. This push towards factual clarity is preceded by other incidents when Hoskinson addressed an issue concerning ecosystem misinformation. At that time, he reacted to false claims regarding the Cardano treasury fund.

His post explained that the event was linked to an edge case in node implementation rather than a failure of the Cardano protocol. It noted that SPOs, crypto exchanges and engineers immediately spotted the issue in real time.

Hence, their rapid response allowed the network to continued functioning correctly and securely despite the slowdown as teams pushed out patched software within hours.

Report Details Cardano Attack Origins
Hoskinson further explained that Cardano ecosystem teams created a joint incident squad shortly after the slowdown began. They organized a fixed node update that enabled the healthy chain to overweigh invalid nodes via regular Ouroboros consensus.

This is different an account of the same event by Intersect that stated that there was a split in the Cardano chain. It added that a poisoned transaction caused node divergence throughout the network.

However, the latest update emphasized that there was no centralized rollback. The update was implemented at will by independent stake pool operators, which supports the assertions that Cardano is decentralized.

The report also dismissed the report that an AI teenager crashed the network. According to the updated information, the authorities were informed as it is a part of responsible disclosure policy in the industry.

The note added that Cardano usually uses bounty channels when it identifies abnormal behavior before it gets to mainnet. In this instance, those channels were not used and that’s why the incident has been taken very seriously.

Intersect Commits To Full Review
Intersect, the organization that published the breakdown, said a full retrospective will follow. It confirmed that a thorough cross examination and report would be released to avoid a repeat of such occurrences. It further affirmed that recovery operations worked as planned after the slowdown was noted.

In addition, the group indicated that the response was a big testament to Cardano’s capacity to coordinate a high number of independent operators when there is unexpected stress.

Recent developments in the Cardano blockchain community have taken a dramatic turn, as an FBI investigation has been initiated following the actions of a developer that inadvertently led to a temporary split in the blockchain. The incident has raised significant concerns over the potential vulnerabilities within the Cardano system, prompting discussions about the broader implications for the cryptocurrency industry.

A massive Ether treasury project led by China's crypto elites amidst market rout.

China’s prominent crypto figures have quietly shelved a high-profile effort to create a $500 million Ethereum Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) firm, halting the initiative after months of planning amid a deepening slump across global crypto markets.

The project, which was spearheaded earlier this year by Huobi founder Leon Li Lin, HashKey Group chairman and CEO Xiao Feng, Meitu co-founder Mike Cai Wensheng, and Fenbushi Capital founder Bo Shen, had set out to raise half a billion dollars to build a DAT company dedicated to investing in ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.

High-Profile Ether Plan Shelved
Despite securing $110 million in capital commitments, the group decided to suspend the plan after market conditions worsened, according to the latest report by South China Morning Post. DAT firms have surged in popularity in the United States, where rising crypto prices over the past year have helped fuel investor interest. The most prominent example is Nasdaq-listed Strategy, which holds nearly 650,000 bitcoin.

But regulators in Hong Kong have not embraced the DAT model.

The development comes as Bitcoin has suffered through a steep six-week decline after reaching an all-time high of $126,272.76 on October 6. It even briefly plunged below $90,000. Ethereum also navigated a similar trajectory as it trades under $3,000 at the time of writing.

It was against this backdrop that Li offered a blunt assessment of current conditions. Li, who sold Huobi in 2022 and now chairs Hong Kong-listed Sinohope Technology Holdings, a crypto wealth-management firm previously linked to Huobi, told investors at an event in Hong Kong this month that “the market wasn’t doing very well” and that the broader “macro outlook isn’t very clear either.”

According to a video recording of the same event, the project’s backers had already opted to delay the DAT effort to avoid potential investor losses; investors reportedly included HongShan Capital Group and Yunfeng Financial Group.

You may also like:

$180M Liquidated in 1 Hour as BTC, ETH, and XRP Crash Harder

Classic Bottom? ETH Hits $2.8K Realized Price as Whales Accumulate

ETH Leverage Soars While Price Stalls – A Major Risk Signal?

At the event, Meitu’s Cai indicated that the group may revisit the plan once conditions improve. The group had intended to acquire a Nasdaq-listed shell company to launch the ether DAT vehicle, according to a Bloomberg report last month, but that strategy is now on hold as the founders wait for market sentiment to stabilize.

DATs Under Pressure
In the United States, several firms have moved aggressively into Ethereum. BitMine, for one, pivoted earlier this year from its original role as a Bitcoin mining company to becoming the world’s largest corporate holder of ETH.

The company is now chaired by Wall Street veteran and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, who recently stated that Ethereum is beginning its own “supercycle,” similar to Bitcoin’s explosive growth trajectory over the last eight years. However, the current market conditions continue to pressure digital asset-focused stocks, including Bitmine’s. In fact, BMNR sank over 45% in the past month alone.

Tags:

Binance’s shrinking XRP supply has caught traders’ attention as XRP approaches the launch of U.S. spot ETFs. On‐chain data show Binance’s XRP reserves are now near multi‐month lows, signaling tight liquidity.

CryptoQuant data indicate Binance held about 2.785 billion XRP on Nov 12, 2025, down from 2.795 billion the day before.

In October, Binance’s XRP balance dipped to roughly 2.74 billion tokens – the lowest level in almost a year. At the same time, total XRP reserves across exchanges have been falling by roughly 3.4% since early October.

This decline coincides with growing institutional demand: JPMorgan analysts forecast $4–8 billion could flow into XRP ETFs in their first year. 

The combination of vanishing exchange supply and looming ETF demand has many observers calling it a “perfect storm” for XRP.

Advertisement
 

As Binance sheds XRP, trading liquidity is tightening. CryptoQuant’s charts (above) show a steady drawdown in Binance’s XRP reserves over 2025 – from over 3.0 billion XRP early in the year to under 2.8 billion today.

When large holders withdraw tokens to cold storage, fewer coins remain available for trading. In practical terms, this means even modest new buying could have an outsized impact on price.

A 3.4% drop in XRP exchange balances since October is a historically bullish pattern tied to long‐term accumulation. In other words, XRP is positioning more like a scarce asset as supply on Binance thins out.

Institutional Demand and ETF Inflows
With Binance’s exchange float shrinking, anticipated ETF flows add fuel to the rally thesis. JPMorgan projects $4.3–8.4 billion of net inflows into new XRP spot ETFs in year one.

JPMorgan analysts have estimated that $4 to $8 billion could flow into the upcoming XRP Spot ETFs once they launch.

This level of capital would vastly exceed XRP’s usual trading flows. The prospect of huge ETF demand has already prompted some large investors to accumulate XRP off‐exchange, further tightening supply.

As one analyst observed, the combination of rising institutional interest and limited exchange reserves “could create a ‘perfect storm’ for a price breakout” in XRP.

Source: X
Even retail interest is likely to follow: approvals of spot XRP ETFs remain pending, but industry forecasts are highly confident they will launch soon.

Scarcity Meets Price Catalyst
Analysts caution that market timing is never certain, but current metrics suggest a potential supply squeeze.

Analysts warn that an impending supply crisis could spark a major rally in the XRP price. The thinning of Binance’s XRP stash means buyers may face far less resistance than usual.

In practice, a few large purchase orders could lift prices more sharply than in a balanced market. Bloomberg and Reuters analysts compare this to how gold’s shrinking circulating supply underpinned past rallies.

XRP’s on‐chain features and banking partnerships reinforce its use case, but for now, the focus is on market mechanics: constrained supply meets eager demand.

Binance is moving millions of XRP off exchange, and major banks see institutional demand looming. If an XRP ETF debuts on schedule, the resulting buying wave could collide with the tight Binance float.

In that scenario, even a normal volume of buying might send XRP sharply higher. As one crypto strategist puts it, the shrinking supply on Binance has become a key upside risk for XRP, drawing renewed bullish interest in the cryptocurrency.

In a surprising move, China's leading cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have halted their ambitious plan to establish a $500 million Ethereum Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) amid worsening global crypto market conditions. This decision reflects the broader turbulence facing digital currencies, notably Ethereum and Bitcoin, which have seen significant price declines in recent months.

// Price

Reading time: 2 min

Published: Nov 23, 2025 at 19:39

The Hyperliquid (HYPE) price has lost its critical support at $35.18, as bears pushed it below this level.

Hyperliquid price long-term analysis: bearish

In recent price action, HYPE fell to a low of $31 but recovered above the $35 support on October 10.

Today, the bears have breached the $35 support level, indicating that the downturn has resumed. Furthermore, price indicators suggest the cryptocurrency will continue to decline. On October 6, a retraced candle body retested the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level, as Coinidol.com reported. This retracement suggests HYPE will fall to the 2.618 Fibonacci extension, or the $6.02 low. Currently, the cryptocurrency has dropped to a low of $31.84 at the time of writing.

Technical Indicators: 

Resistance Levels – $60 and $70

Support Levels – $40 and $30

Hyperliquid price indicator analysis

On the weekly chart, the price bars are below the upward-sloping moving average lines. The cryptocurrency is falling towards the bottom of the chart. On the 4-hour chart, the moving average lines slope downwards, with price bars below them. The 21-day SMA is below the 50-day SMA, indicating a downtrend.

What is the next direction for Hyperliquid?

HYPE has resumed its decline, breaching the critical support level of $35. On the 4-hour chart, the cryptocurrency fell to a low of $32 before recovering. Bullish momentum was halted at the $34 high, prompting the cryptocurrency to resume its decline.

Today, the bears have broken below the $32 support as the cryptocurrency continues to fall.

Disclaimer. This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author. The data provided is collected by the author and is not sponsored by any company or token developer. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell cryptocurrency and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Coinidol.com. Readers should do their research before investing in funds.

Expert in finance, blockchain, NFT, metaverse, and web3 writer with great technical research proficiency and over 15 years of experience.

Zcash surged more than 12% after OKX announced it would relist the token, making it the strongest performer among major cryptocurrencies.The move sparked a broader debate on Wall Street, where analysts warn that Zcash’s resurgence could “split the vote” against BitcoinSupporters counter that Zcash is becoming a strategic complement rather than a rival, driven by growing concerns over surveillance risks on Bitcoin.Zcash, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, surged more than 12% to trade near $600 on Sunday after OKX announced it would relist the token.

The rally makes ZEC the top-performing asset among major cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours, significantly outpacing Bitcoin, which has struggled to reclaim the $90,000 level.

Sponsored

Sponsored

Wall Street Divided on Zcash Impact on BitcoinOn November 23, OKX announced that spot trading for the ZEC/USDT pair would resume at 12:00 UTC tomorrow.

OKX 将上线 ZEC (Zcash) 现货交易，现已开放充币，开盘时间11月24日晚20:00 (UTC+8)，详见公告👇🏻

— OKX中文 (@okxchinese) November 23, 2025
While the exchange failed to provide additional reasons for its decision, the move marks a significant regulatory U-turn for the venue. It had previously delisted the asset in 2023, citing compliance risks.

Nonetheless, the decision can be linked to two significant factors, including ZEC’s strong outperformance of Bitcoin in recent months.

It also reflects a post-election regulatory thaw, as the new SEC leadership is emboldening platforms to re-integrate privacy protocols that were once considered radioactive.

Sponsored

Sponsored

Meanwhile, the resurgence of Zcash has ignited a philosophical clash on Wall Street regarding the future of digital privacy.

Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, cautioned that the sudden pivot to privacy coins could fragment the broader crypto narrative. He noted that this shift comes at a time when Bitcoin is trying to consolidate institutional support.

He argued that pushing a separate privacy layer risks “splitting the vote” of capital allocation when Bitcoin needs unified political and cultural backing to cement its status as a global reserve asset.

“Zcash has third-party candidate vibes, like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. Seems like you’d better off folding in their ideas to the main party vs splitting the vote, which could have major consequences, especially in such a crucial time for BTC,” he said.

However, asset managers suggest that fundamental flaws in Bitcoin are driving the rotation.

Jan van Eck, CEO of global investment manager VanEck, pushed back against the “spoiler” characterization. He noted that veteran investors are treating Zcash as a necessary complement to Bitcoin rather than a competitor.

TLDR:

The bitcoin bear market is being driven by the onchain reality of the halving cycle (bearish for 2026), quantum-breaking-encryption concerns and the better privacy of Zcash.@vaneckpk said it best: dollar cost average into bear markets@vaneck_us https://t.co/T4o8ofDggD

— Jan van Eck (@JanvanEck3) November 21, 2025
According to Van Eck, the current bear market in Bitcoin reflects “the on-chain reality” of surveillance risks. He argued that rising demand for confidentiality is driving capital toward Zcash’s encrypted ledger.

Disclaimer

In adherence to the Trust Project guidelines, BeInCrypto is committed to unbiased, transparent reporting. This news article aims to provide accurate, timely information. However, readers are advised to verify facts independently and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content. Please note that our Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Disclaimers have been updated.

After days of intense bearish action, the price of Bitcoin appears to be entering a calmer state, as it recovers above the $86,000 level. The latest on-chain data shows that several investors tried to take some profit in the past week, providing a basis for the premier cryptocurrency registering a double-digit loss. 

Bitcoin Exchange Inflow Spikes As Price Faces Downward Pressure 
In a recent post on the social media platform X, crypto analyst Ali Martinez revealed that significant Bitcoin amounts were sent to centralized exchanges in the past week. Data from Santiment shows that about $20,000 BTC (worth nearly $2 billion) has been moved to these exchanges in the past seven days.

The relevant indicator in this on-chain observation is the Exchange Inflow metric, which tracks the volume of an asset (in this case, Bitcoin) that flows to centralized exchanges within a specified period. This metric is often important because one of the prominent exchanges’ service offerings is selling.

Hence, an increase in the Exchange Inflow metric suggests the potential offloading of an asset by investors. The resulting increased supply of this cryptocurrency in the open market often adds downward pressure on the coin’s price, especially if there is no corresponding increase in demand.

In a separate post on X, CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, shared a data piece supporting the recent spike in exchange inflows. According to data highlighted by the crypto researcher, the Bitcoin exchange inflows stood at about 81,000 BTC (the highest level seen since mid-July) on Friday, November 21.

Ultimately, this recent spike in exchange inflows explains the volatility experienced by the price of Bitcoin on Friday. The flagship cryptocurrency succumbed to significant bearish pressure, seeing its price fall to just above $80,000 as the weekend approached.

As of this writing, the price of BTC stands at around $86,070, reflecting an over 2% jump in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin In Profit-Taking Phase: CryptoQuant CEO
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju revealed that Bitcoin is in a profit-taking phase, as evidenced by the rising exchange inflows. The crypto founder made this assertion based on the PnL Index Signal, which measures profit and loss levels using all wallets’ cost basis.

Source: @ki_young_ju on X
With the current reading of the PnL Index Signal, Ju proclaimed that the classic cycle theory says that BTC is entering a bear market. According to the CryptoQuant CEO, only macro liquidity can override the profit-taking cycle—just as seen in 2020. 

Hence, all eyes will be on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in December, especially with the falling expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed). 

The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView

In brief
Satoshi Nakamoto's net worth has dropped by $41 billion in just over a month.
It comes as BTC's price has tanked more than 30% from its all-time high set in early October.
As a result, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator has dropped down the list of the world's richest people.
Bitcoin’s price has seen a dramatic drop over the past month, dragging its elusive creator’s purported net worth down with it.

Just over a month ago, Satoshi Nakamoto’s total Bitcoin holdings were valued at $137 billion, according to Arkham Intelligence data, based on wallets believed to be connected to the pseudonymous creator.

This made Satoshi the 11th richest person—if it is a single person, that is—in the world, when compared to the Forbes billionaires list, ahead of the likes of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. (Forbes doesn't track Satoshi, to be clear.)

However, with Bitcoin’s decline of more than 30% to a recent price of $87,281, from its all-time high of $126,080 set in early October, Satoshi’s net worth has fallen to $95.8 billion in just over a month. This now places the mysterious founder as the 20th richest person in the world, poorer than Gates at $104.4 billion.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym adopted by the creator of Bitcoin when they wrote the white paper in 2008, as well as when talking on forums or via email. Despite countless attempts to unmask Satoshi's true identity—including a high-profile HBO documentary last year—no one has successfully convinced the public that they have found the right person.

Crypto experts have been able to determine how much Bitcoin the creator holds. Identified using what is called the Patoshi Pattern—a distinctive pattern of mining only found in the earliest Bitcoin blocks—experts estimate that Satoshi owns approximately 1.1 million BTC, close to the 1.096 million BTC tally that Arkham Intelligence tracks.

That said, Satoshi’s real net worth could be potentially much different from this figure, as we do not know of any off-chain or non-Bitcoin holdings. Equally, Forbes calculates the net worth of billionaires using the individual’s public holdings and estimates the value of private holdings, which could be inaccurate. 

Regardless of Satoshi’s exact net worth, it’s safe to assume that $95.8 billion is a significant portion of their net worth. For that reason, some believe the elusive creator may step out from the shadows as quantum computing advancements threaten to break Bitcoin, also known as Q-Day. 

Proposals have already been made to freeze Satoshi’s Bitcoin due to the looming quantum “existential threat.” Others have suggested a Bitcoin hard fork to quantum-proof the entire network.

However, Joseph Chalom—the co-CEO of SharpLink Gaming, a leading Ethereum treasury company—previously told Decrypt that he believes Satoshi may reveal themself as this hurdle is attempted.

“I have a wild idea that at some point—five, 10 years from now—when the Bitcoin network needs to be quantum-proofed, there will be some really important decisions around standards and encryption,” Chalom said in September. “There'll be decisions about whether you need to hard fork the protocol [and] what you do with wallets that are dormant.”

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

El Salvador has taken a bold financial step by purchasing nearly 1,100 Bitcoin in the wake of a significant price decline. This acquisition comes as part of the country's ongoing strategy to embrace cryptocurrency, having already established Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

4 minutes ago

The tension erupted following news that Strategy and other crypto treasury companies would likely be excluded from major market indexes.

60

The backlash against financial services company JP Morgan from the Bitcoin (BTC) community and supporters of BTC treasury company Strategy continued to swell on Sunday as calls to “boycott” JP Morgan grew.

The anger from the Bitcoin community followed news that the MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, an index company that sets criteria for index inclusion, is likely to exclude crypto treasury companies from its indexes in January 2026.

JP Morgan shared the MSCI news in a research note. “I just pulled $20 million from Chase and suing them for credit card malfeasance,” real estate investor and Bitcoin advocate Grant Cardone said in response to a call to boycott the financial services giant.

“Crash JP Morgan and buy Strategy and BTC,” Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser said, as the online boycott movement gained steam.

Source: Fred KruegerThe exclusion of crypto treasury companies from stock indexes could trigger an automatic sell-off of their shares from funds and asset managers that are mandated to buy specific types of financial instruments, and could negatively impact crypto markets.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor breaks his silence and responds to MSCIStrategy entered the Nasdaq 100, a stock market index of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization on the tech-focused stock exchange, in December 2024

This allowed Strategy to reap the benefits of passive capital flows from funds and investors holding the Nasdaq 100. 

Strategy founder Michael Saylor responded to the proposed MSCI policy change on Friday, saying, “Strategy is not a fund, not a trust, and not a holding company.”

“Funds and trusts passively hold assets. Holding companies sit on investments. We create, structure, issue, and operate,” Saylor said, adding that Strategy is a “Bitcoin-backed structured finance company.”

Source: Michael Saylor The proposed MSCI listing criteria change would force any treasury company with 50% or more of its balance sheet in crypto to lose its index status.

These companies would then face one of two choices: reduce crypto holdings to be below the threshold to qualify for index inclusion, or lose the passive capital flows from the market indexes.

A sudden sell-off from crypto treasury companies impacted by the proposed MSCI change could force digital asset prices down, according to analysts.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs stablecoins showdown looms as GENIUS Act nears

Nvidia doesn't need to build a quantum computer to make a lot of money in the quantum computing market.

Back in California's gold rush in the mid-1800s, thousands of individuals flocked to the region hoping to find gold and strike it rich. However, the easy money was instead made by the suppliers who sold tools to the gold prospectors.

Today, the term "pick-and-shovel investing" honors that legacy. Oftentimes, providers of ancillary products and services achieve greater success than pure-play companies do.

Could this be the case with Nvidia (NVDA 1.06%) in the quantum computing market? Maybe so.

Image source: Nvidia.

Simulation paves the way for reality
Several companies are racing to develop large-scale quantum computers that can be utilized in a wide range of practical applications. They include tech giants such as Google Quantum AI parent Alphabet (GOOG +3.26%) (GOOGL +3.50%), Amazon (AMZN +1.51%), and Microsoft (MSFT 1.32%) as well as rising stars like D-Wave Quantum (QBTS 0.49%) and IonQ (IONQ +1.82%). However, Nvidia isn't in this group.

That doesn't mean that Nvidia doesn't have a vested interest in quantum computing, though. And the chipmaker doesn't have to wait for quantum computing to fulfill its potential to make money, either.

Researchers must develop simulations of quantum systems to design and test algorithms and circuits. However, access to quantum processing units (QPUs) today is limited and expensive. Nvidia recognized this challenge and offers a solution: Use its graphics processing units (GPUs) on classical computers for quantum simulation.

Nvidia Quantum Cloud supports quantum simulation using the company's GPUs and its CUDA-Q quantum computing platform. Roughly 75% of organizations deploying QPUs use CUDA-Q.

Three of the four largest cloud service providers have integrated Nvidia Quantum Cloud into their platforms: Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle (ORCL 5.66%) Cloud Infrastructure. The notable exception is Amazon Web Services (AWS). However, AWS allows QPU developers to use Nvidia's CUDA-Q.

Nvidia's bridge to the future
Nvidia's quantum opportunities aren't limited to simulation. The likelihood is that most practical quantum computers will be hybrid systems that connect QPUs with classical supercomputers for the foreseeable future.

The problem is that qubits (the basic units of information in quantum computers) are notoriously unwieldy, at least for now. Because they're prone to errors, complex calibration processes and control algorithms are required to keep them on track. Nvidia is addressing this challenge in two ways.

Today's Change

(

-1.06

%) $

-1.91

Current Price

$

178.73

First, the company's GPUs are ideally suited for powering the supercomputers needed in hybrid quantum-classical systems. Second, Nvidia has developed a low-latency, high-throughput bridge between QPUs and its GPUs called NVQLink.

Nvidia found and CEO Jensen Huang describes NVQLink as "the Rosetta Stone connecting quantum and classical supercomputers." He recently predicted, "In the near future, every Nvidia GPU scientific supercomputer will be hybrid, tightly coupled with quantum processors to expand what is possible with computing."

A familiar path
Making money as a pick-and-shovel play in quantum computing should be relatively straightforward for Nvidia. The company has successfully navigated a similar path in artificial intelligence (AI).

OpenAI, Google, and others have developed powerful large language models (LLMs). Many of these companies are also pioneering agentic AI and working on artificial general intelligence (AGI) and AI superintelligence (ASI). Nvidia opted not to compete on their turf. Instead, it's supporting them with the chips and software tools that make their jobs easier.

In many respects, Nvidia's strategy in quantum computing mirrors the approach it has taken with AI. With the company generating revenue of $57 billion in the third quarter of 2025 and projecting revenue of $65 billion next quarter, Nvidia's AI strategy is paying off handsomely. I think supplying the picks and shovels for the quantum computing gold rush will prove to be a winning approach over the long run, too.

Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, IonQ, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) has grown into a dominant force in AI-driven data analytics, securing lucrative government contracts and expanding its mission-critical intelligence business.

This has positioned PLTR among the best-performing stocks of the past two years. In 2025, the stock has rallied 105% year-to-date, trading at $154 as of press time.

However, its throne in the AI space could be under threat, as two smaller sub-$10 AI stocks are emerging as contenders that could potentially outperform Palantir by the end of 2026. 

To explore this, Finbold consulted OpenAI’s ChatGPT model for insights on the most promising sub-$10 stocks with the potential to surpass Palantir by next year.

BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI)
BigBear.ai (NYSE: BBAI) is executing a bold strategic pivot. In its third-quarter 2025 results, the company announced the acquisition of Ask Sage, a generative AI platform designed for secure, regulated sectors such as defense and national security. 

Ask Sage already supports over 100,000 users across roughly 16,000 government teams and is expected to generate about $25 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025. 

According to ChatGPT, the acquisition could transform BigBear from a decision-intelligence contractor into a full-stack generative AI provider with secure, differentiated infrastructure.

The integration of Ask Sage with BigBear’s existing decision-intelligence tools could create a powerful platform for mission-critical government clients. 

BigBear’s strong balance sheet, with more than $450 million in cash, provides significant financial flexibility to fund growth initiatives, scale operations, and pursue additional strategic investments. 

ChatGPT noted that these combined factors could help BigBear.ai carve out a unique position in defense and national security AI, an area that overlaps with Palantir’s core business but with a more generative-AI-focused approach.

As of press time, BBAI stock was valued at $5.40 after gaining more than 20% in the past 24 hours.

BBAI YTD stock price chart. Source: Google Finance
Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ: LTRN)
Lantern Pharma (NASDAQ: LTRN) operates in a very different domain, using its proprietary RADR AI platform to reimagine oncology drug development. The platform incorporates more than 200 billion oncology-focused data points and over 200 machine-learning algorithms. 

Among its most notable tools is predictBBB.ai, which forecasts blood-brain-barrier permeability with high accuracy, a major hurdle in drug development.

Lantern has also built a drug-combination prediction module that identifies synergistic cancer-therapy combinations based on clinical trial data. 

On the clinical front, the LP-184 Phase 1a trial has completed enrollment, showing a 48% clinical benefit rate at or above the therapeutic dose among heavily pretreated patients, including those with difficult-to-treat cancers like glioblastoma.

ChatGPT noted that these results validate Lantern’s AI-driven biomarker predictions. The company is managing cash carefully, with $19.7 million in cash and short-term securities, providing runway through at least mid-2026. Lantern also plans to commercialize portions of its RADR platform, potentially generating revenue through licensing AI modules for broader R&D use.

At the close of the last market session, LTRN stock was trading at $3.02, down nearly 5% year-to-date.

LTRN YTD stock price chart. Source: Google Finance
In summary, the AI model noted that BigBear.ai and Lantern Pharma could outperform Palantir if they execute effectively; however, they face meaningful risks, including integration challenges, uncertain clinical outcomes, cash burn, and regulatory or competitive pressures.

Featured image via Shutterstock

The stock has ripped 2,500% higher in just three years.

If you traveled back in time to early 2023, few would probably have guessed that Palantir Technologies (PLTR 0.57%) would trade at $165 per share. The stock traded under $7 back then. But the artificial intelligence (AI) boom took off, Palantir released its AIP platform for AI software in mid-2023, and the business and the stock have both soared ever since.

Investors face the same question now: where will Palantir's stock go from here following its 2,500% rally over nearly three years? Here is why I predict Palantir Technologies will trade below $120 per share in 2027.

Image source: Getty Images.

Breathtaking business performance
It's no secret that AI is all the craze right now. But while companies duke it out over data centers and AI chips, Palantir Technologies has dominated in AI software. The company builds specialized software applications for government and corporate customers.

The software digests vast amounts of data and then analyzes it for various purposes. For instance, Palantir has helped optimize supply chains, detect crime and fraud, and aid military missions, and that's just scratching the surface. Palantir's upside lies in its flexibility, making it applicable to virtually any group or company that can afford it.

Palantir's growth blasted off and has continued to accelerate since it released its AIP platform for AI applications in mid-2023. It's been a genuine game-changer.

PLTR Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

The business has now done $3.9 billion in revenue over the past four quarters. Revenue growth accelerated to nearly 63% year over year in the third quarter. It's hard to find companies growing that fast on such a large dollar figure. It gets better; Palantir is already highly profitable with a 28% net profit margin.

Remarkably, Palantir still only has 911 total customers. There are many thousands of large organizations worldwide that could benefit from AI software, which is why Palantir has Wall Street so excited.

Outdone only by its own stock
Perhaps the only thing to top Palantir's business success is its own stock. As impressively as Palantir has performed, the stock's 2,500% gains over the past three years have been life-changing for investors who got in early enough.

Unfortunately, those monstrous returns have also sent the stock's valuation into the stratosphere. Shares currently trade at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 108 and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 385.

To put it in perspective, the business would take (assuming no growth) over a century to pay back your investment with its revenue. You would have to wait nearly 400 years to recoup your investment from Palantir's profits!

Make no mistake about it, Palantir's stock has reached valuations that could have very profound consequences if all that market euphoria and enthusiasm fades even a little.

Today's Change

(

-0.57

%) $

-0.90

Current Price

$

154.85

Finding some rationality after a generational run
At the moment, Wall Street analysts see Palantir finishing 2025 at $4.4 billion in revenue, then growing by 41% next year to $6.2 billion. But analysts have repeatedly raised their estimates throughout this year as the company tops expectations each quarter. Therefore, I'll assume that trend continues and bump next year's estimated 41% growth to 50%, lifting revenue to $6.6 billion.

Now, the million-dollar question is what valuation will Palantir trade at? The stock trades at $165 per share, with a $392 billion market cap at about 108 times revenue. Stocks rarely sustain P/S ratios of 40 to 50, let alone 100 or more. Even Nvidia, the face of the AI boom, has seldom traded at more than 40 times its revenue over the past several years.

A broader market downturn or a slowdown in Palantir's growth would likely be quite painful for the stock at these levels. The stock trading down to a P/S ratio of 60 would wipe out virtually all of the upside from Palantir's revenue growing to $6.6 billion next year. Below, you can see how severe the potential downside is at lower valuations:

Price-to-Sales RatioResulting Market CapPotential Upside/Downside60$396 billion+1%50$330 billion-16%40$264 billion-32%30$198 billion-49%
Source: The author created the table using the calculations described above.

At a P/S ratio of 40, the share price would fall to approximately $112. Again, it's hard to sustain such high valuations. Palantir has been an anomaly to this point, but it's still far more likely that this is the exception and not the rule. It shouldn't be a shock if Palantir's share price is lower in early 2027 than it is today.

PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Listen here or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Steve Cress on the power of quant (0:45). Barbell approach in times of market volatility (6:25). 3 dividend income stocks (16:00). 3 AI stocks (27:40). Recorded on November 19.

Transcript

Rena Sherbill: Steve Cress, our head of Quant at Seeking Alpha, always fantastic to talk to you on Investing Experts. Welcome back to the show.

Steve Cress: Rena, thank you so much for having me and organizing this today. It's a pleasure to be back.

Rena Sherbill: For people that may have missed your last episode on every metric that we measure, it surpassed by far every previous episode that we've had.

So really want to encourage those listeners that haven't heard it. You shared with us three stocks to buy from the PQP, the ProQuant portfolio and Alpha Picks. It was extremely salient for investors to understand how those portfolios, what the strategy is behind it, the timelines, how frequently you're in and out of names.

If you could just catch listeners up that didn't catch that episode and that just need a refresher in general, how you're approaching stocks with the quant system. A very brief, I think, refresher would be instructive.

Steve Cress: Yeah, absolutely. I've been in the investment world for about 35 years. The bulk of my career was spent at Morgan Stanley, where I worked for 13 years running a prop trading desk in quantitative strategies. Later, I would work at Northern Trust heading up international investments. also founded a hedge fund that was focused on quantitative strategies.

And simultaneously, when I was running the hedge fund, I also started a Fintech company, which was an early version of AI and a systematic stock picking model that Seeking Alpha liked so much they bought the company. And that is what has brought me here today. And as we have integrated the quant into the Seeking Alpha platform.

So a little bit about what I would like to cover today. As we had just indicated, I'm going to give a little refresher on why quant. The last presentation, as she mentioned, we went over a couple of our top ideas from the PQP portfolio and from the AlphaPix portfolio.

But considering markets have been so volatile and whipsawing over the last month, I wanted to present a different strategy today. And I refer to this often as a barbell approach, since there's a lot of uncertainty with the environment, the economy, the market, the Fed and interest rates, tariffs.

A good approach right now in periods of uncertainties to use, again, what I refer to as a barbell approach where we'll focus on top income stocks, but we'll also focus on top AI stocks that we expect to do well. So that's combining growth with income. And we're going to get into that in a little bit.

First, to answer Rena's question and give a little refresher, how do we achieve our results with the quant system? Well, the quant system is really very similar to what a fundamental analyst does. If you were an analyst at Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, you would apply fundamental analysis techniques where you look at conventional metrics for value, profitability, growth.

The only issue is when you are an analyst of that sort, you're only capable of maybe covering 15 to 20 stocks. And typically they do it in one sector. And often in their coverage of 15 to 20 stocks, because there's limited time and writing up these companies and how they're being impacted by the environment or earnings, they typically can only get a handful of reports out every month.

And this is where the power of quant comes in. We still apply the same fundamentals. Quant fundamentals and metrics can be different. What we use is what I refer to as a GARP approach. At Seeking Alpha, a GAARP would be growth at a reasonable price. And we also add a little extra to that. We focus on momentum. And we also focus on positive analyst revisions as well.

So it's really a dynamic model where we're focusing on a couple of different styles. We like the diversification because we believe that diversification minimizes risk and maximizes returns over the long term.

So then we add the power of computer processing, which really helps put the quant word into it. We look at it sometimes as quantimental where we combine quant and fundamental, but the power of that computer processing gives us the ability to cover about 4,500 stocks versus a human analyst that could maybe only cover 15 to 20 stocks.

And we, through our power of computer processing, can issue fresh and directional recommendations on a stock every single day. So literally every day we go through every company's cash flow, income statements, balance sheets, hundreds of financial metrics. We update it every morning between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. And based on the fresh data that comes out every single day, we issue in essence, a new directional recommendation.

Now, often that directional recommendation, it's say the same, it could be a strong buy or hold or sell. Sometimes it changes. It's all based on how the data comes in. And when we look at a company, and we make that decision for buying or selling, what we do is we measure the strength or weakness of that company and its metrics and its balance sheet and income statement against other companies in the same sector. So it's really a relative analysis.

And that's how we have the ability to really rank one through 4,500 and then within sectors, the strong from the weak. So that's a little bit of a refresher there. And the system works.Our simulated trades, this is not really an investable product because on any given day, there's about 350 to 400 strong buys. But a daily balance of our strong buys versus a daily balance of Wall Street strong buys and the S&P 500 (SP500).

And you can see over the last five years, the Seeking Alpha quant strong buys are up 219%, as you'll notice on the left-hand side, versus Wall Street analysts for the same period. Their strong buys are up only 33%, and they actually ended up performing the S&P 500, which is up 64%, but the quant absolute crushing both using our methodology.

So I thought, what we would do is talk about something a little bit different. As I mentioned, considering there's been a lot of volatility in the markets, I like a barbell approach during periods of uncertainty. The S&P 500 has really unchanged from where it was four weeks ago, but it's had some big swings up and down in that period. So we're really uncertain as to what could transpire over the next few weeks. Volatility could remain with the market.

Largely that volatility has come from the government shutdown, which is now over, but it was just about the longest government shutdown we ever had. It went from October 1st to November 12th. Previous to the government shutdown, the markets were optimistic because the Fed was on a trend of cutting interest rates.

And they were cutting interest rates because there was concern over labor. They felt that the time that was outweighing the sticky inflation that the economy is still experiencing. Unfortunately, that sticky inflation is still around. There are a number of elements that contribute to it. Tariffs are really starting to have a fuller effect now compared to when they were announced many months ago. So the Fed is uncertain with the data that they're seeing.

And in fact, most interest rate traders are sort of split between feeling if there will be a rate cut or there will not be a rate cut and the size of that rate cut. Market volatility actually just over the last five days, the best performing sector has been energy, utilities and consumer staples and healthcare. Even though they're down, they have outperformed technology, consumer discretionary and financial services down by about 4%.

So what this indicates to us is that there's a rotation to safe haven sectors and stocks. And clearly we have seen that in stocks with many of the consumer discretionary companies, technology companies, small cap, mid cap, really selling off quite sharply over the last month. Even though the broader index has unchanged, some of the sectors that are more risk on have really come off and stocks within those sectors have come off.

So the market's been getting very defensive. And headlines that you see are probably very typical of what we saw yesterday. Meta (META) opening up down 1.4%. AI bubble fears are in the spotlight. So for equities, valuations have been stretched. For many AI stocks, they have been extremely stretched.

And we no longer have the confidence that the Fed will continue to cut rates. So that has introduced a lot of uncertainty and volatility. Fed speak index is near the most hawkish that it has been in a month, really going from the negative domain to a positive domain, where the Fed increasing that hawkish sentiment.

On top of that, when we have the government shutdown, there was delayed key economic data that creates uncertainty because we don't know what economic data will be coming out. Is it good? Is it bad? So in coming weeks, we will see more economic data. But there's definitely been a lag in it.

Fed officials have definitely, as I mentioned, turned more hawkish, suggesting a third cut may be unnecessary during the month of December. In addition, outside of Fed's Powell and his hawkish sentiment, the Kansas City and Boston Fed chiefs Jeffery Schmidt and Susan Collins both mentioned further cuts could stall the 2 % inflation target. So investors wait to release a backlog data, especially the September job reports.

On November 6th, 70% of interest rate traders expected a rate cut in December, 30% did not. Today, 53% of traders expect a rate cut and 47% do not. So it's really evened out. Nobody's really sure what's going to happen. And we'll see in the coming days what happens.

So in addition to that, looking at general sentiment for the market, I often look at an index called the CNN fear and greed index. It's just about as good as any to give you sort of an indication where market sentiment was. And a couple of weeks ago, I'd say four to six weeks ago, we were sort of in the greed territory, then it went into neutral. Last week it was in the fear territory, and now it's in the extreme fear territory. So a softer labor market could really anchor expectations for those rate cuts. And we'll have to see what happens on the back of that.

We could see a pullback as we have seen with some of the broader market, the Magnificent Seven. They have come down, but not nearly as much as the broader market. We could see a retraction and we have seen a retraction in evaluations of many AI stocks and many tech stocks and consumer discretionary and small and mid cap.

Having said that, Buffett seems to have confidence. He took a new position in Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) and was a huge position of $4.3 billion, which signals confidence in AI from one of the market's most traditional and cautious investors.

So think that's a fairly good sign. AI stocks with strong fundamentals and durable demand do remain well positioned for a long-term recovery. So some of them have come down, and mostly the ones that have to do with powering up data centers and the infrastructure which were really rocketing earlier in the year have come down considerably.

But the earnings outlook and really recent earnings for many of these companies, both top and bottom line, were very good. So it's really a market that's being driven by sentiment more so than fundamentals.

Rena Sherbill: Can I ask to that point, something that Brian Stewart and I have been talking about on the Wall Street Roundup podcast on Fridays has been this notion of the fact that it's so difficult to ascertain valuation specifically with AI related names. And the fact that if you look at the quant ratings for almost every AI name, the valuation grade is a D or an F. And Brian was saying that in this time, he's kind of taking valuation out of the picture because there are other elements that play beyond fundamentals.

What would you say to that in terms of grounding Quant's place in this market and also the notion of valuation?

Steve Cress: Quant, I believe it's a very flexible model. For a stock that's rated a strong buy or buy with a valuation grade of a D, it's basically D through A+, can allow a stock to have a strong buy when it does, move into the D- or F territory. That's sort of a circuit breaker if you do see it, and often those stocks can be a hold or sometimes a sell, it does mean the valuation is extreme.

And our preference would be to look for stocks that have a better valuation framework. And it doesn't have to be much better. So the company could still have substantial growth and you could still have a valuation grade of a D or D+ and buy the stock.

That has kept us out of some stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), which has done really well. At one point Tesla (TSLA) when it did really well, the valuation grades were F and the system didn't allow us to buy it.

But I will say the system also recommended other stocks that actually outperformed those stocks. And we have a very good track record. We've beaten the S&P 500 every year since 2010 using our methodology.

So I would say you could be flexible with valuation, but only up to a certain point with our quant model. Once you see that D minus or F for the valuation grade, it could be a winner and we can let that winner run as a hold, but we're not adding to the position.

Rena Sherbill: Appreciate that. Thank you.

Steve Cress: I hope that gives a little bit of an explanation. Conversely, I would say if I took the other side, this quant model we're running in like 1999, 98, year 2000, absolutely would have avoided a lot of the stocks that blew up. And in fact, having run the model pack at that point in time, I could tell you what it did do is it actually in 2001, 2002, 2003, it started focusing heavily on industrial material stocks.

And it was actually an incredible period for our quant. The quant product that I was running at the time was actually for Morgan Stanley on the prop trading desk. So during that period, the quant model absolutely did quite well. And it avoided a lot of the blowups that occurred during the TMT era. If you were in 97 through 2000, people could have argued, you know, oh, there were many stocks that had no earnings and no revenue, but the stocks were appreciating like by a thousand percent, they were 10 baggers up until they did.

So it gives you a little bit of history, longer history on the model, the focus we do, there are AI stocks that we do believe are attractive at this level, but since there is uncertainty and volatility in the environment, I also want to make the case for couple defensive stocks which have quality yields. So as I mentioned, we have strong labor data that will reduce the likelihood of a near term rate cut.

And that will add to the uncertainty of the equity markets. In volatile environments, investors can often rotate towards dividend stocks that have a reliable earnings, steady cash flow, and attractive yields. And of course, quality high dividend yield stocks can provide stability during periods of uncertainty.

So without further ado, I want to go into three income stocks that I like. We have Merck (MRK), which is a healthcare company, pharmaceutical. It's a tremendous company. It's got a market cap of $230 billion. It has a quant strong buy rating. And our quant system within the healthcare sector ranks eight out of 976 stocks. And within the pharmaceutical industry, ranks three out of 177 stocks.

Mostly people know that this company operates through pharmaceutical and health animal segments. The company has a tremendous ROE. It's a 40 % return on equity. The forward EBITDA growth is 47%. It is dirt cheap. The multiple on this company, the forward PE is 10.4 times. And the interest coverage ratio for the dividend is 21.3 times.

So actually what I'd like to do is take us into the platform where you could see Merck stock is up a little bit today. Year to date, the stock is down 4.5%. But we do have a quant strong buy on it. Over the last month, you can see the stock is up 10.63%. So when the S &P has been flat, this is actually appreciated.

And if you look to the right side, you'll see the rating summary. That rating summary actually shows you three independent sources is Seeking Alpha contributors and the consensus there is buy. Wall Street consensus is a buy and the quant system has a strong buy. So certainly over the last month, the quant system has definitely been right on that. What makes up that quant strong buy or the factor grades underneath?

As I mentioned, we look at five core factors, which would be evaluation, growth, profitability, momentum and EPS revisions. And if we clicked on valuation, you could see that the underlying metrics look really good. And what we attempt to do by showing these academic letter grades, we want to give you an instant characterization of how the company compares to its sector. So when you look at the PE, and it has a B plus, the absolute multiple is 11 times. The sector is 17 times.

So it's at a 36% discount to the sector, hence the B plus grade and the forward P is actually even more attractive at 10.7 times versus the sector at 18 times, hence the A minus grade. So that academic letter grade instantly tells you, okay, this stock has a better valuation framework compared to this sector.

If we were to go to growth, and we scroll down to say EPS, forward EPS growth, it has an A plus, the forward EPS growth rate for Merck is 80% versus a sector with just an 8 % growth rate, hence the A plus grade.

So you can see the earnings per share growth is absolutely tremendous for Merck at this time. So from a valuation standpoint, it looks great. From a growth standpoint, it looks great. From a profitability standpoint, it's an A plus. If you look at the EBITDA margin, it's 49 % versus the sector at 9.2%. If you look at the return on common equity, it's 39.5 % versus the sector at negative 34%. So Merck looks really good there. And if I go back to the main stock page, you can see the yield on the stock is 3.36%. So that's almost more than three times the yield on the S &P 500.

And it's also about three times what you would get on the (VIG), which is the Vanguard Income and Growth ETF, which is commonly used as a benchmark. So Merck looking really good there.

I am going to take us to Alpine Income Property Trust (PINE). So this is a smaller REIT. The market cap is about $252 million, but it is a quant strong buy. Within the REIT segment, it ranks nine out of 172 REITs. And within its industry, which is diversified REITs, it ranks one out of 12.

The forward yield on this is 6.94%. That is a whopping yield. It is a diversified REIT. They own and operate a portfolio of 128 commercial properties across 34 states. So that certainly provides a lot of diversification. Current occupancy is currently at 99%, with 48 % of those occupants being investment grade tenants.

In terms of metrics that we look at for REITs, we took typically look at FFO or FFO and then we take multiples on that. So the Ford price over FFO multiple is 9.1 times that puts out at a 40 % discount to the sector. The growth, the Ford FFO growth is 9%, which is a 277 % premium to the sector. And the FFO margin is 48%. So really great stats there.

If you look at the far right, you can see the rating summary for both valuation and growth. has an A, A minus and A, profitability at B minus, momentum very strong. And then you can see the dividend safety grades are fairly solid in line with the sector.

Rena Sherbill: Can you take us through for a second the metrics that you're using for the REITs specifically, like the AFFO? Can you talk to us for a second about why those matter for REITs?

Steve Cress: Alpine Income Property, you can see today it's down about 2.66 percent and today we had a bit of a rotation actually back into technology stocks so some consumer staples and REITs sold off. So just a lot of confusion with the markets year-to-date. This stock is flat, but the really cool thing about it is you can see over the last month the stock is up 15.64 percent, you can see even with the stock being up that much in the month, the dividend yield as I mentioned is 6.88%.

Now to answer Rena's question, metrics that we utilize for REITs are different than stocks. So we basically look at like 11 sectors in a very similar format, but REITs are sort of a horse of a different breed. So when we look at valuation metrics for REITs, we will try to make it very centric. So you're not going to see this for stocks where we have, AFFO and FFFO that is really solely for REITs. So what we're doing is we're looking at the metric compared to other REITs. And you could see from a valuation standpoint, it is attractive. The multiple is 9.3 times for the stock versus the sector at 14 times, putting out a 34 % discount for price over AFFO.

If we look at price over FFO, it's still dirt cheap on a forward basis. It's again, 9.12 times versus the sector at 13 times, a 31% discount to the sector. And we do look at some of the other conventional metrics such as EBITDA or price of sales where it comes in. The valuation grade is made up of the underlying metrics.

But again, these are a bit different than you would see for stocks. If we look at growth, you can see we're looking at AFFO growth and FFFO growth along with lot of dividend data as well and EBITDA data. So again, there's a mix of metrics there. We're taking a combination of these metrics to come up with the overall growth grade for the REIT. But again, very centric towards REITs with the metrics that are used here.

I might add too, I'm going to go back to Merck because I actually want to show you the dividend grades. So, dividend grades are something that's really unique to Seeking Alpha. I'm not familiar with any other platform that shows it. When we look at a stock where we are looking for capital appreciation, that quant rating signifies the potential or lack of thereof for appreciation, and we use the factor grades for that.

But many investors look at dividends, and they want to know when they buy a stock, that dividend safe and is it growing?

So we take a look at that. have metrics, underlying metrics that we've used and backtested to indicate to us that dividend is going to be safe. So as you look at this picture, we're going to show you the cash dividend payout ratio, the dividend payout ratio, cash flow ratios, dividend coverage ratio, interest coverage ratio.

And we have backtested these to 2010. And we know some of these metrics are more predictive than others. So these aren't equal weighted. Some have a higher weight.

And you can see some of the ones that have a higher weight contribute to the overall A minus dividend safety grade. And just to give you a little sense of what that back test looks like, if you were to take a look at our stocks that had a dividend safety grade of A plus to B minus, 98 % of the dividend cuts would have been averted by owning a stock that had that dividend safety grade anywhere between that range.

Conversely, going back to 2010, 70% of all stocks that had an F had cut their dividend. And 93 % of stocks that cut their dividend had a dividend safety grade of C plus to F. So it's really a very, very powerful system. If you are a dividend investor, I would highly recommend that you use the dividend safety grades. We have a portfolio tool.

And it will show you what it looks like. I can probably give you a picture of that right here. So we're going to switch back to Merck and I'm going to show you what a portfolio looks like. We'll take Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) and I'm going to show you what that portfolio looks like.

There are a number of tools that we could use here. You could look at performance. You could look at profitability. And what I want to pull up here is dividends and see if we have that. Yep. Dividends. And when you click on dividends for Berkshire Hathaway, you can see which companies have a dividend. I can actually sort it by the strength and some have a dividend safety rate of a plus. Some have a C, but purpose being here that you could load up your stocks and see what the dividend grades are. So it's really a great tool. G

Taking us to our third stock, which is OneMain Holdings (OMF), that is a financial company. It's got a market cap of 6.7 billion. Within the financial sector, ranks 25 out of 683 stocks. Within its industry, which is consumer finance, it ranks three out of 38.

This has a whopping yield of 7.36%. This company provides personal loans and credit products to non-prime consumers. So a little bit more risk there, hence probably the higher yield. But you can see with a dividend safety grade of A minus, our quant system is not concerned regarding the safety of that dividend. And if you look at the valuation and growth grade on the far right side, you can see it has stellar metrics with A, A minus, B plus.

Momentum being a B and revisions being an A. So some great stats here. Company has a return on equity of 21%. It's got a PEG, which is a combination of PE and growth. Its PEG ratio is 0.4, which puts it at a 62 % discount to the sector.

And in terms of the revision rate, you can see it's an A as I look at the far right. And what does that mean? That means we're looking at the number of analysts that have actually revised our earnings estimate up. And in the last 90 days, 15 analysts have revised our earnings estimate up for this company, and zero have revised it down. So that's our three dividend stocks.

Now I'm to take us to our three AI stocks. One company being Micron Technology, (MU). This is a huge company with a market cap of 271 billion. And as you mentioned early on, a lot of people are seeing AI companies with valuation grades that are F or D minus or D.

I'm pleased to showcase here that the valuation for this company has actually improved. So I'm to take us to the platform and we're going to look at Micron. And you can see this stock is up 168 % year to date. In the last six months, the stock is up 129%. But despite being up 129%, if you look at the valuation, the valuation grade now is B versus six months ago, it was a C plus.

So the valuation framework has actually improved with this company as its growth has moved. And I already had a plus for growth. So it was already way ahead of the sector in terms of growth. And now it looks even stronger than the sector. So if I clicked on growth, you will see this is like a straight A report card. Revenue growth is 34 % versus sector at 7.6%. And EPS forward growth rate, 143%. versus the sector at just 12%.

So this company looks great on valuation basis. It looks great on a growth basis. It looks fantastic on a profitability basis. And this is a company that definitely will have AI power against growth in the future. The company was down today, but some good news must have come out afterwards because post-market, it is up 2.91%.

Rena Sherbill: Is that would you say on the back of Nvidia earnings?

Steve Cress: I'm actually pulling that up for us. So let's see. NVIDIA did report post-market, during the day was up 2.8 % and post-market, the stock is up 3.69%, 50 minutes after the hour. So a lot of time to digest the market and the aftermarket, now up 4%. So I believe investors must have been very pleased with the earnings that came out.

And it looks like NVIDIA on a non-GAAP basis reported $1.30, so beat by 4 cents on the bottom line. Top line, $57 billion, a beat of $1.91 billion. So investors pleased to see that AI is still powering Nvidia. Hence, when we were looking at MU, the stock being up 3 % in the aftermarket.

Another stock that I'm going to take us to, which is one of our AI recommendations is Commscope Holdings (COMM). This company is not nearly the size of MU. It's got a market cap of 3.69 billion, but still looks really good. You can see this is in the information technology sector and communications equipment. And if you've never been on the platform before, if you scroll down, it will actually tell you what the company does. There's a company profile and you can see that they provide infrastructure solutions for communications data centers being the keyword here because data centers are powering, they hold the servers that really enable AI to operate at such fast speeds. And they also are in entertainment networks as well. So this stocks has done extraordinarily well.

Rena Sherbill: This was actually one of your PQP/AP stocks last time.

Steve Cress: It was, and I think we recommended it before that big surge as well. So the timing was perfect there and we still have a strong buy on it.

Despite the stock being up over the last six months, 191%, the valuation is still an A. So the valuation framework still looks good on this stock compared to the sector. And the growth is actually a little bit lower than it was, but they seem to be still doing a great business. Profitability looks great.

Profitability actually increased at the company, which is fantastic. So the profitability grade now is an A compared to C plus six months ago. So despite the growth coming off a little bit, I think investors are very pleased that the company is actually making more money and is more profitable.

And when we look at analyst revisions, I'm going to click on that. And you can see in the last 90 days, four analysts have taken their earnings estimates up for the company and zero have taken it down. So that's very positive.

At our final stock, Celestica (CLS). This company was in Alpha Picks quite a while ago, doing very well on the back of Nvidia's release. The stock during the day was up 4 % and post market, the stock is up almost close to 5%. Again, looking at this over the last six months, the stock is up 180%, but the valuation grade is a D plus now compared to C six months ago.

So really it's just a little bit more expensive than it was six months ago. But here again, as a perfect example, the growth now is an A minus versus the sector compared to six months ago where it was a B minus. So the growth framework actually looking stronger for the company now than it did six months ago. So definitely justifying the value that you're paying for it. Also, probability improved to B compared to six months ago where it was a C.

This company ranks currently in the sector of IT 6 out of 537, and within its industry of electronic manufacturing services, 1 out of 18. I think that really, I'm going take us back to the presentation. I think we've covered the companies. Our top income stocks were Merck, OneMain Financial, and Alpine Property Trust.

You can see the yield on average is 5.93 % for those three stocks versus the S &P with an average yield of 1.1%. So the yield is far, far stronger than the S &P for those three stocks. And then on the other side, we're going with top AI growth companies, Micron Technologies, Celestica, and CommScope, all doing very well today on the back of NVIDIA's holdings.

I wrote an article today, so feel free to look for that article, top income and AI growth stocks worth watching. And if you find the article, I do ask that you follow me. And this way, any article I release, and I read about three to four articles a week, those articles will come your way. So please feel free to do that.

There are some products that I do mention or manage on behalf of Seeking Alpha. The quant system is great, but it does require work. You have to go to the premium platform and you have to go through the screeners. And a lot of times people want us to do the work for them.

So I created two products. One product is called Alpha Picks and Alpha Picks produces my two top quant strong buys every month. And the trading date closest to the first and the 15th. It has a separate platform where you could find the stocks, but you would also get an email as well, which goes directly to your inbox and it highlights the stocks that I am showcasing for that month.

It has a very good track record. I started Alpha Picks about three and a half years ago. Since its inception, it's up 248 % versus the S&P up 76%. And year to date, Alpha Picks is up about 34 % versus the S&P up 13.5%, as you can see on the far right side. If you want more than two picks a month, which many investors do,

We have another product called ProQuant Portfolio, and that actually provides you with on average about two to three ideas a week. So we rebalance that every Monday. It's a fixed portfolio of 30 stocks. We just started that product in June, and you can see since June, it's up 25.83 % versus the S &P on an equal weighted basis of 5.14%. For that, our benchmark is equal weighted since the portfolio is equal weighted.

So Alpha Picks giving you two ideas a month and ProQuant portfolio providing you with two to three stocks per week. And there are some differences in it. I will say less restrictions with a ProQuant portfolio. We look at stocks of all market cap. We look at stocks across the globe, being that they have ADRs throughout the globe.

And for Alpha Picks, there is a market cap restriction. We don't go below 500 million. We do not invest in stocks under $10. And the only ADRs would be ADRs that are primarily listed in the US. So it's only just a few handful of ADRs that we would look at. And I think that pretty much covers it.

Rena, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Black Friday Sale. Are you aware of that at all?

Rena Sherbill: Heck yeah. And our listeners are too, I bet, but let them have more insight into what we're offering.

Steve Cress: What I could tell you is that if you're interested in the premium product, you get 20 % off of that. If you're interested in the Pro product, 20 % off. Alpha Picks, which I mentioned, 20% off. And any investing group, you can get 20 % off. So it's basically a 20 % off site-wide sale.

I will say to you, I think a great combo, which I recommend to lot of people and they're doing, I've been asking them to do this for like two years and they finally have done it where you can get a bundle of premium and alpha picks together. The reason why I feel that's really important is alpha picks. do the work for you. You get our two top ideas, but really to do a lot of the research on a continued basis, you want premium. So if you have other stocks outside of alpha picks, you can load them up to the portfolio tool.

If you want to look for more ideas than just AlphaPix, you have the screeners, you have all the news, you have all the analysis from contributors, so there's a ton on premium. So I really highly, highly recommend that you bundle and get both premium and Alpha Picks. Normally that would be $798 and you can get that on sale for $574.

And just to sort of give you an idea of Alpha Picks and the performance that it has had, as I mentioned, one of the stocks we're recommending today is Celestica.

We put Celestica into Alpha Picks back in October of 2023, and that stock is up 1,046%. Another stock that is in Alpha Picks is App11, which is up 1,148%. So these are a couple of our top winners. And of course, there's losers as well. But as you can see by the performance, our winners way outstrip our losers.

Another company that we had that was up almost a thousand percent was SuperMicro (SMCI) and we took that out really in the nick of time things actually Started to fall apart for that company and our quant system being as terrific as it is it took us out of the stock So we're able to get a return of nine hundred and sixty eight percent on that stock I'll show you a couple others sterling and pal Sterling (STRL) up four hundred and twenty five percent, Pal up four hundred and twenty two percent Modine Manufacturing (MOD) up three hundred and forty eight percent.

So that is the benefit of having our top quant stocks brought right to you. You can see the return. This is actually the Alpha Picks platform. You can see the return on those stocks, the date that we put them into the portfolio, the price that they were purchased at. And with all the stocks, there is the analysis page. And this is archived all the way three and a half years ago. So we have every single stock, the price that it was at, and the weight that it was for the portfolio at the time.

And I believe that sort of concludes it. Do you have any questions? That was a mouthful. Sorry.

Rena Sherbill: Chock full of insight and information per usual. We've come to expect nothing less. We appreciate that. First of all, kudos on the bundle. I love a bundle also. That's really good stuff. And I would agree, premium and Alpha Picks go together like love and marriage. It's a nice bundling opportunity.

I would say in closing out this conversation, my question is, does quant inherently solve for the risk? Like what factor does risk play in your strategy? Because it seems like it's just coming to you that it's filtering out the risk, right? The grades are reflective of the fact that it's filtering out the risk. What would you say to the point of how to think about risk factors within the quant system?

Steve Cress: So we have an algo and we actually have risk factors in the algo. We don't necessarily highlight risk as one of the core five metrics, but it is sort of embedded into the system. So we are looking at risk metrics versus the sector.

And then we also look at certain debt levels, debt to equity, debt to capital, a number of debt oriented metrics. And those leverage debt metrics often take risk on board as well. So we are comparing the metrics for the stocks versus the sector, and that receives a grade or a Z score as well. So it does incorporate risk into the model.

Rena Sherbill: Much appreciated. Happy for you to, if you want to leave anything for listeners that you feel like would succinctly sum up where we're at in the market. I'm happy to leave you with that last word.

Steve Cress: So really the whole point of the approach today was that there has been volatility in the market. Again, if you look back four weeks, the market's virtually unchanged. But over the course of last four weeks, there's been a lot of rotation.

There's been a lot of concern, which was, as I mentioned, on the back of the government shutdown, concern that inflation is sticky and labor might be improving, which would imply that there would not be a rate cut.

So good reason to be concerned at this point in time, hence sort of that strategy that I believe is very smart. And the most important thing is to sort of keep investing. And if things get bad, I often say if I had a superpower, it would be to ignore the talking heads on Wall Street and the economists and the strategists that could scare you out of the market.

Don't pay attention because obviously the name of the game here is buy low and sell high. And the best period is to buy low when people are really frightened. And if you just stay with a consistent strategy month in and month out, you're buying and you have a diverse portfolio. That is how wealth is built. So that would be my parting words.

Topline“Wicked: For Good” dominated its opening weekend and grossed an estimated $150 million at the domestic box office, according to early estimates reported by the Hollywood trade publications, turning it into the second-biggest premiere of 2025.

“Wicked: For Good” is second only to “A Minecraft Movie” for 2025’s biggest opening weekend.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Key FactsThe sequel to last year’s “Wicked” was again directed by Hollywood stalwart John Cho, and also saw the return of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in their roles as Glinda and Elphaba in an adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical.

“Wicked: For Good” easily surpassed the first film’s opening weekend, which grossed about $112.5 million domestically.

“Wicked: For Good” also succeeded internationally, bringing in another $76 million for an overall total of $226 million.

It was still not enough to unseat “A Minecraft Movie” as the most successful opening weekend of 2025—the adaptation of the massively popular video game grossed over $162 million at the domestic box office when it opened in April, eventually grossing more than $950 million worldwide.

The blockbuster musical sequel has received more mixed reviews from critics this time around (earning only a 58 critic score on Metacritic, compared to a 73 for the first installment).

However, “Wicked: For Good” seems to be resonating with audiences—it received an “A” CinemaScore based on polls conducted after screenings, and is getting a 95% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Key Background“Wicked: For Good” is the first of several highly anticipated year-end blockbusters that could add some much needed hits to what has been a rather lackluster year at the box office. Box office analysts expect upcoming films including James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” could help drive sales in November and December after a historically bad October. After grossing nearly $31 million on Thursday in early screenings, analysts quickly projected “Wicked: For Good” would be a hit. Some estimates, including those reported by Variety, predicted the film could gross somewhere between $150 million and $180 million in its opening weekend. “Wicked: For Good” opened at 4,115 theaters across the country Friday, grossing about $68.6 million on its opening night alone.

Quick Links:

By

:

Published: Nov 23, 2025, 18:43 GMT+00:00

Key Points:The key $4133.95 pivot now sets direction, with a breakout toward $4245.20 or a slide into $3846.50–$3720.25 in play.Gold price holds near $4,065 as traders reprice December Fed cuts, with real yields and sentiment driving volatility.Fed minutes slash rate-cut odds from 99% to 32%, shifting gold market expectations and cooling early-week buying interest.

Gold Price Holds Firm as Traders Reprice December Fed Cut
So here’s where we ended the week: Spot Gold (XAUUSD) closed at $4,065.01, off just 0.51%, and honestly, the metal held up better than it had any right to. We had hawkish-leaning Fed minutes, a blowout delayed jobs report, and a dollar that refused to back off. Yet sellers never gained full control — a sign there’s still real money buying dips, even if nobody’s chasing the upside right now.

Fed Split Keeps Gold Traders Guessing
The big story was the Fed minutes, and traders definitely felt the shift. Yes, a majority still talked up rate cuts, but the key line was the hesitation around December. Some officials were ready to stay put for the rest of the year — a clean hit to anyone leaning on easing bets.

The market reacted fast. A month ago, we had almost 99% conviction on a December cut. By week’s end? 32%. That’s a full repricing, and you could see it in gold’s intraday whips. Buyers stepped in early on softer real yields, but once traders processed the minutes, the tone cooled. Higher-for-longer always raises the opportunity cost for holding gold, and you could feel that hesitation creeping into Thursday’s flow.

Jobs Data Comes in Hot — And the Market Felt It
Thursday’s long-delayed September payrolls number landed at 119,000, versus expectations near 50,000. Even with revisions and a steady 4.4% unemployment rate, the headline was strong enough to reinforce the Fed’s caution.

For gold traders, the takeaway was simple: the labor market isn’t cracking. The Fed doesn’t have to rush. And that kept sellers pressing on Thursday and Friday. Nothing aggressive — just steady pressure as the cut odds softened.

Dollar Strength Puts a Ceiling on the Gold Market
Daily US Dollar Index (DXY)
The dollar added another headwind, with the DXY ticking up to 100.395. Not a huge move day-to-day, but enough to lean on gold given the broader one-month dollar recovery. Every time gold tried to lift, the greenback was there, capping the move. You could feel traders respecting that ceiling.

Central Banks Still Provide the Floor
The piece keeping gold supported? Central banks. 720+ tonnes accumulated year-to-date is no joke. This is price-insensitive buying. It’s the floor under the market, and it’s why dips aren’t sticking even when U.S. data comes in hot.

Gold Price Forecast: Bias Soft, But Not Broken
Heading into next week, gold still looks range-bound with a slight bearish lean. The Fed repricing and stronger jobs data argue for more short-term pressure. But unless the dollar rips higher or the market prices out December cuts entirely, sellers probably won’t get a clean break lower.

Bottom line: gold isn’t in rally mode, but the floor remains solid. A softer data print or renewed rate-cut chatter could flip the bias quickly — buyers are clearly still in the weeds, waiting.

Daily Gold (XAU/USD)
Technically, XAUUSD is being blocked by the short-term pivot at $4133.95. A sustained move over it will signal the presence of buyers. If this move creates enough upside momentum then look for an attempted breakout over $4245.20, which is the only barrier before the record high at $4381.44.

A sustained move under $4133.95 will mean that sellers are in control. They are targeting a steeper break into the retracement zone at $3846.50 to $3720.25. As long as we’re holding the 52-week moving average at $3277.75, the market will be in an uptrend. This means a pullback into the retracement zone could offer a buy the dip opportunity.

Essentially, with the main trend up, traders will be offered buy strength or buy the dip opportunities. The tone of the market will be determined by trader reaction to $4133.95.

More Information in our Economic Calendar.

Related Articles

Gold vs. S&P 500: Capital Rotates to Safety Amid Liquidity HeadwindsXRP News Today: ETF Inflows Lift XRP Above $2 After Four-Day SlideBitcoin (BTC) Outlook: Can Fed Cut Hopes Halt BTC’s Four-Week Slump?About the Author

James Hyerczyk is a U.S. based seasoned technical analyst and educator with over 40 years of experience in market analysis and trading, specializing in chart patterns and price movement. He is the author of two books on technical analysis and has a background in both futures and stock markets.

Editors’ Picks

Gold vs. S&P 500: Capital Rotates to Safety Amid Liquidity Headwinds

XRP News Today: ETF Hopes Fade as Reclassification Fears Hit XRP

Bitcoin (BTC) Outlook: Can Fed Cut Hopes Halt BTC’s Four-Week Slump?

Nasdaq 100: US Stocks Lift on Friday’s Rate-Cut Hopes as Tech Stocks Remain Fragile

Japanese Yen Weekly Forecast: USD/JPY Edges Higher Before Key Japan Data

Advertisement

Oklo is now 52% off its all-time high. Is it time to buy?

Nuclear power is making a comeback. In recent years, numerous countries have come together to sign the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050. This initiative has also gained the support of several financial institutions. Meanwhile, in the U.S., rising electricity demands are making nuclear energy a top priority.

Nuclear power is appealing because it's scalable, reliable, always-on, and zero-carbon. The nuclear buildout had stalled for several years, but things are turning around. Under U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. is aiming to "unleash American energy," and investing in nuclear energy is part of this plan.

This is where Oklo (OKLO +0.19%) seeks its opportunity. The nuclear power start-up has the backing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Not only that, but the current U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, is a former Oklo board member.

Today's Change

(

0.19

%) $

0.17

Current Price

$

88.17

Oklo stock has surged, up 347% over the past year. But more recently, the stock has faced some selling pressure and is 52% below its all-time high from one month ago. With the stock well below $110 per share, is now a good time to buy? Let's dive into the business and its outlook to find out.

Oklo is developing advanced nuclear technology
Oklo develops advanced fission power plants known as Aurora powerhouses. It does not currently have a commercially operating business. Instead, it is working on research and development, obtaining Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifications, and securing more customers for its next-generation nuclear plant technology.

Its Aurora powerhouses utilize metal-fueled fast-reactor technology based on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II, which operated for 30 years at the Argonne National Laboratory until its shutdown in 1994.

Its powerhouses are initially designed to produce 15 MWe and 75 MWe, with plans to expand to 100 MWe and beyond. These reactors can run on recycled fuel, with the Aurora powerhouse designed to operate for over 10 years before refueling.

Oklo's long-term growth opportunity stems from surging power demand, particularly in AI, data infrastructure, electrification, and decarbonization, which it can meet with its modular, deployable nuclear plants. As Oklo scales, it hopes to capture a significant market share in the promising advanced reactor industry.

It is working closely with regulators to get the necessary approvals
Oklo was selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) for an advanced nuclear fuel line pilot program, which is designed to accelerate permitting, construction, and operations, creating a fast-track approach to licensing. Under the program, Oklo will build and operate three fuel-fabrication facilities to ensure a domestic supply of advanced nuclear fuel.

These projects are intended to enable Oklo to build and operate facilities that directly support its powerhouse deployments and complement existing work at its Advanced Fuel Center and the Aurora INL fuel fabrication facility.

Image source: Getty Images.

The goal of the Fuel Line Pilot Program is to create pathways for the faster deployment of advanced nuclear technology, streamline reviews, and leverage private investment alongside federal oversight. This initiative helps Oklo secure fuel for early powerhouses while strengthening U.S. manufacturing and fuel independence.

The U.S. NRC accepted Oklo's Principal Design Criteria (PDC) topical report for accelerated review. Once approved (expected for early 2026), this report can be referenced in future applications, reducing the need to re-review established material.

Watch its cash needs
It will take time for Oklo's Aurora powerhouse to come online. In September, it held a groundbreaking ceremony on the Aurora-Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site, marking the start of construction work for its first Aurora reactor. It expects its first commercial powerhouse to come online in 2028.

To fund its growth during this early, non-profitable stage, Oklo needs capital. Last month, it filed a $3.5 billion mixed securities shelf offering. A mixed shelf offering is a flexible SEC filing that lets a company issue different types of securities, such as common stock, preferred stock, debt, or warrants, up to a pre-approved total amount over time. This means Oklo isn't issuing shares right away, but it does give it the option to raise capital quickly when needed.

It will take significant capital to finance its capital-intensive own-and-operate model. If Oklo needs to continue tapping equity or debt markets, it could significantly dilute shareholders along the way.

Is Oklo stock a buy today?
Oklo has several hurdles ahead of it before its powerhouses become operational. It must still navigate regulatory requirements, build its first powerhouse, and secure firm customer agreements. If it can accomplish all of this and streamline the development of future powerhouses, Oklo could be a force in the nuclear power space.

That said, the stock is still up significantly in the past year and remains pre-revenue and pre-commercial operations, with positive cash flow several years away. Analysts don't expect it to generate meaningful revenue until 2028, when its first powerhouse is slated to open. Given that it's in the early stages of its build-out, I think investors are best off avoiding this stock for now.