Feb 18th Pre-Market

In partnership with

Good morning.

Green across the board and for once the news actually backs it up. Meta locked in Nvidia for its AI buildout. Chip earnings are beating. And Buffett's last trades as CEO just dropped. He sold Amazon. Ackman bought it. Same quarter.

Fed minutes at 2 today.

Let’s dig in…

Today's Big Picture

1. Meta Locks In Nvidia For Its AI Buildout Meta 

$META signed a multiyear, tens-of-billions deal for Nvidia chips, choosing them over Google's hardware. The deal covers everything from training GPUs to data center CPUs. Nvidia is the clear winner in the mega-cap AI infrastructure race.

2. Berkshire's Last Buffett-Era Filing Just Dropped 

Buffett spent his final quarter as CEO rotating out of mega-cap tech and into cash-flowing businesses. New position in the New York Times, added to Chevron and Domino's. Cut Amazon by 77 percent, trimmed Apple, sold down Bank of America. Ackman's Pershing Square grew its Amazon stake by 65 percent in the same quarter. Two of the sharpest investors alive, opposite sides of the same trade.

3. Iran Eases Talk But Tightens The Strait 

Negotiations in Geneva showed progress, with Iran citing a "general understanding" on principles. But Tehran partially closed the Strait of Hormuz for military drills. Oil is bid, 10-year is above 4.07.

Market Overview

Today’s Sponsor

The Dividend Portfolio You Keep Putting Off

You already know a bit about how dividends work. You've read the math, you've seen the breakdowns. You just haven't built the thing yet.

The Dividend Blueprint will walk you through step-by-step how to find dividend kings, structure a portfolio, frameworks around when to sell, and not get destroyed by taxes in the process..
Grab it and go.

Get The Dividend Blueprint →

Stock Spotlight (pre-market)

Palo Alto Networks $PANW ( ▼ 6.82% ) 
Quarterly results were fine. The problem is guidance. The cost of bolting on AI capabilities through acquisitions is eating into margins and the market didn't like what it saw.

Analog Devices $ADI ( ▲ 2.63% ) 
Beat on both lines. The bigger takeaway is what it says about chip demand in industrial and auto. That part of the cycle is holding up better than expected.

Palantir $PLTR ( ▲ 1.77% ) 
Mizuho upgraded it to outperform, calling the recent pullback a buying opportunity. Government contracts and commercial growth are both accelerating.

Caesars Entertainment $CZR ( ▲ 13.03% ) 
Beat on revenue but the real story is the digital side. Sports betting EBITDA went from $20 million to $85 million in a year. That business is finally pulling its weight.

Global Payments $GPN ( ▲ 16.47% ) 
Beat on Q4 and guided 2026 above the Street. Payments keeps being one of those boring sectors that quietly prints money every quarter.

Axcelis Technologies $ACLS ( ▼ 16.74% ) 
Guided Q1 well below expectations on both earnings and revenue. Semiconductor equipment demand is cooling and this name is feeling it first.

What to Watch

Fed Minutes (2:00 PM ET) 

January meeting minutes drop this afternoon. The market wants to know if policymakers are leaning toward two or three cuts this year.

Zuckerberg Testifies In LA 

Meta's CEO takes the stand in a social media addiction trial today. Worth keeping an eye on given the stock is already in play from the Nvidia deal.

Fed Vice Chair Bowman Speaks

Michelle Bowman is scheduled to speak in Washington today. She's been one of the more cautious voices on cuts.

Thanks for reading 🙂

- John

Today’s Sponsor

Transform Internal Comms Chaos Into Clarity

Simplify internal comms with Haystack. Publish updates, maintain approval workflows, and track engagement—all from a single platform designed to reduce chaos and keep employees aligned.

Discover Internal Comms Bliss