Market pros vs. Luckbox reader forecasts, Palantir's prospects, Broadcom's back door play, two energy stocks, our favorite agent AI stock, Cameco, Trump's memecoin and more.
TGIT:Silicon Valley's Military Money Machine and More 2025 Forecasts (Part 3 of 3)
Market pros vs. Luckbox reader forecasts, Palantir's prospects, Broadcom's back door play, two energy stocks, our favorite agent AI stock, Cameco, Trump's memecoin, Double Double Oaked stoked and more. First time reading? Join other risk-takers, entrepreneurs, traders, investors, data geeks and alpha types. Sign up for free here.
TGI Thursday! (1/23) With today’s final edition of our annual foray into forecasting, we looked back at the past two issues to assess our favorites among the stocks and sectors we identified as likely sources of outperformance in 2025. As tech titans from Musk to Nadella are positioning themselves for the $500 billion “Stargate” AI joint venture Trump announced Tuesday, there’s one company we’re convinced will become a major beneficiary of the new administration and its new order.
In the high-stakes poker game of military technology, Palantir (PLTR) has played its hand masterfully. While other tech companies dabble in defense contracts like tourists at a casino, Peter Thiel's data analytics powerhouse has become the house itself—and as any gambler knows, the house always wins.
Its Gotham and Foundry platforms have grown from boutique intelligence tools into the digital nervous system of modern warfare. Deployed in Ukraine and Gaza, these systems have proven themselves as indispensable as bullets—and considerably more profitable. When your software helps militaries see through the fog of war, you don't just get customers; you get disciples.
The numbers tell a story that would make a defense contractor blush. And with the Pentagon's $850 billion budget up for grabs, Palantir's positioning is nothing short of brilliant. It’s not just another Silicon Valley unicorn chasing advertising dollars. Instead, it’s selling the one product governments can't resist: the promise of omniscience.
Beyond securing a position in the coming techno-military complex, Palantir is extending its domestic reach in a way some find chilling. When JPMorgan used its Metropolis system to monitor employee email and GPS locations, it became clear Big Brother isn't just watching— he's got stock options and a ping-pong table in the break room.
For investors, the math is deliciously simple. As geopolitical tension rises and warfare becomes increasingly digital, Palantir sits at the intersection of big data and bigger defense spending. It's like investing in gunpowder during the Renaissance, except this time the ammunition is algorithms. You can revisit our Palantir thesis here, and more 2025 forecasts throughout this issue.
Wall Street veterans and sophisticated retail investors face off with their predictions for 2025. While options guru Tom Sosnoff and former White House insider Anthony Scaramucci foresee a tech-driven rally extending through Q3, our Luckbox reader poll of active investors paints a starkly different picture. The divide between readers and experts grows even sharper when we add insight from Defiance ETFs' Sylvia Jablonski and Bloomberg veteran Dylan Ratigan.
"The gap between institutional expertise and retail sentiment hasn't been this wide since 2008," notes tastylive's Tony Battista. But who's right this time? With exclusive analysis from Ed Yardeni and macro insight from Ilya Spivak, we break down why the smartest minds in finance might be missing what everyday investors are seeing—or vice versa. Read Full Story
Crude Awakening
Just as Wall Street's fossil fuel skeptics were preparing their clean energy sermon, Trump's return to Pennsylvania Avenue has thrown a barrel of crude into the green movement's path. The Permian Basin—that geological gift that keeps on giving—is poised for a renaissance. With oil prices pirouetting around $80 and Russian tankers playing hide-and-seek with sanctions, America's petroleum powerhouse is flexing its muscles once again.
Enter Diamondback Energy (FANG) and Matador Resources (MTDR), two companies that treat the Permian like their personal ATM. These operators are orchestrating a Texas tea party that's making OPEC nervous and investors take notice. Read Full Story
The 75,000-square-mile Permian Basin produces almost 40% of the country's oil and 15% of its natural gas.
— University of Texas
Broadcom's Brilliant Back Door
Broadcom (AVGO) is striking paydirt in the Silicon Valley's AI gold rush—not by challenging the supremacy of Nvidia (NVDA) but by playing a far more clever game. While the tech world marvels at the riches amassed by supplying general-purpose AI chips, Broadcom has endeared itself to Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and privately held OpenAI by providing bespoke silicon. Broadcom’s share price has doubled, Wall Street analysts are upgrading the company’s stock ratings and its earnings are nothing less than financial pornography. Yet, beneath this corporate triumph lurks a delicious irony: Broadcom's success hinges on its decision to become a supporting actor instead of a star. The question isn't whether Broadcom is winning—it's whether the company has discovered a better game entirely. Read Full Story
Our Favorite Agentic AI Stock May Surprise You
OpenAI's upcoming revelation might make your Ph.D. neighbor obsolete. While Silicon Valley luminaries whisper about autonomous super-agents capable of replacing mid-level engineers, Sam Altman is quietly scheduling closed-door briefings with Washington's power brokers.
These agents aren't chatbot parlor tricks or mere X-hype. We're talking about AI agents that could design payment systems, dissect investment opportunities or plan your corporate retreat—all with the precision of a Swiss watch. While Silicon Valley's prophets battle for AI supremacy, we focus on the one company that’s quietly transformed its digital Rolodex into mission control for the robot revolution. Read Full Story
Put Ratios with Naked Calls
In this latest installment of Life Cycle of a Trade, Nick Battista converts low volatility into profit with an options play in Cameco (CCJ). With a twist on the traditional strangle that requires minimal capital, you'll learn to structure a "put ratio spread with a naked call" that can generate returns even in a quiet market. Whether you're an experienced trader looking to expand your playbook or just curious about advanced options techniques, you won’t want to miss this masterclass. Watch the video here.
Bye Bye Red Dye 🍒
The FDA has finally decided to excommunicate Red Dye No. 3 from America's food supply, a mere three and a half decades after banishing it from cosmetics.
This petroleum-derived crimson culprit, which has been painting our processed foods since Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, currently lurks in an unholy array of American dietary staples: Pez candy (that plastic-housed sugar delivery system), Dubble Bubble gum (because regular bubble gum isn't artificial enough), Brach's Candy Corn (already an offense to nature) and even those seemingly aloof Little Bites Party Cake muffins from Entenmann's.
Manufacturers have until January 2027 to find alternative ways to turn their products inappropriately red. So how many red licorice Twizzlers will it be safe to consume each day until then? Someone actually did the math.
Liquid Assets
Double Double Oaked Stoked 🥃
Woodford Reserve, evidently not content with merely double-oaking bourbon like common merchants, has decided to give their barrels a prolonged ecclesiastical experience. The result—its Double Double Oaked—is what happens when Kentucky's finest decide to genuflect twice at the altar of charred oak.
While Woodford's Double Oaked offers a consistent sermon of toffee and vanilla, this twice-blessed spirit preaches a more complex gospel. Brown sugar and toffee lead the congregation in a hymn, while dark cherries and burnt caramel provide the harmony. But it's the finale that truly separates the faithful from the casual believers—pivoting dramatically to white pepper spice and oak tannins drier than a Mike Pence homily.
Now, in an act of democratic magnanimity, Woodford is taking this once-exclusive sacrament nationwide at $199 a bottle. Salvation doesn't come cheap. Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall's five-to-seven-year pilgrimage through two barrels delivers what the devout have long known: Sometimes you have to pray twice (and pay twice as much) to get it right.
Trump's Memecoin Coup 🪙
America's newly minted president simultaneously managed to reclaim the Oval Office and launch a meme coin that briefly eclipsed the combined market caps of CVS Health (CVS), FedEx (FDX) and Simon Property Group (SPG). With the Solana decentralized exchange processing 10% of Nasdaq's daily volume and Trump's team controlling 80% of the supply, the implications for both cryptocurrency and traditional markets could be profound. Read crypto investor and entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano’s nine takeaways on how this unprecedented merger of presidential power, profit and populism might reshape the next four years of American markets. Read Full Story
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Seven Market Mavens Walk Into a Bar 
