The S&P 500 just closed at another all-time high. So should we chase the rally or wait for a pullback?
I think both choices miss the more interesting trade. When an index hits a record, I do not automatically ask, “Is the market too expensive?” I ask: What has NOT returned to its high, even though its fundamental story has improved? Right now, two names stand out to me: Micron and SanDisk. That gap between price recovery and fundamental recovery is my Pick Level. 🧭 First, Why Is the S&P 500 at a Record? The Aug 13 record was not simply FOMO. July PPI was flat month on month versus the 0.2% rise economists expected, helping calm fears of another near-term Fed hike. Treasury yields eased and technology shares helped push the S&P 500 to a record 7,798.99. Meanwhile, the AI investment cycle remains alive. That combination matters: Cooling inflation → less rate pressure → lower discount-
SNDK $1,641. MU $971. The Memory Trade Just Validated Everything Bears Said Was Impossible.
Three weeks ago SNDK was at $1,000. MU was at $705. The narrative was peak cycle, guidance miss, China competition, and NAND euphoria fading. Today SNDK closed at $1,641 after gaining 7.39% on the day. MU closed at $971 after gaining 2.30%. MULL is at $22.62, up 4.67%. The SanDisk Investor Day just delivered the most detailed bull case the memory sector has ever produced in a single presentation. Here is what changed and where this goes next. What the Investor Day Actually Said This was not a cheerleading session. CFO Luis Visoso put specific numbers on the table with full accountability: - Flash market: $300B in 2026, $500B in 2027. Not an analyst estimate. The CFO of the world's largest pure-play NAND company saying this on record. - Supply tight into 2028. Demand continues to outpace Sa
The uncomfortable answer is neither cleanly. What just happened is not a bubble bursting the way 2000 happened, where the underlying businesses were illusions. And it is not a straightforward bargain hunt either, because some of what got priced in at the peak was genuinely ahead of the fundamentals. This is a valuation reset on real businesses, triggered by three separate catalysts converging in 72 hours. 1. Three Catalysts, Not One SanDisk delivered nearly $9 billion in Q4 revenue, a record 84.6% gross margin, and more than $5 billion in adjusted free cash flow. Revenue and earnings both beat estimates. The stock still fell 5.4% on the day and another 7% after hours. The reason was one number: Q1 FY27 revenue guidance came in at $10.3 to $10.8 billion against Street expectations of $11.16
Stocks to Watch August 5: Four Earnings, One Lockup, Zero Boring Sessions.
Today is the most consequential single session of the 2026 earnings calendar. The SPCX lockup opens at the bell. SanDisk and Western Digital report after the close. Beyond Meat reports after the close. Circle reports after the close. Every name on this list has a specific binary playing out today. SNDK $1,431: Memory Sector Direction Gets Decided Tonight SanDisk enters the print at $1,431, down 39% from its June all-time high of $2,354, with premarket showing further pressure around $1,159 ahead of the report. The stock is up 423% year to date and still the S&P 500's top performer for 2026. Options are pricing a 25% move in either direction. Consensus expects approximately $8 billion in Q4 revenue and gross margin within the guided 79 to 81% range. The four numbers that actually move t
SanDisk and Western Digital Report Tonight. The Memory Sector's Next Binary Has Arrived.
Three weeks ago the entire memory complex fell 25% in a month. Two weeks ago it recovered 12 to 26% in a single session after Samsung, Amazon, and Apple each independently confirmed the AI memory shortage is real and extending. Tonight SanDisk and Western Digital report after the close, and the sector finds out whether those demand confirmations translate into the numbers that management can actually put their name on. This is not a routine quarterly update. SanDisk at $1,475 is still 30% below its June all-time high. The stock is up 423% for the year. Options are pricing a 25% move in either direction. Goldman Sachs has a $2,200 Buy target. The bear case sits at $1,027. A 24x spread between bull and bear on a stock that has done 423% YTD is not an analytical disagreement. It is a genuine
SpaceX Beats Everything. Then Falls 8%. Then Faces $116 Billion in Unlockable Shares Tomorrow.
The pattern is becoming familiar. SpaceX reported its first-ever quarterly earnings Tuesday night and beat on every single metric. Revenue of $7.8 billion, up 92% year on year, against a $6.8 billion consensus. Net loss of $541 million, a fraction of the $1.9 billion analysts expected. Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 billion, up 191%. AI segment revenue of $2.56 billion, up 247%, against a $2.18 billion estimate. Starlink subscribers hit 12 million, doubling year on year. CFO Bret Johnsen said the company is on pace to reach $100 billion in annualised recurring revenue by year-end, with $6.7 billion in additional cloud services agreements already contracted in the first weeks of Q3 alone. Musk pulled forward the $1 trillion revenue target from 2031 to 2030. SPCX still fell 8% after hours, at one p
BYND at $0.56: This Is Not an Investment. It Is a Trade With a Three-Day Fuse.
$Beyond Meat, Inc.(BYND)$ At 56 cents, Beyond Meat has a market cap under $70 million, is trading 93% below its 52-week high of $7.69, is below the Nasdaq $1.00 minimum bid requirement with an August 31 delisting deadline, and reports Q2 earnings on August 5. That is three days away. The fundamentals are a disaster. The setup is genuinely interesting. Why the Business Case Is Not the Thesis Q1 2026 revenue fell 15.3% year on year to $58.2 million. Gross margin slipped from 12.8% to 10.8%. The company is burning cash with no profitability path visible through 2028 according to analyst models. The $1.1 billion in convertible notes against a sub-$70 million market cap is the structural landmine that makes this un
RZLV at $2.30: Revenue Up 20x. Stock Down 20% YTD. Something Doesn't Add Up.
$Rezolve AI(RZLV)$ That disconnect is the entire RZLV story in one sentence. Rezolve AI just reported preliminary H1 2026 revenue of $127 million, nearly 20 times higher than H1 2025. It has reaffirmed full-year guidance of $360 million. It has partnerships with TCS, Microsoft Foundry, and Zilch. Six analysts have a Strong Buy consensus with an average price target of $10.75. The stock is sitting at approximately $2.30, down 20% year to date and down 78% over three years. Either the analysts are wrong, or the market is pricing something the analysts are not. Understanding which is the only question worth answering. What Rezolve Actually Is Rezolve AI builds AI-powered commerce infrastructure. Not a chatbot. Not a search tool. The specific p
Intel +11%: The Foundry Toolkit Is Real. The Question Is Whether Customers Follow.
The uncomfortable truth first: Intel has now surged more than 300% from its 2025 low of $17.67, hit an all-time high of $142.32 in June, pulled back to the low $80s in July, and is now at $89 with this week's 11% move adding another leg. At every step of that run, the same debate has repeated. Is this a genuine foundry turnaround or a series of headline-driven pops on a business still losing money? Thursday's catalyst, the expansion of Intel's foundry toolchain for AI chip customers, is the latest entry in that debate. It is also one of the more substantive ones. Here is what actually happened. Intel expanded its purpose-built silicon business beyond networking and IPUs through the Fortinet Security Processor 6 collaboration. The company confirmed 18A-P has entered risk production on sched
Micron +18%, SanDisk +26%: This Was Not a Short Squeeze. This Was the Thesis Returning.
Stop calling it a bounce. A bounce is what happens when nothing changed. What happened Thursday is different. Four separate entities, Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, each independently confirmed within 24 hours that the AI memory shortage is real, worsening, and extending further than the market had priced. When the buy-side was selling memory stocks on CXMT IPO fears and AI capex peak anxiety, the sell-side of that trade just had its thesis demolished by the four largest technology companies on Earth. Here is the full picture. Samsung reported its highest-ever quarterly revenue with operating profit of 89.5 trillion won, ahead of expectations. More importantly, it warned that memory supply constraints may persist into 2028 and signed multi-year supply agreements with major data cen