RJ Hamster
Speculation Is Getting Interesting
Delivering World-Class Financial Research Since 1999
An AI cancer-diagnosis innovator… Nuke stocks soar… Everything has soared… How the Trump factor changes speculating… ‘The President’s Market’… Even grizzled vets are bullish…
Well, that didn’t go very well…
In October, I recommended my first AI stock to subscribers of The Ferris Report… Tempus AI (TEM).
On January 2, I advised subscribers to cut their losses. Amid market volatility, TEM shares had triggered our trailing stop.
I chose Tempus as my first AI pick because, as I told subscribers, the company is building one of the most valuable repositories of human knowledge ever created.
When you get a lab test ordered by your doctor, Tempus connects your results to your whole medical record. It compares this data with more than 40 million anonymous patient records spanning 1.1 billion documents, looking for potential treatment plans that would work well for you. It generates a full, personalized intelligent diagnostics report for your doctor.
The company has been doing this for oncology since 2015 and is expanding into neuropsychiatry, cardiology, infectious diseases, and radiology.
Roughly 65% of all academic medical centers in the U.S. already use Tempus. So do about half of the country’s oncologists and all but one of the top 20 cancer-drug companies.
This loss was disappointing, but it wasn’t a shock…
From the start, I warned subscribers that Tempus AI is a speculative stock. The company has had just one profitable quarter so far.
As much as absolutely nobody enjoys hearing it, the truth is that successful speculating is very, very hard. To do it well over the long term and hang on to your gains (if there are any), you must have an iron discipline. Speculative stocks test your ability to hang on to gains or cut losses in a way that’s not required of the average 401(k) contributor… or someone buying great businesses and holding them for the long term.
You can see this in another sector that’s closely related to AI: nuclear power.
The situation is just like the one I found with Tempus AI. These companies are creating truly valuable assets that will benefit lots of folks: technology that will generate lots of clean, cost-effective power for data centers and other customers. They’re relieving the burden that AI is putting on the U.S. power grid.
And as you’d expect, nuclear-power-related stocks have soared over the last five years (or since their IPO if they haven’t been public that long). And most of them have continued to soar over the past year.
You’ve probably heard stories about AI and nuclear power…
Microsoft has partnered with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Amazon has bought property next to the Susquehanna nuclear generating station and is also funding small modular reactors in Washington state. Alphabet is partnering with Kairos Power to build small modular reactors near Google data centers.
Those are huge companies with massive capital resources at their disposal. They can fund plenty more nuclear restarts and new development.
So it makes sense that the stocks listed above have absolutely roared. But there’s just one problem…
You can’t buy yesterday’s gains…
So we have to answer the question: Is there more upside in stocks that have run up several hundred percent? Put another way… are these stocks future 10- and 20-baggers?
It’s a very hard question to answer, considering only two of those companies (BWX and Constellation) are profitable.
Will the other three companies become profitable? Until they become consistently profitable, they’re not investments. They’re speculations. A permanent loss is much likelier in a company that’s burning cash than in a profitable company like BWX or a regulated utility like Constellation.
Perhaps we should be asking a different question… something like, “What profitable energy companies are highly likely to benefit from new AI-related energy demand?” The profitable ones will survive, even if they don’t make you 20 times your money. That’s more than we can promise for the speculative cash-burning companies.
BWX and Constellation are certainly two examples. With Ferris Report subscribers, I’ve shared two more profitable energy (though not nuclear) companies set to benefit from increased AI-related energy demand. (My subscribers and Stansberry Alliance members can always find my full model portfolio right here.)
It’s not just health care (like Tempus) and nuclear companies, either…
Across the AI universe, it’s hard to find an AI-related company that hasn’t had an epic run already. Besides the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks and other big-name AI plays like Nvidia (NVDA) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR), several memory-chip, semiconductor, quantum-computing, and robotics stocks have soared hundreds of percent in the past year or so.
When we see this kind of action, it’s hard for many folks to believe there’s a lot of upside left. And many of these companies (especially in fields like quantum computing and nuclear fusion) are highly speculative and still developing their technologies. Some have yet to earn any revenue.
I’m not saying speculation is a four-letter word. But we must acknowledge that it’s generally riskier than most folks realize.
Plenty of people think they’ll buy a stock, quickly see it rise 500% or more, take a big profit, and walk away happy. Big gains from the past year have made a lot of folks forget about the risk and focus totally on getting rich quick.
Human nature being what it is, walking away from a big speculative trade is very difficult, whether you’ve made money or lost it…
Folks with big losses hang around too long, hoping to get whole again (which rarely happens). Folks with big gains hang around too long, expecting more (and give it all back as the stock falls back down).
That’s how things would be under normal circumstances…
But when Donald Trump is the president of the United States, circumstances are anything but normal. And that means many speculative stocks are worth a second look.
Let me use an example from our list of nuclear companies to show you what I’m talking about…
Nano Nuclear Energy is a highly speculative endeavor. It’s developing small-scale, portable microreactors. Its Zeus Nano Reactor fits inside a standard shipping container. That makes it possible to ship it all over the world, to even the remotest sites far from the power grid.
It’s also working on two types of micro modular reactors. These are larger but still capable of being transported relatively quickly from one site to another.
This is the cutting-edge nuclear-power generation technology. But Nano hasn’t sold any units yet. Its goal is to begin commercial sales in 2030 or 2031 – four or five years from now.
So it’s highly speculative. And again, under normal circumstances, even if I were in love with this idea, I’d conclude by strongly emphasizing that Nano Nuclear is years away from meaningful revenue (if any) and therefore a super-risky stock.
And just to be clear, super-risky means owning it is far more likely to destroy a substantial portion of your capital. Whenever someone says “high risk, high reward,” they’re leaving out the most important part: The high reward almost never arrives.
All of that is still true today… but we must account for the Trump factor…
The Trump administration wants companies to build things in the U.S. It wants companies to develop all forms of energy, especially fossil fuels and nuclear power. It is doing everything it thinks it should to stack the deck in favor of U.S. production of… well… just about everything.
Trump wants to bring back to the U.S. much of the manufacturing, commodity production, and refining capacity that is currently in China.
In a piece appropriately titled “Welcome to the President’s Market,” Luke Lango – my colleague at our corporate affiliate InvestorPlace and Stansberry Investor Hour podcast guest – recently explained the powerful impetus behind Trump’s plans. He discussed the U.S. Department of Energy’s AI initiative, called the Genesis Mission…
The Genesis Mission isn’t about building a better chatbot. It is the Manhattan Project for AI: a formal acknowledgement by the White House that “letting the market decide” is how you lose a war to a command economy like China.
China doesn’t wait for a startup to secure funding to build a fusion reactor. It just builds it. Nor does it rely on market forces to secure its antimony supply. It seizes the mines instead.
Normally, I’d never even think of seriously researching a company like Nano Nuclear, because I don’t generally recommend speculative stocks. But – as with Tempus AI – I’m more willing to consider them now, if I conclude that their businesses are likely to benefit from the Trump administration’s plans.
And remember what I told you in my December 19 Digest. It’s not just people like me taking Trump seriously. JPMorgan Chase has committed to investing $1.5 trillion in its security and resiliency initiative.
The megabank has created a list of 27 subsectors for potential investment – based on the industries named in the Genesis Mission.
Say what you will about Trump. He’s an eccentric character, at the very least. But he is attracting trillions of dollars of new investment into U.S. manufacturing, energy, critical mineral production, biotech, semiconductors… and more.
I’m not telling you to throw money at anything with a ticker symbol…
Not that anybody could blame you for thinking that’s a good idea. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, 95 companies currently at or above $500 million in market cap rose 200% or more last year.
What I’m telling you is that I’m reassessing speculative stocks because our president insists on doing everything possible to pull trillions of dollars of investment into the United States.
On fundamentals, none of the companies the Trump administration has taken stakes in were particularly attractive…
For example, chipmaker Intel (INTC) was moribund after more than a decade of extreme mismanagement. Last year, the stock traded as much as 73% below its 2020 highs.
Then the U.S. government announced a 10% stake in the company, and the stock is up nearly 170% off its April 8 tariff-tantrum lows. And Intel’s uptrend is still solidly in place.
This is really weird for me. I hate the idea of government interfering in the economy. But I’ve noticed over the years that my personal political views have been more of a liability than an asset to me as an investor.
My beliefs inspired me to make some wrong decisions… and kept me from seizing upon obvious trends. Without that handicap, I think I’d have been more generally bullish on a lot more stocks that have performed very well over the past several years.
If you’re detecting some ambiguity, you’re right. I’m working hard to get out of my own way and seize upon opportunities.
I’m not alone. Another InvestorPlace colleague and Stansberry Investor Hour guest Louis Navellier, a grizzled market veteran, believes 2026 will be the greatest year of his career.
I’m starting to think he just might be right.
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Please, Heed This Big Warning for January 20
Days from now, we could see the market’s biggest move of the year. That’s the newest prediction from the man who warned about the 2025 crash three months before it unfolded. According to his disturbing January 20evidence, you have just days to prepare for an event that could sweep the market and open the most lucrative trading opportunity in two decades. Click here to learn more, including two free recommendations.
Gold Hoarding Could Send Gold EVEN HIGHER
Many are wondering why so many countries are frantically buying gold right now. The truth is that this is just the beginning of a much larger story… one that could send gold soaring to even bigger highs in the coming months. But the best way to cash in on gold’s upside potential might surprise you. One firm says this stock (less than $50) could be the best way to get started.
New 52-week highs (as of 1/15/26): Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), First Majestic Silver (AG), Applied Materials (AMAT), Valterra Platinum (ANGPY), ASML (ASML), Atmus Filtration Technologies (ATMU), BHP (BHP), Brady (BRC), CBOE Global Markets (CBOE), Century Aluminum (CENX), Donaldson (DCI), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Fund (EMXC), EnerSys (ENS), iShares MSCI South Korea Fund (EWY), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), Cambria Emerging Shareholder Yield Fund (EYLD), FirstCash (FCFS), Comfort Systems USA (FIX), Franco-Nevada (FNV), Freehold Royalties (FRU.TO), VanEck Gold Miners Fund (GDX), VanEck Junior Gold Miners Fund (GDXJ), Hershey (HSY), Hubbell (HUBB), iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense Fund (ITA), Lincoln Electric (LECO), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Mueller Industries (MLI), VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Fund (MOAT), Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Natural Resource Partners (NRP), Nucor (NUE), Nexstar Media (NXST), Royal Gold (RGLD), Roche (RHHBY), Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index Fund (ROBO), Sprott (SII), Snap-on (SNA), State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value Fund (SPYV), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U-U.TO), Uranium Energy (UEC), Vale (VALE), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM), and State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI).
One housekeeping note before we get to the mailbag… The U.S. markets and our offices will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Following this weekend’s Masters Series, we’ll pick back up with our regular fare on Tuesday.
In today’s mailbag, feedback from a new and happy subscriber to Dr. David “Doc” Eifrig’s Retirement Trader advisory… Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
“Two successful (1st time) Sell to Open Covered Call transactions in accordance with January 9, 2026 [Retirement Trader] issue. Happy camper!” – Subscriber Irene J.
Good investing,
Dan Ferris
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 16, 2026
Stansberry Research Top 10 Open Recommendations
Top 10 highest-returning open stock positions across all Stansberry Research portfolios. Returns represent the total return from the initial recommendation.InvestmentBuy DateReturnPublicationMSFT
Microsoft02/10/121,472.2%Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryMSFT
Microsoft11/11/101,450.9%Retirement MillionaireADP
Automatic Data Processing10/09/08971.6%Extreme ValueBRK.B
Berkshire Hathaway04/01/09783.3%Retirement MillionaireGOOGL
Alphabet12/15/16719.7%Retirement MillionaireWRB
W.R. Berkley03/15/12637.0%Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryALS-T
Altius Minerals03/26/09589.1%Extreme ValueSII
Sprott01/11/18524.8%Extreme ValueHSY
Hershey12/07/07517.3%Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryCIEN
Ciena10/20/22496.2%Stansberry Innovations Report
Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any Stansberry Research publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio.
Top 10 Totals3Extreme ValueFerris3Retirement MillionaireDoc3Stansberry’s Investment AdvisoryPorter1Stansberry Innovations ReportEngel
Top 5 Crypto Capital Open Recommendations
Top 5 highest-returning open positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolioInvestmentBuy DateReturnPublicationWSTETH/USD
Wrapped Staked Ethereum12/07/182,507.6%Crypto CapitalBTC/USD
Bitcoin11/27/182,443.3%Crypto CapitalQRL/USD
Quantum Resistant Ledger01/19/211,109.9%Crypto CapitalONE/USD
Harmony12/16/191,030.4%Crypto CapitalPOL/USD
Polygon02/26/21656.9%Crypto Capital
Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 5 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the Crypto Capital model portfolio. The buy date reflects when the recommendation was made, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if it’s still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber and refer to the most recent portfolio.
Stansberry Research Hall of Fame
Top 10 all-time, highest-returning closed positions across all Stansberry portfoliosInvestmentDurationGainPublicationNvidia (NVDA)^*5.96 years1,466%Venture Tech.Microsoft (MSFT)^12.74 years1,185%Retirement MillionaireInovio Pharma. (INO)^1.01 years1,139%Venture Tech.Rocket Lab (RKLB)^2.35 years1,034%Venture Tech.Seabridge Gold (SA)^4.20 years995%Sjug Conf.Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)^16.13 years800%Retirement MillionaireIntellia Therapeutics (NTLA)1.95 years775%Amer. MoonshotsRite Aid 8.5% bond4.97 years773%True IncomePNC Warrants (PNC-WS)6.16 years706%True Wealth SystemsMaxar Technologies (MAXR)^1.90 years691%Venture Tech.
^ These gains occurred with a partial position in the respective stocks.
* Editor Dave Lashmet closed the first leg of this Nvidia position in November 2016 for a gain of about 108%. Then, he closed the second leg in July 2020 for a 777% return. And finally, in May 2022, he booked a 1,466% return on the final leg. Subscribers who followed his advice on Nvidia could’ve recorded a total weighted average gain of more than 600%.
Stansberry Research Crypto Hall of Fame
Top 5 highest-returning closed positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolioInvestmentDurationGainAnalystBand Protocol (BAND)0.31 years1,169%Crypto CapitalTerra (LUNA)0.41 years1,166%Crypto CapitalPolymesh (POLYX)3.84 years1,157%Crypto CapitalFrontier (FRONT)0.09 years979%Crypto CapitalBinance Coin (BNB)1.78 years963%Crypto Capital
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