📊 Most Valuable Companies By Continent

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Happy Sunday!

I hope you’ve all had an amazing holiday season!

As we close in on the New Year, I’m thrilled to share that Carbon Finance is just shy of a huge milestone—25,000 subscribers.

Your support has been incredible, and I have one small favor to ask:

• If you could share Carbon Finance with just one person who’s passionate about investing, it would mean the world to me.

• Whether they’re building financial literacy, love stocks, or simply love staying informed, this newsletter is the perfect (and free!) gift to kick off their New Year.

Here’s your unique referral code you can copy and share:

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• Plus, as a thank-you, you’ll receive a free ChatGPT investing guide sent straight to your inbox after your friend signs up.

Thank you for being part of this journey—I couldn’t do it without you.

• Wishing you all an amazing New Year! 🎉

Some key data bites from this week that you should know:

• Jeff Bezos saved around $1B in taxes moving to Florida.

• Microsoft and OpenAI have defined AGI as a system that can generate $100B in profits.

• Rio Tinto has acquired Arcadium Lithium in a $6.7B deal.

• Nordstrom will go private in a buyout deal valued at $6.25B.

• MicroStrategy purchased yet another $561M worth of Bitcoin.

• China plans to issue a record $411B worth of fiscal stimulus next year.

• Starbucks barista strike expands to 5,000 workers across 300 stores in 45 states.

• Netflix saw 65M US viewers tune in to watch NFL Christmas Gameday.

In today’s newsletter:

• 🌎 Most Valuable Companies By Continent

• 📈 Palantir’s Insane Return

• 🚀 SpaceX Climbs To The Top

• 🚗 Major Automaker Merger

• 📋 16 Stocks To Add To Your Watchlist

Let’s jump right in.

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Apple is on the brink of a historic milestone, just a whisker away from a $4T market capitalization, per Companies Market Cap.

• If it crosses the mark, it will be the first company ever to do so.

And guess who was the first to hit $1T, $2T, and $3T?

• You guessed it—the iPhone maker.

Already the world’s largest company, Apple sets the pace, while its closest global rival, Saudi Aramco, lags at $1.80T.

Palantir is on track to be the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, up an impressive 361% YTD.

• Despite only joining the index on September 23rd, the stock has surged another 100% since its inclusion.

Even more astonishing, Palantir has climbed 1,200% over the past two years—a more than 13x jump.

However, as noted in past issues, Palantir remains one of the priciest stocks.

• Trading at 180x forward earnings and 68x sales, investors are banking on extremely rapid growth.

Elon Musk continues to do what he does best—scale companies to new heights.

• This week, his AI venture, xAI, raised $6B in a Series C round with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Nvidia, AMD, and others.

• The funding puts xAI’s valuation at $50B, making it the 7th largest unicorn by valuation.

And just two weeks ago, his other company SpaceX completed a $1.25B insider stock purchase, boosting its valuation to $350B.

• This move dethroned ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, as the most valuable unicorn in the world.

One of this week’s biggest stories is Honda and Nissan’s discussions to merge by 2026.

According to Reuters, the two Japanese automakers aim to shake up the industry and better compete with the prominent rise of Chinese carmakers.

• Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan holds a major stake, will decide by the end of January whether to join.

Based on today’s market caps, a merger of Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi would create the world’s fifth-largest publicly traded automaker.

• However, it would still trail industry giants like Toyota, BYD, and Ferrari.

• And Tesla? At $1.39T, it’s miles ahead of everyone else.

With 2025 around the corner, here’s a watchlist of 16 stocks to get your research started.

These stocks came from a screen of metrics which identified companies that:

• Are established but not too large to limit growth (Market Cap ≥ $2B)

• Are attractively valued compared to earnings potential (EV/EBITDA < 20)

• Have solid growth prospects (EPS Forward 2Y CAGR ≥ 10%)

• Are efficient with capital allocation (ROIC 5-Year Average ≥ 12%)

• And are financially stable (Debt-to-Equity < 1)

While these metrics help screen for companies that appear fundamentally sound and potentially undervalued, they are not a definitive buy signal.

• In fact, there’s one company on this list I’ve covered a good amount recently that I wouldn’t go anywhere remotely near (hint: they just got delisted from the Nasdaq-100).

Metrics alone don't capture the full picture, such as industry-specific dynamics, management quality, competitive advantages, or external risks, all of which need to be researched deeper.

• That said, they help filter through thousands of stocks and provide a solid starting point.

If you want to screen for quality stocks like I do, definitely check out FinChat — my favorite tool for this.

• You get an exclusive 15% discount, and I earn a small commission if you decide to upgrade!

Notable Companies Reporting Earnings In January 2025:

There will be no major companies reporting earnings this week, so here is a preview of what January will look like!

I use EarningsHub to track earnings, estimates, and receive AI summaries of investor calls.

• If you’d like an all-in-one earnings tool and see all other companies reporting, I definitely recommend you check it out!

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Buys

• Michael Guest (R)

  • Company: Tesla ($TSLA)

    • Amount Purchased: $1K - $15K

Sells

• No Major Sales This Week

Buys

• Prospect Capital Corp ($PSEC)

  • Insider: John Barry (CEO)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 2,000,000

    • $ Amount: $8,580,000

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Progyny ($PGNY)

  • Insider: Peter Anevski (CEO)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 209,500

    • $ Amount: $3,034,084

    • SEC Forms: [1]

  • Insider: David Schlanger (Executive Chairman)

    • # of Shares Purchased: 150,000

    • $ Amount: $2,202,330

    • SEC Forms: [1]

Sells

• Salesforce ($CRM)

  • Insider: Srinivas Tallapragada (Chief Engineering Officer)

    • # of Shares Sold: 174,072

    • $ Amount: $59,099,368

    • SEC Forms: [1]

• Meta Platforms ($META)

  • Insider: Mark Zuckerberg (COB and CEO)

    • # of Shares Sold: 71,842

    • $ Amount: $43,284,686

    • SEC Forms: [1], [2]

🤝 Review of the Week