Bullpen.News From Edwin Dorsey
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Wednesday, October 14, 2026

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October 2026 Random Ramblings

October 2026 market commentary covers SOLS’s cancelled merger, a hypothetical Starbucks-Chipotle deal, Russell 2000 weakness and AI premiums for Oura and home builders.

SBUX $103BCMG $38B
Yet Another Value Podcast 81 clicks

From X

@StableBread 2 clicks

Fajasy on X

How much of the $8.4B backlog at BWX Technologies $BWXT turns into revenue by the end of 2027? $BWXT expects to recognize 55% of the $8.4B backlog, or ~$4.6B, by the end of 2027. Another $1.4B of unexercised contract options sit outside the backlog, with $900M expected to be awarded in 2030 and $500M in 2035. Three items drive $BWXT’s quarterly FCF swings: 1) Payables: Higher accounts payable added $71.4M to H1 2026’s $249.0M of operating cash flow, vs. $6.9M a year earlier. The 10-Q credits the cash flow increase mainly to the timing of vendor payments, customer billings, and project cash flows, which can reverse in later quarters. 2) Seasonality: Retainages (payments withheld on the government segment’s fixed-price incentive contracts until set conditions are met) build in Q1 and Q3, with larger payments in Q2 and Q4. 3) Equity income: $BWXT’s share of the profit from the joint ventures that manage 14 government nuclear sites, including Savannah River and Pantex, comes in as equity income, now $80M/year. It counts toward adjusted EBITDA (15.7% of Q2’s $155.5M), but $BWXT only gets the cash when the joint ventures pay dividends. That’s why I’d judge $BWXT’s FCF on the full year, not the quarter.
@convequity

Convequity on X

We think Amazon ($AMZN) blocks Meta's ($META) Muse shopping agent partly to protect its advertising business, while Shopify ($SHOP) welcomes it to earn payment fees. Amazon cites authorization and security concerns. We also see an advertising business to protect. Amazon earned $68.6 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, including payments from sellers to place their products prominently in front of shoppers. An agent that selects products without taking customers through those sponsored listings could reduce sellers' willingness to pay for them. Amazon still handles payment and delivery, which gives it bargaining power even when an agent chooses the product and places the order. Shopify welcomes Muse through Shop Pay. It can keep earning payment-processing fees when agents complete purchases through its systems, and it has no comparable advertising business to defend. We think shopping agents could favor merchants whose products stand out for quality or features over merchants whose sales depend heavily on paid placement. That could give independent brands another way to reach customers, which would benefit Shopify as more purchases pass through its merchants' stores. Agents and established platforms could still agree to share advertising revenue. We are watching whether agents improve product discovery or simply become another place where sellers pay to be recommended.
@convequity

Convequity on X

The AI memory squeeze is hitting Android chip suppliers harder than the phone market. Counterpoint says global smartphone shipments fell 20% in the third quarter from a year earlier, the lowest third quarter since 2012. AI data centres are taking more of the memory supply, and higher DRAM and NAND prices left most phone makers short. 1. The fall is in cheaper phones. Xiaomi's shipments fell more than 30%, and OPPO's and vivo's more than 20%, as they cut low-priced models and raised prices. Samsung's fell 3%, and Apple ($AAPL) reached a 22% share, its first third quarter above 20%. 2. Chip suppliers fell further than phone makers. In the second quarter, phone shipments fell 21%, while MediaTek's and Qualcomm's ($QCOM) phone chip shipments each fell more than 30%, per Counterpoint. 3. Qualcomm is exposed too. Counterpoint ties MediaTek's decline to its entry-level and mainstream chips, and Qualcomm's to its Snapdragon 600 and 400 lines. Qualcomm also lost some premium volume as Samsung used its own Exynos 2600 chip in base Galaxy S26 models in some regions. Samsung's Exynos shipments rose in the second quarter. The phone maker that held up best is making more of its own chips. The third-quarter phone data shows the same pattern, so I expect MediaTek's and Qualcomm's phone chip volumes to fall faster than phone shipments again when they report the quarter.

Investor Letters

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Lennar, Part One: The Story

Lennar grew from a Miami builder into one of America’s two largest homebuilders, controlling land largely through options and land banks…

LEN $17B
Latticework by MOI Global 10 clicks

Lennar, Part Two: The Deep Dive

Lennar’s second audio program examines the homebuilder’s business for professional investors and housing analysts.

LEN $17B
Latticework by MOI Global 11 clicks

Insider activity September 2026

Asian insider buying rose 19% to US$2.4 billion across 930 September transactions, led by Grab CEO Anthony Tan’s US$30 million purchase…

GRAB $12B
Asian Century Stocks 6 clicks

Expert Call | Corning

Corning’s NVIDIA-backed 10x fiber expansion, enterprise connector demand and carrier capacity plans frame its optical communications…

GLW $126B
P Equity Research 37 clicks
WDC · long

Western Digital CORP

Western Digital, a hard-disk manufacturer, is pitched as a long after significant share-price moves deter investors.

WDC $142B
Value Investors Club 5 clicks

Vicor Update, Part Two

Vicor uses ITC exclusion-order cases to license power-module patents, with published royalty multipliers rising from 1.0x before filing to…

VICR $12B
CV's Substack 3 clicks

Expert Call | Nebius

Nebius’s 1 GW annual active-capacity target from 2027 is realistic, according to a former product manager, with greenfield data centers…

NBIS $56B
P Equity Research 4 clicks

Dell's Tailwinds

Dell booked $131.7B of AI server orders in four quarters and held a $95B backlog as enterprise AI demand accelerates.

DELL $367B
Chipstrat 4 clicks

LQDA: finer powder, higher doses

Liquidia’s Yutrepia sales reached $170.4 million in Q2 2026, while a patent ruling threatens its PH-ILD label but leaves PAH sales and a…

UTHR $24B
Trade Ideas Flow 4 clicks

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