The Big Skinny

Earnings bubble? Or earnings boom? Wall Street is suddenly worried that profit forecasts are getting too hot, too fast. Lou Basenese has a different take: stock prices follow earnings, and if profits are accelerating, investors should stop whining about “bubble babble” and start looking for the fastest growers.In this episode of The Big Skinny, Lou reunites with the guests from the January stock-picking special — Thomas Hayes, Kenny Polcari, Mike Lee, Adam Johnson, and Kevin Mahn to share their top ideas for 2026 — but with a fresh lens: which names still have the earnings power to keep working in the second half?From the S&P 500’s profit setup to the original 2026 stock picks, Lou cuts through the noise and focuses on what actually matters: growth, revisions, fundamentals, and whether the thesis is still intact.

Oil, small caps, biotech, AI, IPOs, prediction markets and the “there’s always a bull market somewhere” thesis are back on trial. In this episode, Lou Basenese and Dodd revisit The Big Skinny’s Top 6 Predictions for 2026 at the halfway mark to see what’s already working, what still needs time, and what investors should do next.From energy’s asymmetric setup and the small-cap earnings breakout to biotech’s next expansion phase, the AI power bottleneck, and the star-studded but doomed IPO class of 2026, Lou grades each call in plain English: nailed it, too early, or dead wrong.And this time, the audience gets a vote. Drop your score in the comments: which prediction will be the biggest winner by year-end — and which one is most at risk of blowing up?No fluff. No fear-mongering. Just a data-driven midyear checkup on where opportunity is emerging, where risk still lurks, and how to position for what comes next.

Mag 7 lag, Meta’s AI cloud questions, biotech breakout signals, and the return of broader market leadership — that’s the point of this episode of The Big Skinny.Lou Basenese explains why investors shouldn’t bemoan the fact that the Mag 7 are lagging. They should embrace it. Why? Because a healthy bull market eventually broadens beyond a handful of mega-cap winners, and that’s exactly what appears to be happening now. Lou breaks down why not every mega-cap tech stock deserves your money right now and where the bigger profit opportunities reside as earnings growth and market breadth improve.Then Barron’s Josh Schafer joins to dig into Meta’s AI cloud ambitions, the risks behind selling “excess compute,” and why Progress Software (PRGS) may be a smarter AI-adjacent opportunity than investors realize.No fluff. No Mag 7 panic. Just a sharper look at why this bull market may be stronger because leadership is broadening.

Chip bubble calls, AI demand denial, semiconductor selloffs, prediction market hype, and the tippy-top trap. Lou Basenese takes on the insane idea that we’re already near the end of the AI chip cycle – when the world has never seen a technology demand curve like this before.In this episode, Lou breaks down why AI chip demand is still early, why every serious semi dip deserves attention, and why iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) remains the simplest way to stay exposed without overthinking it and over-investing in Nvidia (NVDA) or Micron (MU).Plus, Lou revisits his raw and personal conversation with Louis Ruggiero and the data behind Phil Rosen of ProCap Financial’s conviction the current bull market might have years left to run. He wraps it all up with Dodd and rapid-fire takes on SoftBank’s AI conviction, Big Tech’s AI spending, productivity gains, semiconductor earnings strength, and the next great speculative temptation.

Too many ETF tickers, too little time. There are officially more ETFs than publicly traded stocks in the U.S., and no normal investor has the time — or the stomach — to sort through thousands of products that all claim to be the answer. That’s the setup for this episode of The Big Skinny.Lou Basenese asks the question everyday investors should be asking: if there’s now an ETF for everything, how do you find the ones actually worth owning? He starts with the big picture — why the ETF boom has gone from useful to absurd, why so many funds are too small to matter, and how to separate real opportunity from ticker clutter. Then, he’s joined by longtime friends and market pros Keith Fitz-Gerald and David Nicholas to spotlight one fund Lou believes cuts through the chaos: the Fitz-Gerald Must Have Portfolio ETF (FITZ). From there, Lou shares insights from his latest interview with Matthew Tuttle of Tuttle Capital Management who says “99% of ETFs suck.” Then Lou and his trusted partner Dodd dish on GLP-1 momentum, Andrew Left’s fraud conviction, what Cushing oil inventories are really signaling, the longevity fundraising boom, and the kind of IPO price-to-sales math that should make investors squirm.

GLP-1s are the first line of biotech innovations that are remaking medicine, GPUs are still fueling the AI boom, and the coming SpaceX IPO is about to test investors’ impulse control. That (and more) is the focus of this episode of The Big Skinny.Lou Basenese makes the case that the next trillion-dollar growth trend after AI might be longevity — and that Eli Lilly (LLY) represents the smartest way to play the impending mega boom. Think chronic disease, cardiovascular care, and maybe even the road to living to 150 years.Then Barron's Josh Schafer joins to explain why interest rate volatility may matter less than people think, and why the real macro question is whether anything can stop the AI capex machine. Later, Gene Mack, CEO of Gain Therapeutics, adds a biotech operator’s perspective from the front lines of the longevity and neuroscience race.And yes, Lou also gets into the SpaceX IPO. Specifically why investors should think twice before falling for Musk Mania and chasing an IPO built on hype, premium pricing, and a whole lot of wishful thinking.No fluff. No fear-mongering. Just a sharper, funnier, and profitable look at where the real growth may be hiding.

This week on The Big Skinny, Lou Basenese goes straight at three huge market questions: Are semis too crowded? Is Nvidia still a buy? And how big could the SpaceX IPO really be? The setup is simple: Mag 7 earnings continue to overpower the skeptics, semiconductors keep outrunning the broader market, and the next mega-story may already be sitting in an S-1 filing that just landed at the SEC.Lou breaks down the case for SOXX, why Nvidia may still be under-owned despite its size, and what the latest cloud, AI, and earnings numbers say about the real direction of the cycle. Plus, he tees up the next wave of AI winners and closes with SpaceX, where TAM, hype, and real-world demand may all be colliding at once.

This week on The Big Skinny, Lou Basenese cuts through the noise after a monster week of earnings from most of the Mag 7 and asks what investors should really take away. The answer: AI demand is real, cloud demand is compounding, and Big Tech is still buying the most valuable real estate of the next decade. Lou breaks down why Alphabet (GOOGL) stands out, why the capex skeptics are missing the plot, and what this quarter says about the next phase of the AI cycle. Alongside Bob Elliott and Mike Zaccardi, Lou also digs into the “boomcession,” the market’s strange comfort with high oil, why software has lagged semis so badly, and what might finally unwind that trade. Then in Headlines & Headscratchers, Lou and Dodd hit Google, Apple, crypto, prediction markets, the best movies ever, and the little market stories that may be telling a bigger truth.

This week on The Big Skinny, Lou Basenese cuts through the noise surrounding the Mag 7 and asks a simple question: is Big Tech really as dominant as the narrative suggests — or is the market already starting to broaden out? With Nvidia responsible for an outsized share of earnings revisions, Lou explains how one stock can distort the whole picture — and create opportunity elsewhere.Joining Lou live is Keith Fitz-Gerald, who weighs in on the future of the AI trade, what investors may be missing in Apple’s evolving AI and hardware strategy, and whether mega-cap tech still deserves its premium. Lou also shares key clips from Adam Johnson on where investors should be looking next.Plus, Lou and Dodd run through Tim Cook succession chatter, AI-powered startup creation, Harry Dent’s “everything bubble,” and the small-cap breakout that keeps forcing bears to rethink the story.

This week on The Big Skinny, Lou Basenese asks a timely question: if markets are headed into another storm, what should investors actually own? From bear-market scares and oil-price shocks to inflation jitters and dollar-debasement chatter, Lou breaks down the volatility that’s driving headlines — and the opportunities those headlines may be masking.He also shares excerpts from his latest interview with David Dziekanski of Quantify Funds, who explains why the real debasement risk may not be where most investors think, and why the smartest way to play this environment may be through diversified, stacked exposure to assets like gold and Bitcoin.Plus, Lou digs into sector rotation, the case for financials, Apple’s latest AI flex, the future of autonomous drone warfare, and why some of the market’s most exciting IPO chatter may still come with a giant asterisk.