In this edition, checking in on the hotel REIT recovery; looking at Palo Alto's strengths and weaknesses; where generative AI can pay off for patient investors; and Fresenius SE, British American Tobacco, and Nio.

Advanced Micro Devices designs a variety of digital semiconductors for markets such as PCs, gaming consoles, data centers, industrial, and automotive applications, among others. AMD’s traditional strength was in central processing units, CPUs, and graphics processing units, or GPUs, used in PCs and data centers. Additionally, the firm supplies the chips found in prominent game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. In 2022, the firm acquired field-programmable gate array, or FPGA, leader Xilinx to diversify its business and augment its opportunities in key end markets such as the data center and automotive.

Nvidia Corp., based in Santa Clara, California, is a visual computing company with worldwide operations and markets. The company operates through two segments, Graphics and Compute & Networking. The company's four main markets are gaming, professional visualization, data center, and automotive. In calendar 2020, Nvidia completed the acquisition of data-center connectivity leader Mellanox.

Netflix’s relatively simple business model involves only one business, its streaming service. It has the biggest television entertainment subscriber base in both the United States and the collective international market, with almost 250 million subscribers globally. Netflix has exposure to nearly the entire global population outside of China. The firm has traditionally avoided live programming or sports content, instead focusing on on-demand access to episodic television, movies, and documentaries. The firm recently began introducing ad-supported subscription plans, giving the firm exposure to the advertising market in addition to the subscription fees that have historically accounted for nearly all its revenue.