The Meme Frenzy Is Back. We’re Watching Pin Action…

The meme-stock frenzy returned this week, with Wendy's (WEN) drawing the heaviest retail flows. The stock ran as much as 42% intraday off a chart sitting near 20-year lows, halted once for volatility, then gave most of the move back the following session.

We are more interested in the pin action here.

Retail trading volume of this size benefits the platforms that process it. Order flow, options, and margin lending all scale with participation, and that revenue does not depend on any single squeeze working out. One of our Core Conviction names is already showing the lift in its consumer data.

Perhaps more revealing: the willingness of retail to commit capital to a long-shot turnaround also signals how much discretionary spending power remains in these accounts. That read runs counter to the case for a consumer under pressure, and it is the thread we are following into next week.

We examine both inside.

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Why We Are Still Pounding the Table on a Core Conviction Stock

On this week’s Founders Call, Andy walks through why this core conviction stock is turning into the Amazon Prime of finance: one subscription that pulls users into banking, investing, retirement accounts, credit cards, and managed portfolios, then keeps them there long after any single trade.

The meme frenzy sends a wave of new accounts through the front door.

The subscription layer converts that wave into recurring revenue.

Watch the full call →

Infinite Hold Updates

Google (GOOGL) Is Putting Gemini in Front of Billions of Users

GOOGL shares fell 5% in a single day this week, the stock's worst decline in more than a year, after two prominent AI researchers left for rival companies. One helped lead Gemini. The other spent nearly a decade building Google's AI capabilities. That is the kind of headline Wall Street loves to obsess over.

While investors debated talent departures, Google kept shipping products at a remarkable pace. The company gave Gemini the ability to navigate websites, applications, and digital workflows on a user's behalf, another step toward AI agents that complete tasks instead of simply answering questions. At the same time, Google Wallet expanded TSA PreCheck Touchless ID access to travelers across roughly 100 participating airlines, making airport security faster and easier.

That is where we think Wall Street is looking in the wrong place. Google is not simply building an AI model. The company is embedding AI across Search, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Workspace, Wallet, and dozens of products consumers already use every day.

• Google's Gemini app has grown from 400 million to more than 900 million monthly users in just one year

• Daily requests have increased more than sevenfold

• AI Mode in Search has already surpassed one billion monthly users

• AI Overviews now reaches more than 2.5 billion consumers

Could competitors hire away talented researchers?

Of course.

But Google still possesses something few companies can match. The company now operates 13 products with more than one billion users each. Five of those products have more than three billion users. Every improvement to Gemini reaches an audience that already spans billions of consumers.

That is why we focus on product adoption, consumer behavior, and long-term demand rather than one bad trading day. Our Social Heat Score on GOOGL remains extremely bullish at 87/100, a sign that consumer engagement is strong despite all the noise surrounding the stock.

Consumers are using Google's AI products more than ever before, and the company keeps finding new ways to weave Gemini into the products they already reach for every day. That is the trend we are watching.

Tesla (TSLA) Makes a Big Energy Move With Sunrun

Tesla faced another round of scrutiny this week after a fatal crash in Texas reignited debate around Full Self-Driving, the company's AI-powered driver assistance software.

While that debate continues, Tesla made a big move in energy through a new partnership with Sunrun and Renew Home.

Sunrun brings one of the nation's largest residential solar and battery networks. Renew Home manages more than 8 million connected thermostats and smart devices. Tesla brings the batteries, software, and energy platform to tie it all together.

Together, the companies aim to create a distributed power network capable of delivering more than 16 gigawatts of electricity capacity, enough to power roughly 12 million homes. One hyperscale AI data center can consume as much electricity as 2 million homes, roughly the power demand of a city the size of Houston. This partnership is designed to bring new capacity online in months rather than years.

Most investors know Tesla for EVs. Fewer appreciate how quickly the company is becoming a major energy player.

Tesla's energy division sells everything from home Powerwall batteries to utility-scale Megapacks, the massive battery systems that store electricity and help stabilize the grid when demand surges. As AI data centers place unprecedented strain on power infrastructure, those products are becoming increasingly valuable.

Last quarter alone, Tesla generated $2.4 billion in energy revenue and deployed 8.8 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage, enough to power millions of homes for several hours during periods of peak demand. The company now has 60 GWh of annual Megapack production capacity across California and Shanghai, with a new Houston-area Megafactory preparing to launch Megapack 3 production later this year.

The Sunrun partnership pushes Tesla's energy strategy one step further. Instead of simply selling batteries, Tesla is helping build a network that can direct electricity where and when it is needed most.

The crash investigation will dominate headlines for a few days. The opportunity to help power the AI economy could create value for years.

Amazon (AMZN) Expands Its Fulfillment Network Around Prime Day

Amazon is closing out one of its most important weeks of the year. For four days, more than 200 million Prime members shopped hundreds of thousands of deals across virtually every major retail category.

Most investors will focus on how much consumers spend. We are paying attention to something that matters more over the long run: why consumers continue choosing Amazon in the first place.

Prime Day works because Amazon has spent decades building advantages that competitors still struggle to match. Fast shipping. Massive selection. Competitive prices. Streaming content. Grocery delivery. All bundled into a membership that consumers use throughout the year.

The most telling Prime Day move this week happened before the deals even started. Amazon announced plans to dramatically expand its fulfillment network, adding more than 100 new Urban Fulfillment Centers designed to bring four times more product selection closer to customers while maintaining delivery times measured in minutes.

Amazon knows that every improvement in fulfillment makes Prime more valuable. A more valuable Prime membership attracts more members. More members attract more sellers. More sellers expand selection. The flywheel keeps spinning.

Meanwhile, competitors are responding in the only way they can. Walmart (WMT) and other major retailers launched competing sales events during the same week to capture some of the consumer attention surrounding Prime Day. We view that as a sign of Amazon's strength. When competitors build their promotions around Amazon's calendar, it tells you who is setting the pace.

Prime Day functions as a test of Amazon's competitive moat. We are already monitoring the demand data flowing through our system. Once Prime Day wraps up, we will dig into the traffic trends, shopping behavior, and demand signals to see what consumers are telling us about Amazon's business. Expect a full post-Prime Day update soon.