Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Kenny Rogers, Astera Labs & NVIDIA 1-28-25
Tue, 28 Jan 2025
In this episode, Scott Becker reflects on the timeless advice of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and applies it to the world of investing.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. Today, we're going to talk about Kenny Rogers, Astero Labs, and NVIDIA. And here's the tying these things together. Kenny Rogers is the famous sort of country musician, almost country rock, folksy, but fantastic.
Chapter 2: What lessons can we learn from Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler'?
And one of his famous songs from The Gambler, which if anybody grew up my generation, the sticks in your head is, you have to know when to hold them, you have to know when to fold them. And the concept being, if you're playing cards, you got to know when to stop putting money in and to sort of give up on that hand. And it is what it is.
Chapter 3: How does investing in individual stocks compare to index funds?
And one of the things I constantly come back to is being an index fund investor versus an individual stock investor. And I'll tell you, I got a stark reminder of that today. I recently received, six months ago, shares in a company called Astera Labs, which has been nothing but a home run since.
Chapter 4: What happened with Astera Labs and why is it significant?
But there's going to be a take home to this that's going to be self-deprecating and negative, which I'll get to in a second. So, Astero Labs, you know, I got this through an investment I had made. Then they spun it out, and those of us that invested in it got shares in it. And just terrific. That was Astero Labs. And it goes to this point, if you've got no one to hold them, no one to fold them.
Chapter 5: How are current market trends affecting individual stocks?
So, today, I look at my individual stocks versus my index funds. The index funds are down whatever amount today. You know, a couple percent are going to be down as the market's down a couple percent, I think. The, you know, the NASDAQ's down about 3.6%. The S&P is down about 1.81% or something like that. But Astera Labs, which I hold individually, is down 29.43% as I look at it.
And you'll hear this on Tuesday, day after day, so I don't know how that'll end exactly. But I can assure you, it's not going to be a good day for Astera Labs. It's one of these companies that's getting... eaten up in this, you know, this, this sell-off that deals with essentially this deep seek and everything else.
So that's a steer to labs and you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them. You know, now I feel like I'm sort of in this for the duration, so I'm not folding, but it is what it is. And I have no real clarity about what to do about it. Oh my goodness. The next stock, which I'm not an individual investor in, is NVIDIA, and NVIDIA is down 17.5% today.
And again, the things I've been watching this year, NVIDIA, Apple, and Amix, I've thought about stretching individual positions in. And again, when the market is going up, we all feel like geniuses when we take individual positions. But when it's going down, we realize, oh, index investing and being down 2% is better than being down 17%. I presented with NVIDIA.
The good news is I did not invest very much in NVIDIA. The bad news is I am a holder in Astera Labs. Astera Labs is down 30%. I do not remember the last time, besides being a card table, where I've seen something go down 30% that quickly. I just don't really remember that. It is what it is. In any event, thank you so much for listening to the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast.
Again, I won't sing it, but you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them. I did not know when to fold them. It is what it is. For one of my close colleagues who commented on the podcast, podcast we did last week that talked about Grindr grinding out gains.
At some point, I will again check to see how Grindr is doing and whether they continue to be up and sort of immune to this AI stuff. Again, again, I guess that's really the take-home point. Grindr's down 1.6% and sort of does not seem to be overly impacted. by this artificial intelligence war that's going on between China and the US.
So today's take home message is index funds, you gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them. Grindr is doing okay and not falling as much as are NVIDIA and Astera Labs. Of course, I'm not invested directly in Grindr. I am invested directly in Astera Labs, which is down 30%. I am not in NVIDIA, so God bless. Thank you so much for listening to the Becker Private Equity Business Podcast.
Again, our goal is to teach and entertain, and God bless you for listening. Thank you.
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