Jon Quast

Can it work out?

Certainly can.

But is it

a little bit more risky than perhaps we would see in other times.

I think it is.

I think that discretion is a very important quality for investors to have, particularly with IPOs when investment banking is strong.

Similarly, I'm suspicious of merger and acquisition deals.

Good companies can pull these off.

I can think of several companies off the top of my head.

Good companies will pull these off.

In a time like this, when investment banking is strong, hey, great, they can get better access to capital and make some deals happen.

But

Again, other companies with slowing growth can make some bad acquisitions and in the end destroy shareholder value.

I think, once again, having that suspicious eye, having discretion as a shareholder is important.

One deal that I'm looking at under a microscope right now is Mobileye in its $900 million acquisition of Menti Robotics.

Look, I get the big picture idea with vertical integration and robotics in this real-world application, perhaps a big trend over the next decade, humanoid robots.

But is this a value creation deal?

Is this the right deal right now for Mobileye?

I'm not convinced yet.

I'm still thinking about it.