Top Pros' Top Picks 12/9/25

Market Minute ⏱️12/9/25: Skydance Enters the Warner Chat

Mike Larson | Editor-in-Chief

Stocks are biding their time ahead of key monetary policy news tomorrow. Ditto for crude oil, Treasuries, and the dollar. Gold and silver are up a smidge.

While markets await the outcome of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting that’s now underway, investors have plenty of takeover drama to watch. Paramount Skydance Corp. (PSKY) attempted to leap-frog Netflix Inc. (NFLX) in the battle for control of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) yesterday. Specifically, Paramount CEO David Ellison launched a $77.9 billion hostile bid for WBD, which works out to $30 a share – more than the $27.75 Netflix offered.

PSKY, NFLX, WBD (1-Mo. % Change)

Paramount’s offer is backstopped by tens of billions of dollars in debt and equity funding commitments from several banks, Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO), and sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East. The private equity firm run by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Affinity Partners, is also backing the deal. Worth noting: While WBD shares have jumped 20.1% in the last month, PSKY (-3.5%) and NFLX (-12.3%) have both lost value.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) can now sell its more-advanced H200 chips to customers in China following a policy shift from Trump. NVDA previously could only export the less-powerful H20 chip due to national security concerns, though the top-of-the-line Blackwell product is still off-limits. Nvidia will have to pay the US government a 25% royalty on H200 sales, similar to the 15% royalty it shares on other chips exported to China.

Finally, home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. (HD) offered tepid guidance for 2026 amid lackluster activity in the housing market. HD said same-store sales would likely be flat-to-up-2% in the new year, missing analyst estimates. Home sales have been hovering near 30-year lows due to still-elevated mortgage rates and unaffordable prices. The median price of an existing home was $415,200 in October, up sharply from $271,000 a half-decade earlier.

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• NPIFF: A Canadian Wind Power Play Trading at a Bargain Price
  👉️ TICKER: NPIFF
  The combination of expanding investment opportunities and elevated funding costs have compelled Northland Power Inc. (NPIFF) to cut its payout by 40% to a new annualized rate of 72 cents Canadian. But the negative reaction to Northland’s news looks hugely overblown, advises Roger Conrad, editor of Conrad’s Utility Investor.

• DATCos: Why You Should Stay Away from These Stocks
  👉️ TICKERS: IBM, MSTR
  There are plenty of stocks still worth buying and holding out there…the same types of conservative, dividend-paying companies I’ve specialized in for more than 25 years. But there are far more groups to hate right now – one of which is the so-called digital asset treasury companies (DATCos), notes Nilus Mattive, editor of Safe Money Report.

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