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    Bloom Energy soars more than 25% on deal with Brookfield to put fuel cells in AI data centers

    Brookfield Asset Management will spend as much as $5 billion to deploy Bloom Energy’s fuel cells.
    Bloom’s fuel cells provide onsite power that can be deployed quickly because they do not rely on a connection to the electric grid.

    Shares of Bloom Energy soared early Monday after striking a deal with Brookfield Asset Management to install fuel cells in artificial intelligence data centers.
    Brookfield will spend up to $5 billion to deploy Bloom Energy’s technology, the first investment in its strategy to support big AI data centers with power and computing infrastructure. Bloom’s fuel cells are “fuel-flexible” and can run on natural gas, biogas or hydrogen, the company says.

    Brookfield and Bloom are collaborating to design and build what they are calling “AI factories” around the the world, including a site in Europe that will be unveiled before the end of the year.
    Shares of Bloom Energy jumped almost 30% in early trading. Bloom’s fuel cells provide onsite power that can be quickly installed because they don’t rely on a connection to the electric grid.
    Bloom has already positioned hundreds of megawatts of fuel cells through deals with utilities including American Electric Power and data centers developers such as Equinix and Oracle, according to the company.
    The AI industry’s data center plans are growing in scale. Nvidia and OpenAI, for example, recently announced a partnership that aims to build 10 gigawatts of data centers, equivalent to the power consumed by New York City at the height of summer.
    But AI companies’ plans are butting up against an aging U.S. electric grid that is often slow to provide additional power capacity. Data centers also threaten to raise electricity prices for residential customers.

    Deploying power solutions “behind-the-meter,” or off the grid, “are essential to closing the grid gap for AI factories,” said Brookfield’s global head of AI infrastructure Sikander Rashid.
    “AI infrastructure must be built like a factory—with purpose, speed, and scale,” Bloom Energy CEO KR Sridhar said.
    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC last week that the AI industry will need to build power off the electric grid to quickly meet demand and protect consumers from rising electricity prices.
    “Data center self-generated power could move a lot faster than putting it on the grid and we have to do that,” Huang said. More

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    As tuition soars, so has ‘behind-the-scenes’ discounting, ‘The Price You Pay for College’ author says

    College price tags are daunting, but most families don’t pay the sticker cost.
    Hefty discounting “goes on behind the scenes” often in the form of merit aid, The New York Times columnist Ron Lieber said Friday at a summit in New York.
    Still, every school calculates aid differently, according to Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review, “leaving families desperate for transparency and predictability.”

    Ivy League architecture at Princeton University.
    Loop Images | Getty Images

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    Here’s a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.

    Often in the form of merit aid, the average tuition discount for first-time, full-time students at private colleges is roughly 56%, Lieber previously reported.
    But “all of this discounting … goes on behind the scenes,” said Lieber, who is the author of “The Price You Pay for College.”

    ‘High-tuition, high-aid’

    Over time, there has been a slow shift to a “high-tuition, high-aid” model, where colleges both raise tuition and increase grant aid, according to Emily Cook, an assistant professor of economics at Texas A&M University.

    Now, about two-thirds of all full-time students receive some sort of financial assistance, which can bring college costs significantly down. 
    “The list price is not the actual price,” Lieber said at Friday’s event, which was co-sponsored by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

    The net price students and their families pay for college is the tuition cost minus grants, scholarships and other types of aid.
    However, “every school calculates aid differently,” said Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review, “leaving families desperate for transparency and predictability.”
    “Tuition discounting is a big part of how this evolved,” Franek said. “Colleges rely on higher sticker prices to fund the aid that brings many students’ costs back down. But the optics are daunting — and for families who don’t yet know their aid package, that six-figure number can feel like a closed door.”
    Price is now the biggest consideration among students and parents when choosing a college, according to The Princeton Review. Financial concerns govern decision-making for 8 in 10 families, a report by education lender Sallie Mae also found — outweighing even academics when deciding between schools.
    For most college-bound students and their parents, it often comes down to their “ability to pay” and their “willingness to pay,” Lieber said. “Schools are trying to guess exactly where you are on that continuum.”

    What is a college degree worth?

    Studies show that most people believe the value of a degree still far outweighs the cost.
    “A mountain of research shows that college remains a worthwhile investment and the most powerful path to economic mobility,” said Sameer Gadkaree, the president and CEO of The Institute for College Access & Success.
    However, many factors — including how much financial aid is offered and how much students have to pay out of pocket, as well as the choice of major, future earnings potential and how long it takes to graduate — determine the actual return on investment, according to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 

    The Princeton Review’s Franek advises students and families not to be deterred by the sky-high sticker prices.
    Further, “the vast majority of colleges charge far less than six-figure tuition,” Gadkaree added. Although “it’s still difficult for many low- and middle-income students to afford these institutions without taking on debt.”
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    Despite government shutdown, Oct. 15 is still the tax extension deadline

    Despite the government shutdown, the federal tax extension deadline is still Oct. 15 for most filers.
    The process could be harder for some taxpayers after the IRS furloughed nearly half of its workforce earlier this week.
    However, electronic filing remains operational, and you can still file online by the deadline to avoid a penalty.

    Valentinrussanov | E+ | Getty Images

    Despite the government shutdown, the Oct. 15 federal tax extension deadline is fast approaching for many filers.
    The process could be harder for some taxpayers after the IRS furloughed nearly half of its workforce —about 34,000 employees — earlier this week, experts say.

    “It’s going to be a long haul if you need any kind of specialized customer experience,” said Jennifer MacMillan, president of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, whose members are tax professionals licensed by the IRS.

    Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

    The original tax deadline was April 15. If you couldn’t meet that due date, you could submit Form 4868 for a six-month extension to file. But your tax payment was still due on April 15.
    During fiscal 2024, the IRS received more than 20 million tax extension forms, according to the latest agency projections. For 2025, it expects that number to be around 19.8 million. 
    Some taxpayers impacted by natural disasters automatically have even more time to file beyond Oct. 15.
    If you missed the April 15 tax deadline, the late payment penalty is 0.5% of your unpaid balance per month or partial month, capped at 25%. You will also incur interest on unpaid taxes.

    By comparison, the failure-to-file penalty is 5% of unpaid taxes per month or partial month, up to 25%. If you filed for an extension, this kicks in after Oct. 15.

    ‘Expect increased wait times’

    Filers can “expect increased wait times, backlogs and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues,” the National Treasury Employees Union said in a statement Wednesday.
    “Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week,” the organization said.

    However, some customer service representatives remain at work, according to a 2026 lapsed appropriations contingency plan that went into effect Wednesday.
    “During a government shutdown, there could be impacts to IRS services,” said Elizabeth Young, director for tax practice and ethics with the American Institute of CPAs. “However, electronic filing systems typically remain operational, so you can still file online.”

    Double-check your filing

    While it may be tempting to rush through your tax return to meet the Oct. 15 deadline, errors could cause IRS processing delays, according to Young.
    The IRS has “very sophisticated software” that compares information returns, such as W-2s and 1099s, to what’s reported on your filing, she previously told CNBC.
    Most tax forms arrived in January, February or March. But others may have taken longer, depending on your situation. You can compare your current-year return to last year’s filing to avoid missed forms and information, experts say. More

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    Top Wall Street analysts are bullish on these 3 stocks for the long term

    The Snowflake Inc logo, the American cloud computing-based data company that offers cloud-based storage and analytics services, is on their pavilion during the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 5, 2025.
    Joan Cros | Nurphoto | Getty Images

    Investors are looking beyond the prolonged U.S. government shutdown and remain optimistic about growth drivers like the artificial intelligence boom and expectations of further interest rate cuts.
    Ignoring the short-term noise, those looking for attractive investment opportunities can consider the stock picks of top Wall Street analysts, whose recommendations are based on a thorough analysis of a company’s fundamentals and growth catalysts.

    Here are three stocks favored by the Street’s top pros, according to TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

    Snowflake

    First on this week’s list is Snowflake (SNOW), a cloud-native data platform. At the recently held Snowflake World Tour event in New York City, the company highlighted its product innovation and the vision for driving business transformation through data and artificial intelligence.
    After attending this customer conference, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill reiterated a buy rating on SNOW stock with a price forecast of $270. Based on his conversations with customers and partners at the event, the analyst noted that Snowflake’s product innovation and velocity are accelerating.
    Thill highlighted that while traction for Snowflake’s AI offerings is building, the inflection point is still ahead. For instance, the top-rated analyst noted that a retailer using Snowpark ML for demand forecasting, and a travel company integrating Snowflake ML models into its customer experience pipeline, both believe that broader usage across their organizations will take a few more quarters.
    Another key takeaway was that Snowflake’s unstructured data capabilities have strengthened, but there are still some gaps to address. Overall, Thill believes that while traction is building for Snowflake, the “AI Blizzard” still lies ahead.

    “SNOW remains one of our favorite data & AI stories and stands to benefit meaningfully as enterprise AI strategies mature and AI driven data volumes grow exponentially in the coming years,” concluded Thill. Interestingly, TipRanks’ AI Analyst has a “neutral” rating on Snowflake stock with a price target of $255.
    Thill ranks No. 251 among more than 10,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 65% of the time, delivering an average return of 14.1%. See Snowflake Ownership Structure on TipRanks.

    Advanced Micro Devices

    Moving on to chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which recently made headlines after announcing a game-changing partnership with OpenAI. Under this deal, OpenAI will deploy up to 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs over multiple years, starting with a 1-gigawatt rollout in the second half of 2026. The agreement also involves a warrant for up to 160 million shares (vesting tied to certain milestones), which, if fully exercised by OpenAI, will give it about a 10% stake in AMD.
    Following the news, Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis upgraded AMD stock to buy from hold and boosted the price target to $300 from $170. Additionally, TipRanks’ AI Analyst has an “outperform” rating on AMD stock with a price target of $232.
    Curtis believes that AMD’s deal with OpenAI clearly changed the AI narrative for the semiconductor company. While the chipmaker will still have to achieve some milestones, the 5-star analyst believes that this partnership is a solid confirmation of AMD’s AI roadmap and a proof of robust AI demand in general.
    Interestingly, Curtis recently raised his estimates for AMD following positive server checks. The analyst stated he was incrementally positive on AMD after his recent Asia trip, with the expectation of 500 basis points per year share gains in server CPUs with the company’s Venice platform.
    However, these recent checks hadn’t helped Curtis grasp anything from the original device manufacturers (ODMs) in terms of AI ramps. “The announcement of OpenAI as a lead customer with the potential for $80-100B in revenue across 6GW of compute through 2030 materially changes that outlook,” said Curtis.
    Curtis ranks No. 68 among more than 10,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 65% of the time, delivering an average return of 27.5%. See AMD ETF Exposure on TipRanks.

    Dell Technologies

    IT infrastructure and personal computing solutions provider Dell Technologies (DELL) announced an increase in its long-term financial targets during its analyst meeting on Oct. 7. The improved outlook is backed by demand from the ongoing AI wave.
    Following the event, Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated a buy rating on DELL stock and raised his price target to $170 from $160. Meanwhile, TipRanks’ AI Analyst has a “neutral” rating on DELL stock with a price target of $135.
    Rakesh noted management’s commentary about momentum in enterprise and sovereign AI, with strong demand signals over 12-18 months. The top-rated analyst highlighted that the company raised its compound annual growth rate target for revenue for fiscal 2026 to 2030 to the range of 7% to 9%, with non-GAAP EPS expected to rise by 15% or more.
    Furthermore, Rakesh noted that Dell’s fiscal 2026 AI server revenue estimate of $20 billion is in line with the Street’s consensus of $20.6 billion and reflects over 100% growth from $9.8 billion in the previous year. The company expects a 20% to 25% CAGR through Fiscal 2030, implying AI server revenue of $46 billion.
    However, the analyst believes that this growth outlook could be conservative, as the company is involved in all at-scale AI cluster deployments and leads in T2 CSP (tier 2 cloud service providers) and enterprise AI deployments with more than 3,000 customers.
    Rakesh ranks No. 81 among more than 10,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 65% of the time, delivering an average return of 24.3%. See Dell Technologies Hedge Fund Activity on TipRanks. More

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    Baby boomers still love their department stores. Here’s what they know that Gen Zers don’t

    Department store shopping may be falling out of style with today’s younger consumers, but there’s a reason older generations keep coming back.
    Whether it’s more generous return policies, promotional events or deep discounts, in-store shopping has plenty of perks.
    “There are some savings opportunities that you have when you shop in person that you probably wouldn’t have online,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org.

    A sign marks the location of a Nordstrom store in a shopping mall on March 20, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
    Scott Olson | Getty Images

    Department stores may be falling out of favor with today’s younger consumers, but there’s a reason older shoppers keep coming back.
    Whether it’s more generous return policies, promotional events or deep discounts, “if you can learn the benefits of what a store brings you, it creates a much greater experience,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor for market research firm Circana.

    For example, if a sales associate doesn’t have an item you want in stock, often they’ll get it and ship it to you at no cost, Cohen said — “that’s a big perk.”
    And yet, for younger shoppers, the mentality is “I don’t want to shop where my mother shops,” he said.

    ‘The tiktokification of retail’

    To be sure, at Macy’s and its subsidiary Bloomingdale’s, for example, the majority of customers are above the age of 45, according to new Consumer Edge data.
    Baby boomers are also much more likely to say in-store shopping is their most common way of making purchases, compared with Generation Z, or those born between 1997 and 2012, according to a Capital One report from March.
    “The younger generation grew up online,” Cohen said. “The challenge for department stores is to break that paradigm.”

    Social media plays a big role in how younger consumers make purchases, added Oliver Chen, a retail analyst at TD Cowen. It’s a trend he refers to as “the tiktokification of retail.”

    Read more CNBC personal finance coverage

    But while shopping primarily online may seem quick and convenient, it does come with extra hassles.
    It can mean relying on a practice known as “bracketing,” or ordering multiple products in different sizes or colors with the intention of keeping a few and returning the rest — adding more time and cost to each transaction.
    As online retailers try to keep those returns in check, most have rolled out stricter policies, including charging a return or restocking fee, according to a 2023 report from return management company Happy Returns.
    But even now, some department stores have held on to the more generous policies of yesteryear, with longer return windows or free shipping, and that has gone a long way when it comes to building brand loyalty.
    “There are some savings opportunities that you have when you shop in person that you probably wouldn’t have online,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org.

    ‘It’s a generational thing’

    Pedestrians carry Bloomingdale’s shopping bags while walking in New York.
    Craig Warga | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Although Bloomingdale’s shortened its return window to 30 days from 90 days last year, shoppers appreciate the other perks, according to Nancy Quinn, a personal stylist at the flagship store in New York City.
    “The biggest thing that Bloomingdale’s offers is customer service, that is really where we shine,” Quinn said.
    Quinn meets her clients, who are mostly women between the ages of 45 and 70, by appointment to help them find clothing for everyday or special occasions. She said she will often waive the shipping fee or send the purchases via messenger at no charge to locations in Manhattan. At times, she has even hand-delivered an item — also as a complimentary service — if the customer is local and under a time constraint.
    “Those are things that we try to do to make sure people know how much we appreciate the business,” Quinn said. At many high-end department stores, personal stylists work on commission and the assistance they provide is free for customers.

    Nancy Quinn is a personal stylist at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in New York City.
    Courtesy: Nancy Quinn | @qstylepr

    Quinn’s appointments book up especially quickly when Bloomingdale’s runs promotional events, such as “friends and family,” which is typically a 25% discount across many brands.
    Still, Quinn says younger customers are less likely to shop with her.
    “It’s a generational thing,” Quinn said. “A lot of younger people are shopping online.” Alternatively, “the women I am meeting are really ready to make an investment in themselves and their wardrobe.”

    Wealthy shoppers give stores a boost

    To be sure, U.S. department stores have been in a slump for years. Retailers like JCPenney and Macy’s have struggled to compete against online retailers and smaller brick-and-mortar stores that can better adapt to changing consumer preferences.
    “Small new brands that are emerging have just as much marketing power because the internet levels the playing field,” said Circana’s Cohen.
    However, department stores aren’t dead yet.
    Last year, Macy’s said it would close some of its namesake stores and open more Bloomingdale’s locations. According to the company’s quarterly report, Bloomingdale’s performed better because of its focus on the luxury brands that appeal to higher-income shoppers.  

    “Selective higher-end stores” are outpacing the competition, in part because “middle- and lower-income consumers have been disproportionately negatively impacted by the rising cost of necessities,” said TD Cowen’s Chen.
    In an interview last month, Macy’s CEO Tony Spring told CNBC that the consumer remains resilient and continues to spend on new items and fashion, despite concerns about tariffs.
    The challenge for department stores is to bring shoppers in, even as managing inventory and pricing gets increasingly difficult, Chen said. “It is ironic because everybody does love stores and humans want connection.”
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    Berkshire’s Japanese stock positions top $30 billion

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    (This is the Warren Buffett Watch newsletter, news and analysis on all things Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. You can sign up here to receive it every Friday evening in your inbox.)

    Berkshire’s Japanese stock positions top $30 billion

    The total value of the five Japanese “trading houses” in Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio has topped $30 billion in recent weeks, and Warren Buffett is apparently still buying.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    Berkshire had already been building its positions for twelve months when Buffett initially revealed the stakes of around 5% each on August 30, 2020, his 90th birthday.
    At that time, the total value of the five positions was roughly $6.3 billion.
    It’s up 392% to $31.0 billion today, with Berkshire buying more over the years and the stocks soaring between 227% and 551%.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    The total could be even higher because some additional purchases may not have been disclosed yet.
    We know Warren Buffett has been adding to what was already a tremendously successful investment, with public acknowledgements recently that two of the stakes have gone above 10%.

    One of the two, Mitsui, detailed this week exactly how many shares Berkshire owns.
    In a news release Thursday, the company relays word from Berkshire that its National Indemnity subsidiary owned 292,044,900 shares as of September 30.
    At Friday’s close, they’re valued at around $7.1 billion.
    It’s a 10.1% stake, making Nation Indemnity its biggest shareholder.
    It’s also an increase of 2.3% from the 285,401,400 shares, a 9.7% stake, reported in March.
    This week’s news release is a follow-up to one issued two weeks ago by Mitsui in which it said it had been “informed” by Berkshire that “they now hold 10% or more of the voting rights in Mitsui,” but had not been told the exact number of shares Berkshire owned.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    In late August, Mitsubishi reported it had been told by Berkshire that its holding had increased to 10.2% from 9.7% in March.
    We haven’t heard anything since March about Berkshire’s three other Japanese holdings, Itochu, Marubeni, and Sumitomo, but it would not be a surprise to learn those stakes have also gone above 10%.
    Back in 2020, Buffett promised the companies he would not raise Berkshire’s stakes above 10% without permission.  
    In his annual letter to shareholders released in February, however, Buffett wrote, “As we approached this limit the five companies agreed to moderately relax the ceiling.”
    As a result, he said, “Over time, you will likely see Berkshire’s ownership of all five increase somewhat.”

    In 2023, Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick he was first attracted to the stocks in 2020 because “they were selling at what I thought was a ridiculous price, particularly the price compared to the interest rates prevailing at that time.”
    This year, he told shareholders Berkshire will hold onto them for “50 years or forever.

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    BERKSHIRE’S TOP U.S. HOLDINGS – Oct. 10, 2025

    Arrows pointing outwards

    Berkshire’s top holdings of disclosed publicly traded stocks in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong, by market value, based on today’s closing prices.
    Holdings are as of June 30, 2025, as reported in Berkshire Hathaway’s 13F filing on August 14, 2025, except for:

    The full list of holdings and current market values is available from CNBC.com’s Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker.

    QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

    Please send any questions or comments about the newsletter to me at [email protected]. (Sorry, but we don’t forward questions or comments to Buffett himself.)
    If you aren’t already subscribed to this newsletter, you can sign up here.
    Also, Buffett’s annual letters to shareholders are highly recommended reading. There are collected here on Berkshire’s website.
    — Alex Crippen, Editor, Warren Buffett Watch More

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    Activist Irenic takes a stake in Atkore, urges company to consider a sale

    Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Company: Atkore (ATKR)
    Business: Atkore is a manufacturer of electrical products for construction and renovation markets, and safety and infrastructure products for the construction and industrial markets. The company’s segments include electrical and safety & infrastructure. The electrical segment manufactures products used in the construction of electrical power systems including conduit, cable and installation accessories. This segment serves contractors in partnership with the electrical wholesale channel. The safety & infrastructure segment designs and manufactures solutions including metal framing, mechanical pipe, perimeter security and cable management for the protection and reliability of critical infrastructure. These solutions are marketed to contractors, OEMs, and end-users. It manufactures products in 42 facilities and operates a total footprint of over 8.5 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space in eight countries.
    Stock Market Value: $2.09 billion ($61.97 per share)

    Stock chart icon

    Atkore stock performance year to date

    Activist: Irenic Capital Management

    Ownership: 2.5%
    Average Cost: n/a
    Activist Commentary: Irenic Capital was founded in October 2021 by Adam Katz, a former portfolio manager at Elliott Investment Management, and Andy Dodge, a former investment partner at Indaba Capital Management. Irenic invests in public companies and works collaboratively with firm leadership. Their activism has thus far focused on strategic activism, recommending spinoffs and sales of businesses.
    What’s happening
    On Sept. 30, Irenic announced that they have taken a 2.5% position in Atkore and are urging the company to pursue a potential sales process.
    Behind the scenes
    Atkore is a manufacturer of electrical products for construction and renovation markets, and safety and infrastructure products for the construction and industrial markets. Its electrical segment produces conduit, cable, and installation accessories for electrical power systems. The safety & infrastructure segment manufactures solutions including metal framing, mechanical pipe, perimeter security, and cable management systems. For years Atkore operated as part of a stable oligopoly — Hubbell, Eaton and nVent being among the other major domestic players.

    The pandemic catalyzed a surge in construction and, in turn, the demand for Atkore’s electrical products that are essential in the wiring processes. As a result, the company got aggressive in pricing and, from fiscal year 2019 to 2022, revenue grew from $1.9 billion to $3.9 billion, and EBITDA grew alongside from $300 million to $1.3 billion. However, as we have seen with many companies, demand ultimately normalized after Covid and revenue stopped growing. To make matters worse, Atkore’s aggressive pricing strategy backfired, as it invited import competition into a market that had long been protected by high freight costs and distributor preference for local supply. By raising prices too sharply, they effectively undermined their own market position. As a result, revenue has declined to $2.9 billion and EBITDA to $462 million.
    Moreover, despite a $1 billion decrease in revenue, SG&A has increased, and the company’s headcount has risen over 40%. On top of this is a misallocation of capital. Instead of using Covid-era windfalls to invest into the core electric business, management has pursued non-core ventures such as water infrastructure and fiber conduit for rural broadband, many of which projects never materialized. Now, a company that once traded at the top of the market around $190 per share in early 2024, has fallen all the way down to around $60 per share; and amid this underperformance, in late August, CEO Bill Waltz unexpectedly announced his retirement without a successor in place.
    This has all prompted Irenic Capital Management to announce a 2.5% position in Atkore. With no CEO, operational and capital challenges, and a poor market perception, Atkore is now at a critical inflection point where the board will have the biggest decision it will ever make that will determine the outcome for shareholders.
    The most important thing a board does is identify and retain a CEO and Atkore is now at that point. However, when a company faces similar issues to Atkore and is on the precipice of a serious restructuring, the board needs to make one more decision before hiring a new CEO – whether the company should remain independent or not. We would expect that Irenic would want one or two new directors identified by them on the board to take part in this analysis and decision, likely independent directors with relevant experience.
    Atkore currently trades at approximately 6.5x EBITDA but offers clear cost cutting and divesture opportunities that private equity may be able to more effectively execute. Thus, it is fair to assume a takeout at multiple turns above the company’s current valuation, potentially 8 to 10 times EBITDA. If a review of strategic alternatives concludes that an acquisition would happen in that range, then the board would need to use that as the benchmark against a standalone plan.
    The first step in a standalone plan would be identifying the right CEO who would be tasked with realigning the company’s operational and capital focus with its core electrical business, divesting non-core assets, cutting costs, and implementing pricing discipline. As Rocco says to Michael Corleone, this would be difficult, but not impossible. There is definitely at least $100 million of costs that could be cut from SG&A and the headwinds that caused the decline in revenue have now reversed, with pricing low enough to once again discourage importers even before the issuance of tariffs, which is a tailwind for Atkore.
    But it is worth repeating that none of this is possible without the right CEO and it is important to have the best possible board to make that decision, and this board has given shareholders the right to be worried. Currently, both the company’s chairman and former CEO come from water industry backgrounds, likely contributing to the strategic shift away from the company’s core.
    Moreover, Atkore recently announced a strategic review focused on non-core asset sales, including its water conduit business. While this might be the right decision, launching a strategic review without a permanent CEO seems rushed and poorly timed, and conducting such a review at this time without weighing the possibility of a full sale is even more perplexing. A refreshed board with directors who bring in relevant electrical industry expertise that can guide the CEO succession process, and the sale analysis would be an essential first step.
    Irenic has significant experience in strategic activism, identifying companies that are struggling in the public markets and helping implement spinoffs and sales of businesses. The nomination window for directors opened on Oct. 2 and we do not think it is a coincidence that Irenic went public with their campaign the day prior to the nomination window opening. We expect that they will be talking to the company about board composition. Ideally, shareholders would benefit most with the addition of a couple of new independent directors with relevant experience and having Irenic as an active shareholder to support the board in its analysis.
    Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist investments. More

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    Wealth requires long-term effort, says ‘The Art of Spending Money’ author: Getting rich quickly won’t cut it

    To effectively build wealth, we not only need to save but also spend wisely.
    In his new book, “The Art of Spending Money,” Morgan Housel talks about the tradeoffs we all face between immediate gratification and taking care of our future selves.
    “Wealth is always a two-part equation — it’s what you have minus what you want,” Housel told CNBC.

    Alistair Berg | Digitalvision | Getty Images

    When it comes to how we approach money, “no one is crazy,” Morgan Housel wrote in his bestselling 2020 book on building wealth, “The Psychology of Money.”
    And when it comes to the way we spend money, the decisions we make are just as personal, Housel, a partner at Collaborative Fund, writes in his new book, “The Art of Spending Money.”

    “It’s an art because it’s subjective,” Housel told CNBC.com in an interview ahead of the book’s Oct. 7 publication.
    Those decisions are crucial to building and maintaining wealth, he says: “Wealth is always a two-part equation — it’s what you have minus what you want.”

    More from Your Money:

    Here’s a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.

    How people aspire to spend their money is often strongly influenced by society, marketing or social media, Housel said.
    But those spending habits may not actually make you happy in life, he said. And what you value today may not be what you value 20 years from now.
    “I think the biggest aspect is that you have to figure it out for yourself,” Housel said.

    CNBC spoke with Housel about how to balance social expectations with personal values, and the questions we need to ask ourselves to better align our spending and values.
    The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

    ‘If nobody was watching, how could I live?’

    Morgan Housel, author of “The Psychology of Money” and partner at the Collaborative Fund.
    Morgan Housel

    Lorie Konish: You write about external versus internal benchmarks when it comes to spending. What are some examples of that?
    Morgan Housel: Buying a bigger house might make you happier if it makes it easier to have your friends and family over. But it’s the friends and family that are making you happy. That’s the internal benchmark. Spending money on a vacation might make you happier if it’s the only time that it allows you to detach from your daily life and from your job so that you can spend time with your friends and family. But you have to acknowledge that it is that that is making you happy.
    The external benchmark would be trying to get the attention, mainly of strangers. And a lot of people do that. I do this. It’s a very normal and natural thing, the assumption of, if I had this car, if I was wearing these clothes, if I lived in this house, if I posted these pictures on social media, other people will respect and admire me.
    It’s not that it is black-and-white false in that situation, it’s that we overestimate how much strangers are paying attention to you. Because the truth is, most of the time they are thinking about themselves. They’re thinking about their own car, their own clothes. And if they do look at you and say, “Wow, she has a really nice car,” they’re probably not admiring you. They’re imagining themselves in that car and daydreaming about the respect and admiration they would receive.
    LK: It’s like that choice between utility and status that you write about, with utility making your life better and status changing other people’s opinions of you. Should you be striving for one over the other?
    MH: I think we have to acknowledge that status is not a bad thing. I engage with it. We all do in our own way. If you were to dress exactly as you wanted to, that fits your personality, it might exclude you from certain social groups and job opportunities.
    So, having a certain level of status signaling is not bad. The point is, we overestimate the respect and admiration we’re going to get from it.
    If nobody was watching, how could I live? If nobody except maybe my immediate family could see the way that I was living, how would I choose to live? I would not want a fancy sports car. I would probably want a nice pickup truck that gave me a lot of utility. I would not want a house in the most exclusive, expensive zip code. I would want a house with a beautiful view, wherever that might be. If nobody was watching, I would just want to do X, Y and Z that really feeds my soul and makes me happy.
    The knee-jerk reaction is to lean more towards the social signaling side, because so much of the modern world is geared towards that. It’s always a balance. It’s just that our balance tends to be in the wrong direction.

    ‘What actually matters in terms of building wealth’

    LK: You write that FOMO, the fear of missing out, is one of the most dangerous financial reactions to exist. How can we avoid that?
    MH: If I see somebody getting wealthier, that’s only a small part of what’s going on behind the scenes. And there’s a great quote from [entertainer] Jimmy Carr where he says, “Everyone is jealous of what you’ve got, no one is jealous of how you got it.” And so even if you can see somebody getting wealthier, you can’t see the quality of their relationships, you can’t see their health, you can’t see their confidence. You can’t see all these other things that make an enormous impact and the quality and the happiness of their life.
    What actually matters in terms of building wealth over the course of your life is not how quickly you got rich this year, it’s how long you can keep your compounding going. If you can earn nearly average returns for an above-average period of time, you can do extraordinarily well. The normal intuition among even very smart people is that if you want to get rich, you need to do it fast, very quickly. And it is not intuitive, even if it is accurate and right, that the way to actually get rich is to be merely average for a very long period of time.
    That’s why FOMO can be so dangerous. It pushes us towards the wrong end of the equation. It pushes us towards getting rich fast, whereas I think the much more durable way to actually build a big fortune is to get rich slow.
    LK: We’re constantly making spending decisions that will influence our futures versus what we enjoy today. How do we strike a balance there?
    MH: It’s never as simple as, spend your money today, live for today, like the YOLO attitude. And it’s never as simple as, save for tomorrow, you need to compound your money and build your wealth. It’s always just a balance of, what are you going to regret in the future?
    Everyone’s propensity for regret is going to be different. Yours is different from mine, and vice versa. Looking back at your life at some point in the future, whether that’s a year from now or 50 years from now, what are you going to look back on and say, I wish I did that differently?
    This was an idea I got from Daniel Kahneman, the late psychologist, where he said if you want to be a good investor, you need a very well-calibrated sense of your future regret. Volatility in the stock market is only a risk to the extent that you’re going to regret it at some point in the future. If you ask most investors today, “How much do you regret the fact that you experienced the bear market of 2011?”, they’re going to be like, “What? I forgot that even existed. I don’t even think about it anymore.” So it wasn’t actually a risk.

    ‘Wealth is always a two-part equation’

    LK: You write about the parable of the Mexican fisherman, who works only a few hours a day. He then meets an American businessman who advises him to work hard for 10 years and invest and grow his business so that he can then retire and work for a few hours a day. The irony is that he already has that lifestyle. We have this concept of always needing more, but when do you have enough? And how do you get comfortable with that?
    MH: I want to live in a society in which the vast majority of people wake up every morning and say, “This is not enough,” because that’s the seed of innovation. That’s the seed of progress. The reason that I think my kids and grandkids will live in a much better world than you and I do today is because they and their peers will wake up every morning and say, “It’s not enough. I need to go solve more problems, build more wealth.”
    This is not a societal problem. This is a societal benefit. But at the individual level, it can create a situation where your dreams are always one step away and you never get any kind of fulfillment in life.
    Wealth is always a two-part equation — it’s what you have minus what you want.
    Almost all of our emphasis and effort in the financial world goes towards the former, how can you have more? How can you build more? I think the second half of that equation is actually more important part, because some sense of control over it. I have no control over what the stock market’s going to do this year, but I do have control over what I want and my ability to be a little bit more content.

    When people daydream about having a bigger house or a nicer car, by and large what they are doing is they are imagining themselves being content with those things in the future. You imagine yourself in that house saying, “This is all I want. I don’t need anything else.”
    So a lot of times when people are chasing happiness with money, part of the problem is that happiness is always a fleeting emotion. No one is happy for extended periods of time. If I tell you a funny joke, you don’t laugh for 10 years, you laugh for 30 seconds.
    What we’re going for is contentment, just getting to a point where we say, “I’m good and I appreciate what we have.” It’s much easier said than done. A lot of my material aspirations are to impress strangers. And when I remind myself that no one’s paying attention, then those desires tend to drop. No one’s thinking about you as much as you are.
    When you come to terms with that, you can use your money for something that is actually way more valuable to you, which is independence. More