At home in Southern Germany, the passionate stock exchange expert has been accompanying the capital markets for about twenty years. With a soft spot for smaller companies, he is constantly on the lookout for exciting investment stories. That it depends thereby less on large names, but on the future potential and whether the market also recognizes these perspectives, was one of its first learnings at the stock exchange.
On these pages, Nico examines current events at listed companies and takes a closer look at companies that are traded under the radar of the market, in addition to well-known securities.
In order to be able to take advantage of speculative opportunities on the stock exchange, Nico not only focuses on a balanced asset allocation of defensive and opportunity-oriented securities, but also on an intact risk management. "In addition to position size and entry in several tranches, investors should also develop a sense of timing and get to know a stock better before investing," says the columnist.
Commented by Nico Popp
Commented by Nico Popp on January 22nd, 2026 | 06:55 CET
AI and the uranium comeback: How American Atomics is becoming the winner of the energy transition and what that has to do with Meta Platforms and Infineon
The era of artificial intelligence (AI) is not only an era of enormous productivity gains, but above all an era of infrastructure and gigantic energy consumption. While the last decade was dominated by software, the future will be all about hardware. Generative AI and the path toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) are transforming data from an intangible asset into a massive consumer of power. Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimate that investments by major US tech companies in energy infrastructure could reach the astronomical sum of over USD 500 billion by 2027. This new reality is forcing a two-pronged energy strategy: on the one hand, the massive expansion of storage and efficiency technologies, and on the other, the inevitable return to the only CO2-free energy source that reliably provides base load – nuclear power. We explain what tech titan Meta Platforms and chip manufacturer Infineon have to do with this development and why American Atomics is considered a highly speculative but strategically brilliant bet on the uranium comeback.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 21st, 2026 | 07:10 CET
Nuclear fusion fantasy at Almonty, Chevron, Cenovus Energy: Why tungsten is the key to infinite energy
Until now, when investors thought of tungsten, they usually pictured hardened steel for armor-piercing ammunition or high-performance drill bits for industrial use. But this perception is on the verge of changing fundamentally. The latest physical breakthroughs in nuclear fusion, particularly at the Chinese experimental reactor EAST, often referred to as the "artificial sun", are placing the high-melting metal at the center of an energy revolution. While oil multinationals such as Chevron and Cenovus Energy are managing the present with record profits, a new market is emerging in the background for materials that must withstand the most extreme conditions. In this scenario, Almonty Industries is evolving from a traditional mining company into a strategic technology enabler – after all, there can be no fusion energy without tungsten. For investors willing to look beyond the fossil fuel world, this opens up an opportunity that goes far beyond cyclical commodity trading.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 21st, 2026 | 07:00 CET
SGS Canada confirms world-class results: Why Power Metallic Mines is becoming indispensable for Mercedes-Benz, Ford & Co. after a metallurgical breakthrough
There are events that change everything—turning points where hopes become certainty. Often, these shifts take place away from the headlines, in laboratories and testing facilities, where the feasibility of the future is decided. For Power Metallic Mines, such a moment has arrived now. The recently published metallurgical test results for the Lion Zone are far more than just technical data – they are proof that the Company holds an asset capable of sustainably securing supply chains for automotive giants such as Mercedes-Benz and Ford. At a time when the global economy is desperately searching for stable sources of copper and platinum group metals, Power Metallic Mines is now delivering the hard currency of the mining industry: validated extraction rates at world-class levels. For investors, this virtually eliminates the most significant risk faced by an explorer – the question of technical feasibility – and opens the door to a fundamental revaluation of the stock.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 20th, 2026 | 07:05 CET
Antimony shock for Airbus and BASF: China's export restrictions make Antimony Resources a strategic winner
2025 will go down in economic history as the year when a largely unknown semi-metal sent global industry into a state of alert. Antimony, long overshadowed by popular battery metals such as lithium and cobalt, suddenly emerged as one of the most strategically critical and supply-constrained metals. Aggressive export restrictions imposed by China, which historically controlled over 80% of global processing capacity, have put Western supply chains under significant pressure. What market observers refer to as the "antimony shock" is no longer a theoretical threat, but a harsh economic reality. According to industry analyses, market participants were already talking about significant supply deficits in 2025 – estimates are in the high five-digit ton range. We analyze the market and present a potential beneficiary.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 19th, 2026 | 07:25 CET
Armored steel meets swarm intelligence: Why Rheinmetall and Hensoldt must retool - and why NEO Battery Materials could become a hidden winner of the drone war
The war in Ukraine has shattered military doctrines that were considered irrefutable in NATO headquarters for decades within a matter of months. The shocking realization: even the most modern battle tank is an easy target for a drone that costs less than a tank of fuel for the colossus. We are witnessing a tectonic shift in warfare away from classic weapons such as tanks and howitzers toward asymmetric threats that are decided by software, sensors, and, above all, range. In this new environment, established defense giants such as Rheinmetall and Hensoldt must reinvent themselves to avoid becoming obsolete. But while these corporations are slow to turn their tankers around, NEO Battery Materials is positioning itself as an agile player at the critical interface of modern warfare: batteries for drone swarms, independent of Chinese supply chains.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 19th, 2026 | 07:15 CET
The Netflix of car washing: How Mister Car Wash is reinventing the market, and WashTec is sounding the charge against Dover
The North American vehicle care market is currently undergoing a development that, in its radical consequences, is reminiscent of the transformation of the software industry ten years ago. The old model of weather-dependent individual car washes, where revenue falls when it rains, is being replaced by the predictable profitability of the "subscription economy." This trend is being driven by the phenomenal success of the US chain Mister Car Wash, which has proven that Americans are willing to sign up for a monthly subscription for clean cars, similar to streaming services. But this gold rush is putting massive technological pressure on gas station operators and independent car washes. They have to upgrade to stay competitive. In this battle for infrastructure supremacy, German hidden champion WashTec is now challenging US market leader Dover Corporation on its home turf. The Augsburg-based company supplies precisely the digital technology that enables the broader market to copy Mister Car Wash's successful model – and could thus shift the balance of power in the industry in the long term.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 16th, 2026 | 07:20 CET
Green Capital 2.0: How RE Royalties is closing the gap between Hannon Armstrong and Altius
The end of cheap money is forcing wind and solar park developers into a new reality: traditional banks are withdrawing from risk financing, but the investment pressure for the energy transition remains high. Specialized royalty financiers are stepping into this vacuum. While established players such as Hannon Armstrong and Altius Renewable Royalties already dominate this segment, the still largely undiscovered player RE Royalties now offers investors the opportunity to be at the beginning of a similar growth curve. The massive gap between developers' capital requirements and what banks have to offer is the ideal breeding ground for this business model.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 16th, 2026 | 07:00 CET
Trash to gas: How A.H.T. Syngas, EQTEC, and 2G Energy are making companies self-sufficient
German industry is undergoing one of its toughest trials. The "trilemma" described by analysts - volatile energy prices, rising CO2 taxes, and the physical uncertainty of the power grids - has driven production costs to a level that poses a massive threat to competitiveness. While politicians debate hydrogen pipelines that will take years to complete, innovators are already creating a new reality: decentralized energy supply from waste materials. Three players are emerging in this booming sector, working together to solve the puzzle of energy self-sufficiency. While CHP market leader 2G Energy provides the hardware for a green future with its engines and British supplier EQTEC validates gasification technology worldwide, Germany's A.H.T. Syngas Technology closes the crucial gap for small and medium-sized enterprises. With compact plants, A.H.T. transforms industrial waste into the clean gas that keeps the engines running – regardless of Putin's war or price jumps on the Leipzig energy exchange EEX.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 15th, 2026 | 07:25 CET
Double returns: How CHAR Technologies is closing the gap between ArcelorMittal's coal hunger and Montauk's gas profits
We are witnessing a historic turning point for global heavy industry. We are currently seeing not only a technological evolution, but also a fundamental revaluation of industrial assets, driven by two parallel megatrends: the decarbonization of primary steel production and the monetary revaluation of waste streams for energy security. While regulatory constraints are forcing steel giants such as ArcelorMittal to reinvent their blast furnaces, and specialists such as Montauk Renewables are demonstrating the enormous valuations possible in the renewable natural gas (RNG) market, CHAR Technologies is positioning itself at the intersection of these two worlds. With its proprietary high-temperature pyrolysis technology, the Canadian company provides the answer to both questions at once: it produces biochar for the steel industry and RNG for the energy grid – from a single waste source.
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Commented by Nico Popp on January 15th, 2026 | 07:00 CET
The USD 88 shock: Are UBS and Citigroup forcing the silver market to its knees, or are we witnessing the ultimate short squeeze? Opportunities at Silver North Resources
The year is still young, and a drama is unfolding on the precious metals markets that could go down in history. The price of silver has shattered historical resistance levels and is trading above the USD 88 per ounce mark. What was long dismissed as the wild fantasy of "gold bugs" is now a harsh reality: a sudden decoupling of physical scarcity from paper-based pricing mechanisms. As the spot market explodes, all eyes are on the big players in the financial world. Rumors are growing louder that major banks such as UBS and Citigroup may have gotten themselves into dangerous trouble through massive short positions. In this toxic environment of mistrust and panic, investors are seeking refuge in unencumbered assets - and finding it in junior explorers such as Silver North Resources, which owns exactly what the banks are said to have shorted: physical silver in the ground, high-grade and safely located in Canada.
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