February 27th, 2026 | 07:25 CET
New Momentum for Gold & Silver, SAP, Nvidia and PayPal – Is Lahontan Gold on the Path to Becoming a Cash Generator?
The volatility in the precious metals sector is due to a number of factors, all of which are contributing to higher prices. Over the past three weeks, banks were briefly able to catch their breath with silver prices hovering around USD 75. However, since the unrest in Mexico began, the market has been sensing a new shortage, this time politically induced. Gold can benefit from this scenario, having just reached a new all-time high of USD 5,600 in January. Following this strong rally, a textbook consolidation down to USD 4,850 took place. Yesterday, the USD 5,200 level was seen again, and technical analysts consider temporary spikes toward USD 7,500 a possible overshooting target. Investment banks have also significantly raised their estimates, with Goldman Sachs at USD 5,400, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale at USD 6,000, and JPMorgan at USD 6,500. Although they have been able to predict the gold market well in recent years, they still see room for improvement with the current "de-dollarization." At the same time, overheated tech stocks appear to be in need of further correction. For investors, this is a time for profitable reallocations.
time to read: 5 minutes
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Author:
André Will-Laudien
ISIN:
LAHONTAN GOLD CORP | CA50732M1014 , SAP SE O.N. | DE0007164600 , PAYPAL HDGS INC.DL-_0001 | US70450Y1038
Table of contents:
"[...] We quickly learned that the tailings are high-grade, often as high as 20 grams of gold per tonne; because they are produced by artisanal miners, local miners who use outdated technology for gold production. [...]" Ryan Jackson, CEO, Newlox Gold Ventures Corp.
Author
André Will-Laudien
Born in Munich, he first studied economics and graduated in business administration at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in 1995. As he was involved with the stock market at a very early stage, he now has more than 30 years of experience in the capital markets.
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Lahontan Gold – Reactivation of a major Nevada story
The US state of Nevada is a place where many ounces of gold and silver have been mined historically. By the end of 2024, Nevada had produced a total of more than 225 million ounces of gold from its deposits, along with a considerable amount of silver, which earned the state the nickname "Silver State." Taken together, this long-standing output shapes Nevada's economic and geological significance in the global commodities sector. The largest mine in the area is Nevada Gold Mines LLC, which has been jointly operated by Newmont and Barrick since 2019. In its first full year of operation, the mega-complex produced around 4.1 million ounces of gold, making it one of the largest single producers in the industry.
About 450 km away is the Santa Fe property, owned by Canadian explorer Lahontan Gold. Led by CEO Kimberly Ann, the company focuses its activities on the mineral-rich Walker Lane in the southwest of the state. Recent drill results from the West Santa Fe section underscore that Lahontan can now actively confirm and expand the historical potential. Particularly striking is the high proportion of oxidized mineralization, which already begins directly at surface and thus enables favorable mining methods. Such zones are very important for economic viability, as they allow for low strip ratios and simple processing techniques, meaning that the total cost per ounce (AISC) remains low. The continuity of grades across multiple drill holes also indicates a robust geological system.
West Santa Fe also benefits from its proximity to the Santa Fe Mine, which is the company's central development project. This spatial connection opens up synergies in infrastructure, permits, and later production processes. The Santa Fe Mine itself has extensive historical production, making reactivation an opportune move. Lahontan's focus is on the step-by-step advancement of existing projects, flanked by systematic exploration of satellite areas. The most recently reported grades of 0.82 to 5.75 g/t of gold over an extensive corridor confirmed very good, mineable grades near surface.
Kimberly Ann, CEO and President, comments: "The recently released drill results confirm the northern extension of the precious metal mineralization at West Santa Fe and, in conjunction with the results of other Lahontan drill holes, now confirm gold and silver mineralization with a surface extent of 500 by 350 m. Based on drilling to date, the thickness of the mineralization varies between approximately 35 and nearly 60 m, with the potential for this thickness to increase due to folding."
Against the backdrop of rising gold prices, Lahontan's strategy is now gaining additional leverage. Major producers such as Barrick and Newmont are under pressure to replace their reserves without letting their cost structure get out of hand. Projects such as Santa Fe and West Santa Fe meet this requirement profile exactly. Lahontan Gold is thus developing not only into an independent developer, but also into a potential takeover candidate in the ongoing consolidation process in industry. With the latest news, the share price rose from CAD 0.28 to CAD 0.45 within a few days, and the current market capitalization has risen to over CAD 150 million. It appears that some investors have already sharpened their pencils. The rally is likely to continue thanks to the excellent drilling results.
IIF presenter Lyndsay Malchuck takes a closer look at the investment highlight Lahontan Gold and interviews CEO and founder Kimberly Ann.
SAP versus NVIDIA – Cloud software in the shadow of artificial intelligence
From gold to high-tech – from major to minor. A new refrain is currently echoing through the trading floors: "Out of the cloud, into AI infrastructure." The current discrepancy between the two topics is clearly illustrated by the example of SAP versus NVIDIA. Although SAP delivered solid overall results in Q4 with revenue of around EUR 9.68 billion, revenue growth remained low at 3.3%. Cloud growth was disappointing, causing the share price to correct from EUR 208 to EUR 162. Analysts criticize that although the cloud order backlog continued to increase, it is progressing much more slowly than previously forecast. In contrast, NVIDIA reported record Q4 revenue of USD 68.1 billion this week, representing an annual increase of 73%. With a valuation of nearly USD 5 trillion, it is the most valuable company in the world, generating approximately 91% of its revenue in its data center segment. NVIDIA has been the global market leader in equipping such large data centers with its extremely fast chip architectures for some time. Overall, growth of 75% was reported compared to the previous year, and a further forecast increase for 2026 was made. This was the news stock market traders wanted to hear, and they pushed NVIDIA's share price back up to USD 196, still around 10% short of its all-time high of USD 215 in October. So while SAP is down 38% over 12 months, NVIDIA is up 49% even at this high level. This is astonishing in a valuation comparison, as NVIDIA's 2026 revenue is valued at a factor of 22.5, while SAP's is only valued at 4.7. The P/E ratios are 41 and 22, respectively. At present, the AI ecosystem is clearly outperforming established software providers – whoever positions themselves correctly here will be king!
PayPal – Now Stripe is knocking on the door
Another piece of news from the FinTech sector. PayPal, which has been under pressure for some time, appears to be the focus of potential takeover interest. The unlisted company Stripe is mentioned in this context. According to current market rumors, negotiations are still at an early stage and an actual purchase is not yet on the table. After a 50% drop by the end of January, PayPal shares made an impressive comeback with a 25% rise to around USD 48. PayPal is no longer highly valued after the correction, as the 2026 P/E ratio fell from 14 to 8.7. Based on expected revenues, the current market capitalization of USD 45 billion represents only 1.5 times sales. This is a bargain for the still privately held US-Irish fintech company Stripe, a global platform for financial products used by start-ups and large corporations such as Amazon. With an off-market valuation of approximately USD 160 billion, it is one of the most valuable private fintech companies. PayPal would likely not offer Stripe any technological advantages, but it does have a network of over 430 million private customers and merchants, which generates annual revenues of over USD 34 billion. However, the Californian company is struggling with the fact that, due to the limited technological depth of its platform, it is losing large market shares to tech giants such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other payment providers. Nevertheless, PayPal is still very interesting in terms of valuation.
The stock market currently loves three themes: commodities, defense, and high-tech; however, the focus shifts from week to week. Currently, high-tech news is dominating again, pushing the recently favored defense stocks into the background. However, supply chains and supply shortages for raw materials are a major factor for both sectors. Investors should therefore keep a close eye on all trends. Gold and silver are likely to make new leaps in such a fragile environment. Lahontan Gold is likely only at the beginning of a pronounced upward valuation.
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