I have no idea if it's lucky or smart, on topic or off . . .

Me neither, but thanks for noticing! My fraternity of blind squirrels celebrates every acorn, even if it's gone by morning.

Lumen reports Q2 earnings today after the close. If Mr. Market pays attention to the current numbers, the recent gains may prove short-lived. If he focuses on guidance, they might continue. Conference call at 5 p.m. EDT.

Today's jump followed a company news release after yesterday's close announcing $5 billion in new business, with $7 billion more in deal talks, based on changes in the fiber supply/demand balance owing to AI-related data flows. The news release made no mention of the time period these deals cover, although it did reference a five-year plan to double Lumen's intercity capacity.

ir.lumen.com - AI Demand Drives Billion in New Business and Massive Expansion of the Internet

It's been 40 years since Phil Anschutz began laying fiber optic cable along railroad rights of way, which became the basis of Qwest Communications, which merged with U.S. West, one of the baby Bells, and was eventually acquired by CenturyLink, which merged with Level 3 to form Lumen. For most of that time, the value of fiber infrastructure has been overestimated, with a lot of it remaining dark. It's possible the massive data flows required by AI will finally justify all that expense. If so, Lumen might rise from the dead.

Even after these recent jumps, Lumen shares would constitute a cheap way for Berkshire to invest in digital infrastructure, assuming its financial analysis suggests recent developments make the onerous debt burden less threatening.