Thank you for sending in questions and feedback!

Every Saturday I respond to reader emails in the AskDavis@paradigmpressgroup.com inbox.

Here are my responses to this week’s emails:

What happens if, while sleeping or at work, my Tesla Cybercab drives off the road or otherwise has a mishap that kills a paying passenger? Will I be able to get insurance for that? How much would that cost if I could even get the coverage? Who gets sued for this? Likely me. – Douglas

These are some of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding autonomous vehicles.

My expectation is that Tesla will require specialized commercial insurance as part of the program. I have a hard time believing Tesla would ask owners to assume unlimited liability for accidents caused by the vehicle.

That said, there will almost certainly be lawsuits whenever a serious accident occurs.

If an owner failed to maintain the vehicle or ignored a safety recall, they could very well share responsibility. On the other hand, if the crash was caused by a defect in Tesla's autonomous driving system, Tesla will likely be responsible.

I was doing a little research yesterday and read about Swarmer (SWMR), a new IPO about 5-6 months old now. It's not making money as far as I can tell and the last quarterly earnings report was bad in my opinion. Have you looked into this company or are you considering adding to your 10-20 year portfolio? – Michael

Hi, Michael. I covered Swarmer (SWMR) in a previous edition of Smash/Trash/Stash.

I like the long-term theme, but this is a highly speculative stock.

Swarmer develops software that allows hundreds of drones to operate together as a coordinated swarm – a capability that's becoming increasingly important as militaries around the world invest heavily in autonomous warfare.

In fact, the company's technology has already seen real-world use in Ukraine.

That said, the company is new to public markets. It's trading at an expensive valuation, isn't profitable, has been extremely volatile, and insider lockups are opening soon.

So for now, I'm keeping Swarmer on my watchlist.

Thanks for providing an investment forum, although you seem to be doing most of the discussing... LOL! What's your take on Nvidia's recent capital raises, vendor financing, credit guarantees, and rapidly growing investments in private AI companies? – Selina

Great question. Nvidia is really just doing what telecom equipment manufacturers, airplane manufacturers, and even department stores have done for decades – helping customers finance purchases they otherwise couldn't afford.

In Nvidia's case, that means equity investments, vendor financing, and credit guarantees to accelerate the AI buildout. If customers can build more data centers, they buy more Nvidia GPUs.

Of course, there's a tradeoff. Vendor financing increases Nvidia's financial exposure if a customer runs into trouble.

But given Nvidia’s $80 billion in liquid assets and its $200 billion annual run rate in operating cash flow, I think Jensen Huang is making a calculated bet that accelerating AI adoption is worth the added risk.

What is the best plan to protect your investment and income once the market turns downward? I keep hearing that it’s coming at some point. How do we plan for a similar 2008 scenario, should it arise? – John

Great question, John. First, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about predictions. I've been hearing "another 2008 is coming" every year since... well... 2008.

Instead, focus on building a portfolio that can survive a downturn.

For me, that means owning high-quality companies with strong balance sheets and long-term growth prospects. When markets fall, those are the businesses I want to own more of – not sell.

All things being equal, which they are not of course, is there any advantage to buying say $1,000 worth of $5.00 stock over buying $1000 of a $700 stock? In other words, is there any inherent potential gain either way other than the simple math? Will a cheaper stock be more likely to show increased value? – John

Great question, John. If you open a finance textbook, the answer is no. A $5 stock has no inherent advantage over a $700 stock.

What matters is the value of the entire company. Not the price of a single share.

That said, I do think there's a psychological element.

Retail investors are naturally drawn to lower-priced stocks because buying 200 shares of a $5 company often feels better than buying one or two shares of a $700 company, even if the dollar amount invested is exactly the same.

This is one of the reasons companies often announce stock splits. In theory, nothing changes except the number of shares outstanding. In practice, lower share prices can make a stock feel more accessible and attract additional investor interest.

Thanks for the drones reply in last week’s Q&A. To slightly disagree… AI chips are at about 25M oz. annually while drones are at about 300 grams each. 10 million drones is about 100M oz. – Chuck

Thanks for the follow-up, Chuck. I'd double-check the source on the 300 grams of silver per drone figure.

The math works out to around 10 ounces of silver per drone, which would mean hundreds of dollars' worth of silver in each aircraft.

Meanwhile, the AI buildout is millions of GPUs, thousands of data centers, massive substations, transmission equipment, power systems, and the electrical grid needed to support all of it.

Important Update: ​​The Million Mission website is live!

I constantly get questions regarding where to find previous alerts. Well, The Million Mission website is live and you can check out archived alerts here.

Portfolio Overview

Here’s what I’m currently holding in The Million Mission portfolio:

Fannie Mae (FNMA) – 3,500 shares @ $6.86/share

Uber Technologies (UBER) – 200 shares @ $80/share

Nvidia (NVDA) – 200 shares @ $179/share

Micron (MU) – 50 shares @ $935/share

Special Shoutouts

Thank you to those who emailed in kind words and thoughtful comments.

Thanks for being along for the Mission.

Please keep the emails coming.