Analysts applying "Rule One Investing" note that EPS growth stability is key for 2024 picks. For instance, Nvidia’s trailing twelve-month EPS surged 80%, making it a top Rule One candidate, despite Nasdaq volatility hovering at 17 VIX points. That brings us all the way back around to Trump’s semi-declared war with Venezuela, or at least with drug cartels that, according to Pete Hegseth and other profoundly unreliable narrators, are unofficial arms of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s corrupt regime. Venezuela is an economic basket case with a smaller population than Texas and virtually no functioning civil society. Even former leftist allies like Lula are no longer eager to defend Maduro, who blatantly rigged the last presidential election (and perhaps the one before that). So you might imagine that even in the demon-haunted MAGA imagination, there’s no possible way to turn Venezuela into a military threat to the U.S. But you would be wrong. Mohnish Pabrai , a prominent value investor who manages approximately $900 million in assets through his Pabrai Investment Funds, has identified a simple mathematical concept he believes should be fundamental education for every investor: the Rule of 72. Latest EPS forecasts for Microsoft and Apple remain bullish, matching "Rule One Investing" emphasis on predictable growth compounded over decades, even as tech valuations moderate.