Oct 9, 2026 · 34 min
Persistent AI agents challenge cable stocks and growth investing
Spooky Agents, Cable’s Second Death, and Stock Picks
The episode connects always-on AI systems and shifting media habits with the investment case for durable global growth companies.
- 1Persistent AI agents could access personal data, act continuously, and complete transactions through connected services and payment rails.
- 2Cable stocks face pressure as changing media habits and streaming reshape a group already trading among the S&P 500’s cheapest.
- 3Paulina McPadden favors durable growth in TSMC, Ferrari, Hermes, and Shopify, where scale, scarcity, or complexity support long-term returns.
Don't miss
Paulina McPadden links Shopify’s commerce infrastructure to a future in which AI agents increasingly conduct transactions.
The brief
Jack Howe and Jared Woodard examine why cable stocks have become one of the S&P 500’s cheapest groups as audiences shift toward streaming and other media habits.
Persistent agents differ from ordinary chatbots by operating continuously, connecting to personal information, and potentially handling tasks such as reservations and purchases.
The practical promise is also unsettling: automated bots can compete for scarce restaurant reservations, turning convenience into a contest between software and human behavior.
Baillie Gifford portfolio manager Paulina McPadden explains why concentrated global-growth investing demands both a large opportunity and conviction in its durability.
Her favored holdings—TSMC, Ferrari, Hermes, and Shopify—span chip manufacturing, luxury scarcity, and commerce infrastructure as AI reshapes demand and distribution.
What was said on this episode
28 statements · 18 positive · 5 negative · 5 neutral
Cable stocks are currently among the cheapest S&P 500 groups.
“These stocks are now about the cheapest group in the S&P 500 index.”
Listen at 3:01
Cable stocks should not be expected to repeat Micron’s rebound.
“Do not count on it. This is a totally different situation.”
Listen at 3:36
Fiber broadband is technically superior to cable broadband in several respects.
“fiber optic broadband is just better technically than cable broadband in a lot of ways.”
Listen at 5:58
Fiber availability is expected to exceed 90% of households by 2030.
“It's expected to top 90%. by 2030.”
Listen at 6:37
Fixed wireless service has rapidly reached 14% market share.
“That's grabbed a quick 14% market share.”
Listen at 6:56
Fear of Meta’s Muse pushed Planet Fitness and Sirius XM shares lower.
“Musephobia helped send shares of Planet Fitness and Sirius XM Holding sharply lower.”
Listen at 8:20
Muse can reduce travel costs through persistent automated shopping.
“Muse is pretty good at chiseling down travel costs through tireless robo-shopping.”
Listen at 8:40
Muse may cause Schwab customers to move idle checking-account funds elsewhere.
“And Charles Schwab fell because the agent might coax its users to take that money that's sitting in a checking account, earning 0.01% and move it somewhere else.”
Listen at 8:44
Persistent agents do not merely predict the next token in a response.
“A persistent agent does not do that.”
Listen at 11:27
Persistent agents select tools or subtasks to pursue assigned goals.
“What it does is ask which tool it should use or subtask it should perform to get closer to a goal that you have assigned it.”
Listen at 11:33
Persistent agents can continue working after users log off.
“the agent can keep working even after you've logged off.”
Listen at 11:43
Persistent agents can make phone calls using synthesized voices.
“It can even make phone calls on your behalf using a synthesized voice.”
Listen at 12:40
The U.S. market trades at approximately 22 times earnings.
“The U.S. market, you're paying somewhere around 22 times earnings”
Listen at 21:01
Markets outside the U.S. trade at approximately 14 times earnings.
“Everywhere else, you're paying, let's see, 14 times earnings.”
Listen at 21:08
Bailey Gifford generally avoids investing in very young companies.
“we don't tend to buy companies when they're super young”
Listen at 22:57
Early-stage companies are difficult to evaluate for future success.
“it's very hard to tell in an early stage company whether it's going to be successful.”
Listen at 23:04
Chip-manufacturing complexity will continue increasing.
“the level of complexity in chip manufacturing is only going up”
Listen at 24:26
TSMC’s scaled, high-yield chip manufacturing cannot be replicated quickly.
“actually doing it at scale for thousands, hundreds of thousands of wafers per month, consistently at high yields to be able to deliver a price that your customers are willing to pay. That's not something that you can just replicate overnight.”
Listen at 24:52
Companies are increasing AI usage because they receive returns from it.
“the rate at which these companies are using AI continues to go up because they see the return”
Listen at 25:51
Overinvestment in fiber capacity enabled Amazon and Google to use it cheaply and grow.
“the overinvestment in fiber capacity allowed the flourishing of companies like Amazon and Google that were then able to use that capacity cheaply.”
Listen at 27:20
An AI bubble would create infrastructure supporting future growth.
“when we do see a bubble in AI, you're going to see something similar”
Listen at 27:30
Hermes may still exist 100–200 years from now.
“If I was going to pick a single company in the portfolio that I think may well still be around in 100 or 200 years time, it's probably Hermes.”
Listen at 28:27
Compounding returns at 12% for 50 years produces exceptional results.
“If you can compound, 12%, but do that for 50 years. That's tremendous.”
Listen at 29:09
Shopify has maintained take rates around 1.4–1.5% while adding services.
“they've kept take rates at about. 1.4 1.5 percent forever while continually adding new services and new capabilities”
Listen at 30:01
Shopify integrates selling across online marketplaces and physical stores.
“Shopify enables all of that for you in one sort of package.”
Listen at 30:39
Shopify increasingly lets merchants create stores through AI conversation.
“he can just have a conversation with an AI chatbot and it does it for him.”
Listen at 30:51
Shopify may gain a larger role as AI agents conduct commerce.
“I think there's a chance that that is the case.”
Listen at 31:26
AI agents require reliable ground-truth data to work well.
“they need an actual source of ground truth.”
Listen at 32:05
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.