Dear reader,
Most investors wait for the government press conference.
I follow the money before the cameras show up.
And the money trail now leads straight to one tiny nickel stock.
Its U.S. platform has already been selected for $135.4 million in disclosed federal grants: $114.8 million tied to a domestic processing facility and another $20.6 million supporting exploration in Minnesota and Michigan.
That is not a prediction. That’s money already disclosed.
The next step is my forecast: I believe Washington could eventually go further and take an equity stake.
It may never happen. But the U.S. has already shown it is willing to put taxpayer capital directly into strategic mineral companies. And this company now controls the only primary nickel mine operating in America.
Meanwhile, Tesla has locked in a six-year supply agreement, and America remains dangerously exposed to foreign nickel supply.
Russia, China, and Indonesia have leverage because the United States allowed its domestic pipeline to wither.
This little company is one of the few credible ways to fight back.
That’s why I bought 10,000 shares before any equity announcement.
I am not promising Washington will buy in. I am saying the grants, the operating mine, the Tesla agreement, and the strategic pressure form a setup I refuse to ignore.
Click here to learn more about the $5 nickel stock I believe Washington could target next.
Yours for peace, prosperity, and liberty, AEIOU,
Dr. Mark Skousen
Macroeconomic Strategist, The Oxford Club
P.S. Washington has already backed this platform with $135.4 million in disclosed grants.
If an equity stake comes next, I believe a stock this small could move violently.
I refuse to wait for the press conference.
Click here to reveal details on what I bought before Washington makes its next move.
CCC Intelligent Solutions Is Up 9% Overnight. The Deal Math Explains Why.
Analyst consensus on CCC Intelligent Solutions (NASDAQ: CCC) before Friday evening: Hold, with a price target of $6.50. That was Citigroup’s Tyler Radke, the lone published estimate in the last 90 days. Twelve-month consensus sat at $8.75, a roughly 30% premium to where the stock had been trading. Both figures matter now, because GTCR and Elliott Investment Management are in advanced talks to acquire the company, and the gap between Friday’s close and those targets tells you exactly what the market is currently pricing into this deal.
Company Profile
CCC sells software that helps insurers and repair shops estimate damage, manage parts, and settle auto claims, connecting a network of more than 35,000 businesses across the insurance economy. The company describes itself as a leading SaaS and AI platform provider for the multi-trillion-dollar insurance economy. That is not marketing language. CCC sits at the center of every auto-insurance claim in the U.S., from first notice of loss through parts procurement and repair-shop payment. The switching cost is enormous; carriers and body shops rebuild workflows around its platform over years.
Total revenue was $281.3 million in Q1 2026, up 12% year-over-year, with a GAAP gross margin of 74%. Q2 revenue came in at $285.9 million, up 9.8%, with a GAAP gross margin of 74%. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 43% in Q1, expanding roughly 300 basis points year-over-year. Full-year 2026 guidance as of late July called for revenue of $1.158 billion to $1.164 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $485 million to $491 million. This is a business that generates real cash in a highly recurring model.
Why the Stock Is Moving
GTCR and Elliott Investment Management are in advanced talks to acquire CCC, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal could be announced as soon as next week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. No price has been disclosed. CCC shares had already risen about 6.9% on Friday before Bloomberg published the report, suggesting someone was positioned ahead of the news. The after-hours move brought total upside to roughly 9% on the session.
The backstory is longer than Friday. Reuters reported in July that CCC was exploring a potential sale. CCC has said it hired Morgan Stanley to advise on a potential sale process. As recently as August, Bloomberg reported that Copart was vying with GTCR and Veritas Capital to acquire CCC. Copart appears to have stepped back; GTCR and Elliott have moved to the front.
The Deal Economics
Here is where it gets interesting for investors weighing whether to chase. In 2023, Reuters reported that Advent International was exploring a sale of CCC when the public market value was around $7.1 billion. As of October 9, CCC’s market cap was about $4.1 billion, with roughly 589 million shares outstanding. A standard software take-private control premium of 20%-30% over the undisturbed price would imply a deal value somewhere in the $4.9 billion to $5.3 billion range. At the enterprise value level, using about $1.3 billion of total debt as a reference point from the company’s filings, the acquirers would be looking at roughly $6.2 billion to $6.6 billion of enterprise value. Against full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of approximately $488 million at midpoint, that implies a purchase multiple around 13x to 14x EV/EBITDA. Tight, but defensible for a 74%-gross-margin SaaS business with sticky revenue and an AI expansion cycle just beginning.
This fits a familiar post-SPAC arc: a company lists quickly, early backers exit over time, and then a buyer steps in once the shareholder register is cleaner. Advent, which acquired CCC in 2017 and took it public through a SPAC merger in 2021, exited its investment in 2025 through a series of secondary share offerings. With the original sponsor fully out, the register is clean.
Bull / Base / Bear
- Bull: GTCR and Elliott announce a deal this week at $9.00 to $10.00 per share, representing a meaningful premium to both the undisturbed price and the pre-news close. Competition from a second bidder drives the price higher. Shareholders who held through the year’s low near $4.08 collect a 120%-plus return.
- Base: A deal is announced within two to three weeks at a price in the $8.50 to $9.50 range. No rival emerges. The take-private closes in early 2027 with standard regulatory review. Shareholders receive a fair but not exceptional premium.
- Bear: Talks end without a deal, or another bidder emerges and resets the process. Shares retrace toward $6.50 to $6.75, the range they traded in through September.
Technical Overlay
CCC traded in a tight band between $6.50 and $7.10 for most of September, well below its 52-week high of about $9.5. The after-hours move of roughly 9%-11% breaks the stock out of that consolidation and likely puts it above the 200-day moving average. The gap created Friday night becomes the floor in a deal scenario and the reversion target if talks collapse. Watch $7.50 as the first meaningful resistance if the stock opens there Monday; a sustained close above that level signals the market is pricing a deal at north of $9.00.
Bottom Line
CCC is not moving because the market suddenly reassessed its AI product cycle or its Q3 earnings plan. The after-hours jump is the market assigning odds to a takeover premium, not suddenly changing its view on CCC’s fundamentals. The fundamentals were already solid: about 10%-12% revenue growth, 74% gross margins, and an EBITDA margin in the low 40s. What changes with a take-private is the time horizon. GTCR and Elliott, working together, would be betting that CCC’s deeply embedded position in auto-claims infrastructure is worth far more when run with a five-to-seven-year private equity horizon than the public market has been willing to credit. Given where the stock spent most of 2026, it is hard to argue they are wrong.
