THE MILLEGAN MEMO: POST-JANUARY 2026
This month reads like three versions of the same story: whoever controls the bottleneck controls the scoreboard. In 1609, Isaac Le Maire tried to smack the Dutch East India Company back into its lane because monopolies eventually stop competing and start rewriting the rules. In 2026, Pinterest proved you can add users and print real GAAP profits, miss a revenue expectation by a hair, and still get publicly executed because ad buyers are spooked and the market is allergic to “maybe.” And the AI boom is taking that same logic into the physical world, turning electricity-linked land into a premium asset that can outbid housing—exactly why Oregon’s land-use system now looks less like a political quirk and more like a financial firewall.
— Managing Partners Drew Millegan & Quinn Millegan
METHODE ELECTRONICS (MEI): A Short Circuit or Just a Blown Fuse?
If you want to clear a room at a cocktail party in 2026, tell them you’re excited about an auto-parts supplier undergoing a "transformation" during an EV slowdown. If you want to clear the room even faster, mention that its revenue is down double-digits and it just missed earnings.
Enter Methode Electronics (MEI).
At first glance, MEI looks like a textbook value trap. The stock is down nearly 40% over the last year, hovering around $7.50. Wall Street has effectively ghosted the company, treating it like a legacy relic that got lost on the way to the electric vehicle revolution. The consensus view is simple: the EV transition is stalling, Methode’s sales are shrinking, and the turnaround is taking too long.