Autonomous vehicle usage is exploding. One high-risk stock to play it.

Today’s issue in preview:

• Autonomous vehicle usage is exploding. One high-risk stock to play it.

• The most important Iran war news you’re not hearing in the mainstream press

• Invest in surging AI power demand like a top hedge fund

• Trends tend to persist and our recommendations keep soaring: AI infrastructure stocks, Power Grid Upgrade stocks, and oil stocks register another round of new highs.

Autonomous vehicle usage is exploding. One high-risk stock to play it.

Credit: Kinwun

As you read this, the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation ETF (ROBO) is enjoying a major uptrend and trading near all-time highs.

It’s fresh confirmation that the robotics megatrend is in full swing, creating wealth and stock winners as it marches ahead.

Regular readers know that the robotics megatrend is one of my highest conviction investment ideas. We are in the early innings of a robotics boom that will deliver advanced industrial robots, humanoid robots, delivery bots, autonomous vehicles, and autonomous air taxis.

For the past three years, I’ve urged friends and colleagues to invest in this trend, and I’ve written over a dozen research notes here in Money & Megatrends.

Although humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus and Figure’s Figure 03 get most of the press (read here for how to invest), don’t forget that “robots on wheels” – aka autonomous vehicles – also are a huge potential market… and thus, a huge potential investment opportunity.

In the future, we could have millions of autonomous vehicles driving us around and transporting a wide range of products and raw materials.

And if this seems like a crazy forecast to you, just know that Alphabet’s Waymo subsidiary is now delivering over 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week in 10 U.S. cities.

In autonomous cars, the competition is intense between Waymo, Uber (UBER) and Tesla (TSLA). In the potentially huge autonomous trucking market, you have just Aurora Innovation (AUR).

Aurora Innovation is a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle company with a $12 billion market cap focused on self-driving trucks.

Aurora is the only autonomous trucking company running real freight, on real routes, with real paying customers. Heavy-duty truck manufacturers Volvo Trucks and PACCAR, which together represent roughly 50% of the US truck market, are already committed to Aurora, so its competitive moat is strong.

Aurora made history in May 2025 by launching what it called the first driverless commercial trucking operations on U.S. public roads. Its business model is “Driver as a Service” — meaning fleet operators and trucking companies subscribe to Aurora’s technology and pay per mile.

The company generated $3 million in revenue in 2025 while burning through over $800 million in losses. In other words, Aurora is in its speculative, early stage… where you are betting on the company achieving its goals rather than betting on a proven, profit-generating enterprise.

Last week, Aurora expanded its partnership with freight carrier Hirschbach Motor Lines to build 500 autonomous trucks. This announcement sent Aurora stock surging +20%, breaking out of a six-month consolidation.

This is the first time we’ve seen a freight carrier make a forward commitment of this scale to autonomous trucking. It’s finally the proof-of-concept the market has been waiting for, and it’s evidence that Hirschbach has seen enough positivity from the pilot programs to bet on Aurora at scale. It represents a major shift in Aurora’s perception, from an early-stage tech company to a firm with the potential to generate significant recurring revenue.

Ten years ago, the autonomous vehicle revolution was a dream with no scalable real-world applications backing it up. Now, it’s happening… and it’s one of the most promising facts of the robotics revolution.

The most important Iran war news you’re not hearing in the mainstream press

Credit: krblokhin

The stock price of Lamar Advertising (LAMR) broke out to an all-time high this morning. It was the most important bullish news you’re not hearing in the mainstream press.

Lamar is America’s largest billboard advertising company. It operates over 360,000 outdoor displays across the U.S. and Canada. It’s a simple and excellent business. Lamar owns or has the rights to valuable advertising space which it rents out. The company turns a profit and pays a dividend.

While Lamar is happy to rent space to big Fortune 500 firms, the bulk of its business is local advertising. We’ve all seen them … Lawyers urging you to sue someone. Smiling realtors. The local all-you-can-eat buffet. Car dealers. Insurance brokers. HVAC services. New neighborhoods with home prices starting in the 400s. You’ve seen a million of Lamar’s billboards.

Lamar is an important member of our “real world economic indicators” group. Here’s how this critical group of stocks works…

Many investors fixate on government data such as unemployment figures, job hirings, and the Consumer Price Index. I like to know that data as everyone else does.

However, when I want a read on what’s really happening in the economy, I place far greater focus on what’s happening in the real world. I look at the stock price action of companies that play important roles in our economy. In doing this, I listen to the judge, jury, and executioner of any thesis, any trend, and any claim: The market. The market knows a hell of a lot more about the economy than any economist or financial guru. You’re wise to listen to it.

Lamar prospers when local businesses have both the money and the confidence in the future to buy advertising. This means the company’s fortunes rise and fall along with economic growth. What’s good for America is good for Lamar.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve detailed how transportation stocks, shopping mall stocks, diesel engine giant Cummins (CMI), hotel stocks, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar (CAT) have reached new one-year highs.

This exceptional price strength in key components of America’s economic machine means the economy is doing much better than the news you hear from the mainstream media.

Lamar joining this group is yet another signal that the market is clearly siding with the Optimists in the big Iran debate playing out in the financial world right now. The market is saying the economy is doing much better than most people think. Manage your financial affairs accordingly!

Invest in surging AI power demand like a top hedge fund

Credit: Jeremy Poland

In our April 30 issue, we detailed the extraordinary earnings growth and stock price appreciation of Quanta Services (PWR), one of our top ways to invest in AI’s soaring power consumption needs.

Last week, the electrical grid building giant’s stock surged 15.7% to a new high after the company reported fantastic first-quarter earnings. Quanta is a major beneficiary of the AI infrastructure boom.

Regular readers know one of the largest and most profitable facets of the AI megatrend is power consumption. Thanks to AI’s enormous promise, giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI are spending trillions of dollars on data centers, AI chips, and other infrastructure components.

All that AI infrastructure is poised to consume huge amounts of electricity. Goldman Sachs forecasts global data center power demand will surge 220% by 2030 compared to 2023 levels. U.S. data centers already account for 7% of U.S. electric power consumption, a figure that is expected to rise significantly.

The AI infrastructure boom is driving a huge bull market in Quanta and its fellow grid builders MYR Group (MYRG) and Centuri Holdings (CTRI).

It’s also poised to deliver strong returns for the companies that power that grid with nuclear power.

Specifically, “independent power producers (IPPs) like Vistra Energy (VST) and Constellation Energy (CEG).

Vistra and Constellation are two of America’s largest electric power producers. They employ fleets of power plants – mostly nuclear stations – to generate the juice that lights up our homes, devices, and data centers
Unlike conventional regulated utilities that are tightly controlled by local governments, IPPs operate relatively freely. They can take capital expenditure risks regulated utilities can’t make and charge higher prices that regulated utilities can’t charge.

Since power demand is exploding, Vistra and Constellation are two “go to” stocks for large money managers looking to gain exposure to AI-driven power demand growth. Top hedge fund manager Dan Loeb of Third Point owns both stocks.

As you can see from the 2.5-year chart below, Vistra enjoyed a huge stock price rally from early 2024 through early 2025. Since then, it has traded in a volatile sideways range, making zero headway. But since February, the stock has made a bullish series of higher highs and higher lows.

Given the electric power industry’s bullish long-term fundamentals, I bet the stock has a lot more “higher highs” ahead of it. Count us bullish on IPPs like Vistra.

Market Notes

• Our recommendation to get long the AI Data Traffic theme via Cisco (CSCO) continues to perform well. The stock climbed 1% this morning to reach a new all-time high.

• Our September 2025 recommendation to get long oil and gas stocks continues to be a huge winner. Big U.S. oil producers Diamondback Energy (FANG) and Permian Resources (PR) reached new all-time highs today.

• Our recommendation to ignore the AI bears and stay long the AI boom continues to pay off. Leading computer memory players Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology Holdings (STX) reached new all-time highs today.

• Our recommendation to invest in the Agent Supernova on March 16th is doing well. Voice AI leader in the agent supernova, Twilio (TWLO) just hit a new yearly high. It’s now up 88% over the last year.

• Our October 7th recommendation to own the Power Grid Upgrade theme continues its winning ways. Quanta Services (PWR), MYR Group (MYRG), Powell Industries (POWL), and Mastec (MTZ) just all hit new highs.

Regards,

Brian Hunt
Editor, Money & Megatrends

An urgent message from our colleagues:

Trump’s little-known AI project could make China’s DeepSeek look like a pocket calculator.

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