These four stocks are hidden beneficiaries of the AI and robotics boom

Today’s issue in preview:

• This ignored sector has become one of the world’s hottest trades. Are you profiting?

• While you weren’t paying attention, a critically important stock group just hit new highs

• These four stocks are hidden beneficiaries of the AI and robotics boom.

• We said buy, did you profit? Our Power Grid Upgrade and AI infrastructure recommendations continue to generate gains.

This ignored sector has become one of the world’s hottest trades. Are you profiting?

Credit: ugurhan

Turns out, I was right about Engineering & Construction (E&C) stocks.

Spectacularly right.

Today, leading E&C firms MasTec (MTZ), Quanta Services (PWR), Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), MYR Group (MYRG), EMCOR (EME), Argan (AGX), and IES Holdings (IESC) all hit new all-time highs today.

These stocks have proven to be one of the true “home run” megatrend trades of the past two years… and they’ve become one of the world’s hottest industry groups.

In October 2024, I sent a note to colleagues that covered the bull case for E&C stocks. I described them as a vehicle for investing in the AI data center building boom.

E&C firms design and build giant infrastructure projects such as airports, skyscrapers, power plants, subways, and data centers. Well-positioned firms in this space are enjoying soaring revenues thanks to Big Tech’s race to build AI data centers… a race that will see the likes of Google and Amazon invest a colossal $600+ billion this year.

E&C firms also have a “Donald Trump” kicker in the form of our president’s efforts to massively increase U.S. manufacturing capacity. This push will see hundreds of billions of dollars spent on building new factories and the power grids required to operate them.

Given the extreme urgency behind Big Tech’s AI data center buildout and Trump’s manufacturing push, the bidding process for many infrastructure builds consists of E&C companies throwing out absurdly high bids… then Big Tech or the White House replying, “Sure, we’ll take five of them. Can you start yesterday?”

That’s the bull case for E&C stocks. But regular readers know we care more about what the market thinks about a forecast than the forecast itself. In the case of E&C companies, the market enthusiastically approves.

Since my original note, I’ve followed up with over a dozen updates reiterating my recommendation. During this time, Argan is up 391%. MasTec is up 192%. Sterling Infrastructure is up 189%. The strength in these individual names has propelled the M&M E&C stock basket to an extraordinary 2026 gain of 44.5% (an annualized pace of 146%).

When I look at the performance of our E&C basket and why it is soaring, I’m reminded of how right now, thanks to the blazing and rapidly-increasing pace of technological change, you can make money in stocks faster than at any time in history.

While you weren’t paying attention, a critically important stock group just hit new highs

Credit: vitpho

This week, the stock prices of J.B. Hunt (JBHT), Saia (SAIA), Knight-Swift Transportation (KNX), and Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) reached new one-year highs.

If you have the faintest idea of how the world works, you know this price action is a sign that the U.S. economy is doing much better than portrayed in the mainstream media.

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 stock prices. In doing this, I listen to the judge, jury, and executioner of any thesis, any trend, and any claim: The market.

The companies listed above are among America’s largest trucking companies… and their industry is the opposite of glamorous. You’re never going to see a long and hyperbolic financial newsletter promo about it. No money manager or financial guru will go viral for a big call on it.

However, trucking is a “mission-critical” component of the U.S. economic system. Virtually every piece of clothing, every piece of furniture, every package of food, every appliance, every device, every building material, every tool, and every household good purchased in America is transported by truck multiple times on the way to its end user. Trucking is the economy’s circulatory system.

This means the stocks of large trucking companies like J.B. Hunt, Old Dominion, Saia, and Knight-Swift are “highly economically sensitive.” These stocks do well when America is making things, buying things, building things, and transporting things.

This week, despite concerns that the war with Iran could constrict Middle Eastern flows of oil, natural gas, sulfuric acid, and helium and wreak havoc on the economy, the stock prices of these companies reached new one-year highs.

This is the market 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.

These four stocks are hidden beneficiaries of the AI and robotics boom.

Credit: da-kuk

It turns out, being bullish on Battery Tech was a good idea. This week, battery technology leaders EnerSys (ENS) and Amprius Technologies (AMPX) broke out to new all-time highs. This theme’s future looks brighter than ever.

In our Dec. 2, 2025, issue, we made the case for being bullish on Battery Tech.

According to the International Energy Agency, more than 17 million electric vehicles were sold globally in 2024 – a 25% increase over the previous year.

If you think 17 million units is a lot, let’s talk smartphones. More than 1.2 billion smartphones were sold in 2024, according to IDC.

Plus, battery use isn’t limited to EVs and phones. Each year, the world deploys more battery-powered medical devices, drones, tablets, robots, bikes, and solar power systems. Given their pervasiveness, any improvement in battery technology benefits dozens of other technologies.

Over the next decade, demand for battery technology will be extraordinary.

As AI enhances the functionality of cars, robots, devices, and a thousand other things, they will become increasingly autonomous. These devices won’t be worth much if they must be plugged into the wall all the time. They must be mobile… and they must have high-tech batteries that can run power-hungry AI applications.

Device makers of all kinds have a permanent and urgent need for batteries to get cheaper, smaller, and more powerful.

According to Grand View Research, the global battery market was estimated at $134.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $330 billion by 2030.

But, today’s batteries have a problem. They use a liquid electrolyte that is flammable, limits energy density, and degrades with every charge cycle. Solid-state batteries fix this by replacing that liquid with a solid material. It’s safer, more powerful, and faster to charge. It’s the biggest leap in battery technology in three decades.

The second breakthrough is silicon-anode technology. Silicon can store far more energy than the graphite currently used. That means smaller, lighter batteries that last longer and charge in a fraction of the time.

These are two separate but parallel breakthroughs – each independently pushing battery performance far beyond what lithium-ion can deliver today.

EnerSys and Amprius are up 42% and 107%, respectively, since our original bullish note. In addition to these two firms, stocks on your Battery Tech watchlist can include:

Enovix (ENVX) is a $1.4 billion battery tech company that is no longer pre-revenue. It also serves the defense and aerospace niche like AMPX, but it has carved out a big portion of the wearables and smartphone markets. Most interestingly, the CEO just confirmed they have started production for the AI/AR glasses market. This is a big catalyst for the company for the next 12 months.

Solid Power (SLDP) is a sub $1 billion company with a more conservative approach. Rather than manufacturing the full battery cells, SLDP is supplying the critical electrolyte material that makes solid-state batteries work. It’s already partnered with BMW and Samsung. The risk is that meaningful revenue is not likely to arrive until 2028 onwards, making SLDP a very catalyst-driven trade until then.

Chips get the headlines. Batteries make everything possible.

As AI moves out of the data center and into the physical world, the demand for smaller, lighter, and more powerful batteries will compound for decades. AMPX, ENVX, ENS and SLDP are four of the higher-risk ways to play this theme.

Market Notes

• 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.

• Our October 7 recommendation to own the power grid upgrade is paying off. Monolithic Power System (MPWR) and Power Integrations (POWI) just hit new one-year highs. POWI is up 10% today and 60% over the last year.

• Dell (DELL) continues to move to new highs as we suggested. The AI infrastructure theme continues to boom. DELL is now up 157% over the last year.

• Our March 6 recommendation to own the chemicals industry is proving to be well-timed. Chemours (CC) just hit a new high. It’s up 97% over the last year.

Regards,

Brian Hunt
Editor, Money & Megatrends

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