Dec. 30 at 3:50 PM
PickAlpha Mid-Day:
The AI trade broadened in 2025 as “picks-and-shovels” tied to data centers led S&P 500 performance – Sandisk was up ~580%, with Western Digital and Seagate also near the top, while Nvidia gained ~40% and ranked far lower (reported). Investors are increasingly rotating from the hyperscalers/chips into storage, power, wiring, and construction names leveraged to data-center capex.
Tickers:
$NVDA $WDC $NRG
Here’s what matters: The market is pricing AI capex as a multi-year buildout, not a chip-only story. If hyperscalers keep spending, the “power + storage + interconnects” complex can keep outperforming even if megacap tech grinds. If capex guidance rolls over, these second-derivative winners are the first to mean-revert (think: capacity glut risk).
