Don't Miss These 4 Stocks in the AI Infrastructure Race

Hello and welcome to Being Exponential. We're coming at you with the five stocks of the week. All right, coming up first, Luke, we have Vicker, VICR. They've become one of the most explosive second order AI trades of 2026. They were up roughly 366% year to date as of September 22nd. Um, amazing numbers here. Uh, can you can you dive into the details? >> Yeah, I mean, we'll just look at the chart real quick. So, you brought that up. I mean, this is one of those stocks. This is the setup that I love the most right now in the market, right? You got a massive winner. So, validation of a strong stock with that huge Q3 selloff June, July, August, stabilized at an upward sloping 200 day moving average and now rebounding out of that. This is the the the setup I'm looking for right now that when I'm looking across the market, there are a lot of AI stocks and their charts that look exactly like this. And this is one of my favorite setups in the entire market. Like going back 10 years of doing this, I love this type of setup the best. Long-term winner, short-term dip turning into a short-term rebound, resumption of the long-term uptrend. I call them long-term uptrend resumption plays. That is a mouthful, but they're my favorite plays in the market. There are a lot of AI stocks that fit that mold right now, and Vicker is one of them. So, I love this chart. I love this setup. I love the bounce to the 200 day. I think this is one that is really due for a massive Q4 rally. So, now that we have the chart, let's talk about the actually do. So, the bull thesis on Vicker, right, is that um increasingly powerful AI chips make the efficient power delivery of those chips or to those chips more valuable. and Vicker can monetize that through both hardware sales and patent royalties. So the bottleneck they're really addressing is getting electricity into a data center. It's it's part of the challenge, but the electricity must ultimately reach the processors at very low voltage and enormous current and moving that current across a circuit board. It wastes energy as heat and Vicker has a vertical power delivery technology that shortens that path which ultimately delivers more power uh from beneath the processor uh and allows for more efficient delivery of of that to the chip. And that is really important right now because the architectures within these data centers are getting more and more complex and they'll continue to get more and more complex and every little edge that you can attain is worth it. When you're spending trillions of dollars per year, a trillion dollars this year between the hyperscalers expect to go up to 1.5 next year. Any edge you can get in optimizing efficiency of any part of that spending is absolutely worth it. Vicer provides an let's call it a power efficiency edge that all the hyperscalers and all the buildings data centers are going to ultimately need. And that's why when you look at its numbers the growth here just absolutely stupendous. I mean look at that 2026 revenue growth 36% 2027 56% 228 23%. This is a high growth story that's able to sell whatever it wants at whatever price it wants. Gross margins 57% LTM 59% 26 expected going up to 64% by 2028. You couple that with that massive revenue growth and you unlock huge economies of scale. So Ebon margins go from 23% last year to 44% by 2028 and that's how you get durable 40% plus EPS growth out of Vicker. And then you look at its valuation and it's not at all priced for that. Remember, keep in mind 40% plus compounded EPS growth. Then it's only trading at 52 times forward earnings, 38 times forward EBIDA, which is pretty much in line with its 5year average. We're not at all extended. We were extended earlier this year, but we're not now. So, this is just a really fundamentally strong stock. The story is there, the numbers are there, the valuation is cheap, the chart looks really good. And when you look at the estimates, they're continuing to climb higher, too. This is the fiscal 26 estimate, fiscal 27 estimate. They are moving higher. So, I really do like this stock. I think this one is a great play here and now. >> Excellent. So, with a stock like Vicker, what what are we looking for as an entry point? >> Oh, let's go back to the chart. I mean, I would say let's pull up the RSI because I hate buying when the RSI is over 70 and we're in overbought territory and looks like we're getting close to it. Yeah. So, we're 72 right now. So, I'm not chasing it right here. There is a big shelf right around 300. I think we get to 300 and we consolidate a little bit. Wait for that consolidation. Wait for that RSI to come down a little bit. I think probably in the next week or so, you'll get a chance to buy this stock and in between 280 and 300. And I think that's what you want to do. So, that I think that's a good entry point on Vicker. >> Excellent. I love it. Yeah, it seems like they got a pretty strong IP there. Uh, and they're kind of like settling into that chain. Um, so next up, uh, let's talk about Max Linear. Another interesting AI connectivity story. Their revenue jumped 55% year-over-year in Q2. Again, these numbers are pretty incredible from these second order AI companies. What's your take on uh, MXL? Yeah. So I mean the AI bol thesis on MXL is that it is becoming a meaningful supplier of the chips that move data around AI clusters and that transition could drive is driving to your point you just stated it really big earnings growth really big revenue growth and a higher valuation multiple uh for the stock. I mean at a 400 foot view more AI compute requires faster connections. We've talked about this is why the networking plays are awesome the optics plays are awesome. The fiber plays are awesome. uh max linears in that world. They supply the silicon inside of those connections. Thousands of accelerators. They have to exchange data efficiently to function as one powerful um LLM, one powerful computing system, one power frontier model. Max Linear makes the digital signal processors, the DSPs that help those high-speed connections actually transmit and recover that data very reliably. Uh the Keystone platform, it's kind of the 400G, 800G optical connections. Rushmore is their 1.6T 60 uh market which is the next evolution moving forward. That buildout cycle from 400G to 800G to 1.60 is what's powering names like Lum. It's what power it's what's powering names like Arista Networks. Those are kind of the bigger dogs in the space. Max Linear is a smaller player, but because it's smaller, it's got a bit more torque. Let's look at the numbers first on this one before we go into the um into the chart to kind of prove the the torque that is here. uh 60% revenue growth expected this year, 32% expected in 2027. That's expected to die down a little bit into 2029, 18% to 7%. Gross margins high and stable around 60%. EB thumb margin expected to expand from uh 3% LTM to 25% this year to 34% by 2028. So a really big revenue and EPS growth story here. And the valuation much like bicker uh when you're looking at max linear you have a cheap stock against the backdrop of massive massive growth you have 29 30 times Ford ETA 38 times Ford PE 31* 4 EBIT this is a pretty cheap stock when you think about the growth backdrop and the estimates on it look really pretty too we like to find stocks with rising estimates max linear fits that bill really really nicely look at its 2026 and 2027 EPS estimates As you can see, they have been just spiking higher over the last few uh months, and that will continue. That'll support a higher price. And when we look at the chart, remember the setups I like are massive winner, short-term sell-off turning into a short-term rebound. It's exactly what you have with Max Linear. We basically had that straight line rally coming out of the Iran war. We went from about $20, a little bit less than $20, all the way up to $120. We've cooled off, but now we're bouncing back, holding that uptrend, that upward sloping 200 day moving average. And we're running into a shelf now right around $100. But I think this is the time to buy because when you're at that RSI, look at it. We're at 65. We're not overbought. We're not overextended. The shelf is until 100. So I think the 90 to 100 range is a really good entry point on MXL. This to me looks like a stock chart that is ready to rock. >> Excellent. So w with that transition from 800G to 1.6 6T. Could this be the higher torque optics plate that we should be looking at or, you know, obviously we still want to get some of those other names in there, but it would this one have more torque than the others? >> I I I would think so. Yeah. I mean, when you look at Lummen, when you look at Arisa Networks, you look at the bigger players in the space, they are an order of magnitude larger than than Max Linear. Um, they're also growing very quickly, but not as quickly. uh the valuations on those are a bit more full because people have a bit more confidence in their growth trajectory, the durability of the growth trajectory going forward. So for all those reasons, I do think that MXL should be seen as a higher risk but higher reward, a higher torque play on networking, on optics, on fiber, on call it the highways of the data center uh versus lum and aresa networks. >> Excellent. Okay, let's move on to that next stock. So, a company that was formerly known as Pure Storage, now Everpure, uh that's a P. Um they laid out pretty extremely aggressive longer term targets, especially for 2028. >> Um so, what's your take on that particular company, Luke? >> I love Everpure. um you know they're becoming a critical storage and data management layer for the AI economy benefiting from both um hyperscaler expansion and enterprises putting their own data to work in AI and that makes them really leveraged to this what I'm seeing is this proliferation of enterprises using AI for more and more workflows when you look at the charts from ramp economics you look at the charts from ticker trends or any of these kind of real-time data tracking platforms. What you see is you see enterprises increasingly adopting AI, but more importantly the enterprises that are using AI, using it more prolifically and spending more on it and incorporating their own data into the AI as well so that they can kind of create personalized white glove uh AI models and services and that is all of that creates massive demand tailwinds for the data storage data management solutions that Everpure provides. uh their flashblade uh platform is kind of the signature, the go-to, the premier solution for solving the storage performance bottleneck. We need storage performance to be more economically viable for AI to have that higher ROI. It goes back to that argument of like when you are get when you're spending trillions of dollars per year on AI infra, you need to find efficiency edges wherever you can find efficiency edges. And Everpure provides a solution that can give an efficiency edge uh at the at the data storage layer. And that is that's very very valuable. And that is why this company is we kind of look at the chart. No, that's the numbers. I look at the numbers first. Um you talked about their long-term growth targets. They had a lot of confidence to come out and say, "Hey, we're going to grow revenues essentially at a, you know, 30% plus compounded annual growth rate for the next several years." and the street took those and said, "All right, let's hike those estimates up." So, fiscal 27, 38%, fiscal 28, 37%, 29, 22%, 30, 20%, 31, 22%. This is a durable 20% plus revenue growth story for the next five plus years. One of the most durable big growth stories in the AI complex. Gross margins high and stable around 70%. Even the margins looking at the estimates that only go out to fiscal 29 which is essentially calendar 28. We're going from 23% this year to 30% by then. I think we get up to the mid to high30s by 2030 2031. So that turns 20% plus compounded revenue growth into 30 to 40% plus probably compounded and EPS growth. And the valuation on the stock is really cheap. Again, that that's kind of the theme here. These stocks have massive revenue growth runways, massive margin expansion potential, massive EPS growth outlooks, and they're trading at 25 times Ford ETA. I mean, that's like a that's like a McDonald's multiple. That's like a Nike multiple. That's like I mean, that that that's dirt cheap. That's not what you would expect out of a hyperrowth company in the middle of the biggest infrastructure buildout cycle in the history of capitalism. So, I just think this is a really really strong stock. in the chart to me it's not like the the vicker and the max linear setups where you had a big winner pullback now you're getting the rebound this is one that's just kept on winning right we're at alltime highs right now I think I know we're at least at 52 week highs I think we're at alltime highs that $131 level RSI of 74 I'm not chasing it here it's clearly top of the channel it's going to pull back but I think this does pull back probably to that most recent peak or the previous most recent peak of about 117 17 a little bit below 120. I would look for an entry on Everpure on a dip below 120. >> Awesome. So with a company like uh Everpure, they've doubled over the the past year. They recently joined the S&P 500 which gave them some tailwinds and you know they laid out these long-term outlooks. Now, is there a concern for Everpure specifically because it, you know, its chart was not like the others um to kind of allow the AI narrative uh to remove itself from the fundamentals or the fundamentals just that strong for a company like uh Everpure? >> Resilience is the signal, right? That's kind of my macro viewpoint right now. When I look at AI stocks, they've been hit with a bunch of macro headwinds and yet they are hanging it there. resilience is the signal. And for Everpure, the iteration of that that's appropriate is strength is the signal that you shouldn't look at this at this chart and say, "Oh my god, it's it's it's run away from me. Uh there's nothing I can do about it or it's too hot or it's bound to come down." I look at the chart and I say that must be a really really really strong company to be at all-time highs to have doubled in this year alone when the rest of the market has you know kind of gone nowhere for about five to six months. That to me is a bullish signal not a bearish signal. So I look at this chart that has run away and I say let's buy it on a pullback. Don't chase it but don't run away from it. This is the name you want to own. >> Excellent. Okay, let's move on to the next stock. Another optics play. Uh something we've talked about in the past, uh Corning specifically, GLW. So, another AI infrastructure connectivity play. Uh their their sales grew again. It's just a repeating motif in a lot of these stocks. So, what what's your current update on GLW, Luke? >> Yeah, I mean it's it's very similar to the max linear story, right? AI clusters depend on thousands of processors exchanging enormous amounts of data with one another. Connecting those processors, connecting those racks, connecting those buildings and the campuses, the different data center campuses that all of that requires extensive optical networks. Um I think actually Corning themselves put out an estimate that AI data centers require more than 10 times as much fiber as traditional data centers. So that means there's essentially a 10x demand surge for what they sell. Right? Back in the 2010s there there were data centers in the 2010s, lots of data centers. Those data centers, let's say, required one, you know, one thing of fiber. Now you put up a data center, an AI one, and it requires 10 things of fiber, 10 units of fiber. And that I mean it just creates such a rising tide lifts all boats market for all the sellers of fiber of optics of photonics. Max lineer is is kind of your high torque play there but Corning is a really attractive play that has a lot of upside potential too and the chart is really pretty to me that this is a name that again big- time winner. You got that short-term collapse and we're rebounding, but the rebound hasn't really happened yet, right? Like with Max linear, we pull up that chart. We had spiked. We came down to the 200, we spiked out of it. We retook the 50 and the 100. One could argue that is more bullish signal and so you have a bit more confidence as more confirmation of the rebound. But I think the rebound is real across the board. And if I do believe that, then I want to find one that hasn't exactly executed the big rebound just yet. And that's corning. And that's why I want that's why we're talking about it this week. When I look at this chart, it's come down to the 200 day and it is it's stabilizing there, but it's stabilizing in a manner that the 200 day is still upward sloping. So the trend of the stock stabilizing the 200 day is positive, mildly positive, not super positive, but mildly positive. And that is enough signal for me to be, okay, this one is ready. This one is ready to spike back up to 200 in a hurry. And so I think you know buying it below 170 between 160 and we're out right around 160 right now 158 between 160 and 170 is a really good entry point before you get that big spike up to 200 and then I think in Q4 we actually go and challenge that $250 high in corning. So I think this is a stock that goes from 150 to 250 in the next three months. >> Wow, that's a huge jump. So the stock itself is, you know, up 80% in 2026. They just had a $3 billion deal with AT&T. Um, I think it's pretty convenient to say AI data centers need 10 times the fiber if I'm selling fiber. Um, but so is it safe to say kind of in this next phase that the semi these these optic stocks are going to outperform the semiconductor stocks? >> Always the pessimist, Brooke. Always the pessimist. No, I appreciate you. We need pessimism. We need some bearishness. We need to to make sure we're looking at this levelheadedly. Um, I think it's fair to say that optics is probably I I would say I'm most excited about two subverticals of the AI infrastructure buildout going forward. One of them is optics, fiber, networking, uh, and the other is CPUs, uh, ARM, uh, AMD, Intel. I think that with there's going to be this big new focus there has been and there will continue to be a big focus on inferencing over training especially with open AI pausing its models its frontier models. So I think that inferencing becomes like all of the compute spending and when you're doing inferencing CPUs are more important. You need the orchestration layer when you're doing all the the inferencing and these uh GPUs are talking to each other, these chips are talking to each other, these clusters are talking to each other. That that's all inferencing is. And when you do a lot of that, you need you need CPUs, you need the orchestration. So I'm most excited about optics and I'm most excited about CPUs. That's I think the the two best subtrades of the AI buildout. >> Excellent. All right. Love it. Yeah, I'm more of a pragmatist than a pessimist, I like to think. Uh so, let's move on to the the the last stock here, uh Robin Hood, which itself is doing pretty well. It's up uh 32% year-over-year in terms of revenue. That's according to Q2. But I think you wanted to talk about it as more of an exposure to crypto story. Uh I'd love for you to dive into that, Luke. Yeah. So, I mean, as we've talked about on this podcast, I think Bitcoin's turned a corner. When I look at the charts there, I mean, I'll pull up the chart that uh I've shown people many a time to say, "Hey, this, you know, this looks like a pretty big deal." So, if I go to my Bitcoin 50week chart, we re we retook this. So, white is Bitcoin price, pink is the 50-day moving average. We retook the 50-day moving average uh in early September. And that's when I went to my subscribers and said, "Hey, let's go." Like, the boom cycle is back. Because every time that's happened before, you have a downward sloping 50-day moving average you've been stuck under for a long time. Every time you retake that, the bus cycle turns into a boom cycle. It happened in March 2023. It happened here in uh April of 2019. And then if we kind of even go back further, it happened here in September of 2015. It happened here in June of 2012. So every single time in history that Bitcoin has gone from trading under its 50week moving average for a long time and then flipping back above it, that is the technical trigger for bus cycle turning back into boom cycle. And so I'm really constructive on the action that I'm seeing in the crypto markets. And yes, I think one of the best ways to play it is going to be our good friends over at Robin Hood. I love Vlad Tenev. I think he is a very visionary CEO with a lot of drive. Uh, I love their vision of creating an everything exchange, the everything platform. You can trade everything on it. They're getting into prediction markets. There's a lot of good stuff going on here. The thing that's been lagging, the thing that's been the anchor on this ship has been crypto. So, once you fix the crypto markets, if you will, and you fix the crypto markets by pushing up the crypto prices and getting more crypto, because that's what happens, right? In crypto, it's like when it's hot, everyone's involved, and when it's not, no one's involved. And so you fix Robin Hood's crypto problem, if you will, by having another boom cycle in crypto. And so if I'm right that we are going into a 2027 boom cycle, 2027/2028 boom cycle for crypto because that fifth having is in the spring of 2028, then I think that Robin Hood could be a massive winner next year because everything else in their business is firing on all cylinders. And now if the crypto starts to fire on all cylinders too, that's a pretty attractive value prop. And when you kind of look at the chart here, this is like a a a zoomed out long-term resumption trade, right? Long-term uptrend resumption trade because you had this big So, you've had this big rally really ever since 2023. You had the big rally, then you had a pretty big crash back in um early 25. That's a liberation day stuff. Then this big rebound into late 25 and this big selloff into early 26. And then now we're rebounding out of that sell-off. It looks like this long-term uptrend is indeed resuming. We're making a bunch of higher lows and higher highs. This is a very clear uptrend. And that 200 day moving average is flatlining and looks like it wants to curve higher. And so I think that all the signals I'm watching, all the evidence I can gather on Robin Hood right now says this is a stock that is ready to run. And so I really like Robin Hood especially because of the new crypto catalyst that's entering the fight if you will uh to push crypto or to push uh Robin Hood stock higher. >> Excellent. Yeah. So you mentioned all you know all cylinders are firing. Is there anything that kind of hurts the uh outside of those that could hurt the Robin Hood thesis? uh crypto boom c I'm wrong about cryptoboom cycle and bitcoin remains kind of flat slash down over the next 12 months that would hurt prediction markets regulation uh right now just kind of the wild west out there that probably won't last forever you think you do have to watch for some regulatory action with prediction markets uh and then just overall consumer sentiment right consumer sentiment is really bad right now but it's not translating into activity like depressed activity we're still seeing spending. Uh we're still seeing trading. We're still seeing things in travel. We're still seeing things like that. Can that is that durable? I I don't know. It doesn't feel sustainable. So I think that's a risk is that when will Dow consumer sentiment turn into Dow consumer activity because then that that will hurt Robin Hood. So I would say those are the three risks you got to watch out for in 2027 when it comes to Robin Hood stock. >> Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. I mean, specifically in terms of those trading markets, the poly market commercials are looking like the FTX commercials from a while back. Not completely different things, but it is kind of funny to look at. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. >> Um, so I think that wraps it up for our stocks. Any you have any closing any closing sentiments for uh this week? >> Uh, no. I think we got a lot to cover uh in our macro podcast. I think there's a lot a lot of things going on. So, I'll save my thoughts for that, but tune in for that one cuz again, it's a busy week and there are a lot of developments to discuss 100%. All right, that's it for this episode. Thank you for watching and take care.