💰 A HALO Made Of Steel

OUR PARTNER: MARKETBEAT

The 10 Best Cheap Stocks to Buy Now

The market is expensive… historically expensive.

Most of the biggest stocks are already fully priced. Capital has crowded into the same mega-cap names — making true value harder and harder to find.

By early 2026, institutional money had stayed concentrated. Smaller companies had been overlooked. And beaten-down names had been left behind.

But here's the real question…

When the broader market is this expensive — which stocks are still cheap enough to offer real upside?

Our new report reveals 10 undervalued stocks trading under $10 per share — from companies too small for institutional money managers to touch… to out-of-favor names already working their way back.

If you're looking for real value in an overpriced market, start here.

View The 10 Stocks Now

THE MAIN EVENT
Hard Assets Are Back In Charge 🏗️

For most of the last decade, the market had a clear preference: asset-light businesses with high margins and endless scalability. Software led the charge, and anything that required heavy spending on physical infrastructure was often viewed as a drag on returns.

That’s starting to change.

A new framework making the rounds on Wall Street is HALO: Heavy Assets, Low Obsolescence.

Put simply, investors are rotating toward companies that own real, hard-to-replace assets and operate in industries that AI is unlikely to disrupt.

And importantly, this isn’t just a theory. It’s showing up in the market.

Where The Moat Is Made Of Steel

These are companies where the moat isn’t code. It’s physical reality.

The infrastructure itself is expensive to build, heavily regulated, time-consuming to replicate, and often essential to how the economy runs.

AI can automate workflows, but it can’t build a power grid, lay pipelines, or manufacture heavy machinery.

That distinction is starting to matter a lot more.

A One-Two Punch Driving The HALO Trade

This rotation is being driven by two powerful forces hitting at once.

On one side, AI is challenging the software world. We touched on this in the SaaSpocalypse edition.

The idea is simple: if AI lowers the cost of building and maintaining software, competition rises and pricing power weakens. Software isn’t going away, but margins may not look as bulletproof as they once did.

On the other side, AI is creating an enormous demand for physical infrastructure.

Think about what actually powers this boom:

• Data centers need land, cooling systems, and massive electricity

• Chips require complex manufacturing and supply chains

• Power grids need upgrades to handle increased demand

The companies driving this shift are the usual suspects: Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle.

Together, they’ll spend roughly $1.5 trillion on infrastructure between 2023 and 2026. That’s more than the ~$600B they spent in their entire history before 2022.

Even more striking, 2026 alone could see over $650B in capex. That means just one year’s outlays will exceed their total spend before AI went mainstream.

In other words, the biggest “asset-light” winners of the last cycle are now becoming some of the most asset-heavy spenders in history.

Follow The Money, Not The Narrative

You can already see this shift playing out in market performance and positioning.

Asset-heavy sectors like energy, materials, and industrials have been 2026’s strongest performers.

Here are some of the most notable HALO winners:

• Photonics & Connectivity

  • LITE: Lumentum (2026: +131%)

  • GLW: Corning (2026: +83%)

  • COHR: Coherent (2026: +69%)

• Semiconductor Manufacturing & Storage

  • INTC: Intel (2026: +74%)

  • MU: Micron (2026: +45%)

  • SNDK: SanDisk (2026: +234%)

• Power & Energy Backbone

  • GEV: GE Vernova (2026: +44%)

  • BKR: Baker Hughes (2026: +29%)

  • ETR: Entergy (2026: +23%)

  • FANG: Diamondback Energy (2026: +23%)

• Heavy Machinery & Equipment

  • CAT: Caterpillar (2026: +29%)

  • DE: John Deere (2026: +25%)

At the same time, much of the software sector has seen valuations plummet as investors reassess long-term growth prospects.

Goldman’s data shows capital-intensive stocks have outperformed capital-light ones by a wide margin since 2025, and the valuation gap between the two has narrowed dramatically.

That may sound technical, but the takeaway is simple: the market is no longer handing out premium valuations for being asset-light.

The Real Story And What Comes Next

HALO stocks are attractive because they’re hard to disrupt. But their current momentum is still tied closely to the AI buildout itself.

Energy demand, copper demand, data center expansion. All of it flows from the same source. So this isn’t a clean break from tech. It’s more of a reshuffling of who benefits most from the next phase.

The key question is whether this is a short-term rotation or something more structural.

A few things worth watching:

• AI spending trends: If big tech keeps pouring money into infrastructure, HALO names likely stay supported.

• Interest rates: Higher rates tend to favor cash-generating, asset-heavy businesses over growth stocks.

• Commodity prices: If energy and materials run too hot, they can start to slow the broader economy.

The market isn’t saying software is dead. It’s saying the easy trade is gone.

In a world focused on digital everything, investors are being reminded of something simple: the economy still runs on physical constraints. And right now, those constraints are where the money is flowing.

MARKET MOOD
Tech Rips As Oil Pulls Back 🚀

Winners

Oracle ($ORCL) - Market Cap: $512.9B (Week-to-Date: +29.1%)

Oracle surged after making a massive bet on AI infrastructure. The company expanded its partnership with Bloom Energy to secure up to 2.8 gigawatts of fuel-cell power. That directly tackles the power shortage holding back AI expansion. Bloom Energy stock jumped alongside it, boosted by the deal and a $400M investment.

Robinhood ($HOOD) - Market Cap: $78.2B (Week-to-Date: +25.5%)

Robinhood rallied after a major rule change removed a key barrier for its users. The SEC eliminated the $25,000 minimum required for frequent trading, opening the door for smaller accounts to trade more actively. Since Robinhood’s business depends on user activity, investors are betting this leads to higher trading volume, more margin usage, and stronger subscription growth.

Microsoft ($MSFT) - Market Cap: $3.12T (Week-to-Date: +13.3%)

Microsoft bounced as the valuation narrative flipped. After concerns that heavy AI spending would drag on profits, Goldman Sachs argued the selloff had gone too far and called the stock undervalued at around 19x forward earnings. That brought in big buyers ahead of earnings, shifting the story toward a potential rebound.

Losers

PG&E ($PCG) – Market Cap: $38.3B (Week-to-Date: -6.3%)

PG&E fell after Jefferies downgraded the stock and flagged ongoing wildfire risk. A key California bill that could limit how much utilities pay for fire damage has stalled, meaning PG&E may still face large future costs. The drop spread to Edison International, a peer utility in the state, as investors reacted to the same risk.

Wells Fargo ($WFC) – Market Cap: $249.0B (Week-to-Date: -4.9%)

Wells Fargo slipped after a mixed earnings report showed pressure in its core lending business. The bank beat profit estimates ($1.60 vs. $1.58), but revenue came in light at $21.4B vs. $21.8B expected. The issue was weaker net interest income, meaning it’s making less money on loans as higher rates and rising costs squeeze borrowers.

Abbott Laboratories ($ABT) – Market Cap: $165.9B (Week-to-Date: -4.8%)

Abbott fell after barely meeting earnings estimates and projecting weak second-quarter results, driven by a ~6% decline in its nutrition segment. The company also trimmed its full-year outlook following its acquisition of Exact Sciences. Even solid growth in medical devices couldn’t balance it out, which is why shares moved lower.

OUR PARTNER: MARKETBEAT

The Market Missed These

While most investors chase the same overpriced mega-caps, a handful of under-$10 stocks are quietly showing signs of a turnaround. Our analysts identified 10 with real upside that Wall Street hasn't caught on to yet.

The names, the numbers, and the case for each are all in The 10 Best Cheap Stocks to Own in 2026 report.

View the 7 Stocks

CHART OF THE WEEK
AI Is Boosting Margins, Not Cutting Jobs 🤖

This chart shows AI’s biggest impact isn’t on jobs, it’s on efficiency.

Despite the doomsday headlines, total employment has barely moved. Instead, output per worker and decision speed are climbing. When you automate the "boring" stuff, workers shift toward higher-value tasks that actually move the needle.

The result? Companies are scaling output without scaling headcount. That expansion in margins is exactly what the market is rewarding right now.

FAST FACTS
From Meme Stocks To Missiles 🧨

👟 Allbirds pivots to AI overnight: The struggling shoe brand sold its assets for $39M and is now chasing AI servers, sending shares up 500%+ in pure meme-stock fashion. [Read]

🏦 Dimon shrugs off private credit fears: JPMorgan’s CEO says the real risk isn’t private credit, but a default cycle that could ripple through the system. [Read]

🏥 Healthcare hiring leaves others behind: The sector added 76K jobs in March and now drives 43% of all growth, helped by $93K nurse salaries and jobs that AI can’t easily replace. [Read]

🎟️ Ticketmaster hit with monopoly ruling: A jury says fans overpaid by $1.72 per ticket, opening the door to $700M in penalties and possibly breaking up the live event giant. [Read]

🛰️ Amazon takes aim at Starlink: The company is buying Globalstar for $11.5B to expand its satellite network, still far behind Starlink’s 10,000 satellites but clearly entering the fight. [Read]

🏠 Buyers gain leverage in hot markets: Listings in cities like Nashville and Riverside have jumped over 200% since 2022, giving buyers more power. [Read]

🏙️ NY targets luxury second homes: A new proposal would tax properties worth $5M+ that sit empty part-time, aiming to plug budget gaps without hitting full-time residents. [Read]

🏭 Detroit may build weapons again: The Pentagon is exploring using automakers like Ford and GM to boost weapons production, echoing a World War II-style industrial shift. [Read]

WORDS TO REMEMBER
Following The Crowd Is Not A Strategy 🧠

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