Investment Themes of the Week

Everyone knows solar energy is booming, but here's what they're missing: the real money isn't in the shiny panels everyone photographs for Instagram—it's in the boring gray boxes called inverters that nobody talks about. Thanks to something called "45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits" (yes, as dull as it sounds), companies making these inverters domestically are basically printing money through tax benefits while their customers get bonus credits too. It's policy arbitrage at its finest. Speaking of comebacks, Monster Energy just proved that Q1's stumble was a blip, not a trend, beating earnings expectations as energy drinks roar back to life. And in the most under-the-radar story of all, orthopedic device companies are quietly expanding margins as supply chain nightmares finally end and Medicare bumps reimbursement rates.

While everyone's been glued to the latest AI earnings reports, silver quietly broke through $35 an ounce last month—the first time it's been this expensive since 2011. Here's why that matters: unlike gold (which mostly just sits there looking shiny), silver is getting devoured by the same AI revolution everyone's obsessing over. Solar panels, electric vehicles, data centers—they all need silver's unmatched conductivity. Add five straight years of supply deficits and you've got mining companies that were trading like penny stocks suddenly looking like hidden gems. Meanwhile, the companies building the actual plumbing for AI are printing money faster than the AI companies themselves, and a massive merger just created the world's most diversified precious metals royalty company right as gold hits $3,000. Three infrastructure plays hiding in plain sight while everyone chases the shiny AI objects.

The freight industry has been stuck in a rough patch—truckers are throwing in the towel, capacity has been shrinking for months, and shipping rates have been under pressure. But here's the plot twist: this downturn for truckers is setting up a perfect recovery story for freight brokers. When capacity gets tight and the market finally turns (which looks like Q4), these middlemen suddenly become worth their weight in gold, commanding fat margins as the supply-demand balance flips. Meanwhile, fintech stocks that everyone left for dead are quietly staging the comeback story of 2025, with SoFi up 4x from its lows and IPOs actually working again. Add in some pipeline companies that are basically printing money while nobody's paying attention, and you've got three investment themes that are flying under the radar while everyone's obsessing over AI and crypto.

Coal mines in China break their production quotas and suddenly the whole sector is on fire. The timing couldn't be more bizarre - just when everyone was convinced fossil fuels were getting buried by green energy mandates, China accidentally created a supply shock that's making two forgotten American coal companies look like geniuses. Turns out being written off by Wall Street has its advantages when supply chains start breaking.

A mine in China shuts down and lithium prices immediately go nuts. But here's what makes this interesting: it's happening right when the lithium market was already on life support, major projects were shutting down left and right, and everyone thought the party was over. Now three mining companies that were written off for dead are suddenly looking like the smartest bets on the board.

The biggest AI infrastructure bottleneck isn't chips or software. It's something far more basic that most investors are completely missing. Meanwhile, a surprising sector is quietly thriving in today's volatile market by doing the exact opposite of what traditional wisdom suggests. These overlooked opportunities could be setting up for massive moves while everyone else chases the obvious plays.