Hello there.

Happy Wednesday! Turns out, betting on tech stocks in 2026 has been like betting on the Bengals to win the Super Bowl. Technically possible, but painful to watch.

Up Next:

Energy is up 22%. Tech is down 4%. It’s giving 2022, and we're here to walk you through all of it. Let's get into it. 👇️

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Okay, so if you've been laser-focused on tech stocks this year, we have some bad news: tech is actually the worst-performing sector in 2026, down about 4.4% year to date. Yeah. The sector that basically carried the market for two straight years is now bringing up the rear. Welcome to the rotation.

So who's winning? Energy. By a lot. The energy sector is up over 22% this year, and it's not really close. Oil prices have surged roughly 12% since January, and companies like Exxon and Chevron are absolutely printing. If you own XLE, you're having a very good 2026.

Behind energy, industrials are up about 16%, led by Caterpillar, which is up a wild 32% on the back of AI data center buildouts and infrastructure demand. Consumer defensives are also quietly crushing it at +13%, with Walmart and Costco doing the heavy lifting.

On the losing side, it's not just tech. Financials, communication services, and consumer discretionary are all underwater too. Basically, last year's winners are this year's losers, and vice versa. Classic rotation.

Why should you care? If your portfolio is 80% tech and AI names, you've probably noticed things feeling a little stale lately. The market is telling you that diversification isn't just a boring word your dad's financial advisor uses. Energy, industrials, and consumer staples are where the momentum is right now. Doesn't mean tech is dead forever. But it does mean the "just buy NVIDIA" strategy needs a Plan B.

You know we're big fans of our partners AltIndex around here. Their AI scores crunch alternative data (think app downloads, website traffic, employee sentiment, social media buzz) to find stocks that traditional analysis misses. Here are their top 3 picks today, and they're not the names you'd expect.

You know how every AI company needs chips? And every chip needs to be manufactured? Lam Research makes the equipment that TSMC and Samsung use to actually build those chips. Think of them as the company selling shovels in a gold rush. While everyone argues about whether NVIDIA or AMD will win the AI chip war, Lam just quietly posted $5.34 billion in quarterly revenue (up 22% year over year) because both sides need their equipment. The stock is up about 38% YTD. Earnings drop April 29.

Never heard of them? Think of them as a smaller, scrappier version of Vulcan Materials or Martin Marietta. They mine aggregates and sell crushed stone, gravel, asphalt, and ready-mix concrete across 14 states. Boring? Maybe. Profitable? Extremely, and they also help build data centers. They've got a $1 billion record backlog, 89% of which is publicly funded (highways, bridges, roads), and state DOT budgets across their footprint are growing faster than the national average. Basically, the government keeps writing checks, and Knife River keeps cashing them.

If Salesforce and HubSpot had a baby that was obsessed with AI, it'd be Zeta Global. They run an AI-powered marketing platform that helps brands figure out who to target and when. Revenue is projected to hit $1.73 billion in 2026 (up from $985 million in 2024). They just got named a Leader in Forrester's email marketing rankings, beating out much bigger players. The stock staged a massive V-shaped recovery in 2025 and entered 2026 near all-time highs.

Want alternative-data-powered scores on these stocks and thousands more?

A lot can happen in a week!

Let’s take a quick look at who struck gold and who struck out since our last issue:

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): +10.76%
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): +5.46%
Amazon.com, Inc (AMZN): +4.77%
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): +3.76%
Apple Inc. (AAPL): +2.88%

Eli Lilly and Company (LLY): -2.96%
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): -2.80%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A): -2.25%
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): -0.29%
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM): -0.06%

That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake of Invested Inc.