One new public company is riding a powerful military-tech theme, but early volatility still matters. One semiconductor name keeps delivering, though the stock already reflects almost all of that strength, while another infrastructure winner continues to benefit from the optical side of the AI buildout. The opportunities are there, but the calls are not the same.
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Futures at a Glance📈
Futures are edging higher after the Nasdaq finally cooled off, with investors looking past the latest Iran flare-up and leaning back into the bigger bullish setup. Now the focus shifts to a packed earnings slate and fresh retail sales data to see whether this market wants to get moving again.
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What to Watch
Earnings (Premarket):
• GE Aerospace [GE]
• UnitedHealth Group Incorporated [UNH]
• RTX Corporation [RTX]
• Danaher Corporation [DHR]
• Northrop Grumman Corporation [NOC]
• 3M Company [MMM]
Earnings (Aftermarket):
• Intuitive Surgical, Inc. [ISRG]
• Chubb Limited [CB]
• Capital One Financial Corporation [COF]
Economic Reports:
• U.S. retail sales (March): 8:30 am
• Retail sales minus autos (March): 8:30 am
• Business inventories (Feb.): 10:00 am
• Pending home sales (March): 10:00 am
Elite Trade Club Insider
A CEO Sold Size While Tech Stayed Smaller
One move was about scale. The other was about timing.
A rare earths CEO just sold more than $19.2 million worth of stock across two sessions, while a senior accounting executive at a major cybersecurity name sold another $1.35 million. These are very different signals, but both tell you the same basic thing: insiders were willing to take cash here instead of pressing for more upside.
That could mean investment opportunities for you, if you weren’t missing what insiders and institutions see.
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Aerospace & Defense
AEVEX Corp Arrives Hot as Public Markets Chase Drone Exposure
AEVEX Corp. (NYSE: AVEX) is off to a strong start as a public company, and the reason is easy to see. The drone and defense-tech name raised $320 million in its IPO, priced at $20, then closed its debut at $26.93 before pushing higher again.
By Monday, the stock had surged again, giving it an implied market value near $3 billion and showing investors are eager for public exposure to autonomous defense systems.
The growth numbers explain some of that enthusiasm. For the first quarter, AEVEX projected revenue of $200 million to $208 million, up from $53.3 million a year earlier, and net income of $19 million to $22.5 million, versus a $27.3 million loss in the prior year.
The company ended 2025 with $432.9 million in revenue and a funded backlog of about $503 million. It also said about 78% of 2025 sales came from U.S. government contracts, which shows how closely this story is tied to defense spending.
That is also the main risk. Wartime demand and Pentagon budgets can create a powerful growth runway, but contract timing, program changes, and federal funding fights can hit hard.
My Take For You: This is one of the more interesting defense IPOs in a while because the growth is real and the theme is strong. Still, post-IPO momentum is not the same as a stable entry point.
My Verdict: Watch this for the first real base instead of chasing the post-IPO heat. The risk is that contract concentration and early-public-company volatility create a fast reversal.
Semiconductors
Astera Labs, Inc Keeps Growing Fast, but the Stock No Longer Looks Cheap
Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALAB) is still putting up serious numbers. Full-year 2025 revenue reached $852.5 million, up 115% year over year, while fourth-quarter revenue climbed 92% to $271 million. Management then guided first-quarter 2026 revenue to $286 million to $297 million, which points to more sequential growth on top of an already huge year.
The product story is still strong as well. Taurus revenue grew more than 4x in 2025, Scorpio P-Series crossed 15% of full-year revenue, and Astera disclosed a new Amazon warrant agreement tied to up to $6.5 billion in cumulative purchases through 2033.
It also has new hyperscaler design wins expected to contribute in 2027. That is exactly the kind of customer validation investors want in AI infrastructure.
The problem is valuation. ALAB closed at $175.80, up 223% over the past year, and trades at roughly 144x earnings. That is a demanding price for any company, even one growing this quickly. There is also insider selling in the background, with executives and directors offloading stock in recent months.
My Take For You: The business keeps executing, and the hyperscaler demand story looks real. But this is no longer an undiscovered growth name. You are paying up for almost every bit of the story.
My Verdict: Wait for a better entry because this is a strong company priced like nothing can go wrong. The risk is that even solid growth gets punished if the next quarter is merely good instead of exceptional.
Oil Markets (Sponsored)
Oil has moved above $100 a barrel as tensions in the Middle East continue to reshape expectations across global energy markets.
While daily headlines can drive sharp swings, the bigger story may be what higher crude prices mean for select energy companies with strong cash flow and operating leverage.
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*The results listed above are not (or may not be) representative of the performance of all selections made by Zacks Investment Research's newsletter editors and may represent the partial close of a position. Access grants you a comprehensive list of all open and closed trades.
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Connectivity & AI Infrastructure
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd Gains More Ground as Optical Demand Builds
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ: CRDO) keeps finding new ways to strengthen its AI infrastructure case. The latest push came from its acquisition of DustPhotonics, which expands Credo’s capabilities in silicon photonics and optical transceivers and should help deepen its role in the fast-growing market for AI data center connectivity.
That deal lands on top of already strong momentum. Credo recently reported solid third-quarter fiscal 2026 results, guided for continued sequential growth, and pointed to more than 50% year-over-year revenue growth for fiscal 2027.
Analysts have responded well, with multiple firms maintaining Buy ratings and lifting price targets, while the company also rolled out new 800G optical products aimed directly at high-speed AI networking demand.
CRDO closed at $174.53, up 400.7% over the past year, so this is no bargain setup either. The stock is already pricing in a lot of future success, and it now trades at nearly 97x earnings. That can work when revenue keeps compounding and new products hit on time, but it leaves little room for integration issues or slower customer spending.
My Take For You: Credo remains one of the better-positioned connectivity names in AI infrastructure, especially as optical bottlenecks matter more. The story is strong, but the stock needs disciplined entries.
My Verdict: Buy this as a premium AI connectivity name while optical demand and analyst support keep building. The risk is that the stock’s huge run leaves it vulnerable to any slowdown in growth or integration stumbles.
Trivia: What was George Washington's annual salary as the first U.S. President in 1789 — equivalent to roughly $800,000 today?
Movers and Shakers
AXT Inc [AXTI]: Premarket Move: -8%
AXT is dropping because the company just announced a public offering, and the market heard the part that matters most: dilution. Management says the cash will help fund indium phosphide capacity, R&D, and general corporate needs, but existing shareholders are the ones paying for that expansion today.
After a stock move this extreme, the market was looking for reasons to cool off, and a fresh share sale does the job fast.
My Take: This is a real warning sign. Do not buy a dilution headline after a run like this. Let the offering price and the new floor reveal themselves first.
Alaska Air Group [ALK]: Premarket Move: -3%
Alaska Air is lower because it pulled its full-year profit forecast, and that is not the kind of update the market shrugs off. The company blamed rising jet fuel costs tied to the Iran conflict, which means margins are under pressure and management no longer has enough visibility to stand behind the year.
That matters more than the size of the premarket drop. When an airline withdraws guidance, the issue is not one rough quarter. It is that the earnings picture just got harder to trust.
My Take: Stay out. A stock can recover from bad fuel costs, but not before the market believes estimates are stable again.
Avis Budget Group [CAR]: Premarket Move: +5%
More meme mania. Avis is still climbing because this squeeze has not fully burned out yet. The stock is up more than 650% over the past year, short interest is sitting around 58% of free float, and shorts have already taken about $2.5 billion in mark-to-market losses. That is the kind of setup that can keep forcing upside even when valuation stops making sense.
The problem is that this is no longer a fundamentals story. Even analysts are struggling to justify the price, and once squeezes lose momentum, they can unwind hard.
My Take: This is a trader’s stock, not an investor’s stock. If you are in it, keep taking profits. If you are not, do not chase the squeeze this late.
Gold Protection Play (Sponsored)
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Everything Else
🤖 AI-ranked stock picks are getting fresh attention as data-driven investors look past Wall Street opinions and hunt for the top-scoring names before the opening bell.
🍎 Apple has named John Ternus as its next CEO, with Tim Cook set to become executive chairman later this year.
🛡️ JPMorgan is making a bigger push around security, defense spending, and AI in Europe, reflecting how closely those themes are starting to overlap in capital allocation.
🚀 SpaceX is pressing ahead with Wall Street analyst meetings for its IPO, another sign that the company is moving deeper into listing mode.
🤖 Europe’s central-bank community is warning that Anthropic’s Mythos model should be widely accessible and closely monitored to reduce misuse and competitive distortions.
☁️ Anthropic is set to spend more than $100 billion on Amazon’s cloud, underscoring how infrastructure-intensive the AI race has become.
That’s all for today. Thank you for reading. If you have any feedback, please reply to this email.
Best Regards,
— Adam Garcia
Elite Trade Club
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