29 Signals We’re Tracking Across 11 Portfolio Strategies
Let’s scan through the headlines for the stories of the week that speak to our Pro Portfolio holdings.
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Chick-fil-A gets hacked. Coffee drinkers trend toward a more refined taste. And more companies, including Equifax, bet on AI. These are a few of the 29 news “signals” we’ve collected that speak to our portfolio investments.
If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below.
Aging Population
Senior living investment giant Welltower ended its Chicagoland selling streak with $98 million in new purchases last week… The purchases come after Welltower sold two medical office ground leases to Endeavor Health for $57 million and offloaded a Hinsdale senior living facility to Lincolnwood, Illinois-based Pearl Healthcare for $22 million, records show. Read more here
Stabilized occupancy in senior housing reached 90.4 percent in second quarter 2026, holding above 90 percent for a second consecutive quarter. Total occupancy across all properties rose to 89.9 percent, a 20th consecutive quarterly gain and an increase of roughly 200 basis points over the past year, from 87.9 percent in second quarter 2025. Read more here
Position: Welltower (WELL)
Artificial Intelligence
After seeing early productivity gains from its implementation of artificial intelligence and agentic-based solutions across its internal processes, Equifax doubled its forecast of the cost savings it expects to see over the next three years, according to a presentation released Tuesday (July 21) in conjunction with the company’s second-quarter earnings call. Equifax CEO Mark W. Begor said during the earnings call that the $150 million in run rate spending savings that the global data, analytics and technology company now expects to see from 2026 to 2028 is double the estimate it announced in February. Read more here
Uber Technologies Inc. said it has cut 10% of jobs within its customer service operations as part of a broader effort to simplify its ranks and “embrace artificial intelligence.” Read more here
Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings announcement on Wednesday (July 22) provided a clearer answer to one of the central questions surrounding generative AI: Are businesses moving quickly enough from testing the technology to paying for it at scale? For Google, the evidence is increasingly coming from enterprise customers, where demand for computing capacity, Gemini models and AI applications contributed to an 82% increase in Google Cloud revenue and pushed Cloud backlog to $514 billion. Read more here
Reported organizational adoption of AI grew sharply in Q2 2026. Forty-seven percent of U.S. employees now say their organization has integrated AI tools to improve productivity, efficiency or quality, up from 41% in the last quarter… More than half of U.S. workers (52%) now use AI in their role, with 30% using it frequently (a few times a week or more). Fifteen percent use it daily. Read more here
Position: Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Axon (AXON), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Neostellar Capital (NSLR), Palantir (PLTR)
Cash-Strapped Consumer
Retirement healthcare costs are up 7.5% from last year, the sharpest rise in more than a decade, according to Fidelity. A 65-year-old retiring today will need $185,500 saved to cover healthcare costs in retirement, up from $172,500 last year, according to Fidelity’s 25th annual Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate released on Tuesday. Read more here
Capital One and Synchrony earnings results this week highlight a consumer credit market that is becoming more segmented: lenders are drawing finer distinctions within credit tiers, millions of new accounts are still being opened and card products are increasingly being matched to both a borrower’s credit profile and expected spending behavior. Read more here
A new survey from Primerica finds 71% of middle-income Americans say their income cannot keep up with the cost of living, painting a stark picture of financial stress still gripping millions of families. The survey also finds 66% of respondents say they have little to no wiggle room in their budgets. More than half have stopped saving for the future, and more than half have also put off medical or dental care — a figure that has jumped 21 points since December. Read more here
Position: Amazon, Costco (COST), TJX Companies (TJX)
Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity
South Korea disclosed that hackers breached the National Diplomatic Academy’s online education system for ten months and stole personal information belonging to current and former employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), including overseas diplomats. Read more here
American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is notifying an undisclosed number of customers of a data breach after their accounts were hacked in a wave of recent credential stuffing attacks… The information exposed in the breach includes a combination of customers’ names, email addresses, Chick-fil-A One membership numbers and mobile pay numbers, QR codes, the amount of Chick-fil-A credit, and the last four digits of your credit/debit card number. Additionally, the attackers may have also gained access to birth dates, phone numbers, and addresses if stored in the compromised accounts. Read more here
OpenAI says its AI models, including GPT‑5.6 Sol and a pre-release model, hacked into the Hugging Face artificial intelligence repository while being tested in a sandboxed testing environment. As the company explained, instead of focusing on finding a solution for the ExploitGym public AI cybersecurity benchmark on their own, the AI models went rogue and tried to cheat by stealing the test solutions by hacking Hugging Face after inferring that they could get the test solutions directly from its production database. Read more here
Cosmetics giant Estée Lauder is notifying employees of a data breach after hackers exploited a flaw in Oracle E-Business Suite that the company used for human resources (HR) operations… The affected information included names, postal and email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, financial account information (bank account numbers), health information, and employment-related information (such as performance evaluation and payroll information). The impacted data varied for each affected individual. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR), Microsoft
Digital Lifestyle
The Galaxy XR headset is great for gaming and professional uses, but it is not something that you will want to wear while you are out and about. Instead, you might put on the new smart glasses that Samsung unveiled at its Galaxy Unpacked event. The digital side of things is a collaboration between Samsung, Google and Qualcomm. The glasses run Android XR on a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chipset. Unlike the XR2+ Gen 2 chip inside the Galaxy XR, the AR1 chip has been specifically designed for thin and light smart glasses. The glasses feature the Google Gemini AI assistant, the version built for wearables. Read more here
Foxconn, Apple’s primary contract manufacturer, has entered its peak recruitment season as the iPhone 18 series enters mass production and ramps up capacity, according to supply chain sources cited by mainland media. Read more here
Apple reportedly wants to overhaul its Mac line as consumers seek artificial intelligence (AI)-powered computers. The company plans to introduce new versions of every Mac product it sells, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (July 22), citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter. This will include long-awaited updates to the company’s desktops, several laptops and a revamped version of the MacBook Pro, all scheduled to roll out this fall and into 2027, the sources said. The launches will begin with an updated low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro that will be among the first Macs to include a new M6 chip and the first new iMacs in two years, the sources added. Read more here
Looking for new iPhone and iPad games to play? The App Store has plenty of games without ads and in-app purchases. Apple Arcade is a great subscription option for families, though it’s not the only game in town. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you’re also paying for a huge catalog of great iPhone and iPad games. Read more here
Position: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple (AAPL), Meta, Neostellar, Netflix (NFLX)
Digital Payments
The research found that digital bank users are younger, more mobile-focused and far more likely than other consumers to prefer digital wallets. That familiarity could also make them receptive to Pay by Bank, which lets shoppers authorize payments directly from a bank account through a digital flow. Read more here
Energy Pain Point
GE Vernova expects to have at least 125 GW of gas turbine equipment under contract by the end of 2026 as demand from utilities, data centers and other power users continues to stretch manufacturing schedules into the next decade. The company ended the second quarter with 116 GW of gas turbine equipment in its backlog and slot reservation agreements, up from 100 GW three months earlier… Firm orders are expected to overtake the capacity covered by slot reservation agreements during the second half of 2026 as customers advance projects and secure engineering, procurement and construction capacity. Read more here
U.S. electric utilities expect to spend $1.4 trillion on power lines and other infrastructure-related costs over the next five years, raising concerns about rising power bills ahead for American homes and businesses… Read more here
Position: Eaton (ETN)
Guilty Pleasure
Coffee drinkers are buying “less but better” as prices soar, according to Italian roaster Lavazza, fuelling demand for whole beans and bean-to-cup machines…UK whole-bean coffee sales rose 20.3 per cent by volume in the year to May, far outstripping growth of 2.8 per cent across at-home coffee overall, according to Nielsen data. Bean sales climbed 36.8 per cent by value, while unit sales of bean-to-cup machines increased 33.5 per cent. Read more here
Nestlé plans to close a confectionery site in Hungary, citing a “decline in demand” for seasonal chocolate products. The factory at Diósgyőr in north-eastern Hungary will end production by the end of the year. It manufactures chocolate hollow figures for the Smarties, KitKat, and Milky Bar brands. According to the Switzerland-based food giant, demand has fallen in recent years, which has led to output at the site dropping “significantly”. Read more here
Homebuilding & Materials
Economic uncertainty and persistent affordability challenges driven by rising material prices, high land costs, and elevated mortgage rates continue to weigh on builder sentiment. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell two points to 34 in July, down from an upwardly revised reading of 36 in June, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. Sentiment has remained below 40 for 15 consecutive months, the longest such stretch since 2012. Read more here
PulteGroup on Wednesday posted a fall in second-quarter profit as the homebuilder’s incentives for buyers facing challenges with high interest rates and rising costs weighed on the company’s margins. Read more here
D.R. Horton on Tuesday trimmed its full-year revenue forecast as the homebuilder’s incentives for buyers facing high interest rates and rising costs weighed on the company’s margins. U.S. homebuilders are navigating rising costs due to persistent inflation, as well as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on key construction raw material. Read more here
Luxury Buying Boom
Giorgio Armani’s parent company is contesting a multi-million-euro penalty imposed by Italy’s competition authority, placing renewed attention on how regulators are using antitrust and consumer-protection tools to scrutinize corporate claims about supply chains and manufacturing practices… Reuters reported that the Italian Competition Authority concluded that Armani had engaged in unfair commercial practices related to representations made to consumers regarding production standards and oversight of its supply chain. Read more here
Safety & Security
The House passed a more than $1 trillion annual defense bill on Wednesday, moving the unusually contentious measure forward after it earlier stalled in both chambers. The bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed by a 216-212 vote. The House mostly voted along party lines, with Democrats overwhelmingly voting against the measure, citing their objections to President Donald Trump’s war in Iran… The legislation will now need to win approval in the Senate, where it could face a difficult path. Read more here
Police technology has changed a lot since Jim Sears became an officer more than 30 years ago. Among the big changes is the growing use of body cameras. That trend recently arrived in such training institutions as the North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Police Academy, where Sears is an instructor… Instead of relying on observations from teachers such as Sears, and the memories of recruits, the body cameras offer more accurate after-action reviews of training situations. That can also save time because the cameras can reduce the need for individual debriefings. Read more here
Springfield City Council approved a bill that would let Springfield police acquire new body cameras from Axon that will implement AI technology to transcribe interactions and provide real-time translation. Major Eric Reece was the speaker at the event, and one of the features he discussed was an AI transcript writer. “A draft police report is automatically created,” Reece said. “So the officer can use that draft as a starting point for their report, edit, and finalize and sign off on it if it’s accurate.” Another tool that the cameras will have is translation that will be able to intake language, transcribe and feed back through the speakers in English to officers wearing them. Read more here
Position: Axon, Palantir
The Strategies Behind Our Thematics
Aging of the Population – Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings.
Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.
Cash-Strapped Consumer – Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.
Cybersecurity – Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.
Data Privacy & Digital Identity – Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.
Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.
Digital Lifestyle – The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.
Digital Payments – This model focuses on companies benefiting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).
Energy Pain Point – Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.
EV Transition – Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.
Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.
Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.
Luxury Buying Boom – Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.
Rebuilding America – Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.
Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.
At the time of publicaiton, the Pro Portfolio was long WELL, GOOGL, AAPL, NFLX, AMZN, AXON, META, MSFT, NSLR, PLTR, COST, TJX, CIBR, ETN.
