Tracking 25 Signals Across 9 of Our Investing Themes

Papa John’s International sees consumers downsizing on pies. Fallout from ShinyHunters hack grows. And chip makers call outsupply constraints in laser technology.

These are a few of the more than two dozen individual signals we’ve collected that speak to the Pro Portfolio.

If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below. 

Aging Population

This year, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Longevity Ready Maryland Act and created the Aging Resilience Fund, both of which will work in tandem to improve the state’s support system for older adults. The Longevity Ready Maryland Plan is a 10-year, multisector strategy to ensure that state agencies are coordinating over how to address Maryland’s growing population of elders. State estimates say one in four Marylanders will be 60 years or older by 2030… Read more here

The university-senior living trend is still picking up speed in 2026, even as new development remains tough to notch. Construction lending and costs are keeping the level of new development low in senior living. The number of units under construction in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to just 0.4% of total inventory, according to NIC MAP data. Read more here

Preventive screenings are always an important part of taking care of yourself, but they become even more essential to your well-being later in life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Why? Older adults are at a greater risk of conditions that develop slowly and don’t always cause noticeable symptoms, such as high blood pressure and colon cancer. Read more here

Position: Labcorp (LH); Welltower (WELL)

Artificial Intelligence

The global adoption of artificial intelligence continued to rise in the first quarter of 2026. During the quarter, AI usage increased by 1.5 percentage points from 16.3% to 17.8% of the world’s working age population. Intensity of use among economies with the highest rates of AI diffusion also increased, with 26 economies now exceeding 30% of the working age population using AI. Read more here

OpenAI and Anthropic are expanding their reach into professional services through joint ventures and acquisition talks, moving model providers closer to implementation roles traditionally held by systems integrators. Joint ventures tied to the two AI companies have held talks to acquire services companies that help businesses deploy AI, with OpenAI’s venture in advanced stages on three deals… The companies are reportedly looking to add engineers and consultants as enterprise customers try to move generative AI from experiments into production. For CIOs, the issue is whether AI vendors are starting to take over more of the work traditionally handled by consulting firms, systems integrators, and managed service providers. The developments suggest model providers want a stronger hand in enterprise AI implementation, even as systems integrators remain central to large-scale rollouts. Read more here

Position: Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Arista Networks (ANET), Axon (AXON), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), SuRo Capital (SSSS)

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Papa John’s International said budget-conscious customers have traded down to smaller pizzas and passed on sides and desserts in the first quarter, weighing on sales and profit. Read more here

Among the shoppers who said they are pivoting to lower-priced retailers, over half said they plan to buy the same brands, while the rest said they are also swapping to cheaper brands… these findings are indicative of “a meaningful disruption in how consumers are approaching grocery shopping,” stating that customers are “actively seeking value” in the food aisles by trading down on retailers. Read more here

Consumers face the threat of higher prices spreading beyond the petrol pump without a swift end to the Middle East war, executives and analysts have warned, as companies lay bare the hit from spiraling energy costs… References to “pricing action” and “passing on costs” during first-quarter US earnings calls have climbed to the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sparked the last global inflation shock in 2022, according to an FT analysis. Read more here

Position: Amazon, Costco (COST), TJX Companies (TJX)

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

The San Diego Community College District said Tuesday it is continuing to battle a major cyberattack that began on Saturday and led the system to take some internet, email, websites and registration platforms offline while it is in the midst of enrolling students for summer classes. Read more here

CISA’s new “CI Fortify” initiative notably pushes water utilities, the transportation sector and other critical infrastructure organizations to plan for a “geopolitical crisis” involving cyber attacks that could sever their connections to internet, telecommunications and other technology services. Read more here

Fresno State officials say the university has been impacted by a nationwide cybersecurity incident involving the Canvas learning management system. According to the university, the parent company Instructure confirmed that unauthorized access to some data occurred, and that the information may include certain personal data tied to the Canvas platform. Read more here

Criminal extortion group ShinyHunters claimed Sunday that it had breached Instructure — the parent company of the online learning platform Canvas — and stolen data from 9,000 schools, including Duke. Read more here

Cybersecurity firm Dragos has released a threat intelligence report detailing an intrusion into a municipal water and drainage utility in Monterrey, Mexico, in which an unidentified threat actor made extensive use of AI tools to assist its operation. The hacker attack on the water utility took place in January 2026, but was part of a broader campaign targeting multiple Mexican government organizations between December 2025 and February 2026… What distinguished this intrusion from typical cyberattacks was the central role of Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT models, which together served as an AI-assisted operational engine. Read more here

Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, Microsoft 

Digital Infrastructure

As demand for high-performance AI chips rises, competition for 3nm and below fabrication capacity, along with advanced packaging technologies such as 2.5D and 3D integration, is becoming increasingly intense. One of the most persistent bottlenecks has been in advanced packaging, especially chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology. Shortages have extended beyond fabrication itself, affecting upstream equipment and downstream supply chains, including substrates, printed circuit boards, and high-bandwidth memory. Read more here

A Broadcom (AVGO) executive said its manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) is reaching capacity limits and the industry is facing broader supply chain constraints amid surging demand for AI chips… Ramachandran noted that there is a supply constraint in the laser space even though there are multiple suppliers, and printed circuit boards also emerged ​as an “unexpected” bottleneck, resulting in longer lead times. Many customers are entering long-term agreements with ​suppliers to ⁠secure capacity commitments for as long as 3-4 years, he said. Read more here

Analysts report unprecedented demand for AI chips, with Broadcom, TSMC, and ASML expanding aggressively to meet orders from hyperscalers. The surge is shifting bottlenecks from chip design to manufacturing and packaging, straining foundries and equipment makers. Read more here

Position: Applied Materials (AMAT), Broadcom (AVGO), Marvell (MRVL), Nvidia (NVDA)

Energy Pain Point

PowerLines released Utility Spending is Rising: A Review of Utility Capital Expenditure Plans, a comprehensive review of 51 investor-owned utility earnings calls in recent months. PowerLines found that investor-owned utilities are planning to spend at least $1.4 trillion over the next five years through 2030 on capital expenditures (CapEx)—a more than 21 percent increase over the $1.1 trillion over a five-year period outlined last year. Read more here

Position: Eaton (ETN)

Homebuilding & Materials

Home prices rose across the majority of metro markets in the first quarter, strengthening homeowner equity while affordability remained an ongoing challenge for buyers. Seventy-one percent of 235 metro markets tracked saw home prices rise during the first quarter of this year, while slightly more than a dozen of the markets even recorded double-digit price gains… Read more here

A new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that 65% of U.S. households are priced out of newly built homes, based on current prices and mortgage rates. In some parts of the country, the situation is even more extreme. Read more here

Luxury Buying Boom

LVMH is exploring sales of fashion houses, beauty labels and alcoholic drinks brands in one of the most significant retrenchments of its near 40-year history, as the luxury industry leader slims down in response to a period of lower demand. Read more here

Luxury demand is taking a hit as geopolitical tensions rise, with LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault warning of a “pretty serious crisis in the Middle East.” Read more here

Safety & Security

The United States defense strategy is undergoing a major transformation the government prepares to allocate approximately $ 1.51 trillion for the fiscal year 2027, reflecting a historic surge in military expenditure. This follows a significant rise to over $ 1 trillion in 2026, highlighting a sharp escalation in defense priorities driven by the global conflicts, strategic competition and rapid technological evolution. Read more here

European sovereignty in defense and security is within reach and would require investing around €50 billion (US$59 billion) a year for the next decade, according to a paper by five prominent German defense investors, experts and industry executives. The paper identified ten key areas where Europe faces strategic capability gaps, including command and control, autonomous systems and deep strike. Reaching defense autonomy would cost an estimated €150 billion to €200 billion by 2030… Read more here

As the EU faces the encroaching threat of outside countries, one nation is taking matters into its own hands. Germany is heavily investing in its military budget, spending more money on defense in 2025 than in the prior 36 years, according to recent reports. Read more here

AI is increasingly used to relieve administrative burden and staffing pressures. A 2025 U.S. Public Safety Trends Report found that 76% of officers spend more than half of their shifts on paperwork, with 70% relying on overtime to complete administrative tasks. It’s no surprise that there is widespread support for AI adoption. Read more here

Position: Axon, Palantir

This Holding Raises Revenue Guidance and We See More Gains Ahead

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

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.