The alpha Brief: Insights on Quant Investing and the alpha Brief Portfolio (aBP)

First and foremost I believe AMD is a STRONG BUY because it sits at the intersection of two durable secular trends: cloud CPU displacement and the AI accelerator build-out.

I am rating Amkor Technology (AMKR) a Strong Buy because I see durable AI-driven packaging demand, a heavy backlog, expanding advanced-node services and a valuation that discounts near-term cyclical noise while offering upside as demand normalizes and AI content ramps.

This week reminded the market that another question may be just as important: does the economy actually need rate cuts yet?

The company delivered a strong start to 2026, with normalized net revenue growth of 17%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 35%, and expanding margins. Management also raised full-year guidance and increased its long-term margin target.

Albemarle owns advantaged lithium capacity and high-margin specialty chemistries essential to EV and AI battery stacks. I see durable cash generation from expansions and disciplined capital allocation—hence Strong Buy

I am rating Seagate Technology (STX) a STRONG BUY because the company is positioned to capture explosive, multi-year capacity demand from AI and hyperscaler growth. This is while trading at a valuation that underestimates its near-term margin and cash-generation upside.

I rate Talen Energy a Strong Buy since it is positioned at the intersection of surging electricity demand from AI/data centers and a constrained supply of reliable, dispatchable power.

The AI boom is increasing semiconductor complexity, not just semiconductor demand. Advanced AI workloads are driving node transitions, rising HBM demand, and more sophisticated packaging architectures, all of which increase process intensity and support stronger demand for Lam’s technology.

I am issuing a Strong Buy rating for this company due to its highly advantageous positioning within the artificial intelligence ecosystem.

Nvidia remained at the center of investor attention, but the market increasingly rewarded companies tied to the infrastructure needed to support AI growth, including semiconductors, networking, power systems, cooling, and data-center expansion. The S&P 500 closed the week up roughly 1.4%, while the Nasdaq gained around 2.4%.

I am rating JinkoSolar a Strong Buy because it is the undisputed global leader in solar module shipments, trading at a deeply depressed valuation that prices in permanent earnings impairment rather than a cyclical trough followed by a structural recovery.

I rate GE Vernova a Strong Buy since it is directly positioned at the existing AI bottleneck which is power. Data center demand collides with grid limitations, interconnection delays and infrastructure bottlenecks and GE Vernova is directly positioned at the constraint.

I rate Constellation Energy a strong buy because it directly solves the binding constraint of the AI era through its unmatched fleet of nuclear baseload generation, giving it a structural and hard to replicate advantage as electricity demand from data centers accelerates.

I believe one energy infrastructure leader is uniquely positioned to benefit as hyperscalers race to secure reliable electricity for the next wave of AI and data center growth.

This company is strategically positioned in the growing clean energy sector and its has a capability to address electricity demand constraints with its distributed, on-site energy systems that offer reliable, grid-independent power.

I am rating ASE Technology Holding a strong BUY because the company is entering a structural earnings acceleration phase driven by advanced packaging leadership and rising AI-driven semiconductor demand.

AI demand now includes power and cooling infrastructure, which can bottleneck performance. Vertiv offers technologies to optimize efficiency, highlighting the need for robust systems in AI deployments.

I am rating Vistra Corp a Strong Buy because AI is moving from a chip shortage phase to a power shortage phase. Vistra Corp is the largest independent power producer in the United States, and it sits directly at the center of this structural shift.

Sempra is becoming one of the clearest utility beneficiaries of the AI-driven electricity buildout in the United States. As AI infrastructure expands, hyperscale data centers are consuming significantly more electricity than traditional cloud infrastructure. This is creating rising demand for transmission networks, grid modernization, and utility investment, particularly in Texas where Sempra’s Oncor business operates.

Last week’s market action once again showed that investors are still heavily focused on artificial intelligence infrastructure, but the conversation is slowly evolving. Earlier in the cycle, almost all attention went toward semiconductors and GPUs. Now the market is increasingly looking deeper into the infrastructure layer supporting AI growth, including networking, power systems, cooling, and electricity demand.