Money & Megatrends

October 21, 2025

By Brian Hunt

 

Inside today’s issue:

• The robotics megatrend is powering key players to new highs. Are you positioned to benefit?
• Two important stock moves confirm Boomer health care is a theme rich with opportunity
• A top investor puts one of our Trump Trades in the spotlight

 

The Robotics Megatrend Is Powering Key Players to New Highs. Are You Positioned to Benefit?

 

Over the past 18 months, I’ve urged friends and colleagues to become heavily involved in the robotics megatrend. I believe it is one of the biggest financial opportunities of the 21st century.

At Money & Megatrends, we occasionally trade and track trends that last less than 12 months. The robotics megatrend will last more than 12 years. It is a giant, multi-faceted trend that will change the world. It will yield greater factory automation, surgical robots, autonomous cars, autonomous air taxis, humanoid worker robots and much more. Robotics investment is expected to rise at least 15% annually through the rest of this decade. Within five years, Amazon will employ more robots than people.

Robots must sense what is in front of them to be safe and useful, which is why one of this trend’s most promising “angles” is machine sensory perception. This field includes cameras, lasers, heat sensors, force sensors, and magnetic field sensors. Companies in machine sensory perception are poised to enjoy a huge tailwind at their backs.

The market agrees with this outlook. This week, machine vision leader Cognex (CGNX) broke out to a new 52-week high. Cognex makes sensors and software for factory robots.

Another leading machine sensor maker, Ouster (OUST), is close to breaking out to its own 52-week high.

These new highs show the robotics megatrend is in full swing.

 

 

“For a lot of Baby Boomers, a typical month involves going to see at least one doctor to have something looked at, something removed, or something treated.”

This quote from our October 8 briefing summarizes one of the world’s most powerful investment megatrends: Boomer health care.

More than 10,000 Americans reach retirement age every day. That’s the giant Baby Boom generation entering the later stages of life… and a significant opportunity for the health care industry.

Ever since the Boomers hit the scene in 1946, they have been a demographic force to be reckoned with. As they’ve worked through life, they have powered a variety of big industry booms. For example, when Baby Boomers began buying starter homes in the 1980s, it drove housing booms in many cities.

Now, Boomers are in a phase of life where spending on health care and longevity skyrockets. As mentioned, for many boomers, a typical month involves going to see at least one doctor to have something looked at, something removed, or something treated.

The Boomer generation contains the largest group of wealthy people the world has ever seen. Many of them will spend big bucks pursuing health and extra years. The Boomers that aren’t rich are supported by major government programs.

This means many health care fields are enjoying huge demand now… and will for at least the next decade. It’s raining money on many health care businesses.

This is why a substantial position in health care-related investments makes a lot of sense.

Over the past month, I’ve highlighted how the market is beginning to like the Boomer health care theme. Health care and drug development stocks are beginning to lead the market.

I’ll also point out that America’s two leading health care testing companies, Quest Diagnostics (QDX) and Labcorp Holdings (LH), reached new 52-week highs this week. If you’ve ever had a doctor order any test for you, chances are good it was through Quest or Labcorp.

Both companies are enjoying the tailwind of Boomer demand for their services. Both confirm the Boomer health care theme is an area of opportunity.

 

Last week, we noted how it appears Donald Trump is going to get his desired U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure building boom. We believe this emerging trend is great for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies.

Today at an investment conference, Jeffrey Smith of Starboard Value said his firm has a position in the EPC firm Fluor (FLR) and believes the company will be a winner in the U.S. infrastructure building boom.

EPC firms design and build giant infrastructure projects such as airports, skyscrapers, power plants, subways, and data centers. As hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on data centers, electrical infrastructure, and new manufacturing facilities, EPC companies should enjoy a multi-year tailwind.

The urgency among OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Meta, and the White House to build the data centers, power plants, and power grids needed to support AI commercialization is so great that EPCs in many cases are charging “mini bar prices” now — and will be able to do so for years into the future. This is good for profit margins.

In our original piece, we said leading EPC companies set to benefit from a U.S. infrastructure spending boom include Jacobs Solutions (J), AECOM (ACM), Fluor (FLR), Willdan (WLDN), Sterling Infrastructure (STRL), and Quanta (PWR).

Just yesterday, the market values of Jacobs and AECOM reached new all-time highs. If Jeffrey Smith gets his way, Fluor won’t be far behind.

 

• Today, U.S. automaker General Motors (GM) reached a new 52-week high after reporting strong earnings.
  Can the economy be all that bad if one of its biggest automakers is doing great?
• Today, one of America’s largest warehouse operators, Prologis (PLD), reached a new 52-week high. Its largest customers include Amazon, Home Depot, and FedEx.
  Can the economy be all that bad if a leading warehouse operator is doing great?
• Today, the yield on the all-important 10-year Treasury bond reached its lowest point in over a year.
  Inflation and higher rates may loom in the future, but they are not causing issues right now.