Trade Alert: Hormuz Blockade And AI Buildout
Two bullish options trades tied to the blockade and two tied to reindustrialization and the AI buildout.
Trading The Blockade
The Strait of Hormuz continues to loom over markets, and one way to think about that risk is to look for Western Hemisphere beneficiaries if Persian Gulf flows continue to be throttled.
Two of today’s trades fit that frame. One is a Western Hemisphere fertilizer name, and the other is a Western Hemisphere oil name. If Gulf energy flows, fertilizer inputs, or related shipping routes continue to be disrupted, those sorts of assets should become more strategically valuable.
Reindustrialization And AI’s Physical Footprint
We also have a Top Names trade today in a U.S. materials company tied to reindustrialization, infrastructure, packaging, coatings, and industrial supply chains. It’s not a flashy AI stock, but those kinds of basic-materials producers can benefit from the same reshoring and infrastructure trends that have been showing up across our trades lately.
The fourth trade is a Market Watchers name that’s a niche play on the AI buildout.
The Hyperscalers Are Still Spending
That theme got another boost this week from the hyperscalers. Alphabet (GOOGL 0.00%↑) , Microsoft (MSFT 0.00%↑) , Meta (META 0.00%↑), and Amazon (AMZN 0.00%↑) all reported recently, and the common thread was that they’re still leaning hard into AI infrastructure spending. Alphabet said Google Cloud revenue grew 63%, Microsoft pointed to continued AI investment behind its cloud growth, Meta raised its 2026 capital-expenditure outlook to $125 billion to $145 billion, and Amazon said AWS revenue rose 28% amid strong AI demand.
That matters for us because the AI buildout isn’t just about the obvious mega-cap names. Some of the best opportunities can be in the niche suppliers, test-equipment companies, photonics names, and other picks-and-shovels businesses that benefit when data centers, chips, optics, and power systems keep scaling. We’ve already had some success trading niche AI-infrastructure names such as Viavi Solutions (VIAV 0.00%↑), and today’s Market Watchers name fits that broader pattern.
A Tight Value-And-Momentum Screen
Finally, one of today’s trades comes from our “Really Time To Buy” Chartmill screen. That’s a tight screen: PEG of 1 or lower, options available, technical rating of at least 6, setup rating of at least 7, Piotroski F-score of at least 8, and U.S.-listed. As of Wednesday’s close, only five stocks passed all of those criteria.
So today’s alert gives us exposure to four different but related ideas: Western Hemisphere fertilizer, Western Hemisphere oil, reindustrialization / materials, and a niche AI-buildout supplier.
Today’s Top Names Trade
Reindustrialization / materials theme
