is another stock riding the data center boom. Vertiv on Wednesday announced that its third-quarter sales rose 29.5% to $2.68 billion compared to $2.07 billion in the same quarter a year ago. During the same period, the company’s operating earnings surged 63.2% to $1.24 per share compared to 76 cents per share. The analyst community was expecting sales of $2.58 billion and operating earnings of 98 cents per share, so Vertiv posted a 3.9% sales surprise and a 26.5% earnings surprise. The company also said that its orders accelerated in the third quarter, up 60% year in the past 12 months and up 20% from the second quarter.
What was surprising was that both and Vertiv Holdings declined on Wednesday, since a big mean reversion program kicked in that punished stocks that were previous winners. Specifically, Bespoke reported that the Top 10% of stocks in the since August 1st declined 5.73% on Wednesday, led by quantum computing companies, small modular nuclear reactor, and solid-state battery stocks that have not yet posted positive earnings.
GE Vernova, Vertiv Holdings, and other data centers, plus AI-related stocks, were also swept up in the Wednesday mean version selling. However, since GE Vernova, Vertiv Holdings, and my other data center and AI-related stocks are posting spectacular third-quarter results and raising guidance, I expect them to rebound strongly.
As far as the quantum computing companies, small modular nuclear reactor, and solid-state battery stocks, they will not bounce back as quickly, unless they post spectacular sales growth, since their underlying earnings growth is not expected to materialize for several years.
The big news on Tuesday was that gold declined by over 5%, which was the biggest daily decline in over 12 years. This was merely a technical correction in gold after an incredible 50% surge this year. Although the gold stocks I recommend corrected sharply on Tuesday, I expect them to rebound sharply in the upcoming day because all are expected to post spectacular sales and earnings.
To reiterate, the gold stocks I recommend are: Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Alamos Gold (AGI), Coeur Mining (CDE), Caledonia Mining (CMCL), Eldorado Gold (EGO), Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR), Kinross Gold (KGC), New Gold (NGD), OR Royalties (OR), and SSR Mining (SSRM).