Power Lunch - Big Tech Bounces Back, Baker Hughes CEO, & Powering the AI Revolution 7/9/26

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Stocks rose on Thursday, supported by a jump in semiconductors and a fall in oil prices, as equity markets tried to recover despite renewed U.S.-Iran tensions. Kelly Evans and Brian Sullivan are joined on-set by Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick who provides his mid-year market report card and outlook for the rest of 2026. Meanwhile, Baker Hughes’ CEO, Lorenzo Simonelli, joined the show after his company announced it received three contracts for the Sabine Pass LNG facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stocks are higher again as we head toward a possible weekly gain. Welcome to Power Lunch. Kelly is back. I am Brian and Big Tech is back in a big way. All the trader favorites, they're higher right now. Semiconductors, even some software stocks are higher. Plus, crude is lower today, but some other news in the energy space with LNG. And Bakerhue CEO Lorenzi Seminelli is here. Tell you more about their big power deals, plural. Big deal to have him. Plus the AI revolution and how we think. power it and the infrastructure required. The names that should be on your watch list. We'll talk about that with Stephen Bird, Morgan Stanley's Global Head of Thematic and Sustainability

Research. He will also be here. But we start with the markets, which are rallying as chipmakers rise, the NASDAX up 1.2 today, and oil prices fall on, maybe for that reason, the Russell's up 1.3. Your next guest says the late June swoon was not enough to derail his optimism and equities, and he just unveiled his year-end price chart. I thought it said 15 to 18% higher versus his 12 to 15% previous estimate. Ryan Dietrich is chief market strategist at the Carson Group and a CNBC contributor.

So let's translate this into round numbers. What was your previous S&P target, if we'd call it that? Exactly. To start of the year, we set a full-year gain between 12 and 15%. And now today, on this show, the first time we're releasing our mid-year outlook and we're saying between 12 and 15%. So we've been overweight equities. We have been bullish. Kelly, I know it came on with you.

We said back in late March. We did not lower our target when everybody else was. We stayed there saying we thought we could still gain upwards of 15% this year. And I upped it a little bit because there's reasons to be bullish as we can talk about. How much are we up so far this year, nine? Right. We were at about 10% at the middle of the year and I know we're flat-ish in July. So I'm trying to do some math here because I'm a simple person.

So if we're called 7,500, up 10%, then if we're going to be up 18, that takes us to 70s. Yeah, up around 8,000. All the way to 8,000, would it? Okay. So you're basically, you're up there. That's W&L math. Virginia Tech engineering math. I would have said 6,000.

That's bearish. I mean, that number is now where a lot of your colleague, not colleague, I'm trying to say you're a cell site analyst or anything, but like where a lot of people are now saying, yeah. So there is this earnings through and through, basically? Is that the reason for the change? I think it's one of the reasons. You know, the other thing is fascinating about this market.

I mean, just we talked about the June Swoon before it came on. The market goes down a little. little bit when it's normally weak near the end of June. Yet everybody gets all bearish just last week. I'm losing my earpiece. Just throw it out. You don't know it. It's only to throw it away. It's just you and I. I do have big ears. I do a big ears. Hey, there's nothing wrong with big ears. Yeah, because I can hear a lot. But the reality is we saw like the AAI cinnamon pole bulls down 13% last week, the active manager. So it's like incredible me, Kelly. Yes, there's lots of positive, but how bare it up everybody gets on just a normal week June swoon, which I love. I love seeing that. All right, so you're giving us a little taste of the mid-year outlook officially comes out next week, correct?

To your clients, and we don't want to front run them. I mean, we will if you'll allow us. But you're giving us a little taste, sort of raising that percentage gain. Is there another aspect behind the bullish outlook? Is there something new, or is it just, man, this momentum is good? Now, there is some new. We'll talk about it now. So we're a little different, maybe than some other guests, maybe.

We think the labor market's really going to come back to second half this. year solely. You know, all of last year, we made 120,000 jobs. We've averaged 110,000 jobs the last three months. You look under the service just today. The initial jobless games came in better. So, we know AI's driving this economy. We get it. And the consumer's kind of wobbly. But the labor market strength in the second half of this year, that's probably going to be a good thing. Consumer confidence is low, yes. But I just saw from the census came out with data this morning, you're having more and more people apply to start businesses. Are people really feeling that bad if they're confident to start a business? I don't think so. So we're optimistic the labor market's

going to be a positive second half of this year. I think that data point might be the most important one in the whole economy. And it's not really a market sensitive data, but it's, that's what to all the new hiring comes from new businesses, right? That's what the kind of the lifeblood of the whole economy is. So that is a good sign. No, you're right, Kelly. There's lots of ways, I mean, sentiment, the hard data, the soft data, we've talked about. And one of the charts I sent was how the market has never, and I know never, but never peaked in June. Never's a big word. It never's a big word.

It's like transitory. You shouldn't say it. Not as big as my ears, but it's still a big word. Again, go head to head with you all these things. There you go. They're real and they're spectacular. June 2nd was our last high for the S&P. We had some weakness.

We get all that. But we don't think it's going to be the first year. June was the peak. And I know other guests have said it, but I'll say it one more time. Just two days ago, the S&P 500 hit an all-time high on the advanced decline line. New York Stock Exchange, Advanced Lake hit an all-time high. Last week, small caps, mid-caps, what does that mean? Market breadth.

historically leads price by almost as much as 11 months. So once you hit a new high in breadth, you might have a stock market go up for another year. Who knows if that's the case, but that's another positive out there. To your labor market point and to Kelly's point, top state for business in America this year, your state, Ohio. And I just got back from about a week and a half in the Midwest. Kelly and I were in Chicago. Then I scurried up to Wisconsin.

I love getting out of this bubble, not the AI bubble, but this New Jersey, New York bubble. because the American economy, not for everybody, I get it, but the American economy is doing pretty well. And I'm always shocked. I go out wherever I go, especially in rural Wisconsin. Restaurants are full, stores are full. Again, things are expensive. I'm not taking away from the affordability issue.

Does that fall directly then to corporate earnings, which then goes directly to valuations and multiples on the S&P 500? We think so. I mean, just look at some of the recent manufacturing data that we've been seeing, right? It's continuing to surprise the upside, services, been strong as well. We already talked about the labor market getting better. People live in bubbles. I know you guys had a really big wedding, right, in New York City, just a week or so ago. A lot of money is still on that. I haven't seen any. Did you get invited? No evidence.

I didn't get invited. I couldn't make it. We didn't make, oh, you were busy. I didn't even get you. Yeah. But, but, you know, so, so but the reality is I traveled the country and see things. People feel a certain way in these sentiment polls, but then they do another thing. They say one thing and they do another. Exactly. Look at retail sales. Look at open table. Look at hotel bookings, airlines, all that stuff. I mean, I'm not saying that the economy's perfect by any stretch, but it is solid and we're going to get better because that labor market is. I went to Port Arthur, Texas recently, and it went to the AI story. Went to Port Arthur, Texas, got there late, stayed in, I think it was like a Hampton Inn or, you know,

something like that. It's 400 a night. Wow. And it was full. Wow. Like, it was legitimately, the parking lot was packed. Was this, you think, specifically because there was a idea going on? Because they're building the data center nearby. And so all the construction workers basically are living there.

there, Monday through Thursday, then they go home for a long weekend and they come back. I'm only saying that, I don't know it's one anecdote, don't at me, folks, but the point is the trickled down, and I know it's a dirty word also, but the trickled down economics of these data centers is in your area of Ohio, I guarantee if you go out to where one is being built, it's not just meta and Mark Zuckerberg getting rich. There's people that are making money off this, concrete contractors, electricians, and that's flowing through to the economy. You know, the last five quarters, GDPs averaged about 2%. Now, 45% of that, so almost half, has come from AI.

AI rollouts, CAPEX. That's fine. We don't want always half of our economy to be AI and AI rollout and spending. We want other things to broaden out. And I know what just Micron said today, right? They're still spending. That stocks up, what, 6 or 7% or so. So I know chips have had a rough go with things.

But kind of like I talked about it before I started, chips had a rough go with things. And what happened? Industrials, financials, health care, all doing well. And staples are lagging today. And I know a good deal that's because of Pepsi. But I want to see staples lag. Today, eight sectors are higher out of the 11, and you've got the more defensive things that are red.

That's a healthy market, in my opinion. Okay. Ryan Dietrich says, I never want the staples to rally again. I think that was my big takeaway from. Well, first of, Kelly, I saw you two weeks ago. You were very under the weather. You seem a lot better than two weeks ago when I saw you, so I'm glad you bounced back.

Oh, she got through the wedding. Yeah, there you go. Red. She got through the wedding. Brian, thanks. It's really good to have you. Ryan Dietrich of the Carson Group. Meanwhile, big news, not just in the stock market today, but the 30-year bond, investors demanding higher returns from government debt.

507, I believe, was the yield highest in an auction in 19, no, 21 years I thought. What's the math? No, 19, you're right. Rick Santelli joins us now. That's more of my dubbing all the math. Hi, Rick. Hi, close enough for government work. There's the chart right there.

Okay, that chart goes back to 2007. And even though that chart's market-driven, not auction-driven, you can see why the auction-back-in. August of 07 was the high watermark in terms of the Dutch auction process. But in between then and today, well, the high yield for the long end, tens and thirties, was on the 19th of May. And it was 518 in the 30 year and it was 447 in a 10 year. And the reason I bring that up is that, yes, yields are up and everybody's pretty happy about that. It's a good collateral, high credit. and it's always about, you know, credit, risk and credit versus reward. So the sovereign debt's a good thing.

However, I do remember before the war started, a tenure was under 4% briefly. So we want to see if yields are going to come down in test levels pre-war, and that's something to pay close attention to. All right. Rick, we really appreciate it. Thank you. Rick Santelli, Banner Day for the 30 year. And we're just getting going. We have a lot more ahead for you.

Morgan Stanley, Stephen Bird, will join us on All Things, A.I. Scott Cohn has his ranking of the states with the best AI. But first, Baker Hughes, CEO Lorenzo Seminelli, joins us for an exclusive on their latest deal after this. Two deals in two days. Baker Hughes today announcing it's won a big deal with Schneer to help power LNG in Louisiana. It's just one day after unveiling a multi-year agreement to provide gas turbines for data centers. And the stock up 25% this year and almost 50% over one year. Let's talk about that and more with Lorenzo. Seminelli, he is the CEO of Baker Hughes. Lorenzo, really happy and honored to have you on Power Lunch again.

Thank you very much. Listen, two deals and two days. That doesn't sound like there's any slowdown in the macro global AI data center power story. Well, Brian, great to see you and also Kelly. And yes, two for two on two days. And we are seeing continued tailwinds when we look at the need for power generation and also the need for LNG and you mentioned it, these two contracts really represent the Baker Hughes momentum that we have at the moment across these two end markets. And we see that we're in a demand cycle decade. It's

not slowing down relative to data centers, but overall power generation needs off the grid behind the meter. And then on LNG, as you look at energy security, continuing to be at the forefront, I'm really happy with the continued role we play in expanding LNG capacity around the world. And you probably may have heard a bit of our previous conversation, Lorenzo, about the sort of the spillover economic effects of this buildout. And I drove by one of these deals you made is in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. I drove by it on the way I saw it. It's this massive facility kind of near Port Arthur, Texas.

You go around the world and you see these facilities. Tell our audience how much of a macro boost economic impact this is having on the U.S. and the world. It's significant. And if you look at what goes into these infrastructure projects and the one you mentioned and Chenier, a great partnership that we've had for multiple years. And Sabine Pass, Train 7, which is what we announced as well as then, upgrading, compression and aeros derivatives and equipment around the LNG facility that's going to enable them to increase capacity by 6 million tonnes a year of LNG.

And it helps the community, a lot of people being employed, a lot of Bechtel support, obviously. We work closely with them from an APC standpoint at the site as well. And this is just adding to the whole economy and then the supply base around the world that helps to support that. And that is likewise also with the data centers and the turbines that we produce and the Kodiak deal. Really a lot of infrastructures required around the turbines, and that just adds to the economy. And we're seeing that continued strength. Lorenzo, it's Kelly here. Could you talk a little bit about kind of the landscape with the Iran

conflict still going on? We saw it yesterday, this is a separate conflict, after Ukraine bombed Russia's refineries, Russia's blocking some diesel exports. diesel prices are up. Now there's some worry that refineries will switch to diesel. That could make gasoline prices go up. Again, to the extent which you feel comfortable on the areas that you're most exposed to, how would you describe the state of things? Paramount for us, Kelly, is obviously the safety and security of our employees and the continued operations that we have around the world. We have a significant presence in the Middle East, and we support our customers there. I think we all realize that this would be a fluid situation and there'll be ups and downs.

We're all hopeful that, again, there'll be a calming of the waters and we'll get to resolution. At this time, we're continuing to operate and support our customers. And obviously, we'll stay agile and focused on the security front. Yeah, understood. And I guess implicit to all of that in the U.S. benefits from the fact that we're much more energy independent than we used to be. I mean, yes, we export a lot, but we produce a lot. So even with the demand coming online from data centers and all of that, do you think that we are in a market that should stay relatively low cost despite all of that?

As you look at the data centers and you look at the natural resources that the U.S. benefits from, in particular the huge resource of natural gas, also from the oil that's produced, the associated gas. You know, we don't see there being an issue of too dramatic price increases relative to natural gas. And I think the United States is blessed with the resources it has. And there's going to be continued growth and momentum in natural gas. We certainly have plenty of gas. We have plenty of Baker Hughes turbines, by the way.

By the way, the GE deal for the Italian company 20 years ago, maybe one of the greatest deals of all time because it formed the seeds of the, of this and also a guy named Lorenzo Seminelli. I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but he's a big of CEO. Can you get everything else, Lorenzo, the manpower, for all these projects, is there any shortage or problems in any of the supply chains anywhere in the world? No, we've been through, as you know, some of the volatility of tariffs in 2025. That's given a lot of resilience.

We've been through the pandemic that took place previously. So our supply chain is very resilient. We've also got localization that's taken place in many areas. And our global supply chain team manages that very accordingly, making sure we've got to alternative sources. And I'd say right now, you know, we're seeing the demand there and we're able to meet the demand and we're taking the appropriate steps to make sure we fulfill our commitments to our customers.

Lorenzo Seminelli's CEO of Baker Hughes, two deals, two days, a big one with Schneer and Sabine Pass. Cameron Parrish, Louisiana. Lorenzo Simonelli, really appreciate you coming on CNBC and Power Lunch. Thank you. Thanks, Brian. It's fascinating, too, about his background of some of those previous deals. Well, tokens, tokens, tokens, the latest buzzword in AI and becoming a divisive topic

between those who make the models and those who use them. Big combo on that ahead. Stay with us. Palantir CEO Alex Carp recently criticized the token model used by Anthropic in OpenAI, as its costs skyrocket. He said, quote, something has gone completely wrong with this model. Today, OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman spoke exclusively to CNBC from Sun Valley about their latest version of GPT.

Here's what he said. 5.6 Seoul, I think, is not only the best model in the world for most people. It's also much more efficient than other models out in the world. So it's 54% more token efficient on agenetic coding tasks and also, you know, as good or better as the other best model. out there. And we're really seeing people now start to care about efficiency, understand their spend, get a great ROI. Let's welcome in big technology founder and CNBC contributor Alex Kancherwitz. Alex, you heard all of Sam's interview this morning. What else jumped out at you? And what do you

think of his central claim that this model is now better and cheaper? Well, I think the central claim is really important because what we're hearing right now from the clients of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic is despite the fact that they are increasing their spend with these companies. You talk about Anthropic with about $9 billion ARR at the end of 2025, now up to according to some report 60. Despite the fact that clients are extending their spend with these companies, they want to make sure that they're not just furvously spending away the money and getting a real ROI. So we're going in AI from an experimentation phase to a point where the money is real enough that there needs to be real ROI. And I think what you heard from Sam is really

important that open AI is focused on it, anthropic is focused on it. And I think these labs are going to really start to need to deliver some efficiency and cheaper token usage if they're going to want to continue their growth rates. I thought today was so emblematic of what's happening with the Mag 7. You have OpenAI this morning saying, our new model is cheaper and better. Then you have meta saying, no, our new model is cheaper and better. And I can't help but think that Jeff Curry's sort of like vision of all of this or the Yardini argument from last fall is could be right, which is the MAG7 are turning themselves into commodity producers. They are literally in a race to be the lowest cost that tells you the product is a commodity. They're competing

with low-cost Chinese models already. Why on earth do investors want to exposure to companies who are going to spend billions and billions and billions of dollars on a product that keeps falling in value? Well, Kelly, you're totally right. I do think we're starting to see the commoditization of these models, even if companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have a lead, you know, the next best model isn't that far behind, and we're talking about very smart models. So even if you have a little bit less smart model, if your model is still very smart,

then there's a good chance you might go with the second best, but there are advantages to frontier intelligence. And that's why I think what's important now is all these companies are moving from just selling pure intelligence to selling a product with that artificial intelligence baked in. You hear less from OpenAI about the importance of a model like GPT5.6 and more about what can that model do within products

like Codex, for instance, that will go and code for you. Not only that, it will take action for you. So I think what we're in the middle of seeing is a shift from companies selling the model only to companies starting to sell the product with the model baked in, and that product is just going to become more and more important as they try to differentiate ourselves.

This is really interesting. I mean, so basically, I think, Alex, you're sort of talking about, let's call it a co-pilot type product, right? A lot of our viewers out there use Microsoft products. They see co-pilot, add-on. where you can use it with Outlook and everything else, and it kind of does some stuff for you,

versus AI agents, multi-bots, whatever, that are going to actually just do the work for you versus helping you do the work. Is there one winner, or are we going to ultimately have two lanes that are different economic models? Does that question make any sense at all? Yeah, it makes a lot of sense to me, and I do think you're going to have two winners, right?

So I think there's going to be a winner on the enterprise side of this, right? a bot that will help you get things done at work. And that's where Anthropic is playing, of course, and has the lead and where Open AI has shifted its focus toward. But I also think there's going to be a consumer version of this, what Meta calls personal superintelligence. And to me, that might be an AI bot that you have a relationship with, that becomes your friend or maybe even something more in some cases,

and you build this trust with it. And then it goes and takes on some of your personal activities for you. So you have your AI that sits on top of your, like, and friend life, and then your AI that sits on top of your work life. And we're actually starting to see a bifurcation, right? Open AI Anthropic Enterprise and Apple and meta, more on that consumer side. And quickly, does this leave Anthropic firmly in the leadership position, at least when it comes to the real monetization of a valuable model,

like the one that, you know, or is Open AI going to come and with, you know, this launch or other launches, be able to take some of that share back? Yeah, I think Anthropic is definitely in the lead right now. But the one thing I would say is we're really at the start of the race as opposed to the finish. Like this will continue to build over time. These models have just started to be able to code autonomously for long periods of time, which opens up the agentic use case. You know, at the end of 2025, we were talking about whether 2026, not you and I, but on my show, for instance, we were talking about whether 2026 was going to be the year of agents, and I thought that that was laughable,

the ever-promised year of agents. And 2026 is really turning out to be the case. So we're at the point where the technology is getting very interesting. And now where both companies, Open AI and Anthropics have focused on the same goal, now the competition really begins. All right. Alex, thanks. It's been a pleasure. Good to have you here today. Alex Cantorwitz. All right. Coming up, we'll kind of stay on the topic and maybe call that the new Wolf of Wall Street. While your next guest says one or two big AI power players may just be getting started.

Those names and analysis. Tara Wolf just keeps, well, howling. Stock's been on fire since Anthropics, signed a 20-year lease deal to use Terawulf's Data Center in Kentucky. We spoke with CEO Paul Prager about it on Monday. There are very few sites that are consistent with the requirements, both for quality and redundancy, like what we brought to the table here in this anthropic transaction. We have a number of sites behind this to go.

I think demand is very significant, and the evolution in the space is, you know, we're at the tip of the iceberg here. Get this, Terowulf's stock of more than 800% of the past three years, and your next guest thinks that that stock and some others will have more room to run. Joining us now, Stephen Bird, global head of thematic research at Morgan Stanley. His new price target implies Terowulf could triple from here and more than a, yeah. Triple from here?

We see a lot of upside. The stock rates below $4 a watt. The deal that they just developed creates about $19 a watt of value, so we see a lot of upside. But it's already like triple. Absolutely. This stock is up ninefold in three years. But it's a new business. Wow.

Yeah. Getting out of the Bitcoin business is a good decision. So, yeah, the upsides. So your price target on Cipher Digital is 4850. Stocks at 23 and change. Again, not a math whiz. But more than a doubling. More than a double.

More than a. So my first, when Paul came on with us on Monday, my first question to him was, does this reset the market for pricing expectations? Now, obviously he's a CEO, so he's going to say something. You're an analyst. Does it? It seemed to me like it reset it and it seems like you think it does. It does. What we're seeing is these new deals are in the range of 16 to 20 percent yields, which, by the way, if you think about that, if you could get a 20-year lease with a high-quality, credit, where you're just the landlord, and you get, in this case, 18% yield on your investment, unlevered, and then you levered that into the 30 to 40% return on equity. That is about as good as I think I've ever seen in 30 years. So, yes, this is a reset. We're unashamedly bullish here. We think more deals are going to get signed. And it's really because of what you all have been talking about the last half an hour were short power. And the rare couple of companies that can provide that have a lot of upside ahead. So I'd love to hear almost even a, a

broader kind of setting of the table here. What else is, so there are those companies we called out who would now have huge upside, but who else? I mean, and this is because now you can literally see, like you know what these contracts are worth. That's right. And therefore, I mean, the math to you is just pretty straightforward. The math for the Bitcoin companies is very straightforward because they build a building, they sign a 20-year lease. It's kind of like a bond. I can do that math. Other companies, the upside is excellent, but it's not quite so straightforward. Turban companies, energy companies, because they don't have that 20-year contract, but still the upside is really excellent. Some of the fuel cell names, turban names,

where we just need so much more of their equipment and they're repricing their products upward. But that is not forever, potentially. That's the risk that you have, whereas these Bitcoin folks, it's a bond. Last week, a lot of these stocks got hammered because of the meta news on AI. Did the market get it wrong? Because I don't think. meta is going to put a shovel in the ground and build a building that provides power. They want the benefit of the power. Exactly. They don't want to build.

Some of these companies just build buildings. I mean, they physically are, they don't have a guy out there with a shovel and a crane and they build out of building. Did the market misread meta's intentions? 100%. I think what we're seeing is the demand for compute vastly exceeds the supply. The biggest bottleneck is power, though also labor, something you mentioned earlier, labor is a big problem. But power access is a major problem. What we're seeing are all signs

that we need more compute. Well, guess what? Power is the bottleneck. These companies are in great shape. We thought last week's move was just completely wrong. I want to go back. When you said for some of these companies that it's like a bond, you can just do that math, that's exactly why I have struggled with some of the massive price reactions we have seen because on some level you go, well, it's a bond. At some point, bonds are considered fixed income. Their price shouldn't change that much. So once the market catches up to those cash flows that they're receiving, is there going to be a lot more upside left? There will be. So what I see happening is take Terawolf as an example, as they sign up more of their sites and turn themselves into a massive

bond, we see essentially a REIT endgame. They turn into a REIT. That is a complete repricing at that point. Now, when the market sort of puts all those pieces together, I can't quite tell. But Terawolf is pretty far along on that journey. By next year, I think it's going to be difficult to avoid that math. And that's where all the bond math folks come in and you narrow down the view. But even with REITs, I don't really think of that as a sexy high growth area, you know. True, true. But they value things at a very high bid down multiple. And I'll take that. So I know you were getting ready. A few minutes ago, we spoke with Lorenzo Seminelli. Yes. A baker Hughes about AI and power center demand. Here's what he said. We see that we're in a demand cycle decade. It's not slowing down relative to

data centers, but overall power generation needs off the grid behind the meter. And then on LNG, as you look at energy security, continuing to be at the forefront, really happy with the continued role we play in expanding LNG capacity around the world. So the point was two deals, two days, doesn't sound like data center power demand is slowing at all. I'm asking every CEO the same question. It's boring, but it's important. Are you from where you sit, Stephen, seeing any slowdown in demand or spending for power? No, it's going the other way. The urgency to get power is higher, and this is a high-class problem in the sense that the

AI community sees all kinds of use cases for AI, and so they need more compute. That means they need more power. So what I'm seeing is an urgency to get that power. The terms on the Terowulf deal suggest urgency, and I expect to see many of these Bitcoin deals. By the way, we need a new name, rather than Bitcoin names. Maybe that will help with the stocks about it. They should name them.

So you want them to re-if, if they rename themselves as a reit, then the valuation would, you know, would be up several-fold, it sounds like. Yeah, that's interesting. What is, listen, these companies, to your point, what you're referring to is a lot of these companies began to make power for Bitcoin. That's right. You know, and I was humming along, so to speak. And then here comes AI. And AI, like, hold my beer, right?

The demand and what people will pay. Yes. And then when I looked at the, when I looked at the Terror Wolf deal, on Monday. And, you know, we sort of help break the news on Monday morning, whatever. And you look at it and think, okay, this is major, I don't think the market fully appreciated the impact on pricing. Yes. If this deal, and it may not, but if this deal carries through to other deals, boom, what's that going to mean? To your point, two years ago when we laid this out before any of the deals happened, the Bitcoin companies traded about $1 per watt of power they had. One dollar per watt.

The deal that Wolf did this week created $19 a watt of net value. you. So yes. But they're still trading, depends on the stock, but three to six dollars a watt. Wow. So there is a whole lot of upside. And the market's just sort of absorbing this. This is fairly mind-blowing mass. I mean, how can a company that's getting $19 per watt be trading at $6 per watt? The volatility in the stocks are really tough for a lot of our investor clients. The hedge fund struggle with the day-to-day volatility. How do you hedge your position? How do you hedge your long? Very, very tough. That said, we're getting big, long-only institution money in, but that's going to take time. It's like people paid $10 for a hamburger five years ago, and now it's 30.

They just refuse. But there's no demand drop in the burger at $30. Yeah. Yes. So why not charge $40? Yes. Right. Exactly.

See what happens. Yeah. Best burgers in town right now with these, the Bitcoin folks. We've got to come up with a new name. We do. Stephen Bird, thank you very much. Thank you. Pleasure.

Oh, by the way, if you can't get enough of the energy story or AI story, because all AI stories are really just sort of energy stories in disguise. Check out my weekly. Intelligence piece, Power Insider. The latest edition is out today this week, broke down by why renewables may be poised for a comeback, a highlight one solar stock that might be one to be on your radar. And Power Insider will be about all types of energy, not just oil and gas to read it. Scan that QR code on your screen, like right now, unless you're driving, but you should be watching TV while you're driving anyway, unless you're in a Tesla, I guess. Don't do that either. Or go to CBC.com slash Power Insider. Let's get out of Kate Rooney with a CNBC news update. Hey there, Brian. So New York is suing 3M DuPont and other companies over so-called forever chemicals.

The state now says these companies knowingly sold toxic chemicals used in consumer products like cosmetics, non-stick pans, and stain resistant clothing. The lawsuit does seek cleanup cost, consumer warnings, damages, and civil penalties. Meanwhile, Kia is recalling nearly 4363, rather 1,000, telly ride SUVs because they could catch fire while being driven or part. The recall covers certain models through 2020. It was 2020 through 2024, and officials now say the front power seat motor can overheat. Owners should park outside and away from buildings until dealers install a free repair. Notifications go out August 13th. And U.S. soccer star, Christian Polisic, fractured his right leg during the American World Cup loss to Belgium.

AP now reporting, Polisic has a bone bruise and micro fractures in his tibia and fibula. He was hurt while taking a shot in the second half of Monday's 4-1 loss in the round of 16 in Seattle, guys. Back over to you. Wow, adding injury to insult. Truly. I guess with the loss. Kate, thanks. If you listen to this next guest and bought this stock back at the end of March,

you would have more than doubled your money. But don't worry if you missed out because he has another name for you today in your market navigator. That's next. And welcome back to Power Lunch. I'm Dominic Chu with your Market Navigator. Let's turn now to the chip trade. Is it time to rotate out of it or just rotate within it? Our next guest says it's time to sell a winner and maybe do something else with the proceeds.

Joining us now for that story is Jay Hatfield, CEO and CIO at Infrastructure Capital Advisors. Jay, thanks very much for being here right now. We've talked a lot now over the past couple of weeks about the possible maybe breakdown in the momentum trade, chip stocks at the tip of that sphere. But why do you maybe want to stick with parts of that momentum trade just in different aspects of it? Great, thanks, Dom. Great to be back. Well, you know, last time we were on, we recommended Marvell. And the reason for that was that we thought that hedge funds had overreacted to the guidance they gave. And ironically, the exact same thing has happened with Brogcom, which is the largest overweight in KVal, our NASDAQ income fund. Whereas they, Hawk Tan gave a little bit conservative, guidance and more than 100 billion revenue. And then hedge funds way overreacted. The stock went down 20%. But interestingly, consensus estimates for 2007 went up 10%. We're carrying numbers above that,

about 5% above that. And there's tremendous momentum. You have the Apple order that just came in. So we see upside to 600, it's not going to be quite as dramatic as the 100. 60% move in Marvell. Jensen Wong's probably not going to recommend it like he did with Marvell. But we think that these short-term traders, aka hedge funds, create opportunities by overreacting to conservative guidance and not looking at valuation. So we look at peg ratios, trading at 0.6 peg, Marvell's over a one peg. So you can get into the chip trade, but not be in momentum plays that are at least closer to fully

out. This is really, really undervalued stock. All right, Jay, one quick other point here. Are there any other places within the market outside of tech that you see a similar situation developing? Financials, if the war ends, like it sort of seems like it will, financials are undervalued, KKR, Bank America. We think we're going to get three rate cuts, notwithstanding the Fed's view to the contrary. And that will be. benefit financials. All right. Jay Hatfield,

Infrastructure Capital. Thank you very much. We'll see you again soon. Brian, I'll send things back over to you. All right, Dominic Chu, thank you very much. All right, up next. Scott Cohn, revealing his top state for business earlier today was Ohio. Oh, H, whatever.

But what about the state with the best AI? Scott's ranking that as well right after the break. This morning, we learned that Ohio is America's top state for business in our annual CNBC ranking. Scott Cohn is in Columbus to look not just Scott at the best state. We've talked about that now, but you also did the best state specifically for AI. What does that mean, by the way? And specifically, Kelly, for AI infrastructure.

We know that Ohio, one of the reasons that they are top state overall is that the infrastructure here is so outstanding. But we wanted to look at with all of the demand for power and water for both AI and things like quantum computing and all that. We wanted to create sort of a separate AI infrastructure index using some metrics from our infrastructure category as well as our technology and innovation category. So here are your top five states for AI, AI infrastructure in 2026. State number five is Arizona, which offers reliable, low-cost electricity. Despite all the heat there, they still managed to put that out. Wealth of sites, but Arizona, of course, has serious issues with water availability. Number four is Indiana. It has ample power and water.

but a site readiness program that needs some work. Those shovel-ready sites are all important. Number three is Ohio, the top infrastructure overall, but net electricity generating capacity is only about average. At number two is Virginia, which is, of course, the data capital of America by far, with 633 of them and counting. The overall power grid is strained, but no state can deliver a greater load specifically for computing.

And the top state for AI infrastructure is Illinois, with ample reliable power, though it is a tad expensive, have plenty of water and lots of available sites. You can read more about this. See where your state ranks in our overall America's TopStates for Business Study. Go to topstates.c.com. It shows how important, Scott, this is. So this is basically, I mean, but a lot of states,

they're just pushing back on adding more data centers. They are. And even Ohio, which Ohio is in the process of building what may wind up being the largest data center in the world on a former U.S. uranium enrichment site down near Cincinnati. And they have now just decided to take a pause on the tax breaks that they were giving, which a lot of states are doing because there are a lot of concerns about what is that doing to the overall grid reliability? Is it increasing costs? So they're kind of balancing that. So Governor DeWine, Mike DeWine here in Ohio, who was a big proponent of data centers,

he was the one who said, let's pull back on that tax break for now, but he told us this morning, he's still committed to them as an economic development tool. All right. Appreciate it, Scott, thanks. Good to have you on today. Scott Cohn, Illinois, number one for AI. More power lunch after the break. Look out Porsche or Porsche.

I'm not sure which is technically correct. The Chinese EV maker, BYD, has unveiled what gearheads are already calling the 9-11-9-1 killer. It's called the Denza Z. The one you're seeing here is the spot. model, the all-electric sports car can go zero to 60 in two seconds. Because it's electric. Well, yeah, but you won't be seeing it on U.S. roads anyway because the government has effectively banned Chinese EVs.

There's 100% terror, I believe. It will be sold in places like the UK, Brian, for around $215,000. I don't know if they're saying it's a copycat or, you know. It's a copycat. By the way, the full version one, the non-convertible, the non-spider, looks just like a Panama, which is fine. I'm just going to say this about EVs. owned an EV, I've driven all of them. If you go zero to 60, you always zero to 60, two to three

seconds, great. You're going to go through tires every month. I'm just, and tires consume a ton of oil and are terrible for the environment. I'm just saying, like, if you're going to go on the two-second, watch this, you're going to need new tires all the time. No one talks about this with this side of the story. No, I don't. But also, EVs are very heavy. So if you have one, which I did, you've got to have a very dense, heavy, expensive tire to counter the weight of the vehicle. And it would be fun to add up the impact of all those tires against the fuel savings. That's my EV. Thanks for watching.

Zero to 60. Two seconds with a problem. Closing bell starts right now.