Raul Shah from DocShah Financial talks value investing in stocks like ServiceNow, UnitedHealth and Hims & Hers (2:20) Tax loss harvesting – when to use and when not to (8:15)
Transcript
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Rena Sherbill: We are back with none other than Mr. Raul Shah from DocShah Financial. You know him as one of our very own in-house tax experts who has been helping us all as citizens, as investors, helping us navigate the tax world very astutely and very efficiently.
He is the founder, as I mentioned, of DocShah Financial, which is a value investing firm that’s focused on helping everyday investors and retirees maximize their portfolio growth while protecting all of our wealth from heavy taxation through advanced tax planning.
DocShah Financial has been around since 2023 and it’s generated a 43% annualized equity return for its clients. Raul is also an educator at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches a tax planning course for that community. And I’m very excited to have Raul on again for our monthly chat.
Today we’re going to be talking tax loss harvesting, but I wanted to, because Raul has been on in the past talking his very successful investments, most noteworthy Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), but he’s got some other announcements and I think updates for us that I asked him to share with our investing community because I think it’s helpful to know where these stocks are at and what he’s thinking about it.
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So, all of that, welcome, Raul, to another month at Investing Experts Podcast.
Raul Shah: Thank you for that warm intro as always. I think this is week four that we’ve been doing the tax planning series. And I still get so many emails from people that listen to the podcast and they love it. I have people that just reach out to say, I didn’t know XYZ before, and now I’m down the rabbit hole.
And that’s really the goal of this segment is just to help people educate themselves and learn for themselves. And and seeking alpha, I think, is the best community to do that.
And so I’m I’m excited to get into the tax planning stuff that we’ll talk about with tax loss harvesting, because there’s actually a lot of nuance with that strategy that I think a lot of investors aren’t necessarily aware of. But also happy to give an update just on the firm. As as you mentioned, you know, we’re a value investing firm. So when I work with clients, I I always try to put quality you know, in front of quantity. So I don’t go out and buy 20 stocks for clients. It
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It never made sense to me. Why would you put money in your twentieth best idea? You know, why not your nineteenth? And you could apply that same logic, so on and and and so forth down the the chain effectively.
So we focus on quality, a few of the names that we own I’ve written articles about on Seeking Alpha like Hims and ServiceNow (NOW) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH), just fantastic businesses. And I’m happy to talk about them.
These of course are not recommendations. I don’t know anybody specifically listening in the audience and what your situation is. But I’m a fan of stocks and so I love talking about this stuff.
HIMS is our crown jewel. That’s a stock that I’ve owned personally since 2021. And it’s a stock that’s been in client accounts since inception. Every time I onboard a new client, Hims is usually the leading stock in their portfolio. And that’s just because their growth is tremendous.
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I think their total addressable market is tremendous.
There are risks in that business. Anytime you navigate in the healthcare industry, it’s always very regulatory. Aalmost every other week it seems like there’s some some news on him saying, they’re breached from doing XYZ. so it’s it’s a you know, it’s never there’s never a dull day owning that stock.
But I think it’s a tremendous business with great unit economics, and I expect it’s gonna do very well for a long period of time.
ServiceNow is another fantastic company. I’m a huge fan of the CEO, Bill McDermott. I’ve read his book. And I just really admire the integrity that that he has. And of course, I’ve never met him personally, but you can get a good glimpse of people when you read their life story and and and where they come from, especially when it’s from humble beginnings.
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I was buying that stock. I’m the only portfolio manager at DocShah Financial, so I oversee all the accounts. I was placing that stock and client accounts at $98, $95 and even further down. And now we’re at almost $150 in six weeks. So, I always tell people price does not determine value, right?
We’ve had conversations about this in the past. And it’s a bit hypocritical for me to come on air and say, because the price is going up, I’m justified or I’m I’m right. I’m looking at the business valuations and I’m looking at the earnings continuing to go up.
I’m looking at the unit economics of all these businesses continuing to improve, especially with UnitedHealth Group. They’ve come a long way in six months. And that’s why the the stock prices have risen and why I expect them to continue to rise.
But that’s the name of the game, value investing. That’s why I always tell people price and value don’t equal each other. If you chase price, you’ll lose that game a hundred percent of the time. If you chase value, you’ll win not a hundred percent of the time, but you’ll get pretty dang close.
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Rena Sherbill: Not to get too far off the tax topic, but just to make a point as a value investor, what would you say are the most salient metrics you would encourage investors to look at without doing the deepest dive possible?
Raul Shah: Sure. I always look for 5 things right off the bat. I can analyze pretty much any company if it’s worth looking into more within 60 seconds at this point. revenue.
You have to see revenue going up every year. You know, in economics, revenue is really just a proxy for demand. And so if you’re a company and your revenue is falling, that means less people want your products. That’s not a good investment.
That’s not a good company to own. So that’s number one. You want to see revenue going up because you want to see more people buying services or products. It doesn’t matter how you chop it up, you could be selling more units at a cheaper price or fewer units at a higher price.
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But what you want is the total demand or the total revenue to be going up. You also want profits to be going up. You want earnings per share to be go going up. Technically there are great investments that don’t have earnings per share today.
There’s companies like HIMS or Palantir (PLTR) or a lot of these other great companies that are expected to produce ample earnings in the future. So it’s not a hard and set rule, but you either have to have some prospect of realizing earnings relatively quickly, as in within the next five years, or they already have earnings and they’re going up every year. Otherwise, you’re just buying a pipe dream.
If you’re buying a company and their earnings aren’t expected to go up until like 20 years into the future. I mean, you gotta be kidding me there’s a million other stocks out there, you’re just losing an opportunity cost. So you want good solid earnings in your business. And then the balance sheet.
There’s only two things that matter: you look at the cash, you look at the long-term debt. Companies are like people. So if you buy a company that has a lot of cash and no debt, the insolvency risk is, I mean correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t seen a lot of companies go bankrupt when they haven’t borrowed any money. That would be a neat party trick for somebody to pull off.
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So you want protection, you want margin of safety when you’re buying businesses. And you also want cash flow from operations to be going up. That’s just the cash you make from the stuff that you sell. And if you only bought businesses that had those characteristics, companies that the revenue is going up, the earnings are going up, the cash flows are going up, there’s a ton of cash on the balance sheet, and there’s no debt.
Not only would you buy far fewer businesses in life, but you’d have much better results doing a tenth of the work.
It’s not easy to manage a portfolio of 30 stocks when you have a full-time job. That’s a full-time job in and of itself. And the whole idea always struck me as ludicrous. Why put money in my 30th best idea? The only reason that I would ever do that is if I was just trying to have an insurance policy against my own laziness.
If I’m not doing enough due diligence on my companies that I feel the need to just keep adding more so that if some go down, some go up and it balances out, that’s not really an investment strategy.
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So those are the things I would say if you’re a true value investor, and the benefits are tremendous. You’ll likely make far more money than you ever thought was possible, owning fewer businesses, doing less work, and getting better sleep.
Purchase price is very important when you buy stocks. You can’t ever pay more than what something is worth because the the more in excess you pay,
For something relative to what it’s worth, the more risk you take. And believe me, you’re not gonna sleep well at night if you take on a lot of risk in investing.
Rena Sherbill: Speaking of not wanting to take on a lot of risk, how may tax loss harvesting help us kind of navigate those choppy waters of profitability?
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Raul Shah: Sure, yeah. So tax loss harvesting, right? I always tell people it’s very simple to understand, it’s a little bit more complicated to know when to use it.
So let’s define it, right? Tax loss harvesting is just recognizing a loss in order to specifically reduce your taxes owed in a particular year. So let’s take a very basic example here.
Let’s say that you have five and by the way, we’re gonna ignore state taxes and all these other we’re just gonna focus on kind of the federal tax, you know, capital gains tax, to just to make the example easy. Okay, let’s say that you have no gains okay in your portfolio, okay. Tough year, and you’ve got 10,000 in a short term capital loss. Okay, so you bought a stock in July, you lost 10K in it, and you know, see we’re at the end of the year. If you sell that, you actually get a tax benefit.
Because you can lock in that loss and ultimately in this example, if you had no gains, you would be able to deduct up to $3,000 from your income, right? From your salary. The benefits are not tremendous.
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It’s not like you’re gonna save hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime taxes like you could with Roth conversions, but it’s compounding sort of in reverse. It’s the little bit that you save every year that could add up over a long period of time to really good tax benefits.
Now, like I said, there’s a lot of nuance and we’ll dive into that in just a second. But at the end of the day, tax loss harvesting is purposefully recognizing a loss, clicking the sell button to lock in a loss.
Because until you do that, it’s just an unrealized loss, right? It’s just a paper loss. It’s not a real loss. So you can’t do tax loss harvesting until you actually sell it and you recognize that loss. And, you’re doing it with the intent to save X amount on taxes.
If I take it kind of a step further, what a lot of people will do is, they will buy a stock and they will sell it specifically to harvest losses if it goes down.
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And I tell people tax loss harvesting is not the main goal. Okay, the main goal is making money, right?
There’s a saying we have in in wealth management, which is don’t let the tax tail wag the dog. That’s just a kind of cheeky way of saying don’t make saving and taxes the number one priority versus making money.
It’s only if you happen to have made a bad investment or the market goes down that you might want to consider tax loss harvesting. You don’t want to just do it for the tax benefits.
One of the common mistakes people will do with tax loss harvesting is let’s say that the market goes down and they decide that they want to own the S&P 500 and they want to sell that that ETF to recognize losses, but they don’t recognize that there’s an opportunity cost to that because there’s essentially the IRS has what’s what’s called a wash sale rule.
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So if you’re going to sell a stock at a loss, you can recognize that gain and reduce your taxable income with it or offset your capital gains tax.
And we’ll use examples in just a second with actual numbers. But there’s a window of 30 days before and 30 days after where you cannot have owned that identical security.
And that’s done to prevent gaming the system. So, for example, if I were to buy a stock and it falls and I have a $10,000 loss in it, and then I just sell it, recognize a loss, and then just buy it right back 10 seconds later. Well, I mean, you could see how that’d be problem, right? Every time, every day the market goes down, you would just do this over and over and over again.
You would remain a hundred percent invested throughout every day of the year, but you would have racked up thousands of dollars in losses that you would be depreciating or that you would be netting versus your capital gain.
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So that’s why the wash sale rule exists, is to prevent that from happening. We’ll talk about one really big nuance with that a little bit later. But again, when you do that if you tax loss harvest and you save X amount in tax dollars, you also have to factor in that it keeps you uninvested for up to those 60 days.
And so you’re sitting out of the market during that timeline. And what if the market happens to go up a lot during the time that you have to sit out, like after you sell it? If the market goes up 10% and you don’t save 10% in taxes, well then you actually lost money, right? So it’s not a perfect science.
It takes a lot of planning and it’s really only valuable to do it in scenarios where the benefit to you is obvious. sort of like investing, right? When I’m buying stocks for clients, I’m not trying to buy stocks that I think if everything goes right, the company is gonna the stock price will go up. I’m trying to buy stocks that if everything goes wrong, the stock is still underpriced.
And so you have to try to make it really obvious and that’s where these strategies come into play. So I will stop here and and see if that makes sense and open up the door for any other questions or or comments.
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Rena Sherbill: Well, I was gonna ask, it may it may make sense for you to continue on in your explanation, but I was going to ask if there’s a real world example that you can think of of a tax loss harvesting that you’re happy with that feels like a good example, and one where you feel like was maybe too preemptive or something of that nature.
Raul Shah: Sure. That’s a great question. And I’m gonna come out as a little bit hypocritical here.
When I look at my own personal brokerage account, I don’t really buy index funds or ETFs. I mean I buy individual stocks and individual stocks is very difficult to tax loss harvest because the idea, remember, is that if you happen to have a loss, you can lock it in and then you can rebuy maybe a substantial a similar but not substantially identical security as a placeholder. So you aren’t sitting out of the market, you’re still invested, but to get to recognize that loss.
The problem when you own individual stocks is how do you find us an 80% replica of what you own, right? People will say, if I own Coca-Cola and it’s at a loss, I could sell it and then maybe buy Pepsi. But the problem with that is that they are still two different companies, right? Just because they both sell beverages doesn’t make them the same company.
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It’s much more valuable when you own like an ETF. Because if you were to own, let’s say, I’m just using this as examples. Like if you were to own Vanguard’s (VOO), which is the S&P 500, and you sold it to lock in a loss because the market’s down, but you have to stay invested. So you buy back maybe the Russell 1000, right? Those indices are different, but you’re staying invested and they’re close enough that if you know the S&P is going up,
The Russell 1000 is probably going up too. So you’re still capturing all the upside, but you’re locking in that downside loss. You just can’t do that as easily with individual stocks.
A lot of times people only tell half the story. They’ll sell you on the tax benefits, but you always have to remember that opportunity cost.
And that’s why doing it with individual stocks is sometimes not the best idea because you can’t really remain invested to something that’s an individual stock, something that’s similar to it but also different, if that makes sense.
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And if we kind of use an example here, let’s just say we’re let’s go back to you know ETFs, like you own the S&P or something like that. Let’s say for the year you recognize $10,000 in short-term capital gains. And let’s say that you have 20,000 in short-term capital losses. The IRS uses what’s called a like-for-like matching system. So short-term capital losses offset short-term capital gains.
First. And if there’s excess remaining, then those short-term capital gains will offset us, then the short-term capital losses will offset long-term capital gains. And if there’s still an excess, then you can use up to $3,000 to offset your ordinary income. And if there’s still excess left, then it carries forward to the next year and indefinitely.
So if we run through an example, I have $10,000 in short-term capital gains and I’ve got $20,000 in short-term capital losses. So right off the bat, all my short-term capital gains, the tax is going to be wiped clear because I’ve got $2 in loss for every $1 in gain on a like-for-like basis. So after I net that out, I’ve still got $10,000 in short-term capital losses. So if I have, let’s say, a $5,000 capital gain.
That capital gain gets cleared out and I still have 5,000 in short term capital losses. And then I can take 3,000 of that, deduct that from my income. So if I made a hundred K for the year, now my taxable income’s only ninety seven K. And then I’ve got two thousand left that I can carry for it to the next year, which would offset any capital gains in that year on a like for like basis.
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And if something’s left over, then it would apply to your ordinary income. So a lot of a big misconception people will get is that they think that you can only deduct $3,000 a year in tax loss harvesting.
And that’s not true. You can only deduct up to 3,000 on your income, but you also can offset your capital gains and the excess will just carry forward indefinitely. So if you have like a like a horrendous year, and you lose, I don’t know, a hundred, two hundred thousand dollars or something like that, you’re gonna use up all of those losses. You may not use them all up in in when one year. But you will use them up hopefully if you do things right over your lifetime.
But that’s one really big misconception that people have. And I don’t know Rena if you’ve heard that before, the three thousand dollar rule, but a lot of people will get that kind of confused.
Rena Sherbill: I feel like I’ve brought this up before, but when I was starting The Cannabis Investing Podcast, there was a lot of t discussion about tax loss harvesting at the end of those years with people’s portfolios. So yeah, I remember some highlights from that.
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Any other caveats you would add to a chock-full caveat conversation?
Raul Shah: Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that always trips people up is not necessarily the the wash rule, right? That thirty day window before and after where you can’t own the identical or essentially identical security because it will disallow your your wash or d disallow your loss. one thing that trips people up all the time is that applies to also dividends.
So people have DRIP programs set up, right? Dividend reinvestment programs where they’re just automatically reinvesting their dividends into the same security. And so what happens, you probably had this in your portfolio right before where you’ll buy a stock that has a dividend, you’ll sell the stock before the divid the next dividend is paid.
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And then the dividend check comes in and you’re like, how do I own that stock again? It’s because it was automatically reinvested. And so that counts, that will trigger the wash sale role. So people will sell something, they locked in the loss, and then like a week later, they’ll have their dividend check deposit, but it’s reinvested in that security
Which counts as you buying back that security again. And then that disallows your loss. So you have to be very careful with that, because that trips people all the time. You gotta turn that that that feature off if you’re specifically trying to tax loss harvest.
The other thing that trips people up too is that tax loss harvesting only applies in brokerage accounts. Right? It doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t apply in an IRA, Roth IRA, traditional IRA, 401k, because those are all either tax deferred or tax-free accounts. So there’s no such thing as tax loss harvesting in those accounts.
So what people think, they think that they’ll try to trick the system, which which you can’t do that by the way, and you should nor should you ever try, always follow the rules.
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But what people will do is they will sell a stock in their brokerage or sell a ETF and they’ll lock in that loss, and then they think they’re slick and they they they go buy it and like in their Roth IRA.
It doesn’t matter what account that you that you ha are selling and buying from, if you rebuy the same security, period, you’re gonna disallow the loss.
So those are kind of the two really big nuances that if you do try to execute that, you really do need to be aware of. and then it’s just really just the mindset, it’s going in knowing that I’m not trying to lose money, right? I’m only going to tax loss harvest if there is some economic benefit to me that exceeds the opportunity cost of just remaining invested. So it’s not just like you do it automatically every year. You have to actually think through and run the numbers on when it’s appropriate, when when it really makes sense.
And then the last little nuance that I will leave everybody with is that when you tax loss harvest, you sell something in a loss, you lock in that loss, and then you rebuy something similar. What’s happened is that you’re likely buying something now at a much lower cost basis.
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So again, yes, you recognize that tax saving from tax loss harvesting. But because you’re now taking those cash proceeds and buying something that’s similar but different at a much lower price, whenever the market recovers, your cost basis being lower means that your future tax bill is going to be higher. So you have to calculate that with your overall estimation of if you make out better or not by tax loss harvesting. So it’s not just like a one time cure.
So just to kind of quickly recap, right? So tax loss harvesting, essentially what we’re doing is we are locking in a loss to gain some kind of a tax benefit in our brokerage account while simultaneously trying to remain invested to capture the upside of the recovery of that stock or similar stock or ETF, whatever, while also making sure that we do not trigger the IRS wash sale rule, which can be triggered by dividends, it can be triggered by buying the same security in in your brokerage or a different account. And then ultimately we have to run the numbers to figure out if it’s advantageous.
It’s not a strategy that’s going to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over your lifetime, like I said before. But it is something that if you do strategically, you can save a meaningful amount. And it’s something that, investors should consider.
Rena Sherbill: A worthy trick in the toolbox. Raul, appreciate this conversation. Another very edifying talk. Anything else to add before I let you go today?
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Raul Shah: I think the only natural next episode would have to be tax gain harvesting, which is way better in my opinion than tax loss harvesting. So if you like this episode, you’re going to love that episode.
And it’s great actually for retirees. So a lot of people that listen to the podcast in that phase of life, you guys gotta hear that one.
Rena Sherbill: Perfect. Something to look forward to it in October. If you like loss, you’re gonna love gain. Looking forward to that, Raul, talk to you soon and enjoy September.
The automaker confirmed Wednesday to CNBC that production of its large, highly profitable “Super Duty” trucks last month hit a 20-year high, while output of F-150 pickups reached their highest level in two years.
Ford’s F-Series trucks — which include the F-150 and larger “Super Duty” models such as F-250, F-350 and F-450 — were severely impacted by the supplier issues due to their large aluminum bodies and other components.
The Detroit automaker has spent the past year helping aluminum supplier Novelis get the impacted plant in Oswego, New York, back up and running following fires in September and November of last year.
The increases in production mean an influx of pickups are expected to arrive on dealership lots over the coming weeks and months, according to Rob Kaffl, Ford’s head of U.S. sales.
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“We’re increasing production. Dealers will start seeing in the next 30, 60, 90 days that ramp-up in production,” Kaffl said Wednesday. “We have a healthy chain of in-transit and in-system.”
Ford said Super Duty production was more than 39,000 units in August, for its best month since March 2006, while F-150 production was its highest since August 2024.
The Ford Pro business is led by sales of the automaker’s Super Duty trucks that range from the F-150 to commercial trucks and chassis cabs.
The increase in the supply of pickup trucks comes as Ford experienced its eighth consecutive month of year-over-year U.S. new vehicle sales declines in August. The automaker reported Wednesday that sales were down 10.3% for the month compared with a year earlier.
“Our gross availability of products coming in, I would say, is returning back to normalcy – the normal levels our dealers would have,” Kaffl said.
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Ford said Wednesday F-Series sales remain off 10.9% through August compared with a year earlier, including a 1.2% decrease last month.
Ford dealers currently have a roughly 40 days’ supply of pickup trucks, which is about half of what the industry has typically considered a healthy level for those vehicles. Kaffl reiterated that Ford is targeting a days’ supply of the trucks of between 50 days and 60 days, compared with historical industry levels of 75 to 90 days.
“We’re being very intentional to make sure the production is meeting the demand,” he said.
To meet that pent-up demand, Ford has been increasing manufacturing to higher levels than it had last year in an attempt to make up lost production. The Novelis issues are expected to cost the automaker $1.5 billion this year.
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In addition to the pickup truck issues, Ford said its sales have been impacted by the discontinuation of two vehicles earlier this year that makes comparisons harder to meet as well as planned lower sales to daily rental fleets.
Ford also said Labor Day — which is historically a major sales weekend — was a touch comparison since it falls in September this year compared with August of last year.
The automaker noted that despite the year-over-year sales drops, its U.S. retail market share, which excludes sales to fleet customers, has remained relatively level this year at 11.7% in August.
U.S. automakers overall are experiencing slowing sales, with Ford estimating an industrywide decline of 6% in new vehicle sales.
While Nvidia has become synonymous with the artificial intelligence boom, a lesser-known group of power and cooling equipment suppliers is benefiting from the global surge in data centre construction as developers race to overcome infrastructure bottlenecks, Reuters reported.
Energy-intensive data centres are driving demand for equipment ranging from transformers and power-management systems to advanced cooling technologies. The trend is creating opportunities across Asia’s supply chain, although gains in several related stocks have moderated after sharp rallies.
McKinsey estimates that nearly $7 trillion could be invested in data centres globally by 2030. Nvidia has also indicated that AI-related spending is likely to remain strong for years, underscoring expectations of sustained demand for the infrastructure needed to support AI workloads.
However, expanding data centre capacity is becoming increasingly difficult as developers face delays in securing power and connecting new facilities to electricity grids. Consultancy Pivotale AI estimates that grid connection delays can reach 24 months in some emerging markets and more than eight years in major developed economies.
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The lengthy timelines are putting greater focus on equipment such as transformers, which convert high-voltage electricity from the grid into levels suitable for servers, cooling systems and power distribution units.
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Transformer Demand Surges Leading transformer manufacturers are seeing a sharp increase in orders linked to AI infrastructure projects, particularly in North America. South Korea’s HD Hyundai Electric reported strong demand during the first half of 2026, with the company also seeing increased interest from Europe as U.S. hyperscalers expand investments in Finland, Germany and Britain. Demand from the Middle East has remained strong as well, according to Reuters. The company’s order backlog increased 23% to $8.5 billion at the end of June from six months earlier. The company expects data centre demand to remain robust and has production capacity for major power equipment largely committed for the next three years.
China’s Hainan Jinpan Smart Technology has also benefited from the trend. New data centre orders in the first half of 2026 more than quadrupled from a year earlier, while its related backlog nearly tripled.
AI Pushes Demand For More Efficient Power Systems The rapid growth in AI computing is also increasing demand for technologies that can improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of data centres.
Bank of America estimates that power consumption per AI rack could rise to more than 1.5 megawatts by the end of 2030, based on Nvidia’s technology roadmap. That would be nearly 100 times the power consumption of a conventional rack.
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One technology attracting increasing attention is the solid-state transformer, or SST. Unlike traditional transformers that rely on bulky magnetic components and copper windings, SSTs use semiconductor technology to transform and route electricity.
UBS estimates that SSTs could improve power efficiency by around 4% and reduce costs. Commercial adoption remains at an early stage, but the bank expects penetration to reach 40% by 2030 and sees Chinese manufacturers gaining market share because of their technological capabilities and cost advantages.
HD Hyundai Electric and Jinpan are expanding their work on SST technology. Taiwan’s Delta Electronics, another major power infrastructure supplier, has said a small data centre is already using its SSTs.
Delta told Reuters that demand for AI power, cooling and data centre infrastructure solutions remains a key growth driver. The company is expanding its production footprint in Thailand, the United States and China to meet rising demand.
Cooling Becomes Critical Power infrastructure is only one part of the data centre supply chain. Cooling systems are becoming increasingly important as more powerful AI chips generate substantially more heat.
Bank of America expects liquid cooling to account for 70% of new AI data centre installations by 2030, compared with around 30% currently. McKinsey estimates that liquid cooling can reduce energy consumption by more than 27%.
The shift is creating opportunities for companies supplying thermal-management equipment, including Delta Electronics, Taiwan’s Asia Vital Components and Auras Technology, as well as China’s Shenzhen Envicool Technology. These companies are among suppliers operating within Nvidia’s broader ecosystem.
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Data centre developers are also examining unconventional infrastructure models, including floating and underwater facilities as well as installations in caves and tunnels. Such projects could widen the addressable market for power-generation and cooling equipment.
HD Hyundai Electric has highlighted the potential for marine medium-speed engines as data centre operators expand self-generation and explore floating data centre concepts.
Supply Constraints And Valuations Remain Risks Despite strong order growth, investor enthusiasm toward some data centre equipment suppliers has cooled as valuations have risen and competition intensifies.
Delta’s shares have gained more than 90% this year, while HD Hyundai Electric has remained broadly flat after rising more than 100% last year. Jinpan and Envicool have declined nearly 30% and 20%, respectively, following gains of about 118% and 244% in 2025.
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The companies are also facing potential pressure from component shortages, deployment delays and the introduction of new product platforms.
Bank of America has cautioned that investors need to be selective because rising AI infrastructure spending will not benefit every supplier equally.
For equipment manufacturers, the data centre boom therefore represents a significant long-term opportunity, but capacity constraints, competition, valuations and the pace at which AI infrastructure is deployed will determine which companies ultimately emerge as the biggest winners.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison joins Lawrence Jones on ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss how inflation is impacting consumer spending on home improvement projects. Ellison also details Lowe’s coalition to train one million tradespeople by 2035.
As employers across the country look for skilled workers, the Lowe’s Foundation is backing a new effort aimed at creating more pathways into high-paying skilled trades careers that do not require a traditional four-year college degree.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison joined “FOX & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones on Wednesday to discuss the company’s push to expand the skilled trades workforce and change perceptions around career paths outside a four-year degree.
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Lowe’s is backing a new initiative aimed at expanding America’s skilled trades workforce and creating more pathways to high-paying careers without a four-year degree. (Tim Boyle / Getty Images)
The effort builds on work already underway through the Lowe’s Foundation. Ellison said the foundation committed $250 million to help train and develop 250,000 tradespeople by 2035, but the scale of the workforce challenge requires broader participation.
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Trade school paths are becoming popular as young Americans course-correct college plans. Brian Brenberg discusses how conservative educational reforms prepare students for the modern workforce.
He said the coalition has brought in companies including NVIDIA, Bank of America, General Motors and AT&T. The group plans to invest in training and credentialing programs, including those run by community colleges and nonprofits, while also helping connect people with open positions.
Ellison said part of the effort is about challenging the idea that a college degree is the only route to professional success.
“We’re going to change the perception. That getting a four-year degree is the only way you can be successful in this country,” Ellison said.
Tiffany Smiley tells ‘Mornings with Maria’ that Gen Z is choosing skilled trades over expensive four-year degrees. Blue-collar fields now offer six-figure starting salaries and a stable path to the American dream.
Ellison tied the initiative to his own background, noting that his father did not graduate from high school and describing his own path to becoming CEO of two Fortune 500 companies as an example of the American dream.
“Look man, I’m the middle child of seven kids, dad never graduated from high school, mother was the oldest of 16, and yet I’ve been the CEO of two Fortune 500 companies. It’s totally the American dream,” Ellison said.
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The AI revolution is creating a surge in blue collar jobs for American workers, with tech giants like Meta, BlackRock, and Google investing millions in training for skilled trades.
He also warned that failing to address the skilled labor shortage could carry broader economic consequences, saying the country could face roughly 2.1 million unfilled skilled trades jobs by 2030 and potential economic losses of up to $1 trillion annually.
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Dan-O’s Seasoning is unveiling two new lines of seasoning packets: chili and taco.
The chili line features mild, smoky chipotle and white chicken chili blends.
The taco line contains mild, spicy and birria varieties.
“I wanted to make chili and tacos better,” said Dan Oliver, founder of Dan-O’s Seasoning. “We made these packets with simple, high-quality premium ingredients and the big flavor you expect from Dan-O’s, so you can cook up something great without all the stuff you don’t need.”
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The seasoning packets may be purchased online through the company’s website, Amazon and TikTok Shop. Select products also may be found at Walmart stores.
Quant Mutual Fund has turned cautious on manufacturing companies amid uncertainty around input costs and supply chains, while increasing its exposure to IT Services as the sector moves into what it describes as “neglected territory”.
The fund house, in its monthly factsheet, said that its portfolio construction is focused on under-owned, under-researched, under-valued and neglected stocks.
Apart from IT Services, Quant Mutual Fund said it continues to remain constructive on Energy, large Infrastructure, select NBFCs, asset management companies (AMCs), Auto Ancillaries, Hotels, Pharmaceuticals, Telecom and data centre themes.
The fund house said it expects market consolidation to become more entrenched in large-cap and blue-chip segments over time. In such an environment, it expects alpha generation to increasingly come from bottom-up, stock-specific opportunities in the micro-, small- and mid-cap segments.
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Sandeep Tandon led Quant Mutual Fund also believes that India could benefit from being relatively away from the crowded AI trade of 2026 and said the country is poised to outperform. The fund house highlighted its dynamic and active approach to money management, saying its multi-asset, multi-manager structure allows it to act swiftly and seek opportunities across asset classes under different market conditions.The fund house expects consolidation trends to strengthen in the large-cap and blue-chip segments which could make bottom-up stock selection increasingly important, particularly across micro-, small- and mid-cap companies.
The fund house also pointed to its Predictive Analytics framework, which it said had anticipated sharp movements in copper and WTI crude in recent months. It added that crude has largely stalled after its earlier expectation of a gradual correction over the coming months.
Quant Mutual Fund said global markets navigated geopolitical shocks, rising sovereign yields and strong artificial intelligence earnings through August 2026. Despite these challenges, global equity indices remained largely flat during the month, while the Nifty 50 corrected 1.2%.
The fund house noted that Indian corporate earnings continued to show strong growth and profitability. Excluding oil marketing companies, profit growth in the first quarter of FY27 stood at 14% for the Nifty, 27% for the Nifty Next 50 and 38% for the Nifty Midcap index, according to Quant Mutual Fund.
Quant said it continues to believe that the upcoming decade belongs to India and that global capital will continue to view India as a favourable investment destination. It added that robust domestic demand in areas such as discretionary consumption, banking, real estate and industrials supported corporate earnings during the quarter.
While sharing its new launches, Quant Mutual Fund said that it launched Quant Income Plus Arbitrage Active Fund and Quant Silver ETF. These two funds were firsts of their kind. Out of these two funds, the Income plus arbitrage fund will open for continuous sale and repurchase on September 7 while the silver ETF is open for further subscription.
As of August 2026, the fund house had a total money under management of Rs 1 lakh crore with over 1 crore folios and around 36 funds. The VLRT framework of Quant Mutual Fund has completed six years and the money under management has gone up from Rs 135 crore in April 2020 to Rs 1 lakh crore in August 2026.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in alongwith your age, risk profile, and Twitter handle.
A group of peers is calling for the British government to be able to deactivate powerful AI systems and switch off the country’s data centres in the event of the tech posing a threat to national security.
It is led by the Liberal Democrats’ Lord Tim Clement-Jones, who has proposed the measure as an amendment to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.
He said it would enable the building of a “vital safety net” and provide a democratically accountable means to “halt a runaway system before it can compromise our critical national infrastructure”.
He added the tool would only ever be used as a last resort.
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It is one of 65 amendments to the same bill that was debated this week.
Separately, on 8 September Labour MP Alex Sobel plans to introduce a AI Security Bill in Parliament, with the support of a campaign group called ControlAI.
If successful, the bill would make the UK the first G7 country to bring in legislation which would effectively halt the development of superintelligent AI.
Ultimately both proposals would require government approval in order to progress.
There has been increased scrutiny of the impact of AI on cyber-security in recent weeks.
In July, a group of AI agents being tested by OpenAI were able to escape their test space, communicate together using a hidden message board and hack into another tech firm.
And Anthropic has restricted access to its cyber tool Mythos on the grounds that it is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands.
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Last week, 100 US tech companies signed a joint open letter warning governments and organisations worldwide about the growing cyber threat posed by AI, saying “the window is closing” to improve.
It said “loss of control” incidents had increased since its previous report in March and called for the government to introduce emergency powers to manage such incidents.
For the first time in U.S. history, a living American president has appeared on a circulating dollar coin.
The U.S. Mint has begun selling a new gold-colored $1 coin featuring President Donald J. Trump, part of the nation’s preparations to mark its 250th anniversary in 2026.
The coin went on sale September 2 at noon Eastern time and is being offered through the U.S. Mint in rolls and bags aimed at collectors. A roll of 25 costs $61, while a 100-coin bag is priced at $154.50.
Despite being described as a “golden dollar,” the coin contains no actual gold. It is made primarily of copper, along with 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese and 2% nickel.
The obverse features Trump’s likeness, based on an official White House photograph, along with the inscriptions “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “1776 ~ 2026.” Chief Engraver Joseph Menna designed the portrait.
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The reverse side of the coin features the Presidential Seal, with the number “250” added to the eagle’s shield to commemorate the nation’s semiquincentennial. There is also a detail that could make some of these coins especially interesting to collectors: the Mint is randomly distributing 250,000 coins struck on July 4 with a special “July 4th” privy mark among the rolls and bags sold through its website.
Why is Trump’s face allowed on a coin?
The release has attracted attention because U.S. law has traditionally prohibited the portraits of living people from appearing on U.S. coins and currency.
The Trump administration says the new dollar is permitted under the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, which authorized special $1 coins commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States during 2026.
The precedent for a sitting president appearing on U.S. currency is extremely unusual. In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge appeared alongside George Washington on a commemorative half-dollar marking the 150th anniversary of American independence. Coolidge remains the only other sitting president to have appeared on U.S. currency, reported Euronews.
A three week public consultation on the masterplan in Sheffield is now under way
A CGI of how the Skyline Sheffield Project will look(Image: Skyline)
Plans to transform the former Ski Village site in Sheffield into a large leisure and outdoor adventure destination have been revealed. A three-week public consultation is now under way, with developers keen to get input from residents and other stakeholders on the far-reaching plans.
The scheme is being driven forward by Skyline Enterprises, the New Zealand-based leader in adventure tourism and visitor experiences. A planning application for the development is expected to be submitted towards the end of the year and, subject to approval, it would be delivered in multiple phases.
The first phase of the development would see the creation of Skyline’s downhill karting, a scenic chairlift, an indoor educational attraction, cafe and terrace overlooking Sheffield, a large free-to-use outdoor plaza and family playground, and a customer car park.
Later phases are planned including a zipline attraction and a surf wave experience. Meanwhile, longer-term ambitions include reintroducing dry ski slopes to Parkwood Springs.
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Existing walking and mountain bike trails would be retained as part of the masterplan, ensuring enhanced public access remains throughout the site.
A public consultation on the proposals runs until Sunday, September 20, giving residents, businesses and local stakeholders the chance to review the proposals and share feedback.
Two drop-in events have also been organised, where people can meet members of the Skyline project team and discuss the proposals, next Wednesday and Thursday.
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Geoff McDonald, chief executive officer of Skyline Enterprises, said: “We’re excited to share our latest proposals with the city and want to hear from local people, businesses and community groups about our plans and understand what matters most to them.
“We see Sheffield as a perfect partner and believe the Parkwood Springs project has the potential to become one of the UK’s most distinctive outdoor leisure destinations, helping to further enhance Sheffield’s visitor offer, support the local economy and create new jobs.”
The proposals come at a time of wider investment by Sheffield City Council in the area, including a £19m Government Levelling Up Fund programme that will deliver a new access road, junction improvements and wider infrastructure upgrades.
Skyline has appointed a number of businesses as part of their plans, including leisure development specialists Omisa Ltd as project management partners, Willis Hazell Engineers, Patersons (engineering) and Griffith Evans (MEP). Other Sheffield-based firms will also play key roles, including architects Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson and Ares, environmental specialists Weddles, planning consultancy Urbana and communications firm Counter Context.
ROSEMONT, ILL. — Haribo is a 106-year-old cornerstone of the confection industry and the creator of several iconic gummy candies, including its flagship Goldbears, along with Twin Snakes and Peaches.
While competition is fierce among the growing list of competitors vying for gummy dollars, Haribo is currently the No. 1 gummy candy brand by volume in the United States, according to data from NIQ over the 52-week period ended Aug. 8. The company also holds US household penetration of nearly 41% today.
Haribo was founded in 1920 in Bonn, Germany, by Hans Riegel, who came up with Haribo by combining his name and the company’s origin city: HAns RIegel BOnn. Today, Haribo’s global headquarters is in Grafschaft, Germany, and the company remains a family-owned, private business.
While Haribo is truly a global brand — currently sold in nearly 200 countries — in recent years, the company has dedicated significant resources to expand its share of the US market. In 2023, Haribo opened a manufacturing facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., where today, 80% of all Haribo candy sold in the United States is made. It was the largest investment in global manufacturing in Haribo’s history.
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More recently, the US segment of Haribo — known as Haribo of America, Inc. — named Jon Hughes the president and CEO of Haribo of America in July. It’s a newly created position that Hughes said is an important milestone for the company. Hughes was Haribo’s UK and Ireland managing director prior to his new role.
“The (US) business has gone through a fantastic period, a decade-long growth trajectory,” Hughes said, speaking to Food Business News. “But we’re just now starting to enter a new phase. I think there’s an opportunity now as we think about how we want to drive disciplined growth in the years ahead. The brand and marketing, sales, operations, supply chain, innovation, customer partnerships, really trying to align the whole business around sustainable long-term growth. I think the timing for my role is really around that.”
“One of the big challenges (in the United States) is just how large and complex and competitive the market is here,” said John Hughes, chief executive officer of Haribo of America.
| Photo: Haribo of America
Market challenges
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In the United States today, there are several disruptive elements facing not just Haribo, but the candy industry as a whole. These include the impact of the make America healthy again (MAHA) movement, which demonizes sugar and pushes for the removal of artificial colors — backed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — and the continued rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medication, which reduces the appetites of those taking the drug.
“I think consumers still want choice,” Hughes said. “They’re still looking for those moments of fun, those things that taste great as well, and can be a little treat at any point in the day. I think the (confectionery) category will be relatively resilient. I think we play a special role within that because of our link to creating those moments of unconcerned consumption, unconcerned moments of happiness.
“On the colors and flavors point more broadly, I think the most important thing is that the FDA has issued guidance, we’ll continue to follow that guidance and we’ll adapt as needed. We offer a variety of different treats in the US made with fruit and vegetable juices for color already. We have a lot of experience on this topic around the world and from Europe as well. So, we’re looking forward to supporting whatever the consumer wants, and I’m pretty confident that we’ll be able to meet those needs going forward.”
Hughes added that one of Haribo’s most successful packaging formats is mini-bags, so it is already well positioned to address GLP-1 consumers, reduced appetites and those seeking portion control.
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Some of Haribo’s recent product innovations include Sour Sodas gummies and the new multi-flavored, multi-textured Balla Bites, which debuted in August.
| Photo: Haribo
Innovation and retail
Some of Haribo’s recent product innovations include Sour Sodas gummies and the new multi-flavored, multi-textured Balla Bites, which debuted in August.
The company also has a history of collaborating with pop culture entities to create products that align with the ongoing trend of nostalgia in candy and snacks. For example, Haribo has a long-running, successful collaboration with the Smurfs, and more recently, the Harry Potter franchise, producing themed gummies shaped like Harry Potter characters, pets and props, including the latest, Draco Malfoy, debuting this year.
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“We’re quite careful with the brands that we want to work with, because we want to make sure there’s a really great fit,” Hughes said. “That it actually delivers something meaningful for consumers rather than just badging stuff. We’re looking for fandom, nostalgia, discovery and joy, and when we find a collab that ticks those boxes for us, then we’re keen to work with it.”
Hughes added that the consumer is at the heart of Haribo’s product development strategy, particularly as the company grows in the US market.
“The focus for us is going to be on consumer-led innovation,” he said. “To try and get a deep understanding of the consumer and what their needs and wants are, and where the opportunities are within the category that we can really play in.”
One way to gain immediate feedback from consumers is through Haribo’s retail outlets. The company has 80 stores globally, and recently opened its first two US stores in August — one in Woodbury, NY, the other in Wrentham, Mass. — which carry US Haribo candy as well as some available only in Europe, giving customers a chance to sample a wide spectrum of Haribo’s offerings.
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Haribo opened its first two retail stores in the United States in August, one in New York, the other in Massachusetts. The company operates 80 branded stores globally.
| Photo: Elisif Brandon/Haribo of America
“It’s a great range of merchandise and a great pick-and-mix wall for people to come and build their own mixes and experience their fan favorites,” Hughes said.
Looking ahead, Hughes understands that growing the US market is not a simple cut-and-paste project based on the success of other Haribo initiatives abroad.
“One of the big challenges (in the United States) is just how large and complex and competitive the market is here,” he said. “I think the (Pleasant Prairie) factory is a big step forward for us. That really helps support long-term growth here in the US. It gives us shortened supply chains, makes us quicker to market, and helps us develop local innovation that’s really tailored to the market here.”
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