We're Tracking 24 Portfolio Signals Across 9 of Our Investing Themes

Signals

World's superpowers, U.S. and China, are going gray. Artificial intelligence is being tapped to solve problems of senior living. McDonald’s (MCD) targets even lower-priced value meals. And car loans are getting longer as new vehicle prices go ever higher. These are just some of the signals we’ve collected for the Portfolio’s investment strategies and its holdings. Below we share another 20 signals we’ve captured over the last several days.

If you’ve come across a signal we should know about, be sure to drop a link in the Comment section below.

Aging Population

Senior care technology platform Sage has raised $65 million in Series C funding, led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, bringing its total raise to $124 million. New York-based Sage offers a coordinated care platform for senior living communities and long-term care facilities. The platform connects residents and their caregivers with care teams. Read more here

Addressing the challenges of an aging population is a key priority on China's development agenda. The country is building a nationwide eldercare network that combines policy reform, community services and digital healthcare. Read more here

An aging U.S. population will reshape the restaurant industry in the years ahead, experts say. A major demographic shift is on the horizon, with all Baby Boomers reaching retirement age by 2030. People aged 65 and older will comprise 25% of the total U.S. population by 2060, up from 18% in 2025. At the same time, people under 30 will make up 31% of the total U.S. population by 2060, down from 38% in 2025. Read more here

Position: Labcorp (LH) ; Welltower (WELL)

Artificial Intelligence

Ford now offers fleet managers a virtual assistant that can perform tasks such as reporting on the condition of company vehicles and scheduling service. The new Ford Pro AI is available at no additional cost to Ford Pro Telematics subscribers in the United States, the company said in a Tuesday (March 10) announcement. Ford Pro is the automaker’s business unit focused on commercial customers. Ford Pro AI provides fleet managers with data on everything from whether a vehicle’s seatbelt is being used to the status of each vehicle’s health, according to the announcement. Read more here

Meta has launched new artificial intelligence-powered anti-scam tools for its platforms WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger… “We’re continuing to detect and disrupt sophisticated scam operations, including by working with industry peers and law enforcement around the world,” Meta said in the release. “We do this because we know that criminal networks target people regardless of borders and across messaging, dating apps, social media, crypto and other apps.” Read more here

Predictive analytics boost AI tools and help patients and clinicians connect. However, HIMSS Chief Scientific Research Officer Anne Snowdon says that, globally, only about 30% of analytics capacity has been realized. Read more here

New AI adoption statistics from Gallup show AI use is rising in the public sector. In Q4 2025, 43% of public-sector employees report using AI at least a few times a year, including 21% who use it daily or multiple times per week. That figure is up from 17% in Q2 2023 and 28% in Q2 2024. A similar rate of 41% of private-sector employees report using AI in Q4 2025. Private-sector use is more concentrated among frequent users: 25% use AI frequently and 16% use it occasionally. In the public sector, occasional use is more common at 22%. Read more here

Indeed, we’re seeing in many cases that AI-adopting SMBs are working to grow output and revenue without growing headcount (or replacing people). In other cases, AI-native founders are gaining traction with enterprise customers using Claude code, a full stack of agents, and just two or three employees!... Successful integration of AI requires a structured approach. We’ve mapped four progressively more sophisticated stages to help leaders understand the value-creating roles AI can play. The goal is to locate where the business is today and consider how to move to the next level. Read more here

Position: Alphabet (GOOGL) , Amazon (AMZN) , Arista Networks (ANET) , Axon (AXON) , Meta (META) , Microsoft (MSFT) , Palantir (PLTR) , ServiceNow (NOW) , SuRo Capital (SSSS)

Cash-Strapped Consumer

Inflation in the United States appears contained for the moment, yet the latest reading suggests consumers may be navigating a calm that could prove temporary… Consumers have responded to those pressures with adjustments that extend beyond simply buying less. Research from PYMNTS Intelligence indicates that financial strain increasingly shapes how households shop and pay. Many consumers facing tighter budgets are shifting toward online retail and digital payment methods that offer greater visibility into spending or access to flexible financing. The findings suggest that financial pressure does not necessarily suppress spending outright. Instead, it changes how consumers structure purchases and manage payments. Read more here

The pandemic shortages are over. Dealer lots are stocked. Customers can find the colors and options they want. But prices have never been higher — and the auto loans bigger and longer than ever to make it pencil out. The average sticker price for a new car or truck now sits above $50,000 — about 30 percent more than in 2019. Even with incentives and specials, the out-the-door price reached above $50,000 for the first time in September and stood at $49,191 in January — a record for the typically sluggish sales month, according to Cox Automotive. Read more here

McDonald’s is reportedly planning to lower the cost of its value meals even further. Beginning next month, the fast food giant will debut a series of new discounts that include meals that cost $3 and less, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (March 11), citing sources familiar with the matter… The report notes that the company is also preparing new $4 breakfast meal deals as it pushes back against a perception among customers that it no longer provides good value. Read more here

Position: Amazon, Costco (COST) , TJX Companies (TJX)

Cybersecurity, Data Privacy & Digital Identity

Google says it has finalized its acquisition of cloud/artificial intelligence (AI) security platform Wiz. With the deal concluded, Wiz will become part of Google Cloud as that division of the company invests in improved cloud security, the tech giant said Wednesday (March 11). The $32 billion deal was first announced last March. Read more here

Microsoft says threat actors are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their operations to accelerate attacks, scale malicious activity, and lower technical barriers across all aspects of a cyberattack. According to a new Microsoft Threat Intelligence report, attackers are using generative AI tools for a wide range of tasks, including reconnaissance, phishing, infrastructure development, malware creation, and post-compromise activity. Read more here

Russian state-sponsored hackers have been linked to an ongoing Signal and WhatsApp phishing campaign targeting government officials, military personnel, and journalists to gain access to sensitive messages. This report comes from the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) and the Netherlands General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), who confirmed that Dutch government employees have been targeted in the attacks. Read more here

Position: Alphabet, First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, Microsoft

Digital Lifestyle

AI shopping assistants are driving ecommerce sales at Walmart and Amazon, according to executives from both retailers. Shoppers who use Walmart’s Sparky have average order values that are 35% higher than nonusers, CEO John Furner said on the company’s Q4 earnings call. Customers that use Amazon’s Rufus are roughly 60% more likely to complete their purchase, according to CEO Andy Jassy. Read more here

Claude’s daily active users are on the rise on mobile devices, as are its new app installs, following the company’s fallout with the Pentagon. After Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow the government to use its AI systems for mass surveillance of Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons, the AI model provider behind Claude was marked as a supply-chain risk. However, Anthropic’s stance led many consumers to favor the model, data suggests. Read more here

X is testing a new ad format that inserts a recommendation directly underneath a post that references the company or its products. The initial test, spotted by an X user in Europe, displayed a suggestion to “Get Starlink” beneath a post from a user that said Starlink’s satellite service works great in Portugal. The link, when clicked, directed users to Starlink’s website. X head of product Nikita Bier confirmed the test, responding, “Trying to make an ad product that isn’t an ad.” Read more here

Position: Alphabet (GOOGL) , Amazon, Apple, Meta (META) , SuRo Capital (SSSS)

Digital Payments

Elon Musk said X will launch its new payments feature, X Money, next month, offering peer-to-peer transfers, bank deposits, a debit card and cashback rewards in partnership with Visa and a licensed subsidiary in more than 40 U.S. states. Read more here

Buy now, pay later has been hitting an adoption wall, and could be losing momentum with the critical Gen Z and millennial age groups. The recent holiday shopping season tells a lot about BNPL’s struggles. PYMNTS Intelligence survey data shows that 14% of shoppers paid with BNPL in the three months through December, down slightly from 15% from both last October and November. Yes, survey results can fluctuate month to month, but it’s clear that Santa left some coal in BNPL’s stocking. BNPL’s slide is continuing into 2026. In January, only 12% of consumers said they made a purchase with BNPL in the previous three months… Read more here

Energy Pain Point

Power bills are going up in America and the people are angry. They know whom to blame—the bosses of technology firms thirsting for more juice to fuel artificial-intelligence data centres. Ashburn, a town of 45,000 in a featureless part of Virginia that has earned the nickname “Data Centre Alley”, has some 150 of these. They consume roughly as much electricity as Philadelphia, a city of 1.6m. On March 4th Donald Trump convened tech leaders to sign a pledge to “build, bring or buy their own power supply…ensuring that Americans’ electricity bills will not increase”. Their solemn pledges notwithstanding, the chief executives can do little to contain prices. That is not, though, because ai is unstoppable. It is because the ai boom is not chiefly to blame for the rising costs. Read more here

Position: Eaton (ETN)

Homebuilding & Materials

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran threatens to derail the crucial spring housing market as oil prices soar, raising the specter of stagflation and rising mortgage rates… For the housing market, the oil shock comes at the onset of the spring housing season, the most active time of the year for homebuyers and sellers. In addition to the potential blow to consumer confidence, the crisis threatens to send mortgage rates surging as bond markets react to inflation risk. Read more here

Safety & Security

Western defence companies and governments are redoubling their efforts to bring lower-cost weapons against cheap drones and missiles to the battlefield in the wake of Iranian attacks in the Gulf. The race to find new ways of intercepting attack drones started in earnest after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Read more here

Military leaders have credited Project Maven — a pilot project with leading tech companies to develop AI that sifts through and interprets drone and satellite footage — with greatly reducing the time it takes to identify and strike targets.2 And the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the Pentagon organization serving as a bridge between Silicon Valley and the military, has fast-tracked contracts for experimental drone technology, which the DIU promises will make combat operations “less expensive” and “put fewer people in the line of fire.” Read more here

The U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have unfolded at unprecedented speed and precision thanks to months of planning, a massive assemblage of military force and a cutting-edge weapon never before deployed on this scale: artificial intelligence. AI tools are helping gather intelligence, pick targets, plan bombing missions and assess battle damage at speeds not previously possible. Read more here

Position: Axon (AXON), Palantir (PLTR)

The Strategies Behind Our Thematic Models

Aging of the Population - Capturing the demographic wave of the aging population and the changing demands it brings.

Artificial Intelligence – Software, chips, and related companies that facilitate the collection and analysis of large data sets and autonomous generation of solutions given non-machine language prompts.

Cash-Strapped Consumer - Companies poised to benefit as consumers stretch the disposable spending dollars they do have.

Cybersecurity - Companies that focus on protecting against the penetration of digital networks and the theft, ransom, corruption, or destruction of data.

Data Privacy & Digital Identity - Companies providing the tools and services that verify authorized users and safeguard personal data privacy.

Digital Infrastructure & Connectivity -The buildout and upgrading of our Networks, Data Storage Facilities, and Equipment.

Digital Lifestyle - The companies behind our increasingly connected lives.

Digital Payments - This model focuses on companies benefiting from the accelerating structural adoption of digital payments and financial technology (FinTech).

Energy Pain Point - Companies poised to prosper from rising power demand.

EV Transition - Capturing the transition to EVs and related infrastructure from combustion engine vehicles.

Guilty Pleasure – Companies that produce/provide food and drink products that consumers tend to enjoy regardless of the economic environment and potential long-term health hazards associated with excessive consumption.

Homebuilding & Materials – Ranging from homebuilders to key building product companies that serve the housing market, this model looks to capture the rising demand for housing, one that should benefit as the Fed returns monetary policy to more normalized levels.

Luxury Buying Boom - Tapping into aspirational buying and affluent buyers amid rising global wealth.

Rebuilding America - Turning the focused spending on rebuilding US infrastructure into revenue and profits.

Safety & Security – Targeted exposure to companies that provide goods and services primarily to the Defense and security sectors of the economy.