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Editor’s Note: While Charles is away in Europe, we’ve got a treat for you today. An essay from legendary global macro investor Eric Fry.

Now, if the past few weeks have taught us anything, it’s this: We’re deep into uncharted waters. Between on again/off again trade talks, President Trump’s unscheduled visit to the Federal Reserve (and spar with Jerome Powell), and the U.S. and Israel withdrawing from ceasefire talks with Hamas, there’s chaos baked into every headline.

But chaos, as we say at The Freeport Society, is where fortunes are made. But you can’t just throw darts at the board and wish for the best. You need to know what to buy… and even more important, what NOT to buy.

In today’s essay, Eric sounds the alarm on a few overhyped tech giants (looking at you, Nvidia and Tesla). Better yet, he shares where you should be investing for potential 700% upside instead. 

He also explains the seven “Buy This, Sell That” signals he used to profit during this Age of Chaos in a special free presentation that you can watch here. 

With more than 40 ten-baggers under his belt, Eric has a track record of zigging when the market zags – and being proven right over and over again. 

To use this Age of Chaos to your advantage with even greater precision, read on.

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What to Sell and Buy After Trump’s “AI Action Plan”

By Eric Fry, Editor, Smart Money

In the 19^th century, the phrase “another day, another dollar,” originated from American sailors who were paid, quite literally, one dollar per day.

The idiom has since lost its nautical connection, and is now used to express the monotony of any given job. 

The workday starts. The workday ends. The cycle repeats.

But here in the United States, the better saying this year is “another day, another executive order.” 

So far, President Trump has signed over 170 executive orders in his second term. 

The announcement is made. The order is signed. The cycle repeats. 

On Wednesday, July 23, Trump added three more mandates to the list, signing a trio of AI-related executive orders. 

These orders support the administration’s “AI Action Plan” that it unveiled that same day. The plan focuses on accelerating AI innovation and aims to streamline the creation of data centers and make energy for the centers more readily available.

It will reward innovators “with a green light” so that they’re “not strangled with red tape.” 

The White House has, essentially, pulled back restraints on big tech companies as they power forward in developing AI. 

And big tech is clearly in favor. 

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son attended the action plan event, to name a few. 

However, while big tech may be celebrating, I wouldn’t touch a single overhyped tech stock right now.

Collectively, the major tech companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to develop leading-edge AI capabilities. This monstrous investment imperative could stifle their profit growth and hinder free cash flow generation.

We can see this already happening with the popular “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks. 

So, today I’ll dive into why I don’t recommend this overvalued group… and share where I am looking instead.  

Not So Magnificent 

This group of tech stocks – which includes Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia – has captivated investors for the last three years.

It’s understandable. They’re highly influential companies that lead their respective fields, from AI to cloud computing, e-commerce to electric vehicles. 

While some members of the elite group are still performing well, like Nvidia and Microsoft, the group as a whole has seen a decline in performance this year. 

Tesla has especially experienced a substantial loss.

Shares of the EV maker fell 8% after the company announced it missed both top and bottom lines for the second quarter of 2025. 

In fact, CEO Elon Musk said that the company will “probably have a few rough quarters” ahead. 

Although the Mag 7 stocks are world-dominating tech giants, they have embarked on a stratospherically costly mission to establish and maintain technological leadership of the AI world.

For example, the four leading “hyperscaler” data center operators, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, have invested an astounding $1.5 trillion during the last five years in research and development, plus property, plant, and equipment (i.e., data centers). 

And the pace of spending is increasing.

Looking back at their combined fourth-quarter financials, these four companies are on pace to spend more than one-half trillion dollars this year on R&D, plus property, plant, and equipment. 

For perspective, their combined annual net income last year was only $315 billion.

In other words, investing in AI technologies has become so mind-bogglingly expensive that winning the AI race could prove to be the ultimate Pyrrhic AI victory (tantamount to a defeat) for the tech giants.

The more they emerge victorious in their AI breakthroughs, the more they have to spend to fund the next development. 

These companies are a tech-style Sisyphus, continuously pushing the boulder of AI advancement to a hilltop they may never reach.  

So, I prefer to abandon that hill altogether. 

Instead, I’m looking at lesser known, but greener, pastures. 

These are the types of companies that are often overlooked and underappreciated, but are capable of delivering great results… especially when popular investments are not.

The Two Halves of Successful Investing 

Knowing what companies to run from is important, but that is only one half of the investing picture.

The other half is knowing which companies to run toward.

Clearly, I don’t recommend investing in any of the Magnificent Seven companies right now – or any other overhyped tech stock, for that matter.

So, what are the safer alternatives?

Well, I’ve compiled a list of three companies that I believe are “Buys.” These are under-the-radar, early opportunities that can help you protect and multiply your money during make-or-break markets.

You can find the details of these companies – ticker symbol and all – in my brand-new, special broadcast, free of charge. 

What’s more, I also share four names that I believe are “Sells”, so you also know which stocks to avoid. These are companies with significant headwinds that could drag down your portfolio.

Simply click here to watch my new broadcast. 

Good investing!

Regards, 

Eric Fry