After a recent market correction pushed several high-quality businesses sharply lower, Brian of Business With Brian believes investors are being offered a rare opportunity to buy strong companies at discounted prices. A former corporate professional who worked at Target and Amazon, Brian says he retired at 46 and now focuses on educating investors about business, personal finance and investing. His public profile has grown into a sizable finance-investing channel, with independent tracking sites monitoring hundreds of his stock calls and recommendations. Some external trackers highlight his strong recent performance, while also noting the risks inherent in following individual stock picks.
Oracle The Contracted Revenue Story
Massive contracted revenue and AI-cloud demand. Oracle is Brian’s first and arguably most important pick.
The company has reportedly accumulated approximately $638 billion in contracted revenue, dramatically higher than the roughly $138 billion cited a year earlier.A major portion of that increase comes from a massive agreement to provide computing capacity to OpenAI.Brian’s argument is that investors are focusing heavily on the enormous amount Oracle is spending to build the data centers required to fulfill those contracts, while overlooking the revenue visibility those contracts provide.
Oracle’s capital expenditure has increased substantially, pushing free cash flow deeply negative.
However, Brian believes the market may have overreacted because Oracle’s valuation has fallen sharply despite the dramatic increase in its contracted backlog.
- Huge contracted-revenue backlog Exposure to rapidly growing AI-computing demand
- OpenAI agreement provides significant future revenue potential Oracle remains a major enterprise database and cloud provider Stock has fallen significantly from its high
Main risk: Heavy capital spending, debt and concentration around major customers such as OpenAI.
2. Innodata
Why Brian selected it: Growing demand for AI training data and increasing customer diversification.Innodata is the most speculative stock on Brian’s list.The company provides data engineering and AI-related data services, helping technology companies prepare the massive amounts of data required to train AI systems.
Brian compares the company to a shovel seller during a gold rush.
The argument is that investors don’t need to know which AI model eventually wins. OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and other AI companies all require high-quality data.That potentially creates a broad market for Innodata.Another reason Brian likes the stock is customer diversification.A year earlier, one customer represented more than half of the company’s revenue. That contribution has reportedly fallen to roughly one-third as other major technology customers have expanded.
Why it made the list
- Direct exposure to AI data demand
- Strong recent revenue growth
- Multiple large technology customers
- Customer concentration is declining
- Independent position compared with competitors connected to major tech companies
Main risk: Small market capitalization, high valuation and significant short interest can make the stock extremely volatile.
3. Mayfair Gold — The Contrarian Gold Pick
Why Brian selected it: High insider ownership, institutional backing and a potential future mine.Mayfair Gold is very different from the other stocks on the list.Rather than AI or data centers, it provides exposure to gold exploration and development.
Brian highlights the company’s ownership structure as one of the most attractive aspects.According to the interview, insiders own approximately 35%, institutions around 28%, while high-net-worth investors hold another approximately 20%.
Why it made the list
- High insider ownership
- Significant institutional ownership
- Insider buying
- Large gold-development project
- Located in an established Canadian mining region
- Potential long-term production opportunity
Main risk: Mayfair remains a development-stage mining company, meaning production is still years away and project financing, construction, permitting and gold prices remain important variables.
4. Sterling Infrastructure
Why Brian selected it: Massive backlog tied to data-center infrastructure and strong profitability.Sterling Infrastructure is one of Brian’s strongest convictions because it sits underneath the AI boom.The company doesn’t manufacture AI chips or develop AI models.Instead, it helps build the physical infrastructure required for data centers, including site development, foundations, electrical work and other infrastructure.That makes Sterling a “picks and shovels” investment in AI infrastructure.
Sterling’s backlog reportedly exceeds $5.5 billion, representing work that has already been contracted but has not yet been completed.
The company also has no net debt and generates a return on equity of roughly 40%, according to the interview.
Why it made the list
- Massive contracted backlog Direct exposure to data-center construction
- Rapid revenue growth No net debt
- Strong profitability Benefiting from continued AI infrastructure investment
The stock has nevertheless fallen substantially from its high.
5. MasTec
Why Brian selected it: AI is creating enormous electricity demand, requiring major investment in transmission and power infrastructure.MasTec represents another way to invest in the AI infrastructure boom.While Sterling builds the physical foundation for data centers, MasTec helps build the power infrastructure needed to supply them.The argument is simple: AI data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, while America’s existing power grid was not designed for this sudden increase in demand.
More data centers require more:
- Transmission lines
- Substations
- Power connections
- Grid infrastructure
- Renewable-energy infrastructure
MasTec’s backlog reportedly exceeds $21 billion, an all-time record and approximately 30% higher than a year earlier.
Why it made the list
- Record $21 billion-plus backlogExposure to electricity infrastructure AI-driven data-center power demand Growing power-delivery business Clean-energy exposure Beneficiary of America’s aging power grid
