Hightower's Stephanie Link on what she likes in the market right now

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  August 31, 2026 at 11:22  |  7:14  |  CNBC
Speakers
Stephanie Link — Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower

Summary

Stephanie Link discusses the Fed, a strong economy, and what she is buying. She is constructive on AI-driven power demand and favors natural gas via EQT, while adding to Estee Lauder and highlighting Dick's Sporting Goods. She also likes NVIDIA and Broadcom in big tech.

  • Stephanie doubts a September Fed hike and thinks 25bp would be immaterial.
  • She describes the economy as hot, with the Atlanta Fed tracker at 4.6%.
  • She sees the AI boom broadening through hyperscalers, data centers, grid, and power.
  • She bought EQT as a natural gas play on AI power demand.
  • She added to Estee Lauder on improved fundamentals.
  • She highlighted Dick's after its selloff despite strong comps and margin expansion.
  • She bought NVIDIA and remains positive on Broadcom among big tech.
Ideas
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 3:00
AI infrastructure food chain is broad tailwind.
She sees the AI boom as a broad, positive supply-chain story that runs through hyperscalers, data center builders, grid manufacturers, and power; this is showing up in earnings with total revenues up 15% and seven of eleven sectors producing double-digit earnings growth.
AI infrastructure buildout MED
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 3:22
Natural gas wins AI power demand.
She just bought EQT, a U.S. natural gas producer with size and scale, because AI is creating power demand and natural gas should win against coal/nuclear/renewables due to abundant supply; the stock has done nothing all year and trades around 5.8x EBITDA.
UNG EQT HIGH
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 3:53
Estee Lauder back to fundamentals.
She added to Estee Lauder after a strong quarter; the stock fell when the company got wrapped up in an acquisition and took its eye off the ball, but she believes management is back to fundamentals and the stock is still down year to date.
EL HIGH
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 4:19
Dick's selloff contrasts strong fundamentals.
She thinks Dick's is interesting because the stock fell 30% last week on Foot Locker-related concerns, but Dick's itself reported a 4.9% comp with margin expansion, creating a potential divergence.
DKS MED
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 6:54
NVIDIA bought on AI growth continuation.
She is happy she bought NVIDIA a month ago for the first time, citing NVIDIA's message that growth will continue through the whole AI food chain: hyperscalers, data center builders, grid manufacturers, and power.
NVDA MED
Stephanie Link Chief Investment Strategist, Hightower 7:00
Broadcom cheap with 2028 earnings power.
She has owned Broadcom for years and thinks it got too cheap; she sees $22 in earnings power by 2028 and the stock trading around 10x, and she expects Broadcom to be good this week.
AVGO HIGH
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This CNBC video, published August 31, 2026, features Stephanie Link discussing AI infrastructure buildout, UNG, EQT, EL, DKS, NVDA, AVGO. 6 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Stephanie Link  · Tickers: AI infrastructure buildout, UNG, EQT, EL, DKS, NVDA, AVGO