Meet the 4 Horsemen of the AI-pocalypse

January 30, 2026
/ By Michael Comeau

What a week!

President Trump named a new FOMC chair, the SPX hit 7000, and precious metals turned into meme stocks.

So it's time for the 5 things you need to know right now:

1. SanDisk Leads the 4 Horsemen of the AI-pocalypse

Last week, I declared SanDisk (SNDK) “the most dangerous stock in the world... to longs and shorts.”

Because it had a parabolic stock price, high short interest, and crazy earnings momentum.

The longs won this week when the company delivered blockbuster earnings and guidance, keeping the stock at the top of the S&P 500 leaderboard.

Look at the top 4 names year-to-date:

SanDisk (SNDK): +172%
Seagate (STX) +63%
Western Digital (WDC): +60%
Micron (MU): +48%

*as of Friday morning

So the AI trade is dominated by memory and storage stocks. And yes, you know those good old-fashioned spinning hard disk drives? AI data centers can't get enough of those.

The AI game is about SHORTAGES.

The bigger the shortage, the bigger the earnings momentum.

And right now, 4 horsemen have the best supply-demand dynamics.

Because you can't run data centers without memory or storage.

As an illustration, SanDisk guided for Q3 EPS of $12 to $14.

That's triple the $4.33 consensus.

And heck, it's more than Q3 and Q4 earnings estimates COMBINED.

But let's talk about an unlikely AI hero…

2. Apple Is Playing the Smartest AI Game of All

Apple's (AAPL) been criticized for being slow to integrate AI into the iPhone.

Which would have everyone switching to Android, right?

Which was gonna kill the company, right?

WRONG.

On Thursday after the close, Apple smashed earnings expectations and reported “staggering” iPhone demand.

Now, this chart doesn't look great:

But Apple's now beaten earnings estimates for 12 straight quarters.

The business is 100% intact.

As I've pointed out 859 times, you can put any AI app on your iPhone.

Which gives it all the AI capabilities we need.

And the company's teaming up with Google Gemini to reboot Siri.

And if you still believe a lack of AI is a problem for Apple, tell your kids “you're switching from iPhone to Android because you need better AI.”

Their reaction will tell you everything.

And consider this.

Companies like Nvidia (NVDA), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft (MSFT) are hitching their fortunes to the very unprofitable ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

OpenAI is burning through billions of dollars and facing intense competition from Alphabet (GOOGL).

OpenAI is moving into ads even though Sam Altman once called them a last resort.

Because they need money.

So when the inevitable AI crash happens, Apple will be watching from the sidelines counting those iPhone bucks, not a care in the world.

Full disclosure: Apple is my biggest stock position and I'm 100% biased.

3. Gold Went Full SMCI

Gold futures hit a ridiculous RSI of 96.00 on Wednesday.

It was like the heyday of Super Micro (SMCI) back in early 2024.

And that was right before gold and other precious metals collapsed:

By the way, David Prince of our Inner Circle VTF® is going to break down his amazing gold short on next week's webinar.

Sign up for it here.

As a general rule, it's hard for anything to sustain an RSI in the 90s, especially a major ETF.

Now we'll see if dip buyers come in with Gold 11% off the highs, and Silver down 24%.

4. Earnings Season Is Going Great

Earnings season started pretty stinky with the banks and a whiff from Netflix (NFLX), to the point where the numbers overall were below expectations.

That turned around big time this week with beats from a host of giants: