Welcome to Riffs. This is one of the weekly content pieces that I will be shipping within Azar Research Collective. Riffs are fast takes on current events within the Backbone Economy. My goal is to send you 10-15 riffs that make you think more deeply about the story by giving a hot take, asking a few questions, and sharing my thoughts with no filter. If you’re looking for an ESG-friendly page, this is not it. I will also include the data dashboard, global riffs, and memes; maybe I'll try to create some industry-related AI cartoons.

In This debut I will be covering news from the data center build out, from how its impacting blue collar work, to how other companies are benefiting from the trillions being invested across the data center supply chain. New farm machinery sales is down during the same period where UAW workers reject contract negotiators from John Deere. Steak N Shakes Glorious comeback thanks to the MAHA movement, and more!

Data is ripped from Claude several minutes before email is sent.

The data center build out has very clearly lifted revenues of tons of industries that most people don’t even think about. Its not just the tech bros that are making it rain. Sherman-Williams and PPG have been as well, you may know them as the companies whose paint you buy for your daughters bedroom, but the hyperscalers know them as the people who coat transformers and switchgear. PPG and Sherman’s units that cover that segment have seen near 7% revenue increase. Both companies have cited data centers, reshoring, and semiconductor plants as key growth drivers.

The good folks over at Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index, provide market research on farm equipment and machinery. This data shows that U.S tractor sales continue to decline YoY. Driven by the products decline in HP and new regulations coming from manufactures like John Deere. (more on them soon). Farmers have also seen a decline in revenue from their farms which forces them to slash capex and defer any machinery upgrades.

Finally something good coming out of the WSJ, sorta. But this gives me more questions than excitement. How are we currently defining total robot sales? Might be time to give robots genders. "Companies ordered 40k robots last year" means nothing, what sort of robots where they. what are they doing, how are they adding value.

Oklo is a company that Sam Altman funded through Y-Combinator, they went public through a Michael Klein SPAC. I consider they company the Nepotism partner within the AI/Nuclear space currently. They have no certifications from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, they are just a research lab. This project has very little to do with nuclear energy itself. This is more just Nvidia widening their monopoly moat. The two companies will be working with Los Alamos National Lab out of New Mexico, combining their ‘expertise’ on AI enabled nuclear fuel research and development.

This proposal is nothing more than smoke in mirrors and slop so that local politicians can get some brownie points within their community. Nearly every hyperscale and data center project being built has already committed to bring their own power. These local governments just don’t enable them to build it.

I haven’t been to a Steak ‘n Shake in year, and unfortunately (maybe) for them. All i remember about them is their excellent fries and that you could pay them $10k to become a manager. An excellent franchising strategy. This “Full MAHA” thing makes it sound what they are doing is bad, but in reality they are providing customers with tastier and healthier food options. According to Barron’s, Steak N Shakes same store sales grew 12% recently. The restaurant also feels like they are not alienating customers, but this has been a strong marketing tool to be used a “re-launch”

Walmart posted its lowest sales growth in six year in its recent earnings report. Missing Wall Street expectations by 1.1%. Walmarts data shows that customers are still shopping with them, they are just spending lace as they faced pressure from higher gas prices and effects of inflation across their spend. In response to this, Walmart has rolled back prices on nearly 12k SKUs. The CEO noted “we’re investing heavily in price because customers need us” Walmart is also taking the hit on many items along with leveraging its $3 billion tariff refund to stay completive.

Automated pizza kiosks, as in pizza vending machines, as in a pizza sitting in a little box inside of a mall waiting for you to overpay for it. I am very aware that food vending machines are very popular in parts of Asia, but I do not see this working within the United States. DancingBacons, a youtube content creator has reviewed the vending machine pizza several times, from the videos these pizzas do not look done nor appetizing. They are also $16 and take 6 minutes to make. My advice to CPK, stay in the frozen lane. Or if you’ve seen Entourage “ill eat the shitty pizza” - Vinny when referring to California PIzza Kitchen (it did have quac on it so)

There is only a small group of people who like it when the gas prices are high, but they even get pissed when they pull up to the pump. Thanks to increased fuel costs, customers have seen meaningful price increases across their typical spending habits and have become more intentional about what’s for dinner. John Peyton the CEO of Dine Brands said that “for every 50 cent increase in gas prices, there’s an estimated 68 billion impact on consuming spending. This makes fuel prices the most xyz word within a companies supply chain.

John Deere cant catch a break recently, with their backwards thinking when it comes to right ro repair and now the contract negotiations L with the union boys. JD wanted to extend their current real through 2029, including a 4% wage increase over two years, $3k bonus, and benefits. UAW members voted down the extension, wanting to keep the expiration date of their current deal October 2027. The UAW leaders stated “they know their worth and what they deserve”. The UAW people bring up CEO pay, dividends, and buybacks as per usual with something like this.

The image below is a full scale model of the Saab A-3 Stealth posted up outside a Hanger in Sweden. I don’t know a lot about Saabs defense business just yet. I remember my dad used to own a Saab car so that’s why they made the cut for this weeks piece. Either way this drone looks very capable, as its an unmanned drone that can perform deep operations. While the Saab aircraft is similar to an aircraft the US Air Force developed, Brig, Gen. Niclas Magnusson said he wanted a mix between manned and unmanned assets in the coming years.

Looks like the data center lads and blue collar boys are getting two shoutouts in this episode of Riffs. I obviously support the data center build out, and receive now nearly two hundred emails a day that give me updates to the industrial industry and the benefits of data centers. Unions representing electricians, plumbers, steamfitters, ect are now realizing that this anti data center movement is hurting their business and living even more. I blame this on the white collar AI workers that have done nothing for AI except spew nothing but mass unemployment bait. Every industrial company I look into is increasing their wages if they are seeing strong synergies between the data center build out and their product offering.

Know someone who should be reading this? Forward it along, or send them the signup link. The conversation gets better when more of the right people are in the room.

This blog runs on caffeine and 10-k’s. Send a cup of joe my way to keep the words flowing

Paragraph about what’s in the pipeline.

Thank you and may the force be with you,