BWB - Business With Brian
August 7, 2026
3 AI Stocks Trading Below Booked Demand
TL;DR
Sterling, Vertive, and SanDisk are down 28–48% despite having billions in signed customer orders and growing demand, creating buying opportunities for long-term investors.
Key Takeaways
- 1Sterling's stock fell 47% but has a $4.2 billion backlog (over a full year of revenue) with 61% sales growth already locked in.
- 2Vertive dropped 28% while sitting on a $15 billion backlog, with analysts continuously raising estimates as the order book climbs.
- 3SanDisk is down 48% with a $41 billion backlog (3+ years of revenue) and trades at 6x forward earnings despite 80% growth.
- 4All three stocks experienced price declines unrelated to actual customer demand, which is contractually booked rather than projected.
- 5The opportunity exists in the gap between falling stock prices and rising analyst estimates paired with expanding order books.
Notable Quotes
“You're not buying the dip here. You're buying a signed order book that happens to be on sale.”
“The price happened to fall but the demand never did.”
“For a company that's growing 80% that happens to be pretty cheap.”
Chapters
1. Sterling: Data Center Builder Down 47%
Sterling's stock declined 47% but maintains a $4.2 billion backlog representing over a full year of revenue with 61% sales growth.
2. Vertive: Power & Cooling Down 28%
Vertive fell 28% while holding a $15 billion backlog; analysts are raising estimates and the order book is climbing despite the stock decline.
3. SanDisk: Memory Supplier Down 48%
SanDisk dropped 48% with a $41 billion backlog (3+ years of revenue) and a 6x forward earnings multiple despite 80% growth.
4. Common Pattern and Risk Factors
All three stocks fell while booked demand remained unchanged; however, construction is lumpy, memory is cyclical, and ongoing AI infrastructure buildout is required for payoff.
Key People & Entities
- Sterling
- Data center construction company
- Vertive
- Power and cooling systems provider for data centers
- SanDisk
- Memory storage manufacturer for servers
Glossary
- Backlog
- Orders that customers have already signed and committed to; contractually booked revenue not yet delivered.
- Forward earnings multiple
- Stock price divided by projected earnings for the next fiscal year; lower multiples suggest cheaper valuation relative to growth.