Luke Lango’s 2023 Stock Picks (What You Need to Know)

Luke Lango is one of the more well-known tech investing “gurus” in the newsletter space, and I have covered several of his stock teasers on this blog.

For instance, in the past couple of years, I covered his “forever battery” stock pick, “Tesla Killer” EV pick, a DNA sequencing company, and an “Apple Car supplier” stock he teased.

You can see my research on those presentations here if you want to know more about those, but this post will be focused on Luke Lango’s 2023 picks.

Specifically, I’m going to be discussing his “#1 AI stock” and his “quantum windfall” stock, which he teased in two separate 2023 InvestorPlace presentations.

So with that said, let’s dive right in!

Luke Lango’s “#1 AI Stock to Buy Right Now”

Luke Lango doesn’t seem to have released many new stock teasers since about mid-2022, which could be because many of the tech companies he was hyping up have tanked over the past 12 months. But with all the newsletter gurus hyping up AI stocks right now, I wasn’t surprised to see Lango jump on the bandwagon.

Here’s a snippet from his latest (May 2023) teaser:

“This new era, dominated by artificial intelligence or AI, represents a fundamental shift in EVERYTHING.”

[…]

“No area of the economy – no corner of society – will go untouched.

“The implications are immense. Over the next few years, we will experience a period of change more jarring, more disruptive than any other period in human history.”

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20230621035414/https://orders.investorplace.com/?cid=MKT739382&eid=MKT745716&assetId=AST301463&page=2

Why’s he so bullish on AI?

I can’t speak for Luke Lango, but the gist of his presentation is he thinks AI will “help drive efficiencies” across a wide range of industries because less human labor will be needed for companies to deliver their products and services to market.

He also talked about the “law of exponential progress,” whereby technical innovation is happening at an exponential rate.

And he discussed the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which reached 100 million users in two months, and how this was AI’s “iPhone moment.”

In other words, he suggests that this is when AI went mainstream.

Long story short, Lango talked about how AI is going to be massively disruptive to virtually every industry on the planet and eliminate many jobs in the process.

He then recommended investors take three steps to avoid being on the wrong side of the changes he sees coming and benefit from AI as an investor:

• First, he talked about purging our portfolios of companies that are “being disrupted by the new, technological innovators.”
• Second, he touted his “Ultimate 10X Portfolio,” which he says is “dedicated to the most disruptive and fastest-growing AI stocks in the world.”
• And third, he teased his “#1 AI stock right now.”

Luke Lango didn’t reveal any of the above stocks in the presentation.

Instead, he shares his picks in three separate research reports that come with a subscription to his newsletter service, Innovation Investor, which costs $49 to join.

However, he did share some clues about his top AI pick:

“… there’s one more step I strongly recommend you take right away…

“And that is to discover the amazing details of the #1 AI stock that I’ve recently recommended to my readers.”

[…]

“And one small-cap AI stock recently crossed my radar that is poised to skyrocket.

“As far as AI stocks go, I consider this company to be the ‘king of the hill.’

“In short, without giving away the full details here, this firm has finalized its end-to-end warehouse automation solution… that Walmart (WMT) is fully adopting.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this stock produces a 10X return for folks that get in early.”

The only real clues we have to go off are that 1) it’s a small-cap stock, 2) the company is leveraging AI, and 2) Walmart is using its “end-to-end warehouse automation solution.”

What could it be?

My first guess was Symbotic Inc (SYM), a U.S. robotics warehouse automation company based in Massachusetts.

I say that because my research suggests Walmart is using Symbotic to help automate its warehouses. Pretty much every search I ran for companies helping Walmart automate its warehouses pointed to Symbotic.

And the company’s About page states the following, which is a good fit with the clue Luke Lango shared in the presentation:

“Symbotic is an automation technology leader reimagining the supply chain with its end-to-end, A.I.-Powered robotic and software platform.”

Source: https://ir.symbotic.com

That said, Symbotic is a large-cap stock. So unless Luke Lango misspoke on that particular clue, his pick would have to be a smaller company.

And after sleuthing around the internet trying to see what I could find, the best idea I came up with was a company called Berkshire Grey (BGRY).

I say that because, according to Wikipedia, Berkshire Grey’s customers include Walmart (among others). And according to the company website, it’s a “pioneer” in “AI-enabled robotic solutions” that help automate online order fulfillment and store replenishment operations for leading eCommerce companies.

I want to stress that I am not overly confident with my guess on this one, especially since I couldn’t find much (at all) discussing the company’s relationship (if any) with Walmart (other than what I found on Wikipedia).

But that part is at least a possible match. And what the company does is close to what Lango described. It’s also well and truly a small-cap stock.

So, it’s at least a possible match.

And I’m keen to know if you have any better ideas in the comments below. So if you think you know what it might be, please drop a comment below!

With that said, let’s move on to the next Luke Lango pick, which I’m more confident I’ve identified, as he shared a lot more tangible clues about this one.

What “Little Quantum Company” Is Lango Teasing? (aka His “#1 Stock of the Decade”)

The stock we’re looking into now was teased in a 2023 InvestorPlace presentation that centered around what Luke Lango referred to as “Area 52.”

“For those seeking out-of-this world profits in 2023…

“‘Area 52’s’ technology will be bigger than Amazon, Tesla, and Netflix,’ predicts one of America’s top analysts.”

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20230621054243/https://orders.investorplace.com/?cid=MKT730519&eid=MKT731447&assetId=AST295073&page=2

In short, Area 52 is a “codename” (aka marketing spin) Luke Lango used to describe the U.S. government’s 52-mile test loop for a “National Quantum Internet.”

And as a side note, if you want to know what this project (actually) entails, check out this page on the energy.gov website.

Anyways, according to Lango, “Area 52” has the “best investment setup” he’s ever seen, surpassing virtually every other technology he’s discussed before (even AI):

“Experts estimate that the technology inside of Area 52 is several million times more powerful than the ‘dumb’ technologies in use today — like the technology inside of an iPhone… or a Tesla… or the latest generation of the F-22 Raptor… or even digital currencies.”

[…]

“’Area 52′ has the best investment setup I’ve ever seen in my career…

“It easily surpasses the telehealth boom… the smartphone boom… the EV boom… the streaming video boom… the gene-editing boom… the fintech boom… the big data boom… the artificial intelligence (AI) boom… even the cryptocurrency boom.”

Long story short, after hyping up “Area 52” and the idea of a “quantum internet,” Lango segued into discussing quantum technology more broadly and the benefits of quantum microchips, which he (more or less) said is the real “miracle technology.”

I’m not an expert on quantum microchips (by any stretch of the imagination)… but the gist is that they are used in quantum computers and contain quantum bits (qubits).

As for why Lango is so bullish on this tech… he claims that quantum microchips “stand among the greatest technological breakthroughs in history” and said that quantum technology has three specific “superpowers” that make it so amazing.

Basically, he said that quantum technology can’t be hacked, that it travels at the speed of light, and that it has “Godlike” intelligence.

From there, he eventually segued into discussing his stock pick.

And here is the first main set of clues he shared:

“You see, the quantum microchips these tech giants are developing require large chambers with intensely cold temperatures – near absolute zero – to work properly.

“But one tiny company is developing quantum microchips with an approach tailored specifically to quantum mechanics…

“And this approach enables the creation of super-small quantum computers that can operate with fewer errors at room temperature.

“With its proprietary quantum science, guarded by more than 160 patents and applications…”

Next, he (more or less) revealed that it’s a small-cap stock:

“This company is small — trading on the Nasdaq for only 0.08% the size of Amazon.”

As of writing (June 2023), Amazon’s market cap is around $1.29 trillion. So if my math is correct, we’re looking for a company with a market cap of around a billion or so, though the market cap may have gone up or down since the presentation aired (May 2023).

And finally, he discussed a “$13 million contract” it signed:

“After signing a groundbreaking $13 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab in 2022…”

He also talked about “an even bigger deal” that could be announced on or before August 14, 2023. But he didn’t provide much info on that.

What could his “quantum microchip” pick be?

It looks like Luke Lango might be teasing IonQ Inc (IONQ), a Maryland-based quantum computing hardware and software company.

Why do I say that?

Because according to datacenterdynamics.com, IonQ signed a $13.4 million deal with US Air Force Research Lab in 2022. In short, the deal related to supplying the U.S. AFRL with “access to its trapped ion systems for quantum computing hardware research” and for the “development of quantum algorithms and applications.”

And second, IonQ’s market cap is around $1.8 billion, which still fits because the stock has gone up quite a bit over the past six months. So it may well have been closer to the $1 billion mark when Luke Lango actually made the pitch.

In any case, I can’t guarantee my guess is right, but it looks like IonQ is a match based on the clues Lango shared in the pitch.

Is Luke Lango the Real Deal? And Should You Join His Innovation Investor Newsletter?

Luke Lango is always talking about the latest shiny tech trends and companies he thinks are at the forefront of these.

And according to Lango, he has picked numerous winners:

“During the course of my career, I’ve uncovered 14 early-stage opportunities that could have as much as 10Xed your money or more…

“And multiple stocks that have seen 2X… 3X… even 5X returns.”

It’s hard to verify claims like that without having access to all the data, which InvestorPlace doesn’t provide publicly (that I’m aware of).

But he does have a profile on TipRanks.com, which shows you some of his public recommendations. Some of these appear to have done well, too.

At one point (in 2020), he was ranked one of the top financial bloggers.

However, more recently, Lango’s TipRanks profile seems to have fallen off a cliff, with his picks being ranked as almost the worst on the site.

I’m not bringing that up to throw shade on the guy, but I think this goes to show that not everything he has recommended has worked out well.

It also indicates that his picks haven’t done very well in recent years, which makes sense given that he focuses a lot on tech stocks, and they have taken a beating lately.

Not to mention, I’ve personally uncovered several of his stock picks on this blog. And based on my research, some of his picks have been disasters.

For example…

He recommended a “$3 forever battery” stock in October 2021, which my research suggests was Ilika plc (ILIKF), and that is now sitting at $0.48:

He also pitched a “$5 Apple Car supplier” in April 2022, and according to my research, that company was Aeva Technologies (AEVA), which is now trading at $1.25:

As you can see, those picks didn’t work out very well!

Anyways, if you’re into tech and biotech investing, you may still find Luke Lango’s service interesting. But I would recommend taking the marketing in his presentations with a pinch of salt, as not all of his stock picks have worked out.

So, as with any newsletter, you could lose money following some of his ideas, which is why it pays to do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.

Bottom Line

Hopefully, Luke Lango’s 2023 picks work out better than some of his 2021 and 2022 picks, but only time will tell. Either way, I hope you found what I’ve shared in this post helpful. And I will strive to keep this post updated as I come across new stock teasers he releases.

Also, if you’d like to share your take on any of this or let me know about a new Luke Lango presentation you’d like me to look into, chime in below.

Thanks for reading!