Billionaire Leon Cooperman's Top 3 Stocks: Buy, Sell or Hold

Omega Advisors highlights three 2026 tailwind plays: Vertiv, Rocket Companies, and Energy Transfer. Vertiv reports Q1 revenue +30.1% to $2.65B and adj. EPS of $1.17 vs $1.01 expected, raising full-year adj. EPS guidance to $6.30–$6.40 with a record $15B backlog, but the article flags a demanding valuation (80x trailing, 52x forward). Rocket surges in Q1 revenue (+167.1% to $2.94B) and EBITDA ($738M vs $169M), yet shares are -24.6% YTD and the thesis hinges on rates falling plus integration, while Energy Transfer is positioned as the cleanest risk/reward: full-year adj. EBITDA guidance lifted to $18.20B–$18.60B (+$750M), Q1 adj. EBITDA +20% to $4.94B, distributable cash flow $2.70B, and a 6.65% annualized distribution yield.

Analysis

The cleanest edge is in the infrastructure tollbooth, not the high-beta AI hardware name. Midstream cash flows tied to incremental gas burn are less exposed to “AI enthusiasm” fading than the vendors selling picks and shovels, so ET should keep compounding even if the market rotates away from duration-sensitive growth. The second-order winner is likely gas compression, equipment, and field services names like NGS: if hyperscale demand keeps pulling on gas, the bottleneck moves upstream into horsepower and takeaway capacity rather than just pipes.

VRT is the most vulnerable to multiple compression. At this valuation, the market is paying for near-perfect execution and uninterrupted data-center capex; any slowdown in hyperscaler spending, self-supply by large customers, or margin pressure from non-U.S. regions can hit the stock harder than the fundamentals would suggest. The setup is a classic “great business, poor entry point” trade: downside is driven by multiple reset, not earnings collapse, and that can happen quickly on any guide-to-guide deceleration.

RKT is a rate/volatility call masquerading as a company-specific story. The integration benefits matter only if mortgage activity normalizes; otherwise, servicing scale merely cushions a structurally weak origination market. Contrarian view: the market may be underestimating how much lower rates need to fall before housing affordability and turnover actually improve meaningfully; a modest Fed easing cycle may not be enough to unlock volume, so the stock can remain a value trap for several quarters.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Overweight ET vs. VRT into the next 1-3 months: long the cheap, fee-based AI gas beneficiary and avoid paying 80x for the hardware enabler; thesis fails if ET guidance is cut or a major contract slips.
• Use VRT strength to fade the multiple: sell calls or initiate a partial short only on rallies above recent highs; best risk/reward is a 3-6 month mean reversion trade if hyperscaler capex shows any deceleration.
• Keep RKT as a conditional watchlist name, not a core long: only buy on a clear mortgage-rate downtick and improving refi/turnover data; if rates stay sticky, the diluted equity base limits upside for 6-12 months.
• Pair idea: long ET / short VRT for a cleaner AI-infra expression with lower valuation risk; target is multiple divergence over the next quarter, with VRT as the leg most sensitive to any growth scare.
• Alert on NGS for follow-on trade: if gas volumes and data-center power demand keep rising, smaller equipment and compression names could be the second-order winners; confirm with order-book or backlog data before buying.