AMERICANMADE
Forget SpaceX. THIS is Elon's next BIG bet
Forget SpaceX. Elon's next BIG bet is a radical "light-speed" device that's turning AI into "Accelerated AI" – and making it 100 times faster and 100 times more energy efficient.
The mainstream hasn't caught on yet. But "Accelerated AI" stocks are breaking out as we speak: 133%, 217%, or even 320% or more… and it's just getting started.
Click here to learn more about Elon's next play and how to get ahead of it.
We covered the workforce shortage in June. Five hundred thousand unfilled manufacturing jobs. A $35.8 million apprenticeship fund already oversubscribed. An industry that can’t hire fast enough. Today I want to show you the company that solved the problem nearly a century ago.
Lincoln Electric has not laid off a worker since 1948. Seventy-eight years. Through recessions, oil crises, trade wars, and a pandemic. Workers are paid piece-rate — the more they produce, the more they earn. Annual bonuses average 50% to 100% of base salary. Production workers routinely take home $80,000 to $120,000 a year. In return, the company gets the most productive workforce in its industry.
It is the most studied employee model in American business. Harvard wrote the case. Every MBA student has read it. And the company that runs it just posted a record quarter.
Q1 revenue hit $1.12 billion — up 12%, a company record. Adjusted EPS came in at $2.50, beating estimates by 3%. Americas Welding posted $706 million with accelerating orders and growing backlog. Operating margin held at 16.6%. EBITDA margin was 19%.
Management raised full-year guidance to high single-digit sales growth. New pricing actions take effect this summer with full benefits by Q3. The Harris Products segment — brazing and metal cutting — surged 42% with margins expanding 330 basis points to 21%. Automation orders are accelerating across the Americas. The company’s RISE strategy — revenue growth, innovation, speed, and excellence — is driving both top-line expansion and operational efficiency.
James F. Lincoln created the system in the 1930s. The logic was simple: pay workers for what they produce, not for how long they sit at a bench. Piece-rate compensation. Guaranteed employment. An advisory board where workers vote on management decisions. And an annual bonus tied to company performance that routinely doubles a worker’s base pay.
The result is an alignment most companies only talk about. Workers have skin in the game. They don’t wait to be told what to improve — they improve it because their paycheck depends on it. Lincoln Electric doesn’t have a workforce shortage. It has a waiting list.
The bull case is structural demand plus workforce advantage. Every factory we’ve covered welds. Every shipyard, every fabrication shop, every construction site. As reshoring accelerates, welding equipment and consumables grow with it. Lincoln Electric is the global leader with 16.6% operating margins and a workforce that outproduces the competition because it’s paid to. The automation push adds another layer — a new Harris manufacturing line tripled productivity, and equipment orders are accelerating across the Americas.
The bear case is valuation. At $264 and roughly 28 times earnings, Lincoln Electric is priced for consistent growth. The stock is off its 52-week high of $310. International markets face headwinds from the Middle East conflict. And the 5-year annualized growth rate has slowed from 10% to 3%. Price increases drove most of Q1’s gains — volume was nearly flat.
But here’s the closing thought. We started this newsletter by asking where the money goes when America makes something. After 40 issues, one thing is clear: it always passes through a weld. Steel to steel. Pipe to pipe. Frame to frame. Lincoln Electric has been on that seam for 131 years. It solved the workforce problem before anyone else realized there was one. And the bet is that the seam holds. Have a great weekend.