Most people trying to name the biggest stock market winners of the AI era would start with Nvidia, maybe throw in a hyperscaler or two, and call it a day. Almost nobody would guess a company that spent decades making air conditioning equipment for server rooms.
Yet Vertiv Holdings, an 80-year-old maker of critical digital infrastructure, has seen its market cap balloon from under $11 billion to somewhere between $100 billion and $113 billion since going public in early 2020. Its annualized return of 50.5% over that span ranks third in the entire S&P 500, trailing only Comfort Systems at 55.2% and Nvidia at 54.9%.
The retired industrialist who almost said no
The architect of this improbable transformation is David Cote, a retired industrialist who previously ran Honeywell as CEO from 2002 to 2017. In 2019, he led a SPAC merger through GS Acquisition Holdings that took Vertiv public on February 10, 2020, in a deal valued at roughly $5.3 billion. He has served as Executive Chairman ever since, steering the company’s strategic pivot toward the technology that makes modern AI possible: keeping data centers from overheating.
Why cooling is the bottleneck
The company holds approximately 23.5% of the global data center thermal management market, according to research firm Omdia. That leading position has become significantly more valuable as hyperscale operators race to deploy high-density computing configurations.
Vertiv has leaned heavily into liquid cooling solutions designed for racks operating at 50 kW or higher. Traditional air-cooled setups typically handle a fraction of that load.
Cote has repeatedly emphasized that there are no viable alternatives to physical data centers for large-scale information storage and processing.
Record backlogs and raised guidance
Recent earnings reports show record backlogs driven by hyperscale clients with accelerating AI infrastructure needs. The company raised its revenue guidance for 2026, pointing to heightened demand from both hyperscale and enterprise AI customers.
Vertiv’s shares have been trading around $260 to $270, a far cry from where they started when the SPAC deal closed.
Comfort Systems, the only S&P 500 stock that has outperformed Vertiv on an annualized basis, operates in a similar space: HVAC and mechanical contracting for commercial buildings and data centers. The fact that both top performers share this profile tells you something about where the real money in AI has been flowing.