This Is What the Smartest Investors of the Next Decade Will Own

How building toll roads can make you a millionaire... If you think the world is connected already, you haven't seen anything yet... The road to the future passes through this revolutionary technology... One specific industry that can't exist without it... This is what the smartest investors of the next decade will own...

Editor's note: Our friend and noted tech investor Matt McCall, senior editor at our corporate affiliate InvestorPlace, is holding an exclusive free live event at 8 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

Matt's known for spotting trends and stocks that "no one else is talking about," our Steve Sjuggerud says. And tomorrow night Matt will share exactly how – in the last decade alone – he has pinpointed more than 200 companies that have delivered returns anywhere from 100% to 2,700%... and where he's looking now for the next big "10X" winners.

With this in mind, we're sharing a guest essay from Matt today. He writes about an emerging sector that gives you the opportunity to own some of the world's most valuable "toll roads"... just like the smartest investors during the 1990s did.

On August 2, 2018, Apple (AAPL) became the first U.S. company to reach $1 trillion in market cap...

That's a "1" with 12 zeros after it.

The iPhone maker's crossing of that mark was a big, hyped event. It made all the major news outlets.

Not as much hype surrounded the three other companies hot on Apple's heels in the race to join the $1 trillion club... Online-retail juggernaut Amazon (AMZN) surged past that market cap a month later on September 4, 2018. Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) joined the $1 trillion club in April of this year. Another company with a good shot of being worth more than $1 trillion soon is Google's parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL).

Think about that list for a moment...

There's no carmaker on that list. No big manufacturer like General Electric (GE). There's no oil company, no mining company, no steel company, and no banking company.

The market has spoken...

Technology – with its ability to create smartphones, software, time-saving apps, social media platforms, online shopping experiences, and the like – is now the most dominant, most valued part of our economy. Tech entrepreneurs and investors are making fortunes as a result.

If Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are the tallest skyscrapers – the commanding heights of our "economic city" – it's no exaggeration to say their foundations rest on the bedrock of our communications grid... also known as the Internet. Without this bedrock, those skyscrapers would crash to the ground.

As you read this, the next trillion-dollar companies – the next Amazon, the next Google, and others – are being hatched in research facilities and garages around the world. These firms will change the world and revolutionize our economy.

If you follow technology the least little bit, you know what fields these companies are in: self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, virtual reality ("VR")/augmented reality ("AR"), blockchain, mobile payments, and the Internet of Things ("IoT").

Just like how the businesses of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google can't function without the Internet, the next generation of world-changing, $1 trillion mega winners can't survive without the subject of today's Digest. As I (Matt McCall) will explain, it's the bedrock our future will rest on... and it's a giant investment opportunity for you to capitalize on right now.

Think of the Internet buildout of the 1990s as the construction of a vast network of toll roads...

These toll roads linked friend to friend... family member to family member... and, most important from a capitalist's point of view, business to consumer. Millions upon millions of people wanted to send their messages, data, and advertisements over the Internet's toll roads. It was a communications revolution.

History shows building the revolution's toll roads was incredibly profitable...

Cisco (CSCO), the leading maker of networking equipment, enjoyed a 34,000% increase in market value during the 1990s. Intel (INTC), which made computer chips, saw its stock soar more than 3,500% during the 1990s. EMC, which made data storage devices, saw its shares advance more than 80,000% during the 1990s.

As incredible as the Internet's first toll roads were, their size and capacity pale in comparison to the next generation of toll roads... which will lead to your doorstep soon.

They go by the name of "5G."

The path to the 5G wireless communications network began 46 years ago...

It all started on Tuesday, April 3, 1973.

Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola, stood on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. He was about to make the first cellphone call in history, and he was nervous about whether it would work.

Martin didn't call a family member, friend, or even a co-worker. Instead, he called his chief competitor, Joel Engel at Bell Labs. The two had been in a race to get to this day first.

"Joel, this is Marty," he said. "I'm calling you from a cellphone, a real handheld portable cellphone."

Consider those the first words in the mobile communications revolution.

Mobile phones were then introduced to the public nearly a decade later...

By the 1980s, cellphones were creeping into the cars of wealthier individuals...

The first devices weighed a couple of pounds and were bigger than your head – they are referred to as "bricks" for a reason – but they did what had never been done before. The first generation of mobile technology kicked off the trend toward an increasingly connected world.

The second generation of networks (2G and 2.5G) were introduced in the 1990s. They gave us the ability to text, another step forward in communication. We now take texting for granted, and indeed, a lot of people text more than they make actual phone calls.

The move into the new millennium was accompanied by the move to 3G, which brought major advances in the speed and capabilities of cellular networks. With the third generation, devices could access broadband technology, which made it possible to enjoy entertainment, browse the web, and shop on a mobile device.

A whole generation of people now find it hard to believe that 20 years ago, no Amazon app existed to instantly reorder your toilet paper.

Just as semiconductors were part of the infrastructure for the Internet, they were also the backbone of the move to 3G. As a result, chip stocks made big moves during this era. Qualcomm (QCOM) rallied more than 1,000% in the 1990s ahead of when the 4G networks started to appear.

As nice as it was to be able to browse the Internet on your phone, the fourth generation of wireless connectivity took mobile technology to another level with the ability to stream videos without waiting for buffering. It was more enjoyable, yes, but it also opened up business opportunities for content companies.

Still, the biggest advancement was real-time information, which led to the sharing economy.

Mobile devices could talk to other devices in real-time, connecting people instantaneously. Without real-time data transfer, Uber Technologies (UBER), Grubhub (GRUB), or any other company whose app relies on a fast connection wouldn't exist today.

Once again, the 4G phase led to big investment returns. Cell-tower companies were among those enjoying huge rallies. As more data was being transmitted with the increasing use of video, new and better towers were required.

But honestly, we haven't seen anything yet...

The most advanced breakthrough of all is right around the corner.

Just as fortunes were made in prior generations, big money will be made once again. In fact, I think the opportunity is even bigger now because the leap ahead will drive some of the most powerful tech trends the world has seen.

I think of it as the next-generation toll road. The road to the future passes through 5G, and it's time to set up our booth and start collecting.

The next-generation network will take speeds to levels that seem almost unimaginable...

How fast?

Well, in theory, 5G will increase the level of speed to match that of human reflexes. So we're talking the blink of an eye... perhaps literally.

The current 4G network clocks in at around 100 "megabits" per second, which is extremely fast compared to 3G. (A megabit is a unit of measurement for data size.) But once 5G rolls out, that number will jump to 10,000 megabits per second – or 100 times faster than the current speed.

My phone and iPad stream videos nearly flawlessly already, so why do I even need the speed to be 100 times faster? It will eliminate those slow connections we run into at times, which is nice... But what's really about to happen is that phones and mobile devices are about to become mobile supercomputers.

The big breakthrough will be the ability to connect a lot more devices that share large amounts of data in real-time. So if you think we live in a connected world already, you haven't seen anything yet.

From cloud storage to the IoT to AR and VR, 5G will allow all of the most dominant tech trends of our time to not merely flourish but reach new heights.

One breakthrough industry in particular cannot exist without 5G...

Autonomous vehicles ("AVs").

Investors who were able to get in early during prior transformational trends profited at 20 to 50 times their money. That's why the AV/5G megatrend is one current transformational trend that cannot be ignored.

When an industry like transportation is completely transformed for the first time in nearly a century, it will have huge ramifications. The full rollout of the 5G network will provide the much-needed communications infrastructure for automakers to introduce AVs to the masses.

Once again, reliability and real-time data sharing make this possible...

Imagine a self-driving car going down the highway at 75 miles per hour and the network suddenly experiences a 100-millisecond delay.

In any other circumstance, that delay would never be noticed, but it could be devastating in an AV. It could result in the braking system stopping the vehicle 10 feet beyond where it would have otherwise. That extra 10 feet could lead to a major accident.

Future AVs will essentially be data centers on wheels. The amount of data stored in the brain of the vehicle will be beyond what we can imagine.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS) predicts that a 2050 AV will produce 40 terabytes (TBs) per hour. Today, your iPhone produces data in the range of 1-2 gigabytes (GBs) per month. That would mean a 2050 AV will produce about 20,000 times more data in one hour than your iPhone currently produces in an entire month!

Such tremendous amounts of data will be required due to the number of decisions taking place at all times. The AV will have to take in data from sensors surrounding the vehicle and instantaneously decide when to accelerate, brake, turn, and more.

Not only will the vehicle need 5G for computing within itself, but it will also be talking to the sensors in other vehicles, the roads, cell towers, satellites, and even smart cities.

Things like vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology are impossible without widespread 5G. The current 4G network is great for streaming videos, but the speed and latency would create major safety issues for AVs.

That's why it's time to get in position now...

You can see how 5G networks will pave the way for so many breakthrough innovations. I'm not talking about just faster phones... I'm also talking about self-driving cars, smart homes and cities, VR, health care, and so much more.

When exactly does all of this excitement happen?

It's already starting.

You may have seen advertising for 5G home Internet service in limited cities. Some of the early advertising from Verizon (VZ) came under criticism for calling it that because it doesn't operate on the agreed-upon 5G standard. That will come by the end of this year, as it expands to other cities. Smartphone makers are already rolling out the first 5G-enabled phones.

So we're already seeing the first stages, and the pace will only pick up from here. That's true of the stock prices, too, which will move ahead of specific developments.

Long-term winners in this sector will be 5G gear makers like Nokia (NOK), 5G infrastructure providers like Crown Castle (CCI), and specialized chipmakers like Skyworks Solutions (SWKS).

Consider this short list a jumping-off point for 5G ideas, but by no means a complete or static guide...

The early days of any technological revolution are full of change. My advice is to follow this sector closely, study it frequently for emerging winners, and own a handful of companies to get a good risk-reward blend.

Tomorrow night in my free live event, this is exactly what I'm going to show viewers how to do – how to put these types of opportunities into practice to earn 10 times your money across multiple stocks.

I've got more 5G trading ideas, as well as plenty of stocks I'm watching in other emerging industries like biotech and cannabis, and all corners of the market for that matter.

Just for signing up for my event, I'm going to share a handful of the stocks I have on my watchlist right now and give away the name of the little-known company that I believe is headed for "10X" gains next.

If you haven't already, click here to sign up now for the event. It starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow and it's free, but you won't be able to watch live unless you reserve your spot.

New 52-week highs (as of 7/29/19): Disney (DIS), Nuveen Preferred Securities Income Fund (JPS), MAG Silver (MAG), Medtronic (MDT), Nestlé (NSRGY), New York Times (NYT), Osisko Gold Royalties (OR), Procter & Gamble (PG), Royal Gold (RGLD), ResMed (RMD), Stryker (SYK), AT&T (T), and Wells Fargo – Series W (WFC-PW).

In today's mailbag: More praise for Dan Ferris' must-read Friday Digest... and feedback on Matt's recent Masters Series essay on the Internet of Things. What do you think? Drop us a line at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"Dan, [Friday's essay was] probably the best Stansberry Digest I have read in the 10 years I've been following your company. And maybe the best piece of advice I've read anywhere about taking responsibility for your own actions. It should be compulsory reading for anyone under the age of 30 who has grown up in the 'Age of Entitlement.'" – Paid-up subscriber Martin P.

"I read with interest Matt's recent article discussing IoTs and the possible changes it will bring to our lives. I believe that Matt is correct and that there are many productivity enhancing changes in store for us. What is left unsaid is the effects of unintended consequences. When a new change is dropped in the pond of our lives, we tend to focus on the first splash and ignore the effects of the resultant myriad ripples.

"I remember long ago, in the 1980s, when computers were introduced in number to the workplace. It was going to yield a revolutionary boost to productivity. Some predicted 30- to 35-hour work weeks as a result. Well, the hand of unintended consequences stepped in and crushed that rather quickly. Businesses laid off secretaries and eliminated document production and travel departments. The professional staff, such as engineers, were asked to take on more professional/engineering responsibilities as well as document production, travel planning and other admin responsibilities. After all, they were more productive. The work week increased from 40 to 50 hours to 50 to 60+ hours and a whole new cost center was created – the IT department.

"As we move into the IoT brave new world, I look forward with amusement to seeing unintended consequences pop up. We have already seen a big one. Not only do we get to see what is in our refrigerator and medicine cabinet, but so do all of the hackers in the world. The hackers also get to learn that we are not at home. Alexa, who hears everything in your home, has been subpoenaed by a state prosecutor in a criminal case. I am sure you heard about Alexa automatically calling the police for what sounded like domestic violence. Does Alexa have the number of the IRS? Will credit agencies and marketing firms pay to access her database? Who needs a mother-in-law when you have Alexa?

"A very informative article Matt. I look forward to reading more of what changes are in store for us." – Paid-up subscriber Bruce F.

Regards,

Matt McCall
Baltimore, Maryland
July 30, 2019