Gold just smashed through the $4,200 level — and while many investors are celebrating, our senior analyst Sean Brodrick isn’t surprised one bit. He’s been tracking the setup behind this surge for months.

But here’s what’s catching his attention now…

Whenever gold makes a powerful move like this, a very specific group of stocks has historically outpaced it by a wide margin. In past gold booms — including the major run in the 2000s — dozens of these companies didn’t just rise… they went vertical, delivering some of the strongest multi-year gains in the entire market.

Our research team counted more than 90 stocks that skyrocketed during that cycle alone.

And according to Sean, the conditions we’re seeing today point to the early stages of what could become an even larger gold bull market.

He’s zeroed in on five companies he believes are positioned for significant upside as this surge unfolds.

But moves like this rarely stay quiet for long. When gold accelerates, these stocks have historically moved even faster — sometimes in a matter of weeks.

This may be one of the most important moments in the gold market in years.

Click here to review Sean’s full list of five top gold surge plays

Eliza Lasky
Weiss Advocate

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Today’s Featured News

Why a 20-Second Flight Test Could Unlock Billions for Vertical

Reported by Jeffrey Neal Johnson. Published: 11/18/2025. 

Article Highlights

• Vertical Aerospace’s most critical flight test of the year is now underway, aiming to provide the definitive engineering proof point for its aircraft design.
• By focusing on selling aircraft to expert partners, the company’s model avoids the substantial costs associated with operating its own airline.
• This OEM strategy could facilitate faster global scaling and provide a clearer path to profitability through recurring revenue streams.

The race to bring electric air taxis to market is entering a new, more critical phase. For years, the focus has been on a simple question: “Can the aircraft fly?” As the technology matures, investors in the aerospace sector are shifting their attention to commercialization and profitability.

For Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), the final test of that question is now underway. The company has officially commenced its Phase 4 — Transition flight tests, the last major engineering proof point for 2025. A successful outcome would provide definitive validation of the VX4 aircraft’s core technology, shifting investor focus from technical possibility to the speed and efficiency of its commercial rollout strategy.

Why a 20-Second Flight Is a Billion-Dollar Milestone

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The transition flight is arguably the most challenging and important milestone in developing a winged, tiltrotor eVTOL aircraft. It culminates a multi-phase test program in which the VX4 has already demonstrated piloted thrustborne flight (hovering like a helicopter) and wing-borne flight (flying like a conventional airplane).

This final phase is when the aircraft must prove its defining capability: seamlessly and safely shifting between those two modes of flight.

The maneuver itself lasts only about 20 seconds, but it is the key proof that the aircraft’s fundamental concept works as intended in a real-world, piloted scenario.

For investors, the significance of this test cannot be overstated.

Completing this phase would provide the definitive engineering proof point for the VX4 platform, giving regulators, customers, and investors confidence that the product is viable.

With this technical hurdle cleared, the company’s business model will take center stage. Management has described the campaign as a matter of weeks, not months, placing a substantial near-term catalyst on the horizon.

Vertical’s Picks-and-Shovels Strategy

Once the VX4’s technical viability is proven, the strategic differences between Vertical’s commercialization plan and others in the sector will become clearer. The company is pursuing a pure-play Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) model — a picks-and-shovels approach to the emerging eVTOL industry.

Rather than becoming an airline, Vertical is positioning itself as the Boeing (NYSE: BA) or Airbus (OTCMKTS: EADSF) of the developing sector, focused on designing, certifying, and manufacturing aircraft to sell to existing operators. The VX4 will be sold to blue-chip customers such as American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL), global lessors like Avolon, and specialized operators such as Bristow (NYSE: VTOL).

By contrast, vertically integrated competitors must both certify novel aircraft and build entire airline operations—a high-cost, complex undertaking. This strategic difference allows Vertical to deploy capital more efficiently. At its recent Capital Markets Day, the company projected a net certification cost of roughly $700 million, a fraction of the multi-billion-dollar sums some others expect to spend, demonstrating a more disciplined and less dilutive path to market.

The Leapfrog Potential: Scaling Smarter, Not Harder

Vertical’s capital-efficient OEM model isn’t just about saving money; it’s designed to reach commercial scale and profitability faster and more broadly than a vertically integrated model could. This is where the potential to leapfrog competitors comes into play.

• Accelerated Global Rollout: Partners like Avolon can place the VX4 with hundreds of operators worldwide, enabling much faster and broader market penetration than building airline operations city by city.
• A Clearer Path to Positive Cash Flow:Vertical has provided financial targets, including achieving cash flow breakeven in Q4 2029 and generating more than $100 million in positive free cash flow in 2030, with projections ramping to $11 billion in annual revenue by 2035.
• The Long-Term Profit Engine: The OEM model unlocks a durable advantage through the company’s razor-and-blades strategy for its proprietary batteries. Management projects recurring revenue from high-margin battery replacements will account for 25% of total revenue by 2035, with a gross margin exceeding 40%—a recurring revenue stream that vertically integrated models lack.

The successful completion of the transition flight would be the catalyst that validates the aircraft at the heart of this strategy. It would allow the market to shift its focus from the technical risks of a prototype to the compelling economics of Vertical’s faster-scaling, more capital-efficient business model.

With a market capitalization hovering under $400 million and a consensus analyst price targetexceeding $10 per share, the market has not yet fully priced in the potential of this leapfrog strategy. A successful flight could prompt investors to recognize that in the eVTOL race, the winner may not be the company that builds an airline, but the one that empowers airlines to take off vertically.

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