Search

Strong fourth-quarter earnings are confirming what the market was already doing.

Current estimates based on earnings reported so far are for 13.2% overall S&P earnings growth for the quarter. It’s a solid quarter and the fifth straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth. In terms of sector performance, cyclical companies are killing it, and technology is floundering, just like before earnings.

Despite a small bounce Friday on softer inflation data that eased some knee-jerk selling, markets finished on the back foot as renewed investor anxiety around artificial-intelligence disruption rippled through tech and cyclical stocks. Growth names lagged, pressure widened beyond software to financials and real estate, and defensive sectors outperformed amid falling Treasury yields that weren’t enough to stem the slide. By week’s end, the S&P 500 had fallen 1.4%, the Dow Jones had lost 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite had tumbled 2.1%.

If you’re investing in real assets, don’t limit yourself to just gold and silver. Looking beyond those precious metals generated powerful returns for our subscribers in 2025.

Shares of National Energy Services (NESR) are up nicely today after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 FY25 results early this morning. Revenue jumped 15.9% compared to Q4 FY24 (and +35% versus Q3 FY25) to $398 million (beating by 7.5%), and adjusted EPS rose almost 7% to $0.32 (beating by $0.07). The strong results were driven by high utilization and the beginning of work at the Jafurah frac tender. There were a few one-time costs in the quarter, including restructuring costs and two technology investment write-offs.

Valmont Industries (VMI) Reports

BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO)

Investing in stocks that are not being disrupted by AI has been a profitable play this year—especially as software sells off hard—here’s the names I’m watching now.

Artivion (AORT), our MedTech company that specializes in cardiovascular and aortic repair solutions, reported Q4 FY25 results after the close yesterday. Results came in a hair below expectations. Revenue grew by 11.7% to $129.5 million (missed by $48K) while adjusted EPS improved to $0.17 (missed by a penny) from breakeven in the year-ago quarter.

Gold vs. bitcoin has been a popular debate dating back to the earliest days of the cryptocurrency’s ascent, but that debate fundamentally misses how each investment performs as an asset.

With the market’s rotation into energy, industrial and other “unloved” stocks continuing well into 2026, we’re leaning deeper into the trends.

This month’s issue focuses on yet another specialty industrial player, an under-the-radar biofuel story, and an energy name with exposure to strong, international markets.

As always, the goal is to stay aligned with what’s working.

Enjoy!

The market rotation continues to be the main story out there this week, though rumblings of a potential strike on Iran, an update from the January FOMC meeting, and a slew of earnings reports and economic data releases have been giving investors plenty to think about.

In terms of the rotation, the equal‑weight S&P 500 ETF (RSP) is up 5.5% so far this year, illustrating that leadership is broadening beyond the narrow group of mega‑cap stocks that drove much of last year’s performance.

Year to date, the S&P 600 SmallCap Index is up 8.3% and the S&P 400 Mid‑Cap Index is up 7.9%. Both are comfortably outperforming the S&P 500, which is up just 0.1%, and the Nasdaq, which is down 2.1%.

The good times keep rolling. The S&P 500 continues to make new highs and closed last week up 7.7% YTD. Nine of the 11 S&P sectors are well into positive territory for the year so far.

As usual, the index is being led higher by technology, which is by far the largest sector. Technology stocks are up over 12% YTD. While no other stock sectors are up as much as the overall market, most of them are delivering very respectable returns for the year so far. The only down sectors are Real Estate and Utilities. But even these beleaguered sectors are only down 1.4% and 3.25% respectively YTD.

The party continues on Wall Street, and we’re not going to forecast when it will end. Instead, we’re going to try and capitalize on the strength, a strategy that has worked very well for the Stock of the Week portfolio over the last four months. Today, we take another big swing in a stock that was a home run for Cabot Explorer Chief Analyst Carl Delfeld several years ago, before the sellers came for it. Now, it’s back. It’s an overseas stock that doesn’t have the China stench on it, something that hurt other perfectly good stocks (see BYD (BYDDY)) in the last year.