MarketMind
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
S&P 500 +20% past year — the bar to beat.
Market
☀️ Fair
a reasonable time for quality buys.
New Buys Today
0
buy list steady
Paper Fund
$108,062
▲ +8.1% all-time
Mode
⚖️ Balanced
balanced mix

⭐ What's New Today

➖ No longer a buy CTAS (Buy→Hold)

🟢 Top Buys Today

Great businesses at fair prices — here's why each makes the list.

1 PRI Primerica, Inc. 93
Excellent · Steady pick
✅ Strong, healthy financesinterest coverage 41.7x · current ratio 3.73 · positive free cash flow
✅ Attractively pricedP/E 12 · PEG 1.1 · FCF yield 11.3%
2 FHI Federated Hermes, Inc. 92
Excellent · Steady pick
✅ Strong, healthy financesinterest coverage 44.0x · current ratio 2.59 · positive free cash flow
✅ Highly profitableROE 31% · net margin 21% · gross margin 69%
3 HIG The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. 90
Excellent · Steady pick
✅ Attractively pricedP/E 10 · PEG 0.1 · FCF yield 14.7%
✅ Strong, healthy financesinterest coverage 24.9x · current ratio 1.77 · positive free cash flow
4 LOPE Grand Canyon Education, Inc. 90
Excellent · Steady pick
✅ Strong, healthy financesdebt/equity 16% · interest coverage 75830.2x · current ratio 2.82 · positive free cash flow
✅ Steady and stablebeta 0.58 · steady margins
5 NBIX Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. 89
Excellent · Faster-growth pick
✅ Growing quicklyrev CAGR 24% · rev YoY 40% · EPS CAGR 46% · EPS YoY 31%
✅ Steady and stablebeta 0.39 · steady margins

…and 348 more buy candidates in the full briefing.

⚠️ Getting Worse — Watch

41 name(s) sliding toward Avoid: IRM, ORA, WHR, TXNM, NNN, NWE, PNW, CMS, DTE, D, LNT, RCL, AES, ETR, NI, BKH, WTRG, FE, LUV, XEL, AEP, POR, OGS, EVRG, WEC, AEE, SO, NLY, DUK, WMB, CNP, SR, EXC, AWK, NJR, PPL, NEE, PCG, BX, SCHW, CTAS

📈 Paper Fund (MarketMind trading a fake $100k)

$95,615$100,475$105,335$110,195Jul 16: Paper Fund $100,000 · S&P 500 $100,000Jul 16: Paper Fund $100,000 · S&P 500 $100,000Jul 17: Paper Fund $100,000 · S&P 500 $99,660Jul 17: Paper Fund $100,000 · S&P 500 $99,660Jul 19: Paper Fund $99,404 · S&P 500 $98,670Jul 19: Paper Fund $99,404 · S&P 500 $98,670Jul 20: Paper Fund $99,404 · S&P 500 $98,670Jul 20: Paper Fund $99,404 · S&P 500 $98,670Jul 21: Paper Fund $99,495 · S&P 500 $98,510Jul 21: Paper Fund $99,495 · S&P 500 $98,510Jul 22: Paper Fund $98,924 · S&P 500 $99,330Jul 22: Paper Fund $98,924 · S&P 500 $99,330Jul 23: Paper Fund $97,250 · S&P 500 $99,220Jul 23: Paper Fund $97,250 · S&P 500 $99,220Jul 24: Paper Fund $96,968 · S&P 500 $97,990Jul 24: Paper Fund $96,968 · S&P 500 $97,990Jul 25: Paper Fund $98,061 · S&P 500 $98,090Jul 25: Paper Fund $98,061 · S&P 500 $98,090Jul 26: Paper Fund $98,061 · S&P 500 $98,090Jul 26: Paper Fund $98,061 · S&P 500 $98,090Jul 28: Paper Fund $100,393 · S&P 500 $98,110Jul 28: Paper Fund $100,393 · S&P 500 $98,110Jul 29: Paper Fund $102,520 · S&P 500 $98,350Jul 29: Paper Fund $102,520 · S&P 500 $98,350Jul 30: Paper Fund $104,605 · S&P 500 $96,830Jul 30: Paper Fund $104,605 · S&P 500 $96,830Jul 31: Paper Fund $102,768 · S&P 500 $98,460Jul 31: Paper Fund $102,768 · S&P 500 $98,460Aug 3: Paper Fund $101,506 · S&P 500 $99,170Aug 3: Paper Fund $101,506 · S&P 500 $99,170Aug 4: Paper Fund $101,506 · S&P 500 $99,170Aug 4: Paper Fund $101,506 · S&P 500 $99,170Aug 5: Paper Fund $104,441 · S&P 500 $102,390Aug 5: Paper Fund $104,441 · S&P 500 $102,390Aug 10: Paper Fund $105,443 · S&P 500 $102,650Aug 10: Paper Fund $105,443 · S&P 500 $102,650Aug 11: Paper Fund $106,400 · S&P 500 $102,620Aug 11: Paper Fund $106,400 · S&P 500 $102,620Aug 12: Paper Fund $106,087 · S&P 500 $102,290Aug 12: Paper Fund $106,087 · S&P 500 $102,290Aug 13: Paper Fund $105,077 · S&P 500 $102,550Aug 13: Paper Fund $105,077 · S&P 500 $102,550Aug 14: Paper Fund $105,309 · S&P 500 $103,260Aug 14: Paper Fund $105,309 · S&P 500 $103,260Aug 17: Paper Fund $105,436 · S&P 500 $103,060Aug 17: Paper Fund $105,436 · S&P 500 $103,060Aug 18: Paper Fund $105,436 · S&P 500 $103,060Aug 18: Paper Fund $105,436 · S&P 500 $103,060Aug 19: Paper Fund $105,522 · S&P 500 $101,880Aug 19: Paper Fund $105,522 · S&P 500 $101,880Aug 20: Paper Fund $107,525 · S&P 500 $102,090Aug 20: Paper Fund $107,525 · S&P 500 $102,090Aug 21: Paper Fund $107,115 · S&P 500 $101,230Aug 21: Paper Fund $107,115 · S&P 500 $101,230Aug 24: Paper Fund $108,405 · S&P 500 $101,650Aug 24: Paper Fund $108,405 · S&P 500 $101,650Aug 25: Paper Fund $108,980 · S&P 500 $101,350Aug 25: Paper Fund $108,980 · S&P 500 $101,350Aug 26: Paper Fund $108,062 · S&P 500 $101,670Aug 26: Paper Fund $108,062 · S&P 500 $101,670Jul 16Aug 26
Paper Fund $108,062S&P 500 $101,670
Paper Fund value vs. the same $100k in the S&P 500 · 30 days so far

Value $108,062 ▲ +8.1% since 2026-07-16 · ▼ -$918 (-0.8%) since yesterday · S&P +1.7% · Cash $3,897

StockHeldPriceTodaySince buyGrade
CF83 sh$127.26▼ -1.5%-1.8%89
EOG78 sh$146.83▼ -2.3%+9.0%88
FHI156 sh$65.39▲ +1.0%+9.1%92
HIG73 sh$138.22▼ -0.5%+1.1%90
INTU33 sh$357.46▼ -3.4%+21.3%87
LOPE69 sh$149.08▲ +1.0%+4.1%90
LULU85 sh$118.33▼ -3.6%-0.5%88
NBIX58 sh$153.37▲ +0.2%-10.6%89
PRI31 sh$297.72▼ -0.8%-4.8%93
RMD49 sh$236.59▲ +1.8%+16.7%84

Fictional money · prices update daily · a live test of whether the picks actually work.

🏆 Track Record

Does the grading actually work? Two honest halves — a backtest on past data, and the real live record as it ripens. It reports the truth even when that's “not enough data yet.”

Backtest — replaying history

Reconstructed 319 graded moments across 150 companies (a sample of 150 names), then measured what each actually returned over the next 12 months.

Buy calls vs the market Buy-rated stocks averaged +14.5% over 12 months vs the S&P’s +15.0% — roughly matched the market ➖

Do higher grades earn better returns?

GradeNames12-mo returnvs S&P
A (80-100)43+13.5%-0.5%
B (65-79)161+11.9%-3.6%
C (50-64)91+12.9%-1.7%
D-F (<50)24+41.0%+27.2%

→ higher grades did WORSE here (gap 27.5 pts) ⚠️

Your live record — real calls, zero hindsight

27 snapshot(s) since 2026-07-06, none ripe yet — first 6-month check ~2027-01-06.

Backtest limits: ~5 years back, surviving companies only, restated statements — a strong first read, not gospel. The live record is the hindsight-free gold standard and strengthens every month. Refreshed 2026-08-23. Educational only — not financial advice.

📰 News — What Happened & Why It Matters

MarketMind News Digest — 2026-08-26

News is context alongside the grade, not a substitute for it. If news and grade

disagree, both are shown honestly and the call is yours.


Buy Candidates

LULU — lululemon athletica (Grade 88.2, Buy)

UBS warns full-year guidance cut is coming. Ahead of the Sep 3 earnings call, UBS

expects Lululemon to slash its fiscal 2026 EPS guidance by ~$1.25 (to $9.70-$9.90),

well below Wall Street's $10.93 consensus. The culprits: weak demand in both the US

and China. UBS sees Q2 earnings slightly beating ($1.84 vs $1.82 consensus) thanks to

cost control and buybacks, but the full-year outlook is the real story. They kept a

Neutral rating and trimmed their price target to $120.

Meanwhile, Michael Burry nearly doubled his LULU position — it's now 17.4% of his

portfolio. He calls the stock "screaming cheap," pointing to tangible book value

doubling from ~$20 to ~$40/share in three years. Burry sees the market pricing in too

much pessimism, similar to his early GameStop thesis.

On the management front, Lululemon promoted its China head to lead all of Asia-Pacific

and hired a former Louis Vuitton executive for a regional role — a sign of continued

international investment despite the soft demand picture.

Grade vs news: The grade (88.2) reflects LULU's strong underlying profitability and

balance sheet. The UBS warning is about near-term guidance, not the business

fundamentals the grade measures. The Sep 3 report will be worth watching closely — if

the guidance cut is as steep as UBS expects, the stock could dip further, but Burry's

position suggests the long-term value case is intact. Worth keeping on the radar; the

earnings call will be the real test.

NBIX — Neurocrine Biosciences (Grade 89.4, Buy)

Strong Q2 beat and raised guidance. Revenue hit $959M (up 39% YoY), well above the

$901.5M consensus. Adjusted EPS of $2.85 crushed the $2.26 estimate (+73% YoY).

Ingrezza, their lead drug for tardive dyskinesia, grew 15% in Q2 and management raised

full-year Ingrezza guidance to $2.825-$2.875B (up from $2.7-$2.8B). New drug Vykat XR

added $54M from just six weeks of sales. The beat was broad-based — this is real

operational momentum, not a one-time bump.

Grade vs news: Fully aligned. The grade's top pillar is growth (98.6), and the Q2

results confirm that the growth engine is firing. No concerns here.

EOG — EOG Resources (Grade 87.5, Buy)

Stock up 14.8% in 3 months on monster Q2 results. Adjusted EPS surged 118.5% to

$5.07 (beat by 1.2%), revenue jumped 57.4% to $8.62B (beat by 9.6%). Free cash flow

reached $2.8B, up from $973M a year ago. Production rose 24.4% with composite realized

prices up 51.4%. The company is targeting returning 70% of FCF to shareholders.

The CEO did sell $5.47M in stock — at this price level, this looks like planned

profit-taking rather than a red flag, consistent with a stock that's rallied hard.

Caution: 2027 earnings are expected to decline ($14.12 vs $16.87 in 2026), so the

rally has less room for error. Commodity-price risk is always present in energy names.

DECK — Deckers Outdoor (Grade 87.1, Buy)

Shares fell ~3.8% in a broad footwear/apparel selloff triggered by weak Dick's

Sporting Goods earnings. The concern: excess inventory in athletic shoes is driving a

promotional environment, and softening retail demand threatens wholesale profitability

across the sector. This hit DECK alongside VF Corp, Levi's, Under Armour, and Crocs.

Grade vs news: The selloff is sector-wide contagion, not DECK-specific. Deckers'

HOKA and UGG brands have been gaining international traction. The grade still reflects

strong fundamentals — but keep an eye on whether the promotional environment starts

eating into DECK's margins at next earnings.

PRI — Primerica (Grade 92.8, Buy)

President sold 1,800 shares ($562,770). Peter Schneider trimmed his stake by 18%

at ~$312.65/share. PRI stock is up 16.1% in 2026 (vs S&P's 11.7%), and Q2 showed

revenue +9%, net income +13%. This looks like routine profit-taking after a strong run,

not a warning signal. Analyst targets suggest another ~12.5% upside (median $337.50).

No material business news. Quiet is good for a steady compounder.

FHI — Federated Hermes (Grade 91.5, Buy)

Upgraded to Zacks #1 (Strong Buy). Driven by a 7.8% upward revision in consensus

earnings estimates over the past three months. That puts FHI in the top 5% of

Zacks-covered stocks for estimate revisions. An exec (EVP/CLO Peter Germain) also sold

some shares — at these levels, routine.

No dramatic catalyst, but steadily improving analyst expectations is a healthy sign for

a name already scoring 91.5.

HIG — The Hartford Insurance Group (Grade 90.3, Buy)

Partnered with UC Berkeley's Bakar Labs to support startups in energy and materials

tech. The Hartford will provide insurance and risk-management expertise to early-stage

companies. It's a modest, forward-looking initiative (the incubator doesn't open until

2028) — not an immediate revenue driver, but positions them in emerging tech

underwriting.

Brokerages average a "Hold" rating — the grade at 90.3 is more bullish than the

Street's consensus, mainly because the valuation pillar (P/E 10, FCF yield 14.7%)

scores a perfect 100. The numbers back a very cheap stock.

LOPE — Grand Canyon Education (Grade 89.6, Buy)

Shares gapped down — the headline flagged a price drop, but no specific negative

catalyst was identified in the articles. An SEC 8-K was filed on Aug 21 but the filing

itself was not accessible (SEC returned 403). Institutional buying continues (Algert

Global, Quantbot). Analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" consensus.

Without being able to read the 8-K, this gap-down could be noise or could be material.

The grade remains strong at 89.6 with virtually no debt and a perfect stability score

(97.0). Worth monitoring but nothing confirmed yet.

CF — CF Industries (Grade 89.3, Buy)

No company-specific catalyst. The news is mostly sector-level: energy/commodity

trade discussions and daily stock-performance blurbs. CF continues to screen well on

fundamentals, but this was a quiet week for the name.

RJF — Raymond James Financial (Grade 88.5, Buy)

Highlighted as a "watchlist" financial stock with 10.8% annual revenue growth

(above sector average), effective capital allocation via buybacks, and strong return on

equity. At 13x forward P/E, it's reasonably valued. An SEC 8-K was filed Aug 19 but the

SEC page returned 403, so I couldn't read the filing. A COO gifted 1,000 shares — a

gift, not a sale.

The firm itself made headlines by upgrading AMD to Strong Buy, which shows the research

side of the business is active and visible — good for brand but not directly

needle-moving for RJF's stock.


Crash Watch

WHR — Whirlpool (Grade 45.4, Crash Watch)

Wells Fargo initiated coverage at Equal Weight, $42 target. They see potential in

self-help initiatives long-term but cite a "tough discretionary environment" and

"persistent promotions" as near-term headwinds. Separately, an analyst piece flagged

revenue declining 7.3% annually over five years, EPS falling 38.4% annually, and a

concerning 9x net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio.

Grade vs news: Fully aligned. The grade of 45.4 reflects exactly these problems —

weak finances, shrinking revenue, and heavy debt. No reason to reconsider.

TXNM — TXNM Energy (Grade 46.1, Crash Watch)

Took on $350M in new debt; Blackstone deal not a change of control. An SEC 8-K was

filed Aug 19 (couldn't access the full filing). The headline confirms more leverage

being added, and Balyasny Asset Management trimmed its stake. For a utility already on

crash watch, adding debt is the opposite of what you want to see.

ORA — Ormat Technologies (Grade 45.4, Crash Watch)

Interesting pivot to powering AI data centers with geothermal energy. Revenue was

up 43% YoY in H1 2026 ($662.7M), and the company is partnering with Google and Switch

to build large-scale geothermal plants using enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). The CEO

sees "endless demand" from hyperscalers. Pilot projects could be running by late 2027.

Grade vs news: This is a case where the news is more optimistic than the grade.

ORA's low score (45.4) likely reflects valuation and financial health concerns — the

stock may be priced for a lot of this AI-geothermal future already. An intriguing story,

but the grade says the current price is rich relative to current fundamentals. Both

views are honest; the question is whether the pivot delivers on its promise.

IRM — Iron Mountain (Grade 39.2, Crash Watch)

No material company-specific news. All headlines were institutional buy/sell

filings (MarketBeat-style fund disclosure stories). Nothing actionable.

NNN — NNN REIT (Grade 48.2, Crash Watch)

No material company-specific news. The only substantive piece was a Seeking Alpha

article calling NNN "an undervalued dividend champion with a 5.4% yield" — contrarian

to the grade's assessment. REIT analysts tend to focus on yield and dividend growth,

while the grade weighs growth and valuation more broadly. The disagreement is a feature,

not a bug: NNN may work for income investors even if it doesn't score well on the

growth-oriented grading system.


What I Couldn't Read

- SEC 8-K filings for LOPE and RJF returned HTTP 403 (access denied). These could

contain material events that I couldn't verify.

- Retail Dive article on Lululemon's communications chief exit loaded only as

JavaScript — no readable content.

- TheStreet article on the "next big oil trade" (relevant to CF Industries) returned

HTTP 403.

- Google News redirect links (MarketBeat, GuruFocus, etc.) were not fetched — these

are almost all institutional fund-filing roundups, not material news.

About MarketMind

MarketMind is a personal, educational stock-research tool. Every morning it screens roughly 900 large- and mid-cap U.S. companies, grades each one from 0–100 on five research-backed pillars — financial health, profitability, growth, valuation, and moat — and surfaces the businesses that look strong and reasonably priced.

The idea it rests on: over the long run, a stock's price follows the company's profits. So rather than chasing hype, MarketMind looks for great businesses at fair prices and lets time do the work.

It also runs a Paper Fund — a fictional $100,000 that automatically follows the tool's own Buy ratings — so you can watch, over time, whether the picks actually work. It's pretend money: nothing here is ever bought or sold for real.

Built with free public data · refreshed every morning at 7:00 AM U.S. Central time.

Educational only — not financial advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own research.