I’ve noticed a new trend over the past several weeks. One I need to share with you today, since it’ll very likely have a big impact on which stocks become the big “winners” (and losers) of 2026.
See, when I run my regular Thursday screen of stocks that rate as newly “Bullish” on my Green Zone Power Ratings system – meaning their rating recently crossed 60 or higher – they’ve had a distinctly “old economy” flavor to them. Tech has been noticeably underrepresented.
Some may see this as cause for concern.
They’re wrong.
This is a good thing!
I say that because this new trend reflects a broadening of the market, where more sectors are participating in and driving the move higher in equity prices. As I have been writing for months now, the “Mag 7” tech trade is long in the tooth. My system has been suggesting that a sustained change in market leadership is budding, and the new data rolling in continues to support that conclusion.
Let’s dig into the data so I can show you what I mean. We’ll start with newly “Bullish” S&P 500 stocks.
S&P 500 New Bulls
Here we see several household names joining the “Bullish” club this week…
At the top of the list is banking giant and long-time Warren Buffett favorite Wells Fargo & Company (WFC), followed closely by Delta Airlines (DAL).
Let’s talk about Delta because the airline’s recent success is part of a larger ongoing theme.
Delta, along with rival United Airlines (UAL), made a concerted effort to court affluent consumers and business travelers starting about a decade ago, renovating their planes to focus on a higher-end, more luxurious experience. They accelerated this trend immediately following the pandemic and are really leaning into it today. In 2026, Delta expects to generate more sales from premium seats than from the main cabin… for the fist time in the company’s history.
And guess what… this focus on the affluent has paid off!
In the first three quarters of 2025, Delta and United earned $3.8 billion and $2.3 billion in profits.
Meanwhile, rival American Airlines (AAL), which has been much less aggressive in upgrading its flying experience, barely turned a profit.
The same is true of Southwest Airlines (LUV), which has historically always focused on the budget traveler. JetBlue Airways (JBLU) lost money over the same period, and extreme budget competitor Spirit Airlines actually went bankrupt last year.
So, what’s the story here?
It’s obvious.
Middle and working class Americans are still really struggling with the lingering effects of inflation and stagnant wages, whereas upper-income and wealthy Americans have never had it better. Years of raging bull market conditions have left them flush with liquid equity and they’re clearly happy to spend it.
Back to what our rating system says about Delta…
Delta’s share price has nearly doubled since bottoming out last April, yet the shares still rate a “Strong Bullish” 80 on their value factor. Delta also sports “Bullish” factor ratings on its momentum, quality and growth factors.
Airline stocks are notoriously volatile, but my system says Delta is a good candidate for further research.
New Bulls Outside the S&P 500
Let’s cast the net a little wider, looking at stocks freshly rated as “Bullish” outside of the S&P 500. I ran the screen for the 25 stocks that saw the greatest jump in their score over the previous week. And as we see again, it’s a distinctly a group of what many may dismiss as “old-economy” companies.
There’s one notable exception, however. The top-rated stock this week is Korean video game company Gravity Company (GRVY), the maker of several popular online and mobile games, including the suite of Ragnarok multiplayer role playing games.
Gravity rates exceptionally well on quality, which is common with software companies due to their scalable, capital-light business models. Remember, once you’ve done the work of developing a software program, you can reproduce it infinite times at an additional cost of effectively zero. Gravity’s quality factor rates a “Strong Bullish” 88. It also rates a “Bullish” 66 on growth.
Let’s pivot to talk a little more about some of those “old economy” stocks making the cut… since the resurgence of these types of forgotten stocks may be suggesting they’re more important to the “new economy” than people give them credit.
I’ve been all over the now so-called “gold trade” for going on three years now. Naturally I was ecstatic as I watched the price of gold shoot up by 65% last year and help my Infinite Momentum readers make really good profits investing in gold miner stocks.
So, in today’s screen, Orogen Royalties (OGNNF) really jumped off the page for me. Orogen is a small precious metals royalties company with assets in North America, South America and Africa.
Orogen is a small operator and carries the risk associated with being a small player in the brutally competitive world of mining. But it mitigates that risk by carefully structuring its deals.
Orogen identifies new projects and performs early-stage work to demonstrate their geologic potential. They then seek partners who bring the capital and expertise to develop the mineral deposit. Orogen retains exposure to the property through royalties, milestones payments, and equity consideration, giving their shareholders upside benefits if a discovery is made while eliminating downside project risks.
An investment in a company as speculative as Orogen only makes sense if you expect metals prices to keep rising. But given chaos and angst surrounding the dollar and the Federal Reserve, having at least a little exposure to gold makes 100% sense to me.
As I wrote last week, gold is insurance against uncertainty and against instability in the dollar. And gold miners and royalty companies are an aggressive way to speculate on a continued rise in gold.
To good profits,
Adam O’Dell
Editor, What My System Says Today
