90+ Fundamental Rating

90+ Technical Rating

90+ Composite Rating

Five years ago, we set out to systematically explore, isolate, and quantify the common characteristics of the greatest-performing stocks of all time. In that work, we identified three primary characteristics shared by most “super stocks,” along with two secondary characteristics that further enhanced their future return potential. Our investment approach is largely reverse-engineered from these findings and is designed to identify, and build a portfolio around, stocks that exhibit these traits in real time.

Our primary findings show that the majority of the market’s biggest winners displayed exceptional fundamental and technical characteristics before their major advances. Moreover, the combination of strong fundamentals and strong technicals tends to amplify future returns. Our secondary findings indicate that a company’s standing relative to its sector peers—on both fundamental and technical dimensions—is also highly informative about its future potential. Finally, we observed a repeatable structural pattern in the market that we refer to as launchpads: consolidation structures that many super stocks formed just prior to their historic advances and which, when properly identified, can offer attractive, lower-risk entry points.


More specifically, our research shows that:

  • Stocks with strong and stable earnings and revenue growth significantly outperform stocks with weak or erratic earnings and revenues.
  • Stocks with strong prior price performance significantly outperform stocks with weak relative performance.
  • Stocks that combine robust earnings and revenue growth with strong relative price performance have historically been among the best performers of all time.
  • Stocks that are positioned as leaders within their sectors, on both fundamental and technical measures, significantly outperform weaker sector peers.
  • Launchpads frequently provide low-risk, high-potential entry points into future super stocks ahead of their major advances.

The sections below present a detailed summary of the primary findings from this multi-year research effort.

Our Fundamental Rating evaluates each company’s quarterly, annual, and forward earnings and revenue trends for acceleration, growth, and stability, and then assigns a percentile score across our investable universe. Our research shows that, over a 20-year test period, companies with strong and stable earnings and revenue growth have meaningfully outperformed those with weak or erratic fundamentals. Performance increases almost monotonically from Quintile 1 through Quintile 5, indicating that the Fundamental Rating is an effective discriminator of future price appreciation. Notably, the top quintile also exhibits lower volatility and drawdowns, and higher alpha and Sharpe ratio, suggesting that higher returns can be achieved with less overall risk. The figure below presents the 20-year backtest of our 90+ Fundamental Rating and visually reinforces these results.

Our Technical Rating evaluates each company’s price performance relative to the entire investable universe over the prior 3, 6, and 12 months, and assigns a percentile score to every name. Over our 20-year test period, companies with strong and persistent price performance have significantly outperformed those with weak or inconsistent records.

As with our Fundamental Rating, performance increases almost monotonically from Quintile 1 through Quintile 5, demonstrating that the Technical Rating is an effective discriminator of future price appreciation. The top quintile also exhibits lower volatility and drawdowns, and higher alpha and Sharpe ratios, indicating that higher returns can be achieved with less overall risk. The figure below presents the 20-year backtest of our 90+ Technical Rating and further reinforces these results.

Lastly, our 90+ Composite Rating combines the Fundamental and Technical Ratings into a single, comprehensive measure—assigning a percentile score to each company in the investable universe. Our research shows that companies exhibiting both healthy fundamentals and strong technicals have significantly outperformed those lacking strength in one of these two critical dimensions over our 20-year test period.

Once again, performance increases almost monotonically from Quintile 1 through Quintile 5, underscoring the Composite Rating’s ability to distinguish strong future performers from weaker names. The top quintile also displays lower volatility and drawdowns, and higher alpha and Sharpe ratios, indicating that higher returns can be achieved with less overall risk. The figure to the right presents the 20-year backtest of our 90+ Composite Rating and visually reinforces these findings.