NorthMark Backtest — Week 26: The Top 10 Extends Its Lead

Week 26 adds another data point to the NorthMark live backtest — and the strongest historical signals continue to come from the Top 10.

Across 702 tested combinations, 65.2% currently generate positive average alpha versus the S&P 500.

The strongest signal in the landscape is now:

Top 10 · Streak 3 · 15-week hold
Portfolio return: +71.31%
Alpha vs. SPY: +61.67%

The three best historical portfolios now average a +68.56% return and +58.54% alpha, compared with an average +10.01% SPY return over their corresponding periods.

There is also an important pattern beneath the headline numbers: persistence matters. Stocks that repeatedly remain among NorthMark’s highest-ranked names have generated substantially stronger historical results than many of the weaker-ranking cohorts.

This is precisely what the live backtest is designed to test: not whether one weekly ranking works, but whether ranking strength + persistence + holding period can identify a repeatable investment signal.

26 weeks in, the evidence is becoming more interesting. The test continues.

NorthMark Research — Updated August 9, 2026