Period 7 Review: Micron and SMCI Each Surge 30% in a Week, Sending CANSLIM to a New High

Period 7 covers May 23 to May 31, 2026 — eight calendar days. Five of seven strategies turned positive, the best distribution since Period 4. The S&P 500 gained +1.43% and the NASDAQ +2.39% over the period, a constructive backdrop that most screens failed to fully capture — the exception being CANSLIM, which more than tripled the NASDAQ's gain on the back of two outsized single-stock moves in semiconductors.

Micron Technology (MU) rose +29.3% over the period, from $751 to $971, driven by a quarterly earnings beat that confirmed AI-driven memory demand well above consensus estimates. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) added +29.5%, from $35.58 to $46.09, continuing its recovery from earlier-year lows. These two names alone — each held at 1-in-20 weight in CANSLIM — contributed approximately 2.96 percentage points of the screen's +4.84% total. The other eighteen positions provided the remaining 1.88 points across a broadly mixed period.

Period 7 Returns: Semiconductor Earnings Dominate

CANSLIM's +4.84% marks its strongest single-period result in this journal, surpassing the +3.75% from Period 4. Beyond MU and SMCI, Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) added +17.5% ($732.94 → $860.84) and First Solar (FSLR) gained +19.0% ($257.85 → $306.79), together contributing another 1.87 percentage points. Broadcom (AVGO) added +7.9% and Celestica (CLS) +4.9%. The headwinds were meaningful but absorbed: Fabrinet (FN) fell −7.1%, Corning (GLW) −6.6%, Insulet (PODD) −6.4%, and Lifeway Foods (LWAY) −5.3%. A 20-position equal-weight screen with this kind of dispersion is performing exactly as designed — the strong names pull the average well above the index.

Quality Growth's +1.58% came primarily from Sezzle (SEZL), which surged +14.9% ($102.80 → $118.15). The three positions that exited the screen at period-end — APPF, HALO, and RDDT — collected only the −0.10% sell fee, leaving the period return driven almost entirely by the five retained names. CNX was the main drag at −4.6%. The screen's biggest reshuffle to date (discussed in the Retention section) reshapes the portfolio heading into Period 8, with DAVE and ELMD entering as the two new positions.

Magic Formula's +0.57% ended two consecutive negative periods for the screen. Buenaventura (BVN) led at +10.3% and Centerra Gold (CGAU) added +7.3% — precious metal names continuing to benefit from the macro environment. Dillard's (DDS) contributed +5.1%. The single exit was IAG (IAMGOLD), which collected its −0.10% sell fee on the way out. The eleven retained positions were split nearly even in terms of winners and losers.

Piotroski's +0.39% similarly reversed its Period 6 loss. Weidai (WDH) led the screen at +6.3% and Noah Holdings (NOAH) gained +5.6%. The screen added one new entrant (ASLE) while holding all ten existing positions. The mix was quiet — the Chinese small-cap names in this screen move on different rhythms than the semiconductor and growth names driving the journal's headline results.

MU and SMCI each surged 30% in the same week. Together they contributed nearly three percentage points to CANSLIM's result. This is the concentrated momentum payoff that the screen is designed to capture — and why equal-weight construction at 5% per name turns a 30% stock move into a 1.5-point portfolio contribution.

Burry Value's near-flat +0.15% reflects the law of large numbers at 38 equal-weight positions. DOCS (Doximity) continued its recovery at +7.3%, DECK (Deckers) gained +6.7%, and FSM added +7.6% — but ResMed (RMD) fell −8.4% and TDW (Tidewater) dropped −7.3%. With 38 names, any individual move is worth 2.6 percentage points of weight; the strong gainers and strong losers largely cancelled out.

Lunch posted −0.65% as PDD (Pinduoduo) fell −10.7% ($94.52 → $84.44). PDD's 1-in-13 weight translated directly into −0.82 percentage points of portfolio drag. Cenovus Energy (CVE) fell −8.3% (−0.63 points) and Palomar Holdings (PLMR) −6.0% (−0.46 points). The three precious metals names in the screen — AEM +4.1%, FSM +7.6%, PAAS +5.7% — provided genuine offset, but the macro-sensitive commodity positions on the losing side were heavier. FUTU, exited at the start of the period, contributed only its −0.10% sell fee.

Retention: Quality Growth at a New Low, Schloss Expands to 13

Period 7 produced four strategies at 100% retention — Burry Value, CANSLIM, Piotroski, and Schloss Dividend all held every existing position. But the headline is Quality Growth's 62.5% retention rate: three exits (APPF, HALO, RDDT) against a starting portfolio of eight names. This is the lowest retention of any strategy in any period in this journal. APPF had been in the screen since Period 4; HALO and RDDT each entered one period prior. The three departures were replaced by DAVE (DaVita) and ELMD (Electromed), reducing the screen from eight to seven positions.

Schloss Dividend's 100% retention figure masks a structural expansion: the screen grew from 8 to 13 holdings by adding five new entrants at period-end — AGO, ATHM, JOYY, RDN, and REXR. Several of these are returning names: REXR and AGO were both exited in Period 6, and ATHM and JOYY appeared in early periods before rotating out. The screen's filter is identifying the same set of dividend-bearing value names at attractive multiples a second time around. The five additions do not contribute to Period 7 returns (they enter at the snapshot price), but they expand Schloss to its largest portfolio since inception. The more concentrated 8-stock structure held for one period; Period 8 opens with 13 names.

Lunch's 92.3% retention reflects only the FUTU exit — the twelve remaining positions were held intact. Two new names join at period-end: ESTC (Elastic) and MGNI (Magnite). The screen's overall composition has now turned from the energy-and-commodity heavy lineup that defined Periods 3–5 toward a mix that includes SaaS and ad-tech names alongside the metals and EM positions.

Cumulative Scoreboard: CANSLIM Breaks Away

Seven periods in, the gap at the top of the leaderboard is widening. CANSLIM at +14.30% now sits 9.92 percentage points ahead of the next-best strategy. Quality Growth (+4.38%) and Schloss Dividend (+4.36%) are separated by two basis points — effectively tied for second place — after Schloss's near-flat period erased the +1.63-point gap between them that existed at the end of Period 6.

Against the benchmarks: the S&P 500 is now at +11.78% and the NASDAQ at +18.84% cumulative. CANSLIM leads the S&P by 2.52 percentage points — a meaningful positive alpha after seven periods. Every other strategy trails the S&P by at least 10 percentage points. The NASDAQ at +18.84% remains 4.54 points ahead of CANSLIM — the gap has held relatively stable because CANSLIM's semiconductor exposure mirrors, rather than leverages, the index's AI-driven composition at the top.

Piotroski's recovery from −5.02% to −4.65% and Magic Formula's from −7.93% to −7.40% represent modest reversals of their multi-period declines. Neither screen has found a catalyst to significantly close the gap to the positive strategies. Magic Formula's commodity and precious metals holdings benefit in certain periods but don't compound consistently enough to close a 7-point deficit over short holding windows. Lunch's continued slide to −1.48% marks two consecutive negative periods, with PDD now the dominant headwind after FUTU's role in Period 6.

Overlap: Down to Five, Two Departures Driven by Quality Growth's Reshuffle

The May 31 snapshot shows five stocks in two or more non-partial screens, down from seven at the May 23 snapshot. The two departures are APPF and HALO — both exited Quality Growth at the end of the period, removing them from the Burry Value / Quality Growth and CANSLIM / Quality Growth overlaps respectively. The five remaining signals have all held their cross-screen positions since at least May 17.

DRD Gold has now appeared in the Magic Formula / CANSLIM Rocket overlap at every snapshot since Period 1 — seven consecutive snapshots across all seven periods. Over that stretch, the stock has moved from $29.00 (Period 1 entry) to $26.40 at the close of Period 7. The price has been sideways to negative; the cross-screen agreement has been perfectly stable. This is the clearest example in this journal of persistent overlap that doesn't signal a price catalyst. LUXE tells the same story from a different angle: it has been in the Piotroski / CANSLIM overlap since Period 2, and has declined from $9.00 to $7.03.

What Period 7 Tells You

Two names doing the work of a portfolio is a feature, not a flaw, in CANSLIM's design. A momentum screen that holds twenty positions at equal weight is explicitly designed to own names that move. MU and SMCI each moved 30% in the same week. The position sizing at 5% each means each move contributes 1.5 percentage points to the portfolio. The screen doesn't need all twenty names to work — it needs the names that are working to be in the portfolio. That's what the CANSLIM filter is selecting for.

Quality Growth's 62.5% retention is the journal's most aggressive single-period reshuffle. Three exits from an eight-name portfolio means the screen rebuilt more than a third of itself in one rebalancing cycle. Whether this is a signal of healthy active filtering — rotating out APPF, HALO, and RDDT because they no longer pass quality-growth criteria — or a sign of instability in the factor thresholds is the question Period 8 will start to answer. The new entrants DAVE and ELMD are unknown quantities with no prior price history in this journal.

Schloss Dividend's expansion to 13 holdings re-tests the value thesis. Five names — AGO, ATHM, JOYY, RDN, REXR — returned to the screen after exiting in earlier periods. The screen exited them when they no longer passed the filter and now re-enters them at what it considers an attractive entry point. If the period-6 exits were a valuation call, the period-7 re-entries suggest the filter is seeing value again at current prices. Whether that re-entry is well-timed or premature will determine whether Schloss continues to compound from its current +4.36% position.

The NASDAQ at +18.84% is structurally ahead of every strategy in this journal. CANSLIM beats the S&P by 2.52 points — a real result — but trails the NASDAQ by 4.54 points. The index's weight in the top five AI/semiconductor names (NVDA, MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, META) is not replicated by any equal-weight screen. Closing the NASDAQ gap would require either a market rotation away from those names or a screen design that allows concentration in the names that are actually driving index returns. Neither is currently the case in this journal.