Spencer Jakab, author of The Wall Street Journal's Markets A.M. newsletter (previously edited the Journal's Heard on the Street team for a decade, wrote two investment books, and ran a team of stock analysts at a global investment bank) — running archive of the securities & cross-cutting views his columns surface, with per-article breakdowns and a stock index.
AutoZone — down 31% over the past year on higher rates and gasoline, reporting Sep 22; repair demand runs inverse to new-car sales (best comps in 2009/2011/2020/2021), ~3/4 of shares bought back since FY2007, now at a modest premium to its 10-year price/forward-sales average — "time to start kicking the tires."
O'Reilly Automotive — the best consumer stock since the financial crisis (~5,000%, ahead of Apple); rates and gas prices have stalled it, but deferred maintenance historically turns into demand as the fleet ages, and buybacks (>half of shares) compound at depressed prices — a modest premium to its 10-year price/forward-sales average, so start kicking the tires.
Advance Auto Parts — the third auto-parts retailer: its downbeat message (with O'Reilly's) is what AutoZone is expected to echo — which Jakab reads as the early-downturn stage of a pattern that has historically turned up.
Apple — cited only as the benchmark: many would have guessed it as the best consumer stock since the financial crisis, yet O'Reilly's ~5,000% return eclipsed it.
Centrus Energy — lumped with the too-hot speculative nuclear cohort on 2026-SEP-17, but the 2026-SEP-21 chart item frames it as the American challenger to the two European enrichers outside Russia/China and "could be a safer way" to bet on the nuclear renaissance.
Paramount Skydance — news mention: +5% premarket on reported settlement talks with the states suing to block its $81bn Warner Bros. Discovery merger ($1.5bn California production investment on the table).
NuScale Power — unprofitable SMR developer cut to "sell" by UBS over its path to profitability, despite a design closer to commercialization than peers.
X-Energy — Amazon-backed modular reactor/fuel IPO that jumped 23% to a ~$12bn cap on day one and has since lost more than half; evidence the nuclear boom is decaying.
In one line: A valuation-minded, contrarian columnist — the technology or demand behind a hot theme can be real while the stocks are still priced too hot; the better entry comes when the theme goes out of fashion, and a quality compounder's slump can be the buying window when it matches the early phase of a prior-cycle pattern. Stances reflect how each name is framed in the column, not a personal recommendation.
Column, not advisor. Stances in this archive reflect how each name is framed in the newsletter; "Stocks I'm Watching" blurbs are indexed as Neutral news mentions.
Nuclear stocks still too hot (2026-sep-17). AI-driven demand for reliable low-carbon baseload is real, but late buyers of last year's nuclear rally are nursing losses and valuations "mostly remain too hot" even after drawdowns of more than half: Holtec postponed its IPO, UBS cut NuScale (SMR) to sell, Oklo (OKLO) had run ~3,000%, and X-Energy (XE) has lost more than half since its IPO — the speculative cohort (with fuel supplier Centrus, LEU) framed Negative. The safer reactor-fleet utilities Constellation (CEG) and NRG are Neutral — profitable but on Citi's most-"crowded" list. The call: wait for nuclear to go out of fashion again, as it does about once a decade.
Auto-parts retailers can turn the corner (2026-sep-21). The mirror image of the nuclear call — a quality compounder whose slump is priced in. O'Reilly (ORLY) (~5,000% since the financial crisis, ahead of Apple) and AutoZone (AZO) (−31% in a year) have been hit by higher rates and gasoline as lower-income customers defer maintenance, just as in 2008. But repair demand runs inverse to new-car sales (AZO's best comps: 2009, 2011, 2020, 2021; cars 4–11 years old are the sweet spot), and heavy buybacks (AZO ~3/4 of shares since FY2007, ORLY >half) compound at depressed prices — they beat the S&P by 161%/128% from the 2008 recession start through 2011. Both framed Positive with measured sizing: only modest premiums to 10-year price/forward-sales averages and a healthier economy mean not 2008 bargains, "but it's time to start kicking the tires." Advance Auto Parts (AAP) is the downbeat peer (Neutral). The same issue's chart item calls Centrus (LEU) possibly "a safer way" to bet on nuclear via enrichment — a teaser, not a reversal of the 09-17 caution.
Articles
One dated page per article — each has its full stock table, key points, and the saved text. Newest first.