July turned out to be quite a good month for my Portfolio, as it bested the performance of the S&P 500.  My Portfolio notched about a 2.5% gain during July, while the S&P 500 was closer to 1%.

That out-performance by my Portfolio doesn’t happen too often, but with Information Technology stocks (where I’m underweight relative to the S&P 500) taking their collective foot off the accelerator in recent weeks, my Portfolio was able to make up some ground.

We are currently in the middle of earnings season and overall it seems that earnings are looking rather strong.  This seems to be enough to offset some of the current stock market worries which include: elevated stock prices, the sustainability of corporate AI spending, rising interest rates, and the still unresolved conflict in the Middle East despite occasional brief ceasefires.

The stock market hasn’t moved too much in either direction the past 3 months, but that’s OK.  Some consolidation after a strong run-up the past 3+ years suits me just fine.

Note – the monthly percentages noted below are through 7/24/26.

The S&P 500 had a slightly positive past month (as noted above), led by the following sectors: Energy (3.4%), Industrials (2.2%) & Healthcare (1.8%).  Hurting index results were the following sectors: Consumer Discretionary (-5.2%), Communication Services (-2.1%) & Information Technology (-1.5%).

Year-To-Date (YTD), the Energy sector is easily leading other sectors in gains (over 30%), roughly doubling the returns of both Industrials and Information Technology.  Financials had a decent July, moving the sector into the green YTD.  Only the Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services sectors are in the red YTD.

The S&P 500 still sports a nice 8.3% gain for 2026, which becomes 9.0% when we include reinvested dividends.

Thanks to a good July for my Portfolio, it has now out-performed the S&P 500 YTD.  My Portfolio YTD performance of 10.2% now shows a respectable lead over that of the S&P 500’s 9.0%.  We’ll see if my Portfolio can hold that lead through the end of the year.

Seven of my Top 10 holdings were in the green this month, which is good, but Caterpillar (CAT) and Qualcomm (QCOM) really weighed on my overall return.  More on this later.

I’ll cover my usual items in this month’s Portfolio Thoughts post…

• Price Movement – I’ll look at my top advancers and decliners in my Portfolio during the past month.
• Top 10 Review – I’ll update my Top 10 Portfolio stocks and how they changed rank this past month.
• Weightings – I’ll examine the sector weightings within my Portfolio and let you know where I’ve made progress with regard to getting into my preferred weighting ranges.
• Watch List – I’ll share which stocks I’m looking at for possible purchase or sale in the event I decide to shuffle up my holdings.

Let’s get to my Portfolio Thoughts for July 2026…

 

Price Movement

Note – my price changes cover closing prices from 6/26/26 to 7/24/26.

My individual Portfolio stocks notched a strong gainer/decliner ratio in July.  The final tally was close to 2:1, but even better, the percentage gains on the positive side overwhelmed the ones on the negative side, leading to a solidly green month.  Of my 57 holdings, 37 rose in price, while the other 20 fell.

Here were the stocks with the biggest moves to the upside and downside…

 

Of my 37 stocks that rose in price in July, none of them exceeded 20% – which would have been outstanding.  However, I did have eight of them that notched a gain topping 10% (the usual threshold I monitor for).  Another eleven stocks gained at least 5% as well.  There were plenty of positive contributions.

My top gainers in July were:

• Lockheed Martin (LMT), ascending 14.82%
• Union Pacific (UNP), jumping 14.52%
• Accenture (ACN), leaping 13.96%
• Chevron (CVX), climbing 13.87%
• Auto Data Processing (ADP), popping 11.87%

 

None of the top gainers this month managed a repeat appearance from June.  Instead, I have a fresh batch of top gainers.

Notice that three Industrials stocks were present in my top gainers (LMT, UNP & ADP).  This replaces the three Healthcare stocks I saw last month.

LMT led my top gainers.  The company had strong Q2 financial results, raised their annual guidance for sales and cash flow, and now has a record order backlog.  This month’s climb had the stock breakout after trading sideways for the past 3 months.

UNP nearly became my top gainer this month, but fell a bit short.  However, it had essentially the same story that boosted LMT.  This included a Q2 earnings beat and a raised annual outlook.  This led to a host of analyst upgrades as well.  UNP also reached an agreement with Canadian National Railway (CNR) whereby CNR agreed to drop its opposition to UNP’s merger with Norfolk Southern (NSC) in exchange for expanded territory rights and network access.

ACN is finally bouncing back a bit after a dismal start to 2026 and bottoming in late June.  Last month, ACN was my top decliner, so to see the stock a top gainer this month is nice.  Sentiment has been horrible for this stock, but that may finally be turning around.  ACN has a new share repurchase plan in place and has been working on AI partnerships as part of its future plans.  Despite the recovery, ACN  is still down about 45% YTD.

With Middle East tensions elevated, despite occasional ceasefires, the price of oil remains high.  This benefited CVX during the month.  Operational performance has been strong as well.  CVX has been alternating in price over the past 5 months though.

ADP exceeded revenue and earnings estimates with its fiscal Q4 report.  In addition, interest on its client’s funds rose due to higher yields and larger balances.  ADP is also starting to see some efficiency gains from its AI tools.  ADP is just about flat on the year after a wild ride down and back up in price.

Note – three sectors in my Portfolio had all their holdings in the green this month… Financials (6), Utilities (3) and Energy (2).

 

Of my 20 stocks that dropped in price, only a handful dropped a noticeable amount.  While three stocks did sink by more than 10%, just one more fell by at least 5%.  All in all, these few significant decliners in July were more than offset by the plentiful number of gainers.

My worst decliners in July were…

• Qualcomm (QCOM), tumbling 11.84%
• Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), sliding 11.46%
• Caterpillar (CAT), dropping 10.90%
• Lowe’s Companies (LOW), slipping 6.67%
• RPM International (RPM), retreating 4.86%

 

I’ve got a repeat offender on my top decliner list this month in QCOM.  However, this month it had the worst return of all my stocks, compared to being 2nd-worst last month.  On the bright side, its overall decline in July was close to half of what it was in June.  Profit guidance weakened due to rising supply chain costs impacting gross margins.  Meanwhile, revenue from Apple is declining.  Of course, sector-wide profit-taking in Information Technology didn’t help.

Even though SWKS managed to beat consensus estimates in their fiscal Q3 earnings, their report suggested weaker Q4 earnings than expected could be on the way.  SWKS is also figuring out debt financing for it Qorvo acquisition.  A handful of analyst downgrades and lowered price targets didn’t help.  SWKS has plummeted roughly 25% over the past two months.

CAT was on a heater in the first half of 2026, peaking at the end of June.  Its swift advance appears to be followed by a swift decline, at least in July.  Some profit-taking was sure to be had after such a strong run up.  Regulatory restrictions on data center construction are affecting data center demand, too, which in turn impacts CAT.  Some significant analyst downgrades have triggered selling as well.

A stagnated housing market hasn’t been supportive of LOW’s business.  High mortgage rates have reduced home sales and thus lowered demand for home improvement projects.  LOW established a new 52-week low during July.

My last top decliner for July was RPM.  While RPM turned in a good earnings report, raw material inflation and consumer softness have resulted in some near-term pullbacks.

Note – one sector in my Portfolio had all of its holdings in the red this month… Consumer Staples (4).  Each of the declines was contained in the -1% to -3.5% range.

 

Top 10 Review

Movement inside my Top 10 was a bit more than usual in July.  Seven of the ten stocks changed position by month’s end.

The largest move up was 3 spots, which allowed a new stock to crack the Top 10.  The largest fall down was 4 spots, sending one stock outside the Top 10.

The majority (7 of 10) of my Top 10 posted gains in July.  However, a pair of decliners this month (QCOM & CAT) put a damper on the positive vibes due to their double-digit declines.

 

Broadcom (AVGO) continued to hold down my #1 spot.  A modest 4.6% gain during July was more than enough to remain at #1.  AVGO is more than twice as big as my next largest holding.

Moving up one spot to secure the #2 ranking was Aflac (AFL).  AFL’s 4.5% gain this month did the trick.  AFL has advanced in price for 4 consecutive months.

Slipping one spot down to #3 was Caterpillar (CAT).  Its 10.9% decline almost wiped out its entire gain from last month.

Rising up the ranks one spot to #4 was AbbVie (ABBV).  Despite just a 2.4% gain during the month, the stock moved up… all thanks to the decline of my next stock.

Sliding one spot down to #5 was Qualcomm (QCOM).  An 11.8% drop in price makes it back-to-back poor months for QCOM.

My second stock to retain its place in the Top 10 ranking was Visa (V).  It held onto the #6 spot on the back of its 5.8% gain in July.  This makes 4 straight months of gains for V.

With its 7.3% gain in July, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was able to jump up a couple of spots in the rankings to claim #7.  JPM has managed to gain about 15% over the past two months.

Fastenal (FAST) was basically flat for July, but that couldn’t stop the stock from retreating one spot to #8.  FAST is up about 17% YTD.

Landing in the #9 spot is my newest Top 10 stock… BlackRock (BLK).  Actually, BLK isn’t really ‘new’, as it has been in my Top 10 before.  It just took a brief hiatus.  BLK powered higher by three spots in the rankings thanks to its 9.4% gain in July.

Holding steady in my #10 spot was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).  JNJ had a solid 3.4% gain during July, rising for the 3rd month in a row and continuing its banner 2026.

Tumbling out of my Top 10 was RPM International (RPM).  The stock’s 4.9% decline led to it sinking 4 spots in my rankings, down to #12.  RPM hasn’t been able to establish any sort of positive momentum this year.

 

 

Outside my Top 10, yet within striking distance of entering the Top 10, are Union Pacific (UNP) and RPM.  I wouldn’t consider any other holding close.

 

From the table above, my Top 10 holdings now comprise 43.84% of my Portfolio value.  This is a decrease of 0.66 percentage points compared to last month.  Big weighting drops from CAT and QCOM account for the decline.  All the Top 10 stocks have at least a 3% weighting except for JNJ, which is almost there.

As for the dividend weighting of my Top 10, it now stands at 26.41%.  This is an increase of 0.39 percentage points compared to last month.  The swap of BLK for RPM inside the Top 10, and the recent FAST dividend hike are responsible for the uptick.

 

Sector Weightings

 

In general, for Sector Diversification, I target being within +/-3 percentage points of the sector weightings of the S&P 500.  For SuperSector Diversification, I target being within +/-5 percentage points.

The “Weight Diff.” column shows which sectors sit outside my preferred weighting ranges.  If I’m overweight a sector, it’s shaded green.  If I’m underweight a sector, it’s shaded red.  If I’m within my target weighting range, then no shading exists.

At the end of July, I continue to have the same number of sectors outside my preferred weighting range… 6.  This includes 3 overweight sectors and 3 underweight sectors in my Portfolio.  Industrials remains my most overweight sector and Information Technology remains my most underweight sector.

Two sectors are now closer to my preferred weighting range – Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary.  In Communication Services, I managed to increase my weighting while that of the index went down, so good work here.  In Consumer Discretionary, my weighting and that of the index both declined, but my sector declined less, allowing me to make up some ground in the weighting difference.

Once again, the sector in which I regressed most was Information Technology.  The double-digit losses from QCOM & SWKS did me in.  It reduced my weighting while that of the index held steady.  I went from being 14.20% underweight to being 14.60% underweight.

As for dividend weightings, the biggest change was in Industrials, which added 0.23 percentage points (from 12.14% to 12.37%).  This was primarily due to a recent unexpected dividend hike from FAST.  I continue to have four sectors that each provide at least 12% of my total dividend income, including Healthcare, Financials, Information Technology & Industrials.  Real Estate and Energy are my only two sectors providing less than 4% of my dividend income.

 

As always, I’ll keep all my sector weightings in mind as I continue to adjust my Portfolio, and my watchlist.

 

Watch List

Since my Portfolio dividends are now used for living expenses (since I’m no longer working), I don’t expect to purchase stocks very often.  Yet, I could choose to sell an under-performing stock and invest in a potentially better one.  Thus, I plan to keep looking for opportunities and keeping my watchlist up-to-date.

I haven’t had any Portfolio transactions in July, thus my watchlist has gone unused once again.  Nonetheless, it’s ready to go in case something comes up.

 

Within my Portfolio, here are a few stocks that I’m watching for possible additions…

Intuit (INTU), Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) and Accenture (ACN) have all bounced off their lows, especially INTU & ACN.  I’m not planning to buy at this time, but I’ll keep watching with interest.

The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) still trades around $96.  There was one day in July that it dipped below my cost basis of $93.40, but I didn’t get a purchase done.  Maybe this month?

Hershey Co. (HSY) is trading in the mid-$170s.  A drop below $170 might inspire me to add some shares, dropping my cost basis in the process.

Nike (NKE) is still on my radar.  There wasn’t too much of a reaction to their earnings release a few weeks ago.  Thus, maybe investors feel like the company is stabilizing.  I’ll keep an eye on the price, perhaps adding some shares should it dip below $40.

Meta Platforms (META) is in my buy territory despite its earnings-related drop and AI capital expenditures.  The stock recently traded under $540.

 

 

Considering stocks I might sell…

Should T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) reach a price of $129, I might trim a few shares to reduce my exposure to the stock.  Growth has been hard to come by for TROW since the start of 2022.

Selling my entire Intuit (INTU) and Amdocs Ltd. (DOX) positions remains on the table, especially if I don’t enhance these very small positions.  At least they each started a price rebound in July.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) is now a strong sell candidate for me since the company decided to permanently eliminate their dividend.  There’s no point in having a stock that doesn’t pay a dividend in my dividend portfolio.  Besides, I could do with one less Semiconductor stock in my Portfolio.  I expect to get a sale done by the time I put out my next Portfolio Thoughts post.  The question is… what will I do with the sale proceeds?

 

As for non-Portfolio stocks that I’m watching…

None at this time.  I remained focused inside my Portfolio instead, where there’s plenty of optimization to do.

 

Thoughts?

Have you noticed a recent rotation into more value stocks at the expense of growth stocks?  What direction do you expect the market to go in the back half of the year?  Please share your thoughts!