With more than half of its sales from personal care and another third from consumer tissue products, Kimberly-Clark is a leading manufacturer in the tissue and hygiene realm. Its brand mix includes Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex, and Cottonelle. The firm also operates in the professional segment, partnering with businesses to provide workplace safety and sanitation solutions. Kimberly-Clark generates just over half its sales in North America and more than 10% in Europe, with the rest primarily concentrated in Asia and Latin America. It is slated to add Kenvue's consumer health portfolio to its mix in the second half of calendar year 2026.

With more than half of its sales from personal care and another third from consumer tissue products, Kimberly-Clark is a leading manufacturer in the tissue and hygiene realm. Its brand mix includes Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex, Depend, Kleenex, and Cottonelle. The firm also operates in the professional segment, partnering with businesses to provide workplace safety and sanitation solutions. Kimberly-Clark generates just over half its sales in North America and more than 10% in Europe, with the rest primarily concentrated in Asia and Latin America. It is slated to add Kenvue's consumer health portfolio to its mix in the second half of calendar year 2026.

With each passing week, uncertainly about AI's overall impact increases. And now we have another military breakout in the Middle East, with Iran closing the Straits of Hormuz and crude oil prices spiking. None of that is good for stocks. As we've said, the stock market is a living beast, driven by momentum. While most of these discussions focus on high-momentum stocks chased by the masses, the other side of this phenomenon occurs when stocks are beaten down despite oversold readings and valuations that fundamental analysts consider attractive. Unfortunately, being oversold or "cheap" is rarely by itself a sufficient reason to buy a stock, as evidenced by those currently attempting to catch a falling knife in a particular industry. Investors need to be patient, waiting for stabilization and a bullish reversal pattern. Trying to buy the bottom or sell the top might work a few times over decades, but it will cost a lot in emotional capital and portfolio drawdowns. This all brings to mind software stocks, which have been bludgeoned recently. The iShares Tech-Extended ETF (IGV) plummeted 35% since October 27, 2025, including a 24% drop in just 17 days between January 12 and February 5. That represents the worst 17-day stretch since 2020, the 2008 financial crisis, and the 2000-2002 technology meltdown. Still, there was some good news for software when Salesforce (CRM) reported last week. The stock was down over 5% after the report, but closed 4% higher the next day in a weak tape. That could be important for the stock and the industry, as the overall reaction to the report -- and not the few minor disappointments within the numbers -- won out. The stock had crashed 33% from January 7 until February 23 (just 31 trade days). So what was left to sell? (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

With the major stock indices drifting aimlessly for months -- and with the majority of gains in 2026 from the S&P MidCap 400 (MDY) and the S&P Small Cap 600 (SML), as well as from sectors such as Energy, Materials, Staples, and Industrials -- we will go off script and dive into what is called "factor analysis." This is a quantitative method used to identify underlying drivers (style or macroeconomic factors) that explain a security's returns, risk exposure, and performance. It helps investors move beyond sectors to understand if a portfolio is driven by value, momentum, small-cap, low volatility (LV), quality, and dividend yield characteristics. Year-to-date (27 trading days), the SML has ripped higher by 9.7%, the MDY has spiked 8.6%, the S&P 500 (SPX) is a touch higher, and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is a bit lower. The Invesco SML LV ETF has tacked on almost 8% in 2026, the MDY LV has gained 6.4%, and the SPX LV is up 5.4%. The SML Value has spiked 11%, the MDY Value has tacked on 9%, and the SPX Value is up 4%. The SML Quality is up 4.4%, the MDY Quality has popped 6%, and the SPX Quality is up 6%. SPX Momentum is flat, MDY Momentum is up 6%, and SML Momentum has soared 12%, while SML and MDY Growth have both spiked almost 9%, and SPX Growth is off slightly. One can always buy a factor-based ETF, but some of those do not trade very much -- and that should be a consideration. We would rip these ETFs apart and examine their top-10 or top-20 stocks (depending on weights) and look for the individual names with the best charts and the highest relative strength. We'd also look to see where there is mutual strength in issues from the same industry. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)