3 Overlooked Trends Shaping 2026… and the 3 Stocks Positioned to Win VIEW IN BROWSER Tom Yeung here with your Sunday Digest. In 2007, the hit TV show South Park introduced one of its most memorable characters yet: The superhero Captain Hindsight. 
After getting in an accident with a retroactive spider, news reporter Jack Brolin gains superpowers that allow him to see the past with perfect 20/20 hindsight. With his three companions – Shoulda, Coulda, and Woulda – he flies to disaster zones and lectures people about how the situation could have been avoided. Captain Hindsight would have made a surprisingly good investor in 2025 – a year where existing trends continued gaining momentum. Artificial intelligence… data centers… national defense… In fact, an investor could have generated 42% returns in 2025 (vs. the S&P 500 gain of 16%) by simply looking up the Top 10 performers of 2024 and buying them all. However, hindsight-powered investing often backfires. No asset goes up in value forever, and buying high-growth stocks in a bear market usually magnifies losses. Using this strategy in 2022 would have landed investors with Signature Bank (SBNY) (-63%) and Ford Motor Co. (F) (-42%). Moreover, hindsight can cause investors to miss out on overlooked trends. Few people were talking about AI before ChatGPT launched in November 2022, even though the foundations for the technology were building in full force – and in plain sight. Plenty more trends today exist that Captain Hindsight has clearly missed. That’s why I want to make sure you tune into InvestorPlace Senior Analyst Louis Navellier’s new special presentation, The Hidden Crash 2026. In it, Louis explains why he, one of Wall Street’s biggest bulls, has suddenly turned at least a bit bearish. The trends that powered 2024 and 2025 are no longer as dependable as they were, and the next 60 to 90 days will be crucial for investors to rotate into new trends… before everyone else realizes that hindsight investing won’t work in 2026. Louis will also cover why earnings momentum among trillion-dollar tech giants is now collapsing... and reveal his #1 “Edge Innovator” pick that he believes will do far better. For more of Louis’ insights, click here to watch his brand-new presentation. Now, to illustrate the opportunity for forward-looking investors, I’ll leave you with three trends that Wall Street’s Captain Hindsight has overlooked… and three stocks that should benefit as markets belatedly realize their mistake. | Recommended Link | | | | What I’ve uncovered about the true impact of President Trump’s tariffs and DOGE initiative has left me deeply troubled. As someone who worked inside the Federal Reserve system and managed billions for America’s wealthiest families, I recognize the warning signs others miss. I urge you to see my urgent message immediately. The window for preparation isn’t just closing — it’s slamming shut. Watching this may be the most consequential few minutes you spend this year. |  | | Overlooked Trend No. 1: Rate Cuts We’ve known for months that President Donald Trump will choose a more dovish Federal Reserve chairman this year. The president has repeatedly called for lower interest rates to boost the economy and has nicknamed the current chair Jerome “TOO LATE” Powell for the banker’s unwillingness to cut rates faster. Wall Street has been slow to react. Futures markets expect only two more rate cuts in all of 2026, which is completely at odds with White House rhetoric. That means we could see a new trend in 2026 of faster-than-expected rate cuts. Betting markets (which are often more accurate) project at least three more cuts in 2026 and give almost a 50% chance of four or more cuts. If this happens, one blue-chip stock that will benefit handsomely is A-rated Rocket Cos. Inc. (RKT). Rocket is a Detroit-based real estate company that has become America’s go-to source for refinancing mortgages. Its Rocket Mortgage brand is the largest originator of mortgages, and its recent acquisition of Mr. Cooper Group now makes it the largest mortgage servicer in America as well. Rocket’s size is a double-edged sword. Share prices boomed in 2021 when consumers rushed to trade in their 5%-plus mortgages for 3% ones, and then collapsed the following year as refinancing activity dried up. When you’re the size of Rocket Mortgage, your business is the U.S. economy. Fortunately for investors, RKT now finds itself at a new turning point. Mortgage rates could fall well below 6% this year if the Federal Reserve cuts rates below 2.75%. In that situation, we’ll see a flurry of refinancing activity from homebuyers who locked in rates above 7% over the past several years. RKT recently flipped to an “A” grade in Louis’ Stock Grader system, a positive sign. It's also notable that, on Thursday, President Trump ordered a $200 billion purchase of mortgage bonds in an attempt to push down borrowing costs. This should act as another tailwind for Rocket's stock in 2026 that its immediate 7% jump does not capture. However, new buyers must cost-average their purchases to avoid getting swept up in the price spike. Overlooked Trend No. 2: Gene Editing Technologies A second overlooked trend for 2026 is gene editing drugs – a new class of therapies that can help rewrite faulty genetic code. Gene editing is a proven technology. The U.S. recently approved its first gene therapy that treats sickle cell disease, and dozens of patients have already been treated for this genetic disorder. (Labs collect a patient’s cells, genetically modify them to produce proper hemoglobin, and then infuse the cells back into the patient.) Several new gene-editing drugs in Phase 3 development could soon gain approval over the next couple of years. Best of all, the Trump administration seems relatively happy to allow these technologies to move ahead. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself owned shares in gene-editing companies before divesting them to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Most tellingly, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled a new pathway last November to accelerate gene-editing therapies. As industry publication Fierce Pharma puts it, this “could trigger a seismic shift in how bespoke gene editing therapies are developed and approved.” Under these proposed guidelines, the FDA would allow gene-editing firms to skip large, randomized trials and instead win approval after “several consecutive” successful cases. This will speed up new approvals by an enormous amount, especially since performing randomized drug trials for rare genetic disorders is so difficult. To ride this upcoming trend, my top pick, B-rated in Stock Grader, is Crispr Therapeutics AG (CRSP). This is one of the gene-editing firms RFK Jr. previously owned, and it’s conveniently behind the sickle cell therapy mentioned earlier. Crispr Therapeutics was founded by the inventors of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool in 2013. The company has used its head start to secure a diverse drug pipeline and hundreds of essential patents. It’s also the only major gene editing firm that scores a “B” or higher in Louis’ Stock Grader. 2026 should prove to be a new era for Crispr Technologies. Sales from its now-approved sickle-cell therapy are expected to push revenues from $9.4 million in 2025 to $112 million in 2026… then $273 million in 2027 and possibly $1 billion by 2030. This is a hypergrowth firm hiding in plain sight. A new approval process for gene-editing drugs could also turn Crispr’s drug pipeline (which moves at a glacial pace) into a gusher. Though risks remain high, CRSP remains the best bet on this new trend. Overlooked Trend No. 3: Security The final trend involves national security… namely, the domestic type that involves detecting weapons and other dangerous devices. Tensions in America are beginning to run hot, and this will sadly become a major theme of 2026. Fortunately, one company is helping ease this pressure: Evolv Technologies Holdings Inc. (EVLV). This Massachusetts-based firm builds unintrusive weapon-detection gates that have become prevalent across stadiums, schools, and other public spaces. These standing devices use the same type of low-frequency waves found in medical detection devices, and then apply artificial intelligence to “see” weapons through pockets and purses while ignoring everything else. 
That means Evolv’s security gates can be operated with almost no human supervision. Users simply walk through the gates, and only suspicious items are digitally “red-boxed” and flagged for further investigation. Even better, all this creates an enormous amount of AI training data that improves the system. Evolv should start seeing far higher demand from government entities in 2026. The company is one of the few firms approved by the Department of Homeland Security to detect concealed weapons, and recent events in America have highlighted the need for greater domestic safety. In addition, it’s no secret that Evolv is pursuing approvals for use in airports. It's important to note that Evolv has improved dramatically since facing an accounting and marketing scandal in late 2024. The company’s CEO was replaced, and its new boss has switched the firm to a more lucrative subscription model and eliminated hard-nosed sales tactics. That means expectations for Evolv’s 2026 results are far too low. I expect topline growth to comfortably exceed the 15% level that Wall Street forecasts, and for this B-rated firm to potentially upgrade to an “A” as buying pressure picks up. The Hidden Crash of 2026 Over the past 40 years, Louis Navellier has rarely bet against America. As he notes in his upcoming presentation, the U.S. has a combination of the rule of law, innovation, and property rights that make it an irresistible place to do business and innovate. It’s a trend that’s lasted over 200 years. However, even giants can stumble. September 1987… March 2000… September 2008… Each of these periods saw massive market collapses. And each time, nearly everyone was caught off guard because they were investing in the rearview mirror. GDP, unemployment, and inflation are all lagging indicators. Louis is now warning of a similar problem in today’s economy. Everyone knows that things look great. Unemployment is low, and growth is high. People are investing as if Captain Hindsight were their broker. But under the surface, the AI-powered trends of 2024 and 2025 are starting to break down. Forward earnings projections from major tech firms are looking less rosy than before, and Louis is seeing some eerie parallels to previous market peaks. To help you navigate this “hidden crash,” Louis has put together a special, free presentation and a series of special reports. So once again, I urge you to tune into his presentation... before everyone else realizes that hindsight investing won’t work in 2026. Click here for all the details. I’ll see you here next week. Thomas Yeung, CFA
Market Analyst, InvestorPlace | 
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