by Jason Bodner
January 13, 2026
My favorite form of “big game hunting” is hunting for the best stocks. As I enter any hunt, I like to look at other big game hunters, in nature. When I say “peak-efficiency hunter,” you might conjure the image of a regal lion, King of the Jungle, unchallenged while tracking prey at will, yet the lion isn’t the best hunter.
It may surprise you to learn dragonflies are the most efficient hunters. They are hyper-efficient due to their exceptional 360° vision. They also see in a broader spectrum of light than humans, like ultra-violet. It’s like they have X-ray vision. Add in their advanced brains, calculating interception paths, and unparalleled flight control with four independent wings. They can hover, fly backward, and perform rapid maneuvers to intercept whatever they want, whenever they want. This yields a 95% success rate.
My goal is not to be the most fearsome stock hunter – like a stalking lion – but to hunt like a dragonfly. With this goal, I believe a focus on data give us the edge. To have 360° vision in markets is something I’ve been working on for years. I try to look at the stock market from all angles – along with some “X-ray” vision. Looking through the lens of money flows allows us to see the whole picture, where money is flowing in and out, when it is flowing and when it is not, and who controls where prices are heading.
Looking at what the other hunters see shows us 2026 is off to a bullish start. Beginning at the top, let’s survey the hunt – where flows are going – and then work our way all the way down to individual stocks.
Let’s begin by viewing what a normal investor might see… Here is a standard chart of SPY with volume:
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
The price trend is obviously up, and volume seems steady, with the exception of last April’s Liberation Day scare, so let’s put on our dragonfly glasses to survey the 360-degree picture at the dawn of 2026.
First, the Big Money Index (BMI) is a great gauge of flows ordinary investors can’t see. It smooths all the unusually large inflows and outflows over a 25-day moving average. Since November, the BMI has been rising steadily, meaning there have been substantially more inflows than outflows. It sagged a bit in the last two weeks, but if we look at Elevated Trading Volumes (unusually large trades) we see the void of trading activity normally associated with the end-of-year holidays coincided with the BMI’s pause.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
Now ETVs are back to normal levels, and the BMI is rising, along with higher market prices.
The BMI smooths flow signals over 25-days, based on a proprietary algorithm seeking to identify when big professional investors (like hedge funds and institutions) are trying to be quiet about making big moves but still leave a trail. This trail is invisible to the average investor, but to an investing dragonfly, they show up like bright lights. (Green shows unusually large inflows while red shows outflows). This allows us to see big investors are heavily slanted towards inflows. This is true for both stocks and ETFs:
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
The dragonfly sees investment sentiment is heavily bullish despite the noise of constant negative news headlines. Dragonflies aren’t focused on ICE, Minnesota, Venezuela, Russia-Ukraine, China-Taiwan, or any other news-media focuses. Dragonflies see only inflows.
Next, we can see these dominant inflows are moving heavily into riskier stocks. Look how the inflows have been dominated by smaller and mid-sized companies – normally associated with risk:
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
Moving down a layer, we see flow distribution at the sector level, where money is flowing into sectors typically associated with a prosperous economy. Materials, Industrials, Discretionary, and Financials are seeing huge inflows. The same is true for Health Care, and even Energy. Technology is holding its own.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
We also see defensive sectors like Staples, Utilities, Communications, and Real Estate not gaining capital. In fact, Staples and Utilities are seeing outflows. This tells me investors have a clear risk-on appetite.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
Now, let’s look at how sector flows have distributed since the year began. We see capital flowing into riskier sectors. The relatively small outflows now occurring are found in Technology, Staples, Energy, and Utilities. I prefer when Technology has heavy inflows, but the outflows don’t concern me. First off, Technology is the largest universe with 287-Technology stocks institutionally tradeable. The outflows we observe since January account for only 4% of the Technology universe – nothing to be concerned about.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
Now we’re hunting! We now know flows are moving into smaller, riskier assets while moving out of defensive areas, so let’s hone in on what could be easy prey. I looked at all the stocks seeing inflows since January 1st. There were 685-inflows out of 869-stocks registering signals – a 3.7-to-1 ratio.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
I then sorted for stocks with the highest scores and most inflow signals. I filtered for quality, looking for stocks with a MapScore of 70 or better, and a fundamental score of 70 or better. I was left with 83-stocks. Removing duplicates (as some had five inflow signals since January 1) I was left with 52-stocks.
This is a target-rich environment. Still, 52 are too many stocks. To narrow it down, I looked for stocks which appeared on MoneyFlows Outlier 20 Report since October 1st. Here is the list of 18-stocks.
Graphs are for illustrative and discussion purposes only. Please read important disclosures at the end of this commentary.
From this list, I would delve into the fundamentals, looking for low debt levels, high-profit margins and growing sales and earnings. I leave it to you. The point is, hunting for stocks is like being a dragonfly.
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art” – François de la Rochefoucauld.
Navellier & Associates; own WWD, INCY, CMI, NEM, FOXA, KLAC, HWM, CRS, and LRCX. Navellier does not own ACMR, MU, HXL, NYT, HCC, PGNY, DOCN, AZN, or PACS in managed accounts.
Jason Bodner owns shares in ACMR, MU, HWM, CRS, LRCX, either in publishing portfolios, managed or personal accounts. He does not personally own NYT, HCC, PGNY, DOCN, AZN, WWD, INCY, CMI, NEM, FOXA, KLAC, or PACS.
All content above represents the opinion of Jason Bodner of Navellier & Associates, Inc.
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Jason Bodner
MARKETMAIL EDITOR FOR SECTOR SPOTLIGHT
Jason Bodner writes Sector Spotlight in the weekly Marketmail publication and has authored several white papers for the company. He is also Co-Founder of Macro Analytics for Professionals which produces proprietary equity accumulation and distribution research for its clients. Previously, Mr. Bodner served as Director of European Equity Derivatives for Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London, then moved to the role of Head of Equity Derivatives North America for the same company in New York. He also served as S.V.P. Equity Derivatives for Jefferies, LLC. He received a B.S. in business administration in 1996, with honors, from Skidmore College as a member of the Periclean Honors Society. All content of “Sector Spotlight” represents the opinion of Jason Bodner
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