4 Stocks to Buy Heavy for August 2026

There is one stock on this list where the company's own Chief Financial Officer just walked into the open market and bought $100,000 worth of his own stock. Just days ago. Now why would he do that? Well, insiders sell for all kinds of reasons... but they only ever buy for one. They think the stock is going higher.

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That stock is Valmont Industries (VMI), and it is the first of four names worth watching closely this August. The rest of the names are diverse…

• One is a tiny medical device maker that keeps crushing its own earnings estimates. 
• One is a beaten down chip stock that looks like a textbook Buy the Dip. 
• And the last one … well, you'll see. Four stocks, four very different reasons the timing looks good right now.

1: Valmont Industries (VMI)

Valmont Industries (VMI) makes the metal bones of modern infrastructure. The steel poles that hold up power lines. The towers behind your cell service. And the center pivot systems that irrigate much of the world's farmland.

Sounds boring... but boring is exactly what you want when the whole country is racing to rebuild its power grid. Because that is the story right now. All this new data center and electricity demand means somebody has to build the transmission infrastructure to carry the power. Valmont makes that steel. That is their moment.

Now, that catalyst mentioned above. Just days ago, Valmont's own Chief Financial Officer bought $100,000 of stock on the open market. When the person who knows the numbers better than anyone is buying with their own money... well, that tends to get our attention.

Wall Street is on board too. The most bullish analyst covering the stock is Nathan Jones of Stifel Nicolaus, who ranks in the top 2% of all analysts for stock picking performance. And as of this writing, they see upside potential of more than 40% compared to current levels.

That bullishness isn't based on nothing. Valmont has knocked the socks off of earnings estimates in the last 2 quarters.

Now here is where our Zen Ratings back it up. Quick primer if you are new here: our model runs every stock through 115 factors and boils it down to one grade, A through F. An A is the best rating our system gives.

Valmont earns that A … that's equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation. That puts it in the top 5% of over 4,600 stocks we track.

Underneath that grade are seven component grades. Let's look at the standouts. Growth comes in a B, top 19%. Then it really shines in two places: Safety, an A, top 5%. And Financials, also an A, top 5%. Safety in our system measures how consistent and predictable a company's earnings and cash flow are.

The one thing worth flagging is that shares have pulled back over the last month. We're looking at a 16% dip, but don't let that scare you off … that's the opportunity. There's a strong near-term track record, one of the best pickers on Wall Street pounding the table, and the CFO buying that dip … so recent price action looks more like an opportunity than a warning. Couple that with a fortress balance sheet and a real macro tailwind, and it becomes obvious why this one leads the list.

Our next name is far smaller, and it has been quietly putting up growth numbers that Wall Street keeps underestimating.

2. Electromed (ELMD)

Next up is Electromed (ELMD). This is a company that makes airway clearance therapy. It is a real medical need, it is recurring, and it is the kind of niche where a small company can absolutely dominate.

The first thing worth jumping into here is the earnings history. There are 10 consecutive quarters of beating EPS estimates … and the EPS year-over-year change is impressive, a sign that analysts are continuously underestimating the business.

Now, this is not some stock the market has ignored. It's up more than 50% in the past 3 months, and more than 100% over the past year.

But here is the thing… the case for why it could go higher is strong. The analyst consensus lands on a Strong Buy recommendation … but the coverage is thin, with only 2 analysts. So the crowd has noticed the price … but Wall Street's research departments still have not fully shown up. There is also a catalyst dead ahead: Electromed reports earnings again in early September. If that growth keeps up, the market tends to reward that.

Now let's bring in the Zen Ratings, because this is where Electromed really separates itself. It earns an A, so a Strong Buy recommendation. And get this: it is in the top 1% of every stock in our system. Out of more than 4,600 names, this tiny medical device maker is right at the very top.

And the component grades explain why. Growth comes in at the top 22%. Momentum is a B, top 14%. Safety is a B, top 7%. Then it really shines: Sentiment earns an A, top 3%. And Financials an A, top 2%.

The honest tradeoff on a name like this is simply size. It is a micro cap, so it can be more volatile than the big blue chips. But with solid Growth and Momentum, the smart money moving in on Sentiment … and a genuinely rock-solid business underneath it on Financials, that combination is rare for a company this small.

Speaking of the smart money moving in early... our next stock has had it piling in all year. So much so that the chart went nearly straight up. And then it pulled back hard. Which is exactly why it's worth talking about.

3. Silicon Motion (SIMO)

Let's talk about Silicon Motion (SIMO). This one makes the case for a classic Buy the Dip opportunity.

They design the controller chips inside flash storage that manage all that NAND flash memory and make it fast and reliable. Their chips end up in phones, in laptops, and increasingly in the data centers powering the AI boom. As the world stores more and more data, somebody has to make the brains that manage all of it. That is Silicon Motion.

The AI storage wave is their catalyst. All this AI demand needs enormous amounts of high speed storage, and that is lighting a fire under the whole memory space. Silicon Motion sells the picks and shovels for it.

Now here is the setup. Over the past year, this stock has had a monster run, up around 190%. The smart money clearly showed up. But over just the last month, shares have pulled back sharply, down more than 30%. So the question is simple: is the story broken... or is this a gift?

The data leans toward gift. And so does Wall Street. The most bullish analyst covering the stock ranks in the top 1% of all analysts, and as of this writing, sees more than 80% upside from here. When someone with a track record like that stays bullish after a pullback, that is worth a very hard look.

And the growth behind it is real. Silicon Motion's revenue is forecast to grow around 52% a year … much faster than the industry average … and that top line is expected to translate into earnings growth of roughly 83% a year.

Our system gives Silicon Motion an A, a Strong Buy recommendation, and puts it in the top 5% of all 4,600-plus stocks we track.

Let's pop the hood and take a closer look at those Component Grades. This pick has a nice tight cluster of strength. Safety comes in a B, top 19%. Then Momentum, a B, top 13%. Then Growth, a B, top 9%. And closing on the standout, Sentiment, also a B, but all the way up in the top 5%. Four solid B grades stacked right on top of each other.

Now the honest risk. This is a semiconductor stock, and semis are cyclical and can be volatile, as that 30% drop just reminded everybody. But that is also exactly what creates the entry point.

Here is the whole case in one breath. A top 5% rated company. Two of the most accurate analysts on Wall Street pounding the table. And shares on sale after a sharp pullback, in a corner of the market that AI demand is only heating up. When a name in real motion goes on sale like this... that is textbook Buy the Dip.

Before we get to the last stock, one quick thing. If you like stock talk like this, WallStreetZen's no-cost Live training sessions are worth a look. Join our Editor-in-Chief Steve Reitmeister on Monday at 7pm EST — he doesn't just talk about what he's buying, but how he's finding stocks so you can do the same in the days ahead, plus his Trade of the Week combining the Zen Ratings with his own investing track record. Register for free at wallstreetzen.com/live.

4. Omnicell (OMCL)

Let's talk about Omnicell (OMCL). They build what the company calls the "Autonomous Pharmacy" — automation and software that helps hospitals and health systems manage medication with fewer errors and less manual labor. As hospitals deal with staffing shortages and push to automate more of the pharmacy, Omnicell is one of the names selling the tools to do it.

Now here's why this one's interesting. On July 30th, Omnicell put up a genuinely strong quarter — adjusted earnings of 94 cents a share against a Street estimate of just 47 cents. That's basically double what analysts expected.

But next quarter's guidance came in soft, and the market punished it hard. Shares fell sharply that day and have kept sliding since — down over 15% in the past month.

Here's the twist, though. While next quarter's number disappointed, Omnicell actually raised its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $2.15 to $2.30 a share — above the roughly $1.98 Wall Street was expecting. So the near-term outlook wobbled, but the bigger picture for the full year actually got better. That's an important distinction, and it's exactly the kind of headline-versus-substance gap that can create an opportunity.

Also worth noting: a DCF model on WallStreetZen pegs fair value on Omnicell at $60.28. The stock trades around $36.85. That's a gap of more than 60%.

On the analyst picture: coverage is thin — just 3 analysts — but it's unanimous, all three rate it a Strong Buy, with the average price target suggesting the stock has 40% upside potential in the coming year from current levels, with the highest estimate calling for over 70% upside potential.

Analysts aren't everything when it comes to stocks. But a unanimous Strong Buy from every analyst on the stock, delivered mid-selloff, still says something. Especially when you can back it up with data.

So let's bring in the Zen Ratings. Omnicell earns an A, a Strong Buy, putting it in the top 3% of the more than 4,600 stocks we track — and it's the #1 rated stock in the entire Health Information Service industry, out of 42 names.

Looking at the Component Grades, Growth is the standout, an A, top 2% — though it's worth flagging that this leans heavily on those raised forward estimates rather than a smooth trailing earnings history, which has actually been choppy for this company. Safety is a B, top 10%. Value is a B, top 12% — worth noting this isn't a screaming bargain on paper, with a PEG north of 1, so the case here rests more on the fair-value gap and the guidance raise than on a rock-bottom valuation.

Now the honest tradeoff. Momentum and the AI grade are both C's, sitting in the bottom half of stocks tracked — which makes sense, the stock just got hit hard.

Real talk: this is the highest-risk name on this list, and that's worth being upfront about. But a Zen Rating A on fundamentals, a 60%-plus gap to the fair value model, and a unanimous — if thinly covered — Strong Buy from Wall Street, all showing up right after a double-digit drop on a headline that undersold the real story? That's the exact setup value investors look for. Just know that buying a dip only works if the dip stops dipping, so this one's for readers who can stomach a bit more chop before it (hopefully) settles.

Conclusion

So there you have it. 4 stocks worth your time in August.

Remember, the Zen Ratings are updated daily. You can pull a free rating on over 4,600 stocks yourself just by typing in a ticker at WallStreetZen.com. So be sure to bookmark the site.

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