Hot or Not, Stock Market Edition: 07/24/2026

Happy Friday! Here are some of the stock stories we're tracking today...

• Hot: Chip equipment giant ASML (ASML) turns an AI monopoly into record results; electrical equipment maker Hubbell (HUBB) sells the picks and shovels of the grid supercycle
• Not: Satellite broadband hopeful AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) just raised another billion it's already spending; gold developer NovaGold Resources (NG) owns a world-class mine that still doesn't exist

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🔥 HOT: Electrical equipment maker Hubbell (HUBB) is plugged straight into one of the market's defining problems: a power grid struggling to keep up with data center demand. Hubbell supplies the components utilities need to close that gap, and it just finished absorbing NSI Industries in a $3 billion deal that broadens its electrical lineup. A roughly 15% pullback from its high may have actually sharpened the setup for a favorable entry. 

Right now, HUBB earns a Zen Rating of B (Buy) and ranks #8 of 41 in Electrical Equipment & Parts, led by B grades in Safety, Financials, and AI. This is the fingerprint of a low-drama compounder with a solid balance sheet, precisely what conservative investors look for when the tape gets choppy. 

🥶 NOT: Gold project developer NovaGold Resources (NG) grabbed attention by taking full ownership of its flagship Donlin Gold project in Alaska, and the stock jumped over 10% on the announcement. Look closer, though, and the shine fades. The all-share deal means still more dilution for a company that already funds itself through repeated stock offerings, including a $310 million bought deal earlier this year … a necessity, because NovaGold earns no revenue at all. Donlin remains years from production and is still working through its bankable feasibility study, with analysts penciling in losses for at least three more years. Even after the pop, shares sit nearly 60% below their 52-week high.

The ratings see past the deal-day enthusiasm. NG holds an F (Strong Sell) and ranks stone last, #47 of 47, in a Gold industry rated B overall — meaning that while its peers cash in on record gold prices, NovaGold sits on the sidelines. D grades in Value, Growth, Sentiment, Safety, and Financials plus an F for AI leave weakness stamped across the entire scorecard. 

🔥 HOT: Chip equipment giant ASML (ASML) makes the lithography machines that advanced AI chips literally cannot be built without, making it an under-the-radar, near-monopoly … With unprecedented demand. The company's latest quarter blew past estimates, guidance moved higher, and management earmarked €13 billion to expand memory-chip capacity as AI spending surges, prompting open talk of whether ASML could be Europe's first trillion-dollar company. The stock reflects all of it: up 86% in the first half of 2026, with analysts calling for more. Every single covering analyst recommends it as a Buy or Strong Buy, and even the most cautious target still leaves roughly 30% of upside on the table. (See the recommendations here.)

The Zen Ratings confirm the trend has substance behind it. ASML holds a B (Buy) and ranks #5 of 30 in the B-rated Semiconductor Equipment industry. The headline number is a near-perfect A for Momentum joined by B grades in Sentiment, Financials, and AI… a powerful price trend reinforced by rising analyst expectations and a fortress balance sheet.  

🥶 NOT: Satellite broadband hopeful AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) is finding out just how costly space can be. In a single stroke the company priced $1.15 billion in convertible notes — its second billion-dollar raise in short order — and disclosed a service delay alongside it. Investors punished the combination hard: the stock is down hard, with no sign of a course correction. The math explains the alarm. Revenue is minimal, losses are enormous, and insiders across the C-suite (CEO, CFO, president, CTO) have been dumping millions in stock for months. 

The Zen Ratings don't soften the picture. ASTS carries an F (Strong Sell) and sits dead last, #44 of 44, in a Communication Equipment industry that otherwise earns a healthy B … a telling contrast. Five of its seven components bottom out at F: Value, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and AI. The satellite-to-phone vision is exciting in the abstract, but between mounting dilution, slipping timelines, and insiders heading for the door, the fundamentals simply aren't there to support it yet. 

What to Do Next?

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