Hot or Not, Stock Market Edition: 09/04/2026

Happy Friday. Here's what the Zen Ratings are building up and breaking down today: 

• Hot: Electronics distributor Avnet (AVT) tops its entire industry; steel giant Nucor (NUE) is forged by the tariff fight
• Not: Power producer NRG Energy (NRG) is running low on current; geothermal player Ormat Technologies (ORA) can't turn up the heat

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🔥 HOT: Avnet (AVT) is emerging as a lower-priced way to play the AI infrastructure boom. The electronic components distributor recently beat earnings expectations, improved margins, raised its dividend, and is expected to grow earnings faster than its industry as AI-related demand expands. True: Shares have more than doubled from their 52-week low and are now trading roughly 10% below their high … Yet valuation still looks reasonable, including a PEG ratio below 0.5. 

Our quant system suggests there’s still room to run: AVT earns an A (Strong Buy) Zen Rating, with A grades for both Growth and AI and B grades for Momentum and Sentiment. It also ranks #1 in its A-rated industry. That combination points to a stock with strong growth trends, positive price action, and one of the model’s strongest forward-looking signals.

🥶 NOT: NRG Energy (NRG) should be benefiting from surging U.S. electricity demand, but its financial picture makes the stock difficult to justify right now. Recent earnings missed expectations as interest costs climbed, while the company carries more than $20 billion in debt and has a highly leveraged balance sheet. Shares have fallen more than 40% from their 52-week high and are now hovering near the bottom of their range, despite still trading at close to 30 times earnings versus roughly 10 times for the industry. 

NRG earns a C (Hold) Zen Rating, with D grades for both Momentum and Sentiment. Value and Safety remain relative bright spots, but weak price action and deteriorating investor sentiment argue against trying to catch the falling stock before conditions improve.

🔥 HOT: Nucor (NUE) is riding renewed momentum in the steel sector as trade tensions and tariff expectations put U.S. producers back in focus. Shares jumped about 5% earlier this week, while Nucor continues investing in additional domestic production capacity and improving its underlying profitability. The stock has roughly doubled from its 52-week low and now trades within about 5% of its high. Despite that run, its earnings multiple remains slightly below the broader steel industry. 

And the Zen Ratings suggest there could be more runway ahead. NUE earns an A (Strong Buy) Zen Rating, led by an A for Momentum and B grades for Growth, Safety, Financials, and AI. It also ranks #2 in an A-rated Steel industry. Revenue growth is expected to remain modest, but the combination of strong momentum, improving fundamentals, and favorable industry positioning keeps Nucor firmly on the HOT side.

🥶 NOT: Ormat Technologies (ORA) has an appealing long-term geothermal story, but the stock’s current fundamentals and valuation leave little margin for error. The company recently beat quarterly expectations and raised guidance, yet profitability has weakened over the past year while leverage has increased.

Shares remain roughly 30% below their 52-week high, but still trade at about 50 times earnings with a PEG ratio above 3. ORA earns a D (Sell) Zen Rating, including D grades for Value, Growth, and Momentum. It also ranks near the bottom of an F-rated Renewable Energy industry. Geothermal demand may have a long runway, but paying a premium valuation for weak momentum and below-market growth expectations is a tough setup to defend.

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