Validea Martin Zweig Strategy Daily Upgrade Report - 10/30/2025

The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Growth Investor model based on the published strategy of Martin Zweig. This strategy looks for growth stocks with persistent accelerating earnings and sales growth, reasonable valuations and low debt.

MORNINGSTAR INC (MORN) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Investment Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Martin Zweig changed from 77% to 85% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Morningstar, Inc. is a provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Its segments include Morningstar Data and Analytics, PitchBook, Morningstar Wealth, Morningstar Credit, and Morningstar Retirement. The Morningstar Data and Analytics segment provides investors comprehensive data, research and insights, and investment analysis to empower investment decision-making. The PitchBook segment provides investors with access to a broad collection of data and research covering the private capital markets. Morningstar Wealth segment brings together its model portfolios and wealth platform; practice and portfolio management software for registered investment advisers; data aggregation and enrichment capabilities; and others. Morningstar Credit segment provides investors with credit ratings, research, data, and credit analytics solutions. The Morningstar Retirement segment offers products designed to help individuals reach their retirement goals.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria. P/E RATIO:PASSREVENUE GROWTH IN RELATION TO EPS GROWTH:FAILSALES GROWTH RATE:PASSCURRENT QUARTER EARNINGS:PASSQUARTERLY EARNINGS ONE YEAR AGO:PASSPOSITIVE EARNINGS GROWTH RATE FOR CURRENT QUARTER:PASSEARNINGS GROWTH RATE FOR THE PAST SEVERAL QUARTERS:PASSEPS GROWTH FOR CURRENT QUARTER MUST BE GREATER THAN PRIOR 3 QUARTERS:PASSEPS GROWTH FOR CURRENT QUARTER MUST BE GREATER THAN THE HISTORICAL GROWTH RATE:PASSEARNINGS PERSISTENCE:FAILLONG-TERM EPS GROWTH:PASSINSIDER TRANSACTIONS:PASS

Detailed Analysis of MORNINGSTAR INC

MORN Guru Analysis

MORN Fundamental Analysis

SOUTHERN FIRST BANCSHARES INC (SFST) is a small-cap value stock in the Money Center Banks industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Martin Zweig changed from 77% to 85% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Southern First Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company. The Companys primary business is to serve as the holding company for Southern First Bank (the Bank). The Bank is primarily engaged in the business of accepting demand deposits and savings deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC), and providing commercial, consumer and mortgage loans to the general public. The Company, through the Bank, provides a range of financial services to individuals and companies in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. These services include demand, time, and savings deposits; lending services; automated teller machine (ATM) processing, and mortgage banking services. In addition to deposit and loan services, it offers other bank services such as Internet banking, cash management, safe deposit boxes, direct deposit, automatic drafts, bill payment and mobile banking services. The Bank has approximately eight retail offices.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria. P/E RATIO:PASSREVENUE GROWTH IN RELATION TO EPS GROWTH:PASSSALES GROWTH RATE:PASSCURRENT QUARTER EARNINGS:PASSQUARTERLY EARNINGS ONE YEAR AGO:PASSPOSITIVE EARNINGS GROWTH RATE FOR CURRENT QUARTER:PASSEARNINGS GROWTH RATE FOR THE PAST SEVERAL QUARTERS:PASSEPS GROWTH FOR CURRENT QUARTER MUST BE GREATER THAN PRIOR 3 QUARTERS:PASSEPS GROWTH FOR CURRENT QUARTER MUST BE GREATER THAN THE HISTORICAL GROWTH RATE:PASSEARNINGS PERSISTENCE:FAILLONG-TERM EPS GROWTH:FAILINSIDER TRANSACTIONS:PASS

Detailed Analysis of SOUTHERN FIRST BANCSHARES INC

SFST Guru Analysis

SFST Fundamental Analysis

Martin Zweig Portfolio

About Martin Zweig: During the 15 years that it was monitored, Zweig's stock recommendation newsletter returned an average of 15.9 percent per year, during which time it was ranked number one based on risk-adjusted returns by Hulbert Financial Digest. Zweig has managed both mutual and hedge funds during his career, and he's put the fortune he's compiled to some interesting uses. He has owned what Forbes reported was the most expensive apartment in New York, a $70 million penthouse that sits atop Manhattan's Pierre Hotel, and he is a collector of all sorts of pop culture and historical memorabilia -- among his purchases are the gun used by Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry", a stock certificate signed by Commodore Vanderbilt, and even two old-fashioned gas pumps similar to those he'd seen at a nearby gas station while growing up in Cleveland, according to published reports.

About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.