The market watches companies.
Every leader gets a yearly reading from their birth date: Strong, Firm, Even, Soft or Weak. Since 1995, Strong years have risen 76.2% of the time, Weak years 49.7%.
Satya Nadella · MSFT · 2026: Strong · 2 signals, 0 drags
The fingerprint: one ridge per year in the role, 2014 at the core to 2025 at the edge. Heavier ridge, stronger reading. Solid: the stock rose that year. Dashed: it fell. The faint outer ridges only finish the outline. Scroll, and the chart below is read off the print.
One leader, year by year.
- Company
- MSFT, Microsoft
- Chief executive
- Satya Nadella, since Feb 2014
- 2026
- Strong · 2 signals, 0 drags
- In the role
- MSFT rose in 11 of 12 years
- Strong and Firm years
- 4 of 4 rose
- Soft and Weak years
- 3 of 3 rose
The record, 1995–2025.
Every year a leader was in role from 1995 to 2025, read with the rules now fixed and scored against the stock's calendar-year return: 260 leaders, 3,482 leader-years.
- of Strong years rose, 256 years
- 76.2%
- of Weak years rose, 191 years
- 49.7%
| Reading | Leader-years | Rose | Beat the field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong | 256 | 76.2% | 57.8% |
| Firm | 709 | 70.9% | 51.8% |
| Even | 2,016 | 66.9% | 48.9% |
| Soft | 310 | 58.7% | 47.1% |
| Weak | 191 | 49.7% | 41.4% |
How a reading is made
Start from the birth date
A birth date becomes a cycle of years, and rules of our own read each year of it. No birth times: a reading is issued only when it holds whichever hour the leader was born.
Five levels
Signals and drags stack into Strong, Firm, Even, Soft or Weak. The count is shown with every reading; the kinds stay with us.
Score it against the stock
Calendar year, January to December. Did the stock rise? Did it beat the other leaders' stocks that year? Every year since 1995, hits and misses alike.