Why We Flagged NVDA but Only Watched CPRT
How did Copart (CPRT) and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) fare under JumpstartSignal's 5-stage screening pipeline across our full 2012–2025 walk-forward backtest? We flagged CPRT 19 times (426 signal days, first signal in 2016) and NVDA 8 times (26 signal days, first signal in 2018). Every entry price, return, and SPY comparison below is from the frozen backtest snapshot.
📌 Note: CPRT only ever reached our MONITOR watchlist tier, it was never promoted to a SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal. NVDA did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY. That asymmetry is the story of this comparison.
Head-to-Head Stats
CPRT 📌 MONITOR Copart · Industrials
NVDA 🏆 SPOTLIGHT NVIDIA Corporation · Technology
Per-Signal Returns
Each bar below shows the best return from one signal cluster, held from the entry date through Feb 1, 2026. The SPY return over the same period is shown alongside each entry, alpha is the gap between the two.
CPRT Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 31, 2016 | $5.09 | +697% | +290% | +407% |
| May 3, 2016 | $5.31 | +664% | +291% | +374% |
| Jun 10, 2016 | $6.01 | +575% | +288% | +288% |
| Sep 20, 2016 | $6.43 | +531% | +274% | +258% |
| Nov 9, 2016 | $6.66 | +509% | +267% | +242% |
| Apr 20, 2017 | $7.56 | +437% | +235% | +202% |
| May 25, 2018 | $13.56 | +199% | +184% | +15% |
| Sep 14, 2018 | $16.04 | +153% | +165% | -12% |
| Mar 25, 2019 | $14.88 | +173% | +172% | +0% |
| Apr 25, 2019 | $16.44 | +147% | +160% | -13% |
| Feb 11, 2020 | $25.58 | +59% | +123% | -65% |
| Sep 28, 2020 | $26.29 | +54% | +120% | -66% |
| Apr 19, 2021 | $30.32 | +34% | +78% | -44% |
| May 21, 2021 | $31.21 | +30% | +73% | -43% |
| Aug 6, 2021 | $36.50 | +11% | +65% | -54% |
| Aug 25, 2021 | $35.74 | +14% | +64% | -50% |
| Dec 7, 2021 | $37.30 | +9% | +55% | -46% |
| Oct 15, 2024 | $53.69 | -24% | +20% | -44% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $55.44 | -27% | +18% | -45% |
NVDA Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 16, 2018 | $5.44 | +3413% | +181% | +3233% |
| May 14, 2018 | $6.08 | +3044% | +186% | +2858% |
| Oct 1, 2018 | $7.17 | +2566% | +163% | +2403% |
| Apr 20, 2020 | $7.08 | +2600% | +167% | +2433% |
| Nov 30, 2020 | $13.35 | +1332% | +102% | +1230% |
| Aug 23, 2023 | $47.09 | +306% | +60% | +246% |
| Nov 15, 2023 | $48.87 | +291% | +57% | +234% |
| May 20, 2024 | $94.76 | +102% | +32% | +70% |
What This Teaches
Stock screening is about frequency, not preference. CPRT was flagged 19× and NVDA was flagged 8× because CPRT's weekly closes repeatedly matched the confluence we score for. That's why we publish the full record: the absence of a signal on a great company is as instructive as a signal on a mediocre one.
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FAQ
Did JumpstartSignal ever buy CPRT?
No. CPRT only ever cleared our weekly MONITOR tier, a watchlist of stocks matching some but not all of our buy criteria. MONITOR signals are published for research context, not executed as trades; only SPOTLIGHT and OPPORTUNITY signals enter the backtested portfolio. NVDA, by contrast, did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY in our pipeline; that asymmetry is the core story of this page.
Is CPRT or NVDA a better momentum stock?
These two are not directly comparable as momentum buys. CPRT only ever cleared the MONITOR watchlist (19 clusters, never promoted to a buy), so it has no buy-tier alpha. NVDA reached our buy tiers and averaged +1588% alpha per buy signal across 8 clusters. MONITOR signals are watch-only and not comparable to executed buy signals.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag CPRT?
Mar 31, 2016 at an entry price of $5.09 (MONITOR watchlist tier only). That signal has returned +697% held to the snapshot date, versus +290% for SPY over the same period.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag NVDA?
Jan 16, 2018 at an entry price of $5.44 (SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal). That signal has returned +3413% held to the snapshot date, versus +181% for SPY.
Does this mean one stock is a buy and the other isn't?
No. Historical signal frequency and past returns are not buy recommendations. Our pipeline identifies entries that would have matched the template historically. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Use these pages as methodology research, not investment advice.
Where does the underlying data come from?
All entries on this page come from the R30 walk-forward validated backtest covering 2012-2025 (the 'seo_active' snapshot in our golden archive). Entry prices, returns, and SPY comparisons are computed from end-of-day OHLCV and frozen at snapshot time. See our methodology for details.