Why We Flagged IDXX but Only Watched META
How did IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX) and Meta Platforms (META) fare under JumpstartSignal's 5-stage screening pipeline across our full 2012–2025 walk-forward backtest? We flagged IDXX 3 times (9 signal days, first signal in 2012) and META 8 times (16 signal days, first signal in 2013). Every entry price, return, and SPY comparison below is from the frozen backtest snapshot.
📌 Note: META only ever reached our MONITOR watchlist tier, it was never promoted to a SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal. IDXX did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY. That asymmetry is the story of this comparison.
Head-to-Head Stats
IDXX 🏆 SPOTLIGHT IDEXX Laboratories · Healthcare
META 📌 MONITOR Meta Platforms · Communication Services
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.
IDXX Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 2012 | $43.22 | +1451% | +534% | +917% |
| Aug 31, 2012 | $47.53 | +1311% | +516% | +794% |
| May 13, 2014 | $63.40 | +958% | +348% | +610% |
META Signal Clusters
| Entry Date | Entry Price | Return | SPY Return | Alpha vs SPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 27, 2013 | $55.44 | +1192% | +358% | +834% |
| Nov 28, 2014 | $77.70 | +822% | +301% | +521% |
| Dec 19, 2014 | $79.88 | +797% | +300% | +497% |
| Jan 29, 2015 | $78.00 | +819% | +309% | +510% |
| Mar 4, 2015 | $79.44 | +802% | +297% | +505% |
| Apr 22, 2015 | $84.63 | +747% | +290% | +456% |
| Jun 22, 2015 | $84.74 | +746% | +286% | +459% |
| Jul 29, 2015 | $96.99 | +639% | +288% | +350% |
What This Teaches
Which stock a quant system picks more often says more about price-action shape than about the business. META kept printing clean golden-cross + breakout-volume setups (8 distinct clusters over 14 years); IDXX printed them 3× in the same window. Same universe, same rules, different output, and that is exactly what a rules-based pipeline is supposed to produce.
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FAQ
Did JumpstartSignal ever buy META?
No. META 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. IDXX, by contrast, did reach SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY in our pipeline; that asymmetry is the core story of this page.
Is IDXX or META a better momentum stock?
In our 14-year backtest, IDXX had an average alpha of +774% per signal versus +517% for META. IDXX produced 3 SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy-signal clusters vs 8 MONITOR watchlist clusters for META. Note the tier difference: MONITOR clusters are watchlist-only and were never promoted to buy signals, so cluster counts are not directly comparable across tiers.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag IDXX?
Apr 19, 2012 at an entry price of $43.22 (SPOTLIGHT or OPPORTUNITY buy signal). That signal has returned +1451% held to the snapshot date, versus +534% for SPY over the same period.
When did JumpstartSignal first flag META?
Dec 27, 2013 at an entry price of $55.44 (MONITOR watchlist tier only). That signal has returned +1192% held to the snapshot date, versus +358% 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 R27 walk-forward validated backtest covering 2012–2025 (the 'seo_active' snapshot in our golden archive). Entry prices, returns, and SPY comparisons are computed from Stooq end-of-day OHLCV and frozen at snapshot time. See our methodology for details.