Barrick Mining Corporation

This is a stock you can almost set a calendar by, and March is the anchor — it has closed higher in 9 of 10 Marches, the steadiest beat on its year.

The strength looks broad-based rather than freakish: its average (+5.9%) and median (+6.8%) sit close together, so no single blow-out year is flattering the figure. Few months are steadier: March's returns vary by just 6.2% year to year, and even its worst March in 10 years lost only 7.8% — the gentlest downside anywhere on its calendar. Better still, that strength is the stock's own and not just a buoyant market — March has outpaced the S&P 500 by +4.9 points on average. Few peers keep such company in March — the typical stock clears it just 56% of the time.

It doesn't stand entirely alone — January, July, and December have leaned firm as well, if less emphatically. The weaker half of the year is plainer: September is the year's quietest corner, essentially flat on average, and the edge isn't year-round — the stock has trailed the S&P 500 in May, November, and October. Its roughest month on record was a −23.4% August in 2016 — a reminder of how hard even a seasonal name can fall.

March has now closed higher 5 years running. If anything it has sharpened recently — the last five Marches run ahead of the earlier years.

For a stock this dependable in March, the sharper question is the rest of the year — outside its strong stretch, the calendar gives far less to lean on.