The takeaway
Optical Cable Corporation shows a pronounced seasonal pattern over 10 years of data — strongest in February (+4.3%) and softest in March (−7.4%).
Right now
In July, the stock has risen 40% of years, averaging +3.8%, about +1.6 pts better than the S&P 500.
The full picture
Optical Cable Corporation's most dependable month has been February, higher in 6 of 10 years; March has been its least reliable, up just 20% of the time.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win rate % | ||||||||||||
| Median return % | ||||||||||||
| 2025 | ||||||||||||
| 2024 | ||||||||||||
| 2023 | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | ||||||||||||
| 2020 | ||||||||||||
| 2019 | ||||||||||||
| 2018 | ||||||||||||
| 2017 | ||||||||||||
| 2016 |
Month by month
The stock's clearest edge over the S&P 500 lands in September (+8.4 pts); it has trailed the market most in March (−8.4 pts).
“vs S&P” is Optical Cable Corporation’s average for a month minus the S&P 500’s average for that same month — isolating Optical Cable Corporation’s own seasonal edge from broad market drift.
Reality check
Over the last 5 years, February has closed higher 60% of the time versus 60% across the last 10 years — the pattern is holding.
Figures are the typical (median) February return and how often it rose — the last 5 years versus the last 10(the heatmap’s default window). This verdict stays anchored to that 10-year window even if you zoom the chart, so it never disagrees with the badges above.
In plain English
The year leans February's way without overwhelming the rest of it: the stock has closed higher in 6 of 10 Februaries, its most dependable month if not a dominant one.
Its average (+4.3%) and median (+6.0%) land within a hair of each other — the tell of steady, year-after-year gains rather than one outlier doing the work. That reliability comes with real swings, mind — even February ranges by 18.3% from year to year, so any single year can land far from the average. Crucially, the gain is the stock's own rather than a rising tide's: February has cleared the S&P 500 by +4.6 points above the index. It bucks the broad tape, besides: February lifts just 49% of stocks across the market.
Only November comes anywhere near it for reliability. At the other end of the calendar, March has been the soft spot — the weakest of 4 months that average a loss (−7.4%), and the edge isn't year-round — the stock has trailed the S&P 500 in March, October, and April. Its roughest month on record was a −43.2% December in 2025 — a reminder of how hard even a seasonal name can fall.
Reassuringly, the tendency has held its shape: the recent five years still track the years behind them.
Treat it as a tendency rather than a rule — seasonality describes the past, not a promise. With returns that swing hard year to year, the signal is best held loosely.
Short answers on the stock's best month (February), its worst (March), and whether it really trades seasonally.
Yes, to a pronounced degree. Since 2016 its best month (February, +4.3%) has run well ahead of its worst (March, −7.4%) — the heatmap above shows how steady that gap has been year to year.
February has been the strongest, averaging +4.3% and closing higher in 6 of 10 years since 2016.
It's the weakest, averaging −7.4% — historically a soft spot, though it still varies from year to year.
Explore
These names have the strongest July track records on record — a starting point for comparison.
Before you trade