The bar for stocks appears to be rising. Surging oil prices, global hostilities, and AI overspend worries have not stopped the market’s momentum but only slowed it.
Instead, resilient corporate earnings strength has driven stocks toward record highs. And Q2 earnings season just arrived. S&P 500 EPS is forecasted to rise roughly 21% year-over-year this quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ consensus estimates, which is nearly double the 12% average quarterly year-over-year increase since 2009. Full-year 2026 EPS growth is expected to be 23%, followed by 18% in 2027.
These relatively high growth expectations are among the reasons to think that markets could continue to march higher. With that in mind, here are 3 momentum-based screens to consider from the Fidelity.com ETF Screener.
Sector earnings momentum
Unsurprisingly, most of the upcoming forecasted earnings growth is for growth sectors—primarily the tech sector. Energy and materials are also expected to see the largest year-over-year gains. Here are the top 10 results for ETFs with greater than 50% exposure to technology, energy, or materials sectors, net assets of at least $838 million, and a low net expense ratio (below 0.36%), sorted by the largest year-to-date price performance, as of July 23, 2026:
- iShares Semiconductor ETF (
) - Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (
) - Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (
) - State Street® SPDR® S&P® Semiconductor ETF (
) - Vaneck Semiconductor ETF (
) - Franklin FTSE Taiwan ETF (
) - State Street® SPDR® S&P® Oil & Gas Exploration and Production ETF (
) - Vaneck Oil Services ETF (
) - Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF (
) - Vanguard Energy Index ETF Shares (
)
An important aspect of running a screen is that there are many ways to set up a screen and the results are highly dependent upon the filters that you utilize. With this screen, it may introduce concentration risk because most of the results are technology-based ETFs. If you wanted to reduce concentration risk in any screen, you could try to adjust your filters.
Emerging market momentum
Emerging markets have been among the top-performing equity groups thus far this year. Some emerging markets, including companies in Taiwan, are critical partners in the artificial intelligence hardware supply chain. Here are the full results for an ETF screen with at least 20% exposure to emerging market countries, and a low net expense ratio (below 0.36%), sorted by the largest year-to-date price performance, as of July 23, 2026:
- iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Value Factor ETF (
) - iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Quality Factor ETF (
) - iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor ETF (
) - iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF (
) - Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF (
) - Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta® Emerging Markets Equity ETF (
) - Franklin FTSE Asia Ex Japan ETF (
) - State Street® SPDR® MSCI Emerging Markets Stratfacts ETF (
)
One way to evaluate your screen filters is to look at the results that are generated and ask yourself if they match your search criteria. This list features ETFs that have varying degrees of exposure to emerging markets. Depending on your objectives, you may want to tinker with the screening criteria to help generate results that more closely align with your objectives.
Small-cap momentum
Small-cap stocks have nearly doubled the price return of large-cap stocks thus far this year, potentially setting the stage for small caps to buck the trend of large-cap leadership that has dominated for most of this century. AI infrastructure spending has been a major factor behind the surge in small caps during the first half of 2026. And small caps have avoided some of the drag of the Magnificent 7 which, after multiple years of market leadership, has been little changed collectively since the start of 2026.
Here are the top 10 results for an ETF screen with at least 60% exposure to small-cap stocks and a low net expense ratio (below 0.36%), sorted by the largest year-to-date price performance, as of July 23, 2026:
- Invesco S&P Smallcap Information Technology ETF (
) - Invesco S&P Smallcap 600® Pure Growth ETF (
) - Invesco S&P Smallcap Momentum ETF (
) - Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth Index Fund ETF Shares (
) - iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF (
) - State Street® SPDR® S&P 500TM Small Cap Growth ETF (
) - Themes US Small Cap Cash Flow Champions ETF (
) - Invesco S&P Smallcap Health Care ETF (
) - Invesco S&P Smallcap Industrials ETF (
) - iShares Convertible Bond ETF (
)
When evaluating ETFs with a particular exposure, it’s important to look at just how much exposure you are getting. In this screen, for example, even though it is small-cap focused, all have some exposure to market caps outside of small caps. You could adjust your desired small-cap exposure up or down, depending on your objectives, and doing so can dramatically change the output.
ETF screen tips
If you think one or more of the ETFs identified by a screen merits deeper consideration, your next step should be to research it further. And always remember to evaluate a fund's costs, including:
- Expense ratio: The total annual fund operating expense ratio from the fund's most recent prospectus. Look for low expense ratios to help reduce your overall costs.
- Bid-ask spread: The amount by which the ask price exceeds the bid price for an asset. Look for small bid-ask spreads to help reduce the costs of investing.
- Tracking error: Look for a low tracking error to find ETFs that indicate a better job of replicating their benchmark indexes.
If you find ETFs with similar objectives, you could compare their expense ratios, bid-ask spreads, and/or tracking error to find the better deal.