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chris-preston

Chris Preston

Editor in Chief and Chief Analyst of Cabot Stock of the Week and Cabot Value Investor

Chris Preston is Cabot Wealth Network’s Vice President of Content and Chief Analyst of Cabot Stock of the Week and Cabot Value Investor .

Chris joined Cabot in 2015, where he previously served as staff analyst, web editor, and Chief Analyst of Cabot Wealth Daily, our free investment advisory, which in 2019 was named “Best Financial/Investing Newsletter or Ezine” at the SIPA (Specialized Information Publishers Association) Awards, with Chris at the helm.

Prior to joining Cabot, Chris was an analyst and assistant managing editor with Wyatt Investment Research. He has been an investment analyst for more than a decade and a professional writer/editor for nearly 20 years, picking up multiple writing awards along the way. His bylines have appeared in Forbes, The Money Show, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report and ESPN.com.

Chris lives in Vermont with his wife, two young kids and their golden retriever, Scout. He occasionally sleeps.

From this author
Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times had a stock-centric article titled, “The S&P is Nearing a Record. Really.” The subtext, of course, is that stocks have climbed near February all-time highs despite a bevy of geopolitical tensions, potential economic landmines, and widespread investor and consumer pessimism. As I wrote last week, the market has fully recovered from its tariff-fueled cratering of late March and early April, but lingering uncertainties threaten to derail it at any moment … and that was before Israel and Iran started bombing each other.
Investing in a business development company is a high-risk, high-reward proposition for income investors. But you can mitigate risks.
The market remains in decent shape despite an onslaught of potential landmines, including the new conflict in the Middle East, worsening unrest domestically and the July 9 deadline on the 90-day tariff pause for some 130 countries fast approaching. It’s not raining, but dark clouds are forming, so it’s worth bringing a poncho with you the next time you leave the house (so to speak). Today, we go with what’s working, and that’s energy, as oil prices have gotten an immediate boost from the sudden Israel-Iran war. Fortunately, Cabot Dividend Investor Chief Analyst Tom Hutchinson has one of the best-performing energy-related stocks out there, and one that pays a nice dividend to boot. It’s the newest addition to the Stock of the Week portfolio.

Details inside.
Stocks have done a full about-face since cratering to near-bear-market territory in early April. But with tariff deadlines looming next month, it’s possible another pullback is coming.
What a difference two months make!

On April 8, the Nasdaq had plummeted to bear market territory after touching all-time highs just six weeks earlier, and the S&P 500 was on the cusp of joining it. Small caps were faring even worse. Volatility had spiked to multi-year highs. And everyone was certain a recession or high inflation – or both – were imminent.

The reason was tariffs. “Liberation Day,” a week earlier, on which President Donald Trump had imposed sky-high tariffs on more than 100 U.S. trading partners from all over the world, had sent stocks plummeting as economists clutched their pearls and warned of imminent collapse.
The market continues to nurse itself back to health, with the S&P 500 back above 6,000 for the first time since February and volatility at a four-month low. Numerous newsy items could derail it, including this week’s inflation reports. But lately, the market has mostly ignored the headlines, and so should you.

So today, we try and capitalize on the strong market in front of us by adding a potential new growth leader with enough momentum that Mike Cintolo tabbed it as his “Top Pick” in last week’s Cabot Top Ten Trader issue.

Details inside.
Most companies that were hit hard by Covid have recovered and then some. Many are faring better than ever. But because of investors’ narrow focus on the Magnificent 7 and a handful of artificial intelligence stocks the last two and a half years, share prices across various sectors have not kept pace with revenue and earnings growth. In recent months, we’ve capitalized on that discrepancy by pouncing on United Airlines (UAL), The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) and, just last month, Carnival Corp. (CCL), with great success.

This month, we hope to mine another quick double-digit winner from the industrials sector. It’s a company that’s thriving like never before, but there’s been a significant lag between the fundamentals and the share price. We hope our timing in adding it to the portfolio now can produce UAL- or CCL-like rapid returns.

Details inside.
Reliable dividend stocks may seem obvious and boring. But if you buy them and hang on, they can make your future. These five stand out now.
They are two of the most recognizable names out there, and good stocks, but which is the better buy? Let’s break down Apple vs. Amazon stock.
The market has become a bit stagnant and boring. After the last few months we’ve had, boring is good. So today, we lean into the boring theme by adding a “boring” stock to the portfolio. It’s a mid-cap insurance company that Tyler Laundon recommended to his Cabot Early Opportunities audience last month. It may be boring, but like the market, it has plenty of upside in the near term.

Details inside.
Growth stocks have quickly snapped back from the tariff-induced selloff, but value stocks are still outperforming them in 2025 and may be poised to lead the rally from here.
Wall Street analysts expect stocks to be flat for the rest of the year. That’s according to a new Reuters poll, which surveyed 51 strategists, analysts, brokers and portfolio managers. Among them, the average year-end target for the S&P 500 was 5,900 – roughly in line with the current price, and essentially unmoved since the start of the year.

That’s not exactly exciting news, even if 5,900 would have felt like a win in early April, when the benchmark index dipped below 5,000 after President Trump’s now-infamous “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff announcement. The rally since then has been impressive, but analysts aren’t confident we’ll get much more movement through the final seven months of the year.
Stocks took a bit of a breather this week after weeks of positive gains fueled by tariff deals and pauses, sinking inflation and a very strong Q1 earnings season. Which way the market goes from here may depend on the headlines, but also on whether the bulls have the appetite for another big push to new highs. One area of the market we know is working? Precious metals. Gold has attracted most of the attention. But silver is starting to play catch-up. So today, we add a high-upside silver play via Cabot Explorer Chief Analyst Carl Delfeld.

Details inside.
When you invest with conviction, you can rest easy knowing that your investment portfolio is comprised solely of companies you truly believe in.
The narrative around U.S. retailers in the age of tariffs has been grim. The reality is that most are still growing at a very healthy clip. And yet, most retail stocks have been beaten down. That spells opportunity.
Retail stocks are having a rough year.

The S&P SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) is down 3.8% year to date, and consumer discretionary as a whole has been the worst performing of the 11 major S&P sectors. It makes sense. Tariffs threaten to hit U.S. retailers hardest, including the many companies that sell products like toys, child car seats, and sports apparel (such as our own Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS)), most of which are made in places like China, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand – the places with the highest potential tariff rates. Combine that with escalating fears of a U.S. recession – also brought on by tariffs – and it could be a double whammy for retailers who don’t sell the essential everyday items that consumers buy regardless of the economic environment.
The market is healthy again, or at least WAY healthier than it was a month ago, as tariff worries have faded, for now, and encouraging inflation and jobs data have helped restore investors’ faith in the U.S. market. Stock of the Week stocks have performed even better, as is often the case, led by the likes of Sea Limited (SE), Banco Santander (SAN), BYD (BYDDY) and old reliable, Tesla (TSLA). Today we add to our haul by striking while the iron is hot on growth stocks by recommending Mike Cintolo’s latest addition to his Cabot Growth Investor portfolio.

Details inside.
The 200-day line has historically acted as a line in the sand for the market. Now that the S&P 500 is back above that line, it may serve as a springboard to greater heights.
Stocks are back in business!

Yes, a little more than a month after some of the worst investor sentiment readings in years, soaring volatility, and a 19% decline in the S&P 500 – not to mention both the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 swinging to bear market territory – stocks are suddenly on a roll, recession fears are abating, and, perhaps most importantly, tariff deals have been struck. The 90-day pause on most reciprocal tariffs initiated by President Trump on April 9 – one week after the deeply unpopular “Liberation Day” was announced – triggered one of the biggest one-day rallies in stock market history. Indexes flirted with their early-April lows two weeks later but eventually stabilized, and May has brought a wave of positive tariff news – first, a deal with the United Kingdom, in which key imports like cars were reduced to 10% and steel and aluminum tariffs were eliminated; then, last weekend came a 90-day truce with China. That sent stocks soaring more than 3% on Monday, and they haven’t looked back.
Tariff fears have eased, or are at least on extended hold, and the market feels jubilant for the first time in months. Is it the start of an extended rally that could get us back to new highs? Probably too early to tell. But it’s been a boon for our portfolio, led by Tesla (TSLA), which is up 14% in the last week. Today we add an undervalued travel stock to the portfolio that’s a household name that got hammered during Covid but has come out the other side with flying colors – and yet shares are still playing catch-up. It’s a stock I recommended to my Cabot Value Investor audience earlier this month.

Details inside.
Investing in stock spin-offs is worth the risk. But you need to know what to do with shares you receive when your larger holding is spun off.
Warren Buffett isn’t concerned about the market’s slow start this year. “What’s happened in the last 30, 45 days is really nothing,” the Oracle of Omaha said at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting last weekend. In the grand scheme of market history, he’s right.
Stocks are in a much better place than they were a couple weeks ago. That’s what nine consecutive days of gains will do, as earnings season and a cooling of tariff rhetoric have combined to inject some positivity into what was a doom-and-gloom market environment as recently as mid-April. We surely haven’t heard the last about tariffs, and this week’s Fed meeting can always reopen some old wounds. But we can only go with the evidence in front of us, and right now it’s pointing upward. With that in mind, today we add a growth stock recently recommended by Mike Cintolo in his Cabot Top Ten Trader advisory.

Details inside.
Few industries were more negatively impacted by Covid than the cruise industry. And few have come roaring back faster in Covid’s wake. And yet, share prices haven’t kept up with the record sales and passenger numbers. So today, we recommend a major cruise-industry stock that has the largest disparity between sales and earnings growth and share price growth. We also have updates on all our existing stocks as investors mercifully put a historically choppy April for the market in the rear-view mirror and flip the calendar to what will hopefully be a far more fruitful May.

Details inside. Enjoy!
It was a much better week for the market, and even more so our portfolio, as all but two of our existing 20 stocks were up at least 2%. Of course, there’s a lot of ground to make up from the damage done by “Liberation Day” at the start of the month, but it’s possible the market has turned a corner and a glorious month of May awaits for U.S. stocks. In case it doesn’t, however, today we beef up our overseas exposure by adding our first ETF in a while. It’s a fund just recommended by Carl Delfeld to his Cabot Explorer audience – and one that aims to take advantage of recent strength in European stocks.

Details inside.

The underperformance of the formerly dominant Mag. 7 has lately earned those stocks the dismissive moniker of the “Lag 7,” but are they too cheap to pass up?
The market took a turn for the better this week as President Trump backed off his criticisms of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and indicated there may be some wiggle room on his sky-high tariffs on China. Those served as a sigh of relief for investors, and stocks surged on Tuesday and Wednesday, though the S&P 500 is only up about 1% since we last wrote.

Stocks are still below their April highs, and down more than 8.5% year to date, but volatility is declining and it seems increasingly possible that a bottom was formed in early April.
Another down week – and down day – for stocks as tariff and inflation anxieties continue to run rampant. We may be headed toward a re-test of the post-Liberation Day lows from the beginning of the month. Fortunately, most of our stocks are holding up well, with no big losses in the last week despite a 4.3% decline in the S&P 500. In fact, a number of our stocks are thriving. Today, we add another stock that’s going against the grain of the market. It’s a new recommendation from Tyler Laundon to his Cabot Early Opportunities audience. It’s the kind of all-weather holding that can keep its head above water in this volatile market – and perhaps thrive if/when the tariff dam finally breaks.
Value stocks have outperformed growth so far this year, and after the sharp tariff-fueled sell-off, there’s more value in the market than there has been in several years.
Regardless of your politics, “calm” is not a word you would likely use to describe the stock market under President Trump, at least through the first three months of his second term. But given the extreme tariff-fueled volatility that pervaded this time a week ago, that’s exactly how the last week has felt for investors: calm.