mike-cintolo

Mike Cintolo

Chief Investment Strategist and Chief Analyst, Cabot Growth Investor and Cabot Top Ten Trader

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A growth stock and market timing expert, Michael Cintolo is Chief Investment Strategist of Cabot Wealth Network and Chief Analyst of Cabot Growth Investor and Cabot Top Ten Trader. Since joining Cabot in 1999, Mike has uncovered exceptional growth stocks and helped to create new tools and rules for buying and selling stocks. Perhaps most notable was his development of the proprietary trend-following market timing system, Cabot Tides, which has helped Cabot place among the top handful of market-timing newsletters numerous times.

From this author

Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 27, 2023

The market held its own last week and we’re now even seeing the worst areas out there bounce as a bit of stability shows up in the banking sector. That said, on the charts, not much has changed—some growth stocks are acting resiliently but the broad market is still buried. We’re open to anything, including the scenario where an easier Fed combined with limited bank reverberations leads to a sustained advance. Right now, most of the market is hanging in there, but we need to see continued buying before changing our stance. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 5 today.

This week’s list is a bit broader with some turnaround situations out there. Out Top Pick is an old pandemic darling that, after crashing, has spent months bottoming out and is now perking up

March 27, 2023

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Free Videos

Video: The Resilience of the Nasdaq | Cabot Weekly Review

In this week’s video, Mike Cintolo talks about the market’s under-the-surface improvement that he’s seeing; no indicators have changed, which will need to happen for him to extend his line in a big way, but there’s no question most stuff has seen improvement and more stocks are beginning to act properly. Mike did a little buying this week and is hoping to add more should the market be able to build on the recent action.

March 24, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 24, 2023

This week has been another volatile and news-driven one, with some quiet trading Monday and Tuesday, wild action with the Fed and the Treasury Secretary’s commentary on Wednesday with another wild swing on Thursday (up, then back down) and some selling this morning. Interestingly, though, the major indexes haven’t moved much net-net—as of this morning, the S&P 500 is flat, the Nasdaq is up less than 1% and the broader indexes are off less than 1%.

March 24, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: March 23, 2023

The market has a split tape right now -- on one hand, the broad market is very weak, led lower by the horrid financial sector, but on the other hand, many growth indexes and individual stocks are hanging in there ... with some actually stretching higher. We’re certainly not going to ignore our market timing indicators (Cabot Tides and Two-Second Indicator are negative), but it’s hard to ignore the action in growth, either, especially after last year’s bear and lots of bottoming action. Thus, tonight, we’re adding two half-sized stakes in potential new leaders, but also holding a bit more than half the portfolio in cash.

Elsewhere in the issue, we write about the action of interest rates (likely longer-term positive) and the resilience of growth stocks, along with a full watch list and some new enticing ideas. All in all, we remain flexible, but are still mostly cautious given the evidence.

March 23, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 20, 2023

The market remains mostly weak and very news-driven, and because we’re not ones to catch falling knives, we continue to advise a cautious stance. The one meaningful ray of light we’re seeing is the resilience of big-cap indexes in general and many growth stocks in particular, including a bunch of recent Top Ten names—lots of growth titles are holding up in fine fashion, which isn’t normally something you see at the front-end of a sustained decline. That’s encouraging, though it doesn’t outweigh the other factors mentioned: All in all, we’ll keep our Market Monitor at a level 5, holding a good chunk of cash while we look for signs the buyers are stepping up.

As you’d expect, this week’s list is heavy on the growth side of the equation, though it also has some interest-rate sensitive names as well. Our Top Pick is a well-situated cybersecurity play that’s trading tightly despite the market’s shenanigans.

March 20, 2023

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Stock Market

The Secret to Moving Averages

Moving averages can provide excellent buy and sell signals when used properly, here are a few guidelines to help you improve your trading.

March 17, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 17, 2023

It’s been an interesting week, to say the least, so we’re going to start by telling you what we see and then move on to a few thoughts.

First and most importantly, from an evidence point of view, nothing much has changed from a week ago: The intermediate-term trend is pointed down, with most indexes well below their 50-day lines, and the broad market is still unhealthy, with a huge uptick in new lows since the bank maelstrom began last week.

March 17, 2023

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Growth Stocks

10 Rules for Growth Investing

These growth investing rules have been carefully selected as the most important guidelines a growth investor can use.

March 15, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

March 15, 2023

WHAT TO DO NOW: After cracking on an intermediate-term basis last week, the market has been unable to find its footing this week despite some steps to secure the banking system. It’s not 2008 out there, and in fact, many growth stocks we own and are watching are still holding up well, but there’s no doubt the selling pressures out there are intense and haven’t let up. Tonight, we’re going to sell one-third of what’s left of our ProShares S&P Fund (SSO) position and our half position in Las Vegas Sands (LVS), which will leave us a cash position of around 66%.

March 15, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 13, 2023

What was promising action two weeks ago got off to a bad start last week, but it was the late-week collapse in regional banks that caused the market to hit one giant air pocket. Clearly, at this point, the intermediate-term trend has turned down and the broad market is under a lot of pressure; we’re not in the business of catching falling knives, so we’re in the better-safe-than-sorry camp. That said, there are still many potential leaders in a variety of fields that are pulling back sharply, but normally—including some (like many from last weeks issue) that are hardly giving any ground at all. We’re moving our Market Monitor to a level 5—but also taking things on a stock-by-stock basis, which means giving some resilient names a chance.

This week’s list has a collection of mostly resilient names, with some steady actors but also a few true growth stories, too. Our Top Pick is a young upstart that’s higher risk, so keep positions small and look for weakness.

March 13, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

March 10, 2023

The market tried to find support today, but as the hours have passed things continue to open up on the downside, with sharp losses in the indexes (especially the broad market). After last night’s sales we have a good-sized cash position, and today we’re going to sell a bit more, dumping our position in Uber (UBER), which is our weakest remaining stock and whose breakout has failed. Our cash level will now be around 57%. Details below.

March 10, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 10, 2023

Last week’s improved vibes have quickly fallen by the wayside as the market got hit first by another round of hawkish Fed talk and then, more importantly, of fears that something is coming loose in the system—the failure of Silvergate (SI) was half expected, but the implosion and run on SVB Financial (SIVB) is sending shockwaves through the banking system.

March 10, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: March 9, 2023

The biggest story of the past few weeks has been the Fed’s renewed jawboning for higher-for-longer interest rates, with the Fed Chief even saying hikes could re-accelerate this month (0.5% instead of 0.25%, etc.) if economic data remains too hot. Indeed, since the start of February, Treasury rates have risen an average of three-quarters of a point or more, while futures are starting to price in another 1.25% of hikes this year, up from 0.5% expected just a month ago. Translation: A lot of rate-hike worry has been priced in during the past few weeks.

March 9, 2023

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Stock Market

Our Best Stock Market Timing Indicators

We’ve been using the following market timing indicators for decades, and they’ve served us quite well. Here’s how they work.

March 7, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 6, 2023

We can’t say the market is out of the woods, as some major indexes still have work to do (small caps were very weak today) and a couple of bad days could be damaging. But just going with what we see, it’s hard not to be encouraged about last week’s action—after a month of pulling back, no primary indicator flipped to negative, and among individual stocks, the vast majority retreated grudgingly before many took off on the upside in recent days. We’re not going to overreact to a day or two of action, but the fact that our screens are turning up many more high-potential names has us nudging our Market Monitor back up to a level 7—though, as always, we’ll see how it goes during this week’s gauntlet of economic reports.

This week’s list is chock-full of solid growth ideas, with a smattering of cyclical exposure as well. Our Top Pick is a growth name that just broke out from a two-year base after earnings.

March 6, 2023

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Free Videos

Video: More Good Than Bad in the Market | Cabot Weekly Review

In this week’s video, Mike Cintolo talks about the market’s under-the-surface improvement that he’s seeing; no indicators have changed, which will need to happen for him to extend his line in a big way, but there’s no question most stuff has seen improvement and more stocks are beginning to act properly. Mike did a little buying this week and is hoping to add more should the market be able to build on the recent action.

March 3, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 3, 2023

It’s been a relatively quiet week in the market, with the major indexes mostly up in the 1% range after this morning’s open, though the action has been news-driven as every economic report and Fed speech is picked over for clues to the path of interest rates.

March 3, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

March 2, 2023

WHAT TO DO NOW: The market remains in a pullback, with interest rate fears causing the indexes to slowly deflate. To this point, most indicators are still positive, though they’re leaning on the fence—yet there are many stocks and sectors that look ready to get going if the bulls can show up. All in all, we think how the Model Portfolio is situated (38% cash) makes sense here, though given the slippage, we will place ProShares S&P Fund (SSO) and Wingstop (WING) on Hold tonight. Details below.

March 2, 2023

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Stock Market

How to Handle Winning Stocks

Winning stocks are a great problem to have, and there are many ways to handle them, here are a few tips to help you manage your profits.

March 2, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: February 27, 2023

Last week was the worst week of the market’s recent retreat, and it’s fair to say many pieces of evidence are now at or approaching key levels: Most major indexes closed in on their 50-day lines, many individual potential leaders are in a similar boat, and both the broad market and the growth-vs.-defense dynamic are healthy but showing a bit of wear and tear. Ideally, this three-week dip leads to a resumption of the January rally—but the next few days should tell the tale. Right now, given the late-Friday firmness and today’s bounce, we’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 6, but we’re watching closely.

Despite the market action, we actually think this week’s list has a bit more juice than the prior couple of weeks. Our Top Pick looks like a fresh leader in the chip sector; it’s extended, so try to buy on a shakeout.

February 27, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 27, 2023

The market is testing key levels, as are many indicators, but today’s bounce is a small positive. Today’s bulletin is about Shift4 (FOUR), which cracked support on huge volume two weeks ago and hasn’t been able to bounce at all since. We’re going to sell one-third of our position today and see what earnings brings tomorrow. Our cash position will be around 38% after the sale.

February 27, 2023

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Free Videos

Video: The Market’s Ugly Week | Cabot Weekly Review

In this week’s video, Mike Cintolo talks about the market’s under-the-surface improvement that he’s seeing; no indicators have changed, which will need to happen for him to extend his line in a big way, but there’s no question most stuff has seen improvement and more stocks are beginning to act properly. Mike did a little buying this week and is hoping to add more should the market be able to build on the recent action.

February 24, 2023

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Stock Market

What Does Buy-on-Stop Mean?

A buy-on-stop is a trade order used to limit a loss or protect a profit. It’s a buy order held until the market price hits the stop price.

February 24, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

February 24, 2023

The holiday-shortened week picked up where last week ended—on the downside—and while yesterday showed a brief bump, the sellers have remained at it since. Following this morning’s inflation report, the major indexes are getting clobbered today, and for the week, are down in the 3% to 4% range.

February 24, 2023

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Early-Stage Stocks Investing

The Pros and Cons of Stop-Losses

Having a stop in place is a common tactic for investors, but whether to use a stop-loss order or a mental stop is an ongoing topic of debate.

February 24, 2023

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: February 23, 2023

A renewed bout of worry over how much tightening the Fed has left to do has taken the market lower over the past two weeks, taking most stocks down in the process. Even so, to this point, we’re looking at the pullback at tedious, yes, but also acceptable--all of the indicators that turned positive in January have taken on some water, but remain positive, as have the vast majority of potential leaders. We’re far from complacent, and if the weakness spreads, we’ll pare back, but we remain optimistic and are standing pat tonight.

Tonight’s issue is heavy on new ideas, including some enticing names in Other Stocks of Interest and two chip stocks that we’re very high on--both quack like fresh leaders, and it’s good to see the (growthy) chip sector itself act well, too. Bottom line, our antennae are up, but going with the evidence, we’re still leaning bullish, though also remaining flexible if something definitive changes.

February 23, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: February 21, 2023

Stop us if you’ve heard this scenario before: The market gets a head of steam going, but after some inflationary reports, the Fed begins to jawbone the market, which leads to the market giving up the ghost. That happened at least a couple of times in 2022, so our antennae are up given the recent inflation reports and some tough talk from Fedheads last week. That said, once again, the bottom line is that most of the key evidence is still bullish, so while we’re honoring stops and aren’t piling in here, but we’re also holding onto names that are acting normally. We will drop our Market Monitor down a notch (to a level 6) to respect the recent dip, but we’re most interested in how the market responds now that it’s down near support.

This week’s list again has something for everyone, with our Top Pick a well-situated firm that’s helping to lead a group move and just reacted well to earnings.

February 21, 2023

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Free Videos

Video: The Ongoing Pullback | Cabot Weekly Review

In this week’s video, Mike Cintolo talks about the market’s under-the-surface improvement that he’s seeing; no indicators have changed, which will need to happen for him to extend his line in a big way, but there’s no question most stuff has seen improvement and more stocks are beginning to act properly. Mike did a little buying this week and is hoping to add more should the market be able to build on the recent action.

February 17, 2023

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

February 17, 2023

The market got dealt some bad pieces of news this week—and by “bad” we mean higher-than-expected inflation and better-than-expected retail sales and jobless claims, which raise the prospects of more aggressive Fed tightening. That’s led to some selling yesterday and again this morning.

February 17, 2023

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Growth Stocks

Are Signs Pointing to a New Bull Market?

The markets have had a strong start to 2023, and while sentiment among many remains bearish, could we be seeing signs of a new bull market emerging?

February 17, 2023

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