October proved to be a challenging month for stocks, but one good thing came out of it—it helped me identify stocks that investors really want to own!

The recent bounce in emerging market stocks has raised hopes that the end might be near for the powerful correction that has hit EM stocks so hard. That may be the case, although the only sure way to tell is to watch the market’s action tomorrow and through the rest of earnings season and beyond. We’re certainly not going to do any predicting, just telling you what to do based on the action we see. The next few weeks will see quarterly reports from four of our stocks, and will also give us a sense of what the future leadership among emerging-market stocks will look like. In today’s issue, we have a South African company that’s becoming a global player in a software niche.

October has been a challenging month for many investors, but dividend stocks and income investments have been a rare safe haven. After a few sells last week, our portfolio is looking ready for whatever November throws at us. So far, investors are optimistic about turning the calendar page: the market managed to rally yesterday and then opened higher today.
However, we’re not out of the woods yet, and as always, I recommend sticking with what’s working. That’s why today I’m adding another conservative consumer staples stock to the Safe Income tier, which I expect to provide us with a secure income stream for a long time.
Read the whole issue for the story, plus earnings updates on many of our holdings, and a look into why REITs have been doing so well recently.

After six consecutive weeks down, the market has generally given up all its gains for the year; taking profits when they were there was definitely wise. But this week the market is up—so far—and I’m watching carefully to see which of our stocks bounce like tennis balls—and which bounce like eggs. The best tennis balls can still be your road to profits.

Overall, though, the climate is definitely unsupportive, and thus a defensive stance, including plenty of cash, is warranted.

Current Market Outlook


Stocks had another punishing week, with all the major indexes off at least 3% and many individual stocks doing much worse than that. Yes, the market remains stretched to the downside, with numerous oversold-type readings and some measures of sentiment that are showing greater caution. But at this point, any bounces have lasted just hours, and the intermediate-term trend remains firmly down (the major indexes are also below all longer-term moving averages), so we advise waiting patiently for the bulls to offer support; our Market Monitor drops to a level 3 in today’s issue. The ray of light is that, as earnings season has progressed, we’re beginning to see some solid reactions, often from names that didn’t do much in the last uptrend. These are names to keep an eye on for potential leadership down the road.

This week’s Top Ten has the first batch of earnings winners and other resilient stocks showing some big-volume accumulation. Our Top Pick is Tractor Supply (TSCO), a steady company that’s found excellent earnings-induced support, even hitting a new high today. If you want in, aim to nibble on weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (ACAD)	47.84	20-21.5	18.3-19.2
Burlington Stores (BURL)	193.95	164-168	151-153
Cadence Design (CDNS)	42.95	43-45	40-41
Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC)	89.83	71-73	67.5-69.5
Mellanox Technologies (MLNX)	92.00	79-81	74-75
MongoDB (MDB)	156.56	72-75	64-67
PayPal (PYPL)	147.00	79-82	74-75
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	325-340	290-298
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO)	122.24	90-93	82-84
Xilinx (XLNX)	134.50	76-79	70-72

Hopefully, you took some profits last week as I advised. It’s been a rough week since then, but it wasn’t unexpected. The well-publicized legalization day in Canada was exactly the type of event that often accompanies market tops.

Of course, it’s not just the marijuana stocks that have been sinking; the broad stock market is trending down as well.

But have no fear! The key to successful investing in this sector is to hold cash when the environment is against you, and to invest in great growth companies when trends are positive, and to take partial profits—as we did last week—when stocks get frothy.

The market’s downturn continues, with the trends of the major indexes and most growth stocks clearly down. Our longer-term Cabot Trend Lines even turned negative last Friday, reinforcing the view that the sellers are in control.

The market decline of the past month has turned Cabot’s long-term trend-following indicator negative (after 30 months on the positive side), so it’s time to recognize that the tide is now going out. Defense is now a major part of the game.

For value-focused investors, this year’s prologue has been a welcome change from the turmoil experienced in early 2025.

In just the past few weeks, some of last year’s most ignored or underappreciated laggards have posted outsized gains, with rallies that have made even momentum-driven tech stock traders envious. Even more remarkable is the fact that much of that strength has been concentrated in ultra-defensive areas of the market like consumer staples, utilities and healthcare.

The market rotation continues to be the main story out there this week, though rumblings of a potential strike on Iran, an update from the January FOMC meeting, and a slew of earnings reports and economic data releases have been giving investors plenty to think about.

In terms of the rotation, the equal‑weight S&P 500 ETF (RSP) is up 5.5% so far this year, illustrating that leadership is broadening beyond the narrow group of mega‑cap stocks that drove much of last year’s performance.

Year to date, the S&P 600 SmallCap Index is up 8.3% and the S&P 400 Mid‑Cap Index is up 7.9%. Both are comfortably outperforming the S&P 500, which is up just 0.1%, and the Nasdaq, which is down 2.1%.

Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the horse is upon us.

China is expecting an incredible 9.5 billion trips to be made during the 40-day Lunar New Year travel period. Chinese automakers are also on the move as the country’s numerous brands sold nearly 200,000 vehicles in Britain last year, doubling their market share to almost 10%.

As U.S. investors have shifted from risk-on to risk-off mode in recent months, a clear disparity between the “haves” and the “have-nots” has materialized.

Let’s start with the “have-nots.” Financials have fared the worst so far this year (-4.7%), followed by technology (-3.1%), communication services and consumer discretionary (-2.8% each). The downturn in the two tech-related sectors in particular is a stark departure from recent years, when technology led the charge of the current bull market.

Cyclical stocks are soaring and technology is floundering in the transformed market.

The bull market is turned upside down. For most of the first three years, technology, and particularly AI stocks, soared while most other stocks did very little. Now, previously meandering stocks are killing it while technology sinks.

Strong fourth-quarter earnings are confirming what the market was already doing.

Current estimates based on earnings reported so far are for 13.2% overall S&P earnings growth for the quarter. It’s a solid quarter and the fifth straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth. In terms of sector performance, cyclical companies are killing it, and technology is floundering, just like before earnings.

Like many coffee aficionados, I have something of a love/hate relationship with Starbucks (SBUX). My main gripe is that the company’s food and beverage offerings have always been pricey compared to the fare served in most fast-food restaurants and run-of-the-mill coffee houses.

The outperformance of small caps continues.

Through Tuesday’s close, the S&P 600 is up 10% year to date versus just 1.6% for the S&P 500.

All but three small-cap sectors are outperforming their large-cap counterpart. The strongest small-cap sectors are materials (+20%), energy (+23%), industrials (+17%), and tech (+11.4%).

Let’s talk about the power of staying invested.

Sure, when the market turns south – and I’m not even sure last week’s mini-dip qualifies – it makes sense to pare back on your weakest stocks and put a larger portion of your portfolio in cash. But taking your ball and going home – selling out of all of your stocks when times are tough – is not a winning strategy. Here’s why.

NOTE: We’re sending this a day early as I’m soon to embark on a trip with the kiddos over the next week. I will be working a good amount from the road, though, and will have updates if need be. Also, next week’s issue will be published as scheduled.

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WHAT TO DO NOW: The market remains very mixed, with growth measures still generally pointed sideways to down, while the broad market remains in solid shape. What’s interesting, though, is that we’re seeing more growth stocks kick into gear, along with some huge buying action in a few “cyclical growth” names. Tonight we’re making one move—adding a half-sized stake in Macom Tech (MTSI)—but are keeping our eyes open for a broader character change among growth stocks. Our cash position will be around 53%.

Today could be a big day for cannabis stocks.

The reason: We may get an important update on the rescheduling timeline.

Cannabis investors will be watching closely today to see whether Attorney General Pam Bondi offers a rescheduling update when she appears before the House Judiciary Committee. Upbeat comments could spark a sharp cannabis sector rally. The hearing starts at 10 a.m. EST.

I’m excited to share a couple of enhancements to Cabot Early Opportunities —improvements designed to sharpen our focus and better help you stay on top of the stocks we own.

The top three sectors in this fund are Technology (40.39% of assets), Financial Services (15.27%), and Consumer Cyclicals (11.47%).

After Madison Square Garden and Brink’s this fund’s next three largest holdings include: Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B (FOX, 8.36%); S&P500 Emini Fut Sep17 Esu7, 6.18%) and Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG, 4.81%).

I want to point out a problem that I foresee, potentially on the scale of the technology bubble in 2001 and the housing bubble in 2007. I think we’re going to have an “inverse ETF bubble.”

Wall Street is expecting double-digit growth from this beverage company over the next five years, and the shares were just initiated at Macquarie, with an ‘Outperform’ ranking.

Two of our stocks are closing in on price targets, plus a list of great stocks to buy today.

I’m pleased to introduce myself as the new chief analyst of Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Investor. I look forward to serving you with the best value stock recommendations to help you reach your investing goals. But first, let me tell you a bit about myself and my investing philosophy.

Our first idea is an income-property owner whose shares recently crossed above their 50-day moving average—a bullish indicator. Our second recommendation is a sale of a financial company.

Our second recommendation is a sale of a financial company.

One of our stocks has reached medium-term upside price resistance, and tips on how to trade another.

The top five holdings of this ETF are Itau Unibanco Holding SA ADR (ITUB.SA, 9.00% of assets); Vale SA ADR (VALE.SA, 7.56%); Bank Bradesco SA ADR (BBD.SA, 7.09%); Ambev SA ADR (ABEV.SA, 6.00%) and America Movil SAB de CV Class L (AMXVF.MX, 4.89%).

Our first idea is a healthcare company that is expected to grow at double-digit rates for the next five years. For the second recommendation, we’re taking some money off the table.

Our first idea is a healthcare company that is expected to grow at double-digit rates for the next five years. For the second recommendation, we’re taking some money off the table.

Our Cabot Top Ten Trader’s market timing system consists of two parts—one based on the action of three select, growth-oriented market indexes, and the other based on the action of the fast-moving stocks Cabot Top Ten features.