The new year is off to a good start, with stocks across the board showing true signs of momentum and very few still in the doldrums. Several of our Stock of the Week positions, in fact, are hitting either all-time highs or 52-week highs! But just in case this is yet another bear market rally, today we’re covering our bases by adding a big, well-known bank trading at bargain prices. It’s a longtime recommendation from Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor Chief Analyst Bruce Kaser – and one that Bruce says has more than 60% upside.

We finally added our Dogs (and Small Dogs) of the Dow portfolio to the mix! As it stands, we have five portfolios in the Fundamentals service, three passive portfolios and two active. While our passive portfolios are fully up and running, we still need to add several more positions to our active portfolios to get them fully situated.

The market raced higher again last week and is now officially in a short-term overbought state. In fact, all of the major indices stand in a short-term overbought state. Historically, this type of situation leads to a mean-reversion event, but if we are indeed in a “new” bullish market environment, an overbought state can lead to extended moves. It’s always the transitions from high to low IV environments or vice versa that give high-probability spreads challenges. And while our positions are okay at the moment, another round of bullishness over the next week or two will force us to make either an adjustment or simply take off our trades for a small loss. Of course, I’m also still looking to add a position or two to the mix, but I don’t want to lean too heavily in one direction.

Our BITO and KO are all due to expire this week. I will allow our BITO calls to carry through expiration, but plan to buy back our KO puts and immediately sell more puts, thereby collecting more premium for our position in KO.

Surprisingly, if BITO does close above our 11.5 strike at expiration this week, we should see a nice overall profit in the position. I’m not sure many can say they’ve been able to scratch and claw a profit out of BITO, especially when you consider we took on the position back in early June when BITO was trading for around $18. Again, another reason why premium selling should be an integral part of everyone’s investment plan.

Last week we entered our first trade of the earnings season. Last Friday, JPM announced earnings, and the stock immediately pushed lower after the release. The stock opened at 135 and tested the short 133 put of our iron condor. As a result, we decided to exit the one-day trade for just over 4%, not too bad for a one-day gain. Of course, JPM continued to trade higher, giving those that decided to hold on to the trade a little longer the opportunity to take the trade off the table for roughly double the return.

Very impressively, the rally that started late in 2022 continued last week, as the S&P 500 gained 2.7%, the Dow rose 1.8%, and the Nasdaq tacked on another 4.5% of gains.

Very impressively, the rally that started late in 2022 continued last week, as the S&P 500 gained 2.7%, the Dow rose 1.8%, and the Nasdaq tacked on another 4.5% of gains.

The market is ending the year a lot like it began it -- by going down, led mostly by growth stocks, and that’s keeping us defensive. We do think better times are ahead, and we even saw a positive broad market divergence this week as the Nasdaq retested its lows. But as has been the case all year, we’ll refrain from any major buying until the buyers truly show up.

Tonight’s issue talks about some puke action from individual investors (a good thing) and the fact that, after this bear ends, the market is likely set to resume its advance (not a long-term top), plus we fine tune our watch list (one name broke out today) and dive into some potential leaders, too.

Last but not least, all of us here wish you and yours a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023. Cheers to better times ahead!

As we move into 2023, Explorer stocks are performing well as volatility is muted. My goal is to seek a balance between conservative and aggressive ideas so that you can select a blend that is appropriate for your circumstances and goals. I believe at some point in the first half of this year, markets will turn upward as more reasonable valuations will reignite investor interest. Today we return to a synthetic graphite idea that was a profitable trade about a year ago.

Welcome to our first annual TOP PICKS issue! For this month, I asked the Cabot analysts to give me a couple of their top picks for 2023. I think you will find they have produced a nice selection of companies in diverse sectors. And just as I did in my previous newsletter, Wall Street’s Best Stocks, I’ll keep track of their picks and let you know how they fare.

Today, I’m recommending a biotech company.

Key points:

· I expect a dividend within 15 months representing 126% of its market cap.
· Asymmetric upside potential beyond the upcoming dividend.
· High insider ownership and insider buying.

All the details are inside this month’s Issue. Enjoy!

Sure, it was a tough year for stocks. But 2022 was the worst year ever recorded for bonds.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury lost more than 15% in 2022, the worst calendar year performance ever recorded since it started being tracked in the 1920s. The 10-year + Treasury Bond Index lost 29.45% for the year, also the worst performance on record.

But the disastrous year creates an opportunity. Last year seems to have squeezed many years of poor performance into one. Now bonds actually pay decent interest again. And every negative year for bonds ever recorded has been followed by a year of positive returns.

In this issue, I highlight a long-term corporate bond fund. It allows access to some of the highest yielding investment grade bonds in the last 15 years while also providing a monthly income. The fund is very likely to have a positive total return for the year, and perhaps very positive, at a time when the stock market is highly uncertain.

Markets reacted well to yesterday’s inflation data that showed evidence of cooling as the economic recovery continued amid pandemic-related strained supply chains and signs that the recent rise in Covid-19 infections is starting to slow some business activity.

With economic data pouring in amid a slew of earnings reports there is a lot going on out there. The resulting stock price movements often drive a combination of heartache and exhilaration, and that has certainly been the case for us over the last two weeks.

The S&P 500 is at a new all-time high. While the market hasn’t been exciting compared to earlier this year, it’s clearly moving the right way.

Most of our stocks continue to build bases, so I remain patient, waiting for a renewed advance by the sector. The standout stock in our portfolio is Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR), which broke out to a new high last week after a great report.

One change to our ratings this week – We’re buying Aptiv (APTV) after spending some weeks on “watch.”

Just reading those words, “climate change,” is almost certain to light up emotions. Regardless of one’s opinions on the degree of urgency and which of a very wide range of proposed policies and actions should be taken, how could words about the end of the world as we know it not ignite emotions?

Today’s note includes earnings updates on 11 companies and the podcast. On Thursday, we moved shares of Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation (OCSL) from Buy to Sell.

Stocks enjoyed a good rally today, with growth stocks in the lead—at day’s end, the Dow was up 271 points while the Nasdaq lifted 115 points. Not much has changed with the overall environment over the past week. From a top-down point of view, things remain mostly choppy and challenging, with our Cabot Tides remaining effectively neutral, relatively few stocks hitting new highs (though there has been a bit of improvement of late) and even growth-oriented indexes (IWO, IVOG, ARKK) mostly stuck in the mud.

The earnings extravaganza is in full swing. It’s the peak of the season that marks the peak earnings growth of this extraordinary recovery. And the market is sort of yawning it off. Part of the issue is summer malaise. People just tend to focus more on enjoying the waning days of summer than stocks this time of year. But it also may be that this quarter just isn’t as important one might expect.

According to Detrick, “The S&P 500 is up 17.02% YTD at the end of July. Since WWII, this has happened only 12 other times and the rest of the year was higher 11 times. The only time it didn’t work was ’87, but it was up 32% YTD right now (stretched rubber band).” In other words, stocks in motion tend to stay in motion. While I don’t make investment decisions based on these data points, I do find them to be helpful to give me context for what the broader market is likely to do.

It’s a crazy earnings season that the market is treating like a boring one. The second quarter marked the near-full opening up of the economy after the pandemic. It is compared to last year’s second quarter when the economy crashed amidst the lockdowns. Analysts are expecting average earnings growth of 74% for S&P 500 companies, one of the highest quarterly growth rates ever recorded. So far, earnings are exceeding those expectations. And the market is yawning it off. Stocks are doing the same thing as before earnings, trending slightly higher in an up and down fashion. What’s going on?

This computer company is getting ready for a big spin-off which should boost its shares.

Goosehead Insurance (GSHD) reported after the close yesterday that Q1 revenue rose by 53% to $31.2 million (beating by $2.5 million) and adjusted EPS rose to $0.03 from $0.01 in the year-ago quarter (missing by $0.03). That pace of revenue growth was up from 48% in the quarter ended December 31, and well above the 13% revenue growth rate reported in the year-ago quarter.

This closed-end fund has a current annual dividend yield of 5.46%, paid quarterly.

Our first idea is an automotive component company that is forecasted to grow at a 20% annual rate over the next five years, and has a current annual dividend yield of 2.04%, paid quarterly. Our second recommendation is a sale of a previous pick.

This dynamic company has changed the way that sound is amplified in our homes and automobiles. Analysts expect it to grow earnings at an annual rate of 26.6% over the next five years.

Our first idea is an industrial company that makes a wide range of consumer, commercial, and industrial products and has a current annual dividend yield of 2.93%, paid quarterly. Our second recommendation is some profit-taking on a previous pick.

This furniture maker had a great quarter, beating analysts’ EPS estimates of $0.58, and bringing home earnings of $1.37 per share. Revenues were up 40.7%, coming in at $129.7 million, handily surpassing estimates of $116.1 million.

This healthcare IT company beat analysts’ estimates by $0.04 last quarter.

Today, for a change, I’ll cover the news first, and the investing advice second. In Illinois, marijuana taxes exceeded alcohol taxes in the first three months of 2021. Marijuana tax revenue amounted to $86,537,000 while alcohol taxes brought in $72,281,000. I expect the gap to widen from here and there’s no question other states have taken note.

This financial company beat analysts’ earnings by $0.03 last quarter.

A few Cabot Options Trader subscribers have asked me about ways to protect gains in their portfolios, so I thought I would write to everyone with a couple of strategies using options to hedge your portfolio.

A subscriber recently asked me if I keep a journal of my trades. Many traders keep journals so they can look back at their trades and evaluate what they did right and what they did wrong.

Want to know how the big institutional investors use options? Here is an example of how one trader spent $132 million on three technology stocks.

Options trading has its own vernacular. To know how to do it, you need to know what every options term means. Here are some of the basics.

Our Cabot Momentum 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 Momentum Trader features.