Last week all the major indices took a small step back. The S&P 500 lost
1.69%, the Dow fell 2.15%, and the Nasdaq declined 1.61%.



The headlines say the 5-day pullback was the largest for the S&P 500 since February. But considering that the streak of over 230 days without a 5% pullback is still in play, the short-term bearish stretch last week was minimal.



And even with the slight pullback last week, my sentiment has not changed. I remain
“cautiously optimistic” until I see market action that changes my mind.



Of course, if we see further continuation of the recent bearish trend, I might begin to shift my outlook. But a week doesn’t make a trend, and again we must remember we are only a few percentage points from all-time highs.

The bull market remains intact, so I continue to recommend that you be heavily invested in stocks that help achieve your investing goals.
Today’s featured stock is a small company that’s growing fast and that has huge growth potential as the market for intelligent vision systems booms.
As for the current portfolio, most of our stocks look good, and many are hitting new highs, but I have two sells, Supreme Brands (SPB) and Trulieve (TCNNF).


Details inside.

Current Market Outlook


During the last couple of weeks of August, more stocks, sectors and indexes were getting in gear, which was a change from the past few months of whippy crosscurrents. But as September has progressed, it looks like we’re still in the same overall environment—growth stocks, indexes and funds have again taken hits while some cyclical/value areas have perked up. That’s not necessarily a negative (at least to this point); as we wrote last week, some retrenchment among extended growth stocks was half-expected, and even if it wasn’t, the action is more a confirmation that the choppy environment is still intact, not that the sellers are truly taking control. Long story short, we’re still sticking with the same game plan as the evidence remains unchanged—we’re more bullish than not, but booking partial profits into strength, raising stops as things head higher and aiming to enter on dips is the right way to go.

This week’s list is lighter on growth stocks than in recent weeks, reflecting some of the dents they’re taking, but there are many other names that look to be resuming their advances. Our Top Pick is Antero Resources (AR), which looks like the best play in the natural gas space. Aim to enter on dips.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Antero Resources (AR)	17	15.4-16.1	13.8-14.2
Celsius Holdings (CELH)	87	84-88	73.5-75.5
DOCN (DOCN)	76	69-73	58-60
ICU Medical (ICUI)	240	233-243	215-220
Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR)	228	222-230	209-212
MongoDB (MDB)	485	460-475	408-420
Pure Storage (PSTG)	26	25-26	22.5-23
SBLK (SBLK)	24	23-24.5	19.5-20.5
Teck Resources Limited (TECK)	25	23.5-24.5	21.5-22
Varonis Systems (VRNS)	68	65.5-68	59-60

Growth stocks have gotten off a bit of a sour start in September, with a couple of leaders cracking near-term support and a few collapsing completely. That tells us the tricky environment remains in effect ... and yet, we don’t think the action is bad at all. Indeed, most growth stocks remain in good shape, and frankly a further pullback should offer up some high-odds entry points.

Tonight, though, we’re standing pat with our 32% cash position after selling one stock earlier this week.

Markets are facing end-of-the-summer doldrums as concerns about job and Covid growth dampen enthusiasm. We move two stocks from buy to hold, while on the positive side, Cloudflare (NET) shares are up 73% this year and Novonix (NVNXF) shares are up 58% in the last 10 days of trading. Today we have a new semiconductor-related idea for you in an area usually overlooked by investors.

Here is your September Wall Street’s Best Digest, issue 845.

Thank you to all who attended our Cabot Wealth Summit last month. It was an information-packed few days, with lots of new ideas shared by all of our analysts. We hope next year we can resume our in-person meetings, as we miss seeing you!



Despite COVID’s resurgence, the markets are holding up surprisingly well. The economy is still strong, housing is robust, but businesses need employees. The unemployment rate for August fell to 5.2%, but new jobs added were much less than anticipated. Once those numbers improve, and COVID recedes, we should be in for an even stronger economy. And that’s great news for the markets!



In this issue, our Spotlight Stock revisits an old favorite of mine—a net-lease REIT that has boosted its dividend for 31 consecutive years! In my Feature article, I discuss all the reasons why this stock has been a perennial winner.



In our Growth section, you’ll find a lot of familiar names, including companies in the retail, hospitality, and communications realms, as well as a couple of newer ones in the fast food franchising, and electric vehicle charging arenas. There are a lot of great names to choose from in Growth & Income, including many industrial-related companies, as well as a home products and chemical manufacturer.



Our Financial offerings include a bank and a money exchange company. And in Healthcare, you’ll find options in biopharma, equipment, and 3-D. And speaking of 3-D, our contributors for technology stocks include one of those companies, as well as a semiconductor, cloud, and two payments businesses.



Resources, Energy, and Utilities continue to be popular fields, as our advisors offer several utilities and midstream energy companies here. Our Low-Priced Stocks are in two relatively new arenas—carbon credits and lab-grown gems. And in Preferred Stocks, High Yield, & REITs, you’ll find a couple of investment/capital corporations.



Lastly, our Funds & ETFs provide a variety of ideas, including cryptocurrency, consumer staples, alternative energy, and water sustainability.



Don’t forget to tune into my monthly Platinum Club webinars. Our October program is scheduled for October 6, at 2pm Eastern. And as always, please don’t hesitate to email me with your feedback and questions. My address is nancy@cabotwealth.com.

Today, we are recommending a small Canadian specialty pharma company that checks all the boxes of what we typically look for:

• High insider ownership (insiders own ~41% of shares outstanding)
• Recent insider buying (insiders bought as recently as August 21)
• Strong momentum (stock is near 52 week high)
• Low valuation (P/E of 5.2x)
• Low share count (only 26MM shares outstanding)
• Strong revenue growth potential (promising pipeline)
• No debt (29% of market cap is in cash)

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

It’s still an amazing market. The S&P is up 96% from the bear market low in March of 2020. The index is also up over 20% so far this year.

While the overall market may be pricey, there are still undervalued pockets within the market. The indexes don’t tell the whole story. Even in a market like this, some stocks get neglected.



The yield curve has flattened and two stocks in the portfolio, AGNC and USB, have pulled back as a result. I believe this interest rate dynamic is temporary and these stocks are good buys ahead of a likely reversal.

Ahead of the long holiday weekend, it was a mixed bag last week as the S&P 500 rose 0.58%, the Dow lost 0.25%, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.55%.



This week traders will keep a close eye on inflation as the Labor Department releases its August index of U.S. wholesale prices, otherwise known as the producer price index. The market is estimating an increase of 0.5%, after 1% increases in June and July. July witnessed a 7.8% increase year over year, which was the largest bump in over a decade. Another spike would not bode well for the overall market, so I will be keeping an eye on the release and its impact on price action.



With that in mind, and always an eye on diversification, this week’s pick is a steel and iron enterprise company.

Current Market Outlook


We traded in our crystal ball years ago, especially when it comes to short-term predictions, but our screens over the weekend told a clear tale: While it’s not 1999 out there, many growth stocks and indexes have enjoyed good moves of late, and when you combine that with some signs of complacency, a retrenchment looks possible. (Today, in fact, might be the start of that, as many growth stocks were hit.) Still, this isn’t some grand market call—overall, the environment remains the same, with some divergent and rotational action, but also more and more names acting well—but our point is more to make sure you’re still sticking with great-looking stocks at decent entry points, as opposed to chasing things higher. We’ll leave our Market Monitor unchanged this week.

This week’s list has a bunch of strong names thanks to recent earnings reports and other news items. Our Top Pick is Ambarella (AMBA), which staged a massive blastoff on earnings—we’re OK starting small here or on dips.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO)	45	43-46	38-39
Ambarella (AMBA)	136	132-138	112-115
Asana Inc. (ASAN)	95	88-92.5	75-78
Avalara (AVLR)	188	180-185	164-167
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)	1895	1850-1900	1700-1760
Floor & Décor (FND)	125	122-126	110-112
Macy’s, Inc. (M)	22	21-22	18.5-19
Nutanix (NTNX)	44	41.5-44	36.5-37.5
Quanta Services (PWR)	115	109-113	97.5-99.5
TX (TX)	54	51.5-53.5	46.5-47.5

There are three changes to the portfolio today.

Prepare yourself for more ups and downs in our medtech & biotech stocks if this debate heats up. I’m not planning to step out of the space since I think this will pass and we can still do quite well with these types of stocks.

The overall market remains in good shape, with both of our trend-following indicators—the Cabot Tides (intermediate-term) and Cabot Trend Lines (longer-term)—currently pointing up. We’re still keeping an eye on small-cap indexes, which have still not eclipsed their late February peaks, as well as the Nasdaq, which has found repeated resistance near 8,000. But overall, there’s no question that the trends are up.

The new all time high is a significant milestone. Although the S&P 500 hasn’t hit new highs quite yet it is only just about .01% from the mark. The new high is significant because it negates any possibility that we have been in a bear market since September, when the previous high was established.

We have obviously lived through a very difficult period in the stock market recently, from which most of the portfolio stocks are recovering or have already recovered. Hopefully we will not see another similarly ugly stock market downturn for several years, but there are no guarantees.

Small-cap discretionary, energy, financials, industrials, technology and materials are all moving higher. That’s a healthy mix, and it’s helped push the S&P 600 Small Cap Index back up near overhead resistance.

As we enter the second quarter, emerging markets are on solid footing in a constructive uptrend as EEM remains just above both 50-day and 25-day moving averages. In light of this we are positive and increasing our allocation.

The tide is changing. The recent perception was that of sputtering economic growth in a market that was panicking about the possibility of a near-term recession. Many of our defensive positions have gone gangbusters in the past turbulent year but I’ll be watching the situation closely but for now I will bow to strong momentum.

You may have noticed that the price of West Texas crude oil is up about 48% since it bottomed in late December.

The overall market is still in fine shape, but there have been a growing number of yellow flags, including among growth stocks, which came under fire today. As a result, we are selling one position from the portfolio and downgrading another to Hold.

To follow up on last Thursday’s issue that highlighted the worsening China virus, I believe it is appropriate for us to hedge China risk and volatility with an inverse China exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Three quarters of earning’s beats and solid revenue growth are pushing this consulting stock higher.

Crista has updates on several portfolio stocks.

The fund pays a current annual dividend yield of 9.83%, paid monthly.

Our second recommendation is a sale of a company that proved to be a disappointment.

Let’s talk about a specific category of stocks that I like to buy after they fall from grace. These are famous stocks that don’t fall very often, but when they do, I like to snap them up because they’re almost always destined to rebound. And it just hit me: these are MOVIE STAR STOCKS.

Our second recommendation is a short sale of a stock that is facing increasing competition.

Our first idea today is a medical device company who recently saw coverage of its shares initiated at Roth Capital with a ‘Buy’ rating.

The stocks in are our portfolio are gradually looking healthier, as bargain hunters invest more carefully, focusing on the stocks with the best prospects for real revenue growth and real earnings.

The shares of this low-cost airline company were recently upgraded by Vertical Research and Buckingham, to ‘Buy’.

This mortgage insurer has beaten analysts’ EPS estimates for the last four quarters, topping last quarter’s forecasts by eight cents.

This specialty chemical company is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 13.2% over the next five years.

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.