The introduction features a few international trade issues, including disputes about international court systems within NAFTA and CETA, and a potential sunset clause in NAFTA. I’d go on to itemize which steel companies might benefit or be harmed by the latest round of steel tariffs, but I frankly believe that last week’s newest steel tariffs are simply a temporary negotiating ploy pertaining to NAFTA. Therefore, I thought it might be more useful to discuss what’s currently happening with NAFTA negotiations.

Current Market Outlook


While the action of most major indexes wasn’t overwhelmingly positive last week (the S&P 500 was up about 0.5%), there was a bunch of constructive action—the major indexes shook off three big worries (Italian and Spanish political uncertainties and new tariff threats) and some pushed above near-term resistance, with growth-oriented stocks leading the way. There are still many potential potholes out there, including divergences (and overhead) in the major indexes and investor sentiment that’s a bit complacent. However, the primary evidence (trends of the indexes and price/volume action of leading stocks) continues to improve. We’re bumping our Market Monitor up a couple of notches into bullish territory and, while you shouldn’t force it, you can look to take a more positive stance going forward.

This week’s list has a ton of growth-y stories, and even those that have more sturdy stories have recently staged excellent breakouts. Our Top Pick is GDS Holdings (GDS), a smaller Chinese firm with an excellent story. The recent pullback looks like a decent entry point.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Alibaba (BABA)	254.81	202-210	188-192
Align Technology (ALGN)	316.20	324-334	295-300
Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS)	46.21	40-42	36.5-38
Cheniere Energy (LNG)	63.82	63-66	58-59.5
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)	773.32	430-445	410-416
GDS Holdings Limited (GDS)	80.15	36.5-39.5	32-34
Keysight Technologies, Inc. (KEYS)	97.20	58-60	54-55
Loxo Oncology (LOXO)	186.59	178-186	155-159
Novocure (NVCR)	0.00	28-30	25.5-26.5
Tiffany & Co. (TIF)	132.10	127-131	116-119

While thinking about how to frame this month’s small-cap opportunity I was hit by the memory of a Ted Talk I heard last winter. The talk features organizational psychologist Adam Grant describing what he calls “originals”—thinkers who dream up new ideas and then do what it takes to put them into action.

Emerging market stocks aren’t doing all that well, but Chinese ADRs are showing considerable strength. That’s the bad-news/good-news summary of today’s commentary. And the theme continues in today’s issue, where we’re adding a stock that has been on a breakout run since the middle of May. Our timing wasn’t right when we took our first position in the stock in late 2017, but the recent rally is offering us a second chance, if we can get the timing right. For the tantalizing details, read on!

The market has gotten “exciting” again, for better or worse. In today’s issue we’re making lemonade from lemons, adding a medical REIT to the high yield tier.

Over the past few weeks, the market has given us a bunch of presents—and now the market is trying to take some of our presents away. But this should come as no surprise. The only “surprise” is what excuse the media finds to pin the blame on, whether it’s China or Russia or Italy or interest rates or Trump or simply an economy that’s too good to last.
I’ll leave the finger-pointing to someone else. Instead, I’ll keep picking high-potential stocks and managing the portfolio to maximize gain and minimize risk.

Current Market Outlook


There’s been a bunch of news during the past few trading days, including this morning’s revelation that a likely autumn Italian election could threaten the euro, as well as continued China trade shenanigans, both of which attracted sellers. Today’s move did put a dent in a couple of indexes—the NYSE Composite’s intermediate-term green light went up in smoke, for instance—but the other indexes continue to hold most of their early May gains. Much more selling from here could put a fork in this rally, so our antennae are up. But right here, we are still leaning bullish though we are knocking our Market Monitor down a notch. Thus, continue to hold your resilient performers, but don’t forget to take some partial profits when you have them and hold some cash until the buyers truly take control.

This week’s list has an array of ideas from various corners of the market. Our Top Pick is Carpenter Technologies (CRS), a specialty metals firm with huge earnings estimates and whose stock is hitting new highs.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Carpenter Technology (CRS)	53.25	56.5-58.5	51-53
Foundation Medicine (FMI)	136.68	88-92	80-82
iQIYI (IQ)	0.00	21.5-22.5	19-19.5
Lululemon Athletica (LULU)	304.69	100-104	93-96
Macy’s, Inc. (M)	36.36	33-35	30-31
Micron Technology, Inc. (MU)	43.31	59-62	52-54
PBF Energy (PBF)	38.93	42-45	38-39.5
Turtle Beach (HEAR)	26.70	14.5-17	11-12.5
WTW (WTW)	100.47	76.5-79.5	70-72
ZTO Express (ZTO)	28.84	19.5-21	17.5-18.2

Here is your summer issue of Cabot’s 10 Best Marijuana Stocks, with updates on the industry as a whole as well as all the important fundamental developments regarding the stocks in the portfolio.

In general, I remain very bullish on the marijuana sector long-term. I’m impressed by both the creativity demonstrated by the management of these companies, and the appetite for investment in the sector, by both individual investors and private equity. The future is bright.

What a difference a month can make! What an April! The S&P rose 9.6% in April, making it the best single month for the market in six years. It hit an all-time high on Friday.

Sure, the war isn’t over. But the market doesn’t really seem to regard it as a war anymore, more like a blockade situation with the possibility of some skirmishes. While there is still headline risk, investors have moved beyond this war and are focusing on earnings. And for good reasons.

The results are in for the month of April. It was fabulous. The S&P rose 9.6%, making it the best single month for the market in six years. It hit an all-time high on Friday.

Sure, the war isn’t over. But the market doesn’t really seem to regard it as a war anymore, more like a blockade situation with the possibility of minor skirmishes. While there is still headline risk, investors have moved beyond this war and are focusing on earnings.

Now before you call me crazy concerning today’s newsletter headline, hear me out.

Even though large-cap names have garnered more than a fair share of attention among investors this year, I think a case can be made that companies with big capitalizations have a lot more room to run higher before they can be truly regarded as “overbought” or “played out.”

The market is digesting the push and pull of higher oil prices, a deeply divided Federal Reserve, prospects for a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and fading momentum from the AI trade that helped push markets to all‑time highs earlier this month.

Despite the crosscurrents, the overall tone still tilts bullish, supported by investor comfort (for the time being) with the geopolitical tension, resilience in the U.S. economy, and improving visibility into earnings growth over the coming quarters.

Yesterday, four tech giants, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, representing 22% of the S&P 500’s market value, reported strong quarterly earnings that highlighted the importance of AI.

You might think the above companies and their AI brethren are “asset light” companies but you would be very wrong.

It’s been a glorious April following a miserable March for the market. What happens in May may determine which direction stocks are headed for the rest of the year.

That’s probably overstating things a bit, but May should be crucial for the reasons we discussed last week: namely, the fate of the Iran war, but also the bulk of first-quarter earnings season and the introduction of a new Fed chair.

What war? This market is moving on. We may not be out of the woods yet, but investors are looking beyond the Iran war.

Stocks have already made up all losses from a rough March and then some. The S&P 500 had fallen 7.7% in the month of March by the 30^th. Since then, the index has rallied over 13%. The S&P is now at a higher level than before the war began and is hitting new all-time highs.

The other day I was paid a visit by a roving ISP salesman who was pitching his company’s fledgling internet service over the local monopoly’s. We struck up a conversation and he asked what I did for a living. When I told him, his eyes lit up and he asked, “Got any good stocks you can recommend?”

Without thinking I blurted out, “Anything AI-related. You can’t go wrong.” The advice was only semi-facetious, for there’s undeniably a degree of truth behind it. My instinctive response to that question also prompted me to consider the question: just how long can the broad market continue its “all things AI” run without broader sector participation

Note: I’m out of town this week, so I’ll be a bit briefer on the update today—but I’m still checking my laptop a couple of times a day if you have any questions or comments. I’ll be back at my desk come Monday. Cheers.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain optimistic. The market and some leaders have hesitated, but all of our market timing indicators are bullish, and most stocks we own or are watching are working. Last Friday, we bought a half-sized stake in Nebius (NBIS) and added a 3% additional stake in ProShares S&P 500 Fund (SSO); earlier this week, we sold our small remaining position in GE Aerospace (GE); and tonight, we’ll buy a half-sized position (5% of the portfolio ) in Cava (CAVA). We’ll still have 46% in cash or so after these moves.

Despite all the headline noise lately we’re marching deeper into first‑quarter earnings season with the market’s path of least resistance still pointing higher.

Optimism around the extension of the tentative ceasefire in the Middle East has reduced geopolitical anxiety to a seemingly manageable level. The U.S. economy continues to show resilience, and the corporate earnings outlook points toward meaningful growth in the coming quarters and years.

The old saying, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes,” is an apt one for the stock market these last two years.

In early 2025, the S&P 500 raced to new all-time highs before peaking in late January/early February, only to get dragged down in March and April by a geopolitical crisis (tariffs/Liberation Day), before rallying in a V-shaped pattern as the severity of the crisis abated.

The market turned on the afterburners. The S&P 500 made up all the March losses and catapulted to a brand new high in a remarkably short time. It’s a market that sure looks like it wants to go higher. But stocks are being held back this week by more war uncertainty.

The current ceasefire with Iran expires on Wenesday night. Talks may not happen, and war talk is growing. The resumption of the war will almost certainly prompt a decline in the market. Aside from that near-term threat, investors are clearly looking past this war. Hopefully, it won’t last much longer.

This global business beat analysts’ estimates by three cents last quarter.

This home improvement retailer beat Wall Street’s estimates by $0.07 last quarter, posting EPS of $0.86 per share.

Tivo (TIVO) reported non-GAAP $0.40 EPS vs. the consensus estimate of $0.27. News agencies reported all of the following incorrect EPS numbers: (0.29), $0.22, $0.29, $0.30 and $0.45. Here’s the full story.

Fourteen analysts have increased their 2017 earnings forecasts for this energy company.

ADP reported strong first-quarter EPS but slightly weaker-than-expected revenue yesterday, and the stock has declined over 5%.

Updates on four of our stocks—all rated Strong Buy.

Although this equipment maker posted a loss of $0.14 per share for its first quarter, the company’s results did beat Wall Streets’ forecasts of a $0.16 per share loss.

Here are updates on four or our stocks that reported earnings, please updates on two other stocks that have shown strong price action.

Last month, this European airline began offering its customers flight-to-flight connection, lifting it from its original ‘no-frills’ strategy.

This publishing company’s financials are improving across the board—debt to equity, profit margins and return on equity.

Two analysts have increased their EPS forecasts for this financial company in the past 30 days.

Today’s Special Bulletin focuses on quarterly earnings reports from five of our stocks. There are no rating changes.

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 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.