Last Tuesday the market sold off big-time. Today it recovered equally big. But many stocks haven’t bounced as much as they fell, and some of them are in our portfolio. That’s the general reason for my four sell recommendations today.

Still, while there are growing divergences, the bull market is not dead yet, and today’s recommendation is a mass-market retail name whose stock looks great as investors look forward to more expansion.

November through most of January was relatively smooth, but we’ve seen more cracks over the past month—especially this week, as growth stocks have come under severe pressure. To be fair, our trend following indicators are still positive, so we’re not selling wholesale, but we’re not letting stocks get away from us on the downside, either.

Earlier this week, we cut bait on CrowdStrike, and tonight, we’re letting to of NovoCure, taking small profits in each. Our cash position will now be around 40%, and as always, we’ll remain flexible going forward, prepared to either put money to work (if this is another short-term shakeout) or raise more cash (if a “real” correction unfolds.)

The timing is right for alternative energy.

Alternative energy (also referred to as clean or alternative energy) is by far the fastest growing energy source. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global renewable power supply will grow 50% in just the next 5 years.



While clean energy has been a story and knocking at the door for a while now, a certain critical mass in growth and development seems to be taking place recently. The market usually gets it. And it’s telling us something.



The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN), which tracks 30 stocks in the Global Clean Energy Index, has taken off lately after going nowhere for more than a decade. ICLN soared 100% over the past year and 178% for the past two years, compared to S&P 500 returns of 22% and 44% respectively over the same period.



The market clearly sees big changes looming in the energy sector. It also helps that the Biden Administration will likely reward clean energy companies with more tax breaks and subsidies and other goodies. But more importantly, the focus will draw still more investor attention to the booming growth in alternative energy. And investor intrigue will only accelerate.



This month’s highlighted stock NextEra Energy (NEE) should clearly benefit going forward. It may not be the sexiest clean energy. But it provides a great way for more conservative, income oriented investors to play the trend.

Thank you for subscribing to the Cabot Turnaround Letter. We hope you enjoy reading the March 2021 issue.

This month we look at post-bankruptcy energy stocks. Companies that have emerged from bankruptcy are generally shunned by investors, as are energy stocks in general in the current market. Combined, these two traits offer some attractive investment opportunities. We discuss four of them.



We also look at tobacco stocks. Shares of these companies have fallen sharply in recent years due to an acceleration in the decline rate of cigarette volumes. However, that trend appears to be moderating, leaving the shares undervalued yet paying high dividend yields. Our feature recommendation, Altria Group (MO), is a stand-out value among the group.



We also include comments on recent price target and rating changes, including our recent Sell recommendations on Trinity Industries (TRN) and ViacomCBS (VIAC).



Please feel free to send me your questions and comments. This newsletter is written for you. A great way to get more out of your letter is to let me know what you are looking for.



I’m best reachable at Bruce@CabotWealth.com. I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible.

Yesterday was a rough day for stocks in the marijuana sector. Today was better. But overall, I continue to hold the opinion that the sector peaked two weeks ago and that it needs a longer cooling-off phase—a real correction.

Such a correction can take many forms, and it’s hardly worth speculating about what form this one will take. Yet by managing your portfolio carefully, based in large part on the action of each stock, you can get through this correction with minimal pain and be well-positioned to add to your gains when the uptrend resumes—because in the long run, this remains a fantastic sector to be invested in.



Full details in the issue.

Your Cabot Profit Booster portfolio closed out three more positions that were assigned at expiration last week. Those were Alcoa (AA) earning profits of $255 per contract for a yield of 13.8%; Kohl’s (KSS) earning profits of $400 per contract, or a yield of 11.1%; and Snap Inc. (SNAP) with $500 in profits earned for a yield of 10%.

Current Market Outlook


After a very strong rally from the late-January lows, the major indexes are again in the midst of a pullback—during the past week and a half we’ve seen a few days of churning and distribution as worries over inflation (and a less-loose Federal Reserve) cause some profit taking, and today saw a big rotation out of growth stocks. Could this be the start of a “real” correction? It could be, as the intermediate-term advance is long in the tooth and sentiment remains giddy. That said, we never anticipate, and so far, we really haven’t seen much abnormal action yet—while a few stocks have fallen apart after earnings, most leaders are intact and even the weakest major index (Nasdaq) is near its 25-day line, which is acceptable. Given some of the yellow flags out there, our antennae are up, but with most of the evidence still positive, we’re keeping our Market Monitor at a level 7.

This week’s list has many recent earnings winners, including a few that are busting loose from good-sized bases (regular or post-IPO). Our Top Pick is Wix.com (WIX), which has a great story, accelerating growth and just staged a very powerful breakout.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
The AZEK Company (AZEK)	47	45-47.5	40.5-41.5
Deere & Company (DE)	338	318-328	288-294
DraftKings Inc. (DKNG)	60	59.5-62.5	52-53.5
Magna International Inc. (MGA)	87	81-85	73-75
Mohawk Industries (MHK)	174	162-168	146-149
MongoDB (MDB)	392	395-407	355-365
SelectQuote (SLQT)	30	27-29	24-25
Sonos (SONO)	38	34.5-36.5	29.5-30.5
Teck Resources Limited (TECK)	23	21-22	18.7-19.5
Wix.com (WIX)	335	333-346	295-305

The bull market is alive and well, and our holdings, in general, are delivering as expected, with the usual zigs and zags to keep us on our toes.

Today’s recommendation is a big solid technology company that should benefit for years from the ongoing 5G communications rollout—and it pays a nice dividend, too.



As for our current holdings, there are no changes. With the new addition, the portfolio is once again fully invested.



Details inside.

In today’s portfolio one stock moves from Buy to Hold. Another rose to its target sale price of 14 and is now a sell, and one moves from Hold to Sell at 84.

Do a little buying, but continue to keep a good chunk of cash on the sideline. The market’s evidence has definitely improved recently, though our Cabot Tides have yet to turn positive—in essence, the overall trend is neutral, though many growth stocks are setting up well.

It’s been a constructive week for the market, and for our portfolio. After bouncing off its 200-day moving average two weeks ago, the S&P 500 turned positive for the year yesterday, its first return to the black in four weeks.

It’s earnings season, first featuring bank stocks, then oilfield service companies a week from today. Most of the other companies in our portfolio won’t report results until early May. Others operate on different fiscal cycles.

Small and large cap indices are up around 2.4% from Friday’s close and the portfolio is up almost 5%.

The iShares EM Fund (EEM) has firmed up over the last few days, but has yet to actually kick out to the upside. So, while it’s still in the vicinity of its moving averages, we still have a caution signal in force.

There are two portfolio changes in this week’s update.

Even with increased tariff talk and even rockier trading, the markets rebounded strongly Monday. The volatility has increased anxiety, but the consistent bounces are a good sign. In other news, oil prices are bouncing back, interest rates remain subdued, and earnings season begins this week.

We’re still in the midst of a market correction that began in late January. I consider this correction to be perfectly normal, and unrelated to politics, economics, natural disasters or war. In short, the stock market rose for 15 months without resting, and it was overdue to rest. Sometimes things really are that simple.

There are two portfolio changes in this week’s update.

Remain cautious. Our Cabot Tides and Two-Second Indicator remain negative, but the market’s longer-term trend is still up and encouragingly, many stocks are holding support. We think there will be some great opportunities down the road, but until the buyers retake control, it’s best to cut back on new buying and hold a good amount of cash on the sideline.

Markets pulled it together last week, with oversold financial and consumer stocks finding support and delivering gains for the holiday-shortened week. However, the market started this week with another sharp pullback Monday, bringing the Dow and S&P 500 back to their February lows. And markets look set to open lower today after China announced a slew of retaliatory 25% tariffs on U.S. exports. A rebound later this week is likely, but not certain.

A Spanish news outlet, Intereconomia.com, is reporting that biotech company Amgen (AMGN) is in talks to buy Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) for close to $200 per share.

We provide the top five holdings of this cybersecurity ETF.

This equipment company is expected to report earnings tomorrow, and analysts expect EPS of $0.74 per share.

This fintech company beat analysts’ earnings estimates by a whopping $0.62 last quarter and four analysts have recently raised their EPS forecasts for the company.

This pharma beat earnings estimates by $1.62 last quarter and 29 analysts have raised their EPS forecasts for the company in the past 30 days.

There are five holdings in this fund.

This discount retailer beat analysts’ earnings estimates by $0.09 last quarter.

A diversified global manufacturing company of highly engineered products.

The market enjoyed a couple rounds of decent buying during the past week, but today brought a huge round of selling as the headlines blared about the inverted yield curve.

Yesterday’s strong market triggered a technical indicator, a follow-through signal that tells us buyers are lurking. Of course, today’s big decline so far isn’t good to see, but nevertheless, this and other measures (awful sentiment, etc.) tell us there should be support on weakness.

A spin-off is in the works for this entertainment company, and analysts are forecasting the company will grow at an annual rate of 16.9% over the next five years.

This 5G player is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 20% 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 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.