Investment management companies, which manage mutual funds and other investments on behalf of individuals, pensions and other clients, have fallen sharply out of favor. As contrarians, we think there is still good value in these companies.

In this issue, we cover eight managers whose weak shares offer attractive valuations and dividend yields.

The market has been acting in a near picture-perfect manner for the past few weeks, and we’ve responded by steadily adding to our exposure—we put 15% of our cash to work in early January, another 20% last week when our Cabot Tides turned positive, and tonight we’re adding one new (but familiar) name to the Model Portfolio, leaving us with around 35% on the sideline. There are still headwinds (like our Cabot Trend Lines being negative), so we’re not flooring the accelerator, but as the evidence has improved, we’ve grown more optimistic. Tonight’s issue goes over all our current stocks (including tonight’s new addition), and details a better way to “buy low” than most investors use.

The past month has been very profitable for investors in the sector, as stocks rallied off their December lows and climbed strongly through January, with several hitting new highs as I write. In general, I recommend that you enjoy the trend; the long-term prospects remain bright.

But short-term, there are opportunities for fine-tuning and risk reduction, and thus I have a few recommended changes in today’s issue, as well as one new addition, a company thriving in the booming CBD market.

In this issue I identify a fast-growing biopharmaceutical company that will benefit as the changing population demands better healthcare than ever before. It is well established with a high dividend yield and poised in front of the wave at the cutting edge of medical innovation.

Market trends remain quite positive, and I continue to recommend that you work to get more invested. Months from now, the market will be higher.
As for today’s recommendation, it’s a dirt-cheap dividend-payer in the energy industry that may not get going right away, but downside risk looks minimal and all the fundamentals argue that it will eventually be higher.

Current Market Outlook


Today’s news centered around earnings duds from a couple of big names (Caterpillar and Nvidia), causing the major indexes to take some hits. But stepping back a bit, we’re not seeing anything abnormal—since the start of last week, the major indexes have slipped 1.5% (ballpark) and most leading stocks are acting just fine. Of course, further dips in the short-term are certainly possible given that the Nasdaq ran 1,000 points from its Christmas Eve low, earnings season is revving up and most stocks have plenty of overhead to battle. Even so, the intermediate-term trend remains pointed up and, in general, the market and leading stocks continue to act how they “should” if the sellers have run out of ammo. We remain optimistic, and think many names will be good buys if we do see some more retrenchment.

Tonight’s list has a great batch of mostly growth stocks, albeit from a variety of industries. Our Top Pick is Lululemon (LULU), which, after a great six-month run and fourth-quarter correction, is showing terrific strength. Try to buy on dips.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Ciena (CIEN)	44.25	38-40	33-34
EPAM Systems (EPAM)	188.24	136-140	124-126
Exact Sciences (EXAS)	116.91	80-84	71-73
Lululemon Athletica (LULU)	304.69	144-149	132-135
Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX)	104.98	58-62	50-52.5
ServiceNow (NOW)	341.86	186-191	172-175
Shopify (SHOP)	585.00	153-158	142-144
Splunk (SPLK)	207.67	115-120	104-107
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME)	18.41	14.5-15.4	13.1-13.7
Xilinx (XLNX)	134.50	105-110	93-96

The Emerging Markets Timer held and slightly improved its position and is sitting right at its 50-day moving average, which is both constructive and bullish.

We would like to see a stronger uptrend before moving ahead to put much more cash to work but we do have a new recommendation from Brazil—a market that has moved up 20% in the last month.

Last week I mentioned that two of our trend-following indicators had turned positive (the Cabot Emerging Markets Timer and the Cabot Tides), and now we can add one more indicator, the Blastoff Signal—a rare but powerful signal that occurs when the NYSE daily advance-decline line averages twice as many advancers as decliners over a 10-day span. As a result, I continue to advise you to get more heavily and aggressively invested. Months from now, the market will be higher.

After two near-record-setting months, stocks are encountering their first real turbulence since March. It’s no surprise.

While stocks go up an average of 10% a year, they rarely do so in a straight line. And after the S&P 500 rallied nearly 20% in April and May and the Nasdaq shot up nearly 30%, a pullback of some kind – or possibly even a true correction – was to be expected. It seems it’s happening all at once.

Stocks look set to enter the summer near all-time highs, but leadership has narrowed, volatility has ticked up, and there’s been renewed scrutiny on the AI trade and valuation concerns in some of the market’s biggest winners.

At the same time, the macro backdrop remains a mix of resilience and intermittent turbulence. While economic data continues to hold up, energy prices remain elevated due to the ongoing Iran conflict – which has no end in sight – keeping upward pressure on inflation and yields.

Tech, commodity, AI, and Explorer stocks struggled this week as concern over capital expenditures increased. Mideast tensions intensified and inflation numbers came in yesterday at their highest rate in over three years, fueled by rising energy costs. The combination of anticipated higher interest rates and rising bond yields impacted the price of precious metals, with gold sliding below $4,200 an ounce and silver falling below $64 an ounce.

Stocks look to enter summer near all-time highs, but leadership has narrowed and volatility has ticked up thanks to renewed scrutiny on the AI trade and open-ended questions about valuations in some of the hottest areas of the market.

There’s also been more focus on the evolving macro landscape, which features a resilient U.S. economy but stubbornly high energy prices due to the ongoing Iran conflict, and somewhat elevated yields. We’re now looking at a higher likelihood of a Fed rate hike, with the odds of a hike by December now well over 50%.

The high-flying AI stocks got crushed on Friday. But those stocks started this week higher. Where do we go from here?

The technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell 4% on Friday, and the S&P 500 fell for the week for the first time in 10 weeks. A couple of things spooked investors. The AI trade turned sour after Broadcom (AVGO) reported earnings that included slightly lower revenue projections for its AI chips than were expected. Also, a blowout jobs report strengthened the case for a Fed rate hike by the end of the year.

A major economic narrative that took shape in recent years was the decline and (presumptive) inevitable death of the so-called “petrodollar,” as a growing number of countries diversified their foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. dollar and toward gold and alternative currencies like the Chinese yuan.

WHAT TO DO NOW: The overall market remains in good shape, though we are seeing some exuberance on the upside and also a few leaders begin to act sloppy. Near term, then, it’s still a coin flip as to what comes, but the vast majority of intermediate-term evidence remains bullish. In the Model Portfolio, we took partial profits in Marvell (MRVL) earlier this week; tonight, we’re buying a half-sized position (5% of the account) in Bloom Energy (BE), which is extremely volatile but also strong and coming off a few weeks of rest. Our cash position will now be around 28%.

This market just keeps going higher.

Sure, there’s uncertainty out there. The war isn’t over. Inflation and interest rates are still too high. But stocks didn’t get the memo. After a strong April, the S&P 500 rose 5% and the Nasdaq soared 8% in May. The indexes are up 20% and 30%, respectively, since March 30 and are continuing to make new highs this week.

Despite the negative headlines and volatility, stocks just keep going.

After a strong April, the S&P 500 rose 5% and the Nasdaq soared 8% in May. The indexes are up 20% and 30%, respectively, since March 30. It’s also worth noting that despite the ongoing Iran war, the price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down 17% for the month of May.

This week’s Memorial Day observance marked the traditional onset of the summer vacation season for millions of Americans. It’s a time of traveling, sightseeing, picnics and parties. It’s also the peak season for enjoying cold, carbonated beverages like soda pop and energy drinks.

With this dynamic in play, I think it’s time that we give some attention to our holding in PepsiCo (PEP), which is entering a critical period of its sales year.

On the heels of a miserable March and a euphoric April, I wrote several weeks ago in this space that I thought May would determine which direction the market is truly headed, at least in the intermediate term. We have our answer, and it’s a definitive “up.”

All three major U.S. indexes are touching record highs as of this writing, with the S&P 500 up 4.3% in May, the Nasdaq up 7%, and the slower-moving Dow Jones Industrial inching higher by 1.6%. That’s despite the ongoing Iran war and the accompanying sky-high oil and gas prices, escalating inflation, bond yields at multi-year highs, possible Fed rate hikes later this year, and record-low consumer sentiment.

Stocks have largely shrugged off this week’s dust‑ups in the Middle East as investors continue to bet on a near‑term memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and push bigger sticking points between the U.S. and Iran down the road.

Yields have cooled off this week and continue to do so this morning, thanks to a slightly lower‑than‑expected core PCE reading. April core PCE rose 0.2% month over month, below both March’s 0.3% reading and consensus, giving the Fed some breathing room as policymakers weigh the competing forces of inflation and growth.

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.

Coverage of the shares of this biotech were recently initiated at HC Wainwright with a ‘Buy’ rating.

We have three rating changes today.

Here’s an emerging markets stock that beat analysts’ earnings by $0.08 last quarter.

This boating manufacturer’s shares were just upgraded by BMO Capital to ‘Outperform’.

Here’s an update on the stock which rating has been upped to BUY.

Here’s an update on a few of our stocks.

Wall Street analysts are expecting 50% annual growth over the next five years for this IoT company.

Loop Capital and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey just upgraded the shares of this mega-tech company to ‘Buy’.

Today brought a wave of selling that took the major market indexes (and most of the stock in our portfolio) down a peg or two. Despite the selloff, most of our stocks remain in their recent trading ranges and look like they will do just fine unless the market takes another leap off the end of the dock tomorrow.

The market and especially leading growth stocks were trounced today. In response, we’re selling half our shares in two stocks.

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.