Today, we’re highlighting a “circular economy” champion that has navigated a complex multi-year turnaround and is now entering a high-growth phase.

By taking a data-driven approach to everything from high-end luxury watches to decommissioned data center servers, this small company has built a platform that’s well-positioned to capitalize on the emerging recommerce super-cycle.

All the details are inside the April issue of Cabot Small-Cap Confidential.

Marvell has historically been a boom-bust, more cyclical play involved in the storage switching market, but now it’s becoming a key cog for the AI data center buildout—with growth likely to go from good to great in the quarters to come.

Marvell’s top brass says it has the industry’s broadest and most comprehensive high-speed connectivity portfolio that addresses scale-out, scale-across and scale-up networking.

First off, a heads up: Our offices will be closed with the market for Good Friday; we’ll send a brief Movers & Shakers update on Thursday with some updated stops.

As for the market, when it comes to the rubber-meets-the-road evidence, not much has changed: Most major indexes, sectors and individual stocks remain in intermediate-term downtrends, with elevated numbers of stocks hitting new lows and more things trading below longer-term moving averages, too. To be fair, while some resilient names with good stories have begun to come under pressure, there remains a batch of names that still seem like they want to move higher if the market allows it, so it’s important to remain flexible should we see a change in character. We pulled our Market Monitor down to a level 4 last Friday and will keep it there today.

This week’s list has a nice mix of growth-y names that are acting well, combined with some commodity-type names that have recently broken out of big launching pads. Our Top Pick is set to see growth accelerate from here as demand booms.

Chaos reigns in the world and on Wall Street. Stocks have now fallen for five straight weeks, with the Nasdaq entering correction territory and the S&P 500 not far behind. Is the bull market in jeopardy? Not necessarily. But you have to go with the evidence in front of you, and right now, only one major sector is truly working: energy. So today, we beef up our admittedly light exposure to the energy sector with an undervalued gem – that has real momentum – courtesy of Cabot Turnaround Letter Chief Analyst Clif Droke.

Details inside.

The rescheduling waiting game continues. The good news is we continue to get signals from cannabis company CEOs like Boris Jordan at Curaleaf (CURLF) and sources in Washington, D.C. that the cannabis sector reform is on track to happen “relatively soon.”

What’s the hang-up? Most likely Department of Justice lawyers want to bulletproof rescheduling against the inevitable legal challenges by cannabis reform opponents.

This was a difficult week for stocks as uncertainty about how the Middle East will evolve caused investors to pause until the situation stabilizes. All signs point to an enlargement of the conflict, so caution is recommended.

Gold has lost some of its luster as prices are now back about to where they were at the start of the year. Artificial intelligence stocks have fallen sharply as well, and some are even trading at a discount suddenly. One of the biggest names in AI looks like a serious bargain, and that’s our featured recommendation for today.

Details inside.

In the March issue of Cabot Early Opportunities, I feature three high-conviction plays on the Electrification of Everything and global energy themes. We dig into an aerospace leader that’s repurposing aircraft engines to power AI data centers, a premier infrastructure contractor building the physical backbone of the U.S. electrical grid, and the undisputed leader in subsea energy infrastructure.

All the details are inside this month’s issue.

Enjoy!

J.M. Smucker is a name that needs no introduction; the hybrid consumer staples/discretionary company makes a bevy of well-known food and beverage items commonly sold at grocery and convenience stores throughout North America.

It’s also fairly common knowledge that the company is a Dividend Aristocrat, that is, an S&P 500 company that has consecutively increased its dividend payouts for at least 25 years.

It’s been a tough market. The S&P has moved lower for four consecutive weeks. Uncertainty regarding the Iran war and oil prices is dragging stocks lower. The war could end tomorrow or drag on for another month or longer.

Today could be a great buying opportunity. But the turmoil could also drag on. It’s tough to buy stocks in this uncertainty. Fortunately, there is a way to benefit if the market takes off, but without adding any risk.

Eli Lilly (LLY) has been one of the most successful large stocks on the market in recent years. A covered call was sold on LLY when it was selling near the high before the Iran war. But the stock price has since fallen. The covered calls that were sold at $60 per call are now selling under $4. You can buy back the calls and gain upside exposure for just a small fraction of the sale price and a mere blip in the returns of the high call premium.

It’s worth gaining the upside exposure. The war could end this week, and stock prices could soar. Beyond that, there is a huge FDA decision coming in April. The FDA will decide on approval for Lilly’s potentially game-changing oral weight-loss drug. It could offer big upside for the stock.

“I’d rather be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right.” -Howard Marks

Stocks struggled again this week as the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady yesterday. Higher inflationary energy prices were weighed against anemic job growth. The Fed preserved a path to cut rates later this year as the economy evolves. Some consider our economy to be at a fragile equilibrium with pockets of growth.

It’s still an Iran-dominated market. The Iran war is by far the main event. But the market is starting off the week on a positive note because of optimism that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and relieve oil price pressure.

So far, the market seems to be taking things in stride. The S&P 500 is only down about 1.5% for the month.

The Iran saga continues. But the market is starting off the week on a positive note because of optimism that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and relieve oil price pressure.

The Iran situation is by far the main event in the market right now. The war could end quickly or drag on for a while. So far, the market is taking things in stride. The S&P closed last week down 3% for the month of March. That’s nothing like the tariff sell-off last April. But there is still downside risk.

Just when it looked like inflation was abating, with nationwide retail gasoline prices falling from an average of $3.20 to $2.73 a gallon between August and January, the specter of rising prices has appeared once again in the wake of the latest Middle East conflict.

As of this writing, the national gas price average is $3.63 a gallon (and rising by the day), which is 33% higher from the January low.

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain cautious. Our Cabot Tides have joined our Two-Second Indicator and Growth Tides on the negative side of the fence. We have seen a couple rays of light from our Aggression Index and via some peppy growth names (mostly in the AI space)—but until the market can turn up, we advise staying close to shore. In the Model Portfolio, we sold Axsome (AXSM) this morning via special bulletin, leaving us with around 69% in cash; tonight, we’ll place our ProShares S&P 500 Fund (SSO) position on Hold given the market’s weakness and Tides red light.

After a fast start to the year, value stocks have been knocked backward of late.

Since the Iran war began at the end of February, value stocks – as measured by the Vanguard Value Index ETF (VTV) – have fallen nearly 3.5%, more than the Dow (-2.6%) and more than twice as much as the S&P 500 (-1.5%) this month. Overall, however, value stocks are in good shape, up 4.7% year to date and 8.8% in the last six months – both more than doubling the performance of the S&P and the Dow during those time periods. So, the sharper selling in value stocks this month may simply be a case of the bears (or, “the weak hands,” as my colleague Mike Cintolo more accurately calls them) coming for stocks that had more meat on the bone.

There’s never a dull moment in the stock market. Like everybody, I’m watching the situation in Iran closely.

For the market, it’s really all about the Strait of Hormuz and energy prices. If activities in the Strait remain severely disrupted for several more weeks, oil and natural gas prices are likely to stay elevated or move higher, despite the IEA’s recent decision to release 400 million barrels of oil (roughly 20 days of supply). The longer this persists, the greater the potential damage to the global economy and the stock market.

We’re in cannabis sector earnings season, once again. This is a great time of year because cannabis companies pull back the curtain to reveal and address important company and sector-level trends.

As usual during earnings season, I’ll focus on the most important company and sector developments from the most recently reported quarter. This earnings season report is more comprehensive than any other cannabis sector analysis out there because it cuts through the noise to get to the investing insights. It comes in two parts.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) soared to the highest level since last April. Iran has thrown everything into flux, at least for now.

Oil prices soared to nearly $120 per barrel as war in the Middle East is spreading with no immediate signs of letting up. Several stock markets around the world suffered steep losses in Monday’s trading. U.S. stock market indices started the week’s trading down sharply but recovered somewhat by midday on Monday.

A quick housekeeping note: With the market acting increasingly volatile due to the war in Iran, I wanted to send the March update out today, a few days earlier than normal. Also, we will publish the March Issue of Cabot Early Opportunities one week later than normal, on Wednesday, March 25. This timing will allow me to finalize the issue after my family returns from Europe (my kids are on their March break) and, hopefully, give us a little more time to see how events unfold in the Middle East.

On to the update.

Like everybody else, I’m currently watching the situation in Iran as closely as possible. As far as the market is concerned, it’s really all about the Strait of Hormuz and energy prices. If the Strait remains closed/severely disrupted for several more weeks, then oil & natural gas prices will remain high/go higher. The longer this persists, the greater the damage to the global economy and the stock market.

The temptation among investors and analysts (myself included) to ascribe too much significance to short-term market movements is ever present. Treating the market as a crystal ball by observing how stocks respond to headline-making events—and then trying to discern the future—is something we’re all surely guilty of from time to time.

That’s why the latest happenings in the Middle East are proving once again that the human tendency to use markets to forecast the outcome of global events is alive and well.

The Iran conflict has roiled market and is creating some expected and unexpected winners and losers.

As uncertainty surrounding the conflict escalates, defense stocks are surging, cruise and airline shares are falling. The U.S. dollar edged up, and oil and energy prices are rising given that the Strait of Hormuz carries 20% of global oil supplies.

Sell a Quarter Position in JetBlue Airways (JBLU)

Special Bulletin: Update on Gold/Silver Sell-Off

Sell Credo Tech (CRDO) and Viking Holdings (VIK)

CEO Special Bulletin: Position Updates

Today, a whopping eight Profit Booster positions will expire. Most are “slam-dunk,” full-profit trades, while others will go down to the wire.

The big takeaway, before we dive in, is we are going to let the situation play itself out, and come Monday/Tuesday of next week we will revisit our profits, as well as how we will manage the remaining positions.

WHAT TO DO NOW: While there’s been some modest improvement here and there, growth stocks continue to be unable to get going in any real way, with the Nasdaq stuck in the mud and our Aggression Index approaching multi-month lows. We already have a lot of cash, but today we’re pulling the plug on JFrog (FROG), which continues to have great fundamentals, but the stock (and the software sector overall) continues to sag. We’ll sell here and make sure a disappointing situation doesn’t get much worse.

Following yesterday’s after-hours preliminary Q4 earnings results, we are selling Beta Bionics (BBNX) today.

Our entire selling philosophy, especially when it comes to growth stocks, revolves around a concept we call “Tight to Loose.” We’re also big fans of a few key chart-based sell signals that tell you a stock is coming under distribution by deep-pocketed investors.

I’ve heard from a few subscribers recently who want to know if it’s time to sell their big winners, like Wynn Reports (WYNN), which is up 48% since I recommended it in April of last year.

Some stocks in the Model Portfolio and others we’ve recommended have had great runs during 2017 but have come under pressure recently. And that’s naturally led to a lot of questions about how exactly to handle big winners, so that’s what we’ll dive into today.

Here are some of the sources that I have found most useful, reliable and unique. One of them may be able to give you a new perspective on some of the stocks you own.

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.

This report explains my buy, hold and sell opinions for the Standard & Poor’s 11 sectors. In summary, seven sectors should fare quite well during the remainder of 2017, but other sectors will likely perform poorly in the months ahead.

Writing covered calls is a great way to boost your yield on stocks you already own, and involves a lot less risk than most investors think.

Dividend reinvestment is one of the most powerful weapons in the income investor’s toolbox.

The Cabot Emerging Markets Timer measures the intermediate-term trend of emerging markets-related stocks.

If you like the idea of buying low and calmly hanging on...this is the right advisory for you.

Here’s a list of the attributes I seek for any stock I consider for inclusion in Cabot Dividend Investor.

SNaC is the method chief analyst Paul Goodwin uses to choose stocks for the Cabot Emerging Markets Investor