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The coronavirus continues to make headlines, with this week’s victim being Apple Inc. (AAPL) which announced that 2020 revenues are going to take a hit from the work stoppages emanating from China.

The Emerging Markets Timer is technically positive, but the intermediate-term trend remains mostly neutral.

The Emerging Markets Timer is flashing a buy signal and our stocks are behaving well. Our only move tonight is buying a half position in New Oriental Education (EDU).

The market remains in full bull mode, despite the “shocking” (to some) news that the U.S. economy contracted by 2.9% in the first quarter. We’re not easily shocked, and we know that the message of the market is what matters, so we continue to recommend that you invest heavily in leading stocks, particularly those that present attractive entry points. Happily, there are plenty to choose from these days, and this week’s issue offers a fine variety, from energy to medical to retail to restaurants to automobiles.

Our favorite stock in today’s crop is Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), a gold miner that has solid growth prospects and a great technical set-up. While the big jump in gold stocks two weeks ago got a lot of attention, Agnico’s capable management has made a lot of moves that augur well for the long term.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	232-245	215-216
Sanchez Energy (SN)	0.00	35-37.5	32-32.5
Schlumberger (SLB)	0.00	109-113	102-103
SolarCity (SCTY)	0.00	68-70	59-60
KapStone Paper (KS)	0.00	32-33	29-30
JD.com (JD)	39.58	27-28	24-25
InterMune (ITMN)	0.00	42-45	37-38
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD)	0.00	160-165	147-148
Allegheny Technologies (ATI)	27.78	42.5-44.5	39-40
Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM)	79.05	35-37	33-34

There are a decent number of warts on this market, including some lackluster action from the broad market, the fact that big-cap indexes have been chopping up and down for the past few weeks, and that small-cap indexes look sick. However, the major trends of the indexes remain up, and most leading stocks, while not tearing up the charts, are still in decent shape. (The many earnings reports last week brought a mixed bag of gaps up and down.) We have our antennae up, especially as more earnings reports push stocks this way and that, but right here the evidence continues to tell us to lean bullish and give our top performers a chance to keep rising.

This week’s list has a bunch of recent earnings winners; if the market is going to continue trending higher, most of these names should do well. Our Top Pick is Steel Dynamics (STLD). We’re usually not big fans of highly-cyclical steel stocks, but STLD just had a big quarter and an even bigger acquisition, with huge earnings forecasts for the next 18 months.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Under Armour (UA)	0.00	65-70	59-60
Steel Dynamics (STLD)	0.00	20.5-22	18.5-19
Silver Wheaton (SLW)	0.00	25-26	23-24
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL)	0.00	59-62	55-56
Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN)	0.00	36-37	33-34
Polaris Industries (PII)	0.00	143-147	136-137
HCA Healthcare (HCA)	137.60	61-63	56-57
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)	0.00	190-195	178-180
Cameron (CAM)	0.00	71-73	66-67
Apple (AAPL)	248.94	95-98	89-90

Current Market Outlook


The good news is that the market found some support in the middle of last week and has finally been able to get off its knees during the past couple of days; some potential growth stock leaders, too, have bounced back nicely, including a few in today’s issue. We do think the current bounce will likely go further given the severe selling of the past month and some of the climactic readings seen last week. But it’s going to take more than a couple of up days to change the market’s intermediate-term trend, which remains firmly down. We’re keeping our Market Monitor in bearish territory, and while a little nibbling is fine, the main goal is to remain defensive until a sustained uptrend emerges.

This week’s list is very interesting, as there are a few vibrant growth stocks that have snapped back nicely. Still, our Top Pick is more slow-and-steady —Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) just leapt out of a tight base on huge volume thanks to a bullish earnings report. Dips look buyable.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Zoës Kitchen (ZOES)	0.00	32-34	29.5-30.5
XPO Logistics (XPO)	0.00	34-37	31-32
Sherwin-Williams (SHW)	526.09	213-217	204-206
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN)	512.96	350-365	335-340
Pacira Biosiences (PCRX)	54.85	97-101	90-92
Palo Alto Networks (PANW)	236.92	95-98	88-89
Jack in the Box (JACK)	0.00	65-68	62-63
Domino’s Pizza (DPZ)	339.47	82-84.5	78-79
Autohome (ATHM)	98.65	44-47	39-40
Advance Auto Parts (AAP)	0.00	135-138	129-130

Wondering how to get started with mutual funds? There’s something you need to know first (that we’re sure your broker won’t like).

Do you know the signs of a stock buyout? It pays to have potential takeover targets in your portfolio. Here’s how to find a takeover target.

I wasn’t expecting that of the seven companies we had reporting Monday through Thursday this week that the average gain would be nearly 9% though. What an intense week. As you’ve no doubt noticed, our portfolio has done well this week.

You can’t make money on the booming marijuana industry buying cannabis ETFs. Here are reasons why, and some cannabis stock alternatives.

Companies with low risk are not hard to find. First, search for companies with little or no debt.

I recently received an announcement of four new opportunities being considered by April 1 Investments.

The market is hitting new highs, thanks to Nvidia (NVDA). And while blowout earnings from the artificial intelligence leader were good for the many AI-related plays we have in the Stock of the Week portfolio, we have more than our share of non-AI stocks that are thriving as well (see American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Aviva (AVVIY)). Today, however, we add a hiding-in-plain-sight all-star, a company so mainstream and obvious that it may already be in your portfolio … or it’s possible you sold out of it along with many other institutional investors during a brutal stretch in 2022. Now, it’s fully back – and yet the shares still trade well below their 2021 peak. It’s a new recommendation from Tyler Laundon in his Cabot Early Opportunities advisory.

Details inside.

We’ve all seen the data: Nvidia (NVDA) shares have jumped 59% in this still-young (37 trading days) year and 615% since touching $112 in October 2022. The 171x gain in the past decade – turning a $4,500 purchase into $800,000 – makes Nvidia’s price increase among the largest in market history over such a brief period, and certainly the largest for a company that began its 10-year run at a not-small $11.6 billion market value.

Tariffs are back in the news. And the stock market doesn’t like it.

Investors shrug off a lot of things these days – geopolitical turmoil (lots of it), flagging jobs growth, a record-long government shutdown, wars, etc. But tariffs, and tariff threats, are still a four-letter word on Wall Street. So it was no surprise that stocks had their worst day of the young year on Tuesday after President Trump threatened high tariffs on Europe over the Greenland situation, and European leaders responded in kind.

Perhaps the whole kerfuffle will be settled over a catered lunch at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Or maybe tensions will escalate further. Either way, this feels like a pivotal week for stocks.

As U.S. investors have shifted from risk-on to risk-off mode in recent months, a clear disparity between the “haves” and the “have-nots” has materialized.

Let’s start with the “have-nots.” Financials have fared the worst so far this year (-4.7%), followed by technology (-3.1%), communication services and consumer discretionary (-2.8% each). The downturn in the two tech-related sectors in particular is a stark departure from recent years, when technology led the charge of the current bull market.

Large-cap stocks are starting to show some cracks. But small caps aren’t.

After years of underperformance, small-cap stocks appear to finally be poised for a breakout 2026 thanks to a combination of lower interest rates and soaring earnings. So in this month’s Cabot Value Investor issue, we present a small-cap company that is already coming off a very strong quarter, whose sales and earnings have more than doubled since Covid, but whose shares were overly punished last fall and are just now starting the long climb back. The combination of double-digit earnings growth and a well-below-average valuation makes this small cap ripe for our Buy Low Opportunities Portfolio.

Details inside.

America’s housing market has been in a deep freeze for years, thanks to high borrowing costs and skyrocketing prices. But signs of hope are starting to emerge, and it’s possible a long-anticipated thaw is coming now that mortgage rates have dipped below 6%.

Could 2026 be the year of the U.S. housing turnaround? Possibly. But even if it isn’t, today we add a housing-adjacent stock that should fare well either way – especially since it’s trading at a deep discount. I see 36% upside, possibly within a matter of months. It’s a name you know well – whose products you’ve almost surely used and likely have in your garage right now.

Details inside.

Let’s talk about the power of staying invested.

Sure, when the market turns south – and I’m not even sure last week’s mini-dip qualifies – it makes sense to pare back on your weakest stocks and put a larger portion of your portfolio in cash. But taking your ball and going home – selling out of all of your stocks when times are tough – is not a winning strategy. Here’s why.