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The market still has many of the same issues that have been hanging around for weeks, including an extreme narrowness, with the vast majority of the market struggling while mega-cap indexes do pretty well. Even so, we do think the evidence has taken a step in the right direction -- the AI boomlet is a positive sign, and many non-AI leaders acted well in May and have rested normally since. We’re not flooring the accelerator, but given our monstrous cash position, we’re dropping a couple more lines in the water tonight, adding two half-sized stakes in old favorites.

Elsewhere in tonight’s issue, we give our thoughts (and some ideas) within the AI advance, write about a long-term growth area that could be re-emerging and, as always, go over our stocks, an expanded watch list and some other new ideas to chew on.

Current Market Outlook


Stocks had another great week, with the major indexes and most leading stocks levitating higher amidst a vacuum of selling pressure. There’s no question things are a bit bubbly here, with most things trading miles above support and moving averages, and as investor sentiment shifts toward greed. Still, more important to us are the intermediate-term trend (clearly up) and the fact that momentum like we’re seeing generally leads to higher prices down the road. Thus, overall, you should remain bullish, but (a) we still favor being choosy on the buy side, looking for pullbacks and shakeouts in stocks that have shown excellent strength and persistency, and (b) having a plan as we enter earnings season, including looking for new leadership that emerges.

This week’s list has something for everyone, from hot growth stocks to news-driven moves to some turnaround situations. Our Top Pick is Red Rock Resorts (RRR), which is part of the strong gaming group and has began to take a breather after a persistent advance.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF)	15.37	18-19	16-16.8
Arch Coal (ARCH)	82.27	92-95	85.5-87.5
Express Scripts Holding Company (ESRX)	79.25	76.5-79.5	70-72
Heron Therapeutics (HRTX)	35.25	19.5-21	17.5-18.5
Matador Resources Company (MTDR)	27.89	30.5-32	28-29
Nucor Corporation (NUE)	66.20	66-69	61.5-63
Red Rock Resorts (RRR)	34.70	32.5-34	30-31
Stifel Financial (SF)	56.32	63-66	58-59.5
Universal Display (OLED)	187.54	188-198	167-175
Wingstop (WING)	121.52	42.5-44	39.5-40.5

Current Market Outlook


Stocks had another punishing week, with all the major indexes off at least 3% and many individual stocks doing much worse than that. Yes, the market remains stretched to the downside, with numerous oversold-type readings and some measures of sentiment that are showing greater caution. But at this point, any bounces have lasted just hours, and the intermediate-term trend remains firmly down (the major indexes are also below all longer-term moving averages), so we advise waiting patiently for the bulls to offer support; our Market Monitor drops to a level 3 in today’s issue. The ray of light is that, as earnings season has progressed, we’re beginning to see some solid reactions, often from names that didn’t do much in the last uptrend. These are names to keep an eye on for potential leadership down the road.

This week’s Top Ten has the first batch of earnings winners and other resilient stocks showing some big-volume accumulation. Our Top Pick is Tractor Supply (TSCO), a steady company that’s found excellent earnings-induced support, even hitting a new high today. If you want in, aim to nibble on weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (ACAD)	47.84	20-21.5	18.3-19.2
Burlington Stores (BURL)	193.95	164-168	151-153
Cadence Design (CDNS)	42.95	43-45	40-41
Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC)	89.83	71-73	67.5-69.5
Mellanox Technologies (MLNX)	92.00	79-81	74-75
MongoDB (MDB)	156.56	72-75	64-67
PayPal (PYPL)	147.00	79-82	74-75
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	325-340	290-298
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO)	122.24	90-93	82-84
Xilinx (XLNX)	134.50	76-79	70-72

After a fairly quiet March, emerging markets came to life this week after the revelation of unexpectedly strong manufacturing growth in China, progress on trade talks and lower interest rates—which always help emerging markets.

This week we have a new recommendation that helps power emerging market consumer spending, a key driver as these markets transition from exports to consumer spending to fuel their growth.

It’s fairly easy to find stock market prognosticators who will tell you to head for the hills, and buy gold along the way. As for me, the market is doing everything that I expected this year, despite the harrowing headlines. Stick with your investment plan.

Ahead of the long weekend, and the unofficial end of summer for the trading community, it was a mostly quiet and mixed week as the S&P 500 was unchanged, the Dow gained 0.9%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.

Ahead of the long weekend, and the unofficial end of summer for the trading community, it was a mostly quiet and mixed week as the S&P 500 was unchanged, the Dow gained 0.9%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.

Despite a late-week sell-off, stocks finished the week with a mixed but telling tape. Federal Reserve policymakers delivered a widely anticipated 25 basis-point rate cut mid-week — reinforcing easier policy expectations — while fresh highs in cyclicals and small caps early in the week signaled strong breadth, only to be met by renewed AI valuation angst into Friday. Rotation out of mega-cap tech and into value names helped buoy the Dow and Russell 2000 which gained 1% and 0.5%, respectively, even as the tech-heavier S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.6% and 1.6%.

Current Market Outlook


You can blame interest rates or the Chinese or the economic cycle or politicians or even the celestial bodies, but it when all is said and done, it doesn’t matter why stocks have been struggling; the fact is that they are. And if you simply recognize that fact and accept it, then you can turn to the next step, which is to protect the profits you’ve earned in the long bull market and be selective when it comes to venturing into new stocks. That’s what Cabot Top Ten Trader is all about. The Market Monitor falls one notch lower to 5, but the ten stocks in today’s issue are still—on their own—quite attractive, plus they come from a wide variety of industries.

Our Editor’s Choice is Clean Harbors (CLH), a stock that was last hot in 2011, after which it spent nearly seven years out of the limelight. But now it’s back and the chart risk looks low.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
American Outdoor Brands (AOBC)	13.69	14-15	13-13.5
Canopy Growth (CGC)	38.82	46-50	40.5-43
Clean Harbors (CLH)	66.42	68.5-71	63-64.5
Endo International plc (ENDP)	13.32	16-17	14-14.7
EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG)	101.98	127-131	120-122
Exact Sciences (EXAS)	116.91	67-70	62-64
Glaukos Corp. (GKOS)	67.84	58-61.5	53-55
Novocure (NVCR)	0.00	47.5-49.5	43-44
Roku, Inc. (ROKU)	150.46	63-66	58-60
Square, Inc. (SQ)	91.04	83-86	76-78

Cabot’s market timing indicators show that the intermediate- and longer-term trends of the market are both up, so you can continue to put money to work judiciously. We have one ratings change today—PGX to Hold—but most of our holdings were very quiet over the past week.

Note: Due to the Christmas holiday, there will be no Cabot Small-Cap Confidential update next week. Happy holidays!

In last week’s update I spoke about the potential for a market retreat early in 2025 given that investors are sitting on sizeable paper profits, and selling after December 31 would allow them to postpone capital gains taxes.

My projection may have been off by a week and a half.

Good gracious, last week was volatile for the market as the indexes moved violently day-to-day. Yet, by the close of trading on Friday the S&P 500 and Dow were only down marginally on the week, while the Nasdaq had declined by 1.5%.

Good gracious, last week was volatile for the market as the indexes moved violently day-to-day. Yet, by the close of trading on Friday the S&P 500 and Dow were only down marginally on the week, while the Nasdaq had declined by 1.5%.

Last week, Mattel (MAT) introduced a boy doll named Logan to its American Girl product line. I can’t say that the doll will change much at Mattel’s bottom line, but it will certainly bring attention to the company.

The Update includes comments on earnings from recommended companies, other updates and the Catalyst Report, a powerful tool that anyone can use for finding attractive turnaround stocks. In the April monthly edition we highlight three companies with new CEOs, and summarize our deep-dive into the cannabis industry including six companies whose shares look appealing for long-term investors. We also discuss a spin-off which is our feature recommendation.

The market seems to be lending itself to more bullish price action in June, and I’m looking forward to making money this month! Today’s issue brings you one new stock, and one rating changes.