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After a very difficult September during which the S&P 600 SmallCap Index fell back to the May lows, things have finally stabilized in small-cap land over the last two weeks.

Energy stocks have been one of the main contributors lately, as have consumer staples and discretionary stocks. These guys have helped offset weakness in small-cap healthcare and tech.

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

Good investing ideas can come from anywhere. One useful source is to borrow ideas from some of the best value-oriented investors. Their holdings can be found in the 13F and 13D regulatory filings which are required every quarter. In the letter, we briefly describe these filings, how we use them, and six stocks that look attractive from the many holdings we analyzed.



A slightly shocking source of turnaround ideas can come from the electric utility industry – about the last place that contrarians might look these days. We discuss three with interesting stories and strong upside potential.



Our feature Buy recommendation, Vistra Corporation (VST), comes from this illuminating search through the utility sector. Vistra is the nation’s largest independent power producer with an emerging retail business. Its shares were jolted by the winter storms yet look like an attractive turnaround situation.



We also mention our May 12th move from Buy to Sell on shares of Mohawk Industries (MHK).



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.

This will be a busy week for Wall Street as analysts speak with the companies within their stock purviews and write updated research reports. I expect to relay lots of changes in consensus earnings estimates in next week’s update.

Many stocks are rising—either toward former highs, or surpassing recent highs—because the companies are growing profits very well. It’s not “Trump,” nor “irrational exuberance,” nor “a lack of other good investment markets.” It’s simply strong earnings growth.

Explorer positions have a good week on the back of a market moving up on broadly upbeat first-quarter earnings, rising consumer confidence and, of course, stimulus and spending from Washington. The cash and liquidity has definitely buoyed the market but how it is put to work long term is critical.

This week’s recommendation is a rather aggressive small Canadian player in the commercial drone business.

Coming off a nasty close for the market the previous week, the indexes rebounded this last week as the S&P 500 gained 1.7%, the Dow added 1.6%, and the Nasdaq rallied 2.1%.

Coming off a nasty close for the market the previous week, the indexes rebounded this last week as the S&P 500 gained 1.7%, the Dow added 1.6%, and the Nasdaq rallied 2.1%.

I want to highlight a hedging strategy that you may want to consider for your personal holdings.

Below is an article I wrote a couple years ago in response to a subscribers’ question regarding options and option volatility around earnings.

Below is an article I wrote a couple years ago in response to a subscribers’ question regarding options and option volatility around earnings.

The market has been spectacular. Can we expect more of the same in 2026?

The S&P is up a staggering 95% since this bull market began in October of 2022. It’s up 128% this decade, for an average annual return of about 15%, 50% higher than the historical average.

The huge returns have been all technology. Without technology, market returns for the past few years would be rather uninspired. But there is growing investor angst regarding the sustainability of technology valuations and whether all this massive AI investment will deliver tangible payoffs. The sector could have a tougher year in 2026.

Fortunately, there are a lot of stocks that aren’t technology. The rest of the market cares more about interest rates and the economy, and those things are shaping up well. The Fed is in a rate-cutting cycle, inflation is subdued, oil is cheap, and a higher level of economic growth is expected in 2026.

The rally is broadening, and 2026 may be a year for non-technology stocks to shine. Overall earnings are expected to grow 14% next year, with much of the growth over last year coming from other sectors. Many stocks in other industries sell at cheaper valuations than the market, and performance is improving as investors seek to diversify beyond technology.

The bull market has been lopsided toward technology so far. But 2026 is shaping up to be a year for other stocks to catch up. In this issue, I highlight a stock poised to do just that in the year ahead.

Current Market Outlook


We continue to see more good than bad in the market as an increasing number of growth stocks move into new high ground, many other growth stocks set up nicely and even some cyclical names are getting into the act, rounding out nice launching pads. Still, there’s no question the chop factor is still real, as the vast majority of names that pop higher generally attract sellers for at least a couple of days, with more than a few sinking right back to where they started. Overall, we are encouraged by the rising level of leadership, so we’re nudging our Market Monitor up to a level 7, but the game plan remains generally the same—we favor starting small and/or buying on dips or consolidations, while focusing on stocks showing outsized accumulation.

This week’s list is another chock-full of recent earnings winners and other names showing excellent action. Our Top Pick is Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), which has lifted off nicely and has a great story.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Albemarle Corporation (ALB)	231	218-227	195-199
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY)	200	195-202	174-177
Datadog (DDOG)	130	124-128	110-112
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)	400	394-404	375-380
Lending Club (LC)	26	25-27	21-22
Lightspeed POS Inc. (LSPD)	93	90-93.5	81-83
ON Semiconductor (ON)	45	44-46	40-41
Paycom Software (PAYC)	469	448-462	405-414
Under Armour, Inc. (UAA)	25	24-25	21.5-22
ZoomInfo (ZI)	61	59-62	52.5-54.5

This month we’re jumping into a small software company that provides solutions for a specific small- and mid-sized business (SMB) market.

While the market for SMB software has been tough for the last two years, this company’s revenue growth has accelerated and customers that bailed in 2022 are coming back. In short, best-of-breed software isn’t dead! And this player is about to become profitable too. Enjoy!

The market remains in a correction, with most indexes, sectors and stocks in control of the sellers, and until that changes, we’re advising a cautious stance with plenty of cash and little new buying; in the Model Portfolio, we trimmed further this week and are up to around 65% in cash.

That said, we’re staying alert for many reasons, not the least of which is that we’re starting to see some real, true oversold readings (which we consider “alerts”) and because more than a few growth stocks are resisting the decline, hitting higher lows since August. That’s not a reason to buy, but we’re keeping our watch list in good shape and are ready to move if the buyers appear.

In the March Issue of Cabot Early Opportunities we spread things around with a diverse group of mid-caps, plus one large cap from our Watch List that’s one of the biggest stories in MedTech.

As always, there’s something for everybody.

Enjoy!

WHAT TO DO NOW: Our Cabot Tides are now on the fence while our Two-Second Indicator is negative as the market is in the middle of another test of the uptrend. Meanwhile, growth stocks have bent but not too many have truly broken, and there are still a good number setups out there. We sold Arista (ANET) on a special bulletin this morning, leaving us with around 45% in cash; we’ll hold onto that tonight as we want to see how this pullback plays out. Details below.

There’s a lot of noise out there. Sticky inflation and the Fed’s response to it; Iran getting involved in the Israel-Palestine war; war in Ukraine now in year three; a pivotal U.S. presidential election drawing ever closer; first-quarter earnings season underway, etc., etc. But the only thing that truly matters to the market, at least lately, is bond yields. Specifically, yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. The last couple years, the inverse bond yield-stock market correlation has been undeniable.

As we enter the brand-new year, we have a renewed buy signal from our intermediate-term timing indicator, and the best stocks are hitting new highs—including a lot in our portfolio. But one of ours is a true laggard, and will be sold today.




As for the new addition, it’s a hot growth stock favored by Mike Cintolo, which is seeing great growth in the exciting area of networking at the edge of the cloud.




Details inside.

After a one-to-two-week pullback (the S&P 500 and Dow peaked back on June 12, while the Nasdaq high came a week later, on June 20) the broad market has found support for now, moving mostly sideways since our last update. Markets have been closed since 1 p.m. (Eastern time) Tuesday due to the Independence Day holiday.

Markets ended last week with a strong performance, despite the mid-week holiday, which typically reduces trading. For now, I have no portfolio changes. If you’re looking to a do a little buying, we have plenty of options in every tier of the portfolio.