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If your portfolio is full of growth or materials stocks, you’re likely a happy camper, as these types of issues are being gobbled up by institutional investors these days. Indeed, we’re glad to see the Nasdaq – a good representation of growth stocks – outperforming the broader S&P 500, a sign that investors are growing more bullish. That’s a good sign for the market as a whole, but remember that with a new quarter underway, earnings season is about to begin, so be prepared for increased volatility (both upside and downside) going forward. This week’s Top Ten contains something for everyone, whether it’s China, oil, chips or even engineering and construction. Our favorite of the week is Focus Media (FMCN), a great growth company that just leaped out from a nice basing structure. It’s already reported earnings, and we think you can buy a little on weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Aecom Technology (ACM)	0.00	30-35	-
CMED (CMED)	0.00	40-44	-
Crocs (CROX)	0.00	65-67	-
New Oriental Education (EDU)	113.97	62-65	-
Focus Media Holdings (FMCN)	0.00	53-58	-
Flotek (FTK)	0.00	40-44	-
HANS (HANS)	0.00	52-55	-
OMTR (OMTR)	0.00	27-30	-
OmniVision (OVTI)	0.00	21-23	-
VeriFone Systems, Inc. (PAY)	0.00	42-44	-

We’re adding a new 5.3% yielding stock to the High Yield Tier. Most of our other positions are rated Buy as well, and the market is strong, so if you’re underinvested, it’s time to put some money to work.

We wrote last week about how the unusually persistent rebound in the market bodes well going forward. And the good vibes have continued since then, with gaggles of growth stocks rising nearly every day and a vacuum of selling pressure. Also impressive is how stocks have reacted to their quarterly reports—earnings season is nearly over, but we can’t remember a time when so many stocks have gapped up on their results. Of course, the market isn’t a one-way street, and forgotten are many of the worries of a month ago; some shakeouts are sure to occur. But such power on the upside usually doesn’t just disappear. We remain optimistic.

This week’s list reveals a broad swath of strong stocks from many industries. Our Top Pick is AerCap Holdings (AER), a firm that buys and leases airplanes. Business is strong, earnings estimates are huge and a recent acquisition is a game changer.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Domtar (UFS)	0.00	104-110	96-97
Trinity Industries (TRN)	0.00	65-67	59-60
RetailMeNot (SALE)	0.00	41-43	36.5-37.5
O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY)	0.00	150-155	142-143
Nabors Industries (NBR)	0.00	21-22.5	19-19.5
Harman International Industries, Inc. (HAR)	0.00	102-105	93-95
Freescale Semiconductor (FSL)	0.00	21-22	18-19
FireEye (FEYE)	0.00	73-75	63-65
HomeAway, Inc. (AWAY)	0.00	45-48	41-41.5
AerCap (AER)	0.00	41-43	35-36

When evaluating the market, you want to pay attention to unusual activity (good or bad), and the non-stop recovery by the market during the past two weeks strikes us as unusually bullish—eight times out of 10 the market will stall out during the rally, but so far, there’s been a vacuum of selling pressures. That doesn’t mean everything is rosy (many divergences have popped up, and the number of stocks hitting new highs is much smaller than it was in January), but the persistent snapback is enough to put our Market Monitor back into a lean-bullish stance. And that means you should do some buying in some newly-powerful stocks.
This week’s list has a bunch of newer names that are mostly on the growth side of the fence. Our Top Pick is Demandware (DWRE), a small company with a big story. It’s thinly traded, so be sure to keep your position smaller than normal.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
YY Inc. (YY)	0.00	63-66	56-58
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	190-195	165-170
SolarCity (SCTY)	0.00	70-75	63-64
Proofpoint (PFPT)	113.79	37.5-40.5	34-34.5
Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST)	0.00	70-71.5	62-64
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)	0.00	114-119	104-106
Intercept Pharmaceuticals (ICPT)	0.00	300-340	250-260
E*Trade Financial (ETFC)	0.00	21-22	19-19.5
Demandware (DWRE)	0.00	68-70	59-60
Athenahealth (ATHN)	0.00	180-187	160-162

Current Market Outlook


After many weeks of choppy action, the sellers sunk their teeth into many indexes and stocks last week. Friday’s rebound was encouraging, but by our measures, the intermediate-term trend is sideways-to-down, the broad market is weak and few stocks are making any sustained upside moves—i.e., there’s still no money being made out there. On the positive side, many stocks remain near the top of multi-month ranges, and if earnings season goes well, plenty of new leadership could emerge. But right now, the onus is on the bulls to prove that they can create a sustained uptrend in the market and individual stocks. We’re knocking our Market Monitor to neutral and will be watching the action closely.

This week’s list has many resilient stocks that could be part of that new leadership if the bulls step up their game. Our Top Pick is Mohawk Industries (MHK), which is one of a few very strong housing supply stocks and has a recent catalyst to boot.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
United Therapeutics (UTHR)	0.00	137-139	130-132
Taser (TASR)	0.00	24-25	22-23
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL)	0.00	80-82	75-76
Pharmacyclics (PCYC)	0.00	140-145	130-133
Outerwall Inc, (OUTR)	0.00	73-75	68-69
NetEase, Inc. (NTES)	0.00	104-108	96-98
Mohawk Industries (MHK)	0.00	160-165	150-153
HDFC Bank Limited (HDB)	0.00	54-56	50-52
Celgene (CELG)	0.00	117-122	108-111
Acuity Brands (AYI)	0.00	145-150	135-136

My investment strategy is to use a thematic approach, which allows me to invest in stocks much earlier than institutional investors.

Growth stocks had been improving some, but the sellers never quite disappeared, and now they’re back with a vengeance—many growth-oriented measures are down 6% to 10% this month alone, and even the broad market is going along for the ride.

Thankfully, we never got heavily invested given the indecisiveness, and now we’re throwing up some safety nets—we sold one stock yesterday (giving us more than half in cash) and put two others on hold.



Despite the selling, we’re not throwing in the towel—we see a ton of decent setups still, so if earnings season goes well, there could be some liftoffs. But for now we’re remaining cautious until things change for the better.

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

With the stock market continuing to reach record highs, and with most stocks either participating in the rally or facing structural, fundamental challenges that they won’t likely overcome, finding new ideas can be a challenge. As contrarians, we want to look for stocks in places which others find too unconventional or uncomfortable, as bargains may be found there. One such place is in stocks with low share prices, generally under $10. We discuss five interesting turnarounds among this group.



Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have surged since Pfizer announced on November 9, 2020 that they had developed an effective Covid vaccine. Yet some REITs haven’t fully participated. We review six laggards that have quite favorable risk/return traits.



Our feature recommendation is Dril-Quip (DRQ). This company manufactures highly-engineered drilling and production equipment for offshore oil and natural gas projects. The shares are heavily out-of-favor yet offer considerable upside, backed by a solid company with a large cash hoard and zero debt.



We mention our April 1st price target increase for Mohawk Industries (MHK) from 180 to 220. As several companies continue to show strong fundamental improvements, we are raising our price targets on Adient (ADNT), Western Digital (WDC) and Wells Fargo (WFC), while moving Jeld-Wen (JELD) to a HOLD. Also, we update our article from last month on high yield bonds.



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.

Current Market Outlook


The market has made a little upside push during the past week or two, but net-net, most indexes are up just a smidgen during the past seven weeks. That sideways trading has contained most stocks and sectors, too, as they chop around with a slight upward bias. Even so, the intermediate- and longer-term trends are up, so the odds continue to favor the next major move being up. And we’re encouraged by both the number of positive earnings reactions we’ve seen, as well as the action of those stocks after they gap up—most have traded constructively post-earnings with no selling pressures coming in even after they ramp. All told, we’re still mostly positive, but we’ll keep our Market Monitor at a level 7 (out of 10) until we see more than just the Nasdaq decisively push out of their recent trading ranges.

This week’s list has another batch of strong stocks, including many that have recently reacted well to earnings. Our Top Pick is a tough call, but we’ll go with Ally Financial (ALLY), which just exploded higher on earnings after years in the market’s doghouse. It looks to be just starting its run.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Ally Financial (ALLY)	30.44	21.5-23	20-21
Century Aluminum Co. (CENX)	17.24	14-15	12.5-13
Essent Group (ESNT)	0.00	34-36	31.5-32.5
Exelixis (EXEL)	27.35	18.5-19.5	17-17.5
Olin Corp. (OLN)	0.00	28.5-30	26-27
Symantec Corporation (SYMC)	0.00	26.5-28	25-25.5
Teradyne (TER)	82.83	27-28.5	25-26
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	247-256	225-229
Texas Capital Bancshares (TCBI)	0.00	82-86	76-78
Yandex (YNDX)	0.00	22-23	20-21

Current Market Outlook


The market produced some very constructive action last week, with the Nasdaq bursting to new highs and most other indexes testing their March peaks. And possibly the best action of all came from leading stocks! In a variety of sectors, we’ve seen many resilient names (including a ton of Top Ten stocks) rip higher, often on earnings. With that said, we can’t conclude that the market is completely out of the woods—until most major indexes clearly lift to new highs, there’s still a chance that the post-March 1 consolidation has further to run. Still, all of the major indexes are back above their 50-day lines, most stocks are acting well and the odds favor the market’s March/April consolidation giving way to further upside. We’ll move our Market Monitor to a level 8, and look for new highs on the indexes in the days ahead.

This week’s list has a ton of strong stocks with great growth stories, including a few that recently gapped up on earnings. It’s hard to pick just one, but we’ll go with PayPal (PYPL) as our Top Pick because the stock decisively lifted out of a long IPO base thanks to a big earnings gap.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Exact Sciences (EXAS)	116.91	29-31	25-26.5
Graco Inc (GGG)	0.00	104-108	97-99
GrubHub (GRUB)	140.03	41-44	38-39.5
Lending Tree (TREE)	411.51	138-144	126-129
MKS Instruments (MKSI)	109.43	75-78	70-71
National Beverage Corp. (FIZZ)	0.00	85-90	78-80
PayPal (PYPL)	147.00	46-48	43.5-44.5
Tencent Holdings Limited (TCEHY)	0.00	29.5-31	27-28
Wabash National (WNC)	0.00	22-23.5	20-21
Yandex (YNDX)	0.00	25.5-27	23-24

Current Market Outlook


Last Wednesday’s huge decline was a shot across the bow—most indexes threatened the lower end of their three-month trading ranges and even the strong Nasdaq showed some abnormal action. But few leading stocks broke down, and the action since then has been encouraging, with the indexes snapping back toward their highs. Overall, we remain more bullish than not, but given Wednesday’s action and the continued sideways action for most of the market, we’ll nudge our Market Monitor down a notch to level 7 and watch the next few days closely. Another big bout or two of distribution would darken the intermediate-term outlook, but the longer the market can hold up (or advance) from here, the greater the odds that last Wednesday was a news-driven shakeout.

In the meantime, we continue to find a variety of great charts and stories in a few different sectors. We’re sticking with the big-cap theme with our Top Pick this week—Global Payments (GPN) isn’t a barnburner but it has surged out of 13-month base on great earnings.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Adobe Inc. (ADBE)	315.23	136-139	127.5-129
Boyd Gaming Corporation (BYD)	0.00	24-25	22-23
Deere & Company (DE)	0.00	116-120	110-112
Global Payments Inc. (GPN)	0.00	88-91	82.5-84.5
MiMedx Group (MDXG)	0.00	13.5-14.5	12-12.5
Parexel Corp. (PRXL)	0.00	77-80	72-74
RingCentral (RNG)	238.73	31.5-33.5	29-30
Teladoc, Inc. (TDOC)	127.95	27.5-29.5	24.5-26
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)	230.36	114-120	106-1090
Yum China (YUMC)	0.00	34.5-36.5	31.5-33

Current Market Outlook


The market continues to face many headwinds, the largest of which is the fact that the major indexes and the vast majority of individual stocks remain in longer-term downtrends. However, let’s give the market credit where it’s due—after a panic selloff on January 20, the major indexes chopped around, retested those lows during the following three weeks, and now, have nearly risen to their highest levels since early January. By our measures, the intermediate-term trend is starting to turn up, so after many weeks in a defensive stance, it’s OK to loosen the purse strings and put some cash to work—though we do advise going slow on the buy side and continuing to hold a good-sized cash position. Our Market Monitor will move up a couple of notches into neutral territory.

This week’s list is still a bit light on true growth stocks, but there are other interesting ideas to consider. Our Top Pick is TAL Education (XRS), a stock we’ve recommended before that’s now showing excellent relative strength.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
TAL Education (XRS)	0.00	48-50.5	43.5-44
Wynn Resorts (WYNN)	121.08	76-79	69-70
The Priceline Group Inc. (PCLN)	0.00	1220-1300	1080-1100
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)	242.42	30-32	27-28
Hawaiian Holdings Inc. (HA)	0.00	38-40	34-35
Five Below (FIVE)	134.58	35.5-37.5	32.5-33
CenturyLink (CTL)	22.88	28-29.5	26.5-27
CyrusOne Inc (CONE)	0.00	36.5-38	34-34.5
Coherent, Inc. (COHR)	0.00	78-82	72-73
Burlington Stores (BURL)	193.95	52-54	47.5-48

Current Market Outlook


The market has turned into a case of the haves and have nots, as most major indexes and many cyclical sectors (materials, energy, industrials, transports) remaining in clear uptrends, while growth stocks and indexes either mark time or come under severe distribution. It’s not the healthiest situation—the market tends to do best when everything is in gear—but at this point, we’re not willing to make any broad statements. In other words, we’re just taking the evidence for what it is: The trends of the overall market are up and many stocks are acting well, so you should focus your attention on those strong sectors, while honoring stops and cutting losses in the areas that are under pressure. We’re keeping our Market Monitor at a level seven.
This week’s list is heavy on the market’s strongest areas, with materials, energy, financials and some retail represented. Our Top Pick is Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), the largest copper firm in the world, which appears to be just starting a new uptrend after a horrible bear phase. Try to buy on dips.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Burlington Stores (BURL)	193.95	86-90	78-80
Children’s Place (PLCE)	0.00	100-105	94-95
Dave & Buster’s (PLAY)	57.01	51-55	45-48
Deere & Company (DE)	0.00	97-101	91-93
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX)	13.78	14.5-15.5	13-13.5
Halliburton (HAL)	0.00	52-55	48-50
Helmerich & Payne (HP)	63.68	77-80	70-72
iRobot (IRBT)	103.17	53-56	48-50
Jack in the Box (JACK)	0.00	103-107	87-99
Stifel Financial (SF)	56.32	48-50	44-45

Current Market Outlook


The market’s intermediate-term trend turned back up last week after the major indexes tacked on more gains following the Fed’s dovish words. Combined with a bullish longer-term trend and many indicators that suggest investors remain hesitant, the path of least resistance for stocks remains up. That said, the market rarely makes it easy, and on that note, we’ve seen a fair amount of rotation in recent days out of some of the strong (and in many cases, extended) growth stocks and into other areas of the market. Overall, we remain bullish, but you should take things on a stock-by-stock basis—if you own something at a good profit, consider booking partial profits and trailing a stop for the rest, while honoring loss limits on any recent purchases. On the flip side, many “fresher” names look poised for higher prices as they’ve only recently emerged from multi-month slumbers.
This week’s list contains all types, but includes a few of those fresher-looking charts. Our Top Pick this week is Iqvia (IQV), a steady, reliable medical play that just blasted off from a good-looking rest period.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM)	79.05	49-51	44-44.5
AAXN (AAXN)	87.11	70.5-73.5	63.5-65.5
CoStar Group (CSGP)	589.55	540-555	495-505
Exact Sciences (EXAS)	116.91	109-113	98-101
Insulet (PODD)	175.69	113.5-116.5	101.5-103.5
IQVIA Holdings (IQV)	157.93	153-157	141-143.5
Rapid7 (RPD)	63.52	54-56.5	50-51.5
Sea Limited (SE)	132.86	31.5-33	27-28
Tempur Sealy (TPX)	85.53	70-73	63-65
Under Armour, Inc. (UAA)	26.82	24.5-25.5	22.5-23

The past few weeks have been choppy and challenging for many growth stocks, but we’re happy to see some of the yellow flags from last week be addressed--our Cabot Tides, which were on the fence, are again positive, and most growth stocks that dipped to support have found buyers. Of course, there remain some worries (earnings season is coming up; relatively few stocks are hitting new highs), but most of the evidence remains bullish
Tonight, in fact, we’re putting some of our sidelined cash back to work by averaging up in one stock and starting with a half-sized position in another, which will leave us with 17% cash.
In tonight’s Cabot Growth Investor, we talk about all our current holdings, highlight one beaten-down sector we’re keeping a distant eye on for a new upturn, as well as look at some little-known names that are on our watch list.

Current Market Outlook


The overall market remains in good shape, with the major indexes and most leading stocks in uptrends. That said, today was a very bad day for growth stocks, as big investors hit the sell button almost from the get-go, leaving most of this year’s winners down sharply. Given the monstrous runs in many of these names and (in some cases) some recent stalling out action, we do take this as a yellow flag—however, to be fair, few have broken any key support and most non-growth issues look completely fine. Bottom line, if you have some good-sized profits and positions, we’re OK booking a couple of partial profits and honoring stops and loss limits going forward. On the buy side, we continue lean toward “fresher” titles, including many steadier growers that have come into favor.
This week’s list has a bunch of names that, until recently, have been marking time, but now look to have begun steady uptrends. Our Top Pick is Teradyne (TER), which leapt out of a huge base on earnings last week.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)	773.32	780-805	710-720
Etsy (ETSY)	112.97	67-69.5	59-61
Kirkland Lake Gold (KL)	51.30	43-46	38.5-40
Lithia Motors Inc. (LAD)	146.30	129-132	118-120
Meritage Homes (MTH)	102.20	60.5-63.5	54.5-56.5
New Oriental Education (EDU)	113.97	102-106	91-93.5
Sherwin-Williams (SHW)	526.09	490-505	455-460
Snap Inc. (SNAP)	16.68	16.8-18	14-15
Teradyne (TER)	82.83	55-58	48.5-50.5
TransUnion (TRU)	83.09	79-82	72-73.5

Thank you for subscribing to the Cabot Value Investor. We hope you enjoy reading the March 2024 issue.

We discuss the similarities between poker and value investing. This past month we moved two stocks from Buy to Sell – Allison Transmission (ALSN) as it reached our price target, and Sensata Technologies (ST) as its management continues to take a path that is not shareholder friendly.

Please feel free to send me your questions and comments. This newsletter is written for you and the best way to get more out of the letter is to let me know what you are looking for.

Our Cabot Cannabis Investor portfolio is up 35% this year. That’s more than 10 times the 3% gain for the S&P 500.

The broader cannabis sector has done well too, but not quite as well as our Cabot Cannabis Investor portfolio of the 12 best names in the space.

The New Cannabis Ventures Global Cannabis Stock Index and the ETFMG Alternative Harvest exchange traded fund (MJ) are up 14.5%. We’re up more than twice as much.

Our Cannabis Plus Insider Portfolio is up 39.3% since I launched it on March 29 last year. Here we have outperformed the market by threefold. The 39.3% advance compares to gains of 12.7% for the Russell 2000 index, and 22.3% for the S&P 500 over the same time. The smid-cap Russell 2000 is a more appropriate comp than large-cap names in the S&P 500. This portfolio invests in cannabis related companies that have the right kind of insider buying, and do not touch the plant.