
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 |