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A year ago, college kids laid out the case for a Trump’s victory. And they did it with a mess of disparate data in just 20 hours, using a data prep platform by the little-known company that I’m recommending today.

Three of today’s featured companies seem most obviously ready to begin or continue run-ups in the coming days Yesterday’s earnings report made it clear that a fourth’s dividend is safe, with a current yield of 8.4%. Plus, energy stocks are acting well recently.

Last week’s much-awaited pronouncement by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) turned out to be a big “nothing burger.” I did not personally expect a cut in the fed funds rate.

One stock moves from Buy to Hold, another moves from Strong Buy to Buy, and a third joins the Growth Portfolio as a Strong Buy.

I haven’t written about the process of expiration.

WHAT TO DO NOW: The market has rallied nicely in the past week, which has improved the evidence—though for both our indicators and leading stocks, it’s been good but not necessarily decisive just yet. Even so, we’ve been sitting on a big cash hoard for a few weeks and we’ll start to come off that today, buying half-sized (5% of the portfolio) positions in Marvell Tech (MRVL) and Reddit (RDDT) while also restoring our Buy rating on Shift4 (FOUR). Our cash position will now be around 48%—more details in tonight’s issue of Growth Investor.

In keeping with last week’s comments, the stock market continues to show a willingness to rise in the near term. More than any other industry, oil refining stocks offer strong upside, including two within our portfolios.

On balance, there’s little doubt the evidence worsened last week, and yet, most leaders didn’t crack, and the big-cap indexes didn’t either, so the question was whether a “real” correction was getting underway … or this would be yet another shakeout-type decline that gives way to higher prices. So far, of course, it’s looking like the latter. On Friday’s update, we dropped our Market Monitor to a level 6, but we’re going to quickly change course and go back to 7 today—and then stay flexible as we see whether a year-end run is getting underway or whether more volatility is coming.

This week’s list again has a growth tilt to it, which we find encouraging given the selling we saw in many areas of the market of late. Our Top Pick is a steadier leader in the AI (and solar) space and is testing its 10-week line for the first time—look to enter on strength and use a tight-ish percentage stop.

Primo Brands (PRMB), Dynatrace (DT) and Dutch Bros (BROS) Report

Explorer stocks were mixed this week as Asian stocks struggled amidst increased U.S.-China economic tensions and concern over Chinese economic growth.

Commodities are back but something to keep in mind was mentioned to me by a friend in the energy business: “America is running out of shale oil.” This has big implications for world oil markets and America’s energy mix since if we are running out of the shale oil that can be extracted at about $60/barrel, higher oil and energy prices are around the corner.

Three of our stocks reported first quarter earnings. There are no rating changes.

Earnings reports have been on the menu this week. Some have gone our way, with Zeta (ZETA) and EverQuote (EVER) having fantastic reactions. We’ve taken a few punches too, and Talkspace (TALK) was cut on weakness while Alphatec (ATEC) is down but not yet out of the portfolio.

I’ve upgraded Intapp (INTA) this week as that stock looks like it could move significantly higher. We also add to our Weave (WEAV) position today in anticipation of a rebound in the share price.

While there are a lot of healthy signs of growth out there, stocks that do not meet high expectations are being punished.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) was off 29% this past week after some allegations of faulty accounting by short sellers was followed by the company reporting yesterday that it was postponing filing of its annual report with the SEC to assess “internal controls over financial reporting.”

Given the uncertainty, we have little choice but to sell the stock. We took some profits earlier this year, and the stock is still up 43% so far this year. My guess is that we will be back to Super Micro at some point, and I will watch this stock carefully.

It’s been one of the top-performing assets of 2024, but should you buy gold here? Let’s dig into the mystery surrounding the strength of the yellow metal.

The rally since the election continues as Bitcoin reached $90,000 for the first time. Tesla (TSLA) has climbed more than 40%, and the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index, which tracks shares of some of the nation’s largest lenders, is surging.

Dutch Bros (BROS) shares jumped 36% this week as it beat analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines while offering improved guidance for the remainder of 2024. Sea Limited (SE) soared 10.3% as the Singapore-based company reported overall net income that beat estimates at $153.3 million, with a better-than-projected 31% rise in revenue for the September quarter.

I get a little impatient with people who say they are “saving” for retirement. If someone is saving, I assume that they’re putting the money in a bank savings account, CD or other insured, interest-bearing account. They may also be buying Treasuries or other high-quality bonds. These are the only genuinely safe options for saving money.

As expected, the Fed cut interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday, but officials remain divided over the future and signaled that cuts next year are likely to be limited.

Two Explorer stocks stand out. Those are Banco Santander (SAN), up 153% so far this year so I recommend taking partial profits if you have not already done so. And there’s Coeur Mining (CDE), whose shares that are now up 179% so far in 2025.

In today’s note, we discuss the recent earnings reports from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). Our note also includes the monthly Catalyst Report and a summary of the April edition of the Cabot Turnaround Letter, which was published on Wednesday.

As many analysts focus on inflation and the job market, they miss that earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 for the first quarter now look to be up 5.2% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. Since profits and profit growth are the lifeblood of an economy and stock market, it pays to watch them closely.

For this week’s new idea, we go to a Canadian-based company focused on a different resource and technology crucial to North America and beyond.