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The market continues to show some overall improvement in tone, but last Friday’s jobs-induced decline and today’s low-volume dip makes it clear that not all investors are rowing in the same direction. Thus, we’ll leave our Market Monitor in the neutral column until we see definitive signs of buying. The good news is that, with earnings season beginning this week (and a deluge of reports starting next week), we’ll likely get an answer relatively soon as to whether this rally is the real McCoy. For now, we’re still leaning optimistic, so it’s fine to own a few resilient names, but we advise waiting until you begin to make some real money before you become more aggressive.

This week’s list has a few newer names to consider; in fact, there are only a couple of early-year leaders featured today. Our favorite of the week is Nationstar Mortgage (NSM), which is set to become the leading non-bank mortgage servicer in the country. The stock is extended, so try to buy on weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
CF Industries (CF)	45.23	185-195	-
GNC Holdings (GNC)	0.00	40-41.5	-
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF)	0.00	14-15	-
Meritage Homes (MTH)	102.20	32.5-34.5	-
Nationstar Mortgage (NSM)	0.00	22.5-24	-
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI)	19.31	15.5-16.5	-
Stratasys (SSYS)	0.00	50-52	-
SYNC (SYNC)	0.00	14.5-16.5	-
TFM (TFM)	0.00	53.5-56	-
Web.com (WWWW)	0.00	17-18	-

Third-quarter earnings season is only days away. PepsiCo (PEP) will kick off the season on Tuesday, October 10. The “official” start is generally considered to be on Friday, October 13, when major financials like recommended stock Citigroup (C), as well as JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) and Blackrock (BLK) report their results. For the S&P 500 members, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the busiest, as 20-50 companies report on each of those days. While weekends are almost cleanly bereft of reports, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/B) provides a stand-out exception (estimated to report on November 4).

Things have gotten a little better in the market. The situation has gone from bad to crummy.

The S&P 500 rallied from the lows to move away from the bear market precipice. The index also closed the week in positive territory for the first time in eight weeks and actually managed to eke out a very slight gain for the month of May. It’s not much. But it beats spiraling downhill.



For the first time in ages, inflation numbers were better than expected. There were also some positive numbers for the economy today. There seems to be a feeling that stocks have priced in the current negative environment for now. And there is some faint hope that inflation will recede all by itself and therefore the Fed won’t have to drive the economy into recession.

Things are still great. The market indexes are either making new all-time highs or within a whisker of them. The uptrend continues ahead of what is sure to be a booming economy in the months ahead.

Like most consumer industries, residential housing construction is declining sharply in the wake of the Covid-19 shutdown. The industry’s recovery, which was accelerating at the beginning of the year, is now reversing rapidly.

In this issue, we review five homebuilders whose valuations appear to overly discount the industry’s recovery prospects.

The ideal Small-Cap Confidential investor loves making money. And their passion for earning money lies entirely in the pursuit.

Undervalued stocks are difficult to find in this bull market. Here are five that look like huge bargains at current prices.

Way back in eighth grade, my history teacher, Max Pofcher, called me an iconoclast. And Mr. Pofcher was right. Being an iconoclast—or at least a nonconformist—has paid dividends in my life, not least by allowing me to see the stock market in ways different from the average investor. And when you can act contrary to the herd, you can make a lot of money! So, without further preamble, I present Five Wrong Ideas, otherwise known as five things most people believe that I don’t.