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This portfolio stock reported Q1 results after the close yesterday that should have investors feeling pretty good about the company’s ability to weather this pandemic.

I’m raising my rating on Robert Half International (RHI) today to Buy. RHI appears in the Buy Low Opportunities Portfolio.

Today’s recommendation is a small company, and there are no analysts following the stock. But it has big clients for which its products are absolutely critical. The stock has been on a wild ride this week. I have a hunch I know why, and we’re going to step in and to try and grab shares at a discount, starting with half a position.

This month’s Issue of Cabot Small-Cap Confidential features a newly public company that’s trying to do what seems impossible – make the healthcare system work better.

It’s essentially a big data software company for this highly complex market. But it has a services and consulting segment too that’s central to the growth story because so many clients need help getting organized before they can even implement a software system.

Revenue growth tops 30%. And the story remains relatively unknown. All the details are inside the December Issue of Cabot Small-Cap Confidential.

Nearly impossible to ignore in the financial and mainstream media are updates about the ongoing negotiations to avoid a default on its obligations by the U.S. federal government. Accompanying the news is the countdown to the X Date, the unofficial date when the government will run out of authority to make further payments because it will exceed the $31.4 trillion statutory debt ceiling.

The market is in a tough place right now, closing last week at new post-summer lows. At some point – perhaps sooner than we expect – the next rally will arrive. And there are a lot of indicators (overly bearish investor sentiment, a history of October bottoms, etc.) that suggest the next big move is up. But we have to see it to believe it. So, for now, we’ll maintain a relatively cautious stance, trimming an underperforming position today and downgrading another to Hold.

And yet, there are enough glimmers of hope out there (remember: it’s still technically a new bull market!) that today we’re adding a mid-cap software company with tons of growth potential, recently recommended by Tyler Laundon in Cabot Early Opportunities.

Details inside.

The big picture this week is much the same as last week. In fact, the S&P 600 Small Cap Index closed today just a fraction off where it closed last Thursday. The same applies to the Nasdaq, while the S&P 500 is up modestly.

Today, savvy investors are working to find “the next Apple” because that’s where the real growth potential lies.

The S&P 500 is now within 1% of the all time high. It could even make a new high today. The index has rallied 54% since the lows of March. What pandemic?

The market has resumed its uptrend and the S&P 500 is now back to within 3% of the all-time high.

Emerging markets got a boost this week as it appears that there will be a high level meeting between the U.S. and China at the upcoming G-20 meeting.

The G-20 meetings in Japan yielded only incremental progress. This was grudgingly accepted as a positive by markets with most emerging market stocks getting a boost as we headed into a slow and short week.

Today’s investment idea is in the biotech field. I’m stuck on these stocks for several reasons. One, they’re strong. Two, many actually boast growing earnings trends. Three, the group has failed many times in past decades to put together a lasting advance, so maybe now is the time. Four, there will be tremendous demand for health-improving products as baby-boomers age; biotechnology offers the best chance we have to stay healthy.

In part 3 of my series on the top-performing stocks of 2016, here are six more that managed to more than triple their share price last year.

Investing in revolutionary companies isn’t about finding bargains; it’s about getting on board the rocket ship before the masses.

The International Energy Agency issued a report earlier this month predicting that a “golden age of gas” could be coming.

Looking for a stock to feature in today’s Investment of the Week, I noticed that all my candidates had something in common: they were firmly in the “Mid-Cap” range of market capitalization. The range for a mid-cap varies by source, but usually includes companies valued between $1 billion and $10...