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If you own a business, you’ll immediately understand what I’m going to talk about today. You’ll also be a step ahead if you’ve worked in marketing in the last couple decades, or in certain tech fields. What do all those readers have in common? Those are some of the professions that...

A sure-fire method to find strong stocks is to ferret out high-quality stocks with low PEGnD ratio.

The market has been a little soft this week as better-than-feared results from many large caps, including Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook (META), have been somewhat overshadowed by renewed fears of banking turmoil. Thanks First Republic (FRC). That stock is down 96% from its 2023 high (and that wasn’t a particularly high price).

The highlight of my week so far just might be waking up this morning and realizing I can count the remaining days in September just using my fingers. That’s not because the weather hasn’t mostly been beautiful in Rhode Island. It has. It’s because, as you know, the market has struggled this month.

The past week hasn’t been the best for small-cap indices given some concerns around smaller financial institutions and modest weakness in value-oriented areas of the asset class. But big picture, the growthier areas continue to look good and in our specific higher growth arenas (software, MedTech, etc.) I haven’t seen much at all to complain about.

The real test will be how the next three weeks go as that timespan will cover the bulk of earnings reports from our portfolio.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) acknowledged disappointing quarterly results on Thursday, cutting its full-year financial guidance to a range of $2.80 a share to $2.95 a share, down from previous expectations of $3.20 a share to $3.35, and well off analyst estimates of $3.21. CEO Tim Wentworth discussed plans that could lead to the closure of thousands of its U.S. pharmacies as the company’s retail business continues to struggle. “We are at a point where the current pharmacy model is not sustainable, and the challenges in our operating environment require we approach the market differently,” Wentworth said, also noting that a quarter of the stores are not contributing to operating income. While there were positives – a well-performing international business and a growing U.S. healthcare segment for instance – future performance will heavily rely on the company’s shift toward greater efficiency.

With high home prices and high mortgage rates, it may not feel like you can profit from real estate right now. But you can, and here’s how.

While the S&P 500 Index made record highs (again) this week, the real story has been in small caps.

From last Wednesday’s close through mid-day today, the S&P 600 small-cap index is up 2.9%, more than twice the return of the large-cap index, which is up 1.3%.

The gains have been propelled by consumer discretionary, staples, financials, industrials and tech stocks.

With the stock market and Cabot’s office closed tomorrow for the Juneteenth federal holiday, this week’s update is coming your way a day early.

The market’s biggest concern at the moment is, of course, the conflict between Israel and Iran. I think it’s impressive how resilient the market has been given these developments in the Middle East.

Finally! The Fed met yesterday and, as expected, began a rate cutting cycle. The market, and small caps, love it.

The magnitude of the September cut, 50 bps, is a bit of a surprise. Despite what Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during the press conference yesterday, this is partially a make-up cut. Since there was no meeting in August, and the Fed didn’t cut in July, it was time to make a statement.

The Russell 2000 and S&P 600 SmallCap Index have pulled back from recent highs, but the data suggests they’ll go higher in the weeks ahead.

Bank of America’s seasonality analysis shows November tends to be a strong month for the market. The Russell 2000 is up 70% of the time, with an average gain of 2.64%. Small-cap industrials tend to be particularly strong, up by 6.1% on average, and rising 79% of the time.

The market isn’t in awful shape, but it’s not in as good shape as the major indexes would have you believe—the advance has been narrowing for a while now, and last week, as the Dow and S&P leapt to new highs, many stocks and sectors lagged behind. It’s not the end of the world and there’s nothing that says the market can’t chop around for a bit, get its act together and march higher; we’re certainly not advising you to sell everything. But given the evidence, and the fact that earnings season picks up this week, we think it’s best to keep our Market Monitor in neutral territory and see what comes.

Backing up that thought is this week’s list—there are a few very enticing ideas, but it’s not exactly chock-full of young whipper-snappers. Our favorite of the week is GameStop (GME), a stock that’s strong because of industry-specific factors that should boost earnings later this year.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Yahoo (YHOO)	0.00	23-24	21.5-22
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA)	818.87	40-42	35-36
Toyota Motor (TM)	0.00	105-110	98-100
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN)	512.96	195-205	180-185
Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI)	0.00	30.5-31.5	28.5-29
International Paper Company (IP)	0.00	45-46	42-43
GameStop (GME)	0.00	29.5-31	27-28
Avis Budget Group (CAR)	0.00	26-28	24-25
BlackRock (BLK)	0.00	250-260	240-245
BE Aerospace (BEAV)	0.00	58-60	55-56

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

This month we look at post-bankruptcy energy stocks. Companies that have emerged from bankruptcy are generally shunned by investors, as are energy stocks in general in the current market. Combined, these two traits offer some attractive investment opportunities. We discuss four of them.



We also look at tobacco stocks. Shares of these companies have fallen sharply in recent years due to an acceleration in the decline rate of cigarette volumes. However, that trend appears to be moderating, leaving the shares undervalued yet paying high dividend yields. Our feature recommendation, Altria Group (MO), is a stand-out value among the group.



We also include comments on recent price target and rating changes, including our recent Sell recommendations on Trinity Industries (TRN) and ViacomCBS (VIAC).



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.

The Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor is on vacation this week, recharging the batteries for what could be a very interesting September and fourth quarter in the financial markets. As such, this week’s edition will be abbreviated in length, although we include our Cisco earnings commentary in full.

Earnings Season – Second quarter earnings season began late last week. Your brokerage firm probably provides quarterly earnings estimates on a thousand stocks. Call your advisor or use their website chat box to find out where to locate the quarterly earnings estimates.

Thank you for subscribing to the Cabot Turnaround Letter. We hope you enjoy reading the November 2023 issue.

Much of the art of finding interesting turnaround stocks is looking at catalysts, tracking management changes and searching through lists of out-of-favor companies. Sometimes, however, good ideas can be found closer to home – literally – by looking through the roster of public companies in one’s home state. We discuss five turnarounds underway in our home state of Massachusetts.

Despite near-record gold prices, shares of gold producers remain depressed. We discuss two attractive companies. Our Buy recommendation this month is Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (AEM), a premier gold mining company selling at a discounted price.

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

The markets have continued their bullish momentum so far in 2024, with growth stocks continuing to lead the way—especially large caps, which are up 32.94% so far this year.

Sector-wise, Communication Services (up 9.74%), Technology (up 5.07%), and Healthcare (up 4.11%) are the winners so far, with Real Estate (down 4.37%), Utilities (-2.91%), and Consumer Discretionary (-0/83%) the losing sectors.

Housing inventory is still tight, with prices remaining a little lofty. The S&P Case-Shiller home price index came in at a 5.4% rise, which was a bit less than the 5.7% forecast, but still higher than the month before.

The world of major pharmaceutical stocks can be split into two camps: winners and laggards. Eli Lilly (LLY) is a clear winner, with its successful roll-outs of new treatments led by the immense promise of weight-control drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound. Lilly’s shares have surged 545% (up 5.5x) in the past five years and are increasingly mentioned as a replacement for Tesla in the “Magnificent Seven.” The shares trade at 47x estimated 2024 EBITDA.

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.