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Occasionally, I will lower ratings on stocks that rose too far, too fast, and raise ratings on the stocks that present the best opportunities. Today, I’m raising the ratings on Carnival (CCL) and Vulcan Materials (VMC) to Strong Buy, and I’m lowering the rating on FedEx (FDX) to Hold.

A week ago, it felt like a bull market in name only. Now, it feels like a full-fledged bull market, with participation coming from places other than just mega caps and artificial intelligence. That’s reflected in our portfolio, where roughly half our stocks are hitting or near 52-week highs. Still, there’s always a chance things could crater, especially with the S&P 500 up 14% year to date and the Nasdaq up 30%. So today we add some needed value, with the bonus benefit of giving us more overseas exposure, in the form of an undervalued U.K. life insurance company courtesy of Cabot Value Investor Chief Analyst Bruce Kaser.

Stocks were up for a second straight week, which might as well be a full-on rally in 2022 terms. At the very least, it’s a good time to add a beaten-down growth stock with immense potential – in a sector that has brought us our biggest winner (by far) to date. It’s a stock that was recently recommended by Tyler Laundon in his Cabot Early Opportunities advisory.

Details inside.

Despite the pullback yesterday (specifically in tech stocks) the market appears to be in bull mode. Small caps have been toying with breaking out of their 2017 trading range, but haven’t made a convincing move just yet. Keep an eye on the 870 level on the S&P 600 Small Cap Index.

The rotation into the year’s underperformers that started last week has continued, while taking on some aspects of a generic risk-on trade. Financial stocks have outperformed all others since our last update, and tech stocks are up again this week. Materials and industrials also continue to do well.

Trading remained muted this week, with markets closed Monday for New Year’s Day. Wall Street began to return to work yesterday, and got the New Year off to a good start with solid gains in all the major indexes. On the flip side, some conservative high yield investments, like utilities and preferred shares, declined.

As we move into 2023, Explorer stocks are performing well as volatility is muted. My goal is to seek a balance between conservative and aggressive ideas so that you can select a blend that is appropriate for your circumstances and goals. I believe at some point in the first half of this year, markets will turn upward as more reasonable valuations will reignite investor interest. Today we return to a synthetic graphite idea that was a profitable trade about a year ago.

Most automotive stocks are cheap these days. But they’re cheap for a reason - lack of future growth. That said, there are a few gems in the auto industry.

I frequently get mail from business brokers who want to help me sell my business, and I always throw it away. I consider Cabot to be a family business; we’ve been serving individual investors for 38 years and I expect we’ll keep on doing so for decades to come. But I recently took a phone call from a salesman who invited me to an all-day seminar. I told him that my business was not for sale, but that I might be able to write about the topic for my readers. He said that was fine with him; he’d still like me to come. So I went to the seminar last week, and here’s what I learned.

And if you’re trying to build an entire country, the materials you need might just be prosaic steel and copper, and that brings me to my investment idea for the day. The company is Rio Tinto (RTP), the U.K. mining giant that sells billions of dollars worth of iron ore, copper, aluminum and other minerals every year. The company is growing fast because of demand from China and the rest of the developing world, and that growth is having some unexpected consequences.

Today’s note includes earnings updates, ratings changes and the podcast.

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

With the year-end approaching, investors often sell for reasons unrelated to a stock’s outlook. This month we describe some of these reasons, including tax-loss selling, window-dressing, performance bonus protection and the desire for a fresh start in the new year. We discuss seven stocks that look vulnerable to this type of selling yet seem likely to bounce once the selling pressure relents.



We also look at the airline industry – now in the throes of a near-term depression. We believe the outlook for a recovery is improving despite the recent “third wave” of rising Covid case counts. Clearly these stocks carry risks, most prominently that passengers don’t return to flying as much, even after a vaccine and other safety protocols should make flying safe again. Our discussion delves into some of the industry’s arcane metrics, as these help clarify (at least for those with a wonkish interest, like me) the drivers of the downturn and a likely recovery. We highlight five promising discount airline stocks.



Our feature recommendation is the office equipment company Xerox Holdings Corporation (XRX). The market tends to dismiss this company, but its robust cash flow, cash-heavy balance sheet, low valuation and 4.6% dividend yield offer strong value.



The letter also includes a summary of our recent sales of Peabody Energy (BTU), Weyerhaeuser (WY) and Barrick Gold (GOLD), our price target increase for Freeport-McMoran (FCX) and the full roster of our current recommendations.



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.

This month we’re wading deeper into the MedTech space with a life sciences company that’s commercializing a disruptive technology that could diagnose disease in seemingly healthy people.
It’s an exciting story of a young company that appears to be in the early innings of its growth curve, but has made it far enough with respect to technology development, customers and strategic partnerships to attract attention from larger investors.
Revenue was up 60% in 2018, and is projected to keep growing at a rapid rate. All the details are inside this month’s Issue.

Thank you for subscribing to the Cabot Turnaround Letter. We hope you enjoy reading the April 2022 issue.



All companies are collections of assets. When companies are struggling, a new CEO can redirect how those assets are utilized – a valuable catalyst for a turnaround. We highlight three recent CEO changes and how they might help drive up the value of their companies.



While we have been slow and perhaps reluctant to consider cannabis companies, we find that the time has arrived to look more closely. We summarize our deep-dive into this emerging industry and its major participants, and suggest six companies with impressive growth yet trade at surprisingly low valuations.



Our featured recommendation this month is ZimVie (ZIMV), a company that was recently spun off from medical technology giant Zimmer Biomet. Its shares have been summarily sold by the market, creating what we believe is an attractive turnaround situation.



We note our second price target increase for Marathon Oil (MRO) and our move to sell shares of Baker Hughes (BKR).

Some of the positives that we saw in the latter half of August are still hanging around, not the least of which is a good amount of resilience from growth stocks that popped higher on earnings or otherwise saw good-volume buying. That said, the market as a whole doesn’t look ready, with last week bringing another round of selling in the broad market and the major indexes—the intermediate-term trend never could turn up, and few stocks are really moving up at this point. Long story short, there are some encouraging pieces of evidence, but more patience is likely needed. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 6.

This week’s list is pretty well-rounded, with stocks from a variety of groups and of different sizes and profiles. Our Top Pick is a clear winner in the drug space with two big sellers; we’re OK grabbing a few shares here or (preferably) on dips.

The market put on a constructive show last week, though today was a bit sloppy, as the surprise OPEC supply cut hiked oil prices brought some rotation ... and provided a reminder we’re still in a very news-driven environment. All in all the story remains mostly the same: There are positives, especially among growth titles, but the market is bifurcated and tricky, with a lot of stocks still in the doghouse. At this point we think playing things mostly halfway (good amount of cash, some nibbling on strong names) is still the best stance. We’ll leave our Market Monitor at a level 5 tonight.

This week’s list is a bit more mixed than in recent weeks, with less growth and more cyclical and cheap situations. Our Top Pick is an old friend in the cybersecurity space that has a few months of positive momentum as Wall Street anticipates big profit growth ahead.

First off, a quick note: Due to our regular schedule (50 weeks a year), there won’t be a Movers & Shakers update this shortened week, or a Top Ten issue next Monday—but we will send out a Movers & Shakers update next Monday and will be around all next week if you have any questions. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Nothing much changed with the market last week: The major indexes were down, but not severely, and the intermediate-term trend continues to point up. That said, under the surface, it remains a very mixed bag—some areas look great, but there are as many (or more) wobbly names out there compared to names in solid uptrends. We’ll keep our Market Monitor at a level 5 this week, though we’d like to individual stocks act better soon.

This week’s list is heavy on old world companies, though there are a few great-looking growth names, too. Our Top Pick is in that space and has shown great power before and after its recent earnings report.

The broad market began to show strength in late December, and last week we saw further progress, with new lows continuing to shrink to very bullish levels while a granddaddy blastoff measure (the 2-to-1 Blastoff Indicator) turned green. It’s all very encouraging, but now we need to see more “primary” evidence turn positive, including the trends of the major indexes and many more “real” breakouts from high relative strength stocks. We’re optimistic, but are in a trust-but-verify mode; for now we’ll move our Market Monitor to a level 5.

This week’s list is heavy on many themes that are working, including solar, metals, infrastructure, China and travel. Our Top Pick is from the latter area and has turned the corner in a decisive manner.