Search

Health care is one area where expenditures grow, rather than decline, with age. And while higher health care spending isn’t a good thing, and it would be great to see per capita health care spending diminish, you can’t argue with demographics. One implication is that while most retailers increasingly will struggle,...

Bull risk reversals are the trade of choice for hedge funds that want to put on huge bullish positions these days. However, the trades are extremely bullish, and if the trade goes wrong, it can go bad in a big way.

Five of the stocks in the portfolio have reported earnings.

Starbucks (SBUX), Dutch Bros (BROS) and Luckin Coffee (LKNCY) are all competing for market share, but which is the best coffee stock in the world?

These basics will help any growth investors improve their portfolio results.

As we continue marching through earnings season, we’ve had 15 companies report thus far, with only one missing consensus estimates by any appreciable amount.

It was another positive week for the market, with some major indexes nosing to new highs, and while it’s far from 1999 out there, individual stocks are seeing very few breakdowns while the leadership ranks gradually expand. Of course, there remain some headwinds out there, but the intermediate-term evidence remains positive, and we’re now even seeing some longer-term evidence start to point up. Thus, we’ll nudge our Market Monitor up another notch to a level 8.

This week’s list has something for everyone, with some zingers, some steady Eddies and more than a few recent earnings winners. Our Top Pick looks like an emerging blue chip in the cloud software field, and shares emerged from a big consolidation after earnings last week.

Any surprising event of substance can affect the stock market, even if it’s only for one day. The biggest reason that non-financial events, such as the Zika virus, Mrs. Clinton’s health, Y2K and the Brexit vote impact U.S. stock markets is because U.S. news media latch onto these topics and cover them incessantly, giving the general public the impression that these pieces of news are vitally important.

Value stocks are starting to gain traction.

No, they’re still not outperforming growth stocks. But the 10.5% year-to-date gain in the Vanguard Value Index Fund (VTV) puts it on track for its best year since 2021, and potentially its third-best year in the last decade. That’s progress. And much of the progress has come this month, as the previously thin bull market rally has spread to the myriad unloved non-tech sectors. Value stocks are up more than 3% this month, outperforming growth stocks (as measured by the QQQ ETF), which are flat in July.

It was a rare rough December for stocks.

Sure, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down just over 2%, propped up as usual by enduring strength in the Magnificent Seven. But the losses were far greater in almost every other corner of the market, with 10 of the 11 major sectors declining, small caps tumbling nearly 8%, value stocks off by more than 6%, and energy and materials stocks retreating by double digits.

In today’s note, we discuss pertinent developments for some of the stocks in the portfolio, including Alcoa (AA), Centuri Holdings (CTRI), Janus Henderson Group (JHG), Paramount Global (PARA), Starbucks (SBUX) and Teladoc Health (TDOC).


This month’s catalyst report features a mixed bag of attractive turnaround candidates in several industries, including software, healthcare, luxury retail and chemicals.

As readers may know, we are generally not the biggest fans of private equity. Our biggest concern is that, while earlier private equity and venture capital funds were remarkably successful in identifying and capturing highly profitable investments for their clients, more recent vintages, going back perhaps 10-20 years, have mostly produced large profits for the fund managers. News that many Johnny-Come-Lately funds will actually lose significant money on the Instacart IPO highlights this problem. High-quality and early movers will likely post enormous profits.

Last week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority hosted hundreds of bankers including the heads of 90 global financial institutions to discuss the current status and future outlook for the world’s capital markets. Despite the increasingly tight grip that China has on Hong Kong, which is leading to a diminished relevance for the island state, notables including Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and Goldman Sachs head David Solomon participated in the in-person meetings. The draw: Hong Kong remains an important gatekeeper for access to mainland China’s financial markets.

Tesla (TSLA) has had a rough start to the year. Entering Wednesday, TSLA shares were down nearly 42% year to date thanks to a bitter cocktail of sagging revenues, narrowing margins, and increased competition, especially in China. At the start of this week, TSLA shares had dipped to 142, a 52-week low, and were trading at their cheapest valuation on a price-to-earnings basis since last May and on a price-to-book-value basis since 2019.

The market has been ripping higher with broader participation from sectors that weren’t doing much a couple months ago. That’s the good news. And it’s showing up in the charts with the Small Cap Index at multi-month highs (but well below all-time highs). IPOs are starting to find their legs too. The not-so-good news is that the market is looking a little stretched, which could mean a pause or pullback is coming sooner rather than later. But, the market has a way of doing the unpredictable and with so many investors thinking it’s time for break we could see just the opposite. This month we try to play both sides of the ball by spreading things around in different sectors and across market caps. There’s some IPOs, some high growth software and MedTech ideas, and another growth + value name. They all have their own qualities and stand out to me for different reasons right now.

Education: Put-Write