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No student of the market is going to look at the action of the past week and shrug it off; that said, looking at the evidence, we can’t say the rally has gone kaput, at least not yet: By our measures, the intermediate-term trend is still pointed up, and a lot of high relative strength stocks (like those found in Top Ten) are pulling back very normally at this point, We’re not going to whistle past any graveyard: We’ll move our Market Monitor back down to a level 5, and if things worsen from here, we’ll quickly bring that down another notch or two--but we’re still holding our resilient names until something changes.



This week’s list reflects the renewed strength we’ve seen in commodity and “old world” names, even as the market has retreated. Our Top Pick is a name we missed a couple weeks back but think this pullback marks a decent entry point.

There’s no question that, from a top-down perspective, the evidence has continued to improve over the past few weeks, with today seeing the market surge as the U.S. and China slashed tariffs on each other. That said, even with today’s run in the indexes, leadership is hard to spot—many names that approach old highs are rejected, with the buying focused on beaten-down names for the most part. Don’t get us wrong: We’re encouraged and extending our line, but we’re doing so slowly until some real leadership develops. Our Market Monitor stands at a level 6.

This week’s list has a mix of names from different sectors and with some at different areas on their charts. Our Top Pick staged a classic gap to new highs after earnings last week. We’re fine starting small here or on dips.

As we head into the end of the year, markets have paused though are still bullish. A little bit of worry is a sign of a healthy market and some of the pullback is no doubt taking profits for tax reasons.

The budget showdown in Washington, which needs to be settled by Saturday, is not helpful.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point yesterday and in a preemptive move, suggested only two more reductions next year. This is a signal that interest rates will remain somewhat elevated as inflation that has come down significantly remains a stubborn trend.

It’s time to think about investing on the other side of the pandemic.

When the environment normalizes, investors will find the best opportunities in the same place they did before – technology. Growth in technology exponentially eclipses all other industries. And the pace of growth will accelerate as new and game-changing technologies are on the cusp of transforming the world as 5G continues to roll out.



Sure, the cyclical sectors are coming back. There will also be solid growth in other industries. But nothing will compare to the immense growth in technology. The sector will rule the market for many years to come.



Recent stumbles in the sector create an opportunity for the great normalization ahead. In this issue I highlight two portfolio positions perfectly positioned to benefit in both the long and short term.

Remember fintech? It was one of the biggest buzzwords on Wall Street a couple years ago until AI came in and gobbled up all investors’ attention. But the nascent sector never stopped growing, and now share prices are well below their apex as investors have largely ignored the sector the last couple years. In fact, this month’s new fintech addition to the Cabot Value Investor portfolio has almost never been cheaper since coming public in 2020. And yet, the company is still expanding both sales and earnings by more than 25% annually.

It’s a classic growth-at-value-prices story. And we think it has 45% upside in the short-to-intermediate term. Details inside.

From its modest beginning as an online textbook hub, this recommendation grew into a multi-pronged educational platform.

USA Technologies (USAT) reported quarterly results this morning that came in just about as expected.

Two stocks are moving up and a third stock is moving from Buy to Strong Buy.

Two of the portfolio stocks each reported first quarter results that beat expectations.

Facebook stock plummeted after the company vowed to scale back the number of advertisements on its site next year. Will it stay down long?

AgFeed Industries is a Chinese company that sells pre-mixed food for livestock, especially pigs, to the enormous Chinese market.

Video of a murder posted to Facebook was bad press for the social network. But it hasn’t done any damage to FB stock. Will it?

Treasury bonds are yielding more than they have in years. But if you’re an income investor, dividend stocks are still the better bet.

From The DRIP Investor Most Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) have expanded the ways in which participants can sell their shares, from sending a transaction request form via the postal service to telephoning sale orders or even going online to sell shares. Investors also have the ability to provide more specific sell...

CEFs, also called closed-end investment management companies, are different from mutual funds and ETFs because they issue a limited number of shares. That actually makes them more similar to ordinary publicly-listed companies than funds: when a new investor buys into a CEF, they have to buy from someone else who...

In Energy and Income Advisor, Elliott Gue and Roger Conrad recently wrote a series of articles on Master Limited Partnership (MLP) IPOs and why they offer unique opportunities for investors. Today, our Spotlight stock features their recommendation of a midstream energy company that went public last month. Energy MLP IPOs have been...

Expensify (EXFY) reported underwhelming Q1 2023 results after the bell yesterday. Our goal here was to get into what seems like a promising long-term opportunity with a small specialist (expense management and other financial tools for small and very small businesses) before the trends turned more positive.

Electrifying more of our economy will help address climate needs while possibly heralding the arrival of a new commodity super-cycle. These copper investments can help you profit from it.