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Not much changed with the market’s stance last week—the overall uptrend remains in fine shape, though we’re seeing the usual under-the-surface potholes and choppiness (as well as some upside explosions) during earnings season. All told, our advice remains the same: remain bullish and give most of your best performers a chance to run, and when it comes to new buying, it will probably pay to get shares during temporary weakness ... unless you see a super-powerful earnings gap.
We’re seeing plenty of both during the past couple of weeks (normal bouts of weakness, as well as huge earnings gaps), which is encouraging. This week’s list has many names that can help lead the market’s uptrend, and our favorite this week might prove to the be the #1 leader among growth stocks. It’s LinkedIn (LNKD), which soared after earnings last Friday and is looking like the flag-bearer of this bull move.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Team Health Holdings (TMH)	0.00	33.5-35	-
Seattle Genetics (SGEN)	150.85	28.5-30	-
Shutterfly (SFLY)	94.71	39-41.5	-
Phillips 66 (PSX)	0.00	60-63	-
Oshkosh (OSK)	95.04	37-39	-
Melco Crown (MPEL)	0.00	19.5-20.5	-
LinkedIn Corporation (LNKD)	0.00	145-155	-
Cheniere Energy (LNG)	63.82	20-21.5	-
Cree, Inc. (CREE)	67.96	42.5-44.5	-
Popular, Inc. (BPOP)	0.00	26-28	-

The market didn’t do all that much during the holiday-shortened week, so our overall stance is unchanged—we’re still leaning bullish but are also holding some cash and are more focused on being patient and buying stocks at lower-risk entries. That said, we have seen a (very) subtle shift during the past couple of weeks; some of the defensive-type names have stagnated, with growth and speculative stocks acting a bit better. It’s too early to conclude that a big shift has occurred, but it’s something to watch closely—a movement back into growth stocks would be very encouraging.

In the meantime, we’re looking for newer names that have shown excellent power of late. This week’s list is chock-full of them, and our Top Pick is Biogen Idec (BIIB), a big biotech firm with big earnings growth coming. The stock just gapped out of a multi-month zone on favorable news.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Workday (WDAY)	194.88	78.5-81.5	75-75.5
Johnson Controls International plc (JCI)	0.00	48-50	43-44
Gogo Inflight (GOGO)	0.00	27-30	22-23
First Solar (FSLR)	83.74	59-61	49-51
Fifth & Pacific (FNP)	0.00	30.5-32	27.5-28
New Oriental Education (EDU)	113.97	28.5-30	26-26.5
Dexcom (DXCM)	421.36	33-35	29-30
Canadian Solar (CSIQ)	0.00	29-30.5	23-24
Bitauto Holdings (BITA)	0.00	29.5-31	25-26
Biogen (BIIB)	0.00	285-295	267-268

From the start of October through the tail end of November, growth stocks (and, more generally, high relative strength stocks) were the dog’s dinner, flailing around even as the major indexes advanced. Now, though, with many stocks having etched two-month launching pads, the tone has improved—money is slowly (emphasis on slowly) coming out of defensive names and into faster movers. A bit more improvement and we’ll shift our Market Monitor into bullish territory, but for now, we’ll stick with our general “lean bullish” stance.

Another good sign is that, in this week’s list, we see many stocks that have shown recent power and are trading relatively tightly, a good sign of accumulation. Our favorite of the week is Harman International (HAR), a well-situated audio firm with very solid sales and earnings growth. The stock looks like it’s at a good entry around here.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Perrigo (PRGO)	0.00	151-154	140-142
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS)	0.00	74-77	68-69
Illumina Inc. (ILMN)	289.74	97-101	90-91
Harman International Industries, Inc. (HAR)	0.00	78-80	70-71
Financial Engines (FNGN)	0.00	65-68.5	59-60
Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK)	141.68	83-85	70-71
Conn’s Inc. (CONN)	0.00	69-73	63-64
Baidu (BIDU)	0.00	165-170	140-145
AOL, Inc. (AOL)	0.00	42.5-45	39-40
Ambarella (AMBA)	52.79	23-24.5	20.5-21.5

If you’re invested in leading growth stocks, you’re probably doing very well; many of them have been shooting ahead, and on big volume to boot! That said, the broad market still isn’t acting right, and the longer that goes on, the greater the chance of some potholes in the days or weeks ahead. We’re not anticipating anything drastic, and we think holding your strong, profitable stocks is your best move. But we’ll continue to keep our Market Monitor just shy of bullish territory—holding some cash and picking your spots is important, especially with so many stocks extended to the upside.

This week’s list has many newer names (to us), which could reflect the start of a rotation into some previously stagnant groups. Our favorite of the week is Energen (EGN), one many good-looking energy stocks out there; we think it’s a solid buy here or on any weakness.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
YY Inc. (YY)	0.00	44-46	38-39
Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK)	0.00	22-24	19-20
Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NUS)	46.07	86-90	76-78
Micron Technology, Inc. (MU)	43.31	14.5-15.5	13-13.5
Lear Corp. (LEA)	0.00	69-71	66-67
Halliburton (HAL)	0.00	48.5-51	45.5-46
Evercore Partners (EVR)	0.00	47.5-49	44.5-45
Energen (EGN)	77.04	67-70	62-63
Infoblox Inc. (BLOX)	0.00	39-41	33-35
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (AEGR)	0.00	90-94	84-85

This is the week of the debt ceiling deadline, and while it appears Washington is coming close to a deal, nothing is final yet. And that means continued uncertainty in the days ahead, so be sure to continue following the evidence. Thus far, the evidence remains encouraging: most stocks are in good shape, and while some abnormal activity was spotted last week, the bulls have stepped up to the plate since. We remain in a “lean bullish” stance, holding some cash but also holding our best performers and looking for new buys on dips.

This week’s list highlights the newfound strength in energy stocks—there’s four of them featured this week. Our favorite is Continental Resources (CLR), which we think is an emerging blue chip in the sector, though all of its energy peers also have solid prospects.

Stock Name	Price	Buy Range	Loss Limit
Yandex (YNDX)	0.00	36.5-38	33-34
Melco Crown (MPEL)	0.00	32-33.5	28-30
Cheniere Energy (LNG)	63.82	34-36.5	30-32
HCA Healthcare (HCA)	137.60	45-46.50	39-40
Facebook, Inc. (FB)	0.00	47-49	43-44
Dril-Quip (DRQ)	0.00	113-115	109-110
Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO)	24.03	40.5-42.5	36.5-37.5
Continental Resources (CLR)	66.19	108-112	100-102
Infoblox Inc. (BLOX)	0.00	41-43.5	36-37
ARM Holdings (ARMH)	0.00	46-48	43-44