mike-cintolo

Mike Cintolo

Chief Investment Strategist and Chief Analyst, Cabot Growth Investor and Cabot Top Ten Trader

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A growth stock and market timing expert, Michael Cintolo is Chief Investment Strategist of Cabot Wealth Network and Chief Analyst of Cabot Growth Investor and Cabot Top Ten Trader. Since joining Cabot in 1999, Mike has uncovered exceptional growth stocks and helped to create new tools and rules for buying and selling stocks. Perhaps most notable was his development of the proprietary trend-following market timing system, Cabot Tides, which has helped Cabot place among the top handful of market-timing newsletters numerous times.

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 24, 2025

Nobody is going to claim that the past couple of weeks have been perfect, but given where things stood following the market’s three-week mini-crash, the recent action has been constructive; short term, we’d expect more upside testing, too. That said, on an intermediate-term basis, there’s much more work to do, as the trends remain down, most indexes have recouped easily less than half of their prior declines and the majority of stocks are actually still below 200-day lines. We are going to bump up our Market Monitor a notch to a level 4 to respect the action, but overall we remain cautious as we wait to see how this bottom-building process develops.

This week’s list has something for everyone, though all of them have shown some intriguing strength of late as the market has found support. Our Top Pick has pushed back to its old highs on great volume after some positive news last week.

March 24, 2025

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Market Stabilizing, Is a Bottom Forming? | Cabot Weekly Review

March 21, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 21, 2025

This week was generally one of stabilization, with the major indexes down 1% or less as of this morning, as volume and volatility tapered off. This continues a trend seen since last Thursday (and, for many stocks, last Monday) of stocks, sectors and indexes finding some support after a horrific three-week decline.

March 21, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: March 20, 2025

After a punishing three-week decline, the market has stabilized a bit, and we’ve actually seen some secondary positives, too, with a short-term positive divergence in our Two-Second Indicator, falling Treasury rates and some big dips in investor sentiment. That said, both the markets intermediate-term and longer-term trends are pointed down now, and while there are some resilient stocks out there, most names are also buried beneath key levels. A bottom-building process could be underway, and big-picture, we don’t view this downturn as unusual (see more on that in today’s issue), but for now, we’re staying defensive with a big cash hoard, waiting for the market to change character.

March 20, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 17, 2025

After a horrid start to the week, the market actually began finding support last Tuesday and has bounced a bit since. To us, it’s a baby step, and ideally the start of a near-term rally phase that will allow us to not just judge the strength of any recovery efforts, but to also see if any fresher growth stocks per up. However, for the here and now, the intermediate-term trend of the major indexes and vast majority of stocks is pointed down, so we’re remaining mostly in our bunker. If we do see some upside follow-through this week, we could become a bit more optimistic but we’ll wait to see if that happens.

This week’s list is another hodgepodge, with some zingers, some defensive titles and a name or two that are dancing to their own drummer. Our Top Pick has a unique story, and now perception is increasing as demand and pricing picks up.

March 17, 2025

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Still Playing Defense, but Positive Signs Emerging | Cabot Weekly Review

March 14, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 14, 2025

Stocks are bouncing this morning, but overall, it’s been another down week for the market, with the major indexes probing new correction lows as recently as yesterday. That obviously keeps the intermediate-term evidence pointed down, whether you’re looking at the trends of the major indexes, the action of individual stocks (70% of S&P 500 stocks and 80% of the broad market came into today south of their 50-day lines) or broader measures (new lows are swamping new highs each day).

March 14, 2025

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Stock Market

Cabot’s Market Perspective: What We See and Where We’re Going

An interview with Cabot’s Chief Investment Strategist Mike Cintolo, who shares his thoughts on the current market and what investors should do now.

March 14, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

March 13, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain defensive. Near term, we are seeing a couple of rays of light, including a developing positive divergence from our Two-Second Indicator and some legitimate dips in some reliable sentiment measures, so we’re not sticking our heads in the sand as the vast majority of primary evidence and our market timing indicators are negative, with the indexes so far having trouble finding much support. We could do some nibbling if the market finds a low it can work off of, but in the meantime, we advise staying mostly on the sideline and letting the sellers finish up their work. We have no changes tonight, and the Model Portfolio’s cash position is 83%.

March 13, 2025

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Stock Market

Selling Stocks: Mental Stops vs. Stop-Loss Orders

Using stops is a common method for selling stocks. But what’s the better method: mental stops or stop-loss orders?

March 12, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 10, 2025

What we’ve seen since the February 19 top in growth stocks has basically been a rolling crash, with most every leading stock from 2024 breaking its intermediate-term uptrend. Now, short-term, we do think things are finally getting hairy—recession fears and tariff headlines are making the rounds even as we are seeing a few near-term rays of light (the number of stocks hitting new lows is actually drying up a bit). That might be a reason to hold a some smaller positions at a profit, but overall, we remain clearly defensive. Our Market Monitor is now at a level 3, though we’re most interested in seeing how strong and persistent any bounce is once it begins.

This week’s list has names from all over the map, though medical and foreign stocks certainly dominate the list. Our Top Pick is a mid-cap biotech that has booming sales and earnings, and the stock is strong.

March 10, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

March 10, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: The growth stock meltdown continues, with the major indexes and individual names under heavy pressure again today. Already with nearly 80% in cash, we’re not eager to sell wholesale in the Model Portfolio, but we also won’t just hold and hope. Today, we’re going to sell half our position in Flutter (FLUT), which has fallen sharply this week. We’ll hold the rest of our names as well as our 84% cash hoard.

March 10, 2025

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Strong Stocks in Down Markets | Cabot Weekly Review

March 7, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

March 7, 2025

The market’s sharp downmove has continued this week, with all of the major indexes sporting sharp losses in the 3% to 4.5% range and growth-heavy measures down another 6%. We are seeing a small bounce this morning following the jobs report (mostly in line) and some positive quarterly reports, but nothing that changes the overall picture.

March 7, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: March 6, 2025

After a huge run and a choppy two-month stretch, the sellers have taken control and are crushing most stocks, especially growth titles, many of which broken down and--for the big winners of last year--are flashing abnormal action. With our Cabot Tides, Two-Second Indicator and Aggression Index firmly negative, we’re mostly on the sideline and are content to wait things out until the next uptrend gets underway.

Encouragingly, though, there are still a good number of fresher growth stocks (got going in the last two or three months) that are taking the selling in stride; upside will be limited for now, of course, but tonight we have an expanded watch list of names that could be new leaders down the road. Eventually, the sun will shine again, but for now it’s best to focus mostly on capital preservation, which will allow us to make that much more money when the bulls are back.

March 6, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: March 3, 2025

Last week saw the softness in leading growth titles spread to most of the market, with most indexes now in intermediate-term downtrends and there’s no question market leadership has taken a hit. That said, the rest of the market isn’t in nearly as bad shape, and what we’re watching closest is how the current bounce phase progresses: Obviously, a strong, big-volume, multi-day bounce in the market and fresher leading names would be encouraging, but right now, we think it’s best to play defense (our Market Monitor now stands at a level 4) but to also remain flexible.

This week’s list has a lot of names that have gone through corrections in recent weeks and months—likely kicking out most weak hands and, in many cases, resetting their uptrends. Our Top Pick is trying to break free from a nine-month rest; given the market, we’d keep it small if you enter and see how the market and breakout attempt go from here.

March 3, 2025

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Growth Stocks Crater but Fresh Names Emerge | Cabot Weekly Review

February 28, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 28, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain defensive as the ferocious selling in growth stocks continues. Today’s bulletin concerns Duolingo (DUOL), which reported a fine quarter and better-than-expected outlook—but the stock is cracking nevertheless. We’ll cut bait here, leaving us with around 72% in cash.

February 28, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

February 28, 2025

The selloff in leading stocks that started last week has continued, and now it’s spilled over into the major indexes, as it usually does—most indexes were down 2% or more on the week, including the Nasdaq down 5% and many growth measures off 4%-plus.

February 28, 2025

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Magazine

5 Ways to Beat the Market in 2025

We always prefer to go with the evidence, but it’s also useful to have a plan of attack, and these big-picture lessons can help you trade smarter in 2025.

February 28, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 27, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: Remain defensive. While there’s a chance the recent selling storm could be the final shakeout of this two-plus-month consolidation, the fact is the intermediate-term evidence (both top-down, and among many growth stocks) is now negative, with a lot of damage done to leaders. We’ve been holding a lot of cash for weeks but have pared back further, selling our remaining AppLovin (APP) stake on a special bulletin yesterday, leaving us with around a 66% cash position in the Model Portfolio. We have no changes tonight but are remaining flexible (buy or sell) for whatever comes next.

February 27, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 26, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: While we’re not aiming to sell wholesale given our large cash position (60% coming into this week), today we’re going to sell the remaining portion of our stake in AppLovin (APP), which is being mauled by a couple of short reports today. We had already sold the vast majority of our stake, but today we’ll sell the rest and hold the cash. Details on that (and other stocks) below.

February 26, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: February 24, 2025

While there have been some encouraging signs here and there, the market never could quite kick into gear during the past two months, which didn’t necessarily portend doom but is why we never turned very bullish in recent weeks—and now we’ve seen a sudden rug pull, as leaders have hit air pockets. Now, to this point, the selling has been mostly seen in the growth arena, so there are still many names that are handling themselves just fine. We’re open to this being the final shakeout to a two-month-long grinding period, but as always we’re taking the evidence as it comes: We’ll yank our Market Monitor down to a level 5, though a lot of it comes down to entry points and what stocks you own.

This week’s list is a hodgepodge of names, with some growth, some turnaround and a few others sprinkled in. Our Top Pick is a great short- and long-term growth story that acts well and could be ready to help lead if the market can turn back up.

February 24, 2025

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Earnings Winners vs. Market Anxiety | Cabot Weekly Review

February 21, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

February 21, 2025

It’s been a relatively quiet week if you follow the major indexes, with the big-cap measures flat and some of the broader indexes down less than 1%. And that keeps the top-down evidence broadly neutral: Most indexes are trending sideways, with some (big-cap indexes, even a growth measure or two) near the top of their ranges while others are stuck in the mud. Meanwhile, things like Treasury rates, our Aggression Index and other factors remain on the intermediate-term fence.

February 21, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

Cabot Growth Investor Issue: February 20, 2025

The market remains relatively mixed from a top-down perspective, but growth stocks remain a different story -- some still look fine, but the action is very hit or miss, and recently, more have come under pressure, with air pockets appearing all over the place this week. That doesn’t portend doom -- in fact, some things like sentiment are encouraging, and the indexes aren’t in bad shape -- but we’ve pared back this week and will look to reinvest the proceeds once big investors decisively step up to support growth stocks.

February 20, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 20, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: The growth stock environment remains challenging, with lots of selling on strength and, this week, more than a few air pockets showing up, and this morning is showing ugly action. We’ve been holding plenty of cash for weeks and probing small new buys here and there without much luck, while paring back or kicking out names that break. Today we’re going to pare back further based on the action of individual stocks: First, we’ll sell one-third of our remaining Palantir (PLTR), while also ditching our half-sized stake in Reddit (RDDT). That will leave us with around 58% in cash—as always, we could redeploy some of that soon, but we want to see institutions step up.

February 20, 2025

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Cabot Growth Investor

February 19, 2025

WHAT TO DO NOW: The market is nosing generally higher of late, however, the action remains very hit or miss among individual stocks, with some emerging and others getting hit. Today’s bulletin regards Shift4 (FOUR), which is cracking today after a mundane Q4 report and a big announced acquisition—we took partial profits a couple of months ago and are going to take the rest of our gain off the table today.

February 19, 2025

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Cabot Top Ten Trader

Cabot Top Ten Trader Issue: February 18, 2025

Most of the overall evidence out there is the same as it has been for weeks, but there is one factor that is very encouraging for the bulls: Earnings season, which continues to produce a good-sized batch of gaps higher in growthy names, with another round of winners this past week; as things stand now, there should be plenty of leadership for the market to ride ... if big investors finally click the buy button. We’re far from flooring the accelerator, but we’ll nudge up our Market Monitor to a level 7.

As an example of what we just wrote, seven of this week’s Top Ten gapped on earnings last week, and while some still need a little work, all should have good potential if the market kicks into gear. Our Top Pick has reemerged after a long base-building effort last year and as some industry worries fade into the background.

February 18, 2025

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Strong Earnings, Higher Inflation & Staying Close to Shore | Cabot Weekly Review

February 14, 2025

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