Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Cabot Prime Pro Logo
Cabot Prime Pro

Weekly Summary August 23, 2019

Cabot Prime Pro Week Ending August 23, 2019

Stock Recommendation Tracker

The Stock Recommendation Tracker is a table that features all of the current recommendations in all of our portfolios. It’s a quick way for you to see what stocks are currently in our portfolios and will highlight new additions or any changes to our recommendations over the previous week. We include this table at the bottom of the Weekly Summary, and provide a link here at the top to the Stock Recommendations Tracker.

Cabot Weekly Review (Video)

In this week’s stock market video, Mike Cintolo, shares his latest thoughts on the state of the market after Friday’s numerous market-moving events. He’s still cautious, holding a good chunk of cash, but is also remaining flexible, as the market has been doing more chopping than trending in recent weeks. The good news is, despite the horrid headlines, there are still many stocks holding up well, so Mike’s continuing to hone his watch list and shares with you some of his top ideas.

CABOT EVENTS:

FREE WEBINAR: Thursday, September 12.

High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Boost Your Income Now

By Tom Hutchinson, Chief Analyst of Cabot Dividend Investor | Space is limited so sign up now for FREE.

Advisory Services

Cabot Growth Investor

Bi-weekly Update August 22: Mike says to remain generally cautious given that our Cabot Tides are still negative, though you shouldn’t be outright defensive given the encouraging action from so many growth stocks. In the Model Portfolio, he’s going to add a half position in Carvana (CVNA) tonight and restore our Buy rating on Blackstone (BX). That will give us a foothold in a potential new leader, but still leave us with around 33% in cash, providing cushion should this correction deepen.

Bi-weekly Issue August 13: Be cautious. During the past couple of weeks, Mike has taken the rest of our profit in Twilio (TWLO) and sold our half positions in Elastic (ESTC) and Zillow (Z), as well as a piece of ProShares Ultra S&P 500 Fund (SSO), leaving us with 33% in cash. But he’s still holding many strong names and has a burgeoning watch list for the next advance.

Other Stocks of Interest August 14: Follow ups to stocks featured March 28, 2019 (issue 1416) to August 13, 2019 (issue 1426). Since many of the stocks written about in Other Stocks of Interest don’t make their way into the Model Portfolio, you won’t see them followed on a regular basis in the issues. However, we are monitoring these stocks, and this listing gives you a quick view of our latest thoughts. Feel free to email me directly (mike@cabotwealth.com) with any questions/comments you have.

Cabot Top Ten Trader

Movers & Shakers August 23: Mike is sticking with what he’s been writing for the past couple of weeks: Until proven otherwise, the market remains in a correction/consolidation, so he advises a cautious stance, with limited/small new buying and holding some cash, though it’s also best to give your strong, profitable names a chance to continue to hold up. Today’s buy ideas are:PagSeguro (PAGS) and Pinterest (PINS). There are two outright sells today: Sea Ltd. (SE) and Tempur Sealy (TPX)

Weekly Issue August 19: Mike’s overall stance hasn’t changed much—you should remain cautious, limiting new buying and holding some cash, though he’s also fine sticking with your strong, profitable names, giving them a chance to resume their uptrends down the road. The game plan from here is simple: If the market fades again, he’ll remain cautious, but should the recent strength continue, he’ll gradually turn more constructive and put money to work. This week’s list (and the past couple of weeks) are great for getting your ducks in a row should the bulls decisively retake control. Mike’s Top Pick is Appian (APPN), which looks like a new small/mid-cap leader following a massive breakout.

Cabot Options Trader and Cabot Options Trader Pro

Note that the current week’s Weekly Update, earnings updates, position updates and stocks on watch are posted on the website in the Market Update section, which is deleted each week.
Cabot Options Trader Market Update August 23: The “unexpected” is what is really shaking the market today as China announced new tariffs on another $75 billion of U.S. goods, and then in reaction President Trump sent several tweets hinting that a big (anti-trade) response is coming later today. And because of this uncertainty, and the lack of any edge in buying or selling, for the time being Jacob is going to sit on our positions, and continue to build a watch list of stocks holding up well amidst the selling pressure.

Cabot Options Trader Market Update August 22: Tomorrow at 10 am EST Federal Reserve Chair Powell will deliver a widely anticipated talk at the Fed’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole. Traders will be looking for further insight on the potential for more rate cuts, which Fed Fund Futures are predicting, in the coming months. More interesting to Jacob will be the sector rotation following the event.

Cabot Options Trader Stocks on Watch August 21: On Monday Jacob wrote up earnings analysis of Medtronic (MDT), which we held a position in, and Sea (SE) which we formerly owned. Because of the volume of subscriber questions on both stocks following earnings, Jacob wanted to give you an update on the option activity in those stocks over the last couple of days.

Cabot Options Trader Pro Alert August 20: Roll Position: Sell your JD.com (JD) September 30/36 Bull Call Spread and Buy the January 32/38 Bull Call Spread (exp. 1/20/2020)

Cabot Options Trader Alert August 20: Roll Position: Sell your JD.com (JD) September 30 Calls and Buy the January 32 Calls (exp. 1/20/2020)

Cabot Options Trader Alert August 20: Adjust Existing Position: Against your Snap (SNAP) stock position Sell the September 17 Call (exp. 9/20) for $0.53 or more.

Cabot Options Trader Earnings Update August 20: Medtronic (MDT) reported earnings last night that beat expectations, as well as raised guidance for 2020. As is always the case following weak/strong earnings Jacob will continue to monitor the stock action as well as the option activity to aid his decision-making process with regard to how to manage the position. For now, his plan is to continue to hold our calls.

Cabot Options Trader Stocks on Watch August 19: A stock on Jacob’s radar following a strong earnings report, and which is attracting bullish option activity today, is Crowdstrike (CRWD). CRWD is a very intriguing stock and is near the top of his watch list for a new position … though if he were to buy a call he would likely target the December or January expiration cycle.

Cabot Options Trader Earnings Update August 19: Medtronic (MDT) is the next of our portfolio holdings that will report earnings, tomorrow before the open. Jacob is going to take the earnings risk and hold his position through earnings tomorrow as the stock has looked fantastic amid the market selloff and options activity remains bullish.

Cabot Options Trader Pro Weekly Update August 19: Jacob has 9 Long positions: DIS, KO JD, LVS, MDT, MSFT, RF, SNAP and XME. And one short position: QQQ

Cabot Options Trader Weekly Update August 19: Jacob says one of the best parts about the Cabot Wealth Summit is talking to Cabot Options Trader subscribers and getting their input on the service. And the one topic that came up quite a bit is the Covered Call section of his Daily Order Flow email. In essence, many COT/COTP traders are initiating those trades and wanted to figure out how he’s choosing the stocks, as well as the strikes to be sold, each day.

Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor

Special Bulletin August 23: A Spanish news outlet, Intereconomia.com, is reporting that biotech company Amgen (AMGN) is in talks to buy Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) for close to $200 per share. Alexion is featured in Crista’s Buy Low Opportunities Portfolio. It’s possible that ALXN could receive a buyout offer from AMGN in the coming days. If that happens, hold your shares, and Crista will update everybody on how to proceed. (There will be no need to sell quickly.) Strong Buy.

Weekly Update August 20: Today’s and next week’s updates of Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor are going to look a bit different. Crista won’t be reviewing all of our portfolio stocks today. Many Wall Street analysts are on vacation, so there will be very little in the way of changes in earnings estimates or new research reports for several weeks. That all changes after Labor Day, when analysts are back to work. They review all the companies within their research coverage, and update earnings estimates and research reports. There are two portfolio changes today: Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) moves from Hold to Strong Buy and CF Industries (CF) moves from Hold to Strong Buy.

Monthly Issue August 6: Since we’re in the midst of a sudden stock market correction, Crista decided to feature three stocks today that seem to offer the best opportunities while their prices are temporarily low: Adobe Systems (ADBE), Apple (AAPL) and Citigroup (C). Here are today’s portfolio changes: Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) moves from Strong Buy to Hold, Carlyle Group (CG) moves from Hold to Strong Buy, CIT Group (CIT) moves from Strong Buy to Hold, Designer Brands (DBI) moves from Strong Buy to Hold, Dow Inc. (DOW) moves from Strong Buy to Hold, Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) moves from Strong Buy to Hold, Synchrony Financial (SYF) moves from Hold to Buy and Total S.A. (TOT) moves from Strong Buy to Hold.

Cabot Stock of the Week

Weekly Issue August 20: The market has shown solid support in recent days, which is a good sign buyers are lurking. Many individual stocks are acting resilient, too, which is all to the good. That said, nothing has really changed when looking at big picture—the intermediate-term trend is still not positive, so Tim continues to advise stepping carefully, selling your losers and laggards and looking for undervalued and/or resilient actors that should benefit during the next uptrend. He has two portfolio changes today: Luckin Coffee (LK) moves from Buy to Hold and Planet Fitness (PLNT) from Hold to Sell.

Cabot Global Stocks Explorer

Bi-weekly Issue August 22: Our emerging market timer (EEM) is still negative but looking a bit better, trading just below its 20-day moving average. The earnings numbers coming through from emerging market and international companies are largely positive and contrast sharply with the macro concerns holding back markets. Carl’s recommendation today is DBS Bank (DBSDY), one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia, with a presence in 18 markets. It’s rated Buy a Half. There is one portfolio change today: ProShares Short MSCI Emerging Markets (EUM) Moves from Buy to Hold.

Bi-weekly Update August 1: Carl writes that emerging and international markets are holding their own as U.S. markets hit new highs in the wake of modest interest rate cuts by the Fed. The emerging market index (EEM), a basket of 800 stocks, is trading at just 12 times forward earnings. The key to unlocking this value in a big way is probably a weaker U.S. dollar. Carl has no portfolio changes this week.

Cabot Small-Cap Confidential

Weekly Update August 23: With earnings season largely over most of our stocks are now moving based on news that affects the broad market, and less on company-specific trends, with a few exceptions. Unfortunately, most of the news lately has raised more questions rather than provided answers. Weighty subjects like interest rate policy, global growth potential, trade war impacts and so on aren’t easy to answer. Tyler has one change today: Everbridge (EVBG) moves from Hold to Buy.

Monthly Issue August 2: Today’s recommendation, Bandwidth (BAND), is a software and infrastructure company specializing in communications. It just reported Wednesday night, and results were better than expected. There are no portfolio changes today.

Cabot Dividend Investor

Weekly Update August 21: Tom says the market seems to be rebounding and stabilizing after a tumultuous couple of weeks. The escalation of trade tensions, a sputtering global economy and talk of the next recession spooked investors. But as fear wanes investors realize that money has no place else to go but stocks to earn a decent return and they come back into the market. There are no portfolio changes today.

Monthly Issue July 31: Tom hasn’t found a stock that fits the bill this month. Instead he has highlighted an existing portfolio position as this month’s “target buy.” He believes Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) is a better investment right now than any possible new additions to the portfolio. It’s still a great buy. There is one change today: He’s selling 1/3 of Community Health Trust (CHCT) ahead of earnings next Tuesday.

Cabot Marijuana Investor

Update August 14: The cannabis sector has led the way down, some of our stocks have attracted buyers in recent weeks and our portfolio is currently 36% in cash. Put it all together and Tim thinks it’s time to begin buying again. (And today’s selloff might get us some nice prices!) In the portfolio, he will now reinvest half our cash—taking our cash level down to 18%. And he will spread that cash equally among five of our current holdings, Alcanna (LQSIF), Aphria (APHA), Aurora (ACB), Cresco Labs (CRLBF) and Curaleaf (CURLF).

Monthly Issue July 25: The cannabis sector remains in a correction, with both marijuana and CBD stocks trending lower, giving up some of their early-year gains—and perhaps building a bottom here. In the meantime, more and more peripheral companies are getting in on the action, and Tim has been increasing our exposure to these in recent weeks while still holding substantial cash. This week he’s selling one more of the pure-play marijuana companies, HEXO (HEXO) raising the portfolio’s cash level to about 27%.

Wall Street’s Best Investments

Daily Alert August 23: ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (HACK) Positive Patterns
Daily Alert August 22: The Toro Company (TTC) Sure Dividend
Daily Alert August 21: Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) Pivotal Point
Daily Alert August 20: Biogen Inc. (BIIB) The Turnaround Letter
Daily Alert August 19: Fidelity Balanced Fund (FBALX) Moneyletter

Monthly Issue August 7: Tech stocks have had a big year so far in 2019, and technology continues to rapidly evolve, making companies more efficient and providing cost savings along the way. And that is exactly what our Spotlight Stock, Asure Software, Inc. (ASUR), does. This cutting-edge tech company is making big waves in the human resource and workspace arenas, offering products that serve the changing demographic landscape. Nancy’s feature article delves a bit deeper into the company’s strategy and market potential.

Wall Streets Best Dividend Stocks

Daily Alert August 23: Fastenal Company (FAST) 2 for 1 Stock Split Newsletter
Daily Alert August 22: Peabody Energy Corporation (BTU) Dividend Confidential
Daily Alert August 21: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (SIEGY) The Prudent Speculator
Daily Alert August 20: Sell: Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS) Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor
Daily Alert August 20: Synchrony Financial (SYF) Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor
Daily Alert August 19: The Allstate Corporation (ALL) AlphaProfit Sector Investors’ Newsletter

Monthly Issue July 31: Our contributors continue to be bullish. After a fantastic showing for our 2019 Top Picks last month, our contributors are continuing to find some great stocks with big potential for you. Our Spotlight Stock this month, Compass Diversified Holdings (CODI), is a private-equity fund that gives you the opportunity to invest like the deep-pocket investors—buying shares in a business that owns privately-held companies. In her Feature article, Nancy explores this investment niche a bit more and sheds some light on the investing strategy of our Spotlight pick.

Ask the Experts

Cabot Options Trader

Question: What is your take on SE’s earning and their future prospect? I thought it was good but then ... Since it’s down quite a bit pre-market, what’s your thoughts on buying some Nov or Dec call options at the current reduced price level? Earnings were good ... just perhaps not good enough for the meteoric stock price run in the past several months.

Jacob: My thought is this .. give it some time. It is possible that the stock is now in the penalty box and may not resume its run. And if it were me I wouldn’t rush into a full position today. Remember it takes time for hedge funds/institutions to sell their position if they want to get out. Of note, in early trade today a trader bet on the stock not falling much more. Here is that trade: Seller of 4,000 Sea (SE) November 29 Puts for $1.70 – Stock at 32 (puts sold with SE down 11% on earnings)

Question:
I have been quiet recently but I have greatly appreciated your market insights as always. I have made a very heavy bet on SE Sept 34’s, thinking it was a no brainer, given its exploding growth. Boy oh boy, what a surreal experience that’s turning out to be. I don’t get it. There was some misinformation about the size of the EPS loss. The reality is that their gaming growth continues to explode and while losses widened for their e-commerce platform, it is already the #1 shopping app in SE Asia. And while you’d never know it from the market reaction, they actually beat analyst expectations for earnings. It was (.51) and they came in at (.49). To top it all off, they revised upward again their revenue guidance for the year. Who could ask for anything more? So for now, I expected a home run and instead it is a current swing and a miss. I’m still hoping that some savvy investors see the forest through the trees here and drive this back up where it belongs before I have to think about selling my Sept. calls for a significant loss. Live and learn. You have always warned us about playing earnings. But I honestly thought this was as good a play for earnings as anyone could wish for.

Jacob: First keep capital allocation at a level that you can handle the risk if the trade goes bad ... especially ahead of earnings. And the second “lesson” is that there are times when it doesn’t matter how good the earnings are as sometimes traders “buy the rumor, and then sell the news.” But stepping back, at the end of the day sometimes we have to take some risk to make big profits. If there wasn’t risk in the market, everyone would be billionaires. And if you really liked the setup and the risk/reward, and the trade failed, that is an unfortunate outcome, but part of the game.

Cabot Top Ten Trader

Question: I’ve noticed in Top Ten Trader that some stocks that have had big runs, you have looser stops on, despite some recent hiccups--SolarEdge (SEDG) is an example today. Given the CEO news and stock reaction, should it be sold or should the stop be tightened?

Mike: It’s a good question, and it’s all about how you want to play it. I tend to (a) try to take partial profits on the way up, but (b) ride the rest for hopefully a longer-term upmove. Thus, with SEDG, if you haven’t sold any and have a good profit, you could take some off, but otherwise, we’d just give it a chance -- these news events can cause short-term reactions that aren’t fun, but the trends are still clearly up. We have a stop in the low 70s at this point -- maybe we nudge it up a point or two but until the evidence changes we’re still giving SEDG and most other winners some room to breathe.

Premium Reports

Cabot Prime Quarterly Report

Special Report

July, 2019: After a straight-up first quarter, the second quarter was a good one, though proved far trickier. April was solid, though we saw the broad market stall out. May brought a very sharp correction (10% on the Nasdaq!). And then June was a big winner, with the major indexes and many leading stocks ripping back to their highs. Despite the ongoing worries and uncertainties in the world (U.S.-China trade, what the Fed will do, Iran, politics, you name it), you should listen to the message of the market—and that message remains bullish.

Cabot’s 10 Best REIT’s to Buy Now

Special Report

May 2, 2019: REITs are a way for investors to have a diversified portfolio of real estate-related investments even if you don’t have millions of dollars, much like mutual funds did for stocks. And REITs are traded on the market, just like stocks. In this new, exclusive report, you’ll discover how to profit in REITs, even when interest rates are rising.

Cabot’s Ten Best Canadian Small-Cap Stocks

Special Report

Updated March 6, 2019: One of the generally accepted wisdoms over the past couple of years has been that the U.S. stock market is where the action is. But relative performance of ex-U.S. markets is showing that’s no longer the case. There are market-beating returns available to those investors willing to step abroad. And one of the easiest steps to take is just over the border with our neighbor to the north, Canada. For the modestly adventurous investor, I think there are quite a few Canadian stocks worth a look right now.

Cabot’s Best Safe Investments for Uncertain Times

Special Report

December 21: This report gives you some suggestions of the safest, productive places to put your money when the market gets bumpy.

A Richer Retirement

Special Report This handbook is designed to help you secure a better, longer, richer retirement for yourself by making the most of your savings both before and during retirement.

Guide to Cabot Prime Pro

This Guide to Cabot Prime Pro will help you make the best use of your Prime membership to create a strong personal portfolio.

Stock Recommendations Tracker

The table below lists all of the stocks held in any Cabot portfolio.
Updated or revised recommendations from the past week are in purple text.
Stocks added to a portfolio are highlighted in green text.
Closed stock positions in the past week are highlighted in red text.

StockCabot Small-Cap ConfidentialCabot Global Stocks ExplorerCabot Growth InvestorCabot Marijuana InvestorCabot Stock of the WeekCabot Undervalued Stocks AdvisorCabot Dividend Investor
AAPLHoldStrong Buy
ABBVBuy
ACBSee Advisory
ADBEBuy
ALKBuyStrong Buy
ALXNStrong Buy
ANFBuy
APHASee Advisory
APPFHold
ARNABuy
AVLRBuy
AXPHold 1/2
BABABuy
BANDBuyBuy
BHGEStrong Buy
BIPBuyBuy
BSCJBuy 1/2
BSCLBuy 1/2
BXBuyBuy
CBuyStrong Buy
CCIBuy
CDNAHold
CFStrong Buy
CGStrong Buy
CGCSee Advisory
CHCTHold 2/3
CITHold
CMCBuy
CMGBuy
COUPHoldBuy
CRLBFSee Advisory
CRONSee Advisory
CTVAStrong Buy
CURLFSee Advisory
CVNABuy 1/2
CWBHFSee Advisory
DBIHold
DBSDYBuy 1/2
DOMOHold
DOWHold
EPDBuyBuy
EUMHold
EVBGBuySold
EVERHold
EXASBuy
GESBuy
GSHDBuy
HTHTHold
IBNBuy 1/2
IFNNYBuy 1/2
IIPRSee Advisory
KSHBSee Advisory
LGORFHold 1/2
LKBuy 1/2Hold
LQSIFSee Advisory
LUVBuy
LXHold
MKCHold 1/2
MMNFFSee Advisory
MMYTBuy 1/2Hold
MOHold
MOSHold
MPCHold
MTCHHold
NEEHoldHold
OGISee Advisory
OKTAHold
PGXBuy 1/2
PLNTSoldSell
QTRXHold
QTWOBuy
RCLHold
RGENBuy
RKUNYBuy 1/2
RPDBuy
RUNSold
SANMBuy
SEBuy 1/2
SLBBuy
SNAPBuyBuy
SSOHold
STAGHold
SUPNHold
SYFBuy
TCEHYBuy 1/2
TOTHold
TPBSee Advisory
TSLAHold
UEICStrong Buy
UPLDBuy
VCYTBuy
VFFSee Advisory
VLOBuy
VOYASoldStrong Buy
XELHold 2/3
ZSold
ZTOHold 1/2