NASDAQ Ends at Record Close Again with Some Help from Apple

There’s perhaps no better way to start off a new week than with a fresh closing high, which is what the NASDAQ accomplished on Monday due to another market-leading performance from technology.

The index jumped 1.11% (or about 110 points) today to 10,056.47. The NASDAQ now has a 7-day winning streak and reached a new high for the first time since early this month when it strung together three straight record-making sessions.

Apple (AAPL) was a big help as the iPhone maker reached a new record in its own right and rose more than 2.6%. The company is having its developers conference right now and announced today that it will begin to transition to in-house chips and away from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).

However, while all of the FAANGs were up today, the biggest winner was Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX, +3.16%). Also, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) advanced nearly 2.8%.

Meanwhile, the S&P rose 0.65% on Monday to 3117.86, while the Dow recovered from a more than 200-point loss to gain 0.59% (or around 153 points) to 26,024.96.

Stocks are coming off their fourth week of gains in the past five. The NASDAQ jumped 3.7% last week, while the S&P was up 1.9% and the Dow advanced 1%.

The market remains optimistic moving forward, but its not quite as ebullient as it was in late May and earlier this month. Coronavirus cases are on the rise as the country attempts to reopen from the pandemic shutdown, which could possibly threaten the recovery that we’re all counting on.

Cases rose again this weekend, but the market managed to keep its head and push forward. Investors are much more interested in things like New York City, the once epicenter of the coronavirus in the U.S., entering the next phase of its reopening plan.

However, we’re going to be susceptible to headlines again in the near-term, so let’s hope we get some good ones as we continue this week.

Today's Portfolio Highlights:

Insider Trader: With the recovery rally “running out of steam”, Tracey made several moves on Monday to add more stability to the portfolio. First of all, she sold some of her riskier stocks, including Ryder (R, +13.2% since May 7), Virgin Galactic (SPCE, +7.2% since May 14), Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL) (RCL, +1.4% since May 29) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK).

The editor also added two new names. Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) is a large-cap biopharma company that saw a BIG insider buy last week of $500,000. The other addition is Old Republic International (NYSE:ORI), a “boring” specialty insurance company that had three directors buy this month. These stocks are still down 12% and 26% year to date, respectively, and pay dividend yields of 3.2% and 5%. Tracey has plenty of cash right now, so she’s allocating 10% to each position. Read the complete commentary for a lot more on all of these moves.

Technology Innovators: This portfolio loves to see big earnings surprises, and that’s exactly what Brian noticed with PagerDuty (NYSE:PD). This provider of digital operations management solutions topped expectations in three of the last four reports with an average beat of 31%. Most impressively, it surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 55% most recently and by 50% in the quarter before that. Earnings estimates are rising so much that PD is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It also has topline growth of 33% despite all the coronavirus craziness. Given all this, the editor added PD on Monday. Read the full write-up for a lot more on this new pick.

Surprise Trader: Earnings estimates have dramatically surged for SYNNEX (NYSE:SNX) in the past two months. By how much? Analysts now expect a 50-cent profit for the quarter being reported after the bell on Thursday, which is up from a loss of $4.14 just 60 days ago! Annual estimates are also on the rise for this busines process services company, which explains its status as a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The editor also appreciates its Zacks VGM Composite Score of “B” and the positive Earnings ESP of 6% for the upcoming quarter. Therefore, he added SNX on Monday with a 12.5% allocation. Read the full write-up for more.

TAZR Trader: Shares of Invitae Corp. (NYSE:NVTA) soared by more than 40% Monday on news that it will acquire ArcherDX in a deal worth $1.4 billion. The new company will “create a genetics leader with unrivaled breadth and scale in cancer genetics and precision oncology”. Kevin believes a lot of this move is probably short-covering and there will undoubtedly be uncertainty for investors about the economics of the deal moving forward. Therefore, Kevin got out of NVTA and scored a 108% return in a little over three months. However, the editor still likes this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and would buy again when the inevitable pullback comes.

Black Box Trader: The portfolio swapped out four positions in this week’s adjustment… and cashed in a double-digit winner along the way. The stocks that were sold today included:

• Camping World (CWH, +20%)
• KB Home (NYSE:KBH, +0.8%)
• Vistra Energy (NYSE:VST)
• H&R Block (NYSE:HRB)

The new buys that replaced these names are:

• Herbalife Nutrition (NYSE:HLF)
• Lennar (NYSE:LEN)
• Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE:LPX)
• Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM)

Read the Black Box Trader’s Guide to learn more about this computer-driven service designed to take the emotion out of investing. By the way, this portfolio had one of the best performers of the day as Sportman's Warehouse (SPWH) rose 8.2%.

All the Best,
Jim Giaquinto