SPECIAL ALERT: We've just released our 5 Stocks to Double special report which includes five stocks our team believes have the potential to grow +100% in the next 12 months. This latest report features favorite stocks from Kevin Matras, Sheraz Mian, Brian Hamilton, Tracey Ryniec and Kevin Cook. Log on to Zacks.com to see these stocks today.
The market has been holding up very well amid all the North Korea troubles. And even though the major indices were down on Monday, that same resilience was on display again today. It’s no small thing for a country’s foreign minister to use “war” in comments regarding an adversary. But the pullback in stocks during the session was not very severe.
“I keep saying that the market doesn’t care until there are bombs in the air. Investors simply believe cooler heads will prevail and we should all have that hope,” said Jeremy in Counterstrike.
The S&P pulled back below 2500 for the first time in 10 days, though it was only down 0.22% to 2496.7. The Dow was off by 0.24% to 22,296.1. The NASDAQ got the worst of it with a slide of 0.88% to 6370.6, as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues to struggle.
The week started with a lot of portfolio activity. The tough talk by North Korea convinced TAZR Trader to take some profits on a couple of tech stocks with exposure to Asian semiconductor markets; one of the returns was a double digit winner. Momentum Trader added a biotech name, while Black Box Trader swapped out five names this week including four profitable returns. Read the full write-up for more.
Today's Portfolio Highlights:
TAZR Trader: Given the latest round of North Korea craziness, Kevin saw a great opportunity to secure profits from a couple of stocks near all-time highs with big exposure to the Asian semiconductor markets. He sold all shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) for a solid return of 13%, while also cashing out Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) for a 5% profit. You can bet that the editor will be back in these names once the tensions simmer down.
Momentum Trader: Last week, Dave foreshadowed a biotech pick for Monday…and today he made good by adding Ligand Pharma (LGND). The company is focused on new drugs targeting men’s and women’s hormone-related diseases, osteoporosis, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is expected to grow revenue by 44% this year and then another 30.5% next year. Check out the complete commentary for a look at LGND’s chart.
Black Box Trader: The portfolio swapped out five names this week, and four of them turned out to be positive. The sells were:
• Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT, +5.1%)
• Five Below (FIVE, +5.3%)
• Extreme Networks (EXTR, +1.3%)
• Burlington Stores (BURL, +8.8%)
• NiSource (NYSE:NI)
The five new buys that replaced these names are:
• Applied Materials (AMAT)
• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF)
• Cummings Inc. (CMI)
• Estee Lauder (EL)
• State Street Corp. (NYSE:STT)
Read the Black Box Trader’s Guide to learn more about this computer-driven service designed to take the emotion out of investing.
Zacks Confidential: A beat-and-raise quarter in any industry is impressive, but it’s all the more noteworthy when it comes from the tech space. Technology has played a big part in this bull market, and the next household name could be just around the corner. Brian Bolan is an aggressive growth analyst that loves to find these tech winners. Kevin Matras is giving him this week’s Zacks Confidential to explain his routine for finding stocks with big upside potential. Read his article and get three recommendations by clicking: Beat and Raise Tech Stocks.
All the Best,
Jim Giaquinto
Recommendations from Zacks' Private Portfolios:
Believe it or not, this article is not available on the Zacks.com website. The commentary is a partial overview of the daily activity from Zacks' private recommendation services. If you would like to follow our Buy and Sell signals in real time, we've made a special arrangement for readers of this website. Starting today you can see all the recommendations from all of Zacks' portfolios absolutely free for 7 days. Our services cover everything from value stocks and momentum trades to insider buying and positive earnings surprises (which we've predicted with an astonishing 80%+ accuracy). Click here to "test drive" Zacks Ultimate for FREE >>
Zacks Investment Research