Please Read My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick ASML

Please Read My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick ASML

Today’s Quick Pick is ASML Holding (ASML). ASML Holding is a chip equipment maker, specializing in high-end ultraviolet lithography. The stock released an impressive earnings report on Tuesday which sent the stock up 8.5% on that day. It’s up about 18% since I recommended the stock back in December. However, please remember, chip stocks and especially chip equipment stocks are cyclicals. They do well when demand is high, and then dip back down when demand is low. We’re currently in a big up cycle for chips with demand for new AI chips continuing to rise. ASML expects 2024 to maintain that upward swing and the stock is rising as expected. The thing I want to point out is how we know cyclical PEs to behave. The highest point for a cyclical PE tends to be down at the bottom, and as the stock goes up, the PE should go down. At the moment, the market is not at all focused on fundamentals and what we’re seeing is cyclical stocks trading like growth stocks. ASML is not a growth (forever) stock, but it’s currently trading at a PE of 39, the same as Microsoft, a definite growth stock (for comparison). There will be a top for ASML, it may not be 2024 but make sure you’re looking at fundamentals even if no one else in the market is.

Visa beats but falls on guidance–that’s what “priced for perfection” means

Visa beats but falls on guidance–that’s what “priced for perfection” means

After the close yesterday, Visa (V) reported earnings of $2.41 a share (after adjusting for one-time items) for the December 2023 quarter. (That the company’s fiscal first quarter.) Analysts had been looking for $2.34 a share in adjusted earnings. Revenue grew 8.8% to $8.63 billion, again beating analyst forecasts for $8.55 billion in revenue. Visa said payments volume grew 8%, and that its processed transactions rose 9% in the period. And yet the stock was down $4.70 a share, or 1.72%, to $267.91 at the close today, Friday, January 26. Why?

Special Report: My 10 Picks for how to invest in climate change NOW–3 first 3 picks, LAZR, PLBF and GWH

Here’s how I characterize developments in the global climate crisis in 2023: It was the year when hot air confronted cold cash. And as you might expect cold cash won.

Which gives me the framework for how to invest in the global climate crisis over the next 12 to 24 months. I’m going to use natural gas to develop my investing paradigm. And then I’m going to give you four sectors in which to concentrate your investments. And 10 specific picks for your money. I expect that I’ll be revisiting the topic of how to invest in the global climate crisis again before too long–because I think today’s paradigm will need substantial revision not all that far down the road.

In Part 1 today, I’m going to develop that paradigm. In Part 2 I’m going to tell you why I think nuclear energy, utility scale battery storage, wind and solar are the sectors that deserve your investment cash and attention (and why electric vehicles don’t make the cut now.) In Part 3, I’ll give you the ten stocks and ETFs I’d pick for these four sectors.

Please watch my new YouTube video: Too Far, Too Fast

Please watch my new YouTube video: Too Far, Too Fast

Today’s video is Too Far, Too Fast. Yesterday, on January 24, the market hit Wall Street’s consensus 2024 target for the end of 2024. Yep, a bit early. The consensus target for the end of the year 2024 close is an average of 4867 and yesterday the S&P closed at 4868. The median target is 4950, and the high end forecast is around 5200–only 350 points from where we are. We’re still awaiting confirmation that the Fed will cut rates and when that happens (likely in June or July–not March), more money will come into the market. This mid-year injection of money is good, but how much of a reward is there in a market that may have already reached its target for 11 months from now? At this point, investors are chasing momentum in an attempt to make up for missing the mark in 2023. That leaves the market  risky at the moment. There’s not a whole lot of reward in a market that moves sideways with very few big moves on the up side. We may very well finish the year flat from these levels.

ASML–and chip stocks in general–soar on equipment-maker’s big growth numbers

ASML–and chip stocks in general–soar on equipment-maker’s big growth numbers

Shares of ASML Holding (ASML) closed up 8.85% today after the company reported record orders for its chip-making equipment in the fourth quarter. ASML sales grew 12.5% year-over-year. And orders more than tripled from the third-quarter. I added shares of ASML Holding to my long-term 50 Stocks Portfolio on December 12, 2023. The position is up 17.6% since then as of the close on January 24.

3M plunges as company delivers exactly the kind of bad earnings news investors fear

3M plunges as company delivers exactly the kind of bad earnings news investors fear

3M (MMM) fell 11.03% today, Tuesday, January 23, the most in nearly five years, after announcing projections for 2024 sales and earnings below Wall Street expectations. Now granted that 3M is a special case–the company is engaged in a huge restructuring effort that has met with a high degree of investor skepticism. In short, investors doubt that the company can pull it off without cutting its dividend. So the stock is especially sensitive to any news that suggest that the restructuring is failing. But the stock’s big drop today is also an indication of how worried this market, trading at record highs, is about the possibility that earnings growth for the fourth quarter, the subject of the current earnings season, won’t support prices at these levels.

Xi’s plan for stimulus and stock market boost fails to convince China traders

Xi’s plan for stimulus and stock market boost fails to convince China traders

China will launch a new stabilization package including about 2 trillion yuan ($278 billion) to buy mainland shares via offshore trading links in the coming days, government sources say. This would come after a market rout that has erased more than $6 trillion in market value from mainland China and Hong Kong stocks since a peak reached in 2021. And certainly China’s stocks rallied on the news. The NASDAQ Golden Dragon Index of Chinese stocks traded in the United States closed up 4.84% today, Tuesday, January 23. But considering the extent of the losses and its duration, I’d count a less than 5% gain–especially since the index was up by more than 6% earlier in the day.

More fuel for this rally in Friday’s consumer sentiment news

More fuel for this rally in Friday’s consumer sentiment news

On Friday the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index reported a rise of 9.1 points, the biggest monthly advance since 2005, to 78.8. The preliminary January reading stands at the highest level since July 2021. Consumer sentiment jumped 13% in January to its highest level since mid-2021. Since November, consumer sentiment has risen 29%, marking the largest two-month increase in more than 30 years. And that was just the top line in a report with lots of good news for stocks and the current rally.