Top 50 Stocks

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Hot Button Moves NOW Buy CMG

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Hot Button Moves NOW Buy CMG

Today’s Hot Button Moves NOW video is Buy Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). Chipotle announced it will  be spitting 50 to 1. With the stock , currently trading at $2800 the split will bring in a new group of investors. The stock popped about 3.5% the day following the announcement and continued to go up in the following days. It’s contrary to modern capital market theory that a stock announcing a split should go up, but it does need happen. Chipotle has a great long term story. It not only survived the COVID pandemic, but the company drove its digital loyalty membership up to 36 million people and added digital drive-thru lanes, leading to extraordinary growth. Chipotle had a 38% increase in earnings in 2023 and an 8% increase in comparable store sales. That, along with a 26% operating margin, continues to make Chipotle one o the most compelling consumer stocks to own,. I think owning this before the split, which will likely be approved in June, will get you appreciation from the pop on the split, as well as long term gains from this well-run company.  Tomorrow I’ll be adding these shares to my lot-term 50 Stocks Portfolio.

Special Report: It’s a new world for dividend income investors: 3 trends (all now posted) and 10 picks (all first now posted PFE, BEPC, NKE, EQNR, V, HON, T, VZ, RTX, ABBV)

Special Report: It’s a new world for dividend income investors: 3 trends (all now posted) and 10 picks (all first now posted PFE, BEPC, NKE, EQNR, V, HON, T, VZ, RTX, ABBV)

Let’s say you’re a dividend income investor. You need cash income in retirement. Or you want your portfolio to generate cash now so you can invest in new opportunities. Or you just want the extra safety and lower risk that owning a stock with a substantial dividend can bring. Whatever your reasons–and I can think of a lot more–this is a particularly challenging financial market for dividend income investors.But I do think there are strategies dividend income investors can successfully pursue even in this challenging market. In the rest of this Special Report I’m going to explain the three ways I think you should be thinking about dividend income investing in this market. And then I’m going to give you 10 dividend stocks that I think are especially well-suited to producing income (and price appreciation, which is always nice even if you’re an income investor) in this market environment. First pick just posted–Pfizer

Watch My New YouTube Video: Hot Button Moves NOW–AI Woodstock

Watch My New YouTube Video: Hot Button Moves NOW–AI Woodstock

Today’s Hot Button Moves NOW video is AI Woodstock. Nvidia’s big AI update on March 18 has been dubbed “AI Woodstock” by Bank of America. Nvidia will update its pipeline and prospects for new projects and report on where it sees the AI market going. It will likely create volatility throughout the AI sector as investors try to get out ahead of the company’s projections. Tuesday, Bank of America raised its target price for Nvidia from $925 to $1100 and upped its estimate of the size of the AI accelerator market from under $250 billion to $250-500 billion in 3-5 years. This wide gap in both market size and time makes me a little nervous, but for now we can focus on the next few days. Nvidia will be discussing its new B1000 and N100 chips, ethernet switches, and AI at the Edge for PCs and smartphones. Keep an eye on stocks like Broadcom (AVGO), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Super Micro Computer (SMCI) for reaction to this news. The volatility in the reaction could open up a good place to get in on these AI stocks.

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: The Magnificent Five?

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: The Magnificent Five?

Today’s video is The Magnificent Five? The Magnificent Seven were the main drivers of market success at the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. But what happens when the Magnificent Seven are more like a magnificent Five, or even four? The original Magnificent Seven included Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Nvidia, and Tesla. Both Tesla and Apple have taken major hits largely due to problems with China. China’s regulations have made it harder to sell Apple products in the country in the government’s effort to push domestic goods. Apple sales in China are down 16-17%. in the first six weeks of 2024. This, alongside a Wall Street perception that Apple is behind in AI technology, has brought Apple shares down 12% for 2024. As for Tesla, China is producing massive numbers of cheaper electric vehicles that are increasingly exported globally (with the exception of the United States where high tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles limit sales) leaving Tesla down 25% in 2024. Google is also down 5% year to date though it may be too soon to write Alphabet off as “not magnificent” just yet. Both Apple and Tesla are no longer pacing the market and are indeed lagging. Bad thing? Good thing? I’d vote for “good thing.” The rally is beginning to spread out from a handful of big names. The only thing that makes me a bit wary is that so many investors are hoping to make money on speculative moves while the market is moving sideways. Those moves could cause volatility in a market that is otherwise likely to stay steady until we get big news from the Federal Reserve on interest rate cuts in June or so.

Apple is a sell at least until its developers conference in June

Apple is a sell at least until its developers conference in June

Apple (AAPL) shares are down 12% for 2024 to date as of March 5. But I don’t think Apple’s troubles are over. And it will take some pretty fast taking at the June WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) to reverse the downtrend in the shares. Absent a knock-it-out-of-the-park performance from CEO Tim Cook, I think the weakness will continue the company’s product announcements in September. And maybe longer. Those of you who have long memories may recall that I sold my shares of Apple in my 12-18 month Jubak’s Picks Portfolio back on September 12, 2023 at $176.30 a share. (I kept my long-term position in Apple in my 50 Stock Portfolio.) That sell turned out to be early. Painfully early. The stock hit a 2023 high of $198 on December 14. And it has only recently moved below my September sell, closing at $169.62 on March 6. But the iPhone China problem that led to that sell call has gotten worse. And since then Apple has developed an AI problem as well. And unfortunately the China problem and the AI problem mix to form an especially potent negative brew.

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Stock Pick of the Week Stripe

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Stock Pick of the Week Stripe

Today’s Quick Pick is Stripe. Stripe isn’t public yet but will likely go public in late 2024 or in 2025. This is an alert to prepare for this IPO. Stripe started in 2011 and is the “Paypal of its time.” I use both platforms and I find Stripe the more powerful and more user-friendly payment platform. Stripe  recently did a private, series H deal that valued the company at $65 billion. Paypal, its major competitor (along with Square), has a market cap of $65 billion. I think this will be a very hot, oversubscribed IPO share you can make a quick profit by flipping the shares on IPO day. The recent Series H offer means that Stripe probably won’t go public until the last half of 2024, at the earliest, or more likely 2025. Which give you time to get your ducks in a row in order to put in a bid for some shares in the offering.  Talk to your broker now to ensure you sign all the right paperwork and meet eligibility requirements for IPO offers. If you get that started now, you’ll be able to place an order for IPO shares when they’re available. Stripe revenue is at $14 billion with about 19% of the market share versus 42% for PaylPal. The company has just turned EBITDA profitable, a major milestone.  This is an appealing IPO and something to start preparing for even though it may be a little ways down the road.

Nvidia lifts most but not all tech boats

Nvidia lifts most but not all tech boats

Yesterday, Thursday, February 22, Nvidia (NVDA) gained 16.40% at the close after beating Wall Street expectations on earnings and revenue after the market close on Wednesday. And then raising guidance for the rest of 2024. But what most interested me on Thursday were what tech stocks Nvidia carried higher with it–and which stocks it didn’t.

Yes, I’d buy Palo Alto Networks today–with these caveats

Yes, I’d buy Palo Alto Networks today–with these caveats

After yesterday’s earnings report–the company beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter–and radically lower guidance for next quarter and the rest of 2024–total billings for next quarter will grow by just 2% to 4% and revenue for all of 2024 will grow by just 15% to 16% from 2023–shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) took a big hit right between the eyes. The stock fell 28.44% at the close and lost $104.12 a share to $261.97. What do I recommend? I’d say “buy” with a couple of caveats. Why buy?