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Part 2 Saturday Night Quarterback (on a Sunday) says, For the week ahead expect…

Part 2 Saturday Night Quarterback (on a Sunday) says, For the week ahead expect…

Earnings. Earnings. And more earnings. From the big bellwether technology stocks: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Alphabet. Wall Street has already slashed earnings forecast for these stocks so there’s a good chance these companies will report earnings that surpass expectations even if only by a few pennies. By and large, though, these reports will show either an absolute drop from the September quarter of 2021 or, at best, a slowing of revenue and earnings growth. Key to the market’s reaction will be what these companies say about expectations for the next quarter or two. Will they emphasize what are already clear slowdowns in PC and smartphone sales? Will they speak to the elephant in the room–the U.S/China trade war? Will they say that a strong dollar plus inflation is cutting into sales outside the United States and U.S. sales to domestic customers who are showing signs of “price fatigue”?

It’s a new trade war with China and this one is really, really serious

It’s a new trade war with China and this one is really, really serious

If you liked the Trump administration’s trade war with China, you’ll love the Biden administration’s new, more dangerous, escalated version. Rather than slapping tariffs on Chinese goods, and inviting retaliatory tariffs by China on American products, the Biden administration war limits the same of advanced semiconductors and chip-making equipment to Chines companies. The action is aimed straight at the heart of China’s efforts to build its own chip industry. And it plays right into a belief, stoked by China’s President Xi Jinping, that China is the victim of a Western plot to prevent the country’s rise to its rightful place in the global order. And the opening blows in this trade war come just as President Xi aims to be installed as China’s newest preeminent leader with a status near that of Mao. I don’t know what the retaliation from China will be, but it is unlikely to stop with a few restrictions on how U.S. companies, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Apple (AAPL) operate in China. The situation is so dangerous because it is so uncertain and so open-ended.

It’s a new trade war with China and this one is really, really serious

Please watch my new YouTube video: 3 Tech Stocks for the Next Wave of Products

My one-hundred-and-sixty-eighth YouTube video Trend of the Week: “3 Tech Stocks for the Next Wave of Products” went up today. Tech has been hammered as of late, but there will always be new innovations and new products emerging to give these companies in this sector a long and profitable future–after this Bear Market is over. In this video, I look at why AAPL, AMD, and QCOM have solid growth stories based on new products in the pipeline.

Smartphone forecasts suggest investors are right to worry about technology earnings this year

Smartphone forecasts suggest investors are right to worry about technology earnings this year

Analysts at New York investment house Cowen now expect worldwide mobile phone shipments this year to decline by 6% from a year ago to 1.36 billion. In 2023, the company projects shipments will dip by another 2% to 1.33 billion units. Perhaps most worrying for investors is Cowen’s analysis of where the market problems lie: In weakness in the high-end smartphone market.

Buying Puts on Apple and Google ahead of tomorrow’s CPI and dicey earnings season

This week is last stand for growth stock earnings hopes

Going into this earnings season, the hope was that strong, surprisingly strong perhaps, earnings from the big growth stocks would put a stop to the selling. Earnings would be strong enough to convince investors that the market wasn’t over-valued since at these growth rates stocks would be seen to be quick growing into current extended valuations That hasn’t exactly worked so far. But this week the earnings story from growth stocks hits its stride. If the companies reporting this week can’t make the case for growth stock earnings, there probably isn’t a growth stock story to be made in the light of Federal Reserve interest rate increases, supply chain disruptions, and fears of a recession.

Netflix stuns with loss of 200,000 users in first quarter–what’s that mean for other consumer companies?

Netflix stuns with loss of 200,000 users in first quarter–what’s that mean for other consumer companies?

Shares of Netflix (NFLX), fell 25.73% today, April 19, in after-hours trading after the company announced first quarter earnings. (In regular trading the shares had gained 3.23%.) The stock was already down 42% for 2022 before today’s after-hours plunge. The bad news: In the first quarter of 2022 Netflix (NFLX) lost 200,000 subscribers. That was a bit short of the company’s guidance for the addition of 2.5 million subscribers for the quarter. And to put a cherry on top of the bad news in the company’s earnings report, Netflix forecast that it would lose another 2 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2022.

Please watch my new YouTube video: Quick Pick Apple

Please watch my new YouTube video: Quick Pick Apple

This week, my Quick Pick is Apple (AAPL). I wrote a post about a month ago, saying that Apple would be a stock to buy place ahead of its new product event on March 9 (and the traditional fall announcement of more new products.). And I think the reveal yesterday had promising new products likely to boost sales. There’s a new iPad Air, an improved iPhone SE (the cheapest iPhone), and new generations of Mac computers all with Apple’s new in-house M1 chip. The stock has fallen a bit so far this year, but hasn’t been hammered as much as other tech stocks, and I think the potential for huge sales of these new items make it a good holding over the next year.

Buying Puts on Apple and Google ahead of tomorrow’s CPI and dicey earnings season

Is the trend turning in favor of big tech growth stocks?

It’a always dangerous to construct a trend from Friday’s trading. Especially when the earlier part of the week has been so strong in one direction or another. (In this case, down, down, down.) Ahead of the weekend, stocks often reverse the trend from earlier in the week as sellers (in this case) decide that they don’t want to be quite so bearish until the market opens on Monday. So it’s not surprising that stocks gained today on nothing especially qualifying as news. But with all those caveats, I still found today’s action “interesting” and “perhaps” indicative of a future trend. Not only were stocks as a whole strongly higher–the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 2.44% on the day–but technology stocks led the move to the upside.

Special Report: When will the selling stop? When to buy? What to buy? My last 3 of 10 picks (Apple, Disney, and Chipotle)

Special Report: When will the selling stop? When to buy? What to buy? My last 3 of 10 picks (Apple, Disney, and Chipotle)

Take a look at Peloton Interactive (PTON) and Netflix (NFLX) just in case you need a reminder of one of the essential characteristics of this stock market. One that makes it so hard to tell where the market as a whole is going, and what individual stocks are headed up or down (and often down big time.) What growth rate should an investor use in trying to value the stock? Who knows? Which is exactly the point and not a problem limited to Peloton in this economy. I’ve found a handful of stocks with reliable internal growth stories that make them great buy-on-the-dip candidates for over performance in the second half of 2022. I’m making three of those stocks–Apple (AAPL), Disney (DIS), and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)–my last 3 picks for my Special Report