Right now, I’m scanning a few stocks as potential additions to the portfolio. We’ll see if any make the grade.
In the meantime, the gains in our open positions are getting to almost ridiculous levels. Thanks to the negative outlook going into this earnings season, the drift from positive surprises has been bigger than ever.
I’m going to tighten up our stops – especially on the big gainers – to lock in those profits.
As predicted in my initial recommendation, Perrigo Co. (Nasdaq: PRGO) made a huge jump on the healthcare news, putting our shares up 46%. Raise your stop to $53.
The Shaw Group (NYSE: SHAW), my nuclear power play, has quietly crept up over 16%. Raise your stop to $32.
Last week, during a late-night conversation at the Annual Investment U Conference in San Diego, Louis Basenese and I both marveled at how attractive semiconductors looked to us heading into this quarter… and how negative most analyst’s predictions were.
Well, it paid to be a contrarian. My two semiconductor plays, Power Integrations (Nasdaq: POWI) and Amkor Tech (Nasdaq: AMKR), are up 29% and 9% respectively. Raise your stops to $39 and $5.90.
The Fed committed to keeping interest rates low… but it didn’t hamper the stock of SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB). A hike in interest rates would help the company, but the stock is still up 16%. Raise your stop to $43.50.
Our two stocks tied to industrials, Cytec Industries (NYSE: CYT) and MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE: MSM), are both up double digits at 37% and 12%. Raise your stops to $42.25 and $43.75.
We’re still waiting on Lindsay Corp (NYSE: LNN) to make a big move, but it has ticked up a few points. Raise your sell stop to $36.50.
Our three options positions are currently up 8%, 18% and 54%, so I’ll hopefully be booking profits on them soon.
Finally, we’ve so far been unable to buy Martek Bioscience (Nasdaq: MATK) under our $22.50. Stay patient and don’t pay any more than that. We’ll see if we can get our entry… and if not, we’ll move on.
For now, stay tuned for our next pick, which should be along shortly.
And if you have any comments or suggestions for how The FastCap Strategist works, please send them along to fastcap@whitecapresearch.com.
Ahead of the tape,
Matthew Weinschenk