FlashNotes

  • Apple and Amazon Investors, Take Note!

    📈📉 Apple (#AAPL) and Amazon (#AMZN) investors, take note! As these tech giants prepare to report their earnings on the eve of July #Payrolls, a highly influential macroeconomic report, it’s crucial to be aware that Apple and Amazon may see their stocks fall, despite even phenomenal quarters, if July Payrolls is too strong. An inflationary payrolls…

  • Priced for Perfection v. Priced for Disaster

    Valuation and Expectation Valuation plays a significant role in shaping expectations for each company’s quarter. There is a direct correlation between relative valuation and expectation: The higher the relative valuation; the higher the expectation.  The lower the relative valuation; the lower the expectation.  Priced for Perfection When a stock experiences rapid price increases before its…

  • Rate Expectations, Stocks, and Payrolls

    Nonfarm Payrolls, which is the most influential job report of each month, will be released on Friday morning. Historically, Payrolls has had an impact on market expectations regarding the Fed and interest rates. A little less than 48 hours out, it is the opportune time to review current expectations and assess risks attached to the…

  • Let’s Not Make News Out Of Nothing

    Markets look a little sluggish today as Powell meets with the House for the first day of the two-day Biannual Report on U.S. Monetary Policy. Tomorrow, Powell will conclude the biannual event with a meeting with the Senate. While some attribute today’s weakness to related headlines, I disagree. In my opinion, Powell’s prepared remarks and…

  • Revisiting a Debunk Thesis

    At the beginning of the year, the consensus was that the stock market would experience a challenging first half followed by a strong second half. Put another way, the bear market would extend into the first half of 2023 but eventually give way to a new bull market in the second half. While I do…

  • Stick to the Strategy

    Veeva Systems (VEEV) didn’t disappoint investors with its latest quarterly report, which was released last Wednesday. If you read the 9:25, then this one would have been on your radar. On Monday, I wrote… VEEV offers industry cloud solutions for life sciences companies. Although it hasn’t participated to the same extent as other cloud companies…

  • 1Q Check-In: My ETF Picks for 2023

    At the start of the year, I selected four ETFs that I believed would offer a positive return irrespective of the macroeconomic environment. We’re a quarter in, so it’s time to check in. To do so, we will compare the year-to-date (YTD) performance of each pick against the SPY (S&P 500 ETF) and update the…

  • Preliminary Big Bank Takeaways

    Friday morning, the financial sector kicked off earnings with reports from J.P. Morgan (JPM), BlackRock (BLK), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citi Group (C), and PNC Financial (PNC). Although many other banks, including the regionals, have yet to report, three significant stories caught my attention. 1) The Net Interest Margin (NIM) Narrative Is Not Over As earnings…

  • Curious why stocks are rallying today?

    The market has decided that March Payrolls will showcase a cooling labor market, providing the Fed with additional reason to pause, which would be bullish for stocks. All of this week’s economic reports have painted a picture of a cooling labor market: It appears that the bank scare has had a real impact on the…

  • 3 Stocks That Can Weather Banking Turbulence

    The majority of my writing focuses on contextualizing complex market moves to assist in making investment decisions. While I occasionally discuss the sectors that I believe benefit from those market moves, I rarely mention individual stocks. However, recent volatility has caused unjust dislocations in certain companies’ stocks, creating attractive risk-reward scenarios only when defined entry…