Weekly Performance Review June 28th – July 3rd, 2021

Better than expected economic data helped lift the S&P and the Nasdaq to new highs and close out a fifth consecutive quarterly advance this week. 

The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence exceeded expectations hitting a 16-month high.  Housing prices surprised on the upside. 

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that 850,000 nonfarm jobs had been added in June, blowing past the consensus estimates of around 700,000 and the most since last August.  Weekly jobless claims also fell to a pandemic-era low of 364,000.  

Large-cap tech, health care and consumer discretionary stocks led last week’s gains while small and mid-caps underperformed.  For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.57%, The Nasdaq gained 1.54% and the Dow ticked 1.04% higher. 

For a deeper look into this week’s market action and to find out how our trades did for the week, continue reading.  

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06-28-2021_PAVE unch

The Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) is the largest purely domestic infrastructure ETF with roughly $3.7 billion in assets under management.  PAVE’s definition of infrastructure includes many players in the construction supply chain, construction equipment producers, industrial transportation, producers of raw materials and engineering services.

The infrastructure fund is up about 65% in the last 12 months, nearly doubling the performance of the S&P 500 over the same period, so momentum is on PAVE’s side. 

06-29-2021_AAPL up 3.81%

Apple (APPL) shares typically climb ahead of third quarter earnings with the biggest average monthly returns in July and August.  The improvement in investor sentiment is partly due to two major annual events for Apple: the upcoming launch of the new iPhone in September and the holiday shopping season. 

Adding to the buzz this year is rising speculation around Apple’s own self-driving electric car.  It’s known that Apple has held talks with Nissan, Hyundai and other automakers.  On June 10th, Bloomberg reported that Apple hired Ulrich Kranz, a former BMW executive, to work on the Apple car.

06-30-2021_SEDG down 0.74%

The American marketplace is more saturated and has heavier competition, but SolarEdge has shown itself adept at making hay in Europe.  The company reported that the European continent accounted for $144 million in revenue, which represents a revenue increase of $22 million from the previous quarter.

The current consensus among 22 polled analysts is to Buy SEDG stock.  13 rate the stock a Buy, 6 call it a Hold and only 3 analysts say to Sell SEDG.  The 20 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for SolarEdge have a median target of $313, which represents a 10% increase

from its current price.  

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07-01-2021_QTWO up 1.21%

QTWO slid along with many other names in the recent growth sector meltdown and it still hasn’t quite recovered.  The stock is still down almost 30% from its February peak.  It should be hard for long-term minded investors to see this as anything less than an opportunistic bargain, as quarter-to-quarter fluctuations aren’t usually a huge concern for those with their sights far on the distant horizon.  

Of the 13 analysts covering Q2 tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 3 call it a Strong Buy, 7 say Buy and 3 rate it at Hold. Their average target price of $138.82 gives QTWO implied upside of almost 30% over the next 12 months. 

07-02-2021_GEVO down 6.5%

Renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, Gevo Inc. (GEVO) may see upside thanks to the Biden administration’s push for enhanced infrastructure and cleaner energy.  With the country hungry for green solutions, this provider of cleaner alternatives to petroleum-based products could do quite well. 

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