The stock market had another great run since the Club’s May Monthly Meeting. Continued interest in the artificial intelligence trade and hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates sooner rather than later helped Wall Street reach new heights. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed at records June 18, buoyed by Club holding Nvidia’s monstrous run to start the month. Signs of easing inflation in a cooler-than-expected consumer price index print earlier in the month boosted investor sentiment, as well. In recent sessions, however, the market has been more volatile as momentum faded in high-flying stocks like Nvidia. After snapping a three-session skid Tuesday, the S & P 500 inched higher again Wednesday. Here’s our top-five performing portfolio names since the May 30 close through Wednesday’s close, the eve of our June Monthly Meeting. All five are tech stocks. AVGO YTD mountain Broadcom (AVGO) year-to-date performance Broadcom took the top spot since the May Monthly Meeting, jumping 16.7% in that timeframe. The semiconductor company’s better-than-expected quarterly earnings report on June 12 sent shares on a tear for several days, setting an all-time closing high of $1,828.87 apiece on June 17. A continued surge in sales for Broadcom’s AI chip business, management’s full-year outlook raise and a forthcoming stock split led us to raise the Club’s price target to $1,900 a share from $1,550. But, after such a strong move in a short period of time, the Club booked some profits in Broadcom on June 18 . We still maintain that it’s one of the best AI plays in the market right now. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia (NVDA) year-to-date performance Despite its recent swings, Nvidia landed in second place, with a 14.4% advance since our May gathering. It’s hardly a surprise to see Nvidia back on the portfolio’s top performers list. The “own it, don’t trade it” stock has continued its 2023 surge due to its dominance in the AI chip market. Nvidia closed at a record high of $135.58 on June 18 — and, for the first time, as the world’s most valuable company, dethroning Club holding Microsoft . It proved temporary, as questions about the sustainability of its rally mounted. In the following session, the stock experienced an ugly intraday reversal and began a steep three-day slide in which it lost 13% . It clawed back some of the losses with Tuesday’s 6.8% spike. And on Wednesday, the stock mounted a late-day comeback to close up 0.25% on the day of its annual shareholder meeting. Year to date, the stock is still up 155%. We’re not concerned about the recent volatility because Nvidia’s fundamentals and growth prospects are still stellar. It’s also not the first time the stock has cooled off following a big climb. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce’s (CRM) year-to-date stock performance. Shares of Salesforce advanced 11.53% since the meeting, coming in No. 3 on the list. There’s not a clear catalyst for the stock’s outperformance, other than investors simply deeming Salesforce’s post-earnings plunge in the May 30 session — the day of the Monthly Meeting — a bit overdone. Even with their recent comeback, Salesforce shares are down more than 10% from their close May 29. That evening, Salesforce posted its first miss on revenue since 2006 , and the stock then had its worst day in nearly 20 years . The Club lowered our price target on Salesforce to $300 a share from $340 in response to the quarterly results. We maintain that Salesforce is still a quality company, but expect near-term choppiness if this higher rate environment continues to force enterprise customers to keep costs down. AAPL YTD mountain Apple’s (AAPL) year-to-date stock performance. Narrowly behind Salesforce in fourth place is Apple , which jumped 11.48% over the period. The technology giant has been a strong performer since its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. That’s when management unveiled Apple Intelligence, its brand of generative AI features for the iPhone and its other devices set to launch later this year. The long-awaited details on Apple’s AI offerings solidified our view that a strong iPhone upgrade cycle should begin later this year, as customers trade in their older devices for AI-capable models. A boost in sales for the iPhone is much needed as Apple faces fierce competition in China, its second-largest market. Apple stock jumped 2% Wednesday, to around $213, after Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares to a buy from hold rating. The analysts said Apple Intelligence’s focus on keeping user data private should help convince privacy-sensitive consumers to upgrade. The stock is about 1.6% below its record close on June 17. PANW YTD mountain Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) year-to-date stock performance. Palo Alto Networks rounded out the list at No. 5. Shares rose 10.9% since the May 30 close. The stock gained momentum earlier in June after another high-profile data breach — this one involving software firm Snowflake — demonstrated the importance of cybersecurity offerings. With the rally bringing the stock back near its highest levels since its late February sell-off , the Club trimmed our position in the cybersecurity leader on June 14. We deemed it prudent to lock in gains after we’ve battled the stock for months. Palo Alto received another boost on June 21 after D.A. Davidson named the stock a top pick and initiated coverage with a buy rating. Analysts argued that the firm’s total address market could double between 2023 and 2028. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, PANW, NVDA, AVGO, MSFT, CRM. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on June 14, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
The stock market had another great run since the Club’s May Monthly Meeting.
Continued interest in the artificial intelligence trade and hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates sooner rather than later helped Wall Street reach new heights.
