Weekly Investor – June 14, 2021
Growth Stocks Lead the Week
Markets were mixed last week with growth stocks leading performance, despite a higher-than-expected inflation reading for May. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.6% month-over-month and by 5.0% from a year ago. Investors reacted to the inflation news by selling economically sensitive cyclical and value stocks. Shares of Caterpillar Inc. led the sell-off, falling almost 10.0% for the week. Homebuilders were also weak due to fears of rising mortgage rates and supply chain bottlenecks limiting new builds. Shares of Campbell Soup Company fell after disappointing earnings on rising input costs and execution issues. On the positive side, Biotech posted strong performance as Biogen Inc. received approval for its Alzheimer’s drug. High growth, primarily technology stocks moved higher for the week on positive commentary from corporate events with ServiceNow, Inc., Adobe Inc., CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. and Cloudflare, Inc. all moving higher by over 7.0%. Fastly, Inc. initially fell after a service interruption caused many well-known websites to go offline; however, shares recovered and rose over 10.0% for the week.
Looking ahead to this week, investors will closely follow the Federal Reserve meeting on June 15-16 for clues on any potential policy changes as economic growth accelerates and inflation increases.
The S&P 500® Index was up 0.4% for the week. Its top-performing sectors were Real Estate (2.0%) and Health Care (1.9%), while the bottom-performing sectors were Basic Materials (-2.0%) and Financials (-2.4%). In the fixed-income market, the 10-year Treasury yield was down, ending at 1.5%.
We continue to seek companies that reflect our Change-BasedSM investment approach.
Change Based Investment
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. It is one of the largest weapons manufacturers and military technology providers. The company operates through four segments: Defense Systems, Aeronautics Systems, Mission Systems, and Space Systems.
Northrop Grumman has been repositioning its business to focus on higher growth opportunities. In early 2021, Northrop sold its IT services business. The company also acquired Orbital ATK in 2018, creating its fourth business segment, Space Systems. Space has quickly emerged as one of the most critical areas for both commercial and defense priorities. Space represents approximately one-third of Northrop’s business, and Northrop has emerged as a best-in-breed leader in this area, which we believe can offer growth opportunities for the next decade.
Top 5 Equity Holdings
Large Cap Growth
| Alphabet, Inc.(Google) | 7.6% |
| Target Corporation | 6.7% |
| Apple, Inc. | 5.7% |
| Danaher Corporation | 4.8% |
| Mastercard Incorporated | 4.7% |
Small Cap Core
| Fortinet, Inc. | 4.5% |
| OneMain Holdings, Inc. | 4.4% |
| Medpace Holdings, Inc. | 4.3% |
| Telos Corporation | 3.3% |
| Select Medical Holdings | 3.3% |
Dividend Select
| Target Corporation | 7.5% |
| Microsoft Corporation | 5.7% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 5.6% |
| Eaton Corporation Plc | 4.0% |
| Life Storage, Inc. | 4.0% |
Mid Cap
| Zebra Technologies Corp. | 4.4% |
| CDW Corporation | 3.8% |
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | 3.6% |
| Cintas Corporation | 3.6% |
| Builders FirstSource, Inc. | 3.1% |
This newsletter presents selected recommendations from portfolio managers of Argent Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Opinions reflect the portfolio manager’s judgment on the date above and are subject to change. A list of stocks recommended by Argent is available upon request. You should not assume that these recommendations are or will be profitable. In the course of it’s business, Argent’s client accounts may be buying and selling these stocks.
