Weekly Investor – October 11, 2021
S&P Gains for the Week
The S&P 500® Index gained 0.8% last week, erasing some of the 2.2% decline from the previous week. The index has gained 18.2% year-to-date and is up 2.0% for the month, a welcome change following September’s difficult 4.7% drop, the worst performance since March 2020. Last week stocks gained on positive news that a $480 billion increase to the debt ceiling was passed by the US Senate, allowing the government to continue to operate as usual, at least for a few months. September jobs data disappointed as non-farm payrolls increased only 194K jobs, well below expectations of 500K.
Energy was the best performing sector for the week, climbing 5.0%, as crude oil rose 4.6% to $79.35 per barrel. Facebook, Inc. shares were down for the week, falling 4.9% last Monday after a whistleblower claimed the company prioritized profits over public safety. Earnings announcements expected this week include financial names such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corporation, Wells Fargo & Company, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and many more.
The S&P 500 Index was up 0.8% for the week. Its top-performing sectors were Energy (5.0%) and Financials (2.3%), while the bottom-performing sectors were Health Care (-0.3%) and Real Estate (-0.8%). In the fixed-income market, the 10-year Treasury yield was up, ending at 1.6%.
We continue to seek companies that reflect our Change-BasedSM investment approach.
Change Based Investment
Apple, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, portable digital music players and related products.
Apple stands to benefit from higher iPhone revenues, driven by demand for more expensive phones. Apple also has maintained strong growth in its high-margin Services segment by generating revenue from offerings such as the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, iCloud and Apple Pay, among others. We expect Apple will use its excess cash to generate shareholder value and fund new ventures, including the further development of Apple TV. Given these positive changes, we believe Apple fits with our Change-BasedSM investment approach.
Top 5 Equity Holdings
Large Cap Growth
| Alphabet, Inc.(Google) | 8.5% |
| Apple, Inc. | 6.3% |
| Danaher Corporation | 5.7% |
| Target Corporation | 5.4% |
| Mastercard Incorporated | 4.5% |
Small Cap Core
| Medpace Holdings, Inc. | 4.6% |
| OneMain Holdings, Inc. | 4.5% |
| Fortinet, Inc. | 4.5% |
| ASGN Incorporated | 3.5% |
| Select Medical Holdings | 3.1% |
Dividend Select
| Target Corporation | 6.4% |
| Microsoft Corporation | 6.4% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 5.9% |
| Eaton Corporation Plc | 4.1% |
| Truist Financial Corp. | 3.8% |
Mid Cap
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | 4.3% |
| Zebra Technologies Corp. | 4.1% |
| Cintas Corporation | 3.9% |
| CDW Corporation | 3.8% |
| Builders FirstSource, Inc. | 3.7% |
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.
