Book 30.08% Gains in Your Tech Options

It was a positive week overall for markets, with the Dow Jones up 0.80% and the S&P 500 rising an even 1.00%, hitting yet another record high. Notwithstanding the crisis in Ukraine, the MCSI Emerging Markets Index ended the week essentially flat.

Big gainers in your Bull Market Alert portfolio included last week’s recommendation, Micron Technology Inc. (MU), up 2.35%; Grifols SA (GRFS), which gained 1.76%; and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (TMO), which rose 1.71%. The latter two also hit new 52-week highs. AbbVie (ABBV) also moved back above its 50-day moving average and is now a BUY.

With Google (GOOG) stock flattening out over the past few weeks, book your 30.08% gains in your April $1180 call options (GOOG140419C01180000). I will likely revisit this position again on any pull back in the stock.

Last Monday, you were stopped out of Russian search engine Yandex (YNDX). I recommended this position during the glory of the Sochi Olympics and you were stopped out during the height of the subsequent Ukrainian crisis. Russia has an uncanny ability to disappoint those willing to venture into its shark-infested investment waters!

All of your current Bull Market Alert positions are showing a profit for the year. But with the market overbought over the short term, and market internals deteriorating, I am holding off on making a new Bull Market Alert recommendation this week.

Today is an historic day, as it is the five-year anniversary of the S&P 500 hitting bottom in 2009, closing at 676.53. That low marked a climax of a 16-month sell-off during which the S&P 500 lost one-half of its value. Since then, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has gained more than 177%, the best rolling five-year performance since the June 1996 to June 2000 period that covers the dot-com bubble.

That is a powerful statistic, and yet another testament to the power of contrarian investing.

Portfolio Update

Bank of Ireland (IRE) gave back 13.43% last week after Wilbur Ross and Fairfax Financial divested some of their large IRE positions. As this divestiture was a small 6.4% sale relative to Ross’ much larger holding of around 35%, Ross is still long on the stock in a big way. The current pullback has no impact on the continuing improving fundamentals of the bank. In fact, I’d view it as an opportunity to add to your position. IRE remains a BUY.

AbbVie (ABBV) gained 1.08% over the past five trading days. Moody’s revised its outlook on ABBV to “Positive” early last week.  ABBV’s “inverted head and shoulders” chart pattern also produced a very bullish signal. ABBV rose above its 50-day moving average (MA) last Friday to become a BUY.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (TMO) rose 1.71%. CNBC’s Jim Cramer interviewed TMO’s CEO, Marc Casper, last week and uncovered several positive comments. Mr. Casper highlighted TMO’s huge China presence and that the company has plans to deploy much more capital in 2015 in an effort to add to shareholder value. TMO is a BUY.

Grifols SA (GRFS) gained 1.76%. JP Morgan maintained its “Overweight” recommendation on GRFS last week. GRFS is a BUY.

Latest Special Report

As a courtesy, I invite you to take a look at the new 2014 version of The Top 12 Stocks You Should Buy Right Now, which features three of my top investment recommendations, as well as bonus picks from each of my fellow investment newsletter editors at Eagle. In addition, I want to bring to your attention my latest special report, Top 4 Keys to Profiting in the New Wildfire Rally. Both of these reports are available on my website FREE for you and other subscribers.