Yes, I too held a bit of international at one time. It was within an index fund of course. I did not allocate a significant amount of money to it. It did not perform horribly, but I wasn't overly impressed with it either. When I did a portfolio clean-up, it was one of the first things to go.
WMT I think has been on a few peoples watchlist. I remember RG mentioning it awhile back as well. I remember taking a look at it around that time and thought...."It's a bit high, maybe wait and catch another opportunity." Well, it has done nothing but climb since then LOL. It is around + 13%YTD so far.
Today has evolved into a pretty good market day.....if....I can hang onto the nice gain that I have going right now. Continue to.......SHOW ME THE MONEY......please. There I asked nicely....that should do the trick.
HERE....is a nice little article on PLTR....good reading for anyone considering this stock. Palantir stock is on a wild hot streak. Here's why so few analysts are bullish. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/palantir-stock-wild-hot-streak-204000727.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Palantir stock is up 35% this year, but Wall Street remains cautious. Analysts cite Palantir's high valuation as a big concern despite strong earnings. One analyst said Palantir will have a tough time growing into its premium valuation." "Palantir stock is booming, but Wall Street still doesn't seem fully convinced. The stock surged as much as 28% on Tuesday after it announced strong fourth-quarter earnings results and offered upbeat 2025 guidance that beat analyst estimates. The data analytics company, which uses AI technologies to service customers including the US government, has seen its stock soar 35% year-to-date, after a 341% gain in 2024. For a stock that's been on such a hot streak, Palantir has relatively few bullish calls from analysts. According to Bloomberg data, Palantir stock has just four buy ratings, 15 holds, and five sells. Other software firms doing business in AI and with similar valuations to Palantir's have more bulls in their corner. Snowflake, for example, has 36 buy ratings, 10 holds, and two sells. Even after the blockbuster earnings report, some of the bears don't seem convinced. Bard Zelnick, research analyst at Deutsche Bank, admitted in a Monday note that Palantir's earnings were "very impressive." But the report wasn't enough to change his "Sell" rating on the stock. Zelnick is ultimately worried about Palantir's high valuation. "At this point, our issue with the stock really boils down to valuation," Zelnick said. "PLTR's shares are trading at ~50x an upside CY26 revenue, which history suggests is nearly impossible to grow into, especially at this scale." Putting Palantir's premium valuation into perspective, Zelnick said the stock trades at over triple the revenue multiple of the next most expensive stock that he covers. Zelnick increased his price target to $50 from $35, representing potential downside of 51% from current levels. Analysts at Jefferies, led by Brent Thill, are similarly unconvinced. The analysts commended the tech firm's earnings results and said that fundamentals have been strong and will likely accelerate. Yet, for Palantir to sustain its current stock price, its underlying business would have to grow at an incredible rate through the end of the decade. "CY25 rev guide implies 31% growth vs 29% in CY24, and PLTR would need to accel growth to 50% for 4 years and trade at 18x CY28E rev just to hold its stock price," Thill wrote in a note on Tuesday. And even if that were to happen, it would still leave Palantir as one of the most expensive stocks in software even four years out, the note said. Jefferies also questioned Palantir's sales tactics, noting that it has a "very limited sales force" despite the company's strong growth. "We commend product led-growth but question the reluctance to invest more in an enterprise sales model," Thill said. Palantir said on its earnings call that the market is it has been able to drive growth without investing in a large number of sales representatives because the market is increasingly approaching them for their solutions. Jefferies reiterated its "Underperform" rating and increased its price target to $60 from $28, representing potential downside of 42%. Analysts at Goldman Sachs are more neutral but still not bullish. They said they were impressed by Palantir's strong revenue growth and expect the momentum to continue into 2025. The bank has a "positive view" of Palantir's technology offering and said it should benefit from an ongoing push to increase efficiency and technology adoption throughout the US government. But sky-high valuation is what's keeping Goldman Sachs sidelined on the stock. "Our positive view of Palantir's differentiated technology is balanced by the stock's EV/Sales/growth multiple of 1.8x, EV/sales multiple of 55x, and EV/Sales/'Rule of 40' of 0.72x; vs. 20%+ Software growers at 14x, 0.6x, and 0.32x, respectively," analyst Gabriela Borges wrote in a Tuesday note. Goldman Sachs rates Palantir at "Neutral" and increased its price target to $80 from $41, representing potential downside of 22%." MY COMMENT So there you go.....the basic analyst view on PLTR. They mostly like the company....but are concerned with valuation. ANYONE considering this stock at this time....should...consider the above and the risk that it represents. I am not saying.....NOT to buy it....but before you do understand the negative side of the investing community toward this companies valuation. In other words.....do your homework.
I feel very good about adding WMT to my stock portfolio today. NOW....I have four NON-TECH companies....CMG, WMT, HD, and COST. Five tech companies. AND....AMZN.....sitting somewhere in the between being a tech company and being a retail company. AND...it appears as of a minute ago....that I am going to end the first day of being a WMT shareholder with a GAIN. It is meaningless but I like to start a new stock out with a gain on the first day. I have owned WMT a few times in the distant past....but it just never stuck for the really long term. Hopefully this time will be different.
My new holding WMT will report earnings on February 20th. Here is a little article on WMT and AMZN. Amazon set to pass Walmart in revenue for first time https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/amazon-set-to-pass-walmart-in-revenue-for-first-time.html "Key Points Analysts surveyed by LSEG are expecting Amazon to report revenue of $187 billion for its latest quarter on Thursday. Walmart is projected to post quarterly revenue of $180 billion, when the retailer announces results on Feb. 20. Walmart still leads the way when it comes to annual revenue." MY COMMENT As an owner of.....both....sounds good to me.
Today just got better and better for me as the day went on. I ended with a BIG GAIN. Plus a whopping 1.78% beat on the SP500. My portfolio ended with NINE of TEN stocks green at the close. The only loser today....CMG. I even got a good gain in my WMT shares for the first day of ownership. The big guns for me today....PLTR....closing up $9.92....or....+9.79%. NVDA up today by.....3.08%. I have now basically ERASED the loses of the CRAZY market days we have seen lately.
Yes, quite brutal. I ended up selling my starter home for a modest gain after owning it just over 2 years and traded a 3% rate for a 5.23% rate with a higher principal balance. It was the right move for us as we had another child and got a huge lot (at least for our area), but our mortgage roughly increased 2.5x. Luckily, my income has increased to support the change.
Jwalker.....a 30 year rate of 5.23% is not too bad in the historical scheme of things. Plus at least you got a modest gain in just a couple of years. We had a house or two where we made NO GAIN.......in six years on one.....and......in ten years on another. BUT.......we sold during extreme market collapses.....so we got a great price on the new home. Out highest mortgage rate was in 1977.......I think it was 10%.......although it might have been 12%....I cant remember for sure. That house is the one we lived in for six years and made......NOTHING. We did break even....and were happy to do so and get a sale that allowed us to move.
My current portfolio is similar to it was a while ago except the money I have added has gone only to S&P 500 indexes. Currently holding the following within various account types (IRA, Roth, 401ks and taxable brokerage accounts): SPY/SPLG/SSSYX RGAGX Costco Disney - tiny position to try to keep my wife interested MLAIX
Here are the AMZN earnings: Amazon stock falls after first quarter sales outlook disappoints https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amaz...rter-sales-outlook-disappoints-192245188.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Amazon (AMZN) reported its fourth quarter results after the bell on Thursday, beating on the top and bottom lines, but providing worse-than-anticipated Q1 guidance. Amazon stock fell more than 3% on the news. Amazon's guidance for Q1 was well short of the midpoint of Wall Street's outlook. The company says it sees Q1 revenue of between $151 billion and $155 billion. Analysts were anticipating $158 billion. In a statement, the company said its Q1 revenue outlook, "anticipates an unusually large, unfavorable impact of approximately $2.1 billion, or 150 basis points, from foreign exchange rates." Amazon added the leap year in 2024 added $1.5 billion to net sales. AWS Q4 revenue came in at $28.7 billion, just shy of expectations of $28.8 billion. During the company's earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company expects to spend roughly $105 billion in capital expenditures in 2025, the majority of which will go toward AI and data center spending. That's a large jump from the $75 billion the company spent in 2024. Amazon's earnings come after cloud rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) missed on expectations for cloud sales in the quarter. Microsoft posted revenue of $40 billion, with Wall Street anticipating $41.1 billion, and Google reported sales of $11.9 billion. Analysts were looking for $12.1 billion. Both companies blamed their cloud misfires on a lack of capacity to meet demand for AI services. Amazon is the world's largest cloud provider and, like Microsoft and Google, is furiously investing in building out its AI infrastructure capabilities to meet demand. In Q3, CEO Andy Jassy told shareholders the company planned on $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2024, and even more in 2025. For Q4, Amazon posted earnings per share of $1.86 on revenue of 187.7 billion. Analysts were anticipating EPS of $1.50 on revenue of $187.3 billion. The company saw EPS of $1.00 and revenue of $169.9 billion in the same period last year. Amazon is contending with the fallout from China-based AI startup DeepSeek's new AI models, which sent Wall Street into a panic as investors questioned how an outfit with a modest budget and lacking state-of-the-art chips could churn out an AI platform to rival those of the most well-capitalized tech companies in the US. Amazon, like Microsoft, has already made DeepSeek's AI model available via its AI services platform, giving users the ability to access and use the AI software as they please." MY COMMENT Good earnings once again washed out by.....guidance. I hate guidance. If I was a company I would simply not give guidance. It is just a joke how the markets and traders JERK a company around on guidance. I guess an earnings BEAT on the top and bottom line....does not matter.
NVIDIA will love this. Amazon plans to spend $100 billion this year to capture ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ in AI https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/ama...-billion-on-capital-expenditures-in-2025.html MY COMMENT Sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity for NVDA shareholders in addition to AMZN. In addition is is simply....INSANE....how this story and others that I have seen about AMZN and MSFT are still beating the dead horse.......monster under the bed......DeepSeek/DeepFake. DeepSeek is in my mind.....DeepDead. A total Chinese spy tool that no country or company or user in their right mind will want to be part of. Dont even get me started on the issue of whether any of the content about it was based on....TRUTH.
Another report to use as a simple distraction in investing. The jobs report. They have never been accurate. Yet, they are trotted out regularly and blasted across the headlines only to be massively revised later. Here is a clip of it as an example: Job creation was weaker than expected in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 143,000 for the month, down from an upwardly revised 307,000 in December and below the 169,000 forecast from Dow Jones. The unemployment rate nudged lower to 4%. The report also featured significant benchmark revisions to the 2024 totals that saw substantial downward changes to the previous payrolls level. The revisions, which the BLS does each year, reduced the jobs count by 589,000. A preliminary adjustment back in August 2024 had indicated 818,000 fewer jobs. (CNBC). Not only is there always huge revisions, but they are based on surveys and samples and estimates. A huge margin of error. I really don't care for any of these reports, but the fact that they put them out and squawk about the numbers is complete smoke and mirrors. At this point let's just guess, throw a dart, draw numbers from a hat....
I like this little article. Digging Into US GDP at 2024’s Close Main thrust points to further growth, supporting markets. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/e...commentary/digging-into-us-gdp-at-2024s-close (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Q4 GDP closed out 2024 with 2.3% annualized growth, bringing the full year to 2.8%. This shows the economy chugging along steadily from 2023’s 2.9% and 2022’s 2.5%—when many braced for recession. Reality, it turns out, was better than expected, underpinning the bull market since then. Now, a month into Q1 2025, last quarter’s GDP doesn’t carry much weight for forward-looking markets. But under the hood, there are a few insights we think investors can glean. First, consumer spending is robust. As Exhibit 1 shows, personal consumption expenditures (PCE, dark green bar) contributed the most to GDP growth in two years, rising 4.2% annualized in Q4.[ii] PCE goods accelerated to 6.6% annualized from Q3’s 5.6%. Driving demand here: durable goods—stuff that lasts three or more years—particularly motor vehicles and recreational goods, which rose 13.9% annualized and 16.2%, respectively. After a roughly two-year hangover from 2020 – 2021’s lockdown-driven binge, goods spending is swinging higher. Exhibit 1: GDP and Its Contributing Components Source: FactSet, as of 1/30/2025. Real GDP and components, Q1 2023 – Q4 2024. The “stuff” economy, so to speak, has been a sore spot globally since 2022, largely due to lockdowns freezing services spending and pulling goods demand forward, leaving a big pothole when trends reversed post-reopening. Services has done the heavy lifting for economic growth since, which is how GDP grew nicely even as manufacturing floundered. And at two-thirds of PCE, services spending sped to 3.1% annualized from Q3’s 2.8%, led by healthcare expenditures.[iii] Interestingly, the pickup in goods spending isn’t reflected in domestic manufacturing, which remains flat year over year, extending its sideways trend since 2022. Instead, businesses ran down inventories (yellow bar), which subtracted almost a percentage point from growth. With inventories contributing to GDP in only two quarters over the last two years, businesses’ stockpiles in aggregate are probably running lean and mean. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) manufacturing purchasing managers’ index suggests the same as its inventory subcomponent has been below 50 (indicating contraction) in 21 of the last 24 months.[iv] If demand stays steady, which looks likely to us, industrial production globally seems poised to pick up—a potential trend reversal we are monitoring closely. While consumption looked good, that isn’t the US economy’s swing factor. Business investment much more commonly is, and it fell in Q4, warranting a closer look. After 12 consecutive quarters of growth, nonresidential fixed investment fell -2.2% annualized, shaving -0.3 percentage points off headline GDP (medium green bar in Exhibit 1). Driving the capex dip: Businesses’ spending on equipment fell -7.8% annualized—namely for transportation (-14.0%) and information processing (-9.5%).[v] But we doubt this is the start of a business cycle downturn. Big-ticket purchases tend to be lumpy—Q4’s retrenchment comes after business investment surged from spring to autumn. Transportation equipment sales rose 41.4% annualized in Q2 and another 22.1% in Q3.[vi] Some give back after two quarters of stellar growth shouldn’t be too alarming. There was also the matter of a two-month strike at America’s largest airplane manufacturer in Q4. But it resolved in November, so this headwind should dissipate. Similarly, information processing investment accelerated from 8.0% annualized in Q2 to 18.0% in Q3 before its Q4 pullback.[vii] Within information processing, its computer & peripheral equipment subcategory was the main culprit behind the drop, cratering -23.4% annualized in Q4—finally falling off after four quarters of 20%+ growth rates. As Exhibit 2 shows, big drops during expansions aren’t unusual in this very choppy category. Moreover, with Q4 earnings season underway, corporations continue to announce big investments in cloud computing. Given that software spending (under “intellectual property products,” the other main category within nonresidential fixed investment alongside equipment and structures) accelerated to 4.3% annualized in Q4 from Q3’s 2.5%—extending its growth streak since Q2 2020—we don’t think this trend is about to change.[viii] Software will still need chips and data centers to run on. And from our vantagepoint, business demand for software and automation remains strong. Exhibit 2: Choppy Computing Investment Is Choppy Source: FactSet, as of 1/30/2025. Computer & peripheral nonresidential private fixed investment, Q1 2010 – Q4 2024. The last thing we would note about Q4’s GDP report: trade. Imports, which reflect domestic demand, fell -0.8% annualized in Q4 after Q3’s 10.7% surge (following Q2’s 7.6% and Q1’s 6.1%).[ix] We wouldn’t read a whole lot into the big swings here, either—Q3 was when businesses were front-loading shipments in advance of feared labor disruptions at ports, creating a high base effect. Exports also fell -0.8% annualized.[x] In Q4, exports’ contraction was led by civilian aircrafts’ -26.2% annualized plunge and computers’ -30.3% dive. But this follows Q3 aircraft and computer exports’ soaring 45.4% and 69.2% annualized growth, respectively. We don’t think it is a stretch to say US suppliers of those goods faced many of the same issues selling to customers globally as they did at home last quarter. Again, on aircraft, there was a now-concluded labor dispute. It remains premature to say a global investment downturn is starting, especially when forward-looking indicators like core capital goods orders here and core machinery orders in Japan are on the upswing. Q4’s speedbumps are temporary, in our view, and don’t point to lasting declines. It isn’t unheard of for business investment—and capital goods exports—to have one-off dips without it beginning a downtrend. Watch and see, but conditions broadly don’t look recessionary to us, and stocks hovering near record highs don’t appear to be pre-pricing one, either. Volatility notwithstanding, they are the ultimate leading indicator and would likely signal problems before any economic readout. MY COMMENT We are looking pretty good with the economy and the markets so far....early in this new year. My preferred indicator is business fundamentals. I dont rely at all on economics as a long term investor. The economic numbers tend to be all screwed up by government intention or incompetence. They are constantly revised and how they are measured is constantly changed so it is impossible to compare them, even if they were accurate. Just FODDER for the media and theoretical economists and their BS.
There is actually much good news in the AMZN earnings....if you choose to see it. Amazon's revenue finally overtakes Walmart https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amaz...vertakes-walmart-morning-brief-110131442.html
To continue the above: Amazon wants to spend $104 billion, and the stock gets clipped: What Wall Street is saying https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amaz...ped-what-wall-street-is-saying-111754433.html "The Street has opted to stay bullish on Amazon after its results for two reasons, however. Most analysts have pointed to a sales re-acceleration in the key Amazon Web Services cloud business later this year, amid the company's aggressive capex spending. "The shares have pulled back on the guidance and the fact that 2025 is likely an investment year, but we expect by second half 2025 this heavy capex investment + accelerating AI adoption (which we believe will also accelerate the move to the cloud) should begin to materially re-accelerate cloud revenue," Pivotal Research analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said in a client note. The other factor is that Amazon just had a good quarter. What stood out to Yahoo Finance: Three straight quarters of 19% sales growth for AWS. AWS operating profit margin of 46.9%, versus 29.6% a year ago. Second consecutive quarter of accelerated sales growth at Amazon's physical stores. Amazon delivered its highest quarterly operating income ever at $21.2 billion." MY COMMENT It will all be ignored for a......GUIDANCE......freak-out. Which in reality is just the speculative opinion of a bunch of analysts.
We had a pretty good....mild...open for the averages....but....they are now all red. BUT...it is early in the day and I dont think market direction is established yet for the day. AND......who cares anyway.
My stocks are reflecting the above.......six stocks RED and three green. The green are....CMG, PLTR, and NVDA. Early in the day I was doing much better.
