Articles by Kate Stalter

Kate Stalter is a Series 65-licensed asset manager, with more than two decades of experience in various areas of financial services. As an investment advisor and financial planner, Kate personally manages client portfolios, with a focus on successful retirement, including asset allocation, income generation and tax strategies. Kate also serves as a capital-markets contributor at Forbes.com, and is an expert columnist for the investment advisory channel at U.S. News & World Report. Contact Kate Stalter via email at [email protected]

Shares of mid-cap Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK) are down 10.13% this month, following a rally to the tune of 44.55% in the past 12 months. Yet, the number of institutional owners is growing, and the company recently boosted its revenue guidance.

With prices for fertilizer and agricultural chemicals on the rise for the better part of a year, companies such as Mosaic (NYSE: MOS), CF Industries (NYSE: CF) and Nutrien (NYSE: NTR) are showing outstanding sales and earnings growth. 

Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are in a buy zone, following a 13.53% gap higher on the first day of trading for the new year. Tesla closed Monday at $1199.78, up $143, in heavier-than-normal trading volume. The stock got a boost after releasing unit sales data for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2021. 

Investors and traders always want an edge as the calendar flips over to a new year, and Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIPR), Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) and Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ: ACLS) are showing signs of technical and fundamental strength that could lead to further gains. 

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX), whose top two components are Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), is up 47.59% year-to-date, reflecting strong demand for chips amid the global shortage.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH), ArcBest (NASDAQ: ARCB) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) are among stocks nearing buy points from constructive consolidations. Stocks nearing breakout points are worth watching to see if they can muster up the price and volume strength to begin fresh rallies.

Silicon Labs and MaxLinear are among semiconductor companies showing fundamental and technical strength as demand for chips soars amid a global shortage. 

Regional bank stocks have been growing earnings in the past year. These stocks can be good inflation hedges in a diversified portfolio. Regional bank stocks Customers Bancorp (NYSE: CUBI), Metropolitan Bank Holdings (NYSE: MCB) and Northeast Bank (NASDAQ: NBN) are steering the northeast regional bank sub-industry to leadership. 

Sustainable shoemaker Allbirds went public in early November. It's in its post-IPO correction, but it's worth watching as the company opens more stores and plans to aggressively grow revenue in the coming months.

Shares of Oracle were trading 5% lower Monday, continuing a downtrend that began last week. On Monday, Oracle said it would buy medical software maker Cerner for $28.3 billion.

Although the global chip shortage appears to be easing somewhat, the law of supply and demand is spurring growth in chipmakers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM).

The trucking industry is riding into market leadership, with companies including Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE: KNX), Yellow (NASDAQ: YELL), Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ: WERN)  and Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ: ODFL) showing fundamental and technical strength. 

Fiber optics providers Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) and Clearfield (NASDAQ: CLFD) are trading at multi-year highs as network upgrades spur revenue growth. 

Small caps Green Brick Partners (NYSE: GRBK), Phototronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) and Sterling Construction (NASDAQ: STRL) are getting strong institutional support that’s sending the prices higher.

Long-established companies Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL), Goodyear (NASDAQ: GT) and Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) are flashing technical and fundamental strength. Are they buyable now?

Mid-cap techs Tenable (NASDAQ: TENB), Rapid7 (NASDAQ: RPD), and Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS) are all forming potentially constructive consolidations below recent price highs. 

If you look at CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG), Smart Global (NASDAQ: SGH) and Floor & Decor (NYSE: FND), you may not recognize at first what all three have in common. But if you look carefully at their charts, you’ll see that all three went public in the past few years, and have been rallying in the recent months.

Shares of China-based online marketplace Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) are up more than 11% so far this week, marking the stock’s best performance since early October.

Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI) on Tuesday cleared a cup-with-handle base above a buy point of $32. Trading volume was more than triple the average mid-session. Tuesday’s breakout followed a gain of 6.96% Monday, in volume 300% heavier than normal. 

Wood-alternative maker Trex has been growing earnings at double-digit rates in each of the past eight quarters.  The stock has been trading in a constructive channel formation since gapping up more than 14% on November 9, following the company’s third-quarter earnings report.

Cloud-based data warehousing specialist Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) rebounded sharply Thursday following better-than-expected third-quarter results. Shares were trading at $354.88 late in Thursday’s session, up more than 15%. 

Uranium refiner Centrus Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:LEU) is finding support near its 50-day moving average after pulling back from a November 12 high of $88.88. 

Digital advertising platform The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) is exhibiting a potentially constructive sideways formation after a big move in November.

Small-cap Haynes International (NASDAQ: HAYN) is finding support near its 50-day moving average after slipping from a November 9 high of $47.08. The stock is outperforming the Russell 2000 small-cap index.

Trucking company Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) is forming a potentially constructive area of consolidation below a November 17 high of $358.33. 

Shares of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) moved back and forth between gains and losses in morning trade Monday, following news that CEO Jack Dorsey would be stepping down, effective immediately. After gapping up at the open, the stock was bumping along the bottom of its session range by Monday afternoon.

Business data provider ZoomInfo retreated from its November 19 high, as the broader market also pulled back sharply. The stock ended the week above its 50-day average, a sign that institutions are not yet dumping shares in a panic.

Despite attention on green energy, oil-and-gas stocks such as EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG), Callon Petroleum (NYSE: CPE) and Matador Resources (NYSE: MTDR) all traded higher this week, and all found support at a key moving average. 

Shares of Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ: AFRM) were trading higher mid-session Tuesday, as the stock attempted a rebound from a decline that began on November 8, as the stock pulled back from a high of $176.65. The stock skidded further after a $1.5 billion convertible debt offer.

Chinese online retailer JD.com is rising in the face of regulatory challenges in its home country. That's happening as rivals like Alibaba remain mired in correction.

Shares of cloud-based lending platform Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ: UPST) are down 21.66% in the past week and 43.62% in the past month. Despite those declines, which appear dire, this is a stock with a great deal of promise ahead. 

There are plenty of ways to allocate a portfolio, including the core-and-explore approach. This investment philosophy combines the best traits of index funds with the added benefit of theme, sector or actively managed funds.

Dynatrace's current pullback may look severe on a chart, but shares are holding well above their 200-day line, a sign that big investors are not bailing out en masse. While there’s reason to be optimistic about Dynatrace’s potential, it’s too soon to buy; wait at least until the stock resumes an uptrend. 

Mid-cap Tenable Holdings (NASDAQ: TENB) is up 4.5% since reporting better-than-expected third-quarter results in late October. The stock is forming a possible handle to a cup-shaped base it started in January.

Cloud-based enterprise software company Progress Software is pulling back after gapping up on the heels of a better-than-expected earnings report. Is this a stock you should own?

Although Rivian's IPO made headlines recently, investors shouldn't overlook other 2021 IPOs such as Trinity Capital, AppLovin and Dutch Bros, which are showing strong year-to-date uptrends.

Descartes Systems (NASDAQ: DSGX) was trading higher Thursday as shares of the supply-chain management software maker continued working on a flat base. The Canada-based company offers solutions for the shipping-industry customers to better communicate with each other. 

IT specialist Globant (NYSE: GLOB) advanced 30.64% in the past month as it zipped past a buy point above $323.79 and just kept rallying. The stock closed Tuesday at $354.44, up $6.51, or 1.87% in the session.

Target (NYSE: TGT) has  been forming a cup-shaped base since August 11, when it retreated from the a session high of $267.06. It’s been trading in a tight sideways pattern since October 25, and may possibly form a handle below resistance at $261.80. 

Western apparel retailer Boot Barn (NYSE: BOOT) kicked up its heels last week, reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.22 per share, up 510% from the year-ago quarter. Those earnings also trounced analysts' views of $0.94 per share

Workplace collaboration software has been a hot category recently, with revenue growing fast, and stocks like monday.com, Asana and Atlassian among price leaders.

Small-cap Brigham Minerals (NYSE: MNRL) is trading in new high ground ahead of the company's third-quarter earnings report after the market close on Wednesday. The company will host its earnings conference call on Thursday at noon Eastern.

Shares of electronic document specialist DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) is consolidating in a third-stage base below an August 10 high of $314.76. The stock attempted a rally in early September, but hit resistance at $314.70. 

The Ireland-based maker of hard disk drives has been consolidating below its May 17 high of $106.22. So far, the stock is up 8.68% in October, thanks to rebounding in the weeks ended October 15 and 22.

Helios Technology (NASDAQ: HLIO), which develops and manufactures hydraulic and electronic control solutions for various markets, has notched a year-to-date return of 70.18%. The stock has been finding support along its 50-day moving average since rebounding in July after a failed cup-with-handle breakout.

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS) jumped more than 4% higher mid-session Tuesday, following the company's better-than-expected third-quarter report.

Shares of American Express remain in buy range following a 5.41% gap-up on Friday. Shares reversed lower Monday, but have not closed the price gap.

Who doesn't want growth in their portfolio? For those who want to add alpha through adding single stocks, here are three traits to look for when evaluating a potential buy candidate. 

Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) is notching a technical performance better than most stocks in the broader market.  Shares of the cloud networking specialist cleared a flat base on October 13, surpassing a $384 buy point in lighter-than-normal volume. 

This has been a banner year for newly listed companies - and it’s not over yet. So far, more than 821 companies have gone public via an initial public offering, direct listing, or SPAC. Here are three newly public companies that are worth keeping an eye on.