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An Essential Link:
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March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 7
I
racy in Russia for the past 18 years, I’d Even in Israel—where GDP declined
t was a small news item as counted that I have gone to 104 coun- argue that as perhaps the greatest 19.4% in the fourth quarter because of
these things go, so you may be tries. Now I would feel safe going to chess player of all time, he knows as the war—the Tel Aviv 125 Index has
forgiven for missing it. Earlier 10% of them.” much about strategy and assessing an climbed 12.2% over the past 12
this month, Russia’s financial As for imprisoned Wall Street Jour- opponent as anyone in the Depart- months, more than recovering its
oversight agency, Rosfinmoni- nal reporter Evan Gershkovich: “He’s ment of Defense or the Central Intelli- losses after Oct. 7, and is down only
toring, placed former world a hostage,” Kasparov says. “We should gence Agency. 10.7% from its January 2022 record
chess champion Garry Kasp- all remember that Putin is a terrorist high. Bullishness there may reflect the
H
arov on its list of “terrorists and ex- BY ANDY or a mafia boss and sees Gershkovich ow Kasparov’s lot ties into fact that Israel has faced existential
tremists.” Russia sanctioning Kasp- SERWER as a valuable asset to exchange or money and markets is sim- threats before.
arov, a high-profile critic of Vladimir squeeze concessions out of others.” ple. Geopolitics, really a If our global straits are so dire, then
Putin, is hardly earth-shattering, but Kasparov told me that “dictators manifestation of human- why aren’t markets reflecting it?
the move by the Kremlin is emblem- like Putin lie about what they have ity’s collective impulses, ultimately “Geopolitical experts love talking
atic in ways you might not consider. done, but tell the truth about what drives economics—though perhaps in about how the situation is fraught,”
I’ll get to the big picture, but first they are going to do,” referring to the unappreciated ways. says Ruchir Sharma, chairman of
more on Kasparov, who spoke at a pri- fact that Putin stated clearly that he Consider, for instance, the two wars Rockefeller International and founder
vate club in New York City the day wanted to expand Russia. Kasparov currently being waged in Ukraine and and chief investment officer of Break-
after his specious designation. Kasp- says the West needs to stop pussyfoot- the Middle East. It would seem these out Capital, which focuses on emerg-
arov, 60, author of the prescient 2006 ing around and help Ukraine defeat conflicts make the world more danger- ing markets. “When the Gaza conflict
volume Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Russia, which will bring down Putin. ous than ever. And yet the S&P 500 escalated in early October, there was
Putin and the Enemies of the Free World “In war as in chess, you have to iden- index is at a record high, annualized talk about World War III from pretty
Must Be Stopped, drew a crowd of some respected analysts. Nine out of 10
200 besuited sophisticates who, be- times the geopolitical risks never ma-
tween bites of wild striped bass Vero- Russia placed for- terialize, and when they do material-
mer world chess
nique, hung on his every word. The champion Garry ize, you’ve got bigger things to worry
former grandmaster’s remarks were Kasparov on a list of about. I don’t like to classify any pe-
“terrorists and ex-
off the record, but I was able to speak tremists.” “Putin
riod, including now, as being particu-
with him by phone this past week. awarding me this larly geopolitically challenging be-
“Putin awarding me this title shows title shows the value cause the world is always in a flux.”
of my work,” he
the value of my work,” he told me of says. Sharma, the former head of emerg-
being deemed a terrorist. “That I did ing markets and chief global strategist
something very useful for the cause of at Morgan Stanley Investment Man-
freedom.” Given the assaults and mur- agement, notes that “the big transmis-
ders of Russians around the globe, sion mechanism for a geopolitical cri-
including just this past week, Kasp- sis is usually the price of oil, which
arov is concerned about his well-being has been remarkably stable over the
but feels safer in New York than Lon- past year or so.”
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
don. “Europeans and Brits in particu- More broadly, he says, in the days
lar have paid no attention to Russians after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the
who have been infiltrating their soci- S&P 500 fell by 12% but recovered its
ety,” he says. “New York is more pro- losses a month later. And looking
tected, though there’s no guarantee. I back at market reactions to 25 of the
have dramatically reduced the number most significant geopolitical crises
of countries that I can visit. My kids since World War II, the S&P 500
8 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
dropped on average by around 4%, bot- Sam supplied 48% of its liquefied natural
tomed out in 15 days, and recovered in 33 gas (LNG), which amounted to some 15% of
days. Which is to suggest that trading on its total. (Norway, Qatar, and African ex-
“Investing with a valuation fear is a strategy for only the nimblest or porters have also increased their share.)
luckiest of profit-takers. It also reminds us Meanwhile, Russia’s share of European gas
of that most ancient and comforting of imports dropped from 40% in 2021 to less
and defense. Value stocks with investing chestnuts—stocks usually go up. than 15% in 2023.
Not surprisingly, domestic energy ex-
W
hile the impact of geopolitics change-traded funds like Energy Select
on broad indexes tends to be Sector SPDR and Fidelity MSCI En-
a wash, its effect on sectors ergy Index are both up over threefold
and stocks is far more mean- since 2020. Cheniere Energy, the biggest
ingful and—antenna up here, investors— U.S. exporter of LNG to Europe, has rock-
can lead to significant and sustainable eted up from $33 in 2020 to $182 last No-
trends. vember. Since then its shares have slipped
Let’s start with Sharma’s “transmission mostly because excess supply has crimped
Portfolio Manager,
mechanism,” or petroleum products writ prices. French energy giant TotalEner-
Executive Director
large. So yes, benchmark Brent crude oil at gies, also in the business of exporting
$81 a barrel now trades more or less where U.S. LNG to Europe, has seen its stock
it did in 2018, after crashing during the benefit as well.
pandemic, spiking with Russia’s invasion of Despite the Biden administration’s recent
Schafer Cullen has become synonymous Ukraine in 2022, and then falling back. “temporary pause on pending decisions” of
This, even with some shippers now bypass- LNG exports (in part due to “the impact of
ing the Bab el-Mandab (“Gate of Tears”) greenhouse gas emissions”), geopolitics still
Strait between the Red Sea and Gulf of wins the day. “Through existing LNG pro-
Aden to avoid Yemen-based Houthi militia duction and export infrastructure, the U.S.
attacks. Instead of going through the Suez has—and will continue—to deliver for our
Canal, many European-bound vessels are allies,” the White House stated.
High Dividend Equity choosing to circumnavigate the Cape of Still, notes Beata Javorcik, chief econo-
Good Hope, adding some 16 days to the trip mist at the European Bank for Reconstruc-
at an increased cost of half a million dollars tion and Development and professor of
in fuel alone. Tanker rates are up 20% since economics at the University of Oxford,
Value Equity December, according to the U.S. Energy natural-gas prices are four times higher in
Information Administration. Europe than in the U.S., prompting Euro-
! " But crude’s relative price stability masks peans to move in other directions. “The
some massive market moves beneath the war has accelerated the green transition
surface—none bigger than the explosion in because it is viewed through the prism of
# $ U.S. energy production. Increased drilling energy security,” she says. “That’s a big
in the U.S. is a direct response to a clarion change for countries like Poland, which
% # $ call for energy independence, a geopoliti- were reluctant to embrace energy transi-
cal, bipartisan urge so powerful it has out- tion. Now it is a political and geostrategic
& weighed the Biden administration’s cli- necessity.”
mate-change exigencies. The drop in trade from Europe to Rus-
In a report released this past week, the sia has created an opportunity for China,
EAI says the U.S. is now producing 13.3 Turkey, and other countries, Javorcik says,
million barrels a day, more than double the which are supplying Russia with trucks,
output from a decade ago. And this: “The engines, and machinery and other goods.
United States produced more crude oil And these countries are “using currencies
than any nation at any time...for the past other than the U.S. dollar and the euro to
six years in a row.” invoice their exports to Russia,” she says.
Providing energy to our allies furthers “Now two thirds of Chinese exports to
this trend. “The structural importance of Russia are invoiced in renminbi. In 2016,
Cullen Capital Management, LLC. (CCM) is an independent investment advisor the U.S. as an energy producer and exporter it was 10%. I would expect these trends to
registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and is doing business as of natural gas to Europe is going up on the continue.”
Schafer Cullen Capital Management, Inc. (SCCM). The Cullen Funds Trust (CFT), back of Russia and Ukraine,” says Ian As Garry Kasparov knows all too well,
Bremmer, founder and president of Eurasia Putin and his cronies are always working
Group. Last year the U.S. exported 7.6 tril- the angles. You may not see their dirty
lion cubic feet of gas (No. 1 in the world), up deeds reflected in the S&P 500, but some-
Investing involves risks, including loss of principal and may not suitable for all from 1.5 trillion cubic feet 10 years ago— how, somewhere, they’re moving a market.
investors. with over 60% now destined for Europe. And worse. B
Five years ago the U.S. exported essentially
zilch to the Continent, while last year Uncle email: andy.serwer@barrons.com
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 9
ST R E E T W I S E
“AT&T might just make for the best stock, even
though it’s not the best telecom company,” says
Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino.
AT&T’s History Is a
But Wolfe Research analyst Peter Su- pares well with the others on quality.
pino recently upgraded AT&T to Out- Today it’s acting more like an incum-
perform, with a $21 price target that bent than an insurgent when it comes
implies a potential 30% return, in- to pricing. “If T-Mobile stands for im-
B
today appears to be just that. “Wire- ut AT&T might hold particu-
less operators see healthy demand lar appeal for investors, for
trends continuing, with competition three reasons. First, it trades
I
remaining rational, pricing improv- at a 20% discount to Verizon
thought I knew the basics of tomer roofs. Six years and millions of ing, and upgrade rates remaining and a 38% one to T-Mobile relative to
football until I tried playing lost subscribers later, it spun that di- subdued,” wrote Morgan Stanley this year’s projected free cash flow.
the videogame Madden and minished business off into a separate following a recent conference of in- Second, and related, it carries the
saw the formations. What entity. There was also the time AT&T dustry players. most debt. That adds risk, but also
exactly is a Strong I Jumbo, fought regulators for years for the Four years ago, when I upgraded opportunity, as rising free cash flow
and is it better or worse than right to buy Time Warner, and won, my iPhone and switched service pro- allows the company to pay down
a Singleback Wing Tight only to lose when it spun it off four viders, the deal all but included my debt, which could result in a higher
Nasty? Likewise, there’s an interview BY JACK years later, in 2022, for much less than name on a stadium and college tu- stock price.
about play-calling in the Netflix doc- HOUGH it paid. ition for my kids. This past year’s Supino expects AT&T to pay down
umentary Quarterback where Patrick Nowadays AT&T is under new upgrade and reswitch wasn’t as gen- $7 billion in debt over the next year.
Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs management and sticking to phone erously greeted. I got money toward a He views the company’s $10 billion in
says, “Gun east right slot stack run company stuff, like wireless and phone, offset by a bigger bill. yearly dividend commitments, includ-
past three jet chip X-cattle Y-lock.” I wireline service, fiber broadband That’s one reason to take a favor- ing preferred shares, as exceedingly
hope I’m getting the punctuation and, if you’re really looking to bun- able view of U.S. telecom in general. safe in light of $17 billion in likely free
right. dle, a service called DirecTV, only Subdued competition means that price cash flow this year, rising to $18 bil-
This is about AT&T, not football. delivered via the internet, not the increases are sticking, and churn, or lion next year.
Graphic artists have attempted to dia- roof. There’s plenty of debt left from customer turnover, is manageable. A third factor favoring AT&T is
gram the company’s history online, past misadventures, but free cash Another reason is falling investment fiber broadband. Verizon led the tele-
and after viewing several of these flow is rising, and shares trade at demands—the big three companies com fiber charge with Fios. Back
charts, the thought that comes to only around seven times this year’s together spent nearly $300 billion to when AT&T bought DirecTV, it
mind is that if John Madden himself free cash flow consensus. There’s also upgrade their 5G networks, and are grudgingly agreed to bring high-speed
descended from heaven with a choir of a 6.5% dividend yield that looks in- now ready to reap the rewards. AT&T, fiber connections to largely rural mar-
angels wearing CBS Sports blazers creasingly credible. meanwhile, has cut $6 billion from its kets to help win regulatory approval.
and carrying telestrator pens, I still While the S&P 500 has shot more yearly expenses and is looking to trim Today it has the larger network of the
wouldn’t be able to understand the than 30% higher over the past year, another $2 billion. telecom fiber duopoly, and it’s enthusi-
play-calling that went on here. AT&T shares have stalled. Most of T-Mobile has had the best financial astic about expansion.
Once, there was a phone monopoly Wall Street says to hold off on the results in the industry for a decade, Fiber broadband has low customer
called AT&T. In 1984, regulators stock. Potential liability over old lead- rising from a company best known for turnover, and costs less to run and
turned it into a lots-opoly by breaking lined phone cables doesn’t add appeal. cheap service to one that also com- maintain than services that use cop-
it into lots of baby bells. Over time, the per lines. Profit margins are rising as
babies began changing names and the network grows and could eventu-
gobbling each other up. One even in- ally rival those of the lucrative cable
gested its former parent. Another be- BARRONS.COM/PODCASTS broadband industry. For now, fiber
came Verizon Communications. growth is more than offsetting contin-
T-Mobile US somehow sneaked in
through the side door. Now the indus-
try is a triopoly.
Barron’s Streetwise ued declines in residential wireline
service.
Put it all together, and AT&T’s
I left out the part where in 2015, In a weekly podcast by Barron’s, columnist Jack Hough looks jumbled history, high debt, and lead
with streaming’s threat to cable TV at the companies, people, and trends you should be watching. overhang might matter less for the
already evident, AT&T paid $67 bil- This is Wall Street like you’ve never heard before. Subscribe stock from here than its rising free
lion including debt for DirecTV, a to Barron’s Streetwise on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, cash flow and big dividend. B
company whose business plan at the or your favorite listening app.
time involved mounting dishes to cus- email: jack.hough@barrons.com
10 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
A Guide to
Half a Loaf don 6% commissions, a deal that now Wednesday 3/20
The price of Bitcoin tokens and the goes before a federal judge. Boeing’s
new spot Bitcoin ETFs have 737 Max failed 33 of 89 regulatory au- Only a handful of large-capitaliza-
appreciated, but Bitcoin miners dits, and the Justice Department is tion companies report results this
Marathon Digital
CoinDesk Bitcoin
Price Index
Riot Platforms
looking into criminal charges in the
Alaska Airlines blown-door episode.
With Bitcoin up, Coinbase Global
said it was raising a billion dollars in
week. Memory-chip maker Micron
Technology releases earnings on
Wednesday, followed by Accenture,
FedEx, lululemon athletica, and
Bitcoin neared $74,000 this past week, with convertible debt. Dollar Tree is clos- Nike on Thursday.
75%
crypto bulls expecting more gains despite a sharp ing 1,000 Family Dollar stores.
50
Friday correction. One reason: a cut in Bitcoin new The Federal Open Market Commit-
25
issuance known as a “halving.” Deals: Natural-gas giant EQT agreed tee announces its monetary-policy
0
A key Bitcoin feature is that tokens increase at a to buy pipeline company Equitrans decision and releases an updated
predictable rate. New tokens go into circulation -25 Midstream for $5.5 billion, all in Summary of Economic Projections.
every time Bitcoin “miners” win a computing race -50 stock...Reddit began its initial-public- The FOMC is widely expected to keep
to validate a block of transactions. The reward for -75 offering roadshow, looking to raise the federal-funds rate unchanged at a
each block is now 6.25 Bitcoins, worth $437,500 at -100 $748 million on a valuation of up to multidecade high of 5.25% to 5.50%.
$70,000. That will be cut to 3.125 Bitcoins in April, 2022 ’23 ’24 $6.4 billion...Telegram founder Pavel In December, the SEP showed that the
when the next halving occurs. Sources: CoinDesk (crypto currencies); Durov told the Financial Times he was FOMC forecast three quarter-point
FactSet (funds, stocks)
Halvings happen roughly every four years and considering an IPO after achieving interest-rate cuts in 2024. Wall Street
will continue until Bitcoins in circulation hit 21 The Supply Side profitability in 2025. Telegram has 900 began this year expecting roughly six
million tokens. So far, more than 19.6 million Bit- The number of Bitcoin tokens in
million members...Alcoa agreed to buy quarter-point rate cuts but has since
coins have been mined, leaving 1.4 million to be circulation has steadily grown since
Australia’s Alumina for $2.2 bil- pared that back to about three. De-
issued. Since Bitcoin has no underlying value— 2009, but will top out at 21 million.
lion...President Biden came out against spite this, the S&P 500 index has
only a cost to produce—its price is subject to sup- Nippon Steel’s buy of U.S. Steel. made 17 records highs this year.
ply and demand. Halving tends to restrict supply. 25 million
After the last halving in 2020, Bitcoin gained
20
more than 80% in six months and over 500% a year
later, notes crypto tax firm CoinLedger. Now, de- THE NUMBERS
15
mand has been fueled by new spot Bitcoin ETFs.
“The drop in the amount of mined Bitcoin a day
means something has to give—and, in this case, that
10 28K 3.6% $38 T 78%
E
November, the estimate was $8 billion. enough. A 2019 purchase of Fox assets launch a skinny bundle of sports net-
veryone has business ad- Challenges remain, especially for for $71 billion, or $57 billion net of di- works this fall with partners Fox and
vice for Walt Disney. ESPN, where the shift to streaming vestitures, helped bulk up streaming, Warner Bros. Discovery, with pric-
Enough with the ride up- could mean structurally lower profits, but also added exposure to waning ing rumored at $30 to $50 a month.
charges, say theme park and in films, where the theater indus- legacy television. Trian says the deal The fast-growing gambling industry
visitors. More highlights try hasn’t bounced back to prepan- has “seemingly not delivered on its adds new possibilities for ESPN to
and less talking, demand demic strength. But it’s unclear how a financial promises.” Disney says that it profit. And perhaps the golden age of
ESPN fans. Go woke, go Peltz board presence would help. The added studio smarts and control of cable is a poor benchmark.
broke, warn right-leaning culture ideas that Trian has proposed seem to Hulu and some superhero franchises. “We shouldn’t cling to the high-wa-
warriors over what they perceive as fall into three categories: vague, odd, Plenty of leeway is owed to Disney ter mark for profitability as the defini-
sensitivity gone amok in films. and already in motion. Its past success CEO Bob Iger on deal making; his past, tion of whether ESPN has evolved suc-
What makes Nelson Peltz’s advice on behalf of shareholders is also a mat- smaller purchases of Pixar, Marvel, cessfully,” says Wolfe Research analyst
different is that he’s rich, he isn’t ask- ter of dispute. and Lucasfilm were initially panned as Peter Supino. “We should evaluate
ing, and he has done this before. The Trian says that its portfolio compa- pricey and turned out to be profit ESPN’s prospects based on whether it’s
co-founder of Trian Fund Management nies have outperformed, on average, in Face-off: Nelson
rocket ships. Even so, the financial making money or not, and we think it
has waged activist investor campaigns cases where Peltz served on the board. Peltz, left, co- upside from the Fox deal isn’t yet clear. will continue to.”
at Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Du- Disney says that the median has under- founder and CEO of Disney hasn’t articulated a clear Trian has recommended that Disney
Trian Fund Manage-
Pont de Nemours, and many more. performed. The business of calculating ment, and Disney digital strategy for ESPN, says Trian. evaluate two potential paths for ESPN.
This time, Trian has secured control of activist influence and results can be CEO Robert Iger. True enough, but some strategic ambi- One is to scale back streaming plans
Photogrpahs (left) Marco Bello/Bloomberg; (right) Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times
more than $3 billion worth of Disney and manage legacy ESPN for cash, but
stock, and it’s demanding two board that doesn’t square with accelerating
seats. Disney shareholders of record as cable cancellations. The other is to
of Feb. 5 are already voting on the mat- move forward in streaming with a
ter by mail or online ahead of an April “bundle partner like Netflix.” It’s un-
3 annual meeting. clear how Disney sharing its ESPN
Disney and Trian said their leaders economics with its chief rival while
weren’t available to comment, but cannibalizing its remaining cable in-
Disney is fighting back on two tracks: come would, to borrow from the title of
one cheerful, the other fierce. It has Peltz’s slide deck, “restore the magic.”
enlisted the help of Prof. Ludwig Von Trian says that Disney’s board has
Drake—uncle to Donald Duck—to bungled its CEO succession efforts.
explain to shareholders in print and Indeed it has, and more than once.
video how to vote the Disney way. Disney says it’s on the case now. We’ll
And this past week, it published a see. Trian says that the board allowed
67-page investor slide deck blasting Iger to make too much money. We’ll
many of the claims made in Peltz’s leave that up for debate, but it compli-
own 133-page presentation. cates matters that much of his pay was
Peltz’s fight for board seats looks tied to the stock, which was a world
like a long shot, not least because the beater for years before it suddenly,
stock is uncooperatively coming back decidedly, wasn’t. Disney says that
to life. It has returned 31%, versus 14% Iger’s pay is overwhelmingly tied to
for the S&P 500, since Barron’s recom- performance today.
mended it in a cover story last summer. Disney should have high profit
Peltz credits his own involvement. margins in streaming, like Netflix,
Disney points out that the stock’s Trian says. Disney counters that Net-
12 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
Walt Disney
(DIS / NYSE)
$200
175
150
125
100
75
50
2015 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24
Source: FactSet
flix has been at it for many years lon- next year’s live-action remake of 1937’s
ger, and that it will break even in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
streaming this year, about half the where we understand that actors play-
time it took Netflix. ing the newly diverse “dwarfs” include
One could argue that Netflix envy one female, and only one person with
helped get Disney into its recent mess. dwarfism. Popcorn, please!)
The stock market, through its adora- Trian says it would “explore strate-
tion of Netflix and disdain of legacy gic partnerships for noncore linear
media, voted that it wanted streaming assets,” which we’re pretty sure de-
growth at any price, and Disney com- scribes the cable television business. If
plied. But after the pandemic and an it means selling networks, who would
interest-rate shock, the market said it be the buyers, especially if Disney
would now prefer free cash flow, retains the content capabilities, and
thank you very much. Netflix has would the proceeds outweigh manag-
grown to generate plenty of it. Disney ing those networks for cash flow?
says it will cut $7.5 billion in yearly “Over the last decade, Parks & Re-
costs. “How does a company allow sorts has doubled revenue by $14 bil-
itself to get to a point where it has $7.5 lion and tripled operating income,”
billion of costs to cut?” asks Trian. writes Trian, arguing that Disney
Good question. should be doing better, given its advan-
Trian refers generically to fixing tages. Elsewhere, it writes that it would
Disney’s creative “flywheel,” and spe- “refine” the parks strategy to include
cifically to carrying out a board-led return targets on $60 billion in new
review of its creative process. Uh oh. spending, plans to address competitive
One can imagine sought-after show- threats, and a commitment to improv-
makers spiffing up their résumés at ing the guest experience.
the thought of an octogenarian inves- But park attendance is riding high;
tor best known for slashing costs in screen-obsessed consumers, it seems,
packaged foods weighing in on what still want the occasional log flume ride
audiences want to see. Disney says and hug from a Wookiee. Soaring
that under CEO-for-a-minute Bob profits imply that for all the parkgoer
Chapek, the company centralized con- complaints—no more free Mickey
tent-making and separated it from Mouse bus from Orlando’s airport,
distribution decisions and account- dagnabbit—demand still exceeds sup-
ability on returns, which was bad for ply, and funds put toward expansion
business. It has restored decision- will be well spent.
making to creative leaders. Wolfe’s Supino gives credit to both
In show business, it can take years Peltz and Iger for Disney’s new focus
for show and movie pipelines to clear, on profitability and accountability,
and turnarounds to bear fruit. Disney and says it has put the company in a
will try its luck at the box office this better position, but that Peltz’s
year with Deadpool & Wolverine and chance of a board win is “really low.”
Moana 2, and next year with Fantastic The stock already reflects improved
4 and a new Avatar. (Even more enter- fundamentals for now, he says, which
taining might be watching Disney and drives his rating: “We call it our fa-
the woke/broke folks square off over vorite Neutral.” B
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 13
E
Boston Consulting Group. The com- 1,000 watts of electricity by 2026, up Group, an asset manager that invests
lon Musk recently made a pany is largely betting its growth on from the roughly 650 watts on average in digital infrastructure.
bold prediction about artifi- the ability to deliver renewable power today. DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi says
cial intelligence—and not the to data centers in the coming years. Ironically, data-center operators will the tightness in Northern Virginia and
one about it being an exis- Sempra Energy, which operates use AI technology to address the power Northern California is driving data-
tential threat to humanity. public utilities in California and Texas, demands. “AI can be used to improve center construction into other markets,
Musk said that rising has cited AI as a major factor in its efficiency, where you’re modeling tem- including Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio;
demand for power-hungry growth, alongside the electrification perature, humidity, and cooling,” says and Reno, Nev. All three areas offer
AI chips could soon lead to an electric- of the oil-and-gas industry. Christopher Wellise, vice president of better power availability than Silicon
ity shortage. “Next year, you will see New data centers coming on-line in sustainability for Equinix, one of the Valley and Northern Virginia, though
that they just can’t find enough electric- its regions ”represent the potential for the network quality is slightly inferior
ity to run all the chips,” the Tesla CEO thousands of megawatts of new electric as of now. Reno also offers better access
said at the Bosch ConnectedWorld con- load—often hundreds of megawatts for AI's Heavy Demand to renewable energy sources such as
ference late last month. just one project,” Sempra told investors Driven in part by AI, data centers are expected to account for solar and wind.
While AI’s surging demand may on its earnings call last month. an increasing portion of U.S. electricity usage. Ultimately, though, Ganzi says the
not lead to mass electrical outages, the According to Boston Consulting % of U.S. electricity consumption (in terawatt hours) obstacle facing the energy sector—and
AI boom is already changing how data Group, the data-center share of U.S. 10% future AI applications—is the country’s
centers are built and where they’re electricity consumption is expected to 8
2030 decades-old electric transmission grid.
7.5%
located, and it’s already sparking a re- triple from 126 terawatt hours in 2022 6.5% “It isn’t so much that we have a
6
shaping of U.S. energy infrastructure. to 390 terawatt hours by 2030. That’s power issue. We have a transmission
Illustration by Shira Inbar
Energy companies increasingly cite the equivalent usage of 40 million U.S. 4 infrastructure issue,” he says. “Power
AI power consumption as a leading homes, the firm says. 2.5% is abundant in the U.S., but it’s not
2 2.0%
contributor to new demand. AES, a Much of the data-center growth is efficiently transmitted or efficiently
0 74 TWh 126 TWh 335 TWh 390 TWh
Virginia-based utility, recently told being driven by new applications of 2020 2022 2030 min. 2030 max. distributed.”
investors that data centers could con- generative AI. As AI dominates the Note: 2030 estimate represents a range depending on future usage of generative AI.
It’s one more problem that AI will
stitute up to 7.5% of total U.S. electricity conversation, it’s likely to bring Source: Boston Consulting Group need to solve. B
14 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
Partners. “It won’t take a whole lot to size bank stock. That’s like calling Op-
get it rerated.” penheimer just another bio flick.
The company does have work to “It’s a less attractive company in
do—and it knows it. At its “innovation terms of growth potential, but a more
day” on Jan. 25, management said it attractive investment from a valuation
“would shock the world.” It fell far perspective,” says Aswath Damodaran,
short of doing that. Chriss laid out a professor at New York University’s
steps to address PayPal’s big issues, Stern School of Business.
including making it easier for people to At this point, PayPal is a show-me
use it to make purchases, increasing story, says Wedgewood’s Rolfe, a com-
profits on its white-label offerings, and pany that will have to prove to inves-
focusing on innovation in core prod- tors that margins can bottom and
ucts. Most of these were expected, growth can accelerate. It will have a
however, and the company didn’t cite chance to show that some progress is
numbers along with the initiatives. The being made when it reports first-quar-
stock fell 3.7% that day. ter earnings, likely in May. It’s expected
Still, PayPal did offer some initia- to report earnings of $1.22 a share on
tives that could yet pay off. J.P. Morgan sales of $7.5 billion. If it can beat those
Securities analyst Tien-Tsin Huang numbers, a bet on its stock might fi-
notes that the company is focused on nally pay off.
innovating at a faster pace. Its new Of course, that’s a big if. Of the fi-
Fastlane service can autofill personal nancial companies in the S&P 500
information and credit card data, index, PayPal’s valuation most resem-
Huang writes. PayPal said this could bles U.S. Bancorp, which has a mar-
significantly increase the completion ket value of $65.6 billion and a price/
P
gins, which dropped to 45.8% in the results. He has a price target of $80 on 300
ayPal Holdings has gone fourth quarter of 2023 from 55.9% in the stock, up 27%. 250
from being one of the most 2020. Its shares have plunged 80% None of this would matter if PayPal
expensive stocks to one of since peaking in 2021, leaving it with a didn’t look downright cheap. It trades 200
the cheapest—and it’s now market cap of $67.4 billion—and leav- at 12.2 times 12-month forward earn- 150
cheap enough to buy. ing investors wondering about the fu- ings forecasts, down from a peak of 57.3
The name PayPal used to ture of the beleaguered company. times in July 2021. Back then, PayPal 100
be ubiquitous in online pay- The bad news is that PayPal will was growing faster than banks—and 50
ments, and the company had the never return to the growth of old. The taking market share from them. Now
0
growth to prove it. Its Venmo service, good news is that it doesn’t need to. it’s a mature company in a maturing
for example, was especially popular With a new CEO, Alex Chriss, leading industry, with slower growth and more 2022 ’23 ’24
with younger users, while using its the charge, change is coming. The com- competition—and it’s priced like a mid- Source: FactSet
namesake service was the default pany is becoming leaner and more fo-
choice for many while shopping online. cused, with new initiatives aimed at
But Apple and Alphabet’s Google stemming the decline in profit margins Pay It Forward
PayPal looks too much like a bank, and not enough like a fintech.
Illustration by George Wylesol
ramped up their own payment options and boosting earnings. With the stock
and other companies ventured into the trading in line with regional banks, it Company / Ticker Recent Price YTD Change Market Value (billion) Valuation*
space. As online shopping cooled fol- wouldn’t take a lot of good news—just PayPal Holdings / PYPL $62.50 1.9% $64.3 11.5
lowing the pandemic, that growth less bad news—for shares to start
PNC Financial Services Group / PNC 152.68 -1.5 60.1 11.9
evaporated. PayPal was forced to pivot bouncing back.
U.S. Bancorp / USB 43.69 1.0 67.3 10.9
to less-profitable products, such as “PayPal is trading like a coal mine
providing white-label payment services that has a finite life,” says David Rolfe, Block / SQ 85.96 11.0 50.3 23.9
to online companies. chief investment officer at Wedgewood *12-month forward price/earnings ratio Source: FactSet, Dow Jones Market Data
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 15
T
Stock Price Index, or Topix, is up in Japanese equities for about 35 years. to divest noncore assets and find other
he eye-popping gains in nearly four times, while consensus That change comes amid a genera- ways to unlock value. Management
U.S. technology stocks earnings per share have grown about tional shift in leadership. Incoming sees such overtures as a catalyst, says
have made the S&P 500 3.5 times since the end of 2012. At chief executives are in their 50s and Shuntaro Takeuchi, manager of the
index the envy of the 15.6 times expected 2024 earnings, lack the nostalgia for the way it was $703 million Matthews Japan fund
world. But another market the Topix trades for even less than during Japan’s boom times of the (MJFOX), which has beaten 70% of its
has quietly logged similar the 17 times it did a decade ago, 1980s, according to Edwards. The peers over the past year by focusing
returns over the past though return on equity has almost 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis on quality growth companies.
decade, is cheaper, and is primed for doubled, to 10%.“The quality of earn- created a backlash against entrenched When a large company increases
further gains: Japan. ings of Japanese companies has im- political leadership, opening a path to dividends or buys back shares, others
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 proved massively,” says Masakazu Japan’s benchmark policies ushered in by Abe, who was tend to follow, Takeuchi says. Japa-
returned 217% over the past decade in Takeda, portfolio manager for SPARX Nikkei 225 returned assassinated in 2022. nese companies are sitting on net
217% over the past
yen terms—118% for U.S. dollar–based Asset Management. The firm subad- decade in yen
The concept of independent direc- cash of $1.5 trillion, and Takeuchi
investors who were unhedged. That vises the $400 million Hennessy terms—not far from tors or investor representatives on expects more buybacks and divi-
isn’t far from the S&P 500’s 237% Japan fund (ticker: HJPNX). the S&P 500’s 237% boards was foreign a decade ago. dends ahead. In 2023, companies
gain. Below, Shibuya
gain, yet Japan hasn’t drawn nearly Japan fell off investors’ radar, as Scramble Crossing Now, a majority of Japanese compa- bought back about 9.6 trillion yen
the same attention from investors. many equated deflation with lousy in Tokyo. nies have more independent boards, ($65 billion) in stock—less than what
The Nikkei’s recent record high— Apple alone bought back in fiscal
surpassing a level last hit in 1989, 2023. “This movement is still in the
before the country’s asset bubbles early innings,” Takeuchi says.
burst and the economy sank into a The push to shake up the corporate
deflationary spiral—leaves investors culture was a byproduct of a scandal
wondering whether it’s too late to get at Mitsubishi Electric. An investiga-
in. The short answer is no. tion found that management had
“It’s a different market from even cheated on inspections, leading to a
10 years ago. It’s just fundamentally wave of resignations and a jolt to the
an unrecognizable place,” says Drew electronics giant, where quality con-
Edwards, a partner at GMO and head trol was a key part of its appeal.
of GMO’s Usonian Japan Equity team, The shock allowed incoming CEO
who has been managing portfolios in Kei Uruma to improve the quality of
Japan since the early 2000s. the board, recruit from outside, re-
A big part of that is a series of structure unprofitable businesses and
seemingly small changes that are divest noncore assets, and reallocate
remaking Japan’s corporate culture. money into stronger businesses, says
That renewed optimism is supported Edwards. While the margins in some
by the return of inflation, allowing of the company’s businesses have taken
Japanese workers to see the first wage a hit and return on equity has fallen to
increase in decades and businesses 8% as the economy slowed, he sees it
to inch up prices. Also helping is a as only a matter of time until return
wave of foreign direct investment on equity gets back to double digits.
from companies looking to diversify These types of changes are fueling
Sergio Delle Vedove/Alamy
While much of the developed Growth and Value and acquisitions, especially as the
world has been trying to fight infla- These companies offer ways to play Japan’s resurgence stock exchange pushes companies to
tion, Japan has welcomed the initial increase returns and the Ministry of
Company / Market Recent Forward
glimpses of rising prices after de- Ticker Value (billion) Price P/E Comment Trade revises guidelines on acquisi-
cades of deflation. The pandemic and Keyence / $114.9 ¥69,970 42.9 Advanced-sensor maker seeing strong demand as more
tions in a way that should drive fur-
supply-chain disruptions served as a 6861.Japan companies turn to automation, AI
ther consolidation. Japan is home to
spark, but Takeda sees signs that roughly 3.8 million small and midsize
Kyudenko / 2.9 6,039 13.4 Well positioned for building boom as Taiwan Semi and
inflation could be more than fleeting. companies, of which 2.5 million are
1959.Japan others build fabs in Japan
In February, Japan reported core run by a founder over the age of 70.
inflation of 2.5%. Mitsubishi Electric / 34.1 2,362.5 17.5 Recent scandal led new CEO to make changes that Half of them don’t have successors in
Though Japan’s population topped 6503.Japan could double return on equity place, says Farquharson.
out in 2008, its working-age popula- Nihon M&A Center 2.2 970.7 26.8 Stands to benefit from increasing deal volume, especially Nihon M&A Center Holdings
tion has remained relatively steady as Holdings / 2127.Japan as older founders look for an exit stands to benefit. The company is
more women entered the workforce Orix / 8591.Japan 23.9 3,120 9.4 Financial giant whose hotel, airport concession using artificial-intelligence tools to
and companies rehired older workers. businesses are well positioned for rebound in tourism match businesses to boost productiv-
But now, there are fewer people left ity, and Farquharson expects a return
to pull into the labor pool, raising the Source: FactSet to sales and profit growth, given the
risk of shortages and pressuring pickup in deal values. The stock
wages, Takeda says. trades at 26 times next year’s earn-
In union negotiations last spring, of savings Japanese households have rethinks supply chains, the weak yen ings, below its five-year average
workers in the nation’s largest labor in cash. So far, just 1% of households makes Japan an attractive destination, valuation of 47.
federation saw a 3.6% increase in have savings in NISA vehicles, with not just as a geopolitical hedge but For U.S. investors, currency fluctu-
wages—the first in decades. They will 11% of total household savings in also in terms of costs. ations are a wild card. The weak yen
see another 5.3% increase this year. stocks. The last time the market was Kyushu, the southernmost of has helped propel Japanese stocks,
That should help nudge Japanese at these levels, in 1989, a fifth of Japa- Japan’s four islands, is becoming and hedged investors did better, as
households to spend more, especially nese households’ savings were in a hub to semiconductor production they didn’t lose some of the value by
those with dual-income couples. stocks. Even a 10% shift into stocks as Taiwan Semiconductor Manu- converting yen investments back to
Meanwhile, companies are using the could add another catalyst for the facturing builds a fabrication plant dollars. As the U.S. and Europe possi-
hints of inflation as a way to increase market. there. The company has also an- bly begin cutting interest rates this
prices for the first time in years. The composition of Japan’s stock nounced plans to build a second fab in coming summer, the Bank of Japan is
These glimpses of inflation are also market also bodes well for further Kyushu and is thinking about a third. inching out of the negative-rate terri-
pushing Japanese households to re- gains, with one of the largest weight- One way to tap into the opportunity is tory that it has been sitting in since
think where to park money that they ings in technology stocks outside of Kyudenko, a construction company 2016. The BOJ could abandon its
stashed in cash for decades. The gov- the U.S. Many of the same trends are helping to build the electricity infra- yield-curve control—essentially
ernment has overhauled the Nippon at play to boost demand for technol- structure on Kyushu. The stock trades removing a peg that kept 10-year
Individual Savings Account, known ogy companies, including chip mak- at just 13 times forward earnings. The government debt at zero percent and
as NISA, that allows Japanese individ- ers. The country is home to a host of dividend payout ratio is less than 30% pivoting away from its negative-rate
uals to invest tax-free in Japanese inputs into the latest technology de- of earnings, even though the company policy—as early as this month. The
stocks—a bit like 401(k) accounts. vices, with 42% of the value in Apple’s generates lots of cash and manage- bank is expected to move slowly in
The aim is to get at roughly half of Vision Pro, for example, coming from ment has acknowledged that share- raising rates, but the shift could
the JPY2,000 trillion ($13.5 trillion) Japanese components. As the world holder distributions are on its agenda. strengthen in the near term and
As countries build out production create some market volatility.
hubs in higher-cost countries and Longer term, the yen’s strength is
Round Trip face their own aging-worker cliffs, likely to be capped, as the country is
The Nikkei’s recent record passed a level it last hit more than three decades ago. automation is in increased demand. still heavily dependent on energy im-
That means more business for Key- ports and its data needs require cloud
Nikkei 225 Index
ence, which makes machine sensor services from the likes of Amazon-
40,000 ends needed in automation. The com- .com’s Amazon Web Services and
pany has long been a favorite of in- Microsoft’s Azure, Takeuchi says.
35,000
vestors, trading at a hefty 45 times For now, the weaker yen is boost-
30,000
earnings. But its business has grown ing tourism. Orix, Japan’s largest
at double the rate of automation glob- financial-services company, stands
25,000 ally, and Farquharson sees increased to benefit and trades at just 10 times
use of its sensors as automation next year’s earnings. As travel re-
20,000 moves beyond the auto sector into bounds from the pandemic lull,
other areas like logistics. Orix’s businesses—operating hotels
15,000
That should allow the company to and traditional Japanese hot spring
10,000 sustain the roughly 15% earnings and inns and concessions at Kansai Inter-
sales growth it averaged over the past national Airport in Osaka, one of
5,000 decade. Though it is extremely profit- the main gateways into the country—
able, the company has struggled to stand to recover. If interest rates con-
0
reinvest its cash, with a founder reluc- tinue to creep toward a more normal
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
tant to do buybacks or acquisitions, level, Orix’s leasing business could
Farquharson adds. also see a rebound, says Takeda, who
Source: FactSet The market is also ripe for mergers owns the stock. B
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 17
THE EC ONOMY
If personal interest payments and the higher cost
of homeownership were captured in CPI, the
recent annual inflation rate would have been 9%.
Higher Interest
was supposed to focus only on the (from auto loans, credit cards, and
latter while leaving out the investment other consumer credit) and the higher
aspect. The practical impact was to cost of homeownership were ac-
lower the CPI during periods of home- counted for in the CPI, the year-over-
Public’s Confidence
rates—30-year fixed-rate loans have ing, the authors find.
jumped to about 7% from a historic So, it’s not surprising that Ameri-
low of about 3%—the cost of home- cans report that inflation is squeezing
ownership in the CPI has more than families’ budgets and leaving them
doubled since the pandemic, the pa- strapped. That’s reflected in the rela-
per’s authors find. That’s because tively low consumer confidence read-
Y
home prices have jumped 40%, and ings in the University of Michigan sur-
ou don’t need a weath- to reduce inflation, the side effect for mortgage rates, more than 140%. veys, despite the jobless rate holding
erman to know which some consumers is nearly as bad as the To be sure, the average cost for home- under 4% for nearly two years, the
way the wind blows, cure. owners hasn’t as much, especially for longest such skein since the 1960s.
Bob Dylan famously This paper provides an alternative those who bought before the pan- With the stock market at record
observed. But what if backed by data and analysis to the demic surge in prices and have low highs and the share of U.S. families
your smiling television popular meme of a “vibecession.” mortgage rates or no mortgages at all. owning equities at the highest level
meteorologist tells you It’s more than bad feelings weighing But that’s not the point of the alter- since 1989, the U. Mich. confidence
it’s warm and sunny while you see a BY RANDALL on consumers. It’s a much bigger native measure, the authors write. index has recovered from its 2022 na-
cold drizzle outside your window? W. FORSYTH monthly nut from the borrowing Prospective home buyers face inflated dir, writes John Higgins, chief markets
That’s the contradiction felt by con- expenses they shoulder that the CPI, house prices and high mortgage rates. economist at Capital Economics. Still,
sumers who evince sharply lower confi- as currently constructed, ignores. Add to that the scant availability of that consumer confidence index re-
dence than before the pandemic, despite The authors note that when econo- homes for sale and the relative scar- mains well below its prepandemic
falling inflation, the lowest unemploy- mist Arthur Okun proposed the Mis- city of newly built houses. levels of late 2019 and early 2020.
ment rate in half a century, and the ery Index back in the 1970s, the CPI The paper also discusses the omis- The inflation that the public feels
stock market at an all-time high. reflected housing finance costs. In sion from CPI of borrowing costs for is a major negative facing President Joe
One explanation for the disconnect 1983, the index was revamped with automobiles, which are almost always Biden’s re-election effort. While the
is suggested in the title of a new Na- “owner’s equivalent rent” supplanting financed. Adding those finance ex- administration continues to tout its
tional Bureau of Economic Research the cost of buying a house. penses, rather than just the headline progress in lowering inflation and the
working paper: “The Cost of Money The idea was that a home was both costs for car buyers, would have fur- jobless rate, there is little it can do to
Is Part of the Cost of Living.” (Hat tip an investment and a service providing ther increased inflation measures. lower the interest burden that also is a
to Joseph Carson, former chief econo- a roof over your head; an imputed rent If both personal interest payments major source of Americans’ economic
mist at AllianceBernstein, for passing pain. It has avoided jawboning the Fed
it along.) to lower policy rates, unlike its prede-
Concerns about borrowing costs Why So Glum? cessor and in keeping with the central
are the highest since the late 1970s Despite good economic data and stocks at records, high interest costs are bank’s independence.
and early 1980s, when the Federal weighing on consumers' mood, according to a new paper. Part of Americans’ interest-rate
Reserve, under former Chairman Paul University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index angst might reflect the shock of adjust-
Volcker, pushed interest rates past ing after the artificially low borrowing
110
20% to crush then-raging inflation, costs that the Fed’s zero-rate policies
according to the paper by Marijn A. 100 imposed following the financial crisis
Bolhuis of the International Monetary of 2008-09 and the onset of Covid. The
Fund and Judd N.L. Cramer, Karl Os- 90 paper’s authors note that what matters
kar Schulz, and Lawrence Summers, most to consumers is the percentage
80
all of Harvard University. increase in interest costs they face, not
When those expenses are reflected 70 the rise in percentage points.
in measures such as the consumer price The free lunch of historically low
index and felt in families’ budgets, price 60 interest is over. Even as unemploy-
pressures are much more acute than ment remains low and the CPI has
50
government data suggest. receded from its four-decade pan-
No wonder that inflation ranks at 40 demic peak, normalized interest costs
the top of voters’ concerns, along with March ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 weigh on Americans’ budgets. And
immigration. Given that higher interest 2018 they’re not happy about it, even with
rates are the main medicine the Fed has Source: Bloomberg stock prices at records. B
18 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
Top Women in
U.S. Finance:
Blazing
New Trails
Barron’s annual list of the 100 Most BY RESHMA
KAPADIA
Influential Women in U.S. Finance honors
established and emerging leaders.
I
t has been only 50 years whose titles might belie their influ- Kathryn Mikells, the first CFO in the tion, FN, publishes an annual list of
since the Equal Credit Op- ence. That includes Titi Cole, head of history of Exxon Mobil. the 100 Most Influential Women in
portunity Act allowed Legacy Franchises at Citi, whom the Mikells tells Barron’s that the role— Finance in Europe.
women to obtain their own bank’s CEO, Jane Fraser—also an hon- as someone new to the industry, and Barron’s list isn’t a ranking; it is
credit cards. Fortunately, oree—tapped to lead recent divesti- on the heels of a proxy battle—repre- presented alphabetically. It is com-
the world has changed tures. Fraser describes Cole as an “ad- sents the “biggest stretch” of her ca- posed of women in money manage-
greatly since then. Women viser, mentor, and friend” to a deep reer. But she has pulled from her ex- ment, investment research, banking,
now steer some of the coun- network of senior leaders. perience at Diageo and United trading, brokerage, advisory services,
try’s biggest banks and Federal Reserve officials and gov- Airlines Holdings during its bank- economics, financial technology, pub-
asset managers, navigate ernment leaders are well represented ruptcy proceedings and leaned into lic policy, and advocacy. It also in-
monetary and fiscal policy, on this year’s list. One newcomer, her outsider status to repair investor cludes CFOs of nonfinancial compa-
and fund what could be the market’s Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, relations; complete acquisitions, in- nies, but not CEOs.
next Magnificent Seven companies. is helping to navigate a changing U.S.- cluding that of Pioneer Natural Re- The influence of the honorees often
Some of these women are on Bar- China relationship and spur a domes- sources; and help the energy com- extends well beyond their organiza-
ron’s fifth annual list of the 100 Most tic manufacturing revival as she im- pany achieve a better financial tions, with many dedicating consider-
coming weeks. But an early introduc- Clarity of purpose is a thread that committee, only the second person of UiPath cemented her reputation as a
tion to some of our newcomers high- also runs through the career of list color to do so. “It took me a minute to savvy investor in emerging technolo-
lights the eclectic paths and career newcomer Carole Brown, head of the get comfortable being a voice around gies, but her promotion last year to
pivots that have taken them to the top asset management group at PNC Fi- that table,” she says, noting that the managing partner of CapitalG, Alpha-
in their respective fields. nancial Services Group. Brown has industry and company are still domi- bet’s $7 billion independent late-stage
Take Joanna Welsh, chief risk officer worked in both the public and private nated by white men. “I’m figuring out growth fund, makes her one of just a
at Citadel, whose process-driven ap- sectors, building a versatile skill set. how to both drive the objectives of the handful of women leading an estab-
proach to risk management is credited She made her name as an investment business and business performance lished venture firm of this size solo.
with helping the hedge fund firm to banker focused on municipal finance and be authentically me and give voice Almost two-thirds of U.S. capital-
become the most profitable ever among in Chicago, and later became the city’s to people who don’t generally have a management firms still don’t have any
its peers. The lead risk watcher in a sea chief financial officer. Then it was voice in those settings.” female partners.
of risk takers didn’t start out in finance back to PNC, where she now runs one Service is important to Brown, a Born in Jamaica and raised in
and knew little about hedge funds of the three core business units of the board member of the Red Cross, the South Florida, Sturdy loved school
when she first dived into the industry. country’s sixth-largest bank. Illinois Council Against Handgun and was drawn to innovation. After
Intrigued as a teenager by The Selfish The close ties between Chicago’s Violence, and the Steppenwolf The- studying biochemistry at Harvard
Gene, a book about evolution, Welsh civic and business communities led to ater. She says she loves being around University, earning a Master’s degree
went on to study molecular biology numerous opportunities for Brown, the energy of the theater and wants to at Trinity College in Dublin, and at-
and genetic engineering at the Univer- who studied government at Harvard help preserve its creativity, as the- tending Stanford University’s Gradu-
sity of Oxford with its author, biologist University and finance at the Kellogg aters, including Steppenwolf, suffered ate School of Business, she spent sev-
Richard Dawkins. Put off by the pace School of Management at Northwest- during the Covid pandemic. eral years at Google launching and
of academia and the research process, ern University. While still structuring Laela Sturdy, a venture capitalist growing domestic and international
Welsh later pivoted to consulting, municipal finance deals at Lehman and another new name on the list, also businesses, and was part of the lead-
banking, and then the world of hedge Brothers, Brown took on the addi- pivoted several times on the way to ership teams for YouTube and Google
funds. tional role of chairwoman of the Chi- becoming one of the biggest tech in- Search. Sturdy then decided to swap
The ability to work closely with a cago Transit Authority, rebuilding the vestors. her hat as an operator for one as an
hedge fund founder, the relatively city’s brown line and forging a rela- Sturdy has invested in four so- investor at CapitalG.
minimal bureaucracy of such firms, tionship with Rahm Emanuel, who called decacorns, or privately held “She has the performance mind-set
and the need to become a domain ex- eventually became Chicago’s mayor start-ups valued at $10 billion or of the investment business but also a
pert to survive drove Welsh to the and now serves as the U.S. ambassa- more. Early stakes in fintech Stripe, respect and kindness that isn’t associ-
industry. She worked at Tudor Invest- dor to Japan. Duolingo, and software company ated with it,” says Gene Frantz, a gen-
ment, where she rose to the position of During her tenure as Chicago’s
chief risk officer in 2008, and joined CFO, Brown shrank the city’s budget
Citadel in 2017. deficit, putting its finances on steadier
“Joanna’s work has underpinned footing with measures like cutting
much of our recent success,” wrote healthcare costs, selling land assets,
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin in an email, and zero-based budgeting. Her foray
describing Welsh as one of the most into Chicago’s political system rein-
driven leaders with whom he has forced Brown’s reputation as someone
worked in finance. adept at analyzing complex situations
That drive comes through in Welsh’s who “doesn’t suffer fools easily,” in the
nonwork life, as well. A longtime gym words of friend and former colleague
rat, she dived into the world of amateur Kym Arnone, head of municipal fi-
powerlifting in 2012, racking up a se- nance at Jefferies.
ries of wins in three years, including a Brown also earns high marks for
silver medal representing the U.S. in her work at PNC. “She is purposeful
the International Powerlifting Federa- in the sense that she figures out a
tion World Championships and a U.S. place where she wants to get to and
national championship. “I didn’t have drives hard at it,” says PNC CEO Bill
10 hours a day to work on this, so I had Demchak.
to do experiments on myself and fail In the past 18 months, Brown has
fast and learn,” Welsh says. spearheaded initiatives that have in-
Welsh’s path to championships is creased the bank’s combined client
“metaphorically perfect” in describing assets under administration by $43
her job performance, wrote former billion, to $368 billion. Many of those
boss Paul Tudor Jones via email: “As a efforts have focused on building sup-
risk manager, Joanna reminds me of a port for the national expansion of the Carole Brown, right,
honey badger—fearless, relentless, business, after Pittsburgh-based PNC’s formerly Chicago’s
and hyperfocused.” 2021 acquisition of BBVA’s U.S. bank- chief financial offi-
cer, now runs the
As Welsh nurtures the next genera- ing operations. Efforts range from inte- asset management
tion of risk watchers, she stresses the grating technology and restructuring group at PNC, the
country’s sixth-larg-
need to filter out the noise, especially operations to finding better ways to est bank. She has a
in a world of ever more data. Her ad- serve Hispanic and Latino clients, who reputation as some-
vice to excise minutiae: “What’s my traditionally have been underserved by one adept at analyz-
ing complex situa-
job? Go back to the mission and [ask] the asset-management industry. tions who “doesn’t
where the firm gets the most value.” Brown sits on PNC’s management suffer fools easily.”
20 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
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Keepers.
Barron’s Advisor Finder matches Barron’s ambitious readers with
your financial expertise. Get found, meet prospective clients, and let
Barron’s Advisor help grow your business.
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March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 21
Kourtney Gibson Jennifer Johnson Ida Liu Holly O’Neill Joan Solotar
Senior Executive President, CEO Global Head President, Retail Global Head of Private
Vice President, Chief Banking Wealth Solutions
Franklin Resources Citi Private Bank
The
Institutional Client
Bank of America Blackstone
100
Officer
Jody Jonsson Lorie Logan
TIAA Vice Chair, Capital President, CEO Sheila Patel Liz Ann Sonders
Group; President, Vice Chair, General Chief Investment
Federal Reserve Bank of
Nili Gilbert Capital Research and Partner Strategist
Dallas
Vice Chairwoman Management Co.
B Capital Charles Schwab
Carbon Direct Capital Group Saira Malik
Chief Investment Penny Pennington Wendy Stewart
Tricia Griffith Karen Karniol-Tambour Officer Managing Partner President, Global
CEO Co-CIO Commercial Banking
Nuveen Edward Jones
Progressive Bridgewater Associates Bank of America
Solita Marcelli Nancy Peretsman
Alesia Haas Sarah Ketterer Chief Investment Managing Director Laela Sturdy
CFO CEO Officer Americas Managing Partner
Allen & Co.
Coinbase Global Causeway Capital UBS Global Wealth CapitalG
Most Influential
Management Management Jennifer Piepszak
Lindsay Hans Co-CEO, Commercial & Savita Subramanian
President, Co-Head Katie Koch Cathy Marcus Investment Bank Head of U.S. Equity and
eral partner. “People are naturally icant amounts last year and will do
drawn to her and want to be in her significant amounts this year,” she
orbit. She’s honest and transparent, says.
and that combination is endearing to Sturdy’s collective investments are
founders. There are few people you valued at more than $100 billion.
meet and trust that quickly.” “Data show that fantastic companies
The former captain of Harvard are created in all economic cycles, and
In the
kept rising. “I knew a lot of other ven- gies to be much bigger. These technol-
ture capitalists were wining and din- ogies “will impact industries, use
ing him, and I thought, I’m not going cases, and experiences that aren’t even
to win that,” says the mother of three. digital yet,” she says. “For AI, we
of Your
with Daniel.” As she vets new investments,
Competition for deals isn’t as fierce Sturdy looks for joy. “It matters that
today as it was 18 to 24 months ago, you love what you are doing, and that
but Sturdy is taking advantage of the your teammates around the table—or
Joanna Welsh, Citadel’s chief risk officer, helped drive the hedge-fund firm’s recent success.
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 23
Natalie Picha
Royal Harbor Partners
Independent since 2019
“Once you
move to
independence,
you never
look back.”
When you make the move to the RIA model, the restraints come off. You’re
calling the shots, and that makes everything different – in a good way.
Independence is liberating. You keep more of what you earn, and you can
do more for your clients. Pretty simple formula, wouldn’t you agree?
Natalie Picha is a client of Schwab and was not compensated for her comments. Schwab paid travel-related costs.
The experience described may not be the experience of all clients and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.
Royal Harbor Partners is not owned by, supervised by, or affiliated with Schwab, and its personnel are not employees or agents of Schwab. This is not a referral to, endorsement or recommendation of, or testimonial for the
advisor with respect to its investment advisory or other services.
Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Schwab. Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.
© 2024 Schwab Advisor Services.™ All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0322-2BZP)
24 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
6 Retail Stocks
That Look Like
Bargains
BY TERESA RIVAS to serve customers even better. She
O
also shared some of her favorite in-
nline shopping became a vestment ideas. An edited version
national pastime during of the conversation follows.
the Covid pandemic, and
for a while it looked to be Barron’s: The retail industry is
the nail in the coffin for always in flux, especially now that
in-person shopping. That shoppers are returning to stores
prediction never bothered but also buying online. How are
Dana Telsey, who runs a retail-focused things changing?
research, sales and trading, and invest- Dana Telsey: Today, customers might
ment banking firm, because stores, she learn about a brand online. With social
says, “make the magic happen.” media, brands can get immediate feed-
That’s one reason that Telsey, CEO back on product launches and what
of Telsey Advisory Group, still visits products look like in a store. TikTok
bricks-and-mortar locations every and Instagram photos and videos
week. While she often scrolls social bring these brands to life. And brands
media and browses websites, there’s with growing direct-to-consumer
no substitute for seeing what truly [DTC] business models know more
engages consumers—from the mall about their customers—where they
to Fifth Avenue—even in the age of live, and when and where they shop.
e-commerce. “I go not only to see, but
also to interact—to talk with sales But physical locations still matter,
associates, see what customers are or matter again. How are retailers
taking, what their shopping bags dealing with that?
look like,” she says. There’s a socialization to shopping
Barron’s has included Telsey on our in-store. It’s about food and beverages
annual list of the 100 Most Influential along with [shopping]. After the pan-
Women in U.S. Finance since it was demic, we all value the time that we
launched five years ago. She founded can spend together.
her firm in 2006 after more than a One of the interesting dynamics
decade as an analyst on Wall Street. today is that companies are investing
Telsey grew up working a cash register in their stores. When I visit stores, I’m
at her family’s bookstore. “Retail has always asking myself: What is going
always been a part of my heritage,” she to grab your attention? Is it an item?
says. An outfit? A price? Is it what’s hap-
It is part of her future, too. In a pening with the music? Has the store
March 7 interview, she speculated been remodeled recently? What other
on how the industry might evolve,
incorporating artificial intelligence Photograph by LANNA APISUKH
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 25
retailers or businesses are in the vicin- inventory levels are clean, there is annual growth rate of earnings over bandwagon and saw the changes that
ity? Experiences create memories, and more data to inform companies how the next two years. The company could CEO Fran Horowitz was making.
retailers always want [consumers] to to drive demand, and the watch list see a one percentage point expansion There is still some room to grow, cer-
have a memorable experience and say, of weak retailers is lower than it has in operating margins from fiscal 2023 tainly with the enhancements she is
“I want to do that again.” been. And, if you think about it from to fiscal 2025 [the fiscal year ends in making to the Hollister business. The
retail real estate perspective, there is January]. I’m looking for the company strong finish to the year saw Aber-
For all of the concern about the more demand than there is supply. to continue to perform well. crombie reach its 2025 target of an 8%-
retail industry, it seems that many For turnaround stories, look at plus operating margin two years early.
brands are getting it right. You mentioned data a few times. Burlington Stores. The off-price The A&F brand remains healthy,
We used to measure retailer success How is AI playing a role in retail? sector is gaining traffic and benefiting with a resilient customer base and
by same-store sales. Now we look at Back in June, I started putting together from customers trading down. Burl- strong assortment, and Hollister is
active customers, customer conver- the framework for a book with chap- ington’s acquisition of the desirable 64 showing signs of improvement. Lon-
sion, average order value, and other ters that correspond to what’s happen- Bed Bath & Beyond leases highlights ger term, we continue to see a margin-
new metrics. Companies are reacting ing with the consumer. My chapter the store-growth opportunity that can expansion opportunity through digital
faster to the use of data that inform eight is understanding behavioral deliver incremental accretive top-line growth and increased square-footage
them of customer preferences and shifts and new living patterns. People growth. The company is targeting $16 productivity that can support a mid-
changes. Retailing is a different busi- are working from home, and the old billion in revenue and $1.6 billion in single digit compound annual growth
ness to analyze today than in the past. identification markers—business operating income by 2028, implying rate in sales and a double-digit earn-
The speed with which companies cards, phone numbers—are being a 10% operating income margin, up ings CAGR over the next two years.
can react makes it exciting, because replaced by an anonymity that from $9.7 billion in revenue and $581
consumer companies lately have emerged from the pandemic. million of operating income, or a 6% We can’t forget about shoes.
strengthened their ability to operate There is an acceptance of new margin, in fiscal 2023. What’s to like there?
with agility in uncertain situations. In norms. Brands and companies are Deckers Outdoor has had consistent
the past three years, we have had a learning to identify and use pattern What are some of your other success with brands like Ugg, like
pandemic, a banking crisis, supply- recognition to see how customers make favorite stocks right now? Hoka. Now it has introduced a new
chain headwinds, and geopolitical cri- decisions, and consumers are [on board Ralph Lauren’s strong performance sneaker brand called AHNU that we
ses. But the consumer brands that are with some] data collection. We are still year to date is evidence of the success are excited about.
still standing are stronger than ever. in the early innings in the consumer of its efforts to elevate the offering and Through the first three quarters of
They are better operators in a better sector. Every consumer-focused com- attract younger, high-value customers, fiscal 2024 [ended on Jan. 31], Deckers
position because of the data that inform pany is thinking about how to drive emphasizing the broad appeal of the delivered three consecutive beat-and-
them. And let’s not forget that some revenue by incorporating AI to activate brand and its potential. It has the raises [the company beat earnings esti-
have stronger balance sheets now. consumers and streamline costs. right strategies—elevate the brand, mates and raised earnings guidance for
win in key cities, and drive the core future quarters], reflecting continued
Are you optimistic about the What are some stocks that inves- business while expanding in under- top-line momentum in Ugg and Hoka,
health of the U.S. consumer? tors might be overlooking, given penetrated categories—to deliver com- along with stronger margins in the
There are more reasons to be bullish your relatively upbeat outlook for pound annual revenue growth in the DTC channel. That was partially offset
today than bearish. There is the tail- consumer spending? mid-single digits, and two percentage by increased investments to support
wind of a strong labor market, with What wins in 2024 is innovation, points of operating margin expansion continued sales and market-share
wage growth exceeding inflation. Plus, value, brands. Take Bath & Body from fiscal 2023 through fiscal 2025. gains. Deckers remains well positioned,
inflation is moderating, interest rates Works. It is introducing new product [The fiscal year ends in April.] with a healthy brand portfolio that can
are likely to be lowered this year, and categories—men’s, hair, laundry—to its Also, in off-price retailing, I like TJX drive double-digit top- and bottom-line
gas prices are benign. loyalty-program customers, who now Cos., parent of T.J. Maxx. Its new stores growth through fiscal 2025.
The minute we heard Federal Re- stand around 40 million. Bath & Body are gaining traffic, taking market share,
serve Chair Jerome Powell talk in mid- Works is moving stores to off-mall and becoming a destination for all ages, Are there some things that always
December about the potential for low- locations from some of the weaker while the company continues to drive make a retailer successful?
ering rates, retail stocks began to take malls, while keeping stores in the good sales growth and margin expansion. I’ve always thought there are three
off. This is an early-cycle sector, even in malls. It has strong purchase frequency TJX is well positioned heading into things that make business brands and
the face of headwinds such as geopolit- and new category introductions. It has fiscal 2025 [ending next February], retailers successful: concept, execution,
ical risks, a combative election season, an established brand with a loyal cus- given consumers’ increased focus on and management. Innovation drives
rising delinquencies on consumer tomer base. I see an opportunity for value, regardless of income bracket. Its successful concepts, seamlessness
credit, and a savings rate of 3.8%— both sales and margins to improve. market share gains in the past several drives enhanced execution, and data
below the prepandemic average of With the recent rollout of its new years should allow it to deliver mid- to help to inform management of a vision
5.2%. loyalty program, increased invest- high-single digit sales and earnings for sustainable growth.
If the housing backdrop improves, ments in infrastructure and systems, growth over the next two years. Understanding the social fabric is
it is going to add fuel to a positive the- and efforts to streamline operations Some of the businesses that did also important for all companies—
sis. I’m seeing a pickup in investor and the organization, Bath & Body well last year still have opportunity. more important than it has ever been.
interest in the consumer space be- Works can build a stronger foundation Abercrombie & Fitch was our best
cause the businesses are stronger, to drive a high-single digit compound performer last year; we’ve been on that Thank you, Dana. B
26 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
F UN DS
The Columbia Dividend Income fund employs
a “dividend growth” strategy that requires
increases in a company’s payout.
Top-Rated Fund
downturn, falling only 0.5%, but it Today, “it’s a steady Eddie, not a high-
gained only 6.6% in 2023 as the S&P growth company,” Barclay says. “Its
500 leapt 26%. Income-oriented inves- franchise in switching and network-
tors shifted from dividend stocks to ing is very formidable. Cisco plays a
S
come down a bit, it looks like a good The fund typically holds about 80
tocks that pay divi- BY LEWIS pay no or low dividends. Rapidly grow- time to buy a well-regarded dividend stocks. While Barclay doesn’t hold the
dends can soften the BRAHAM ing companies tend to reinvest their fund like this one. same sector weightings as the fund’s
impact when the mar- cash flow in their businesses instead Russell 1000 benchmark, he doesn’t
O
ket is falling. Yet they of paying dividends to shareholders. ne of Barclay’s recent like to make big sector overweight or
often prove a drag on Columbia Dividend Income’s 18% tech- purchases, in August, was underweight bets against it. Even
the way up, compared nology weighting is much less than the AT&T, which hit $13.43 in within a popular sector for dividend
with faster-growing S&P 500’s current 31%. July, a low not seen since hunters, such as financial services, he
companies. Achieving a balance be- Consistent dividend payers have the 1990s. Investors grew frightened wants a good mix of industries repre-
tween defense and offense can be proved more resilient than most stocks. over regulators focusing on a network sented, not just the usual banks.
tricky for investors. In 2022, when the S&P 500 fell 18.1%, of potentially toxic lead-sheathed ca- For added diversification, Barclay
The managers of the Columbia Columbia Dividend Income lost 5.2%. bles that AT&T left in the ground de- sold U.S. Bancorp to buy Visa last
Dividend Income fund have per- Similarly, in the first quarter of the cades ago. But the company has “done April. “U.S. Bancorp is a very good
formed that balancing act with aplomb. 2020 pandemic year, when the average a good job of divesting some noncore bank. However, relative to JPMorgan
“Dividends have been about 40% of the Large Value fund fell 26.8%, this fund businesses and really simplifying its Chase and some others, it was just a
return in the S&P 500 for the past 100 lost 19.5%. In the past 10 years, it has business model,” says Barclay. weak link,” he explains. “Visa was a
years,” says Michael Barclay, the $39 experienced only 85% of the S&P 500’s Selling off media company Warner- name we had watched for a long time,
billion fund’s senior portfolio manager. downside—the so-called downside Media to Discovery in 2022, for in- and at the time, the free-cash-flow yield
“However, it’s really important that you capture ratio—while the average Large stance, has strengthened AT&T’s was in the valuation range that is a buy
remember the 60% that comes from Value fund has experienced 100%. balance sheet, enabling it to better for us. Although its yield isn’t optically
capital appreciation.” weather the current difficulties. Bar- high, Visa is growing the dividend at a
Barclay employs a “dividend clay is comfortable with AT&T’s valu- midteens rate.”
growth” strategy that requires in- Columbia Dividend Income ation, which he feels prices in the After tech, financials are the fund’s
creases in a company’s payout instead Total Return worst-case scenario. The stock has largest sector weighting at 17.9%, fol-
of just a high current dividend yield. 1-Yr 5-Yr 10-Yr a high, 6.4% dividend yield. lowed by industrials at 15.1%, and
That growth component gives the fund LBSAX 21.6% 11.7% 10.9% While AT&T would certainly fall healthcare at 13.7%. Barclay and his
decent upside as well as less downside. Large Value Fund Category 20.4 10.4 8.9
in the value stock camp, the fund also two co-managers, Tara Gately and An-
In the past 10 years, Columbia Divi- holds growthier names like Microsoft, drew Wright, have over 100 Columbia
Top 10 Holdings
dend Income has produced a 10.9% even though it currently has only a Threadneedle equity analysts to help
Company / Ticker Weighting
annualized return, besting 92% of its 0.7% yield. “Microsoft has been in the them forecast the future dividend
Microsoft / MSFT 4.0%
peers in Morningstar’s Large Value portfolio for 20 years,” Barclay says. growth in each of the Russell 1000’s
JPMorgan Chase / JPM 3.9
category. Its 0.90% expense ratio is “They consistently increase the divi- companies.
below average for an active fund. Johnson & Johnson / JNJ 2.7 dend at about a 10% rate [annually] Gately likes drugmaker AbbVie,
Though it has a 5.75% load, many bro- Home Depot / HD 2.4 over time.” Though the yield is low which the fund started buying late
kers waive that. The fund, which closed Comcast / CMCSA 2.4 now, Barclay focuses more on the in 2021 as investors grew concerned
to new investors in 2021 because of Exxon Mobil / XOM 2.3 fund’s cost of investment in the stock as about the patent expiration of its rheu-
heavy investment inflows, reopened Procter & Gamble / PG 2.3 a long-term investor. “When you look matoid arthritis drug Humira: “We felt
this past November. AbbVie / ABBV 2.3 at the $3 annual dividend that Micro- that that issue was overly discounted in
To be sure, the S&P 500 index has Chevron / CVX 2.2 soft gives to shareholders versus our the valuation and that investors were
beaten this fund since the 2008-09 Broadcom / AVGO 2.2
[purchase] cost, that yield is well above not appreciating the development pipe-
crash—as it has beaten pretty much 5%.” As long as Microsoft’s dividend line of new therapies that AbbVie is
Total 26.8%
every value-oriented or dividend- continues to grow at such a rapid clip, bringing to market.”
Note: Holdings as of Jan. 31, 2024. All returns as of March 11, 2024;
focused fund in a market dominated by five- and 10-year returns are annualized. he’ll likely hold on to it. It’s that kind of forward-thinking
high-tech growth stocks that typically Sources: Morningstar, Columbia Threadneedle Investments But he also holds cheaper tech analysis that gives this fund its edge. B
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 27
T ECH T RADER
Oracle said this past week that its longstanding
forecast for fiscal 2026 revenue of $65 billion
might be too low.
D
the company’s call with investors that espite a three-year rally in
demand for Oracle’s cloud services Oracle shares, the stock still
O
ne of the most cover story three years ago. “substantially exceeds supply.” She looks cheaper on almost
important weeks In that February 2021 piece, I wrote added that Oracle’s cloud business every measure than rival
in the history of that Oracle was “turning into a cloud will remain in “a hypergrowth enterprise software companies. Sales-
artificial intelli- giant,” one with every intention of phase...for the foreseeable future.” force, Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk,
gence arguably taking on cloud computing leaders Founder and Chief Technology Workday, SAP, and ServiceNow all
took place in Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Officer Larry Ellison, who still holds trade for at least 31 times forward
March 1986, at a Azure, and Google Cloud. “There’s no 42% of Oracle’s outstanding shares, earnings, while Oracle trades for 19
moment when Ronald Reagan was in BY ERIC J. way that in the next two or three years, said the company signed 40 cloud times. If you look at the company’s
the White House, the Dow Jones In- SAVITZ Oracle will be viewed as anything but computing contracts in the February PEG ratio—forward price/earnings
dustrial Average had yet to crack the a cloud company,” Clay Magouyrk, quarter worth more than $1 billion divided by earnings growth—Oracle is
2,000 level, and no one had heard of Oracle Cloud executive vice president, each. Remaining performance obliga- cheaper than every other major soft-
the internet, iPhones, or chatbots. told me back then. tions, a measure of future business, ware company.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was still in And while that story didn’t antici- jumped 29% from a year earlier to At some level, Wall Street doesn’t
diapers. pate the emergence in late 2022 of the $80 billion. Catz said Oracle’s long- quite trust Oracle, a reflection of both
That week, 38 years ago, two of AI’s generative-AI trend, Magouyrk clearly standing forecast for fiscal 2026 reve- founder Larry Ellison’s well-earned
most important companies reached the knew what he was talking about. Ora- nue of $65 billion might be too low. reputation for bluster and the com-
stock market. Microsoft went public cle continues to be a key provider of Not least, Ellison said Oracle will pany’s 10-year run, from 2011 to 2021,
on March 13, 1986. One day earlier, enterprise software applications and have some new joint announcements of almost no sales growth.
Oracle did the same. database software. Just this past week, to make this coming week with But Oracle has struck gold with its
The IPO documents, to be sure, the company announced new AI capa- Nvidia, which is holding a developers cloud business. It’s taking market
didn’t address AI, machine learning, bilities for some of its business apps. conference in San Jose. Catz said the share not with boast and blather, but
or large language models. Neither pro- But the key driver for Oracle is now company is having no problem getting with an ability to offer customers a
spectus listed risks tied to the avail- cloud computing—and the associated access to GPUs from Nvidia, which better option.
ability of AI chips from Nvidia, which opportunity in artificial intelligence. has been an issue for some other tech- Oracle, says HSBC Global analyst
makes sense given that Jensen Huang Oracle shares have more than dou- nology companies, including Dell and Stephen Bersey, “is gaining market
was still seven years away from bled since Barron’s cover story, and the Hewlett Packard Enterprise. share by offering a competitive and
founding the company. stock recently hit a new all-time high. For Oracle, it’s all working right technologically advanced product right
How far we’ve come. This past week alone, Oracle shares now. when customers deploying AI infra-
Microsoft’s role as a leading player rallied nearly 12%, thanks to the com- William Blair analyst Sebastien structure are requiring just that.” B
in the AI story is well appreciated by
investors—it’s the only public com-
pany with a market cap above $3 tril-
lion, some $400 billion ahead of Ap-
ple. The stock sits less than 1% below Oracle’s cloud business will be in a
its all-time high.
Oracle is no slouch when it comes “hypergrowth phase...for the foresee-
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
MARKET WEEK
March 11 through March 15, 2024
Dow Jones Industrials S&P 500 Nasdaq Composite iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
38,714.77
52-wk: +21.51% YTD: +2.72% Wkly: -0.02%
5117.09
52-wk: +30.65% YTD: +7.28% Wkly: -0.13%
15,973.17
52-wk: +37.34% YTD: +6.41% Wkly: -0.70%
$92.94
52-wk: -13.02% YTD: -6.01% Wkly: -2.91%
3%
Anticipation Quadruple Witching
Stock indexes opened in the red, then Quarterly and monthly options and
2
rallied back toward breakeven on futures on stock indexes and individual
Monday. Wall Street held its collective shares expired on Friday, adding to trading
breath ahead of a key inflation report volatility. Stocks slipped to end the week. 1
the next morning.
Sticky Situation
-1
Another hot inflation report on Thursday
sent bond prices falling and stocks drifting
lower. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield -2
The Rising popped 0.1 percentage point, to 4.3%.
The consumer price index rose more than
expected in February, government data -3
showed on Tuesday. Stocks shrugged off the
news, with the S&P 500 hitting a record high.
-4
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Close
Source: Barron’s Statistics
T
he stock market tures market reflects just a 49% chance it’s the signals about the future that
gist at BMO Capital Markets. “We do not When news of a takeover breaks, stocks
view the current pace of U.S. stock market usually pop. That provides the potential for
gains as sustainable.” large gains—if investors have already bought
The counterargument is that, under the the shares. But how to find the companies?
surface, the market is showing signs that it Morgan Stanley offered a list of criteria, in-
can remain hot. More than 60% of stocks on cluding relatively low market caps and earn-
the S&P 500 have notched gains this year, ings estimates that have declined over the
according to FactSet, so the index isn’t so past three months. The idea is that the com-
reliant on a handful of Big Tech names to panies are small enough to be swallowed
stay afloat. With inflation still pretty hot and have struggled to compete in their in-
and commodity prices up this past week, dustries, making the case for a turnaround
the S&P 500’s energy and materials sectors inside a bigger company compelling.
gained. Even consumer staples, which Morgan Stanley’s screen included com-
broadly have strong pricing power, are flat panies like Harley-Davidson, Newell
for the week, outperforming the index. Brands, Victoria’s Secret, Kohl’s, Sare-
Will the Fed finally spark a rotation that pta Therapeutics, and QuantumScape,
causes the market to sink? We’re about to which have market caps of $1.5 billion to
find out. $11.4 billion and trade below their record
highs, even as the S&P 500 index has hit
8 Takeover Candidates several new records this year.
Mergers and acquisitions are coming
back—and that’s good news for the stocks
The $3 billion Under Armour also
made the list. Shares of the company are
Invest with the
of companies that could be buyout targets. almost 90% below their record high, and it 1
Last year was a dead zone for M&A ac-
tivity. Just $1.37 trillion of U.S. deals were
has struggled so much that it announced on
Wednesday that CEO Stephanie Linnartz
Best Online Bonds Broker
consummated, as interest rates rose and will step down and founder Kevin Plank
the outlook for corporate profits weakened. will return to the helm. Analysts have kept
Together, that meant the cost to finance their earnings-per-share forecasts for this Interactive Brokers’ Bond Marketplace offers over
a deal became more expensive, while the year the same over the past three months,
potential return from an acquisition fell. according to FactSet, but they have reduced
one million global bonds, with no mark-ups or
This year, though, rates have stabilized 2025 estimates by 1.5%, while aggregate spreads and low, transparent commissions.
and profits have continued to grow. Man- S&P 500 EPS estimates for that year are
agement teams are now more confident up 0.8% in the past three months.
that buying new assets will produce strong There’s also the $2.5 billion Teladoc
returns. Companies in the U.S. have an- Health, which is down almost 95% from Try our free Bond Search tool to compare available
nounced $388.2 billion of M&A this year, its record high.
63% higher than at this point last year, The digital provider of health profes-
yields against those of other brokers.
according to London Stock Exchange sionals has never turned an annual net
Group. That puts deals on pace to hit profit, even though it has grown sales rap-
close to $1.9 trillion for 2024. idly over its lifetime and analysts are calling
“There’s a sense of optimism, with sta- for a wider net loss for the coming quarter The best-informed investors choose Interactive Brokers
bilizing rates and companies sitting on than they were three months ago. Teladoc
piles of cash,” says Polen Capital portfolio isn’t in trouble, though—it’s freeing up cash
manager Rayna Lesser Hannaway, who by using hundreds of millions of dollars of
expects buyout targets to be companies stock-based employee compensation to help
with smaller market capitalizations, pay its employees. The company is expected
generally below $5 billion. to generate free cash flow of a few hundred
FIND OUT
1 Day 5 Day 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month YTD 1 Year 5 Year
-0.27%
S&P 500 INDEX Oil & Gas 3.60%
XLC COMMUNICATION SERVICES -0.76% Basic Materials 1.48
WITH OUR
XLY CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY +0.33% –0.20 Industrials
XLP CONSUMER STAPLES -0.07% –0.31 Financials
XLE ENERGY -0.22% –0.40 Technology
–0.47 Consumer Services
SECTOR
XLF FINANCIAL +0.26%
TRACKER
XLB MATERIALS +0.31%
million dollars this year and has just over up a bit, though earnings are likely to fall
Visit www.sectorspdrs.com or call 1-866-SECTOR-ETF $1 billion in cash and cashlike assets. But two cents, to 57 cents a share. That leaves
the business could be worth more to a a lot of room for improvement. In its fiscal
An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before larger company than to current sharehold- fourth-quarter earnings release in January,
investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 1-866-SECTOR-ETF or visit ers, who face the possibility of more stock the company said it would be focused on
www.sectorspdrs.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing. price declines. improving volumes this year. To do so, it
All ETFs are subject to risk, including possible loss of principal. Sector ETF products are also subject to sector risks and non-diversification There has been no public expressions of will have to rely less on price increases for
risks, which generally results in greater price fluctuations than the overall stock market. Ordinary brokerage commissions apply. interest in any of the companies mentioned, products such as pepper and vanilla to
TheS&P500isanindexof500commonstocksthatisgenerallyconsideredrepresentativeoftheU.S.stockmarket.Youcannotinvestdirectly but with M&A back in fashion, you never compete with private labels, writes TD
in an index. can tell. Cowen analyst Robert Moskow.
ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc., a registered broker-dealer, is distributor for the Select Sector SPDR Trust. McCormick can also drive growth with
This Stock Could Shake Things Up product innovation. On its last earnings
Spice maker McCormick has left a sour call, management said its Flavor Solutions
taste in the mouths of investors over the segment—which aims to identify the types
past two years. Its earnings report, due of flavors and foods that new and younger
on March 26, could help boost the stock. generations are likely to buy—could help
There hasn’t been much to like about Mc- the company retake some market share.
Cormick shares, which have lost about half All told, investors are looking for
of their value since hitting a high in March “improving volume trends as pricing tail-
2022. Part of the problem is that investors winds wane and innovation ramps,” writes
have preferred riskier stocks to the stable Deutsche Bank analyst Steve Powers, with
S&P 500 consumer-staples sector, which as much as a full percentage point of gross
has gained about 3% since McCormick margin improvements this fiscal year.
peaked, versus the S&P 500’s 18% gain. Little of that is priced into the stock at
But most of the problems are of the current levels. McCormick trades for 23.9
company’s own making. McCormick lifted times forward earnings estimates, well be-
prices to combat rising input costs, leaving low its five-year average of 28.7 times. And
itself vulnerable to retailers’ private-label while the stock trades above the S&P 500’s
brands, which offer similar products for 20 times earnings, it has historically traded
lower prices. Look no further than Wal- at 1.3 times the index, or closer to 26 times.
mart, which said on its fourth-quarter If its valuation leaves room for upside, it
earnings call that its private-brand adop- should also help limit losses. For one, it
tion has continued to grow in the U.S. should yield about 2.5% this year, and
The rise of private labels has been devas- McCormick has the free cash flow not only
tating for McCormick’s growth. Sales, which to support the dividend but also to raise it.
rose 11%, to $6.3 billion, in 2021 when every- The company has been a perennial dividend
one was cocooning at home, have since risen booster, one reason that its stock hasn’t
at a sluggish 1.7% annual clip to $6.7 billion. dipped below the low $60s since 2020.
Demand, too, has dropped, with the volume Overall, “the current market price rep-
of products sold down 3% in 2023. resents an excessively pessimistic outlook,
The good news is that the market isn’t limiting downside risk and maximizing
expecting much from McCormick when it upside potential,” writes Morningstar
reports earnings. Analysts see sales drop- analyst Erin Lash.
ping 1.1%, to $1.55 billion, while lower com- Get ready for management to make
modity prices should nudge gross margins things spicier. B
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 31
I N C O M E I N V E ST I N G INTERNATIONAL TRADER
Finding Safety in High- Egypt’s Bailout Could
Paying Dividend Stocks Benefit Bond Investors
BY AL ROOT dividends and is expected to grow earn- BY CRAIG MELLOW budget deficit pushing 7% of gross domes-
ings at about 5% a year in the coming few tic product and inflation galloping around
F E
or dividend-hungry investors, years, according to Bloomberg. The rest of gypt, the Middle Eastern giant 35% annually. Paying 30% interest on its
it’s time to head for the healthy the S&P 500 companies that pay divi- with a population of 114 million, bonds has swelled debt servicing to 60%
part of the income menu, while dends distribute about 40% of net income is too big to fail, particularly at of state revenue, Nasser says. “They still
skipping the immediate gratifica- and are expected to grow earnings roughly this moment. have to do the harder parts, rein in fiscal
tion of high-yielding desserts. twice as fast. In other words, the highest- The United Arab Emirates, Interna- policy and allow the private sector to come
Those desserts sure do look good. The yielding stocks often have higher yields for tional Monetary Fund, and European in,” says Rajeeb Pramanik, senior emerg-
stocks with the highest dividend yields, a reason, says Senyek. Union forcefully underlined this point ing markets strategist at BCA Research.
some topping 4.8%, will be the ones that He has started to favor consumer sta- over the past week, pledging some $40 Sisi’s technocrats cut back heavily on
get the biggest bump if the Federal Re- ples after a period of weak performance. billion in investments and loans. fuel and other consumer subsidies during
serve starts cutting interest rates. When Staples stocks in the S&P 500 are up President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s govern- a previous reform round in 2016-17. The
investors can’t make 5% in T-bills, the about 8% over the past 12 months, under- ment responded with drama of its own, current budget bloat is driven more by
9.1% dividend yield in shares of cigarette performing the broader index by about 26 letting its pegged currency devalue by inefficient state-owned companies and
maker Altria, the highest-yielding stock percentage points. Five that fit his second- more than a third and hiking interest rates expensive infrastructure projects.
in the S&P 500 index, begins to look more quintile criteria are General Mills, Coca- by six percentage points, to 27.75%, to bat- Reining these in may prove more chal-
and more appetizing. Cola, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, and tle inflation. That set up an enticing play lenging still, as it affects Egypt’s military,
Now isn’t the time to splurge on high- Molson Coors Beverage. While those for bond investors, who can reap yields whose economic tentacles reach across
yielding stocks, however. The economy five have lost investors about 12% over the above 30% on nine-month paper in stabi- the economy. “It’s not clear that Sisi can
remains strong and inflation is running past 12 months, their financial metrics lized Egyptian pounds. For now, “We see maintain power if he pushes the military
hotter than expected, something that is look solid. Their average yield is about the appeal of it as a short-term trade,” says out,” Pramanik observes.
likely to keep the Fed from cutting rates as 3.1%, better than the average 2.4% yield for Razan Nasser, an emerging markets sover- Financial stocks like Commercial
much as it would like to—if at all. Right S&P 500 dividend payers. They pay out eign analyst at T. Rowe Price. “Beyond one International Bank-Egypt (ticker:
now, the market expects three rate cuts in about 57% of net income as dividends and year, we would look for signs of commit- COMI.Egypt), the No. 2 name in Egypt’s
2024, down from the six cuts expected at are expected to grow earnings by about ment to real structural changes.” index, could in theory benefit from un-
the start of the year. “The reality is the 9% a year over the coming few years. Egypt has been rocked by recent geo- clogging the currency arteries. Two
economy has surprised to the upside,” Dennis DeBusschere, chief market political ructions. The world’s top wheat vibrant financial technology companies,
says Wolfe Research Chief Investment strategist at 22V Research, also says it’s importer, it suffered after Russia’s 2022 E-Finance for Digital & Financial
Strategist Chris Senyek. time to focus on companies that can raise invasion of Ukraine drove up grain and fuel Investments (EFIH.Egypt) and Fawry
It isn’t as if high-dividend stocks have their payouts given the higher interest rate prices. Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping for Banking Technology & Electronic
been performing all that well. The top environment. He created a list of 50 with have cut Suez Canal fees by close to half. Payment (FWRY.Egypt), also rank in the
20% of dividend yielders in the S&P 500 sustainable dividend growth for his cli- The wider crisis in Gaza has curtailed tour- top 10. But political question marks are
have earned investors about 7% over the ents, including Snap-On, Quest Diag- ism, Egypt’s other top currency earner. making equity investors, whose time
past 12 months, trailing the overall index nostics, Tapestry, Starbucks, and Air The U.A.E. kicked off the multinational horizon generally stretches to a few
by some 29 percentage points. Instead, Products & Chemicals. Those five yield rescue effort, pledging a $24 billion down years, cautious. “We’ve gone from zero
Senyek recommends looking at stocks about 2.6% on average, pay out less than payment on a London-size resort slated to initiating exposure,” says Jonathan
with “second quintile” yields—those with half of their net income as dividends, and for virgin Mediterranean coast in western Binder, chief investment officer at fron-
higher yields than 60% of the stocks in a are expected to grow earnings by about Egypt. Cairo took advantage of the cash tier market specialist Consilium
universe but lower than the top 20%. 8% a year for the coming few years. anchor to let the currency, and related Investment Management.
There are reasons to look past the fat- They’re also in the second quintile of divi- currency controls, go. The IMF responded Egypt could also surprise on the up-
test yields. The highest-yielding quintile of dend payers. “You want to be long compa- with a $9 billion-ish loan package. The EU side, argues Carlos de Sousa, emerging
stocks in the S&P 500 have an average nies that have the ability to increase divi- proposes kicking in another $8 billion. market debt strategist at Vontobel Asset
debt to Ebitda—short for estimated earn- dends,” DeBusschere says. “[The] highest The currency float is reviving an all but Management. Letting the currency float
ings before interest, taxes, depreciation, [yielders] will be next year’s trade.” moribund Egyptian financial sector, says might actually decrease inflation by mak-
and amortization—ratio of 3.7 times, far In other words, favor higher-quality Ahmed Hafez, head of research at Beltone ing imported goods less scarce and prices
higher than the second and third quintiles, stocks with lower dividend yields and Securities in Cairo. “Banks are starting to more competitive. “Everything we have
which have debt-to-Ebitda ratios of 2.4 better financial metrics over the sweet- clear backlogs and make loans available,” been waiting for over the past year and
and 1.2 times, respectively. The top quintile ness of some juicier dividend payers. he says. So far, so good—with the emphasis a half is happening,” he says. “It’s attrac-
also pays out almost 90% of net income as Your portfolio will thank you later. B on so far. Egypt enters its bailout with a tive but not a slam dunk.” B
32 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
T H E ST RIKING PRIC E
When interest rates are finally cut, the market
mob will focus on buying stocks. The natural
question: Which ones are most likely to benefit?
D
on’t look now, but investors rates than larger companies. Higher interest 17 110
95
could soon be facing a crisis of rates adversely impact smaller companies
80
confidence. because they need more money to pay debt- 65
Earnings season is largely service coverage. When rates are lowered, 12 50
over, and the market mob lacks a concrete debt-servicing expenses will decline, bene- A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
distraction from chronic concerns that defy fiting small-cap earnings and stock prices. Daily Values Source: CBOE Source: McMillan Analysis Corp.
simple solutions. This has resurrected old The analysis is simplistic, as it supposes
worries about the stability of the market- that companies will be able to renegotiate
leading Magnificent Seven stocks and when their debt with banks, which may or may SPX Skew NDX Skew
the Federal Reserve will finally feel it has not be possible. Still, this take on small-cap Implied volatility % Implied volatility %
enough economic data to conclude that in- companies and the impact of higher interest 13% 11%
flation has truly declined to a level that war- rates is so widely held by investors that any
12 10
rants lower interest rates. superficial resolution of the rate question
Just recently, Goldman Sachs’ portfolio could remove a major deterrent to the sec- 11
9
strategists essentially assured clients in a tor’s performance. 10
comprehensive report that it was OK that The record of the small-cap iShares 8
just a few stocks were leading the stock Russell 2000 exchange-traded fund 9
7
market higher. J.P. Morgan’s strategists (ticker: IWM) compared with the S&P 500 8
told clients that the stocks’ valuations were demonstrates the potential. So far this year, 6
7
reasonable. Others are noting that the IWM is up 0.8%, compared with 7.3% for
equal-weighted S&P 500 was also at re- the S&P 500. Over the past five years, the 6 5
cord highs, demonstrating that all stocks ETF has returned 6.9% a year, compared A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
in the index—not just the largest ones—are with 14.5% for large-cap stocks. Source: Credit Suisse Equity Derivatives Strategy Source: Credit Suisse Equity Derivatives Strategy
doing well. To pre-position for a small-cap catch-up Skew indicates whether the options market expects a stock-market advance or decline. It measures the difference between the implied
volatility of puts and calls that are 10% out of the money and expire in three months. Higher readings are bearish.
The commentary might be best viewed trade, investors could buy IWM’s June $205
as the Wall Street equivalent of Sigmund call option, which cost about $7.84 when
Freud offering advice to neurotic rich peo- the ETF was at $202.41. Week’s Most Active
ple who need help understanding how to Should IWM surge to $225, the call is Company Symbol Tot Vol Calls Puts Avg Tot Vol IV %ile Ratio
handle whatever is bothering them. worth $20. During the past 52 weeks, the Regulus Therapeutics RGLS 15356 12603 2753 468 68 32.8
Arq ARQ 2927 2382 545 92 42 31.8
Rather than spending more time noting ETF has ranged from $161.67 to $210.41. Qifu Technology QFIN 18003 15247 2756 672 1 26.8
the passing scene—and reinforcing the The June expiration was selected to cover Enfusion ENFN 4131 2819 1312 196 24 21.1
circular nature of the analysis—let’s focus the June meeting of the central bank’s rate- Getty Images GETY 12747 4595 8152 844 85 15.1
UP Fintech TIGR 82241 78602 3639 5472 68 15.0
on a likely conclusion to the confusion. setting committee. The Fed is expected to Ranpak PACK 3032 1842 1190 216 56 14.0
If you believe that the Fed will ultimately announce the first of several interest-rate NuScale Power SMR 71409 46950 24459 5508 98 13.0
lower interest rates later this year, as it has cuts at the June 12 conclusion of the two-day Full Truck Alliance YMM 49584 49215 369 3948 5 12.6
SIGA Technologies SIGA 10268 7824 2444 928 36 11.1
telegraphed, it makes sense to prepare for meeting. June options expire June 21.
VNET VNET 11717 10575 1142 1120 80 10.5
stocks to advance. If the small-cap thesis is wrong, and Globe Life GL 12519 465 12054 1224 79 10.2
When interest rates are finally cut, the IWM is below the strike price at expiration Vertone VERI 12902 10494 2408 1324 88 9.7
market mob will forget about the current because the Fed doesn’t lower rates as ex- MINISO Group MNSO 11656 10210 1446 1200 23 9.7
PHINIA PHIN 3967 3290 677 424 22 9.4
maladies, real and imagined, and focus on pected, or investors decide to sell on the Build-A-Bear Workshop BBW 10823 7208 3615 1212 0 8.9
buying stocks. The natural question thus news, the money that was spent on the call LifeMD LFMD 9927 8807 1120 1140 17 8.7
becomes: Which stocks are most likely to would be lost. Williams-Sonoma WSM 61455 23666 37789 7188 21 8.5
Dollar Tree DLTR 248688 86342 162346 34032 17 7.3
benefit? Losing money is never pleasant, but Dr. NextNav NN 54108 50344 3764 7856 50 6.9
There is a nascent expectation among Freud might observe that the experience
some sophisticated investors that small- can be more useful, at least in terms of This table of the most active options this week, as compared to average weekly activity – not just raw volume. The idea is that the unusually heavy trading in these options might be a predictor of
corporate activity – takeovers, earnings surprises, earnings pre-announcements, biotech FDA hearings or drug trial result announcements, and so forth. Dividend arbitrage has been eliminated. In
capitalization stocks could benefit more psychological resilience and trade disci- short, this list attempts to identify where heavy speculation is taking place. These options are likely to be expensive in comparison to their usual pricing levels. Furthermore, many of these
situations may be rumor-driven. Most rumors do not prove to be true, so one should be aware of these increased risks if trading in these names
when the Fed makes its move. pline, than a nice win. B
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 33
I N S I DE SC OOP
Snowflake Director Buys Increases in Fund 1 Investments entered into a
cooperation agreement with BJ’s
S
$188.28 on Feb. 29, after the company shares from March 4 through roughly 2% year to date.
nowflake stock tumbled at made the disclosures. The shares have March 7, 2024 at per share prices
the end of February when slipped since. ranging from $4.22 to $4.51. Pur- Potbelly
the software company sur- Mark D. McLaughlin paid $501,300 suant to a forward purchase agree- 180 Degree Capital reduced its
prised Wall Street and in- on March 6 for 3,030 Snowflake ment, Stellantis will have the right stake in the restaurant franchise
vestors by announcing that shares, an average price of $165.45 to nominate one individual for group to 1,761,429 shares. 180
CEO Frank Slootman was each. The director now owns 11,687 election to the board at the annual Degree did so through the sale of
retiring immediately. Also, shares in a personal account, account- stockholder meeting, set to occur 433,222 Potbelly shares from Jan.
disappointing guidance overshadowed ing to a form McLaughlin filed with the in 2026, as long as it continues to 16 through March 7, 2024, at
a strong fourth-quarter report. One Securities and Exchange Commission. beneficially own at least 12.5% of prices ranging from $12.37 to
director bought the stock dip. His stake includes unvested restricted Archer’s Class A common stock. $13.59 apiece. 180 Degree Capital
Slootman said at the time of the stock units. Following the purchases, Stellantis offset those sales with the pur-
report that the company’s guidance McLaughlin and Snowflake both owns 15.1% of Archer Aviation’s chase of 25,500 Potbelly shares at
was meant to be conservative and he declined to comment on his stock outstanding stock. Archer Avia- $11.90 on March 11, 2024. Follow-
was bemused by the stock’s reaction. purchase. A former Palo Alto Net- tion shares have lost roughly 12% ing the sales, 180 Degree Capital
“I mean, I’m chuckling here,” Sloot- works chairman and CEO, year to date. owns 6% of Potbelly’s outstanding
man told Barron’s. “We had an excep- McLaughlin joined Snowflake’s board stock. Potbelly shares have gained
tional quarter.... The thing you should in April 2023. about 17% year to date.
be reacting to is the real results that
we published rather than the guide.
He last purchased Snowflake stock
in May of last year at about the same Snowflake stock Decreases in Donnelley Financial
Solutions
For consumption companies like ours,
it’s hard to give guidance.”
Investors weren’t as lighthearted.
share price, paying $300,000 for
1,831 shares, an average price of
$163.80 each.
tumbled at the
end of February
on a surprise CEO
Holdings Simcoe Capital Management
reduced its stake in the global risk
exit and disap- Garrett Motion and compliance solutions com-
pointing guidance. Cyrus Capital Partners lowered pany to 2,232,487 shares. Simcoe
Pension Raised Stakes pension, and one of the 20 largest in
the world by assets.
Director Mark
McLaughlin
its stake in the auto hardware
maker to 28,827,284 shares. Cyrus
Capital Management sold 253,776
Donnelley Financial shares
In Nvidia, Intel, and Nvidia stock has been on a rampage. bought up stock. did so through the sale of 729,860 through two affiliates from March
AMD Stock in Late 2023 Shares rocketed 239% in 2023 com-
pared with a 66% rise in the iShares
Garrett Motion shares from Feb.
15 through March 5, 2024, at per
6 to March 7, 2024, at prices rang-
ing from $61.75 to $65.50 apiece.
Semiconductor exchange-traded share prices ranging from $9.15 to Following the sale, Simcoe Capital
A
major pension recently loaded fund, which counts all four aforemen- $9.91. Following the sales, Cyrus now holds 7.7% of Donnelley Fi-
up on a few U.S. chip stocks. tioned stocks as components. So far in Capital Partners continues to hold nancial’s outstanding stock.
Caisse de dépôt et placement 2024, Nvidia stock has soared 77%, an additional 12.1% of Garrett Mo- Shares of Donnelley Financial
du Québec materially raised while the ETF has gained 23%. tion’s outstanding stock. Garrett have gained roughly 5.2% year
stakes in Nvidia, Intel, and Advanced The market has shown an insatia- Motion shares have remained to date.
Micro Devices in the fourth quarter. It ble appetite for Nvidia’s prospects in mostly flat year to date.
also halved an investment in Micron artificial intelligence, sending the
Technology. CDPQ, as the pension is company’s market value past $2 tril- BJ’s Restaurants These disclosures are from 13Ds filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
known, disclosed its latest stock posi- lion. The steep appreciation has fueled Fund 1 Investments cut its stake 13Ds are filed within 10 days of an entity’s
tions in a form it filed with the Securi- talk that the shares are in a bubble. in the restaurant owner and opera- attaining more than 5% in any class of a
company’s securities. Subsequent changes
ties and Exchange Commission. CDPQ bought 373,497 additional tor to 2,326,476 shares. Fund 1 in holdings or intentions must be reported
CDPQ didn’t respond to a request Nvidia shares to end the fourth quar- Investments sold 242,000 BJ’s in amended filings. This material is from
for comment on the investment ter with 2.1 million shares. Restaurants shares on March 4, March 7 through March 13, 2024. Source:
VerityData (verityplatform.com)
changes. It managed net assets of The pension bought three million 2024, at a price of $35.53 apiece.
$320 billion as of Dec. 31, making more Intel shares in the fourth quarter
CDPQ Canada’s second-largest public to lift its stake to 10.1 million shares. B
34 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
The charts record the net change in share price, the high, low and closing trades, and share volume for companies with noteworthy stock activity last week. In addition, the graphs depict last week’s daily price activity in detail. The dotted line on some graphs denotes the stock’s 200-day moving average; lack of a moving average means the shares have traded for less than
that time period. If the close from the current week is lower than a year ago the graph will be presented in red. If the close from the current week is higher than a year ago then the graph will be presented in green.
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 35
W I N N E R S & LO S E R S
Saturday Inbox: Sign up for the
Market Lab Newsletter every Saturday
at Barrons.com/newsletters
NYSE Biggest % Movers NYSE Most Active NYSE American Most Active Nasdaq Most Active
Winners Volume Percentage Leaders Volume Percentage Leaders Volume Percentage Leaders
Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg. Name (Sym) Volume %Chg. Close Change Name (Sym) Volume %Chg. Close Change Name (Sym) Volume %Chg. Close Change
Ranpak(PACK) 15509 7.51 +2.95 +64.7 PLDT(PHI) 4379 3291.9 24.88 +1.76 AeonBiopharma(AEON) 818 628.6 15.75 +4.49 Immuneering(IMRX) 10122 3023.7 1.91 –4.65
Starrett A(SCX) 2007 15.76 +5.84 +58.9 Starrett A(SCX) 2007 1459.9 15.76 +5.84 IssuerDirect(ISDR) 312 447.1 11.90 –1.65 SpruceBio(SPRB) 37784 2145.9 0.81 –4.30
NuScalePower(SMR) 38890 7.85 +2.36 +43.0 SonidaSrLiving(SNDA) 469 740.9 26.16 +7.37 BK Tech(BKTI) 123 315.5 12.82 +1.15 Vroom(VRM) 6292 1842.3 13.00 +0.46
SonidaSrLiving(SNDA) 469 26.16 +7.37 +39.2 AppliedIndlTechs(AIT) 8285 689.8 189.48 +4.47 EVeMobilityA(EVE) 499 223.1 10.92 +0.03 IXAcqnA(IXAQ) 334 1058.8 11.16 +0.04
FlotekIndustries(FTK) 972 3.84 +1.05 +37.6 AirLease(AL) 30708 590.1 47.13 +3.33 SilverCrestMetals(SILV) 15918 192.7 6.72 +1.15 CtznCmntyBcp(CZWI) 694 914.8 12.25 +0.03
VaalcoEnergy(EGY) 11371 5.54 +1.25 +29.1 AtmusFiltration(ATMU) 43245 570.0 26.12 +2.26 Cryo-Cell(CCEL) 87 138.4 5.65 –0.40 MGE Energy(MGEE) 10302 747.6 75.09 –5.78
IHS Holding(IHS) 5128 3.04 +0.64 +26.7 NoahHoldings(NOAH) 2607 555.2 10.15 –0.72 CompX Intl(CIX) 130 111.1 29.93 +0.58 ForresterRes(FORR) 3644 744.5 21.00 +0.58
Bally's(BALY) 7358 13.32 +2.70 +25.4 EquitransMdstm(ETRN) 120150 537.1 11.08 –0.07 SkyHarbour(SKYH) 327 110.1 12.95 +0.23 TurtleBeach(HEAR) 6921 699.5 15.41 +4.83
Cummins(CMI) 51468 495.7 274.84 +6.24 InfuSystems(INFU) 437 108.0 9.28 –0.46 ProjectEnReimag(PEGR) 662 587.6 10.71 –0.04
Losers Movado(MOV) 4109 454.7 26.66 –0.95 EVI Industries(EVI) 209 107.9 24.01 +3.20 ResourcesConnect(RGP) 10029 550.2 13.26 –0.78
Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg.
TrueBlue(TBI) 9428 415.8 11.74 –0.32 BluerockHomes(BHM) 77 80.8 16.19 +1.18 SWK Holdings(SWKH) 228 508.4 17.45 +1.11
SOS(SOS) 8467 1.47 –0.80 –35.2 PHINIA(PHIN) 14029 412.2 36.29 +2.19 Electromed(ELMD) 224 69.0 17.52 +0.33 BGC(BGC) 101598 499.8 8.36 –0.14
AltusPower(AMPS) 12220 4.57 –2.05 –31.0 Marcus&Millichap(MMI) 3672 403.1 33.00 –1.56 flyExclusive(FLYX) 288 63.2 16.64 –1.86 Cardlytics(CDLX) 21844 489.8 14.50 +6.57
Torrid(CURV) 419 3.52 –1.35 –27.7 OilStatesIntl(OIS) 22836 383.2 5.95 +0.35 GencorInds(GENC) 220 58.7 16.17 –0.53 BlackLine(BL) 17299 424.5 65.63 –1.38
LiveWire(LVWR) 214 6.08 –2.11 –25.8 FutureFuel(FF) 7474 381.5 7.06 +1.39 JawsMustangA(JWSM) 61 47.7 11.05 –0.01 Linde(LIN) 47481 420.8 468.23 +5.68
Doma(DOMA) 80 4.15 –1.36 –24.7 HamiltonIns(HG) 4184 377.6 13.08 –1.11 AlphaProTech(APT) 445 46.2 5.74 –0.19 CARGOTherapeutics(CRGX) 5357 401.8 31.28 +0.56
Cazoo(CZOO) 256 2.12 –0.62 –22.6 ClearwaterPaper(CLW) 3328 376.1 40.98 +0.81 Intellinetics(INLX) 128 45.8 10.00 +2.07 BowmanConsult(BWMN) 1390 386.2 39.57 +5.27
Compass(COMP) 35484 2.93 –0.81 –21.7 ArchResources(ARCH) 8799 375.6 161.00 –23.50 TrioTech(TRT) 50 37.5 6.59 +0.92 InvestcorpEur I A(IVCB) 1178 385.3 11.21 +0.07
Skillsoft(SKIL) 209 9.36 –2.39 –20.3 MetalsAcqn(MTAL) 345 374.7 13.09 +0.82 IdahoStratRscs(IDR) 169 30.2 8.40 +0.30 Radware(RDWR) 4820 381.5 19.55 +1.18
ADT(ADT) 85739 371.9 6.26 –0.25 AcmeUnited(ACU) 137 28.9 41.76 +2.04 ConsensusCloud(CCSI) 6296 377.6 13.66 –0.67
NYSE American Biggest % Movers By Share Volume By Share Volume By Share Volume
Winners Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg. Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg. Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg.
Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg. Fisker(FSR) 1058259 0.17 –0.20 –53.5 Tellurian(TELL) 292629 0.96 +0.09 +11.0 SoundHoundAI(SOUN) 662478 8.91 +3.05 +52.0
AgeX Therap(AGE) 94 22.32 +8.96 +67.0 PalantirTech(PLTR) 306076 23.49 –2.55 –9.8 B2Gold(BTG) 110300 2.62 –0.01 –0.4 Tesla(TSLA) 502332 163.57 –11.77 –6.7
AeonBiopharma(AEON) 818 15.75 +4.49 +39.9 FordMotor(F) 257779 12.06 –0.12 –1.0 Cybin(CYBN) 91056 0.46 +0.07 +17.8 Nikola(NKLA) 411196 0.64 –0.03 –3.9
Intellinetics(INLX) 128 10.00 +2.07 +26.1 Pfizer(PFE) 252661 27.94 +0.72 +2.6 DenisonMines(DNN) 76863 1.88 +0.04 +2.2 AdvMicroDevices(AMD) 391600 191.06 –16.33 –7.9
SilverCrestMetals(SILV) 15918 6.72 +1.15 +20.6 NY CmntyBcp(NYCB) 239470 3.90 +0.48 +14.0 NewGold(NGD) 75920 1.70 +0.20 +13.3 Apple(AAPL) 365447 172.62 +1.89 +1.1
TrioTech(TRT) 50 6.59 +0.92 +16.2 AT&T(T) 230437 17.05 –0.15 –0.9 AultAlliance(AULT) 62827 0.43 +0.04 +9.5 NVIDIA(NVDA) 321642 878.36 +3.09 +0.4
ContangoOre(CTGO) 178 23.88 +3.23 +15.6 Vale(VALE) 223853 11.96 –1.23 –9.3 GeniusGroup(GNS) 56232 0.42 +0.08 +25.3 SoFiTech(SOFI) 272450 7.03 –0.68 –8.8
EVI Industries(EVI) 209 24.01 +3.20 +15.4 NIO(NIO) 221307 5.58 –0.22 –3.8 KulrTech(KULR) 53440 0.15 +0.02 +12.9 Rivian(RIVN) 242654 11.04 –1.74 –13.6
Myomo(MYO) 1661 3.58 +0.39 +12.2 BankofAmerica(BAC) 211336 35.41 –0.19 –0.5 UraniumEner(UEC) 50144 6.28 –0.09 –1.4 Intel(INTC) 223679 42.64 –1.36 –3.1
BristolMyers(BMY) 194452 52.34 –1.45 –2.7 Globalstar(GSAT) 27103 1.47 +0.15 +11.4 Geron(GERN) 221776 3.36 +1.11 +49.3
Losers Li-Cycle(LICY) 169635 0.76 +0.34 +80.1 PerspectiveTherap(CATX) 24746 1.07 –0.12 –10.1 Grab(GRAB) 215118 3.17 +0.09 +2.9
Name (Sym) Volume Close Change %Chg.
NuHoldings(NU) 158500 11.61 +0.54 +4.9 LairdSuperfood(LSF) 24722 3.21 +2.36 +277.6 Amazon.com(AMZN) 209993 174.42 –0.93 –0.5
1847Holdings(EFSH) 2924 1.36 –1.64 –54.7 BigBear.ai(BBAI) 153463 2.44 –0.13 –5.1 AmerGold&Silver(USAS) 22213 0.20 –0.06 –21.9 Alphabet A(GOOGL) 175025 141.18 +5.77 +4.3
Zedge(ZDGE) 551 2.85 –1.02 –26.4 GeneralMotors(GM) 150913 40.69 +1.19 +3.0 Zomedica(ZOM) 21760 0.13 –0.01 –6.0 PrestoAutomation(PRST) 166074 0.28 +0.02 +7.5
Ashford(AINC) 96 1.94 –0.57 –22.7 Coupang(CPNG) 144009 18.13 –0.21 –1.1 Ur-Energy(URG) 21439 1.47 –0.10 –6.4 WarnerBrosA(WBD) 159204 8.54 –0.19 –2.2
Volato(SOAR) 637 3.48 –0.81 –18.9 PetroleoBrasil(PBR) 141014 14.54 –0.24 –1.6 TasekoMines(TGB) 19245 1.91 +0.17 +9.8 SolidionTech(STI) 148619 1.74 +0.96 +124.5
PerfectMoment(PMNT) 37 3.63 –0.69 –16.0 GinkgoBioworks(DNA) 138460 1.08 –0.14 –11.5 EquinoxGold(EQX) 18940 5.21 +0.51 +10.9 AmerAirlines(AAL) 144357 13.96 –0.72 –4.9
Servotronics(SVT) 15 11.64 –2.21 –16.0 Kenvue(KVUE) 135036 20.34 +0.32 +1.6 HNR Acqn(HNRA) 16910 3.12 +1.18 +60.8 Alphabet C(GOOG) 138300 142.17 +5.88 +4.3
UnusualMachines(UMAC) 5626 2.41 –0.34 –12.4 HewlettPackard(HPE) 127485 16.73 –1.26 –7.0 RingEnergy(REI) 16716 1.87 +0.31 +19.9 Microsoft(MSFT) 133604 416.42 +10.20 +2.5
Cel-Sci(CVM) 1355 2.01 –0.28 –12.2 Carnival(CCL) 127251 16.26 –0.11 –0.7 NovaBayPharm(NBY) 15959 0.14 –0.00 –0.5 Lucid(LCID) 131895 2.70 –0.40 –12.9
Includes Common shares only. All figures reflect activity for the most-recent five-day trading week. Share volume figures are expressed in thousands. Volume percentage leaders exclude stocks with average daily volume of fewer than 5,000 shares or priced under $5.
Average volume is based on 65 trading days. Volume figures do not reflect extended trading hours. a-Stock has not been in existence or not been traded for 65 consecutive sessions. S-Stock split or stock dividend amounting to 10% or more. X-Ex-dividend
36 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
MARKET VIEW
This commentary was issued recently by
money managers, research firms, and market
newsletter writers. Edited by Barron’s staff.
TikTok Bill, Pro and Con Copper’s Big Rally “The [TikTok] bill’s future will now be deter-
Research and Strategy
BTIG
Article
ING mined by Senate Majority Leader Chuck
btig.com think,ing.com
Schumer (D., N.Y.), a septuagenarian who
March 14: On March 13, the House of Rep- March 14: Copper rallied to its highest still uses a flip phone.”
resentatives voted 352 to 65 in favor of level seen in 11 months yesterday as major Isaac Boltansky, BTIG
H.R. 7521, a bill that would require Tik- smelters in China pledged to control capac-
Tok to be sold within 180 days or else be ity. Executives from 19 smelters have agreed
banned from domestic app stores and to re-arrange maintenance work, reduce
servers. The bill’s future will now be runs, and delay the start-up of new proj-
determined by Senate Majority Leader ects, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry
Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), a septuagenar- Association said in a statement following a victory over inflation just yet. stocks, the past two months have illustrated
ian who still uses a flip phone.... meeting on Wednesday.... —Jack Ablin the importance of focusing on risk and being
The Bull Case for the Bill. The bull case Meanwhile, mining companies are fac- selective.
for the bill is predicated on its strong ing increasing social and environmental —Alan B. Lancz
showing in the House. It is difficult in this scrutiny. Most recently, in Panama, Can- Magnificent 7 Divergence
political climate to get a bill naming a post ada’s First Quantum mine has ignited mas- The Lancz Letter
office cleared through the House with 352 sive protests in the country and has been Lancz Global Dividend Aristocrats
lawmakers voting yes, so this bill’s quick forced to shut down activity. Cobre Panama lanczglobal.com
Market Commentary
movement is undeniably noteworthy. It is copper mine is one of the world’s largest ProShares
also significant that Senators Mark War- sources of copper, accounting for 1% of March 12: Back in January, we highlighted proshares.com
ner (D., Va.) and Mark Rubio (R., Fla.), the global copper output. This comes at a time the Mag Seven in priority order to empha-
top two members of the Senate Intelli- when output from existing mines is close size the importance of being selective over March 11: An equal-weighted approach
gence Committee offered their support for to a peak due to declining ore grades... the long term. Turns out, in just two months, to portfolio construction may seem like an
this bill. Finally, the White House sup- We see copper prices moving higher in the differences among a small group of obvious pivot to potentially address con-
ports this bill. the second quarter (which is seasonally the stocks can be massive. Our favorite two, centration risks. But will it be enough?
The Bear Case for the Bill. The bear strongest quarter of the year) to average Nvidia and Amazon.com, are up 76.8% Our view is that earnings will be a key
case is predicated on the bill hitting a wall $8,500 a ton from an average of $8,400 a and 15.4%, respectively, year to date. The driver for the equity markets in 2024. While
in the Senate, which happens with regu- ton in the first quarter. bottom two of our list, Tesla and Apple, are expectations are optimistic for 2024, the
larity, especially on Big Tech legislation. —Ewa Manthey, Warren Patterson down -29.4% and -11.2%, respectively. That S&P 500 is coming off a flat earnings perfor-
Most notably, Sen. Schumer and Senate equates to an average gain of 46.1% YTD for mance in 2023. The S&P 500 Dividend Aris-
Commerce Committee Chair Maria our two favorite Mag Seven companies, com- tocrats, on the other hand, were a reliable
Cantwell (D., Wash.) are reticent and Productivity to the Rescue? pared with an average loss of -20.8% YTD source for resilient earnings growth. Given
seemingly antagonistic, respectively. Market Commentary for the two at the bottom of our list. their relatively attractive valuations versus
There are also First Amendment concerns Cresset LanczGlobal remains a big proponent of the S&P 500, their potential ability to deliver
that will influence a number of progres- cressetcapital.com the long-term productivity potential of AI more consistent levels of earnings growth,
sives and libertarians such as Sen. Rand for business, but investors need to be selec- and their equal-weighted construction, the
Paul (R., Ky.). Perhaps most importantly, March 14: We believe continued productiv- tive and not get carried away with the mo- Dividend Aristocrats may be an option in a
the Senate will move slowly on this pack- ity growth driven by automation, AI, and mentum enthusiasts....While the AI catalyst heavily concentrated market.
age, which gives TikTok time to spin-up business investment will support higher should continue to provide a boost for many —Kieran Kirwan
its substantial advocacy machine. economic growth and corporate profits
The company’s pressure campaign ap- while keeping inflation quiescent. In fact, a
peared to backfire in the House, as the flood
of calls suggested an untoward influence
prolonged period of rising wages and tight
labor markets could spur a virtuous cycle
Market Sentiment
Citigroup Panic/Euphoria Model Last +0.31 Euphoria Neutral Panic
on its users, but the company will likely of investment, productivity growth, and 0.6
employ a more targeted pressure campaign higher living standards, although capital
in the Senate. Finally, former President has tended to enjoy an outsize benefit from 0.4
Donald Trump has announced that he is productivity. While history suggests that 0.2
opposed to this bill, although it is too early economies face a trade off between employ-
0
to gauge the magnitude of his opposition or ment and inflation, productivity could en-
its impact on the Senate’s calculus. able us to have our cake and eat it, too. -0.2
—Isaac Boltansky Risks remain, however. A broader mar- -0.4
ket could coincide with weaker market
-0.6
indexes, if the prices of the largest names F M A M J J A S O N D J F M
To be considered for this section, material, with decline even as the average share price The panic/euphoria model is a gauge of investor sentiment. It identifies "Panic" and "Euphoria" levels which are statistically driven buy and sell
signals for the broader market. Historically, a reading below panic supports a better than 95% likelihood that stock prices will be higher one year
the author’s name and address, should be sent improves. And recent readings suggest later, while euphoria levels generate a better than 80% probability of stock prices being lower one year later.
to MarketWatch@barrons.com. that it’s too early for the Fed to declare Source: Citigroup Investment Research - US Equity Strategy
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 37
Barron's 50-Stock Average 51 Dow Jones Averages 49 Money Rates, U.S. & Foreign 51 Vital Signs 29
DATA
Cash Track 47 Dow Jones Per Share Values 50 Mutual Funds 47 Week In Stocks 50
Charting the Market 34 Exchange Traded Portfolios 46 N.Y. Stock Exchange 37 Weekly Bond Statistics 52
Coming Earnings 51 Federal Reserve Data Bank 52 Nasdaq National Market 41 Winners & Losers Stocks 35
Conference Call Calendar 51 Foreign Exchange 51 New Corporate Listings 50
Consensus Estimate 51 Gold & Silver Prices 52 New Highs & Lows 53
Delta Tactical Sentiment 51 Gold Mining Index 52 NYSE Half-Hourly Volume 50
Distributions & Offerings 53 Indexes P/Es & Yields 50 Other Market Indexes 49
Dividend Boosts - Reductions 52 Initial Public Offerings 50 Pulse of the Economy 51
Dividend Ex-Payment Dates 52 Investor Sentiment Readings 50 Stock Splits - Special Dividends 52
DJ Averages 49 Key Foreign Market Indexes 45 Stock Volume 50
Contact Us
DJ U.S. Total Market Industry Groups 51 Market Lab 49 Trading Diary 49 For queries, email us at
Statistics from March 11-15, 2024 memberservices@dowjones.com
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE COMPOSITE LIST - NEW HIGHS - NEW LOWS
–52-Week– Tick Div –52-Week– Tick Div –52-Week– Tick Div –52-Week– Tick Div –52-Week– Tick Div
High Low Name Sym Yld P/E Last Chg. Amt. High Low Name Sym Yld P/E Last Chg. Amt. High Low Name Sym Yld P/E Last Chg. Amt. High Low Name Sym Yld P/E Last Chg. Amt. High Low Name Sym Yld P/E Last Chg. Amt.
59.65 27.92 Alteryx AYX ... dd 48.25 +0.09 ... 12.74 8.58 ApolloComRlEst ARI 12.6 38 11.15 +0.11 .35 182.08 120.85 AutoNation AN ... 7 159.10 +10.09 ... 62.21 12.35 Biohaven BHVN ... dd 57.07 –0.90 ...
A
3.82 1.75 AlticeUSA ATUS ... 23 2.67 –0.08 ... 115.03 55.16 ApolloGlblMgmt APO 1.6 13 110.41 +1.66 .43 3152.66 2277.88 AutoZone AZO ... 22 3124.33 +44.84 ... 494.05 261.59 Bio-RadLab A BIO ... dd 333.51 –10.25 ...
73.95 50.06 AAR AIR ... 33 62.85 –1.65 ... 24.00 12.83 AltoNeurosci ANRO ... ... 15.81 +2.05 ... 17.90 13.66 AppleHospREIT APLE 5.9 21 16.18 –0.69 .08 198.66 153.07 Avalonbay AVB 3.7 28 183.82 –3.13 1.70 55.00 35.83 Birkenstock BIRK ... 87 47.09 –0.09 ...
53.05 37.61 ABMIndustries ABM 2.1 11 42.31 +0.39 .225 48.04 39.07 Altria MO 8.9 10 43.87 +2.00 .98 194.28 122.24 AppliedIndlTechs AIT .8 20 189.48 +4.47 .37 41.22 27.46 Avangrid AGR 4.9 18 35.62 –0.21 .44 66.85 46.43 BlackHills BKH 5.0 13 52.12 –1.72 .65
6.62 4.30 ACCO Brands ACCO 5.7 dd 5.25 –0.21 .075 7.28 4.08 AltusPower AMPS ... dd 4.57 –2.05 ... 145.14 109.95 Aptargroup ATR 1.2 33 141.00 –2.09 .41 31.31 17.24 AvanosMedical AVNS ... dd 19.09 –0.80 ... 5.75 2.55 BlackBerry BB ... dd 2.85 +0.09 ...
11.78 6.62 AcresCmclRlty ACR ... 33 11.45 +0.29 ... 17.80 11.26 AmbacFin AMBC ... 94 15.04 –0.34 ... 113.60 71.01 Aptiv APTV ... 7 77.24 –0.95 ... 25.85 16.63 Avantor AVTR ... 53 25.08 –0.56 ... 845.00 596.18 BlackRock BLK 2.5 22 802.52 –33.60 5.10
6.04 0.36 ADC Therap ADCT ... dd 3.78 –0.72 ... 3.23 2.42 Ambev ABEV 5.1 14 2.50 –0.06.1443 33.04 23.55 Aramark ARMK 1.2 13 31.11 –0.55 .11 219.57 158.93 AveryDennison AVY 1.5 35 215.68 –0.05 .81 2.37 1.04 BlackSkyTech BKSY ... dd 1.26 –0.19 ...
7.60 4.89 ADT ADT 3.5 14 6.26 –0.25 .055 11.39 8.45 Amcor AMCR 5.3 22 9.48 +0.12 .125 17.74 10.10 ArborRealty ABR 13.2 7 12.96 +0.10 .43 42.63 27.73 Avient AVNT 2.5 50 40.93 –0.41.2575 133.53 79.29 Blackstone BX 2.7 68 124.97 –1.02 .94
94.01 74.40 AECOM ACM .8 cc 91.58 –0.15 .22 18.23 13.10 AmerSports AS ... ... 15.13 –0.36 ... 7.27 4.15 ArcadiumLithium ALTM ... ... 4.54 –0.30 ... 45.13 30.53 Avista AVA 5.6 15 33.94 –0.16 .475 23.82 16.61 BlackstoneMtg BXMT12.3 14 20.13 –0.08 .62
25.74 11.43 AES AES 4.6 46 15.01 –1.24.1725 26.13 15.79 AmerantBncpA AMTB 1.6 23 21.96 –0.30 .09 30.36 21.30 ArcelorMittal MT ... 27 26.42 +0.33 ... 34.45 25.03 AxaltaCoating AXTA ... 28 33.38 +0.23 ... 3.37 0.53 BlendLabs BLND ... dd 2.81 –0.29 ...
86.20 60.69 Aflac AFL 2.4 11 84.37 +2.26 .42 91.18 67.03 Ameren AEE 3.7 16 71.58 –1.43 .67 187.60 102.42 ArchResources ARCH .6 7 161.00 –23.50 1.40 60.00 32.05 AxosFinancial AX ... 7 49.43 –2.01 ... 52.90 28.83 BlockHR HRB 2.7 13 46.76 –1.43 .32
140.46 105.77 AGCO AGCO 1.0 7 116.43 +3.72 .29 63.19 17.55 Ameresco AMRC ... 18 21.25 +0.12 ... 7.49 1.77 ArcherAviation ACHR ... dd 5.02 +0.44 ... 13.87 5.80 Azul AZUL ... dd 8.00 +0.59 ... 87.52 38.85 Block SQ ... cc 80.17 –0.57 ...
6.89 4.82 AG Mortgage MITT12.4 4 5.80 –0.27 .05 23.07 16.00 AmericaMovil AMX 1.8 14 18.80 –0.31.1967 87.30 50.72 ADM ADM 3.4 9 59.31 +4.50 .50 20.62 8.41 BloomEnergy BE ... dd 9.26 –1.05 ...
B
14.28 3.60 a.k.a.Brands AKA ... dd 10.38 –0.08 ... 23.92 16.04 AmericanAssets AAT 6.3 25 21.17 +0.17 .335 19.42 8.78 Archrock AROC 3.5 28 18.72 +0.74 .165 15.37 12.06 BlueOwlCapital OBDC 9.7 7 15.22 +0.05 .35
54.97 3.59 AMC Ent AMC ... dd 4.44 +0.14 ... 9.55 6.29 AmericanAxle AXL ... dd 6.59 –0.10 ... 13.20 7.02 ArcosDorados ARCO 1.7 13 11.35 –0.19 .06 1.64 0.70 Bark BARK ... dd 1.37 –0.02 ... 18.33 9.70 BlueOwlCapital OWL 3.2 cc 17.31 –0.30 .14
112.44 53.77 AMN Healthcare AMN ... 11 58.72 –2.17 ... 26.44 9.95 AmerEagle AEO 2.2 27 23.16 +0.87 .125 89.07 57.56 Arcosa ACA .2 25 81.60 –3.12 .05 16.68 7.20 B&G Foods BGS 7.1 dd 10.75 –0.44 .19 132.67 61.80 BlueLinx BXC ... 22 116.26 –3.51 ...
9.20 3.35 AMTD Digital HKD ... 16 3.56 –0.11 ... 56.09 32.43 AmerEquity AEL ... 26 55.95 +0.36 ... 25.47 12.95 ArcusBiosci RCUS ... dd 18.98 +0.99 ... 22.54 18.71 BBB Foods TBBB ... ... 21.71 +0.74 ... 267.54 176.25 Boeing BA ... dd 182.53 –15.96 ...
5.49 1.65 AMTD IDEA AMTD ... 1 1.71 +0.01 ... 224.90 140.91 AmerExpress AXP 1.3 19 218.46 –4.91 .70 4.29 2.57 ArdaghMetalPkg AMBP11.5 dd 3.47 +0.01 .10 48.38 33.54 BCE BCE 8.2 20 34.40 –2.13.7405 143.56 59.32 BoiseCascade BCC .6 11 131.55 +2.35 .20
11.29 10.51 AP Acqn A APCA ... 64 11.25 +0.01 ... 132.47 105.22 AmericanFin AFG 2.1 13 132.45 +3.75 2.50 17.17 11.59 ArdmoreShipping ASC 5.5 6 16.56 +0.78 .21 3.40 1.68 BEST BEST ... dd 2.10 –0.03 ... 104.91 64.33 BootBarn BOOT ... 16 86.65 –2.63 ...
3.69 2.57 ARC Document ARC 7.5 14 2.65 +0.02 .05 14.56 12.63 AmerHlthcrREIT AHR ... ... 13.59 –0.22 ... 10.76 10.10 AresAcqnII A AACT ... 39 10.57 +0.01 ... 11.70 8.85 BGSF BGSF 6.0 17 10.01 +0.31 .15 150.59 87.99 BoozAllen BAH 1.4 47 144.79 –2.35 .51
11.68 6.70 ASE Tech ASX 3.9 23 10.81 –0.41.5714 37.97 28.79 AmHomes4Rent AMH 2.9 36 36.28 –0.57 .26 11.24 7.15 AresCommRealEst ACRE13.0 dd 7.71 +0.16 .25 69.11 54.28 BHP Group BHP 5.4 19 55.67 –1.63 1.44 47.05 29.51 BorgWarner BWA 1.4 12 32.12 +0.08 .17
104.29 63.27 ASGN ASGN ... 23 102.39 –0.88 ... 76.36 45.66 AIG AIG 1.9 15 76.27 +1.86 .36 139.48 73.97 AresMgmt ARES 2.8 54 132.11 –1.99 .93 139.50 51.94 BILL BILL ... dd 64.65 –3.98 ... 9.01 5.70 BorrDrilling BORR .0 96 6.83 +0.30 .05
19.99 13.43 AT&T T 6.5 9 17.05 –0.15.2775 31.59 11.69 AmRltyInv ARL ... 6 18.00 –1.84 ... 49.52 37.37 Argan AGX 2.5 20 48.97 –0.30 .30 6.95 2.20 BitMining BTCM ... dd 2.94 –0.21 ... 395.52 292.83 BostonBeer SAM ... 47 295.10 –3.71 ...
51.95 34.10 ATI ATI ... 20 49.37 –1.26 ... 95.08 70.22 AmerStWater AWR 2.4 21 71.77 –0.53 .43 13.70 6.69 ArisWater ARIS 2.6 23 13.60 +1.61 .09 78.97 60.33 BJ'sWholesale BJ ... 19 75.09 –0.39 ... 24.25 13.55 BostonOmaha BOC ... cc 15.92 +0.23 ...
20.28 5.78 ATI PhysTherapy ATIP ... dd 6.41 –0.25 ... 14.75 6.15 AmerStratInvt NYC ... dd 6.96 +0.31 ... 292.66 131.68 AristaNetworks ANET ... 42 277.73 +4.62 ... 40.84 33.52 BP BP 4.6 7 37.49 +1.08.4362 73.97 46.18 BostonProps BXP 6.3 52 62.60 –1.34 .98
48.89 33.02 ATS ATS ... 27 36.53 –0.96 ... 219.10 154.58 AmerTowerREIT AMT 3.3 62 197.34 –9.97 1.62 12.50 5.31 ArloTech ARLO ... dd 12.26 +1.05 ... 9.53 2.00 BP Prudhoe BPT ... 8 2.40 +0.28 ... 68.07 47.52 BostonSci BSX ... 62 66.23 –1.43 ...
15.99 10.04 A10Networks ATEN 1.8 26 13.64 +0.12 .06 22.58 8.41 AmerVanguard AVD .9 50 12.90 +2.07 .03 13.11 9.81 ArmadaHoffler AHH 7.9 dd 10.43 –0.19 .205 5.85 2.51 BRC BRCC ... dd 4.66 –0.25 ... 16.99 8.85 Bowlero BOWL 1.7 68 12.90 +0.14 .055
63.68 51.25 AXIS Capital AXS 2.8 16 63.16 +1.98 .44 153.43 114.25 AmerWaterWorks AWK 2.4 24 117.14 –1.30.7075 27.08 13.32 ArmourResREIT ARR 15.3 dd 18.78 –0.70 .24 3.45 1.06 BRF BRFS ... dd 3.31 –0.01 ... 31.94 23.29 Box BOX ... 44 29.40 –0.23 ...
50.23 21.34 AZEK AZEK ... 60 47.53 –1.37 ... 2.74 0.85 AmericanWell AMWL ... dd .89 –0.14 ... 123.82 62.03 ArmstrongWorld AWI .9 25 122.38 +0.27 .28 20.69 15.21 BRT Apartments BRT 6.1 cc 16.38 +0.26 .25 73.00 52.42 BoydGaming BYD 1.1 10 61.70 –1.46 .17
74.70 34.59 AZZ AZZ .9 26 72.71 +1.22 .17 33.90 24.31 AmericoldRealty COLD 3.5 dd 25.25 –1.03 .22 147.42 108.51 ArrowElec ARW ... 8 120.36 +0.33 ... 107.18 60.17 BWX Tech BWXT 1.0 37 99.45 –3.74 .24 63.02 46.77 Brady BRC 1.6 15 58.43 +1.15 .235
16.16 6.72 Aaron's AAN 7.2 89 6.95 –0.30 .125 421.85 277.99 Ameriprise AMP 1.3 18 419.49 +7.48 1.35 45.92 29.29 ArtisanPtrsAsset APAM 5.7 14 43.13 –1.58 .34 6.64 0.96 Babcock&Wilcox BW ... dd .99 –0.44 ... 4.37 1.81 BraemarHtls BHR 10.8 dd 1.85 –0.19 .05
121.64 89.67 AbbottLabs ABT 1.9 35 115.49 –5.47 .55 182.97 133.12 Ametek AME .6 32 181.52 +0.08 .28 20.49 11.60 Artivion AORT ... dd 19.75 –0.27 ... 170.86 113.91 BadgerMeter BMI .7 49 153.84 –7.20 .27 5.67 3.42 BrandywineRealty BDN 13.7 dd 4.37 –0.12 .15
182.89 130.96 AbbVie ABBV 3.5 65 177.88 –0.97 1.55 4.00 2.15 Ampco-Pitt AP ... 34 2.52 –0.01 ... 26.27 15.41 Asana ASAN ... dd 15.96 –3.01 ... 2.75 0.50 Bakkt BKKT ... dd .58 –0.01 ... 6.00 4.49 BrasilAgro LND 13.5 9 4.71 –0.09 .621
140.28 21.74 Abercrombie&Fitch ANF ... 20 125.89 +7.25 ... 112.40 72.00 Amphenol APH .8 35 109.30 –1.11 .22 256.39 178.40 AsburyAutomotive ABG ... 7 210.00 +0.30 ... 66.40 42.81 Ball BALL 1.2 29 64.08 –1.19 .20 12.67 6.26 Braskem BAK ... dd 8.53 +0.51 ...
17.73 12.37 AcadiaRealty AKR 4.5 81 16.17 –0.34 .18 8.21 3.56 AmplifyEnergy AMPY ... 1 6.03 +0.88 ... 5.09 1.24 AshfordHosp AHT ... dd 1.38 –0.13 ... 19.79 7.28 Bally's BALY ... dd 13.32 +2.70 ... 41.89 23.19 BreadFinancial BFH 2.3 3 37.19 –1.73 .21
12.05 8.28 AccelEnt ACEL ... 22 11.34 –0.11 ... 10.63 2.59 AmpriusTech AMPX ... dd 2.83 +0.17 ... 105.15 70.82 Ashland ASH 1.6 31 96.79 +1.28 .385 16.08 9.72 BancCalifornia BANC 2.9 dd 13.94 –0.92 .10 13.07 6.18 BridgeInvt BRDG 4.4 dd 6.35 –0.48 .07
387.51 248.42 Accenture ACN 1.4 35 374.60 –3.57 1.29 24.36 12.28 Amrep AXR ... 58 24.36 +1.36 ... 19.10 5.33 AspenAerogels ASPN ... dd 15.27 –1.75 ... 7.97 3.73 BancoBBVA BBAR .0 5 7.84 +0.47.064 119.21 71.65 BrightHorizons BFAM ... 89 113.53 –4.15 ...
264.30 149.30 AcuityBrands AYI .2 22 258.54 +4.62 .15 11.70 7.60 AndrettiAcqnA WNNR ... cc 10.16 –0.23 ... 36.53 22.92 AssetMarkFin AMK ... 22 35.71 –0.43 ... 11.42 6.32 BBVA BBVA 4.2 8 11.39 +0.59.1695 3.23 0.81 BrightScholar BEDU ... ... 2.17 +0.13 ...
70.10 43.62 Acushnet GOLF 1.4 21 62.00 –2.23 .215 11.60 6.80 AngelOakMtgREIT AOMR12.2 8 10.53 +0.19 .32 22.16 14.47 AssociatedBanc ASB 4.3 18 20.25 –0.88 .22 3.21 2.12 BancoBradesco BBDO 6.1 10 2.54 +0.05.0035 24.00 15.23 BrightSphere BSIG .2 15 22.59 –0.37 .01
12.51 7.34 Adecoagro AGRO 3.3 7 10.03 –0.08.1649 30.27 14.91 AngloGoldAsh AU .9 cc 22.01 –0.35 .19 40.55 31.01 AssocCapital AC .6 20 33.98 +0.54 .10 24.10 17.96 BancodeChile BCH 4.7 8 23.39 +0.171.6924 8.01 5.20 BrightSpire BRSP11.6 dd 6.87 +0.12 .20
46.51 30.11 Adient ADNT ... 14 32.58 –2.66 ... 67.09 51.66 AB InBev BUD 1.0 23 60.80 –1.28.8245 183.14 104.49 Assurant AIZ 1.6 15 181.16 +2.65 .72 28.84 16.26 Bladex BLX 7.1 6 28.23 –0.20 .50 10.36 5.16 BrightView BV ... dd 10.20 +0.30 ...
62.99 33.59 AdtalemGlbEduc ATGE ... 18 48.99 –1.10 ... 21.07 14.52 AnnalyCap NLY 13.3 dd 19.48 –0.16 .65 96.60 45.21 AssuredGuaranty AGO 1.4 7 90.83 +0.53 .31 43.79 16.49 BancoMacro BMA .0 2 43.50 +3.60.4262 90.13 59.46 Brink's BCO 1.0 46 84.50 +0.31 .22
129.90 47.73 AdvanceAuto AAP 1.2 cc 81.77 +8.69 .25 23.89 5.42 AnnovisBio ANVS ... dd 9.09 +0.12 ... 179.91 116.14 Atkore ATKR .7 11 178.91 +10.44 .32 6.66 4.76 BancSanBrasil BSBR 4.3 ... 5.72 +0.01.0831 49.85 28.23 BrinkerIntl EAT ... 14 47.93 –1.12 ...
168.44 75.02 AdvDrainageSys WMS .3 26 163.28 +1.53 .14 13.81 9.56 AnteroMidstream AM 6.7 17 13.36 +0.01 .225 37.86 23.32 AtlUnionBkshs AUB 3.8 13 33.65 –1.40 .32 21.81 16.24 BcoSantChile BSAC 4.7 14 20.20 +0.871.2511 71.07 47.58 BristolMyers BMY 4.6 14 52.34 –1.45 .60
41.11 23.93 AdvanSix ASIX 2.4 14 26.26 –0.62 .16 30.90 19.91 AnteroResources AR ... 33 25.81 –0.84 ... 24.69 15.28 AtlasEnergy AESI 2.8 13 21.93 +1.76 .21 4.46 3.20 BancoSantander SAN 3.0 6 4.42 +0.11.1027 0.14 0.02 BristolMyersRt CELG.RT .0 ... .06 ....0199
6.12 4.03 Aegon AEG 4.8 dd 5.76 –0.04.1734 9.43 4.09 AnywhereRealEst HOUS ... dd 5.22 –0.74 ... 125.28 101.00 AtmosEnergy ATO 2.8 18 114.55 –1.27 .805 34.43 22.19 BanColombia CIB 3.4 10 32.31 –0.37 .758 31.89 20.08 Bristow VTOL ... dd 25.75 +0.12 ...
86.12 49.58 AerCap AER ... 6 85.83 +4.39 ... 347.37 284.85 Aon AON .8 26 318.99 +2.24 .615 27.30 18.21 AtmusFiltration ATMU ... 13 26.12 +2.26 ... 36.45 24.96 BankofAmerica BAC 2.7 12 35.41 –0.19 .24 37.65 28.35 BritishAmTob BTI 9.7 dd 30.30 +0.66.7431
1.65 0.47 AevaTech AEVA ... dd .99 –0.33 ... 37.36 28.22 AptIncmREIT AIRC 5.7 7 31.69 –0.46 .45 3.30 1.01 ATRenew RERE ... dd 1.68 +0.54 ... 33.80 22.93 BankofButterfield NTB 5.9 7 29.77 –0.30 .44 24.47 19.40 BrixmorProp BRX 4.9 22 22.15 –0.60.2725
163.93 120.22 AffiliatedMgrs AMG .0 9 161.04 +1.94 .01 8.93 5.63 ApartmtInv AIV ... dd 7.44 –0.32 ... 34.10 23.81 Autohome ATHM 6.4 12 26.50 +0.81 1.15 75.19 30.83 BankofHawaii BOH 4.7 14 59.30 –3.46 .70 210.24 135.09 BroadridgeFinl BR 1.6 35 200.20 –3.35 .80
151.58 96.80 AgilentTechs A .6 35 147.48 –0.39 .236 39.95 20.05 APi Group APG ... dd 38.05 –0.88 ... 123.01 79.66 Autoliv ALV 2.3 21 120.03 +2.92 .68 100.12 73.98 BankMontreal BMO 3.6 18 93.85 –0.181.1172 17.59 13.68 Broadstone BNL 7.7 18 14.90 +0.09 .285
18.61 5.07 Agiliti AGTI ... dd 9.96 +0.05 ... 56.43 39.65 BankNY Mellon BK 3.1 14 54.41 –1.06 .42 6.35 2.27 BrookdaleSrLiving BKD ... dd 6.00 –0.05 ...
29.44 5.10 agilon health AGL ... dd 5.32 –0.60 ... 51.80 39.80 BankNovaScotia BNS 6.3 11 49.80 –0.33.7946 42.86 28.35 BrookfieldAsset BAM 3.3 11 40.92 –1.14 .38
61.15 43.22 AgnicoEagleMines AEM 2.9 14 55.94 +1.43 .40 34.22 15.83 BankUnited BKU 4.4 11 26.54 –1.00 .29 25.58 14.00 BrookfieldBus BBUC 1.1 8 22.18 –0.81.0625
T
8.17 2.09 SyrosPharm SYRS ... dd 6.01 –0.76 ... 12.97
298.36
8.56
145.34
USCB Financial
US Lime&Min
USCB 1.8
USLM .3
13
22
11.11
291.29
–0.04 .05
+3.90 .25
Europe Asia
11.65 4.23 TelaBio TELA ... dd 5.33 –0.41 ... 4.78 1.17 uCloudlink UCL ... 19 1.42 –0.09 ... Persistent Heat: February inflation in France was slightly House, Not Home: China’s housing prices fell in February.
15.25 10.97 TFS Finl TFSL 9.2 48 12.33 –0.48.2825 16.01 8.17 Udemy UDMY ... dd 10.98 –0.02 ... higher than hoped, as it was in the United States. Tuesday, Japan’s central bank may end its negative rates.
11.27 10.42 TLGY Acqn A TLGY ... 36 11.27 +0.01 ... 574.76 368.02 UltaBeauty ULTA ... 21 535.98 –4.24 ...
3.20 0.65 TMCthemetals TMC ... dd 1.67 +0.05 ... 49.25 22.15 UltraClean UCTT ... dd 43.03 –3.32 ...
10.78 10.10 TMT Acqn TMTC ... 82 10.69 +0.01 ... 54.98 31.52 UltragenyxPharm RARE ... dd 47.37 –3.16 ... S&P Europe BMI 0.25% -0.98% S&P Pan Asia BMI
11.85 3.86 Ultralife ULBI ... 19 8.42 –1.34 ...
1.88 0.14 TMT Acqn Rt TMTCR ... ... .19 +0.03 ... Spain 2.46 China 2.99
168.64 124.92 T-MobileUS TMUS 1.6 23 161.81 –2.18 .65 32.00 20.07 UnionBankshares UNB 4.6 12 31.20 +1.33 .36
46.48 24.74 TPG TPG 3.0 dd 44.13 –1.22 .44 22.48 4.76 uniQure QURE ... dd 5.17 –0.05 ... Sweden 1.54 Hong Kong 1.52
13.68 1.63 TPIComposites TPIC ... dd 2.68 –0.74 ... 58.23 33.68 UnitedAirlines UAL ... 6 43.62 +0.32 ... France 1.51 Malaysia 0.97
132.76 87.43 T.RowePrice TROW 4.3 15 114.86 –3.09 1.24 38.74 25.35 UnitedBkshrsWV UBSI 4.4 12 33.50 –1.49 .37
38.09 10.20 TTEC TTEC 5.3 62 10.98 –0.71 .06 30.75 20.37 UtdCmtyBks UCBI 3.7 16 25.10 –1.12 .23 Italy 1.48 Singapore 0.47
16.54 11.13 TTM Tech TTMI ... dd 14.08 –0.94 ... 28.58 18.41 UnitedFire UFCS 2.9 dd 22.09 –0.53 .16 Norway 1.27 Thailand 0.04
5.00 2.16 Taboola TBLA ... dd 4.15 –0.18 ... 10.39 5.79 UnitedGuardian UG 6.5 14 7.74 –0.47 .25
26.11 9.70 TactileSystems TCMD ... 14 16.75 +1.01 ... 8.74 5.50 UnitedSecBcshrs UBFO 6.3 7 7.57 –0.05 .12 U.K. 0.65 -0.40 South Korea
171.59 113.51 TakeTwoSoftware TTWO ... dd 143.91 +0.18 ... 261.54 204.44 UnitedTherap UTHR ... 12 235.78 –7.27 ... Germany 0.36 -0.65 Indonesia
1.61 0.43 Talphera TLPH ... dd 1.15 +0.02 ... 6.71 2.94 Uniti UNIT 9.6 dd 6.22 –0.34 .15
30.70 20.01 UnityBancorp UNTY 1.9 7 28.02 +0.27 .13 Switzerland 0.27 -0.72 Taiwan
44.05 13.82 TandemDiabetes TNDM ... dd 28.62 –2.08 ...
13.03 2.47 TangoTherap TNGX ... dd 9.03 –2.12 ... 4.37 1.46 UnityBiotech UBX ... dd 1.50 –0.07 ... -0.72 Denmark -1.08 New Zealand
12.19 10.41 TargetGlbl I A TGAA ... 47 11.11 –0.01 ... 194.84 125.98 UnivDisplay OLED 1.0 38 159.62 –9.61 .40
11.84 7.02 UnvlElectronics UEIC ... dd 9.50 +0.91 ...
-0.89 Finland -1.77 Philippines
40.40 11.33 TarsusPharm TARS ... dd 31.58 –1.75 ...
15.15 7.95 TaskUs TASK ... 26 12.34 –0.23 ... 38.50 20.85 UnivLogistics ULH 1.2 10 34.62 –2.98 .105 -0.94 Greece -1.98 Japan
13.75 5.01 TatTechnologies TATT ... 22 11.48 –0.42 ... 22.70 8.36 UnvlStainless USAP ... dd 21.11 –0.90 ...
25.89 16.10 UnivestFin UVSP 4.3 8 19.56 –0.66 .21
-1.45 Belgium -2.33 Australia
3.89 0.50 TayshaGene TSHA ... dd 2.30 –0.22 ...
12.25 10.53 Tech&TelecomA TETE ... dd 11.68 ... ... 36.17 22.42 Upbound UPBD 4.5 dd 33.20 –0.42 .37 -3.14 Netherlands -3.13 India
41.93 23.43 TechTarget TTGT ... cc 30.46 –0.80 ... 5.28 2.33 UplandSoftware UPLD ... dd 2.41 –0.13 ...
72.58 11.93 Upstart UPST ... dd 23.63 –3.71 ... Indexes based on S&P Global Broad Market Indices Source: S&P DJ Indices
6.36 4.33 Ericsson ERIC 2.9 dd 5.74 +0.18.0873
22.75 6.13 Telesat TSAT ... 1 9.87 ... ... 16.36 6.56 Upwork UPWK ... cc 11.96 –0.97 ...
3.32
5.00
0.30
1.53
TelesisBio
Telos
TBIO ...
TLS ...
dd
dd
.52
3.96
–0.03 ...
+0.29 ...
47.29
24.13
2.36
25.43
7.75
1.30
UrbanOutfitters
UroGenPharma
Usio
URBN ...
URGN ...
USIO ...
14
dd
dd
42.93
14.46
1.65
+1.44 ...
–3.53 ...
–0.09 ...
Key Foreign Stock Market Indexes
63.57 33.79 10xGenomics TXG ... dd 36.33 –3.48 ... Most Recent Week’s Year-to-Date Most Recent Week’s Year-to-Date
100.59 68.94 UtahMedProducts UTMD 1.7 15 69.27 –0.04 .30 Close %Chg. Chg. % Chg. Close %Chg. Chg. % Chg.
53.50 33.85 Tenable TENB ... dd 45.95 –0.62 ...
4.40 2.50 UTStarcom UTSI ... dd 2.62 –0.03 ...
8.09 1.66 TenayaTherap TNYA ... dd 4.97 –1.43 ... Amsterdam AEX 851.78 –1.18 +64.96 +8.26 Milan FTSE All Share 35934 +1.12 +3455.63 +10.64
27.30 1.92 Uxin UXIN ... dd 2.11 +0.05 ...
12.03 10.34 TenXKeaneAcqn TENK ... 56 11.05 +0.04 ... Athens General 1422.03 –0.35 +128.89 +9.97 Oslo Composite 1499.82 +1.20 –19.50 –1.28
8.83 0.13 TenXKeaneAcqnRt TENKR ... ... .17 –0.02 ... V
Bangkok SET 1386.04 –0.03 –29.81 –2.11 Paris CAC 8164.35 +1.70 +621.17 +8.23
119.20 81.08 Teradyne TER .5 38 103.06 –3.06 .12 4.19 1.39 VNET VNET ... dd 1.80 +0.27 ...
14.04 3.26 TernsPharm TERN ... dd 7.20 –0.91 ... 14.75 7.25 VOXX Intl VOXX ... dd 7.99 –0.18 ... Bombay Sensex 72643 –1.99 +403.17 +0.56 Santiago Selective 3607.40 +1.99 +139.86 +4.03
20.47 6.85 TerritorialBncp TBNK 2.4 14 8.22 –0.36 .05 78.00 40.88 VSE VSEC .5 28 75.91 –0.81 .10 Brussels Bel-20 3684.20 –1.33 –23.57 –0.64 Sao Paulo Bovespa 126741 –0.26 –7443.43 –5.55
299.29 152.37 Tesla TSLA ... 38 163.57 –11.77 ... 20.90 6.19 Vacasa VCSA ... dd 6.32 –0.59 ... Buenos Aires Merval 1068973 +6.65 +139269 +14.98 Seoul Composite 2666.84 –0.50 +11.56 +0.44
190.14 132.29 TetraTech TTEK .6 41 178.73 –7.83 .26 11.22 6.39 ValleyNatlBncp VLY 5.8 8 7.54 –0.42 .11
21.09 4.08 TevogenBio TVGN ... 90 6.17 –0.83 ... Copenhagen OMX 20 2698.09 –0.75 +414.56 +18.15 Shanghai Composite 3054.64 +0.28 +79.70 +2.68
17.05 6.58 Valneva VALN ... dd 7.71 +0.49 ...
66.18 42.79 TexasCapBcshs TCBI ... 17 59.00 –1.69 ... 11.85 10.51 ValuenceI A VMCA ... 53 11.32 –0.01 ... Dublin ISEQ 9673.64 –0.05 +913.28 +10.43 Shenzhen B Share Idx 1075.01 +0.53 –5.99 –0.55
188.12 139.48 TexasInstruments TXN 3.0 24 172.52 +0.22 1.30 7.00 3.30 VandaPharm VNDA ... 87 3.81 –0.06 ... EURO STOXX SXXE 508.67 +0.47 +34.53 +7.28 Singapore FTSE STI 3172.96 +0.82 –67.31 –2.08
157.12 91.06 TexasRoadhouse TXRH 1.6 34 152.26 +3.90 .61 23.90 16.72 VarexImaging VREX ... 19 17.50 –0.08 ... EURO STOXX 50 SXSE 4986.02 +0.50 +464.37 +10.27 Stockholm OMXS 954.79 +1.72 +51.90 +5.75
47.11 25.97 TheBancorp TBBK ... 10 34.36 –2.13 ... 52.88 22.34 VaronisSystems VRNS ... dd 48.91 –0.90 ...
4.72 1.95 TherapeuticsMD TXMD ... dd 2.40 +0.07 ... 14.00 1.63 VastRenewables VSTE ... cc 2.81 +0.10 ... Frankfurt DAX 17936 +0.69 +1185.01 +7.07 STOXX Europe 50 SXSP 4374.30 +0.26 +280.93 +6.86
12.03 8.21 TheravanceBio TBPH ... dd 8.64 +0.02 ... 4.55 3.05 VastaPlatform VSTA ... dd 3.93 +0.05 ... Helsinki OMHX 9757.96 –0.79 –339.72 –3.36 STOXX Europe 600 SXXP 504.80 +0.31 +25.81 +5.39
21.50 12.31 ThirdCoastBcshs TCBX ... 11 19.82 –0.09 ... 82.04 34.11 Vaxcyte PCVX ... dd 69.70 –2.99 ... Hong Kong Hang Seng 16720 +2.25 –326.50 –1.92 Sydney S&P/ASX 200 7670.30 –2.25 +79.48 +1.05
11.60 3.93 ThirdHarmonic THRD ... dd 9.35 –0.62 ... 3.10 0.56 Vaxxinity VAXX ... dd .76 +0.06 ...
1.14 0.31 36Kr KRKR ... dd .39 +0.03 ... Istanbul IMKB 8828.70 –3.57 +1358.52 +18.19 Taipel Weighted 19682 –0.52 +1751.69 +9.77
37.75 17.70 VeecoInstr VECO ... dd 33.74 –2.09 ...
8.41 2.44 Thoughtworks TWKS ... dd 2.46 –0.14 ... 41.00 1.87 VentyxBiosciences VTYX ... dd 7.70 –2.22 ... Jakarta Composite 7328.05 –0.73 +55.26 +0.76 Tel Aviv 125 Index 1921.07 –2.52 +33.99 +1.80
4.39 1.66 ThredUp TDUP ... dd 1.91 +0.13 ... 8.35 4.60 VeraBradley VRA ... 26 6.41 –0.95 ... Johannesburg All Share 72990 –0.99 –3902.45 –5.08 Tokyo Nikkei-225 38707 –2.47 +5243.47 +15.67
10.99 10.07 ThunderBridgeIV A THCP ... 74 10.31 +0.03 ... 50.78 5.95 VeraTherap VERA ... dd 43.25 –1.05 ...
Kuala Lumpur Composite 1552.83 +0.84 +98.17 +6.75 Toronto S&P/TSX 21849 +0.51 +890.71 +4.25
3.40 1.50 TilrayBrands TLRY ... dd 1.73 +0.03 ... 30.52 19.52 Veracyte VCYT ... dd 21.10 –1.62 ...
32.20 22.11 TimberlandBncp TSBK 3.7 8 26.29 –0.31 .24 50.09 28.02 Vericel VCEL ... dd 44.26 –0.94 ... LISBON PSI 4154.94 –2.56 –577.34 –12.20 Vienna ATX 3410.12 +0.93 –24.85 –0.72
35.88 21.44 TitanMachinery TITN ... 5 25.56 +0.39 ... 40.28 18.41 VerintSystems VRNT ... cc 30.57 –0.30 ... London FTSE - 100 7727.42 +0.88 –5.82 –0.08 Wellington S&P/NZX 50 11766 –1.31 –3.51 –0.03
37.11 22.31 Torm TRMD16.7 5 34.58 +0.82 1.36 229.72 188.44 VeriSign VRSN ... 24 190.25 –0.77 ... Madrid IBEX 35 10597 +2.84 +495.81 +4.91 Zurich Swiss 11676 +0.25 +538.34 +4.83
45.87 21.43 TowerSemi TSEM ... 7 30.98 –1.33 ... 251.98 179.80 VeriskAnalytics VRSK .7 56 234.52 –2.01 .39
Manila Composite 6822.32 –1.73 +372.28 +5.77
31.08 21.22 TowneBank TOWN 3.8 13 26.57 –0.97 .25 24.46 14.88 Veritex VBTX 4.3 9 18.65 –1.87 .20
259.62 185.00 TractorSupply TSCO 1.7 25 257.15 +6.66 1.10 6.03 1.48 Veritone VERI ... dd 3.88 +1.64 ... Mexico City IPC 56228 +2.35 –1157.85 –2.02 Indexes are based on local currencies. Because of various holidays and other market closings, the most
94.00 56.30 TradeDesk TTD ... cc 76.72 –4.87 ... 23.81 11.83 VeronaPharma VRNA ... dd 15.65 –0.58 ... recent close is not necessarily that of the week of publication.
108.04 64.83 Tradeweb TW .4 61 104.19 +1.31 .10 7.76 2.86 VerricaPharm VRCA ... dd 4.80 –0.21 ...
46 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
Cash Track
open-end funds by assets. These IntBdA 12.34 -0.12 -0.9 -4.1 Eq A 79.70 -0.41 4.0 28.1 US SmCpVal 44.72 -0.54 -0.5 20.7
funds value their portfolios daily IntlGrIncA 37.55 0.03 4.7 6.3 Carillon Reams: US TgdVal 31.66 -0.36 -0.7 20.3
and report net asset values (the
dollar amount of their holdings LtdTEBdA 15.29 -0.04 0.1 -0.8 CorePlBd I 29.40 -0.41 -1.5 -6.4 USLCpGr 34.19 -0.06 9.3 42.6
divided by the number of shares N PerA 59.63 -0.23 6.7 12.2 UnconstrndBd I 12.14 -0.13 -0.1 2.9 USLgVa 47.60 0.25 6.9 23.6
outstanding) to the National NEcoA 58.24 -0.63 7.9 6.9 Carillon Scout: USLgVaIII 30.57 0.16 6.9 24.0 On the Money: Money-market funds swept up cash, doubling their last month’s average weekly inflow to
Association of Securities Dealers.
Total returns reflect both price NwWrldA 78.25 0.04 4.3 -3.6 MidCap I 23.90 -0.25 9.6 6.3 USSoCoreEq2 25.34 -0.11 6.6 25.8 $17.3 billion. Inflows shrank by 25% at equity funds, to a $2.1 billion weekly average. Taxable-bond fund in-
changes and dividends; these SmCpA 66.85 -0.87 0.9 -12.5 CausewayInst : USSustCoreI 40.20 -0.11 7.4 29.6 flows ebbed to $6.3 billion a week. Muni-bond fund inflows ticked up to $340 million a week.
figures assume that all distribu- STBFA 9.45 -0.04 0.1 -0.6 USVectorEq 25.29 -0.18 4.5 19.7
tions are reinvested in the fund. CausewayInst 19.78 -0.10 1.1 20.3
TECAA 16.72 -0.04 0.3 -1.1 Dodge & Cox:
Because Lipper is constantly up- CIBC Atlas:
dating its database, these returns TxExA 12.41 -0.03 0.1 -1.3 Balanced n 103.25 -0.10 2.0 15.5
WshA 60.49 -0.34 6.1 35.3 DispEq Inst 29.40 0.00 5.9 26.1
may differ from those previously
ClearBridge:
Dodge & Cox n 10.82 -0.11 -1.1 3.3 Equity Funds Municipal Bond Funds
published or calculated by others. AMG Managers Funds: GblStock n 15.30 0.04 2.5 23.3
3 year returns are cumulative. The AggressGrowthA105.61 -1.47 1.1 -9.8 Income n 12.46 -0.15 -1.3 -3.8
3000 700
NAV is the last reported closing YachtmanFocFd I20.96 0.00 4.3 20.3
YacktFocFd N n 21.04 0.00 4.3 19.7 AllCapValueA 14.21 0.08 7.2 22.5 Intl Stk n 49.82 0.27 1.3 12.1
price for the week. Footnotes: NA: 600 440
not available. NE: performance YacktmanFd I 24.34 0.07 4.3 21.8 AppreciationA 33.43 0.09 8.5 34.7 Stock n 254.56 0.68 4.5 27.5
excluded by Lipper editor. NN: fund Angel Oak Funds Trst: DividendStrat1 n 29.22 0.07 4.8 33.8 DoubleLine Funds:
not tracked. NS: fund not in DividendStratA 29.18 0.07 4.7 32.6 -1800 180
existence for whole period. e: ex AglOkMtiStFdClIn 8.46 -0.05 1.0 -4.0 CoreFxdIncmI 9.16 -0.11 -1.0 -6.7
LargeCapGrowthA 57.32 -0.48 11.6 31.5
capital gains distributions. f: AQR Funds: LowDurBdI 9.57 -0.02 0.8 5.1
previous day’s quote. n: no front- LargeCapGrowthI68.20 -0.56 11.7 32.7
ShillerEnhCAPEI 14.49 -0.12 2.4 16.7
-4200 -80
or back-end sales charge. p: fund LgCapDefStyle I23.44 0.04 6.6 22.0 SmallCapGrowthIS40.45 -1.08 -0.3 -20.1
TotRetBdI 8.67 -0.11 -1.1 -7.7
assets are used to pay marketing Artisan Funds: Cohen & Steers:
TotRetBdN n 8.67 -0.11 -1.1 -8.3
-6600 -340
and distribution costs (12b-1 fees). GblOppInst 34.78 -0.14 9.4 8.0
r: fund levies redemption fee or GlbRltyI 50.22 -1.14 -3.4 -4.7 Jan Feb Mar Jan Feb Mar
back-end load. s: stock dividend or Intl Inv n 29.04 -0.03 8.3 7.6 InstlRlty 45.22 -1.36 -2.6 7.9 E
split of 25% or more. t: fund charges IntlInst 29.18 -0.02 8.4 8.4 PrefSecIncnI 12.03 0.00 3.1 -0.3
12b-1 fees (for marketing and IntlVal Inst 47.84 0.37 4.1 27.2 RltyIncI 16.20 -0.50 -2.5 6.5 Eaton Vance Class A: Money Market Funds Taxable Bond Funds
distribution) and a back-end load.
v: capital-gains distribution may be
IntlVal Inv n 47.69 0.37 4.0 26.3 RltyShs n 61.78 -1.87 -2.6 7.5 TMG1.0 n 2293.22 1.80 8.5 32.1 18600 13600
a return of capital. x: ex cash MidCapInst 44.57 -0.45 7.2 -7.6 Colorado BondShares: TMG1.1 102.96 0.08 8.4 31.0
dividend. MidCapInv n 37.26 -0.38 7.1 -8.3 ColoradoBdShs 8.86 NA NA NA Eaton Vance Class I: 14200 9500
Net YTD 3-Yr. B Columbia Class A: AtlCpSMID 40.42 -0.14 6.8 22.5
NAV Chg. % Ret. % Ret. BalancedA 50.52 -0.38 4.6 16.0 FltgRt 8.43 0.00 1.9 14.6 9800 5400
Baird Funds: ContCoreA 33.66 -0.14 8.4 33.7 GblMacAbR 8.36 0.02 2.7 11.3
A 5400 1300
AggBdInst 9.67 -0.12 -1.4 -7.4 DisplCoreA 14.18 -0.02 8.7 33.2 IncBos 5.12 -0.02 0.8 9.5
AAM: CorBdInst 9.99 -0.12 -1.2 -6.2 DivIncA 32.13 0.01 5.8 30.3 NatlMuniInc 9.33 -0.03 0.3 -0.4
IntBdInst 10.21 -0.08 -0.5 -3.7 LgCpGrowA 62.10 -0.30 8.9 31.5 Edgewood Growth Instituti: 1000 -2800
B&GIncGroClI 23.99 -0.13 5.1 22.8
AB Funds: ShtTBdInst 9.38 -0.03 0.3 1.9 LgCpVl A 16.29 0.11 6.2 22.1 EdgewoodGrInst 48.67 -0.72 11.3 10.8 Jan Feb Mar Jan Feb Mar
Baron Funds: LiGoBalA 11.43 -0.06 3.7 7.8
CapFdInc.LCapGow103.61 -0.15 11.8 38.7 SelgComuInfoA 116.83 -2.07 4.5 29.0 F A red chart indicates a lower value than the starting period. Green means it's higher than the starting period.
MuniIncmShares 11.13 -0.06 0.8 -0.1 Asset n 101.93 -0.38 4.0 1.1
TaxEA 11.88 -0.03 0.7 -3.0 The charts above show four-week moving averages of net cash flow in millions of dollars. BARRON'S • Lipper FMI
AB Funds - A: Growth n 99.23 0.15 3.7 4.0 Fairholme:
Columbia Class Adv:
LgCpGrA 91.84 -0.14 11.7 37.3 Partners n 139.92 -2.17 -12.3 -10.0 Fairholme n 32.90 -0.49 -9.0 7.6
SmallCap n 32.43 -0.40 7.2 0.5 DivIncom 32.81 0.01 5.8 31.2
RelatValA 6.55 0.03 7.4 30.3 Columbia Class C: FAM Value: Net YTD 3-Yr. Net YTD 3-Yr. Net YTD 3-Yr. Net YTD 3-Yr.
AB Funds - ADV: Baron Instl Shares: NAV Chg. % Ret. % Ret. NAV Chg. % Ret. % Ret. NAV Chg. % Ret. % Ret. NAV Chg. % Ret. % Ret.
DivInc 30.93 0.00 5.6 27.3 FAMValue n 98.65 -0.38 8.1 24.2
GlbBd 6.85 NA -0.8 -5.2 AssetInst 108.18 -0.40 4.0 1.8 Federated Hermes A: SrsAdvIntlCapApp 32.03 -0.33 7.7 12.0 Freedom2035 K 15.14 -0.11 4.3 9.6 GrStrt n 61.82 -0.06 9.6 17.6 IntlValIdx 9.64 0.03 3.3 18.1
EmergingMktsInst 14.17 -0.04 1.1 -25.2 Columbia Class I:
HiIncmAdv 6.91 NA 1.2 7.5 StrValDivA p 5.43 -0.03 0.5 19.2 StragInc n 11.38 -0.08 0.7 1.7 Freedom2035K6 15.10 -0.10 4.4 10.2 GwthDiscovery n 60.97 -0.40 13.2 37.4 LowDurationInc 10.08 0.00 1.1 7.6
GrowthInst 104.90 0.16 3.8 4.8 Acorn I 11.57 -0.09 5.9 -11.7 TotBdFdClZ 9.39 -0.12 -1.1 -5.0 Freedom2040 K 11.08 -0.06 5.6 13.3 HighInc n 7.67 -0.03 1.5 3.9 Muni Inc 9.94 -0.02 0.1 -0.7
IntlStraEquPtADV 12.83 -0.02 11.2 9.1 Federated Hermes Int:
PartnersInst 145.77 -2.25 -12.3 -9.3 Balanced I 50.41 -0.37 4.7 16.9 Fidelity Advisor A: Freedom2040K6 11.03 -0.06 5.8 13.8 IntBd n 9.98 -0.09 -0.5 -3.9 SAIEmgMktLoVolIx 11.18 -0.02 2.2 9.8
LgCpGrAdv 103.71 -0.15 11.8 38.4 ContCore I 34.07 -0.15 8.4 34.6 InsHiYld 8.74 -0.04 0.0 4.6
RealEstateInst 37.12 -0.66 3.8 -1.3 BalancA 27.63 -0.17 4.8 16.3 Freedom2045 K 12.80 -0.06 6.1 14.3 IntlCapiApp K6 16.49 -0.17 7.8 12.6 SAIInflaFocFd 89.22 2.28 5.8 21.7
NationalPtf 9.70 -0.03 0.4 -1.1 DivIncom I 32.17 0.01 5.8 31.2 TtlRtnBdI 9.35 -0.13 -1.6 -7.1
SmallCapInst 35.05 -0.44 7.2 1.2 EqGrA p/r 19.30 -0.14 13.0 36.1 Freedom2045K6 12.75 -0.06 6.2 14.8 IntlDisc n 48.29 -0.24 8.8 -0.5 ShortTermBd 9.60 -0.03 0.3 1.5
SmMidCpValAdv 22.75 -0.22 2.5 8.8 LgCpGrow I 66.54 -0.31 9.0 32.5 Federated Hermes IS:
Bernstein Fds: GrOppA 144.41 -2.01 12.5 6.8 Freedom2050 K 12.95 -0.07 6.1 14.2 IntlGrRet n 20.60 -0.12 7.6 15.6 TotalBd 8.90 -0.11 -1.0 -4.7
Advisers Inv Trst: LgCpIdx I 55.45 -0.05 7.6 34.4
DivrMuni n 13.91 NA 0.3 0.5 KaufmnSCI 49.06 -0.79 3.1 -22.5 NwInsghtA 36.86 -0.08 14.0 36.2 Freedom2050K6 12.93 -0.07 6.2 14.8 IntlSmCap n 32.02 -0.02 2.1 6.6 TxFreeBd 10.10 -0.02 0.1 -0.1
Balanced n 88.03 0.20 4.6 21.1 SelComunInfo 136.50 -2.41 4.6 29.9 StraValDivIS 5.47 -0.03 0.5 20.2
IntmDur n 11.16 -0.15 -1.6 -8.7 StrInA 11.21 -0.08 0.5 0.7 Freedom2055 K 15.00 -0.08 6.1 14.2 IntMu n 10.15 -0.02 0.1 0.2 U.S.TreBdIdx 8.63 -0.11 -1.7 -9.2
Growth n 113.52 0.31 6.9 36.3 SelLCVal 33.31 0.14 4.7 20.8 UltraShortI 9.19 -0.01 1.1 6.2
BlackRock Funds: Fidelity Advisor Fun: Freedom2055K6 14.98 -0.07 6.2 14.8 InvGB n 7.09 -0.10 -1.4 -7.0 USValueIndex 11.40 0.07 5.7 27.3
Akre Funds: StratInc I 21.17 -0.15 -0.1 -1.0 Federated Hermes R:
CoreBd Inst 8.19 -0.10 -1.3 -8.4 EqGrClZ 22.74 -0.16 13.1 37.7 Idx2020InsPre 15.76 -0.14 1.6 2.9 InvGrBd 9.87 -0.14 -1.5 -5.8 Fidelity Selects:
AkreFocusInst 63.88 -0.26 6.9 28.3 TotReBd I 29.86 -0.44 -1.5 -11.1 KaufmnR 5.51 -0.06 4.8 -14.6 Idx2025InsPre 18.06 -0.16 2.0 4.2 LargeCap n 48.93 0.14 8.5 36.9
HiYBlk 7.03 -0.03 1.3 8.6 InterDiscZ 48.04 -0.23 8.8 -0.2 Biotech n 19.22 -0.50 7.8 -14.3
AkreFocusRtl 61.30 -0.25 6.9 27.3 Columbia Class I2: Federated Hermes R6: Idx2030InsPre 19.38 -0.15 2.5 6.1 LevCoSt n 38.90 0.00 11.6 20.8
HiYldBd Inst 7.02 -0.03 1.1 8.2 IntlGrwZ 20.58 -0.12 7.6 16.0 DfAero n 16.80 -0.35 -0.9 17.5
AmanaGrowth n: DivIncom 32.78 0.01 5.8 31.5 FedInstHYBondL 8.75 -0.04 0.1 4.7 Idx2035InsPre 22.22 -0.14 3.3 9.4 LmtTrmMuniIncm n 10.34 -0.01 0.2 -0.3
LowDurI Inst 8.97 -0.03 0.4 0.8 fedadvcons 10.06 0.00 1.1 NS Energy n 61.35 2.37 10.5 104.8
AmanaGrowth n 77.90 -0.96 9.1 42.6 Columbia Class I3: StrValL 5.47 -0.03 0.5 20.2 Idx2040InsPre 23.16 -0.12 4.3 12.7 LowP n 46.11 -0.18 4.6 22.8 Health n 29.99 -0.51 4.3 2.1
BlackRock Funds A: Fidelity Advisor I:
Amer Beacon Insti: ContCore I3 35.01 -0.14 8.5 35.2 TtlRtnBdL 9.35 -0.13 -1.6 -7.1 Idx2045InsPre 24.25 -0.11 4.7 13.6 LowPriStkK 46.04 -0.18 4.7 23.1 HlthCareSrvPt r n 134.10 0.16 0.7 17.0
AdvLgCapCore 20.42 0.03 7.9 29.8 BalancI 28.37 -0.18 4.8 17.2 Idx2050InsPre 24.29 -0.12 4.7 13.6 LowPriStkK6 15.75 -0.06 4.7 24.1
SmCpInst 24.79 -0.34 -0.6 9.2 DivIncom 32.84 0.01 5.8 31.7 Fidelity: ITSvs n 65.70 -0.66 5.4 -8.4
CapAppr 35.86 0.22 12.4 24.2 ConsvIncmMuni I n 10.03 -0.01 0.5 4.5 Idx2055InsPre 19.99 -0.09 4.7 13.6 Magin n 13.95 -0.03 13.3 37.3
American Century G: EqtyDivd 19.94 0.01 4.5 20.5 500IdxInstPrem n 178.11 -0.16 7.6 35.1 EqGrI 22.40 -0.15 13.1 37.1 MdTchDevis n 66.01 -1.50 6.5 -2.8
D Idx2020 Premier 15.76 -0.13 1.7 2.9 MAMun n 11.44 -0.03 0.1 -1.9 Multimedia n 95.17 -0.63 8.3 9.9
GlBond 8.64 -0.08 -1.1 -5.6 GlblAlloc 19.03 -0.02 4.1 1.9 BalancedK6 14.83 -0.09 4.9 18.7 FAEmgMktI 28.76 0.08 0.8 -18.9 Idx2025 Premier 18.05 -0.16 2.0 4.2 Manager40 n 12.62 -0.09 1.9 4.5 Retail n 20.82 0.11 11.0 7.7
Sustain Equity 51.31 -0.06 8.4 35.6 HlthScOp 69.60 -0.66 6.4 16.2 Davis Funds A: Contrafund K6 26.52 -0.02 15.2 41.3 FAInvGrdI 7.10 -0.10 -1.4 -7.1 Idx2030 Premier 19.37 -0.15 2.5 6.1 Manager60 n 15.05 -0.10 3.0 7.6 Semiconductors r n 29.63 -1.15 22.2 109.2
American Century I: MdCpGrA 34.55 -0.40 5.8 -4.6 EmgMktIdxInstPre n 10.20 0.00 1.5 -17.4 FltRatel 9.33 0.01 2.1 18.2
NYVen A 28.93 -0.02 9.0 15.5 Idx2035 Premier 22.22 -0.14 3.3 9.5 MegaCpStk n 22.75 0.08 8.6 39.8 Softwr n 28.31 -0.34 2.3 27.4
EqInc 8.69 -0.01 3.0 17.1 MultiAstIncome 9.99 -0.05 1.3 3.9 ExtMktIdxInstPre n 80.24 -1.34 2.8 -6.0 GrOppI 160.28 -2.22 12.6 7.6
Davis Funds C & Y: Idx2040 Premier 23.15 -0.12 4.3 12.7 MidCap n 42.48 -0.30 4.8 19.6 Tech n 31.65 -0.45 11.0 30.7
Growth 55.15 -0.12 9.9 35.5 NatlMuni 10.18 -0.02 0.3 -2.9 FidAdAsset 13.35 -0.09 0.8 1.8 HthCarI 69.49 -1.19 4.1 2.0
NYVenY 30.13 -0.01 9.0 16.4 Idx2045 Premier24.24 -0.12 4.7 13.6 MuniInc n 12.29 -0.03 0.1 -1.1 Fidelity Series:
IntTF 10.83 -0.03 0.2 -0.3 ScTechOppA 58.03 -0.24 13.9 3.5 FidAdEm 37.25 -0.05 4.3 NS IntlGr 20.55 -0.11 7.6 15.6
Del Invest Instl: Idx2050 Premier24.28 -0.12 4.7 13.6 NASDAQ n 202.65 -1.39 6.6 22.3
MdCapVal 15.73 -0.19 1.0 15.6 TotRet 9.82 -0.12 -1.4 -9.2 FidSAI 8.92 -0.03 1.6 NS MuniIncI 10.16 -0.02 0.0 0.0 Canada 15.19 0.04 3.4 28.5
Value 17.53 0.00 4.5 15.3 Idx 2055 Premier 19.98 -0.10 4.7 13.6 NewInsights Z 38.76 -0.09 14.1 37.7
SmCapVal 10.44 -0.11 -0.6 3.5 BlackRock Funds III: FidSAIEmerg 12.54 -0.06 3.4 -0.6 NwInsghtI 38.59 -0.08 14.1 37.2 IntMuni Z 10.17 -0.02 0.1 0.4
Deutsche DWS: Idx 2060 Premier 16.93 -0.08 4.7 13.6 NewMill n 53.06 -0.21 11.2 46.9
American Century Inv: FidSer5 7.50 -0.14 -2.1 NS REIncmInst 11.58 -0.12 0.4 5.5 FidelityAdviAsset:
iShS&P500IdxK601.42 -0.58 7.6 35.0 Income n 10.45 -0.09 0.3 -0.7 NewMkt n 12.37 -0.11 0.6 -0.9
iShUSAggBdIdxK 8.90 -0.11 -1.5 -8.1 CoreEq n 33.72 0.15 8.7 37.7 FidSer0-5 9.50 -0.04 0.3 NS StrInI 11.38 -0.08 0.7 1.6 ADVAssetMan60 15.04 -0.10 3.0 7.8
DiscCoreVal n 34.94 0.03 6.8 11.4 Fidelity Invest: OTC n 20.17 -0.12 10.3 27.5
BlackRock Funds Inst: Diamond Hill Funds: FIDSerEmgMkt 8.72 -0.05 3.1 -20.2 Total Bd 9.39 -0.12 -1.2 -5.4 First Eagle Funds:
EqGro n 29.47 -0.01 8.7 22.0 AggrInt n 28.60 -0.29 7.8 12.2 OTC K 20.64 -0.12 10.3 27.9
LgCapI 33.90 0.17 6.6 19.7 FidSerInt 8.65 -0.07 -1.0 NS Fidelity Advisor M: GlbA 65.94 0.12 4.5 17.9
EqInc n 8.67 -0.01 3.0 16.2 AdvLgCapCore 21.62 0.04 8.0 30.9 AilSectEq 11.45 -0.03 8.7 35.7 Ovrse n 64.42 -0.46 6.8 13.8
LgCapY 33.93 0.16 6.6 20.1 FidSerToMarket 16.78 -0.05 6.9 27.1 Balanced 28.07 -0.18 4.7 15.5 OverseasA 24.87 -0.02 2.6 7.6
Grwth n 53.34 -0.13 9.8 34.7 CAInsMun 12.03 -0.02 1.0 0.6 AMgr20% n 13.35 -0.10 0.7 1.7 PuritanK 24.89 -0.17 7.0 20.2
LongShortI 28.73 0.11 6.7 19.4 FIDSerTresIndxFd 9.93 0.00 1.0 7.6 EqGr 18.57 -0.13 13.0 35.1 FPA Funds:
Heritage n 23.95 -0.32 9.5 1.5 EmgMkts 24.07 -0.18 -0.7 -24.4 AMgr50% n 20.05 -0.14 2.4 5.9 Puritn n 24.92 -0.17 7.0 19.9
Dimensional Fds: FIDZroExtMktIx n 12.59 -0.19 2.8 2.1 GrOppM 141.76 -1.98 12.5 6.0
MdCapVal n 15.70 -0.20 1.0 14.8 EqtyDivd 20.04 0.00 4.5 21.2 AMgr70% n 26.73 -0.16 3.7 10.1 RealE n 37.07 -1.24 -3.7 6.5 FPANwInc n 9.73 -0.06 0.3 5.0
FIDZroLgCpIx n 18.13 -0.02 7.6 33.2 NwInsghtM 34.26 -0.08 13.9 35.2
OneChMod n 14.66 -0.11 3.1 5.3 FloRateIncPorIns 9.74 0.01 2.1 17.4 2TGlFxd 9.78 0.01 1.1 2.9 AMgr85% n 25.41 -0.13 4.7 13.0 SAIIntlMinVolInd 11.18 -0.14 2.3 9.3 FPA Funds Trust:
Flex 500 Index 21.88 -0.03 7.6 35.1 Fidelity Advisor Z: SAILTTreBdIdx 7.10 -0.21 -5.3 -26.8
Select n 107.71 -0.28 7.6 32.5 GlblAlloc 19.20 -0.02 4.1 2.7 5GlbFxdInc 10.08 0.01 1.2 -1.8 AstMgr30R n 11.58 -0.09 1.2 2.8 FPACres Inst n 40.13 0.05 3.9 18.1
FlexIntIdx 13.06 -0.05 3.6 3.8 AdvIntlSmCpZ 32.21 -0.01 2.2 7.1 SAISm-MidCap500I 6.36 -0.07 3.9 9.1
Ultra n 81.13 -0.06 8.9 28.2 HiEqInc 28.44 -0.03 3.4 23.7 DFARlEst 37.89 -1.17 -3.4 5.0 Balanc n 28.24 -0.18 4.9 17.3 FPACresentFnd 40.16 0.05 3.9 18.3
FlexUSBdIdx 8.97 -0.12 -1.6 -8.3 AssetManager50% 19.99 -0.14 2.5 6.1 SAIUSMinVolIndFd 19.87 0.07 6.4 29.6
American Century R6: HlthScOp 74.49 -0.70 6.5 17.1 EmgMkt 28.05 -0.02 1.9 -7.0 BalancedK 28.24 -0.18 4.9 17.5 Franklin A1:
Freedom2060K 13.78 -0.07 6.1 14.2 AssetMngr85 25.26 -0.13 4.7 13.3 SAIUSQtyIdx 20.84 -0.13 7.6 42.4
AmCentUltraFdR6 87.07 -0.05 8.9 29.5 MdCpGrEq 40.75 -0.47 5.8 -3.9 EmgMktSoCoEq 14.19 -0.03 1.5 -7.0 BluCh n 196.22 -1.53 13.2 25.9
GlexUSIdxInstPre n 14.58 -0.06 3.6 3.9 CA TF A1 6.89 -0.02 0.3 -1.8
MdCapVal 15.73 -0.19 1.1 16.1 MultiAstIncome 10.00 -0.05 1.3 4.7 EmgMktVa 29.91 -0.05 1.6 9.0 AsstMngr70 26.68 -0.16 3.7 10.3 BluChpGr K6 30.16 -0.31 12.4 26.8 SmCapDisc n 27.67 -0.22 4.0 19.0
GrowthCompanyK6 25.66 -0.18 14.3 31.5 Fed TF A1 10.85 -0.03 0.5 -2.3
SmCpVal 10.45 -0.10 -0.6 4.0 NatlMuni 10.18 -0.01 0.4 -2.1 EmMktCorEq 22.77 -0.10 1.6 -2.2 EmMkt Z 28.70 0.08 0.8 -18.6 BluChpGrK 197.33 -1.53 13.3 26.3 SmlCapO n 14.57 -0.23 4.8 9.9
InflPrBdIndInsPr n 8.95 -0.11 -1.0 -2.7 HiInc A1 1.72 -0.01 1.1 9.3
American Century Y: ScTechOppInst 64.00 -0.27 13.9 4.2 EmMktSmCp 22.74 -0.16 -0.4 5.5 FloatRateHighInc 9.33 0.00 2.2 18.6 CAMun n 12.21 -0.02 0.0 -1.0 SmlCpGrth n 30.86 -0.48 9.6 -1.7
IntlIdxInstPrem n 49.49 -0.31 4.5 13.6 HY TF A1 8.88 -0.01 1.9 -2.8
StratIncOpptyIns 9.36 -0.06 0.1 1.8 Fixd 10.26 0.01 1.2 4.8 GrOpp 162.60 -2.25 12.6 8.0 CapAp n 44.20 -0.30 11.4 33.0 SmlCpGrth K6 16.53 -0.27 9.7 -0.7
IntTF 10.83 -0.02 0.3 -0.2 IntlIndex n 11.46 -0.05 3.5 4.7 IncomeA1 2.31 -0.01 0.6 14.1
StratMuniOppI 10.61 -0.01 1.2 -2.4 GblAll60 40Inst20.83 -0.05 3.4 11.8 IntCpAp 32.13 -0.33 7.8 12.5 CapDevO n 22.35 0.07 8.8 37.9 SmlCpGrth Z 31.21 -0.48 9.6 -1.4
American Funds Cl A: IntrTresBdIxPrem n 9.51 -0.15 -1.9 -10.2 NY TF A1 10.04 -0.03 0.3 -2.9
TotRet 9.81 -0.13 -1.3 -8.5 GlEqInst 32.07 -0.09 5.3 21.0 InvestGradeBd 7.11 -0.09 -1.4 -6.7 CnvSc n 32.76 -0.16 1.0 -3.0 SmlCpVal n 20.07 -0.22 1.5 12.8
2020TarRetA 13.20 -0.09 1.8 7.0 LgCpGwId InstPre n 32.14 -0.08 8.9 39.3 US Gov A1 5.02 -0.06 -1.8 -9.1
BNY Mellon Funds: GlRESec 9.89 -0.24 -3.7 -1.2 NewMktsIncFdZ 12.37 -0.11 0.7 -0.7 Contra n 18.57 -0.03 15.5 40.5 Srs1000ValIndRet 15.47 -0.01 5.3 21.4
2025TarRetA 14.88 -0.10 2.1 7.4 LgCpVlIdxIstPrem n 17.02 -0.02 5.3 21.3 Utils A1 19.45 -0.06 0.9 13.6
InfProtSec 10.73 -0.13 -0.9 -3.1 RE Income 11.57 -0.12 0.4 5.8 ContraK 18.63 -0.03 15.5 40.8 SrsBlChGroRetail n 17.67 -0.14 13.1 29.1
2030TarRetA 16.61 -0.12 2.9 9.4 Aprec n 43.01 0.08 5.5 29.5 LTTrsBdIdxInstPr n 9.58 -0.28 -4.8 -24.4 Franklin Templeton:
IntGvFxdInc 10.87 -0.15 -1.6 -9.9 StkSelAllCap 72.82 -0.27 6.0 24.4 CpInc n 9.84 -0.02 3.0 11.8 SrsCommStrt 94.23 1.31 1.7 24.0
2035TarRetA 18.24 -0.11 3.9 11.9 Dr500In n 54.89 -0.05 7.5 33.1 MidCpInxInstPrem n 31.36 -0.26 4.7 12.6 Fidelity Freedom: SrsEmrgMkt 17.67 -0.04 2.0 -19.6 TgtModA 15.07 NA NA NA
IntlCoreEq 15.79 -0.04 3.1 11.4 DisEq n 64.62 -0.35 10.5 31.9
2040TarRetA 19.37 -0.11 4.9 14.3 Dreyf n 18.27 0.04 12.1 49.6 OTCK6Port 22.24 -0.14 10.5 28.8 SrsGlobal 14.34 -0.05 3.5 3.9 FrankTemp/Frank Adv:
IntlREst 3.56 -0.02 -4.6 -12.4 2060 K6 13.78 -0.07 6.2 14.8 DivGth n 36.31 -0.01 10.0 33.8
2045TarRetA 19.91 -0.11 5.1 14.6 DreyMid r Inv n 29.68 -0.27 5.4 12.6 PuritanK6 15.11 -0.10 6.9 21.0 SrsIntlGrw 18.50 -0.10 8.0 18.1 CA TF Adv 6.88 -0.02 0.4 -1.4
IntlSustCore1 12.74 -0.05 4.1 8.3 FF2010 n 13.75 -0.12 0.9 0.3 DivIntl n 43.90 -0.25 6.9 7.7
2050TarRetA 19.60 -0.11 5.3 14.4 GlFxIncI 19.88 -0.19 0.0 -1.5 RealEstIdxInst n 15.24 -0.44 -3.5 2.1 SrsGroCoRetail 22.10 -0.12 13.5 33.1 CvtScAdv 21.16 -0.10 2.2 -2.4
IntlVal 20.95 0.11 4.7 25.1 FF2015 n 11.35 -0.10 1.5 1.5 DivIntl K6 14.50 -0.08 6.9 8.7
AmcpA 41.04 -0.34 7.7 17.9 InstS&PStkIdx I 56.17 -0.06 7.6 34.3 SAIUSLgCpIndxFd 21.23 -0.02 7.6 35.0 SrsIntlSmCp 17.28 -0.04 1.9 5.0 Dynat Adv 156.60 -1.98 12.1 9.4
IntlVectorEq 13.70 -0.02 2.5 10.8 FF2020 n 14.33 -0.13 2.1 2.5 DivStkO n 35.64 -0.17 11.7 35.8
AMutlA 53.16 -0.28 4.7 27.9 IntlStkI 25.14 -0.23 5.8 9.9 SeriesBondFd 8.86 -0.12 -1.6 -8.2 SrsIntlVal 12.29 -0.03 5.3 26.7 Growth Adv 134.18 -0.55 8.5 24.8
IntSmCo 19.60 -0.08 1.5 2.6 FF2025 n 13.45 -0.12 2.7 3.9 EmrgMktK 37.29 -0.05 4.2 -14.1
BondA 11.20 -0.15 -1.7 -8.3 IntlStkY 24.81 -0.24 5.7 10.0 SeriesOverseas 13.92 -0.10 7.3 17.9 STBF n 8.35 -0.03 0.3 1.4 IncomeAdv 2.29 0.00 0.6 14.7
IntSmVa 21.90 0.00 3.2 15.2 FF2030 n 17.12 -0.14 3.3 5.9 EmrgMktsDebt 7.74 -0.07 1.1 -0.2
BalA 33.11 -0.36 3.8 16.5 SmMidCpGrI 26.31 -0.47 0.0 -27.3 SerLTTreBdIdx 5.54 -0.16 -4.8 -24.5 StkSelSmCp n 34.92 -0.53 4.6 7.7 RisDv Adv 93.42 0.47 5.8 31.4
IntTermMuni 10.09 -0.02 -0.1 0.1 FF2035 n 15.16 -0.11 4.3 9.3 EmrMkt n 37.29 -0.05 4.2 -14.4
CapIBA 66.97 -0.82 1.8 12.9 StrgVal I 43.44 -0.01 5.1 41.9 SmCpIdxInstPrem n 25.27 -0.52 0.9 -9.7 StkSlcACap n 73.33 -0.28 6.0 24.1 SmCpValAdv 57.72 -0.84 0.0 2.5
IntVaIII 18.03 0.09 4.6 25.2 FF2040 n 11.07 -0.06 5.5 12.8 Eq Inc n 71.15 0.07 5.8 25.7
CapWA 16.11 -0.32 -2.5 -16.1 BNY Mellon Funds Tru: STBdIdx InstPrem n 9.70 -0.06 -0.3 -1.7 StratDivInc n 16.40 -0.12 3.3 14.6 FrankTemp/Franklin A:
ITExQual 9.50 -0.10 -1.0 -6.5 FF2045 n 12.81 -0.06 6.0 13.9 EqDivIncm n 28.46 -0.06 4.9 28.2
CapWGrA 63.60 -0.33 6.1 16.2 NtlIntmMuni 13.05 -0.02 0.1 -0.5 LgCo 34.02 -0.04 7.6 34.8 STTreIdx InstPre n 10.03 -0.06 -0.5 -2.6 TaxFrB n 11.03 -0.03 0.2 -0.8 BAL A 12.35 -0.09 0.1 9.7
FF2050 n 12.96 -0.07 6.1 13.8 Fidel n 82.31 0.32 10.5 39.7
EupacA 58.12 -0.07 6.3 -4.1 Brown Advisory Funds: LgCpIntl 27.47 -0.07 4.3 14.4 TMktIdxInstPrem n 140.90 -0.43 6.9 27.1 TotalBond n 9.40 -0.12 -1.1 -5.3 DynaTech A 149.79 -1.91 12.0 8.6
Free2055 n 15.00 -0.08 6.0 13.8 FltRateHi n 9.34 0.01 2.2 18.5
FdInvA 77.21 -0.47 8.2 30.5 GrwthEquityInst 28.91 -0.28 6.4 14.3 SclCrEqInst 14.57 -0.05 2.8 6.9 TotalMarketIndex n 17.78 -0.06 7.0 28.3 TotalBond K6 8.72 -0.11 -1.2 -5.1 EqIn A 30.87 0.09 5.2 26.1
Free2060InstPrem 16.93 -0.08 4.7 13.6 FocsdStk n 35.68 -0.41 17.8 35.5
GBalA 37.13 -0.20 2.3 6.3 STExQual 10.39 0.01 1.1 0.6 TtlIntIdxInstPr n 13.56 -0.06 3.1 3.2 Trend n 169.64 -1.63 14.2 33.9 FoundFAlA 14.73 -0.04 5.1 14.7
Freedom2015 K 11.33 -0.10 1.5 1.7 FournOne n 56.72 -0.34 4.2 13.7
GovtA 11.83 -0.17 -2.0 -8.7 C STGov 10.01 0.01 1.1 0.8 USBdIdxInstPrem n 10.19 -0.14 -1.7 -8.2 Freedom2020 K 14.32 -0.13 2.1 2.7 GNMA n 9.98 -0.14 -2.1 -8.8 Value n 14.93 0.00 4.0 26.2 GrOp A 47.61 -0.36 11.2 15.9
GwthA 69.04 -0.55 9.3 19.3 STMuniBd 10.16 0.00 0.4 2.9 USSusIdx n 23.08 -0.02 8.6 38.3 Freedom2020K6 14.26 -0.13 2.2 3.1 GovtInc n 9.04 -0.13 -1.9 -9.9 ValueDisc n 36.37 0.06 3.6 18.0 Growth A 132.96 -0.54 8.4 23.9
HI TrA 9.52 -0.03 1.5 9.4 Calamos Funds: US CoreEq1 38.61 -0.07 7.1 29.5 Fidelity Adv Focus A: Wrldw n 35.28 -0.33 13.4 19.6 LwDuToRt A 8.87 -0.03 0.4 1.7
Freedom2025 K 13.43 -0.12 2.8 4.2 GroCo n 36.11 -0.18 13.1 29.6
HiInMuniA 15.09 -0.04 1.6 0.7 Gr&IncA 44.71 -0.08 5.8 19.0 US CoreEq2 34.58 -0.07 6.5 27.9 HthCarA 62.43 -1.07 4.1 1.2 Freedom2025K6 13.39 -0.12 2.8 4.7 GroInc n 58.41 0.14 7.8 36.1 Fidelity SAI: RisDv A 93.51 0.47 5.7 30.4
ICAA 53.93 -0.33 7.3 36.3 MktNeutI 14.37 -0.02 1.3 9.7 US Micro 26.08 -0.45 -0.8 7.2 TechA 105.95 -1.56 11.3 43.3 Freedom2030 K 17.10 -0.14 3.3 6.2 GrowCoK 36.31 -0.18 13.2 29.9 FidSAIEmgMktIndx 13.16 0.00 1.4 -17.7 SmMCpGrA 36.79 -0.39 4.8 -5.7
IncoA 23.79 -0.23 2.2 14.3 Calvert Investments: US Small 44.55 -0.69 0.4 7.8 Fidelity Advisor: Freedom2030K6 17.04 -0.14 3.3 6.7 GrowIncK 58.34 0.14 7.8 36.4 FidSAIIntlIndxFd 14.21 -0.09 4.6 13.5 StrInc A 8.24 -0.05 -0.1 -0.5
48 BARRON’S March 18, 2024
5 Book Book
Investor Sentiment Readings New Listings
Earns Divs. Value Earns Divs. Value None
Am Exp 11.21 2.40 33.26 Johnson&John 6.16 4.76 29.39 High bullish readings in the Consensus stock index or in the Market
s
0 Amgen
Apple
12.49
6.42
8.64 6.86
0.96 3.18
JPMorgChase 16.22
McDonalds 11.57
4.10 90.29
6.38 (8.06)
Vane stock index usually are signs of Market tops; low ones, market
bottoms. Trading
Last Week 2 Weeks Ago 3 Weeks Ago
DXY (103.45)
-5
Boeing
Caterpillar
(3.68)
20.14
Nil (26.58)
5.10 30.73
Merck Co 0.14 3.00 18.12
Microsoft 11.06 2.86 27.75 Consensus Index
Suspended
Chevron Corp 11.36 6.16 83.17 Nike Inc 3.42 1.42 9.14 NYSE
s Cisco Sys 3.29 1.55 9.68 Proc Gam 5.97 3.7628 19.46 CURO Group (CURO)
Consensus Bullish Sentiment 79% 78% 78%
Textainer Group (TGH)
YEN in $ Coca Cola 2.48 1.87 5.57 3M Co (12.63) 6.01 26.80
-10 Disney Walt 1.62 Nil 52.09 Salesforce.com 4.20 0.40 57.84 AAII Index NYSE American
Dow 0.82 2.80 29.39 Travelers Cos 12.79 4.00 92.89 None
Goldman Sachs 22.82 10.75 317.90 UnitedHealthGrp 23.84 7.52 83.27 Bullish 45.9% 51.7% 46.5% Nasdaq
-15 Home Depot 15.10 8.52 1.54 Verizon 2.76 2.635 21.70 FaZe (FAZE)
Bearish 21.9 21.8 21.3
Honeywell 8.47 4.22 24.99 Visa 8.75 1.94 16.08 Harpoon Therapeutics (HARP)
A M J J A S O N D J F M IBM 8.15 6.64 24.22 Amazon (0.27) Nil 14.26 Neutral 32.2 26.5 32.2 Phaxiam Therapeutics (PHXM)
Intel 0.63 0.50 24.52 Wal-mart 5.74 0.7775 28.48
Science 37 (SNCE)
Source: Tullett Prebon Market Vane Sovos Brands (SOVO)
Transportation Stocks
Bullish Consensus 67% 66% 66% Name
Yearly High/Lows Silver Prices 144 Filings
AlaskaAirGroup 1.81
AmericanAirlines 1.10
Nil 29.92
Nil (8.91)
Kirby Corp 3.72
Landstar Sys 7.35
Nil 50.79
1.29 24.70
TIM Group Market Sentiment
Changes
AvisBudgetGrp 42.61 Nil (18.03) Matson Inc 8.38 1.27 63.28 Indicator 46.1% 48.4% 45.6% NYSE
C.H. Robinson 2.71 2.44 11.64 Norf Southern 8.02 5.40 55.83 None
The yearly Handy & Harman Silver price; with a high/low range based SEC Form 144 must be filed by holders of restricted securities (also called letter stock) who intend to Sources: Consensus Inc.; American Association of
CSX Corp 1.84 0.45 6.11 Old Dominion 11.26 1.72 33.14 NYSE American
on the daily close. sell shares. Shares Indicated: the number to be sold. Sales Date: the approximate date of the sale.
(Sometimes shares aren't sold, even though their owner has filed a Form144.) Source: Thomson Delta Air Lines 7.15 0.30 10.26 Ryder Sys 8.71 2.75 63.45 Individual Investors; Market Vane; TIM Group None
Year High Date Low Date Reuters Expeditors Int'l 5.00 1.38 20.15 Southwest Air 0.75 0.72 17.99
Nasdaq
FedEx 16.88 5.04 103.86 Un Pacific 10.46 5.20 19.86
2024 25.33 Mar 15 22.12 Feb. 13 Shares Sale Brand Engagement Network
2023 25.92 May 04 20.07 Mar 08 Hunt (JB) 6.97 1.69 35.34 UPS 7.79 6.49 23.04
Company Sym Indicated $ Value Date Seller Title (BNAI), formerly DHC
2022 26.87 Mar 08 17.80 Sept 01
Taboola.Com Ltd TBLA 5,205,219 21,880,658 3/12/24 Peres, Nechemia D
UberTechnologies (4.69) Nil 3.66 United Airlines 7.88 Nil 21.09
Arms Index Acquisition (DHCA)
Graphjet Technology (GTI),
formerly Energem (ENCP)
Coming U.S. Auctions Digitalocean
Mission Produce
DOCN 900,000 36,180,000 3/12/24
AVO 697,000 8,140,960 3/12/24
Spruill, Yancey
Gonzalez, Luis
AF
D
Utility Stocks The Arms index, also known as the short term trading index,
is a number derived by dividing one quotient into another
quotient. The numerator in the index is the number of
Montana Technologies (AIRJ),
formerly Power & Digital
AES Corp. 0.33 0.6702 2.39 Exelon 2.33 1.46 24.89 advancing stocks divided by the number of declining stocks. Infrastructure (XPDB)
Yields (%) Oracle ORCL 400,000 45,652,000 3/12/24 Henley, Jeffrey OD As of 3/14/11, the denominator in the index is now the Nature's Miracle (NMHI),
Monday When Issued* Last Auction Am Elec 4.25 3.37 46.50 FirstEnergy 1.96 1.56 17.77 composite volume of advancing stocks divided by the formerly Lakeshore
Dyne Therapeutics DYN 363,343 9,247,079 3/8/24 Brumm, Joshua OD composite volume of declining stocks.
AmericanWaterWorks 4.89 2.7775 42.30 NextEra Energy 3.61 1.92 19.74 Acquisition II (LBBB)
$76.0 bil 3-month 5.376 5.250 Church & Dwight CHD 275,000 28,633,000 3/11/24 Farrell, Matthew O Atmos Energy 6.30 3.09 66.85 Xcel Energy 3.21 2.11 30.34 NextTrip (NTRP), formerly
$70.0 bil 6-month 5.326 5.100 3/11 3/12 3/13 3/14 3/15
Cooper Companies COO 241,288 24,000,000 3/7/24 Weiss, Robert D Con Ed 7.20 3.26 58.27 Pub Sv Ent 5.13 2.31 27.62 Sigma Additive Solutions
DominionEnergy 1.96 2.67 31.26 Sempra Energy 4.79 2.38 83.43 (SASI)
Tuesday Tenable TENB 200,000 9,386,090 3/12/24 Vintz, Stephen O NYSE .77 1.09 .79 1.21 1.05 XTI Aerospace (XTIA),
Duke Energy 1.27 4.08 61.51 Southn Co. 3.64 2.80 27.67 formerly Inpixion (INPX)
$46.0 bil 1-year 5.037 4.695 Xylem XYL 160,245 20,192,665 3/11/24 Decker, Patrick O NYSE American .32 1.60 .94 .45 .45
Edison Int'l 3.12 2.9925 35.70 Zeo Energy (ZEO), formerly
* As of Friday afternoon. Garmin Ltd GRMN 150,000 21,214,500 3/7/24 Burrell, Jonathan AF Nasdaq .71 .97 .95 1.00 .94 ESGEN Acquisition (ESAC)
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 51
Dow Jones U.S. Total Market Industry Groups CBOE Put / Call Ratio Foreign Exchange
Foreign
Currency
Foreign
Currency
U.S. $ in
Foreign
U.S. $ in
Foreign
TH
FactSet Research (Q2) 3.88 3.80 Money Rates
Delta Market Pulse of the Economy
FedEx (Q3)
Nike (Q3)
3.53
0.75
3.41
0.79
Latest Week Prev. Week Yr Ago
Sentiment Only includes new reports. Latest Latest Preceding Year YroYr Latest Latest Preceding Year YroYr Consensus Estimate Discount Rate (NY)
Prime Rate (base)
5.50
8.50
5.50
8.50
4.75
7.75
Economic Growth and Investment Date Data Period Ago % Chg Date Data Period Ago % Chg
Indicator Durable manufacturing (NAICS) a, Feb 101.4 r100.4 101.0 0.40 Gasoline, (thous. bbls) Mar 8 234,083 239,745 235,997 –0.81
Day
T February Housing Starts
Consensus Est Last Period
1,250,000 1,331,000
Fed Funds Rate
Capacity utilization % Feb 78.3 r78.3 79.6 –1.63 Inventory–to–sales ratio (Business) Jan 1.39 r1.38 1.37 1.46
The Delta MSI measures the Avg effective offer 5.33 5.33 4.60
Industrial output a, Orders TH Q4 Current Account -$205.6 bil -$200.3 bil
position of a representative set Feb 102.3 r102.2 102.6 –0.29 Avg weekly auction-c 5.33 5.25 4.57
of stocks relative to an Manufacturing (NAICS) a, Feb 99.8 r99.0 100.6 –0.80 No Activity for this Week February Leading Indicators -0.50% -0.40%
intermediate-term moving T-Bills Rate
average crossover (MAC) point. Nondurable manufacturing (NAICS) a Feb 98.3 r97.6 100.1 –1.80 Unless otherwise indicated, times are Eastern. a-Advanced;
Trade
When greater than 50% of the f-Final; p-Preliminary; r-Revised Source: FactSet
Production Merchandise trade balance (bil $) Jan –91.60 r–88.65 –90.17 1.59 13 weeks, Coupon Yield 5.395 5.384 4.888
stocks followed are above this
MAC point, the market is For more information about coming economic reports 13 weeks, Auction Rate 5.250 5.240 4.750
Electric power, (mil. kw hrs) (EEI) Mar 9 71,741 75,244 73,813 –2.81 Inflation - and what they mean - go to Barron’s free Economic
bullish. When the indicator is 26 weeks, Coupon Yield 5.308 5.313 4.895
below 50%, risk is elevated and Mining (NAICS) a, Feb 119.2 r116.6 117.1 1.79 Calendar at www.barrons.com
ECRI Industrial Price Index f Mar 15 114.66 114.98 115.83 –1.01 26 weeks, Auction Rate 5.100 5.105 4.700
stock exposures should be
reduced. Manager uses
discretion on asset allocation
Petroleum, related capacity, %
Rotary rigs running, U.S. & Can., (Hughes)
Mar 8
Mar 15
86.8
836
84.9
847
88.2 –1.59
961 –13.01
Consumer price index b (unadjusted)
Producer price index (finished goods) c
Feb 310.3 308.4 300.8 3.16 Conference Call Calendar Earnings- Avg weekly auction-c
Broker Call Rate
5.24
7.25
5.24
7.25
4.84
6.50
Steel, (thous. tons) Mar 9 1,734 1,716 1,677 3.40 Feb 258.6 r255.0 257.0 0.62
when MSI is at 50% +/- 3%. Related
Steel, rated capacity, % (AISI) Mar 9 78.1 77.3 75.0 4.13 Rate of inflation, % (annual, unadjusted) Feb 3.2 3.1 6.0 –46.67 Bankers Acceptances
Company Date Time Period
Bullish
Utilities a Feb 101.3 r109.5 100.6 0.70 Employment
Accenture PLC March 21 8:00AM Q2 1 month 5.33 5.33 4.65
Consumption and Distribution Initial jobless claims (thous.) Mar 9 209 r210 221 –5.43 Darden Restaurants March 21 8:30AM Q3 2 months 5.35 5.35 4.75
Continuing claims (mil.) Mar 2 1.811 r1.794 1.665 8.77 Factset Research Systems March 21 11:00AM Q2 3 months 5.36 5.38 4.80
Business sales, (mil. $) Jan 1,833.30 r1,856.69 1,855.26 –1.18
Current Sentiment Help Wanted Online –Ads (thous,) Feb 6,470.0 6,468.4 5,642.3 14.67 FedEx March 21 5:30PM Q3 6 months 5.35 5.37 5.00
Instinet Research Redbook Avg. (monthly %) Mar 9 –3.66 –4.00 –1.21 …. Lululemon Athletica March 21 4:30PM Q4
Small Business Optimism Index Feb 89.4 89.9 90.9 –1.65 Foreign Prime Rates
80.3%
Baltic Dry Index Mar 15 2,374 2,345 1,535 54.66 Micron Technology March 20 4:30PM Q2
Logistics Managers Index Feb 56.5 55.6 54.7 3.29 Construction Source: CCBN, www.ccbn.com Canada 7.20 7.20 6.70
Retail store sales, (bil. $) Feb 700.7 r696.7 690.4 1.49 No Activity for this Week Germany 4.50 4.50 3.00
Last Week Inventories Other Indicators Barron’s 50-Stock Average Japan
Switzerland
1.475
2.25
1.475
2.25
1.475
1.50
Business inventories, (bil. $) Jan 2,555.00 r2,554.77 2,544.58 0.41 Citi Research Panic–Euphoria Reading Mar 15 0.31 0.34 –0.27 …. Britain 5.25 5.25 4.00
74.2%
This index is a weighted average of 50 leading issues. Useful in secu-
Domestic crude oil, (thous. bbls) Comm. (Excl. Lease Stck) Mar 8 446,994 448,530 480,063 –6.89 a-1997 equals 100. b-1982-84 equals 100. c-1982 equals 100. f-1996 equals 100. h-
rity valuation. Source: Barron's Stats
benchmark revision, 2016 equals 100. r-Revised. Other Money Rates
Mar 14 Mar 7 March Yr-to-Yr
2024 2024 2023 % Chg Fannie Mae Home Loan:
2 Weeks ago S&P 500 Index 5150.48 5157.36 3971.90 29.67 30-Year Fixed Conv 6.37 6.30 5.84
Barron’s 50 Index 13213.6813284.65 11088 19.17 Bank money market-z 0.60 0.60 0.31
0
are changed regularly to keep the index a current picture of the
market. Source: The Bond Buyer Stock Splits/Dividends Special Dividends Gerdau ADR
Gerdau ADR
.02
.02
Avnet
Bloomin' Brands
Electronic Arts
.31
.24
.19
4.31 4.34 4.52 Record Ex-Div Pay Record Ex-Div Pay Safe Bulkers .05
Company Name-Ticker Symbol (Exchange) Amount Date Date Date Sprott .25 Equinix 4.26
Company Name-Ticker Symbol (Exchange) Amount Date Date Date Golar LNG .25
Stock/Bond Yield Gap-s Stanley Black & Decker .81
FRP Holdings-FRPH (Nasdaq) 2-for-1 4-01 4-15 4-12 ClearOne-CLRO (NCM ) 0.50 4-02 4-11 4-10 Terex .17 Old Dominion Freight Line .26
-5 Powerbridge Technologies-XTKG (NCM ) 6% 4-26 4-25 5-27 UnitedHealth Group 1.88 Thursday (March 21)
(Difference between yield on highest-grade corporate bonds and Graphite Bio-GRPH (Nasdaq) 1.03 3-18 3-15 3-21
yield on stocks on the DJIA.) Texas Pacific Land-TPL (NYSE) 3-for-1 3-18 3-27 3-26 Greystone Housing Impact-GHI (NYSE) 0.07 3-28 3-27 4-30 Wednesday (March 20) Graphite Bio 1.03
-2.05 -2.05 -1.98 SIGA Technologies-SIGA (Nasdaq) 0.60 3-26 3-25 4-11 Assured Guaranty .31 Heidrick & Struggles .15
A M J J A S O N D J F
-10
Yield on DJ Equal Weight US Corp Bond Idx: Week’s Ex- Week’s Ex- Smart Share Global ADR-EM (NCM ) 0.03 5-31 5-31 6-14
Avery Dennison
Cedar Fair Dep Rec
Compass Minerals
.81
.30
.15
Qualcomm
Red River Bancshares
.80
.09
TFS Financial .282
Corp Bonds, (y) 5.48 5.36 5.50
Dividend Dividend U.S. Treasury Bills
Dominion Energy
Enpro
Harley-Davidson
.668
.30
.172
Friday (March 22)
v-Week ended Thursday. y-Yield to maturity, week ended Thursday. z- AMERISAFE .37
Source: LSEG.*Barclays T-Bond Index discontinued by firm.
Dates Dates Maturity Bid Asked
Wkly
Chg.
Ask
Yld.
Liberty Energy
Natural Grocers
Ormat Technologies
.07
.10
.12
Atlantica Sustain Infr
B. Riley Financial
.445
.50
March 19 5.26 5.25 .... 5.33 PJT Partners .25 Big 5 Sporting Goods .05
This list includes payouts on This list includes payouts on Columbia Sportswear .30
common stocks. common stocks. March 21 5.27 5.26 .... 5.35 RLI Corp .27
CRA International .42
Federal Reserve Data Bank NYSE NASDAQ
March 26
March 28
5.26
5.26
5.25
5.25
....
-0.01
5.34
5.35
VF Corp
White Mountains Insur
Xylem
.09
1.00
.36
Diamond Hill Investment
Evergy
1.50
.642
Tuesday (March 19) Tuesday (March 19) April 02 5.25 5.24 -0.02 5.32 Exponent .28
One week ended Mar 13: April 04 5.24 5.23 -0.03 5.33 Thursday (March 21)
Allient .03 Flushing Financial .22
Dine Brands Global .51 Bentley Systems .06 April 09 5.27 5.26 0.01 5.35 Alcoa .10 HealthStream .028
Member Bank Latest Prev. Week Year Ago GeoPark .136 Ituran Location & Ctrl .39 April 11 5.26 5.25 .... 5.35 Aris Water Solutions .09 Monro .28
Reserve Chgs. (Mil. $) Week Change Change MIND CTI .24 April 16 5.26 5.25 -0.01 5.35 Cigna Group 1.40 NAPCO Security Techs .10
Kohl's .50 DRDGOLD ADR .106
Silver Spike Investment .25 April 18 5.27 5.26 .... 5.35 Newmark Group .03
U.S. Gov't securities: Nordic American Tankers .12 DRDGOLD ADR .107
Wednesday (March 20) April 23 5.27 5.26 .... 5.38 Dun & Bradstreet .05 Steven Madden .21
PLDT ADR .823 TriCo Bancshares .33
Bought outright 7,034,909 -2,910 -912,149 Arhaus .50 April 25 5.28 5.27 0.01 5.36 Eagle Bulk Shipping .60
UWM Holdings .10 April 30 5.28 5.27 0.02 5.38 FactSet Research Systems .98 United Fire Group .16
Vistra .215 Bank7 .21 Griffon .15
Federal agency secur: Broadcom 5.25 May 02 5.29 5.28 0.02 5.40 Saturday (March 23)
May 07 5.27 5.26 0.01 5.37 Home Depot 2.25
Bought outright 2,347 .... .... Wednesday (March 20) Hibbett .25 Insperity .57 NONE
NXP Semiconductors 1.014 May 09 5.27 5.26 0.01 5.38 Jackson Financial .70
Reserve bank credit: Berkshire Hills Bancorp .18 Seagate Technology .70 May 14 5.25 5.24 0.02 5.36 Kinross Gold .03 Sunday (March 24)
Best Buy .94 Smith & Wesson Brands .12 May 16 5.24 5.23 -0.01 5.36 Mosaic .21 NONE
Primary Credit 2,344 +366 -82,613 May 21 5.25 5.24 0.02 5.38 NL Industries .08
Dole .08 Thursday (March 21)
Secondary Credit 143 +93 +143 May 23 5.24 5.23 .... 5.37 Noble .40
Global Indemnity .35 First Guaranty Bancshares .16
Seasonal Credit
Float
1
-269
....
+101
-2
+144
Philip Morris Intl
Restaurant Brands Intl
1.30
.58
Hackett Group
ICF International
.11
.14
May 28
May 30
5.24
5.23
5.23
5.22
....
....
5.37
5.36
Old Republic Intl
Permian Resources
Permian Resources
.265
.05
.10
Week’s
Playtika Holding .10 June 04 5.23 5.22 0.02 5.37 RTX .59
Other F.R. Assets
Total Fed Credit #
35,624
7,505,810
+2,808
+4,513
+228
-941,182
Sempra
Synovus Financial
.62
.38
Fri. (March 22)-Sun. (March 24) June 06
June 11
5.24
5.23
5.23
5.22
....
....
5.37
5.37
Ryerson Holding
Solaris Oilfield A
.188
.12
Dividend
NONE
Gold stock
SDR Certif. Accounts
11,041
5,200
....
....
....
....
VICI Properties
Thursday (March 21)
.415
Monday (March 25)
June 13
June 18
5.24
5.23
5.23
5.22
0.04
0.01
5.37
5.37
Friday (March 22)
Acushnet Holdings .215
Payment
Treas. Curr. Outst. 52,756 +14 +639 Academy Sports .11 June 20 5.22 5.21 0.01 5.37 BlackRock 5.10
Flexsteel Industries .15 June 25 5.22 5.21 0.02 5.37 Bridge Investment .07 This list includes payouts on
Total 7,593,112 +4,721 -940,688 Banco de Chile ADR 1.692 common stocks.
SIGA Technologies .60 June 27 5.20 5.19 0.02 5.35 CNO Financial Group .15
Currency in circ 2,339,270 +3,795 +30,952 British Amer Tobacco ADR .743 Dana .10
July 02 5.21 5.20 0.01 5.35 NYSE American
Treas. Cash Hldgs
Treas. Fed Deposits
478
768,369
....
+636
+347
+535,503
Intl Flavors & Fragrances .40
Medtronic .69 Week’s Ex- July 05
July 09
5.18
5.21
5.17
5.20
0.02
....
5.34
5.35
Elevance Health
Essent Group
Fidelity Natl Info Svcs
1.63
.28
.36
Monday (March 18)
Pearson ADR .199 July 11 5.19 5.18 0.03 5.35 NONE
Foreign Fed Deposits
Other Fed Deposits
11,133
157,386
+590
+1,028
+1,384
-46,926
Portland Gen Electric
Turning Point Brands
.475
.07
Dividend July 16
July 18
5.21
5.18
5.20
5.17
....
0.04
5.36
5.35
Hudbay Minerals
Jacobs Solutions
Juniper Networks
.007
.29
.22 Tuesday (March 19)
L3Harris Technologies 1.16 CompX IntlA .30
Other FR liab/cap
Total factors
-105,840
3,968,479
-4,910
+6,263
-113,675
-1,313,839 Friday (March 22) Dates July 25
August 01
5.14
5.14
5.13
5.13
0.03
0.03
5.31
5.32
LCI Industries
Lithia Motors
1.05
.50 Wednesday (March 20)
Reserves F.R. banks 3,624,633 -1,543 +373,151 Altria Group .98 August 08 5.14 5.13 0.04 5.32 Mativ Holdings .10 B2Gold .04
This list includes payouts on August 15 5.12 5.11 0.04 5.31 Okeanis Eco Tankers .66
Fgn hold U.S. debt 3,347,729 +3,830 -14,446 World Kinect .17 common stocks. Chicago Rivet & Machine .10
August 22 5.12 5.11 0.04 5.31 Pioneer Natural Resources 1.25
Saturday (March 23) Aug 29 '24 5.11 5.10 0.03 5.30 Pioneer Natural Resources 1.31 Thursday (March 21)
NYSE American Reliance 1.10
Sep 05 '24 5.13 5.12 0.04 5.32 Sealed Air .20 NONE
Reserve Aggr (Mil. $) Latest Prev. Month % Year NONE Tues. (March 19)-Wed. (March 20) Sep 12 '24 5.13 5.12 .... 5.33
Month Ended Jan: Month Month Chg. Ago Steris .52 Friday (March 22)
Sunday (March 24) NONE Oct 03 '24 4.98 4.97 0.02 5.13 TransUnion .105
Oct 31 '24 4.92 4.91 0.04 5.09 Unilever ADR .458 Adams Resources .24
Total Reserves: 3,507,000 3,492,000 0.43 3,029,900 Thursday (March 21)
NONE Nov 29 '24 4.93 4.92 0.07 5.11 Saturday (March 23)
Nonborrowed Res 3,346,900 3,358,500 -0.35 3,014,200 Cohen & Co .25 Saturday (March 23)
Dec 26 '24 4.90 4.89 0.08 5.10 NONE
Borrowed Reserves 160,073 133,490 19.91 15,719 Monday (March 25) Espey Mfg & Elec .175 NONE
Jan 23 '25 4.82 4.81 0.09 5.04
Monetary Base 5,843,700 5,827,400 0.28 5,329,000 Cato Cl A .17 Fri.(March 22)-Mon. (March 25) Feb 20 '25 4.82 4.81 0.13 5.06 Sunday (March 24) Sunday (March 24)
Intl Game Technology .20 NONE NONE NONE
March 18, 2024 BARRON’S 53
Week’s KarunaTherap
Kaspi.kz
KewauneeSci
VitalFarms
WeatherfordIntl
Willdan
ExtremeNetworks
Falcon'sBeyondGlbl
FaradayFuture
Netcapital
Next.e.GO
Noodles
AcresCmclRlty
ASGN
Gartner
GatesIndustrial
GatosSilver
PrudentialFinl
Q2
QuantaServices
NEW LOWS
AMTD Digital
AXIS Capital
New Highs and Kidpik
Kingstone
KuraOncology
WiMiHologram
Wix.com
XOMA
Farmmi
Fathom
FLJ
NovoIntSci
NutexHealth
NuZee
AbbVie
AerCap
GencoShipping
GoDaddy
Graco
RadianGroup
Ranpak
RegalRexnord
ARC Document
agilon health
Allego
Lows LegacyHousing
LendingTree
LexariaBioscience
XtrkRreefGlbNat
NEW LOWS
FluenceEnergy
ForwardAir
ForwardIndustries
OcuphirePharma
OfficePropIncm
ONE GroupHosp
AirLease
Alcon
AllyFinancial
Graham
Grainger
GraniteConstr
ReinsGrp
RenaissanceRe
RestaurantBrands
AllurionTech
AmericanWell
BCE
22ndCentury AmericanFin Bakkt
NYSE LianBio ForzaX1 OpalFuels GraphicPkg RigelResourceA
23andMe AIG Barnes&NobleEduc
LibertyLiveA Fossil OutsetMedical Grindr RithmCapital
Ameriprise
O T H E R VO I C E S
It’s difficult to find evidence that the
Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy
is very restrictive.
W
Wars and the proliferation of sanc- policy can also lead to faster produc-
tions and tariffs incentivize firms to tivity growth. If sustained, productiv-
ith the Fed- BY SANDER observed directly, only estimated by invest in supply-chain resilience over ity growth can boost neutral for a
eral Reserve GERBER AND complex, imprecise econometric mod- efficiency, which requires capital ex- much longer period of time.
set to meet STEPHEN els. The Fed’s latest projections put penditures and boosts neutral. If the Fed is wrong and these struc-
shortly, it’s MIRAN longer-run neutral policy rates at Third, population growth has re- tural changes to the economy have
past time to Gerber is chief 2.5%, just where they were pre-Covid, bounded under the Biden administra- pushed neutral higher, then policy is
start asking executive officer and it believes current rates close to tion’s laxer border policies. Since the not nearly as restrictive as the Fed
just how and chief invest- 5.5% are quite restrictive. start of 2020, the native-born labor believes. Indeed, the three-month an-
restrictive current monetary policy is. ment officer of With inflation materially off its force has shrunk by 544,000 work- nualized rate of the Fed’s “supercore”
Look no further than February’s con- Hudson Bay Capi- peaks from the summer of 2022, the ers, but the foreign-born labor force measure of inflation, which tracks
sumer price index data. Core inflation tal. Miran is ad- Fed is contemplating when and how has grown by 4.3 million. Official data service prices less housing costs, ac-
ran 3.8% over the past year and at an junct fellow at the deeply to cut. understate this effect. Illegal immi- celerated from 2.2% in December to
annualized rate of 4.2% over the past Manhattan Insti- And yet, it’s difficult to find evidence grants are entering the nation at an 4.1% in January. With labor and hous-
RETIREMENT MAILBAG
Social Security Faces a The Threat of Index-
Biden-Trump Showdown
Tracking Strategies
BY ELIZABETH O’BRIEN called the “third rail” of U.S. politics. To the Editor: disparage generally accepted accounting
What’s more, changes will most likely You say that this bull has longer to run principles, or GAAP, accounting (“Beware
A
fight over Social Security is exempt people who are close to retire- (“Will the Stock Market Keep Going Up? the Market’s Priciest Stocks,” March 8).
brewing between Joe Biden and ment. Lawmakers won’t want to pull the What to Know as the S&P 500 Hits New The Financial Accounting Standards
Donald Trump. Now that both rug out from under people who have been Highs,” Cover Story, March 8), but it Board comprises many highly intelligent
presidential candidates have counting on a certain level of benefits and would be wise to heed the worries of J.P. people who have dedicated their profes-
clinched their nominations, we’re likely to who have less time to change course in Morgan’s David Kelly about the effect sional lives to determining when an asset
hear more proposals to fix the program— response to congressional action. on price setting of passive investments’ has been consumed, destroyed, expired,
raising fresh questions about whether Instead, many experts predict that law- assets-under-management growth. For or diminished in value. They have nothing
future retirees can count on receiving their makers will find a solution through some every $1 going into an S&P 500 index to gain in making their determinations.
full benefits. combination of tax increases and benefit tracking strategy, 24 cents automatically Many company executives and sell-side
In his proposed budget for fiscal year cuts for younger generations. go to the top five stocks, only two cents stock market participants do indeed have
2025, President Biden pledged to “protect Experts that Barron’s consulted put the less than the peak concentration in late a financial interest in promoting “non-
and strengthen” Social Security. He also dividing line for potential benefit cuts at 2021. BofA Securities’ Savita Subramanian GAAP” accounting. Investors should be
vowed to protect the program from the about 45 or 50 years of age: Anyone youn- is correct that the context of price/earnings wary of their motives.
“chopping block” in his State of the Union ger than that now faces a greater chance of ratios today matters, but so does the virtu- Joe Keyes
speech. Biden didn’t reveal specific pro- benefit reductions, while those on the ous cycle of prices from nonfundamental On Barrons.com
posals but in the past has supported tax older side should receive their benefits as investing strategies.
hikes on people earning over $400,000 to currently scheduled. To check your pro- Dave Johnson
help ensure the program’s solvency and jected future benefits, you can create a “my Brooklyn, N.Y. Bitcoin Mania
prevent benefit cuts. Social Security account” profile on the
Former President Trump, meanwhile, Social Security Administration website. To the Editor:
raised the possibility of cutting entitle- Absent specific proposals, it’s hard to Investing in Gold As one of the many who have been unable
ments in a recent media interview. The say what any cuts to Social Security might to make sense of the Bitcoin phenomenon,
Trump campaign later said he would pro- look like. One proposal that has been To the Editor: I turned with interest to Jack Hough’s
tect Social Security and Medicare, which floated is raising the full retirement age, or Everything that Randall W. Forsyth said Streetwise column (“What Is Bitcoin Re-
are both considered entitlement programs, the age at which you can receive the full about gold investing has come true for me ally Worth? 5 Ways to Value the Crypto-
with workers paying payroll taxes that benefits to which you’re entitled. It’s cur- personally (“Gold Has Broken Through. currency,” March 8). My biggest takeaway
partially fund them. rently 67 for anyone born in 1960 or after. Why the Miners Could Be Next,” Up & is that none of the methods is based on a
While both sides were short on specif- Lifting the retirement age is like a Down Wall Street, March 8). Since 2019, specific explanation of the financial utility
ics, Social Security is in dire need of a fix stealth benefit cut. Each one-year increase when I first invested in gold, my Abrdn of cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin
to restore its solvency. Barring congressio- in the full retirement age is equivalent to a Physical Gold Shares exchange-traded specifically. However, this doesn’t seem to
nal action, the Social Security trustees roughly 7% cut in monthly benefits for fund is up, while my individual gold- have slowed down the demand as much as
project that the retirement trust fund will retirees, according to the Center on Budget mining stocks and ETFs are all down, would be expected. Excessive demand is
run dry in 2033. The fund makes up the and Policy Priorities. As such, it’s possible with the exception of Agnico Eagle Mines. how all financial manias begin.
difference between the amount promised that younger workers will have to work What makes gold investment maddening Andy Dolan
to beneficiaries and the amount collected longer to receive the full benefits they’re is that today’s high inflation number Palm Desert, Calif.
via payroll taxes. (Social Security is run on promised. should have been bullish for gold, and yet
a “pay go” basis, with current workers One thing that people shouldn’t do: the entire sector is down substantially.
paying for current retirees.) If the fund claim benefits earlier because they worry Mike Meehan Send letters to Mail@Barrons.com.
runs out of money, payroll taxes would that Social Security is going away. The Bradenton, Fla. To be considered for publication,
cover only a projected 77% of scheduled longer you wait to claim until age 70, the correspondence must bear the writer’s
benefits. Put another way, beneficiaries more you receive in benefits. Even in the name, address, and phone number.
would face an immediate benefit cut of worst-case scenario, a 20% cut to a higher GAAP Accounting Letters are subject to editing.
23% if Congress fails to act. benefit leaves more in your pocket than
Social Security isn’t going away. And the same percentage cut to a lower benefit, To the Editor:
targeting benefits for current recipients says Martha Shedden, president and co- As a retired certified public accountant, The Barron’s Daily is our morning briefing
would be politically disastrous for any founder of the National Association of I have long found it amusing that compa- for what you need to know for the day.
politician—why Social Security is often Registered Social Security Analysts. B nies and stock market commentators often Sign up at barrons.com/newsletters.
M W L C 10 11 12 H G R P 4 8 3 F 2 D 6 7 9 0 A I
56 BARRON’S March 18, 2024