Markets are on the alert to which sectors will buckle under the sharpest jump in interest rates in decades, with big rate moves this month in Britain and Norway a reminder that the tightening is not over.
World shares and the dollar inched higher while gold hit a three-month low on Thursday as focus flipped between the battle to lower inflation, the health of the U.S. economy and banks, and possible currency market intervention in China and Japan.
Wall Street was set to open higher on Thursday, as bank stocks rose after major lenders cleared the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, while economic data pointed to a resilient U.S. economy in the face of aggressive interest rate hikes.
Astute investors and market pundits were expecting the stock market returns to take a beating this year primarily due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening measures to tackle stubbornly high inflation.
Below is Validea's guru fundamental report for APPLE INC (AAPL). Of the 22 guru strategies we follow, AAPL rates highest using our Twin Momentum Investor model based on the published strategy of Dashan Huang. This momentum model looks for a combination of fundamental momentum an
U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday, as bank stocks rose after major lenders cleared the Federal Reserve's annual health test, while megacap stocks extended gains as investors shrugged off hawkish messages from the central bank chief.
Artificial intelligence (AIs) stocks and the related exchange traded funds remain among this year’s best-performing assets. However, in recent days, some AI equities and ETFs cooled off a bit. Analysts don’t expect that thaw to last long. In fact, some market observers believe that already-hot AI stocks could be drivers of broader market upside in [...]
Read more at ETFtrends.com.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) have climbed 43% in the first half of 2023, a stark improvement from the 27% it lost last year amid a market wide sell-off and macroeconomic headwinds. Investors have rallied over the company's long-term prospects in virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR
PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Block (NYSE: SQ) are leaders in the lucrative digital payments industry. Each has carved out a valuable niche in the broader sector, and they have proven to be pioneers in displacing cash. Shares of both are down big from their peaks, presenting investor
Apple will on Friday seek to fend off a revised EU antitrust charge and possible hefty fine linked to claims it prevents music streaming companies such as Spotify from informing users of other buying options outside its App Store.
U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as most banking stocks rose after clearing the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, while megcap stocks looked to extend gains despite the prospect of further interest rate hikes.
Tech stocks returned to favor this year after the market suffered a dramatic sell-off in 2022. Many of the industry's companies have enjoyed solid recoveries as advances in sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) have created bullish invest
The Invesco QQQ Trust (
QQQ
) ETF is a popular exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the NASDAQ 100 Index (
NDX
). Holdings of the QQQ ETF are dominated by big tech companies such as Apple (
AAPL
), Amazon (
AMZN
), and Meta Platforms (
META
). This ETF enables investors to invest in the largest 100 non-financial companies. Remarkably, QQQ has gained about 38% in 2023 so far, and based on
technical indicators, QQQ is still a Strong Buy near its current levels.
QQQ ETF’s Technical Indicators
According to TipRanks’ technical analysis tool, the QQQ ETF stock’s 50-Day EMA (exponential moving average) is 341.90, while its price is $364.54, making it a Buy. Further, the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) also signals a Buy.
At the same time, QQQ’s price rate of change (ROC) of 2.68 points to a bullish trend. Meanwhile, based on
Pivot Points, the QQQ has the next resistance near $368.29.
Overall, in the one-day time frame, the QQQ ETF stock is a Strong Buy, based on TipRanks’ easy-to-read technical summary signals. This is based on 15 Bullish, six Neutral, and one Bearish signals.
Is Invesco QQQ a Good Buy?
As per 1,210
top Wall Street analysts providing ratings on the
QQQ’s 102 holdings, the ETF is a Moderate Buy, and the average price target of $386.92 implies a 6.14% upside. It is noteworthy that these top analysts have an impressive history of helping investors generate massive returns from their recommendations.
Moreover, according to TipRanks’ Smart Score System, the
QQQ stock has a smart score of eight, which indicates that the ETF could outperform the broader market over the long term.
Ending Thoughts
The QQQ ETF has a commendable history of beating the S&P 500 Index (
SPX
) in nine out of the last ten years, with the trend continuing in 2023 so far. Additionally, the QQQ ETF stock has delivered an average annualized return of 17.7% in the past decade, ending in March 2023. These factors, along with analysts’ expectations of upside potential, are encouraging.
Disclosure
Patience tends to be handsomely rewarded on Wall Street, as any long-term chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) shows. However, the short-term movements in these major U.S. stock index
Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC said on Thursday it is sending more workers from Taiwan to the U.S. state of Arizona to help build a massive $40 billion factory to ensure its "fast ramp up".
Asian shares fell on Thursday after global central banks reaffirmed their resolve to beat inflation, warning rates may need to rise further, while the yen and yuan struggled to lift from lows amid jitters of intervention.
The U.S. stock market has powered higher in the first half of this year despite numerous obstacles, from banking sector turmoil to recurring doubts about the economy's health.
Led by a resurgent tech sector, growth stocks are back in a big way in 2023, and the popular
Vanguard Growth ETF (
NYSEARCA:VUG)
is up 31.7% year-to-date. So, what is VUG, and could it be a fit for your portfolio?
What Does the VUG ETF Do?
VUG is the growth ETF from the fund and ETF giant Vanguard, and it's a popular one, growing to almost $90 billion in assets under management (AUM) since its inception in 2004. In fact, VUG is the
11th-largest ETF in the world by AUM, and if you remove two bond funds from the equation, it comes in at number nine. The ETF seeks to track the results of the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index.
VUG's Portfolio
VUG is fairly diversified, with 241 holdings, although note that its top 10 holdings account for over 50% of assets. In fact, the top two holdings, Apple (
NASDAQ:AAPL
) and Microsoft (
NASDAQ:MSFT
), combine to account for over 25% of the fund. Below, you can get an overview of
VUG’s top holdings using TipRanks’ holdings tool.
As a growth ETF, VUG’s top holdings are dominated by the large-cap tech stocks that have propelled the market higher this year, including the aforementioned Apple and Microsoft, plus Amazon (
NASDAQ:AMZN
), Nvidia (
NASDAQ:NVDA
), Alphabet (
NASDAQ:GOOGL
) (
NASDAQ:GOOG
) and Tesla (
NASDAQ:TSLA
).
However, VUG isn’t limited to mega-cap tech. Beyond these names, healthcare giant Eli Lilly (
NYSE:LLY
) and payment networks Visa (
NYSE:V
) and Mastercard (
NASDAQ:MA
) also occupy spots within the top 10. Other notable holdings include more blue chip, large-cap growth stocks like Meta Platforms (
NASDAQ:META
), Thermo Fisher Scientific (
NYSE:TMO
), Home Depot (
NYSE:HD
), Costco (
NASDAQ:COST
), and McDonald's (
NYSE:MCD
).
VUG’s top 10 holdings feature a solid collection of Smart Scores. The
Smart Score is a proprietary quantitative stock scoring system created by TipRanks. It gives stocks a score from 1 to 10 based on eight market key factors. A Smart Score of 8 or higher is equivalent to an Outperform rating. As you can see in the table above, six out of VUG’s top 10 holdings feature Smart Scores of 8 or better.
VUG itself features an impressive ETF Smart Score of 8.
Is VUG Stock a Buy, According to Analysts?
Turning to Wall Street, VUG has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, as 66.9% of analyst ratings are Buys, 29.7% are Holds, and 3.4% are Sells. At $298.07, the
average VUG stock price target implies 6.9% upside potential.
A Star Performer
VUG is up 31.7% year-to-date, as mentioned earlier, and 24% over the past year, but it has been providing strong returns for its investors for a lot longer than that. Over the past three years, VUG has returned 11.8% on an annualized basis. Over the past five years, VUG has provided even better total returns of 13.2% on an annualized basis.
Zooming all the way out to 10 years, VUG has returned a stellar 13.9% on an annualized basis. Going all the way back to its inception in 2004, VUG’s total annualized return is impressively still in the double digits at 10.2%. Double-digit annualized returns over a long-term time horizon like this are a great way to build long-term wealth.
Furthermore, VUG is one of the rare ETFs that can say it has "beaten the market" over an extended time frame. Let’s use its Vanguard counterpart, the
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (
NYSEARCA:VOO)
, as a stand-in for the broader market and the S&P 500 specifically.
Over a three-year time horizon, VOO’s annualized total return of 12.8% beats VUG’s 11.8%. However, when the time frame is extended to five years, VUG has the edge with a 13.2% return to VOO’s 11% return. Going out 10 years, VUG’s 13.9% annualized return also beats VOO’s 11.9% return.
Below, you can
check out a comparison of VUG and VOO created using TipRanks' ETF Comparison Tool, which allows investors to compare up to 20 ETFs at a time across a variety of customizable factors.
VOO’s long-term double-digit annualized returns are stellar, so this sets a high bar for beating the market, but VUG is an ETF that can make this claim.
Minimal Fees
Despite this excellent long-term track record, VUG isn’t charging investors an arm and a leg for this performance. The ETF’s expense ratio of just 0.04% is very investor-friendly. This means that an investor putting $10,000 into VUG would pay just a negligible $4 in fees in year one of investing in the fund. After three years, this same investor would pay just $10 in fees, and after 10 years, their total in fees paid would be just $39.
You can essentially gain exposure to hundreds of the market's top growth stocks for 10 years for less than the price of a dinner for two at most restaurants nowadays, which is a good deal in my book. Minimal fees like this can help investors to preserve the principal of their investment portfolios and make a big difference over the long term, as high fees can really add up over time.
Investor Takeaway
Note that VUG is also a dividend payer. While its current
dividend yield of just 0.6% isn't much to write home about in and of itself, it all adds up to help add to total returns over time. Furthermore, VUG has a proud history as a dividend payer, having made dividend payments to its holders for 18 years in a row going back to its inception in 2004.
With a very attractive expense ratio, a strong portfolio, and an excellent long-term track record, VUG is the type of ETF that investors can feel confident about making a cornerstone of their portfolios for the long term. Since VUG is up considerably this year, it's likely that there will be pullbacks at some point. Still, this ETF has proven itself as a long-term winner, so investors can consider utilizing these pullbacks to dollar-cost average into a position over time to lower their cost basis.
Disclosure