Nasdaq Stocks

The Zacks Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance industry has been benefiting from higher retention, streamlined operations, global presence, better pricing, solid underwriting, an improving rate environment and a strong capita

General Mills (GIS) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.04 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.97 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurrin

Roku Inc. ROKU has expanded its collaboration with Cross Screen Media. Cross Screen Media's clients can now better track their spending on Roku and use its Ad Platform. The users can also use Roku's data to target specific househo

W.R. Berkley Corporation WRB has been favored by investors on the back of higher premiums, lower claims frequency in certain lines of business, growth in exposure, effective capital deployment and sufficient liquidity.

Reliance, Inc.’s RS shares have popped 23.8% over the past six months. The company has also outperformed its industry’s decline of 3.2% over the same time frame. It has also topped the S&P 500’s roughly 15.9% rise over the sam

Kronos Worldwide, Inc.’s KRO shares have popped around 15% over the past three months. It is expected to gain from higher demand for titanium dioxide (TiO2) and easing pricing pressure this year. Cost-reduction initiatives are als

The 2024 National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) Division I Men's Basketball Tournament will kick off on Mar 19, spreading “March Madness” among millions of Americans. Though it will divert a large number of Americans fr

Communication Services has been one of the success stories from Wall Street over the past year, as the market has rebounded from the vagaries of 2022. As of February 2024, The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) had gr

Signet (SIG) came out with quarterly earnings of $6.73 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.33 per share. This compares to earnings of $5.52 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items

Saipem S.p.A SAPMF has signed a letter of intent (LOI) related to two projects to develop offshore carbon dioxide transportation and storage infrastructure for the East Coast Cluster in the United Kingdom. The company has been awa

Wall Street has maintained its northbound journey in 2024 after an astonishing rally in 2023. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — are up 3.7%, 9.2% and 9.5%, respective

U.S. stock markets have been maintaining their northbound journey in the first quarter of 2024 after an impressive 2023. Year to date, the broad-market index — the S&P 500 — is up 9.2% after rallying 23.9% in 2023. Wall Street

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) currently trades around $160 per share, 15% below its peak level of over $185 seen in April 2022, and it seems like it can see higher levels over time. JNJ stock was trading at around $180 in June 2022, just before the Fed started increasing rate

Eli Lilly stock (NYSE: LLY) has seen phenomenal gains of 345% from levels of $170 in early January 2021 to around $755 now, vs. an increase of about 35% for the S&P 500 over this roughly three-year period. This can primarily be attributed to a significant 236% rise in the com

[Note: Lululemon’s FY’23 ended January 2024]Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU), a company designing and selling athletic and casual apparel, is scheduled to report its fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday, March 21. We expect LULU stock to likely see little to no move

Our theme of Cyber Security Stocks , which includes the likes of CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) has gained about 11% this year, performing slightly better than the broader Nasdaq-100, which remains up by around 8% over the same period.  While the broader tech indices have be

Adobe’s stock (NASDAQ: ADBE) has lost 17% in 2024 as compared to the 7% rise in the S&P500 index over the same period. Further, the stock price dropped 13.7% on Friday vs a 0.7% gain in the broader index. The decline came after the firm posted lower-than-expected revenu

The Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF ( NYSEARCA:PPA ) has outperformed its peers over the past three, five, and 10 years. Defense stocks have historically been a good place to invest, and I’m bullish on PPA as a good way to gain exposure to them, thanks to its outperformance versus peers, its diversified approach to investing in aerospace and defense, and the fact that it gives investors a bit of different exposure to the space versus its peers.   What Is the PPA ETF’s Strategy?  According to fund sponsor Invesco ( NYSE:IVZ ), PPA is “based on the SPADE Defense Index. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stocks that comprise the Index. The Index is designed to identify a group of companies involved in the development, manufacturing, operations and support of US defense, homeland security and aerospace operations. The Fund and the Index are rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly.” The fund launched in 2005 and has $2.9 billion in assets under management (AUM).  Why Invest in Defense Stocks?  Defense stocks are generally a good sector for investors to gain exposure to, as defense companies have strong relationships with large and stable customers, like the U.S. government and other national governments. Because of these strong, longstanding relationships and the considerable technical expertise and financial resources required to manufacture products like fighter jets, missiles, drones, and other complex military-grade equipment, these companies enjoy strong moats around their businesses.  Furthermore, defense spending is often uncorrelated with the broader economy, giving investors some downside protection.  A Diversified Aerospace and Defense Portfolio PPA offers investors solid diversification within the aerospace and defense sector. It holds 53 stocks, and its top 10 holdings make up 50.7% of assets.  This makes PPA wider-reaching than peers like the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF ( NYSEARCA:XAR ) and the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ( BATS:ITA ), which own 34 and 38 stocks, respectively.  Below, you’ll find an overview of PPA’s top 10 holdings using TipRanks’ holdings tool. PPA owns all of the typical defense industry stalwarts that you would expect it to, like Lockheed Martin ( NYSE:LMT ), RTX Corporation ( NYSE:RTX ), and Northrop Grumman ( NYSE:NOC ).  But what differentiates it a bit is that it also owns stocks that you might not immediately think of as aerospace and defense stocks, like General Electric ( NYSE:GE ) and Honeywell ( NASDAQ:HON ). While these stocks are indeed involved in aerospace and defense, they are giant industrial conglomerates with irons in the fires of many other industries as well. And while these stocks play a prominent role in PPA’s SPADE Defense Index, they are absent from the underlying indices of XAR and ITA.  As you can see, General Electric is PPA’s largest holding, with a weighting of 7.5%. And this far-reaching approach to aerospace and defense has been a good thing for the fund, as shares of General Electric have quietly gained 87.5% over the past year, driving a strong performance for PPA, as we’ll discuss further below. Honeywell’s performance hasn’t been quite as spectacular as General Electric’s, but it has still gained a decent 9.5% over the past year. Palantir ( NYSE:PLTR ) is another interesting example of a stock that PPA owns, but XAR and ITA do not. While certainly not a traditional defense company, Palantir’s software and data solutions are utilized by the U.S. military, the Department of Defense, and other defense agencies around the world. I like the fact that PPA gives investors exposure to the next generation of defense stocks like this. To be clear, Palantir isn’t a top holding, as it is just a small position within the fund, but Palantir has a lot of potential, and shares have gained 198.1% over the past year.  Another thing that I really like about PPA is that it has much less exposure to the beleaguered Boeing ( NYSE:BA ) stock than competitors like ITA. While Boeing is a top 10 holding for PPA, its 4.1% weighting within the fund makes it a much more manageable position than ITA’s 14.0% weighting in the troubled aerospace giant.   Best-in-Class Performance PPA has generated an excellent annualized return of 14.2% over the past three years and excellent annualized returns of 11.4% and 12.7% over the past five and 10 years, respectively. These are pretty solid results on their own, and these results are more notable in that PPA has decisively outperformed its peers like XAR and ITA recently.  For example, XAR has returned 5.4% over the past three years, 8.2% over the past five years, and 11.3% over the past 10. Meanwhile, ITA has returned 11.2% over the past three years, 5.3% over the past five years, and 10.1% over the past decade.  As you can see, PPA outperformed both of these peers over each time frame, especially over the past three and five years.  What Is PPA’s Expense Ratio? PPA has an expense ratio of 0.58%, meaning that an investor putting $10,000 into PPA will pay $58 in fees annually. Interestingly, this is right in line with the average expense ratio for all index ETFs, which stands at 0.57%, but it’s also more expensive than that of peers like XAR and ITA, which charge 0.35% and 0.40%, respectively. The fact that PPA is more expensive than its two closest competitors is the primary downside here. However, the fact that it has soundly outperformed these competitors over the past three and five years means that it can make a case that this higher fee is justified. If it keeps outperforming, most investors probably won’t mind.  Does PPA Pay a Dividend? PPA is a dividend payer. While its yield of 0.6% certainly isn’t the main draw here, it is an added bonus for investors. The fund has consistently paid dividends since its inception in 2005.  Is PPA Stock a Buy, According to Analysts? Turning to Wall Street, PPA earns a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 41 Buys, 11 Holds, and two Sell ratings assigned in the past three months. The average PPA stock price target of $107.49 implies 8.6% upside potential. The Takeaway: A Good Way to Invest in Aerospace and Defense Stocks I’m bullish on PPA going forward, given its strong performance over both the short and long term and the fact that it has outperformed its competition. PPA is a bit wider-reaching and a bit more diversified than its peers, and it gives investors exposure to aerospace and defense stocks that its peers do not, such as General Electric, Honeywell, and Palantir. The defense industry looks like a good sector for investors to gain exposure to, and PPA is a good way to do it.  Disclosure

AppLovin (APP) shares soared 8% in the trading session on Monday at $68.15. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 5.5% gain over the past fou

The recent gold rally stalled on March 08, at $2,203, and has since ground lower as the market awaits this week's global Central Banks decisions on interest rates and economic conditions. Gold's recent rally has good support from the managed money community. Have the funds become too optimistic too quickly? After this price correction and a favorable FED press conference, a seasonal buy pattern could extend the bull market.