S&P 500 Biotech Giant Vertex Leads 5 Stocks Showing Strength

Your stocks to watch for the week ahead are Cheniere Energy (LNG), S&P 500 biotech giant Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Cardinal Health (CAH), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Genuine Parts (GPC).

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While the market remains in correction, with analysts and investors wary of an economic downturn, these five stocks are worth adding to watchlists. S&P 500 medical giants Vertex and Cardinal Health have been holding up, as health-care related plays tend to do well in down markets.

Steel Dynamics and Genuine Parts are both coming off strong earnings as both the steel and auto parts industries report optimistic outlooks. Meanwhile, Cheniere Energy saw sales boom in the second quarter as demand in Europe for natural gas continues to grow.

Major indexes have been making rally attempts with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 testing weekly support on Friday. With market uncertainty, investors should be ready for follow-through day breakouts and keep an eye on these stocks.

Cheniere Energy, Cardinal Health and VRTX stock are all on IBD Leaderboard.

Cheniere Energy Stock
LNG shares rose 1.1% to 175.79 during Friday’s market trading. On the week, the stock advanced 3.1%, not from highs, bouncing from its 21-day and 10-week lines earlier in the week.

Cheniere Energy has been consolidating since mid-September, but needs another week to forge a proper base, with a potential 182.72 buy point formed on Aug. 10.

Houston-based Cheniere Energy was IBD Stock Of The Day on Thursday, as the largest U.S. producer of liquefied natural gas eyes strong demand in Europe.

Even though natural gas prices are plunging in the U.S. and Europe, investors still see strong LNG demand for Cheniere and others.

The U.K. government confirmed last week that it is in talks for an LNG purchase agreement with a number of companies, including Cheniere.

In the first half of 2021, less than 40% of Cheniere’s cargoes of LNG landed in Europe. That jumped to more than 70% through this year’s second quarter, even as the company ramped up new export capacity. The urgency of Europe’s natural gas shortage only intensified last month. That is when an explosion disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia that had once supplied 40% of the European Union’s natural gas.

In Q2, sales increased 165% to $8 billion and LNG earned $2.90 per share, up from a net loss of $1.30 per share in Q2 2021. The company will report Q3 earnings Nov. 3, with investors seeing booming profits for the next few quarters.

Cheniere Energy has a Composite Rating of 84. It has a 98 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share price movement with a 1 to 99 score. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 41.

Vertex Stock
VRTX stock jumped 3.4% to 300 on Friday, rebounding from a test of its 50-day moving average. Shares climbed 2.2% for the week. Vertex stock has formed a tight flat base with an official buy point of 306.05, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The stock has remained consistent over recent weeks, while the relative strength line has trended higher. The RS line tracks a stock’s performance vs. the S&P 500 index.

Vertex Q3 earnings are on due Oct. 27. Analysts see EPS edging up 1% to $3.61 per share with sales increasing 16% to $2.2 billion, according to FactSet.

The Boston-based global biotech company dominates the cystic fibrosis treatment market. Vertex also has other products in late-stage clinical development that target sickle cell disease, Type 1 diabetes and certain genetically caused kidney diseases. That includes a gene-editing partnership with Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP).

In early August, Vertex reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised full-year sales targets.

S&P 500 stock Vertex ranks second in the Medical-Biomed/Biotech industry group. VRTX has a 99 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and its EPS Rating is 99.

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Cardinal Health Stock
CAH stock advanced 3.2% to 73.03 Friday, clearing a 71.22 buy point from a shallow cup-with-handle base and hitting a record high. But volume was light on the breakout. CAH stock leapt 7.3% for the week.

Cardinal Health stock’s relative strength line has also been trending up for months.

The cup-with-handle base is part of a base-on-base pattern, forming just above a cup base cleared on Aug. 11.

Cardinal Health, based in Dublin, Ohio, offers a wide assortment of health care services and medical supplies to hospitals, labs, pharmacies and long-term care facilities. The company reports that it serves around 90% of hospitals and 60,000 pharmacies in the U.S.

S&P 500 stock Cardinal Health will report Q1 2023 earnings on Nov. 4. Analysts forecast earnings falling 26% to 96 cents per share. Sales are expected to increase 10% to $48.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Cardinal Health stock ranks first in the Medical-Wholesale Drug/Supplies industry group, ahead of McKesson (MCK), which is also showing positive action. CAH stock has a 94 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 97 Relative Strength Rating and an EPS rating of 73.

Steel Dynamics Stock
STLD shares shot up 8.5% to 92.92 on Friday and soared 19% on the week, coming off a Steel Dynamics earnings beat Wednesday night.

Shares blasted above an 88.72 consolidation buy point Friday after clearing a trendline Thursday. STLD stock is 17% above its 50-day line, definitely extended from that key average.

Steel Dynamics’ latest consolidation could be seen as part of a larger base going back six months.

Steel Dynamics topped Q3 earnings views with EPS rising 10% to $5.46 while revenue grew 11% to $5.65 billion. The steel producer’s outlook is optimistic despite weaker flat rolled steel pricing. STLD reports its order activity and backlogs remain solid.

The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company is among the largest producers of carbon steel products in the U.S. It engages in metal recycling operations along with steel fabrication and produces myriad steel products.

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STLD stock ranks first in the Steel-Producers industry group. STLD stock has a 96 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 90 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share-price movement that tops at 99. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 98.

Genuine Parts Stock
GPC stock gained 2.8% to 162.35 Friday after the company topped earnings views with its Q3 results on Thursday. For the week GPC advanced 5.1% as the stock held its 50-day line and is in a flat base.

GPC has an official 165.09 flat-base buy point after a three-week rally, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The relative strength line for Genuine Parts stock has rallied sharply to highs over the past several months.

On Thursday, the Atlanta-based auto parts company raised its full-year guidance on growth across its automotive and industrial sales.

Genuine Parts earnings per share advanced 19% to $2.23 and revenue grew 18% to $5.675 billion in Q3. GPC’s full-year guidance is now calling for EPS of $8.05-$8.15, up from $7.80-$7.95. The company now forecasts revenue growth of 15%-16%, up from the earlier 12%-14%.

During the Covid pandemic, supply chain constraints caused a major upheaval in the auto industry, sending prices for new and used cars to record levels. This has made consumers more likely to hang on to their existing vehicles for longer, driving mileage higher and boosting demand for auto replacement parts.

Fellow auto stocks O’Reilly Auto Parts (ORLY) and AutoZone (AZO) have also rallied near buy points amid the struggling market. O’Reilly reports on Oct. 26.

IBD ranks Genuine Parts first in the Retail/Wholesale-Auto Parts industry group. GPC stock has a 96 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and it has an EPS Rating of 89.

Battle Between Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing

The confusion between affiliate marketing and network marketing or multi-level marketing is quite interesting. Some people even think affiliate marketing business and network marketing businesses are scams. While others think they are one and the same with different names. In this article, we will discuss and look at the definitions, distinctions and some misconceptions. At the end of this article, we should have been able to provide some clarity.What is Affiliate Marketing?Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing system in which a business rewards a person(s) or affiliate(s) for each visitor or customer brought by the person’s own marketing efforts.What is Network Marketing?Network Marketing is totally different. Here the marketer becomes associated with a certain product that they like or believe in, which they then buy from their supplier and resell to the public at a profit. Before the marketer starts selling products of a larger company, he/she signs some paper work which gives him/her a small franchise of the large business.Differences between Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing.In affiliate marketing, affiliates are not selling any product directly. They are simply the mouthpiece, or the advertising board that tells people where to go and buy products. You will not have to purchase anything, but you will still make money just for telling people where to go get a product. Affiliates get a commission when the person that they refer to a website buys something, so in this way the company is paying for a good lead and they will be paid generously.In network marketing, the foundation is in growing a team. You can start with one person (also known as a down-line) who then introduces the next person and that person introduces another and the chain goes on and on. The beauty of network marketing is that it is a game of numbers. The more individual down lines you have under you, the bigger your team, the more money you make.Another difference is that in affiliate marketing, commissions are paid usually on single level depending on business laws in different countries.In network marketing, commissions are paid on infinite levels of down lines. The “deeper” you build the closer you are to residual income.Which brings in More Money?Depending on your business goals, affiliate marketing can make you a decent fortune in a few years if can get a good number of customers to buy your affiliate company’s products.While Network marketing can generate an income more than you can comprehend if you consistently work hard at it. If you happen to belong to the top 10 network marketing business that are structured, a good one should have a rare provision in their company policy like making the business will-able. So you work the business and after you stop working it, you can hand it over to the next person. And that person does not start from scratch but continues from where you stopped. A recommendation of one of such companies can be found at the end of this article.What Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing Are Not.Whether you decide to do affiliate marketing or network marketing, once you have a good understanding of each, you will be sure that:1. It is not a pyramid scheme.2. It is not a “get rich quick” business.3. It is not for non business minded people.4. It’s not for those that want a “nice-play-thing” kind of business.5. It is not a one man’s show. It needs people with common business goals to thrive.

Exciting Careers in Fashion

Fashion has a rippling effect on people from different walks of life. It gradually gains popularity among different strata of society. To help fashion reach out to the consumers, a large number of professionals are needed. Apart from fashion designing, you can find a number of exciting jobs related to fashion.If you are not into designing but still want to remain connected with fashion, you can perform other job duties such as Fashion marketing/ merchandising/buying and forecasting in context of every kind of wear be it the sophisticated haute-couture, ready-to-wear or for the mass market and street wear.Basically, the fashion and the retail industry at large works as team where fashion advisors, buyers, forecasters, merchandisers and marketers, fashion designers play their part well and keep the industry going. If you love fashion and want to be related to this field professionally, you can take up jobs such as that of marketing/ merchandising/buying and forecasting in this field. These jobs enable you to execute functions that help designers to sell their collections. As a buyer you have to perform a number of functions such as that of a fashion buying. You’ll be entrusted with the job of buying raw material/accessories for fashion houses, buying houses, export houses and retail line. For this you need to have a superior knowledge about the new trends that are likely to hit the market and probably which will fetch a large number of consumers. Fashion Marketing is basically concerned with making fashion reach out to maximum number of consumers and assisting fashion designers, retail stores to make fashion accessible to the target customers. You have to work with fashion designers, suppliers and also at the manufacturing level in order to even the process that precedes fashion designing.You can also be highly involved in fashion by running a retail store. If you have knowledge about fashion and how the industry operates, you can open a retail store. Alternatively, if you are not too keen on entrepreneurship you can take up jobs as retail managers/executives in fashion houses and retail stores.Fashion Forecasting is another area where you can exhibit your love for fashion and work in the industry. As the name suggests, the job includes predicting fashion trends, the colours which will be popular in a particular a season or a year and the styles that are likely to become rage over a particular period of time. The designer takes cue from the trends predicted by forecasters and then decides upon the styles, fabrics, colours for the clothes line they want to launch and the clothes they want to design for creating a collection pertaining to a particular season. Analysing and evaluating new trends is necessary and designers/ retail houses depend a lot on extensive market research which forecasters make. The job may require you to travel extensively to get a peek into different markets in different geographical areas. You have to forecast the new colours which will become trend in the upcoming season, the new styles and trends that will become popular.