Before We Begin: Investing Is About More Than Just Buying:-
You want to know what are the best stocks to buy now? You work hard for your money. The last thing you want to do is lose it in the stock market. You’re investing in stocks to improve your financial future. Now, part of that process isn’t just buying stocks. It’s also knowing when to take some chips off the table.
Rubrik (RBRK): Cybersecurity + AI + Data Resilience:-
This first stock is sitting between three very hot topics right now with data security and A right in the middle. And it’s Rubric. And if you believe cyber security is one of those secular growth trends in your portfolio, this could be a good play in addition to other names like Crowd Strike, Zcaler, and more. It’s going to take your on-prem, your cloud, your SAS, your unstructured data, your identity, and it’s going to give you everything you see right here.
Data + Identity: Rubrik’s Cyber Resilience Edge:-
Rubric is going to help enterprise businesses connect data and identity. This is a software as a service or a SAS company. Cyber resilience is the future of cyber security. You’re going to notice three fired up all favorites here. Palo Alto, Zcaler, and Crowd Strike. So, we already own these. We have good cost basis in these stocks. Now, we’ve been building up a position. And even bought more shares this morning of Rubric for data and identity resilience. And this stock was definitely in high demand this morning. You’re ing about a low of $76.56. bought some around 77 and all of a sudden looked and it was up 9% or something since bought it. So this ripped from a low of 7656 to a high of $83.97.
Valuation and Growth Metrics Show Promise:-
Trading right now at $82 a share up 3%. And this is posted in Discord under Eric’s watch list. But rubric right here that EVnt revenue right we’re going to use this for cloud SAS is a 13x think that’s attractive for what you’re getting in the growth that free cash flow margin 7% but this is a young and growing business the NCM rule of 40 score is a 51% which is very solid of course you want to be above 40 and that net dollar retention is 120% so they’re keeping customers happy and they’re continuing to add on new modules and customers are spending more money with rubric is what that means April you had a great deal under $50 if you missed that well it ripped up pull back again. We were buying this around $75 a share. t did get to this S3 Fibonacci, $72.95. So, really, anything in that range, 75 or less DCA is what we were targeting. t is 82.
Volatility Warning: Expect Dips, But Think Long Term:-
So, think you can still probably buy some shares here. Think there’s upside to it. Especially if you’re a long-term investor, thinking 3, four, and 5 years. Understand this. f you look at a chart and you see that it dropped from $80 to 47, if we have a selloff again, it could easily go back to these levels. So, if it’s at $82 a share, if it sold off and went to here, you can’t be shocked by that because, you know, it can happen.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG): Robotics and Recurring Revenue in Healthcare:-
This next stock is under pressure for a few reasons. think the biggest one has to do with weight loss drugs and how that impacts different companies. For example, Pepsi. People aren’t eating as many snacks, so they’re healthier. They don’t need as many prescription drugs. They don’t need to have as many surgeries.
Healthcare Is Complex—But Intuitive Surgical Was a Runner-Up for Top Pick:-
And will say that health care can be difficult. Earlier this year, made a top 10 high conviction stocks for the next decade. And when ed about healthcare, it was very difficult. And one of the runner-ups was ntuitive Surgical.
Intuitive Dominates Robotic Surgery with Global Scale:-
This recurring revenue helps create a steady revenue stream, a general stream upwards. And that churn rate, that volatility, the ups and downs, the peaks and valleys just aren’t quite as high. Now, just doing a quick search here in Tunip Surgical, about 84% of its total revenue in 2024 is recurring revenue, which think is important for investors to understand. We’re ing about 2 point almost 7 million procedures in 2024.
Recurring Revenue Creates Moat and Stickiness:-
Almost 1,800 new systems placed last year and over 11,000 of these systems in hospitals globally. Now, this is going to be robotic surgery. And of course, technology is under a disruptive phase right now. And that could look different if you zoom the lens out a few years. But overall, think this is a solid company. They have a first mover advantage. If you to anybody in healthcare, they’re going to tell you that this is a good stock to buy at these levels. Worldwide procedure trend is still up 17% growth. It’s much more of a mature company than it was years ago.
Financials Show Strength with Strong Margins:-
Don’t think it’s as simple as as somebody coming along and just ripping and replacing these systems. It is highly profitable. 66% gross profit margin. Got an A+ here on Seeking Alpha. bringing in about $167,000 net income per employee TTM. The growth on it, like , it’s not hyperrowth, but it’s solid. Ford revenue growth projection about 16%. So, you’re getting 16 to 20% growth. Now, valuation wise, you can look at something like a GAP 4 P ratio, and it’s going to look expensive at 62. But remember, 80% plus revenue is recurring. So, this is very different than a company that has no recurring revenue at all. Short interest of 1.52% tells you that not a lot of people are really betting against it at this point. and it is down about 10% in the past year and down about 16% year to date.
Valuation Looks High, But Justified by Recurring Revenue:-
So when most stocks are flying off the shelf, this is one that’s down oftent times buying against the grain is where you can make money. We’re ing about $159 billion market cap. So it’s not small by any means. And looking at a chart you can see here is running hot really a double top area about 610 bucks. t fell off a cliff here and it got down to this S3 $432.70 and you are finding some buyers here. If it comes lower, this trend line’s around $400. And think that’s a psychological level. Think that’s probably a decent floor unless you have some additional information or catalyst like an earnings miss or a a short report that comes out and says there’s a bunch of competition.
Chart Shows Key Support Around $425–$435:-
Without that, think the algorithms, right, electronic tradings and the quants, think you’re probably going to hold this $425 level. So if you’re buying at $435 440 using dollar cost averaging like the stock a lot especially considering it came from $600 and believe it is a high quality name one of the better names in healthcare even though it’s a tough sector robotic surgery secular growth trend in opinion and think this is a good stock to buy right here right now.
Clearwater Analytics (CWAN): Complex, Undervalued, and Understood by Few :-
This is a complicated company and that’s part of the reason why the stock is down. Nobody understands it. Even the analysts that cover it, the recent mergers and acquisitions with Clearwater Analytics, the ticker is CWN, have made this a very complex beast. And part of the problem is this is a SAS company, but remember it’s dealing with institutional banks and clients that just move very slow. So these sales cycles, worked in software, worked in software as a service.
Slow Institutional Sales Cycles Weigh on Growth:-
They can be slow to begin with when you have lots of money on an enterprise deal, but these type of businesses are slower to move than many other businesses. The other day in chart day, referenced it as the old boys club. When you include infusion with this platform, it completely changes the company. One of the quotes here, every new asset or jurisdiction we enter brings more manual workarounds. We’re juggling over a dozen systems and none are built for today’s regulatory complexity. We’re not just inefficient, we’re exposed. And what Clearwater can do is help with all of that. So there’s a strong use case here from a sales side. And then when you combine Beacon and Beastro on top of infusion, the whole platform, it’s a beast.
A Comprehensive Financial Platform Nobody Understands:-
And here’s what the entire company looks like when you put it all together. So research, reporting, reconciliation, risk, and performance, pre-trade compliance, everything is included here. The problem is nobody understands what this does and no one understands the industry to begin with. Another quote here, intrigued to see what you guys can do in building a game-changing platform.
Positioned to Capitalize on Global Asset Trends:-
There’s a lot going on right now with globalization of assets, and Clearwater is positioned very well to help these institutions accomplish a lot of different goals. And this is helpful, think, for investors in case you don’t know the different markets. So, insurance is a huge total addressable market here. Hedge funds, asset managers, asset owners. This is the clientele that Sewan is targeting. So they acquired a product called Beastro from Blackstone.
Integrating Acquisitions Is the Key to Future Success:-
Then you have Infusion, Beacon, and Clearwater Analytics, which was the company before these acquisitions. The big question here is how can they put all together? How can they make the M&A work? How can they make the culture of all these different companies come together and make this uniform platform that can go out and win business across multiple sectors? Now, this is a $5.2 billion market cap. So, it’s a smaller market cap.Think this sentiment right here is it clears it up for you.
Uncertainty and Poor Sentiment Drive Stock Down:-
Clearwater Analytics near-term uncertainties make me cautious and there just are a lot of unknowns. So, you’re taking a chance here. When you have uncertainty, it’s going to make the sentiment bad. Nobody wants to buy the stock. It’s down 30% in the past year. Year to date, down 35%. So, this is a very unique company. Of course, it looks very different now with those acquisitions. It’s headquartered in Boise, daho. It is software as a service, SAS, recurring revenue. When you look at the SAS metrics, it’s not very expensive. The problem is it doesn’t matter if nobody knows about the company, if nobody understands the company, if nobody wants to buy the stock. This is one of those stocks that you could buy here at 18 bucks.
High Risk, High Reward Setup for Long-Term Investors:-
Think it’s worth $25 and you could make some money on it, but there’s a chance it could drift lower because the sentiment is just really bad. And if nobody understands the stock and there’s no interest in it, it’s a smaller cap. But if you look at how we buy, we often buy against the grain when nobody else is ing about a stock, when nobody understands a stock. And then all of a sudden, you see the value unlocked and the revenue starts to increase dramatically.
Bearish Chart Suggests More Pain Before Recovery:-
It should be worth $25, $30.” And boom, you make a 80% gain. So, this is going to be a long-term investment. And you can see it was $35. This is way ahead of itself. do believe this stock should be $25 a share. You can see back here in 2024, it dropped down to 16. If you add the combined value of these companies, believe it’s definitely worth more more than $20 a share. Now, this S3 is just under $17. This is $16.86. Now, currently, we’re just below this S2 and you can see support here. Kind of a double bottom area, $1763 here and then $17.98 here.
Patience Required—Not a Quick Win:-
So, it could hold up somewhere where it’s at now, but there’s a chance it could go lower. When you look at a chart that’s this bearish and it’s bad, would expect it to go lower. probably going to go to the S3, maybe even lower, but it could hold up this red line here somewhere between 1715 $18. If you look closely, you are seeing some more buyers come in, but the vole’s just not quite there yet. This is one that will take patience. So, if that’s not you and you’re looking for a quicker win, this is not the stock that you want to buy. Now, if you look at the win streak that we have right now in the NASDAQ, it’s one of the biggest in history, and that’s regarding the nber of days above the 50-day moving average. So, of course, we were running hot. Dropped hard here in April down to 16,542. Ripped all the way up above the R3. Some consolidation, but we’re still above this 50-day simple moving average.
Accenture (ACN): A Dividend Growth Giant Under Pressure:-
And if you look at historic valuations, things are stretched, especially in certain areas of the market. You also have massive concentration, a handful of stocks that are highest weight within the indexes and also bringing the most earnings per share.
Keep Some Cash—Just in Case:-
Without the A trade, the market would look very different. Does that mean we’re toast? Absolutely not. But it does mean, you know, in case you’re not in the private community, you should have some cash. Maybe 5% if you’re younger, if you’re older, if your time horizon is not as long. Maybe you want as much as 10 or even more percent.Now, you might be surprised to see that Asenture is down about 31% in the last year, down 34% year-to- date. This is a larger company, 148 billion, $149 billion market cap. t’s got about 2% short interest, so not a ton of people betting against it here.
The “AI Trade” Drove ACN Too High, Too Fast:-
And of course, part of the problem with this stock is it got ahead of itself, the A trade. And if you look at this, just had earnings about 2 to 5% revenue growth. Now, this is not a hyperrowth stock. Not at all. This is going to fit in that dividend category, more in the DG, dividend growth investing. You got around a 2 and 12% dividend yield, payout ratio is 47%, 13% 5-year growth, and dividend growth of 14 years.
Better Fit for Income-Oriented or Older Investors:-
Now, if you’re a young investor in the acculation phase, this might not be your huckleberry. But if you’re looking for a profitable company, you know, got A+ profitability grade here on Seeking Alpha. Doesn’t have a ton of growth, but it is growing.
3M (MMM): Classic Income Play with a Dividend King Pedigree:-
A trade and this is consulting services so it’s important to note that it does have a lower margin profile because of the nature of the business and the valuation that PEG gap forward is about 18.5 but again that growth is 2 to 5% so it doesn’t support a higher premi so in Discord under Eric’s dividend portfolio you can see five shares it’s a new position starter position bought some shares at $234.77 but want you to hear this preference is 225 or less DCA A and going to show you a chart here in a second. Now, keep in mind if you’re going to buy ACN in a taxable brokerage, you might want to pause the screen and read this because it could impact your taxes.
New Starter Position Added, But Target Buy Zone Is Lower:-
Looking at the chart, the S3 Fibonacci 22548. Again, preference is 225 or less DCA. This stock was up to $400 a share and it was way ahead of itself. A lot of people put some hype behind it because of the A trade. And check this bad boy out. 5.16% dividend. ts payout ratio is a little higher than like, but do classify this as an income stock. With that , it has 11% 5-year growth and 56 years of dividend growth. So, you can classify this really as DG or income.
Value Play or Value Trap? Time Will Tell:-
The problem right now is it’s not growing. And that valuation is under 11 for the GAP 4P ratio. Now, this is one of those it could be a value play or a value trap. And it also might not be a good fit for a lot of portfolios. Again, if you’re a younger investor, if you’ve got a longer time horizon, if you’re in the acculation phase, this probably is not a good fit. This is an income stock, more for that endgame passive income. Actually like this stock really $100 or less DCA.