We’re always scanning the market, looking for opportunities to deploy capital as prices come down. With our expectation for more volatility ahead as the debt ceiling debate picks up, we’re waiting for the market to get into oversold territory before we start putting the bulk of our 10% cash position to work. Remember, when the S & P 500 Oscillator flashes oversold, and it’s getting very close, we look for bargains. After all, Wall Street is coming off a down week for the Dow and the S & P 500 and starting off Monday only modestly higher. With that in mind, we never want to ignore any possible opportunities the market is giving out. So, here are some thoughts on a couple of stocks in the portfolio. PANW YTD mountain Palo Alto Networks YTD Palo Alto Networks (PANW) shares fell more than 4% at one point Monday afternoon to a session low of $190.67, and we can’t find any reason for the decline. Taking a look around the market, some of the other big cybersecurity players like CrowdStrike (CRWD), Zscaler (ZS) and Fortinet (FTNT) were higher, making the drop in Palo Alto even more quizzical. The selling might be nothing more than some short-term profit-taking after Palo Alto rallied over 8% in last week’s struggling market. About half of those gains came last Monday after Zscaler preannounced a strong quarter and raised its full-year outlook. It’s been a mixed picture for the cybersecurity cohort lately, with Tenable (TENB) and Cloudflare (NET) putting up quarterly duds, while Zscaler was great. We can’t say for certain how Palo Alto is doing until it reports earnings after the closing bell on May 23, but it will likely be more in the Zscaler camp given its product leadership and management’s success at balancing growth with profitability and margin expansion. While we’re always hesitant to violate our average cost basis (meaning buy above it) because that’s our investment discipline, a decline like this on no news is tempting. It could be an opportunity for those who have been waiting to get into the stock. Our cost basis on PANW is $177.68. We have a 1 rating on it. Checking in on our energy producers, we debated Monday morning about adding to our positions in either Coterra Energy (CTRA) or Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD). We ultimately decided against pulling the trigger because both stocks were up and trading close to our last purchase. In the volatile energy sector, paying near recent prices and on up days hasn’t been a winning strategy. The real nasty days — when the commodities, oil and/or natural gas get crushed — are the times we want to be more opportunistic. We’ll get more interested in PXD if it falls to $200 and CTRA in the low $20s. Both stocks have 1 ratings. HON YTD mountain Honeywell YTD Here’s one more name we thought about buying: Honeywell (HON). Shares of this aerospace-focused industrial giant were up slightly Monday. But it’s been a disappointing 2023 for Honeywell with shares down roughly 9% year to date. We see the pullback this year as an opportunity for investors to start a position, and we are upgrading our rating to 1. Honeywell’s business has been resilient to the uncertain macroeconomic trends, leading to a clean beat and raise during the first quarter — thanks in part to the strength in the red-hot aerospace market. There’s a CEO transition at play here, with Vimal Kapur taking over for Darius Adamczyk on June 1, but Kapur will look for ways to create value for shareholders by reshaping the Honeywell portfolio in the direction he wants to take it. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PANW, CTRA, PXD, HON. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Arora Nikesh, Palo Alto Networks CEO & Chairman at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on May 23rd, 2022.
Adam Galica | CNBC
We’re always scanning the market, looking for opportunities to deploy capital as prices come down.
The cooling towers of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, Oct. 30, 2024.
Danielle DeVries | CNBC
Power companies that are most exposed to the tech sector’s data center boom plunged early Monday, as the debut of China’s DeepSeek open source AI laboratory led investors to question how much energy artificial intelligence applications will actually consume.
Constellation, Vistra and GE Vernova have led the S&P 500 this year as investors speculated that AI data centers will boost demand for enormous amounts of electricity.
But DeepSeek has developed a model that it claims is cheaper and more efficient than U.S competitors, raising doubts about the vast sums of money the tech sector is pouring in to data centers.
The tech companies have anticipated needing so much electricity to supply data centers that they have increasingly looked to nuclear power as a source of reliable, carbon-free energy.
Constellation, for example, has signed a power agreement with Microsoft to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Talen is powering an Amazon data center with electricity from the nearby Susquehanna nuclear plant.
Vistra has not inked a data center deal yet, though investors see promise in its nuclear and natural gas assets. GE Vernova has soared this year as the market believes its gas and electric grid businesses will benefit from AI demand.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Executives from TravelCenters America (TA) and BP were joined by local elected officials at a ribbon cutting for the two companies’ first DC fast charging hub on I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida – the first of several such EV charging stations to come online.
Frequent road-trippers are no doubt familiar with TA’s red, white, and blue logo and probably think of the sites as safe, convenient stops in otherwise unfamiliar surroundings. The company hopes those positive associations will carry over as its customers continue to switch from gas to electric at a record pace in 2025 and beyond.
“Today marks a significant milestone in our journey to bring new forms of energy to our customers as we support their changing mobility needs, while leveraging the best of bp and TA,” explains Debi Boffa, CEO of TravelCenters of America. Boffa, however, was quick to – but TA is quick to point out that TA isn’ no’t leaving its ICE customers behind. “While this is significant, to our loyal customers and guests, rest assured TA will continue to provide the same safe and reliable fueling options it has offered for over 50 years, regardless of the type of fuel.”
The charging hub along the I-95 offers 12 DC fast charging ports offering up to 400kW of power for lickety-quick charging. While they’re at the TA, EV drivers can visit restrooms, shop at TA’s convenience store, or eat at fast food chains like Popeyes and Subway. Other TA centers offer wifi and pet-friendly amenities as well – making them ideal partners for BP as the two companies builds out their charging networks.
“As we expand our EV charging network in the US, I am thrilled to unveil our first of many hubs at TA locations,” offers Sujay Sharma, CEO of BP Pulse Americas. “These sites are strategically located across key highway corridors that provide our customers with en route charging when and where they need it most, while offering convenient amenities, like restaurants and restrooms.”
The new e2500-THL and TS electric Ultra Buggies from Toro offer construction and demo crews a carrying capacity of 2500 lbs. (on the TS model), six-and-a-half foot dump height (on the THL), nearly 13 cubic ft. of capacity, and hours of quiet, fume-free operation.
For their open-mindedness, those crews will be rewarded with machines powered by 7 kWh’s worth of Toro HyperCell lithium-ion battery. That’s good enough for up to eight hours of continuous operation, according to Toro – enough for two typical working shifts.
And, thanks to the Toro Ultra Buggies’ narrow, 31.5″ width, they can easily navigate man doors on inside jobs, as well, making them ideal for indoor demolition and construction jobs. A zero-turn radius and auto-return dump mechanism that ensures the tub automatically returns to the proper resting position make things easy for the operator, too.
Toro says that each of its small (for Toro) e2500 Ultra Buggy units can replace as many as five wheelbarrows on a given job site. Pricing is expected to start at about $32,000.