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If you’re spooked about your money this week, you’re not alone.
The Fed announces its next rate decision on Wednesday, in the middle of the biggest earnings week of the season. Oil is still above $100 a barrel, and the midterms are a week from tomorrow.
So, with Halloween on Saturday, I asked the team for one ticker that’s either a trick or a treat. Three of them brought treats, and one brought a trick.
CJ JOHNSON | The Full-Size Candy Bar: Gilead Sciences (GILD)
“My ticker is a treat. While the broader market has started trading with more reservation, Gilead Sciences is moving in the opposite direction, pushing to new all-time highs.”
Gilead is best known for its HIV drugs. When a stock makes new highs in a market that’s getting picky, it usually means big investors are buying it on purpose.
CJ thinks they see what he sees. “Gilead sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, where AI-driven drug discovery, clinical trial efficiency, and precision medicine could materially change the economics of pharmaceutical development,” he said.
Bringing a new drug to market can take a decade and billions of dollars. If AI cuts that down, the payoff is what CJ calls “shorter development cycles, improved success rates, and greater returns on R&D spending.”
BRYAN BOTTARELLI | The Call’s Coming From Inside the House: Applied Digital (APLD)
“Possible insider buying treat. It’s worth noting that Applied Digital’s co-founders loaded up on stock as shares of the data-center operator dropped to a one-year low.”
Applied Digital builds and runs data centers for AI. On October 16, CEO Wes Cummins bought 55,803 shares at $18.04 each, a little over $1 million, and President Jason Zhang bought about $5.7 million worth the same day.
Bryan pointed out it was Cummins’ first open-market purchase in over three years. “As APLD dips under $20, do these guys know something that we don’t?” he asked. “Based on their trading history, the answer is yes.”
Insiders sell for a lot of reasons, like taxes, a new house, or a kid’s tuition. They buy for one… They think the stock’s going up.
KARIM RAHEMTULLA | Double, Double, Oil and Trouble: United States Oil Fund (USO)
Karim brought the trick. Big surprise.
“Short oil. Saudi Arabia is going to Tehran for peace talks. This represents capitulation of sorts and an admission that the US can’t provide protection.”
The United States Oil Fund tracks the price of crude oil, and shorting it is a bet that oil falls. Oil’s run above $100 has been built on the conflict with Iran, and if those talks lead somewhere, that premium can disappear fast.
“They’re bleeding cash, oil, and their reputation as a safe country to do business in,” Karim said of the Saudis.
If the talks go nowhere, oil can spike as fast as it falls, which is what makes this one a trick.
NATE BEAR | Nightmare on Short Street: Turtle Beach (TBCH)
“My pick is going to be TBCH. It’s a TPS setup with stacked squeezes, but what I love the most about it… it’s got MASSIVE short float. 45% short.”
Turtle Beach makes gaming headsets and controllers. TPS is Nate’s system: trend, pattern and squeeze. A squeeze is when a stock’s trading range tightens before a big move, and stacked squeezes means it’s happening on more than one time frame at once.
Short float is the share of a company’s stock that traders have borrowed and sold, betting it falls. At 45%, nearly half the shares available to trade are bet against Turtle Beach. If the stock starts climbing, those traders have to buy back in, and that buying can send it higher in a hurry.
“I’m looking for a move to $20+ on a short squeeze,” Nate said.
And he’s saving his biggest treat for Wednesday. The day after the 2018 midterms, Molina Healthcare (MOH) jumped 11%, HCA rallied 5% and Amazon (AMZN) rose 7%, all in a single session. On options, one-day moves like those could’ve doubled your money or more.
Nate calls it the Midterm Money Shock, and he’s targeting the next one for November 4, the day after this year’s vote.
Circle Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
That’s when Nate and Ryan Fitzwater kick off the Midterm Money Shock Summit, the same hour the Fed announces its decision. Nate will show you the exact trade he’s targeting for November 4, and your chance to double your money in about a week.
He has an 83% win rate this year, including a trade that paid 224% in six days. The Summit is free, and you’ll want your seat before the polls close. Save your free seat for the Midterm Money Shock Summit.
P.S. What’s Haunting Your Portfolio?
Forget ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night. There are plenty of things lurking in today’s financial markets that can give investors a real scare.
A market correction that wipes out months of gains. Rising interest rates that wreak havoc on income investments. An AI bubble that finally bursts. Or that one stock in your portfolio that keeps you awake at night.
This Halloween, we want to know what’s scaring YOU about the markets and your investments.
Take a minute to answer these six quick questions. Your responses will help us focus our research, strategies, and upcoming LIVE sessions on the issues that matter most to you.
