Latest news with #ScottNations
CNBC
14-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Buy this ‘second-best' AI play amid its recent rally, Nations Indexes' Scott Nations says
Investors should consider getting bullish on Advanced Micro Devices following a slew of positive headlines surrounding the name, according to Scott Nations, president of Nations Indexes. Nations joined CNBC's " Power Lunch " on Wednesday to discuss this and two more of the trading day's biggest stock stories, and whether investors should take up or sell shares of those names. Advanced Micro Devices The artificial intelligence chip company gained more than 4% on Wednesday after it said its board of directors approved $6 billion in share buybacks . AMD 1D mountain AMD, 1-day Nations deemed AMD as a "buy," pointing out that President Donald Trump is planning to revoke U.S. chip export restrictions , which "is going to be good for the whole space." He also called AMD the "second-best play" as the company, as well as Nvidia, scored deals this week with Saudi company Humain to help expand its AI infrastructure. "If you want to be in the AI space, you get to buy this name at a 35% discount to its 52-week high," Nations said. Shares of AMD are up nearly 25% over the past month, but still off more than 2% in 2025. AbbVie Shares of biotech company AbbVie pulled back more than 5% in Wednesday's session. ABBV 1D mountain ABBV, 1-day On Wednesday, Citi downgraded the stock to neutral from buy and trimmed its price target by $5 to $205 a share, which implies more than 15% upside. Analyst Geoff Meacham thinks the company's constant "beat and raise" trend with its quarterly results could suggest a lightness in its late-stage product development pipeline when compared to its peers. "While current fundamentals are solid, we suspect that the share impact from quarterly surprises could diminish going forward, especially as investors increasingly shift more focus to the pipeline," Meacham wrote in a note to clients. Nations does not concur with that stance, however, saying the downgrade is "really goofy" and still regards AbbVie as a "buy." "The pipeline is critical for any pharma company, but this company beats on earnings expectations consistently, it raises dividends, has [a] nice dividend yield [at] 3.5%," he continued. "It's in a good space." Over the past three months, the stock has slid 8%. Tesla Tesla was up 4% Wednesday after Reuters, which cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter, reported that the electric vehicle maker will begin shipping components for its Cybercab and Semi trucks from China to the U.S. at the end of the month. That follows the U.S. and China earlier this week agreeing to temporarily cut tariffs on each other's goods for 90 days. The agreement came as the automaker has seen a decline in its China sales while facing increasing competition from local automakers in that country. "I think Tesla right now is a hold," Nations also said. "It's good that they're going to resume importing parts from China, but remember, there's still a pretty big, hefty tariff in place for Chinese imports. The potential exists that in about 85 days, that tariff is going to increase, maybe as much as triple." TSLA 1D mountain TSLA, 1-day While shares have soared nearly 26% over the past week, they are still negative this year, declining about 14% during the period.
CNBC
14-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Three Stock Lunch: Advanced Micro Devices, Abbvie and Tesla
Scott Nations, Nations Indexes president, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Nations' investing take on three stocks: Advanced Micro Devices, Abbvie and Tesla.
Wall Street Journal
07-04-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Stock Market's Fear Gauges Point to a Bounce, Not a Bottom
You can receive investing insights in your inbox each weekday by signing up for our new Markets A.M. newsletter here. 'Unprecedented' is an overused word, but it's a handy one for investors. Online searches for it surged just over five years ago, the same week as queries for 'sourdough bread' and 'adopt a pet' marked the pandemic's early days. Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index or VIX, also hit an all-time high that week, surpassing its October 2008 record during the global financial crisis. The S&P 500 would go on to a total return of 77% in the following 12 months—one of its best performances ever. After seeing our 401(k)s turn into 301(k)s last week, it is tempting to look for a widely available barometer for when the bottom is in. Investing isn't so simple. Extremes in sentiment are more likely to point to a short-term 'sucker's rally' that serves to crush spirits even more. Take that October 2008 VIX record: Between Oct. 27 and Nov. 6, stocks would bounce by a fifth. Then they lost another quarter over four months. Given the—sorry—unprecedented nature of the trade upheaval, and the fact stocks aren't even in a bear market yet, it is a good bet that coming rallies will be of the sucker's variety. Those still can be lucrative for the speculatively minded, or an opportunity to lighten up on stocks for people who regret not doing so ahead of 'Liberation Day.' Tread carefully, though. One gauge likely to plumb new depths is the AAII Sentiment Survey. Each week for decades, the American Association of Individual Investors has asked members if they are bullish, bearish or neutral. Last week's bearishness was the highest since March 5, 2009, the session before the bear-market bottom. Most responses last week were lodged before the Liberation Day carnage, so a new record is likely. A more timely 'Investor Optimism Index' maintained by Nations Indexes briefly went below one Friday on a scale of 100—a level creator Scott Nations says is 'very, very rare.' Closes below 10 for the options-related measure have indicated the best returns for the S&P 500 over the following 20 trading days. Just don't call what we had a crash, says Nations. Among his four books, two on options math, is 'A History of the United States in Five Crashes.' Trading was wild last week, not discontinuous. His most recent book, 'The Anxious Investor,' which fuses history and behavioral finance, gives an unsatisfying answer about how to handle today's mayhem. As tempting as it is to feel in control, it warns that these are the times we're likely to make the most harmful and irrational decisions. Measures of individual investor returns confirm that less is more. There is a costly gap between how our portfolios do and how they would have done if we set and forgot them. The widest gaps come during the most turbulent months. Even those disciplined enough to sit still will wonder how far this goes and when it ends. The Covid-19 bear market, the shortest in history, probably provides a misleading guide. The government throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it turned sentiment around. This time around, to use the horror-film trope, the call is coming from inside the house. If this becomes a severe bear market then the bottom will come at the point of capitulation when investors are disgusted with stocks. We are just too recently removed from a positive peak in sentiment and AI optimism. As we will probably soon relearn, markets don't go down in a straight line. But they go down a lot more than we might imagine. Write to Spencer Jakab at
