3 portfolio stocks soar while 3 others tank during volatile trading month
It’s been a whirlwind for stocks over the past month. Since the Club’s last Monthly Meeting on Nov. 13, Wall Street has navigated concerns around valuations for AI-related stocks and speculation about the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate move. Wednesday was a pivotal day. In the afternoon, the Fed delivered a 25-basis-point cut after its last policy meeting of the year. After the close, Oracle earnings print and commentary added to artificial intelligence worries. Still, as of Thursday’s close, the S & P 500 and Nasdaq advanced 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively, over the last 19 sessions. Our top three portfolio stocks during that stretch, GE Vernova , Broadcom , and Corning , outperformed the market by miles. Each of them, along with three others in the portfolio, logged double-digit percentage gains. Here’s a look at our best and worst-performing stocks, which include Linde , Palo Alto Networks , and Procter & Gamble , ahead of the December Monthly Meeting livestream on Friday at 12 p.m. ET . Gainers since our November meeting GE Vernova up 26.2% This stock owes the majority of its gains to GE Vernova’s investor day Tuesday evening, when management delivered an extremely positive multi-year outlook. GE Vernova raised its long-term revenue guidance by fiscal 2028 to $52 billion, up from a prior forecast of $45 billion. Management also expects revenue for fiscal 2025 toward the high-end of the prior guidance range. Shares surged more than 15.5% on Wednesday and ended at a record-high close of $731. “This is probably the most bullish story I have seen in years,” Jim Cramer said Wednesday, and the Club raised its GE Vernova price target to $800 from $700, and reiterated our buy-equivalent 1 rating . Not surprisingly, the stock has simmered down a bit — closing Thursday at $704. Broadcom up 19.5% Shares have jumped to a number of record highs over the past month on positive signs in Broadcom’s custom chip business. For example, media reports late last month of Meta Platforms considering Google’s specialized chips in its data centers sent Broadcom stock flying. That’s because Broadcom co-designs them, meaning more sales upside to Broadcom’s crucial networking and custom chips business. This unit was a key reason the Club started a position in the stock. The run-up into Thursday evening’s earnings set the bar very high. We think Broadcom delivered, and Wall Street misunderstood . Friday’s sharp stock does take a bite out of Broadcom’s 19.5% gain from the close on Nov. 13 through Thursday’s regular session. Corning up 16.5% There wasn’t a specific reason for Corning’s outperformance. Despite valuation concerns, the AI trade caught wind again late last month on the back of Google’s rollout of its new Gemini 3 model. This caused a run in some ancillary AI plays like Corning. The manufacturer is a beneficiary of the AI data center boom because it makes fiber optics cables that wire the facilities. Laggards since our November meeting Palo Alto Networks down 7% The stock declined following its quarterly earnings report in late November. Although Palo Alto Networks posted a beat on its top and bottom line, it wasn’t enough to meet the Street’s expectations for the cybersecurity leader. Plus, management announced a $3.5 billion acquisition of observability platform Chronosphere. The last time Palo Alto mentioned a pricey acquisition, the stock tanked as well. That was the case with CyberArk earlier this year. Palo Alto and our other cybersecurity stock CrowdStrike tend to drop after earnings and then recover in the weeks and months ahead. Linde down 5.9% There wasn’t any one reason for Linde’s move lower. It was a continuation of an overall bad year for the industrial gas giant — down 1.7% year to date versus the S & P 500’s 17.3% gain, as of Thursday’s close. Investors might be disappointed that the company is not delivering the caliber of quarterly earnings growth that it has in years past. For now, we’re sticking with the stock. Linde has great pricing power in the industrial gas market and a decent dividend yield. Procter & Gamble down 4.9% P & G shares took a big hit following discouraging commentary from CFO Andre Schulten at an industry conference earlier this month. The finance chief warned about a volatile U.S. environment for the packaged goods business. Schulten said that company sales appeared to be down “significantly” in October as well. We bought P & G shares into this weakness during the same session. Procter & Gamble is the newest addition to the portfolio. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) 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.
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